the boy that could have been

the match

Harry could barely sleep from excitement. Wood had almost cried of joy when Harry turned up to last night's practice with a Nimbus 2000, and his parents were staying in Hogsmeade so that they could come and watch him play! Of course, that amplified his nerves a lot, but the Dursleys never supported him for anything, so it was nice to have them there.

By eleven o'clock, pretty much the entire school were sat outside in the Quidditch stands. James and Lily decided they wanted the "proper experience", and sat with Hermione, Ron, Cress and the rest of the Gryffindors. James was incredibly excitable, whereas Lily seemed much more interested in chatting to the girls and admiring the tricky little charm that Hermione had put on their large banner. 

"Would I know you from somewhere?" She said suddenly, staring at Crescent who immediately blushed.

"I- I d-don't th-think so." She stammered, looking as though she'd like to jump off the stands. Lily immediately felt guilty.

"Ah, my mistake! So girls, what are your favourite lessons..."

Meanwhile, James seemed to have taken a liking to Seamus.

"And it blew up? Like, kaboom?" He said eagerly. Seamus grinned in response, but before he could answer Ron butted in.

"That's not the only thing either! Let's see, there was his potion, his feather, the water he tried turning into rum..."

James laughed loudly, but before the conversation could continue, the players flew onto the pitch and he lead a chant of "GO GO GRYFFINDOR!".

The match soon begun, and whilst Lily anxiously stared at Harry (despite the fact he was just hovering above the match on a broomstick), James was screaming and swearing at pretty much everything (until Lily threatened to put a silencing charm on him, and he decided to cut out the language). However, this resolution only lasted until the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, blocked Harry from getting the snitch, at which point James looked like he was about to curse the boy. Luckily, Hagrid had arrived and pulled him back into his seat.

All of a sudden, Harry's broom began to play up, violently zig-zagging out of control.  Lily gasped in shock, nudging James.

"What's he doing? I thought Minnie said the boy knew how to fly!" 

It soon became clear, though, that it wasn't him that was the problem. The broom was completely out of control. Shortly afterwards, it started to roll and over, leaving Harry hanging on by only one hand. Lily let out a scream and covered her face, whereas James seemed like he was about to steal a broom and try to catch Harry (which obviously wasn't possible, because the Weasley twins had already tried and failed).

Hermione snatched Ron's binoculars and searched the crowd, noticed only be James and Ron.

"I knew it!" She hissed, "Snape - look!"

Ron took back his binoculars and saw Snape, eyes fixed on Harry, muttering non-stop under his breath.

"Snape?" James asked curiously, but they both ignored him as they whispered to each other and Hermione ran off. James impatiently snatched Ron's binoculars and found Snape sat in the stands.

"No bloody way." He gasped, turning to Ron, "What is he doing here?"

Ron looked incredibly confused, but he didn't dare to be rude to Harry's dad, "He's the Potions Master, a right git. How do you know him?"

"Of course he bloody is." James said furiously, "Were you there when Lil sent Harry a Howler?"

Ron, grinning slightly at the memory, nodded.

"Remember the bit about us being bullies? Well, not that we were of course, but dear old Snivellus may have been the victim."

"Then that's why!" Ron exclaimed after a snort of laughter. James gave him a questioning look. "He absolutely hates Harry. He picks on him for the tiniest little things, it's really unfair. And now, apparently, he's trying to kill him."

James gave a growl to rival even Sirius, but before he could respond, the entire crowd gasped. Hermione must have succeeded in her job, because Harry's broom stopped acting up and he was able to jump back on. Lily uncovered her face and Neville emerged from Hagrid's jacket as Harry sped to the ground. He looked as though he was about to be sick and everybody leaned forwards, but then he coughed the Snitch out into his hand. James let out a bellowing whoop of joy, and the match ended in complete confusion. Being the idiot that he was, he leapt over the side of the stands onto the pitch (aided by a cushioning charm) and jumped on Harry, tackling him to the ground in a massive hug.

"THAT'S MY SON! YEAH BABY!"

Harry, barely able to breathe through the crushing weight of his father, let out a weak laugh.

"James Potter." McGonagall had appeared and looked half-amused, half-exasperated, "Will you ever grow up?"

"Not a chance Minnie!" He grinned, before getting to his feet and giving her a big hug, which, to the surprise of everybody watching, she returned. Over her shoulder, James then caught sight of Snape with the very disgruntled Slytherin team, and his eyes narrowed. 

"OI! SNIVELLUS!" He screamed, beginning to storm over. Snape's head snapped up in alarm, but before either man could do anything further, both Lily and McGonagall intervened.

"JAMES I SWEAR TO GOD, I CAN'T TAKE YOU ANYWHERE!" Lily practically screamed. Everybody that had witnessed the Howler began to laugh, and Harry tried to hide behind Wood in embarassment.

"James, with me, now." McGonagall said firmly. Even James didn't dare to disobey her and hurried off meekly. After a small sign from McGonagall, Lily, Severus and Harry followed. Ron made to sneak off after them, but Hermione stopped him.

"Don't get yourself involved, Ronald. Besides, Cress said Hagrid wants to see us. Harry was going to come, but..."