Chapter Ten: Thin Ice and Firewhiskey
November blurred into December and winter descended onto the castle. The grounds were covered in snow before November ended. On December first, the Hogwarts staff began putting up the Christmas decorations and excitement spread throughout the castle. Younger students in anticipation for Christmas, older students in anticipation for a much needed break from classes. The temperature dropped dramatically during the second week of December that the Black Lake froze over. Many students spent their weekend out in the snow and their nights by the warm fires in their common rooms.
Lily was sitting by the window in the Common Room on Saturday night with two Charms booked opened in front of her. It was late in the afternoon and darkness had begun to settle over the snowy grounds. Every so often she would look out the window at the students playing in the snow. Alice and Marlene had gone out to have a snowball fight with the Marauders. They had invited Lily to join them but she told them she'd rather go for a swim with the Giant Squid. Lily had spotted them easily from the tower. She looked out the window at just the right moment to see Alice tackle Sirius into the snow and steal the flag from James, Sirius, and Peter's 'fort'.
"Hey, Lily," Colin sat down opposite her and smiled. "Want to go for a walk?"
Lily shook her head without looking up. "I need to finish this for Charms."
Colin closed one of the Charms books which made Lily look up at him mildly irritated. "C'mon, Lily. You need a break. Let's go for a short walk."
"I really can't, Colin. I need to focus on this assignment." Lily opened the book up again and tried to find the page she had been reading.
Her boyfriend dropped his voice to a whisper. "I thought we could go for more than just a walk, Lil. It's been a while since we've had a good snog."
Lily stopped and looked up at him. "Colin, I need to finish this."
"So, I'm too much of a distraction for you." Colin whispered harshly. "But Potter playing around in the snow outside isn't?"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Lily whispered back while trying to keep her composure.
"You've been watching him out the window all afternoon. And as soon as I want to take you for a walk you all of sudden need to focus on your Charms reading." Colin muttered darkly. There was no missing the jealousy in his voice.
Lily stared at him dumbfounded. "I've been working on Charms all afternoon. Don't be ridiculous, Colin."
"Oh, come off it, Lily. Everyone can see you have feelings for the boy." Colin's voice was raising above a whisper and other students were trying to subtly watch the couple.
"Potter? You think I have feelings for Potter?" Lily was in utter disbelief. "How daft can you be?"
Colin sputtered at this. "I'm not daft. Have you seen the way you act around him? Or when people mention his name? Or when someone mentions something that could remotely relate to him? You're obsessed with the boy. I bet if he asked you to go snog you wouldn't tell him you wanted to finish reading for Charms." The boy wasn't shouting but his voice was raised enough that people nearby could hear their conversation.
"I am not obsessed with James Potter. How dare you." Lily wasn't even trying to keep her voice down now. Fire was coursing through her.
The students in the half full Common Room weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were watching the couple. The portrait hole opened and group of students walked in and stopped in the doorway. Lily looked up to see who had just come in. Her green eyes met James Potter' hazel eyes. She wasn't obsessed with him. She didn't even like him. Colin turned around to see what she was looking at and snarled.
"See what I mean! The moment he walks through the bloody portrait hole your eyes are on him!" Colin whipped back around to Lily, his pretty face contorted into an unattractive sneer. "Go snog him, Lily, because I'm certainly never going to snog you again."
The boy knocked over his chair as he stormed off. Lily blinked tears out of her eyes. She grabbed her books and walked as quickly as she could to the dormitory door. Her friends watched from the portrait hole. To them everything felt like slow motion. Marlene and Sirius looked ready to kill and Alice looked extremely upset. James was dumbfounded. Remus was the first person to move into action. Without thinking he was running towards the girls' dormitory door. He barged through the door and heard something slam at the top. The boy made it up the first six stairs before they flattened into a slide and he slid down to the bottom where five students were waiting.
"We'll go, Remus." Alice's voice was barely above a whisper. As soon as the stairs reappeared she was climbing them quickly. "Marlene!"
The blonde hadn't moved from the bottom of the stairs. She was furious. Even though there was the part of her that knew in order for Lily and James to get together she needed to break up with Colin, he had been a right arse. Marlene turned and bumped into Sirius, who was standing behind her with James.
"Let us take care of Smith. Go with Alice." Sirius looked as murderous as Marlene did. She nodded to him and followed Alice up to their dormitory.
Marlene cautiously opened the door to the dormitory. Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing was broken. No one was there. Alice and Marlene looked around the room. They checked the wardrobes and under the beds. Alice sat down on her bed confused.
"Either Lily has gotten freakishly good at human transfiguration or she's not here." Marlene looked at Alice reproachfully. The brunette shrugged in response. "Do you have another explanation?"
What neither girl had noticed when they entered the room was that Lily was standing behind the door. She had slipped out when they walked in to look for her. Lily wasn't in much of a talking mood at the moment. Actually, she was not in a behave yourself mood either. Marlene hadn't noticed that her trunk wasn't all the way closed. Lily had taken the bottle of firewhiskey Marlene kept at the bottom of her trunk. She kept her head down as she slipped out the portrait hole.
The Marauders were sitting at a table in the darkest corner of the Common Room. More than a few students were on edge with their presence. The seventh-year boys had taken the best seats by the fire, Colin included. Sirius and James were having a stare down with them. Remus was sitting at the right angle to see a flash of red dash down the hall to the portrait hole. He didn't mention to the boys that he saw Lily leaving Gryffindor Tower. Alice and Marlene weren't with her so he assumed she didn't want to talk with anyone. A moment later Marlene and Alice came out of the stairway. They looked over to the Marauders and then to the area around the fire. Both girls frowned.
Alice was staring at Frank who was sitting with Colin and his other year-mates. Albeit he was sitting on the edge of the group and was as far away from Colin as he could get without being outcast from the group. Alice didn't feel comfortable going and sitting with him, she'd really liked Frank but she wasn't going to put him above Lily. Marlene wanted to go and sit with Remus but she was pretty sure if she sat down anywhere near Sirius and James right now Colin would die a painful death. They chose a seat close enough to the boys where they could monitor any stupidity that might emerge but not close enough where they would immediately be drawn into a fight.
Audrey Davies sat down with her own group of friends at one of the larger tables. The tension in the room only heightened. People were only waiting to see who would be the one to light the fuse. Remus decided that the presence of the Head Girl was enough to keep Sirius and James in line for the time being. Remus leaned over and whispered something the Sirius. The boy looked annoyed with Remus but waved him off.
Alice nudged Marlene. "I wonder what he's up to." Remus had quietly walked over to Audrey Davies and murmured something that only the group of girls that were sitting with could hear. The older girl nodded her head and sent a look towards the Marauders and an equally severe look to her male year-mates. Remus walked in the direction of his dormitory. He came back five minutes later with his prefect's badge pinned to his chest.
"He didn't tell me that he was patrolling tonight?" Marlene muttered to Alice.
"Maybe Lily was supposed to and he's covering for her?" Alice blushed when Frank caught her eyes. He gave her an apologetic look and a little shrug of his shoulders, telling her that he was sorry and he didn't know what to do about it.
"They patrol together though, that doesn't make sense either." Marlene was a little annoyed with her boyfriend's secrecy.
"Do you come here often?" Remus sat down next to Lily on the outer platform of the Astronomy tower.
Lily turned to look at him. Her cheeks were flushed from the whiskey and tear stains streaked her face. She had her legs stretched out in front of her and her arms behind her to hold her up. Lily took another swig from the bottle and passed it to Remus. "How'd you find me?"
"Do you really want me to share that secret?" Remus laughed at the face she pulled. "Don't ask questions you don't want answers to."
Lily turned her head and looked him dead in the eye. "Why did you find me?"
"Now that is an easy one to answer. McGonagall told you we need to support each other." Remus took a drink from the bottle. Lily reached out her hand to take it back. Instead of handing it back to her Remus set it down on the opposite side of his body. They sat in silence, looking up at the stars for. "Do you want to talk about it, Lily?
The tears welled in her eyes and rolled slowly down her cheeks. Remus wrapped his arms around her and let Lily cry into his shoulder. He rubbed her shoulder and didn't say a word. Lily was the strongest person he knew. She kept herself in control so well that cracks were beginning to form. He knew that if she didn't find the release her entire foundation would crumble out beneath her.
"He told me I'm obsessed with James," Lily hiccoughed as she pulled her face away from Remus's shoulder. She swiped furiously at the tears on her cheeks.
Remus was quiet for a long moment. "I don't think you're obsessed with James. But I also don't think you dislike him as much as you say you do either."
Lily sat quietly for a few minutes. Sort of sat there like a bump on a log. "I don't think you're wrong." She said it so quietly that Remus almost missed it. Lily turned her face to Remus's and he could see the fear in her eyes.
"What sparked that comment from Colin?" Remus figured talking about her former boyfriend was a safer topic at present than talking about the possibility that Lily might not hate James as much she had convinced herself she did.
"He fancied a snog and I said no." Lily muttered and reached over Remus's lap for the firewhiskey.
The comment made Remus laugh. He took the bottle from Lily and took another deep swig of it before handing it back. "I could beat him up for you if you'd like."
"I'm sure you could." A hint of a smile made Lily's lips twitch. "Is that all you boys want? A good snog?"
"There are some who are only looking for a snog, yes." Remus conceded this point. "I don't think I'm that way. And for what it's worth I don't think James is either."
Lily took a long swig from the bottle and grinned at him. "And Sirius?"
"Is a lost cause. He enjoys snogging. Gimme the bottle," Remus held out his hand and drank some more.
"But I bet Sirius is a pretty good snog," Lily giggled at the thought.
Remus smirked, "And I bet that you're drunk, Miss Evans."
Lily swatted Remus's arm and tumbled over onto his lap in fits of laughter. Remus couldn't help himself he started to laugh too. He stopped Lily from reaching for the bottle again. She laid back on the stone and looked up at the night sky. Lily pointed out a shooting star to Remus and told him to make a wish.
"It's just a meteoroid entering the atmosphere, Lily." Remus scooted the bottle away from the two of them with his foot and stretched his crossed legs out in front of himself. He could almost hear Lily roll her eyes. Remus turned to her and saw that she had the firewhiskey in her hand. "How did you?"
She smiled at him and passed him the bottle. "Magic." Lily wiggled her fingers in the air and burst out laughing again.
"If you're not quiet, McGonagall will find us and we'll both probably lose our badges." Remus muttered as Lily continued to laugh. He watched her laughing on the ground. She was a stark contrast to the girl he had found thirty minutes ago. At this point Lily was highly intoxicated. Remus didn't know how much firewhiskey had been in the bottle when she started but it was getting close to empty now. He started to think about how on earth he was going to get Lily back to the Common Room without them getting caught. He could wait until he knew the majority of the Hogwarts staff had gone to bed and hope they weren't caught. Of course if he waited too long, James and Sirius were likely to come looking for them. It wouldn't be hard either. Remus hadn't brought the map with him even though he'd used it to find Lily.
"Can I ask you a question, Remus?" Lily dropped her left arm to her stomach and turned her head to look at him. "Why does everyone expect me and James to end up together?"
Remus looked at her to judge her intoxication levels. She was currently upending the bottle. "Lily, look up at the stars. You see that cluster of bright ones. Yes, those ones. They foretell the coming of a great love story. Of a bespectacled boy and a fire-haired girl with green eyes and –" Remus couldn't finish his prophesizing because Lily was hitting him. Laughter erupted from both of them as she started to tickle him. Remus rolled away and sat up. Lily tried to get up and tackle him but she couldn't stand up. She toppled over and continued to laugh.
"How good of a snog is James?" Remus stared at Lily and decided that he should probably get her back to her dormitory and soon.
"You'd have to ask him that," Remus murmured as he went to scoop Lily up. "I bet you won't though."
"Remus John Lupin! I bet you five Sickles that I will so ask James if he's a good snog." To say Lily was having a difficult time staying on her feet was an understatement. Remus almost had to carry her to the stairs of the Astronomy tower. "For five Galleons, I'll snog James to find out."
"Better not let him hear that, he'll take you up on that offer." Lily stuck her tongue out at him as they reached the stairs.
"Who's the better snog, James or Sirius?" Remus couldn't tell if Lily's face was this flushed from the whiskey or if she was embarrassed.
Remus shook his head as he worked to get Lily down the stairs. It was certainly a slow going. Lily was not a big person by any means but all the alcohol she had ingested made her as stiff as a noodle. She reminded him that they had left the alcohol outside and Remus muttered under his breath. He planted Lily on a stair and told her to stay. He sprinted up the stairs and vanished the emptied bottle. Remus hurried down the stairs to find that Lily had actually stayed put like he told her to. This made Lily a much better person to drink with than James and Sirius who wandered off when they consumed large quantities of alcohol. Ninety-nine percent of the time they got in to a whole lot of mischief when they did this.
"Let's get you to bed, Lily." Remus half carried Lily down the stairs. He told her to be quiet and peered around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. He sighed, they were on the third floor, on the opposite side of the castle from Gryffindor Tower. "Alright, Moony. Pull it together. You're not called a Marauder for nothing."
Lily giggled, "You're talking to yourself, Mooooooony."
The Marauder swore under his breath as he tried to hoist Lily up. "Keep your voice down."
Their pace didn't pick up any on flat ground. If anything they slowed down. Lily's body was starting to absorb all the alcohol and she was barely coherent let alone able to control her movement. Remus got her down the corridor to the statue of the one-eyed witch when he thought he heard movement. He looked down to the end of the hallway and saw the faintest glimmer of light. Remus pulled Lily behind the statue and covered her mouth with his hand. He tapped the hump on the witch's back and whispered dissendium. He grunted with the effort of hoisting Lily into the secret passage and then clamored in after her. The hump closed on them.
Remus stepped in front of Lily as the hump opened unexpectedly. "Moony? You down there?"
Sirius helped lift Lily out of the secret passage. He glared at Remus. "What in Merlin's name did you do?" Sirius hissed at him.
"She did it to herself. I think she stole it from Marlene. That's the only place I can think she would get it from." Sirius was on one side of Lily and Remus was on her other side. They carried her across the hall to an empty classroom and sat down. "Did you bring the map with you?"
Sirius glanced at Lily and back to Remus. He was talking about top secret Marauder information in front of a non-Marauder. Remus had to tell Sirius that there was no way Lily was going to remember anything but the splitting headache she'd have in the morning. The shorter boy grumbled about how Moony was breaking all sorts of rules. Remus glared at him and told to just help him get Lily back to Gryffindor Tower. Remus made Sirius hold out the map while he carried most of Lily's weight.
"Hey, Sirius," Lily slurred as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "Are you a good snogger?"
Lily's right side slumped as Sirius dropped her. "Merlin, Evans."
"You owe me *hiccup* five Sickles, Moooooony." Lily giggled.
Sirius just stopped and look at Remus. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do when they got back to the Common Room. "You are mistaken, Lily. I bet five Sickles if you asked James."
"And I bet five Galleons I'd snog him." Lily sat down on the floor of the corridor and giggled.
Remus looked at the map that Sirius was holding to make sure there were no professors around them. Fortunately, it looked like everyone was asleep. Filch was down near the kitchens. Remus pulled Lily up off the ground. In a swift movement, he picked her up bridal style. "Alright, well I'll accept those Galleons anytime you want to give them to me. For right now, let's play a game. Who can be the quietest."
Suddenly the atmosphere shifted. Sirius found the entire situation a lot more comical than he had a moment ago. The map helped them to reroute twice. Once because Mrs. Norris was guarding the stairs that provided the most direct route. Sirius had offered to transform and chase her away but Remus talked him out of it. The second time, Peeves was making paintings swing and was likely to sound the alarm despite respecting the habits of mischief. It was well past one in the morning when they finally stumbled into the Common Room. Lily was three quarters of the way passed out. Remus held Lily up near the portrait hole while Sirius checked if the coast was clear. The room was empty. Everyone had gone off to their warm beds even though it was only Saturday night. Or rather, Sunday morning.
"Moony." Sirius turned around and looked at his friend as he tried to carry Lily forward. "How are we going to get Lily up to her bed?"
Remus looked around and then at Lily. They really shouldn't leave her anywhere. "We could put her in our dormitory?"
Sirius disagreed, "Can't we just leave her on the couch?"
"No. We can't just leave her on the couch, Padfoot." Remus scowled at Sirius as he put Lily down on the couch temporarily. She might not be heavy but he'd been lugging her deadweight around the castle for the better part of two hours now. "What if she throws up? Someone needs to watch her."
"Well, how much did she drink?" Sirius didn't think that Lily could have a very high tolerance for alcohol. She'd probably sober up soon.
"A whole bloody bottle of Firewhiskey, Padfoot." Remus picked Lily up again.
"Bloody hell, Evans." Sirius was impressed. Lily lifted her head and looked at Sirius with a dopey smile. He gave her a thumbs up and she put her fist out for a bump. Sirius grinned and bumped her fist with his. Remus scowled at him. "Okay, so I guess we should make sure she doesn't die. Damn it, Evans. You're my new hero. We might have to make you an honourary Marauder for this."
Remus told Sirius to just get the door for him and he carried Lily up the stairs. Peter and James were asleep when they entered the room. Sirius put his finger to his lip to tell Lily she needed to be quiet. They were almost to the spare bed when Remus tripped over a pile of robes on the floor. He dropped Lily with a loud thud and landed on top of her. Lily shrieked as she fell and shouted when Remus landed on top of her. Sirius flicked on the light as Peter fell out of bed.
"It wassintme!" Peter was tangled up in his covers on the floor.
James sat up in his bed and looked at his two best mates. Remus was untangling himself from Lily who was complaining rather drunkenly and rather loudly about how heavy Remus was. Sirius stepped in front of them, "This is a dream. You're only dreaming."
Remus kicked Sirius in the back of the knee, sending him tumbling to the floor. Lily was sort of standing now, Remus was propping her up again. James looked at the two boys like they were from another planet. "What in Merlin's bloody name is going on?"
Lily hiccupped and giggled. She tried to get Remus's attention but he was ignoring her as he tried to explain himself to James. Lily, unhappy with being ignored by her support beam, covered Remus's mouth with her hand and shushed him. Sirius, who was still on the floor, looked like Christmas had come early. In a way it sort of had for him. He only wished he had a camera to capture this moment.
"James," Lily's slur was still pretty bad but the boys could understand her. Sirius leaned forwards watching, this was going to be great. "Are you a good snogger?"
Sirius's face filled with glee as Remus rubbed his face with his free hand. Lily took this opportunity to poke Remus in the chest, which meant she really poked him in the stomach because he was a solid eight inches taller than her. "You owe me five Galleons, Lupin!"
"I think you mean Sickles, Lilyflower." Sirius was trying so hard to contain himself. "The Galleons were for if you snogged Jamesie boy."
Remus looked like he was going to kill Sirius. Lily moved a lot faster than they thought she could with this much alcohol. She miscalculated her path to James and tripped over one of Sirius's outstretched legs. Lily stumbled forward and was going to hit her face on the bedpost of James's bed.
James caught her just in time and propped her up. "How much alcohol has she had?"
"The better part of a bottle of Firewhiskey," Remus winced as he told James this.
Lily was muttering to herself. She looked up at James and started to talk to him. He looked down at her and sighed. This was not how he had dreamed Lily would end up in his dormitory. "Cute snitches, James."
James looked down at the boxers he was wearing. They were red and covered in gold snitches. He exhaled slowly and glared at Remus again. "Why did you bring her up here?"
"How were we supposed to get her into her own bed?" Sirius looked up at James. "We would've woken the whole damn House. That would've been ten times worse than Lily seeing your snitch undies while she's probably blackout drunk."
James scooped Lily up in his arms and began to cross the room. He kicked Sirius pretty hard in the ribs as he walked past him. The bed next to Remus's was the empty bed in the room and James dumped Lily onto the bed. Remus summoned a bucket from the loo just in case Lily needed to puke during the night. James ran his hand through his hair and ruffled it a little bit. This was definitely not how he had envisioned sleeping in the same room with Lily.
"Remus, where did Lily get the whiskey from?" James pulled up a chair and sat down in between Remus's bed and the one Lily was on.
"Where do you think she got it from, James?" Remus was tired. He sank down unto his bed and pulled off his shoes.
James turned and look at Sirius accusingly. "Woah. Mate. It wasn't me. Who else do you know that keeps a stash of alcohol that Lily had access to?"
"Marlene." James looked at Lily again. She was struggling to unlace her shoes. He muttered something dark under his breath that no one else heard. "Lily, do you need help?"
Green eyes looked up at him. She giggled and murmured something that no one in the room heard. James asked her to repeat herself. Lily just stuck her hand out and looked up at him with her beautiful emerald eyes. She had a huge smile stretched across her face.
"Uh James, I think she wants her money from her bet." Sirius was now sitting on his bed and pulling off his shirt.
Lily wolf whistled when she looked at him. "I bet you are a good snogger, Sirius."
Remus slammed his head into the bed post when Sirius winked at Lily. James glared at him and told him to put his shirt back on. "You hypocrite, you're not wearing a shirt and neither is Pete!"
Peter was still sitting on the floor only half awake. He wasn't wearing a shirt but he had swaddled himself in his blankets. Sirius started to pull off his trousers and winked again at Lily. James almost lost it. He told Padfoot to get changed behind the curtains and to just go to bed. Sirius retaliated by saying he didn't want to miss out on a drunk Evans. It would probably never happen again in the history of Hogwarts.
"No, Lily, keep that on." Remus had jumped up of his bed and trying to keep Lily from taking off her shirt. Her tie already lay discarded on the floor along with her shoes and socks.
"But it's hot in here," Lily whined as she tugged at Remus's hands.
James slammed the side of his fist into the bedpost. "Lily, go to sleep."
Lily laid down on the bed and tilted her head on the pillow. She looked up at James and smiled. With another hiccup she whispered good night. Within two minutes she was snoring lightly. James leaned his head back against the bed post. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Sirius stripped down to his boxers and climbed in to bed. Remus closed the curtains around his bed while he changed into a pair of pajamas. The lights were flicked out when he opened the curtains again. James was still sitting at the end of the bed Lily was on.
"Remus," James murmured softly. "Thank you."