Dislaimer: If I was lucky enough to own these characters, I wouldn't be here writing a prequel to someon else's story.
Hogwarts was quite empty past midnight. Students were all in their common rooms, with the candles put out, and they were peacefully dozing in the four-poster beds.
Yeah, right.
The corridors were a buzz of activity. After all, it was a Saturday night, what student would want to be in bed? The teachers, exhausted from a week of detentions, loud bangs and the reversal of spells-gone-wrong, couldn't care less about their duties, and had gone home, or were snoring deep in their sleep.
Saturday night usually meant that a Quidditch match had just been played. Now, what fun is it to have a celebration party in the common room? There were so many excellent places in, and outside, the castle that were never guarded by teachers.
The only "people" who patrolled the corridors were the ghosts. Drifting eerily and popping out unexpectedly through walls made many of the younger students quite intimidated. However, the older, more experienced students knew the ghosts thought it was great fun to watch the students scurrying about past curfew. They knew that you only lived once.
The only problem was Peeves. Cackling softly, who would hide in suits of armour, and if a younger student walked past, he would leap up, and chase after the student, throwing ink bottles at his or her head. He also found it fun to intrude on a party, and throw the food everywhere. He was quite a distraction. But the main problem was, near an area where a party was being held, he would float outside and scream at the top of his lungs, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED, FILCH! GET YOUR LAZY ARS-", and so on. That is a sad party ender, because Filch had a photographic memory, and could pick out from a line of students each one he had seen.
However, this party was carefully planned, and the students had ensured that no one would interrupt their celebration. Filch's evening Firewhisky was slipped something extra that had been made in a Potions class, which ensured that Filch would not wake until noon on Monday.
As for Peeves, some crafty students had waited for him to enter a suit of armour. After a few clever spells, they had left, and Peeves found himself very confused as to why the suit of armour had sealed itself, and why his tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of his mouth.
Gryffindor had, after a slow start, managed to scrape a few victories. In today's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, after 6 minutes of play, the Snitch flew up the Seeker's sleeve and Gryffindor was declared victorious. The odd thing was, the Seeker was usually and excellent catch, but he and his friends, who were notorious for sneaking out at night, had all looked extremely tired that morning. However, this spectacular win had put Gryffindor into the semi-finals, an achievement that many had given up on, since the Gryffindor keeper was out after falling off his broom as he was startled by a butterfly that collided with his head. He maintains that it was actually a bird and it was twice the size anyone had said.
So a party had been organised to honour the heroes, and of course, to stay up as late as possible. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had asked to join, as they were looking forward to a Gryffindor semi-final, which usually turned violent and was quite entertaining to watch.
Only the Slytherins didn't join the party, they were sitting in their common room formulating plans that would prevent the Gryffindors from playing. Others were in abandoned classrooms, looking up dark spells in books stolen from the Restricted section in the library.
There was one other person who didn't join in the celebrations. A young fifth year, with long auburn hair could be found in the abandoned Gryffindor common-room, hunched over a piece of parchment with the heading, "The Properties of Moonstone and it's Uses in Potion-making." She had already written four feet worth of words, an accomplishment that her classmates found ridiculous to understand. Her friends had begged her to come to the party, but she had remained stubborn, saying the essay was due on Thursday, and if they had any sense that would finish it now. But the truth was, she just didn't feel like seeing anyone.
"Lily, do you want some help?" a kind voice asked, she twisted around in her chair. It was the Lupin boy. He looked tired, just like his other friends had. Lily sniffed, thinking of what they might have been up to last night.
"What makes you think I need any help?" she retorted.
"Well," he answered, clearly trying to hide a smile, "I was watching you from the armchairs near the fire, and you've been staring at the same spot on your page for five minutes, and you spilt your ink and its been dripping onto the carpet. I don't think you noticed."
Indeed, Lily looked down and a large black mark had spread along the carpet and was soaking the hem of her robe. She pulled out her wand and bent down to remove the stain, but Lupin beat her to it. The ink was removed from the ground and reappeared in her suddenly-upright bottle. The ease which Lupin had done that astounded her.
"How long is your essay?" she asked, trying to draw attention away from her clumsiness.
"Five feet, but my writing's a little bigger than yours."
"So, your finished?"
"Yes, I wanted to finish so I could join everyone at the party. It was quite a game, did you go?"
"Um… no, I wanted to spend some time alone."
Lupin looked at her curiously, he obviously knew something was up. "Is this about that jerk Snivellus calling you Mudbl… that name?"
Lupin didn't realise that cut her deeper, he had no way of knowing just how much it had hurt Lily. He obviously saw a change in her expression though, "Oh Lily, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"No, it doesn't. I'm just getting tired. I think I'll finish this tomorrow. Go join the party Remus." Lily began packing up her quill, parchment and ink.
"Remus put a hand on the parchment before she could lift it. "Lily, I think you should come. Forget about school for a while. Everyone else is there, and it would mean a lot to your friends if you came. Sometimes, to have fun, you have to break the rules."
With that, Remus left, smiling at Lily as he opened the portrait to exit.
Lily felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She also felt like she could count Remus as a true friend.
