Chapter 3: Secret Training
"Attention please!" Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts announced in the Great Hall. The talkative students grew quiet.
"Welcome back to another year of school at Hogwarts! I'm so delighted to see all of your smiling faces here again."
"Another speech, another year," Sirius whispered, "Same old, same old." But James wasn't paying attention. On the train, Moony had been taken away by one of Lily's friends who had asked to talk to him. And when he came back, he was smiling and had given James the advice of, don't be a prat and your year will be good. Something was up, and James wanted to know. But that would have to wait for now.
"Lily, he's looking again," Alice whispered. Lily turned and found herself staring directly into James Potter's hazel eyes. He does have pretty eyes, wait, Lily! What are you thinking? Stop! She turned away from Potter and back to Dumbledore who was reminding the students of the forbidden places on the grounds.
Yet, as she sat there, she could feel his eyes boring into her; taking in every inch of her. She became nervous, and blushed, looking down at the table they were seated at, trying not to look at Alice and Natalie.
What if they think I like him? She thought, how horrible!
James watched Lily very closely. He looked at her gorgeous long red hair, wishing he could tangle his fingers in it; her curved face, how delicate and soft her skin looked. Those enchanting emerald eyes, they took his breath away whenever he looked into them. Lily Evans was the perfect girl. He just wished that she saw him the same way.
"Lily," Natalie nodded.
She sighed, preparing herself. She turned around yet again to find Potter staring, and now smiling at her. She scowled at him wishing he would stop it, but then he waved. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her friends who were too busy looking at all the food that had just appeared. Thank goodness, Lily thought, the probably would have questioned me again.
It was only the first day back to classes but Lily was already reading her books. It was free period and she wanted to get some first day homework out of the way while she still could. The Gryffindor Common room was deserted since all the students were in classes except her and a couple other seventh years.
One also being…"Lily!" she sighed, knowing exactly who this voice belonged to, "What you doing?"
"What does it look like Potter?" she questioned writing furiously.
"Looking cute?" he added.
"Attempting to study," she finished, steaming.
"But it's only the first day! You can't already want to do work!"
"Sadly Potter, I actually care about my education, unlike yourself," she looked him right in the eye.
They made eye contact and silence engulfed them. James was melting looking into those beautiful green eyes. Lily was confused, but contently gazing back.
"Well," James broke the silence causing Lily to jump, "you should come to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs next week. We're looking for a new chaser and two new beaters. You can watch the new head boy and this year's quidditch captain."
"And who might that be?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Well me, of course!"
Lily was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open then and there. The Head Girl and Boy quarters were under renovation so Professor Dumbledore hadn't had any time to actually inform Lily who the Head Boy was; which she found very strange, now that she thought of it. But, Potter? Of all other eligible males! Dumbledore chose prankster, Marauder Potter. Lily could not believe what she was hearing.
"Y-y-you're…head boy?" she stuttered.
"Yes," he answered unsure.
"Unbelievable," Lily muttered glaring down at her parchment.
"Well its great isn't it? Now we can spend more time together!"
"That's just what I wanted, Potter, how did you know?" she retorted back.
How am I going to get her to like me? James thought defeated.
"Well, good luck on your homework, Lils. And if you need any help, just let me know," he looked into her eyes, smiling and laid his hand on her arm. His touch sent shivers down her spine. Whoa, that was weird…in a good way. She thought.
"You…just called me Lils," she stammered.
"Isn't that your name?" he questioned, eyebrow raised.
"Well, yes…," she trailed off.
"See you later, Lily," he got up, smiled and walked out of the common room, leaving a stunned Lily behind.
"Perfect!" Natalie whispered to Alice and Remus who had seen the whole thing.
Lily was getting antsy. Quidditch try-outs were a week away and she hadn't ridden her broom in three days. What if I lost all of my tricks? What if I go to try-out and I fall flat on my face? She pondered the situation. I need to practice. But the pitch is being used by the actual players.
What if I snuck out after curfew? Absolutely not! Lily Evans, head girl by the way, will not be breaking the rules. But the Marauder's do it all the time! And they are rule breakers; I am not a rule breaker! Do you want to make the team? Yes. Then you have to do something!
Fine! She yelled at her inner self, I'll sneak out tonight and go into the forest; there should be a field somewhere where I can just ride my broom a little.
And it was settled
Dong, the clock stuck 11:30. All the girls in the 7th year dorm were sound asleep, including Alice who was snoring louder than Victoria Falls.
Time to go, Lily thought, grabbing her cloak and her broom, I hope I don't get caught.
She sneaked over to the only window in their room and opened it silently. It was cool outside, but no breeze to awaken her sleeping friends.
She hopped on her broom and dove out the window, shutting it, and going down straight to the ground. She landed safely and made sure she hadn't passed over any windows in the castle.
Scooting the edge of the building, she got close enough to the forest where she slipped, just a shadow.
Made it, she sighed, pulling out her wand and walking forward, now to find a clearing.
All the boys were sound asleep, all the boys except one. James sat on the windowsill looking outside dreamily.
Lily floated in and out of his mind, as he tried to come up with a plan to make her like him.
Maybe I should just be really nice, like Moony said, and she'll just come around eventually, he pondered.
That idea seemed like it would take ages to work. I would wait forever for her, he contradicted himself smiling.
Suddenly, snapping out of his trance, he saw a black blob fall from the castle.
What was that? He wondered.
He looked down, only to see it disappear before his eyes.
Finally! Lily thought as a small clearing appeared before her. It had seemed like ages that she was walking through this spooky forest.
Holding up her broom she could feel it humming beneath her grasp.
Settle down. She scolded; let's just start off with a ride.
The broom immediately swept her up. Higher and higher they excelled, the wind nipping at Lily's pink cheeks. She smiled and laughed, this was her true home.
After a serious of turns, dives, and tricks, Lily was confident that she hadn't lost her spark. Or had she? The quaffle sat next to her bag feeling dejected.
Want to play? She silently asked it, picking it up and throwing high into the air. Her and her broom ran up to meet its return to earth.
The rest of her time was spent weaving, tossing, catching, and throwing the quaffle through the trees as practice.
After a couple hours she decided to call it a night and headed back up to the castle.
The next few days, Lily became more tired every morning. She found it really hard to get up and to concentrate in her classes. She had never had this problem before and it was really starting to agitate her. She wanted to be ready for the try-outs but she also wanted to do well in school.
Tonight was the fifth night of her sneaking out. No one had noticed, and if they had, nothing had been brought up to her at all.
Instead of pretending to sleep tonight, she waiting in the common room, wearing all her gear, and pretended to study.
After about an hour or so of good daydreaming, she headed up to grab her broom. Tonight she was going to try some new tricks she had read about in a quidditch magazine from the library. She wanted to pull out all the stops at the try-outs; especially because Potter would be there…Did I just think that? Yuck!
Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm right before she was about to climb the stairs to the girls dormitory.
"Where are you going so late?"
She spun to see, none other, than Potter grasping her arm firmly. He has a really strong grip; probably those quidditch muscles. Wait, Lily, stop it!
"Just up to bed," she lied and smiled.
"With your cloak and…are those chaser gloves?"
"No they are not chaser gloves!" she spat, pulling my arm out of his grip, "They're for pruning cactus…always gotta be safe!" Oh I stink at lying! she scolded.
James looked at me for a long time, his hazel eyes questioning, then finally nodded, "Ok, good night."
She ran up to our room and shut the door, breathing a sigh.
He may not believe me, but I don't care. I got away and now I can practice some more. And with that she set out for another late night.
The next morning Lily entered the common room to find a group of people surrounding the bulletin board.
Gryffindor Quidditch Team Try-outs
Looking for a new chaser and two beaters.
Bring broom and any equipment needed to play.
Captain James Potter and returners will chose candidates.
This Saturday at 10:00
Good Luck.
Lily smiled after reading it and headed over to her two friends sitting down near the fireplace.
"Lily?" Alice asked
"I'm ready," she assured them, smiling.
A/N: Thanks for reading so far! Review if you like! They're much appreciated!