AN: sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry... I don't know how many times to say it. There really is no good excuse, I just wasn't very inspired to write it for some reason. But I was today! Finished chapter five, I hope you like it! I'm so sorry for the wait. Hope the chapter makes up for it.

as always, read and review.

CHAPTER FIVE

Teague's whistle sounded again, not a second before she had reached the final cone. The pounding of late arrivals crossing the line echoed the resonating shrill of the slight, dreaded, silver instrument.

Trying to slow down her quickened breathing, Lily turned back to face the field where the next group was awaiting the whistle's cue.

In front of her lay a series of cones; from where she and the rest of the Gryffindors stood, a long stretch of field was broken down into five sections. At the last line of cones, Teague stood tall, intimidating, and important watching on as they completed the last conditioning drill they would run before moving the tryout into the air.

This drill, ladders, was relatively simple in concept. When Teague blew the first whistle, the group lined up left the starting point, sprinting to the closest line of cones before doubling back to return to the start. Without stopping, the runners would pivot again, bypass the first line of cones to reach the second set before again hustling back to the start. Sprint to the third line, and back. Fourth, and back. And finally, fifth and back.

They had a minute and a half to complete the drill, a minute and a half before Teague blew his whistle to signal the end of the allotted time. Each group had to complete the drill ten times.

As Teague had mentioned at the beginning of tryouts, they were in a line with their assigned group of another two trying out for the same position. It was such that as one of each group completed their sprint, the next was to be run by the next person in their group of three.

In Lily's group, Fielding had just crossed the line, finishing her ladder barely on time. With a groan, she doubled over, elbows bracing herself on her knees. Lily could hear her loud gasps for breath even over the whistle signaling for Schellden, the last of their three, to begin.

"Stand up straight and put your hands behind your head," advised Lily, demonstrating as Kirsten gave her a pained glance.

"Come on," Lily urged, as the younger girl reluctantly did as she said. "You get more air that way."

Kirsten gave a grateful nod, sweat dripping down her face.

Not to say that she wasn't feeling it, Lily noted as she turned back to watch the third group in the heat of their sprint. They were finishing the fifth set, and Lily sucked in long, deep breathes, trying to slow down her racing heart before it was time for her to start the sixth.

Schellden was faring better that she'd hoped, though that wasn't saying much as Lily had sincerely wished that he would be incapable of completing even one sprint inside the time limit.

However, she had to admit, as she watched his lean body move fluidly from cone to cone, this tryout was so far showing a different side of him, one that she hated herself for not particularly loathing.

As irritating and despicable as Schellden was, Lily couldn't deny that he worked hard. Though more accustomed to seeing his face in a lazy, cocky smirk, as he ran it seemed he only was concentrating on his breathing and getting to the next cone.

She had been relieved, a little impressed, but mostly relieved that when Teague had started the conditioning drills, Schellden had shut right up, not acting in his usual piggish manner, but instead merely focused on what Teague had been detailing.

She'd been a little surprised too when he hadn't announced cockily how he was going to beat everyone in the runs, but instead he had just put his head down and walked up to the line.

However, they hadn't started the actual Quidditch playing yet, and that, by far is easier than the running they were doing. That, along with the prospect of goal-scoring, almost bred and encouraged cocky behavior. Lily was sure the normal Schellden would reappear then.

He crossed the line—just in time with the whistle—and wordlessly Lily stepped up, awaiting the whistle for her to—go.

The sun was shining high over their heads, beating down on them as the final sprint was finished. A bit blearily, Lily looked around at her fellow classmates. Some were faring better than others, but all, including her, were hunched over, breathing hard.

Lily couldn't help but feel irritated as Teague walked slowly towards them, his gait leisurely. She checked it though—although Teague didn't run the sprints now, he always did during season.

He stopped in front of them, his gaze sweeping from one end of the line to the other.

"Good effort," he called out, nodding his head. She smiled down at the grass at the feeble response from the participants.

Her smile grew a bit as she detected the same amusement on Teague's face.

"However, I'm going to have to let some of you go. I will post the list of names who will continue into the afternoon tryout on the wall next to the water jug." He clapped his hands together.

"For now, take a rest. You have a half hour break before we take to the air."

The collective sigh of relief was tainted by the anticipation of who was to continue on.

With that, Teague strolled towards the captain's office, where he no doubt was drawing up his list.

Lily rolled her eyes.

Lily straightened as the majority of kids began sluggishly moving towards the water. The September day was growing hot, her ponytail sticking to the back of her sweaty neck.

Taking deep breathes, she started walking slowly, taking a few leisurely steps in the general direction of the crowd. On her left, she saw Kirsten go off and join a knot of girls looking the same age.

Lily watched as Kirsten launched into a story, the other girls in rapt attention. She rose an eyebrow as they looked somewhere in her direction, blushing and giggling slightly.

Oh right. Schellden.

Lily tensed as she felt him pass, ready for a comment, ready for whatever he would throw at her, but instead she only watched the back of his sweaty t-shirt as he made his way with the rest towards the water jugs.

A large hand was suddenly resting on her shoulder, and she looked up, not at all surprised by the sight of Justin looming over her.

He gave her a wide smile, his teeth seeming even impossibly brighter as the sun added to the contrast against his skin.

"That wasn't entirely horrible," he said with a shrug, gazing at the masses flocked around.

Lily nodded in agreement.

"Definitely could've been worse."

They started walking across the empty expanse of field to stand near the other students.

"Hey, Justin, come over here!" a voice called over the chatter as they approached the mass of people concentrated near the water jugs.

Lily searched for the source, the voice sounded gratingly familiar…

As Justin continued scanning the crowd, Lily found her.

Shannon Avery, blonde hair somehow still in a perfect ponytail, stood amongst a knot of girls with a hand on a jutted hip, the other waving at Justin.

Lily hissed.

"She plays Quidditch?"

Justin's attention snapped back to her before following her eyes towards Shannon.

"Oh," he said, waving back at her. She beckoned with her hand for him to come over.

He turned and smiled at Lily.

"Yeah, she plays Seeker. I don't know how good she is though," he finished with a shrug, turning his head to smile at an impatient Shannon.

Lily scoffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"I cannot believe that she plays Quidditch. Shannon Avery plays Quidditch. I would've thought she'd be afraid to sweat or something," Lily snorted derisively.

Justin just shrugged, waving as he took a few steps away from her.

"Oh, you cannot be serious," she said, "You're going to ditch me for—"

"Go find Matt," Justin said with a grin before leaving to join Shannon.

Lily snorted, turning and walking away to do just that. Shannon Avery playing Quidditch? She would pick Seeker, with all the attention she would get.

.

Lily was unsuccessful in finding Matt herself, so she opted to sit on the stone ledge that rimmed the stadium and wait for him to find her.

It really was a beautiful day, she noted, taking in the clear blue sky and the bright sun. She sat there, watching the Gryffindors mill about, noticing the different knots of groups talking to pass the time until Teague came out with the first cuts.

A groan was heard next to her.

"Jesus Christ…" Matt moaned, slumping to a seat at her side.

She lightly rolled her eyes.

"Hi Matt."

His response was to give another moan, resting his arms across his knees and laying his head on them.

Lily diverted her attention from her surroundings back to Matt.

He shifted his head until she could just see one of his brown eyes.

"Lily…" he began with a slight whine, "I feel sick."

She sighed.

"Well maybe you should have thought twice about eating as much as you did this morning," she pointed out reasonably.

Matt grimaced.

"But I was hungry," he mumbled pathetically.

Lily hated how even though she knew this entire ordeal was his fault, Matt could still manage to make her pity him, if even a little.

"I know," she said soothingly, running a hand through his—only slightly—sweaty hair.

He sighed in response, but suddenly his expression stiffened, eyes going blank.

With a disgusting retching noise, Matt threw up in front of their feet.

Many eyes flicked over to where they sat, and Lily heard a chorus of "Ew"s and "Ugh"s.

She scrunched her nose.

"Jesus, that smells fucking disgusting…" she sighed.

Matt heaved in a deep breath before leaning against her, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Feel better?" she asked drily, eyeing at the blonde head on her shoulder.

"Mhmm," he hummed peacefully, shutting his eyes.

Lily shook her head exasperatedly before taking her wand out and Vanishing the vomit, but the smell lingered.

Lily could feel the stares on them without having to look up and see them, and they made her feel self-conscious and disgruntled.

Some people didn't understand that she and Matt were purely friends—best friends, yes, but they weren't, well, involved.

Rumors had stalked them during fifth year, because apparently people couldn't comprehend a boy and a girl being close without them being together. She had hated those months though. It made her feel like every time she talked or joked around with Matt, she was being judged, that it automatically meant she fancied him.

Lily didn't think it was possible for her to like him in any different way than she liked, say, Hugo. Matt was a constant presence, someone she could always turn to. They might make fun of each other and argue, but they always had each other's backs.

That was what was important to her; he was her best friend.

She rolled her eyes at the curious onlookers, though they probably couldn't see because of distance. She and Matt knew, the others could eat shit.

Blowing errant hairs out his eyes, Matt sat upright, bracing his hands on the ledge.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Lily only rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the head as he halfheartedly tried to dodge.

Suddenly the chattering of the mass of students was muted.

Instantly Lily recognized the situation, and her eyes started searching while Matt closed his eyes, not even needing to look as he muttered, recounting the events.

"The almighty captain, leader of the Gryffindors, two time Cup winner, Teague Canning has just exited the captain's offices. Everyone waits with baited breath, watching as he struts across the field holding the list of the first cuts, making the ladies swoon as he shows off how fit he is, his sexy hair blowing in the wind—mind you, the ladies stand in front, trying to get a closer look at his tight arse—"

Lily could hold it in no longer, and burst out into loud laughter at his comments. She didn't care as she broke the tense silence that had fallen over the pitch—she knew the names 'Lily Potter' and 'Matt Dunstan' would be on the list.

Matt was grinning foxily at her.

Lily tried to catch her breath.

"Matt," she managed, before dissolving into laughter again, "Matt, you might be gay."

"You liked it," he grinned.

She gave a shrug. "Well, Rose's friend Peter was never so bad. He was gay."

He rolled his eyes. "I meant Teague."

She quickly pushed down a flush. "Oh, what—the part about his sexy hair or his tight arse?"

Matt just continued to smile wickedly at her.

"Oh shut up!" she protested, hitting him hard on the shoulder. "I do not—you said it!"

Matt merely raised an eyebrow, before he thought of something else, smile almost impossibly stretching wider.

"Hey, Potter, remember in fourth year, when Teague fanci—ow ow, stop it," he laughed as Lily began smacking him again, "I bet he would love to hear that you think his arse is sexy—"

Lily's face was flushed, as she continued beating on a laughing Matt.

"I hate you, arsehole. That was a long time ago and is irrelevant to now," she said sternly. She dimly noticed that the crowd had moved to the gates of the pitch, no doubt scouring the list for their names.

Unconsciously, her eyes searched for Teague, where she found him conversing with Justin away from the mess of people.

She blushed and looked away as they looked their way and began walking towards them.

"Whatever you say…" Matt said in a sing-song voice with a shrug.

"He has a girlfriend now, idiot," she hissed, as Teague and Justin approached them.

Matt just hummed suggestively and Lily gave him a sharp glance.

"Not going to look at the list?" Teague asked, eyebrow cocked as he crossed his arms across his chest. He had stopped right in front of her, and though not nearly as tall as Justin, who stood next to him, she still needed to look a far way up to see his face. And blue eyes.

Blinking, Lily remembered she hadn't responded.

"Nope," she drawled lazily, leaning back and popping the 'p'. "Don't need to."

"Hm, you think so, Potter? How do you know I think you're good enough?"

Lily just smirked. "Come off it, you know I'm good."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt waggle his eyes suggestively.

Fighting a blush at the different meaning her words could imply, she swiftly kicked Matt in the shin.

Teague just rolled his eyes, but grinned down at her.

"Yeah, you guys both made first cuts," he said flippantly, and Matt grinned.

"Of course we did!" Matt scoffed.

They watched curiously as Teague leaned down, sniffing at the air.

His nose scrunched. "Disgusting, you vomited didn't you?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Yeah…"

Teague straightened, shaking his head.

"You just never learn, do you mate?" Justin said with a chuckle.

"Not my fault," Matt protested indignantly before pointing at Teague, "your fault!"

"Yeah yeah," Teague said, waving him off, "Well, one more phase of tryouts to go. Go gather with everyone else—we're starting."

Lily watched him walk away.

At her side, Matt giggled.

Lily flushed as she stood up, dragging Matt with her.

"Lily, you are such a tart!"

"What?" Justin questioned curiously, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Shut up!" she shouted, hitting Matt upside the head as they met up with the Gryffindors that had survived the first part of the tryout.

One arm wrapped in a vice-like grip around the Quaffle, Lily deftly rolled as she avoided an oncoming Bludger.

She could feel the air rush past as it just grazed her broom where she had been seconds ago.

Her vision was extended—when she played Quidditch, she felt like she could see further, and faster too.

Lily eyed the approaching opponents as she scanned the sky for options. Two opposing Chasers were attempting to flank her from behind, the other speeding towards her dead on.

She didn't know where the Beaters were, but judging by that last Bludger, they had to be somewhere near.

Decisions, decisions— Kirsten was way out of range—courses of actions flitting lightening quick through her mind as the seconds until an untimely collision would occur with one of the opponents neared.

Until she saw it.

With a feral grin, Lily dove, but not before pitching the Quaffle over her head.

Speeding to the left, she saw Schellden shoot over the other team's Chasers, snatching the Quaffle with one quick grab.

They made quick eye contact as he came into possession of the Quaffle, the Chasers below him scattering and diving confusedly in order to avoid hitting one another.

Schellden cocked his arm back, launching the Quaffle in a straight line towards the goal posts.

Lily darted after, concentration solely on the positions of the Quaffle, Keeper, and goal posts.

Everything had timed out just right.

Just as the Quaffle was about to reach the Keeper's hands, Lily came, parallel to the goalposts, and grabbed it, twisting on her broom to shoot it past his back into the closest ring.

She let out a cheer as it soared through.

"For Christ's sake, Potter!" Justin yelled exasperatedly at her as she stuck her tongue out at him.

She loved scoring against him.

Lily flew back towards the center of the pitch where play would resume, passing Schellden in the process. She had to admit—he possessed some skill.

About to give him a grin—that was a damn good play they just made—she stopped as he opened his mouth.

"Not very good, is he?" he mocked, gesturing back at Justin, who hovered, waiting, in the middle of the rings.

Lily huffed, rolling her eyes at him.

Arsehole.

After Teague had posted the list, he had reformed the groups of players into groups for scrimmage. He organized them, again, according to position: three for every group of Chasers, two for Beaters, and the Keepers and Seekers were assigned numbers.

Then, by calling out groups and numbers, Teague began the full-out scrimmage, stopping the game if a Seeker caught the Snitch or for when it was time to rotate the groups.

Kirsten and Schellden had both made first cuts, so Lily had remained with them.

Kirsten was decent, Lily decided as the match restarted, but not good enough. She was too tentative, too afraid to take a risk, not creative enough. She wasn't half bad though. Would've made Ravenclaw's team this year.

What Lily had been most shocked about, though, was that… Schellden wasn't horrible at Quidditch. Actually, he seemed to pop up in her peripheral vision just when she needed to dish the ball off… He was quite good.

She was now torn between whether she wanted him to make it or not.

She decided not—besides, she hadn't gotten a chance to scope out the other Chasers yet.

Well, the three they were playing against now were dismal.

Teague blew his whistle, and everyone came to a stop.

"Okay," he yelled, "That wraps up the tryout for the day. To the ground, everyone!"

They descended, and Lily gracefully jumped off her broom before she touched ground.

"Such a show-off," called Matt as he walked towards her.

She grinned cheekily at him.

"How'd you do? Abysmal?" she teased.

Matt only smiled. "No worse than you. Nice work with Schellden, by the way."

Her expression darkened as she scowled.

Matt continued. "You know, it hurt," he said, clutching his chest with the hand not holding his broom.

"Felt like—"

"—You were being replaced?" came an arrogant voice from behind her.

An arm suddenly was wrapped around her shoulders.

With a grimace, Lily pushed it off.

"Shove off, Schellden."

She glanced at Matt, whose mouth had set in a straight line, arms crossed.

"Oh, come on, Lily, we were great out there together! Better than when you work with Dunstan over there," Schellden smirked.

Matt's face flushed as he opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Teague's magically enhance voice.

"Practice starts Monday at seven after dinner. If you have any questions, please see me. The list is now up."

With a parting smirk, Schellden waved goodbye and headed towards where the final list lay.

Matt scowled at his retreating back.

"You know," he voiced drily, "I never really had a huge problem with that guy—sure, he was an arse and all, but he can be funny at times—but yeah. What a fucking arsehole. Dormitory's gunna be awkward tonight."

Lily grimaced. "We definitely work better together than me and him."

Matt gave her half a grin. "Well, obviously," he responded, before grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the list. Teague had disappeared, and, already, dejected faces were leaving the pitch.

"But you guys did look pretty good out there together. That last goal was something."

"Yeah," she admitted reluctantly with a shrug, "but that doesn't stop him from him being a complete dick."

Matt gave a reluctant chuckle.

"Right you are."

Justin was waiting for them as they got to the wall where the list hung.

"Ready to see who our new teammates are?" he said with a smile.

Matt shrugged.

Lily scrunched her nose. "Whatever."

"Ok, on three," Justin said.

"One, two…"

AN: hehehe I am evilllll. Yes I know who makes the team. You might too. I wasn't very secretive... =P

Hope you liked it.

Tell me what you thought! Leave a review!

ok. so any of you who have previously read this chapter are probably wondering- where's that huge rant where Maybe Now goes on forever and yeah... I deleted it. And am rephrasing it, because it just gave off a bad vibe.

As to "who is Lily going to be with/who is her love interest" question- here's my answer. In life, is there a label on you that says 'you/someone else'? Unless you're actually going out with someone, then yeah. There is a distinct pairing. But... I dunno. If you're single, I feel like you can feel things for more than one person... you just have to sort out which feelings are the strongest. Lily hasn't sorted out her feelings at all yet- she's just feeling.

But I will comment that Lily feels for Matt in a sisterly way.

And that Lily and Justin is extremely unlikely.

I hope this makes sense =/ sorry I realize it's nice to be able to be like, okay, those two will be together, but maybe there's something good about the mystery too.

Keep reading for me though? *insert hopeful smile and thumbs up sign*

Seriously though. If you think what I just said above is off base and my story is suffering because of it, please write me a review and let me know.