Chapter Thirteen
A cool breeze drifted lazily through the grounds and Lily smiled as she joined the stream of students heading down to the Quidditch pitch, their black and gold or blue and bronze banners streaming in the summer sun. Some of the less organised supporters had raided their wardrobes and grabbed the scarves which had been shoved in there since winter and these fluttered through the air like twisting dragons, diving towards the ground as they waved their arms around. This was the final match of the year and the outcome would decide the winners of the year's Quidditch Cup – if Ravenclaw won then they would win overall, something that the Gryffindors among the supporters couldn't bear, but if Hufflepuff won – as James Potter had explained to them all over lunch – then Gryffindor would win. He was at the head of the group of Gryffindors with Peter and Lupin on either side of him, his spirits flying higher than the flags in the air; he bounced along the path, his hands constantly grabbing for the snitch which hovered just in front of him, constantly catching it and releasing it, always letting it fly a little further out of his reach; between each grab that he made for it his hands would tangle themselves restlessly in his hair, always watched by the eager eyes of the girls around him but he was completely unaware of this, as per usual; he was only interested in the jokes which his friends were cracking as they strolled down the path and towards the stands and whether a particular red head would be coming out that afternoon.
About a hundred metres behind him Lily was laughing at Cassie as she bounded down the steps with hair flying everywhere and a maniacal grin plastered on her face; even though it was a Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match Cassie was decked out in red and gold stripes all over her face and even Lily had eventually bowed to the pressure despite it feeling wrong to her. They climbed the stand quickly and made their way to the seats at the front which were, purely through tradition, reserved for members of the Quidditch team and their friends.
When he saw Lily sit down not far from him, just on the other side of Cassie, only a few people away, James grinned; however, before he had even managed to convince Remus, who was sitting beside Peter, to swap seats with him Cassie leant over and hissed, "Don't you even dare Potter. I want to enjoy this game without having to put up with you and Lily and your squabbles. Wait... where's Sirius?"
James smiled lazily and said, "Oh he's not coming, he managed to get himself detention a couple of days ago instead."
"Of course he did," she muttered.
"Won't you let me swap Jones?" he asked. "I promise I'll behave myself."
"No!" she cried. "I see enough of you the rest of the time, I can't handle any more." With that said she muttered in Remus' ear, entreating him not to listen to his friend and to provide the final barrier between James Potter and his target. With a little smile and another hurried whisper Remus agreed, chuckling as he whispered something to her under his breath. Not long after that the match began and the crowds erupted as the players began dashing about the pitch.
The players were transformed into blue and yellow blurs by their speed; as the Quaffle was flung from person to person James got more and more invested in the game, screaming along with the crowd whenever a pass was dropped or a particularly spectacular goal was saved – he was cheering at random, whenever anything interesting happened, but he was always fervently hoping for Hufflepuff to win so, when their lead increased by thirty points up to a comfortable difference of seventy between the two teams he felt himself grinning.
He was just staring into the distance and concentrating on not looking at Lily when he saw her lean forward in the corner of his eye before jumping up and shouting with glee, her coppery hair swinging in the air and bouncing around her shoulders as Cassie leapt on her and picked her up. Unconsciously mirroring her and everyone else in the stands he leapt to his feet and threw his arms up in the air. After a minute or two James tore his eyes away from her and turned to Remus. "What just happened?"
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The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)
Fanfiction(Companion piece to Dwelling on Dreams) James Potter has been Lily's enemy since the first day that they both started at Hogwarts. She has never been interested in his being his friend but, when they and their friends return for their fifth year at...
