Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Sixteen

"Lay off of James, Jake," she said, crossing her arms and standing up from her spot on the bench. "He's the captain and can make any decision he wants. You aren't the captain, Jake."

Jake scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Lily and cocking his head to the right, "You're twelve and don't know what you're talking about. Shut up, Lily."

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but someone had done it for her.

"What did you just say to her?"

Lily turned to see an irate James standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and his hair sticking out in every direction- a clear sign of James's distress.

"James," Jake said, holding up his hands in front of him. Lily knew Jake liked to talk big until someone showed up to knock him down a few pegs; as captain of the Quidditch team, James was usually that someone. "I didn't-"

"No, I'm pretty sure you did," James said, walking over to Jake slowly. Lily took a few steps back, not wanting to get between the two boys. "You can't talk to my little sister like that, Turner. I am not going to stand for it."

Jake cowered back, "James, you stop it. I didn't mean it."

"Apologize to her," James said, his voice demanding.

Though she tried to keep her face neutral, Lily couldn't help but smirk Jake's way and almost laughed at the hole he had dug himself into. James putting him in his place really served Jake right for storming into the locker room fuming with so much anger that he was willing to blowup at anyone.

"No," Jake said defiantly, pointing Lily's way. "She's all smug. Just look at her."

"Don't be proud, Jake. Just do it," Annie said, laying down on the bench.

"Apologize to my little sister," James said, getting so close to Jake that their noses nearly touched.

Lily felt like she knew where this situation was going to go, and she knew that she, a small second year, stood no chance at stopping a fight once it got going.

"No."

James lost it, shoving Jake backward into the bench where Annie lay. Lily jumped at his sudden bout of violence. Although she had expected it, Lily didn't want to see a second conflict.

"Hey!" Annie said, pushing Jake off of her and toward James.

With the push from Annie, Jake ran back at James, tackling him to the ground.

"Stop!" Lily yelled, not knowing what to do. She was so much smaller than the both of them, and he knew trying to pull them apart would prove useless.

"HEY!"

The loud voices belonged to Bobby Chasity, the other Beater, and Damien Hughes, the team's Keeper. The pair sprinted through the door, and within a moment, they had pulled Jake off of Jakes, each holding one of the fighters back. Blood ran out of the corner of James's mouth, and it looked like Jake had the makings of a black eye.

"What is going on in here?" Bobby asked, his voice loud yet calm. Lily knew that among the trio of James, Bobby, and Damien that Bobby was certainly the most logical and the voice of reason. After all, he was named a Gryffindor prefect.

"Nothing," James said, spitting the blood out of his mouth and onto the floor before pulling out of Bobby's hold. "Let's just get ready to go out and play the stupid Ravenclaws."

"Are we going to ignore this?" Bobby asked, pointing between the two. "How are we supposed to play when you two have just had a fight?"

"Your moral compass comes second to Quidditch, Bobby," Damien said, letting go of Jake.