hello! thanks soo much for the reviews! i've written up the next chapter and im starting on chapter 10 so they should be up soon! so keep reviewing and i'll keep posting! lol. thanks again for the reviews! i adore them! hehe!

Chapter 8 - The very messy Quidditch match

It was 6:00 before Rachel and Sirius arrived back in the Gryffindor common room. Sirius said his goodbyes to Rachel and went to join the marauders in the corner. Rachel spotted Riley, Ashley and Lily waiting for her by the steps of the girl's dormitory. Rachel rushed over to them.

"How was your date with Bret?" Rachel asked Ashley curiously.

Ashley smiled and gave Rachel the full low down on the date and Bret. Everything from the drinks they ordered to the both of them making out in the snow. By the sounds of it Ashley had fallen for the Herbology freak, rather hot Herbology freak though.

"Ash, we get the picture!" Riley said.

"Im happy for you!" Rachel half lied. She could think of other guys who Ashley would be more suited to, but she kept that to herself.

"What about you Riley? You looked happy with your blonde friend!" Rachel said.

Riley started to giggle loudly, causing a pack of second years to look up. "His names Matt, look, he's over there!" she said pointing to what looked like the same group as in the three broomsticks.

"What about you?" Lily asked ignoring Riley's giggles as Matt started blowing kisses at her from across the room. "Don't tell me I put up with Potter who thought he was gonna get lucky and his mates for the entire day!" Lily said.

Rachel smiled. "It was great! Thanks Lil!" Lily looked reassured as Rachel filled the girls in on her afternoon with Sirius.

"Aw, so he put your arm around you in the snow?" Ashley asked.

Rachel nodded with a huge grin.

"Still doesn't make up for calling you fat though!" Riley said. She had stopped focusing on Matt and began listening to the conversation. "Im not done with him for calling you that!" she said angrily.

"Yeah he's so not getting away with that!" Lily said as irritably as Riley.

It was Sunday morning, the day of the first Quidditch match of the year. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. It was a beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect Quidditch conditions. Rachel had been awake since 7:00 going through tactics and strategies in her head. At 7:45 she decided to get into her Gryffindor Quidditch robes and walk down to breakfast with Riley and Ashley.

"You will never get me on a broom with those crazy balls flying around!" Riley said walking down to the great hall in her jeans, hoddie and Gryffindor scarf.

"Bludgers Riley! Bludgers!" Rachel corrected her.

"Oh whatever!" Riley said giving in as they entered the great hall.

The Gryffindor table exploded into applause as their star chaser took a seat next to the marauders and a mad looking Lily who was still cheering all the same.

"I knew you were going to sit here." She said now smiling as Rachel took a seat next to her brother.

Rachel smiled back as James began talking to her. "You ready?" he asked stupidly.

"Course I am!" she said as the applause slowly died down.

"Come on Rach, get a good breakfast in you!" Sirius said going back to his plate of porridge.

He was right. Rachel helped herself to the nearest bowl of porridge and scoped a generous amount on her plate. No point playing Quidditch on an empty stomach she thought.

Rachel only had 10 minutes to finish her breakfast. James wanted the team to head to the pitch to discuss tactics.

"Come on Potter!" James said rushing her out of the hall. The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers once again as they left.

Rachel met Sarah who waited for at the entrance hall doors, she let the batch of new team members past, and walked down to the pitch with Rachel, James and Sirius. James instructed the team to meet in the changing room so they could discuss today's match.

James's speeches were always typically long and today wasn't going to be any different.

"Right team." James began seriously. "First match of the season is always important." His speech went on for another 15 minutes. He covered what everyone was supposed to be doing he was a good captain.

Finally the team walked out onto the bright pitch, cheers from the Gryffindor stand suddenly erupted. James walked in front, waving at the Gryffindor's as if he was some kind of celebrity. Lily would hate that, Rachel thought as her and Sarah laughed at James only too typical behaviour. Their Slytherin opponents dressed in green robes we're waiting for them in the middle of the pitch.

James and the Slytherin captain shook hands. The Slytherin captain called Travis wore the same angry look that he always did. James merrily smiled sarcastically as he shock his hand.

The two teams mounted their brooms and waited for Madam Hooch to blow her whistle. The plump lady with a stern look raised the whistle to her mouth and blew loudly. Both teams soared into the air, the crowd erupted into mad applause as James grabbed the quaffle, who passed to Rachel, who passed back, making their way down towards their goal. Rachel heard the Hufflepuff who was commenting scream "The two Potter siblings denominating the quaffle" Rachel smiled. They were getting closer, James passed it back, this was her chance to score, and she aimed the quaffle towards the middle goal and scored. The Gryffindor's and most of the Ravenlclaws and Hufflepuffs erupted into louder applause, blocking out the taunts coming from the Slytherin end.

Rachel flew around the goal posts, with a huge smile. She loved being noticed for something she was good at. The cheers died down as her team patted her on the back.

The game carried on for a while. James and Rachel had scored 6 goals between them and the new chaser called Joanna Styles had scored 2 goals, making the score 80 – 50 Gryffindor in the lead. Sarah was frantically flying around the pitch looking for the snitch. The Slytherin seeker was doing exactly the same.

Rachel was soaring towards her goalpost next to Joanna who had the quaffle. It looked like she was going to score. Joanna got really close and aimed the ball for the left hoop; the keeper caught it and threw it to the Slytherin chaser. Rachel was behind the goalpost she flew higher into the air and slowly made her way down to her end of the pitch; the Slytherin beater and keeper was there, the beater looked like he was doing nothing. All of a sudden the keeper swiped the club off the beater and hit the incoming bludger right in Rachel's direction.

Rachel was now several feet from the ground. When abruptly a bludger hit her hard in the back. Her hands let go of her broom she was falling from high in the sky, at a fast speed. She could just make out a piercing scream from James who had obviously just realised mixed with loud screams from the crowd. That was the last thing she remembered as she landed with a loud bone-cracking thump on the hard pitch.

The sun's rays gleamed through the curtains in the hospital wing, stirring Rachel from her dream and back into reality. She shifted her position in her bed, but she found she couldn't move a muscle without it throbbing. She didn't open her eyes but she could hear voices, a lot of voices. Where am I? She thought silently. Rachel opened her eyes slightly.

"James?" she asked groggily.

James spined around so fast it was as if he was expecting it. Several bodies looked around too. Rachel recognised Riley, Ashley, Lily and the marauders instantly.

"Rach!" Riley screamed weakly.

"How are you feeling?" James asked worried. As he sat down on the bed and took her hand Rachel noticed numerous amounts of scratches, bruises and cuts on James face and body.

"Painfully sore!" she said half laughing. "What happened to you?" she asked concerned.

"He did it trying to save you." Sirius said stepping forward and sitting on the bed next to Riley who had marks on her face where her fingernails had dug in. "He tried to catch you but he didn't see the ground coming and crashed! The girls didn't look too impressed to see James's face demented!" Sirius finished laughing.

"Thanks James." Rachel said sincerely. She was thankful that he tried to save her. Not many people would bother.

"We we're so worried!" Lily said. "We had to stop Riley from hitting Collins!"

Rachel smiled. "Mark my words, next time I see him –"

"You will give him an ear full!" Ashley completed her sentence for her.

The marauders plus Lily, Riley and Ashley stayed for most of the afternoon. Madam Phomphry insisted James stayed over night, as for Rachel she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Everyone bar Riley left for dinner in the great hall, even James after promising to return after, he never liked hospital food. Typical, Rachel thought. Riley refused to leave Rachel's side, insisting that she stayed to keep her best friend company.

"Rach!" Riley began once everyone had left. "This is like the one millionth time you've been in the hospital wing for Quidditch! You're going to drive James to an early death! Not to mention me!" Riley said flustered.

Rachel laughed. "What ya mean?" she asked.

Riley looked at her. "You should have seen him. Pacing around the room driving us all nuts. Kept on saying it was his entire fault. He cares about you so much. You no that don't you?"

Rachel looked right back at Riley. "Offcourse I no that! Did Sirius say anything?" she asked curiously.

Riley nodded frantically. "You should have seen him on the pitch. He was yelling so loud at Collins apparently people up in the stands could hear him!"

Rachel laughed once again. "That's Sirius for ya!"

"Yeah, Black! It's typical! Just Rach, I don't want you getting hurt because of him!"

"Riley." Rachel began, not sure weather to go on or not.

"Hmm."

Rachel hesitated. "Honestly, do you think me and Sirius would make a good couple?"

Riley considered this for a moment, with a smile on her face. "Rach, once Black pulls in his head you guys will be the cutest couple at Hogwarts. He just hasn't realised it yet."

Rachel smiled. "Do you really think so?" she asked in a girly voice.

Riley beamed. "Absolutely."

Later that evening, once Riley had left, James returned from his meal looking happier than he did before.

"Dinner was great I take it?" Rachel asked seeing the look on James's face.

"Superb!" James said sitting down on the end of Rachel's bed, which was puffed up on many pillows. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

Rachel scowled. "Im fine. Did we win the game?"

"Yeah, Sarah got the snitch about 10 minutes after you fell. Im glad she did, I don't think anyone on the team we're concentrating. Thanks to you!" James joked lightly putting his hand on Rachel's leg.

Rachel smiled. "Yip im a worry!"

"I wouldn't have forgiven myself if anything serious happened to you." James said more seriously.

"But nothing happened, im going to be ok." Rachel reassured him. "I will always be there for you too, you know that don't you?"

James nodded. "Course I do."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks James." She said wondering if this was the time to tell him about her plan.

"Well its late, lets get some sleep." James said.

Rachel frowned. Maybe it wasn't the right time to tell him. "Sure, goodnight James."

James climbed into his own bed and slowly drifted off to a deep sleep. Rachel stayed awake for a little while longer, James's snores partially keeping her awake. Her mind was racing, it was the first time all day she had some alone time, and she recapped everything in her mind. Stopping at the more important details such as Sirius screaming at Collins for her, her friends surrounding her bed looking concerned, Riley saying her and Sirius would be a good couple and James saying he would always be there for her.

Everything felt so right.