As the last warm summer days came to an end and the chill of autumn set in, Quidditch try-outs were announced for the coming Friday. This usually did not concern Lily and Kelly, who would normally have ignored them and spent the afternoon finishing homework, but with Meredith’s persistent pleading, they finally agreed to go.
After classes had finished for the day, Meredith and Andy headed down to the Quidditch pitch, enthusiastically discussing game strategies and broomsticks, while Lily and Kelly lingered a ways behind.
“In all your years at Hogwarts, have you ever been to Quidditch try-outs?” Kelly asked Lily.
“Severus Snape dragged me along to try-outs in second year”you remember how I used to be friends with him”but James Potter annoyed me so much I left after about ten minutes,” Lily said.
“Wow, we have really changed since then. I’m not saying this offensively, but I can’t believe you of all people were ever friends with Snape,” Kelly admitted.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. He used to not be so bad, but then he changed for the worse. I don’t even know him now,” Lily continued.
By then the girls had reached the Quidditch pitch and took their seats in the stands. The wind was blowing hard causing the girls to wrap their scarves around them tighter as they searched the crowd of students for their friends.
“Oh look, there’s Andy!” Kelly exclaimed, excitedly pointing at one of the figures flying through the air, “…and Meredith.”
For the next hour and a half, the girls watched James Potter conduct the try-outs. First, the Beaters tried out and were put through a variety of drills to test their skills. Kelly beamed as Andy hit each target and outperformed every other person on the field. After the Beaters it was the Chasers turn. This group included Meredith, who Lily had to admit, performed much better than she had expected, though still was not the best player. After the Seekers tried out, Potter called everyone together to announce the year’s team members. Lily and Kelly waited with bated breath, as the player’s names were called. Andy, as expected, was welcomed back whole heartedly and even received a pat on the back from Potter. Then as the Chasers’ names were called, Meredith’s name was surprisingly announced as well.
“Lily, Kelly! I made the team!” Meredith called, overjoyed. Lily rushed onto the field to congratulate her friend while Kelly slipped away to give her congrats to Andy. Meredith was crying with happiness as she hugged Lily and then to Lily’s embarrassment, pulled away from her and approached Potter.
“James! I can’t believe you let me on the team! You don’t know how much this means to me. I am going to try my absolute hardest this year. Just tell me what to do. I won’t let you down!” At this point, Meredith tripped over Potter’s belongings and landed face down in the dirt.
“Here, let me help you,” said Potter, offering Meredith his hand.
Gleefully, Meredith took his arm and began to babble her thanks again.
“Oh, James I’m so sorry about tripping over your things! You must think I’m such a klutz. I’m really not so clumsy. I can show you at practice. Excuse me for not being modest, but I’m actually quite a Chaser…”
Potter glanced at Lily and mouthed “is she always like that?”
Laughing, Lily shook her head.
“She’s only like that around you, Potter,” she whispered.
“I told you to call me ‘James,’” he admonished quietly.
She shook her head. “No, you’re still ‘Potter’ to me. Just because you’ve suddenly decided to act different doesn’t mean we’re friends now.”
James shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. Hey, Miranda, be careful with that. I just had it waxed.”
Lily glanced over at Meredith, who turned beet red as she dropped Potter’s broom into a big mud puddle.
“I’m so sorry, James. If there’s anything I can do to help”” stammered Meredith.
“No, you’ve done enough,” Potter said, looking forlornly at his broomstick. “I should probably be going anyways.” Then he gathered up his bag and muddy broom and gave Lily a small smile. “I guess I’ll see you later, Evans.”
Lily watched Potter until he disappeared from sight, replaying their conversation in her head. Why was he so insistent on her calling him “James?” Was he really over her now?
“Okay, let’s go back to the castle now. I have a ton of homework for McGonagall to do.”
Meredith’s comment shook Lily of her thoughts and brought her back to reality. She shouldn’t be bothering herself with Potter. Why should she care why he’s been acting so different? As long as he stayed out of her hair, he didn’t concern her.
“Lily, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
“What about Kelly and Andy?” Lily asked.
“I think they already headed back.”
“Oh,” said Lily with a little disappointment. As much as she loved being Meredith’s friend, she did not want to hear every detail of every play she had made nor every detail of what James Potter had said during try-outs.
Yet, when they got back to the common room, Kelly and Andy were not there. In fact, Lily didn’t see either of them until dinner that night, where the two acted especially distant towards her.
After they finished dinner, Lily cornered Kelly and led her to a deserted hallway.
“That’s it. Tell me what happened. You and Andy disappeared after try-outs, and then you don’t come back until dinner. What’s up?”
Kelly turned bright red and glanced around to be sure that the hallway was empty.
“Andy and I are a couple now!” she said excitedly.
“What! How?” Lily pressed.
“After try-outs, we walked around the grounds and talked all afternoon. He told me how much he had missed me over the summer and kept mentioning how pretty he thought I looked. So, I took a chance and told him how I felt about him.”
“Oh, Kelly! What did he say?”
“Nothing. He kissed me.” Kelly said, a huge smile spreading across her face.
*****
That night, Lily met Potter outside the common room for their patrolling duties. They strolled along for a while in silence until Lily could not stand it any longer. Even though she was glad Potter was not speaking to her, another minute of silence would drive her crazy.
“Do we really have to walk in silence?” Lily finally spoke.
Potter shrugged. “What did you have in mind to talk about?”
“I don’t know,” responded Lily. “Something. Anything. I’m sure it’s bound to be more interesting than staring at the walls for the rest of the night.”
“Well, you probably know I’m an only child. My parents are both Aurors and I’ve wanted to be one too ever since I was young.”
“Really? I have too. Both of my parents are Muggles so life’s usually pretty dull during the summer. Once I finish Hogwarts, though, I want my life to be full of adventure,” Lily said excitedly.
“I could see you being an Auror. Remember fifth year when you hexed me and I was in the Hospital Wing for a week?” Potter said.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Lily giggled. “You were so annoying.”
They climbed a set of stairs and started down a long corridor before Lily spoke again.
“You said that Sirius was living with you now. Why is that?”
“Sirius’s family is pureblood and they think that everyone should be purebloods,” Potter explained. “The family takes pride in being in Slytherin and when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, he was seen as the family black sheep. See, he’s not like them; he acts and thinks so differently than they do. He finally got so fed up during the winter holidays last year and moved into our house. My mum and dad practically adopted him. He has been like my brother since first year so it made sense for him to move in with us.”
“That’s good that he has you to help him out,” Lily said. “Even though we’re different, I could never imagine not coming home to my parents during the holidays.” She hesitated before adding “Petunia, though, I could live without.”
“She’s that hard to live with?” Potter asked.
“Unbelievably,” Lily said, dramatically.
For the next hour, they patrolled the halls of Hogwarts, talking about their lives in and outside of Hogwarts. When Lily finally returned to her dormitory and climbed into her warm bed, she smiled to herself. Today had been a good day. Kelly had finally admitted her feelings for Andy and even though she was certainly not friends with Potter, he had managed to have a conversation with her without being a complete prat.
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: JKR owns everything.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Endnotes: Hope you liked it! I'll try to have chapter 7 up soon!