1.
January 2018: changed a few things in chapter 1 to 3.
On the first day of January, Lily's best friend Maeve had retreated back to bed right after dinner, complaining about a terrible headache. Her other close friend, Marlene, had joined her teammates for a game of Exploding Snap. Not being very fond of the game, Lily had stretched out in an armchair.
Like Maeve, she was also tired from the party the previous night. Unlike Maeve, Lily had realized that going to bed would mean waking up in the middle of the night and messing up her schedule. It would be better to stay awake until ten and go to bed then. It was a sensible plan, Lily thought to herself as she yawned. It was also very hard. She had brought a book with her but the words kept swimming in front of her eyes and she contemplated joining Marlene just so she would have something to do.
Just as she was about to stand up to do so, her blonde friend appeared on her side. There was no sign of burned appendixes anywhere so Lily assumed Marlene had won.
"So, I am going to take a small walk," Marlene said, a smile on her face.
Lily knew what that meant. "So Sam is waiting outside the portrait?"
Marlene sighed happily before nodding. "Indeed he is. See you later friend!"
Lily laughed as Marlene skipped off to her boyfriend of four months, a Hufflepuff in their year named Samuel. Lily would have liked to be distracted by Marlene for another hour or so. Going to bed around nine was acceptable on New Years Day, right? Tempted to give in, Lily stood up and walked to the portrait. Instead of snogging, she would take an actual walk. And though it wasn't her turn, it also couldn't hurt to patrol a bit while strolling around the castle.
And so Lily climbed out of the portrait, greeted the Fat Lady and turned to the left. She had just reached the second floor when she heard footsteps coming closer. Taking her wand out, Lily kept on walking and she reached the corner at the same time two girls from Ravenclaw did.
"Jeanne, hi," Lily said, lowering her wand. She couldn't remember the other girl's name though.
"Oh, hi Lily," Jeanne said, looking caught. "We we're just-"
"There's a party at Slughorns," the other girl interrupted. "You really should go there before someone finds out that all drinks are spiked."
"Nice work Ally," Jeanne replied, cringing. "Lily's Head Girl, remember?"
Ally didn't seem too bothered about that. "So? It's the holidays. And as you can see, we left as soon as we noticed the dreadful amount of alcohol in the punch. Very good Ravenclaws we are."
"That's good to know," Lily said, trying to hide her smile. "Underage drinking really is something I should report."
"But we never really drink-."
"Besides," Ally said, straightening. "James Potter was there and he was making the most of the free drinks."
"That bastard," Lily exclaimed. Jeanne and Ally looked at her in surprise and only then, Lily smiled and winked. "So, where is this party?"
"Usual place, Sluggy's office," Jeanne replied, relaxing now she knew Lily wasn't the swot they apparently thought she was. "And he was looking fine too."
"James Potter always looks fine," Ally added, waving at Lily as they walked on.
Lily waited until they rounded the corner before walking towards Slughorn's office. She vaguely remembered being invited to the party as well but Maeve had declined before she could do so, claiming Lily had promised her to tutor her that night. He had cried out what a shame that was but Lily had not been listening very well. She had been pleased to get out of attending the party. While Slughorn's parties had been a welcome distraction in her fifth and sixth year, being Head Girl took up a lot of her time. Besides, who had energy to party on New Years Day? Certainly not Lily, who had actually drank a little too much the previous night.
Lily was quite curious to see who had managed to drag themselves to the dungeons so she quickly found herself in front of Slughorn's office. The room was crowded with a variety of students, all fourth years and up. As was the case during most of these parties, there were a few professors as well. This time it seemed as if her Potions professor had neglected to invite any influential people from outside the school. A pity, Lily thought. They usually were the most interesting guests there.
A table with drinks was nearby and Lily filled a glass with punch. Definitely spiked, she thought after taking a sip. She didn't really enjoy the taste of the sweet drink but she liked how the alcohol spread through her body, warming her up.
Looking around, she spotted James Potter easily enough and wondered why he was there. Everyone but Slughorn knew that his parties weren't exactly the height of cool and while both Lily and the Head Boy were invited to every single of them, he usually passed as well. Remus Lupin was with him and automatically, she looked for Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Strangely enough, they weren't anywhere in sight and Lily focused back on Potter. He was looking good. Pity that would never happen, Lily thought.
Potter had asked her out once, she remembered. It had been to rattle off a former friend of hers though, so it didn't really count. And of course she had said yes, since she would never ever say yes to James Potter.
James Potter, who was now looking straight at her. So was Lupin, actually. They must have caught her staring and she looked away, moving closer to Slughorn. He immediately started up a conversation with his favorite student and Lily was happy with the distraction. As Slughorn took her arm to escort her to a group of fifth years, Lupin joined them. Asking her for a moment, Lily nodded yes. She would have preferred Slughorn's company though.
"Didn't expect you here," Lupin said, reaching behind her and taking a drink for himself. "And drinking as well."
"I was invited," Lily replied. "And someone warned me there was underage drinking here."
"And you decided to join in," Lupin answered, draining his glass. "As a Prefect I should report you."
"And as Head Girl I should stop you from drinking that," Lily replied. From all the Marauders she liked Lupin best. Or perhaps like wasn't the right word. She preferred tolerated. Lupin was polite too her, did his work as a Prefect. Once upon a time Lily had been friends with an older boy though and he hadn't trusted Lupin. Severus hadn't turned out to be trusted either, but Lily did think he had been right about there being something off. Severus had claimed it had been lycanthropy. That, Lily found hard to believe though.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Lupin spoke up. "James wanted to have a word with you. Didn't want to caught Sluggy's attention though – we'd just managed to escape it when you entered."
A word? Lily quickly thought back to the last meeting she had with Potter. She could not think of anything-
"Cheers then," Lupin continued, touching his glass to hers. "And happy new year."
Lily did not get time to reply. Lupin had vanished and now Potter was in front of her.
"Evans. Fancy meeting you here. Couldn't think of an excuses to get out?"
"Couldn't you?" Lily replied. "I assumed attending parties with professors was a bit beneath James Potter and his friends?"
"And friend," Potter corrected her. "It's a coincidence I'm here, really. We passed this place and our dear professor insisted on having a drink with us."
"Just one?"
"He kept on insisting," Potter retorted. "Who were we to say no?"
"And was this before or after someone emptied a bottle of Ogden's in the punch?"
"So that's why it tastes so good," Potter said and promptly finished his glass. His eyes were on her as he did so. Why was he talking to her? They weren't friends. They weren't friendly. They were people who detested each other but happened to work together quite well.
Potter offered her another drink. Lily made to shake her head but took the glass anyways. It wasn't all that strong and the alcohol would help her sleep better, probably.
"Was there anything you need?" Lily finally asked. "Lupin said-"
"Happy New Year's," he quietly replied. Lily could hear him clearly though for it seemed as if the party was dying down. He had his glass raised, an unreadable look on his face. It was a simple gesture but Lily didn't respond immediately. It was Potter, after all. Before she could make a decision, Slughorn had joined them.
"Hate to say it but this party is over," he boomed as Potter drained his glass. "Seems as if someone tampered with the drinks and I don't want any problem. Can't have a ban on these little get togethers."
"Spiked? I didn't notice a thing," Lily said, making sure he saw her almost empty glass. As expected, Slughorn laughed loudly, grasping James's shoulder with one hand and staring wistfully into space. "Who would've thought my two favorite students would be Heads together? Lily dear, I made sure Professor Flitwick will be escorting the Ravenclaws to their Common Room and I will take the Hufflepuffs. You won't mind making sure the Gryffindors get back safe don't you?"
Lily quickly replied she did not mind at all, setting her glass down. In the meantime, Slughorn had addressed Potter, asking him to make sure the Slytherins would end up in the Slytherin Common Room. "That means you and your friends as well Mister Potter," Slughorn added before he scurried off to round up the remaining Hufflepuffs. "I don't want to take points from my very own house tonight."
"Duty calls," Potter quietly said, giving her another look she couldn't decipher. He joined Lupin and the other Slytherins at the door. Those Ravenclaws were right, Lily briefly thought. James Potter was very fine. It was a pity he was in Slytherin though.
