Chapter 14: Chasing A Win.
Disclaimer: If it's HP, it's JKR's, otherwise it's mine.
Where before Lily had thought Conroy was serious about Quidditch, over the weeks lending up her 13th birthday she discovered he was in fact obsessed.
When she told her parents about over her birthday meal, Harry commented that he reminded him of his old captain Oliver Wood. Or as Peter pointed out, Conroy's father, which Harry had to agree was true.
Much earlier than they would have liked due to an early Quidditch practice; Lily, James and their friends said goodbye to the adults and left the Granger-Weasley Suite, and headed back to Gryffindor Tower laden down with presents, and collapsed into their beds.
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The next three weeks flew by and then it was time for the last two matches of the Quidditch season, the Hufflepuff-Slytherin match caused no surprises; the Hufflepuffs won 200-40. Then ten days before the start of the exams, it was the turn of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
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"Hello everyone and welcome to the final of this year's Inter-House Quidditch Cup. This year's contenders are... Gryffindor and Ravenclaw!"
"For Gryffindor... Olafsen, Valquez, Weasley, Weasley, Potter, Stoakes aaannnd CONROY!" The Gryffindors and most of the Hufflepuff students cheered.
"For Ravenclaw... Davis, Featherstone, Quigley, Meander, Gorman, Quinn, aaannnd WILSON!"
You can do this, Lily told herself as she walked onto the pitch and took her place to the left of Conroy, her Phoenix racing broom positioned for easy mounting. It's no different than the Slytherin game, in fact it'll be easier - Ravenclaw aren't cheating scum.
Charlie walked out onto the centre of pitch and opened the trunk of balls and released the Snitch and the Bludgers, then he pulled out the Quaffle and threw it into the air. A second later, he blew his whistle and the players took to the air.
Lily shot into the air and caught the Quaffle before anyone else, then leaning forward on her broom she shoot forward. Two Ravenclaw Chasers, Quinn and Wilson, tried to flank her, but her speed and manoeuvrability of her Phoenix far outstripped their old Cleansweep Eights, and she evaded them easily. When she got within range of the Ravenclaw, she faked a shot at the far-right hoop, Quigley fell for it and Lily had an open field to put the Quaffle through the left hoop to score.
"Chaser Potter scores for Gryffindor," announced Ward from the stand. "They are still in possession, team captain Conroy with the Quaffle..."
Lily looped round the post and flew back towards Conroy, catching up with him just in time to catch the Quaffle after Davis, one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, tackled him and made him drop the ball. Turning hard she threw blind towards the nearest hoop.
"And that's another goal for Gryffindor!" crowed Ward. "Quigley is really showing her inexperience today."
"Ward," warned Sirius.
Lily ducked a Bludger from Featherstone and then feinted, flying upwards and dropping it to Stoakes, who put it through easily.
"An excellent Porskoff Ploy by Potter and Stoakes, takes the score to forty points to thirty for Gryffindor. Ravenclaw are in possession."
Wilson, Gorman and Quinn flew into a Hawkeshead Attacking Formation and made for the Gryffindor goal. Olafsen tried to split their ranks by sending a Bludger towards Wilson, but Davis deflected it. James easily caught the Quaffle sent his way by Quinn, a glancing hit from Davis' Bludger knocked him off balance long enough for Gorman to snatch the Quaffle and put it through.
Lily swore under her bath and forcing her Phoenix to its maximum speed, she shot past Wilson and Quinn like a blur and snagged the Quaffle before they did, then sent a long pass to Stoakes who reverse-passed it to Conroy and put it through.
"After some excellent teamwork from the Gryffindor Chasers they regain the lead at fifty to forty. Gryffindor are still in possession."
Gryffindor scored twice more, and Ravenclaw once before the game ending catch by Anne.
"Seeker Weasley extends her unbroken tally of catches to finish the game with the score at 220-50. Gryffindor wins again!"
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Two weeks after Gryffindor dramatic victory over Ravenclaw, the exams began. Of Lily's friends and associates only Tara Olafsen, Erin Valquez, and Barry Launders were taking major exams, they were sitting their OWLs; everyone else Lily knew were merely sitting the usual end-of-year tests. As for Lily herself, the exam she was most looking forward to the most was Charms; the least, History of Magic.
During her Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, Lily noticed that Remus was looking a little more haggard than usual, he presided over the exam with a somewhat distracted air - which nearly caused a minor incident when Shiva, one of Lily's classmates, failed to deal quickly enough with her Pogrebin. However, a subtle wand-less Flame Spell from Lena stopped the diminutive creature in its tracks before it could attack her. Shiva was rather disappointed when Remus informed her she would be receiving a failing mark for that part of her exam, but as her friend Connor pointed out, at least she wasn't hurt.
The Transfiguration exam went rather better than Lily might of expected, Lena's increased control over her wand-less magic meant that although she only managed a partial transfiguration, nothing blew up. The other exams went without a hitch.
Two days later, Professor McGonagall and the Triwizard Tournament delegation returned from Beauxbatons to an enthusiastic victory party. Celeste Venicini of Slytherin, had won the Tournament for Hogwarts, marking the third victory for Hogwarts since the tournament had been re-instated.
"I guess that proves the Hogwarts way, is the best way." commented Ryan, after Lily reminded them that Hogwarts was now in the back in the lead for Tournament wins.
"It would certainly seem to be the case," admitted Virgil. "However, it is always dangerous to infer information from such a small sample."
"Don't be such a stiff 'Gill," said Maxwell. "Just eat up, I want to go and see Moony, he's been in the hospital wing for the last two days."
Lily paused, remembering something. "It was the full moon the night after our exam wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was." confirmed Henry. "Why?"
Lily looked furtively around her, she clearly didn't want anyone else to hear her. "I don't want to go into it here, let's go outside."
They nodded in agreement and the Weasleys, Potters, Robin, Maxwell, Lena and Edwin made their way outside and ducked into the small room off the Great Hall. "Moony used to be a werewolf, that's where he gets his nickname from. Professor McGonagall and Aunt Hermione found a partial cure for him just before my Dad's seventh year, it turned him into an wolf Animagus with werewolf allergies." she explained. James and Virgil both nodded, confirming what she said was true. "But I think it might be wearing off. I saw Moony, Padfoot and Uncle Ron heading into the Forbidden Forest in Animagus form last night, I think Orion might've been with them in beast-shape too but he's always hard to spot."
Lena nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with that statement.
"Have you said anything to anyone?" asked Virgil.
Lily shook her head. "I'm sure it's under control, I just thought you might want to know."
"What do you think they'll do about it?" wondered Maxwell.
Lily shrugged. "I'm not sure, but if I'm right… he'll probably leave. I think the cure was the only reason he felt safe staying here."
"That wouldn't be very good," said Edwin. "Professor Lupin'll be a hard act to beat."
"I can think of a couple of people who might manage it," mused Lily. "I wonder who it'll be…"
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The Leaving Feast was as usual spectacular. Thanks to their team's decisive victory in the Inter-House Quidditch Cup, Gryffindor House secured the House Cup for the fourth year running; Celeste Venicini the Triwizard Champion received the Gryffindor Award; Pietro Greengrass of Slytherin received the Ravenclaw Award; while Marcus Ward scooped the Hufflepuff Award and Victor Goldstein received his own House's award.
After the meal, Lily and her friends squeezed into two carriages and headed for the train station, once aboard the train they found one of the larger empty compartments and made themselves at home.
"How's Uncle Harry?" asked James after a while. "I know you got a letter from him this morning."
"Yeah, I did." admitted Lily, taking the envelope out of an inside pocket of her robes. "I haven't opened it yet actually." She borrowed a thin blade from Lena and slit it open. After reading for a moment, she looked up. "Apparently, he got the all-clear from Rand two days ago. He's still happening problems with his magic going out of control and his Animagus abilities haven't come back properly yet. Apparently he and Mum have a plan to help him though."
"Do you think he'll go back to Quidditch?" asked Lena.
Virgil shook his head, he'd been reading the letter over his sister's shoulder. "I very much doubt it," he told her. "Although Quidditch is a very important part of our father's life, it is unusual for someone of his age to return to Quidditch, especially at international level after the sort of injuries he sustained. In fact, few Quidditch players are more than thirty for precisely that reason."
The rest of the ride passed in companionable silence, as they played Exploding Snap and wizard's chess, or read their books. When the old witch came round with the snack trolley, Lily and James bought their friends a big lunch complete with pumpkin juice and plenty of sweets.
At King's Cross Station, Robin and Edwin said goodbye to their friends and ran off to meet their respective parents; the rest, lead by Lily, James and Lena pushed their trolleys over to the usual spot where Harry, Ginny, Philippe, and Kurt were waiting with cars to take them to the Sanctuary.
A/N: That's it for Lily Potter and The New Generation. The first chapter of the next installment; Lily Potter and The Eye of The Storm, will be up in a week or two, a month at most. Thanks for reading, let me now what you thought by reviewing or e-mailing direct to behomuk@yahoo.co.uk.