Quidditch Kiss
Written by J. Alberghini,
as part of the collection at The
Marauder's Pensieve™
"Oh no! Slytherin's got the Quaffle… Crabbe passes to Goyle. He's going… going [Someone stop him!] Gryffindor keeper Jeremy Wood's waiting… he's diving for it… he missed! Why you sonuva-"
"Guy Jordan! I've told you a million times this year alone-"
"Sorry, professor," the round black boy interrupted her. "20 points for Slytherin," he added dejectedly. His afro (the largest one in the British Isles) looked in desperate need of a pick, tossed and turned by the wild winter winds they were standing out in. Despite the cold, almost all of the school had turned up to see the game. After being completely destroyed last year (on account that the Gryffindor seeker had been benched for one of his numerous pranks) three out of the four Hogwarts houses were itching to see Gryffindor make a comeback now that their seeker had finally returned to the field. Everyone, teachers and students alike, was packed in the stands, his or her eyes glued to the scene before them. Well, almost everyone, that is.
"Give up yet, Snivellus?" Sirius Black asked, shoving his knee into his opponent's back.
Severus Snape glared at him. "Get off me, you bloody freak!"
"Not until you say please," he responded, grinning wickedly. For one who went against all his parents' teachings, Sirius did have a tiny bit of a mean streak, though fortunately, only where Snape was concerned. Otherwise, he had a lot of friends. Two of them were sitting next to him at that moment: Remus Lupin, from his house Gryffindor, who chose to ignore the fight and watch the game, and Peter Pettigrew, from Hufflepuff, who was watching Sirius with admiration. When he wasn't pulling a practical joke on them, that is, most people thought he was a really cool guy, like his other companions. And they all sided with him against Snape. While Sirius and his crew were some of the most popular kids in school, Snape was definitely not. And he'd unfortunately made enemies of their gang (known in private as the Marauders). The group consisted of Sirius, who was one of their leaders, Remus, the sensible one (though he was the one who started everything) Peter, the small, wimpy one, and James, the other leader and star seeker of the Gryffindor team. It was he whom Remus and their fourth companion were watching so intently.
"Would you guys knock it off?" The only non-Marauder present today said dryly, then dismissing them with a wave of her hand. "Come on James," she muttered under her breath.
Remus grinned at her, though she didn't see him. Lily Evans, that was her name. As he was the more agreeable member of the group, she'd dated him briefly that year, until he mysteriously broke it off a couple weeks before. "Mysteriously" to her, anyway. The reason was obvious to everyone else in the school. The Marauders were like brothers. They would never betray each other. And even though she wasn't a member of their group, they'd gotten to know her pretty well in their seven years at Hogwarts. Well enough to know that whatever complaints she had about James were not to be taken seriously at all.
Right now, the seeker was doing laps around the stadium, clearly bored as he awaited his role in this game. Scanning the crowd, his mouth spread into a wide smile when he saw his friends. He chuckled; Sirius was still pounding Snape into the ground. But his smile wasn't so much for them as for Her.
"Hey, Evans!" he shouted. "Blow me a kiss for good luck?"
She glanced up from her muttering. "Wake up, Potter! You're going to fall off your broom." She turned away from him, even though at that distance, he couldn't see the faint twinge of pink blossoming on her cheeks. He didn't hear her reply, either, but that didn't stop him from blowing her a kiss instead. That done, he went back to surveying the field.
He whistled softly. "Wow, what a turnout." He saw almost everyone he knew there. Oliver Wood, the former Quidditch captain who'd graduated 2 years ago, his wife, and their baby, Oliver Jr. Professor Dumbledore, of course, was there and Hagrid too. And a bunch of other teachers and students he knew either personally or just from seeing them around.
"Uh oh, here comes McGonagall," he said with a grimace as the Transfiguration teacher and new head of Gryffindor House headed straight for his friends.
"Sirius Black, what on Earth are you doing?" she screeched, causing their entire section, perhaps the entire stadium, to turn their heads and groan, "Oh, what now?" Sirius and James together certainly were a deadly pair, but Sirius often found himself in more trouble than James did. Partly because James ran faster (though he usually went back to suffer with his friend) and partly because he got into as much trouble without James as he did with him.
"I swear, when I went to Hogwarts," McGonagall was saying (lecturing) as she dragged him to her office by the ear. Literally. Snape trailed along behind her, his nose once again a bloody mess (it had become a routine of sorts since that first train trip), yet he had an odd smirk on his face.
What's he up to? James wondered suspiciously. He was soon about to find out.
"And Slytherin scores again," Jordan said flatly. "Come on you people!"
James circled the field again, suddenly all business. If there was a time to find the snitch, it was now. The score wasn't as bad as Jordan made it sound, Gryffindor being only behind ten points or so. But catching the snitch now would make all the difference.
Suddenly, there it was. James raced for it greedily, knowing that its capture would not only win the game, but get him back to Gryffindor Tower's cozy common room and toasty fire place. But the other team's seeker was right on his trail. Lucius Malfoy, though two years older than James had been held back in his third year. Only his parents' wealth and status, as well as his father's position as one of the school's governors, kept his wand from being snapped, though everyone bet that Dumbledore wanted to do it badly. Malfoy was as mean as he was ugly, but he was a good friend to Snape, and thus, an enemy of the Marauders, especially James.
"Hey!" James felt a great shove and nearly fell off his broomstick. So that's why Snape got Sirius in a fight and lured McGonagall off, he thought. With a sinking heart, he realized Dumbledore had disappeared too. "Figures, he muttered." He dove about five feet, but Malfoy followed him. He speeded up; Malfoy just grabbed the end of his broomstick. And now the snitch was too far ahead. "Damnit!"
Meanwhile, in the stands, Remus was nearly having a coronary at the unfairness of it all, Peter was huddled under the seats with fear, and Lily was praying and clutching at her wand. Across the way, they could hear Hagrid yelling and cursing, but no one paid him mind. Except for by their group, he was often scorned for his drinking, his love of dangerous creatures, and the possibility that he was half-giant. The Marauders knew he wouldn't hurt a fly, but that didn't put an end to the slander and gossip surrounding him. Only Dumbledore's confidence had kept him there as gamekeeper. All they could do was give him the best support they could and let him do the same for them. In their eyes, he may have been more than twice the size of a normal human, but that meant he had more than twice the heart and they loved him dearly for it. But he couldn't do much to help them now. It looked like James was on his own.
"All right then," he said to himself. "Hey Malfoy!" James shouted. "Try to keep up with this!" He shot up in the air, spinning and twirling wildly. Then he did three consecutive loops. The crowd followed him, their heads going around in circles, until they were dizzy. All eyes were off the other balls, as it was a miracle all but one person was hit by a Bludger Guess which one?
"Yow!" James' cry echoed throughout the stadium. His hands still clutched the broom, but loosely and that wasn't enough to keep him from plummeting to the ground. Malfoy, his head already spinning, pulled out of the way just in time, but fell off his broom in the process and landed in the bushes just outside of the stadium. Crabbe and Goyle got down from their brooms to help, but they were the only ones stupid enough to do so. The Slytherins had a reputation for self-preservation and no one wanted to be accused of taking part in Snape and Malfoy's scheme.
James, on the other hand, had a crowd of people rushing to him, except for Remus, who was the only one with enough sense to get the school nurse, instead of standing there gawking and panicking, and Peter, who, on Remus's orders, scurried off to find McGonagall and Dumbledore. The two had to fight their way against the current of people, Remus stopping for a moment to call to Lily, "I think you just broke the sound barrier," in a half-hearted attempt to cheer her up. The young woman was at the head of the line, flying down to the field like she'd used a levitation charm on herself (Lily was good, but not that good).
"James!" Her cry was almost as shrill as a banshee's, but with much more warmth and a lot of fear. She ran to her classmate and cradled his head gently. "James? Are you all right? Speak to me, you idiot!" His eyes were closed, like he was sleeping peacefully. "Oh God! Where's the nurse? Open your bloody eyes!" If she weren't afraid she might further damage what was already damaged, she would have shaken him awake. Instead, she stroked and sobbed into his messy hair. Slowly, his lips spread into a wide grin.
"That feels good," he mumbled sleepily.
"What?" She looked down at him and he blinked at her.
"How's it going, Evans?" he asked cheerfully, as if nothing had ever happened.
"WHY OF ALL THE DIRTY STUNTS YOU'VE PULLED!" The stadium echoed her cries as the entire school watched her attempt at half-strangling, half-hugging him at the same time (Though James thought that either way, the outcome would've been the same).
"I think I'm going to be s-" he croaked, before coughing and spitting a round golden ball with wings. "Well, what do you know," he said, "the snitch!" The crowd gasped. No one had ever done such a thing before (though another student would do it again in a little more than a decade). Instantly, the Gryffindors erupted with cheers and cries of "We won!" Guy Jordan was so beside himself with glee, he burst into tears. So did Oliver Wood Sr., and Oliver Wood Jr. (who had just woke up from his nap).
"So, you're really all right?" Lily said, more softly this time.
"Fit as a fiddle." He smiled at her charmingly.
"Good. Because I could kill you!" she continued, slapping him on the face with a loud THWACK! He pressed her hand to his cheek.
"Why, if I didn't know any better, Evans, I'd think you were worried about me," he told her, caressing her hand lovingly. He drew her face nearer to his.
"You're dreaming, Potter," she replied, closing her eyes, and for once, submitting to her feelings. He kissed her gently, as she pushed his bangs out of his forehead, and out of her way. "That tickles," she complained.
"Hmm," he murmured, wrapping his arms more tightly around her.
"Wahoo!" A very familiar voice shouted. The Marauders, McGonagall, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey the new nurse came onto the field. The voice, of course, belonged to Sirius, who was positively glowing with pleasure, despite the fact that he had a week's detention with McGonagall. Snape, who was also subject to the same fate, was helping Crabbe and Goyle fish Malfoy out of the bushes. Peter, who was too wimpy to refuse, was soon summoned to help, with none of his friends paying enough attention to protect him.
"It's about time," Dumbledore murmured, smiling kindly at two of his favorite students.
"Well, Evans," James said, pulling away, "Does this mean you'll go out with me now?"
Lily snorted and swatted him on the head. "What do you think, dummy?" she asked, her green eyes shining. She kissed him again, causing another round of cheers that even Gryffindor's winning the House and Quidditch Cups couldn't have produced.