Previously: James, Sirius, and Peter wonder why Remus looks so sick. The boys dump a bucket of ice-cold water on Lily and her friends, but the friendly prank quickly turns into a duel with the other Slytherins, who interrupt. A group of Gryffindors (including the Head Boy) stop them before anybody gets seriously hurt. Afterwards, James jokes that he and Lily make a pretty good team, but she quickly reminds him that the duel with the Slytherins doesn't change her mind – she still doesn't like him.


Chapter 12: The Slug Club

"How casual is 'casual,' again?" asked Lily as she stood before her meager wardrobe (compared to Marlene's at least) in nothing but a towel, biting her lower lip apprehensively as she assessed the choices.

She had received the invitation one day after her Potions lesson: Professor Slughorn wanted Lily to come to a little "get-together" as he had called it, and besides Lily, the only people in their class who were going to the party were Marlene, who Lily remembered had Newt Scamander as maternal uncle, and Belvina Travers, the girl who used every opportunity she could to torment Mary since her father apparently held a reasonably high-up position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was responsible for the trouble Mary's grandmother had gotten into several times. Though rumor had recently reached Lily's ears (a rumor, of course, that was curtesy of Marlene, the most up-to-date of the four Gryffindor girls) that Slughorn had also invited several other first years from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw – Geoffrey Fudge, Lisa McMillian, and Silvanah Vane among them. Marlene also reported that Slughorn had tried to get Potter to come as well, but Potter had found an excuse to wiggle out of it, for which Lily was grateful.

"Casual," replied Marlene's voice from the bathroom the four of them shared.

Obviously, that answer did not help in the least, and rolling her eyes at her friend, Lily continued to poke through a couple more of her things, but nothing she found seemed to match the dress code – most of what she owned was casual by her standards, but a nagging feeling told her that her father's old University of Manchester sweatshirt and jeans were not going to cut it with this kind party. Petunia may have had her wardrobe ready to support each and every kind of occasion she might come across, but Lily had stopped receiving fashion advice from her sister when she was nine years old – not that she ever listened much to what clothes should and should not get muddy in the first place.

"Like what kind of casual?" Lily asked again.

Alice, who had been laying in her bed with a copy of The Muggle Word propped up so she could easily read it, barely glanced up from her puzzle before saying, "Probably somewhere between I-have-a-date-that-isn't-officially-a-date casual and my-colleagues-are-bringing-some-people-to-lunch-with-us-whom-I've-never-met casual."

Lily paused her search, frowning, and turned around to see that Alice had not seemed to notice anything wrong with her most unhelpful statement and simply flicked back a stray strand of her long, curly hair.

"Is there a supposed to be a difference?" she asked.

Lily by no means was claiming to an expert fashionista, but she clearly was not as devoted to clothing as Alice and Marlene were – she had simply been asking whether it was dressy casual, business casual, or casual casual.

With an audible sigh, Marlene emerged from the bathroom, a brush in one hand and her wand in the other. She already looked ready for night out in jeans, wedges, and a deep purple tank top that crisscrossed in the back, and Lily deduced that she had been in the middle of doing her hair

"You know, if you want help, all you have to do is ask – do you want help?"

"Kind of," admitted Lily sheepishly.

Marlene wasted no time in digging through Lily's things. She crossed the room in only several steps and immediately delved into Lily's wardrobe, not caring the slightest that she spent several minutes just evaluating each of Lily's knickers. Lily wanted to ask her friend to show a small amount of respect to her things that were currently flying in every direction, but she knew that when it came to clothes, Marlene would spare no effort. In less than a minute Marlene had finally decided on what Lily should wear: a denim skirt with black leggings underneath it, one of Lily favorite blouses (a loose-fitting, royal blue one), and a pair of boots.

"These should work just fine," said Marlene proudly. "You think so, Alice?"

Alice glanced up and must have approved because she nodded and said, "That looks good enough."

"That settles it," said Marlene, tossing the clothes Lily's way, and though she fumbled with them at first, Lily thankfully did not drop them without making her towel fall off. "You're wearing that."

Lily hastily pulled on the clothes Marlene had chosen for her while Marlene finished whatever she had been doing with her hair, and when she was finally ready and dressed for the party, Lily called, "Okay, Marlene, I'm ready to go."

As if right on cue, Marlene once again emerged from the bathroom, though this time her hair was finished: a thin crown braid acted as a headband while the rest of her hair hung in expertly done curls.

She assessed Lily's outfit once, biting her lip.

"Hmm, there's something off."

Lily glanced down once before saying, "Well, you did just choose this outfit, Marlene. I don't get why you wouldn't like it."

"No, it's not that – wait a minute," she said, and she started digging through her own clothes.

However, she did not take as long as she did in Lily's wardrobe and only pulled out one thing, a thin silver belt of interlinking loops that Lily had seen Marlene wear herself on several occasions.

"Here," she said, throwing the belt at Lily, "Put that on."

Lily did, hoping that it would be enough, and when she was finished, Marlene said with an approving nod.

"There, that works perfectly. Now, what are you going to do with your hair?"

"Umm …" said Lily.

She had not given much thought to her hair, having decided to go au naturel for the occasion, but Marlene rolled her eyes and tossed a matching silver headband Lily's way.

When Lily's attire had finally been deemed appropriate by both Alice and Marlene (Mary had decided to take a nap and thus, she had been asleep for the whole thing), she and Marlene headed downstairs into the Gryffindor common room. When they finally got to the bottom of the staircase, Lily saw that the common room was rather empty with the exception of a couple of people who were either enjoying a quiet afternoon with their friends or catching up on schoolwork (or sleeping in the case of a few Gryffindors). In the corner by the fire, the Marauders were playing a quiet game – quiet to them at least – of wizard's chess; it looked like it was Black verses Lupin while Potter and Pettigrew watched from the sidelines.

Potter looked up once to see who the newest intruders in the common room were, and when he caught Lily's eye, he grinned. While Lily had not forgotten the recent scuffle with the Slytherins and Potter's subsequent, vaguely complimentary words, she did not really see how that one incident could forgive everything else Potter and the other Marauders had done, so she simply looked away, preferring to not respond. Out of the corner of her eye though, she saw that Potter simply shrugged off her indifference and returned his attention once again to the chess game that Lupin was probably winning.

"You know," whispered Marlene in a low voice as they passed, "They're not really so bad once you get to know them."

Lily stared at her friend.

"I don't think I want to get to know the people who tease Severus every chance they get. Having our back once in a fight with the Slytherins – who, need I remind you, they happen to hate with a passion – hardly rights all those times they've bullied others."

Marlene shrugged.

"Just saying, Lily. It's not like we were doing anything different from them when we ran into those Slytherins – besides, after what they called you, they deserved it."

"I'm not mad at them because of the fight with the Slytherins – I know I also wasn't so innocent – but that doesn't excuse all the things they've done to Severus," protested Lily.

Though she would never admit it, she had admired how quickly Potter and the others had stood up for her when Avery had called her a Mudblood – but that was not the point at all.

"Now, please – let's just go and enjoy Slughorn's party."

The party, as it turned out, was definitely not Lily's kind of casual, and as she and Marlene blended into a crowd of sequined tops and robes of shimmery satin, she was finding herself deeply grateful for her roommates' affinities for fashion. Lily still stood out a little bit in a simple blouse and denim skirt, but definitely not as much as she would have if she had gone with the University of Manchester sweatshirt and jeans. Beside her, Marlene may have been one of the only ones wearing jeans, but she instantly adapted to the much more formal environment the moment they walked through the door, holding her head up high and politely moving around people as if she owned the room.

Slughorn had invited all kinds of people to his supposedly "little get-together". Most were Hogwarts students who, if Lily could not tell from the times she had seen their faces in the corridors, were easily identifiable by their ages, most of whom were still much older than Lily and Marlene. A couple of students were around Lily's age, and she saw that the rumors about at least two of the first years had been right: Geoffrey Fudge was chatting with Amos Diggory, a second year Hufflepuff, by the snack table while Silvanah Vane listened with rapt attention to a handsome boy a couple years older than Lily. There were a couple of others, however, who were clearly not students: an old witch with frazzled, gray hair who was blabbering – rather rudely – about some moon frogs to anybody who would listen and a lanky wizard, about thirty, in robes of dark blue who was standing next to Slughorn himself.

"Oh, Ms. Evans – so glad you could make it. I'm glad; I managed to finagle a couple of schedules around to get some guests who I think you'll absolutely love to meet. Oh, and I see you got your invitation too, Ms. McKinnon," said Slughorn in a jolly voice, waving the two of them over. "And a good thing too – Ms. McKinnon, I would like to introduce you to Hamish Router."

As they approached, Hamish Router, who was the tall wizard in blue, inclined his head slightly and held out his hand to Marlene, who had a look of blank confusion on her face, something that did not normally happen. However, as her friend had always excelled at keeping a straight face whenever they bumped into the Slytherins in the middle of the crowd, it came as no surprise to Lily when Marlene quickly covered up her uncertainty with a polite smile and shook the offered hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Router."

"Oh, believe me, Ms. McKinnon, the pleasure is all mine. It is an honor to meet somebody so closely related to the famous Newt Scamander – arguably the best Magizoologist of this century," said Router, vigorously shaking Marlene's arm.

"Is it?" replied Marlene.

While her tone might have been politely ambiguous to passerby, Lily could still detect the faintest hint of cynicism beneath the surface. It was not like the subject of family was off-limits or anything, but Lily suspected that Marlene was already tired of being compared to her famous relatives, especially considering that Marlene had never thought of magizoology as anything more than a hobby.

"Hamish here is an old pupil of mine," explained Slughorn. "He's just been promoted to Head of the Being Division inside the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and he's recently published a ten-year-long research project on the habitat of the Wizarding world's most dangerous creatures. Though I for one have no interest in spending my spare time observing a chimera's nest, I thought you might enjoy hearing more about it."

Marlene briefly glanced back at Lily, but she must have decided that hearing about run-ins with chimeras was not any worse than hanging around and doing nothing because she shrugged and replied in a mildly interested voice, "Were you the one watching the chimera's nest, or was it one of your associates?"

"Partly me, partly my associates," admitted Router shamelessly. "We had taken turns, you see …"

Lily quickly tuned out their conversation. However, before she could make her way towards the refreshments table, Slughorn was already dragging her across the floor over to the frazzled old witch Lily had seen when she first entered was standing, and Lily managed to get a closer look at the woman: wispy grey hair, meagerly thin and frail, and hunched over on a walking stick. The only thing alert about the old woman was her surprisingly bright eyes that looked up as Lily and Slughorn approached.

"Is that you, Horace?" barked the woman as the two of them neared. "Would have thought you'd have dropped dead just like I'm 'bout to do. And who's this?"

She quickly sized up Lily, squinting and causing Lily to shift uncomfortably under the stern glare.

"Your newest applicant for that Damocles's crackpot team of researchers?"

"Ms. Evans, I would like you to meet an old friend of mine, Madam Starkey – Hesper Starkey, that is," introduced Slughorn with a kind smile, not looking very concerned with the woman's rude attitude.

It took a little bit for the name to register with Lily, but when it did, she inhaled sharply in shock, staring at the little old lady with an entirely new light, all slights now forgotten.

"As in the Hesper Starkey? You – you're the one who discovered how the moon's phases affected so many different potions. You're the reason why we have standardized instructions for brewing potions like Veritaserum and Polyjuice Potion."

While Madam Starkey did not lose any of her austere demeanor, her expression did soften the tiniest bit and transform more into one of approval rather than skepticism.

"So you've done your research, girl. Wouldn't have thought kids these days cared enough about the subtle art of potion-making."

Lily vigorously shook her head.

"Oh, no, Madam. My friend Severus and I learned so much from that book you wrote about why certain ingredients must be gathered at specific times – we're both such big fans."

"This is Lily Evans," explained Slughorn patiently to Madam Starkey. "She's one of Hogwarts own rising stars right now – tremendous talent, particularly when it comes to Potions. I daresay that she's right on par with you when we were first years, Hesper! Only a couple months of class, but she's already putting many of my third and fourth years to shame."

Lily flushed slightly at Slughorn's shameless praise, but Madam Starkey's frown simply deepened as she carefully evaluated Lily, eventually saying, "Hmm … as good as any fourth year, are you, girl? I think I'll be the judge of that – tell me: What use does dittany have in potions, Evans?"

"Because … that's the ingredient that does the actual curing?" answered Lily uncertainly.

A review on her knowledge of potions had most definitely not been what she had been expecting, but seeing no other option that still included the opportunity to talk to such a genius like Madam Starkey, she nevertheless played along.

"What is considered the go-to ingredient for potion thickener?" demanded Madam Starkey, clearly not impressed yet.

"Flobberworm mucus," replied Lily without missing a beat.

"What is the vital ingredient in the Wiggenweld Potion?"

"A wiggentree's bark."

"Why use leeches while brewing Polyjuice Potion?"

For a moment, Lily was stumped.

She frowned and slowly said, "Umm … I suppose to draw out something's essence since that's what leeches supposed to be used for in other potions."

"Hmm," said Madam Starkey, finally leaning away and giving Lily some much needed breathing room. It was difficult to tell what she was thinking, but Lily found out soon enough because she said, quite bluntly, "Well, I suppose you aren't a total loss now, are you? Fine, Horace, you win – I'm intrigued."

Slughorn, who had been watching quietly during Madam Starkey's ceaseless interrogation, finally chuckled and explained to Lily, "Hesper, Albus, and I were all in Hogwarts together. She was a Ravenclaw and –"

"– and was a damn good one too," affirmed Madam Starkey proudly. "Professor Swoopstikes never said who his favorite was, but we both knew you couldn't hold so much as a candle to me."

Slughorn chuckled at that and responded, "Well, I'm not sure about that. Between us, Albus, and your husband Harvey Ridgebit, all of the houses each had their stars that year. Anyways, as I was saying, m'dear, Hesper and I were classmates way back when, and I thought you might like to meet her – I'm sure you could come up with plenty to talk about."

"Have you ever heard the story of the fiasco at the seventy-first Wizarding Schools Potions Championships?" demanded Madam Starkey. "I was very lucky since I had only recently turned seventeen and was eligible to participate …"

She was already steering Lily away from Professor Slughorn to tell her about "one of the greatest moments of her life" as she described it, and Lily politely listened as Madam Starkey told her all about the bicorn horn the judges had required competitors to collect to proceed to the next level of the competition. Apparently, though, the student before her was so nervous that he had accidentally mixed up a sleeping potion he had intended to give the bicorn to collect the horns and instead had unintentionally slipped the creature Invigoration Draught he had been meaning to give himself, so Madam Starkey described in great detail the commotion that followed until her then-boyfriend, the same Harvey Ridgebit who Slughorn had mentioned, had the nerve to single-handedly calm the creature – supposedly, Harvey Ridgebit was as much of a whiz at magical creatures as Madam Starkey was at potions.

Madam Starkey was not too bad of company in Lily's opinion. She did have a chance to ask questions, and Madam Starkey would respond with enthusiasm. Eventually, though, the witch complained about how the walking and standing was putting too much strain on her old joints and had excused herself to go lay down for a little bit, leaving Lily awkwardly standing by the refreshments table until Marlene managed to slip away from the crowd she had unintentionally created and appeared at Lily's side, popping a couple of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in her mouth.

"Enjoying yourself?" asked Marlene with a knowing smile.

"Surprisingly – yes," admitted Lily. "Slughorn introduced me to Hesper Starkey, and I got to ask her quite a lot of questions, actually."

Marlene's eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Starkey … that's the witch who studied the moon's effects on potions, right?"

Lily nodded.

"She wasn't too happy at first, but I think she eventually warmed up to me. What about you?"

Marlene shrugged.

"You know me. It takes quite a lot to keep me interested, and quite frankly, Hamish Router was kind of boring for my tastes – now come on. I overheard that Slughorn managed to book some band to play soon."

Without another word, Marlene quickly pulled her farther into the thick of the party, and sure enough, it was not long before the music started and Lily allowed herself to be swept up in the fun.