A Neutral Competition

Lily entered Professor Radon's Defence Against the Dark Arts class that afternoon with only a small intention of speaking to Sean. In fact, she didn't even know if she was actually going to start a conversation with him, it was quite a long time ago when she did like him and she didn't want to build any feelings up again for the sake of nothing.

Lily sat at the back of the classroom, and even though the sun was radiant through the several small windows, the room managed to maintain a dark and dreary atmosphere. She propped her bag onto the tattered wooden desk before her and reached inside for her equipment. A short moment later, Marie Salen, a seventh year Hufflepuff, emerged behind the desk and stood to the right of Lily.

"Hey, Lily," she said, her curly blonde hair framing her face and her light brown eyes searching through her own bag.

"Hi, Marie," Lily replied, watching her as she withdrew her wand from her robes pocket and placed it lazily on the desk before her with a light thud.

The murky classroom gradually filled up and Lily watched as James Potter, followed by Sirius Black, entered and took the desk in front of her and Marie's, talking as they did so. Lily felt something slightly jolt in the pit of her stomach as Sean Marlon entered the room accompanied with Reece Epaul, also a seventh year Ravenclaw, but in contrast he had light brown hair and green eyes. Lily turned and faced the front of the classroom but still watched Sean vigilantly out of the corner of her eye. She felt herself slightly wince as he took the desk to the left of her and Marie's, she didn't know why she had this reaction, he had always sat there in previous lessons.

Lily silently considered what Herra had said, if she were to talk to Sean, now would be the time. But she didn't know whether she could, she was still somewhat anxious about what it would look like if she simply made a conversation with him. However, lately she had significantly decreased the amount in which she cared what other people thought about her- and it was this that made her cease the battle with her thoughts and walk up to him.

"Sean, did you do the homework? I thought it was quite difficult," she spontaneously started a conversation and a rather foolish one as a moment later she flinched at her chose of topic.

She felt her face slowly glow red and one direct question was now revolving painfully in her mind, why had she chosen to discuss homework? However, Sean seemed like he didn't mind her chose of discussion, as he smiled, and very handsomely did so.

"Yeah, I had to think a bit though, it was a hard essay," he replied, frowning slightly.

Lily only nodded, she still felt withered with embarrassment, which was ironically her main resentment of starting the conversation with Sean in the first place. She was about to reply in a sole attempt to regain some of her confidence, but Reece tore her effort away by stepping up behind Sean and smirking.

"And I didn't have to think at all," he said boisterously, clapping a hand on Sean's shoulder as he did so, "Sean so generously let me copy his homework, thanks, mate," he briskly waved a piece of parchment clasped in his right hand, the smirk still raised on his lips.

Sean lightly shook his head and rolled his dark eyes. "Err, don't you mean you so rudely copied me?" he questioned Reece.

Lily turned back to her desk and frowned when she noticed that Marie was no longer standing beside her, she searched her eyes round the classroom, however Marie was nowhere to be found.

Lily noticed James come from behind his desk and make a swift move towards Sean. He matched Lily's gaze on his way and smiled, she returned the gesture, however it was slightly contorted with her frown.

"Sean, I've been meaning to talk to you about the Quidditch season," James told Sean as they came into contact.

Sean nodded. "Yeah, first match we're against each other, aren't we?" he asked.

James paused. However, he then quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, I just wanted to remind you, you know, in case you forget who you're against," he said, slightly pretentiously, with the tone of just making an excuse to satisfy Sean's question

Sirius suddenly emerged behind James; a smirk plastered against his half shadowed face, as it was half concealed from the dark tint spilling throughout the classroom.

"He means that we're going to beat you, Sean, but in the most pleasant way," he informed smugly.

Sean only watched Sirius with a cynical expression. "We'll see," he said simply.

James and Sirius exchanged wry grins, they then both turned away and retreated back to their original desk, James glancing back at Sean and then at Lily every few seconds.

Lily frowned, she had a strong feeling that James had only talked to Sean to break up their own conversation and Sirius had just come along for support. She had only just converted into good terms with James for the first time in over six years and he was again acting jealous and possessive. But he had nothing to be jealous or possessive about, Lily was not at all his and as far as she was concerned, she doubted she ever would be.

"Are you going to watch the first match?" suddenly asked Sean, breaking past Lily's thoughts.

Lily turned to watch Sean; she got slightly lost in his dark eyes in the process. She hastily shook herself mentally and nodded in his direction. "Yes, congratulations on making Captain, by the way," she said.

He smiled and Lily mentally cringed as she felt herself getting lost in his handsome features once again, that striking smile and those dark, enchanting eyes. She tried to break herself away from her besotted thoughts; there was no point in getting involved romantically with Sean, she had more important things to do then chase after boys.

"Thanks, I'm quite nervous about the match, though, Gryffindor have a great team," he said selflessly.

Lily smiled in response, she noticed James out of the corner of her eye, he was watching her and Sean, however he was greatly trying to cover it up by looking elsewhere at the same time. It was this that inspired Lily to keep the conversation running, in spite of his swift glances.

"Well, those two like to flaunt it, but you did come second for the cup last year... and you got a good chance for this year," she said, silently wondering whether James had heard her.

Sean shrugged, his dark hair shaking slightly, "I'd love to beat Gryffindor, no offence, but it would be a great achievement to Ravenclaw," he replied with a enthused smile.

Lily absently waved a hand to show no offence was taken. "You could," she encouraged.

Sean maintained his enthused expression but slightly laughed. "Way to cheer your house, Lily," he teasied.

Lily laughed, more out of nerves then anything, she did feel comfortable around Sean, but that didn't stop her feeling slightly edgy. She didn't quite know what she was doing, or for that matter, why she was even talking to Sean so freely. It was on impulse that she had decided to talk to him and she was still slightly improvising in the most prudent way to keep the conversation going in the right direction, and surprisingly she didn't want the conversation to stop.

"Of course I do, but if I had to cheer another team, I'd choose yours," she told Sean, who raised an eyebrow in response.

"And why's that?" he probed strangely, however nonetheless pleasantly.

Lily had to improvise yet again; maybe what she had said sounded a bit too forward. She felt her face slightly grow red and almost cringed, but just managed to conceal it.

"Oh, I don't know, I just would. I mean, you came so close last year," she finally replied, a sigh of relief leaking through her when Sean didn't respond with a bemused laugh or frown.

"No objections there, Lily, " he replied instead.

Lily didn't get a chance to respond, as at that moment Professor Radon entered the classroom and interrupted her from doing so. He impatiently waved a hand at the students stood behind their desks and they immediately quietened and turned to watch him. Lily turned from Sean and found that she had naturally smiled to herself- and she had put no effort in doing so.

Marie had reappeared next to her, "I left my homework in the common room," she mumbled, her eyes fixated on the Professor, who had just nodded to the class to sit down.

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Ack, I just come back from holiday and I have a load of coursework to do-- so posting is going to be a bit slow from now on. But please continue to read and review!

xx