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Padfoot Down!


James had been biting his tongue, carrying the quaffle, imagining himself in the midst of a terribly important quidditch game, and there in the stands was McKenna, watching him as he swept across the pitch, determined and ready to score what, in his mind at least, was the winning goal needed to take home the House Cup. Of course, it was really only morning practice before a regular game against Ravenclaw - but still, he could feel McKenna’s eyes following him as he swooped and dipped and clutched that bloody red leather ball… and then he’d heard Remus’s voice echo from the stands.

“SIRIUS!”

James had looked down to see the bludger slam into the point of Sirius’s elbow, heard the crack even from the distance away he was, and when Sirius flipped off his broom as he grabbed onto his arm, James shot down to his rescue, diving forward and wrapping his arms beneath his mate only just before Sirius hit the ground.

Sirius fwomped into James’s arms and looked up at him weakly, “Good catch, darling.”

“It’s what I do,” James replied, grinning.

In the stands, McKenna, Lily, Peter, and Remus were all running down the steps toward the pitch - though none as fast as Lily Evans, who jumped down the last three steps onto the snowy ground and raced through across to where James was just emerging onto the path to the castle, carrying Sirius across his arms.

“Is he alright?!” Lily asked shrilly as she arrived at James’s side.

She followed closely by Remus who, despite the sore knees he suffered, had moved quite a lot faster than Peter or Mckenna and grabbed onto the trailing cape from Sirius’s quidditch robes, his eyes wide. “Sirius! Sirius, bloody hell, what are you -- why -- you -- are you -- bloody hell!”

“He’s alright,” James said.

Sirius’s teeth were grit tight and his face contorted up in pain. But it was not lost on him that Lily Evans was in stride beside James, her hand on Sirius’s leg, her eyes watery with worry. He rolled his head back to look at Remus, “Don’t leave me, my love,” he whined.

“I’m not, I’m right here,” Remus said.

“You were so brave catching him like that, James!” McKenna had caught up to them and she pressed her way between Lily and James, grabbing onto James’s arm as they went up the path toward the castle.

Siris looked up. “Lilith! Where’s Lilith?!” he called.

“I’m here,” Lily said and she pushed her way between McKenna and James to get to Sirius, to put her palm on Sirius’s knee comfortingly.

“Oh good, darling-deer Lilith, don’t be leaving me now! I need… all of my friends…”

“I’m here, too!” Peter said, scrambling about behind the crowd of people now gathering to follow James and Sirius.

Frank jogged up, “Sirius, blimey mate, I’m sorry, I never would’ve hit that bludger so hard if I’d had any clue you were in the way like that!”

“It isn’t your fault, Frank,” Sirius said truthfully.

The entire team, plus the spectators followed along - all of Gryffindor house, practically, for Sirius Black was a treasure not just of the sixth year dorm but to the entirety of the house -followed as James carried Sirius through the door of the castle and up the stairs to Madam Pomfrey’s ward. Pomfrey immediately shooshed most everyone out, but Sirius insisted on James, Remus, and Lily accompanying him into the room, and Pomfrey shooed everyone else into the corridor, including Peter, who stared in through the crack as the door shut with wide, worried eyes, pleading, “Be okay Sirius! Please be okay!” as he was left outside.

Pomfrey hurried them to put Sirius carefully in one of the beds, and Remus ran after her, giving her the details of what had happened, having seen it best of the three of them, since James had been playing and Lily had been watching James play. Sirius moaned as he lay back against the pillows and mattress and James and Lily stood side-by-side looking over him with worried eyes.

Sirius was breathing heavily, panting as though he were dying, giving an exaggerated display of rolling his eyes back and shaking as though he were a dying soldier in some war film. He grabbed onto James’s jumper neck and pulled him closer, “Prongs,” he gasped out, “Prongs, listen to me… if I… if I don’t make it…”

“Sirius, really,” James said.

“Pomfrey’s going to fix you up in a snap, Padfoot,” Remus added, “She’s getting the skelegro, you’ll be fine, mate.”

Sirius didn’t listen. He just continued on, “If… if I don’t make it, promise me… you’ll… you’ll play on.”

“Play on?”

“Yes, Potter. Play on. Play… play to… to win. You gotta beat those bleedin’ eagles, if it’s… if… if it’s the last thing you… you do.”

Remus looked up from Sirius to see James’s face and his eyes flickered to Lily and back to Sirius. Sudden suspicion began to flicker in Remus Lupin’s eyes and he squinted at Sirius silently.

James argued, “Mate, we can just postpone the match, it’s not a big deal. We’ll just cite that we’re a Padfoot down! And next week you’ll be better and --”

“NO!” Sirius yelled. Then, quieter. “I mean no! You… you must play tonight. Please. It’s… it’s my dying wish.” He released his grip on James’s neckline and flopped onto the mattress.

Lily had her palm on his knee, “Pomfrey’s mixing the potions now, Sirius, you’ll be alright, you’ll see.”

“James, listen to me,” Sirius said, staring up at him. “You gotta play. And you gotta win.”

James shook his head, “Sirius, you’re an idiot. I don’t have any reserve beaters.”

You could play beater,” Sirius murmured, “You could. I’ve seen you do it during practices.”

“And play who for a chaser?” he asked, scoffing, “I’m sort of the best chaser we have!”

Lily’s hand fell away from Sirius’s knee, suddenly realizing what he was doing.

“I know… someone… who could play chaser,” Sirius murmured. He looked at Lily.

James and Remus both turned to look at Lily, too.

Lily looked pale. “You idiot,” she hissed at Sirius.

“Are you going to say no to a one-armed boy?” Sirius asked weakly.

“You aren’t one-armed,” James argued.

“I will be when they chop it off… as they’ll have to do…”

“They best not touch that arm,” Remus said hotly.

Please,” Sirius begged, looking from Lily ot James and back again. “Please play. It means… so much to me… I don’t want to be the reason that the perfect season gets ruined and if I’m not at 100% next week… I mean… it feels broken really badly in there.”

James looked at Lily.

Lily stared back.

James said, “I mean, pending what… what Dumbledore says… I -- I mean, would you - would you consider - maybe --” James hesitated, “Maybe filling in?”

“Can you really play beater?” Lily asked, surprised.

James flushed, “I mean, I - I can play keeper, too, technically, it’s just - just that I’m better at some things than I am others.”

Lily stared at him.

“I mean I’ll have to show you the - the plays,” James said.

“I have time,” Lily said quietly and she bit her lower lip, staring up at him.

James looked at Sirius, “Are you sure you want us to ---?”

“Yes, yes,” Sirius said, “Yes I’m sure! Go - go and teach her the plays! Hurry! You’ve only got so long to practice her with the team - to - to save the day!” Sirius said, “And look, here comes Pomfrey, she’s goin’ to kick you lot out of here anyway, so you might as well make a poor, broken boy’s wish come true…”

Sure enough, Pomfrey arrived and after putting the dreary grey skeleton bottle onto the table beside Sirius’s bed, she hurried to shoo out Lily and James, making an exception for Remus who said, “Really, I’m not above shooting a spell at my face like he’s done for me, Madam.”

Out in the corridor, the other Gryffindors were waiting to hear what happened inside and James walked out into the hall to them forming a circle about him and Lily Evans.

“Is he alright?” Alice asked.

“She’s giving him Skelegro now,” James replied.

Frank asked, “What about the game tonight? What do we do?”

James looked at Lily.

Lily nodded timidly.

“We play,” James replied.




Back inside the hospital room, Remus waited for Pomfrey to go back to her desk, and Sirius was getting sleepy from the potions she’d given him… He sat on the stool beside Sirius and he said, quietly, “Please, tell me you didn’t do this on purpose.”

Sirius parroted, “I didn’t do this on purpose.”

Remus stared at him.

“I told you. What more do you want?” Sirius asked.

Remus sighed, “For it to be true.”




Lily finished braiding her hair, staring into a mirror in the locker room outside the pitch. James was standing before the old blackboard with Derek Bell’s plays written upon it, staring up at the play. Lily tied a gold ribbon at the end of her braid as she stepped up next to James and looked up at the board.

James looked over at her. “Are you ready, then?” he asked.

Lily nodded.

“Alright.” James turned, taking up a beater’s bat from the pile of equipment, and walked over to the door that would lead out onto the pitch.

Lily stared up at the board again for a moment.

Good luck Gryffindor! -- Derek had written the letters across the top of the board alongside a silly doodle Bilius Weasley had done of a goofy looking quidditch player with Keeper’s gloves, holding up the quaffle triumphantly.

She realized just how much missed them both.

“You comin’ Evans?” James asked. “We’ve got a lot of plays to go over before the match.”

Lily nodded, “Yeah. Let’s go,” she said strongly, wiping a tear from her eye as they walked out onto the pitch.