Apart from Lily getting a new wand, the following weeks passed relatively uneventfully. Still, Lily was rarely bored; she just didn’t have the time, with all of the homework she and her friends were starting to get. Halloween was drawing nearer, and the whole school was buzzing about the legendary feast there would be.
“My sister told me there’s jack-o-lanterns big enough for five people to stand in!” Alex said excitedly one day as the three friends walked down to Potions together.
Lily laughed and Alex gushed on. “And also, Allie said last year they had dancing skeletons, and the food’s going to be amazing of course!”
Lily and her friends turned a corner and walked into Slughorn’s damp dungeon. They were among the last people to arrive. The threesome slipped into empty seats and waited.
When the last stragglers had finally turned up, Slughorn stood up, a chunk of crystalized pineapple stuck to his bushy beard, and closed the heavy dungeon door with a hollow thunk. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and scratchy, and there were huge black bags under his eyes. “I’m feeling a bit under the weather,” he announced. He flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the blackboard. “Follow the instructions and brew the potion. Supplies are in the store-cupboard. When you finish bottle some and bring it up to my desk.” Then he sat down and leaned back in his chair, groaning.
Potions was Lily’s favorite subject. She had a certain talent for mixing concoctions and always enjoyed these lessons the best: free reign to mix her potion. As other people socialized about the Halloween feast and other assorted happenings, she was quiet and focused, concentrating on her potion. She was among the first people to finish and she knew her efforts would achieve an E at least.
As the end of class drew nearer, the slackers grew more frantic. James Potter was feverishly rifling through a textbook and Severus Snape was running back and forth from the store-cupboard to his cauldron, haphazardly throwing ingredients into his potion. Suddenly James’s foot nudged his cauldron out a little further and Severus, rushing blindly back and forth, didn’t notice. Lily saw what was about to happen a split second before it actually did.
Severus hadn’t noticed that James’s cauldron had been moved out a little further, right in the path he’d been pacing back and forth. As he raced past, his foot caught on the bottom of the cauldron. It tipped over and James’s potion spilled everywhere.
Obviously James had made a mistake with his potion. They were supposed to be brewing a Cheering potion, but as James’s acidly green potion spread across the ground, it burnt smoking holes into the floor tiles. Girls shrieked and jumped onto chairs or flattened themselves against the walls. Slughorn woke from his doze with a jump and muttered, “Evanesco.” Instantly the potion vanished.
“Hey, what was that for?” yelled James, standing his cauldron up. “Watch where you’re walking!”
“Sorry,” muttered Severus and scurried off to the store cupboard to gather more supplies.
“Professor Slughorn,” said James, “do I have to start my whole potion over?”
“No, James,” replied Slughorn wearily, “just forget about it…” he looked like he wanted nothing better than a very long nap.
“But what about my grade?” insisted James. “I mean, I don’t want my grade to suffer just because somebody can’t watch where they’re walking…”
He threw Severus a nasty glance. Lily wished wholeheartedly that James would shut up. It had been an accident, after all, and since when did he care about his grades, anyway?
“Don’t worry, James,” was the reply, implying heavily that Slughorn shared Lily’s desire for James to just leave it be.
But James didn’t get the hint. “I mean, really,” he drawled, “is it so hard to walk without tripping over other people’s things?”
Lily was really starting to get annoyed. Why did James have to be such an idiot about the whole thing? She knew why, really. Severus was a Slytherin and James hated Slytherins.
“James!” barked Slughorn. “Be quiet! Your grade will not suffer!”
James didn’t go any further, but Lily knew that it wasn’t the end of trouble between him and Severus, by any stretch of the imagination.
The bell rang a few minutes later. Severus had barely finished his potion when it did. He quickly bottled a sample and placed it on Slughorn’s desk. “Of course,” said James loudly as he walked out of the dungeon, “you don’t see me tipping over his cauldron…”
This was just too much for Lily. “Will you just shut up?” she cried exasperatedly. “You’re making me sick! He didn’t mean to tip over your cauldron, you big, fat idiot! It was an accident, so you will you stop harping about it already?”
“Bet you’d like that, huh, Evans?” said James sarcastically. “Well sorry, but I won’t stop. I’m going to teach that dirty Slytherin a lesson.”
“You are, without a doubt, the biggest jerk I have ever met in my life,” said Lily disgustedly.
Even Sirius looked a little taken aback. “Really, James…it was just an accident…chill out, why don’t you?”
James just stalked off.
“He is the most arrogant, egotistical, cruel loser I have ever met,” said Lily to a concerned-looking Sirius.
“He’s not all that bad…” said Sirius, feebly trying to defend his friend, but failing.
“Yes, he is.” Lily swung her bag over her shoulder and then took off in the direction of her next class.
She was fuming. How could James be such an idiot? It wasn’t that big of a deal. It was an accident, for heaven’s sake. Why couldn’t he just get over it and move on?
“Lily!” it was Alex, hurrying up behind her, Cadrian right on her heels. “Calm down, okay?”
“James is the one who needs to calm down, not me!” exploded Lily. “He is by far the most arrogant, bullying toerag I will ever meet. I’m positive of that.”
“Lily, look. James is stupid, but chill out, alright?”
“Expelliarmus!”
It was James’s voice.
Lily and her friends whipped around. James was standing behind them, glaring. A few paces away was Snape, with equal loathing on his face. They both had their wands raised and were both looking angry enough to knock out a giant.
“Are they going to duel?” whispered Cadrian, as they scurried safely out of the way.
“They don’t know much magic yet. What could they possibly do?” replied Alex softly.
Just then a commanding voice called out, “Boys, what is going on here?”
James and Severus turned simultaneously. McGonagall was striding towards them and the small crowd watching. “Um-uh,” James sputtered. “We…”
McGonagall, though, already knew what was going on. Her nostrils flaring, a regular trademark of her anger, she took ten points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin and gave both James and Severus detention. As soon as she’d gone, Severus ran away, followed by a crowd of Slytherins. James was enveloped into a mob of Gryffindors and soon the hallway was nearly empty again.
“James is such a hothead,” Lily said frustratedly, and then dropped the subject.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
That weekend was the first Quidditch match of the year: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny with a cool breeze, like any October day. Lily and her friends crowded out onto the pitch with the rest of the school and sat on the cold, hard bleachers waiting for the match to begin.
A Gryffindor fifth-year named Brendan Cook was commentating the match. “And its Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff today for the first match of the season!” he announced. The Gryffindor crowd, decked out in red and gold, and the Hufflepuff fans, dressed in canary yellow, cheered, hooted, and whistled. “Gryffindor captain this year is Jennifer Wood, a very talented Beater!” Brendan declared. “And Hufflepuff captain is Abraham Diggory, the Keeper. Gryffindor’s got a strong team lined up this year. They’re favorites to win the Cup!” This brought many boo’s and groans from Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins, and Brendan instantly backtracked. “But of course anybody could win.”
The Quaffle was thrown into the air and the match began. “And they’re off!” yelled Brendan. “Gryffindor Chaser Reynolds in posession, passes to Chaser Brown, who shoots-oh! Blocked by Diggory! And Hufflepuff’s in posession, bringing it up the pitch…Prewitt, Bean, Prewitt, Killian, GOAL! Hufflepuff score, making that 10-0 to Hufflepuff!”
The canary yellow crowd burst into cheers and the Gryffindors groaned. But about a minute later, the Gryffindor Chaser Reynolds scored, bringing the game to a tie.
Lily was entranced. Quidditch was very fast-paced and exciting, but also pretty rough; she didn’t fancy a go with those nasty Bludgers. The players were so agile and quick, sometimes they just looked like red or yellow blurs rather than actual people. And the energy was amazing; the whole school was completely into the game. Obviously, Quidditch was very popular.
A few minutes later, Gryffindor scored again, taking the lead. Then nothing happened for about twenty minutes, other than a Hufflepuff Chaser taking a Bludger to the head. Suddenly Brendan screamed into the microphone, “LOOK! Periwinkle’s seen the Snitch!”
Lily immediately spotted Chris, by now just a fast-moving red blur, diving towards the ground. The Hufflepuff Chaser was in hot pursuit, but Chris was moving faster, his arm outstretched, reaching, reaching…finally when it seemed the tiny golden ball would fly away, Chris caught it and tumbled off his broom.
Lily and her friends jumped to their feet with the rest of the Gryffindors, screaming, yelling, cheering. Then they hopped off the bleachers and back to the common room.
They were greeted by an explosion of noise. The whole House was celebrating the victory. Lily made her way over to Chris, who was drinking a bottle of something foaming and sweet-smelling, and congratulated him. “Here,” he yelled, striving to be heard over all the noise and thrusting a bottle into her hands. “Have a butterbeer!”
“What’s this?” she yelled back, opening the bottle.
“Just taste it!” he replied.
She shrugged and took a sip. It was as if warmth was spreading all over her entire body; it was the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted. She grabbed two bottles for Alex and Cadrian and fought through the crowd to get back to her friends. “Here,” she said, handing them the bottles. “Try it! It’s great!”
Just then somebody tapped Lily on the shoulder. She turned. It was Alex’s older sister Allie. “Here,” she said, handing Lily a small scroll tied with a lavender ribbon. Then she left.
Bemused, Lily untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll. It read:
TO: Miss Lily Evans
You are cordially invited to Professor Slughorn’s Halloween party!
October 31st, 8:00-???
Professor Slughorn’s dungeon
Bring a friend or date!
Hope to see you there!
Lily shrugged and stuffed the invitation into her pocket. She’d think about that later. For now, she was going to celebrate the victory.
Lily, Blossoming by halfbloodprincess22
Chapter Notes: I couldn't have written this if JK hadn't made up this wonderful world first!