"Lily! Lily, wake up!"
"Grurmf,"
"LILY!"
"Grurmf,"
"Lily, guess what? You're Head Girl!"
"I'm what?" Lily suddenly sat up straight in her bed, making Alice jump.
"Works all the time," she said, smirking. Lily groaned and smacked Alice across the head. "Ow! That hurt," Alice whined, rubbing the spot where Lily had hit her.
It was mid-August, and Lily was staying at Alice's house for a few weeks of the summer vacation. Lily's best friend, Hestia Jones, however, couldn't make it and was staying at her own house because she had to babysit for her little brother, Max. Alice, Lily, and Hestia were always in one group at Hogwarts together.
"Friends don't slap each other," Alice grumbled. Lily was suddenly reminded of Hestia and how much she missed her. Even though they weren't that much alike, she thought that was what made them inseparable.
"I'm not a very good friend," Lily said, rubbing her eyes. She was suddenly conscious of how messy her hair was- the ponytail she had tied before going to bed had loosened a bit and her hair was now all over the place. Tugging the rubber band from her hair, Lily noticed that it was still dark outside. As her hair fell in curtains around her shoulders, she asked, "Alice- what time is it?"
Alice fidgeted a bit in her seat and said in a small voice," Around seven."
"WHAT?" Lily shrieked.
"Hey, calm down! I needed to tell you something!" Alice said cautiously, waving her arms in front of her as if to expect Lily to start throwing things at her. Lily was never fond of waking up in the early mornings.
"Better be good," Lily sad threateningly.
"Yeah, you're going to like it, "Alice said, winking at her."We're going to get our Hogwarts letters today! Dad told me!" Benjamin Prewett, Alice's father, was a professional Auror, as was her mother, Martha, and was in very close ties with Dumbledore. "Bet you can't wait to be Head Girl, right?" she said, punching Lily in the shoulder lightly.
"Oh, shut up," Lily said modestly, but nonetheless had a hopeful twinkle in her eyes. She had wanted to be Head Girl ever since her first year at Hogwarts. And they were going to get the letters today? She was so nervous- how could she be ready for this?
"Yeah, come on, they're going to arrive any minute now," Alice said, grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her off the bed. Lily landed with a thump on the floor.
"OW! Alice!" She yelled, brushing her hair out of her eyes and rubbing her back.
"See you downstairs!" Alice said over her shoulder, before dashing across the room and disappearing down the staircase, which was right outside Lily's room.
Lily got up carefully, so as to not cause any more pain to her already sore back. She had been concealing her happiness earlier, and was fighting the urge to yell out of sheer nervousness. Smiling to herself, Lily made her way across the room- she wanted that Head Girl badge more than anything.
"BREAKFAST!" Someone yelled from downstairs. Lily ran down the staircase and found herself in a cozy little kitchen, with the dining table right in front of her and cupboards lining the walls. Mrs. Prewett was a little way away, doing something near the stove, and Alice and her father were sitting, each at the two ends of the table. Mr. Prewett had his face buried in that morning's Daily Prophet, and Alice was sitting with her head in her hands, apparently bored. Lily felt sorry for her; she had no siblings to keep her company. Although I would rather be in her place than have Petunia as a sister, she thought bitterly.
Alice's face brightened when she saw Lily, and at once split into a smile. "You're finally here, I wonder how long it takes you to walk down the staircase," she said.
"Hey," Lily said back, ignoring the comment.
"Morning, dear," Mrs. Prewett called out to her, a wide smile on her face. She had always been fond of Lily.
"Good morning," Lily replied, ruining her politeness by yawning suddenly. Mr. Prewett chuckled softly.
"I thought you'd be more excited, Lily, didn't Alice tell you about the Hogwarts letters?" he asked. Lily's eyes widened suddenly- she had momentarily forgotten about them. Alice's father seemed to get a response just by looking at her face and chuckled again. Alice rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, just forget about it. I'm pretty sure you'll get the badge," she said.
"Pretty sure?" Lily asked incredulously. "Pretty sure? I need to be sure sure, no offense," she added hastily, in case Alice also wanted to be going for Head Girl. In that case, it would have been extremely rude of her in saying that.
Alice just laughed. "Really? You'd think I would want Head Girl? Face it, Lily, with you around, no one's got a chance," Lily's expression brightened considerably and her spirits lifted at the kind word Alice just gave her.
"Thanks, Alice," she said quietly, sitting down in the chair next to her (It was a square table, two chairs on each side).
"Toast, dear?" asked Alice's mother kindly.
"Thank you," she said, as a hand reached out from behind her and put a plate in front of her. No less than three seconds later, a groan issued from the other side of the table.
"More killings?" Mrs. Prewett asked her husband, who had thrown the paper across the table (which had unfortunately landed in Alice's bowl of porridge), and now had his head in his hands.
"David Longbottom," he grumbled, as Alice and her mother turned white. Ignoring the newspaper which had landed in her bowl, Alice said in a shaking voice, "Frank's dad?" even though she knew the answer already, and her father nodded. He had developed a great friendship with David ever since Alice and Frank had started dating in their fifth year, and was absolutely devastated at his friend's death.
"Poor Frank! Alice, I think you should go talk to him," Mrs. Prewett told her daughter. Alice nodded, tears in her eyes.
Even though Lily didn't know the Longbottoms very well, she still felt an unexpected tug of grief at her stomach. It pained her to see her best friend cry, and gently kept her hand on her shoulder.
"Alice…" she began, but was cut off by a soft peck peck at the window. All of them turned to look and Lily felt her stomach drop. It was unusual- having that pull of grief and that sense of nervousness engulfing her stomach at the same time.
Two tawny owls were fluttering outside, each with a letter tied to their legs. Even with the gleam of the morning sun in her eyes, Lily could still make out the unmistakable Hogwarts crest glittering in the sunlight.
All feeling of devastation was forgotten as Lily gave a nervous squeal and almost overturned a chair in her desperation of making it to the window.
"Hey, slow down there!" Mr. Prewett exclaimed as Lily very nearly knocked over his glass of orange juice in her attempts to get to the window. But she didn't listen. She would have been very surprised if she had actually heard a word he had said. Throwing open the window, she grabbed the two owls in each of her hands and practically threw one to Alice.
"Poor owl," Alice said, stroking the confused owl's head. "Don't fret, Lil is always like this."
Lily untied the letter from her owl's legs and then released it. The owl flew away gratefully- it was obviously scared of her. What sort of a person threw owls around?
She tore open the letter with shaking fingers, groping inside the envelope for anything other than the usual letter telling them about their books for that year. Proving unsuccessful due to the fact that she could hardly hold it out of nervousness, Lily overturned it in irritation. Two pieces of parchment and a gold metallic something fell out onto the floor.
Lily immediately ducked under the table and retrieved the small object. Taking her seat again, Lily turned it over in her fingers and she moved it slightly as it shined in her eyes. It glittered up at her, and she could make out the prominent 'HG' carved into it. She sat stunned for a few seconds as Alice leaned down from behind her chair to get a good look at it.
"You're honestly surprised?" she asked and Lily nodded slowly. "Come on, you can't be that thick- everyone knew you were going to get it!" she said, snorting and rolling her eyes, "Little Miss Goody-Goody," she muttered under her breath and immediately regretted it as she got another smack to the head.
"Lily!" she moaned as her parents laughed. Lily suddenly remembered the pieces of parchment that fell out of the envelope and she bent down to retrieve them. This first one was the usual, telling her about what books she would need for that year. The second one, however, was written in narrow, slanting wirting that she recognized as Dumbledore's.
Dear Ms. Evans,
Congratulations on becoming our new Head Girl! It gives me great pleasure to offer this position to you, as I know you will do it well.
You know the drill, Miss Evans, there will be a meeting for all prefects on the Hogwarts Express, so don't miss it! (Not that I think you will) As you may know, there will also be a separate meeting for you and our Head Boy on the train as well.
I hope you are enjoying your summer vacation.
Signed,
Albus Dumbledore
As Lily put down the letter with a smile on her face, she suddenly began to wonder who the Head Boy was. Remus, maybe? That shouldn't be too bad, they got along pretty well together. That cute boy from Ravenclaw… what was his name again? McKinnon? She'd be able to handle that too.
But anybody else would be a huge nuisance. Especially that Amos Diggory, if he even had a chance. He was so full of himself that she just couldn't stand him.
"That's a lot of books," Mrs. Prewett said, eying Alice's booklist, as Lily snapped out of her reverie.
Oh, and if it was John Winslow? Would he make a tolerable Head Boy? She suddenly thought.
"N.E.W.T. year, Mum, what do you expect?" Alice said, taking a bite into a piece of toast she had picked off Lily's plate.
"Hey, Ben, do we have an Auror meeting today?" Mrs. Prewett asked her husband, who was currently reading the Quidditch section of the newspaper (after carefully 'scourgify'ing it first).
Perhaps not… Oh Merlin, what if it's Sirius Black? She cringed. No, Dumbledore would never. If it were him, I'd resign in a heartbeat.
"Damn it…Puddlemere United lost 270-30…" he said, slamming his fist on the table. Puddlemere United was his favorite Quidditch team. He suddenly looked up and, seeming to realize what his wife had asked him, said, "No, all meetings are cancelled till next Thursday. Why?"
Ignoring Ben's question, Mrs. Prewett turened to face her daughter. "How about we go to Diagon Alley today, then?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "We? Mum, me and Lily are perfectly capable of going by ourselves!"
Frank would make a wonderful Head, though! I think it'd be a wonderful choice, we're pretty good friends…
"Both of you are still underage! You might get attacked!"
As Alice opened her mouth to retort, Lily nudged her painfully in the ribs which made her mouth shut immediately.
"Of course, you can come with us, Mrs. Prewett, " she said kindly.
"Martha, dear," she said, looking at her with appreciative eyes.
What if it was someone from Slytherin? Would Dumbledore really do that?
Alice threw Lily an extremely annoyed look, while rubbing her ribs at the same time. "Come on, Lily, we need to get ready," she said, grabbing Lily's arm in an unnaturally firm way and dragging her across the dining room.
Oh, how about… no wait, Alice looks upset about something, I should stop thinking about this, Lily concluded as Alice pulled her up the staircase. Only when they were out of earshot, she released her hand and turned to face her with angry eyes.
"What the hell, Lily!" she whispered in a furious tone. "You know perfectly well that she's being overprotective about this! You know we're capable of going by ourselves!"
"Come on, Alice, after what happened to the Longbottoms you can't blame her," Lily reasoned.
"Still," she replied stiffly before retreating into her room without a word. "You're too obedient for your own good, you know."
Lily sighed and retraced her steps into her own room. She would straighten things out with Alice later. She opened the door to her closet and was scouting for an outfit to wear. Eventually, she emerged from the bathroom wearing her usual loose clothes, with her long red hair tied in a ponytail- just the way she liked it. Stopping by the mirror for a few seconds before nodding satisfactorily, Lily grabbed her wand and handbag and skipped downstairs, eagerly waiting in the empty kitchen for Alice and Martha. Less than five minutes later, she heard footsteps and turned to see Alice coming down the staircase.
"Look, I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have overreacted," she said at once. "I was being stupid and mean and-"
"Hey, it's okay," Lily shrugged, and then grinned. "Let's change the subject. I'm Head Girl, Alice. Head Girl!" she almost yelled, as Alice grinned back.
"Only Lily Evans," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "Surprised at the most obvious things. Oh, My God!" she exclaimed suddenly. "What about Head Boy? Who do you think it is? Wow, we didn't even give that a second thought!"
"Well, I did," Lily admitted.
"Who would you want it to be? I've heard the Heads have a whole separate dorm," she said, winking at Lily, who flushed.
"I-" Lily was cut off by the approach of Martha, who tottered into the kitchen, clasping her money bag shut as she edged nearer to them.
"Hey, Mum,"
"Hello, dears, ready to leave?" The girls nodded.
"All right then, since we're travelling by Floo…" Martha's voice trailed off as she disappeared into the next room, Lily and Alice close at her heels. As they entered, Martha was just grabbing the box of Floo powder which was lying near the fireplace, and opened it.
"I hate travelling by Floo," Alice groaned.
"Got a better idea?" Martha snapped at her, and Lily jumped. Somehow she had never registered Martha as a person who would snap at people.
"No," Alice said, and Martha's expression immediately morphed into her usual, kind one.
"Okay then, Alice, you go first, we'll see you at the Leaky Cauldron," she said.
"Right," Alice replied, grabbing a handful of the Floo powder and tossing it into the fireplace. Shuddering slightly, she yelled, "The Leaky Cauldron!" before stepping into the emerald-green flames and disappearing. Lily followed shortly after, an uneasy feeling welling up inside her for one reason or the other.
Good Lord… what if it really was… James Potter?
No, she was just being silly.
So, tell me how you liked it! I'll be updating on a weekly basis (just so you know), so keep in touch :)
Next chapter: When Lily reaches Diagon Alley, some circumstances find her alone in Madam Malkin's with none but the two devils themselves: Sirius Black and James Potter.