As always, I do not own Harry Potter or his world. Everything belongs to J Rowling and the franchise. (I do own, however, all my OC's, so hopefully you'll like them).
Reviews letting me know about any grammar, spelling or language in general will be really appreciated.
Hope you enjoy this!
(Game)
"I'm going to be sick".
"No you're not" Scorpius argued for what it felt like the hundredth time, offering Lyra a toast.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust and he sighed, grabbing the pumpkin jam and having a bit of the toast himself.
"Finish your juice, at least" he said when he swallowed "Don't want you to pass out of a sugar low while up in the air".
"I" Lyra said slowly, glaring at him "Don't want to be up in the air".
"You are going to be great honey" Sabrina cut in "Now drink your juice and head to the pitch. You don't wanna be late to your first game".
Lyra tried her best, but the blueberry juice, which usually was her favorite, seemed to be made of gum and it didn't travel well down her throat.
"I hate you" she mumbled as soon as the Quidditch pitch came to sight.
Scorpius grunted in response. But the first time Lyra realized he seemed to be too occupied being almost as nervous as she was, it was his first game as Captain after all. What a pair, she thought, and she linked her arm with his, which was uncomfortable because he was holding his new broom but made him smile.
"We are going to do great" she said, putting as much confidence as she could master (which was not much)in her voice.
"I know" and with a deep breath, he threw open the door of Slytherin's locker room.
Lyra tried to force herself to concentrate on putting on her Quidditch gear right. It had belonged to some bulky Slytherin chaser before it was hers, and although the name had been changed and now read Nott in brand new silver letter, the green of the jersey was sightly faded and the sleeves were ridiculously long for her arms, even after the shrink charm she had produced. She wondered briefly, as she secured her arm padding, if she could get Rose Weasley to fix it, she was the best at Charms in their year.
Scorpius cleared his throat and the room went silent. Lyra couldn't help but notice putting on his uniform seemed to have helped him overcome his nervousness, because he looked as sure of himself as ever.
"Okay guys" he said "This is our moment. We are the best team Slytherin's had in years, and we've worked ourselves out for this. We can win the Quidditch Cup, hell, we deserve the Quidditch Cup" he said forcefully, and Graham Zabini cheered loudly "This game is just the first step. So let's get out there and crush those Claws!"
This time, not only Zabini cheered, but the whole team did as they followed their captain out onto the field. Lyra was the last one to emerge, and the sun hit her like a blast as soon as she did, there was not a single cloud in sight and the wind blew nothing but a gentle breezes. She smiled for the first time that day. It was a perfect day for Quidditch, and it was all hers.
Coach Spinnet signaled for the captains to come to the center of the pitch and everyone else mounted their brooms. Lyra grabbed the handle as tightly as she could, taking deep breaths.
"Okay" she could hear Coah Spinnet saying to Scorpius and Ravenclaw's captain Corner "This is the first game of the season, and I want it to be a nice one. No one on the infirmary after this, are we clear?"
Scorpius and Corner shook hands. Lyra leaned forward. Coach Spinnet blew her silver whistle and fourteen feets hit the ground at once to lift their owner's brooms.
"Ravenclaw's got the Quaffle!" a happy voice announced to the crowd, and Lyra looked down to see Roxanne Weasley was commenting the match. "Thomas passes to Miller, who surisingly is actually able to catch... and no, Slytherin's chaser Greengrass has taken the Quaffle"
Lyra dived around one of the Ravenclaw chasers, who was trying to block her, while keeping an eye on her teammate, who was flying right towards her with two other 'Claws on his hills.
"Greengrass dodges a bludger, the Slytherin chaser hasn't been hit by one since his second year. Thomas is way too close... and no, Greengrass passes to the newest addition of his team".
To her surprise, Lyra caught the Quaffle in her hands in one neat motion. And even more surprisingly, she didn't freeze, but felt her body moving on its own accord to lead the broom. It was almost automatic, she thought delighted.
"Nott's got the Quaffle, let's see now what the new girl can do. Nice dive around a speeding bludger, she's got Ravenclaw Miller right behind her, but she's never been really fast..."
"WEASLEY!"
"Sorry, Professor Longbottom" but she didn't sound sorry at all, everybody knew Tracy Miller had dated Roxanne's older brother, Freddy, briefly last year, and that she had cheated on him.
Anyway, Roxanne was right, Miller was not as fast as Lyra and she quickly could leave her behind. Put of the corner of her eye, she could see Scorpious expertly dodging a bludger and getting close to the Ravenclaw goals. He wanted her to pass. So she did.
"Nott to Malfoy... and it's a good pass!" Roxanne Weasley informed, and Lura breathed out in relief "Off he goes, the Slytherin captain has always been a natural flier... 'Claw's Keeper Clearwater misses... Slytherin has scored!".
Lyra felt the ridiculous urge to laugh when the green and silver benches erupted in cheers and whistles.
"Nice one!" Zabini told her as he sprinted by her side, beat ready to hit a bludger coming jis way viciously towards the Ravenclaw captain.
"Thomas with the Quaffle again, passes to the captain instead of Miller, good choice..."
"WEASLEY"t
"Right, sorry. Anyway, Belby with the Quaffle, straight to the posts... WOW. He takes a bludger to her right side, that's gotta hurt...Thomas saves the Quaffle! Now this girl can fly, passes to Miller, intercdpted by Malfoy. Malfoy to Greengrass, Greengrass to Nott... and Nott to Greengrass again. He aims... and Clearwater stops the Quaffle. Miller in possession".
Lyra greeted her teeth, trying to catch up with the Ravenclaw girl while Scorpius stayed behind and Troy flew ahead. It was a nice play they had been rehearsing the whole week. Suddenly, she could see something black moving towards her out of the corner of her eye. The bludger, because it was a crazy-fast bludger, hit Miller in the head. From her spot on the air, Lyra could hear a crack. She winced.
"Miller down thanks to a well-aimed bludger from Zabini" Roxanne Weasley commented, sounding enterely too pleased "Greengrass has the Quaffle...wait, is that the snitch?".
Lyra stopped mid-air, and so did everyone else around her. It was the snitch, and the seekers were neck to neck after it.
Came on, Lyra though, watching her sister's friend, a scrawny fourth year named Leah Pucey, speed towards the floor, her right arm stretched in front of her Came on.
They were about to crash. The whole pitch seemed to be holding their breaths. If they catched the snitch, it would be one of the shortest games ever, if they didn't... well, likely at least one of the seekers will hit the gorund.
Suddenly, Pucey seemed to jerk on her broom, and her body jolted forward.
She caught the snitch.
Roxanne Weasley was the first to recover.
"Pucey's got the snitch!" she shouted throughbthe speakers "This is it folks! Slytherin's won the game! Snakes add point to their house and the rest of us can go enjoy a wondeful day at Hogsmeade!".
Lyra was grinning like and idiot, she could tell, but so was everyone else in the Slytherin's locker room. And when Scorpious finally arrived, Troy and Graham even lifted him on their shoulders. As soon as he got down, he hugged Pucey, which was terribly out of character for him, but nobody seemed to notice the oddity of it but poor Leah, who turned bright red from head to toe when her handsome captain embraced her.
By the time she got back into her regular clothes, freshly showered, Lyra was smiling so widely she feared her face woild break. This, she thought, is why people become so obsessed with Quidditch.
"Hey Lyra" Darrin Flint said, sitting on the bench where she was knotting her shoes "It was a great game today".
Lyra simply nodded. Since she had joined the team, Flint had begun to show a constant interest in her, which in all honestly crept her out a bit. He was built like a troll and therefore was a good keeper, but it seemed to be his only quality, as she found him particularly unattractive and too bulky for her liking. In addition, he never seemed to have anything interesting (or remotely clever for that matter) to say.
Lyra had the feeling he would suffocate her to death without even realizing what he was doing.
"So..." he started to say, looking at her rather hungrily. She panicked.
"Sorry, Flint. I have to go" she blurted, grabbing her bag.
"Go where?" he frowned.
"Hogsmeade".
"But Malfoy is still here" Flint said, getting up.
Lyra practically run to the door. "I'm not going with him today. But they are waiting for me so..."
And with that, she bolted.
"Who are you running away from?" a voice asked from her left, and she stopped to face Liam Wood. Twice in less than a week, she thought, just my luck.
"I'm not running away" she informed him " This is my normal pace".
"Oh, okay then. And has your normal pace always matched that of a pack of running hippogriffs?"
"It's a rare condition" she said, and the smile he sent her looked almost as pained as hers had been.
"Nice game by the way" he said, starting to walk next to her "Although you didn't get to play much".
"Am I supposed to take thatbas a compliment?".
"Not really" he shrugged "Just an honest observation. And here's another, you need to work on you passes".
"What?".
"You lean sightly towards the side you are about to pass the Quaffle to" he explained in a bored voice, as if Lyra was a particularly dim five year old. "I noticed it from the bleachers".
"For Morgana's shake. What are you, stalking me?".
Wood snorted, unsuccessfully trying to flip his black hair out of his eyes. Which Lyra guessed to mean No, I'm not stalking you Nott.
"Well, as fun as it is to chat with you, Wood..."
"Nott" he interrupted her "Flint is coming this way, and he does not look happy. I don't suppose your normal pace had anything to do with him?".
Lyra winced.
"I have it all under control".
"Really? Because it doesn't look like he's gotten the message" Wood said, in his most perfectioned Head Boy voice "Honestly, if you don't like a guy you should just tell him to back the fuck off".
"Okay then" she answered, turning to look him directly in the eyes "Please, back the fuck off".
He looked so surprised he stopped moving at once, and Lyra took the opportunity to start to walk away.
She was still close enough, however, to hear his deep, genuine laugh at her back.
(Let's talk fate)
Destiny, James Potter knew, worked in most unsuspected ways. Things like someone calling you one morning when you're about to leave and you avoiding being hit by a bus on your way to work, or you feeling the inexplicable urge to get a Fortescue ice-cream in the middle of a snow storm and meeting the love of your life. Or being born on July 31th instead of on the first of August, like you were supposed to, and therefore becoming the chosed savior of the Wizardy World.
In James's case, he had not only got both his names from two of the most notorious troublemakers that had ever set foot in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but he had also inherited the hability of said boys to land himself in trouble. Furthermore, he had been born in the Weasley family, where his natural abilities for mischief making, rule-breaking and generaly drive everyone around him crazy were appropriately nourished by his Uncle George and an endless stock of Weasley Wizard Wheezes supplies.
It was no wonder, really, that he managed to land himself in trouble even before he reached Hogwarts, when he and Freddy had decided setting off several Bombastic Bombs in the Hogwarts Express was a fantastic way of inaugurating their sixth year.
It could have been a glorious prank, indeed, or at least one of their most beautiful works. Could have. Because fate, as usual, had other plans.
And so, that's how James Potter found himself walking straight into a prefect with his hands full of (banned) explosive fireworks.
If it had been any other prefect - except maybe for a Slytherin one, because the entire house tended to not be able to see the fun on James's jokes, even though they were often on the receiving end of one - he could have easily convinced them to turn a blind eye and let him do his thing, but because fate had decided to be completely against James that morning, the prefect happened to be Lizzy Hathaway, who was not willing to even blink.
"Those" she said, extending her open palm "Are banned".
If James caught the seriousness of he tone, he decided to ignore it as soon as he saw the Hufflepuff badge on the girl's robes. Hufflepuffs never really give him a hard time, maybe because they were all truly nice, maybe because Teddy Lupin had been the Head Boy during James's first year and his entire house had simply decided to follow his lead and have a soft spot for James.
"It's okay" he had told the girl "I'm not going to get anywhere close to the engine, or the teacher's compartments, or the trolley lady".
The girl, had not looked impressed.
"Of course you are not" she had replied coolly "Because I'm confiscating all those explosives".
"What?" James had (and he was not proud of this) shrieked, hugging his fireworks closer "This are my supplies for the whole term. Do you even realize how much all of this costs?"
"A lot, I'm guessing"
Liz had sighed loudly, and James had relaxed, thinking she had given up. To his surprise she snatched the Bombastic Bombs from his arms with a firm tug.
"Hey!".
"I'm not happy about this either Potter".
"That's bullying!"
"Please, I'm anywhere near the bullying stage".
But unfortunately for Liz, James's cries had gotten the Head Boy, a Ravenclaw seveth year named Noel Carter, attention. And it was unfortunate because Noel Carter happened to had a deep crush on James's cousin Dominique, who was the Head Girl. On less than a minute, he had decided that the fireworks would be confiscated, but just for the duration of the train ride.
Which, in the end, meant that James could keep the Bombastic Bombs.
He also learned that the girl, whose name was Liz Hathaway, was only a Fifth year, and therefore, not to be taken seriously either as a threat or as a prefect. It seemed that fate, after all, was on James's favor.
Liz all but huffed, she was severely disappointed when smoke didn't come out.
James smirked smugly, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms behind his head. If he hadn't been so focused on looking as nonchalant as he could, he wouldn't have missed the look of livid rage that crossed Liz's face, but he did. Liz leaned forward and with a well aimed kick she threw open the door that was actually supporting James.
He fell ass-first onto the floor of his family compartment.
And for the first time (and it won't be the last), James Potter realized how beautiful Liz Hathaway was.
"Wait" he had yelled, ignoring his cousins laughs and scattering to get up and follow her down the corridor "Hey wait!".
The expression she wore when she finally turned around had looked remarkably like the one Aunt Hermione 's when she had heard one too many of Uncle George's ideas.
"Yes?".
"Do you want to go out with me? Sometime?".
She hadn't even dignified it with a response, turning away muttering something that sounded suspiciously like bloody prat under her breath.
But James was not his mother's son for nothing. He had never known when to give up when he believed something was meant to happen. So he didn't. And after so many times hearing Liz say no to him, he could recognize her voice anywhere, even in the middle of the crowded Hogsmeade's Weasley Wizard Wheezes.
"Don't think about it as Slytherin winning" Hugo was telling him "Think about Tracy Miller loosing".
They were on the back of the shop, James classifying products and Hugo sitting on the top od a bunch of boxes,meating his weight in candy from Honeyduke's and narrating the Quidditch game.
"Excuse me?" a voice ringed from the shop, close to the counter, and James's heart skipped a beat "Can you help us?".
"Of course" they could hear Freddie saying "I'll be with you in a second".
"Thank you" Liz replied, and James could just tell she was smiling.
"Uncle George!" he exclaimed, cutting off something Hugo was saying and leaning over the stairs to the second floor office "Uncle George!".
"Where's the fire kid?" his uncle head appeared on the top of the stairs.
"Can I go help at the front?"
"No".
"What? Why not?" he demanded.
"Because Freddie is worthless at organizing anything" George said "he's useless back here".
"I'll be back in a second" James promised "he won't need to help here. Come on, Uncle George, do it for your favorite nephew".
Uncle George snorted.
"I have a bunch of nephews, you are not even a Weasley. And-" he paused dramatically for a second "You let your little sister win at the prank war".
"Lily got Uncle Percy as a target!" James exclaimed forcefully "I got my mum! How was I supposed to prank my mum and keep all my limbs attached?".
"Ah, young Potter" George nodded "You make a fair point indeed. Off you go then, attend to your lovely lady".
"What lady?" Hugo asked, suddenly more interested in the conversation than in his chocolate frogs.
But James was already moving and he ignored his cousin, opening the door behind the counter and stepping into the shop.
Liz was leaning against the pygmy puffs display, letting them sniff her hand and cautiously rub against it.
"Lizzy" a male voice said behind her. Startled, she let a puff fall from her hand.
When she turned around, James Potter was smiling at her. If she had had something else in her hands, she would have dropped that too.
He looked exactly like he had the last time she had seen him, on his graduation day. Of course, it had only been three months ago, but for some reason Liz had expected him to change now that he was out in the world of grown ups. Then again, she should have known James Potter wouldn't grow up at all if he could help it.
"Hi" she replied after a bit too long "What are you doing here?".
"I work here" James replied, and he unconsciously messed up his hair with one hand.
"At the joke shop?" Liz said, fighting the urge to snap his hands away from his own hair, because what did she care if he decided to look like he had never seen a hairbrush in his life? "I thought you got in Auror training".
"I did" James replied. And something in the tone of his voice, surprisingly serious and grave, told Liz to leave it alone.
"So" she tried, suddenly awkward "Freddy is helping my friend Margo find some things. It must be nice, working with your best friend".
"It is" he grinned "Except for when he blows something up on the lab and I have to clean up the mess".
Liz blinked, not sure how to respond to that piece of information. The idea of James Potter cleaning up somebody else's mess sounded particularly insane.
"Al told me you are the Head Girl by the way, congratulations".
"Thank you" Liz said, looking down to where her badge would have been if she had been wearing her school robes "I was sure your cousin Rose was gonna get it, in all honestly".
"You are working with her, right? For the War thing".
"The War thing is actually a really important project" Liz scolded "But yes, I'm working with Rose. We were supposed to get together yesterday, but Lyra Nott had to cancel because of training, apparently Malfoy is as much of a Quidditch-nazi as you were".
James frowned at her.
"I seriously doubt Malfoy, of all people, can live up to my legend on the pitch".
"And yet he won today" Liz grinned. There was something about reminding James Potter not everyone had as good opinion of him as he did that made Liz oddly satisfied.
"Liz!" Margo yelled, suddenly appearing between the crowd and waving at her from her spot next to the door "We can leave now!".
Liz turned to James and he shrugged.
"So, I'll see you around" he told her.
"I suppose so" she said, moving her bangs out of her eyes "I mean if you are going to be here and not in London like I thought..." she paused, cursing herself for bringing the Auror topic again. It felt like James had closed a door somewhere inside him, his trademark grin disappearing and his face, always so cheerful, awfully serious.
She wondered what had gone wrong with the aurors. James had always been top of his Defense class (and she knew this not because she cared, but because everyone liked to gossip about the great James Potter archievements) and his father was Head of the department, so his troubles with authority should have been effectively cut short.
"I'll see you around" Liz repeated finally.
She couldn't help but smile back at him, relieved when he started to grin again.
It's a bad idea. A voice, that sounded remarkably like Rosie's, said in the back of James' head. But he had never been good at listening to either his conscience or the real Rose, so he followed Lizzy on her way out anyway.
"Hey" he said when he matched her step "Next weekend you can come to Hogsmeade again, right? So, how about a date?".
For the first time ever, Liz didn't feel the need to strangle Potter when he asked her out, instead, she felt the corner of her mouth star to turn upwards on their own accord.
"Forget it" she said.
But she knew he wouldn't, and she wasn't sure that was a bad thing.
.