When she danced, her ears would close away everything except the music. She would hear the beat and feel it pound pound pound in her ears. The delicately strung notes would scream at her and she would absorb them-live them-feeling the pain of the melody, gracing it with faultless spins. When she danced, her ears would close away everything except the music.
Her muggle cassette player doesn't work in the castle so she links her radio to the WWN and breathes. The best songs are played by Reggie on Wednesday nights at eight. He plays the deep music. The kind with a down beat so low that you swear it plummets through the earth. She stretches out to the frilly songs that Judy plays at seven and then she's ready. She works her world into the dance. The ups and downs of everyday life and the hard memories of the past.
She first started dancing when her Mum enrolled her in Ms. Bettie's Academy of Dance. It was an expensive little place about twenty minutes from her house and the girls in her class were snotty, but she loved it. The pale pink tights that she slipped into when she performed clashed horribly with her whole complexion, and the shoes pinched her toes, but the dancing was so freeing. She didn't belong anywhere, and dancing made her feel like she fit with something at least.
She ditched her tights when she got her Hogwarts letter, but she still danced at least once a week. Her dorm mates saw her twirling about her room pulling her backpack together in the morning, but they didn't know that she spent her Wednesdays in an empty classroom dancing her worries away. It was silly if she thought about it, but the subject had never really come up and she was alright with no one knowing. It was more fun to slip out of the common room unnoticed and sneak back in right before curfew hit.
She had just gotten a new pair of slippers before the school year started and she was on her way to her classroom with an excited twinkle in her eye. She had her dancing clothes on under her robes and she could hardly restrain herself from leaping there. She had missed dancing last Wednesday for head duties, and she missed the feeling of the music when she made it live. She needed it.
She closed the door silently behind her when she made it to her desired destination and she quickly set up her wireless and stripped off her robes. After she had grown out of her pale pinks, she had gotten a black leotard. She warmed up with Judy on the radio and waited for Reggie to turn on the good stuff before she started to dance for real. Her hair started in a bun, but halfway through, she tore the elastic from her hair in a preference to allowing her tendrils of red to dance along with her.
She finished at ten, and it was a true mark of her concentration that she never heard nor saw Sirius Black when he came into the room and sat down to watch. She heaved out weighted breaths and set him with a glare from hell.
"What are you doing, Black? I swear to Agrippa and back that if you say anything to anyone-and I really do mean anyone-"
"Chill, Red. With that hair of yours, I don't want you catching fire. I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm not that much of a prick, you know," Sirius pushed himself from his spot on the ground and let out a long suffering sigh.
Lily narrowed her eyes at him and studied his face before nodding and slipping her robes back on over her leotard. "Well what are you doing down here anyways?"
Sirius didn't miss a beat, "I was looking for pretty muggleborns in empty classrooms. What else do I ever do?"
Lily sent him another glare before she zeroed in on the navy blue journal in his hand. Noticing her eyes were no longer on his face, he followed her gaze to his book and quickly shoved it in the pocket of his robes. "Come on. I'll walk you back, Evans."
"Not so fast, Black. What's that little book you're so keen on safeguarding?" Lily nodded her head to the pocket he had stowed the book in as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.
"It's nothing really. Just found it on the ground. Was flipping through it."
Lily quirks an eyebrow at his lame excuse but doesn't say anything more. After all, it must be personal if he doesn't want to share, and he definitely didn't intrude on her personal space tonight by watching her dance. So, she just nods her head and starts out of the room, knowing he'll follow. It takes under a minute for them to start walking in pace together and Lily takes advantage of the peaceful silence that surrounds them.
"Accio!" The little navy blue book is in her hands before he can even blink and when he realizes what happened, the only bit of her he can see it the flash of red as she rounds the corner. Sirius sprints after her and curses the lost map as he runs in the direction he hopes she went. Sure enough, there she is, using the moving staircases to her advantage and running up one as he starts sprinting for it. She's laughing and for a fleeting second, he thinks she has opened the book, but a second look tells him that it's still securely tucked under her arm. He hops onto the staircase in the last second and revels in the shocked features adorning her face. The staircase isn't moving, and she is trapped.
"Should've known that you can't beat a Marauder, Evans," she sticks her tongue out at his teasing as he walks up the steps and whips out the book, opening it to the first page. He rushes up the length of the stairs-damn these steps for being so goddamn long-and by the time he snatches the book out of her hands, her mocking expression had developed into one of confusion.
"Now, it's my turn to threaten your mouth closed, dear," Lily is sitting atop the marble steps and Sirius drops roughly down next to her and sinks a hand into his hair. The action reminds her of James and it snaps her back into reality.
"You write poetry." Lily doesn't ask, she states. It's true-she's read a poem. Sirius grunts in reply and she feels a wave of guilt hit her in the stomach, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Just don't go blabbering on about it now, you hear?"
"Yeah, I do," she hesitates for a second. "You're really good."
At that, he actually laughs out loud. "If you want to get in my pants, Evans, I should tell you that flattery is not the way."
She rebukes him with a slap to the back of his head and he let's out an overly exaggerated OW! that makes her smirk. "I won't tell anyone about your book. Please don't tell them about the dancing," she sounds so fragile as she says it that he looks down at her before responding.
"I won't. You've got nothing to be ashamed of, though."
She pushed herself off of the stairs and walked off without looking back, "Neither do you."
That night after she had slipped into her comfy flannel pajamas and switched out her ballet slippers for squishy ones, she went down to the common room. It seemed like the common room was only ever busy at night when the seventh years and fifth years had their tests coming up. She liked to come down and sit by the fire before heading off to bed and even more so she enjoyed that no one would bother her when she did so. Until now, of course.
He fell into the seat next to her like he came out of nowhere. "Won't your boyfriend be mad at me for spending so much time with you?" Lily quirked her eyebrow at Sirius, holding back a smile at his absolute adolescence.
"Remus doesn't mind our friendship," the way he so calmly responded made her wonder it maybe he actually did have a relationship with their bookish friend, but she ignored the thought and continued on with her original mindset.
"I was talking about Potter you nutter," she sighed as she readjusted herself on the couch so her feet rested on the opposite end of the couch. Her legs fell across Sirius' lap and he glared at her to which she responded with a sugar-coated smile.
"What has you all in a tither about Jamie-Boy's feelings, now? Has he finally caught you?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows at her causing her to laugh obnoxiously and several glares from the few others in the common room.
"No, you big dolt," she stayed silent for a while before she made a decision on bringing up his poems. "So is there any way that I can sneak a peek at your blue book again?"
"Shush it, will ya? I don't want that getting spread around and you promised to keep your big trap shut."
Lily glared at the mild insult and sat up, pulling her legs from his lap, "I just want to read them!"
"You can't."
"And why not?"
"I don't want you to. And I'm not getting anything in return so it's not worth it."
"I'm not going to snog you if that's what you're after."
"I'm not asking for a snog, you loony bird."
"Fine."
"Fine."
They fell into an awkward silence before Lily broke it again, "Are all of your writings like that one?"
"What?"
"Your poems. Are all of them about that."
Sirius looked angry now, but she could sense the confusion underneath it. "You don't know what you're on about."
"I do."
"What?"
"I do. Know what you're on about I mean. I get how it feels. To not belong," she looked over at him now, only to see that he was already staring.
"Oh, and how would you know? Literally everyone in this castle likes you."
There was a beat of silence before, "Blood purists don't. And my sister doesn't either."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh."
Silence comes yet again but this time it's not as awkward, but more understanding. Sirius picks at his cuticles and Lily chooses to just make eye contact with the fire that is so reminiscent of her hair. They don't talk again until goodnights are bid and they trudge off to their dorms.
No one really understands how Sirius and Lily seemed to have become friends overnight, but they don't ask. James is upset until she sits with his group of friends for breakfast. Remus smirks at Sirius throughout breakfast and Peter just eats as if nothing changed. He always knew that she'd be sitting with them someday after all.
Harry is just glad that James' good mood seems to last all day as it will make quidditch tryouts a hell of a lot less intimidating. He hasn't told Hermione that he's planning on going yet, and he's starting to fear doing so. He knows that Ginny is going and he is silently wishing that maybe they can just sneak down to tryouts without Hermione noticing. It's not likely.
They're all sitting in the library when 3:30 rolls around. The tryouts are at four and if you're late, then you can't tryout. It seemed as though James was pretty serious when it came to his sport. Harry keeps on meeting Ginny's eye in what he hopes appears to be a casual way because he doesn't want Hermione catching on and he doesn't want Ron getting the wrong idea.
It takes two minutes before, "Will you just say whatever it is that you're up to already? My Merlin! This is getting past aggravating!"
Harry swallowed the lump in his throat that automatically accompanied Hermione's anger and sent a panicked look to Ginny who scowled before turning to the only other girl at the table. "We were just about to leave for quidditch tryouts."
The casual manner in which Ginny dared to approach the subject shocked Harry, but Hermione's response to it did not. "Ginny! You can't possibly be serious right now! You can't tryout for the Quidditch team! You could affect the course of time!"
"Oh please, Hermione. Because we definitely aren't screwing with the 'course of time' by just being here already! They need players and I'm damn good, and I miss quidditch! If I want to tryout for the sodding team, I will!"
Hermione let out a frustrated growl and turned to Harry and Ron for help, "Please tell her that's she's acting like a numbskull!"
Ginny shot up in her seat, pushed over the edge by Hermione's condescending attitude. Hermione's eyes blazed and she turned to the boys, "Well?"
Harry looked sheepish, "I agree with Ginny. I mean, it'd be cool to play alongside my dad. I haven't really talked to him much since we got here, and well yeah, I haven't played quidditch since last year."
"You two have got to be joking! You do realize that this is probably the most stupid idea I have ever heard the two of you come up with!"
Harry was about to say something to calm Hermione down, but Ginny cut him off, "Stupid? Oh please Hermione, do not tell me that you really just said that. You need to hop off the high horse that you've been on since we've gotten here. No matter what we do, time is screwed. Stop acting like a know-it-all when you're just as ignorant of what's going on as the rest of us. This is my life! I am going to play quidditch if I damn well please and you will not be stopping me. Come on, Harry. We have tryouts to get to."
Harry vacated the seat that he had held across from Hermione and frowned at Hermione as he and Ginny left the library. The two of them had to book it to get down to the pitch, but they made it on time and that was the most important part. Once they arrived on the field, Harry put his hand on Ginny's shoulder to ask if she was alright, but she shrugged it off.
"You're not exactly on my list of favorite people either Harry. Don't touch me until you know what the hell it is that you're looking for. I'm not here for you to lead me on."
Harry stared dumbtruck at Ginny as she strode away towards the group that had gather to tryout for the chaser position. He moved over the seeker hopefuls and tried not to stare at her as he thought over what she said. His thoughts were cut short, however, when James took center pitch and cast a sonorous charm on his voice.
"Alright Gryffindors! If you were late, just leave now. I know who you are and trust me, if you try to tryout it won't have a pretty ending. And if you're not in Gryffindor, you can go on and take your leave too. I think it's pretty simple. Haven't flown before? Off the pitch. Questions?" No one raised their hands so James continued.
"The whole team is trying out. No exceptions. I don't play favorites and I don't care if it's your seventh year. It's my seventh year too and I want to win. That means we are trying for a keeper, a seeker, two beaters, and two chasers. Let's get started, yeah? Do 10 laps around the pitch on your brooms." He stuck a whistle into his mouth and blew it to signal people to kick-off.
Harry pushed against the ground hard and shot into the air. He was using one of the school brooms which was actually in good condition and was a newer model at this point in the timeline. He watched Ginny out of the corner of his eye as she kicked off from the other side of the pitch. Her start off was as strong as his, if not stronger, as she was used to old model brooms. He flew his 10 laps around the pitch, weaving in and out of the other hopefuls, Ginny riding his tail. They completed the final lap together and dismounted at center pitch, only then noticing that they were the first ones done.
It took about two minutes for everyone else to finish and once everyone was firmly on the ground again, James eliminated half of the hopefuls. Harry and Ginny still remained and he smiled at her from his spot amongst the crowd.
"Well, that was a bit discouraging to be truthful. I was hopeful for a team of top flyers, but you can't always get what you want, right? We'll work in separate groups now. Divide yourselves up and let me see how many I have left in each category so I can eliminate the smallest groups first. Chasers with me, seekers by the Hufflepuff stands, keepers by Ravenclaw, beaters by Gryffindor."
Harry walked off towards the Hufflepuff stands, only one other person with him. He took notice of all of the other groups and was surprised that no one was left for keeper and there were only three for beater. There was a group of eight surrounding James, and Harry sighed at what he knew was coming next.
"Well, seeing as there is enough for each position, but not enough volunteers, I would like to try you for all positions. If you're not alright with that, you can leave my pitch. Seeker first. We'll release three faux snitches into the air and the three who spot them will move along in seeker tryouts. Mount and kick-off, people. I don't want to be out here in the dark."
As soon as James blew his whistle, Harry was in the air. He flew above the rest of the group and traced a figure eight in the sky above him while he kept an eye out for a "snitch." He was up in the air for ten minutes before he caught sight of a snitch and shot after it. He passed Ginny on the way who was diving too. He didn't know if she was in the midst of a Wronski feint or if she was in pursuit of her own golden ball. He peeled his from the air at three feet off the ground and quickly yanked himself out of the dive. He sent a silent thank you to Merlin for the brooms being in better condition now than when he first rode one.
He directed his attention back to the sky and saw that some other boy had caught the second snitch and Ginny was neck and neck with a scrawny boy for the third one. He turned his eyes back to James as Ginny snatched the ball out of the air and waited for further instruction. James seemed happy with the result and asked if any of the three who caught the snitch were interested in beater. When they all said no, he blew the whistle and started beater tryouts with the rest of the hopefuls. It took until almost nine, but all of the tryouts eventually ended and the hopefuls were told to go eat.
Harry waited until the pitch was empty before he went out to lay on the grass in the center of the pitch. He found Ginny there and thought of going back to the castle when she yanked him down onto the landscape next to her. They laid there in silence for a half hour and Harry was starting to think that his companion had drifted off to sleep, but she spoke right as he was about to knock her shoulder.
"You were exceptional today, Harry," Ginny had her eyes closed and her face directed at the sky as she spoke to him. She was laying on the grass of the pitch and breathing deeply.
He leaned back until he was also lying down, but he used his arms to pillow his head and he breathed in the air deeply. "You did too, Gin. Chaser is yours."
Her laugh was so relaxed and he couldn't resist smiling at it, "I wouldn't be getting so cocky, Mr. Potter."
"It's Mr. Synk, actually," the smirk in his voice was practically palpable and Ginny snickered at his pompous attitude.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Synk. My deepest apologies, truly," she was heavy with the sarcasm and Harry opened his eyes to look over at her. She still had her eyes shut and the moonlight was bouncing off of the milky skin that used to be buried under her many freckles. Harry felt his heart stutter at the sight and didn't even think about it as he leaned down to kiss her. Her lips were as soft as he remembered and he fell into the kiss, not thinking of the consequences it might bring.
A/N: Hello dears :) Please bear with me! I know that this chapter started a bit weird, but it will all fit in soon. I'm going to start doing some characterizations and bridging of friendships in the beginnings of chapters now. It will work out. . . I hope. Review please! When you review my stories, I review yours! And I love your ideas and guidance! Theres a new poll on my profile!