The Chaser and the Keeper

***

“Captain, the games going to start soon!” James nodded as his seeker raced past him towards the locker room.

Years had passed since Kristen and James had first started hating each other, but the hatred was still as strong as ever.. They constantly challenged the other, making it their goal in life to beat them in everything they did it. However, there was one field where they were pretty much equal, and hence competed even harder: quidditch.

Kristen proved James wrong and managed to make the Ravenclaw quidditch team in her first year. However, James had tried out for his house team that same year and made it. From their very first year, they had become some of the best players in the school. They had also started a rivalry between their two houses that would last for years.

The one thing that really annoyed James was that every game they played against Ravenclaw, Gryffindor lost. He was the best chaser on his team, but he wasn’t able to get too much in with Kristen as keeper. Besides, Ravenclaw ended up having the quaffle in their possession for the majority of the game. In the end of every game that Gryffindor had played against Ravenclaw, the Ravenclaw seeker would catch the snitch, and Ravenclaw would once again win.

Now Kristen and James were in their sixth year. They had both been made captain of their quidditch team fifth year. James was humiliated when Kristen won the cup instead of him. Her and her house had beaten Gryffindor and everyone else for the past five years. James was sick and tired of losing to her. So as the day of the Cup approached in their sixth year, James decided he was going to change that, whatever means necessary.

He knew that Andrew was going to be absolutely pissed at him. They had become best friends first year, and it always annoyed Andrew when James treated Kristen badly. There had been several times when he wouldn’t talk to James for days because of something he had done. However, this was not a time to play nice and be friends with everyone. This was a time to win the cup.

“Fred! Tyler!” James called out, “Can I talk to you two for a second?”

The two Gryffindor beaters nodded and headed towards the captain, thinking he’d be giving them some advice before the game. Advice wasn’t exactly what James had in mind though.

“I have a new plan to insure that we win this game,” James explained.

“James! The game starts in a half an hour! Why are you telling us now? We had a practice yesterday!” Fred asked, annoyed.

“I just thought of it now.”

The beaters rolled their eyes. They had both known James long enough to know that this plan was going to be something ridiculous.

“What’s the plan?” Tyler Russell asked.

“I need you to take out the Ravenclaw quidditch team,” James replied.

Both Fred and Tyler’s eyes went wide. They had known the plan would be ridiculous, but they didn’t think it’d be that stupid. James, seeing the looks the two beaters were giving him, decided to elaborate.

“Start by taking out Kristen and Kailey. Without their keeper and seeker, we should have the advantage. By that point Jessica should be able to catch the snitch and we can make it a quick win,” James explained.

“So we just have to take out the keeper and the seeker?” Tyler asked, “That’s not too bad.”

However, Fred had known his cousin long enough to know that that wasn’t the case.

“What happens if the game continues to go on for a while without the snitch being caught?” he asked.

“Just keep taking out people until the snitch is caught,” James replied as if it were easy to have practically no conscious. Not everyone hated the Ravenclaw quidditch team as much as James did.

“You want me to take out our own cousin? Do you want Uncle Ron to kill me?”

Rose Weasley, James and Fred’s younger cousin, played on the Ravenclaw quidditch team. She was the only Weasley so far to not end up in Gryffindor but she was happy with her placement. In the year she had been on the team, she really enjoyed beating her cousins at quidditch. It severely pissed them off. Even so, Fred didn’t want to hurt her. It made him shiver just to think about it.

“As I said, hopefully it won’t come to that, Fred. If it does, have Tyler take her out,” James explained.

“You are telling us to take out your own cousin if necessary,” Tyler stated, “James, I think you’re going crazy.”

“Why can’t we just play the best game we can without knocking everyone out?” Fred asked.

“Even if we play the best game we can, we’ll get beaten by Ravenclaw again. I personally do not want to go through that again,” James explained.

“You just don’t want to get beaten by Kristen again.”

James glared at his cousin. Of course Fred was right, but James wasn’t too big of a fan of admitting that.
“She’s always a pain in the ass, but it’s worse after they beat us in a quidditch game,” James stated, “She smirks at me like she’s so much better than I am.”

“Well, considering you spend your spare time embarrassing her, while she just ignores you and is the best of our year in academics along with quidditch, I would say that she is better than you,” Fred stated.

“Isn’t Kristen Andrew’s twin sister?” Tyler asked.

“Yup,” Fred replied.

“James, you want us to take her out first, right?”

“Yeah,” James replied.

“You are crazy. Do you have a death wish?

“See, I’m not the only one who thinks you’re totally insane,” Fred pointed out.

“Please?” James asked, practically begging.

“Fine,” the beaters stated agreed. James quickly ran away, not wanting them to change their minds.

This game was going to be a game like no one had ever seen before.