strikhedonia - the pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”.
There was something he’d always wanted to try.
Well, always was perhaps a bit strong; before he was captain he never would have dared to suggest it because the chance that it would ever work were infinitesimally small. And also because it was stupid. But he’d been curious for so long, and if he could pull it off, it would go down in Hogwarts quidditch history.
Because nowhere in the rules of quidditch did it say the quaffle had to be the only thing to go through the hoop.
With Amos guarding, it was as much of a gamble as just throwing the damn thing; he was a better Keeper than anyone James had ever met, and the chances of getting the quaffle past him singlehandedly was already near-zero. One of the finest quidditch players James had encountered in five long years of playing; and a good man, too. If anyone would appreciate what he was about to try, he figured Amos Diggory might get a kick out of it.
The score was tied, and the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff seekers were racing for the snitch well below him; the game was in their hands now, not his. If ever there was a time to try it, this was it. To hell with it.
‘Diggory!’ he shouted, holding the quaffle up over his head, as if he needed to get his attention. He didn’t: Amos had his eye on the quaffle at all times. But James was nothing if not a showman at sport.
He tucked the ball tight between himself and the broom, leaning down as far as he could along its length to streamline himself. He’d measured before, just out of curiosity: the goal hoop was just large enough for a very slender man on a broom to fly straight through. And then he leaned forward, urged his broom on, and accelerated--
He woke up two hours later in the hospital wing with a broken nose and an already-mending broken arm; turns out, Diggory had been just as good at guarding as he’d expected, but the hard metal of the goal hoop hadn’t exactly agreed with his in tact bones as he slammed half his body into it.
Ah, well. At least they’d still won the game.