"And—Slytherin has the Quaffle, Rosier racing to the Ravenclaw end of the pitch—and he SCORES! 10-0 to Slytherin!"

The din from the Slytherin end of the stands was deafening, but the rest of the crowd groaned. Considering the alternative, most of the school, Gryffindor included, had decided to support Ravenclaw.

"And the Ravenclaw Chaser Donovan has the Quaffle now, Slytherin Beater Dewitt closing in on her, she's trying to get past him—oh!"

Dewitt had come up behind Donovan and slammed his club into the back of her head; Donovan immediately dropped the ball and grabbed her head, obviously in pain.

The whistle screeched as Madam Hooch bellowed, "Penalty to Ravenclaw!"

The crowd was instantly on its feeting, booing and hissing angrily. Lily, who was sitting nearby the teacher's box, couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard Professor Grafton, the Head of Slytherin House say airily, "That's Quidditch for you, rather rough isn't it?" Lily missed Professor Flitwick's reply as the announcer began speaking again.

"Despicable attack on Donovan—Whittaker taking the penalty shot, but McNally saves it, the score is still 10-0 in Slytherin's favor. Ravenclaw has the Quaffle, but Rosier steals it and goes back…Slytherin scores, and it is now 20-0, Slytherin still leading…"

~*~

The team met in the common room after the game.

"Well," Adam said after a pause, "we're screwed."

"We are not screwed," James objected. "We knew Slytherin wasn't going to be a pushover this year. This isn't new to us."

"James," Sirius said tiredly, "Dewitt took his club to a Chaser's head. Maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time, but that isn't exactly in my Beater Handbook. If that game was an example of Slytherin's tactics, Walsh is right. We are screwed."

"Let's not fool ourselves," Melissa said, speaking up, "it's not just that Slytherin is willing to commit fouls. They're a good team. The Chasers are good, and their Keeper is amazing. It is going to be a nightmare getting past her. The Beaters are clearly willing to do whatever it takes—"

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that when Donovan had a club taken to her head," Rebecca sniped.

"The Keeper's not going to be a problem," James said confidently. "Lily can get past them, she's the ace we've got up our sleeve."

Lily looked down, blushing at the praise.

"We know that, James. And so does Slytherin. They've probably been monitoring our practices, they've seen her in action—they'll be going after her." Adam stated.

James looked worried at this. "Damn. You're right. Sirius, Rebecca—"

"We're on it," Rebecca said quickly. "Don't worry."

"Okay," James said, nodding. "I'm going to be scheduling more practices for the team. And all of you, I want you to be on your guard. We are going into the Quidditch finals with a team that does not want to lose to us again—"

"Let's not forget, their Head's a fanatic when it comes to Quidditch," Lily said quietly.

James nodded. "Right. Matt, Lily, I don't want to worry you, but the two of you are going to be the ones that Slytherin focuses on. Matt, you're the Seeker, plus you're the youngest and the smallest out of all of us. Lily, you're a great Chaser, and everyone knows it. They are going to come after you."

Both Matt and Lily looked scared out of their wits. "Great job, James," Sirius said sarcastically. "Why don't we scare two of our most important players out of their minds?"

~*~

"You'll be fine," Arabella insisted as they walked to class.

"Dewitt took a bat to Donovan's head," Lily said. "What's going to stop them from doing that to me?"

"Madam Hooch'll go ballistic if they try that again," Arabella said soothingly as they walked into class. "Don't worry." Scanning the room for empty seats, her eyes accidentally locked with Sirius's.

She swallowed. Hard.

Lily gestured to two seats right in front of Sirius and James. "Why don't we sit here?"

Arabella imagined herself trying to pay attention to the teacher with Sirius's—no, Black's eyes bored into the back of her skull. "Or we could sit in the back," she suggested hastily. "Look, there are empty seats right over there."

Lily looked to where she was pointing, then glanced at Sir—Black. "Yeah, let's sit there."

Arabella breathed a sigh of relief and led Lily to the seats, acutely aware of the bright blue eyes that were watching.

~*~

"I don't like the way things are going with Figg," Sirius confessed at lunch one day.

Remus looked at him, a spoon halfway to his mouth. "I thought you said she was leaving you alone."

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "That's the problem! Now she's avoiding me like I've got the bloody plague or something."

"Isn't that what you wanted, though," Peter asked through a mouthful of food. He swallowed noisily and said, "For her to leave you alone?"

"No!"

James held up a hand, staring at his best friend. "Wait. I'm confused. You want to be fighting with her all the time like before?"

"I don't want that either," Sirius objected.

Exasperated, James asked, "Well then, what do you want?"

Sirius sighed. "I haven't got a bloody clue."

~*~

"Bella?"

Arabella turned to see Sirius standing there in the hallway, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Er—can we talk?" He looked nervous, determined…and absolutely adorable.

Oh, boy.

"Actually, I have to go and—and meet Frank and Lily at the library." Lily would kill me if she found out about this…

"It'll just take a minute," Sirius promised, stepping closer to her. There was a pause. "Are you still mad about—"

"No, I'm not mad," she reassured him. "I'm not mad at you anymore, I swear."

"Then what's the problem here?" Sirius asked, taking another step towards her.

Arabella moved away from him, and Sirius looked hurt. "It's…it's just complicated."

"Complicated," Sirius repeated flatly. "Bella, I don't get it."

Arabella closed her eyes for a moment.

Lily. Lily, her best friend who had supported her in first year when Arabella's mum was ill. Who invited Arabella to her house every summer. The girl who had introduced her to the Beatles, the girl who helped her with her homework, the girl who liked the same boy she did. The girl whom Arabella had no choice but to put first.

"I've thought about this…and I don't think this is a good idea," Arabella said softly. She stared hard at the floor.

"Oh," Sirius said. "I see. Alright, um—I'll see you around then."

"Okay," Arabella agreed, finally looking up. Sirius was studying his shoes. "See you around."

"Right," Sirius muttered. "Around." He turned and left.

Arabella leaned against the wall and sighed.

~*~

Frank was sitting quietly in a corner of the common room when Lily came in and sat down next to him, looking a bit stunned.

"What is it?" Frank asked, looking up from his homework.

Lily blinked, then said quietly, "I just got asked to the ball."

Sitting at a nearby table, James promptly dropped his quill and stared at Lily.

Frank, however, didn't look in the least surprised. "So who was it?"

Lily looked at him suspiciously. "Michael Farnsworth from Ravenclaw," she said slowly. "But I turned him down…why aren't you surprised?"

Frank grinned. "Because I knew he was going to ask you."

"How?"

Frank's grin grew even wider. "He cornered me after class and told me so."

Lily was growing more confused by the minute. "He did what? Why?"

"Apparently, everyone views me to be a sort of unofficial brother for you and Arabella. Michael thought it only proper to check with me first, see if you had said yes to someone else." Frank paused, enjoying the look on Lily's face. "And I'll tell you this, Lily," he added, "Michael wasn't the only one."

The quill slipped from James's fingers for a second time.

"What?" Lily nearly shrieked. "Who—who else? How many?"

"Sorry, can't say," Frank said lightly. "Let me put it this way: Michael wanted to get to you before the rush of adoring male fans. And may I say that his concerns were justified."

Lily stared at him, flummoxed, while James ground his teeth. "But—but why would they?"

"One: you're great at Quidditch. Two: you're a nice girl. And three: you happen to be quite easy on the eyes, if I do say so myself."

Lily blushed. "You think so?"

Frank raised an eyebrow at her. "Merlin, Lily, if we weren't such good friends and if I wasn't going with Diane, I'd be tempted to have a go at you myself."

Lily blushed even more at this, but still managed to beam at her friend.

Frank chuckled. "Good thing Arabella's decided to go with Liam, otherwise I'd have to deal with even more lovesick suitors looking to woo—"

This time it was Sirius who dropped his quill.

"So she's going for sure, then?" Frank asked casually.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, Liam asked her a while ago, but she just said yes yesterday."

"What's wrong with you?" Peter asked as he nudged Sirius. "You look like you just smelled a Dungbomb."

"Those things have no effect on me," Sirius said, as dignified as possible.

Remus snorted. "I should bloody well think so, considering how many of those things you've set off."

Peter chortled at this. "Maybe we should give a few Dungbombs to Lily. From what it sounds like, she's going to need them to help fend off the guys—"

James slammed his book shut. "Wormtail," he hissed, "Shut. Up." He roughly shoved his things into his bag and went off to the dormitory.

Peter watched him leave, open-mouthed. "What'd I say?" he asked Sirius.

"Forget it, Wormtail," Sirius said, grabbing his things. "I'm off to bed, too. 'Night."

As Sirius left, Peter turned to Remus and asked in a plaintive voice, "What's with those two? They're practically night owls; they never go to bed at," he checked his watch, "eight-thirty."

Remus shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Must be hormones. Or stress over Quidditch. Or both."

Peter nodded, relieved. "Right then. D'you think you could help me with this Defense essay?"

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this. School has been really hectic, and I'm sorry to say, but it looks like I won't be making that deadline after all. Dammit. And in case you noticed, yeah, I stole that foul from POA. Let's just say it's a Slytherin tradition to take your bat to an opponent's head in Quidditch.