"Here you go, two Butterbeers." Madame Rosmerta smiled warmly at the two as she placed down two mugs of the sweet liquid that made Lily salivate in an instant. She reached out and quickly took a sip, sighing in content as she placed it back down.
Terrence chuckled.
"What?" Lily asked.
"You've got something, right there." the boy grinned, pointing to his lip.
Lily blushed and wiped the cream mustache off her face with the back of her hand.
"Better." the boy said, taking a sip of his drink as well. "Your parents are Muggles, right?"
Lily froze at the question. "Yes. And if you're asking me because of the pureblood mania, I have news for you buddy-"
"Calm down Lily." he mused, finding humour in her defensive nature. "Unless you haven't realized by now, I'm not like the other Slytherins. Would a Slytherin help you with your Transfiguration studies?"
Lily contemplated before a guilty look overcame her face. "You're right. I'm sorry." she sighed. "It's just- not all Slytherins are as accepting of Muggleborns as you seem to be."
"That's alright. I just had a few curious questions."
"Oh. Go ahead then. Anything to quench someone's thirst for knowledge." she grinned.
Terrence laughed.
"What do your parents do for a living?"
"For a living?" Lily repeated his question. "Well, my dad's a doctor. And my mom, she mostly stays at home, but during the weekends, she helps out at the homeless shelter."
"What's a doctor?"
"It's kind of like a Muggle version of a Healer. Doctors cure sick people. Without spells of course." she laughed at the thought of her dad waving a wand over a fractured leg.
"That's interesting..." Terrence quipped.
"Have you thought about what you want to do once you graduate?"
Terrence nodded at once. "I've had my mind set since I was twelve. I'm going to be an Auror."
Lily grinned. "That's wicked. I haven't decided on something yet, but Quidditch sounds good."
"You've still got time." Terrence smiled. "So, I hear you're going to the Ball with one of the Durmstrang boys?"
Lily almost spit out her Butterbeer.
"What makes you think that?"
"So it's not true?"
"What's not true?"
"One of the Ravenclaws started this rumour saying that they saw one of them kiss your hand the other day, and then you left the room blushing."
Lily gasped. "What in the world? I only spoke to him once, and that too was before I even knew there was a bloody Ball. I don't even remember his name."
"You've been so busy studying you haven't even talked to anyone?"
"Only for a week!" she almost shrieked. "How was I supposed to know the rumour would spread that fast?"
"So you don't have a date to the Ball?"
"No." Lily shook her head, wondering what Oliver and mainly Percy were thinking.
"Higgs? What're you doing here with her?" Marcus asked as he and Patricia Parkinson approached their table. "You should know better than to hang around with mudbloods." he sneered.
Lily's eyes widened.
"Yeah Terrence." Patricia said, her eyes doe-like. "You wouldn't want to be known as a... blood traitor, would you?"
Terrence looked like he had had enough of their talking. "You want to know what I think? That Lily is a witch with magic flowing through her veins, just like the rest of us. And she's far better at Potions than you two could ever be. So scram." he glared at them with a fierce scowl.
Patricia just rolled her eyes before tugging Marcus along with her.
Lily was still in shock. Terrence slowly squeezed her hand, snapping her back to reality.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, looking into her emerald green eyes.
"Um, yeah, I'm fine." Lily gulped. "They've just, never been so public about calling me that before." she admitted, taking a deep breath.
"Ignore them. They're stupid to be involved with all the pureblood mania shit."
Lily didn't know why, but she cracked a smile. "You really aren't like the rest of them, are you?"
"What can I say? All I'm cunning regarding is my brilliant Quidditch strategies."
Lily giggled, her mood getting better already.
"Do you want to go to the Ball with me?"
The question was so off topic that it took about five seconds for it to register into Lily's brain. Even then, she just stared at him, confused. "Huh?"
"The Yule Ball. Do you want to be my date?"
Lily had become so close to the boy in the past week that she didn't know how to tell him that she was thinking about asking Percy. She felt almost guilty to say it aloud.
"Terrence, I-"
"You don't have to answer right now. Take all the time you need. Preferably by tomorrow, since the Ball is in another five days." he grinned sheepishly, paying for both their Butterbeers.
"Are you sure-"
"I'm sure Lily." he said gently, again looking into her eyes with that adoring gaze of his.
The girl's throat ran dry as he gave her hand one last squeeze and walked out of the inn. Lily sat there for a minute, still trying to process recent events until she made up her mind to go meet her two best friends, who she hadn't seen in almost a week.
Fortunately, she saw Oliver coming out of the Quidditch changing room after what seemed like a solo practice.
"Livvie!" she cried with relief, rushing over and hugging the brunette.
"Carrots!" the boy chuckled in glee, squeezing her before pulling away. "You're alive!"
"Of course I am." Lily snorted.
And then, it looked as if something had just struck him. "You didn't tell us you were going to the Ball with that Durmstrang boy. Not going to lie, I thought you'd tell us." he pouted, looking slightly hurt.
"That's the point!" Lily groaned in exasperation. "I have no idea who started that bloody rumour. I've hardly talked to you or Perce in the last few days since the Ball was announced. You really think I'm going to have time to go around playing smoochies with some Durmstrang?"
Oliver looked at her before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry, did you just say 'playing smoochies'?" he doubled over, clutching his stomach. "Oh Merlin." he kept laughing. "I'm so glad that's not true. Who're you thinking of taking?"
Lily blushed, tucking a strand of red hair that had escaped her usual bun behind her now red ear. "I uh- I was going to ask Percy..." she trailed off uncertainly and Oliver's eyes filled with dread.
"Oh, boy." he grimaced. "You've got news to catch up with."
_____
"Penelope bloody Clearwater!?" Lily shrieked, startling her owl Vanilla as Oliver told her the news in the Owlery.
The boy covered his ears before nodding.
"She asked him a few days ago during lunch."
To say that Lily was upset was an understatement. She was angry, and jealous, and most of all, hurt. But she had a tendency to stay positive no matter the situation, so she didn't let it show.
She took a few minutes to herself, though, before letting out a final deep breath. "That's okay. I'll just go with Terrence then."
"Terrence?" Oliver asked, confused.
"Yeah, he's been helping me study Transfiguration for the past week, while I tutored him in Potions. We just finished our last exams before heading down to Hogsmeade for a Butterbeer. That's when he asked me." she said a little distractedly.
"But he's a Sl-"
"If you end that sentence with Slytherin Livvie, I'll have your head. I mean, I don't particularly like him as more than a friend, but it wouldn't hurt right? He's not at all like the rest of the Slytherins. In fact, he might just be the most un-Slytherin like Slytherin I know." she admitted.
"If you say so..." Wood trailed off. "Aren't you going to say anything to Percy though?"
"It's just a dance Wood, I'll get over it." she said with a careless laugh.
Oliver could tell there was something more to it but let it go. She would open up to him when she'd come to terms with it herself.
"You're actually going with Higgs?" Percy asked her at dinner that night.
After her talk with Oliver, Lily had immediately found the boy and promised him they could go to the dance – but strictly as friends. He seemed content with that.
"I don't see why not. It's not as if I have any other options." she deadpanned, playing about with her food.
Percy scowled before setting down his fork and storming out of the dining hall.
"You're both bloody idiots." Oliver sighed.
Lily looked at him before setting down her fork and storming off as well.
_____
There was only one way to describe the way the Great Hall had been decorated that evening. Winter Wonderland. The four long tables had been abandoned, everything was elegant, they'd even managed to place a fountain around where students could sit and chat.
Olivia Smith had sent her daughter a dark emerald green ball gown, which the girls in her dormitory had spent a good part of the day fawning over. Lily wasn't one for dresses, but she chose to wear it anyway, choosing to let her hair fall freely since she usually just wore it in a low bun around school.
"Woah." Terrence breathed as he saw her approach the Great Hall entrance. "You look... I'm speechless." his eyes widened with awe.
"Calm down with the cheesy talk Higgs, it's still me underneath this thing." Lily smirked, bursting into short laughter. "But I must say, you clean up well." she looked him over, his green tie the same colour as the dress.
"Thank you." he grinned. "See, now that's how you take a compliment."
"Oh shove off." Lily rolled her eyes. "Let's go find Livvie. He's going to have my head if I leave him alone tonight." she smiled, grabbing his hand. Sure enough, the brunette was loitering by the entrance.
Soon enough, the Triwizard Champions entered alongside their dates, all of them looking stunning. About fifteen minutes into the dancing, Terrence turned to her and Oliver, who were both seated on the same table, making fun of Madame Pince's dance moves.
"Lily..." he trailed off.
"Yeah?" she turned to look at him expectantly.
"Want to dance?" he offered her his hand, flashing her one of his signature confident smiles.
Lily turned to look at Oliver unsurely.
"I'll be fine." the boy urged. "Go, he is your date after all. Have fun." he winked, and Lily rolled her eyes once more.
She and Terrence slowly danced to the beat. "You do remember the time when I told you we're going as friends, right?" she asked suspiciously.
"Of course. This is all totally platonic." Terrence smiled as they spun around. "You dance well."
"Thank you. Funnily enough, McGonagall taught us." she mused, before a short burst of laughter left her.
"What?" the Slytherin sixth year asked, intrigued.
"Oh, nothing. It's just-" she snorted, before composing herself. "I thought about how you learned to dance, and I got this image of da- Snape teaching the entire Slytherin House how to waltz." she said, in between her laughs.
A second later, Terrence was laughing with her, which got them both weird looks from the couples around. "Now that you say it like that, it was incredibly funny."
"Quiet... now I would like to make something abundantly clear... This... is a waste of time." Terrence said, doing an excellent Snape impression. "It's not funny enough. Wait, you're a legilimens, right? Read my mind." he encouraged.
~
Lily closed her eyes, as they slowed down the pace of their dance, and Lily saw a scene unfold in front of her. She was in the Dungeons, with a crowd of Slytherins surrounding Snape. He beckoned Patricia Parkinson towards him, and she stepped in front awkwardly.
"Thank you Patricia." the Head of Slytherin House acknowledged before turning to the girls. "Now ladies, at some point in the night you will inevitably be approached by one of these ticking testosterone time bombs," he pointed in the general direction of the boys, "In which case he should have the etiquette." he gestured a hand towards Patricia. She just looked at it weirdly. "Now you will accept, thank you."
She proceeded to take it and placed her other hand on his waist.
"Hand on my shoulder Ms. Parkinson not on my waist." he said stiffly and Lily almost laughed.
He then sharply turned his face to the rest of the watching Slytherins who were all looking about comically. "I swear... if I hear a single snicker, I will hex you. And we begin." with that he led the fourth year Parkinson into a full waltz. Lily couldn't take it anymore.
~
She opened her eyes before bursting out laughing, startling everyone around them. She rested her head on Terrence's shoulder, shaking with laughter before finally calming down. What Lily didn't see however, was Percy watching the duo from a distance while he and Penelope Clearwater danced along to the music.
They both made faces at each other, trying to mimic the Potions professor, who just so happened to be her father. Thankfully, she didn't see him around. He had told her that he would be guarding the entrances, trying to catch anyone who tried to sneak out of school.
Two songs later, they finally went back to the table along where Oliver sat with a pile of food. "Oh, you're back! Cake?" he asked and they both shook their head no.
It was then that Lily's eyes went to the dance floor and she saw Percy dancing with Penny. She couldn't even think bad thoughts about the girl, she was one of the kindest Ravenclaws Lily had ever met. She looked away bitterly.
"You like Weasley, don't you?" Terrence asked, noticing the way she looked at the boy.
"Huh?" Lily's head snapped towards him, as if she'd been caught red-handed, because she had. "No I don't."
"That's why you insist that we're 'strictly friends', don't you?" he leaned back in his chair teasingly.
"Stop it." she grumbled.
"It's alright. It's completely natural Lily." he assured. "If you have feelings for him, just tell him."
"I KNOW!" Oliver exclaimed. "I've been telling her to do that since the beginning of term-"
"You shut up and eat your cake." the girl frowned, lifting his fork and stuffing it into the boys mouth. Terrence laughed.
"How could you tell?" she asked Terrence nervously.
"That you like him? Quite simple actually. I can tell by the way you look at him." he smirked, probably looking at the couple on the dance floor, before his smirk faltered and he looked back at Lily. "Oliver's right. Do you want cake? Let's go get cake." he took her hand in his.
But Lily wasn't dumb. She knew something was up. And so, she turned around to look at where he had previously been looking. And at that moment, she felt her heart actually break.
Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater were snogging.
Word count: 2526