Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, I just enjoy writing about them.

A/N: I've decided not to write a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match as they're the most commonly written matches, and I'm getting a bit sick of it. (Cough-patheticmovies-cough)

Chapter 6- Bandaged fingers and Quidditch

Monday 4th January, 1978

And I'm back! Plus I've grown! I'm almost as tall as Emmeline. But she'll always be really tall, the lucky girl. The summer holidays were so very boring. My parents decided that nearly fifteen (my birthday is in April), was old enough to have a job down at the local shop. Remind me never to become a shop owner. I got stuck with all the dodgy jobs like restocking shelves and mopping up the ice cream some kid dropped. At least my parents let me keep the money. If I work every summer then I should have enough to keep me going 'till I get a better job once I leave school.

Today was the first day of classes, so it's been pretty frantic. Everyone has homework due and the library was full of people who had not finished. I had done all of my homework in the first four days. After that my mum took me shopping for clothes and presents. I had to restrain her in the matter of muggle clothes. After all, I mostly only wear them on the holidays. The presents I was getting were for myself from dad. He got Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, but that was all. He wouldn't have a clue what to get me. I sometimes wonder if he remembers that his daughter is a witch. Not that I mind.

Friday 8th January

Today was really horrible. Well… it ended horribly at least. I had double Potions with the Slytherins after lunch. Being stuck in the Dungeons with the Slytherins is bad enough, but it's even worse in winter. It was freezing. Everyone stood as close as possible to their cauldrons and our breaths came out in little clouds.

I was tipping the contents of a phial into my cauldron when a Slytherin bumped into me.

"Watch it, Mudblood," the boy muttered as the liquid splashed over my notes and immediately ate up the parchment.

I just glared at the boy. His name was Severus Snape, and he had always been nasty to me.

I picked up what was left of the notes, forgetting about the acidic liquid. I let out a hiss as the liquid came into contact with my skin. My eyes watered as the pain intensified, even though I had dropped the parchment.

The Potions Master, an arthritic old man called Professor Pieris walked up to my desk. "Take that wound up to Madame Pomfrey before you lose a finger. And ten points from Gryffindor for your clumsiness."

I grabbed my bag of books and fled the classroom, nursing the fingers on both hands.

Madame Pomfrey fixed me up in no time at all and no fingers were lost. She put liberal amounts of some green ointment on the raw skin and heavily bandaged them. I could barely bend my fingers.

I left the hospital wing just as classes were finishing for the day. I decided to find Emmeline, having left a few things behind. I had almost reached the dungeons when I came face to face with Snape.

He gave me a nasty sneer as I approached.

"It was your fault that I dropped the phial, not mine." I took the direct approach.

"Get out of my way unless you want me to hex you," he said, ignoring my words. 

Just then the Marauders appeared from the direction of the dungeons.

"Oh look, it's old Snivellus." Drawled James.

Snape whipped around to face the four boys.

"Fancy a bit of duelling before dinner?" Sirius asked casually, reaching into his pocket. He paused. "No? Then get lost."

Snape took a final look at the boys and fled.

The four of them burst out in laughter. "Too bad, maybe next time." Said James, looking slightly disappointed at the missed opportunity to no doubt lose points from Gryffindor.

I gave him a furious glare and stormed off towards Gryffindor Tower. A few moments later I heard the sound of running footsteps. James had run after me.

"Lily…wait." James caught up to me, but I ignored him. "What happened to your hand?" he asked.

"Snape made me spill something, that's all. Now leave me alone, Potter," I snapped. My fingers were still sore and the pain was making me irritable, or maybe it was just Potter.

"Let me have a look." He reached for my bandaged fingers.

"Piss off, Potter. Go pick up some other girl. Maybe that blond from last term. Or one of her friends, they all looked pretty eager." I quickened my pace.

"Hey, I was just concerned," he answered, actually sounding offended.

"Yeah, sure. Like when you sent those flowers for my aunt. Oh-so subtle." I could feel my face reddening with anger.

"Hold on a minute." James ran up to me and grabbed my arm to halt my progress. "It was my mum's idea. She went to school with your aunt. It wasn't… I mean I wasn't trying to impress you or anything." He really did look concerned now.

"Whatever Potter. Just leave me alone." I pulled out of his grip and ran, praying that he wouldn't follow. He didn't.

Tuesday 12th January

I've begun to draw up revision timetables for the end-of-year exams. Usually I wouldn't do this for another month or two. But now that I'm a Prefect, it's harder to find time for everything. I've taken to studying in the library on Saturday nights. It's usually the night when people relax, so I have plenty of room.

I'm getting to know Remus more than I ever thought I would. Patrolling the hallways can be pretty dull, but Remus makes it interesting. He really knows his stuff when it comes to Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. I can see why Em is so fond of him. He just seems really stable, a real asset around the madhouse that is Hogwarts. He gets sick easily and is often absent for days at a time, but he never lets it affect his school work. I bet he becomes Head Boy.

Monday 18th January

Ah, bliss. For once the Common Room is peaceful. The reason being that the Gryffindor Quidditch Team is practicing. James' friends are busy watching him as they have a very important match against Hufflepuff on Saturday. This means that James' fan club are also absent from the Common Room as they are busy ooh-ing and ah-ing at him. I might meander down there later as I don't have anything better to do. Plus Emmeline is down there with Remus and it would be nice to have a chat to them.

Ok, I admit it, I'm bored. Plus my fingers are getting sore again from writing. I don't have so many bandages on them now, but they are still a bit tender.

Later…

In the end I gave up trying to enjoy the boring silence of the Common Room and decided to go and sketch the Quidditch players. I found Remus, Emmeline, Sirius and Peter at the top of one of the Quidditch stands. Sirius was talking animatedly to two girls from my dorm with Peter adding a comment here and there. Remus and Emmeline greeted me with a warm smile. I returned the smile and sat next to Emmeline. They went back to whatever conversation they had been having before and I pulled out my sketchpad and charcoal. Remus, once again, noticed my drawing.

"Hey Lily, you should make some banners for our next match. We could even charm them to make them move," Remus suggested.

"Yeh, maybe." In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not fond of sharing my work.

"No seriously. You'd be helping out the house. And as a Prefect you should show your enthusiasm," he insisted.

"That's true," I admitted. "But I don't have any canvas, just parchment. And I would need some paint."

Remus just grinned. "Leave it to me. I'm sure I can get you what you need." His face became serious again. "But seriously, are you interested? It would be great if you could."

I couldn't help but agree. "Sure. If you get the supplies I'd be happy to."

So I ended spending the rest of the Quidditch practice drawing up designs for banners. Great. Just what I always wanted. To have my artwork flashing all over banners for the whole school to see.

Wednesday 20th January

To my surprise Remus and Sirius turned up in the Common Room this evening with some canvas, paints and paint brushes. I couldn't believe he had actually found the supplies for me… and so fast. He even showed me this spell that allowed me to draw lines with my wand and make them disappear if I changed my mind. After half an hour of this I was getting very excited about the banners. I was actually sad when Remus reminded me that we had to patrol in ten minutes.

Saturday 23rd January

I don't think I've ever been to such an exciting Quidditch match. Perhaps I was high on lack of sleep, if that's possible. Remus, Emmeline and I had been up quite late the night before, adding some final spells to the banner I had designed. We managed to make the paint change colours and a small figure in Gryffindor robes zoomed around the words, 'Gryffindor for Quidditch Cup'.

It was a tense match, to say the least. Gryffindor had better Chasers than Hufflepuff, but their Seeker (Amos Diggory) was a force to be reckoned with. He was certainly talented on the pitch, perhaps as much as James. But it was his determination that made him so dangerous. For over an hour the two Seekers sat their vigil for the snitch whilst their team members tried to gain their house the upper hand. Gryffindor managed to stay ahead by a couple of goals, but never any more. After many close calls and false sightings, James caught the snitch which was lurking behind one of the Hufflepuff goalposts. A huge cheer went up from the Gryffindors, I amongst them, as James held up the small golden ball triumphantly. We all flooded down onto the pitch and the team was quickly boosted up and carried off the pitch. When James saw that it was me holding the banner along with Remus, his mouth opened in surprise. I wanted to shout out to him that it was Remus' idea and that I would have refused given a decent opportunity, but I found I didn't care much.

Of course there was an after-party held in the Common Room until the early hours of the morning. As Prefects Remus and I decided that since it was a Saturday night, it didn't matter.

James kept on trying to catch my eye, which I carefully ignored. I didn't want him to start asking me out, just because I had showed support for him. But despite my best attempts, he still managed to corner me.

"Hey Evans. I see you've finally come out." James grinned at me and took a swig form his butterbeer.

I had also taken a sip of mine, but I quickly spat it out. "What?"

"Your artwork." James motioned to the banner which had been magically hung above the fireplace.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I was pretty surprised considering you just about bit my head off the last time I expressed an interest in it." He flashed another grin at me.

"Well, it's all for the cause," I said, hoping he'd be satisfied with this answer and move away.

"And here I'd thought you might have joined my fan club." His eyes had the same look they got when he was planning to prank the Slytherins.

I snorted. "Keep dreaming, Potter. The day I join that pathetic group of simpering girls is the day I hand over my Prefect Badge and start pranking people."

"Or you could meet me half way and keep the Prefect Badge. Remus manages fine with both responsibilities."

 "I would hardly call pranking a responsibility."

Just then Sirius interrupted us. After some hurried discussion along the lines of Peter wearing a dress for a dare, James left me alone. I decided to head up to my dorm before I had to tell the Marauders off for one thing or another. I was too tired to argue with James and Sirius sensibly. Not that any argument with a Marauder is ever sensible.

A/N: Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Next chapter will be dedicated to the first person to review this chapter! *smirks* Also, are there any Spike (from Buffy and Angel) fans out there? Two of my friends have turned all evil and are saying that they don't like him. *sobs*