Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Chapter 15 Gryffindor Vs. Ravenclaw

Author's Note: Read [bracketed] text as struck-through :)

***

I'd be crazy not to go to the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Everyone goes to the first Quidditch match of the season. Even I usually go to this one, and it's made all the more intense because we'd barely defeated Ravenclaw last year for the Quidditch Cup. That makes this game like... the biggest rivalry in the castle. Besides the one between James – I mean, Potter – and Severus. Or maybe Potter and me.

Plus, I've got to support Marlene. Obviously. My unusual interest in this Quidditch game has little to do with James – Potter – who is barely my friend. Really more of a friendly acquaintance. It's only the polite thing to do, supporting your friendly acquaintance who is also a surprisingly brill Transfiguration tutor. It certainly has nothing to do with how well one might suddenly wonder this friendly acquaintance looks riding a broom. Really, I'm going mostly for Marlene. And tradition. And Gryffindor. Got to show that Gryffindor pride!

Never mind the promise I made to Potter last night. (I will call him by his surname. I will not mess up again.)

So bright and early, I wake with all the other girls in the dormitory. Every last one of us is up, tracking down scarves and hats, even Carol and Mary. I feel almost kindly toward them as we dress in our crimson and gold Gryffindor gear and make predictions about how the match will go. Emmeline deliberates over her gloves, but Marlene decides for her, yanking them out of her hands and tossing them onto Emmeline's bed. "It's the first of October, Em, not December!"

Marlene flits around the dormitory, curls bouncing, barely able to sit still. I have no clue when she got up this morning, just that she was already dressed and digging through her trunk looking for her lucky lion-shaped earrings she only wears for Quidditch matches by the time I stumbled out of bed to the loo. She always gets like this on match days, energy pulsing through her, too much to contain inside.

Downstairs, in the Great Hall, the mood is similar, with everyone talking loudly and mingling between tables, munching on buttery slices of toast or giant pumpkin bran muffins. It feels almost festive, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws decked out in their House colors. Some of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs have even chosen to show their support for their team of choice today by temporarily magicking their own House gear red or blue.

Marlene leads the way along the Gryffindor table until she finds other members of the Gryffindor team; her fellow Chasers Potter and Enola are clumped together with Keeper Stacy Abbott and little Corbyn Fox who won the Seeker spot. We slide in across the table from them.

Potter grins broadly when he sees me in my Gryffindor scarf. "I was certain you were going to bail on me – well, us – this morning."

"I thought about it," I say, just to be contrite, though in reality, I'm feeling quite keyed up. I'm sure it's just everyone else's excitement getting to me, the moody way the sun streaks down between the iron gray clouds in the enchanted ceiling overhead, Potter's arms, solid and lean and strong under his red and gold sweater...

Oh Merlin, Lily. Pull yourself together. What is with you?

"Oh, don't be such a downer, Lil," Marlene says. "You were just as excited as everyone else this morning, planning exactly what time you should leave breakfast to get a decent spot on the pitch."

Everyone laughs, I give a 'you got me' sort of shrug, and Potter smiles and leans forward. "I'm glad you're coming," he says. It's not exactly said in undertone, but it's quiet enough that I know he meant it just for me. But before I can process that, James stands and calls to his team, including his two Beaters Yarrington and Wood further down the table, telling them it's time to go.