"Come on Lily, it would mean so much to Jenny if you went to go watch the Quidditch match." April said the morning of the quidditch match. Lily scowled,
"But-"
"Stuff James come on. For Jenny." April said.
"Ok." Lily said, complying with April's request. April grinned and took Lily's hand and pulled her out of the bed. Lily had been working quite hard recently, the work load after the holidays was increasing and she could just keep up with it. She didn't know how anyone else managed to get all their work done. Lily had just pulled a turtle neck jumper over her head when Jenny came in muttering about finding a piece of paper. Jenny was in her red and Gold Quidditch robes and Lily again felt a slight pride for her friend.
"What are you looking for?" April asked as she pulled her cloak on over her clothes.
"James has decided that we're going to change positions at the last minute and the piece of paper I'm looking for has his tactics on it." Jenny said. She quickly went through all her things.
"But you don't know how to play chaser." Lily said. Jenny looked at Lily briefly before searching her bag.
"I do. James and I practice each other's positions. He loves catching the snitch. I don't mind being chaser either, I like a bit of action in a quidditch match. Being a seeker can be a bit boring sometimes. You just sit there and look for a tiny golden ball." Jenny explained. Lily took it all in but didn't completely register it all in her head. She wasn't really that keen on Quidditch. Jenny let out a triumphant shout and sat on her bed scanning a piece of parchment. Lily glanced at it and saw several dots and crosses zooming across the page followed by lines and rough sketching. To Lily it looked like a load of scribbles but it obviously meant something to Jenny because a few minutes later she put it down and bid goodbye to April and Lily.
"James has never been seeker in a match before." April said. Lily wouldn't know, she never went to half the quidditch matches.
"He's probably wanting to show off." Lily said. "You know how he's like." Lily picked her cloak up from the end of her bed and swung it around and fastened it around her tightly. There was still quite a lot of snow around and as soon as Lily stepped outside she knew she would get cold. She was just grateful that the box she sat in was slightly warm.
As they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch April and Lily walked closely together, trying to retain some warmth between them. The rest of Hogwarts were talking excitedly and making vivid hand movements in the air.
"I really don't see what all the fuss is about." Lily said as she sat in a box with a few teachers. Lily, as head girl was allowed to sit in a box that had a good view of the quidditch pitch, occasionally she took a friend up, namely April, and they would watch it together.
"It's great. All the danger and the speed and don't tell me that when you don't see James Playing quidditch you don't get weak at the knees." April said. Lily couldn't deny it. James always looked his best when on a broom. Lily gave a small smile and the teams walked out on the pitch. Lily could see James talking to Jenny quite quickly. Sirius was throwing his bat in the air casually and the other members of the team were just mounting their brooms.
"And today's match is Gryffindor against Slytherin." Said the commentator, a Hufflepuff girl named Shona Wilkins. "This is going to be an interesting match as the winner will go on to play Ravenclaw, the current leaders. And the mount their brooms and fly into the air." Shona looked at the Gryffindor team as Jenny took James' normal place and James hovered in the air high above everyone else. "It appears that there has been some change in the Gryffindor team with Captain James Potter swapping positions with Jenny Chang." There was a loud applause from the crowds for some reason and Lily gave a light applause as she watched James giving the crowd a wave.
"And the balls have been set free" Shona said. "Chang catches the Quaffle and passes to second year student Nymphadora Tonks. She speeds down the pitch- oh- she has a head on collision with Benson." Benson tackled the chaser and got possession of the Quaffle. "Jeremy hits a Bludger and- Watch out James" Shona squealed. Lily turned, not able to look as a beater in green robes hit a speeding black ball towards James. James did a quick roll and Sirius was quickly behind him and aimed the bludger at Benson. The bludger cut through the cold air and hit Benson on the back.
"Nice one Black, thank god you're ok James" Shona said.
"Wilkins!" McGonagall said. Lily turned to Shona and felt like cursing her. Lily knew that almost every other girl in the school fancied James but she couldn't help feeling angry or jealous every time their opinions were voice out loud. "Harper catches the quaffle from under Benson and passes it to Tonks. Tonks quickly passes it to Chang and Chang Scores!" cheers erupted from all around the stadium except the Slytherin end. The Slytherins were boo-ing and hissing. Jenny flew past and gave Lily and April a happy grin before going into a dive and catching the quaffle again as a Slytherin Chaser dropped it. Lily watched the game nervously. The Slytherins seemed intent on trying to knock James off his broom so instead of trying to stop the Chasers from scoring the Slytherin beaters aimed every bludger they could hit towards James. April put a comforting arm around Lily when she saw how it was effecting her. April didn't really worry about Sirius, she had seen enough matches to know that Sirius could handle himself.
"Slytherin score, the teams are now tied at a hundred all." Shona said.
"When is this match going to end?" Lily asked April. She watched as James sped around the pitch on his broom. Lily had noticed he tried to avoid the box Lily was sitting in. She felt slightly glad that she had come but felt slightly annoyed at the same time. Lily was also getting annoyed at Shona. Shona had spent the whole match praising James and even someone as thick as a Slytherin could see she really liked James. James suddenly went into a dive at the same time as the Slytherin Seeker.
"It looks like the Seekers have found the snitch." Shona shouted. James was inches ahead of the Slytherin seeker and had his hand stretched out in front of him. The seekers both went into a straight line and zoomed across the surface of the snow. There were trails in the snow where the air disturbed it. They suddenly shot up in a directly vertical line. Lily found herself on her feet with April and half of the school.
"Come on Gryffindor!" April screamed. The seekers began to level out and followed the snitch around the stadium. Lily stared at the seekers and saw a small golden ball zooming towards her box followed closely by James.
"Come on James!" Lily found herself shouting. She saw James' face twisted in concentration. As the two seekers passed Lily and April were blown into their seats.
"Whoa!" April said slightly dazed. Lily got up again and looked for James. James had heard Lily and his broom suddenly shot forwards in a burst of speed like it felt James' emotions skyrocket. The stadium erupted in cheers as James held his arm up triumphantly to display the tiny golden ball that he had caught.
"Gryffindor win! I knew James could do it." Shona said.
"Are you in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?" Lily asked annoyed. Shona looked at Lily surprised.
"Hufflepuff" she said after she had charmed her voice to be at normal level.
"Then stop praising my boyfriend and support your own team." Lily snapped. Shona gave Lily a disgruntled look and crossed her arms. Lily turned to look at James just as he got hit by two bludgers, one hit him in the stomach and the other on his shoulder. He fell off his broom and just caught the handle with his free hand. He dangled off the broom wincing in pain. The hand he was using was on the side that got hit by the bludger.
"James!" Lily gasped as she turned and ran down the steps of the box to the pitch. James tried to hold on but he could feel and hear his bones pulling apart at the strain of trying to keep hold of his broom. He was sure his shoulder was dislocated. He was starting to lose his grip and then he let go, unable to hold on any longer. Jenny and Sirius zoomed towards him to try and catch him in the air but they both missed and James fell straight into the snow from twenty feet.
"James!" Lily shouted as she ran out onto the pitch. The Gryffindor team had landed around James and seeing if he was ok. Above them Madame Hooch was scolding the Slytherin beaters. James was barely awake and he sat up groggily. His stomach was pounding and his shoulder was on fire. Lily threw herself at the floor and gave James a tight hug. James let out a hiss of pain and she let go.
"Are you ok?" Lily asked worriedly. James gave her a smile and nodded.
"Yeah." He said, trying not to sound as if he was in too much pain.
"Come on, we've got to get him to the hospital wing." Sirius said. He gave his broom to Jenny and helped James up. James' head swam as he stood up. He staggered forwards and fell into Lily. Lily held him upright and looked at him worriedly. April said to make sure he was at the quidditch match and everything would be fine. It definitely looked like it to James. James limped back up to the castle, assisted by Lily and Sirius. The whole school seemed to want to help them but Lily had her wand out and so the school was too scared to go near her.