A Step Above The Rest

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"Welcome one and all to the Quidditch Cup Finals. It's England versus France and it's guaranteed to be a hell of a match," the commentator's voice boomed across the stadium. People erupted into cheers and waved their mini flags around. Everyone was excited about the match.

Arabella bounced up and down in her seat, waiting in anticipation. "See, what did I tell you? This is so much fun. I can't believe you almost didn't come."

"I can't believe it either," Lily confessed. "I would've killed myself if I missed this."

Both girls were seated comfortably at the Top Box. In their opinion, they have got the best view of all. They were both screaming at the top of their lungs. Sometimes, they even received glares from some of the ministers present. They finally quieten their voices down a notch when Arabella got a warning from her boss who was sitting a few rows in front.

"Party pooper," Arabella grumbled as she stuck out her tongue to her boss' retreating back. "This is a Quidditch match for God's sake! Not some formal dinner thingamajig."

She was about to curse some more but her voice was drowned by the commentator. "Here comes the French players now, folks."

The French supporters rose from their seats and clapped as hard as they could. Whistles could be heard and the atmosphere could set anyone on an adrenaline rush. Lily thought that the noise level could not get any higher. She was proven wrong as soon as the English players made an entrance. She joined in the cheering as any good supporter would and even whistled. Arabella was no different. The cheers got even louder when the players were introduced.

"For England," the commentator started, "there goes their Seeker Heskey, Keeper Kirkland, Beaters Murphy and Carragher and Chasers Gerrard, Owen and captain Jaaaaaames Potter!"

It was no surprise that James Potter received the loudest and most supportive cheers. Lily shook her head in disapproval. She did not see what the fuss was about. So the guy scores goals. Big deal. He's a God damn Chaser. That's what he's supposed to do. Just because he also happens to be good-looking, he's currently the most famous thing that walked on the planet. Lily snorted as she recalled their meeting the day before. The guy doesn't even have manners. Though she still wondered why James Potter would ever want her name. She brushed the thought off her mind as she watched the players fly around the field.

Lily's eyes zoomed in on James Potter, the one and only. He was hovering a few metres away from the Top Box. She noticed the expression on his face. It was focused yet relaxed. Lily had to give it to him. She admired the fact that the crowd's cheering didn't affect his state of mind. She kept her eyes on him. She inhaled sharply when he caught her staring at him. Her mind seemed to scream for her to look away but her body did otherwise. She locked her gaze. He didn't turn away either.

"Why spot me, of all people?!" Lily thought. She repeated over and over in her head. "Please don't recognize me."

Lily didn't dare blink once. It seemed like a very long staring contest. Suddenly, Lily couldn't hear the crowd anymore. It was like she put all her focus into him.

"POTTER!" Owen called.

Lily saw James Potter look slightly startled. She knew that call was his cue to get in the team huddle to briefly give his teammates one last pep talk. Before he turned to go, he gave her a smile that won him the Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award and winked playfully. Lily's eyes widened and her jaw slightly dropped. Her body stiffened.

Arabella nudged Lily. "Did I just see what I saw?"

Lily gulped. "That depends. What did you see?"

"James Potter winking at you."

Lily nodded slowly. "In that case, yes."

Arabella stayed silent for while before she made an outburst. "James Potter fancies my best friend," she cried gleefully. "Girl, you're hot!"

Lily looked at Arabella as if she was nuts. "That's ridiculous," Lily pointed out. "He has girls all over the world throwing themselves at him. Why would he like plain ol' lil' me?"

"How should I know? I'm not him. But, all I know is that he winked at you! YOU! That, my dear girl, is a sign that he has the hots for you," Arabella reasoned. That was her logic anyway. It made sense in her head.

Lily snorted. She then winked at Arabella. "There! Does that mean I have the hots for you?"

Arabella slapped the back of Lily's head.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Lily whined, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

Arabella merely ignored her question. "Ssh, the match is starting."

**********

After an hour, the match was still in play. England was leading with the score of 980-820. The players looked dead tired and the crowd was getting restless. The English fans hoped that Heskey would find the Golden Snitch soon.

Lily tapped her foot impatiently. She looked around the stadium.

"Stupid Snitch," Lily muttered under her breath.

"Lily!" Arabella tugged her sleeve excitedly. "There it is! It's the Snitch!"

Right at that moment, Seekers for both teams spotted it and raced to catch it. They were going at breakneck speed with Heskey only a hair in behind Pires, the French Seeker.

Everyone was dead silent, waiting in anticipation.

Lily who couldn't take the silence, stood up and yelled like some crazed lunatic, "Heskey, you better get your ass moving and catch the bloody Snitch!"

Arabella looked at Lily weirdly. Lily merely shrugged in response.

After her statement, the whole stadium started cheering him on. Everybody's eyes were on the English Seeker. They watched as he boosted his speed and gave his last spurge of energy to extend his hand and grab the tiny golden ball beating Pires only by a millisecond.

"Heskey has got the Snitch!" the commentator cried out in triumph.

The crowd went absolutely wild. Some screamed, some cried and some even did a little dance. Lily jumped up from her seat and pulled Arabella up into a tight hug.

"We won, we won!" the girls chanted.

Lily distangled herself from Arabella and watched as the English players did victory laps around the stadium with the cup.

"There you go, folks! England won the Quidditch Cup with a score of 1130-820. James Potter being the top goalscorer in the match having to score 40 of the England goals. Isn't that boy a wonder?" the commentator praised.

Lily rolled her eyes. She thought that James Potter's ego didn't need to be stroked. She searched the pitch for him but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"Where could he be?" Lily wondered aloud.

**********

James walked briskly towards the locker room. He wanted to be the first one there. He knew the rest of his team mates were still celebrating on the pitch. He was supposed to join them but he couldn't care less. He needed to do something else that was more important.

He went inside the room thinking he was the only one there when suddenly, "BOO!"

James, who was startled, gave a little jump. He looked over his shoulder to find Sirius laughing. It turned out that he was hiding behind the lockers.

James scowled. "It's not funny, Padfoot."

"Of course it isn't. Nothing is ever funny anymore. You're no fun, Jamesie," Sirius complained with a pout.

James didn't reply. He didn't have time to play games.

Sirius whistled a tune as he observed James scrambling around the room and hurrying into the shower cubicle. After a few minutes, James came out squeaky clean. He grabbed his clothes and changed into them. He tried to comb his hair(not that it would help) and button his shirt at the same time but failed miserably.

When James was done, Sirius asked, "So, are you going to tell me why you're rushing or do I have to beat it out of you?"

James narrowed his eyes as if yo say 'you wouldn't dare' but decided to tell Sirius anyway. It would save a lot of his sanity not to hear Sirius whine and plead with him to tell.

"She's here," James finally muttered.

"Who's 'she'? God James, can you be any more discreet?" Sirius cried out in exasperation.

"It's the woman at the park."

"Oh..." Sirius nodded, understanding the situation. "So you're going to look for her out there, huh?"

James nodded his head vigorously. He was itching to talk to the mysterious girl again.

"Yeah, and I'll bet it would be a piece of cake to find her among millions of people," Sirius commented with much sarcasm in his voice.

"She was sitting at the Top Box so it's most likely that she would be escorted out of there first," James replied logically. The Top Box are mostly occupied with important people from the Ministry of Magic. The organizers of the event thought that it would be most convenient for the people sitting at the Top Box to exit the stadium first before it gets crowded outside the stadium.

"Ah, so that's why you were in rush to get out of here. Good thinking, my friend," Sirius said.

"Yeah Padfoot, whatever." With that James headed towards the door.

"What? No goodbye kiss?"

**********

Lily waited outside the stadium for Arabella as she had to go for a brief talk with her boss. Lily checked her watch. It's getting late.

"You came."

Lily heard a deep voice behind her. She whirled around to find James Potter standing tall at 6'4. She felt like a midget next to him. A voice in her head told her to be calm. Lily was shocked to see him but she showed no hints of it on her face. Instead, a confident front took over.

"Of course I came," Lily said casually.

"Why?" James asked stupidly. He doesn't know why he always act like a doofus in front of her. He found her very intimidating.

Lily raised her eyebrow. "As an avid Quidditch fan, it would be wrong not to attend the biggest Quidditch event of all time." She added cheekily, "Why did you ask? Did you think I came because of you?"

"I don't recall ever saying that," James replied.

"You didn't need to. Your tone implied it." Lily said matter-of-factly but she had a hint of mischievousness in her voice.

"How do you know what my tone did or did not imply?" James quipped in the same playful tone.

It may seem like they were fighting but it was clear that it was just plain flirting.

Lily gave a loud sigh. "Have you come here just to argue with me? Or is there any other purpose of this conversation?"

James chuckled. "Actually, I do have a reason."

"Do enlighten me."

"I came for a name or even possibly, a friend," James explained.

"Now, why would boy wonder James Potter possibly want MY name and friendship?" Lily inquired.

"Your name, to call you by. Unless, of course, if you prefer me calling you by a nickname. And I could use your friendship because I am in desperate need of one," James said as charmingly as he could.

Lily laughed. "If you're so desperate, why don't you just choose one of your groupies and hang out? Why me?"

"Oh come on, Red. Tell me one good reason why you can't be my friend."

"First off, don't call me 'Red' ever again. Secondly, my father taught me very well not to be friends with unknown strangers."

"First off, 'Red' will have to do since I don't know your real name. If it bugs you that much, just tell me. Secondly, since when am I a stranger? You do know my name, right?" James couldn't give it up without a fight.

Lily smiled as she shook her head and started to walk away. Why can't he just let it go? She noticed that James was following a few steps behind her. She turned around abruptly and it made James bump into her as he couldn't stop in time. She caught a whiff of his cologne. Damn, he smelt good. She brushed the thought off when she heard a faint 'sorry'.

She gave another sigh. "Are you stalking me now?"

James flashed her a smile. "Only until you tell me your name."

Lily sighed yet again. She then saw a sea of people come out of the stadium. An idea struck her. She grinned at the thought. She hoped this would work. If he wanted her name, she'd give him a name. But not before creating havoc.

Lily screamed as loud as she could. "Oh my God!" she cried out. She saw James staring at her weirdly. He hasn't caught on to her plan yet. Perfect.

Everyone was now staring at her. Even more perfect.

"It's James Potter!!" Lily shouted.

James' face fell when hordes of people started to make their way towards him. He couldn't possibly run away. He turned to Lily to see her smiling brightly.

"That little devil," James thought.

Lily returned the wink James gave her earlier. "So long, Mr Potter," Lily said. Before the crowd engulfed him, she added, "By the way, the name is Evans. Lily Evans."

**********