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The Hogwarts Seeker


“It’s your go, mate.”

James had been staring into the fire, thinking, and not noticed Sirius had taken his turn at chess, smashing James’s poorly played knight. He snapped back to focus and looked down at the board, trying to put together the meaning of the location of pieces before him. Finally, unable to, he reached down and laid his king piece down, “I forfeit, I’m too distracted to play well.”

Sirius raised his eyebrow, “That’s the first time I haven’t lost at Wizard Chess against you.”

“Yeah, well.” James shrugged. “Thank the Dark Lord for it.”

Peter, who had been watching the game like it was a spectator sport, leaned back into the cushions on the couch and sighed as Sirius started picking up the pieces and putting them into their bag. “Are you still worrying about your folks?” Remus asked, looking up from the History of Magic textbook on his lap.

“Yeah,” James said, “I am.”

“He’ll be alright,” said Sirius.

“You don’t know that,” James said, “I’m sure all those muggles thought they’d be alright, too, before they were blown to smithereens by the Dark Lord’s followers, ey?”

Silence fell over the lot of them. Peter’s nose twitched and Remus looked back to his book - it was safer there, reading about the Goblin Wars.

“One day, we’ll join the Resistance and we’ll take care of the Dark Lord and his followers and there won’t be anything to worry about anymore,” Sirius said, trying to comfort James.

James frowned, “I should hope the Dark Lord will have been long dead by the time we are old enough to join the Resistance.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Sirius said, “And besides, even if the Dark Lord’s defeated, doesn’t mean there won’t be bad guys out there for us to do in.” He climbed onto the couch beside Peter and punched a throw pillow a couple times so he could nestle himself into it, tossing his feet up onto Peter’s lap. “And in the mean time, at least you don’t need to worry about if your dad’s the one doing all the horrible things out there. You know he’s a good guy.” Sirius’s worst nightmare lately had been one which had featured his father looming darkly over Charlus Potter. James would never forgive him if his father was the reason Mr. Potter died, the way the Bells had done. Sirius still dreaded what would happen if Derek ever found out that it was Orion Black who had killed his folks…

As though summoned by the thought, Derek Bell quite suddenly appeared over the back of the couch. His face was long and solemn. “Hey. Potter. Can I have a talk with you?”

James looked up in surprise. “Yeah, of course.” He got up from the floor, shooting Sirius a look of concern, and followed as Derek waved for him to come along out into the corridor. They climbed through the portrait hole and as soon as the Fat Lady had swung closed, Derek turned to James and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard yet or not, but Alex Tinnamin’s been pulled out of school.”

“He has?” James asked, shocked, “Because of the attacks?”

Derek nodded. “Yeah. And he won’t be coming back this term… which means, we’re - er - we’re one man short for the tourney.”

James’s skin instantly sprouted goosepimples. “You are?”

“Yeah.” Derek nodded, “And we need to fill the gap, move some things about.”

“Are - are you asking me?” James stammered. “I’ll score you so many goals at the tourney - you won’t regret it --”

Derek shook his head, “You won’t be scoring me any goals in the tourney, James, I don’t need you as a Chaser. I need you as Seeker.”

James stared blankly at Derek, unable to absorb the words. “You want me to play Seeker?”

“Yeah, if you’re up to it,” Derek said, “I know we’re going to need to get you out on the pitch to practice and it may interfere with your revision a bit, but I’ll personally see to it that you’re well practiced with an honest to Merlin snitch and ---”

James leaped forward, wrapping his arms ‘round Derek Bell’s waist tightly, “I don’t bloody care what it takes! I’ll do you proud, I swear it, Bell!”

Derek’s face turned red as he peeled James off himself, “Well, I certainly hope so... I know you’re good, but without a lot of experience, I mean… But then the only way to get experience is to do it… I know that…”

“I can’t wait to write my dad! He’s going to go mad!” James grinned, “Blimey! Derek, thank you. You won’t regret it.” With that, he ran back into the common room, his heart racing, right over to the other three. “You lot will not believe what Derek wanted.”




The news that James Potter would be Seeker on the Hogwarts team in the tournament against Ilvermorny was received with mixed emotions by the students. The Gryffindors were, of course, quite excited, having seen Potter in action already, but some of the other houses were a bit upset. “Why didn’t you ask our Seeker?” demanded the Ravenclaw captain when she approached Derek Bell the next morning after hearing about James’s sudden inclusion. “She’s actually played as a Seeker before - for more than just a random pick-up game.” She was glowering.

“I’ve seen Potter do some amazing things,” Derek replied with a shrug, “I know what he’s capable of and that’s the sort of stuff we need in this tourney. I’m sorry, but I made my decision and I think it’s a good one.”

The Ravenclaws weren’t the only ones thinking that way. Slytherin’s captain made some remarks as well and although the Hufflepuff captain didn’t specifically say anything negative to Derek about it, they also didn’t say anything positive, either. “Just be sure and watch your back ‘til the tourney,” said Derek lowly to James, “I doubt the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would do much of anything, but those Slytherins… I don’t put anything past them.”

“Nor do I,” replied James as the Slytherin captain walked by in a group that included Severus Snape.

True to his word, too, Derek took James out after dinner to the pitch to practice with a real snitch. James didn’t tell Derek that Sirius had stolen one and they’d been playing with it ‘round the dormitory, but the hours of endless catch-and-release had benefited his playing skills quite noticeably. “Great job practicing, Potter,” said Derek when they landed as the sun was starting to go down.

“Thanks,” James said proudly, though Derek seemed less elated than he might’ve hoped. “Sorry about Alex leaving,” he said. “I know he was your mate and all.”

Derek nodded, “Just a shame he’ll have to do seventh year over again. Another bad thing Voldemort’s done to ruin lives.”

“Yeah,” James agreed. “He’s good at that. Wrecking things, I mean.”

“He certainly is,” Derek agreed.

James followed along with Derek across the grounds toward the castle. When they were about halfway up the hill, he said, as casually as he could, “You’re in the Resistance now.”

Derek looked over, “You heard.”

James nodded. Quite literally, he thought. “So you - you know about stuff going on with others in the Resistance, yeah?”

“I suppose, a bit,” Derek answered.

“You hear anything about my dad?” James asked.

“Besides him saving those muggles, you mean?” Derek asked, a half smile tweaking up his lips.

“Yeah,” James answered, “Besides that.”

Derek looked back to the castle with a contemplative look. “Well, I haven’t personally heard anything from him, but Chriselda’s heard a bit. She was saying the other day how very brave he was for helping those muggles like that. Not every wizard would’ve done it, you know. Not even everyone who claims to be in the Resistance.”

James nodded, “Yeah, my dad’s good like that. He really cares about muggles. And Mr. Parish has been one of his best mates for s’long as I can remember.”

“We could use more folks like him,” Derek agreed.

James paused walking and Derek stopped too. They were at the foot of the steps leading up into the castle and the lights from the windows crisscrossed and glowed across the early Spring grass and the gravel of the path. James rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Derek. “If you hear anything about him, anything he’s up to or that’s happened to him or … or well, anything at all really, you’ll… you’ll tell me, yeah? Before McGonagall comes and…” James’s eyes were pleading.

Derek nodded. “Yeah, mate. Yeah. I’ll tell you anything I hear at all, the moment I hear it. But - hey - James? Your dad’s really brave and he’s really smart and -- it’d take a lot to beat your dad, alright? So don’t worry.”

James swallowed back the anxiety building in him, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“But your dad was real good too, wasn’t he? And --” James stopped. Derek’s face was hurt. James backtracked, “I’m sorry, forget I said that. I’m sorry.”

Derek cleared his throat, his eyes redder than they’d been a second before. His voice was a bit thicker, too, as he said, “Yeah, yeah my dad was good too, but people were really underestimating the Dark Lord last summer and -- That’s different now. Nobody thinks it’s just going to blow over anymore. Everyone knows he’s pretty serious now. Your dad’s gonna be a lot more careful than mine was.”

James couldn’t look Derek in the face. He knew it wasn’t fair to Derek, him being all worried and tearing up over the idea of his dad being in trouble and asking Derek to watch out for him. Especially not since Derek was going through his own rubbish because of the Dark Lord. But he couldn’t stop the hot tears threatening to spill over the rims of his eyes.

Derek saw them, despite James’s attempt to avert his eyes and swipe them away. Derek quickly knelt down so he was closer to James’s height and he looked up at James from below, his hands on James’s shoulders. “Hey… Potter… Listen. It’s going to be okay. Your dad’s incredible. But hey, listen, if something was to happen… you’ve got to remember something for me, alright? First of all, you’re strong, too. You’re brave. And your dad would want you to remember that no matter what tomorrow or the day after or the month after or even years from now, no matter what any of that time brings. Keeping on is the only way to get through it.”

James nodded. “Thanks.”

“No worries, mate,” Derek said quietly. “It’ll be okay.” He stood up and they started walking up the stairs toward the wide wooden entrance door. It wasn’t quite time for the students to be out of the halls, but it was really close, and the hallways were very nearly deserted, the stragglers left out were running for their common rooms and passed by Derek and James without incident. They ran into Filch on the second floor stair and he glowered at them and murmured, “Get to bed,” under his breath.

“We’re on our way,” Derek said cheerfully, though Filch’s eyes never left their backs until they’d turned enough staircases that he could no longer see them.

When they reached the sixth floor, Derek hesitated, “I’ve got to go see someone real fast before tucking in. You go ahead, just in case I run a bit late. I don’t need my new star seeker in detention and missing any practices!”

“Alright,” James replied, though he was a bit suspicious of where Derek was off to.

“Thanks for taking up the post, Potter, I appreciate it.” Derek smiled. “See you later.” He quickly hopped off the end of the stair as it met up with the landing and sped off down the west corridor.

James arrived back to the Gryffindor common room without any further incidents. Half the students had already gone to bed, though Lily and Remus were still up and sitting at the table studying their astronomy books without talking. James looked about and didn’t see Sirius and Peter, so he headed up to the dorm room, only to find it, too, was empty. He supposed they’d gone to check on the potion and he felt a bit left out as he laid across his bed and pulled out the snitch from his nightstand drawer to distract himself with.

That night, he dreamed of the tourney, of the packed-full stands cheering and chanting his name as he flew victory laps about the pitch, holding up the golden snitch… “OT-TER! POT-TER! POT-TER!”