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“Lily? What are you doing on the floor?”
Lily froze. James was looking at her, blinking repeatedly. He shook his head, and groped around on the nearby table for his glasses. He clumsily jammed them on his head. Once again, he turned to face the shocked girl on the floor.
Lily regained her senses all at once and scrambled onto her knees, then to an unsteady stance on her feet. “Er- well- I was just- you see…”
James laughed, then spoke. “I don’t really need to know, if you don’t want to tell me.”
Lily blushed and looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, not really knowing what she was apologizing for. “Are you- does it hurt?”
James nodded, and propped himself up on his elbows. “A bit. A lot, actually. Feels like my leg is on fire.”
Forcing herself to look him in the face, Lily saw the pain he was trying to mask. “Wait here,” she whispered. She sneaked out through the curtain surrounding the bed and made her way to Madam Pomfrey’s medicine cupboards at the other end of the room. She opened it, and winced as it creaked loudly. Luckily, the Wing was almost empty, and those in it were mostly too drugged to wake up. She snatched a few bottles marked ‘painkiller’ and sprinted back to Potter’s bed.
She fumbled around with the jars for a little while, then held a small one up. A blue liquid rolled sluggishly inside. “I think this one might help. Drink the whole thing-”
James grabbed the bottle and looked at it dubiously. “You are the Potions whiz,” he said as he popped off the cork. He threw his head back and poured it in. Immediately, his face contorted. “Gah! Are you trying to kill me, woman?”
Lily firmly put her hands on her hips. “If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t use a Potion. No, I’d come up with a much better scheme, and believe me, I came up with plenty when I was younger every time after you teased me.”
James used the back of his hand to wipe the extra potion away from his mouth. “You did? Really? That’s actually funny, in a way. But, Lily, I didn’t really mean anything by what I said. You know that, right? I mean, we were just kids!”
Lily frowned. “I suppose…” Just then, the clock tower chimed. “Listen, Potter, if I’m going to be awake at all tomorrow for class, I’d better be going back to the dormitories.”
James nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He had meant it to sound like a simple statement, but came out more like a question.
Lily shrugged. “If I can make it. Goodnight, James.” She walked out of the wing and started towards the Gryffindor Common Room, slightly ecstatic. A whole conversation with Potter and not a single blunder! She’d been certain she’d mess it up, let something mean slip, but she didn’t… Lily panicked. What if she had said something wrong! For the rest of the walk, she reviewed their entire talk in her mind, analyzing everything. Miraculously, she didn’t meet Filch or Peeves in the corridors, not that she noticed.
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After awaking, James and Sirius’s wounds healed rather quickly. However, no one knew for certain what had injured Sirius- werewolf claws… or teeth. There was no known diagnosis, so Sirius was forced to endure a month of uncertainty- only then would his condition be known.
Four days after waking up, James was able to limp back to the Gryffindor Common Room to many cheering housemates. Sirius, who had gotten out of the Hospital Wing only a day before (werewolf wounds- either claws or teeth- are hard to heal) had made an emergency trip to Honeydukes and relieved them of quite a bit of their stock. The following morning, the clerks found themselves to be several Galleons richer than they should have been.
So that night, the Gryffindors were celebrating, and James found himself telling many captivated listeners of his “courage” in “fighting” the beasts of the Forbidden Forest. “So, a whole pack of them had me and Remus surrounded. It was so dark, I could only see their eyes, and they were glowing. They darted in to snatch at us, and we’d use whatever spells we could think of to drive them back. Then, they all dove at once. I was hit in the back and went down. I felt them tearing at my leg, and that’s when I blacked out.”
A random third year yelled out, “What about the game on Monday? Will you be able to play?”
James froze. In all honesty, he had forgotten about the match against Ravenclaw. Not only could it pull Gryffindor into first in the standings, but it was also the last game before the Christmas break.
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“Absolutely not!” roared Madam Pomfrey.
“But- I have to play! This game is one of the most important of the year! We need to win this!”
“Then use your backup Chaser, Mr. Potter.”
“But he’s not good enough! Please say I can play!”
Madam Pomfrey sighed. “I’m sorry Mr. Potter. My word is final.”
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“Welcome… to… QUIDDITCH!” Bertha yelled into the microphone. “Here come the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams now! Most of them you know, but since he’s out with an unfortunate injury, Potter has been temporarily replaced with… this can’t be right. Peter Pettigrew?”
But her information was correct. Peter came soaring onto the field on James’s trusted broom. From the stands, Lily frowned. Potter never let anyone touch his broom. Speaking of which… “Remus, where’s Potter?”
“In the Common Room, sulking,” he replied without taking his eyes off the game, which was just starting.
“Hey, Pettigrew!” Amos Diggory, a Ravenclaw Seeker, yelled.
Peter turned to face him. “What do you want, Diggory?”
“Without your Golden Boy, Gryffindor is going down! And so are you!” He had never really been one with words.
Peter smiled deviously. “We’ll see about that.” Madam Hooch blew her whistle and tossed the Quaffle up into the air. To the surprise of everyone, Peter was the first one to dart in and grab it. He sped for the goal, taking advantage of the shocked Ravenclaw players. Their Keeper himself was so dumbfounded at the sight of Peter, of all people, speeding towards him, no effort was made on his part to stop the Quaffle flying through the air. It sailed perfectly into the left hoop, and the Gryfindors erupted into cheers.
“Ten points to Gryffindor!” cries Bertha, not quite believing what she was saying. In fact, most of the game progressed in that manner. Peter scored goal after goal, putting Gryffindor ninety points ahead. Once, the Ravenclaws managed to score a goal. But only once.
The game started to get boring, actually, for the fans. Sirius, who was acting as Captain of the team, took notice of this, and decided to do something about it. He flew over to Frank, told him of the plan, and the pair of them flew over to a frustrated Amos. They each took a side, and started flying in slow circles around his broom. Amos looked at them warily, and tried to back out of the way. But Sirius blocked his exit. Frank then took to flying over his head, and under his broom, while Sirius continued on their old course. They sped up, faster and faster, until none of the spectators could see the Ravenclaw Chaser. Amos himself could not escape, for fear of running into one of the boys. Sirius yelled something to Frank, who took off. Now Sirius pointed his broom towards Amos, and hit the end of his broom. Amos was violently spun around in circles, until Sirius jerked away, sending the boy spiraling up into the air. The Gryffindors laughed loudly, drowning out the protests of the Ravenclaws.
Sirius did nothing to help, instead choosing to fly over their heads and pump them up even more. Suddenly, Peter flew to his side and pointed at his watch. Sirius frantically motioned to Madam Hooch for a time out, which was granted. The team flew down to their side of the field, where their water bottles were kept. Peter made a face and drank one of the many bottles that had his name on them. Sirius faced the team. He raised his hands and made a calming motion with them, saying, “Now I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you hear today.”
Some of the team nodded, and Sirius shrugged. “I just figured that you might all want a break, really. Now, are you ready to fly again?”
The team cheered and mounted their brooms.
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Lily made her way down from the stands almost an hour later. She and the Gryffindors headed towards their Common Room in a wild euphoria, cheering and holding Peter above their heads. Peter was laughing. At the entrance to the portrait, he was set down. “Speech, speech!” the crowd yelled.
He laughed again, and the crowd went silent. “I happen to know for a fact that someone has set up a whole lot of Hogsmeade treats inside, so I’ll make this quick. I’d just like to say that I think we showed the whole school what Gryffindor can do!”
The crowd roared in delight, and Peter continued. “Lions for the Cup!” he screamed.
A number of seventh years took up the chant. Peter opened the portrait door and stepped aside. “Lions for the Cup!” the crowd yelled as they piled inside. Lily was about to walk in, shaking her head (she wasn’t that crazy about Quidditch) when someone grabbed her arm. Peter pulled her over to the side.
“Hey Lily.” He said, blushing. “Well, I saw that you signed up to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays.”
Lily nodded slowly. Indeed, she had put her name on the list when Professor McGonagall passed it around- in fact, it was posted right where they were standing now- but why would Peter be asking about it? “Er, Peter?” she asked.
Peter slapped his forehead. “Oh, I completely forgot! What time is it?”
“Er, almost six, why?”
“Just wait,” He said. “Any minute now.”
Lily rolled her eyes. Boys were so strange sometimes. She jumped as the grip on her arm started to change. She looked down, and saw that Peter’s hand was bubbling! It was expanding, getting darker.
She looked up from the hand and into the face of the boy next to her.
“Hi, Lily,” James Potter said with a crooked grin.
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Author’s Notes:
So, this is my present to all of you- a very quick update! I’ve had the scene coming up in my mind for a while, and I think now is the perfect place to put it in the story.
Same poll, as usual. Check the last chapter if you forget it… And- what’s one of your new year’s resolutions? Mine- Stop being such a sociophobic person and talk to people more. Good luck in the new year!