Lol I just got 6 reviews after one day so I thought I'd update it a bit sooner. Also, to save any more arguments, some people think James is a seeker; I think he's a chaser, so for my story he's going to be a chaser.
Thanks for all your reviews! I hope your enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it.
Oh and I'd also like to thank my mate Leanne for giving out my real name on the Internet! Ta Lea! :p
Chapter 11 : Quidditch
Somehow Lily managed to get through the rest of her conversation with Avril, who was asking her for help with a muggle studies project. Somehow she managed to say goodbye to Avril and walk back to the castle alone. Somehow she managed to sit through the Halloween feast, all the time trying to keep James and the Marauders out of her line of vision. Somehow she managed to make her excuses and leave the feast early. Somehow she managed to survive a run in with Severus Snape – 'Why so miserable Mudblood?' – and get back to the Gryffindor Tower. Even more miraculously, she somehow managed to do all this with her eyes dry.
Once she reached the common room, Lily didn't go up to her own room. There was only one person in the world she wanted to talk to at the moment, and she knew exactly where she could find her. However, instead of bursting straight into the 7th Year Boys' dormitory, Lily decided to go and wait for Caitlin in the girls' dorm. She walked into the familiar room and slumped down on her old bed.
Memories came flooding back to her. This room held her childhood, and she at once saw misty figures of herself and Caitlin as youngsters prancing about the room. Caitlin was in the corner putting copious amounts of makeup on, whilst staring at a tiny mirror on her bedside table. Lily was sitting in the middle of the room on the floor looking through a textbook on potions, whilst eating Honeydukes Fudge. They must have been about 12 or 13.
The tears started to flow down Lily's face as she watched Caitlin trying to distract the younger her, by loudly singing Dancing Queen by ABBA into her hairbrush. Everything had been so much simpler in her life then. She hadn't had any major exams to worry about. She didn't have the pressure of being Head Girl on her shoulders. Voldemort hadn't been such a large factor in her life. Her mum hadn't been so... unwell. And boys had never even come into the equation, well not on her part anyway, Caitlin had been another story altogether.
"God I was such a wally, wasn't I?" Caitlin had entered the room, and Lily hadn't even noticed. She quickly tried to dry her eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed.
"Do you ever wish you could go back in time?" Lily asked her. Caitlin came and sat down on the bed beside her, and put her arm round her.
"Nope." Lily was a little taken back by her answer. "You've only got one life to live, so you might as well live it," she explained gently. "There's things everybody would like to change Lily, but if your past wasn't your past you wouldn't be the person you are today. And I love who you are today." As Caitlin finished, Lily stopped her self-projection spell and the two figures faded. Lily broke down again, and Caitlin hugged her tighter. "What's the matter pet? Is it your mum?"
"Ich liebe James Potter," Lily sobbed loudly into her hands.
"Awwwh Honey! Is that all? That's hardly the end of the world is it?"
"Yes it is," Lily sobbed harder.
"Look I know you're probably annoyed about me being right again, but it's not worth this fuss it is?" Caitlin was now looking slightly alarmed at the state Lily was in.
"He doesn't like me back." Now that Lily had finally said it, she felt a weight lifting from her. It's true that it always feels better after you've talked about it. She felt able to talk a bit easier and she could look Caitlin in the eye again.
"Bullshit," Caitlin put simply. "Where'd did you get that idea?"
"I heard him say it. He said he 'wasn't into me at all.'" Caitlin was furious.
"HE TOLD YOU WHAT?!" Lily was a little scared, she'd seen Caitlin lose her temper many times before and it wasn't pretty.
"Well no he didn't tell me. I overheard him talking to Remus."
"Remus?" She paused for a moment. "Are you sure you heard him right?" Lily nodded. Countless thoughts seemed to be running across Caitlin's mind. Lily would have given anything to know what they were. All she wanted was for Caitlin to give her some hope. "Well Lily he's lying, I've a feeling I know why as well. Don't worry about it. All we need now is a plan," she finished with a wicked glint in her eye.
As if prompted by Caitlin the rest of the Gryffindor girls chose that exact moment to burst into the dorm. Although Lily was definitely closest to Caitlin, the other three girls were very dear to her. Avril, Scarlet and Alice saw Lily distressed and came running over to her immediately. They all kneeled down on the floor in front of her and at once began fussing and cooing over her. Caitlin eventually brought organisation to their chaos.
"Girls, we have a mission," she announced formally. "Lils is in love." The girls all immediately did that high pitched, 'only dogs can hear you now', squeal that only girls can do.
"Seriously Lily-kins? You're in love with somebody? A boy?" Scarlet started berating her with questions. She was the slightly ditzy one, and loved to be in love, which at the moment was with her boyfriend Robbie Brown. She was very petite, at only 5ft, and had long dark brown curly hair, which bounced about on top of her head, suiting her bubbly personality perfectly.
"Scarlet of course it's with a boy!" Alice shushed her. Alice had been going out with her boyfriend Frank Longbottom for 4 years now, and so had become the relationship expert of the dorm. Alice was about the same height as Lily, and had long, straight, mousy-brown hair, which she always wore in a high ponytail. "Who is it Lils?" Lily was beginning to enjoy being the centre of the girls' attention for once. She'd never been interested in anyone before and so had never received the full girly treatment; she was usually the one dishing it out.
"J-J-James P-Po-tter," she stuttered. At once Alice and Scarlet jumped up in delighted shock. Lily noticed, however, that Avril's face fell slightly. Out of all the girl's Avril was the only one, along with Lily, that had never had a boyfriend. This was probably because she was a bit dumpy, with long black hair that always looked as though it needed a good wash. Appearances aside, the most probable reason for her singledom was because she was a bit of a pain.
"James Potter really? I thought you hated each other?" she sneered slightly at Lily.
"Oh Avril don't be stupid, of course they don't hate each other!" Caitlin shot back at her, still clinging onto Lily. The other two were still jumping up and down screaming.
"OH MY GOD!" Scarlet yelled.
"Oh this is just sooooo perfect!" Alice yelled as well, using extravagant hand movements.
"OH MY GOD!" Scarlet yelled again.
"Right, right calm down. Back to the problem at hand," Caitlin said formally.
"Oh yes of course," agreed Alice, and Scarlet and she sat back down again, eagerly awaiting orders.
"How are we going to get them together?" Caitlin asked.
"Oh that couldn't be too hard. They're so perfect for each other. Head boy and girl after all!" Alice said matter-of-factly.
"Oh it's so romantic!" Scarlet swooned.
"Could be harder than you think," Avril added bitterly. The others ignored her as usual, and all sat and thought for a moment. Lily took that moment to look round at her friends busy faces. It was moments like these that she realised she would fall apart without them.
"Well, when I wanted to go out with Robbie, I went out with his best friend first to make him jealous," Scarlet offered eventually. The others looked at her disgusted.
"Well James' best friend is Sirius, so that's never going to happen," Caitlin said sarcastically. "How did you and Frank get together, Alice?"
"I don't really know. We just sorted drifted towards each other and started going out. Meant to be." The others all gave a loud 'awwwwh' in unison, and Alice blushed. "What about you and Sirius?"
Lily at once looked round at her best friend, who was now looking a little pale. Lily had never heard this story, she knew there was some secret surrounding it and Caitlin had asked Lily not to press her about it. Lily had respected her best friend's decision not to tell her, although it had annoyed her at first. Tonight though was a night for sharing secrets, after all Lily had admitted she liked James. Was Caitlin finally going to tell?
"Uh... well..." Caitlin was buying herself some time. Then she finally came across her answer and grinned to herself. "Pure animal magnetism," she stated. The other girls seemed happy with this explanation and burst into a fit of giggles. Lily however, was slightly annoyed that Caitlin's secret remained.
"Oh I know what you should do!" Scarlet exclaimed. The other's all looked at her sceptically. "Go to the Gryffindor – Slytherin match on Saturday! James' hormones are bound to be charged after that. I know Robbie's are – and he's not even playing," she said with a mischievous grin across her little face.
"Scarlet!" Alice squealed. "You're so bad!" The others burst out laughing, although silently they all thought it was the best plan Scarlet had ever come up with. -
Lily took Scarlet's advice and the next Saturday she headed up, for the very first time, to the Gryffindor stand in the Quidditch Stadium. She was wearing her sheepskin jacket, as well as a Gryffindor scarf and woolly hat. It was now well and truly into autumn and the wind was whistling around the stands. If it hadn't been for the intense atmosphere Lily found when she emerged into the stand she was sure she would have been absolutely freezing. Other people's high spirits seemed to be keeping her warm.
She took her seat down beside Alice and Frank.
"'Lo Lily," Frank shouted over the noise off the crowd. "Alice tells me this is your first Quidditch match."
"Frank's going to talk you through it," Alice explained. Lily nodded graciously.
Once the game started however, Lily found that she didn't need much explained. She got totally caught up in the emotion of the game. Robbie Brown, Scarlet's boyfriend, did the commentating, and she would squeal every time he spoke. He did a great job introducing the Gryffindor team – 'The magnificent seven. Keeper Martin, Beaters Wilson and Simpson, Seeker McDaniel, Chasers Brown, Kenworthy annnnnnnnnnnd POTTER!' He was less enthusiastic about the Slytherins – 'seven people, mounted on brooms... at least they're trying.'
Lily was admittedly no expert on Quidditch, but it was clear to even her that James was by far the best player in the game. He swooped and swerved, passing the quaffle with perfection to his fellow chasers Caitlin, and Leanne Brown – Robbie's little sister. Soon enough Gryffindor were leading 70 – 0, and James, clearly thinking the game was in the bag, started to do tricks with the quaffle to amuse the crowd. They loved it, oooh and aaahing in all the right places, as James led the other two girls in what were obviously rehearsed performances.
The Slytherin team began to become even more angry when they realised they were still being beaten, when the Gryffindor team hardly seemed to be trying. The rage finally brewed over resulting in a bludger being aimed towards James' head when he didn't even have the quaffle – he dodged it just in time. The Gryffindor supporters were immediately all up on their feet demanding a punishment for this obvious foul. The referee clearly didn't want to dampen the Slytherin's spirits any further and refused to award a penalty. The Gryffindors all sat down astounded, only Sirius, who Lily could see a few rows in front of her, remained standing.
"Do it Prongs!" he roared. This was obviously a common battle cry because at once the Gryffindor team reacted. James yelled something to Caitlin and Leanne but it could not be made out over the crowd. The three of them flew back to their own goal hoops, and paused there for a moment, Leanne with the quaffle under her arm. Lily wondered why they had stopped, it seemed to have been such a fast moving game until then, her question was at once answered. The whole crowd went silent, even the Slytherin supporters. At once a faint whispering came from the Gryffindor supporters, and even some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They all seemed to be softly chanting the same phrase but Lily couldn't make it out. She decided to concentrate on the game instead.
James, Caitlin and Leanne still hadn't moved, and the Slytherins didn't quite know what to do, they hadn't even tried to tackle them yet. Lily had to admit that the sight of the three of them on their brooms, their robes majestically billowing out behind them in the wind, was enough to make her want to jump on a broom herself and go and join them. The chanting was getting louder now, and Lily could also see some people beginning to drum their hands off their laps.
Suddenly James made his move, and Lily couldn't concentrate on what the crowd was saying anymore, she had to concentrate on this, because this was fast! Leanne suddenly streaked out in front of James, quaffle in her right hand, Caitlin moved off last flying a fair distance behind Leanne. The Slytherins obviously were thinking the same thing as Lily, that Leanne was going to pass to James, because they immediately moved to put a block between them. James was much closer to Leanne and in her line of vision; there was no way she couldn't even tell where Caitlin was.
The crowd was getting louder still, Lily could now make out what they were chanting – 'Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter'.
For a moment it looked as though Lily and the Slytherins were right, Leanne made to pass to James, but changed at the last moment and seemingly lobbed the quaffle aimlessly over her shoulder.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
The quaffle landed perfectly into Caitlin's hand.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
She threw it straight up in the air, waited for it to fall down again, and then flicked it with the back of her broom, towards James.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
The chanting definitely got louder when James caught the quaffle. People were starting to stamp their feet, as well as slap their hands off their laps.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
James made a dash up the Quidditch field with the Quaffle firmly lodged under his arm. Caitlin and Leanne did not follow.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
James dodged the bludgers the Slytherin beaters were trying to thump at him.
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."
James dodged the Slytherin chasers that were desperately trying grab onto him. Caitlin and Leanne had flown together to the middle of the field. They had paused again, Leanne was looking at her watch, and Caitlin was stretching and giving a very fake yawn – the Slytherin crowd were furious.
As James approached the Slytherin hoops the crowd had started shouting the chant, even Lily found herself joining in.
"PITTER – POTTER, PITTER – POTTER."
Once he was in scoring range James threw the quaffle high into the air, and then jumped up to follow it himself, leaving his broom behind. Quick as a flash he lifted his broom, and hit the quaffle with it like a tennis racket, with a tremendous force. The quaffle had gone straight through the middle hoop even before he had managed to swing his broom back underneath him again.
"GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" roared Robbie. The entire crowd lifted onto their feet, the Slytherins in despair, and the Gryffindors in jubilation. Caitlin and Leanne remained in the middle of the field, applauding half- heartedly; they looked like they saw this sort of thing everyday. The rest of the team raced to James to congratulate him. As Hannah McDaniel, the seeker, put her arm round him to pull him into a hug, Lily noticed the tiny golden snitch clasped in her hand. The game was over, they had won. James then flew over to the Gryffindor supporters who were all chanting 'James! James! James!' He flew low over them so he could give Sirius a high five, and some 5th year girls could touch his robes – one of them nearly fainted. Then he flew back down to join the rest of the team on the ground.
In spite of herself Lily found herself running excitedly down the steps with the rest of the crowd. She couldn't wait to get to James. Looking back on this moment, she was sure that if she had been able to get to him she would have admitted her undying love for him right there on the spot. Perhaps fortunately, she was not able to get to him. She found that his adoring fans, mainly younger female pupils, surrounded him. They were all shouting at him, hoping for a moment of his attention. Lily could also make out several marriage proposals being shouted out – one of them from Sirius. James was clearly enjoying the attention, but as the mob started to get more vicious he decided to cool the situation a bit.
"Listen ladies, this is all lovely. But this is my girl here." Lily strained her neck anxiously to see whom he was talking about. For one brief moment she had found herself hoping she would find him pointing at her. She was saddened and a little shocked to see him put his arm around the other chaser, Leanne Brown. Now she was off her broom she didn't look as intimidating. She was very short, with long blonde hair, and was now giggling and blushing profusely.
Lily felt a tap on her shoulder.
"There's no point trying to talk to him now. Don't worry you'll see him later. Let's head back to the tower." Caitlin was looking very wind swept and tired, but jubilant all the same.
"Ok," said Lily admitting defeat. "Well done by the way, that was fantastic."
"Correction. HE was fantastic." Lily gave a polite laugh in agreement, not wanting to admit to Caitlin just how James Potter's broom skills had made her feel. In truth, she had never wanted him more. She walked back up to the castle with Caitlin, and Sirius carrying Caitlin's broom over his shoulder.
Later on that night Lily was sitting in the private common room writing a letter to her mother. She knew her mother loved to hear about all things magic, and so she thought she better write to her about the Quidditch match when everything was still fresh in her head. She could hear the party was still continuing in the main common room down the stairs. She had had every intention of joining it, Caitlin had begged her to, but she didn't think she could take having to watch James with Leanne all night so she had excused herself and gone to the headquarters.
As she strained to hear if she could make out any of the conversations from downstairs, she heard someone happily whistling, and trouncing up the stairs. James was coming.
'Oh God! Oh God! Run to your bedroom! You can still make it!' Too late. James was already pushing open the portrait hole. The room was dark though and he seemed not to have noticed Lily sitting in the room. He was still in his Quidditch robes and clearly very happy with himself.
"Oh James come here you sexy biatch!" he said in a surprisingly girly voice. "Potter! Potter! I want your babies!" he said breathlessly, and chuckled at his own impression.
Usually this type of cocky behaviour would have enraged Lily, but for some reason at the moment she couldn't help but laugh. James was clearly startled by her presence, but he regained his cockiness quickly.
"Lily!" he exclaimed happily when he realised she was there, she had a funny feeling he'd been drinking.
"I take it you won then," she said casually.
"Well you would know. You were there," he replied just as casual.
"How would you know that?" Lily said a little indignantly. 'Damn!' she thought. 'Caitlin must have told him!'
"Because I saw you," he said slyly.
"How could you have seen me? Surely the crowd was huge?" Lily had a funny feeling he was trying to trick her into admitting she was there, and there was no way she was going to let him.
"Ah well, beautiful, they said I could have been a seeker if I had really wanted to be. You see, I'm very good at picking out small details, especially if I'm looking closely for them," he said slightly seductively. Lily didn't know why, but she suddenly felt quite light-headed. She found herself replying in an equally slightly seductive voice.
"Were you looking closely for me then?"
James hiccupped and suddenly his mood changed.
"Em, well yes, just to see if you'd decided to come. You know because of that conversation in the Three Broomsticks," he replied, trying to get his voice back to normal.
"Oh yes of course," Lily said trying not to sound too upset. "I didn't know you were seeing Leanne?" she blurted out. James' mood seemed to become relaxed again.
"What?!" he laughed. "Where'd you get that from?"
"Oh its just I saw you after the match."
"Lily, she's in 3rd year for Christ's sake! I was just trying to get those girls off my back!"
"Oh right," Lily mumbled. She was feeling pretty stupid right now. She was just thinking of how she could make an excuse to leave when James saved her the trouble.
"Well I'll leave you to your letter. Night Lily." With that he stumbled off to bed.
'Maybe if he's had too much to drink he won't remember that conversation' Lily hoped beyond all hopes. -
So there's another really long one for you all. I probably won't be updating for a while but I'll try. Please read and review!