A/N: This is written by two authors. Me and CleveristWitchHerAge. We would both like to add that we don't own Harry Potter, though we both wish we did, but you all knew that already, didn't you?
Family Keeps You Sane
By: animaguswolfsong and CleveristWitchHerAge
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never have, never will.
Chapter 8 - Tension Explodes, Confusion Rises
James was stressed out all during Wednesday's Quidditch practice. Their next game was against Slytherin, and his team wasn't doing very well. Lee kept dropping the quaffle, Kingsley couldn't get the bludger to go away from his teammates, particularly James, and Sirius was being his normal self.
The last straw was when Eric missed the quaffle on a particularly easy shot. James let out a growl as he flew to the ground and sat heavily on the side of the field, grabbing his water bottle and chucking across the pitch. He sank down on the bench, fuming. His team soon followed him to the ground, holding their brooms in their hands staring at James as if he were a bomb ready to explode.
"James?" Sirius started, but James jumped up and glared at everyone.
"Our game against Slytherin is on Saturday, and you're all playing as if you've never even heard of Quidditch before! Come one! You all can play; that's why you're on this team. We're gonna take a break. Be ready to practice in fifteen minutes. I need to calm down, and we all need to get our heads in this game."
The group nodded and separated. James sat back down on the bench and pressed his hands to his face, letting out a loud groan. Before he knew what happened, a hand pressed against his shoulder and knocked him off the bench. James opened his eyes angrily as he lay on his back on the ground. Above him, Sirius smirked down at him.
"What was that for?" James growled, picking himself up
"You're in a bad mood," Sirius said calmly, staring at James.
"Great observation, Sherlock," James muttered as he brushed dirt off his shoulder. "What'd you do that for?"
"You're in a bad mood."
"So you knocked me over?"
"Yep."
James stared up at Sirius and nodded his head. "That makes sense."
Sirius beamed. "I know!" Sirius sat next to James on the bench. "You okay, Prongsie?"
"Yeah, just stressed," James replied. "Slytherin's got a good team this year."
"So do we," Sirius said.
"Then why aren't we playing like it?"
"Stress kills people, mate. I know how serious Quidditch is, but ya gotta loosen up and have fun, got it?"
James grinned.
Soon enough, it was time to commence practice. James told Sirius to go on and get on his broom and fly out. He walked towards Kingsley, Lee, and Keith who were gathered around Eric and laughing. Eric caught James' eyes and stopped laughing.
"So," he turned back to his audience. "This weekend I went to Hogsmeade with none other than Lily Evans, as you all know. Mates, I gotta tell ya, she's something. She couldn't keep her hands off me!"
James picked up his pace. "That's not how I saw it, Wells," he pointed out. "I believe you were the one who couldn't 'keep your hands off' as you say, but Lily wouldn't let you keep your hands on."
"Stalking us, now are you, Potter?" Eric queried. "Lily adores me and you can't stand that, now can you?" James clenched his fists. "You can't stand it that she's my Lillers and not yours. You can't stand it that I've got something you want. She's mine to do anything with. She's my girlfriend; I own her."
Words formed wonderfully in James' mind, each a wonderfully colorful comeback, but they all lost their way traveling to his lips. James raised his fist, ready to knock Eric out, but before he could move, Tori popped out of nowhere and punched Eric so hard he stumbled backwards. James' jaw dropped as the others let out cries of surprise and amazement. Behind James, Sirius fell off his broom, laughing uncontrollably.
"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT LILY THAT WAY EVER AGAIN, YOU BASTARD! I HIGHLY DOUBT LILY WOULD EVER LET YOU CONTROL HER YOU'RE A SICK, EGOTISTICAL PIG, AND SHE ONLY CHOSE TO GO OUT WITH YOU TO COVER UP FEELINGS I KNOW SHE HAS FOR SOMEONE ELSE! SHE MAY THINK YOU'RE PERFECTLY FINE, BUT IF YOU HURT HER IN ANY WAY, I SWEAR YOU'D BETTER PUT EYES ON THE BACK OF THAT EGOTISTICAL HEAD OF YOURS OR YOU'LL GET A CURSE IN THE BACK!" And with that, Tori stormed up to the castle, leaving the rest of her team speechless. Even Sirius had quieted and had stored away in his memory to never get on Tori Booth's bad side.
"I think practice is over for today," James mumbled as he looked at Tori's retreating figure. He took a second to glare at Eric before he too turned towards the castle.
Lily finally closed her book, sick of reading the fine print covering the pages. She packed her books up in her bag that she had scattered over the library table and left. She headed straight for the head's dorm, only meeting a few people along the way. Potter was at his practice, so the dorm would be empty.
'Thankfully,' Lily thought. She didn't need to deal with him, especially after her date with Eric. She had seen James sneaking glances at her all that day, and at one point she thought she saw Sirius holding him back.
"Fairy Lights," she told the portrait when she reached it. Lily walked in and was surprised to see Eric sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. He looked up when he heard Lily enter.
"Eric, I thought you were at practice," Lily said, annoyed that he'd remembered the password. "What are you doing here?"
Eric's face stayed grim as he stood up and walked towards Lily. Then, Lily saw a large black eye on his face. She put her hand over her mouth and ran over to him. "What happened to you?"
Eric shrugged his shoulders. "You know some pretty protective people," he commented, grabbing her wrist to stop her from touching his bruise. Fury suddenly boiled behind her eyes .
"Potter," she muttered, rage dripping form every letter. Eric hesitated for a moment. A small smile crept on his lips, but he quickly pushed it away to replace it with a grim frown.
"Yes," he said solemnly. Lily growled and made to turn around, but Eric still held her wrist. "But don't be too hard on him. I mean, he only tackled me to the ground. It wasn't—"
"Wait 'til I get my hands on that vermicular little—"
A small smile escaped Eric. "Lily, calm down. I'm fine. Potter'll get what he deserves."
Lily turned back to Eric, fury still burning in her eyes, but she calmed down.
Soon, Potter. Soon.
"That was brilliant, Tori!" Sirius gushed as they walked in the Gryffindor common room. Tori glared at Sirius, causing him to wipe is smile from his face. "What?"
Tori walked passed the two Marauders to the girls dormitory. "Lily won't think it was so brilliant, now will she?" she snapped at Sirius before turning up the stairs.
Sirius looked curiously at James, who just rolled his eyes at him and sat down in the large chair by the fireplace.
"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that?" Sirius said, standing in front of James.
James looked up at Sirius, his expression annoyed. "Can we just forget about it, Padfoot?" Sirius shrugged his shoulders and turned to throw himself on the couch. James turned his attention back to the burning fireplace. He wasn't sure why he was so upset. He himself had wanted to do that to Wells. Maybe he was only upset that he hadn't gotten to Wells first.
Just then, the portrait swung open and an irate Lily stormed in. Her eyes quickly scanned the room. Movement in the room ceased as all eyes focused on Lily.
Sirius risked movement and leaned over to James. "I'd hate to be Tori right now."
As Lily's head moved to face them, James saw the fire burning in Lily's eyes and was glad that Tori had beaten him to Wells.
"POTTER!" she shrieked as she approached.
James stood up at out of his chair as Lily drew her wand.
"Evans," James said, backing away into the wall. Her wand was touching his chest.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU SELFISH, CONCEITED GIT! YOU POMPOUS SLIMY MORON! YOU—"
"Hey!" James shouted. "You mind telling me what I did?"
"You know perfectly well what you did, or are you really that moronic?"
"Actually, Evans, I—" he stopped. It suddenly dawned on him why Lily was ready to curse him into oblivion. "You think I… No, Lily, it wasn't me—"
"The heck, it wasn't! Who else would it be? You followed us around at Hogsmead! You—"
"Not on purpose! We just happened to go to the same places. Do you think I actually want to see you and Wells snogging?"
"Shove it, Potter! I'm not interested in your excuses"
Before Lily could open her mouth to utter a curse, her wand flew form her hand into Sirius' outstretched hand. She turned around and growled furiously at Sirius. In a whirl, she turned back to James and raised her hand to slap him across the face. before she could do anything, James grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer.
"Potter! Let go!" she cried. Lily raised her other hand to strike him, but James just grabbed her other hand.
"Let go of me! Let go!"
James stared into Lily's eyes, his hand still gripping her wrists. "I didn't do it," he said evenly. "If you think I would actually hurt someone you cared about, you have me seriously messed up. I would never hurt someone you cared about, no matter who it was, unless they were hurting you."
Lily struggled furiously, growling at James. She managed to get one of her hands free, and, before James could stop her, she slapped him across the face.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THAT TO ANYONE I GO OUT WITH! I AM NOT YOURS TO PROTECT! IF YOU DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN…I DON'T NEED YOU! I DON'T WANT YOU! THERE'S NO WAY THAT I WILL EVER GO OUT WITH YOU! STAY AWAY FROM ME AN ANY OTHER GUY I CHOOSE TO DATE!"
"Lily!" someone shouted, but she didn't hear.
"YOU IGNORANT IMBECILE! YOU SAVAGE MORON! YOU—"
"LILY!" Lily stopped. She turned to see Tori standing at the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dormitory.
"Not now, Tori."
"Yes, now!" she cried. "He didn't punch your stupid boyfriend. I did!" Tori shouted at Lily. "And you'd do well not to attack James before you know the truth."
Lily looked shocked. James had let go of her other wrist, but she hadn't noticed. "W-What?" she stuttered. "You punched him? Why?"
"Because he's an idiot," Tori said, glaring at Lily. "And you'd do well to remember that as well." With that, Tori turned on her heel and left.
James stared off after the red-head as she ran after Tori. No one said anything. With a sigh, James stood and began walking towards the door.
"Hey, James," Sirius said, stopping his friend by placing his hand on James' shoulder. "What are you doing?"
James shrugged Sirius' hand off and continued towards the door.
"I'm going for a walk."
James found himself by the lake kicking a pebble he found. He accidentally kicked it too far, and the pebble rolled into the lake. James rolled his eyes at himself before dropping down on the ground in the shade of a tree. The sun was setting behind him, so the shadows of the objects around him stretched out before him.
Wells must have told Lily that he had punched him and not Tori. But why would he do that? Frankly, James didn't care why Wells had told Lily that. All he cared about was what he was going to do now. Lily knew that Tori had punched the creep, but James would bet that she wished it had been James and not Tori.
Anger and loathing towards Wells bubbled inside him. The next time James crossed his path. . . .
" What were you thinking, Tori? Giving Eric a black eye?" Lily asked furiously as she glared at her friend who seemed completely uninterested in what she was saying.
Tori remained silent, ignoring the fiery girl.
"Answer me!" Lily cried. "That's not your place any more than it is Potter's! You don't have that right, either!"
Tori remained calm, sitting peacefully by the window, ignoring every word Lily said. This, of course, enraged Lily more. With a growl, Lily picked up a pillow off her bed and chucked it across the room at her friend, smacking Tori in the side of her head.
"Hey!" Tori cried, jumping up to face Lily.
"Are you listening to me?" Lily shouted.
"Of course I am! I'm just choosing not to respond!"
Lily let out another growl of anger and frustration.
"You want to know why I socked your boyfriend—"
"He's not—"
"It's because he is a slimy, worthless git who is just using you for his own enjoyment," Tori snapped, her eyes burning passionately.
Lily paused, momentarily stunned. She shook her head slightly and cried, "He is not using me!"
"Yes, he is," Tori yelled back.
"How do you know? You don't know him! He is sweet and—" Tori interrupted Lily.
"Don't know him?" she yelled, "Hello, he is on the same Quidittich team as me. He said so today at practice. I know him better than you do Lily. He is a selfish, worthless, bigheaded, ignorant git who uses girls for his own pleasure and cares only about himself."
"So is Potter," Lily snapped back.
"What?" Tori asked, confused. "When did James come into this?"
"I . . . I don't know! Why does it matter?"
"Because we're not talking about James here, we're talking about Eric!" Tori said angrily. "Haven't you noticed that James has had no girlfriend since Christmas break last year?" Tori asked. Lily didn't know how to respond to that.
"So? he is still an ignorant git," she said lamely. Tori threw her hands up in frustration.
"Eric is ten times worse then James and Sirius put together," she growled.
"He is not!" Lily yelled.
"Is that the best defense you can come up with? He doesn't care about you. He only cares about getting what he wants." Tori yelled.
"Eric is not like that, unlike Potter," she spat.
"Well, Potter actually cares about you, unlike Eric! James cares about you; he has cared about you since first year!" Tori yelled.
"No he hasn't!"
Tori laughed a bitter, hard laugh.
"You are so stupid!" she exclaimed at Lily. Lily stared at her. "Eric wouldn't give a second thought about hurting you!"
"Why did you agree to go out with Eric in the first place?" Tori asked, decided to take a different track.
"Because he asked me," Lily said crossing her arms.
"James has asked you thousands of times and you always so no to him," Tori commented.
"That's because he's a pompous git who thinks everything is about him," Lily defended. Tori stared at Lily. "The only reason James asks me out is because he can't get me. He doesn't care about how I feel." Lily turned away from her friend.
Tori sat there for a moment, processing what the red-head had just said. Slowly, her eyes grew wider, and she looked at Lily triumphantly.
"You're scared!"
Lily whipped around. "What?"
"You're scared of what could happen if you said yes to James! You said yes to Eric because it's easier that way to bury your real feelings! Lily, you're a brilliant girl. You know James cares about you! You've noticed it. You keep saying the same things about him, trying to convince yourself that he truly is a pompous git, but you've found it harder to believe. So, in an attempt to bury the feelings deeper, you told Eric you would go out with him. That won't work. I can promise you that. Sooner or later, the truth will come out."
Lily stood staring at Tori, silent, her mouth hanging slightly open. She had nothing to say in response. She stood completely still, unnerved by Tori's small speech.
Tori sighed and looked down at the floor and back up at Lily. "I'm sorry, Lily."
She turned towards the door, but paused before opening it. "Sooner would probably be easier."
With that, Tori left the dorm, leaving Lily standing in the middle of the room, with tears beginning to fill her eyes.