Chapter 5
Lily Evans POV:
Lily woke up, the sun shining on her face through the gap between her curtains.
She remembered the evening before, how upset she was, also how James had comforted her. She laughed with James. Laughed with James Potter? That thought made her sit up straight in her bed.
James Potter? The James Potter she had always hated? No, she would go on like before, like nothing had happened.
She would ignore him and hate him as usual.
‘Alice! I have awoken!’ Lily called out.
Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying so much the day before, she hoped Alice would not notice, but she would anyway.
‘Good morning Lily, how have you slept?’ Alice asked while opening the curtains in Lily’s room.
‘Quite good, I did wake up in the middle of the night but I was able to get back to sleep immediately.’ Lily answered
‘That is good, your eyes look red, has something happened?’ Alice immediately asked
‘Petunia and I fought yesterday, I was quite upset about it for a while.’ Lily told her
‘You left yesterday afternoon after you fought did you not? Where did you go?’ Alice asked
‘I did leave, yes, I went to take a walk by the river, it made me feel better, so there is nothing to worry about.’ Lily said as Alice took out the dress Lily would be wearing that day.
‘That is good, now let us get you ready for today’, Alice said as she was tightening Lily’s corset, ’you will have a different dress for this evening for Mr. Potter's natal day celebration ball.’
‘Is it his natal day?’ Lily asked in shock
‘Yes, you have gotten an invitation from the queen, she will be the one that is hosting the ball since they are some kind of distant family.’ Alice told her
Lily had completely forgotten that she got an invitation for that party and was dumbfounded by the fact she had to hear the day the event was.
Lily was not looking forward to the event, because she knew James would be there and he would most certainly be looking forward to seeing her again, and she had just planned to ignore that she had been friendly to him the day before.
It had been a few hours, Lily had read, written letters, taken multiple walks around the garden, she was out of things to do.
She could go to the market, but she did not want to go alone, of course Alice would be there but she was not allowed to talk to her (at least that is what she told herself), because staff and high class were not meant to talk as friends, that was common sense with anybody.
Marlene and Mary were both busy, otherwise Lily had already gone by their houses. Lily had also made the conclusion Remus was also busy getting James and the Potter manor ready for the celebration they would have today.
In summary, Lily was extremely bored. Then an idea came to her; seeing as the event later would be after supper, she would still eat supper at home, she wanted to help out in the kitchen, it seemed like a nice activity.
‘Good Day!’ Lily said to Frank, who was the cook and also Alice’s husband, as she stepped into the kitchens.
‘Good Day Miss Lily, what brings you here?’ Frank asked her.
Frank was a charming guy and someone you could easily get along with, and Lily did get along with him quite well. He was also married to Lily’s maid and they were truly soulmates in her eyes.
‘I was wondering if I could help out here this afternoon, since I am extremely bored and I simply thought it would be exciting to try out a new activity.’ Lily told him
Frank looked at her with clear doubt. ‘Sure, if Alice would like to help out too then she is more than welcome to do so.’ Frank smiled.
With that answer, Lily sprinted through the house to find Alice, and when she had finally found her, Lily squealed out of excitement when she saw Alice and ran up to her.
‘What is it that is making you so happy?’ Alice said giggling.
Lily looked at her with a funny desperate look on her face ‘Will you please help Frank cook supper together with me? I simply thought it would be fun and he said you were welcome to join!’
‘I would love to, I think it would be fun too for me and Frank to spend more time together since we are married.’ Alice answered.
‘Exactly!’ Lily said as she skipped back to the kitchens happily.
Lily was in charge of chopping up the vegetables, it would be the easiest task while also having fun.
Frank and Alice were making a soup together that smelled so great that Lily could not help herself to stop cutting the carrots and take a moment to take in the wonderful smell that hung around the room.
Lily was peacefully cutting up some mushrooms that would later be added to the soup when she heard laughter coming from where Alice and Frank were standing, they were tossing garlic cloves at each other.
Lily laughed, it was beautiful to see how love could also not just be romantic but also friendship-like, Lily thought it was important you loved someone you were also befriended with, she had learned that from love experiences from her friends.
A long while later (roughly 2 hours) Frank told Alice and Lily to go upstairs to her bedroom so Lily would be able to get ready for supper and Potter’s celebration later, and so they did.
Lily would be wearing a different dress at supper than she would be wearing to the celebration.
The one she wore at supper was a simple lilac dress and her hair was done in a simple braid just so it would lay on her shoulder.
‘Lily, are you looking forward to the event this evening?’ Lily’s mother asked her
‘I am, I think it would be a great opportunity for me to talk to some Lords and see what their prospects are,’ Lily answered, ‘ the soup is great, do you not think so?’
‘Yes, it is lovely, I will make sure to give my compliments to Frank.’ Lily’s mother said
‘I am sure it is made with a lot of love.’ Lily said as she smirked to herself.
A little later Alice was getting Lily ready for the event, she was putting Lily’s hair up into a half bun at the back of her head, the rest of her hair was curled, the pieces around her head fell beautifully onto the places they should. At the core of her bun was a gold flower hair pin which tied everything together.
The dress she would be wearing to the event that evening was a pink and white silk dress with laces on places they fit perfectly, there were flowers on the dress as details just above her chest, in summary, it was beautiful.
When she had finally arrived at the event, she immediately saw that Mary and Marlene were waiting for her in front of the entrance.
‘Good evening Lily!’ Marlene said to her as Lily walked up to them.
‘Good evening, are you ready to see the man who has been obsessed with you since you were born?’ Mary asked and ended the sentence with a cackle
‘I in fact am ready to not see him, I plan to fully ignore him and pretend he is not there.’ Lily said simply
‘But it is his celebration!’ Marlene told Lily laughing as she put her arm around Lily’s
‘I know that, but I do not care.’ Lily said, looked at her friends and laughed while they entered the Great Hall together.
The celebration was held in Hogwarts palace, where the queen Minerva Mcgonagall lived, all the balls were held in the Great Hall of the palace.
The palace had enormous gardens with all types of flowers, it felt like you were looking at a canvas on which a painter had experimented with different sorts of colours.
The flower fields eventually ended and at the border of the fields there was a lake, it glimmered like pale blue diamonds in the moonlight.
On the other side of the lake there was a really big forest, nobody knew what was in there, only the queen did, but the people respected that, after all, it was just a forest.
The inside of the palace was beautiful as well. Gold plated decorations, beautiful statues, enormous flower bouquets in every corner.
Lily had always dreamed of living in the palace, she had been there twice before this occasion, as a child of 7, all the girls were invited to meet the queen, and as a woman of 19 when the queen decided she was the prize of the season.
And now she was there again, it had not been long since she had been there last, but she would always be in awe of how beautiful it was.
‘Miss Evans.’ A happy voice said from behind her, Lily, who immediately recognised who it was, took Marlene and Mary and walked away fast.
Lily Evans would have no interactions with James Potter from today on.
‘So you are really going to ignore him from now on?’ Mary said, laughing a bit.
‘Yes, I think I have made that quite clear.’ Lily said with a satisfied smile on her face as they walked on to the ballroom.
Lily was standing at the side of the dance floor with Marlene (because she refuses to dance with any man, and she said her feet hurt), when she saw Remus stand in the corner near the bathrooms signalling to her to come over there.
‘Marlene, Remus is over there in the corner, I am just going to talk to him a bit, do you want to come?’ Lily asked
‘Sure! He seems very nice and I will not stand there on her own, it seems like Mary is enjoying herself at least.’ Marlene told her, grinning.
They walked up to Remus, who quickly slid into a hallway so they would not be seen. When they could, Lily immediately jumped into his arms for an embrace. ‘I have missed you!’
‘I have missed you too Lilypad.’ Remus said, still embracing her.
When they finally let go of each other, Marlene thought it was a good time to speak, which it was. ‘Am I the only one who thinks James Potter has an unhealthy obsession with Lily here.’
Marlene asked like it was the most normal topic to discuss (and as if they hadn’t discussed it before). They did talk about it, and laughed.
Later, Lily and Marlene went back to find Mary (who was somehow still dancing), and left Remus to his butler duties, so he had to go back and find James.
Sirius Black POV:
Sirius was beyond grateful that he was the only person of his family to receive an invitation to James’ celebration.
He did think about it though, the queen must have sent the invitations, it seems that the queen does not particularly like Sirius’ family as well then.
The only thing was, Barty would have to come with him, unfortunately Barty had to come with him everywhere his mother was not, on his mothers demand.
They were sitting in the carriage, in complete silence.
They sat like that the entire carriage ride.
Once finally arrived at the palace, Sirius realised he was the last one there, he felt really bad for James, James would understand, but he still felt bad.
He and Barty stepped inside and Sirius went looking for James and Peter. Barty just went off somewhere, Sirius honestly did not care.
He had finally found his friends after walking around the palace frantically, they were standing on a balcony looking out on the ballroom.
‘Why hello my good friends.’ Sirius said as he walked up from behind them.
‘Sirius!’ James said happily, ‘I am so glad you are here!’
‘I am also glad, so how are we doing?’ Sirius asked his two friends.
‘James has been sulking.’ Peter said chuckling
‘Why are you sulking?’ Sirius asked
‘Do not expect him to talk, all he wants to do is stare at Lily Evans, who rudely ignored him today.’ Peter told him
‘Are you still trying to court her?’ Sirius asked James in disbelief
‘Shut it, I cannot do anything about the fact that I am madly in love with her!’ James said
‘Well you have confidence I do have to give you that.’ Sirius said grinning
‘Slowly losing that, sorry to disappoint you mate.’ James said
‘Well it is your celebration, let us make it a great evening for you!’ Sirius said, looking at both James and Peter trying to cheer James up.
‘That is a splendid idea.’ James said, grinning at his two friends.
The three of them walked down the stairs from the balcony to the Great Hall, and that is when Sirius saw him, that’s when he saw Remus.
For a moment everything around Sirius freezed in time, except for himself, he was just standing there, against the wall in a corner, he was obviously there because he was James’ butler but Sirius was caught by surprise, he would always be when he saw Remus.
Remus was looking towards the other side of the Great Hall, where Lily Evans was standing, laughing with her friends Marlene Mckinnon and Mary MacDonald.
Sirius walked straight through the line in which Remus was looking and that is when they had eye contact, and they kept it for quite a long time, even though Sirius was walking.
Remus smiled and looked down and shook his head, Sirius found himself getting hot in his suit.
‘Lads, I am just going to head over to the bathrooms, should I meet you here when I get back?’ Sirius asked his friends
‘We shall stay right here, do not worry.’ Peter told him, and Sirius headed over to the bathrooms.
What Sirius did not think about, is that Remus was standing next to the hallway in which the entrances to the bathrooms were.
Before walking into the hallway, Sirius looked into Remus’ eyes and he froze in place.
‘Could I help you?’ Remus asked with a small smile on his face
‘Oh- uhm- uh, no thanks!’ Sirius said nervously and practically sprinted into the bathrooms, once he entered the bathrooms, he realised he almost screamed what he had just said to Remus and wanted to die of embarrassment.
Sirius looked at himself in the mirror, how could he, the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, find himself, finding interest in a guy?
He had not thought about it before, but he did not have a problem with it. If men liked other men, who should care?
Society cares, that's what Sirius thought.
He looked at himself again, he started to feel sick just by looking at himself.
Why? Why him?
It is not that he had a problem with liking guys, not at all, it is just that he never expected it, and he knew what could happen if his family found out, if society found out, he could be killed.
He did not care about being killed, hell, that was the least of his concerns.
It was just that he had only just realised this and it felt like a giant rock had fallen on him, in summary, he did not really know how to deal with these feelings.
It was not as if he could tell anyone, he was even scared to tell James.
His heartbeat started going faster and he started hyperventilating.
Lucky for him, he knew how to calm himself down in these situations, but it did not work this time.
He collapsed onto the floor and knocked over a bunch of stuff standing on a shelf hanging on the wall he was now sitting against.
Sirius heard rapid footsteps coming from the hallway, and before he could stand up, Remus burst into the room Sirius was in, he saw the state Sirius was in and helped him calm down.
All of this, it was so overwhelming for Sirius he broke down into tears.
He had so much going on in his life that he already had to deal with, he would not really like more drama into his already messed up life.
And there they were, sitting on the floor of a small room. Remus comforted Sirius as much as he could. As chaotic as it was, Sirius loved every second of it, just being there with Remus and Remus actually talking to him was enough.
Barty Crouch Jr. POV:
Barty walked into the Great Hall, not wanting to be there, but still looking for one specific person. Peter Pettigrew.
He decided to remain close to the walls of the Great Hall, so no lady would come up to him and mistake him for a lord instead of a butler, because for some reason the Blacks put him in a suit that noble men would wear.
But that was beside the point, he was looking for Peter.
Barty saw groups of ladies talking and laughing politely with each other, groups of men staring at those groups of ladies longingly, but no Peter.
Until, someone grabbed his shoulders.
‘Hello.’ Peter simply said
‘I have been looking for you.’ Barty said
‘I know, you have been frantically walking across the room and all along I was following you.’ Peter said, laughing
‘Were you really following me?’ Barty asked in disbelief
‘Yes I was, do you not believe me?’ Peter asked teasingly
‘I do believe you, okay?’ Barty said
‘Good, now I want to show you something.’ Peter told Barty
They walked to the garden doors and Peter pushed them open.
The royal garden really was like people had said, the colours of the flowers shone in the moonlight, and further in the garden there was a lake that glittered almost as if it could make twinkling sounds, and further on there was the forest, Barty was beyond curious about it, it was dark and even if you stood on the border, just outside of the forest you would not be able to see what was in there.
Peter grabbed Barty’s hand once they were outside, there was a soft spring breeze blowing around them as they ran through the fields.
They fell down in the middle of one of the fields and laid on their backs staring at the stars.
‘Is this what you wanted to show me?’ Barty asked and turned to face Peter.
‘Yes, a place where we are alone, nobody will bother us.’ Peter said, smiling and still looking at the sky.
‘It is beautiful.’ Barty said
‘It is.’ Peter said, smiling and turned to face Barty