Hi, I'm C.R. Richardson, your author for this fic.
Thank you for even reading this far into the fic it means a lot to me. Hopefully you are enjoying it.
I hope you enjoy the second chapter :)
(Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter)
How could she not know the spell? She was supposed to be smart, she was supposed to know everything so when the teacher asked her for the answer she could reply correctly. But how come she didn't know? It's not like she hadn't read the book. She'd finished it last week.
"Detention Lily." Shouted the angry teacher.
"No!" Lily woke with a start, disorientated she looked around the familiar but empty common room. Her face creased with realisation as she sighed with relief, it was just a dream. Relax, you don't have detention and you still know almost everything. Stop freaking out. "I have to stop studying so late." She muttered to herself, sitting up on the soft sofa, rolling her neck that was stiff from the angle she had been lying in. "Ow" she moaned.
The fire had died down to mere ashes with highlights of red embers. The only light shining into the room was from a few magically enhanced everlasting candles. The empty sofas and armchairs were a disconcerting sight considering they usually have students crammed onto them by the dozens. The study desks along the side of the room held only loose sheets of parchment with scribbled writing on them along with broken quills and empty ink pots.
Lily did a double take when she thought she saw a chair move slightly as her eyes were glancing past it. Her eyebrows creased in confusion, she rubbed her eyes making sure all the sleep was out of them and then looked around taking in the rest of the room. She didn't see anyone else around messing with her... So she shrugged and decided it must be her sleepy brain not fully awake yet, playing tricks on her eyes. As she made her way to the stairs leading up to the girls dormitory, she heard what she thought was a footstep behind her. Whipping her head around, a curtain of red hair flung a milisecond after. Studying the room, she brought out her wand slowly and whispered "Lumos" lighting the dark corners of the room up. But still she saw no one.
Heart racing fast, she spun around and ran up the stairs, into her dormitory shutting the door quickly behind her and leaning against it. Tapping her wand in the air she turned the lit tip out, plunging the room in darkness again. Letting her breathing slow and return to normal, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim room before standing up shakily. Her sleeping friends deep breathing calming her a little. She woundered why she was scared. There was nothing there. I didn't see anything. Why am I so scared? I only thought I heard something. But clearly I was still half asleep. Nothing to worry about. But she still could brush off the nagging feeling that someone had been watching here. Climbing into bed she forced her eyes closed and her mind to relax.
Tami and Elle looked at her worried. Over the past six years of sharing a dorm with her this problem has never arose. They didn't know what to do. Should they wake Lily? Or should they leave her sleeping?
Lily was always awake before them. She never sleeps in, they both knew that. So letting her sleep for longer would be a nice thing, right? Wrong. Because Lily would be furious if she missed class. Over sleeping was a constant nightmare that would have her up half the night. So the best thing to do would be to wake her then, right? Wrong. Lily was most definitely not a morning person and would surely yell at the person who tried to wake her from her slumber. Herself and only herself can wake her up in the morning otherwise she would be in a foul mood the rest of the day. That was what Tami and Elle had learnt from six years of sleeping in the same room. And yet none of those six years had prepared neither Tami nor Elle for the wrath that was about to occur.
"Come on Lily, time to wake up." Said Tami gently, while she rocked her a little, trying to shake her out of the dream state she was in.
"What's going on?" Asked Lily loudly, sitting up straight in bed, causing Tami to jump back startled.
"Schools starting in half an hour. Didn't want you to miss breakfast." Lily didn't care why the woke her up. That was hardly important. Sleep is more important.
"Urgh!" Lily humphed as she lay back down. The sleep deprived state she had been in for awhile now was starting to get the better of her. Last night had been even worse because of what had happened in the common room. It had kept her up until the light began to peek through the window, listening out for strange noises. Unfortunately she heard nothing apart from the occasional werewolf howl – but it was a full moon, so what else did she suspect?
Stretching her stiff bones, Lily got out of bed, aware that Tami and Elle were still watching her.
Tami was the first one to speak out, "Lily we're worried about you! You aren't sleeping enough. You come to bed much later then anyone else. And you're – usually – awake before everyone. We think you're studying to hard."
"I'm only studying hard in comparison to you two." Lily said seeing where this conversation was going and disliking the end result. "Ah! Is that the time?" Her eyes widened in panic. "I have to go!" And with that she raced out of their dormitory.
"Thanks for waking me up!" Tami mimicked Lilys soft voice, "No, anytime! Honestly, it's ok! I enjoy your grumpy attitude in the morning." Tami said sarcastically.
Sitting around the table, the boys, bleary eyed automatically brought food to their mouth. The morning after a full moon was always the worst. Getting up after so little sleep was bad enough without having to go to lessons too.
"We were nearly caught, Prongs." Said Sirius, still annoyed about the incident in the common room last night.
James had apologised already, countless times. "Let it alone. Lily didn't see anything."
"But it was too close. Dumbledore is fine with it, but there is no telling what other students will do if they find out." Argued Sirius sticking up for his friend.
"I appreciate what you're saying, Sirius. But I don't think we have to worry about Lily." Remus said, as he remembered last year when he was sitting by the lake with her.
It was just by chance that Remus turned to look out at the lake. He had been on his way to pick some Lovage for the Hospital Wing, when he had spotted Lily from behind sitting by the lake. The internal battle of going to comfort her or leaving her be, raged inside of him, before he walked down the hill towards her.
"Lily?"
Glancing up, Remus saw Lily's tear stained cheeks, she burst into tears again.
Remus was way out of his depth. "Hey now! It's ok. It's going to be ok. I know it hurts at the moment. But I promise it will get better." He took a seat down next to her.
Lily let out a strangled laugh. "Here I am crying like a baby, when Snape only called me a-a mudblood..." Saying these words only created another bout of tears.
"Behind every skin is a beautiful person." Remus said quietly. He had been told this many times, so it seemed only fiting for him to pass it on now.
"Can I ask you something?" Lily suddenly asked, after a silent moment.
"You just did."
Lily smiled through the tears. "Are you a werewolf?"
Remus coughed looking at her. "Um... wow. No one has ever outright asked me that." There was no denying the truth."How did you know?"
Lily stared out over the lake. "Severus figured it out."
"Right..." Remus sat still, worried at how Lily would take the news.
Lily shuffled along the ground closer to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. The tears started pouring again. Remus rested his head on hers, and put an arm around her. Trying to comfort her.
"How do you deal with the name calling?" Lily managed to get out around her crying.
"I don't. I don't handle it. That's why I take the easy way out and don't tell anyone."
Lily stared blankly into space for a few moments."You know, someone once told me that 'behind every skin is a beautiful person'."
Remus let out a short laugh. "Must have been someone really smart." He said sarcastically.
The two of them stayed outside by the lake thinking about their lives and enjoying the silence of each others company, until the sky turned dark and the chill reached them.
The conversation had moved on from last nights adventures to the upcoming Quidditch match. "Hufflepuff is no competition." Said James confidentally.
"With you on the team, Hufflepuff might as well quit now." Sirius bragged. Peter nodded.
As more students cleared the hall, Remus suggested they get going to class. Looking more energetic with food in their stomachs, the others agreed.
Apprehension hung thick in the air. The students dressed in yellow and black robes stood on the ground glaring at the opposing Gryffindor team menacingly. James smirked back. This was going to be an easy defeat. As the whistle rose up to the referee's lips, the players moved the enchanted brooms to between their legs. Knees bent for the starting whistle.
The whistle blew, and they were off.
James flew into the air and snatched the Quaffle out of the sky before the Hufflepuff Chasers got the chance. Leaning low over his broom, he moved around players at lightening speed. He made his way towards the 3 poles at Hufflepuffs end of the pitch. Bringing his arm back, he gained momentum before flinging the ball forward. It sailed through the air. Danny Johnson, the Hufflpuff Keeper, narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the Quaffle trying to judge which hoop it was travelling towards.
Johnson swerved to the left one. But he was too late. The Quaffle passed through the hole.
"10 points for Gryffindor!" Boomed a voice from the crowd, as the scoreboard changed, putting Gryffindor in the lead. A cheer erupted from Ravenclaw and the playing house, while Slytherin booed alongside Hufflepuff. James flew off grinning, easily dodging a Bludger that a Beater had aimed at him.
Hufflepuff was now in charge of the Quaffle. Passing the ball between Reynolds, Baker, Sullivan and back again. The Gryffindor team couldn't break the other teams' formation long enough to steal it back. As they neared the hoops, James started to worry they would score the points. But the three of them were no match for Gryffindors Keeper. He had stopped far more Quaffles in his time as Keeper, than anyone of the other teams' Keepers had.
The two Seekers from opposing teams circled above the rest of the players, eyes alert for a small Golden Snitch. Both knew that finding and catching the small ball first would make their team win with a potential 150 point advantage. Riker was Seeker and Captain of the Gryffindor team, he knew James was a good player. But he also knew that his downfall was his ego. While keeping one eye focused on the game being played below him, he used the other to search for the ball it was his job to catch.
"Another 10 points for Hufflepuff!" The annoying commentator never relented.
There it was. Just like that. The sun moved out from behind a cloud and caught the Golden Snitch making it glint in the light. Riker was off. Chasing after the incredibly fast little Snitch. The other Seeker was alerted when Riker zoomed passed him. Looking at where Riker was staring hard, he found the ball, and followed after Riker with haste.
Zigging this way and that, Riker plunged to the ground, then soared to the sky. Following the exact moves the Snitch made. Last time Riker had tuned in to the commentator the score had been 50-30 to Gryffindor. If Riker managed to catch this ball his team would win the match.
Stretching out his arm, he willed his broom to move faster. Or his fingers to stretch longer. As Rikers hand was just about to close on the Golden Snitch, it zoomed to the right fast, surprising him. When he turned to follow, he could no longer see the Snitch, neither could his opponent. So Riker slowly made his way back above the teams, eyes like a hawk as he searched for the Golden Snitch.
Her knuckles were white as they gripped tightly on the rail in front of her. Everyones' necks stiff from looking up at the players, but Lily barely noticed. She gasped, as Sullivan was nearly thrown off his broom by a Bludger sent by Gryffindor, getting sucked into the game even more.
The score was 100-80 to Hufflepuff, but it was still anyones game. If Riker caught the Snitch now, Gryffindor could still win. Lily squinted up at the players, she had lost track of the Quaffle. Being so far below the game it made it hard to understand what was happening. The crowd helped by cheering ridiculously loud when Gryffindor scored, or booing like crazy when Hufflepuff got the Quaffle through the hoop.
The three girls were heavily clad in gold and red clothing to show their support for the team. While Lily sat enthralled with the game being played overhead, Elle and Tami sat beside her talking to each other.
"Will you please be quiet! It's distracting!" Lily snapped at her friends, fighting to be heard over the noise from spectators.
"Distracting you from drooling over Potter?" Tami teased her.
Lily shook her head. "Don't be crazy Tami! I am here to support Gryffindor. Besides you practically begged me to come and now you aren't even watching it!"
"I find Quidditch boring." Said Tami. "It's the after parties I like."
Lily rolled her eyes and turned away staring up at the game again. A cheer went up from Gryffindor, Lily joined in, listening to the commentator "That's 10 points to Gryffindor thanks to Potter! Which now brings the total to 100-90!"
Someone in the crowd had started a chant, "Fly, Fly Gryffindor!" It was steadily growing momentum as more and more joined in. Lily saw that Tami and Elle had stopped chatting to participate and so she did too.
James had just scored another goal for Gryffindor and he was feeling pretty good about it. Although he was unhappy that Hufflepuff was still in the lead. He had been flying back to defend Reynolds when he heard a chant being yelled from the Gryffindors in the stands. Smiling to himself, he looked down and caught a glimpse of Lily and her friends joining the yelling. She looked mental with her red hair being whipped into her face by the wind, and her mouth straining to yell louder.
Taking his eyes off Lily, he turned around with enough time to see the Quaffle being passed from Sullivan to Reynolds. James flattened himself on the broom and speed up. Intercepting the ball from between the two Hufflepuffs was easy.
He zoomed back over to the hoops and passed the ball to a fellow Gryffindor Chaser. She scored another 10 points for Gryffindor. The sounds of screaming rose to meet their ears.
"Well played!" Hannah said as she came to a stop near James.
"Nice shot." He replied.
James looked up to see what Riker was doing. Gryffindor was at 100 points, this was the ideal time to catch the Snitch and boost their points. Giving Gryffindor a 250 point head start for the season. Riker looked like he was chasing something. That could only mean one thing. His eyes were locked on the Snitch. The Hufflepuff Beaters noticed too. Gripping their bats they started aiming Bludgers at Riker. Although James would have liked to continue watching the Seeker, the game had to be continued incase Riker failed.
He zoomed down the field with Hannah, chasing the Quaffle that was in Reynolds hand. Before they could catch up to him and have a chance of getting it back, Reynold lobbed the Quaffle at the middle hoop. But luckily for Gryffindor their Keeper was on to it; Ryan slamed his broom around and smacked the Quaffle away with it's bristles.
Hannah caught the ball as it soared through the air. She made her way back down to the end of the pitch that she had just come from. James flew with her, keeping an eye on her, the other three Chasers and the two Beaters (who were already preoccupied with Riker). Hannah gave a pretend throw to the right hoop, which made Hufflepuffs' Keeper dive for it, before she actually threw it over to James. Who put it nicely through the left hoop gaining 10 more points for Gryffindor.
Riker was so close now. The Snitch was in his reach. He drew out a hand and... He snatched the ball out of the air. He had done it. He had won Gryffindor the game. He slowed his broom and raised the hand with the Snitch showing everyone he had caught it while still keeping a firm grip on the sneaky ball.
The cheer that erupted from the crowd was deafening. The commentator fought to be heard above the noise. "Riker had caught the Snitch! 150 points goes to Gryffindor! With the final score at 260-100, Gryffindor wins the first match of this season!"
All the players touched down to the ground. The Gryffindor players raced to their Captain cheering loudly alongside the spectators. Riker held the Snitch above his head as swarms of Gryffindors raced from the stands to congratulate the players.
Lily hadn't stopped beaming once the commentator had shouted that Gryffindor had won. Tami pulled her from the stands so they could join in the celebrations below, with everyone else. Lily stopped next to Hannah and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Well done," She said, "You were brilliant!"
"Thanks!" Hannah laughed.
Lily turned around but couldn't see Tami and Elle anywhere. She wasn't too bothered they would turn up eventually. When Lily glanced back to where Hannah had been just a moment before, she was no longer there. Instead, in her place, was James.
"Congratulations!" Lily had to shout over the roaring crowd. "You played so well!"
James smirked. "So you were watching me?"
Lily's cheeks flushed in embarrasment, but she hoped James thought it was just excitement. "Not you specifically! I mean, I saw you... I was watching everyone though. I thought everyone played well."
Seeing Lily get flustered made him smile even more. "Right. Well that's cool! Glad you enjoyed the game."
Lily nodded her head enthusiastically. "I really did!"
Before James could respond, they heard Riker yell out above the noise. "Party in Gryffindor Common Room!" The appreciative squeals of delight were made by everyone.
James nodded towards the castle, "Want to go?"
"Yes." The two of them moved in time up towards the massive party that was about to ensue.
Someone must have alerted the resident House Elves to the party that was making its way over because when Lily and James arrived food had been layed out and chairs had been pushed back to make room for the massive influx of people.
Once they had squeezed into the room, James asked if Lily wanted a drink. After she agreed, James had walked off to find something for the both of them. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to see who it was. She saw Elle and Tami grinning down at her with wide eyes.
"What?" Lily asked.
Leaning forward so that only Lily could hear, Tami started singing. "Lily and James sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes lo-" Lily placed her hand over Tamis' mouth to make her stop.
Lily glanced around the room making sure James wasn't in ear shot before glaring at her two friends. "It is not like that! He is just being polite."
Tami and Elle nodded but they didn't believe a word of what Lily was saying. Glancing behind her they spotted James making his way over and quickly leave the two of them alone.
"A pumpkin juice for you. Hope that was ok?" Lily turned around to see James holding two drinks in his hands. Taking one drink from him she took a sip.
"Perfect!" She said with a smile.
As the party continued, it grew more and more out of control. With magic involved things tended to be a little more hectic. After only fifteen minutes of partying, Professor McGonagall, head of house, came into the common room and silenced everyone.
"Congratulations on winning Gryffindor but the party is ending. Everyone please return to their respective houses. And as for the rest of you..." She paused, looking around at everyones' hopeful faces. "Well ok... Party quieter." A cheer of appreciation went up from the Gryffindors. "I said quieter!" She said exasperated.
Professor McGonagall made her way over to James and Lily. "Sorry to interrupt. But Lily if you would come with me for a moment?"
Nodding, Lily set down her drink and waved a goodbye to James, before following the teacher out of the room.