Okey dokey, chaper 4 coming up. I've been trying to remember what I put in this chapter last time and I think I've more or less got it, with a few additions coz I felt like it.

Does anyone ever have that weird feeling… where you've had such a good day and then the next day, when it's all over you think you should be happy and reminiscent but actually you're just depressed because it's over? Anyhoo, that's what I'm suffering from at the moment- let's hope it doesn't affect the story too much!

On with my uber-thankyous, coz you guys are all the loveliest lovely people in the world (and here are your pink cakes with far too many e-numbers for your own good, chocolate muffins and all the other yummy goodies I promised you :D Did you enjoy that? Good. Okay, moving on…)

Zippyfox: as always my lovely, thank you so much- you really are my lovely lovely loyal reviewer (note to self: find a thesaurus, 'lovely' being used far too much atm!)

Heaven and Earth: Glad you're liking it so far :)

SerenityRose016: hehe, such enthusiasm! I'm touched! Hope this update was quick enough for you

Amarvi: Johnny Depp- cha cha cha- Johnny Depp- cha cha cha! And I'm so glad you like Nick too- let's see… who would play a good Nick..? Maybe a young Hugh Jackman? Any ideas?

Gypsy-Glass: That was the most beautiful review I've ever received tear and I'd like to thank my mum and my dad and… teehee! But seriously, I'm so happy you like it that much (consider your French pardoned!)

Beblaspanksyou: Okay, you have won this weeks favourite reviewer award (it was a close one, I'll admit, but with a review that long, it couldn't go to anyone else!). And thank you for the constructive constructive criticism- it really helps, and reading back over what I've written I understand what you mean. I think it's a habit that authors can get into that they know exactly what they're talking about but have trouble communicating it to their readers. I'll work on it this chapter- tell me if it works? Oh, and sorry about the Chemistry- it is an unfortunate sounding subject, but I'm lucky in that I have some great teachers.

Scowlingpixie: well, a good question… why would Lily kiss Nick? However, I think a better question is, why wouldn't Lily kiss Nick! In general in that chapter, I think Lily was trying to get them to shut up so she could read her book! And also, if Gryffindor does win, then she won't have to kiss James, which is a double bonus from her point of view right?

Ktmur644: I think you, me and amarvi ought to set up a 'Johnny Depp is Sirius Black' Club, don't you! J.D.S.B. Sounds good….

Aly: patience my little greenfly- all shall be revealed in time! Hints in this chapter though…

Goodie2shoes19: glad I've converted you- thanks for reading!

Wow… so many…! Exciting huh? Well, luv y'all-

R xxx

Meh… do I have to…?

Disclaimer: sobs

2 summers ago…

Lily sat in the unnaturally hard chair, staring at the blank wall facing her. She was numb, completely numb. It was an odd sensation- one would think that any situation of severe emotional upheaval would leave you boiling over, desperate to release all the pent up energy in any way possible. But she couldn't. And that wall wasn't even particularly interesting. Just… beige. She hated beige.

Gazing out of the window she saw large purple clouds swirling ominously in the sky above. The first spats of rain hit the clear glass, the first of many. It was going to be a big storm. She flicked her eyes to the figure sleeping in the chair next to her. His dark hair was falling over his eyes, fluttering away with each breath he took. He was dreaming, that much she could tell- his eyelids were flickering erratically and his breathing was short and slightly laboured. A nightmare. She would have expected little else on this night.

The rain was falling more heavily now, and she felt the faint rumbling of far distant thunder. A bolt of lightening carved through the navy sky, a scar on the blanket above them. At that moment Lily knew, she knew without having to be told, and a hot sick feeling crept over her entire body, threatening to drown her. She didn't even notice the figure enter the room, didn't need to hear those words.

'I'm so sorry…'

Back to the present

Lily knew immediately what had woken her, and it most definitely was not the dawn chorus, not that it was likely even to happen today. She sat up slowly, eyes widening in pure terror as a streak of light illuminated the room, disappearing as soon as it had appeared.

'Oh no oh no oh no…' Lily whispered under her breath, closing her eyes again and starting to breath very quickly. She grabbed her pillow and slipped out of bed, padding across the floor and out of the dormitory.

Up in the boys' dormitory, James was awake early in anticipation of the match that morning. He sat on his bed, legs crossed and eyes closed. His usual habit of diving into his friends' dreams while they slept were put on hold in favour of envisaging attack formations, dives, any tactics that might help them win this game (although a tiny bit of him still wanted to lose of course!). Of course Sirius' dreams were not always the most tasteful of things (let your imagination fill you in on this one) and Peter's were just downright weird (several included rhinoceroses, Merlin only knew why).

With the first flash of lightning, his eyes snapped open immediately, hoping he had imagined it, although he knew he hadn't. The second flash had him out of bed and pulling on a jumper. However, it wasn't the driving rain or battering winds that had him worried, the match wasn't for hours yet- James glanced at his clock. Yes, it was only six thirty thank goodness. He moved over to Sirius' bed and shook him gently.

'Padfoot, get up.'

'What the...?' muttered Sirius incoherently. He gave his own clock a glace before rolling over. 'Sod off Prongs.'

James wasn't going to give up. 'You lazy bastard,' he hissed, 'get up.' James grabbed one end of Sirius' blankets and tugged. However, Sirius had anticipated this move by curling his entire body round his end of the sheets, the overall effect being the James tripped over one of Sirius shoes and landed with a heavy THUNK onto the floor.

All prentence of trying to be quiet evaporated with James' loud exclamation of 'Shit!' He climbed gingerly up, rubbed his ankle as he did so.

By this point both Remus and Peter were beginning to stir, Peter giving a muttered, 'Wassamatter?'

'You asked for it Padfoot,' grinned James at the curled up ball that was his friend. He grabbed his wand from his bedside table, and gave it a flick muttering, 'Levicorpus.'

Sirius gave a loud yell as he was hoisted from his bed by the ankle. James laughed, and even Remus who was beginning to sit up had a soft chuckle. But then the room was illuminated by a third flash of lightning and James suddenly remembered why he had wanted to get his friends up in the first place.

'Shit,' he whispered as he turned to leave the room, causing Sirius to collapse onto his bed in a thoroughly ungraceful heap. A long string of swearwords followed James out of the dormitory, but he didn't honestly care.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase he heard a soft wimpering and, sure enough, when he reached the common room, there was Lily, curled up in a terrified ball in the middle of the room.

'Lily.' James walked over to her and she looked up at him, her eyes huge with terror.

'James,' she whispered. She clung onto his hand, her own as cold as ice. 'I… I can see their f-faces…' she whispered, shaking violently. 'They're here.' Yet another flash lit up the common room, and Lily screamed into the pillow she had brought down with her. James almost managed a smile at that, trust Lily to make sure that even if she was screaming in terror, she would make sure she had something to muffle it in so as not to wake anyone up.

'You should have come upstairs' he said, kneeling down beside her. 'You shouldn't be on your own. You know I said-'

'I froze,' she whimpered into her pillow. 'I c-couldn't…' She broke off, her voice choked behind sob after sob. James now sat down behind her, pulling her into his lap. He didn't want to move her to the sofa- he knew she'd chosen to stay here because it was furthest away from the windows, away from the flashes of light so painful to her. Putting his arms around her, she rocked backwards and forwards, still racked by paroxysms of terror, of memories.

Remus, Peter and Sirius soon appeared at the bottom of the boys' staircase.

'Is she okay?' asked Peter, coming to sit on the sofa nearest them.

James nodded, not entirely sure whether that was a lie or not.

They all sat there for at least twenty minutes, waiting for the storm to blow over which of course, eventually, it did leaving a beautiful blue sky in its wake. Lily's breathing slowly eased up and soon she emerged from James' shoulder and her pillow to look up at them all with slightly puffy eyes.

'Sorry,' she whispered apologetically.

'Hey, hey, none of that please young missy,' said Remus, sliding to the floor to sit next to her. Taking her hand her said very gently, 'we will always understand.'

'Got that right,' said Peter from the armchair he had managed to squeeze into.

'So…' said Sirius, 'are we back to normal?'

'Just about,' hiccoughed Lily, smiling weakly.

'Good, because you're commentating in, ooh,' Sirius checked his watch, 'two hours, and personally I need some breakfast before we kick Ravenclaw's butts, I mean,' he corrected himself at Lily's withering glare, 'defeat them comprehensively.'

'Let's just get you a calming draught first eh Lils?' said James standing up, and lifting her up with him. 'Just to take the edge off.' Lily nodded.

'I think I have a couple of spare bottles up in my room,' said Peter who was a veritable supply of all basic medicines- being moderately talented at both Herbology and Potions and also very accident prone, he had decided to put his talents to good use. 'I'll run and get one.'

'Thank you Peter,' said Lily as he ran up off the stairs.

'Come oooooon,' groaned Sirius. 'I'm staaaaaarving! Can't we just meet him downstairs?'

'No,' came the reply from Lily, James and Remus.

'Although,' said James raising an eyebrow, 'you might cause quite a stir turning up to breakfast in your pyjamas.'

Walking into breakfast Nick caught up with Lily, taking her hand and pulling her aside slightly.

'Are you okay?' he asked quietly. 'I would have come up but-'

'The password, I know,' she said. 'I'm fine.' He looked at her disbelievingly. 'Really,' she said smiling. 'I was well looked after.'

Nick smiled. 'Glad to hear it, otherwise I would have been forced to beat them up.'

'Right before the match?' asked Lily. 'That would have shortened the odds.'

'Odds?'

'Yeah, the Prewetts have been doing their usual pre-match betting station apparently.'

'And what are the odds?' asked Nick.

'Last I heard,' said Lily, 'they were two to one against you I think.'

'Gits,' he muttered, frowning. 'I'll be having a word with them. And against their own house too...' Lily laughed. Nick looked at her his gaze softening. 'I'm glad you're alright,' he said, and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. 'Good luck today.'

'You too,' she replied, smiling.

The day was turning out to be cool and clear despite the earlier storm. As the whistle blew, fifteen brooms rose into the air and James felt truly alive, as he always did when playing his favourite game. He took off at a moderate pace on a lap of the pitch one eye scanning around for the snitch, the other keeping an eye on what the rest of his team were doing.

'AND REUS LUPIN HAS THE QUAFFLE,' rang out Lily's voice from the commentator's podium. 'THAT'S A GOOD THING. HE'S A VERY NICE PERSON YOU KNOW. AND HE'S FLYING AROUND A BIT, DODGING SOME OTHER PEOPLE AND STUFF…'

James looked down at Lily. What on earth was she talking about? Dodging around and stuff?

'OOH, HE'S LOST THE QUAFFLE TO SOMEONE FROM THE OTHER TEAM. DON'T KNOW HIS NAME BUT HE'S SORT OF GOT BLONDISH HAIR AND…'

'It's that bloody calming draught!' yelled Remus, who has also noted Lily's less than orthodox commentary.

James looked down into the stands and caught Peter's eye, who had a mixture of hilarity and guilt written across his face as he mouthed, 'Sorry,' from where he stood.

McGonagall was starting to look slightly harassed and people in the stands were beginning to pay more attention to Lily than to what was happening on the pitch. Sirius, ever the wannabe centre of attention, decided that matters had to be taken into his own hands. He flew past Lily who grinned mildly at him and, drawing his wand said 'Silencio.'

'HELLO GOOD FRIENDS!' rang out his voice across the stands. 'SIRIUS BLACK HERE TAKING OVER FROM THE EVER LOVELY MISS EVANS. WE'VE EXPERIENCED A SLIGHT TECHNICAL HITCH DOWN THIS END, BUT I, OH SHIT HANG ON…' and he pelted a bludger away that had chosen that moment to aim right for his nose. 'RIGHTO, SORRY ABOUT THAT.' Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes and shrugged in a manner that clearly said "I don't approve of this but there's nothing I can do about it at the moment". Taking this as a good sign, Sirius resumed.

'OKAY, SO WHERE WERE WE? AH YES, ROBINSON OF RAVENCLAW HAS THE QUAFFLE, COME ON REMUS KNOCK HIM OFF HIS BROOM! OH YEAH, AND WE HAVE THE QUAFFLE. THAT'S MY GOOD FRIEND REMUS LUPIN SPEEDING DOWN THE PITCH IN HIS USUAL EFFORTLESS MANNER, A LOVELY PASS THERE TO MISS RACHEL GRIFFITHS, RETURNING TO THE TEAM FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW. ALRIGHT THERE RACH?' he shot her a dazzling smile which she returned, unfortunately colliding with a Ravenclaw beater as a result and… 'WE HAVE A TIME OUT AS RACHEL AND GODSTONE HAVE THEIR NOSES FIXED BY… AH PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL. THREE CHEERS FOR MINNIE MCGONAGALL! HIP HIP…' McGonagall started shouting and waving at Sirius who simply beamed and starting entertaining the crowd by telling jokes while the two players had their noses restored to their former glory. 'AND SO THE WARLOCK SAID TO THE BANSHEE… OH RIGHT, ARE WE UP AND RUNNING? OKAY, SO THERE'S GOLDSTEIN OF GRYFFINDOR AND- BLOODY HELL!'

James and Nick had both gone into a fifty foot plunge towards the ground, cutting Donny's path off completely. Inches before they hit the ground, both pulled up empty handed.

'AND A LOVELY WRONSKI FEINT PULLED OFF THERE… NOT SURE BY WHO, BUT IT WAS GOOD ALL THE SAME. OF COURSE IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE A REAL FAINT, TRY LOOKING AT SNAPE'S HAIR WITHOUT SUNGLASSES!'

And so the game continued, for two hours the game continued. By this time the calming draught Lily had taken had worn off and she was trying in vain to capture Sirius attention to say she wanted to carry on commentating. However, Sirius was clearly having far too much fun and was conveniently ignoring her.

'AND GRYFFINDOR LEAD BY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY POINTS TO ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY- NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!' sang Sirius, as he practised his sloth grip roll, beating a bludger from underneath him as he did so. Right into the crowd. 'SORRY!' came his voice, but most of the crowd were no longer listening, for the third dive of the game had just begun. And this time a glint of gold could be seen hovering near the centre line of the pitch.

'AND LOOK AT THEM GO… AGAIN!' called Sirius. 'THESE TWO SEEKERS, TECHNICALLY EVENLY MATCHED BUT AS POTTER IS MY BEST MATE I HAVE TO SAY HE'S BETTER OR I'LL GET BEATEN UP, AND… FU-'

His last curse was cut off by shock, for Nick's broom had given a huge lurch, more than thirty feet above the ground. There was no way he could have held on. He didn't even cry out, but just hit the ground with a sick sort of splat. Silence blanketed the stadium, and then a real scream came from the opposite end of the pitch. Sirius barely saw what happened, but all he knew was that Lily had fallen.

Okay, I realise this is a bit of a short angsty chapter- I did however try to lighten the mood with my ever beloved Sirius! Apologies for those wanting to read a happy clappy chapter :(

Hmm… I think this weird mood has affected me. That and being awake for seventeen hours… oh well.

Cuddly teddy bears to all my lovely lovely reviewers!

R xxx

P.S. anyone got any ideas what to call my evil plot-twisting fairy? She's desperate to have a name...