Chapter Five
Welcome to the Veritaserum Drinking Party
or
Operation Get the Lies Out in the Open
"James! You're just in time!" Frank Longbottom's voice boomed as James opened the door to the Room of Requirement. Frank grinned at James, uncorking a bottle of butterbeer and handing it to him. "This party is going to go down in Hogwarts' History! All the houses together for one last send up! How do you like the place?" Frank asked James grinning, gesturing at the room, "Remus and I spent hours concentrating outside the door to get the place just right!"
James gaped in awe suddenly as he looked around. The room was completely unrecognizable. There was a large roaring fire with plenty of plush cushions scattered on the floor, velvet chaises with lounging girls holding dainty glasses, and house-elves balancing platters of chips pirouetting around the room. The walls that once held libraries of books when the Marauders studied Animagi Transfiguration had completely disappeared. In its place was a massive tower of dusty wines and hundreds of varieties of butterbeer for every taste in every flavor.
"By the way," Frank asked curiously, peering around James' back, "Where's Rita? I was sure Remus invited her …"
James shrugged in response, and was about to answer when he was pushed aside by a large crowd that had just entered behind him. People were slowly arriving behind James, and in just minutes, the room was bursting with seventh years roaring loudly and buzzing with anticipation. There had never been anything like this before. And the mastermind behind this could have only been -
"Remus!" James said loudly over the crowd, greeting his friend with a thump on the back, "I never knew you had it in you! You pulled off something Sirius and I have been trying to plan for years! Where is the old dog anyway?"
Remus' blanched, "I don't think he's coming, James. I tried to change his mind, but he wouldn't listen. I asked Dorcas and Emmeline to check on him. He was a bit miffed at the way you talked to Lily yesterday …"
"Still?" James scoffed, "I thought he'd be over it by now. Doesn't matter, does it? A good drink and I won't even remember we had a row!" James laughed loudly, calling a house-elf to fetch him a strong Firewhiskey.
"James, are you sure?" Remus asked doubtfully as James swigged the powerful shot, "You're not used to such strong liquor…"
James squinted as the drink went down, sending fire up his throat. He coughed loudly, leaning on Remus as he tried hard to breathe.
A small chuckling behind Remus startled the two of them as James continued to rasp. They turned, shocked to see Lily and Amos. Her green eyes were glinting emeralds in the dim light of the room.
"Potter," She said acidly, leaning into Amos' shoulder, "You really shouldn't be drinking such a manly drink like that. You know you can't handle anything fiery," She spat unkindly at him.
James narrowed his eyes, spitting back, "Evans, you couldn't be fiery in a million years. Just a cold-hearted wench. You're too too scared to do anything that frightens you …"
Lily leaned forward angrily, "Stop pretending you know what I'm about, Potter! You and your overblown ego think that just because you can't get me, you can treat me like one of your harem girls and talk to me like that… You still haven't apologized for yesterday …"
James appeared to choke, and there was a mad glint in his eyes, "What did you say? I can't get you? How about I just realized what a great twit you are, and you don't deserve to even be here, you … you …" James appeared to be struggling to stop himself, "You filthy … muh … stinky mubbb….. filthy mmm-"
Amos stepped forward, put a hand on James' chest, stopping him, "That'll do, Potter," He said icily, glancing back at Lily, "Apologize to Lily. Now."
Heaving angrily, James crossed his arms, "No."
Lily grated her teeth, pushing aside Amos, "YOU FILTHY HYPOCRITE! You were about to call me mud blood, weren't you? Weren't you?"
"SHUT UP, EVANS!" James barked, reaching for another drink.
"GO TO HELL, POTTER!" Lily stamped her feet, her face turning red, as Amos tried to hold her back.
They didn't realize that they were drawing a crowd. Quite a large crowd in fact, everyone in the room was openly staring. Lily and James were almost ready to kill each other, still glaring only at each other.
Suddenly, Frank stumbled forward, a little drunk, "Shh," He said, leaning in to James, distracting them both momentarily, "Don't … zzzz… make a noise. James Fotter might yell at you. Did you …" Frank raised his voice, "DID YOU KNOW," He suddenly whispered, "Did you know that Games likes Jilly? I mean Filly? Games like Belly? I mean … I mean … RITA LOUISA MARIA SKEETER!"
Lily looked annoyed, "You can't say Lily but you can say all that perfectly?"
Frank shook his head, pointing behind her, "No look, Rita's here!" Everyone turned to see that Rita was walking over to James, wearing a dragon print mini-dress. She snuggled up to James and glared menacingly at Lily.
Frank laughed happily, looking wildly around him for Remus, "Oi, Remus, she's here! The plan! The plan's going to work after all -- mmph -" Remus' hand suddenly clapped over Frank's mouth, and he gently led Frank back from the crowd.
"As I was saying, Potter, " Lily said casually, glaring back at Rita, who was nibbling James' ear, "DROP DEAD!" She turned to walk away.
"I have a better idea, Lilykins," James said, pushing Rita aside as he chased after Lily, "Why don't you make good on your promise and go out with the Giant Squid? It'll be a match made in coldhearted heaven!"
"You miserable toad!" Lily screamed, turning around, "Why don't you shag Skeeter and just leave me alone? You know you're just starving for some good -"
"WHY DON'T THE TWO OF YOU JUST FUCKING SHUT UP!" Three voices boomed in perfect harmony, and everyone turned around in surprise. Sirius, Jessica, and Dorcas were looking angrily at the middle of the room, walking together from the doorway as the crowd parted around them.
Sirius chuckled as he caught sight of Remus handing Frank some sober-up tonic, "Moony, when you invited me for a drinking party, you didn't tell me you were inviting Merlin and Queen Mab here too." He said, pointing at James and Lily. Several people chuckled.
Sirius slid his arm around Emmeline and Dorcas, who blushed, "Now I know you children have been waiting up for me to arrive," Sirius said, grinning at a few girls, "So let's not keep Remus' surprise game waiting any longer."
Remus grinned despite himself, and cleared his throat. "Ahem," He clinked his glass, "I'm sure we're all honored by Padfoot's presence, and I'm so pleased all four houses have turned up. We've got Slytherins, Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors all together, and to celebrate, I thought we'd have a little game."
"But we're already playing Exploding Snap with undiluted Firewhiskey," whined a Gryffindor from the back, "It's a game of daring and high stakes. Winner walks with their lives," The Gryffindor pressed on, taking off his shirt to dab at his forehead.
"We've got a rousing game of wizard's chess," A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs boomed from the other side, clearly reluctant to play with the thrill-seeking Gryffindors.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "This isn't what I had in mind, Moony, when you said this party would be fun."
"What did you have in mind then?" James asked curiously.
"Various drinking games with point systems where all the girls take their kit off slowly or have a jelly wrestling contest," Sirius said simply and the boys cheered.
"Black, you disgust me! I can't make my mind up if you're a chauvinist or a misogynist!" Emmeline said, ducked from under his arm and scowled at him.
"Whichever one means the Adonis to every woman's fantasy, love," Sirius said coolly.
Remus cleared his throat again, "Disappointing, Padfoot, really disappointing. Never mind him, we're going to be playing a simple game of truth or dare, and whichever house wins gets … James' invisibility cloak."
James barked, "Oi, no fair!"
Everyone looked interested and sat on cushions around Remus. He pulled out a worn looking hat, and a even older looking wand. "Simple. I ask a question from this hat and whoever the wand points to must answer truthfully - or take a shot if lying. The wand that's pointing at you will turn green if you're telling the truth, or red if you're not. And remember, we ask only questions from the hat and one question only."
With nobody noticing, Remus winked at a house-elf, who began pouring a vial of something into every glass and cup all the while being invisible. Remus sent the wand spinning, which slowed and sped up till it landed on each person.
The game began very hesitantly. The first one to get a question was Rita.
"Who do you fancy?" Remus asked .
"James, of course," Rita said, and kissed James on the cheek.
The wand glowed bright red, and Remus shook his head, "You're lying."
She gasped, and downed a shot of Firewhiskey. James looked at her curiously.
"All right," James said, "I have a question. Who here in this room wants to shag me right now?"
Sirius choked on his drink, and looked around, his hand trembling.
Slowly, Rita Skeeter, Marlene McKinnon, Teddy Tobias, Oliver Scamander, Sasha Avery, Tatty Harold, Alicia Fenwick, Bertha Jorkins, Susan Dearborn, Alecto Carrow, a sinister looking Slytherin, and Bellatrix Black reluctantly raised their hands, looking shamefaced.
James took a swig of his drink, smirking, "Good to know."
"This is fun!" Sirius cried excitedly, bouncing up and down, "Show of hands, Who here wants to shag me?"
A thunderous noise erupted as every hand in the room went up flying. Peter hesitantly raised up both hands to beat the competition. Remus upped Peter by lifting up his feet, and then proceeded to look horrified. Dorcas became the shade of a ripe tomato as her hand tried to stretch to the ceiling. Emmeline was looking at Sirius like a very, very hungry wolf. Snape flashed a shy, toothy grin at Sirius shyly from beneath a curtain of hair - it was his way of flirting.
A little afraid at all the lecherous looks going his way, Sirius made a face, cowering, "Merlin, I'm sorry I asked."
"NOOOOOO!" Rodolphus Lestrange suddenly screamed from the back, and everyone turned to look at him. Lestrange was madly clutching his hair, looking down at his girlfriend Bellatrix, who was giving Sirius a sexy hair toss. Lestrange screamed again, before running out the room, "But he's your COUSIN!"
Everyone cringed, eager to move on to the next question. Most everyone was asked, and most everyone began to lie, so they took a shot. After their first lie, every person had taken a shot of Veritaserum, and the only people who knew about it were Remus, Frank, and Peter. The next round began, and Sirius took turns asking the questions. The wand pointed at Snape.
Sirius quickly reached over for the hat, and pulled out a question. " All right, Snivelly, tell us a secret that nobody in this room knows. Something wicked about a person here and you. And remember, no lying. Penalty is death." He added for effect.
Not realizing he'd drunk from his glass spiked with Veritaserum, Snape began, "Er .. Nott sleeps in girly underpants."
As everyone burst into laughter, the wand turned green. But Sirius shook his head, "No, tell us something wicked."
Snape looked away, but the words tumbled out of his mouth, "I gave … Potter … a Hate Serum for Evans." He gasped, covered his mouth, looking shocked that he had admitted it.
"WHAT?" The Marauders yelled together, and Remus had to hold James back from punching Snape in the face.
"I knew it! Why would I call Evans such awful names?" James spat, "What else do you want me to do, Snape, besides sabotage everything I have ever tried to make with Evans?"
Snape growled, honestly barking, "I want you to ... CHOKE ON YOUR OWN VOMIT, POTTER!"
James was about to take a swing at Snape, but Sirius stopped him.
"Okay, forget it James. Let's get back to the game. Amos Diggory, you're turn," Frank said casually, pulling out a question then tossing it aside. "Who were you snogging last week behind the one-eyed witch ... You know, when I ran into you?" He looked expectantly at Amos, who blushed.
"Er … it was Teddy Tobias," Amos mumbled, "But he - he - came on to me!"
"So you're gay?" Frank asked, knowing the answer.
"YES! I am! I love Ted! Sorry Lily, but I just can't do this -" Amos said to Lily apologetically.
James suddenly burst into laughter, pointing at Lily and Amos, who scowled at him.
"And what is so amusing, Potter?" Lily asked, snatching the hat and pointing the wand at him, "Why don't we ask the great James Potter a question" She pretended to think, "Are you using Skeeter to make me jealous?"
James squirmed, "So what if I am?"
"Do you still like me?" She continued pressing James, as Remus tried to remind her of the rules of the one-question only policy.
"Yes! I still like you! Despite the Hate Serum, and everything else, I still like you! I can't stand to yell at you, and I can't bear hurting you!" James yelled at her, but his eyes were glassy. She almost broke into a smile, but James snarled angrily at himself.
James roared across the room, "And I know something is wrong here because we're all confessing to things we would lie about! I wouldn't tell you this, Evans, not in a million years! Something's fishy!"
"For the first time in my life, Potter, I agree with you," Snape said, standing up, "I believe someone's spiked our drinks with Veritaserum." He looked pointedly at Sirius, "And the penalty for using that potion in unauthorized government uses is Azkaban."
"I didn't do it!" Sirius said, standing up to tower over Snape.
"Who did?" Snape asked, looking around the room, expecting the truth serum to reveal the culprit.
Remus, Frank, and Peter couldn't help but pass each other knowing glances, since they were the only ones beside the house-elves who weren't drunk with truth serum. They could lie and still get away with it.
"You do realize this is illegal," Snape continued, "And the more we've been drinking it, the more we'll voluntarily give up secrets without being asked."
Everyone looked worried, but Rita looked positively spooked.
"You mean … because of my drinking … I'll tell everyone the truth voluntarily?" She asked suspiciously looking at her near empty bottle of Firewhiskey, "I … I … I love Sirius!"
"Tell us something we don't know!" Emmeline spat at her.
"All right," Rita replied to the rhetorical question, "I only agreed to go out with James so he'd get me box seats to the next World Quidditch Cup next year. And I've been stealing things from James' room since last week."
James covered his eyes, "Oh Merlin …"
Peter looked worried, "I … I … think I like Hestia Jones' body! I want it! I want it bad!"
Remus groaned quietly, "Wormtail, you thick-headed pillock!" Remus chastised under his breath, "You didn't have any veritaserum so shut up confessing!"
Peter looked relieved.
On the other side of the room, Snape was rounding up the Slytherins, "This is an obvious plot to overthrow the other houses by some marauding Gryffindor. We'd all better leave now before we say anything else that could compromise us! Everyone, RUN, NOW!"
A mad scramble for the door ensued, and the drunken students stumbled into each other, pushing each other out of the way. As people rushed past James, he walked over to Lily, who was leaving with her friends.
"Wait," James said in a strong voice, holding on to Lily's arm, "Just one question, Evans. Just one."
She stopped, looking into his glassy passionate eyes, and nodded mutely.
"Did you ever ... just once ... in your entire life ever like me?" He asked earnestly.
Someone pushed past her, making her stumble. He helped her up to her feet. She looked up at him again.
"Yes," she paused, "I did. A long time ago."