Hey hey! Yet again its been awhile. It's not that I've been so busy with other things…..its just that I couldn't get any ideas for this story….when I first started it, it was summer and I didn't really have anything going on so I could devote my time to this. SO. On with chapter 10!
Oh yeah, by the way, thanks to all the ppl who review this and have me on their alert list!!! That's so awesome, you guys! I hope each and everyone of ya'll like it. If ya don't, feel free to flame me!
Disclaimer: you know how this goes.
James and Lily: A Match Made in Hogwarts
I know the first paragraph doesn't really make sense, but its part of the plot!
Chapter 10
The Christmas Ball was 3 days away and unbelievably, James still hadn't asked Lily to go with him yet. He was too worried about the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, which had been rescheduled to before Christmas because a Slytherin beater had accidentally hit himself with his bat and there was only time for 1 match after the holidays. James had to have an emergency practice because the match was the day before the ball. Thankfully, all of the Gryffindor players were staying at Hogwarts over the break. Unfortunately, so were all the Hufflepuffs'.
It was the morning of the match. James was too nervous to eat anything.
"James!" Lily wheedled from her place across from him. "You have to eat something! You can't play Quidditch on an empty stomach."
"Not now, Lily." He shrugged her off. He was too worried and agitated to even talk to her. He was going over the Hufflepuff line-up in his head and was using bits of egg and bacon to make up plays. Something was different about this Quidditch match. He had never been this tense before a match. Sirius and Remus knew he was focused before he had to play but not like this. Maybe it was the fact that it had snuck up on him, he didn't know.
"Please, James! Just eat something! Do you want to be sour and bitter all through Christmas if you lost? Eat!" she commanded, but she would learn that she should have just shut her mouth.
James inhaled a quick breath and slammed both of his fists down on the table in front of him with such force that little bits of egg, forks, and knives leaped into the air and came back down to the table with a loud clatter. Lily shrank back away from him, her eyes wide in shock.
"I thought I said not now, Lily! I'm really busy here! I've only got two hours until the match and I've GOT to make up a decent play before then! So unless you know a play that will make our Chasers score a thousand points, LEAVE ME ALONE!" He felt like he couldn't breathe. Everyone was staring at him. He inhaled and exhaled many times before his heart stopped racing. He leaned over the table and rested his head in his hands. The silence that hung in the air was louder than a banshee's scream.
Lily was still staring at him like he was crazy. Slowly, her face was turning pink. Her lips started to quiver in what looked like pure fury and her eyes started to glaze over. What was wrong with him? She had never heard him scream like that before.
"D-don't. Y-y-you. I…I." She sputtered. "Y-You can't t-talk like that to me!" Hopefully, she could regain her proper speech. "Nobody talks to me like that. And I especially won't let pathetic, arrogant, jerks like YOU!" She felt a warm tear slowly slide down her face. Horrified at the thought of letting him see her cry, she quickly brushed it away.
"I have to get out of here before I start bawling like a baby." She thought. She threw down the napkin that had been crumpled in her hand and stood up quickly.
"Lily, I'm sor-"
"Save it, Potter. I don't care." Then she started towards the doors and James thought she had walked out. He mentally beat himself.
"You are so stupid. You were finally friends and then you blow it over a Quidditch match. She'll probably never speak to me again, let alone go to the Ball with me." He buried his head in his hands again and sighed deeply. But he didn't notice Lily standing at the door watching him silently with tears dripping down her face.
"I thought you really had changed, James." She said very quietly to herself. She sniffled and fumbled though her robe pocket for a tissue. She wiped away her tears and turned around to come face to face with Severus Snape. His facial expression went sour. Lily's eyes widened again and she backed away in fear. She couldn't forget what happened that night a couple months ago even though Snape remembered nothing of it. He looked slightly proud at the fact that she seemed to be scared of him.
"What's wrong with you, Mublood? What are you so afraid of?" he taunted.
"Nothing." She mumbled, her eyes darting around nervously.
"Where's your Marauder entourage? Or did they finally decide to blow you off because they didn't want to be in the company of a Mudblood?"
Lily's eyes narrowed with intense hatred. "Why don't you do us all a favor, Snape, and die?"
"OOH. Tough words for a Mudblood."
The word echoed in her head. She could hear Snape chant 'Mudblood, Mudblood' over and over again. She put her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the sound.
"Stop it! Stop!" she screamed silently. It didn't stop. "Please stop! STOP IT!" she screamed out loud this time.
Snape gazed at her in confusion. "What's wrong with you? Stop what? I knew you were a Mudblood but I didn't know you had mental problems as well!" He sidestepped her and headed to the Slytherin table in the Great Hall.
There were more voices besides Snape's now. Lily dropped to her knees, her hands still over her ears. Mudblood! Mudblood! Mudblood! She didn't know what to do, she couldn't think, couldn't hear anything besides that word.
"STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, EEEEEEEEEEEE!" She just started screaming hysterically over and over. She didn't stop to take a breath. She just kept screaming as loud as she could, trying as hard as she could to drone out the sound.
The entirety of the Great Hall was on its feet and crowding around the entrance of the hall, trying to see who was screaming their head off. Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers were pushing their way through but not as fast as James Potter.
"I'd know that scream anywhere." He remembered when Snape tried to attack her and how scared he had been when he heard it. When he was finally though the crowd of students, he could see a red-haired girl on her knees by the wall.
"Lily."
His tense mood evaporated. All he knew was that he had to get to her. He ran as fast as he could. When he reached her, he couldn't think of anything to do. He dropped down to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rocked her back and forth, shushing her like he was comforting a crying baby.
Gradually, her screaming died away to a soft whimpering, until it faded completely. She didn't speak at all. She leaned back against the wall and slid down to her behind and James slowly released her from his arms, not really wanting to let go. She opened her eyes and gazed up at him like a scared and confused child. More tears began to leak from her eyes.
"Lily, what happened? Why were you screaming?" He gently asked her.
"Mudblood. That's all I am. And all I'll ever be. Just a stupid Mudblood." She said sadly.
Dumbledore and the other teachers had finally made their way to them. Madam Pomfrey was also with them. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent down on either side of Lily. McGonagall eyed James suspiciously.
"What happened here, Potter?"
"I don't know Professor. She just started screaming and then I ran out here and stopped her. Then she started calling herself a Mudblood.
"She doesn't appear to be in any danger." Madam Pomfrey said while checking Lily's pulse. "But I think I'd better take her to the hospital wing, anyway. Lily was looking down at her feet sadly. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and made Lily stand up on her feet.
"I'll accompany you, Poppy. Maybe I can get to the bottom of all this." He and Madam Pomfrey led Lily away up the stairs to the hospital wing.
James made to follow them, but McGonagall held him back.
"Potter, the Quidditch match starts in an hour. I suggest you round up your team and head to the locker rooms." She still looked at him suspiciously. But she turned around and went back into the Great Hall, shoeing everyone else back inside.
Carly, Isabella, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were rushing towards James, all with worried looks on their faces.
Carly swooped down on him. "James! We saw Dumbledore taking Lily to the hospital wing! What happened? Did she choke on a kipper again? Please tell me she's ok!"
"Yeah, mate, what happened? We tried to ask Dumbledore but he told us to ask you." Sirius said.
James quickly explained to them what happened. "But, I just don't know why she was screaming like that. She didn't look like she was in any pain at all."
Isabella started in. "Usually when Snape or somebody calls her a Mudblood, it just bounces off of her. She's never fazed by it. I just don't know why it would effect her like it did, then."
Suddenly, something clicked in James head. "Snape." He quickly walked into the Great Hall, where Snape and his friends were just coming out.
James charged at him and before Snape could pull out his wand, James backed him into a wall and clutched the front collar of his robes and pushed his forearms into Snape's chest.
"What the hell do you think your doing, Potter! Let go of me now!" He wiggled around, trying to loosen James's grip on him.
James's eyes looked as though they wanted to kill Snape. "If I find out that you had ANYTHING 'he dug his arms harder into Snape's chest' to do with what happened to Lily, you'll wish this was the worst I was going to do to you!" He let go of Snape and stepped back. "Now, get out of here." Snape just stood there. "GO!" he roared. Snape beckoned to his friends. "Let's go." He muttered quietly to them. They headed towards the Slytherin dungeon.
Remus stepped in. "James, you really need to calm down. You have to go get ready for the match."
"Yeah…I know." James couldn't shake this feeling that he had woken up with. The tense, angry, worried feeling. He felt like he wanted to beat Snape until there was nothing left but a dead lifeless body.
"James, are you sure you're ok?" Carly asked worriedly.
He turned and looked up at the stairs Lily had gone up. "I'm fine."
He went into the Hall to where the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was waiting for their captain to lead them to the locker room, like tradition.
"OK, team. It's time to go. We've got a match to win." He said solemnly.
Meanwhile, in the hospital wing….
Lily was just waking up from a dreamless sleep. Dumbledore was sitting on the end of her bed, looking at her intently.
"How are you feeling, Miss Evans?"
"I feel fine, Professor. Why am I in the hospital wing?"
"I'm afraid I don't really know. You are the only one who can tell me that."
Lily was confused. But then things started to come back to her. "Snape called me a Mudblood. And for some reason, I kept hearing it in my head……..it just wouldn't stop! So I started screaming…and screaming…."
"I'm assuming this isn't the first time you've been called a Mudblood."
Lily nodded.
"Miss Evans, sometimes when someone tells us something over and over, we begin to believe it. My guess is that you've been hearing that foul word for 7 years, ever since you came to this school. That, and a combination of stress can cause us to, shall we say, go a little crazy once in awhile."
Lily nodded again. "Snape just called me that…and I just snapped. I couldn't take it."
"Miss Evans, you know not to let name-calling get to you. You are Head Girl, Head Girls are strong and mature, which I know you are. But even the greatest witches and wizards get stressed sometimes." He smiled at her. "Now, I think you'll be all right after a good rest. The Quidditch match is about to start. You surely don't want to miss it." Lily could've sworn he winked at her as he said that.
"Thank you, sir. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused."
"It's perfectly all right, my dear." With that, he turned and strode to the door and left.
Lily waited a few minutes before jumping up and heading out the door for the Quidditch pitch.
Outside on the pitch………
The match had started and Gryffindor was leading 30 points to 10. James hadn't seen the Snitch yet, and the Hufflepuff Chaser, Bones, was trailing him though the air. If Bones got the Snitch before him, they wouldn't win the cup.
"COME'ON CARLY!" James shouted. She had just dropped the Quaffle again. He had never seen her play so badly and figured she was worried about Lily.
But then, he saw it. A flash of gold near the Gryffindor hoops. He pushed his broom as fast as it would go. Bones had seen it too and he was right behind James.
"Almost there." He was so close. He could see the wings fluttering away from him. But he was going to get it. He began to stretch his arm as far as it would go.
"Almost."
The crowd was roaring all around him. But he was deaf to it. All he heard was the fluttering of the Snitch's wings and all he saw was the tiny gold ball that was so close.
Bones was right on his tail. But a few more inches and it would all be over. His fingers closed around it. He had it. But suddenly-
James heard a loud thud and felt an unbearable pain in his side below his arm. A Bludger had hit him. It felt like all his ribs on that side was broken. It was hard to tell. He closed his eyes and let his body roll off his broom. And as he fell through the air he thought, "Let it stop. Just let the pain go away. Anything is better than this."
Pictures and faces were flashing through James's memory, like a slideshow. His parents and other relatives, the Marauders, and finally, Lily. Her beautiful face was very clear in his mind. He could see her deep red hair, bright green eyes, and every last freckle she still had after all these years. She calmed him and always would.
"If I die, and never get to tell her how sorry I am for yelling at her, please let her know that I love her." He wished.
He felt like it was taking an eternity to fall to the earth. He was moving slowly though the air until he finally hit the ground to which he heard the loudest crack he had ever heard in his life. His eyes flew open and he screamed in pain. He had never felt pain like this before and he couldn't move. He could see his teammates flying down to him from the air. He forgot, the game was over! Gryffindor won! He could hear feet stampeding towards him. "I'll be fine. They'll be able to fix me up and I'll get to go to the Ball and see Lily. Even if I can't be her date, just seeing her will be enough." He closed his eyes again. "Everything will be OK……" He slipped into a peaceful, silent darkness.
Lily had made it to her friends in the stands in time to see James's fall. She felt like she couldn't breathe. There was a hole in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't explain. She couldn't speak. Isabella's eyes were wide with shock. "Oh my god…" she said slowly.
Sirius and Remus were already pushing people aside. "Come on', Lily and Isabella! We have to see if he's…….alive."
The girls turned to each other. "You don't think he's….he couldn't be…." Lily said tearfully.
"He's not." Isabella said firmly. "Let's get down there."
They pushed their way through the crowds that were fighting their way to James. Dumbledore was already there.
"Stay back and let Madam Pomfrey through! This is an emergency! Let her though!"
When she got to James, she quickly checked his pulse, just like she had done to Lily an hour ago.
"Very weak, Dumbledore. We need to get him to the hospital wing immediately." Madam Pomfrey muttered.
They put him on a floating stretcher and tried to get to the castle as quickly as possible. Lily, Isabella, Carly, and the other Marauders finally caught up to them in the entrance hall.
"Please, Professor. Is he going to be ok?" Lily asked fearfully.
Dumbledore looked down at them all with an apprehensive look on his face. "Once again, Miss Evans, I do not know. Come to the hospital wing later, we'll let you know."
Lily nodded. As they carried him away, the tears fell freely again.
Carly threw her arms around Sirius and began to sob openly. Isabella and Remus leaned on each other, with looks of complete sadness.
"James CAN'T die." Lily said through her teeth. "He just can't. Please be OK." She repeated it to herself over and over.
"Maybe Dumbledore was right. If you tell yourself something enough, maybe you'll start to believe it. Please let James be OK."
~*~
Holy cow……that is definitely the longest chapter I've ever done, even though its not very long. I know I keep promising the Christmas Ball, and I'm really sorry I haven't gotten to it yet. But its all part of the plot, you see. Absolutely , positively, it will be in the next chapter, there's no way around it! If its not, then everybody can complain about it in a review! Pinkie swear! Lol! Chapter 11 already planned and is on the way!!
