The Party
Mary Pov:
“Hold still!”
Marlene was trying to put eyeliner on Lily who couldn’t stop moving. Mary had finished her makeup already and was just picking out her earrings. “Black studs or gold hoops?”, she said as she turned towards them.
“Definitely the hoops.”
“Yeah the hoops”
Mary turned towards her mirror and slipped the hoops into her ears before stepping back to admire her outfit. She had on a tight black dress and heels which she would definitely regret later. Her hair was up in a ponytail with a few strands loose and hanging in front. She pivoted to face Marlene and Lily as Marlene finished Lily’s eyeliner. “There!” Lily sprung up and looked at herself in the mirror Mary had just been looking into, “Brilliant, thanks Marlene”.
“No thanks to you with how hard it was for you to stay still!”
“I’m a fidgety person!”
Mary sighed, “Are you two ready yet. There is a difference between fashionably late and just rude and we still have to get to the dungeons.” Marlene nodded and hopped off of her bed, “Yeah, the boys should be in the common room unless they abandoned us”. Lily turned around and looked at them, “I look ok right?”
She looked amazing and it made Mary’s heart beat faster. She wanted to kiss Lily right there and then. But Mary just grinned, “You look better than ok. You look hot and you know it!” Marlen nodded, “Yeah you know you look stunning”. Lily blushed, “I just want to make sure I look good”. Marlene let out a little laugh, “For that Ravenclaw girl”. Lily picked up a pillow and tried to throw it at her but Marlene just caught the pillow and started singing, “Lily and Pandora sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G”
“What are we, twelve? Let’s go”
Another five minutes later the girls were finally ready to head down where they found the Marauders waiting. Sirius leapt up from the sofa he’d been lounging on, “Took you all forever to get ready.”
“And that’s coming from the boy who insisted he needed to start getting ready 2 hours before the actual party”, Peter added with a good-natured grin. Sirius put his hand to his chest in mock outrage, “Me? I would never”. Marlene sighed, “Can we go already? I need to see my girlfriend.” James groaned “It’s been like five hours. You can survive another few minutes Marlene”. Despite this Marlene started to hustle everyone along and a minute later they had started the walk to the dungeons. Another fifteen minutes later they arrived at a blank stone wall. Marlene spoke clearly, “Pepper Imps”. The wall disappeared and they saw a passageway which they all filed into in one long line.
Once they had reached the end there was an archway that they all ducked under and entered. The light was green from the lake water around them and there was a giant fire roaring in a big fireplace. There were people from all of the houses around them. Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Slytherins, and Gryffindors all dancing together. The music was loud and it reverberated around the walls of the dungeon.
They stood in a large group looking around before Dorcas ran up to Marlene with a drink in her hand. She grabbed Marlene’s hand and smiled at the rest of them “Drinks are over that way”, she said, pointing vaguely to some corner, “Let loose, have fun” she pulled Marlene away and they all quickly lost sight of them in the crowd.
There was silence for a second before Sirius grabbed Mary’s hand, “I need some drinks. C’mon”. He pulled her away and they started to weave in between people to the corner Dorcas had pointed at. She glanced behind her and saw Remus glaring at their hands which were still interlocked. She quickly let go of Sirius’s hand as they got to the drinks.
There was a giant table with what looked to be punch and some mixers with various bottles of alcohol and cups. Mary grabbed a cup and filled it with punch and vodka. Sirius did the same and tapped his cup against hers before drinking, “Cheers”. She nodded, “Cheers” before she started drinking.
Mary quickly realized that the punch had some alcohol in it and with the vodka this was going to get her drunk fast. She looked at Sirius, “Y’know Remus was looking at you?” He shook his head and she nodded, “It’s true. He was looking at us”. He sighed, “Mary, he doesn't like me. I’m sure of it”.
“What makes you so sure”.
He said nothing and refilled his drink, “Not now Mary. I’m going to go get wasted and maybe find a cute guy to kiss and I’m not going to think about him.
“Suit yourself, but I’m telling you that he likes you Sirius”.
Sirius walked away and disappeared into the crowd. Mary sighed and moved around the crowd to try and find her friends. Who knew the Slytherins could throw such good parties?She caught sight of Lily, who was chatting with Pandora. Good for her.
Mary then saw Remus, leaning up against a wall and walked over to him. She settled onto the wall next to him, sipping her drink. He looked at her “Mary.”, he said in a way of greeting. She looked at him, “Remus.” He turned his gaze back to the party and she followed his gaze to where she saw Sirius, drink long gone, dancing without a care in the world. She looked back at Remus, “So, Sirius huh?” He looked at her again with his eyes widened before smiling, “So, Lily huh?” She grinned, “Touché”.
They both turned their heads back to the floor where Lily and Pandora were dancing. Sirius had given up dancing for flirting with some guy who looked like a knockoff Remus. Remus quickly looked back at her, “How long?”
Mary didn’t know exactly when she had fallen in love with Lily Evans. Maybe she had been a bit in love with her since they’d met. She’d known since third year. Marlene had done Lily’s eyeliner and she had looked at Mary with her eyes bright. Mary felt her stomach tingle and as Lily grabbed her hand like she always had done, she felt warm inside.
Mary knew it was stupid but when Lily had come out to Marlene and her, she had thought that she might have a chance. But then Lily started studying with Pandora all the time and before long she was telling the girls about how Pandora's hair was so beautiful. She told them about how smart she was and about her gray eyes. Everything that she liked about Pandora Mary could never have.
She met Remus’s gaze, “I’ve known since third year. You?”
“Same”.
They stood there in comfortable silence for a bit longer. It was nice having someone who knew how you felt.
James Pov:
James had been at the party for about half an hour now and he still hadn’t seen Regulus. He had seen Dorcas, Pandora, Evan, and Barty but not Regulus and none of them knew where he was. Sirius was dancing with some bloke he had just met. James thought he was in Ravenclaw but wasn’t sure. He caught a glimpse of Regulus from across the room.
Regulus was sipping a drink and leaning against the wall looking incredibly bored. James pushed his way through the crowd over to him, narrowly avoiding about five drinks that spilled and leaning on the wall next to him.
“Hey”
Regulus looked up and to the side at James and blinked slowly, “Potter”
James grinned, “You enjoying your victory party?” Regulus shrugged, “Not really my scene.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Appearances. Also Barty throws the best parties.”
James turned his gaze back to the party and took it all in. As he watched people dancing and drinking, Regulus moved forward, “I’m going to go get another drink.” James moved to follow him but Regulus stopped him, “Enjoy the party James”. James watched him walk off before his view was blocked. Barty Crouch Jr. stood in front of James with a drink in his hand.
“Potter.”
“Crouch”
Barty cocked his head to the side and took a sip of his drink, “You’re interesting Potter.”
James sighed, “How so?”
Barty grinned, “For one you’re a Gryffindor; but you’re here at a Slytherin party, to celebrate Slytherin’s win at Quidditch.
“Dorcas invited us.”
Barty nodded,” You didn’t have to show up.” His eyes looked right into Jame’s and smirked, “Which leads me to my next point. You seem to be obsessed with my friend.” James gulped, “I’m not obsessed with anyone.”
“That’s not the way I see it. You follow him around, corner him in hallways, and come to parties just because he’ll be there”. Barty looked at James knowingly like he knew James better than James did, “If you’re not obsessed you either want to kill him or you have a crush on him”. James finally retorted, “It’s neither. I just want to be his friend. That’s it.”
Barty raised an eyebrow, “Ok sure. Just don’t mess with him. If he gets hurt somehow I’ll kill you.” James gulped, Barty did not look like he was joking, “I’m not planning on hurting anyone.”
“Good”
With that Barty turned and walked away, quickly disappearing into the crowd. James thought about what he had said. Was it creepy that he kept trying to talk to Regulus? He hadn’t thought so but if a person he hates kept cornering and following him he would probably be concerned too. Maybe he should tone it down.
Sirius appeared out of nowhere and grabbed James’s arm.
“Prongsieee”, he slurred out, clearly drunk, “Did you see Moony tonight? He’s so pretty.” Remus stood behind Sirius and was clearly embarrassed, “I’m taking him back to the dorm.” Sirius grinned and turned to Remus, “Ooo the dorms, how scandalous Moons.” Remus sighed, “C’mon”.
James smiled as they walked away, “Be safe!” Remus flipped him the middle finger as Sirius clung to his arm and was seemingly trying to flirt with him. When Sirius got drunk he got clingy and flirty. It seemed he was choosing Remus to flirt with tonight.
Lily appeared next to him with a bright grin on her face, “Jamesss. Mary won’t dance with me”.
“The world must end, how can we live on in this tragic life when she won’t dance with you”.
She frowned, “You’re not drunk enough. Come on”.
Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the drink table to pour him a drink that was mostly alcohol and shove it at him before filling up her cup. He raised it and clinked it against hers, “Cheers Lil”.
He started chugging the drink and before he knew it Lily had pulled him to the dance floor and they had started to dance.
James had understood that he wasn’t actually in with Lily at the beginning of last year. He realized that he had loved the idea of her and that she really wasn’t interested in him. Instead he had just focused on being her friend and the two of them had quickly discovered that they both loved to dance and were decently good at it. This led to them starting to dance together at parties and since then they had always danced with each other.
James looked over to the side and saw Mary leaning against the wall, sipping her drink and staring daggers at him. He quickly stopped dancing with Lily. Mary knew they were just bf Irene’s of course but anyone with half a mind could tell that the two girls were in love with each other and this might be an opportunity to get them together. Lily looked at him, “He’d why’d you stop dancing?”
He quickly shouted, one had to shout to be heard over the music, “I think Mary wants to dance with you now”. Lily’s eyes lit up and she looked over to Mary in the corner, “Thanks James”. She danced through the crowd and got to Mary. James watched as she beckoned to Mary and the two started dancing together.
If James and Lily were good at dancing, Mary and Lily were the best. They knew how to move together and exactly what the other could do, leading to them looking like they had choreographed a whole dance.
James quickly walked away. It was really loud and he couldn’t find any of his other friends. He decided to go to the Astronomy Tower. It would be cool up there and he could clear his head.
He sped out of the common room and up many flights of stairs and long corridors before getting up to the tower. He opened the door and walked in and spotted Regulus sitting in a similar spot to before.
He walked over and sat down next to him, “Deja vu huh?”
Regulus started and looked at him, “Oh, it’s you”.
“I can leave if you don’t want me here”
Regulus looked back up at the sky, “It’s fine”.
James grinned, “Does that mean that you’re starting to like me?”
Regulus scoffed, “In your dreams Potter”
“I think you’re warming up to me”
“Am not”
“Are too”
“I am not!”
“You’re not!”
“I am!.. Shit”, Regulus looked over at James who was laughing, “You tricked me, that doesn’t
count.”
“Mmmmmm I think it does Reg.”
Regulus’s eyes widened, “Don’t call me Reg.”
Oh this could be fun, “Oh my mistakes Reggie”.
“Oh my god that's even worse than Reg”
“Well if you prefer I could call you Gus”.
“Please no”
“Reginald?”
Regulus made no response.
“Reginaldus”
There was still no response.
James tried a variety of more nicknames, all were increasingly more ridiculous before deciding on Reggie.
“I’m calling you Reggie.”
“Or you could just call me Regulus. Or not at all.”
“Eh. That’s way less fun”.
James looked at Regulus, who was looking at him, “Mmmm I think you like Reggie secretly”.
Regulus finally burst out laughing. James felt his heart soar. Regulus gasped out, “If you have to do one of them do Reg.” James nodded and did a dramatic bow as best as he could while sitting down, “As your wish Lord Reg”. Regulus sighed but it was fond, “You aren’t going to call me anything else now are you”.
James shook his head, “Nope”.
They sat in silence for a while longer before Regulus stood up. James quickly stood up too and looked at Regulus who was only an inch or two away from him. Regulus’s cheeks were red- probably from the cold and he looked at James, “I’m going to bed now. Goodnight Potter”. James smiled, “Call me James.” Regulus shook his head, “ I think Potter suits you just fine”.
He turned on his heel and walked away, James called after him, “James.”
“Potter”
“We’ll work on it. Goodnight Reg!”
Regulus disappeared down the staircase and James’s smile kept growing bigger. He had made Regulus laugh. He had made Reg laugh.