Just like the good old days

[Blake Zepline]

Blake pushed open the gate of the Quidditch pitch with one hand, his Emerald Streak in the other. He was still thinking about how he and Lily had spent Christmas, and how great it had been. He missed spending time with her when it was just the two of them, and of course Josh. Josh himself was filling in the parental role way better than Cloe had ever, and for this, Blake was extremely grateful. Though, at the same time he hated to think he was a burden on Josh...
As Blake stopped at the center of the pitch, he couldn't help but grin at the memories that came to mind. This was the very spot he and Lily had their first date, and in saying so, their first kiss. He remembered how she had out-flown him purely by skill, and how intimidated he had felt, though extremely impressed. Quidditch was the other thing besides how smart Lily was, that he really liked about her. She knew the game like it was her life, and she was good at it too. Probably better than him by milestones now that he was no longer Slytherin Quidditch Captain.
Sighing heavily at this thought, Blake let his gaze drop to his feet. There was a Slytherin vs Ravenclaw game coming up this week. Though he was glad he wouldn't have to be playing against Lily, the thought of not playing altogether did put a damper on his spirits. Trying to push these thoughts out of his mind now, Blake reminded himself that he had been the one to give up his status as captain, because of his school work, and that he should stop regretting it and feeling sorry for himself. The new co-captains were great players, and he knew they would do a great job this year.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily was nervous. The first quidditch game of the year was coming up this week and the team was coming together well, but she was still freaking out about it. It never failed. Games always made her a bundle of nerves. Sitting up on her bed, she looked at her scarlet streak and decided to go fly some of her nerves out of her system. Without another thought, she jumped up off her bed and pulled on a pair of new trainers that she picked up in California over holiday and put on her school hoodie over her Ravenclaw t-shirt. Heading out the door, she made sure that her and Estrella's animals were in the room before she closed it behind her.

Quickly making her way down to the pitch, she could feel the excitement of flying coursing through her veins. She pushed the door open to the Ravenclaw locker room and made her way to her locker, grabbing her broom and goggles out. Not stopping to put her goggles on, she exited to the pitch and stopped short. Standing in the middle was Blake with his back to her. Lily could not help but smile as her stomach flipped with excitement. There was the man she loved, almost as if he was expecting her to be out for practice today. He was standing in the spot where they had their first kiss, during a picnic on the pitch.

Moving softly across the field, she suddenly had an idea. Putting her leg over her Scarlett Streak, she pushed off and took off zooming at her boyfriend. She did a quick circle around him, hoping to catch him off guard. "Hey there sexy! Fancy a race?" She giggled loudly, then stuck her tongue out at him as she took off to the south goal hoops, hoping he would follow her.

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake chuckled, surprised yet glad to find Lily zooming around him. "A race? You bet!" Mounting his streak, Blake kicked off into the air, the wind whirling his hair into more of a mess as he caught onto Lily's tail. She was fast, but he was too. Both their brooms were Streaks, so they were evenly matched. It would have to be purely by skill for one of them to win.
Leaning forward on his broom, encouraging it to gather more speed, Blake flew to Lily's right side, his hair whipping madly and his eyes beginning to water. He should have thought to bring his goggles. This was just like the good old days.
Blake grinned at Lily. He had missed her all morning; her timing could not have been more perfect.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily decided that she wanted to try out a new move she had been working on in practice. Since Blake had pulled up next to her on his broom, she looked at him and spoke. "Hold steady, I wanna show you a new move I've been working on!" She pulled her broom as close to his as she could, then placed her feet on hers, still holding on to the handle. Slowly, she reached over with her right foot to Blake's broom, placing it gingerly behind his buttocks. Once she was sure of her footing, she slid into a squat position, then let go of the handle and stood up. "Stay steady now, Blake! No freaking out!" She stood, her arms out to the side helping her balance on the two brooms. She always had been a bit of a daredevil, and some of her moves on her broom proved that.

As soon as she established her balance, she decided it was time for the next part of her latest stunt. She moved her balance onto Blake's broom, just enough to free her left foot from her broom, then kicked it under Blake's and over to his right. She then jumped from his broom onto hers and landed on her feet a bit wobbly, but squatted down quickly to resume her normal seated position. With a giggle at her boyfriend, she stuck her tongue out again and tapped his arm. "TAG!" she yelled before she took off in the opposite direction.

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake had been expecting Lily to pull one of her fancy tricks, just like she always did. But if he had thought once that her flips were dangerous, then would surely have received a heart-attack from her latest move. Blake wanted to object as Lily told him to keep steady, and not freak out, but he knew her mind was set, and there was no way he would talk her out of this. Concentrating on keeping his broom balanced, and his speed constant, Blake glanced at Lily from time to time as she stood up, both feet on either of their brooms, just in case something went wrong. She was crazy! Psychotic even!
And just as if to prove him right, Lily put all her weight on his broom and kicked her's under it, jumping onto her Scarlet Streak as it emerged on Blake's other side.
Blake's heart had stopped for a good few seconds, and he barely felt Lily tap him. "TAG!" she had yelled. But Blake hadn't even registered that. To say that he was impressed was only a quarter true right now. What he was, was angry. Lily would surely be the death of him, if not both of them, if she kept up her daring acts.
Blake slowed his broom and began descending downwards, jumping off his broom when he was close enough to the ground.

 

[Lily Drage]

As Lily looked backwards, the laugh that was in her throat caught there. Blake was not following as she expected him to be, but rather was landing on the pitch. "What on Earth--" she muttered as she turned her broom around and headed over to where he had landed. Slowing her broom and lowering it to the ground, Lily jumped down when she was close enough to the ground. "What's going on? Why did you land?" she asked quizzically, wondering what his issue was.

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake turned to face Lily, his face creased with anger and worry all at once. "When are you going to stop putting yourself at risk?" he questioned back. She was always coming up with new ways to put herself in danger, and Blake couldn't stop thinking about how far she would go before she was finally unsuccessful in her attempts. "Is it going to take a few broken bones? Or is it going to take your life?" He wasn't going to put up with her dare-devilishness at the expense of possibly losing her forever.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily looked back at Blake stunned. "Please tell me you are joking. Putting myself at risk? Blake," she said, pausing, "You know how I fly. I love to take risks. Heck, I have been taking risks since the first day we met, remember?" She looked at her boyfriend incredulously. He never reacted like this to any of her stunt moves before. What was going to happen if she pulled something like this in a game? Scream from the sidelines?

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake put his head in his hands. "Joking? Why would I joke about something like this?" Blake asked, perplexed. "Lily, what if something goes wrong? What if you fall and I'm not fast enough to catch you? You might be fine with taking that sort of risk, but... I'm not." Blake took a deep breath to calm himself. His voice still took its normal tone, but he was starting to feel it break now.

 

[Lily Drage]

"Blake, if something goes wrong, I go to the hospital wing. They fix me up. Nothing to worry about," Lily said to her love with a forced calm to her voice. She looked him in the eyes and then took a step closer to him. "What is really going on here? You never flip out on me when I show you a new stunt that I have mastered. Why now? What makes it different?"

 

[Blake Zepline]

"How can you just... just continue being so positively sure that everything's going to be okay? Bad things happen, I know," Blake sighed heavily. Maybe Lily was right; maybe he was overreacting. Lately though, he'd just been thinking about all that mattered to him in this world. And really, the only two people he cared about the most now, were Josh and Lily. They were all he had left that misfortune or death hadn't taken away from him... yet. But Blake didn't want to voice his insecurities. It just felt like there was more to it than that. Like, he was going to lose Lily in the near future. Whatever it was, he just couldn't afford to take anymore risks when it came to those he loved. He wouldn't.
"It's... it's nothing." Blake shook his head. He was overreacting; reading too much into a bad feeling. "I'm sorry."

 

[Lily Drage]

"I am not positive all the time that nothing bad won't happen. I know bad things happen too. Some people could look at my being a witch as a bad thing since I lost my family over it. I don't. I just try to look at everything as another adventure in my life and focus on the good," she replied, then turned to look over the pitch and away from Blake. Lily felt the start of tears in her eyes and didn't want to let him see. "I lost my past, but gained my whole future. I don't want to dwell on what could happen because the worst already did." She looked back at Blake, to see him mutter about it all being nothing. "I'm sorry too. I don't want you to think I take my life for granted. I just," she sighed, "I'm sorry."

 

[Blake Zepline]

Lily was never really open with Blake about her family, and it had always been a touchy subject he hated bringing up for fear of stirring bad memories for her. When she mentioned how she had lost her family because she had chosen to accept that she was a witch, Blake suddenly felt a whole new level of guilt wash over him. "No, don't apologize..." Blake replied, dropping his broom and closing the space between them so he could dry her tears. Placing both hands on either side of her face, he added, "I guess... I guess I just love you too much." Blake smiled softly; it was the truth.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily looked up into Blake's smiling face and felt bad. "I didn't meant to unload all that on you. I love you more than I could imagine I could love anyone. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." She had experienced a few nightmares over the last few months of her and Blake being separated, always waking up from them in a cold sweat. She knew deep down they were meant to be together and the thought of them apart always felt like a knife was driven down into the pit of her stomach. She moved to put her arms around his waist, and pull herself to bury her face into his chest. "How about I promise not to do the crazy stunts in front of you if you promise to not lurk my quidditch practices to see what stunts I do there?" She lifted her head back to look Blake in the eyes, hoping they would reach a compromise.

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake frowned slightly. "As much as I don't enjoy my heart ramming into my ribcage, I do feel much safer when I'm around for your crazy stunts." Blake shrugged, the smile returning to him to again. "The only promise I want you to make is to be careful, more so than usual... Aside from Josh, Lily... you're all I have..." Blake brushed a loose strand of hair from Lily's face, kissing her gently on the forehead.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily smiled up at her boyfriend. "Ok. I promise to be more careful, as long as you promise not to freak out on me when I pull off a stunt. Even if I fall." She looked into Blake's eyes, imploring him to understand her reckless side. "You are all I have too. I love you so much. I would never do anything to upset you on purpose." She squeezed her eyes shut as she buried her face in his chest again, trying not to start crying again.

 

[Blake Zepline]

Blake wasn't sure he could keep his promise, as he was sure any sane person would freak out if the love of their life was tumbling towards injury or death. "Well, I'll try," he finally said, his smile beaming brighter as Lily buried her face in his chest again. "I know you would never hurt me on purpose. That's why I can never stay mad at you on the rare occasions that I am." Kissing Lily on the forehead again, Blake added, "Let's go get something to eat at the Great Hall. I skipped breakfast and could do with some bacon right now."