It was already the end of September and Frank was working them to the bone. During the tryouts they came up with Adam Bell, a burly seventh year, as chaser, Pepper Sweet, a petite and feisty third year, as the new seeker, and Andy Duss, a surprisingly strong second year, as beater. The team was doing good already, adapting to the new players, calling plays, and working together, but that didn't stop Frank from dawn and dusk practices everyday. Pepper would shoot daggers at him and Frank would make her do laps. Andy, being a rebellious yet slightly crazy child, would stick up for her and then end up doing laps himself. Adam was just very quiet but would laugh when Frank was pulling his hair out. Rocco Holiday, the other sixth year beater, would crack jokes about someone, not mean but funny, in the middle of a play while he was hitting the bludger so someone would laugh and get hurt, adding insult to injury. Matt Mangino, a fifth year and the other chaser, would often help pick up the ones who were attacked by the bludger and always sucked up to Frank, as if it would get them less practice. It never did. James always helped torture Frank and would play pranks whenever possible. This season, however, hasn't seen a prank yet.
Frank blew his whistle. "Never mind, Potter. I want you to chuck the ball the Mangino who's going to swerve back towards me and then pass it over to Bell, who will throw it back to you. You're going to fly as high as you can and then drop it. Mangino, you're going to catch it and throw it to Bell, who's going to shoot." He blew his whistle again.
James wiped the sweat off of his face and spun around to face Matt.
"Frank. Is insane."
It was another dawn practice, the sun barely above the lake in the distance, and there were no clouds in the sky. It was taunting them with its rays of light splashing across the lake, reflecting into their eyes. The birds were singing in the Forbidden Forest, in a nauseatingly blissful manner. A gentle breeze was blowing through the air, into their eyes, making the team wish they were all back in their welcoming beds, asleep and dreaming of the day Frank graduated.
"Got that right, mate," said Matt. He was holding a hand up, blocking the sun from his eyes.
"Want to really set him off his rocker?" James asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.
Matt grinned, already agreeing to whatever James had in mind. The latter pulled out his wand, spun it through his fingers a couple times, and muttered a spell. Everyone's brooms started shaking up and down, left and right. Matt clutched onto his broom with both hands and looked up at James in shock.
"Are you trying to kill us, Potter?" he said, his face horrified.
James laughed. "No, you'll see."
As soon as he said that the brooms stopped shaking. Everyone looked confused, Frank looked frustrated.
"What was that about?" Pepper asked, flying over to Frank, her hands on her hips. "Do we need to learn how to play in earthquake conditions, too?"
Frank spun to look at James, ignoring Pepper who looked like she was tempted to flick him in the ear.
"Potter? What did you do?"
"Nothing, Captain. Nothing at all." James grinned and flew down to get the quaffle dropped by Adam when his broom started shaking.
When he got back to the circle of players, Frank looked a little less tense than before.
"Continue with the play we were working on."
James passed the quaffle to Matt who passed it to Bell and so on. After five minutes of repeating this play, something happened.
"EW! ANDY! THAT'S DISGUSTING!" Pepper yelled. She was over next to Andy, keeping an eye out for the snitch.
"It wasn't me!" Andy proclaimed, looking around for anyone else.
"It came from your direction!"
"It wasn't me, though!"
"Andy, that's bloody disgusting!"
"What happened?" Rocco asked, flying over to the fighting pair.
"Andy farted!"
"I did not!"
"I heard you, you prat!"
"It wasn't me, though!"
Just then, Rocco's broom made the same noise that Andy was being accused of. Rocco looked up in horror.
"I didn't do that! It was my broom, I swear!"
"Bloody hell, people this is supposed to be a practice! What's going on here?" Frank flew over to check on all of the commotion.
"Andy farted!" Pepper shouted again.
"I did not! It was Rocco!"
"No it wasn't! It was my broom!"
Frank went to face Rocco when his broom did the same thing. He looked up at James who was grinning like a maniac.
"Potter?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"What did you do?"
"Me? I did absolutely nothing. But it looks as if you ate the chili last night. Bad choice. The house elves go overboard on beans."
Frank scowled. "Twenty laps Potter. And not more pranks!"
James sighed but took his laps with ease.
"I told you it wasn't me," Andy muttered to Pepper as James passed on his broom.
Lily's POVLily still hadn't told Claudia about her crush on Ridge Miller. He still hasn't said a word to her except when he was talking to Joel when she was around throwing in random comments. Claudia wasn't entirely clueless about the whole thing but hadn't been asking Lily questions.
As the month was coming to a close, however, she started to get more suspicious and more persistent.
"Lily what's up?" Claudia asked one morning at breakfast. Lily was pouring some syrup on her pancakes, staring off into space.
"What?"
"Something's up. What aren't you telling me?"
Lily didn't respond.
"Lils, I'm your best friend! You can't not tell me something that's making you this wonky!"
"It really doesn't matter, Claudia, I swear."
"Lily Evans I demand you tell me at once!"
"Sorry, Mum, no can do." Lily grinned and cut up her pancakes, taking a syrupy delicious bite.
She felt completely guilty not telling Claudia this. She told her everything since the first day of school, when she was young and oblivious, and she told Claudia how she thought Sirius Black was cute. Since then they'd been best friends. Claudia admitted that she first saw Frank Longbottom and thought he was 'dreamy' in her own words.
"Lils, please! I won't tell anyone!"
"You don't even know what it is. You could blab in a second!"
"But I wouldn't! You know that!"
"Gah. Fine. I'll tell you after classes if it makes you feel better."
"Everything, alright?"
"Gah, alright. Everything. But you can't tell a soul."
"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in Snape's eye." Claudia grinned as she crossed her heart.
Lily laughed but it died quickly as she got a tap on her back. She spun around, slapping the boy next to her with her hair.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said to the boy. Then turned to see who tapped her.
"Lily, darling!" James said loudly, lightly sliding her over on the bench so he could sit.
"Erlack, Potter, go away."
Sirius slid her back over towards James and sat on the other side of her. Claudia, who was sitting on the other side of the table, raised an eyebrow, her fork halfway up to her mouth.
"Little Lily wallflower!" Sirius said, putting an arm around her.
"Good God Black, go away," Lily growled, breaking away from his grasp and moving over only to be closer to James.
"You're surrounded," Claudia observed.
"Thanks for the update, Claud."
Claudia shrugged, ignoring her best friends protests. She'd kill them in the end and life would be good.
"Why do you two insist on torturing me?" Lily practically screamed. She was looking around for something to distract her when she saw Joel walk in. Lily jumped up, excited.
"Apparently she's happier to see you than we thought!" Sirius exclaimed. Claudia rolled her eyes.
Lily's stomach sunk when she saw who he walked in with. Ridge Miller of course. It was a choice she had to make. Leave James and Sirius who would annoy her for the rest of her life. Or possibly embarrass herself in front of Ridge who would probably forget anyway.
"Claudia, I um… just remembered I have to ask… Joel about… something in Transfiguration! That's it!" Lily made up a lie on the spot and ran away. Claudia looked skeptical over at her, picked up her plate, and followed Lily over to the Ravenclaw table.
Lily skidded to a halt, her bag swinging dangerously on her shoulder as she stopped a few feet behind Joel. She stumbled but caught her balance and, as gracefully as she could, she walked over to him.
"JOEL!" she shouted. Then, mortified, she calmed down a bit. She got away from Potter and got to be by Ridge. It seemed like a fair trade to her. "Hello."
"Lils, are you alright. You look kind of… insane."
Her face was red, her hair muddled from running. She was also slightly panting.
"Yes, yes. I'm fine. I just needed an… escape." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder pointing to where James and Sirius were sitting, a small gap in between them indicating where Lily was sitting a minute before.
"Well, I'm glad you used me. I had to tell you something anyway," Joel said.
"Oh really," Lily said. She was trying to get her fringe to lay flat but it wasn't cooperating now.
"No. But I'm running out of things to say. Want a seat?"
Lily nodded gratefully, ignoring the looks she was getting from the other Ravenclaws.
Joel pushed Ridge over who seemed to be having a staring contest with his eggs. Ridge collided with a tall seventh year who glared at him. Joel patted the seat next to him. Lily took it with a smile.
Claudia came up behind her, cutting her French toast with a fork. She took a bite, chewed it quick, and then said, "Lils, you abandoned me with prat and prick over there!" Claudia shoved her way in between Joel and Lily.
"Yes, but at least you weren't so close you would smell them," Lily commented, reaching over Claudia and taking a piece of Joel's bacon. She grinned at him and he rolled his eyes, turning to talk to Ridge.
"So, it was really hard to get that toilet paper around Stanley last night. Why's his bed so low to the ground?" Joel asked.
Ridge laughed and said, "I don't know, mate. But when he woke up it was worth it." He laughed again. "We should use the thicker stuff next time. We can go get the house elves to get us some. They'd be willing to help."
Joel nodded in agreement. He reached over to take more bacon as Lily had eaten all of his.
"What'd you do to the poor boy?" Lily asked curiously. She nibbled on the piece of bacon she was holding.
Ridge smiled. Lily blushed. "Well last night Stanley decided that he liked my bed on the roof outside of our dorm window. I decided I liked Stanley as a mummy."
Lily giggled. Giggled. She never giggled. Well, occasionally but never in front of a boy. Normally it was nervous giggles. She had a speech to do, she'd giggle. When she got accepted to Hogwarts she giggled for three weeks straight. Petunia had threatened to staple her mouth shut. Lily said she'd turn her into a frog.
James's POV"Well, Jimmy, I think you just got turned down and you didn't even ask her out this time," Sirius said with his bark-like laugh.
James glared at his nickname. "No, mate. Because, you see, she loves me."
Sirius laughed and took a bite of his cereal.
"Excuse me. James Potter?" a soft, quiet voice asked from behind the two.
James turned, and in the process raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "That's me."
"Hello. I-I'm Beth Duracell."
James got a good look at the girl. She was rather short with shoulder length curly brown hair and light blue eyes. She had a slight tan and was a little curvy. James recognized her as a fifth year from Hufflepuff. Beth held her books against her chest in a half protective, half awkward pose.
"I-I was w-wondering if you'd like to g-go to Hogsmade with m-me? On Halloween?" She sounded nervous her voice, shaking, was very quiet.
James fake considered it for a minute.
"There is no way I could stoop so low as to go out with you. Fix your eyes, nose, mouth, hair, lose some weight, and get new robes and maybe I'll fit you into my busy schedule."
Sirius looked at James for a second, his mouth hanging open. Then he reached over and gave him a high-five.
Beth looked at James confused for a second and opened her mouth to say something. She apparently thought better of it because she walked away, her head hanging, back to her friends over at the Hufflepuff table who immediately went over to comfort her. One of the girls, bold looking for a Hufflepuff, even flipped him off but he brushed if off as if it was nothing.
"Wow, mate. That was pretty ruthless," Sirius said but he still had a huge smile on his face.
"Well, did you see her?"
"She probably thinks that because you're going after Evans you'll take anyone at the moment."
"Well, she was wrong."
"What'd we miss?" Remus asked. He stayed back with Peter in the dorm because he lost his shirt so they had to look for it.
"I went for Evans again," James explained.
"And failed miserably," Sirius added.
James rolled his eyes. "And then a fifth year Hufflepuff asked me to Hogsmade."
"And James was ruthless. What was it you said? Fix your face and I might fit you into my schedule? Something like that. You should have seen it, Moony. It was unbelievable. He sent the girl practically crying back to her table!" Sirius boasted. He ruffled James's hair.
Remus gave James a disgusted look. "You said that?" he asked, taking a step back. James has turned down many girls, of course, but never in that manner. Sure he was a cocky, heart-breaking fool but he was never that bad.
With a smug smile, James replied, "Yup. She went away. I have to concentrate on Evans for now."
"James, that's awful."
"He can't deal with riffraff like that now, Moony! Or ever! He's James Potter. He can have any girl in the world," Peter said in an adoring manner.
Remus raised an eyebrow at Peter and then ignored him.
"You probably crushed the poor girl."
"She was asking for it."
"James."
"What?"
Remus sighed.
Lily's POVThe rumors were flying about what happened at breakfast. The same girl who gave James the finger decided to let the whole school know what a jerk he was. By their third class, Lily and Claudia knew the whole story.
"I can't believe he said that!" Lily protested to Claudia quietly. She passed back the quiz that Professor Slughorn was giving them.
"He's a prick," Claudia agreed, disgusted. She started biting on her quill at the first question.
What would you add to the headache potion to give it it's marvelous taste?
"The poor girl! It's not as if she's ugly! How could he say that to someone? Did someone steal his heart and replace it with dragon dung?"
"Shh!" three people around the pair hushed.
"Probably. Did you see how upset she was? I heard she wasn't going to any of her classes today," Claudia explained.
"Poor thing. He told her she needed a new face! Who does that?" Lily asked outraged, her voice getting louder.
"And new robes," Claudia added, pointing a finger at Lily. "Hey, what's the answer to number one?"
"Poppy seeds," Lily answered.
"Shh!!" They were hushed again.
"Thanks. I would have slapped him."
"She's a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs don't slap people."
"But she should have. It would have taught him not to be such a bastard."
Lily looked up at Claudia. She hardly ever swore. She must have been livid.
"Should we make sure she's okay?"
"I personally think we should kill Potter for her. It'd do the world a load of good," Claudia said, scribbling something down for her third question.
Lily went back to her quiz.
How could he have been so mean? Lily met his mother on the school platform before leaving once. She was completely nice so he couldn't have gotten his rudeness from her. And she's heard that his father is a comical man. Was James a mutant of some sort? And how could Sirius just laughed like that. At least Remus tried to tell James what a prick he was being. But his ego was so big he just wouldn't listen.
Once Lily finished the quiz, Slughorn said she could have the rest of the period free. It only took her about ten minutes to do the quiz so she had almost an hour to herself. So she gathered up her books and decided to go to the library. She hadn't taken out a good book in a while and needed to catch up on her reading.
On her way out she looked at Claudia who was on question seven out of twenty five. She mouthed that she'd be in the library. Claudia sighed and motioned shooting herself in the head. Lily chuckled and walked out.
Once she got there, Lily set her bag down on a table near the back of the library and wandered over to the fiction section. She was in the mood for a novel or some sort. After spending about ten minutes of looking she came up with two. Lily went over to Madam Pince and got the two books out. Madam Pince looked sternly down at Lily who tried to smile but was rather scared.
"Thank you," she whispered before quickly but quietly returning to her seat to read.
After another ten minute, she was twenty pages into the book when a shadow fell over her. She looked up, expecting Claudia. It was Potter.
"Hello there Ev-Lily," he said, pulling a chair out next to her.
She slowly looked up, her face twisted into pure disgust.
"I figured you'd be here."
She tried her best to ignore him.
"I also figured I'd flatter you with my presence."
Lily arched an eyebrow.
"So what books have you got here?" He picked up the book she was currently reading. He read the back. "Sounds interesting."
"Would you just go away?" Lily asked, careful to keep her voice down. She snatched her book back.
"Come on, Lils. I just wanted to talk to you. So, what did you think of that quiz ol' Sluggy gave us? Pretty easy, huh?"
"Do you honestly think I want to talk to you right now?" Lily asked, furious. She was starting to throw her books into her bag, getting ready to leave. She would spend the next half hour in her dorm if she had to.
"Why wouldn't you want to talk to me?" James asked, thoroughly confused.
"After what you did this morning, James Potter, I'm surprised anyone has talked to you at all today. Do you know how ruthless that was? How hurtful? How damaging?" Lily's face was bright red how.
"What'd I do?"
"Are you bloody serious?" she yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.
"Lils, you might not want to-"
"Don't call me Lils! You just don't get it do you?"
"Well I-"
"I'm going to have to ask you two to leave the library. I'm surprised at you, Miss Evans. I've never had trouble with you before." It was Madam Pince. Apparently she had heard Lily yelling and decided to go and see what was going on.
"But, Madam Pince it wasn't-"
"Out!" she said, getting more stern. "Both of you. Right now."
Lily grumbled but picked up her bag and stalked out of the library, James at her heals.
"Evans! Evans, wait up!" he was calling.
She kept walking away.
He sprinted up to her.
"What is your problem?" he asked, grabbing her wrist so she would stop and spinning her around.
"My problem? My problem?" Lily looked at him, amazed at his stupidity. "Do you honestly expect me to show you any kind of respect after this morning? You were downright awful to Beth Duracell! Do you know how upset she is? You called her ugly and fat! Who does that? And I think you meant every word. That makes me sick Potter! You have no heart, no feelings, no anything. No sane person would say that to someone and expect other people to worship them! I hope this shows everyone how much of a jerk you are! You can't take a hint can you? Just leave me the hell alone!"
James stopped dead, rubbed his chin, and messed his hair up quickly. "So… does this mean that you wont go to Hogsmade with me?"
Lily's jaw dropped to the floor.
"Are you serious?" she bellowed. "You can't possibly think I'd ever go anywhere with you!" She kicked him hard in the shin causing him to crimple to the ground. On that note, she sprinted off towards the Gryffindor common room.
Oh her way there, she tripped on the platform that the suits of armor stood on. It laughed at her and did not offer any help. But she was glad to be away from James. So any injury, even the pain in her ankle and the scrape up her leg, couldn't upset her as much as James did.
She managed to pull herself near the wall so she could lean against it and stretch out her leg. Her ankle was throbbing and blood was coming out of the scratches. She sighed, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes.
"This is not good," she whispered to herself. "And this is all Potter's fault. I'm going to kill him."
"Well, look what we've got here. Not only is the little mudblood skipping class she's also going insane." Lily didn't need to open her eyes to see who was speaking to her. It was Severus Snape, a muggleborn hating Slytherin who needed a good hair washing.
"Go away, Snape," she said quietly, hoping he'd just leave.
"I couldn't just leave you hear like this! It'd be quite rude of me, you know," Snape said with an evil glint in his dark, dark eyes.
"No it wouldn't. Really, I swear." Lily really couldn't stand anyone bothering her right now, let alone Snape. Her ankle was twisted and all he could possibly do would be to make it worse.
"I insist," Snape murmured. "But what to do? Oh. I see that your shoes are dirty. Let me fix that for you." Lily gave Snape a perplexed look. He muttered a spell and Lily's shoes vanished. "Much better." Snape stalked off down the hallway leaving Lily bleeding, broken, and shoeless.
Lily moaned and leaned her head back against the wall. Her ankle was hurting more than ever, now it even had a burning sensation to it. She dug through her bag looking for some sort of wrap to put pressure on it. All that was in there was her scarf. It was the best she could do for now.
The attempt to tie the scarf around her ankle was pointless. It hurt too much to touch. She looked down at her watch. Classes didn't for another fifteen minutes. Another fifteen minutes of agony.
Or so she thought…
"Could you believe the look on his face after we got to him?" A voice was echoing down the hallway. Lily recognized the chuckle.
"I never would have thought his hair could be clean. His nose looked very happy." She recognized that voice too. It caused her heart to beat faster.
Her eyes snapped open. She saw two tall figures walking down the hall, one with the red hair and glasses she knew so well, the other the one she'd been daydreaming about for weeks.
They were getting closer but had yet to notice her. The stupid suit of armor was in the way. The platform was long enough so that they couldn't see her leg sticking out from the other side of it.
As they were passing she managed to say, "Guys! Guys over here!" Her voice was very weak and she couldn't concentrate on yelling because of the pain shooting up her leg, but they heard her.
"Lily! What are you doing here! Why aren't you in class?" Joel asked, running towards her, not yet taking notice to her bleeding limbs.
"What happened to your leg?" Ridge asked, squatting down next to Joel.
Lily winced. "I was running." She took a breath. "And I tripped over that bloody platform." She winced again. "And I scratched up my legs and I think I twisted my ankle."
"Are you alright?" Joel asked, concerned.
"Does it look like she's alright, mate?" Ridge said. "We should take her to the Hospital Wing."
"Good idea. Can you stand, Lils?"
She shook her head.
"Alright."
Ridge grabbed one arm and Joel grabbed the other, both putting it around their shoulders. Joel grabbed her back as well and slung it over his left shoulder.
When they got to the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey rushed over, prodding and poking Lily in random places like her shoulder and her nose.
"The problem is her leg, ma'am," Ridge offered.
Madam Pomfrey looked down at Lily's blood covered legs and yelled out in surprise.
"What happened to this poor girl?" she asked, motion for the two to bring her over to an empty bed.
"She fell. Tripped over the platform that the bloody suits of armor are on," Ridge explained, lowering Lily onto the bed carefully.
"Where'd you two find her?"
"On the fourth floor, looked like she was coming from the library," Joel said. He took Lily's bag off of his shoulder and placed it next to her bed. "Merlin, what does that girl carry?" He was rubbing his shoulder.
Madam Pomfrey checked out Lily's legs, the scrapes first. She tut-ed and went to get a Potion to close the scrapes and stop the bleeding. Joel and Ridge waited with Lily who looked like she just wanted to go and sleep.
"Lils, what were you running from?" Joel asked, curious. Lily hardly ever ran.
"James was being a prick and annoying the bloody hell out of me and I needed to get away from him before I killed him," Lily said softly. She closed her eyes again, her face twisted in pain.
"James again?" Ridge asked. Trying to lighten the mood, he said, "Do I need to beat him up for you?"
"I wish, but leave the pleasure to me, please," Lily said. Through the pain on her face, you could detect a soft smile.
"Lily?" Joel said. "What happened to your shoes?"
Lily sighed and explained how Snape came and decided her shoes were dirty and that they needed to vanish. Joel threatened to kill him, but Ridge calmed him down a bit by kicking him in the shin.
James's POVJames skipped his next two classes and just wandered around the school, avoiding teachers, until lunch. Did Lily really think of him like that? He wasn't that bad… was he? Sirius laughed, so it couldn't have been completely horrible. But then again, Sirius laughs at everything, so that wasn't much help. And Remus said it was awful. Was it really that bad? He didn't really hurt the girl's feelings, did he?
He kept telling himself that he wasn't that bad and that he didn't really hurt his feelings. That Lily really was in love with him, that she didn't really hate him. But he wasn't convinced.
To win this bet he'd have to be nice. To everyone, not just Lily. But could he do that? Did that mean no pranking. James couldn't handle no pranking. Sure, he got in trouble for them but they made the school interesting. If the marauders didn't prank, who did?
He pondered this as he waited for Sirius in lunch. He could ask his best friend these things. The person who knows him the best would surly give him the answers he wanted to hear. And then maybe he'd ask Remus.
"Hey Prongsie, where have you been? You could have told me you were ditching," Sirius said once he plopped down next to James. "I would have gone with you. We could have pranked Snape."
"Sorry, Padfoot. Hey, do you think I have an ego?"
Sirius thought about it for a minute, well he was actually chewing his sandwich, but James assumed he was thinking, too… if he could do both at once.
"Yes." Sirius nodded. "Yes, I do."
"Me too…" James agreed. "Do you… do you think what I said this morning was… well, mean?"
Sirius thought some more before nodding and saying, "Yes," again.
"Do you think I hurt that girl's feelings?"
"Yes."
"Should I apologize?"
"No."
"What? Why not?"
"When have you ever apologized? After all of the girls you've insulted, turned down, and broken up with, you've never apologized. Not once." Sirius had a point. James never said sorry. "But do you want to sneak into Hogsmade this week? I've got to go to Zonko's and pick up some rubber chickens."
"What? Why?"
"Apparently Snape is afraid of chickens and I want to leave them around the school. He'll wet his pants. It's going to be amazing, Prongsie, I swear!"
"That's incredible! Yeah, lets go this Friday, before Charms. Flitwick won't miss us," James said, feeling a lot better now that he talked to Sirius.
"Alright. So, how was stalking Evans?"
"I didn't stalk her, mate. I merely followed her to the library to ask her some questions."
"Well, what happened?"
"Well, I went to casually talk to her and she randomly starts yelling at me like I'm a bad person!"
"What was she yelling?"
"I don't know. I kind of tuned her out. Although I think she mentioned worshipping me so I think I'm rubbing off on her."
"Is that all you remember?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Wow, even I could remember more than that."
"Thanks, Sirius."
"Some ickle first year asked me where Dumbledore's office was today," Sirius said, starting up a random conversation.
"Was it in trouble?"
"I don't know but he looked kind of scared so instead of sending him off to the dungeons like I originally planned I sent him to McGonagal's office. Close enough, right? Headmaster. Headmistress. Easily confused."
Remus appeared behind James and Sirius. "James where were you? I got your homework, but next time you ditch let me know so that I can come. History of Magic was excruciatingly boring."
James grinned.
"Did you hear about what happened to Lily?" Remus asked as he picked up some chips to put on his plate.
James spun around in concern. "No. What happened?"
"She's in the hospital wing," Remus explained. "Apparently she tripped and sprained her ankle this morning after Potions. She's got cuts up her legs, too. I was just visiting her."
"How do you know this?" James asked.
"Claudia told me. She is, after all, Lily's best friend."
"Right. Is she okay?"
"Well Madame Pomfrey says she'll be fine but she's keeping her overnight just in case."
"What the hell did she trip over?"
"That stupid platform that the suits of armor are on," Remus said. "Apparently she was running and didn't realize how close she was too it. She crawled over to the wall. Snape showed up and vanished her shoes and then Joel and Ridge Millers carried her to the hospital wing."
Sirius laughed his bark-like laugh. James felt a little guilty but still laughed. Leave it to Lily to trip over a platform… and sprain her ankle.
A/n: Alright! Chapter four done! Horray! Yeah, it was long than normal, you all should be very proud. It's regents week so I had a lot of time to write, you know? And I don't even have to baby-sit because demon child is in school so that's good. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! Review because I love reviews. They make me happy.
-Siriusly Klutzy