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Chapter 10: Spin the Bottle

James finished his essay after almost an hour. He gathered his things and Lily's ink bottle and climbed the staircase sleepily. He opened the door to their dormitory, yawning hugely, to see his roommates already sleeping.

Sirius was spread-eagled on his bed, his mouth wide open, snoring loudly. Remus was hidden in his blankets, he could hear his soft breathing and Peter was curled up on his bed, he, too, was snoring, though not as loud as Sirius. He flopped down on his bed and he wondered how he could sleep in a room full of noise and snores. But he soon realized that the snores weren't the only reason why he couldn't sleep. No, there was another reason and, as usual, it was none other than Lily Evans.

Every time he tried to close his eyes, Lily's smiling face appeared. He tossed and turned in bed, but when he finally fell asleep, he made sure that he was thinking of only one girl.

The weeks passed by and you could tell that it was a very, very, busy week for James. What with Quidditch Practice five times a week (for the second game for the season was soon approaching and it was against Ravenclaw, for James, in other words, the match will be against him and Ethan Sparks) and homework, he hardly had time to sleep.

The pressure seemed to be dawning on his team because the more the match comes to a near, the more nervous they seemed to play. James could tell because they were having more and more injuries each day.

It was the day before their match and the team was in their locker rooms, James giving the usual pep talk before the match. He was glad that there were fewer injuries today and the team played pretty well today, though the nervousness was still evident.

"Okay, just fly like you did today and we'll be fine tomorrow, but fly better tomorrow, alright?" he said bracingly. The team nodded as one.

"We'll do it, James," said Josaine, his trusted beater.

"Don't worry, Prongs, we won the bloody Cup almost every year, there's really nothing to worry about," said Sirius, as they made their way from the Quidditch Pitch, back to the castle, patting him on the shoulder.

James gave him a look that clearly says, "You're not helping."

"That's just it! It would be a shame if we wouldn't win it now!" said James disgruntled.

"Oh, come on! We have the best team ever! Nothing could go wrong!" said Sirius. Let's just hope that he didn't jinx that.

"Yeah…" he mumbled. "Let's just hope that the weather would be better than this tomorrow," he added as heavy rain poured down from the sky.

They made their way to Gryffindor, sopping wet and covered with mud, narrowly avoiding Filch. When they entered the common room, they found Remus, Mary and Lily in the common room. Seeing their disgruntled expressions their eyebrows rose.

"Hey, Lily," said James and Lily smiled at him. It was really great that they started calling each other by their first names. It took time to get used to it though, since they spent almost all their years at Hogwarts calling each other as "Potter" and "Evans".

"What happened to you two?" asked Mary.

James shrugged and headed to his dormitory to dry off, clearly not in the mood.

"What's with him?" he heard Remus ask.

He heard Sirius sigh. "Pre-match jitters," he answered and James could almost see the girls shaking their heads.

James opened the door to their dormitory and began to change his clothes. When he was done, he reluctantly carried his bag downstairs. He didn't really want to do his homework right now but with the match on Saturday, he'll barely have time to complete the workload of homework that he have.

So he made his way down the stairs sleepily as the fatigue because of training took over him. He sank down on the only available seat by the fireplace, and luckily, it was beside Lily Evans.

He started his Herbology essay, yawning hugely.

"You're not done with that yet?" asked Remus and James glared at him.

"I have Quidditch practice, Moony," said James as he yawned again.

"You know, I don't get it. Why do you care about Quidditch so much? It's just a sport, right?" said Lily as Mary and Remus nodded in agreement. James looked up at her in bewilderment.

"Just a sport? Just a sport?" asked Sirius incredulously, staring wide-eyed at Lily.

"Well it is!" said Mary.

"It's not just a sport! It's Quidditch!" retorted James, his essay forgotten.

"But all it does is form rift between other Houses," Remus pointes out.

"You know what? You're the only guy that I know who doesn't like Quidditch," said James, "Even Peter likes Quidditch, and he doesn't even play!"

"I know Quidditch is a great sport and all-" said Lily.

"Our point exactly," said Sirius.

"-but don't you think you're too obsessed with Quidditch?" continued Lily.

"Hmph,"

"You can never be too obsessed with Quidditch," stated James and Lily didn't answer him, knowing that there's no point in arguing with him now.

James returned to his essay, trying his best to concentrate on it, not on the girl beside him. He was trying to resist the urge to wrap his arms around her. Trying to distract himself from such actions, he looked for something to ask Remus about.

"Where's Peter?" he asked him, noticing that their friend was nowhere to be seen in the common room.

"Detention," stated Remus simply.

"Again? What did he do now?" asked James as he continued to write on his essay.

"His potion blew up… again," said Remus, "He nearly poisoned everyone in class."

"Typical," muttered James. "Why doesn't he drop the subject, then? I thought, after all he went through last year, he would've dropped it."

"His mother want him to take Potions remember?" said Sirius.

"Oh… yeah," said James as he remembered Peter telling them that during fifth year. He didn't know what else to say. So he started on his essay again, willing his eyelids to stay open. It was late in the night and Remus, Lily and Mary already retired to their dormitories. Sirius was only waiting for James to finish.

"Come on, James… are you planning to stay up all night? We have a competition tomorrow!" complained Sirius.

"Just wait alright?" said James, his words slurred as he fought through his consciousness. He yawned again as finished writing his conclusion.

"There I'm done," said James, his still came out slurred and he yawned again. He saw yawn and rest his head on his upturned palm as he closed his eyes.

"Great," said Sirius, jerking awake from the armchair he was sitting on, "I thought I was going to sleep here!"

James grabbed his bag and stuffed his things inside it. The two walked to their dormitory sleepily, their eyes half-open. When they reached their dormitory, James staggered to his bed, nearly falling to the floor. He crashed into his bed fully clothed, not even bothering to remove his glasses. He didn't even know if Sirius made it to bed. He thought he heard a faint crash, but maybe he just imagined it. He barely noticed the loud lightning from outside or the rain pouring heavily on the window, making loud splattering noises.

Luckily, he trusts Remus to wake him up early in the morning.

He didn't know why or what exactly woke him up. He didn't know if it was the lightning or the loud snores of Sirius, which seemed to be coming from the floor or the nerves because of the match. All he knew was that he woke up in the early hours of the morning.

He tried to get back to his sleep but it was too late. The realization that today, just after a few hours, would be their Quidditch match against Ravenclaw and if they lose this match, they might go out of the running. He doesn't normally freak out like this during Quidditch Matches, but it's just that the stress of being a seventh year was taking its toll on him.

He just lay in bed for a few hours, waiting for the sun to rise. When the sun did shine, he got up only to come back crashing, face down to the floor as he tripped over Sirius' for at the foot of his bed. This made Sirius jerk awake.

"Sirius- what the hell are you doing there on the floor?" he said exasperatedly as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Sleeping," answered Sirius simply as he, too, sat up gingerly. Spending the night on the floor wasn't comfortable at all.

"What? Why there?" asked James incredulously, "you have a bed! Bed's are for sleeping, not floors!"

"Well, it's not my fault that you stayed up all night!" said Sirius, standing up, holding out a hand to help James up. James grabbed his hand and stand up.

"Come on," mumbled James as he changed his clothes, Sirius followed his lead. They left the room and headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. Fortunately, for James, food can always relax his nerves.

He and Sirius sat down on the Gryffindor Table as applause from the few people in the table followed them. Soon they were joined by the other Gryffindor Quidditch Team each of them followed by applauses by the Gryffindors and some of the Hufflepuffs and some boos from the Slytherins.

In what seems like no time at all, it was time to go to the changing rooms. Nobody spoke as the team changed into their Quidditch robes. They heard the chatter and footsteps of the crowd as they made their way to the Quidditch Pitch. It was like a thousand worms were now living in his stomach, wriggling inside it. He knew it was a gross thing to think of, but he sure feels like that now. He just hoped that he didn't eat too much breakfast.

Soon, it was time to get out of the changing rooms. He gestured for his team to follow him and they walked behind him wordlessly in single file. They met up with the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, wearing blue and bronze robes.

It was raining heavily and the crowd even bought their own umbrellas and coats. James pulled out his wand from his pocket and muttered, "Impervious," so he could see clearly through the rain, and returned his wand in his pocket again.

The Captains, James and Ethan, shook hands, glaring at each other, for them, this wasn't just a fight for the Quidditch Cup.

"Mount your brooms," said Madam Hooch and James mounted his, still eyeing Sparks who was glaring at him.

"And… They're off!" said the commentator as the fourteen players flew up in the air. "And its Justin Wood with the Quaffle- watch out for that bludger! - Oooh, and that's the Ravenclaw chaser, Ethan Sparks with the quaffle. I heard he asked Lily Evans out, but of course, with James Potter there-" the commentator was immediately silenced by a glare from James as the girls from the crowd giggled.

Then he turned around, but as soon as he did, he saw that a bludger was making its way towards him, hit by the Ravenclaw beater, Adrian Chang. He pulled into a dive and he felt the bludger pass just above his head. He raced to the other side of the pitch where Sparks was already zooming to the Gryffindor's side of the goal post.

James flew between alongside Sparks, Justin and Eirene trailing behind him. Sparks tried to pass the quaffle to his fellow chaser, but James snatched it with his arm before it even reached Sparks' teammate.

He steered his broom to go back to the Ravenclaw goal posts. "And that's Potter with the quaffle, he passes to Williams, she passes to Wood, he's aiming and…. HE SCORES! Ten-zero to Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor stands roared and screamed. James could see Lily and Mary clapping, wide grins were on their faces. "That's Anderson of Ravenclaw with the quaffle now- OH! - He gets hit with a bludger! That's Williams in possession; she dodges the bludger, she passes the quaffle to Potter, he passes it back to Williams- AW! - Anderson intercept it, he passes to Sparks."

Sparks was heading to the Gryffindor goalpost and James was flying alongside him. He tried to grab the quaffle from Sparks but he passes it to Goldstein, his fellow chaser. Then he passes back to Sparks. His fellow chasers were flying alongside him.

"That's Sparks in possession now, he aims and he scores!" said the commentator. Suddenly James felt something make contact with the back of his head. It was like having a hammer thrown at him. The roars of the crowd were turned from delight to screams and gasps of horror.

He felt a blinding pain from the back of his head… the wind rushing through him… he heard the horrified screams of the crowd… until he heard nothing anymore.

He didn't know where he was or how he got there. The bed he was lying in was soft. He then suddenly remembered why he was there. The Quidditch Match.

He opened his eyes gingerly, only to see the blurred outlines of his teammates. His hand groped around for his glasses, but someone handed it to him, he put it on and blinked a few times until his vision cleared.

The Gryffindor team, covered with was looking worriedly at him and he smiled weakly and the whole team smiled back, it was a smile of relief but there was still something strained about it. He suddenly remembered what was happening just a few hours ago and his face fell. He propped himself up by his elbows and sat up.

"The match?" he asked, wanting to know what happen but not wanting to hear it at the same time. His teammates looked worriedly at each other before turning back to him.

"Well, you got hit by a Bludger, so we… lost" began Kathleen Knight, his keeper. A growl began to form in his throat. "It was an accident, really," she added, before James could say anything harsh.

"And the score?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly. It all depends on the score, if they lose by too much it might be impossible for them to still be in the running. No one answered for a while; no one seemed to have the courage to. After a few minutes, Sirius finally spoke up.

"160-10, their Seeker just caught the Snitch when you fell, well, we're all distracted, really. Finn and I were racing after you," said Sirius and James closed his eyes and slumped back in his bed. They lost by 150 fifty points, making them third in the running, just below Ravenclaw, Slytherin ranking first after they flattened Hufflepuff. If Ravenclaw beat Slytherin in their next match, they might still have a chance; they just have to win by about 150 points.

Suddenly the irritated voice of Madam Pomfrey was heard and James' eyes snapped open. "Out! Out! This boy needs rest, out!" she said as he shooed the whole Gryffindor Team away, Sirius gave him a wink before he was shoved out of the doorway, which only meant that he would soon receive a very late night visit from the Marauders.

Madam Pomfrey walked over to him, muttering about the dangers of Quidditch and brooms as he poured a potion into a goblet, which he handed to James.

"Dreamless Sleep Potion, you could do with some sleep," she said and James obeyed immediately, it was better to be asleep than to stare at nothing in the Hospital Wing. As soon as he drank it, he felt drowsiness and his eyelids began to droop as it was suddenly heavy. In a matter of seconds, dreamless sleep engulfed him…

"Sssshh… you'll wake him up, Padfoot!" he heard a very familiar stern voice from above him.

"Well, that's what we're here for, isn't it?" said another familiar voice.

"You'll wake Madam Pomfrey!" said another familiar squeaky voice.

"Oh- Oh, yeah. Muffliato!" whispered the second voice.

James opened his eyes to see the blurred figures of his friends. He saw Peter's outline get his glasses from the bedside table and handed it to him. He took it and shoved it on his eyes. He looked up to see Sirius holding a piece of parchment and his reliable Invisibility Cloak.

Remus was holding bottles of butterbeers and Peter was carrying loads of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He didn't know if he should feel happy right now, they just lost the match and he wasn't in the mood for a party right now.

"Why are you here?" asked James, sitting up, already knowing the answer, as he looked at the wide grins of his friends.

"Well, we wanted to cheer you up a bit," said Sirius shoving the parchment inside his pocket and folding the Cloak into a neat square before shoving it too inside his pocket. Remus and Peter placed the butterbeers and the candies on the bedside table. James wasn't really in the mood right now, but since it was only the Marauders, his trusted friends, he gave in.

A week passed by with James sulking, he still hasn't gotten over their defeat against Ravenclaw.

"Why are you so bothered, anyway?" asked Lily, as they walked through the corridors during their patrol.

"Why am I bothered?" he said, sounding as if Lily mortally offended him, and Lily shook her head. "It's Quidditch! We lost!"

"Yeah, I know it's a loss, but it's been a week, James! Don't you think you're a little overreacting?" she said.

"No, I am not overreacting. It totally ruined the chances to win the Cup. Besides, you can't understand, you don't love Quidditch too much," he argued.

He could almost see Lily rolling her eyes. When they reached the Gryffindor Common Room, as usual, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Mary were still there. Now that the second term started, the work for the seventh years became more and more toxic, so almost everyday, the Gryffindor seventh years often were the last ones to leave the common room during the late hours of the night.

James and Lily walked over towards them. James was glad that he finished his load of homework a while ago, so all he needs to do know is sulk because they lost the match. He was really nervous, if Ravenclaw beats Slytherin, then they might still be in the running, but if Slytherin beats Ravenclaw, then they were out of the running and Slytherins win the Cup.

James groaned at the thought of his team out of the running, finishing third. It was so unlike his team to finish third, they always win the cup. He buried his head in his hands, trying to think of a way a training that would make them more likely to win, but then he remembered that this was his last year as Quidditch Captain. He groaned again, the sound a bit muffled for his head was still in his hands.

"You know what? Maybe we should play a little game, you know, just to relieve the tension?" said Sirius in a tone that James only knew too well and he looked up. What was he planning now? He asked to himself.

"What?" asked James suspiciously as the rest agreed a little too happily. He had a feeling that they were all in on this, except him and Lily of course.

He caught Lily's eyes and saw that she was looking suspicious too at Sirius' mischievous smile.

"What game?" Lily demanded, raising her eyebrows as the rest formed a circle on the center of the common room two spaces were left for James and Lily still haven't left their seats.

"Come on, you guys! Don't ruin the fun!" said Mary in a cheery voice.

"It's just a game! Nothing could go wrong!" said Remus and Peter nodded excitedly.

"Fine," they both grumbled and walked over to their circle, James sat on the space besides Sirius and Lily sat in between Peter and Mary. James saw Lily looking warily at Sirius and James couldn't blame her, every time Sirius has a grin like that, it means nothing good.

"What game do you want to play Black?" said Lily, even though she was finally calling him James, she still hasn't called Sirius, Sirius yet, it seems like he was the only Marauder that Lily calls by his surname.

"Spin the Bottle, of course!" answered Sirius in a sing song voice as he pulled out a clear glass bottle in the middle of their circle. Before James or Lily could complain, Sirius continued to talk. "Well, you know the rules," he said with a wink and without warning he said, "Hey Evans, you can spin the bottle!"

"What? No way," complained Lily.

"Oh come on, Evans!" pleaded Sirius.

"No," she stated simply, her voice making it clear that it was her final answer as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Giving up, Sirius turned to James with a very mischievous smile and James rolled his eyes. "James?"

James looked nervously at the others. What if it stopped on Lily? It would totally ruin their friendship but the chances the bottle stopping at Lily was not that good, seeing as there were six of them.

"Fine," he grumbled. He grabbed the bottle and spun it, hard; hoping that the force that he put into it would stop it from pointing across from him. The bottle began to spin fast and James had his eyes on it nervously, he would rather kiss a Marauder right now than to ruin his friendship with Lily Evans.

Apparently, luck was nowhere near him, or maybe it was, as the bottle began to slow down and funnily enough, it stopped near Lily Evans. They looked at each other, shocked, their eyes almost as wide as galleons.

"Wow, what a surprise! Looks like you have to snog James before snogging the Giant Squid after all, Evans!" said Sirius. James was so shocked that he didn't even turn to glare at Sirius.

James and Lily were now staring transfixed at each other, the same shocked expression mirroring each other's faces.

"Oh come on, it's just a game right?" came Sirius' voice and soon he was being dragged to the center of the circle by Sirius and Remus and Lily was being dragged by Peter and Mary. He knew it! He knew this was all Sirius' plan!

"No, no, no, wait! Sirius, this isn't funny!" he said threateningly, he could hear Lily complaining with him. Actually, half of him wanted to actually go up willingly to her and snog her senseless but of course, his mature side said he shouldn't.

"Of course, it isn't, James," said Sirius still grinning, but James didn't have time to respond for Sirius, Remus, Peter and Mary shoved them together, their lips meeting. Lily face was much too close; it was as if he was being thrown into her green eyes. His mature self was begging him to get away but he was dreaming for a moment like this for years. Neither of them made a move to get away from each other, for some reason.

Just as his eyes were about to close, he remembered who he was with and what are the consequences if he didn't stop. Reluctantly, he pulled away and for a wild moment he asked himself, how the hell did his arms went around Lily's waist? Their friends were nowhere to be seen, which only confirmed James' suspicion that all of them were in on this.

They disentangled themselves from each other awkwardly. "I- I… Sorry," mumbled James and began to walk away, knowing that his friendship with Lily was over. To his surprise, someone grabbed him around the wrist and spun him around. He was surprised to see that that certain someone was Lily Evans.

"Look… I don't want to ruin any friendship so, could we just… I don't know forget it ever happened?" she said, a small smile on her face. Something in that smile made him think that she wasn't going to let this go that easily.

"Sure, er- G'night," said James with a small wave.

"'Night," said Lily and with that they both turned their backs to each other and headed for their respective dormitories.

As soon as he entered their dormitory, the grin slipped off of his face as he rounded at the grinning Sirius.

"Sirius! You jinxed that bottle, didn't you? You jinxed it so it would stop at Lily Evans!" said James angrily but Sirius just grinned back at him.

"Come on, James, you can't honestly tell me that you didn't enjoy it!" said Sirius.

James just stared at him, unable to answer. Instead, he headed to his four-poster, pulled the hangings around the bed to a close and lied there, pondering.

The truth is, if he asked himself, he did enjoy it. He didn't actually expect his first kiss to be like that but he did expect it to be with the one and only Lily Evans. He knew it was wrong, but the feeling of her lips on his was just so… right.

With this thought, he turned over and slept, his mind too preoccupied for him to listen to the Marauders whispering frantically.

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So, it's been five days, yay, I updated sooner than before! Did you love it or hated it? If you see something you don't like and faults, please point it out, just do it nicely!

Review please! ;)