Disclaimer:  This. Is. A. Fanfiction. Site.  If I was a writer I highly doubt I'd be putting stuff up here when I could just go get it published.  Hehehehehe.

A/N—sorry last chapter was so short!  I was pressed for time and I wanted to put up something.  I'll try to make this one longer.  And I'll try to write about Peter as much as possible, because I hate it when people just omit him all together, but I really don't like him so if he's not in there much… I'm trying my best!

p.s. Anyone heard the song "always" by Bon Jovi?  Oh god it's so sad.  And beautiful.  I absolutely love it.  Jon Bon Jovi is so sexy.

CHAPTER THREE!

(A/N—starts pretty much where chapter 2 left off… they were on the train, now they're getting off)

"So, Prongs," Sirius said to James as they were getting off the train.  "Have you told Evans who the Quidditch captain is?"

James looked down at the ground.  "No," he said.

"WHY NOT!?" Sirius burst out.  "It's a perfect thing to hold over her head ALL YEAR!"

"Yeah, I know," James sighed.  When Sirius looked at him strangely he amended with: "I mean, I'm just waiting for the opportune moment." (A/N—POTC!!!!! You know, Captain Jack Sparrow?  I love Johnny Depp!)

They reached the horseless carriages and all four Marauders climbed into one.  (A/N—this isn't an angsty story so I'm not gonna go into death of ppl and all that jazz…)

*~*~*

When Lily, Mel and Kaye reached the Great Hall, they seated themselves at the Gryffindor table and watched the rest of the school surge in.  To Lily's dismay, the Marauders seated themselves about two seats down from Lily and her friends, so that James was almost diagonally across from her.

After the sorting, Dumbledore got up to speak like he always did.  This year he seemed to want to talk to them mostly before they ate instead of after.  Oh well, whatever floated his boat.  As he was talking, Lily noticed that James was not, in fact, looking at Dumbledore, but rather was staring quite obviously at her.

"Stop staring at me!" she hissed at him.

A small smile tickled James' lips as he replied in a soft voice, "then stop being so hard not to stare at."

Lily rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Dumbledore with a disgusted look on her face.

However, Dumbledore was finished and food was appearing on the table.

"So what was that about?" Mel asked Lily as she helped herself to some food.

Lily raised her eyebrows.  "What was what about?"

Kaye joined in.  "You know, what were you and James Potter talking about?"

Lily made a face.  "He was staring at me!  So I told him to stop."

"He's in loooooooove with you!" Kaye teased.

"He's not!  If he was I'd want to kill myself," Lily informed her haughtily.

Mel swallowed a bite of food.  "You know, he does fancy you…"

"He did in fifth year!  How do you know he still does?" Lily asked, feeling somewhat annoyed.

"Oh he still does," Kaye laughed.

"Wonderful!  He's staring at me again!" Lily exclaimed, exasperated.  She took another bite of food, refusing to look into those hazel eyes.

A few seats away, the owner of the hazel eyes tore his gaze off of Lily Evans.

"Give it up Prongs, she's never going to like you," Remus mumbled to James.

James chucked a roll at Remus' head.  "Shut up you!"

Sirius laughed.  "I reckon Moony is right though."

James actually growled at both of them.  Peter looked scared, though he didn't say anything.

"Hey, I thought I was the dog here!" Sirius whined.

"You're going to be a GIRL if you don't shut up soon!" James hissed.  Then he burst out laughing at the horrified look on Sirius' face.

"Damn, no wonder Evans thinks you're a prick," Sirius muttered under his breath, so low that nobody could hear it.

~*~*~

The next day there was a notice on the Gryffindor notice board. (a/n—what is that thing anyway?  If anyone knows tell me in a review so I don't look like a fool just b/c I'm too lazy to look it up… I know they have one…)  It was to inform the Quidditch team that there would be a practice in a few days time.

Lily was glad.  She really wanted to get back to playing Quidditch, and she really wanted to know who the captain was.  She and James weren't the only seventh years on the team, there was also Sirius (a beater), and the other chaser, a girl named Alyssa that Lily rarely talked to.  The team really needed to hold try-outs.  They were now missing the keeper and one of the beaters (the seeker was a sixth year).

~*~*~

"So James, I saw that notice up," Sirius told James the morning of the first practice.

"Yeah, you better be at practice," James threatened playfully.

Sirius grinned.  "Have you told Evans who the captain is yet?"

James bit his lip.  "Er… no?"

"Come on Prongs!" Sirius began, "you know if she finds out at practice then—hold on a minute… if she finds out at practice it will be even more humiliating."

"Yeah," James muttered.

Two years ago, James would have loved this idea more than anything.  Now, something about it didn't seem so appealing any more.  He should probably not wait until that night to tell Lily who the captain was.  Maybe he'd send her a note or something….

A note was a good idea, he decided.  He wrote a very short anonymous note stating that he knew she wanted to know who the captain was, and that it was James Potter.  James knew she'd be mad, and he didn't want to see her mad.

During one of their classes he floated it onto her desk when he thought nobody was looking, and then quickly hid his wand and watched her reaction to the note.

Lily's face didn't change, but she folded the note back up and very discreetly crushed it in her fist.  Then she dropped it into her bag, probably not to be taken out for a very long time.

~*~*~

Finally, it was time for Quidditch practice.  James and Sirius made their way down to the pitch after they had changed and gotten out their brooms.  They found the other three members of the team flying randomly around the pitch when they arrived.

James called them down.

"As you probably already know, I'm the new captain this year.  Our first game isn't for a month and a half, and it's against Hufflepuff.  But we still really need to hold try-outs for new players.  I was thinking next Friday starting at five and going until whenever they finish?" James asked the rest of the team to make sure it was ok.

He got random nods or small noises of consent from everyone.

"Alright then, let's get started!" James said, smiling.

James went over some basic stuff… conditioning and such.  They couldn't work on plays and strategies until they had a complete team.

Practice was uneventful.  Lily dutifully ignored James throughout the whole thing.

When it was over, Lily was hard pressed to admit that it had actually been a difficult practice.  And it had also probably been beneficial as well.  She did not want to admit that James might actually turn out to be a good captain.

She was just waiting for him to hold this Quidditch team captain thing over her head.  It was only a matter of time really….

**end chapter three**

A/N—sorry it's still kinda short.  Again, I'm pressed for time and I wanted to put something up…. Maybe I'll edit this later or something.  I swear it will get better!  Chapters will get longer and have more detail!  I still love reviews!