The Big Game

"So I travelled here, to stop Voldemort from destroying everything I… love." Harry finished sadly. It was almost one in the morning, and Harry didn't know how they would play quidditch later, but he didn't stop telling his story until the end.

"So when they say that life is short…" Lily sighed, hugging James.

Harry went to her and held her hand.

"I came here to save you. All of you. I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you like this, but after I told I was an orphan I couldn't possibly tell a half truth."

"We don't want to scare you." Ginny comforted, and Sirius sprung to his feet.

"I… I'm going to Azkaban, then? Everybody's ending bad" he looked desperate.

"Sirius, please calm down." Hermione said.

"And what about my brother?"

"He… He became a Death Eater." Harry told sadly. "But he rebelled."

"He rebelled?"

"Yeah. He decided to do what we did today, and destroy the horcrux. He found the cave."

"And he destroyed the locket?" Marlene asked. Harry denied.

"He never left the cave."

Sirius fell on the couch, shaking. Alice and Frank were frozen with shock, and Dorcas and Emmeline cried. James gazed to his friends, and rose determined.

"Everybody calm down!"

"Speak for yourself, Prongs." Sirius said depressed. "I'm spending the rest of my life in Azkaban."

"Harry, you're here to defeat Voldemort, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"If he's defeated before this all happens, everything changes, right? This is logic, he can't kill me if I have killed him first."

"Yes."

"Then I'm going to kill him."

"Are you mad, James?" Remus asked.

But James was irreducible. He walked to Lily, who stared at him hopelessly.

"I'm going to kill him, and then we marry." Then he went to the locket, and opened it. For a second Voldemort's soul started to speak, but James was quicker. He grabbed the tooth and stabbed the glass in it. The scream was silenced, and he threw the locket aside.

"Now there's only one left, and then Voldemort himself."

"Aren't you afraid?" Harry asked, looking James pacing around.

"No. If I defeat him, I'm saved, so is everyone. If I don't… Well, I'm already going to die, it doesn't matter. Sirius didn't deserve, Remus didn't deserve, none of us deserved what happened. You didn't, Harry."

Harry grinned to his father and rose up too.

"You're right. There's just one problem."

"What problem?"

"The next horcrux is a snake, which is always with Him."

"So we have to find Voldemort."

"Yes."

"Well, today we play against the Slytherins, which for itself is very risky. If we survive, we look for Him." mocked James, walking near Sirius and sitting beside him.

"You don't need to sulk, Sirius. Everything will be just fine."

"Say it for yourself." Sirius sighed heavily.

XXX

The excitement pre-match kept everyone awake until breakfast, and they greeted Regulus with a smile when he arrived.

"You're so quiet." He commented. "Avery didn't say anything else, so I guess it's ok."

"If he does something in this game, I'll curse him." Sirius groaned. "I'm not hungry. I'll be waiting in the dressing room to finish them all."

"He didn't sleep well?" Regulus asked surprisingly. James grinned.

"Sort of. I guess we should be going too. Luck, Reg."

"Thanks, for you too."

The Gryffindors went to the dressing room, and when they arrived Sirius had picked his bat. James went to his room to get the scheme board, and when he came back he gazed at Sirius.

"Calm down, mate. We're not killing everyone."

"You'd better end Voldemort, James." Sirius leaned on his bat irritated.

"We will." Harry tranquilized him. The team grabbed their brooms and walked to the pinch, surprised with the speed which the stage filled.

"Here it comes!" Mary irradiated, gleeful. "The match we've been expecting! Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, what a classic! Who shall take the cup? Gryffindor has five hundred and eighty pointed on the big score, against the five hundred and twenty of Slytherin! Close!"

"You have to end this quickly." James whispered to Harry before he went to shake Avery's hands. Harry glanced to the Slytherin team and his eyes stopped in Regulus, who looked pale and scared. Nervous, he poked Sirius.

"There's something wrong with Regulus, Pads. Look."

"He looks sick…"

Regulus eyes met Harry's, and he pointed discretely to Avery.

"Avery did something to him."

"I told you he was going to do something." Sirius muttered.

But there was no time left for discussions, for Madame Hooch's whistle was blown and they had to leave the ground.

Sirius was right about being aggressive, Harry thought, for that was the most lethal game he had ever played. On the first five minutes of game the bludger hit Ron fully on the stomach, and James marked for the fault. Sirius lost his patience and threw one of the Slytherins from his broom, leaving the green team with only six players. Harry looked anxiously for the Snitch, but no sign of the ball was seen.

"Potter, Mckinnon, Weasley and… AH!" Mary said as Avery took the quaffle from Ginny's hands.

Ron had lost his confidence after the fault, and Slytherin made point after point in him, leaving them all desperate.

"Point for Slytherin!" Mary tried to sound impartial, but her voice was anxious. "One hundred for Slytherin and twenty for Gryffindor, come on!"

Harry flew to the other direction, and found Regulus getting sick near the goals.

"Reg, what happened?"

"Avery…" the boy burbled, glancing at the pinch. "I'm so sorry, Harry…"

"Why?"

"I had no defense; they surprised me with the bats…"

Harry heard Slytherin making another point.

"You're going to win."

"They want to win for more than two hundred points, Harry." Regulus explained sadly. "So they won't need me… They tortured me in the dressing room… Oh, Harry, sorry!"

"What did you say, Regulus?"

"That you had come from the future. I couldn't do anything, the Carrows came from behind, hit me with their bats. Then it was easy for Crouch to use the Cruciatus curse."

"No problem." Harry tried to comfort. "We'll see what happens."

Another point for Slytherin, and Harry raced his broom on the pinch, ducking away from two bludgers. He had to find the Snitch. He passed through the arrows in time to see James almost falling, but a golden flash near Ginny called his attention, and he raced towards it.

Harry had never wished for his Firebolt more than when he raced towards, having Ginny as his only goal. He didn't see James fall from his broomstick, being saved by a desperate Sirius, or the players stopping the game to fight, neither had he seen Madam Hooch using her wand to take Sirius away from Avery. All he saw was his hand closing around the golden ball, and the red cheer screaming around.

When he stepped on the ground, he saw Madam Hooch yelling at Avery:

"Never, in all my life, have I seen such low act! Curse the Gryffindor chaser! Fifty points you lost for Slytherin, and one week detention! Mr. Black, about you…"

"AH!" Lily screamed when she arrived, and she and Harry ran to the litter where James laid, Sirius by his side.

"If Avery killed James, I swear I won't rest until I finish him." He whispered lethally, turning his furious eyes to the Slytherins.

James looked horrible. Still in his broom he had got many bludgers as Sirius asked Regulus if he was fine and Fabian tried protecting Ginny from the other bludger. Besides, one of the Carrows hit him with the bat, making him faint and fall from his broom, when Avery cursed him. Sirius held him before he hit the ground, but he had a deep cut on his head, from where blood dripped over his face.

"Jim…" Lily moved his hair from his forehead, and James slowly opened his eyes.

"We won?"

"Yes." Harry showed him the Snitch. "You made Gryffindor champion, James."

The marauder smiled weakly and held Harry's hand.

"Thanks." And then he fell, unconscious.