The next week passed in a blur for James. All he could remember was that he would now sit next to Lily at every class, they would do their homework together, and have most pleasant rendezvous' in empty classrooms. After six years of liking Lily Evans, she was finally his, and he couldn't believe it.

The next Saturday, James walked into the common room to find a mass of people clustered around the bulletin board. Sirius flashed him a grin and brandished a piece of paper in the air, making his way towards his best friend.

"Did you hear, Prongs?" Sirius asked. "Hogwarts's favorite couples award, most eligible bachelor, and most sought-after female. Take a look, mate." He thrust the parchment at James, a reckless grin on his face.

Suspiciously, James took the list and read it quickly.

Hogwarts's 5 favorite couples:

Hugh Turnman (Rav. 7) & Jessie Blackwood (Rav. 7)

James Potter (Gryff. 6) & Lily Evans (Gryff. 6)

Andrew Sets (Rav. 7) & Emma Doeing (Huff. 6)

Chris Harley (Slyth. 5) and Patty McHue (Huff. 4)

Silas Burns (Rav. 5) & Adrienne Macking (Gryff. 5)

Hogwarts's 5 most eligible bachelors:

Sirius Black (Gryff. 6)

Thomas Grinnings (Huff. 6)

Ralph Maytag (Rav. 7)

Connor Pritchard (Slyth. 7)

Steven Durn (Gryff. 5)

Hogwarts's 5 most sought-after females:

Kelly Lizenson (Rav. 6)

Alexia Miller (Gryff. 7)

Lily Evans (Gryff. 6)

Lia Turner (Huff. 7)

Maggie Boyer (Slyth. 5)

James grinned, handing the paper back to his friend. "We made number two after only a week!"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, well I made number one most eligible!"

"Only because I'm no longer eligible, and you shouldn't be either!" James retorted. "Haven't you asked out Kelly yet?" Sirius shook his head and jokingly shoved James's shoulder.

Remus, seeing their laughter, hastened down the stairs from the boys' dorms and joined their circle.

"What's so funny?" The brown-haired boy asked. Sirius showed him the list with a content smirk.

"I'm taking Kelly to the end-of-year ball, it would seem," Sirius said smugly. "And James and Lily get to open the dance. How adorable…"

"What do you mean, 'it would seem you're taking Kelly'?" James asked quickly, not failing to notice they Sirius and Kelly were bother number one on their lists.

Remus frowned at James. "Well, the boys on the most eligible list always ask the corresponding girls," he said slowly, seeming to think there was something horribly wrong with James's mind.

"But Lily is on that list, and she's going with me!" James protested, certain that he was seeing something his friends couldn't. They inspected the list once more.

"Oh, ouch," Sirius said. "Yeah, you're opening the dance with her, mate, but tradition says she's going with…Maytag."

James gaped at them. "That prat I punched out yesterday?!?" He yelled, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump and look at their group.

Lily, hearing the commotion from up the stairs, hurried over to James. "What are you yelling about?" She asked impatiently. Sirius passed the paper over, and she scanned it quickly. "Look, James, we're number two!"

"Keep reading," James said glumly. She rolled her eyes and continued down the list.

"Uh-oh," Lily said after several moments. James felt thoroughly agitated.

"'Uh-oh' is right," he muttered. "Who's in charge of this thing?"

"The seventh years," Lily answered. "Maybe I can talk to Alexia, see if we can get something switched. Calm down, James," she snapped. "I don't want to go with Ralph any more than you want me to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Lily and James walked into the Great Hall hand-in-hand, they were met with a loud applause. Judging from the still-red faces of the other favorite couples in the room, James quickly assessed that this was their initiation, per se. They smiled and took their seats.

After several minutes, a sound familiar to a chant had started at the Hufflepuff table. It wasn't long till it made its way onto all the tables and James could understand what was being said.

Students were banging their hands on the tables to the beat of "Favorite couples kiss, favorite couples kiss…"

Lily's eyes widened and James looked at her for confirmation. She nodded slightly, and the 'favorites', as they were called, stood. There, amid the chanting of their peers, Lily and James shared their first public kiss. It seemed that they were not the only ones. Silas Burns and Adrienne Macking were both bright red and trembling slightly. Their tables cheered wildly.

Sirius caught James's eye from his place two seats down as they resumed their seats and winked. James smiled at him and squeezed Lily's hand, not sure what to think of this new publicity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When James woke the next morning and went downstairs, three fifth years immediately confronted him.

"Maytag is playing!"

"We're doomed--"

"--Recovered fully--"

"You have to play!"

They stopped their frantic pleading to watch his reaction. He carefully registered what he had just heard.

"Ralph Maytag is playing in the match tomorrow?" He asked slowly. They nodded. "And you think I should play because of it?"

Steven Durn, one of the most eligible and seeker on the Gryffindor team stepped forward. "You have to, James," he reasoned. "Because I looked at the records. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and windy. Maytag's team usually scores fast in those conditions. He has them do that one play--I forget what it's called--where the seekers split at midfield and make a vertical line. We always have trouble with it. Our only hope is getting the snitch early, so we need you!"

James rubbed his right shoulder. "But I'm injured," he explained. "I'm under strict orders not to play."

"Since when have you care about rules?" Steven countered, and James had to admit he had a point. Lately he hadn't been himself.

"Fine," he finally agreed. "I'm in. But don't go shouting it everywhere. Let's let Maytag get overconfident, thinking I'm out. I'll just give him a little surprise tomorrow."

The fifth years nodded conspiringly and walked away.

"You're playing tomorrow?" Sirius's voice was right next to James's ear. He spun around.

"I have to. You heard them. Can't let Maytag take away all my glory."

Sirius grinned wickedly. "Excellent. About time you broke a rule. Your glory being a quidditch win….And Lily?"

"Did I hear my name?" Lily laughed, coming toward them. Sirius waved and James wrapped his arms around her.

"We were just talking about James's glorious return to the pitch," Padfoot construed.

"Return?" Lily repeated, unsure. "But he's out for another two months."

"But Lils, they need me," James justified. "Maytag has recovered, and--"

"And you haven't," she said incredulously. James looked down.

"I'm playing, Lily. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"No!" She said forcefully. "You can't!"

"I don't have to do whatever you say!" James growled.

"Then I guess I have nothing to say to you!" She spun on her heel and left the tower without looking back.

Sirius clapped James on his uninjured shoulder. "PMS," he consoled. "Don't worry about it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Classes ended at 11:00 on Monday to give the players time to get ready and the students time tog et to the pitch. James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus walked to the changing rooms together, then Remus and Peter left to the stands. James and Sirius Were the last ones into the locker rooms, where they--especially James--were greeted enthusiastically. In no time at all, it was time for the match to begin.

The Ravenclaw team was already waiting in their sapphire robes when James and his team walked out to meet them. James would have paid all the gold in his vault to be able to see the look on Ralph's face at that moment whenever he wanted.

"What about your shoulder?" The Ravenclaw captain quipped. James shrugged, hiding his wince of pain.

"Captains, shake hands," Madame Hooch ordained. James and Ralph clasped hands.

Ralph pulled hard, causing James's shoulder to jolt. He clenched his teeth and bore it, mounting his broom. The whistle sounded.

Right away James was in the air, watching Sirius and Ralph scuffle with each other to gain posession of the quaffle. Sirius got it and tore away, heading towards the three golden goal hoops.

Andrew Sets, the Ravenclaw keeper, blocked Sirius's shot and threw the ball to Ralph. James tore his eyes from the flying figures below him and watched for the snitch.

Immersed in his own world of guided awareness, James was shocked to look at the scoreboard and see that Ravenclaw was 90 points ahead. He grimaced and looked down angrily. Suddenly he saw it. There, several feet off the ground, the snitch was hovering.

At first no one noticed as James leaned into his dive. Halfway there, Ralph saw him and yelled something to one of his beaters. Feet away from the fluttering golden ball, a bludger came pelting out of nowhere at James. The boy twisted, and instead of it hitting his head, it rammed into his right shoulder. He cried out and fell to the ground.

After several moments of lying there in excruciating pain, James noticed something sharp digging into his back. He carefully reached his left hand underneath him and pulled the snitch out, holding it high. Cheers broke out from the Gryffindor end, but James didn't hear the announcer shouting out the final score. He dropped into a dead faint.