Notes: Yes, I know it is very long! Forgive me. I tried to add a little more humor to it and make it more entertaining, to keep my readers and R&Rers from falling asleep. ;] Note the word "galloping" and its irony. And Millicent Bulstrode's mom is never mentioned, so I just made up "Cordelia Busltrode." "Bollocks" is British slang for "Absolute rubbish!"
Chapter #13: Cordelia, The Slytherin
3303
She had seen the messy-haired boy run out of the Great Hall with several pairs of eyes trailing after him, including her own. Before she'd known what she was doing, she was following him almost automatically as if it were an instinct, deaf to all of her friends who had called after her.
Now, she was looking down at James Potter, perplexed at finding him leaning on the stone wall of Hogwarts and sitting on the grass with his eyes closed. She'd never seen James like this before.
The moment she asked can I help you? she regretted it. After all, who was she to think that she could help the leader of Marauders, the Potter boy everybody knew of, whether it was with hatred or admiration? Who was she to think she could help James Potter?
James opened his eyes in complete shock; he didn't move for at least a whole minute. Finally,
"Hi…" He blinked rapidly. "Um, I didn't think anybody else was here. Weren't you just at the Gryffindor table?"
"My apologies," Lily said, her tone suddenly full of ice. "I didn't know the courtyard was off-limits when a Marauder occupies it. I'll go now." She turned to leave.
"Hey—wait! Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Don't…don't go."
Lily looked back at him, and after a pause, went to sit next to him.
"Rough day starting, I see?" she said, her voice softer now. "I don't normally see you, uh, galloping down the Great Hall like you're running away or sprinting for a marathon. Neither does anybody else."
"Yeah…well…I don't normally have feuds with my best friends either."
"Feuds?"
"It's nothing," James muttered. "It'll pass."
They were both silent for a moment; then, Lily stood up and patted James's head. His hair was surprisingly soft and silky underneath her fingers. "Well, whatever it is," she said sincerely, "I hope it'll blow over soon. See you, Potter."
She left the premises, not knowing that James's eyes were following her until she was gone.
"Where did you go?"
"What happened?"
"Where's James?"
Questions arose back at the Gryffindor table when Lily returned to her breakfast, though most of the commotion was over. All the students at the other House tables were back to their normal chatter and breakfast indulgences.
The whole James-Lily drama had had become fairly apparent to everyone within the past couple of weeks. How James was "madly in love" with Lily and how Lily didn't want to have anything to do with him. Watching Lily chase after James—literally—was a new angle they hadn't seen or heard of before.
"I'm not quite sure," Lily half lied. "I didn't really bother much with it; just went to see where he was going. He's sitting in the courtyard now, but don't bother. Nothing exciting going on, really." However, she only said that because, secretly, she felt like he probably needed some time alone. News spreads fast even at the great school of Hogwarts—the paintings on the walls were especially good at passing on the word—and, somehow, she didn't think a feud between the Marauders was going to be taken lightly.
"Really." Gwen was grinning at her friend. "Whatever you say, Lil's."
"Yup. Oh look, more pancakes."
At that moment, a young and very small first year by the name of Retchie Singleton came over and handed a piece of folded parchment to Lily.
"From Professor Slughorn," the pipsqueak told her, then scampered off before Lily could say "thank you."
Gwen, Gizelle and Simon all leaned over to watch Lily open the letter.
"I reckon a Slug-like meeting's in order," Simon said with a grin.
"More like a reunion," snickered Gizelle. "An assembly, perhaps."
Lily did nothing but roll her green eyes at her teasers. She knew they were only joking; they'd always thought it funny that she was a member of the infamous Slug Club, ever since their first year, when Slughorn had invited her to one of his meetings during Potions class. It wasn't that they thought she was incapable or unworthy, but that Slughorn was unworthy. With his enormous potbelly and lazy ways of doing things, they thought he was somewhat a joke of a teacher.
Slughorn wasn't Lily's favorite teacher, but she thought him a "nice, decent fellow who knows his Potions." And she had to admit she loved it whenever he beamed at her "clever, formidable work."
Sure enough, Lily opened the parchment to reveal a short note in Slughorn's usual scribble:
Slug Club Meeting
Today. The Potions classroom. Five o'clock. You are welcome to bring a friend.
Lily sighed. She hoped this one wouldn't be too long, though the weekend meetings were, granted, easier on her than those on the weekdays when she had mountains of homework filling up her agenda. No, she only wished it wouldn't be long so she'd have enough time to fulfill her promise to Severus.
"Eh? Shore' nuff," said Simon. "'Tis a Sluggish meeting indeed."
"Oh be quiet," said Lily, though there was a hint of humor in her voice.
"Bring a friend? You oughtta' bring ol' James—or what do his friends call him?—Prongs, that's it. You oughtta' drag ol' Prongs there. Sluggy likes him, don't he?"
"Heck no!" Lily cried stridently, causing a few glances her way. "No, no, why would I bring him? I hate Potter…besides, Slughorn isn't crazy about him at all. Can't one of you come along with me?"
"Can't, got Quidditch practice," said Simon automatically. Lily turned to Gwen and Gizelle, who both immediately shook their heads regretfully. "Sorry, Lily. I have way too much homework that we've got to catch up on in Ancient Runes. Professor Babbling is, like, trying to murder us or something right before our next test," Gwen said.
"Yeah, sorry, Lil,'" added Gizelle.
Lily heartily told them that it was fine and they shouldn't worry about it, but the three didn't look convinced.
"Have fun with Runes! And you with Quidditch!" Lily called to her friends a few hours later. She was in a hurry, for the Slug Club meeting must have already started by this time. And although Slughorn was notorious for being late, he wasn't a fan of tardiness from his students.
"Yeah, and you with the Slugs," giggled Gizelle, who was arm in arm with Gwen.
"No, really, we're being serious!" Simon said at the sight of Lily's dissatisfied look. "Tell them we all said hi."
"Bye!"
Lily went on by herself down to the dungeons, where the Potions classroom and Professor Slughorn's office was located. Even before she had approached the corridor leading to the room did Lily hear music blasting and voices muttering. She cut across through Professor Slughorn's office, which was empty, and straight into the classroom. A long dining table had been set in the middle of the room, with the student chairs sitting in a row. The student tables had been pushed aside against the walls and the low, hackneyed lamp on the ceiling had been bewitched into a grand silver chandelier that spouted bright lights from every bulb.
Several student members of the Slug Club were sitting at the table, where food was laid carefully untouched. As Lily stepped into the room, many eyes landed on her and much of the chatter died down.
"Ms. Lily Evans!" boomed Professor Slughorn, who was—of course—sitting at the head. "Tut, tut. Lateness won't do, my good dear! But as you usually aren't tardy, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you were late for a good reason." Lily caught a few students from the corner of her eye sighing with exasperation at Professor Slughorn's special treatment, but she ignored them.
The last phrase had sounded like a question of some sort to Lily, so she replied, "Sorry, Professor, I was in my dormitory doing homework and lost track of the time."
"Aye, doing your homework, no doubt! You good little witch, you." Professor Slughorn sighed with awe. "Oh, Ms. Evans, what shall we do with you? We need to ban you from working for a day or two and see what you make of it!" He chuckled at his own unfunny wit. "Unfortunately, Ms. Pennington has taking my right side and Mr. Wood has taken my left; I guess you shan't have the privilege of sitting beside me this evening, eh?" Professor Slughorn folded his large arms.
"This seat will do, sir, thank you," Lily said with expertise, making her way to sit in one of the few empty chairs left towards the opposite end of the table. "And I'll be sure to not come late again."
"That will do, Ms. Evans," Professor Slughorn said fondly. "Now then," he proceeded to address the entire group, "I hope you all aren't too upset for having to miss the magnificent dinner in the Great Hall for just one day…though we are eating quite early and perhaps once we are finished there may be a leftover treacle tart somewhere here or there…nonetheless, I am quite certain that our dinners here are just as delicious! Indeed, I feel like we ought to thank our house elves in the kitchens for preparing such fine meals for us, but time is waning and the day is dimming. So what are we waiting for? Tuck in!" The students didn't need reminding. They went ahead and 'tucked in,' and soon plates were full and so were mouths.
Lily had already downed a slice of the enormous chicken pot pie dish and was now scooping a large spoonful of garlic and white cheddar cheese mashed potatoes onto her plate. She looked down towards Professor Slughorn, who was asking Andromeda Pennington about her latest potion, which had apparently earned "extra marks" due to its "impeccable results." Having digested the first few bites of their dinner, many students began conversing with each other. Some chattered about the Hogsmeade trip from the previous day, while others talked about the latest news from The Daily Prophet, and still others exchanged worries about the pile of homework they had recently procrastinated and were now in danger of not completing it.
Lily delved into her mashed potatoes when a black-haired girl next to her said, "bit of a hog, are you?"
"Excuse me?" Lily nearly choked on her second helping of mash. "And may I ask who you are?" She unintentionally swallowed her mash, and it felt as though a big lump had formed at the base of her throat. Nevertheless, she kept her eyes on the rather creamy pale girl beside her. The girl had the nerve to grin at her!
"Bulstrode," the girl told Lily, holding out a hand. "Cordelia Bulstrode."
"Well Cordelia," Lily said haughtily, trying to ignore the lump and shake the girl's hand aggressively, "watch who you call a hog next time and—!"
"Bollocks," the girl called Cordelia said, laughing. "You may be able to whip up a sturdy antidote, but you sure can't take a joke, Lily Evans."
At this point, Lily was confused and wasn't sure to take this witch's comments as insults or merely what she perceived to be as "a joke."
"Guess there's no need to introduce myself," she said to Cordelia coldly.
"Well, nice to meet you anyway. And it's Cordy," Cordelia corrected her. "Or Cordelia. It doesn't matter, really, but most of my friends call me Cordy."
"Um, okay," said Lily. Since the tension seemed to have lessened, she turned back to her food. "Well, Cordy, some people just like to appreciate their food more than others do." She emphasized her point quite impressively by stuffing some fries into her mouth. "Yum."
Cordelia laughed again and said, "I told you, I was just joking, though I must admit that I'm not too hungry. Had a few delicious crumpets earlier, the ones my boyfriend stole for me from the kitchens."
"Stole?" Lily looked up, utterly surprised. "How would your, um, boyfriend know where the kitchens are?"
Cordelia leaned over and winked at Lily. "It's a secret. He won't tell me either, and only he and his friends know where the way in is."
"Interesting," replied Lily, not abandoning the cool tone from her voice completely. Right before she took another mouthful, however, an arm nudged her.
"Look, I'm befriending you, in case you hadn't notice yet," Cordelia said, with her hand outstretched again. "It's Cordelia."
Lily looked at her incredulously, realizing that this witch was anticipating a welcome handshake no matter what. "Lily Evans," she said. "Um…is this your first time here or something?"
"Yeah, first time," Cordelia echoed. "Slughorn invited me into his, ah, club only a few days ago right after Potions class. Apparently only students who outlive his expectations or have interesting connections get to join, or at least that's what everybody thinks. Frankly, I agree. He must've overheard me talking to Lucius about my granddad, who invented the Oakshaft 79."
"You're related to Elias Grimstone?" Lily dropped her fork and stared at Cordelia incredulously.
"Yep."
"Wow." Lily turned back to her plate, still stunned with awe. "I didn't think I'd ever meet someone related to someone else who was famous."
Cordelia chuckled before grabbing a dinner roll and whipping some fresh, yellow butter on it. "Well, there's a first for everything. I'm not exactly a total potions fanatic though, so part of me really doesn't know why I'm even in this club. I'm more of a, well, you can say a Dark Artist."
Lily looked at Cordelia, thoroughly interested now. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you a first year?"
"Second-year. You a fifth like Lucius?"
"Malfoy?" Lily looked surprised.
"Um yeah? Do you know him? I mentioned him a minute ago…"
Lily had to consciously stop herself from grinding her teeth. "Yes I know him."
"Are you two friends?"
"I really wouldn't call us friends," Lily said, the look on her face very hard.
"Um, okay then." Cordelia's eyebrows were shot up but she said no more about Lucius. "So are you a fifth?" She chewed her bread.
"What? Oh yeah…"
"Awesome…you get to take the O.W.L.s and everything."
"Yeah…big whoop." Lily became disinterested again and returned to her food.
"Anyway, so the Slugster over there seems to favor you a lot…"
"Yeah, it can get kind of annoying sometimes though." She regretted it right after she said it. Lily quickly turned to Cordelia and added, "I'd rather you not tell anybody I said that."
"On my honor as a Slytherin." Cordelia grinned. "And I'll bet…I wouldn't want a professor tailing me like that, and I'd have to try and stay a model student all the time like you…"
"Er, well I wouldn't exactly call myself a model student. I'm really into Potions though, so I tend to do well in that subject." Lily just thought of something she should've noticed before. "Oh, wait, you're a Slytherin?"
"Yeah? Got a problem with that?" But Cordelia didn't look offended or miffed; rather, she looked curious and challenging. She didn't take her eyes off of Lily, however, as she reached to fill her bowl with steaming chicken noodle soup.
"No, no…I just—just didn't know." Lily shrugged, trying to look as if she didn't really care all that much.
"Mm…people always seem to misjudge us Slytherins. They think we're just a bunch of slithering sneaky snakes." Cordelia let out a hollow laugh before taking a hearty gulp of her soup. Nearly half of her bowl became empty.
"Oh, I didn't—!"
"I think you did," Cordelia said in a slightly cool voice after swallowing. "But no matter, it's nothing new."
Lily felt slightly ashamed of herself but then, after thinking over it, said, "Well, I suppose you're right, but stereotypes usually are backed up by some sort of factual truth." As she was saying this, desserts replaced the empty main course dishes and everyone scrambled with an "Oh!" to get the first helpings. Lily helped herself to some chocolate pudding.
"Still...it's not a great idea to approach situations based on stereotypes. You never know who will end up defying them."
Lily stopped eating for a moment to contemplate about this. However, her contemplations got nowhere, as only seconds later Professor Slughorn's massive silhouette appeared behind her.
"Making new friends, I see?" He said in his usual booming voice. Lily slightly jumped; she had almost forgotten the rest of the Slug Club was there. "Good, good, that's what I like to see in my club—a little bit of collaboration, a little tightening on the belts!" He winked at Lily, who tried to wink back but totally missed once he began patting her back forcefully. "Anyway, carry on now, Ms. Evans! Ms. Bulstrode!"
Cordelia rolled her eyes as Professor Slughorn walked away. "'A little tightening of the belts—' honestly!" Lily giggled. "It's just the way he is."
A short, slightly awkward silence followed in which both witches concentrated on eating. Lily wasn't sure how she was supposed to be feeling. It was nice to make a new friend, especially since she'd felt pretty lonely during the last few club meetings, but Cordelia wasn't the type of friend she had planned on making. The cynical and almost conceited air that Cordelia presented herself with was not a particularly flattering personality.
"So…" Cordelia continued as if there had been no pause, "who else do you hang out with here? In the club, I mean." She scooped a slice of apple pie onto her plate and added a generous dollop of butter pecan ice cream on top.
"Not many people, really," Lily confessed.
"Oh really? Hmm…You don't seem like you wouldn't be popular," Cordelia replied. It took a few seconds for Lily to get what she said, but once she did she gasped out in triumph and said, "Fancy a stereotype, do you?"
Cordelia stopped chewing and for a split second Lily thought she was going to slap her. But instead Cordelia roared with laughter.
"You got me all right!" she cried with glee, pointing at Lily and then patting hard on the table. "Nice one."
Lily watched her in astonishment and could think of nothing to say except, "Er… thanks I guess."
At that moment, Professor Slughorn stood up and said loudly, "In just a few minutes, our meeting shall be adjourned. This was a pleasant meeting and I'm glad to see several new faces! It's been a pleasure getting to know all of you, and I shall inform you all of the next meeting. I'm thinking about having a little potion competition then, spice things up a bit, you know?"
The plates were whisked away within seconds and the table automatically cleaned itself, with stains disappearing and little bits of crumbs forming into nothing but particles of thin air. Professor Slughorn grunted with satisfaction and began shooing students away.
"So, who do you usually hang out with?" Lily wondered aloud curiously as she and Cordelia made their way through the crowd of Slugs and out into the dungeon corridor.
"Oh, I've got this little group I hang out with," Cordelia answered. "They're pretty cool people, all Slytherins—but I guess that's not exactly a good thing, is it? At least not to you…" there was that slight smirk on her face; Lily was beginning to get used to it.
"No it's not," Lily said defensively. "My best friend is a Slytherin!"
"Really?" Cordelia doubled back in surprise.
"Yep, so you can't talk about me anymore," Lily said rather childishly. "Who's in that little group of yours? Several second years, no doubt?"
"Well, quite the contrary. I'm much luckier than most other younger years…I hang out with the big bad wizards," Cordelia said almost pompously. "There's Lucius of course," she added automatically. "And, ah, these guys named Floyd Avery, Rhett Crabbe—he's a dumbass, I don't even know why he hangs out with us, Evan Rosier—oh, and Severus Snape, of course."
"What?!"
