THC, Round 8, Slytherin, HoH, Drabble.
Prompt: [First/Last line] It was times like this when name/he would hide.
Word count: 563
Beta(s): CupCakeyyy, Aya Diefair
It was times like this when he would hide. Times when things got too overwhelming and when too much pressure was instilled on him. He might have been a confident child, and he did love that his parents were famous, but occasionally, he just wanted to be alone.
James Sirius Potter was named after two of the most important people in his father's life, and from a young age, he had vowed to do his namesakes proud. He didn't think that hiding in the stands of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts was representing his namesakes very well.
From what young James had heard, the original James Potter had been a confident, strong, and good man. Sirius Black had been incredibly brave and determined. He had never heard about either of them hiding from their responsibilities.
A noise notified twelve-year-old James that he wasn't alone. He stepped into the shadows more, he simply wasn't ready to be himself again. He just wanted to be alone. To have time to collect his thoughts and prepare himself for the impending Quidditch try-outs. He wanted to be a Seeker like his father, or a Chaser like the original James, or even a Beater like his Uncle George had been. But he was only allowed to try out for one of them and all three had positions open.
How was he supposed to choose? What if he chose incorrectly?
The rest of Gryffindor had been hyping him up for the first three weeks of returning for his second year at Hogwarts. But it was too much pressure. What if he let everybody down?
More noises started to fill his ears; people were turning up.
What was he going to do? Chaser? Seeker? Beater?
He wished he could hide away for longer, to have a few more minutes to collect his thoughts, before having to deal with the others' opinions on him.
The silence that fell around him told him that the Captain must have been talking. He didn't want to miss any instructions. With a sigh, James knew he couldn't hide any longer and stepped forward, picking up his broom on the way, and joined the crowd of eager recruits.
All he hoped was that he could live up to the expectations put on him by society, his friends, and his family.
His confident grin was on his face before the first person caught his eye.
"Potter, what position are you going for?" the current captain asked him.
James looked up to the older boy and took a short breath before smiling. "Chaser."
"Why?"
Why? It took James a full second to process what he was really being asked. Not why did you choose to follow your namesake's position over your father's. He wanted to know what he could bring to the team.
"I've played as a Chaser a lot with my family and really enjoy working as a team."
He received a nod when the captain moved on, asking the next person the same questions.
James smiled, he enjoyed that the focus wasn't entirely on him. Though, a big part of him knew that he would take the attention from them as he showed them his skill. Because while being up in the air, there wasn't anywhere to hide and James didn't want to hide from this experience anymore.
Regardless of the outcome, he would do his best.