Contests and Parties!
The school year had flown by, every passing day and lesson feeling like only a second. Somehow, Halloween was only a week away, and Lily was looking for a costume for the Annual Hogwarts Halloween Dance. James had dramatically asked her in the great Hall during breakfast a few weeks prior to which Lily had shrugged and said she didn't particularly care.
"At the ball, they have battles and contests which every student is free to partake in," Mary explained to the small group, "It isn't anything official, and the contest is only the performing half and awards no prize."
"The reigning queen apparently gives something to the winner, though," Marlene shrugged, stroking chimchar.
Since the school year had started, only James, Barty and Lily had caught new pokemon. However, there was a slightly mischievous minccino which continuously snuck into the girl's dorms and would cuddle into Mary's bed. She was set on catching the adorable pokemon, however it would always slip away as soon as she tried.
Lily tucked a lock of ginger hair behind one ear and thoughtfully pondered about this contest. Winning it would put her in the spotlight and perhaps even help her reputation as a performer.
"The battles are first, and then the concerts thirty minutes after," Marlene stated, reading the information from her pastel pink coloured student handbook.
"I'm competing in both," Mary stated, running her fingers through her curly hair.
"Me too." Marlene and Lily both agreed. Although Marlene had no particular interest in contests, she was very competitive anyhow.
Lily stroked both Togepi and Fennekin, "Which of you wants to battle?" She smiled as the pokemon both looked at each other before yipping in unison.
"You know, I think that it would be useful for Togepi to battle," Lily said softly, "We can practice the contest segment together, though."
Whilst Lily didn't quite know what Togepi's moveset was, she did know that it wasn't the strongest fighter. She wasn't really making Togepi fight to win, it was just for experience against crowds. In fact, Lily would return Togepi before it was too hurt, specifically to the point of losing consciousness.
Pound and charm would be useful, but metronome was Lily's main focus. The theme of the ball was to dress like your partner pokemon, meaning that Lily's colour palette would be orange and red.
Lily asked Remus for battling advice as he always conducted very talented research and observations. Remus took out his small notebook and shared some notes with Lily. The notes included some strategies, such as don't focus on damage.
The first lesson of the day was battling, which Lily usually dreaded. However, today, she found it to be useful. Fennekin was her normal battling partner, but Togepi needed some experience as well.
"Panda," Lily shouted, waving Pandora towards her, "Do you want to go against me and Togepi?" She asked, signalling towards the small pokemon in her bag.
"Of course!" Pandora clapped her hands together and took a few steps back before releasing her chikorita. Lily placed Togepi on the floor in front of her as Togepi waddled into the middle of the pitch.
"Use charm!" Lily called first, the move causes two beautiful, pink hearts to fly in the air and circle chikorita before landing. Chikorita shook off the move with ease, meaning that both pokemon were the same gender. "Darn."
"Your Togepi must be a boy," Pandora smiled softly.
Chikorita used razor leaf, and Togepi used a move which Lily hadn't seen before. It created a grey ball of energy which hit Chikorita hard and knocked it off it's feet.
"Awesome! Togepi learnt ancient power!" Pandora giggled, jumping from foot to foot.
Lily giggled as she crouched down to hug the small pokemon. The Togepi also laughed before the teacher lazily dismissed the class. Lily returned her Togepi but fennekin jumped on her shoulder.
Pandora walked with Lily to their next class, which was about evolutions.
The teacher was an older man with a bright smile. He ushered the class in and told them to sit anywhere. Lily also noticed a familiar face at the front of the class. The girl with long, brunette hair which was tied into pigtails was in front of Lily.
Maria smiled as she sat at the desk in front of them.
"Hey, everybody!" The young girl giggled, "I'm only a year older than you all, but I've been asked to help out with your class today!" She beamed down at everybody as she paced around the classroom.
"You there!" She halted and pointed directly towards James.
"M-Me?" He stammered, adjusting his glasses.
"Yep, what do you know about evolutions?" She asked him with a cheeky grin.
"Well, evolutions can happen in many different ways, from stones to friendship levels or experience." He said.
"Correct-u-mondo!" Maria giggled before reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a large handful of pokeballs and threw them into the air with a wide grin.
Out came a group of beautiful pokemon to which Lily knew well. There was Flareon, a fire type whom was licking its fur. Vaporeon, a water type who was observing the students. Jolteon, an electric type who immediately began to sniff around the classroom. Leafeon, the grass type who layed itself down and tried to sleep. Glaceon, an ice type who sat there, staring at her trainer. Espeon, a psychic type who began to showcase it's moves to everybody by levitating some random objects. Umbreon, a dark type who yawned and turned away from the class. And finally, sylveon, the fairy type who smiled and walked up to it's trainer, wrapping it's ribbons around her arms.
"These are all the evolutions of eevee!" Maria proudly announced.
The whole classroom gasped in awe at the amount of pokemon before them.
"I am a pokemon performer, meaning that all of my evolutions help me in my shows." She continued, "All of the different types are just amazing, aren't they?"
The umbreon sat at the front, turned away, suddenly looked back and locked eyes with Lily. The two stared at each other before the pokemon tilted it's head and said "Umbre?" In a scratchy voice.
Lily smiled at the pokemon before it turned back sharply and continued staring at the front of the classroom. Nobody seemed to notice this interaction, except for Maria who was staring at Lily with a shocked expression.
The class continued with people asking questions and Maria answering, but the only lingering thought in Lily's head was the significance of all of these types.
When the lesson was over, Lily began to pack away before she was approached by Maria herself. The performer walked up to Lily's table and smiled warmly.
"Mind if I have a quick chat?" She said, happily.
"Not a problem." Lily grinned.
James and Sirius made remarks from behind her, such as "someone's in trouble!" to which Lily flipped them off over her shoulder.
Once the class had cleared out, Maria walked up to Lily with a sincere smile.
"I was wondering, which of my evolutions intruiged you the most?" The question was a weird one, hard to answer, "Perhaps was it sylveon? Or maybe Glaceon? Even Jolteon?" It seemed rhetorical, but in a way, Lily was obliged to answer.
"Umbreon." She responded without a second thought.
"I expected that, you know my Umbreon has never spared me a glance as long as it spared you one," She stated. Lily was unsure whether to answer this time or not, "I think you will do great things when you're older, Lily Evans," Was all Maria said before she walked past Lily and left the classroom.
Lily was a bit confused, but she nonetheless shrugged and made her way outside. In the courtyard she met up with Marlene and Mary, to which she shared her experience with.
"Huh, that's strange." Marlene said as she threw a piece of gum into her mouth and smacked her lips together.
"Glaceon and sylveon were so beautiful," Mary commented.
"But umbreon's Aura was so," Lily started.
"Unique." A soft voice from behind her finished. The three girls swiveled around too see Maria stood with sylveon next to her.
"Maria! Hi!" Lily said, slightly too loudly.
"Umbreon doesn't listen to me, all she does is bite and scratch me." Maria folded her arms and sighed. "I was wondering, could you maybe try using her in the performance, and see if she listens to you?" She bit her lip as she stared at Lily, waiting for an answer.
"I would love too," Lily started, "If you're sure it's the best thing."
"Definitely, I'll give you her Pokeball now and you can return her after the contest!" Maria smiled widely as she reached into her pocket and handed over the Pokeball of umbreon.
Maria turned on her heel and began to strut away with her sylveon.
"Okay, what the heck just happened?" Marlene said in shock.
"I have no idea," Lily giggled, staring down at the Pokeball in her hands, "I guess I'm training an umbreon!"
Later that evening, in an empty classroom, Lily released Fennekin and Umbreon from their pokeballs. Fennekin happily looked up and smiled, whilst Umbreon turned it's head to the side, opening one eye to peek at Lily but closing it immediately again after eye contact was made.
Lily crouched down in front of Umbreon and stroked behind the pokemon's ear.
"I've been told to train you, so here I am!" Lily smiled. The umbreon turned it's head and bit Lily's finger harshly. Fennekin took a defensive position and began to growl, and Lily panicked. "No no! I'm fine! If you need to take your anger out on me it's okay, Umbreon." Lily warmly smiled at the pokemon again, who stared for a second before looking away.
"Alright, this is going to take some training, how about we start with Umbreon and Togepi watching me and my buddy?" Lily smiled, releasing Togepi and placing it next to Umbreon. The pokemon stubbornly sat there as Lily began to practice.
"Fennekin, use ember in a spin!" Both Lily and fennekin began spinning in circles together, dancing as they walked around. Fennekin used ember as they moved, and it created a beautiful circle of fire surrounding them.
They continued to dance in the fire before Lily lifted fennekin up and the pokemon jumped high into the air before landing with a backflip.
"That's all!" Lily smiled. Togepi was jumping around in excitement, whilst Umbreon was stubbornly staring at them.
"Now, how about you join us?" Lily offered, crouching down next to Umbreon.
"Umbre!" The pokemon scoffed, before hopping onto a nearby table and lying down.
"That's okay," Lily smirked, an idea forming inside of her head, "I understand if you aren't good at performing." She folded her arms and peeked with one eye at the umbreons reaction.
The pokemon growled in anger, before jumping onto the floor and showcasing it's dark pulse. The pokemon then jumped around it's own move and used scratch to turn it into nothing more than purple sparkles, before landing perfectly. Lily gasped and clapped for the pokemon, who nonchalantly strutted towards her and growled, possibly urging for them to practice.
"Alright!" Lily grinned, "Fennekin use ember, and umbreon use dark pulse!" The moves collided to create a beautiful display of orange and black fireworks. Sparkles flew onto them as they danced on the stage, and as Lily was spinning, she could've sworn that there was a smile on Umbreon's face.
When Lily was walking back to the dorm, she had Togepi in her bag, Fennekin on her shoulder and Umbreon walking by her side. As she was about to open the dorm room, she heard a voice shout from behind. Lily swiveled around to see Remus beckoning for her to come down.
Lily looked at umbreon before the pokemon nodded. They all hurried down the stairs towards Remus, who seemed to have a puzzled expression painting his pale face.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked him, as she placed a comforting hand on his arm. She didn't have any concept of the time, but it was probably nearly curfew, as she was in that classroom for hours at least.
Remus told Lily a detailed story about how he was on a walk, when he noticed a small pokemon which looked like a dried-up slug on the path. Remus then picked it up, placed it in his bag and carried it into the school, but he still had no idea where to put it or how to help it.
Lily asked to see the pokemon, to which Remus nodded and unzipped his backpack. Inside was a pokemon which Lily recognised as Goomy, the weakest dragon type.
"Is there a problem over here?" An older girl with straight, medium length, brunette hair and a cringe which just brushed passed her eyebrows was stood behind them, arms folded. She had a prefect badge and a marshtomp by her side.
"N-No, we were just headed!" Lily responded, before giving Remus a reassuring look.
"Hurry it up then!" The girl shouted. Moltress only had two perfects, and they were a notoriously known couple in fifth year called Alice and Frank.
Lily wished that she could've seen her marshtomp as a mudkip, as they were both adorable, but mudkip really took the cake in the cuteness factor.
Lily walked with Remus up to the dormitory before entering the common room together.
"Only the girls have baths, the boys just have showers, so could you take this little guy into your room and bring him back when he's better?" Remus requested. Lily nodded and took Remus' bag before rushing up to her room and running a bath.
Marlene and Mary both sat up from their beds and stared at Lily as if she was a crazy person.
"Umbre!" Umbreon yipped as it ran after Lily.
"Fennekin!" Fennekin also said from Lily's shoulder.
Lily unzipped the bag and placed the goomy in the bath as the water splashed onto the bottom of the tub.
"Goo!" The pokemon smiled as it melted in to the water. Colour slowly started to grow back onto the pokemon and soon enough, it's eyes opened fully as it splashed around in the bath.
Once it seemed to be alright, Lily picked up the goomy and carried it through the room again.
"Lily pad?" Marlene shouted, to which Lily backtracked her steps to look at her, "I have so many questions." She stated, twirling her long, blonde hair around her index finger.
"And I'll answer them all, just give me a minute," Lily smiled as she carried the slimey pokemon down the stairs, gagging when she stroked it and a long strand of goo came from the pokemon and onto her hand.
Lily climbed up the staircase to the boy's dorm, which was fine because girls were okay to go there although boys weren't aloud in the girls. When she reached the door which had "JFP, SOB, RJL, PP" on the door, she knocked slightly. To her surprise, Peter answered the door with a confused expression.
"Um, is Remus here?" Lily nervously asked.
"Remus!" Peter shouted into the room. A few seconds later, Remus was at the door, shoving Peter away and welcoming Lily inside.
She shrugged and entered the room. It was very different to the girls'. There were no vanities or bookshelfs, only desks and wardrobes. There was four beds, the one nearest to the bathroom resembled Marlene's as it was unmade and messy, whereas the others were neat.
Lily handed the goomy over to Remus, and the pokemon smiled as it dropped into Remus' arms.
"Awh, he really likes you," Lily grinned, discretely wiping her hands on her shirt.
"Quill!" Remus' partner spoke softly from behind him. Lily smiled and leaned down to pet the small pokemon.
"Goomy, do you want to join my team?" Remus asked with a happy smile. Lily was going to question why a pokemon battler would want to catch the weakest dragon type, but the look of pure joy when Remus finally caught the goomy was unmatched.
Lily left soon after and went back to her room, where Marlene was snoring loudly and Mary was reading a book with the lights dim. Lily snuck inside, trying to be as quiet as possible and slipped into bed stealthily, Umbreon and Fennekin already curled up at the foot.
"Have you seen Togepi?" Lily whispered to Mary.
"It was training in the bathroom, I think it came in here to sleep, though." Mary replied before closing her book and turning off her light.
Lily soon went to bed too, or at least tried too. Everytime that she tried to get some rest, she would have the same dream of that pokemon over and over again. The pokemon begging for help, in a test tube, breaking free and then speaking to her again. She could never remember the words said afterwards, though.
After that day, Lily trained with Fennekin, Togepi and Umbreon every single evening up until the ball. Umbreon grew more comfortable with Lily and her friends, almost never going into it's Pokeball by choice. Maria checked in everyday, but Umbreon continued to be hostile towards her whilst it was kind to Lily.
The night of the ball fastly approached, and Lily, Mary, Marlene, Pandora and Dorcas were all getting ready together for it.
Lily was wearing an orange dress with a red fur boa and her long, ginger curls tied into a messy bun with two strands loose at the front. Her partner, Fennekin, was wearing a red bow next to one of it's ears in order to fit the theme.
Mary was wearing a short, blue dress which was puffy and had details of white flowers. Her piplup was wearing a white tutu, which made it look awfully cute, Lily must admit.
Marlene uncomfortably wore a dress, a beautiful one with an overall orange theme. She stubbornly wore a white tie over the dress, though, claiming she wouldn't submit to societies norms. Her chimchar wore a small tophat on it's head as an accessory.
Pandora's dress was beautiful. It was huge, like one a princess would wear to walk down a spiral staircase. It was light green with pink details sewn into it. She had pink flowers in her hair as well, whilst her chikorita had a pink bow tied around the flower on it's head.
Finally, Dorcas was wearing a poofy, emerald green dress which had small details of different shades of green attached to it. This matched her sprigatitto's overall colour scheme. She decided to put a bow tie on her pokemon as an accessory.
Lily was going with James, although she didn't particularly care for him. Mary was accompanied by Peter, who stubbornly refused to go with her until the day before the dance, as they both didn't have dates. Marlene was simply going with Sirius as they were friends and couldn't think of who else to take. Pandora and Regulus were, obviously, going together as they were the most inseparable of best friends. Dorcas was accompanied by Barty, one of her close friends, as she called him.
When Lily walked down the staircase, James had his arm ready to link with hers, to which she refused and insisted on only walking by his side platonically. James threw a small tantrum before finally accepting that she wouldn't budge on this.
The two of them walked to the ball together, his charmander being her fennekin's date as well. When they entered the ball, there were students of all years dancing together and socialising. As soon as Lily entered, Maria immediately ran up to her and told her how greatful she is for training her umbreon for her.
"I cannot wait to see your performance!" Maria giggled before departing along with her Sylveon as a partner.
Lily just giggled awkwardly as the night progressed. She danced with James for a while before they both went to get some food and a drink. Whilst they were talking over some fruit punch, the headmaster announced that performances were about to start, and anybody partaking should go backstage to prepare.
"Do you mind holding Togepi for a bit?" Lily asked James with wide eyes and the pokemon in her bag, "I want them to see my performance." James agreed immediately and took Togepi in his arms before Lily rushed off.
Lily thanked James and said goodbye before walking towards Mary, who was already headed backstage. There was a large cluster of girl's and boys surrounding a screen behind the stage. The screen showcased everything that was going on during the contest, and Narcissa was doing an opening performance to start the show.
She did an iconic bubble beam with her brionne before her tinkaton used it's hammer to pop all of the bubbles and create a shower of beautiful blue sparkles.
Then, the general contest started. There were many people performing before it was anybody in Lily's years turn. She released Umbreon and began to go over their performance with both Umbreon and Fennekin.
Alice Fortescue, a prefect for moltress was one of the people competing. She used a golduck and her marshtop to create a beautiful display of both water and psychic abilities. If Alice didn't place anywhere above third, then Lily didn't know who would.
Person after person went by, the only one really standing out after that was Maria who showcased her espeon and Jolteon. Finally, it was somebody in Lily's years turn.
"Regulus Black." The speaker called out, and Lily stared at the screen as Regulus made his appearence. He jumped onto the stage with his oshawatt right beside him. Oshawatt used bubble beam into the sky whilst using it's shell to destroy all of the bubbles and create a rain dance of their own. It was beautiful, and really showcased the bond between them.
After that was Pandora, who was an exceptional performer to say the least.
"Use vine whip!" Was the first move, as chikorita wrapped her vines around Pandora's waist and made her fly around the stage. "Now, razor leaf!" Her pokemon placed her back onto the stage before using razor leaf and creating a leaf tornado around them. Both of them began to dance in the middle as if they were dancing to classical music. They did a bow to finish it off, it was a beautiful display of affection between partners.
"Lily Evans!" Lily felt her heart stop when her name was called out, but she calmed down and walked towards the stage with fennekin and umbreon by her side. When the curtains drew, Lily was suddenly very self aware at all of the people staring at her.
She took a second to close her eyes and take a deep breath before jumping onto the stage with a smile. She immediately began to dance and spin with umbreon and fennekin by her side, the pokemon and her both moving gracefully and making no mistakes as they danced.
"Now, use ember and dark pulse!" Lily called out, to which both of the pokemon used Lily's shoulders to leap into the air and use their moves aimed at the sky. The ember and dark pulse collided, creating a gorgeous display of purple and orange fireworks. Sparkles fell over the audience and the stage, as they continued to dance. After they finished, Lily struck a pose with a peace sign, whilst Umbreon and Fennekin both did a handstand.
The applaud felt like the most beautiful melody as Lily panted for breath and looked at the pokemon beside her. They all rushed backstage afterwards and Lily collapsed onto the ground to hug the both of them. She felt like sobbing there and then.
Fennekin licked her cheek whilst Umbreon nuzzled her face. It wasn't over yet, though, Lily would still have to battle with Togepi.
On the screen now was Mary and her piplup performing on the stage as well. The two of them appeared to be breakdancing in a ball of bubbles, before piplup used peck on every last one of them, causing sparkles to errupt into the crowd. She wasn't finished yet, though.
Mary then told her piplup to use watergun into the sky, which caused the water to fall back on to the two of them in the form of droplets. It was such a unique performance that everybody backstage was staring up at the screen with wide eyes and open mouths.
When the performance was over and Mary came backstage, she was greeted by a warm hug from Lily and her piplup was congratulated by umbreon and Fennekin. After a couple more performances, the winners were announced to everybody. Lily, Pandora and Mary all held eachothers hands as they waited for the names to be called.
"In third," The presenter called, "Alice Fortescue!" She shouted as Alice rushed onto the stage, her pokemon beside her as she did a final bow and blew kisses into the audience.
"In second," The suspence was killing the three of them, "Lily Evans!" Lily screamed and hugged her friends before rushing onto the stage with Umbreon and Fennekin by her side. She thanked everyone before rushing to the side where Alice was and standing expectantly with her.
"And in first place," The presentor started, "Is Mary MacDonald!" Lily must've screamed loud enough to break glass as she saw her friend run on the stage and accept the prize. Narcissa, the Hogwarts Queen, also came on stage to present Mary with her prize.
Alice and Lily were invited on to stand next to Mary as she accepted her award. Narcissa handed Mary a large egg, which definitely contained a pokemon. Her prize for winning the contest was a brand new pokemon, how lucky! Everybody clapped for them before the contest was pretty much over, and the battle section was next.
Lily rushed down with Mary, who placed her brand new egg into her bag in order to keep it safe. As Lily was helping her place the egg inside, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Maria stood there with her sylveon's ribbons wrapped around her arm.
"Hey, you did awesome back there!" Maria congratulated her before looking down at Umbreon and reaching to stroke it on the head. Unfortunately for her, all she received was a bite on the hand before it turned away and pouted. Lily sighed and reached into her pocket for Umbreon's Pokeball before handing it to Maria.
"Thank you," Maria smiled weakly before returning Umbreon and walking away. It felt weird not to have umbreon with her anymore, but it was the right thing to do.
The battles were starting in only ten minutes, so Lily retrieved Togepi and got set up for her match up. It would be process of elimination, and Lily was in round two against Evan.