bees and robins

"He missed dinner," announced Lily upon entrance to the Common Room. She slumped down on the couch near the fireplace, resting her head on her hand. "Again."

"It happens, Evans," said Sirius, distracted, his eyes determinedly on the muggle chess board on the floor in front of him.

"But it's been two days," groaned Lily.

Sirius made his move. Remus, who sat across him, cocked his head to one side to see a better angle of the board. "That's just James, Lily," he muttered. "He'll come around."

"He wouldn't tell me what's wrong, though," insisted Lily. "I mean, I'm his girlfriend, you would think he'd…"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance, and Lily, who did not miss it, reckoned they hadn't meant to by the way they immediately shifted their gaze. She narrowed her eyes at them and hastily sat down on the floor beside Remus.

"Spill," she ordered, nudging him.

"Pete's in the kitchens," said Remus, after looking at her long and hard in deliberation. "He's on hot chocolate duty."

"Marshmallows and some cinnamon rolls, yes," affirmed Sirius. "That's where he is. You caught us, you win, we're sorry. Make your move, Moony."

"I'm not talking about Peter and you both know it."

Remus sought Sirius, who merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know I have a right to know!" said Lily.

Remus sighed. "Fine… Padfoot?"

"Oh, no, mate. It's either James himself or someone else not named Sirius Black, I'm afraid."

Remus rolled his eyes and conceded. "He got rejected by the Magpies on Sunday," he told Lily, leaning over and finally making his move.

"Magpies? As in… the birds?" Lily's expression soured. "Is that a Marauder code for something?"

"Montrose," said Sirius. Lily still looked puzzled, however, and Sirius sighed in exasperation. "National Quidditch team. Montrose Magpies? No? Merlin, Evans. They're not the best, in my opinion. A bunch of half-lunatics, really. And their tactics are thoroughly predictable these days, but they do have the most winning streaks in league history so I guess I understand where the fascination's coming from…"

"The letter specifically said it wasn't that they thought he wasn't good, they just didn't feel comfortable admitting someone without experience outside school leagues," explained Remus. "It wasn't anything personal. No other seventeen-year old could have gotten in. At any rate, Prongs still took it badly."

"Oh, James…"

"Give him time," suggested Sirius. "My turn, Moony, yeah?"

"Yeah, yours—Lily, look, he'll be fine. It's Quidditch. He's just a little extra sensitive about that. But he'll be alright."

"But why didn't he tell me?"

"He's just—" Remus began, but Sirius cut him off.

"He's embarrassed." He regarded Lily with a curious expression. "He thinks you'd think it's petty."

The redhead looked mildly affronted. "Of course, I wouldn't think—do you lot think I'd think it's petty?"

No one answered.

"Because I wouldn't," said Lily firmly, but was continued to be answered with silence. "Oi! I wouldn't!"

"Of course, you wouldn't," allowed Sirius. "Although—I mean, only if you're willing, of course—there is something you can do to cheer him up…"

"There is?" asked Remus, shooting Sirius a meaningful look. Lily unfortunately missed it this time.

"Yeah," said Sirius eagerly. "You see, our James is a Stinger."

"He's a what?" Lily asked, as Remus turned his attention to the board once more.

"His second favorite team's the Wasps—that's Wimbourne for you, Quidditch dummy," proceeded Sirius. "He also sent in an application, and I'm pretty sure he's going to receive a response from them any day now. We try to occasionally give him… you know, support and all, but since that thing with the Magpies he wouldn't hear any of it. At least not from us. Just shuns the subject off, the prat. But he obviously needs it."

Lily considered this piece of information. He turned to the other marauder. "Remus?"

"He does need it, yeah," said Remus quietly.

Lily bit her lower lip in thought, took a deep breath, and then pursed her lips. "Right. The Wasps. So what do I do?"

A grin broke out on Sirius's face.

James's hands found his pockets as he rounded a corner. His fingers found the edge of the envelope at once, and he started fiddling with it as he walked back to the Common Room, his lips upturned in the slightest. He knew he had been acting stupid lately, and he couldn't have helped that even if he tried, but he thought he probably still owed his mates—and Lily, especially Lily—an apology.

He was choosing how best to phrase that conversation with his girlfriend when he realized there was someone standing at the end of the hallway, and he couldn't quite make out who… wait, what it was. It was human-sized, alright, but too bulky and oddly shaped to be properly human. He slowed his pace down and fished out his wand, just in case, squinting in the dark. "Excuse me," he called out with the authority of Head Boy. "Hey, what do you think you're…"

He trailed off, recognizing (or not?) who it was. "Lily?" he asked, his face that of utter confusion. "What are you… doing?"

She was wearing a yellow and black striped costume, so stuffed it was thrice her size, and she had a matching antennae headband over her shockingly red locks. She was blushing.

"I… what's up?" James asked to fill the awkward silence.

"Hi."

"Erm—you're a bee," observed James lamely, dumbfounded.

"I'm a wasp," corrected Lily, frowning. "With a capital W… I know about the Robins."

"What—oh. The Magpies?"

"Erm, yes. I meant that. So… surprise!" she grinned up at him and held out her hands to showcase her outfit, but it looked more like an embarrassed grimace to James. "I was told you needed… well, support. And mind you, I really don't think it gets any more supportive than this. So you better be okay right now, James Potter."

He opened his mouth, but he closed it again because he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Stop looking at me like that!" said Lily. "I just thought… okay, this was a bad idea, wasn't it? This is just… I'm a wasp!"

That's when he burst out laughing. Hard. In fact, he was laughing so bloody much he had to lean against the wall and clutch at his sides.

"Stop it," chided Lily, her eyes daggers, but her cheeks as red as her hair. "Will you quit it? James!"

"Yes. Okay. Okay… yes, right," James managed between fits of laughter, straightening up. "You're bonkers, did you know?"

"I'm supportive," said Lily. "And I hate you."

"No, you don't," said James, grinning. "And I'm not a fan of the Wasps."

Lily's face fell. "What?"

"Puddlemere United. Solid. I don't know where you got the Wasps thing, but I appreciate it." He gestured towards her general look. "You look hot."

"Oh, shut up."

"No, but really."

"Stop it."

He couldn't get enough of her expression. "Godric, I love you, Lily Evans," he muttered, shaking his head and chuckling.

"This will not be talked of ever again, d'you hear me?"

"I can't believe they got you to wear a bloody wasp costume…"

"I don't—will you stop laughing now, please?"

"Okay, okay…" He took a deep breath and looked away for a second, gathering himself. "So who told you? About the Magpies?"

"Your mates," answered Lily grumpily. "I'm cross with you about that, by the way."

"Sorry," said James at once. He couldn't quite take his eyes off Lily, and he couldn't do that without laughing, so he distracted himself by taking out the letter and handing it to her. "Look."

Lily took it.

It was an acceptance letter from Puddlemere United. "You got in?"

"You heard it first and from me now, okay?" James looked extremely pleased with himself. "I'm not playing yet, but… yeah. Sort of."

Lily smiled fondly up at him. "There's our Captain…" She made to kiss him (she couldn't quite help it when he had that carefree, boyish grin on his face), and he brightened up at once—but then her wasp-stuffed front wouldn't let her properly do it.

James was laughing again before she could glare at him.

"I'm going to murder Sirius Black."