Written for The Word Limit Competition - Round Three. The prompt was 'Go All The Way' and the length had to be about 1,500 words. Enjoy :)
September 4th, 1976
"Davies, Anthony?"
"Here, sir."
"Doyle, Margaret?"
"Hither"
"Evans, Lily?"
"Present, Professor Slughorn," she called enthusiastically, making James Potter, who was snoring on the table next to her, wake in surprise.
"And aren't we lucky for that, given your performance in yesterday's lesson?" Professor Slughorn responded with a big grin on his face. "I actually wanted to ask you something about that. Your'e not, by any chance, related to Lydia Evans, the famous alchemist, are you?"
"I'm afraid not, sir."
"Then perhaps the great arithmancer from Ireland, Philippa? She used to teach here, maybe you know her."
"I," she answered hesitantly. "I don't think so. You see, my parents are both Muggles."
"Oh," he said, the smile on his face melting thoroughly as his eyes dropped back to the pages on his desk. "I see. Then I must have been mistaking... Everret, Conall?"
"Here!"
/
"Did you get that?" Lily asked in an irritated voice when they where sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall that evening.
"Get what?" James responded, chewing on a juicy piece of roasted chicken.
"The way Slughorn acted when he found out I was a Muggle-born!" She answered in a furious tone. "As if that makes me less successful than any of his other students."
"Oh... yeah, sure."
"That prick!" She said in disbelief and a mischievous started curling on her face. "You know what I'll do? I'm going to prove him wrong. That's right! I'm going to be the best freaking potioneer this school has seen, and sweep him off his prejudiced feet!"
"Just do me a favor, Lil'" James pleaded with hope. "Please don't make this story bigger than it really is. I'm sure it was just a non-rational comment of his."
"Since when do I make things bigger than they are?" she started gathering her belongings and hung her leather satchel on her shoulder. "And besides, it was him who started it."
"So where are you going?"
"To the library," she said and planted him a kiss on the cheek. "Got to excel in tomorrow's potion class. Good night!"
He sighed in a sweet frustration and watched her hurry with her tiny quick steps out of the large noisy hall.
September 21st, 1976
"Good morning, children," Professor Slughorn greeted them kindly as they were eating breakfast at the Great Hall.
"How's it goin', Sluggy-Dog," answered Sirius inappropriately and patted the short man on his back, making it hard for the four of them, Lily, James, Remus and Peter, not to burst out laughing.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he answered seriously. "How are you doing these days?"
"We're doing good, Pap," Sirius continued in his oh-so-out-of-place attitude. "You know, just studying hard and all..."
"Of course, of course. You guys are good kids... In fact," he added and his hand reached for something in the inner pocket of his cloak. "I got this for you friend over here." He pulled out a small envelope, sealed with wax that had been shaped in the form of the 'Slug-Club's' fancy logo.
"What's that?" James asked with visible curiosity.
"Just some small students' study-group I'm arranging," he explained excitedly, but he seemed to have lost the boy's interest already. "You know, for those who excel in potion-making... And you guys are welcomed to congratulate your friend over here. Our young Remus is one of the first students to be invited to join the exclusive 'Slug-Club'."
"Ooh, Bravo!" Sirius called and clapped his hand in sarcastic exaggeration. "Bravo! I have always known you had it in you, Moony!"
"Shut up," Remus said shyly and grabbed the purple envelope from between Slughorn's chubby fingers. His face reddened in an instant, but Lily noticed the proud smile that curved on his face unintentionally.
"See you at the first meeting next Friday, Remus," said the Professor and winked him friendlily. "And all of you, we have a class in two hours, don't we? I'll see you then." And so he walked past the Gryffindor table, leaving them to giggle uncontrollably.
"Looks like our little Moony took a sip of the caldron of love," Sirius joked and pursed his lips passionately. "Kiss me, you little talented potioneer!"
"I got to go," Lily said nervously, left the boys to make fun of the situation and rushed towards Professor Slughorn, who was now passing through the heavy doors that led outside of the room.
"Professor," she called as she tried to catch up with his quick footsteps. "Professor Slughorn!"
"Yes, Miss Edwards?" he asked indifferently.
"It's Evans..." she said, trying to be heard above the loud noisy conversations of the numerous students who were still dining in the Great Hall. "But anyway, I wanted to talked to you about something..."
"Not now, Edens," he said impatiently as he hurried towards the northern staircase. "I got a class to teach. Come to my office this evening. When I'm not busy."
"It's Evans!" she yelled frustratedly, but he was already out of sight, leaving her to trudge to her next herbology lesson in greenhouse number three.
/
The sharp scent of liquor floated around the dungeon corridors as she approached Professor Slughorn's office that night. When she arrived at the door behind which the potion teacher had set his bureau, she could understand what the source of the smell was - four different bottles of tequila and fire-whiskey lay on the messy desk. Behind it sat Professor Slughorn, holding a stained piece of parchment in his right hand and an empty highball in the other.
"P-Professor?" Lily asked in a shaky voice, making Slughorn raise his eyes at her with confusion. "You told me to come talk to you this evening... But if this is a bad time, I can -"
"Oh, no!" He said at once, as if he has been waken from some sort of a trance. "Come! Come here, darling!" and he gestured towards an invisible chair next to him. "Now," he continued once she stood behind the desk to his right and placed the parchment and the glass on the wooden surface. "What is it you wanted to ask me about?"
"Well," she responded, ready to spill all of last month's frustrations at him. "I feel like you don't give me an equal treatment as everybody else, and..."
"Uh-huh..." he said, trying to sound interested, but Lily noticed that his eyes were focused hungrily on the cleavage in her yellow polo shirt.
"You agree?" She asked, starting to grow angry again by the second.
"Look, Miss Evans," his voice went real low in a moment, and his fingers started groping the rough fabric of her shirt's collar. "In order to excel in potion studies, you have to be able to do the maximum, and sometimes even more than that."
"Are you trying to say I'm not -?"
"Shhh..." He hushed her pleasantly, his finger sliding down her neck and onto the top button of her shirt. "Hear me out for a moment..."
"Professor," she said hesitantly, finally feeling uneasy at the awkward situation she got into. "I - I'm not sure I want..."
"You see," he interrupted her indifferently. "In order to be great, in every matter of life, one must be willing to..." He stopped for a moment taking a deep breath, and than continued, squeezing out a different button with every word coming out of his mouth. "Go... All... The way."
Lily gasped nervously, causing the drunk Professor to raise his eyes and glance at her face. "Are you able to do that, dear?" He asked quietly.
The red haired girl just cocked her head stiffly, and focused her dump eyes on a tiny stain on the office's far wall.
Slughorn stretched his arm to grab the wand on his desk, waving with it at the door that shut in a loud noise. "Alohomora," he whispered, and Lily could hear the soft click of the lock being sealed hermetically, closing the two of them alone in the acrid smelling room.
September 22nd, 1976
"It has been a great lesson, class," Slughorn announced in a cheery voice. "And I think all of you will be pleased to know that I've checked and graded the home assignments you handed in last week. Severus Snape?"
"Over here, sir," a monotonic call was heard from the back of the class.
"A terrific essay, I have to say," mentioned the professor and placed the parchment on Severus's desk. "Remus Lupin?"
"Here."
"Wonderful writing, especially at the end. Way to go! Lily Evans?"
"I'm here, Professor," she raised her hand from where she sat next to James.
"Good job, Evans," he said as he approached the couple's desk. "And congratulations. Marlene McKinnon?"
He put the essay on the surface in front of her, with a 'Slug-Club' meeting invitation attached to its top left tip.
"an A+ and you got into this study group? Not bad Lil'," James called in admiration.
"That is not right," she murmured to herself worriedly.
"Sure it is," James tried to encourage her. "You earned it, fair and square!"
"Yeah," she whispered and her eyes glanced at her stout gleeful potion teacher. "I guess I did."