Chapter 2: Quidditch Final

I woke up early the next morning. Remembering the events from the day before, I smiled to myself. I lost a friend and gained a better.

"Morning, Lily." Mary said as she got dressed.

"Mary! You'll never guess what happened last night after you left!" I described the events, full detail, from the night before and the conversation I had with James.

"Wow. You know, you guys are perfect for each other, you just don't know it yet. But when you do, can I be the Maid of Honor for your wedding?" I rolled my eyes at this and went to take a shower.

We went to the Great Hall together for breakfast. We walked through the large, brass double doors and scoped out a place on the Gryffindor table to sit.

"Evans!" I turned around to see Sirius Black waving us over. That wasn't normal. Then again, James probably told him all about last night. "Prongs here is having his pre-match worries. Calm him down, will ya?" So James did tell Sirius and the others about what happened last night.

"Is it okay with you, Mary?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Mary would do anything to get near Sirius Black. Even I had to admit, he was definitely very good-looking. His grey eyes never seemed to be dull and his brown hair rivaled the length of Snape's but it wasn't greasy. It looked so soft and made you want to reach out and touch it.

"Are you crazy? Of course!" Mary said, practically skipping to the table. She took a seat next to Sirius, who was next to James and I sat on the other side of James.

"Hi James." I took a piece of bread and started nibble on it. I raised an eyebrow when he didn't say anything. He was too busy hyperventilating to eat or talk. I touched his arm and he looked at me.

"Lily!. uh..hi..stay above everyone, casually, dive, lean forward.." He muttered, ruffling his hair.

"What?" He really did go crazy whenever these matches happened, didn't he?

"Sorry, I'm going over strategies in my head." he said. Then he went back to muttering to himself. Obsessive, isn't he?

"James, you're going to do great! The Slytherins won't stand a chance. Eat something. You need energy!" I urged him.

"Alright…" He took the bread I offered him.

"Evans, you could be a saint. No one's ever gotten James to eat before a Quidditch match. EVER!" Sirius said, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I have to go do some last minutes warm-ups and go over strategies with the team!" He adjusted his captain badge, ruffled his hair, motioned the others on the team to get up and took off. I stared until he was out of sight.

"Really cares about his Quidditch, doesn't he?" I slid down next to Sirius and finished eating my breakfast.

"Loves it almost as much as he loves you, Evans." he said. Mary giggled and I rolled my eyes and started talking to Remus about the OWL's and school plans for later and beyond. I was glad he was here, he was a good friend of mine, being a prefect with me. Soon, Peter joined us. He was limping and gingerly sat down.

"Okay there, Wormtail?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. Still a little rough from yesterday." He replied. Peter was always the odd one out of the Marauders. The rest of them were good-looking guys who were the best pranksters the school has ever seen. Peter seemed to be the tag-along, but the other three didn't really seem to mind having him around. He was pretty good at magic, and seemed like a good and loyal friend. He did help them in most of their large pranks and landed detention almost as often as James and Sirius.

"Same." Sirius said, as he rubbed his shoulder. Remus side-glanced at me and Mary and didn't say anything.

"Right. James came to the Common Room with a huge gash on his cheek…What happened?" I asked, curious if there was any connection. They didn't seem too eager to say anything straight out, but maybe they'd let something slip?

"Uh..nothing.." Remus muttered. Or not. He looked at Sirius. But, something didn't seem right. I knew there was a connection. I'd have to investigate that further…

"Oh! Look at the time! It's time for the final! Come on!" My eyes narrowed in suspicion when Sirius got up and started limping a little, too. I shrugged it off for now and followed Mary, Sirius, Remus and Peter to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Gryffindor scores again! Score's 100-80, Gryffindor!" The commentator's booming voice yelled over the cheers of the Gryffindors. I looked at James. There was so much concentration and determination on his face. I looked around to see Severus' lips pursed. He was giving James a death glare and I laughed to myself. I looked up in time to see James dodge a Bludger hit by one of the Slytherin beaters.

"Oooh. Nice dodge by the Gryffindor captain! Oh, but Slytherin scores again, to tie the score 100-all!"

"Come on James, find the snitch..." I whispered to no one in particular. I looked at the Marauders, who were jumping up and down in their seats, despite their injuries, cheering James on.

"Oh! Potter looks like he found something!" I whipped my head around to see James in a magnificent dive, his left arm stretched out.

"Come on JAMES!" I screamed along with the rest of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws. I leaned forward and saw that James caught the snitch. He landed neatly on the ground and held the Snitch up.

"WE WON!" Sirius' voice boomed over everyone else's. I've always wondered how he managed to speak that loudly all the time. He grabbed Mary and pulled her into a kiss. He pulled away from her stunned face and said, "Mary, will you go out with me?" Laughing she said,

"Yes, Sirius!"

"YES! I WON!" Sirius screamed. Mary and I laughed even more.

"JAMES!" a female voice screeched in terror. I looked to the Quidditch Pitch in terror. James was knocked to the ground, holding his arm. Mary, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I raced down to the pitch, with most of the Gryffindors behind us. We got to him and formed a circle around him.

"Mate, what happened? Are you okay?" Sirius asked him, kneeling down next to him.

"I'm fine...arm's just broken. It was Lucius Malfoy. It's his last Quidditch Final, so naturally he was pretty upset about losing. He took the beaters bat, and hit the bludger at my arm." He said, poking at his arm. I swatted it away. He should know by now NOT to poke at a broken arm.

"MALFOY! WHERE IS THAT BLONDE GIT!" Sirius boomed. Still I had no idea how he managed to talk that loud over everyone saying 'James, are you okay?' all at once and the Professors trying to figure out what happened.

"Padfoot, don't hurt him. I have a better idea!" Remus said with an evil smile. He pointed his wand at Malfoy and muttered something. A bright, flashing red and gold sign appeared above his head. It read, "LOSER" Mary and I burst out laughing. It was always a mystery to me how they managed to such bad things with their magic. If only they used their powers for more meaningful purposes…

"Nice Moony." James said with an easy laugh. His arm was broken, for Merlin's sake, and he was just sitting her laughing as though it were daily business? Madame Promfrey came running towards us and pushed through the crowd.

"Potter, which arm?" She said, almost bored. James held out his left arm. She waved her wand and muttered something.

"Thanks, Madame Promfrey." She smiled at him.

"Congratulations, Potter." She said as she left. The circle also disappeared, realizing that their hero was safe and Malfoy was avenged.

"Guys, come on. Party in Gryffindor Common Room!" Sirius shouted as most of the Gryffindors left the Great Hall after dinner. Well, there's the source of the parties. I guess it wasn't all James as I assumed it was before. We all followed Sirius back to the Gryffindor Common Room. All of the Gryffindors were in the common room and started clapping when they saw James enter. I couldn't tell if he liked the attention or not. I used to assume he loved all of the attention. But now, I wasn't so sure. I stared at his face, to see if there were any signs of modesty or conceitedness. His expression was impossible to read, it just looked like he was smiling, like he was really, really happy.

"Let the party begin!" Sirius boomed. With a flick of his wand, music started and a disco ball appeared in the middle of the room. Disliking all of the excitement, I went by the fireplace and started reading a book. A half an hour later, James came and sat next to me on the couch.

"Hi, Lily." he said. His eyes were twinkling and he was smiling broadly. I realized he actually never stopped smiling ever since Gryffindor won the Final.

"Hey James. Glad you knocked out Slytherin. I couldn't get enough of Snape's face." I said, remembering the thought of Snape's thin lips pursing as he left with the rest of his to-be Death Eaters.

"So Lily, this weekend's a Hogsmeade weekend." He said, completely changing the subject.

"Yeah." I replied, having an idea about where this was going. He was going to ask me out again. But what was I going to say?

"So I was wondering...Will you go with me?" He muttered. "Like um..on a date.." He added quickly. He turned a little red and started ruffling his hair again. He seemed to do that whenever he was nervous. Pushing that observation out of my head, I started to consider what he just asked. Should I go with him? I remember what he said last night about getting over every one of my rejections. Did he really mean it? Was he really in to me? Maybe he was... I could give him a chance. After all, he's definitely changed, hopefully?

"Alright James. I'll go with you." I smiled, really hoping I made the right decision.

"Wait. What?" He looked at me with confused eyes. He seemed utterly nonplussed. I smiled, trying to contain my laugh.

"I said I'll go with you." I replied calmly, but taking in EVERY aspect of his face. His eyes bulged out and his face turned red. And he smiled, wide, really wide. It was priceless.

"Wow, really? Wow. 5 years Lily, 5 years. It took 5 years. Wow. Finally. I can't believe this. Wow." He said, his eyes were even brighter than before, his face was red, and his smile looked even bigger, if that was possible. I laughed. After a while of taking everything in and staring at me for almost five minutes straight, he asked, "Aren't you going to join the party?"

"No, I don't really like all the excitement." I told him truthfully. These types of parties weren't really what I enjoyed. I preferred quiet.

"Oh. Well, why don't we give it a try for once?" He asked me, still goofily smiling. He stood up and held out his hand. I sighed and put down my book.

"Alright, James. Let's give it a shot." Wait, what was I doing? I don't dance! He led me on to the dance floor and suddenly a slow song started playing.

"This one's for the captain that lead us to victory and his looveee" Sirius' voice boomed as he changed the song. Sirius smirked at us, and started dancing with Mary.

"Well, so much for laying low." I said quietly to him as a crowd started to form around us.

"It's alright. It doesn't matter what they think. This is for us." He said, whispering so only I could hear. That really had to be the most beautiful thing I'd heard anyone say. Ever. Is this really James Potter? He wrapped his hands around my waist and I put my arms around his neck. Is this really James Potter? We swayed to the music and I stared into his eyes. I lost myself in the hazel and his intense gaze. He no longer had that large, goofy smile he wore a few minutes ago. He now had a small, content smile that warmed my blood. I guess I had to accept, maybe there was a side of him I never really saw.

"You know James, you've really changed." I said after a long silence, still staring into his eyes.

"Lily, I haven't change at all. It must be you." He said, still never averting his gaze.

"That is possible. Or maybe you're just showing me sides of you I've never seen before. When I used to think of James Potter, I thought of arrogance. When I thought of arrogance, I used think of James Potter. Now, those words don't seem to relate at all." I said, my voice trailing off. His mouth twitched into a crooked smile that made heart skip a beat.

"So now what do you think of now when you think of James Potter?" he asked slowly.

"Well…" I hesitated. I looked up into his eyes and spoke what I saw. "I think of sweet…kind…caring…and a hell of a savior, therapist, and seeker." I finished with a laugh. I looked around and saw that there were barely any people left in the Common Room. How much time had passed? Now, it was just Remus, Peter, Mary and Sirius, me and James and a few other people.

"Completely deserted common room. And it's only about 11. Right after a party, too. Weird." James said, looking around. We moved near the desks. We made sure to stay away from Mary and Sirius, who were going for a full-fledged make-out right in front of the fireplace. Remus and Peter looked at each other and left the common room too. Suddenly, James yawned really loudly.

"Are you tired? How early did you wake up today?" I asked, figuring he would wake up pretty early before his big day.

"Oh, not too early…Just a half hour earlier than usual, at 4:30" He said nonchalantly. My eyes widened.

"4:30? Not early? You usually wake up at 5? To do what?" I asked. What could he possibly do that early? Breakfast didn't start until 7…What did he do awake for two whole hours?

"I work out..." He said in a small voice and looked down at his hands.

"You work out?" I repeated, not comprehending.

"Yeah…for Quidditch. And because I want to be an Auror, I need to keep in shape, too." He said. Merlin, maybe girls, quidditch and pranks weren't all that was on his mind.

"Wow. That's really…admirable." I finished. It was amazing how much of a work ethic he has. Turns out he isn't such a bad person after all. Maybe I was wrong…My gaze moved down to his arms. He always did have larger muscles than being a seeker required him. What did his stomach muscles look like, then…?

"Thanks." He said, interrupting my hormonal thoughts. He got up. "Well, I'm going to go sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, Lily." I got up, too. "Goodnight, Lily." I brought my face closer to his ear.

"Goodnight, James." I whispered. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and went up stairs to my dorm. I reached my bed and slipped under my covers, hugging them around me. I went over everything that happened that night. From James asking me out, to accepting, to dancing with him, then kissing him on the cheek. I remembered the way his arms went around my waist and I felt butterflies in my stomach. James made me feel the way no other guy ever made me feel. Even though Sirius and Mary joke about us getting married and other stuff like that, but it really does feel like he loves me. I suppose making the decision to go to Hogsmeade with him wasn't bad after all.

A/N: That concludes the second chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! I know I said I update on Wednesdays, however, due to free time, I was able to write the new chapter fairly quickly. I know these two chapters have been a little boring, but I assure you, the next ones will be filled with adventure!

Sam Storsky