James watched intently as Lily's cheeks grew pinker and pinker as she wielded her wand back and forth. He could tell she was deep in concentration and completely focused, and it pleased him immensely that she was working so hard. He liked to think, deep down, that not only was she doing all of this to prove something to her father, but to please him as well.
If their fight and subsequent Hogsmeade visit proved anything, it was that at long last, the two had developed a bond and mutual respect for one another. Just being able to admit to her that he had been jealous was a huge hurdle in their relationship. Lily seemed to soften somewhat at his confession, and now they were getting along as well as before their fight, if not better.
"Okay, I think you're ready," James announced, having noticed that Lily's energy was in rapid decline and knowing her well enough to recognise when one of her episodes was imminent. As soon as he'd noticed, he knew they needed to end the practical portion of their training. Her stamina was better, but it still worried him.... a lot.
"Ready for what?" Lily puffed as she leant over her knees, trying to catch her breath after their most recent practice duel.
"For duelling club. For a real team practice..I think you're ready."
"Oh," she said, unsure as to what else she should say.
"Just, oh?" he laughed. "Your enthusiasm is intoxicating me, Lils."
"Really, you think I'm ready?" she asked nervously, ignoring his joke.
"Yeah, really," he said, picking up on her emotions instantly and turning more serious. "Your spell range is much better than almost anyone else I know. We've researched, we've practiced, and you're a hundred times fitter than when we started," he answered confidently, his traitorous eyes briefly scanning her trim form. "I've taken you as far as I can on my own…. at least for now."
"Are you sure?" she asked apprehensively. "Really, really sure?"
"Yeah, I am," he confirmed, sending her an encouraging smile. "Besides, you need to start practicing with people other than me, people who use different techniques. No two duellers are the same, and whilst you might be able to beat me occasionally," he said, gaining a small grin from her, "you may have problems even hitting someone who uses a different approach. We need to make sure you can adapt to anything and anyone."
Lily nodded, trusting his knowledge and advice, as always. "So, when are practices and what the procedure for getting me on the team?"
"Well, actually, you're in luck –" he sighed. "Sirius has been banned from taking part in any school organisations so—"
"What? Why?!" Lily interrupted quickly, unable to hide her complete astonishment. "That's one of the most serious punishments that can be given," she said, confused. She didn't like to think of what he must have done to receive such wrath from the cool, kind, and understanding Dumbledore
"That information is on a strictly need to know basis," he said grimly, "but let's just say he deserved it."
Shocked at the vehemence in his tone, and by the fact that he had obviously agreed with such a punishment for his best friend, Lily could only mumble, "Oh," before trying to move the subject along swiftly. "So why does Sirius's ban help me?"
"Well that'd be because I no longer have a second."
"A second?" She questioned with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yeah, see…" he hummed thoughtfully before trying to explain. "For every match, every dueller has to chose a team mate to be his second; the second takes care of all the preparations for a match, makes sure all the rules a adhered to, they give advice on weaknesses of the opponent and the appropriate spells to use, stuff like that and… well, the second is the person who steps in if the first is too incapacitated to continue."
"Oh," Lily said, surprise flicking across her face. "Does that – does that happen a lot?"
James grimaced. "Unfortunately, it happens all the time in national and international competitions. It's just part of the sport and one of the reasons why having women participate is such a controversial issue. Personally, though, I think it's rubbish, if women are willing to take the risk then who are we to stop them? Not to mention one of the best duellers I've ever seen is a woman—she's ranked in the top five in the world."
"Wow," Lily murmured. "Who is she? Do you think I might be able to get some more information about her in the library?" When he looked at her strangely, she shrugged. "Anything to help prepare me, right?"
"Yeah, but perhaps we can do one better than a book," he responded mysteriously, all the while giving her a look of approval for her obvious commitment. "I'm glad to hear you're so interested, no one should enter this sport lightly." He eyed her seriously as he redirected their conversation, before saying, "If you'd prefer, we could always find another way to prove your father wrong—how are you at Quidditch? It's dangerous too, just not in the same way."
Lily laughed and shook her head. "We've come way too far to back out now. Besides, I'm fair at Quidditch and I love to play, but I'm not nearly good enough – and anyway, it won't get the point across to my father nearly as well. Plus, with the way things are in the world right now I think being a good dueller is going to benefit me more in the long run that being a good Quidditch player."
"Debatable," he joked before saying, "But okay, and I agree, I just had to make sure you felt that way before we took that final step. Not to throw your own words back at you, but, as you said, 'once we do this there's not turning back.' Not to mention you need to be committed in this sport."
Lily nodded, not offended in the slightest. She was pleased he wanted to make sure she was happy and not being pushed into anything she didn't feel comfortable doing.
"What about school competitions—are there a lot of incapacitations at those?" she asked hesitantly.
He shifted a little uncomfortably but gave her a straight answer. "It used to happen all the time in the school competitions, but the rules have been made stricter for the under eighteen groups now—too many people were getting hurt and parents started to complain."
"Okay," Lily said, feeling only mildly relieved by the information.
"Nevertheless, its still tradition to have a second and, well, to be honest –" he said, eyeing her carefully, wondering how to tell her the truth without scaring her.
"Yes," she prodded.
He decided to be straight forward. "To be honest, accidents still happen even with the new safety measures, especially in the Slytherin versus Gryffindor matches."
Lily gulped, but stared back at him stoically trying to prove herself worthy.
"So, I'm your second," she nodded firmly. "But doesn't that mean I won't get to duel?" she questioned, refusing to believe that anyone could beat the boy in front of her, that anyone was capable of incapacitating him. He was too good, and even if he did get knocked down his pride wouldn't allow him to stay down.
"That's very true, but you're not going to just be my second—it's merely a way to introduce you to the team without raising too many eyebrows. I can say our families know each other and that I know you're more than capable. I've been refusing to replace Sirius, so the guys will probably just be so relieved I found someone that I'm willing to work with that they won't ask too many questions."
She nodded but couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you replace him?"
"I refuse to have someone I don't know, and therefore can't trust, watching my back.I just can't function like that and everyone else on the team I feel I can work well with is already paired."
"But you trust me?" she asked, flabbergasted.
"More than most," he replied seriously, his hazel gaze boring into hers..
And Lily, realising the implications of what he'd just told her, made a promise to herself to try her very best to never let him down.
"What about Remus and Peter? Why didn't you ever ask either of them?"
"Well Remus has…time commitment issues," James answered slowly and carefully. "He's often out sick and that can't happen in this sport. Peter has never shown an interest in competing, he's fair at duelling, but as I said before, you need to be committed and Peter's… not. Not many people want to be duellers."
"Anyway, as my second you get an automatic spot on the team, we'll gradually introduce you as a dueller in your own right and, hopefully it should be smooth sailing from there."
Lily took a deep breath. "Okay."
"Are you still sure you want to do this?" he asked, eyeing her pale pallor worriedly.
"Yes," she replied strongly, berating herself for being nervous.
"Well, then, I best tell you the rules and show you the etiquette, can't have you looking like an idiot, can we?"
Lily shook her head, eyes wide. "Most definitely don't want to look like an idiot."
He smiled. "So how much do you know, have you ever seen a real duel?"
"Not much, and no," Lily answered sheepishly. "There's what we've done in Defence, but as a Muggleborn I've never seen a proper duel before."
"Right, of course, sorry," he said, shaking his head at himself.
"Have you ever been to a live duel?" she asked interestedly. "You know, a real one, outside Hogwarts"
He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, my Mum's taken me to a few of the Nationals and one or two Internationals and…
"And?"
"And I've competed in a few under- eighteens."
"Really?" she asked surprised.
"Yeah, I won the national under- eighteens last year," he shrugged, trying not to show how embarrassed he suddenly felt.
"That's… that's… how the hell did I not know that?"
"You've never really shown much interest in duelling or… me before this year," he mumbled uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck..
"But isn't that something that you would have--" she started incredulously before cutting her sentence short. "Never mind."
"Something I would have bragged about?"
"Well, yeah," she said, her face heating. "Sorry," she was quick to apologise.
He shook his head dismissing the apology. "It's fine, I was an arrogant arse. But I told you, all that changed back in fifth year, and anyway it's not something I really wanted to spread, I get enough attention as it is. Can you imagine the Slytherins if they found out I'd lost a match? I'd never hear the end of it. Its too much pressure, people are watching me constantly anyway, so I'm not too keen on encouraging their curiosity."
Lily could only stare, speechless for a moment. "Wow, that's really amazing James. I had no idea. That's probably the one thing you should be allowed to brag about," she said, briefly taking his hand and smiling proudly at him.
James coughed to hide his pleasure before changing back to the original subject.
He pointed his wand to the ground and used it to draw a long rectangle on the floor about twenty paces long and four paces wide.
"This," he started to explain, "is the main walk. It's the starting point for any duel. You meet your opponent in the middle where you cross your wand across you chest as you bow, you then turn and walk ten paces so you and your opponent are both at opposite ends."
He waved his hand, encouraging her to following his instructions as they bowed; he corrected the position of her hand slightly before they turned their backs on each other and walked ten paces.
"Okay," he carried on in a slightly louder voice so she could hear him. "Now you wait for the call to start; as a warning the umpire will call out 'make ready', which is when you raise your wand and assume the defensive stance." Again, he encouraged her to take the stance.
He opened his mouth to continue his instructions but then he hesitated, eyeing her seriously from across the distance of the room.
"What?" she asked worriedly.
James dropped his wand arm and walked towards her, before circling her critically.
"What?" she repeated looking down at herself with a furrowed brow.
"You've got a good natural stance, but your foot positioning is a little off. I hadn't noticed before because what we usually do is much more informal."
At her terrified look, he laughed. "Chill out, Lily, it's not a problem, everyone is different. Just in my experience, you have more balance if you put you left leg out just slightly further in front of you.
Trying to do as he suggested she nearly lost her balance, but James caught her arm before she could do more than wobble, and when Lily looked up at him she was pleased to see he wasn't laughing at her clumsiness. After he had steadied her, he kept one had on her shoulder and the other slid gently down her left leg encouraging it in to the correct position.
Both of them seemed to freeze when his hand came into contact with the small bit of skin exposed on her ankle, his hand lingered for a split second, his gaze met hers, and his eyes seemed to burn right through her. Lily's hand developed a mind of its own and before she had time to stop herself, she'd gently brushed her hand through his hair. The sudden wave of affection and attraction between them seemed to make the air sizzle. Just as Lily worked up enough courage to say something, James pulled his hand away as if he'd been burned.
Suddenly feeling embarrassed and exposed, Lily decided to pretend not to notice the tension in the room and instead tested the new stance, bouncing experimentally.
"See?" he eventually managed to say, trying to regain his teaching demeanour, although he couldn't hide the sudden deepness colouring his voice, but nevertheless watching her movements carefully.
"Yeah!" she replied, a little shocked at the difference it could make.
"Okay, so where were we?" he asked shaking his head at his own forgetfulness.
"Make ready?"
"Oh right, that's your warning call which is followed by 'fire' which is your cue to start duelling. Careful you don't misfire, though."
"Misfire?"
"Throwing your first spell before fire is called," he explained. "You'll lose points, and if you do it more than twice you forfeit–got it?"
"Got it," she confirmed.
"Okay, as far as the actual duel is concerned, the best places to aim for are the head and chest. In competition you get more points, and in real life it makes the effects stronger."
Lily loved how he didn't just teach her to duel competitively, but also taught her to look after herself, almost like he wanted to make sure it was true when she told her father she could protect herself. "Okay."
He drew a wide circle around his earlier rectangle. "The outer circle signifies the end of the protective shield; if you leave that area, it's an instant end to the match. Keep in mind, the minute you step your foot out of the shielding, you've lost the match."
"Inside protective circle good, outside bad–got it."
"Right. So that's it, really, as long as you knock your opponent down for a ten count."
Lily frowned. "Wait, so….so there's not a points system? All I've got to do is get him out of the ring like a sumo wrestler or get him to stay down like in boxing?"
James shrugged "Technically there's a really complicated points system, but at a junior level match…. that's normally all it takes to win."
"Oh, one more thing, if you're my second, should I get hurt and want to stop the fight, you have to raise your wand and yell stop. If either parties' second does that, then both duellers must take a step back away from their opponent. - the rule book is over there."
When Lily saw the large white tome poking out of the top of his bag, she paled.
James chuckled. "Don't worry. I don't expect you to memorise it or anything - although that may not be such a bad idea - but I want you to at least look through it, okay?"
Lily nodded, a little overwhelmed.
"Don't worry, Lils," James reassured. "I'll be your second, so when you do have a match, I'll know all the rules, so you won't be left looking stupid because you don't know something."
"Okay," she breathed, feeling much more relaxed with the reassurance that James would be there.
"Lily, one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"People get knocked down all the time, be prepared for some bruises."
"I can handle it, James."
"Yeah. I know you can," said James softly, almost to himself. "But I don't have to like it," he mumbled, out of earshot, and took his place on the opposite side, ready to duel.
----
AN
So, didn't I tell you the update would come faster this time?!
By the way, here's a hint....Review because I think you are going to like the next chap...
For those of you have asked – Yes Lily will be meeting the Potters so here's another thing for you to vote on: Do you think Mrs Potter should like Lily instantly or would you like to see some conflict?
Thank you all for your reviews - I'm so happy you are all enjoying it – I can't believe I've broken the 300 mark – COME ON 400! Pretty please....
I have to give credit to Abok – she really helped with the chap especially with the first couple of paragraphs. Thank you!