You know, I probably shouldn't be starting a new story when I haven't even finished ANY of my other ones...But I just couldn't help myself. ;) Um, so yeah...Enjoy! One of my first real romance stories (hopefully I don't screw up majorly!). Well, Please (pretty pretty pretty please) review!

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter (Obviously!)

Lily POV

I felt like I was going to throw up.

But not in the I've-been-waiting-for-this-my-whole-life kind of way. More of the Why-did-I-ever-agree-to-do-this way. Though maybe it was the waffles I'd had for breakfast. That were making me so nauseous, I mean. Waffles and the first match of the Quidditch season didn't mix so well. Now I must suffer the repercussions. Ugh.

And Jonathon Wood's speech wasn't helping all that much either, what with the fact that his "pep" talk was rapidly turning into more of a "What to do if you are falling in a death spiral towards the earth" talk. Apparently the answer was take someone from the other team down with you, but I was too out of it to focus on anything the man was saying.

I was starting to have my doubts about going out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Oh sure, the practices were fun (and often rigorous) but now that the first game had come around, I was shaking in my padded Seeker gloves. Which were probably getting all sweaty, because I was so nervous and everything.

"And so, to wrap everything up because we're about to start, just go out there and win!" That was supposed to pump us up? Really? Ok, sure. Whatever you say, Wood. "Because we are Gryffindor, and we can't let those Slytherin losers beat us in the first match of the season! Now come, on. Let's get out there!" When the entire team started to stand up, I swear my stomach jumped into my throat. I didn't know how I was going to be able to walk onto the pitch, let alone fly hundred of feet in the air.

I heard the crowd before I saw them. Damn, it was loud! I mean, I knew they were a lot of people in our school, and, of course, I'd been in the crowd myself, but actually seeing it from this angle, down here on the ground, was kinda scary. I tried to shake it off, and just think about the game ahead of me. The team took their places on the field, and the nausea worsened. Merlin, how was I supposed to do this?

Then, at the start of the whistle, everyone—including me, to my utter surprise--was in formation and flying into the air. The whole throwing up thing seemed to lessen a little. Just a little though. Not enough to make me feel any better. The movements of flying were familiar and I tried to relaxed into them. I heard the commentary, but didn't bother to listen. I was too busy eagerly searching for the little golden ball that marked the end of the game. I pushed a lock of red hair out of my face, and focused.

"And Gryffindor scores! That makes it forty-twenty to Gryffindor!" Michael James' voice blared out. Wow. This was going by fast. The game went on, it seemed forever, before my eyes caught site of a golden speck over by the stands. Just in front of the Hufflepuff seating section was the Snitch, fluttering around, mocking me. My eyes flashed towards the Slytherin seeker, Scorpius Malfoy, who hadn't seen it yet. He was flying near the left of the pitch, his eyes in my direction.

Ooh. Dilemma. I could go straight for the snitch, and hope I got enough of a lead on Scorpius to make sure I caught it, or I could slowly ease my way towards it, and then maybe luck would hold out, and it would stay until I could catch it. Either way, if I messed it up, Scorpius would find out where the Snitch was. And probably catch it, since that was the point.

I decided to just go for it. Fly straight to the Snitch. What the hay, right? Live a little. I took off towards the Hufflepuffs, pushing my broom as fast as I dared. Which, apparently, wasn't fast enough. Malfoy caught on to what I was doing, and saw my line of vision. He took off until, way too quickly, we met up near the center of the pitch. I gritted my teeth, pushing my broom faster. He just sped up more.

We were both leaning down as low as we could on our brooms when the snitch decided it felt like zooming along the stands. I had to make a sharp turn, and fly pressed up against the stands. Michael James was still shouting out commentary about our desperate struggle for the Snitch, but all I could hear was the buzzing in my ears. I glanced over at Malfoy, whose striking blue eyes were staring straight ahead.

I pushed harder, until I thought I was going to fall over the top of my broom. The little gold ball was so close, if I would go a little farther I would be able to just grab it. I reached out my arm, straining so far my arm was sure to be in a lot of pain later today. Which would completely suck, but worth it if I actually caught this. Malfoy had stretched his arm out too, and he would have been able to catch the Snitch easily if he had been at the same level at me. Thank Merlin his broom had fallen behind a few inches.

And I felt it. The cold metal was gripped tightly in my hand, wings fluttering like a hummingbird's. My heart was beating a thousand times a minute, and adrenaline clouded my thoughts. The only thing that ran through my mind was Yes!

XXX

"Lily, would you please stop pinching yourself?" Lulu, my best friend, hissed. One hand held my arm in a vice grip, while the other had a bottle of butterbeer. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Lulu and everything, but this is just annoying. Holding me hostage in the Gryffindor common room while everyone celebrated our first win is ridiculous. Especially considering I didn't even want to be here. It was too crowded (it seemed the entire Gryffindor house was there. Which was probably true) and too loud. Things I don't like: Loud noises and crowded rooms.

I think you get my point.

"Look, your arm is all red!" This was so not true. It only had a few little pink marks, from where I'd pinched myself. And, I mean, I couldn't help it. I was sure that the Quidditch match had been a complete dream, and any moment I was going to wake up to the sound of Alice yelling at Lulu for stealing her favorite shirt. Which Lulu does tend to do, but will never admit. Especially to Alice.

And, you know, I was happy. About winning, I mean. But couldn't I just be happy…with out celebrating in party form? Too much to ask? I didn't think so.

"Hey, great game Lily." Zachary Longbottom, Alice's older brother, came up to us. Lulu, because she'd had a major crush on him since second year when he helped her every she was lost, (which was often, even now), jumped into a conversation with him.

Great. Now Lulu was completely distracted with Zach. And I could understand why she liked him, I really could. He was fairly cute, with brown floppy hair and caramel eyes that were very similar to his sisters. So I couldn't blame Lulu for crushing on him. But I could be mad about having to be at the party. Which I was.

Maybe I could just sneak out. Go to the library or something. I glanced at the large grandfather clock near the front of the common room. Seven thirty. Oh, good! It was still open for thirty more minutes. I looked around for Alice and Melanie, to tell them I was leaving. I saw them together, over by the stairs. I immediately jumped up, and made my way over to them.

"And there's our favorite Seeker!" Mel said, smiling largely. I laughed, and sat down beside them.

"So this has got to suck for you, right? I mean, you hate parties of any kind." Alice commented. She was my best friend in the entire world, because I'd known her before Hogwarts. Her blond hair was pulled into the usual ponytail, and she, as well as Mel, was sipping a butterbeer.

"That's why I'm going to the library. Just came over to tell you," I said. I totally wanted to get out of there, and stood up to leave, but Mel grabbed my arm.

"You can't leave! This party is in celebration of the first win of the Quidditch season! And you caught the Snitch, which technically means you won the game. So, in conclusion, that means this party is for you! So you can't leave." When Melanie was done with her little speech, I just stared at her. That made no sense, but when I told her this she just rolled her eyes.

She tried again."Ok, fine. Let me tell you this: Leave, and I will personally make sure to never let Alice give you her History of Magic notes again. And you know I will." I just laughed, and backed up.

"No you won't," I said simply. And she wouldn't. Mel wasn't very good with threats, and never went through with them. Except for that one time with the chocolate frogs. But that had also been a dare, so it didn't really count.

I pushed and shoved my way out of the common room, apologizing furiously, and practically ran to the library. There weren't many people in the hallways, it being rather late. When I reached the library, I reveled in the fact that it was probably one of the quietest places in the castle right now.

I roamed through the shelves, trying to ignore the evil looks the assistant librarian, who was shelves away from me, was shooting my way. I wasn't doing anything, she just didn't like anyone being in here when the library was so close to closing. I, personally, liked it better this way. I mean, when there were too many people in the library, normally towards the end of the year when exams are just around the corner, it wasn't a peaceful place. It was stressing, and I tried to not to come in then.

I chose a few books and plopped down at one of the tables near the back. I knew I couldn't stay and read, I realized after looking at my watch, because the library was closing in just fifteen minutes. I toyed with the idea of just hiding in the library for the rest of the night, even after they locked up, but then dismissed it simply because the floor wouldn't be the most comfortable place in the world to sleep. And it wasn't much better than sneaking through the common room to get back to the dorm. Which I was going to have to do sometime in the next ten minutes.

I sighed and picked up my books. I walked to the front desk, where the head librarian looked asleep. Really, how old was she? It wasn't even nine yet, and here the woman was, drooling on a sheet of paper! Not exactly the perfect image.

"Um, excuse me? Miss?" I said, kind of loudly. She just went on snoozing.

"Ma'am?" I poked her shoulder tentatively. She jumped up, the paper flying up off her cheek and landing on the floor. I tried to resist the incredibly strong urge to laugh.

"Err, sorry there, dear. Now, what can I do for you?" She seemed very motherly, unlike many other librarians I'd come in contact with.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could check these out. I know it's late and everything, and I'm sorry…" my voice trailed off. The librarian nodded quickly, and took my books. After checking them out, and tried to carefully balance them in my arms. I should've known something bad would happen.

It could have been worse, I guess. The books could have fallen on me, or something equally bad. I guess it's just my kinda luck. When something good happens, something bad has to level it out. Happens every time, without fail.

I wasn't looking ahead of me like I probably should have. I was concentrating on not dropping every book, when I ran into him. Or he ran into me. I kind of like to think of it as the latter, because then less blame was set on me. Either way, I was about to fall to the floor, when I felt two strong arms wrap around me. I looked up, to see who saved me from a terrible fate involving my head and a hard wooden floor, and stared into a pair of familiar, striking blue eyes.