CHAPTER TWENTY
NEVER HAVE I EVER
Insanely short dress? Check. Sky-scaper high heels? Check. Curly hair, thick black eyelashes, and lots of -but not too much- makeup? Check. Mel, Rikki and I are all dressed up and ready to head to the Room of Requirement when there is a small knock on the door. Mel goes to answer it and Rose walks in. She is the most dressed up I have ever seen her. She is wearing a knee-length baby blue dress that puffs out, silver 4-inch heels and her normally curly red hair is poker straight for the first time ever. Her blue eyes are apologetic.
"I came to say sorry about earlier. You didn't butt into my business, I shouldn't have stuck my nose into yours. It's just, with everything that's happened recently, everyone's dead worried about you, I guess I just switched onto protective-cousin mode. We haven't been very trusting of you and that's not fair. You're a smart girl, Lils, and I know now that you wouldn't have gotten yourself into any trrouble. Forgive me?" She says. She is blushing, obviously embarrassed, but doesn't take her eyes off mine. I can tell she means it so I pull her in for a quick hug. In these shoes I'm the same height as her. I've always been one of the smallest in our family, even little Lucy is the same height as me, and she's still growing!
"I forgive you, Rosie. Do you want to walk to the party with us, we were just leaving." I gesture to Mel and Rikki, who are watching me and Rose curiously. I'll have to tell them about what happened later.
"Actually, Lily, I have somewhere I have to go first. I'll see you down there." She mutters and rushes out of the room. I shrug, grab Fred and Roxie's presents and we leave the dorms.
The Room of Requirement is all done up. One wall is plastered with embarrassing photos of Fred and Roxie growing up; The two of them in tiny orange baby grows, The first time they ever rode brooms and both fell off, Their tenth birthday when Fred shoved Roxie's face in the cake. My personal favourite is Fred wanted to be a girl and Roxie wanted to become a boy so they dressed up in each others clothes and made every one call them Freda and Rocco. I was too young to remember it but Uncle George tells the story all the time. He swears that he will make it part of his speech when they both get married.
The other wall is lined with snacks and drinks. Butterbeer, Firewhiskey, Pumpkin juice and Fred's special punch. He claims it's non-alcoholic but it's spiked every year. Above the drinks is a large banner that reads: "Happy Birthday Freda and Rocco". James makes that the poster every year too, he thinks it's hilarious.
Everyone is dancing and having a good time, like every party. I look around the room for Fred and Roxie and see them sitting around the table in the corner with Al, Caleb, Dom, Molly, Lucy, one of her friends, Louis and one of his friends. I think he's called Sam. I walk up to them and hand the twins their presents. I gave Roxie a skirt I saw her admiring over the summer and I got Fred a book called: "The Greatest Magical Pranks and Pranksters Volume 2".
"Awww thanks, Lils. How did you know I wanted this?" Gasped Roxie.
"Yeah, Kiddo. I've been looking for this for ages. I've already done all the pranks in the first volume." Grins Fred, winking at nobody in general.
"Dunno, guess I must be part seer. What are you all up to? Where's James?" I ask. I'm actually kind of glad that I haven't seen James yet. I don't want to have that particular conversation until I have to.
"We were just about to play "Never have I ever". It's a drinking game, James' idea. He's just away to find Rose and Hugo. Do you want to play? Oh please, do. For my birthday." Begs Fred using his puppy dog eyes. Roxie nudges him, playfully.
"Our birthday, idiot." She corrects him. I sigh and sit down to play. Mel comes over, having lost Rikki, and decides to play too. Roxie claps excitedly. James comes back with Rose, Hugo and another boy, Hugo's age. Alice and Frank Longbottom follow.
We sit in a circle. The people playing are: Me, Fred, Roxie, James, Al, Caleb, Lucy, her friend Georgia, Dom, Molly, Rose, Hugo, Hugo's friend Mitch, Louis, his friend Sam, Alice, Frank and Mel. 9 girls and 9 boys.
"Ok. So the rules are we spin a bottle. Whoever it points at has to say "Never have I ever..." and say something you haven't done. Anyone who has done it has to take a drink. Don't think you can lie though because I've cast as spell that makes your hair turn green if you lie about it so we will all know. Lucy, Georgia, since you girls are only in 2nd year you have to drink pumpkin juice but everyone else is drinking firewhiskey. If the bottle points at you, then you are the next person to spin it. Everyone got that? I'll spin first." Says James. He spins the bottle and it points to Hugo. He thinks for a minute.
"Hmmm. I'll start easy. Never have I ever ... seen Uncle Neville get angry." He grins. It's a good one because Uncle Neville is practically a saint. Alice and Frank drink and surprisingly so does Dom.
"When have you ever seen him get mad?" Asks Rose. Dom flushes scarlet.
"That's not part of the game. I don't have to answer." Says Dom. Everyone shrugs and Hugo spins the bottle. It lands on Fred.
"Never have I ever ... been caught shagging someone in a broom closet ... by McGonagal." He looks pointedly at James.
"Bugger." Mutters James. He blushes and takes a drink. He's the only one. Everyone bursts out laughing and he waves his hand. "Yeah, yeah, hilarious. Just spin the damn bottle."
Fred spins it and it points towards Louis's friend Sam.
"Errr, Never have I ever, um, been so drunk that I forget the night before." He stutters. Obviously James, Fred, Louis, Al, Frank, Dom, Hugo and his friend Mitch drink, surprisingly though, Alice and Mel take drinks. Reluctantly I take a sip, the firwhiskey burning on it's way down. Everyone looks at me in shock, except Caleb, Mel and Lucy who knew about that night. James opens his mouth but I interrupt.
"Please, don't start James. Please." He shuts his mouth and shoots me a concerned look which I ignore. Louis nudges Sam and he spins. It lands on Georgia.
"Never have I ever ... been kissed." She says shyly. Everyone except her and Lucy drink. Again, I get thrown odd looks but the only one I notice is Mel. She looks hurt that I didn't tell her. Georgia spins the bottle and it points towards Roxie. She grins, trying to think up something evil and embarassing probably.
"Never have I ever kissed a member of the opposite sex properly." Before anyone can interrupt she says, "By properly I mean on the mouth, family not included." None of the boys drink but shockingly Dom raises her glass and takes a huge gulp of firewhiskey.
"Ok." She laughs, "This one I will explain. I was seriously drunk and me and a bunch of people were playing dares. Some guy dared me to kiss a girl and I said I could but I didn't want to. He said he bet I couldn't and if I didn't the bet meant I had to kiss him. No way in hell was I kissing him, even I have standards, so I went up and kissed the girl full on the lips." Nobody knows quite what to say, so we all just stare at her until someone clears their throat. Roxie spins the bottle and it lands on Molly.
"Never have I ever had a detention." She says, proudly. James, Fred and Roxie all mutter "Goody-two-shoes" at the same time and take a drink. Dom, Hugo, Sam, Caleb, Al, Frank, Georgia and Mitch all take a drink. So does Rose, which surprisingly isn't a surprise. Rose, though extremely smart and well-behaved in class, get detention all the time for hexing he arch-enemy, Scorpius Malfoy, in the corridors. For the first few years all our male cousins tried to help her but she told them that she didn't want them to get involved so they backed off. The only people in the circle who haven't had a detention are: (of course) Molly, Me, Lucy, Alice, Mel and, shockingly, Louis. Molly spins the bottle and it lands on Al.
"Never have I ever been in a proper relationship before. As in boyfriend/girlfriend." He grins. Oh shit. Mel, Louis, Sam, Molly, Dom, Alice and Caleb all take a drink. But I can't. Shit. If I drink they'll know so I pray to Merlin that they don't notice my hair in the dark. No such luck. Apparently it glows. Al is about to spin when Louis shouts.
"Holy shit, look. Lily's hair is green. That means... shit." He mouths sorry at me as James stands up.
"You have a boyfriend?! That's what all this has been about?! Shit, Lils, you're just a kid. Tell me who the little shit is! I'll kill him! Has he hurt you, touched you or something? Who is it!?" He screams, getting redder in the face by the minute.
"Like I'm going to tell you who it is." I mutter.
"You better Lily Potter or I'll-" He growls
"You'll what? Call Mum and Dad. That doesn't scare me James. I'm allowed to have a boyfriend. Molly started going out with Jack when she was a year younger than me, so don't lecture me about only being a kid. I act more mature than you most of the time anyway. At least I can have a boyfriend. I don't go around shagging the whole female population of Hogwarts like all you boys , I really didn't want to fight with you tonight. It's the twins birthday, can't we just sit down and keep playing the game?" I ask him. He hesitates.
"Yeah man, c'mon. It's our birthday. Let's just forget about this, talk about it tomorrow." Slurs Fred who is a little bit tipsy. James nods sharply and sits down, muttering quitely under his breath. Something about "...don't shag everyone". Al spins the bottle and it lands on Caleb.
"Em Never have I ever outright lied to someone I love. Secrets don't count you have to have lied to their face." Roxie looks at Fred ashamed and drinks. Dom drinks and so do Rose, Louis, Mel, James, Alice and Sam. In fact nearly everyone drinks. I drink too, thinking about the times I lied to Mel and Rikki so I could meet up with Caleb. Nobody says anything, but there's an akward feeling in the air. Caleb spins the bottle and it lands on Lucy. Georgia whispers in her ear and the two girls giggle.
"Never have I ever had sex." Giggles Lucy. James takes his drink and stares at me from the corner of his eye. I think he's making sure that I don't drink. Fred drinks and so does Louis, Al, Frank, Sam, Mitch and Dom. Everyone stares at Molly, shocked, when she drinks and even more so when Rose takes a drink. I think James starts having a go at her but I don't notice. I don't notice anything. Because my heart is breaking. Because Caleb took a drink.