Quick update: James and Sirius, as part of the pureblood society are made to buy servants for their household. Previously belonging to Ludo Bagman, Marlene and Lily are quickly acclimatised to cooking, serving and the general life of a servant at Potter Manor. It is now the evening in which Marlene and Lily are introduced and welcomed to the society.
The party was enthralling. Marlene had never been to such a gathering before and the sheer splendour of the night was quite enchanting. Lily, of course, had been to many such parties, her time with her previous masters had meant that she was in attendance to evenings of grand scale as much as any other pure blood. She had been a regular guest. Of course, this was different. Sure it had purebloods attending, but most of them were neutral or possibly on the side of the reformist community which ran like an undercurrent underbelly to the existing government. She hadn't met these sorts before, her only experience of purebloods was that of the types of Lucius Malfoy. Cold, snobbish and very much in the belief that blood superiority was to be kept sacred and away from those not worthy of it.
Lily and Marlene, after Evangeline Potter's introduction, had gracefully bowed in acceptance to the society. From the sides, both girls were handed chalices of sparkling wine which bubbled so much that Lily thought it would go over the top of the rim. Evangeline had held her own chalice up and had said in her soft, almost majestic voice, "We welcome our newest members of the household, to our society." Both girls had stared, shocked, that many people followed Evangeline's actions and drank deeply from their respective chalices. All in the name of Lily and Marlene.
"Take a sip, my dear," Evangeline encouraged, still smiling radiantly. Lily had brought the rim to her lips and her eyes found warm hazel ones. Both owner and servant, drank from their chalices, keeping their eyes fixed on each other. The alcohol was bitter-sweet. She couldn't help the slight grimace that the taste brought and she saw James' face crinkle up as his amused expression finally left her. Conscious of her quite fragile dress, Lily descended the podium with Marlene. What were they supposed to do now? "Do we just wait for people to come up to us and start talking or do we mingle?" Marlene muttered.
"We don't know anybody!" Lily said in alarm, she wouldn't put it past Marlene to jump at the chance of making new friends. As it was, Marlene was much too eager to simply stare and not participate.
Suddenly a tiny red haired boy hurtled into Lily's legs from behind. She turned, horrified when she found the little boy rolling around on the floor.
"Oh goodness!" she exclaimed. "Tripping Toadstools! Did you kill him?" Marlene asked, unhelpfully. Lily turned to glare at her friend, and crouched next to the boy. With a trembling hand she gently touched his cheek and as if he had received a reviving potion, the boy shot onto his feet, a huge grin decorating his face. He had many freckles, and a couple of broken teeth. Lily sighed a relief and then gave the boy a mock pout. "Freddy! I tricked her!" the boy shouted in childish glee and a moment later another small red-haired boy, identical in all sensed was standing next to Lily. Marlene and Lily exchanged glances.
"Did he really trick you, Miss?" the boy called 'Freddy' asked her.
"Hmm…he sure tricked me! Very naughty of him, I almost got scared," Lily said only half serious. The boys looked at her happily, obviously pleased with their achievement. "I am George Weasley and this is my brother Fred Weasley," the boy who had tricked Lily stated in as much a 'grown-up' voice as he could manage.
"Are you twins, by any chance?" Marlene asked softly. The two boys nodded their small head vigorously.
"Twins and the best trouble-makers! Isn't that right, boys?" a loud, and in Lily's opinion, obnoxious, voice made its way over to them. Sirius Black picked up the two boys and spun them round, not caring one bit how silly he looked to the rest of the guests.
"Siri, Georgie tricked the lady. The lady thought she was dead!" Fred told the black-haired man in joy. Sirius in turn, smirked at Lily and said, "my my, dear Evans, getting fooled by a two year ol-" but the rest of his sentence was cut off as the wizard in charge of the music announced that the floor was opening up for the dances. "Off you go boys, find the rest of your family, we'll talk jokes, later," he promised the two Weasleys with a slight grin.
The fact that the party itself was in their honour, meant that Sirius and Marlene and James and Lily were expected to open the dance floor. The soft notes of 'Step into the floo with me' by an old romantic witch, played over their heads, ensnaring the couples on the floor. Lily had placed her hands on James' shoulder and he on her waist. It was the most contact they had had, since she had side-along apparated. It was obvious that despite the failure of society and the crumbling world around her, Lily found peace in his arms, swaying gently, almost easy to forget who exactly she was and who exactly James Potter was. James and Sirius, on their part were content that this small amount of rebelliousness allowed them a small freedom in an otherwise suffocating aristocratic society. Not many servant owners threw parties in honour of their servants, and certainly rarely were they seen dancing publically with them. Yet, Sirius led Marlene boldly across the dance floor and James held his Lily close to him as the four of them silently and independently vowed to keep on rebelling until it became the norm. It was obvious now, that despite what misconceptions Lily had about James and Sirius, they were very different to the typical pure-blood. Just, as she, mused, following James lead on the dance floor, she was completely different to what the society expected of a muggle-born servant girl.
Soon of course, everyone else had joined. Even the young Weasley boys could be seen creating a ruckus on the dance floor as their mother, Molly, harassed and reaching the end of her tether tried to restrain them. Alcohol fuelled and bellies full of delicious pastries and pies, men danced boisterously with their wives.
Many people came up the Lily and Marlene and finally, they were able to relax and just blend in.
"Lily, I want to introduce you to someone," James whispered into her ear and pulled her gently out of the mass of people.
"James, this is such a wonderful night," she gushed, clearly on a high. James squeezed her hand and brought her to the side of the room. Here, Evangeline was in conversation with an ancient looking man. His long flowing royal blue robes were of the purest of silk. His long white beard fell down to his knees and his half-moon spectacles gave him the look of an intellectual aristocrat. Had he been frowning, Lily would have been convinced her was some mad worker at the department of mysteries, cold and harsh and unwilling to engage in conversation with those he thought inferior. But as it was, Albus Dumbledore was not frowning at all, he was beaming and his eyes were gentle under the spectacles. Lily had the random urge to hug the man, as if she had been his granddaughter.
"Good evening Mr Potter," Dumbledore said serenely. "And you must be young Lily Evans. I remember you well, the best at Charms at Hogwarts." Lily gasped, dropping the hand she had been shaking. For she had never seen the headmaster of Hogwarts, nor was she given the privilege of ever meeting him but even she knew just how much of an important and respected man he was. And he remembered her.
"Professor Dumbledore, I am honoured to meet you," Dumbledore patted her shoulder gently and before long he had engaged her in a conversation.
"I do hope you have been practising the skills you learnt in magic from Hogwarts child," he told her.
"Err, yes sir, I am quite the one for learning, my favourite of course was the Liquantum charm…"James rolled his eyes and Evangeline waved a hand at him to tell him to leave Lily with her and to go back to his friends and guest. James wasn't one for engaging in intellectual conversations. Not at a party, anyway!
When Lily finally joined back, Remus and Peter had also arrived. Both looked spectacular as well and clearly were also a bit star-struck, neither belonging to aristocratic families and hence not normally invited to such gatherings.
"Lily, you look beautiful," Remus told her, genuinely smiling. "You look pretty dashing yourself, young man," she replied.
"Uh-oh, Prongsie, careful, Moony might steal Lily away from right under your nose," Sirius said, clearly thinking himself extremely witty. But everyone else just groaned and Remus swatted his arm.
After a while Peter went to get drinks for everyone. "Excuse me, move, come on, out of my way," he said to people as he levitated the 6 goblets over to his friends. "Finally learnt the charm, eh Wormtail?" James said laughing with Sirius as they all took their drinks from the air. Peter blushed furiously and Remus sighed loudly, clearly having been the brunt of James and Sirius' teasing too many times to find it funny. Marlene and Lily hid their smiles in their drinks, smothering the urge to laugh. The fact that Peter was probably duller than a first-year wizard or witch was not exactly a secret. Lily was just laughing at another joke that the boys had cracked when quite suddenly a large man bumped past Marlene, making her spill her drink and loose her balance. Marlene gave a moan as her leg got twisted in a strange manner from the suddenness of the fall and impact that the leg sustained.
Lily saw red. Her emerald eyes blazed and she whirled around, her red hair, a ring of fire around her head. "HEY! Watch where you're going, would you!" Lily screeched, surprising everyone. She marched up to him, probably fuelled by her anger and the few drinks she had taken. She pulled sharply on his dress robes until the rude man turned around. A few people around the area all hushed as they watched Lily's temper get the better of her. James, Remus and Sirius made no attempt to stop Lily wrath on the man.
"Don't you know how to say sorry?" she asked him loudly. The wizard turned red, he glared at Lily and spoke with clenched teeth. "Better watch your tongue, girl."
"And you better watch your weight, before we know it, you will be trampling over poor innocents, not just knocking them over," Lily snapped, getting more riled up as the fat wizard refused to apologise.
More people were watching now, this was free entertainment, and no one really minded what Lily was saying. After all, many had wanted to tell Anthony Nott, the same exact thing.
He stepped a bit closer to Lily and suddenly shot out an arm to her shoulder, gripping her tightly. "You better back off now, you filthy, useless and disgusting Mudblood bitch!" Before anyone could react, Nott had walked out of the door and apparated away. There was shocked silence. No one spoke a word. Not even Marlene whose leg was seriously injured. Lily herself, swayed dangerously and James finally put his strong reassuring hands on her shoulders to steady her.
Eventually, Evangeline ushered the shocked and upset guests towards the apparating point and the floo network to take them home. The mood for the party was most definitely over. No one was sure of what to think. No one wanted to grasp the reality of which their society existed, and yet their ignorance was exactly why the Anthony Nott's of the society got away with such acts.
Evangeline, quietly told Remus and Peter to retire to their rooms and asked James to take poor Marlene to the Potter's personal healer. Everyone, subdued with the events, did what Evangeline said, quickly and left the grand hall.
The staff was informed to clean up and finally Evangeline gave a sad smile to Lily, a stern one to Sirius and also left the hall.
"Lily," Sirius began in an apologetic tone but was cut short by the expression on her face. She didn't look upset or remotely ruffled. In fact, for a lack of a better word she just looked bored.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked her, a little confused.
"Pardon me?" she asked.
"That brute just insulted you!" Sirius indignantly replied. Lily looked at him sharply then, her piercing emerald eyes holding such power than Sirius was rendered somewhat speechless. "Mr. Black, he only stated the truth. I think we have all been forgetting the reason I am here in the first place. The reality is very simple: I am a servant. I do belong to Mr. Potter and I am a mudblood."
"Don't sully yourself like that," he hissed. Lily's face changed into what could only be described as pity. "It is better for all of us, sir, if we remember our place. I think the party proved just what it was supposed to." Her voice held no malice, no sorrow. Just the emptiness of someone dispassionately stating the facts. And because Sirius knew that the girl was right, he had nothing to say.
And that night when James asked Sirius if Lily was alright, he had to correct him by saying that Miss Evans – not Lily – was indeed alright.
It was a saddening realisation for all four of them that how much ever their hearts may belong in the same society, the very society wouldn't let both exist in equality. At least not until the laws which ran deep into the magical world were suddenly turned on their heads and people forced to adapt. Some fantasy, indeed.
AN: I am back, I got prompted into action by a reviewer, goes by the name . Thank you, for reminding me of the joy of writing! I'll finish this story one day…hope y'all stay for the ride!
-Vitzy-