Quidditch Tryouts

It was the day of the Quidditch tryouts. About twenty people showed up to watch from the stands. The rest of the fifty people were people who wanted to try out. Jen was the last person down there. She took one look at the amount of people who were there and almost fainted. Thankfully Lily caught her.

"I didn't know you wanted to try out." Lily said. Lily had just turned to walk towards the stands and Jen had just announced her news.

"So why are you watching?" Jen challenged her.

"Okay. No explanations necessary." Lily said. She continued walking to the stands. After a step she paused and turned around. "Good luck." She said.

"Thanks." Jen replied. She turned to go get her broom. On the way she ran into Sirius.

"Good luck. Remember Hogsmede." He muttered. He then quickly walked away.

"Thanks." Jen called after him. She picked up her broom and rode it back to the field. James was busy shouting out instructions. Two laps was the current one. Jen glanced at Katy before taking off. She was sitting with the rest of team looking at the people flying. Katy saw her and mouthed 'Good luck'. Although judging by her expression she didn't know what Jen was planning either. Jen took off and was one of the first people to finish. Only Fergal (Remember him from the fourth chapter. He was the one who James though would become beater.) and some fourth year girl named Gwen finished before her. About thirty people of the forty people either finished to slow or didn't finish at all. James cut them. Strangely enough they were all girls who either stared at James or Sirius before flying off. They were giggling and talking before they had walked five feet away.

Up in the stands Lily was reading a book she had brought out. She was bored to death. She didn't even know what she was doing out there. She glanced at Jen and Katy. When she was about to go back to her book she saw James. He was ruffling his hair again. Lily resisted the urge to curse him and went back to her book.

"Seekers on the right and beaters on the left." James told them. Four people, including Gwen, walked over to the seeker area. The remaining six, which had Fergal and Jen, walked over to the beater pile. James walked over to the seeker area. He was holding a snitch. He released in their view. Not a single one of them followed it with their eyes he noticed. "Whoever catches this snitch by the end of practice wins the spot on the team." They all started looking for it now. It was long gone. They mounted their brooms and took off.

James walked over to the beaters. He called Sirius over. "Watch them and pick your favorite." He told him. James told the beaters to start passing a bludger with a partner. Jen was partnered up with Fergal, Fred with Edward, and Aurora with Gregory. Immediately Fred and Gregory both missed the bludger and got hit. They had to sit out and their partners ended up with them a few minutes later. Aurora had hit the bludger at Edward and it hit his face. It then ricochet off his face back at her. She had missed it and it hit her knee. Sirius had nearly fallen off his broom laughing before he had healed them and told them to sit down. Jen and Fergal were still hitting it at each other. Each hit was getting more and more aggressive.

James was watching the would be seekers fly around. He had seen the snitch several times already and they seemed clueless. He would be a better seeker himself. He got frustrated and flew over to the beaters. He took one glance at Jen and Fergal and intervened. He pulled out his wand and the bludger stopped. "Okay new way of trying out. You get five tries each to hit Sirius and whoever hits him the most gets the spot. The other person is back up."

Sirius stared at him and then flew over. He motioned James to follow him to the ground. "James, neither of those two are going to be able to get that past me."

"You're confident today." James said.

"But it's true. They aren't that good yet."

"Then who do you like best." James asked.

"Huh?" Sirius exploded. "Shouldn't the best player matter more."

"Sorry." James apologized. "The seekers are on my nerves. So who do you think is the better player."

"Right now Fergal is. But Jen has more potential. She'll be the better player one day." Sirius told him.

James thought for a minute. "I want Jen then. Can you slip up on her turn so she hits you once."

"That's not fair." Sirius protested.

"Well do you want to sit here all day and have Fergal win?" James asked. "And since when do you care about fairness?"

"Oh. Yeah. Right. I must be catching something. Jen it is." Sirius saluted then flew into the air. James flew after him. He checked on the seekers then turned to watch Sirius. It was Jen's turn first. The first two Sirius blocked easily. The third one Sirius pretended to fumble on and barely block. The fourth one was the best the Jen had hit yet. Sirius deflected it but caused it to hit his foot. James smiled to himself. At least he would have two good beaters. And maybe now that her two best friends were on the team Lily would talk to him more. He shook himself out of the daydream and watch Fergal on his team. Sirius pretended to almost miss two of them but in the end Fergal had lost. He flew down cursing and walked disgruntled to the side of the field.

James flew over Jen. "Congratulations." He said. "You are our new seeker." A huge grin spread onto her face. She flew down to where Katy was also smiling. Sirius turned on his broom to face James. "Can you end this?" He asked. He looked pointedly at the seekers. They had yet to catch the snitch and two of them had been watching beater try-outs instead of looking for it. James nodded. He took one look at the field. He saw the snitch. It was right next to Lily.

James drew himself closer to his broom and was off like a shot. When he was about fifty feet away from Lily and the snitch, Lily saw him. She jumped out of the way just in time. James came flying off his broom and jumped into the stands. He caught the snitch in the process. "Evans." He acknowledged him.

"What are you doing Potter?" She screamed loud enough for everyone to hear.

In reply James held up the hand with the snitch in it. "Ending try-outs." He offered weakly. Lily opened her mouth to protest they way he did it when James spoke again. "Jen made beater." As James thought she would, Lily quit screaming at James and started to run down to congratulate Jen. James sighed and flew back to where Sirius was watching him.

"That was amazing Prongs." Sirius said the moment James got within hearing distance.

"What?" James asked innocently.

"You should be our new seeker." Sirius continued. "We can use that back-up chaser, Todd. It'll work."

James was starting to warm up to the idea. "Okay. I'll do it." He agreed. He flew down to tell the rest of the team the news. They all loved the idea and Katy even prophesied them winning the cup.

Lily finally arrived. She ran over to Jen. "You made the team." Lily shrieked. They started screaming and hugging. Katy walked over and stared at them, clearly amused. Jen dragged her reluctantly into the hug.

Sirius walked over to them when they stopped hugging. "So you want to go to Hogsmede to celebrate you making the team?" He asked, well not really asked but reminded, Jen.

"Sure if we can all go." Jen said. Actually she was really happy to be on the team so she would have done just about anything Sirius wanted for helping her to get on.

Katy smiled. "That's fine with me."

"What's fine with you?" James asked, coming up from behind Sirius.

"We're going to Hogsmede next weekend together to celebrate. Lily, you in?" Kate explained.

"Why not?" Lily agreed.

"I'll go." James volunteered. At that Lily's expression changed. 'That's why not.' She thought to herself.

"How about I show you some more techniques." Sirius offered Jen.

She thought for a moment. Then remembering last time he had actually helped, a lot, "Sure." She agreed. They walked off in one direction.

"I'll go ask Remus and Peter." Kate volunteered.

Lily and James were the only ones left standing there. "Sorry about that catch." James said.

"I'm going to hold that over your head for a while." Lily threatened.

"I know." James said.

"It was a great catch though" Lily congratulated him. "Oh, and you were right."

James was shocked. Lily Evans had actually admitted that he was right about something. "What about?" He managed to choke out.

"Jen and Sirius." Lily answered. "She does like him."

"How do you know?" James asked.

"She's my best friend. I can read her like an open book." Lily quoted him. James laughed. "No seriously. Look at the way she looks at him."

"I should go shower." James said, although he was reluctant to end this conversation.

"Bye." Lily said. She turned to walk off.

"I think that was a record." James called after her.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Having an entire conversation without shouting or arguing." James told her.

"You're right again." Lily said. "Let's do it again sometime." She kept walking. James headed for the showers with a smile on his face. Already this year was looking better. This could finally be the year that Lily Evans went out with him. He couldn't wait for Hogsmede.

"You know. I was right a lot that day." James told her.

"How so?" Lily asked.

"Well," James said counting them off on his fingers, "Jen and Sirius, you going out with me, and that Hogsmede would be great."

"It's not considered polite to brag." Lily teased him.


"But you have to admit that that trip was pretty special." James told her.

"Yeah." Lily agreed fondly. Harry started crying in the background. "Your turn Mr. Right." She said.

"Fine. I think he's hungry." James said, getting up.

Harry smiled. 'That's where I get my talent.' He thought. 'I wonder if I was as good as him. I'll have to ask Remus.' Harry got up to do just that.

A/N

I know it was a short chapter. But I'll try to update soon. The next chapter will be about Hogsmede. Hope you like the chapter.