Seventh Year: The Defining Moment

4

The Match of the Century aka The Match that Decides Lily's Fate

Lily woke up for the fifth time that night. All night she had been drifting in and out of sleep. She looked at her watch, which read five-thirty AM. 'Thank goodness it's a Saturday...' she thought groggily. Lily got up and walked into the common room, where a fire was still burning. 'Why do I feel like I've done something wrong?' Lily looked out one of the windows. Gryffindor tower had the best view in her opinion.

'How beautiful, a full moon.' Suddenly the portrait hole opened and in walked...

.:*:.

James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew stepped into the common room. They always had to leave Remus; Madam Pomfrey would escort him back to the castle after he was back to normal. Physically that is. His mental condition is beyond control.

James suddenly stopped and threw out his hand to stop Sirius and Peter's chatter. Lily Evans was in the common room, looking strait at them.

"What are you all up to at this hour?" she inquired curiously. She had also noticed that they were still in their school robes from yesterday.

"Ummmmm," Sirius said as fished around for some excuse. "Well what are you doing up?" he questioned instead.

"I am perfectly entitled to be up at this hour in the House common room," Lily replied calmly. "I couldn't sleep. You, however, were obviously roaming the school after hours, a completely different story." The 3 boys looked at each other; they knew Lily was right.

"Lily," James pleaded. "PLEASE don't mention this to anyone. It's important that you don't."

Lily looked out the window once more. 'James must be serious since he called me by my first name. Is that Remus and Madam Pomfrey? Coming from the Whomping Willow? This is TOO weird.'

"I'm curious," she started. "I've noticed you lot out at night several times before, and I haven't said a word. And are my eyes deceiving me, or did I just see Remus and Madam Pomfrey coming in off the grounds? What's up, pray tell?" The boys knew there was no way around it. They had to tell her.

"See, it's a long and rather complicated story. If you promise you won't tell, we'll tell you... part of it," James replied rather nervously.

"I haven't told Mara and Jessi even, of you're late night wanderings. You can trust me," Lily answered them.

James let out a sigh of relief. "I guess the first place to start would be to show you..." Lily raised an eyebrow as James nodded to his friends. Lily gasped as James, Sirius, and Peter, simultaneously morphed into a stag, dog, and rat.

"Y-you're Animagi?!" she stammered.

The three boys changed back into humans and Sirius replied, "Yes, and-," there he hesitated and looked at James, who nodded. "And Remus is a werewolf." Lily's eyes went wide and she put her hands over her mouth.

James continued where Sirius left off, saying, "We couldn't visit him as humans, so we became Animagi because werewolves are only a danger to humans and that's where we got our nicknames for each other: Remus is Moony, Peter is Wormtail, Sirius is Padfoot, and I'm Prongs." Lily was still rather wide-eyed, but she nodded her head in understanding.

"So you won't tell?" Peter asked impatiently.

"I won't," she whispered. "I promise."

.:*:.

Lily didn't go back to bed. Instead, she sat up in the girl's dormitory, mulling everything over. 'I know they didn't tell me everything, but they did explain quite a bit...' She was also having trouble comprehending the fact that James had done something thinking of someone other than himself. He and the others became anamagi to help his friend, who was most likely shunned all his life. "Wow," she whispered to the night.

.:*:.

Around eight o'clock the next morning, Lily went down to Great Hall for breakfast. She passed the Marauders, but didn't say anything, although James gave her his usual wink.

Next week, Gryffindor had a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Lily was glad she wouldn't have to face Harrison in it, being that she was a Chaser and he was a Seeker. Lily had noticed something funny though; James had stopped hexing Harrison every time he got the chance. He was also working everybody a lot harder than usual during practice. 'I don't want to know,' she thought as she watched James yell at Frank for failing to block for him during practice. 'I absolutely have no interest in knowing...'

.:*:.

The following week was pretty uneventful. The match against Ravenclaw was on Saturday, which dawned bright and clear. And cold too (Hey, it's December, what do you expect?). On the Monday following the match, school would be let out for the most anticipated Christmas break the school had ever seen. The Gryffindor team plus Jessi, Remus, and Peter got up together and went down to eat breakfast. The match started at nine, so everyone was up earlier than usual on a Saturday. At eight forty-five, the team went down to the field. Remus and Peter wished them luck, while Jessi followed the team because she'd have to be there soon anyway because she was the commentator.

As the team changed into their Quidditch robes, they heard the rest of the school spill out onto the grounds. Shortly after, they left the locker rooms, greeted by a roar of applause from the Gryffindor supporters.

"Welcome to another Quidditch match!!!" they heard Jessi's magically magnified voice boom. "Here comes the Gryffindor team: Potter, Evans, Thompson, Glade, Longbottom, Waters, annnnnnnd Black!!!" Once again the Gryffindor supporters cheered. "And here's Ravenclaw: Craft, Farris, Harden, Kensith, Terring, Reardon, annnnnnnd Gray!!!"

The teams gathered in the center of the field as Madam Hooch stepped forward. "Captains, shake hands," she barked. James and Harrison stepped forward and did so.

"Remember our deal," James muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Harrison nodded curtly. Madam Hooch let out the Snitch and Bludgers, threw the Quaffle into the air, and then blew her whistle.

"And they're off!!!" Jessi shouted. "Gryffindor in possession, Evans racing forward. She passes the Quaffle to Thompson who passes it to Glade. Oooooh! That's gotta hurt! Glade drops the Quaffle but Thompson catches it. She's racing up the field, dodges a Bludger, dunks under Farris; can she beat the Ravenclaw Keeper, Gray? YES! GRYFFINDOR SCORES!!!" The section of the stands that was almost solid scarlet erupted with cheers.

"Oooo, Gray's gonna be feelin' that in the mornin'. When will keepers learn to stay outta Mara's way when she's throwing something? Anyways, Ravenclaw takes possession; Kensith passes the Quaffle to Harden. Ouch! Nice Bludger work by Longbottom- Evans seizes the Quaffle. She's tearing down the field; Lily that's a Bludger! Ugh, darn it! Ravenclaw takes possession, Sirius! Here comes Farris! Ravenclaw- scores," Jessi exclaimed half-heartedly. "Score's 10-10."

That's when James saw it- the Snitch. It was fluttering near the stands on Gryffindor's end of the field. James tore after it, and so did Harrison, not far behind. The two Seekers were now even with each other. The Snitch was at least a yard away... The Seekers both had their arms out, trying to catch the golden ball.

James' mind was racing. 'I've got to beat him!!!' He lifted his other hand off his broom. To his disappointment Harrison did the same. The Seekers were reaching for the Snitch with one hand while trying to knock their opponent off course with the other. Both Seekers fell off their brooms about a foot off the ground and the Snitch was...