It was Sunday, February 9th, 2020, and James and Lily were skateboarding on the sweeping lawns of Hogwarts. James was riding his white background skateboard with an image of Darth Vader in the middle whereas Lily was riding her hot pink background skateboard with an image of Aslan in the middle.
They had been riding along for fun for awhile when James piped up, "Hey, Lily, why don't we have a skateboard race? You can choose our starting spot and finish line."
"That sounds really fun, James!" beamed Lily, "Why don't we race from the start of the sloping lawns to the center circle of the Quidditch pitch?"
"That seems fair enough, " replied James " But to avoid any potential arguments later, how are we defining the center circle? Are we racing to the middle of the center circle or is just touching any part of the center circle enough to win?"
Next nanosecond, Lily retrieved a bag of original Skittles from her left hand pocket.
"I'm going to go set this bag of Skittles in the center circle, " Lily told James, "To complete the win, the winner must pick up the bag of Skittles."
"That makes it pretty definitive, " agreed James, "Let's race!"
So, James and Lily went up to the start of the sloping lawns to begin their race.
It was a fair distance from the start of the sloping lawns to the center circle of the Quidditch pitch.
This meant some strategy came into play.
Go for the early lead and try to hold it or hold off a bit and make your move later.
James and Lily took opposites strategical approaches.
Lily went all out from the nanosecond the race started and got off to a huge early lead.
James, meanwhile, held off and paced himself at the start.
Lily had a commanding lead when she reached the halfway point, but she slowly but surely began to tire after that, and her pace saw a slow but sure decline as a result.
James, meanwhile, slowly but surely picked up his pace as the race went on. Once James reached the halfway point, he started gaining on Lily quite quickly.
James and Lily were about halfway between the perimeter of the Quidditch pitch and the center circle when James passed Lily.
James ended up pulling away for a relatively comfortable win and picked up the bag of original Skittles in his right hand.
Still standing on his skateboard, James raised the bag of Skittles in triumph and yelled, "James Sirius Potter wins the Potters skateboard race!"
Lily finished a few seconds after James finished his speech. She looked very disappointed as she shook her head.
"I should have won, " said Lily ruefully, "I had a great lead and couldn't hold it. Damn! I didn't approach this race with a super competitive attitude but I'm really disappointed in myself for blowing such a big lead. If we'd been neck and neck from the start and you'd clipped me at the end, I'd be cool with losing to the better racer. But blowing a lead like that hurts."
"Lily?" asked James in a cautious and gentle voice, "May I please explain to you exactly how you misplaced that race?"
Clearly understanding that James's tone was the tone of a person who intended to be helpful rather than critical, Lily said, "Yes, James, I'm listening."
"Lily, going off to such a big lead in the first place was your exact mistake, " explained James patiently, "Going all out for a lead to start a race is only a good strategy in short sprints. In long races such as the race we just ran, it is bad strategy to go out to a huge early lead. What happened was that you exerted yourself way too much early and therefore got gassed. You didn't have anything left in the tank for the stretch run. By pacing myself early and not going all out early, I had plenty left in the tank to finish the race. There is a such thing as starting too slow and falling too far behind, so the best racers have to find that happy medium."
Lily stood still seemingly in thought for a minute and a nanosecond and then said simply "Thank you, James. I'll remember that for the future."
"I suppose you'd like your Skittles back, Lily?" said James, now holding out the bag.
"You can keep them for yourself if you'd like, " offered Lily kindly.
"Thank you for the offer, but I don't care much for Skittles, " replied James, "They aren't bad, but I prefer my fruit flavored candies to be more intense, like Starburst and Spree."
"James, " said Lily in an exasperated voice, "You don't eat Skittles the right way."
"I'll have an orange one and then you can have them back, " said James simply.
Next nanosecond, James opened the bag of Skittles and ejected an orange skittle, which he popped into his mouth and ate.
"Okay, " said James matter of factly, "But too muted for my liking."
"James!" said Lily, shaking her head, "That's not how you eat Skittles. You're supposed to eat them in handfuls of three or four at a time, not one at a time!"
Next nanosecond, Lily reached her own hand into the Skittles bag and pulled out three red Skittles, which she popped into her mouth at once and ate.
"Yummy!" said Lily happily, Strong and intense strawberry flavor!"
Seeing now what Lily was on about, James now pulled three orange Skittles out of the bag and ate them all at once.
"That's more like it!" grinned James, "There's the intensity of orange flavor I was looking for!"
"Well, " smiled Lily, "Now that you know how to eat Skittles the right way, would you like to have the bag for yourself?"
"Yes, Lily, and thank you, but I don't want any green apple."
"I don't blame you for that, James!" said Lily sympathetically.
Lily retrieved her wand from her right hand pocket and pointed it at the Skittles bag.
"Accio green Skittles!" cried Lily.
The green Skittles zoomed out of the bag and into Lily's hands. Lily then threw the green Skittles into the air as far as she could, and they landed in the black lake.
"Thank you, Lily, " said James gratefully as he popped three lemon Skittles into his mouth.
"Yummy!" said James delightedly.
"I'm glad you've learned how to eat Skittles the right way, " Lily told James clearly, "But to hell with the Mars Corporation for replacing lime with green apple!"
"To hell with the Mars Corporation for replacing lime with green apple!" repeated James clearly.