The Stag and The Harpy | James Potter

Quidditch

Phoebe couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as soon as she woke up in the morning. She rushes through the shower and tugs on her most outrageous Gryffindor clothes. Lily and Alice watch with amusement as she runs around, pulling on red and gold socks and gloves and shirts.

"Phoebe, this is getting outrageous," Lily tutts, dressed in her normal clothes with a simple Gryffindor scarf. She'd never really liked quidditch.

Phoebe gasps loudly, "Where is your house pride?! We have to support Marlene and Sirius!"

"And James," Alice adds, smiling when Lily scoffs at his name.

"Cmon, Lils. You should give him a chance. Especially now that Amos turned out to be a git," Phoebe offers, frowning when Lily looks sad. Amos had tried to take things far too fast for Lily, getting angry when she wouldn't snog him in a broom closet instead of attending class. James had tried to go after him but Lily stopped him, saying quite a few hurtful things about him as well.

"I'm tired of boys," Lily says, rolling her eyes. "I think I'll wait for a while. Though I must say I find Fabian Prewett to be quite fit."

Phoebe grins and nods, "His brother is a good kisser."

Alice gasps and points at Phoebe. "You and Gideon?!"

The Veela laughs, and nods, "Yes. He's fit and rather funny. Good for a quick snog."

Alice sighs and stands, walking over to whet Phoebe was struggling with her hair. Phoebe lets her take over, listening while Lily asks, "why don't you date any of these blokes, Pheebs?"

"They get bored pretty easily. As Marlene so kindly puts it, my Veela spookiness lures in gits that want to snog. Gideon was actually quite nice, but I'm not really interested," Phoebe says easily.

Alice smirks slightly and says, "Well if Lily won't give Potter a try, you should."

Phoebe snorts, "Yeah right."

"Come on, Pheebs. I saw him staring at you in transfiguration."

"Again, I say Veela spookiness. I'm fun to look at, but not to play with."

Alice laughs but Lily wrinkles her nose at the implication. "That's rather crass, Phoebe," Lily scolds.

Phoebe rolls her eyes, sitting silently while Alice insists on doing her makeup as well. When phoebe looks in the mirror she smiles, touching her perfectly smooth hair. A smoky black rims her eyes in a subtle way.

"My mum would kill me," Phoebe laughs. "I love it, Alice. Now let's go!!!"

The girls rush to the quidditch pitch, searching for spots in the stands until they see Remus and Peter. Lily leads the way over, worming her way between the crowds of students.

"Thanks for saving us seats, Remmy!" Phoebe shouts, plopping down between him and Alice. Lily sits next him and Peter, wrinkling her nose at the crowd. Remus chuckles and says kindly, "You look nice, Pheebs."

The Veela shrugs and says, "Alice did it. Trying something new." Peter flushes and nods, stuttering, "It does look lovely."

She grins and winks at him, making Remus chuckle harder at his flustered reaction. The group turns back to the pitch, cheering wildly when the Gryffindor Team makes its way onto the field. Phoebe can see James and Sirius grinning cockily from her seat. Madam hooch blows the whistle and then they're off, facing the Ravenclaw team.

Phoebe leans over to Alice and says, "Sirius says we can beat them, but only if James finds the snitch first. The seeker is really good."

Alice nods, following her friends eyes to the Ravenclaw seeker. Patrick ClearWater was a prick, but he was a rather good seeker. Phoebe knew that James was better though.

Gryffindor is down 40 to 60. Sirius easily bats away another bludger from hitting Marlene. She winks at him as she flies past with the quaffel, heading towards Ravenclaw's keeper. She easily tosses it in, earning cheers from the Gryffindor crowd and Sirius. James hoots and hollers, but stops when a flash of gold catches the light out of the corner of his eye.

He speeds off, flying past a clueless Patrick Clearwater and towards the snitch. He weaves through the other players, dodging the bludgers. He feels the Ravenclaw seeker hot on his tail. Leaning forward, he outstretches his arm and snags the snitch, immediately hearing the roar from the crowd.

"He's done it," The announcer, Liam Jordan yells. "Potter's caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins the second match of the season!"

James grins widely, eyeing the chanting stands full of students for his house. He flies closer, spotting coppery red hair that makes his heart flutter.

"Oi, Evans—"

The rest of his words died in his throat when he notices the blonde sitting close by. His heart stops at the sight of her clear, grey eyes traced with charcoal black. Her slivery hair sits smoothly on her shoulders, her cheeks and nose pink from the cold. His stomach does a somersault at the amount of Gryffindor gear she's wearing and the elated grin on her lips. This girl doesn't have red hair. She doesn't have green eyes. The girl he's staring at is not Lily Evans.

James gulps, blinking rapidly. He doesn't hear the chanting anymore, doesn't even notice when Sirius flies up and claps him on the back.

Phoebe Griffin is beautiful.

And she's screaming,

"James!! James watch out!!!"

He turns just in time to see a rogue bludger connect with his broom, sending him spiraling until he falls from the broom and flies towards the ground.

And then the world goes black.