Life is full of ups and downs.
But every life ends at one point of time.

And you never know that you may never see the person you see a few seconds ago.

And happiness can be replaced by sadness in a few seconds but replacing vice versa may take a life time.

James had never been happier. He had won the game. His first game as a captain.

He had led his team all the way.
And his team had co-ordinated splendidly.

And when he thought nothing could ruin his mood, he heard the most depressing news which completely shook him.
***
↩↩ FlashBack ↩↩

'So I guess it's time for a pep talk.' James said.

His team was in front of him and he wanted to tell them how much this game mattered.

'Blah Blah. Let's play well. Blah Blah. Let's go.' Sirius said.
James revised the game plan once again.

He looked at his seeker. Trinity Finnigan.
'Try to finish the game before it even begins.'

'Let's fly.'
***
With cheers filling the crowd, he could hear people chant his name in the air.
There were the shrieks and hisses from the slytherin's as well.

The whole school had gathered around to see the game.

He could barely hear frank long bottom's commentary over the noise of the crowd.

He walked out into the ground and from the other side came the slytherin captain.
Emma Vanity was in her seventh year.

It was her fourth and last year as a captain.

'I won the cup last three times, kiddo. Don't feel bad when you lose.' She smiled putting forward her hand.

James shook it. 'Try me. Play the best you can.'
'Are you sure? I was about to go easy on you but hey, when you lose by over a margin of I don't know two hundred don't cry.'

All the players rose in the sky as the whistle rang out.

'The slytherin team is hot.' Sirius said.
'Shut up and throw the damn bludgers.' James said.

Sure enough, after half an hour, gryffindor was losing badly.

Vanity kept her word and thrashed the quarrel into the hoop constantly.
She had individually scored four times scoring forty points for the team.

Slytherin was leading 50-0 when James called for a timeout.

'The Snitch. Try to catch it. It's our only chance with vanity scoring furiously.' James said.

'Or maybe you should try to be more like a captain and score as well.' Trinity retorted.
'I am trying.' She sighed.

'I am gonna try harder. And so are you.' James said. 'And padfoot if another bludger goes off direction because of you staring at their asses, I am gonna have to put you in the subs.'

'I am not.. shut up.'

The whistle blew back and they took positions once again.

James dodged a bludger and snatched the quaffle from a slytherin chaser.
And flew within an instant only to be blocked by Oliver, the keeper.

He passed the quaffle below.

Within a second the quaffle was passed back to him and he swerved around Oliver to dunk it in the hoop.

After a long while, the gryffindor crowd had something to cheer.

After a few moments James tried the same move again but was tackled by Oliver.
He was about to retreat when Oliver crashed into him and he lost balance for a moment.

Sirius called out for a foul and the game was paused.

"And with a dangerous foul by Oliver the slytherin keeper, the gryffindors are thrilled with the penalty decision."

James held the quaffle in his hand.

In front of him was Oliver.

This was his chance. He flew up and did a round around the hoop finally rising up and down in such quick succession.

Sure enough, Oliver was surprised when he went around the hoop and rose right beside the hoop and carefully slip it in.

Within bother few minutes James had scored again and the ground was alive again.
Gryffindor had bounced back with 50-30 but slytherin was still in the lead.

As James went for the swerve, Emma suddenly appeared and slyly diverted the quaffle before it entered the hoop and send it to the other end aiming pin point into their side of the hoop.

'Nice try newbie. Leave the game to the experts.'
Within the next timeout the game had reached nowhere with slytherins leading 80-50.

'Trinity.'
'I am trying.' She said.

James flew from behind and put the quaffle in with force from distance.
After scoring yet again, he hi-fived Sirius whose bludgers were being a great help to him.

The score stood 90-80 as James took a long range and hit pin point.

But soon Emma, sneaked in to reach for the quaffle and threw it from a long height with skill and grace.

For a while the players were just flying around.

James took his eyes off for a moment and saw trinity looking here and there.

And with a little careful searching while paying attention to the game, he caught sight of the glittering golden snitch which had been invisible for a long time.

James looked at trinity who was oblivious to the snitch. In the very next second, the snitch disappeared and Alexis scored long range.

Within another few moments, Katherine and Emma both scored to put Slytherin to a major lead of 50 points.

James flew next to trinity.

'What are you doing?' He asked.
'Look, I am trying.'

'No, you are an excellent seeker. And something is wrong with you today.' James said.

'No.'
'I myself have seen the snitch quite a few times but unfortunately I can't catch it. It's against the damn rules.'

'Fine. I have seen the snitch. A whole lot of times. But in each case, Quevin is near.'

'So go for it. Rush.'

'I can't. I am hurt.'

"And the Slytherin captain scores yet again to what is a never-ending game of Quidditch and the score is Slytherin leading 150-80." The commentary was loud as ever.

'You couldn't have told this earlier? I could have helped.'

'I didn't want to show myself weak.' she said.

'The next time-out can't even be taken until another half an hour.'

'Half an hour can't be that bad.' She said.

Turns out the half an hour was all Slytherin needed to have an immense lead.

James drank water and saw the big score in the score board.

90-190

Gryffindor was losing big time under James's captaincy.
All that he had hoped would crumble and people would blame him for gryffindor's loss.

He was irritated with Emma's smug smile but if what he had planned would work, then nothing could stop him.

"And an interesting change here, Trinity is sitting in the subs as Matt is being brought out as a chaser while the captain James potter changes his position as a temporary seeker. Can this match get any better?'

Sirius grinned at him.
He nodded at him.

And with the next whistle, James thought whether he had done a mistake.
Soon the score read 220-90. Gryffindor, not managing to score since James changed position.

James focussed on the snitch and called his sense of awareness.

Nothing worked.
Alexis dunked the quaffle and the Slytherin crowd were in cheers.

The game was far off now with Slytherin 230-90.

And then out of nowhere, James spotted the golden snitch.

He swerved and swivelled and took the direction of the window to reach it.

The crowd was a blur to him. He didn't hear the commentary. Didn't focus on the score and just went on.

And soon the golden snitch was in arms reach of him, he swerved to prevent crashing from Quevin who was coming in full force.

And then with a 360-flip, caught it with his left hand.

A second after his catching the snitch Alexis scored.

For a second the score read
240-240

But then it became
240-230

The last shoot of Slytherin wasn't counted as the game was over as soon as James caught the snitch.

Gryffindor had won.
And it was all because of him.

He felt happiness.
But that happiness was ruined after a few moments.

He was in the dressing room getting congratulated by everyone and remarking on the team's effort.

Then he walked in through the front corridor.

And standing at a far corner was
Lily.

A tear ran down her face.

'Evans, what happened?' James asked alert.

'James. I-its something you need to know. It's about your father.'
***