Where Life Leads

Chapter Ten

"Lily, you're frowning again."

Lily, who had just returned from patrolling with James seven minutes ago, looked over at Marlene from where she sat on her bed hugging her pillow. Marlene was staring at her with a sparkle in her blue eyes. Janice and Linda were sitting on Linda's bed while Janice painted Linda's nails with the colour changing nail polish that she had bought at Gladrags that day.

"She's right, you know," Janice commented as she flicked a drying charm at Linda's finished hand before starting on the other one. "You've been frowning off and on all night. You look like Marlene when she hasn't received a letter from her Ravenclaw lover for a few days."

Marlene shot an exasperated glare at her. "Will you stop calling him that?"

Lily sighed and flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling. She knew what was coming next and tried to ignore her squabbling friends as she struggled to get her thoughts in order. When they remembered what had started the conversation in the first place, they would interrogate her ruthlessly.

"Even when it's true?" Linda was saying with a smirk.

Marlene blushed. "You're just jealous," she said. "And he has a name, you know."

"Remind us again," Linda said.

"You know very well its Jonathan."

"Oh, that's right. Jonathan."

"Yes," Janice put in. "Jonathan, Jonathan!" she moaned teasingly.

"Shut up!" Marlene laughed and moved to throw a pillow at her.

"Ah! No! Wet nails!" Janice screeched, waving the nail polish brush about.

Marlene put the pillow down and looked back over at Lily. "Now, tell us what has you frowning so much. James didn't do anything, did he?"

"No." Lily sighed again and mumbled under her breath, "More's the pity."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Lily practically shouted, sitting up again. "He didn't do anything wrong. He was supposed to! He was supposed to be annoying and inconsiderate and-and.... But no- he had to go and act the perfect gentleman all day!" She flopped onto her back again and threw her pillow at their dormitory door. "Why me?" she yelled. "Why can't he just find someone else?" She let out a huge sigh. "Why did it have to be so perfect?"

Her friends burst out laughing and Lily covered her face with her hands and moaned pitifully. When she dared to look at her friends again, Linda was clutching her stomach and Janice had tears streaming down her face from laughter. Marlene, on the other hand, was watching Lily with a devious smile on her face.

"What?"

Marlene shook her head. "Oh, this is too good."

"Marlene?" Lily queried worriedly as Marlene slid off her bed and pulled on her robe. "Where are you going?"

"To share the news."

"Marlene, no!" Lily dashed off her bed and made a grab for Marlene, but she wasn't fast enough. Marlene had already slipped out the door and was rushing down the stairs.

Lily didn't give any thought to her state of dress, or lack thereof, and hurried after her. She caught up just as Marlene had burst into the seventh year boys' dormitory and clamped a hand over Marlene's mouth. "Don't even think about saying any-what on earth?"

Sirius, clad only in his boxer shorts and a bright scarf, sported a yellow ribbon in his hair and was sitting on his bed fluttering his eyelashes at Remus, who was kneeling on the floor in front of him wearing James' glasses. Peter was rolling on the floor laughing and James was half-heartedly trying to get his glasses back.

Lily's arms fell limp to her sides and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Oh my...."

Remus hastily got to his feet and shoved the glasses back at James who hurried to put them on. Sirius ripped the ribbon out of his hair and shoved it under the blankets. Peter laughed even harder than he had been before.

"Uh... was there something you needed?" Remus asked cautiously.

Lily glanced at Marlene, who had her lips pressed together and looked ready to burst, and shook her head at the boys. "What are you doing?" Lily asked, completely disregarding Remus' question.

"Uh...." The boys glanced around at each other, trying to think of an explanation.

Peter, who had finally stopped laughing, came to the rescue. "We were planning our next prank?" He glanced up at the other boys, who were nodding frantically in agreement.

"Yeah," Remus said hurriedly, "we, er, always act them out beforehand to, you know, work out all the kinks." His eyes were wide and he blinked innocently. No one saw him point his wand at Sirius from behind his back.

All at once Sirius' hair turned red and grew longer, passing his shoulders.

James blushed fiercely and Peter started laughing again while Sirius pointed his own wand at Remus, who then sprouted antlers on his head. Sirius threw back his head and cackled gleefully, his newly red hair swinging. "Now you look more like Prongs," he said. They seemed to have forgot that Lily and Marlene were in the doorway watching them.

The girls looked at each other, thoroughly confused and raced back to their dorm room where they tried to explain what had happened to Janice and Linda, all the while laughing hysterically.

They were still talking about the incident Monday morning at breakfast when the owl post arrived. Lily smiled brightly when the owl she had sent with a letter to her parents landed in front of her with a dignified hoot. Lily untied the large parcel attached to its legs. She frowned as she gave the owl a bit of her bacon. The package was clearly from her parents, but she couldn't imagine what they could have sent her. She hadn't asked for anything in her most recent letter and her birthday wasn't until April.

"Well? Aren't you going to see what's in it?" Janice asked.

Lily shrugged, and with a quick spell from her wand the package opened neatly. The first thing she pulled from the box was a letter from her parents. Then she dug through the packing foam and pulled out a fist-sized glass globe with a red-haired girl playing in a field of lilies inside of it.

"Oh, how beautiful!" Lily exclaimed holding it up to the light for a better look.

"There's something else." Marlene had looked in the box while the glass globe distracted Lily. She handed Lily a wooden stand to set the globe upon. "And there's a note, too."

Lily took the paper from Marlene, opened it and then laughed gleefully. "It's from Uncle Rich, Mum's younger brother. He says he found this in a small shop while he was in Paris. He had thought to give it to me for Christmas, but knew he wouldn't be able to wait that long so he had Mum and Dad send it to me here at school, since he didn't know the address."

The other students were beginning to leave for their first class of the day, so Lily hurriedly took a last bite of eggs before gently replacing her gifts and her parents' letter back in the box.

"I'm going to take this up before Potions. Will you tell Professor Slughorn where I am if I don't make it to class on time?"

Linda rolled her eyes. "As if Slughorn would deduct any points from you if you were late, anyway."

Marlene stood up from her seat as well. "I'll walk with you part of the way. I was going to head up to the Library."

Lily slung her book bag over her shoulder and she and Marlene walked out of the Great Hall. Once Lily reached the Heads Room she set the box on her chair and took out the glass globe and set it on its stand on her desk. She took out her parents' letter as well so that she wouldn't forget to read it.

The class had already begun when she reached the Potions classroom, only it wasn't Professor Slughorn at the chalkboard. Instead it was a strange, middle-aged witch Lily had never seen before. The witch turned when Lily entered the classroom and spoke in a poisonous voice, "Yes?"

"Sorry, I'm late," Lily said haltingly, sliding into her seat next to Lizzie and shooting her a questioning look. "I had a package that I received at breakfast that I needed to take upstairs to my room."

The witch eyed Lily over her glasses and said silkily, "That's no excuse for being ten minutes late. And from the Head Girl no less," she added, spying the badge pinned to Lily's robes. "Tsk, tsk." The witch crossed her arms and tapped her right index finger against her chin. "Now let's see.... Ten minutes late, so that's ten points from...?"

"Gryffindor," Lily supplied.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for being late to class, then. See that it doesn't happen again."

Lily sat back in her seat, stunned. She had never lost points in a Potions class before. Not even when she had missed half the period in third year because she had slept past her alarm. Professor Slughorn had just chuckled and said, 'every girl deserves some beauty sleep'.

Lily looked over at Lizzie who just shrugged, and when she glanced behind her at Linda and Janice, Janice mouthed, "We told her for you." Lily frowned and turned back around. She pulled out her Potions book and leaned over to ask what page they were on. After turning to the correct one, she dug around in her bag for parchment and a quill.

It was the most boring and frustrating Potions class Lily had ever experienced. It was as though everyone was afraid to speak, it was so silent. The woman lectured the entire time about the importance of keeping volatile ingredients quarantined. Clearly she hadn't read Professor Slughorn's syllabus or she would have know that they had covered that topic in third year.

By the time they were allowed to begin brewing a mild truth serum, Lily was ready to tear her hair out. When the woman went into Slughorn's private stores Lizzie leaned over and whispered to Lily.

"You missed her introduction," she told Lily. "Her name's Belinda Yaxley. She's a Potions Mistress at the Ministry and she was asked to fill in for Slughorn until he returns. Rumour has it that he got called away suddenly last night."

"Did she say why?"

Lizzie shook her head. "No, only that it was an emergency. Oh, and she mentioned that Slughorn's party tomorrow night is cancelled, as well."

Lily frowned at this bit of news. It must be some emergency if Slughorn cancelled one of his parties. Belinda Yaxley returned and the girls quickly got back to work as she stared around the classroom, lips pursed. Lily stifled a sigh and added the jobberknoll feathers to her potion- the period couldn't end soon enough.

-()-

Lily woke up with a groan on Wednesday morning. Today was going to be miserable, she could already tell. She crawled out of bed and pulled on her robe, walking over to the window to look outside and groaned again. It was miserable out, one of those bone-numbing, cold, damp, rainy days when all you wanted was to just crawl back under the covers and sleep the day away.

Yesterday had been much more pleasant, even though most of the staff and students had spent all of it glancing over their shoulders. Since it was Halloween, they had expected some huge prank from the Marauders. Lily, however, knew otherwise. Last night had been a full moon and Remus had been away since Monday 'visiting his sick mother'. She had asked James about it and he had confirmed her suspicions that the Marauders couldn't pull a prank without Moony- it just wouldn't be the same.

Lily sighed and moved away from the window to go to the Heads' Room and shower since it was her day to go first. She and James had finally decided on a system- one that didn't involve duelling. During the week when they had class they would switch who went first every other day, but on the weekends whoever got there first, got to shower first. So far it had worked out perfectly, except for the fact that James had a tendency to leave the toilet seat up. But Lily knew from her father that that was a habit that men just couldn't seen to break. She had contemplated putting a hex on the seat so that every time James left it up he would get a boil on his hand, but had decided against it after hearing James complain that she took up too much shelf space with her many shower supplies and cosmetics. There was no way she was giving up any of those.

The only good thing that could be said about Potions that day was that it was short. Mistress Yaxley (as they had been told to call the substitute) was just as sour and unforgiving as she had been last lesson. Although Yaxley took fifteen points from Lily when her ink bottle rolled off the table and she had summoned it back instead of leaving her seat to get it, Sirius managed to win five of them back when he volunteered to test the Jumping Juice the first years had concocted the day before.

He was still jumping (although it was more of a hop now, since he was sitting down) every twenty-three minutes when Lily saw him that evening, as she sat down to dinner with her friends. They were serving Lily's favourite meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes and an assortment of other dishes, but she could only pick at her food. A glance at the ceiling showed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse and there was now a mild thunderstorm raging outside. Every so often the Great Hall would light up from a flash of lightning and the first years would squeak in anticipation of the oncoming thunder.

Marlene, Janice and Linda were chatting merrily, despite the weather, as they skipped up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. Lily, on the other hand, was perfectly content to follow them at a normal pace. When she reached the common room, the first years had monopolised one of the huge windows, trying to pick out the constellations that they would be discussing in that night's Astronomy lesson as they appeared in the sky.

Lily went over to the table near the fireplace where she had been doing homework before dinner. Her things were exactly as she had left them and she settled into a chair with a contented sigh. Her friends joined her a moment later and she soon settled into a lengthy discussion with Janice about the negative effects of a Cheering Charm.

As the evening drew to a close, Lily put the finishing touches on her Charms essay, packed up her bag and then carried it up to her dorm. She returned to the common room just as James came through the portrait, glancing around the room for her.

He grinned when he saw her coming towards him. "Ready to go, then?" he asked. Lily nodded and the two of them started their rounds.

Lily sighed as they passed one of Hogwarts' many windows. The storm had stopped, but it was still drizzling steadily. "I hate days like this," she complained.

"I couldn't have guessed," James said somewhat sarcastically. "You've only been mopey and irritable all day," he teased.

Lily pouted at him and James smiled at her sweetly, draping his arm over her shoulder. "I brought something along to cheer you up," he told her, delving into the pocket of his robes and showing her a bag of Every Flavour Beans.

Her eyes lit up and she stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek before taking the bag of sweets from him and sifting through it for the good flavours. "That's cheating." James sounded amused.

Lily grinned and shrugged his arm from her shoulders. "So is trying to see through the chocolate frog wrapper to see what famous wizard card is inside before you open it."

"Hey!"

Lily laughed at him. "Well you do. Don't think I didn't notice."

"I can never tell anyway." James reached over and stole the bean Lily had just picked out before she could slap his hand away. "So the first Quidditch match of the year is on Saturday," he said casually, popping the sweet into his mouth.

"Your point?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

James spread his arms wide. "Watch it with me."

"Why would I want to do that?" Lily teased, laughing at him.

"Ah, Evans, you break my heart." He smiled charmingly at her. "So, what do you say?"

"Alright then, as long as no one else asks me to go with them," she teased.

"That will be easy enough to arrange." James grinned at her as they arrived at a corridor of unused classrooms. They had discovered on a previous patrol that these rooms were particularly popular for students having a night-time rendezvous.

They checked the classrooms in silence, so as not to forewarn any students they might find. It was always fun to see how red their faces could get. Lily was just shutting the door to the last room when James spoke again. "I've been thinking, Evans."

"Oh?" Lily turned to find him standing directly in front of her. She leaned back calmly against the classroom door, crossing her arms. "You can do that now?"

"Funny, Evans." James propped his elbow up against the door, and rested his head in his hand. "Remember that passage you were telling me about? The one we missed on the map?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, what about it?"

James moved to stand directly in front of her and then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Perhaps I can convince you to show me the passage sooner than you had planned to."

His breath tickled her ear and made her shiver, even as she fought to keep from laughing. The intimidation she had felt from him being so close to her disappeared in an instant. He just sounded so silly! Sirius was the only one who had ever been able to pull off the 'seductively charming' act and here James was acting as though he could. Well, he had another thing coming then, because Lily was more than capable of resisting his 'charm'. He must bring out the worst in her, because Lily couldn't resist teasing him.

Lily allowed her mouth to relax into what she hoped was the smile Linda often used on their male classmates when she wanted something. That smile had never failed. She settled her right hand against James' chest. His breath hitched and he jerked his head back the moment she touched him, staring at her with fascinated eyes.

Lily slowly walked her fingers up his chest until she could run them through his hair, all the while whispering softly, "Perhaps, Mr. Potter, I can convince you to forget that I ever mentioned the passage in the first place."

James' breath was coming faster now and his tongue darted between his lips to moisten them. Lily noticed that her own breath was beginning to quicken and that his face was nearly touching hers. Suddenly he was too close, much too close.

"Lily...." he breathed.

It was then Lily realized that neither of them was in control. Her eyes darted from his lips, to his eyes and then back again. She didn't know where this had come from, or where it was going, or even if she wanted it to go anywhere. She wondered if he was going to kiss her and, strangely enough, she discovered that she actually might want him to.

Suddenly, Lily found that she couldn't meet his eyes. Instead, she glanced towards the stone floor of the castle and then jumped away from James with a gasp.

He stared at her confused. "What...?"

Lily held a hand against her racing heart. "Mrs. Norris."

"What?"

"Right there. Mrs. Norris." She pointed.

James looked to where she was pointing and sure enough, not two feet away from where they stood, sat Mr. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, staring at them with her lamp-like yellow eyes.

He scowled. "Go away, Mrs. Norris. We're Head Boy and Girl. We're supposed to be here."

The cat sniffed at them and then stalked off. Lily and James left the corridor and finished patrolling the rest of the halls in a silence that, strangely enough, wasn't awkward in the least. They were highly aware of each other, but neither made a move to say anything. Neither of them mentioned what had almost happened.

-()-

It was the third of November and James Potter's birthday. Every Gryffindor was looking forward to the day's events. Singing and yelling armour, confetti from the ceiling, Peter trying to get out of doing his homework, applause whenever James walked into a room. And of course there was a party planned for that night in the Gryffindor Tower.

James took it all in stride- thanking those who wished him well and bowing at the applause. He also took great pride in showing anyone who would look the new Quidditch gloves Lily had got him. Some students commented on Lily's behaviour, however, because not once did she reprimand James or his friends for their display as she had the past three years. In fact, some students could have sworn they saw her clapping and laughing along with the rest.

It wasn't until dinner that the students started commenting on the fact that the Daily Prophet hadn't been delivered that morning at breakfast. In truth, the only reason anyone had noticed was because halfway through dinner several dozen owls swooped into the Great Hall. Students and teachers alike paused in the midst of eating to unroll the paper and see its news.

Lily gasped as she read the blazing title, 'You-Know-Who Strikes in Force' All around the Great Hall others did the same. The only people who seemed to know what was going on were several of the Professors. Dumbledore sat in his chair looking out at all of the students shocked faces. Lily's friends crowed around her and looked over her shoulder as she read aloud in a quiet voice that everyone nearby could hear.

"'On the evening of November the second, multiple explosions occurred across the country at exactly seven o' clock. Two of the seven targeted houses belonged to members of the Wizarding community; the other five were Muggle residences. There was only one survivor and this is because the owner of the home was not in residence at the time of the attack. Aurors were unable to determine whether or not the victims had been tortured before their death since all of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition...." Lily trailed off, unable to read any further.

James, who was sitting across the table and several seats down stood up and took the paper from Lily to continue reading. "'All of the residences were completely destroyed save for one wall in each home, which remained intact. This wall has the Dark Mark emblazoned upon it surrounded by the victims' blood. Aurors ask that anyone-' It's continued on page five," he told them.

"Let me see." Marlene took the paper from him and scanned through the rest of the article while the others watched her in silence. "There's nothing else," she finally determined. "At least nothing noteworthy. A bunch of nonsense about how the Ministry is taking precautions and then there's a whole page about how to keep safe in your home. As if a locking charm is going to keep a Death Eater out," she scoffed.

The others exchanged glances. Marlene spoke the truth and they all knew it, even if they didn't want to agree with her aloud. Sirius looked over a James questioningly and when James shook his head morosely Sirius gave a solemn nod of understanding. Lily didn't even have to ask them what that exchange had been about- it would be heartless to have a party after learning what they just had.

Lily was trying to study but it wasn't going too well. She kept getting interrupted for the littlest of things, but that was completely understandable. Tensions were still running high because of dinner last night, and everyone was on their last thread. The common room was crowded this morning as everyone gathered in the common room until it was time to go down to the first Quidditch game of the season, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. While it was clear what the outcome of the game would be, Lily knew that most of the Gryffindors felt as though they should go and show their support for Hufflepuff anyway, even if it was only to jeer at the opposing team. It would also give all the students something to focus on other than the horrors that were happening outside the school. And that was a welcome relief.

She was finally able to study for a solid half hour before someone paused behind her chair. Without looking up from the Charms book she was reading, she answered him distractedly, "What is it, James?"

He moved to sit on the arm of her chair. "How'd you know it was me?" he asked her.

"As much as it pains me to admit it," Lily said as she marked the page she was on and closed her book, "I've patrolled with you long enough to recognise your footsteps." Lily smiled brightly up at him.

James blinked and shook his head as though to clear it. "Oh... well, the Quidditch match- people are starting to head down. Remus and Peter are saving us seats, but we should go anyway."

Lily glanced around the common room. Sure enough, everyone - except for the few people who weren't going - had already left for the Quidditch Pitch. That's why it had been so quiet, she realized.

"Remus and Peter?" she questioned. "Not Sirius?"

"He's banned," James answered shortly.

"Oh, that's right." She had forgotten about the prank Sirius had pulled last year that had got him banned from playing in or watching the Quidditch games. Not to mention he had had detention every day for the rest of the year, as well. Aside from the professors, no one except for the other Marauders had known what he had done to receive such a severe punishment. And even they had been less than friendly towards Sirius for a good while.

Lily stood and began to pack up her bag, but James brushed her hands away. "I can do it. Go grab your cloak."

"But I like it packed up a certain-"

"In order by class - I know." He smiled and rolled his eyes at her. "Hurry up, I don't want to miss anything."

Lily rushed up the stairs to her dorm to get her cloak, gloves and scarf. Then she and James whipped through the halls of the castle and then down the path that lead to the Quidditch Pitch. It was still overcast and the wind was blustering, but at least it wasn't raining any longer.

"There was no reason to hurry me along," Lily said irritably when the two finally reached the Quidditch Pitch. "The game isn't even close to starting."

James ignored her and pointed up to the stands. Peter was jumping up and down in the stands, trying to get their attention. They worked their way over to the section their friends were and were about to start up the stairs when they were nearly bowled over by a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. The player paused to apologize and then stopped when he saw Lily.

"Lily!" the player said enthusiastically. Stephan Furrows, a blond, curly haired seventh year and the Captain and Keeper for his House team, shot Lily a brilliant smile as she smiled warmly back at him. Stephan's smile faltered a bit when he saw James standing with her. "Hey, Potter."

"Hello, Furrows," James greeted him. "Ready for the game?"

Stephan nodded confidently. "I think so. We've all been practicing really hard. Although, I did nearly forget my lucky charm." He grinned and held up a pair of worn Quidditch gloves. "I had to nip back into the changing room to grab them."

Lily smiled up at him. "Merlin forbid you play without those," she teased him and Stephan shot her another charming grin.

"I get all shaky and clumsy without them," Stephan explained to James when he looked at them questioningly.

"I remember when I was watching your practice one time and you had left them in your dorm," Lily said. "You insisted to everyone that you didn't need them, but you ended up dropping the Quaffle every time it came at you."

Stephan looked heavenwards. "And I was trying so hard to impress you that day, too."

"You did impress me, though. You never gave up, did you?" Lily reminded him.

Stephan grinned shyly at her. "I suppose not. So, what do you say, a good luck hug for old times sake?"

Lily laughed. "Of course." She hugged him briefly and then she and James wished him luck before heading up to join their friends.

"I had forgotten you used to date him," James commented as they climbed the stairs to the seats being saved for them.

"Yes, for most of fifth year," Lily said, still buoyant from getting the chance to talk with Stephan. It had been a while since she had last spoken to him and she had forgotten how his good spirits rubbed off on everyone.

"So what happened?"

"We just grew apart I suppose."

"You grew apart?"

"Yeah." Lily smiled and shrugged.

"Oh." James looked at her with an expression on his face Lily couldn't read. "If you say so."

"What's that suppo-"

"It took you long enough!" Peter exclaimed, interrupting her. "Do you know how many people wanted your seats?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Peter," Remus sighed.

"The match is going to start soon," Peter said as Lily and James slid into their seats. "These seats were highly coveted. You should have come down with the rest of us."

James patted him on the back. "Next time we will, Wormtail. Promise."

"How long do you think the match will last?" Remus asked.

"No more than an hour," James answered him.

"I don't know," Lily countered. "Stephan seemed pretty confident when we talked to him."

James snorted and Lily shot him a look. "He said he thought they would do well."

"Only because he was talking to you."

Lily huffed, not understanding at all what James was alluding to. "What's that supposed to mean?"

James shook his head at her. "He was completely flirting with you."

It was Lily's turn to snort. "Oh yes," she replied sarcastically, waving a hand in front of her face "and I'm all a-flutter."

James scowled and turned to talk with Remus and Peter.

"What was that?" Marlene had been listening in.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. Apparently Stephan was flirting with me or something."

"Stephan always flirts with you," Marlene laughed. "That's nothing new. Besides, you weren't flirting back, were you?"

"Of course not- there's no reason to. Stephan and I are completely over."

"I never did understand why you broke it off with him," Janice commented from the other side of Marlene.

"Yeah," Linda put in, "he was so sweet! And you have so much in common. You both love Charms, you're both Muggle-born and have an older sister who isn't magical. Not to mention that he's incredible good-looking. And that one time he-"

"Lily got bored," Marlene interrupted impatiently, waving a hand.

"No I didn't," Lily argued. "We just grew apart is all."

"You were bored," Marlene reiterated. "You got along too well. Too perfectly. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy but.... You never argued about anything - ever!"

"What was wrong with that?"

"Don't you remember how short you always were with us?" Marlene asked her incredulously. "You would pick fights for the littlest of things! Like when Linda borrowed your jumper without asking! She'd done it a million time before and you had never put up a fuss. But after a few months with Stephan you would argue with anyone who gave you a reason- even if it was a stupid one."

Lily turned her attention to the Quidditch field where the players were staring to prepare for the start of the game while the others continued to talk around her.

"Oh, you have a point there," Janice agreed. "She was always nagging James about something or other."

"Exactly. What Lily needs is someone who is perfectly imperfect."

Lily scrunched up her nose quizzically at Marlene's choice of words. "Perfectly imperfect?"

Marlene grinned at her and nodded. "Yup."

"That makes no sense."

Marlene laughed. "Of course it does! Just think about it for a while."

But Lily didn't get a chance to think about it because just then Madam ---Judean blasted her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air. James jumped to his feet, whooping gleefully, and pulled Lily along with him.

"Watch this," he told her excitedly. "Hufflepuff devised some new plays that are really cool. It won't help them much, but they're fun to watch. I hope they do the drop-back one - Slytherin'll go bonkers."

Lily watched as one of the Slytherin Chasers plucked the Quaffle out of the air and zoomed off towards the Hufflepuff goals, only to have his attempt intercepted by one of Hufflepuff's Chasers. She cheered along with the Hufflepuff fans and then booed when Slytherin scored as a Ravenclaw third year Lily didn't know commented on the game in the background.

"Look at that Yaxley cow!"

Lily glanced over to the teachers' stand where James pointed. Belinda Yaxley stood with her arms crossed and her lips twisted in frustration. She was glaring at Stephan, who had just saved another goal.

"She must have been a Slytherin," she shouted to James. "Although from what I've seen in class, she doesn't seem to like them much."

James laughed. "She doesn't like anyone!" he yelled back.

The match continued and even though Slytherin was winning Hufflepuff, surprisingly enough, was only three goals behind. The plays were so intricate Lily had trouble following most of them, but James seemed to have no problem. And, after tossing the Quaffle around with James the one day, Lily fully appreciated just how hard Quidditch was and how good the players were.

Stephan saved a goal and Lily cheered along with everyone else as the Hufflepuff Chasers took control of the Quaffle. Lily watched Elliot Baddock as he snatched the Quaffle away from the Hufflepuff Chaser and sped off towards the Hufflepuff goals only to be stopped by a well placed Bludger.

Hufflepuff took control of the Quaffle once again, passing it back and forth trying to keep it away from the Slytherin Chasers long enough to score.

"Stephan, you idiot!" ---Janice's exasperated voice grabbed Lily's attention. "What are you doing?"

Stephan, who had been circling the goal posts in celebration the last time Lily had looked in his direction, was no where to be seen. Lily scanned the field but still didn't see him.

She tugged on James' sleeve and pointed. "Where'd he go?" It took James a moment to realize what she meant- he too had been watching the action at the other end of the field.

"I don't know," he told her, shaking his head in confusion as he started searching the field as well. "I don't' se- wait! Up there!" He pointed above the pitch way beyond the goals.

There was a loan figure flying more than a hundred feet up over the centre of the pitch. One of the Hufflepuff Beaters stopped playing and shook his bat at the figure that was Stephan. Their Seeker started towards Stephan to see what was going on, as did another Chaser, but the couldn't get within more than fifteen feet from him- there seemed to be some kind of repelling charm blocking them from getting any closer.

The students were slowly taking note of what was happening and the stands began to go silent.

Fingers gripped Lily's sleeve. "What's he doing?" Marlene's voice quavered. "Is it a play or something?"

Lily shook her head slowly. "I don't think so." She glanced up at James. His eyebrows were drawn together in confusion and he was biting his lower lip. "What is it?" Lily asked him.

"Dumbledore...." James turned to her. "He's trying to do something, but it doesn't seem to be working."

Lily looked over at the teachers' stand. Dumbledore had his wand out and there was a ferocious expression on his face. McGonagall and Flitwick were standing nearby and both of them had their wands at the ready.

A unified gasp lit over the stands and Lily whipped her head back to the field. Stephan was now standing on his broom, swaying in the slight breeze. Madam ---Judean was blowing her whistle frantically signalling a time out for the game, but she needn't have bothered- no one was playing anyway. Not even the Slytherins.

Then everything seemed to move in slow motion. She wanted to close her eyes and make what was happening disappear but even they wouldn't function. The only thing that seemed concrete was James' hand tightly gripping her own.

There were now sparks and colourful beams of light coming from where Dumbledore stood, but nothing he did seemed to make any difference. Flitwick and McGonagall were rushing down to the pitch and The Quidditch players had all landed on the ground. The only person still in the air was Stephan, and all anyone could do was watch, horrified, as he began to fall.