Chapter Two: Detention?
The Gryffindor common room was teeming with students partying, dancing to the music blasting from the large speakers and even singing along, in celebration of the Gryffindor's Quidditch team's superb win against Slytherin. Not one Gryffindor student was alone in their dormitory sleeping, and if there were they would certainly not be able to fall asleep due to the racket occurring downstairs. The atmosphere was buzzing, and even the shyer Gryffindor's seemed to be having a good time. These after-match parties were a brilliant way for Gryffindors to make new friends, and it was often the case that relationships flourished as a result of these parties. Merlin knows how many people had started dating at one of these events and it was James Potter's biggest hope that one day, he would ask Lily Evans out at one of these festivities, and she'd say yes. For now, however, the music was playing just as loud and everyone was having a fantastic time.
"Potter is the best, Potter is the best!" Was being chanted by all the Gryffindors in admiration. He was being carried across the swarm of students in the air across the entire room, and all the girls were trying to grab his leg, or his arm, or even his head.
Lily Evans watched from the corner of the room. She, too, was smiling and she had a drink of pumpkin juice in her hand. Unlike the others, she didn't want to end up with a hangover tomorrow. And besides, she had never been fond of the bitter taste of alcohol. She didn't know who always brought in the alcohol, but she suspected it was either James or Sirius. She doubted they had ever left a party without being drunk.
"Oi, Evans!" James yelled as he was being swept across the room, as if surfing a wave. A girl, who Lily presumed to be in second-year went to kiss his cheek, and got dragged up into the crowd of hands as well.
"Care to join me?" James asked, grinning.
"I'm alright, thanks!" Lily yelled back at him.
She bet he was enjoying every moment of it. He loved being popular, and if having random girls three years younger than you kiss you on the cheek wasn't a clear sign of being massively popular, then Lily didn't know what was. Lily was actually worried that Professor McGonagall would come in any second and scold them all as they were making so much noise. She wouldn't be surprised if the entire castle could hear them.
Lily then looked to the left to see Remus Lupin approaching her, with a wide smile on his face. The colour-changing lighting made his face appear red one second, and then green the other. It amused Lily.
"Hey." Remus greeted her, and she smiled back at him.
"Enjoying the party?" He asked her, and he had to raise his voice considerably just so she could hear him.
"As always." She responded with a yawn; she found herself being quite tired.
"Are you tired? I'm sorry to say, but I don't think you'll get much sleep tonight." He told her sympathetically.
"Yeah, I figured. They always have wild parties whenever we win, which is most of the time, so I'm used to it anyway." She said loudly, as the music had somehow gotten louder.
"I think this one's the wildest one." He grinned. "I think James has been starved of partying because of the OWLs and now he's going all out. Plus, it's the end of term."
"Am I right in assuming he's going to be hosting a bunch of parties during the summer?" Lily asked, expecting nothing less.
"Of course!" Remus exclaimed. "He's been doing so since first-year! He loves parties."
Sirius then joined the two, and Lily noticed he was slightly drunk. He was swaying from left to right, and had the look of complete contentment on his face.
"Alright, Evans?" He asked her, and Lily politely responded. She didn't like talking to Sirius when he was flat-out drunk, as she found it was rather hard to keep a conversation going with him.
Sirius nodded and then patted Remus on the back before proceeding to jump into the crowd, earning a very loud 'WOOOAAAHH!' from the students. Lily rolled her eyes, apparently they were all drunk.
"You don't drink?" Lily asked Remus as she noticed he seemed perfectly normal.
Remus shook his head. "No, not really. I don't like the feeling of not being in control of your own actions."
Lily nodded, sensing there was more to his words than what he was actually saying.
"Do you think I can sneak off without being caught by Filch?" She asked him, and he looked puzzled at her question.
"Where are you going?"
"Just to see someone." Lily replied, trying not to seem obvious. The whole world didn't have to know.
"Ah, have you got yourself a boyfriend?" Remus said after a few seconds of consideration. "James isn't going to like that."
"Well poor James will have to get over it." Lily said curtly, and Remus grinned in response.
"So I was right! What's his name, eh, Lily? You can tell me."
Lily shook her head. "I don't! Now tell me, what's the likelihood of me getting caught?"
Remus thought for a moment. "Not that likely. You'd think they'd be shouting at us, with all the noise we're making. But no one's come."
Lily nodded, and thanked him before sneaking out of the Gryffindor common room, hoping James hadn't seen her. He probably hadn't as he was too busy with all the attention he was receiving from the crowd. Once she was out of the common room, she was met with a various number of angry voices, coming from the portraits hung up on the wall.
"Can't you tell them to shut up?!" One of the portraits shouted.
"Yeah! We're trying to sleep, you know!" Another one chimed in.
A dozen of the other portraits murmured in agreement, before the Fat Lady decided to have her say.
"Excuse me!" She yelled, furiously. "I'm the one who's closest to the dammed room! I can hear everything! That stupid boy, James Potter…let's just say the next time he wants go to his dormitory, he might just say the wrong password and be unable to get in!" She said venomously.
Lily didn't reply, instead she raced down the stairs and across to the Slytherin common room. She eagerly knocked on the door and asked for Severus Snape and after a few minutes, he came out. He was wearing a nightshirt, and Lily smiled at his messy hair. She must have woken him, but she was glad to see him. He looked so cute when he had just woken up. So vulnerable.
"Hello, Sev." She told him.
"Hey, Lily." He responded tiredly.
"I'm sorry for waking you up." She apologised. "I just wanted to say you were great out there today. It doesn't matter if you lost, anyway."
Severus nodded. "It was very embarrassing, even if I managed to not crash into the ground. I still can't believe that Clearwater even asked me. It's like he wanted to lose!"
Lily shook her head. "Nonsense. At least you'll never have to do it again."
To this Severus looked slightly uncomfortable, and Lily wondered if Clearwater had told him he'd be needed as a reserve or something.
"You're not a reserve, are you? Clearwater hasn't made you do that?" She asked him, hoping that he hadn't.
Severus looked surprised, "Oh, Merlin no. You don't need to worry about that!" He exclaimed.
Lily felt relieved, and smiled at him.
"Nonetheless, you still have some wicked skills on a broom. How come you never did that in Flying lessons in first-year?" She asked him.
Severus cringed at the memory of those dreaded lessons. He had always been given the worst broom, the most bruised and weathered one with splintered wood at the handle so that you'd always end up with at least three splinters stuck in your hand after the end of the lesson. James had already had his own broom given to him by his parents, the rich sod.
"I'd rather you not remind me of first-year." He said, frowning.
Lily giggled in response, "Do you remember me in first year? I couldn't even mount the broom, let alone fly it!"
Severus smiled at the memory of an eleven-year-old Lily Evans with her short, auburn hair. She had tried so hard to be good at Flying but had never properly gotten the hang of it. Which was ironic, as she was brilliant at every other subject. Especially Potions, as was Severus. In fact, they shared the same best subject and worst subject.
"That's nothing compared to Benjamin Higgles!" Severus chuckled as he was suddenly reminded of the memory. "Do you remember when he-"
"Blasted his broom into Professor Sprout's window and made all the Mandrakes start crying ten times louder? How could I forget!" Lily exclaimed.
They both burst out laughing at the memory of poor Benjamin Higgles. He had received a great telling-off indeed, and hadn't been issued a detention ever since. The experience had scarred him and now he was perhaps one of the best behaved pupils in the entire school.
"The poor second-years who were in that class! I bet the earmuffs didn't do them much good! I heard that even when they buried them in the soil, they could still hear the Mandrakes crying!" Lily laughed, as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Didn't Timothy Pearce say he could still hear them screaming in his ear two weeks later?" Severus asked, between his laughs. He was struggling for air and his sides hurt from laughing so much.
Lily nodded as she coughed, and then wiped her wet eyes once more.
"Oh, they were some good times." She sighed happily.
She went to sit down next to Severus on the floor, and rested her head against the wall.
After a few moments of silence, Severus spoke.
"It was fun, though, Lily."
Lily turned around to look at him, confused.
"What was?"
"Playing in the match. It felt like…I can't describe. I've never done something like that before."
Lily was very astonished. She hadn't expected that. To be honest, she had expected Severus to be rather upset over what had happened.
"That's…good." Lily said after a while. "I suppose you'll miss it."
Severus nodded, with an expression of uncertainty on his face.
"I suppose I will." He said thoughtfully.
However, Lily never noticed the expression of uncertainty on his face as she next heard the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice from the other end of the corridor.
"These students, I swear! They will be the death of me!" She exclaimed.
Lily presumed that the Gryffindor Head of House was heading over to the Gryffindor common room to tell them to be quiet and go to bed. She hadn't even noticed the loud sound of music echoing through the walls as she had been speaking to Severus. Now, however, the sound of partying was evident, and she wondered if Severus hadn't heard it either.
"Did you notice that?" She asked him, and he only smiled in response.
"How could I not? I'm pretty sure my father down in England can hear it."
Lily looked down at the floor, embarrassed. Oh.
"I'm actually lucky I managed to fall asleep before the party began." Severus said. "I managed to get a few hours in, which is more than the rest of Slytherin, I suspect."
Lily suddenly felt immensely guilty.
"Oh Sev, I'm sorry for waking you!"
"No, don't be! I'm glad you came. I had some fun." He smiled at her.
Relieved, she smiled back.
"I guess I have to go, now." She said, and he wished her goodnight before returning through the doors of the Slytherin common room.
Lily then set off down the corridor and up the stairs up to the Gryffindor common room, where she was met, once again, by an angry Fat Lady.
"Your stupid Professor is making more noise shouting at them!" She complained.
Lily couldn't disagree; the stern voice of Minerva McGonagall echoed through the walls. Lily swallowed nervously. Hopefully she would be able to slip inside without the professor noticing. However, as soon as she entered the common room she realised this was not to be the case.
All the students were standing in the common room, being yelled at by Professor McGonagall. Once Lily entered the room, the professor turned to Lily and started asking her a series of questions.
"And where have you been, Miss Evans?" She accused her. "I am bitterly disappointed; you are supposed to be one of my greatest students!"
"Please, Professor, you don't know why I was out yet!" Lily protested, trying to conjure up a believable reason for which she was out after nine o'clock.
"And would you enlighten me, please?" Professor McGonagall asked Lily sternly, with her circle-shaped glasses falling to the tip of her nose. It made her appear ever scarier.
"I…I was actually trying to find you, Professor." Lily said hesitantly. "You see, I was actually tired myself and I wanted to find you to tell them to bring the noise down."
"Ah, come on Evans!" James yelled at her. "Don't be like that!"
"Please be quiet, Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall shouted at him.
Lily took a moment to examine James, and she could see the disappointed look in his face. She hadn't wanted to lie, but she didn't want to be put into detention either. Her gaze turned onto Remus who looked just as disappointed, and she felt a stab of guilt at her gut. Oh come on guys! She said in her head. She hadn't done anything that bad. She then looked at Sirius who looked as if he was struggling to act sober. She was convinced he would pass out at any second. Finally, she looked at Peter Pettigrew, a boy she had never much liked. He seemed to be completely drunk, too.
"I do not like liars, Lily Evans. But to be a snitch too, that's even worse." Professor McGonagall said.
Lily gasped. Rude bitch.
"Therefore you will have detention with me tomorrow morning. You don't have any lessons so I doubt you it will be any inconvenience."
"What about James? He organised the party!" Lily objected. There was no way she was going to get a detention and he wasn't.
"I know that, Miss Evans." Professor McGonagall sighed. "Which is why the both of you will be serving detention with me tomorrow morning."
Lily groaned and turned around to see James Potter grinning.
"I'll see you then, Evans!" He shouted at her.
Lily rolled her eyes and marched her way upstairs to her dormitory. It had been worth it, after all. Laughing with Sev was always worth it.