Chapter 4
"Lily! Wake up!" Lily's eyelids fluttered and she stirred a little, turning over and feebly tried to swat away her assailant. "Lily, come on." the lights in Lily's room flickered on and James shook her awake, waving the smelling salts under her nose again. "Lily, you gotta get up, I've got to practice." He was wearing his scarlet Quiditch robes and his Silver Arrow broomstick was leaning against the bed.
"Ugghhhhh," Lily sat up reluctantly, pushing a few stray hairs from her face. She whipped her eyes and threw her long red braid over one shoulder. She pulled the covers up to her chest, covering her spaghetti-strapped lavender nightgown. "Why do you have to practice now? Call it off and let me sleeeeeeep." Lily buried her head in her pillow.
"Lily, I'm the only one practicing. I've gotta practice before I announce tryouts. You've got to come, because you can't be alone and no one else is up. I've got to make sure someone watches you 24/7." James pulled her out of bed, and she pushed him out the door.
"Lemme get dressed and I'll be out in a few." Lily slurred, and James left. She pulled on her robes over jeans and slid half into her sneakers. She slumped through the doorway and James caught her.
"Hey, try not to pass out on me."
"You mean that literally? 'Cause I'd love to pass out right about now. God, I'm tired." Lily yawned.
"Well, what can I do about that?"
"We could stop in the great hall," Lily suggested. "And get some coffee?"
"Nah, I'm announcing tryouts for next Saturday. I have no doubt that all the professors are gonna pile homework on us like there's no tomorrow, so early mornings are my only chance." James got up from his armchair in the common room. The head boy and girl's dormitory was just off the common room, a hall with a password-protected head's common room. There were two doors, also with passwords, that led to Lily and James's rooms.
"Arggghhhhhhhh," Lily fell backwards into an armchair. "Why do you even have to practice? You're good-"
"You think I'm good?" James practically fell out of his chair.
"Gaghhhhh!" Said Lily again. "I say really stupid stuff at two in the morning."
"It's not two in the morning! It's two thirty!" James teased. "I'm kidding, relax. It's almost five. Now get up, or do you want to miss breakfast?" Lily got up.
Walking down the hall, Lily yelled, "HUGE COCKROACH!"
"WHERE?" Yelled back James.
"ON YOUR BROOM!" Lily screamed back.
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
"WHERE?" James yelled.
"THERE!"
"LILY, ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME?" James screamed.
"YES!"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL SCREAMING?" James yelled.
"I MIGHT ASK YOU THE SAME THING!" Lily shrieked back, she drew a huge breath.
"Ok, and the point of that was . . .?" Asked James.
"Getting to go back to my room and sleeping. You know, what civilized non-quidditch players do at night!"
"Now, Lily, don't be naive. You think that's all that civilized non-quidditch players do at night?"
"James!"
"Whatever. Now, are you gonna walk down to the pitch with me, or do I have to fly us down?" James rolled his eyes.
"Walking."
"Why? Flying is much faster." James raised his eyebrows.
"Do you have to know everything?" Lily asked, annoyed.
"Yes."
"Ugh, if you must know, I'm afraid of heights." Lily set her jaw.
"Seriously? Wow, is that why you hate me?" James asked, bursting into laughter.
"Partly."
"And what's the other part? Because I'm an arrogant toe-rag who's broomstick can't get off the ground due to his oversized head?"
"Pretty much." Lily said, yawning again.
"God. Really?" James was trying not to explode with suppressed laughter. "Wow, I'm on a roll today." Lily rolled her eyes.
"Are you sure about that coffee?" Asked Lily pleadingly as they walked past the great hall.
"Yes," Said James, dragging her through the entrance hall. "We'll eat after, if we have time." Pushing open the huge doors, he led Lily onto the grounds.
"You know," Said Lily, "You really should be more careful. I'm very, very fragile." Lily faux-fainted sarcastically.
"Not even." James shook his head.
"You sure?" Lily raised her eyebrows. "You've been barely letting me breathe on my own since yesterday." Lily stretched, still feeling the stiffness from lying down for the past, oh, twenty hours. Add to that the fact that she'd lost several gallons of blood recently and hadn't eaten yet, Lily felt pretty lousy. The two of them walked the rest of the way down to the pitch.
"Lily!" She woke up to someone shaking her shoulder.
"Ire?" Lily blinked awake.
"You have to stop randomly passing out. It's beginning to get freaky." Kylie said. Lily was surrounded by all the Marauders, including James, who had broom-stick-hair, and both Kylie and Iris.
"I'm getting a bit tired of it too." Lily groaned, sitting up. She was slumped on a picnic blanket on the Quidditch pitch. The blanket was covered in food the others had nicked from the great hall.
"Don't see how you can be tired with all the sleeping you're doing." Sirius muttered. Kylie and Peter laughed, but Iris just rolled her eyes.
"Seriously though," Said James, running his hand through his hair again. "Should she be so tired?"
"I dunno." Iris sighed. "We should just eat breakfast, we can take her to Madam P after."
"Um, I could have sworn I'd just gone invisible, but in case you hadn't noticed, I can hear you." Lily snapped. She bit irritably into a piece of toast.
"Lil," Kylie began, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder. "It's not that we don't trust you or forgot that you're there, it's that we can't know if you are the best judge of what's best for you now. Lil, if we put you in charge of you, nine times of ten you'd decide against what's best. Please just trust that we're trying to help."
"Wow, judge much? Fine." Lily sighed and leaned back, unfortunately for her, into James's lap. Everyone laughed.
"Come on, guys, this is ridiculous." Iris shook with laughter. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"Yes," He told her. "It is." And then he threw his arms around her and pulled her back into his lap, for the second time in the last twenty-four hours.
"Great." moaned Iris. She struggled, but she was trapped.
"Ire, you really should have seen that coming." Kylie said, leaning back against Remus's shoulder.
"I guess." Iris sighed.