Lily walked across the Quidditch pitch with Griffen and Drew. Griffen was already beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Drew was one of the two chasers (they needed to find a new one). They were both decent players and had offered to walk Lily down to the pitch since they were required to be there anyway to find out whom this year's captain was and to help out with tryouts. Lily pushed a stray piece of red hair behind her ear and bit her lip, as she looked around. There were about three people trying out for Keeper and four for seeker, and five more trying out for chasers. The majority of the Gryffindor team last year had been 7th years so now they were down to just four players, with no alternates. Lily looked around and was surprised to see James holding a clipboard and directing everyone into three groups. She resisted the urge to run away screaming and shouting in frustration and followed Drew over to where James was standing.
"Ello there, mate. How do they look so far?" Drew asked James. James just bit his lip and tousled his hair. He surveyed the few people who had been brave enough to just start fooling around before tryouts and then the other scattered individuals who were talking to each other on the ground.
"Well from the looks of it, I think I might have to play Seeker this year, because no one really fits the mold and I can play it well enough. McDonald and Davies will probably become the other two chasers, I really think that with a little work they'll do, and so all we need is a Keeper." Drew just grinned and grabbed Lily by the arm before she could sneak away. Lily just blushed since that had been exactly what she was going to try and do.
"Look no farther, Captain, let me introduce you to Lily Evans I don't believe you two have met before." Lily just groaned and gave Drew a look that said, 'I'll get you for this later.' James's face was a mix of confusion, amazement, and flat out giddiness. He hadn't noticed her hiding behind Drew before because of his obvious concentration on everyone trying out for the team. In fact Lily believed it was the first time he hadn't noticed her when she was standing within ten feet of him.
"Lily… you play Quidditch?" Lily nodded her head and scowled at Drew who was making kissy faces in their direction. Her fingers closed into a fist and she subconsciously pictured herself punching him, till he passed out. Stupid Git.
"Well then… umm you can go get in line and we'll see how you do." James pointed her in the correct direction and continued to shake his head in shock as he wrote her name down on the clipboard. Lily nodded and got in line behind a boy with blond hair that was tied back neatly in a ponytail. She smiled at him weakly and then turned to Sirius who seemed to be the one in charge of their group.
"Oi! Ok everyone who wants to be a Keeper should be here. If you don't want to be a Keeper, well tough luck. You are each going to get ten minutes guarding the goals. The amount of goals doesn't matter as much as the difficulty of each shot. Remember you're goal is to get control of the ball; though hitting it away is also good. Ok, understand it so far?" He paused for a moment waiting for any questions and then ran his fingers through his long shaggy black hair. "Good. Well we've enchanted a bludger and a quaffle so that the bludger will remain in this area and the quaffle will try and shot on you. Once you get control of it, it should start acting like a normal quaffle and won't attack you till five seconds after you throw it or knock it away giving you time to set back up. Once you're ten minutes are up I want fifteen laps around the Pitch and no cutting corners. If we see you cutting corners, you're off the team already. We don't put up with slackers. Ok, Anderson you're first. On my whistle kick off." The boy who had been standing to her left had been Anderson. He had short brown hair and thick black glasses which he had to keep pushing back onto his nose since they were to big for him. He grinned and mounted his broom. Sirius blew his whistle and the boy was off.
Anderson rose into the air and flew towards the goal posts. Goal. The quaffle sped right by him through the bottom hoop and looped around. Five minutes later the score was 250. Five minutes after that the score had more than doubled and Lily had quickly lost track of all the points. Sirius blew his whistle and the boy started his laps around the pitch carefully going around the corners. She couldn't help feel thankful that he had done that badly because she knew she could at least keep the score under 400. She looked over at Sirius who winked at her, she could feel her face get warmer as she quickly looked back down at the ground and made sure not to look back up at him again.
I can't believe that's the person I have to make fall in love with me. I can barely look at him, let alone talk to him, and why would he be interested in me anyway? No reason, it's not like I'm pretty or anything. Veronica probably only did this because she knew it would never happen. Sirius will never love me, and actually I'm a little glad about that.
"McGregor! You're up!" Sirius bellowed and the boy with the blond hair grinned and headed towards the goal. Sirius blew the whistle and he was in the air. He looked beautiful as he flew his golden hair streaming behind him, and Lily couldn't help but grin as she imagined the rest of the school's reaction to seeing him fly in a game if he made the team. The girls would go absolutely nuts over him. If he made the team he might even be able to rival Potter and Black. Lily watched him as he attempted to dive for the ball; he missed it by nearly a foot. He managed to save some of the other shots, though he was definitely not amazing. Lily heard the whistle blow and watched as he started his laps. There was only one more person before it was her turn. The next person was a second year boy who looked like he was barely tall enough to amount his broom let alone fly it during a match. Lily snuck a glance over to Sirius who had a bemused look on his face before he blew the whistle. The boy quickly finished after missing all but one shot and streaked down the pitch. Lily figured that he wanted to get as far away from those goals as he could.
Then it was her turn. She looked over at Sirius, who was smiling encouragingly at her and mounted her broom waiting for the whistle. She could hear her heart pounding and the seconds seemed to roll on before she heard it and kicked off, her hair streaming behind her like a banner. She turned and headed towards the goals speeding up as fast as she dared. When she got there she jerked her broom handle towards the quaffle that was flying in her direction. It was coming in close. She saw it coming and dove, grabbing it in one arm before straightening her broom and tossing it as far as she could. She flew back up trying to center herself. Come on you can do this. It's just like being back at Griffen's house. All you have to do is move towards the ball. You can do this. Come on. Lily felt nervous as she waited for the quaffle to come flying back at her. Something was tugging at the back of her mind and she couldn't remember what. She had completely lost track of the bludger but it hadn't really bothered any of the other players, why would it come after her. The quaffle started flying towards her again, it was heading towards the right goal, fast. She flew over as fast as she could but she knew she'd never be able to reach it, it was coming to low. She thought for a moment and then flipped on her broom, so that she was hanging upside down her legs squeezing the broom for dear life. She lunged, and grasped it with her fingertips. That's when she saw it. The bludger was coming right at her head. She ducked upward but it managed to graze her shoulder making her gasp in pain. Her legs loosened their hold on the broom and there were black dots in her vision. She grabbed at the air before her hand struck the broom and pulled herself upright, panting. That's when she heard Sirius's whistle. It couldn't have been ten minutes that was impossible. She looked down at Sirius who was mounting his broom and flying up to her.
"Did I do something wrong?" She gasped and pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. Her shoulder was definitely broken, though she didn't want him to know. She knew that she wouldn't get the position if she couldn't even take care of herself during a practice. She attempted to steady her breathing, thinking that if she could try and act like nothing was wrong that he wouldn't notice the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"You alright Lily? It looked like you got hit pretty hard." He was circling her on his broom and there was sincere concern in his gray eyes. He seemed to be evaluating her, trying to convince himself that she was indeed ok.
"Yah, I'm fine. Just got a bit winded. That wasn't ten minutes was it? I can keep going if you want." She tried to roll her shoulder but stopped as needle like pain shot down her arm.
"If you're sure. Then we'll keep going, you have seven minutes left, and if your shoulder begins to bug you at all. You get your ass down there and head over to James and tell him I ordered you to go to Pomfrey." He gave her a sharp look that made Lily's stomach did somersaults for lying but she ignored it and just nodded her head, afraid that if she said anything he'd realize she was lying. She waited till he landed and dismounted before throwing the quaffle. She waited anticipating it, when she saw the bludger heading towards her again. She dove out of the way, only to see the quaffle heading towards the other goal. It went through easily, and she couldn't help cringing, she couldn't help thinking that she should've risked getting hit by the bludger again, it had been a stupid move. Maybe if she was lucky Sirius would let that one slide. Everyone else trying out for Keeper had missed one, she tried to remind herself. Though none of them had gotten hit by a bludger. The quaffle flew towards the goal, not even a foot away from where she was flying. She reached out and grabbed it easily, and held it for a moment before throwing it straight out to the invisible chasers that were supposedly there. Lily headed back up towards the middle goal and watched the quaffle carefully, trying to ignore the bludger she knew was coming for her. Ok, you just have to save this last one. There can't be more than a minute left. Just save this last one. Lily saw it coming, it was heading right to her left, but so was the bludger. Lily sighed as she dove willing her broom to out race the bludger. Crack. Lily heard it before she felt it, the bludger hit her ankle as she caught the quaffle. She gasped and stopped flying for a moment, trying to regain her breath. The pain was almost unbearable and seemed to course through her as she held the quaffle tight, refusing to let her prize fly away. She heard Sirius's whistle and dropped it and began her fifteen laps. She had a feeling that stupid bludger had lost her the position, but now she just wanted to fly, and fly fast. She couldn't help feeling that if she flew fast enough she might be able to escape the pain that was pulsing through her. Her hair had escaped her ponytail and was now flying wildly behind her and she was beginning to feel blissfully numb from the air and wind that was coming at her. She had just finished her first lap when she felt someone's presence next to her. She looked over and it was Sirius who looked furious. He pointed down at the ground motioning for her to follow him. She ignored him and continued to press on when she felt him grab hold of her wrist and pull her to a stop. Lily slowed down and turned to face him. He was glaring at her and pointing to the ground.
"NOW EVANS!" Great, now she was going to get yelled at for not listening to him as well as what ever had originally sent him flying after her. Sirius headed over to where James was with his clipboard and landed. Lily flew down next to them, but didn't dismount.
"Um, Sirius, James, I know I probably didn't make the team. Stupid Bludger, but if it's all the same to you, can I finish my fifteen laps?" James and Sirius looked at her like she was mad and she probably was, but she would worry about that possibility later. She just slumped a little on her broom and rose up till her toes were brushing the ground. Sirius saw this and grabbed the end of her broom and pulled it down towards the ground.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Lily tried to kick him and swung out her leg before realizing to late that that was her bad ankle and it sent a wave of pain through her body that was obviously showing on her face. Her knuckles were white as she squeezed the broom in pain.
"Evans get off that broom now!" James yelled at her. He crossed his arms and dropped his clipboard, looking all to ready to remove her from her broom forcefully if he had too. Lily just glared at him and swung her leg over her broom carefully. She tried to stand but once her foot touched the ground she started to collapse. Sirius caught her and started to pick her up.
"Sirius Black! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sirius just smiled and shrugged.
"Why, I do believe I'm keeping you from killing yourself. Though if you would like James to take you to the hospital wing, I can understand that." He smirked and raised his eyebrows at her suggestively. Lily just rolled her eyes and tried to step away from him, though that didn't work very well.
"I can get there myself thanks." Sirius just looked over at James who looked back at him and smiled before rolling his eyes and picking up his clipboard to give to Sirius.
"The list of who made it is there. Just read what it says and you'll be fine." He then grabbed Lily by the waist and picked her up, tucking her awkwardly under his arm.
"James Potter! Put me down!" James just ignored her and started walking towards the end of the Quidditch pitch smiling at the other Gryffindors who waved in their direction. Lily started to struggle, which only made James hold her tighter. So she just sighed and hung there, her face flushed red.
"Stupid git." Lily mumbled to herself as James carried her into the castle.
"What was that love?" James said smiling. Lily had to admit he had a great smile, which only managed to irritate her more.
"I said you James Potter are the lowest stupidest most annoying person I have ever had the unpleasure of meeting."
"Awww, I love you too duck." James just squeezed her tighter and pet her head with her other hand. Lily crossed her arms and contuined to grumble various curses under her breath.
"James?"
"Yes love?"
"If I promise not to hex you into oblivion when this is over, will you put me down for a moment?" James arched his eyebrow up suspiciously but obliged. Lily set her good foot down and leaned on James for support. She took his arm and placed it around her waist and attempted to put her arm around his shoulder. She was sick of being carried and if he had to help her, then he could be her crutch. James just bent down a little so she could reach around his neck and waited for her to step forward. Lily took a small step forward with he good foot and then moved her bad one forward a few inches. This is going to take a while.
James's Point of ViewJames watched Lily bemused as she tried to turn him into a human crutch. He didn't see why though, it would just be twice as easy if she would just let him carry her. It's not like he was going to attempt to do anything while she was injured… well nothing bad anyway. He watched her anxiously as she took a step forward with her right foot and then attempted to move her left foot. It took them five minutes to get to the next suit of armor.
"That's it." He swung her up and cradled her in his arms, ignoring her obvious disproval.
"Potter put me down!" He ignored her and rolled her eyes. It took him all of a few seconds to get to the end of the hallway and begin heading up the steps. Lily put her arms around his neck as soon as he started climbing and he could tell she was afraid he would drop her.
"Evans don't worry I can't drop you because if I do, you won't be around to ask out, and then where would I be? By the way you wouldn't want to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend now would you?" He smiled at her and shifted her in his arms. He could feel her breathing and it was taking all of his self-control to keep from kissing her as he carried her up the steps. He had never been this close to her before, and he couldn't help but be slightly mesmerized by the way she seemed to fit so easily into his arms, he couldn't help but think about how small she was, how light. If he had the choice he'd never put her down. That's when he was struck with an idea, an idea that would probably make him feel guilty later, but that would be then and this was now. He loosened his hold on her and pretended to try and drop her. "Well how about next weekend?"
Lily's point of viewLily's heart was racing and she wrapped her arms tighter around James's neck hugging herself against him. Oh my god… oh my god oh my god…
"SURE! YES! WHATEVER YOU WANT! JUST DON'T DROP ME!" Lily wasn't even that sure of what she said but whatever it was it made James tighten his grip on her. She sighed and relaxed a little, managing to keep only enough dignity not to lay her head against him. She was so tired and just wanted to fall asleep in her bed in the Gryffindor dorms, but she knew she needed to go see Pomfrey and she doubted James would let her get out of it. She looked up and noticed that they were almost up the stairs and then it would only be a few minutes before she was in the Hospital Wing and away from Potter. Then she could sleep, and then the dull pain in her ankle would go away.
James Point of View (Sorry for switching so often)
James beamed and if Lily looked up, he knew he would have to come up with something to say about it. He couldn't believe she didn't trust him to hold her, and he couldn't believe she'd said yes! He, James Potter had a date with Lily Evans the next weekend and he knew there was nothing she could say that would get her out of it. She'd said yes, and he was determined to find someway to keep that 'yes' a 'yes'. He couldn't help wondering if she even remembered what she had said 'yes' too, though it didn't matter much. James tightened his grip on her with pleasure and shifted her a little so she would be more comfortable. He glanced down at her ankle, the reason they were going to the hospital wing and could tell that it was broken by the dark purple bruise that was peeking from under her shoe. Sirius had also mentioned her getting hit in the shoulder, but there was no way for him to know about that… well without removing her robe, and as tempting as that thought was. He knew she would skin him alive and it would probably dash any future dreams of dates… let alone everything else he hoped to someday do with this very small girl he held in his arms. He heard her yawn and then let out a little whimper that sent a jolt of pain through his heart. She looked so innocent in his arms, and so tired. She looked like she was ready to collapse in his arms. He sighed and shook his head. He just couldn't believe she had wanted to keep playing after that hit. It was bloody tryouts for god sakes, not a game. He would have to have a talk to her about this before she made the team. It just wouldn't due to have her hurting herself like this over a practice. They had reached the top of the steps and were merely a few feet from the hospital now. He looked down at her once more and couldn't help smiling as he realized she was barely managing to keep herself awake. James chuckled quietly and stepped into the Hospital Wing.
"Madam Wood! I got another one!" A plumb small woman rushed into the room her brown hair up in a secure bun. She walked over to him looked at Lily and rushed over to the first empty bed and motioned for him to set her down, which he did reluctantly.
"Oh dear. Oh dear, yes well I figured you'd be in here for some reason or other soon enough, but never had I imagined you would be here two days after you got back. You couldn't have waited a week or so, could you have dear? No I suppose not." She gave him a skeptical look and then glanced back at Lily who had reawakened by the sharp pain in her leg when Potter had set her down, and an equally sharp pain in her shoulder. She sat back up and winced slightly, glaring at Potter before turning to Madam Wood.
"I won't need to be here long will I know?" The bemused look on Madam Wood's face was enough to convince her that she would indeed be there for a while and the rather annoyed look on Potter's face told her, that even if she wasn't in there long it would be a while before he would stop bugging her about it.
She sighed and wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
"Well then if neither of you mind can I just take my bloody potions and go to sleep? No offense Madam Wood, but I would like to get out of here as soon as possible." Lily was determined to ignore Potter now that she was in the hospital wing and had nothing more to say to him. She hadn't wanted to come here anyway, and it wasn't like her injuries were so serious that they couldn't wait for tomorrow. Madame Wood just shook her head and handed Lily three potions, one to heal the bruises, one to mend the bones and one to put her to sleep through it all. Lily grabbed them and downed them in less then a minute, she was asleep before her head hit the pillows.