Mission: Hexed Broom

This is another FanFiction from the German "Harrypotter-Xperts" site which I would like to bring to you because I think it is too good to be kept to the German speaking world alone. Heidi, the author of this great story, gave me permission to translate it and I would like to thank her very much for this honour. You can access all of her stories here: http://www.harrypotter-xperts.de/fanfiction?author=11876

Disclaimer: All characters you recognise belong to Mrs. Rowling who created the wonderful Harry Potter universe, giving us room for our imagination.

A/N: This chapter was beta-read by Professor M McGonagall. Hugs and kisses and a huge bar of chocolate for her, as she managed to do the betaing while she was moving house!

4. Mission "Hexed Broom"

The first day of lessons came, and Lily padded through her dimly lit common room towards the bathroom on bare feet. Her eyes were not really open yet, and she emitted a long yawn when James emerged from the bathroom with damp hair and nothing but a towel around his hips.

His lips twisted in a complacent smile, and he looked Lily up and down appraisingly before he greeted her with a loud, "Good Morning." To him, she looked good enough to eat in her dark green pyjamas and her tousled red hair.

Lily made a dismissive gesture, shuffled past him into the bathroom and closed the door with a loud bang.

James could hardly control himself from laughing. His secret love was definitely not a morning person. He had already forgotten about his humiliation the night before and was on his way to the Gryffindor common room soon afterwards, dressed and ready. Remus and Sirius were already waiting, but Peter was nowhere to be seen. The three Marauders went to have breakfast in the Great Hall.

Meanwhile, Jackie was impatiently waiting for Lily. Without a greeting, Lily immediately told her what had happened the evening before: how the Marauders had suspected one another and finally attacked Remus. Jackie sighed: "It's a pity that I didn't see it." She was a little miffed. After all, she had helped Lily on the train. Without her, the whole dungbomb mission would have been impossible.

Lily took her arm and said in a conspiratorial tone, "During your first Quidditch training session, we will implement our mission 'hexed broom'."

Jackie growled, "Damn, Lily, what if James crashes down? He is our team captain!"

Lily peeked around the corner into the Great Hall. With her gaze on the Marauders, she said, "He will not fall. I need his help with the preparations for the Halloween ball, after all."

Jackie shouted with joy. "There will be a ball?!" She looked towards a certain black-haired boy and sighed. Lily took her hand and urged her on. The girls put enough distance between themselves and the Marauders to converse freely.

James's gaze followed them, and he said, lost in thought, "Wow, Lily is fast. I just saw her go to the bathroom..."

Sirius swallowed his last bite and drawled, "LILY? Since when do you call her Lily?"

James felt the heat rise in his face, and Remus said in a schoolmasterly tone, "He probably uses her given name when they work on their head boy and girl stuff. Am I right, Prongs?"

James looked down and nodded silently. The whole thing embarrassed him very much. Every time he met Lily, she confounded him no end, and Sirius's stupid remarks only made him feel more unsure of himself.

Sirius looked in Jackie and Lily's direction and asked, never averting his gaze, "Hey, Prongs, when did you schedule your first Quidditch training session?"

James followed Sirius's look and answered, "Tonight. Why do you ask, Pad?"

Sirius wiped his chin with his hand and said, "I guess I will come and watch tonight."

Remus raised one eyebrow and said knowingly, "I guess I know why: it's because Jackie Andrews told you what she thought of you yesterday. Let me think of the words... narcissistic, arrogant, macho bastard, wasn't it?"

James chuckled and said, "Welcome to the club, Padfoot."

Sirius growled, "I tell you something: Miss Andrews will have changed her mind about me come Halloween." His pride had been injured, and he did not want to accept that.

"Forget it," said James. "You will find her a hard nut to crack, just as I do with Lily."

Sirius's thoughts were interrupted when Professor McGonagall handed them their timetables and said with a diabolical smile, "Gentlemen, I guess you will have no time for pranks and the associated detentions." Having said that, she turned around and left the Marauders and their tightly packed schedules.

James emitted a loud groan. "Boy, not one free afternoon! I guess this school year's gonna do me in."

Remus patted his shoulder encouragingly and said with a smile, "You'll manage, Prongs."

James laid his forehead on the table top with a frustrated gesture and murmured, "If we only had that bloody Halloween ball organised already..."

Sirius bolted upright with a start and exclaimed, "A ball? Hey, that's great!" His gaze wandered towards Jackie and Lily again and his face split in a broad grin. "That's the occasion!"

Remus shook his head. "Forget it. You won't be able to wrap Jackie around your finger that easily. With her, if you get your hands in the wrong places once, you're dead."

"Well, it's worth a try! Just look at our Jamie here – he doesn't give up either," Sirius said with an optimistic grin. He was quite sure that Jackie would accept his invitation to the ball. After all, no girl had ever given him the brush-off. He would only have to turn on his charm, and everything would be all right.

James pulled himself together and chuntered, "Come on, Potions is waiting."

Sirius smirked. "Ah, the head boy shows off."

Remus grabbed Sirius by the collar and pulled him out of the Great Hall, followed by Jackie and Lily, who had almost the same subjects as the Marauders.

The first lesson brought them to Slughorn's dungeons. They had Potions, and to round off the chaos, Jackie and Lily had to share one worktable with the three Marauders and a Slytherin – Severus Snape. James kept gazing at his self-proclaimed archenemy, Snape. Snivellus, as he and his friends kept calling him, was a crack at Potions just as Lily was. Even the Marauders had to admit that.

Slughorn, a small, chubby professor and Slytherin Head of House, started the first day with repetitions. Everybody was concentrating, and there was not a sound except for the scraping of knives and the simmering of the cauldrons.

Lily and Snape did not need the instructions on the blackboard, but the others kept looking up. Even Sirius would rather read the instructions three times than risk a mistake. Only James seemed somewhat erratic. When green fumes started emerging from all the cauldrons, his was still blue. Lily gave him a pitying smile, and Snape chuckled quietly. James boiled with rage, and Remus hissed, "Hold your Hippogriffs, Prongs."

James hastily packed up his things and left the classroom with hurried strides long before the lesson was over. He felt his friends' gazes on his back, but he saw no other way at the moment. If he had stayed, he would have hexed Snivellus into next week. Because of Lily, he'd rather clear the field.

Slughorn swept to James's workstation, looked into James's cauldron and turned up his nose. "Miss Evans, please inform Mr. Potter that he will have to do this one again. I don't care how, but I expect him to turn in a sample the day after tomorrow."

Lily nodded silently, and Sirius whispered to Remus, "Oh boy, if Prongs goes on like this, he won't even find the time to sleep."

Lily averted her gaze. At the moment, she honestly pitied James for the first time, although she was on a crusade against the Marauders.

Jackie, on the other hand, did not say one word the entire time and kept staring into her cauldron. Sirius tried to get her attention every now and then by dropping things or making more of a racket than was necessary. "Forget it!" Remus hissed, laughing silently. The fact that this wild girl kept giving Sirius the cold shoulder made him respect her even more. Sirius did not deserve anything better. Remus thought that he took the girls much too lightly and sometimes hurt them a great deal in the process.

Lily did not see James again until lunch. She sat next to him, and Jackie plopped down between her and Remus. Lily took some food on her plate and said, "Potter, you are supposed to hand in a sample of your potion by Wednesday."

James's knife and fork hit the table with a clang, and he growled, "Thanks, Evans." He did not take another bite, jumped up and left the hall in long, fast strides.

Lily followed him with her eyes and said, lost in thought, "What's gotten into him?"

Sirius mumbled through his mouth full of food, "Too much work on his plate, probably. The mountain of homework we already have will probably double by evening. Then there's Quidditch practice and the Head Boy duties. I fear that this might do him in."

Remus nodded in agreement, and Jackie said, "We could have started practice next week. Our first game against Slytherin isn't scheduled until November."

Lily said nothing. Sirius looked at Jackie and murmured, "You know James: Quidditch is sacrosanct to him – as it is to you, Andrews."

His words sounded disparaging and Jackie hissed. "If you say so, Mr. Mighty Clever Black." She grabbed her things and swept out of the hall with her nose in the air.

Lily grinned. She was proud of her friend. Jackie really went through with it; she stood up to Sirius wherever she could. Sirius's gaze followed her and he muttered irritably, "What the hell did I do wrong now?"

Remus laughed. "I tell you one thing, Pad. That is not the way to convince her to go to the ball with you."

Lily kept her head down and grinned to herself. But Sirius said coolly, "The evening crowns the day, Moony. Just wait."

---

The afternoon classes dragged on endlessly and did not finish until one hour before dinner. Jackie immediately sought a calm nook in the common room to do her homework, as she had Quidditch practice after dinner. She already knew from past years that James usually extended the practice. They finished very late on most occasions.

Lily made a beeline for her Head Girl rooms and expected to be alone there, but James was already brooding over his desk, deeply engrossed in his homework. She threw her books on her table, and James looked up from his parchment. Then he got back to working and said without looking at her, "I have an idea for the Halloween ball."

Lily leaned on her desk and looked at him expectantly. James mumbled, "What do you think about a masked ball?"

Lily plopped down on her chair and thought for a moment. She did like the idea and was quite astonished that James had come up with such a good plan. This had potential. She turned towards him and nodded approvingly. "The idea is good. Maybe we can talk about it during our patrols on Saturday."

James exhaled in relief and continued scribbling on his parchment. He smiled and was very proud of himself in that moment. Lily Evans had agreed to something he had said and not torn strips off him this time.

The hour before dinner spun away, and they both had managed but a small part of their homework. Lily was too distracted because she kept thinking about the Halloween ball and James because being so close to Lily brought him to heel.

James disappeared in his room again to change for Quidditch practice. Lily took a book as a precautionary measure, as she wanted to start her mission "hexed broom" as soon as the Gryffindor team was on the pitch.

Nothing special happened during dinner. Lily and Jackie sat next to Alice and Frank. He also played on the Gryffindor team, and they talked about the upcoming Halloween ball. However, Lily did not disclose James's idea as it was not developed enough yet.

Jackie and Frank went towards the Quidditch pitch with the other team members, and Jackie whispered in Lily's ear, "Take care; he mustn't get hurt." Lily waved her aside, and her eyes followed the seven Gryffindors who left the hall with Sirius in tow. Lily was a little taken aback by the fact that Black followed the team. The team captain was his friend, but Lily knew that he usually did not attend the team practice. She made her way to the Quidditch pitch with mixed feelings. Should Black indeed lurk around, she had to be careful or she would get caught.

When she arrived, she saw Sirius sitting in one of the stands, observing the team practice. Okay, not the team but only one person: Jackie Andrews. The girl had fuelled his ambition, and he wanted to try to win her over that same evening. He did not even notice Lily, who sat down on a bench on the other side of the pitch.

Lily observed the Gryffindor team from the corner of her eyes and put her book on her lap. She knew that James was very focussed during Quidditch and hardly saw anything else. She placed her wand hand under the book and tried to aim. It was quite difficult because James played Seeker and was constantly racing across the field. He kept shouting instructions to his teammates, and when he stopped for a few seconds, Lily immediately seized the opportunity.

She aimed for James's broom and murmured some words. The broom bucked instantly, and James hurtled over the broom handle. He grabbed the handle with both hands and shouted, "What the Hippogriff is happening here?"

Lily giggled silently and was riveted by James's efforts to get back on his broom. He obviously did not manage as he still hung from it. The team circled around him and some of them laughed. Frank said, "Hey, James, do you think you'll come around some time today, or did you anger your broom?" Everyone laughed about his comment, except James and Jackie, whose eyes searched for her friend now.

Two members of the team tried to grab James's bucking broom, but he only lost the grip of one hand because of it. Jackie was upset and shouted, "Frank, move! Grab him and take him on your broom."

Lily heard Jackie's worried shouts and finished the hex immediately. Then she made a hasty retreat from the stadium. On her way, she threw a short glance in Sirius's direction, but he already stood in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, never taking his eyes from James.

Lily had been gone for a while when James landed on the lawn next to Sirius. James took a deep breath and Sirius said, "Boy, I thought you'd come crashing down any moment. What happened?"

James shook his head. "Dunno. If I didn't know better I'd say someone hexed my broom. That's no coincidence: first the dungbombs and now this."

Sirius wanted to say something, but the rest of the team was landing next to them, and Sirius headed for Jackie straightaway.

Jackie swallowed and shouldered her broom when Sirius said politely, "If you don't mind, I would like to accompany you back to Gryffindor tower."

Jackie looked at her teammates, who chuckled and cleared away. Frank turned around and winked at her, which made Jackie roll her eyes, grunting. "C'mon, Black, I've better things to do."

Sirius was mildly shocked about what she said and trudged along with a scowl. He tried to start a conversation every now and then, but Jackie always gave a short answer and that was that. This kind of reaction was quite hard on her, but she wanted to follow Lily's advice and avoid becoming just one more of his booty calls.

Once they reached the corridor and stood in front of the portrait that covered the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, Sirius was fed up with it. With one precise movement, he grabbed Jackie by the arm, backed her up against the wall and pressed himself against her. Jackie's eyes widened, she started panting, and when he lowered his head, she did the only thing that came to her mind: she kneed him in the groin.

Sirius's face got beet red and he let go of her instantly. But Jackie boiled with rage and clenched her hand in a fist. She hit him in the right eye with a well-aimed punch. Sirius staggered, and she hissed, "If you think that I'm up for grabs, Black, you're very much mistaken." That said, she disappeared through the portrait hole.

She was snorting with rage when she stormed past Remus and James, who had stayed a while to talk to his friend. Trudging upstairs towards the girls' dormitories, she hissed, "You'd better get an ice bag for Black," before she looked over her shoulder to the common room. It was still rather early and there were many students, but Sirius caught her eye immediately. He entered grumpily, covering his right eye with one hand. This made Jackie smile, and she disappeared into her dormitory in a very good mood.

James and Remus smirked and Remus laughed. "Seems that you did indeed get your hands in Jackie's wrong places! Oh, Pad. I told you that she'd be a tough nut. Well, enjoy yourself, then..." With these words, he left James and Sirius to their own devices. James conjured an ice bag for his friend and said with an emphatic smile, "Take this; it'll reduce the pain."

Sirius sighed and slapped the ice bag on his face. He murmured, "I don't understand it. I turned on all my charm and she reacts like... unlike the other girls. None of them has ever given me a black eye just because I wanted to kiss her."

James was unable to stay serious and laughed out loud. In between bouts of laughter, he managed to say, "Boy, you're lucky that it's only a black eye."

"Oh, shut up, Prongs!" growled Sirius and went upstairs to the boys' dormitories.

James entered the head students' suite, still chuckling. Lily seemed to be taking a shower because he heard the sound of running water and her merry singing. Heavens – Lily sings? he thought, and his grin became even wider. He forgot his bucking broom and started doing his potion again.

His cauldron was bubbling away and he cast a glance inside every now and then, but it did not turn out right. He had not noticed that Lily was standing behind him, observing his every move. She wore her green pyjamas again and her hair was falling across her back, still damp.

Lily had been observing him for quite a while, and she knew immediately what he had done wrong. She pitied James because of this Potions problem, and she cleared her throat. He whirled around, and Lily said, "You have read it wrong. It says 'stir clockwise three times', not two."

James's eyes wandered from her to his Potions book, and he hit his forehead with his palm. "Thanks, Lily," he murmured, and then he hectically tried to save his potion, hoping that she would not notice his embarrassment.

Lily was speechless and did not know how to answer. He had used her given name and pronounced it with so much warmth and tenderness that she felt those butterflies in her stomach once more. Sighing softly, she went to her room and closed the door behind her. Then she threw herself on the bed, lost in thought. The day seemed so unreal to her. But still, she felt that something had changed. Someone had changed. Someone she had considered an enemy. Someone she had wanted to fight. She had wanted to fight him with his own weapons, but now she doubted whether she ought to stick to her plans... But then she came up with something even better. Black Beauty was long overdue, and this way she could spare James this time.

She drifted into dreamland with a smile upon her face and a voice in her ear that kept saying her name over and over again.