A/N: Sorry if updates are kind of slow, I have exams and a headache and my sister is my typist…I sit in study lab and write the chapters…makes me feel like a real writer…;)
Also, I know I mentioned James as Chaser in the first chapter but I changed it to Seeker.
Chapter 2: Meeting the Lads
After a good night's rest in a comfortable room slightly separated from the rest of the team's, Lily woke up, feeling refreshed enough to tackle the entire team.
There was a knock on her door as she finished showering and dressing; Lily hurried to open it and found the same man from yesterday, James Potter, was it?, standing there, grinning down at her.
"All set?" he asked brightly. Lily nodded and hurriedly grabbed her magical camera, notebook, bag, and Quick Quotes Quill; she followed James through the maze of corridors, nodding with growing confusion as James pointed out the lounge, team rooms, coach's room, trainer's room, physician's room …
"Don't they all come out to the pitch?" Lily asked desperately.
James turned around and grinned. "Of course," he said, flashing an amused smile at her anxiety. "I trust you can find THAT."
Lily nodded; it was impossible to miss the large black and white stadium, with a huge statue of a magpie perched on top. James, she noticed, was already in his Quidditch robes, black and white with a magpie on the front and his mane on the back. (A/N: Too lazy to check if that's right; some kind soul check Quidditch Through the Ages and help me out.)
"What first? When do you start practice?"
Lily peered into one of the rooms as James whisked her along and caught an eyeful of fluttering Golden Snitches; they weren't real, Lily noted grimly.
James caught her and smiled. "That's my kingdom. I call it the Snitch Room. As Seeker, I'm the best at handling those little buggers."
Lily deftly flipped open her notebook and sucked her Quick Quotes Quill as she rushed; she set it down a moment later and repeated, "That's my kingdom. I call it the Snitch Room. As Seeker, I'm the best at handling those buggers,"; she smiled as her words flowed in a curvy handwriting over the parchment then scowled.
The pen was now scribbling, "The ace reporter, Lily Evans, obviously takes pride in her skill with Snitches, a rather odd sentiment coming from -"
"Not Lily Evans, damn it!" Lily shouted at it. "JAMES POTTER."
"-said Lily Evans also has quite a temper," continued the quill, unperturbed. "Angered by the insolence of this wonderful invention of Rita Skeeter, copyrighted 1973, Lily Evans proceeds to vent out her anger in a childish tantrum-"
Lily pulled the quill off the parchment and threw it as far away from her as she could, then tore off the ruined parchment, crumpled it and tossed it as well.
"Not a bad arm, Miss Evans," a voice came from next to her. Lily jumped and turned to find James smirking at her and blushed.
"Damn thing never listens to me, anyway," she muttered, pointedly pulling out a regular muggle pen; James looked at it curiously. "Muggle invention. Saves my neck all too often." She sighed and gestured for James to continue.
The team was already at breakfast when James and Lily walked into the small dining hall. Lily scribbled away with her pen as she took in the not-so-posh surroundings, only pausing to look up when the pair was greeted by wolf whistles and calls of, "Where'd you pick up the doll, Potter?"
"Lucky bloke, how the hell did he even get OUT if THIS hellhole?" an insolent voice drawled, somehow managing to be heard above the din though the actual tones were lightly uttered.
Lily started at the sound of the hauntingly familiar voice; she looked up at the speaker in surprise and trepidation and encountered a pair of well-known coal black eyes matched with thick inky hair and tanned olive skin. Glancing back at her notebook she wrote, "hellhole," her hand shaking slightly.
James had put his hand on her shoulder to lead her to the team; his keen eyes spotted the word, neatly scrawled and he scowled. "You can't write that!" he said angrily, trying to take her notebook. Lily's, for once, quick reflexes helped her resist the quick grab.
"I can and I will," she said coldly before walking over to introduce herself to the tall, graying man at the end who she assumed was the coach.
"Hello, I'm Lily Evans, reporter from-" she shuddered, "-Which Broomstick."
The team's faces lit up and there was appreciative applause. Lily rolled her eyes.
"So we're finally good enough to get covered by Which Broomstick, eh?" a tall man with long dark hair and eloquent blue-gray eyes asked, a smile lighting up his handsome face. Without waiting for her answer, he held out a hand and added, "I'm Sirius Black… Beater." (A/N: Had to get him in there and of course, had to give him the best opening ;))
The coach rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's Sirius. Barking mad but we take what we can get," he quipped, and the whole team erupted in laughter, Sirius loudest of all.
"Anyhow, I'm the coach, Ian Brigham. I've coached the Magpies for 20 years, ever since I stopped playing for them. We can't tell you what an honor it is for Which Broomstick to cover us like this. We'll play extra good for you, won't we, lads?" he asked the team; they roared in approval.
Men, Lily thought as she smiled and shook hands as the team stood up to introduce themselves to her, complete loonies, all of them.
In addition to James, Sirius and…him, there were twelve other young men (Lily's eyes glinted as she realized there were no women other than herself present); she shook hands and smiled politely at Henry, Patrick, Brian, Alex, Joe, Stan, Max, Curt, Jason, Sean, Dan and - Lily stopped in front of the last man, the one who had first caught her attention; she drew in a sharp breath as she met the same fierce black eyes and a feral smile, and did not offer her hand.
"Sanders," she said coolly, not taking her eyes off him.
A flash of brilliant white teeth was her only response; he had never been very vocal.
They stared at each other for another few seconds until the man, who, from the looks of it, had been trying to stare Lily down, gave a short mirthless laugh as he finally stretched out a hand with a lazy grace.
"Was a time when you would have called me by my given name, Miss Evans," he drawled, his hand still outstretched.
Lily scowled and turned away, not even bothering to reply, pointedly ignoring the lean yet dangerous arm extended towards her.
James Potter watched the whole exchange, mystified.