The Fall of The Phoenix

Finals

Chapter Twenty-Three: Finals

- - -

Jay grew increasingly stressed as the final Quidditch match approached. We had the best team in the school, but with that came the pressure of remaining the best. If we lost the cup in the final, our beloved Captain was convinced that he would go down in the books as a joke. No amount of reassurances could convince him otherwise.

The night before the final, I quietly slipped my arm through his, tugging him away from the mess of playbooks on the rug before him and out of the Common Room. A glance over my shoulder as we entered the exit tunnel saw Don quietly gathering the books up. Once we were hidden in the tunnel, I slipped the cloak over our shoulders.

"What are we doing?" Jay asked me, though the smile on his face made it clear that he didn't especially care.

I wrapped both of my arms around his bicep. The moonlight filtered down oddly through the cloak, almost creating a pattern across his cheeks. "We're going to the Astronomy Tower. You looked overwhelmed, so I thought that you would appreciate a break."

He beamed at me, his dimples looking deeper than ever in the strange lighting. Once we reached the top of the tower, I dug a blanket out of my bag and spread it over the ground. Circe promptly curled up directly in the center of the bedding, letting out a mew of protest as Jay immediately scooped her up and set her in his lap instead. After we got settled, I handed Jay a box wrapped in deep blue wrapping paper.

"What is this?" He asked me, turning the box over with a curious expression.

"It's a 'congratulations on your first year as Captain' and a 'thank you for being the best Captain I've ever had' present."

Chuckling softly, he fingered the little ribbon that I had tied around the gift. "Shouldn't you be giving me this tomorrow, after the cup?"

The "if we win" went unspoken, but I could tell that it was what Jay meant. Standing on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek, I said, "The cup doesn't really matter, Jay. Win or lose, you are the best Captain that I have ever played for. Everyone else on the team agrees. This year is just the beginning of what I know is going to be an exceptional career of Captaincy, and I am beyond honored to have gotten to be a part of it. This is a thank you gift, and a congratulatory one. It has nothing to do with the cup."

Jay was grinning brilliantly as he unwrapped the gift. Inside was a journal like mine, with all of the same enchantments, only decorated by me. The cover, when laid flat, was the woods behind his parents house. I had enchanted the painting so that it slowly went through sunrise, into the day, sunset, and then the night, the sky glittering with my favorite constellations. Sometimes it would rain. The inside covers were a sketch of him and I dancing, based on a picture that Coleen had taken of us on our first official date in Hogsmeade.

I explained what the journal did and how to activate it to Jay, watching his smile grow as he laid his hand over the cover.

"Marigold," He said softly as he flipped through the pages. "This is...this means a lot to me."

I smiled at him as he picked his head up, curling his hand around the back of my head as he pressed a kiss to my mouth.

"Thank you."

"Thank you for being the best Captain I've ever had," I responded. "This year has been a dream, Jay-bird. You don't know how much Quidditch has meant to me. I needed it. I needed you."

Jay looked at me for a long moment, fingers wound through my hair as he stroked a thumb gently over my cheek. There was a look in his eyes that I only ever saw when he was looking at me. It made me feel warm all over, like stepping inside after being out in the snow for a long time. My problems felt a thousand lightyears away when Jay looked at me like that.