A/N: Slight adjustment to Quidditch history at Hogwarts. I always thought it odd that the wizarding world was so old-fashioned in many ways yet so liberal about co-ed sports. In the real 1970s, women were fighting for their rights, so for this story, I am going the historical route. It just makes sense to me, so hopefully you'll enjoy what this small twist does for the story. :)
And James is kind of an a-hole in the beginning, but stay with me...
Potions was cancelled on Friday due to an Activities Fair in the Great Hall. First Dumbledore spoke of all the extracurricular opportunities at Hogwarts, and how students should get involved in the school community. Then students went round to different tables where a few kids from those clubs were stationed in order to give out information to prospective members. The Quidditch teams each had a table, the team captains ready to recruit prospective players. James, captain of the Gryffindor team, and Sirius, who was there to assist, would be there for the duration of the fair, and Lily felt it only natural that she pay James a visit.
"Let's go over and say hello. Please?" Lily implored Annabelle.
"Lil, he's busy. I feel silly going over there. It's all boys!"
The Quidditch teams at Hogwarts were comprised solely of males; years had passed without a single female player, even though there was nothing in the rules that said girls couldn't play. Annabelle always thought that was a shame, not that she wanted to play. Quidditch looked like a terrifying sport from her perspective. But there might have been girls that wanted to play, yet were under the impression that they weren't welcome.
"Come on, just for minute," Lily pleaded. "Just to say hi. We won't stay. But I don't want him to think I'm ignoring him either."
Annabelle hadn't forgot how the boys had laughed at her last year, just because they could, and her stomach clenched despite her relations with Sirius improving somewhat.
"Fine, but just for a minute. And if I sense they are annoyed, I'm leaving. You can stay if you want."
That was good enough for Lily, and they casually strolled over to the table.
"Hello, sweetheart," Lily greeted him innocently. "How are sign-ups going?"
James' cheeks went crimson at being called sweetheart in front of his mates, which made Annabelle chuckle a little. Sirius couldn't hide his smile either, but she wasn't sure if it was Lily's word choice or James' reaction to it that he found humorous.
"Brilliant," James replied. "But we're a bit busy at the moment."
"Hello, Annabelle. Enjoying the fair?" Sirius inquired cheerfully, presumably in an attempt to cut the tension.
"Oh yes, so crushed that I have to leave for work in a few minutes," she joked, eager to escape the sudden awkwardness between the four of them.
Sirius laughed and so did Lily, but James didn't. Sirius jabbed him with his elbow in an attempt to get him to mind his manners, and James responded with a fake laugh, then looked back at the paper in front of him. He was acting like a prat over the sweetheart comment.
"Can you come back later, Lily?" He kept his eyes trained on the paper. "We are trying to recruit team members, so…"
Annabelle suddenly felt very protective toward Lily, whose smile had dimmed, her hurt and contempt starting to show. This was the same boy that had pestered her year after year, sometimes even embarrassing her with his proclamations of love, and now he was giving her the cold shoulder for calling him sweetheart? He was infuriating.
"Sure," Lily snapped. "See you later." She took Annabelle's wrist and turned to go.
"Hold on," said Annabelle, her eyes fixed on James. "Girls are allowed to sign up for try-outs as well, yeah?"
James smirked. "Sure, if they want to. Are you two here to sign up?"
He snickered and nudged Sirius's arm, assuming Sirius thought his remark was funny. But Sirius didn't laugh. Instead, he shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the sign-up sheet.
Annabelle was not swayed. "No, we most definitely are not. But your condescending attitude makes me think you find the idea of us trying out for the team ridiculous, solely because we are girls."
"Here we go," James said as he leaned back in his chair, but Sirius looked up at her, apparently listening to what she had to say.
"Annabelle, come on, it's not a big deal," Lily said as she tried to pull her friend away. "I will see him later."
Annabelle pressed on though. "If you want to recruit players, you really should change your attitude. You may be laughing at someone with great potential, a champion even, cheating her out of her destiny merely because of her gender. What a shame, really. You know McGonagall played, don't you?"
"Yeah, and she got injured so badly she had to quit," James retorted.
"In her last year!" spat Annabelle.
She was shaking with indignation, feeling the urge to squeeze his smug face off, so she turned on her heels and stormed away. Lily followed, shooting a ferocious look at James. He waved goodbye, but could not mask his irritation.
"Barmy loon, now I remember why we couldn't stand her."
Sirius was still thinking, trying to process what had happened. Cheating her out of her destiny... He couldn't do that to anyone.
"You know, I think she had a point, actually."
"About what?" asked James, clearly tired of the subject. "Why should I care if a girl wants to try out? I never said I was against the idea."
"Come on, you were rather cold to Lily, and Annabelle was just sticking up for her. And you did laugh at the suggestion of them trying out. You might want to apologise to them for that, unless you want to lose your lab partner. Slughorn isn't going to keep switching back and forth at your whim."
"Oh come on. You know they weren't here to sign up!"
"I know that. But your making a joke of the idea can be easily interpreted as being opposed to girls playing Quidditch. That's all I'm saying."
"But I'm not."
"Think about it. How many girls here might want to play but don't bother because we've always only had boys on the team? Maybe we should be working harder to recruit them. We don't have a lot of prospects this year."
"Fine, Sirius. We can recruit girls for the team. Fine. How do we do that?"
"Well, we can start by adding to our sign that we are looking for boys and girls." Sirius pulled the sign off the table. When he was done, he climbed onto the table, cleared his throat, and shouted, "Can I have your attention, please! Your attention, please!" And because it was Sirius Black, a hush fell over the Grand Hall. He smiled, pleased with himself, and continued. "The Gryffindor Quidditch team does not discriminate based on gender. We encourage males and females to sign up for try-outs if you are so inclined. Thank you!" Then he hopped down from the table and took his seat.
There was moment of silence as the room processed what he had said, then all at once, some students applauded, some booed, others laughed or discussed his announcement. But not a single girl signed up that day.
Lily, who had been on the other side of the hall with Alice, sitting in a corner and fuming over what a tosser James had been, couldn't believe her ears. Annabelle had gone to the library so she missed the show. Did they mean it, or was it something they were laughing over whilst patting each other on the back? She knew one thing for sure, it wasn't James' idea.
Later on, Annabelle couldn't believe her ears either when Alice and Lily told her what had taken place. How she wished she had stayed in the Great Hall a little longer. She hated wondering if Sirius was messing her about again, or if he was genuinely extending an invitation to girls to be on the team. He hadn't seemed amused by James' immature attitude, but still, she couldn't be sure. She would just have to ask him at detention the next day.
Meanwhile, poor Lily was having second thoughts about getting together with James. He was so dismissive of her, so childish, and she felt like she'd been had. She didn't know what to do.
"And don't say I told you so, Annie."
"I'm not planning to."
Lily's brow knitted, her mouth turned down in a frown. "You were right, though. I should have left him alone."
"No, I mean, yes, we shouldn't have gone over there," said Annabelle, "but not because it was the wrong thing to do. You were right to want to say hello to your boyfriend. But he's still got some growing up to do, so I just had a feeling that he would get embarrassed. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I called him sweetheart in front of his mates."
"So what? If he was mature and secure about his relationship with you then he wouldn't have cared how his mates reacted. He would have been thrilled to see you instead of annoyed and embarrassed. It isn't you, Lily... he is just so juvenile still. Most boys are."
Lily wiped a tear as Alice patted her back. "She's right, Lil. Why do you think I prefer older men?" Alice had recently begun dating Frank Longbottom, who had graduated from Hogwarts the year before. "They know what they want and aren't ashamed of it."
"You're both right," said Lily. "I wish I could get him out of my head. How long must I wait for him to grow up?"
"You don't wait," said Alice. "You live your life."
But Lily couldn't face breaking up with him just yet. They'd just got together for Merlin's sake, and he told her things would be different this time. It seemed every time she was prepared to take his advances seriously, he let her down somehow. Instead of whinging to her friends about it some more, she decided she was through talking about him for the night. She was determined not to become one of those girls obsessed with her boyfriend, especially since he was the one who had pursued her. But she was nearing the end of her rope, and if he kept it up, he'd be finding himself without her again, permanently.
