The Better Chaser; James Potter

Chapter 22- Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff

It had been two weeks since I've been back at Hogwarts, and I was doing much better this term than the previous one. Although I still had no friends, becoming part of the order made me feel like I was actually doing something, and that it wasn't all for nothing. I've started studying for my O.W.Ls and getting my prefect duties done with ease. The only hiccup in my life was in Quidditch. Reg hadn't tried to talk to me again after the day I got back, and honestly, I can't blame him. We were professionals though. We came on time to practices and trained like we always did, but it was obvious that things were stiff and awkward between us. 

Soon arrived the day of our last quidditch game of the season. Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff. If we won this game, we would win the quidditch cup, so stakes were high. Hufflepuff was a decent team, there strengths were in their beaters. One of them was my ex friend, Hudson. He was really buff and was one of the best beaters in Hogwarts, other than McKinnon probably.

Man I hope Lily and her are still doing alright

I shook out my concern for Lily out of my head, and started dressing in my quidditch robes for the match. I wore a long sleeved tight work out top underneath, just incase anything happened and my robe slipped up, so that my mark would be covered. After dressing our captain William gave his usual pep talk, and he emphasized how much we needed to win this, to win the quidditch cup. We soon made it out onto the field and the quidditch captains shook hands. Madame Hooch whistled and we were up in the air.

I played much better this game the last, I was scoring points every other minute. The game was going really well, but there was still no sign of the snitch. The game started to get boring, I even tried to slow down when bludgers were sent my way so I can fake away at the last minute to feel like something was happening. Thirty minutes into the game my eye caught Regulus dive after a golden speck.

Finally

I kept playing, taking advantage of the distraction of everyone looking at the seekers, scoring another point. They were neck and neck flying in my direction, inches away from the snitch, then I heard Hudson say to their seeker, Penny

"Penny, duck!" He shouted, Penny ducked per his instruction, which left Regulus vulnerable to a direct hit from a bludger. 

NO! I thought, we can't lose

Also I can't let him get hurt, he's too distracted by the snitch to move in time

and then I found myself intercepting the bludger and taking the hit instead of it hitting Regulus. I heard gasps from the crowds as I felt something in my body break, and I was knocked off my broom. I then heard the commentator say,

"Oh no! Watson got knocked off her broom! What a sacrifice but it was all worth it because Regulus Black caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!" I heard as I fell to the ground. 

YES! WE WON! I thought, but I didn't here cheering. I heard screams as I neared the ground, but then suddenly my falling slowed down. I still hit the ground with a significant amount of force but it could have been much worse. When I hit the ground I think I must have blacked out for a minute or two because when I opened my eyes I saw five figures standing around me. I blinked the blurriness out of my vision and spotted the weirdest combination of people. There was Madame Pomfrey fussing over my wounds already, Dumbledore who eyed me with concern. I saw his eyes dart to my left arm. My wrist looked severely disformed, and my left shoulder was sore. I saw him eye the area where my robe had risen exposing my forearm, but it showed the shirt I was wearing underneath. He then looked at me and smiled and nodded as if too say, 'Smart thinking in advance'. But other than that, there were three boys staring at me, Regulus, Severus, and Potter. The oddest combination ever. I eyed them with confusion but each one was looking at me with a look of concern, Regulus also looked like he felt guilty.