Skipped ahead a little…no big. Also, it's short so…sorry. Sorry a lot. Also also, this chapter is for Untamed Loner because I was at my grandmother's house for yet another eventful extended family dinner and I checked this site out...your review made me very very happy.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Potter passes the Quaffle…it's intercepted by Slytherin's Avery! He speeds toward the post, but Black knocks him off course with a well placed Bludger and Potter catches the Quaffle! Potter's going in alone AND HE SCORES! SIXTY TO FIFTY GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd went wild, most of it decked out in red and gold. The Quidditch Cup match was well underway and it was a close one. At this point, it was anybody's game with six hard working Chasers and two very frustrated Seekers. The matching of Gryffindor and Slytherin was always intense, but today it was insane. James had nearly lost his head from a few intentional incidents with a Bludger.

Lily had spent a good portion of the match with her head buried in her hands next to Abby, Remus and Peter. Every time a Bludger made its way within five feet of James she got incredibly nervous.

"Poor Lily is going to have an anxiety attack!" Abby shouted to Peter as the crowd went wild; James had passed the Quaffle to Jacobs and he scored. Peter laughed as he saw Lily cover her eyes again as James gracefully dodged another Bludger.

"THE SEEKERS ARE DIVING!" All play stopped as the Chasers, Beaters and Keepers watched the race to the Snitch.

The two Slytherin beaters seized the opportunity that was presented and aimed both Bludgers at James. One of them hit him in the stomach and one of them got his face, but not before he saw the Slytherin Seeker catch the Snitch. He fell from his broom on impact and blacked out from being hit in the head.

When James came to he was in the Hospital Wing and his head was pounding. He moaned at the pain and wondered where his glasses were.

Upon hearing the noise, Lily popped up. She had been in a light sleep, her head resting on the bedside table as she sat in a chair. "Evenin', sleepy head," she said, smiling. She handed him his glasses and, as he sat up, a potion. "Madame Pomfrey said you'd have a headache when you woke up and to drink this," Lily said.

James drank it as quickly as he could and coughed once it went down. "Gross," he muttered.

"She said you need to spend the night and she'll let you go after a morning exam," Lily went on, putting the goblet back on the bedside table.

"Thanks," James said. He smiled and said, "How scared were you that whole game?"

Lily scrunched her nose at him, pretending to be angry and he laughed. "I have good news for you," she said, ignoring his question. "Slytherin got disqualified…I know you know that they got the Snitch."

James nodded and excitedly said, "Is it for the Bludgers?!"

"No," said Lily, "though I doubt those two will ever play another game of Quidditch so long as they live. Did you know that the Snitch is charmed to turn red if you cheat?"

"Nope."

"Well neither did Slytherin," said Lily. "The Seeker summoned the Snitch. He had his wand."

"Those dirty bastards!" James exclaimed, getting riled up.

"Shh," Lily said, placing a finger over her lips. "Pomfrey will kick me out! Slytherin got disqualified, so Gryffindor is going to play Ravenclaw for the Cup after exams."

"After exams?!" James repeated. He groaned. "No one's going to come to practice during exams week."

"Correction, there will be no practices during exams week for either team," said Lily. "Dumbledore says that the teams are allowed two practices each before exams week and then one practice at the end of the week before the match. Ravenclaw gets Friday afternoon and you guys get Friday night."

James bit his lip and said, "I hope we can pull this off."

"You'll be fine," Lily said with a huge reassuring smile. "What I'm worried about," she went on, "is Remus."

James looked up at his girlfriend, a smile playing on his lips. "Sirius won't speak to him ever again unless he out-Beats Deb in the match." He laughed. "This should be interesting…"

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Exams hit Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry like a ton of bricks propelled forward at speeds of over one hundred miles per hour. And yes, it was very painful. N.E.W.T.s were officially the most evil things in the entire world.

"And I thought O.W.L.s were bad!" Sirius exclaimed after the second day of exams as he threw himself onto the floor in front of Gryffindor Common Room's fireplace.

Sirius, Abby and James had stopped going down to the Heads' dormitories after the first day of the Evil Exam Lily's emergence. Sirius and Abby had moved themselves back up to Gryffindor for fear of breathing too loud while Lily was trying to study for her N.E.W.T.s. James had taken to studying up in Gryffindor (and plotting end of the year pranks and such) with the other Marauders and around eleven o'clock he would sneak down to Lily's room and they would sleep only to do it all over again the next day.

It was brutal.

"When's your last exam?" James whispered quietly to the ticking time bomb that was once his girlfriend. They were sitting at the breakfast table on Thursday morning. The last time James had spoken to loudly to her while she ate she nearly fell off of the bench.

"Tomorrow at two," Lily said. She was rocking back and forth slightly, but James decided it was against his best interests to comment.

"Okay," James said softly. "May I give you a kiss on the cheek?"

Lily nodded, not really listening to him as she became lost in her Arithmancy notes again. James leaned over and pecked her on the cheek. She was so surprised that he made contact that she did fall off of the chair.

Smiling innocently, James said, "I love you, Lily."

Lily left the Hall without another word to him, though she was muttering angrily to herself under her breath.

"James is in the doghouse!" Sirius chanted, pointing and laughing at his best friend.

Abby slapped Sirius in the back of the head as Remus said, "Don't worry about it, James. It'll all be over when the clock hits three fifteen tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank Merlin for it," James said, poking his sausage with his fork. "I get nothing because of these stupid N.E.W.T.s."

"Prongs…shh."

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From this point on I'm moving at a bit of a faster pace than before (in my own opinion) so be prepared for that. Thanks for reading.