HEY EVERYONE!!! wow, it's a miracle right? me updating in less than 2 weeks. or something like that. ok well i was in a good mood ( i got accepted to the university i wanted to go to) and i had this chapter ready so i decided to put it up for you awesome readers. ENJOY!!!
hermy permy: UPDATE FASTER!!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S UP IN YOUR FIC!!! (p.s. i kinda borrowed an idea from you...don't worry though, i didn't copy it completly...just tweaked it a bit. hope you don't mind too much. it was just so funny. much love!!)
tm7: YOU'RE AWESOME!!! LOL.
Chapter 15. Quidditch Results and Unexpected Behavior
It was late in the Gryffindor common room, yet the room was loud and packed with students who were waiting anxiously for the results concerning the new Gryffindor Quidditich team members.
Lily was sitting in one of her favorite armchairs near the far end of the Gryffindor common room; a pillow was placed in her lap, along with some parchment and a Never-Ending Ink Quill so that she could finish her weekend homework. Liz was sitting on the floor, leaning her back against Lily's chair, reading a book as usual, while Gwen kept pacing back and forth in front of Lily.
Lily sighed. She was getting easily distracted from her work and it was annoying her that Gwen wouldn't sit down. After a minute or two of glancing at Gwen every five seconds, she finally set down her quill and looked up at the anxious blonde in front of her.
Through clenched teeth she shouted, "GWEN! WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP DOING THAT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD?!"
Gwen stopped in her tracks and turned to face the redhead. "Ah, I'm sorry, Lily. I just can't help it! I'm so bloody nervous about the results!!!" Gwen replied, suddenly falling to her knees and putting her head in her hands.
"Just relax a bit," said Liz from behind her large book, "I'm sure you'll do fine."
"I know I did great. But why do they have to make me wait?! I can't stand the anticipation!" Gwen whined through her hands.
Lily rolled her eyes. Gwen usually thought highly of herself, but sometimes Lily contemplated that one of these days those thoughts would get her dear friend in to trouble if she didn't watch who she was speaking with.
"Gwen, if you know that you were great and that you're going to make it, then quit your blubbering, sit on a chair, and wait for the results like a normal person," Lily said very firmly. Being strict with Gwen was necessary at times, or else she would continue with the drama, and Lily really didn't feel like having to deal with "Gwen the Drama Queen" right now.
Gwen blinked at Lily for a couple of seconds and then gave her a pout of defeat. She then picked herself up off the floor, walked over to the large armchair next to Lily and sat there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, glaring at the redhead with a cold blue stare. It reminded Lily of a child who had just been denied ice cream.
Satisfied with herself, Lily picked up her quill and continued with her work. It wasn't until a few minutes later that Lily put her quill down again and looked at Gwen, who was still sulking.
Lily let out a deep breath. "Gwen, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you."
"What, Lily?" the blonde asked, her expression still the same.
"Who trained you for the try-outs?"
In that instant, the Gwen looked at Lily with a sly grin. "Sirius helped me," she answered. A slight blush crept upon her face, but her grin never faltered. Gwen had a story to tell, there was no doubt about it.
"You asked him to help you?" Lily looked at her friend in astonishment. How did Gwen find the time to practice in the first place? And had she finally told Sirius Black how she felt about him? Lily didn't know yet, but she had reasons to guess that something very romantic had happened during those afternoons of Quidditch practice with Sirius.
"Lily, why do you sound so surprised? Of course I asked him to train me! He was one of the best beaters Gryffindor has seen since 1940!" Gwen said energetically."... then McGonagall banned him…but that's another story though."
"Oh, I dunno, it just caught me off guard, I suppose…so…how were your little practices with Mr. Sirius Black?" Lily asked; her voice low so as not to attract unwanted attention. "Did anything happen?"
Gwen laughed.
"What ever do you mean?" the blonde replied coyly. Playing dumb was her strong point, but she certainly was not stupid... far from it, in Lily's opinion.
"Oh, quit the games! What happened between you and Black during the training?!"
"Nothing…" she replied simply.
"Nothing? Wow, you're really not a good liar, Gwenny," said Lily, eyeing her friend. "Now, come on, tell me the truth," Lily nudged Gwen with her elbow, but it wasn't until she saw the look on her friend's face when she realized that Gwen was actually telling the truth.
Lily's jaw dropped to the floor.
That certainly could not be true. Gwen and Sirius hadn't snogged yet? How could that be?! They were the players of the school. Gwen had to be pulled Lily's leg.
"She's serious, Lily," said Liz. She had laid the book down on her lap to pay more attention to the discussion.
Lily's eyes went to Gwen, who was blushing brightly. "We've had moments though…Awkward ones, but they were still moments nonetheless," she said; her voice almost went to a whisper.
"What kind of moments?" Lily pressed.
"Well, we've got a secret handshake, for one," said Gwen oddly, thinking about it for a while.
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed…she was really expecting something much juicer than that. "Oh my goodness, you can't really tell me that that's the only "moment" you two have had together!" Lily said, shaking her head.
Gwen nodded and then suddenly jumped up.
"Ah! There was also that time when he had his arms around me to "show" me the correct way to hold the bat…but then again, I kinda held it wrong on purpose to see if he would correct me….seemed to have worked pretty well." She laughed at her own cunningness. "And then there was that ti—"
"Remus pushed me against the wall and snogged me senseless…" Liz interrupted suddenly, her words almost ran all together at once. She paused for a second, and then added, "while walking back from the library yesterday." Liz then quickly picked up her book and flipped it open, not seeming to notice that she was holding it the wrong way.
The two other girls stared, wide eyed and stunned at Liz. This was going to be a very interesting story.
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James and the boys waited on the other side of the room for the results, relaxing on nice comfy armchairs near the fireplace. James lounged tiredly on his armchair; he was exhausted, but he really wanted to know who had made it on the team.
He glanced around Gryffindor common room, looking for a particular redhead. Within seconds he quickly spotted Lily in a corner of the room, along with Gwen and Liz, of course.
She was sitting with some parchment and a quill, finishing up weekend homework, he presumed. He watched as she wrote intensely on the parchment; every now and then glancing up to see Gwen pacing in front of her.
"Gwen looks really nervous," said James as he stretched out his arms above his head.
Sirius mumbled something incoherently, making James look at him.
"What was that mate?" James asked, though he too was still staring at the girls at the other end of the room.
Sirius was leaning back in his lounger, looking very cool and handsome as always. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair and kept bouncing his right leg up and down. To others, it might have looked as if Sirius was just relaxing without a care in the world, but James knew his friend's signs of anxiety when he saw it.
Sirius's gaze darted from one spot to the next: notice board to Lily then back to the notice board and again back to Lily. James was curious now, why was Sirius looking at his Lily? A twinge of anger rose in him and it was then that James realized Sirius was really staring at Gwen, noticing how Sirius's dark brown eyes darted back and forth, following the pretty blonde's movements.
A sigh of relief emitted from James's mouth; he then smirked. Sirius fancied Gwen….how could he have not figured it out sooner? (A/N: James is clueless at times)
"Sirius," said James.
Sirius didn't respond. He only stayed in his daze.
"Sirius!" James called out again. This time Sirius looked at James with a blank expression.
"What?" he asked, looking a tad bit annoyed.
James smiled. "Hey mate, tell me about your training with Gwen. How did this come about? I rarely see you two talk and then now all of a sudden you're helping her train for Quidditch tryouts? Is there something else you're not telling me, Padfoot, ol' buddy?" James asked suspiciously with his smile still in place.
"What are you talking about? I just trained her—that was all—there was nothing else," said Sirius, his face very stern—which was something that caught James off guard. James eyed him, and Sirius's façade went away quickly.
"Alright, maybe there was a moment or two during those three nights of practice, but it was really nothing…." said Sirius. James noticed a small hint of disappointment in his voice.
"Oh come on, Padfoot. You can tell us all the perverted details…it's not like we haven't heard worse from you—we all know what you've done before...in the broom closets," James said suggestively, a smirk played on his lips as he moved his eyebrows up and down. Sirius only looked back at him with a frown.
James's smirk left and he immediately stopped the eyebrow movement. "You two haven't even kissed yet?" He asked with surprise.
Sirius nodded. "Nope, nothing…" the long-haired boy said with a frown. "I'm starting to think that she doesn't even like me—"
"Ah ha! So you do like her!" James said in triumph.
Sirius eyed James peculiarly. "Uh, well of course I like her….Prongs, I thought you knew all this? Moony, hadn't I told him that I liked Gwen?" Sirius asked, looking at Remus, who was occupied with a book from the Restricted Section.
"No, you haven't told James that you like Gwen," Remus replied, still reading his book.
"Really? Hmm, I thought I had," said Sirius, scratching his head.
"No, because you only found out this morning how much you fancy her," Remus added, his eyes still glued to the book.
"Oh ok, well, I like Gwen." Sirius shrugged.
"Jeez, Sirius, I dunno what to think…either, your life is going too fast for me to keep up or you're forgetting to tell me a whole lot of things about it…I guess it kinda sucks that I don't live in the Gryffindor dorms anymore," sighed James sadly. He was really losing touch with his best friends…that was completely unacceptable for being a member of the Marauders.
"I'm sorry, James…it just sucks to be you right now," Sirius replied, almost sympathetically, but not quite.
"Forget about it; now tell me, why haven't your moves worked on the fair Gwenivere? I thought you were the player of all players, the Don Juan of Hogwarts, the Love Ma—"
"Ok, ok, I get it. Enough with the comparing for Merlin's sake…" Sirius sighed. "And I dunno why my moves haven't worked…it just feels different with her. She's a lot like me, so when we talk, we just connect and then all my smoothness goes away. I try to put the moves on her, but she doesn't react in a way that other girls do…it's almost as if she's immune to my dashing charms!" said Sirius frightfully.
"Mate, you're just being paranoid…I have a good feeling you do have an effect on her…she's just really good at hiding it."
"You think so?" Sirius asked with uncertainty.
"Padfoot, I know so…how could any girl resist the debonair Sirius Black?" James winked, making Sirius grin.
James paused for a moment to think, and then continued with the conversation. "Now tell me, there had to have been some point where the two of you almost kissed or held hands or something."
"Alright, well I guess things started even before the Quidditch training, to tell you the truth," said Sirius as he held his chin with his index finger and thumb; he looked like a hot model posing for Witch Magazine.
"Well, like what?" James asked anxiously.
"I almost held her hand a couple of times, and one time while we were in an empty classroom practicing spells I kissed her on the cheek." Sirius's face went placid as he remembered the events of that evening with Gwen.
James nodded. "Ok…anything else?"
Sirius was about to nod when his eyes lit up. "We have a secret handshake," he said proudly.
James didn't know if that was a new innuendo for something sexual or if it really meant that Sirius and Gwen had a secret handshake.
"A 'secret handshake'?" James asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, a secret handshake…you know, when you shake someone's hand in a way you don't shake anyone else's…really James, you've got to keep up with me here," replied Sirius exasperatedly.
"Sure…so what else have you and Gwen done?"
"Uhh…I almost—"
"I pushed Elizabeth up against the wall yesterday, and kissed her," said Remus out of nowhere, not even bothering to lift his head up from his book.
James and Sirius's head shot up in Remus's direction. Their mouths hung open like fish caught on a hooks.
"W-what did you just say, Moony?!" James stuttered, looking at Remus in complete disbelief.
"You heard me…" Remus replied nonchalantly, his eyes never leaving the book, although James could tell he really wasn't reading it, just staring at the page blankly.
"We heard you, Moony. We're just wondering if you realized what you've just said," said Sirius, his eyes wide from the news.
Remus looked up from his book, a broad smile lit up his face, and it suddenly reminded James of those old muggle cartoons of the Big Bad Wolf and the toothy smile that it gives when its about to plan something bad.
"I know what I just said…"
"You actually—you and Liz—snogged before me and Gwen?!" Sirius stammered, his eyes wide and confused. "How did this happen?! James and I are the ones with the smooth moves! When did you start getting the girls before us?!" he nearly shouted.
"I told you not to worry about my flirting technique, didn't I?" said Remus as he stared at Sirius calmly; his striking gray eyes glowed with a certain intensity…it was the kind of thing that usually only happens after his night with the full moon.
Then James remembered; it was only after the full moon that Remus wasn't quite himself. And it was during this time that you would see Remus act spontaneously, or a little reckless at the most. Yup, Remus was experiencing PFMS: Post Full Moon Syndrome. (A/N: I kinda got that idea from hermy permy…hope you don't mind too much, hermy…and I did kinda change it up a bit, see:P please forgive me!!)
"So, how did it happen?! Why didn't you tell us yesterday when you got back to the dorm?!" Sirius bombarded.
"I felt that it was none of your business, plus, I don't kiss and tell," he replied a little smugly.
"None of our business?! But we're your best friends! How could it be none of our business?! This is your first make-out session! We need to know all the details!!! AND YOU KISSED AND TOLD US ABOUT IT ANYWAY! SO GIVE US THE DETAILS!!!" said Sirius, nearly falling out of his chair as he leaned closer to Remus.
"Who said this was the first time that I've snogged anyone?" Remus asked with raised eyebrows and a coy smirk.
James shook his head slowly, trying to take this entire information in. "I knew there was something that I was forgetting to do yesterday," he finally said gravely.
Both his friends turned curious faces to James.
Remus was the first to speak. "What did you forget to do, James?"
"I forgot not to let you wander around alone with your horny werewolf hormones raging!" James grinned widely. It was about time Remus started to get in on all the action. It was their 7th year. What better a great to start.
Remus gave James a stern look for a split second before he smiled.
"So now are you going to tell us what happened yesterday?!" asked Sirius hopefully.
"NO!"
James bugged. "Awe come on, Moony!"
The werewolf looked at his friends sternly, as if thinking weither or not he should tell them about his experience with Elizabeth. A minute or two passed like this, along with James and Sirius begging and whinning until finally Remus sighed and said, "Alright, be quiet. I guess I can tell you a little—"
In that instant a loud voice—sounding much like Gregory Thomas—announced that the results were up on the notice board.
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Almost simultaneously, people scrambled up from their seats and stormed across the room to the result board. The room was suddenly filled with an explotion of excited cheers and yells.
"Let me through! Let me through!" Gwen screamed as she pushed her way through the crowd.
Pushing her way through the crowd as well, Lily reached the front and stood next to Gwen, whose expression looked anything but thrilled.
"What's wrong, Gwenny? Did you make it?" Lily asked excitedly, but as her eyes grazed over to the paper on the wall she slowly got the feeling that everything wasn't as hoped.
Gwen turned to look at Lily; her light, blue eyes glistened with the hint of tears.
"M-my name isn't there," she whispered somberly.
In the distance, a certain someone shouted. It was Sirius, and he sounded very upset.
"She didn't make it?! How could she not make it? She was probably the best one there!"
Gwen turned toward Lily and fell into her arms to cry on her shoulder. Lily was caught off guard and nearly fell back by the blonde's abruptness. After wrapping her arms around Gwen, Lily instantly felt the tears soak her blouse as her friend wept silently on her shoulder.
"Oh Gwen, I'm so sorry," Lily mumbled soothingly. She looked out into the crowd around them to find that most of the people were leaving the crowd to join their perspective groups. Glancing around, she soon got the feeling that she was being watched and realized that James was looking right at her and Gwen.
She quickly looked away from the messy haired boy; she was still embracing Gwen, and patting her back soothingly. Her eyes roamed over to Sirius, who had fought his way out of the crowd and was now searching for something...or someone.
"Where is that damned Gregory?!" growled Sirius. "He probably made a mistake with that list! And if he didn't then I'll have to hex his ass!!" Sirius's hands were in his robes, reaching for his wand. Instantly, Lily looked over to James, but as she turned to look at him he began to stride over to Sirius, his face set into a stern, un-James like way.
There was going to be trouble if James didn't do something soon. Sirius was not one to think too much on rationalizing a situation. He was more of a hex-now-ask-questions-later kind of guy.
"What are you doing, Padfoot?" she could hear James hiss as he reached Black.
Lily watched.
"I'm going to have a little chat with your Quidditch Captain, Prongs. Have you seen him?" said Sirius through clenched teeth, his beautiful, raven-black hair fell gracefully on his face, but it still didn't hide his rage.
"What's wrong, gentlemen? Something not to your liking?" a voice asked very calmly. Lily recognized it as Greg, the new Quidditch captain. She had never spoken to him before, but he was supposedly one of the smartest boys in his year, and he sure wasn't bad to look at.
Sure enough the eye-catching, young 6th year appeared from behind a crowd of people whom he had been talking to.
"Like hell something's wrong, Greg! You know very well Gwen should have made it!!" said Sirius as he pointed his wand threateningly towards Greg. The Quidditch Captain looked back at the angered boy in puzzlement.
James shook his head and placed a hand on Sirius's wand arm, gently pushing it down.
Sirius shot James an angry glare, but James ignored it.
"You see, Greg, Sirius and I feel that you may have made a slight mistake on the results," said James in an almost hushed voice, but he seemed to have failed miserably since Lily could still hear him. "I thought most of us voted on Gwen being on the team?"
Greg looked at the two boys curiously. "What ever do you mean James? I assumed I had put her name up on the paper already," he replied, his perfect lips fell into a frown.
"No, you didn't put her name on there!" growled Sirius, pointing with his wand menacingly at the results across the room.
Greg looked questioningly at James, as if to ask what the hell Sirius's problem was.
James understood the look and replied, "Ignore him please, it's a long story."
Greg shrugged indifferently, and got back to business.
"So would you please take a look at the paper, because we are certain that you didn't put her name up," said James keenly.
Lily looked at James with wide eyes. She couldn't believe it. He was actually trying to get Greg to change the results, all for Gwen...
She kept on looking at him until he glanced over to her with confident eyes.
They held each other's gaze for a few seconds before she turned away, which was a good thing too since James, Sirius and Greg began to stride over to the results.
Lily looked at the three boys with anticipation as they drew closer to the board with the results until finally Greg walked up to the paper on the wall and gasped softly.
"Oh my goodness," Greg whispered as he turned quickly to Sirius and James apologetically. "I'm afraid you boys are quite correct. I seemed to have neglected to put Gwen's name on the results. And come to think of it, there isn't a name at all for the beater position."
Hearing the news, Gwen picked up her head from Lily's shoulder and turned her pretty sky-blue eyes to Gregory.
"W-what do you mean?" she asked shakily, trying not to stutter too much due to her crying.
"What I mean is that you made it and I'm sorry for making you cry. That was very horrible of me—please forgive my forgetfulness, Gwen," said the handsome 6th year boy warmly, his face was bright with a sincere smile. "Congratulations, you've made it to the team."
At that he took out his wand, turned to the paper on the wall and with a flick of his wrist, Gwen's name appeared on the paper, making it official that she had made it.
Gwen wiped her tear-streaked face; a smile slowly crept onto her lips as she walked closer to the results. Greg gave Gwen a pat on the back and a polite nod at Lily before going back to the group of 6th years he had been talking to.
For a good five minutes Gwen just stood there, staring avidly at the board, with her smile still plastered firmly on her face.
"So are you just going to stand there and smile at the results or are you going to thank me for making such a fuss?" said a smug Sirius, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest coolly.
Gwen turned quickly towards him, and stared at him oddly, but she soon strode over to give the Marauder a warm hug. Sirius looked at her strangely before his face lit up with a certain brightness as Gwen wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands rested lightly around her waist to complete the hug. Unfortunately for Sirius, it was over before it started because Gwen quickly let go of him, seeming to leave him standing there with a discontented look on his handsome face. Lily assumed that he was more used to the loose girls who always gave him what he wanted. Gwen was flirtatious, but she was hard to get…even by Marauder standards she was considered a "toughie" in the dating scene.
Lily looked at the couple. They seemed to be heading in the right direction of romance…or something close to it.
Lily's thoughts were interrupted with a small cough. "And don't forget about me, I was the one who did most of the reasonable talking, remember?" said James with a smile.
Gwen looked questioningly at James and then to Sirius. "He's right. He did do most of the talking," Sirius said, still looking rather disappointed that Gwen wasn't in his arms still. His arms hung loosely at his sides with his shoulders were hunched a bit.
Gwen nodded at Sirius and then walked up to James proudly. At first Lily thought she was about to give Potter a hug, but at the last moment Gwen extended her right hand to give him a grateful handshake.
"That was some swell performance you put out there…and I take back what I said earlier, you can keep your balance on a broomstick," he grinned at her.
"Thanks, Potter…but you haven't seen nothing yet," was all she said with a grin on her face as well. She let go of his hand quickly to turn and run straight for Lily. Then the girls began to scream with joy.
Just then Liz and Remus arrived to congratulate Gwen.
Shortly after the excitement died down, and nearly everyone had gone up to their rooms, Gwen and Liz went off to bed—Gwen still chanting happily "I made it! I made it" as Liz ushered her up the stairs to their sleeping quarters.
Lily left Gryffindor common room with James. They walked quietly together through the dimly-lit passageway. Once reaching their own common room, James said a soft good night to her and headed to his room. Lily walked to her room as well; her hand was about to turn the knob before something unexpected came over her.
"Hey, Potter," she said softly, catching herself off guard by calling him in the first place. James must have been caught off guard too because he looked at her with a questioned look.
"Yes, Evans?" he asked, his hand holding onto his door knob too. His hazel eyes looked at her with interest, giving Lily a weird feeling as she held his intense gaze.
She gulped silently. Still wondering why she was going to do this.
"Thanks...for helping Gwen," she said, opening the door to her room but not going inside just yet.
"It was nothing," he replied, giving her a little grin as he too opened his door slightly. "She deserved to be on the team," he added.
Lily grinned at him and then walked into her room, closing the door behind her softly.
And that was the first time Lily Marie Evans had ever truly thanked James Harry Potter for anything.
Wooo!!! this was fun to write. i hope it was fun to read. well next chapter might take long again since i haven't even started it. i have the ideas but it's just been getting harder and harder for me to put it all together. anyway, just please bare with me. The Halloween ball is coming up soon so get ready for the party!!! lol well have a good one and don't forget to review!!!
Elie