Chapter 15

The next couple of days flew by and suddenly, the first Quidditch match of the year was upon them. James was a nervous wreck. He'd been training the team so hard the past few days, that they were beginning to doubt his sanity. It was Gryffindor against Slytherin and James spent every moment he wasn't on the Quidditch pitch trying to think like the enemy and planning strategies accordingly. Then changing them again as he thought of something else.

On Friday night, he lay awake in the dormitory, the silence broken by Sirius' foghorn snore, going over tactics again and again and thinking about his team.

Humphrey Davidson and Derek Hooper, the two new Beaters, worked perfectly together, almost as if they communicated telepathically. Gideon Prewett was almost as good a Chaser as James himself and Erica Samuels was a born Seeker, a blur most of the time. Marlene, if it was even possible, had improved even more since the beginning of the year and Frank, although he was always nervous to the extreme before a game, he always pulled it together in the actual match and guarded the hoops like they were his own children.

Yes, James was exceedingly proud of his team. His only worry was the Slytherin supporters. The jeering and insults thrown back and forth in the corridors was the worst it had ever been in James' time at Hogwarts. Members of the Gryffindor team had run to the bathrooms between almost every class on Friday and James had even been feeling queasy himself.

But he had faith in his team and with a mixture of nerves and excitement, he slowly fell into an uneasy sleep.

Saturday morning dawned bright but cold. James made his way down to the Great Hall, a hard, focused look on his face. A few Slytherins were skulking in the Entrance Hall, obviously waiting to ambush him with snide comments.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Cappy-wappy, deciding to make an appearance"

"Thrown up yet, Potter?"

James ignored their snickers of laughter as he descended the staircase.

"If he does, I hope that Mudblood Evans gets it in the face." They began cackling like old crones. James stopped and slowly turned to face them. They laughed even harder.

"Oooh look, the Mudblood's gone and got itself a boyfriend!" More tittering. It was Evan Rosier and Rodolphus Lestrange.

"Stop it." James snarled, striding towards them.

"I wonder will she still love you if you keep dropping the Quaffle, Potter?" Rosier sneered.

"Stop it!"

"She'd go for anything with a pulse, that Evans." Lestrange smirked. James clenched his hands into fists.

"Don't talk about her like that!" He whipped out his wand and advanced on Lestrange, who yanked his out of his pocket and twirled it in his fingers, only infuriating James more. Rosier had his wand raised too.

"Come on then, Potty, for your flithy Mudblood-"

"Levicor-"

"James!"

"Potter!"

James spun around to see Lily and Marlene hurrying towards him and Professor McGonagall glaring daggers at him from a few inches away.

"We do not use magic against other students, Potter!" she barked.

"But-"

"Ten points from Gryffindor-"

James groaned. Rosier and Lestrange were sniggering.

"And it will be another five unless you lose that attitude!" McGonagall whirled around and began storming across the Entrance Hall. She stopped at Marlene.

"Good luck today, Miss McKinnon" she said "And do try to keep that Captain of ours in check so we have a chance of winning the Cup this year." And with a twinkle in her eye, she breezed into the Great Hall.

"Just a bit of toast" Alice was saying to Frank as James, Lily and Marlene sat down beside the others. Frank just shook his head weakly. Alice threw her hands up in the air and gave Lily a what-can-you-do face. "He hasn't even had any pumpkin juice" Alice said, defeatedly. Frank stared at the table, his face a slightly pale shade of green.

James, who was looking pretty harassed himself as the match drew closer, reached across and patted his shoulder. "It'll be fine, mate. Just a few pre-match nerves is all." He shot a glance at Lily beside him.

"All set?" she asked, quietly as Sirius started up a chant of "Gry-ffin-dor, Gry-ffin-dor" down the other end of the table.

He nodded, grimly. "Yeah. It's just the Slytherins."

Lily nodded in understanding. "Well, they'll get what's coming to them when you win." she said, smiling. James found himself smiling back with a newfound confidence.

"Okay, everyone, gather round." James said, in the changing rooms. "First game of the season and all that jazz, but if we beat Slytherin today, and Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw, we have a pretty clear shot at winning." There were a few whoops and claps. "Humphrey, Derek, I doubt Hogwarts has ever seen two finer Beaters. Erica, you have yet to lose the Snitch. Frank, I know you're nervous now but once you're on the field, the Quaffle isn't getting within five meters of the hoops. Gideon and Mar-where's Marlene?" Marlene was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't think I saw her come in" Erica Samuels said, nervously.

"But I walked from the Great Hall with her!" James said. "Where on earth could she possibly be?" He opened the door of the changing rooms and peered out.

"Ah excellent, you're ready Mr. Potter" Madam Hooch said before striding onto the pitch where the Slytherin team were waiting.

"No, wait-"

"And here come the GRYFFINDOR TEAM!"

James glared at Sirius in the commentators box as "Gry-ffin-dor, Gry-ffin-dor" started up again.

"...captained by James Potter, who happens to be my best mate and a fabulous opera singer..." Sirius was saying. The Gryffindor team was slowly walking onto the pitch.

"Where is she?" James muttered to himself. He looked up at the stands and caught a glimpse of Lily's fiery hair. She was searching the team with her eyes, evidently looking for Marlene too. James caught her eye and she gave him a small wave.

"..and that's the love of our dear James' life, Lily Evans...think it's going to be a June wedding..."

James was getting ready to storm up to the commentators box and punch Sirius in the face. The Slytherin captain was smirking at him.

"Captains, shake hands" Madam Hooch said. James grabbed the Slytherin's sweaty hand for half a second, the two glaring at each other.

Suddenly, Marlene came hurtling across the pitch, splattering mud everywhere.

"I'm here!" she cried and James whirled around.

"On your marks.." Madam Hooch was saying.

"Where the hell have you been?" James growled at Marlene as they mounted their brooms.

"Sorry" she replied, insolently.

"GO!" The teams soared into the air as Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle, commencing the game.

"..and it's Prewett of Gryffindor with the Quaffle...he passes to McKinnon...McKinnon with the Quaffle speeding down the-Marlene, watch out for that Slytherin bas-"

"Mr. Black!" Professor McGongall echoed throughout the stands.

"Sorry Professor...that Slytherin very successfully dodged by Marlene McKinnon...she passes to Potter...who passes to Prewett and..ooh...nice save there by Beater Derek Hooper..and back to Potter again. Potter, flying down the pitch...Come on Prongsie!...Potter, narrowly missing a Bludger...AND HE SCORES! TAKE THAT YOU-"

"Black!"

James had thrown the Quaffle straight through the centre hoop. The stands went wild.

"Gry-ffin-dor, Gry-ffin-dor"

It was a very tense match. Slytherin came back to make it a draw and for every score Gryffindor got, Slytherin evened it out.

"...it's 150 to 140 to Gryffindor...Slytherin with the Quaffle...looks like that Slytherin Seeker who's name nobody knows seems to have seen something Samuels hasn't...Come on Erica! Catch up with the slow-"

"Mr. Black!"

"So sorry Professor...and she's ahead of him! COME ON ERICA!"

"GRY-FFIN-DOR, GRY-FFIN-DOR"

Lily was yelling at the top of her lungs. Two rows below her, Severus Snape turned and looked at her, a strange expression on his face. It only made her cheer harder.

"..Samuels is inches away...we can see the Snitch now..."

Lily and everyone else watched with bated breath. Erica and the Slytherin Seeker were neck and neck. Lily could see a flicker of gold just ahead of them.

"...Samuels and the Slytherin Seeker still neck in neck... Go on Erica!...ooh..Yes, YES!" Sirius yelled so loud, that there was a piercing high-pitched noise, for the Snitch and Erica made a sharp turn, causing Erica to crash into the Slytherin Seeker, knocking him off course and the sea of red and gold cheered even louder as Erica sped up in pursuit.

Lily was jumping up and down, Mary on either side of her and Remus and Alice in the row behind. Peter was nowhere to be seen, strangely. Lily could see Marlene, she was hovering directly in front of her, watching Erica. There was no sign of James.

Erica was reaching out, straining further and further off her broom, until her fingers closed around the Snitch and the stands exploded.

"..YES YES! SHE'S DONE IT! ERICA SAMUELS HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! IN YOUR FACE SLYTHERIN!" McGonagall was too busy cheering to correct Sirius, who jumped around so much, he almost toppled over the side of the commentator's box.

Lily and Mary were jumping and hugging, Remus clapping beside them. They watched the Gryffindor team do a lap of honour above the stands.

Suddenly, a streak of green flew upwards, towards the team and flew headlong into one of them, knocking her off her broom.

Lily's cheers turned to cries of horror as Marlene tumbled towards the ground. She ran as fast as she could down to the pitch, Mary in tow, ducking out of the way as the teams landed around them.

Lily thought she saw a flash of green near Marlene before the Gryffindor Team converged on their fallen team-mate.

A/N: It's up!

Sorry about the long wait, we had exams but now it's summer!

What do you think?

Comments and Criticisms welcome as always! :)