"What is it, Prongs?" asked Remus as soon as Sirius and James entered the common room after Quidditch practice.
James was holding his right elbow with his left hand at an awkward angle and cursed under his breath constantly. "You don't have something to cool this, do you, Moony?" he asked instead of answering the question.
He thought for a moment. "Well, you could take a damp cloth or something like that, but if you'd like something stronger, you should try and ask Lily. She's the potioneer. - Or wait, better I ask her. She won't listen to you or she'd brew you something that makes your elbow vanish completely. Or she'd make it look like an accident when she killed you."
Before James could protest however, Remus walked over to Lily and brought her with him after a short chat with her. She eyed him critically. "What exactly did you do this time, Potter?" she asked slightly annoyed.
"Nothing really," he protested her accusatory tone, "I didn't do anything out of the usual, I mean. Just hurts like something when I try to throw the Quaffle." He tried not to sound whiney, but he couldn't really help it. It hurt like he had broken his elbow when he moved it. But he didn't think he had done just that, because it didn't hurt to the touch.
"Just hurts moving it," he qualified his injury.
Lily bit her bottom lip in thought. She looked rather endearing when she did that. "Let me see it," she demanded, sat down on the arm-rest of the armchair next to James' and tentatively touched his elbow with cold but gentle fingers.
He immediately felt better as soon as she touched him.
"Why don't you go to Madam Pomfrey with this? Do you want to miss the first game? You obviously can't play with this arm," she asked while she stretched and bend his arm and let her fingers trail the muscles and sinews she could feel through his skin. She seemed to know what she was doing. Madam Pomfrey had done the same when he'd been there.
"Do you have something to cool this or not?" he snapped defensively.
He didn't want to tell her, that he had seen Madam Pomfrey over this before, but she had told him to rest his arm and not play for at least 4 weeks. This not being what he wanted to hear, he had played anyway and the pain had vanished over the holidays so he hadn't thought about it again until now. So he knew what to expect of a visit to her.
Lily frowned at him while probing his arm. "You know that you should probably rest your arm, don't you?" she asked. He glowered at her and she glowered back.
But she pulled a cloth from her pocket never the less and placed it on his elbow, which she raised until the cloth stayed there without her holding it. She pulled out her wand and muttered a few spells and the cloth went cold.
James sighed as the cold reached the sinews and muscles. "Thanks," he muttered and closed his eyes relieved.
"When is your next practice?" he heard Lily ask and Sirius answered:
"Friday afternoon, why?"
"Just for you to know, I'll be there. He really won't be able to play next match, if he goes on with practice like this. So I'll be there to check that he doesn't even think of touching a Quaffle. I trust, he knows by now how to throw that thing around, but I see that it can't be helped that he has to lead the practice as he's the captain. So don't you dare! I don't want Gryffindor to lose the next match!" she threatened and smacked James over the head before she left for her friend again.
"She's quite bossy, isn't she," commented Sirius a bit awestruck looking after her and Remus rolled his eyes at him.
"She just doesn't want to admit, that she's worried about me. 'Don't want Gryffindor to lose' my arse," James laughed with a smug smile on his face.
Keeping her word Lily did come down to the pitch next practice, a book under her arm, binoculars in her left hand and her wand sticking out of the hair bun at the back of her head.
James was astonished to find her in a happy, almost carefree mood. Did he miss anything? He hadn't seen her like this for a very long time, if at all.
Before she climbed up the stands she threw him a pointed look to remind him that he was forbidden to even think about touching the Quaffle. He got it.
But now she was there he wanted to make the practice worth her while. So he flew over to her and stood in front of her.
"Soo," he greeted her and she stifled a giggle (he sure had never seen her in such a mood, he was almost terrified of it), which he chose to ignore, as he didn't know what to make of it, "as you're an official part of the team by joining us on the pitch during practice, I won't have you thinking of anything but Quidditch. If I'm not allowed to think of throwing the Quaffle, you're not allowed to stick your nose in that potions book of yours"
She raised an eyebrow at his announcement and motioned for him to continue. He produced a book from under his cloak and presented it to her. There were some notes sticking out. "I know how you love to read, so I brought you a book. You see, I could use a second opinion on some maneuver or another. It would be best, if you read the first two chapters to enter in the subject and continue on with my notes. Chapter five and six are what they are about and what the team needs help with."
He gave her a dazzling smile as he saw her momentary confusion, but was equally confused, as her frown morphed into a sweet smile.
"Aye captain. Nice of you to supply for my entertainment. I'm sure I'll find something. Off you go so I can start working!" she answered, took 'A Guide to the Goalposts' and ushered him back on his broom. She began reading his book immediately.
That went rather well, James thought. He knew the red-head knew much more about Quidditch than she led on and he really hoped that she would come up with some good ideas on their tactics for next match. Hell, they could use it. With four new players on the team two weeks after start of term, they had reached an all time low and the match against Hufflepuff would be in another two weeks already. He would have considered the Hufflepuff team nothing more than a bad joke last year, because his last team would have had them for breakfast. But now he wasn't so sure about winning. On the contrary, winning was nothing he could think of right now. It was nothing more than damage control, what they could do for now, if Lily didn't come up with some miraculous idea. Still, he couldn't show his team how desperate he was, what with his arm injured and everything. If he really got her to concentrate on the team's problems, he was sure the two of them (with that easy mood of hers, maybe she would consent to spending time with him in the library as she usually did with Remus) could come up with something – anything – that could give them at least a slight chance of winning. At least he told himself so to be able to smile confidently as he flew back to his team.
He had to tell them the news that he wouldn't play today. But just as he was about to tell them, he decided against it and started explaining the moves they would practice. None of them included him, of course, but his teammates didn't ask (maybe Sirius had told them anyway). He wanted the team's spirit to stay as high as possible. Because that was the only thing they were good at at the moment.
James was surprised how exertive practice could be even without participating in it except for shouting orders. He had a happy smile on his face, as he flew over to Lily's place on the stands, after he had dismissed the team. They were getting better. It was only a slight improvement and he wasn't sure if an outsider would have noticed it at all, but it was an improvement. The pace they were going, two weeks of training until the match weren't nearly enough, though.
"Sooo," she greeted him this time, "I have to admit you do know how to keep me entertained, but this book isn't that good, is it? I mean, you sure need help, I've seen that much, but if you take advice from this book, I dare say you only can get worse, and that's saying something with this team."
"Yeah" he admitted "You could be right. It's hard to imagine that the book could make even this team worse"
He hung his head in defeat, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to be depressed for long. This was Lily! And she was being civil, having a conversation with him! And it even seemed as if she was enjoying herself! He couldn't believe it. Don't blotch this up now, Potter, he thought.
"Let's go to the library, then. I'm sure there must be something to help this excuse of a Quidditch team. You take a shower, I'll wait outside the locker rooms."
They browsed through some aisles in the library, Lily pulling out random books and dumping them in James' arms. As she seemed satisfied they made for a table in the back of the library. After he placed the pile of books carefully on the table he pulled out a chair for her, mock bowing.
She giggled and curtsied before she sat down. "I didn't know you to be a gentleman, James"
He smiled. "Comes along with boring, aristocratic Ministry parties my parents host for as long as I can think."
"You hid it well until now."
"All part of the plan, you know. Back to business now, shall we?"
"All right, all right, I can't help it. You startled me!"
She sat down and arranged the books on the table, before she pushed out the chair next to her for him. She scanned through his notes, on which he could see some of her neat handwriting between his sketches and annotations. He waited patiently for her to enlighten him about what she had found out.
"Shall we start with the Chasers? We should be through with them quite quickly as you're one of them."
He nodded.
"Well, you must have noticed, those two kids can hardly hold the Quaffle in one hand. Long-distance-passes get exceedingly difficult under these circumstances, don't they? Weren't there any older students at the try-outs? They can't be older that twelve."
"The older ones were either groupies or didn't know how to mount a broom. Dave actually is fourteen, but yeah, he's much too small for his age. At least he can fly a bit." He covered his face with his hands as he remembered the try-outs.
But Lily was not deterred. She merely bit her lip and continued. "Maybe you could try to practice moves with them on old school brooms. They are so slow Dave and Mitch, is it?, need not concentrate on flying."
James thought about it. Maybe this could help their confidence and as soon as the two other chasers were accustomed with their moves they could accelerate the game.
At his silence she went on, talking him through her ideas for beater workouts, chaser tactics and keeper practices. He was impressed by the ideas she had come up with. They were inventive and promised to be effective. Maybe it was because she hadn't read every book she could lay her hands on about Quidditch and was more open minded so that she could invent such clever tactics and training methods.
"My dad is a football coach in his free time," she explained after another compliment from James on her genius. "He made me join his practices when I was home for the summer and I got a few ideas from him." She smiled shyly at him.
They sat there discussing in the library until it grew dark outside. James felt as though he could burst with excitement. He couldn't wait to try Lily's theories with the team. A permanent grin had settled on his face, but Lily on the other hand could barely keep her eyes open.
"Maybe this is enough for one day," James therefore suggested. "You should go to bed. I couldn't make you fall asleep in the library over Quidditch of all things. That would be some scandal tomorrow morning: Lily Evans is into Quidditch, what a joke. Now come on Lily."
But Lily didn't hear him anymore. Her head rested peacefully on a book, her hand still holding the quill over her notes. Lily Evans did exhaust herself over Quidditch. This was new.