Disclaimer: You really should know by now that I don't own anything. AND KATHY THE GREAT HELPED ME WITH PART OF THIS. THANK YOU KATHY.

A/N—does Hogwarts have a bell? I forget… I don't know… well it does now. P.S. Listen to the song 'One Wild Night' by Bon Jovi while the Quidditch game is going on, if only because that's what I listened to when I wrote it.

CHAPTER NINE Knocked Down

James was caught up in his thoughts through out the next couple of days. He was confused and feeling newly self-conscious. It felt like every time he was around Lily he turned into a huge klutz or ended up embarrassing himself in some way. He tried telling himself that nothing had changed—but it didn't work. Something had changed—he'd realized that he was in love with Lily whereas before he'd thought it just a crush.

On Friday James had awakened late and therefore was late to breakfast, which meant that his friends (being the awesome people that they were) left before he was done eating. Thank goodness he hadn't seen Lily. He'd actually taken to nearly avoiding her all together because he didn't want to make a complete and total fool of himself in front of her.

He wolfed down his food and started the long walk from the great hall to the dungeons for potions. He was trying to go fast, and once again got caught up in his thoughts (of Lily), so he wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going… until he ran into somebody. He knocked the books out of the person's arms, and both of them fell to the ground, books and parchment scattering around the floor of the corridor. James looked up at the person. Oh shit. Lily.

"Oh god I'm sorry," he gasped, jumping up and extending a hand to help her up. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet.

"Thanks," she said.

He smiled. But the smile was gone a second later because he had realized her books were all over the floor. He swiftly bent down and started to pick them up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you. I wasn't paying attention and I just…" he rambled. "I'm sorry…" he repeated. Damn, I sound so stupid! He thought.

"It's ok, really," Lily replied, bending down to help him pick up her books.

James grabbed the last book on the ground as Lily picked up the last of the stray pieces of parchment. They tried to stand up at the same time and ended up hitting their heads together and ending up back on the floor.

"Ow," both muttered simultaneously.

James bit his bottom lip and looked up at her with an apologetic look in his eyes, just as she was looking at him. Suddenly James was acutely aware of the fact that their faces were merely inches apart. He inhaled sharply and could feel heat rising in his face which could only mean he was blushing.

"Sorry," Lily said.

"Me too," James muttered, standing up quickly and running his free hand through his hair. Lily stood up as well, and he handed her the books he'd picked up.

There was an uncomfortable silence. James suddenly found the floor extremely fascinating.

"Thanks for helping pick up my stuff," Lily said.

James looked up. "But I ran into you in the first place, it was the least I could do."

Lily smiled. She opened her mouth to say something, but the bell cut her off.

"Shit! We're supposed to be in potions!" James exclaimed, grabbing her hand and starting to run down the hall. "Come on!"

Lily didn't drop his hand, and ran with him. They arrived panting at the dungeons a few moments later. James let go of her hand as they walked into the dungeon. He hadn't even been thinking about it when he'd grabbed it. He'd just followed his instincts…

The professor yelled at them about being late—but thankfully they didn't receive detentions.

Lily sat down with Kaye and Mel as the professor turned back to the chalkboard.

"What was that?" Kaye asked.

Lily opened her book. "What was what?"

"That. You came in late with James Potter," Kaye pointed out.

Mel nodded. "And your face is flushed."

"Mel, you need to stop reading those romance novels. We were late because he ran into me and my books fell all over the place. And my face is flushed because we ran here," Lily explained.

"Stop. Rewind. He ran into you?" Kaye interrogated.

Lily nodded. "Yea, he apologized a lot for it, too."

"But, he ran into you, and you didn't kill him for it?" Kaye questioned.

"No…" Lily said, not exactly understanding what Kaye was getting at.

Kaye raised her eyebrows. "You hate him."

"I don't hate him…. Besides that he did apologize a lot." Lily sighed at the look Kaye was giving her. "I don't know how I feel about him," Lily admitted. "We've been opponents for so long, it's weird to see him as a human being."

Kaye made an excited high-pitched noise which caused the professor to turn around and glare at her (they'd been very quiet up until then).

"Does that mean no more competing? Does that mean you can be friends? Does that mean that you'll go out? He likes you, you know," Mel said, all of it very fast.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "How could I give up competing with him? I like winning! And just because I didn't murder him doesn't mean that I'll ever actually go out with him!" Lily hissed in response. Lily didn't see, but Kaye's mouth twitched momentarily into a small smug smile.

The three turned back towards the chalkboard, thinking they should actually be taking notes.

Meanwhile, at the Marauder's table, a similar conversation was occurring.

"So Prongs," Sirius whispered. "You finally got Lily to snog you!"

James laughed quietly. "No, sorry Padfoot."

"What did happen? Why did you guys come in late together?" Remus asked.

"I knocked into her and her books fell so we picked them up. And then we ran because we were already late."

"At least you ran into her," Peter said.

"Didn't she kill you for running into her?" Sirius asked.

James shook his head. "Surprisingly no."

"Wow," Remus said.

"Maybe she'll go out with you!" Sirius suggested.

James laughed harder this time—earning him a nasty glare from the professor (but surprisingly no detention.) "Yea right. Even if she let me pick up her books, that doesn't mean she'd go out with me. The only thing she'll ever think of me as is an adversary. I don't even think she thinks of me as a real human."

She does, she just doesn't know she does, Sirius thought.

"You give up too easily. Whatever you did that time worked," Remus advised.

"You mean I should keep knocking her books onto the floor?" James questioned sarcastically.

Remus shook his head. "No. I think…. You weren't competing with each other. The only way to keep her from seeing you as an adversary is to stop being an adversary."

James contemplated that for a moment. It made sense. It also explained his increasing reluctance (minus the Quidditch game) to compete with Lily. Quidditch. That reminded him of the game against Slytherin the next day, and for the rest of the class his thoughts switched between Quidditch strategies and just how close he'd been to Lily in the corridor.

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James didn't sleep well that night. He kept having dreams about the Quidditch game. Lily fell off her broom. They lost to Slytherin. He fell off his broom and lost the game for the team. Everyone kept scoring in the Slytherin goal. There were a thousand bludgers flying after him. It was all jumbled and confusing, but every dream he had was bad.

He actually yelled and rapidly sat up when Sirius woke him up.

"Woah!" Sirius yelled back, jumping backwards from James' bed.

"Padfoot!" James exclaimed. "Sorry, I was… forget it. You're up? What time is it?"

"Seven," Sirius said. "I was surprised you weren't up… so I decided to wake you up. Turns out that was a bad idea."

"I'm so nervous about the game," James admitted.

"No kidding," Remus muttered, waking up as well. "You were tossing around all night."

"Kept me awake," Peter said, who'd been awakened by James' yell.

James cringed. "Sorry."

"Get out of bed!" Sirius commanded James. "We've gotta go kick some Slytherin ass!"

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Two hours later the Gryffindor team was standing down on the field, mirroring the glares they were receiving from the Slytherin team. The stands were packed full of students—three quarters of which were cheering for the Gryffindors.

The Quaffle was thrown up into the air as fourteen brooms left the ground. The first goal proved that it was going to be a fierce game.

James snatched the quaffle out of the air and soared towards the Slytherin goal posts. Just then, a Slytherin beater smacked a bludger towards James from less than twenty feet away. James swerved, but dropped the quaffle.

"Slytherin in possession!" yelled the announcer kid.

"FUCK!" James exclaimed, turning around rapidly and speeding after the Slytherin chaser.

Alyssa saw the Slytherin chaser coming in her direction. She motioned to Lily, who was nearby, and both flew at him at the same time, hoping to catch the chaser off guard.

Unfortunately, the chaser ducked them both.

But they were lucky.

Sirius slammed a bludger into the chaser's left shoulder. The chaser dropped the quaffle and nearly fell off his broom.

Lily caught the dropped quaffle and raced towards the Slytherin goal. She was nearly there when one of the Slytherin beaters came at her out of nowhere. She dodged, but it was enough distraction for a Slytherin chaser to snatch the quaffle out of her hand.

"Foul! That has to be a foul!" Alyssa shrieked.

"Nobody saw!" James yelled as he went after the chaser. He caught up to the Slytherin. James looped the boy and then hovered in front of him. When the chaser tried to fly past, James blocked him. Lily came up behind and tugged the chaser's shirt.

The chaser turned. "FOUL!" he yelled, but the ref hadn't seen Lily's tug.

"A foul for a foul!" Lily sneered as James grabbed the quaffle from the distracted chaser.

James sped towards the Slytherin goal. Just as he was pulling his arm back to throw the quaffle through one of the hoops, he found himself surrounded by all three Slytherin chasers.

"James! Pass, I'm open!" Lily screamed at him.

"James!" Alyssa yelled as well.

Instead of passing (like a teammate would do,) James suddenly dropped several feet, flew forward and scored a goal.

"Gryffindor scores!" The announcer exclaimed.

"That was stupid! You could've practically given them the quaffle!" Lily yelled at James as they flew the other way, waiting for the Quaffle to go back in play.

"Who's captain? Me or you?" he demanded.

Lily narrowed her eyes to slits before speeding after the quaffle, which had just been thrown back in.

Unfortunately, without either of them intending it, Lily and James were back to competing against each other.

Through three more goals for them and one for Slytherin, they argued and refused to pass.

"Forty to ten in favor of Gryffindor!" The announcer commentated.

"James you have to start passing!" Lily commanded him.

"You're not passing either!" James retorted.

Lily crossed her arms. "You wouldn't pass to me! I was just returning the favor!"

"GUYS!" Sirius began to yell at them, starting to fly over.

"The Gryffindor seeker has just seen the snitch!" yelled the announcer.

Lily, James, and Sirius all turned to where Jeremy was in a dive, closely tailed by the Slytherin seeker. They were about thirty feet from the ground when the Slytherin seeker crashed into Jeremy and both went tumbling the long distance to the ground.

The game was timed out as Jeremy and the Slytherin were being tended to.

Lily sped down to the ground, followed by Sirius and James. When they got to the ground there were so many people around (mainly other teammates) that they couldn't see if Jeremy was okay.

"James and Lily!" Sirius yelled at them to get their attention. Both turned to face Sirius.

"Yes?" James asked.

"You need to stop arguing! Stop playing against each other and start playing like a team! Do you want to lose the game?" Sirius demanded.

James bit his bottom lip as Lily looked at the ground. Sirius was right again. This was the second time Sirius had had to yell at them about competing. They needed to work together, not against each other. James didn't even reprimand Sirius for telling him what to do.

Sirius inwardly laughed at the two, who looked like five year old kids that got caught drawing with crayons on the walls. And then Sirius had a brilliant idea.

"Now shake hands," he said.

"What?" Lily said.

Sirius smiled. "You heard me. Shake. I can't be sure you won't kill one another out there otherwise. Obviously what I said to you at the last Quidditch game didn't take any effect, so I'm making sure it does this time."

James faced Lily and extended his hand. She took it, and they shook briefly before letting go rather quickly.

When Lily had turned back to the crowd around Jeremy and the Slytherin seeker, James gave Sirius a wide-eyed 'what the hell was that' look. Sirius just winked.

Jeremy was fine. As he was standing up, he held up something in his hand that was gold and shiny, and had tiny little wings flapping hopelessly against Jeremy's fist.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Almost everyone was cheering. The Gryffindor team all engulfed each other in a huge group hug. James numbly realized that Lily was right next to him and his arm was actually draped over her shoulders.

Too bad he didn't know that she realized the exact same thing.

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That night was a full moon. James, Sirius, and Peter waited under James' invisibility cloak as Remus was led down to the Whomping Willow.

While the Marauders were romping about the school grounds and Hogsmeade as animals, Lily, Mel and Kaye were in their dormitory talking.

"… and then he nearly shoved me off my broom, and that loser took the Quaffle!" Lily said, enraged at Slytherin's dirty playing at the Quidditch game that day.

Kaye rolled her eyes. "Lily, we both saw the game." She was getting bored with all the Quidditch talk.

Lily paid her no heed. "And James would not pass me the ball! Sirius had to come yell at us!"

Kaye perked up at the mention of James and Sirius. She wanted to hear Lily talk about James… and she wanted to hear about what Sirius said to them.

"Oh?" Mel asked, interested as well.

"What did Sirius say?" Kaye inquired.

"He told us to start playing like a team and quit competing… because it might cost us the game. And then he made us shake hands because yelling at us didn't work last game."

"Wait. Sirius had to yell at you guys before?" Mel said.

Lily nodded. "Unfortunatley."

"You had to shake hands with James. You had to touch him!" Kaye teased.

"Give me a break, we're not five," Lily said, rolling her eyes. She remembered also the group hug of the team and how she'd been right next to James. She could still feel his arm across her shoulder. Wait, what are you thinking? She asked herself. After pondering it for a few seconds, she decided that she was surprised, that was all.

"Hey, has Sirius claimed his kiss yet?" Mel asked Kaye.

"AAAA!" Kaye screamed. "No! He won't stop holding it over my head! I swear, he's gonna start blackmailing me soon!"

Lily laughed. "I wonder what's taking him so long. That party was a week ago."

"HE LIKES TO TORTURE ME!" Kaye wailed.

"Calm down!" Mel commanded.

"I can't believe we're still talking about this… a week later. I think we should tell Sirius to get it over with so that we can have normal conversations again!" Lily suggested.

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The next morning after they'd spent all night running around as animals, the Marauders were walking zombie-like under James' cloak back to the castle. As James passed the owlry, a sudden thought took him.

I should ask that girl's name.

He hastily explained to the other Marauders. Remus handed him a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Wait—how come you have this stuff?" James asked.

Remus grinned and shrugged.

James left the safety of the cloak and ran off towards the owlry.

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Lily was awakened by a scratching on the window. Kaye got up to open the window (because her bed was closest and the scratching had awakened her, too), and an owl flew in.

"Can't they wait until breakfast?" Kaye wanted to know.

The owl flew over to Lily. "Oh, it's that knight's owl!"

"Ooh!" Kaye scrambled over to Lily's bed.

The parchment contained only one line. 'What's your name?'

Lily smiled, just as Kaye was thinking oh shit! I have to keep her from telling her name.

"Should I tell him?" Lily asked, grabbing a quill.

"No!" Kaye said, a little too fast.

Lily looked at her strangely. "Why not?"

Kaye groped for a thought. "Um… because it ruins the mystery!" She groaned inwardly. That was crap. Was that the best she could come up with?

"What?" Lily asked.

"Um… well I mean… you met him with a mask on. You know virtually nothing about each other except what you talked about that one night. His name or your name might reveal too much… like what if he goes to Hogwarts?"

Lily was about to ask Kaye if she knew something that Lily didn't, but then Lily remembered that she had also wondered if the boy went to Hogwarts or not.

Lily frowned. "Well then how am I supposed to reply?"

"Ask him something else… like a clue about who he is… but not something so obvious as his name…"

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Like what?"

"If he… plays Quidditch?" Kaye said, voicing the first thing that came to her mind. As soon as it was out of her mouth, though, she realized it might be a bad idea.

"Hey yea! That would be awesome if he played Quidditch!" Lily exclaimed, scribbling something on the parchment and giving it back to the owl.

Kaye bit her lip as the owl flew through the open window.

"I'll ask him his name next weekend when I see him."

Kaye's eyes grew wide as she was struck with a thought. At first, she had just thought it would've been funny for Lily and James to meet and realize who they'd been talking too all night on Halloween. But now she was thinking that they might still kill each other if they met at this point… or they would just stop talking and ignore one another (not that they talked much to begin with…) Now it seemed like a perfect matchmaking opportunity. Kaye just had to make sure that Lily and James were friends enough so that when they finally did "meet", they wouldn't murder each other or run away screaming.

And for that, she needed Sirius. And she had to make sure they didn't meet up with each other the next weekend, either.

--end chapter nine!—

A/N--Sorry it took so long to update this! I was on vacation. But now I'm back! scary music

Review and I'll write faster, not to mention love you forever (hahaha j/k)