As the Quidditch final, Gryffindor vs Slytherin approached, along with excitement, James felt a stab of regret, as it was his last Quidditch match. When the team was walking to the pitch, Lily ran over to them.
"Look—I found this in my trunk yesterday," she said eagerly, pointing to the red scarf around her neck.
James grinned. "I'll play specially well for that," he promised.
He kept his promise. True, he didn't play as well as he did in the 5th year final, but he still scored 20 goals, and Gryffindor won 210-190, the Slytherin Seeker having caught the Snitch.
Yelling hoarsely, the Gryffindor team descended on to the ground where they were instantly swarmed by supporters. Lily flew through the crowd and flung herself in James' arms.
"You did it! You did it!" shouted Remus, Peter, Alice and Mary all together.
When they were presented with the Cup, the team hoisted their captain on their shoulders.
"JAMES POTTER—THE BEST CAPTAIN EVER!"
"My last cup," said James sadly. But then he grinned. "5th cup, eh?"
"Not bad," agreed Sirius.
--------------------
With only half a month left for the NEWTs, Lily began to spend more and more time studying, much to James' chargin.
Professor Dumbledore called them to his office one day.
"You might have heard that 7th years are allowed to take part in a Leavers' Ball. As the head students of the school, I'll ask you two to organize it."
They took to the idea at once. On their way back to the common room, they were deep in conversation.
"We'll do it in the Great Hall, I suppose," said James. "And bring the food from Hogsmeade."
"We should hire a music band too," said Lily.
"What for?"
"Most sane people like music, James—I don't know about insane ones, though."
They decided to tell Dumbledore to bring in the food from some of the shops in Hogsmeade. When they reached the common room, Lily and James sat in a corner to write down the plan. Strangely enough, Lily allowed herself to miss studying for the evening.
James went up to his dorm to bring a new quill, and he stopped at the door, hearing slightly raised voices.
"—stop behaving like this, Padfoot, it's really unfair on James," said Remus.
"You would side with James, of course!" said Sirius.
"Why would I?" demanded Remus. "Give me one good reason why I should side with him and not you?"
"Because—because—" Apparently Sirius couldn't manage to think up an answer for this. "But Moony—James hardly ever stays with us now—he's always—"
"He splits his time!" Remus voice was sharp. "He is very often with us, too, during full moons...and wasn't he planning our last prank with you yesterday?"
"But earlier he always used to be with us. Now he is just obsessed with Lily!"
"You're being really selfish. You should be happy for him that he finally got Lily after so many years..."
"That's really—well..." Sirius' voice trailed off.
"Look, Padfoot," said Remus gently. "If this was how you were going to react, why did you try to get back at Lily through Marlene then? Weren't you upset when James got hurt?"
"Of course, but I didn't realize that they'll always be with each other!"
"Then what did you expect? They'll be a couple, and everything will be the same? They'll sit apart during lessons and meals and James will go to the Hogsmeade with us, and Lily with Alice and Marlene?"
Sirius was silent.
"Don't you remember Frank and Alice?" asked Remus.
"Oh...yeah..." said Sirius. "I—I reckon you're right, Moony..."
James didn't go into the dorm any more. He turned and returned to the common room with an increasingly sinking heart. Lily found James an unusually dull companion for the rest of the evening.
YOU ARE READING
The Ghosts of the Past (The Marauders' Story)
Fanfiction"We're friends. We're the Marauders. We stick together, remember?" "Yes, Moony. I remember." One of them was mischievous and brave and had the perfect life. Another of them was reckless and loyal and desperate to leave behind his family name. The th...
