Forever and a Day ~ James Potter

Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw

Chapter Twenty-Five

Saturday 10th January 1976 ~ 14:17 ~ waning moon

The weather was miserable.

It was pouring rain. The wind was so strong it was howling, and it was absolutely bloody freezing.

The Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had begun only ten minutes ago, yet the crowd could barely see what was happening.

Rosie was stood with Lily, Mary and Alice, huddling together as they clung to their coats, scarves and hats, trying to keep warm. She was surprised the brooms weren't flying about of their own accord because the wind was so strong. Rosie could make out all the players on Gryffindor, and she could see Archie in his blue robes but couldn't really see what any of them were doing.

She watched as Archie weaved in and out of players, gripping the Quaffle to his side under his arm while trying not to wobble off his broom as he flew towards the goalposts. She squinted to try and see him properly to cheer him on, but just then, she caught a flash of red from the corner of her eye. She looked right to see James swooping down behind Archie with much more precision than he had.

Marlene had dived in front of him and was distracting him while James flew forwards and snatched the Quaffle from under his arm, swerving back towards the other hoops. Rosie couldn't help but let out a cheer, convincing herself it was for Marlene as she watched James fly towards the hoops, chucking the Quaffle in with ease as the Ravenclaw Keeper missed it.

All the Gryffindors whooped for James when they heard Sirius announce the goal. James flew around the pitch and grinned arrogantly, winking at Rosie as he flew closely past her. She rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, clapping along with the other girls.

"And that's fifty-thirty to Gryffindor!" Sirius shouted over the magical microphone. "I bet Artois' having the time of her life watching this match! Sorry, Professor!" he had taken to apologising for his comments before McGonagall could even berate him.

Rosie went bright red when she heard that and saw the people close to her looking around, frowning in confusion. She gave them a mean look, and they looked back towards the pitch as the match continued.

After half an hour, everybody had given up on trying to balance in the stands, so were sat on the wooden benches, bunched up in little groups to keep some heat in their damp bodies.

"F-Finally!" Sirius shouted, his teeth chattering. "It looks like the R-Ravenclaw S-Seeker, Chaoxiang Chang's spotted the Snitch!"

The boy was racing towards it as the Gryffindor Beaters desperately tried to his Bludgers towards him, but their hands were almost frozen solid.

Rosie had mainly kept her attention on Archie, seeing as she had promised him she would be supporting Ravenclaw, but she moved her gaze towards Potter as she watched him fly right in front of the Seeker as he carried the Quaffle towards the hoops. Chang was forced to swerve out of the way, giving time for Gryffindor's Seeker, Johnson, to dive down and reach her hand out, wrapping her fingers around the little golden ball.

"AND GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Sirius practically shrieked into the microphone. "YES! FINALLY, WE CAN GET INSIDE!"

The girls all jumped up, screaming and applauding along with the rest of the Gryffindor crowd. The team gathered together to do their victory lap and swept past the crowd, all looking for their own friends to wave and smile at them.

"Go on, James!" Rosie shouted as he flew past, but she didn't think he heard her.

The Team Captains landed and shook each other's hands before walking their teams off the pitch and into the changing rooms.