Chapter 9
The party was far from over, apparently. After doing a thorough cleanup of the house and checking to make sure nothing else would be broken, James still couldn't find Lily.
"And why did you let her go, pray tell?" James asked Remus again after he had been told that Lily was on the loose.
Remus shrugged. "Even if I locked her in her room, she probably would have gotten out anyway. She's not dumb, James, even if she is a bit…intoxicated."
"That's an understatement," James glanced nervously around the room, as if he expected Lily to suddenly stand on a table and start stripping.
"Don't worry," Remus assured him, squeezing his shoulder in a comforting way, "half the people here won't remember anything tomorrow morning. They'll be too busy nursing their hangovers provided by Sirius."
"Yeah, that's really comforting."
"I try."
Sirius, who was across the room, was at that moment choosing to ignore the fact that he saw Lily contemplating climbing on top of a table. He took another swig of his spiked butterbeer instead. There came the slightest touch at his shoulder, but he was easily distracted by the fact that his cup had suddenly become empty for some odd reason.
"Sirius Black you'd better turn around this instant before you inexplicably get turned into a poodle."
Sirius grinned and turned to see Rachel Potter standing directly in front of him. She had the trademark black Potter hair, but instead of being wild and unmanageable like James' it was sleek and smooth, hanging past her shoulders with a slight curl on the end.
Twenty last week, Rachel was practically glowing. She beamed at Sirius, excited to see him again. However, her smile quickly turned into a frown when she saw how short she was compared to Sirius.
"Who gave you permission to be taller than me, Siri?" She teased, poking him in the chest.
Sirius chose to ignore the nickname and smirked, beginning to loom over her, nearly a foot taller than her now. "What, you don't like it?"
Rachel wasn't the least bit fazed. "Right, like you're going to intimidate me. I still remember when you were in diapers." She casually flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Sirius reddened a bit and stepped back. "You weren't old enough to remember that." He protested.
"I wasn't talking about when you were a baby," Rachel grinned. "I was referring to third year when-"
He quickly put his hand over her mouth, glancing around to see if anyone was actually listening, his face turning a darker shade of crimson. "You promised that you'd never mention that in a crowded room!"
Rachel pulled his hand away from her mouth. "You have lip gloss on your hand now."
"Eww."
"You like it." She wiped some gloss off that had smeared away from her mouth and smirked at Sirius. The result was actually utterly charming. To Sirius anyway.
Dazed a bit, Sirius quickly recovered and muttered, "I didn't think you'd be here."
"What?! And miss my baby brother's big birthday? Blasphemy!" Suddenly something from the other side of the room caught her attention. "Hold on a minute…is that Lily Evans?"
Sirius turned to find Lily mounted on top of the gigantic moose head above the fireplace. "Wow," he laughed, "I didn't think Lily was that into animals."
"You know, I was never quite sure why we had a gigantic moose head, but now it all seems so clear."
"Yes, well, people tend to do crazy things for love. Or for spiked butterbeer for that matter." He watched as someone handed Lily another glass, her prize for climbing in a skirt.
Rachel smirked. "Like run around in a diaper on Valentine's Day, singing love ballads to unsuspecting first years?"
Sirius frowned. "Now that was a bet. One which I won, mind you."
"What was it that you sang to me again? A rather terrible piece of poetry if memory serves…" Rachel's grin reached Cheshire proportions.
"Yes, but I wasn't in love with you."
"That's not what the poem said!"
Sirius was about to retort, but a glimpse of Kat suddenly made him shrink ten inches behind Rachel.
"Siri! Have you just taken a sudden interest in my breasts, or are you hiding from someone?" Rachel laughed as Sirius tried to disappear.
"Huh? Oh. You know I've always loved your breasts, Rach, but right now we've got to get out of this room."
"We?" Rachel craned her neck to catch a look at who he was hiding from.
"Don't look!"
"You're such a girl."
"You have to come with me, because if I need something to throw at her, you're just easy enough to lift, but heavy enough to make her trip." He started walk backwards, leading her out of the room and up the stairs.
"Oh, well it's always nice to know you're needed."
"Plus this is a rather nice view."
"And yet my knee is in the direct vicinity of your crotch."
Sirius paused for a moment and reconsidered.
"Or we could just run."
James could only stare. The sight of Lily sitting on top of a massive moose head was certainly not something one saw everyday, which is what most of the party had figured out.
A crowd had, understandably, gathered around the class valedictorian sitting atop the animal, her skirt pulled up to almost the top of her thigh. Her face red, she giggled uncontrollably as she tried to balance her cup with the moose's antlers.
"Jamsie!" She cried out when he got within her line of sight (which wasn't very far away from where she sat). "I like your antlers!"
Oh dear Merlin… James thought as heads swiveled to catch his reaction. Look at her skirt. No! Don't look at her skirt! Bad James!! Unable to focus his eyes properly, he blushed involuntarily and earned laughter from the crowd.
"Er…Lily? Why don't you come down now?" James asked while trying to stare directly in her face. Her eyes were unfocused.
"Your moose is itchy. Ooh fun word! Mooooooose." Some far drunker person in the crowd joined in and soon half the room was shouting `MOOOOOSE!'
"Dear Lord, the house is a funny farm." Remus appeared next to James, watching the spectacle.
"How did you manage to avoid all this? Have you not had anything to drink in the past two hours?" James asked, unable to figure out how Remus was the most sober one there.
"I drank before the butterbeer was spiked. Now I just have to use the loo a lot." Remus explained, still looking around like the world had gone mad.
"Alright, that was a little much, thanks for that."
Remus moved closer to Lily and shouted up at her, managing to avoid looking directly up her skirt. "Lily, if the moose is itchy, why don't you come down now?" Lily pouted, so he added, "James will catch you, I promise."
"You promise?!" James cried, joining Remus under the moose and not managing to look anywhere else besides under Lily's skirt. Damn it. So much for self-control.
"Okay!" Lily perked up and before James could brace himself, she leaped off of the moose and clobbered him, knocking him to the ground.
Her butterbeer had spilled all over his face and he had the wind knocked out of him, but Lily leaned over him, a pouting look on her face, and all that was forgotten.
"You didn't catch me." She stuck her lower lip out in sadness. James couldn't help but smile.
"How about bed time now?" James asked in a voice one reserved for four year olds. Lily sat back on James' legs and yawned.
"Ok, time for bed!" Remus helped her up and began to lead her over to the stairs.
"Wait a second. I don't trust you with her anymore, not after last time." James hopped up (with many bruises threatening to come tomorrow) and waved Remus away, taking Lily's arm.
"I like Jamsie better," Lily agreed, leaning her head on James' shoulder. James smiled weakly and took her to the stairs, where she immediately collapsed and left him to pick her up.
"You're so strong Jamesie-Poo," She whispered as he carried her up the steps. Her eyes were closed and she had her head on his chest. "That's why I love you. Because you're so strong."
It was barely audible and she was half asleep, not to mention drunk, but James wavered on the next step. He nearly fell back and tumbled down with her in his arms, but he managed to stand upright before writing it off to the intoxication and continuing on to her room.
Ok, I know it's been a long time. A very long time. But I got stuck for quite a while and just recently decided to take it back up again.
However, next time we will begin with what happened to Sirius and Rachel and their evasion with Kat and then show some of the aftermath of the party. Please stay tuned!
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