Disclaimer: I own nothing. JK Rowlings owns all. I got the idea for the story from reading a book called "I Do" but it's very different here.
Chapter 2
"He shoots…and he scores!"
A cacophony of groans erupted among fans of the Chudley Cannons' while the Bulgarian team's fans cheered wildly.
James Potter had taken on a taciturn personality as he sat on the bench with a grim look on his face. He glanced at his black-haired coach whose mouth was wildly forming words without uttering a single sound. When Bulgaria had scored their 20th goal, Sirius had finally lost it. He loudly began letting out a steady stream of curse words, at which point several of the surrounding wizards quickly placed a silencing charm on him. James only hoped that it wasn't permanent or maybe he did. At least that way Sirius couldn't yell at him anymore.
He wasn't the same anymore…not since their 7th year at Hogwarts. It was their last game…two weeks before school ended and they were thrust out into the real world. Both of them had high hopes for themselves, planned to play professionally for the Cannons and had even been signed. But a bludger hit Sirius in that last game and he had fallen over a hundred feet. By the time anyone noticed him hurtling towards the ground and got their wands out, it was too late…he had already landed. He was lucky enough to survive and be as healthy as he was now…but he had been forbidden to play Quidditch again. Suddenly, all of his dreams had been struck down by a mere bludger.
They were roommates for a while after Hogwarts and, at night, James would always hear Sirius cursing that bludger in his sleep. Sometimes, James wondered if Sirius still did, but they didn't live together anymore. They were barely even friends now.
James thought sardonically, Well, what do you know? Sirius is finally living up to his name. He chastised himself for thinking such a thing. Of course he's serious now…he has a reason to be. He's not happy anymore…he lost the one thing (aside from me) that brought him joy and then he pushed me away. James began to think about his own actions. I should have tried harder to make him happy…I'm such an idiot.
Forcing himself to try to pay attention to the game, he noticed that the score was now 370-10. Looking up at the stands, he caught a glimpse of the red-haired journalist who always managed to irk him. She was standing talking to some old geezer holding a camera…Probably a photographer from the paper, James thought. He sat there staring at her without realizing what he was doing. The fact that the Bulgarian team had scored another goal barely even registered in his mind.
As he continued staring, her words echoed in his mind. "You have the potential to be a good leader…need you to be serious…willing to let someone else take the glory…."
He sighed. He didn't want to admit it but he knew that to some extent…Evans was right. Not that he'd ever tell her, of course. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered, What the heck am I supposed to do about this?
James was startled by the sudden appearance of his coach sitting next to him and looking at him with a pleading look on his face.
James knew what he wanted. So he took pity on him and removed the silencing charm.
Sirius was obviously grateful to have his voice back and he said so, "Thanks, mate."
James only nodded in reply.
Sirius continued, placing his head into his hands miserably. "I can't watch this anymore."
"Me neither."
Both of them sat in silence watching (semi against their will) as their team continued to be slaughtered mercilessly.
With each goal that their keeper let in, Sirius whimpered once more. James only stared in silence, growing increasingly antsy with each new goal. Finally, he lost control of his temper, practically yelling at Sirius as he stood up. "Why don't you put me out there already? We're losing horribly because I'm not up there!"
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm good! I can score!"
"Right, because you're the leader?"
"Exactly!"
"No, James! A leader wouldn't let his followers be lost every time he wasn't there! He'd teach them how to work with him and without him. Does it look like your teammates know what to do without you there?"
James opened his mouth to reply, but quickly found that he had nothing to say. He knew Sirius was right; he had always known it himself on some level. He sat down on the bench next to Sirius; his eyes glancing up to the stands, his gaze immediately drawn to Lily. He looked back to his coach and admitted defeat. "You're right. I'm not a good leader."
"But that doesn't mean you don't have the potential to be," Sirius said, "because you do. You have no idea how much your teammates look up to you. They probably listen to you more than me, but that's okay with me…because I know that somewhere inside that thick head of yours, you know exactly what to do to take us to the Cup…you just need to find it. I have faith in you, James…I never lost that. I know that if anyone can do it, it's you."
James remained silent. He refocused his attention to the game and as he did, he noticed a flash of orange hurtling towards the ground. Dumbly, he remarked, "Oh, look, Ally's going after the snitch."
"What?!" Sirius exclaimed, immediately leaping up to his feet, cheering his Seeker on. Who cares if they lost the game anyway? At least they could go out with a bang.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Daniel abruptly pulled his camera out again, shutting out the sound of Lily's voice as he pointed the small, black object at the diving figure. Lily stopped talking and searched for what suddenly grabbed her coworker's attention. When she found it, she thought, I knew their Seeker had talent. She's rarely not caught the Snitch. Ugh, note to self, work on English skills. She chastised herself; "rarely not caught"…talk about your negation use!
She watched as the Seeker's hand finally clasped over the elusive Snitch. About bloody time too, she thought, this entire game has been torture. She glanced towards the bench where nearby Sirius was wildly cheering in celebration at the one good thing his team managed to do in this game. She moved her gaze slightly to the left and saw….
Potter, she thought, her eyes narrowing. After a second, however, she noticed that he was behaving abnormally. His usual cocky grin wasn't plastered on his face and he actually seemed to be deep in thought. He was strangely still and silent for someone whose team was just saved - well, to some extent - from excruciating humiliation. Oh, well…maybe I'll just ask him.
Lily began to make her way through the crowd towards the players' bench for the after-game interviews. She failed to notice James catching a glimpse of her motion towards them and then whispering something in Sirius' ear. At which point, the young coach whispered something back only to receive a nod in return. Slightly in disbelief at what he was about to do, he finally yelled instructions to the team…all of this she just didn't notice.
After all, she was a bit preoccupied with not dropping her notebook while she was amid the rather wild throng. Make no mistake; it was indeed a difficult task to master at this moment as there were witches and wizards of all sizes crashing into her in such a way that was eerily similar to the way waves crash onto the shore…one after the other. Good Merlin, I'm going to have a lot of bruises tonight. Damn these anti-apparition wards! Finally, she broke through the red sea of Bulgarian fans (though it had not parted for her as she would have liked). Reveling in her miniscule victory, with a smile on her face, she headed to Damon Tage, the Keeper, who usually gave a fair account of the game.
"Hey, Damon!" she called out to him.
"Ahh, hey Lils," he replied, not quite looking her in the eye.
She raised an eyebrow at his behavior but deciding to chalk it up to post-game embarrassment, she ignored it and said, "Well, how about it? Your view of the game was…"
He gave her a pained look. "Look, Lils…don't take this the wrong way, but uh…not today, all right?"
Lily was confused but she forced a smile onto her face. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you later then," she said as she turned around to go find another interviewee. She searched the huddle of orange suits and found Brian Andrews, a nice guy and a great beater. Lily chuckled to herself. Wow…a nice beater, sounds like an oxymoron.
She approached him. "Hey, Brian. Mind if I ask a couple of questions about the game?"
He smiled…sorta. "Ahh, man, Lily…I would, but I gotta go. Hey, maybe next time though…I'll see you around."
"Okay, thanks." For nothing! she added inside her mind. What the heck is going on here? Oh, well…I'll just talk to Sirius then. He never passes up a chance for publicity.
She quickly found him and walked up to him. "Hey, coach! I have a few quick questions to ask for tomorrow's article. Do you have a minute?"
Sirius let out a nervous laughed as he briskly glanced at James. "I…uh…um…" he began, frantically searching for an excuse. "I don't really remember much of the game," he added lamely before quickly turning and making his way to the Cannon's Locker Room, but not before he muttered something to James.
Lily finally caught on to what was happening this time and she rounded on James. "You told them not to talk to me, didn't you?" she yelled.
James' face was stoical as he looked back at Lily. "So, what if I did?"
"How the heck am I supposed to write a good article without sources?" she fired back.
James brushed past her, trying to get away from her. "I'm sure you're smart enough to figure that out for yourself."
"That's not the point, Potter!" Lily retorted as she quickly followed him. "If you want a fair article about the team, you need to let me interview you."
"Well, forgive me if I don't particularly want to share information with someone who has a tendency to stab us in the back while parading the story for the entire wizarding world to see."
"That is not true."
James stopped suddenly and whirled around to face Lily. When he finally replied, it was through clenched teeth, "Your history proves otherwise." He turned away from Lily and opened the door leading to the Locker Room, but not without one last remark. "You're not welcome here right now, Evans. Come back when you can keep an open mind. Good-bye." He entered the Locker Room, shutting the door behind him, without glancing back at Lily.
Lily was seething. She threw her notebook against the door.
*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Lily was seated at her desk, furiously scribbling on some parchment. I would hardly call their performance at the game last night worthwhile, let alone professional. It was merely a shoddy display of their obvious and sickening lack of talent. I, myself, could take on that team and win…regardless of the fact that I've never played before. Come to think of it, my pet cat could probably win too.
Leigh popped her head in the doorway, breaking Lily's rhythm. "Hey, I have something important to tell you!" As the rest of her body appeared in the doorway, she asked, "Oh, did I disturb you?"
Lily put down her quill and replied, "Yeah, but its okay. I'm nearly done."
Leigh approached Lily and peered over her shoulder at the parchments. "You're working on the article for last night's game? What do you have so far?" Her eyes scanned the barely legible words written on the yellow-tinted paper. Her mouth dropped open in shock. "Lily!" she chastised, "You can't print this!"
"Why not?" Lily remarked dryly, "It's true."
"That's not the point, Lily, and you know it. You know it's your responsibility to give an unbiased article on the game."
Lily sighed. "I know," she replied, "I just needed to get it out of my system. I'll write another article."
"Good!"
"What did you need to tell me?" Lily asked.
"Oh, yeah," Leigh said, a smile immediately appearing on her face, "I'm getting married!"
"What do you mean you're getting married?!" Lily asked, a look of shock coming over her face.
"Um…I mean I'm getting married…uh…getting hitched, get-"
"I know what you meant; I just don't know what you…meant. Are you seriously getting married to Jason? I mean…Leigh…you really think he's the right guy for you?"
"Well, why not? He's handsome, smart…he's head of his division at the Ministry, he pulls in a good paycheck…he's organized-"
"Leigh," Lily interrupted, "That's not what I meant. Are you really in love with him?"
"Yes."
"Okay," Lily answered, not entirely convinced, "When's the wedding?"
"Two months and,"
Lily interrupted, "You're gonna put together a whole wedding in two months?"
"Yes. Lily, will you please stop interrupting me? I want you to be my Maid of Honor!" Leigh exclaimed and then waited for a reply. When none came, she said, "Well, aren't you gonna say something?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you didn't want me to interrupt," Lily teased.
"Lily-"
"I'd be glad to!" Lily squealed as she got up to hug her best friend. "So, what happened? When did he propose?"
"Last night at dinner…he proposed when the wine came. I would have told you last night, but I figured you'd be too busy covering the game."
The game! Lily remembered. I have to turn in the article to Blake before lunch!
"Leigh," Lily said, "I love you to pieces and I'm so excited that you're getting married…but you have to go now. I have an article to write!"
Laughing, Leigh replied, "Bye, Lils!" as she left the office.
Lily sat herself down at her desk, pulled out a clean sheet of parchment, and began to write.
*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Hey, guys. I just wanted to apologize for taking so long to get this story out. I'm currently writing 4-5 stories right now and school's keeping me really busy so I don't have a whole lot of time to write. I'm trying my hardest! Reviews work wonders at motivating me…just so you know…*winks*