Summary: A few months after graduation, James Potter becomes a Quidditch team reserve and Lily Evans attempts to an internship at Saint Mungo's Hospital. Unintentionally, the two end up meeting. A one-shot fanfiction.
Disclaimers: all Harry Potter's world is not mine, etc, etc. The song is "Someday We'll Know" – New Radicals and Mandy Moore. It's in "A Walk to remember" soundtrack
Golden Snitch and Music Box
A red ball is thrown. Passed from one hand to another, it goes through the blue wearing players and as it moves closer to the goal posts. The golden snitch avoids the seeker's eyes, flying almost invisible through the field. The Tutshill Tornados reserve team wearing vests over their uniforms, intercepts the quaffle, taking it in the opposite direction now. A bludger gets close, but a wooden club repels it; the black ball violently cuts the air. Dean Lohan doesn't have the chance to divert. With a broken knee, he's not able to keep balance on the broomstick anymore. James Potter, the reserve Chaser, helps him to the ground.
"Vancamp!" Coach Michael Smith sounds like thunder and, getting on a broomstick, flies toward the beater. "Right now, your aim is to divert the bludgers, not to hit the players!"
On the turf, the mediwizard, Colin Grant, had already run to help the chaser.
By his side, James took advantage of the moment to rest a little. Breathless, he even closed his eyes for a moment. However, he noticed that something was different when he heard Grant saying a phrase which seemed out of the ordinary.
"Pay attention to whether you're making the right movement with your wand and if you're speaking it correctly. Reparo. You must emphasize the second syllable."
James leaned forward to find out to whom Grant was talking to and saw red hair that was very familiar.
"Lily?"
"Potter?" the girl said, surprised .
"Potter, tell Smith you'll have to practice without a chaser." said the mediwizard without hearing the two. "Come, Evans."
Lily listened immediately to the supervisor: it was her first day at the internship and she didn't want to be reproached for getting in the way of training.
A short time later, when the players were having a shower before going home, she left as quickly as possible.
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Lily Evans arrived at her small house in London, throwing her keys and purse on the coffee table in the living-room and hiding her face in her hands while she sat on the couch.
"I must have thrown a stone at Merlin's owl…"
On the table, there was a letter she'd received a week earlier. It was an answer from Saint Mungo's about her request for an internship and it said that before she could be accepted at the hospital, she needed to complete at least three weeks working in the same field in another place. Attached, there was a list with five options. None of them pleased the girl, but she ended up choosing the one that looked best for her: stay with a renowned mediwizard working with the Tornados Quidditch team.
"Of five options I had to choose this one… 20 per cent against 80, and what do I get? The 20… Oh, stop! I'd better study my Biomagic book."
So many questions, I need an answer
Two years later you're still on my mind
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The next day, back at the pitch, Lily was filling up some reports when a woman with short brown hair, about twenty-five years old, approached her.
"Excuse me, are you Grant's trainee?" she asked with a smile
"Yes," Lily answered with a similar grin.
"Did he leave a potion with you?"
"You are…"
"Oh, sorry. I'm Meg, but on the bottle should be for 'Megara Terpsicore'."
"What a different name… I like it." Lily said searching for the medicine
"Yeah, my mother has a great imagination… What's your name?"
"Lily Evans. It's here." She gave the woman a bottle filled with a blue liquid.
"Thank you."
While she left, heading the changing room, another person approach the girl.
"Good afternoon, Lily."
Lily didn't have to lift her eyes to know who was speaking. That voice…
"Good afternoon, Potter."
"I didn't have the chance to talk to you yesterday."
"I was in a hurry. I needed to leave quickly."
"I didn't know you were working here."
"It was a last minute decision."
"Oh… And how… How is Allan?" Maybe Lily didn't notice, but James was a bit uncomfortable asking the question.
"He was fine the last time I spoke to him."
"'The last time'… You two…"
"Broke up, if that's what you were asking."
"I'm sorry."
"Are you?" She didn't want him to know how his questions affected her, but she couldn't keep the harshness out of her voice.
"If you were sad about it, I am."
"Evans!" called the mediwizard.
"Excuse me," said Lily.
She felt every heartbeat because of the way he looked at her. Her hands were shaking and she tried not to allow anyone to see that.
Who holds the stars up in the sky?
Is true love once in a life time?
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On Thursday, Lily was almost at the end of the trip between London and Hogsmeade. The sounds of the locomotive and the train wheels reminded her of so many things about the same route…
After getting off at train station, she walked in a hurry, simply out of habit. She was early and decided to visit Honeydukes Sweetshop. From a distance, she saw the village's hill. All of those places were full of memories. When she came out of the confectionery, she turned her face to the hill again. Her eyes seemed attracted there.
She glanced at the clock: 17:30. She could go to Hogwarts. The girl needed a document that only the school was able to give her, and she had made an appointment with Professor McGonagall for that day.
Back in the village, she looked at that hill again. She shook her head and went into The Three Broomsticks.
I'm speeding by the place where I met you
for the 97th time tonight.
At the bar, she spoke to waitress:
"A pumpkin juice to go, please."
"Lily?"
She looked around searching who called her. Coming closer to her was one of the Tornados chasers.
"Hey. It's Meg, isn't it?"
"Yes. Walking a little bit?"
"Actually, I came to Hogwarts to get a document."
"Your juice," said the waitress.
"Thank you. Well, I'm going."
"Don't you want to spend some time with us?"
"Us?"
"Some people from the team are at that table over there."
Lily looked at the indicated direction and saw James there too.
"We won't be late. We have training tomorrow," said Meg.
Wanting to be polite, Lily accepted.
"Look who I've found." Meg said to her friends, and then to Lily, "I don't know if you know everyone's name, so: John, Emily, Linda…" She pointed each one "Dean…"
"I believe we've spoken already," said Dean stretching his hand to greet her
"Yes. How is your knee?" Lily smiled.
"Recovered." He smiled, too.
"Good."
"James…" continued Meg.
"Hi, Lily, how is everything?"
The girl held a deep breath.
"I'm fine, and you?"
"Have you already met?" asked Meg.
"We studied together at Hogwarts," she answered.
"Take a seat." said Emily
"Are you still complaining about Coach Smith or have we changed the subject?" asked Meg
"I believe we were changing the subject," said Dean "How long are you staying with us, Lily?"
"For now, three weeks, but it may change."
"It has been a while since Grant had a trainee," said Linda.
"Where are you going after this?" Dean asked.
"Saint Mungo's, I hope. However, there is still the possibility of me being sent to another external internship," Lily answered before drinking her juice
"You're becoming a healer, aren't you? My sister also passed through these internships before going to the hospital," said John, who appeared to be about thirty years old "How long has it been since you two finished Hogwarts?"
"Three months," answered James.
"Your friend is very good, Lily," said John. "I wouldn't be surprised if he appears in an official game soon."
"He was very praised for winning us the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup."
Lily felt his eyes on her face immediately. She tried, but couldn't resist looking at him too. They held these looks for a few seconds that seemed infinite.
Not noticing, John continued.
"Kwanten must not hear me."
"Oh, that unbearable Chaser," said Emily. "He thinks he's a star."
"Emily, don't say that. Just because he can't even get a water glass by himself?" said Meg sarcastically. "Have you had the pleasure of meeting him, Lily?"
"I've just seen him."
"Lucky you…" said Meg with an expression that made Lily laugh.
"I have to go," said Lily.
"Already?" asked Dean.
"I have work I need to finish."
"See you tomorrow, then," answered the others
With a sigh, James watched her stand up and leave the pub.
Does anybody know […]
what the wind says when she cries?
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About a week later, Lily's heels clicked noisily against her living room floor as she paced restlessly in front of her friend Annie, regaling her with the whole tale. The blond listened patiently, but her eyes were already tired of seeing her friend walk from one side to another. She had been Lily's room mate at Hogwarts and witnessed the constant arguments between the red-haired girl and "Potter".
Noticing her friend had stopped talking and was waiting for her reaction, she said, "I guess I took a nap during the tragic part."
"Have you not heard 'James Potter working at the same place as me'?"
"Yes."
"And…"
"What's the big deal?"
"I want to punch him! You had to hear the way he asked me about Allan."
Annie avoided a forced breath out.
"You're not insinuating that it's his fault you two broke up, are you?" said Annie.
She couldn't understand the sound Lily made.
"Lily, you broke up with Allan almost three months ago, just after we finished Hogwarts!"
"I know…"
"You know what's the matter? You just can't admit you like James."
"Annie, have you lost your mind?"
"So why do you want to punch him? Why does just the mention of his name affects you so much?"
"If I liked him, I wouldn't want to punch him."
"If you didn't like him, you wouldn't care about what he says or doesn't say. In this case, you want to punch him because you care about him."
Lily snorted, sitting on the couch. Resting her head in her hands, she looked askance at her friend. But Annie, without saying a single word, insisted in everything she had already said.
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Days were passing and, among the players, the attentions of one in particular was standing out. Dean Lohan was constantly near her.
Dean was a pleasant, twenty-three years old guy. He was American and therefore hadn't studied at Hogwarts. He came to United Kingdom four years before when he signed with the Tornados.
James saw them much more frequently than he thought necessary, but he didn't know how to avoid this without looking like a completely idiot.
It was Friday afternoon during Lily's second week when Dean arrived at her table just as Lily was getting her papers to go home.
"Hi, Lily."
"Hi, Dean." she lifted her eyes to him for a moment.
"I was wondering… if you wouldn't like to go out and have some dinner someday…"
She felt an anvil weight in her stomach. She needed a way out…
"I'm sorry I… I'm kind of busy these days… But thank you."
The easy way out… or almost. It was the only one she found so quickly.
"Oh, sure, it's okay." He read between the lines "See you Monday, then."
"See you Monday."
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In the evening, Lily met Annie at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"Why do you have that look on your face?" her friend asked as soon as she saw her
"Somebody asked me out," Lily answered, still surprised.
"Who asked you out?"
"One of the chasers, Dean."
"Did you accept?"
"No."
"Why? Is thehe guy ugly, have bad breath? What?"
Lily looked to one side and then again to Annie before answering, hesitating. "I don't know."
"I think you do. You just can't admit it."
During the weekend, the more Lily thought about Dean's question and her immediate refusal, the more she inevitably thought about James.
"Lily Evans, get this creature out of your head."
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In the next week, James saw Dean keeping his distance from Lily and thought that was a good sign.
More days were passing, and there was something he needed to say…
I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow
I watched the stars crash to the sea (…)
Why aren't you here with me?
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On a Friday, just after a particularly long day of training, everyone was getting ready to go home. James approached Lily. He didn't want to lose the opportunity of talking to her.
"It was Friday afternoon during Lily's second week when Dean arrived at her table just as Lily was getting her papers to go home. See you Monday?" he asked
"No, I don't think so. Today was the last day of my internship here. Next week I'm going to Saint Mungo's Hospital. Actually, I wanted to go there since the beginning," She closed her purse.
"Are you busy tonight? I want to talk to you."
"I'd better go home." She got out of his way and started walking fast.
"It's all right, I'll follow you. Where will we apparate?" He hastened to follow her
"I'm not apparating." She turned herself to the fireplace, threw some floo powder. "Leaky Cauldron."
As soon as she disappeared, he did the same.
Lily arrived at the pub's fireplace e started walking again. James came just after her and tripped on his own legs in his hurry to catch her.
"Lily, are you walking home? It's raining outside."
"Are you made of sugar?" Lily didn't even look at him and went to the door
It was the middle of the afternoon, the sky was completely gray with clouds and it had been raining, not so weak, not so heavy, for about fifteen minutes. Not caring about that, Lily left to the sidewalk without an umbrella. The ground was full of puddles.
James kept following her. It had been five minutes and he was still trying to talk to her, but Lily wasn't paying attention… Or she was pretending she wasn't…
They were passing in front of a square when he decided to get straight to the point.
"I think I know something that will interest you."
"Yeah? What?"
"This."
He drew a small music box from his pocket. It was silver and had a drawing of a lily. When she saw the object, Lily stopped. She didn't even feel the freezing raindrops on her face.
"Where did you find it? I've searched everywhere."
"You dropped it right before we got into the carriages to leave Hogwarts. You left… in a hurry and didn't notice… Well, when it fell, it opened up and I listened…"
The music box was enchanted, and when James lifted up the lid, a soft sound began to play in spite of the rain:
One day I'll go dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the one for you…
"Lily, you put this song here. So do you remember that day?" he asked
"I have never forgotten."
It was the last Hogsmeade visit in the sixth year. Like a farewell, The Three Broomsticks was presenting a show with live music.
After some difficulty, James convinced Lily to go outside the pub with him because he wanted to show her a place nearby.
They climbed a hill and the only thing the girl said after that was "Wow". There was a beautiful view of the village and the back of Hogwarts castle. At that moment, like a painting, the horizon was red because of the sunset. They sat down for a while without saying anything.
The wind blew, allowing them to hear the song coming from the pub.
Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Their eyes met… James touched her neck and pulled her closer to him…
"So why did you run away on the day when we were leaving Hogwarts?" he asked trying to speak louder than the rain.
"It doesn't matter," She interrupted him and stretched her arm out to get the object.
James moved his hand up and repeated:
"Why did you run away when I said I love you?"
"Give me back my box."
The more he insisted on the subject, the more she insisted on the other one.
"No. Tell me why."
Losing patience, Lily stopped thinking and started speaking everything on her mind.
"Because you came out from nowhere and brought chaos to my life! I thought you didn't remember anymore, I thought I got over you, I thought I fell in love with somebody else…"
"Wait. 'Got over…'"
"Then you happened again." She didn't let him finish. "And I realized what I felt for Allan was just friendship. And I had to break up with him, which was awful because I really care about him. And then I don't hear a word from you for three months!"
She was speaking loud, but the rain was still muffling her voice.
"You ran away when I said I love you. That wasn't very encouraging!"
"In two years, nothing that I have said had any effect on you, - so why would it now? Whatever. You disappear for three months, and my conscience was killing me because, even then, you just wouldn't get off my mind. And then by accident, I meet you again at this internship, and even though I pretended I didn't see you, now you come after me again. You think you can appear and disappear out of my life whenever you want?"
"I didn't know if I would ever see you again after Hogwarts. I wanted you to know how I really felt before we left. But out of respect for you and Allan, I wouldn't interfere anymore. How was I supposed to know you two had broken up?"
The girl didn't answer. She kept watching the square, the slide's steps and the swings full of water.
"Wait," he said. "You said: 'I thought I got over you'. So you…"
"It's irrelevant."
"It's irrelevant!?"
"I know how you are." She looked at him again "You will disappeared in a minute."
"That's the old Potter. That guy would have weaved in and weaved out and prayed for as little damage as possible. But now I want damage and pain and all the good stuff that comes along with it."
"Damage and pain are the good stuff? I can't wait to hear the bad parts."
"The bad part is you giving up before we have a chance."
A light thunder came from the sky as if it didn't want to be in the way of the dialogue.
"Why didn't we work out?" James asked in a low voice, taking a step toward her.
"The everyday issues, I guess." She looked at the square again.
"No, that day. In Hogsmeade."
"Maybe Paris Callahan shouting to you 'my love' and hanging on your neck…"
"That's why? I wanted you to know how I really felt before we left."
"Let's say your history wasn't very helpful."
"My… Lily!"
"Anyway, why didn't you say anything when she did it?"
"Because I was not expecting it, didn't imagine… Lily, it happened over a year ago, why don't you just forget it? What difference does it make?"
"It's easy for you to say that."
"It was only because of her? Lily, she probably did it on purpose to annoy you."
"It was not only because of her. It was because of her and all the others."
"Wait a second." James cocked an eyebrow and smiled "Are you jealous?"
She folded her arms.
"Am I jealous? Of course I'm jealous." She unfolded her arms, agitated. "When I finally realized and admitted I liked you, I began to notice even more how half the girls in that castle sighed when you were near." Her voice was a little angry
He smiled, one corner of his mouth lifting more than the other. He came closer to her like he was going to hold her. Seeing it, the girl took a step back.
"Lily, what are you afraid of?" he narrowed his eyes
Her expression changed, her eyes looked at the ground. Her voice was lower, almost sad when she answered:
"Of being just another one."
James was expecting some sort of insult, like the many he'd received at Hogwarts, but that was not what he heard. All the times he asked her out or gave her a compliment, he had the impression she was always confident. He wasn't expecting that answer… fragile, sweetly fragile.
"Is that why?" he said, still surprised. "Lily… I'm sorry… Just look at me for a moment."
The girl lifted her eyes from a particularly large puddle. She focused on looking at that lovely face.
"You are not another one. To me, you're the only one. You're the only one I have shouted compliments at the halls of Hogwarts, the only I've lost sleep over, the only one who is present in my plans, the only one-" James took her hand and placed it on his chest "-who makes my heart beat faster. You're the only one I love."
He put his hand on her waist. Lily felt a shiver that had nothing to do with cold.
"You're also the only one to whom I want to ask something: be my girlfriend?"
"What?" she said, surprised "Are you sure you weren't hit by a bludger in today's training?"
"Yes," he answered smiling and held her by her shoulders. "Understand it once and for all: I want only you."
"Potter…" she began.
"Call me James."
"All right. James."
"What do you say?" He couldn't avoid giving her a loving look.
Lily raised her hand and tenderly touched his wet cheek. Subtly raising her shoulders, she replied: "Is it possible to say no?"
Then she hugged him. James, inebriated by that sweet perfume, wrapped his arms around her waist. At this time, Lily whispered, "I love you too," and gently kissed his neck
Looking at him again, she ran a hand through his dripping wet hair.
"I would lend you my coat, but I don't think it would help much…" James said.
"Have I ever said how charming you are?"
She said that and smiled. A sweet smile that served to James as an invitation to get closer…
With the sound of raindrops dripping on the ground and puddles as a soundtrack, they kissed. For some reason, they did not notice the cold raindrops falling on their faces.
A little later, under a fine drizzle, they walked again. This time, holding hands.
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Note:
Hi again!
Once more I want to thank Bee for the amazing patience in beta reading this for me. :) I would have never posted it if it weren't you.
This short fanfiction was also originally written in Portuguese (Pomos e Caixa de Música).
Please, let me know what you think and Send reviews! I just love receiving them.
.:Palas:.