James sat at the table, staring at his plate of food. He was anything but hungry.
On his left, Sirius was eagerly wolfing down his breakfast as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks, and Remus was staring fixedly across the table at the girls.
James glanced over at them as well.
Thaliana was pouring melted chocolate over a toast tepee, which she had made out of toast triangles stacked against each other. This was a habit that she had started the year before, and she hadn’t failed to keep it up once.
Next to her, Lily was talking with Robert, smiling broadly at him and resting her head on his shoulder occasionally, glancing hopefully over at James.
James found that he wasn’t the least bit bothered by this, and he turned his attention to the Slytherin table. There, the most beautiful girl in Hogwarts sat, delicately picking at her bowl of porridge mixed with strawberry jam.
Calista’s hair was in a pollyanna, which, James noticed, suited her face perfectly. Of course, any and every hairstyle seemed to suit Calista.
Calista was wearing black eyeliner and rose pink lip-gloss, and James marveled at the fact that he had never noticed how pretty she was before that term, when Calista had come into their compartment to say hello.
Not long after, he had known Calista was the only one for him.
Lily was nothing compared to her; who wanted dark red hair compared to silky blonde hair, or blindingly bright green eyes compared to deep brown ones? Dark brown eyes that you could get lost in…
He glanced across the table at Lily again, and was surprised to see how plain she was. What on Earth did Robert see in her?
Lily batted her eyelashes at Robert playfully and he laughed.
Poor thing, James thought sympathetically. He is stuck with Lily while I get Calista. Well, I’m not surprised that I get the better one with my good looks. Still…
Despite these thoughts, James felt strange looking at the two of them sitting closely together. It wasn’t jealousy; he loved Calista. But somewhere, deep down, he knew he didn’t like the sight.
At all.
The sound of the whistle rang in James ears, and he kicked off of the ground, a feeling of exhilaration rushing through him.
It was his first ever Quidditch match, and he had never felt as excited as he did now. James looked around at the surrounding students on brooms, flying around in a frantic blur.
Instinctively, James knew what to do. Flying was in his blood, it was part of him. Every Potter, girl and boy, had been talented in any type of broomstick riding.
He flew forward fast, and his black hair whipped backwards off his face.
Concentrate, he told himself sternly. First impressions mean everything. This is your chance to show everyone that you belong on this team; you can do it.
As they neared the goals, Alanah Taliban, one of James seventh year fellow Chasers, and Quidditch captain, passed James the Quaffle.
James dodged an opposing Hufflepuff player, fixed his eyes on the left goalpost, and threw the Quaffle hard.
Oliver Manning, the Hufflepuff keeper, made a mad dive for the ball, but missed, his fingers only brushing it.
James punched his fist into the air in exhilarated triumph, and grinned at his friends.
All around them, the Gryffindor section burst into applause, and Sirius and Remus jumped up, giving each other enthusiastic high fives.
Peter screamed out James’s name in a continuous chant, and Lily and Robert hugged each other.
James turned around to grin at Alanah. She beamed at him proudly. James knew that she could easily have scored, but instead she had given James the honor of scoring the first goal of the term.
The rest of the game went the same, with James scoring many goals. He played aggressively, though not violently, and the Hufflepuffs quickly learnt to stay out of his way when he flew.
They had been playing for an hour and a half, and James felt as if he wouldn’t care if the snitch was never caught.
Gryffindor were leading Hufflepuff 220 – 40. James stopped flying for a quick rest, and realized for the first time, that Claire Bouver, who was actually interested in Quidditch, not how windswept the player’s hair got, had replaced Chantal.
“Gryffindors’ new chaser, Potter, seems to be an excellent asset to the team; he’s easily one of the best players I have seen at his age. I expect we’ll see a lot from him.” Claire spoke, an official sound to her voice.
James tuned out and began to fly again, not without a pleased look on his face.
Cody Junkher was flying at full speed towards the goalposts, and a very nervous looking Jaslyn Orrick, the newest Gryffindor keeper.
James put on a burst of speed and sharply cut Junkher off. Junkher wasn’t expecting this at all, and he dropped the Quaffle in surprise.
James quickly grabbed it, smiled angelically at Junkher, and sped off down to the other end of the pitch.
He dodged Shi Chang and passed the Quaffle to Byron Justin. Byron scored seconds before the whistle blew shrilly.
Claire’s victorious voice filled the stadium.
“Logan Koror has caught the snitch; Gryffindor win the first game of the season!”
The Gryffindors cheered joyfully, jumping up and down and screaming with all of their might. Alanah gave the signal to the Gryffindor team, and they formed a line.
Flying up towards the sky, they did a somersault one by one, and performed a spectacular dive back towards the ground, pulling up only feet away from hitting it.
Alanah was big on the appearance on the team, and had spent an entire practice teaching them that in case of victory.
As the team landed on the ground, James sprinted towards Sirius, Remus and Peter, and he was immediately met with high fives and congratulatory punches, not only from his three best friends, but also from many Gryffindor students.
Calista ran towards James and threw herself into his arms. “You were great!” She cried.
“Thanks,” he replied, feeling better than ever had before.
Lily passed him, walking closely with Robert. As she saw James and Calista, she deliberately slowed down to smirk at James.
Calista wrapped her arms very tightly around James, choking him. As James gagged, she tossed her head on the side.
“Oh James, you were fantastic out there!” she gushed loudly, glancing in Lily’s direction.
Lily’s emerald green eyes clouded over, and she reacted quickly.
“You know Robert,” she started, raising her voice. “You really are a good flyer, I admire that. If Gryffindor had you on the team, THEY WOULD HAVE WON BY 500 POINTS!” Lily screamed the last bit, looking pointedly at Calista and James.
Calista abandoned all pretence and turned on Lily.
“ROBERT, UNLIKE JAMES, WOULDN’T HAVE LASTED MORE THAN TWO MINUTES!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing several people to turn around to see what the matter was.
“ROBERT COULD BEAT JAMES AT ANYTHING, ANYDAY!” bellowed Lily, storming off, dragging Robert by the wrist, closely followed by Jada, Thaliana and Roxanna.
James turned to look at Sirius, bewildered. Sirius however, looked amused.
“Looks like you’ve got a big year ahead of you mate,” he mused, still watching Lily’s retreating figure.
James sat in a chair beside the roaring fire in the Gryffindor Common Room.
He yawned widely, almost asleep, as he lazily surveyed the scene in front of him.
Lily, Jada, Thaliana and Roxanna were sitting in a tight circle, gossiping. Nearby was Robert, playing exploding snap with Charlie Patman.
Peter and Sirius were watching, and they made a very good audience, enthusiastically cheering every time he heard an explosion.
It wasn’t long before James realized something was wrong.
“Oi, Sirius,” he called out to his friend. “Where’s Remus?”
Sirius tore his attention away from the game somewhat reluctantly. “He’s visiting his Mum,” he informed James.
“Again?” demanded James. “He’s visited her at least a thousand times!”
Sirius nodded, and then shrugged, returning to the game.
James was too exhausted to argue, so he simply closed his eyes and rested his head against his arm.
Lily sat in the chair in front of James, lost in thought. She felt so torn between two feelings that were very similar, yet different.
She still liked James as much as ever, and seeing him with Calista made her blood boil.
Just watching Calista throw herself all over him made her want to hurt her in every way possible.
Now though, there was something knew, as if destiny was determined to make her love life as confusing as possible.
The something, of course, was Robert. Lily was discovering new feelings for him lately. Robert was so unlike other boys, he was considerate, sensitive and mature. Not to mention hot as anything.
But then, if Robert was different from other boys, then James was a species of his own. There was something about him, so many hidden feelings.
Lily saw a part of him he didn’t like to show; a vulnerable, sometimes scared, insecure part of James that no-one else seemed to recognize. On top of all that, he seemed to excel at everything.
He was a natural born Quidditch star, that much he had made obvious that day. He was top of the class in almost all lessons, yet he seemed to put in no effort at all. He was mischievous, cheeky, and brave.
The only thing was, he liked another girl, and she already knew that Robert liked her a lot, and wanted to be more than just friends.
Why did she still want James then?
Lily shook her head, as if to clear her mind of all this confusion. Instead, she looked across at James, who was sleeping innocently and silently, without even snoring.
She choked back a sob that seemed to come of its own accord. Why did he have to like Calista? Calista didn’t deserve him, not James, not anyone.
Lily rose from her seat slowly, and tiptoed over to James’s sleeping figure.
She hesitated, biting her lip, and then she walked up to him. She gently removed his glasses, taking care not to wake him, and brushed his soft dark hair out of his eyes.
James stirred slightly, and Lily held her breath, but James remained sleeping.
“Goodnight James,” Lily whispered, and she could have sworn that, just for a second, James smiled in his sleep.
Review challenge!! My favourite part!! Ok, um... If you could change one thing about this story, and you would die if you didn't change one thing, then what would you change and why?? If you accept this challenge, you must say something, and saying, "there's nothing wrong with this story" is counted as facing a penalty of DEATH!! mwahahahaha!