"Oh shit." Lily whispered, looking up from her planner. The entire Common Room looked up, expecting another drama-queen moment. As soon as everyone had returned from funerals and Easter vacation, Lily had returned to her cold, reigning Queen of Gryffindor act. Her closest friends knew it was just a way to cover up the pain, others shrugged it off, labeling the months of October-April as 'The Weird Lily Period'.
"The last Quidditch match is Saturday." She whispered again.
"We have back-ups, remember?" Ronan said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Not that, Mr. Sarcasm. We can't go on without a captain. School rules." She snapped, momentarily losing her cool.
The room silenced as people brainstormed. "You do it." Said James finally.
The room was silenced for a different reason.
"Are you a completely daft bloke or just temporarily out of it?" Lily asked, tucking her legs under her body, staring at him through her cat-eye glasses.
"You do it. The only reason you aren't on the Quidditch team is because you never tried out. You're talented, you know the rulebook back and front, and every play ever invented, you've memorized it." He insisted, then turning to Helen. "Wouldn't Rafe have wanted it this way?"
The room was again silent, every head turned towards Helen, who sat in the back, and many had to readjust their positions to look at her.
"Yes." She said after a long pause. "Yes, he would have wanted us to be happy. He would have wanted us to go on with the game. He would have wanted us to win. He would have wanted to win himself. But, seeing as he can't be here to do it himself, he would rather someone he trusted to be in charge."
Helen hadn't really uttered a word since April 21st. Everything she said was whispery, but at least she had said something. Lately, Munguldus had been spending a lot of time in the Headmaster's office, and not at all for the excuses he gave his friends.
"Prefect thing. Detention." None of these were believable. And slowly, the family that was the Quidditch team was falling apart. Ronan was moody, Munguldus was busy, and Arabella would burst into tears every few minutes. Sirius would dance around rooms as if he had a partner, humming a song every now and then. Lily was acting coldly to everyone, and Jonathan and Tasnim were both very jumpy. As for James, he was quiet and absorbed in his studies.
Lily looked around the room, surveying her team. They weren't being themselves. She stood up and opened her mouth.
"ALRIGHT! I don't exactly know what is going on, but I don't really care. Our team is going to lose. I don't care whether you guys are alright with that, but I'm not. Whether or not it's mood swings (she glared at Ronan and Arabella), caffeine (she gave a cold glance in Jonathan and Tasnim's direction), insanity ("SIRIUS! PAY ATTENTION!"), a 'detention' (Munguldus sank in his seat) or your studies, this team is going to whip into shape and we're going to win. You can do all of this crap later. And, while I'm in charge, I arrange your schedules, your diets and your lives. There will be NO crap, none at all." Then, she took away the candy bars from Jonathan and Tasnim, handed Arabella, Sirius and Ronan a bottle of Prozac, gave Munguldus a pack of schedules to pass out and snatched up James's book.
"Are you ready?" She snapped.
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" They answered, all leaping into military action.
"Then let's get you wimps out onto the field and into those uniforms. This is the Quidditch final, I need cheerleaders, I need a band, I need peanut guys and I need a guy to dress up in the furry mascot costume!"
Before the day was over, they had a twelve-piece band, four peanut guys, a mascot, and a team of fourteen cheerleaders, all with red and gold and white uniforms, minus the mascot. He had a furry lion costume with a large headpiece and a big scarlet embroidered G on the front. And they still had over two-hundred fans to fill the their side of the stadium, all dressed in Gryffindor merchandise.
"Now, this is much better. Bed, team! We've got a six A.M. wake-up call for another practice, that means the cheerleaders and the band, too! And you, William, you gotta be out there to with a big lion smile on your headpiece!" Lily said, with a satisfied smile. "This is what I call a team!"