Disclaimer... these characters belong to JKR
A.N. Yay, another chapter. I'm happy to announce, that A Rise and Fall is now longer than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which is - crazy. Enjoy! Also, Anna is a total mum in this chapter. Seriously. Except she swears way more.
Lily had a flush of colour high on her cheekbones, and she was swaying in time to the music, but she glared at James.
"Would you like a cup of punch down your robes?" she asked.
Damn. He'd thought, maybe, that she'd be slightly friendlier after the dinner. Clearly not. The frailness of the last term had deserted her, and she stood tall now, chin up, jaw firm. There was an assessing look in her green eyes.
"Er, not really" he said. "Maybe you could save that for Sirius"
She smirked, which was something, at least, and he felt confident enough to lift the punch glass out of her hand and take it in his. He'd forgotten how sharp her smirk was.
"It's a good song" he said. "It'd be a shame to waste it"
Sighing, she gave him her other hand, and stepped slightly closer. Maybe an inch closer.
They fit well together. He was slightly taller than her and her body dipped towards her as they danced. Of course, he was a perfect gentleman, and his hand rested high on her waist, the fabric of her light dress thin under his fingers.
It couldn't really be called dancing, what they were doing. They were swaying – gently, and her eyes were closed. James was able to watch her as much as he liked. She had a strong nose, burnt a bit from the sun, and the skin under her eyes was pink as well. Her long lashes cast shadows on her cheekbones.
He pulled her slightly closer and her eyes popped open.
"Something the matter?" he asked, grinning at her. He saw Sirius slipping out of the kitchen out of the corner of his eye.
Lily blinked at him
"You have pollen on your nose" she informed him, and grinned as he broke away to swat at it. She picked her punch back up and stepped away.
"Thanks for the dance" she said. There was a soft smile on her face, and she seemed to look through him, like she was remembering something.
"The song's not over" he tried, half hearted.
"I think it is" she said quietly, letting her hand drop to her side. Lily regarded him with almost a disappointed expression, as if he'd let her down some way.
"Lily-"
She had already stepped away, shaking her head, and leaving him not quite sure as to what had happened.
The party was in full swing when he saw her again. The whole house felt sort of – dreamy – like it was just hovering on the edge of everyone's mind.
She was giggling and hanging off Remus, who looked bemused and exasperated, and was she drunk?
Red hair hung limp around her face, and there were dark smudges under her eyes, mascara dripping. There was something not quite real about her. Her edges seemed blurred into the background, like she was slowly disappearing.
"James!"
Merlin, she was loud.
"James!" she called again, skipping over to him.
Clearly, she wasn't drunk. No drunk person had that level of coordination.
"Hi, Lily" he said, catching her by the forearms as she stumbled up against him. Fine hair blew against his face, along with a hint of lemon. She was warm against him, and he took a quick breath before pushing her back a bit.
"I think" she said, voice dropping to a whisper. Lily curled her fingers over his shoulders and tugged him down to her own level. "I think" she continued, frowning for a second and seeming to waver, before continuing, "that I'm in love with you"
For a single, glorious, shining second, he hoped. Love and Lily Evans and copper hair and green eyes that blazed like a curse. Hands held and laughing until they couldn't breathe and simple spells and tiny acts of magic. Together. And then of course, he came back to his senses. So she was drunk. Drunk with a high degree of dexterity, but inebriated nonetheless. He wished, futilely, that he wasn't so disappointed.
"Did Anna break out the vodka?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light. She blinked up at him, innocently.
"What? No, of course not, love. I'm not drunk. I'm in love"
Love. She called him love.
"Evans" he said, trying for sternness, "what did you drink?"
"A glass of punch" she said, faltering. "Right after we danced – dance with me James"
Lily was trailing her fingers down his chest, pulling him against him and starting to move to the music.
"It's so beautiful, tonight. There's magic, in this house, James. Magic and light and flowers. It's a midsummer night's dream, James"
"What?" he frowned at her. She was dreamy and laughing.
"Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, we will make amends ere long; else the Puck a liar call; so, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends"
The way she spoke, unfocused and rhythmic, made him sure she was quoting something. So this was Lily Evans drunk. Drunk and quoting poetry and professing her love for him.
"Give me your hands" she murmured, slipping her hands into his.
"Lily-"
"Give me your hands"
Her voice was warm and insistent, compelling. She was warm, and pliant, and James was ready to write this all off as luck and magic, until he heard a familiar voice.
"What the fuck did you do to Lily?"
He stumbled away, leaving her reeling, reaching for him, and he looked up to meet the angry face of Anna Rogers. Artemis was standing behind her, holding her wand. There was still an anemone behind her ear.
"I didn't do anything!" James said, holding up his hands and backing away from Lily, whose lip was starting to quiver.
"Bullshit" Anna said harshly, pulling her friend away. "Did you put something in her drink? I knew you were an idiot, but even for you-"
The party had gone still, everyone watching the tense knot at the centre. The hazy edges seemed to have disappeared and everything was sharp. Too sharp. It sliced at James's fingers.
"It wasn't James". It was a familiar voice, and Sirius stepped in front of James.
"The fuck it wasn't. Who else would've bloody drugged her?" Anna asked. She tended to swear a lot when she got angry. Actually, now that James thought about it, she just tended to swear a lot in general.
There was a scuffle, at the entrance to the living room, and Remus appeared, grim faced and dragging Helen Monksfoot by the arm. Her face was tearstained; her light blue dress stained with punch, and her hair was snarled. A yellow hyacinth peeked out over her ear.
"Let go of me!" she wailed, tugging her arm free from Remus. He let her go, and she stumbled towards the centre of the room. She was wearing heeled sandals and her feet nearly went out from under her. A murmur passed through the room, like a light breeze. It petered out slowly as Helen climbed to her feet.
"Helen?" James asked, not connecting the dots.
"James!" she said, holding her arms out hopefully. "I didn't mean – I just thought if you saw how it would be if she ever really did fancy you-"
"What did you give her?" Anna's voice was sharp and she crossed her arms tightly, glaring at the unfortunate girl. Sharp eyeliner made her gaze especially piercing, and the other girl quailed under her gaze. James felt the teeniest bit sorry for her, and then she spoke.
"Love potion" Helen whispered, eyes still fixed on James.
"Shit" James whispered, running a hand through his hair. Lily was straining against Anna's arms, and she was smiling at James. Now that he looked at her, he could tell. It wasn't her normal razor sharp grin that could draw blood. It was a soppy, adoring smile, and it looked wrong on her. He turned away, slightly sickened.
"What sort was it?" Artemis asked.
Out of the group of them, the Marauders, Lily's friends, and Helen Monksfoot, she seemed to be the calmest. She looked utterly unsympathetic as she faced the crying girl.
"Kilig Krush" Helen muttered, wiping at her eyes resentfully. Artemis visibly relaxed, taking a hold of Lily.
"Good. It's not one of the really strong ones" she said, addressing James. "It'll wear off soon, we'll get her home"
He nodded awkwardly, at a loss as to what to say.
"And Helen, is that your name?" Artemis said sharply, gazing at the Hufflepuff. "You should leave. I'm an Auror, and I'd be perfectly within the law to arrest you. Use of love potions are strictly regulated, you ought to know that'
"James…"
She wasn't beautiful any more. Her dark blue eyes were watery and her skin was blotchy. There was a stone in his stomach.
"Leave" said James, coldly.
James suddenly felt very tired, and collapsed onto a couch as the guests started to file out. He met Lily's eyes for a final time as she looked back, straining towards him.
"That was an interesting development"
Peter wandered over to sit beside him as the room emptied. The daisy crown he was wearing slipped down and he tugged it back up, frowning. It was dim and shadowy, and it didn't seem quite as magical anymore.
"She's going to hate me" James said numbly.
"She won't" Remus reassured him, passing him a glass of punch. "Her friends will explain"
"Or they won't and she'll think you're a terrible person who drugged her" Sirius said casually. There was a pink lipstick mark on his cheek.
James groaned and buried his face in his arms. Just when she seemed like she might be, maybe starting to like him, as a friend, it all went to hell. The candles were starting to burn low, their flames guttering in the warm breeze that passed through the house.
"That could happen too" Remus agreed, "but it seems unlikely. Lily's a reasonable person, I'm sure she'll understand"
"I wish we'd taken photos" Sirius said, sighing regretfully. "For posterity, you know"
James didn't bother glaring at Sirius, but hoped that Moony or Peter would glare on his behalf.
"Peter" James said, calmly, through a silk throw pillow. "Please remind me why I'm friends with Black"
Peter made a noncommittal noise. "I dunno. He's a prat. You're a prat with a similar sense of humour. It all kinda seemed to work"
He pulled the pillow away from his head and stared at the glass of punch in his hand in horror.
"Did Helen drug all the punch?" he asked in a hushed voice.
Peter, Sirius, and Remus all stared at it like it was a bomb about to go off.
"She couldn't have. Else everyone would be in love with James"
"Excuse you, bitch" James said indignantly, setting the punch down. "Everyone already is"
Someone groaned and James was fairly sure it was Remus. "Why are you talking like a thirteen year old girl?" Peter asked.
"He's a thirteen year old girl at heart" Remus deadpanned.
"That's really insulting to thirteen year old girls"
James threw his pillow in their general direction. The warmth from the room was starting to dissipate, now that there were only a few people left in the house. The smell of flowers was still stifling, and James stared into a candle flame for a moment before looking away. It left golden streaks on the inside of his eyelids.
"She quoted something at me. I think it was poetry, or a play. 'Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends'"
The other three boys were frowning at him, but Remus looked like the words were familiar.
"That's Shakespeare?" he frowned. "My mum used to read it to me"
"Who's Shakespeare?" Sirius asked.
"He's a Muggle poet and playwright" Remus told him. "He's really famous"
"Lily's a nerd" Peter said, pityingly.
"Yeah…" James said.
"I'm tired" Sirius whined.
"Then go to bed?"
The other boy made a face and flopped over so his head was in James's lap.
"Fuck" James sighed. "Not again"
Resigned, James leaned back on the couch, shoving at Sirius ineffectually. Rather belatedly he realized that it was probably Very Unsafe to leave burning candles scattered all over the place, but by that point he was warm and his eyelids were dropping shut and his whole body felt heavy.
Remus and Peter were already asleep in their armchairs, and James closed his eyes.
Lily opened one eye cautiously. Bright. Far too bright. Everything was spinning, and she frowned. One glass of punch had done this? That seemed unlikely. Her skin felt sticky and when she turned her head, the vaguely sickly scent of rotting flowers hit her nose. There was something, like an itch at the back of her mind, like someone tapping on a window – if she could just remember –.
Half formed shapes and memories swirled, and she lifted her hand to rub her forehead. She was in Anna's familiar room, golden walls and honeyed ceiling. A cool breeze passed through the open window. This room had always sort of reminded her of an eyrie, or a tower, despite it being on the ground floor. It felt like it was constructed from light and air.
Oh god. The memories solidified, the smoke cleared, and she remembered. Love potion. She had behaved like an idiot. Lily winced as another memory surfaced. She'd quoted A Midsummer Night's Dream at him. Of fucking course she had. That wasn't even the worst of it. She'd declared her love for James Potter. That was that, she was going to have to run away, and join the circus. She would never be able to show her face again. Ever.
She rolled over, and was faced with Cami's wide dark eyes. Lily could see herself mirrored in them. Their two mattresses were shoved close to make space for the others, and Cami was only about a foot away.
"Oh god" Lily groaned, and Camilla nodded.
"Yeah" she agreed.
"Oh god"
"I know, dear"
"Who – who the fuck gave me Love Potion? Was it Potter? I swear to god, I will kill him-"
She must've looked rather deranged because Camilla patted her, alarmed. "No no" she reassured Lily. "It wasn't James, honest. If it had been, you wouldn't have to kill him – he'd already be dead. It was Helen Monksfoot"
There was a fearsome look on Camilla's normally sweet face, and something about the set of her jaw made Lily think she wasn't joking, when she talked about murdering James.
Lily's mind was in tangles. Helen was distantly polite – they'd been friends in Lily's third year. Why would she do this?
"She's jealous" Camilla said, seeing the expression on Lily's face.
On the other two mattresses, Anna and Marlene were curled up. Marlene's hair was still held off her face with combs, and there was a tired looking daffodil speared through the bright twist of hair at the top of her head.
"Jealous? Jealous of what?"
"She likes James" Camilla explained.
"Oh god"
She rolled back over, sitting up and pressing her thumbs into her temple. Her whole head felt like it was being stretched, and there was a dull thudding pain behind her eyes.
"Nope" she announced, as Camilla sat up, gazing curiously at her. "I'm not having this conversation. I have better things to do that obsess over Potter and his whatever-the-hell Helen Monskfoot is"
"Oh good" Camilla said happily, as the other girls started to stir. "I didn't want us to turn into those friends that only talk about boys"
A.N. I hope you liked it, and please, please review. Every single review I get makes me so incredibly happy - they're extra special gold stars.
So, I'm going to be away from the internet for a lil bit, maybe four days, but hopefully i'll have another chapter done by the time i'm back. Have a lovely day, and please review!
'Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, we will make amends ere long; else the Puck a liar call; so, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends' is from Puck's soliloquy at the end of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' which is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, coming in just after 'The Winter's Tale'. Obviously, the chapter title is a riff on that too.
'Kilig', the name of the love potion, is a Tagalog word that basically means that rush you get after something good relating to love happens. Like kissing someone for the first time. I got this off of an online translator though, so apologies if it's incorrect.