The next few days staying with Lily were like heaven for James. Just having the pleasure of coming back from classes and knowing that she would be there made every day that much better. Even just seeing her sparkling green eyes every day up close and personal put him into a place of deep content. He loved watching her out of the corner of his eye when they studied by the fireplace, and he immensely enjoyed listening to her sing in the shower when she thought he was already at breakfast. She had a beautiful voice, but sometimes she belted out the words somewhat obnoxiously, which caused James to laugh silently outside the door.
Surprisingly, living in the same dorms was fairly easy. James kept all of paraphernalia in his bedroom, Lily's in hers. They worked out an unspoken schedule that James would shower first, because he often had morning Quidditch practices and returned before Lily even woke, and since they both took no more than twenty minutes to get ready in the morning, there was virtually no stress involving shouting at the door to get the shower.
One early Saturday morning James forced his eyes opened sleepily and looked at his clock, which read 5:30 AM.
"The team's going to hate me." James muttered to himself, rolling out of bed and throwing on his Quidditch robes. He pocketed his wand, left his room, and jogged down the stairs, making his way towards Gryffindor tower to get his teammates. Some may call him crazy, but he loved this aspect of Quidditch: grueling early morning practices that lasted until someone passed out for lack of food, and the angry groans of his team as he made them do exercise after exercise. He reached the Fat Lady while thinking of what kind of conditioning they could do today.
"Animagus." He told the Fat Lady who was glaring at him through groggy eyes. James found the password extremely ironic, seeing that there were four illegal animagi in Gryffidor tower, counting himself. James sprinted up the stairs and entered his old dorm. He went to Sirius's bedside and pointed his wand at his best mate's tanned forehead. "Ennervate." James whispered. Usually the spell was used to revive a person who had been stupified, but Sirius slept so deeply that it was equally effective. His best mate woke with a start and scowled at James's eager face.
"Are you bloody kidding me, Potter?"
"Nope. Come on." He hissed, not wanting to wake Peter, Remus, or Frank.
"You're mad, James Potter." Sirius mumbled, rolling out of bed with a rather loud thump that caused Peter to grunt sleepily. "Absolutely batty."
"If you're not there in ten minutes I'll hex you into oblivion." James promised him, leaving the room to Sirius's muttered curses.
He went into the sixth year dorms and woke up his two beaters, Benjy Fenwick and Fabian Prewett, absolute naturals on the pitch that worked well together. After he'd told them to get their arses onto the pitch, he found the dilemma of waking up his three remaining players: girls. He knew all too well that trying to get up the girl's common room staircase would be unsuccessful. He thought hard for a moment as the male members of the team trouped wearily out of the common room. James put his hand in his pocket, rummaging for...
"Aha!" he said to himself, pleased, popping a Honeydukes sherbert ball in his mouth. Once he was wafting along, about a foot off the carpet, he pulled out his wand and concentrating, cried "Wingardium properllus!" Wind whooshed out of his wand, sending him backwards up the stairs without actually touching them. Feeling somewhat pleased with himself, he spat the sherbert ball into a rubbish bin out when he got to the top, but the after-affects caused him to float a couple inches off the floor. He struggled down the hallway, pulling himself along the wall. He propelled himself into the seventh year dorms with some difficulty, and hissed, "Emmeline?" into the darkness.
Three girls screamed with a start and one actually fell out of bed. James figured he must've looked slightly frightening; a tall, robed male levitating in the darkness.
"Sorry!" James whispered loudly.
"James?" he recognized the voice of his chaser, Emmeline Vance.
"Oh, hey, Emmeline." James said nonchalantly. "Be on the pitch in five, and tell Marlene and Tonks, okay?"
"What time-? Oh, whatever." she huffed as James floated creepily from the dorm.
A fair twenty minutes later, the whole team stood on the frosty grounds of the pitch in the darkness, yawning and shivering violently. Sirius seemed to be nodding off against his broom.
"You guys cold?" James asked kindly. Marlene McKinnon, their Keeper, nodded vigorously. "Well, then, let's warm up!" they all groaned. "FIVE LAPS AROUND THE PITCH!" James bellowed, getting into his captain attitude. "AND I DO NOT MEAN FLYING LAPS!" He took off into a quick jog and made sure everyone was following, dropping his robes to reveal gray sweats and a black hoodie. He started with a pace that Tonks, their youngest player, could keep up with. "WHO'S THE BEST QUIDDITCH TEAM HERE?" James bellowed back to his team.
"Us." replied his teammates dully, their voices weak with sleepiness.
"No, you know what?" James turned and started jogging backwards so he could face his players. "I think Slytherin might be able to win this year."
"What? no!" little pink haired Tonks protested. "They can't win!"
"You heard her!" James shouted. "We can't lose, and we WON'T! Why won't we lose, Benjy?"
"Because," the broad boy answered firmly. "We certainly train the hardest." the team answered with grunts of agreement.
"We're the strongest!" Fabian stated, flexing his brawny arms into a masculine pose as he ran, kicking his heels up ridiculously. The team laughed.
"We'll have the most clever, daring techniques!" Emmeline said enthusiastically.
"We have the best Keeper in all of Scotland!" Marlene fanned herself in fake snobbishness.
"We will whoop Slytherin's arses!" Sirius declared, finally waking up a bit.
"That's right!" James said, glad his team was getting in the spirit. "Now let's run!" He turned around and lengthened his stride, enjoying the fresh air pumping into his lungs. They ran, and ran. James could hear the pants of the team behind him as they struggled to keep up with his long strides. James's heart was pounding in his chest and his legs were screaming in protest by the third lap. Despite their exhaustion, he made his team run the fourth lap with their knees up, and on the fifth lap he made them sprint till the end. When everyone had finished, they all collapsed onto the grass, chests heaving. James allowed them a few minutes of rest, before springing up off the grass again. Those laps were no joke, probably close to a kilometer each...
"Off your backs, you bums!" He grinned evilly. "Fifty push-ups!" And no girly ones!" He glared at the girls as though daring them to argue. But they all did it, Tonks actually finishing first, having only about eighty-five pounds of weight to push up and down, in contrast to his beaters, who weighed almost a hundred pounds more than her.
"Now get your brooms!" James ordered a half hour later, panting slightly after leading his team in a hundred crunches. They all groaned loudly, knowing practice wasn't nearly over yet. James jogged to the school broomshed and fetched his Nimbus 1500, a coming of age present from his parents. He loved his Nimbus dearly, it being the newest and fasted broom on the market. He grabbed the old set of balls that they used for practices and headed back to the pitch. The snitch from their set was slightly slow, from being caught too many times, and the bludgers often aimed to maim the goal hoops instead of people, but otherwise they could play without a problem.
"On my count." called James, once everyone had their brooms and the balls had been released. "Three, two, one!" They rose into the air together, James looping the other players to find Emmeline, who had started out with the Quaffle. She tossed it to him unexpectedly, so that he had to swerve around Fabian to snag it with his fingertips.
"Sorry, James!" Emmeline called apologetically.
"It's all right, just try and wait for eye contact before throwing, okay?"
"Okay!" she shouted as James smoothly passed it to Sirius, who scored through the left hoop. The chasers played like this for a while, then took turns pretending to be big, ugly Slytherin opponents in order to test blocking techniques. Fabian and Benjy practiced hitting bludgers accurately through the goal hoops at the other end of the pitch, and Tonks caught the snitch at least six times.
James caught the vivacious seeker in midair. "Tonks, remember that Relugus Black is bigger than you, so he may have more speed. But if he's tailing you, use your size to your advantage and lose him through the other players, okay?"
Tonks grinned and gave him a thumbs up.
James worked with his the beaters, instructing them to aim at him as he zoomed around the pitch. He got hit with a couple bludgers in the process, but he was satisfied with their accuracy and told them to keep it up.
"Tonks!" James called across the pitch, "Lemme see a Wronskei Feint!"
The pale, heart shaped face put on an expression of utmost concentration. She took a steep dive, plummeting towards the ground. James cringed as she pulled it up at the very last possible fraction of a second, and clapped wildly as she sped upwards again.
"Blimey! That was incredible!" He grinned at her widely in approval.
"Thanks James!" she called, speeding past him after the snitch. James stopped in midair and looked around at his team. This year's team was easily the best out of James's past years of playing. Maybe they could actually win the cup this time around. As the sun starting peaking over the horizon in numerous shades of pink and purple, James saw a figure sitting in the stands, but couldn't tell who it was, as he was slightly nearsighted. He flew over to where Emmeline and Sirius were attempting to score on Marlene, with some difficulty. She was making some spectacular saves.
"Marlene, watch their eyes, okay?" she nodded seriously in agreement. "Okay, chasers," James beamed at them, "ready for some maneuvers?"
They grinned at him in return. This was their favorite part of practice. "Marlene, you ready?" James asked the keeper.
"Ready as I'll ever be to face three of the most talented chasers Hogwarts has ever seen!" she said apprehensively.
"All right." James faced his chasers. "Let's confuse that commentator!
They shot off together down the pitch, Sirius holding the Quaffle, but in the blink of an eye, James was cradling it as he dropped below Sirius, then passed it up to Emmeline who returned it to Sirius, all of this done blindingly fast. They then turned back towards their goalposts in a synchronized fashion and grouped together so that they appeared to be a blur of red, flashing across the sky. They individually corkscrewed inside the formation, rotating positions as fast as possible. Sirius passed the Quaffle discreetly to James before they split the formation, the three of them spinning off in different directions, Emmeline flying towards the middle hoop, Sirius to the left, and James to the right. The point of the entire maneuver was to make the opposing team think that Sirius still had the Quaffle, when in actuality it had been passed to James in the confusion of their maneuver. Then the other team's chasers keeper would go for Sirius while James...
"SCORE!" he announced triumphantly as Marlene fell for Sirius's feint of scoring on the left, while James chucked it through the right hoop.
James high-fived his chasers enthusiastically as they whizzed past each-other in the air. "Good work!" he congratulated them. "Sirius, you might want to pass the Quaffle to me a tad bit earlier, so I can shield it from the other team's view, okay?"
"Whatever you say, Prongsie." Sirius saluted him pompously. They practiced several more complicated chaser techniques, each time working together like a well-oiled machine. After another hour of this, James whistled and motioned to the ground. Everyone landed unsteadily, weary and starving.
"Amazing job, today, everybody." James nodded at his team. "Tonks, work on that pin turn and you'll be perfect, Benjy, Fabian, make sure you keep an eye on Connor Higgs when we play Slytherin, he fights dirty.
"Don't they all?" Marlene wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Yes." James replied firmly. "So be on the height of your game. Lots of sleep this week, eat plenty of protein, got it?" They nodded in agreement. "I'll see you on Monday at 4:30."
"In the morning?" Tonks looked anxiously at her captain. James laughed, but realized that the rest of the team was wondering the same thing.
"No, no, in the afternoon." he said reassuringly.
They all gave a sigh of relief before heading to the changing room. They showered and changed, feeling pleased with the results of practice. James looked around the picturesque pitch as he left the changing room. The sun was fully up now, giving life to the crisp grounds, turning the red and orange leaves of autumn to gold. He smiled. As he was about to head to the Great Hall for breakfast, he saw that the figure was still up in the stands. He could see better now that the sun was up; was that red hair shimmering in the sun? Lily? He mounted his broom again and soared towards the girl. It was Lily! He dismounted smoothly, a row in front of her.
"Hey, Po- James." she nodded in acknowledgement.
"What are you doing, Lily?" James asked, bemused. She had been sitting out here for an hour, at the least. "I was eating breakfast." she shrugged, indicating the plate next to her.
"I see." He mused.
"Apple?" she offered, picking up the remaining fruit from her plate.
"Sure, thanks." James smiled and snagged the fruit from midair. He bit into the apple and took a seat.
"You didn't poison this or anything, did you?" James asked, munching quietly. Lily gave a soft laugh.
"This isn't Snow White, James." He furrowed his brow in confusion. What in the blazes was she talking about?
"Never mind." Lily laughed again at his expression. "Muggle thing. You wouldn't get it, I forgot your'e pureblood."
Something about her tone of voice seemed judgmental. Like it was a bad thing he was pureblood.
"You know I don't care about blood status, right?" He asked, frowning at her.
"Yeah. I know." she said casually. But James knew she was uncomfortable. She always tucked her hair behind her ear like that when she was uncomfortable.
"Do you play?" James asked her after a lengthy moment of silence, the only noise being James's crunching of the apple.
"No." Lily replied absentmindedly. "I know how, you know, flying lessons in first year, but I don't have a broom and I don't think I'm skilled enough to be on the team." James looked at her with his mouth open.
"You've only ever ridden a school broom?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, so?" Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Come on." He said, dropping his apple core through the bleachers, and picking up his broom. "You have to try this. You'd be amazed at what this broom can do."
"I do not have to do anything or go anywhere with you!" Lily frowned stubbornly.
"Lily." He gave her a stern look. "I promise, this is ten times better than any old shooting star the school will give you." She glanced at his broom apprehensively.
"It looks... dangerous."
"It might be dangerous if you were riding by yourself, but you know I won't let you get hurt." He promised. She looked at him doubtfully.
"Fine." he sighed dramatically. "I should've known that the teacher's pet would never be daring enough..." Lily looked outraged. "I am not a teacher's pet!" she declared.
"Whatever." James shrugged cooly. "I'll see you later, Evans." She stood up, cheeks flaming. "Fine, just show me what the bloody broom does." James grinned and let her climb on behind him. Lily tried to warn him,
"Don't go too fas-" but James took of at the speed of light. He was a bit concerned for the first few moments of flight when Lily didn't make a peep, but was reassured when he felt her arms squeeze his midsection tightly. He raced upwards, directly into the sky. The wind whipped his hair back from his face, fresh, cool, and invigorating.
"Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell!" Lily shouted behind him as he pushed the broom faster, clinging to him as though her life depended on it. Which it actually did. He flew higher and higher, corkscrewing and looping a few times, causing Lily to shout at him angrily that she was going to puke. When they reached the fluffy white clouds, James leveled the broom so that they were soaring through the gaps of blue sky, thinking Lily wouldn't appreciate it if he soaked her by flying through a cloud. He slowed down so they were flying leisurely along, the Black Lake sparkling in the sunlight far below them, like a big, black marble. The sloping grounds appeared so vibrant from this view, the green grass and autumn trees joining together to show a myriad of natural, beautiful colors. They were so far up, the students on the ground looked like dustmites. He chuckled as he thought of what they must look like to the people below, perhaps an odd bird of some sort? A speck of color in the clouds?
"How's this? James smirked at Lily over his shoulder.
"James Potter!" she screeched. "This is horrifying!" but her wide emerald eyes were staring at the ground, thousands of feet below in awe and wonder. James flew around the perimeter of the castle, pointing out various features of it like a tour guide.
"And here we have Gryffindor tower, where all the best and most courageous students stay." He said pompously. "Bet you never thought you'd see it from the outside, did you?"
Lily gave a small, nervous laugh. "No, I really didn't."
"There's the astronomy tower, though I'm sure you recognize that."
"Oh, yes. Lots of anxious test-taking went on up there." she said fervently
James laughed. "You? Nervous about a test? I thought you knew everything!"
"Oh, please." James could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "I'm really not that academically focused. I got a T on my Divination OWL."
"What!?" James exclaimed in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yep." she replied matter-of-factly. "I hated Divination so much."
James laughed, "I don't even know how you can get a T in Divination - all you have to do is make up a load of rubbish about the future! And they can't even really tell how you did because they don't know if your predictions came true yet."
"I'm terrible at making things up on the spot." Lily admitted.
"Apparently so." James shook his head.
They flew in silence for a few moments, admiring the sun rise around the castle.
"The castle looks so... magnificent." Lily breathed into his shoulder. James couldn't have found a better word to describe it. Regal, perhaps, magical, or... home, to him. Lily eventually loosened her death grip on him, but kept her arms wrapped securely around his waist. It felt unbelievably right, having her there, right with him, her hair occasionally tickling his cheek, which caused his stomach to jerk around in his abdomen. He could feel her warm, soft body conforming to his, small and comforting.
James grinned into the sun. This was the best day of his life.
"Are you ready to go down?" he asked politely.
"I suppose so." Lily said, resting her cheek on his shoulder blade. James would have stayed up there all day if it he could.
"Hold on." he advised her. Once he felt her arms tighten, he shot straight up a few hundred more feet through a gap of blue sky, so that they drifted on the top of the clouds. "I thought we were going down..." Lily said uncertainly.
"We are." James couldn't help but whoop loudly as he let the broom drop, plummeting to the ground. Lily gave a piercing scream, and buried her head into the back of his hoodie. James stomach leapt inside of him as they gathered speed, the ground coming towards them at a terrifying rate. They were going so fast, James could feel the little extra skin he had on his face being pressed backwards. He laughed aloud wildly, thinking of what they must look like. Lily peeked over his shoulder and screamed in alarm as James executed an impeccable Wronskei Feint, inches from the grass.
"Bloody hell James! Are you suicidal?" she gasped as he leveled the broom again, brushing his toes against the lush grass.
"No." he shrugged as he landed smoothly on the Quidditch pitch. Lily immediately let go of him, and stumbled off the broom.
"Woah," James said, catching her easily with one arm. "you all right?"
"A little woozy." she admitted. He slung his broom over one shoulder and walked with Lily back toward the castle.
"So did you enjoy your flight?" he asked, concerned that he had scared her a little too much.
"All except the part where you tried to kill us." But she smiled, so James knew he was forgiven. "What was that anyways?" she asked.
"What, the Wronskei Feint?"
"Yes, that." Lily said, then sounding like she was struggling, "It was... very impressive." James gave a throaty chuckle.
"I appreciate the effort you put behind that compliment."
"You're keeping your side of the bargain." Lily said fairly. "I'll keep mine." James tried not to be offended by the fact that she was only being nice to him because they had made a deal.
"And yes, it was amazing." she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. James beamed at her. "I never knew you could see Hogwarts like that before."
"It is incredible, isn't it?" James asked as they entered the castle. They walked in comfortable silence to the Great Hall, each absorbed in their own thoughts.
"Well, I'm going to eat breakfast." James broke the silence when they got to the entrance hall.
"And I'm going to-"
"Study?" James grinned.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Lily flipped her hair over her shoulder and headed upstairs. She paused at the top of the steps and turned around.
"And James," she said meekly.
"Yes?"
She blushed. "Thank-you."
I'm sorry if it mortally offends anyone that I put Tonks in Gryffindor; I wasn't able to find any straight answers about what house she was in! And I would really love it if you took twenty seconds to post a review!