Just a little guide...
Lily Evans = Liam Evans (Chaser) 6th year Gryffindor
Alice Chevalier = Alex Chevalier (Chaser) 6th year Gryffindor
Violet Hastings = Brett Hastings (Keeper) 5th year Hufflepuff
Michaela Lefevre = Michael Lefevre (Seeker) 4th year Hufflepuff
Joanna Fournier = Jo Fournier (Beater) 5th year Gryffindor
THE MAN'S SPORT
Really glad you all liked the team! Thanks for reviewing, and let's get the story started!
Summary: "They can't do this! We've worked so much harder, trained so much longer, sacrificed so much more!" Lily ranted. Alice smirked. "Well, you know what they say; if you can't beat them, join 'em."
Inspired by Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night, Liebesbrief's fanfic "Girl Got Game", Tamora Pierce's Alanna the Lioness" Series, and the movie "She's the Man".
Warnings: AU. Definitely AU. Oh, and there may be a lot of people depicted as being very sexist...also there may be swearing...this will be a Quidditch orientated fic.
Chapter Eight – Slytherin vs Ravenclaw
The mystery of the Marauders' disappearance was soon forgotten in the week leading up to the first Quidditch match of the season. James was complaining non-stop on Monday morning, because the Slytherins had somehow managed to book the pitch the same time as James' scheduled practice. And since Slytherins had a game, they had priority.
Remus came back Tuesday morning, looking tired as hell. The Marauders seemed especially protective of him, and were on his every beck and call. They also tried to limit the amount of time Lily and Alice spent with the boy, which Lily thought was really unfair, but which Alice reasoned that they'd known him far longer, so would know how to help the boy through his aunt's death.
However, nothing explained the limp which Remus spent the rest of the week walking with, while a very apologetic-looking Sirius Black trailed after him, carrying both his own bag and Remus' much heavier one without complaint.
Wednesday signalled the start of the insults and occasional spell being thrown between members of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Quidditch teams. Others of their house also joined in, with the result that by Thursday, you couldn't be in a room with a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin without learning new foul words, or curses that made all your hair fall out.
"This is actually very pleasant," James had said when Lily had asked about this 'tradition'. "Wait until it's us versus the Slytherins – that's when it gets real ugly."
That was another difference between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons – there was never this amount of anticipation, of house pride, of excitement, at Beauxbatons. It was very over-whelming for the Transfers.
Friday, the day before the Quidditch match, was full of last minute practices for both teams. It became a rather common occurrence for captains to shout random reminders to their team, like "Target Tumble's left – he just broke his wrist!" or "Keep knockin' bludgers at Black; don't want him getting to the snitch!"
That was actually when Lily learnt about Sirius's younger brother.
Regulus Black, Slytherin seeker, was two years younger than Sirius. And though they each claimed to hate each other, Lily spotted Sirius hexing a Ravenclaw who'd tried to trip Regulus over, which resulted in the removal of ten points and a detention. She also saw the looks Regulus constantly shot at his brother, clearly still idolising the older boy despite his being in Gryffindor and associating with "blood-traitors and mudbloods".
"I think that Regulus understands the faults in his parents' beliefs," Remus had said during one of the rare moments he and Lily had been left alone, "But he's too much of a coward to rebel like Sirius. I'm sure though, one day, the two will reconcile. After all, when Sirius ran away from home, he'd actually debated whether or not to bring Regulus, before deciding it was probably safer for him to remain with his ex-family."
Which brought Lily to splutter over the fact that Sirius had run away and subsequently been disowned. To which, Remus had just laughed and told her that it was old news.
Saturday dawned bright and cloudless, with just a soft breeze. In other words, perfect Quidditch conditions.
"James, why must we get here so bloody early?" Sirius whined.
The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team were already in the stands, front row seats. They were also all very annoyed, as they'd been dragged out of their breakfast to sit and stare at the empty pitch.
"We need to get good seats to observe the tactics Ravenclaw and Slytherin are going to use!" James exclaimed, acting like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
The rest of the team exchanged exasperated looks, before slumping down in their seats and preparing themselves for the boring wait. It took half an hour for the rest of the school to come out, and another fifteen minutes for the stands to fill. And all the while, deadly looks were being shot at the Gryffindor team captain, who somehow managed to miss them all.
Finally, finally, the commentator took to the stands.
"Hello all, and welcome to the very first game of the Quidditch season!" Daniel Malcolm, a fifth year Ravenclaw, announced. He grinned at the roar which he received from the crowd.
"And here come the Slytherin team! Captain Aries Baddock hasn't made many changes to his team this year. In fact, discounting Harris Brokefield – the new keeper – there hasn't been any changes at all. However, this is not surprising considering that this is last year's winning team."
Lily turned to James with a raised eyebrow. "They won last year?"
James grimaced. "I try not to think about that."
She turned back to face the green and silver team emerging into the sunlight, to the cheers of the Slytherin stand. One boy in particular caught her eye; he was around her age, with greasy hair and a tight scowl. He didn't really seem the sort to be able to fly well.
"And now, please welcome the new Ravenclaw team! Unlike the Slytherins, it seems that captain Brian Robinson has made quite a few changes to his team! In fact, the only familiar face I see appears to be Kyle Tumbles, the keeper. I guess we'll wait to see how his team does this year!"
The Ravenclaws came out, a sea of blue and bronze, their faces hard and determined. The Hogwarts Quidditch coach, Mac Kerr, released the bludgers and the snitch, before beginning the toss up.
"And they're off!"
It was possible to see, almost immediately, just how good the Slytherins were. They flew with a confidence that Lily rarely saw – it was almost like their broomsticks were merely an extension of their body. And as a result, they were able to pull off even the most dangerous moves flawlessly.
It was breathtaking to watch.
And surprisingly, it was the greasy haired boy who flew the best, with a grace and deadliness that reminded Lily of a hawk.
Beside her, James was busy scribbling down different tactics being used, which players favoured which hand, where their blind spots were. Sirius appeared to be helping, but it seemed that he was merely whispering nonsense to his friend for a moment later, James pushed the boy away with an annoyed look on his face.
"Baddock scores! Ten points to Slytherin!"
"They're good," Alice said, impressed, "Very good. I don't think even Sam's that good," she added, referring to the Beauxbatons Quidditch captain Sam Fitzroy.
Lily snorted. "The only thing Fitzroy had going for him was a top-of-the-line broom and a very rich father."
"Snape scores! Another ten points to Slytherin!"
"So you believe the stories that he bribed his way onto the team?" Alice asked.
"Let's just say that it makes sense," Lily muttered, "I mean, half the players of Aigle could fly better than him. Change that, half the players of Chouette could fly better than him. And yet, he was made Captain."
"Grey swerves around Brokefield...he shoots...he scores! Ten points to Ravenclaw!"
"Seems to be favouring right side," James muttered as he wrote.
Sirius exchanged amused looks with Jo, before both turned their gaze back to the Slytherin beaters, mentally analysing their every move.
"Oh, and that's one hell of a bludger hit towards chaser Bert Samuels by one of the Slytherin beaters," Malcolm announced, as everyone else winced in sympathy for the chaser, "That's gonna leave a mark."
Jo raised an eyebrow. "Leave a mark? It looks like he just broke his arm!"
"Eh, it's not that bad," Sirius shrugged, "Otherwise the captn' would've called for a timeout."
"If that was us on the field, would James have called for a timeout?"
"Well...no," Sirius conceded, "But Ravenclaws are the house of smarts for a reason."
They both ignored the indignant "Hey!" from James. Later, they would claim not to have heard at all it over all the shouting and screaming.
"...And now the score stands at 90 – 60 to Slytherin. Ravenclaw had better catch up soon before – the seekers have gone into a dive!"
And suddenly the entire student population was on their feet, cheering in anticipation as Regulus and the Ravenclaw seeker dived down simultaneously, both reaching out for the elusive golden ball.
Regulus swerved almost effortlessly, cutting off the Ravenclaw seeker, before swiping at the air in front of him.
"Regulus Black has caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!"
The sea of green and silver were screaming their delight, all dignity forgotten.
"He's a good seeker," Alice said.
"That's one of the reasons why we lost last year," James growled, folding up the filled parchment. "Thomas kept falling for that boy's tricks. By the end, he didn't know what was up and what was down. Regulus just swooped in and grabbed the snitch."
"Michaela's going to have fun," Jo whispered to Lily as they left the Quidditch pitch.
.
The five Transfers were gathered in the library, talking about the Quidditch match. Or at least they were, before Alice got them sidetracked.
"Hey, it's a Hogsmede weekend next week," she said, interrupting their awe of Slytherin's flying skills.
"So?" Jo asked.
"Well, I was thinking," Alice said, a sly look in her eyes, "We should go as girls!"
There was a moment of stunned silence, before they figured out what she meant.
"What?" The four of them screeched, horrified.
"Shhh!" The librarian said, shooting them all deadly glares which they ignored.
"Yeah!" Alice said, "Come on, we need a chance to be ourselves again, and no-one will know the difference! We could say we're from Beauxbatons and we're visiting us because we miss us so much! Trust me, no-one will figure out that we're not actually us, but are in fact us!"
Violet blinked, several times. "Erm, yeah...I have no idea what you just said."
"Don't look at me," Michaela said, "I'm still trying to figure out how we could possibly pull this off."
"Alice, you must be crazy!" Lily all but shouted. "It could ruin all the hard work we've put in!"
"Shhh!" The librarian hissed, narrowing her eyes when she was once again ignored.
"Come on, stop thinking so much! It'll be easy! And you can't tell me that you haven't been waiting for the chance to be yourselves again," Alice said, raising an eyebrow.
Damn Alice and her blood ability to convince me to do anything, Lily sighed. "Well...I do miss being able to wear a dress."
"And wear earrings," Michaela added.
"It would be nice to have long hair again," Violet said, "If only just for a day."
Jo looked around, before shrugging. "Well, I'm in."
"Yes!" Alice cheered, punching the air in triumph.
"Alright, that is it!" The librarian shouted, completely breaking her own rule of silence in the library, "You five, out! Now!"
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Lols, they got kicked out of the library!
Please REVIEW!
I bet you can guess how James and Lily are going to meet, huh?
