Chapter 2
Of course Lily brought the snacks with her when she heard her name called. Well, it was more of laying them onto the stairs and then pushing them down but it still did it's job. Nicely as she was, she helped putting them in little bowls and put them onto a table.
The room already looked like a classical halloween party location.
On the windows, there were some spider webs with a few moving spiders. From the ceiling, Lily saw crafted ghosts hanging around. Everything was dark and spooky. Except from the sceleton on the couch. Someone put him sunglasses on. Lily guessed it was Sirius.
The bowls where they put the snacks in looked like little pumpkins and the bottles with butterbeer were dressed as dementors. "It looks cool", she said. "Thank you", Peter answered. "I also did something!" "Yes, you did a very great job Marlene", she said without even looking at her. "When are the guests coming?", Lily asked. "I'm on my way!", James shouted and opened the door to the common room.
Soon, the room was fully crowded. The light was dimmed and they put on disco lights so it was even harder to see anything. Everyone was just standing around talking to whoever was the nearest or dancing to the music.
When Lily felt a tap on her shoulder, she saw James standing next to her. "You didn't think this was the real surprise, did you?", he said and winked at her. Worriedly, she stared after him when he jumped on a table. "Can everyone listen to me, please?" Surprisingly, it instantly got quieter. "Okay, now that everyone can hear me, I have to tell you something. I mean... Look around. Is this a real halloween party? Without costumes?" Quiet chatter filled you room. "Nobody told us-" "Did I miss something?" "I didn't know-" "Quiet, quiet!", James interrupted their confused guests.
"We didn't tell you to wear costumes because we had a better idea. We created a spell that will make you look like you're wearing a costume but as soon as your leaving, it will be completely gone! And the best part is, it is perfectly adjusted to you!" Now the people seemed to be really excited to see that spell. "Sirius my dear friend, would you come up here and help me?" Sirius grinned, nodded and climbed up to stand next to James. Then they turned around so they were standing back to back, looking in different directions. They pulled out their wands, waving them and saying : "Costumus totalum".
The room was completely covered in blue dust. When they could see something again, Lily looked down at her. She was a pumpkin. "Very creative", she snorted. But she had to admit it was kinda cute and pretty. Well, except for the knife in her shoulder. Around her she heard many "ohh" and "ahh" sounds so she guessed most of the students were really happy with their costumes. James and Sirius jumped down from the table and the party continued.
"And?", she looked in Peter's excited face. His costume looked like a mouse. "You guys are crazy.", was her answer. "You should be used to it by now", she heard Sirius say, who was standing next to her unexpectedly in a dog costume. "Creating a new spell only for a party? What the actual fuck?" "It is also useful for more opportunities!", James interjected. Lily just raised her eyebrow at him. "Do you know what could have gone wrong at this?" Lily asked sharply. "And that's why we didn't tell you", Sirius murmured.
Lily's face became softer and she smiled at them. "You did a great job. I'm proud of you." All of their faces lightened up. "So Lily", James said. "Do you wanna dance with me?", he winked and held a hand out. She sighed and took his hand while saying: "Okay. One dance." It was a little bit difficult to hold his hand since it was more a hoof than a hand but it worked.
After their dance, Lily noticed a dark haired boy standing in a corner. With the costumes, it was even harder to recognize someone, but she was pretty sure she knew the uninvited guest. She pointed at him and asked James. "Isn't that Sirius' brother?" He turned around and narrowed his eyes.
"You're right, that's Regulus. What the fuck is he doing here? Oh, I'm gonna tell him something!", James said angrily and stormed towards Regulus. Lily tried to stop him, but she was too late.
"Hey, Black!", James said loudly when he reached the boy. "What are you doing here?" Regulus looked at him like he was surprised that somebody talked to him. "This is a party, right? I like parties." James gritted his teeth. "I know that you don't. So why are you here? And how? You're not even a Gryffindor!"
"My brother is here", Regulus answered with a calm voice. "It is my right to be here too."
Out of the corner of his eye James saw Lily and Sirius quickly walking up to them. "Reggie", Sirius said surprised. "What are you doing here? How did you even come in here?"
The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I heard two Gryffindor-Girls talking about the party earlier, so I decided to come here and see what happens. When everyone was standing in front of the portrait hole, I just stood next to them and followed when the portrait opened.", he explained.
Sirius threw a long glance on his brother. "You didn't want to be alone tonight, did you?" Regulus didn't answer, he just pressed his lips together and nodded slightly. Sirius turned to James and said: "If he doesn't make any trouble, I don't see any reasons he shouldn't be allowed to stay."
James remained quiet and it seemed like he was thinking about what could go wrong if Regulus Black would stay. He looked at the other boy one last time and his shoulders slightly relaxed. He sighed quietly, nodded and went away. Sirius gave his brother a little smile and also turned around. Lily, who was standing on the side, followed him. She put an arm around his shoulder and said into his ear: "Sometimes you're really too nice." "He's my brother", was his only explanation.
For James, it still wasn't done yet. He wanted to talk to Regulus one more time, so when Sirius didn't pay attention to his brother anymore, he walked up to him one more time.
"If I hear anything-"
James couldn't finish his sentence because Regulus turned around really quickly and because of his momentum, the pumpkin juice in his hand spilled and like half of the glass landed on James' clothes. Shocked, he gasped and looked down on him. That's when he realized he also had a glass of pumpkin juice in his hand. He narrowed his eyes angrily and poured his own pumpkin juice on him.
Now they both were dripping wet. Regulus also looked down on him and then into James' face. James couldn't really understand his mimic. He looked... hurt? In the next moment, his face got cold again. Without any more words, he turned around and stormed off the room.
Suddenly, Lily and Remus were standing next to him. "What was that?", Lily asked. James looked to where he saw Regulus last, while Remus put an arm around his shoulder. Slowly, he shook his head. "I really don't know..." With one ear he heared Lily and Remus talking about getting him in his dorm and out of his clothes, but he didn't really listen to them. He could only think about the hurt look on the face of the boy he knew but also didn't.