Just A Laugh
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1971.
Severus’ friends might not like Lily. They call her a know-it-all after Potions, and they call her a mudblood after Flying. Mulciber’s compared her to Mary Macdonald, which Severus disagrees with. Lily’s clever. She’s funny and kind and lovely in manners Mary Macdonald can only dream of. Anyone who’s spent more than ten minutes alone with her could conclude that.
That’s the issue. Severus is certain. His friends might not like Lily… but they would if they got to know her a bit.
“Check,” Ed says.
Severus’ brows furrow. He shakes himself out of his thoughts and focuses his eyes on the chessboard. “No?”
“Patience, Severus.” Edmund tuts, his light eyes sparkling with glee. “Knight to F7.”
Avery’s knight clops forward and draws its sword. It brings the stone weapon down upon the head of Severus’ queen, slicing it clean off.
Edmund grins. “I wanted to make you watch.”
Severus frowns. He sweeps the broken remains of the queen off the board and into his pouch.
Bruce groans. Loudly. “I’m bored.” He calls from his spot across the room. “We should do something else.”
“You wouldn’t find it so boring if you ever actually played,” Severus says, pocketing his pouch once more. He tries to focus on the board, but his mind continues to wander. Perhaps Bruce could play a game against Lily when she arrived. She’d win, of course, but she’d probably be nicer about it than Ed or himself.
Bruce’s dark eyes narrow. “I don’t play because it's boring.”
“You don’t play because you’re an imbecile,” Edmund says.
Bruce huffs. He turns away from Sev and Ed, and returns to his previous entertainment: tossing tossing chocolate frog cards into the fireplace.
Severus tries again to focus on his board. What time is it? He thinks, instead. Is she done with class yet? Sev hates that they have such different schedules. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“Move, Severus,” Edmund demands, drumming his short fingers impatiently.
“I’m trying!” Sev frowns at his friend. “You’ve thrown a spanner in…”
He trails off as the entrance wall to the common room falls away. Lily stands in the grand, stone archway, marveling at the way the cobblestones fold away into nothingness.
“Smashing.” She places a hand on the edge of the wall.
Severus stands immediately. His chair scrapes along the ground loudly, causing Bruce to wince and glare at the pale boy.
“Lily!” Severus shuffles out from behind the banquet table to invite her inside. He can hear Edmund snickering as he passes. He shoots him a sharp stare. Ed just smiles.
“Hello,” Lily steps inside. “Sorry I’m late. Magical Theory ran long… Are we playing chess?” Her emerald eyes light up when she sees the board.
Severus opens his mouth to respond, but Edmund beats him to it.
“Wizard’s chess.” He corrects, happy to do so after all the times Lily had beaten him to the correct answer in Potions. “I’m winning.”
There’s no real difference, of course. The rules are identical; the strategies are the same. It’s the same game. But the distinction is awfully important to Edmund. It’s important to almost everyone down here.
Which is fair enough if you ask Severus. It’s not as if muggle chess is half as fun– it’s not nearly as exciting.
Lily frowns at the amendment, though. “Right.” She nods. She tugs off her gloves now that she’s nearer to a fire and offers her hand for a shake. “I’m Lily.”
Severus feels his mouth twitch, something complicated settling in his stomach. Lily doesn’t seem nervous. He’s proud of her for the show she’s putting on… but he can tell that’s all it is. Her hands are shaking ever so slightly. Her nails are practically bitten raw. Honestly, what good is Mary bloody Macdonald if she can’t be bothered to help Lily break her bad habits?
“We know who you are,” says Bruce, turning about in his armchair so that he’s draped over the back of it. “You’re Sevvie’s little girlfriend.”
Lily’s smile falters, and her freckled cheeks turn pink. The green hues from the fireplace make her blush seem almost brown. She laughs, high and forced. “Not quite.” She says, shoving her hands into the pockets of her robe.
Severus could curse Bruce. He really could. He’s got a long list of spells he’s been meaning to practice scribbled down in his Potions book, and Bruce would bloody well deserve it right now. Edmund too for the way he’s laughing at the whole thing.
“Right,” says Edmund. “She’s not his girlfriend. He just wishes she was.”
Sev’s face feels flushed. Lily won’t meet his eyes. “I don’t!” He bites out. “Stop it. I never said that.”
Bruce wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Why else bring a mudblood down here?”
“Excuse me?” Lily whips around to face Mulciber, indignant. “I have a name.”
“I already told you–” Severus begins, but Bruce cuts him off.
“You wanted our blessing.”
“Blessing?!” Severus sputters.
“For your nuptials.” Edmund nods solemnly.
Bruce begins loudly humming the tune to the Bridal Chorus, which is truly terrible. Not just because the whole thing is so embarrassing that Severus could crawl out of his skin, but because Mulciber cannot carry a tune. Ed falls into a fit of laughter, and it’s all Severus can do not to dig his wand out from his pocket and cast a silencing charm on them both.
Lily lets out a frustrated, slightly shrieky sound and stomps off. The boys laugh harder. Severus glowers at them and chases after her.
“Lily, wait.” He calls.
“You’re friends are berks.” She says hotly, halfway out of the common room.
“Sometimes,” He admits quietly, drowned out by their howling laughter. “But they don’t mean to be. They don’t mean anything by it. It’s just a laugh, is all.” Severus reaches out for her. His hand grasps her wrist, but it’s not enough to stop her from leaving. He follows helplessly.
Lily whirls around once she’s back in the hallway, her plaits fan around her head creating a fiery halo of sorts. Her face is red with embarrassment and anger. “Well, I don’t see what’s so bloody funny.” She shakes her arm free from his grip.
Just as she turns to flee again, a flash of yellow light zips past her. It narrowly misses her, passing just a hair away from her nose, and running plum into a torch on the wall. The torch snuffs out instantly, then sprouts several sunflowers.
“Whoops.”
Severus recognizes that voice. The Heir.
Sirius Black is peering around the opposite corner, his wand stretched out in front of him. Potter’s specky face pops out from behind the same wall.
“Sorry, Evans.” He calls. “You alright?”
Lily stares at the sunflowers in shock, then she turns to Potter. “No thanks to you!” She bites.
“We weren’t aiming at you,” Sirius says.
“You could have fooled me!”
“We weren’t aiming at you specifically, I mean. How were we supposed to know you’d be down here?”
James’ spectacled eyes narrow in a curious blend of confusion and suspicion. He leans forward as though analyzing her. “What are you doing down here?”
Lilly splutters momentarily, and that’s all it takes for Black to pounce.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He asks, leaning against the wall– far too comfortable in a place he is not welcome. “They’re on a date.”
Severus’ heart hammers in his head, and in the split second it takes for James to smile in response to Sirius’ jab, Severus has whipped out his wand. ”Langlock!”
Sirius’ eyes widen. He makes a startled sound. Then a panicked one. He drops his wand and raises his hands to his jaw. Severus swells with pride. He may not be able to shut up his friends, but he can certainly shut up Sirius Black.
“Sirius?” James grabs his friend by the shoulder. He turns back to Severus and hurls a spell of his own. “Spongify!”
Instantly the ground beneath Severus’ feet grows soft and malleable. It dips and buckles beneath him. He loses his footing and trips into Lily who yelps and kicks him away. From the ground, Severus snarls and shouts again. This time, a spell he picked up while perusing the restricted section with Lucius. “Flagrante!”
James’ eyes go wide. He drops to the ground, narrowly avoiding the orange bolt of magic heading his way. Sirius cries out in muffled anger.
“You could have hurt me!” James yells, incensed.
“That was rather the point,” Severus says.
Both boys thrust their weapons at one another; their shouts overlap and create a cacophony that sounds like gibberish.
“Stop it!” Lily yells. She wrangles Severus by his shoulders, forcing herself between the two of them. “Stop it! You’re acting like animals!”
Severus lowers his wand at her command. Once James is satisfied that Severus is no longer a threat, he does the same, panting as though their little spat had been some great exertion. “She’s right.” He says. “We shouldn’t fight like this. We ought to do it properly. I challenge you to a duel.”
“Chrissake, Potter!” Lily makes the same shrieky sound as she had in the common room. Her arms flail like she wishes she could pelt the boy with something. “Be quiet! Go away!”
Severus stares straight past her, locking eyes with Potter who’s puffed up his chest like some sort of ridiculous bird. Icy fury rushes through his veins. He grits his teeth. “I accept.”