Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 6

"SHIT! WE'RE SCREWED!" James yelled and everyone in the common room stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. Nora and Sirius both jumped out of their seats as James came bounding towards them.

"What happened?" Sirius asked him with concern.

"It's bloody tomorrow!" James answered hysterically.

"What is?" Nora asked him, just as Remus and Michelle joined them.

"The match! I was looking at the wrong date the whole time! We're playing Ravenclaw tomorrow, not next week!" he exclaimed, running his hand in frustration through his already messy hair.

"Oh my goodness!" Nora gasped and then said with realization, "No wonder those guys were giving me sneering looks the whole day. I thought maybe they were getting into the Quidditch spirit a little too early…."

"Yeah, I just saw Chang outside and he was asking about how our Seeker was." James was explaining. "He wanted to know what the competition was going to be like tomorrow, and I was confused and told him the game was next week. But then he started to laugh and said 'That's a good one, Potter!' and I didn't want to look like an idiot so I just played along and laughed with him. But then when he was gone I ran down to check the schedule and he was right!"

"Prongs, how the hell can you mix up the date like that?" Sirius asked him incredulously.

"I dunno!" James said, looking very tense, "I must've mixed up the date with my Head duties!"

"Okay well, we're not totally screwed. We just have to plan an emergency practice, right now." Sirius said rationally.

"Right. Good thinking." James said just as Lily came storming into the common room.

"Potter!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for more than half an hour!"

"Not now, Lily, I've got a big problem." James said still looking very apprehensive.

"Why, what happened?" Lily's countenance suddenly became more concerned when realized how stressed he looked.

"We just found out that our Quidditch match is tomorrow." Sirius answered.

"Oh." Lily said frowning a little. "I knew it was tomorrow."

"You did?" James asked agitatedly, "How come you didn't tell us?"

"I thought you guys knew!" Lily exclaimed. "Who doesn't?"

"Do you think we'd be taking it this easy if we knew it was tomorrow?" James's voice was becoming alarmingly loud now.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know?" Lily asked him, her voice equally loud. "I don't revolve my life around Quidditch like you guys do!"

Nora looked at James and saw that he was on the verge of having a total nervous breakdown. "Okay," she said trying to calm everyone down, "let's just go and practice now. We're wasting our time just standing around here arguing for nothing."

"But we have to finish these reports for Dumbledore! I have to give them to him in the morning!" Lily complained.

"Well, I don't have a choice, do I?" James said resolutely.

"Oh, please." Lily said rolling her eyes. "The match is not that important."

There was a sudden stunned silence around the room. James fixed his eyes on Lily and said, "Excuse me?"

"I think our Head duties should take first priority over a stupid game." she replied stubbornly.

There was another bout of silence and James repeated gravely, "A stupid game?"

"She didn't just say that." Sirius said, looking a little scared for her.

"Oh yes I did." Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay, I don't have time for this right now, Lily." James tried to say as calmly as he could through gritted teeth. "Sirius, can you please tell everyone to meet me out on the pitch in ten minutes. If anybody is late, I will hex them so badly they won't be able to sit on a broomstick for the next ten years." He gave Lily a dangerous glare and walked out of the common room. As soon as he was gone, Lily stormed up to her dorm, muttering curses at James under her breath.

Everyone stood around in silence for a few moments before Sirius said to Nora, "Okay Four-eyes, let's get going. Oi! Patil! Get Shacklebolt and Jordan."


"I think we're in good enough shape." James said to the team after a couple hours of practice later. "Just focus on what we did tonight, and we should be alright. Remember, it's just the first game so it's not really about winning or losing."

Sirius gave a sarcastic snort and James ignored him, finishing his pep talk, "Alright then. That's about it. Try not to be nervous either." He gave Nora an encouraging smile.

Nora was feeling pretty optimistic about the match until Sirius walked next to her and said, "You know, you're the only one who really needs to be worried, Four-eyes. Anthony Chang is a damn good Seeker."

"Great. I really needed to know that." she said sarcastically as they made their way through the castle and into the common room. Nora saw her books lying on the couch where she had left them and remembered that they still had to finish their assignment.

"Oh no," Sirius groaned. "I'm too tired. Let's do it in the morning."

"No way." Nora said firmly. "We have to finish it now. There's no time in the morning." Besides, I know I'll be way too nervous to concentrate on any school work. Nora added to herself; she didn't want Sirius to know how nervous she really was.

"Man, you are stubborn sometimes." Sirius said as he plopped down onto one of the sofas.

"I have to be otherwise we'd never get anything done." Nora said tiredly, taking out her assignment. Nora concentrated as hard as she could on her work, but her mind kept drifting off to the impending Quidditch match. She glanced at Sirius every so often and saw that he was working diligently without any apparent concern for their match tomorrow. Nora wondered at how he could be so carefree all the time. He seemed to do everything with ease. Even his looks betrayed a sense of smooth effortlessness. Even after two hours of hard Quidditch practice, his hair still fell gracefully over his face. Nora looked at her own hair and felt almost jealous of Sirius's.

"I have to take a shower." Nora said as she put the finishing touches to the assignment. "My hair is going berserk." Her hair had frizzed up during practice and looked even wilder than usual.

Sirius put his quill down, scanned her hair and asked with a puzzled look, "Doesn't it always look that way?"

"Thanks." She said dryly as she tried to control it by tying it up into a bun.

'What? There's nothing wrong with it." he said earnestly but Nora looked at him disbelievingly. "I'm serious. It's kinda cool…in a funky sort of way."

"Right." Nora said curtly. "If my mother heard you say that, she'd smack you."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a slightly confused smile.

"She's always complaining about my hair." she explained. "Says I look like some deranged hippie that's been…what's that Muggle word? Electrocuted? It's when your brains get fried or something…"

"Oh yeah." Sirius said knowingly. "It's actually called ejetrocuted."

"Right, that's the word." Nora agreed with him. "Anyways, if we're done here then I think I'm gonna head up. I'm totally drained."

"Yeah, me too." said Sirius getting up.

As they walked towards the staircase together, Nora was surprised to find herself thinking that she didn't actually mind Sirius's presence anymore; that she might even like him as a person. The feeling didn't last longer than a few seconds. Just as they were about to part to their respective dorms Sirius ruffled up Nora's hair and said with an overly pleasant smile, "Good night, you four-eyed deranged hippie. Try not to have too many nightmares about losing the match tomorrow. Remember, we don't expect much out of you, so don't worry about!"


When Nora woke up the next morning, she felt like throwing up. Oh crap. I can't play today! I'm too nervous. Stupid Sirius. Why did he have to scare me about Chang? She thought to herself apprehensively as she made her way down to the Great Hall to meet Bert for breakfast.

"Your face looks kinda green, Nora." Bert said to her as she sat down next to him.

"Thanks." Nora grumbled, the smell of the food starting to make her queasy.

"Maybe you should eat something." he suggested.

"Don't talk about food, please." Nora said. "I don't even know what I'm doing in here." She looked across the table and saw James, Remus and Peter sitting down eating their breakfast. James still looked a little tense from the other night, but not tense enough to stop him from inhaling a plate full of food. Nora was aimlessly surveying the hall, trying to keep her mind off of the game, when she saw Lily enter through the doors and walk right up to James.

"James." she said to him.

James looked mildly surprised for a moment but then said in an indifferent tone, "Yes?"

Lily looked a little uncomfortable at first but then she cleared her throat and said in a clear voice, "I just wanted to apologize for what I said last night. I know that Quidditch means a lot to you, and I'm sorry if I offended you in any way."

"Oh." His face softened a little. "Okay. Thanks."

"Alright." Lily said in a very business-like manner. "Good luck today." She turned around and walked away. Nora thought she could see the tension melt away from James's face and a small smile start to appear.

"Oh, damn. Four-eyes, you look green." Nora looked up and saw Sirius standing across the table from her behind James and Remus, grinning as usual. He went around the table to the same side she was sitting on.

"Thank you." Nora said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him, "I feel much better now."

"Don't worry," he said as he sat down next to her to eat, "if we lose the match today because of you, it won't be a total embarrassment. I mean after all, girls aren't expected to actually win at sports against boys." Remus nearly choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking and James started to cough to cover up a laugh.

"Really." Nora could feel her fists clench up and her teeth start to grind.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "So, no sweat about losing, alright? We're almost expecting it!" he said giving her a good pat on the back.

"Black, if you touch me one more time, I swear I'm going to shove my broomstick so far up you're a—"

"Hey hey!" James interrupted Nora quickly. "Let's have a little more team spirit, okay? Nora, I've told you so many times not to listen to this guy. He's just trying to rile you up. And Sirius, just lay off her for a while, okay?" Sirius shrugged and continued to eat his breakfast happily and Nora just stared at her empty plate, wondering if there was any possible way out of the situation.

Nora didn't pay attention to anything or anyone in her classes that day. Her mind kept wandering off, worrying about the game. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she bumped right into Anthony Chang on her way out of her last class.

"Oh, sorry." Nora said, feeling embarrassed.

"That's okay." Anthony said with a smile. He looked at her for a moment quizzically and then asked, "You're the Seeker for Gryffindor this year, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Nora said, noticing how friendly he seemed.

"Well," he smiled at her, "I guess I'll be seeing you on the pitch soon. Good luck." Nora nodded her head and mumbled a thank you.

Her spirits only rose a tiny bit when she was dressed up in her uniform and waiting for the rest of the team in the Gryffindor common room, when Remus came down to her and said, "Don't be nervous, Nora. You're gonna be fine. And don't listen to what Sirius says. He's just bugging you. I've seen Chang play. He's not that good."


Okay, just relax. You can do this. Nora was saying to herself as she was hovering over the Quidditch pitch. It was only fifteen minutes into the game and both teams had already scored. She kept a constant watch on Anthony. Every time she saw him move, she'd follow him with her eyes. So far, it looked like he hadn't spotted anything. Nora was beginning to wonder how long the game would last when she thought she saw something shimmering in the distance. It looked like the Golden Snitch, but to her horror, she realized that they were actually raindrops, reflecting light.

"Shit!" she said out loud as the drops began to cloud her glasses, obscuring her vision. I'll never be able to see the Snitch in this rain! Maybe I should just take them off. No but then everyone's going to know that I can see without them. Wait…James! He wears glasses. What is he doing? She saw James all the way on the other side of the pitch. He's too far away. I can't see a damned thing. Shit, I'm screwed. What was that water repelling charm again? Dammit! I knew I should've paid more attention in Charms class!

Nora knew she wouldn't be able to see the Snitch through the rain so she decided to just keep an eye on Chang. If he moved, she'd follow him. Loud cheers erupted from the Gryffindor supporters as James just scored another goal; the game was now tied. All Chang or Nora had to do was catch the Snitch and the game would be over. I just know he's gonna see the Snitch before me and catch it. How am I going to see it through all this rain? I don't want to be the reason we lose the game. It's too embarrassing!

Just as Nora was thinking about how she would have to hang her head in shame until the next game, she heard a Sirius yell, "Four-eyes, look out!" Nora looked up to see a Bludger heading straight for her. She shielded her face with her hands to ward the whop of the Bludger, and ducked down as much as she could before the blow. But she didn't feel the hard drive of the Bludger. Instead, she felt something small and cold fluttering right in the palm of her hand. She looked down at her hand and saw that she was holding it. The Golden Snitch was in her hand. She felt like the luckiest girl alive at that moment as her teammates all gathered around her, cheering for joy. The Gryffindor supporters in the crowd were all standing and applauding the team.

"Nora!" James exclaimed, pulling her into an exuberant hug. "That was bloody amazing! I mean how you dodged that Bludger and still caught the Snitch, I'll never know. That was some brilliant flying!"

"Yeah, good job, Four-eyes." said Sirius, patting her shoulder. "How did you even see that coming? I'll take back everything I've said about girls and sports. That was wicked."

"Oh, thanks." Nora said feeling a little uncomfortable now. How was she going to tell them that she didn't even know the Snitch was there? The Snitch must have been flying very close to the Bludger and impacted it when struck. Instead of the Bludger hitting Nora, the Snitch did, and it was all just good luck that Nora happened to put her hands in front of her face. They all thought that she could see the Snitch coming towards her and caught it skilfully.

Everyone in the Gryffindor common room that night felt like celebrating, including Nora. She laughed and accepted people's congratulations heartily. She felt a tiny tinge of guilt about allowing them to think that she caught the Snitch on purpose, but she tried to justify herself at the same time. I could've caught the Snitch if it wasn't for the rain. I mean, that was a close one. I did get really lucky. I'm just going to have to be careful next time. I've got to do something about my glasses so it doesn't happen again…


A/N: Okay, folks...what did you think of that? Next chapter should be up shortly. Until then...happy readings!