Last time on Things to Remember:
If anyone were to walk into the common room at that moment, they would be surprised to find a restrained Arabella and a cowering Lily; both Sirius and James caught in the middle of this. Arabella took deep breaths and smiled sheepishly at Sirius as she stood up. "Okay, being a dog was kind of fun. However, to prevent more of these 'accidents' I suggest James tutor you or something. Your transfiguration is horrible Lily, no offense!"
Lily rolled her eyes and replied, "None taken. Never thought I'd say this, but James, are you willing to tutor me in transfiguration?"
James shook his head in amusement but agreed nonetheless. "How 'bout we start today? We've both got free periods after lunch, ya?"
"Yup! So we'll meet at the library!" Lily said. "Okay, how about some breakfast? I am starving!"
Sirius and Arabella exchanged a knowing glance and laughed. "Nah it's okay! We're both kind of full. We'll just see you in class!"
James and Lily just shrugged and together made their way to the Great Hall, Lily trying her best to defend herself from the rather true accusations of her transfiguration skills.
Chapter 10
Young Love and Quidditch Mayhems
"Okay, let's try transfiguring inanimate objects into other inanimate objects first. Then we'll go one to inanimate to animate transfiguration," James said pointedly at Lily's put-out expression. "Before you even wave your wand and say out the incantation, in a clear voice mind you, you have to visualize what you want your target to transform into. For example, if I want to transfigure this piece of parchment into a vase, I have to imagine both the outcome and the process. Watch..."
James spoke in a clear voice and with a graceful swish of his wand, the piece of plain parchment transformed into an intricately designed vase, complete with a flower.
"Okay, let me try!" Lily imitated James and with a flick of her wand, the piece of parchment became a vase alright, an origami vase that is. Dismayed at her work, Lily thumped her head on the table, refusing to look at her tutor in the eye.
"Haha, I see your problem, your wandwork isn't correct. You're flicking your wand, not swishing it," he demonstrated with his wand.
"What's the big difference between 'swishing' and 'flicking'? Same thing to me!" Lily said indignantly, doing the spell again, changing her textbook into half a vase. At this, she almost threw the half vase onto the floor, her short temper not helping at all.
"Come here," James muttered, taking Lily's hand in his own. Gently, he repeated the movement and Lily stiffened, but she soon relaxed and as she looked into James' eyes, repeated the spell and finally, the piece of parchment in front of her turned into a beautiful hazel coloured vase. James smiled in encouragement while Lily gasped in surprise. Slowly, a faint blush tainted her cheeks as she looked from the vase to James.
Yup, definitely the exact shade of his eyes…
~~ L&J ~~
"Hey Remus is here too," Lily whispered to James as she successfully transfigured her textbook into a Chihuahua for the third time. James nodded vaguely as he scrutinized Lily's Chihuahua, checking for any imperfections and areas for improvement. Lily rolled her eyes. "Quit being so serious Professor Potter! Can't we take a break now?"
James straightened up and looked curiously at her. "Why Lily-flower I thought you'd notice the difference between 'ole Sirius and me by now! Okay, okay don't get your knickers in a twist! Let's go for break ya? What were you saying about Remus?"
Lily surreptitiously glanced at Remus' direction and whispered again. "Look at Remus –Don't turn around! Well, for the past ten minutes he's been reading his book."
"Well what's wrong with that?"
"He's still on the same page," she pointed out. "And, that girl over there, her name's Zoe, has been looking at him for the past five minutes while doing homework. At least she's not that obvious since she is actually finishing up that essay. Though I must say, her progress is slow…"
James shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly Lily! Were you even listening when I was explaining human transfiguration to you for the past ten minutes?"
"Ahem, I was practicing my object-to-animal transfiguration… Right, Zoe is a Ravenclaw in our year and sits next to me in Muggle Studies. She's really nice but very very shy!" At James still dumbfounded expression, Lily grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry, it's not that I'm nosy, it's just that last summer I got hooked onto reading my dad's Sherlock Holmes series and well, some habits are hard to kick, eh?"
James had no idea who Sherlock Holmes was but his eyes twinkled mischievously. "Are you sure they'll be good together?" he checked with Lily, making sure he would be doing the right thing for the marauder, practically his brother.
"Positive! She likes reading, is very friendly, smart and just a lovely girl."
James looked from Zoe to Remus and kept his things determinedly. "You take Zoe while I take Moony. I'll go talk to him and you go to Zoe a few minutes later. Act casual. Alright, let's get them together!"
~~ L&J ~~
Lily took her time packing her stuff and after about a minute, she slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the Magical Creatures section of the library, 'coincidentally' ending up right next to the table where Zoe was.
"Hey there Zoe! Finished your essay on the effects muggle inventions had on the wizarding world yet?" Lily asked. Zoe seemed distracted as she glanced at Remus before replying. "Oh ya, in fact I've already finished it. It's due tomorrow you know. You haven't started?"
"What? Oh! Obviously I've finished it too! I was… Just wondering if I could double check some stuff with you before handing it in tomorrow!" At the look Zoe was giving her, Lily knew the girl did not buy it one bit. Lily changed her approach, going from subtle to straight-to-the-point. "Anyway, I've noticed you've been looking at Remus for a while now…"
Zoe's eyes widened and she dragged Lily down to sit next to her. "I'm not that obvious am I? Anywho, you cannot tell Remus, or anyone for that matter, that I like him!"
Lily's raised her eyebrow. "I just said you were looking at Remus! Who said anything about you fancying him?"
Realising her mistake, Zoe smacked her forehead with her hand but turned to look at Lily pleadingly. "Please Lily, don't tell him! I-I don't know what I'd do if he rejects me… What am I talking about? I can't even pluck the courage to ask him out let alone brace myself for rejection!"
Lily's eyes softened and she told the Ravenclaw softly, "Zoe, he won't reject you! You are the nicest girl I know; Remus would be stupid not to go out with you! In fact, I think he's also interested…" The girls turned around and found Remus looking at them, specifically at Zoe. As their eyes met, Zoe looked away, blushing profusely, causing Remus to look hopeful and more confident than before. Lily grinned as James gave her a thumbs-up behind Remus.
"It's okay if you're shy to ask him, Zoe. I personally think that the guy should be the one asking the girl out. But anyways, give him a chance if he asks alright?" With a pat on the back, Lily left the library smiling, knowing for sure that Zoe would make a wonderful girlfriend for Remus.
She just needs a little push.
~~ L&J ~~
"Come on, mate! What's stopping you from asking her out? You obviously like her, and she likes you back!" James insisted as he faced one of his best mates.
"You really think so?" Remus asked hopefully. "Wait, even if she does, I don't want her to get hurt because of my… Furry little problem…"
"Moony! What do you mean 'if'? And what about your furry little problem? You can't hurt her."
"Not physically! I mean, I don't want to lead her on because I'll probably have to end it off before… She realizes what I am."
"Remus, I know what you're thinking right now. You are not a monster! This is probably the first time I've seen you interested in a girl; I'm not going to let your insecurities stop you from even taking a chance! At least go talk to her, and then see how it goes from there! For once, stop thinking about what would, might, could, should or even will happen. It's our last year at Hogwarts, live for once! Turn around, do you see that girl? She likes you, now what are you going to do about it?"
Remus turned around and just as James said, there was Zoe, looking at him with her mesmerising blue eyes and shy smile. He took on a look of pure determination and he turned back to answer James, "I'll ask her out! Thanks James, I'm going to ask Zoe Jones out –after class!" At James' exasperated look he cried out in defense. "It'd be awkward to ask now! Fine, I'll ask her in Arithmancy!"
James grinned smugly, finally satisfied with his friend's answer. "Perfect! Now, what is this book you're reading? I've noticed you're still on page 5. Is it any good yet?"
~~ L&J ~~
"I'm so nervous for Quidditch tryouts," Arabella said worriedly as she made her way to the Quidditch field with her friends. Lily smiled encouragingly and liked arms with her and Marlene.
"You'll do great! You have been training with the best," she reminded, hoping to boost her friend's confidence.
"Yeah, I can't believe you only found out James, your coach, was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team a week ago! And through a first year!" Marlene added, still amused that it took her friend that long to figure it out.
Arabella rolled her eyes and clutched her broom nervously. "No matter, I'm still worried I won't be able to get in. You and that seventh year, Emiline, are shoe-ins for Chaser! What if someone else is better than me? Heck, James will probably choose a more talented fifth or fourth year over me!"
"Ara! Relax, you'll do fine. James would be stupid not to put you in the team! With you in, Gryffindor would become almost invincible," Zoe assured, smiling warmly.
"Hey, why d'ya say 'almost'?" Remus asked in amusement, wrapping his shoulder around Zoe.
"Well," she stated matter-of-factly. "You all haven't seen Ravenclaw yet! Remember, I'm only here because my house is also having their tryouts at the same time!"
"Right…" Lily said sarcastically, throwing a wink at Remus' direction
"I hope Adam gets into the team again; he's a really good keeper!" Marlene said, glancing casually at Adam as he got ready for tryouts.
"Marlene! I thought you were interested in Sirius!" Lily exclaimed, rather shocked at her friend's interest change.
"Sirius and I are too similar, don't cha think? We're better as friends. Anyway, I think he might be interested in someone else. Though I bet he doesn't even know it yet!" Marlene explained. Truth be told, Marlene had fancied Adam for a while now, since the end of last year in fact, but for some reason she just hadn't told anybody, until now.
"We'd better get down there!" Arabella exclaimed as the rest took their seats by the stands. "Wish us luck!"
~~ L&J ~~
The tryouts were rather interesting. Ravenclaw's tryouts were held on the right side of the field while Gryffindor's was on the left. Basically, the left side of the field was noisier and crazier.
James, being the first sixth year Quidditch Captain, was rather nervous and started the tryouts off with the beaters-not a good idea. Sirius was undoubtedly the best among the group with a fifth year named Mason Harding was a close second and another two worth considering. The rest who tried out, however, were mostly amateur third or fourth years who came just for the heck of it, causing a lot of commotion as all hell broke loose when the bludgers were released. Two third years were even injured and had to be sent to the hospital wing!
James ruffled his hair in frustration. The task wasn't even that hard! All they had to do was practice their aim on the floating targets around their half of the field! Who knew their hand-eye coordination could be that bad? Thanks goodness there were at least four good players he could choose from, namely Harding, Fletcher, Moors and Sirius. Surprisingly, Samuel Adams and Henry Wood, mere first years, came to try out but James decided to turn a blind eye. Samuel, who tried out as a beater, was surprisingly quite good, of course the two wouldn't really be able to join, but who was he to deny them from the experience?
"Okay, next up are the Chasers!" James shouted. James watched as Arabella and Marlene passed the quaffle swiftly between them across the field in a fast yet comfortable rhythm. Emiline was paired up with a fifth year and although her partner was a little clumsy, they still managed to get across the field a few seconds after Marlene and Arabella. The candidates were then made to practice shooting with Adam as Keeper. Although he wasn't guaranteed a spot, James felt it was best to let those trying out get a taste of what they might be facing if they got into the team. Of course, Adam was a great Keeper and only a handful managed to score. And out of those who scored, only three got in at least five shots: Emiline, Marlene and Arabella. It was clear who James would choose and of course Sirius had to be so kind as to point it out by introducing more of his ready-made magical fireworks.
As if it wasn't already clear based on the Chaser tryouts, Adam was the best out of all those who tried for Keeper, thus concluding the tryouts because hey, the Seeker position was already filled up! It was a long and tiring day but James felt happy as he dismissed everyone for dinner. It was clear how this year's team was going to be a strong one, and boy were they going to win the Quidditch Cup this year!
A/N: So that's Chapter 10! (: Special shout-out to Zoexclaire! They're not exactly together yet, but obv they will be ^^ Yup, hope you enjoyed this! Don't forget to review~ Tell me about the parts you like or any areas for improvement. Heck, you can even tell me about your pet goldfish! XP Cya next chapter people~~
ShhayyJeei~