Banshees and Blood
Lily was doodling on her parchment; a pair of eyes gazed back up at her, wide and clear, with white all around the iris. Usually they were very feminine, but today they had a hard, indefinably male edge to them. She had shaded them in roughly with ink, but imagined them to be golden brown; the kind of eyes that you could get lost in, stare at for hours, but would gaze calmly back no matter what happened.
She tried to rouse herself and listen to what Professor Jenson was saying about defensive measures, but the classroom was too warm to concentrate. They'd had Herbology all morning in the freezing Greenhouses while Mary, Laura and Dorcas had been lazing in bed. After trekking back through freezing gusts of wind, a steamy shower and a hot lunch, Lily just wanted to curl up in her bed again, or in the Common Room near the fire.
Dorcas was complaining about the wind and how awful Quidditch Practice would be later.
'It'll blow itself out by Saturday,' she heard Black mutter as he glanced out the window and James murmured a soft agreement.
October was coming to an end already and it seemed that the term was rushing past incredibly quickly. They had been at school for almost two months.
Something flew past her head and landed on Rosier's desk as Professor Jenson turned to the blackboard. Rosier gathered the note up quickly and stuffed it out of sight as the young Professor turned back round, he was still sitting beside Mary and they seemed to be getting along fine. Mary had said he was actually really nice; "not like Avery and Mulciber."
Lily looked round at the other Slytherin boys, but they were all writing. She caught Severus' glance across at Mary though and immediately knew it had been him who threw the note.
Professor Jenson divided them up into pairs, mostly on a seating basis and Lily went with Laura to practise counter-hexes. The desks were cleared to the side of the room; James and Black were split up in a bid to prevent them causing mayhem. James ended up with Will Darr who looked slightly apprehensive and Black got Tara Canton-Fell, who rolled her eyes as he winked at her.
Then they were throwing spells at each other; strictly limited to the prescribed ones on the blackboard. Still, there was an echoing bang a few seconds later and Remus lay crumpled against the wall as Avery tried to quell his sniggering to mutter, 'Sorry, bad aim…'
Remus struggled to his feet, gasping for breath and glared daggers at the Slytherins who were grinning sadistically in the corner. Professor Jenson had been trying to help Mary with her counter-hex and had missed what Lily assumed was a deliberate attempt to hurt Remus. He seemed alright though and flourished his wand at Peter who squeaked something that definitely wasn't a counter-hex.
Friday afternoon arrived and the Gryffindor Quidditch Team were high over the pitch, battling the stormy weather and trying to exact perfection in the howling gale.
'IT'S USELESS!' Dorcas screamed as the Quaffle soared past her once again, well out of reach, 'THE WIND IS TOO STRONG FOR REVERSE PASSES!'
'WE'LL RUN IT AGAIN!' James shouted back.
It was getting darker by the second and if anything the wind was getting worse, 'IF WE CAN DO IT IN THIS, WE'LL BE FINE TOMORROW: IT'll BLOW OUT OVERNIGHT!'
Dorcas almost screamed back at him in frustration; they had been out there for three hours and they could hardly see. She was soaked from the flurries of rain that swept through with the heavier gusts and just about frozen to her broomstick.
After three more attempts though, the conditions were only getting worse and James blew his whistle to call it a day. They had just over an hour to get back inside, shower and change for the Feast.
'BLACK! BLACK! FIND THOSE DAMN BLUDGERS!' James yelled into the ever darkening sky.
Sirius appeared next to him, 'PACKED THEM UP AN HOUR AGO!' he called.
They landed and ran for the changing rooms. James heaved the door shut after George ducked through and looked round at his dripping team, 'I think we'll be alright,' he rasped, throat raw from shouting into the storm.
'Bloody well hope so,' Tommy muttered, 'I haven't felt properly dry all week.'
'Right, let's hit the showers before the Feast starts; remember we need to be up early tomorrow!'
'Yeah, yeah, we know, James,' Hannah sighed, squeezing water out of her hair.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter entered the Great Hall and would have been amazed if they hadn't sneaked in earlier to set up some celebratory extras. Rumours had been flying round the school for a week that Dumbledore had booked 'Banshee and the Wailers', for an after feast dance.
They found the ceiling a bruised purple, swirling with clouds and arcing lightning bolts. Every so often a break in the cloud would reveal a daemonic looking quarter moon, with glaring red eyes and grinning mouth full of fangs like shards of glass. Thousands of coloured candles hovered over the tables; vibrant red, ghostly blue, sunny yellow and sickly green. Suits of armour creaked menacingly; rusting and wielding weapons that looked as freshly bloodstained as if they had just trooped in off the battlefield.
The Marauders grinned at the lot of them, finding their places at the Gryffindor table and sitting with the girls of their year. Fifth Years and above were allowed to stay after the feast for the dancing, and they all had their best dress robes on; even Peter looked alright after he had scrubbed up and Remus had persuaded him into a pale blue contraption that went somewhat with his watery eyes.
Sirius sought out Lizzy by the Ravenclaw table before he sat down though, resplendent in a set of silvery-grey robes that never quite seemed to stay the same shade. He met Lizzy with a passionate kiss, earning a frown from McGonagall before he left her blushing happily and descended languidly into the seat beside James.
'Catch you later, babe,' he whispered as he left her.
'Wow, Lily, you look…. Well, wow…' James was literally speechless; Lily had an English green dress on that revealed her lower neck without being too avant-garde. It showed off her pale skin, brought out her wonderful eyes and hugged her slim waist without being too bold.
James could have stared at her all night, but Dorcas broke in; complaining that her useless Quidditch Captain had kept her so long she didn't have time to sort herself out properly. Nevertheless, Remus leaned across almost instantly and told her in no uncertain terms that she looked utterly ravishing, his eyes glittering like diamonds. His gentlemanly statement only caused an outbreak of giggling on the far side of the table, and he grinned wolfishly at them.
Then Dumbledore was standing up, his eyes twinkling above spangled lunar robes of haunting green. He gave a short introduction to the Feast, welcomed them and the food appeared.
An hour or two later a stage had appeared and the younger years were reminded to be on their way, while several people took up instruments on the stage itself.
'Banshee' Bob himself appeared and waved merrily to the crowd, dressed in black robes covered in ominous, multi-coloured stains. He and his fellow band members were all incredibly pale, hair flowing long and straight to their waists. A guitar stuck up, then the drums, then the whole band launched straight into their latest release; 'One Warlock Wonder'.
Almost immediately people filled the space in front of the stage and James leaned across to Laura, winked and said, 'May I have this dance?' Then he swept into the thickening mass of people; they had both been made to go to dancing lessons when they were younger, hating it at the time. Now though they were able to show off a few of their elaborate, and greatly adapted, ballroom steps to the accompanying rock band.
Lily watched James lead Laura into the suddenly swarming crowd and felt oddly piqued. But Caradoc appeared with a twinkle in his eye and bowed, offering her his hand and swept her into the throng. Then she was swinging and twirling in the crowd with everyone else, she stopped worrying about, well, anything and just enjoyed the music.
Somewhere between the third and fourth song, Caradoc melted away, mouthing, 'Need a drink,' and James appeared, taking her hand and twirling her round as a burst of 'Fly my waa-aa-aay!' reached her ears. She had nowhere near the experience Laura had of dancing in Wizarding community, but she just about managed to keep up with him and a look of delighted surprise crossed his face as she did so. Thankfully the song ended before she ran out of steps and James bowed dramatically and turned to steal Dorcas from her partner as Caradoc reappeared, leaving Lily out of breath. Caradoc wanted to join the next dance, but Lily needed a rest after James' exuberant spinning and twirling, so they sat down to watch for a little while.
Sirius and the Townley girl he was going out with were swaying to and fro until the music reached a crescendo and the pace changed suddenly. Then she could all but hold in her giggles as James literally swept Dorcas off her feet and lifted her into the air. Sirius, of course, was not to be outdone, but suddenly left Lizzy and spun Marlene, who was nearby. The look on Lizzy's face was murderous and she stormed away.
Sirius soon disappeared too though and Marlene found her friend Silvia, going in search of drinks. Then a slow guitar struck up and Caradoc dragged her back into the crowd to the opening lines of 'No Matter How Far'. His arms encircled her and she could smell a woody, citrus smell coming from him. She saw James look over and one eyebrow frowned slightly before he turned away again.
James could barely hold himself back; clear, emerald green eyes gazed up at him and he was having to physically restrain himself from stooping and putting his lips to hers. He looked up and away before he could do something stupid, feeling the closeness of her body to his.
Then disaster struck; he caught Mary's eyes in the crowd over Lily's head. She gave him a meaningful look and shook her head, her eyes widening when she saw he now had his arm around Lily's waist. He saw her pull out her wand and before anything could get out of hand he faded into the crowd.
He had no idea Mary felt that strongly about him and Lily. He shrugged his shoulders; there would be plenty of other chances, wouldn't there? He grabbed Dorcas and spun her away from her partner, who looked more than little annoyed, but wasn't going to stop him.
Sirius left Marlene and went to find Lizzy, annoyed at how quickly she had just stormed off, but caught Remus' eye before he went and gave him the nod to start the Marauders' additional festivities. James quickly appeared by Remus' side and they pulled out their wands.
They had spent an hour earlier sorting out the right spells and with a simple twitch and the right words, carefully judged to be in time with a crescendo in the music, suddenly the visors of all the suits of armour burst open. Out sprayed hundreds of transfigured bats, streaming across the hall and screams rose above the music. Peter was ready on the other side of the Hall though, and directed his wand upwards, whispering a few more, well-chosen words.
When the bats reached the ceiling, the transfigurations reversed themselves and sparkling drops of fake blood sprayed out from each little creature. They rained down, only to vanish just above the dancers' heads; where a carefully constructed ward had been placed. Remus had come up with the idea of testing their new ward talents to not cover everyone in fake blood, citing that the girls were likely to murder them if they ruined any dresses. Similar to the enchantments used to move food from the kitchens to the House tables; the blood reappeared elsewhere. Anyone in the Slytherin Common Room right now would be getting a nasty shock.
A little later, as delighted laughter broke out after the shock, James rounded up his Quidditch team, knowing that they needed an early night, despite the festivities. Even Sirius didn't groan too much as James prised him away from where he found Lizzy and quickly made up; they were all feeling the tension of tomorrow's match. It was the first of the season and against their biggest rivals, maybe not in skill, but definitely in terms of Houses.
Lily spent several minutes looking round for James, but couldn't see him and again, felt oddly piqued; he had been so nice to her lately and she had had fun dancing with him. It was little while before she realised that Dorcas and Sirius had gone too. Then it hit her: Quidditch came before everything else.
She felt a little disappointed, wishing now she had managed to have another dance with him and went to get a drink. Caradoc seemed a little boring after James' dancing; he seemed more content just to sway about in circles. She spotted Mary who had somehow got attached to Rosier in the press as she found some butterbeer.
She had screamed and laughed at the bats and blood, wondering like everyone else, if they were a late addition or part of the festivities. From the looks on the teachers' faces they were a late addition and she saw Professor Flitwick look enquiringly at Remus who had raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
As the dancing came to a close, Caradoc walked her up the stairs and kissed her on the cheek by way of good night, before heading to Ravenclaw Tower. She felt as though the evening had somehow missed something. Unsure of what she was trying to remember or think of, she went to bed feeling strangely unsettled.