5- We Aren't Even Friends
*---May, Sixth Year---*
"Guess who, Evans!" a voice said as a pair of hands was placed over my eyes. I sighed as I pulled the hands off of my face and turned around. I would know that annoyingly arrogant voice anywhere.
"What do you want, Potter?" I asked wearily.
"Summer said she thought she saw someone from another house spying on us while we were practicing. I came to investigate. I must admit, I thought I would find a Slytherin spy, not such a wonderful surprise," he answered. I rolled my eyes at him.
'Summer,' I thought. 'I should've known'. I had told her that I would be coming up to the Quidditch pitch to check on her today. She probably cooked up this scheme on the way to practice. Summer and Ellie both find it, in my opinion, much too entertaining to try and place James and I in each other's paths.
At first they merely thought it was amusing to see James attempt to flatter me. And I know they thought my reactions to James' advances were comical enough on their own. But as they have continued to hint at me, I think they've become more and more serious. Much to my vexation.
"Obviously I am not a Slytherin spy!" I hissed at him. I was in Gryffindor House, just like Potter and the rest of the team.
"Obviously," said Potter laughingly. "What are you doing down here if you aren't spying?" I was slightly surprised that he didn't say anything like "You came to watch my brilliant flying, right?"
"I came to check on Summer and see how her arm was doing," I answered.
As the match that would decide which house won the Quidditch Cup loomed ever closer, the Slytherins had been increasing their hostilities against the Gryffindors. They had taken to attacking the Gryffindor Quidditch team members in the halls when no one was looking. Summer, being the Gryffindor seeker, had to deal with more bouts of violence than anyone else on the team. A couple of days ago while walking down a staircase to Transfiguration, Summer had been attacked with a Jelly-Legs curse by Jackie Fraye, a Slytherin 6th year, and a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team.
I'm not sure if Jackie saw the fact that Summer was on her way down a staircase as an extra bonus in her attack, or if she really isn't so much sadistic as stupid, but regardless of Jackie's character, the results of the curse had been awful.
Summer had fallen down the stairs and twisted her ankle, broken her throwing arm and wrist, and gotten a long and bloody scratch from her cheek to her chin. Madame Promfrey had been able to fix her up quite well, but she said that Summer's aim at the three goal posts might be off for a few days. I was relieved; the damage could have been much, much worse. Summer, however, was immensely disappointed by what Madame Promfrey had told her. Nonetheless, she was determined not to let the Slytherin team get her down.
At the mention of the Slytherins, Potter's face grew red with anger.
"Those bloody cowards! Attacking people when they aren't looking! Filthy—" Suddenly, Potter's face and temper cooled down and he said "I should've been there when Summer fell." He smiled impishly. "Then I could've defended her and cursed Fraye until she was unrecognizable".
I was astounded. I had never heard Potter talk about caring for anyone other than himself since we had started school. Sure, I really didn't talk to him a lot…but still. I stared at James for a while, scrutinizing him. What new tactic was this? Finally he broke the silence by saying "What's wrong Evans?"
I studied him a bit more before I answered lightly, "I just never knew you to think much about other people".
"What? Do you think I am an arrogant prat who only thinks about himself?"
"Yes, pretty much," I answered him bluntly. Potter's face lost all traces of a smile.
"Obviously you don't know me very well." He frowned and turned away from me. "As it happens, Evans, I think about many people other than myself every day. And there are quite a few people I think about a good deal more than I think about myself," he added, sounding surprisingly passionate. Who would have thought that James Potter could sound passionate about anything other than Quidditch and his obvious disdain for Slytherins? He turned back to me and crossed his arms over his chest, as if to emphasize his point.
"Er… I suppose I should talk to you more, then." I said awkwardly. My statement sounded more like a question. His outburst had caught me off guard.
"Maybe you should. I know I would enjoy that," he said, smiling mischievously again.
"But not anymore than I can stand," I told him.
"Don't I already talk to you more than you can stand?"
"Yes. So I must be going now." Something flickered across Potter's face, but before I could identify it, it was gone.
"Talk to you later then, Lily." With that he picked up his broom and took off on it, flying swiftly back towards his team.
I walked back up to castle, thinking about what he had said. I wasn't sure I really wanted to get to know James Potter any better. I had just wanted him to leave me alone. I still thought he was a hopeless prat.
Later on in the sixth year girls dormitory I told Elizabeth about my strange conversation with Potter. I looked up at Elizabeth after I was finished and saw a satisfied smirk on her face. I asked her what she thought was so funny.
"Lily, Lily, even if I told you, you wouldn't listen to me," she replied, shaking her head. "I know you won't, as I've already told you countless time before."
"Ellie, what are you talking about?" I asked hotly. Elizabeth just shrugged. I glowered at her until she responded to me.
"Lily, you're much cleverer than this!" cried Elizabeth.
"Well spit it out and tell me what I am supposed to be so clever about!"
"Lily," Elizabeth said slowly. "Potter. Really. Likes. You. Not really as in he likes you a lot—well, he does, but that's not my main point right now—but really as in he truly likes you. He's not messing around with you like you're so determined to believe!" she exclaimed.
"Have you ever considered that maybe Potter won't leave me alone because I'm one of the few girls in the school that he hasn't dated yet?"
"You know," Elizabeth said, considering, "he does flirt a lot, but he's never actually gone out with very many girls. Not as many as everyone seems to think he has, anyways."
"Well that deserves a gold star," I said dryly.
"Oh come on Lily!" At this exclamation, Elli threw her hands into the air in a gesture of exasperation. Her dark brown hair was straight and smooth today, falling a few inches past her shoulders. It was beginning to look slightly unkempt, as if it were a reflection of her frustration for me. "Just give the poor boy a chance! It's not like you have to marry him!" Elizabeth stared forcefully at me.
"Poor boy?" I stared at her incredulously.
"Lils, you know I'm on your side. I have been since this all started in fifth year. But that's the thing—this has been going on for a long time. Just think: if you go out with him and you still hate him, you'll get him off your back. Well, for a while, at least." Her words sort of made sense, but who's to say that James would leave me alone after only one measly date? I didn't want to risk it.
"And besides, if you go out with James, you can put a good word in for me with Sirius," Ellie said sweetly, batting her long, smoky eyelashes at me. Then her eyes filled with a playful light that I knew all too well.
"So you and Potter, Black and I, and Summer can go out with Remus. Too bad we don't have an extra friend for Peter, but I'm sure we could find someone!" She said all this very quickly and in one breath.
I glanced at my friend and burst out laughing. At that moment Summer walked in from Quidditch practice. She looked over at and me, practically rolling on the floor, and Elizabeth sitting comfortably on her bed, staring into space and looking sly, and said "Okay, what boys are we talking about?" She knew us so perfectly.
"Well," I explained to her. "I came back a little while ago from having a slightly civilized conversation with James, and Ellie is trying to convince me to give him a shot to get him off my back—what else is new? Then she started practically planning all our weddings to one of the Marauders. Are you by any chance harboring any romantic notions towards Remus Lupin?"
"Not at all," Summer said as she casually glanced around the room. Then she drew her eyes back onto me and smiled both mischievously and guiltily.
"So…" she said casually. "How did that meeting go?"
"You brat! You knew it was me over there!" I cried at her, still breathless with laughter from Elizabeth's silliness. I wasn't really mad at Summer, and she knew it, too, so she just smiled at me.
"So are you and Potter an item now?"
"We. Aren't. Even. FRIENDS!" I cried. I stared accusingly at Elizabeth and continued, "And you always say the best couples always start out as friends."
"You should just talk to him more, like he told you to," Ellie chastised me jokingly. I rolled my eyes at her. Please.
The next few days passed by quickly, and soon the much anticipated Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, was upon the occupants of Hogwarts. Luckily, Summer was completely recovered from the Slytherin's assault. Elizabeth and I left breakfast early, decked out in Gryffindor colors of red and gold, so we could get the best seats. We also needed to set up the gigantic banner we had made to cheer on Summer and the rest of the team. It flashed different messages like 'GO SUMMER!', 'Lions = Winners!,' and 'Gryffindor All The Way!' Ellie wanted to put 'Gryffindor seekers do it better!' but I wouldn't let her. It was on black cloth and the words flashed red and gold every message, so it really stood out. Ellie and I love showering attention on our friend when she has a Quidditch match to play.
Soon more and more students were taking their seats in the stands. The buzzing of excited voices anticipating the match was all around me. Students were arguing and betting over the outcome of the match, and I caught more than one female voice simpering over what wonderful Quidditch players the boys on the team are, especially Black and Potter. I sighed exasperatedly.
Suddenly Ryan Jordan, the fifth year Gryffindor who was commentating, called out the last names of each player as both teams walked out onto the field.
"Playing for Gryffindor: Williams, Gutel, DuPaquier, Potter, Miranda, Black, and Lee!!!" said Ryan with much excitement. Loud cheers from every house except Slytherin accompanied the arrival of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Playing for Slytherin" Ryan continued, with noticeably less enthusiasm. "Petoskey, Fraye, Hollis, Carneillo, Zavalla, Malfoy, and Ibbings."
The young Madame Hooch walked out onto the field where the players were gathered. She released the Snitch and then the bludgers flew high up into the air. Quickly she threw up the big red Quaffle and blew her whistle before the bludgers returned. The players shot into the air. Immediately the supporters for each team began waving their flags. The game was on.
Gryffindor immediately gained control of the Quaffle, thanks to Adriana Gutel. Soon we were 30 points ahead of the Slytherins, having scored 3 times.
"There goes Potter with the Quaffle. He aims. Fires. SCORE!!! Take that, you slimy Slytherins! Not to be biased or anything," he added quickly, glancing at Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, who was supervising Ryan's commentating, as usual. She was too engrossed in the game to pay good attention to him, though.
I looked around for Summer and Ibbings. The two team seekers were circling above everyone else, eyes darting quickly around the field. I saw Potter fly under the two seekers, and I followed his complicated flying patterns for a while. A groan from Elizabeth brought me back down to earth.
"What? What happened?" I asked her.
"We're tied now!" Elizabeth cried out unhappily. I looked at the scoreboard and saw that the score was now 50 to 50.
"Look! Look at Lee and Ibbings!" shouted Ryan Jordan. Everyone turned to watch the seekers pull into equally spectacular dives. They had obviously spotted the Snitch. All of a sudden, Ibbings rammed himself into Summer and her familiar blonde ponytail flew wildly around her head as she spun out of control. Luckily, she was able to skillfully pull herself out of the downward spiral, but both seekers had lost track of the Snitch.
The other players had unconsciously paused to watch the seekers seek the Snitch, but after the action stopped, play resumed. Potter made yet another goal. Apparently he was trying to show the Slytherins, Jackie Fraye in particular, that it took a lot more than a few cowardly attacks in the halls to get his team down, and he was doing a very good job of it, making goal after goal.
The score was now 90 to 60, with Gryffindor in the lead, and the game was getting dirty. Some players had taken to attacking the opposing team. Samantha Carneillo flew over Jared Williams while he had the Quaffle and kicked him hard in the head so he would drop the ball. She tried to protest to Madame Hooch that it was an accident, but Jared was awarded two penalty shots, which he made. The Gryffindors cheered loudly, but the Slytherins made their insults and boos heard, too.
In retaliation to Samantha's attack on Jared, Amy Miranda and Sirius Black, the two Gryffindor beaters, smacked the bludgers ferociously towards the Slytherin chasers with renewed vigor. Amy knocked the wind out of Samantha, and Sirius hit his bludger towards Damien Hollis, who was forced to drop the Quaffle as he swerved to avoid the hard black ball speeding towards his head. Potter zoomed out from under Hollis with the Quaffle in his hands and scored yet another goal. Now we were up 60 points from Slytherin.
Then the seekers went into another dive. A lot of people, including Elizabeth and I, stood up to get a better view and to cheer on Summer.
The two seekers kept banging into each other to throw the other player off, but neither would give in. They were plummeting towards the ground quickly. Suddenly they were upon the green grass, and Ibbings crashed into it, rolling jerkily along, his broom splintering apart. Summer pulled out of the dive with a triumphant look and the Snitch held in her right hand, high above her head. The Slytherins moans were cancelled out by the Gryffindor's wild cheers. We had won 260 to 60. Elizabeth and I were hugging each other and jumping up and down. The crowd clamored down the stands to celebrate and congratulate the team.
Ellie and I almost knocked Summer down as we ran out to her on the field, and we were only the first to nearly do so.
I pulled away for a few minutes and surveyed the celebratory air on the field with satisfaction. I was sure that Gryffindor tower would not be the only house rejoicing over the defeat of the devious Slytherin team tonight.