2 - Wandlore
James
Frank bellowed at James and Sirius all the way up to Gryffindor tower. He promised them McGonagall would hear about this first thing in the morning. He called it bullying. "Two on one." He fumed at them. "It's a disgrace to Godric Gryffindor. He was the defender of the people not the persecutor. It was a rotten thing to do!"
"He wasn't defenceless, Frank." Sirius said coolly. "Don't make the mistake of thinking Snivellus Snape is harmless because he looks so pathetic."
"Don't call him that!" Frank snapped at him, looking even more furious. They'd reached the Fat Lady who was eyeing them beadily.
"A week of detention for you Black. Potter, if you want to keep it to one night, I suggest you keep your mouth shut." He added as James started to make comment.
"You're going to apologise to Snape tomorrow," Frank told them seriously. James caught a glance at the Fat Lady who was ogling them, delighting in the drama. "And if I ever hear you call him Snivellus again, I'm going straight to Dumbledore. Understood?" Frank's mouth, normally smiling, was set in a straight, hard line. It reminded James of McGonagall.
James and Sirius didn't respond. They strode straight into the common room and up to the dormitory, shooting mutinous looks at Frank from the bottom of the stairs.
"Apologise!" Sirius barked incredulously, as soon as the dormitory door was shut.
"Apologise for what?" Peter asked, popping out of the red hangings of his four poster. He'd left the great hall in a hurry to go to the loo and was already in his striped pyjamas.
"We're not going to apologise." James told Sirius bracingly. He strode over to his trunk and began pulling out his own pyjamas, he would unpack properly tomorrow. "Frank's just showing off his new badge Sirius. He'll have calmed down in the morning."
"What happened?" Peter asked again, his watery blue eyes watching James and Sirius beadily.
"We had a disagreement with Snape." Sirius muttered, finally going to his own bed.
James didn't say anything. If that was all Sirius wanted to tell Peter, that was all he'd say on the subject but there was slightly more to the story.
When they had left the Great Hall, James and Sirius had collided with Severus Snape accidentally. Snape and James brushed off the contact from their robes and briefly glared at each other, before James smiled. "Good summer, Snivellus? I see you still haven't washed your hair."
Sirius gave a bark of laughter that spurred James on.
Snape glared at him, his face going pink. James saw him clutching his wand in the pocket of his robes.
"Shut up Potter." Snape snarled at him. He was twitchy, there weren't many people left in the entrance hall.
"Oooh," James and Sirius said together, laughing.
"I'm wounded." James told Sirius, grinning. "Now Snivelly has told me to shut up, I may never speak again Sirius."
"Well we wouldn't want to upset old Snivelly, would we James?" Sirius laughed back at him.
"Shut up the pair of you, especially you, the blood traitor!" Snape shot at Sirius who stopped laughing abruptly.
It was Snape's turn to sneer. "I heard all about it from Lucius Malfoy at dinner, how you're a disgrace to the Black family."
Sirius reached for his wand but Snape's was already in his hand. James distracted him but his hex missed by inches. Snape turned to face him, his face burning and just as James disarmed him, Frank Longbottom ran down the steps bawling at him.
Under the pressure of Frank staring at him, James adopted a swagger and made a joke. He saw Lily Evans and her friends pass him, shooting him disgusted glances. It wasn't fair, Snivellus had been just as vicious but only James and Sirius would pay for it.
James got in to bed miserably. The year had already gotten off to a bad start. He rolled over and brushed off the negativity, he'd change all that around. This would be a good year, he told himself determinedly. He was going to make the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, beat Sirius in the transfiguration final and make Lily Evans stop glaring at him. He would set to work as soon as he woke up in the morning.
True to his word, Frank Longbottom had indeed told McGonagall about the night's little duel. She marched James and Sirius out of the entrance hall at breakfast and deducted twenty points from Gryffindor. It did not make them popular in their first lesson with their peers. During Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, Evans and Macdonald shot them annoyed glances and turned their backs on them, Karen and Gwen muttered contemptuously, James was sure the latter was cursing him in Welsh. Only McKinnon seemed unpeturbed. She partnered James in the lesson, when Sirius and Peter set to work on the other side of the greenhouse. "They're only house points," she muttered. "It's day one, I'm sure we'll all lose a few more."
James was glad Marlene felt this way because there was something he'd been dying to talk to her about. "I heard your brother's the new Quidditch Captain," he said with no preamble. "I thought it'd be him. I know Seeker's aren't the usual choice for captain but since Reacher left last year, he's the best player on the team."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "There's no use buttering me up, Potter." She told him drily. "If you want to try out for the team, just try out."
"When's he holding trials?" James asked, unpeturbed.
"Dunno." Marlene replied haughtily. She kept her eyes fixed on her potting her honking daffodil. "What position are you going for?"
"Chaser," James tried to be nonchalant but he was too eager. There were three spots open on the team. Keeper, Beater and Chaser, James supposed he could be a beater of a keeper if he put his mind to it, but he really wanted to be a Chaser, it was the most exciting position on the field. Marlene didn't say more and James wondered if she was thinking the same thing. They regarded each other coolly for the rest of the lesson, acknowledging each other as competition.
After Herbology, the Hufflepuffs trundled into the castle and up the stairs for Charms, while the Gryffindors made their way to the dungeon for Potions. Potions was one of James's least favourite lessons. It wasn't that he found it particularly taxing, it was easy enough work, although James didn't score as highly as he could have because he lacked the concentration needed for some of the trickier potions. The part is disliked most about Potions was the teacher.
Professor Slughorn was a large man with a big moustache and a bigger belly. Everything about the man was loud, from his voice to his character. It was also the worst kept secret in the school that Slughorn had his favourites and that Slughorn's favourites went to high places when they left school. Sirius had been the first to tell James that if you were ambitious, you wanted to make Slughorn your ally. James had been very keen for Slughorn to like him. He hadn't ever willed someone to like him before, people just did. Yet, for some reason (most likely James's perpetual habit of getting in to trouble), Slughorn did not like him. Now he was in his second year, James was not as bothered about this. But even as he unpacked his potion ingredients on the table, Slughorn irked him.
With a wave of his wand, Slughorn made instructions appeared on the blackboard. "Today we will be making a handy little potion called, the Rhinopharyngitical draft, can anyone tell me what this potion does?"
A few hands shot in the air, among them was Snape and Lily. James's hands stayed firmly on the table. He hadn't yet opened his potions textbook this academic year.
"Mr Snape?" Slughorn said happily.
"It's a potion to cure the common cold." Snape said quietly, beside him Lily beamed. James ground his teeth.
"Excellent, excellent." Slughorn said happily. "That's correct, five points to Slytherin. For a little fun, does anyone know what this potion's nickname is?"
This time James did put his hand up, as did everyone except Karen Smith, Lily Evans and Sirius, although the latter was just being lazy. Slughorn sensed this too because it was Sirius he asked the question to.
"It's called the Wizard's wonder." Sirius said dully.
"That's right," Slughorn turned back to the class without awarding Sirius any points. "Now, this is slightly more complicated than anything we've attempted so far. Read the instructions carefully and raise your hand if you need any help." He cast his gaze round the greenish glow of the class. "Begin."
It was laborious work and James soon found his attention wandering. He gazed and Snape and Lily for ten minutes, they worked together harmoniously, talking quietly, their attention firmly on their potions. A few times, James caught the other Gryffindor girls giving Lily funny looks and he didn't have to wonder why.
Twice Sirius caught his arm. Once to stop him adding the wrong ingredient and once to stop his sleeve catching fire from the flames that were kindled under the cauldron.
James attention moved on to daydreams about Quidditch. He couldn't wait for the school day to be over so he could check the notice board and see when trials were being held. He thought about asking Sirius to practice with him in the evening before remembering that they both had detention with McGonagall.
"Your potions should all be a transparent yellow, with pink steam rising from them," Slughorn boomed at the end of the lesson.
James looked in his own cauldron. It was a completely opaque canary yellow with red smoke issuing from it. Peter's was blood orange with purple steam and red sparks, while Sirius's was precisely the colour Slughorn described. Slughorn walked round the room to inspect their potions. He gushed over Snape and Lily's tables, passed without comment over the girls, frowned at Mulciber's cauldron, in which the contents had turned solid and shrivelled into a pumpkin shape. He nodded approvingly at Sirius's and tutted at James.
James, Peter and Muliciber were given extra homework to research the corrective actions to be performed on their potions, to be demonstrated next lesson.
James followed Sirius out of the dungeon feeling dismal. His hopeful feelings waning further by the minute.
The rest of the day did not improve. The announcements for Gryffindor trials still had not been posted, they had a stack of complicated homework and spent an hour writing lines in McGonagall's office. When Sirius and James trudged back up the marble staircase to the common room, contemplating the homework they needed to begin it was hard to say who felt more dispirited.
"We might as well start with McGonagall's reading." Sirius sighed as they reached the Fat Lady. "It'll take the longest."
"Yeah," James agreed in equally as enthused tones. "Toadspawn." He said to the Fat Lady, who swung open without reprimanding them for coming back from detention. James climbed into the portrait hole first. The common room was still full, students were talking, playing games or completing homework. Sirius and James found chairs by the wooden table on the left and took their books out of their bags and began reading. James looked up after three minutes and found Sirius doing the same, they grinned at each other. Frank Longbottom swept past them, eyeing them carefully before leaving the portrait hole with his girlfriend Alice. "As if they're really doing prefect duty," Sirius muttered quietly to James, turning his attention back to his transfiguration book.
Before the door closed however someone else entered. James burst into a grin and nudged Sirius. Remus had arrived.
Lily
Tuesday was the same frantic hassle to get ready that Lily remembered from the year before. The girls were all sorting out their hair right up until the last second in which they would have to go or face missing breakfast. This year, Gwen and Karen were starting to apply make up in the mornings too.
"Madness," Marlene said to Lily as they left the other two to it and begun walking down the stone steps which led into the common room. "I'd rather have another two minutes in bed."
"I dunno," Mary said quietly from behind Lily, "I saw that Dorcas Meadows and a few other Ravenclaw girls were wearing makeup in lessons. Maybe we're the odd ones out."
"If you want to use Karen and Gwen's magnifying magical mascara go right ahead, Lily and I will be at breakfast." Marlene replied haughtily, striding across the common room to the portrait hole.
Lily shot Mary an apologetic look behind her. She didn't know what was wrong with Marlene but she was in a towering temper. She'd been grumpy ever since Herbology the previous morning. Lily had tried to ask her if she was alright over dinner but had had her head bitten off. So now, she was just leaving her to it.
The three girls walked down the long corridors to breakfast in near silence. When the entered the Great Hall, Lily was pleasantly surprised to see Remus Lupin sat at the Gryffindor table in-between Potter and Black. Lily caught his eye and gave him a pleasant wave which he returned cheerily.
Marlene decided to sit much further up the table than the boys which Lily immediately found odd. Normally, she'd have been straight over there. Mary also frowned at the seating arrangements but did not question it.
"First DADA lesson with the new Professor today," Mary announced after a long ten minutes of silently eating their breakfast. "Wonder if he'll be any good."
"He will be." Lily said confidently. "Can't imagine Dumbledore would hire any one that wasn't."
"Binns?" Mary suggested.
"I don't think Dumbledore hired him, so much as inherited him." Lily chuckled, thinking of their very dull History of Magic teacher, the ghost.
"My mum said that now we've learnt the basics, we'll start learning more complicated spells this year." Mary said, more for Lily's benefit than Marlene's.
"Like what?" Lily asked, scooping another spoonful of cereal.
"Disarming," Mary listed on her fingers, "shield charms, maybe even stunning."
Lily's eyes widened in excitement but Marlene scoffed. She put her cup of coffee down with a thud. "We won't learn shield charms or stunning until forth year at least." She said scornfully.
"What about disarming?" Lily asked irritably, Marlene's attitude irking her more and more.
Marlene shrugged. "I guess we will learn that."
"James can already do it." Mary said quietly, clearly not wanting Marlene to kick off again.
"What?" Lily and Marlene both asked.
"He disarmed Sn- I mean - he disarmed Severus after the feast on the first night." Mary reddened with Marlene and Lily both looking at her incredulously.
Lily replayed the scene of the first night in her head. She thought Potter had been attacking Severus when really he had been disarming him. Did that mean Potter was defending himself? No. She told herself firmly, he definitely raised his wand again when Black had pocketed Severus's, if Frank hadn't come downstairs he definitely would have hexed him ...
Marlene scoffed again. "Lucky shot." She huffed at Mary. "Anyone could have done that."
Mary's brow creased in response but she didn't contradict her. Lily was quite happy when the bell had rung and they were able to go up to Defence Against the Dark Arts where Marlene couldn't snap at them.
Professor Floyd started the class in an unusual manner. When they arrived in his classroom and began sitting down he ushered them up again.
"Back of the class please, all of you." He said, shooing them with his hands. He wore blood red robes and a very square hat, which made him look like a bishop.
"I'm going to sort you into alphabetical order so I can learn your names properly," he told them. With a wave of his wand a long piece of parchment appeared in his hands. "Andrews, Julius?" He called commandingly. A quiet Ravenclaw boy stepped forward and Floyd pointed to a desk at the front. As Andrews walked, Floyd turned back to his list. "Black, Sirius." The class frowned, they'd never been forced to mix with other houses in their seating before. Other than a mild frown, Sirius went to join Andrews without complaint. Dennis Carmichael of Ravenclaw was paired with Guinevere Davies of Gryffindor. Lily and Remus were the first of the same house to be paired together. They sat on the last desk on the right, straight at the front. Some Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were pared together, like Dorcas Meadows and Felicity Nightingale, both of Ravenclaw, and of Gryffindor, Potter and Pettigrew and, much to Mary's frustration, as she told Lily later, Mary and Marlene were stuck together. When Upton Rachel and Umber Edward, both of Ravenclaw, had finally been seated at the back, Professor Floyd swept forwards to begin his lesson.
Students scrambled in their bags for their books but he told them to put them all away. "You will only need your wands today." His voice was very soft and he had traces of a faint accent, definitely foreign, but it was such a lilt that Lily couldn't place it.
Mary had been right, their first lesson was disarming. Floyd wrote down the incantation and described the wand movement on the board. Lily found this odd too, most teachers only waved their wand at the board for the writing to appear but Floyd made a point of painfully etching each word.
"Now class," he said to them, gripping his wand tightly in his left hand. "Please recite the incantation."
"Expelliarmus!" They all exclaimed, their wands sitting on their tables, visibly irritated.
"Very good." He said with an approving nod, but no smile. "Now, who can tell me what happens when you disarm your opponent?"
A few people in the class laughed, James Potter was chief among them Lily noticed. So did Professor Floyd. "Mr ..." he scanned his list. "Potter, since you seem to find the question so amusing, why don't you answer it."
"Ok," James said languidly, leaning back in his seat and rumpling his untidy hair. "When you disarm your opponent their wand flies out their hand." James was grinning, so were other people. Lily could read the speech bubbles above their heads, what a silly teacher, everyone knows what happens when you disarm someone ...
"And what else happens?" Floyd asked, his voice, though not unkind, was not indulgent. James Potter stopped smiling.
"Pardon?" He asked blankly.
"What else happens when you disarm someone?" Professor Floyd asked plainly.
Potter's face was blank, Lily could see he was scrabbling for more information. His eyes darting to his classmates for assistance but none was forthcoming. "I don't know." He was finally forced to say.
It was the first time that morning Professor Floyd had smiled. Lily expected him to say something patronising, but he did no such thing. Instead, he opened the question to the rest of the class. "Two things happen when you successfully disarm your opponent." He said, pacing along the far side of the wall where light was streaming in from the windows. "They happen simultaneously. As Mr Potter correctly informed us, the wand flies out their hand, so what is the second thing?"
Lily hadn't got a clue. She glanced at Remus who shrugged, also perplexed. It seemed no-one could answer Floyd's question, so finally, he answered it himself. "When you successfully disarm your opponent, their wand leaves their hand and also," he paused, his eyes glittering. "Their wand switches allegiance." The class were mesmerised, each glancing at their own wands.
"Wands don't have feelings," Pettigrew said loudly. He held his own wand aloft and then held it to his ear, as though he expected it to start speaking to him.
Floyd smiled again. "Is that so, Mr Pettigrew?" He consulted his sheet again for Peter's name. "In that case, please can you tell me why you picked your wand?"
"Why I picked it?" Pettigrew repeated, his round face furrowing in confusion.
"Yes." Floyd answered simply. He'd stopped pacing and walked back to his desk, leaning lightly against it. "How did you pick your own wand? Did you have a preference of dragon heartstring or unicorn hair? Had you heard that a longer wand performs charm work better than a shorter one? In short, Mr Pettigrew, what qualities were you looking for when you went to buy your wand?"
Peter Pettigrew's face was a complete blank. Floyd may as well have asked him to make him a wand as answer his question, for he was so perplexed he seemed lost for words.
"I don't know." He said finally.
"Then how did you pick your wand?" Floyd asked more simply. Gently folding his arms across his chest.
"I didn't. My wand picked me."
Floyd smiled again. "But I thought they didn't have feelings Mr Pettigrew?"
Peter didn't replied but he looked more and more confused.
"Pick up your wand, Mr Pettigrew." Floyd instructed him. Lily wondered for a wild moment whether he was going to duel him but Floyd left his own wand on his desk. The class's eyes turned to Peter who did as he was told. "How does it feel?"
Peter, clearly uncomfortable with the class's full attention, began to turn pink. "S'alright." He muttered.
"Now, put it down please and pick up Mr Potter's, if you don't mind."
James shrugged to say he didn't and Peter picked it up. His brow creased immediately.
"How does that feel?"
The class were hanging on for Peter's answer and it took him a long moment to reply. "Odd." He said finally. "Not quite right."
Floyd smiled again. He stopped torturing Peter who dropped James's wand immediately and scooped up his own. James picked up his fallen wand and twirled it around in his hands with interest.
Lily was fascinated. She picked up her own wand and stroked the wooden grooves. She put down her wand and picked up her quill and for the first time, she felt a subtle difference between holding each of the objects.
"Wandlore is a peculiar area of magic, one I am particularly interested in." Floyd told them, twirling his wand in his fingers. "I think it's important to know the foundations of magic before performing the spells. You see, while any witch or wizard can channel magic through most wands, the allegiance of the wand will determine how well the spell will work."
Mary raised her hand and Floyd checked his register. "Yes Miss Macdonald?"
"So does that mean that your friend's wand will work better for you than your enemy's? If you haven't disarmed your enemy, that is."
"An interesting question," Floyd said thoughtfully, stroking his moustache lightly. "It's not quite as clear cut as that but in essence, I suppose you're right." He nodded. "If two wizards, or witches, were in disagreement, then it's likely their wands would not work properly in the other's hand."
Sirius muttered something to the Ravenclaw boy on his right who gave a muffled hoot of laughter. Floyd did not miss this.
"Would you care to share with the class, Mr-"
"Black. Sirius." Sirius told him before he could check the register. "And no thank you."
Mr Floyd blinked, he had not expected this response. Lily sighed audibly, she wondered if Greenacre had warned him about Black and his ilk before she left.
"Well Mr Black, if you'd like to deprive us of the joke, I can take five points away from Gryffindor.."
The threat hung in the air. Lily could visualise the rubies in the hour glass hovering between the red bottom and the empty glass top.
"Fine." Sirius said finally, his voice empty of it's usual bite. "I said, like Evans and James."
Despite herself, Lily blushed and her eyes darted to James Potter, who was glaring at his friend.
"Could you please explain?" Floyd asked.
"If two wands won't work well for the other person if two people don't get along then Lily Evans and James Potter's wands definitely won't work for each other." Sirius explained, he was going red himself under James's furious stare.
"An interesting observation," Floyd said quietly, his annoyance quite forgotten. "Mr Potter, Miss Evans, would you mind being our test subjects?"
Reluctantly, Lily stood up out of her seat and walked a few steps to the front of the class. James Potter walked towards her, his eyes fixed on something over her right shoulder.
"Now, can you each perform a simple spell with your own wands?" Floyd asked them politely.
Feeling her palms sweat with pressure, Lily pointed her wand at the desk in front of her, where Gwen sat with Dennis Carmichael. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She gave her wand a swish and flick and Gwen's quill began to fly off the desk. Floyd nodded in approval. "Mr Potter?"
James narrowed his eyes at Sirius. "Diffindo!" Sirius's tie was sliced off in one smooth movement as though cut with invisible scissors.
The class laughed, even Sirius joined in, picking the other half of his tie up from his lap and repairing it with a lazy flick of his wand.
Floyd did not reprimand him, he just nodded vaguely. "Very good, now please swap wands."
James and Lily made uneasy eye contact. James held out his wand first which Lily took gingerly, giving up her own with regret. She instantly felt the difference. Her wand felt like an extension of her arm, natural and powerful. James Potter's wand felt like wearing your shoes on the wrong feet. Though it was an equal size to hers, it somehow felt heavier. She watched James on her right, who looked like he was experiencing a similar sensation with her wand.
"Now, can you try your spells for me again please?"
James lifted Lily's wand and pointed it once again at Sirius but Floyd intervened. "I think to avoid any unnecessary injuries you should aim the wand away from your friend's throat when perfuming a severing spell." The class tittered and James smiled. Floyd offered him a piece of parchment which James held steadily in his left hand.
"Diffindo!" He said again, pointing to the parchment. The tiniest of rips appeared. James tried again and a few more centimetres tore. He blinked at it, frustrated. "Reparo!" Nothing at all happened that time. James dropped the parchment and held Lily's wand very loosely.
Mr Floyd clapped. "Excellent!"
"Now Miss Evans?"
Lily pointed at Gwen's feather quill again, it levitated off the desk, perhaps not as highly when the spell was performed with her own wand but it was much more effective than Potter's severing charm.
"Fascinating." Floyd said it so quietly, Lily was sure only she and James, stood so close to him could hear. He dismissed them back to their seats and James and Lily hastily swapped their wands back and rushed back to their seats.
"Now, if you please, let's attempt to disarm our partners."
The second half of the lesson was not as interesting as the first half, though considerably more fun. By the end of it, Remus and Lily had both succeeded in disarming each other twice. Other parings had not been as lucky. Marlene hadn't been able to disarm Mary once and was in a worse temper, Pettigrew's aim was so bad he disarmed Karen rather than James and Sirius's partner missed his wand, performed the movement all wrong and managed to set Black's sleeve on fire, much to the class's amusement. Their homework was to practice.
"Excellent," Lily heard Potter say as he, Black, Remus and Pettigrew exited in front of her. "Finally, a teacher is encouraging us to duel!"
"I don't think that's what he's suggesting James," she heard Remus say quietly but Lily was sure Potter hadn't listened.
The rest of the day was not nearly as interesting as the morning. Transfiguration was marginally more difficult and history of magic considerably more boring than anyone remembered.
Marlene's bad mood persisted all day. After lunch, Mary and Lily had given up talking to her. Karen and Gwen were also being very annoying. They kept giggling, looking at Lily, hastily turning round and giggling again.
It wasn't until later, when they were back in their dormitory she understood why.
"So," Karen wiggled here dark eyebrows up and down at Lily, while Gwen watched excitedly from her own bed.
"So...?" Lily asked, getting in to her pyjamas.
"Sooo, what's going on with you and James Potter?" Karen asked eagerly.
Lily's face flushed for no reason. She was about to reply but Mary answered first.
"There's nothing going on with Lily and James, Karen." She said instantly. Lily felt a rush of gratitude.
"But what about his wand!" Karen said stubbornly, pouting. Gwen gave her a reassuring grimace.
"His wand?" Marlene spat, joining in the conversation.
"Yes, his wand!" Gwen insisted. "Lily's wand wouldn't work for James, but Lily had no problem using his!"
"I did," Lily protested. "My spell wouldn't work nearly as well as with my own wand!"
"But James's barely worked at all with yours." Gwen's eyes were twinkling, Lily didn't like what she was insinuating.
"There you go Gwen." Marlene said. She didn't sound angry anymore, but tired. "James's wand worked for Lily, but his wouldn't work for her. He fancies her, not the other way round."
Lily could feel her face getting hot. "No he doesn't!" Lily spluttered.
She looked to Mary for support but found Mary giving her an apologetic glance. "He does, Lil."
"But Potter's not nice to me!"
"Of course he's not," Gwen rolled her eyes as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you think Arthur started off being nice to me? It's how they show they like you Lily."
Gwen's patronising tone wound Lily up even more. "Well I don't fancy him!" She spat.
"Well we know that," Marlene said, giving Karen an pointed look.
"You lot are no fun." Karen said sulkily, drawing her hangings. Gwen shortly followed suit.
"I'm glad you don't fancy Potter, Lil." Marlene said in an undertone. "He's going to take the one spot on the Quidditch team for Chaser." Her voice was miserable.
"Is that what's been wrong with you?" Mary asked in an exasperated tone and Marlene nodded.
"We'll help you practice," Lily said consolingly, happy for Marlene to in a better mood.
"But you hate Quidditch," Marlene protested, getting into bed and drawing the covers up to her chest.
"But I hate Potter more." Lily smiled and Marlene joined in.
Lily lay awake that night for a long time. She was thinking about what Karen and Gwen had said and was troubled by it. Did Potter really fancy her? Her stomach squirmed. Arrogant James Potter who always had an answer for everything. He wasn't even handsome, not that it mattered because she absolutely didn't fancy him. She didn't even like him. The part of the day that troubled her the most was not Gwen and Karen laughing at her, nor the knowledge that everyone else knew that James Potter fancied her, the part that was most troubling to Lily was that his wand, while odd, did not feel completely unfriendly in her hand.
