The Rise and Fall of James Potter
Disclaimer: None of the characters, places, etc. that you recognize are mine. They belong to J. K. Rowling. The title, the title of each chapter, and the inspiration for this story are all from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. So all of that belongs to David Bowie.
As an addendum to that, many of the lines from this chapter (and actually several from previous chapters) do in fact come directly from the song. Go listen to the whole album, as a matter of fact, cause it's awesome.
A/N: Here we are at the final chapter of the story, and I have to say, I'm so appreciative to all of you who have stuck with this through the long update waits and my horrible writers block. Thank you all, and I hope you've enjoyed Lily and James' journey as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
I also have to add (since this intro clearly isn't long enough) that some of my inspiration for the chapter came from the Miracle on Ice team. For those of you who don't know, that refers to the 1980 winter Olympics; when the American ice hockey team, a bunch of college students, beat the Soviets, and then went on to win the gold medal.
And many thanks to the venerable beta, Huggingbother, without whom I would have gotten completely lost, and what's worse, drowned in commas… I'm so very grateful to her, for being as completely into Harry Potter fanfiction as I am, and for putting up with my stories (because she doesn't usually read the L/J ship) and sometimes crappy writing. Thank you!
A Note from HuggingBother: As you will all agree the writing is OBVIOUSLY not crappy, and I can assure you that I'm not the reason. I was fortunate enough to come into this fic about halfway through and I have loved every minute of it (even though I don't normally ship LJ). So thank you, our darling author, for letting me enjoy this process with you and for writing such an enjoyable story. You are truly fantastic.
Chapter Eleven: Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
I think the next few weeks of my life were possibly the most blissful I've ever known.
Sure, a lot of the Gryffindors were still pissed, but on the bright side…
Lily Evans is my GIRLFRIEND!
And just in case you're wondering, Peter already pinched me (and I believe Sirius purposely misheard and punched me) and I am not dreaming.
Okay, so I know I said it would never happen, but now that it has, I'm completely stoked.
James Potter is my BOYFRIEND!
Squeal!
"Prongs, I swear, if you make that girlish squealing noise again, I'm gonna toss you out the window."
"You know what, Padfoot? Not even your bitter sarcasm can bring me down today. For today is another day of me being the boyfriend of the beautiful, intelligent, captivating…"
"Get on with it," Remus said.
"Amazing Lily Evans. Therefore, nothing can make me unhappy. And for your information, I was not making a girlish squealing noise. I simply had something caught in my throat."
He laughed. "Yeah, and I'm the bloody queen of England."
"Well that explains the crankiness," I replied. "Now if you don't mind, I have to go meet my girlfriend."
"I just want to say it one more time!" Nora said.
"No!" I swatted her away as I continued fixing my hair.
"Please!"
I sighed. "You swear this is the last time?" She nodded, still making the puppy eyes she used when she wanted something. "Fine."
With a triumphant smile she exclaimed, "I told ya so!"
I rolled my eyes. "Are you quite finished now? I need to go meet James."
"Well you'd best be careful, Lily. You know how boys can be," she said with mock sternness as I left the dorm.
"Completely wonderful?"
"Okay, well maybe that's your boy, but not the losers I seem to be attracted to," she said, but the smile in her eyes gave her away. "Don't snog too long!"
The night before the Quidditch game I sat with Lily, our hands clasped. My thumb idly brushed over hers as I breathed in the scent of her hair. Her head was leaned gently on my shoulder, and I would have been perfectly content to have it stay there for hours.
"I'm a little nervous about tomorrow."
"Well, I think it would be kind of weird if you weren't."
"Thanks."
"No, I'm saying that you're not weird. I think it's very reasonable to be nervous, considering people's reactions to the last game."
"I s'pose. You reckon anyone'll notice if I don't show up?"
She laughed. "I think one or two people might, yeah."
I sighed in mock defeat. "Fine, I guess I'll go."
I snuck into the locker room early that Saturday morning, knowing he'd be the only one there. "Hey. Just wanted to wish you luck," I said, giving him a kiss.
"Thanks. I think I can do it," he said, putting on a brave face that I found adorable.
"I know you can do it," I said, looking earnestly into his eyes.
"I think you might be the only one."
"Hey." I put my hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at me. "You're not alone," I told him. "I'm here, and even if something bad happens, remember, it generally takes about five years for me to change my opinion about you."
"Good to know."
I gave him a quick kiss. "Knock 'em dead."
So as I'm sitting here on my broom, waiting for the whistle, it occurs to me that there's really no point. The number of points we'd have to win by to make it into the Quidditch Cup game is insane… really, I think I'd have to score at least eleven times.
Eleven!
WHISTLE! I do hate that sound.
Okay, you know what Potter, you just need to focus. This is just like every other game you've ever played.
Except for the fact that everything's riding on it.
Quaffle… zip here, dart there… okay, this is easy, and pass. Getting open, dodge the other team's Seeker, and I've got it again!
Alright, big metal hoops, big metal hoops…
"AND POTTER SCORES!" Holy shit, I did it?
I did it!
And somehow, despite the screaming
"WHOO! GO JAMES!" He scored, he did it! I knew he could do it!
Wait, I did. I knew he could. I had faith in him. And maybe that's all he needed, was a little faith.
I couldn't help but smile to think that maybe I'd helped him so profoundly by doing something so simple.
Okay, get a hold of yourself. Back to the game.
As time went on I heard "Potter scores!" several more times from the loudspeaker, as well as my other teammates. We were doing it, we were actually winning!
All my insecurities from the weeks before were gone, as if I'd just flown past them.
Wait, that wasn't insecurity. That was a Bludger.
Anyway, back to focusing on the game. The game that we're winning!
Quaffle, dart right, pass, swerve around Seeker, Quaffle, and SCORE!
Wait, Seeker?
Oh shit.
The whole crowd seemed to quiet as the two Seekers were both darting down, looking for the Snitch. It didn't matter which one caught it; Gryffindor would win the game, but they'd be out of the running for the Cup.
James explained the whole points thing to me the other day, so I feel quite Quidditch-savvy now.
Anyway, they were both diving, and I'm thinking, yes, Gryffindor will win! Until I remembered that it didn't just matter if we win, but by how much. So I changed my internal chant to 'no, you fools stay away from the little gold thing!'
Okay, so James hasn't gotten me up on all the lingo quite yet.
And then, our Seeker, that wonderful midget, pulled up! She hadn't seen the Snitch at all!
The other Seeker collided with the ground in the most amazing (and slightly gruesome) scene I've ever witnessed.
Oh dear. I don't think his leg should be bent that way.
The other Keeper was so distracted when he thought they'd found the snitch, we managed to score another twenty points before the game was stopped.
Once we started up again, it was obvious the whole team was rejuvenated. There was an energy about us all, and I went into the next leg of the game with high hopes.
It was long and strenuous, but soon we were scoring like crazy… we were almost there, and then, the most exciting sound reached my ears:
"AND GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
I was screaming and cheering like my life depended on it, and the excitement was all around me as I jumped out of my seat.
Immediately, everyone from Gryffindor began to flood the field, ready to give the whole team, and especially James, congratulations (he'd really outdone himself, he scored one hundred and thirty points today).
But I got there first.
I ran out to him, ahead of the others, and as soon as his teammates were done praising him, I literally crashed into him. I gave him a huge kiss, right there in front of everyone, and held my arms around him tightly, almost like I was scared to let him go. Even as people came up, cheering him, clapping him on the back, I stayed close by his side.
Here she was, Lily Evans, in my arms. I held her close to me, making sure she knew that having her with me was infinitely more important than the other Gryffindors, and that Quidditch trophy we'd play for next month. As the crowds started moving back to the castle towards what would doubtless be a fantastic victory party in the Gryffindor common room, Lily and I stayed put.
She looked at me, a brilliant smile on her face. "So, you've just helped lead your team to a brilliant victory, put Gryffindor back in the running for the cup. Must feel pretty good."
"Yeah." She and I just kept smiling like lunatics. Okay, well I know I'm a lunatic, I just hope I'm not rubbing off on her.
I took her hands in mine. "Thank you, Lily. For believing in me, I mean."
"Don't worry about it. I couldn't have done anything else."
With a smile, there was only one thought in my mind, which I had to voice. "You're wonderful."
And I really had to do it, so go ahead and groan (ahem, Sirius) if you think it's cliché. I kissed her.
All right, I full out snogged her; we barely made it back to the victory party. Happy now?