Disclaimer: Everything in this story belongs to J.K. Rowling. Anything that sounds familiar is hers. I just enjoy playing with the world she created. All of the chapter names are lyrics from songs from the various bands, named.

Chapter named after "Liquid Confidence" by You Me At Six.

Happy Holidays! This is for FutureAuthor-Hopefully, for bugging me to write (:

Ah, the relief of a Saturday morning! I don't know what is more impressive: that I woke up at 8:30 or that I made it through this first week at Hogwarts.

And boy, what a long and eventful week this was.

The arrival and first days were monstrous themselves. I experienced more in those few hours than in most of my schooldays combined, including warping the color of my hair, throwing up on James Potter, having a conversation with Derek Croer, getting detention, feeling remorse for actions taken against James Potter, successfully brewing Polyjuice Potion (okay, so maybe it wasn't entirely from scratch, but I still consider it an accomplishment), involuntarily spending some time as Sirius Black, learning some insight into the thoughts of James Potter, having a Head of House meeting with James Potter, and actually-surviving-detention-with-minimal-damage with James Potter.

Is it just me or did my first day have some kind of theme?

Anyways, the second day of classes was also eventful. It started out well enough, with me—can I believe I'm actually saying this?—befriending James Potter and hearing that I was unforgettable from Derek Croer, but went all downhill from there. You see, when Aurie and I finally reached the Hospital Wing, we met one of the strangest sights we'd ever seen.

Alice was angry.

Now, anyone who knows Alice would tell me I was off my rocker, but I'm absolutely serious.

It turned out that after she, Frank, and I arrived at Herbology, Frank remembered that he had left his textbook in his dormitory. Alice being the good friend that she is, offered to go with him to retrieve it, while I, clueless to the world, walked on into class without them.

At the same moment, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who share their dorm with Frank, were also up in Gryffindor Tower, waking up Peter Pettigrew so that he would get to class. And when Frank entered the dorm, he was met with misfortune.

It turns out that James and Sirius adopted a stray kitten over the summer, and James took him along to Hogwarts this year. Their cat, a small but vicious black fluffball named Hades, has some kind of weird nervous condition where he freaks out whenever he sees a dog, which James and Sirius guess is due to a traumatic incident with one in Hades's life prior to their taking him in.

Here's where the story stops making sense. Somehow, a huge black shaggy dog had gotten into their dormitory, causing Hades to tear around the room, climbing curtains, biting ankles, and harming anything he came across. Frank happened into the room in the midst of this chaos, and Hades, well…he kind of jumped from James's bed onto Frank's face.

Then Alice started screaming, the dog disappeared somewhere, and James, Remus, and Peter rushed to Frank's aid. Hades stuck fast until Sirius emerged from the bathroom. Apparently, he has some kind of talent with animals, and managed to calm the kitten down enough to get him off of Frank.

Frank's scratches were really bad, and his face started to swell up, so everyone rushed immediately to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was able to cure him easily enough, but he retained a small scar above his eyebrow. That little scratch, combined with the pain that she envisioned he went through, was enough to make Alice lose it.

We found her glaring purposefully at James when we came in at lunch. Sirius had escaped her notice as blameful, because he had been the one to pull Hades off in the end. So, to Alice, James was singularly responsible for the crazy kitten's damage to her best friend's face (as she assumed he would be the one to bring in a random dog).

It took Aurie and me a while to get her to stop shooting James looks that clearly wished him a dragged out, painful death, but we managed to in the end by promising to buy her ten Galleons worth of chocolate and convincing James to make Frank's bed for a week.

After that, the rest of the day wasn't so monumental. Nor was the rest of the week, for that matter. I went to class, did my homework (mostly), and strived to be nice to my new friend (sort of—old habits die hard).

I had a few conversations with Derek, though they only composed of a few words, and watched Heather try to glom onto him. I teased Alice about Frank, made fun of Aurie's music, and tried to avoid Severus whenever I could. All in all, things were pretty normal, which was a complete relief.

That all brought me to today, the first day of the first weekend of the school year. You'd think that would mean just relaxing and enjoying the time off, right? Wrong. In my life, there is no such thing as a stress-free moment.

First off, Aurie was in a dreadful mood. Apparently, one of the million bands she was in love with would be touring over our holiday break (I know—who's already planning their Christmas break?), but her parents had insisted on her spending some "quality time" with them and her three-year-old brother, Alexandrius (no, I don't know where Aurie's parents find such unconventional names for their children—we just call him Alex) in their fancy London townhouse. Though it was still months from winter break, Aurie divided her time between muttering obscenities, moping around our dormitory, and practically mauling Sirius Black every time she saw him—he used every opportunity he got to poke fun at her height, which she's very defensive of (she insists at every opportunity that she would have been three inches taller if it wasn't for her scoliosis).

Secondly, Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter had been acting oddly. They were unconventionally quiet and unnaturally well behaved, as well as a bit dodgy. Their usually jesting demeanors changed to solemn ones, and they seemed to avoid me every chance they got. Including James.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't complaining. Sure, I had officially become friends with him, but that didn't mean that I was suddenly a fan of everything he did. A lot of his habits were just as irksome to me as they had been before, maybe even more so, as I observed them more often. I was starting to like James as a person, but that didn't mean that I wanted him around me 24/7. A girl's got to breathe. Especially a really unstable girl. With a really complicated life. Who's also a witch.

So yes, the infamous Marauders were condoning themselves in an unusual manner. And yes, it did kind of bother me, as well as arouse my troublesome curiosity.

Thirdly, Alice had been pretty distant with me lately. Well, not just me, as she tended to shy away from Aurie as well. But with Aurie she had a reason—the girl was bloody insane at the moment—whereas I was being tossed like a sack of flour and I couldn't think why.

And finally, my teachers were laying the homework on thick. I mean, yes I did know it was my last year, and yes, I did expect to have to work hard, but come on! I actually somewhat enjoyed homework, but sitting with my nose stuck in piles of old texts in the library for hours on end was starting to feel pretty repetitive. Not to mention it made me sneeze a lot. And Madam Pince was really touchy about sneezing in her library.

All of this together left me with an intense case of the doldrums. Not even the beautiful summer weather had the potential to cheer me up. I was huffy, over-worked, and alone. A frown was almost permanently etched onto my face.

Upon my early waking this morning, I resolved to ignore my homework responsibilities for the day. Why not be a normal, procrastinating teenager for once?

I also decided to spend the day with some of my other, less intimate friends. After a long summer apart, I hadn't tried very hard to reacquaint myself with my other schoolmates. So after I breakfasted peacefully in the Great Hall, I made my way up to the Owlery and quickly composed a few lines to send with Loresis. With any luck, my friends would meet me at our usual hangout.

Figuring I had some time before they got my message, I returned to the Gryffindor common room and settled myself on one of the plush couches. Pulling out my wand, I began to absentmindedly tap it against my hand, barely noticing the orange sparks that emitted from it, lost in incoherent thoughts.

"What the bloody—OW!"

I turned to see Aurie descending the girls' staircase, a severely pissed off look on her face, and a delicate gray owl nipping affectionately at her wrist. Her blonde hair was left to itself, forming messy waves around her face, something I knew to take that she wasn't having the greatest morning.

"Lily, your damn owl keeps biting me!" she growled when she reached me.

I carefully pried Loresis away from my angry friend and untied the note from her leg. Reading its contents quickly, I smiled and released my owl, watching her as she flew gracefully out the open window.

"Later, Auriola!" I called as I made to move towards the portrait hole. Unfortunately, I wasn't counting on the little blonde intercepting me.

"Where are you going?" she asked, a little suspiciously. It's almost as if she knew I was trying to escape from her.

I gulped. "Nowhere, really. Just going to catch up with Theresa and all those people," I tried to say nonchalantly.

To my surprise, Aurie brightened. "I haven't seen them since last term!" she exclaimed. "When're we meeting them?"

I rolled my eyes. Typical Aurie.

"Well," I began, "I made plans with them at ten—"

"Perfect!" she interrupted. "Just enough time for us to go to breakfast!"

Bless my heart. I actually thought that including her in my plans would dissolve her moodiness. But boy was I wrong. The progress she had made evaporated as soon as she saw Sirius Black. In fact, her temper flared brighter than it had been up to this point.

I can't say I blame her too much. It was probably difficult to see the bloke you fancied—but would never admit to tolerating—wrapped up with another girl.

Actually, I'll admit that my own short temper was a little inflamed. Sure, Camilla Burns was pretty, and she was a decent sort of sixth year, but she had nothing on Aurie. And, honestly, who has the impropriety to snog at the bloody breakfast table?

I watched my friend warily as we sat a few seats away from Sirius and his new, but probably temporary, girlfriend, but she seemed to be content with fuming internally. She didn't say one word to me unless I tried to start up a conversation, and even then her replies were short and cool. She was trying to keep her anger secret, and I didn't want to let on that I thought she was behaving abnormally, so we mostly remained silent.

But that idiot Sirius obviously fell for her pitiful acting. Either that or he was one hundred percent suicidal.

He broke away from Burns for an oxygen break and set about helping himself to sustenance. In the process of doing so, he had the nerve to address my simmering cauldron of a best friend.

"Hey, Commissi, pass the pumpkin juice, will you, love?" he called, smirking at her.

And then the world stood still. You know how in movies, before there is a major explosion, the sound is turned off and there's this one single shot of the building in it's entirety? That's what this moment felt like.

Aurie's anger faded for the briefest of seconds, as incredulity took its place, but then her face hardened into the determined expression she wore right before a Quidditch match. She plastered on the absolute fakest of phony smiles, before saying in a deadly quiet voice (that should have warned the dolt), "Of course."

Despite my having already eaten earlier that morning, I grabbed a piece of toast and nibbled on it nervously as I watched Aurie stand up stiffly and grab the pitcher of juice so firmly that her knuckles turned white.

Sirius was smiling cluelessly at her as he watched her approach. Camilla just looked confused (she's not exactly the sharpest dagger in the Potions kit).

"I really appreciate it, sweetheart," said Sirius, as he aimed to take the pitcher from her.

Aurie's smile disappeared.

"No problem, sweetheart," she said sarcastically, and then turned the pitcher of juice over his head.

There were gasps as the entire Great Hall turned to see Sirius and his latest girl drenched in torrents of orange liquid.

"Damn, I really do need to get this spastic arm of mine looked at. It's just so clumsy!" Aurie grinned, placed the sticky pitcher on the table in front of her, and turned on her heel. The Hall erupted in applause as she marched towards the exit.

Sirius watched her leave, completely dumbstruck and consequently oblivious to the panicking of the girl beside him.

"Well, shit," he said, just as Aurie reached the double doors and mockingly blew a kiss in his direction. But he didn't sound angry. Shocked, definitely. But there was something else, too; an undertone of something like reverence.

It was by far the most bizarre thing I had ever seen. But I couldn't stop laughing. Clutching my side, I jogged quickly out of the chaotic Great Hall after Aurie. I found her waiting for me a little down the corridor, a confident smile on her face. I practically tackled her in a hug.

"Auriola Commissi, I think that was the most awesome thing you have ever done," I confessed, still laughing.

Her smile grew brighter. "Why thank you, my dear Head Girl. Does this mean I don't receive detention?"

"Do you think I want to be the most unpopular girl in the entire school?" I jokingly replied. "Besides, the only adult at breakfast was Hagrid, and I swear that I saw him chuckling out of the corner of my eye."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really."

"Wicked." Then her expression turned slightly pensive. "Do you think he'll hate me?"

I was confused. "Hagrid? I just told you he was laughing."

"No, not him." She shook her head quickly. "I meant Black. Do you think this'll… I dunno, make him avoid me or something?"

When I raised my eyebrows at her, she quickly added,

"Not like I care at all, though."

"Right. Because people who don't care typically ask questions that imply that they do, actually, care."

"Oh, you're hopeless! Even if he does hate me, I guess it was worth it. I just wish I could have seen the look on his face more clearly."

I grinned. "He was definitely caught off guard."

Aurie laughed. "That much I figured," she agreed.

We strolled pleasantly onto the grounds together, walking down to the changing rooms just outside the Quidditch pitch. A few minutes of cheerful conversation later, we were joined by a good friend of ours, seventh year Ravenclaw Theresa McCullough.

She greeted us both with hugs, then proceeded to congratulate Aurie on her performance in the Great Hall, her dark navy eyes twinkling as they always did.

"Meredith, David, and Kayla are coming down in a second," Theresa assured us, referring to some of her fellow Ravenclaws. "They were just sitting down to eat when you soaked Black. After that, we were all laughing too hard to focus on breakfast, so they insisted they'd bring something down here to eat later."

And sure enough, the bright morning sun revealed a troop of students making their way in our direction. But as I squinted to see them more clearly, I counted four figures, not three. Puzzled, I turned to Theresa.

"Are they bringing someone with them?" I asked her.

Theresa was distracted, playing with a strand of her long, straight jet-black hair. "What? Oh! I forgot to tell you. One of David's friends is joining us. He's in our year, and my House."

I shrugged noncommittally and looked toward the empty bleachers of the stadium. Though I despised all sports, I really enjoyed spending time at the pitch. Its emptiness and large size triggered tranquility within me.

I felt Aurie nudge me.

"Look who's coming!" she hissed in my ear.

I did as she said, finding that the group joining us had neared closer and were now clearly visible, even to my slightly faulty eyes. I could clearly make out all four of their faces. There was Meredith Greenwood, with her short, strawberry-blonde bob and gray eyes, hidden behind square black glasses, neatly perching on her nose. Next to her, laughing good-naturedly, was Kayla Harris, a sixth year with waving, shoulder-length chestnut locks and light green eyes, her customary camera hanging on a strap around her neck. Following closely behind them was David Mulgrein, a tall seventh year with close-cropped light brown hair and obsidian eyes, his hands in his jacket pockets as he conversed with a wonderfully familiar figure.

Derek Croer was here.

I felt my insides wriggle the same way they did every time I Apparated. I was going to hang out with DEREK CROER on the weekend!

Theresa waved them over before linking arms with Aurie and leading the way to the Ravenclaw section of the stadium seats. I lagged a little behind the two of them, in part because they were starting to goad each other about the upcoming Quidditch season—Theresa was a Chaser for Ravenclaw—and in part because I wanted everyone else in our group to catch up to me. Specifically—well, you know. I've only said his name three billion times. And thought it twice as often.

I exchanged greetings with Meredith, Kayla, and David, then turned to Derek.

He smiled at me. "Morning, Lily."

What a truly majestic voice. He could read the History of Magic textbook aloud and I would catch every word with rapture.

David spoke before I could reply.

"You two know each other? Brilliant. Saves me half the work of introductions. Hey, Aurie!"

My best friend, who up until now had been pretending (badly—like I've said multiple times, she really isn't much of an actress) to be marking the conversation between Theresa and Meredith about their summer holiday, while really just staring at Derek and me, slowly moved her eyes to David's face.

"Yeah?"

He gestured awkwardly to Derek. "This is my friend, Derek Croer. Derek, this is Auriola Commissi." He put his hands up in the air. "Now there's my bit."

Aurie studied Derek, her blue eyes narrowed critically. He didn't seem to mind, though I found it uncomfortable.

He laughed. "Searching for something, Ms. Commissi?"

Aurie seemed to snap out of it. She gave him a small smile.

"No, I've just heard a lot about you," she said pointedly, while staring at me.

"Oh." To my utter humiliation, he followed her glance to my face, now so red it could probably stick out even under an invisibility cloak.

Kayla, to my relief, broke the awkward silence that followed.

"I want to take a group picture! Everyone stand up," she commanded cheerfully. Bless her. I'd never been so grateful for her everlasting sweetness.

David, who everyone knew had been trailing after her since our fifth year, but was too shy to act upon it, immediately stood and began pushing us together.

I ended up between Aurie and Meredith. I pinched my best friend's arm with irritation. She only smiled bigger at Kayla's camera.

The flash that followed was bright enough to break any leftover tension. Laughing and shielding our eyes, we all took our places on the benches and began an animated conversation.

I noticed Derek's eyes on me a lot, even when I wasn't talking. He didn't say much himself, only adding in a detail to some of David's stories, or contributing a quiet laugh.

Aurie seemed tense, watching him almost as often as she watched me. Her facial expression didn't give much away, apart from being thoughtful. She was biting the inside of her cheek, which she always did when she was thinking intently.

"You concerned about the match coming up, Aurie?" teased Theresa, noticing her silence.

Aurie dropped the expression and turned to her, smiling challengingly.

"Definitely not. Gryffindor has this in the bag."

"Personally, I'm a little concerned, Theresa," chimed in David. "From what I hear, they have an impressive team this year. And James Potter is Captain." He raised his eyebrows at her meaningfully.

Theresa shrugged off his comment. "Potter's good, I'll admit that. But he's still just one player."

Kayla shook her head emphatically. "David's got a point, Theresa. You better hope our team is drilled to perfection. Everyone knows James Potter is a legend. And Giovanna Treble was telling me just the other day that he went to a major match this summer."

"So?" Theresa remained unmoved.

Aurie grinned. "The team gave him pointers."

"Damn," said Theresa, sighing.

Aurie laughed.

"Personally, I don't understand what all the fuss is about," I interjected.

Theresa and Aurie exchanged looks.

"I mean, it's just a game, right?"

"Oh, Lily," laughed Meredith. "I'm not a fan of the game either, but even I know that when a major team gives someone advice, it's a huge deal."

"And not just someone," added David. "James Potter."

"Is he that good?"

"Lily, have you ever watched a Quidditch game?" asked Kayla with a smile.

"You'd assume so, since our House has been winning every year," said Aurie, rolling her eyes.

I didn't feel like telling them that I only went to the matches because everyone else in the school did, and that when I went I mainly searched the Ravenclaw section for a certain face, which I would proceed to watch the entire rest of the allotted game time.

"I swear, you're like Derek, here," said David, pointing toward his friend. "I ask him if he wants to watch the match and the entire time he sits and writes on scraps of paper."

"Really?" Theresa looked interested. "Taking statistics? Noting moves?"

Derek brushed some of his light brown hair out of his eyes. "Writing songs," he mumbled, a little shyly.

Kayla laughed at Theresa's disappointed expression.

"So clearly," said David, "It's all of our job to get these two to actually watch some Quidditch."

I looked toward Derek, but upon meeting his eyes, looked down. I felt the tingle of nervous excitement. If the goal was to get the song-writing (!) Derek and me to actually pay attention to the sport, wouldn't it be most convenient to get the two of us to watch the next match together?

Just then, Aurie decided to kill me. Along with my hopes and dreams.

"Definitely." She brightened. "I'll drag her along to practice with me tonight so she can observe the genius that is James Potter."

I shot her a pleading look, but she deftly ignored it.

"And I'll make sure you get your fill of our House's team, Croer," said Theresa determinedly.

Derek smiled ruefully at David, shaking his head.

We spent the rest of the morning together, talking about every subject under the sun. Eventually we got on the topic of my many mishaps during the week. I blushed and tried to make excuses for the embarrassing things I had done, and Derek defended me—beautiful and gallant!—with his comment that in the classes I shared with him, I hadn't done anything at all strange.

I shot him a grateful smile.

Just as he was about to say something else, Aurie jumped to her feet, pleading hunger, and, pulling me up as well, began to say her goodbyes.

"Lily's got Head Girl stuff to do," she said quickly, tugging me by the arm down the stands to the stadium's grass. I just managed to wave at the Ravenclaws before she dragged me out of the pitch completely.

Breathless, I wrenched my hand out of her grasp. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged innocently. "It's lunchtime. We should eat something."

"Okay," I said. "So why didn't you ask everyone else to come along?"

"They were starting to bore me." She avoided looking me in the eyes.

"Aurie! They weren't boring me! I was actually making progress with Derek!" I complained, crossing my arms.

"Eh, he's overrated. I mean, who really eats potatoes for like every meal? Now come on."

She began to pull me down the path back to the castle, as I spluttered at her the entire way. I had never been so full of disbelief. I mean, weren't your friends supposed to support you when you liked someone? It seemed much more plausible than them trying to drag you away. Unless that person was completely wrong for you, of course, or a criminal. But Derek was neither! In fact, we had a lot in common. We were in three of the same classes and both didn't care for Quidditch. What a successful foundation to build upon!

I spent the rest of the day in the common room, wrapped up in my Transfiguration textbook. It was the only subject where I really had to apply myself, so I figured the extra reviewing time wouldn't hurt. Plus I didn't have much else to do. Aurie took one look at Sirius and Camilla by the window—both now clean and up to the same thing they were up to at breakfast—and stomped up to our dormitory. And Alice was out with Frank again, since I couldn't find her anywhere.

An hour before dinner, Aurie came back downstairs, now dressed in her Quidditch uniform.

"It's time for practice," was all she said.

I put a bookmark in my text and left it on my chair.

As we were descending the Great Staircase, I chanced to talk to her.

"You do know I have detention tonight, right? I have to be back by eight."

She nodded. "It's only 5:20. You should be fine. James has it too, so he won't run practice past then."

"Right."

I fell silent for the rest of our walk, wondering if James would act strangely again today. So far, it seemed that Sirius was back to normal, but that didn't count for much. I couldn't help wanting to know what had made the Mauraders so tense in the first place.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, I realized. I just had never bothered to pay much attention before. But there were very often times when I saw them looking somber at breakfast, Remus especially. I had always attributed it to something his friends had done that he didn't approve of, but now I wasn't too sure. It had to be something deeper than that to bring down their whole group.

We arrived at the pitch. I noted how nervous the players seemed.

"Why does everyone look scared?" I asked Aurie.

"It's the first practice since tryouts," she answered.

I remained with her until James came onto the pit, at which point I took a seat in the stands.

It's funny, but seeing James at practice, as Captain, made me realize that I didn't know him at all. He was so different on the field. He became more serious, businesslike, and yet, he was so kind to everyone on his team. It was—this is hard for me to admit—easy to see how Aurie had so eagerly befriended him. James treated his team like a family.

And there was his talent. I'd always thought he was a boastful, hot-headed idiot who told tall tales about his so-called abilities. But once I actually paid attention to how he played… Well it was easy to see why people talked about him so much.

He didn't seem to notice that I was there until Aurie bounded up to me after practice, restored to cheeriness once more.

She smiled at me smugly. "Now do you realize that you've turned down the best Quidditch player in the entire school?"

I rolled my eyes. Then I looked at the field.

"Hey, isn't that Sirius messing with your new broom?"

Aurie's eyes became huge. She bolted down the steps to the bottom of the stands, yelling all sorts of curses and jinxes. Luckily for Sirius, I stole her wand.

"If that's Sirius's plan for revenge for what happened this morning, I've lost all faith in him," commented James with a smile, sitting down beside me.

He looked tired, and a little tense, but his hazel eyes were friendly and his smile seemed genuine. Though I didn't bid them to, I felt the corners of my mouth turn up as well. His smiles were contagious.

"It's a bit too tame for him," I agreed. "As if he's lost his touch."

"Or his heart," James suggested.

At that I laughed. He looked surprised.

"It's ridiculous, isn't it?" I prompted him cheerfully, "That the two of them are so obviously perfect for each other, and yet neither one will give in, for fear of losing some kind of match."

His smile faded a little at that, making his expression look wistfully thoughtful.

"I'm only saying," I continued, "that if there was someone absolutely, positively ideal for me out there, where I could reach, I don't think I would be wasting my time bickering."

"Yeah," James replied, his voice soft. "I don't suppose you would be."

"If such a person was out there, I mean. Don't you think you would just know? Wouldn't you feel it?"

James nodded slowly, but didn't meet my eyes. Looking down, his face was in shadow. I couldn't read what was there in the very dim light offered by the stadium.

And then, suddenly, the entire situation was awkward. I mean, really, truly uncomfortable. I had no idea why, but I immediately felt as if I wanted to run far away from James. I blushed, thankful that the darkness didn't give me away.

I had caught myself talking about love, and with James Potter, too! I hardly talked about things like that with Alice and Aurie! I hardly talked about things like that at all, even in my thoughts!

I didn't know what it was, but I knew that talking to James was dangerously easy. I found myself confessing sappy ideas that were totally uncharacteristic of me. Or, at least, the me that everyone knew.

"Oi! Prongs!"

Sirius Black's use of his nickname for James broke us both out of our awkward reveries. We stood up quickly. I pretended to brush something off of my shoe just to let my hair cover my red cheeks, waiting for them to cool.

James seemed to be a little agitated. He ran his hand through his already-messy black hair.

I straightened up, hoping my blush was more resigned, and followed him down the steps of the stands, until we both stepped foot on the grass, where Sirius was waiting.

I looked around the field, trying to spot Auriola amongst her teammates, but didn't see her. I supposed Black's behavior had driven her back to the castle.

I gave Sirius a small wave, and mumbled a goodbye, before turning back in the direction towards the school, when James caught my hand.

Surprised, I turned to face him.

"Will you come to practice tomorrow?" he asked earnestly.

"Er, sure," I answered, not knowing how else to reply. It would have been rude to say no, right to his face.

"Great," he said, letting go of my hand, and flashing me a quick smile.

It wasn't that his grip had been tight, or painful—in fact it was very light—but for some reason, my hand hurt a little as I walked back towards the castle. I flexed it a few times, wondering what was the matter. It felt similarly to how my foot felt, whenever it fell asleep, and I regained use of it suddenly. Tingly, but pressingly and irritatingly so.

Strange, I thought, and walked on, dreading meeting with him again in detention later that evening.

Please review? :D

-MQ