Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff

Author's Note: Two chapters tonight! I love love love comments. Thanks for being wonderful readers <3

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Gryffindor's next match is scheduled for this coming Saturday. I can't believe how the month has flown, how it's already the last week of January. "You all better hope the weather turns for the better before this weekend," I say Thursday evening, looking at the rain lashing against the windows. "It's been miserable out all week."

Marlene makes a face as she listens to the storm battering the trees of the Forbidden Forest. A bunch of us are doing homework in the common room, trying to get ahead for the weekend.

"It's fine," James says bracingly. "That's why we practice in all conditions." And it's true; he's had his team practicing aggressively all month multiple times a week. But he glances outside, and I know he's worried too.

The rain doesn't let up, and Saturday morning the sky pulses torrid and grey.

"It's fine," James says again over breakfast to his team. They eye the enchanted ceiling warily where the rain thunders down. "We've flown in rain before, we know how to do this."

"Rain is one thing. Hurricanes are quite another," Marlene mutters next to me, but quiet enough James won't hear.

"You'll be fine," I echo James's words to her. "And so will you," I tell him quietly when I catch him fiddling incessantly with his hair. He's tugging on it more than messing it up, which means he's nervous. "Like you said, you're prepared for this."

I hesitantly reach out and pull his arm down. The touch is so unlike me, but I've been feeling the distance between us the last few weeks so acutely I don't even care. I just want to feel connected again, like we're on the same page. Or, Merlin, even in the same book. When he lowers his arm back down to rest on his leg, I keep my hand on his wrist a moment longer than necessary. "You're going to do great."

He stares down at my hand in surprise and then meets my eyes. "Thanks, Lily," he says. He brightens a little. "And then tonight we're still on for our study session?"

"Yes," I say, trying not to sound over-excited. I'd struggled with yesterday's Transfiguration lesson enough that James had offered to work with me after the match in exchange for some Charms pointers. I'd been almost embarrassingly relieved by the offer. It'll be the first time we will have time alone together since the Transfiguration exam and I'm really looking forward to being alone with him. Even if it truly is for school work, and in the library. "Go win the match for us first, though."

But as I trudge out to the pitch an hour later with Alice, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, I have serious doubts about how this match will go. The rain sheets down, and we're drenched before we even settle in the stands.

Even all my Quidditch-obsessed mates are having a hard time staying enthusiastic. "I almost wish I'd stayed in bed like Emmeline," Alice grumbles, attempting to use her scarf as a sort of hat.

"Here," I say, and point my wand up into the air. "Nonaquam." Like an invisible umbrella, the rain streams around us. It's not a perfect solution – the wind still whips water into our faces, and I have to keep my wand pointed up for it to work, but it's much better than before.

"Hey, Evans, how do we benefit from that action?" Peter shouts at me.

"Do it yourself, Peter," I retort.

He sticks his tongue out at me.

"Don't be such a prat, Wormtail," Remus says, and a moment later he's got his own invisible umbrella over himself and Peter. Although if Remus had asked me to do it for him, I would have. The pallor on his skin today and the slow shuffle he'd adopted on the way to the pitch have me worried he's on the verge of another bout of illness.