Work In Progress

Chapter 1

Lily waved and smiled at the only vaguely familiar face in the room, Ezrabet (who was currently pressed under some tall, blond Adonis against the wall) and made her way into the kitchen, which was lined with eskies and raided pizza boxes. With dignified urgency, she submerged her arm in what felt like a foot of ice and dug around before coming out with something remotely drinkable. Not that she could tell, or could be bothered reading the label, knowing it would exclaim something incomprehensibly Swiss. The sweet fizzy liquid slipped easily down her needy throat. It was nothing like the familiar burn of Firewhiskey, but she figured if she knocked back enough of this stuff, it'd get the job done. Grabbing a few bottles for later, Lily set off through the house to explore the party.

She liked muggle parties, Lily decided. Everything was so much more relaxed. Sure, sometimes people would start smashing stuff or get into fights, but they were easily defuseable. At least there weren't any stupid guys challenging each other to drunken duels or accidentally setting things on fire or jokingly exploding the bottle in your hand.

Lily popped open another drink. This wasn't exactly the easiest situation. Everyone around her was chatting in unfamiliar languages. If only she'd bothered to learn french beyond primary school…then she might not feel like such a goddamned pariah. None of her muggle housemates were here, they were all off doing something useful with their lives or whatever. They'd told her she should come though. That it would do her good to get out of the house and explore the town. It was Ulli's friend Gregor's party. Not that Lily knew who he was.

Happening upon the loungeroom, she slumped down into a big squashy leather armchair. This was so unfair. She looked her gorgeous best tonight. And this was her first real party since she'd arrived in Switzerland almost 3 weeks ago. And the first party she'd been at since finding out that her longtime highschool boyfriend had been dicking the office slut. But that barely mattered to her anymore. Sure, when she'd found out she'd been pretty upset…but then she had thought it out, and realised that she really hadn't been in love with him for a while now, and it was about time they both moved on. He didn't even know that she knew yet. Technically, they were still together, but he'd been off at some specialist training conference in Prague for the last month and probably didn't even know that she didn't live in England anymore. He was probably too stupid and self-involved to realise that she hadn't been getting any of his owls either. There was no owl post up here, they couldn't get through the thick barrier or wards that surrounded the town. It was one of the safest places on earth.

Lily felt a light punch on her shoulder, and looked up to find a strikingly handsome youth wordlessly offering her a joint. She smiled sadly at him and shook her head. And then instantly regretted her prudishness. She was in serious need of escapism. Looking down doubtfully at her final bottle of pre-mixed rubbish, she cracked it open and chugged it down desperately. Things were looking up…she was feeling the faintest hint of a buzz.

Back wandering through the house, she stumbled upon a group playing spin the bottle, something she hadn't done since 5th year, and seriously contemplated joining in, but she just wasn't drunk enough yet. Lily was a pretty shy girl, really, behind all the "I'm a fiery red-head" bravado. But catching sight of herself in the hall mirror, she remembered that her hair was dark brown now. And her eyes were blue. All part of her all-new persona. Her disguise. It sucked not having any real friends anymore. And being stuck in a foreign country with little to no knowledge of the language. Everything sucked.

Lily felt another soft punch on her shoulder. It was yet another attractive youth. They certainly made them well here. "You look like you could use this, babe." He said in perfect english, grinning and thrusting a bottle of whiskey into her hand. Lily smiled widely at him and took a long deep swig, letting her eyes droop closed as she felt it warm her stomach and send a shiver through her body. It wasn't nearly as good as Firewhiskey, but it was pretty damn close. "Thank you…so much…"

He smiled toothily. "Ah, no worries babe. You were looking a little down and out. And its simply impossible for me to resist a beautiful woman in need of a good drink."

"So you're English?"

"Yep. Born and bred Briton…come this way. I think I know where you should be." Slinging his arm over her shoulder and sharing the bottle between them, he led her down a dark hallway to some stairs. Feeling her tense up with caution, he laughed gently. "Relax, babe. You seem lonely here and a lot out of place. I'm just taking you to meet some mates of mine. They're great, you'll like 'em I promise." Lily smiled and took another long sip of whiskey.

He guided her down the dark stairs into a large rumpus room with a pool table and a tv and lots of couches. "Oi guys. This is…err…"

"…Emily."

"Emily. Right, sorry, we didn't do this before. I'm Max and this is…Charlie, Alex, uh Jake, Anneke, Delilah, Leela and Gregor – it's his party." Lily smiled and said a general "Hey" and they all smiled and said "Hey" back. Well, apart from Leela and Alex, who were making out on a couch in the corner. Max sat down next to Anneke on the couch and Lily was impressed by their synchronicity – their lips connected and his hand went up her skirt just as hers went down his pants. Feeling a little bit awkward and abandoned, Lily sat herself down on the day bed next to Jake, who was talking to Charlie. Jake seemed a bit upset, so she was self-conscious of encroaching on his misery, but he turned to her and smiled, engaging her in friendly small talk. Lily usually hated small talk, but he was polite, attractive, paying her attention and speaking english. She was already feeling much more comfortable with these guys.

"So do you go to University here?"

"Um, yeah. I've only been here 3 weeks. I've just started. I, uh, won a fellowship scholarship to further my studies in…philosophy."

"Oh…"

"Yeah. You?"

"We're travellers actually."

"Wow, really? How did you end up in a remote mountain town in Switzerland? This is a pretty unusual travel destination for young people, isn't it? She could see she was making him uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or nosy or anything."

"Nah, that's okay. Yeah, I guess it is a bit weird. You see, um, Alex had this pen pal…for ages…Leela actually heh heh, so when we all…got some time off, we thought it was high time they got to meet in person." Lily smiled.

"That's great."

"Yeah," He said grinning, "they, uh, really hit it off." They avoided glancing over at Alex and Leela for fear of what they might see. Their soft moans and groans told Jake and Lily all they needed to know. Charlie had announced that he needed to go the bathroom about half an hour ago…and had never returned. Jake sighed suddenly beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just…I worry way too much about things. I'm a bit of a depressive drunk really. Actually, I don't think I'm anywhere near drunk enough." Lily passed him the bottle of whiskey. "Thanks. I just found out my girlfriend has been using me to make her big jock ex jealous. That she never even wanted me at all. I mean, I always knew she was a dumb, manipulative bitch, but I really liked her. She is so hot…no one's ever betrayed me like this before. I feel…violated."

"Ah…well…my ex boyfriend um…that's terrible Jake. I'm so sorry." His love woes seemed so much more trivial than hers, but the way this girl had hurt him made him vulnerable and sweet…which Lily found irresistible.

"Yeah well…thanks Emily." Lily smiled and Jake stretched himself out on the day bed, propping himself up against the wall with cushions, and drank more whiskey. They sat in silence for a few moments, until Jake said softly, "Do you mind if I run my fingers through your hair?" Lily grinned. He was so cute, and she loved it when guys played with her hair. She shuffled closer to him so that he could reach her. "Thanks. I have this hair touching thing when I'm drunk. It just kind of happens." They sat in silence for a while as he vacantly hummed and ran his fingers gently through her long hair. Suddenly his arms snaked around her waist. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, as he nuzzled her hair. Against Lily's better judgement, she turned her head and kissed him softly on the lips. He smiled against her mouth and rolled her under him. His skin was so warm, and his kisses were so slow and deep. And he was on the rebound. Lily began to pull away, but Jake beat her to it…

"I don't think I can promise that once we start this, I'll be able to stop myself. My self-control is pretty much non-existant." He whispered softly.

"I don't want you to stop."