Seven young Gryffindors stood huddled outside the Hogwarts broom shed. They shivered slightly in the twilight cold of September.

"Where is Alice?" Lucas moaned.

"I don't know, she was in Herbology with us, but that was the last I saw of her," James said. "She said she was going to get the key and then disappeared."

"Well she better get here quick," Lucas said. "No Quidditch game is worth this wait."

James rolled his eyes, "She'll be here, don't worry."

"Well speak of the devil," Jerry pointed up to where a small shadow was running towards them. "Where have you been, Alice?"

"Forgot the key in my bag," she gasped breathlessly. "I've got it though, let me through."

"Are you sure we won't get in trouble for this?" Archie asked nervously as the group huddled around Alice as she attempted to use the master key to open the shed.

"Oh, who cares?" scoffed James. "Trouble's exactly what I could use right now."

"Got it!" Alice wrenched open the door to the broom shed and began to hand brooms out. "Does everyone have one? Good."

"Alright," James said, taking the lead, "me and Archie are captains so we'll be picking our teams. Because I am the best player here, I'll let Archie pick first to be fair."

"How generous of you," Lucas scoffed. James ignored him and turned to Archie.

"Um, I pick Lucas," Archie said.

"Good choice," Lucas walked over to Archie and stood next to him. "We are so going to win this thing."

"I want Roxanne," James pointed at his cousin who pumped her fist and then walked over to his side.

"Well then I want Fred," Archie pointed at the other Weasley who, though reluctant to be separated from his twin, went and stood with the other two boys.

James considered his options carefully. He knew he didn't want Philip, but he wasn't sure who to pick between Jerry and Alice. He hadn't seen either of them play yet. Then again, Alice had done better than Jerry during flying lessons.

"I'll take Alice," James pointed and she joined him happily.

"Jerry, you're with me," Archie motioned.

"And I guess I'll take Philip," James tried to hide his disappointment.

Philip looked a little sad to be picked last, but James knew he understood.

"Remember, two chasers, one beater, and one keeper," Alice said, hauling a bag of quaffles and bludgers out from the shed.

James turned to his team, "Right, Philip I think you should be the keeper. It's the easiest position to play. Just stop that red ball from going through those three hoops."

"Okay, if you think I'll be good there," Philip looked very unsure of himself.

"It'll be fine," James reassured him. "Besides, the rest of us will be working to keep the quaffle away from you so you shouldn't really have that much to do anyways."

"Which one's the quaffle again?"

"The red one," James sighed. "And Roxanne, you'll be-."

"I know, I know," Roxanne picked up a bat and a bludger, "I won't let you down captain." She saluted James proudly.

"So I guess we're the chasers?" Alice popped up at James' side.

"Yeah, is that alright by you?"

"It's what I normally play," Alice said.

"Oi! Slowpokes! Are we going to play or what?" Lucas shouted out.

"Hey!" Archie protested. "This is my team! I'll do the trash talking, thank you very much."

"We're ready when you are!" James straddled his broom.

"We are?" Philip had turned a very nastry grey color.

"Get on the broom," James commanded him. "You took your flying lessons today. You can at least get up there can't you?"

Philip swallowed heavily and nodded, mounting his own broom.

James cleared his throat, "Ready? Set? Go!"

The eight of them kicked off and flew to their assigned positions. Archie was playing keeper for his team, while Lucas and Jerry were the chasers. Fred, naturally, was the beater. He waved his bat cheerfully at Roxanne who waved her own in response.

James started with the quaffle and immediately began to make his way downfield. He dodged a bludger and swerved around Jerry, tossing the quaffle to Alice who expertly caught it and hurled it at the hoop.

It hit Archie straight in the face, bouncing off of him. "I saved it!" he shouted with delight.

James caught the ball as it fell and threw it through the right hoop, scoring ten points for his team.

"Didn't manage to catch that one though, did you?" James laughed as Archie retrieved the quaffle and threw it back in, tossing it to Lucas.

Lucas made it about halfway down the field before a well aimed bludger by Roxanne nearly knocked him off his broom. He managed to hold on, but lost the quaffle in the process.

Roxanne grabbed the quaffle and hurled it at Archie, who made a feeble attempt at a dive and missed spectacularly.

"Another ten points for Team James!" James whooped triumphantly.

"She can't do that!" Lucas protested. "Only the chasers can score goals."

"Well then we'll just consider her an honorary chaser," James said.

"Fine!" Lucas huffed, "if you want to play that way, then we'll play that way. Toss me the quaffle, Archie."

And with great ferocity, Lucas sped downfield, weaving his way through every obstacle thrown at him and scoring his teams' first goal.

The game was truly an intense one. While James remained the strongest player, it was clear Archie had put together the better team. Of course they had the advantage of not having Philip as their keeper.

It was almost completely dark by the time Lucas managed to tie up the score. Both teams had 90 points each. "Next goal wins?" James called out.

"You're on!" Lucas said, snatching the quaffle from Alice and making his way downfield. He swooped upwards and hurled the quaffle towards the middle hoop.

"Oh no you don't!" Philip lunged to the side and cleanly caught the quaffle. "I did it!" Philip gasped. "James, I caught it!"

Excellent, Philip!" James replied. "Now throw it here!"

Philip tossed the quaffle to James. James sped downfield, a bludger came barreling towards him, and there was no time to get out of the way. He let out a yell and suddenly Roxanne was there, knocking the bludger at Jerry, who fell out of formation and stopped chasing James to avoid the bludger.

Alice was guarding Lucas, keeping him from interfering with James. The hoops were drawing nearer and nearer, and James had his eye on the left one. Archie seemed to have the most trouble guarding the left. He cocked his arm to throw the quaffle, eyes trained on the perfect spot.

"What is going on here?" a voice roared out from the pitch, just as James let go of the quaffle.

It sailed through the left hoop, securing James the final ten points and the victory. But none of that mattered now. Professor Finnigan was standing at the bottom of the pitch, red in the face and visibly trembling with rage.

Alice pulled up beside James, "This is not good."

"All of you get down here! Now!" Professor Finnigan hollered.

The eight of them slowly descended, avoiding eye contact with one another. Once they were all on solid ground their brooms were snatched from them, and they stood in a single file line, keeping their eyes trained on their feet.

"I get word from a prefect that a certain group of students have not been seen in a considerable amount of time. I comb the castle preparing for the worst, only to bump into Professor Longbottom, looking for his master key! The entire staff is on high alert, we're preparing to lock down the castle, and I find the eight of you out here on brooms playing Quidditch. Unsupervised!" Professor Finnigan was absolutely livid. Spit flew from his mouth and his eyes were wide and angry.

James silently cursed Victoire. She had to be the prefect that reported their absence. He knew his parents had asked her to keep an eye on him, but he didn't expect her to take it so literally.

"First things first, where is Professor Longbottom's key?"

"It's in the keyhole of the broom shed," Alice said miserably, still refusing to look up.

Professor Finnigan frowned, "I'm very disappointed in you, Miss. Longbottom. I expected more from you." He turned to James, "You too, Mr. Potter. You can consider your invitation to tryouts officially revoked."

"As for your punishment," Professor Finnigan continued, "you will each lose ten house points, serve a detention with Mr. Filch this Friday, and your parents will all receive disciplinary owls. Go back to the common room. Immediately!"

And the eight of them turned dejectedly and began what seemed like an infinitely long walk back to the castle.