Walking into the ballroom, Lily grimaced at the throng of people surrounding her. There were many places one would expect to see Lilly Potter, a gala was not one of them. An event like this represented everything she disliked about wizarding society: pompous rich people, fake charity, and of course the expectation to follow strict manners. This was the last place in the world she wanted to be. In fact, Lily would rather single handedly fight a nesting Norwegian Ridgeback then get dolled up and pretend to be nice.
But her father was unveiling another statue and her mother had reminded her over the floo this afternoon that her attendance was mandatory. So here Lily stood in a crowd of strangers she vaguely remembered in a too tight dress and uncomfortable heels suppressing the urge to conjuror a broomstick and fly off the balcony.
Slowly Lily made her way to an empty table and sat. “Well if I am here, I might as well have fun,” she said to herself. Slyly she pointed her wand at a nearby table and whispered a charm. She waited with anticipation as two men in conversation made their way for the table. The second the men sat in their seats, every word they spoke came out in German! Lily had to cover her mouth to suppress her laughter at the sight of the men’s confused faces. After a few attempts at speaking English and failing, the men scurried away from the table. (Their ability to speak German faded as they left.)
Watching them walk away, Lily could no longer contain herself. She broke out into a loud laughter.