Crash and Burn

"I'm bored!"

Elizabeth Williams raised a delicately shaped eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "When are you NOT bored, Calista?"

Lily put the finishing touches on her nails and held out her hands for Elizabeth to do a drying spell. "Calista," she said, her mouth full of bobby pins, "I'm trying to get ready for the Quidditch game, why don't you do the same?"

Calista sighed and shut her eyes. Noticing the sapphire light radiating from her, Elizabeth and Lily exchanged a fearful glance before ducking behind Lily's bed.

"No Calista! Not in the -"

But the rest of Lily's sentence was lost in an explosion that was heard throughout Gryffindor Tower. The entire dorm was in shambles and Calista was sitting in the middle of it, looking very pleased with herself.

"Calista!" Elizabeth hissed. "Can't you just use a wand?"

"Nope!" Calista said happily. "I look so much better when I do it my way!"

Lily was silent, calmly doing her make-up in a shard of mirror and pondering Calista's extraordinary talent. Calista was a commutabilise, which meant she could change the appearance of something at will. It was different than being a metamorphmagus - she couldn't change her facial features - more just have a different hairstyle or different clothing. However, Calista was too young to harness her power and it usually ended up in disaster.

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" Lily hurriedly pointed her wand at her hair, trying to fix it's windblown appearance. "Not in the bloody dorm! Can't you do it outside or something?"

Calista merely grinned and, in the only mirror that hadn't been smashed (the one Dumbledore himself had spelled when hearing of Calista's...talent) swirled around, looking at her outfit. Lily had to admit - it did look better when Calista used her gift. Her blonde hair was flipped and framed her face in layers. She was wearing a white dress with a pink string that gathered under her chest and matching shoes that laced up her ankles.

"See?" Calista smiled, carefully fitting pink hoops into her ears. "I look so French!"

Lily looked at her white tube top and over-sized jeans. She felt slightly inferior to Calista and tried to shrug it off as she fit the last of her bobby pins into her hair and pointed on some kohl eyeliner, mascara and clear lipgloss. Elizabeth came up from behind her and fitted a silver chain around Lily's neck. Fingering it, Lily smiled at her friend in the mirror before grabbing her wand and running downstairs.

***

"And what a BEAUTIFUL day it is for a game of Quidditch!" Sirius Black's voice rang out over the stands and was followed by the roar of the crowd. "What's this?! And it's the Gryffindor team! Wood, Johnson, Williams, Lupin (Hey Remi!), Bell, Spinnet, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand POTTER! Wooohh! Go James, go James...ehem right!" Sirius grinned at James, who gave him the finger before doing a lap around the field.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall shrieked when he passed by the Commentator's Box. "Those gestures are NOT appropriate!"

Elizabeth stared dreamily at Sirius (who was in the box next to them) while Calista fiddled with her magical cell phone. Lily, ever the Quidditch fan, was staring intently at the Pitch, nervously biting her nails and popping her gum. She sat back as James whizzed by a second time, feeling the air whip her in the face and bringing her back to reality.

"...And WHAT is that RANCID smell?" Sirius was saying. "Oh, the Slytherin Quidditch Team! And it's Flint, Daniels, Imahoe, Malfoy, that-bugger-with-a-big- nose, Sepra, aaannd YEA! THEIR SEEKER!"

The Slytherins booed and Sirius held up a hand benignly. "Now now, no need to be bitter..." He jumped as McGonagall tried to wrestle the microphone away from him.

"Minnie! Please another chance!"

But this seemed to be too much for McGonagall, who turned bright red and wrenched the mic away from him.

"One more chance Mr. Black!" Professor McGonagall's shrieks reverberated around the stadium. "One more and after the game you have detention!"

The Gryffindors cheered and laughed as Sirius took the mic again and bowed deeply to the crowd. "AAAND They're off! Gryffindor in possession! And it's Williams, Johnson, Wood back to Williams, tosses it to Johnson who flips it back to Williams and they SCORE! 10 - 0 Gryffindor!"

Elizabeth jumped up in an uncharacteristic burst of enthusiasm and began to do her patented happy-dance. "That's my brother!" she shrieked, hugging Calista, who was staring in fascination at another girl's Louis Vuitton purse. "My bloody brother! YEAH!"

Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her and she blushed. He gave her a wink and the "Sirius Black grin" before turning back to the game. She flopped into her seat, cheeks red and out of breath.

***

When it was clear that Gryffindor was going to win (Current Score: 160 - 0) Lily began to look around for something to do. She fingered the thin rails of the boxes and grabbed Calista. They hopped the box and ran up the steps of the stadium, accio-ing their skateboards along the way. They stopped right next to the box that held Dumbledore and other Ministry officials. Lily grinned at him apologetically before sliding down the rail on her board, nodding to Elizabeth on the way down and checking quickly to make sure Calista was right behind her. The rail was continuous until it abruptly cut off, about level with the game. Lily and Calista screamed as they shot into the air, crashing into Gryffindor's triumphant huddle on the way.

Lily smacked straight into James Potter, who was holding the snitch in victory. The entire stadium had erupted in cheers followed by laughter as Lily, Calista, James, Remus and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team flopped towards a huge mattress that Elizabeth had conjured. Lily and James hit the mattress first, and were bounced into the air as the rest flopped after. Lily grinned at James as she rolled off him.

"We just keep crashing into each other don't we, Potter?"