a/n: AAAAAAHHHHH! Hey everyone, happy Halloween! I have to practically order myself to stay in my seat cuz I'm soooo happy! Big, HUMONGOUS thank you to PIXIE5252 who was so kind to put me on her favorites list! This chapter is dedicated to you! I feel so loved!

DEDICATED TO PIXIE5252, This is for you!

Chapter Six: I'm Sure It's Just an Exaggeration

Tuesday evening had come far too quickly for Lily. Before she knew it, it was time for the dreaded Quidditch practice. She and James were down in the locker room and he had just finished explaining to her the rules of the game while she put on the scarlet robes over her uniform.

"Okay, are you ready?" James asked her.

"No," Lily answered.

"Bloody hell, it's just a practice, Evans! Not the World Cup." Lily bit her lip uncertainly and looked at the broom in her hand.

"There's no pain involved, right?" James rolled his eyes.

"You've seen the games, you know what it's like!" he said. "There's not a lot involved in a practice, but just in case, you might want to put this on." He held up a plastic device that looked like a small cup attached to elastic bands (a/n: I have no clue what a jock strap looks like, so you'll just have to go with me on this one).

"What the hell is that?" Lily asked.

"This," he said, "is something that becomes your best friend when you are a male athlete." Lily's face changed from confused to horror as she realized what was in James's hands.

"No way!" she said, shaking her head vigorously. "I go through enough when I'm in the bathroom; I don't need to see anything more!"

"Evans, be sensible," reasoned James. "If you want to avoid some intense pain, you'll put this on."

"No."

"Evans! I'm trying to help here, now put it on!"

"No!" she repeated stubbornly. "I'm not putting that thing on. I'm sure it's just an exaggeration, anyway. The pain can't be that bad." James stared at her for a moment before sighing and putting the object down.

"Boy, are you going to regret that," he told her. "If only you knew what you were saying. Come on, you'd better get out there or Brian will have your head. The team's already on their brooms. I'll be sitting in the stands. Just fly up to me if you have any questions."

"Okay," Lily said. She watched James walk up to the stands. After a moment, Lily turned towards the pitch and took a deep breath. Well, she thought. Here it goes. She timidly made her way out to the field, glancing up at the other players. They're so high up, she thought nervously. I can't believe I'm doing this. Brian's shouting brought her out of her thoughts.

"POTTER!" he yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE, WAITING FOR THE END OF THE CENTURY? GET YOU'RE ARSE IN THE AIR! WE'VE GOT A LOT TO DO!"

"Coming!" Lily called back. She carefully mounted the broom and lightly tapped her foot on the ground.

Nothing happened.

She tapped her foot again, but still nothing happened.

"What, I'm not doing it right?" she wondered aloud.

"YOU'VE GOT TO KICK OFF HARDER!" James shouted down to her. Lily impatiently stomped her foot on the ground. The broom immediately shot up into the air, at least at forty miles per hour, and gaining velocity. Lily shut her eyes tightly and hung on for dear life. She was creaming her lungs out, much to James' horror.

"AAAAAAAHHHH! OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!" she shrieked. James groaned and buried his head into his hands.

"She'll ruin me," he moaned.

When the broom finally slowed down, Lily slowly opened her eyes. She looked over to the team who stared back at her curiously.

"Hey James," said Sirius. "You all right, mate?" Lily looked down, and immediately wished she hadn't. She was about sixty or seventy feet in the air, which was not a good thing for someone who was afraid of heights.

"You're beginning to look a bit pale," added Clark Garrison, the one of the other Chasers.

"I'm fine," Lily squeaked. "Really, I'm fine."

"Alright then," said Brian in annoyed tone. "When we're all done chatting, I would like to get in some actual practice. I was watching the Ravenclaw team and they have definitely improved."

"They'll never be as good as us," said Barry Lawson, the team keeper.

"That may be true," said Brian, grinning slightly. "But we need to work on our plays. I've come up with a few new ones that I want to try out. Lawson, get in front of the goals. Black, Garrison, I want you to practice passing the bludgers from different sides of the pitch. Wiseman, I want you to start looking for the snitch. When you catch it, let it go and count to ten before going after it again. Potter, Garrison, and I will start passing the quaffle, and Lawson, I want you to try and block them. Alright, get to the warm-ups, everyone! We've lost about fifteen minutes already." They all flew to their positions and began, but Lily stayed where she was, unsure of where to go. She looked to James, who was pointing over to her right and mouthing, "Go over there!" Lily nodded and flew in a wobbly line a few feet. She waited a few minutes. Where's the quaffle? she thought. I thought they were supposed to pass it to me.

She heard a faint whistling noise, and then someone shouted, "JAMES, LOOK OUT!" As Lily was turning her head towards the voice, something solid collide with the side of her head and nearly knocked her off the broom.

"Ugh!" she grunted. She wobbled dangerously but managed to grab hold of the stick before she fell. Clutching her head, Lily squinted her eyes and saw Brian flying towards her through what appeared to be stars.

"Are you alright, Potter?" he asked worriedly. Lily nodded her head and winced when she felt a throbbing pain.

"Yeah," she gasped. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just…caught off guard."

"You've got to pay attention when someone passes you the Quaffle, Potter. Come on, get in the game." Brian flew away and passed the Quaffle to Garrison. Lily groaned rubbed her head. Less than five minutes and I already hate the game, she thought grumpily. She heard laughter and turned towards the stands. James was chuckling softly, trying to hide it behind his hand and doing a very bad job at it. Scowling, Lily slowly made her way over to him.

"Ha, ha, ha," she said sourly. "I'll bet you thought that was funny, eh Potter?" James looked up at her and smirked, eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Yeah," he said carelessly. "Actually, I did."

"Well I didn't," she snapped. "I suppose it wouldn't ever occur to you that it was painful?" James bit his lip to prevent more laughter from escaping and with great effort, forced a serious expression on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You're right. Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?" James held up three fingers. There was a brief moment in which Lily thought vaguely, I could have sworn that hands only had five fingers.

"Like it matters now!" she said crossly.

"Potter!" barked Brian. "What are you doing over there? Save the flirting for later and get back over here!" James grinned and waggled his fingers. Lily threw him one more dirty look and flew back to where she was before.

"Ass," she grumbled under her breath.

"James!" called Clark. "The Quaffle's coming to you!" He threw the red ball to her and Lily fumbled with it for a moment before clutching it tightly. Since this was the first Quaffle she had ever caught, she extremely happy. Extremely.

"Yay!" she said excitedly. "Did you see that? I caught it! I caught the waffle!" James groaned and began to softly thump his head on the banister.

"Waffle," he mumbled. "I can't believe she just said waffle." Over by the goal posts, Sirius leaned over to Barry.

"Did he just say waffle instead of quaffle?" he asked in hushed tones. Barry nodded sullenly.

"Afraid so, mate," he answered grimly. Sirius nodded.

"Just making sure it wasn't me."

"Maybe it's because he got hit," suggested Trisha Wiseman. She gestured to her head. "The quaffle probably just, you know, unscrewed a few things. It'll pass." All three nodded and went back to practicing.

Still celebrating over her catch, Lily didn't notice Brian fly up to her for the second time that evening. The expression on his face was far from happy.

"Potter," he said sharply. "Would you mind passing the quaffle back tonight, if possible?" Lily blushed slightly and looked down.

"Sorry," she said, slightly out of breath. "Um…yeah, here you go." She held the ball out, but Brian didn't take it.

"Don't just hand it to me," he said exasperatedly. "Use that arm I know you have and pass it."

"Oh," stammered Lily. "Right. P-pass it. Of course." Brian sighed and raced off again, getting ready for the pass. "Pass it," Lily said to herself. "Right, I can do that." She took a deep breath and looked over to Brian. Gripping the broom tightly with her left hand, she brought her hand back and hurled the quaffle towards Brian with all her might.

In Lily's opinion, it went pretty far.

After all, twenty feet could be considered an extremely good distance.

Too bad Brian was thirty feet away.

The rest of the practice seemed to just crawl by for Lily. There had been some good points and bad points. With a few other passes, Lily managed to increase the distance each time. However, she had also managed to hit Sirius in the nose and Brian in the back. Even though she had tried to apologize, Brian was so mad he yelled himself hoarse at her. In addition to being hit in the head, she was also hit in the shoulder and the knee.

She had also run into one of the goal posts.

James hadn't been much help. He seemed to have a mix of emotions. One minute he was doubled over, laughing at all of her injuries and clumsiness. The next he was pacing back and forth, trying to keep himself from tearing out the red hair in clumps from his frustration.

When eight o'clock finally came around, Lily was tired, sweaty, and sore. All she wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep for the next ten years.

"Alright, team," Brian yelled. "Good practice! Don't forget, the next one is on Thursday, same time. Everyone go on in get some sleep!" They all cheered and started to fly lower to the ground. Lily was just figuring out how to get down when Brian came over to her.

"James," he said sternly. "I hope you'll have a better focus on Thursday." Lily nodded.

"I will," she said. "Don't worry."

"I couldn't help notice that you weren't as up to scratch as you usually are. You're playing like a beginner! Is there anything going on that might be distracting you?"

"No," Lily lied quickly. "Nothing at all." Brian looked at her for moment.

"Alright," he sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "Why don't you go take a rest? I think that's all it is. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Lily nodded and Brian started heading down. When he was gone, she wondered aloud, "Okay, now how do I get down?" She thought for a moment, then tried forcing her weight down on the broom. It jerked slightly, but otherwise stayed in the air. Lily tried again, but still nothing happened.

"Having troubles?" James called dryly from the stands.

"No," she said stubbornly. "I can do it myself, Potter. I'm not completely inadequate, you know." James smirked and crossed his arms.

"Not completely," he said. "You might want to try leaning forward a bit. That's what usually works, anyway. See you on the ground." Lily scowled at his retreating back, but did as she was told.

As she soared down, she tried to keep her dinner in her stomach. I hate flying, she thought crossly. I'll never speak to Potter again for this. She landed on the ground with a soft thump, and turned to James who was leaning lazily against the wall.

"Took you long enough," he laughed. Lily brushed past him, making sure to bump his shoulder.

"Stuff it, Potter," she snapped. "I'm not in the mood. Would you like to know why?"

"I really don't care," James said in a bored tone. Lily ignored him.

"I just spent two hours on a broomstick. My butt is sore, my arm hurts, and I have to do this every week! Even worse, I have to do it in front of a thousand people on Saturday! I am not happy, Potter. You owe me big for this!"

"Why?" he asked. "I'm the one who has to go on a date with a boy! Newsflash Evans, I don't row in that boat!"

"Well, if you had canceled yesterday like I told you, you wouldn't be in that problem would you, Potter?" she said testily. "But no! You just had to go and make things difficult, and make my life a living hell!"

"It's no bed of roses being you either Evans!" James shot back. Before Lily could retort, she heard someone interrupt.

"Hey James!" Then, Lily heard a whistling sound.

A very familiar one, at that.

"JAMES, LOOK OUT!" someone shouted.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Trying to see who had given the warning, Lily didn't see the bludger hurtling towards her.

"What?" she asked. "What's wro—" But she didn't get to finish her sentence. The next thing she knew, Lily was doubled over in pain. The worst pain she had ever felt in her life.

"Ooh," someone breathed softly. "Boy, do I feel for him."

She felt a throbbing between her legs, and it hurt so bad, she couldn't even speak. Then she realized it.

She had been hit in the groin.

That's right.

Lily Evans had been hit in the groin with a bludger.

Every male present cringed.

"Ouch," said Barry, his face contorted as if he had been hit instead.

"That's gotta hurt," Sirius said sympathetically. He walked over to her and put a hand on her back. "You alright James?" Lily bit her lip to keep herself from crying.

"Yeah," she squeaked. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" asked Brian. "Do you need us to carry you to the infirmary? Can you walk?" Lily screwed up her eyes and swallowed the growing lump in her throat.

"No," she gasped finally. "No, I'll be fine."

"If you can't ride a broom on Thursday I completely understand," Brian continued. "In fact, if you can, I'll be surprised." Lily just shook her head. After a moment, she became aware of the fact that James was laughing so hard that he was doubled over and leaning against the wall for support.

Scowling at him, Lily said tensely, "It's—not—funny, Evans."

"James is right, Lily," piped up Sirius. "Being hit in the groin, especially with a bludger, is no laughing matter. You'll never understand what it's like." James straightened up, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Oh, you'd be surprised just how well I do understand, Sirius," he chuckled. Sirius just shook his head. Turning back to Lily, he said, "Are you sure you're okay, Prongs? Do you want me to get you an icepack?" For a moment, Lily considered saying yes. The pain wasn't going away. But she had never seen a boy put an icepack on when he was hit, so she figured that she should either.

"No, that's okay," she said, still bent over. "I'll be fine." Sirius looked doubtful, but nodded his head.

"Okay. See you later." He jogged off into the changing room, leaving Lily and James alone.

"I told you to put that thing on," James said, still grinning. "But did you listen? Thanks to you, I might never have children." Lily shot him a glare. "So how is it?"

"Intense," she choked.

"Told you so," he said smugly. "Now you know what we go through."

"Does it ever go away?" Lily asked.

"What, the risk?"

"No," Lily said through gritted teeth. "The pain."

"Oh that," James said casually. "Yeah, it will eventually. Just take deep breaths." Lily made a loud sobbing noise and closed her eyes. James's face contorted to into a look of fear mixed with horror. "You aren't going to cry are you?" he asked quickly. "Do you know what would happen if people saw me crying! I'd never hear the end of it!"

"Relax," Lily said, biting her lip. "I'm not going to cry. It just hurts really badly."

"You just have to get used to it."

"I don't plan on it," she answered stonily.

James paused for a moment, and a brief look of concern crossed his face. "You okay?" Lily nodded her head slightly.

"It's going on forever," she said, eyes still tightly closed.

"Nah, it just feels like that. Still think it's an exaggeration?" Lily shook her head vigorously. "Thought not," James said, beginning to laugh again. Lily threw him a dirty look and slowly straightened up. Oh, screw being manly, she though bitterly. I'm in pain.

"Shut up, Potter, and help me to the infirmary. I think I'm going to need that ice pack."

A/n: Doesn't that make you females out there happy that you're a girl? I know I am! Anyway, drop a review on the way out, and also, since it's Halloween, tell me if you dressed up and what you went as!

Until next time,

Spirit