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Seeking by Leslie Lalaith
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Seeking

Leslie Lalaith

Disclaimer: The following was not written in an attempt to plagiarise the works of J.K. Rowling.

Ch. 3

Lily thought her life was just about perfect when an owl arrived from her parents.

The weather was so bad up in the mountains, they only kept eagles, but Lily, who thought that her parents, who had taken only reluctantly to using owl post, would freak out if a full-grown eagle landed in their living room, only used them to mail her brother.

The letter, which had reduced Lily to angry tears, was a simple request to come home at the end of the month; her NEWTS would be here and then her parents wanted her to start looking for a job, while the Auror training department considered her application.

Darcy was quite shocked when Lily told her. They eagerly discussed what Lily could possibly say in reply that might convince her parents that staying was a good idea too.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Lily said gloomily, one day in practice, when they were all doing sit-ups. Then catching James' eye on her, she shut up, mouthing, "Later," at Darcy, who nodded.

After the warm-up, the entire team sat inside the training building to hear what James had to say about the upcoming state-level competitions. Lily tuned out halfway through; it wasn't as though what James was saying wasn't interesting, she just couldn't help thinking that she probably wouldn't be here for the finals.

She turned to Darcy, who offered a sympathetic smile, but said nothing. Lily sighed. James heard her and scowled.

"Evans!" he barked. She looked up, startled. "Have you heard a word of what I've just been saying? Five rounds."

It was Lily's turn to scowl; it was cold outside and running never warmed her up enough. She frowned and watched as the rest of the team filed out. She had trained with James enough to know the unspoken command that followed any remonstrances: five rounds and stay behind a minute.

She looked up wearily as James grabbed his own broom and walked over to her, a stern expression on his face. "It's not all right to just sit there and completely ignore everything I say, Evans."

She looked up at him, a retort springing to her lips, but instead looked back down, frowning.

"What?" he asked, a slightly amused note in his voice. Lily shook her head. James always seemed to find Lily's sullen obedience extremely amusing, and even while reprimanding her, seemed to be looking for something more to come from her than the usual "Yes, coach. Sorry coach."

Lily had never said anything though, and it always surprised her a little that he seemed to almost be expecting a reply. Certainly, nobody else ever spoke back to James when he was scolding them.

He nodded at her and walked out. Lily scowled at his retreating back then followed him out, to run around the fields. By the time Lily was done, the rest of the team had finished with their warm-up flights and was settling in for a scrimmage.

James grinned at her as she flew up to where the rest of the team was already playing. "I released the Snitch ten minutes ago. Good luck, Evans," he said and she could have sworn he was smirking.

She scowled in response and flew off, James's laughter echoing in her ears. This was just his subtle way of telling her that he was a better Seeker than she was. She knew James had never gotten over being relegated to Chaser, and though nobody even attempted to compare them, she knew she was the tiniest bit better.

So he got back at her with small things like this, or by 'accidentally' finding the Snitch first. At such times, Lily thought he acted not like a coach, but more like a jealous two-year-old.

After about ten minutes of fruitless searching, she glanced over at James, to see if he was enjoying her failure. Her eyes widened as she spotted the Snitch loosely clasped in his fingers.

Lily zoomed over and braked in front of him so hard that he unconsciously leaned back.

"James Potter, why the hell do you have the Snitch in your hand?" she yelled.

The whole team turned around to look at her. James seemed only amused by her anger.

"You're not the Seeker, you're just a Chaser-," she spat out the last word as though it were a disgraceful thing, "-you shouldn't even be looking for the snitch anyway, if you can't stop acting like a two-year old instead of a TWENTY-two year old, I swear-"

"Evans, I didn't even release it yet," James broke in smoothly, though his eyes were wide with surprise at Lily's reference to his age, something she never did.

The entire team knew that James hated to be reminded that he was already 22, and that he still didn't have a proper career, but James had not known that Lily even knew his age.

Lily glared at him. She reached across and grabbed his hand, then pried the Snitch out of it, turned around and let it go, watching as it flew off towards the posts then disappeared.

She turned back to him, scowling furiously, then turned and flew straight up, as far away as she could get from that annoying James Potter.

Lily didn't speak to anybody for the rest of practice. She followed any commands James had, but only said, "Yes, Coach" and "No, Coach," instead of addressing him as James as the team usually did.

She had flown off into the clouds for ten minutes, and returned with her sweatshirt damp and her hair wet, but her eyes sparkling, the Snitch lazily clasped in her fingers.

"Took you ten minutes?" May asked, a little more professionally than usual, as she returned the ball to its box, holding her clipboard to record the team's stats; May could never understand Lily's anger at James's innocent little teasings - she would have done anything to be in Lily's place just once.

"No, two," Lily replied sweetly, aware that James, who was putting the rest of the balls away, was listening.

"What were you doing up there so long then?" May asked surprised. "Flying," Lily tossed over her shoulder as she walked over to where Darcy was waiting for her.

They continued on to their villa, continuing their conversation from the morning. "You don't know my parents, they're not like yours. I swear, my dad would come and get me if I didn't come home myself," Lily said shaking her head.

"What, he'd carry you off or something?" a teasing voice from behind them asked. Lily ignored it and continued talking to Darcy, who shook her head at James, but smiled. She didn't really approve of James's antics when it came to the whole Seeker-Chaser issue, and definitely didn't approve of his baiting of Lily, who tended to take things seriously, but had to admit that today's episode had been rather funny.

"We won't let him, will we, Morris?" James continued as well, with a grin above Lily's head at her. Darcy laughed.

Lily frowned at her, then turning to James, said coolly, "If you don't mind, Coach, we're having a private conversation here."

"What's so private about it? As your, uh, Coach, shouldn't I be aware if somebody's coming to abduct my…Seeker?" with a smirk, knowing that tiny pause would have infuriated Lily.

"No," she said rudely, before following Darcy into their villa and slamming the door in James's face.

Lily took a warm shower, then slipped into a green sweater and jeans, her wet hair spilling in waves down her back. She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, rummaging for something to eat, when a voice behind her made her drop the cheese she was holding. She turned around and glared at James, who was leaning in the doorway, watching her.

He couldn't understand why she was still mad, he'd only said that Kurt had made lunch for everybody. He frowned a little; she was completely ignoring him as she made herself a sandwich. She took a bite then got up to pour herself a glass of milk. When she sat back down, James had gone. She smiled in relief.

* * *

Lily sat in front of the fire, a few days later, stretching, listening to some gossip Darcy was telling her, though most of it went right over her head. She was nearly falling asleep when a smiling voice jerked her out of her stupor.

"I wouldn't waste your time; she's nearly asleep." Lily opened her eyes tiredly.

Somebody with dark hair and grey- no hazel eyes was smiling at her. James.

Lily rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "Am not," she murmured. James grinned. She closed her eyes a little, instantly falling into a light sleep.

James shook his head amusedly at her, then at Darcy's disappointed expression. "I'm going to see what Carter's doing then," she said, and ran out.

James picked Lily up and tucked her into bed before heading home himself.