Chapter 26: A Slip of the Tongue
The corridors were dimly lit as Carlee and Lily made one of their nightly trips down to the kitchens. They were becoming a common occurrence for the two girls and Lily rarely worried about getting caught by the cranky caretaker any more.
"I didn't say that I was scared." Lily huffed, repeating herself for the third time. "I said that there was something eerie about the torch light-"
"I'll hold your hand if you'd like." Carlee giggled, offering Lily her hand.
"You're ridiculous." Lily sighed.
"I know what you mean though, the shadows move on their own and you're never sure if it's a suit of armor," She glanced at an upcoming metal suit. "Or someone standing there waiting for you to walk past them." Lily felt her heart rate pick up, irrationally worried that the suit of armor might just be a live person. As they got closer, Lily held her breath, knowing that it was silly. But it was late and Carlee wasn't helping the situation, and maybe the castle was a bit scary after lights out.
Just as they reached the suit, something fell against Lily's shoulder and she jumped, spinning around with a horrified expression on her face. Carlee's hand was still clinging to Lily's shoulder and the blonde girl looked like she was ready to start crying from trying to hold back her laughter.
"That was not nice!" Lily hissed, grinning anyway. "Now hurry up before Filch comes."
They rushed down a few more flights of stairs and soon reached the entrance to the kitchens. After tickling the pear, they were granted entrance.
"-I don't care if he's the ruddy captain," James was saying when the two girls walked in. They saw the four Marauders seated around the brick fireplace, all holding plates of left overs from dinner. "He's lost his mind if he thinks we're going to have another practice before the game tomorrow."
"Hullo boys." Carlee said, grabbing an empty plate off the counter and serving herself. House Elves quickly swarmed at their feet, but Lily and Carlee both dismissed them politely.
"Evans?" Sirius sounded surprised. "Little miss goodie two-shoes? What are you doing in the kitchens? And after lights-out to boot?"
"We come down here all the time." Lily shrugged, taking a seat on the empty armchair next to James. Carlee hesitated a moment before decided to sit on the arm of Lily's chair instead of the seat next to Sirius.
"Really?" James asked, looking just as surprised as Sirius had.
"I've been a really good influence on her." Carlee said, scooping a forkful of potatoes into her mouth. "What are you doing down here though? Shouldn't you be sleeping? You've got a game tomorrow." Everyone proceeded to eat in silence as they listened to James' tirade about bloody Seth Stein and his bloody practices and how he had missed dinner and wished that Rodger had made captain instead.
"I don't actually mean that." James said, barely pausing to take a breath. "Seth's a good captain and I don't think Rodger could do better, I'm just exhausted."
"Me too." Lily said with wide eyes. "And all I did was listen to you talk."
"Don't be a smart arse." James grinned. "We all really want to win, but… Seth has something to prove to himself and to Rodger and he's taking it out on us."
"Seems like it." Carlee nodded. "Have you been attacked by any Ravenclaws yet?"
"No." James shook his head. "But there was a close call earlier today. Accidentally stepped into a loo without checking who was in there first and was alone with Caradoc. Of course, then Josiah came in and it was fine. It's lucky that I'm friends with the Smith brothers or that could have turned ugly."
"Josiah wouldn't have hurt you." Lily scoffed. The Smith brothers were dorky and loved a good laugh, neither one of them was the type to get into any sort of brawl.
"Nah, course not." Sirius spoke up, cutting in just as James opened his mouth. "But it looks as though he might have jinxed his face to look funnier…"
"It always looks like that." Remus smirked. "Maybe it's just the lighting down here, making it look extra funny."
"That's not very nice you two." Lily said. Everyone turned to look at her either expecting her to add a quip or surprised that she had admonished them for picking on James. Lily opened her mouth, intent on fixing the problem when Carlee did it for her.
"Yeah, the dim lighting down here definitely makes him look better." Lily laughed and shrugged at James who was looking at her through squinted eyes.
oOoOo
"LILY!" Lily woke with a start and was greeted by Mary MacDonald, who was standing at her bedside much too close to her. "Come on, it's time for Quidditch." The girl said cheerily.
"For your sake, it better be past nine. It's Saturday and the game doesn't start till noon. If it's not past nine…" She turned her head towards the clock. It was nine o one. She groaned and fell back against her pillow.
"I followed your rule, not get out of bed please."
"I'll get out of bed if you promise me that next year you'll actually tryout for the team and then I can be just as excited as you are for these blasted games and if I keep this sentence going then you can't say no so I'm just going to keep talking until I run out of breath and you have enough time to change your mind and say that you will tryooo-" Lily started coughing and sat up. "Well?"
"I've been thinking about it." Mary said. "And maybe your right. It would be really fun. Now get up and get dressed. You look completely shambolic."
"Thanks, Mary." Lily rolled her eyes and hoisted herself over the edge of her bed, flinching slightly when her bare feet hit the cold flagstone floor. She looked over and saw Savanna and Carlee still in bed. "Why did they get to sleep in?"
"Carlee said she was going to get up at nine thirty and Savanna said she would get up at nine thirty-three."
"Why didn't I get to sleep till nine thirty-three?"
"Because you gave me permission to wake you any time after nine." Lily let out a noise of frustration and hurled a pillow across the room in Mary's direction. It missed her, but the brunette understood its meaning and quickly slipped into the bathroom to hide.
oOoOo
"I feel like a traitor."
Carlee looked over at her sister, who was seated next to her and her friends in the stands, and smiled. Then she unwrapped the Gryffindor scarf from around her own neck and placed it on her sister's shoulders. "There. Now you look like a traitor as well."
"Get that disgusting piece of rubbish off me." Jane shook her shoulders but Carlee just grabbed the ends and pulled it a bit tighter.
"If you're going to talk like that about Gryffindor, you want to give up your front row seat to someone who will actually enjoy it?" Valerie Pinfield, a fifth year seated behind them snapped at the girls.
"Piss off." Jane sneered.
"If you're going to act like this the entire game, Pinfield, you and I are going to have a problem." Carlee added.
"She's a Slytherin." Valerie cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. "What is she even doing in the Gryffindor section?"
"Sitting with my sister, you swine."
"Alright, let's calm down there, Skippy." Carlee put a hand on her sister's shoulder and spun her around so they were facing the pitch again. Mary, who was seated on Carlee's left, leant over and whispered in her ear.
"She's just angry because she didn't get pulled into the game. Reserve chasers are always a bit touchy at the games."
"Pinfields a reserve chaser?" Carlee asked. Mary hushed her and both girls glanced back to see the fifth year glaring at them.
"That's still no reason to get your knickers in a twist." Jane purred. "If you're not good enough to play, then-"
"Stop it." Carlee interrupted.
"Anyway," Mary leant back over but was prevented from saying anything else.
"You two hens going to be gossiping the entire time?" Sirius said from his seat down the line. After Mary sat Lily, Savanna, Peter, Remus and then Sirius. Carlee was quite sure that he had sat as far away from her as was possible on purpose.
"Firstly," Mary said, leaning forward to make sure he could see the cocked eyebrow and the jutted jaw. "You can't hear us. And secondly, the game hasn't started yet. What's your game anyhow?"
"Sirius and Carlee are having a bit of a spat." Peter supplied. Both offending parties shot him a look, but upon realizing they were now in each other's line of sight, they sat back on the bench.
"How'd we miss that?" Savanna asked, grinning slightly. "I could feel the temperature drop just now."
"Definitely got a bit frosty." Mary agreed.
"Mind your own business, MacDonald." Sirius snapped.
"Oh hush, you." Mary laughed. "Look, here comes the team!" They all stood up as the Gryffindor team was called out onto the pitch, James made sure to circle round so he could pause near them and they all cheered extra loud when he pumped his fist in the air.
"And now I find myself in a fairly familiar conundrum." Richard Smith's voice echoed throughout the pitch. "Torn between my house and my blood. Unfortunately for my brother, I'm still going to root for my house. It's our last year here at Hogwarts and I would like to win the cup for the third year in a row. That would really be the cherry on top of this wonderful experience. Also, if Gryffindor doesn't win, Joe's just going to hold this over my head for the rest of our lives. So, no pressure from me, lions.
"Madam Hooch is tossing the Quaffle… and their off! Meadows makes a splendid catch and heads down the field! Amazing swerve around Smith, and an even more brilliant toss to Potter. Potter catches the Quaffle and Oh- Just barely misses a Bludger to the head."
Sirius, Remus and Peter lean forward and start heckling the players. It takes Lily a while to realize that all three of them are actually shouting at James, instead of the Ravenclaw beater.
"Why in the name of Merlin are you three shouting at James? He almost got knocked off his broom!"
"That's precisely why we're shouting at him." Sirius said, as though the answer was entirely obvious. "We're never going to win if James continues to be this sloppy."
"Cut him a break, we're hardly two minutes into the game!" Savanna laughed.
"If he starts out on the wrong foot- Oh never mind!" Peter turned back to the game just in time to see Rodger Cliff score the first goal for Gryffindor.
"Cliff always has been one of my favorites." Richard said from his commentators seat. "Unfortunately, we aren't going to win the game with a few short sprints. This one is going to be a marathon. For Gryffindor to take the cup from Hufflepuff, we'll have to win by over 200 points. It's a tall order, but we've seen many extraordinary things- What's that professor?" Lily looked over to see McGonagall whispering into Richard's ear. "McGonagall would like me to be more fair with my coverage of the game. I apologize to all you Eagles out there. Your team is amazing as well, it's just… Well, you have no chance at all of winning the cup. Oh, and here's Potter's first score of the afternoon! Well done lad!"
The game continued on. And on. And on. And on.
"Stein needs to just find the bloody snitch already." Sirius grumbled, propping his legs on the railing and leaning back on the empty bench behind him. After three and a half hours, some of the house had decided to take a meal break and head back up to the castle. Most of the third years had refused to leave though and were still monopolizing the entire front row. "When are Peter and Mary coming back with the food?"
"They left, precisely three minutes ago." Lily gave him a reproving look and crossed her arms. "They'll be back when they're back. Just be grateful that you don't have to go and get the food yourself." Sirius shook his head and threw his hands behind his head, interlocking his fingers. "What happen to the Slytherin?"
"She went back up with Mary and Peter. You know that." Remus muttered. "Knock it off, yeah?" Lily squeezed Carlee's hand to keep her from saying anything, but she didn't need to. Carlee hadn't heard what he had said.
"Lily?" Carlee leant over and rested her shoulder against the redheads. "Is that Alice and Frank over there?" Lily looked into the second column of Gryffindor stands and sure enough, Alice and Frank were sitting in the front row, hands latched together and grinning at one another. "Are they on a date?" Lily nudged Savanna, who looked over at the pair as well.
"When's the last time we talked to Alice?" Savanna asked.
"Obviously it's been too long." Lily laughed. "Mary's going to be miffed when she finds out. Why didn't Alice tell us?"
"Maybe she was embarrassed to be seen with Longbottom in public." Sirius, who had been eavesdropping, said with a grin. "Frank on the other hand, he wouldn't shut up about it. First bloke to get himself a date."
"Didn't Stephen and Bianca-"
"Stephen doesn't count." Sirius interrupted. "I actually prefer to pretend he doesn't exist."
"Bianca's nice." Savanna said, even though she had probably never had an actual conversation with that particular roommate.
"She's got really bad taste-"
"Excuse you." Bianca had been sitting only a few rows behind them and had perked up at the sound of her name. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.
"You're excused." Sirius waved his hand in dismissal.
"That's Bianca, you arse." Remus sighed, rubbing his hand over his face.
"I only went out with-"
"I didn't ask." Sirius stretched his arms above his head. "Now everyone be quiet so I can listen to the game.
oOoOo
"And there's another score for Gryffindor." Richard said lazily. "Gryffindor leads 230 to 200. Another three goals before our seeker can catch the snitch if we're going to win the cup. I'm blaming this game on the chasers at the moment."
"It is a rather long game, isn't it?" Alice asked, looking up at the clear blue sky and was quite grateful that it was one of those rare days that it wasn't raining.
"I don't mind." Frank said, squeezing her hand a bit. Alice couldn't stop the smile that spread across her lips.
"Neither do I." She looked at him and he grinned as well. Though he hadn't stopped grinning since this date started. Alice hadn't stopped much herself, and she knew for a fact that the butterflies in her stomach hadn't gone away for even a moment. She didn't mind them though.
"Alright, the game seems to be picking up a bit!" Richard's usual enthusiasm was seeping back into his voice now. "Another goal for Gryffindor. Only two more to go and then Stein gets all the pressure on his shoulders to end the game."
"Come on James!" Frank called out, standing up and pulling Alice up with him. The rest of the Gryffindors behind them stood up as well.
"Shi- I mean Merlin's beard! I think they've spotted the snitch!"
"No!" Alice cried, leaning over the railing to get a better look at Seth Stein and Hannah Kip.
"Snitch races can go on for a while!" Frank said, though his grip on her hand had tightened unbeknownst to him. "They've got time. They only need to make two more goals."
And they did.
oOoOo
James wasn't surprised that they had won the game. He wasn't surprised that he had managed to make the last goal they needed, mere seconds before Seth caught the snitch. He wasn't surprised that it had been his actions that had led to Gryffindor house winning the Quidditch cup this year. He wasn't. At least, that's what he was telling everyone who would listen.
He wasn't sure where the Butterbeer and food had all came from, it always seemed to just appear as soon as the games were over, but he was taking full advantage of it. Enjoying his second Butterbeer, he meandered his way over to where Lily was leaning on a wall with Carlee.
"Give the lad a round of applause." Carlee said, pursing her lips, shaking her head and clapping a hand on his shoulder. Lily laughed and James fought the urge to roll his eyes. "All joking aside, that last goal really was something."
"Truly spectacular." Lily agreed with a nod. James was almost used the family of butterflies that seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in his stomach when he and Lily were in close proximity. He ran a hand through his hair and mumbled his thanks.
"I think I'm going to go and find Mary now." Carlee said, walking away before either James or Lily had a chance to say anything, not that they would have.
"Well?" Lily looked at James expectantly. When he didn't respond, she added, "Go ahead and tell me how great you were today." James cracked a grin.
"You were at the game, Lils. I think you know how great I was today."
"I do." Lily said with a nod, and James hated the way he could feel his cheeks heating up. And then her face turned bright red. "I mean, I was at the game and I saw you- I do kno-" James watched her continue to blunder through her words for a while longer, completely confused as to why she had said something nice and then blushed. Lily was nice to everyone, her reaction didn't really make a whole lot of sense. "You played really well today. Don't let it go to your head." She finally landed on. James tried to laugh, but he was sure it sounded a bit forced. If she noticed, she didn't let on.
"I promise not to."
"Good."
They stood there quietly, awkwardly. It hadn't ever been like this between them before. They had gone through periods of time when they didn't talk to each other, but they had never felt like this before. Neither one of them knew what to say to the other, but neither one of them seemed to want to be the first to walk away, either.
"That was quite the long game today." Lily finally managed to say something and James nodded quickly, maybe a bit too eager to start up another conversation.
"Yeah, yeah, Ravenclaw's defense was a lot better than we had anticipated. I think we should all blame the Smith brothers. Richard isn't on the team or anything, but him and Joe are still two of the most competitive people when it comes to the house games. If Richard was laying into him, then he must have been having his team run extra drills and the like…" Lily was nodding along, doing her best to look interested, but James had lost her there in the middle. "Sorry. You watched the game. You know what happened, you don't need all the technical talk."
"No, it's okay. I just, well I'm not too familiar with Richard or Josiah. The only time I hear them talk is at the games. And from where I was sitting, it looked like our offence was keeping up just fine. It was just a long game is all. Both teams really wanted it. Though Ravenclaw just wanted to prevent us from winning the cup three years in a row, but still, they really didn't want us to win which seemed like all the incentive they needed." She took a deep breath and looked around the room at the celebrating Gryffindors, missing the grin on James' face. "I mean, everyone always talks about the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry, but Ravenclaws might have an even bigger problem with our house."
"I didn't know you were so invested in the outcome of the games." James said, still grinning at her like before. She looked up at him and blushed.
"House pride and all that." She stammered. She was confusing him again. James always reacted to Lily like this, but she never reciprocated the awkward. She was playing with her hair and avoiding eye contact and blushing. She was acting like she fancied him. It made him feel much more confident.
"Are you sure that your interest wasn't peaked because of a certain," He shook his head and puffed out his chest, "Gryffindor chaser." Lily's blush disappeared, but her eyes lit up and she laughed.
"Oh yes, James. You had me swooning in the stands. Carlee had to keep a cool rag on hand the entire time." She put and hand on her forehead and leant back dramatically.
"I never meant to do harm to your health." James sighed, and looked down at the floor, trying to keep himself from smiling. "Perhaps it would be best if you refrained from attending any more games."
"Maybe that would be best. It's lucky that the last game of the term was today."
"Yes, I wouldn't want your health suffering anymore on my account."
"And I probably wouldn't have been able to refrain myself from going to watch you play either."
"I know. I know." James put his hands up, and Lily lost it. She threw her head back and James found himself a bit to mesmerized with watching her to join in. When she finally calmed down a bit and looked at his face, she stopped smiling quite suddenly.
"I wasn't laughing to be mean-"
"No, I know. We were doing a bit, it was funny."
"Then why weren't you laughing." She had to ask the difficult questions. James' hand jumped to the back of his head.
"I was, just not quite as enthusiastically as you were." Lily looked at him skeptically and James remembered that she had just been blushing only moments before. He took a deep breath, "You look really pretty when you're laughing."
Lily felt like someone had just walked by and sucked all the air out of the room. She felt as though her stomach had dropped down to her feet and exploded at the same time, she wanted to throw up and giggle hysterically, and neither feeling was stronger than the other so she just stood there with her mouth slightly ajar and stared at James like a fish.
James laughed nervously, and his hand jumped to his hair. "I was just saying, because it's true. Not because- I mean I was- I was just saying. Sometimes things pop into my head and I just say them without thinking and that was one of those times. I don't have any ulterior motives or anything, I just- I'm rambling now. Feel free to stop me anytime."
"No no no. Sorry, I'm just not used to people complementing me. You caught me by surprise. Thank you." James relaxed, but Lily was still trying to will her stomach to get out of her feet.
"What do you mean you're not used to getting complements. You should get complements all the time, look at you! Sorry. I'm doing it again." Lily tried to laugh this time, but it sounded a bit strangled.
"What's got into you today?"
"Must be a Quidditch high."
It was then that Lily was struck with a very disconcerting realization. Sure her stomach felt like it suddenly weighed six hundred pounds and she felt the urge puke all over him, but there were butterflies and she felt jittery and liked the fact that he thought she was pretty. She quite fancied James Potter. When she realized that, she felt even more like she was about to throw up.
"I have to go now." Lily said quickly, rushing all the words together.
"What? Where?" James asked, walking along next to her when she spun around and started towards the stairs.
"Bed. It's been a long day."
"It's only eight."
"I know, but I have to finish up some homework and that will take me quite a while and-"
"And I made you uncomfortable?"
"No!" Lily said a bit too loudly, causing some of the other students to stop their dancing and eating to look at her and James. "No," She said quieter. "I'm just tired."
"Are you sure it wasn't something I did?"
"I'm sure." She said, avoiding eye contact.
"You're acting strange and not looking at me." James huffed. "I told you the only reason I said it was because-"
"I just need to go and do my homework now."
"Lily!" But she didn't stop, she raced up the stairs and into the dormitory. Savanna, Mary and Arianna were sitting on the rug playing Exploding Snap.
"Oh, Lily! You want to join in? We just started-" Lily ran past them, into the bathroom. Luckily no one was in there, so she slammed the door and walked over to the sink, putting her hands on either side of it.
"Deep breaths, Lily." She whispered to herself. "Everyone says stupid things sometimes. Everyone. James says stupid stuff all the time, he's not going to hold this over your head."
And while that may be true, one thing was quite plane, things between James and Lily were about to change for better or worse.
AN: Don't forget to leave me tons of reviews because I live off of them. They are crucial to my survival.