Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
Chapter 39: The Reserve Goes To Play
"Potter." Charlie Bell, the current captain of the team, floated closer to him. "Looks like you'll have a chance to play a bit earlier than anticipated."
"It does seem like that." James didn't feel like saying much. A wave of nostalgia washed over him as he hovered over the Quidditch stadium.
He hadn't played much after graduating from Hogwarts, so this truly brought him back to his teen years.
Captain Bell and the rest of the players took this as a sign of nerves.
"Look, Potter…I won't mince my words," Captain Bell said. "Things are looking rough, and our chances of winning are practically zero, unless you can catch that Golden Snitch."
"Be careful, James," Sirius warned him. "Those Slytherins are playing dirty."
"Yes. The moment you get close to the Snitch, you can be sure the other team will do anything to stop you," Marlene McKinnon told him.
"Our beaters will also be trying to knock their seeker out," the captain said. "But McKinnon is right…be very careful, Potter. If you find yourself cornered…I won't blame you if you decide to give up the Snitch." Bell didn't like the idea of losing the game, but having their new seeker end up in the hospital would be even worse.
The referee called for them. "Gryffindors! I'm sorry, but there's no more free time. We have to restart the game. Unless you wish to concede…"
"We are not conceding!" Sirius exclaimed.
Captain Bell looked around at his teammates' faces. "My team will continue. We have a reserve seeker."
The referee glanced at James for a second since he had never seen him before. "Right…well then, good luck."
"Everyone, get to your positions. We're about to start. There are only twenty-five minutes left…we're losing by seventy points. We cannot let them score anymore," the captain said.
The group then went to their positions, and the referee gave the signal to restart the game while releasing the balls into the air.
James saw the glimmer of the Golden Snitch ascending at a tremendous pace.
He had gotten very familiar with his current broom. The Comet 220 had no chance of catching up to it until it slowed down a bit.
All he could do was move a bit closer and wait for the opportunity.
The enemy seeker, as well as the two Slytherin beaters, were mostly keeping an eye on James since he was Gryffindor's only chance to win the game.
James saw the Snitch stop before reaching the clouds and move back down in the direction of the Ravenclaw stands, right on the other side of the field.
Without hesitation, he directed his broom toward it, but his opponents had done the same.
James saw that the beaters on his team were also approaching, but they were still too far away to be of much help, while the Slytherin players were much closer to the stands.
He heard the captain and other players yell at him as he flew away from them.
James could not hear their words through the loud wind currents, but he could still guess what they were thinking. They must be afraid that he would suffer the same fate as the previous seeker.
The Golden Snitch continued to fly and passed beneath the wooden structure of the Ravenclaw stands before making a pass behind it.
This was the moment the two beaters were waiting for. They were now completely out of view from the audience, as well as the teachers.
The Snitch was close by, but the Slytherin seeker didn't even attempt to go for it. His attention, and that of the two beaters, was now on James, who had yet to slow down and flew directly for his target.
James noted that the two beaters were very close to each other, so he flew directly between them.
"You're going down, Potter!"
As soon as he was in their range, the beaters swung their bats with all the force they had.
All James had to do was release the grip on his legs and allow his body to drop beneath his broom as he passed.
As James expected, the beaters ended up hitting each other instead of him. One received an impact on the shoulder, while the other got it right on the side of his head, almost knocking him out.
There was still the Slytherin seeker in his way now. The sixth-year, black-haired boy was looking at James with an expression of surprise and concern. His previous cocky smile had vanished.
The boy glanced at the Snitch and decided it was better to forget their previous idea of beating James out and just go for the ball to end the game. After all, he was still much closer to it.
All of a sudden, the Slytherin seeker found himself surrounded by a black smoke that covered his vision.
"Ahh! What is this? I can't see!."
The poor boy had missed the moment when James threw an obfuscating potion in his direction. With his eyesight compromised, he ended up hitting a wooden pillar and lost control of his broom.
'What a gullible boy…both sides can play a bit dirty.' James' broom would have no chance of outrunning his opponent's. That rich lad was using the latest Cleansweep model, and it was much faster than his own.
'I believe there was no rule against the use of potions during a match…not yet, at least.' James had glanced over the current rules during the summer and didn't recall reading about that rule, even though it was clearly there during his school years as Harry Potter.
In any case, with the opponent seeker out of commission, James continued to chase the Snitch until it flew back into the open field.
He could hear the commentator yelling hysterically as he made a reappearance, while also wondering where the Slytherin players were.
James saw the Snitch making a dive toward the ground and went for it.
The enchanted ball was designed with a speed limit, so even if it did that, its momentum would be maintained.
Magical brooms, however, can benefit from an increase in speed when making a sharp dive.
In a few seconds, James was right behind the Golden Snitch.
Every pair of eyes in the stadium was now on him.
"Come here already." He grabbed hold of the damn thing when he was just a few feet away from hitting the ground, and his broom made some nasty creaking noises as he corrected the course to avoid the collision.
"It had been a bit closer than anticipated, but…the job is done." He lifted his hand in the air to show the Golden Snitch carefully held in his grasp.
"The Gryffindor seeker has caught the Golden Snitch!" The announcer didn't even know his name but was still excited for his team's win.
"The game is over…Gryffindor is the winner!"
The crowd went crazy.
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