Jily | For The Last Time

CHAPTER 6

~ Names and Friendships ~
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The next day, the school was restless. People were chatting non stop about the new arrivals, but more importantly, the picking of the names tonight. Dumbledore, as per usual, didn't go into any detail at all about how the champions were being picked but he had told the school that it was happening tonight. Students who wished to compete had to put their names in a huge, stone goblet, with a roaring blue fire spurting out of the top of it, and they had between 9am and 3pm to do so.

Sirius and James woke up early in the morning, absolutely determined not to miss the deadline.

"Merlin's beard you scared me half to death," Remus walked into their dormitory and jumped back when he saw both his friends awake and ready.

Peter gave his friend a look, "I said the exact same thing a minute ago."

"What up with you two? You've consistently woken up 10 minutes before class for the past 5 years."

"Triwizard Tournament entries are today Moony! Don't wanna miss it," James replied enthusiastically.

Remus scoffed, "oh sure, but when it's our OWLs you both need 'just another 2 minutes'."

"Hey, we were on time to them, weren't we," Sirius retorted.

"You walked into the hall as McGonagall said 'begin'. I'm pretty sure that's the latest you can possibly count as on time."

"Ah but it does count as on time though," James smiled stupidly. Remus just rolled his eyes and walked back out, followed closely by the rest of the marauders bunch.

They jumped down the steps to the common room only to find it completely deserted.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Sirius asked, confused as to why this normal jam packed area was now silent.

"Dunno but we better get going, there's no way I'm missing putting my name in that goblet," James pushed past Sirius and went through the portrait hole.

They all made their way to a secondary school hall where the goblet was, to find it bustling with people. Students from every school were there, sitting on the stands and benches around the side of the goblet and cheering for everyone who put their name in.

"Awsome!" James exclaimed, as he ran to one of the tables to write his name on the scrap of paper he had.

The others joined him and they watched and waited for their turn to put their names in, applauding every other student who was brave enough to do it as well.

"Frank Longbottom! No way I did not expect him to put his name in," James was gaping at him.

" I overheard him saying he was doing it to impress Alice," Peter piped up.

"Ah, doing it to impress a girl, classic mistake," James laughed.

"Yeah, says you," Remus raised his eyebrows at James, who just glared back.

"Please! Just reconsider, I don't think you're ready for this!"

The boys spun around to look at who was causing such a sheen, and to their surprise saw a familiar red head trying desperately to talk her friend out of joining the competition.

"Lily, please, I can do this, your fine with Marlene entering, why not me?" Severus Snape tried to barge past her but she blocked his path.

"Sev, your not ready. Marlene was training, she's a quidditch player, she knows what to do in the heat of the moment, she's had practice!" Lily was frowning, she looked upset, prompting James to stand up and make his way to the front of the forming crowd.

"Oh I see, so she's strong and I'm weak huh?" Snape glared at her, cashing James to glare at him. No one talks to Evans like that, he rolled his sleeves up and drew his wand out of his pocket, just in case.

"Sev please! You know that's not what I meant," she stepped forward and touched his arm, "please just... don't do this."

Snape pulled his arm away, "I'm stronger than you think Lily, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

Severus moved past her and stormed his way through the crowd, dropping his name into the goblet. There was a muted applause, and he stormed back out of the hall, leaving Lily behind.

James moved forward, "Hey Evans... you alright? Seemed a bit tense back there."

"I'm fine Potter," she turned on her heels and walked back out of the hall.

James sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. He opened his eyes and walked up to the goblet, dropping his name in it quite unenthusiastically, and then left the hall.

His friends looked at him and saw the look on his face. The one specially reserved for when Lily had hurt him. They knew they best just leave it alone for now, so Sirius put his name in the goblet and they left too.

It had been an anti-climactic morning, and one they hadn't expected. James made his way to class and sat grumpily in silence until lessons started. Sometimes it was just so difficult having a crush on Lily Evans.

A/n

Short chapter today - I started writing this with a totally different direction in mind but I thought this was better. 1 vote = 1 hate on snape >:(

Q: do you believe in love at first sight?

Word count: 846