Jennifer Till was on the verge of exploding. She was on the cusp of some great, big, grand bang to turn her upside-down world back upright, where it could continue to crawl in the correct direction, and live out the rest of its grub-hunting life otherwise unperturbed by moral quandaries and personal grudges.

"Lily Evans," she muttered viciously under her breath. The cold made her words hit the air in dramatic puffs of condensation, stepping into the role of the actual fire dragon of the whole operation. "What did you do?"

The Millennium Falcons, with the exception of the Prewett twins who had NEWT-preparatory Herbology, were surrounding Dorcas on the dead-leaf-strewn green of the Quidditch pitch. And Jen had pulled me aside by the elbow to berate me for giving Dorcas Meadowes a try-out.

Dorcas was winning first place for most sighs heard around the world.

Jen's dark eyes were narrowed at me, the skin between her eyebrows pulled tight into a devastating frown.

"We took a vote," I said. "The team agreed to give her a try-out."

Her eyes took a nasty roll. "Don't try to put this on them, Lily. You know how I feel about her!"

I grimaced, and looked anywhere but at her face. There was a small patch of snow-burned grass peeking through the snow bluffs at the inside perimeter of the pitch. I crossed my arms, attempting to abate the cold and Jen's vicious glare. "Yes, I know."

"And I don't understand how you don't feel the same way—after, I mean after everything you've been through!" She was sputtering so quickly that sparks were flying out of the end of her wand. "And she—she didn't want to 'take sides'? I'm sorry, but did she pull that bright idea from a Niffler's dumpster?"

"Jen."

"Do not 'Jen,' me, Lily. I'm very cross."

"It's just a try-out."

She stared at me very hard for what felt like an excruciating minute. "Fine. But I'm not speaking to her directly unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Fair enough."

"Just—Lily?" Her voice softened and her gaze turned from one of fury to worry. "You'll be alright, won't you?"

I threw her a smile. "As long as I've got you by my side, my best pal, I think I'll be just fine."

Another eyeroll, but she fought off a smile like a champion.

"Team, huddle in!" I shouted. They all jogged towards Jen and me with their brooms in hand. "Since we can't play an actual game of Hippogriff during OFD, I've an idea."

The game was set. I'd recruited some of the best flyers I knew to act as judges, and posted them at various levels around the pitch.

James blew a very unsubtle kiss at me from his place near the western goal hoops. I ignored the butterfly garden that came alive in my stomach. James always had a way of making me giddy, even and especially when he was being an absolute flirt.

I turned back and squared my shoulders to get my mind back in the game.

Four of us would fly against Dorcas for the first round of her try-out. Three laps around the Quidditch pitch to get an idea of her average speed under duress. Jen would time each of our laps.

I shivered. Considering my most recent trip to the infirmary, I'd politely declined Abed's gracious Warming Charm. Thus, I was draped over my broom to avoid the piercing cold of the wind on my face, hovering just above the mid-level stands so as to avoid most of the students in Operation Fire Dragon. To my left were Caradoc and Abed, and to my right, Harriet and Dorcas. As soon as we set off for the race, I'd warm up again.

We just had to be sure we would be completely inconspicuous to the rest of our peers and Madam Hooch.

Although both Jen and Dorcas had assured me that we weren't breaking any rules, and the Head Boy was nothing but supportive, I felt we could all be deluding ourselves and headed straight for terrific trouble.

Sirius and Marlene, therefore, had taken it upon themselves to distract any suspicious Slytherins by "practicing" their Beater skills in their very near vicinity.

And Remus, clever swot that he is, thought now would be the perfect time to engage Madam Hooch in a conversation about a broom registry for student athletic teams.

Sometimes, it really did pay to date a Marauder; you got the entire gang to support you in all of your rule-breaking endeavors.

Then there was Peter, who had recently learned how to conjure flutes and had Transfigured for himself a very unnecessary whistle that somehow sounded like a screeching baby dragon. He'd also appointed himself the starter, so we were to stay put until we heard his Godric-awful whistle pierce the otherwise cheerful din of the pitch.

And yet, other times, dating a Marauder also came with dragon whistles. So, double-edged sword and all of that.

"Alright, everyone. Three laps 'round the pitch, no contact!" Peter bellowed.

I sat bolt upright. Thank Godric we were about to start! I was turning into a human icicle!

Caradoc's hand shot into the air.

Peter blinked, surprised by the interruption. "Er. Yes, Dearborn?"

He pushed his orange glasses up his nose with one finger on the bridge. "What if we're hit by a stray Bludger?"

Peter shrugged.

I cleared my throat. I knew if the Doc didn't get a specific answer, he would bombard us with Bludger after Bludger of follow-up questions. "Try not to get hit, but in the event that you do get hit, you must decide whether you can continue with the race, or if you must forfeit to seek medical attention."

Caradoc nodded once. "Thank you, Captain."

"Right, any more questions?" I asked, eager to get on with the race and warm the blood in my veins.

"I've got a question!" said a very high-pitched, very irate voice. "How come you didn't ask me to try out?"

We all turned our broomsticks in the direction of Mary Macdonald, who looked as though she had somehow gathered up the wind's fury and bound it to her, her Farrah Fawcett feathered hair billowing behind her in angry waves.

My eyebrows went up in alarm. "Oh! I thought you said you were busy revising for NEWT Charms?"

"So Dorcas gets to be on your team, but I'm too stupid, is that it?" A stray piece of fringe wandered in front of her eyes, and she swatted it away rather violently.

"Alright, firstly, no—that's not what's happening—"

"Oi, let her have a try-out, Cap," said Harriet.

I stared at my teammates, and at Dorcas, who was turning quite pink in the face.

"I don't mind, Lily," said Abed.

"Could increase our competitiveness," agreed Caradoc.

I didn't want to waste another moment. Our judges were waiting for the dragon whistle, and I was another gust of wind from freezing to my broomstick.

I looked back at Mary and shook my head of all the arguments I'd come up with to defend myself. They didn't matter. "Yes, of course you can try out, Mary. You're more than welcome."

Mary jutted out her chin and took her place next to Dorcas.

"On your marks," called Peter.

My grip on the broomstick tightened.

"Get set!"

I rolled my shoulders back and made sure I had perfect form. This wasn't just a try-out, it was practice. I didn't need two more flyers on our team, but I did need inside support. The Millennium Falcons were more than just a Hippogriff team after all; we were a revolution.

Peter blew on his terrible whistle, and the sound of a dozen screeching baby dragons set us off across the pitch.

Instantly, we flattened ourselves against our brooms, attempting to create as much aerodynamism as possible as we cut through the air. I leaned into the first turn, inching past Abed, and felt my heart beat faster with the exercise, the blood warming me through.

Of course, Harriet overtook us by the end of the first lap, with Mary and Caradoc following closely behind. Dorcas, Abed, and I were fighting for fourth place.

It was at this point that I probably should have foreseen what happened next. Peter's liberal whistling (a chorus of baby dragons screeched at each of us as we finished a lap) had alerted a swarm of students to us, and they'd decided to join in on our very casual, not-at-all-part-of-a-conspiratorial-try-out of a broom race.

And they had no idea about the no-contact rule.

"HIPPOGRIFF, HIP-HIP!" laughed one Hufflepuff as she knocked into me, severely throwing off my center of balance.

I struggled for several seconds to regain my balance, and by then, I'd been overtaken by the entire try-out cohort, and surrounded on all sides by new flocks of students, locking me into their own pace.

I was trapped, and all I could do was watch.

From a distance, I watched Abed evade a rogue Bludger effortlessly. Only a few weeks ago, he would have panicked and flown out of the circuit and straight out of the race to dodge it. Now, however, his movements looked easy and light.

I watched as the Doc and Harriet fought furiously for first place, each pushing themselves and each other faster and faster, sharpening their steering and evasion skills at higher speeds.

I watched as Dorcas swiftly outflew Mary, who only seemed to push herself even harder as a result. It was not a quality I'd ever associated with Mary. I mean, this was Mary, who gave up studying and writing essays at the first sign of a challenge; Mary, who'd never done anything about her crush on Remus and simply moved on when he was finally unavailable; Mary, who would rather sit and whinge for hours than do anything she considered impossible.

Perhaps joining a Hippogriff team would be good for her.

Another student's robes whipped at my face, and I instinctively swung around my broomstick in a barrel roll to avoid any more contact with the offensive article. A month ago, I could barely board a broom without my limbs shaking like a first year during the Sorting Hat ceremony.

Another round of Peter's whistles signaled the end of the second lap as my teammates prepared for their final circuit of the pitch.

I decided to fly above the crowd of bodies obstructing me from the rest of my cohort. It was a risky move—it definitely made me an easier target for brutal tackling and a well-aimed Bludger.

However, from my position above the crowd, I could keep a better eye on my team. They were fast approaching the other side of the pitch, and just on their tails was a group of Ravenclaw boys headed straight for Dorcas and Mary. One of them had something under his arm.

Too late, I realized it was a Bludger. I was too far away to cast an accurate Immobulus Charm, so I attempted a Sonorus to project my voice across the pitch. "OI!" I yelled, and several pairs of eyes turned, startled, to find the source of the booming voice was none other than their beloved Head Girl looking like a panic-stricken peregrine as I zoomed overhead.

Not a single person in the group of Ravenclaws was one of them. The students just below me slowed their pace as I flew past them, and I spotted a few beaters' bats making an appearance between the Ravenclaw boys.

"DORCAS! MARY! WATCH OUT!" I called, leaning forward and edging my broom faster furiously.

It all happened so quickly after that.

Mary looked back at me in alarm, then at Dorcas, who was right behind her, and finally, her gaze caught on the Bludger headed right towards Dorcas.

Her eyes went wide and she stopped dead in the air, causing Dorcas to swerve beneath her to avoid contact. Almost inevitably, the Bludger meant for Dorcas hit Mary right between the shoulder blades with a loud thud, knocking her forwards and clean off the broom.

My own shoulders tensed sympathetically at the painful sight.

By the grace of Merlin, Dorcas reacted just as quickly as Mary and was able to catch Mary in her lap before she plummeted too far towards the ground.

Mary's broom, on the other hand, was not as lucky, and hit the ground with a clattering to end all clatterings. Dorcas flew them gently to the ground before disembarking and setting Mary down near the entrance to the showers.

I dived towards them as quickly as I could, leaping off my broom and across the short distance between us as the rest of the team touched down behind me.

"MARY?" I yelled as I approached, having forgotten to end the Sonorus Charm on my voice.

Dorcas pointed her wand at me and said, "Finite Incantatum!"

I coughed and was relieved to find it at a normal volume. "Thanks," I said.

She nodded, and turned back to Mary.

"Mary, are you alright?" I asked, crouching down next to my fallen friend. Her normally picture-perfect feathered hair was windblown and tangled around her face in huge, blonde knots.

"I'm fine," she said. She tried to comb her fingers through the hair in front of her face. "My hair's a mess."

"Here." Dorcas's wand went to work as she carefully untangled Mary's hair and set it back to full-feathered perfection with rather a stunning expertise. She'd always had a way with her wandwork.

Mary flipped through the ends of her hair with her fingertips. "Wow, thanks Dorcas," she said.

Dorcas smiled a small smile. "It's nothing," she said, twirling her wand idly in her hands.

"How's your back?" I asked Mary. "That was quite the blow you took on behalf of your competitor."

"They were aiming for her head," was all she said. She winced slightly as she picked herself up off the ground. "Besides, I knew she'd catch me if I fell."

Dorcas blushed. "Thank you for doing that, Mary."

Mary smiled and shrugged. "I learned from the best." She directed a nod in my direction.

I was so touched that my eyes blurred with unshed tears. "Mary," I said, my voice all soft.

Mary waved me off, but grinned. She turned to Dorcas. "You should know...being a Millennium Falcon doesn't just mean you can fly. It means you take care of each other, even the person that's meant to be your rival."

I was ready to go in for a group hug at that. There I was: Lily Evans, Friendship Mender and Harbinger of Peace! And with the best friends a girl could ask for!

Behind me, Jen coughed.

"Congratulations. You're all three of you in dead last place," she deadpanned.

… Perhaps Mary should be my new best pal.

"Better dead last than plain dead," Marlene joked, coming up to lean her muscular arm on Jen's shoulder. "You two alright?" she asked Dorcas and Mary.

Mary grinned, rolling her shoulders back. "Just a bit sore, Marls. Thanks for asking."

Marlene grinned back, then swiveled her attention to Dorcas, who seemed to blush even more profusely than ever before. She only nodded in reply.

"Well, I suppose we'd better get on with it, then." Jen, wearing her grudge against Dorcas like the most uncomfortable of skins, walked as though covered in troll bogeys to the middle of the pitch.

The rest of the team followed her, their brooms low to the ground. Above us, James and Remus assuaged the concerns of a hawk-eyed Madam Hooch. A few curt nods of her head, and she swept away to yell at some Slytherin girls who had taken her momentary distraction to lounge on the Quidditch hoops.

"Who won this time?" I heard Sirius ask Marlene, who answered that it had been Caradoc, but only by a nose ahead of Harriet.

James touched down and sidled up beside me as we walked a ways behind the rest of our friends. "Apparently, a certain Owen Holt was rejected by our Dorcas last week and he decided some retribution via Bludger attack was in order."

"Is that what that was? What a horrible boy!" I gasped. I couldn't imagine why anyone would resort to such violence over a romantic rebuff. As far as I was concerned, Dorcas was absolutely correct to deny Owen Holt any returned affections. I made a mental note to recommend a disciplinary hearing for his misconduct later that day.

I pulled James's hand up to my lips for a chaste kiss.

His eyes snapped to mine, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "What was that for?"

"For putting up with all of my rejections without taking a Bludger to my head. Consider it a gesture of appreciation."

He threw his head back and laughed, his eyes lighting up with the glee of several mischievous pixies. James dropped his broom and grabbed me by the shoulders, his eyes still laughing at me, and my world went completely blank except for him. He leaned in close and said softly, "Lily Evans, after all this time, surely you must know—I could never dream of hurting you."

I couldn't have kissed him faster.

"Although, there was that time with the giant squid," he murmured, laughing against my lips.

Oh, the infamous Giant Squid Incident of 1971. First year.

We had just met, and I'd already made up my mind about James Potter, though he'd somehow managed to woo the rest of Gryffindor Tower with his antics.

When the last class of our very first week had let out, all the first years bounded outside to explore the Hogwarts grounds on a partly cloudy September afternoon. It was then that Severus and I had found The Tree—the sacred, red-as-my-hair sycamore tree that would become central to our friendship over the years.

Anyway, at some point, James had declared to anyone listening that he could definitely wrangle the Giant Squid and ride it across the Great Lake.

I'd made the mistake of scoffing at the idea, which had only egged him on, and he attempted to lure the squid towards the shoreline. But the Giant Squid had only bobbed at the surface long enough to blink lazily at James before sinking back into the dark waters and disappearing, uninterested.

And when I'd laughed, openly and unabashedly, James had turned bright red and cast Piscifors at me, which instantly Transfigured me into a fish.

I pulled back from present-day-James's embrace to give him a shit-eating grin. "And if I recall, I got you back for that."

You see, even though I'd been Transfigured into a fish and no longer had arms or a wand or the ability to breathe in air, I'd gained very fishy sensibilities. And as a fish, I'd flopped into the lake water out of instinct, pulling as much oxygen into my new fish-gills as possible, and barreled straight for a bed of kelp to hide from any predators in the green-tinged water. Everything had been just shades and shades of green.

The water had been cool against my scaly skin, and for several moments, all I could do was continue to follow my fishy instincts and swim through the currents of the Great Lake. I might have passed near any number of magical marine creature, but as a first year, I would have only recognized a merperson, and thankfully, I hadn't the misfortune to swim into any of them.

As I'd swum deeper through the lake, the sunlight growing fainter and the water getting colder, I'd felt a great shudder throughout my new fish body. I'd floated up several feet quite suddenly, feeling a great tingling run down my fishy spine. It seemed that even though James had shown great power and Transfiguration knowledge for a first-year, his spell had already begun to wane.

I'd managed to swim down a depth that my human body would find intolerable, and I panicked, wondering if I'd have enough time to get to the surface before finding myself with human lungs.

And that was when I'd caught sight of the Giant Squid, clinging to the face of an algae-covered boulder submerged much deeper in the lake waters. Something in me told me that if I wanted to survive, I needed to make my way towards the squid. Against all reason, I did.

By the time I'd Transfigured back into a human again, I'd reached him.

I had no way of knowing this at the time, but the Giant Squid was placed into the Great Lake with the sole purpose of fishing out any wayward Hogwarts students and depositing them safely back onto the shore. And thank Merlin for that, because at the sight of me so dangerously deep in the waters, the Giant Squid had immediately swung into action.

To everyone's surprise—especially my own—it was I, Lily Evans, Tamer of Marine Creatures and Great Lake Adventurer, and not James Potter, Lame Ding-Dong and Overall Loser, who had ridden the Giant Squid across the Great Lake that evening.

And yet, he'd never held it against me. Though he was obviously shocked, an eleven-year-old James Potter had laughed at the sight, and practically fell over himself apologizing and bombarding me with questions about the experience.

I supposed I hadn't really held it against him, either. Potential drowning aside, it had been my first truly magical adventure after all.

Present-day James smiled his stupidly aristocratic smile at me, his eyes sparkling. "Truly, we were made for each other, Evans."

"Welcome to The Bludger Zone," Jen said. We stood in a semicircle around her as she explained the next round of the try-out. "So named because our gracious volunteers"—Sirius and Marlene hooted and did a bit of disco arms—"will be pelting you with several Bludgers as you and your partner throw and catch an apophyllite stone in midair. The person who gets hit the least wins."

"I'd consider it a win to get through this round alive," muttered Abed.

We all laughed.

"Alright, partner up," instructed Jen.

Harriet bounded over to Abed and punched him in the arm, and Mary went straight for Caradoc, who seemed to brighten considerably at the sight of her.

That left Dorcas with me.

I suppressed a sigh as best I could, and made my way toward her.

Jen handed out clear apophyllite stones to each pair. When she got to me, she raised her eyebrows just subtly enough as her gaze flickered over to my partner, as if to say, Is this what you wanted?

She did not deign to look at Dorcas.

I pursed my lips.

I wanted to be Lily Evans, Pillar of Strength, Courage, and Fairness. I wanted to be able to forgive my friends when they hurt me. I wanted to let people make their mistakes and learn from them. I wanted to be the sort that gave people second chances.

I wanted to do this all without falling victim to my own naïveté. Who was to say Dorcas wasn't working for Bellatrix and The Twenty-Eights, tasked to bring us down from the inside once she'd snagged a place within the team?

I wanted to be able to trust her, and trust my own judgment, but every time Jen pulled a face, or Dorcas refused to meet my eyes, a tiny seed of doubt sprouted itself in my heart.

Dorcas had barely said a word to me since lunch. If ever there was a team-building exercise, The Bludger Zone had to be it.

My fingers wrapped themselves around the cool stone in my hands. I tossed it casually over at Dorcas with a sudden, "Heads up!"

Her reflexes were impressive. Her arm sprung out in front of her and cut through the air in one quick, decisive movement, the stone safely secured in her hand.

"Oh, well done," I said. I vaguely remembered how much more precise Dorcas's wand movements were in Transfiguration. I should have known her hand-eye coordination was near the topside of perfect. "Keep that up and we'll have the best scores out of the whole team."

She laughed shyly once and tossed the stone back at me. Still, not a word passed from her lips.

At that moment, Jen called the judges to their places, Remus was dispatched to once again distract Madam Hooch with a few follow-up questions, and Jen promptly Vanished Peter's dragon whistle on its way up to his mouth.

"Oi!" he said, disgruntled. He conjured up another flute and began to Transfigure it into a second whistle, at which point Jen confiscated his wand with a casual, "Expelliarmus!"

His wand zipped across the air, causing a stream of colorful swears to fill the air like offensive little rainbows.

James laughed as he flew past. "Two points for swearing, Wormtail!"

"What?! And no points for illegal confiscation of your best mate's wand?" spluttered Peter.

James made no reply.

"PRONGS!" called Peter after him. "YOUR BEST MATE'S WAND?!"

"Don't think he heard you, mate," I said.

James gleefully called back, "I heard him!" and zipped over to the western stands.

"I stand corrected."

Peter shot me a glare and started grumbling, fiddling with the shiny, golden flute in his hands. "Can't even play the flute," I heard him mutter.

"Flyers at the ready," Jen instructed.

Dorcas and I took our places behind Caradoc and Mary.

"Now on my count—"

Peter interrupted her. "On my FLUTE! You thief," he accused. "At least give me this one thing!"

Jen rolled her eyes but nodded in acquiescence. "Alright, on Pettigrew's flute—Godric help us all—you fly up thirty feet and enter the Bludger Zone!"

Peter lifted the flute just below his lips, the body of the flute jutting to his right. He made eye contact with each of us, said, "Ready?" and blew five times, a dull metallic sound urging us to begin our midair game of catch through the Bludger Zone.

Dorcas and I had a rough start. She threw the apophyllite stone ahead of herself, so I had to race to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Dorcas, what was that?" I yelled, irritated.

A Bludger whizzed past my left ear, and I scrambled out of its way.

"Just throw it back!" Dorcas yelled back as she dodged another incoming Bludger.

I was about to throw it at her when she raced ahead.

"DORCAS!" I bellowed.

How was I supposed to throw my stone if she wasn't even going to try to catch it?!

I swivelled around to see how the other pairs were doing. They were far behind us, but they were actually tossing the stones between them.

Dorcas yelled, "Whenever you're ready, then!"

I turned back and rolled my eyes, throwing the apophyllite stone at an awaiting Dorcas, who caught it one-handed, and immediately threw it ahead of her.

I dived for it, scrambling around another Bludger as my fingers wrapped around it.

But we were already so low to the ground that I didn't have time to pull out of my dive. Instead, I tumbled off my broom and across the autumnal ground.

I heard Jen scream above me, followed by a very faint flute as she called for a timeout.

"Lily! Are you alright? What happened?" Jen pulled me up off the ground.

My robes were covered in dead leaves and bits of snow-burned grass. I tried to brush off as much as I could.

"It's nothing," I said.

"Did you get hit?" she asked, her eyes large with worry.

I shook my head. "No, I was just trying to catch the stone."

"Had you dropped it?"

"No, Dorcas just threw it a bit out of reach."

Dorcas touched down beside me. Before either of us could say anything, Jen wheeled on her.

"Do you know what it takes to be on a team?" she said. "It means you have to be dependable, reliable—you have to be there for your partner no matter what." She practically growled the last sentence at her. "You can't just expect them to magically know your next move, you have to communicate!"

Dorcas went pale.

"Jen, it's okay, I'm okay—" I began.

But then Jen turned on me. "And you have to be able to tell people when something isn't working for you! This game is dangerous. You can't compromise yourself and your own safety for the sake of being polite!"

I was stunned.

Jen turned back to Dorcas. "So if I'm your partner and want you to catch our Snitch, then I make sure I have your attention. Do I have your attention?" She didn't even wait for an answer before angrily throwing an apophyllite stone at Dorcas, who flinched when she caught it.

"I—I'm sorry," Dorcas sputtered.

"Oh, now you're sorry?!" Jen screamed. "Now? For being an imbecile at a game of catch? As if that should cover it!"

"Jen," I warned.

"And you're being an imbecile, too!" she screamed at me. "And I'm not sorry for pointing it out!"

"No," said Dorcas quietly, looking at the ground. "No, that's not what I meant." She sucked in a steadying breath. "I didn't come to you to ask for a try-out, Lily. Not that I don't appreciate you giving me the chance."

"Then what the hell are we all here for?" asked Jen, her hands going up in exasperation.

I held out a finger at Jen, gesturing her to be quiet. She grunted in response.

Dorcas finally met my eyes. "I wanted to apologize to you. For before—for everything." And then, after not having spoken more than a few words to me since lunch, she went on to apologize in a way that made me think she had to have rehearsed it several times before delivering it to me:

"I want to reiterate, just so that we understand each other; I admit that I was totally in the wrong. I didn't understand why things happened the way that they did—why you fell out with Snape, or why it was such a big deal, or why the rest of you made it into this battle. I didn't understand why you, Jen, got so angry at me for not immediately choosing sides, why all of you just stopped talking to me. I didn't think I had done anything wrong. I thought I was being neutral, staying out of things. I just didn't understand the scope of the situation, even when you tried to explain it to me. I wasn't listening." She took a breath, shaking out her short hair.

Her brown eyes locked with mine, conveying so much culpability that I had to look away.

"I suppose, in your eyes, it seemed like I was siding with Severus?"

I nodded.

Jen said, "Yes."

She frowned. "That's what I thought, but by the time I had realized that, it had gotten too awkward between all of us, and anytime I got within a few feet of you, Jen, well, you would glare at me, and I was frightened you would hex me just for looking at Lily."

Jen rolled her eyes.

I snorted. "Jen would only hex someone if they'd signed a consent form, probably."

"Oh, stuff it," Jen muttered. "I'm not required to do any such thing by Wizarding law."

Despite ourselves, Dorcas and I laughed. "You're still terrifying," Dorcas said. "I thought you were magnificent, by the way, how you'd dealt with Mr. Malfoy on the pitch that day."

Jen bit back a smile, but I could tell she was pleased by the compliment.

Dorcas tutted. "I should have known then what I was getting myself into! The way that man spoke about me—as though I were actual scum on the bottom of his shoe!"

I recalled the moment vividly. I'd been appalled on her behalf, but there had seemed to be more pressing issues at that moment.

"And none of my teammates stood up for me, or contradicted him, or even tried to console me about it afterwards," she continued.

"You think they were just staying out of it?" Jen asked, slyly.

Dorcas's cheeks colored, and she looked away. "Well," she said. "I can't do anything to change the way I behaved or thought in the past, but I really hope that you can accept my apology, and maybe, eventually count me as a friend again?" She smiled, but I could see the guilt in her eyes again, and it wasn't a look I was particularly comfortable seeing.

And that's how I realized that I had already forgiven her.

At some point, between my awkward and indirect falling out with Dorcas and finding her bleeding and weak on the dirt floor of a tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, I'd understood why Dorcas had chosen to "stay out of things."

Jen scoffed.

I looked from Jen's expression of Are you kidding me? to Dorcas's guilty eyes and sighed for the millionth time, it seemed. "Dorcas, I get it. You didn't want to get involved. Political debates aren't for everyone, and they're even more difficult to understand when it isn't you on the receiving end of pureblood supremacy. Although, I suppose Mr. Malfoy gave you a small taste of that."

"I should have just been your friend and defended you," she insisted.

Jen's eyebrows went up in surprise. I didn't think she'd expected that from Dorcas.

I smiled, because I understood that Dorcas got it. And possibly, so did I. "You were also Snape's friend. And that's a tricky position to be in when you're unaware of the implications of someone calling me a Mudblood."

Dorcas breathed in very quickly, alarmed at my choice of words. "That's what confused me. I know it's impolite to use, but it's never occurred to me why exactly it was so offensive. I know he tried to apologize several times, but—"

Or maybe not.

"It wasn't just that he called me that, Dorcas," I started, interrupting her.

"It's that he believed it," said Jen.

"Believes it, in fact," I said, and launched into a passionate diatribe. "He believes I'm less than him, that I deserve less, am made of less, and therefore can be treated like less than human. He believes that this person who was supposed to be his best friend shouldn't be allowed to exist. He believes that I, and people like me, should be exterminated just because of who we are. That's what that word means."

"It has baggage, it has history, and it has power," Jen added.

"Evil power," Dorcas murmured.

"Exactly," Jen and I said in unison.

"And," Dorcas said, her voice shaking. "I was complicit because I didn't say anything against it. It was just a word to me said in a moment of stress and panic. It didn't mean anything to me."

"It meant everything to me," I replied quietly.

"And me," said Jen. "Maybe it didn't make sense to you at the time, but my parents taught me from a very young age that these prejudices, they hurt everyone because they give power to fear and hatred instead of to love and justice. At any moment, you're either the victim or the beneficiary of prejudice, which means it does affect you, for better or for worse. And if you believe in justice, you'll stand up to prejudice wherever you encounter it."

Dorcas nodded, but her brows furrowed, and her mouth curved downwards in a frown. As she inspected the apophyllite stone in her hand, she said, "It's taken me awhile to realize, but I think I understand now." She put the stone in her robe's pockets and looked up at us. "I'd always prided myself on my intelligence, Ravenclaw and all, you know? I thought the most sensible thing to do in a conflict was to understand both sides and be as diplomatic as possible without siding with anyone. It's centrist, neutral, non-committal. You can't be wrong if you don't pick a side, you see. But it's also…"

She took in a deep breath.

"Cowardly," she declared. "It took being surrounded by pureblood supremacist fascists for me to finally understand that by not saying anything against it, I was complicit in it, enabling its existence. And in that moment, in that forest, I knew I could no longer go on, blissfully unaware and uninterested in this war, knowing that real, live Death Eaters are out there."

"And recruiting," I muttered.

Dorcas nodded emphatically. "Yes, and recruiting students! They're not even picky about how old they are. I saw at least two third-years gathered there that night."

"Dorcas, have you told Headmaster Dumbledore about any of this?" I asked.

"Well, I was hoping you'd take me up to see him." She bit her lip. "That's what I was going to ask, actually, but it seemed more important to ask if you'd forgive me for being such an idiot about everything for so long. More than anything, I missed us being friends. But so many things have changed in the last two years—I mean, Merlin's beard, you're dating James Potter!"

I grinned in spite of myself. "Fifth-year Lily would probably think I was mad."

Jen hummed in agreement.

"Well, to be fair, Fifth-Year Potter was a bit of pillock, and a show-off, wasn't he?" Dorcas said, giggling.

"Oh, absolutely!" I laughed.

"Still is, sometimes," put in Jen.

"Oi!" I said, insulted. "That's my pillock and show-off, alright?"

A smile finally broke out on Jen's face and she and Dorcas laughed together.

Then, Peter's flute sounded dimly from a distance and Jen cursed under her breath as she begrudgingly took off towards him.

Dorcas and I watched her fly clumsily through the air as she yelled disdainfully at him to shut up.

"So will you?" asked Dorcas after a moment.

I looked back at her, my eyebrows crumpling in confusion. "Take you to Dumbledore's office?"

She looked down. "Well, yes. That, too. But—er, well. I meant. Will you accept my apology?"

"Oh!" I answered. "I thought I had? Did I not say?"

Dorcas beamed. "Oh, Lily! I'm so pleased! I'm still so terribly, terribly sorry," she gushed. "I don't know how to make it up to you, but I will try as hard as I can. And I know it's been some time, but I am here for you. Truly, wholeheartedly, and completely."

"Think you can be there for me through the Bludger Zone?" I said.

"You—you still want me to try out?" she asked.

"Well, would you still like to?"

Dorcas blinked, then nodded emphatically.

"Alright, let's get up there, then!"

We took off, and this time, whenever Dorcas threw the stone, she made sure we were both on the same page before launching the apophyllite through the air.

Mary won the Bludger Zone, having skillfully avoided every single Bludger across the pitch. Abed and Dorcas each got hit once, Harriet got hit twice, Caradoc and I got hit three times each, though I maintain the third time shouldn't count because the Bludger hit the edge of my robe and didn't make contact with me directly.

But the real miracle of the day was that Jen had somehow shed off a layer of her grudge against Dorcas. Her frown was less severe, and she even spoke directly to her to tell her she and Abed had tied for second place in the Bludger Zone.

"That was exhilarating!" said Mary, as we huddled once more on the ground.

"It was an honor to try out for you," said Dorcas, tucking her short brown hair behind her ear. "Thank you for your consideration."

Marlene snorted. "I'd forgotten how formal you can be."

Dorcas blushed.

Marlene's eyes glittered. "It's cute."

Mary caught my gaze and her eyes widened, conveying the expression of someone who had just witnessed something salacious.

At least I wasn't the only one to have noticed Marlene flirting.

James stood next to me, his hand trailing lightly up and down my back as we all gathered around Jen's official scoring.

"Mary Macdonald, speed: 7.5, agility: 10, teamwork: 9, communication: 8.5, for an average score of 8.75."

Mary squealed.

Jen hushed her. "Dorcas Meadowes, speed: 8, agility: 9, teamwork: 9, communication: 8.5, for an average score of 8.625."

Dorcas nodded. "Congratulations, Mary," she said. "And thank you, everyone, for the try-out."

She picked up her broom and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Jen called after her. "You didn't let me finish."

Dorcas turned around, but stood rooted to the spot, staring at Jen expectantly.

Jen sighed and took a few steps toward her. "The Millennium Falcons aren't all present. Until we fill in the Prewett twins on the results of today's try-out, we can't make any decisions."

"So I'll await your decision," Dorcas said. She turned around and headed towards the exit.

Mary sauntered over to Jen. "You know, I was beating her on that last lap before I got hit by that Bludger."

"She was using you for drag. She was planning on overtaking you at the next turn," Jen said.

Mary pouted. "Well, in any case, as much fun as this was, I'm not sure I have the time to devote to this, after all. It's going to take a lot of work for me to improve enough to ever play in a real game of Hippogriff, and frankly, I haven't the time."

"Oh my Godric, Mary," I said. "That's exactly what I asked you from the beginning!"

She shrugged. "Yeah, but only after I'd invited myself to try-out because you had failed to do so!"

"You're so annoying," I bit out.

Mary merely curtseyed.

At that moment, Madam Hooch blew her whistle to signal the end of Operation Fire Dragon. Hordes of students touched down around us, and Madam Hooch landed next to me.

"Ms. Evans," she said. "Your Wronski failed you today. I hope you aren't unwell."

"Er…"

My so-called friends sucked in their cheeks and took that as their cue to exit with the rest of the students on the pitch. James, at the very least, squeezed my hand before making his exit.

Hooch's yellow eyes stared unblinkingly at me. "Mr. Lupin told me about your team's idea for a broom registry for athletes."

"He did?"

"Yes, while you and the rest of your team held an unauthorized try-out for Ms. Meadowes."

I stared at her, speechless.

Merlin's beard!

"I think she'd make a good addition to your current talent," she continued, unfazed by the utter terror flowing from my entire being. "And I definitely support the idea of a broom registry."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Merlin's socks!

"Although the next time you try to sneak in a Hippogriff try-out during OFD, I wouldn't be so obvious about it."

Merlin's hat!

Madam Hooch pointed at her ears. "It was that awful whistle that gave it away. A certain Slytherin got a little too suspicious, so Mr. Lupin encouraged other students to join in on the impromptu little race you'd organized."

"Merlin's pants," I whispered, and I felt my ears get hot as I realized I'd actually said that aloud.

Madam Hooch didn't smile at me, exactly, but her piercing gaze softened a little and she said, "Have a good evening, Ms. Evans."

I wished her an excellent evening in return and practically ran off the pitch until I'd reached my friends. They were waiting for me just outside. I relayed to them everything that Madam Hooch had said to me, and they all turned to chastise Peter.

"Okay, sorry! Till, may I have my wand back now?" asked Peter.

"No!" said Jen and I together.

We grinned at each other and high-fived.

It was good to be on the same side again.

A/N: Madam Hooch knows all. It's what makes her such a good referee.

In any case, dear ones, I hope you've enjoyed this extra-long chapter. As always, feel free to follow, favorite, and review to show your support! I appreciate you and your readership.