Lily Evans did not appreciate waking up to find that her hair had mysteriously acquired green streaks overnight. At first, she didn't realize what had happened- she woke up to find her vision tinted with green. The instant she pushed her hair away, it disappeared. Confused, she swung her hair back in front of her face- there it was again. Comprehension dawned at last, and she grabbed a lock to study. Her hair, normally fire-engine red, was now striped with green.
Moments later, a few roosting owls fluttered away from Gryffindor Tower as the inevitable shrill scream woke Lily's roommates.
"Bloody heck, Lily," Marlene McKinnon grumbled, pushing herself halfway up in an attempt to discern what was going on. Catching sight of Lily's hair, she had to choke back a laugh. "Blimey, did someone spike your pumpkin juice last night?"
"Of course not, pumpkin juice is horrid," Lily was always quick to denounce the drink. She was now indifferent to many of the strange quirks of the wizarding world, but pumpkin juice had always disgusted her. "Someone must have put a spell on me, it would be virtually impossible to sneak something into one plate."
"True, you'd have to get it past the house-elves," Marlene agreed thoughtfully, her mind already pondering the abstract. "I wonder if-"
"Can't we leave the pranking to the Marauders?" Alice Prewett asked, yawning. Her blond head was barely visible through her covers. "It's too early to discuss this, anyhow."
"Oh, did Frank keep you up late last night?" Marlene teased. Alice popped up instantly, glaring at Marlene. "Tell me, Alice, does he really have a long bottom?" Her face fifty shades of red, Alice tossed a pillow at Marlene.
"Mary, some help here?" Lily called out to her last roommate, who was easily the most eccentric. Mary was dating Xenophilius Lovegood, whom most of the school agreed was a crackpot, Ravenclaw or not.
"Y'know, I think this is one discussion I'd rather stay impartial to," Mary piped up. "I don't want to think about Frank's bottom."
"Not that discussion!" Lily groaned, bemoaning her friend's inability to discriminate important things from... well, Frank's bottom. "My hair!"
"Ah, that," Mary's reaction was by far the most temperate of all the girls'. She turned to study the enigma that was Lily's Christmas-tree hair. "Well, like Alice said, the Marauders must have done it. If there's nothing else relevant, then I'm going back to sleep." She promptly turned over and, true to her word, fell asleep.
Marlene snorted at her roommate's apathy. Then, realizing what Mary had said, she turned to Lily. "So...ah...what about those marauders?" She asked, sounding as though she was referring to an obscure muggle sports team.
"When I catch up to James Potter," Lily fumed. "That prat will wish he'd never been born!"
"Resistance is futile!" Marlene egged Lily on. She opened her mouth to speak, likely something dripping with disdain and slathered in sarcasm, but Alice beat her to the punch.
"Lily, you know if you went out with him he'd stop annoying you?" The quiet girl reminded her.
"And maybe we'd get more sleep?" Marlene murmured under her breath. Alice smacked her. "All right, fine," Marlene spoke louder. "Speaking 100% objectively here-" catching Alice's disbelieving look, she traced a hand over her chest in an x "-go out with the bloke already! It's been seven years, Lils!"
Lily blinked at her friends candidness- she'd never come outright and said it, although Merlin knows she'd hinted at it enough times. "I don't know," she said softly. "I don't think I know him that well, you know? And he has such a provincial outlook. His goals for the last 7 years have been me, pranking, and torturing Sev. I want to find a boy who looks for more in life than that."
"Yeah, but Lilsy, it's school," Marlene pointed out. "If you don't experiment here, where will you do it? Besides, he's revered. Practically a god! It could only help your social status." Lily glared at her. "That doesn't work when you look like a pissed-off Christmas ornament," Marlene informed her. "Sorry."
Lily groaned, hopping out of bed. "If I have to spend an hour trying to innovate a way to get my hair back, Potter is going down. And no, Marlene, I'll be using the other "k-i-" verb, not the one you're thinking of."