Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. J.K.Rowling does. This is somewhat loosely based on the movie Love and Basketball.



A.N.: Hi! Just a little reminder peeps! This is on some level an AU, you know, alternate universe, so don't be surprise if some of the facts don't follow the book. Lily here is not muggle born; instead she's already a witch. I'm not really an expert on the game Quidditch so you might find some fault on it. Sorry! But please enjoy it, anyway. ( REVIEW!!



CHAPTER I

"You can never beat me!" Young James Potter exclaims as he zoomed on his broom holding the Quaffle, (was it a quaffle? The one you use to shoot past the keeper?) trying to shoot past the young Lily who was acting as the Keeper.

"Hmph! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm no good, James Potter!" Lily cried indignantly.

"I didn't say that! Nobody can beat me anyway, I'm the best in our lot." James boasted as he successfully shot the Quaffle through the goal.

It was Saturday then, no school. James and Lily were playing Quidditch on James' backyard with a makeshift goal post using two trees. The two of them had been friends as well as enemies since they met. They were neighbors, their bedroom separated only by a few yards of grass.

"Someday, I'm going to beat you." Lily declared.

"I'd like to see that day." James said smirking slightly.

"LILY, DINNER!" Mrs. Evans called.

"I have to go. See you tomorrow." Lily said while waving goodbye.

"Yeah, I have to go home too."

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Ten years later ...

"I made it! I got accepted in the Quidditch team!" Lily cried happily.

"Girl, I'm so proud of you," Tina said, pretending to wipe a fake tear off her eye. "I knew you could do it!"

"Of course I could! And now I'm going to beat that rascal James Potter!"

"I don't know why you hate James so much. Sure he insults you sometimes but at least he pays you some attention. And he's so cute, and handsome, drop dead gorgeous even. I could drown in his eyes. He's strong and powerful and when he plays Quidditch ."

"Okay okay. That's enough admiration. Besides, I don't HATE him. Hate is such a strong word. I just dislike him. Now when it comes to Malfoy, that I hate." Lily muttered.

"You've got a point there. At least you're not in Gryffindor with James, or in Slytherin like Malfoy. See! Ravenclaw's good. You're perfect in Ravenclaw."

Lily could feel guilt creep toward her. When she had first placed the Sorting Hat on her head, it had first meant to put her in Gryffindor. But she didn't want to be in Gryffindor with James so she had pleaded with it to put her either in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Yech, no way did she want to be put in Slytherin.

"Yeah sure. Ravenclaw's good." She agreed.

"Now come on, I'm starving, let's go to the Great Hall." Tina said. Lily looked at her friend; Tina was on the pudgy type, she kept saying she wanted to go on a diet but never really got into it. On their first year, Lily had defended Tina from that bully Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle. Since that day onward, they became good friends.

Lily was about to sit on her chair when a voice stopped her.

"So Lils, I heard you got in the team. Think you can beat me?"

Lily whirled around the minute she heard that obnoxious voice. There he was, looking as stupid as ever with his friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. She didn't even know what those girls see in him. His hair was sticking out in all places. He looked as though he never saw a comb.

"Don't call me Lils, Jamsie. And I don't think I can beat you."

"You don't?" James asked looking surprised and confused.

"No. I know I can." Lily declared.

"Ooohhhh," James said looking a bit relieved, " for a minute there I thought you were sick."

Lily glared at him.

James just smiled serenely, "Well, my fans are calling. I'll see you in the field. If you could survive."

"What an arrogant guy! I could just wipe that stupid smile off his stupid face. He's not even good looking. Right, Tina?" Lily grumbled. Not receiving an answer, she glanced at her friend who looked like she was dreaming then and there. "TINA!!"

"OH! Right, not ugly. I mean not good looking." Tina said sheepishly.

Lily sighed. "Let's just eat."

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"Lily, aren't you hungry?" Her fellow teammate asked.

"Nah, I'll eat later." Lily answered.

"I'm telling you, you're practicing too hard." Another teammate commented.

"I just have to beat him." She murmured listlessly.

Her teammates just shook their heads in resignation.

With the match about to take place in a few days, Lily was practicing as hard as ever. On her team she was the Chaser. Her job was to shoot the Quaffle on the goal. This was her fifth year at Hogwarts. She didn't have much chance to beat James at Quidditch with only two years left. She HAD to beat him. She just had to. She remembered his idiotic face whenever he beat her. She remembered him as he declared that she CAN NEVER beat him. She remembered whenever he teased her and called her a tomboy. Which was partly true, choosing sporty stuff over primping and flirting, most people believed she was a tomboy. And with James spreading that, who wouldn't believe him? He was practically the most popular guy in school.

Finally tired, she made her way back to Hogwarts not realizing that a figure was watching her. (No, it's not James.)

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Lily was walking through the forest, it looked liked the Forbidden Forest. She was following a strange large snake. She didn't even know why she was following a snake, she was scared of snakes. No matter how hard she tried to shake the need of following the snake she couldn't. It was like she was somehow connected to the snake. Whenever it moved she followed. Finally it stopped at a clearing. It was beautiful, grass and flowers everywhere. She closed her eyes tilting her face at the blue sky savoring the feel of the warm sun on her face. Suddenly she felt a drop of water on her cheek. She opened her eyes; it was no longer bright and sunny. Instead it was dark, it was raining. She looked around, the beautiful grass and flowers were wilting until finally they died. She heard a soft hiss, she glance at the snake. It was changing form. It was turning into a man, a man holding a wand. She was about to ask who he was when she was interrupted.

"MISS EVANS, I DO HOPE I AM NOT BORING YOU!!" Professor McGonagall screamed.

Lily jolted awake, feeling her cheek burn in embarrassment. The class erupted in giggles.

"I'm sorry Professor, I didn't get much sleep last night, it won't happen again." She apologized.

"See that it doesn't." Professor McGonagall said a bit miffed.

"Dreaming of beating me?" James snickered behind her.

"Shut up." Lily muttered not in the mood of arguing with him.

"Oooh, touchy touchy." Sirius joined in with a wink.

Lily just snorted in disgust.

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"So James, aren't you even afraid that Lily might beat you?" Peter asked.

Both Sirius and James looked at each other before bursting into fits of laughter.

"You know, Peter's right. You belittle her too much. One day, she's gonna beat you." Remus said.

"James, are you gonna let a female beat you?" Sirius asked trying to keep a straight face.

James pretended to think. "I think... NO!"

James and Sirius started laughing insanely again. Peter looked scared, no doubt questioning their sanity. Remus just rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Sirius and I are playing a prank on Snape tonight. You guys wanna come?" James asked.

"Umm, is it dangerous?" Peter asked timidly.

"Nah, we're just planning on transfiguring him into a rat. Then he'd be as greasy as a rat." Sirius said proudly.

Peter upon hearing the word transfigure rushed to their room squeaking something about being sleepy.

"Oh, okay," Sirius said looking a bit disappointed, "What about you Remus? Do you want to join in the fun? The adventure?"

"I'm busy."

"So I guess it's just you and me Prongsie!"

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The next morning in the Great Hall ..

"POTTER!! BLACK!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MR. SNAPE!" Professor McGonagall yelled.

"Did something happen to him?" Sirius asked innocently.

"Yeah, is he okay?" James asked following suit.

Professor McGonagall started steaming in anger as she reached in her pocket and produced a squealing rat. She quickly turned it back to Snape. "I know you two did that! Just wait till I realize how you did it." With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared.

As soon as she was out of sight James and Sirius started laughing uproariously.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT POTTER, BLACK!!!" Snape seethed.

"You know James, you went too far. I agree with Snape, you could have hurt somebody." Lily added. She was sitting near James in the Ravenclaw table.

Both boys looked at her in shocked. Snape looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"You ARE kidding, right?" Sirius asked momentarily.

"I didn't know you and Snape were going out." James said incredulously.

"We aren't! I'm a prefect, I don't think it's a nice thing to do that."

"Yeah sure, you're not going out." James and Sirius said at the same time as they stood up and started to leave.

"WE'RE NOT!" Lily sputtered.

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A.N. First Chapter over. So what do you think of it? Any good? REVIEW PLEASE!