White Rat Whisky
December 1975, Gryffindor Common Room
It was the last day before the Christmas holidays and Gryffindors never passed up a chance to party. Lily could hear the shouts and music from down the hall as she approached the portrait hole.
Lily scowled. She wasn't exactly in a party mood. The day had been pretty shit, honestly. The morning paper was full of ominous news about disappearances and attacks on Muggles, which had made her worried for her parents and sufficiently ruined breakfast. Then she had been so put off by this that she had botched the spell they were practicing in Charms and sent Amelia Abbott to the hospital wing, sporting the floppy ears of a Great Dane. Then, on the way to lunch, she had happened upon a couple Slytherins threatening to jinx a poor terrified Hufflepuff. She gritted her teeth remembering the faces that had looked up at her as she rounded on them, one sneering cruelly, the other…
She shook her head furiously at the memory. Breathless, she spat "Cantus Ursi" at the Fat Lady, who winced at her tone but swung open to reveal the mess of noise and people inside.
The common room was entirely too crowded and with all the wrong people. She searched for a friendly face, someone she could rant to or at least get a comforting hug from. Mary was locked in a passionate embrace with that sixth-year boy she had been obsessing over. Great. Lily kept scanning. She didn't see Remus, and she realized with a start that she hadn't seen him all day. He must be ill again, but that made at least the fourth time this term. There was something that unsettled her about that, but she pushed it down again out of concern for her friend.
She saw James – of COURSE he was here - lounging by the fire in that lazy way that so irritated her. He was flirting with Carol Spinnet, the Gryffindor keeper, no doubt building up alliances on the team in a bid for captain next year. Potter never flirted without an ulterior motive. Lip curling in distaste, Lily turned away before he could spot her and grabbed a half-empty bottle of Hog's Head Brew on the table. If she was going to have to deal with this ridiculous party, she may as well enjoy it. She drained the beer. It tasted like piss and she coughed miserably, sour froth coming up her nose. Someone clapped her on the back. "Alright, Evans?" a familiar voice laughed.
"Go away Sirius." she hissed. She was not in the mood to deal with Black.
The boy grinned, unperturbed. "Don't get your lovely knicks in a twist" he said. "I was just going to offer you something stronger." He whipped out a bottle of a suspiciously dark liquid from behind his back and proffered it to her. "I heard you had a row with good old Snivellus, thought you might need it."
She grabbed the bottle. The label was blood-red, lined with crawling rats surrounding a label that read, in curling black font, 'White Rat Whisky'. She glowered at Sirius and asked, "I shouldn't even ask where you got this, should I?"
"That would ruin this whole air of mystery I've cultivated, and what would I do without that?" he said, smirking in that charming, conceited way that had every girl Lily knew fawning over him. "Just drink it Evans, I'm not trying to poison you. In fact, if you promise to keep yelling at that slimy git, I'll keep you alive forever."
"Oh piss off." She frowned but took a deep swig of the whiskey anyway. It burned just like the white-hot rage she had felt when she saw Severus standing with Mulciber over that Hufflepuff first-year.
She had guessed that he had been taking a larger part in the unsavory activities of those Slytherin friends of his recently, but she'd never actually caught him in the act. His face… he had stared at her with guilt and discomfort and… something else. Regret? Pain?
She drowned her memories with another swallow. Unsettled, she realized Sirius was staring at her, a perceptive and concerned look in his eye. She didn't want his false sympathy, he was a conceited prick and couldn't possibly understand. And yet, perhaps because she couldn't find anyone else, Lily still found herself ranting to him.
"I just can't believe he's let those horrid friends of his get to him. That poor Hufflepuff was terrified out of his mind, he was just a child!"
"Someone's got to teach that dick a lesson" Sirius snarled. His face had turned dark and as Lily looked into the eyes of the boy she had known for four years, she glimpsed a shadow of the cruel streak that governed his family. She was reminded of Bellatrix lazily drawling a hex to immobilize a first-year, and of the glint in Sirius' own mother's eye when she saw her son talking to Lily on Platform 9 ¾ one summer. Startled, Lily stumbled backward, almost tripping on the end of a stair. Sirius' eyes met hers as he reached to help steady her and she was relieved to see that his gaze was back to normal – mischievous, taunting, but still bright. She could almost have imagined that cold glimmer of cruelty.
Shaking off her misgivings, Lily snapped back to her best Prefect voice. "Don't be a bell-end Sirius. I swear, this whole ridiculous feud between you lot and the Slytherins makes me wonder if you aren't as bad as them." He retreated, stung.
"Come off it Evans, you know us. We just fool around. We aren't … them." He spit the last word out like it was venomous.
She frowned. "Don't let me catch you doing anything stupid then."
"Never." His smirk was back. "Now don't let that go to waste, that's pricey stuff that."
Grimacing, Lily took another swig and then shoved the bottle back in Sirius' hand.
"I'm off to find Marlene. Don't make too much of a mess in here."
"It's a celebration Evans!" He had shouted her name a bit too loud, and she saw James look up eagerly, his hand jumping automatically to his hair. Honestly. She hurried up the stairs to the blessed quiet of the girls' dorms, ignoring James' attempts to call her back down. Someday those boys were going to learn that they weren't the center of the known universe. Hopefully.
