Finding fireworks || Sirius Black

04

"Why are you together?"

Jocelyn's POV

Gameday. To say I was nervous was the understatement of the year. Potter had been training us to exhaustion every session, and Black and I had been working on our new strategy really hard. It was a one-time wonder, if we messed it up we wouldn't be able to do it again and it would all have been for nothing. After all, we only had the element of surprise on our side once. We were going all-out with it, it would either win the game for us or end catastrophically. Nerve-racking as it was, it made me a bit giddy to know there was something that only he and I knew, that we had our own secret code of sorts. I just hoped I wouldn't make a fool of myself by screwing it up today.

As I worked through my equipment, I reflected on the past two months. Turns out that being on the Quidditch team automatically meant Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, and Black kept you safe from their pranks and general people-hexing tendencies, which was a nice surprise. Potter was also increasingly friendly towards me, and he had not yet asked Lily out this year. I was beginning to think they had matured a bit. Of course, that didn't mean they stopped getting into fights with Slytherins, Snape in particular, but I couldn't blame them for that. The snakes deserved everything they got.

"You'll be great, trust me," Lily said, bringing me out of my mind.

"Shouldn't you be wishing Cal good luck?" I asked. The Halloween party had been a hit, and Lily and Cal were now an item. I worried briefly Potter would kick him off the team, but as I had already noticed, he seemed to be over his obsession with Lily.

"He's waiting in the common room, but just because I have a new boyfriend doesn't mean I won't look after my friends." She gave me a pointed look.

"Thank you." I hugged her quickly. "I just don't want to let the team down."

"You won't. You've been working so hard. You'll be great" Alice chimed in. I nodded, took a deep breath, and readied myself.

"It's just... well, Black is a good Seeker," the Slytherin team had just appointed Sirius' little brother, Regulus, as their new seeker and word had it he was rather good. I was worried he'd beat us.

"You are a great beater, you'll distract him long enough for Cal to catch the snitch. I'm sure of it," said Lily.

"Okay, let's go. Potter will freak out if we're late," I took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

A little later I said bye to my friends who headed towards the stands and took another deep breath to calm myself. It didn't work very well. I walked into the changing rooms gripping my broom so hard my knuckles were white.

"Hey," Black approached me. "You okay?" he murmured. I nodded curtly.

"Sirius, Silverway, come here," Potter ordered.

"Aye, aye captain!" I muttered, making my way over to where the rest of the team was gathered. I heard Black chuckle lightly behind me.

"Right, I don't have to tell you that today's game is the most important game of the entire year. We must crush those Slytherin snakes," he looked a lot more menacing than I ever thought possible. It was kind of sexy, I thought, which took me completely by surprise. I wasn't in the habit of noticing how sexy Potter was (except that day during tryouts, and that time during Defence, and that time he was hexing Snape... my brain supplied). I hoped I wasn't blushing as I turned my attention back to our captain, hoping my little daydream had gone unnoticed.

"We have an advantage, our secret weapon," he continued, nodding in my direction. "Nobody has seen you play before; nobody expects you to be much of a threat as a beater. You look too small to have much upper body strength"