Chapter 15: It's Game Time

Lily's second year quickly settled into a pattern. She would get up in the morning, have classes all day, eat dinner, have Quidditch practice, and then study in the library with Lorcan, occasionally joined by Emily and Lysander. Hugo and Olivia detested school work and studying, and were only in the library if Emily or Lily forced them, or until they procrastinated so badly that they had no choice but to go to the library to rush a paper due next period.

Her classes were going well. Dating Lorcan meant her Transfiguration marks had improved substantially. She was exceeding all expectations in Charms class, something Flitwick was excited about. He often proclaimed that Lily belonged in Ravenclaw, his house, but Lily merely laughed. She just enjoyed the subject, and she had visited Flitwick's office multiple times, begging him to teach her a more advanced Charm she had found while reading. She was also doing rather well in Potions, a fact in which Slughorn took great pride and credit in.

"Oho!" He would cry, his mustache bustling. "You most certainly inherited your namesakes talent in Potions, just like your father!"

Comparisons were nothing new to Lily, as even in her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, Robards would grade her roughly, telling her she was performing top of her class, but still short of her father's talents or her eldest brother, James…

She knew James' talent lay in Defense class, as he had dreamed of becoming an Auror since he was a child. Lily, who shared that dream, tried not to be frustrated of falling short of her brother. This year's comparisons were much calmer, she thought, than last year's, in which every student whispered about her as she passed. Now, most students left "Harry Potter's daughter" well enough alone.

Occasionally, Lily saw Scorpius or Newt in the hallways. Sometimes the mysterious Slytherin girl was with them. Whenever she saw the two boys, she stared determinedly ahead, walking faster to pass them. With Scorpius, it didn't matter; he ignored her just as hard as she ignored him. Newt stared at her with such a force as if he were trying to coax her to look at him with his mind.

Either of them made Lily's heart jump with the feelings she still secretly had for Scorpius, feelings she tried so hard to keep down. They made her feel guilty, especially if she was walking with Lorcan. A new notice was a smaller girl that sometimes tagged along with Scorpius. Lily never saw her if Lael or Newt were around. Emily told her the girl was Carys, the first year that took the blame of the incident.

Lily felt rather bored in her second year. She had a feeling it was because of Scorpius. First year was eventful because of him: he provided excitement, mystery, and fun. Without him, Lily spent all her time with Lorcan.

Which wasn't necessary a bad thing. It's just… all they did was study. He went to bed by curfew, he did all his homework in the library and he didn't ever step out of line. He had told Lily how he was forced into Lysander's crazed plans, mainly out of duty.

The only times Lily enjoyed herself was in Quidditch practice or with Emily and Olivia. She never had time with just Emily and Olivia, or even her family. Lorcan was always there. He sat with her at every meal, walked her to every class, and after dinner, waited to accompany her to the common room or the library for homework.

Quidditch was her break from him. It was her break from everything. Up in the air, she left all thoughts, worries and feelings on the ground: her lingering feelings for Scorpius, her annoyance at Lorcan, school, and grades—they all stayed on the ground. All she felt was exhilarations as she sped through the sky, laughing with her teammates. It was her time to spend with her brothers, something she felt like she hadn't done before Hogwarts, and something she dearly missed.

One thing did worry her: their upcoming match was against Slytherin. She would have come face to face with Scorpius. When she had expressed her fears with Emily and Olivia in a private moment they scored by escaping into the bathroom, Emily smiled sadly.

"At least you're not a Chaser," she said, leaning against the stall. Olivia, who was sitting on the sink, smirked.

"Kick their arse. That's a good way to show him up,"

"Just focus on the game," Emily said, patting Lily's arm. Lily sighed and the three girls left before the boys began to wonder where they had gone.

Middle of October was the first game. Lily had awoken with a start before the sun even rose. She got out of bed slowly, and moved towards the window. It was a brisk morning, with mist rolling across the long, dew covered fields of Hogwarts. As the sun rose, it lit the morning mist with an orange glow. Lily chewed her lip nervously as she got ready for the match as quietly as possible, trying not to wake her roommates. Natalie grunted and rolled over in her sleep as Lily slipped out the door, clicking it shut behind her.

The common room was chilly; the fire was just embers that cast long shadows on the furniture. From the light barely shining in front the window, Lily could see a figure sitting stiffly on the couch.

"Al?"

Al looked up as Lily walked down the stairs.

"Good morning, Lily," he replied, yawning. "Couldn't sleep?"

"No, you?" She sat down next to him.

"Never before a game," he said. The two sat quietly for a moment before Lily laid her head on Al's shoulder. The two sat quietly as the sun rose, slowly illuminating the common room. Finally, around seven, just when the other Gryffindors were beginning to stir above Lily heard, or rather felt, Al's stomach growl. Lily laughed and stood up from the couch, offering Al her hand.

"Hungry much? Come on, let's get breakfast,"

Al smiled sheepishly as they left the common room. The two walked quietly towards the Great Hall. As Lily entered the Great Hall with Albus, butterflies were flying erratically in her stomach.

The two Potters were soon joined by James and Jesse. James was being extra loud and obnoxious to work through his nerves. He sat down next to Lily and placed a small pile of toast in front of her.

"Eat," he said quietly. "You'll feel better,"

Lily took his advice, silently munching on her toast as James turned to entertain the fourth years sitting across from them. Her stomach was churning so badly that she didn't want to eat too much for fear of chucking up on the field.

"Hey, Potter," a voice drawled. All three turned. Albus furrowed his eyebrows, James rolled his eyes, and Lily's breath caught in her throat.

Scorpius was standing there, jauntily, looking at James.

"I'll see you on the pitch," he smirked, his eyes sliding to Lily's for a moment before he walked away.

"Slimy git," James said, turning around in his seat.

Lily grunted a noncommittal agreement. She glanced at Albus. He was staring at her quizzically.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just…" Albus glanced over his shoulder for a fraction of a second before looking back at Lily. His green eyes bored into hers. "It's nothing,"

Lily shoved her toast into her mouth nervously. She could almost hear the gears turning and working in Albus' head as he guessed what may or may not have just happened.

If something did happen. He had looked at James while speaking, but she thought the way he spoke was meant for her.

"Alright, team, to the locker rooms. Now!

Lily's heart jumped as Clint stood from the table and called to them. All thoughts of Scorpius suddenly left her brain. Lily followed her brothers solemnly as the Gryffindor team walked out of the hall amid boos and cheers. Her friends entered as they were leaving.

"Good luck, Lily!" Emily and Hugo yelled. As she passed him, Lorcan reached out and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back with a smile.

The Gryffindors walked across the grounds quietly. Even James had calmed down. He reached out and placed his arm around Lily. She leaned into him as they approached they entered the changing room.

"Come on, Lily," Race reached out her hand to Lily and led her through the center room and into the door on its right.

The girls changing room was much smaller than the boys, but clean. Along the side were maroon lockers. Each locker had a shelf next to it, with hooks underneath to hang their robes. On the opposite wall were stalls for a bathroom, and against the back was a hallway that led back to what Lily assumed was showers.

Race stopped in front of a locker in the middle of the room, sitting on the long bench in front of the lockers. Lily could see her name etched in gold lettering along the top. Lily kept walking, looking for the locker with her name on it.

She found it a few before the shower room. She ran her finger along her name at the top of the locker before reaching for the robes hanging from the hooks next to it. Everything felt rather surreal as Lily undressed from her casual clothes and slipped into her Quidditch robes. She felt the soft itch of the fabric between her fingers, the sleeves too long for her tiny frame. Her heart pounded with excitement. Finally, her first Quidditch game at Hogwarts… she had been dreaming of this moment since she was a little girl.

"Are you gonna join the team, Potter, or are you just gonna stare at your locker all day?"

Lily jumped and turned to see Clint peeking his head through the door, glaring at her. Race must have left without her notice.

"O-of course!" She blushed. Clint rolled his eyes and let the door slam behind him. Lily ran out herself to find the whole team sitting on the benches, chatting loudly as they waited for her. With her head down, she took a seat in front of James. He flicked her in the back of the head.

"Alright, that's enough." Clint started. "I said, ENOUGH, James. Listen, I know we're all excited to be back after last year's success—"

Cheers drowned out the rest of Clint's sentence and he had to raise his voice to be heard over his team.

"—BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN WE'RE IN THE CLEAR! Slytherin has a tough team this year… I've played against their new keeper in intramural leagues. He's like an iron wall, impossible to get the quaffle through him."

"He hasn't met me yet!" James roared. Race nodded determinedly as well.

"He'll show you up too, Potter, if you don't focus and keep your ego in check! I'm serious, guys. We need a very aggressive offense," he trained his eyes on Race and James. "We need to work as a team and overwhelm him. Any opportunity you have to score, no matter how outrageous it seems, do it! We'll tire him out if we must! Now let's go pulverize those bloody snakes!"

The entire team cheered, stomping their feet, clapping their hands, and Everett and James even bumped their chests together. The team was still shouting as they exited the locker room, hiding Clint's whisper.

"Don't let us lose too much," he hissed in Lily's ear, his hand gripping her upper arm as they walked on to the field. The crowd's roar drowned out her other teammates, the stadium alive with excitement. "If they get too far ahead, catch that snitch and cut our losses!"

He pushed her away then, acting playful and shouting for Gryffindor as he roughly put James in a headlock and held his broom high.

Suddenly, Lily wasn't as excited for this game…

"On my mark," the referee called. She raised her whistle to her lips and the shrill screech filled the air, quickly swallowed up by the noise of the crowd. Lily soared upwards leaving the ground behind and apparently her stomach too.

"And they're off! First match of the year and it already promises to be a doozy… I'm sure Slytherin is still smarting from when we kicked their arse last year," Jesse began from his commentary box, where McGonagall poked him in the side with the edge of her cane. "Hey, it's a good motivation, Professor! And unfortunately it seems to be working. Ackart has the quaffle, passes to Malfoy, who passes to Jones, who feints, dodges the bludger from Weasley – nice try, you're still hot though – shoots and—"

The Gryffindor crowd groaned as Raleigh Jones, the fifth year Chaser, scored Slytherin's first goal within minutes of the game starting. Al cursed loudly and pounded his fist into his thigh in frustration.

Lily's heart sunk. Clint was right… the Slytherin team this year was much better than last year. Now that the majority of their team had been together for at least a season, they had learned how to fly together. The chasers flew around each other in a circular formation, passing the ball quickly back and forth as they switched positions, not allowing Rose or Everett to get a good shot in with the bludger. The new play had started already and the three chasers were green blurs in the sky as they raced down to the Gryffindor end.

"COME ON, ROSE, HIT HER!" Clint screamed and he zoomed passed Lily, sweat already dripping down the crease in his forehead. Lily flew off to the edge of the field and headed towards the Slytherin goal, eyes peeled for the snitch. Another cheer went up from the green section of the stands. Jones had scored again.

"And it's twenty-nothing two and a half minutes into the game," Jesse groaned. "Come on, lions, don't disappoint me!"

Within the next seventeen minutes, Slytherin had scored another nine times, bringing the score to 110-0. Lily nervously wiped her sweaty palms on her robe, eyes squinting for the snitch.

"Come on, where are you," she muttered. "Show me something, a flash of gold, anything!"

"Talking to yourself isn't gonna help, Potter," Scorpius smirked as he flew up to her side, red faced and hair tousled.

"Don't you have a quaffle to toss around or something?" Lily sneered back. He grinned as the Dean Ackart, the other chaser, flew by and tossed him the quaffle. Scorpius caught it easily and held it up to her with one hand.

"Oh, this? You Gryffindors sure do make this easy,"

WHAM.

Lily barely saw what happened. A bludger out of nowhere connected with the back of Scorpius's head. His arm went limp as he crumpled over his broomstick, unconscious for a brief moment. The quaffle rolled out of his hand and into the empty air below. It dropped just a few feet before James flew by and snatched it, tucking it securely under his arm. He leaned close to his handle as he took off determinedly to the Slytherin goal.

"Good work!" James cried. Lily looked behind her to see Rose grinning just a few feet behind Scorpius.

"As soon as he flew off in your direction, I knew he'd be distracted!" She shouted before she quickly flew off after James. Scorpius moaned and was shaking his head slightly as if to shake off the throbbing pain from the giant lump that had already formed on the back of his head from the close range hit. He scowled at Lily and she couldn't help but giggle at him.

"Don't be such a baby!" She called after him as he took off after James, but it was too late. Gryffindor screams grew louder as James approached the Slytherin goal. Race flew a few feet beneath him, ready to catch the quaffle if it got knocked out of his hands, as Race and Everett flew circles around them, bats out and knocking away any bludgers.

The new keeper, Theo, looked thicker than a tree trunk, and seemed to have just as many human features as one too. His head sat on a short, fat neck where his muscles and veins bulged out from the skin. He laughed, snorting out of a wide flat nose, as James feinted right before throwing left, easily blocking the attempt to score, his whole body almost the size of the hoop. He tossed the quaffle back into play. Jones grabbed it and off the three chasers went again in their formation, quickly passing to avoid bludgers, as the rest of the Gryffindor team in pursuit trying to get the ball back in their possession.

Albus licked his lips nervously. Despite his best efforts, and having blocked more than half of the goals, the chasers were running him down.

"That's it," he breathed, sitting up as the idea came to him. "Running them down…"

He flattened himself as close to his broomstick as possible. If this was going to work, he had to time it perfectly.

"And it's Jones to Ackart to Malfoy… back to Jones… back to Malfoy," Jesse droned on with his head in his hands. It was embarrassing how bad Slytherin was pulverizing Gryffindor.

Just as Jones entered scoring range, her eyes flicked right, and she reached her arms out to catch the quaffle being passed to her. Albus took off as fast as he could possibly go, away from the left goal and straight at her instead. Jones eyes widened as she wound her arm back and threw the quaffle to the left goal, just as Albus thought she would.

"Come on, come on!" He urged the broom faster. He cut the broom sharply to the right, rolling sideways on the broom and swinging his foot out. He laughed loudly as his foot connected with the quaffle. It zoomed back towards the unaware Slytherins who looked shocked at the keeper that seemed to have been flying at them to attack. Jones let out a high pitch scream as the three chasers scattered, startled by the sudden reverse direction of the ball. The quaffle hurtled fifty yards down the field where it suddenly landed in Clint's hands.

"HOLY MERLIN, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, ALBUS?!" Jesse cried, jumping to his feet. McGonagall didn't even reprimand him – she was staring open mouthed at Albus as well. Gryffindor screamed as Clint flew the short distance left to the Slytherin goal, protected only by the keeper, as the rest of his team had been down in the Gryffindor goal zone, too far now to help. Clint flew straight at the center hoop where Theo waited for him. At the last second, Clint faked right and Theo took off to the side hoop but Clint twisted in the air and threw the quaffle straight through the center, unprotected hoop.

Even Lily stopped circling the field, threw her hands up and cheered.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORES! FINALLY! 110-10, Slytherin, but welcome back to the game, Gryffindor! Now bring us back from this humiliation!"

Reinvigorated by the amazing attack and kick Albus did, the game resumed in force. Slytherin continued to score, but Albus's confidence was back, and he stopped all but six of them. Frustrated, Slytherin began to get sloppy, giving the Gryffindor's a few foul shots that did nothing more than annoy Theo as he easily swatted them all away from his goals.

"Lily, come on!" Clint shouted at her as he flew past. She swallowed hard. It was down to her. She needed to catch that snitch and end the game before Slytherin did. If Callista caught that snitch first, her team would be over 300 points ahead of Gryffindor, practically insuring them last place for the Quidditch Cup. And just from the first game.

Despite the hour long game, Lily hadn't even seen the snitch once. Judging by the harried look on Callista's face, she hadn't either. Lily stopped in her tracks and brought her broom as high up as she dared, staring down at the game.

If I were a snitch, where would I be….

A bug brushed against Lily's ear, tickling her, and she swatted at it. Her hand hit something solid and automatically closed around it. She froze.

"No way," Pulling her hand down, the wings of the snitch struggled fruitlessly in her hand. A wide grin spread across her face as she whooped.

"I GOT IT," she screamed, flying down in the middle of the action, her hand held high. "I GOT IT!"'

"And it looks like Lily Potter caught the snitch… when, I have no idea, but that means this game is finished! 170-160, Slytherin wins by a margin!" Jesse cried as the Slytherin bleachers erupted into shouts and cheers. The players slowed to a stop, not realizing exactly what had just happened. Everett had been mid swing of a bludger, and it flew into Ackart's face, knocking the quaffle out of his hands and straight to the ground beneath him. Clint seemed to be the only one excited.

"Thank Merlin, Lily!" he cried as he flew to her, engulfing her in a sweaty, smelly hug. "You saved us!"

The players lowered themselves to the ground. Slytherin, finally realizing the game was over and they had won, waited proudly as the Slytherin team came rushing onto the lawn. The Gryffindor team smiled as well as they landed.

"Well, a ten point loss isn't that bad at all!" Race exclaimed with a grin. "That's an easy comeback!"

"It's only easy if we score some goals, which it seems like you are incapable of doing!" Clint yelled, poking her in the chest. She scowled at him.

"Hey, come on, leave her alone!" James retaliated. "None of us could get anything past that troll!"

"None of us? I seem to recall scoring the only goal we made in the entire game! I warned you two about Theo, but did you listen, nooo, of course not!" Clint continued to berate James and Race, much to their chagrin. Rose shrugged at Lily and started off towards the locker room, Everett following her. Albus had already disappeared, probably hoping to avoid the row with Clint he was sure to get later. Lily could see her friends eagerly fighting the crowd, trying to get out of the stands to come meet her.

She glanced back at the Slytherin crowd where Newt was excitedly talking to Scorpius about the game, reenacting particularly exciting moments. Scorpius was half-heartedly listening and he looked over Newt's shoulder and made eye contact with Lily. Her breath caught in her throat; she felt frozen to the ground by those eyes. He nodded at her. After a moment, she pressed her lips together and nodded back.

"Lily! Lily, over here!" She heard Hugo's voice calling her as she stared at Scorpius. He broke the eye contact when the strange Slytherin girl from their group approached and brazenly kissed Scorpius in the crowd. His hands rose up to her waist. Lily's jaw dropped.

"Lily! That was insane!" Hugo grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. Her friends had reached her. "When did you even find the snitch?!"

Lily ignored him and stepped forward, grabbing Lorcan's hand and pulling him from the group and towards her as she crushed her mouth to his.

Two can play at that game.