Chapter 7: The First Quidditch Match
First Weekend of November, 1971
The Quidditch Pitch
Foomp!
Lily gawked and woke up, feeling something wooly get tossed on her face. She picked it off, pulling away some of her dark red hair that had tried to stick to the object with static. In her hands, she held a rather thick maroon scarf, patterned with thin gold stripes.
She looked up and saw Gwenog walking in a circle around the dormitory, tossing the scarfs at her sleeping roommates.
"This is it, guys! The first quidditch match of the season! Get up, get up! We must get to the pitch early and get good get seats!" Gwenog ushered eagerly, every inch of her body lighting up with excitement.
"Ugh!" Marlene grunted through her pillow. "You sound just like Potter. Quidditch fanatic, that boy."
"Come on, come on!" Gwenog ignored Marlene. "Put on your scarfs everybody, show some Gryffindor pride!"
"Where did you even get these?" Alice asked, lifting up one end of the scarf to examine it.
"Gryffindor prefects," Gwenog said cheerily. "This game is very important, you see. The match against Slytherin is always the most important to Gryffindors and Slytherins."
"Why?" Mary asked incredulously.
"Because," Marlene said accusingly. "Gryffindors and Slytherins have the largest rivalry out of all the houses at Hogwarts."
"Why?" Mary asked again.
This time, Marlene didn't have an answer, but Lily did: "Well, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, the founders of the houses, actually had a bit of a feud between themselves, so I suppose that's where it could've started."
"Really?"
"How'd you know that?"
"Hogwarts: A History," Lily quipped. "You guys should really try reading sometime."
"No need to read when you can tell us all the information," Marlene chortled.
Lily laughed as she pulled a grey Gryffindor sweater over her head and wrapped Gwenog's scarf around her neck. "It looks quite chilly outside today."
"Oh, yes," Gwenog said. "But don't worry, the game will be worth it! Just you wait, Lily, you'll love it!"
"All right, Gwenog," Lily laughed lightheartedly.
The second they stepped outside of the dormitory, they could hear commotion from the common room. The girls had never seen the common room so crowded before, as students buzzed around in a sea of maroon and gold. Older students were handing out Gryffindor flags, scarfs, and necklaces, as younger students gathered in groups and decorated their outfits.
James eagerly grabbed a scarf, two flags, and four necklaces from a seventh-year, and tossed all of the accessories onto himself. He grinned excitedly at Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"This is great! This is going to be so great!" James said excitedly. "Wait 'till I'm on the team, and it'll be even better!"
Sirius was also grinning as they competed to see who could adorn themselves with as many Gryffindor accessories as possible.
Peter was watching the two boys in awe and simple happiness, while Remus stood next to him, noticeably much more sulky than the other boys.
"Remus, you came back just in time from your mum's for the game! Aren't you so excited?" James asked happily.
"Er, yes," Remus said simply, keeping his hands behind his back as he glanced around the busy common room.
"How come you don't look so cheery?" Sirius asked. "Oh, you have a few more scratches on your face, by the way. How do you keep getting those?"
Remus flinched and reached up to touch his face. "Er...my cat at home isn't very friendly."
"Ah…" Sirius said, wrapping a necklace around his wrist so to make a bracelet.
"All right, let's get going, guys," James said, heading towards the portrait hole. "We've got to eat breakfast quickly so we can get good seats at the pitch."
The boys followed James out, and they hurried along towards the Great Hall, stuffing breakfast in their mouths when they got there. When they finished with breakfast, they walked down to the Quidditch Pitch, James chattering excitedly. "I'm definitely going to try out for the quidditch team next year. It's too bad they don't let first years on the team. Otherwise, I'd be getting ready for the game with the team right now. D'you reckon you'll try out next year, Sirius?"
"Perhaps. I think it's more interesting to watch quidditch rather than play it, though. What position d'you wanna try out for?"
"Seeker. But if I can't make seeker, I'll definitely try for chaser."
"My little brother, Regulus wants to play seeker too when he gets to Hogwarts," Sirius said. "He'll probably end up in Slytherin, though."
"Does he have a broom?"
"Yeah. Nice one he's got too. Nimbus Five. The Nimbus is a whole new generation of brooms, they say."
"I want one! All I've got right now is a Cleansweep two. All right, I suppose, but nothing compared to a Nimbus. My dad says that if I make the team next year, though, he'll buy me a Nimbus. Just another reason why I want to play quidditch."
"Is quidditch big in your family, then?"
"Yes! My dad loved quidditch when he was younger. Took us on a family trip to the Quidditch world cup in 1966 when Australia won. Best time of my life. Yours?"
"I suppose. My brother is quite interested in it, but the rest of my family isn't as fanatical about it."
James and Sirius continued to chat about quidditch until they reached the quidditch pitch, and managed to get third-to-front row seats.
Four rows back, Gwenog was beating herself up to the other girls. "If only we'd come five minutes earlier, we could've gotten better seats!"
"It's fine, Gwenog. We can see perfectly fine from here," Lily said, even though it was a lie, because all she could see was a light layer of fog in the sky. "Are quidditch seats normally this high?"
"Of course," Gwenog said. "How else can you watch flying players?"
"Oh, right…"
The stands began to fill up very quickly, and the spirit of the first match of the season was very high.
"Aaaand here we are!" The commentator yelled. "First quidditch match of the season, 1971, Gryffindor House vs. Slytherin House. And here our players. First, of Gryffindor House, we have…"
And the commentator listed off the names of the Gryffindor players as they sped past, one by one, on their broomsticks.
Lily tried her best not to cover her ears, as the sound coming from their Gryffindor box was deafening with cheers, screams, and whoops of excitement. She watched in awe as the players flew, for the first time witnessing true flying.
"Aaand that is our Gryffindor team! Everybody give them a round of applause!"
Their was cheering from the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and of course, Gryffindors. Their cheering was so loud that it almost drowned out the several boos coming from the Slytherins.
"And for Slytherin House, we have…"
The Slytherin players zoomed by on their brooms, green quidditch robes sweeping by in a blur as they circled around the pitch.
A huge roar came from the opposite side of the pitch, where the sea of green and silver was bobbing up and down excitedly.
Lily narrowed her eyes, looking for Severus, but was too far away to be able to find the greasy, black, moppy hair.
The cheers settled down finally, and the players were hovered in the air, with Madam Hooch holding her whistle.
It was quiet, very quiet, as everybody waited anxiously for Hooch to blow the whistle. And then she did it, and the players took off.
Lily was unsure how to follow the game, there was too much going on. "Who should I be looking at?" Lily asked Gwenog frantically.
Gwenog began pointing at the field. "For now, just watch the chasers and keepers, and you can see how many points they score. You shouldn't have to watch the beaters much, and you don't need to watch the seeker until they make a sudden movement—that's when you know that they should've seen the Snitch, and that's when you want to watch them."
Gwenog continued to explain to Lily the rules of quidditch, what each quidditch ball's role was, how many points each was worth, and what each player's job was.
Lily found that she really enjoyed watching quidditch. She found that it gave rise to much Gryffindor pride, and soon enough, she was cheering just as hard as the messy haired boy four rows down from her.
"CATCH IT! CATCH IT!" James hollered at a Gryffindor chaser. He seemed more absorbed in the game than the players themselves.
"And Slytherin scores! Gryffindor 40, Slytherin 70."
"NOOOO!" James yelled in agony, as if he were being tortured.
Lily watched him comically from above. "Potter's really into this, isn't he?"
"Oh, yeah, Potter's a quidditch nerd. Just as eager as I am about making the quidditch team next year," Gwenog said.
"You talk to him?" Lily asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Gwenog said, not taking her eyes off the quidditch pitch. "Only about quidditch though, that's really our only common interest."
"And it seems that the Golden Snitch has been spotted!" The commentator yelled.
Immediately, all heads whipped around, focusing on the seekers.
Lily watched in complete amazement at their speed, how they were basically neck to neck, leaning close to their brooms, faces twisted into concentration.
They sped around the pitch, and the crowd was screaming like crazy. "GET IT! GET IT! GRAB IT BEFORE HE DOES," both sides were screaming.
Lily figured they must be close to catching it, as both of them now had one of their arms outstretched, clinging onto their brooms with only one hand and their legs.
"GET IT!" The crowd was going absolutely berserk now.
And then the player in maroon and gold gave a lurch and tumbled to the ground, and the Slytherin player stopped on his broom. The crowd was silenced for a moment in anticipation, until the Gryffindor player scrambled up and raised his right arm, and Lily could just barely make out something gold twitching in his fingers.
"AND HE'S CAUGHT IT! Gryffindor's won 190-70!"
The uproar came back once again, just as quickly as it had gone, except this time the sound only came from the Gryffindor side.
Lily smiled widely, and Gwenog was doing a half-fist pump half-jumping wildly into the air dance.
The Gryffindors were all cheering as some of them began filing out of the stadium.
James clambered down to the first row and leaned over the edge dreamily. "We did it! This is AMAZING!" he yelled. Behind him, even Remus had cheered up and was grinning, as Sirius joined James next to his side and spread out his arms.
"WE ARE THE WINNERS!"
A few older students laughed from behind, but joined him anyways.
Soon, the quidditch pitch was cleared as the Slytherins sulkily hiked up back to the castle and the Gryffindors ran with excitement.
"PARTY IN THE COMMON ROOM!" A Gryffindor seventh year yelled. A bunch of cheers and whoops responded, and the crowd of Gryffindors bounded towards the common room.
"I'll see you in a second—I'm going to meet up with Severus!" Lily told Marlene cheerily.
Marlene was too happy to object. "All right, see you later!"
Lily briskly walked towards the crowd of Slytherins, who all eyed her accusingly as she pushed her way through the crowd of green and silver, her maroon and gold outfit easily setting her apart from the crowd. At last, she spotted Severus and his hunched shoulders as he trudged up the hill.
"Sev!" Lily called.
Severus turned around, but not with as much interest as he normally should've shown. "Oh, hey Lily."
"Great game, wasn't it? Never seen anything like that in my life," Lily panted, a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Yeah…" Severus said distantly, looking past Lily's shoulders. "Great game. Too bad Slytherin had to lose." He said the last part with a bit too much sourness and disdain.
Lily cocked her head to the side. "Wait, are you mad, just because of the game?"
"No," Severus said.
"You're lying."
"Fine, it's rather annoying, so stop grinning like a idiot."
Lily's eyes widened with shock. "Excuse me? What's gotten into you? Are you mad at me? For Gryffindor winning?"
"No, I'm just... I'm not mad at you for that."
"So you are mad at me, then?"
"No, I'm not mad at you, I'm just mad that you're in Gryffindor."
"So what if I'm in Gryffindor?"
"I just wish you were in Slytherin, that way you weren't surrounded by so many bobbleheads."
"I'm sorry, what? Bobbleheads? What, Severus, has gotten into you? You're not yourself. You're not this...mean."
"I'm not mean, I'm just telling the truth."
"What? So I'm a bobblehead, too then?"
"No, but you're gonna be if you keep sticking around that lot."
"Oh my... ugh! What has gotten into you, Sev?" Lily's eyes began to water, and Snape immediately softened a bit.
"I'm sorry, Lily, I didn't mean—"
"What? You didn't mean what? I don't know what's gotten into you, lately, Severus," she spat his name out this time, instead of in the gentle, kind way she normally spoke it. "I don't know where you've suddenly developed all of this...prejudice, against Gryffindors, but until you fix it and stop being so mean about us, I'm not talking to you."
Tears jumped out of Lily's eyes and she turned on her heel and ran away.
"Lily! I'm sorry! No—wait! Lily, come back! I'm sorry!" Severus called desperately after her, but he was too frozen for his feet to move after her.
Instead, he watched, heartbroken, as her auburn hair disappeared down the lawn and into the castle.
Lily reached the Gryffindor common room, and was jolted by surprise when she saw the wave of maroon and gold jumping up and down, hollering and partying like animals. Her stomach flip-flopped and she tore up the stairs to the dormitory. She was not in the mood for this.
She ran into the dormitory and jumped onto the bed, crying into her pillow.
"Lily?" A tentative voice said.
Lily looked up, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Oh...hey, Alice. Sorry, I'm just, er...tired. How come you're not down at the party?"
"Oh, big party's aren't really my type. Make me feel a bit, well, claustrophobic, to be honest. How about you? Are you all right? What's happened?" Alice asked sweetly.
"It's nothing," Lily said quickly, wiping her eyes again.
"Oh, Lils…" Alice walked over to Lily's bed, climbed on, and sat with her legs criss-crossed across Lily. "You can talk to me, we're friends."
Lily hiccupped and dragged her sleeve across her eyes again, which was now sticky and wet with her tears. "It's, it's Sev. I mean, Severus. He's just so...mean, lately! He keeps saying horrible things, and today he was being so mean about Gryffindors, and well, you guys, I suppose."
"What'd he say?"
"He told me," Lily hiccupped. "He said we're all bobbleheads, whatever that means, but it doesn't sound like a compliment. And he got all sour about the game, as well, and kind of blamed it on me." Tears streamed out of Lily's eyes again, and she picked up her comforter, rubbing her face into it.
"Oh, Lily...I hate to be like Marlene, but I told you he's no good...That boy just isn't in his right mind. I hear that he's very interested in the dark arts…"
"I'm sure he's interested in the defence against the dark arts class."
"No, no, I heard him once complaining that Hogwarts doesn't teach dark arts, and only the defence. He said it's much more interesting to learn how to perform the actual dark magic."
Lily let out a little yelp and then a sob, and Alice quickly recovered. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way...maybe he's just interested in the concept, but not actually doing it…"
"He's not supposed to be like this! He didn't used to be like this! But ever since we've started classes at Hogwarts, he's gotten so...sinister. Oh, I just hope I can stop him…"
"Lily, it'll be allright. Even if he does turn into a baddy, you've still got me, Marlene, Gwenog, and Mary, and we will always be here for you."
Lily smiled, hiccupped, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Thanks, Alice. Thanks for listening to me...not many people would understand why I hang out with a Slytherin," Lily half-laughed, half-choked.
"Of course," Alice smiled, reaching out to hug Lily. "That's what friends are for!"
The door burst open, and Marlene came running in eagerly, holding sweets in her hands. "Whew! That was crazy."
"Crazy fun!" Gwenog said, coming into the door after Marlene, followed by Mary, who simply smiled.
"You shouldn't have missed it, Alice! You too, Lily! Where were you?"
Lily quickly shut her bed hangings so her friends wouldn't see her tear-stained face, "Oh, just met up with someone. I-I think I'll head to bed now."
"Are you kidding?" Marlene tore open the bed hangings, and Lily quickly ducked under her blankets. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon! What's the matter with you?"
"Nuffing, jusht tired. Game wore me out," Lily mumbled, her voice muffled under the blankets.
Marlene grabbed the edge of the blankets, and ripped them off of Lily.
"Hey!"
"Get. Up. What's the matter with you?"
"What's the matter with you?"
"Wait, were you...were you crying?"
"No."
"Yes, you were."
"No, I wasn't."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, please, Lily. You're a horrible liar."
"I'm not lying."
"Just leave her alone, Marly," Alice sighed. "When she feels like telling you, she will." Alice paused. "You will, right?"
"Sure."
Marlene narrowed her eyes, but then shut Lily's bed hangings and walked over to her own bed. The other girls stood watching, looking a bit concerned for Lily.
"Is she alright?" Lily heard Mary whisper to Alice.
Lily sighed and snuggled up in her bed as she heard Alice say "Let's just leave her alone for a little while," and they slipped out of the dormitory with a click of the door. It was all silent now in the dormitory, and Lily stared up at the ceiling of her bed.
She couldn't understand Severus' behavior. What if this was just the beginning of Severus' behavior? What if he was only becoming more mean?
Lily squeezed a tear out of her face. She wished their relationship could be back to the old days, when Severus would smile every time he saw her rather than make that horrible, sour face. She wished they could just laugh and chat like they used to, instead of getting into silly fights all the time.
Lily sighed, rolled over, and leaned into her pillow. If only Severus would realize how he was acting...