Friday was a very interesting day. I had more classes than I could handle, plus the huge amount of homework the teachers gave was almost unbearable. It was as if the O.W.L exams were tomorrow, and we were all going to fail. I was so tired that I almost forgot about going to James Potter's Quidditch tryouts, but I couldn't dare missing that exciting bit of my week; it would probably be the biggest thing that would happen for me this week.

I had to finish up some Transfiguration homework before I could go out. Sev wanted to come with me, but I declined. Not to be mean, but I didn't want James to avoid coming up to talk to me because Sev was there, plus they would end up getting into some huge fight about nothing, that's just they way they were. They would fight about the stupidest things and they would both end up having detention together, in which they would fight some more.

I finished my homework and skipped happily out of the library. I walked slowly down to the pitch; it felt so weird not to be carrying a broom! I moved along the rows of seats and took one towards the very back, where James hopefully and probably wouldn't be able to see me. I was the first one outside, over by the pitch. Soon after I arrived, nearly the whole Gryffindor house was outside holding their (or the school's) brooms, ready to audition. I looked over the multitude and found James talking to Lily Evans. I felt a surge of jealously pulse through my veins. I knew that it was normal for them to converse, but I just wish it was me, not her.

I turned around to see Remus Lupin sitting beside me. He smiled at the surprised look on my face. He looked happy; as if he was he very excited to watch some Quidditch tryouts.

"Hello Remus," I said as politely as I could, "Why aren't you trying out? I would think that you would enjoy being on the team with Potter and Black. It would fun seeing you fly, I don't think I've ever even see you fly, let alone touch a broom."

He laughed and said in a very quiet voice, "I can't fly. James would probably have put me on the team anyway, but I don't want to be the reason he loses. What about you? Why are you here? It's not everyday that I see a Slytherin in the stands watching Quidditch tryouts."

"First, it's not everyday that there is tryouts. Second, well, in case you didn't know, I'm the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. I needed to check out the competition. I think James came to mine," I said, trying to hide my lies. However, I could tell that Remus could read right through me, and knew why I really came.

"Oh," he said, trying to sound surprised, though I knew he wasn't. He could tell that I came to see James, which was something I wouldn't even admit to myself. "Do you mind if I sit and watch with you?"

I was surprised he had to ask. I mean, if I didn't want him there, I would have told him to move ages ago. I hate to spend time with people I don't like. He was one of the few Gryffindors I didn't mind spending a lot of time with. He was so much nicer and cooler then the Slytherins (except Sev) and Gryffindors (except James and Sirius) combined.

"No, not at all," I said, sitting leaning back in my seat.

I focused my attention back on the pitch. The auditioners were circling around on their broomsticks—most could fly, but many were falling. After that, James dismissed all of those who couldn't fly, leaving only a handful of people left. James only needed a new Chaser. Rebecca, their old Chaser and the best one they have ever had, had graduated last year. She was now a professional Chaser for England. I knew that at least our chasers could and would be better than James', now that he no longer had Rebecca.

My eyes were completely glued to James; everything he did was mesmerizing. Just the way he spoke, the way he told the others what to do, the way he messed up his hair, the way he made me drool, the way he smiled at the smallest little things, all held me transfixed.

Remus noticed that my eyes never moved from James. Or, maybe it was the fact that I was drooling all over myself or doing some other embarrassing thing because Remus burst out laughing. I whipped my drool and turned to face him.

"What?" I demanded, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," he said, trying not to laugh.

"I'm sure it's nothing," I said, trying not to laugh either, "Maybe I should ask Sirius or Potter why you like to laugh at me."

I pretended to cry. I was great at it; I could control everything and everyone just by crying. It was marvelous. The only person I couldn't fool was Sev, he knew me too well to know when I was really crying or just faking it.

"I think that'd be a great idea," Remus said. "Why not go down there right now and ask him? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you. He's actually wanted to talk to you since the other night."

The way that Remus said it somehow made me feel like James would actually be happy to see me. Not like that'll ever happen. He doesn't even like me, right? Of course, he would never like me. Then again, he has been really nice to me, lately, and we were alone together last week more than we've been all my years here at Hogwarts. But he loves Lily. I've come to live with that fact.

"I don't think so," I told Remus, finally remembering to reply, "He'd love to see Lily down there; he'd love for another chance to propose. He doesn't seem to know when to give up, now does he?"

Remus laughed again. His laugh was happy, but it seemed like it was hiding something. I loved to hear him laugh. I could always tell what type of person someone was just by the way he or she laughed. It was the one thing they couldn't change; it was something that was natural, and it showed who they truly were. James's laugh was one of the reasons I fell in love with him.

"If he wanted to propose to Lily, why didn't he bring her down to the lake last night?" he asked me, looking over towards James.

"I'm guessing Lily declined, like she always does," I said, the bitterness strong in my voice. "I must have just been a backup. I mean, you just happened to find me in the Great Hall."

"Oh, on the contrary! James wanted you to come! We looked all around for you. First in the library, then outside at the pitch, we even asked Snivellus where you were. Well, I asked, James wanted to curse him, but he was able to restrain himself for once."

"That's hilarious!" I said, laughing. "James not cursing Sev, their must be something wrong with the world."

"Right you may be. I'm not sure what was going on, they just glared at each other, and neither of them said anything to each other."

"That's good. However, I do enjoy laughing at Sev when he comes into the common room all bruised up, but looking proud at the same time. He never ceases to amuse me!"

"That's good!"

"Hey, is Peter out of the Hospital Wing yet? You never told me what exactly Sev did to him."

"Yeah, he just didn't want to come down and watch; he had to catch up on a lot of homework."

"Okay." I turned back to the tryouts to find that they were over. I had so wanted to tell James about the amazing team he put together. It wasn't that big of a deal; I could tell him some other time…

Just I was about to leave, and decided tell him later, Remus and I were joined by none other than James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Black, Potter," I said, venom in every word. I cracked up—I couldn't help myself. It was so out of the ordinary for me to be mean for no reason, even if it was to Gryffindors; I just couldn't stop laughing.

"Why do you have to be so mean, Andy?" Sirius asked, pretending to cry. He was almost as good as I was, almost. "And after all that we've done for you?"

The rest of us laughed at Sirius's randomness. Soon after, when he was done being idiotic, he joined in our laughing spree. Pretty soon I was crying from laughing so hard and so much in one day. I had no idea what we were laughing at by the time we were done. Then I remembered. It had something to do with Sirius doing things for me.

"Well, what is it that you have done for me?" I asked Sirius, raising an eyebrow.

"We've fed you—okay, watched you eat—bathed you—okay, we pushed you into the lake—but we've done so much for you!" Sirius said, grabbing my hand and kneeling down.

"How could I have ever doubted you?" I said. I glanced at James, who was staring at Sirius's and my intertwined hands. He looked furious, just like he did when he saw Lily Evans talking to a boy, which happened often seeing how popular she was.

Sirius smiled at James, who smiled back at Sirius, who, by the way, was no longer on one knee. Once we'd all calmed down and Sirius wasn't acting as insane, we walked down from our seats. It was about to rain, and everyone (except me) wanted to get inside as quickly as possible. No one wanted to wait around for the rain to start.

"I think I'm gonna stay outside," I said, sitting down in the middle of the pitch.

"Okay," Sirius said, coming up and hugging me randomly.

"Hey Andy," Remus began, "you better not end up dying because you decided to stay outside while it rained." Remus looked serious.

"Okay, I promise I won't die, but if I do, I'm giving you permission to steal all of my belongings."

They walked inside, looking content as they did. I started to hum to myself. I was thinking about what a different year I was having. I needed to talk to someone, to see if I was crazy for thinking that maybe James might like me, too. If only I had a girl friend that could help me with these kind of things. Severus, I doubted, would be able to help me out at all.

The rain had begun, and I was up on my feet in seconds. I danced and twirled around. I felt so free and alive, just being there, enjoying the stormy night sky. I put my hands out in front of me and spun around. Suddenly, I felt someone grab on. I looked up to find that it was (of course) no one other than the famous, wonderful, brilliant yet stupid, James Potter.

I wasn't surprised; he hadn't gone inside with the others. He seemed to be having fun, but it just didn't seem like something like this would be any fun for him. I mean, it was just silly old 'Snivellus's sister.'

"Hey, do you think, that maybe—" James said, pausing to mess up his hair the way he did when he was uncomfortable or nervous. "You'd like to, I mean, if you don't that's ok, but," he gulped and stopped.

"Yes?" I said, encouraging him. I was standing on my tip toes in anticipation.

"Nevermind." With that he was off. I sat down, confused, hungry, tired, and wishing that I had the courage to tell James how I felt.