Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, only Nia, Bella and anyone not in the books belong to me
A/n: This chapter is dedicated to Sadie whose review spurred me on to put this up. I hope you like it!!
**Low Point**
Do you know those days when you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and think "I don't look too bad today" and then those days where you wake up and look in the mirror and think "what the hell is that?"
Your hair's a state, your skin's dry, your eyes are dead. Your best outfits aren't doing the job, makeup won't sit right and nothing you can do is going to fix it. Lily Evans was having one of those days.
After having brushed and stared at her reflection in disgust for a full minute, she made her way to her trunk to pull out something, anything, that might salvage her unfortunate appearance.
"Ugh!" she cried in frustration, hurling another top back at her infuriating trunk.
"Lily? What's the matter?" called Bella from the dressing table. Lily continued to sieve through her numerous clothes.
"I can't find anything to wear"
"You can't find anything to wear? Don't be ridiculous Lily; you always have something to wear"
Lily looked up at her friend and frowned. It was half past eight, she had woken up a mere ten minutes ago but Bella Aldringham looked amazing, as always.
Lily watched her as she dusted a little, a very little, blusher onto her naturally rosy cheeks and then picked up a brush to run it through her chestnut curls. Which, even at this time, were perfect.
"Shit! I've left my ring in the bathroom" Bella muttered to herself and went to retrieve it.
Lily looked over at Nia who was filtering through her own trunk. "How does she do that?"
"Do what?" Nia replied absently.
"Look like that, at half past eight?"
"Oh, that. I don't know. Eighth wonder of the world, is our Bella"
Not that she could talk, really, Lily thought. Nia looked almost as good as Bella did, but sleepier. She supposed that it came with being so comfortable with yourself.
There were days when Lily was happy and completely content with her surroundings and her life. Then there were days when she felt like she had no idea who she was. Like she had to play a part to be satisfied with herself.
She stared at her reflection through the mirror by their door and felt the inexplicable urge to hit herself. An urge that grew stronger as she saw Nia and Bella's reflections walk across behind her. Why couldn't she be like that?
Lily turned abruptly and pulled out a short strapless dress of cream cotton with a long charcoal cardigan over it and wore a pair of ribbed grey tights underneath. She then pulled her red waves back into an artfully messy ponytail and went about applying her makeup.
She stared at her face after having done. It wasn't perfect but she'd made an effort...
"You look nice, Lily" Bella said, picking up some perfume from the vanity table.
The redhead looked at her friend and back at her own reflection. She sighed, there was no point even trying, it wasn't going to work, she wasn't going to win.
"No I don't, I look awful and over the top" Lily said miserably.
Bella frowned and surveyed her critically "a little but it suits you. Everything about you is over the top. Your height, your hair, your eyes, your skin, it works"
Lily stared desolately into the mirror and tried for a very brief second to allow Bella's words to sway her but she could feel herself stuck right where she was.
"If you say so" she muttered and pulled on a pair of patent black boots "I think I'll go down to breakfast now"
"What's wrong with her today?" Nia asked, as the door shut behind Lily.
"I think she's having one of her days" Bella answered.
Lily turned a corner, happy to have escaped from Nia and Bella's doubting, uncomprehending eyes. Well, she thought, at least she felt at peace with herself.
"Lily! There you-woah!" came a surprised voice. She looked up and saw James staring at her, wide eyed.
His shocked expression simply fortified her belief in how ridiculous she must look, strolling along to breakfast on a Saturday morning in a pretty little dress and patent boots. She folded her arms and shifted from one foot to the other.
"I look ridiculous, don't I?" she muttered shyly.
"No, it's not that. Actually you look really nice, I just-where are you off to anyway?"
She cast her eyes down and mumbled ashamedly "breakfast"
James gave a breath of laughter and smiled at her "well at least you know you'll look good doing it"
Lily, being unaware of how to respond to such a remark, ignored this and asked "did you want to ask me something?"
"Oh yeah! I'd almost forgotten, I wanted to call an emergency Heads meeting…now" he announced "we can get breakfast from the kitchens and eat it in the Lounge"
"What? And miss breakfast in the hall?" Lily questioned, green eyes wide and bottom lip between her teeth.
James felt a flicker of amusement at her obvious relief "yeah, sorry. Do you mind?"
"Oh no, not at all. We have responsibilities to think of, after all" Lily said primly.
"Of course we do" James replied, grinning at her. She stared at him gravely for a second before her lip quivered and her face broke out into an embarrassed smile.
He put an arm around her and she stiffened but he seemed not to notice "let's go get breakfast" and they set off towards the kitchens. Lily's trim figure unyielding within his firm arm as she attempted to compress her shoulders and clasped her hands awkwardly in front of her.
Ten minutes later, the Head Boy and Head Girl could be seen leaving the kitchens, each with their own stack of pancakes and some tea and orange juice to accompany them.
"So what did you want to discuss?" Lily broached, once they'd settled themselves down at the table in the Lounge.
"Well, I was talking to Mary Fielding last night" he started.
"I see"
"And we started talking about Christmas and stuff and she was telling me about her muggle friends, you know because she's a muggleborn" he waited for Lily to nod before continuing.
"She told me how, every Christmas, some kids from their school arrange like a party for the older students, before the holidays"
"Yeah, my friends get one too" Lily threw in.
"Well Mary was saying how it was a pity that no one arranged things like that, at Hogwarts"
"Okay"
"And then I got to thinking. Why don't we?"
"Why don't we what?"
"Why don't we arrange one?"
"A party?"
"Yeah, I mean it wouldn't be that hard. You get a venue, some music, food, and you're good to go. And it would be different from normal parties because it would be like, all the houses together, mingling. We never have that"
Lily stared at him in slight disbelief "that's actually a really good idea"
"Thanks. Also, I reckon we can get Dumbledore to fund it under the pretext of promoting inter-house relations, which we will be" James elaborated.
She thought about it, parties were not really her thing and yet this would be the perfect way to make a mark as Heads, no one had attempted something of this kind before, as far as she knew.
"And this would include the Slytherins?"
James grimaced "it goes against me but…yeah I suppose we'll have to"
"They probably won't turn up but we have to invite them or pay for it ourselves" Lily reasoned calmly.
"You're right; we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed"
"Okay, if we have a meeting with the prefects tonight and get the details sorted then we can get started with the arrangements, is that alright?"
"Fine with me"
"Great, I'll send them a note about it"
The rest of the morning was spent in a rather sombre fashion. Everywhere Lily turned, people were huddled together, whispering to each other solemnly. Several of her classmates were absent in lessons and she sometimes thought she could feel eyes upon herself.
It was the same when the students sat down to lunch. Only then, Lily noticed a few of her fellows in tears and others looking nothing short of shell shocked. Neither of her friends seemed as taken aback as she was at this behaviour.
James, it seemed, was of Lily's mind.
"What's wrong with everyone?" he asked, sitting down beside Sirius.
"Don't you know?" Nia questioned softly. Lily and James exchanged perplexed glances.
"Obviously not" he replied.
Bella looked troubled as she spoke "news came in this morning. There's been a huge muggle killing in the South"
Lily's face paled at the words.
"You're joking!" James whispered, eyes widened.
"Not just any muggles though. Families of muggleborns" Bella continued. Lily's breath caught in her throat and James looked horrified as he cast a glance around.
"Who?"
"Guess" Nia said bitterly.
"Y-you know who?" he answered tentatively.
"There you go. Emma Brown got a letter this morning; she's over there, look, crying. So did Tom Hewitt, Laura Madding, Angela Finley, the Sherbornes, Ian Arkwright-" but she was cut off.
"Stop it! Shut up, shut up" Lily cried, screaming almost. Her porcelain skin, deathly white. Fear was etched in her wide, emerald eyes and her breaths were short and desperate.
They all fell silent and stared at Lily, shocked at her impassioned outburst. Even a few of the Gryffindors closest to them were looking at her.
"Lily, your family weren't mentioned, we checked" Bella assured her hastily.
"I don't care! I just-I don't want to hear about it" Lily exclaimed angrily.
"O-okay" her friend said quietly.
The boys exchanged glances. Lily picked up her fork to resume eating before letting it drop with a clatter, a moment later and rushing out of the hall.
Nia and Bella gazed determinedly down with identical, disquieted expressions.
"Will she be alright? Shouldn't someone go after her?" James asked, his eyes fixed upon the doors.
Nia smiled sadly "she'll be fine. She prefers to be alone when she's like this"
"What happened? I've never seen her go off on one like that" Sirius remarked.
"She can, just not often"
"Is she, like, really close to her family or something?" Remus asked.
"Hardly. But hearing about these muggle killings still scares the hell out of her" Bella said.
"Well you can't blame her" Remus replied.
The two girls shook their heads mournfully.
"Scares me too, when there's been a pureblood killing" James commented.
"And me" Bella added "seems as if the halfbloods are the only ones with nothing to worry about, around here"
Nia, Remus and Peter caught each other's eyes for a brief moment before returning to their food and maintaining a respectful silence.
James was sat in the common room running a bemused eye over his mother's scatterbrained letter encased in her pleasantly familiar, curly handwriting.
"Hey James!" came a bright voice. Bella. "Have you seen Nia?"
"Hey. Yeah, she was in here a bit ago but she did one when Havering came in" James explained.
Bella frowned and tutted "stupid girl, she'll ruin everything!"
"I quite agree but to be perfectly honest with you, Havering didn't look too miffed about it and he doesn't know anything about anything"
The girl stared at him blankly, lost in thought. "That's interesting. Now that you mention it actually, he did a runner on her too when we went to the library, the other day. What's going on there, d'you wonder?"
"Who knows?"
"I bet Lily does" Bella muttered musingly.
James's eyebrow rose in an intrigued manner "d'you think?"
"I'm almost certain of it" she answered quietly, rapidly devising ways to coerce the information out of her elusive best friend "don't you two have a meeting with the prefects today"
"Yeah, but I've got ten minutes before I set off" he looked up at her and smiled "you can sit down, you know"
"D'you think Lily will be alright?" James asked her, once she'd taken a seat.
"Oh yeah, don't worry about it, she'll be fine" she watched him put a letter on the table next to him.
"What were you doing anyway?" she asked.
"Just reading a letter that mum sent yesterday"
"Oh. How is she?" Bella asked with a smile.
"Very well, thanks" James replied politely. Bella pulled out a book and James glanced at his watch.
"Oh! Speaking of your mum, I meant to ask. Mum wrote last week and told me to ask you whether you knew if your parents were attending the Ministry Christmas party, at our house this year" Bella said.
James laughed "didn't she tell you?" the girl shook her head.
"Typical mum. Yes they're going, as am I. In fact you have perfect timing, that letter was, in part, informing me that there is no way I can get out of it" he answered.
"Ah James, ever the charmer. I'm so pleased you're deigning to attend" Bella remarked dryly.
He grinned "it's nothing personal Bella. I just don't like going to those parties in general"
"It'll be different this year, I promise"
"I'll hold you to that. Is it okay if I brought Sirius? It's just, he's usually with us over Christmas"
"Of course he can!" Bella answered simply "so how've you been, James? It's been an age since we talked"
"Just stressed, you know. I'm glad this term's almost over, I couldn't be doing with much more of it, if I'm honest"
"Oh I know! I feel like the life is being slowly but painfully sucked out of me. I can't imagine what it's like for you, with practises and duties and what not. When's the next match anyway?"
"Next week, against Slytherin. Last one before we break up" he replied "with that and everything else, I don't have time to do anything anymore. God, how boring we've become. D'you know, I haven't even sat down to talk about a prank, this year. How depressing is that?"
Bella's telltale dimple struggled not to show as she suggested "or maybe, maybe, you've…I dunno…grown up?"
James stared at her for a second and looked disgusted "grown up? Don't be stupid Bella" he adjured her dramatically, his brilliant grin barely restrained. They exchanged glances before breaking into smiles and shaking their heads.
"You always did come up with the stupidest ideas" he added thoughtfully.
"Did I?"
"Invariably. Remember when you made all of us tie our brooms to that tree to see if we could pull it out with a combined effort?" James asked.
"Oh my god, I'd forgotten about that. Well you didn't have to try; any idiot would've seen that that wouldn't have worked"
"Any idiot but you, apparently" he retorted wryly.
"And yet I managed to stay on the ground, bemusedly watching the six of you being thrust off your brooms and hurled onto the ground"
"Only because you were too scared" he sniffed.
"I was n-" but Bella broke off at a look from her old friend "okay fine, maybe, but at least I didn't end up looking like a complete fool, trying to explain it to McGonagall"
James laughed and ruffled her hair, earning a reproachful glare from her. He glanced at his watch and rose "I'd best be off, if I don't want to be late. I don't reckon Lily could handle any more stress today, do you?"
"No, you're right. Good luck, though I doubt you'll need it" Bella said. He smiled and winked at her as he left, to which she responded by blowing a kiss.
He arrived at the lounge with about a minute to spare. Upon his entrance, Lily looked up to meet his glance and returned his smile with a wan attempt of her own.
"You alright?" he asked, clearly concerned. Her smile grew a little wider at his tone.
"Not too bad, thanks. Bit embarrassed, if anything" she answered.
"Embarrassed about what?" James asked, confused.
Lily gave him a look. "Lunch. I cannot believe I went off like that, it was so rude"
James stared at her "you must be the only person who would care about their manners at a time like that"
Lily said nothing but continued to leaf through the various parchments before finally pulling out what she wanted.
"Is everyone here? Can we start?" she called to the room at large, there was general assent, prompting her to clear her throat.
"Right, well I know this is rather short notice but James' had an idea" she looked to him to take over. Between the pair of them, they broached the scheme to the others.
"I think we should do it" said one of the Hufflepuff prefects, Jenny Woodhouse "we never do anything for Christmas, it'll be fun. A little Christmas cheer before we go home"
"That's what I thought" Lily added, looking around. Judging by the expressions and mutterings of the prefects, there seemed to be a general consensus in favour of the proposed party.
"Okay, well we've got about a week and a half to go so we'd better get started and get the details sorted. Any ideas for where we should have it?"
"Three Broomsticks?" someone suggested.
James shrugged "sounds alright to me"
Lily was about to write it down when she caught some of the Slytherins exchange nasty leers out of the corner of her eye. "Or maybe we should have it here?" she said.
Several of the prefects groaned and James made a face "not in school! That'd be no fun" he complained.
"I know, I completely agree but I dunno, a bunch of Hogwarts students, purebloods, muggleborns, everyone, in Hogsmeade, without guards…it's not safe, not now" Lily said, glancing at the Slytherins.
James frowned deepened as his eyes followed hers "that's a point actually. It'd be a bit risky, wouldn't it?"
Lily nodded "too risky"
"Well I suppose we could have it here" James conceded.
"If we did that, we'd probably have to have it in the hall" Remus said.
Lily wrote it down "what about age limit?"
"Sixth and seventh years" James answered promptly. A few of the prefects cried out indignantly. The fifth years.
"That is so unfair" one of the girls called out.
Lily sighed and ran a hand over her eyes "I know it is but the thing is, we couldn't really have anything stronger than butterbeer if we allowed anyone below sixth year to attend, and we'd have to get professors to chaperone. It's bad enough we have to have it in school"
"So we have to help but we can't come? That's bang out of order" a boy remarked sulkily.
The Heads exchanged slightly chagrined glances "well when you put it like that..." James trailed off.
"What if we let you come? Just the prefects, I mean. And fifth years can come if invited by one of us. One invite per prefect or Head. I know it's not ideal but we really can't let them all come without it turning into a complete wreck" Lily bargained.
The incensed party looked at each other with raised eyebrows "yeah, alright, it'll have to do" one of them said grudgingly.
"Thank you, I appreciate it" Lily replied.
"Is there going to be like a dress code or something?" one of the Gryffindors enquired.
"Um, it is going to be a party so-" but James cut off his counterpart.
"Oh but don't make it formal! It'd totally kill the atmosphere" he argued.
"No it wouldn't!" cried the aforementioned Jenny.
James and several other boys opened their mouth to protest but were stopped by an adroit interjection on Lily's part.
"How about if we put the dress code down as nice?" she suggested timidly, desperately trying to avoid confrontation in her meeting.
"What counts as nice?" someone asked suspiciously.
"Well as long as you don't look scabby and you don't look as though you're going to the queen's for tea, you'll be alright" Lily explained.
"So I could wear a dress?" one of the girls called.
"Long as it's not a gown or anything"
"And I can wear jeans?" somebody else called out.
"Long as they're clean, I don't see why not. So are we agreed on nice?"
The prefects murmured their assent and the dress code was duly noted.
"I think we're done" Lily announced "right, I'll get the decorations and you all need to help put them up. James and I will take care of entertainment and food. Any questions?" she looked around "right then, meeting's over, you can leave"
Their audience filed out, chatting to each other excitedly. James hung back to help Lily with her numerous papers.
"When should we speak to Dumbledore about it?" he asked, handing them over to her.
"I already did" she replied.
"You what?"
"I spoke to Dumbledore about it, he said it was okay" Lily elaborated, slightly confused.
"Oh" James said blankly, frowning a little.
Lily misinterpreted his look and said consolingly "I gave you total credit for the idea. He's aware that it was all you. It's just, I had a free period and I thought I might as well get it out of the way. You don't mind, do you?"
He shook his head "no, only…"
"What?"
James looked down into her wide, anxious green eyes and subconsciously softened "nothing, I'm being an idiot. I should be thanking you"
She smiled brightly "don't mention it. We'd better get going"
"Yeah. Here, give me your file, I'll carry it for you" he offered but Lily made a declining gesture.
"No, no, don't be silly, I'm fine" she protested.
"Lily, give it to me" he said firmly "it's the least I can do"
Each tried to outstare the other but Lily gave in and grudgingly handed over her gargantuan file.
"So, I've been trying to come up with ideas for entertainment, but nothing's coming to me" Lily said as they began to walk back.
James looked at her incredulously "Lily, I only told you about it this morning and you're already on entertainment?"
She blushed and bit her lip "I had a double free in the afternoon and just started drawing up an outline. Sorry, I love planning"
He laughed "don't be and no, I can't think of anything off the top of my head"
They fell into thoughtful silence until James spoke again "should we split up the duties? That way, it'll get done faster" he suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I took decorations already, if that's okay with you?"
"That's fine. That leaves…?" he trailed off, looking at her expectantly.
"Food and entertainment. So if I took food and you took entertainment…would that be okay?" Lily asked.
James looked at her for a second and then nodded "yeah, sounds alright to me. So it's sorted then. You take food and decorations and I'll take entertainment"
"Great"
They said the password (equinox) and entered the common room, upon which James handed Lily back her file and she made her way up to her dormitory.
"Nia!" Lily called for the third time.
It was the morning of the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. Most of the team had left for the pitch, Sirius and Lily were ready to follow their example but Nia was taking her sweet time, having breakfast with Jake.
"I'm sorry about her" Lily whispered to Sirius who shook his head but looked thoroughly unimpressed.
"Nia, come on! We have to go" she cried once again. Clearly annoyed, Nia cast a glance up at her and sighed.
"Alright, alright. I'm coming" she muttered. She leant forwards to give her boyfriend a departing kiss and rose from her seat.
"What's your bloody rush? We were only having breakfast" Nia said grudgingly.
"You and Jake can have breakfast whenever you like but not when we have a match" Lily responded calmly.
"You sound just like James" Nia said.
"Yeah well prepare yourself because if you've made us late for his pre-match run though, he's going to murder you" Lily said testily.
"What's wrong with you, today?" her friend demanded.
"Just shut up and drop it Nia, you've tried her enough" Sirius interjected.
Nia's petulant glance turned towards him "who made you her protector?"
"I'm not, I'm just telling you to shut up and stop trying to turn this on her. It's your fault if she's been in a bad mood; we were stood waiting for you for ten minutes after the others had left"
"Don't tell me to shut up. And besides, I can take as long as I want, you could have left" Nia argued.
"We were only trying to be nice, like friends do" he snapped.
"Who's asking you to be my friend? I don't need you"
"Both of you, stop it, please" Lily interrupted beseechingly "we're going to play a match, as a team, we can't be arguing like this"
Nia and Sirius glared daggers at each other before turning.
"You're right, I'm sorry Lily" the girl said.
"It's okay" Lily replied.
A pregnant silence came to nothing "do I not get an apology?" Sirius asked, stopping.
"No" Nia said baldly "why should I apologise to you?"
Sirius stared at her, quietly livid. Nia stared back; a lazy, taunting, challenge in her eyes. Lily felt uncomfortable.
"You're unbelievable" he whispered and stalked away, leaving the two girls behind.
Nia turned to her friend who looked distinctly unsympathetic.
"What?" she demanded defensively.
"He's not wrong, you know" Lily answered softly and walked away to catch up with Sirius.
The match began some ten or fifteen minutes later. The air was brutally cold and nipped at the skin until it could no longer be felt, nevertheless the entire student body had gathered and sat, freezing but excited, with their respective houses.
The buzzing and chatter died down as Charlie Reynolds' voice sounded on the loudspeakers.
"The Gryffindor team! Captain Potter, Johnson, Phillips, Fletcher, Black, Leighton and Evans!"
Seven figures clad in scarlet robes walked out to tumultuous cheers from three of the four stands.
"And the Slytherin team! Captain Avery, Thorne, Blackwell, Mason, Mitchell, Ryder and Black!"
Seven more figures walked out to a quieter bout of applause and a little jeering from the Gryffindor supporters.
"Captains shake hands" it was announced. James and Avery cautiously held out their hands and shook hands so quickly you might almost have missed it before letting go as if they'd both been burnt.
The players mounted their brooms and sped upwards at the sound of a shrill whistle over the vicious winter wind.
Things did not get off to an all too auspicious start with Slytherin getting the first goal. From the very beginning though, Lily perceived that something was off with their team dynamics. They weren't working together quite as harmoniously as Hogwarts was accustomed to seeing.
"-what makes this match particularly exciting" Lily heard Reynolds announcing when she tuned back into the commentary "is that Slytherin need only to win this match and their next match to have the lead over last year's winners, Gryffindor. But judging by Gryffindor's attitude today and Slytherin's excellent team, that's not looking too far off"
"Jack! What's going on?" Lily asked as the fifth year zoomed over to head a bludger away from her.
"It's Sirius and Nia. He won't put enough power into his shots and she keeps losing focus" he had the time to reply before flying away again.
When Lily observed them, she saw that there was truth in what the beater had said. Twice, Nia was successfully tricked by the Slytherin chasers with the simplest of 'look left, go right' moves. And Sirius didn't really seem to notice where he swung the bludgers to.
As the match progressed, the circumstances didn't seem to improve. Gryffindor were barely managing to keep their scores close to Slytherin's.
The chasers' stamina was waning as they tried to cover Nia by intercepting their opponents as much as was humanly possible, sometimes even when it was humanly impossible. The worst sufferer was Jack who looked absolutely knackered as he flew around, single-handedly keeping two bludgers at bay.
Lily felt that it would be politer to allow Sirius' efforts to be overlooked.
Slowly, the crowd too came to realise the root of the problem. This was largely thanks to Sirius' serenely watching a bludger fly past him and advance upon Nia who was forced to dart to the left allowing an approaching Slytherin ample opportunity to shoot the quaffle through the right hoop.
"Nice dodge Nia!" Sirius shouted as the Slytherin supporters began to cheer. Nia told him to do something which made Lily sincerely thankful that no one could hear her.
From that point onwards, it was full out warfare between the two teammates. Things really came to a head when (after another goal made by Slytherin) Nia was obliged to throw the quaffle out again.
Both James and Aaron were marked leaving only Cara open. Nia however chose to throw it in the opposite direction and straight into the arms of Thorne.
As a result of this, Sirius made his first proper shot of the day and aimed it right at Nia who barely missed it by flattening herself against her broom.
"And the Black-Fletcher feud continues in full throttle! Not that anyone really thought it had ended. I think the question on everyone's mind today is: what happened? Up until two weeks ago, the Gryffindor team were invincible but it seems that's all over" Reynolds could be heard saying.
Hearing this was the last straw for James who called for a timeout immediately. The team huddled on the ground, four of them just waiting for the fireworks to begin.
"What the hell is your problem?" Nia demanded of Sirius.
"My problem? Why aren't you doing your job and guarding the posts properly?" he replied in kind.
"Oh, like you've even lifted that bat today" Nia scoffed.
"Lifted it to send that bludger at you, didn't I?"
"Enough!" James commanded in a voice of deadly calm. The bickering pair fell silent immediately.
"We're all working our arses off to cover your mistakes. We're thirty points behind and that's just by the skin of our teeth" he snapped.
Lily, Jack, Aaron and Cara exchanged awkward, nervous glances.
"Now, I don't pretend to understand what goes on between the two of you but keep your bloody mind games off my pitch!" James shouted.
"Yes James" Nia whispered.
"We have to win this match, do you understand? We're the only team that can give Slytherin a proper game and if we don't beat them then by the end of their next match; they'll be leading because the Ravenclaws are a mess" he explained heatedly.
"We know, sorry" Sirius muttered. James stared at them and shook his head.
"Our only hope now is catching that snitch" here, the Captain looked towards his seeker "Lily, wait until we're drawing again to get it"
"Yes James" Lily answered.
"In the meantime, I want you to keep Black busy, make sure he's not looking for that snitch until you want him to. I don't care what you do; break as many rules as you want, just keep him distracted"
"He's competitive, Lily. Insanely competitive' Sirius added 'challenge him. Doesn't matter how small and stupid it is, he'll go for it"
"Right, got it" Lily said.
James looked apologetic "I'm really sorry. I don't mean to put pressure on you but if you don't catch that snitch…" he trailed off ominously.
"I promise you, I promise that I am going to get that snitch" she vowed, her faced steeled in determination.
"Okay then, let's get back in it" James proclaimed and motioned to Madam Hooch that he was ready to resume.
The whistle was blown again and the team went in with new vigour. But despite Nia and Sirius getting their act together, the Slytherin team were a force to be reckoned with and made it exceptionally difficult for Gryffindor to regain their footing.
Lily set about performing an exquisite sequence of loops and swoops and twirls and spins to attract her counterpart's attention. Her efforts did not go unrewarded.
"What is Evans doing? She doesn't even need a distraction right now" Reynolds paused to watch Lily up "but my God, she does it beautifully!" as she slid off her broom and did a full swing around it with the ease of a gymnast.
The last comment and the appreciative applause from the audience made Black look up and narrow his eyes. Not to be outdone, he looped two players, making one of his teammates veer off in the wrong direction in the process.
Lily then tore off to the other end of the pitch and Black followed, making it a race as they furiously skirted around the other players in an attempt to reach the hoops.
The show continued, the crowd deriving even more amusement from this than they had from Sirius and Nia's earlier antics.
About five minutes after Aaron scored the goal needed to draw with Slytherin, Lily glimpsed the snitch.
Black was in the midst of performing a bevy of twirls so Lily snagged the opportunity to speed off in the right direction although he was soon on her heels.
As they approached the snitch, Black drew level with her. They both held out their hands and swiped and suddenly the gold disappeared.
Neither seeker betrayed any telling emotion and both of their fists were balled. The players stopped and the noise of the crowd lulled to a puzzled hush. Lily flew away and Black's suspicious eyes followed her. Unsure of what had happened.
"Who caught it? Was it caught at all or did it get away?" Reynolds could be heard questioning.
James watched Lily get closer and frowned, just as confused as everyone else. She braked right next to him and held out her fist. James held out his hand and something gold and fluttering was dropped into it.
She beamed at him as he stared at her in astonishment. And then James burst into relieved laughter and threw his other arm around her in celebration.
"That's it!" the commentator shouted ecstatically as all the stands but one erupted into vociferous cheers "Evans has got the snitch and Gryffindor win 250 to 100 in a match no one is likely to forget!"
Lily and James made their way down where they were gleefully pounced upon by the rest of the team.
"Oh thank God, Lily. You did it!" Nia cried, hugging her best friend.
"No thanks to you" Lily replied with a smile.
"I know, low point or what?"
Some half an hour later, when Nia and Lily finally reached the common room, the celebrations were well on their way. Lily stifled a groan at the prospect of what awaited her behind the portrait and she little expected the unanimous applause she received upon her entrance.
She looked around in shock and confusion as they clapped and whistled for her. Her mouth fell open and she turned a pair of astonished eyes towards James who was stood on a table with a butterbeer.
"A toast!" he called "to Lily Evans who, I think we all agree, single-handedly ensured that Slytherin won't get the lead over Gryffindor"
The others cheered again and drank from their respective bottles. Lily blushed fierily and looked at her feet as it all happened.
Once everyone had resumed their prior activities, Nia dragged her over to where James and Aaron stood, talking.
"Nia" James said coolly. Nia looked at him guiltily.
"Oh James, come on! We won, didn't we?" she whined.
"Yeah but what if Lily hadn't caught the snitch?"
"But she did! Don't keep on being angry. Please?"
James stared at her for a minute before visibly thawing and giving a sigh "yeah, alright"
"Thanks James" Nia said brightly, punching him on the arm.
"You didn't have to do all that, you know" Lily mumbled.
"I think I did. You saved us, Lily Evans, saved us from most the mortifying defeat in our team's history" James declared solemnly, making them all laugh.
"He's right, you did. You were incredible, Lily" Aaron added before having his attention claimed by a nearby friend.
The three teammates chatted for a few minutes, or Nia and James chatted while Lily graced the conversation with occasional nods and comments of agreement. Just then, Nia caught sight of Sirius and Cara.
"Hang on, I really have to do something" she said and headed off.
"Hey guys" Nia greeted sheepishly as she approached them.
"Hey" they chorused.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked.
Nia bit back a sarcastic remark and gallantly ploughed forth "I wanted to… to apologise"
She turned to Cara first "I know I was being childish. I just got a bit carried away. Completely pointless and there wasn't any sense in it. You just got caught in the firing line, I suppose. I'm sorry"
The other girl smiled "it's alright. Happens to the best of us" she paused as Nia's eyes looked up Sirius and she cleared her throat.
"I'm going to go get drinks and leave you two to sort this out on your own" she said cheerfully and walked away.
"So" Sirius said once she'd left.
"Yeah, so" Nia replied awkwardly before diving into her apology "I'm so sorry, Sirius. I really, really am. I didn't mean to be so horrible and bitchy and…awful"
"I know, I'm sorry too. I've not been much better"
"Yeah but I started it and I shouldn't have because" she took a deep breath to get it out "because you're like, one of my best friends and it was stupid to let stuff get in the way"
"Yeah it was, but I didn't do anything to stop it. Let's not do that again, okay? It wasn't fun. I didn't like not being able to talk to you" he admitted.
"I didn't either" Nia answered, looking up at him guiltily and giving him a hug which he returned.
When they let go, Sirius grinned at her. "Difficult?"
Nia let out another deep breath and looked at him expressively "like you wouldn't believe!"
"I know. Me too" they shared a glance and burst out laughing.
"Everyone friends again?" Cara asked, appearing behind them. The other two smiled and took the bottles she held out to them.
Lily, meanwhile, had made her way to Bella's side.
"Congratulations!" Bella cried upon her friend's arrival.
"Thank y-" but Lily was interrupted by a fifth year who held out a bottle for Bella.
"Here you are, Bella. I got you your butterbeer" he said reverently.
Bella smiled upon him dazzlingly "oh Derek! Thank you, you're so sweet! I don't mean to be a pain but could you possibly get Lily one? If it isn't too much to ask"
The enamoured youth assured her of the contrary and promptly left to fulfil his goddess' request. Lily watched him with unconcealed admiration and said, upon his delivering her drink and leaving "how do you get them to do that?"
Bella rolled her eyes "don't be stupid, they're just being nice, they'd do it for anyone"
"Ha!' Lily scoffed 'sure they would"
The other girl pointedly ignored this and said brightly "Remus told me that you set him up with Kate"
"Yeah, I thought it would be good for him and she's really sweet"
"She is sweet; I was talking to her today at the match"
"Why were you in the Hufflepuff stands?" Lily asked, confused.
"I wasn't. Remus brought her over to sit with us in our stands and that's how we got talking"
Lily was surprised "he brought her over to sit with you guys?"
"Yeah. They're really cute together too, look" Bella stated, pointing to a spot to the left of her.
Lily's bewildered green eyes followed her gaze and a frown set in as she watched Remus and Kate chatting on the sofa. They looked like they were having fun.
"Cute, no?" Bella asked, a smile on her lips as she watched them.
Lily glanced between the girl beside her and the couple on the sofa.
Slowly, she nodded "definitely cute".
A/n: Thanks for reading, if you want to make me feel happy, you can leave a review too!
