The Hog's Mead

Snivellus was flung back against the wall tumbled sideways into the nettles, as James stuffed the Invisibility Cloak out of sight before anyone could see it. Sirius advanced through the undergrowth by the path, wand trained on Snape as he scrabbled among the weeds for his wand.

Then Lily reappeared at the window, a bloody faced Caradoc Dearborn just behind her.

'Potter!' she shouted, 'What the hell do you think you are you doing!'

'Stopping this little prick ruining your date,' Sirius replied for him, 'Sneaking around, following you like it was his slimy business,' he then raised his wand a little higher towards Caradoc who flinched slightly, 'Episkey.'

Lily looked from James to Sirius to Severus. It was clear that Severus had been in the wrong, but why had the two boys been following him in the first place?

James read her mind before she could open her mouth to ask.

'We were coming out of Zonko's and we saw him slithering along behind you two with his wand out,' he said raising his hands as if to show that he himself wasn't carrying his wand, 'He didn't look too happy about old Caradoc being with you. Sorry he got you by the way, old chap!' he grinned at Caradoc.

It seemed strange to Lily that Caradoc merely grinned back and said, 'Nah, thanks for having our back,' while all three of the boys had, in fact, been following them.

She was about to say that she could defend herself, when the strangest expression crossed Black's face.

Realisation came in a rush for Sirius.

James had been pissed off all day; Lily had agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Finn Quigley over him. His friend had been sour since they had heard she had said yes.

It was definitely one of their worse Hogsmeade trips; Remus had dragged them round some awful bookshop and Hagrid had been in The Hog's Head so they couldn't even go in for a cheeky pint. Now it was starting to rain as they sat in The Three Broomsticks; what little conversation there had been had dried up several minutes before.

James' face turned even grimmer as Finn and Lily put on their coats and left, holding hands. As the door swung to behind them, Sirius spotted someone on the far side of the street who barely ever came to Hogsmeade.

Sirius was heading down the stairs to catch up with the others as they left for Hogsmeade, taking the shortcut that took him past Ravenclaw Tower and down the stairs on that side of the castle. He jumped down onto the Fourth floor corridor and found himself facing Snape who seemed to have been looking out a window, lurking. Neither of them had said anything and Sirius had gone on his way.

It was only that evening he had found out that John Cauldwell, who had asked Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him had fallen down a flight of stairs and ended up in the Hospital Wing. Cauldwell had been in the year above, in Ravenclaw.

'You alright, Black?'

Sirius looked up, 'Yeah, fine.'

'You looked a little pale for a minute then.'

James could never know, come to think of it, Sirius couldn't be sure… There could be any number of reasons that…

He stepped towards Snape, who had found his wand and was vaguely pointing between Sirius and James, 'Get out of here, Snake; if I ever see you following people again…' he tailed off; Lily was just there.

Pure hatred shone out of Snivellus, but he understood what Sirius was saying as he stumbled to his feet.

A minute later, the tail of Snape's dishevelled robes were vanishing down the hill and Caradoc was helping Lily clamber out of the window again.

'I think I owe you two a drink,' he smiled easily, not noticing the way James' jaw stiffened as he put an arm around Lily's shoulders.

They found space in The Three Broomsticks with Remus, Dorcas and Peter and wedged themselves in as Caradoc ordered butterbeer and pasties. Remus raised an eyebrow at their appearance with Caradoc and Lily, but didn't say anything before prodding Peter, 'It's your turn.'

'Yeah, but I bought the first ones, it's Dorcas' tur-'

'Really, Wormtail?' James asked disapprovingly, managing a passable impression of the way McGonagall pursed her lips when she was fed up, 'You're saying a girl ought to be buying her own drinks?'

Peter grumbled something about it being their turn, but disappeared towards the bar to order more butterbeer. Sirius promptly took his seat, sliding in beside Dorcas and scanning the room for pretty lifeforms.

'Lily! There you are! We've been looking for you all morning!' Mary had appeared with Marlene and Laura.

Mary took in James and Caradoc, either side of Lily and shot her a loaded look.

Lily squirmed slightly, but smiled back as though nothing was happening.

'Pull up a chair,' Remus invited them and they sat down; Lily moved slightly away from James.

'Oh, congrats on winning yesterday!' Marlene smiled at them and something piqued Sirius interest in her, James noticed. He could tell from the way Sirius shuffled slightly; sitting taller and more imposing. James gave it a week before they be meeting up quietly.

Sirius had the knack of being mysterious and distant most of the time, so that when he suddenly 'opened up' with some unsuspecting girl, she ended up being so surprised she didn't realise they were already kissing. James watched as his best mate fixed his eyes in the girl, interest and enthusiasm positively sparkling in them, rather than the usual blank, emotionless wall.

Sirius had a problem though; the same one as James.

His mate could never connect with any of the girls he dated, so he got bored and soon they simply weren't dating any more. James wondered if he ought to try and speak to Remus again, then quickly decided against it; look where the last argument had left them. Besides, it was clear that Lily had found someone else, and James would have rather remained torturing himself than pick with Caradoc at that moment, knowing that it would set him and Lily back to square one.

They moved from the Three Broomsticks on to Wiseacre's; leaving the girls to spend time in Gladrags while they looked at important things like brooms and discussed whether Sirius should be getting a new one.

An hour or more later they found the girls in Honeydukes and James drew Lily away from the rest; showing her a new selection of Squeakmints that made you speak with a strangely high pitched voice for a minute or so. He made her laugh with an impression of Professor Flitwick asking Gemma Bowkis a Charms question, Gemma was renowned for her lack of intelligence and genuinely seemed to find it funny.

Then they were back out in the cold and Lily was asking, 'Are you sure we're allowed in the Hog's Head?'

'Yeah, just don't mention you're in Sixth Year; Aberforth doesn't like knowing there's anyone underage in his pub.'

'Shouldn't we not go then?' Lily was obviously worrying.

'It's fine; plus a glass of mead will warm you up before we head back.' James smiled at her.

Lily bit her lip and frowned at him, 'Are you sure?'

Thankfully Remus came to the rescue, 'Lily, it's fine; loads of people go there.'

James could have hugged him then; Lily trusted Remus.

'Alright then,' she said and smiled happily, pulling Caradoc along after her.

The Hog's Head was quiet and dusty and empty, so much for Remus' "loads of people go there", Lily thought. But there was a fire in the corner and it was warm and with no one but them, it was kind of nice and private. Mary and Laura had gone back to Gladrags, saying they didn't fancy the Hog's Head and privately Lily was quite happy Mary had gone; all she done was throw glaring looks at James whenever he was within two feet of her. Marlene and Dorcas had stayed though, after Black persuaded Marlene to come along.

There wasn't much in the bar though, other than the bar itself, the fireplace an old looking table and four chairs.

Black went straight over and banged on the bar, 'Oi, Aberforth, we're nicking your mead!' he shouted.

A thin, slightly stooped man appeared almost immediately in a doorway behind the bar and peered suspiciously at Black. He stepped forward and it became apparent he was quite tall; only stooping because of the low doorway. A wiry brown, but greying, beard scratched around his chin and he growled, 'What d'you want?'

'Five pints of Braggot and three halves of Cyser, my good man.' James said jovially, feigning a ridiculously posh accent and the man glared at him; obviously he wasn't anyone's "good man".

'Where's all your stuff gone, Ab?' Black asked as he poured the different mead for the boys and girls.

'Some buggers had a fight the other night; had to get Rubeus to come down and sort them out. Bastards trashed the place; nothing reparable, even with sodding magic,' the man grumbled.

Then they perched round the table, or rather, Caradoc, Black, Marlene and Peter were perched round the table on the chairs. Caradoc had persuaded her to sit on his lap, but when she did he complained she had a bony bum. She tried to stand up again, but he held onto her waist and said he'd rather suffer in silence than let a girl stand. Lily just smiled and said, 'Well, then it's your own fault for trying to be gentlemanly then.'

Dorcas didn't have any such compunction and dropped onto Black's knees, warning, 'If you try anything…'

Black just winked at her.

Remus and James seemed quite happy to lean against the bar with their pints of mead.

Lily looked at her half pint on the table warily, 'What is it?' she asked.

'It's honey mead, but it's got apples in as well; it's like a sweet cider, but a lot more warming,' Peter filled in, surprisingly uttering a whole sentence without a stutter.

Lily picked up her glass and sipped cautiously; sweet warmth blossomed in her mouth and slid down her throat. She could taste honey and apples and an almost flowery scent seemed to emanate from her glass, she sniffed appreciatively.

'They put heather flowers in it sometimes; gives it depth of flavour,' Peter added knowledgeably, Lily tried not to stare at him, it was like he was suddenly a completely different person.

'Oh, it's really good!' Marlene had taken her first sip.

'That's why we got you to come,' James replied.

'And that's what she said!' Black exclaimed, causing Lily and Marlene to blush while Remus stifled a smile and Peter laughed.

'And then he said: "Shut up", because she wasn't funny.' James retorted.

Dorcas and Remus laughed at that, Black just raised an eyebrow though.

'Did you see the headlines this morning?' Remus asked abruptly.

'No, why?' Marlene replied.

'That Voldemort guy is calling for registration of all magical blood types; says it should be a public right for employers to know who they are dealing with.'

'Why would that matter?' Lily asked.

'Prejudice.' Black said darkly, 'There are people out there who would refuse to employ Muggle-borns or part Veela, or werewolves or any of the other blood types that some people consider only "part human". Anything that could be considered dangerous.'

'Veela aren't dangerous though, are they?' Marlene asked.

'They are when they get angry; you don't cross them.' Black replied.

'Ok, so Veela can be dangerous, and werewolves are well… werewolves; what have Muggle-borns got to do with them?' Lily asked, missing the slight flicker in Remus' eyes.

'It's all blood status to some pure-bloods: anyone who can't trace their magical blood back to the beginning of time or Merlin or whatever, isn't as good as them. It's simply to make them feel better about themselves.'

'But you guys are all pure-bloods and you're not like that.' Lily said, suddenly realising she was the only Muggle-born in the room.

'Half-blood,' Remus admitted, 'Mum's a Muggle.'

'Oh, yeah, how is she?' Lily asked with concern; Remus had been home once to see her since he had been back at school.

'Same as always,' he replied, looking down at his feet.

'The point is though,' James began, 'he's highlighting the problem further, not bringing about a solution. It's only going to point to those that are different and make the stand out; people are scared of what's different.'

'Like what?' Caradoc challenged, finally adding something to the conversation.

'Werewolves,' James stated, 'They're not bad people, they just can't control themselves once a month; does that make them any worse than you or I when we get angry and do things we don't mean to. Is it any worse than a child managing accidental magic? At least we know when they are going to be dangerous and can do something about it, how do you control a child having a magical tantrum?'

'And when was the last time you met a werewolf?' Caradoc asked, disagreement written across his face.

'A couple of years ago, and he was a better person than most.'