Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

When Lily woke up Friday morning she was already panicking. She had decided to go to her two classes that day, since she didn’t have any with Sirius. She wandered into her Ancient Runes class, and took her normal seat next to Remus.

“How are you feeling?” He asked her, though it was obvious she was upset. Her eyes were blood shot from lack of sleep, and she was paler than normal.

“I’m alright, I don’t want to go,” Lily said quietly as she scribbled down her homework into her planner.

“You don’t have too, Bridget plays an excellent Juliet, nothing compared to yours but don’t feel as if you are being forced,” Remus said as the teacher began his lecture.

“My parents sent me a letter today saying they can’t wait to see me,” Lily said quietly as she handed him the letter under the table.

Remus opened up the piece of line paper and read it quickly as it lay in his lap. “I’m sure they would understand Lily,” he said quietly.

“No, I think I’ll be alright. I’ll try, and if I can’t do it, Bridget can finish off the rest, I’ll fake being sick again,” Lily replied before being called on to answer a question. She had kept up with all her school work thanks to her friends, so she had no problem in class; it was as if she had not missed a thing.

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Classes were let out early that day because it was the premier of the play, and the Quidditch game had been moved earlier since two players on Gryffindor and one on Slytherin were in the play. Lily had decided to stay in her room, and calm her nerves. She still had five hours until curtain call, but she was already beginning to feel nauseas.

She wandered into the bathroom and turned on the shower hoping it would calm her when she heard a knock on the door. Replacing her shirt, Lily answered it to find her four friends sitting there, decked out in Gryffindor colors.

“Hey guys,” Lily said looking at them. Phoebe had put gold and maroon stripes in her hair, Bridget had done simple stripes under her eyes. Her other two friends were a bit more extreme, Donna with maroon hair and a gold painted face, and Amy was the opposite. “What are you doing here? The game starts,” Lily paused to check the clock. “In twenty minutes.”

“We came to get you silly,” Phoebe said shoving past Lily into her room before she had a chance to close the door.

“No, I am not going,” Lily said attempting to shut the other three girls out but she was too slow.

“Yes you are, you have been locked up in your room for a week, only coming out for food, and classes today,” Bridget protested.

“I came out for final costume check,” Lily protested before trying to wander off to the bathroom. If she made it in there she could lock the door.

“No you don’t,” Amy said cutting Lily off as she saw her make a break for the bathroom. She smirked, her white teeth glaring against her maroon painted face.

“I really don’t want to goooo,” Lily whined pouting at her friends.

“Too bad,” Donna said as she began to shift through Lily’s draw, throwing clothes out of the draw that she deemed inappropriate for the Quidditch game.

“But Sirius…” Lily began trying to plead with her most sympathetic, and most easy to manipulate friend Phoebe.

“We will be there, and so will Remus, and James, and the whole rest of the school basically,” Phoebe said not giving in.

“Ah, here we go,” Donna said holding up a mini skirt. Lily had not worn that in about two years, the last time she did was over break when they went to a muggle club.

“Are you kidding me it is freezing outside! And it’s not even the right color!” Lily said pointing to the pink checkered skirt.

“The beauty of magic,” Amy said turning the skirt maroon and gold plaid. “Put it on.”

“I am going to freeze,” Lily said stripping down to her knickers before pulling the obnoxiously short skirt on. “You can see my bum!” She protested looking in the mirror. The last thing she wanted was to look sexy at a game where a guy who had molested her was.

“Leggings my dear,” Phoebe said after returning from the bathroom from shutting the water off. As she said that Amy produced a pair of black legging throwing them at Lily, before grabbing a pair of gold knee high socks.

“Looks like I have no choice,” Lily mumbled as she pulled on the clothes as they were thrown at her. They threw a black long sleeved shirt at her, before tossing a maroon tank top with gold letters that said Gryffindor, and on the back, it had been charmed to read the last name of each players in minute intervals across her shoulder blades. “I feel like a Quidditch crony,” Lily complained as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“You’re not done yet,” Amy said giving Lily the final touched of gold highlights, since her red hair contrasted it enough. “Last but not least,” Donna said as she shifted through her side bag and produced a pair of black platform heels.

“No way,” Lily said staring at them. She was already five foot six, with those she would be at least five ten. “I am going to look like a skank,” Lily replied as Donna walked over.

“No you will look like half the girls out there. If you want to see skank you should see the Slytherin girls, they should just go naked,” Bridget said as Lily slipped the shoes on.

When Lily checked herself in the mirror and lengthened the skirt a bit, then she even had to admit she looked pretty. She checked over her shoulder, and glared slightly, and went to remove the shirt. The name across the back was Black.

“Wait,” Amy said coming up to her friend. Quickly she removed the name Black from the list, and Lily check the shirt again. Wicker was spread across her shoulder blades now.

“Alright, let’s go,” Lily said and the group of five headed down to the pitch.

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James and Sirius were not talking while the changed in the Quidditch locker rooms. They hadn’t really spoken at all in the past week except quick conversation about practice and rehearsal time. It seemed like Sirius was over the whole ordeal because he already had two new girls hanging on him.

“Are you ready for today?” Sirius asked James who merely shrugged.

“I suppose, are you?”

“Yeah, we creamed Slytherin last time,” Sirius commented as he strapped on his arm guards.

“Don’t forget the new plays we went over,” James replied not looking Sirius in the eye.

“I won’t,” Sirius said quickly. It was obvious the conversation was still strained between the two best friends. “Will Lily be at the play tonight?”

“I think so,” James said finally looking at Sirius, who did show any sign of emotion.

“Glad she’s not sick anymore,” Sirius commented, before shutting his locker door rather hard.

“Well don’t do anything to make her sick tonight,” James warned following his friend to entrance of the locker rooms.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius said before walking out on the pitch to the roaring crowd and kicking off.

James followed suit, trying to mask the sour look on his face as he did a once over the crowd. When he came back around to the Gryffindor hoops, he noticed a particular red head sitting in the front row, completely dressed up in Gryffindor gear. He waved, glad that she was here, and that her friends were able to pry her out of the confines of her room.

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“It is so loud out here!” Lily yelled into her friends ear, since that was the only means of communication.

“I know it is, this is supposed to be a huge game!” Bridget yelled back, her blonde hair wiping Lily’s face in the wind.

Lily cheered as the Gryffindor team came around for a pass, and stopped by the hoops. She picked James out in the group, and she saw that he had found her, and she returned his wave, a large smile on her face.

“Hey,” Remus said tapping Lily on the shoulder. He was a little late because he had stopped at the hospital wing for a potion. He had been feeling a bit fatigued, and he could tell he was starting to get sick.

“Hey, where’s your spirit?” Lily asked Remus, who was still in his school uniform.

“Left it in my closet,” Remus said back, his hands cupping around Lily’s ear. “But I can see you have enough for the both of us.”

“They got to me,” Lily yelled, pointing to her four friends.

Before anymore could be said, the game started. Lily watched as Gryffindor took the Quaffle down toe Slytherins hoop, and scored within the first five minutes. She cheered along with her friends, glad that they had convinced, or rather dragged, her out to see the game.

James and Sirius had not teamed up yet like they normally did, instead they were using Micheal Buxton, but he fumbled the ball, and it was caught by Slytherin. Luckily Phillip Buxton was able to catch it before it went into the goals.

“What are they doing?!” Amy yelled when Sirius and James still refused to work with one another on the field. They were both going around one another, and risking loosing the Quaffle.

“I don’t think they are getting along,” Lily yelled, though her voice was drowned out by the Gryffindor sighs, and Slytherin cheers as Slytherin scored.

“POTTER AND BLACK NEED TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER IF THEY WANT TO WIN THIS!” The announcer’s voice boomed. “IT SEEMS LIKE TENSIONS ARE RUNNING HIGH BETWEEN THE TEAM.”
It was obvious that the rest of the team was fed up with Sirius and James fighting, and the keeper was at the goals cursing out Sirius.

James and Sirius had decided to work together, but it was obvious they were not happy with one another.

“TAKE IT EASY GUYS! YOU’RE ON THE SAME TEAM!” The announced yelled over the crowd. James and Sirius were throwing the ball rather rough at one another, and at one point James was nearly knocked off his broom by the force.

James was quick, and he barrel rolled out of the way to score a goal for Gryffindor. When he doubled back around, he and Sirius exchanged a brief glance but that was it. People in the crowd from Gryffindor were even booing the non-camaraderie between James and Sirius.

“They need to get over themselves,” Donna said frustrated. She was heavily into Quidditch, and went to all the games that Gryffindor played, and even watched some practices for fun.

“They both have hot tempers, this will help them vent their anger on one another,” Remus said over the roar into Lily’s ear. “It is better they get out of their systems here than in the dormitories. They normally break things.”

Lily just nodded, and leaned over the edge a bit as James whizzed by. He was too busy keeping is eye on the Quaffle since Slytherin was dancing around the goals. Then Sirius came out of nowhere, and he came so close to Lily his cloak hit her cheek lightly. She took that cue to lean back, and looked at Remus who was just laughing.

They scored another ten points making it ten twenty Slytherin. Lily stood up straight and huffed slightly at the way the game was going. She turned around to go talk to Remus, but found he was holding his nose.

“You alright?” She asked getting up on her tiptoes to yell in his ear, though she was still too short, and he stooped down.

“Bloody nose,” he said muffled. “I have to go to the hospital wing; I’ll see you tonight at the play.” He said before shoving through the crowd.

The rest of the game was pretty cut and dry, Sirius and James were still aggravated with one another, but they managed to keep the animosity down to play the game, and Slytherin played dirty. At one point James had been hit in the shoulder with a rouge bludger, but he had been able to be healed and get right back into the game.

“JEREMIAH WICKER GETS THE SNITCH!” The announcer roared over the crowd. The ending score was two hundred and thirty to one hundred and twenty. “GRYFFINDOR WINS!”

The crowd just about lost its mind when the game was officially ended. All the Slytherin was forced to shake hands with Gryffindor, before they sulked off into their locker rooms. Gryffindor took the time to fly over the stands, and wave, a few daring to duck low to give and take some high fives with their fans.

James scanned the crowd for Lily, and when he found her he slowed down a bit. “Can you wait for me?” He yelled. It was obvious Lily would not hear him, but he hoped she would get the idea.

It took Lily a second to process what he had just said, but when she did, she nodded lightly. She watched James smile and fly off to tend to the fans before heading toward the locker rooms.

“You ready to go?” Amy asked Lily as people began to clear the stands in a rapid fashion.

“No I am going to stay behind, James asked me to wait,” Lily said, which caused her friends to give her a funny look. “I’ll be in shortly.”

“Told you that you wouldn’t regret coming,” Donna teased before the foursome weaved their way through the crowd, and down the steps.

James went as quick as possible in the locker room, shoving past the celebrations going on, and hitting the showers. He just wanted to clean off quickly, and he was done in three minutes. Checking his watch he pulled on a fresh pair of slacks, a shirt, and a grey Hogwarts sweater, before stopping to throw all his gear in his locker, and grabbing his cloak.

Lily was sitting in her seat looking at all the empty stands. It was amazing how fast something can change, it went from a loud roar to a deafening silence in a matter of minutes. Without all the bodies pressing up against one another, and the adrenaline no longer pumping, Lily realized just how cold it was. She crossed her legs, and cursed her friends for making her wear a skirt as Lily waited for James. Pieces of paper from abandoned signs were blowing through the stands, and Lily watched one billow through the pitch, before shivering.

James rushed out the door, as his teammates called after him to come back and celebrate. He did a quick check of his breath, and popped a mint before climbing up the stairs, two at a time. By the time he reached the top he was winded, and a bit sweaty again. “Hey Lily,” he said walking over.

“Hey,” Lily replied turning around to look at him.

He smirked when he saw his last name flash across her shoulders before making his way to sit next to her on the bench. “What’d you think of the game?” James asked her before looking out across the now empty pitch.

“It was good, but you and Sirius need to stop beating up on one another, and go after the other team,” Lily said with a smirk, before shivering from a chill. “I thought you two were going to start fighting in the middle of the game.”

James just laughed, “we get like that when we are mad at one another. We get into a huge physical fight, don’t talk for a few hours, then we are over it. It’s a guy thing,” he replied when she raised her eyebrow. “Enough of that. I was pleasantly surprised to see you out here. You never go to games.”

“My friends dragged me. They said I have been locked up in my room for too long. And they dressed me like this,” Lily said using her hands to indicate her body. “I feel naked.”

“Well I am glad you came, and I like the shirt,” he replied leaning back to see his last name was still there.

“Thanks. My friends and I made them last year for the house cup game,” Lily replied as she tried to hide her chattering teeth.

“Here,” James said noticing. He stood up and handed her his cloak, and waited for her to take it.

“No it’s alright,” Lily said but when he shook his head she reached a tentative hand out. “Are you sure? Aren’t you going to freeze?”

“No, I am still sweaty from running up the stairs,” he replied before sitting back down on the bench while she pulled it on. “Are you ready for tonight?” James asked once she sat down.

“I’m a little nervous, but yeah, I think I am ready,” Lily said before closing the cloak tighter around her.

“Let’s get you inside, it is starting to get windy,” James said looking out over the forbidden forest as the wind whipped through the trees.

“I won’t protest you there,” Lily replied as she rose from her chair. Her legs were shaking a bit from standing for about two hours on heels, and she was also cold. “I hate heels,” she muttered as they headed toward the stairs. They had a long way to go, and she grabbed onto the railing as they made their way down slowly.

“Well if it is any consolation, I like your outfit,” James said as he walked next to her in case she lost her footing. The stairs were pretty steep, and he didn’t want to hurt herself before the big night.

“Thanks, I feel like a whore though,” Lily replied before lightly picking at the short skirt. “They picked out my outfit, did my hair, and made me go, I had no say,” she said lightly before laughing.

“Well I think you look great,” he said before clearing another landing. Her heels were loud against the wooden stairs, and it helped fill some of the silent gaps, though they weren’t awkward like they used to be.

They were almost to the bottom, when the steady rhythm of the heels stopped, and Lily let out a shriek. James was quick, and he caught her back before she hit the stairs, and grabbed her waist to keep her from sliding.

“Thanks,” Lily said, her hands shaking a bit from the sudden rush. She resituated herself and once he was sure she was steady on her feet again, James let go.

“Hopefully we can get you on the stage unscathed,” James joked as they crossed the threshold to the castle.

“I hope so too,” Lily replied. “Then once I am on stage I have to wear heels once again, plus a long dress. I may need you there to catch me again,” Lily joked as they headed up the stairs.

Once inside the common room, Lily handed James his cloak, “care to walk with my friends and I to the theater?” Lily asked James. “We are going to leave here around five thirty, and are meeting here,” she said.

“I’d love to,” James replied before watching Lily head into her room.

Lily only had an hour and a half left until she had to be at the theater in Hogsmeade, since they had last minute practice on lines, and they needed to get into full outfit, hair, and makeup. She took a long shower to relax her nerves, before reading a bit to pass the time.