A.N.: I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! In that vein, here comes the next part of the story! I hope you all enjoy

Disclaimer: Characters written by the great J.K. Rowling. I just did some more imagining ;)

Chapter 8

"Christmas Party"

(Several months earlier)

The party was already in full swing when Lily walked through the double doors. Instantly she was overflowed by an onslaught of glitter and colour and movement. It was actually hard to make out individual in the heaving, laughing mass of bodies and decorations.

Lily felt her mouth fall open.

Professor Slughorn must have magically enlarged his office for the occasion, making his usual cluttered desk and collection of antique cauldrons disappear. Even his collection of signed portraits of famous wizard acquaintances and friends were gone. More than that, he had managed to turn it into a veritable winter wonderland.

Snow was falling from the cavernous ceiling, collecting in the hood of her jacket, as she stared at the spectacle open-mouthed. The middle of the room was dominated by a miniature castle ruin ringed by a frozen moat. Lily saw a few students actually skating along under the drawbridge, whacking each other with huge sticky candy canes and laughing. The castle itself was filled with people, spewing silver and green tinsel from its windows (Slughorn was, after all, Head of Slytherin House). There were bridges spanning the space above her head to more little houses that looked like they were made of chocolate and icing.

"May I see you invitation, Miss?" asked an elegant woman to the left of the door, walking forward. She had purple eyes and vividly red hair to clash, showing pointed teeth as she smiled. Vampire, thought Lily, tensing.

She showed the woman her invitation – a huge, glittery thing - and was shown into the party. There was a red carpet leading up to the castle, flanked by tall trees with silvery leaves. In between them stood house elves in sparkling green suits, bearing tablets of food bigger than their entire bodies.

One of them shuffled forwards. "Would Miss like some honey-soaked apricots wrapped in lavender and rosemary?"

"Er – no, thanks," she declined, feeling flustered. This place was like stepping into another world!

"But let me take Miss's jacket," the elf insisted. The tablet of food magically disappeared and a second later he was tugging off her jacket.

She wrapped her arms around herself, expecting to feel cold, but to her surprise, the snow falling from the ceiling was warm where it touched her bare skin, not even melting. It only left behind a trail of glitter behind, which explained why every single one of Slughorn's guests seemed to be shining like their own little star.

"Lily! My dear!" boomed a voice to her right and a second later, Slughorn himself had come into the picture. He was wearing green robes not unlike the elves, though there was a pattern of silver snowflakes printed across his chest and had topped it off with a towering hat sprouting what looked like a miniature adventure park. There was a spinning carousel and even rollercoasters rushing up and down behind the red-and-white striped awning of a circus tent. It was quite mad to behold.

"Professor Slughorn," she said with a smile, squeezing his proffered hand. "Thank you so much for inviting me. "

"Tah! You know you are my favourite in the Club – just don't tell the others," he added with a wink. "Such a whizz at potions and a stunning sight for the eyes, I might add. My dear."

"Thank you, Professor," said Lily, blushing. She wore ice-blue robes for the occasion that floated down to the floor in folds of soft gossamer. Her red hair was held back in a braided bun, a few strands falling out to frame her face. Nora had worked on her for hours. "You can't keep showing up at Slughorn's parties in your school outfit, Lily," she had clucked when she had caught her friend sneaking out of the dormitory a few hours ago. "What's the point of being in the Slug Club if you don't even enjoy the glamour? You are wearing one of my dresses and I am doing your hair."

It had been futile to resist which meant Lily had arrived at Slughorn's annual – and famous – Christmas party late and alone, because she had missed her meeting with Marlene. Nora, unfortunately, couldn't come because she was not part of what had been dubbed the 'Slug Club' by the students of Hogwarts. This party was for a closed group, hand-selected by the Potions' teacher – and invite-only.

Lily glanced around, trying to locate Marlene or possibly her fellow Gryffindor Alice Henley, but Professor had already grabbed her arm and was steering her along the red carpet and into the heart of his Christmas spectacular.

"You simply must come and meet Alaric Bowton," he said as they walked. "He's a most renowned researcher at St. Mungo's in Poisons and Antidotes and a very old friend of mine. And then there's Marissa Paisley, the new Assistant Head of Magical Law Enforcement – and just twenty-two at that, can you believe it?"

Slughorn went on like this, pointing out people and their achievements, as they passed the frozen moat and followed a slight downhill slope – a slope, thought Lily, in a room? Slughorn had really gone to town! As she looked around, she recognised a few famous witches and wizards herself, among them the Keeper of the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch Team, surrounded by adoring fans. There was loud Christmas rock music blaring from a balcony of the castle, where a band of long-haired wizards was jumping up and down. Their name was written on the drum set: Crashing Ravens.

Lily couldn't help but smirk. Potter and his gang would have given anything to be here, she thought. They idolised that band, blaring the music as loud as possible at every Gryffindor House party.

Meanwhile, Professor Slughorn had led her into the heart of the Christmas town. Next to the iced houses stood huge cauldrons filled with hot chocolate and mulled wine, which was where most of the younger guests seemed to be lingering in groups, knocking back drinks and laughing. A few waved to Lily as she passed but there was no way to get out of Slughorn's grip to say hello.

He kept pointing into the crowd and calling out this like, "Oh, look, there's Emmerich Wernsford, Lily! Can you see him? In the purple fedora? Most famous adventurer of our time, he is. Told me he had to wrestle himself out of a nest of Hungarian horntails to get here on time."

Emmerich Wernsford really did seem to be smoking slightly. "Is that why he has a bit of his nose missing?" she asked.

"Oh no," replied Slughorn genially, pushing through a group of cackling witches that were at least six feet taller than Lily, "that was from the time he got in a fight with a few goblins in a riot in Tajikistan."

"Ah."

Lily had no idea at this point who Slughorn was looking for. Her senses were overwhelmed by the scent of cinnamon spice and red wine, by a circus performer doing cartwheels in the tiny town square and alternately juggling rings of fire on his feet and palms. What she had taken to be silver leaves in the trees had turned out to be actual fairies, whizzing through the air and carrying tiny parcels back and forth between guests. It was like she had actually left Hogwarts and been transported to some sort of parallel Christmas kingdom ruled by a crazy king. And she, Lily, was parading around with him through throngs of his admirers. It was absurd.

"Excuse me, Professor Slughorn," said a gravelly voice to their right. A tall man with a wild head of black hair stood before them. He had a thick purple scarf slung around his face and was very thin, making him look almost two-dimensional, like someone had stretched him out and then driven over him with a truck to flatten him. His features were oddly familiar to Lily for some reason.

"It is such a pleasure to make your acquaintance," said the stranger with a bow.

"And … and who are you?" asked Slughorn in confusion.

"Oh, Professor," said the stranger with the smallest inclination of a smirk. "I am Wirmin the Whirler, of course."

Professor Slughorn turned white. "Wirmin! You – you're here? I – I can't believe it! At my party!" He turned to Lily in excitement, opening his mouth to shout out to more guests, but the stranger smoothly interrupted: "Which of course has to be secret, between the two of us. I don't like to be recognised." He smiled and again, Lily thought he reminded her of someone. "I simply had to come. I have heard so much about you and your students." He winked at Lily.

"Excuse me," she said, frowning. "I am afraid I am not familiar with your name, sir."

"Lily!" cried Slughorn. "This is Wirmin the Whirler! He's the most famed alchemist of our time – and the most elusive."

"Oh," she said, remembering. There had been an article about Wirmin "The Whirler" Whirlford in the Daily Prophet a few weeks ago. He appeared to be the first person to be able to travel successfully between dimensions and had written a highly popular book about his adventures. However, despite his fame, no one except his publisher had ever seen the man. There were never any pictures in his publications and he only gave interviews in written form. For this, he used a special kind of purple ink he called travel ink. He could write out answers to questions on paper in his secret laboratory and make it appear thousands of miles away in a journalist's office. And now he was here at Slughorn's Christmas party!

"And may I present my assistant, Willy Weatherford," said Wirmin, pulling another man from the crowd. He was much smaller than him, rotund and sporting an impressively curly moustache and beard that obscured most of his face.

Weatherford gave a stiff bow, his purple waistcoat groaning audibly. When he looked up, a pair of bright green eyes met hers briefly, then flicked away.

"Delighted to meet you, Professor Slughorn," he said in a squeaky voice, shaking his hand and then Lily's.

"We are doing some research in these parts about possible dimension-travel holes opening up in the lake," Wirmin went on. "It was Weatherford's idea, actually. He thought about the possibility of widening the holes using explosives to make going through a bit easier."

Slughorn's eyes widened. "Explosives?"

"Oh, yes," replied Weatherford. "We like to blow things up, Wirmin and I. It is the basic interest of his studies. That and parties."

Slughorn looked confused, but Lily felt something dawning on her, as she watched Weatherford. As he grinned, his face seemed to be changing. The moustache was shrinking in towards his lips, his cheekbones becoming more prominent.

Next to him, Wirmin was filling out, shrinking down towards them. As the last of the Polyjuice Potion wore off, his purple scarf fell down in a heap, revealing a pale face and the kind of devilish grin she had only ever seen on one person.

Slughorn was realising this at the same time. Both their mouths opened wide. "Sirius Black."

"And James Potter. At your service," said the other wizard with an inclination of his head, running one hand through his hair to rumple it and whipping on his glasses.

"But you're not invited," protested Slughorn faintly. Sweat was beading his forehead. Everyone knew about Sirius Black and James Potter. They were the worst troublemakers around! And now they had managed to sneak into Slughorn's Christmas party.

Sirius took a goblet of fire whiskey from one of the passing house elves' trays. "Your door guards are very pretty," he observed. "And they do love purple."

James took a full goblet of mulled wine from another tray. "We heard it was going to be a pretty good party so we thought we'd come by and make it even better," he said, toasting them. "To the elusive Wermin and his assistant Willy!"

Sirius toasted back. The two wizards drank.

"Not invited," repeated Slughorn faintly.

"Details, Professor, details," said James.

"Just have faith in us," added Sirius. "We know how to handle a party crowd." He clapped Slughorn on the shoulder who was still in shock at having his big dream of meeting Wirmin the Whirler reduced to such ridiculous lies. Lily was simply staring at the two wizards. This was just too bold.

"We'd better get going then," announced James. "Lots do to do!" He paused, grinning at Lily. "And hello to you, Evans. Nice dress you have there!"

"You are going to get detention for this," she replied flatly.

"What, for an innocent compliment?" said James in a mock-hurt voice. He leaned down to her. "Don't you think that's a bit unfair, Evans?"

She flushed angrily. "I wasn't talking about that and you know –"

"Love to hear you two fight, but we have to go," interrupted Sirius, pulling James away. "We have a party to crash! See you, Evans."

"Not so fast," said Slughorn, raising his wand. "You are not staying here uninvited, young men, really, that is no way to –"

But Sirius and James disappeared before he could finish his sentence, swallowed by the crowd. A moment later, there was a loud CRACK and the lights went out.

The party guests shrieked. Confusion and chaos reigned. There was a splashing sound as though someone had stumbled into the mulled wine cauldron.

Then there was a popping sound and the dark room was lit up by a single light. It rose higher and higher until it hit the ceiling, raining down in a shower of colour. For a second everyone was quiet, then cheering broke out. The guests must be thinking it was part of the party program.

There followed a series of fireworks, all exploding in riots of colour and lighting up the whole room in colour. There was a great whirling rocket that exploded into a picture of the Minister of Magic dressed up as Santa Claus. Then there was a whole group of dancing elves, skipping through the air and singing off-key Christmas songs (the band had long since stopped playing). Finally, a huge display of Professor Slughorn himself in a purple circus director's suit bowed to the crowd and lowered his hat. A speech bubble popped up, that said, "The Slug Club. Entry by invitation only." Then, tantalizingly, the image burst apart into tiny question marks, two words appearing in the middle: "Oh, really?" Lily had to admit, she was quite impressed, even if she was putting Potter and Black in detention later.

A second later, the words had disappeared and the lights came back on. It was like nothing had changed. People started clapping and above it, Slughorn's booming laugh was heard in the crowd somewhere in front of her, congratulating himself on the wonderful display and telling them to go ahead and have more of the champagne. "Ah, Carlisle!" she heard him cry out a moment later, pushing through towards a tall red-haired man like nothing had happened. Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes. With the excitement over, Slughorn was not even thinking of punishing James and Sirius for their gate crashing!

"Lily! There you are!"

Turning, Lily was relieved to find herself face to face with Marlene, at last. The Ravenclaw was wearing red robes that gave her usually pale cheeks some colour. "I'm so glad I found you. What was that?"

"Potter and Black," sighed Lily. "They gate-crashed."

"Oh?" Marlene raised her eyebrows. "That was a tame one, then. They've been much worse, don't you think?"

Lily thought of their disguises and James's disgusting flirting. "Depends how you look at it."

Marlene looked like she was about to ask, but Lily decided she was done with the topic. "So, what have you been doing?"

"Ugh," said the brunette, "I just had to flee from Malfoy under the mistletoe – he was trying to ambush me there. You have to be really careful! The stuff is everywhere."

Poor Marlene. She was shy anyway and terrified of Lucius Malfoy. The guy was horrid, hating everyone who wasn't pure-blooded and filthily rich like him. In his world, people like Lily – who had Muggle parents - were nothing more than scum. Unfortunately, he had managed to amass a gang of like-minded people around him over the years who were all as twisted as he was. Like that creepy Bellatrix Lestrange girl with her heavily-lidded eyes. To Lily, they were like black holes.

In the past few months, graffiti had started going up all around the castle: Muggleborns out! We don't want filth in our dormitories! were among the slogans smeared in class rooms and bathrooms. Nobody dared to point a finger, but everyone had more than an inkling as to who the culprits were.

Lily squeezed Marlene's shoulder reassuringly. "One day, there will be payback for this. I was thinking something to do with Transfiguration …" She trailed off, looking around. It seemed Potter and Black had had their fun for now. The lights in the square had dimmed and people were slow-dancing to a slow pop song the band had started up. There were couples in corners, faces close together under mistletoes.

Everything seemed perfectly normal.

The two girls got a drink and settled down in a corner under a red-and-white striped awning. A few of the other six-years they knew from the Slug Club joined them after a while and with Slughorn and his pompous guests nowhere near them, Lily felt herself begin to relax. In fact, she felt positively ecstatic. The lights were warm in the square and she was laughing.

The colours seemed to melting between the glittering frozen moat and the skaters twirling and the two dozen tinsel-covered Christmas trees all over the room. It was like she was sitting in a carousel, slowly spinning in figure eights. She started swaying and the faces of the people around her were turning into twirling red-and-white lollipops. It was like being inside "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", her favourite childhood book.

And other people in the Christmas Town were feeling the same way. As Lily got up and started swaying around, she saw hats toppling off heads, people hopping around like frogs – was that the Minister of Magic lapping up his drink off the floor like a dog? – or waving their arms around crazily and completely off the beat. The part of her brain that wasn't completely fuzzy kept throwing questions at her: What is going on? Where am I? Why am moving on my hands and knees?

At some point, there was a burst of sound and then the sound of cheering as the room was flooded with people. Lily recognised many of them as fellow Gryffindors, though none of them were part of the Slug Club. Then she remembered the firework-figure of Professor Slughorn and the speech bubble: Entry by invitation only. And then that question: Oh, really? A small part of her brain, the questions-part, understood: this was not the party Slughorn had planned, but two people in purple clothes.

As Lily approached one of the shadowy corners of the little Christmas castle, she saw two people she recognised but in a context she had never expected before: Sirius – no longer tall and gangly but his usual shaggy-haired self - and Nora, leaning against the brick wall closely entwined. They were actually kissing, his hands her in her hair and her eyes were tight shut. No mistletoe in sight.

It was too much for Lily. "What is happening?" she groaned, holding her head.

"Hello, Evans," said a cheerful voice at her elbow. "Feeling a bit unsteady?" Someone took her arm and helped her up. When she looked, it was James Potter, no longer in his purple waistcoat but, like Sirius, quite himself.

"How do you like my party?" he asked.

Lily had difficulty forming words. She knew she ought to be angry at him for something, but couldn't quite remember what for. Instead, she felt herself feeling glad he was there. "Wha- what was … in that drink?"

"A bit of magic," he replied, winking. "And isn't it grand? Much more like a party than old Sluggie's dusty little get-togethers. You must like it better, too. And look." He suddenly threw up his hands and glitter burst into the air, falling down around them in a shower. "We made everything prettier."

Lily was too confused and the glitter was confusing her more as some of it had landed in his hair. It made her want to reach out and brush it away. They were mashed close together in a thick crowd and his eyes looked very green to her and he was grinning and for the first time in ages it didn't annoy her.

"Lily?" he prompted. "Hey, whoa, whoa – don't fall down!"

She realised her knees had given way and he had caught her. His hand rested on her hip.

Deciding it didn't matter anyway, the redhead reached up and brushed away some of the glitter. "It is prettier," she said. Then she shook her head. "And it's crazy."

"It might be," he answered and leaned down. Their faces were very close together. She could smell raspberries and alcohol on his breath. What were they doing?

"It's Christmas," she said, quite randomly.

"Make a wish," he replied back just as randomly.

She closed her eyes and made one.

And then they were kissing, pressing close together and unnoticed in the crowd, everyone else jumping around wildly and bumping into them. Lily's mind felt like it was firing fireworks itself, lollipops still spinning behind her closed eyelids like turning umbrellas. She felt like she was going to fall down – if he hadn't been holding her up.

But still, they were stumbling and moving back, closer and closer together. Suddenly Lily felt James stagger, felt him lose his balance and next moment, they had crashed to the floor in a heap.

Lily hit her head. When she lifted it, the spinning had stopped.

James was laughing, trying to help her up. "Are you okay?"

She sat there, frozen, for just a second, as she took in the scene around her. Drugged people swaying around, someone vomiting in the corner, everyone absolutely out of control. Including herself. And next to her on the red carpet under the silver trees, James Potter.

Nothing was okay.

"I can't believe you!" she spat. "You drugged me! You drugged all of us. That's enough to get expelled, do you realise that? And I kissed you. Ugh! This-," she pointed around at the chaos of a Christmas party, "-this stops now. I'm going to call Professor McGonagall." In a second she was on her feet and stalking away.

James followed, still laughing. "Come on, Evans, we were just having fun! Let go for once." He tried to grab her, to kiss her again, but she pushed him away.

"Stop it. I hate you!"

His grin had slipped. "Didn't seem like that when you were kissing me!"

"You were kissing me too! And you drugged me!" she shrieked.

"You're drunk, not drugged, Evans. Nobody forced you to drink all those magic wines, so maybe you should get off your high and mighty prefect-horse and admit it!"

"I'm not high and mighty and it has nothing to do with being a prefect – I'm just responsible! Drinking doesn't make you feel like you're turning into an animal and losing your mind - you're putting people in danger."

He seemed confused. "An animal? I thought you were feeling light-headed or something, but the spell shouldn't be –" Lily stumbled and to her annoyance, he caught her again. "Are you okay? Did you take anything else? Do you need the hospital wing?"

"Don't touch me, you hypocritical liar!" she shouted, pushing his hand away. "First you make me drunk and now you try and drag me off somewhere? That is just disgusting."

James pilled back his hand. "You are such a snob, Evans," he told her in disgust. "I'm trying to help you and you just don't want to see that, do you? I didn't drug you. I thought it was just an act, but you're just what Slughorn wants you to be – little Miss Prefect with the flawless grades and the perfect behaviour."

Lily felt her nostrils flare. "If that keeps me away from people like you, then I'm fine with that. And what happened with us," she said, gesturing between them, "never happened."

Before he could reply, the double doors behind Lily opened up. Framed in the doorway was none other than Professor McGonagall in her tartan dressing gown. "What is happening here?"

Lily lifted her chin and looked directly at James. "It was James Potter and Sirius Black. They crashed the party. They drugged all the guests, including me. They put us all in danger."

Professor McGonagall looked shocked. "Drugged?"

"Yes. Everyone," said Lily. James made no move to go away. "See for yourself."

The Transfiguration teacher's eyes traveled over the crowd. Her lips were white with rage when she turned back to James. "I cannot believe this. You go straight to my office, Potter, and stay there. This is a serious accusation. As for me, I will clean up this party." She nodded to Lily. "Thank you, Miss Evans."

Without another word, she strode into the crowd, already waving her wand. Lily stood with her arms folded in the entrance, feeling wretched.

Behind her, a pair of hands clapped together. "Well, that was quick, Evans. I'm impressed," said James. "I hope you don't get too bad of a hangover." And then he walked right past her and into the hallway without a backward glance.

()

(From the files of Argus Filch, caretaker)

Dec 20, 1976. Professor Slughorn's Christmas party apparently crashed by Sirius Black and James Potter. Other involvement suspected but no evidence. Party guests drugged with "Amnesiacia", therefore very muddled eyewitness accounts. Host has no recollection whether he invited the two. Crime reported by: Lily Evans, Gryffindor Prefect. Potter claims "Amnesiacia" was not put into drinks by them. Evans disagrees, but no evidence. Therefore no expulsion possible. Nightly detention for two weeks handed out. Application for detention to be served in dungeons and in chains denied by Headmaster.