.: Chapter Seven: Athletics and Alcohol :.
"Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable? That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence." – Pulp Fiction
Remus Lupin was, quite possibly, one of the most well-versed students in all of Hogwarts history for finding secret passageways. He could have written it off as a trait that he acquired simply because of his nighttime wanderings with the Marauders, but there was no way to get around the obvious fact that he knew of them because of his introverted need to be out of the public eye—as it was, he'd foundmost of the secret passages in Hogwarts while on his own. No matter, it was because of this ingrained knowledge that he was able to reach the hospital wing in less than four minutes.
It was in those four minutes that the small girl in his arms grew even colder, her lips turned even bluer, and her breathing—impossibly—got even shallower. Remus didn't know if it was the wolf in him or just sheer human instinct, but he could feel the dark magic radiating off of her in abundance. He had to keep squeezing his eyes shut to clear his vision, worried that the distraction of that magic would cause him to trip and hurt her even more. What worried him the most, however, was the sheer amount of residual magic that clung to her. It begged the question of what exactly she went through when it was in its full capacity.
It sent a chill down his spine.
Remus, usually the one Marauder who possessed a small semblance of decorum, burst through the double doors to the infirmary and started yelling for the healer. He and Madam Pomfrey have had a… special relationship since Remus's first week at Hogwarts—considering they meet up at least once a month so he can change into a moon-loving monster. (No big deal.) It just so happens, their close relationship means that he has been granted the privilege to call her by her first name—a technique she'd likely used to get him to open up with her about his pains and establish a healthy rapport—even if she rarely calls him anything other than 'Mr. Lupin'.
"Poppy!" he yelled, knowing he had to rouse her from a slumber, albeit a light one, in the next room over. "Madam Pomfrey! I need your help in here!"
There was a loud bang, and a quick shuffling of feet, before a door clanged open and Poppy Pomfrey, clad in a deep red dressing gown and matching house slippers, emerged from her quarters. The Hogwarts matron was a short and sturdy woman with a kind smile but a stern attitude. She had piercing blue eyes that could always tell when you were lying and blond hair that she usually had pulled up under her cap. She had that concerned motherly air about her, but sometimes that 'motherly air' turned into something way more intense than a maternal concern. The good thing was that she always meant well, and she was a sight to be seen when wielding a wand.
"Mr. Lupin!" she gasped, catching sight of the limp girl in his arms. She strode purposefully to the bed at the end of the hall, and gestured for Remus to follow and place the unconscious first-year on the bed. "What happened?"
"I've no idea," he admitted, wiping the sweat from his brow as he watched her run preliminary diagnostic spells. "Lily Evans and I were finishing our evening rounds when we found her hanging in the Charms corridor, unconscious. It was a right sight, Poppy."
"Well thank goodness you found her when you did, Mr. Lupin," she said. The matron stilled in her spell work and touched the girl's pale cheek with the back of her hand. "Was she this cold when you first found her?"
"Yes," Remus replied immediately. "It took us a few minutes to make sure we could get her down safely, but her lips were blue before we even began attempting to do that. When she was finally released from whatever spell was holding her, I came straight here. We decided that Lily should send for Professor McGonagall or the Headmaster. So, uh—that's where Lily is," he finished lamely.
"Good, that'll save me some time," Poppy mumbled. "It seems that she's been through a great ordeal tonight, Mr. Lupin. I would like to be able to give her my full attention."
"O-of course," Remus stammered. Recognizing her 'give-me-space' tone, he backed away from the bed to give the healer room to work. It was at least ten minutes before Professor McGonagall made it into the Hospital Wing with Lily trailing her at a more subdued pace. McGonagall was wearing a faded green dressing gown with a matching quilted cap, covering the black bob of hair at the base of her skull. Short tendrils had escaped and were framing her face, giving her a slightly haggard and weary look.
She skidded to a halt at the foot of the girl's bed, who was now slumbering fitfully under the white blankets, and clutched at her heart. "Good Heavens," she exclaimed. "Is she all right? What happened? Miss Evans explained it simply, that you found her in the corridor and those-those words that were written underneath her, but… What happened, Poppy?"
"She's going to live, Minerva," Madam Pomfrey said, matter of fact in her assessment. "She has sustained wounds to the chest and abdomen, and her oxygen supply was depleted from a cracked skull. I've healed the wounds and given her a blood-replenishing potion, but I need to keep her here for observation to watch for possible seizures and neuropraxia. And sadly, I might need to send her to St. Mungo's to have a specialist look over her."
"Why those specific things?" Lily asked, piping up from behind McGonagall. Remus already knew though, and he feared the moment that Madam Pomfrey would confirm his train of thought.
He watched Madam Pomfrey glance at McGonagall before answering his question. "Seizures are a side effect of the Brain Hypoxia—oxygen deprivation, that is—while the neuropraxia is a common remnant of–"
"The Cruciatus Curse," McGonagall finished.
.:..:.
Remus held Lily's hand as they walked back to the common room and through the portrait hole. The rest of the Marauders were sitting around the dying fire, but all the other students had already gone up to bed. Lily, who surprisingly held fast to Remus's hand, led him to his friends and pulled him down next to her on the squishy couch.
"Uh, is everything okay?" Sirius asked, eyeing them suspiciously. Remus expected Lily to be the one to answer, but when she just sighed and dropped her head to his shoulder, he cleared his throat.
"Rough day," he said simply. James, the most curious out of all of them, widened his eyes and shook his head expectantly. Remus continued, "We found a first-year unconscious in the Charms corridor. Turns out she'd been tortured pretty badly."
"By who?" Peter squeaked, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees.
"We don't know, but she was a…" Remus looked down at Lily, who now had her eyes closed, before continuing. "She was a Muggleborn, so it's not hard to guess the attacker's intentions or their affiliations."
Sirius gave a low whistle and leaned back, his hand brushing Remus's as he ran the appendage down his own thigh. Remus tried not to zero in on the contact and stared determinedly into the fire.
They drifted into silence, and Remus watched James and Peter finish their chess game. Lily's breathing had evened out next to him, and he knew that she'd fallen asleep without even having to look down at her. Remus shifted so he could lay his arm around her shoulders, and he pulled her closer to his side. She shifted with him, her breathing never changing, and curled one leg up to her body, digging her face into the curve of his neck.
He caught James's eye as she did this, worried that he would look too much into it, but his friend just looked concerned.
"Is she okay?" James whispered, nervously biting his lip.
Remus went to shrug, but stopped himself so he wouldn't wake Lily, and just nodded his head slightly. "I think she's just got a lot on her mind," Remus said quietly. "And then—Godric, James they wrote, 'We're recruiting' underneath the girls body. I'm worried this isn't going to be an isolated incident."
Sirius let out another low whistle, and leaned forward to look at Lily. Remus noticed the pinch between Sirius's eyebrows a second before he wiped his face carefully blank and leaned back.
The silence between the four friends continued, which was odd because they were usually anything but silent. The clock above the mantle chimed once and Remus looked up in surprise, not realizing that it was so late. He went to wake Lily so she could get some sleep in her own bed, but James stopped him.
"Don't wake her," he said. "Just put that charm on me, and I'll take her up."
Remus shook his head, hating that he had been the one to figure out how to circumvent the spell on the girls' staircase. James and Sirius had both laughed at him when he'd said that it was 'improper', but in all honesty, Remus was more worried about what Lily and Ailana might do to him if they found out about it. Alice, even, who as Head Girl was duty bound to report them. Remus caved though, and James stepped up to the couch, taking off his robes and rolling up his sleeves as he went. He bent to grab Lily, one arm behind her back and another under her knees, and pulled her almost effortlessly into his chest.
Lily made a small noise of discontent at being jostled, but James made a soothing sound and adjusted his hold on her back. Lily, impossibly, didn't wake and she actually curled into James even more, and Remus saw her arms tighten around his neck. Remus tapped his wand on both of James's shoulders and muttered the charm under his breath, allowing James to walk past him towards the girl's staircase and out of sight.
.:..:.
The next morning at breakfast, Lily would wonder out loud to her friends about how she'd gotten up to her room last night, while James busied himself with buttering his toast. Remus was the one to assure Lily that he'd watched her walk up the stairs himself, and she had just laughed and said she must've been so tired she'd forgotten.
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The next week and a half of classes passed fairly quickly for Lily, and she already had more than enough homework to last her ten lifetimes. The beginning of her first N.E.W.T year wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. It was worse. Exponentially so. The essays kept getting longer and longer, and the subject material harder and harder. The free periods she was looking forward to were destined to be filled with rushes to the library between classes, and quick nips up to the dormitory to catch up on lost sleep. One evening, Lily even caught sight of Sirius in the library. (She reasoned that Remus had to drag him there against his will, and by the scruff of his neck, but her point still stands.)
Lily assumed, or rather she'd hoped, that the workload would slow down to a steadier pace after the teachers' initial frenzy to 'jump-right-in' had passed. All Lily knew, was that if this is what she had to look forward to all year, she wasn't going to survive it with her emotional well being intact.
But this weekend was different than the previous one because Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts were scheduled for this afternoon. Sirius had managed to rope Lily and her friends into coming to watch; so, after breakfast, Emmeline, Mary and Lily made their way down to the Quidditch pitch in the drizzly weather that only the end of September could bring.
Her hands were already frozen.
Huddled between her friends in the stands, Lily let out an encouraging yell as Ailana, Marlene, and Sirius took to the skies. They were among a group of about twenty other people on brooms who were all circling the stadium, their boisterous voices drifting up to where Lily was seated. As Lily watched the prospects complete their warm up laps, her mind wandered, taking her to places she had tried desperately to forget.
She had learned that the girl who was attacked in the Charms corridor was named Gemma. Gemma had been transferred to St. Mungo's Hospital after a week in Madam Pomfrey's care to receive advanced treatment for the lasting effects of her attack. Before she'd been sent away, Lily had visited her everyday, and had helped her stay on track with her schoolwork—even if she would be gone for God knows how long.
There haven't been any attacks since then, but Lily couldn't yet bring herself to let out her breath. All day, her shoulders were taught with tension, and all night she dreamed a variation of "I'm next", or of "Mary's next", and even of "Emmeline is next". To put it bluntly, Lily was freaked and her attitude was rubbing off on her friends. Marlene had started waiting for Lily every morning, even if Lily was being a pain in the ass and they ended up missing breakfast. And Mary's desk had turned into the picture of squeaky-clean and any clothes left on the floor were known to make her freak out.
A loud whistle rang out around the stadium and Potter made his way onto the field, quickly gathering the gaze of his candidates. For all of Potter's flaws, he knew how to command attention. He had this uncanny ability of making himself heard, even when no one wanted to listen. In no time, he had the Quidditch hopefuls split up into two teams while he floated around watching them. Periodically, Potter sent players off of the pitch and called new ones on.
Lily knew very little about the logistics of Quidditch or the technical terms for anything, but even so, she knew how to spot a good player when she saw one. It came as no surprise to her when the returning team had earned their spots back. She was surprised, however, by how good Sirius was in an actual competitive setting. After all, she'd only ever seen him play in pickup games, where nothing really mattered, and free-for-alls where players spent most of the time joking around with the other team.
As Potter moved the players on to drills, Lily watched as Sirius hit the bludgers perfectly through the hoops at the other end of the field as James called them off by number. He managed to maintain both bludgers, hitting them in perfect synchronization. His hair was flying, coming out of its restraining band, but he didn't seem to notice. Sirius had the biggest grin plastered on his face when he eventually landed back on the ground. He seemed very confident that he'd gotten the other beaters spot based off of the flippant way that he tossed his bat into the air, and casual grace he held as he slumped to the grass.
An hour later, the team was decided. Tobias Red, a burley seventh year, regained his spot as keeper, while Ailana and Marlene got back their spots as a beater and chaser respectively. The new recruits were somewhat surprising. One was a fourth year named Anthony Chase, who Lily had dismissed the minute he'd stepped onto the field. When he had first shown up, he had lumbered onto the field and dropped his broomstick twice; but when he took to the skies, he'd outstripped every player there, even intercepting one of Marlene's bullet passes. He was a good find. The second player was a small third year by the name of Elizabeth Goldstein. She had easily out-played all the more experienced seekers, and sealed her spot thirty minutes after the snitch had been released.
Lily jostled Emmeline when she moved to stand up, snapping her friend out of her trance. The other girl stretched slowly, looking almost catlike, before mumbling under her breath, "That was a bloody waste of time."
"Oh, shush up," Mary said, shoving Emmeline lightly in the shoulder. "You love Quidditch."
"Correction," Lily interrupted. "She loves Quidditch games."
Nodding, Emmeline grabbed her things and was the first one to make her way down the stands. She called over her shoulder, "At least in real Quidditch games, there's some kind of action, and I don't have to watch the same monotonous drill ten different times."
"We're being supportive, Em," Lily said, grinning slightly. "And Sirius asked us to come, so we're being good friends. Not to mention the fact that Ailana and Marlene were trying out again, too. Stop whining."
"I'm not whining." Emmeline shrugged. "I'm just expressing my mild discontent."
Shaking her head, Lily followed her friends down the bleachers.
.:..:.
It was much later in the evening when Lily finally managed to warm her fingers up, and she did so through a very much-needed bottle of Ogden's finest. Lily was perched on her bed, her hair a complete mess in the drunken bun she'd attempted to put it into to, and her white school shirt was draped around her shoulders. Lily knew—from the five times she's gotten drunk in her life—that she got hot when she was intoxicated; so, over the course of the night, her clothes had steadily found their way to the floor, and not on her body where they were meant to be.
It was midnight and everything was slightly blurry.
Slightly.
Emmeline, Mary, Ailana, Alice, and Marlene were spread around the dorm, in varying states of drunkenness and tiredness. Ailana was lying so the top half of her body was hanging off the side of her four-poster, her face flushed and her eyes closed—lily didn't understand how the position wasn't making her puke. Alice—who had finally graced them with her presence outside of the Head dorms—and Marlene were facing each other on the floor, sitting Indian-style and telling sphinx riddles in an attempt to outwit the other. Mary was the only one still coherent; she was always the one who paced herself, aware of the fact that she's incapable of holding her Firewhiskey.
Lily's smile slid off her face as her attention focused in on Mary. The other girl looked contemplative. She was twirling her hair, and her eyes were darting around. Lily knew for a fact that she wasn't that drunk, not drunk enough to be seeing things that is, so Lily piped up.
"What's wrong, Mary?" Lily asked.
"Hmm?" Mary looked up and knotted her eyebrows. "Oh, nothing's wrong."
Ailana lurched herself back up onto her bed and narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Something's wrong."
Marlene and Alice were paying attention now, too, and they'd already moved to sit next to Mary on her bed. Lily decided against moving; she didn't want to risk the head-rush and inevitable stumble that would make her friends tease her. When Mary grabbed the neck of the Firewhiskey bottle though, Lily knew she was getting ready to spill whatever she was thinking.
"I have a crush," she groaned, taking a swig of the alcohol and passing it off to the nearest hand as soon as she swallowed. "On a very cute boy."
Ailana grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "And who might this lucky fellow be?"
"Simon Kass," Mary stated, determinedly ignoring the blush on her cheeks.
"That smarmy Ravenclaw?" Emmeline wrinkled her nose.
"He's not smarmy!" Mary defended. "He's sweet, and he dresses nice, and he seems really lovely. You're not being very supportive, are you Emmeline? I'm gonna have to give you a two on the friend scale because that wasn't helpful!"
"She'll do better next time, won't you Emmeline?" Alice asked. Em just wrinkled her nose when she was addressed, again, by her full name, but nodded in the end.
"He's in my year, isn't he? A seventh year?" Alice wondered.
This caused Mary to exclaim, rather loudly, "Exactly!"
Lily jumped at her volume. "What does 'exactly' mean in th-th-this context?" Lily managed to get out.
"It means that I have absolutely no chance with him. He's tall and he's smart and he has the most perfect hair," Mary sighed. "And I'm just Mary."
"Just Mary?" Ailana asked, her eyes widening. "What in Godric's name is wrong with being just Mary? You're great, Mary! Everything about you is amazing! Why are you being down on yourself?"
"Because apparently it's my self-fucking-pity night," groaned Mary, flopping back onto her bed. "And see, Em. Ailana gets a solid eight. That was being a good friend."
"Only an eight! Your scale is fucked up, Mary, and you should fix it!" Ailana complained.
Mary continued as if Alina had never spoken. "Plus, I haven't been able to look nice once this past week—not even one time. And you lot know that I can't feel nice if I don't look nice."
"Hogwash!" Emmeline yelled, earning her an amused look from both Alice and Lily.
Mary grabbed the neck of the Firewhiskey bottle and pulled it from Emmeline's grip. "It doesn't even matter right now. You guys are too drunk to give me decent advice anyways."
"Oh, I can guarantee you that I give the best advice when I'm drunk," Ailana rebutted.
"That's true," Lily agreed. "It makes her lose her filter."
"What filter?" Marlene asked, scrunching up her nose.
A crease appeared between Lily's eyebrows and a hitch in her breath betrayed her amusement. "Oh, well, I guess I was talking about myself. Oops."
"Lightweight," murmured Alice.
Lily was actually well aware of the fact that she wasn't a lightweight. Her friends didn't need to know that she'd started drinking an hour before they had joined her. Lily laughed out loud and garnered startled looks from everyone but Mary, who was still lying on her back on the bed.
"Okay, Mary," Ailana said. "Here's what you're going to do. Step One: sit up on the bed because I feel like you're not going to get the full effect of my words when you're layin' down."
Mary muttered a quiet, "Shove off," but she sat up anyways.
"'Kay, first off, you're going ta' actually talk to him—like in real life," Ailana said.
Mary blushed. "How do you know that I haven't spoken to him?"
Everyone just looked at her until Mary rolled her eyes, "And what in the world would I say to him? Have you even met me at all?"
"All you have to do is say hi," Lily said. "Just because he's a boy doesn't mean he's a completely different enti-en-entity."
"I know this," Mary scoffed. "But he's a cute boy! I can talk to bloody Peter Pettigrew just fine!"
"Ouch," Alice laughed. "What've you got against poor-ol' Peter?"
"I haven't a thing against Peter," Mary denied. "He's just easy to talk to, that's all I was saying."
"Maybe you should date Peter then," Marlene murmured, bringing the bottle to her lips.
Mary groaned and resumed her prone position on the bed. "Thanks for all your wondrous advice, really."
"It's late anyways," Marlene sighed. "We should get to bed so McGonagall doesn't skin us when we sleep through her class tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, what in the world were we thinking, drinking on a school night," Emmeline groaned as she stood up and started walking to her bed.
"Lily started it!" Ailana accused. "She was already drinking when I got up here."
"And time for bed," Lily said, waving her wand and extinguishing the lights.
As Lily lay in the darkness, listening to the wind beating against the shutters and her friend's beds creaking as they settled themselves, she thought about Mary. Lily hated that she understood exactly what Mary was thinking. Lily usually hid her anxiousness behind well-placed insults and sharp jabs to their conversations. She doesn't think she's ever actually just said 'hi' to a cute boy before.
Lily had just shucked off her shirt when Ailana spoke: "Just talk to him like you talk to us, Mary. Ask him about Quidditch, about what he thinks of Professor Slughorn. Hell, ask him about the bloody weather. All you've got to do is say hi, love."
It was because she was slightly tipsy that Lily was okay falling asleep like this, falling asleep thinking of saying hi to a boy with messy hair and square spectacles.
.:..:.
The next morning, Lily sat at the breakfast table, her brain punishing her body by pounding itself relentlessly against the inside of her skull. She may have had one too many drinks last night, and she may be slightly regretting it. At the moment, everything seemed to be too loud and too bright.
She buried her face in her hands.
Ailana slumped into the seat next to her and made a tsk-ing noise of mocking disapproval. Lily knew that Ailana, miraculously, always avoided hangovers the next morning (or she was just remarkably better at hiding them and had an ironclad will to go on as if everything was normal just to spite everyone). Lily didn't much care for her less than ideal decision being rubbed in her face. Okay, so she was also slightly cranky.
"My, my," Ailana said, pouring two cups of coffee. "You do look rather worse for wear, Lil."
"Screw you," Lily replied, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee her friend offered.
"Ah, you know I'm only teasing," Ailana chuckled. "I'm not feeling my best right now either. I was actually thinking about skiving off lessons, but—well would you look at that…"
Lily picked her head up and followed Ailana's line of sight. Walking together into the Great Hall was Mary and Simon Kass. It seemed that Mary had worked up the courage to talk to him. Lily watched as Mary smiled and lightly touched her fingers to Simon's arm, he flushed slightly when he looked down at her hand and he wiped his brow before straightening up. Lily was too far away to hear what they were saying, but Mary was smiling serenely when she finally made her way towards where they were sitting.
Lily asked, "How did it go?" at the same time that Ailana smirked and asked, "You snogging him after Transfiguration, or no?"
Mary colored a deep red as she sat down across from them and attempted to kick Ailana under the table. She caught Lily instead, and Lily inhaled a sharp breath. Honestly, it was only seven in the morning, Lily thought while she rubbed away the ache now forming in her didn't seem to notice though as she jumped to defend herself.
"You're so crude, Ailana!" Mary laughed. "I barely even know the guy; we were just talking."
"Was it as bad as you thought it would be?" Lily asked.
Mary looked down at her clasped hands and her dark hair fell into her eyes. "No… it-it wasn't, it was actually pretty great."
"I'm happy for you, babe," Ailana said, patting Mary's hands before letting the silence wash over them.
Five minutes passed before the owls flew in through the open windows. As Lily was (again) admiring the display, she spotted Aurelian and noticed that he had a letter attached to his leg. She watched as he circled his way down towards her, and she gave him a piece of her bacon when he finally landed. He cooed and nuzzled her hand before taking to the skies again.
As Lily turned the letter over in her hands, she cocked her head in confusion.
"What is it?" Alice asked, who had just walked up and taken a seat next to Mary.
"I think it's from Petunia," Lily said, slicing the letter open with her finger and beginning to read.
Lily,
Mum and Dad are well, and they send their regards. Dad told me to ask you whether you've taken his advice yet or if you're 'slacking.' His words not mine. You should write them soon, they've gotten antsy. Apparently, you usually write more often.
Anyway, you're probably wondering why I've written you considering we haven't had a decent conversation in months… sometimes I wish we could speak without yelling, but then I remember why we yell.
Long story short, I'm getting married.
Vernon asked me last weekend.
And if you haven't put it together yet, he's who I've been sneaking off to see all summer. I didn't want anyone else involved because I didn't want our family's weirdnessto wear off on him and send him packing. Vernon is a very nice man, with a well-to-do job in the city. He treats me well, and he makes me happy, so don't give him too much grief when you eventually meet him.
More on the wedding: Mum has already gone into a complete frenzy about planning. I'm glad she's so supportive and willing to help me organize it. We've picked a date for this coming July, and I'm to ask you to be a bridesmaid. Victoria's my maid of honor and Vernon's sister, Marge, will be another bridesmaid, along with Yvonne. (You remember me talking of her? Yvonne was the first friend I made after we moved to Cokeworth, and we go to University together now—she's my dorm mate, actually. You've never met her, but she's good people.) Anyway, there's no one else I can reasonably ask, and Mum told me that you need at least four people by your side, so here's me asking you. I need another bridesmaid and I would love like for you to fill the spot.
We're dress shopping during your Christmas break because Mum says you have to be there. We haven't decided colors yet, but I like pink. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but Mum's trying to argue with me because she says that pink would look horrible with your hair, but I don't think it will. In all honesty, I think that she just wants me to do blue like she did. (Be prepared for pink.)
Write Mum and Dad.
Petunia
this is more lighthearted than the last chapter, so i hope you enjoyed it!
so. i originally wrote this chapter when i was seventeen and drinking in a boarding school was the epitome of luxury. i am now twenty and i've sadly never gotten drunk in a boarding school, but at least i know now how unrealistic it was for them to be doing it jskdjs. but i don't care, i'm keeping it in the chapter and they're gonna be drunk teenagers and it'll be fine.
anyway, thanks for reading. i love y'all and i love all the love that you give me. as always, thanks to my wonderful beta's siriuslyneville and drwatsonn. 'till next time 3
