Failing for the First Time
James rustled his scarlet Quidditch robes as he watched his breath swirl around him and then vanish after every time he exhaled. The other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team glanced around as they waited to be admitted out onto the field. Jennifer Wood (the Gryffindor Quidditch team Captain) nervously adjusted her dark walnut coloured hair that was pulled up in a pony-tail. James rustled the back of his hair as he stretched.
He wasn’t nervous.
“Who in their right mind would plan a Quidditch match on St. Valentine’s Day? Isn’t it supposed to be just a little after?” muttered Keira Jensen, a Gryffindor Chaser who was standing behind James.
“Cheer up, chaps!” announced Jennifer as she eyed Keira with displeasure. “It doesn’t matter what day this is, because we only have one objective when we get out on that field!”
“To freeze?” questioned James smartly as he rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them.
The team erupted into laughter.
Jennifer scowled at him momentarily before going on a ramble about how they were inevitably going to win.
James drowned out her words in his thoughts as he glanced down at his feet.
Today was Valentine’s Day. James knew that at this very moment Sirius and Audrey would be “secretly” spending time together.
Since coming back from Christmas, the Marauders and Audrey had agreed that they didn’t want publicity and rumors from the student population circling them endlessly. In light of this information, they had all decided to keep the fact that Audrey and Sirius liked each other a secret from everybody else.
The plan had worked as they intended. A few rumors that Audrey and Sirius might be an “item” circulated for a bit of time shortly after the Christmas break, but eventually, the idea was long forgotten. All rumors shriveled up and disappeared without a trace or second thought. Unfortunately, the only drawback to this “plan” was that the two barely had any time to spend together. Sirius was always surrounded by people, Audrey was busy quite frequently with her friends and schoolwork, and the two were in completely different years and houses. As a result, the two never really got a chance to spend time “secretly” together.
James, upon noticing this, made the suggestion that when everybody was watching the Quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, they sneak off and spend time by themselves.
“You sure?” asked Sirius hesitantly the night before the Quidditch game. “I never like to miss a good game.”
“I’m sure,” reassured James. “You two just do something together. You haven’t done anything yet.”
At that moment, the players walked out onto the pitch to cheering screams and a sea of gold, scarlet, black, and yellow. The pitch was littered with patches of melting ice and snow, and the sky above was a dreary pale colour. All the audience members were bundled up tightly with thick coats, scarves, cloaks, gloves, and toques. The cheering fans were all waving around banners and colours supporting their team. James peered around the stands to catch sight of a bright red banner that read: JAMES POTTER WE LOVE YOU!
He chuckled and then lined up with the rest of his team mates. As Jennifer Wood stepped forward to shake the hand of the Hufflepuff Captain, James glanced up.
For a moment, his breath got caught in his throat as he saw her grasp the hand of a tall, muscular, dark brown haired teen; Brendan Fraser.
James hid his surprise. He had completely forgotten the fact that Brendan Fraser was the Hufflepuff Seeker and Captain. Did the fact he was playing against Lily’s boyfriend change anything?
Madam Hooch nodded to both Captains who walked back to their respective teams after their handshake.
“Alright, I want a decent, fair game. No foul play,” stated Madam Hooch fairly while glancing at both teams. “OK, mount your brooms.”
James sat on top of his Nimbus 1500 comfortably and tightened his grip on it. Members of both teams instinctively did the same.
Madam Hooch stepped back slowly and then blew her silver whistle sharply. All the team members shot high into the air, and they were off.
James was the first to grasp the Quaffle out from the hands of a Hufflepuff Chaser. He zoomed through the crowd of players smoothly in the direction of the Hufflepuff side. Curving his broom abruptly to avoid a Bludger, James flung the Quaffle toward his right to have Keira Jensen grasp it easily. Suddenly, a Bludger was shot in her direction and hit the edge of her broom causing the Quaffle to fly out into the middle of the field. James saw the Quaffle go over his head and into the hands of a Hufflepuff Chaser heading in the direction of the Gryffindor goal.
“Wow! There goes Devlin!” shouted Naomii into a magical megaphone on the commentator’s podium. “Oh, she’s going to the Gryffindor goal! She’s about to shoot- no wait, she passes it to Clarke, and he scores!”
James peered in the direction of the Gryffindor goal to see that it had indeed gone in.
Narrowly avoiding a Bludger heading his way, James overtook a Hufflepuff Chaser to grasp the Quaffle.
“Now, James Potter has clutched the Quaffle right from under Devlin’s nose. He is speeding away with it,” announced Naomii, and a wave of giggles and screams came from a group of girls in the audience. “Oh, he’s passed it to Callihan. The two have crossed over. Chaser Jensen has just dodged Chaser Devlin and is heading toward the two. Chaser Callihan passes it to Jensen, Jensen to Potter, Potter back to Callihan, and- he scores!”
The crowd of Gryffindors erupted in cheers as they clapped excitedly and waved their Gryffindor banners.
James smirked as he turned on his broom, and he was about to go after the Quaffle once again when suddenly something caught his eye.
Sitting on the top row of one of the stands were Audrey and Sirius. The two were cuddled up beside each other comfortingly as their eyes met James’s. James gave both of them a look of bewilderment as the two waved frantically at him with smiles painted on their faces.
I say you can do “anything", and you decide to take her to the Quidditch game? You really do hate to miss a game, don't you, Padfoot? thought James with a grin as he sped off in the direction of the Gryffindor end.
“And James Potter is at it again! He has just stolen the Quaffle from an unsuspecting Chaser Clarke! Oh, and he passes it to Callihan while barely avoiding a Bludger- he is sure cutting it short- and Callihan passes it to- oh, it was intercepted by Chaser Buckle from the Hufflepuff team. Buckle is heading toward- OUCH- she just got hit by a Bludger, poor girl.”
James circled around the field once again and caught site of Keira Jensen about to be cut off by a Hufflepuff Beater. He dove down immediately right under her and called out to her. She glanced down quickly, and with lightening speed, she threw the Quaffle down at James who caught it handily. The Hufflepuff Beater glared at James annoyingly and banged a Bludger toward him, but he smoothly moved out of the way. Weaving through a crowd of Chasers, James moved across the field and shot the Quaffle passed the Hufflepuff Keeper.
“And James Potter scores!” announced Naomii ecstatically as the score changed to have Gryffindor in the lead.
James pushed his hair back with a smile as he passed a crowd of girls on his broom. They stood up and squealed with delight as he sped away, chuckling to himself.
He gazed up as the Gryffindor Keeper (whose name was Gordon Flam) neatly deflected the Quaffle from going into a Gryffindor hoop. Cory Callihan, a Gryffindor Chaser, swooped over a Hufflepuff Beater and clutched the Quaffle. James nodded toward Cory and zoomed toward the Hufflepuff end.
“Chaser Callihan is speeding away with Chaser Potter, and it looks like they are going to do a two on one!” shouted Naomii once again.
Without looking in front beforehand, James glanced behind his shoulder at Cory speeding toward him like the wind.
“POTTER, WATCH OUT!” screamed Jennifer Wood’s voice abruptly, and James faced forward to feel a black, hard Bludger slam against his shoulder.
The force of the Bludger made him lose his grip on his broom, and he toppled over. He reached fruitlessly for the handle, but saw that he had just missed it as he began to fall. Suddenly, at the edge of his eye, he caught site of the Quaffle coming toward him. It had seemed that Cory Callihan had thrown the Quaffle right before he saw James fall over.
Turning, so he was facing the ground, James grabbed the Quaffle and shut his eyes to concentrate on his broom.
C’mon! C’mon! C’mon! focused James in his mind.
To everybody’s surprise (including James’s), his Nimbus came flying down under him, and he gripped the handle. Heaving himself onto his broom roughly and quickly, he tightened his grasp on the Quaffle. The Hufflepuff Keeper (and everybody else) seemed to be so stunned at James’s dexterity and talent that she had no time to react as James threw the Quaffle into a ring to score.
A loud roar of cheers and approval came from the Gryffindor end, and even some Hufflepuff students had to admit that it was an amazing play.
James peered down at the audience and spotted Remus and Peter clapping excitedly with Natasha. He noticed Peter sling an arm around a smiling Natasha bashfully as Remus gave James the thumbs up.
“WOW! WHAT AN AMAZING SHOT FROM JAMES POTTER! When everybody thought he was down and out, he comes back to surprise you by catching his broom on the way down and scoring! Just amazing ladies and gentlemen! Hufflepuff wants to make it even though. Buckle has just clutched the Quaffle! She passes it to Clarke, then to Devlin, and she scores! That was one fancy goal!” came Naomii’s voice.
As James was making his way toward the Hufflepuff end, a Bludger came zooming right in front of him, and he saw Luke Brown (a Gryffindor Beater) in pursuit of it.
“Sweet shot, mate!” complimented Luke as he shot the Bludger strongly in the direction of a Hufflepuff Chaser.
“Thanks!” replied James with a somewhat cocky smirk as he went in the direction of the Quaffle.
“And here comes Buckle speeding out from the Hufflepuff end, but “OH- she just got hit by another Bludger. Terrible luck that girl is having today. Now, Jensen has the Quaffle!”
James was about to follow Keira in order to help her score when he noticed something at the very corner of his eye.
Fluttering near the bottom of the Hufflepuff goal posts was the golden Snitch. It moved very quickly and somewhat skittishly, and it was so close to the ground that it almost touched a bumpy ice patch.
James immediately shot a glance at Jennifer who was seen squinting around the Gryffindor end for the Snitch. James swerved his head around to see Brendan Fraser above him.
Shit, shit, shit. he thought instantly, as he saw Brendan catch site of what had distracted him.
Instinctively, Brendan dove down toward the ground passing James in the process while gripping his broom tightly and with utmost concentration.
Without thinking about it or really contemplating his actions, James shot down like a bullet after Brendan. As he did so, he saw the ground and the golden Snitch coming closer and closer to him every second.
It does matter. whispered James in his head as he started to over-take Brendan.
It seemed like the anger that James had felt the night he saw Lily kissing Brendan at the Christmas party came surging into him and into his broom as it sped up. All the images of that night flooded back into his eyes and mind, and whatever he had said before about how Brendan was meant to be with Lily did not matter now. He was now going after the Snitch not just to prevent Hufflepuff from winning, but to spite Brendan Fraser; to humiliate him and triumph. That was James Potter’s goal now.
Brendan glanced to the side to see to his huge astonishment, James Potter (instead of Jennifer Wood, the Gryffindor team’s Seeker) reaching out and competing for the Snitch right next to him. Brendan pulled most of his weight toward the ground in order to get ahead of James.
“There goes Jensen, and she- HOLD THE FLOOR POWDER!” boomed Naomii suddenly. “I think Brendan Fraser from Hufflepuff has spotted the Snitch! He’s diving down at an extremely high speed! Oh, and in hot pursuit is Jenni- no, wait- it’s… JAMES POTTER?!”
James’s block of cheering fan girls screeched as they rose to their feet along with the rest of the audience. Everybody’s eyes were met with astonishment at James and Brendan competing for the Snitch. Both students were heading straight for the ground, neither one decreasing speed.
Abruptly and quickly, the Snitch changed direction and skidded away toward the left. The two pulled back instinctively on their brooms to turn sharply in order to follow it.
“WOW! This is amazing broom handling skills! First years that want to be on the Quidditch teams next year had better take note!”
Brendan and James remained head-to-head, and it seemed that the rest of the players had stopped playing in order to watch. The on-lookers (which included the professors) were hushed into silence, and even Madam Hooch had completely ignored her refereeing duties to watch.
James gritted his teeth hard as he reached out even further and stretched his fingers to their greatest extent. At the same time, he urged his broom forward even more in one last attempt to finish the game and catch the Snitch right from under the nose of Brendan Fraser.
Then, without warning, James caught site of something disrupting his vision. It was if the “image” was right in his face, but then (after adjusting the focus of his eyes) he noticed that the image was right on the lenses of his round-rimmed glasses. The picture startled him greatly for he saw that it was a disbelieving, disappointed, upset expression of Lily Evans. He gasped slightly and blinked a couple times to see that the image had disappeared.
Shaking his head, James once again reached out to catch the Snitch. It was within his reach, and Brendan had fallen behind ever so slightly. As he was about to wrap his fingers around the small, golden, wriggling ball, he thought of the image of Lily’s disgusted expression. Then, without an explanation and without using his brain or senses, he hesitated. It was enough hesitation for Brendan to speed up for one last attempt and catch the Snitch triumphantly.
James hovered on his broom deflated as Brendan went up into the air and showed the crowd the struggling Snitch tightly grasped within his hand. The audience burst into loud applause.
Naomii yelled the score out to the crowd, declared the end of the game, and the win to Hufflepuff. The rest of the players (depending on which team they were on) touched down on the ground in cheers or disappointment.
James dismounted his broom, and before any of his team mates could give him a questioning expression, or before Jennifer could come and holler outraged remarks at him, he left the field and slipped into the change room filled with regret, doubt, shame, and most of all; failure.
A/N: I just want to say thank you to all readers and reviewers! You guys/gals are awesome! I also hope everybody had a good holiday! I just wanted to say in response to some e-mails and reviews that I just try to update as soon as possible. Thanks ya'll!