That midmorning, cool and sunny as it was, would be the beginning of an entirely new era in my life. Not only was I attempting to master a very challenging skill that usually required years (certainly not mere hours!) of practice, but I was getting help from the last person I ever expected to turn to in my hour of need.

"The reason there are teams," James explained as we lapped lazily around the pitch, "is that Hippogriff's not just a race—it's a relay race, and the handoff is a bit complex."

I remembered relay races! It was an Olympic sport, I was sure! Part of the track and field events. There were four runners or so to a team, and they all had a baton they would have to give or receive, depending on where they were in the lineup.

Wait—that was the handoff.

The handoff? AS IN, I would take my hand off the broom?!

HOW?!

Panicked, I looked down at my hands. They were both firmly gripping the neck, steering, in control. "I can't fly without both hands on the broom!"

James didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation. "'Course you can!" he said flippantly. "What's really tricky is—"

"No, James. I don't think I can take my hands off the broom, I really don't."

He sighed. "Why don't we try it, before you decide what you can and cannot do?"

I bit my lip. "Okay."

"Right, so as I was saying. The handoff can get tricky. There are quite a few rules involved." He began to list them:

1. There are four flyers on each team. At least two teams are needed to play Hippogriff.

2. Each flyer can only hand off the Snitch within the marked Handoff Zone; otherwise, they are disqualified.

3. Each flyer must hold onto their Snitch, or they will be disqualified.

4. If you are the second, third, or anchor flyer, you may begin flying at 100 feet before the Handoff Zone in order to achieve necessary velocity during the Handoff, but must only receive the Snitch within the marked Handoff Zone, or you will be disqualified.

5. If you block a competitor from overtaking you with force, you will be disqualified.

6. However, those flyers that are not flying a leg of the course may at any point attempt to thwart competition with the use of Bludgers.

7. If a flyer is hit by a Bludger and releases the Snitch, they are disqualified. However, if a teammate can catch the Snitch within 100 feet, they may take up the remaining leg of the race and continue to compete.

8. The last flyer, called the anchor flyer, must give the Snitch to the first flyer. If they do not, they are disqualified, even if they've won the race.

It all seemed simple enough to understand, but I was more than terrified because of the whole one-handed flying business. I was still learning basic controls on the thing!

James directed me to keep my balance as I flew along the perimeter of the pitch. "If you're going for speed—which you will be, during Hippogriff—you want to get as close to the broomstick as possible—"

"Thank Merlin for Cushioning Charms," I grumbled, stretching forwards over the broom.

He ignored me. "Now extend your legs back and hook your ankles over the broom."

I was eyelevel with the neck of the broom, completely horizontal midair, just a few feet above the ground. I brought my legs back and up as he instructed, feeling more and more vulnerable in this new position.

"You should feel more anchored now that your whole body is being supported by the broom," he said.

He was so wrong.

"Er, sure," I replied meekly.

"Now drop your arms."

I tensed, too afraid to make any sudden movements in my state of alarm. "Sorry, what?" I squeaked. I'd stopped flying and just hovered.

James chuckled, his hands wrapping themselves around my forearms. "Drop your arms," he repeated again.

I whimpered, and after he pried my hands off the broom handle, he placed his hands around my waist to steady me as I got my balance.

He leaned down to whisper gently in my ear, "It's alright, Lily. I've got you."

My heart felt aflutter, and I was suddenly nervy about something else entirely. I pushed down my nerves and gathered up all of my Gryffindor courage; I was determined to stay focused, hormones be damned.

Meanwhile, my arms were dangling beneath me. It almost felt like I was on some ledge up to my shoulders, my limbs swinging beneath me, gravity pulling on my muscles lightly.

"Now lift your arms, but don't grab ahold of the broom just yet," James said, still gently, still whispering in my ear.

It suddenly occurred to me how he might be taking advantage of my vulnerability, but I didn't think I could have stayed calm if he'd approached this any other way. Nevertheless, I couldn't help teasing him about it. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to romance me."

He immediately let go of my waist, as though aware for the first time that he was still holding on to me. "Nothing gets by you," he said wryly. Okay, so maybe I'd read that all wrong. He cleared his throat. "Arms up and out!"

I lifted my arms, and I felt silly with my arms out in front of me as though I were some kind of superhero. Giggling, I lifted my face slightly to catch James's eyes. "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's—oh, bollocks!" The broom wobbled violently, and I immediately wrapped myself around it, hanging on for dear life like a vine on a tree branch.

James burst out laughing. "It's Gryffin-Girl!" he finished for me. "In training."

I grumbled.

"You don't have your own theme tune yet, Lily, but soon you will."

I sighed, blowing up my fringe around my face.

"Now, then. Arms in front!" He was back in Captain Mode. "Since we don't have much time, we'll be training with a bum Snitch to start with, and then we'll trade it in for a real one." He pushed a cold, metal sphere into one of my hands. It was a Snitch without wings.

I went back in my superhero stance, the bum Snitch clutched tightly in my right hand.

"Lift your arms up over your head."

I nearly fell face first into the ground. "Are you mad?" I said, righting myself on the broom.

He sighed. "Use your legs to anchor yourself on the broom."

It was frustrating, painstaking work, but eventually I got comfortable enough to move my arms about. Then came the real challenge.

"Now, fly."

In hindsight, it shouldn't have alarmed me that I eventually had to actually fly, but as far as I was concerned in that moment, there was no way anyone could fly with their bellies flat to the broom, and their arms dangling below them.

How would I steer?

"With your legs, and you still have one hand that's free," came James's amused answer.

I felt silly, but attempted it anyway. I leaned forward, used my legs to keep from dipping downwards, and steered with my left hand. Quite on my own, I discovered that if I pulled my wrist in a little tighter than I would if I had the use of both hands, I could control the broom rather well.

I ran a few laps around the pitch in this way, with James shouting out suggestions and encouragements as I went. Then, very suddenly, he was flying next to me. He threw me a wink and accelerated past me.

I frowned. How was I supposed to match his speed without pitching forwards over the broom?

Again, James answered for me. "Lean into it, Lily!"

I did.

"C'mon, catch up to me!" he called. He smirked over his shoulder, speeding up until I had no choice but to try.

I leaned into it, pressing my whole body forwards against the broom, and felt myself speed up, cutting through the air like a mermaid through water. I sidled up next to James, and he pressed his shoulder against mine, urging me to go even faster.

Everything was a blur. It was the absolute fastest I'd ever flown in the history of my tiny little life, and it was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. I couldn't help the grin that broke out on my face.

James held out his hand, and for some happy, drunken moment, I thought he wanted me to hold it. I almost reached out to take it, but, fortunately, had a moment of clarity as I realized that I'd have to let go of my broom to do that, and then I'd be flying with no hands because the other hand had a bum Snitch in it.

And it occurred to me that that's what he wanted.

OBVIOUSLY. I was such a hormonal mess! Honestly, I had no idea what had gotten into me!

Maybe he wants to hold my hand! Psh, as if, Lily. This is hardly the time!

I reached over and placed the gold sphere in his hand. He wrapped his fingers over it, and in the handoff, caught my fingers in his. I ripped them out, half afraid it would affect my flying, and half afraid that I wanted them there.

He signaled for me to follow him, and he descended in a taut spiral to the green, dismounting his broom.

"Well done," he said, as I touched ground before him. "Think you can do it with a live Snitch?"

He reached into his robes' pocket and pulled out a fluttering Snitch, tossing it from hand to hand, then tossing it to me.

My eyes went as wide as saucers, my hands flying out in front of me in surprise. To my shock, and probably to James's, I actually caught the bloody thing.

I jumped up and down in delighted surprise. "Did you see that? My reflexes were made for this!"

A small smile crept up on James's face and he lifted one very patronizing eyebrow. "That's all very well, Lily, but you'll have to catch it one-handed when you're flying."

That was all it took to break my resolve.

"Fuck, you're right," I groaned. "James, why did you ever let me think I could actually pull this off? There's no way—I am Lily Evans, Klutz Extraordinaire. I'm hopeless."

He rolled his eyes. "If that were really true, then you wouldn't be here in the first place. Just stop thinking about all the things you can't do—that's what I'm here for. I'm going to teach you."

I nodded, gratitude swelling in my chest and expressing itself with shining eyes. "Thank you."

He waved me off. "Toss me the Snitch," he said.

And that's how we began a short but intense game of catch with a golden Snitch. It was relaxing, being on the ground. As soon as we got back on our brooms, however, I had a newfound respect for Seekers everywhere.

After a half hour of practicing with the Snitch, and running drills around the pitch, we decided to break for lunch. I rehydrated, had my fill of beef stew, and then the Head Boy and I had an emergency meeting during N.E.W.T.-level History of Magic back at the Quidditch stadium.

We raced, practiced the handoff, and I even got to try out the Beater's bats and Bludgers. I nearly took off James's head, and that was the highlight. I decided I would try to avoid the responsibility of defending my teammates with a Beater's bat, as I would likely muck it all up and accidentally murder somebody.

By the time Operation Fire Dragon began, I was in desperate need of a shower. James, of course, looked absolutely flawless, used to the exercise, the bastard. Meanwhile, I was a sweating pygmy puff beneath my robes.

Mary, Marlene, Sirius and I huddled together on the green of the pitch, the old trunk full of Beaters' bats and Bludgers on the ground between us. James thought we should run some preliminary races to determine the lineup of our relay.

"We should have the fastest flyer go last, to make up for any lost time. Our slowest flyer should go second. Second-fastest will go first, and third-fastest will go third."

Marlene immediately raised her hand.

James sighed. "Yes, McKinnon."

"That's a fine strategy and all, Potter, for a bunch of rookies."

"Evans is a rookie," pointed out Sirius, and while I was very happy someone remembered that, I also felt a bit put out.

Mary scoffed. "She's been training with Potter all day," she said. "Don't think I didn't notice the two of you skiving off History of Magic."

Jen, who with Remus and Peter had been intermittently circling us and touching down to give the appearance that we were actually doing something and not just dawdling on the ground, gasped. "Lily Evans! You actually skived off? I can't believe it! Potter, you're a bad influence!"

"Actually, I think you'll find that it's Lily who is a bad influence on James," chimed in Remus from a few feet above us.

We all looked up at him in curious disbelief.

"What are you on about?" asked an approaching Peter.

Remus pinked a little as he realized all eyes were on him, but he continued anyway. "James was supposed to tutor me during our free period today, but Lily demanded he cancel that in order to train her instead."

"Lily!" cried Jen. She descended onto the green and looked utterly gobsmacked.

"It's fine," said James. "Remus, we already rescheduled. I'm sorry for cancelling on you this morning. And to be fair, it was my decision to help Lily at all. She didn't force me into anything."

I grimaced. I sort of had. He really shouldn't be defending me at all.

But instead of apologizing to him, I directed an apology to Remus. He merely blushed and murmured, "S'okay," before flying up and away from the lot of us. Poor thing. He must be wallowing in embarrassment.

I definitely was.

"So, anyway, about the lineup," insisted Marlene. "I think you're underestimating us."

"Why don't we run a few races and find out?" challenged James.

Marlene smirked. "You're on, Captain!" She got on her broom and flew up into the air as though she were riding lightning.

Oh, Merlin. How in the world was I supposed to compete with that?!

She was Galadriel and I was a Shire hobbit.

Mary flew up next, followed by Sirius, Jen, and Peter. I glanced nervously at James.

"It's now or never, Lily," he said, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. "You can do this."

"Thank you," I replied, and I really meant it. Not just for his words, but for teaching me literally everything I knew about flying. I was staring too long into his eyes because that stupid feeling started making my heart soar, and I had to look away. My hands were shaking, but I tried not to let it show as I straddled my broom. "Catch you in the air!" I called, and pushed off the ground.

I'd learned from observing Potter that the easiest, quickest, and safest way to traverse vertical distances was by ascending or descending in a spiral. So that was exactly how I got up into the air. Within seconds, I was flying high above everyone else, watching our classmates fumble with Quaffles around the Quidditch hoops, run lazy laps around the pitch, or just hover in gossiping clusters away from any action.

I noticed one such cluster belonged to Bellatrix Black and her squad of baby Death Eaters, their green and silver scarves trailing down their robes. I could hear her evil cackle all the way from where I floated, several meters above the Quidditch stands.

Marlene called up to me. "Oi, Lily! Race is down here, you nutter!"

I grinned at her and flew down towards her so quickly that I came to just her nose. "Hadn't noticed, thanks," I said. I was so close to her face that it was blurry.

She threw her head back, roaring with laughter. "You're going to be a deathtrap, aren't you?"

I tossed my dark red hair behind one shoulder in response.

She laughed again, the light catching on her warm, brown cheeks, and she started doing her Donna Summer disco arms, her sleeves flapping haphazardly like doomed kites in the breeze. Mary giggled into one hand, overcome at the sight of her.

It took everything in me not to join in, so I just laughed, keeping both hands firmly around the neck of my broom, my knuckles turning white under my freckled pink skin.

"Racers at the ready," boomed James's voice from somewhere nearby.

The girls and I took our places next to Sirius. James floated off to the side, bellowing instructions at us in his most commanding Captain tones.

"You will fly to the end of the pitch and back. The rest of us will be watching closely to keep track of your times. Remember, Hippogriff is a non-contact sport, so absolutely no"—and he seemed to direct an especially stern glare at a smirking Sirius—"roughhousing."

Sirius caught my panicked frown and threw me a wink. "Relax, Evans. I would never hurt you. Prongs would have me Transfigured into a pair of socks if I tried."

I rolled my eyes. "That's comforting."

"On your marks, get set, go!" James called, and suddenly, I was racing.

I flattened myself on the broom, and saw the others do similarly. We were all flying at about the same pace to the end of the pitch, dodging other students, flying around clusters of dawdlers, and most importantly, staying out of the sight of Madame Hooch.

We reached the three hoops at the end of the pitch and began to turn around, and that's when I saw it—a Bludger, headed straight for Mary's head.

"Watch it!" I screamed, overtaking her just in time to take a Bludger to one side. It knocked me sideways a bit, leaving a stinging pain in my ribs. It caused a small wobble of turbulence, but overall, hadn't compromised my balance or my speed.

"Nice, thanks Lily!" I heard Mary call from behind me.

I stuck out an arm in acknowledgement, but didn't have it in me to turn and say anything as the lingering pain in my side distracted me. Not to mention, we were still racing, after all, and my mind was going mad with euphoria.

I mean, I had practically just saved Mary McDonald's life. I was Lily Evans, Actual Lifesaver. I hadn't even thought about it, really; I'd just dived right in front of the nasty thing, and I had sacrificed myself for a friend.

I hadn't known I had that in me!

Suddenly, I realized that I was leading the formation of racers—I was actually coming in first?!

Hurrah! I was in first place! I was winning!

WINNING! ME! AT FLYING!

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of dark hair and a full goatee making his way up to me.

Well, that hadn't lasted long.

On my other side, Marlene inched closer to me until I was firmly sandwiched between the two Gryffindor Beaters, who were flying with identical smirks on their faces. Oh, I'd forgotten about this. They are practically telepathic on the field. I used to admire it, but now that I was on the receiving end, I felt rather doomed.

I chanced a glance behind me to see where Mary might have gone, but she was nowhere in sight. It occurred to me that another Bludger might have got her while she was out of view, but then a shadow came over the three of us, and Mary's blonde hair was the only thing I could see as she descended practically on top of me.

Sirius, Marlene, and I broke up our formation, and in the last few feet of the race, we were egging on our brooms, pushing with our feet, willing our brooms to go the teensiest bit faster.

We were neck and neck, and I could hear James's voice say something vaguely encouraging in the background as I got eye-level with my broom handle, and decided in a split-second to tuck my arms back by my sides.

It would have worked, in theory, except I suddenly realized that neither of my hands was on the broom, and in the exact two seconds it took me to dip slightly as I panicked and got a handle on the broom, Marlene inched ahead of me and we reached the finish line.

"TIME!" screamed Peter. "And that's a strong finish, with Marlene finishing first, Sirius second, Mary third, and Lily last."

I sat up and pouted.

"Well done," said James, flying over to us, his hair sticking out in several places. I imagined he'd gotten nervous while he watched us.

Marlene was pumping her arms up and down in the air, her kinky curls bouncing slightly on her shoulders. "Bow down to me, Black! I beat you fair and square!"

Sirius smiled slyly and bowed his head in concession. "What'll it be this time, McKinnon?"

"I get to serve next practice!" she exclaimed. Her whole face was alight with excitement.

Mary sidled up to me and smiled, her eyes closing slowly. She did that when she was genuinely filled with joy. "Thank you for saving me from that Bludger, Lils."

I smiled and blinked slowly back at her. "Anytime."

She hummed in contentment and flew back to James to chat about something or other.

I flew over to Jen, and with one look at her, my mask of Lily Evans, Actual Lifesaver broke, succumbing to Lily Evans, Somebody Help Me.

"How are you doing?" she asked. "You took quite the hit there. And then did a weird dead fish in the air thing. Don't do that."

I chortled. "I did do a weird dead fish in the air thing!" I laughed, remembering how I'd tried to slide my arms back by my sides to get more speed. "I didn't realize how stupid I would look!"

A smile graced her sand-gold features, her dark brown eyes shining with mirth. "You looked very stupid."

"I felt stupid!"

"And then you flopped around, looking all the world like the biggest fish person to ever try to fly."

"I don't know what I was thinking."

"Not much."

I snorted. "Ah, nice to know you'll always be my number one fan," I said sarcastically.

Before she could answer, James answered us with our lineup. Sirius would start, I would go second, Mary would go next, and Marlene would "bring us to glory!"

We had to run this "at least once," according to James, if we wanted a shot at beating the Slytherins. Although, from what I could tell, it was as though they had completely forgotten about our game of Hippogriff. They were still huddled up off to the side of the pitch, probably trading dark magic jinxes. Judging by the amount of times I'd heard Bellatrix cackle, I wouldn't be surprised if she were giving everyone a cackling lesson.

I flew down to the green behind my teammates. Hippogriff, James had taught me, began on the ground. "Before broomsticks, wizards played this game on actual hippogriffs, hence the name. We added Bludgers and Snitches as time went on."

I'm glad someone knew their Hippogriff history. (Perhaps it had been the subject of today's History of Magic lesson, since I'd never heard of it before, and I'd skived off for the first time this afternoon.)

The first flyer has to take a running start and then hop on their brooms mid-run and go up fifty feet into the air where the relay should be run. As the second flyer, I don't have to take a running start, but I can't leave the ground until Sirius is in the air himself.

James made us run the play, and it went fairly well, though our Captain reminded us that we'd just raced without any Bludgers being deliberately aimed at our persons. To which Sirius and Marlene just grinned, apparently enthused about being able to aim at our own opponents.

It was at this moment that I turned to Sirius and said, "So wanna go get your cousin?"

We were back on the green, and he had been leaning rather grandly on his broomstick. He raised one eyebrow at me, his previously flushed and sparkling cheeks paling at the thought. "Do you?"

"No need to fight over me, children," snarled Bellatrix from behind Sirius. She shot me a toothy sneer. "Look at you! You've been practicing all day, haven't you?"

Her Slytherin cronies flew down behind her: Mulciber, Nott, Yaxley. No sign of Severus.

She sniffed the air in disgust. "My, I don't know whether to be frightened of your tenacity, or to take pleasure in the fact that you're terrified." Like a punchline, she cackled.

Flames of rage curled in my gut. "Don't flatter yourself," I said, my eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

She only grinned, as though I had just proved her right.

Then, from the depths of curiosity hell, Frank Longbottom appeared, notepad and quill in hand. "What's going on?" he asked.

Oh, for Merlin's sake.

"Why don't you stick around and find out, Longbottom, old boy?" answered an overly cheerful Pettigrew.

Frank looked absolutely delighted, flashing a victorious grin framed by an honest-to-Merlin five-o'clock shadow. The bloke was barely seventeen, having had his birthday in late August. I would never understand how he convinced Alice Prewett to go out with him fifth year—she'd been out of Hogwarts two years already and they were still going steady—but I knew it partly had to do with his impressive facial hair.

And maybe his baby blue eyes. They were piercing in the sunlight.

"I believe we're on for a match, then," announced Sirius, having turned around to face Bellatrix.

"A match?" asked Frank, and he was lost in a flurry of quill scratching and eyebrow furrowing.

James nodded over at Pettigrew, and his fair-haired mate seemed to know exactly what to do. He led Frank away by the shoulders, chatting all the while. "It's a House match of Hippogriff, Longbottom. Very serious stuff."

Bellatrix sneered, her beady eyes following Frank's figure with disgust. Mulciber, Yaxley, and Nott formed a tight huddle around her, and Yaxley reached out to grab her shoulder, which she shook off with a glare in his direction. He pulled back his hand as though it had been burned.

James walked towards Bellatrix and gestured over to Sirius and me, then pointed to himself. Bellatrix responded by grinning so hugely, she seemed almost to transform into another person entirely. She raised a single finger in the air, and down flew none other than Sev.

I felt all the air go out of my lungs.

"What's he doing here?" I whispered to a nearby Mary.

"He must be their referee," she answered.

Another figure flew down beside him. Dorcas Meadowes. She was a Ravenclaw girl who often studied with Severus.

"What's she doing here?" Jen asked, echoing my sentiments about Severus towards Dorcas.

Well, this was just shaping up to be the biggest headache of my life. Jen stopped talking to Dorcas after she refused to take sides when Severus called me a you-know-what in front of everyone fifth year. Eventually, Dorcas just took to avoiding the lot of us.

And anytime we had anything with Ravenclaw, Jen would make a big show of making faces at her. I'd been trying to get her to drop it for ages, but Jen always followed up with—

"That girl has no sense of loyalty, not to mention dignity!"

That.

"She'll be Snape's second, I imagine," Mary said, then gave a low whistle. "At least it's not another Slytherin."

"It's worse," retorted Jen bitterly.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "None of that now, Jen," I began, but in vain.

She cut me off with a death glare. "She took his side, Lily! Doesn't that mean anything?"

I sighed. How many times did we have to go through this? "She didn't take anyone's side. She didn't want to."

Jen rounded on me, her eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. "Rubbish! She didn't want to make an uncomfortable decision, so I made it for her. I don't understand how you can keep defending her!"

I bit my lip. I knew part of what she'd said was true. I hadn't exactly gone out of my way to continue my friendship with Dorcas, but I didn't make my hurt known to her at every opportunity, either.

"I'm not defending her, I just don't think it's good for you to keep holding on to this, Jen."

She made a very unhappy noise in the back of her throat.

"Hippogriff, hip-hip!" called the slightly Amplified voice of James Potter. The antiquated chant was also held over from the time wizards played this sport on actual hippogriffs.

We all turned our heads in his direction and made our way towards a Spelled starting line in the green. James quickly explained that he and Severus would referee from the ground while Dorcas and Jen would referee from the air.

Crikey; two pairs of diametrically opposed foes having to work together. I almost felt sick.

Jen directed a glare at Dorcas, and her cheeks tinged pink, but she made no other acknowledgement. I wondered briefly why she had agreed to join the match.

I looked over at Severus only to catch him staring at me, but he quickly averted his gaze. I felt that same panic from earlier begin to settle in my stomach.

I tried to think really quickly about something—anything—that would get me out of this. My pulse was quickening and deafening in my ears. I was overcome by an uncomfortable warmth and began to pull at the neck of my robes.

James, Severus, and Bellatrix got into a bit of an argument over something, but I couldn't pay attention.

The blood was draining from my face, my throat was suddenly parched, and all at once my body ached from all the flying I'd already done that day.

"Alright, Lily?" Remus asked me softly.

I tried to smile and failed miserably. "Fine," I said, not quite looking him in the eye. "Just trying to, er—focus."

He nodded, though I could tell he didn't quite believe me. He turned to an old, rusting trunk and opened it. It was the trunk James had showed me earlier, with all the Bludgers and Beaters' bats.

Oh, sweet Merlin.

What if I wasn't so lucky with a Bludger my second-go-round?

More and more, I wished for something to stop this—I was way in over my head! It was too much, too soon!

Then I heard James's voice in my head. "It's alright, Lily."

I'd been staring at the trunk so long that I had to tear my eyes away from them when Mary began to herd me to the second position behind the Starting Line. I turned to my left to see which Slytherin flyer would also be flying in second position.

It was Alexander Nott.

Behind Nott stood Bellatrix. She treated me to her trademark gesture of dragging a long finger threateningly across her neck.

My blood ran cold as I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into.

"You'll pay for this," they'd said.

Then James and Severus both called out in unison: "On your marks, get set, go!"