It wasn't the first time we'd kissed. I doubt that Zoe would remember the first time, though, as we were six or seven at the time. We were sitting on the floor in my bedroom, in the patch of light coming in through the window. We were joking around. We'd lean in toward each other, as close as we'd dare, before bursting into giggles and jumping apart.
After several minutes of this, getting closer and closer each time, our lips actually met. That wasn't supposed to happen. One of us must have overestimated the distance between our faces and gone just a bit too far.
It lasted only a split second. We both pulled away, staring at each other. Her hazel eyes were round, and I'm sure mine were just as wide. Then we started laughing, harder than before, and our little game ended there. We probably went outside to pester Albus and James, or my mum so she would make us cookies. I can't remember for certain what we did afterward, but I can recall every detail of the first inconsequential kiss.
"Albus," I hissed, looking down on the sleeping face of my older brother. His mouth was open as he lightly snored, and his hair was a tangled heap. I honestly can't imagine what all those girls see in him.
I prodded his arm and whispered his name again. He rolled away from me. Sighing, I shook his shoulder. Albus jumped as his eyes flew open, but he relaxed when he saw that it was me. Paranoid much?
"Lily, what are you doing?" he muttered, squinting up at me.
"I need the Cloak."
"It's…" he grabbed the alarm clock from his bedside table, "…one in the morning. Why do you need the Cloak? It's against the rules to go out after curfew."
I rolled my eyes. "Don't go all Head-Boy on me now. What's more important? Your 'duty to your school' or your little sister?"
Albus actually seemed to consider this for a moment. "Why do you need it?"
"Just give it to me!"
He groaned dramatically. "It's in my trunk." Then he rolled over and promptly began snoring again.
I rummaged through his trunk, not about to let him fall back asleep and not caring if I woke any of the other seventh year Gryffindor boys in the dorm. A pillow hit the back of my head suddenly, with quite a bit of force.
"Get out of here, Lily," said the grumpy and groggy voice of Patrick Young, Gryffindor's Keeper. I whipped the pillow back at him as hard as I could, but he easily caught it. He is a pretty brilliant Keeper, after all.
I eventually found the Cloak and decided the snatch the Map while I had the chance and finally I left the dorm and returned to my own.
Zoe had been lying in her bed, with the curtains drawn, whimpering miserably all night. As much as it clearly annoyed my other dorm-mates, it broke my heart. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and help my best friend of over ten years. I'd just like to point out that that's a lot more than Miranda Saunders did (a friend of Zoe's and one of Gryffindor's Chasers). If it's not apparent yet, I'm not overly fond of Miranda. I have no idea why Zoe puts up with her.
I tip-toed over to Zoe's bed and slipped in through the curtains. She didn't seem surprised to see me—just stared with reddened, shimmering eyes.
"Go away," she mumbled, burying her face in her pillow.
"No, you don't," I said, pulling it from her arms.
She glared at me and made a weak grab for her pillow. I caught her by the wrists and waited until she'd met my eyes.
"I'm not going to let you mope about this any longer," I told her.
"It's only been like ten hours. I was planning on moping for weeks," she said, trying to squirm out of my grasp.
"I know how to make you feel better."
"I doubt that."
I held up the Cloak and raised my eyebrows at her. A smile broke through her defenses. Victory.
Ten minutes later, we were safely inside the kitchens. The elves were eager to serve us as always. Did they ever sleep? It seemed they were always awake, no matter what time I came down here.
I looked through the assortment of desserts, while Zoe began to mope again, studying the map on the counter. No doubt, she was watching a certain dot labeled 'Stephen Averill,' otherwise known as the jerk who dumped her this afternoon.
I felt it was my duty to cheer her up. Stephen wasn't worth this; he'd never deserved her. And there was no better way to cheer a broken-hearted girl up than a midnight snack. The red velvet cake looked delicious, but there were coconut shavings on top. Zoe didn't like coconut. I knew those things about her. I knew that she was allergic to peanut butter and cats and that she was afraid of geese and that she didn't know how to swim. I knew the name of whichever boy she currently fancied, though I'd yet to approve any of her choices. She never seemed to care whether or not I approved.
Finally I found the perfect dessert: dense chocolate cake smothered with rich chocolate frosting. I grabbed two forks and returned to Zoe, balancing the platter with the cake on one palm. When I looked back to her, I almost laughed out loud.
The dark-blond girl was slumped over the counter, her cheek on the surface, gripping a bottle of firewhiskey like her life depended on it.
"That's not such a good idea," I said, chuckling softly. I set the cake down and tried to ease the bottle out of her hand, but Zoe swatted me away and took a long gulp. She wrinkled her freckled nose and shut her eyes tightly as the alcohol burned down her throat.
"How can people drink this?" she asked, laughing a little too giddily. Then she shrugged and had more. I began to dig into the cake. It was moist and the frosting was creamy—but a bit too rich for my taste. But Zoe and I were perfect together in that way; she was a frosting-addict, and I preferred the cake. So she scraped forkfuls of the chocolate icing into her mouth and I ate what was left behind. Every few bites, she took a swig of firewhiskey. The drink was starting to have a noticeable effect on her.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked tentatively.
I shouldn't have said anything. Her eyes began to water immediately. She turned to me urgently, taking me by the shoulders. "Why did he break up with me?"
"Either because he's too much of an idiot to realize how great you are, or he was smart enough to realize that you're too good for him." I felt a little exposed since I had just told her exactly what I thought, but she seemed to take it as a generic comfort.
Zoe smiled faintly as she pulled me into a hug. "You're such a good friend. You're always here for me."
She was sitting and I was standing so for once I was taller than her. I looked down at her eyelashes obscuring her reddened eyes and at her crooked part and at her freckled cheeks. She still wasn't letting go of me.
"You're really beautiful, you know," I told her, slowly sinking down closer to her level, slow enough that I thought she might not notice.
She laughed in a way that told me she didn't believe me.
"Really, though." I was at eye level with her now but she wouldn't look at me. I gently lifted her chin with my fingers. "You are, you're beautiful."
She smiled shyly, another tear falling from her eyes. I felt her jawbone under the pad of soft skin and I thought maybe it was weird that I was still touching her face but she was still hugging me so I wasn't about to stop. But I probably should have.
"You're really pretty, too, Lily," she said softly, tugging a strand of my red hair. "I'm in love with your hair."
I guess I might've heard "you" instead of "your hair" because at that moment I decided to kiss her. Well. I didn't really decide to; it wasn't anywhere near well-thought-out. But I did. And it lasted for a few seconds until she pulled away. And it was instantly apparent that I had made a huge mistake.
"I… I'm gonna go back to bed," Zoe said, standing up and absolutely refusing to make eye contact.
By the time I found my voice, she was out the door. "Zoe…"
By the time I followed her out into the corridor, she was long gone. I put on the Invisibility Cloak and wandered around the castle for a good twenty minutes. I sat down on the floor of the deserted and darkened Great Hall and took out the map.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I whispered, watching as the map came alive. It didn't take me long to find her, back in our dorm, in her bed. I sighed. "Mischief managed." I sat on the floor for a while longer and very nearly fell asleep between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. But I forced myself to stand back up and returned slowly to Gryffindor tower. I crept into my dorm, still wearing the cloak and clutching the map. I crawled into my bed and pulled the curtains shut tight around me and curled up, invisible.
A/N: Femmeslash isn't big in fanfic so I don't know what's going to happen with this one, but we'll see. Please leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter!