032. 29 october 1976. evening.

[alotofgood]

October 10, 1976 — 21:45 hrs
Hogwarts, Scotland
Corridor near the Quidditch pitch


James leaves the Quidditch pitch at about nine forty-five at night, fifteen minutes before curfew, still in his Quidditch gear. Practice had been over for hours now, but James didn't want to leave — not until Madam Hooch kicked him out, anyway, after telling him that no competitors of the upcoming match were allowed to be near the vicinity for 'safety reasons'.

Right, thinks James. It was very likely because of what happened a few years ago when one of the Slytherin team members decided to tamper with the Bludgers in order to beat Gryffindor that game. He remembers when Anthony Hillert-Stein got a Bludger right to the face, breaking his nose and costing the Gryffindors a Chaser for the rest of the season.

Either way, he didn't want to argue, so he leaves.

He'd been sitting in the stands, with a full view of the pitch, going over every strategy he and his teammates had come up with in his head. He pictured Cliona catching the Quaffle from mid-center of the pitch, then passing it to him; they'd fly forward before James tossed the Quaffle back to Cliona, tricking the others into thinking he was going to pass to Shacklebolt instead ...

He'd done just about as much as he could as Captain. He's almost entirely sure he's matched Quentin March for Most Obsessive Captain of the Gryffindor Team in Decades now, and after this game, he's sure he'll even surpass the other bloke.

It very nearly shames him, but more than that, James thinks he can finally fully appreciate the tenacity of their former captain to keep going, even when your teammates think you've gone completely mad.

He is still mumbling tactics under his breath when he makes his way through the dim corridors of Hogwarts, on his way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Comments

[lilium_evansiae]

"You're going to walk into something if you're not careful."

Lily is sitting on one of the corridor's wide window ledges, with one of her shoes off.

[alotofgood]

James stops, blinks, and turns his attention towards said window ledge.

"Ev — Lily. What are you doing about?"

(And looking so adorable.)

[lilium_evansiae]

"Checking the corridors, in a prefectly capacity," she says.

"And checking to see if there's something in my shoe," she adds, frowning at it.

"What are you doing about, James?"

[alotofgood]

"I've —"

James is momentarily distracted, both by the fact that Lily is sitting out here, alone, on a window ledge.

And that she's frowning at her shoe.

Honestly, Quidditch has been a very good distraction from Lily lately. But now it has come full circle once more.

"I've just left the pitch, actually," he says. "Madam Hooch kicked me out and I'm actually making an effort to follow curfew so Filch hasn't got any excuses."

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily looks at her watch, and frowns even more than she was frowning at her shoe (which does not seem to have anything in it).

"You just left the pitch? Cliona got back ages ago.

"What have you been doing out there?"

[alotofgood]

James lets out a breath.

"Going over strategy, mostly. Just making sure I had everything.

"I also didn't feel like having a chat with the others, or dealing with Sirius' mood tonight of all nights. And —"

He glances down at himself.

"And I forgot to change."

Blimey.

Maybe he really is losing it.

[lilium_evansiae]

"So, to translate ... obsessing about tomorrow's match, avoiding your best friends, and paying minimal attention to your surroundings."

She frowns at him even more than she frowned at her watch.

"James, you shouldn't do this to yourself."

[alotofgood]

"Er —"

James gives her a helpless shrug.

Because no truer assessment could have been made, really.

"I don't know what's got into me."

[lilium_evansiae]

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're nervous," Lily says.

She slides over on the window ledge to make room for him, if he'd like to sit down.

[alotofgood]

After a brief moment's thought, James does.

Honestly, it's this or go back to his dorm room and not sleep for the rest of the night.

"I've never really gotten nervous about Quidditch before," he admits. "Not like this."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Well, you've never had the shiny badge on your robes before."

It changes things.

"Anything I can do to help?"

[alotofgood]

James reaches to touch the Captain's badge pinned to his chest.

She's right, of course.

Being a regular teammate is completely different from being Captain, even though James is certain he was made to be Captain.

He wouldn't give it up for anything.

Well, nearly anything.

He removes his glasses to rub the spot between his eyes.

"I don't suppose you could just assure me I won't fuck up tomorrow, could you?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"You won't fuck up tomorrow," Lily says, promptly.

And then laughs. "Sorry, that's not a word I use very often."

[alotofgood]

James smiles.

"Me either, really," he says, putting his glasses back on. "It's sort of an emergency-only word."

And this, he supposes, counts as a bit of an emergency.

"But thanks, Lily."

[lilium_evansiae]

"You're welcome," she says.

"Feel any better?"

[alotofgood]

"Maybe a little," he says.

It's really only half a lie.

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily studies him for a second.

"All right," she says, "let me ask you something.

"If ... if Raquel were here, right now, and she told you she was really worried about tomorrow's match, what would you tell her?"

[alotofgood]

"I'm the Captain, I've got it covered?" he offers a little wry.

James stares ahead, reworking his words.

"I'd tell her she was a brilliant Seeker and that she didn't have anything to worry about. We'd practiced all month, after all.

"And I really would tell her that it's my job as Captain to take the worry too."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Well, then.

"James, you are a brilliant Chaser, and you don't have anything to worry about. You've been practicing all month. You've got a good team, you chose new players who seem to fit really well with the returning ones, I know because I hear all about this from Cliona. You've got six people who believe in you and don't even complain about you all that much, and none of them are stupid, so you must be doing a good job of being Captain."

[alotofgood]

James doesn't say anything for a moment.

He just smiles, turning his attention from the wall across from them to Lily.

A good deal of words (read: all) get lost in between thinking them and opening his mouth to say them.

He lets out a soft laugh instead.

"Thanks, Lily," he manages. "That actually does help."

It helps a lot.

[lilium_evansiae]

"You're welcome," she says.

"And if it's any further consolation, I have to say you look much less nervous than Danae Noss did at dinner."

It was, apparently, not a good night to be a new Quidditch Captain.

"She was kind of green.

"Possibly even chartreuse."

Cliona had pointed it out.

Twice.

[alotofgood]

"Yeah?"

James shakes his head.

(He hopes he's not any colour at all.)


Then pauses.

"I forgot to go to dinner too.

"No wonder I'm feeling a bit hungry."

Not that that's much of a problem. He can easily pilfer something from the kitchens later if he really wants to.

[lilium_evansiae]

"Oh, yes, no wonder," Lily says, tone gone dry and amused.

She pulls half a roll of Maynards wine gums from her pocket and hands them to him.

"Muggle sweets.

"Mum sends them to me."

[alotofgood]

"Thanks," James says, taking one from the packaging and popping it into his mouth. "That's rather convenient. D'you usually carry sweets with you?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"These I do.

"If I leave them in my room, Perdita eats them."