Lily’s heart was fluttering nervously as she stepped off the train, her broom hung in a bag over her shoulder. James came up behind her, and put his arm around her. She was very aware of the bolt of lightning that shocked her when they touched. She stared up at James.
“Nervous?” he said, misreading her expression. But she nodded, because she was nervous. “Trust me, you’ll do fine. You’re the best seeker I’ve ever seen!” he said. She smiled.
“Thanks, James,” she muttered. She looked up at his rich brown eyes, and for a second, the world around them vanished, and it was only them, standing together. James put his hand on her cheek, but pulled away slightly, trying to read her face. She did nothing to discourage him, so he moved closer. Lily couldn’t breathe! She suddenly found that she didn’t know what to do with her hands.
She was sure she looked like an idiot, standing there with her arms dangling at her sides. James didn’t seem to care though, as he was inches away from her. She parted her lips slightly, and James took that as an invitation. He pressed his mouth against hers, and pulled her closer. Lily was in complete shock. He just put his tongue in my mouth! She was about to shove him away, but it felt so right…. She put her hands on his shoulders, and could feel the hard muscle that came from years of Quidditch. James pulled away, grinning ear to ear.
“That was your first kiss wasn’t it?” he asked. She blushed red.
“I know, I’m terrible aren’t I? You don’t have to say it, I understand…” but James cut her off with another quick kiss.
“No, you were wonderful. I’m just…honored, that’s all,” he said gently. His eyes were so open, and slightly vulnerable. “I love you, Lily Evans,” he stated, matter-of-factly. Lily stared, but then she grinned.
“I know you do,” and with that she walked away. James stood there, dumbstruck. That wasn’t the response he had been expecting, and she knew it. Lily then turned around, smiling widely.
“Why…you!” James said, and started chasing after her. She laughed, and started running towards the field. James caught her around the middle, however, and swung her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
“James Potter! Let me down right now!” Lily said, punching his shoulder, trying to get free.
“Tell me you love me!” James yelled back over his shoulder.
“PUT ME DOWN!” she roared. “James…please…they’ll see us!” she whispered horrified. “We’re supposed to set an example!” James nodded.
“That’s a very good point. And I’ll let you down…right after you admit that you love me!” she tried to scream in anger, but only ended up laughing.
“I’m getting dizzy! My face hurts!” she tried to sit up more comfortably so that all the blood wasn’t rushing to her head. Then, she suddenly flopped motionless on his back, almost as if all her bones had vanished.
“Complain and complain all you want, I’m not going to let you down,” James said, getting quite a few stares. He didn’t feel her move. “Lily? Did you hear me?” he asked. No response. He stopped moving. “Are you alright?” he sounded worried. He pulled her off his shoulder and into his arms. He saw her face, and his blood ran cold. What had he done? Had he made her pass out from all the blood rushing to her head? “Lily? Lily!” he said, shaking her. Then he saw something, her mouth twitched. She couldn’t hold it any longer, and burst out laughing. James set her on her feet.
“I got you so bad!” she said through gales of laughter. James closed his eyes.
“You scared me to death! I thought I’d hurt you,” he choked, and Lily saw that his face did look pale. She stopped laughing.
“Did I really scare you that bad?” she asked, looking at him. He didn’t answer, but ran his hands through his hair.
“Well, what would you do if you thought you had somehow hurt me? And I wasn’t moving?”
“Scared,” Lily admitted. “I’m sorry.” James nodded and started to walk away, but Lily grabbed his hand. She lifted up on her toes and whispered into his ear. “I love you too.” James grinned, and pulled her into a hug, but just then a loud whistle blasted through the air. Lily could hear James’s heartbeat speed up.
“Come on,” James said, pulling Lily along.
“Yes, dear,” she said, rolling her eyes at his leader instinct. They hurried to the large clearing, both very nervous. A large crowd was already there, and standing in front of them was a very wiry looking woman. She looked like a stork, to be quite honest. She stood extremely straight up, and had wire-brush grey hair. Her eyes were small and bright blue, and her eye brows made her look angry even when her face was relaxed.
“QUIET!” she roared. Silence fell over the muttering crowd almost immediately. James glanced sideways at Lily, who grinned slightly. Dumbledore wasn’t kidding, this woman meant business. “My name is Fran Lochlan. You may not call me Fran; you may not call me Franny. You may not call me Lochlan. You may only call me Captain. Is that understood?” A murmur of understanding rippled throughout the crowd. She nodded. “ALRIGHT! I want those who will be trying out for Keeper, move over towards that tree to the right. NOW!” All of the Keepers moved quickly. “All of you who want to be Chaser, move over to that tree to the left. NOW!” James gave Lily’s hand a farewell squeeze, and set off. “The rest of you are obviously trying out for Seeker, and you shall STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Nobody moved a muscle.
“Okay! We are going to be doing short scrimmages. I will pick at random two people from the Seeker group, two people from the Keeper group, and four people from the chaser group. I will put you into teams, and you will play against each other while I make notes on the sideline. Got it? Good. LET’S GET STARTED!” Captain said. She looked through the crowd of Keepers.
“You and…you. Come here now,” she said sternly, pointing to two very nervous boys. They went up to her, obviously terrified. “Put these on,” she said handing one of them a black tee-shirt, and one of them a white tee-shirt. They both slipped them on over their heads, looking at each other, sizing their opponent up. Captain began scrutinizing the Seeker group.
“Pick me, pick me…” Lily muttered under her breath. But Captain pointed to two girls, who smiled excitedly and ran to get on their tee-shirts. Next, Captain looked at the Chaser group.
“You, in the red. You there, next to her. You boy, with the glasses, and…you in front. Come up here NOW!” she said. Lily craned her neck, and saw that James was one of the ones she had picked. Lily gave him the thumbs up, and he winked at her. James put on one of the black tee-shirts. “Okay! Everybody onto the field!” she yelled after them. James went with the rest of his small team, and Captain walked over to a small box. She let out the small, golden snitch, and allowed it a few seconds head start, before she pulled out the Quaffle. This was apparently going to be a game with no Bludgers. Lily was glad, she didn’t want James to get hurt. Captain walked to the middle of the field.
“GET IN POSITION!” she screamed. James moved over slightly, and watched the Quaffle intently. Then, without warning, Captain threw the red ball into the air. James leapt for it, but was practically elbowed in the face by one of the other team’s Chasers. Lily glared at the boy, wanting to hex him. James flew after him, and started to circle him, making the boy nervous. James then started to dart in and out of his way; the boy panicked, and threw the Quaffle upwards to his team mate. James intercepted the pass easily, however, and zoomed off in the opposite direction. Lily clapped, smiling. A few people stared at her, and Lily slowly stopped clapping, but continued to grin. The other Chaser was hot on his trail, swerving in front. James, realizing that if he tried to shoot the goal with the other Chaser in front of him he would miss, looked around for his team mate. He saw her, and threw the Quaffle to her. She caught it, and advanced on the Keeper, who was ready, guarding his middle hoop. The Keeper was so preoccupied with the Quaffle, that he didn’t see James sneakily setting himself up for a perfect shot at the left hoop. The girl raised her arms, apparently getting ready to throw the Quaffle into the right hoop, but, at the last possible moment, when the Keeper had dove to the left, the girl threw the Quaffle to James, who scored. Lily jumped and down cheering loudly. She got more stares but she didn’t care. James was doing wonderful!
Three more goals later, scored by James and the other Chaser, and the other team was getting frustrated. Their Seeker was searching frantically under the pressure. Lily was busy watching James, who was attempting to pass to the Chaser, when the crowd around her gasped. Lily looked up to see the Seeker on James' team diving. He was chasing after a gold shimmer, and the other Seeker was immediately on his tail. Lily covered her mouth, as the suspense went on. They were neck and neck, both reaching and grasping. Just as they hit the ground, however, the white team’s Seeker swooped up, clutching the struggling golden Snitch in his hand.
“Damn!” Lily muttered. But it didn’t matter, James had done extremely well. Then again, so had his team mate…Captain blew her whistle sharply, and the teams flew down to the ground. James was panting slightly, and beads of sweat were trickling down his face. He ripped off the tee-shirt, and handed it back to the Captain.
“When you have already played, you are free to either watch over on the other side of the feild, or go back to the train and wait until the rest are finished. But decide QUICKLY!” she yelled. Most people scurried back to the train, but a few, including James, went to sit in the grass on the other side. Captain then came back over. She picked another group. Lily hoped she would choose her, but again, Lily was not chosen. Instead she was left to frown while the new teams battled each other. This game ended extremely quickly, in fact, it lasted only five minutes. A rather short black boy had caught the Snitch with speed, grace, and skill. Lily groaned, that was going to be tough to beat. Captain again started looking for new players.
“Please…come on…pick…”
“You, there, with the red hair!” Captain said, pointing at Lily. Lily leapt into the air. YES! She grinned, and ran to take the white tee-shirt that Captain offered. A boy came up behind her, and put on the black tee-shirt. Lily turned to wish her opponent good luck, and saw that it was Snape. She groaned audibly. Snape was obviously still very mad about the incident during the train ride. She saw that he had a bruise on his cheek where she had punched him.
“Good luck, Evans. You’re going to need it,” Snape said, smiling evilly. “You’re my prettiest opponent yet,” he said, reaching out to shake her hand. Lily didn’t want to take, it, but Captain was watching and she didn’t want to look like she wasn’t being a team-player. She shook his hand, and then tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let go.
“Get the Hell off me!” Lily growled. Snape then yelped in pain, grabbing his hand. It had a large cut on it. Lily stared, had she done that? “Did I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt…” Lily said, seeing the murderous look in his eyes.
Why couldn’t he get over her? he thought angrily. She had just sliced his hand open, and yet he loved her. He had to get rid of her! He glared at her, and, seeing that Captain’s back was to them, picking out the Chasers, he spat at her feet. Lily leapt back, just as Snape yelped again. He pulled up his shirt sleeve, and Lily saw a large burn mark in the shape of the words ‘Leave her alone’
“I didn’t do that!” Lily said. Snape stared at his arm, and then it dawned on him. What an idiot! He looked over towards the sideline, and saw that Potter had his wand pointed directly at him. He glared. Lily followed his gaze, and saw James with his wand pointing at Snape. She shook her head, indicating for him to stop.
“Alright! Everybody get into positions. NOW!” Lily took her broom out of the carrying case she had had over her shoulder, and mounted. She flew into the air, and was flooded with happiness. She loved to fly. She flew into position, facing Snape. Captain strode over to the middle of the field, and looked to see the Quaffle all the way at one end of the field. “ACCIO QUAFFLE!” she barked. It flew to her hands. “GO!” she yelled as she threw the Quaffle into the air. Lily started moving at once, Snape trailing her closely.
“Nice view back here, Evans,” Snape said silkily. Lily ignored him. He was just trying to distract her, and she had to concentrate. Her eyes flew around the field. She heard some cheers as the other team scored the first goal. Snape grinned happily. She had to catch it quickly, quicker than five minutes. And she had to do it smoothly; she had to use some difficult moves or something. Her heart leapt at the glittering of something, but it was just the sunlight bouncing off a piece of jewelry their team’s Keeper was wearing.
“I saw you snogging with Potter earlier. Of course, who didn’t? You would think the Head Boy and Head Girl would be a little more discreet. Especially you,” Snape said, flying beside her. Lily ignored him completely however, searching for the Snitch. “Of course, you’re not at all what you pretend to be. You think your perfect, prim, proper little Lily Evans? Well, I think it’s an act. You think you’re so innocent, never dated a guy before? Yeah right. You’re just a Mud-blood whore. You’d do anything to get in bed with Potter, wouldn’t you? I see through your mask, Lily. I know you better than you…” But Lily had just dived. It took Snape a few crucial seconds to realize what had just happened.
Lily was speeding as fast as her broom would take her. There it was, the Snitch, floating a few inches above the ground. Then it started flying again, staying parallel to the ground. Lily was now inches from the ground, her toes brushing the grass. She extended her hand, but then she realized that Snape was right beside her. He swerved into her, cause her to roll over and over. She kept moving at the same speed though. She righted herself, and seconds later, the Snitch changed direction immediately, shooting straight up into the air. Lily was quicker to react than Snape, and shot straight up after it. She was completely vertical now, moving at top speed, holding on for dear life. She extended her hand.
Her fingers were so close, any second now, she would grab it. Then Snape was beside her, he was leering, his hand trying to push her out of the way. His weight was much greater than hers, and she went swerving to the right, but then a split-second before that, so did the Snitch. It practically flew into her hand. She closed her hand around the fluttering gold ball. She was about to raise it proudly in the air, but Snape grabbed her wrist.
“Let go,” Snape said, nearly breaking the bones in her wrist. Lily looked down, they were too far up, so Captain couldn’t see that Snape was cheating.
“Go to Hell, Snape,” Lily said, struggling madly. Tears sprang to her eyes as Snape tightened his vice-like grip.
“Give the Snitch to me. I swear to god, if you let it free into the air I will tell Mallon all about James betraying him,” Snape said icily. He knew he had struck a chord. Lily had no choice. No way would she risk James’ life.
“Alright, ok. Just don’t tell Mallon. I’ll give it to you, just…don’t let anything happen to James. Please,” she said, trying not to let the tears from the pain slide down her face. She handed the Snitch to Snape, who grinned evily. He flew back down, his hand held high. Lily slowly followed him, her wrist throbbing. She had just blew it, her chance of being Seeker was gone. But she was not upset about her decision at all. James would do the same for her, and more. She loved him, she truly did, and without him…life would be nothing.
“Lily! What happened up there? It looked like you were going to get it for sure!” James said. Lily shrugged.
“A gust of wind messed me up big time. So, Snape got it instead,” she said.
“I’m so sorry Lily. But hey, it’s not over until it’s over. Your posture and everything was much better than Snape’s and plus you’re much better to look at,” he said, trying to cheer her up. Lily tried to grin, so he wouldn’t worry about her. “Listen, I watched Franny while she was taking notes, she definitely liked your style. You did some nice moves out there, especially that one when Snape bumped you and you rolled over. That was terrific!” he said, going on and on about how wonderful she had done. Lily stayed silent. James put his arm around her. “What was Snape saying to you, over there before the scrimmage?” he asked.
“You know, the usual. I’m a Mud-Blood, that sort of thing. Thanks for what you did, even though you shouldn’t have done that,” Lily said, leaning against him as they walked back to the train. “How many more scrimmages are left?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
“Probably about two,” James said. Lily nodded. Damn, her wrist hurt, she wanted to look at to see if Snape might have sprained it or something, but didn’t want James to see, so she kept pulling her robe sleeves over her hands.
Once they were in their compartment, Lily and James sat down.
“You look a mess. Seriously, Lil, don’t worry. Just because you lost doesn’t mean anything,” James said encouragingly. Lily nodded, but that wasn’t what was bothering her. Her wrist was throbbing, and she was having a hard time dealing with a fact that she had just realized.
Snape had total control over her. He had James’ life in his hands, and he could make her do whatever he asked if he thought to. All he had to do was mention revealing James’ true intentions, and Lily would do whatever he asked…anything for James. She had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life. “I think you’re not telling me something,” James said, frowning. Lily smiled.
“I’m just really tired.”
“Come here,” James said, pulling her onto his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you James,” she muttered. He kissed the top of her head, and settled her more comfortably. She sighed contentedly, and together, they fell asleep.