The normally peaceful and comforting Gryffindor common room had been radically transformed. It was now the center of one of the wildest parties the Marauders had ever seen, which was saying something, as the Marauders had been to a fair number of parties.
In spite of all this, Lily was upstairs, changing out of her Hogwarts robes, and getting ready for the Hogsmeade trip. Alice, who wasn’t much of a party animal, was lying on her stomach on her bed. “Where are you going?”
“Hogsmeade, where else?” Lily answered, applying eye shadow.
“Even though no one in our house is going to be there? Who are you going with?”
“Remus.”
“REMUS? I didn’t know you liked him.”
“I don’t. He wanted to talk to me about the… incident yesterday. We’re meeting at the Three Broomsticks.”
”Oh. Well, have a good time. Get me some candy from Honeyduke’s.”
“Will do. Bye!”
Lily went down the stairs, following the loud music and sweet smells wafting up from the common room.
*
“So there I was, looking around for the Snitch, when a Bludger comes hurtling out of nowhere right at my face! I ducked JUST in time to avoid having my nose bashed into my head. Then I hear the announcer say that Slytherin scored AGAIN (the bloody bastards) so I knew it was up to me to save the game. Just then, I saw the Snitch on the other end of the pitch, at the exact same time as Lestrange. Of course, he HAPPENS to be closer than me, but I managed to get ahead of him. Then-” James was retelling the events of the Quidditch match, obviously from his point of view, when he spotted Lily coming down the girls’ dormitory steps. “Hey, guys? I’ll be right back. I need to… get a drink.”
He made his way to where Lily was heading, and stepped in front of the portrait hole.
“Potter. Can you please, er, move?” Lily was getting irritated, as often happened when she was around James.
“Just where do you think you’re going, Evans? The party is in the other direction.”
“That would be a really great and obvious thing to know, Potter, if I was actually planning on going to the party. Since I’m not, it would help a great deal if you would just MOVE!”
James frowned in thought. “If you’re not going to the party, then where are you going?”
“Hogsmeade, not that it’s any of your business.” Lily replied stiffly.
“All by yourself?”
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, three things I have to say to you. Number one, are you implying that I am not capable of looking out for myself? And number two, it’s not like Hogsmeade is a dangerous place anyway, and number three, I will not be by myself.”
“Oh.” James seemed to be taken back by the multitude of information Lily had somewhat willingly supplied for him. In his momentary digestive state, Lily stalked past him. Out of pure reflex, James held the door shut tight. “So, who are you going with?”
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. “Remus, if you must know.”
“Remus!- but- he- I- what- why- how-” James sputtered angrily. “You mean- you and him?”
“We have to talk, not that it’s any of your business anyway. So I’d better get going. Now, if you’d excuse me-” Lily pushed past him and ran down the corridor, hoping she wasn’t late for her appointment, leaving behind a fuming James Potter.