AN: So I have had this story buzzing around in my head for years and finally it is written! I really hope you enjoy! And reviews help me to upload faster ;) First chapter may seem a little slow, sorry! And I promise this will be a LJ story, but what's a great story without a few complications?!
Disclaimer: JKRowling owns it all, I just play with it once in a while...
Chapter 1
Lily tapped her foot impatiently as she watched the mourners speak to one another in hushed gloomy voices. Her parents' small living room was bursting at the seams with dark-clad guests, drinks clutched in hands, cramming egg sandwiches into their mouths. Lily sighed and checked her watch wondering how much longer her mother would make her stay. The irony of it all was that no one had even liked her great aunt, yet here they all were now, taking advantage of her funeral to gossip with friends and family, making snide comments about cousin Elspeth's divorce and Uncle Hugo's ridiculous new toupee. And to top it all off, Petunia had spent the day pointedly ignoring her, leaving Lily to socialise with these hideous people all by herself.
As a waitress passed Lily grabbed a flute of champagne from a floating tray and, glancing quickly to check her mother's attention was elsewhere, she downed it in one. Lily didn't normally drink alcohol, but she felt today's events warranted it. And besides, she'd been 17 for nearly 6 months now, and was of age in the Wizarding World.
Lily wished she could talk to her two best friends but Felicity was enjoying a family holiday in Australia and Sarah was spending the summer at a Wizarding Summer Camp in Connecticut. So instead, Lily was forced to suffer an entire summer alone at her parents' house, trying to ignore the fact that Petunia was refusing to speak to her and she was bored out of her mind. And this funeral was the icing on the cake. Lily checked her watch – it was nearly 6 o'clock. Enough was enough. She had already suffered through five hours and now she was going to disappear up to her bedroom.
Making a split second decision, Lily swiped a bottle of vodka from her mother's nearby drinks cabinet and raced for the stairs, smiling benignly at relatives who appeared to want to stop and chat. Once she had reached the sanctity of her bedroom, she slumped back against the closed bedroom door and exhaled a deep sigh of relief. But now what? She didn't want to sit alone in her room and drink an entire bottle of vodka. Lily may have felt the need to do something reckless and out of character, but that was a bit too extreme for her.
She kicked off her shoes and pulled off her black dress, throwing it into a pile on the floor and found a denim skirt and plain black t-shirt. Quickly pulling her hair up into a messy pony tail she considered her reflection in her bedroom mirror. Her face was pinched and pale, her makeup smudged.
"Should I?" she murmured to herself but she knew that she wanted company tonight and there was no one else around. Plunging her feet into her sneakers, she grabbed her purse and the bottle of vodka and swung out of the bedroom window and onto an awaiting tree branch. A few quick practiced moves and she was on the ground, dashing for the gate at the bottom of the garden and out onto the country path beyond.
Her feet pounding on the lane, Lily's heart raced with excitement and trepidation as she felt truly free for the first time all summer. The chimneys of Spinners End loomed in front of her and she only slowed once she had reached the row of old dilapidated houses.
"Number 8," she murmured quietly to herself as she squinted at the dingy front doors, locating the one that belonged to her ex-best friend. There it was – completely unchanged in the past 2 years since she had visited. Taking a deep breath, Lily let herself up the front path, noticing the yellow weeds growing between the paving stones.
A lady with sallow skin and dark stringy hair opened the door and leered at her with yellowing teeth. Her eyes couldn't quite focus on Lily's face.
"Is Severus home?" Lily asked, hoping her voice exuded more confidence than she felt.
Moments later, a scrawny teenager appeared at the door. His expression was shocked and Lily couldn't blame him. She'd refused to speak to Severus since that awful occasion over a year ago and she would be the last person he'd expect to come calling.
Before he could open his mouth to ask what she was doing there, Lily blurted, "My Great Aunty Edith died."
Snape furrowed his brow in confusion. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"It's fine, she wasn't very nice."
"Right."
An awkward silence ensued until Lily held up the bottle of vodka. "Fancy a drink?"
It took a moment for Severus to react, but eventually he inclined his head and held the door open for her to come in, a small smile playing on the edge of his lips.
ooo
"To Remus," James announced, holding his glass high in the air. "The last of us to reach 17 and come of age. May you enjoy your newfound freedom from the Trace and enjoy yet another year of mischief making."
"Hear hear!" bellowed Severus, clinking his glass against James' and hastily downing the contents. "Although if my predictions are accurate, Headboy Remus Lupin will be too responsible to get involved with the silly antics of the Marauders this year."
Remus shook his head, colour flooding his cheeks. "The Hogwarts letters haven't been sent out yet. I doubt I'll be appointed Headboy with my furry little problem. Think how embarrassing it would be for the school if I ate someone."
"Here's to not eating anyone this year," Sirius laughed holding up his fresh glass as James joined him in the toast.
"Anyway," Remus continued, "my grades aren't good enough to be Headboy. I've missed too many classes. I'm sure Dumbledore will choose someone more academic - Robert Goldstein in Ravenclaw would be a good Headboy."
James rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cushion on his bed. The three boys were in James' bedroom, lounging on pillows and celebrating Remus' birthday. Peter Pettigrew was noticeably missing from the group, claiming his mother's ill health as an excuse not to attend. James' brow furrowed as he momentarily worried about his absent friend, but his worries didn't last long as Sirius teased Remus about his new haircut.
"Shall we go out?" James asked, noticing that the majority of the bottle of firewhisky was gone. That was strange, as he'd only had 2 glasses. It was easy to giess who had drunk the rest – Sirius' laugh was getting louder and his eyes were looking heavier. "I think if we don't go and celebrate now, Sirius is going to be snoring soon."
Sirius jumped to his feet, surprisingly steady after his many drinks. "Let's go to the Arctic Trolls in the city. Remus can apparate with me as he hasn't got his licence yet."
ooo
"What are we doing here Lily?" Severus asked with distaste as he stared at the neon décor of the club, teeming with young witches and wizards bobbing along to the pounding dance music. He practically had to yell to be heard over the noise.
"We're having fun!" she yelled back, as she pulled Severus through the crowd. "Come on, when was the last time you danced?"
"I've never danced!"
Lily laughed and tossed her dark red hair over her shoulder as she shimmied along to the music, moving with the beat and the rhythm of the crowd. Severus couldn't help but watch her – as she so effortlessly moved, her body swaying and rocking, her beautiful face so happy under the dim flickering light of the disco ball. He wanted to touch her, grab hold of her and dance with her, but he knew she wouldn't permit it. And she'd had far too much to drink – the last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of her inebriated state.
"Hey look!" Lily shouted over the crowd, pointing over Severus' shoulder. "It's your favourite people."
Severus spun around, suddenly afraid of who he would see here. Although he may have loved Lily's company, a number of his friends would not have approved. Anger and dread swept through him as he saw three teenage boys, drinks in hand, pushing their way through the crowd. Potter and his cronies. Of course.
Lily beamed and waved at them. It appeared that Lily was an extremely happy drunk, and her pure joy was doing nothing to improve Severus' mood
"Lily!" Sirius yelled as the boys approached. He swung her around in a circle that caused other dancers to jump out of the way. "Let's get a drink!" He led Lily off to the bar without even appearing to notice Severus. James, however, had most certainly noticed Lily's companion and he was not happy about it.
"What the hell are you doing here Snivellus?" James shouted over the pounding music.
Blood pounding in his ears with anger, Severus clenched his hands in tight fists, and turned to walk off of the dance floor. James grabbed his arm and Severus retaliated by shoving him hard. It looked as though James was fully prepared to fight back but Remus grabbed his friend and pulled him off of the dance floor.
Great, thought Severus sarcastically as he looked around the dark, overcrowded room. Now he'd lost Lily and he'd nearly gotten into a punch up with James. Pulling his wand out of his back pocket, just in case James decided to come after him, Severus wandered through the crowd trying to find his missing friend. Lily wasn't at the bar, or in the queue for the toilets. He couldn't find her anywhere. After circling the room twice, pushing his way through heaving, sweaty bodies, Severus once again ran into James and Remus.
"Where's Lily?" he demanded of them.
James' lip curled and he was clearly about to hurl another insult when Remus interrupted.
"We haven't seen her. She must still be with Sirius, we can't find him either."
Severus gritted his teeth. He didn't want to leave without her but the music was giving him a headache, and someone nearby had vomited - the smell was almost unbearable. Then, as his eyes swept over the crowd one last time, he caught sight of a familiar dark red ponytail. It was Lily, her arms wrapped tightly around Sirius, their lips locked together in a passionate kiss.
Severus' heart froze. The music was drowned by the sound of blood pounding in his ears and the world seemed to slow down and fade. All he could see was Lily, glorious, beautiful, charming Lily, in the arms of that…that monster. His heart broke into a million pieces. How could she? How could she do this? Severus had spent so many years worrying that Lily would be stolen away by Potter, he'd never once stopped to consider the possibility that the arrogant prick Black might do it instead.
It was clear that James and Remus had spotted them simultaneously, as James let out a low hiss of anger and Remus squeezed his glass so tightly that it shattered under his fingers. Severus spared only a few seconds to wonder at the reaction of the fair haired boy, before turning his attention back to the embracing couple. He wanted to wade through the crowd and pull them apart, a feeling apparently shared by James who looked murderous.
But a commotion near the door distracted all three boys, and they turned their attention away from Lily and Sirius.
A group of men, dressed in dark robes had entered the club, wands held aloft. People near them were scattering out of the way and shouts of fear could be heard over the pounding music and laughing crowd. Something was very wrong.
James grabbed Remus by the arm. "Remus, they look like trouble."
Remus shot him a scared look and his eyes darted to Severus. "Deatheaters?"
Severus went white and clutched his wand tighter in his hand. His demeanour was not lost on James, who turned on him. "Friends of yours?" he asked, his voice deadly.
The men were approaching, the crowd thinning as they realised what was happening. One of the dark-clad men shot red sparks into the air above the dancefloor and people screamed, now running for the exit.
"Take Lily home!" James shouted at Severus.
Severus hesitated then shook his head. Hating himself more than ever before, he said, "No. I can't."
"What the fuck?" James yelled, shoving him hard. "What do you mean? You need to get her home!"
"No! You take her, now! Get out of here," he turned on his heel, fear and hatred whirling through his brain - he couldn't be seen with her. She was a mudblood.
James watched Severus run from them and he pulled Remus through the crowd. Sirius and Lily had also realised that something was wrong and they were looking around for their friends.
"Remus," ordered James, "take Sirius back to my place. He'll help you apparate as soon as you're outside. But you need to direct him -he's too drunk to get there without you."
Remus nodded and grabbed his friend and together they ran for the door. James didn't waste any time – he took Lily's hand and pulled her along behind him, trying to avoid being crushed by the surging crowd. More loud bangs and sparks of light sounded behind them, but James didn't turn back. He pulled Lily out into the cool night air and supported her as they hurried down the street to a quiet dark alley.
"Where do you live?" James asked, panting hard. "Can you get us there by apparition?"
Lily nodded, "I think so. Oh god, I've had too much to drink."
"It's okay," James said softly, cursing the Deatheaters who had intruded on their night, and trying desperately hard not to think of the betrayal of his best friend. "I'll help you get home. I'll help you apparate but you need to guide me, do you understand?"
Lily nodded as they finally slowed to a walk and James pulled her into a dark doorway.
"Okay, let's go." And with a whirl and a crack, they were gone.
ooo
AN: I hope you enjoyed and please leave me a review! Annie xx