The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Pre-Match Nerves Got'Cha Down?

"I'm so nervous!"

"It's alright!"

"What if I mess up and the trainer doesn't want to work with me? What if I mess up and James Potter is ashamed of me? What if I mess up and we LOSE THE MATCH? The whole of Gryffindor house will hate me."

"Well, Ravenclaw would bloody love you to bits wouldn't they, as they'd win the Cup? Perhaps you could switch houses like ickle Gilderoy did."

"YOU ARE NOT HELPING!"

Wally stopped Oliver from walking, stepping in front of him and putting out his palms to stop him in his tracks. "Hey. Ollie." Oliver looked into Wally's eyes. "You're gonna do alright, okay? There's a reason James agreed to even help get you a trainer and a reason I wanted to get you a trainer and -- it's because you're GOOD at quidditch, okay? You're really good. So - so you gotta have confidence in yourself."

Oliver's eyes were wide with worry and emotion.

"I'm being so, so, so really, super honest," Wally said exaggeratedly, "Cross my heart and needles in eyeballs and all that rot, alright? You know I've watched about a million quidditch matches and I swear you're the best quidditch player I ever saw. I've never seen anybody - even in the League - who caught the snitch and scored a goal in one play. I don't reckon anybody that wasn't in the stands that day ever saw that. IT WAS INCREDIBLE."

"Alright so I have one good play --"

"YOU HAVE GOOD PLAYS ALL THE TIME."

Oliver looked down. He couldn't look in Wally's face, he felt embarassed.

"Look at me, Olly." Wally reached forward and took Oliver's chin in his fingers and made him look up. "I know what people say about you, alright? I know what that witch at your home says. She's full of shit and I hate that you have to go there every summer. But she's also wrong about you. They're all wrong about you. I know they're wrong about you. And you know what? JAMES POTTER knows that they're wrong about you."

Oliver bit his lower lip.

"Proving them wrong is gonna be effortless for you. Just believe that."

Oliver nodded.

"Alright. Now. Let me carry your broom for you, huh?"

"Alright." Oliver handed Wally his broom and Wally slung it over his shoulder as they set off, walking side by side through the corridor.

They made it down to the first floor and crossed the entrance hall to the Great Hall. Wally made sure Oliver ate - "Eggs have protein, that's really good for you when you're about to play sports. Very important to have loads of protein!" - and then they went down to the pitch, crossing the grounds in an absolute herd of students on the pathway. They could hear Dexter's voice already magically magnified as he chattered away about the teams and this year's Cup standings, he was blathering on with excitement, rattling off facts about the importance of the match.

They were nearly to the locker rooms when Wally let out a whoop and ran ahead down the path as fast as his legs could carry him. "SIRIUS!!" he screamed.

Sirius Black was standing outside the locker rooms with James Potter, a cigarette hanging from between his knuckles. Sirius had on his usual leather jacket and jeans with a dark maroon vest unbottoned over a Queen t-shirt, but James had on a t-shirt he'd made especially for the day that featured a giant Gryffindor lion with a snitch caught in it's fierce-looking mouth.

"WHOAAAA SEAGULLS!" Sirius yelled and he handed James the cigarette and ran toward Wally, the pair of them meeting in the middle with a colossal high-five that had to have smarted from the velocity. James put out the cigarette and tucked the butt in his pocket before walking over in a more normal fashion.