A/N: First of all, the OC in this piece is Nova Greengrass and she appeared very briefly in my Victoire/Lysander one-shot called "The Edge Of Glory" and I'm pretty sure her name is also mentioned once or twice in my other one-shot "Blinding The Lights". Anyway, it comes down on the fact that she's Daphne Greengrass' daughter and I am planning on writing more stories about her, which will define her character far better than this one, so I'm sorry if she's still a little bit vague at this point. Secondly, I'm not really sure what I think about this one, but I kind of like the idea of this pairing, though, so I thought I should give it a try. Please tell me what you think! :) Enjoy! - Lauren

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Pairing: James/Nova

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"Girl, you're impossible girl,

You know that's it's true,

Oh, oh, no matter what you do,

I'd cross the world for someone like you."

- Someone Like You – The Summer Set -

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If there's one thing they've learned from playing Quidditch, it's this: it doesn't matter if you're on the losing hand; if you change the rules, you change the game.

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She knows she's a show-off. She's exactly like her mother, isn't she? Equally pretty, equally witty, equally talented and equally desperate for attention. But the thing is, she knows she's better than him, so it's only fair that she wants to show it, right? She's faster and lighter and extremely agile and she's willing to give absolutely everything to win a game. So this is just another one of those things she has to prove to him, right?

Too bad not everything is going exactly according to plan.

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They're lying on the grass right in the middle of the empty Quidditch pitch and holy, freaking hell – he's kissing her.

He's pulling at her shirt and his hands are in her curls and his tongue – oh Salazar, she shouldn't be doing this. But for some odd reason it seems impossible for her brain to turn her thoughts into reality, so for once she acts completely on her intuition, wrapping her arms around his neck, pushing herself closer against him. He softly moans, rolling them over so that she's lying on top now and Merlin, did she mention that she really shouldn't be doing this?

It's James Sirius Potter, for God's sake.

And it doesn't matter that he's got this smile and his eyes are absolutely gorgeous and he has those little freckles on his nose and cheekbones which drive her absolutely crazy. It doesn't matter that arguing with him kind of makes her day and that detention is no longer the most horrible thing in the world, when he's around. It doesn't matter that his entire family completely adores him. It doesn't matter that her heart flutters when she watches him laugh with Lily or play chess with Hugo or help Roxie with her homework the entire afternoon, even though she's always been kind of a sucker for boys that. It's doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter, because he's also an arrogant asshole most of the time and he's way too competitive for it's own good and he thinks that he's the bloody reincarnation of Godric Gryffindor himself, for heaven's sake!

And didn't her mother tell her not to fall in love with boys like him?

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(he's kissing her though, and it feels like her heart's about to explode right out of her chest)

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He knows he's good enough. He's a Seeker, like his father was, and there's nothing in the world he loves more than flying around on a broomstick. Some day, he thinks, he might play for a real team. He's got the perfect body for it, the proper insight, the spirit for the game. He'll earn is money with doing exactly what he loves and no one is going to sabotage it for him. No one. And this is just to show her who's best, once and for all, isn't it?

Too bad not everything is going exactly according to plan.

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She's standing right in front of him, back straightened, eyes narrowed, broom clenched tightly in her hand.

"What are you doing here, Potter?"

He rolls his eyes. "What does it look like, Greengrass? Ballet lessons?"

She takes a step closer to him, blue eyes blazing with fire. "Shut it, James. I'm not getting into this with you again. You know the pitch is mine tonight. I even signed in on that fucking thing you put up in the locker room last week."

He grins arrogantly at her. "Well, well. Watch your language, Nova. People put a lot of their time and effort in the Registration Schedule."

She glares at him. "Then bloody do what it says and get off of the pitch right now!"

He walks forward and smiles, slowly puts his hand in it's pocket and takes out the small familiar golden ball, holding it out to her. "I've got a different idea. I'll race you for it. What do you say?"

Her eyes narrow. She's tired and angry and actually she would really like to just tell him to suck it up and leave the pitch, but this is a challenge and she's never the one to deny a challenge. Besides, this is kind of a routine for them anyways.

She closes her hand over the Snitch in palm. "Deal. Winner gets the pitch. Loser gets out."

He winks and his face is way closer to hers than she'd normally allow, but before he can say something she yanks up her arm and releases the snitch. Within a second both of them are on their brooms and flying around the pitch, now chasing the little golden ball like their lives depend on it.

It's over way sooner than they thought.

After a minute or so they both accidentally lost sight of the Snitch and now she's flying on the right side of the pitch and he's on the left, and then they suddenly catch the golden flicker again, right in the middle. She bends forward, speeding up as fast as she can, but on the other side James is getting close dangerously fast as well. No way, it flashes through her mind, she's not going to let him win this one. It's only a couple of meters now. Almost there, almost there…

And then the snitch suddenly changes direction and speeds away.

They crash right into each other, circle downwards through the air in a mess of equipment and broomsticks and the other person and before either of them can really comprehend what's going on they hit the ground with a loud crack and several cries of pain.

She struggles with her broom and her elbow hurts and then everything around them just stops.

He's lying half on top of her, arm spread out over her stomach, face mere inches from her own.

She looks at him, thinks for a second, and then she just laughs. She laughs out loud and the sound fills up the air and she just can't help it. Because really, it's all just a game to them, isn't it? All of this – the competition, the anger, the hate – it's all just a game. And they're both way too good at it.

"Move, Potter."

He laughs with her. And he thinks she's actually kind of really attractive when she's looks at him like that. And so he kisses her and it's more exciting (and way scarier) than any Quidditch match he's ever played in his entire life.

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(she kisses him back though, and it feels like his heart's about to explode right out of his chest)