Not as Easy as That

Lily had planned on spending Monday evening attending the Prefect meeting, finishing up her homework, and researching mandrake roots for an extra-credit double-curricular project for Herbology and Potions, both classes in which she severely needed the extra credit. Unfortunately, Melanie Griffith had other plans. At the Prefect meeting, she, Melanie Griffith, Blaise Emerith, and Nina Gemine arrived early as usual to catch up on the gossip, so to speak.

Lily had spent her first four years at Hogwarts inexplicably alone. She received no friendly overtures, and made none in return. She felt lonely sometimes, but that was only occasionally and only when she could spare a few moments to look at the starry skies, regardless of whether the sky was real or the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall. In her Fifth-Year, Lily was made Prefect. This was a surprising thing. Prefects were usually very intelligent or very popular. Lily was neither. There were two Prefects from each Year of each House. A boy and girl from Fifth Year, Sixth Year, and Seventh Year each. And then, of course, there was the Head Boy and Head Girl. In Gryffindor, there was Seventh-Year Head Girl Arabella White, Seventh-Year Prefect Jonas Elloire, Sixth-Year Prefects James Potter and Marius Netta, and Fifth-Year Prefects Lily Evans and Jorge Ollham. Lily hadn't expected to be made Prefect. Although she was smart (but failing Herbology and doing barely better in Potions) and had a perfect record (never having had a detention in her life), Prefects were also usually popular, respected, and good role models. She had been flattered. It was at her first Prefect meeting that she made her friends.

Melanie, Blaise, and Nina were the Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff Prefects, respectively. They had befriended her immediately. It didn't matter that they were from different Houses and various Year-groups. Melanie and Blaise were Seventh Years, and Nina was the only Sixth Year. They studied together, debated the "hot topics" of society, argued specifics of Transfiguration theory, discussed different interpretations of translations of Ancient Runes, griped about specific teachers (such as the dead Professor Binns and the biased Professor Black), and had fun in general. Of course, most people would be surprised at their usual topic choice (mostly debating about various intellectual topics), but that was the way they were. Sometimes, two of them would launch into an argument about a various subject, and the other two would have no idea what they were talking about. Nina was happy to sit out as Melanie, Blaise, and Lily argued Arithmancy, and Blaise and Melanie were happy to just listen as Nina and Lily aruged about the relation between metaphysics and magic. And when Nina and Blaise began talking about the "hottest guys at Hogwarts", Lily and Melanie would just sit back and roll their eyes. They might have been joined by Arabella, who was on friendly terms with them, but Arabella was obsessed with studying for her NEWTs and her position as Gryffindor Keeper and Captain to spend time away from her duties. So Melanie, Blaise, Nina, and Lily made up the Inter-House Crew. The other female Prefects had their own cliques, or were too busy to spend too much time with the Crew. They were all on generally friendly terms, though.

If the girls at the Prefect meetings were on friendly terms, the guys were just the opposite. James and Slytherin Severus Snape were rivals for no apparent reason, grabbing any opportunity to discredit the other. It was also well-known that they were the main contenders for the Head Boy position. James and Ravenclaw Jeremy Boot were also constantly butting heads. Jeremy disliked James for no other reason than the fact that he never studied, yet always did well in classes. Plus, Jeremy had once been blamed for one of James's pranks, and bore a grudge for the Marauder ever since. Then there was Fifth-Year Prefect Hufflepuff Cidwyn Llewellyn was a Fifth-Year Hufflepuff, and so below James's notice. Not that Sid (as he was called) cared. Sid was perfectly happy to remain in the shadows during prefect meetings. He did, however, worship James from those very shadows, and thus, earned the enmity from Snape, Boot, and other James-haters. Head Boy Hufflepuff Polonius Thedric was another matter. Polonius disliked James for no discernible reason. Even James was puzzled as to why the Head Boy seemed to take some perverse pleasure in delegating the worst, most boring and menial tasks to him.

She and Melanie were the first to arrive, as usual, closely followed by Nina. Blaise was fashionably late, as always, sweeping in with her green and silver robes fluttering behind her, her dark hair piled atop her head, and her slate gray eyes emphasized by the glittery silver eyeliner sparkling on her eyelids. "Sorry I'm late," she said, affecting an upper-English accent, words cropped off precisely as she spoke. "But I had to break up the most disgusting snog session I have ever seen." Her tendency to gush and sound brainless was a habit from her younger days, when she was tutored by her mother in the "Arts of the Lady." As a witch from an old, pureblood line, Blaise would most likely be married off to Sparticus Mettreri (the Heir to one of the largest Slytherin fortures), but Blaise didn't care. She was intent on enjoying her last years of freedom at Hogwarts, and definitely did not sound brainless when she was hotly debating her point of view on a number of liberal subjects (unusual for the normally conservative House of Slytherin). Of course, she stepped over the line from liberal into fanatic as she argued that if the Dark Arts were taught at school, students would learn how to defend against them better, and would learn not to fear the Dark Arts. And when she waxed philosophical, the others just sat back and rolled their eyes, though Melanie sometimes felt obiged to join in when her devout religious views were questioned.

"And what was so disgusting, may I ask?" Nina asked, raising an eyebrow. Blaise was usually liberalistic about romance as well, as long is it did not involved her few enemies (Mordred, Mab, Malfoy, Potter, and Liliptulle).

"Lucius Malfoy, the pervert, was sticking his hand down the shirt of a Fourth Year," she pronounced with disgust. "Bonbonne Delacroix, the innocent and charming exchange student from Beauxbatons."

"Isn't she part-veela?" Nina asked interestedly. "Her great-times-eight-grandmother, I believe."

"Yes," Blaise nodded. "That was the Delacroix family's fatal mistake. Marrying a nonhuman in those times just wasn't tolerated. No wonder they moved to France to escape the prejudice." Blaise was quite knowledgeable about family lineages, especially if she wanted to know which guys were considered "verboten" for her (which usually motivated her towards them more).

Melanie, who up until now had kept out of the conversation, interjected, "Rumor has it that the Malfoys are part-veela."

Blaise shook her head. "It's so far back, the only way you can tell is because of his silver hair. The real reason that he even has the hair is because his mother has diluted veela-blood in her veins, too."

Nina nodded. "From back when she was still a Malfoie." Nina was also a pureblood, though she wasn't expected to marry into a wealthy family.

"A Malfoie?" Melanie asked quizzically. She was a half-blood with divorced parents, and had spent most of her life alternating between wizarding and Muggle world.

Blaise nodded. "The Malfoies and the Malfoys probably had a common ancestor centuries and centuries ago, but now, the only clue is the similar name. The Malfoies are from France, while the Malfoys can boast that their English Manor has been here for millenia. Quite ironic that the last living Malfoie would marry the Malfoy heir and reunite the bloodlines. A brilliant social move, it was."

Lily, who had long since stopped listening, finally spoke up. "Can we not speak of Malfoy?" She shuddered. "He hexed Millie this morning. The poor girl was devastated when worms began crawling out of her ears, and she was babbling incoherently by the time the teacher had located the source of the raucous laughter. I was passing by, and told what I saw, of course. Can't say Malfoy was too pleased."

"That reminds me," Melanie said. "D&D Club starts two hours before curfew. I'm going, and you three are going, too."

"D&D Club?" Nina sounded scandalized. "The one started by Professor Rainwater?" Nina, for some reason, bore a deep and profound grudge against Professor Rainwater, and refused to explain why.

"Yes," Melanie said firmly. "And you had better be there."

"But I have the mandrake root extra-credit project," Lily protested. "I can't possibly go. You know how important that is to my grade."

Melanie sighed. "Lily, you can research mandrake roots tomorrow. Please come," she wheedled. "After all, D&D Club is only once a week, on Monday nights, and you know we would do well in the debating part of it."

Nina rolled her eyes. "Merlin knows what will happen. Can you imagine it? Blaise and Malfoy dueling. That's dangerous, Melanie. I don't think it would be a good idea."

"I might get to duel Malfoy?" Blaise perked up. "I'm going. I've even got a few hexes saved for that pervert. Is it against the school rules to cast a Femnus Incitus?"

"It should be," Nina murmured, looking ill at the mental image of Lucius Malfoy as a girl. "And if you do, please warn me ahead of time so I can look away. I would rather not see Malfoy as a female, thank you very much. Or as a hermaphrodite, either."

Blaise looked offended. "I would never botch a spell," she said, scandalized. "I either get it or I don't. There's no in-between. Only all or none."

"We know," Lily said, rolling her eyes. Blaise had to practice really hard to get a spell right, but whenever she did get the hang of it, she was brilliant. Her spells had a lot of power and force behind them, and were never botched. If she was Transfiguring something, it either Transfigured, or it didn't. It never Transfigured halfway and stopped.

"So, Blaise is going and I'm going," Melanie recounted, ticking them off on her fingers. "Nina, what about you?"

Nina looked indecisive. "I would go for the debating part, but the dueling part sounds dangerous. Defense Against the Dark Arts has never really been my thing."

"Then you can learn a few things," Melanie persuaded. "And the debates will be fun..."

"Well," Nina wavered.

"And you might get to see Polonius knocked out," Melanie said, pulling out her trump card. "I heard that he was planning on going."

Nina's eyes brightened up, and a speculative look entered them. "Polonius with a Femnus Incitus would be a sight to see indeed."

"If I go up against him, that'll be the first hex I cast," Blaise promised.

"I'll go," Nina said finally. All three turned to Lily.

Lily shook her head, her auburn waves cascading down her back like a river. "This extra-credit project could bring my abysmal grades up from barely passing to definitely passing!"

"Lily," Blaise pleaded. "It won't be the same without you. Who will Nina argue metaphysics with? She's the only pureblood who bothers to research Muggle subjects, and you're the only Muggleborn who still reads Muggle texts."

"No," Lily shook her head firmly. "I have too much work to do."

Nina opened her mouth to say something, but Melanie smoothly interjected. "Of course you do, dear. We'll see if you're free next Monday." Her eyes, though, hinted that she would not be taking "no" for an answer and if Lily refused to go, she would just have to coerce her into attending the D&D Club.

Lily stared at Melanie suspiciously, but before she could say anything, Severus stumbled into the door, closely followed by James, who had apparently pushed him.

"Potter!" Severus snarled, his wand out. "I'll get you tonight at the D&D Club. Just you watch me."

"I'll be happy to see you there, Snape," James said indifferently. He really hadn't intended to push Severus. Sirius had tripped him, and he, in turn, had stumbled into Severus, who had fallen into the doors that led to the Prefect Room. But it didn't matter too much, anyways. He was always happy to see Severus fall.

More words would have been exchanged, had Arabella White not swept up. Correctly named Queen of the Gryffindors, she was smart, popular, charismatic, and had presence. One icy glare at the underclassmen sent James and Severus scrambling to the opposite side of the room. Arabella only glared icily when she was in a bad mood, and most people (the smart ones) would rather face You-Know-Who than Arabella in a bad mood. So when Jeremy Boot and Polonius Thedric walked in moments later, ready to do their best to insult Potter, they stopped dead at the sight of Arabella and her icy glare. While both had walked in the room confidently and joking, they suddenly turned meek and submissive, and joined James and Severus on the opposite side of the room, despite the fact that they mutually hated each other. They were followed by a crowd of other Prefects, some sitting themselves as far away from Arabella as possible, some unaware of Arabella's glare, and sitting wherever they pleased.

Sid walked in two seconds late, and received the full brunt of Arabella's icy glare. He almost curled up and whimpered, but instead marched over to the girls' side and sat down. That was an incredibly smart move, as Arabella stopped her icy glare for a moment to smile sweetly at the girls, who waved back.

"So, Bella, what's got you in a tiff?" Blaise asked, almost all traces of her uppercrust accent gone, as it did when she felt relaxed. Of course, she was the only one who could have gotten away with calling her "Bella", being her cousin and all.

Arabella rolled her eyes, some of her anger gone. "You'll never guess what Headmaster Dumbledore told me," she said flatly.

"What?" James asked, his curiousity conquering his initial apprehension. He ignored the astonished look on Sid's face (Sid was terrified of Arabella) and waited for an answer.

"Apparently," Arabella said, teeth clenched, "he is concerned about the attendance of the D&D Club, and we, as the role models of the students are expected to attend the first meeting!"

The reason for Arabella's ire became known. Arabella had a steady boyfriend (Ankah Piraj) whom she met with at the Astronomy Tower every Monday evening. Nobody knew exactly how far along they were in their relationship, as they locked up the Astronomy Tower every time they visited it, not allowing anyone else to go inside. It was perhaps the only time she and Ankah could rest during the day, as both had busy schedules what with schoolwork, Quidditch, and all the extra internships and projects they applied for. Two hours of unadulterated peace and quiet. There were no worries, no responsiblities. They could forget the rest of the world and just relax in the Astronomy Tower.

Arabella did not like having her Monday Night Astronomy Tower Time (MNATT) interrupted. She wheedled, negotiated, and compromised with teachers so that she never had to serve detentions at the same time as her MNATT. She flatly refused to do projects at that time, to help out at that time, to participate in Prefect activities at that time ... And before now, no one had disputed her time.

Melanie hid a triumphant smile. She knew that dropping a few hints to Headmaster Dumbledore would be useful. Honestly, the way people disregarded the times ... the Dark Lord was rising, and nobody even bothered to take a simple Dueling and Debating Club. She would, of course, have to make sure that her part in Dumbledore's idea was not known. Arabella seemed intimidating (only to guys, though ... and only because she had beaten most of them up at one point or another for asking her younger sister Denise out) and regal, and she was. She had a way of glaring at you that made you go all cold inside, freezing your innards as you gaped at her fury. Arabella never stayed mad for long, though. She was good-natured, as well as busy. Often, she would hex one boy for asking her sister out, and then smile cheerily at the same boy the next day. Of course, the boy usually ran into hiding at that point, because no one could conceive that Arabella dropped grudges that easily.

Lily, meanwhile, had a horrified look upon her face. She had finally convinced Melanie to leave her alone about attending D&D Club (which did sound interesting, mind you, but she really needed to work on her double-curricular extra-credit project) and the Headmaster went ahead and ordered them all to go! She was never going to get a passing grade in Herbology and Potions!

Arabella continued her announcement. "Any Prefect who does not attend the D&D Club without an excused pass by a teacher or a plausible reason will lose points for his House. Headmaster Dumbledore wants the D&D Club to be a success." At this point, she paused and worded her next sentence carefully. "I have heard that he might award House points for each student from the House who attends. 1 per student, or something like that."

There was a buzz of excitement in the prefect room. House rivalry was intense lately because the professors had stopped handing out as many points and spent most of their time taking away points. That was why the total points the entire school had at the time didn't go over five hundred.

Arabella finished and surrendered the floor to Polonius. Polonius stood up as she sat down. "Prefect patrol schedules are posted outside. Don't forget up to sign up for Tutorials ... choose a subject and select a convenient time. Some Fourth-Years have petitioned that they be allowed in the Upperclassmens' Halloween Dance. We shall have to address the issue, of course."

The Seventh-Year Prefects submitted their vote first. Jonas and Jeremy voted no, as did Melanie, and Ginevra (Hufflepuff), though Blaise and Polaris (the Slytherin pair) voted yes. Of the Sixth-Year Prefects, James, Nina and Marius voted for the Fourth-Years attending the Ball, but they were the only ones to do so. Lily and Sid both voted for the attending of the Fourth-Years. They were alone among the Fifth-Years in their decision (most holding with the consensus that if they hadn't been allowed to go to the dance, the new Fourth-Years shouldn't be allowed either). Finally, it was time for the Head Boy and Girl to cast the vote, the score being 7 for and 15 against. Polonius voted against, while Arabella voted for.

"16 against versus 9 for," Polonius announced. "Fourth Years will not be attending the Underclassmens' Ball this Year. Speaking of the Ball, we need volunteers for decorators and such. See if you can get any of your Housemates to volunteer."

And so the Prefects' Meeting continued in this vein, with Polonius bringing up issues and the Prefects voting on them. With Arabella making announcements, and sitting back to gauge the Prefects' reactions. Lily only paid minimal attention. As a mere Fifth-Year Prefect, her opinion did not count for much. She was too busy seething with anger at the Headmaster's announcement.

She could almost see her Potions and Herbology grade slipping through her fingers.

All right, so maybe she was being a bit melodramatic. She always had the rest of the week, for D&D Club would only take place Monday nights. And the Debating part, at least, sounded fun. And it would be beneficial to know how to defend herself ...

Lily almost visibly sagged as she gave in to destiny and accepted her fate.

She was going to the D&D Club whether she liked it or not.

To be continued ...