Chapter 29 New Year's Eve
Lily craned her neck, trying to see her reflection in the mirror over her shoulder. She was quite nervous, actually; she'd never worn dress robes before and she just hoped that she looked all right. Not much help for it now though really. James was due to pick her up in half an hour for the Marchbankses' New Year's Eve party, so if something was wrong with her appearance, there wasn't time to fix it anyway. She'd just have to hope it was ok.
Checking herself in the mirror one last time, Lily looked nervously round her room for something else to do. Not able to find anything immediately, she sat down on her bed, twisting her fingers in her lap nervously.
Tonight she'd be meeting Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who, besides being her boyfriend's parents, were also very well known and influential in the wizarding community. Lily couldn't ever remember being quite so nervous about meeting anyone in her life.
On top of that, Lily was very apprehensive about her first-ever social function in the wizarding world. She just hoped that she wouldn't make some sort of ghastly faux pas unknowingly. Sure, she'd been to parties that her parents and their friends and acquaintances had thrown, but what if some things were different in the wizarding world?
The chime of the doorbell startled Lily out of her thoughts. If that was James, he was fifteen minutes early, she noted with amusement as she checked her clock. Sure enough, she could hear James' familiar voice in the hallway, talking with her parents.
Glancing at her hair and robes one last time, Lily took a deep breath and made her way down the stairs, sincerely hoping that she'd enjoy tonight as much as she wanted to.
* * *
James stood in the foyer of the Evanses' London house, making nervous conversation with Lily's parents and housekeeper, fully aware that he was fifteen minutes early. He'd tried to wait until seven-thirty, really he had, but he just hadn't been able to wait any longer. He would've been a whole half-hour early if he'd come in straight away, but being a half-hour early would just have been silly. So he'd waited around for what had apparently been only fifteen minutes, even though it had felt like forever. In fact, James had been afraid that he was late and that Lily might think he was standing her up, so he'd panicked and rushed to the Evanses' house, unaware of the time until he checked the hall clock. Why in hell hadn't he thought to put on a wristwatch?
Normally for parties like this, James would've put on his dress robes and attempted, at his mother's insistence, to tame his hair about fifteen minutes before they were due to leave. But James had started getting ready an hour ahead out of sheer nerves, despite Sirius' amusement at his expense and merciless teasing. Ready forty-five minutes early, James had waited about before deciding that it might take a bit longer to get to the Evanses' house than the twenty minutes it had taken him last time, so he'd asked the driver of the Ministry car his dad had ordered for him if they could leave early. And, well, here he was.
James tried to pay attention to what Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Nora were saying, but he was wondering where Lily was. He hoped she hadn't decided to go to Morwenna's without him or something.
"Oh, Lily!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, breaking off the question she had been asking James about Quidditch. "You look beautiful!" James turned slowly around and almost tripped over his own two feet at the sight. Recovering his balance, James simply gawked at Lily as she made her way down the stairs.
She was without a doubt the most beautiful thing James had ever seen in his life. She was wearing green robes that matched her eyes perfectly and - well - James didn't know exactly what she had done to make herself look even more fantastic than usual, but whatever it was, it had caused the usual gymnastics in James' stomach to escalate to new heights.
Lily stepped off the last stair, a self-conscious smile on her face. "Hi, James," she greeted, feeling a bit awkward when he remained speechless.
James finally noticed that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Wondering exactly how long they'd been waiting for him to say something, he cleared his throat. "Hello, Lily," James expelled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Lily grinned. Out of the corner of his eye, James noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Evans seemed rather amused and Nora was looking a bit nostalgic.
"Let's go, shall we?" James suggested in what he hoped was the nonchalant tone of a person who hadn't been berefted of speech by their gorgeous girlfriend for the last five minutes.
"Right," Lily replied happily. She turned to kiss her parents and Nora good bye and collected her handbag. James offered her his arm, rather gallantly he thought, and Lily took it, torn between feeling touched and the urge to giggle.
"Lily, let me take one picture before you go!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed. Several pictures and good byes later, Lily and James were finally in the car that had been waiting patiently out front.
"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, turning toward James, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I started getting a bit nervous that we'd be late when Mum started talking about posing us in the garden."
"Yeah," James managed a grin, still finding it a bit hard to believe that Lily was real, she looked so perfect. "Lily, you look -AMAZING - and I just wanted - I mean - WOW," he finished earnestly. Smooth, James told himself disgustedly. Really brilliant.
"Thank you, James!" Lily exclaimed, clearly delighted. James relaxed a little. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he'd thought.
* * *
Lily attempted to quell the butterflies in her stomach as she swept into the Marchbankes' house with James. After all, she reminded herself, she'd been to smart parties before.
Once she saw the ballroom below, however, Lily stopped short, completely unprepared for the sight. She'd never been to a party like this one.
Hundreds of candles floated gently all round and above the enormous room. The walls were still festooned with Christmas garlands, and in one corner of the room an orchestra of self-playing instruments were just striking up a new song. Witches and wizards clad in dress robes of every possible color were chatting in low voices or dancing or sampling the food and drink that drifted slowly through the crowd on trays. It was the most amazing party Lily had ever seen in her life.
Snapping out of it, Lily moved forward with James to greet their hosts. James introduced Lily first to Mr. Marchbanks, a very distinguished- looking wizard who worked with his father at the Ministry, and then to Mrs. Marchbanks, an elegant witch who bore a striking resemblance to her daughter Morwenna. Any fears Lily might have had about being a Muggle born witch in a room full of purebloods were immediately put to rest by Morwenna's parents, both of whom were delighted to finally meet this friend of Morwenna's that they had heard so much about. And, Mrs. Marchbanks had whispered in Lily's ear, she had been dying to meet the witch that James Potter was so head over heels for.
Feeling much more at ease, Lily moved down the line to greet Morwenna, who was standing next to her parents with her grandmother. "Lily! You made it!" Morwenna exclaimed. She was clearly in her element.
"Thanks so much for inviting me," Lily hugged her friend. "You look gorgeous, by the way."
"As if any of us could hold a candle to you," Morwenna waved off Lily's compliment with a smile. "I'm sure James would agree with me," she added innocently, her lips twitching as she watched James regarding his date with a mixture of incredulity and exhilaration, as though she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen but couldn't quite believe that she was there with him.
"So can you believe it, James?" Morwenna asked, making James jump.
"Er - what?" James asked confusedly.
"That we're finally attending one of my mum and dad's New Years' parties, of course!" Morwenna rolled her eyes at him, smiling.
"Oh, right," James was nonchalant. "Yes, finally. Are my mum and dad here yet, by the way?"
"Not yet," Morwenna shrugged. "But it's still early." She glanced over to her parents, who were greeting some new arrivals. "I'd better get back to it. But I'll see you both later, shall I?"
After quickly greeting Morwenna's gran, Lily and James moved down the imposing staircase into the ballroom, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. After a few minutes of this, Lily and James began making their way slowly round the room, James pointing out celebrities, Ministry employees, and Aurors to Lily in a low voice.
"See that crowd by the refreshments? That's Edgar Bones, great wizard, that one, his sister Amelia, next to her is Bartemius Crouch, he's Head of Magical Law Enforcement, which means he's in charge of the Aurors and the whole anti-Voldemort campaign, and that one drinking from a hip flask is Alastor Moody," James finished with a flourish.
"Who?" Lily was still distracted by Bartemius Crouch. She'd never seen a more immaculate-looking person, Muggle or wizard, in her life, or a more formidable one. The odd thing was, she'd seen his son, Barty, at Hogwarts a few times and no one could have been less like the wizard she saw standing in front of her. Lily shuddered slightly; Crouch was intimidating to the point of being a bit scary.
"Alastor Moody," James repeated, shocked that someone as seemingly well informed as Lily hadn't heard of him. "The famous Auror!"
"Oh, right," Lily studied Moody with interest. He was a bit formidable himself, his face crisscrossed with scars, his mouth contorting interestingly as he sipped from whatever was in that hip flask. But he still, in Lily's mind, wasn't as frightening as Crouch.
"Lily! James!" exclaimed a voice behind them, and they turned to see Alice, Gideon, and Fabian Prewett coming toward them, followed by Marlene and Andrew McKinnon and Dorcas.
"Marlene!" Lily exclaimed excitedly, hugging her friend. "How's the baby?"
"Brilliant, thanks," Marlene smiled widely. "Hello, James. Nice to see you again."
"Hello, Marlene," James grinned at his former Quidditch teammate, aware that she was assessing whether or not she approved of him for Lily, who was, James remembered, one of her closest friends.
Before he could think of anything really brilliant to win Marlene over with, he was drawn into a Quidditch conversation with Dorcas, Gideon, Fabian, and Andrew, who had been the Gryffindor team's captain before James.
"Are Frank and his mother here yet?" Lily asked Alice.
"Not yet," Alice pulled a face. "I'm genuinely terrified."
"Mrs. Longbottom's not so bad once you get used to her," Marlene put in reassuringly, patting Alice's shoulder. "You'll do fine." Alice looked less than convinced, however.
Several more current and former Hogwarts students migrated over to join their group, and soon Lily found herself surrounded by familiar faces and insider gossip.
"Oi! Lils!" Alice hissed, poking her. Lily turned. "See that blonde girl sitting on the sofa over there? That's Narcissa Malfoy, Narcissa Black until about two months ago. She's Bellatrix Black's sister."
Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, Lily glanced in the direction Alice had indicated, studying Narcissa intently. Bellatrix's sister was very pretty and was dressed in flattering pale blue robes, but she had one of the snootiest expressions on her face that Lily had ever seen. She and the blond man next to her, who she seemed to be with, were distinctly out of place; they didn't appear to know anybody.
"Who's that she's with?" Lily wanted to know.
"Lucius Malfoy, her husband," replied Morwenna, who had just come up behind Lily, her tone conveying her dislike. "And believe me, he's the only reason she was invited. Mum and Dad barely wanted to invite the Malfoys, at all, but the family's so old and they give so generously to St Mungo's that Mum didn't want to step on any toes. We were shocked when they actually accepted."
Lily digested this information, continuing to watch Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy as they whispered to each other. Why would they come to a party where they so clearly felt awkward?
"Hello, Lily," Lily turned to see Frank Longbottom smiling at her, a white-faced Alice next to him.
"Hi, Frank," Lily returned the greeting warmly, noticing that both of Alice's elder brothers were watching him closely. "How's your holiday?"
"Great, thanks," Frank grinned. "Glad you're here. Alice and I were just going to talk to my mum, so I guess we'll see you later."
"Wait!" Alice blurted. "Lily wants to come too!"
"What?" Lily and Frank said in perfect unison, Frank a bit confused, Lily a bit panicked.
"Er - yes," Alice looked round her as though for help. "Lily really wants to meet your mum, don't you, Lils?"
"Yes, yes I do," Lily said rather unconvincingly. "I've heard so much about her."
"Why not?" Frank shrugged good-naturedly. "She actually mentioned wanting to meet you too, so I guess there's no time like the present." With that, he led the way to Mrs. Longbottom.
"What in the bloody hell have you gotten me into?" Lily hissed at Alice as they made their way behind Frank.
"Please, please, PLEASE come with me," Alice begged. "I'll owe you anything, just please come with me!"
"All right," Lily sighed. "But if I need rescuing from James' parents, remember that you owe me."
"Absolutely," Alice was relieved, which lasted only about another second as they got closer to Frank's mother. "Quick, do I look all right?"
"Perfect," Lily smiled. "You'll be great, don't worry."
The girls came to a halt next to a sofa, Frank in front of them.
"Mum," Frank said, drawing Alice forward, who in turn latched onto Lily, "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Alice Prewett, and her friend, Lily Evans."
Mrs. Longbottom stood up briskly, adjusting her olive dress robes. "So this is the famous Lily Evans," she extended her hand graciously to Lily. "Frank has of course spoken of you. Congratulations on making Head Girl."
"Thank you," Lily took Mrs. Longbottom's rather wrinkled hand. "I'm delighted to meet you as well, Mrs. Longbottom." This woman wasn't quite as scary as Lily had predicted, but she didn't exactly envy Alice either.
"And you, my dear," Mrs. Longbottom had turned abruptly to Alice, " are a very elusive young lady. I've been wanting to meet you for some time now. Frank talks of nothing else, and if even half the things he says are true you must be a very extraordinary witch indeed."
"Thank you," Alice smiled shamefacedly. "I'm sorry our meeting has been such a long time in coming."
Mrs. Longbottom waved this away imperiously as though it couldn't possibly matter less. "Frank!" she said to her son rather sharply, causing Lily, Frank, and Alice all to jump. "Perhaps you could go and fetch us some drinks and we can all get to know each other a bit better."
"All right," Frank replied easily. "I'll be back in a minute," he added to Alice, smiling at her. Lily watched Alice smile back at Frank and realized that her friend would be all right.
"Thank you, but I won't be staying," Lily interjected smoothly. "I'd better be getting back to my own date. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Longbottom."
"Likewise," Mrs. Longbottom extended her hand again. Making her farewells, Alice promising meaningfully to see her later, Lily hurried across the room to where she had left James.
The group she had left had remained more or less the same, except James now stood on the outskirts of it, talking to Sirius. This must mean, Lily realized with a nervous jolt, that Mr. and Mrs. Potter had arrived.
"Lils!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning. "You look amazing!" he complimented, ignoring James' glower.
"Er - thanks," Lily answered warily.
"So," Sirius began conversationally, " How was your sister's wedding?" He grinned at the alarm that spread across James' face at this remark, as well as his frantic attempts to shut him up. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened, I hope?"
"Now that you mention it - " Lily began.
"Lily!" James exclaimed desperately. "My parents are here! Why don't we go and say hi?"
"Er - ok," Lily managed, trying to take deep calming breaths. James breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't going to shout at him about Petunia's beard here and now.
"Lead the way," Sirius stood aside for James, giving him a sweeping bow, which was rather ruined when he yelped in pain as James kicked him in the shin for all his help.
"We wouldn't want to keep you," James gritted sweetly between his teeth. "So many dark corners and girls, so little time."
"No, no," Sirius insisted, his mouth twitching. "I feel a sudden urge to say hello to your parents as well."
"Honestly James, let him tag along if he likes," Lily cut James off before he could open his mouth. Did they sincerely think she was too thick to pick up on their little game? "Just remember," Lily warned Sirius sweetly, "if you cock this up for me in any way you just may wake up tomorrow to find that certain parts of your anatomy are smaller than they used to be."
Sirius recovered just in time to hurry after Lily and James before they disappeared into the crowd.
* * *
James led Lily over to a circle of very distinguished-looking witches and wizards. The snatches of conversation Lily caught from them wasn't the usual party chatter about the hors d'oeuvres and who was wearing what, it was about things like Wizengamot meetings and Ministry memos. Clearly these wizards and witches were high up in the Ministry and had more pressing concerns than hors d'oeuvres, concerns they couldn't put aside for even one night.
"Mum," said James, poking a witch who had her back to Lily. "Dad - I've brought Lily to meet you." Excusing themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Potter turned around.
"Lily," Mr. Potter extended his hand to Lily, smiling warmly. "Delighted to meet you at last."
"Pleased to meet you," Lily replied, studying Mr. Potter. James would look exactly like his father in twenty or thirty years, that much was clear. James had inherited his untidy hair, tall thin frame, and facial features from his father; they really were remarkably alike. Also, Mr. Potter had the same air of confidence as his son, but while that confidence often made James arrogant, it made Mr. Potter seem capable. Lily could see why Mr. Potter was so important in the Ministry; he appeared, like James, that he could do anything you asked him to do and do it well.
"Lily, you're as beautiful as James said you were, which is indeed saying something," Mrs. Potter offered Lily a warm smile and a handshake. "I'm so pleased to meet you. James talks of nothing else."
"Mum," James muttered, embarrassed. Mrs. Potter raised a brow at him, smiling.
"It's very nice to meet you too," Lily offered, returning Mrs. Potter's beam. James didn't look much like his mum, but they had the same smile. Except James' smile was about a hundred times more mischievous, not to mention arrogant. Mrs. Potter gave the impression of liveliness, but everything about her also suggested great patience to Lily. But then, Lily considered, you'd have to be patient, living with James Potter day in and day out. It was clear why Mrs. Potter was a success in the Ministry as well.
Just as her parents had done, Mr. and Mrs. Potter asked Lily loads of questions, about herself, her family, school, her holidays. The Potters were better informed about the Muggle world than most, Lily noticed, and wondered why.
"When did your sister get married?" Mrs. Potter asked Lily. They had moved away from the group Mr. and Mrs. Potter had been talking to and were sitting in a quieter corner away from the band.
"She got married five days ago now," Lily replied cautiously, not meeting James' eye. This was dangerous ground.
"Did you meet Lily's sister when you went to visit Lily, James?" Mr. Potter inquired of his son, who was suddenly a bit fidgety.
"Er - yes, yes I did," James answered quickly, ignoring Sirius' smirk.
"How did that go anyway, James?" Mrs. Potter frowned suspiciously. "You never did tell us about it."
"It went very well," Lily put in suddenly. "My parents loved James, they really did. They want to have you back, in fact," she added to James.
"Splendid," Mr. Potter gave James a knowing look. "Everything went smoothly then, did it?"
"Absolutely," James gave his parents his most innocent smile as he elbowed a sniggering Sirius in the ribs.
"And Lily's sister?" Mrs. Potter queried, wearing an innocent expression similar to James.' "You met her and her fiancé?" Lily fought the instinctive urge to cover her eyes.
"Yes," James answered brightly. "They were really - er - enthusiastic people." Lily fought the urge to giggle as she remembered Vernon's purple- faced bellowing and her sister's glass-shattering shrieks. James' lips twitched as well and Sirius, unable to contain his laughter, tried to disguise it as a coughing fit.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter exchanged glances. "All right," Mr. Potter sighed, folding his arms. "Let's have it. What did you do?"
James cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Well - " he began, and launched into the story, by the end of which both Mr. and Mrs. Potter were struggling to keep stern faces.
"You didn't!" Mrs. Potter gasped as James finished with a description of the Beard-All Brew incident. "Right before the poor girl's wedding?"
"Poor girl nothing," Sirius snorted, and James nodded his head vigorously.
"Honestly, Mrs. Potter, don't feel too badly about Petunia," Lily said earnestly. "She and Vernon weren't exactly blameless you know."
Mrs. Potter looked as though she was going to say more but another guest, who leaned to whisper in Mr. Potter's ear, interrupted them just then.
"Please excuse us," Mr. Potter smiled at them all, but it was clear that all was not well. "Lily, it was a pleasure."
"Hopefully we'll be able to talk later," Mrs. Potter added. She kissed James' cheek. "Try not to stimulate facial hair growth in anyone while we're gone. That goes for you too Sirius," she added as she kissed Sirius' cheek as well and shook Lily's hand one more time, clasping Lily's hand in both of hers.
"It could have been worse," Sirius offered as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Potter were out of earshot. James just scowled and stared after his parents as they gathered with other Ministry officials, wondering what was wrong this time.
* * *
This latest crisis had depleted the party somewhat; all of the Aurors had had to leave and many of the high-ranking Ministry officials were closeted in the Marchbankses' library for the better part of an hour before they rejoined the party.
Despite all of this, Lily was having a wonderful time, catching up with friends who had left Hogwarts and talking about holidays with the people in her year. Lily had noticed that James had seemed rather depressed when he'd thought his parents had to leave the party, but when he saw them reenter the room with the other Ministry officials, his spirits rose a bit.
"Want to dance?" James asked Lily. Now that he knew his parents weren't embarking on some sort of life-threatening mission, he felt like he was at a party again.
"Sure," Lily smiled at him brilliantly, causing the familiar flip- flop.
They made their way to the dance floor, joining the other couples. After a few awkward steps, James and Lily found their rhythm and moved around the floor a bit more easily, talking and laughing as James pointed out more prominent witches and wizards.
At five minutes to midnight, the floating trays brought out champagne and the dancing stopped as everyone turned toward the enormous gilded clock above the mantle piece. Carrying their champagne, Lily and James made their way over to Sirius, Dorcas, Peter, Alice, Frank, Morwenna, Remus, and Kathleen, who looked radiantly happy to be together again. They had been off together somewhere for most of the party, talking things out, as Kathleen put it, and had only rejoined everyone about half an hour ago. Lily smiled questioningly at Kathleen, who grinned broadly back at her. Lily widened her own smile, relieved that things seemed to have gone well.
"One minute!" Morwenna exclaimed happily. James looked round for Lily, taking her hand. At ten seconds everyone began to count down.
"Ten........Nine........Eight.........Seven....Six.....Five......."
James smiled widely at Lily, ecstatic that after so many years of wanting to, he was finally going to kiss her at midnight.
"Four......Three......."
James leaned in and Lily, realizing what was coming, closed her eyes, grinning in anticipation.
".......Two......One.........Happy New Year!"
The guests turned to each other, clinking their glasses and wishing each other successful new years.
"Happy New Year, mate," Sirius turned to clink glasses with James. "James? Jaaaames!"
Lily and James broke apart, grinning stupidly.
"Happy New Year, Sirius," James replied innocently.
"Right," Sirius looked unimpressed by James' pure expression. "You've got lipstick smudges here and here," Sirius gestured to illustrate.
"Thanks," James replied sheepishly, wiping his face off with the back of his hand as quickly as possible. Lily poked him in the ribs, gesturing to where Remus and Kathleen stood, still kissing.
Lily and James smiled at each other. "Want to dance?" James asked, unable to keep a suggestive smirk off of his face.
"Sure," Lily's own smile indicated that she took his meaning. Hand in hand, they set off, away from their kissing friends (Alice and Frank were in on the act too) to find a more private spot, namely anywhere away from Sirius and Peter.
James and Lily were dancing slowly in between kisses when, suddenly, every candle in the room was extinguished, plunging the entire ballroom into darkness. Lily and James stopped, puzzled, looking round and listening to the puzzled buzzing of the other partygoers.
"What happened?"
"You'd think they'd know enough to put an Everflame spell on the candles - "
Then, as quickly as they'd gone out, the candles flickered to life, illuminating the room once more.
Relieved, James turned to Lily to begin dancing again, but stopped when he saw her rigid and pale, staring fixedly upward. Confused, James followed Lily's gaze and felt his blood run cold.
All round the railing above the main ballroom, figures in black hooded cloaks and white masks were positioned, their wands pointed down at the party, and more figures were filing down the staircase into the crowd.
Death Eaters.
* * *
Author's Note:
Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry this has taken me so long to do (and for the cliffhanger), but the next chapter should be up soon, tomorrow or the day after. Thanks to everyone for all the reviews, and special thanks to....oh sod it, special thanks to everyone; there were too many nice ones to name specific names.
A quick note about a question I received; James didn't get a Ministry letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office after he StunnedVernon because he's 17 now, a legal adult in the wizarding world, so he can do magic away from Hogwarts now.
Anyway, like I said, the next chapter will be up soon. Until then, enjoy and just hang in there! I really am sorry about the cliffhanger!
Lily craned her neck, trying to see her reflection in the mirror over her shoulder. She was quite nervous, actually; she'd never worn dress robes before and she just hoped that she looked all right. Not much help for it now though really. James was due to pick her up in half an hour for the Marchbankses' New Year's Eve party, so if something was wrong with her appearance, there wasn't time to fix it anyway. She'd just have to hope it was ok.
Checking herself in the mirror one last time, Lily looked nervously round her room for something else to do. Not able to find anything immediately, she sat down on her bed, twisting her fingers in her lap nervously.
Tonight she'd be meeting Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who, besides being her boyfriend's parents, were also very well known and influential in the wizarding community. Lily couldn't ever remember being quite so nervous about meeting anyone in her life.
On top of that, Lily was very apprehensive about her first-ever social function in the wizarding world. She just hoped that she wouldn't make some sort of ghastly faux pas unknowingly. Sure, she'd been to parties that her parents and their friends and acquaintances had thrown, but what if some things were different in the wizarding world?
The chime of the doorbell startled Lily out of her thoughts. If that was James, he was fifteen minutes early, she noted with amusement as she checked her clock. Sure enough, she could hear James' familiar voice in the hallway, talking with her parents.
Glancing at her hair and robes one last time, Lily took a deep breath and made her way down the stairs, sincerely hoping that she'd enjoy tonight as much as she wanted to.
* * *
James stood in the foyer of the Evanses' London house, making nervous conversation with Lily's parents and housekeeper, fully aware that he was fifteen minutes early. He'd tried to wait until seven-thirty, really he had, but he just hadn't been able to wait any longer. He would've been a whole half-hour early if he'd come in straight away, but being a half-hour early would just have been silly. So he'd waited around for what had apparently been only fifteen minutes, even though it had felt like forever. In fact, James had been afraid that he was late and that Lily might think he was standing her up, so he'd panicked and rushed to the Evanses' house, unaware of the time until he checked the hall clock. Why in hell hadn't he thought to put on a wristwatch?
Normally for parties like this, James would've put on his dress robes and attempted, at his mother's insistence, to tame his hair about fifteen minutes before they were due to leave. But James had started getting ready an hour ahead out of sheer nerves, despite Sirius' amusement at his expense and merciless teasing. Ready forty-five minutes early, James had waited about before deciding that it might take a bit longer to get to the Evanses' house than the twenty minutes it had taken him last time, so he'd asked the driver of the Ministry car his dad had ordered for him if they could leave early. And, well, here he was.
James tried to pay attention to what Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Nora were saying, but he was wondering where Lily was. He hoped she hadn't decided to go to Morwenna's without him or something.
"Oh, Lily!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, breaking off the question she had been asking James about Quidditch. "You look beautiful!" James turned slowly around and almost tripped over his own two feet at the sight. Recovering his balance, James simply gawked at Lily as she made her way down the stairs.
She was without a doubt the most beautiful thing James had ever seen in his life. She was wearing green robes that matched her eyes perfectly and - well - James didn't know exactly what she had done to make herself look even more fantastic than usual, but whatever it was, it had caused the usual gymnastics in James' stomach to escalate to new heights.
Lily stepped off the last stair, a self-conscious smile on her face. "Hi, James," she greeted, feeling a bit awkward when he remained speechless.
James finally noticed that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Wondering exactly how long they'd been waiting for him to say something, he cleared his throat. "Hello, Lily," James expelled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Lily grinned. Out of the corner of his eye, James noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Evans seemed rather amused and Nora was looking a bit nostalgic.
"Let's go, shall we?" James suggested in what he hoped was the nonchalant tone of a person who hadn't been berefted of speech by their gorgeous girlfriend for the last five minutes.
"Right," Lily replied happily. She turned to kiss her parents and Nora good bye and collected her handbag. James offered her his arm, rather gallantly he thought, and Lily took it, torn between feeling touched and the urge to giggle.
"Lily, let me take one picture before you go!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed. Several pictures and good byes later, Lily and James were finally in the car that had been waiting patiently out front.
"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, turning toward James, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I started getting a bit nervous that we'd be late when Mum started talking about posing us in the garden."
"Yeah," James managed a grin, still finding it a bit hard to believe that Lily was real, she looked so perfect. "Lily, you look -AMAZING - and I just wanted - I mean - WOW," he finished earnestly. Smooth, James told himself disgustedly. Really brilliant.
"Thank you, James!" Lily exclaimed, clearly delighted. James relaxed a little. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he'd thought.
* * *
Lily attempted to quell the butterflies in her stomach as she swept into the Marchbankes' house with James. After all, she reminded herself, she'd been to smart parties before.
Once she saw the ballroom below, however, Lily stopped short, completely unprepared for the sight. She'd never been to a party like this one.
Hundreds of candles floated gently all round and above the enormous room. The walls were still festooned with Christmas garlands, and in one corner of the room an orchestra of self-playing instruments were just striking up a new song. Witches and wizards clad in dress robes of every possible color were chatting in low voices or dancing or sampling the food and drink that drifted slowly through the crowd on trays. It was the most amazing party Lily had ever seen in her life.
Snapping out of it, Lily moved forward with James to greet their hosts. James introduced Lily first to Mr. Marchbanks, a very distinguished- looking wizard who worked with his father at the Ministry, and then to Mrs. Marchbanks, an elegant witch who bore a striking resemblance to her daughter Morwenna. Any fears Lily might have had about being a Muggle born witch in a room full of purebloods were immediately put to rest by Morwenna's parents, both of whom were delighted to finally meet this friend of Morwenna's that they had heard so much about. And, Mrs. Marchbanks had whispered in Lily's ear, she had been dying to meet the witch that James Potter was so head over heels for.
Feeling much more at ease, Lily moved down the line to greet Morwenna, who was standing next to her parents with her grandmother. "Lily! You made it!" Morwenna exclaimed. She was clearly in her element.
"Thanks so much for inviting me," Lily hugged her friend. "You look gorgeous, by the way."
"As if any of us could hold a candle to you," Morwenna waved off Lily's compliment with a smile. "I'm sure James would agree with me," she added innocently, her lips twitching as she watched James regarding his date with a mixture of incredulity and exhilaration, as though she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen but couldn't quite believe that she was there with him.
"So can you believe it, James?" Morwenna asked, making James jump.
"Er - what?" James asked confusedly.
"That we're finally attending one of my mum and dad's New Years' parties, of course!" Morwenna rolled her eyes at him, smiling.
"Oh, right," James was nonchalant. "Yes, finally. Are my mum and dad here yet, by the way?"
"Not yet," Morwenna shrugged. "But it's still early." She glanced over to her parents, who were greeting some new arrivals. "I'd better get back to it. But I'll see you both later, shall I?"
After quickly greeting Morwenna's gran, Lily and James moved down the imposing staircase into the ballroom, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. After a few minutes of this, Lily and James began making their way slowly round the room, James pointing out celebrities, Ministry employees, and Aurors to Lily in a low voice.
"See that crowd by the refreshments? That's Edgar Bones, great wizard, that one, his sister Amelia, next to her is Bartemius Crouch, he's Head of Magical Law Enforcement, which means he's in charge of the Aurors and the whole anti-Voldemort campaign, and that one drinking from a hip flask is Alastor Moody," James finished with a flourish.
"Who?" Lily was still distracted by Bartemius Crouch. She'd never seen a more immaculate-looking person, Muggle or wizard, in her life, or a more formidable one. The odd thing was, she'd seen his son, Barty, at Hogwarts a few times and no one could have been less like the wizard she saw standing in front of her. Lily shuddered slightly; Crouch was intimidating to the point of being a bit scary.
"Alastor Moody," James repeated, shocked that someone as seemingly well informed as Lily hadn't heard of him. "The famous Auror!"
"Oh, right," Lily studied Moody with interest. He was a bit formidable himself, his face crisscrossed with scars, his mouth contorting interestingly as he sipped from whatever was in that hip flask. But he still, in Lily's mind, wasn't as frightening as Crouch.
"Lily! James!" exclaimed a voice behind them, and they turned to see Alice, Gideon, and Fabian Prewett coming toward them, followed by Marlene and Andrew McKinnon and Dorcas.
"Marlene!" Lily exclaimed excitedly, hugging her friend. "How's the baby?"
"Brilliant, thanks," Marlene smiled widely. "Hello, James. Nice to see you again."
"Hello, Marlene," James grinned at his former Quidditch teammate, aware that she was assessing whether or not she approved of him for Lily, who was, James remembered, one of her closest friends.
Before he could think of anything really brilliant to win Marlene over with, he was drawn into a Quidditch conversation with Dorcas, Gideon, Fabian, and Andrew, who had been the Gryffindor team's captain before James.
"Are Frank and his mother here yet?" Lily asked Alice.
"Not yet," Alice pulled a face. "I'm genuinely terrified."
"Mrs. Longbottom's not so bad once you get used to her," Marlene put in reassuringly, patting Alice's shoulder. "You'll do fine." Alice looked less than convinced, however.
Several more current and former Hogwarts students migrated over to join their group, and soon Lily found herself surrounded by familiar faces and insider gossip.
"Oi! Lils!" Alice hissed, poking her. Lily turned. "See that blonde girl sitting on the sofa over there? That's Narcissa Malfoy, Narcissa Black until about two months ago. She's Bellatrix Black's sister."
Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, Lily glanced in the direction Alice had indicated, studying Narcissa intently. Bellatrix's sister was very pretty and was dressed in flattering pale blue robes, but she had one of the snootiest expressions on her face that Lily had ever seen. She and the blond man next to her, who she seemed to be with, were distinctly out of place; they didn't appear to know anybody.
"Who's that she's with?" Lily wanted to know.
"Lucius Malfoy, her husband," replied Morwenna, who had just come up behind Lily, her tone conveying her dislike. "And believe me, he's the only reason she was invited. Mum and Dad barely wanted to invite the Malfoys, at all, but the family's so old and they give so generously to St Mungo's that Mum didn't want to step on any toes. We were shocked when they actually accepted."
Lily digested this information, continuing to watch Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy as they whispered to each other. Why would they come to a party where they so clearly felt awkward?
"Hello, Lily," Lily turned to see Frank Longbottom smiling at her, a white-faced Alice next to him.
"Hi, Frank," Lily returned the greeting warmly, noticing that both of Alice's elder brothers were watching him closely. "How's your holiday?"
"Great, thanks," Frank grinned. "Glad you're here. Alice and I were just going to talk to my mum, so I guess we'll see you later."
"Wait!" Alice blurted. "Lily wants to come too!"
"What?" Lily and Frank said in perfect unison, Frank a bit confused, Lily a bit panicked.
"Er - yes," Alice looked round her as though for help. "Lily really wants to meet your mum, don't you, Lils?"
"Yes, yes I do," Lily said rather unconvincingly. "I've heard so much about her."
"Why not?" Frank shrugged good-naturedly. "She actually mentioned wanting to meet you too, so I guess there's no time like the present." With that, he led the way to Mrs. Longbottom.
"What in the bloody hell have you gotten me into?" Lily hissed at Alice as they made their way behind Frank.
"Please, please, PLEASE come with me," Alice begged. "I'll owe you anything, just please come with me!"
"All right," Lily sighed. "But if I need rescuing from James' parents, remember that you owe me."
"Absolutely," Alice was relieved, which lasted only about another second as they got closer to Frank's mother. "Quick, do I look all right?"
"Perfect," Lily smiled. "You'll be great, don't worry."
The girls came to a halt next to a sofa, Frank in front of them.
"Mum," Frank said, drawing Alice forward, who in turn latched onto Lily, "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Alice Prewett, and her friend, Lily Evans."
Mrs. Longbottom stood up briskly, adjusting her olive dress robes. "So this is the famous Lily Evans," she extended her hand graciously to Lily. "Frank has of course spoken of you. Congratulations on making Head Girl."
"Thank you," Lily took Mrs. Longbottom's rather wrinkled hand. "I'm delighted to meet you as well, Mrs. Longbottom." This woman wasn't quite as scary as Lily had predicted, but she didn't exactly envy Alice either.
"And you, my dear," Mrs. Longbottom had turned abruptly to Alice, " are a very elusive young lady. I've been wanting to meet you for some time now. Frank talks of nothing else, and if even half the things he says are true you must be a very extraordinary witch indeed."
"Thank you," Alice smiled shamefacedly. "I'm sorry our meeting has been such a long time in coming."
Mrs. Longbottom waved this away imperiously as though it couldn't possibly matter less. "Frank!" she said to her son rather sharply, causing Lily, Frank, and Alice all to jump. "Perhaps you could go and fetch us some drinks and we can all get to know each other a bit better."
"All right," Frank replied easily. "I'll be back in a minute," he added to Alice, smiling at her. Lily watched Alice smile back at Frank and realized that her friend would be all right.
"Thank you, but I won't be staying," Lily interjected smoothly. "I'd better be getting back to my own date. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Longbottom."
"Likewise," Mrs. Longbottom extended her hand again. Making her farewells, Alice promising meaningfully to see her later, Lily hurried across the room to where she had left James.
The group she had left had remained more or less the same, except James now stood on the outskirts of it, talking to Sirius. This must mean, Lily realized with a nervous jolt, that Mr. and Mrs. Potter had arrived.
"Lils!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning. "You look amazing!" he complimented, ignoring James' glower.
"Er - thanks," Lily answered warily.
"So," Sirius began conversationally, " How was your sister's wedding?" He grinned at the alarm that spread across James' face at this remark, as well as his frantic attempts to shut him up. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened, I hope?"
"Now that you mention it - " Lily began.
"Lily!" James exclaimed desperately. "My parents are here! Why don't we go and say hi?"
"Er - ok," Lily managed, trying to take deep calming breaths. James breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't going to shout at him about Petunia's beard here and now.
"Lead the way," Sirius stood aside for James, giving him a sweeping bow, which was rather ruined when he yelped in pain as James kicked him in the shin for all his help.
"We wouldn't want to keep you," James gritted sweetly between his teeth. "So many dark corners and girls, so little time."
"No, no," Sirius insisted, his mouth twitching. "I feel a sudden urge to say hello to your parents as well."
"Honestly James, let him tag along if he likes," Lily cut James off before he could open his mouth. Did they sincerely think she was too thick to pick up on their little game? "Just remember," Lily warned Sirius sweetly, "if you cock this up for me in any way you just may wake up tomorrow to find that certain parts of your anatomy are smaller than they used to be."
Sirius recovered just in time to hurry after Lily and James before they disappeared into the crowd.
* * *
James led Lily over to a circle of very distinguished-looking witches and wizards. The snatches of conversation Lily caught from them wasn't the usual party chatter about the hors d'oeuvres and who was wearing what, it was about things like Wizengamot meetings and Ministry memos. Clearly these wizards and witches were high up in the Ministry and had more pressing concerns than hors d'oeuvres, concerns they couldn't put aside for even one night.
"Mum," said James, poking a witch who had her back to Lily. "Dad - I've brought Lily to meet you." Excusing themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Potter turned around.
"Lily," Mr. Potter extended his hand to Lily, smiling warmly. "Delighted to meet you at last."
"Pleased to meet you," Lily replied, studying Mr. Potter. James would look exactly like his father in twenty or thirty years, that much was clear. James had inherited his untidy hair, tall thin frame, and facial features from his father; they really were remarkably alike. Also, Mr. Potter had the same air of confidence as his son, but while that confidence often made James arrogant, it made Mr. Potter seem capable. Lily could see why Mr. Potter was so important in the Ministry; he appeared, like James, that he could do anything you asked him to do and do it well.
"Lily, you're as beautiful as James said you were, which is indeed saying something," Mrs. Potter offered Lily a warm smile and a handshake. "I'm so pleased to meet you. James talks of nothing else."
"Mum," James muttered, embarrassed. Mrs. Potter raised a brow at him, smiling.
"It's very nice to meet you too," Lily offered, returning Mrs. Potter's beam. James didn't look much like his mum, but they had the same smile. Except James' smile was about a hundred times more mischievous, not to mention arrogant. Mrs. Potter gave the impression of liveliness, but everything about her also suggested great patience to Lily. But then, Lily considered, you'd have to be patient, living with James Potter day in and day out. It was clear why Mrs. Potter was a success in the Ministry as well.
Just as her parents had done, Mr. and Mrs. Potter asked Lily loads of questions, about herself, her family, school, her holidays. The Potters were better informed about the Muggle world than most, Lily noticed, and wondered why.
"When did your sister get married?" Mrs. Potter asked Lily. They had moved away from the group Mr. and Mrs. Potter had been talking to and were sitting in a quieter corner away from the band.
"She got married five days ago now," Lily replied cautiously, not meeting James' eye. This was dangerous ground.
"Did you meet Lily's sister when you went to visit Lily, James?" Mr. Potter inquired of his son, who was suddenly a bit fidgety.
"Er - yes, yes I did," James answered quickly, ignoring Sirius' smirk.
"How did that go anyway, James?" Mrs. Potter frowned suspiciously. "You never did tell us about it."
"It went very well," Lily put in suddenly. "My parents loved James, they really did. They want to have you back, in fact," she added to James.
"Splendid," Mr. Potter gave James a knowing look. "Everything went smoothly then, did it?"
"Absolutely," James gave his parents his most innocent smile as he elbowed a sniggering Sirius in the ribs.
"And Lily's sister?" Mrs. Potter queried, wearing an innocent expression similar to James.' "You met her and her fiancé?" Lily fought the instinctive urge to cover her eyes.
"Yes," James answered brightly. "They were really - er - enthusiastic people." Lily fought the urge to giggle as she remembered Vernon's purple- faced bellowing and her sister's glass-shattering shrieks. James' lips twitched as well and Sirius, unable to contain his laughter, tried to disguise it as a coughing fit.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter exchanged glances. "All right," Mr. Potter sighed, folding his arms. "Let's have it. What did you do?"
James cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Well - " he began, and launched into the story, by the end of which both Mr. and Mrs. Potter were struggling to keep stern faces.
"You didn't!" Mrs. Potter gasped as James finished with a description of the Beard-All Brew incident. "Right before the poor girl's wedding?"
"Poor girl nothing," Sirius snorted, and James nodded his head vigorously.
"Honestly, Mrs. Potter, don't feel too badly about Petunia," Lily said earnestly. "She and Vernon weren't exactly blameless you know."
Mrs. Potter looked as though she was going to say more but another guest, who leaned to whisper in Mr. Potter's ear, interrupted them just then.
"Please excuse us," Mr. Potter smiled at them all, but it was clear that all was not well. "Lily, it was a pleasure."
"Hopefully we'll be able to talk later," Mrs. Potter added. She kissed James' cheek. "Try not to stimulate facial hair growth in anyone while we're gone. That goes for you too Sirius," she added as she kissed Sirius' cheek as well and shook Lily's hand one more time, clasping Lily's hand in both of hers.
"It could have been worse," Sirius offered as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Potter were out of earshot. James just scowled and stared after his parents as they gathered with other Ministry officials, wondering what was wrong this time.
* * *
This latest crisis had depleted the party somewhat; all of the Aurors had had to leave and many of the high-ranking Ministry officials were closeted in the Marchbankses' library for the better part of an hour before they rejoined the party.
Despite all of this, Lily was having a wonderful time, catching up with friends who had left Hogwarts and talking about holidays with the people in her year. Lily had noticed that James had seemed rather depressed when he'd thought his parents had to leave the party, but when he saw them reenter the room with the other Ministry officials, his spirits rose a bit.
"Want to dance?" James asked Lily. Now that he knew his parents weren't embarking on some sort of life-threatening mission, he felt like he was at a party again.
"Sure," Lily smiled at him brilliantly, causing the familiar flip- flop.
They made their way to the dance floor, joining the other couples. After a few awkward steps, James and Lily found their rhythm and moved around the floor a bit more easily, talking and laughing as James pointed out more prominent witches and wizards.
At five minutes to midnight, the floating trays brought out champagne and the dancing stopped as everyone turned toward the enormous gilded clock above the mantle piece. Carrying their champagne, Lily and James made their way over to Sirius, Dorcas, Peter, Alice, Frank, Morwenna, Remus, and Kathleen, who looked radiantly happy to be together again. They had been off together somewhere for most of the party, talking things out, as Kathleen put it, and had only rejoined everyone about half an hour ago. Lily smiled questioningly at Kathleen, who grinned broadly back at her. Lily widened her own smile, relieved that things seemed to have gone well.
"One minute!" Morwenna exclaimed happily. James looked round for Lily, taking her hand. At ten seconds everyone began to count down.
"Ten........Nine........Eight.........Seven....Six.....Five......."
James smiled widely at Lily, ecstatic that after so many years of wanting to, he was finally going to kiss her at midnight.
"Four......Three......."
James leaned in and Lily, realizing what was coming, closed her eyes, grinning in anticipation.
".......Two......One.........Happy New Year!"
The guests turned to each other, clinking their glasses and wishing each other successful new years.
"Happy New Year, mate," Sirius turned to clink glasses with James. "James? Jaaaames!"
Lily and James broke apart, grinning stupidly.
"Happy New Year, Sirius," James replied innocently.
"Right," Sirius looked unimpressed by James' pure expression. "You've got lipstick smudges here and here," Sirius gestured to illustrate.
"Thanks," James replied sheepishly, wiping his face off with the back of his hand as quickly as possible. Lily poked him in the ribs, gesturing to where Remus and Kathleen stood, still kissing.
Lily and James smiled at each other. "Want to dance?" James asked, unable to keep a suggestive smirk off of his face.
"Sure," Lily's own smile indicated that she took his meaning. Hand in hand, they set off, away from their kissing friends (Alice and Frank were in on the act too) to find a more private spot, namely anywhere away from Sirius and Peter.
James and Lily were dancing slowly in between kisses when, suddenly, every candle in the room was extinguished, plunging the entire ballroom into darkness. Lily and James stopped, puzzled, looking round and listening to the puzzled buzzing of the other partygoers.
"What happened?"
"You'd think they'd know enough to put an Everflame spell on the candles - "
Then, as quickly as they'd gone out, the candles flickered to life, illuminating the room once more.
Relieved, James turned to Lily to begin dancing again, but stopped when he saw her rigid and pale, staring fixedly upward. Confused, James followed Lily's gaze and felt his blood run cold.
All round the railing above the main ballroom, figures in black hooded cloaks and white masks were positioned, their wands pointed down at the party, and more figures were filing down the staircase into the crowd.
Death Eaters.
* * *
Author's Note:
Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry this has taken me so long to do (and for the cliffhanger), but the next chapter should be up soon, tomorrow or the day after. Thanks to everyone for all the reviews, and special thanks to....oh sod it, special thanks to everyone; there were too many nice ones to name specific names.
A quick note about a question I received; James didn't get a Ministry letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office after he StunnedVernon because he's 17 now, a legal adult in the wizarding world, so he can do magic away from Hogwarts now.
Anyway, like I said, the next chapter will be up soon. Until then, enjoy and just hang in there! I really am sorry about the cliffhanger!