Disclaimer: When I first wrote Alice Longbottom into the story, I gave her the last name Cooper, thinking it had a nice ring to it. Well thanks to Google, I realized that Alice Cooper is a famous name, which is why the name sounded so familiar. I was tempted to make Alice a closet goth as a joke, but thought against it ;)

"I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be mine. I heard it through the grapevine and I'm just about to lose my mind, honey honey yeah." – Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970

The Gryffindor Captain scored for the second time in a row and everyone in the scarlet and gold section roared as he saluted his followers. Well, everyone except for Lily Evans. She angrily simmered and her companion for the game, the Ravenclaw Captain, was in the same horrible mood.

"Potter's such a ball hog," Walter grumbled.

"I know," she replied with a sneer.

"He just gets lucky most of the time. It's not really skill."

"I know!"

"He's just arrogant. He doesn't deserve the attention."

"I know!"

"POTTER SCORES AGAIN! Merlin, I don't think Hogwarts has seen a player quite like him! He won the Cup for Gryffindor last year and I think he'll - "

"Longbottom!"

"Oh come on, you can't – yes – yes I understand. I'll report to detention on Monday. Now let's see if Slytherin can answer James – ahem - Gryffindor's 30 to 0 run!"

As Erastis Avery sped down the pitch with the Quaffle in his hands, Lily and Walter stood with their arms over their chests. As they collectively stewed, the Quaffle changed hands several times and Mulciber eventually grabbed it with a triumphant grin plastered across his face. Lily felt herself fume even harder when Slytherin scored against the fatigued Gryffindor Keeper. She hated constantly pivoting between emotions - her somewhat intentional ignorance for the sport, eternal hatred for the Gryffindor Captain and unwavering allegiance to her Hogwarts house.

The dilemma unnerved her to no end and she didn't know exactly what to feel. Lily huffed, turned away from Walter and looked upwards at the sky. The day was certainly not going her way.

"Hill passes to Bigsby to Potter and he – HE SCORES! 110-50, GRYFFINDOR!"

"This is absurd," Walter grumbled again, his mood turning completely sour as the Gryffindors around him started jumping up and down with joy. "I don't understand how this is happening."

"It's happening," Alice finally butted in, "because James Potter is an excellent Chaser. You should have studied him harder last year, Davies. He never gives up. Never."

She threw a glance at her best friend and Lily glared back at her, unwilling to acknowledge the Gryffindor's hint. She knew Alice didn't like her budding relationship with Walter, but chose to ignore her advice. He had been nothing but a gentleman towards her - walking her to class and engaging her in academic conversations about Potions - which is why she had decided to accept his invitation to go to Hogsmeade together.

He also loathed James, which made him even more attractive in Lily's eyes.

Their fresh relationship had sent rumors flying all over the school; did Walter actually like her or was he trying to steal her away from James out of spite? But Lily didn't care. It felt magical. For once in her life, she was having a great time without James mucking everything up. He was staying away from her, just as he promised, and Lily couldn't remember a happier time.

Well, except for her relaxed summers with Sev … but she didn't want to let her mind wander in that direction. She knew it would only make her feel depressed and hollow.

Alice playfully raised a brow, snorted, and carried on watching the game. Lily sighed and followed her friend's gaze towards James; he looked determined as ever as he raced towards the Slytherin goal post. But Lily's eyes flashed when he barely avoided an oncoming Bludger. She tried to ignore the tingling sensation in her fingers as she remembered the first game of the season and the amount of blood that had poured out of his injured arm. It had been like a Muggle car wreck; she couldn't look away, even though it was terribly horrific and gory.

Lily shook her head to sever her thoughts from her memories. It was only a game, nothing more. James would be fine without her incessant worrying.

Sirius launched one of the Bludgers at his brother Regulus, the Slytherin Seeker, in retaliation and the young Black skidded out of the way and subsequently lost sight of the snitch as Patil zoomed upwards to follow his vapor trails. The Slytherins cried out and jeered at the eldest Black's actions and Lily started to bite her nails as trouble began to brew in the stands.

Although most of the Gryffindor and Slytherin matches produced a lot of turmoil, this one in particular had the potential to cause a full-blown riot. James and his courageous teammates were dominating the field after the first game and a lot of students accused the entire team of cheating and foul play. In their eyes, there was no other explanation for their spectacular start to the season.

The Gryffindors' success was not a fluke or an accident, however. They were just too good.

Lily tried not to notice Walter bristle as he watched James dart down the pitch again with the Quaffle, passing it back and forth to his fellow Chasers. She knew the Ravenclaw just didn't want to accept that James was better than him; he was one who had spearheaded the allegations and called for a full out inspection of the entire Gryffindor team. In order to be fair, the Hogwarts faculty examined the team and found that they were completely playing by the rules. No cheating, no foul play.

Out of spite, one of Slytherin's generous donors supplied the team with brand new broomsticks to increase their chances against the emerging powerhouse. Yet, as Hill stole the ball from Avery, Lily remarked that their new brooms weren't doing them a lot of good. The Gryffindor players had more skill and finesse - something that couldn't be bought.

"And Hill shoots - 130–60, GRYFFINDOR!"

"You know," Alice whispered into Lily's ear, "I heard a rumor about Josephine Hill."

"And I care because?"

"She's going to Hogsmeade with James."

"What?" Lily cried, causing several students to turn around and gawk at her. She instantly froze, trying to think of a way to cover her slip. "That call!" she said raising her brows incredulously as she motioned to the pitch. "That was a completely biased call! Don't you agree, Walter?"

"Sure," he replied nonchalantly and then crossed his hands back over his chest, "but I still want Slytherin to win this one. No offense. I mean, Potter does have several good plays, but he needs to work on his -"

As Walter began to prattle on about Quidditch strategy and how much he wished James Potter would keel over and die, Lily automatically tuned him out. She had managed to convince everyone around her that she was paying attention to the game, but in reality, she was only paying attention to one specific player. Her eyes were glued to the Gryffindor Captain as he zipped and zoomed around and suddenly, she saw a few black spots in her field of vision. Her heart began to race, causing her blood to fly through her veins.

She felt dizzy. She felt light headed. She needed to sit down.

With a flop!, she collapsed down onto the bench below. As all the other Gryffindor students remained standing, Lily felt the world closing in around her. Something was squeezing her chest and she tried to ignore her extreme claustrophobia as Gryffindor's recent score churned the crowd into a frenzy.

"Lily!" Alice cried out and ducked down to sit beside her. She then went back down to a whisper. "Oh I'm so sorry, Lily. I didn't mean to upset you, I just thought you should know! I'm such a horrible friend, please forgive me!"

"Is she alright?" Walter asked, unsure of what to do when he finally noticed what was going on.

"She'll be fine," Alice replied. "I've got it sorted."

Walter shrugged and turned back to the game. Alice put her arms around her friend's shoulders and Lily couldn't do anything but rest her head in her arms in a catatonic daze. Alice's news was certainly a shock and she didn't know how to control all of her conflicting emotions. She was completely stunned. She should have been happy - overjoyed even - that James was moving on, but she felt even emptier than she had when Severus had called her a Mudblood and essentially ended their friendship.

But why did she care what James did with his life? She was still Head Girl, member of the Slug Club, and recently, the companion of the handsome Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Without James, she was excelling in everything. She was perfect.

Yet, as she watched one of the Gryffindor players fly over her, she couldn't help but let her bottom lip quiver. If there was one thing constant in Lily's life, it was James Potter. Without fail, he always asked her out, pranked unsuspecting students, and acted like a general arse. She always accused him of being immature and obtuse and he always proved her right.

However, ever since their spat at the beginning of the year, he had turned into a different person. He only talked to her when he had to, encouraged younger students to take their studies seriously, and gave honest advice to anyone who asked. He was a new James Potter and Lily didn't fully understand the consequences of her expulsion threat until now. She had tried to ignore it, but it seemed that James had grown up and didn't need her anymore.

And despite her resentment towards him, she felt completely drained, blank, and bare because of it. She didn't realize until now that she actually liked the attention he gave her.

"And Patil grabs the Snitch from right under Black's nose! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

The rest of the Gryffindors burst into applause and spontaneous cheers as they thumped their feet against the stands; their roars filled the stadium, drowning out the Slytherin hisses and objections. Lily felt the subsequent vibrations as she continued to sit on the bench, disconnected from reality. She didn't even hear Alice telling Walter that she wasn't feeling well and would meet up with her later.

Lily felt like someone had placed a time turner on her neck, because everything suddenly was moving forward at light speed; students' interactions and cheers were short and brief as they milled about on the pitch, congratulating the members of the winning squad. It was like watching a time-lapse. She even felt unattached when Sirius and his younger brother began to throw punches at each other. Just as quickly as the fight had started, it ended.

The time-lapse continued on, but suddenly, she felt Alice pinch her right arm and she physically jumped into the air. Time slowed back down and Lily shook her head back and forth to dispel strange mix of thoughts in her head. Many of the students had left the stadium, except for a couple of players who remained on the field.

Once Lily's eyes caught Sirius', she no longer felt dazed and confused. Instead, her old anger bubbled up from inside her and she balled up her fists at her sides. James had to be punishing her for blackmailing her, that was the only logical explanation. He was not grown up. He was still a child and he was using her foolproof plan against her. He had to know that ignoring her would make her even more attached to him; he just wanted to make her suffer. After a few grunts and scoffs, she pushed Alice to the side and muttered that she would see her later.

"Black!" she screeched, making her way over to him. "Where the hell is Potter?"

"Woah Evans, calm down. We won!" Sirius said with a carefree grin as he innocently held his hands up in the air. "No need to be angry!"

"Don't tell me how to feel. Answer the question."

"Fine, fine. He's in the locker room."

"Good. Now if I ever see you taunting your brother like that again, I will be forced to give you detention," she said through her teeth. "A week's worth." Sirius' brows shot up his forehead and he let out a low whistle, not believing that she would try and threaten him after his spectacular, albeit daring Quidditch performance.

"I do hope Prongs is prepared for your fire storm," he said under his breath as he turned his back towards her.

She growled and watched as he headed towards the locker rooms himself. Sirius passed a shadowy corner and Lily saw a few puffs of smoke and a hand that reached out to pull him out of the sunlight and into the shadows. Flashes of black and blonde hair melded together; he and his new flame, Gemma, started to snog. Lily rolled her eyes as she passed.

"POTTER!" she screeched again and her voice echoed down the long hallway that led to the Gryffindor locker rooms.

When there was no answer, she huffed and stomped until she reached the door labeled "Wizards". She pressed her ear to the door and when she heard sounds coming from behind it, she let out another throaty growl. With a large, angry shove, she forced the door open and was prepared to kick it down if she had to. Thankfully, her first try was enough and she stormed into the room, her eyes murderous and full of rage.

"EVANS!" James yelped.

He looked very flustered; he knocked over his Quidditch bag in surprise and all his personal items spilled onto the floor. However, her fury instantly ceased when she realized that he was standing before her, only clad in his pants. Any other time she would have made fun of him for wearing underwear with childish cartoon Quaffles on them, but this time, Lily couldn't stop staring at his perfectly sculpted abs. Her mouth even flopped open in surprise.

He had the body of a god. A Gryffindor Quidditch god.

"We have to talk about Hogsmeade," she finally said, fighting the urge to run her fingers over his exposed skin.

"What about it?" he said, his eyes shifting back and forth nervously. He had no idea she was ogling him.

"It's next weekend and you haven't done anything," she retorted, putting her arms over her chest in annoyance. "I've been the one double checking everything. This is the first trip of the year, Potter! We have to set a precedent so nothing bad happens in the future. If anything goes wrong, it's our fault. Do you understand? Our – well I guess it would be your fault, since I've met with all the Professors and ran over the approved student list several times. I know you're meeting a girl-"

"You know about that?" he asked incredulously as he straightened his glasses on his face. He didn't confirm that it was in fact a date, but she made her own conclusions.

"Of course I do, James, gossip spreads like wildfire in this Castle. But just because you have plans does not mean that you can shirk your duties. We have to check every student off and make sure that none of them sneak into the carriages without permission. We have to maintain order – something I know you're not used to doing."

"I'm going to be there with you, Lily," he said sternly. "I'm not going to 'shirk' anything."

"Good. Now go take a shower, your body odor is nauseating," she grumbled and then swiftly turned and exited the boys' locker room. Once she slammed the door shut, she leaned back against it and expelled a large sigh.

Yelling at James Potter always made her feel better, even if he did confuse her beyond belief.