April 17th.
That was the day where my whole life, my whole world, my whole universe, changed in a single second. The change wasn't noticeable; it was gradual, subtle, spread over the time frame of 7 years. But, it happened. I can't take it back, I can't change it, nor would I want to, because that was the day I became the luckiest girl in the world.
The day started out completely normal. It was a typical Wednesday in April. The sun peered through the clouds, the wind hitting the open window in the girls' dormitory, causing a slight howling noise to escape through the room. I let a smile fall across my lips as I slowly opened my eyes and became aware of my surroundings. I sat up and looked across the room, looking at each one of my friends, before letting my eyes fall to the mirror straight across from my bed. I looked closely at the girl I saw before me. The first thing anyone would notice was the hair, a deep red auburn colour, quite different from almost everyone at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. The hair was long, very long, a small curl to it, with her fringe going straight across. Everyone was so jealous of that hair, especially when it was paired with pale rosy skin, bright green eyes, long dark eyelashes, and plump pink lips. The girl, Lily Elizabeth Evans, looked back at me every day, always the same face, the face that every girl at Hogwarts envied, and the face that boys had been known to drool over, and I thought about how it had never looked so unfamiliar to me before. I wasn't just a pretty face; I wasn't just a red head. No matter what I was known for, my beauty didn't define me, and I was sick of people thinking of me like that, but I couldn't do anything about it.
Sick of thinking too hard too early in the morning, I slowly stood up and stretched, opened my drawers and started ruffling through them, looking for something to wear. I finally decided on a black long-sleeved shirt with a plaid skirt, tights, and my grey, knitted boots. I quickly went into the bathroom before anyone else got up and hogged all of the hot water, jumped into the shower, and let my mind wander as I let the warm water run down my body. It was relaxing, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard someone pounding on the door.
"EVANS! DON'T YOU DARE USE UP ALL OF THE WATER!" came the lovely voice of Anna Marshall, resident bitch. I sighed as I jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me and unlocked the door to the shower room. I jumped out of the way as Anna came barrelling into the room, giving me a glare that could kill. Oops, did I mess up her beauty schedule? My bad. I suppose that's something I'll always have to live with. I snorted to myself as I stood in front of one of the mirrors in the bathroom, wondering what to do with my hair. One of my best friends, Hannah Beckley, is constantly going on about how I have a slight problem with sarcasm. Yeah, right. I don't have a problem! I sigh and go back to thinking about my hair, choosing to have the soft curls cascade gently around my face, framing it, and have my fringe plaited away off of my face and pinned off to the side. I smiled at my reflection, as I put on a tiny amount of eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara, just to emphasize my eyes, and a soft reddish pink gloss. I then went back into the main bedroom to check to see if my friends were awake and to put on my clothes.
My friends were awake, so I, being friendly, said, "Good morning! Hannah, Melanie, did you sleep well?" Wrong idea, it's never good to talk to Hannah when she's in a bad mood, and it being morning? Well that means she's definitely in a bad mood. Hannah's not exactly a morning person.
"Bloody hell, Lil. Why the fuck are you always so happy in the mornings? What exactly is there to be happy about?" Hannah growled across the room at me, glaring, as always, it is 7am anyway. Melanie let out a snicker as she slowly but surely made her way into the bathroom, yawning as she went.
I smiled lovingly at my friends while ignoring Hannah's glare, and went to pull on that outfit I put together earlier. After I had perfected my outfit, I made sure I had everything in my bag and settled down on my already-made bed to scan a few pages of my current reading material and wait for my slow-as-hell-in-the-morning friends to get ready. I smiled as I watched Melanie go through her whole cupboard and look over everything she had, put together tons of different options, only to go and put on what she originally picked out, a blue flower print high-waist skirt, a grey baggy tank top, and a black belt. Although Melanie was not girly in anyway, that outfit was completely her, it suited her personality perfectly, and her looks. Melanie had pale but slightly tanned skin, and light chestnut brown hair, at the moment anyway. Melanie, for some completely bizarre reason, is always dissatisfied with the colour of her hair, and frequently changes it around, her favourites being light brown, copper brown, or a deep, dark brown, although personally Lily loved her natural hair colour, a mid-brown with both reddish and blonde tints she got naturally from the sun. Oh well, Melanie with her bright blue eyes, fair skin and vibrant red lips can work any colour she wants, she was unbelievably stunning. Melanie finally takes one last look in her mirror before settling down with me on my bed, watching as Hannah, with her dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, puts the finishing touches on her look for today, a high messy ponytail with her outfit of dark skinny jeans and a grey baggy off the shoulder top.
Hannah grabbed her bag off of her bed and looked at us, genuinely confused, "Well, what are you waiting for then? Let's go! I'm starved!" and bounded out of the room. Melanie giggled, got up and followed her down to the Gryffindor common room, where we would depart for the Great Hall. After much chatter of nothing in particular (we are girls, aren't we?) we reached the Great Hall, and entered, looking for seats, Melanie pointed out the first seats available, which just happened to be next to her boyfriend and his friends. She quickly walked over to them, Hannah and I following along behind, only to see and hear Sirius Black, Melanie's boyfriend, jump up.
"Mel!" Sirius exclaimed as he gathered her in a hug, kissed her on the cheek and pulled her down to sit in the seat next to his. He was adorable with her really, and Mel wouldn't admit it, but she secretly loved the amount of attention he gave her. He was really sweet to her. It helps that she is the only girl that has been able to hold his attention longer than 3 months, which is a talent in itself really, and they're currently going strong, as Sirius is clearly completely besotted with her. It's sad though, because although Mel loves him, he's not her kind of type usually, and goes for the sweet, shy, studious and quiet types, the ones that are involved with the school, and before going out with Sirius, Mel was really torn between Sirius and Remus Lupin. I'm not sure if she knows that Remus is still completely in love with her, I have a feeling that if she did, she would be dysfunctional due to guilt, and confusion, because although she hides it, she still loves Remus too. I smiled and watched her and Sirius together, they're cute, and they'll be together a while, but I can tell that one day, she's going to end up with Remus Lupin, I just know she is.
Turning back to the situation at hand, I looked at the rest of the table, where the Marauders were currently sitting. I let my eyes scan over the table, Mel and Sirius, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin (sadly watching Sirius and Mel, but turning to smile at Hannah and I), and finally, James Potter, one of my closest friends. I uttered a greeting to Remus and Peter before I sat down next to James.
"Hi," I greeted him, with a huge grin that comes inexplicably whenever I'm with him.
"Hey Flower. Have a good night's sleep?" James looked down at me and grinned, before putting his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him.
"Yeah, I had the best dream ever; only, I can't remember it," I frowned, "I think you were in it."
His grin widened at this, and teased me about it, "You're dreaming about me now? Well, I mean, who wouldn't, but you've never been one to admit it..."
He stuck out his tongue at me as I shoved him playfully. Before I could respond however, I found I couldn't talk, as James had shoved a piece of toast in my mouth. Lovely.
Breakfast continued like this until the time we had to leave to go to classes. James walked with me down to the dungeons, as the seventh years had potions first period. The day continued as usual, me settling in and working on my potion, and helping James not create a complete disaster, getting complimented by Slughorn, James and I chatting as we walk to charms. He, however, needs no help in this subject, and we sat separately with our own group of friends. Then we separated, as I had Herbology and he had Muggle Studies, met up for lunch, and then we went back to classes. We went through Transfiguration, where James helped me for once, and then separated again; he had a free period, while I had Ancient Ruins, and then had the last stretch of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Finally, after a normal and tiring day, we all made it back to the Gryffindor common room where we all promptly collapsed with our stuff onto any chair or couch we could find. We all sat there for a while, one big group of us, until one by one people left to do homework, or found something else to occupy them. Soon enough, it's just the Marauders and Mel, Hannah and I.
Conversation was light and easy, when Remus suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, get a room!" to which I looked up to see Mel sitting comfortably on Sirius in an arm chair, looking up embarrassed at all of us from their heavy make-out session. Remus is somehow the only one who can't block them out. Hmm. Whatever the case, Remus' outburst must have inspired a thought in Sirius' head, because he looked mischievously at Melanie before he jumped up with her in his arms, and ran up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, Mel giggling the whole way, Sirius with a grin on his face. I sighed, they were so cute, but still, I did not want to know what they were doing up there, which is why James proposed going on a walk before dinner.
Chatting with James is normal, so I didn't really think anything of it, but I could tell something was up the moment we got outside, and James froze. Well, not literally, he was still moving, but he was tense, and didn't say much.
Finally tired of this, I raised my voice at him, "James! What the hell is up with you?"
He looked up at me after my outburst, with a strange look in his eye that I couldn't quite place. I smiled encouragingly at him, trying to get him to open up to me. He took a deep breath before beginning something that sounded like a very well-rehearsed speech, "Listen Lils, I feel like we've become really close in the past few months, and I love that. I chased after you for so long, I'm glad that I have something with you rather than nothing. I love how you trust me, how you enjoy spending your time with me, how you laugh at my jokes and come to me for help when you need it. I've realised as we've become closer that you were 100% right when we were younger. I didn't love you; I couldn't possibly, because I didn't know you. Well, getting to know you now, learning all about you, the one you've opened up to me as we've gotten closer, has just shown me how much I really do love you. I care about you so much it hurts. Every single time you smile at me, I get this warm fuzzy feeling inside, and every time you're sad, my heart breaks, and I have this strange need to do everything I can to make you feel better, to see you smile one more time, and I can't live without you knowing this anymore. I need you to know that you're my best friend, and I've fallen completely, head-over-heels, uncontrollably, irreversibly, in love with you." He took a deep breath as I stared at him in shock.
I was frozen, I didn't know what to say, what to do, only knowing that as he said all of those sweet and wonderful things to me, my heart felt like it was going to explode, I got this wonderful feeling in my stomach, I felt so alive, and so energetic. I felt so unbelievably happy that it shocked me even more. I liked what he said. And that's when I knew it.
He was the boy I couldn't stand, always had a reason to hate. Who made me tick, who made me yell and scream until I lost my voice, who made me so angry I couldn't believe it. Who caused my first detention for hexing, who ultimately distracted me from all my problems in life. He was the boy who was so incredibly mean; he had made me cry. He ruined my relationship with my best friend, he told me he loved me, he told me he hated me, he broke my heart, and fixed my heart, he changed his life just for me, he talked to me, he became friends with me. He is the man who makes me laugh, who makes me cry, who makes me happy, who makes me feel supported, on top of the world, who is there for me no matter what, who makes me smile, who helps me get through school, through life. He's been there throughout the entire time that I've grown up, he's been there through most of my life, he's been there through it all, the worst and best of my life, and standing there, frozen in place by his gaze, I realised that I wouldn't have had it any other way. He was my best friend, and I had fallen completely, head-over-heels, uncontrollably, irreversibly, in love with him.
There, I hope you liked it!
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