Ch 10 Quidditch

It was the day of the Quidditch match. James couldn't sleep and ended up getting up at five thirty in the morning. He got up, grabbed his broom stick and walked down to the common room. It was deserted, as he suspected. He sat by the fireplace where there was nothing but red coals and ashes. He was staring into them with such concentration and deep in thought.

All he could think about was how the son of a man who follows the lead of the man who tortured him a few months ago was in the same game as he was. He had a very bad feeling something bad was going to happen. Parents were aloud to watch the match but his were busy today. His mom had to go to St. Mungo's for some charity thing and his dad had a very important meeting with the minister. They had sent a good luck card and a few gallons the day before. But he had a feeling the boy's father would be there and that could only mean one thing, Voldemort was still after him.

James shuttered involuntarily and continued to stare into the coals. He didn't know what would happen if the death eater tried to capture him after the match, but he quickly shook the thought out of his head. Dumbledore would be there and he had witnessed, first hand, that Voldemort hated Dumbledore and was afraid of him. But what if Dumbledore couldn't make it to the match? He found himself thinking some crazy things. He was in such a deep thought he didn't see or hear Sirius take a set beside him.

"You aright mate?" he asked with genuine concern. James jumped.

"Oh it's you Sirius, I was just thinking about the match," James said.

"I don't the match would cause that much concentration, come mate, what's really bothering you?"

James sighed and looked at Sirius. Sirius could see the worry on his face. "What if Hoggle's father, you know the death eater, comes to the match and tries something,"

"James, there will be hundreds of people there, all with magical abilities. The odds of that happening are slim to none."

"But it could happen,"

"James, you need to stop dwelling on what Voldemort did to you a few months back and look on into the future. He won't hurt you anymore because you have friends here that care for you, and a headmaster who would go to any lengths to protect his school. I'm almost certain Dumbledore knows who Hoggle is and he won't allow his father to enter the grounds."

"And if he does?" James asked.

"Then Remus, Peter and I will hex him if he tries anything on you. You're going to fine mate," Sirius assured him.

James looked at Sirius and saw the look of determination on his face and knew he was right.

"Thanks mate," James said. "I guess I should shower and get ready for the match."

"Be sure to kick some Slytherin butt!" Sirius said as he climbed back up the stairs to his dorm. It was just only six thirty in the morning and Sirius usually slept in until at least noon on weekends, but being today was a Quidditch match and he was willing to get up at nine thirty for his friend, the match started at eleven.

James sat in the same spot for another five minutes before he got up and showered. He then got his Quidditch things together and sat in the common room and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. They were all going to walk down to breakfast together and James had a feeling they would be up soon, as it was the first match and against Slytherin. He was right. Ten minutes after he started to read a book that was sitting on the table in front of him did the team emerge.

"How long you been up Potter?" Ryan asked.

"Since five thirty," James replied stifling a yawn.

"You sure you're going to be alright for the match?"

"I'll be fine, we should head down to the great Hall and get some breakfast." James replied. The others agreed and they all walked down, broomsticks in hand, to the Great Hall. When they entered they found the Slytherin table full. James thought it was odd because they usually all slept in on weekends, but then he realized they were there to taunt them.

He was right. As they walked by the Slytherins booed and hissed. James took a seat at the Gryffindor table, his back to the Slytherins, and grabbed a few pieces of toast. He only nibbled it as Remus took a seat beside him.

"Hey James, how you feeling?"

"Brilliant," James muttered. "What are you doing up?"

"Came to support a friend before the match. Peter's getting ready as well and surprisingly Sirius was up as well. He told us about your worries too,"

James groaned. "Why did he have to let you guys know,"

"Mate, nothings going to happen, Sirius is right, we'll hex anyone who tries."

"We're second years, this guy is a death eater," James hissed.

"Then we'll warn the professors, James you can't dwell on the past."

"I know," James sighed, "It's just hard."

"I know mate," Remus said. "But try to focus on scoring as many goals for us as you can."

A small smile spread across James's face. "I guess I could do that," he laughed a little. "Thanks mate,"

"That's what I'm here for." He said as Sirius and Peter sat down as well.

"What's to eat?" Sirius asked pulling a dish of eggs towards him.

"Sirius, I thought you were going back to sleep" James asked.

"Couldn't sleep," he shrugged.

"Well, Potter, I think we'll start heading out around ten thirty and check out conditions." Ryan said to him. James nodded his head.

"That gives you an hour and a half, what would you like to do James?" Remus asked.

"Sit here and wallow in pity," James replied. He looked at the two glares he received from Sirius and Remus and broke out in laughter. "I was joking," he said. They continued to glare and then finally broke down in laughter. They just sat at the table talking and taking James's mind off the worry of death eaters until Ryan stood up.

"Alright team, let's head out." As the team stood up applause broke out along the table and they were given handshakes and pats on the back for good luck. James walked with the others and reached the change rooms. Ryan walked out for a bit to see what the conditions are like.

"We have over cast but it looks as if there are some dark clouds rolling in from the north. Let's hope we can get the snitch quickly and hopefully not have to play in the storm that's sure to come in a few hours." He looked over at Mary McGonagall, no relation to the transfiguration teacher, who nodded her head.

"I'm feeling lucky this game," she replied.

"That's what I want to hear," Ryan replied. He then looked over at the beaters.

"Hoggle is sure to play very dirty. Try to knock him off his broom if you can and if not try to keep the bludgers away from him the best you can." Hank and Ernie nodded.

"Good, now my chasers try to keep the quaffle the best you can." Destiny, James and Michael nodded as well. "And I'll try to block as many goals as I can. No pressure, but it would be amazing if we won the cup this year,"

"We won last year remember?"

"Yes, but it would be great if we could win again this year."

"We'll do our best," Destiny said. "Right?" she asked looking at James and Michael.

"You have nothing to worry about Ryan; we'll score all the goals we need to win!" James said enthusiastically.

"That's what I want to hear," Ryan replied as they heard the noise of their school mates walking down to the pitch.

"The game starts in a few minutes, prepare yourselves, and be safe." The team got up and walked out of the change room. The Slytherin team was already flying around the pitch doing a warm up lap. They lined up in front of Madam Hooch and she began to speak.

"I know this house has rivalry but this game will be clean, understood?" She then had everyone mount their brooms and get ready to begin the game.

James was standing between Destiny and Michael and looking into the crowd. He spotted his friends sitting in the stands beside the staff and parents section. They waved at him and he nodded his head to them and turned his attention back to his team and got ready to take off.

"Captains shake hands," Ryan and Terence shook hands, squeezing hard as they always did before playing each other.

"In 3 2 1," suddenly everyone took off. James was busy concentrating on the Slytherins, who were currently in possession of the quaffle. Shelly Wood had just passed to Terrence when Destiny intercepted it and shot off to the other end of the pitch.

James followed her and she passed the Quaffle to him. He caught it and flew, fast, to the hoops. He was about to throw it when a bludger came towards him and he had to duck and the quaffle slipped from his fingers. The crowd booed while the Slytherins cheered. James shot a glare towards Hoggle, who was chuckling, and turned and followed the others down the pitch.

Meanwhile in the stands Sirius, Remus and Peter were watching James intently and saw as Hoggle shot the bludger towards him.

"That was a cheep shot," Sirius muttered angrily under his breath.

"That's Quidditch for you,"

"If I was a beater on the Gryffindor team I'd make sure to knock every single Slytherin off their brooms,"

"Sirius, I don't think you can do that unless you have a rational reason for hitting the bludger. The player has to in possession don't they?"

"Yes Remus, the seeker would have to have spotted the snitch to be hit with a bludger and the chasers have to be in possession of the quaffle while the keeper has to be in risk of saving the quaffle. If the quaffle goes in possession of the keeper then they can have a bludger shot at them."

"Look, James has the quaffle again." Peter exclaimed. It was true James had the quaffle and was advancing on the Slytherin hoops. James shot the quaffle and received the first goal of the game.

"An excellent goal by Gryffindors new chaser James Potter," James did a quick flip in the air for celebration while his friends cheered him on. That's when James spotted them, Lusius Malfoy and Nacrissa Black in the stands, with the other Slytherins, and their wands out pointing at his broom. James tried to get his friends attention but they were too busy still celebrating to notice it. James took another quick glance at Malfoy and Black but they were gone.

Where did that death eater and his tramp go? He asked himself as he flew off after his team mates towards their own hoops where Terrence had the quaffle. Unfortunately they couldn't block him and Slytherin scored. The game was tied 10-10. James sighed but was in possession of the quaffle once again. He passed it to Michael and decided to take a quick glance around while he sped towards the hoops. He saw them again.

Malfoy and Black were now by the bottom of the stands. They looked to be arguing or something. James stopped what he was doing and stared at them intensely. He didn't know why he watched them when he should have his head in the game but he knew they were planning something. It couldn't be a coincident that the son of a death eater be at the match and James having a death eater point his wand at him. It wasn't right and he knew something was up, he just didn't know what.

"Potter, what are you doing?" Ryan cried suddenly. James turned his head and saw the quaffle flying towards him. He somehow caught it and quickly sped off to the hoops.

He passed it to Destiny who caught it and flew off and shot it back over to Michael who tried to score but missed, big time.

"I thought you could play catcher?" asked Terrence, just to spite them as he caught the quaffle.

"Bletchley, just play the game and don't make me hex you!" Michael bellowed. Terrence laughed in his face and scored another goal for Slytherin.

The game went on for this for another hour, until the score was 60-30, Gryffindor. James kept glancing around whenever he had a spare moment to keep an eye on Malfoy. He was still standing by the stands with Black, his wand nowhere in sight. James was beginning to feel slightly more nervous at the sight of them. He wasn't sure if he should signal for a time out and talk to his captain or not.

He then saw Lusius Malfoy reveal his wand from nowhere and wave it in a random direction. James suddenly felt dizzy and he began to fly in random orders around the pitch. He could hear voices screaming and calling him but he couldn't concentrate on anything and suddenly he felt something smack him on the head hard and everything was black.

Sirius saw the whole thing. He may not have seen Malfoy but he saw James staring at something below him that he couldn't see. Remus and Peter were busy watching the seekers as they both dove for the ground after the snitch and after James flew in random circles and was hit by a bludger that was shot by Hoggle did the Slytherin seeker catch the snitch.

"That piece of shit!" Sirius said.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Hoggle knocked James out."

"What!" Remus and Peter responded at the same time and Sirius pointed to the ground where James was now lying.

"What happened exactly?"

"All I saw was James looking at something down below, I couldn't see what it was or anything, but he then started to flew oddly and then Hoggle hit him with a bludger."

"How come we didn't notice anything?"

"Yea Sirius, you should have said something." Remus stated.

"I tried, but you two were too busy watching the bloody seekers then to pay our mate any attention!" Sirius got up angrily and ran down the steps and onto the pitch where the Gryffindor team was surrounding James.

"Did anyone see what happened?" Ryan was asking.

"You're the bloody captain King! You should have been watching your team!" Sirius roared.

"Sorry, but you know how Quidditch works. If you see the seekers go down, everything else in the match freezes to watch them."

"So you forget about your team and let the Slytherins try to kill your team mate?" Sirius was very angry that nobody had seen what happened to his best mate.

"Look Black, I was a little preoccupied-."

"Don't give me that shit!" Sirius yelled. He was far too angry to worry about getting in trouble for his language. "James was out here basically risking his life playing a death eaters son and you don't pay him any attention. You don't think it's a big deal. Look what happened to him."

Dumbledore had arrived, along with McGonagall.

"Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Lupin will you go with Professor McGonagall to the hospital wing with Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, would you follow me please. Everyone else back to your common rooms," The crowd around them broke up. The team went into the change rooms while everyone else walked towards the castle. Sirius followed Dumbledore to his office.

They arrived outside a stone gargoyle. "Bubble gum," Dumbledore said and behind the gargoyle was a stone staircase which the both of them steeped on and it began to move upwards and they ended up in the headmaster's office.

It was circular and a lot of instruments covered tables. Portraits covered the walls and a phoenix bird sat on a perch by his desk.

"Mr. Black, please take a seat." Dumbledore instructed. Sirius obeyed and sat.

"Can I offer you a lemon drop?" he asked. Sirius shook his head. "Well then do you mind telling me what happened? You seem to be the only one who witnessed the event."

"First I want to know what'll happen to James," Sirius stated.

"Mr. Potter will be in the Hospital Wing for now. I'm not sure what is wrong with him but depending on his injuries, he may be there for a few hours or a few days. You may visit him after this meeting." Sirius nodded and took a deep breath.

"I didn't see everything," he started.

"Just tell me what you saw," Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Well, I was trying to keep a watch on James the whole match. He was worried that Hoggles father, who's apparently a death eater, would be at the match and try to hurt him. We, that is to say Remus Peter and I, assured him everything was going to be fine. I told him that you knew what his father was and that you wouldn't allow him in the ground. It seemed to relax him a bit.

"While I was watching him I saw him staring at something below the stands. I tried to see what it was but I couldn't see anything. James suddenly started to fly off in random directions. It wasn't like him; he's a brilliant Quidditch player and a very good flyer. I knew something was wrong but nobody was watching the game anymore because the seekers had gone in a dive.

"I tried to get Remus and Peter's attention but they were too busy watching the seekers. That's when I saw Hoggle strike a very hard bludger at James and he fell fifty feet to the ground. I couldn't think of a spell to help him stop falling." Sirius now had tears in his eyes, "is he going to be alright professor?"

Dumbledore looked at Sirius. "James will be fine Sirius," Sirius looked up at the wise old man. He had never heard him call any of the students by their first name.

"How can you be sure?"

"You have to trust me. Come along, we must make a trip to the hospital wing." Sirius nodded and followed the headmaster down to the hospital wing.

Upon entering the wing Sirius saw Remus, Peter and McGonagall around James's bed, he was still unconscious.

"Albus what has happened?" McGonagall asked.

"I will tell you later Minerva, Poppy, have you found out what is wrong with the boy?"

"He had the schwindlig curse on him." [A/N: schwindlig is German for dizzy]

"I haven't seen that since my days as a student here, I thought it was a banned curse?"

"Only used by dark witches and wizards."

"Like death eaters?"

"Yes, I'm afraid I can see You-Know-Who bringing back the old curses."

"Sorry headmaster, but what does this schwindlig curse do?"

"Mr. Lupin, this curse will make a person dizzy and can, to some extent, make them under your control if left on long enough. It will confuse the victim and therefore they won't know what they are doing."

"That sounds horrible," Peter muttered.

"Yes Mr. Pettigrew, it is. Poppy how did you determine it was the schwindlig curse?"

"This particular curse does temporary damage to the eyes when it is not done effectively, as this one was not."

"Probably due to the bludger hitting him, no doubt." McGonagall stated.

"I believe so Professor McGonagall," Madam Pomfry stated. "No less, Potter will have to stay here. He will most likely be unconscious for a few days. When the curse was lifted after he was hit, his eyes were affected and therefore it affected his brain and it caused him to black out. The bludger didn't help either. Dangerous game Quidditch, Albus, I don't understand how you let these students play it."

"How did his eyes affect his brain?" Sirius asked.

"Well, your brain registers everything you see and hear. Potters eyes had such damage done to them by this curse that his brain wanted to shut down and not see anything any more. No, he will not be blind I had put a special potion in his eyes."

"In?"

"A few drops yes," Pomfry said. "He should have no more damage done to them and should be able to see perfectly fine by the time he wakes."

"I want to know when he wakes up," Sirius stated.

"Mr. Black, you shall be the first, after myself." Dumbledore said. Sirius gave a small smile.

"What about us?" Remus asked. Sirius glared at him.

"You two were too busy watching the seekers then worrying about your friend's safety!" Sirius spat. He glared at them for a little while longer and then turned and left.