Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 24: Disillusionment

Chapter 24: Disillusionment

Lily walked away from Bellatrix purposefully, still furious, James next to her and the others following. Obligingly, her knees and hands waited until she had rounded the corner before they began to shake and the residual shock set in. "I can't believe I did that," Lily said finally as they reached the main floor.

James and Sirius were regarding Lily with a mixture of awe and admiration. James put his arm round Lily with a proud expression and Sirius grinned at her as though he were just seeing her for the first time and liked what he saw.

"Well personally I'm delighted that that mad bitch finally got her comeuppance and that you were the one to give it to her," Alice spoke up, a delighted grin stealing across her face.

"Hear, hear," Frank chimed in with satisfaction. "Psychotic cow's been asking for that for ages."

"I'm only sorry I didn't take a swing," Alice added thoughtfully.

"I have to admit that was pretty impressive, Evans," Sirius was clearly amused. "Not too many people slap Bellatrix and retain their tongues to tell the tale."

"Lily!" Kathleen, Morwenna, and Dorcas had spotted them and hurried over.

"What happened?" Kathleen wanted to know.

Alice grinned at Lily and opened her mouth to begin. "You'll never believe what Lily did to that psychotic cow........."

*** 

The next day, Saturday, was the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor Quidditch match, a game that had been highly anticipated all year. The Hufflepuffs had quite a good team this year, due in large part to fifth year Beater Ludo Bagman, and stood a better chance of defeating the Gryffindors than they had in twenty or so years. Of course, the Gryffindors were determined not to allow this to happen, but it should prove to be a brilliant match anyway.

The school had shaken itself out of its sadness a bit in anticipation of the match. Of course, a few reserves had to be brought in and each side was missing a few supporters, but all in all the level of excitement was quite close to what it generally was in anticipation of a Quidditch match.

James was quite excited over the game himself; not only was this going to be an amazing game but Lily was going to be in the stands cheering him on as his girlfriend. He'd been dreaming about this since he was eleven, although most of those fantasies had involved Lily, completely overcome with awe at James' stellar Quidditch skills, jumping into James' arms and the two of them riding off into the sunset together on his broomstick. Of course, James was mature enough now to know that this wouldn't happen. It would just be silly. But James polished his broomstick just in case it did.

Besides the potential sunset-riding, James was quite excited for another reason and a bit nervous as well. There was something he wanted to talk to Lily about after the match, something that was sure to win him loads of points with her.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams left for the pitch among cheers from their respective House tables. James glanced over his shoulder at Lily one last time and winked at her. Lily rolled her eyes but smiled at him just the same, clapping along with the rest. Impulsively James dashed back round the table toward Lily. "Kiss me for luck?" James asked, putting on his most appealing expression. Blushing slightly, Lily did then shoved him off toward his waiting teammates, shaking her head at him.

Half an hour later, Lily walked down to the pitch with Alice, Kathleen, and Morwenna. Remus was in the hospital wing in anticipation of the full moon tonight and Peter was visiting him, presumably. This, combined with a cold she was fighting off, made Kathleen seem rather dejected and Lily wondered again when Remus would get round to sharing his secret with her. It was bound to become a problem eventually and from the look on Kathleen's face, eventually was soon.