"And he's done it! James Potter of Gryffindor house has caught the golden snitch! Gryffindor wins, 340 to 260." Hovering two hundred feet in the air James grinned, winning smile still as present as ever. The snitch was clutched in his hand, punching the air above him with his usual gusto. Lily clapped with the best of them, grinning as well. He was a winner if there ever was one. She was strangely proud of James. He had matured in so many ways over the summer. He was kinder than before, and he didn't use his power to abuse anybody, not even Snape. It was a massive step forward from where he had been just months ago, when she had caught him teasing Severus mercilessly once again. The change over the summer was drastic, and she hadn't quite believed it at first.
Beside her, Samantha Wood clapped enthusiastically. She had been a devoted Potter fan since day one, despite Lily's disapproval. "He looks good, Lil," Samantha said slyly. Bummer he's not into you anymore." Sam had not been the first person to point out to her that James had matured in another way as well. With the decrease in the size of his head had apparently come an increase in everything else. He had shot up again in height, and now towered over her. He was at least six feet three now, and his arms and chest had bulked up massively. And his jawline... dear god his jawline could cut diamond. If she hadn't known better she'd have thought him to be working out. But James wasn't that kind of person, at least, the James she knew hadn't been.
He descended slowly, teammates strangling him in a monster hug. "You aren't interested right, Lil? I can go for it if Ted decides he's too good for me?"
"Sure, Sam." Lily said distractedly. Down below, she saw James hand the snitch to a beaming Madam Hooch. Raucous applause still filled the Stadium and the winning team slowly left the pitch. The sound of hundreds of students leaving the stadium erupted into the air as everybody made their way towards the staircases. "Well, they played amazingly." Lily said jovially as they walked down the stairs from the box. "Did you expect otherwise?" Sam laughed. "Of course not, but they still manage to surprise me every time." One player in particular, Lily thought.
"Ted played so well!" Sam beamed over at Lily, radiating pure joy. Lily laughed, grinning. Sam's on again off again boyfriend was the Gryffindor goal keeper, and while he may not be the best or the brightest, if there was one thing he could do well it was save goals. Lily allowed Sam to continue gushing about Ted all the way back to the common room, until Sam finally tired of it. She wasn't the only one with a quidditch player on her mind.
James was still smiling hours later, reliving every moment of the game in his mind's eye. The transfiguration paper could wait, he just wanted to see the beaming faces of the crowd as he caught the snitch one last time before he had to resume writing. The tiny fluttering ball had not eluded him this time, not that it had any other time. He could remember every single quidditch match he had played in, especially those that he had won. He closed his eyes, watched his fingers extend out, out, out... and snatch the snitch straight out of the sky. Then he remembered the paper. James shook the image of the snitch from his head and ran his hand through his hair instead. It was late, the paper was due tomorrow first period, and he couldn't afford to turn in another assignment late. The book he had been using was no good, plus he knew most of the process of becoming an animagus already. He could almost be considered an expert on the topic. He stood abruptly and closed the book he was holding. The candles were burning low, casting a low, heavy light over the library. Amazingly, it seemed as though Madam Pince was no longer present. And here he thought that she lived at the library.
He strode over to the bookshelves, turned a corner, and ran right into a sleeping Lily Evans. James froze. His book slipped through his hands. It landed, quite unfortunately, on Lily. Springing up with the reflexes of a cat, Lily looked around as though expecting an attack. She turned and barely stifled a scream. "Agh! Oh, hi, Potter. You played well today." Several awkward seconds passed in which James thought. "Yeah, Thank you." He leaned against the shelf nonchalantly. "I haven't seen you much recently Evans. How've you been?" Lily gave him a funny look. It wasn't like him to make small talk. He was usually an astoundingly direct person. "I'm well, thank you. And yourself?"
"Good. Great. All's in order." James cursed himself. "I've got to put this back so I'll just, um, go." James shuffled past Evans, then made a mad dash for the end of the aisle. His heart was beating ten times faster than usual, and he couldn't understand why. He'd spoken to Lily dozens of times in the past. He'd asked her out, joked around with her, teased her even. But something had changed, and he was afraid to really ask himself what that was. In the row nextdoor, Lily glanced around embarrassedly. She stared at the point where James had vanished. It was unheard of for James to be so clumsy and awkward. She hadn't seem him drop anything before. Was something wrong? Had Sirius written him off? Good lord, was James Potter being bullied? That was not the James she had seen on the field today. She snapped herself out of her train of thought, straightened her shirt, finger combed her hair, and headed out of the library. She had had enough surprises for today. James waited for Lily to leave before letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. She didn't understand what she did to him. She never had. He presence distracted him, it had for years. Now however, not only did she distract him but she physically changed something in him. He had told himself he would act normal. Told himself that he wouldn't do to her this year what he had for the last three years, but he hadn't realize the cost this would come at. He shook his head, grabbed his paper, and headed for the door. He would have to turn in a late paper after all.
It was several weeks before James ran into Lily again. Lily was dozing off by the fire when the creaking of the fat lady swinging open awoke her. Frozen in her overstuffed armchair, Lily waited for voices to tell her who had just entered. It was most likely Samantha, who she knew had had a rendezvous with Ted tonight in bell tower. "Sam?" She whispered into the blackness. The shuffling stopped. "It's Lily. Where are you?" She firelight was far too dim for her to see anything. Whipping out her wand, Lily whispered "Lumos." As her wand tip flared, light was shed across the common room, illuminating the frozen figure of James Potter. Lily's heart beat a little faster. Stifling a giggle at his horrified expression, Lily stood and walked over.
"I should have known. What were you doing out so late, Potter?"
"Um... I had to–"
"Spare me your lies, Potter. I – hold on. Is that a leaf?" She reached up and pulled several twigs from the boy's hair. "Now why on earth," She looked up at him and suddenly became aware of exactly how close she was to him. "Would you have this in your hair?" James took a step back from her and looked away. "Quidditch practice," he murmured. "At this hour? In the forbidden forest?" James looked into her eyes for the first time. "Yep." Lily rolled her eyes at his stupidity. "Sometimes, Potter, I question your judgement."
He strode past her, debris trailing in his wake. "Sam probably won't be back til later." he said quietly. "Her and Ted sounded pretty busy to me when I passed the broom cupboard a few minutes ago." Lily laughed, and he grinned back earnestly. "You know, you're prettiest when you laugh. You should... You should laugh more." A silence followed. "Anyway, I'll catch you later Evans." Lily watched him go curiously. She liked this new James. His sincerity was a refreshing change from the dramatic boy she knew. He was truly becoming a man. She watched him walk up the staircase and out of view before responding. "I'll see you, Potter."
"Mr. Potter. If you do not think that paying attention in my class is mandatory, would you kindly perform the transfiguration I have been teaching about for the past twenty minutes?" James stopped trying to make Anthony Parker's quill write profanities on his paper and started paying attention. "Of course professor. Which spell was that?" A couple girls in the corner giggled and James grinned nonchalantly, flipping his wand through the air and catching it. "The Animagus Reversal Spell Mr. Potter. And you will be performing it..." Professor McGonagall paused for effect and James tensed his muscles, ready to spring for the door in case what he thought was coming was coming. "On me." the Professor finished.
Sirius laughed quietly beside James, who let out a sigh of relief. "Of course, Professor." As McGonagall transformed into her cat animagus, James let out a sigh of relief. "Formam Mutatio!" A bright blue light emanated from his wand, shooting at the cat. As if in slow motion, he locked eyes with Lily for just a moment, long enough to see the laughter in her eyes. Seconds later, Samantha Wood let out an earsplitting shriek. Professor McGonagall had not transformed. James stared down in horror at the dead cat lying at his feet. He looked up and stared at Lily, who was looking at him with a kind of mutated horror on her face, as though he was a particularly disgusting piece of meat. And James Potter ran.