the Horcrux Thief, james potter

iv. the winning flying acrobat

"I'm going to let it go now, wait ten seconds before starting," his dad shouted and both of them agreed.

Amaya's eyes met his and, for the first time since they met just a few hours ago, he saw her grin, and despite himself, he nearly smiled at the sight of her dimples he only just noticed. She seemed freer when flying.

"Prepare to lose, Potter," she said, just as the Snitch passed between them and out of sight, its wings buzzing.

"In your dreams, Santoro."

"Oh, I don't need dreams to win."

He glared at her and she laughed, a great laugh, just as his dad said "Go!"

He blinked and she wasn't there anymore.

James stayed put looking around for the snitch, and spotted Amaya already on its tail, a few meters behind. He didn't wait another moment before he took off after both of them. He caught up with Amaya quickly, and they were both flying side by side, chasing the golden snitch around the pitch.

In a few seconds, it had disappeared out of sight again in the darkness of the night, and he grinned when he spotted it again, faster than her this time. It was flying around near hoops. James sped over, the faster he could, but Amaya had been telling the truth, she too was faster and it didn't take her long to catch up with him.

They both reached out their arms as they started nearing the hoops and the snitch, and James saw as she shifted on the broom, her feet resting on the stick almost as if she was about to stand or jump after the snitch. And just before they both collided with the hoops the Snitch flew over them and in the opposite direction it had been.

James came to an abrupt stop as he turned around swiftly in front of the hoops, and his eyes widened, his mouth falling agape as he saw, in slow motion, as Amaya, instead of stopping, jumped out of the broom.

She had jumped back, her body arching gracefully, her arm extended and he saw as her fingers wrapped around the snitch, and she flipped in the sky with a twirl.

He immediately prepared himself to catch her as she fell, scared at the girl's lack of preservation skills as the silence of the night prolonged—not even on the ground there was noise and they'd been cheering them on just seconds ago.

But Amaya didn't need it. Because when she said she was a great flyer she wasn't lying—in fact, he was starting to think she was quite fucking humble.

The moment she started falling, she grasped her broomstick that had been hovering below her with her other arm, an impressive show of fast reflexes, and took off upwards again, easily getting back on it.

By the time they were both on the ground, James still couldn't quite grasp what had just happened. Everyone was as stunned as he was but soon they were congratulating her on her win, and fawning over her, admittedly, unbelievable skills.

Mum looked mighty pleased at seeing Dad reluctantly take the loss, and though Sirius grumbled too he could see the amazement on his face just like in Remus' face. They'd never seen anything like what she'd done before.

Her eyes finally met his and she grinned again, her dimples making an appearance, and he realized he rather liked her smile—it wasn't sweet like Lily's, in fact, this particular smile was painted in smugness, the type of smile that was begging to be kissed off her face. James inwardly shook his head out of his thoughts, before pursing his lips.

"I still think you cheated," he said with a smile.

Amaya shrugged and grasped his wrist putting the Snitch in his hand. "That's what losers tend to say," she informed him with her smile on her pretty lips.