Broken Glass and Silver Linings.

James Sirius Potter and the Terrible Misunderstanding

James Sirius Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, surrounded by his family and some of his bestest friends in the whole world, with one arm slung across the shoulders of his amazing girlfriend, Alice, and the other pounding on the wooden table in front of him to the beat of the chant 'eat! eat! eat! eat!'.

Leah Thomas-Finnegan, Pete Zeller and Alice Longbottom were laughing hysterically as they watched the Gryffindor quidditch team miserably shove bite after bite into their mouths, the whole affair being closely scrutinized by James himself, who seemed to have been temporarily possessed by the spirit of his Grandma Weasley.

They'll thank me later for this, James said to himself happily, as he coaxed Scorpius to have another boiled egg. 

"Can't have our Captain fainting on us now, can we?" he asked, laughing uproariously at Scorp's clearly forced smile.

James had been Captain since fifth year, but had bequeathed the position to his Vice-Captain, Scorpius, when he received an offer for an internship with the Chuddley Cannons towards the end of his sixth year. 

He accepted faster than anyone could say 'Quidditch', and only then stopped to think about the consequences of his actions.

This was an opportunity of a lifetime for him, but it also required him to give his very best.

At Hogwarts, he far surpassed anyone when it came to playing Chaser, (except for Scorpius, and maybe, Rose), but with the Cannons, he was amongst players of equal caliber. He had to quit the Gryffindor team and join the Cannons for practice at a field close to Hogsmeade every evening.

Minnie was ecstatic when she heard about the internship (she didn't look ecstatic, she was stony faced as usual, but James was convinced she was jumping with joy internally) and immediately gave James permission to train with the Cannons during the evenings, with the express condition that he was to go straight to practice and come straight back.

James didn't mind, he was usually too exhausted to do anything but find his dorm and fall into bed. 

He was, however, speculative of quitting the Gryffindor team and leaving his teammates to "fend for themselves".

They were so happy for him when they heard...James smiled at the memory. 

They had immediately shot down all his apologies and protests, and told him to not be a complete idiot and to accept the offer if he knows what's good for him.

Hugo snorted so hard when he heard James had already gone ahead and accepted without consulting anybody first, that pumpkin juice shot out of his nose. 

Typical James, he had grinned, not bothering to wipe the pumpkin juice that was now dripping down his chin onto his robes.

He still had his doubts,- not about how they would survive without him, no- James knew he was leaving them in Scorpius's more than capable hands. 

He was worried that he was somehow betraying his team- the people he had flown with since first year, the people he trusted to have his back when he needed them, and who trusted him in turn, enough to make him their captain, to lead them to victory.

His friends.

They had never once failed him, but now he felt like he was failing them.

He might have marched up to the Owlery and sent another owl, cancelling his previous confirmation, had it not been for Alice.

Brave, bold, beautiful Alice, who was usually seen hiding behind an enormous book, too shy to say more than two words in any class apart from Herbology.