Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
Chapter 40: Dinner Party
James watched as Lily adjusted her dress again.
"It's just a dinner reception with other students and one professor. There's nothing to be nervous about," James told her.
It was Sunday night, and Slughorn had given them invitations to his first dinner party of the year. Since they had both been invited to attend, James suggested Lily come with him, and she happily accepted.
"The most distinguished students in the entire school will be there…" Lily said.
'Distinguished was not one word I would use...' He knew that Slughorn's intentions with these parties was to create connections with students who he deemed would become influential in the future so he could then make use of those connections for his own benefit. But he rather not tell Lily that.
"And you are one of them," James reminded her. "You're not here as anyone's date, you're here because your talents have been noticed."
During his original childhood, he had often heard his professors speak highly of his mother. They frequently talked about how smart and brilliant she was.
After personally meeting this young version of Lily Potter, he could already see that those comments were quite accurate. Despite only being in her fourth year, she had shown tremendous potential for magic. This was very easy to see for someone such as him.
Lily felt her cheeks heat up at the simple compliment. "Thanks..."
The two of them walked up to the sixth floor and opened the door to Slughorn's office.
James heard Lily mutter a comment about being late when she saw that all the other students were already there.
It wasn't too crowded, but James counted eight more people, plus the professor himself.
"Ah, Mister Potter and Miss Evans are here. Please, take your seats, and then we can commence," the professor invited them in with a warm smile.
This came in contrast to the expressions on the other students' faces.
Bellatrix had arrived accompanied by her fiancé, Rodolphus Lestrange, who was staring at James as if he were ready to jump out of his seat and rip his head off.
Now, James wasn't sure if this was because Rodolphus had seen him walking closely with Bella or because of the way he had defeated their Quidditch team the other day.
There had been a lot of talk after that match. His use of potions to blind the enemy seeker had been called out, but ultimately, it wasn't specifically against the rules, so it was allowed. However, James was strongly advised against using such methods again.
Bellatrix seemed to be avoiding glancing at him altogether, and he couldn't blame her for that. Her fiance seems like the jealous plus violent type. A terrible combination.
Perhaps there was another reason for her avoidance.
James considered for a moment if she was trying to protect him from her jealous fiancé's wrath by pretending he didn't exist, but then again, maybe he was giving her too much credit.
Next to them were Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black as his date. Lucius was much better than his friend at pretending to be courteous, but the coldness in his eyes couldn't be hidden.
There were two more couples that James didn't recognize, but they wore the colors of the Ravenclaw house.
'They do look somewhat familiar, though,' James thought as he observed their facial features.
"So now we're inviting students based on their sports accomplishments?" Lucius commented. "If you can even call that…an accomplishment."
"Oh, not at all," Slughorn responded. "When I invited Mister Potter, I wasn't even aware he played Quidditch. Seeing him in the other day's game was quite the surprise."
"Hmph! Who says he can play? He just won with a dirty trick," Rodolphus scoffed.
"According to the rules, it was not an illegal move," one of the Ravenclaw boys said. "And if I recall correctly, Slytherin did its own share of dirty tricks that day."
He was a young black man with a kufi hat and blue robes. He was definitely a senior student, perhaps in his sixth or seventh year.
"They did! Poor Brian Jones spent the entire day in St. Mungo's getting his bones fixed," Lily added.
Rabastan reacted to this. "The Mudblood got what he deserved," he said, making sure to say it while looking directly at Lily.
"Now, now. Let's keep this polite, Mister Lestrange. We don't use that word here," Slughorn scolded him, though he still kept a soft tone. "And let us move away from Quidditch."
"I can agree with that," the black Ravenclaw student said, looking toward James. "And I am personally curious about Mister Potter's presence here, if it's not Quidditch-related. I thought I knew about all the most outstanding students in Hogwarts."
"Oh, I have recently discovered that Mister Potter has quite the unusual talent for potion-making. He has shown me very outstanding results so far, and I am looking forward to what he can accomplish in the future with those skills," Slughorn told him.
"Potions…" the young man muttered. "If I recall my lessons in the history of magical families correctly…the Potters have produced many notable potion masters and alchemists in the past. But many generations have passed since then."
"Then perhaps it's time for another one," Slughorn said, making a gesture with his wand. Several drinks and snacks appeared on the table. "Help yourselves to whatever you wish."
"I don't see any firewhisky here," Rabastan frowned.
"You want to get drunk in front of a professor? Idiot," Bella huffed.
"What did you call me?!" Rabastan was already starting to lose his cool.
Lucius hurried to put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear.
Lestrange glanced around the table and seemed to calm down a bit after that.
Slughorn cleared his throat. "My apologies, Mister Lestrange, but I'm sure you'll understand that I cannot serve alcohol during a student dinner party."
The event only lasted a couple of hours, and they managed to have a mostly polite conversation during the whole time.
Rabastan barely spoke after his first outburst, and Bellatrix seemed to be in a bad mood. She didn't say a single word to James and wouldn't even look in his direction.
James and Lily mostly spoke with the black young man, who he then found out was none other than Kingsley Shacklebolt.
He shouldn't have been surprised to find this person here. Shacklebolt had always been a very talented man, and if things went the same way, he would one day become the Minister of Magic.
But what surprised him the most was to learn that the other Ravenclaw boy was Gilderoy Lockhart.
He personally remembered that Lockhart had always been a terrible student, and his later accomplishments were all thanks to his unusual affinity with memory charms, which allowed him to take credit for other, more talented people's achievements.
James decided to keep an eye on Lockhart to make sure he wasn't doing anything nefarious at school.
The dinner party ended, and James made sure to escort Lily to the common room afterward.
It was only as he was exiting the room that James finally caught a glimpse of Bella staring at him while Rabastan was distracted speaking with Lucius.
Her lips were locked into her usual frown, but James saw something else in her vibrant purple eyes.
'She looks sad,' James thought.
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