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Invite a Guest

"Double lesson of Potions with the Slytherins? What kind of Monday is this?" Liam grumbled, examining his new timetable over breakfast.

I glared down at my own, chewing my mouthfuls of egg and toast. First off today was double Potions, and then Herbology and then Muggle Studies. James told me that first years have to try all the subjects available at Hogwarts, so we can make a thorough choice when we're older.

Twisting my pendant in one hand, I grabbed more toast and was in the process of shoving my timetable into my bag when-

"Oh look who it is. Lily Potter. If you ask me Scorpius should've broken that ugly chain yesterday when he had the chance." A female voice said from behind me.

"Go away Slytherin, cowards aren't wanted near here." Amelia said angrily from beside me. I turned and noticed that it was the same girl from yesterday, with the dark hair.

She wasn't alone either; two tall, burly looking boys were standing behind her, both with their wands at the ready. Her blue eyes narrowed down onto Amelia.

"What did you say you stupid Asian?"

Liam stood up so fast no one saw him, swinging out his wand in one fluent movement; he had it at her throat.

"Apologize. Now." He said, his voice ice cold.

The boys by her side reacted instantly, in no time at all; both wands were pointed at Liam's chest.

"Hey!" I said, whipping out my own wand, and holding it squarely at the closest thug's chest. At the same time Amelia had her wand at the other's neck.

"I said- go away Slytherin." Amelia hissed, knocking over Liam's goblet of pumpkin juice in the process. It dripped off the smooth wooden table, making the only audible noise from between us as the splatters hit the floor.

"Wadden, Bright- let's go" she hissed, eyeing Amelia with distaste as they haughtily walked off.

Amelia slumped back onto her wooden seat as they crossed the hall. "That was close," she sighed.

"You should've let me hex her!" Liam grunted, angrily sitting down, and in the process knocking over Amelia's pumpkin juice and the remainder of his oatmeal. I watched her walk back to the Slytherin table, sitting with her back to us. But I could see no white hair.

Not that I really care where that egghead Malfoy is anyway, I thought dismissively as I sat down.

"Slughorn's really old, can't believe he hasn't retired." Albus said from behind us, throwing his bag on the floor airily. Teddy sat next to me, then Albus and James, Hugo, Rose, Victoire, Dominique, Molly, Fred, Roxanne and Lucy filled the rest of the used-to-be empty table.

"Starving as- need food. You'd think McGonagall would retire too aye?" Fred said, grabbing a crumpet and generously spread butter on it.

"Can't wait until next week!" James said excitedly, taking a swig from my goblet of pumpkin juice. Fred, Rose and Roxanne nodded excitedly too.

"What's happening next week?" Hugo asked through his toast.

"Quidditch trials. Apparently first years are allowed to try out this year, but they have to use the shaky school brooms- sucked in for whoever makes the teams." Teddy said, shrugging as he spooned in a mouthful of his oatmeal. "If you ask me, academics are way more important then sports."

"Hear, hear!" Albus cheered, holding out his goblet. James and Fred rolled their eyes.

"I'd love to try out for Beater… I played baseball back at home." Amelia said, buttering her bread roll.

"Baseball?" Dominique asked, confused.

We all laughed at her. Dad had influenced our family to learn Muggle traditions, so most of us knew what baseball was, but Dominique spends her spare time helping out her dad or mum at work.

"Gotta go," I said, grabbing a piece of James' toast, "Potions, meet you guys later?"

Amelia, Hugo, Dominique and Liam stood up too as they nodded to us.

"Great, pumpkin juice spilt on my bag!" Liam said crankily as we headed towards the huge double doors. Amelia giggled.

Dominique was busily rummaging through her own bag, "I can't find my quill, can I borrow yours?"

I nodded, finishing off my toast, but before we reached the doors, it swung open. I froze as I saw him. With messy hair, and followed by his own 'posse' he gave us cold looks with his grey eyes as they passed us. Still standing there a while later, I realized I was angry again.

I had never done anything to him, and he hated me. My family did nothing to his, (except my dad sending his granddad to jail because he was a Death Eater once) and we got named 'blood traitors'. What the hell was his problem?

Fuming silently, I followed the rest down the dungeons for my first ever Potions lesson.

Professor Slughorn, with his thinning grey hair, was standing by the door, gesturing for students to file in. Quickly, we joined in the end of the line and followed the rest. The dungeons were surprisingly warm as the cauldrons were heating and the fireplace was crackling as we entered.

He cleared his throat and waited for us to find our seats. Not surprisingly, the Slytherins sat on the benches on one side, whilst the Griffindors sat on the other. I sat down between Hugo and Amelia as Dominique, Liam and a friendly looking boy named Adrian Wentmiller sat across us.

"Right, welcome class, I'm Professor Slughorn. Now, as you may know Potions is compulsory at Hogwarts until you hit grade 6, and even though you might hate it, this is the class that you're stuck with until then." He cleared his throat. " As first years, I'm not expecting much, so today we will be brewing a particularly easy potion. The Wiggenweld Potion to be exact. Now, the ingredients the school provides, so-" waving his wand at the blackboard, instructions magically appeared, "you have 75 minutes, and everything you need is in the cupboards. Start…. Now."

He gestured at the cupboard in the far side of the dungeon, and its doors sprang open, waiting for us. Quickly, everyone rushed over and made a beeline for the best and cleanest instruments and ingredients.

75 minutes later in a smoke filled dungeon, Professor Slughorn called out "Stop now!"

Every student was ashen faced and hopeful as he walked past, examining all of our concoctions. He shook his head at some, nodded at others, but his face completely lit up when he saw Amelia's potion, perfect in crystalline cobalt. He only nodded at mine. (Better than Liam's though, his was thick and bubbling in a greenish tinge).

"Perfect! You my dear, -miss?"

"Corner, Amelia Corner." She said shyly.

"Miss Amelia Corner has brewed a perfect Wiggenweld Potion! I'd expect an O from you missy!" He said, beaming down at her.

"So, until next time, I want to see you guys studying your properties of Flobberworm Mucous, the main ingredient of the Wiggenweld Potion! Might or might not be an exam coming up! Bye now!" He called as the bell finally rang.

Grabbing our bags, me, Amelia, Dominique, Liam and Adrian headed for the door.

"Ms. Potter, Ms. Corner Ms. Hall and Mr. Wentmiller, can you guys stay back for a while?" He called out just as we reached the door.

"I have something to discuss with you."

Exchanging looks, we headed back. Josephine Hall was a tall Slytherin who wrinkled her nose at us when we stood too close to her. We filed around his desk.

"What's wrong sir?" She asked in a sickly innocent voice, "did I do something wrong?"

"No, no dear! None of you did!" He said, beaming down at us.

Confused, I asked, "Then why, sir, are we being held back?"

He smiled when I asked. "Well, tonight I'm holding a private party, to kick off the new school year. And you're all invited!"

He waited for our reaction. And got nothing.

"It's at 7 o'clock sharp at my office. Invite a guest."

We nodded as he handed us some pheasant as we left the dungeons.

"Oh, and Lily?" He called, "Invite your brothers too."

Back at the hall, Amelia asked us, "What was all that about?"

"I've heard Slughorn holds lots of parties, but only for a select group of people." Adrian said, shrugging as he took a bite of pheasant.

"You coming?" I asked them.

Amelia shrugged. "Nothing else to do."

Adrian nodded, "I'm going to get some lunch, but I'll see you guys there?"

We waved him as he entered the Great Hall.

"…Invite a guest. Who?" Amelia asked me as we headed towards the Grand Staircase to drop off all our books at the Common Room.

I shrugged, "Bring Liam. And I'll… Bring Hugo. There, all done."

She stared at me skeptically as the staircase began to move. "Liam? A party with dancing and music?... Maybe I should invite someone else.."

When we finally reached the Common Room, everyone was there, lounging around.

"Soo…What did Slughorn want?" Hugo asked us as we sat on the rug beside the lounge he and Liam were sharing.

"He wanted us to go to one of his private parties." I said, giving Amelia a hard stare.

"-He also wanted us to bring guests." This time she glared back.

"Amelia?" I prompted as the boys watched our silent conversation.

She sighed. "So… uh, L- ah Hugo, will you come with me?" She asked quickly. Liam slumped back against the lounge and I thought I saw him give Hugo a hard look as he said-

"Sure Amelia!"

Staring at her, I asked "Liam, come with?" without even looking at him. She was now staring at the ground, pulling pieces of rug.

"Sure." He said flatly, "I've got go… Do homework. See yas." He said, looking at the back of Amelia's black hair as he left for the boy's dormitory.

Hugo stood up too. "When's the party?" He asked us.

"7 o'clock." Amelia said without even looking up.

He looked at her for a while before smiling at me. "See you there Amelia, Lily." And he walked off, following Liam.

I rounded on her straight away. "What was that?" I demanded.

She wiped away the long black hair from her face, and looked at me.

"I was going to ask him. But I couldn't, okay?" and stared back at the ground.

I sighed and scooted next to her. "You know, he was kinda disappointed when I asked him."

The corners of her mouth pulled up that teensy little bit.

"Come on," I said, pulling her up. "Let's go find some dresses before we go to Herbology!"

The rest of the day went past like a flurry of blurred memories. By seven o'clock me and Amelia were waiting for the boys in the Common Room, all dressed up.

I had my hair curled all nicely using Amelia's hair curler that she bought from home, and a sparkly light blue dress with little ruffles.

Amelia straightened out her hair, and let it fall onto her face. She had on a smooth red dress that was kind of huggy. People came up and gave us complements as we waited.

Soon the boys came down, wearing smart dress robes. Liam was practically in shock when he saw Amelia, but turned cold one she had her arm around Hugo's. For a little while Liam was looking at Hugo coldly, while Hugo was watching Amelia fix his bow.

"Let's go, it's already ten pass," I said before Liam could do anything. I grabbed his hand and dragged him out after Hugo and Amelia. They were chatting happily up front while Liam just stared at the backs of their heads.

We passed Albus, James, Teddy and Fred coming back from dinner on our way out the Fat Lady corridor.

"Lily, tell Professor Slughorn that we can't make it okay? James here scored us a detention with Professor Kuterngard." Albus said, eyeing James, who just shrugged. I laughed.

"Okay!" I called back.

When we finally reached Professor Slughorn's office, Liam was angrily holding onto my hand tightly as he watched my cousin hold Amelia by the waist.

"Finally here! Come in, come in!" Slughorn bellowed as we knocked on the door. As he opened it, we were greeted with classical 90's Wizard Rock and many familiar faces all dancing about.

"Enjoy yourselves and get to know each other!" He called over the music.

"My brothers can't come! Detention!" I called back at him as we made our way past the dancing students to a spare table. He smiled, and went back to his guests.

"Finally!" Liam grunted quietly as he sat down on a fancy wooden chair next to me. I had just noticed that Hugo had finally let go of Amelia and was now heading across the floor to get us drinks.

I let go of his hand, and standing up told them that "I'm going to help Hugo with the drinks, you guys okay by yourselves?"

Amelia nodded, and Liam scooted over two seats to her.

Turning around, smiling I headed across the dance floor. "Lily!" Adrian called from over where he and Hugo were standing, waiting for drinks.

"Hey!" I said, weaving my way over to them. Adrian was looking me up and down. "You look wonderful!" he said, smiling.

"You, too." I told him over the music.

Hugo cleared his throat. "You know what Adrian? I'll get the drinks, you go dance with Lily."

Adrian turned to me, holding out his hand. Laughing I took it and he swung me on the dance floor. For a while we danced together in lively music, until I noticed that Josephine has entered the party with her escort.

He had his collar up, and his hair done. Wearing long black dress robes, Scorpius made me take a breath- surprisingly. Adrian didn't notice and swung me right pass him and Josephine, whom, was wearing a very figure hugging bottle green sparkle- strapless dress.

And it surprised me how angry I got to see her clinging onto him. He watched me as we danced pass, and his eyes never left mine. It was weird, every time Adrian would spin me, I'd loose sight, and I'd start searching for him again.

But he was gone. Soon enough, the third song ended and I told Adrian I needed a drink, so we both headed back to our table. Hugo was there, sitting between Amelia and Liam once again. They were chatting away, and Liam seemed very happy to have company.

"Amelia!" He said quickly. "Come get a drink with me." And before I could reply, he'd already whisked me away.

We weaved back through the dancers in silence, his hand holding onto mine.

"Three Butterbeers." He said to the 'bartender' whom I noticed was a girl in our Potions class named Annabelle Stacies. She nodded, and whisked out three glasses, filled it with foaming Butterbeer and handed them to us. Liam instantly downed his two before I could even finish half of my glass. He was going to get more, but I offered him the rest of mine.

"Alright!" Professor Slughorn called out across the room, and the music quieted down instantly. "Now it's the last dance, and I want my guests to mingle, so I had everyone's name written down and placed in this hat!"

He waved his wand and a top hat appeared in his hand, top side up. "And when I pick out you're name, you'll enter the centre of the dance floor with you're partner, whom I'll also pick out, this will apply to everyone."

Everyone stared murmuring, but he had already picked out his first name. "Corner, Amelia and.." picking out another, "Kingswood, Justin!" And the crowd applauded as Justin, holding Amelia's hand, took her to the dance floor, waiting.

I check to see how Liam was reacting, he wasn't there beside me. Looking around for him, I was shocked to hear my name next. "Potter, Lily… and Alberdart, Joshua!"

"What?" I whispered, as the spotlight shone on me. Joshua took a while weaving his way through the crowd, and had really sweaty palms as he took me over to the other couples. Soon nearly all the names were called out.

"Williams, Evangeline! ….Malfoy, Scorpius!" Slughorn called, and I turned slowly to see Scorpius bowing to Evangeline before taking her hand. She blushes bright red but pushed herself close to him.

It made me want to hex her, for no apparent reason. When they walked past me, his eyes flittered onto my dress and onto Joshua briefly, before smirking at me. That ignorant.. Grrr. The music started again, and that was when I noticed that Liam wasn't even in the party anymore. A girl by the name of Lindsey Adams was standing with Professor Slughorn, slightly embarrassed as she waited for her no-show partner.

Joshua swung me around and around, but he wasn't a very good dancer, he kept on stepping on my toes. "Ouch!" I said, letting go of his hands just as we were in the middle of the dance floor. My toes were really sore now.

It was just then that Scorpius danced past with Evangeline in his shoulder. He smirked at Joshua as he watched us try to dance. I glared at him as he twirled her around us. Sighing, I said. "Come on Joshua, let's go."

He nodded, grbbing my hand- but another hand also grabbed mine. Turning slowly, I noticed that it was Scorpius. Evangeline was glaring at me as he twined his other hand through mine. I glared at him in shock as he pulled me back to the dance floor, but I couldn't let go.

"What are you doing?" I hissed. He smirked again.

"I thought you'd like a real dancer for tonight." He said, cocking his head to the side, grey eyes unreadable.

"Joshua is a plenty fine dancer thank you very much- and so is Adrian!" I hissed back.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Adrian?"

"Yes," I said, looking at his unreadable face. "Adrian."

He shrugged it off and suddenly pulled me into his chest as we twirled around the dance floor. I gasped quietly, but kept going with it.

"You're surprisingly good, for a…" He trailed off. I was quiet until I realized it.

Shoving myself away from him, "A blood traitor?" My voice was hard.

His eyes narrowed at my voice as he let my hands drop.

"Yes." He said coldly glaring back at me.

"Oh you… Argh! Get away from me! You coward!" I said, shoving him away, making my way to the door.

"Coward?" His voice was acid as he caught up. "Fine! Be like that you brat!"

I swung around and stared him in the eyes. "You're a loser, so get out of my sight!" and ran through the door, leaving the party.

It took me minutes to find my way, I kept on getting lost.

That night, when I ran into the Common Room I realized that only Liam was there. Not helping myself, I burst into tears in front of him.

I couldn't believe for a couple of minutes I danced with that spoilt son of a brat! He was and egghead, an arsehole!

Liam let me lay there on the couch, crying on his shoulder. If I wasn't so preoccupied, I would've noticed his eyes were bloodshot and puffy too.

That night we when I was almost falling asleep on the couch, lying on his shoulders, I could've sworn I heard him sniffle. Reaching out blindly for his hand, finding it, i squeezed it tightly.

I would never, ever let myself near that Malfoy, ever again.

Author's Note:

Yay! Second Chapter!

Anywho, I'd like it if you guys started reviewing, it tells me that at least someone's reading my stories :)

Thank you for reading!!

And I hope you really like this Chapter,

xx Kate