“Okay, guys-“
“And girls!” Aly insisted.
“And girls. This is it! If we win this match, or even tie, we will have enough points for the Cup!”
“Calm yourself, Potter, it’s not a shoe in.”
“Shoe in, Evans?”
“Muggle expression, anyway what I’m trying to say, is that we shouldn’t think we are definitely going to win. I mean Slytherin is REALLY good this year, they haven’t lost a game yet!”
“Ah, aren’t you the pessimist? Just to remind you we haven’t lost a game either! No idea why old Minnie decided on making you co-captain, it’s called a PEP talk. Notice the key word PEP, Evans.”
“Rawr! Cat fight!” Sirius Black said while doing a swiping motion with his hand, and making hissing noises.
“Shut the hell up, James! You too, Black!” Lily said as she menacingly pointed a gloved finger at Black. “Anyway, just play your game and we should be fine,” Lily said giving emphasis on the last word as she looked James in the face.
Once the two co-captains finished their “pep” talk, the other five people in red and gold grabbed their brooms and headed towards the doors that led out onto the pitch. Lily and James followed, Lily giving James an evil glare.
“Is their a reason your looking at me like that?” James said when he noticed the intense stare that Lily was giving him.
“You need to focus James! You need to find the snitch before Malfoy does! Most of the school is counting you!”
“You know there IS a reason I was captain before you joined the team last year, Evans!” James temper rising, he didn’t like yelling at Lily, but when he was stressed out, he didn’t need someone reminding him of it. “I know how to play Quidditch!”
“Well, sorry!” Lily said storming away; she could feel the tears stinging her eyes.
James had changed in the last year. Ever since she joined the Quidditch team, James had stopped asking her out, and she had to admit she kind of missed it. James asking her out was part of her everyday routine, something she could count on. Now that it was gone, it felt as though a part of her was missing, like someone had reached into her body and pulled something out.
James stopped as soon as he had heard the sarcastic anger in her voice. He saw her storming toward the rest of the team. Can’t she see I’m changed? Can’t she see how different I am? James thought to himself. I was the one who had suggested that Lily become co-captain, when she had joined the team. I was the one who had begged McGonagall and Dumbledore to allow the exception, saying that with my Head duties, I wasn’t sure if I could handle it on my own. Hadn’t she noticed that I haven’t asked her out for a whole YEAR? Didn’t she notice that I had stopped hexing Snivellus? Didn’t she know the only reason I did those things? Lost in his own thoughts, James hadn’t noticed that the rest of the team was standing at the large door that lead to the pitch, awaiting their introduction. James sprinted forward until he was standing next to Lily.
“’Bout time you showed up,” Lily muttered through gritted teeth as the large doors opened, letting in sunlight and the roars and boos of the crowd.
They both heard Charlie Jordan scream, “The Gryffindors! The beaters, Black and Preston! The keeper, Lennox! Chasers Thisiano, Chang, and team co-captain Evans! Last but certainly not least the seeker and other co-captain POTTER!”
As soon as they walked out the doors they saw a large sea of red and gold, and a smaller crowd of emerald and silver. James looked up into the stands and saw the many banners sporting different logos and slogans that the many creative Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs had thought up to help boost the moral of the Gryffindor Team.
They made their way to the center of pitch as Jordan began screaming off the Slytherin team, “The beaters, Crabbe and Goyle! The keeper, Dolohov! The chasers, Zambini, Nott, and Macnair! Finally, the seeker and team captain, MALFOY!”
The seven players in green marched out on to the center of the field, with looks of pure evil on their faces.
“I think the Slytherins overdosed on a Cheering Charm this morning,” James whispered into Lily’s ear.
Lily started to laugh, but stifled it, and reduced it to a smile, and rolled her eyes.
“Captains, shake hands,” said Madam Adila, with a stern look on her face.
James stuck out his hand for Malfoy to shake, and he did so reluctantly, and then Lily stuck out hers. Malfoy barely touched her hand before pulling away. James gave Malfoy a hard stare but didn’t say anything. Lily saw, and frowned. I guess he doesn’t like me any more. she thought defeated, staring at the ground. She knew the old James would have been screaming at Malfoy to apologize, and though she knew she would have yelled at James for it, it made her heart feel as though someone had dropped a rock in it. She had finally admitted to herself that she did fancy James Potter, and know she realized something: James Potter was no more. She was never going to get another chance with him and she knew it.
“Are you okay?” James asked her, noticing the look of defeat upon her face.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lily lied through her teeth, attempting a fake smile.
“Mount your brooms,” Madam Adila said as fourteen brooms rose into the air; the two keepers going to defend their goals at opposite ends of the fields.
Madam Adila let the snitch and bludgers fly out of the open trunk, giving them a head start. She grabbed the large red Quaffle and threw it high into the air.
“And the game begins! The Quaffle is taken by Evans, co-captain of Gryffindor, and she passes to Thisiano, man she looks smoking today. Sorry Professor, but she is anyway, Thisiano passes to Chang who passes back to Evans who shoots for the left hoop and SCORE. 10-0 GRYFFINDOR!!” Jordan yelled.
Lily did a victory lap, waving at James as she passed.
Did she just wave at me? James thought self-consciously.
Did I just wave at James? Why the HELL did I do that? Lily thought to herself as she received a pass from Eric Chang.
The commentary went on in the background as James went looking for the snitch. Gryffindor needed this; they hadn’t won the cup in ten years. They had always come in second to Slytherin, and this was his last shot. He flew around the stadium a couple of times, avoiding the JPFC that had situated itself near the Slytherin goal posts. James glanced over at the scoreboard fifteen minutes into the game, 70-10 Gryffindor.
“WOOHOO!” James said rather loudly.
“And that’s Slytherin in possession, Zambini passes to Nott, who passes it back to Zambini, then back to, ah intercepted by Evans, who sends it back to Chang…” the voice of Charlie Jordan droned out as James stood in a stand still above the center of the field, watching Lily fly back and forth.
The next half hour, went by in the same fashion, Lily, Aly, and Eric, passing to each other and scoring goal after goal on Dolohov, he obviously wasn’t very good. Only once did a Quaffle get by Lennox, and that was because Goyle had sent a bludger streaming for his head, making him lose his concentration. James flew around the pitch in circle after circle, with still no sight of the snitch. Malfoy, rather than look for the snitch, was hovering near the Gryffindor end of the pitch, letting James do the actual seeking for him. Every so often James would dive, just to watch Malfoy’s look of terror, as he thought James had seen the snitch. Then one time he did see it hovering above the middle goal hoop on the Slytherin end of the pitch. James sped up on his circling of the pitch, streaking towards the snitch.
Lily was sitting on the side of the pitch watching, screaming, “GO JAMES!!” when suddenly she stopped.
James turned around and saw Lily falling from fifty feet in the air. Malfoy was right there, if James didn’t get the snitch, he would. Everything was in slow motion; everyone was paying attention to James and Malfoy, not on the fact that Crabbe had sent a bludger right at Lily that had hit her right in the back. No one had noticed but him and he had to do something. There wasn’t enough time to get the snitch and Lily too. She’s worth more than a Quidditch Cup. He turned around in midair and went into a spectacular dive. Being a seeker, dives were his specialty. He was going so fast, he was catching up to Lily’s falling body. She was screaming so loud, it was so painful to James’ ears. He caught up to her, and pulled out of the dive and stopped right under her, catching her in his arms. Lily instantly stopped screaming, and turned to look at James. Malfoy caught the snitch, but no one seemed to notice, except for James. They touched the ground and both jumped off his broom.
“Oh, crap! The game! Malfoy got the snitch!” James screamed at no one in particular, pounding his hand into his head.
“James-“ Lily tried, but James interrupted.
“I blew it, we lost, our last shot and I blew it!”
“James! We didn’t lose!” Lily practically screamed at James, pointing at the scoreboard. “Partially because of my awesome Quidditch skills,” she finished cockily, but James barely seemed to notice.
James stopped pounding his head and read Gryffindor 170, Slytherin 160.
“Game and the girl, impressive for one day, even by your standards,” Lily said nonchalantly, waiting for him to realize what she just said.
“What are you-“ James started but was cut off by Lily.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, putting her hands on his neck. After James got over the shock factor, he put his hand on the back of her head. What the heck are you doing Lily! You’re kissing James Potter you know! Yeah, I know.
There were wolf whistles and cheers of approval as they kissed. There was a definite moan coming from where the JPFC had been sitting.
Streams of people fled onto the field. There was a large crowd assembled around Sirius, who was on someone’s shoulders holding the Quidditch Cup high in the air.
Lily heard her friend, Aly, come up behind her and say, “FINALLY!” really loud in her ear, breaking them apart.
“Thanks a lot, Thisiano!” James yelled after her, still holding on to Lily, who turned around to look at her best friend.
“Anytime!” Aly yelled cheerfully, as she joined the crowd, heading back to the Gryffindor common room.
Lily looked up to the stands and saw McGonagall shaking her finger at Professor Slughorn, who hadn’t even noticed that the game was over. Thinking that she was shaking her finger because of all the sugar from the crystallized pineapple, he began licking them, and Lily laughed.
“McGonagall obviously is a very good sport,” James said half laughing.
Lily started laughing again, throwing her head back.
“Come on, James, let’s go celebrate!” Lily said as they hooked arms, and walked up to the castle.
“So you like me, huh?” James said cockily as they made their way up the stone steps and into the Entrance Hall.
“Absolutely,” she said before kissing James again.