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Chapter 7: Battle of the Potters
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That evening, the two trios went out to the Quidditch pitch for the battle of the Seekers. It was early evening, just before dinner. Ron and Harry brought their brooms out, and Ron borrowed his sister's broom, why Ron did bring both of them out, no one knew. Tailing behind them hovering in the air was the Quidditch trunk carrying the equipment for a Quidditch game. Once everyone was there, Ron laid out the rules.
"Ok. You'll have five chances to catch the Snitch before the other one does. I'll release the Snitch and the one to catch it first, gets a mark. The first one with three marks wins. Hermione will keep track of the score, and can you and Julia be beaters?" Julia grinned and took one of the bats Ron held out.
"Hell yeah, I'll do it. Always wanted to be a beater, but I don't have the skill for it, so I'm told."
"Will you be the other beater, Beth?" Ron said, emphasizing Lily's pseudonym.
"I don't really think it's fair to have both of Blake's mates up there as beaters. To make it fair, maybe Hermione or you should be the other one."
"Well, Hermione can't fly to save her life, so…"
"Gee, thanks Ron," Hermione said sarcastically.
"Well, you can't."
"I don't like flying, it's not that I can't."
"Ok, ok. So, I'll be the other beater then?"
"Ok. Hermione'll keep score and I'll release the Snitch, or vise-versa."
"Alright, it's settled. Players, mount your brooms." The four of them got onto their brooms and Lily released the Snitch, and then the beaters.
"Go!" The four took off; Harry and Blake both in search of the Snitch, while Julia and Ron swung the Bludgers towards their friends. After a few minutes, Harry caught the Snitch, and Hermione marked it on a piece of paper she conjured. Harry brought the Snitch down to his daughter and handed it to her. Harry and Blake landed and waited for Lily to let the Snitch go again. She let it go, and they were both off again.
"Blake's a good flyer," said Hermione.
"He takes after our dad. Our dad is a great flyer," Lily said, her eyes still on the skies.
"What's his name?" Lily looked down, and her eyes widened slightly.
"James. James Walker," she said after doing some quick thinking that saying the first name that came to mind. She had her back to her mother, so she didn't see Lily wince slightly at the use of the name.
"Really? How about your mother's name?" Again thinking quickly, Lily said,
"Isabelle." She breathed a silent sigh of relief that she didn't say Lily and give herself away. So she settled on a name of a girl that Remus had told her was her grandmother's best friend, but was killed by Voldemort (A/N: In case you want to read into that story, read my Lily/James fic, called To You I Belong, please review that story if you do) Hermione didn't recognize the name, so didn't press the issue too much, though she still didn't believe Lily was telling the truth. She was going to say something else, but Blake caught the Snitch. He brought it down to his sister, and again Harry and Blake landed on the ground and waited for Lily to release the Snitch again. Hermione made the tally on her piece of paper and watched as the two Seekers took off again.
"You know, I had another dream last night," Hermione said after a long silence.
"Really? Did anything become clearer?"
"I heard screams; and laughter as the bodies hit the ground. Do you think it's something to do with the future?" Lily shook her head.
"No, it might be with the past. Maybe you're seeing the death of someone that's already died."
"I wish I knew who, this is starting to bother me."
"Maybe it's a sign."
"What kind of sign?" Lily shrugged.
"Maybe…of who you're supposed to end up with?" She shrugged again.
"Why would two people dying be a sign of who I'm going to end up with?"
"I don't know, I'm just throwing stuff out here."
"If your theory is true, do you think it's some of Ron's relatives?"
"Do you really see yourself spending the rest of your life with Ron Weasley?"
"Not really."
"Who do you see yourself with?"
"I don't know. I remember before I started going out with Ron, always feeling jealous of the girls Harry went out with. I used to have a silly crush on him when I was younger, but I grew out of it when I went out with Ron."
"What's wrong with fancying Harry?"
"I'm one of his best friends. I always have been, always will be. I finally figured out there couldn't be anything more than that. People don't end up with their best friends."
"That's not true, lots of people do. My parents did, they went to school were friends, and fell in love and got married and had Blake and me, it happens. I would think that would be the best person to be married to, is your best friend. You already know everything about him or her. You're first date together would be like skipping the first like five dates with anyone else. You don't have to spend all that time getting to know each other." Hermione didn't say anything, just looked up at the sky at the Seeker that was her best friend.
"You still like him, don't you?" Hermione looked at Lily and shrugged.
"Maybe."
"If you still like him, then why did you go out with Ron?"
"He asked me out, Harry never did. We just thought it was expected of us. We bickered a lot, and everyone always thought it was "sexual tension." That it was because we loved each other." Lily laughed.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but fighting constantly is not true love. Or even sexual tension. Two people that fight constantly are not in love, they either hate each other or extremely annoyed with the other one."
"I know that, I never said I believed the people that said that."
"Seems like you did, you went out with him." Hermione glared at Lily, who was still smiling.
"Anyways," Hermione said, "Even if I still liked Harry, I'd never be able to go out with him, and that's part of the reason why I said yes to Ron when he asked me."
"Why wouldn't you be able to go out with Harry?"
"He's the bloody Boy Who Lived, and I'm just a plain muggle born."
"So? It's not like Harry is some pure blood bastard that can't stand muggle borns. I wouldn't just push the possibility of going out with Harry aside just yet. You never know what might happen."
"Yeah right." They were interrupted by Harry bringing the snitch down to Lily. Lily released it again, and they took off.
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Twenty minutes later, it came to a tie. Both Seekers caught the Snitch twice. On the last time Lily released the Snitch, Harry caught the Snitch within minutes. Ron gave a whoop and landed his broom clapping his friend on the back. Blake and Julia landed, and Lily said to him,
"Good game." Blake gave a half-hearted smile.
"I should've won. I've beaten him before."
"But he was thirty-six then, he's seventeen now. He's in his prime." Their conversation was stopped short when Harry came over and stuck his hand out.
"Good game, Blake. We're about the same in skill, you almost beat me." Blake smiled and shook his father's hand.
"The better man won, I mean, you're the Gryffindor Seeker, you should win."
"Are you sure you two don't want to tryout for team? You're pretty good."
"I can't play anything but Seeker, and obviously you have one already."
"We can always use a reserve Seeker in case something happens, God forbid, that Harry can't play. What about you, Julia, you're a pretty good Beater." Julia glanced at Lily and shook her head.
"I don't think so. Like I said, we're not going to be here that long. And my position is Keeper or Chaser."
"Well, we need a Chaser. If anything you can be a reserve."
"Reserve Keeper or Chaser?"
"I don't know, try out for it."
"Maybe I will," Julia said with a grin.
"How about you, Beth, you a Quidditch player?" Ron said. Lily laughed.
"Oh, no, I'm not. I leave the Quidditch playing to my brother. I'd rather just sit back and watch."
"Can you fly?"
"Oh yeah, I know how, I just don't really like to play Quidditch. I'd rather watch it."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure."
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Everyone went back to the common room after tryouts, and Ginny ended up being the new Chaser, the temporary Beaters became permanent ones, and Julia was listed as reserve Keeper, and Blake was a reserve Seeker. After the tryouts were finished Lily, Julia, and Blake began making plans. Lily and Julia did most of the planning, but finally, a week later, they were ready to start their matchmaking.
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A/n: Here's a short chapter, I know, but I had to put in the battle of the Seekers somewhere, as I started writing the next chapter, and forgot about it. Hope you enjoyed it, please review!!!
Husker-fan-2006
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