The Other War // James Potter & Lily Evans

announcements;

As the last class of the day concluded and students filed out of classrooms, flooding the corridors, James took the opportunity to slip into the Gryffindor common room and mention Quidditch trials in the short break they had before dinner. The Gryffindor common room filled up slowly with loud students and talk of the days events. James leaned against one of the pillars by the stairs.

As brilliantly lavish the heads quarters were, James would have been lying if he said that he preferred them over the Gryffindor common room but he wasn't complaining, of course. In the heads common room, there was no risk of being awoken at night by Peters snoring or Sirius's pranks or Remus's rants, but there were also no Sirius, Peter or Remus. All he had was Lily who had already decided that she was not going to be seen dead with the likes of James Potter. He didn't even know why he tried. He took a breath, her face printed on the back of his closed eye lids, and when he released it, the face vanished.

A loud cloud of chatter erupted in the room as Sirius, Remus and Peter waltzed in, dumping their books on the table by the portrait hole. James walked over.

"Aye, Prongsy, mate," Sirius drawled as he strode over to James who peeled himself off the wall and greeted them with a trademark smile.

"Why are you here?" Peter asked. James held up the flyer for the Quidditch trials and Peter nodded. By the time it seemed as if the majority of Gryffindor had gathered, James stepped up onto the coffee table.

"Right, right." He called out and the chatter began to fade. "Tomorrow is Quidditch trails for this years Gryffindor team. The pitch has been booked from nine am sharp, so be there on time. Available are, two chaser spots, two beaters and a seeker, a keeper." Murmurs broke out in the audience as James stepped down. Sirius sauntered over.

"So," he began.

"No," James replied. "You have to actually trial for this year's team, Black." James chuckled running fingers through his hair. Sirius pouted and Peter laughed.

"Oh, c'mon, Prongs." Sirius whined. "I'm a vital asset to the success of this team."

James muttered a vague 'mhmm' in reply but his focus was elsewhere. Lily walked into the room and was immediately swarmed by the likes of Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes. James began to walk over, to talk to her, to look at her, to ask her out but he stopped. He saw Lily cast a glance in his direction from the corner of his eye. The chatter silenced suddenly, this time all attention was diverted to McGonagall who had just strode into the common room, a piece of parchment in her hand. She cleared her throat and began to read from the scroll.

"Hogwarts is hosting a ball." She said promptly. "All students of fourth year or older are welcome to attend. A notice regarding time will be put up shortly. This ball is to commemorate Hogwarts' 8290th year. It is a masquerade ball, which means identities are to be kept secret for said night. Polyjuice potion is not to be brewed, identity manipulations are to be strictly magic only. Students attending are to owl me no later than next month and please note that any student who misbehaves will also be kept from attending as well as detention." James swore she cast a quick glance at him. He smiled widely with innocent wide eyes. "No silliness will be tolerated." She left the room.

"Game," Sirius said as soon as people began to talk again, loudly, as if trying to drown each other out. Remus rolled his eyes.

"I highly doubt that there will be any girls waiting in line."Remus shrugged.

"So it's masquerade," Peter said excitedly. "But she said no polyjuice." But James was too busy staring in the general direction of Lily to pay Peter much notice. She seemed as excited as Peter, eyes alight with enthusiasm and a smile as wide as a mile. Sirius snapped his fingers in front of James's face and pulled him back into reality.

The reality was, Lily Evans was far too good for him and what he wanted was all a make up of a hopeful imagination. He shook his head at Sirius.

"Padfoot," he said despairingly. Sirius sighed. "What will we do?"