James, Stop Obsessing over Quidditch!

If someone asked what I hated most, I might not have been able to give a definite answer right away.

But if someone asked what class I hated most, I would have answered without hesitation-

"Merlin, if you still can't get off the ground in your next Flying Class, there's absolutely no way you'll pass the final exam," Madam Hooch said earnestly. Then she looked puzzled. "You're clearly not bad in any other respect, so why can't you fly?"

"Maybe I'm just the kind of person who was born unable to fly..." For some reason, I didn't like telling people I was afraid of heights. I had long since grown used to dying over and over, but the pain and fear of my first death had sunk into my bones, leaving me with full-blown PTSD about heights. I didn't even want to mention it.

"Even if you fail Flying Class, your grades in your other subjects should make up for it," Madam Hooch said with a sigh. "But the sky really is beautiful, and flying feels better than anything else. I truly wish you could experience it too."

"I know what that feels like, Professor." I nodded.

After leaving the professor, I felt strangely dejected. Through a corridor window, I saw figures on the distant Quidditch pitch. Only then did I remember there seemed to be a match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin sometime in those two weeks.

They darted nimbly through the air, looking like a flock of birds from a distance. Before I knew it, I had spent a long time watching them. Since I had nothing else to do and Lily and the others had gone to watch the Quidditch Match too, I headed to the pitch.

"Lin, over here!"

The overwhelming roar at the pitch forced Lily to shout to make herself heard. She picked up the clothes she had used to save a seat and waved me over repeatedly.

"You're too slow, Merlin!" James kept going on. "You missed Slytherin's most ridiculous dropped ball of the century!"

"I'm sure once the great James becomes a Chaser, we'll get to see even more sights worth watching." My rare praise left James stunned for a second, and he turned to Remus in disbelief.

"Am I hearing things?"

Remus shook his head. "Maybe he's in a better mood today?"

Whatever the reason, James grew even more enthusiastic. He put an arm around my neck and pointed at the pitch, his voice impassioned as though he were giving a speech.

"Doesn't looking at all this get your blood pumping? Doesn't it make you want to experience it for yourself? Don't those long, rolling cheers stir your heart?"

Me: "No."

True to his charismatic nature, James wasn't affected in the slightest by me throwing cold water on him. As though he hadn't heard a thing, he waved his arm forcefully.

"Come on, let's join Quidditch together and create an era of our own!"

Honestly, for a moment I thought he was going to say, "Our era has begun"!

"How could anyone be in a good mood after being called in by a professor?" Sirius snorted. "Forget it. You expect her to join Quidditch when she can't even get off the ground?"

"Come to think of it, I really don't think I've ever seen Merlin fly." James rubbed his chin. "When Sirius first mentioned it, I thought he was joking."

[Sirius's favorability -1]

???

I didn't know what Sirius's problem was, making his favorability drop again. I had thought he would tell them about my fear of heights, but to my surprise, he said nothing after that last remark. His lips were pressed into an almost straight line, and his eyes never left the match, as though the battle of the century was playing out on the pitch and missing a single second would leave him regretting it for the rest of his life.

"So why can't you get off the ground?" James continued to ask curiously. I really couldn't think of an explanation, and while I was at a loss, Lily pushed him away.

"Can't you see Lin doesn't want to talk about it?" Nothing James did was right in her eyes now. "Besides, Lin's turned you down plenty of times already, hasn't he? Some things only need to be asked once or twice. When someone says no, can't you take it in?"

James looked thoughtful, then asked, "Then will you go on a date with me?"

Lily flung her hat in his face.

In any case, after the Quidditch Match, James finally realized that getting someone who couldn't even fly to play Quidditch was like asking someone in a wheelchair to play football. It was obviously impossible. He gave up trying to persuade me to join Quidditch and turned to Remus and Lily instead.

Lily wouldn't give him the time of day, so he could only bring it up once or twice during class.

Remus wasn't so lucky. They already shared a dormitory, and now every morning when I got up, I saw James droning in Remus's ear. He kept talking as they walked around, and even went on about it while they were doing homework.

"What on earth is wrong with James?" I couldn't take it anymore. "Does he have to drag everyone around him onto the Quidditch team? What is this, the sort of thing where you have to call a bunch of friends just to go to the bathroom?"

"Actually, I really do want to join, but unfortunately I'm just not very good at Quidditch," Remus said hesitantly, turning him down. "If I played, Gryffindor would definitely lose."

"Oh no," I whispered to Lily. "There's no way that excuse will make James give up."

Sure enough, the moment James heard that, he slapped the table and stood up.

"As long as I'm there, Gryffindor will always win!"

Luckily, we were in the Gryffindor Common Room. If we'd been somewhere public, I was truly afraid those words would be printed out and dug up to mock him every time Gryffindor lost.

"How does he maintain that level of confidence?" I couldn't help marveling.

"Anyone who grew up in a wealthy family, surrounded by people who always offered support and approval, would develop that kind of confidence." Lily shrugged. "But Potter's gone beyond that into arrogance. That egomaniac is going to take a big fall one day."

Lily really was right. Just a few days later, James took a big fall because of his overconfidence.

[Author's note]

★Tip★

If Quidditch takes up too much of your conversation with James, your relationship will likely end up as pure friendship;

Although James's favorability seems easy to raise, it tends to get stuck at friendship. Unless something special happens, you may never be able to enter James's romance route.

★Side quest reminder★

*Congratulations on unlocking James's main romance quest-[Flight · 1]