Lily started working for Madame Rosemerta as soon as she arrived. The woman, not much older than Lily herself, was glad to have the kind, energetic girl working for her. Lily was a hard worker, and her shift, from 7:00 am to 2:00pm, worked perfectly. After, she would do homework, or walk around Hogsmeade. In the second week of vacation, at around 1:00 p.m., she felt someone wrap their arms around her shoulders in a tight hug. Turning around, Lily saw Angelica, grinning broadly.
"Come to bug me, have you?" Lily joked, looking from one to the other.
"Sorry Lily, when are you off?" Sirius asked, waving at Madame Rosmerta
"In about an hour". Lily grinned, and handed a place of cauldron cakes to a smiling boy.
"Oh, too bad Lily, we were going to play Quidditch at James' house."
"I don't care to see James." Lily said, handing the boy some sickles as his change.
"Sure you do. You looooooooove him!" Sirius exclaimed, dancing around the counter.
"I do NOT." Lily said huffily.
"And you expect us to believe that because you look so incredibly innocent. It's not as if you turn red every time we say James."
"I do not." Lily turned away to hide the blush that was creeping over her cheeks.
Angelica laughed at her friends antics.
"Besides" Lily continued "James is probably too busy with some girl. We all know James' obsession with the fairer sex. Since I've known James, he's had an innumerable ammount of girlfriends, each who he's dropped for the next girl. Who's to say he wouldn't have done the same to me? Or worse, he would have stopped liking me, but still pretended he did, in hopes that I would leave him. So no matter how much I like him, it's not going to happen, and I'd thank you to not mention it anymore!" Lily couldn't help sniffling a little.
Sirius looked abashed, just as Madame Rosmerta appeared.
"Lily, I am closing early today. I've got a family emergency. Here's the key to the back door , you can get to your room. I'll be back tomorrow at 12:00pm" she handed Lily a tiny silver key, and smiled at them as she waved customers out of the shop.
"Alright Rosie" Madame Rosmerta had asked Lily to call her that "I'll see you tomorrow!"
As her friends followed Lily upstairs, she turned to them "Talk about dumb luck. That leaves me free, so I guess I'll come. Who else will be there?"
"Us, James, Remus, Peter, James' sister, Calliope, and Marcus and Jonathan, who are my cousins." Sirius said.
"Peachy. Let me change into my black robes." Lily said
"Why? You look pretty." Angelica asked Lily.
"These ones will get dirty."
"In the air?"
"They're too tight?"
"Look fine to me."
"Shut up."
"Then come on Lily." Angelica pulled her friend back down the stairs, and out to the back yard where they had parked their brooms.
"Here Lily, you ride my broom, I'll sit with Sirius" Angelica said, climbing behind him. Lily grinned at her.
"Whatever you say, Angelica Black." she smirked
Angelica didn't even answer.
As they flew into James' yard, Lily became nervous. She didn't know if she really wanted to be there. Especially when she landed and Calliope sent her a glare. Obviously James confided in his sister quite a bit.
"Hi guys, this is Lily." Sirius said, pointing to the still nervous girl.
"Hi." Lily smiled hesitantly at the group of people standing around her. "I am Lily Evans."
"I am Jon, this is Marcus. And that is Calliope" A tall boy with black hair stepped forward to extend a large hand to Lily.
"Hello. You don't attend Hogwarts, do you?" Lily asked in a small voice, for Calliope was making her nervous.
"We graduated a couple of years ago. What year are you in Lily?"
"Sixth."
"Oh, I see. Too bad. One year older and it could have been beautiful between us." He smiled winningly, making Lily blush and James clench his fists.
"Well, shall we pick teams then?" Marcus asked, butting into his brother's reverie.
"Yes." Sirius said, elbowing Jon hard in the stomach. While Jon was shooting daggers at Sirius, Angelica managed to find a hat from somewhere. She conjured up the names on itty pieces of paper, and dropped them in the hat. Then Calliope reached in, and pulled the first 5 out.
"Alright on team one: Sirius, James, Jon, Peter and…Lily." The last name was almost sneered, and Lily felt herself going red as she walked over to join her teammates.
"Fifteen minutes to discuss strategy and pick who plays what position, then we play." Sirius told them, and pulled his team into James' garden shed.
"Alright, first we-"
"Sirius, can we discuss this somewhere else? It's really hot in here." Lily asked him.
"No, and please be quiet Lily." Sirius said, muttering something about feminine weakness. Lily scowled, and flicked her wand ever so slightly. Sirius did not notice the flowers that had begun to appear in his hair. It was a rather simple spell, but Lily felt satisfied. And she couldn't help grinning a bit as the other three boys looked at Sirius' now blossom filled head, and smirked.
"Alright, who's who?" Sirius asked, angry that they were laughing at him, and he hadn't actually done anything funny.
"Well, I am Peter, and this is Li-"
"I meant on the team, Peter."
"I knew that." Peter scowled, his joke falling flat.
"I'll be keeper." Jon said immediately.
"Fine, and of course James will be Chaser." Sirius put in "Which makes me and Peter Beaters, and Lily seeker."
"Why am I seeker, pray tell?" Lily demanded.
"Easy. Your skinny, smallest, and-"
"I get the picture Sirius. Now hurry up with the strategy, please. My robes are sweltering." said Lily impatiently.
"Strategy? I have none." Sirius confessed, hanging his head in mock shame as Lily muttered something that sounded like "Useless prat"
"Then you think of something, Miss High-and-Mighty." Sirius growled. Lily bit her lip. She didn't really want to say anything but…
"Well then, I will. First of all, Angelica is going to be Chaser. She prides herself on her ability to do the position, and even if she is very good, she tends to give herself away. You see, before Angelica does something, she tends to, well, say she was going to turn left, right? Her head will tilt to the left before she does it. It's great, I can plot her course sitting in the stands. And Remus, much as I love the bugger, doesn't like flying high. He always goes low, always. Only I haven't seen him fly much, since he's not on the team with the rest of you."
The boys looked rather shocked.
"How do you know this?" demanded Sirius.
"Easy." Replied Lily, a smug look on her face. "You made me come to every game last year, and most of the practices because you thought I would be lonely."
"Ah, I see. If your so smart, Lilliekins" Sirius said, half-angry " Then what else do you suggest we do?"
"First of all, Sirius, I am not an expert, I never said I was. I haven't even played more than once or twice. And secondly, Sirius, I don't know much else about Quidditch…well, nothing I am telling you anyway."
"Fine then, here's the plan." Sirius leant in, and the others followed suit.
"Hurry up you guys, we want to play!" Angelica's voice yelled from outside the shed. Lily jumped, and managed to hit her hand on a trowel in the process.
"You guys…and Lady Lily, of course, understand the plan? Good. Lily, James will lend you a broom, and then we can play." Sirius said, standing up. James handed Lily a broom- much better than the school brooms, she noted happily- and followed Sirius. Jon offered her his arm, but Lily shook her head, shrugged an apology, and left a rather miffed looking Jon and a grinning Peter in the shed.
"Alright, three, two, one, man and woman your brooms!" Calliope called, pushing off as everyone followed. Lily pushed off with great speed, feeling herself soaring over the field in which they were playing.
Lily, in truth, was a very good flyer. Not excellent, like James or Sirius or Angelica, but rather good. At least I can stay on the broom she laughed to herself, watching Peter struggled to regain his balance as Angelica blew past him. Lily surveyed the rest of the players. There was James Didn't take you long to find him. Your pathetic Lily admonished herself. But he was nice to watch. He flew so well, he made it look like poetry My, my, my, corny as well are we? Lily couldn't help bugging herself. Was it her fault that she always thought sarcastically?
"Oi, Lily, look out!" someone called. Lily broke out of her day dream in time to see a Bludger come flying at her. She ducked, and let it zoom over her head, where Sirius caught it, and winged it at the offender, Calliope.
"She plays rough, eh?" he whispered to Lily. "and to think, you could solve it all by just admitting that you-" Lily glared at him, and gave him a good shove out of her way. She guessed that she would find the snitch, and end the game. It would be nice to get away from the Potter family, they were dangerous to ones health.
"Hot Dog! That's 150 to 70, our favor!" Jon yelled, doing a summersault with his broom.
"Hot dog?" Lily wondered aloud, earning a shrug from Peter. Just then, as if she had been somehow compelled, Lily turned her head and saw the tell-tale flash of yellow. She sped off towards it, flattening herself on her broom to gain speed. Sliently, she streatched out her arm, she was almost there, then, suddenly, she felt something hit her in the stomach, and with an oomph that made her feel sick, she plunged forward, minus broom, right overtop of the snitch.
"Ahhhhh!" Lily yelled, managing to grasp the top of her broom with her left hand. She felt something fall down inside her robes, and grimaced. Had she hit a bird? But she didn't really have time to wonder what it was. At that moment, the most important thing was making sure that she lived to be sixteen. Lily looked at her friends pleadingly. Already James and Angelica were speeding towards her, getting ready to grab her arms.
When they finally did reach her, Lily felt rather uncomfortable. Whatever was in her robes was moving around, and it was getting very discomforting. Besides that, Lily was uncontrollably ticklish. This resulted in her half laughing, half panicking as she was lowered to the ground. But when she stood on shaky feet, she remembered the thing in her robes. Much to the amazement of everyone, she reached down the front of her robes, and pulled out the snitch.
"We won." She stated, before rushing over to a clump of bushes to throw up; as result of the bludger.
"There's pumpkin juice and some cake in here, if you all want to come inside!" Mrs. Potter yelled out the door at them. Lily removed her head from the bushes, and grinned queasily.
"Great! Food." She managed to choke out. Angelica grabbed her under one arm, Remus under the other, and they followed everyone inside.
The Potter house was very nice inside, Lily noted. The air smelt of spices and pine, a combination Lily loved. She half wondered if James smelt like his house, but banished the thought from her mind. As they sat down at the kitchen table, James introduced his friends. Mrs. Potter scrutinized them all, especially Lily. She was a tall, pretty woman, with short black hair and sparkling blue eyes. She had an air of authority about her, and Lily instantly liked her.
"Are you alright Lily?" she asked "I saw you fall. Did Calli hit a bludger at you? She's a rough player. Calli, how many times have I told you? Let you brother fight his own battles, he's sixteen now." Mrs. Potter said, admonishing and comforting at the same time.
"I am fine Mrs. Potter." Lily assured her, taking a rather large sip of pumpkin juice.
"Just as long as your not really hurt. I am glad young girls are playing more rough sports" Mrs. Potter stated "It's nice to see young girls getting out there with the boys! I hate it when people think women should be confined to their kitchens! Honestly I"
"What time is it?" Angelica interrupted, looking panicked
"4:00 p.m. why?" James wanted to know
"I had to be home at three, I gotta go. Are you coming, Lily?" Angelica asked, getting up.
"As long as I can use the washroom first." Lily said
"fine, but hurry up." Angelica insisted
"James will show you where it is, love" Mrs. Potter told Lily. She got up, and followed a rather ruffled looking James down the hallway.
"This is it, you know how to get back, right?" James turned without waiting for an answer
"James, wait." Lily grabbed his sleeve "Can we still be friends?" she asked, wanting to say something completely different. James shrugged.
"Maybe." Was all we could say around the lump in his throat.
The rest of the summer was rather boring for Lily, until one day, as she was working behind the counter, a girl plunked herself down on one of the bar stools.
"Ello!" she exclaimed in a rather pronounced cockney accent as she flung back a sheet of long blonde hair "Could I ave a butterbeer please?" she plunked down seven sickles, three knuts (A/N if 5.99 is 14 sickles 3 knuts, then it could be half of five, which is 2.50….. and it's prolly not right, but oh well, because it's close enough.)
"Sure. Are you from Hogwarts?" Lily had become quite the conversationalist over the summer. Her job required it. She was also quite pleased that she had lost most of her initial shyness. But that's what growing up is for, after all. And besides, she still turned red sometimes.
"Yes. Only we just moved to Hogsmeade. I am in Ravenclaw, which house are you in?"
"Gryffindor. I am Lily Evans, by the way." Lily extended a hand, which the girl shook warmly
"Ann McKinnon." The girl smiled.
A/N Well, that's chapter 13. Unlucky 13, oooohhhh. Maybe the whole thing will get deleted, hmmmm?????? I want to know if anyone figures out (it's be in one of the chpters 12-14) who dies. I think it's fairly easy, after all. But it's a rather big part of my story. I've got lot's planned out, but so little time to write it in. Grrr. I am in a play, and we have rehearsals 4-5 times weekly, each around 4 hours long, and then there's homework…..urgh. Please review!!!!!