Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 19- Long Noses and Quidditch Chaos
The following weeks went very slowly for Lily, and just when she was just about to give up on the idea of her friends ever getting over the Gilderoy craze, Sirius once again proved his worth. It happened one Saturday morning, when Lily, having slept in as late as she could manage without missing breakfast, crept down to the dining hall with all due deliberation. She assumed that her friends had once again deserted her to moon over Gilderoy Lockhart.
But when she entered the dining hall, she was greeted by four eager Marauders.
"All right, so Lily's here, now we can start it!" Sirius spoke excitedly, ushering the confused red-head over to the table which was occupied by Brittany, Dora, Jackie and Gilderoy as well as several other girls who where head over heels in love with the stupid boy.
James rolled his eyes at Lily's warm reception. "Why did we have to wait for her? We could have done it already."
"James, James, Lily is the one who referred Gilderoy's case to us. It is only fair that she gets to see her revenge in action," Sirius soothed smoothly.
Lily rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous. Just do whatever you were going to do already!"
"Come on Lils, it's not that simple," Sirius pretended to be offended and failed miserably.
"What Sirius means, is for the prank to work, we need an inside man. . .or an inside woman. Anyways, we need you to get Gilderoy to eat this chocolate," Remus explained patiently. He seemed to Lily to be the most Balanced one of the marauders.
Lily was reluctant to play such a prominent part in the prank, but eventually she agreed. It was for the good of the school after all. If anybody needed to be taught a lesson, well other than James and Lucius, Gilderoy was definitely the person who deserved it the most.
By nature, Lily always wore her heart on her sleeve and it was pretty obvious to those who knew her just what she was thinking at any given second. While most of the students who saw her noticed right away that something was up with her, Gilderoy was too caught up in adjusting his robes and checking out his own reflection in the small mirror that Jackie had lent him to see anything strange in Lily's guilty expression.
"Here Gilderoy I brought you a chocolate!" she blurted out conspicuously, biting her lip in anxiousness.
"Ah!" Gilderoy greeted her happily, "I see you've finally come around young Lily. And with a token of your affection no doubt," he grinned showing many flashing white teeth.
Lily's face flashed for a moment, and she was on the verge of telling him off, until she remembered the purpose of talking to him in the first place, and wisely bit her tongue. Brittany looked at her oddly, surprised that her friend had not lost her temper at Gilderoy's presumptuous remarks.
The marauders subtly crowded around the table, and everyone but Gilderoy knew that something was up.
Lily and the Marauders held their breath as Gilderoy put the chocolate in his mouth and chewed it.
"Mmm. . . Very good Lily. I think I will be so kind hearted as to forgive you for your otherwise rude behavior. I understand that you were just struck dumb by my beauty," Gilderoy blathered good naturedly.
Lily stifled a giggle, "er, right," she replied hastily.
"I was just telling the others about the time I saved a busload of muggle school children from the Lochness monster. I'll gladly start over so Lily and her other friends, (he gestured towards the marauders), can understand my bravery in full."
Lily groaned, waiting for whatever special ingredients which had been added to the chocolate to take effect.
"I had just finished winning a young wizarding prowess contest, and was taking a nice refreshing stroll in the woods when suddenly what do I see but that troublesome Lochness monster, attacking a school bus full of children!" Gilderoy explained passionately, waving his hands to emphasize his point.
She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed to Lily that as he spoke, his nose seemed to grow a bit larger.
"Well, valiant as I am, I had no choice but to take on the monster single-handedly, without use of my wand of course. So I jumped on it's back and fought it off with my skill. First I leaned in and it nearly bit off my head! But I swerved and punched him straight in the eye and told him to go back to the lake where he came from. That showed him. It just goes to show that the Lochness monster is no match for Gilderoy Lockhart!"
By this time most of the girls were giggling and shooting each other sly glances, and the Marauders were high fiving each other over dramatically. Gilderoy's nose had extended to the approximate length of a wand and was growing rapidly as he spoke.
Finally, even Gilderoy had to notice something. He felt his face in panic, quickly pulling off his hat to cover it.
"Why, I daresay there are more people who need rescuing, I must be off!" Gilderoy lied in a desperate tone.
Jackie shot him a disgusted look as his nose made another quick jump and the hat was no longer sufficient to cover it. Brittany and Dora were laughing and pointing, along with the rest of the school. Lily grinned exuberantly, and turned to Sirius, who was standing behind her.
"I know, I know," Sirius said with a smile, "it's not an original, but I still think it's a good one."
Lily grinned widely and enveloped Sirius in a gigantic hug. "That was great!"
Sirius spun her around ridiculously, "I know! I am great!" he exclaimed happily.
James cleared his throat and shot Lily an annoyed glare, jealous of his friend giving attention to the girl he could not stand.
"Calm down James, I'll give you back your future wife," Sirius sighed and reluctantly released Lily from his death grip.
Lily's happiness turned to wrath in 1 second flat at Sirius's innocent comment. She turned and shoved Sirius violently and James laughed. Then she turned and grabbed a goblet full of pumpkin juice off the table and dumped it over James's already messy hair.
James sputtered and started yelling and Lily stormed out as usual.
Lily remained mad at the Marauders, although their prank had won her friends back. With end of year finals coming up, Lily and Dora spent more and more time in the library studying. Gilderoy had yet to put in another appearance since the Pinocchio incident. The Marauders on the other hand, spent as much time as possible hitting bludgers at each other and otherwise trying to forget about the upcoming tests.
"We're first years. Who cares what we do on our finals? Even if we fail we've still got six more years to make it up," Remus explained casually to Lily.
She only shook her head in disapproval, "I just don't understand you boys. I hope you all fail!"
Between writing her own essays, and helping Dora understand the basics of all her classes, Lily had her work cut out for her. Eventually Dora reached a point where she realized that studying could only get her so far, and abandoned Lily to go play outside in her free time with the rest of the first years. Lily however, would not partake in such a luxury.
Lily's nerves became tighter and tighter as the weeks went by, and the others tried their hardest not to care at all. Try as she might, she could not stop stressing over finals, although she was already first in her class, (Sirius was second), and was well versed in all the material the first years had covered.
The Marauders, especially James, went back to teasing Lily about her nerdy study habits. That was, at least until one night in May when the James woke up screaming again. This time, most of the Gryffindor house had heard him calling out Lily's name.
James tried to shrug it off and hide his embarrassment, but a part of him was a little confused. The dream had been much like the last one, except that he had seen her more clearly this time. He had seen the death eaters face who had been torturing her as well, and recognized it, though when he woke he could no longer remember who it was. For some reason the dream made him feel uneasy.
The next morning it was hell all over again for Lily, and James felt much the same way. To retaliate, each took it out on the other and the hatred was almost tangible. Though Remus and Peter objected, Lily became the next target of the Marauders pranks. The Marauders had let off the Slytherins after they had so embarrassed themselves. They hardly needed pranking if they humiliated themselves without trying.
James plotted and planned, and Sirius was only too glad to help out. Sirius loved pranks, no matter who they were on. Lily's final stress was interrupted when she suddenly sprouted an abundance of nose hair and one day a rain cloud followed her around to each of her classes. But she made it clear that she had had enough when once Charms class she became subject to a hairless curse, which made her go prematurely bald very quickly.
While only an hour in the hospital ward cured her of that particular injustice, the psychological effects would stay with her for much longer. Just as Lily was leaving the hospital wing, with a damaged ego, but a full head of hair, she ran straight into Devin Goyle.
She flinched automatically, remembering the prank incident where he had threatened to get even with Lily and the Marauders.
Devin glared down at her and Lily made an effort to straighten her shoulders and look up boldly to meet his gaze. Without warning he reached down and grasped her wrist. Lily screamed, startled.
However, after examining her hand, and gently brushing his finger over the ring she had gotten from her secret admirer, he grinned slyly and backed off as Lily pulled her hand away defensively.
"That's a nice ring you've got there," he said with a laugh, before turning away, leaving Lily to wonder what had just happened.
That night she confided to Brittany and Jackie about Devin Goyle's strange words, and Jackie's face lit up, making Lily regret her choice to tell the gossip prone girl.
"What if Devin is your secret admirer, Lily?" Jackie exclaimed.
Lily flushed red, "He's a seventh year! He would never have a crush on. . .well a first year."
Jackie paused, looking disappointed. "You are right," she admitted. "But it's probably someone that Devin knows who gave you the ring, a Slytherin."
Brittany grimaced. "Let's hope not! What if it's Malfoy, or Snape!"
"Eww! And I thought it was bad when you thought it was James!" Lily giggled despite herself. The thought of Lucius Malfoy giving her, a mere mudblood, a ring as a token of his 'undying love' seemed ridiculous.
The speculation went on for hours and in the end, Brittany and Dora agreed that Devin had nothing to do with the ring.
"It had to be James," Jackie asserted. "He even dreams about you! There is no way it could be anyone else who gave you that ring."
Lily groaned. "I wish I didn't have it. I'm not going to even wear it any more," she sighed and moved to pull it off her finger.
Quickly Jackie darted forward and grasped Lily's hand. "Don't you dare take the ring off Lily! I will give you so much crap if you do! I'll be as bad as Sirius, I swear! Please Lils, leave it on! You never know who could have given it to you, and they could be watching you now!"
Lily rolled her eyes, but eventually agreed to wear the ring, not quite sure why she was giving in so easily to Jackie. Maybe she was just glad that she had gotten her friends back from Gilderoy.
Attention was diverted from Lily and her ring when the date was announced for the final Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, and the outcome for the Quidditch cup, as well as the house cup were dependant on the victor. The competition had always been between the two houses, and the match only added to the tension between the two houses.
Pranks were galore in the week leading up to the Quidditch Match, and Gryffindor was pushed even further behind in the race for the house cup. James and Sirius, along with the other Marauders, seemed more intent than ever to outdo each other in the race to get the most detentions. James and Sirius received two a piece, allowing Sirius to keep the lead, but Remus managed to get three and Peter got one as well.
The night before the big match however, the Marauders were no where to be found. Lily was a bit suspicious, but managed to ignore her instincts. She spent the night studying, as usual, with Dora. It was Lily's nature to worry about school, even when she knew perfectly well that she was the best. Dora needed extra help, as usual, and Lily was all too willing to give it.
As a result of the late night study session, Lily and Dora did not get to bed until late that night, and Lily swore she heard whispering outside her dorm just as she drifted off, though she could not make out who it could be.
The morning dawned bright and early. Too bright and too early in Lily's opinion. She refused to get out of bed, much to the protests of Brittany and the others. Finally they gave up on their friend and went off to the Quidditch match without her.
But just in the nick of time Sirius saved the day by jumping atop the sleeping red head and forcibly pulling her in the direction of the Quidditch field by her hair.
Lily, clad in her pajamas arrived along with Sirius just as the whistle was blown and the two seekers took off. But the game was hardly the only topic of conversation. Written in large flashing maroon and gold letters were the words: Slytherin Stinks! The message was massive and attracted all eyes. While it seemed to have put most of the school in relatively good mood, the Slytherin's looked none too happy.
Brittany turned to Lily, surveyed her outfit, and drowsy state and giggled. When she overcame her bout of hysterics she began to whisper to Lily about the controversial words on the field. "Isn't that great? Slytherin stinks! Look at them, they're so mad. It's brilliant really!"
Sirius took a comical bow and smiled, "well thank you Brittany, I do find myself brilliant on so many levels."
Lily's smile turned into a glare, she was still mad at Sirius for the teasing her about James's strange dreams and the supposed impending marriage. "I don't think it's funny at all. It's bad sportsmanship, that's all it is."
James returned her glare and the two continued to stare dangerously at each other until a loud cheer from the crowd drew their eyes back to the Quidditch game. Blake Blackstone, one of the Gryffindor chasers had just put the quaffle through a hoop, scoring the first points of the game. Lily screamed along with the rest of the school (aside from the Slytherins) and leapt out her seat ignoring the attention she was getting due to her nightgown and slippers.
Most of the school was clearly on Gryffindor's side, despite the house's reputation for being a bit mischievous. The flashing words across the grass seemed to mirror the school's overall attitude toward the Slytherins.
But the words were not enough to deter the Slytherins. Instead it served only to increase the level of both anger and violence on and off the playing field. After the Blake scored, the competition increased drastically and Lily noticed that Devin Goyle and Barty Crouch were beginning to resort to treachery. Both seventh years were beaters and it seemed that they were making a tremendous effort to direct all bludgers in the path of the Gryffindor players.
However, Blake Blackstone and the other Gryffindor chaser Amos Diggory were doing a superb job of dodging the foul bludgers, though Sirius and James agreed that the Gryffindor beaters, who were both fourth years were not the sport justice.
"Next year, we're going to be beaters James," Sirius declared. "Those buffoons don't deserve the title," he motioned toward the two Gryffindor beaters.
Lily rolled her eyes, always the know-it-all. "Don't be ridiculous. They won't even let out try out for beater if they already have the position filled. And it looks like they do!"
"Oh Lily," Sirius sighed sadly, "You have so much to learn!"
At that point everybody's hero Frank Longbottom went into a sudden dive, followed closely by Barty Crouch, who sent a bludger straight at Frank's head. It missed. The Slytherin Seeker, Bren Has finally spotted the movement of the Gryffindor seeker and soared after him as the crowd caught it's breath. Suddenly Frank came out of his swoop, his blond hair golden and glorious in the sun and glinting in his hand was the golden snitch.
The crowd erupted in cheers and all of Gryffindor basked in Frank's reflected splendor. He flew above the stands, his face brilliant against the background of the green grass. Slytherin Stinks! flashed behind him, lighting his outline in maroon and gold.
With all of the students' eyes on the brilliant figure of Gryffindor Quidditch captain Frank Longbottom, few people noticed the losing captain Barty Crouch slinking away, his eyes on the ground. Few people noticed the hate in his eyes, and the need for vengeance.
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 19- Long Noses and Quidditch Chaos
The following weeks went very slowly for Lily, and just when she was just about to give up on the idea of her friends ever getting over the Gilderoy craze, Sirius once again proved his worth. It happened one Saturday morning, when Lily, having slept in as late as she could manage without missing breakfast, crept down to the dining hall with all due deliberation. She assumed that her friends had once again deserted her to moon over Gilderoy Lockhart.
But when she entered the dining hall, she was greeted by four eager Marauders.
"All right, so Lily's here, now we can start it!" Sirius spoke excitedly, ushering the confused red-head over to the table which was occupied by Brittany, Dora, Jackie and Gilderoy as well as several other girls who where head over heels in love with the stupid boy.
James rolled his eyes at Lily's warm reception. "Why did we have to wait for her? We could have done it already."
"James, James, Lily is the one who referred Gilderoy's case to us. It is only fair that she gets to see her revenge in action," Sirius soothed smoothly.
Lily rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous. Just do whatever you were going to do already!"
"Come on Lils, it's not that simple," Sirius pretended to be offended and failed miserably.
"What Sirius means, is for the prank to work, we need an inside man. . .or an inside woman. Anyways, we need you to get Gilderoy to eat this chocolate," Remus explained patiently. He seemed to Lily to be the most Balanced one of the marauders.
Lily was reluctant to play such a prominent part in the prank, but eventually she agreed. It was for the good of the school after all. If anybody needed to be taught a lesson, well other than James and Lucius, Gilderoy was definitely the person who deserved it the most.
By nature, Lily always wore her heart on her sleeve and it was pretty obvious to those who knew her just what she was thinking at any given second. While most of the students who saw her noticed right away that something was up with her, Gilderoy was too caught up in adjusting his robes and checking out his own reflection in the small mirror that Jackie had lent him to see anything strange in Lily's guilty expression.
"Here Gilderoy I brought you a chocolate!" she blurted out conspicuously, biting her lip in anxiousness.
"Ah!" Gilderoy greeted her happily, "I see you've finally come around young Lily. And with a token of your affection no doubt," he grinned showing many flashing white teeth.
Lily's face flashed for a moment, and she was on the verge of telling him off, until she remembered the purpose of talking to him in the first place, and wisely bit her tongue. Brittany looked at her oddly, surprised that her friend had not lost her temper at Gilderoy's presumptuous remarks.
The marauders subtly crowded around the table, and everyone but Gilderoy knew that something was up.
Lily and the Marauders held their breath as Gilderoy put the chocolate in his mouth and chewed it.
"Mmm. . . Very good Lily. I think I will be so kind hearted as to forgive you for your otherwise rude behavior. I understand that you were just struck dumb by my beauty," Gilderoy blathered good naturedly.
Lily stifled a giggle, "er, right," she replied hastily.
"I was just telling the others about the time I saved a busload of muggle school children from the Lochness monster. I'll gladly start over so Lily and her other friends, (he gestured towards the marauders), can understand my bravery in full."
Lily groaned, waiting for whatever special ingredients which had been added to the chocolate to take effect.
"I had just finished winning a young wizarding prowess contest, and was taking a nice refreshing stroll in the woods when suddenly what do I see but that troublesome Lochness monster, attacking a school bus full of children!" Gilderoy explained passionately, waving his hands to emphasize his point.
She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed to Lily that as he spoke, his nose seemed to grow a bit larger.
"Well, valiant as I am, I had no choice but to take on the monster single-handedly, without use of my wand of course. So I jumped on it's back and fought it off with my skill. First I leaned in and it nearly bit off my head! But I swerved and punched him straight in the eye and told him to go back to the lake where he came from. That showed him. It just goes to show that the Lochness monster is no match for Gilderoy Lockhart!"
By this time most of the girls were giggling and shooting each other sly glances, and the Marauders were high fiving each other over dramatically. Gilderoy's nose had extended to the approximate length of a wand and was growing rapidly as he spoke.
Finally, even Gilderoy had to notice something. He felt his face in panic, quickly pulling off his hat to cover it.
"Why, I daresay there are more people who need rescuing, I must be off!" Gilderoy lied in a desperate tone.
Jackie shot him a disgusted look as his nose made another quick jump and the hat was no longer sufficient to cover it. Brittany and Dora were laughing and pointing, along with the rest of the school. Lily grinned exuberantly, and turned to Sirius, who was standing behind her.
"I know, I know," Sirius said with a smile, "it's not an original, but I still think it's a good one."
Lily grinned widely and enveloped Sirius in a gigantic hug. "That was great!"
Sirius spun her around ridiculously, "I know! I am great!" he exclaimed happily.
James cleared his throat and shot Lily an annoyed glare, jealous of his friend giving attention to the girl he could not stand.
"Calm down James, I'll give you back your future wife," Sirius sighed and reluctantly released Lily from his death grip.
Lily's happiness turned to wrath in 1 second flat at Sirius's innocent comment. She turned and shoved Sirius violently and James laughed. Then she turned and grabbed a goblet full of pumpkin juice off the table and dumped it over James's already messy hair.
James sputtered and started yelling and Lily stormed out as usual.
Lily remained mad at the Marauders, although their prank had won her friends back. With end of year finals coming up, Lily and Dora spent more and more time in the library studying. Gilderoy had yet to put in another appearance since the Pinocchio incident. The Marauders on the other hand, spent as much time as possible hitting bludgers at each other and otherwise trying to forget about the upcoming tests.
"We're first years. Who cares what we do on our finals? Even if we fail we've still got six more years to make it up," Remus explained casually to Lily.
She only shook her head in disapproval, "I just don't understand you boys. I hope you all fail!"
Between writing her own essays, and helping Dora understand the basics of all her classes, Lily had her work cut out for her. Eventually Dora reached a point where she realized that studying could only get her so far, and abandoned Lily to go play outside in her free time with the rest of the first years. Lily however, would not partake in such a luxury.
Lily's nerves became tighter and tighter as the weeks went by, and the others tried their hardest not to care at all. Try as she might, she could not stop stressing over finals, although she was already first in her class, (Sirius was second), and was well versed in all the material the first years had covered.
The Marauders, especially James, went back to teasing Lily about her nerdy study habits. That was, at least until one night in May when the James woke up screaming again. This time, most of the Gryffindor house had heard him calling out Lily's name.
James tried to shrug it off and hide his embarrassment, but a part of him was a little confused. The dream had been much like the last one, except that he had seen her more clearly this time. He had seen the death eaters face who had been torturing her as well, and recognized it, though when he woke he could no longer remember who it was. For some reason the dream made him feel uneasy.
The next morning it was hell all over again for Lily, and James felt much the same way. To retaliate, each took it out on the other and the hatred was almost tangible. Though Remus and Peter objected, Lily became the next target of the Marauders pranks. The Marauders had let off the Slytherins after they had so embarrassed themselves. They hardly needed pranking if they humiliated themselves without trying.
James plotted and planned, and Sirius was only too glad to help out. Sirius loved pranks, no matter who they were on. Lily's final stress was interrupted when she suddenly sprouted an abundance of nose hair and one day a rain cloud followed her around to each of her classes. But she made it clear that she had had enough when once Charms class she became subject to a hairless curse, which made her go prematurely bald very quickly.
While only an hour in the hospital ward cured her of that particular injustice, the psychological effects would stay with her for much longer. Just as Lily was leaving the hospital wing, with a damaged ego, but a full head of hair, she ran straight into Devin Goyle.
She flinched automatically, remembering the prank incident where he had threatened to get even with Lily and the Marauders.
Devin glared down at her and Lily made an effort to straighten her shoulders and look up boldly to meet his gaze. Without warning he reached down and grasped her wrist. Lily screamed, startled.
However, after examining her hand, and gently brushing his finger over the ring she had gotten from her secret admirer, he grinned slyly and backed off as Lily pulled her hand away defensively.
"That's a nice ring you've got there," he said with a laugh, before turning away, leaving Lily to wonder what had just happened.
That night she confided to Brittany and Jackie about Devin Goyle's strange words, and Jackie's face lit up, making Lily regret her choice to tell the gossip prone girl.
"What if Devin is your secret admirer, Lily?" Jackie exclaimed.
Lily flushed red, "He's a seventh year! He would never have a crush on. . .well a first year."
Jackie paused, looking disappointed. "You are right," she admitted. "But it's probably someone that Devin knows who gave you the ring, a Slytherin."
Brittany grimaced. "Let's hope not! What if it's Malfoy, or Snape!"
"Eww! And I thought it was bad when you thought it was James!" Lily giggled despite herself. The thought of Lucius Malfoy giving her, a mere mudblood, a ring as a token of his 'undying love' seemed ridiculous.
The speculation went on for hours and in the end, Brittany and Dora agreed that Devin had nothing to do with the ring.
"It had to be James," Jackie asserted. "He even dreams about you! There is no way it could be anyone else who gave you that ring."
Lily groaned. "I wish I didn't have it. I'm not going to even wear it any more," she sighed and moved to pull it off her finger.
Quickly Jackie darted forward and grasped Lily's hand. "Don't you dare take the ring off Lily! I will give you so much crap if you do! I'll be as bad as Sirius, I swear! Please Lils, leave it on! You never know who could have given it to you, and they could be watching you now!"
Lily rolled her eyes, but eventually agreed to wear the ring, not quite sure why she was giving in so easily to Jackie. Maybe she was just glad that she had gotten her friends back from Gilderoy.
Attention was diverted from Lily and her ring when the date was announced for the final Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, and the outcome for the Quidditch cup, as well as the house cup were dependant on the victor. The competition had always been between the two houses, and the match only added to the tension between the two houses.
Pranks were galore in the week leading up to the Quidditch Match, and Gryffindor was pushed even further behind in the race for the house cup. James and Sirius, along with the other Marauders, seemed more intent than ever to outdo each other in the race to get the most detentions. James and Sirius received two a piece, allowing Sirius to keep the lead, but Remus managed to get three and Peter got one as well.
The night before the big match however, the Marauders were no where to be found. Lily was a bit suspicious, but managed to ignore her instincts. She spent the night studying, as usual, with Dora. It was Lily's nature to worry about school, even when she knew perfectly well that she was the best. Dora needed extra help, as usual, and Lily was all too willing to give it.
As a result of the late night study session, Lily and Dora did not get to bed until late that night, and Lily swore she heard whispering outside her dorm just as she drifted off, though she could not make out who it could be.
The morning dawned bright and early. Too bright and too early in Lily's opinion. She refused to get out of bed, much to the protests of Brittany and the others. Finally they gave up on their friend and went off to the Quidditch match without her.
But just in the nick of time Sirius saved the day by jumping atop the sleeping red head and forcibly pulling her in the direction of the Quidditch field by her hair.
Lily, clad in her pajamas arrived along with Sirius just as the whistle was blown and the two seekers took off. But the game was hardly the only topic of conversation. Written in large flashing maroon and gold letters were the words: Slytherin Stinks! The message was massive and attracted all eyes. While it seemed to have put most of the school in relatively good mood, the Slytherin's looked none too happy.
Brittany turned to Lily, surveyed her outfit, and drowsy state and giggled. When she overcame her bout of hysterics she began to whisper to Lily about the controversial words on the field. "Isn't that great? Slytherin stinks! Look at them, they're so mad. It's brilliant really!"
Sirius took a comical bow and smiled, "well thank you Brittany, I do find myself brilliant on so many levels."
Lily's smile turned into a glare, she was still mad at Sirius for the teasing her about James's strange dreams and the supposed impending marriage. "I don't think it's funny at all. It's bad sportsmanship, that's all it is."
James returned her glare and the two continued to stare dangerously at each other until a loud cheer from the crowd drew their eyes back to the Quidditch game. Blake Blackstone, one of the Gryffindor chasers had just put the quaffle through a hoop, scoring the first points of the game. Lily screamed along with the rest of the school (aside from the Slytherins) and leapt out her seat ignoring the attention she was getting due to her nightgown and slippers.
Most of the school was clearly on Gryffindor's side, despite the house's reputation for being a bit mischievous. The flashing words across the grass seemed to mirror the school's overall attitude toward the Slytherins.
But the words were not enough to deter the Slytherins. Instead it served only to increase the level of both anger and violence on and off the playing field. After the Blake scored, the competition increased drastically and Lily noticed that Devin Goyle and Barty Crouch were beginning to resort to treachery. Both seventh years were beaters and it seemed that they were making a tremendous effort to direct all bludgers in the path of the Gryffindor players.
However, Blake Blackstone and the other Gryffindor chaser Amos Diggory were doing a superb job of dodging the foul bludgers, though Sirius and James agreed that the Gryffindor beaters, who were both fourth years were not the sport justice.
"Next year, we're going to be beaters James," Sirius declared. "Those buffoons don't deserve the title," he motioned toward the two Gryffindor beaters.
Lily rolled her eyes, always the know-it-all. "Don't be ridiculous. They won't even let out try out for beater if they already have the position filled. And it looks like they do!"
"Oh Lily," Sirius sighed sadly, "You have so much to learn!"
At that point everybody's hero Frank Longbottom went into a sudden dive, followed closely by Barty Crouch, who sent a bludger straight at Frank's head. It missed. The Slytherin Seeker, Bren Has finally spotted the movement of the Gryffindor seeker and soared after him as the crowd caught it's breath. Suddenly Frank came out of his swoop, his blond hair golden and glorious in the sun and glinting in his hand was the golden snitch.
The crowd erupted in cheers and all of Gryffindor basked in Frank's reflected splendor. He flew above the stands, his face brilliant against the background of the green grass. Slytherin Stinks! flashed behind him, lighting his outline in maroon and gold.
With all of the students' eyes on the brilliant figure of Gryffindor Quidditch captain Frank Longbottom, few people noticed the losing captain Barty Crouch slinking away, his eyes on the ground. Few people noticed the hate in his eyes, and the need for vengeance.