Broomstick

It had been two weeks since they had started at Hogwarts, and Lily, having bumped into Severus leaving the Great Hall after breakfast, reminded him brightly that today would be the day of their first flying lesson.

"Quidditch?" moaned Severus. "Oh, I forgot. It's first thing, isn't it?"

"Apparently it's quite fun," said Lily. "I'm just going back to Gryffindor to fetch my broomstick. I know we said we'd go together, but why don't I just meet you there?"

Severus nodded, slightly grudgingly. "Fine. I'll see you there."

Lily hurried off, following other Gryffindors who all seemed to be heading in a similar direction, not remembering exactly where Gryffindor was.

She had been fiercely determined to hate the game that James Potter loved, but after several people had described it to her, she had found her obstinacy waning; it really did sound like a great game and one that she would, no doubt, find herself enjoying.

"A game on broomsticks," she recalled someone saying. "It's very, very fast and sometimes quite dangerous. There's one ball, called the Quaffle, which the three Chasers have to throw into one of three hoops, their goals, protected by the other team's Keeper. The two Beaters have bats, and hit Bludgers at the other team. Then there's the Seeker, who has to try and catch the Golden Snitch…"

Lily smiled as the Fat Lady – her name, Fat Lady, made her smile broaden further – came into view.

"Peppercorn," said one of the fourth-years, whom she had been following.

The painting swung open. Lily sprinted to her dormitory, grabbed her broomstick, a Cleansweep Five, and rushed out to the Quidditch Pitch outside.

As Lily joined the group of excited first years, she knew that she was the last of them, and it was moments later that a woman with short, spiky hair that was evidently in the process of turning silver and hawk-like, yellow eyes strode up to them.

"My name is Madam Hooch, and I'm here to teach you Quidditch," she announced. "The only way to do that is to get you on your brooms. So stand by them and say 'up'!"

Severus hurried over to Lily, clutching his broom so tightly that his knuckles protruded from his pale skin. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw James and Sirius laughing together, having managed successfully to catch their broomsticks in their hands.

Severus, following her gaze, said bitterly, "'Course they get it right the first time."

"I'm sure you'll be good at it too, Sev," she assured him. "Come on. Let's give it a go. Up!" Her broomstick twitched feebly on the ground. "Up!" It flew suddenly upwards and her fingers instinctively enclosed around it. She smiled. She had managed to do it.

Severus, however, was failing miserably. His broomstick had not given a single sign of recognition of his commands, and stayed motionless on the ground. By now, most of the other students had finished. After a minute or so, it was just Severus who remained unsuccessful.

"Hey, it's Snivellus!" said a familiar, taunting voice loudly.

"Mr. Potter," said Madam Hooch sharply.

"Well, that's his name isn't it?" said James. "Isn't it?"

The act of ignorance was simply that – an act. James Potter did not want a teacher to tell him off, to lose the valuable house points that they had been lectured about, and so he pretended to have made a mistake.

"It's Severus," said Lily coldly.

"Severus, then," said James, grinning at her.

That grin, the grin he always wore, frustrated her beyond belief. He was so casually indifferent, blasé was a word her mother had once used to describe someone like James.

Lily handed her broomstick to little Peter Pettigrew, and stepped beside Severus' broomstick, her hand moving over it. "I'll help you, Sev. All you do is say 'up'! Really mean it, Sev. You can do it! Look, up!"

She caught his broomstick, which had launched itself upwards, in her hand. But when she smiled helpfully at Severus, she saw that he was blinking back tears of humiliation. He turned his face quickly away from hers.

"I don't need your help," he muttered. "I'm fine, Lily. It's just – just a stupid old broomstick."

He backed away, grabbing his broom from her, and as Lily turned to stare after him, her gaze locked with James Potter's laughing, gleaming hazel eyes.