The Shot-Off Queen
"Welcome to adulthood, Prongs!" Sirius Black seemed to be screaming as he ripped open the curtains on James Potter's four-poster bed. James scrambled for his watch. "How do you feel now that you've joined us in the ranks of men?"
"I'd feel better about it if it wasn't… Merlin, six thirty in the morning." James mumbled unhappily to himself as he threw his watch back onto his bedside table. "Wake me up when the time is less… disgusting."
"Sorry, James," Peter appeared next to Sirius now, "we have a lot planned for today, Remus has a whole itinerary lined up for us."
"Delightful," James' voice was flat and uninterested as he spoke into his pillow, "Is it a fun itinerary?"
"Nah, seventeen years is a long enough life," Sirius had now moved away and appeared to be trying to teach his socks to put themselves on his feet. He flicked his wand lazily at them and they nudged weakly against him, "we thought we'd bore you to death."
James made a sound in the back of his throat that sounded bored, dismayed and disgusted all at once but he suddenly rolled straight out of bed, landed on his feet, stood up and stretched. He looked around the dormitory, his bed had the advantage of being nestled right between the door to the staircase that lead into the common room and the door to the bathroom, it meant he could see the other three at all times.
"Where's Remus?" James queried once he realised the boy was missing; the other two shrugged and Peter gave him a piece of parchment while attempting to button up a shirt one handed. James rubbed his eyes and roughly stuck his glasses on his face in order to read the note.
James-
Get dressed and ready for when I'm back.
Try not to be a dick just because it's the morning.
-R
"Cute," James murmured but he had to admit he was not a morning person and this wasn't a disputable fact. He snatched up the clothes nearest to him and threw them on messily, grabbing socks he was fairly sure were clean and sticking those on his feet, he ran his hands through his hair a couple of times for good luck. By the time he had finished Remus re-entered the room carrying a very full bag.
"Unbelievable! You know when I went down there for my birthday the house elves just gave me a couple of sandwiches and sent me on my way. Soon as I mention James' name it's all 'Mr Potter! We love Mr Potter!'" Remus shook his head with disbelief. "Are you blackmailing them? I just don't get it."
"It's my sunny disposition and the hard life of servitude I've endured. We relate to each other on a lot of levels."
Remus snorted and threw the bag of food at James who caught it expertly. The four of them sat in the centre of their dormitory and ate the breakfast Remus had collected for them.
"So what are we doing today?" James asked, now feeling significantly more awake and alive.
"Meer ponectin fuppies," Sirius tried to speak with his mouth full of bacon and scrambled eggs. James grinned at him and waited for him to swallow, when he finally did he cleared his throat, "We're collecting supplies."
"Supplies?"
"Yeah."
"For?"
"Remus is the brains behind the operation, ask him. I'm just the pretty face."
"Your party tonight," Remus finally chimed in, "Surprised you couldn't guess, really."
"You know it's a Sunday, right? No offence but that's a shitty idea, no-one's going to turn up to a Sunday night party," there was a short silence in the room.
"You clearly haven't taken into account the pull of your 'sunny disposition', mate," Sirius said flatly, "Also the fact that it's the Easter holidays. Here're your presents, you idiot. Happy Birthday."
xxxxx
Lily Evans awoke early to the sounds of birds singing outside Gryffindor tower she smiled sleepily to herself, yawning and stretching happily. She peeked out of the curtains of her bed and realised with relief that the other girls were still asleep, she could even hear Vanessa Davies' heavy snoring from across the room and decided it was time to get up and go for a walk. She dressed and washed as quietly as possible and checked her watch as she left the room, only quarter past seven. Breakfast was served around eight on a weekend so she mentally struggled between sitting in the common room and reading a book or going for a quick walk. She finally reached the bottom of the girl's staircase still looking at her watch and collided quite heavily with someone exiting the boys' staircase.
"Ow! I'm really sorry. I wasn't-" Lily looked up from her throbbing arm to realise that she had run into none other than James Potter. Lily thought hate to be a very strong emotion and she wasn't sure she'd ever hated anyone but she really really disliked Potter. There were many reasons behind this feeling, many moments that wove into the rich tapestry that was her dislike for James but if Lily had to pinpoint one moment exactly it was one that had happened around nine months ago. The day she had lost her best friend, "Oh. Potter."
"Evans," he smirked at her, "you look presentable today."
"Thanks," Lily replied flatly with some confusion and tried to dodge around him but he blocked her way, still with that irritating little smirk on his face, "can I help you with something?"
"I don't know, I was thinking about…" Lily saw a frown flicker across his face, it was only a flicker but she caught it. His face was smooth and impossible to read now, "Are you alright?"
"Perfect," She tried to escape again but this time he grabbed her arm, "Remove your hand now if you want to keep it."
"Alright," he did not take his hand away only moved it to her shoulder but continued to talk to her, "listen, everyone's worried about you, you obviously don't want to talk to me but you should talk to someone. You still have friends even if it turned out one was an arsehole."
"Listen to me carefully," Lily's voice was low and cold and she tried to make her face as blank as possible, "the next time I ask you to stop touching me you will do it immediately, do you understand?" She waited for him to nod, then continued. "You have never cared about the feelings of another individual in your life, please don't start pretending on my account. Sev may have been an arsehole at that moment in time; maybe he is just an arsehole, who knows? But what I do know is that you have always and will always be an arsehole."
With that Lily turned and left, hoping she had stung his gigantic ego but she turned when she heard him continuing to speak.
"Not a morning person then?"
"Actually, I love the morning, your presence just frustrates me."
"I'm sure it does." James said with a wink, at this Lily huffed and continued on her way out of the common room. As the portrait swung shut she heard him shout something but couldn't make out and didn't really care what it was.
xxxxx
"You're coming to my party tonight, right?" James called after Lily but the portrait had swung closed behind her and she probably hadn't heard. He was still looking at the wooden exit when Sirius appeared beside him.
"I love the back of a good portrait too."
"Shut up."
"How's Evans?"
"Shut up."
"Did you tell her about what Ness said?"
"Not really."
"Do you think we should be worried she'll off herself?"
"I don't know. She's not been the same since…"
"Don't blame yourself, mate," Sirius shrugged wrinkling his nose in a way that indicated he didn't think it was a big deal, "she's better off now she knows what a turd Snivellus really is."
"Maybe you should tell her and then she can start acting like it."
A clattering from the stairs marked the arrival of the other half of the Marauders and they set off for the fourth floor together.
"Have you seen Garnett Prescott lately?" Sirius asked the group at large.
"Yeah," Peter piped up, "quite pretty isn't she?"
"Not how I would have phrased it but yeah," Sirius grinned at his friends, "I invited her tonight, she was throwing me some serious signals."
"Oh yeah?" Remus raised an eyebrow sceptically; "Odd considering she's been seeing George since the dawn of time."
"You mean Brooks? You're joking! How long ago was the dawn of time?"
"About four years."
"Knew there was a reason I thought he was a knob. How do you know so much about other people's lives?"
"I sit next to George in Arithmancy and I have prefect rounds with Garnett sometimes. I also do this thing called listeningwhen people talk to me."
"I listen all the time!"
"Not really, Padfoot," Peter stated, "you didn't realise Lin had broken up with me in second year until you saw her kissing Tom Rowley."
"And I punched him to save your honour, so I'm still a good friend. Besides, that was the dawn of time, I'm fabulous listener now."
"When's my birthday?"
"I want to say August."
"January, you prick."
"I'm joking, Pete, I know when your birthday is. Fifteenth, right?"
"You do care!" Peter cooed. Sirius punched him.
xxxxx
Lily was relieved when she reached the Entrance Hall and found that the doors that lead outside were unlocked. She pushed them open and slipped through, took a deep breath and frowned to herself. It was an ordinary March day, overcast with a light breeze. Lily pulled her cloak closer around herself and set off on her walk. She followed the path until it came to a three way fork and took the left path which lead towards the lake. She walked slowly, meandering and kicking stones unhappily. She didn't know why she kept coming back but soon enough she found herself at the tree.
Every time she had gone on a walk these past nine months, which she seemed to have done at least once a day, she had ended up at the tree. Sure enough she remembered the memory unhappily, Severus hanging upside down, Potter taunting him and then Sev had called her a mudblood. When Lily remembered that day she preferred to focus on her anger at Potter rather than the hurt she still felt about Snape's slur. She had convinced herself that if it had not been for James' provocation then she would still have her best friend and she wouldn't have felt as lonely as she had these past nine months.
She sat down under the tree, which was now budding with new leaves and thought to herself. She thought about Severus and how she knew she couldn't forgive him for what he'd said. She wanted to with all her heart but he had been her best friend and he had betrayed her when he had uttered that word. She knew that's what his friends had called her, they probably still did but that had never bothered her. She had trusted Severus and told him everything; she had thought he would never hurt her. She considered that perhaps being wrong about him was what had hurt her most. She had always defended him so staunchly but now everyone knew she was a fool.
And then there was Vanessa and Ronnette and Mary and Tristan and Alice and Sameera and everyone else who had seen and heard those awful things and kept up a constant stream of 'are you okay's and 'he's just an arsehole's and now apparently Potter was hopping on the bandwagon. She scowled to herself. The truth was she couldn't face them. She couldn't go on with her life pretending like Severus had never been a huge part of it. She couldn't look them in the eyes and tell them that she'd been an idiot. She had only the tiniest bit of pride left and she couldn't bear to lose that too, so she had stopped talking to her friends. Obviously people could not be completely avoided but she did her best to stay out of everyone's way.
As she stared across the lake she saw Luiza Peterson sat on the bank. The Hufflepuff seemed to spot her at the same time and waved enthusiastically. Lily lifted her palm in response. The giant squid rose suddenly to the surface. Lily watched as it laid one of its tentacles next to Luiza. Luiza smiled and stroked the tentacle as she spoke to the creature.
It struck Lily how incredibly lonely she was. Luiza was odd but she was very nice and Lily had not had a conversation with her in what seemed like a very long time. Potter was right. That thought brought her no happiness but she realised she did have friends and that she missed them. She realised she missed stopping to talk to people in the corridor and then having to rush away to her next class. She missed staying up late talking about nothing with Mary and Vanessa. She realised she missed eating in the Great Hall with Ronnette and Tristan and laughing at their extraordinarily bitchy repartee. She missed sitting in the library with Alice and trying to laugh silently about something stupid Frank had said. She missed walking with Emmeline and imagining their futures, saving the world together. She missed repeatedly telling Sameera to use her inside voice when they traded jokes about Professor Kettleburn. She missed having shouting matches with Potter in the common room over stupid things. She missed bitching at Sirius to get out of her seat in Potions whenever he tried to chat up Emmeline. She missed doing a night of prefect duty with Remus that wasn't a completely awkward silence. She missed helping Peter with his Charms homework and being amused at how truly awful at it he was. What she missed most of all, more than all those things and Severus Snape combined was being Lily Evans. She promised, while watching the strange Hufflepuff trade secrets with the squid, she was going to find herself again and she felt considerably lighter than she had in a long while.
xxxxx
"Oi, Moony!" James called across The Three Broomsticks to his friend who was sat at a table with Peter. "How many bottles of firewhiskey do we need?"
"Well how many do you want?"
"How many people have you invited?"
"A fair few, although some'll probably bring their own stuff. Ronnette's coming and she'll probably bring enough to go around twice."
"That doesn't necessarily mean she'll share, Remus."
"Very true, get ten."
"Alright. ROS!" James shouted for the pretty young barmaid who bustled over to him almost immediately. "We'll have two kegs of butterbeer and ten bottles of firewhiskey, if it's not too much trouble."
"Big night planned?"
"Nah," Sirius appeared beside James now, "this is just for a quiet night in."
Rosmerta laughed at this from the back room and soon James' bottles of firewhiskey came floating out of the door and gently placed themselves on the counter. The two kegs followed and soon James was handing over a fairly substantial amount of money to the barmaid.
"It's actually my birthday today." James informed her with a mischievous smile. "Did you get me anything?"
"Not likely, you cheeky bugger," Rosmerta shooed them out of the bar laughing all the same, "go before I owl Dumbledore about some pesky students who really should be on the castle grounds."
"Bye, Ros!" The four of them called as they swung the door open and stepped out, followed by an inordinate amount of floating alcohol.
"Have we got everything?" Peter asked as they stepped onto the high street.
"Yes, I think so." Remus consulted his list quickly. "Lets head back shall we?"
The four of them traipsed their way towards the caves on the edge of Hogsmeade the bottles and kegs bobbing in formation behind them. As they entered the cave that led up to the mirror on the fourth floor Sirius spoke; "If I were ever on the run I think I'd stay in here."
"Why would you ever be on the run?" Peter asked doubtfully.
"You never know. It's always good to be prepared."
They followed the passage at the back of the cave until they stood behind the mirror. Peter produced a large piece of parchment from his pocket and muttered to himself; "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," He examined the map for a few moments, "good job we fixed the fourth floor defect last week or we'd be in deep shit right now. We should to wait here for a couple of minutes."
James nodded an affirmative and pulled his invisibility cloak from his robe pocket. He threw it over the two floating kegs and started snatching the bottles out of the air. He thrust a couple in each of his magically extended pockets and threw some at Sirius so he could do the same, the other two bottles he gave to Remus who had never been keen on smuggling alcohol into the castle but James would not trust Peter with bottles after last time. James finally saw a shadowy figure pass behind the mirror and looked to Peter.
"Okay, lets go."
The four of them furtively stepped out through the mirror and walked quickly towards the tapestry at the other end of the corridor. James lifted the tapestry and ushered them all down the stairs behind it. The passage came out behind a portrait on the grand staircase between the first and the ground floor and they rushed downwards towards the Entrance Hall. Here they turned right and headed away from the Great Hall towards the unused classrooms. James opened the door to classroom eleven, checked the coast was clear and headed in, to be followed by his three friends and the invisible kegs.
The Marauders exchanged grins and set to work.
xxxxx
Alice sat at the Gryffindor table scraping porridge around her bowl, not really interested in actually eating it. She looked up when someone sat beside her.
"Lily?" Alice asked incredulously. Lily Evans had been a very good friend upon her arrival at Hogwarts the year after Alice but since she had fallen out with the Snape boy she'd been distant, making excuses to miss their library dates and avoiding the common room. Lily had eaten breakfast on her own for months and whenever Alice had asked Lily's other friends they had been just as baffled as her. "How are you?"
"I'm… quite alright actually. How're things with you?"
"Er. Okay?"
"How're you and Frank?" Tears immediately sprang to Alice's eyes and she scolded herself inwardly for being such an idiot. "Oh, Alice, is everything alright?"
"Not really, no." Alice cleared her throat uncomfortably trying to navigate the large lump in her throat. "Frank and I haven't spoken in a week actually." Alice realised how much she had missed having Lily to confide in and the story spilled out of her rapidly. "Oh, Lily, where have you been? We've been arguing since January and I always thought we'd be so happy together but we're just not anymore and I don't know what to do."
"What have you been arguing about?"
"Everything!" Alice's voice was shrill and a couple of Hufflepuffs turned nosily to see what was happening. Lily gave them a look and they seemed to decide to mind their own business. "Ever since we applied to the ministry for Auror training, it's not been the same."
"Listen to me," Lily instructed as she grabbed Alice's hands, earnestly looking her in the eye, "you and Frank were meant for each other, no don't pull that face. Right now you both need some tough love and apparently no-one's stepped up to give it out. I think you both need to sit down and sort it out because I will be so angry with you both if you break up, you belong together and you've found someone who would never hurt you on purpose. Don't let that go just because everything's starting to get real."
Alice nodded; she was not so sure about her future with Frank anymore but with her eyes still slightly teary she embraced the younger girl smiling slightly.
"Oh, I've missed you, Lily."
Lily chuckled, "I've missed you too."
And with that they tucked into their breakfast, it was like the past nine months had never happened and they laughed and chatted happily, Alice telling Lily all the castle gossip she thought she might have missed. Lily waved to several people throughout breakfast, all had looked slightly perplexed but then waved back happily, shouting greetings to her. Alice smiled at her friend, happy to see the old Lily Evans again.
"So, what have you been doing?" She asked when curiosity finally got the better of her. Lily sighed, as if she had been dreading this question.
"I've been an idiot, Alice."
"I'm well aware of that, dear."
"I was just," Lily seemed to consider her words carefully, "so hurt and embarrassed about the whole Severus thing and then I dug myself into this little hole and I thought maybe if I didn't have friends then no one could hurt me again… I know I've been a pretty crappy friend and a lot of people will be angry with me but I really don't want to be alone anymore."
Alice smiled at her friends' lost expression and gave her another hug. "No one's going to be angry at you for taking some alone time. I mean nine months is a lot of alone time but we all love you. Welcome back, ginge."
"Thanks," Lily smiled happily.
"So are you coming to James' party tonight?"
"We argued this morning actually. Why's he having a party? And on a Sunday?"
"For one thing, only you would care that it's on a Sunday. For another it's his birthday today."
"It isn't." Lily looked horribly uncomfortable and her voice was full of dread. Alice nodded an affirmative with her eyebrow cocked. Lily groaned. "I was horrible to him. I should apologise, shouldn't I?"
"Yeah, unless you're planning on being a bitch now."
"Ugh."
xxxxx
It was eleven o'clock before the Marauders had finished setting up classroom eleven, which meant breakfast was just ending. They left the room happy with their work and were intending to return to Gryffindor tower to work on the map but were stopped short in the Entrance Hall where a large number of people were crowded.
"I should see what's happening," Remus murmured, James recognised his serious prefect voice and nodded absently, peering over people's heads to see the cause of the commotion. Remus started to push through the crowd and James followed in his wake, "excuse me please."
There at the front Remus seemed to spot Lily and he started to make his way over but stopped suddenly in his tracks. James had not noticed and walked straight into the back of his friend.
"Remus what are- Oh sweet Circe."
In the air dangled a very real and very dead pig. It levitated several feet off the ground and even without close inspection James could tell it had been brutally but surgically cut apart. Blood dripped like a leaky tap from the carcass and when James looked to the floor he saw someone had smeared the blood methodically to make words. He squinted trying to read what it said.
"Lily what is this?" Remus asked, James noticed he had dropped the sensible façade and was now only horrified. Lily stood with Alice Prince and they both looked very pale. "We should clean this up."
"No," Lily's eyes pulled away from the grotesque scene before her and she smiled in a very disconcerting way. "Let everyone see."
For one mad moment James thought that perhaps Lily was behind this horrible act of violence but then he managed to catch a glimpse of what the writing said. It ruled her out rather spectacularly.
MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS YOUR TIME HAS PASSED
WE ARE THE FUTURE
WE ARE THE FURY
WE ARE THE BLOOD SUPREMACY ORGANISATION
"That's… unpleasant." Sirius muttered beside James.
"Understatement," said Peter who looked uncomfortably sick.
"Who did this?" James asked to the crowd at large. Several people looked around. Remus seemed to snap out of his shock and he looked around at the surrounding students, James copied this action but if he was looking for an obvious culprit he was disappointed. The only expressions he saw on students' faces were those of shock and disgust. "Does anyone know?"
"Probably Mulciber and his lot!" A voice shouted.
"No it wasn't, they've been in the Great Hall all morning!" Another said.
"Why, was it you?"
"No! You seem awfully happy to give out blame, though."
"My mum's muggleborn, you prat." The crowd gradually seemed to erupt, fingers were pointed and accusations shouted at others, Remus turned to his friends.
"Someone go to the staff room, bring whoever's there," Remus instructed the Marauders. Peter nodded and moved his way back through the crowd with a look of relief on his face, "we should close this off and move people on."
James pulled his wand from his robe pocket and flicked it deliberately. White silk erupted from the tip and positioned itself around the scene like a large curtain. Remus began shooing students away but was rewarded with some resistance. At this point Lily stepped in, her face scary yet calm, she received much less argument than her prefect counterpart. By the time Peter returned with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Smith only a few stragglers remained.
"Black, Potter, what is it this time?"
"This one's not ours actually, Professor." James waved his wand and the silk disappeared revealing the pig in all its glory. This time James noticed that the ribcage had been opened and the heart was missing. His stomach churned.
"Good heavens!" the three professors looked shocked and repulsed. McGonagall recovered the quickest. "Students, return to your common rooms. We will send for you if a witness statement is required."
If Lily Evans had not convinced the last few students to move on then McGonagall had. The rest moved away until all that remained were the Marauders, Lily and Alice.
"I believe students includes all of you?" McGonagall said pointedly. The six of them moved away slowly trying to gauge the three professors reactions but even when the group had moved up the marble staircase and towards the grand staircase the professors had done nothing but stare at the mess unhappily and exchange words in hushed tones. McGonagall glanced up to see James still lurking. "Potter, go!" James jogged to catch up with his housemates.
"That was vile," Alice still looked unhealthily pale, "who would do something like that?"
"The Blood Supremacy Organisation, apparently." Lily said this airily but James saw her face was hard and unforgiving.
"Why a pig?" Everyone looked at Peter strangely. It seemed an odd question at the time but James still watched Lily with the corner of his eye, trying his hardest to be subtle. "What? I mean surely there are better things to write in than pig's blood. Like ever-lasting ink?"
"It's a warning," Lily said, face still blank, "pigs live in mud, it's a mudblood."
"But it was almost cut in half." Peter said uncomfortably.
"That was the warning, Peter. I don't think mudbloods are welcome here anymore." James looked at Lily with a frown but she didn't seem to notice, she was lost in her own thoughts.
xxxxx
Lily's mind was elsewhere as her feet followed their natural path up to Gryffindor tower. She shuffled along beside her housemates, not really listening to what they were saying. Her mind seemed oddly blank and she felt a strange stillness inside. She felt… content? Was that the right word? She thought back to the slaughtered pig and still felt nothing. People inside this castle, inside her home wanted her dead but this thought brought her no fear or sadness, it brought her no feelings what so ever. The group had reached the portrait hole now and Lily was about to clamber through after them but was stopped by a hand on her arm. She turned. James Potter was touching her again. James Potter had that irritatingly concerned look on his face again. James Potter was speaking to her again. Lily's newfound tranquillity seemed to burst into flames as quickly as it had descended and she now felt very agitated.
"So do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly."
"I think you should anyway."
"Oh, I forgot you were the fountain of all knowledge."
"Don't be a tit, Evans. You know I never meant anything like that."
"Please, tell me how I should be reacting."
"I just think leaving a slaughtered pig for everyone to see and then proclaiming to the school that muggleborns are no longer welcome here isn't a particularly healthy way to deal with the situation."
"Well in that case, share your extensive experience of being on the receiving end of bigotry. Enlighten me with your vast repertoire of sage advice."
"Alright, fine. Don't act like you're the only one affected by this."
"And it effects you how?"
"It effects me when you act like a dick about it. I'm sorry but you're not the only person in the castle who has to deal with that shite and you're not the only one upset by it. You know Jalila Rusnak was there today? You think she needed to see that pig? You think she needed you to confirm how shitty the situation is?"
"Don't act like you care about Jalila, you made her life hell last year."
"Maybe I don't, but you clearly don't either. And what about Fenwick and Jackie and Lin? There are other people in this castle who are suffering too, I just never thought you'd be the one to lie down and take it."
Lily was struck by how level headed and reasonable James was being. She knew she was in the wrong. What was worse was that she was a prefect and she had been so absorbed by how victimised she had felt she forgot about others. Potter seemed to be correct about a lot of things today. When was the last time she'd had any interaction with him? It had been a long time. With a swelling feeling in her stomach that felt uncomfortably like shame she looked down to the floor.
"Ugh," Lily said unhappily, "I swear you never used to be right."
"I imagine this makes arguing with me much less satisfying." James smiled slightly.
"Yeah. Just disappointing now."
"I'm sure we can find other ways to satisfy each other."
"Not a chance." Lily rolled her eyes. He hadn't changed too much.
"Always worth a try." James smiled, spoke the password to the Fat Lady and held the portrait open for her, following her into the common room. Lily was unsure how to finish a conversation with James that did not end in screaming obscenities but he spoke up again. "Coming to the party tonight?"
"Yeah, I think so." James' face was a mask of shock. "Don't look so surprised, I hear Marauder's parties have only gotten more ostentatious since the last one I went to. Will there be trolls?"
"Only if you turn up," he smiled sweetly at her, "what convinced you to come?"
"I was chatting with Alice at breakfast actually." James raised his eyebrows but smiled at her words. "That reminds me, you were right this morning as well. I'm sorry about what I said."
"Don't worry about it. I probably deserved it."
"Actually, you didn't and I am sorry. I also didn't get you a present, so I hope you'll accept my humble apology as a gift."
"You spoil me."
"Happy Birthday, you prat."
"Cheers, tit."
xxxxx
Mary sat in her favourite armchair in the Gryffindor common room. It was puffy and pink and comfortable and it gave a good view of the room, no-one could sneak up on her from here and everyone seemed to have accepted this armchair was Mary MacDonald's, when she was not in class or at meals she had rarely left it these past two years.
For the past twenty minutes people had walked through the portrait hole with shocked expressions on their faces and this had made Mary gradually more and more nervous. She had to admit that an awful lot of things made her nervous but the stream of scared looking Gryffindors worried her more than usual. The next people to come through the portrait hole were her classmates and Alice. She waved at them feebly and they headed toward her. Behind them she could see the portrait swing shut and caught a glimpse of some long red hair and snatches of irritated words.
Sirius perched himself on the arm of her chair and looked at her grimly.
"Have you heard then?"
"No, do I want to?"
"Probably not," Remus sighed as he took a seat on the sofa across the coffee table from Mary, "it's pretty grim stuff."
"Well, what is it?" At this the three Marauders and Alice exchanged grim glances and Mary's stomach did a rather uncomfortable wiggle. "Guys?"
"There was an anti-muggleborn protest in the Entrance Hall just now." Alice moved to sit on the free arm of Mary's chair and put an arm around her. "Someone wrote some... Nasty things on the floor."
Mary was not surprised. She had been subject to the pureblood mania movement's dislike ever since she had stepped foot in this castle and had endured more of it than most other muggleborns. She had not felt welcome there for over two years and she dreaded returning after holidays. This Easter was the first time since the attack she had decided to stay for a holiday and that was purely because her parents were taking a romantic holiday for their anniversary and had not so subtly suggested she should spend time at Hogwarts with her friends. She noticed the four exchanging glances again and frowned.
"Stop trying to coddle me, tell me the whole thing."
Sirius shrugged and told her about the levitating pig, about its guts spilling to the floor and the writing beneath it and though Mary had not seen it for herself she was sure the images would be burned into her memory forever.
"What did the writing say?"
"I actually don't remember," Sirius shrugged, "Something stupid about how muggleborns should fuck off?"
"Not quite," Mary jumped as Lily and James joined the group, both seemed to be smiling which was quite frankly bewildering but Lily spoke again, "it said: Mudbloods and blood traitors your time has passed, we are the future, we are the fury, we are the Blood Supremacy Organisation. I think."
"How do you even remember that?" Sirius asked with a strange look. Lily shrugged half-heartedly. Mary knew that Lily had always had a very good memory; she could recite whole pages of books word for word and Mary had always been jealous of this ability. She did not envy it now though. "Anyway, we've got shit to do, right, Moony?"
"Oh, yeah, we do." The three sitting Marauders rose and grabbed James, pulling him towards the boys' staircase happily.
"Don't forget the party later!" Peter shouted to them.
"See you later, tit!" James called and Lily grinned, throwing a pillow in the group's direction. The smile dropped from her face as she took a seat on the floor beside Mary.
"I'm sorry, Mary." Lily said, her face earnest and guilty.
"What for?"
"I've been shitty."
"No, you haven't."
"Yeah, I have. I'm sorry I haven't been around."
"Lily's decided to stop being a pariah now." Alice provided happily, her arm still around Mary's shoulders. Mary smiled happily.
"Good," Mary had missed Lily. Lily had stood up for Mary when few people would have. Lily made everything slightly less terrifying and slightly more enjoyable. But Mary was not so quick to forgive. The merciless bullying had grown harder and harder to handle since the start of sixth year and Mary had needed Lily but Lily had not been there. Mary thought that perhaps she would just ignore those feeling until later, she would have to discuss this with Sam and Ness when they came back; Mary knew they were angry too.
Lily smiled happily; Mary could tell she was relieved. Alice bid them goodbye, telling them she had to revise for her impending exams with a stressed look on her face. Lily and Mary sat and discussed the band Goblin's Daughters. Lily had not heard their new album and Mary insisted she needed to listen to it immediately. It was not like it had been though.
"Where are Sam and Ness?" Lily asked.
"Gone home for Easter," Mary said unhappily, "It's just us and Boon in the dorm for the next week and a bit."
"Joy."
xxxxx
James spent the rest of the afternoon in his dormitory, discussing inane rubbish with his dorm mates. Aside from the incident in the Entrance Hall that morning James reflected that his seventeenth birthday was one of the best he'd ever had. He tried very deliberately not to think of Lily Evans. He succeeded for the most part but every now and then he would catch himself smiling secretly. They had had an almost civil conversation and that had not happened in an awfully long time, perhaps ever. But every time he pushed aside those thoughts as soon as they appeared. She still hated him and last year he had grown sick of having his ego wounded every time he tried to ask her out or touch her or even talk to her. She was cruel; James told himself, she never really thought of other people's feelings, today had proved that. He tried to focus on that. It was not convincing. Lily Evans is selfish and she hates me, he thought but again his mind flashed back to their conversation in the common room and that annoying spark of hope returned. How irritating.
The Marauders skipped lunch as they still felt full from breakfast but by three in the afternoon they regretted this decision. James opened a box of cauldron cakes his mother had sent and the four of them snacked on these until it was time for dinner. As soon as the food appeared on plates in the Great Hall the four sixth years were seated. They ate as if they had been starving for days.
Frank Longbottom came and sat with them, something he had been doing more and more since the start of the year.
"You and Alice still not talking then?" James asked sympathetically through a mouthful of chicken. Frank frowned and shook his head. "Why don't you just tell her you're sorry?"
"Because I shouldn't have to," Frank said irritably, "I'm always the one who has to apologise."
"Probably because you're always the one who's in the wrong, mate," Sirius said matter-of-factly, "what did you do this time anyway?"
"I'm not always wrong! And I just forgot to tell her I couldn't make it to a library study session we had planned." James raised his eyebrows pointedly at the older boy and Frank sighed, reluctantly continuing. "Because I was with Eve Matthews, helping her with human transfiguration homework in an empty classroom. Where Alice then found us."
"You're a stubborn pillock, Frank," Sirius said, looking at the seventh year as if he had an infectious mental disease, "Eve Matthews isn't even that fit."
"I didn't help because I wanted to get laid. Nothing even happened, Alice's just blown the whole thing out of proportion and she should know I'd never do anything with any other girl."
"Except completely forgetting about her to run off with another girl?" Remus sighed. "Just go apologise." Frank looked as if he might try to argue his case some more but Peter smacked him lightly on the arm.
"Start appreciating your girlfriend," Peter said. Frank sighed but then smiled, grabbed his half empty plate and clambered from the bench. The Marauders watched as Frank joined Alice and the group of boys from seventh year she was sat with. James' eyes automatically flicked further down the table to rest on Lily. She, Ronnette and Tristan were sitting together, they seemed to be laughing at something extraordinarily funny and James watched the way Lily's hair swayed and bounced as she put her head on the table, body still shaking with laughter. He wondered what the joke was.
"Well, that's that." Peter said glumly, shoving a whole Yorkshire pudding in his mouth. Sirius patted Wormtail's shoulder patronisingly.
"I'm sure one day Alice Prince will realise she wants your babies. Don't give up yet."
"Shut up, Padfoot!" Peter quite obviously tried to look bewildered but the blush in his cheeks betrayed him. "Prongs still fancies Lily and that's even more hopeless."
"Cheers, Pete."
"Wormtail here has a point." Sirius agreed. "When are you gonna give up?"
"I have given up," James shrugged nonchalantly but he was fairly certain his friends could hear his innards aching horribly, "I've moved on from that."
"Good," Remus said encouragingly, "it's been getting almost too painful to witness."
"To be fair," Sirius countered sarcastically, "this morning she threw a pillow at you, which is an improvement on the brick from fourth year. That's something for you to hold on to."
"Fuck off, Padfoot."
xxxxx
"So you've decided to grace us with your presence?" Tristan asked when Lily sat in front of him. He turned to Ronnette. "Did we just pop back into existence? I feel like-"
Ronnette saw a pained look cross Lily's face and she nudged her best friend under the table. Tristan met her eye immediately. Others often thought Ronnette and Tristan to be extremely strange, they had met on the Hogwarts Express five an a half years ago, accidentally sat in the same compartment and had proceeded to argue for the entire journey. Once they had made it to the boats on the lake they were already best friends and entirely inseparable. One always knew what the other was thinking and they had devised a form of communication through only looks. Ronnette herself was not entirely sure how it worked but she always knew what he meant. At that moment she sent him a look with her eyebrows raised and her lips slightly pursed. He widened his eyes and did a strange lop-sided smile. Her eyebrows pulled down and so did her mouth. This went on for several moments.
"Ugh." Tristan said after their quick facial conversation. "Fine, yes, all is forgiven, welcome back, we missed you, hope you're well. Is that acceptable, you hag?"
"Perfect." Ronnette beamed at him and the turned her gaze to Lily who was as unfazed by their oddities as she always had been. "So, did you find the cure for sexually transmitted dragon warts while you were absent?"
"Why?" Lily flashed a cheeky grin, "have you gone off trolls now?"
"Oooooh." Tristan laughed wickedly. "Evans is on form."
"Ryan Watts was rather dragon-like." Ronnette returned the smile coyly. Her companions groaned in disgust.
"Ronny, that's just…" She seemed to search for an adequate word. "Gross. Although it's nice to know he has something going for him… now I have to look him in the eye in Herbology! Can't you stick to people in your year?"
"But all the good ones in my year are either none-existent or gay."
"Sorry to disappoint you, doll." Tristan said, his eyes wandering up the table. "Speaking of-"
"He's not-" Ronnette knew exactly what Tristan was getting at.
"How would-"
"I just-"
"Lets-"
"Fine. But a galleon says he's not."
"Lily," Tristan turned to her with a very serious look on his face, "James Potter, you know him?"
"Of course I do."
"Gay or not?"
Lily seemed to consider this for a couple of moments and then burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she snorted several times which made Ronnette and Tristan crack up. Pretty soon the three of them were doubled over, crying, clutching their sides and pounding their fists on the table. Every time one of them had almost calmed down they caught another's eye and fell back into fits of laughter. Finally Lily calmed enough to be able to articulate actual words.
"Tristan I'm like a solid ninety per cent sure he isn't gay, I'll even bet a galleon on it too."
"Fine, you're on."
xxxxx
Emmeline headed to the ground floor at around ten o'clock. She was late. She didn't really care too much. Lateness had never really bothered her and she knew no-one would have noticed her absence from the party. She wandered along the corridor to the right of the Entrance Hall, inspecting the numbers on the doors. She found classroom eleven but stopped for a moment. If there was a party happening it was the quietest she'd heard in a long time. Embarrassingly so. She considered just returning to Ravenclaw tower and calling it a night but thought she ought to make an appearance.
When she opened the door she was hit with a wall of noise. She quickly closed the door behind her and turned to take in the room. If it had ever looked vaguely like a classroom in the past it did not anymore. Fireworks were constantly flashing and banging over the heads of over fifty students and every surface and wall was covered in gaudy red velvet. Music pounded in the background, she vaguely recognised the obscure sounds of some band she had heard before but could not remember their name. It occurred to Emmeline that the Marauders had put silencing charms around the place. In the corner stood a couple of kegs and she looked around at her peers who were clearly already quite tipsy. She frowned trying to pick out a familiar face among the crowd. She spotted Benjy talking to two familiar boys, she shoved and squeezed her way towards him.
She had almost made it to her friend when a pretty redhead accosted her.
"Em!" Lily grabbed her and hugged her suddenly. She smelt like strong alcohol and Emmeline tried not to wrinkle her nose at her estranged friend. "I love you!"
"You haven't spoken to me since last year, Lily." Emmeline rolled her eyes and spoke bluntly.
"I know and I'm so sorry." Lily looked very sad. "I'm a shitty friend and an even shittier person."
"No," Emmeline said, sighing, "you're not."
"But I am and I know it. You know I killed a spider today?"
"I hardly think that makes you Voldemort."
"Who?"
"Never mind," Emmeline said. Now was not the time or the place to have this discussion, "what are you even doing here? I thought you were done with… people?"
"I was," Lily smiled brilliantly, "but I miss people. People are fun. People have parties. People have free alcohol. People forgive me when I've been shit." Lily seemed to look at her as pointedly as she could in her not-so-sober state.
"I am not drunk enough for this." Emmeline glanced towards Benjy, he met her eye and winked, smiling warmly but Lily had grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a drinks table.
"Then get drunk with me!" Lily began pouring them both shots of firewhiskey. Emmeline could feel her eyes widen each time Lily grabbed another glass and poured. She realised with a sinking feeling what was about to happen. Lily finally finished when twenty shots were lined up in two rows, one either side of the table. Lily skipped to the opposite side of the table, a determined look in her eye. "I challenge you to a shot-off!"
"This is stupid."
"Nope!" Lily was still determined and by now it appeared a crowd was gathering to watch. "If I win you have to forgive me and tell me how much you've missed me but if you win I have to... I don't know, you decide."
"Fine. You have to go skinny dipping in the lake." Lily considered this and then beamed, extending her hand.
"You have yourself a deal."
They shook and Emmeline forced herself to look confident. She had only ever taken part in two shot-offs in her life. She had lost one to Alice miserably last year but won one against Kevin Rees a couple of weeks ago at Remus' party. This should have left her feeling confident but at James' party last year Emmeline remembered watching Lily successively win three shot-offs and she hadn't even thrown up the morning after. Tyler (or was it Nathan?) Lord came forward and volunteered himself as umpire for the match. The Hufflepuff conjured a chair for himself and set about magically shuffling the shots.
"Alright, ladies, I'd like a nice clean game," Tyler or Nathan said, repeating the ever so necessary phrase atop his umpire chair, "or may the Founders curse you, rip you apart and scatter your remains equally in each of the towers. Ready? Three, two, one… DRINK."
Immediately Lily's shots flew into the air and Emmeline's followed close behind. The growing crowd cried out the names of their favourites and various instructions. The liquid itself flew from one of Emmeline's glasses, into her mouth but she struggled to swallow, when she finally did she shuddered, she then flicked her wand and the glass turned upside down in mid-air and glowed red. She glanced at Lily and was horrified to see the redhead was already on her third shot, her empty glasses glowing green. Emmeline already knew she would lose but continued as quickly as she could, mainly with pride to blame. She made it to her eighth when Lily's glasses spun in the air and turned into butterflies. The crowd cheered excitedly and Lily bowed, clearly thrilled with herself.
"Show off," Emmeline said but she smiled, magically placing her empty glasses on the table and finishing her last two shots by hand. The Lord twin then forced her to do her losers' five shots and she tried very hard not to vomit by the last.
"I believe we had a deal, Vance?"
"So we did, Evans." Emmeline now felt suitably heady enough to share feelings and she walked around the table, pulling her friend into a hug. "I missed you."
"Good," Lily said happily hugging her back, "I missed you too. I'm glad you haven't gotten any better at shot-offs or that could have ended horribly for me."
"I let you win." Emmeline spoke dismissively.
"Nah, I'm just the shot-off queen. Completely unbeaten." Lily seemed to spot something across the room and frowned. "I'll come find you in a bit, okay?"
"Okay?" Emmeline turned in an attempt to see what Lily had but the redhead had disappeared and Emmeline saw nothing obvious. A tap on her shoulder made her turn back again. "Oh, Tom!"
Tom Rowley was a Hufflepuff in her year, she considered him to be a sort of friend but actually didn't really know much about him except that he was a fairly average student, fairly attractive in an standard way, had a cat called Merida and had once been punched by Sirius Black. Mystery though he was Emmeline had sat with him in potions since the start of their sixth year and had found his presence quite nice.
"I suppose we're not going to be potions partners anymore then?" Tom asked ruefully. "Now that you and Evans are friends again, that is."
"She is much better at potions than you." Emmeline smiled cheekily.
"I'm hurt." Tom smiled too though. "Also worried, how am going to find a new partner that'll drag my dead weight through N.E.W.T.s?"
"Maybe we could do it as a threesome instead?" As soon as the words had come out of her mouth she realised her mistake. "Oh, Merlin. That's really not what I meant. I meant-" Tom burst into laughter, Emmeline only blushed harder and harder.
"I really wish it could stay just our twosome." Tom was still smiling but it was different now, Emmeline wondered whether he was still talking about potions or the other thing and she was now very aware of how close they were standing. This was mostly due to necessity, if the room had been busy when she entered, it was now heaving with very little room for personal space. She and Tom were standing practically chest-to-chest. She looked into his eyes and felt caught there for a moment, they were very grey and she was feeling the fifteen shots now. Suddenly Emmeline felt an arm fall around her shoulders. She looked up and was happy to see Benjy standing there, they smiled at each other drunkenly and then Benjy turned to Tom, a friendly look on his face.
"Alright, Tom?" Emmeline noticed the smile had dropped from Tom's face and he didn't seem happy or unhappy. His eyes flicked between the two Ravenclaws with a very neutral expression.
"Benjy," Tom nodded. Emmeline did not bother listen to the rest of their conversation, she rested her head on Benjy's shoulder happily, wobbling every now and then and found herself lost in thought. She was happy that Lily was being nice again; happy she seemed to have moved past Snape. She had been angry with Snape for what he had said to her, especially considering they were supposed to be friends. She would have bet that he was behind the demonstration this morning. Being a muggleborn doesn't matter at all and she decided to tell Lily that when she came back. She remembered that Benjy was muggleborn too and looked up at him, smiling.
"Benjy!" She shouted suddenly and he jumped a little. "You know being muggleborn doesn't matter? Like at all."
He looked at her with a slightly bewildered smile, "thanks?"
"You're welcome."
Tom seemed to hear his name and excused himself politely. Emmeline put her arms around Benjy's neck, her head still resting on his shoulder. She felt him shake with a chuckle. She liked Benjy.
"How much have you had to drink?" he asked her, his cheek was resting next to her forehead.
"I had a shot-off with Lily." She mumbled to his shoulder and he laughed again.
"Rookie mistake," she felt his smile more than saw it, "you know Evans is the shot-off queen." Emmeline pulled away, her hands remaining on his shoulders and tried to look offended.
"I'm not a rookie and Lily is not the shot queen!" Emmeline heard the music change. "I know this song!"
"I'm proud of you." She wondered if he would ever stop smiling. "You're a funny drunk."
"You're a funnier drunk!"
"Good comeback."
"Thought of it myself." There was a short silence. "Are you sad about the Blood Supremacy thing?"
"A little," Benjy shrugged non-committedly but then his smile returned, "why? Are you behind it?"
"Of course not!"
"Prove it!" Emmeline frowned for a second and then did the only logical thing she could think of. She kissed him. As soon as their lips connected he responded immediately and a delicious jolt ran through her body. She would have thought it quite a romantic kiss had she not been so drunk. Benjy's arms snaked around her waist and he pulled her as close as he possibly could. Their lips opened and Emmeline started to giggle. Benjy pulled away to look at her, that grin still glued to his face. Their eyes connected for a few moments but then Benjy kissed her and now it didn't seem so amusing.
xxxxx
James watched the shot-off with enthusiasm, cheering Emmeline's name and encouragement although he knew from the outset that Lily would win. He hoped she wouldn't but she was (as far as he could remember) unbeaten in shot-offs. Why was she so good at everything? It was irritating and it made him feel quite hopeless. He had told the other Marauders at dinner that he had moved on from Lily Evans but they all knew this was false. He had tried. Since the incident after the Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. last year he had tried heroically to get over the redhead. Every time he thought of her he forced himself to think of her flaws which was difficult when she was so insufferably good at most things.
With the shot-off's conclusion he headed towards the kegs alone, half filling his cup with butterbeer and the other half he topped up with firewhiskey. He downed it and got himself another, a process he repeated four times until he heard a voice say his surname. He turned.
"Having a nice birthday?" Lily smiled. She had a really, really nice smile.
"I'm not in the mood, Evans."
"You're not in the mood for what?"
"For having to suffer through a conversation with you."
"Excuse me?"
"I think you heard me," the alcohol warming his insides made James feel much bolder, "talking to you always makes me feel like shit and I can't be arsed with it right now."
Lily stared at him evenly for a couple of seconds.
"Are you being an arsehole for any particular reason or is this just on a whim?"
"Are you a bitch all the time or do I just bring that out in you?"
"What is your problem?"
"You are."
"Fuck you, I can't believe-" She seemed to take a steadying breath and looked him straight in the eye when she continued; "you are an arsehole and I think all these people here know it but free alcohol has made them forget it for a while."
"You're probably right," James conceded, looking around at the people who had come, wondering how many actually came to celebrate his birthday. He didn't much feel like celebrating anymore, "I think I'm going to head off."
And he left, pushing past Lily but regretting it when he caught a smell of vanilla. She even smelled amazing.
xxxxx
Lily stood alone for a short while, stunned and infuriated by the exchange she had just had with Potter. This morning's events had made her believe that he had changed, that he was nice. The only change she could see now is that he was malicious. He had always been unkind, Lily reflected but she had always thought it had been in a light-hearted sort of way. Apparently this was not so. What a dick. She decided to head back towards Emmeline but stopped when she saw her holding on to Benjy and having what looked like a serious conversation. She looked around for her other friends, she spotted Alice who was giggling and kissing Frank. Nope. It seemed Mary had already gone to bed and Ronnette and Tristan were nowhere to be seen, she sighed but then someone collided with her hard.
"Sorry, mudblood." Anger flared within her as she looked into the face of Macie Boon, her friends kindly called her The Fifth Wheel (as she was the fifth resident in the sixth year girls' dormitory and the only one no-one really liked) but Lily much preferred Fucking Bitch. "Best move out of the way next time, eh?"
"Macie," Lily said stiffly, wanting nothing more than to take out her wand and poke the other girl's eye out with it, "always so unpleasant to see you."
"Don't try to be clever, it's unattractive in someone of your background."
"I wasn't trying, but if you like I can dumb it down for you." Lily said lightly, "I meant I think you're a bitch."
Macie's eyes widened but she leant in close and whispered to Lily.
"I would think pigs like you would be more careful now," Macie smiled and it made Lily's stomach churn, "I hear people're slicing them up. Soon you'll be an endangered breed, I imagine."
"There are about two billion pigs in the world, don't worry, I doubt we'll die out." With this Lily left the party not really feeling much like mingling anymore but pleased that her useless muggle primary education had finally come in handy.
Lily stumbled her way up towards the seventh floor corridor, desperately wanting her bed. She was feeling pretty drunk and she knew there would be a disturbingly bad hangover to deal with tomorrow.
As she passed the sixth floor corridor she heard rattling, scraping and shouting. She stopped in her tracks, the hair on her arms and legs stood up on end as her mind raced. There were some in the castle apparently out to get people like her, would the promised slicing commence so soon? She pulled out her wand and tiptoed towards the noise. She realised the noise was coming from around the corner by the boys' bathroom and stood by the wall for a couple of moments to collect herself before she confronted whatever horror she was sure was down there. Alcohol and adrenaline coursed through her veins. The noises had stopped now and all she could hear was panting.
She took a deep breath and launched herself around the corner. Her foot caught on something warm and suddenly she was tumbling to the floor, she kept a tight hold of her wand even when it connected with something hard that she was sure was not the floor.
"OW," Lily cast a quick lumos and was surprised to see that beneath her lay James Potter. She was straddling an injured and very drunk James Potter and never before had she been so relieved to see him. She clambered off him as quickly as she could and knelt beside him, "Evans! Fancy seeing you here! Can you let me into the common room? The Fat Lady's ignoring me."
"Er. You know that's the boys' toilets? We're on the sixth floor."
"No! Really?" James pondered this fact for a moment, looking deeply perturbed and then he laughed, rolling over and trying to get up but all this resulted in was him getting onto all fours, swaying and lunging ridiculously. Lily quickly realised he was far too drunk to steady himself and without really thinking about it she grabbed his arm, put it over her shoulder and pulled him to his feet. "Aw, Evans you don't need to, it's fine."
"Yeah, I do," Lily struggled to get him to start walking towards the staircase, "you're a damsel in distress right now."
"Sexy."
"Not in this context."
"But in another context I would be?"
"Not any context that I've come across."
"Huh," James seemed to ponder this as they slowly moved through the sixth floor, shuffling and staggering, "do you really think I'm an arsehole?"
"Like ninety seven per cent of the time, yeah."
"Oh… What about the other three per cent?"
"That's when you're sleeping."
"You're quite harsh sometimes."
"No, I'm not."
"Yeah, you are. It's a flaw I've noticed… Why don't you like me?"
Lily considered this for a moment and frowned as her feet found the steps to the grand staircase. "You're the reason Sev and I aren't friends anymore." Lily heard James sigh heavily next to her ear.
"I know you hate it when people bad mouth Snape but you have to know deep down he isn't… a good person."
"He is, I know he's a good person."
"We disagree on that. He's so different to you, and I know that wasn't the first time he said that word."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I just am. He's going to be one of those Death Eater weirdos, I guarantee it."
"Death Eaters?"
"Doesn't matter." There was silence for a few moments and then, "I'm sorry though."
"What for?"
"For being the one to force it out of him. I know he always would have said it but I'm sorry the way it happened, you know, in front of everyone."
They had made it to the seventh floor now. Lily was panting under James' weight and she decided it might be time for a short break.
"Lets just sit here for a bit, yeah?"
"Alright. I really am sorry."
"Yeah, alright," They sat in silence for a couple of moments and Lily could feel James' gaze on her, it made her feel quite uncomfortable. She glanced at him and he raised his eyebrows at her, "Is this supposed to be dark and brooding? It's honestly pretty creepy."
"You're right, I can't pull off broody. I'm much more boyish charm. Girls even like it sometimes."
Lily smiled despite herself and vaguely swatted in his direction, "you know Tristan thinks you're gay, right?" James looked taken aback and cocked an eyebrow.
"MacBeth? What gave him that impression?"
"Maybe your boyish charm?"
"An unfortunate side effect, I suppose."
"I'm crying for you on the inside," with this Lily stood again, James stuck out his hands and she grabbed them to pull him up, she let them drop as soon as he was upright and resumed their earlier stance with his arm around her shoulders, leaning heavily against her. They were not far from Gryffindor tower now and Lily could not wait to get to bed but as they rounded the corner she stopped in her tracks. There, just beside the portrait, stood a boy with shoulder length black hair, a pale face and a hooked nose. James noticed she was no longer moving and looked up at her. Her mind raced, trying to figure out if there was anyway to avoid the conflict that would doubtless arise if Sev saw a drunken Lily carrying a drunken James Potter up to bed.
"What are yo-" he glanced ahead and saw what she had, "oh."
His whisper echoed, bouncing along the stones and Snape's head turned quickly, he took in the sight of his biggest rival and his ex-best friend with a blank face.
"Snape, what're you skulking about up here for?" Lily could feel James tugging on her shoulders, trying to propel her forward towards the Snape and what she imagined would turn into some ridiculous showdown.
"I'm here to see Lily," Snape pronounced each word carefully, they all dripped with dislike.
"I didn't realise you'd sunk as low as stalking."
"I didn't realise you'd sunk as low as plying girls with alcohol in order to get them in bed."
At this Potter tried to lunge towards Snape but Lily snapped out of her shock, grabbed the scruff of his shirt and yanked him back with all her strength.
"Potter, stop being an arsehole," her voice was airy but she gave him what she hoped was a fierce look and then turned, "what do you want, Sev?"
"Does he have to be here?" Snape asked, pushing his chin in Potter's direction.
"I live here you-"
"POTTER! Be quiet!" Lily looked at the still drunkenly swaying boy who she was pretty much holding up by the back of his shirt and turned back to Snape again. "Yeah, unfortunately he does."
A flicker of a smile crossed Snape's face but it was gone as quickly as it had come.
"You should leave."
"Leave?"
"Yes, you need to leave Hogwarts."
"How about no?"
"How about listen to me for once, Lily." Snape's poker face had shattered very suddenly and he looked panicked. "Merlin, you're in danger and you need to leave before you get hurt."
"Are you… threatening me?"
"No, of course not!" Snape looked slightly offended by the accusation. "Please, I am begging you, get away from Hogwarts and don't come back."
"No, I'm not leaving."
Snape growled in annoyance and checked his watch, his eyes widened and he started speaking more urgently.
"Lily, if we were ever friends you would do this for me, please."
"If we were ever friends then you'd know I never would."
"Lily, please."
The look on his face made her heart break and she wanted nothing more than to run to him, hug him and tell him everything would be okay like she used to when they were children but they were no longer children and they weren't friends anymore. The thought made tears spring to her eyes. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
"I guess we were never friends then. Goodnight, Sev." Lily gestured for the boy to leave and with a pained look he did. Once Snape's footsteps had faded into the distance James coughed next to her and she jumped, having completely forgotten he was there.
"So," James said breezily, "that was… weird."
"Yeah, it was, abyssinian shrivelfig," Lily frowned as she gave the password to a disgruntled and sleep deprived looking Fat Lady, the portrait grumbled to herself as she swung forward to admit them, they stumbled through the empty common room towards the boys' staircase and Lily started the task of pulling James up to the sixth year dormitory, "do you think he was threatening me?"
"If there's one good thing about Severus Snape its- OOPH!" James' foot had caught on a step and he'd caught himself on the wall just before smashing his face on the floor. He giggled and pulled on Lily to straighten himself again. They continued up the stairs. "What was I saying?"
"'If there's one good thing'?"
James pushed open his dormitory door and peeked in, nodded, slipped and caught himself on the door handle. Lily grabbed him and helped him into his room.
"Right, if there's one good thing about Snape it's that he loves you," She asked him which bed was his and he pointed at the one nearest. She helped him take of his shoes and glasses and tucked him in, "it's Snape's only redeeming feature… Probably mine too."
Lily hummed as she organised James' shoes next to his bed, not really listening to him, absorbed in her drunken task. She looked up and realised James must have said something important, he was looking at her quite intently. She waved vaguely as she made her way over to the door.
"Goodnight, Potter."
"G'night, Evans."