Hey there mates. It's been over a year since I've written something and I really don't know why, so to those who are still there, I hope to redeem myself with this chapter.

Of crickets and broomsticks

"Okay, are you done?" Sirius asked after Lily and I stopped laughing. What was really funny about him was how annoyed he got whenever somebody mocked him.

I couldn't answer, I was watching how Lily sniggered and how fast her chest went up and down from the last few minutes of laughter. A strand of hair had escaped from behind her ear and was hanging loose by the side of her face. I hadn't realized until then but she had more freckles than she had last year. Was it by the sun? Not that I really care, they just looked good on her.

Damn mate, you're deep in this, very, very deep, Simon sighed.

Now that I think about it, I really don't know when I did fall in love with her. At first I accept I just asked her out for the fun of it, just to pester and make her mad. Around fifth grade it was still the same only that with a little hope she would say yes, that was when the crush appeared, remember? But when was I able to say I loved her, I actually can't say. It wasn't from one morning to the other. There was something about her, so intriguing, so thrilling that just had me on my knees. I know, you will think that I don't really love her, I mean, how can I love someone that until some time ago loathed me? But I just do, I don't know. Darn, I can't even explain it to myself that I'm trying to do it to you.

"I've got an idea," Lily said. "Why don't we put a spell on them for flies follow them everywhere?"

It was quite a good idea.

"Very clever idea indeed, Evans".

"Hold on a second," I mumbled, "Why instead of flies don't do the same but with crickets? They'll be singing all day long so they won't be able nor to study nor sleep nor anything."

They both stared at me for a few seconds.

"You know, Potter, that's actually brilliant," Lily exclaimed. Never before had she acknowledged me something positive, and it felt odd in the nice way. I could get used to this; I'm already used to her.

We spent the next half hour planning and scheming our mischief. It was getting late and we would get caught in the corridors heading back if we didn't do it now. The three of us walked together to the Common Room and once there wished our good nights.

When we got to the room Moony and Wormtail were already asleep, so we changed to our pjs silently in order not to wake them up.

"She's quite a piece of work, Prongs," Sirius whispered from his bed.

"I know."

"Good luck," he said, and with that he turned on his right side and fell asleep almost instantly.

I kept thinking about his last words. Did he mean good luck at trying to make her love me back? Good luck at getting over her? At coming to terms with the fact she would never be mine? Those two words haunted me for a while, until I fell asleep. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was until then. The adrenaline rush from the fight, the emotions that has swirled through me during our time together, all this new discoveries I had made today about how I felt about her, had left me drained. It's too much for a bloke to process, we're boys for something, this stuff is meant for girls, they are the ones who know what to do with all the feelings and so.

I woke up all of a sudden. My heart was racing and my breathing was heavy. Had I overslept?

I looked at the beds around me and they all had their respective owners asleep on them. Why had I woken up like that? I looked at the sky through the window and it was starting to lighten up, so I guess it would be around 6.30am.

After trying to fall asleep again for what seemed a really long time I decided it was useless and gave up. Instead, I headed to the shower. Thinking that I had been there with Lily the day before made my heart beat faster for a second. It seemed so unreal, thinking about it with a clear head.

It happened, dude, now just get over it, Simon muttered.

I was in the shower for around twenty minutes, but already done in the first five. The rest of the time I was just there, dozing off under de warm water. It felt nice against my back, so I just stayed there. I was pretty nervous about the game today. We had to beat Revenclaw, if we wanted to stand a chance in the finals. We're the best team among the all four, but still, the possibility of losing always exists. Besides, I wanted to impress Lily.

I directly put on my Quidditch clothes, and headed down to the Common Room. They just felt so good on my, like they were part of my skin. The smell of grass and dew reached my nostrils, and was more eager than ever to play. I wanted to do what I did best.

As I strolled down to the Great Hall, I realized nobody was up yet. Sure, the most magnificent breakfast was already displayed on the long wooden tables, but not a soul was there to be found. I eat a couple of toasts in silence while I watched the sky. It was a nice day, cold enough not to sweat your life out, given that we are near Christmas, and the sky was clear, with just a few white clouds specked upon it. I hurried the last toast with some pumpkin juice and headed to the changing rooms. I wanted to fly before the game.

I had jogged on my way to the changing rooms, so when I arrived there, my breath was kinda heavy and I could feel my recently fixed ribs. Suddenly I was very self-conscious. I could feel my hair against my neck where yesterday I had a gush, I could sense the movement of my chest and how that made my arms rock in the slightest way, how my eyelashes touched every time I blinked and my feet against the ground, the only thing preventing me from falling down or defying gravity on my own.

I grabbed my broom, my most precious position, and headed to the pitch. I kicked off the ground and in the split of a second I was 10 feet high. Although I do this kind of thing almost every day, each and every time it marveled more. It gives you the feeling you're invincible, that you are able to master anything, even the skies. With nothing but air beneath you, you tend to feel a little vulnerable at first, but it's just a matter of seconds till you start to feel indestructible and powerful.

"I wish Lily was here," I sighed. If only she could experience the same thing, with me. Just imagining us on the same broomstick gives me chills. She has that effect on my, which I'm sure she isn't aware of.

I really can't tell when fantasizing about snogging her turned into the desire of wanting to kiss her, to gently press my body against her and just kiss her, with all the tenderness in the world. Just my hands on her hips and hers around my neck. Nothing of getting turned up, or grabbing her thighs as we ravish each other's mouths, nothing of running my hands through her breasts and pressing her against the wall. No, nothing of that. Just love her. And kiss her as smoothly as it's humanly possible.

I can't really tell how much time passed by, all I know is that suddenly people were starting to arrive and I could identify Lily among the crowd. Red fiery hair, deep green eyes, a Gryffindor scarf. And she was waving. At me.

I must admit I almost fell off my broom. I waved back and in a hurry sped back into the changing rooms.

"Okay team, are you ready?" I asked. There were several nods and positive responses. "We've got to win if we want the Cup, okay? So let's do it!"

After a few minutes the game was about to start. We headed off to the pitch and there was Madam Hooch with Revenclaw's captain, George Eeds, an average bloke who had had some serious acne issues in the past.

The game started before we could really do anything. Bludgers passed me with incredible speed. Let's pray that Padfoot does a good job today. It wasn't long before I had the quaffle and scored. Gryffindor roared with cheers and, for the first time since I've been playing, my cheeks turned red. I was flattered and I couldn't wait to score another goal.

This Revenclaw dud had the quaffle now, I think his name is Jackson, but I really can't tell. He passed the quaffle to his chaser, Mary MacAdams and she dodged me incredibly well. I was rather surprised, I have to admit. They scored three goals after that. We only scored one. I was starting to get concerned. We couldn't lose, let alone against Revenclaw. I had to do something, if not, we would be on the hands of the seeker, and that's not a good position to be in.

Whatever made me do what I did next, I'm eternally thankful. I looked at Padfoot and we exchanged one of those looks. It wasn't long before a bludger swung past my ear and almost hit MacAdams, who let the quaffle fall. Seizing that opportunity, and that everybody was distracted with the almost-accident, I grabbed the quaffle and scored. Now we were 30-30. The rest of the game went pretty much the same: Sirius would aim the bludgers at the Revenclaws, only to scare them, not to actually harm them, and I would keep scoring. Our other chaser, Johnson, scored several times as well.

"We're one hell of a team," I thought to myself.

Around three quarters of an hour went by before the Snitch was caught. At first we thought Revenclaw had caught it, but in the end it was Serena, our seeker.

"AND THE WINNER IS… GRYFFINDOR!" Andrew Lyn, the commentator, announced.

What happened next went by as a blur. All the Gryffindors came down to the pitch to celebrate. Everyone was jumping and screaming and congratulating each other. Padfoot and Moony and Warmtail all appeared next to me and we celebrated as a group together with everybody. The crowd started to head to the Common Room to continue the celebrations there, maybe with a couple of butter beers. But I didn't feel like it.

The conversation I had with Lily the other night kept running into my head, and I was dying to have another one. I managed to catch her arm among the crowd and beckoned with my finger for her to follow me. She didn't hesitate and that made me feel amazing.

After some minutes the pitch was silent and we were the only ones there.

"Do you fly, Evans?" I asked. She stared at me. "Lily?"

"Yeah… No, I don't. I'm terrified of heights. I'm okay with broomsticks as long as I'm not riding them"

That was actually surprising.

"What? Lily, come on."

"No, for real James. I've been terrified about being separated from the ground since I have memory."

I suddenly felt a rush of compassion and love towards her.

"What is it to be scared of? Make me understand," I said calmly. This was promising.

She hesitated for a while, trying to get her thoughts in order.

"I don't know, it's just… the safety the ground provides. Being up there makes me feel so tiny, so defenseless. I hate that feeling. I like to be in control of things, of my body to say the least."

Wow, that shocked me, I must admit. I never felt safer than when I was flying, so that somebody thought the contrary just left me in awe. I have been flying since before I could walk, so it was something kind of natural to me. I stared at her for a while.

"Potter, I'm scared of heights, not grown a third eye," she waved at me, as if trying to wake me up.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's just, for me is the opposite, so I find it hard to believe. Why don't we try to shake that fear off?"

"Why don't we just sit on the grades and talk?" she answered. A sudden warmth run through my body. I was okay with that, it was better than being celebrating with people I don't really care about, with some exceptions. I agreed and we went to the Gryffindor grades. A flag had been left behind, so we used it as a blanket. We were on the end of November so the air was getting colder and colder as the days went by.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

She shivered before answering.

"No. My parents are going to visit my sister and her fiancé, something I would rather avoid."

"Why's that? Don't you get along with them?" I was genuinely curious.

"Not with my sister. She hates me for being a witch. My parents are darlings, but spending a whole week with my sister and Vernon's –the fiancé- family. No thank you, I'll pass. And you? Are you going home?"

Her cheeks were starting to get red and so was her nose. She had chills every now and then. She seemed cold.

"Neither. Mum and dad are going away to Romania to study vampires, something that I don't find appealing. Are you cold?"

She shook her head. "Just a tiny bit. I see, are your friends staying here too?"

I accioed one of the coats that were hanged at the changing rooms before answering. The look on her eyes expressed nothing but gratitude.

"Remus and Sirius are, Peter is leaving. He's going to his cousin's house or something like that"

And the conversation just carried on. It was so natural, so effortless. As the sun came nearer to the top point of the sky, different shades of red shone from her hair. At first it was a kind of auburn, then a lighter red and finally orange. But not orange like you see in books. The orange that autumn leafs turn, or the orange of sunsets. She didn't seem to notice that I was so mesmerized, so into her, because she just kept talking about how good the game had been, or about how eager she was about the holidays. I don't know how much time was it that we were there, just enjoying each other's company, but at a certain point, my stomach growled. And I hated myself for that.

"Hungry? Good, I am too. Should we head to the Great Hall?" she asked standing up.

"First just one thing. Can you fly with me? I promise you nothing will happen. Just a couple of meters off the ground. Nothing too high, I swear," I pleaded.

She looked at me, doubting whether to accept or run away. She looked like she was about to run away, when suddenly something changed.

"Okay. But if you go just an inch higher than what I feel comfortable with, I'll make sure your last years in Hogwarts are miserable," she threatened.

I was thrilled. I hurried down to the pitch and waited for her to join me. I climbed onto my broom and was quite some time trying to convince her that everything would be fine if she climbed too.

After finally getting her behind me, she placed her arms around my chest, clenching to me with her life.

"Evans, relax, we haven't even left the ground," I laughed.

"I know, that's what terrorizes me," she answered against my back with her eyes closed.

I slowly kicked the ground with my feet and the broom gently rose a couple of feet off the ground.

"Lily, open your eyes, please," I said softly. Some seconds went by before she actually did. A gasp of air escaped her. "Can I go a bit higher?"

She nodded.

Another couple of feet. I kept asking and she kept nodding until we reached a twelve feet height. She didn't say a word.

"Are you okay? Do you want to go down?" I asked a bit concerned now.

She shook her head. "It's okay. I'm just trying my best to no puke." I turned around at those words. I wanted to make sure she was fine. "Potter, for my bloody life, don't move!" she shrieked.

"Lily, listen to me. Relax. You ain't going to enjoy anything if you keep like this. Listen, now I'm gonna fly around the pitch, did you hear me?"

I really didn't wait for an answer. I just started to soar in circles and back and forth.

"Wow," she exhaled. I could feel her arms not so tight around me now. "This is beautiful."

I kept circling the pitch until she asked me to go down. I didn't want it to end, but I wanted her to be fine so we gently landed on the center of the pitch.

We got off and were standing face to face, maybe a little bit closer than we should. I did my best not to kiss her. I waited. It was obvious she wasn't going to kiss me. I mean, we have been friendly to each other for two days in a row, and although this morning's talk had been pretty intense, I'm sure she doesn't like me in that way, let alone love me.

We were standing like that for Merlin knows how long. I could feel the warmth her body was exuding, and I'm pretty sure she could feel my breath against her skin. We were that close.

After carefully thinking about it, I stepped back. I thought that would make me look mature enough and that I respected her. If she only knew that that whole time we were standing all I ever thought was of pressing my lips against hers, and so our bodies.

"Thank you James, that was something out of this world," she smiled. For a second I wasn't sure whether she was talking about the flight or that moment. I swear, if I didn't know better, that something happened in that time. "Could we do it again another day?" There I was sure she was talking of the flight.

"Sure thing, Evans. Let's head to have lunch now."

Soooooooooooooooo what do you think? It isn't anything magnificent, but I believe it to be acceptable. What about reviews? Yes? Oh you're such a darling.

Promise to update faster this time!

Clara