Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling. So if you see anything that you recognize from the series, its not mine.

"UP!" was the first word lily heard as she felt herself being summoned to consciousness. Somehow or other someone was trying to wake her and succeeding by the looks of it. Why anyone would even consider the ridiculous notion of being awake at some godforsaken hour of the morning confused her. Of course, it went without saying that anything would confuse her at this moment. Growling her impatience at the person, she flopped over on her bed and buried her head under the pillow, unaware that she did not in the least sound intimidating.

Ant then it came again, this time going on for a much longer time. " geeett uuuuuuppp Liiilly" the voice droned from some place far. "geeeetttt uuuuuuppp" .Lily twitched in annoyance. Did the person not realise that she would'nt be waking up anytime soon? Besides sleep was calling to her so much more persuasively. She could her its voice in her mind. " come baaaack lily, come baaack. You know you waaant me" it called enticingly. And it was right, she did want it, making it that much more temping than the idiot who kept trying to summon her to a wakefulness that she did not in the least desire.

Melanie giggled at the sight of her best friend. Twitching and turning in her bed, Lily kept letting out almost indiscernible 'oohs' and 'aahs' of pleasure as she got reacquainted with her slumber. Her face relaxed once more as she slipped from the grips of consciousness. It almost made her feel guilty disturbing that much loved sleep. Almost being the key word. Besides, it was necessary. Lily would have to at least get acquainted with a broom before her match with potter and who better to teach her then Melanie, gryffindor's star beater?

So she tried once again, this time using the magic words. "Lily, potters here and he wants….."

As if she'd been pricked by an extremely sharp needle, lily immediately rolled to her feet with a sharp "where?", an unpleasant expression on her face. Then realising that her friend had tricked her with an age-old method she scowled heavily. "What the hell, mel, why'd you wake me up at this bloody hour of.." here she glanced at the clock on her bedside and nearly fell back on her bed in shock. " six? SIX? You effin woke me up at six on a Monday morning? Are you mad you damned woman?" Settling back on her bed she rubbed her eyes wearily. There was no way she would be able to get back to sleep now. There had been too much excitement. So still muttering under her breath about stupid friends and their needs to steal her precious sleep, she turned to the girl now standing at the foot of her bed with a very amused expression.

"what," she barked out grumpily," was so important that you needed to wake me up? And it had better be someone near death or something as extreme"

Melanie grinned. It was at times like these that she loved Lily's temper. It was so darned amusing to see the calm and always composed head girl get her feathers ruffled. "You, my dear, need to learn how to use a broom." Seeing the colour drain from Lily's face she held in a chuckle and continued nonchalantly, " and that is where I come in. Who better then your best friend and quidditch expert to teach you how to finally conquer your unfounded fear of flying? I've known how to fly since I was six and it is my experience and superb skills that have gained me a place on the……" she carried on in that vein for some time before realising that her friend was just eyeing her with a look of amazement on her pretty features.

" not very modest, are you?'' lily asked wryly

" it's the truth hun, and nothing but"

"I rest my case. And who said I'm scared of flying? Such a stupid notion" this was said indignantly.

Melanie gaped at her. " not afraid of flying? Puhh-leease, don't make me laugh. You were so scared you wouldn't even try it in first year. Allergic to brooms, my arse!"

"well, technically" lily began only to be cut off again.

"If you're not scared of flying, then prove it" Melanie said, a superior look on her face.

Lily gulped. She could not bear to back down from a challenge, an irritating trait that had gotten her in the mess in the first place. But then how could she when doing so would admit that she was inferior as well as catch her in her lie.

Making up her mind, she spat out, " fine, but I don't have a broom" And then it clicked. She didn't have a broom. How ingenious. She couldn't fly if she didn't have a broom. How stupid of her not to think of that in the first place.

But as quickly as her hopes had risen, they were ripped apart again.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about trivial details honey. The school has ample brooms for beginners like you to learn" and with that Melanie left the room, not waiting to see if lily followed. She didn't have to. She knew that the fighter in lily would never allow her to back down. And that was exactly what made her best friend so easy to provoke and oh so predicable. If you knew lily well enough you knew exactly which buttons to push to get her to do something. And Melanie knew lily very well indeed.

Though, she mused, one another person who always knew which of lily's buttons to push was James Potter. No matter what kind of mood the girl was in, potter could always and would always get a reaction out of her. No matter how composed the girl tried to be, she always lost her temper. It was almost as if he did on purpose. Now that she reflected on it, he probably did. But with the kind of reaction that she herself had evoked from lily today, she didn't blame him. It was amusing to see the cool and composed headgirl in a snit.

Lily trailed behind Melanie, dragging her feet unenthusiastically. It was like they had a mind of their own. They kept trying to return her to the dorm she had just left. She willed them to continue after Mel albeit reluctantly. The word 'doomed' kept running through her mind. She had realised yesterday that she would have to do something about her flying skills or lack thereof. But what she had not counted on was acting on that realisation so quickly. In lily's order of thinking, it would be preferable if she could shove the match into some dark recess of her mind where it would be quickly forgotten until the day itself. She should be glad, she supposed. Having this area of the bet being taken over for her. It was not as if she could remedy the problem of her flying skills by herself. So having Mel taking care of it was a relief.

And besides, mel was right. She was a good flyer, though a self-proclaimed one. Better then a mere good., in fact. So it would do her some good to take lessons from the pro.

Oh what good was it doing she groaned to herself. No matter how hard she tried t convince herself otherwise, she still dreaded the lesson. "how the hell am I oing to beat potter?" she asked herself, " if I cant even get on a broom."

Five minutes later they reached the pitch. Lily glared up at the sky, which was still relatively dark. She was giving up some dear sleep just to fly on some stupid wooden stick. If anyone had told her a week ago that such a thing would happen, she would have laughed preposterously then asked the person to go for a mental check in the hospital

wing. And yet here she was.

Turning around she saw the silhouette of her best from coming towards her, holding two school brooms in her hand. "Let the fun begin," she told herself drolly.

A/n : Hello again people. As you can see, I have finally updated. I'm so sorry. I realise that my chapters are very short . I used to hate it when people wrote such short chapters but now I'm doing it myself and I cant seem to help it. But anyway, on to another note, wooo hooo, I have 4 reviews. Not that great, I know but I was expecting it to get like 0 so 4 makes me very happy. So thank you to the 4 people who did review. I love you people. You convinced me that im not as bad as I thought was going to be. And to everyone else, please please review, I would love to know what people think of the story. Thanks