James and Lily: A History

Chapter 6: Hogsmeade on Halloween

Under the impression that it was still night, the Gryffindor sixth years woke up early in the morning only to crawl back into their covers. Later around noon, the sweet smell of delicious, mouth-watering pumpkin pie lured tousle-haired Gryffindor boys and drowsy, glassy-eyed Gryffindor girls out of their beds and into the Great Hall. After finishing the sumptuous pumpkin pies and freshly-baked, warm oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, the sixth-years taking N.E.W.T. potions descended into the dungeons to record the status of their Beautification Potion and turn it in. It was the perfect way for Professor Icthius to ruin their Halloween.

"The hag, Malodora Grymm, used a beautification potion to conceal her true form, married a king and used a charmed mirror to reinforce her self-image...," drawled Professor Icthius, sweeping from one potion to the next, scribbling notes and rolling his eyes at unsatisfactory work. "Your potion should be a deep, blood-red color by now. Time's up! Hand your samples in."

There was a squeaking of chairs and clinking of glasses as the Gryffindor sixth years corked their potions and placed them into the cabinet titled, "6-N.E.W.T Potions." Walking out of Professor Icthius' gloomy dungeon, the sixth years headed back to their common room to change and get ready for Hogsmeade.

"Alice! Tag! It's sticking out of your sweater," said Lily, hurrying towards the mirror and tucking the short strip of nylon, beneath her lavender sweater.

"Ahhh! Lily! You're a lifesaver. I keep forgetting to cut these off. They are so damn annoying," replied Alice, as she applied strawberry-flavored lip-gloss onto her lips and smacked them together to consider the effect.

"How do you think I look?" asked Lily, gazing uncertainly into the mirror as she brushed her thick, red hair. "I have no clue what to do on my first date. Maybe I'll just pretend it's not a date and act like I always do."

"Good idea," Alice replied amused. "By the way, I think you look wonderful Lily--dark blue jeans and my favorite white sweater with green sequins that match your eyes. Casual, and elegant at the same time."

"Hey! You girls ready?" asked Roxy, stomping up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. "We've been waiting for you in the common room for almost fifteen minutes now! What's the hold up?"

"Nothing ma'am, we're coming," answered Alice, as she and Lily grabbed their bags and headed out.

"Hey James!" called Kristen, running to meet him at the bottom of the steps by the Great Hall. "Are you ready?"

James was quietly reviewing Sirius' one-of-a-kind-"Dating in a Nutshell" advice repeatedly in his head, and turned to see Remus and Peter doing the same. Step 1: Compliment the girl. Tell her she looks nice, like I'm telling Amy Amalia from Ravenclaw, "Amy, you look absolutely wonderful today!" Step 2: Take her somewhere that won't bore her. Although she may not be interested in Zonko's, take her there anyways and show her around--make her laugh. Step 3: Take her to a quiet place and start snogging the evening away!

James doubted whether Kristen was really the kind of girl who wanted to snog the whole evening, especially as he wasn't even interested--unless it was Evans...

"You alright James?" asked Kristen, standing in front of him with her hand holding a bag at her shoulder. "You look like you're thinking about something."

"Oh...uhm..." stammered James. "I was thinking about how great you look today." James smiled, at least it was true. She does look really nice, James thought, staring at her soft, blonde curls tied back into a high ponytail and her bright, delicate brown eyes. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, here come Remus and Vivian," said Kristen. "You don't mind if they join us, do you?"

"Not at all," said James, grinning with relief, glad to have his best friend double with him on his first date. That way if I mess up, I'll have rational Remus there to help me out. "So, want to go to Zonko's first?" asked James offering his arm. "I'm dying to check out that new Tricking Quill..."

When the Hogwarts students arrived at Hogsmeade, the sky was a beautiful, pure pale blue, covered with swirling grey clouds glazed in shimmering pink. James and Remus started Step Two of Sirius' lecture by taking Kristen and Vivian to Zonko's, where they flaunted their impeccable knowledge of the store and pranks. Kristen and Vivian, both Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, seemed to also have a passion for pranks: tears fell down their faces from laughter as they walked out of Zonko's, listening to the behind-the-scenes chronicle of their pranks beginning from their first year to yesterday. Unable to buy the tricking quill because they were all sold-out, James eyed Remus, wondering what to do next. Neither of them felt the urge to suddenly start snogging, despite its status as Step Three of "Dating in a Nutshell".

"Gosh!, you two should work at Zonko's! How do you guys know that place so well?" asked Kristen curiously, flashing James a small smile.

"Well..." said James, looking towards Remus for support. "Well, our love for Zonko's cannot be measured by any means. We simply have an... appreciation for mischief. Anyway, anyone up for a butterbeer? Is it time to meet everyone at the Three Broomsticks yet?" asked James, changing the subject quickly and hoping Kristen wouldn't question his sudden awkwardness. Remus also appeared a great deal calmer--for a split second he had seemed to be holding his breath.

"Yeah, probably. Hey, isn't that Sirius in front of Madam Puddifoot's?" asked Vivian, pointing to the store decorated in with ghosts linking arms and blushing from kisses. She giggled, pointing at a sign. "What a great advertisement: 'Need a place to snog? Come to Madam Puddifoot's.'"

James and Remus exchanged mischievous grins, as Sirius was obviously completing Step Three of his own dating game. Hoping that Kristen and Vivian wouldn't drag them into the frilly looking Madam Puddifoot's to snog, James and Remus guided their dates towards the Three Broomsticks, crowded as usual with Hogwarts students and teachers enjoying relaxing drinks before the Halloween feast.

Meanwhile, Lily's date with Kyle was going perfectly, although it hadn't begun smoothly. Kyle, as Lily discovered, had a slight ego--or so she thought. Keeper for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Kyle began the date by mentioning some 'awesome' Quidditch plays he devised over the summer before changing the subject to something that Lily was actually interested in--books, family, friends, and candy. Walking out of Honeydukes with handfuls of coconut ice, Chocolate Frogs, and Honeydukes' milk chocolates, Lily felt considerably happier. She had thought Kyle was as arrogant and egotistical as James. However, it turned out Kyle had only boasted about Quidditch from nerves. As the date went on, he became more relaxed--apologizing only a few times when he felt he was boring Lily, and blushing only a little when Lily complimented him. Overall, Lily was having a very good time, and she enjoyed Kyle's company. She felt relaxed, walking with him around Dervish and Banges and talking about whatever came to their minds. Because there was no impulse to compare marks or dwell over her prefect duties--she could be herself around him.

"Madam Rosmerta!" yelled James boisterously from the door as he entered. "Got a long table to seat ten people?"

"James, how wonderful to see you! Where's Sirius? I've never seen you without him," replied Madam Rosmerta, leading them to a long table in the back. "How can it be possible for one ringleader to be here without the other?"

"Well, Sirius is quite busy right now," answered Remus subtlety, causing Madam Rosmerta to chuckle. "We'll wait to order in a few minutes. More people are coming soon."

"Alright, just call if you need me," answered Rosmerta warmly, walking away to take another table's orders.

A few minutes later, Alice Dalbey walked into the pub hand-in-hand with Frank Longbottom. Sirius sauntered in soon after with Amy Amalia, grinning from ear-to-ear as he waved to his Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff friends. Meanwhile, several Gryffindor girls glared at Amy as she walked past them, immensely jealous. Taking a seat beside James, Sirius whispered to him as Remus leaned in, "You guys didn't complete Step Three! And that's the best part! What kind of date are you running here?"

"Sirius, chap, we're not all about snogging, at least I'm not. I don't know about James," said Remus, elbowing James and smirking. "But we did give compliments on how nice they looked, and we took them to Zonko's."

Snorting, Sirius leaned away in mock disgust to turn his undivided attention to Amy. Obviously, Sirius was disappointed in both of them--had neither of them heard him accentuate the concept of snogging?

Just then, James saw something that made his heart skip a beat--Kyle Murray was holding the door for Lily to enter The Three Broomsticks and to his dismay, she looked absolutely wonderful and quite happy. She was obviously enjoying her time with Kyle.

"Hey guys!" said Lily, taking seats opposite from Remus and Vivian with Kyle at the edge of the table.

"Has anyone ordered yet?' asked Kyle, looking around for Madam Rosmerta.

"Don't bother. I'll do the honors. Is everyone here yet? Where's Peter?" asked Kristen, looking around. "Wasn't he supposed to join us last minute?"

"Peter is probably struggling to hold onto his date, so I'll order the poor guy a drink when he joins us. Two butterbeers for me, Kristen," replied Sirius.

"Are you sure you don't want me to do this Kristen? I thought the guy was supposed to take the orders...?" asked James hesitantly.

"Don't be silly James. There are ten people here, and I like taking orders. I do this all the time for Roxy's catering business," answered Kristen, blushing slightly before leaving to give the orders to Madam Rosmerta.

"Oh, look who just entered," whispered Sirius in James' ear. "It's sleazy-slime ball DeGrasse."

Strutting in with Carly Sincil, DeGrasse took seats near the door and settled his date, and excused himself to get their orders. He seemed to be taking the long way to where Madam Rosmerta was standing, however, as he walked directly towards their table although Madam Rosmerta was nowhere near them.

"Why hello DeGrasse, how unpleasant it is to see you. I'm not sure if you can tell the difference between east and west, but Madam Rosmerta is over at the right-hand side of the bar. Just thought you ought to know, because you're not really welcome here," said Sirius amiably, refusing to take off his amused glare at DeGrasse's cold, grey eyes.

"Sorry to hear... but at least I'm still welcome around my... family," responded DeGrasse coldly, causing James and Remus to jump out of their seats and reach for their wands. Although Sirius openly denounced his family in front of his friends, they were still his family, and there were times when Sirius berated himself for turning against them. Although his parents never kicked him out, he was always in his brother's shadow. It caused every minute of his life to be living hell in Grimmauld Place. Suffice to say, life is emptier to have a family and not belong to it.

"Whoa now! I don't think you lot should be so openly defiant. After all Black, my mum owled me yesterday and told me she had tea with your mum a few days ago. Your mum doesn't seem too happy with you these days..." said Logan, bowing his dignified head.

"DeGrasse, if you don't have something good to say--go away. For once in a million years, I agree with Sirius," said Lily, smiling at Sirius with her arms crossed at her chest; Sirius returned her support with a wink. Sitting with her back to DeGrasse, she refused to acknowledge his existence.

"Actually Evans I do... " said DeGrasse amusedly, bending down to lean next to Lily. "Don't forget. Heads room. 11 'o' clock tonight. Good day all." Swaggering away from their long table, DeGrasse left eight pairs of eyes starring suspiciously at Lily, wondering what plans DeGrasse had in store for her.

"What was that all about Evans?" snapped James, his hazel eyes probing into Lily's emerald green ones, hoping he could extract some information as to what that confrontation was about.

"Hey Lily, why does he want you in the Heads' Room at eleven 'o' clock tonight?" inquired Kyle. Unlike James' tone, Kyle was not accusatory, but casual and concerned.

"Oh, just some last minute prefect work. DeGrasse doesn't know how to add up patrol hours or something," said Lily, who suddenly became very interested in looking outside the window to stare at the darkening sky.

"Really? Do you need help Lily?" asked Remus. "I wasn't aware we had any duties after patrol hours tonight...Ouch!" cried Remus, Sirius had just kicked him under the table.

"No Remus, thank you, but I can handle DeGrasse myself," said Lily, winking at Remus in response. "You have a good Halloween tonight."

"Oh, we will Evans, we will," replied Sirius grinning, clasping his hand on Remus' shoulder and giving him a glare that meant Marauder's night.

Seeing Kristen balancing ten drinks on a waiter's tray, Lily got up to give her a hand, glad she had arrived just in time so she could walk away from the awkward silence hanging thickly over the table. As soon as the colorful, fruity drinks appeared and butterbeer warmed their throats, all awkwardness faded away, and they enjoyed their Halloween, laughing and chatting--except James of course, who couldn't quite keep Evans out of the corner of his eye as she snuggled closer to Kyle.

Walking into the Great Hall, James, Sirius, and Remus saw Peter sitting alone at the end of the Gryffindor table, picking at his plate of turkey. Apparently, Peter's date did not go so well.

"Peter! We brought you a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks!" said Sirius cheerfully, patting Peter's back as he set his butterbeer down on the table.

"Thanks," muttered Peter glumly, not looking up or taking the butterbeer.

"What's wrong, Peter?" asked Remus concernedly. "Bad date?"

"Yeah, apparently I absolutely bored Michelle," said Peter glumly. "It was a complete disaster. She ended the date at Step One to hang out with her friends instead."

James, Sirius, and Remus stared at each other in silence momentarily, all feeling genuine sympathy for little Peter, sitting here alone in the Great Hall on Halloween. He had even showered twice today, so he didn't smell, but it seemed as though Peter just did not have the knack to attract girls.

"You know what! Next Hogsmeade--we'll all stay together for the whole day. I'll give up an evening of snogging just so we can all be together, Peter. How does that sound?" asked Sirius, his grey eyes filled with warmth and sympathy.

"Really?" said Peter, finally looking up from his food. "Thanks Sirius. I owe you guys one. You guys are always there to back me up."

"Well..." said James, smirking as he grabbed a chicken leg. "We expect you would do the same for us."

"Lily! Where are you going?" asked Roxy, watching Lily walk out of the common room as she lounged on the couch, too full to move a muscle from the delicious Halloween feast.

"Uhm--I have to go turn my hours in for the prefect duties," answered Lily, her eyes suddenly becoming very interested in her wand, twirling it around her long, thin fingers. I shouldn't be lying to everyone, but Logan left me no choice. Curse that arrogant prat.

"Oh well, have fun. I hope you enjoyed your date with Kyle. Nick was so sweet..." trailed off Roxy, as she fell asleep and started to snore, letting her book drop carelessly to the floor.

Sighing, Lily found a nearby blanket and tucked Roxy in on the couch, hoping she would wake up early in the morning and sleep in the girls' dormitory to avoid catching a cold. Hesitantly, she left the blissful, sleeping Roxy on the Gryffindor couch and walked out of the portrait hole, her anxiety being on the verge of breaking point. Finally, Lily thought, I'm going to find out what Logan was talking about--why is Hogwarts no longer safe?

"Moony! Why did you ask Evans if she needed help adding up numbers? Gosh, even Wormtail doesn't have trouble with that!" gawked Sirius, lying on his bed as James took out the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's map for their annual Halloween midnight prowl around Hogwarts.

"Well, she always covers for me without question every full moon. I felt guilty; I needed to somehow make it up to her," said Remus, engrossed in his book, Defense Against the Dark Arts--A Look at the Various Dark Species.

"Yes, but we planned this night two weeks ago! That's why I kicked you under the table!"

"I didn't know that," responded Remus sarcastically. "What's wrong Prongs? Don't tell me you had a bad date with Kristen. You guys got along fine!"

"No, it's not that," said James, throwing his invisibility cloak on the bed and sitting down heavily beside it. "What was DeGrasse talking about with Evans? He wasn't implying patrol duty."

"Prongs, you need to trust Evans. She can take care of herself. She's a big girl now," answered Remus intelligently, peering at James' worried face over his book. "Did you like being with Kristen today?"

"Yeah..." said James hesitantly. "But I don't know... something just doesn't feel right..." James trailed off, gazing gloomily at the floor.

"What do you mean Prongs? When's your next date with Kristen?" said Sirius, springing up from his bed and taking the invisibility cloak from James' bed, running his hands through the fluid cloth.

"I didn't really ask her for a next date yet," replied James, shrugging. "Anyway, I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's get started," said James impatiently, grabbing the cloak from Sirius.

"If you say so mate," said Sirius, although he was starting to worry about James' obsession with Evans. Nothing will get that girl out of his thick head.

"Yup! Get in here Wormtail!" cried James, as he threw the cloak over all of them and they slowly made their way out of the boys' dormitory, passed the sleeping Roxy, and pushed the portrait hole open into the darkness of Hogwarts on Halloween night.

At 11 'o' clock Lily arrived warily in front of the Heads' Room. Looking around all sides to make sure no one was following her, she gave the portrait of an old wizard, wearing flowing midnight-blue robes and reading a book enveloped in a holy light, the password ("Patronus!") and entered the empty Heads' Room.

On the long, prefects' table where they held their weekly meetings, Lily saw a piece of parchment scribbled, "Can you please check my hours?--LD."

Sighing, Lily shook her head and took the quill set next to the parchment and began totaling them up. Engrossed in counting Logan's monthly patrol hours, Lily suddenly shrieked when everything went black.

"Silencio!" said Logan, blindfolding Lily. "Now Lily, listen very carefully. Yes, I'm calling you Lily. That's what friends refer to each other--by their first names. The place I'm taking you today is a place you don't want to go back, but I have to show you this. You deserve to know. Don't worry, we won't get caught by Filch. I've arranged all this already."

Logan robed Lily in a black robe and hid her head under the long hood, leaving her no choice but to trust him and follow him out of the Heads' Room.

Chapter 6: