Chapter 7
I carried the tray into the room with shaking hands, hoping no-one would notice the cups rattling on their saucers. There was an awkward silence in the common room. Mike, Kate and Cissa were sitting staring at James, and not in a friendly way. But at least they hadn't kicked him out without hearing what he had to say.
I put the tray down on a coffee table, and handed James a cup.
"Thanks, Lily," he said quietly.
I sat down on a corner of the sofa, stealing a glance at him. It was great to see him again. My heart was thumping and my insides were flipping every time he looked at me. But I had to be careful. Cissa could spot a romance a mile away. If Kate and Mike suspected that I was crazy about my coach, my chances of playing for the team again would be even more microscopic than they were right now.
I wondered if James had come just to find out why I hadn't been at training, or if Abby had told him that my family hadn't known I was playing for the team all this time. Either way, he'd probably guessed the situation by now, based on the dirty looks he was getting.
James cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, Mr Charbet, Professor Morgan," he said, "but I wanted to talk to you in person. I only found out today that you didn't know Lily was playing for our team."
"No, we didn't," Kate snapped.
"I apologise." James looked straight at Kate, and I loved him for it. Abby must have told him, so he'd known when he decided to come here that it was going to be tough. Not to mention the fact that he'd been taught by Kate, and knew perfectly well what she was like. He'd still come though. Oh, I knew it was just because he wanted me back on the team, but it made me feel good. "If I'd known, I would have encouraged Lily to tell you – " he paused, then went on " – because I believe she's got tremendous potential."
We all sat there in silence for a few seconds.
"I think we know best our cousin's potential," Mike said quietly. "Lily has no time for games. She'll be going into the ministry once she's graduated."
"But playing for the team is an honour," I blurted out, unable to keep quiet any longer.
Kate glared at me. "What bigger honour is there than respecting your elders?" she demanded.
Dad looked at James. "Young man, when I was at school, all I wanted, more than anything in the world, was to be an Auror," he said curtly. "I studied hard, passed all the exams. But after leaving Hogwarts, I wasn't allowed to even take the entrance test. I was too small, too slight. They took one look at me and sent me packing."
I looked down at the floor. I knew about this because Kate had told me, but Mike had never talked about it before.
"I'm sorry, Mr Charbet," James began. "But now –"
"Now what?" Mike broke in. "Every other boy in the school dreams of being a Quidditch player. How many succeed? You think they will let our girls in? I don't want to build up Liliana's hopes –" he glanced over at me "– she'll only end up disappointed like me."
"But, Mike, it's all changing now," I said desperately. "Look at Gloria Itriwi. She was voted Italian player of the year, and she's a woman."
"Things are different in Europe," Kate said sternly. "You'll go into the ministry and do something useful."
"But Kate…"
It was no use. I could tell that they weren't going to give in. James got the message too. A few minutes later, he got up to leave without finishing his tea.
I was determined to catch a quick word with him alone, so I walked to the Entrance Hall with him. Kate gave me a filthy look, but I didn't care. It would probably be the last time I ever saw him.
"Sorry about that," I muttered as I pulled the common room door shut behind me. "But thanks for trying."
James shrugged. "We've been invited to play a match in Hungary this Saturday. It's a shame you'll miss it."
My eyes widened. "Wow! Hungary? Really?" Then my face fell, as I realised that I had more chance of going to the North Pole.
"I can see what you're up against," James said softly. "But your family don't always know what's best for you, Lily."
I stood staring at him as he turned away and headed back to Hogsmeade on his broomstick. My mind was buzzing. Your family don't always know what's best for you…
James was right.
In this case, they didn't.
"OK, you know what to do, yeah?" Cissa said impatiently, as we said goodbye in Hogsmeade.
"Yeah, owl them twice a day," I replied, picking up the cage containing Morgana, my tawny owl. "They won't be able to tell I'm in Hungary, will they?"
Cissa was covering for me while I was playing in Hungary. We'd forged a letter from my Muggle sister, Petunia, saying that Aunt Edith ( my only other remaining Muggle relative, who Petunia lived with) was seriously ill and wanted to see me in case she… well, died.
"Trust me, I'm an expert at this." Cissa reassured me. "Look, there's your team."
The girls were all sitting in the Knight Bus, and James was just climbing inside. He was pulling the door shut when he spotted me.
I ran up, dragging my bag behind me. "My cousin's covering for me," I said breathlessly. "I'm supposed to be staying with my Muggle aunt in Surrey."
James smiled at me. "I didn't hear that."
I rushed on to the bus, and all the girls cheered. I made my way over to Abby, who was patting the empty bed next to her.
"I knew you'd come," she said with a huge grin. "I even saved a space for you."
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything." I grinned back at her, pushing the fact that I was deceiving my guardians to the back of my mind. I was going to enjoy myself, whatever happened.
Things started off brilliantly. The bus journey was a laugh, and we picked up our Portkey from the Ministry of Magic with little fuss. When we arrived in Budapest, we were whisked on to a luxury bus for the short drive to our hotel. Abby and I were sharing a room, but we hardly had time to unpack before we were off for a tour of the city.
We floated invisible to Muggle eyes, above the crowds on large flying carpets. "Isn't this fab?" Abby yelled in my head as we sailed along. I nodded. Budapest was huge, a real mixture of old and new, with churches and museums right alongside big new shopping centres.
"Come on, Lily." Abby whipped her camera out of her bag. "Say 'dungbomb'!"
"What do you want a picture of me for?" I laughed, doing a mock-sexy pout. I was playing to the camera a bit because I knew that James was looking at me. But it was liberating to know that no-one was going to see me and rush to tell Kate and Mike that I wasn't behaving myself properly.
The match against the Hungarian team was in the evening, so we headed back to the hotel for lunch and a rest before we went over to the stadium. We were all up for the game massively. Even though it was a friendly, we were determined to win. I couldn't wait to get out on to the pitch – though there was a secret worry niggling away at the back of my mind. I'd missed several training sessions, and I hadn't even been playing out on the lawns with the lads like I used to. What if I wasn't fit enough for a long match?
The Hungarian pitch was amazing. I reckon the Hungarian girls would have gone on strike if they'd had the same facilities we were expected to put up with at the Horntails. As I stood on the pitch that evening, waiting for Mel and the Hungarian captain to shake hands, I stared round at the immaculate green grass, the huge, comfortable stands filled with people, the state of the art floodlights and scoreboard. This was easily the biggest crowd I'd ever played in front of. I was desperate to do well.
The ref released the balls, and the game began. The Hungarian team were no pushover. They obviously weren't considering the game as just a friendly either, and they were pretty physical. I got a bit frustrated after about forty-five minutes when nearly all my attempts to set something up with Abby and Rosmerta were blocked. The score after an hour or so seemed stuck on 40-30 to us.
"Don't lose heart," James said during a time-out, after we'd been playing for two and a half hours and the score was only 80-60 to us. "We're blocking them just as effectively at our end. It's going to be a question of which side can hold out the longest.
I felt better as we flew back into the air. All my fears about not being fit enough seemed to be unfounded. The rest of the team seemed more motivated, too, and we quickly pulled ahead. It wasn't long before the game started to look like a massacre – after four hours of play, we'd scored 170 to the Hungarians' 70.
But I was starting to have problems. As the game wore on, with few sightings of the Snitch, I began to wheeze a bit. My pace started to drop, and I was having to push myself hard to keep up with the flow of play.
Suddenly a shout from behind startled me. "Lily! Block her!" Mel yelled.
With a sinking heart, I saw the other team's Seeker below me, closing in on the Snitch, while Verraine was frantically trying to catch up. I dived down, chasing after her in an attempt to block her, but I couldn't catch her up. Luckily, one of our Beaters whacked a Bludger towards the Hungarian Seeker, distracting her for long enough that the Snitch disappeared once more.
That was too close, I thought gloomily. Mel saw my face and swooped over to have a word. "Don't worry, Lily," she said. "These things happen."
Yeah, but it wouldn't have happened if I was fit enough, I thought silently. It wasn't fair on the rest of the team. I was determined to make up for my error, and play harder than ever.
It seemed to pay off. After over five hours of play, we were beating the Hungarians 230-90. I was almost on my last legs, but I saw another goal chance. I picked up the Quaffle from Rosmerta, and, as if by magic, a gap opened up in front of me. I got my second wind, and headed for the goalposts.
"Lily!" I could hear Abby shrieking as she flew alongside me. "Pass!"
I glanced up and threw the Quaffle forward into space. Abby swooped up underneath it, grabbing it as I flew ahead to get into a good position for another pass. Jules lobbed it over the heads of the Hungarian Chasers, and I caught it. We just had to beat the Keeper now. I approached the goalposts, and the keeper eyed me warily. She'd grown cautious and was waiting for me to make a move. As I held back, waiting for her to falter, I heard Abby yelling loudly at me, but I was too involved in what I was doing to distinguish her words. As I feinted to the right, I heard a roar from the crowd, and turned in time to see the Hungarian Seeker raise the Snitch above her head in triumph. The Hungarians had won. 240-230. I groaned as I realised what Abby must have been yelling at me. If only I'd got on with it, and scored! We'd at least have drawn. I felt so bad, like someone had grabbed hold of my insides and ripped them out. Gutted, in other words.