The Other War // James Potter & Lily Evans

quarrels and quidditch;

After breakfast the following morning, James left early and headed back to his dormitory with Remus, Sirius and Peter all in tow. James grinned as he saw Snape walking towards them, books in hand, eyes cast downwards with his lanky greasy hair hanging over his face.

"Oi, Snivellius!" James yelled out. Snape looked up, a scowl immediately washing over his face.

"What do you want, Potter?" Snape snapped. "I don't have time for your rubbish." James twirled his wand in his fingers.

"Rude," James whined. He flicked his wand in his fingers, knocking the books out of Snape's greasy hands. Snape swore loudly but didn't go to gather his scattered belongings. Instead, he pulled out his own wand, brandishing it in front of his with a malicious scowl painted upon his face. He fired at the same time James did.

"Engorgio!"

And James uttered out, "Impedimenta!" Snape froze, standing rigid until one of the people behind him poked his side and watched him helplessly fall to the ground with nothing to take the brunt of his tumble but his shoulder and his chin. James had only narrowly dodged Snape's curse and watched as it sailed past him and hit Sirius right in the jaw, enlarging his chin until there was so much extra skin that it sagged down the his belly button. Sirius fumed, angry and humiliated.

A large group of people had created a formidable wall around them, some looked on with malicious grins, others rolled their eyes, an impatient look spread across their faces. Lily was among the latter. James paused, contemplating what to do next, he could have carried on in his bullying until Snape was on the ground in nothing but his dirty underwear or he could stop. Not help him up or apologise, that would send all of his remaining dignity and pride down the drain and into the sea. He lowered his wand, but Snape had already pulled himself out of his invisible restraints and struck.

"Stupefy!" Snape yelled and James was blown backwards into the sea of people who caught him in ready arms. Sirius raised his wand.

"Stop," he said feebly. "Padfoot, don't. We have to go to Quidditch trails, or - erm - perhaps the infirmary." Sirius turned to look at him as Snape raised his wand threateningly. His eyes were aggressive and James could feel his own blood singing with adrenaline in his veins. James watched Lily shoulder her way to the front of the crowd, arms crossed, lips pursed, but not saying a thing. James nodded. "Stop, it's a waste of our time. We don't have enough time to fraternise with the likes of little old Snivellius here." James jutted his chin out. Sirius shrugged, casually tucking his wand back into his pocket, his own chin swinging as he walked.

"Fine." And the four of them headed to the Quidditch pitch as the crowd dispersed, taking Lily with it.

-

The Quidditch pitch was not as cold as James would have anticipated for a Saturday in the late weeks of September. Stands lay empty, yet to be filled with students wishing to watch. Sirius helped James as he struggled to carry the box of Quidditch balls out to the centre of the pitch. By then a couple of Gryffindor students, wrapped up in scarves had begun to fill up the barren stands. James grunted, wiping sweat off his forehead despite the fact that it wasn't a particularly warm day.

"You know," Sirius said. "I heard that Evans was going to be watching trials cause that friend of hers - Dorcas whatsit - was thinking of trying," Sirius said. James tried to act nonchalant but even at the mere mention of Lily Evans, James felt himself wanting to smile.

"Nice," was all he said. "I heard McKinnon was going for a chaser position," James said after a while. Sirius stiffened.

"Really?" He asked, looking around as if someone might hear him. "Is she good?" James chuckled, pushing his glasses further up onto the bridge of his nose. Never had he seen Sirius so soft, at such mercy of something that wasn't himself. His on off schoolboy crush on Marlene McKinnon was something that he'd tried to keep under wraps, but James wasn't that oblivious. Even Peter had noticed. Sirius sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"I messed it up, Prongs," he said. James raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"No, really?" James said sarcastically. "If anything, being caught snogging another person violates the boundaries of a relationship immediately without excuses."

"Wow," Sirius scoffed. "Says the love expert that hasn't been able to get someone to go out with him for six years."

"No, I could easily have gone around and shagged the whole female population but I didn't because I want Lily." He smirked as if to say, I win. Sirius closed his eyes momentarily as a few students who were trialling stepped out onto the pitch, and Marlene McKinnon was one of them. James heard Sirius's sudden intake of breath as Marlene and Dorcas strode out onto the pitch.

Immediately, James's eyes jumped to the stands, scanning over them for the sight of Lily's long red hair. He spotted her almost as soon as he started looking, wand tucked behind her ear, scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, nose in a book as she waited for the trails to start. Hurriedly, James yelled out for everyone's attention. There weren't many people there, but James wasn't going to be kept waiting.

"Okay." He said. Chatter ceased immediately. "Who's playing for chaser?" A few timid students raised their hands. Marlene was one of them. James pointed at three of them, gesturing them over to him. "Anyone for beater?" Sirius and Dorcas raised their hands. Well that was easy, James thought to himself. "Seeker?" A larger amount of hands darted into the air.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

-

The bludger flew past James's ear with with a heavy thwoop. He'd been so busy focusing on one of the chasers that he'd forgotten about the bludgers and the fact that he was fifty feet in the air. "Hey!" He yelled out. "Meadowes, Black! I was almost hit in the head with one of those bludgers! Keep them under control!" Dorcas Meadowes looked up and nodded quickly, zipping off to chase one of the bludgers. "McKinnon!" James yelled over the wind. "You have to actually pass the quaffle." Marlene rolled her eyes but tossed it to her left where another chaser caught it. James rested his head in his hands, hovering mid air above the other players.

Marlene pushed the quaffle with a large swing of her arm and flew it straight through the hoop. James flew down and called for everyone to join him. They all descended from the air in a flurry of scarlet robes while James's eyes spied Lily in the stands as she watched her friends. He smiled at her even though she couldn't see him.

"Good job, everyone," James yelled over the howling wind. "The final results will be up in the common room by tomorrow and our first training session will be next Saturday." The crowd dissipated with murmured agreements as they hurriedly rushed back towards the castle to escape the cold. James looked to where Lily was but she had already left.