Chapter 7: Gryffindor versus Slytherin
As we made our way into the common room, we bid each other good-night. I gave Lora a hug good-night and she gave me hug and a soft kiss on the cheek.
As I climbed into bed, I couldn't help but think that today had turned into a great day…
a really great day.
-♥-
I awoke the last Saturday of November with the same nervous sensation passing through me that I get every morning before a game. I knew that today was the first Quidditch game of the season and even though I had been on the team since my third year, I still got really nervous. I knew James was getting the same feeling that I was because as I looked over at him, I saw that he looked like he was going to spew up his dinner all over his bed.
"You feeling okay, mate?" I asked him as I crawled out of my warm bed into the open icy air.
He sighed and said "Yep. I feel absolutely corking."
We went through this every year but this year was especially important because this would be the last chance we would have to win the Quidditch Cup. But there was more pressure on Prongs because he was the captain of the team and he was the Seeker; if James screwed up and didn't catch the Snitch, then there was a small chance that we would win today's game.
A few freezing minutes later, I stepped into my scalding shower, relieved to be out of the chilly dormitory. As I squirted the slick, blue shampoo into my hand, I wondered if Lora was half as nervous as I was. We are both Beaters but I know that the Slytherin team picks on Lora because she looks like the weakest player on the team (which isn't necessarily true because that fourth year is way scrawnier). So the fact that we are facing off against Lucius and his idiot team must be making Lora pretty nervous right now.
I scrubbed myself over with the soap, washed off and stepped out into the steam-filled bathroom. I wrapped a towel around my waist and shook the water out my hair.
As I brushed my teeth I heard a loud knock on the door. Rolling my eyes, I ignored it, knowing it was probably James. He could hold on a minute though. But the knocking continued which just increased my frustration for the morning.
"Stop banging on the soddy door!" I yelled at the grand, wooden door. But to my annoyance the knocking did not cease.
"'old on!" I yelled with my mouth full of toothpaste and my toothbrush sticking out of my mouth.
The knocking just got harder and louder though.
"WHAT-DO-YOU-WANT," I screamed, throwing open the door. To my surprise I saw not James or Remus, but an embarrassed looking Lora. "Oh, sorry 'bout that…" I muttered, tossing my hair in front of my blushing face.
I suddenly remembered that I was wearing nothing but my towel around my waist and it seemed by her face reddening even worse that Lor had just noticed this.
"Was there something you wanted?" I asked quietly, still embarrassed.
"Um, Professor McGonagall wants to see the team before breakfast. She's in the common room," she replied meekly. As she hurried out of the boys dormitory, she looked back at me and I noticed her eyes linger on my bare chest and damp towel for a few split seconds before blushing once again and quickly adverting her eyes. I felt as if one of the Giant Squids tentacles had wrapped itself around my quickly beating heart and pulled hard, as if to drag it back into the watery depths of the Great Lake. I pushed this feeling away though and stepped back into the bathroom, quickly got dressed and made my way down to the red and gold common room where the rest of my team shivered on the plush couches.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Sirius-"
I raised my eyebrows and sat down in between a shaking Lora and a grave James, who was still in his pajamas. Lora, however, was in jeans, a sweater, a scarf and mittens. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and she leaned back to capture some of my escaping body heat.
I had never heard McGonagall call me by my first name so we quickly became still and listened to whatever she had to say.
"-As I was saying, I am encouraging you all to try especially hard this year. I would love to see the Quidditch Cup back in Gryffindors possession for the fifth year in a row. I must say that I also enjoy seeing the other House Heads envious of our House for winning but that is aside the point. I would just like to wish you all good luck and I know that you will make me proud out there today." She excused herself from the common room.
"Hold up team," James said, standing up out of the plush red couch. He looked around at our shivering team: the Beaters were of course, Lora and I; the three Chasers consisted of a blonde fifth year named Jill Liverstein (who I had briefly dated a year previous), a dark-skinned sixth year named Joshua Willows (who had a wicked arm when it came to throwing the Quaffle into the hoops) and a scrawny, blonde fourth year named Alexander Waddlestones; one Keeper who was a sandy-haired fifth year named Sean Brown (who could occasionally be extremely annoying).
"As all of you know, this is Lora's, Sirius', and my last year here so it will be the last year that we will be able to win the Cup. I know that you guys, and girls, will go out there and try your bloody hardest but just give it an extra shove this year. We all know that we have the best team in the school but lets just show the rest of them that don't that we mean serious business-" he cast an annoyed look at me and Lora who were in a fit of laughter at James' mention of serious business.
He sighed and waited patiently for us to finish. "-So let's just go out with a bang this year, eh? Good, now go get dressed and get a good breakfast. I don't want any of you passing out from hunger on the pitch. We've got a game to win!" He shot his fist up in the air on the last sentence and we all cheered with team spirit.
Some of the team, including Prongs, hurried back up to their dormitories to get showers and to get dressed so they could make it to breakfast. I walked with Lora down to the Great Hall though, my arm still wrapped around her shoulders. I could still feel her shaking through her seemingly endless layers of clothes. She sneezed into her arm and sniffled a little.
"Are you okay, Lor? Are you sick?" I asked her. I had noticed that she looked a tad pale when I sat next to her in the common room.
"I'm fine. Just got the sniffles, that's all," she said quietly. I dropped my arm from her shoulder when we entered the Great Hall and sat with Remus, Peter, Addie and Lily. She grabbed a slice or two of toast and rubbed some marmalade onto the toast. She took a small bite of this and then a large gulp of pumpkin juice.
"Hey Clense! Scared to get knocked off your broom today?" snarled Malfoy as the rest of the Slytherin table cheered at his question.
"Hey Malfoy, ready to see us win the Cup again?" I replied as the Gryffindor table roared with excitement and applause.
"This year will be different. We've got our secret weapons, but you'll just have to wait for the match to see what those are," he said, cockily. I could feel my skin crawl at his smug smirk and I turned back around and started scooping scrambled eggs onto my empty plate.
"What do you think it could be?" Addie asked nervously.
"He's probably just bluffing, trying to shake us up and get us nervous for the game," replied Remus casually, putting a protective arm around Addie.
I noticed though that he was looking rather pale. I remembered then that in three nights, there would be a full moon. Remus would transform into a werewolf again it would once again be James, Peter and my responsibility to make sure he didn't harm anyone and he got to the Shrieking Shack safely. It was always nerve-racking when that full moon came but we had not yet let him escape or harm anyone so I never dwell on it long.
I turned my attention instead to Lora and noticed that she wasn't looking to good. Her face was pale and all the laughter and sparkle had drained out of her blue eyes. She was nibbling away at her toast and muttering plays to herself. It was like this every year before the first game though. I would have thought that by now she wouldn't be that nervous. She had been on the team for four years now but she also knew that whatever happened out there, I would have her back. I've never let a Bludger hit her yet (though in the process of protecting her I have gotten some nasty bruises from the Bludgers myself).
A half hour later we were dressed in our Quidditch clothes and walking out onto the Quidditch pitch. We were drowned in a roar of applause from the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses. The Slytherins jarring could still be heard overtop of the cheers though. I ignored them though and continued on to the middle of the field.
Hooch asked the captains to shake hands. I saw James clench Lucius' hand and they both gave each other a death stare for a quick second. Then they quickly dropped their hand shake and mounted their brooms. Hooch blew her whistle and we were off.
I had missed the feeling of being up in the air. I loved the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair. I loved listening to the cheers below me and knowing that the whole school was looking up to me at that moment, wondering what I was going to do next. I spared a quick glance over to the Forbidden Forest and noticed the trees swaying gracefully in the wind. Even the Womping Willow, which had been planted the same year I arrived at Hogwarts, was swaying almost peacefully in the gentle breeze.
I only had a split second to enjoy this feeling and view because before I knew it, the Bludgers were released and one was going straight for Jill. I flew my broom over to her and hit the speeding, red ball with my club using all my might. It went soaring over to a particularly large Slytherin Chaser, which made them drop the Quaffle they were carrying.
"AND-WILLOWS-CATCHES-THE-QUAFFLE! IT'S-NOW-IN-GRYFFINDORS-POSSESSION! HE-TAKES-THE-BALL-TO-THE-HOOPS-AND-YES! HE-SCORES! THAT'S-60-POINTS-FOR-GRYFFINDOR-AND-ZERO-FOR-SLYTHERIN! THAT'S-WHAT-THOSE-SCUMBAGS-GET-FOR-AIMING-THE-BLUDGER-AT-LORA-"
"Mr. Thomas!" scolded McGonagall. I laughed softly to myself. Jacob Thomas got scolded every year. He was a fifth year in Gryffindor and each game he made listening to the commentary actually enjoyable and funny (though most of the time he got detention for calling the Slytherins-as McGonagall would say- inappropriate things).
I continued hitting Bludgers for some time when I noticed James diving in to catch a small, gold blur. I smiled to myself as I thought about how this year, winning the Cup was going to be a piece of cake.
But no sooner than the words came into my mind, a blur of silver, black and green whizzed down next to James. Lucius' hand was reached out, his fingers just inches away from the Snitch.
How'd he get there so fast? I thought as I watched in awe with the rest of the school as the two rivals raced to win the game.
My eyes widened when I saw that Lucius was riding the latest model broom, the Shooting Star. It was supposed to be the fastest broom yet. I looked around and noticed that all of the Slytherins on the pitch were riding them.
This must be what they meant by 'secret weapons' I thought bitterly as I saw James stretch his arm out even farther.
I watched as James noticed Lucius' new broom with a look of panic. The panic was quickly transformed into hard determination as he inched forward on his worn broom. His face was contorted into frustration and I knew that he was thinking of a possible way to catch the gold, whizzing, ball. I saw his hand inch forward some more until he was at the very tip of his broom. Slowly, he began to life himself up, as if he was going to-
"AND-POTTER-JUMPS-OFF-HIS-BROOM! HE-GRABS-THE-SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR-WINS! TAKE-THAT-YOU-DIRTY-SLYTHERIN-BAST-"
"MR. THOMAS! I SUGGEST THAT YOU DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" yelled McGonagall, but no one was paying attention. Everyone, except the Slytherins, was roaring with applause at James' spectacular win.
James…oh sh-
I watched with horror as my best mate with plummeting downward, the golden snitch in his hand. I put my broom into a nose-dive and flew as fast as I could, trying to catch him. I saw Lora flying down to but she was still a good two feet behind me. I pushed my broom harder and quickly grasped his hand, slowing him down. I flew my broom down and let go of him. I jumped off my broom quickly as Lora and the rest of my ecstatic landed.
"That was bloody amazing!" I yelled at James as we all grabbed him into a group hug. Joshua and Sean hoisted him on their shoulders and James shot his hand holding the snitch up into the air. This only made the students in the stands applaud even louder. The sound in the pitch was deafening and Gryffindors were pouring onto the field, giving us all a clap on the back and looking up in awe at Prongs.
I grabbed Lor and spun her around as we cheered. She let her arms fall around my neck as she laughed and when I set her back down she pulled me into a hug. When she let go, though, she pulled me into a quick kiss. I could feel that stubborn pulling at my heart again as I kissed her back. When she pulled away after a second or two, her face was bright red and I could feel my face reddening also.
I knew that the kiss was more of a "congrats" or a "good game!" kiss rather than the kiss I had been hoping to get for months now. But still, it was a kiss. I could feel a big smile form on my face as we made our way back to the Gryffindor tower, surrounded by fellow Gryffindors and my lovely Lora.
That night, the Gryffindor common room was in a state of complete chaos. James and I managed to get a load of Fizzing Whizbees and a load of safe fireworks. We let them off and the party soon began. Goblets of pumpkin juice littered every available space and people cheered and shouted out memorable points of the game as the cheering continued. Candy wrappers covered the floor and the celebrations continued until the wee hours. I found myself waking up in an armchair next to a sleeping Lora.
One arm was wrapped around her waist and another was resting on top of her head, which lay next to my chest. After a moment of looking around the crowded and quiet room (where Lily was in for a rude awakening when she saw that James had wrapped his arms around her and had burrowed his head into her neck; Remus and Addie were no where to be seen though), I leaned back against the armchair, closed my eyes and replayed the kiss over and over again until I drifted to sleep.