Chapter 20: A Winning Kiss
If anyone thought that James and Sirius argument would blow over after a few days and the two would once more be friends, they were very wrong.
James and Sirius refused to speak or look at the other one. All of Gryffindor House seemed to be sided over Sirius and James fight. All of the Seventh Year girls had sided with James; that could be partly due to Sirius having called Lily a Mudblood. But the remaining Marauders had sided with Sirius. Remus and Peter refused to even talk to any of the Seventh Year girls.
In the rest of the house it seemed that the First and Second Years had all sided with James while the Third and Fourth Years had all seemed to side with Sirius. The Fifth and Sixth Years tended to have sided with James, except for the girls who all, for some reason (possibly the fact that Sirius and Remus were good looking and single) had sided with Sirius.
Classes had become a complete mess for the Gryffindors. James sat next to Lily and Katie and was acting as if nothing was wrong. Sirius, on the other hand, was causing as much trouble as he could possibly cause except for the Auror classes; Sirius never caused trouble there. It could be due to the face Moody had recently lost his entire left foot due to a difficult struggle with a few corruptive Death Eaters.
Quidditch practice was even worse. Sirius refused to pass the Quaffle to James or Katie. James and Katie, in return, would not pass the Quaffle to him and only to each other. Alyssa Anderson, the Keeper, refused to block any shots Sirius was taking, despite desperate pleas from James for her to at least try.
The Seeker, a Third Year boy named Jason Jankowski, seemed to have taken Sirius's side in the fight and refused any advice James tried to give him. James, having played Seeker for five years, tried to tell Jason that Jason could catch the Snitch a lot quicker if he flew quicker. But Jason, due probably to Sirius's advice, refused to fly fast and the team was slowly crumbling.
The two Beaters on the team, twin girls named Toni and Tori Tinders who were in their Fifth Year, refused to block any Bludgers that were headed in Katie, James, or Alyssa's way. The team was doomed.
James was very worried about his Quidditch team, and as Captain, he tried to make up with Sirius who simply refused. To James, his Seventh Year was supposed to be the year he would win it all. They had one of the best teams Hogwarts had seen in ages, if only they could work together.
The first match of the season was held in early November between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw, also being very, very good, dominated the game and made James very worried. Ravenclaw won the game in only 27 minutes winning 210-10.
The first match for the Gryffindors would be against the Slytherins on the last day of November.
James stared around the empty Quidditch locker room as he ran his fingers through his messy black hair. He sighed and looked up as Katie and Alyssa entered the locker room.
"Did you have any breakfast?" asked a concerned Katie as she sat down in front of her locker beside her best friend's boyfriend.
"No," said James. Alyssa rolled her eyes, looking at a worried James and a troubled Katie.
"You do realize that there are things more important to us than James not eating," said Alyssa. "Like the fact that one of our Chasers is not talking to the other Chasers?"
"Yes," answered Katie. "I realize how important that is!" Alyssa and Katie both looked as if they were about to have a big argument when Sirius, Toni, Tori, and Jason entered the locker room.
The four students sat down in front of their lockers, talking to each other and ignoring the three Seventh Years. James let out a frustrated sigh as he stood up, ready to give his pep talk. Everyone's emotions were running high.
"Listen up," said James and at once all the students stopped talking and looked at James. Four of the students looked at James with hatred while two of them looked at James ready for him to give them advice.
"This is a big match for us," said James, rather hesitantly. "Slytherin has a good team, but no where as good as us. Bellatrix needs to be watched out for," said James as he looked at Jason. "She outweighs you and is bigger so you'll have an advantage over her in weight department. Problem is, is that she has been Seeker for five years now on her team because she's a Sixth Year. But she can and will be beaten. Their beaters, Goyle and Crabbe, are much bigger than you two," said James as he looked at Tori and Toni.
"But you two play with much more effort than them, and you want it more!" said James excitedly. Toni smiled slightly at James, but saw Sirius's upset face and stopped smiling quickly. "Now our Keeper is much better than theirs," said James with a sneer in his voice. "Rodolphus Lestrange is known to play dirty; you'll need to watch out for him if he tries to do anything dirty."
"Their three Chasers are good, but not nearly as good as us. Alyssa, make sure you watch out for the way Narcissa likes to pass with Malfoy. MacNair doesn't need to be as covered because they rarely pass to him except when they really need to."
James stood up and began passing in front of his team mates looking very, very worried. His black hair looked completely messy, a lot more than normal. He knew he should run his hands through it to try and smooth down, but he just really didn't care. He never remembered being so worried in his life as this about a Quidditch match.
"If we don't win today, we might not be able to win the Cup," said James just as the whistle blew and the rest of his team mates stood up beside him. James nodded and they followed him out onto the field where tons of people were screaming and cheering for the team.
At once James noticed how the Gryffindors seemed to be split in half. His eyes wondered around the front row till he found Lily sitting next to a few students and his heart did a small flip-flop.
The sun was shining brightly that Saturday morning and the Quidditch field was dry and soft. It was unusually hot for the end of November and James felt like it would have been the last perfect day of the year to wonder around the lake with his friends, before he remembered they were mad at him.
"Captains," said the new teacher Madam Hooch as she still had her whistle in her mouth. James walked forward and so did Rodolphus Lestrange who had an angered look on his face. Lestrange stuck out his hand and attempted to crush James's hand.
James stepped back and joined his team as they waited for Madam Hooch's whistle. James eyes wondered over to Sirius who he saw was having some sort of staring contest with Malfoy; both men had looks of hatred on their face.
The whistle blew and all 15 brooms rose together. Jason at once started looking around the Quidditch field looking for the Snitch. Alyssa headed to the goal post and began covering them, ready for the Slytherins' attacks. Narcissa Black seized the Quaffle and soared toward the goal post and just as quickly got a goal past an unexpected Alyssa.
James swore silently under his breath as Alyssa threw the Quaffle at him. Malfoy attempted to steal the Quaffle but James was too quick for him and sped towards the goal.
James looked and saw Katie was being covered by MacNair, and James began to slightly panic. Sirius was open for a pass toward the left of James, very near the goal post, and the Keeper, Lestrange, was not paying attention to Black hovering near him. The Beater Goyle sent a Bludger towards James, who dodged it before Crabbe sent another one at him, making him turn so quickly he lost the Quaffle.
Sirius swooped in when James dropped the Quaffle and threw the Quaffle through the goal post quickly and the Gryffindors in the stands yelled with applause.
As Sirius circled passed James on the way to try and take the Quaffle from an angry looking Narcissa, Sirius glared at James, and James knew at once, this would not be a good Quidditch game.
Narcissa scored three more times before any of the Gryffindors even got possession of the Quaffle. Sirius had grabbed the Quaffle from a surprised looking Malfoy. Both of the Slytherin Beaters had sent Bludgers flying at Sirius, but Toni and Tori were quick enough to prevent Sirius from being hit.
Sirius flew straight to the goal post were he threw the Quaffle but Lestrange made a brilliant save, much to the surprise and happiness of the Slytherins who were now screaming at the top of their lungs - they were beating the Gryffindors 40-10 only eight minutes in to the game.
The game continued fairly uneventfully for 15 more minutes as the Slytherins scored 7 more times compared to the goals that James and Katie had each scored making the score 110-30. The Slytherin Chasers and Keeper seemed to be figuring out that James and Katie would not pass to Sirius, and vice-versa. This created a definite advantage to the Slytherins who only had to mark either two of the Chasers, or one, at a time.
Twenty more minutes into the game and still, no sign of the Snitch had been seen. Both Seekers were looking around so quickly that Jordan Jankowski had almost flown into one of the Goal Posts. The Slytherins were now leading 180-50. With every goal that the Slytherins scored, a loud roar of happiness erupted from the green clad Slytherin section. The Head of the Slytherin House and Potions Master, Professor Slughorn could be seen in the very front of the group cheering loudly for his team.
James began to grow increasingly worried about his team as a Bludger flew directly at Katie's head when she was holding the Quaffle. Both of the Beaters on the team refused to move and block it for Katie, who dropped the Quaffle from preventing herself from being hurt.
James swooped under Katie and threw the Quaffle straight through Lestrange's left Goal Post and a loud applause could be heard from the Gryffindor section of the stands.
Five minutes later, Slytherin's best Chaser, Narcissa Black, a Seventh Year, had scored two more times making the score 200-50. Worry was flooding through James body as he grabbed the Quaffle and threw it quickly to Katie, who dodged the slowest Chaser, MacNair, and threw the Quaffle to James. James, out of instinct of playing with Sirius for over 10 years, threw the Quaffle to Sirius who threw the Quaffle through the Goal hoop making the score 200-60.
James knew now, that if Jordan got the Snitch quickly, the Gryffindors could win. As if he was reading James mind, Jordan sped quickly to the end of the Gryffindor Goal post and thrust his hand around a glittery gold Snitch which he raised in the air out of triumph.
The Gryffindors roared with applause and James flew directly to Jordan, who was smiling like a maniac. James patted Jordan on the back and was quickly joined by the rest of the team who congratulated Jordan on the catch.
The team settled down onto the grass and James looked at Sirius and opened his mouth and was about to say something when he saw Sirius looking at James with a great look of loathing.
"Full moon's tomorrow night," said Sirius before he turned to face the crowd of Gryffindors running toward the Quidditch players.
James continued watching Sirius go and accept congratulations from Remus and Peter, who both looked ecstatic about the win.
"JAMES!" shouted a high pitched female voice. James felt a short red headed girl jump into his arms and hug him tightly. "We won!" Lily pulled herself out of James's arms to see him smiling at her uncertainly.
"I know," replied James as Lily continued to glow with happiness. "I was just wondering when you started to care for Quidditch so much."
"Since I started dating my boyfriend," replied Lily seriously as she looked into James's twinkling hazel eyes. Lily moved her arms from around James to around his head and the two Heads stared into each other's eyes, both with looks of happiness and uncertainty.
"Oh really," said James as he bent down and rested his lips right before Lily's, as he almost kissed her. "So then is this boyfriend entitled to kiss his girlfriend after wining the match?" asked James as he slowly slipped his arms around Lily's waist, securing her in front of him.
"I would think so," replied Lily as she hesitantly pushed her lips against James lips. James slowly kissed Lily lightly on the lips before pulling back quickly.
"So is your boyfriend very good at Quidditch?" asked a scared-sounding James as he looked at Lily who had her eyes closed. James was only staring at Lily and was oblivious to Sirius shouting in the distance about a party instead of lunch.
Lily opened her eyes to see a scared, yet serious looking James stare into her green eyes. "Does my boyfriend really need me to tell him?" asked Lily as people began to head towards the lake, Castle or shade to get out of the blazing rare heat at the end of November.
"Yes, because all the good Quidditch players are allowed to celebrate by giving their girlfriend a very long, deep romantic kiss," replied James. Lily smiled and rolled her eyes as she played with James's hair in her fingers.
"Well, it would be such a shame if he were deprived from that excellent enjoyment," said Lily as her lips found their way back to onto James's, where they found lots of joy and comfort.
"Party in the Common Room," shouted Sirius from where he, Remus, and Peter were standing unexpectedly next to James. James, sadly pulled his lips off of Lily's, knowing he would probably be needed in helping Sirius, Remus, and Peter get food from the Kitchens.
"I think we can nick some food off the House Elves ourselves," said Remus loudly next to a frustrated James.
"Yes, James has taught us well," said Sirius as he bowed deeply toward where James and Lily were wrapped in each others' arms.
"Plus he looks as if he is a little to busy to help us," said Peter. A blush crept quickly on Lily's face as she stared at Remus, Sirius, and Peter talking loudly to each other.
"He looks as if he could do with a little practice though with Lily," said Sirius thoughtfully.
"Yes I know," said Remus. "They seemed to have stopped snogging in front of all of us."
"I don't know why," said Peter. "They were giving us such good entertainment."
"I don't think they noticed everyone leaving," said Sirius. James glanced around the empty Quidditch field to find a group of Second Years goggling at him and Lily and a blush crept onto his cheeks.
"MOVE IT," shouted Lily at the Second Years who, at once, began to run towards the Castle. Her arms were still firmly around James's neck and back of his head.
"Do you think we should warn them?" asked Peter.
"No I'm pretty sure that eventually they'll figure it out," said Remus.
"I think Lily has because she looks very upset," said Sirius.
"So has Prongs."
"Why did they unwrap their arms from around each other?"
"They look angry."
"They seem to be taking something out of their pockets."
"Why those look like wands being pointed at us Padfoot."
"Why indeed they do Moony."
"You don't think they'll curse us, Wormtail?"
"Oh, I think they will," said James as Remus, Sirius, and Peter yelled with pain and ran towards the Castle and out of the sun.
"Now, where was I?" asked James as he slipped his arms back around Lily's waist and led her over to a tree and sat down pulling her next to him.
"About right here," said Lily as she wrapped her arms around James and gave him a tingling kiss on the lips.
AN: OK So Kristie Edited this Chapter for me!! I think she did a gr8 job... I am going to be pretty busy this week.. I have soccer practice for like 5 hours every day! Then I have a tournament this weekend. But I think I'll be able to post next Monday... sorry if that's not soon enough.... But Now that I think about it.. The Stories I read.. I post much more than they do! Not to be mean or anything.. But I do!!! I have about 5 chapters left to write in this story.. But There's like 15 chapters left for me to post here... The next chapter, which is super cute.. is 9 pages long, prior editing.. so it'll be a long post.. I could separate the next chapter and make it two different chapters.. and then I would probably post it like Thursday before I leave... But the chapter flows better as one chapter.. Now I am rambling..
I think I'll not post the sequel to this story on Portkey.. Because A) It sucks, and B) It's a H/H fanfic.. and I'm not sure how many people would read a H/H fic..
But I have two different stories I am working on right now that I know i'll post on portkey.. one is a H/h that I've sort of talked about already.. It's a songfic that goes along with the song Going Crazy by Natalie.. And I'll probably post that in a few weeks.. And my other story is a Collection of Love Letters between Lily and James after Hogwarts... It's cute... just like 3 chapters long.. and I'll probably post that in August..
I think this story will be done by the end of September... I am like 98 percent sure of that... But if it isn't.. then I think i'll have liked died or something.. which case my sister could post for me.. but now I am reallly rambling..
ok Sorry long AN.. but i have so much to talk about
x0x0
KAci