"Potter has the Quaffle... YES, Gryffindor scores! Sixty to forty for Gryffindor!!!"
Lily could no longer hide her enthusiasm. "Go, James, go!"
The cheering crowd rose from the stands. The match has been going for over three hours already, but was far from boring. The Slytherins had excellent Beaters and a hell of a Seeker and several times they were dangerously close to knocking the Gryffindor Seeker off the broom or catching the Snitch. Normally Lily wasn't much for Quidditch. When Gryffindor didn't play she didn't even bother to watch the games. But when her own House team played, the adrenaline could go really high. Or when James Potter was flying around on the broomstick... She quickly pushed those thoughts away. Better not to go there. But her eyes stubbornly kept following him.
It was another hour before Andrew Hickman, Gryffindor Seeker -- a small fifth-year -- dived and snatched the Snitch almost from Anabell Wilkes' hands.
The shouts from all around the pitch were deafening, but Lily didn't care. She turned to Remus standing beside her clapping his hands and yelling louder than anyone.
"We won! We won, Lily! The first match this year and we won! Great job Andrew!!!"
She laughed at her boyfriend. It was almost weird how such a calm, studious person could be crazy about Quidditch. It was probably Remus greatest disappointment when he had to resign from the position of a Beater in his fifth year due to his frequent indispositions.
"Was there any doubt we wouldn't?"
Remus nodded energetically. "And a big one too! All it would take is Lestrange and Rosier having had two more weeks of training and we might have found ourselves scraping Sirius and James from the ground. Peter's no match for them. Just don't tell it to Peter!" he added in an afterthought.
"Who do you think I am?" Lily feigned offence watching the players fly up to Andrew and congratulate him.
"Besides," Remus continued, "Andrew caught the Snitch by pure luck; the wind has blown it out of Wilkes' hand straight into Andrew's, didn't you notice?"
Lily shook her head. "No."
Not for the first time she admired Remus' superior eyesight. Even long hours over books couldn't destroy it.
"Well, I did. Last year we won out match against Slytherin only because James, Sirius and Liz scored over three hundred points before Wilkes caught the Snitch. And in our fifth year we lost, remember?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you keep track of all the games you watch?"
He grinned at her. "I'm cursed with excellent memory."
"Good, she murmured. "Then you won't forget to lend me 'Animate into Animate'. I suppose Sirius has returned it to you by now."
Remus sighed. "Yes, he did. It's- look!"
He pointed the players slowly landing on the pitch. Lewis Lestrange, his face in a grimace of fury, swung his bat and viciously hit the Bludger that hasn't yet been caught. The Bludger entered a new course, a course that led straight to James Potter.
"Ahhhh..." the crowd gasped as the Bludger hit James in the ribs. Breathless, the Chaser fell to the ground. From thirty feet.
James opened his eyes. The bright sunlight hurt his eyes so he promptly closed them again. "James? James, are you awake?"
That voice. The voice that sounded like heavenly music. Like a whisper of water in the stream behind his house. The voice of an angel or a water fairy. The voice of Lily Evans.
He decided to be a brave boy and open his eyes. So he did. And was rewarded with the most wonderful image his brain could come up with. Lily, bending over and touching his forehead lightly. But then sharp pain stabbed him in the chest... and the vision didn't vanish. It frowned with concern. It was not a dream.
"Lily?" he asked weekly, his voice coming in a faint croak. "What happened? Where...?"
"The Hospital Wing. Lestrange hit you with a Bludger."
"Son of a-" James tried to get up, anger boiling within him. "After the cushioning charms were taken off..."
Lily pushed him back onto the bed. "Calm down. You don't have fever, but it doesn't mean you're ready to get up. Madam Pomfrey would kill me if I let you up now, when you're almost all right."
Well, he could imagine worse things happening to him than lying in bed and having Lily Evans fuss over him. So he obediently laid back and accepted a glass of clear yellowish liquid.
"Merlin, what is it?" he spluttered after drinking it. The taste was terrible.
"A Muscle-Relaxing potion. It will help for your sore chest."
James took a deep breath. True, it was much easier to breathe now.
"You had three ribs broken," Lily informed him. "Madam Pomfrey had to use the Bone-Mending charm, a little like a Skele-Gro, you know..."
"Really?"
She blushed. "Sorry. I must be boring you. You should be resting, not listening to my babbling."
"Hey, it's not a crime!" James protested. "You want to be a mediwitch after all. And I would prefer to listen to your babbling than to nothing at all. I don't like silence when I'm in the Hospital Wing."
"Neither do I," she answered, sitting on his bed. "Does anything else hurt?"
"No, not really."
"Good. So tell me, did you read 'Lord of the Rings?'"
He groaned. "Lily, it's been only five days since I borrowed it from you! I'm on the end of first book."
"It's not that bad!" the girl brightened. "It's a lot to talk about! Did you like it?"
James made a grave face. "Lily..."
Her face fell. "You didn't." She looked as though she was going to cry.
James's facade cracked. "I'm kidding! It's fantastic!"
She hit him playfully on the arm and he winced in pain.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't want-"
"It's okay, I'm fine!"
She backed away a little to make sure she wouldn't hurt him again. Much to James's unvoiced displeasure.
"What did you like best?"
He seemed to wonder about that for a second. "The Elves," he said finally. "I wish we had Elves like that in wizarding world. I think they would look like you."
Lily stared at him for a moment, in silence. Idiot, James thought. You stupid, stupid idiot. She's got a boyfriend, you fool!
"Never mind. What did you like best?"
"The Elves. I always imagined that I'm one when I was little."
Silence.
And the knock on the door, breaking the moment. They both jumped.
"Enter," Lily called.
"Hail, oh fallen hero!" Sirius joked, opening the door.
James was happy to see his friend. He truly was. He only wished Sirius picked some other time. Sirius Black, the epitome of bad timing.
"Let me guess. You had nobody to harass so you came to finish off a poor helpless invalid."
A snort came from behind Sirius' back and Peter stepped in. "As if he needed to. He has almost finished me off, moaning about Madam Pomfrey not letting us visit you. Remus hid in a library and there was I - a walking bull's eye ready to be aimed at."
"I wasn't that bad," Sirius muttered unconvincingly.
"No, you were worse," came another voice and Remus' head appeared in James's line of vision. "And you should hear the ideas of revenge on Lestrange he came up with."
James grinned even though his heart clenched with jealousy as he saw Remus automatically stand beside Lily and taking her hand. "Give me your worst," he said lightly.
"The worst?" Remus frowned in thought. "I think it was transfiguring Lestrange into a girl and making him shag Snape."
Lily got a sudden coughing attack. "You know, it might not be such a good punishment. I heard some girls in Slytherin consider Snape attractive."
All boys looked at her in utter disbelief.
"You must be kidding," James demanded.
Lily only shrugged.
"Ewww," Peter wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Damn right, Pete." Sirius confirmed. "But even if, we have Pete's plan instead."
"And that would be?"
Sirius smiled evilly, which didn't really suit him. "Making Lestrange shag Snape without turning him into a girl!"
James couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Oh Merlin, Sirius, bad mental image! Bad mental image! I won't be able to think of anything else now! You have such a dirty mind!"
"Not me - Peter," said Sirius smugly.
"Yeah, sure, Peter. Why do I always end up as a freak?" Peter asked dramatically, pointing his index finger at himself. "Do I look like a pervert?"
"Absolutely," James said.
"You're a king of perverts, Pete," Remus agreed.
"You're beyond any Slytherin," Sirius added.
"And I'm such a romantic at heart!" Peter sighed and put a hand on his heart. "I only wait for my only love to walk into my life and indulge in all those delicious perversions with me."
"Was Lestrange punished?" James asked curiously.
"Twenty points from Slytherin and a detention," Remus informed him.
"Only twenty points?!"
"Professor Castor was first to take care of it. McGonagall would have detected at least hundred."
They all nodded in agreement. Professor Castor, Slytherin Head of House and a DADA teacher, all but taught all the dirty tricks the Slytherins usually came up with.
"Well," Lily said getting up, "I will leave you to your revenge boys. Tomorrow at ten, Remus?" "I'll be there," Remus answered.
Lily left the room and it seemed to James that the room suddenly turned a slightest bit darker. Especially after that little reminder that she was with Remus. It took him a lot of effort to keep smiling. He was madly in love with his best friend's girlfriend. It was nothing to laugh about, really.
This evening Lily was more than a little upset. First, that scary accident on the Quidditch pitch. No, not an accident, she thought, fists clenching with rage. An attempted murder! Not a murder with premeditation perhaps, but a murder nonetheless. She could see that mad gleam in Lestrange's eyes. A will to kill. James didn't even know how close his brush with death was. And if James died...
She looked up to the ceiling above her bed.
Then what? Who was he to her? A friend. A Head Boy to her Head Girl. They worked together. They got along very well. But that silent moment in the Hospital Wing... it was something else entirely. Pity he thinks 'Lord of the Rings' is silly.
Everything else was perfect. She had a perfect boyfriend and she was thinking about another man? What was wrong with her? And James Potter to that? A Quidditch star - and she wasn't even interested in Quidditch. An outgoing, friendly personality, constantly cracking jokes - and she was rather shy and serious. A son of an ages-long wizarding line - and she was a Muggle-born. A popular boy who could have any girl he wanted - and she was plain, unfashionably dressed Lily Evans. They had nothing in common.
But he likes 'Lord of the Rings.'
"Lily? Hello? Lily!"
Lily finally noticed the hand that was waving in front of her face.
"What?" she snapped irritably, brutally awakened from her musings. Daisy was her best friend, but that didn't entitle her to disturbing her when she was doing some serious thinking!
"Sorry. I only wanted to ask about James."
Lily felt a small wave of shame wash over her. Of course Daisy was worried about James. Entire House was worried. And Daisy used go out with him last year. "He's fine. Madam Pomfrey did a fantastic job - I assisted."
"That's a relief. To fell from thirty feet... He could have been killed!"
"Yes, he could have."
Daisy shook her blond-haired head and made a face. "Yes, he could have," she mimicked. "You're no good tonight."
"I'm just tired."
The other girl sighed. "I suppose. You had to help Madam Pomfrey and do your Head Girl duties. I have no idea how you do it."
"Good organisation."
"Hufflepuffs do good organisation, we don't. What do you do tomorrow? It's a Hogsmeade weekend."
"I go out with Remus."
"You go out? On a real date? I want all the gory details!"
"There are no gory details. He needs a new robe and I'm helping him choose one."
Daisy was impressed. " You choose his clothes? When am I going to hear the wedding bells?"
"Daisy!"
"Say... did you sleep with him? And I'm not talking about sleeping here..."
"DAISY!" Flushed deep crimson, Lily shifted on her bed. The thought about having sex with Remus was unsettling. Deeply unsettling. Like in: wrong. "I didn't! I'm... underage."
"You're seventeen, a year past the age of consent."
Sometimes, Lily thought, Daisy is too liberated for her own good. "I'm going to wait until eighteen."
Daisy covered her pretty face with a pillow in a mock exasperation. "You're boring, you know? You're boring, mate."
Boring. James was anything but boring. He wouldn't spare a bore like her a second glance. Daisy, on the other hand, was interesting. So why she and James broke up? It was a great mystery of the last year.
Boring. It hurt.
"Maybe I should start going out with a Slytherin. Like Leocadia Lowell." Leocadia was the great mystery of their fifth year. A Hufflepuff prefect who started to go out with Lewis Lestrange and - the biggest surprise - was quickly accepted by his friends. The Slyth Six they were called, even though Leocadia was a Hufflepuff.
"Don't even think of that. All those Slytherins in our year are so creepy. I have no idea how Leocadia can put up with Lestrange... the bastard."
"She's changed a lot lately. But not all are that creepy. Nicholas Avery is nice."
"To you. Everyone is nice to you. No spice in your life, none at all."
A bitter smile appeared on Lily's face. "Bed of roses, really."
Daisy had good grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry, I forgot about Petunia. And that argument with your parents. But here at Hogwarts... you have everything."
Lily sighed. "I do, don't I?"
She good grades, a position of a Head Girl, friends, a perfect boyfriend, no enemies. And she was boring.
A/N: This is my first try at James/Lily pairing - and just a cookie. Does this sound credible? If it does, I have a fic planned, although I don't promise the chapters would follow soon. It sounds like romance/romance now, but is intended as a drama. Any comments?