If I May Be So Bold (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

12.

October 2034

JAMES

Juni's first quidditch match of the year fell on the first weekend of October. Elise usually came to the school for them, much to Juni's chagrin. She was always going on about how no one else's parents came to the match, to which James just said, too bad. Teacher privileges.

She wasn't the only visitor, either. Michael Scrivner, Raigan's boyfriend for the last fifteen years, had started coming to matches back when his son had made the school team, and even though he had graduated a few years after Piper, Michael had kept on coming when he could.

He had been a very successful quidditch player himself, still playing professionally when he and Raigan had first begun dating, but not too long after that, he had retired from the field and moved into training. The kids always made a big deal about him coming around, hoping he might be scouting out new talent. James usually told them they'd better keep on dreaming, but actually Michael often did look for new talent, especially come spring.

He and Elise met up with them now on their way out to the grounds.

Last year, Juni's first year on the team, they had really lucked out and each of her games had landed on absolutely gorgeous days, but today it was spitting cold, cold rain. They bundled under their cloaks as they headed outside, ducking their heads against the rain.

It seemed as if the whole school had come out for the match anyway. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw today, and the stands were a sea of red and blue.

They took a seat with the other teachers. Professor Levert was in the midst of creating a sort of invisible barrier between themselves and the rain when they arrived, so the rain stayed off them, but it was still cold.

James wrapped his arm around Elise under the pretense of warming her up — she was shivering all over just from their short walk — but really he wanted her body heat to warm himself up, too.

"Well, this is just delightful," said Raigan, looking out at the kids, all of whom had wet hair and robes sticking to their skin. "The hospital wing is going to be full of sick kids tomorrow."

"On top of whoever gets injured this time," said James, because someone was always getting injured in quidditch. Sometimes it was a real concern, but a lot of the time, the kids were just dramatic. He had personally broken his arm multiple times playing quidditch, which, incidentally, had given Raigan some of her first practice as a healer.

He peered down at the field where the players were starting to head out. Juni had her hair back in a braid, her broom clutched in her fist. That had been her big birthday present that year — a good broom of her own. James had been a little surprised when she'd tried out for the team last year. Even more surprised when she'd made it. She'd never really shown much interest in quidditch before. But he supposed the quidditch players were always popular and Juni wanted to be part of anything that made her seem desirable and cool. Once she got going, she seemed to really like it.

And actually, she was quite good. That summer, they'd tossed the quaffle around a bit outside on the beach and he'd been impressed by her arm. For such a petite little thing, she was very strong. Much stronger than she looked.

She'd started asking Michael for tips anytime she saw him. James had tried to give her tips too — he'd been a chaser in his school days — but she didn't seem to trust anything he said. He supposed when there was a true professional around, he couldn't blame her for skipping his advice.

Professor Whitby blew his whistle and the match began.

"Oh god," Elise said, tracking Juni with her eyes. "She's getting blown all over the place. She's so tiny."