Hello, Lily! (A Scorily/Scorlily fanfic)

Chapter Thirteen: The Competition

The Ganymede Gala will, of course, be quite a spectacle. How could it not be, with Lily Luna Potter as its planner? 

It is held in a Muggle venue specifically rented out and charmed to be accessible only to wizards. Besides the gleaming dance floor in the center of the Hall, there are also three dining balconies. Everything is gleaming in the light of the largest crystal chandelier twenty wizards could conjure. 

Lily sighs and takes one last look at the gorgeous sight before she turns, satisfied, and heads back up the grand staircase for the door. Everything is as it should be- and in four hours the fun will begin. 

---

-Three hours later-

Emmie Malfoy is nervous. The polyjuice potion Lily provided her (for a steep price) has utterly transformed her. She is now the spitting image of an American muggle model (who, of course, signed a legally binding contract allowing her DNA to be used). But Emmie still fears her brother will recognize her. 

"After all," she whispers to Irene as their shoes click lightly against pavement, "the girl is blonde- and so am I. What if seeing the hair is enough to drive Scorpius mad?"

"It'll be fine." Irene lets out a light laugh. "Just make sure you continue drinking the potion each hour- like Lily told you to."

Irene narrows her eyes at the road ahead of the small group- and at the backs of their dates. Neither she nor Emmie are particularly pleased with the boys just now, as their many attempts at Apparition proved failures. Now she and Emmie have to walk a full mile to the Gala in expensive heels. 

Albus, however, has not stopped trying to placate his miffed almost-girlfriend. 

"Think about it!" he says, turning to look back at Irene. "We don't have to pay the toll now to Apparate into the restricted space!"

Irene smiles slightly, but thinks privately to herself that this is not much of an argument. After all, she and Emmie would not have been paying in the first place. 

Albus appears to think. "It's warming us all up to dance, too." The Gala this year will feature a dance competition with a prize of 50 galleons. 

"It's alright, Albus. Really." Irene shoots him a smile to let him know she is not angry.

"No, it's not. I have to find some way to make this positive." 

"If you must."

After considerable thought, Albus smiles. "I have it!"

Irene and Emmie laugh. 

"No, really! By walking in, we will make more of an entrance. They'll have to open the doors for us, right at the top of that huge grand staircase Lily was going on about."

Emmie giggles. "You think so?"

"Definitely," Carter chimes in. Relief has never been written so plainly on any boy's face before.

"You make a good point, Al," Irene says. She speeds up to hook her arm through his. But her mind is far from Albus Potter. Irene has Decided Something. 

Lily Luna Potter is up to something. The extravagance of the Gala- the peculiarity of Emmie's potion coming in hourly doses rather than an immediate injection- it is a couple of weeks to the Formal and she knows what Lily is trying to do. 

Irene only hopes that the mess Lily is about to make will not leave her too badly off.