"friendships are like a renewable source of power"

*

At 6:34 on the morning of Gryffindor's first Quidditch match of the season, there was a peaceful serenity in the boy's dormitory for once. Everyone lay peacefully in their beds, treasuring their last few minutes of sleep. Everyone, save one person.

A shrill voice pierced the silence.

"YOU ARE THE DANCING QUEEN, YOUNG AND SWEET, ONLY SEVENTEEN!"

"Shut up," Peter mumbled. He briefly considered turning into a rat and biting him, but then decided that he really didn't want to venture into the bathroom while James was showering. Too many risks.

"DANCING QUEEN, FEEL THE BEAT FROM THE TAMBOURINE! OH YEAH!"

"James, please, we're trying to sleep!"

"YOU CAN DANCE! YOU CAN JIVE!"

Despite his splitting headache and crippling exhaustion, Remus began to hum along.

"HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE! OOOOOH!"

"How does he sleep through it?" Peter asked Remus in wonder and pointed to Sirius' snoozing form.

"He's a freak of nature. Also, James' singing voice sounds eerily like Sirius' mum."

"SEE THAT GIRL! WATCH THAT SCENE! DIGGIN' THE DANCING QUEEN!"

James finally emerged from the bathroom after finishing his ABBA performance. "Blimey, is he not up yet?"

"It would seem to be so," Remus muttered. "Merlin, James, the only days you get up early you have to wake up the rest of us too."

"Hm." A stag took the place of James Potter. Neither of his friends batted an eyelash at this. The stag trotted over to Sirius' bed, took one look at him, and sat on him.

Even from the girl's dormitory, the bloodcurdling scream could be heard.

"What do you suppose that was?" Eva asked as she painted a red and gold flower on Lily's cheek, hand as steady as ever.

The flower was a tradition that started back in their second year when Eva made the team. The girls always painted for her. After that, the flower became a bigger symbol to them. When Lily received mean letters from her older sister, they painted the flower. When Marlene caught her then-boyfriend with another girl, they painted the flower. When Eva landed herself in the hospital wing after getting into a duel with an older Slytherin, they painted the flower.

Over the years, the gold and red flower became a symbol of unity and support among best friends.

"I don't know. Maybe Marley got scared of a spider."

"I did not!" Marlene yelled from the bathroom.

"We love you, Marlene!" Eva called cheekily, giggling.

"Sure."

Lily smiled as she checked Eva's work in the mirror. "That looks really pretty, Eve."

"Thanks. That's what five years of experience gets you."

Lily stood, brushed her robes off, and grinned. "Seven o'clock! It's time! Get in here!"

"We still have time, Lily!"

"Come on, Marlene!" Lily whined.

Marlene ventured into the room with raised eyebrows, half of her clothes on, a flower on her cheek, and a sarcastic expression on her face.

"This really couldn't wait five minutes?"

"We always do it at 7 A.M. sharp! You have one minute. Go!"

After Marlene's one minute of clothing herself was up, Eva paused the ABBA music in the background and the girls stood in a circle with joined hands, another pre-match tradition.

"Lord, we pray for a Gryffindor win today," Lily began, her green eyes shut. "We offer the match up to You. Get us some points and a good time."

"But most of all, keep Eva safe," Marlene continued, squeezing her hand tighter.

"Amen!" They chorused, laughing as they did so. Eva grinned at her friends, these girls who loved her more than anyone she knew.

Marlene put her hands on Eva's shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. "Remember, this one's for the girls. Don't let us down."

"Of course not!"

"Group hug!" Marlene yelled, pulling her girls in for a tight embrace. Eva pulled away first.

"I'd better get going, James is probably waiting. See you after the match!"

"Good luck!" They yelled. Eva took a final bow and ran down the stairs, missing the last one as usual. A strong pair of arms caught her mid-fall, laughter tumbling from her lips.

"Oi, Blondie, maybe we should make a sign," James teased as he pulled her up. He tossed her an apple and bit into one of his own.

"Good morning to you too." She winked and took a bite of her apple. "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready. You?"

"As ready as you are to ask Lily out again."

"For your information, I don't plan on doing that again for a while."

"What?" She asked, surprised. As they emerged from the castle, she grinned at the sunny weather. Perfect conditions. "Why? That's like your only hobby."

He shrugged. "I reckon I might be getting a bit annoying. That's probably not improving my chances, so I'll lay off and start up again after Christmas."

"Can you survive three months?"

"I suppose I'll have to." He sighed dramatically and threw his apple core behind him without a care.

"Can I ask you something? Do you really love her?"

His hazel eyes avoided hers at this. "Bit of a stupid question, isn't it?"

"I'm just making sure. She's one of my best friends. You've been after her since our first year. Don't you remember how we met?"

"That one," Remus said, pointing at the blonde girl pouring over her books in the corner of the common room. "Her name's Eva. She kind of acts like a Ravenclaw, but she's really nice."

"Remus, are we getting a little crush?" Sirius sniggered.

"No, and that's not the point. She's best friends with Lily Evans." James, who had not been paying even a remote amount of attention to the conversation, suddenly focused. "So you get in good with her and figure out what Evans thinks about you."

"That's bloody brilliant," James said, his eyes never leaving Eva. "All right, wish me luck."

His eleven-year-old self sauntered over to her with the confidence of one twice his age and he held out a hand. "Hey, I'm James."

"Yeah, I know. Nice to meet you." She smiled briefly before diving back into her book.

"Um..." James groaned and retreated to his friends. "Remus, I need you to take this one. You like books. Go speak her language."

"No. This is a group effort here. You need to man up. She already knows who I am. We sit next to each other in Charms."

"Not it," Peter muttered, shirking at the thought of introducing himself to a girl. Sirius snuck over while his friends argues and peered over her shoulder.

"Whatcha reading?"

She nearly screamed and dropped the book. He immediately scooped to retrieve it at the same time she did, and their fingers met in an awkward jumble. He noticed the title underneath their hands: The Hobbit.

"You're reading The Hobbit?" He asked, excitement accidentally in his voice. He caught it instantly and red shot up his cheeks. It was a Muggle book, one his parents told him not to read. Of course, this encouraged him to find it. "It's great!"

"You read?" She asked skeptically. Maybe she had been paying attention, because they hadn't exchanged more than five words in the month they'd been at school together.

"I like to read when teachers or my parents aren't making me do it," he admitted. "You're Taylor, right?"

"Kind of. I'm Eva, Eva Taylor." She smiled up at the boy, who offered his hand.

"That's a bit confusing, but okay. I'm Sirius Black. Listen, my mate James has this massive crush on Lily and wants to know if he has a shot. That's why he just came over here and made a fool out of himself, so if you could help him out, that would be great."

"Oh, sure." She carefully bookmarked her page before yelling, "it's still a no, James!"

Then she returned to her book.

James shook his head in amusement as he recalled the memory. "So much has gotten messed up since then."

"Yeah, but some of it was good." Eva glanced fondly at the grounds. She loved it all: Hagrid's hut, the Highly Discouraged Forest, the Quidditch pitch, the Owlery. "Is it stupid that I don't really want to leave?"

"Nah. We rule here, Eva. It's our home. We still have two years, though. Don't rush it."

"You never answered my question," she pointed out.

"Ah, that's right." He messed up his hair and bit his lip, trying to find his way out of answering. "I don't know. To be honest, I don't reckon I've ever really been in love before, so maybe I have nothing to compare it to."

"Fair enough," she said. "I know what you mean."

James turned his head to her and asked, "you've never been in love before?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I've had little flings, but nothing's lasted. You know that."

"You can be my backup, then."

"I can be your what now?"

"My backup," he said fatter-of-factly. "If neither of us are married by, say thirty, then we bag it and just get hitched."

"All right, then."

"We can have a whole team of little Quidditch players."

"Down, boy," she laughed as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. Because both were the only child of their families, they'd unofficially adopted each other, so the idea was preposterous to both of them, but it definitely was fun to consider. "I thought Sirius was your backup, to be honest."

"He's not my type, thank you very much. Besides, he's preoccupied."

Her eyes widened as he said these words. Eva didn't know how she felt about Sirius, but the thought of him being with anyone else stirred a dark feeling in her chest, a feeling she hadn't experienced when she saw him with other girls before. "What? Who's he into?"

A light blush crept up James' neck. "No one."

"James Potter, tell me! Please!" She begged like a puppy, grinning while her heart raced.

He drew a finger across his lips. "A friend never tells. We've got an Unbreakable Vow and everything going."

"You are so full of it."

They reached the changing rooms and quickly pulled on their robes before joining the rest of the team. McKinnon stood in front of them all, his blond hair shining in the sun.

"All right. We're up against Hufflepuff. Nice, easy game to start out. We're a team. Look out for each other, no injuries, no backing down. We're Gryffindors, after all. Let's do this."

Mitchell McKinnon never really had been one for long-winded speeches, and for that Eva was grateful. Last year's captain would drone on and on endlessly. She looked around hopefully for the shaggy black dog, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, James," she whispered as she pulled her Keeper gloves on. "Now that the Prewett twins have graduated, who's announcing?"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GET READY FOR THE MATCH OF YOUR LIVES!"

James immediately burst into laughter at the sound of his best friend. He knew McGonagall had approached him about it earlier in the week, and he also knew how much she was going to regret it.

Sirius listed off the positions, saving his friends for last.

"Playing keeper for Gryffindor is Eva Taylor, my fellow sixth year who enjoys the Beatles, Transfiguration, and falling down staircases."

Eva laughed so hard she almost fell off of her broom as the flew to the goalposts. If she squinted, she could make out Lily, Marlene, and Alice Fortesque holding up hand painted letters of her name. She grinned and returned her focus to the match.

"And finally, my best mate and Gryffindor's chaser, James Potter, certified stud. Fun fact: Lily Evans told me that if he scores fifteen in a row, she'll go out on a date with him. Don't smirk, you idiot, you know you can't do it. And yes, Minerva darling, this is all highly vital information, please stop trying to take the microphone away from me, that's very rude."

Madam Hooch released the Quaffle, and Eva's hands tightened on her broomstick as the game began.