You Can't See That I'm The One

A month later, Lily was sitting in the Quidditch stands, waiting for practice to end. James had a new beau, a Hufflepuff by the name of Cristina Chang, who was a few seats away from Lily. It was obvious that she thought she was the luckiest girl in the world; she was dating the (sometimes in)famous James Potter, after all.

After Cristina gasped dramatically when James pulled out of a dive for the ninth time, Lily had had enough. She stood up and left the stands, walking to the edge of the field to wait for Sirius. She leaned against one of the tall lamp posts, barely able to see the players, a faint and fond smile on her face.

About ten minutes later, practice ended and the seven players landed. James darted straight to the locker room as Sirius walked toward Lily, a coy smile on his face. Lily could hardly figure out what was happening when the next thing she knew, Sirius wrapped his arms around her, pressing his sweaty body against hers. She squealed and laughed. "Ewww! Get away from me! You're all sweaty!"

He laughed in response. "Oh! I see how it really is. In all seriousness, though, do you think that we stand a chance against Slytherin next Saturday? I hate my family."

Lily squeezed his hand and nodded. "Absolutely You'll score loads on Bellatrix and there is no way that Lucius will find that snitch before James."

Sirius grinned and kissed Lily on the cheek. "See? This is why I love you."

Lily giggled. "Go shower. I'll wait for you."

Sirius kissed her again and ran into the locker room just as James was leaving. He walked to Lily and smiled, awkwardly. "Hi."

She smiled, politely, still not completely forgiving him. "Hey."

"I'm sorry I've been such a jerk." James hugged Lily gently and sighed softly at the panging in his heart. "How are you?"

Lily hugged him back, surprised. "I'm fine. How are you?"

He smiled a genuine smile. "Classes suck. You know I'm happiest on a broomstick."

Lily smiled. "You guys look really good. It's gonna be one hell of a game."

James loved that Lily actually followed Quidditch and not just the players. "Yeah, it'll be pretty intense."

"James! Sorry it took so long! Heights and I do not get along." Cristina had finally reached the ground and was running to James.

He kind of flinched and grinned at Lily. "I'll talk to you later, Lily."

She smiled. "Bye, James."

Lily watched James run to Cristina and kiss her quiet. Lily had to look away, a part of her extremely uncomfortable watching them together.

~*~

The following Saturday's match was incredible. It was quite apparent that Slytherin wanted to defeat Gryffindor desperately. It resulted in Slytherin obviously cheating and Juliana almost falling off of her broomstick from two hundred feet in the air.

It was a tie game, 310 to 310, when James went diving towards the ground. Lucius shot after James, assuming he had spotted the snitch, at a breakneck speed. James was about a foot away from the ground when he pulled out of the dive and shot up toward the actual snitch. Lucius was unable to level off as quickly and hit the ground hard. The Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws laughed and cheered loudly for James as Lucius rose and stumbled back onto his broomstick (sporting a bloody nose and a mud-covered face), but it was too late.

James had already caught the snitch. Three quarters of the crowd erupted in loud cheers and Lily screamed as she ran down the stands to meet Sirius at the edge of the field. James was the first person from the Gryffindor team off of the field, and (much to her surprise) ran right past Cristina to Lily. He picked her up and spun her around, screaming. "Lily! Lily! That was amazing! Did you see that Wronski Feint? Did you hear the sound he made when he hit the ground?"

Lily laughed as he spun her around. She had never seen him this happy. He looked great. He was sweaty and looked a little tired, but his eyes were twinkling with mirth and pride and his cheeks were flushed. She smiled as he spun her around again. "That really was amazing, James."

Her eyes crinkled in confusion when he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. James felt elated. He had just won the first Quidditch match and he was finally with Lily Evans...who wasn't responding to his kiss...

Wait...

It dawned on him as Lily managed to push him away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa...! James?"

James seemed to panic and put her down so fast it was like she burned him. He stepped away from her and looked around, paranoid. "Um...er...uh...I'm so sorry."

Lily cleared her throat. "So, I'll see you in the common room, then?"

James nodded. "All right." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Please don't tell anyone, especially Sirius."

Lily nodded. "It will stay with me. In fact, tell Sirius what? Nothing happened except a hug."

James smiled. "I owe you one."

"Owe Lily for what?"

They turned around to find Sirius leaving the locker room, his hair drenched. James simply shrugged and Lily hugged Sirius. "Hi, dear. It's nothing, just me keeping quiet about how James got away with playing a bit dirty this game."

James flushed, sure that no one had seen that. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" He turned to Sirius. "Your girlfriend sucks at keeping quiet. Some friend she'll make."

Lily blew a raspberry and Sirius smiled. "I'm just glad you two are trying to be friends. It's so frustrating that you two hate one another. So, Lily, wanna come with me to the kitchens to fetch food for the celebratory party?"

She glanced at James and nodded. "Sure, Sirius."

Sirius grinned at James. "Great Wronski Feint, mate."

James smiled broadly, his pride back. "Thanks! Get good food, you two! I have to bathe and tend to Cristina."

Sirius smirked at James and slipped his arm around Lily's waist. "Have fun, mate," he winked before they began walking away. Lily looked back at James and winked before looking at Sirius, giggling at something he said and kissing him.

James sighed, feeling his heart ache as Cristina walked over. "James Potter."

"I'm so sorry, Cristina. Can you forgive me?" He pouted.

She kissed him. She wasn't stupid enough to break up with James Potter over a little mistake like that. No one would know, either, because how would that make her look? Besides, girls would die to take her place. He wasn't getting rid of her that easy. "It's all right, James. Just...never again, okay?"

James nodded. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead, watching Lily and Sirius walk away. As he did, the words reverberated in his mind: Never again...