Step 2: Change of Physical Appearance- New Hairstyle

Cassidi stared at the reflection on the mirror. She tilted her head to one side, closed one eye and squinted. Unable to avoid the subject any longer, she cleared her throat and said in what she hoped was a soothing tone (with no trace of the horror she truly felt), "It's a little far off of what we aimed for, Lily"

Lily sat in front of the mirror with a fixed determined expression her best friends knew too well. Not ready yet to accept that one opinion, she turned to her other best friend who was very interested to study everything in their dormitory except Lily's hair. "Katie?"

"Weeeell" Katie pushed up her glasses, a telling sign of distress. "I think I saw Morgana on the cover of the last 'Witch Weekly' with this exact shade. Except maybe not as..." she hesitated.

"Purplish" said Cassidi helpfully. "You'd probably start a new trend"

Lily bit her bottom lip and curled one purple-red strand around her finger. "Okay, I know I said I wanted the worst result possible, but I didn't expect it to be so..."

"Bright"

"Flashy"

"Eye-bogging horrifying"

"You know that in the Muggle world this color would be considered funky"

"And if it was Halloween you'd have won all the prices"

They lapsed in a short pause.

"Class in ten minutes" Lily sighed quietly.

Katie patted her shoulder. "You're one brave girl, Lily. They should build a memorial for you for all the hopeless and desperate"

Cassidi just glanced sadly at Lily. "The length we're ready to go just to attract a boy's attention"

***

IcandothisIcandothisIcandothisIcandothis....

Lily sat in her usual seat at Charm's class with her chin up and avoided any eye contact.

IcandothisIcandothisIcandothisIcandothis....

She leaned her chin on the palm of her hand and tried to ignore the half-smothered giggles behind her. Closing her eyes, she imagined the floor cracking beneath her revealing a nice twenty deep hole. The image cheered her instantly.

Then the surprised laughter she most dreaded and waited for came.

IcandothisIcand.... oh god.

She opened her eyes and stared at the handsome face of Jake Dicks.

Lily smiled at him as if nothing was wrong. "Morning, Jake"

Jake sat next at her right and leaned back to look at her with a kind of helpless fascination. If this was the Muggle world, Lily would say he was staring at her as if she was a Thriller movie come to life. "What happened to you?"

Lily smiled embarrassedly. "I can't tell you"

"Settle down, class" Professor Flitwick entered the room and stepped on the chair behind his desk to be able to see them all.

"Why not?" Jake said in a low voice.

"You'd laugh"

"No, I won't" he was so close now, she could feel his cool breath on her cheek.

Ooh, it's actually working!

She opened her mouth to answer when there was a knock on the door.

"Sorry for being late, Professor." A tall seventeen year old boy, whom Lily knew almost too well, stood at the entrance. One hand was messing his already unkempt hair as an unconscious habit and the other was holding several books.

"It's the last time Mr. Potter" warned Flitwick in his squeaky voice.

"I still remember that from the last class, sir" Potter answered in a solemn tone, earning a few laughs from the students.

And that is our Head Boy, ladies and gentlemen, thought Lily sarcastically. Serious, responsible, and has no inclination whatsoever to blow up the Great Hall every Tuesday and Friday just to "revive things up a bit".

They caught each other's eye. Potter winked at her. Lily pulled out her tongue.

He was annoying, but working with him at least was interesting.

"So?"

Her heart made a funny staccato and she turned her attention back to Jake while Potter made his way pass her towards his seat at the back of the class.

"Dreadful accident" she confined in a hushed tone. "Tried to perform a firework spell. It hit a mirror and backfired" she touched one strand on her shoulder. "You can see the result. I tried absolutely everything, but it just doesn't wear off. I figured to go to the library again after my last class. Unfortunately my friends are too busy to help and I don't know who else to ask…" she sighed and gave him a sad little smile.

"You're the Head Girl, I'm sure if you'll ask around there'll be plenty to volunteer" Jake said dismissively.

The smile slid slowly off her face. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right"

***

"And that's it?"

"Well, I couldn't just say: "let's go to the library after school and snog behind a bookshelf"" Lily said crossly.

"Why not?" Cassidi looked up from her homework. "It makes much more sense then: "let's go after the last class to find how to turn my hair back to normal" I'm sorry to inform you this but it sounds like a bore to me"

"He has a Quidditch practice this evening" said Lily defensively. "Maybe that's why he couldn't help me"

"Even you don't believe it"

Lily chose not to respond. It was seven at the evening, and the Gryffindor common room was unusually half full. Most of the Gryffindors preferred to be outside in the snow. Christmas was coming soon with the notorious ball the professors were planning. She figured the chances of her being asked on the dance by Jake were getting smaller and smaller.

After twenty minutes Katie jumped through the portrait hole. "Snowball fight! Right now! Outside!" she called breathlessly. She stopped when she saw Cassidi shaking her head in warning and then glanced at Lily's depressed expression. "Oh, bloody hell, Lily" she exclaimed rubbing the lances clean of snowflakes. "This crush of yours is getting ridiculous. The guy is slow, ignorant and blind. Unless you'll write on his forehead that you like him he won't get the massage. And I'm tired to see you for the past two months moping around because you can't get his attention. Now" she took a breath after the small speech and gave Lily a stern look. "Are you ready to get your ass off that armchair and have some real fun?"

Lily smiled and stood up. "For the record, I haven't been "moping around" as you said it. Right Cass?"

Cassidi put her finished homework in her bag. "You don't want to hear the truth so don't ask me. And you need to learn how to flirt properly"

"I know how to flirt!"

"You heard that Katie?" Cassidi feigned a surprise "What we saw today was flirting. Silly me, thought someone looked like she tried to remember how to turn someone's head into pumpkin."

"Oh shut up!" called Lily while Katie was too busy laughing to answer. "If everything will go to plan I'll have a date by Christmas ball and a boyfriend too"

***

They entered two hours late, half frozen and out of breath. The Common Room was empty except one student who sat on the couch with three open books in front of him on the table. Katie and Cassidi exchanged a discrete knowing look.

"I'm first in the shower!" yelled Katie suddenly.

"Not in a million chocolate frogs, Brighton!" Cassidi pulled her wand and shot a spell which Katie quickly blocked. On an unsaid agreement they raced pass the student and up the stairs to their dormitory.

"Hey, Potter!"

"Bye, Potter!"

James barely raised his head and gave half a wave in their direction.

"That's a first" said Lily, sitting down on the other side of the couch.

"I thought Brighton and Field did that every night"

"I wasn't talking about Cass and Katie" she giggled. "I was referring to you. With open books. Reading"

"There is always a first time for everything. And you've got yourself to blame"

"What did I do?" Lily pulled off her gloves and flicked her wand, causing the remains of the snow to evaporate from her clothes.

"That hair of yours. I'm looking for a counter-jinx"

Lily froze in the middle of untying her shoes. "What?"

"Heard you telling Dicks about it, so I thought to give you a hand" he said casually. "You weren't in the library"

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"I… know the counter-jinx"

"You do?"

"Snowflakes" she ran her hand through her hair so it would fall forward. The wet strands almost returned to their natural color. "There isn't much point in casting a spell without knowing how to remove it"

Potter gave a crooked smile and snapped the book shut. "Here goes twenty minutes of my life." He leaned back and crossed his arms. "So why did you do it?"

"Oh, I have this complex," Lily answered cheerfully, untying her second shoe. "I'm an attention-seeker. Got to be in the spotlight every other week."

"And how does Dicks is entering the picture?"

Lily gave him a blank look.

James sighed mock-irritatingly. "I saw you making doe-eyes at him"

"Ha! And Cass claims I don't know how to flirt! I mean… oh, never mind. And would you stop laughing!"

"No, I get it. You like someone so you make everything possible to draw his attention even if it humiliates you" he eyed her hair with a little smirk. "Sounds familiar"

She suddenly found her nails exceptionally fascinating.

"See you in the morning, Evans" he got up and went towards the portrait hole. He seemed to hesitate before exiting. "I can't imagine why…" he took a sharp breath and said curtly. "You'll get him. If you really want to"

Lily waited until she heard the portrait swung shut before pulling a folded piece of paper. On the top of the page was written: "My Christmas Wish" and underneath it were listed steps. Lily drew a line across "Step 2" with her wand and muttered under her breath "well, that's the general plan"