Chapter 2: The Quidditch Pitch

"Why are you letting yourself be blackmailed into this?" Eva demanded to know.

Lily sighed, tired of explaining herself to her friend. "It's a relatively small price to pay in return for keeping it a secret." She regretted telling the black-haired witch about her sticky situation, even though Eva didn't press to see her sketches. She had hoped Eva would be able to think an alternative solution. Lily really didn't want to sketch the Head Boy.

"You and I both know you could have easily erased her memory." Eva studied her cuticles and brushed her nails against her robe – a sure sign of her boredom – as she lounged on her bed. Lily was too goody-goody for self-preservation sometimes.

Lily began to launch into her obligations as a Head Girl speech, but Eva cut her off. "Save your breath, I'm quite familiar with the stick-up-your-arse-obligation speech." Lily shot her a dirty look and she flashed Lily a smile woven with impatience and caring. "Look, deal with this mess however you'd like but don't say I didn't warn you. You should have just zapped her memory. A few seconds and you wouldn't be worrying about it now." Eva hopped off the couch while Lily was looking out the small window in the girl's dorms. "Just be glad I'm not blackmailing you too." She smirked wickedly, heading for the door.

"Now what do you mean by warning-" Lily started but huffed indignantly when she realized Eva had already left.

Sketchbook in hand, Lily headed to the Quidditch pitch where the Gryffindor team was practicing. Instead of sitting in the stands, as a few players' girlfriends and admirers were doing, she stayed in the shadows of an exit corridor, or at least what she thought was the exit corridor. Lily had admittedly never been to many Quidditch games, not being very interested in the sport. She didn't see the point of the silly sport especially since it provided another opportunity for Potter to brag about himself. No thank you, she'd rather spend her precious time catching up with homework or planning for the next prefect meetings or chatting with Eva (though she was at the games most of the time).

The pitch actually looked quite nice from where Lily stood, and she could almost understand why Potter would want to spend so much time out here. A soft breeze blew and she could hear birds chirping in the distance. She could feel the warmth of the sun's rays even from where she stood.

Suddenly a player flew right past her, making a circle around the pitch, as well as causing a great gust of wind to whip her robes around her small frame. Lily scowled, straightening her robes and remembered why she was out here in the first place. Scanning the pitch, she spotted Potter near the center warming up with the rest of the team.

She took a deep breath, opening to a blank page in her sketchbook. Lily stared at Potter's face for a few seconds before transferring what she saw to the page. Frowning in concentration as she made the outline, Lily glanced back at him again, getting the basic contours of his face and features sketched. It was actually easier than she thought. Potter didn't have his usual arrogant and smug expression when he was flying on the pitch.

Unfortunately because she was so caught up in sketching, she lost track of time and the descent of the Gryffindor team, signaling practice was over.

"Alright! See the lot of you on Wednesday!" said an exuberant team captain, as the rest of the team shouted their goodbyes to James, quickly heading to the locker room before he could think of any more drills. The girls in the stands rushed off to meet their beaus or flirt with a crush when they got out of the locker rooms.

James was in a fairly good mood – flying always cleared his mind, even if it was Quidditch practice and running drills. His team looked in good shape for upcoming matches. Not to mention, his teachers had gone easy on the students this week in terms of homework. The full moon wasn't for another couple weeks, meaning Remus wasn't grouchy or tired lately, and the teachers hadn't been able to pin the last prank Sirius had pulled on anyone. Yes, life was indeed good at the moment.

One last circle around the pitch and he flew down, intending to head to the boys' locker room until a movement in the shadows caught his eye. Could it possibly be? Intrigued, he headed towards the darkened corridor.

Lily heard the sound of footsteps and looked up in shock and horror. Potter was heading her way, and she'd be cursed if he thought she was another one of his fans. Snapping her book closed, she snatched her book bag from the ground, and hurried in the opposite direction, hoping he hadn't been close enough to see who had been there.

No such luck. "Lily! Is that you?" called James behind her.

Grimacing, she stopped but didn't turn around as he approached. She took the opportunity to hastily stuff her sketch book in her bag.

The loud smack of his sleek Quidditch boots echoed on the pavement and quieted as he reached her. Lily gulped. How was she going to explain why she was here? As she turned around she noted that his Quidditch kit actually looked quite nice on his tall athletic figure. Mentally chastising herself, Lily reminded herself that she didn't need to be looking at him since she wasn't sketching.

"Fancy seeing you here," he grinned. He ran a hand through his hair as he watched her. Lily fidgeted, not quite meeting his eyes making James wonder if she was nervous…or was that guilt?

"Yes well I..um.." Lily struggled to find an explanation. She faltered at his welcoming smile. Since when had that happened?

"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm actually busy this Hogsmeade weekend," James said, adopting a sincere tone, watching her reaction. "Or did you come here for some pleasant snogging?"

Lily turned pink. "What!" She was horrified to find she was actually blushing at his implication that she was asking him out on a date or she had come here to snog the arrogant prat. "I didn't mean-"

"But I'm actually free tonight." He winked at her, chuckling at her embarrassment.

Lily decided he had teased her enough…or was he being serious? "No you're not, Potter. If you haven't forgotten we have a meet–"

"Oh right you are, I did forget about our little date tonight. My apologies." James gave her a smile, as he cut her off again. "But don't you worry Lily, I will be there on time, and armed with good intentions." As an afterthought he added, "Well, as good intentioned as I can be anyways."

"Now just wait a minute Potter," Lily stated with a firm tone. She was going to end all illusions he had about their Head meeting being any sort of date or voluntary attendance on her part. "We are not going out on a-"

"Would you look at the time? I need to be off, take a shower before our rendezvous tonight," James said, pointing to his watch. He held his laughter as he spied her glaring at him for interrupting her again no doubt. Debating with himself, he quickly he planted a kiss on her cheek, before jogging off, half thinking she would throw a hex at his back if he didn't hurry.

If he had turned around, he would have seen Lily rolling her eyes at his antics. But more than that, he would have noted that her blush deepened just a little.