Sorry for the wait! I left you with a bit of a cliff hanger there. I suppose we can continue with our story now :D
King Winter arrives.
Alice smiled as she jogged towards the Quidditch pitch. She had promised her friend to watch the second half of the match. The divination homework meant the female could not see the first half. 'Good thing that it is winter. I would have to get up ridiculously early if not' observed the teen. She reached the pitch and tried to find the team. Her eyes beamed when she noticed that the team was sitting in the small tribune shed. "Goldie! What's the score?" called the girl as she approached them. Her friend looked up with a bright smile on her face. "We have a goal each so far. Slytherin knocked in one just before the break" informed the older female.
"How's the snitch hunt going Connie?" asked Charles. "Not so bad. It will be harder now as the snow is here though" replied Connie with an apologizing look. "Eh, I'm sure it'll work out. Let's get back on the pitch now. You're all doing great so far" told the male with a grin. "Do you best Goldie. I'll be watching from the Ravenclaw stand" told the teen. "Thanks" replied the Hufflepuff with a grateful smile. Her friend left them before the second half of the match started. 'I hope Connie or Maria catches the snitch soon. It's getting cold out here' thought the girl as she entered the pitch.
'Good luck guys' thought Alice as she saw the match start. It did not started out pretty well. The Slytherin chaser named Khatri managed to score another goal. Said goal was after twenty minutes with intense action. She crossed her fingers that one of the seekers would catch the snitch soon. The female hoped that Hufflepuff would win. Ravenclaw had lost against them earlier this season. 'Maybe we'll have a chance in the match against Gryffindor' hoped the teen as she looked upwards. Mathilda was flying above the towers. She slammed a bludger, sending two of the Slytherin players to the opposite side.
One of the Hufflepuff chasers managed to get a hold of the quaffle, but missed at the goal. 'Dangit!' thought the girl. She knitted her brows while balling her hands into fists. Hufflepuff was doing their best to prevent them for scoring any further goals. So far, they managed to keep them at bay. Suddenly, something happened. "OH MERLIN! IT LOOKS LIKE ZHANG AND PAYTON ARE FIGHTING TO GET THE SNITCH!" yelled the commentator. The Ravenclaw turned her head around. She saw two small blurs of green and gold zoom towards her part of the pitch. They were neck to neck with a determined look at their faces.
'Come on, come on, come on!' thought the female as the duo did a turn. It felt like the time was going in slow motion when both of the girls stretched out their hands. Ice blue eyes saw that the Hufflepuff seeker was just a couple of inches away from the snitch. Her small hand did a small twist before it closed around something. "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" screamed the Hufflepuff as she waved her hand. The audience went silent while the referee flied up to check. After he had given the thumbs up to Connie, the audience exploded. "ZHANG CAUGHT THE SNITCH! HUFFLEPUFF WINS THE MATCH JUST BY A COUPLE OF INCHES!" yelled the commentator. The Hufflepuff team were cheering while the Slytherin team looked slightly annoyed. Particularly the seeker since she was just inches away from victory. "WOHOOO!" yelled the ash blonde girl while she clapped her hands. She wondered how her friend felt it right now.
"YES! WE DID IT!" shouted Mathilda as she flied towards the pitch with her team. Connie was in tears of joy. The rest of her Quidditch team was grinning. The rest of the Slytherin team landed a minute later. "Shake your hands" told the referee. "Great job Gerald. You gave me a hard time out there" told the female as she shook hands with him. "You too" replied the beater. Despite that the Slytherin team was a bit violent at the pitch, they were not sore losers. The Hufflepuff suspected it was because they had scored the most goals. Furthermore, their seeker had lost by a small margin. Both teams went towards their respective wardrobes.
"GREAT job everyone! We gave Slytherin a run for their galleons today" told Charles with a huge smile. "Thanks" replied all of the players with a grin. "Let's take a shower. I know many of you are probably having essays or schoolwork this weekend. We'll celebrate at 7 PM at the Common room. Which will give you about five hours to do your work. Does this sound OK?" inquired the male. Everybody nodded. "Great! Let's do the team cheer!" told the captain. "ONE, TWO, THREE, HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the team before they split up.
"Awesome job you did there Connie! I must say you had quite a bit of luck today. Are you sure you did not drink any Felixir prior to our match?" inquired Sarah. "Hm…that could have explained why my black tea had shimmers of gold in it" replied the girl. Her teammates looked at her in disbelief. "Just kidding! I did not. I just kept behind Maria for a while. I saw the snitch just moments earlier than her" told the seeker. "Well, this proves that moments can decide the outcome. I just have to hurry up with the shower. I have to practice my charms today with Silv – I mean Alice" informed the older female. The other two nodded as they entered the shower.
'Aaaaah. This is nice' thought the Hufflepuff as the warm water went down her back. Her body was getting its warmth back after the match. However, the teenager had to hurry a little. She washed her hair as well as her body before she dried herself with a huge golden yellow towel. The girl brushed out the knots in her hear after putting on her clothes. "Bye girls! See you at the party tonight!" said Mathilda when she left the locker room. Her next stop would be the library to practice her charms with Alice.
Grass green eyes narrowed in concentration as the owner tried to fill up the tea cup with water. 'Concentrate now Lily' thought the female as she held her wand steady. She would only fill up to the supposed 1/3 mark on the small cup. 'Just a little more' thought Lily as the water started to reach the bottom third. Once the water reached the 1/3 mark, she removed it slowly. The female did not want to knock over the cup. "Let me have a look at it please" muttered the male. He looked into the cup to see how full it was. Remus nodded before the Gryffindor pointed the wand towards the water again. She narrowed her bright green eyes while she tried to say the charm inside her head. 'Glacia' thought the girl as she attempted to freeze the water. The guy opposite to her noticed that the water started to solidify. It was a good sign since the spell had started to work.
"I don't think I can keep my concentration for longer Remus" admitted the redhead two minutes later. She had a mild head ache due to the amount of practise. "I think you did fairly well. Look" told the male Gryffindor as he pointed at the cup. She looked inside it. Most of the water had frozen solid, but there were a few small cracks. "I almost did it" muttered the female with a tired smile at her face. A part of her rejoiced. All the practicing had resulted in a decent progress. "You did. I suppose I can give this one more chance" told the male. He held his wand over the tea cup while he tried to formulate the spell mentally.
'Steady now…' thought Remus as he saw the water emerge. He knitted his auburn eyebrows as he tried to concentrate. A part of him wanted his result to be the same as his partners. Or at least not too far behind. Green eyes glanced inside the cup to see how far the water had gotten. 'Merlin, I better stop now' decided the guy when he the water approached the mark. It was then time for part two. He took a deep breath while he raised his wand. 'Glacia, glacia' repeated the Gryffindor. He tried to imagine the water inside the cup freeze to ice. The male then looked at the cup. He could see chunks of ice forming in the cup. 'Just a little more' thought the male brunette as he inhaled some oxygen. He was able to hold his concentration for a minute or so.
"How did I do?" inquired the male as he glanced at Lily. "You did quite well actually. Look at this" replied the girl with a smile. She handed him the freezing cold cup. His eyes widened when he saw the end result. Nearly all the water had frozen to ice! The only difference was the cracks in the ice. It had somewhat wider cracks compared to her partners ice. "Whoa…that's not bad. Thanks for the help Lily. I really appreciate it" said Remus with a smile at his face. "You're welcome. Oh, I almost forgot that I have to write a birthday card for my father. Are you going back to the tower too?" inquired the Gryffindor. "Hm? No, I'm going to finish up on my potion essay. I'm almost done now" told the guy. He put his wand back in his backpacker. "See you later then" told the female before she left him. He waved good bye while she walked out of the quiet room.
Excited voices could be heard when Lily reached the main staircase. She had forgotten that there was a Quidditch match today. 'I am quite sure that the match was between Slytherin against Hufflepuff. I watched Gryffindor play against Hufflepuff just weeks ago' recalled the girl. She had decided to support her house by watching the match. Her house had won after a somewhat exciting match. Sadly, James had been a bit more unbearable than usual because of that. He WAS after all the seeker of the winning team.
"AI!" exclaimed the redhead after she bumped into someone. A pair of arms grabbed her, and stopped her from falling. She looked up to see who her rescuer was. It turned out to be the male she had just thought about. "James!? What are you doing here?" inquired the female in surprise. "I'm trying to find some mice for Mrs. Norris. Just kidding. I was on my way back to the library. I had to hand in an herbology book" told James. He pulled her back up at her feet. The other Gryffindor felt a bit flushed. Come to think of it, this was the most intimate contact she has had with a guy since the summer holiday. Said contact was her father who gave her a welcome home hug. 'I never thought James' hands were so warm' observed the teenager.
"Sorry, can you repeat what you said? I didn't catch it" admitted the girl. "I was on my way back to the library to hand in a book. It was one I used for my herbology essay" repeated the guy. "Really? But it's not due until Friday. Today is Saturday" informed Lily. A part of her was surprised. Her fellow Gryffindor was not the type to start this early on his course work. "Well, I have charms lessons as well. If I started early on my herbology essay, it would give me more time" told the male. A part of her was slightly amazed. It almost sounded like he had matured a bit. Having Sirius moving into his house last summer probably helped out with this maturation. Not to mention that he was 17 now. Her classmate was actually an adult by wizard standards.
"I see. Did you watch the Quidditch match today?" inquired the female. A grin formed at his face. "Yeah, sure did! Hufflepuff barely won against Slytherin! Both of their seekers were literally side by side. The Hufflepuff seeker caught the snitch at the end" told James with a huge smile. "Sounds like an exciting match. I have to go now I'm afraid. I guess I see you later" replied the redhead. "Bye then Evans" told the guy with a very friendly smile. She shook her head while she walked back to the Gryffindor towerk. It was a bit more crowded than usual due to the Quidditch match. Gryffindor was probably the house that enjoyed the sport the most. Slytherin came second while the remaining two were moderately interested. The girl found herself squished between two sixth-year students on her way up to the tower.
Her nose caught the smell of a perfume or after shave. 'It's a bit similar to the one James uses – wait a minute. When did I notice what kind of perfume he uses?' thought Lily in disbelief. A part of her thought that it was not so weird. Several of her male family members (including her cousins close to her age) used the same perfume or after shave for years. Maybe that was why she noticed the after shave. 'Are you kidding yourself Lily? Maybe you're falling for him' told another part of her brain. She shook her head. Why would she fall for James Potter? He was so cocky and somewhat irresponsible. Or…was he? The guy had actually started to PLAN his homework recently. James was not pulling so many pranks either compared to just six months earlier. 'Maybe he's starting to mature a bit. I'll see how things turn out' decided the female.
She walked onto the next set of stairs that lead to the Gryffindor common room. Once it stopped, a fourth year student walked ahead of her to give the password. "Password young man?" inquired the fat lady. "Fortuna major" replied the younger boy. His voice cracked at the latter word. "Correct. Maybe you should get something for your throat" suggested the lady. The painting moved to the side, and both Gryffindors entered the room. It was warm due to the fire on the fireplace while the air smelled a bit like oranges. There were plenty of people there since they had just came back from the Quidditch match. 'I better get up to my room so I can write that card' decided the redhead. She then headed for the stairs to the dorm rooms. The girl was about to turn a corner when she almost crashed into someone. That "someone" was the sixth year prefects David Wright.
"Sorry for bumping into you Lily!" apologized the guy. He had a semi-embarrassed look at his face. "I'm fine David" replied the girl with a small smile. She was a bit puzzled though. David was rarely stressed unless it was something serious. "Good to hear. Oh…while you're here…our muggle studies professor asked me to give you this. I couldn't give it to you yesterday since I needed to finish some homework" apologized the guy. He rummaged around in his bag before he handed her a piece of royal purple parchment. It made her a bit curious. The parchment did not look like the 'head girl papers' she usually received. "Thanks David. Have a nice Saturday" replied Lily with a smile. "You too Lily" said the male with a smile. He stepped aside and went down to the common room.
'Wonder what this is' thought the female. She decided to read it now in case it was something important. Her hands unrolled the parchment and read the small piece of text on it. 'Hogwarts is going to have a dual-event weekend at November 26th! Event number one is duel lessons with professor Flitwick as well as the former English duelist Harvey Frost. This lesson will cover basic duel tactics, efficient spells plus practicing matches. The second event is a lesson in waltz with professor McGonagall. If you want to participate, please inform professor Flitwick or professor McGonagall. The due date is November 16th. Both lessons will find place in the Great hall. The duel lesson starts at 11:00 AM and ends at 2:00 PM. There will be a thirty minute lunch break at 12:30 PM. Lesson two starts at 5:00 PM and ends at 7:00 PM. NB: The dress code for the dance is semi-formal. Best regards, professor Flitwick and professor McGonagall'.
The redhead smiled after reading that. It was not very often Hogwarts arranged events like these. She suspected the reason behind the duel lesson was that Voldemort was gaining power. Just the last couple of weeks, at least twenty people had disappeared. The numerous wizards that had been found injured or killed only added to the fear. 'I think I'll sign up for this. I need to defend my family after all. This should increase my chances' decided the girl. She saw the small note and raised her eyebrows. 'Merlin…I almost forgot why I was here! I better write that card to dad' remembered the Gryffindor. The female looked into her trunk. Minutes later, she found the card she bought for last Hogsmeade weekend.
There! I decided to introduce a small twist of some sort since this is a JamesxLily story. Please read and review ^_^