To any outsider, this might have appeared like any amateur, friendly game of Hippogriff between two opposing Houses (with the exception of Dorcas), but to everyone on the inside of this match, it was more than that—so much more.

For me, this was a matter of protecting my honor as a Muggleborn against a group of awful blood purists.

Then again, this match wasn't about me—it was about something much bigger.

As Sirius ran and kicked off the ground, I attempted to zero in on the moment—the little things I needed to focus on in order to win this thing so these devils on brooms couldn't call me a Mudblood and get away with it.

Breath in, breathe out. Watch Sirius. Watch Yaxley. Send a Bludger up in the air towards Yaxley.

Breathe in, breathe out. Watch Yaxley dodge the Bludger. Watch as a Bludger nearly hits Sirius in the back of the head. Pass my Beater's bat to Mary. Watch Mary's Bludger hit the tail of Yaxley's broom. Watch Yaxley get knocked off course momentarily.

Breathe in, breathe out. Watch Sirius.

Breathe in, breathe out. Grip my broom handle.

"Hippogriff, hip hip!" called James, and I knew that was my signal to kick up and get ready for The Handoff.

My hands were shaking, the slight trembling causing me to spin a bit tighter than usual as I ascended. As soon as I stretched out my hand, however, Sirius deposited a struggling Golden Snitch into it, and I was off.

A few moments later, Nott was on my tail. I was zipping through students, the vast majority of whom had caught on to the spectacle of our game and had decided to call all kinds of daft things after us.

"Pay the toll!" a Hufflepuff boy said, leaning forward with puckered up lips.

Needless to say, I pushed him away rather roughly and was slightly pleased to hear him yelp in surprise.

I didn't have much time to entertain any other sort of tomfoolery. Glancing back, I noticed Nott was using my drag to his advantage, as he stuck closely behind me.

I shot him a glare and began to zigzag through the air instead, just to throw him off balance.

It seemed to work, but only for a few seconds, and only out of sheer surprise.

Suddenly, a sharp whistling caught my attention and I dipped down and out of the way of an incoming Bludger.

I grinned to myself in triumph. But I heard a loud crack of what could only have been bone and an even louder scream from behind me. I turned back to see that Nott had been hit in the side in such a way that his arm was now dangling at an awkward angle from his side, and he'd released his Snitch.

I gasped as his grip loosened from his broom. It was like I was watching it all in slow-motion: his eyes squeezing tight in pain, his mouth opening to groan, only everything had gone quiet, his robes swirling around him like a dozen ravens pulling him to the ground.

I'd stopped flying. I was dumbstruck. I didn't know what to do! I gaped in horror as he somehow continued to fall to the ground. I searched the sky around me, and then the rest of the grounded flyers. Was no one else going to help him?

I was only a few yards away from the point of descent. I could just continue to fly, win my round of the relay race, and not be bothered that Nott was falling to his doom.

Only, I knew what that felt like, and it was only by some miracle that I was able to stop myself from knocking on death's door at so early an age.

I had very little time and space to make a decision.

I blinked and zoomed towards him, flying as hard as I could, faster than I ever had before towards Nott, towards the ground.

I just had to get him before he hit the ground.

If I could do that, if I could just save him—

My hair whipped around my face furiously as I reached both arms in front of me, anchoring myself on the broom with my legs, and reached around Nott's descending figure. I pulled him to me and managed to pull my broom up just before we both met with sticky ends on the green of the pitch, but only just.

I'd managed to slow our descent; however, we still had a rough landing on the grass, sliding for a few feet, our bodies uprooting the grass and no doubt staining our robes.

Mary ran towards me, screaming, "Lily, let go of the Snitch!"

Oh, right.

I opened my right hand and the Snitch flew out of my hand. I heard Mary groan and fly off on her broom, presumably to finish the match.

Nott was sprawled on his back, groaning in pain. I rolled off of him. "Nott, are you okay?"

He only grumbled in reply, his eyes rolling in his head.

"Can you sit up? You need to elevate your arm, or you'll lose it."

He grumbled again.

"Sorry?" I said.

A rush of running footsteps made its way towards us.

"Lily, get back to the starting line!" called an agitated James.

He looked furious.

"Nott needs to go to the Hospital Wing straight away!" I retorted.

"Obviously," he snapped.

Severus had taken to helping Nott sit up and was currently attempting to elevate the afflicted arm.

I pulled out my wand to cast a Cushion Charm for Nott's arm, but James put his hand up and blocked me.

"Oi, we're in the middle of a match here!" he roared. "Get back to the starting line!"

More than incensed, I boiled over. "You're joking, right? You can't really think this stupid match is more important than a student receiving proper medical care?"

He pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. "Unbelievable. Of course you would think that." He sighed as though I were trying his patience. "Nott will be fine. Now go back, Lily. Your team is waiting for you."

He'd emphasized the word "team" as though trying to make me feel guilty about helping someone from the opposing team.

Honestly! This balderdash coming from Captain Safety First!

I jut out my chin and narrowed my eyes so he knew that even though I said, "Fine!" I didn't actually mean it. I turned and ran back to the starting line.

Marlene, Sirius, Yaxley, and Mulciber were on the green practically peddling Bludger after returning Bludger into the sky indiscriminately. A few of the Bludgers would hit unsuspecting students and for the most part, no real harm was done, but after the damage one of those Bludgers did to Nott, I was in no mood to be so reckless.

As soon as I stood next to Marlene, she shot me an unsmiling glance, pushed her Beater's bat into my hand, and took off to meet Mary in the Handoff Zone.

Immediately, a wave of embarrassment washed over me. I glanced over at Sirius to gauge his reaction, but he was too concentrated on aiming an incoming Bludger just right.

"Sirius," I began, but the sound of another Bludger caught his attention instead. He hit it so hard that his bat cracked in half.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed. Remus threw him another bat as Sirius tossed his broken bat to the ground. Yaxley and Mulciber shot Sirius nearly identical looks of disgust. They were of the opinion that spellwork would always be superior to brute force—it was part of their blood purist ideology.

As though reading their minds, Remus Spelled the split bat so that it mended itself.

Sirius rolled his shoulders back and ran forward to catch the next Bludger and hit it back into the sky.

"Evans, get your head in the game!" Sirius said, pointing at a Bludger that seemed to be coming in just between Mulciber and me.

Well, shit.

I ran as fast as I could and practically pulled my shoulder out of its socket as I hurled my bat in the general direction of the Bludger. Instead, my bat connected with Mulciber's face.

"FUCKING HELL!" he screamed, dropping his Beater's bat as both hands went to his face.

"I'm so sorry!" I screamed back, horrified at what I'd done.

"You stupid, filthy bitch!" he yelled.

There was blood streaming from his nose. I heard a blow above me as Sirius managed to hit the Bludger away from our heads.

"Cheers," I called over to him, but he was already running on the pitch to meet the next falling Bludger.

Despite his insults, I pulled out my wand to cast some first aid charms on Mucliber's nose, but he snarled and said, "Over my dead body will a Mudblood treat me!"

"Mate, you might be dead if she doesn't!" said Sirius as he ran past us.

I shrugged back at Mulciber coldly. "If he doesn't want my help, fine. The world might be a better place without him." I knew I was being petty, but I didn't care.

He glared at me. "It's not as though a broken nose ever killed anybody." He sneered, then grimaced in pain. "Fuck!"

I shrugged again, showing no pity, and joined Sirius.

Mary, having successfully handed off the Snitch to Marlene, touched down near Mulciber and picked up his abandoned Beater's bat.

"Where's James gone?" she asked, making small talk as we jogged around the field, beating the Bludgers back up into the sky, aiming for Bellatrix.

I pointed towards the edge of the pitch, where he and Severus were dragging an increasingly unconscious Nott to the stands. I wondered how that conversation had gone.

"Also, what happened to Mulciber's face?"

"Me," I answered. "This whole thing's been a complete disaster!"

Mary shot me a confused look. "It's been bloody brilliant!" she said. "Now Mulciber's going to have to fly the last leg of the race with blood pouring out of his face!"

"Oh, FUCK!" screamed Mulciber from behind us.

We turned just in time to see him scramble for his broom and fly up to meet Bellatrix. She was screaming at him from the air. Marlene was nearly a quarter of the way around the pitch by then.

"Bloody troll!" cursed Bellatrix as she touched down. Remus offered her the recently mended bat, and she grabbed it from him brusquely, but not before saying, "Give that here, you utter waste of space!"

If there were any phrase to describe Sirius as he ran back to her and effectively slapped her across the face, it would be "mad with rage."

"You filthy blood-traitor!" she screamed, pulling out her wand.

Of course. If we thought we could settle our differences with a game, we had been sorely mistaken.

"How dare you lay a hand on me?!" she continued. Then, she leaned towards Sirius and actually spat on him.

The sound of a nearing Bludger preoccupied me from seeing what was next, as I hit it away from me and towards an empty square of sky above us, but when I looked back at the feuding cousins, they were engaged in a full-frontal duel, spells ricocheting back and forth between them. As Sirius's friend, I was more than impressed, and willed him to win.

As Head Girl, however, I should probably stop this.

Yaxley was nearly on the other side of the pitch, having followed an incoming Bludger all the way there.

Mary was busy with the Bludgers on our side of the pitch, so it was with great guilt that I said, "You alright on your own?"

She was covered in a sheen of sweat, her normally feathered blonde hair sticking to her forehead in frizzy swirls. She glanced over at the Blacks and raised her eyebrows. "Just stop them before one of them gets killed!"

I handed her my bat, and she smiled, tackling a Bludger with both bats, and it went straight up in the air. Her smile turned into a grimace, but she waved me off, and I ran to Sirius's side.

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, and their wands flew out of their hands and into mine.

Bellatrix growled. "Stay out of affairs that don't concern you, Mudblood."

"Twenty points from both your houses!" I said, ignoring her. "You know dueling is strictly forbidden outside the safety of the Dueling Club or without direct supervision from a professor."

Sirius rounded on me. "I almost had her!" he growled under his breath.

I could definitely tell they were related.

"Unless you wanted to be expelled, it's best that you didn't," I replied.

"HIPPOGRIFF, HIP HIP!" called Marlene from above us. Sirius ran to the starting line—now the finish line—and held out his hand.

Marlene and Mulciber began their respective descents to the finish line, as Yaxley bolted from the other side of the pitch to meet Mulciber.

As he approached, Mulciber cried, "HIPPOGRIFF, HIP HIP!"

He made it just in time to receive the Snitch from his teammate, but Marlene and Sirius had them beat by a half second.

Or at least, that's what I saw.

"It's a draw!" shouted Bellatrix.

"My arse it's a draw!" yelled Sirius. "We won fair and square!"

"I did my disco arms!" added Marlene. "Why would I do disco arms if it had been a draw?"

Good point, Marlene.

"Where the bleeding fuck are our referees?" asked an irate Mulciber, wiping the blood from his face onto the sleeve of his robes.

Mary gestured vaguely to James and Severus, who were currently running as fast as they could to our side of the pitch. I could make out the vague figure of Madame Hooch leaning over a slumped Nott at the edge of the pitch behind them.

"I don't think maiming half my team was fair, Cousin!" Bellatrix screamed.

Sirius scoffed. "If you're referring to the Bludger you aimed at Evans—you know, the one she skillfully evaded, the very same one that then knocked Nott off his own broom, the idiot—then I think you'll find that that was very fair, Cousin."

Bellatrix's usually high-pitched cackle turned into a high-pitched scream of frustration. "Well, it certainly wasn't friendly fire that mutilated Mulciber's face!"

"That was an accident, and I already apologized," I said.

"Evans, shut up!" howled Sirius, dragging a palm down his cheek.

Suddenly, a slow smile settled onto her face as something like calm graced her features. "Was it now?"

I was very confused. I opened my mouth to answer in the affirmative, but James cut me off.

"Hold it!" he said. "Who won?"

"Nice of you to bloody show up," Mulciber murmured.

"You shouldn't split your infinitives," piped up Remus.

"Did you hear something?" said Bellatrix. "I thought I heard a fly in my ear. It was certainly annoying."

"Careful," warned Sirius, stepping on his tiptoes in anticipation of any reason to go after her.

"Enough," I said, attempting to take charge of the situation. "We're split on who's won. Too bad neither of you were here to call it."

"Bit busy," replied James curtly.

He was still cross with me. Whatever.

Jen and Dorcas touched down then.

"Who won, then? I swore I saw Marlene get to Sirius first, but this nutter says it was Mulciber, and I know I'm not barmy." Jen was chattering a million miles a minute.

"I didn't see it clear enough, that's all I said," Dorcas clarified.

Jen rolled her eyes resentfully at her as Bellatrix interjected with "Ha!"

"Perhaps we should appeal to a neutral party," suggested Severus. "I think we might find a more discerning eye with Longbottom."

I couldn't even find a reason to refute him.

James Amplified his voice and called out to him. He'd been sitting in the stands with Pettigrew as a spectator, the latter no doubt filling him on the context of the match. I hoped he'd had the sense not to mention the (very llegal) bet on which the result entirely depended.

Having had their brooms with them, it wasn't long before Pettigrew and Longbottom were descending onto the green before us.

"You called?" smirked Longbottom.

"We seem to be having a bit of a disagreement," Severus answered.

"Oh?" said Longbottom, and he took out his notepad.

"Off the record, of course," amended James, and Longbottom frowned, his arms resting by his side as he ceased to write.

Marlene scoffed, impatient as always. "Frank, from your perspective, who won?"

His frown seemed to deepen, if that were possible. "I—er, let me check my notes—" He rifled through his notepad, muttering indecipherable musings to himself. Finally, he looked up at us, eyes wide and full of fear. "I—I didn't see it."

He was met with a chorus of groans.

"Oh, come on!"

"You call yourself a journalist!"

"Were you asleep up there or something?"

"This is fucking bullshit!"

Longbottom blanched, regret etched all over his face. Then, he called our attention to Pettigrew. "Peter was the one telling me what was going on, and I was writing it all down."

Naturally, everyone turned their anger and frustration on Pettigrew.

"Well?" said Bellatrix.

Pettigrew seemed to shrink somewhat at all the negative attention. "Er—I was going to ask you. I was too far away to really see it."

"Merlin have mercy," I said, as those around me strung very colorful swears and expletives together in the manner of light hitting a prism.

James and Severus had broken off, presumably to deliberate. I was more than a little impressed by their civility, especially on James's part.

"This is mad! Why are we even having this debate?" said Sirius. "Marlene clearly got to me and touched down first!"

The only person who hadn't yet voiced their opinion on who had or hadn't won was Remus.

"Remus," I said, a hint of curiosity in my voice. "You didn't happen to see who won, did you?"

"Oh, yes," he answered.

Sirius stopped his ranting, his ears perking up at the sound of Remus's voice. Then, Marlene followed his eyes, and as I asked him, "Who did you see, then?" the general tumult of outrage quieted down enough until nearly everyone's attention was on Remus.

His cheeks flushed with the attention. "Marlene got the Snitch in Sirius's hand first, but Mulciber touched the ground first."

"But the Snitch is the important bit, mate," started Marlene excitedly. "Which means Remus saw us win, too!"

"He's biased!" cried Bellatrix. "He's in your House!"

"So is Longbottom, but you were willing to give his opinion credibility!" I retorted.

Her jet-black curls danced around her face wildly. "Longbottom wouldn't lie, unlike this half-caste mutt!" she exclaimed, a hand jutting out violently to point disgustedly at Remus.

I'm sure my eyes flashed huge warning signs, because Bellatrix actually tensed when she trained her eyes on me. "That 'half-caste mutt,' as you so call him, has more integrity in one of his words than you will ever be capable of uttering! I am so sick of your stupid blood purity bullshit making victims out of anyone that doesn't resemble an inbred bicorn like you!" I shouted, the fury I felt coiling in my stomach, coursing through my veins, and attaching like sharp barbs to every word I directed her way.

Everyone's breath seemed to catch, but I was still holding her wand, and she was powerless against me.

"I WANT A REMATCH!" she bellowed in my face.

I stepped towards her so that she could see it clearly when I smiled and said, "Gladly."

I'd rattled her. Her eyes flashed with anger and she took advantage of our proximity to snatch her wand out of my hand.

I raised an eyebrow in challenge. If she wanted to duel, she was risking more than just House points and a detention. I was ready for the kill. (Figuratively.)

Madame Hooch blew her whistle, however, signaling the end of the period, and we were surrounded by students as they crowded the field, dragging their brooms towards the broom shed, calling out, "Nice Wronski, Evans!" and "Sign me up for the next match!" and the never-ending chants of "HIPPOGRIFF, HIP HIP!"

In the flurry of passing students, Bellatrix and her stupid cronies had made off and disappeared, leaving the rest of us in their wake.

I offered Sirius's wand back to him, and he took it back, observing me curiously. "I think I misjudged you, Evans," he said.

Remus came over to me and held out a hand, businesslike. "Thank you for what you said. It was very kind of you."

Sirius rolled his eyes. He grabbed him by the shoulders from behind and led him away, muttering, "C'mon, you beautiful and hopeless twit."

James said, "I think you've just volunteered us for a rematch." There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice.

I grimaced. "I was just trying to put Black in her place."

"It's a good thing Snape and I had already discussed it, or you might be left coaching a team on your own."

Oh.

He walked away, shaking his head. What was he so furious about? Wasn't he proud of all that we'd accomplished in a day? It was his victory, too!

"Hey!" I cried, running after him. "Why are you so angry?"

He turned to me, his hazel eyes squinting in the sun. "You're still just an amateur at this, Lily."

"Is this because I chose to save Nott instead of finishing my leg of the race?" I asked, incredulity pouring from my very being. "Because if caring about another person's wellbeing—even if they're on the other team—if that's amateurish, then I refuse to evolve!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I don't care that you risked our win today, I don't care that you helped an opponent, I don't care that you didn't finish a whole leg of a race—"

"—Then why are you so—"

He took a step towards me. "I care that you're as safe as possible. You aren't as experienced a flyer to pull off what you did, Lily. You can't just go rocketing towards the ground whenever you feel like it just because you've managed it once."

"Well, obviously, I can, because it worked!" I said.

"No, you got lucky. If you'd been off by a second—"

"But I wasn't!" I interrupted. "And I was careful! I did everything you taught me! I thought at the very least you might have been proud of that."

"Don't you understand?" he said. "You didn't have to go after him at all, Lily! It wasn't worth the risk!"

"What else was I supposed to do, James? He could have died!"

"YOU COULD HAVE DIED!" he shouted. "Because you don't know that when another player falls off their broom, you're supposed to cast an Immobulus Charm on them so that they freeze midair! That way you don't have to kill yourself in the process!"

"WELL YOU NEVER TAUGHT ME THAT!" I said hotly.

He groaned. "I didn't think I'd have to! It's common sense!"

I took a step back and stared at him. "No, it's not. I don't have your background, James. It isn't my first instinct. I don't know if it ever will be."

I was, of course, referring to the fact that James's frame of reference would always be to cast a spell on a problem, because that's how he grew up. My frame of reference is a bit more jumbled up, a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes, solutions come to me the Muggle way. Sometimes, magic seems superfluous to me. Sometimes, the Wizarding World makes things more complicated than it would have to be if it were at all acquainted with modern Muggle technology.

We'd just gone to the moon, for Merlin's sake!

James sighed, and looked down. "Just don't do it again," he said. Without waiting for a response, he walked over to his mates, picking up spare bats and Bludgers along the way.

Jen and Mary sidled up to me and rubbed soothing circles on my back.

"Phwoar," said Mary. "The last time I saw the two of you like that, it was over some mistletoe he'd enchanted to follow you until you agreed to let him kiss you."

Jen burst into peals of laughter. "I remember that! What year was it?"

"Fifth year," answered Marlene, smiling widely.

I frowned. "Did I really muck up as badly as he says I did?"

She shrugged. "He's a captain. You're a wildcard. It makes him nervous."

I nodded.

"But it was brilliant," she continued. "While James was cursing up a storm, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My own bunkmate, showing me up on the Quidditch pitch!" She laughed and threw an arm around me.

"It was very admirable," Jen allowed. "If a bit reckless."

I rolled my eyes.

Mary laughed. "I'm so pleased you decided to play Hippogriff with us, Lily! It's certainly turned out so much more exciting with you on the team!"

"Let's hope she makes it through the next match. She'll have a target on her back, after that little argument with Black," said Jen.

I shot her a look of amused disbelief. "Pretty sure the target's been there all along, Jen."

We laughed and chatted, dragging our broomsticks to the shed at the edge of the pitch. It was here that we reunited with the Marauders and the old, rusting trunk of Hippogriff equipment.

"So when's the next match?" asked Pettigrew jovially.

"Dunno," answered Sirius, biting his thumbnail. "Next week, I reckon."

Suddenly, my stomach growled so loudly, my cheeks heated in embarrassment.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, amused. "I think it's time for dinner!"

Marlene lifted her arms and sniffed her armpits, then pulled a face. "I think it's time for a shower!"

Right on, Marlene. Right on.