December
James breathed a contented sigh, sitting up a bit straighter as he looked around. It seemed as if he was hundreds of feet above the Hogwarts grounds, and it was a striking view. He had always been tempted just to leave the Quidditch pitch, go flying over the Forest maybe, or just circle the castle's many turrets and towers. Running a hand through his hair, he imagined just flying on forever, out of Hogwarts, past Hogsmeade, over the whole country... it was truly tempting. Only half a year left, mate, half a year, he reminded himself as he continued to daydream.
But the rough voice of the Gryffindor team captain brought him back soon enough. "Come on, everyone, let's do this right, for once..." James grimaced and allowed his broom to sink a bit, coming back into the formation along with the rest of the team. He tried hard not to glare at the captain. For the first time in his life, James found that Quidditch was not the stress-relieving activity it had formerly been. Instead, he despised having to put up with the near-daily practices.
He supposed part of it was jealousy. Being Head Boy was one thing, but he truly missed his role as team captain. He had only held the post for one year, and Gryffindor had done very well. However, McGonnagall had told him flat out that doing both roles would be far too much. He had argued briefly, but the stern witch told him to forget about it. But the other part was that the person who got it was completely undeserving.
Charlie Brigstock was the sixth-year Gryffindor who had stolen James's position. He was rude, unfair, and just a pain in the ass to deal with in general. James and his teammates had often wondered how the prat had even made it into Gryffindor, but those who knew him personally claimed that he hadn't always had that big of an ego. Just recently. However, no one could deny that he wasn't a spectacular Seeker.
Charlie cleared his throat. "One more time, guys, and then you go can go to dinner or I don't know what. Just at leastpretend to try this time around." Everyone reluctantly began to fly. One of his fellow Chasers, Vanessa, who had been holding the Quaffle, quickly tossed it to James.
He missed.
Everyone came to a stop as James realized what he had done and went pelting after the falling red ball, cursing to himself. Since when had heever missed a toss? He caught up to the Quaffle quickly, and once he had it back, safely tucked under one arm, he flew back up. Charlie was obviously biting his tongue.
"Everything under control, Potter?"
James saluted Charlie, who scowled, and as soon as the captain had flown away, James threw the Quaffle to the other Chaser, a fifth-year named Ryan, and flew towards the goal hoops, drawing on all of his willpower to not just land and walk away from the pitch. Luckily, he only had to endure it for another fifteen minutes. Charlie blew his whistle and the team met back down on the turf. He said something about the game they had coming up after the holiday break, but James tuned it out. It was only when Charlie barked his name that he snapped back into attention.
"Potter! Get all the balls back in the box and put them in the changing rooms, will you?" James noted a bit of a malicious quality in Charlie's voice. It was probably because both Bludgers and the Snitch were still circling far above his head. Nevertheless, James mocked bowing to Charlie, one hand going for his wand. But it was too late; Charlie was already walking away. Somehow James couldn't bring himself to do anything with the captain's back to him. It would have been different were it, say, Severus Snape, but regardless, James bent down to pick up the Quaffle.
It was easy enough to get the two Bludgers, involving just a steady hand as he Summoned them. Once both of the unruly brown balls were chained into the trunk, he picked up his broom, preferring to chase after the Snitch rather than attempt to charm it into submission.
He circled the pitch several times before he noticed a golden glint a bit below him. He streaked after it, now locked onto the tiny sphere, barely breathing as he concentrated on what was ahead of him. Slowly the distance closed. He stretched out his left hand, leaning as far forward as he dared on the broomstick. Once he did catch the walnut-sized ball, it took him a moment to realize it. He drifted to a stop, halted in the air, far above the ground once again. He took a deep breath, and shoved his fist into one of his robe's inner pockets, depositing the fidgety Snitch there.
James looked up and around, taking another deep breath as he surveyed the grey skies. Steely hued clouds were slowly moving in, and he regretfully let his broom start to sink. He stopped abruptly though, sensing motion out of the corner of his eye. It was someone in the stands- they had their back to him, heading towards the stairs. James slowly flew closer, halting once more when he realized who it was. He grinned, lazily running a hand through his hair, though he was actually quite confused. After leisurely flying over, he hovered near the stand, quite prepared to give the person a scare.
"All right, Evans?"
Lily stopped, sticking a hand out to grab the banister. When she turned around, James saw that she looked a bit shocked. She did a good job of covering it up, though, and she let out a breath. "'Hello, Potter." She edged back into one of the rows of benches and seated herself nonchalantly. "Good practice?"
Somehow, James sensed that she was egging him on. Evidently she had been watching. That in itself was a bit odd. Nevertheless, he scowled. "On a scale of one to ten, that might've been... ah, I dunno... a negative four?" He carefully flew into the stands, dropping easily off of his broomstick and sitting a short distance from her. Lily stared out across the pitch and offered, "Sorry to hear that."
He waited a few seconds, then asked, "So what are you doing out here? You've never been the Quidditch type..."
"I went for a walk around the grounds... saw you all practicing... and I figured I'd watch for a bit," she explained with a slight shrug.
James nodded, pretending to understand, while in all actuality, he didn't. "Kind of cold for a walk."
"Yes, well... last day before the holiday break, not much to do." "You're not staying here, then?" He knew she never did, of course, unlike Sirius, who had brought all his belongings from home that summer.
"Nope." Lily brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and tightened her scarf. "I have a feeling I won't be home for long, though," she murmured, and right as James looked over, her eyes shut tightly, as if she wished she could withdraw what she said.
"Why's that?" he asked gently, beginning to realize that this was perhaps THE longest conversation he had ever exchanged with Lily Evans before.
Lily bit her lip, intertwining her fingers in her lap. "It's almost as if my parents just realized that I'm a witch... I mean, my sister's hated me since the day I got my letter, but they..." She sighed, still staring across the field. "I think they assumed I'd just get over it, you know, once Hogwarts is over... nothing would make them happier than seeing their daughter go to college, meet some wealthy Muggle, have a lavish, bragging-rights wedding and then settle down for... forever. No wands, no charms, no jinxes, nothing..." She paused, shutting her eyes once more in an embarrassed fashion. "Sorry... rambling..."
James shook his head, fervently hoping that tone of voice she used, the slight slump to her shoulders meant that she had not consigned herself to such a fate. "You turn seventeen soon, though, right?" He didn't need clarification, really- he had made a point to ask her out on her birthday for the past three years. "Then you're an adult, you can do whatever you please, forget about what they want for you completely..." He saw her smile weakly out of the corner of his eye. "I wish," she mumbled. But she continued on in a slightly louder voice, trying hard to change the subject. "And you? Going to stay here with Sirius and booby-trap the entire castle while we're gone, I imagine?"
James laughed. "Well, I wasn't, but thanks for the idea..." He chanced a glance at her, and felt the familiar swoop in his stomach when he saw the smile on her face. "Nah, I'm going home too. Taking him with me, naturally," he said, referring to Sirius, "and I'm sure we'll get a load of schoolwork done and be perfectly well-behaved." Lily scoffed and was about to counter that when James's nemesis of the day walked out onto the field.
"Potter! I've got to lock the trunk in the office! Let's go!" Charlie barked, looking up and around for any sign of James, who heaved a sigh.
"What I wouldn't give just to hex the bloody hell out of him..." he muttered, slowly standing up.
Lily raised an eyebrow, and casually noted, "Brigstock's not worth you breaking your little streak." James propped his broom against a bench, shooting her a quizzical glance. She recrossed her legs, and then met his gaze. "You know... you've been awfully civil this year... I guess you might just have some ulterior motive..."
James brightened. So shehad noticed- just as Remus had said she would. "Ulterior motive..." He started to move towards the edge of the stands. "Sort of like you agreeing to go on a date with Sirius, right?" Smirking, he watched her face for a reaction.
"That was... a bit different." She smiled, not wanting to say too much. Sirius had drawn out their scheme just long enough so that James would get jealous, and then publicly (and dramatically) told Lily that it was just not meant to be. It had all been an act; and Lily played along expertly. Up until now, she had been sure that James had not seen through it. James turned his head, a bit disconcerted by her answer. Deciding to forget it for the time being, he picked up his broomstick once more. Lily stood up just as he went to straddle the broom. "Hold on," she said quickly, and she picked her way through the last few rows of benches. She grinned at James's quizzical expression. "Give me a ride back down?" He smiled and waved with a flourish to the space left on the broom.
"Climb aboard." Inching forward to make room, he felt a mix of excitement and disappointment... excitement for what this could mean, disappointment over the fact that Sirius and the others would never believe him. He tried not to get his hopes up.
Lily carefully perched on the broomstick, suddenly feeling not so confident. "Just straight down, Potter... nothing fancy."
Laughing, James responded, "Straight down? Like a dive?" At the same time, he pushed away from the stands, and Lily quickly grabbed his shoulders, taking in a breath. "No, no, don't you dare..."
"Don't worry," he said cheerfully, and began to fly slowly into a gentle downward spiral. It was hard to resist playing around, just a little bit, thought James... feeling Lily's grip relax, he began to speed up, though in the process, he cut a curve a bit sharply. Lily gasped, evidently not expecting it, and threw her arms around his waist. James couldn't help but to laugh, turning his head slightly so his voice wouldn't get carried away. "I won't let you fall, you know that, right? Or was that just an attempt to hug me?"
Lily sacrificed her hold to reach out with her index finger and push his face back. "Think what you want," she added, glad he couldn't see her smile. Once she was sure that he wasn't going to pull any more tricks on her, she relaxed a bit, and even began to enjoy it. She hadn't flown since their lessons with Madam Hooch in their first year, and Lily had been too involved in academics to go out for the House team their third year.
The smile faded from her face once she noticed that the wind was not whipping as violently through her hair as before, nor was the scenery quite as blurry as they raced by. Finally, they came to a full stop- fifteen feet away from the ground. Lily stiffened. What was he playing at?
James turned to face her as best he could, grinning that damn mischievous grin that he and Sirius had down to an art. "So long as I've got you here," he began, laughing to himself at the look of indignation on Lily's face, "I've at least got to try." His right hand flew up to his hair, but instead of attempting to mess it up even more, he tried in vain to flatten it. Lily raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to look down, though her eyes cut downwards several times.
"There's a Hogsmeade visit in January," he explained, hoping Lily wouldn't question how he came about that information... he wasn't sure if it was acceptable for the Head Boy and company to be sneaking into the Staff Room under the Invisibility Cloak. Clearing his throat, he continued. "And I just thought- what if you and I just met and got a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks? Nothing further- unless you wanted to, of course..."
Her silence was making him nervous. Lily was staring intently at the ground, though without the widened gaze she had used before. "One drink?" she asked finally, looking up.
"Just one. My intentions are completely honorable, you know," he said with a slight grin, sitting up a bit straighter. "What do you say?"
Lily blanched as a gust of wind buffeted the broomstick. It forced her out of silence, though, and she sighed. "I'm sure they are... but yes, I'll come." She looked away, the color returning to her face in the form of a blush. In hindsight, things hadn't happened the way she had imagined it... but she still smiled, feeling almost relieved- though she wouldn't be completely at ease until both feet were on the ground.
James looked so elated that he was barely paying attention to how far the broom had drifted in the breeze. "It'll be great, I promise." He instantly turned back around and urged the broom on, causing Lily to gasp with surprise once more as he angled down towards the Quidditch trunk he was supposed to take up several minutes ago. Once his broom, the latest edition Cleansweep, was hovering a safe distance from the ground, he dismounted and offered a hand to Lily. She hopped off by herself, though, and James stuck his hand back in his robes, remembering the Snitch that was still there.
As he bent down to open the trunk and deposit the tiny ball, he decided to speak up once more. He had to make sure... "You know, I would have landed the broom whether you said yes or not," he said. Lily glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Oh, I know," she said with a twinkle in her eye.
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A/N: You like? I like... as much as I can like it! I'm my own worst critic, but please leave a review and let me know what you thought - I'm having a horrible week and getting this chapter out is pretty much the only good thing I've got going right now. Muchos gracias!
