Chapter 6 – Slug Club
James had been the only one in the dorm when a third year boy had knocked on the door and nervously handed him a roll of parchment before scuttling back down to the common room. It was addressed to Sirius, but James tore off the ribbon anyway and sprawled out on Sirius' bed to read the letter; his own bed was covered in the contents of his trunk, which he'd emptied to find the exploding snap cards he was sure he'd packed.
The parchment was an invitation to one of the gatherings Professor Slughorn held every few weeks. James had been invited once too, but the only time he'd gone he and Sirius had got so bored of being told about other students' influential relatives that they'd set off a bunch of Filibuster Fireworks to entertain themselves. A lot of bangs and flashes and a small fire had resulted from it, so James had never received another invitation – which was quite a relief – but Sirius' family meant more to Slughorn than his tendency to blow things up when bored, so he had been invited to every single Slug Club meeting and kept having to make up excuses not to go.
Shoving the invitation into his pocket, James tipped his trunk upside down so that all the junk sitting at the bottom of it tipped out onto the floor. Some broken quills, a few dusty Every Flavour Beans, and what looked like a frog's brain from his old potions kit all spilled out around his feet. He frowned at the mess for a moment before triumphantly retrieving the exploding snap deck from underneath a wizard's hat he hadn't worn for about five years.
Back in the common room, he found his friends where he'd left them, sitting around a table spread with textbooks. Peter had been doing homework when James had left, but he had evidently given up as he was now making paper aeroplanes so that Sirius could levitate them towards the backs of other students' heads. Remus actually was trying to do homework, but as far as James could tell he was still staring at the same page of 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6' as he had been fifteen minutes ago.
James ducked to avoid one of the paper aeroplanes and sat down next to Sirius, chucking the invitation at him. "Slug Club tonight. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse than last time; I don't reckon he believed that you were too busy with homework to go."
Sirius uncurled the parchment and briefly read it.
"I said I'd go," he sighed, tossing it to one side. "Don't ask me why. The potions fumes must have gotten to me."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Remus said, sitting back in his chair and running a hand through his hair. "Just try not to hex Snape."
"Though if you do hex him, you might not get invited again," James pointed out.
Remus shook his head. "There will be plenty of other sixth years there to talk to. Lily's going, and I think that Alice girl from Hufflepuff got invited too."
"Lily's going?" James repeated.
"Yeah." Sirius replied, rolling his eyes at James' sudden interest. "And I don't think she'll be hanging around the Slytherins either. There's definitely something going on between her and Snape."
"By something," Peter cut in, "you mean..."
"She's avoiding him." Sirius clarified. "Shame you got yourself uninvited Prongs, you could have tried some more of those chat up lines on her."
"I thought you realised that the chat up lines were really not helping?" Remus said quickly, now completely ignoring the book in his lap.
"Doesn't matter," James said, grinning. "I'm not the one who got invited, so we're going to work with what we've got. Padfoot, you can talk to her, find out what's with her and Snape. And while you're at it, you might want to throw in a few comments about how handsome and charming I am."
"I'm sure that will go down really well. Hi Evans, didn't James look simply spiffing in his robes today, why don't you and he go on a date to talk about your sudden mutual dislike for Snivellus."
James scrunched up a spare bit of parchment and threw it at him. "Go on, Pads, you only have to go for a couple of hours."
"Fine." Sirius said. "I'll go. But if Lily hexes me it will be entirely your fault. What are you lot doing tonight anyway?"
"Well," James said, gathering up all the textbooks and dumping them on a spare chair. "We're going to spend our time playing exploding snap and doing absolutely no more homework. Right, Moony?"
"It seems I have no other choice," he replied solemnly. "There is absolutely no way I could walk over to that chair and get back my textbooks. I will be forced to play exploding snap all night. What a tragedy this is."
"Your life is almost as tragic as mine," Sirius grinned. "I must go and get dressed for all the free food and drink."
He sighed dramatically, waved once to his friends, and ran up the stairs to the dormitory.
Sirius hadn't been sure what to wear. He'd contemplated just sticking his leather jacket on over a t-shirt, but that seemed a bit rude, and he didn't dislike Slughorn enough to purposefully wind him up. School uniform would look like he hadn't made an effort, but dress robes would look like he'd made too much effort. Usually, an occasion like this wouldn't warrant much thought, but the inevitability of a room largely filled with snobby purebloods irritated him.
In the end, he went for smartish muggle-like attire – a way to look half decent but also piss off those purebloods who hated muggle culture. The maroon shirt was a little long on him, considering he'd dug it out of the back of James' wardrobe, but it otherwise fit well. James never wore it, so he doubted he'd mind.
Slughorn's office was down on the sixth floor, and by the time Sirius arrived it was already swarming with other fifth-to-seventh years. There weren't that many people really, but they buzzed about, shaking hands and asking about other families' business as if they were 30, not 16. Slughorn was talking to a Ravenclaw boy and Slytherin girl over by the large dining table; Sirius didn't know their first names, but something at the back of his mind told him that they were cousins. Knowing his parents, they had probably been to Grimmauld Place at some point, but he'd all but forgotten them.
Looking around, he quickly realised that he knew very few people in the room. A little less than a third of the twenty of so people were sixth years, the majority being Slytherin or Ravenclaws. Scanning the room, Sirius saw Frank Longbottom, a seventh year Gryffindor, standing by the fire talking to two Slytherins. Behind them, sitting on an overstuffed brown sofa, sat Lily. She didn't look particularly at ease, glancing around now and then as if she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. Sirius darted past the other students to get to her, instantly flopping down next to Lily with a deep sigh.
"Are they always this... formal?" he asked with some concern. "No one's even insulted me, it's like they're adults."
"I'm surprised you came," Lily replied, raising an eyebrow at his clothes. "They're sizing each other up for the new year." She pointed discreetly to a Slytherin boy who was standing to the side of a group. "That's Wilkes, his father got fired from the ministry over summer; it was in the paper and everything. I'm surprised he was even invited back this year."
"He needs better friends," Sirius said, noticing how the boy was being excluded from the conversations around him. "What about you Evans, why aren't you gossiping with the high and mighty?"
"They're very dull really," she replied, sighing. "Most of them ignore me."
"So why are you here?"
Lily looked at him. "Why the sudden interest, Black?"
"Just friendly conversation!" Sirius grinned. "No need to be so hostile."
"I don't trust you." she replied. "Slughorn's decent, he lets me practice my potions in the classroom, and actually takes an interest in my family. How about you? I didn't actually believe you when you said you'd come."
"I'm a man of my word!"
Lily shook her head at him, making a 'hmmm' sound. She didn't reply, and Sirius didn't have any idea how to ask her about Snape without seeming like a nosy git. He didn't want her hexing him for doing James' bidding. Sirius spotted Slughorn again, this time talking to Frank about his mother, whom he'd apparently made the mistake of asking on a date when he'd been in his fifth year. Frank laughed a little too loudly at the story, attracting the attention of people nearby. The only person who didn't stop to peer over at them was a boy that Sirius had only just noticed, standing a few feet away with some other sixth years. Severus Snape was alternately glaring from him to Lily, looking as though he were about to launch himself at Sirius for daring to sit near her.
"I can't believe him," Lily said, more to herself than him. She bent her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Snape?" Sirius enquired. "What's the deal with you two anyway? I thought you were mates."
"You know what he's like," she told him, lowering her voice but sounding no less angry. "I don't want to talk to him but he just keeps staring and won't leave me alone. Not that you're much better."
Lily was glaring at Sirius as though the whole situation was his fault. True, James' treatment of Snape had led to their argument, but in Sirius' mind that was no reason for him to react the way he had to Lily.
"Evans," he said, "if you ask me, he's a no good-"
"I didn't ask you," she said. "Just leave it alone, Sirius."
"Ok," he said, holding his hands up defensively. "But if you need anyone to hex him-"
"I'm perfectly capable of hexing people myself. Just ask Potter."
Sirius blinked, but the small smile on Lily's face suggested a challenge rather than a threat. "I'm sure you are."
The room was almost full now, and Sirius suspected they'd be sitting down to whatever the house elves had put together soon. He wondered if he could get a drink first, but before he could get up, a girl appeared directly in front of him.
"Oh," Sirius said, surprised. "Hi."
"Hi," Alice replied. She could feel herself blushing as she looked between the two of them. "Uhm, I don't we don't really know each other, but I'd rather talk to you than anyone else here, if that's okay?"
"Yeah, of course," Lily said, smiling and shuffling over on the sofa to make room for her. "You're Alice, right?"
Relieved, she sat down between them. "That's me! I only just escaped from some seventh years who were quizzing me on my family tree – trying to figure out how a pureblood could possibly have parents with no fortune and no ministry connections, I think." She wrinkled her nose.
"I know the feeling; I think I nearly gave someone a heart attack earlier when I told them my parents are muggles."
"They're complete snobs," Alice said. "I almost wish I hadn't come. Have either of you been before?"
Lily nodded. "A few times, yeah."
They looked at Sirius, who shrugged. "Only once, but it didn't go very well. I nearly blew up some Slytherins with a firework."
Alice laughed and Sirius turned to look at her. He knew he probably ought to know who everyone in his year was by now, but he was never very good at remembering that sort of thing. Still, he recognised her round face and short chestnut hair. "Hey, aren't you the one who soaked the whole class last week in charms?"
She gave him a small grin. "Oops, yeah, the aguamenti spell is clearly not my greatest strength. But I got out of detention by saying my charm casting wasn't bad, just very enthusiastic."
"Indeed!" The three of them looked up at the booming voice to find Slughorn standing over them, smiling fondly. "I heard all about that little, er, accident in the staff room the same day Professor Kettleburn told me how excellent you are at Care of Magical Creatures; the highest OWL score ever achieved, most impressive!"
He beamed at Alice and she blushed again. "Thanks, Professor."
"And I see you've been talking to some other talented students of mine. Miss Evans has quite a gift for potions, you know. And Mr Black astonishes me every year with excellent grades."
"Well I am full of surprises, Professor," Sirius replied.
"Yes, quite," Slughorn said, most likely remembering the last time Sirius had attended the Slug Club. Sirius gave his best attempt at an innocent smile. "And your brother has been doing very well too, I'm quite certain he'll be a charming addition to my little club when he's old enough next year. A pity you weren't in Slytherin as well, Sirius, I would have been delighted to have the entire Black family in my house."
Sirius just shrugged and said nothing. Lily shot him a worried look, but before she could say anything, Frank appeared at Slughorn's side with a sulky-looking fifth year in tow. "Professor!" he said enthusiastically, "Ainsworth here really wants to tell you about his grandmother's third husband. Why don't you go and talk by the punch? It's giving off a quite alarming odour."
"Is it?" Slughorn asked, turning around quickly, "well then, come along Ainsworth, three now is it?"
Watching Slughorn walk away with relief, Frank plonked himself down on the arm of the sofa. "It gets worse every year," he said conversationally. "You should all save yourselves while you can."
"Why do you still come then?" Alice asked.
"My mum forces me," he sighed. "She wants me to know important people, but I've had quite enough of them."
Alice giggled. "I can't say I blame you," she said, craning her head around to look at Frank more clearly. She definitely recognised him from around the school, and could swear her roommate had told her how handsome he was. "It's my first time here – I'm not sure if we've met."
"I don't think so. I'm Frank," he smiled, awkwardly offering his hand for her to shake.
"Er," Alice replied, struggling to reach across Sirius to take it, "I'm Alice."
"Nice to meet you Alice. I take back what I said about getting out while you can."
Interrupting, Sirius coughed loudly and said "would you two like a moment alone to grope each other's hands, or shall we go and eat?"
"It's ready?" Alice asked, letting go of Frank's hand and looking away bashfully.
They both jumped to their feet, peering over at the table, which was now almost overflowing with full dishes. "The one good thing about the Slug Club is the food," Frank told her. "You have to try the casserole; Slughorn gets it made specially."
"Let's try and get four seats as far away from Slughorn as possible," Lily said, leading the way.
"And as close as we can to that massive turkey," Sirius added.