Author's note: Hey everyone! I started this story a while back and actually gained motivation to finish it the other day. Lily is a bit of a prim and proper prude in this story, and that's not really the way I see her, but that's the way she is in this story so just deal with it and know that in my mind Lily Evans is truthfully a confident queen of sass and wonder. Also, this started off fun and turned into a little angst, just like everything I write! Sorry in advance for the feels.


"It's Potter with the Quaffle, Potter with the Quaffle, some nasty play by Slytherin Chaser McDuff, no clue how he didn't get a fo-GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

The Gryffindor fans in the crowd went wild, but James Potter only shaked Sirius Black's hand briefly. "The score is now 120-90 with Gryffindor in the lead. No sign of the Snitch in this awful weather…"

And the weather was awful. The players had been soaked to the bone during the first hour, and now that hour two was rapidly approaching hour three, they felt more like water than Quidditch players. Everyone watching in the stands could tell that Potter was getting frustrated: he had already called three time-outs, during which he screamed his head off at their Seeker for making the game take so long. The Snitch needed to be caught sooner rather than later, or at least before a fight broke out between Black and McDuff.

Gryffindor scored again.

Slytherin scored again.

Gryffindor nearly scored again, but the Slytherin Keeper blocked it.

Gryffindor got a foul.

Slytherin's retaliation earned them two fouls.

James had just about given up when all of a sudden, he heard the booming announcer's voice ring out across the pitch: "Patil's speeding up now, never seen a broom fly that fast in this kind of weather… could it be? It is! The Snitch! The Snitch has been sighted!" The rest of the Gryffindor team watched in their peripheral vision as the Slytherin Seeker looked around, frantic and confused, unable to sight the Gryffindor Seeker. James couldn't fight the grin spreading across his face.

Patil's hand closed around the tiny golden ball just as the sun began to peek out from behind a cloud. His feet had barely touched the ground when he was rushed by his teammates in the muddiest dogpile the sport of Quidditch had ever seen. They had done it. They had won.

Needless to say, there was quite the party in the Gryffindor Common Room that night.


Lily Evans was cheering right along with the rest of the rambunctious sixth years in the stands. Seeing her at a Quidditch game, windblown hair and wild excitement on her face, you would never guess that she was as studious as she could be.

Marlene pointed this out as they walked back to the Common Room. "It's like you've got Quidditch Lily, then school Lily… you don't have, like, an alter ego that fights crime, do you?"

Lily scoffed, but her reply was cut off by Mary. "Don't worry, Marlene. Lily will go right back to being serious now that the game is over." Lily scoffed again, this time indignantly and much to Marlene's amusement.

"That is not true! I can be plenty fun!" Both of the other girls burst into wild laughter at this.

"Please, Lily. You're probably not even going to be at the party, let alone enjoying it."

Lily glared. "Fine," she said resolutely. "I'm definitely going to the party. I'll show you how fun Lily Evans can be."

Mary smirked so wide that even James Potter would have been impressed. "Going to the party is easy, Lils. You've got to really prove your commitment." Lily raised her eyebrows inquisitively. "Dare you to have a Firewhiskey."

Both Lily's and Marlene's jaws hit the floor at this. "Lily Evans and alcohol?!" Marlene teased. "The shame, the shaaaaame!" Lily shoved her shoulder playfully as the girls continued to make jokes at her expense. She remained quiet for the rest of the walk, and Mary and Marlene thought that they had embarrassed her into silence.

They soon found out that that was not the case. Because when the Fat Lady swung open to admit the three girls, Lily marched straight through the already celebrating crowd and right up to none other than Sirius Black. "Black," she said as though she was about to hex him. He stared, confused. "Firewhiskey," she then demanded in the same menacing, I-could-kill-you-in-your-sleep tone. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and smirked, but complied, handing the redhead a Firewhiskey.

Mary and Marlene watched in surprise as Lily chugged the entire thing without even taking a breath. "Whew," she said a little louder than usual as she finished, clanking the bottle down on the nearest sidetable. "That was… an interesting beverage experience." Sirius's mouth was still hanging open as he gawked, so she leaned over and shut it for him with a little flirty smile. "I think I'd like another, Black." In a daze, he reached down and brought out another from his stash. She whipped her hair out of her ponytail as she downed the bottle, taking even less time than the last.

"That should do the trick, shouldn't it, girls?" Mary nodded, amazed and more than slightly amused. "Shame it was just a dare and not a bet. I could earn some decent money surprising people with my immorality." She wiggled her fingers at them and went off to join what looked like the craziest part of the party, leaving Mary, Marlene, and Sirius still in awe.


James had been so overwhelmed by pesky, persistent first years asking for his autograph that he hadn't even noticed when Lily entered the room. He did notice, however, when she waltzed right in front of him on her way to the impromptu "dance floor," approximately an hour after she had downed two Firewhiskeys.

That stumbling walk and raucous laugh were not the Lily Evans he knew.

He brushed off the first years and followed, a confused smirk lighting up his hazel eyes. "Evans!" he called, and she turned around to face him.

"Why hello, Potter," she said with much more cheerfulness than she usually showed toward him. He raised his left eyebrow, bewildered but developing a theory.

"Have you been drinking, Evans?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please, not you, too. I thought Sirius was going to drop dead of shock when I had my second one. Can't a girl loosen up every once in a while?"

James was too confused to laugh, but only just. "I suppose so," he replied.

"Congratulating James on the game, Lily?" a new voice said. It was Remus, smoothing down his brown hair that had been mussed up in the excitement of the evening. "Brilliant match, Prongs."

"Thank you, Moony. But no, Evans was not congratulating me. You do remember that there was a game, don't you, Lily?"

Lily huffed indignantly, "Of course I do!" but her voice was swallowed up by Remus's surprise as he realized what was going on.

"Lily, you… you haven't been… oh my-" His jaw dropped. "You've been drinking!"

"Why is everyone so surprised? I can be fun, you know." Both Remus and James looked doubtful at this, but Lily was so annoyed that she ignored it. "Anyway, I was just on my way to dance. Peter," she called out at the short boy who was just passing. "Would you like to dance with me?"

Peter Pettigrew seemed on the verge of either fainting or having a conniption at being thus addressed by a girl, let alone the Lily Evans. He was on his way to stammering out a reply when James and Remus stepped in at his defense. "Lily, I don't think Peter is a good idea." Peter seemed to melt with relief, all the tension in his body escaping down into the floor.

"Why not?" Lily pouted.

"If anyone is dancing with you, it's James or me."

"Why?"

"Because Peter is too scared and Sirius will take advantage of your frivolous alcohol consumption to make you look stupid, so we're the only ones who can make sure that two Firewhiskeys and a couple of hours don't ruin your reputation."

Lily narrowed her eyes at them. "I can take care of myself, boys," she said as she nearly tripped over a sofa in her attempt to get away.

Remus looked purely sympathetic, while James had an odd mixture of amusement and pity. "Sure you can, Evans," he said, and the two were following her to the dance floor.

Within a few moments they had arranged a schedule: every five songs, they would rotate Lily Watch. The boys knew it would get progressively harder to control her throughout the evening as the Firewhiskey had its way with her, but they were both committed to the cause. James took the first watch, monitoring her from the edge of the dance floor, simply an onlooker with his own Firewhiskey. (Since he was more used to its effects, he was less susceptible to drunken tomfoolery.)

On the first watch, Lily only danced.

One the second, third, and fourth, she only danced.

The fifth was when things got interesting.

Up until then, the music had been upbeat. But at the start of the fifth, a slow song played, which meant Lily needed a partner.

Naturally (or rather entirely contrary to her nature), she grabbed James, hatred toward whom she had forgotten in her drunken state.

He staggered into the center of the dancing couples, where Lily promptly placed her hand in his and her other hand on his shoulder. He felt more than made his hand come to rest on her waist, and all of a sudden they were swaying together, in time with the music.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Lily began in a whisper.

James wasn't having any of that. There were two things he had been worried about: the first being that Lily would scream at him more than normal, and the second being that Lily would scream at him less than normal. Either way would be too painful.

"Evans, I-"

"Please, James," she cut him off. "Let's call each other by our first names. I think we've moved beyond a last name basis, don't you?"

James swallowed down the emotions threatening to choke him. The worst part of it was that he knew she was only saying those things because she was drunk.

No, the worst part of it was really how many times he had imagined her saying those same words. But in those daydreams, she had always meant them.

"I don't... I don't think that's a very good idea."

She looked away, down at their feet, unable to meet his eye. "Good match today, by the way."

He chuckled, and they finished the remainder of their dance in silence.

The sixth watch was even more interesting, because it was at this juncture that Lily attempted to climb on a coffee table and sing. Remus, unable to harness his lycanthropic powers at the moments when he needed them most, called on James's backup. (Sirius would have helped, had he not wanted to see the spectacle so badly that he actually attempted to bribe Remus and James away from their efforts to stop Lily.)

James finally yanked Lily off the coffee table and practically shoved her into an armchair. "Evans, you're a mess," he said as a frustrated hand yanked through his hair.

"Like your hair," she slurred before dissolving into a fit of hysterical laughter. James only sighed.

"I'll take the next couple of minutes, James," Remus offered. "You go… I dunno. I would suggest getting another drink but I don't think more alcohol will help the situation."

"Alcohol?" Lily asked, perking up. "Remus, will you be a dear and get me another Firewhiskey?" James had to laugh at that, though Lily pouted at his reaction.

"It's okay, Remus. You go have fun. I'll be fine," James said, sitting down on the arm of Lily's chair and shooing his friend away.

"You don't have to take care of me," Lily argued, tilting her head.

James smiled softly. "Just this once, okay?" He knew her, and he knew the shame she would feel waking up in a boys' dormitory with no recollection of the events of the night. If she told him the next time this happened (that is, if the terrible hangover she'd have in the morning didn't convince her to swear off alcohol forever) to leave her alone, he would, but for right now, she needed a friend to look out for her.

Lily rolled her eyes and grumbled but said nothing. She and James sat in silence for a few minutes until she attempted to dance again, then discovered that she was incapable of standing on her own. The following conversation consisted mostly of Lily slurring random potion recipes, accusing a few Daily Prophet reporters of yellow journalism, and asking James various questions about where she ranked on the list of pretty girls in the school. (He told her the truth, that she was at the very top and always would be, because it wasn't like she would remember it anyway.)

She then slowly passed out, head leaning on James's leg, last words something of a whisper about blue Pygmy Puffs. He chuckled and shook his head, entirely amazed and slightly amused by the girl next to him.

"Up you go," he said as he lifted her into his arms. She didn't even stir. He carried her up the staircase to her dormitory and tucked her gently into bed, hoping to Godric that he had selected the right one.

Once downstairs again, Remus caught his eye with an inquisitive glance. "In bed, safe and sound," James confirmed.

"Good," Remus said. "No real damage done, huh?" James nodded half-heartedly and watched Remus disappear again into the crowd.

But it wasn't true. No form of alcohol could be strong enough for him to forget the way Lily had seemed to lower her defenses, to ask him for the closeness he had been craving for years. The damage Lily did wasn't to herself or her pristine reputation; it was to his heart, and for tonight, he just had to live with it and down a couple Firewhiskeys himself.


Author's note: I'M SORRY OKAY I DIDN'T MEAN TO BREAK JAMES'S HEART IT JUST HAPPENED THAT WAY.

Hope you enjoyed!

Love,

haleyisafangirl