A/N This is a nice long chapter for you :)
The sun was setting over Italy and gorgeous red rays were being thrown across the sky over the site of the 1976 Quidditch World Cup. The event was set a few miles outside of Rome. The Stadium itself was a large stone structure, in keeping with the traditional architecture that graced the streets of Rome, it was similar to a coliseum and had tiers of stone seats that stretched steeply upwards, each tier was cushioned and there were several large screens around the stadium that would show the match also.
The stadium itself was situated in a wide valley surrounded by rolling hills covered with shrubs and vines. Acres of tents were spread across the valley, many paths could be seen winding through the canvas expanse. The Italian Wizarding Council- the smaller Italian equivalent to the British Ministry of Magic- had been exceedingly strict on the spectators and how subtle they had to be. The majority of the tents looked very normal in appearance however there was the odd turret or front garden. The whole valley was blanketed in muggle repelling charms and wards, but the Council was very cautious and wanted to make sure the World Cup ran as smoothly as possible. A few extra security witches and wizards had also been posted to discourage rowdiness from the magical folk. There was an excited buzz of conversation and laughter over the campsite. It was the 6th of August and the match between Italy and England was tomorrow. A squeal and a chorus of giggles rang out from a particular tent somewhere in the middle of the campsite.
"Lily Evans! I can't believe you!" The voice of Marlene McKinnon screeched. The tent in question was a spare tent belonging to Dorcas, her parents and two brothers were staying in a different tent whilst they watched the World Cup, she had borrowed this one so all the girls could be in the same tent and not have to wander through miles of tents to speak to each other. It was bigger on the inside and consisted of a small bathroom, two bedrooms- a small master with a double bed and then a second room with two sets of bunk beds, and a living area. The four Gryffindor girls were seated in the living area, on the floor arranged in a circle. In the middle of the circle was a small mound of sweets, chocolates and drinks. The girls had committed to a night of 'girl talk' and had gone all out. They were all in their pyjamas- an array of shorts, vests and T-Shirts to combat the summer heat- and had all put on face masks. They had just sat down and Marlene had started the conversation with the classic question- So, anyone met any nice boys? Lily had stayed silent but the blush that made its way across her cheeks as good as answered the question for her. Marlene was gawping at her friend. Her light blonde hair was pulled up into a haphazard bun, she was wearing a Led Zeppelin T shirt and a pair of loose shorts. Her bright blue eyes shone out in glee from behind her face mask.
"You've got a boyfriend and didn't tell us!" Lily blushed and shook her head.
"You eloped and didn't tell us!" Alice shouted, Lily laughed at the babble that had broken out, shook her head again and opened her mouth to correct them when she was interrupted by Dorcas.
"You had a one night stand and are now pregnant and haven't told us!" All the girls laughed at the ridiculous situations that were being brought up.
"No!" Lily shouted motioning for them to shush. Dorcas folded her long legs beneath her and pulled her dark brown hair into a low ponytail. She had an athletic build, she played beater alongside Sirius and with Marlene who was the Gryffindor seeker, and was the tallest of the girls. She rested her chin on her palm, her dark brown eyes looking at Lily intently.
"Details please, Evans!" Alice and Marlene nodded fervently, echoing Dorcas' sentiment. Marlene had plaited Alice's dark blonde hair into a French braid and her dark blue eyes were looking amusedly at Lily who was looking remarkably like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Spill Red." Marlene said grabbing a liquorice wand and leaning against the sofa that was behind her.
"Ok, so there may have been a boy in France." Lily started shyly.
"Oooh," Alice said leaning interestedly towards Lily. "Was he French? French boys are usually drop dead gorgeous."
"Was he cute?" Dorcas asked.
Lily grinned. "Less cute, more drop dead gorgeous I think." Another chorus of gasps and squeals broke out.
"Details Evans!" Cas shouted again brandishing a decapitated chocolate frog whose head she was currently chewing. "What did he look like? What was his name? How old was he? Were you a thing?" A barrage of questions ensued. Lily laughed.
"Alright! If you all hush up I'll tell you!" The girls were silent. Lily took a fortifying bite of a saltwater taffy and a sip of her drink before beginning her tale. "We met at this BBQ that was held right at the beginning of the week, he came over to talk to me and Tuney." Marlene rolled her eyes at the mention of Lily's sister, all three girls had met Petunia when they had stayed at Lily's after second year and suffice to say Petunia had not made a very good first impression but that's a story for another time. Lily caught Marlene's expression, and broke off.
"Now hold on Mar, she was actually really good this summer and she's said she wants to fix things between us." Alice beamed at this but Marlene didn't look convinced.
"Oh that's so good Lily! I'm glad, it's about time she grew up." Alice chattered, Lily turned to Alice to reply but was hit on the forehead by a jelly bean thrown by Dorcas.
"We can discuss that later. Right now I want to hear all about this frenchie you met." Lily ate the jelly bean and carried on. She gave them a quick rundown of Francois' appearance and personality to stop them interrupting her later on.
"So he came over with his brother and introduced himself, they were both really good looking and I am not afraid to admit that I shamelessly flirted with both of them. Or tried to anyway. We talked for ages, the four of us and then he offered to show me and Tuney around the town. Tuney declined but I said yes, and so we went around town the next day and the day after that, and then we... er... became a thing?"
"Wait." Marlene interjected, "were you like boyfriend and girlfriend or what?" Lily blushed and Marlene gasped. "No way! You slept with him!" Lily blanched.
"NO!" She positively screeched before promptly smacking Marlene in the face with a cushion. "Marlene! Come on! Of course I didn't sleep with him! Bloody hell!" Marlene laughed.
"Well what happened then?" Lily blushed again.
"Well we had gotten ice cream and we were sat on the beach just talking, and then he... well he kissed me and I kissed him back." Lily stayed the girl's exclamations of glee with a raised hand and quickly continued, "we agreed it would just be like a two week thing and then we'd keep in touch and see what happened."
"Oh a summer romance." Alice sighed, "wait. If he goes to a boarding school as well how are you gonna keep in touch? He can't exactly write to Hogwarts."
"He told me that his boarding school have really weird rules about mail, so just gave me his parents address. And I told him that my school were really strict and you weren't allowed to receive letters from abroad. So he's doing the same, hopefully my mum will keep her nose out of them and just send them on." Lily laughed.
"Oh how cute!" Replied Alice. Across the circle from Lily, Dorcas and Marlene were exchanging significant looks whilst Alice was lost in thought. Lily narrowed her eyes at them as they broke out laughing.
"Hey, what are you two laughing about?" They exchanged another look as if each was daring the other to speak first. Marlene broke the silence.
"Well," she began, a devilish smirk breaking out across her face. "He was French right?" Lily slowly replied an affirmative, unsure where this was going. "And you kissed," Marlene continued, Lily nodded. Marlene and Dorcas were looking at her expectantly.
"What are you saying?"
Then Alice threw her hands up in exasperation and blurted, "how far did you get? They want to know if he french kissed you and all that jazz." A violent blush made its way up Lily's face again underneath her face mask and she groaned into her hands. The other girls burst out laughing at her discomfort as she grabbed a lump of chocolate and shoved it in her mouth without uncovering her face.
"Ahm no ansrin that." She grunted through a mouthful of chocolate. Three matching grins flashed at Lily from the other girls as she cautiously peeked between her fingers.
"Well you kissed him, yes?" Alice started, Lily jerkily nodded as she chewed her chocolate, removing her hands from her still red face as she grabbed a cushion in case she needed a weapon to beat back the accusations from her nosey best friends.
"And you made out with him French style, yes?" Dorcas shot, Lily sighed and nodded again, cringing at her choice of words.
"But you didn't sleep with him." Marlene confirmed, still grinning like a mad woman. Lily violently shook her head and threateningly raised a handful of jelly beans, still unable to speak through her chocolate. "Well was there... touching?" Lily choked on the chocolate left in her mouth and simultaneously threw several jelly beans at Marlene's face one after the other like a machine gun. Marlene guffawed at her discomfort and took refuge behind Dorcas.
Lily was spluttering, "Not like you think you dirty minded moron! Get your mind out of the gutter!" The girls were laughing as Lily choked on her words and chocolate, and Alice roughly patted her on the back.
"So you did then!" Marlene said triumphantly from behind the safety of Dorcas. Lily let out a wounded groan and flopped backwards covering her face with a cushion and consequently smudging her face mask.
"There was some touching of his very muscular torso but that was it!" Came Lily's muffled reply. The girls laughed again.
"And?" Dorcas prodded "anything else?"
"I'm not answering any more of your questions." Lily said as she went to the bathroom to wash off her face mask. "My time in the hot seat is done!" The ringing of laughter followed her.
A short while later the girls had washed their face masks off and settled down again. Marlene had just finished telling them about how her boyfriend of one year- Rhys, a Ravenclaw in the year above hadn't come to visit her like he'd promised he would. They had only kept in touch via letters.
"In my last letter I sent him I was asking him if he was coming to the World Cup because in my previous letters he'd never answered my question, I didn't get a reply before I left but I haven't seen him so he must be busy or something."
"Or he's just being a dick like usual." Lily muttered, staring darkly at the liquorice wand she'd just bitten in half. Marlene rolled her eyes.
"Oh c'mon Lils, I know you don't like him but could you maybe just tone the hate down a bit." Lily shook herself and smiled at Marlene. There were many reasons Lily didn't like Rhys, one of them being his reputation as a cheat, another being his tendency to insult Marlene in a veiled, sly kind of way and another being that he had hit on Lily whilst he was going out with Marlene. Marlene had dismissed it as a joke but Lily wasn't so sure. She tuned back into the conversation.
"You're right, sorry. You know I've got your back though right?" Marlene smiled and nodded.
"So anything else exciting happen to anyone?" She looked around the circle, towards Dorcas who was shrugging, but Lily was looking at Alice who was diligently studying her nails, a faint blush making its way up her face. She turned an evil smile towards her.
"You've been very quiet Al. Anything you want to tell us?" Alice started and whipped her head towards Lily laughing nervously.
"Who me? No, not me! Haven't met anyone or talked to anyone. Any boys I mean. Nope not me." She'd said all this at double speed, her voice an octave higher than normal. The girls were silently staring at her. Marlene was openly laughing into her hand and Lily was suppressing a grin as she raised a single incredulous eyebrow. Another breathy and completely false laugh left Alice again. There was a moment of silence which was swiftly broken by a loud guffaw from Dorcas which was soon echoed by Lily and Marlene. Alice blushed. "What? What are you laughing at?"
"Alice Prewett!" Dorcas crowed, "you are without a doubt the worst liar I have ever met." Alice spluttered and began formulating a response but Marlene interrupted, suppressing her laughter for a moment.
"No point trying to get out of this Al!" Alice looked around helplessly, throwing Lily a pleading look. Lily offered her a sympathetic smile.
"It's easier if you don't resist." She said seriously. Alice looked around once more before she slumped down onto a cushion and groaned.
"Any chance you'll let this go?"
"Nope" said all three girls at once.
"Spill." Marlene said cheerfully. Alice blushed again.
"Well there may be a small chance that I became friends with someone over the summer and I may or may not maybe like them..."
"Is it anyone we know?" Asked Dorcas. Alice nodded.
"Do they go to Hogwarts?"
"Are they in our year?"
"Are you an item?"
"What happened?"
A chorus of question assaulted Alice. She held up a hand to calm the inquisitive girls down.
"Yes. No. No. If you shut up for a minute I'll tell you." The girls obligingly quieted.
Alice took a deep breath and a handful of popcorn. "OK, well you know how I was in London all summer? I actually ended up going into the ministry a couple of times. Sometimes I'd help mum with some paperwork or something just to alleviate the boredom. Well, I was in the café one time getting some lunch and I saw him, and he was a friendly face so I went over and sat with him for lunch and we actually ended up talking for ages. He was just kind of one of those people you've seen throughout the school year and you know of them but don't really know them. So we talked for like an hour and then everyday I was in I'd sit with him at lunch and we've actually become quite close." Alice paused before rushing out in a single breath "andimightlikehimbutidon'treallyknow." Lily couldn't help the grin that split across her face, it was mirrored on Dorcas and Mar.
"Now this sounds like a couple I can get behind." Lily said excitedly.
"So this mystery man," Dorcas said. "He has parents who work at the ministry." Alice nodded.
Marlene sat forward eagerly "OK let's see if we can guess who he is."
Alice laughed. "You won't get it. He's probably one of the last people you'd expect."
"A marauder?" Dorcas asked.
"She said not in our year, you eejit!" Marlene shouted, catapulting a pillow at Dorcas.
Alice was laughing at her friends, "good Godric no!" She exclaimed. "I don't think any of them would be capable of a relationship. Well except maybe Remus." She added after a pause.
"I couldn't date Remus," Dorcas said, "he seems so innocent. It'd be like dating a puppy." Lily smiled inwardly at her description before saying.
"Trust me, Remus is not half as innocent as he appears. Some of the conversations we've had on rounds are testament to that. You know he was the one behind that prank where a laxative potion was in the drink of everyone who wore green that day, and all the toilets within a 1000 meter radius were bewitched to commentate to whoever was using them. He's evil I tell you."
Dorcas appeared thoughtful, she then turned to Alice, distracted. "Although Al. You say that, but I think towards the end of term they did so some maturing, especially James. You saw him during the summer too didn't you?" Lily snorted to herself at the thought of Potter being mature. But stayed silent. Alice opened her mouth to reply but Mar jumped in.
"We've gone off on a tangent! We need to identify Alice's man." The conversation promptly turned back to Alice. However several rounds of questioning had them no closer than they had been before. Dorcas sighed in frustration, angrily decapitating a chocolate frog.
"I give in! Can you just tell us now?"
"No!" Marlene shouted, "we can guess this, I know we can." Lily looked up startled by Marlene's shout, from the almost empty packet of jelly beans she had been steadily making her way through.
"Oh give it up Mar." Lily said throwing another bean into the air and catching it in her mouth, she had given up a while ago. "I've become an expert at catching jelly beans in my mouth while you lot have been trying to guess. Just tell us please Alice." Marlene looked like she was about to argue but then she leaned back with a defeated sigh. Alice who had been enjoying their rather ridiculous line of questioning looked slightly panicked at the thought of telling them. Lily put a hand on her leg.
"You don't need to panic Al. We're your friends. He could be the weirdest bloke in the school but if you genuinely like him, we've got your back." The others nodded. Alice wrung her hands together.
"It's not that i'm panicking exactly, it's just... it was unexpected and he's not someone your mind jumps to when you think of fancieable boys in school... but he's grown up a lot in the past year, he did really well on his OWLs and has been trying to keep his grades up, so he wasn't exactly around very much, and I didn't even really notice his maturity until I saw him at the ministry. But he's kind and sensitive and he says these funny things under his breath and doesn't think you'll notice and it's like he doesn't think anyone expects anything from him but he's ambitious and works hard anyway and... and I don't even know if he likes me back..." she trailed off looking crestfallen. The girls closed ranks around Alice as she blushed. Marlene stroked her hair, filing away the detail that he must be in the year above and running through a mental list of sixth year guys, whilst Lily rubbed her arm. Dorcas helpfully offered her some chocolate which Alice took gratefully.
"You gonna tell us yet Al?" Dorcas asked quietly, Alice took a deep breath.
"Frank Longbottom." Dorcas was stunned, she could only see Frank in her head as a young, slightly chubby boy, with rosy cheeks and kind eyes. She had barely noticed him this year. He couldn't still look like that. She immediately felt bad, Frank had always been kind, how could she have not noticed him, or checked up on him or anything. Lily just smiled, she could totally see Alice and Frank working and was about to say so when she was startled by an ecstatic Marlene who had jumped up, sending sweets flying.
"I knew it!" She bellowed, blonde hair flying. "I was literally about to say him when we stopped! You guys are totally gonna work, I 100% support this relationship!" She raised a finger in the air for emphasis and was looking solemnly at Alice. She had effectively broken the somber mood and even Alice was grinning, Dorcas was laughing. Lily grinned and threw a cushion at Marlene, hitting her square in the face with a muffled 'oomph'.
"Sit your ass down McKinnon they're not together yet, but this year we'll make it happen." Alice spoke,
"Guys if it's gonna happen it'll happen but-" Lily interrupted her.
"Oh it'll happen." A wicked glint twinkled in her eyes. "We are the girls who single handedly beat the Marauders at their own game at the beginning of the year." Marlene wore the same devilish smirk. Lily was of course referring to the epic prank they had pulled on the Marauders after new year. They had expertly pranked the boys after Potter had tried to bewitch a cake to follow her on her birthday, alternating between singing happy birthday and asking her out on behalf of James. Unfortunately though after Lily had cast a silencing charm on it, it had simply started whistling, like a kettle, slowly getting louder. She had been trying to get it to stop floating and whistling and obviously the pressure of its suppressed screeches built up so much that it eventually exploded in their defence against the dark arts lesson. Lily had been furious, it was said that even the Fat Lady had been able to hear her shouting at Potter in the great hall.
Their revenge prank had been flawless, they had left no evidence and even managed to get all the marauders in detention when one of their stages convinced professor Kettleburn that it had been the marauders who had replaced the normal cooked chickens near the marauders seats with bewitched headless chickens which competed in a series of Olympic events down the Gryffindor table. There'd been no repercussions although Lily suspected Mcgonagall had guessed but turned a blind eye when she had walked in on them charming the boy's staircase to respond to the Marauders and turn each individuals hair a different colour in response to certain words, for example whenever Potter said 'Evans' his hair turned a horrendous shade of vomit green, a bit of a give away but Lily just couldn't resist. The girls had been honest and told her they were pranking them but that had only been stage one. The other thirteen stages had gone smoothly, without the stern professor's knowledge. In fact the head of Gryffindor had even suggested a few choice spells. Muttering something about girl power and karma, it had been the girls' crowning glory.
The girls spent the rest of the night catching up, discussing how to set up Frank and Alice, and chatting about the upcoming World Cup match and which players they would kiss, marry or avoid. They didn't get much sleep but Lily didn't mind she was happy that she just had such great friends.
"Oi!" James shouted over the crowd. "Pete! Remus!" Sirius winced and covered his ears, muttering. "Wormtail!" James frowned when Peter and Remus still didn't turn. "OI MOONY!" Remus turned but didn't spot them.
"Oh bloody hell." Sirius said darkly. "James, where are they?"
"They're just there, but they haven't seen us yet."
"Let me on your back."
"I- what?" James said smiling amusedly, surprised.
"You're taller than me but I'm louder." James snickered and obligingly crouched, allowing his smaller friend on his back. Sirius looked around and grinned when he spotted Remus' sandy head searching the crowd, absent mindedly holding onto Peter's shirt to stop him getting dragged away by the masses of people. Sirius took a breath before shouting as loud as he could.
"OVER HERE YOU ABSOLUTE BELLENDS!" The crowd when silent for a second and all eyes turned to the two teenagers. Sirius waved to the crowd from his spot on James' back whilst James grinned charmingly as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Remus' hearty laugh reached them as the werewolf took in the situation and started pushing through the crowd towards them. Peter following in his slipstream. Sirius jumped off James' back.
"See? Bloody effective aren't I?"
James laughed shaking his head. "This round goes to you Padfoot."
"Never one to make a scene are you Pads." Remus said sarcastically as he and Peter finally reached them, Remus was beaming despite the bags under his eyes and the slight limp he walked with- he must have injured himself in his latest transformation only a few days prior- James clapped both of them on the back in greeting. Sirius ruffled Peter's hair and Peter reciprocated by punching him in the arm. James let out a contented sigh.
"Back together at last! All is right in the world!" He cried dramatically, throwing his arms around his friends and planting sloppy kisses on their cheeks. The marauders laughed, shoving him off, right into the path of an angry looking man in a dark cloak. He shot James a glare and barged past, shoving into him. James ignored him but Sirius' eyes followed the man suspiciously before he disappeared.
"You coming Pads?" Peter asked, Sirius returned his attention to his friend, shaking off the strange feeling of recognition that had come over him. James and Remus were disappearing to the seats that the Potters had saved. Sirius grinned and bounded towards Peter.
"I'm well excited Pete." He gushed, "I've placed a bet on England to win but Italy to score more goals." The pair steadily made their way to their seats, the warm Italian morning sun hitting their backs.
Mr and Mrs Potter were sat in their seats, about halfway up the stands and almost exactly lined up with the middle of the pitch. The stone coliseum-style seats had been lined with comfortable velvet cushions. The Potters were chatting amicably with Cassian and Dorothy Meadowes, who were sat in the row behind them. James' breath caught in his throat as he saw who was also in the row behind. Dorcas was there laughing at something Marlene had said, Alice was further away and next to her... well next to her was the girl that James couldn't take his eyes off. Lily Evans was next to her. Her dark red hair hung loose about her shoulders, it had a slight wave to it and there were streaks of lighter auburn in it from the sun. Her usually porcelain skin had a slight tan and there were a few more freckles dotted on her face. She was wearing loose robes, that fanned out in the slight breeze. And her eyes, her stunning green eyes that could send the usually composed and eloquent James Potter into a nervous ramble were just as James remembered, if not brighter.
"Prongs." Hissed Sirius elbowing him in the ribs, hard. James snapped his eyes away from Evans and turned them to the much less attractive face of Sirius Black. "You're staring. You're being cool and calm remember? Becoming her friend so she can see the real you and fall desperately in love and all that sh-"
James cut him off, massaging his ribs. "I remember, thanks."
"OK," Sirius said, "I'm gonna go say hi to Cas and Mar." James grinned at the nicknames. Sirius had a habit of giving everyone on the Quidditch team a one syllable nickname so he could shout at them more efficiently in a game. James made his way over to his parents and the Meadowes. The Potters and Meadows were family friends and had been allies for generations as they were some of the oldest pure blooded families that weren't supremacists. As he got closer he saw someone he hadn't spotted before and a grin broke out on his face.
"Tobias!" He shouted, calling Dorcas' older brother. The young man turned at the sound of his voice and grinned in response. Tobias was 20, athletically built like Dorcas and had curly brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard and dark blue eyes. He didn't look like Dorcas as much as her other brother Marcus did, but they had very similar mannerisms and James got on well with him. Seeing him as a sort of older brother he'd never had. Tobias dragged James into a hug and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Bloody hell Potter you've shot up!" He said laughingly, he gripped James' shoulder. "And Merlin's beard are these muscles?!" He said in a shocked voice. James laughed.
"You can do one Meadows, the captain for the last two years was even worse than you were in third year! Had us up at ungodly hours for practices." Tobias smiled approvingly.
"Was that Wood?" James nodded at the mention of Henry Wood. Tobias had been captain in James' third year before handing it off to Wood in fourth year so he could focus on his NEWTs. "It's paid off though hasn't it? Gryffindor have won every Quidditch cup since 1970. It'll probably be you or Black next and I'm expecting great things."
"Oh, ye of little faith!" Came Dorcas' voice as she made her way over to them. "It could be me you know. Or Marlene."
Tobias laughed again, affectionately wrapping an arm around his sister "let's be honest Cas, if you did get it would you or would you not give it to someone else instead because you're too lazy to be captain." Dorcas thought for a minute and then nodded making the group laugh again.
James interjected, "and if Mar got it she'd enlist your help who'd in turn make us help so really no matter who gets the badge, you need to be a team to run a team." Tobias slapped him on the back.
"Spoken like a true captain." He announced throwing James a wink. Suddenly Marlene joined in the conversation as well.
"Oh come on now Potter," she started, "if I became captain I definitely would not get Cas to help, she's so lazy we'd never get anything done." Dorcas protested and Marlene dodged the slap to her arm deftly. "I'd get Andy McGil to help because he actually knows what he's on about. Dorcas just hits things." They all laughed at the banter between Marlene and Dorcas as Marlene hid behind Tobias to avoid Dorcas hitting her. Lily and Alice then came over in response to Marlene's shriek and as Marlene darted towards Alice to hide behind her instead, James saw a devilish grin make its way across Lily's face and she stuck out a perfectly timed foot, sending Marlene tumbling on to one of the surprisingly soft seats. Dorcas, James, Tobias and Lily all burst out laughing, the others gradually joining in. Lily looked up and caught James' eye briefly, before she went over to offer a hand to Marlene.
"I'm sorry Mar." Lily said grinning, "but it had to be done." Marlene looked at Lily a mock hurt expression on her pretty features.
"I've never felt so betrayed." She said, but grabbed the offered hand anyway and stood up. Tobias was looking at Lily appreciatively.
"Quite something that girl isn't she?" He whispered to James. James didn't look away from Lily, he felt something angry stirring up inside his chest at Tobias' comment. But he tamped it down. Playing it cool remember? He thought to himself. Becoming her friend and all that. He tore his gaze away from her and faced Tobias, struggling to keep his face passive.
"Yeah she is." He agreed honestly, "do you like her?" He asked suddenly, "I mean-" Tobias' laughter cut him off.
"No James! She's one of my sister's best friends it would be weird. I just... I know she's had it tough with being a muggle born and I admire her... character." James nodded, trying to keep the blatant relief off his face. "Besides, it looks like she's caught your interest." James looked at the ground. "You asked her out?" Tobias asked.
James grimaced. "Yeah, for most of last year actually. But I went about it in the complete wrong way and now she just thinks I'm a cocky prick."
Tobias frowned. "You're not you know." James looked at him. "You're not a cocky prick. You're a good person." He grinned, "you just have cocky prickish tendencies." James punched his arm. They started to make their way to their seats as the match was set to begin soon. James looked around.
"If you're here, does that mean Marcus is somewhere around here too?" He was speaking of Dorcas' second older brother who was 23, he was a trained auror and James hadn't seen him since he'd completed his auror training two years ago.
"He's been with us for the last month or so and was meant to be sitting with us, but some of the British security wizards were called out on an important mission so he's had to go help with the security. He is around here somewhere though." James father hushed him and pulled him to his seat. The Quidditch World Cup Final was about to begin.
"COME ON ENGLAND!" Sirius bellowed. The match had been raging for about 3 hours and the stands were hot in the afternoon sun. Peter, Euphemia and Dorothy had disappeared for about 20 minutes and come back laden with food and drinks. The crowd was going mad, the score was currently 220 to 310 in Italy's favour, there had been three injuries, thirty seven fouls and an unfortunate incident involving a dehydrated overweight man and the referee. James and Monty were clutching at each other and shouting themselves hoarse whilst Remus and Sirius were jumping up and down in unison.
"Dammit!" James shouted to his dad, "that's the third time Visocci has intercepted the quaffle in the last five minutes."
Monty grinned, "Brilliant isn't he?" James nodded, before turning his binoculars back to the speedy game. England were a blur in red and white robes, whilst the Italians zipped around in navy. Tobias was absentmindedly commentating from James' other side as he was transfixed by the match.
"Visocci to Elleze, Elleze to Mario, Mario to- WHAT A BLOODY GREAT BLUDGER FROM BAGMAN, FINCH HAS GOT IT, HE'S GOING TO SC- DAMMIT!" The Italian crowd erupted as the Italian keeper made a spectacular save. James clutched at his hair, groaning, the Italian chasers passed the quaffle with ease around the England team and it wasn't long before Italy had scored three more goals. James was following the game with rapt attention, suddenly the English seeker, Montgomery had bent flat to his broom and was zooming across the pitch. He heard Marlene shout behind him.
"He's seen the snitch! It's near the referee!" James looked and he saw a flash of gold. He jumped to his feet shouting encouragement. But then out of nowhere the Italian beater- Morro, aimed a great bludger at Montgomery, Simmons an English chaser shouted a warning and Montgomery did a beautiful sloth grip roll to avoid it, much to Marlene's appreciation, but in doing so, lost sight of the snitch. However, James' eyes were on Morro who was looking murderously at Simmons who had barged him roughly on his way past, a bludger was aiming for Morro but he easily moved aside and deftly hit it with a resonating thwack towards Simmons who was less than ten metres away and it collided sickeningly with the back of his head, he dropped like a stone from his broom and hit the ground with a thud. The English supporters roared in anger when the ref continued play, but much to James' surprise the loudest shout he heard came from a certain Lily Evans sat behind him.
"THAT WAS A BLOODY FOUL YOU STUPID PRICK OF A REFEREE! THERE WERE NO QUAFFLES NEAR HIM! HE'S OUT COLD!" James grinned at her patriotic anger, he hadn't known Evans liked Quidditch so much and unfortunately that made him like her that much more. James twisted around, flashing her an appreciative grin. Her cheeks were red as she flicked off the referee and she caught his gaze.
"That's the spirit Evans you tell him!" James shouted before hurling his own abuse at the referee. The referee finally called a timeout but at this point the score was now 220 to 370 in Italy's favour. Simmons was being stretchered off and a replacement chaser was running on to the pitch.
"We need the snitch." Sirius was saying anxiously. James was nodding his agreement. The new chaser was called Mitchell Stenning, he was only 19 and this was his first international cap. He'd gone to Beauxbatons but had been scouted for the England team in his last year as he was still an English citizen. James looked enviously at the young substitute, it would be amazing to play for an international Quidditch team. However he didn't have long to dwell on it as the game began again. For the next hour the pitch was a blur of action. The England team were defending valiantly and the score had remained the same. Suddenly Peter yelled in excitement and pointed to the seekers, both of them were rocketing downwards at a near vertical tilt from 200 feet in the air but Montgomery was slightly ahead of his Italian counterpart.
"He's seen the snitch." Remus gasped. Marlene ripped the binoculars out of Dorcas' hands.
"He's feinting." She said excitedly, then it was Lily's turn to jam the binoculars to her eyes, almost bruising them in her haste.
"No way." She said in astonishment, "if either one hits the ground, I'm bloody sure they'll explode on impact."
"Mar's right." James shouted. "He's feinting." And sure enough within five seconds of saying that Montgomery levelled off and sharply pulled out of the dive. James was astonished his broom didn't snap considering the speed he was going at. The Italian seeker wasn't so lucky, and managed to level off but lost control of his broom, slamming into the ground. Medi wizards rushed to his side but he managed to groggily get up, and James respectfully clapped him for his determination when he returned to the air. Montgomery had spent the extra time feverishly looking for the snitch. The game quickly continued. Stenning was playing spectacularly and it was only by a combination of the keepers incredible skill and the combined efforts of both the Italian beaters that had stopped him from scoring. Suddenly the mood shifted in the crowd as the Italian seeker began to race across the pitch, Montgomery close on his heels. Marlene was chattering away about his progress to those next to her but James wasn't watching the seekers, his attention had been drawn by the chasers, they were playing beautifully and James was riveted. Stenning had seen Montgomery chase after the snitch and had called a play to his other chasers. They were passing seamlessly to each other and as James watched he saw chaser Finch dart forwards with the quaffle and turn sharply upwards to avoid a bludger whilst simultaneously dropping the quaffle neatly to Stenning who had flown underneath him. Stenning zoomed around dodging the opposition but not seeming to make any further move towards the goal posts which were only a short distance away. Stenning then repeated Finch's move but instead of veering upwards had veered downwards and thrown the quaffle up to Smith, the final chaser. James was wondering what they were playing at. Stenning kept glancing anxiously at Montgomery who was now neck and neck with the Italian seeker in a step downwards dive. Suddenly it clicked and he gasped. His head whipped around as a voice behind him excitedly shouted.
"The chasers are playing to win!" He was shocked once again to see that it was Lily Evans and a surprised grin split his face.
"Stenning's watching Montgomery, he's gonna score as he catches the snitch so England win." James said. Lily nodded quickly her eyes not leaving the game. Remus chimed in from the side.
"That's a risky play, why doesn't he just score now?"
"You've seen the Italian offence." James said, "if he scores they get possession and they could score another one in record time meaning they could keep it at a draw or even win." There was a scream from the crowd as the seekers raced across the bottom of the pitch, their toes rustling the grass. Both had their hands outstretched, faces tight with concentration. Suddenly Montgomery straightened and stood in a crouch on his broom, he was dripping with sweat and the Italian seeker was watching him in surprise.
"He's gonna jump for it!" Sirus shouted.
"If he misses we're done." Marlene yelled. James' eyes snapped to the chasers who were speeding towards the Italian keeper. Passing so quickly between them James lost sight of the quaffle. Suddenly Stenning had it, he made a convincing feint to the far right hoop. The keeper dived for it. James shouted in excitement as Stenning dropped the quaffle beautifully through the middle hoop and his eyes darted down to the seekers just in time to see Montgomery leap off his broom in a desperate grab for the snitch. The England crowd held its breath as he clasped his hands together and hit the ground in a roll, there was silence and the Italian seeker looked around desperately. Montgomery got to his feet and punched the air victoriously, the snitch in hand. The crowd roared.
"That's a draw then." Sirius said clapping but James jumped up and down and shook his head.
"We won! Stenning scored! It's 380-370 to England!" Sirius mouth gaped open. He turned to the scoreboard, which sure enough read that England had won. Sirius roared in approval and jumped into Peter's arms, knocking the bewildered boy onto his seat. James planted a kiss on the cheek of a sobbing woman wearing the England flag in front of him and slapped the back of his father and Tobias. He turned around and high fived the girls in the row behind him. Managing not to get over excited when Evans reciprocated happily. The English crowd continued to cheer as the team did a victory lap. A grinning Stenning and Montgomery leading them. Cassian Meadowes turned to the Marauders, the Potters and the girls, grinning.
"Everybody can come back to our tent for some celebratory fire whiskey!" James and Sirius cheered whilst the girls laughed. Andrew McGil had somehow found his way to their group and after disentangling himself reluctantly from Marlene's excited hug. He clapped James and Sirius on the back.
"I hope you lot were taking notes for next season." He said in his broad accent, flashing a grin at them.
"Of course we were McGil." Replied James, "and there's at least 13 different techniques the Italian keeper demonstrated that you will start learning come the start of the season." The boys laughed and Andrew turned back to Marlene. Slowly the excited group made their way out of the stadium towards the Meadowes' tent, singing happily to the national anthem reverberating through the crowd.
It was about 5 o clock in the evening and the Gryffindor girls, the Meadowes, the Potters and the Marauders complete with Andrew McGil were sat in a variety of chairs outside their tent. Cassian and Dorothy had provided ice cold drinks and refreshing snacks. The adults were drinking Firewhiskey and Cassian had given the girls a small glass of some each, with a wink and a warning not to tell his wife. It was still hot and everyone was chatting amiably, the Marauders had even managed to sneak half a bottle of firewhiskey and were having an animated discussion about the match with Cassian and Monty.
The teenagers and Tobias had all thrown their robes on the back of their chairs and were lounging in the sun. Andy McGil had stuck around for a while before making his excuses and returning to his family. Lily was chatting to the girls, their conversation had turned to their OWL results which they would be receiving in about two weeks, Lily had dragged Remus into the conversation and he had sat down on a blanket next to her chair. He sighed as he stretched his long legs which were clad in light linen trousers in front of him. He tilted his head back and his sandy bangs fell back from his tired eyes.
"So how are you Remus?" Lily had asked, passing him some pumpkin juice. "You don't look very well rested for someone who should be on holiday." Remus tensed almost imperceptibly at her comment, but replied smoothly.
"I have actually had a surprisingly restful holiday. I just didn't sleep very well last night because my ankle was bothering me." He gestured at the leg he'd been limping on. "Sprained it on the beach a few days ago. Also, international portkeying worries me."
Lily raised her eyebrows, "You don't like traveling?" She asked. Remus grinned ruefully.
"I like getting there but I'm wary of portkeys after my father used one and ended up in a banshee brothel in Tibet." A laugh escaped Lily and she looked at Remus disbelievingly. Missing the glance James threw her as she laughed.
"A banshee brothel? You can't be serious." Remus looked at her gravely,
"I'm quite serious, my father was scarred for life. He was so shaken he ran all the way to Nepal." Lily laughed loudly and Remus grinned. "Don't go to Tibet. It's full of kinky bastards."
"Noted." Lily said seriously, "and don't trust a portkey." Remus raised his glass in agreement.
"Yes, indeed. The thought of a detour like that kept me up last night, hence the unrestedness." Lily giggled. She'd always appreciated Remus' half serious-half mocking always sarcastic sense of humour. His ridiculous stories had made her prefect rounds that much more bearable. She leaned back in her chair.
"Are you glad that we only need to patrol every other week now since we're sixth year prefects?" She asked Remus. He nodded.
"So glad. It just gets annoying."
"It'll be nice to relax a bit this year. I've just recently realised how uptight about OWLs and prefect duties and just everything I was last year." Remus cracked open an eye and looked at her.
"Speaking of relaxing. Did I see you and a certain James Potter high fiving and bonding over quidditch earlier?" Lily rolled her eyes.
"It was a spur of the moment high five and wasn't exactly bonding." Her gaze drifted over to the black haired boy in question. He was slouched in a chair, having a conversation with Marcus, Dorcas' other brother who had joined them a few hours ago. Marcus looked a lot like Dorcas, with thick dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, his face was similar and he had the same inquisitive grin. He was a burly guy and in stark contrast to Potter's scrawny form. But as Lily looked at Potter she realised he wasn't so scrawny any more. He had no shoes on and was in a simple pair of shorts and a white t-shirt. He had rolled the sleeves of the t-shirt up and Lily noticed the muscles in his tanned arms as he reached across to accept the sweets Marcus was offering him. Lily mentally slapped herself when she realised she was thinking about Potter's muscles and looked at his face instead. However that wasn't much better as she couldn't help but notice his sharp bone structure, his face had seemed to have become more defined than she last remembered and her eyes tracked the fine line of his jaw. Mortified, she snapped herself out of it again, she looked at his eyes, he wasn't wearing his glasses, they were on the floor by his chair. Had they always been such a nice shade of hazel- god Lily! She thought to herself. You need to stop. She looked at his hair instead. Finally, something that's not perfect- Perfect? No way did you just refer to James bloody Potter as Perfect. Lily almost choked on her drink at the strange tangent her mind had gone down. Her eyes took in his messy hair, revelling in how imperfect it was. It stuck up at the back and fell into his eyes and it was just so disordered. Suddenly his gaze flicked towards her and he squinted, reaching for his glasses. Lily started and turned back to Remus, adamantly not turning to see if Potter had looked in her direction, who was looking at her amusedly.
"Sorry." She said, fighting down a blush. "What did you say?"
"I asked," Remus said, "if you thought he was any different."
"Who?" Lily said feigning ignorance. Remus rolled his eyes grinning again.
"James."
"Oh right, Potter." Lily said. Totally not the guy I've been arguing with myself about for the last five minutes. "I don't really know." She said, shrugging. "He's grown a bit more, which is pretty unfair actually seeing as he's already freakishly tall."
Remus continued smiling, "anything other than his physical appearance?'" He asked. Lily frowned, was he implying something? She looked at him, he grinned, looking at her innocently.
"I don't know. Why?"
Remus closed his mossy eyes again, tilting his head back. "I just think he's matured a lot and was wondering if anyone else had noticed."
"Well he hasn't asked me out yet, if that's what you mean." Lily said helpfully. Remus snorted.
"I reckon you two would be good friends you know. United by a mutual love of Quidditch." Lily scoffed.
"I'm guessing Potter put you up to this." Remus opened his eyes and fixed her with a serious look.
"He didn't actually. I just think you'd get on."
"Well if he ever wants to be friends he can start by apologising to me for all that asking me out crap last year." She stalled Remus' protests that he was trying to be genuine and carried on going. "It doesn't matter if he actually did fancy me last year and wasn't just trying to make me feel bad, he went about it completely wrong and should've taken the hint. He should know that no means no. Then he can stop hexing people for the fun of it and maybe, maybe then I'd consider accepting a branch of friendship."
Remus laughed and smiled that annoying, knowing smile at her. "You two have a lot in common you know."
"Oh yeah, like what?" Lily said, crossing her arms.
"Well." Remus went on, "you're both stubborn as mules, have a penchant for melodrama-" he was cut off as Lily threw a crisp at him in outrage and he laughed. Luckily for him, he was saved from further edible projectiles by Mr Potter standing up, motioning for quiet with rosy cheeks induced by firewhiskey no doubt.
"Listen up you lot." He announced, "I've decided that we're all going to go into the nearest muggle town where there's a wizarding pub and share a meal. My treat."
Lily raised her eyebrows. Looking at Mr Potter with newfound respect. Two prominent pure blood families taking themselves to a muggle town for a meal? Even though it would be a wizarding pub, it was still unexpected, Mr Potter must be as much of a rebel as his son then. Because something like this simply just didn't happen.
"Cassian's handling the port key seeing as he's head of transport." Mr Potter went on grinning a cheeky grin alarmingly similar to his son's. "And we'll leave in about 10 minutes. Go! Go! Go!" People started vanishing the chairs and throwing on muggle jackets. Well, Lily thought, this will certainly be interesting.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was ready to leave. Cassian had turned a water bottle into a portkey and was gathering everyone around. It was a very tight fit. Lily found herself next to Mrs Potter, a mischievous, cheerful woman. Lily smiled in greeting and Euphemia beamed back.
"Hello." She said brightly, "I don't believe we've met. Euphemia Potter." She introduced herself, holding out a hand. Lily shook it warmly, she felt like she was going to like Mrs Potter.
"Lily Evans." She replied. Mrs Potter's brown eyes seemed to twinkle even brighter and a grin that was also scarily similar to her son's appeared. How is it possible that all three of the Potter's had matching grins?
"So you're Lily Evans." Lily was surprised, she didn't see James' eyes widen in panic as he saw his mother talking to her. He shoved Sirius out of the way and made his way over to them. "Well James has spoken very-"
"Alright there mum?" James said very loudly from behind Lily as he squeezed into the gap between them that really wasn't big enough for his lanky frame. "I hope she wasn't telling you embarrassing stories Evans." He said breezily, trying and failing to be nonchalant, he elbowed his mum and shot her a significant look. But Euphemia chose to ignore her son and looked around James to carry on her conversation with Lily.
"I was just saying, he's mentioned you-" James leant forward to block his mum's view and shouted to Dorcas' dad, who was less than a metre away.
"Are we ready to go yet Cassian!" His voice higher than usual. Lily, who was rather enjoying James' discomfort leant behind James to speak to Euphemia, a cheeky grin on her face.
"Mentioned an attractive, highly intelligent, yet down to earth redhead, has he?" James turned a shocked face towards her, his cheeks tinged red. Euphemia was holding back laughter and looking at Lily approvingly as she went along with it and mirthfully replied.
"Well, as a matter of fact-"
"Can we go now?" James shouted desperately across the circle, trying to cover his mum's mouth with his free hand. Cassian nodded an affirmative and a sharp jerk sent Lily careening into him as the portkey took off. His breath of relief that he had stopped his mum from thoroughly embarrassing him caught in his throat as he felt Lily pressed into his side. His heart started beating faster, she was practically in his arms. Her hair tickled his nose and he vaguely registered that it smelt like Raspberries. Suddenly they landed with a thud, he saw Lily stumble, and shot out a hand to steady her. He gently supported the small of her back until she quickly regained her balance and he removed it just as fast, hoping she didn't notice, turning to face his mum on the other side. Who had watched the gesture with a knowing smile. James took in his surroundings and saw they were in the courtyard of a pub in a small town. There were vine covered hills all around and he could see witches and wizards in the pub celebrating the Quidditch result. He went to make his way over to the marauders but was stopped by a gentle tug on his T-shirt from his mum, he turned to her and whispered quietly.
"Please don't mention the whole fancying debacle mum."
Euphemia smiled gently, "I won't bring it up. I just thought I'd wind you up."
James ran his hands through his hair, "You're ruthless mum, you realise that?" Euphemia nodded and made her way into the pub,
"I won't embarrass you too much Jimbo." She said backing away. "Oh and by the way." James looked at her warily, "I like her. You should definitely try plan B." James laughed ruefully and also made his way into the pub which had a once ornate, but now faded with age sign that read- 'The Vineyard.'
They'd been in the pub for a couple of hours and were waiting on their pudding to arrive. The Marauders were sat at one end of the table, with Tobias and Marcus nearby. They had been filling each other in on their summers. Sirius had summarised in hushed tones how he'd run away, Peter had told them how he'd been forced to work in the bakery his half blood dad ran and James had asked Remus how the moon had been. To which Remus had briefly told him it had been fine. James frowned at his answer but let it lie. They had then started asking Marcus how the Aurors had been getting on, James hadn't spoken to anyone about his future yet but he was starting to think he'd like to join them after Hogwarts. Further down the table the girls were just chatting about everything and nothing. Dorothy and Euphemia had joined in and Lily and Euphemia were getting along royally, oblivious to the occasional worried glances James was throwing them, hoping his mum was being sensible. Cassian and Monty were somewhere in the middle having a boisterous conversation about Quidditch. The puddings arrived not too long later and James was looking around at what everyone had got. Remus had gone for a decadent slice of chocolate cake, Peter for some Victoria sponge, Sirius was tucking into a sticky toffee pudding whilst James was grinning at his vanilla cheesecake. There was a wide array of desserts and James was pleasantly surprised to see that Lily Evans had gone for cheesecake also. She had turned to say something to James' mum and caught his eye. He raised his own cheesecake towards her and grinned.
"Good choice Evans." He called to her. She seemed surprised but grinned back and raised her own forkful of cheesecake towards him. James looked back and Peter was staring at him. "What?" He asked through a mouthful of food.
"Are you and Evans friends now?" He asked.
"Yeah Prongs." Sirius chimed in, "what's been going on with you two today?" James blushed slightly.
"Nothing's been going on. I just... I want to move past what happened last year, so I'm just trying to be friendly to her."
"Can you be?" Remus asked suddenly. James looked up, puzzled by his question. "I mean to say, do you think you could give up on asking her out and just be friends?" James sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I think I want to try." He said quietly, "and if I get a chance to talk to her tonight I'm going to apologise for my crap last year, and for that thing with Snape." Remus smiled, pleased, but Sirius was jolted from staring out the window and whirled on James.
"What have you got to apologise for?" He said angrily, "you're not the one who called her the m-word."
"I know Sirius. But we didn't exactly help did we? We provoked him and she was just trying to help her friend. If we weren't being such bullies it probably wouldn't have happened." Sirius' eyes narrowed.
"It would've still happened James." He spat, "have you seen his crowd? Snivellus is one of them. He might not have said it then but he would've said it at some point. We were doing Evans a favour in my opinion. Getting him to show his true colours when he did." James looked at him, stunned, and Sirius turned back to his plate and viciously stabbed his fudge cake. James could have argued with him but instead just turned back to his own plate.
"Ok Padfoot, I'll be sure to let her know I'm not apologising for you."
"Good." Sirius replied curtly and James snorted. Remus diverted James' attention.
"I've got something you should know then Prongs." James looked up at him and he sighed. "All those times you asked her out, or did those grand gestures and she rejected you really harshly." James winced and nodded. "You got her so angry because she thought you were taking the mickey." James gaped and spluttered.
"Taking the- how could she- Alice said that too but- how could she- I was serious- I- I was being genuine! Every single time!"
"I know you were James, but she thought you were making the idea of going out with her into a big joke by making such a big deal out of it." James leaned back in his chair eyes wide.
"Bloody hell." He breathed, "she must really think I'm an even bigger prick than I thought she thought I was." Remus nodded, cringing, bringing his finger and thumb together with a small gap between them.
"Little bit." He replied, James groaned.
"Don't worry about it Prongs, just be honest with her if you apologise, and I'm sure she'll understand." Peter added sagely, scraping the rest of his plate clean with his fork. Suddenly Sirius grabbed James' arm.
"Look out the window James." He said seriously, his previous mood forgotten. James frowned and looked where he was pointing. There was a man in a cloak on the other side of the street, looking around as though he was waiting for someone. "That's the guy from this morning." James squinted trying to see more clearly in the sunshine.
'"Is it?" He asked, "I can't really see, is it important?"
"It's him. I'm sure!" Sirius insisted, "I recognise him, but I don't know where from." Remus and Peter were watching their exchange, confused. Remus was about to ask something when the wizard in question greeted another man, a tall, broad one, in a dark cloak. The second man had a hood up, but pieces of blonde hair could be seen sticking out from the hood. The two men talked for a second and then reached into their cloaks, James' heart started beating faster. He had a bad feeling... the two men pulled out wands and the Marauders watched curiously. Sirius was half out of his seat staring intently through the window. Together they raised them and began incanting a spell together. The blonde man turned, his face could now be seen, he was a young man. Sirius' eyes widened.
"Shit." He swore, he remembered where he had seen the first man now. He turned to the Marauders. "He was at Malfoy's! They're death eaters!" A ripple of alarm spread down the table as several people overheard what he said. James however was transfixed by the spell they were casting. At the tip of both wands a dark orb of magic was building, it was black, with ripples of red running through it. James' eyes widened as the wizards threw the orbs in the air, fire arcing out from them.
"Everybody get down!" James roared, leaping out of his seat and vaulting over the table to rugby tackle Sirius to the floor in an effort to get him away from the window, seconds later, the pub windows blew in as the street exploded.
A/N Whew, what did you all think of James and Lily's interactions here? I hope my writing of the match was ok and you guys are ready for some action :)