Chapter Two: Detention, Fire Whiskey, and Kisses
At eight o'clock, Lily trudged down to Professor Slughorn's classroom in the dungeon. She had changed out of her school robes and wore just her uniform. She was the first to arrive, even before the professor, and stood alone against the door frame, her head tilted back and her eyes closed. Her mind wandered to the stacks of homework she should have been working on that evening rather than doing this detention.
"Evans," Sirius teased as he ran his finger down the side of her neck, from her chin to her collar bone. Lily shivered involuntarily and jerked away from him.
"Damn it Black," Lily swore as she slapped him again. James laughed.
"Serves you right, Padfoot," James said as the professor opened the door and allowed the admission.
"Feisty," Sirius said chuckling as he rubbed the side of his face to ease the sting of her blow.
"Lily," James began but was cut off by Professor Slughorn as he ushered them to hurry into the room. Professor Slughorn had one of his meetings to attend and needed to get the three started on their detention before he left. Lily took her normal place at the very front of the classroom while Sirius and James cruised to the back. From their vantage point and without the normal interference of other students, they had a great view of her back all the way to where her derriere met the stool.
"Nice," Sirius teased a lovelorn James. James grinned and nodded.
"You two might as well budge up," Slughorn called to the boys. "You three will need to work together to prepare the ingredients and the potion that I need."
Lily groaned outwardly as she felt James take the stool to the right of her. She was really wishing that this wouldn't be a group detention activity. It was bad enough that she had detention, but to have to actually interact with two of the most pompous, arrogant boys in school really was just too much.
"The door will not open and it will not unlock to let you three out until the potion is done," Slughorn said addressing the three of them. He looked at Lily with a disapproving look. "To be completely honest, Lily Evans, I am surprised and disappointed to see you here in detention."
"So am I," Lily replied nodding. Professor Slughorn clicked the lock once he was outside of the classroom, leaving the three to their own devices. Sirius walked to the door and tapped the lock with his wand.
"Alohamora," Sirius tried shrugging. "I had to try." Lily rolled her eyes and began to go to work on the potion that Professor Slughorn had left for them to do. James watched her for a moment, mesmerized at her skillful knife work on the gurdy roots. The silver dagger glinted in the candelabra fire light. Sirius watched her as well, a little dazed himself, as she grabbed her stool, and headed to the supply closet.
"Be careful," James warned as Lily climbed up on the stool. Lily shot him a scathing look over her shoulder. She knew what she was doing, and didn't need someone like James Potter telling her to be careful. Balancing with one foot on the stool, Lily reached high above her head, missing her mark by two inches.
"Why don't you just summon it?" Sirius offered lazily. "You know, Accio whatever you are trying to get."
"I know Accio," Lily practically growled. "You can't just summon this bottle. It has to be retrieved by the bare hand."
"It has to be retrieved by the bare hand," Sirius mimicked only loud enough for James to hear. They both laughed.
"Damn it to hell," Lily swore as she stretched with all her might and failed to reach the item that she was aiming for. James and Sirius both gasped scandalized and amused by her lack of control in her language.
The chair tip slightly as her fingers brushed the small, brown glassed bottle. James jumped up and rushed to her side, fearful that she would fall, as the chair balance precariously on two legs. Instinctively, his hands gripped her hips as she gripped the bottle in her hand. She jumped at his touch, knocking the stool free from her feet and it fell from beneath her. James caught her deftly, wrapping his arms around her.
Indignant, Lily pulled herself free in a swift yanking motion, wrenching her body from his arms. She pulled her shirt straight and threw him the most furious look she could muster. She stalked back to the table where she pulled out her wand and conjured a cauldron over hot blue flames.
Before long, the room was beyond stifling warm and humid, much worse than the greenhouse could ever be on a summer's day. The potion was bubbling merrily. Lily had removed her uniform vest and tie, and again had rolled her sleeves up, this time more haphazardly. She had pulled her sweeping Auburn hair up in a quick tie to keep it out of her face and out of the potion. The room was filling with the most intensely pleasurable smells that James and Sirius had ever smelled.
"I wonder," Lily murmured as she glanced at the potion and then back at its recipe. She slowly, deeply breathed in the aroma of the potion.
"What?" James and Sirius both asked in unison. Lily was pondering over the page, biting her bottom lip in deep concentration.
"Well," Lily murmured again, as if she were half stuck in her own thought processes. "It's interesting, I think. The professor has us brewing him a love potion, a rather potent one at that."
"Interesting," Sirius said rather devilishly. "Perhaps Prongs can get you to take a sip for him."
"Funny, Black," Lily replied sarcastically. Her voice was no longer that quiet thoughtfulness it had been just moments before. "Not bloody likely."
"Jeeze, Evans, that stings," James teased. "I just might cry." Lily glanced at him, her eyebrows raised rather quizzically. She didn't know if he was really joking, or if there was some truth to what he had just stated. She shrugged and went back to cutting and adding to the potion that was beginning to take shape in the cauldron.
"I'm hungry," Sirius complained. Lily looked back at the table behind her where James and Sirius were now lounging about like two lazy bums. She sighed and reached into her knapsack, retrieving two granola bars she had at the bottom. She tossed them onto the table for Sirius and James.
"What's this? Muggle snacks?" James asked. Sirius had already opened his and was curiously sniffing it. Lily made a face that bordered on pity for their stupidity.
"Yes, after all, I am muggle born," Lily explained. She turned back to the potion. "Eat up so you two can help me simultaneously pour and stir the potion. We can't let it curdle; otherwise we will have to start all over again."
James and Sirius lifted the second hot, heavy cauldron over the first that was bubbling while Lily stirred. The more they poured in, the thicker it became, and the thicker it became, the harder it was to stir. James took over after a while when Lily's arms had begun to cramp up. She laid back on the top of the table, exhausted, her legs bent at the knee and dangling off the edge of the cool stone top table. Her sore, tired arms covered her eyes.
"Nice," Sirius whispered to James appreciatively as he took to stirring the potion. James nodded, unable to speak. Her now un-tucked shirt was showing a bit of firm stomach, hinting to her real ability to be naked, even if only in thoughts. Her skirt was lying loosely high on her thighs. He couldn't help but imagine the black, lacy panties that Sirius had spied earlier in Herbology.
"It's so hot in here," Lily complained. She sat up, brushing the loose hair from her face. She jumped off the table and grabbed Sirius's hands as he now stirred the cauldron. "Do it this way, long smooth strokes."
"Long, smooth strokes," Sirius said with a wide, evil grin on his face. James laughed.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked curiously unaware. She knew that there had to be something to the way that Sirius repeated her. Sirius signaled for her to come closer, and Lily complied mostly out of curiosity. Sirius whispered into her ear of things that boys usually did alone with themselves that involved just those motions. Lily turned beet red with embarrassment and her mouth fell open.
"Oh, I could have gone the rest of my life not knowing that!" Lily exclaimed as she put some distance between herself and them. "I forbid you to think of me in such ways!"
"You can't control me," Sirius challenged as Lily took her turn stirring again. "I can see why Prongs has it bad for you, though. The way that you walk and move, the curve of your…"
"Come on, Padfoot, that's enough," James said quietly cutting Sirius off from completing his statement.
"You know, that is really rather rude," Lily said pulling the stirring ladle out of the potion. She pointed it at James and Sirius, as if it were an extension of her. "You really shouldn't leer."
"I don't know what that means," Sirius said as he cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy.
"It means stare," James told him as he grinned at his best friend.
"Well, I am just curious," Sirius explained. "Perhaps, if she showed me everything, I wouldn't be so curious." Sirius took a step toward Lily, a grin on his face. Lily raised the spoon at him again, as if she was raising her wand. The door clicked opened and Severus Snape and Professor Slughorn entered the classroom.
"Ah, well done!" Slughorn said as he clapped his hands. "Beautiful potion work, as always Miss Evans."
"Snape," Sirius mocked as he grinned evilly at the greasy hair boy. Snape looked at James and Sirius angrily, but his expression softened as Lily came into view as she gathered her things up, readying to leave detention.
"Lily," Snape said in a voice that was almost a whisper as she handed him the ladle for the potion. She smiled at him warmly.
"Hey, Sev," Lily said. She was biting her lip slightly before she turned to get her bag.
"You three may go now," Slughorn said, dismissing them. He turned to Snape. "We want to get this bottled up while it is still hot."
"Good night!" Lily called as she headed toward the door, her knapsack tossed over her shoulder.
"Oh, ouch," James cried out. Lily kept walking until she heard something in the tone of the voices of Professor Slughorn and Sirius as they said James' name. She turned back to see James on his knees holding his left arm. A deep gash in it spread larger than his hand could cover; Lily's silver dagger was on the table top, blood glistening red in the flickering candle light.
"Oh, sorry!" Lily cried out as she ran back to his side. "It has an antitheft charm on it. Only I can handle it unless I hand it to someone."
"Take him to the hospital wing, quick," Slughorn said. "I would accompany you but I just must get this potion bottled immediately."
"We can manage," Sirius promised as he helped James to his feet. Lily trailed behind a few steps, carrying their bags as Sirius supported James' weight. Blood poured rather freely from James' arm, through his fingers, leaving a trail. He looked ghastly pale and he stumbled in his efforts to walk. He was adamant that Sirius was not going to carry him.
"Quit showing off for Lily," Sirius said. His eyes were full of concern for his friend.
"She won't date me if she thinks I am weak," James said grinning weakly.
"Damn it," Sirius said as his foot slipped in James' blood. Sirius caught the wall quickly with his hand to steady himself. He glanced back at the blood that James was leaving and felt if they didn't hurry that James would bleed to death before they made it to the hospital wing.
"I am not going to date you," Lily said as she slipped James' other arm around her shoulders, trying to help relieve some of Sirius' burden.
"I guess this is ok, too," James said as he pulled Lily closer. He felt her arm encircle his back and her hand rest on his belted hip.
"Hold your arm tighter," Lily chastised. She was nearly as pale as James was, and she was shaking under his weight and the sight of so much blood.
"Pompy?" Sirius called as they entered the hospital wing, a trail of bloody foot prints following them.
"Sirius? Oh what brings you to…?" Madame Pomphrey said trailing off at the sight of the three covered in James' blood. "Oh dear! What happened?"
"James cut his arm on my antitheft charmed dagger!" Lily confessed. Her voice was unusually high.
Madame Pomphrey whisked James behind a curtain, out of sight of Lily and Sirius. Knowing the history between James and Lily, Sirius really didn't expect that Lily would remain. He was surprised when she collapsed, shaking, on the nearest chair. He wasn't sure if he should pat her on the shoulder comfortingly or leave her alone. Sirius wasn't keen to being slapped again. Remus and Peter arrived a minute or two to Sirius' delight, Peter grumbling about being roused in the middle of a sublime dream. Madame Pomphrey appeared from behind the curtain.
"Miss Evans, please tell me that you didn't charm a muggle-bought silver dagger," Madame Pomphrey begged. Lily looked up with a remorseful look on her face and nodded.
"I read that pure silver can kill a werewolf so I bought it when I was unable to secure one in the magic world," Lily moaned. Sirius and Remus shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" Madame Pomphrey muttered as she disappeared behind the curtain.
"You can fix his arm, can't you?" Lily called out nervously, her voice even more unnaturally high, as if she was about to loose control and become hysterical. Remus, Sirius, and Peter looked at her uncomfortably. They weren't used to hysterical girls. The sounds coming from behind the curtain were enough to make anyone sick. Lily was very nearly about to throw up from the smoke and bangs that seemed dominate the air. She was trembling.
"Oh, yeah," James cheered a moment later as Madame Pomphrey opened the curtain and allowed the others join James. "So, Evans is trying to off me?" Lily hung back as the Marauders punched and clapped James on his non-injured shoulder.
"No," Lily snapped. She relaxed after a moment and teased him weakly from where she stood, just out of the confines of his sick bed. "Something tells me that they would do more than expel me for offing the head-boy. Since you are going to survive, and if you don't mind, I am off to bed. This really has been too much."
"I'll walk you back," Remus offered after checking on James. "So long as you are not dying, Prongs, of course."
"Of course," James replied waving them off with his good arm.
Remus and Lily walked along the dark corridor in silence. Remus heard her stifle a sob and he stopped as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady. He turned to her, his face filled with concern.
"Lily, what's wrong?" Remus asked.
"He could have died because of my carelessness!" Lily howled. She flung herself against him, into his arms. Remus, not used to people throwing themselves in to his arms froze for a moment, uncertain as to what the common protocol was when the crush of one of your best mates suddenly throws herself into your arms, crying. Lily had always been good to him, always so nice even when she was down right nasty to James or Sirius. He knew that she was distraught about James.
Afraid that she would wake the castle, he pulled free of her grasp and took her by the hand leading her through the closest secret passage way until they came out in the basement of Honeyduke's Cellar. Lily was no longer howling; instead she had been over taken by sniffling and hiccupping. Hurriedly, he pulled her toward the Hogs' Head Inn, Remus pushing her into the first booth they came to once inside. He sat down next to her, blocking her escape.
"Is this where you boys come to when you sneak out of the castle?" Lily asked as the bar keep, Abbers, brought them two smoking goblets of fire whisky.
"One of the places, yes," Remus said quietly, not meeting her eye. "Drink up; it will do you some good." He drank his own quite quickly, used to the heat that it usually contained.
Lily trusted Remus. He was one of the few boys that she had let get close, and he was certainly the only Marauder she'd willing let buy her a drink. She knew she had nothing to fear when she was with him. He was so trustworthy. Lily grabbed her drink and drank it fast; the liquid burned hot going down and brought tears to her eyes.
Her face flushed from the heat of the drink. She very nearly blew flames out of her mouth from the spicy, sweet drink. It made her feel very light headed and drunk very fast. After the drink, Lily became extremely chatty and let her inhibition dissolve like sugar in the rain. After a while, it became quite evident that Lily was quite beyond drunk. Remus decided that he needed make a decision: take Lily back to the castle or rent a room for the two of them at the Hogs Head Inn. Each one had its own pluses and minuses.
"Remus," Lily drew his name out in a long, low, sing-song way.
"Are you drunk, Lily Evans?" Remus asked her amused by the way she was holding on to him. She was having a hard time walking, and he was having his own difficulties trying to concentrate on getting them back through the passage way with her hanging on to him. As much as he had wanted to take her up the stairs to one of the many rooms available at the Hogs Head Inn, he knew he wouldn't be able to look at himself again in the mirror if he did. There was enough already in his life that had him cringe in the mirror at his own reflection. He didn't need to add to that.
"No," Lily lied as she giggled at the prospects.
"You are a cheap drunk," Remus teased. Lily laughed and kissed Remus, her mouth seeking his in the darkness. Remus could feel his chest expand and contract at the same time in the most pleasurable way imaginable, butterflies taking flight in his stomach. For a brief moment, he kissed her back, giving in to his wanton desires. Remus allowed her hands to find refuge on the top of his shoulders and he buried his hands in her hair and cupped the nape of her neck. Remus really wanted to do to her things he knew he would never forgive himself for in the morning. He let reason and sense flood back into his mind and he turned away from her mouth and exploring tongue.
"What gives?" Lily asked angrily. She was breathing nearly as hard as Remus was, trying to catch her breath. "I want this."
"I can't take advantage of you, Lily," Remus said solemnly. Lily glared at him for a minute or two, leaning up against the wall for support. She began to slide slowly down the wall of the passage way, her eyelids barely open.
"You are too good," Lily mumbled sleepily as Remus picked her up effortlessly in his arms.
"I know," Remus murmured as he inhaled the sweet aroma of Lily Evans and fire whiskey: a deadly combination.
Remus carried her back the rest of the way to the common room. He knew he couldn't take her up to her own dorm room, and didn't fancy on just leaving her there alone in the common room for all to come across her. He couldn't risk her reputation nor have harm come to her by just abandoning her in the common area. Shrugging, he figured James wouldn't need his bed tonight as he was probably staying at the hospital.
Remus took Lily's shoes and socks off, placing them on the floor beside James' bed. Removing her sweater, he tucked her into James's bed and lightly pressed his lips to her own, wanting so much more. Lily murmured something unintelligible but didn't wake. Remus climbed into his own bed but found that sleep eluded him while thoughts of Lily sleeping in the bed next this own swam into the forefront of Remus' mind. After what seemed like hours, Remus finally dozed off.
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