Accio Evans

Chapter 15: Quidditch

Recap: Lily wakes up early and finds James waiting for her in the common room and they head down to breakfast. Severus Snape is there and the whole charade between James and Lily makes him want to be sick and scream, but he doesn't leave until Lily is too reoccupied to notice. The rest of the group eventually trickle down to the Great Hall, if asked if he is still playing after the attack, James and Jessica both reply that you don't need legs for Quidditch and they head down to the pitch.

As the wind whipped through his hair, his broom travelling at what felt like the speed of lightning, James concluded that he felt most alive when he was on the broom his robes billowing as he pressed into his broom zooming towards the goals, the quaffle in hand.

"Potter, duck!" Sirius shouted from somewhere close. Following his friends orders without a moment's hesitation, it seemed a moment slower and he'd have had his head taken off by a bludger, as it tugged at the unkempt ends of his hair as it whooshed across just above his head. He exhaled heavily; you couldn't get more close than that. He would have shot Sirius a grin or a thumbs up, but he was flying too fast to slow and avert his concentration from the three hoops which were getting increasingly closer, as were the opposing players in yellow.

Swerving to avoid a Hufflepuff chaser, he was forced to drop to a lower level to avoid another, a shot would be difficult but he had to try.

"Goal! Goal by the captain James Potter! Ten points to Gryffindor, they now lead Hufflepuff 50 points to 20! The commentator roared, the few spectators clapped and cheered as James punched the air. Rank, in the seat next to the commentator, changed the scoreboard to reflect the latest development in the game and offered James a thumbs up which he returned by way of a nod of the head.

Gryffindor held the lead, but not by much, and the new Hufflepuff team were good, sharp and fast, their captain Amos Diggory had worked his team hard, very hard. The opposing beaters had been working in overdrive, both of James' fellow beaters had been knocked from their brooms, Daniel - a surprisingly quick second years and new addition to the team – had fallen clear of his broom but was caught by Jessica circling just below and Daisy – a fifth year, in her second season on the team – had fallen to the floor, splitting open an eyebrow and possibly breaking her nose but she carried on defiantly. James honestly didn't know how he hadn't fallen off himself! What the Gryffindor team really could do with right now was catching the snitch, before any more of his players got injured before the real matches even started!

"Silvers!" James motioned, the seeker, circling just overhead, dropped down to his level. Jessica herself had suffered a knock too, Dawson the Hufflepuff beater had knocked her clear off her broom but somewhat impossibly she'd managed to grab hold of her broom and cling on for dear life before scrambling back on. "You doing okay?" he asked, catching his breath.

"As good as I can be, no sign of the snitch though." She replied with a grimace, her eyes not stopping for a moment as they scanned the pitch for any glimpse of gold. "You'd have thought this was the Quidditch final with the way Hufflepuff are playing though, not a friendly game! They're bonkers!" she added, her eyes searching overhead. She then pressed into her broom and took at high speed towards the Gryffindor goals, inwardly screaming as she maintained her focus on the tiny flicker of gold just above the left goal post, her fellow chaser several broom lengths behind her but closing in.

"Catch it!" Amos screamed after his seeker, despite being several lengths behind his Gryffindor counterpart, he seemed determined to try and catch the snitch by any means necessary. Jessica broom wobbled oddly, daring to look behind her she met the eyes of her fellow seeker smirking at her attempting to pull her off course by pushing the tail of her broom. Returning to search for the snitch, it was further ahead than she had anticipated, trying to keep her flying steady and not flip her broom she pressed just slightly more and the tiny burst of speed she produced propelled her forward, just enough to close her fingers around the cold metal of the snitch.