It was not for nothing that Sirius had won his reputation as a ladies man. He had long since learned to recognize when a girl was interested in a bloke, and he had been correct in yesterday's post-dinner assessment of Leslie Olcott's intentions towards his best mate. Leslie most certainly did have designs upon James and had for months now. Although at the end of last term, she had begun to despair of ever getting him to notice her, last night's conversation had been just the encouragement she needed, for Leslie had discovered a bit of common ground between them. She had only been pretending the night before when she had acted like a Catapults fan. In reality, she had grown up supporting Pride of Portree. In fact, her oldest brother currently played for Portree. He was, of course, merely on their reserves list, but Leslie did not made a habit of emphasizing this fact when she talked about him.
And talk about him she did. Over the next two weeks, Leslie began to turn up more frequently at James' side, wanting to share news from her brother or discuss some other aspect of the sport with which they were both obsessed. For his part, James soon found that he enjoyed these conversations. Usually, he only had Sirius to get into deep, complex Quidditch discussions with. Discussing the sport with Leslie was a novel experience, and though he could not endorse her choice of favorite team, he did enjoy the good-natured debates they held over which was truly the stronger, better Quidditch dynasty. As James and Leslie began building a friendship, his best mates watched in varying degrees of amusement and enthusiasm. Remus was the least happy about this development, as part of him still thought that Lily would make an ideal partner for James. Peter was still in awe of Leslie's rather flamboyantly pretty looks and thought Prongs had all the luck. In Sirius' opinion, Leslie Olcott was exactly the sort of rebound girl that James needed to himself over that Evans chit once and for all.
The only person in James' circle of friends who was not happy about his budding friendship with the Hufflepuff girl was Lily. It infuriated her to no end that Leslie always seemed to turn up and distract James from whatever conversation they had been enjoying. She couldn't understand why he was so willing to listen to the blonde prattle on and on about her supposedly famous brother. Didn't he have Sirius to talk Quidditch with? Why did he suddenly have to find a new fellow enthusiast in the person of an extremely giggly and busty blonde? The Gryffindor Common Room became something of a safe haven in her mind, as she knew that Leslie could not infiltrate it. Her blonde rival had begun to turn up around seemingly every corner in the castle corridors; she had even occasionally sat with James at meal times.
But even the common room, Lily was finding, was not such a safe haven, for there James seemed to prefer his mates' company to hers. Plan Get-a-Date-With-Potter was not going as well as she first thought it would. She was beginning to fear that James had lost interest in her and, worse, that he was now becoming interested in Leslie Olcott. So, the Get-a-Date plan had morphed into the Win-Back-James'-Affections plan. Lily Evans was a particularly stubborn young woman. If Leslie Olcott thought she could steal James away easily, then she had another thought coming.
The one bright spot in Lily's weekly schedule was Potions class. Since the beginning of the term, they had been brewing a different potion nearly every class period, which meant that she and James had renewed their partnership that had begun back in October with the Veritaserum exercise. The fact that they were brewing so many potions in preparation for their N.E.W.T. meant that, three times a week, Lily was able to spend a full ninety-minutes in close proximity to her crush. In accordance with her Win-Back-James'-Affections plan, she took advantage of this proximity at every opportunity, finding ways to brush "accidentally" against his arm while chopping ingredients or to lean dangerously close to him over his shoulder "so that she could read the instructions better."
Unfortunately, these little bouts of flirtation were not having their intended effect on the Head Boy, who privately considered all of this flirting to be some cruel twist of fate. It was just his luck that he should spend nearly all of last term trying to win her over, only to be told once and for all that she would never have him. And then, as if to add insult to injury, Lily seemed to have decided to continue a flirtation with him, despite her refusal to date him. James was finding it very difficult to hold to his New Year's resolution when Lily insisted on flirting so outrageously with him. Sometimes it seemed that the more determined he was to ignore her attempts at flirtation, the harder she tried to get him to respond. If he did not know better, he would have attributed this to mere spitefulness. As it was, he was merely confused.
Potions class today had been particularly difficult. He had been distracted the entire time by his early discovery that she had decided to wear perfume today and had spent the class period trying to resist the powerful allure of the light, floral scent. Then, at the end of class, Lily had actually laid her hand on top of his when they had both reached for their ladle. She claimed it had been accidental, but the fact that she had left her hand there a full three seconds made James doubt the veracity of her claim. Whatever her intentions had been, her action had left James flustered and hopelessly confused. So much so that, as they walked down the crowded corridor together on their way back from the dungeons, he could not think of a single thing to say. When she finally broke the silence, he thanked his lucky stars that she had found something to talk about.
"You know, I really do think he's warming up to you," she said. "I swear he smiled at you twice today."
"Huh? Oh, Slughorn," he said, looking down at her. "Yeah. Guess I have you to thank. So.. thanks."
Lily smiled brightly back at him and responded warmly, "Anything for you."
James' brows contracted slightly. He was, once again, at a loss for words.
Lest they descend into silence again, Lily quickly spoke up, "I was wondering.. d'you think we could work on that Transfiguration essay together? IthinkI get the concept, but my grasp on it is kind of shaky."
"Oh, yeah, sure," he answered. "I've got training until seven, though."
Undeterred, she suggested, "We can work on it after dinner, if that's easier for you."
"Yeah that'll probably be fine," James said, wondering why he was turning out to be such a masochist that he would willingly sign himself up for another several hours at her side.
Lily, on the other hand, found she could not stop smiling, now that she had ensured that she would be able to spend practically the entire evening with James. Before she could say anything further, one of the Gryffindor sixth year girls that they had just passed in the corridor stepped forward.
"Hey, James," she said, "I just wanted to tell you that I am so, so sorry about your mother." Reaching forward, she enveloped him in a brief hug and added, "Let me know if you need to talk about it."
He returned the hug and said quietly, "Thanks, Emily."
"My mum died before I got to Hogwarts in first year," Emily, explained. "I know you you feel." She hugged him once more, then turned to rejoin her friends. "I'll see you around."
Lily, who had stopped dead in her tracks when the brunette had first mentioned James' mum, was now watching him with wide eyes. Suddenly, his odd behavior over the past couple of weeks made perfect sense.
"James?" she asked in a small voice, "Is that.. you mean your mum.." She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
He looked over at her, his lips pursed slightly for a moment, and answered simply, "Yeah."
Finding that her eyes were prickling and her throat felt tight, she continued, "And.. it happened.. over Christmas?"
"Yeah," was all he could manage to say for a moment. After a pause, he added, "Something was wrong, and we didn't realize it. She was out in her greenhouse."
Lily leaned against the wall behind her, listening to him intently as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that the smiling woman who had made such a vivid, if brief, impression on her, was no longer alive.
"Oh.. what happened?" she asked, then added quickly, "You don't have to tell me, if it's hard to talk about still."
"Well, I don't know what happened," James answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders. He felt rather awkward about having this discussion in the middle of the hallway, especially since it was a topic he did not relish discussing with anyone. "Something's been a bit off this entire term. She kept calling me by the wrong name, and misspelling things in her letters. I guess she was sick or something. I don't know. She is-was-an herbalist, you know."
Lily offered him an encouraging little smile and said, "Yeah. I remember you telling me that."
"Can we walk, still?" he asked, gesturing towards the hallway.
"What? Oh. Yeah sure," she answered, falling into step beside him again.
James took a breath and then continued, "I found her in the greenhouse."
Lily clapped both hands over her mouth and stared up at him with wide, filmy green eyes, "OhJames.." She could not even begin to imagine what a terrible experience that must have been for him.
But he simply shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "It would have happened eventually. She and my Da are both old," he said. "Just didn't expect it, that's all."
"Still, that's terrible. And over Christmas," she said.
"Yeah. I guess," he commented vaguely, wishing very much that they would not have to continue discussing this. The reason he hadn't told Lily in the first place was that he knew some girls liked to spend hours rehashing memories and discussing their feelings. While James' feelings concerning his mother's death were certainly very deep, he was not the sort to dwell on unpleasant feelings forever, much less discuss them endlessly with his friends.
"Is your Da all right?" Lily asked.
"I dunno," he responded, and fell into silence once more, wondering if he or his Da were ever going to be all right.
Lily turned her head to study him closely, debating whether or not she was brave enough to hug him just like Emily had earlier. In the end, her compassion for his obvious, if-unspoken, sorrow overcame her hesitation to cross a boundary that may or may not exist between them. Stepping closer to him, she reached up to slip an arm around his shoulders (or as close to his shoulders as she could reach) and gave him a brief side hug.
"I'm sorry, James," she said simply, unsure what else to say to comfort him.
He was quiet for several long moments, fighting the twin sensations of comfort and agony that her embrace wrought upon him. How he wished he could simply throw his arms around her and hold her close! But he knew any advances of this sort would not go over well, so he forced his arms to remain at his sides and merely replied, "Thanks."
Lily dropped her arm rather reluctantly back to her side, having found that she enjoyed the closeness caused by having it placed around James' shoulders.
"If there's anything I can do, ever, just let me know," she said, smiling up at him with gentle, jade green eyes.
This time, James managed to return her smile. "All right. Thanks, Evans," he said, nodding towards the left-hand corridor they had just reached. "I'm headed this way. I'll see you."
Her face fell ever-so-slightly as she wished, again, that he would go back to calling her "Lily" all the time. "Oh.. okay," she responded, "You're not going to lunch?"
He shook his head.
"I'm not hungry at the moment. Going to meet with my mates."
"Okay," she said and began to turn away when she remembered something she had wanted to ask him. "Hey, are you going to watch the Quidditch match tomorrow?"
"Gotta size up the competition, right?" he answered.
"Exactly!" Lily agreed, then flashed him an alluring smile and requested, "Save me a seat?"
He nodded and answered, "If you want."
A bright smile blossomed once more on her lips as she said, "Excellent. Well I'm off to lunch. See you later!"
"See you," James called after her, shoving his hands in his pockets again. Then he headed off down the corridor to meet Sirius and the lads, feeling oddly lighter than he had in days.
The next morning, Lily awoke feeling particularly excited about the upcoming Quidditch match. Neither Mary nor Marlene cared to watch a match if Gryffindor was not playing, so they were still in bed. Normally, Lily would have slept late right along with them, but she had a vested interest in watching this match. If Leslie Olcott could ingratiate herself with James by becoming his new little Quidditch buddy, then Lily could too. Plus, watching the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw match meant at least an hour spent at James' side, sitting in as close proximity to him as polite society would allow. For the stands, of course, had benches and not individual seats. If Lily had her way, by the end of the match, James would have forgotten all about Leslie Olcott.
And so, after a hurried breakfast and an extra ten minutes spent primping in front of the mirror, Lily arrived at the foot of the stands just ten minutes before the match was set to begin, wearing a navy blue sweater to show her support for Ravenclaw. Peering upwards and shading her eyes with her hand, she searched the crowd for James and finally spotted him halfway up the stands. Grinning in anticipation, she climbed the nearest staircase until she reached his row.
"Thanks again for saving a seat for me," she said, beaming happily at him as she plopped into the space on the bench beside him.
James smiled at her. "Sure thing, kid," he said smoothly, turning toward the pitch and wondering how on earth he was supposed to concentrate on the match when there was someone like Lily Evans in very close proximity. He had, in fact, been saving that seat for Sirius, as he had not taken her seriously the previous day when she asked him to.
"So! Who are you rooting for today?" Lily asked in a chipper voice, looking eagerly at him as he sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, anticipation written all over him.
"Gryffindor," he responded immediately, grinning.
Lily giggled. "You're in the stands instead of on a broom, and yet you're rooting for Gryffindor to win?"
"At least I'm consistent," James replied, and it wasn't until the words were out of his mouth that he realized the tinge of bitterness that colored them. "I've got to look out for our best interests, Evans," he said, trying to buoy his tone.
Lily's brow furrowed. "How come I'm back to being 'Evans' again?" He had been doing this for the past two weeks-this calling her 'Evans' despite the fact they were on first-name basis-and she had had just about enough of it.
"Hm?" asked James. "Oh, I didn't notice I was doing it." This, of course, was a downright lie. James had been fully aware that he'd been addressing the girl by her surname, but he had his reasons. It would be easier for him to distance himself from the girl if he mentally made a distinction of her being out of reach.
"Oh.. well.. you have" Lily supplied lamely, feeling stupid.
James nudged her. "I'll make sure I avoid it in the future,Lily," he said, hoisting a smile onto his face.
Lily giggled again, nervously. "I appreciate it,James," she said, leaning into him more than was necessary.
James blinked, and then jumped as someone gave a sharp tug on the back of his sweater.
"Oi, Potter!" cried the cheerfully disgruntled voice of Sirius Black. "Thought you were saving me a seat!"
"Whoops! Sorry, Black," Lily said, throwing a gleaming glance at James, who shifted somewhat uncomfortably, gritting his teeth in a sort of apologetic grin when he looked at his friend.
Perhaps fortunately, Lily missed this look. "You seem to be in high demand today, Mr. Potter." She flashed her white, even teeth, and turned back to Sirius, not seeing the other boys that so often followed. "Are the others coming, too?" She rather hoped James would not ask that she move. On a day like this, with such a golden opportunity to make progress in this relationship, she would be hard-pressed to forfeit her seat.
"Remus is ill and Peter's over there," Sirius explained, pointing.
James checked his watch, certain the match would be sure to start any moment, and determined to avoid whatever disgusted look Sirius might throw his way. He had given up after all, and had asked his mates to hold him accountable to his decision. And yet, as his face flushed with the chagrin he hoped was interpreted as excitement, he couldn't stomach the idea of ignoring her. He'd get hell from Sirius later, that was for sure. But for now, he would sit at a polite distance and watch the match. He couldn't be faulted for that, of course.
As if on cue, the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams trooped out onto the pitch to a storm of applause. The level of excitement, though already high, spiked as the teams moved into formation. Within moments, the whistle blew and the teams soared into the air. One of Ravenclaw chasers snatched it out of the air, and the action was on. The crowd cheered like a many-headed entity as the Quaffle quickly changed possession.
"Hah!" cried Sirius as the Hufflepuff chaser threw the Quaffle at the goal hoop. "Did you see that block? Good on you, Fredericks!"
Having only just truly begun paying attention to the game, Lily could not identify any of the fast-moving blurs on the field. But she was determined to try, and to not be left out of the conversation this time.
"Oh, hell!" shouted Sirius. "Look! The snitch!" he pointed toward a golden glimmer near the center line.
James groaned. "It can't be over this quickly!"
"That would be some sort of record, wouldn't it?"Lily asked. "A three minute match?"
Sirius leaned down between James and Lily. "Nah, that's a League record. And it's gone now, anyway."
Ravenclaw scored, and Sirius leapt to his feet, clapping loudly. James followed suit.
Lily raised her eyebrows. She hadn't ever seen the other boys cheer for anyone other than their own house. "Ravenclaw?" she asked of the pair of them.
Sirius grinned. "I'm kind of seeing Sarah MacElroy, at the moment. She'd be a bit put out with me if I didn't." He was referring to the Ravenclaw chaser who had managed to score. She was a tall girl with thick, shiny hair and a sharp jaw line, and the only girl on the team.
Lily turned to look back at the pitch, searching for the girl. "Oho!Reallynow? Since when?"
Sirius winked. "Yesterday morning," he replied, and James laughed before turning eagerly back to the match.
Lily rolled her eyes, and once more leaned over to James, brushing her hair back from her face with her fingers. "And how long do we expect this one to last?" she asked, eyes shining.
James looked down at his wristwatch. "Eh, at least eight minutes more," he said, and was immediately shoved from behind by a laughing Sirius.
"Can't really blame you though, Sirius," Lily said, laughing along. "I imagine it would be quite exciting to date a Quidditch player," she cast a glance at James as she said it, hoping to catch his eye and somehow convey her meaning to him without having to spell it out. No such luck. "Though, really, couldn't you have picked a Gryffindor?"
James was about to add something, but leapt to his feet, cheering as Ravenclaw scored yet another goal.
Sirius waved his hand. "All this house loyalty. Jealous, are you, Red?"
"Of who? MacElroy?" Lily snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Hardly." She turned around as James bumped into her in his celebratory exuberance.
"Did yousee that?" he shouted gleefully to Lily as Sirius whooped behind them. "Did you see it? Merlin, we're going to have to playhardto beatthatkind of strategy."
Lily smiled warmly. "I'm not worried. We have the best three Chasers in the school playing for us," she explained. As an afterthought, she added , "And some damn good Beaters."
"Cheers, Evans." James said, sitting back down as Hufflepuff took possession of the Quaffle and began their assault on the Ravenclaw goalposts. -sits back down, laening forward on the bench to watch more easily. He leaned forward on the bench to watch the match more easily. His own words seemed to echo in his head, and he corrected himself; "I mean, Lily."
"You're welcome," Lily replied with a brilliant smile.
Lily leaned forward alongside James and propped her chin up on one hand as she turned to look at him. "So is this sort of reconnaissance for you? Finding out how your next opponent plays and all that?"
James looked back at her, distracted once more by the pretty redhead from his favorite game. "Yeah, I guess you could call it that," he said, ignoring the inexplicably warm and quivery feeling in his stomach. He swallowed hard.
"Maybe you ought to take notes, then," Lily teased, turning to him at the same moment he angled himself toward her. Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, the pair of them found themselves nearly nose-to-nose, were it not for the seven or so inches that separated them. James would have perhaps stayed there indefinitely had he not received a sharp nudge in his lower back from Sirius.
"Yeah, probably a good idea," James agreed quickly. He found himself wishing for a moment that his best mate was not present at the match.
Lily became distracted momentarily as both seekers began diving toward the ground.
"Ohno!" she cried. "It can't be over this quickly!"
James leapt to his feet, joining with the rest of the crowd in the wordless roar of anticipation.
The seekers cut through the air with practiced agility, the Hufflepuff seeker slightly ahead of the Ravenclaw, but only by an arm's length. Adrenalin flooded the bodies of the crowd, and then the sight of the snitch as the two seekers collided. They pulled out of the dive, looking a bit shell-shocked. The announcer declared that neither had come away with the snitch, and the crowd groaned.
"Aww, I thought he had it," James groaned.
Sirius reached forward to mess up James' hair. "Yes, well, the longer this goes on, the longer I dont have to write my Transfiguration essay," he said, a wry tone coloring his voice.
"Hear, hear!" Lily agreed.
However, the Hufflepuff chasers were making up for the work their seeker was not managing to accomplish, having scored five quick goals in as many minutes.
James grinned, and Lily broke away from nearly swooning to glance back at the pitch. She was in time to see a Ravenclaw beater collide with Hufflepuff's seeker. "Oi!" she yelled in indignation. "That's not allowed, you dolt!"
James shook his head, disgusted. "They're playing like morons!"
Lily sighed. "Here comes the penalty."
The Hufflepuff chaser lined up to take the penalty while the crowd drew an anxious breath. Jeers came from the dark blue-clad supporters. Lily turned to James and hid her face in his shoulder.
"I don't want to watch!" she cried, looping her hands around his upper arm.
James tensed slightly at the unexpected touch, but could not help but lean slightly into her as well. "It's a penalty, Lily, that's all." His voice cracked on the last word, and his face flushed with nervousness. "Look, come on." He said, clearing his throat and pointing toward the pitch.
Lily, for her part, was desperately trying to think of a reason not to move, due to the addictive and rather heady scent of whatever cologne or aftershave James was currently wearing.
She waved her hand. "It's still just a cheap shot!" she exclaimed, clinging more tightly. "Tell me when it's over." She was quite sure she could watch the entirety of the match from the comfort of James' arms.
James bit his lip, not really wanting her to get off of him, yet at the same time wishing she would leave him alone.
The Hufflepuff chaser managed to sink the penalty, shooting the Quaffle straight through the outstretched hands of the Ravenclaw keeper.
James clapped and Lily could feel the muscles in his upper arm flexing. "Good on you, mate!" he said, grinning. "It's all right, Lily, come on, now." He looked down at her, trying not to smile too brightly.
Lily raised her head to peer up at him. "He made the shot, didn't he?"
"Er.. yes. Yes he did." James replied, momentarily losing his focus when met by the closeness of her face.
Lily sighed, detaching herself from his arm. "Well, Ravenclaw'd better get their heads in the game," she said resignedly.
"Providing you're going for Ravenclaw, that is," James qualified.
Lily whipped her head around to stare at him suspiciously, one eyebrow raised. "And you're not?" she asked sharply. She was more put out about this than she really should have been, but she had a sneaking suspicion that this was somehow linked to that blonde and busty Hufflepuff girl.
"I'm going for an easy opponent, whoever that ends up being," James said evasively. "I've got the League scouting the final, you know."
Lily's brow remained raised. "Wouldn't it make you look even better if you played a tough opponent and still managed to smash them?"
James laughed. "Perhaps, I dunno." After a moment's pause, he leaned over to Lily while maintaining his watch on the pitch; "You know Leslie Olcott? Her step-brother is a reserve Keeper for Pride of Portree."
"Really?" Lily asked, in an entirely bored tone. She did not, in fact, want to hear a word about Leslie Olcott, especially not from James.
James nodded. "Yeah, she said she'd introduce me at Easter." He turned away from the pitch to smile at her. "Could be cool, right?"
"At Easter? Why're you-" Lily paused, trying to think of a way to rephrase her query in a nonchalant manner. "What, are you.. visiting her or something?" Her pulse quickened, her heart pounding in fear.
James shrugged. "I think he's coming to visit her in Hogsmeade, or something."
"Oh," said Lily, relief flooding her.
After a brief pause, Lily found she could no longer contain her curiosity. " SoÉ you'n Olcott are getting to be pretty good friends, eh?" She tried to keep her tone light, as if the question was of little importance.
James shrugged, eyes on the pitch. "I guess. She's pretty cool."
Sirius, by this point, was content with hurling colorful insults at the Hufflepuff team.
Lily's head began to reel, and she found herself wondering how she could change the topic. She found herself suddenly and irrationally hating Leslie Olcott with most, if not all, of her being.
"Well that's nice..." she managed.
James didn't hear her. The Hufflepuff chasers whipped past their section of the stands. They met near the center of the pitch and began flying in formation toward the goalposts.
Lily clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Her hands crept up to cover her eyes.
The Hufflepuff chaser threw and scored. The crowd was roaring, on their feet and stamping.
James reached over to tug Lily's hands away from her face, and Lily flinched from the electrostatic shock of his hand touching hers. James withdrew his own hands as he felt her tense, a now-familiar flush creeping up his neck and into his cheeks.
Lily looked immediately over at him, wondering if, for the first time in weeks, James might actually be flirting back.
"Watch, come on!" he encouraged. "You're missing out."
Lily glanced at the pitch, where the Hufflepuff Chaser was currently in the middle of a victory lap. "I'm perfectly fine with missing out on watching Ravenclaw get their arses kicked, thanks."
James shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Lily had, of course, been exaggerating. She actually did want to watch the match, and her attention soon returned to the goings-on on the pitch.The twosome lapsed into silence, and James allowed himself to be sucked back into the match, only extricating himself long enough to turn around and speak to Sirius, with whom conversing was somehow much easier.
Thirty minutes later, and after Ravenclaw managed to sink some incredible goals, the score was 210-80, in favor of Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff had grown arrogant, according to James' commentary, and were now paying dearly for it.
Sarah MacElroy flew toward the Hufflepuff posts, Quaffle held securely under her arm. Sirius leapt to his feet, clapping and cheering loudly as Sarah scored.
Lily joined him on her feet, clapping as well. The way she figured it, a goal for Ravenclaw was a strike against Leslie Olcott. She was distracted from the excitement of cheering on MacElroy as she noticed, out the corner of her eye, the Hufflepuff Seeker beginning to zoom towards the opposite end of the stands, the Ravenclaw seeker following close behind.
She reached out and grabbed James' forearm, directing his attention to the other side of the pitch from the goal being scored. "Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no, noooo!" she wailed.
James whipped around to look toward where Lily was pointing him. "Go! Go, go!" he exclaimed, instantly attuned to the action and entirely exhilarated.
Lily, still gripping his arm tightly, buried her face in his shoulder again, moaning "I don't want to see. Just tell me when it's over."
Unthinking, James put his arm around her shoulders.
Behind them, Sirius glanced down at them, breaking from his cheers as he beheld the sight above them. Confusion and a good bit of indignation sparked within him. What was James doing? And, more importantly, what was Evans playing at?
It struck Lily suddenly that Ravenclaw losing would be totally worth it, if being in James' arms was the end result. She nestled a bit closer to James, waiting to hear the announcer proclaim Hufflepuff as the winner and breathing deeply the scent of him.
James let go of Lily and jumps to his feet as Hufflepuff Seeker's hands close around the snitch, and began clapping hard, a broad grin spreading his features.
From James' other side, Sirius groaned in dismay. Lily leaned around and offered him a wry smile.
"Oh well. At least they lost to Gryffindor already," she said.
"Yeah," he responded, hopping to his feet. "I'll head off and comfort my grieving ladyfriend." With a nudge to James, he added, "Catch you later, all right?"
James turned from watching Hufflepuff's victory lap and said, "See you, mate."
"Bye Sirius!" Lily said, waving him farewell. Then she turned her attention to James, completely missing the odd look that Sirius gave her as he headed off.
"So what do you think of our chances for next game?" she asked. "We're playing Ravenclaw next, right?"
He nodded.
"Yeah, and it'll be agoodmatch. I'm going to have to train themessout of our Keeper."
"You'd better," she said, flashing him a teasing smirk. She was about to ask if he wanted to accompany her back to the common room when a very unwelcome voice interrupted them.
"James!" Leslie Olcott called out as she walked down their row of benches from the Hufflepuff side of the stands. "What'd you think?"
Lily did her best to hide her scowl at Leslie's arrival, cursing the cruelty of fate. This was exactly the sort of situation she had wanted to avoid.
Meanwhile, James grinned at Lily, but was distracted from responding by Leslie's voice. Turning around, he said, "Leslie! Hey, that wasexcellent. I didn't figure Hufflepuff could recover from the point deficit."
Leslie beamed at him.
"I was talking to our captain, Thomas Crowe, and he said they totally reorganized the team after Gryffindor's first match. Whatever training regimen you use, itworks."
Lily resisted the urge to vomit as she watched Leslie flutter her lashes at James and slather him with compliments, but he merely laughed and said, "You're sweet."
"And what about MacElroy?" Leslie continued. "She feints like no other Chaser I have ever seen, and I've seen loads of League matches, you know. My brother is a reserve Keeper on Pride, and we get free ticketsallthe time. You should come sometime."
As Leslie mentioned the possibility of James accompanying her somewhere outside of school, Lily felt the blood freeze in her veins. Quickly, she interjected, in attempt to change the subject, "I wouldn't worry too much about Ravenclaw, James. They lost to Hufflepuff, whowe'vealready beaten."
Leslie, who had only had eyes for James, now noticed Lily Evans standing on his other side. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she looked at her rival, then she noticed the color of the sweater the redhead was wearing and her expression morphed into a sneering little smile. In response, Lily lifted her chin haughtily and was suddenly seized with the violent urge to toss Leslie off the edge of the stands and send her crashing onto the pitch two stories below them.
Oblivious to the bout of female politics taking place beside him, James turned his back to the pitch and leaned against the railing so that he could face both girls at the same time.
"It'll all play out," he said, shrugging. "Teams have come back from losses to win the House Cup dozens of times. It's all about the points margin."
"Yeah and didn't we beat Hufflepuff by like a hundred point margin?" Lily asked. "They only beat Ravenclaw by ten."
He shrugged again and answered, "Nothing is for certain until the final."
Happy to have distracted his attention, once again, from Leslie, Lily smiled sweetly at James and teased, "C'mon, Captain. Where's your trademark optimism?"
"Must have left it in myotherrobes," he responded, flashing her a crooked smile.
Leslie, of course, refused to be shut out of the conversation.
"Though I ought not root against my own house, Iknowyou'll win this year, for sure," she told James, reaching up and tousling his hair. "And, you know.... Caleb Smith is retiring from the Pride this year... There's going to be a Chaser's spot to fill. I could have Henry put in a good word for you."
James was silent for a moment, struck by the image of himself as a professional Quidditch player. He had never been a Pride supporter, but still...
"Could you?" he asked, a wide grin spread across his lips. "Wow."
"I thought you wanted to play for the Catapults," Lily said disgruntledly. She had not missed the way Leslie had so casually touched James' hair. How on earth had the smarmy bint managed to get those sort of privileges with him?
"Well, yeah. But any place in the League is kind of incredible..," James responded.
"Who's to say they won't want to recruit you? Set your sights high!" Lily urged him, more out of a desire not to have him associated with Olcott's team than a true wish to see him playing for his favorite team.
James laughed.
"Okay, okay. You're sounding like my mother," he said, without thinking. As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized to whom he had just referred. He blinked as he felt his heart clench painfully in his chest, but recovered.
Lily, who had not missed the blink, smiled reassuringly at him and said, "That's quite a compliment." After a brief pause, she added, "Well.. I'm headed back to the common room. You coming?"
Before James could answer, Leslie hastened to say, "Oh, that reminds me. James, have you got a spare thirty minutes or so? I wanted to hear what you thought about the Wales national team's chances in next year's Cup."
He raised his eyebrows at her. Having been born in Wales, he had a special love for their national team. "Oh, definitely," he said. Glancing at Lily, he smiled and told her, "I'll see you around, Evans. Thanks for sitting with me."
Lily, who had been contemplating again the feasibility of flinging that sneaky Hufflepuff bint over the edge of the stands, forced herself to smile brightly at James and said, "Always happy to keep you company. I'll er.. see you later then."
It was fortunate that the stands were mostly empty by now, because Lily had just realized that her eyes were prickling with tears. Turning her back on James and Leslie, she began descending the stairs as quickly as she could, anxious to find a private spot in the safety of the castle where she could have a good cry. Though she had begun the day (and the term, really) with such high hopes, they were now near to being dashed to pieces. Clearly, James preferred Leslie Olcott's company to hers, and Lily was at a loss for how to compete with a girl who could flaunt both her Quidditch knowledge and ample cleavage as easily as Olcott could. A great, hiccoughing sob rose in her throat as she imagined James and Leslie still laughing and chatting away in the stands. Feeling her eyes begin to sting, Lily darted into the first empty classroom she could find. There she flung herself into a desk and buried her face in her arms as she dissolved into angry, despairing tears.