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Author's Note: So here's another one! Please Read, Enjoy, and Review!

James swooped down with his arm outstretched and rescued the Quaffle from the forces of gravity. He streaked towards to goalposts and effortlessly threw it past the keeper into the shortest hoop. Smiling, he gave a quick pat on the back of the keeper who was grinning despite his failure to guard the hoops.

"And that is how it's done!" He yelled over the small crowd.

There was a surprisingly large turnout for this year's rookie tryouts. For the outside chaser position alone, there were over twenty hopeful Gryffindors ranging from second to seventh year. So far, they have already gone through exercises regarding accuracy and James assessed the power of their throws. During practices James removed the charm on the Quaffle meant to slow its descent, to make the chasers' jobs more difficult. He justified that it would make the chasers all the more agile, forcing them to exercise their reflexes and speed. When it came to shooting, most of them were quite adequate, averaging about eight out of ten goals. However, when he added the pressure of a mock opponent, several fell under the pressure and the average plummeted to a mere 50 per cent success. Now that he introduced their keeper, not one potential chaser has made a goal yet. Granted, their fifth year chaser Derek Serjeantson, was a prodigy. Since his joining of the Gryffindor team in second year, like good quality wine, he only improved with age. Only James, and Julia on occasion, could make the Quaffle pass him.

James ran his hand through his hair; an unconscious habit. Sitting atop of his broom, a brand new silver arrow, he basked in the warm morning sun. A nostalgic smile stretched onto his face and he closed his eyes in pure bliss. There was absolutely nothing that rivalled the feeling of being on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. He relished in the familiarity of the towering stands, the evergreen grass, the tall golden hoops at either end of the pitch, and the feel of the pitch itself. He stretched his arms out to his sides, a breeze chasing the tail of his robe. It was like a greeting, a welcome. It's good to be home.

It has been almost an hour already and James moved onto the last stage of the chaser tryouts. By now only one person had made a goal, a small girl no less. Derek was in complete shock (despite knowing that the exercise was to screen for someone who could shoot a goal). Derek was one of the main reasons why the Gryffindor team went undefeated the previous year and he hated how this made him question his skill. Now, James acted as the potential opponent, his job being to rush each chaser in line. He made them work in a group of three to best replicate a game situation. As a final detail, he freed a bludger that the chasers would have to evade on their way to the hoops. Shay de Vlad, the returning blind side beater, was playing as the opposite team, aiming not to unseat but to create an obstacle for the players. Sirius Black was the open side beater. In this scrimmage, he played for the potential chasers and defended them from the bludger.

As James expected, many failed. In fact, it was such a disappointment that James was beginning to think that he would not be able to find a chaser at all. He let out an audible groan. Running his hand through his hair one more time, he steeled himself for the last group. He rushed, darting for the first boy in possession of the Quaffle. James took a lazy swipe at the ball, forcing the boy to pass it to his redheaded teammate who flew in an arc behind him. James wasn't fooled. His broom was swift; he easily angled the nose of his broom and watched the quaffle dart between the redheaded boy and the petite brunette girl, closing the distance between them and the goalposts. Derek flew forward to the edge of his circle like a goalie would in football when their opponent drew close. At the last second, the girl shot vertically into the air, James hot on her tail. When she was sufficiently high enough, she dropped the ball faster than James could switch directions. The boy who was initially in possession caught the ball and shot it towards the leftward hoop from outside the white shaded area surrounding the goalposts. Derek dived to the left and tipped it out of the way with the ends of his fingers, relieved. Suddenly, the petite girl appeared right next to him as if she apparated. Derek watched in slow motion as the Quaffle slowly fell into her aim. James was just too far. The girl spun on her broom catching the Quaffle with the centre of the dark polished bristles. With amazing accuracy, the Quaffle soared through the centre hoop and out the other end. Her redheaded teammate quickly made his way around and caught it with a satisfied grin. Derek hung off his broom with his jaw slack and mouth open in shock. James sank down to his level and smirked, pleased that he found his new outside chaser.

Derek was still in a daze. His eyes followed the girl who had scored on him not once, but twice. She shared a congratulatory high-five with her teammates and one of them tossed her the crimson ball. She let go of her broom and spun the Quaffle on her finger. She turned around and her chocolate brown hair fanned out behind her. Catching Derek gaping, she smiled cheerfully and winked. He coughed, trying to regain his composure and stammered out, "I t-think I'm in love."

James roared with robust laughter. Looking between the two, it seemed like this year's tryouts was a success in more ways than one. He laid a heavy hand on the keeper's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry mate, I know the feeling."


Lily sighed. How did she get herself into these kinds of situations: unnecessarily uncomfortable with no means of escape without being uncouth. And Lily Evans prided herself on being very respectful (with the exception of when she was with Potter). She looked at the young man across from her. Benjamin was currently sifting through a picnic basket, probably trying to fish out another bottle of butterbeer. They've already been out here for the last hour and all she could think of is how she would much rather be watching the Quidditch tryouts. The pair was sitting on a picnic blanket near the Quidditch pitch; close enough to watch the players soar across the skies but not quite close enough to make out the individual players. She looked back at the pitch and groaned.

Ben's head snapped up out of the basket and asked, "Is there something wrong Lily?" He followed her gaze. "Are you a fan of Quidditch?"

She couldn't help but give him a look that said 'Are you daft? Who in the Wizarding world doesn't enjoy quidditch?' But she bit her lip to restrain herself. Instead she politely replied, "But of course. In fact, I wish I played. I've never been terrible at flying I suppose, considering I've got two best friends who spend half their time on broomsticks but I've never considered myself good enough to play on the team. And besides, I'm too busy with Head duties, extra credit, and tutoring to spend any time in the air."

"Oh well then, we should go flying sometime!" Excitement had bloomed into his voice. "I don't know if I've mentioned this but I've been considering trying out for the Ravenclaw team. I played at Durmstrang and I must admit, I was told I was quite skilful."

She smiled politely while passively listening to him recount his Quidditch adventures. Lily couldn't put her finger on it but despite Ben's outward happy and optimistic personality, she felt as if it were slightly forced. When he smiled at her, it looked rehearsed. When he touched her arm or rested his hand on her back, it was almost controlling. It was like the Benjamin Parchment that sat next to her was a character, a persona that he wore much like an actor would slip into a role.

Lily caught herself staring and looked away. Her eyes found the Quidditch pitch again. She squinted. She could make out a light blond player high above the rest of them along with two others as they watched the drills commence. She could only assume that they were Potter, Black, and Shay, the seniors of the team. She sighed, wishing she were there too.

"So er…you and Potter." Lily whipped around to face him. "What's going on between the two of you? I mean I wouldn't want to interfere or anything." Ben looked suspiciously bashful but honestly curious.

Lily blinked. That was forward. "There's nothing between us. Where did you even get such an absurd idea? I find him incredibly irritating and he acts like an abrasive spoiled child."

Ben chuckled, his hand rising to rub the back of his neck. "I didn't mean anything by it, honest. No need to get defensive. I just mean, well I heard that er… bad things happen to those who show too much interest in you. You know, the occasional waking up suspended in a random hallway or suddenly changing green. I just thought that maybe it was a 'get away from my girl' kind of territorial warning."

Lily scowled. "I can assure you, I am not his girl."

Ben closed his eyes and let out a breath. "Good." Lily barely noticed it, but underneath the relief in his voice was a slight hint of antipathy.

She called him on it. "Do you have a problem with Potter? I mean you've only been at Hogwarts for a short time."

Ben looked up at her like a deer caught in headlights. He let out a nervous chuckle. "You caught that did you? Well I guess there's no hiding it then." He sighed. "I don't know if you've ever heard of the Ministry Ball." She nodded tentatively. "When we were younger, I saw James there all the time. The ball is more than a way for the adults to socialize and gossip. It's a way for certain families to establish status; who they socialize with, what they talk about, even what drinks they order. And then there are their children. We were also like status symbols based on our achievements, and our behaviour and mannerism. Long story short, he took sick pleasure in humiliating me. I was always the butt of his jokes and pranks." His voice quieted as if he was ashamed. "I know that it's petty that I've held a grudge for so long."

Lily gave a sympathetic smile. "I can empathize. He's definitely not the nicest boy to be around and his pranks are often more cruel than funny."

Ben avoided looking at Lily's face and was picking at the grass in front of him. He looked so vulnerable revealing this to her. She felt sorry for him. She reached over to touch his arm and he raised his head to meet her emerald eyes. He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was in a foul mood this morning. I really didn't mean to. It's just that you kept looking towards the pitch and I suppose it upset me that you were paying more attention to him than you were to me."

His face was so innocently disappointed that she couldn't help but excuse his earlier behaviour. "Oh that's okay. I understand, although I was definitely not looking at Potter. I just wish I were there to watch Shay and Julia; I never miss tryouts but I got the dates mixed up so it's entirely my fault."

Ben's face lit up immediately. "Oh, well then let's just put this behind us." She noted his smile was genuine this time. His smile reached his eyes; it was as if a great weight was lifted off his chest. "Would you care to join me for a butterbeer?" He held up the bottles and wiggled them with a silly smile. Lily couldn't help but laughed for the first time since she left the Great Hall.

"Sure."


James Potter was hovering approximately seventy feet in the air overlooking the tryouts. He combed his hand through his unruly hair and turned to watch the potential seekers. He had transfigured a handful of rocks into golf balls and charmed them to whiz around like an actual snitch. He noted that they didn't fly as fast. Instead of flying smoothly and making sharp turns they shivered and wobbled unsteadily, and they dropped a few feet when changing directions. He chuckled to himself, thinking how he knew that if Lily were to charm them, they would fly faultlessly. Following that train of thought he remembered just where Lily was right now. He scowled. Recollecting this morning when she left, he pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly. He hated how she made him snap and act so ridiculous. They had such a good thing going the night before! Why did he have to go and ruin it?

Before he could continue beating himself up, he caught the crack of a reinforced bat hitting a cast iron ball paired with Sirius's signature grunt. Further down the pitch, Shay and Sirius were beating the ball back and forth. The beaters isolated themselves away from everyone else so that the other players wouldn't be targeted while they did their respective practices. Usually other senior players would be there with them but since Julia was still absent and James had to observe the group to select his new players, the pair was left alone on the opposite end of the pitch.

He should have known better.

Shay pulled her arm back, ready for the bludger that was raging towards her. She swung and relished in the familiar crack. The bludger raced towards Sirius. Unprepared for its speed and its violent attempt to decapitate him, Sirius quickly rolled, his body falling under his broom. He dropped a few feet as he tried to recover from the shock. He looked over his shoulder and watched the bludger fly towards the stands before whipping around towards him for a second try. He scrambled back on top of his broom and barely caught the bludger with the tip of his bat. Crack.

"What the bloody hell was that?" He yelled at her, glaring. "You aimed for my head!"

She shrugged and tossed the bat back and forth between her hands while effortlessly staying balanced atop of her broom. "I thought we were practicing. You should have gotten that one. What if Julia or James were right behind you? You would have cost us a chaser."

"Bullshit! That was totally uncalled for. You did that out of spite!" Sirius quickly looked around for the bludger which was making its way behind Shay. "That was personal." He glared at her.

She scoffed. "Not everything is about you, Mutt." Crack. Without looking, she somersaulted on her broom, backhanded the bludger that crept up behind her, and rolled back right-side-up.

Sirius dove towards the ball which was getting dangerously close to the stands, and batted it towards Shay. Crack. "If I didn't dodge, you would have knocked me off my broom."

"Well actually, I thought you would hit―"

"No, you were aiming to hit ME. You nearly maimed me!" Sirius took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. She was infuriating.

Again, Shay shrugged and readied herself for the ball. "Now would that really be so bad?" Crack. "At least if you had Madame Pomfrey repair your mutilated skull, she could potentially do something about your lack of cranial capacity."

"What the hell is your problem?" This time, Sirius batted the bludger towards the ground to buy himself a moment to speak. "What the bloody hell have I ever done to you to make you hate me that much?

"Are you seriously asking me that?" She let out a hollow laugh. "Wow, you have even less brain cells than I gave you credit for."

"Oh shut up, Fang. I don't get it, it's like you woke up one day and decided to hate me."

She growled at him and her pretty blond eyebrows creased tetchily. "First of all, it's not that simple. Second of all, do you even remember that exact day when I allegedly 'woke up and decided to hate you'?"

Sirius looked at her in confusion. "W-what?"

"Merlin, you are so stupid." She rolled her eyes. "Think back, you fool."

"It was… halfway through third year." He looked around the pitch as if the space around him would reveal the motive that fuelled her strong loathing.

"Exactly." Crack. Shay smacked away the bludger which attempted to knock her off her broom from her blind side. "And what momentous thing happened around that time?"

He paused, thinking. And then, "Argh!" Sirius shook his head in frustration. "I don't know!"

"Here's a hint. You Marauders refer to it as Remus's 'furry little problem'."

Sirius went from to confused to shocked to confused faster than you can say Quidditch. "How does Remus and his… issues have anything to do with us?" He scanned around for the bludger.

"Come on, Black. That was when you guys finally found out about his issues."

Crack. "Yeah, so?" He was still confused.

"Keep thinking, you daft mongrel! What else happened that year? If you really think you deserve to know, at least prove to me that you're able to figure it out without me spoon-feeding it to you."

"Quit it! For Merlin sakes, I'm only trying to figure out what the hell your bloody problem is you have with me so maybe I could― oh I don't know― FIX it! But based on the way you torment me all the time, I don't even know if it's worth it. I thought that maybe I owed it to James to make nice with you but you're making it so freaking difficult!"

Crack. This time, she hit the bludger towards him, not caring if it would fail or succeed at unseating him. She was angry now. She tormented him?It wasn't her fault that she hated him but here he was, blaming it all on her. "It was me! You found out about me in third year. You were the only one left who didn't know and after I heard how well you took Remus being the occasional beast―"

"Hey, you watch your mouth!" He hissed, "We're in public."

She ignored him and continued. "Do you remember how you reacted?" Her eyes narrowed. "You. Freaked. Out! You looked at me like I was going to eat you!"

He was shocked and sloppily returned the bludger. Crack. She was probably right. He hazily recalled a time when she pulled him aside one day and divulged her secret. But why did it even matter how he took it? "How the hell was I supposed to react?"

He caught a flicker of pain in her features. "Maybe you could have reacted the same way you did for him." Her voice lost volume. "You knew what he was and yet you accepted him wholeheartedly."

"Er, well he's my best mate and I―"

She cut him off. "So what if he was a vampire instead?"

Why was she asking this? "Uh, I don't know. Why does that matter? He isn't one!"

"But he's still what he is! He still has the urge to hurt people, to kill people. He can't control it but he would still rip apart a human being when he's out of his right mind. Humans are his prey."

"Whoa, Remus wouldn't hurt a fly! It's the wolf inside of him so it isn't even his fault. How could I possibly hate him for that? He didn't ask for it."

"And you think I did?" Shay's voice almost broke. She swung her bat with unnecessary inhuman force, forcing Sirius to dive out of its path. "How the hell are we different from each other? Why does he deserve acceptance and I don't?"

"Remus can't help what he turns into and he's only like that once a month," Sirius defended. He didn't know why Shay was bringing this up. He saw the bludger in his peripheral vision and decided it was time to turn the tables. He swung his bat, heard that blissful crack and watched the bludger race towards Shay for once. "You're a killer monster ALL THE TIME!"

Crack.

It must have happened in an instant but to Sirius, it was like time slowed down just enough to mock him. Shay had frozen at his words, her eyes wide and her lips slightly ajar. Her arms slacked on either side of her, her fingers barely gripping her bat. But all he could see was the deep-rooted anguish on her face. The unspoken 'how could you?' thundered in his ears. He had crossed the line that he was always so careful to stay behind. It was like he was looking at his foot over that line and wished with every fibre of his being that he was still safely behind it. Shay didn't return the bludger or dodge like she usually did. It wasn't that familiar crack that he heard so often during Quidditch matches and practices but the sickening crunch of the iron bludger ripping through Shay's broom, snapping her arm and crashing into her left side, no doubt breaking numerous ribs in the process. She was lifted off the splintered wood and hovered for an agonizing moment as the bludger struggled to clear her from its path. Then her body slipped off the ball and began to plunge towards the ground faster than he could pull out his wand.

From above, James's attention was caught by the yelling on the other side of the pitch. Then suddenly, he watched in horror as the light-haired witch was sent off her broom. He raced towards her, his wand outstretched and praying with all his might that his spell would reach her as he roared out her name.

"SHAY!"

Author's Note: What did you think? Leave a review and let me know! The next chapter will be up within the next two weeks... or week depending on if you leave a review! Thanks for reading.