Chapter Six – Crisis Control

~*~Meeting of the Gryffindor Quidditch team~*~



"Okay, guys," said James, pacing the room, worried. Lily was sitting in the back corner of the room writing in a small notebook that James assumed to be her diary. "We didn't plan for this. We know that somebody did something to Lucy, but we can't prove anything."

"Cough.Malfoy.cough," said Sirius.

"We have no reserves or anything and the game's this Saturday." James continued. "Today is Tuesday. That gives us three days." The team members rolled their eyes. Has anyone got any ideas for a temporary replacement?"

"My younger brother might want to," the keeper, Michael Reeves spoke up. "But it clashes with his charms club,"

"Well that's not suitable then. Anyone else?"

Looking toward the back of the room, he saw .Lily. Wild thoughts raced through his head . she had a small, light build .able to fly fast ... must have had plenty of practice defending herself . the perfect beater! Surprisingly, it didn't actually occur to James that Lily might not want to play on the team. In his mind, all people liked Quidditch.

"Lily, why don't you have a practice with us?"

Lily stared.

The team stared.

McGonagall, who had just entered the room, stared.

Everybody stared.

James felt the need to explain himself.

"Well, you have to be with me at all times, right? And when I'm playing Quidditch ."

"I'm afraid, Potter, that if Lily does not want to play Quidditch, then you will have to give it up," McGonagall said from the door.

James gasped.

The team gasped.

Everybody except Lily and McGonagall gasped.

~*~

"You know, Prongs, this really is the limit," said Sirius, on the way back to the Gryffindor tower. "Giving up Quidditch for a girl that doesn't talk? And whats gonna happen every full moon? The animagi potion will be ready soon,"

"She's just gonna have to come with us until we find a better option,"

"You reckon you can make her talk, play Quidditch, and become an animagi all in a very small space of time?"

"Yep,"

"He's fallen hard," said Sirius to Remus in Peter in an undertone as James and Lily went ahead. "We're just gonna have to help him get her to talk before she breaks his heart," Remus and Peter nodded.

~*~In the Common Room that night~*~


Lily seemed to cope with class really well, reflected James as he battled Remus for the title of Best Gryffindor Chess Player. Needless to say, he was losing. Badly. But he was having fun. Lily was writing in her notebook again on the armchair above him.

She even managed to do well in potions. Not talking made it really easy for her to ignore Snape, even though he ended up taking 10 points off Gryffindor for "insubordination" she made it up in all her other subjects. Lily Evans was a very intelligent girl. Smarter than himself, even. The only thing that worried him was their next topic in potions: truth potions. James just hoped Hardcastle wouldn't pick Lily to test it out. Not that James wasn't interested in hearing about Lily's life and feelings, since she never spoke or communicated her feelings to anybody, but he didn't want her to talk to soon. Looking up at her, he saw that Sirius was trying to get Lily to talk. And failing miserably.

"Hey Lily, why did the chicken cross the road?"

"Because it wanted to get to the other side! Aha!"

Lily gave him a dirty look and went back to writing in her notebook.

"What's that?" said Sirius curiously, acting like the four year old he was, snatching the book out of her hands.

A look of immense terror crossed Lily's face as she grabbed for it back, Sirius holding it just out of her reach. Lily just got more terrified, reaching for it more and more desperately for it until James couldn't stand it.

"STOP IT!!"

"Alright." said Sirius, loyal to James, thrusting the book back into Lily's hands.

Lily ran upstairs, tears in her eyes. James gave Sirius a very dirty look before going after her.

"Shh Lily, it's alright," he hugged her awkwardly as she sat on her bed crying, James not really being sure of what to do.

Later that night, as James lay in his bed, he could still hear Lily sniffling and hoped that one day, soon, she would trust him enough for her to speak to him.

A/N: That was pathetically short! But there are plenty more longer chapters ahead!