The Marauders – Summer

It was the last day of sixth year, and Lily Evans was depressed.

"Ara, I've been going to this school for six years and I can bet you that only you and the teachers can say my name without having to wrack their brains over it!"

Arabella Figg sighed. "Lils, sweetie, don't be so hard on yourself. Look at all you've done. You're Prefect, you're in all advanced classes-"

"Yes, all that I've done that is worth noting all has to do with grades or classes. I'm sick of it Ara! Is it so bad that I want to be noticed? That I want people to notice me for something other than the chick with the red hair whose always reading? Don't give me that look, I've heard people talk. Contrary to popular belief I can hear!"

"Well, if you're so determined to do something with yourself then go ahead and do it! You have next year, have fun! Blow classes off. Your GPA is high enough that you could fail all of your classes and still graduate head of class. Next year is your year to have fun."

Lily smiled brightly. "Yeah… I'll have fun next year. I'll show all those people who Lily Evans really is!" She paused and looked at herself in the mirror. "But… What if after all this time I find out that nobody'll even like me?"

"Honey… I like you!" Lily shot her a look. "If you're worried about the guys, don't. You're absolutely gorgeous!" She turned Lily's face so she was staring at herself in the mirror. "How could a guy not be able to resist you?"

"They've avoided me for six years pretty well." She sighed sadly.

"Well they're asses for it!"

Lily looked at herself. She had to admit, she didn't look grotesquely ugly by any means, but she wasn't pretty either. Her skin was covered in freckles and her blood red hair was too long. Her nails were always dirty and she bit them so they were short. She never wore makeup, so none of her good features were accented. Her clothing didn't do anything for her either.

"Tell you what, Lils. Once we get to my house, we'll ask my Mum to take us shopping. You know she'll do it. You're like the second daughter… Only… Not…"

Lily had to laugh at this. Ever since her parents were killed in her fourth year she had spent the Holidays and summer break at the Figgs'. It was like they had adopted her into their family, and she was grateful.

"What're you trying to do to me, Ara? Turn me prep?"

"Hell no! Preps are scum and must be blown from the earth! We're just going to make you… Noticeable. I promise, if you don't like it, you'll can do whatever you want, no interference from me. Deal?" She held out her hand.

"Deal." She shook it.

&%&%&%

"Mom!" Ara ran up to her mom and hugged her. "I'm so happy to see you again." She broke away from her mother and Lily took her place.

"You make it seem like you only see me once every ten years." Catalina – Cat – Figg smiled.

"Where's Dad?"

"Paul had to work late, but he should be home about the time we arrive home. We're planning on going out to dinner to that nice Japanese place you two like so much."

"You spoil us too much, Mrs. Figg."

"Lily, how many times have I told you? Call me Cat. 'Mrs. Figg' makes me sound old and hunched over."

"Sorry." Lily smiled.

Lily and Ara put their trunks and empty owl cages into the back of the truck. Luckily, their owls were still at Hogwarts and were going to be coming home in the next day or two. They climbed into the backseat of Cat's big red truck. It had a crew cab, so they weren't squished.

The way back to their house was full of questions about their year and Ara asking her mom if they could go to London in the next day or two for a big shopping spree. Cat agreed, but only if she could be a part of it too. Lily had laughed and promised that she could come with them.

Ara's house was a lovely Victorian house – Romanesque Revival style. It was made completely out of stone and had heavy arches on the porches, doors, and window. It looked like it was built into a hill, if you looked at it from the road. But around the back, was one giant porch that overlooked a river. When Ara a Lily were younger they used to swim in the calm banks of it, when they were older they used to hike up and then go rafting. Now they were hooked on tubing down the river, and just seeing where they would end up. The inside of the house was full of new and antique furniture that just merged together to form the home they lived in. It was a beautiful place to live.

Just a few minutes after bringing their trunks upstairs and using some magic to put their stuff away – for some reason, Hogwarts never bothered them about it, as long as it wasn't something major – Cat yelled up the stairs that Paul had gotten home and that they should get dressed for dinner.

&%&%&%

The following Saturday Cat, Ara, and Lily all went out to London. Paul had steadfastly refused to go, saying that he'd probably be forced to test a shade of rouge or lipstick before the day was over.

The first place they went was a beauty parlor.

The woman that had Lily was very nice and motherly. Her name was Erin.

"My, my. You have beautiful hair."

"Really? I always thought it was rather limp. And long. Much too long."

"Well, we can fix that. What would like done to it?"

"I… I don't really know. Just something different, I guess."

Erin smiled, "Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, I do. Do whatever you like to it. Just make it look good."

Erin led Lily over to the sink to wash her hair. Lily relaxed to the feeling of her scalp being softly mashed by Erin's finger's and the soft sent of vanilla that the shampoo and conditioner gave off.

She was then brought over to the cutting station where Erin gently combed Lily's hair out. She studied Lily for a few moments. "What's the shortest you'll let me take it?"

"Well… To my chin at the absolute shortest… But I really want it long enough to do stuff with… Like, braid it and stuff." She looked into Erin's eyes through the mirror to see if she understood.

"OK, I've got an idea for what I want." She picked her scissors up and when she turned around she noticed Lily had her eyes closed. She laughed slightly. "You can open your eyes you know."

Lily opened them for a few moments. "I know, but I want to be surprised when I see myself."

So, Erin started cutting away at Lily's hair. Lily was a little surprised at how her head felt lighter and wondered exactly how much Erin was taking off. But she resisted the temptation to open her eyes and spoil the surprise. Erin and Lily talked softly about nothing in particular. But Lily was happy for the conversation. She felt her chair swing around – away from the mirror, according to the map her mind had laid out – and Erin told her to open her eyes.

She did and was happy to see Erin smiling in approval. "Do you mind if I blow dry it?"

"No, go ahead." She felt her hair hitting the back of her neck and figured that it just reached her shoulders.

Erin switched off the dryer and looked at Lily again. "I heard you talking to your two friends that you were getting makeovers too. May I?"

Lily shrugged, she had come this far, and Erin seemed trustworthy. She had good taste as far as Lily was concerned. "Sure."

Erin went about her little area grabbing some make up and other necessities. "Hmmm… Something natural, but brings out your features… Your eyes especially…"

Lily smiled at this. She had gotten her mother's startling green eyes and thought they were her best feature.

She had to remain expressionless as Erin gently tweezed her eyebrows and apply a pale foundation to her face. She didn't know exactly what was going on, as how she still hadn't seen a mirror in at least an hour and she could only hear the occasional murmur of Erin deciding which color would go best on her.

After what felt like another half hour, she was spun around and instructed to open her eyes. Lily was stunned at the woman looking back at her.

He once waist-length hair was now at her shoulders and was layered to give it a jagged appearance. The makeup on her face made the freckles blend in nicely and brought out the milky white complexion of her skin. Her emerald eyes were decorated with a soft bronze eye shadow and had a sparse amount of eye liner and mascara. Her eyebrows were plucked to a fine arch and didn't need to be penciled. A very light rouge was on her cheek bones, making her face look more mature and oval shaped. And her lips had some clear lip gloss on them, just enough to bring them the attention they deserved.

"I know it's a bit shorter than you were probably expecting-"

"No!" Her objection was louder than she meant. "No, Erin. This is… This is wonderful! I've never looked so good before. My hair actually has body to it!" She laughed lightly. "Thank you so much!" She got up and hugged the woman lightly.

"Well, I'm glad you like it."

"May I have some of the products you used please?"

"Of course!" Erin went about collecting shampoo, conditioner and makeup. She handed a small pile to Lily. "The eye shadow bit I got you had a bunch of different shades so you can fit your mood."

Lily walked out of Erin's room, receiving last minute instructions on how to style her hair or put on makeup she heard–

"LILY! Oh my God! You look wonderful! Your hair! Your makeup! Your eyes! Oh my God!" Strangely enough, this was Mrs. Figg. Ara was still sitting there, not believing that the beautiful person standing before her was her best friend of six years. Lily just grinned.

Ara and Cat had also gotten the beauty treatment.

Ara's raven black hair now had red highlights and was cut to chin length. It was teased out to give it a beach-hair look. Her tan skin looked golden with the soft sparkle lotion she had rubbed into her skin. Her eyes had soft yellow eye shadow that brought out her amber eyes beautifully. Her eyeliner was a deep red, to match the highlights in her hair, and had blue mascara on. And her naturally arched eyebrows were penciled in a dark brown. Somehow, she made the strange color scheme work. Her cheeks had a slight blush to them and her lips had a beautiful tanned red color on them.

Cat's makeover was a bit more refined, her excuse being she had a job and she intended on keeping it. Her blond hair was in between her shoulders and chin and her bangs were just short enough that she couldn't tuck them behind her ears. She had baby blue eye shadow, to mirror her eyes, and soft brown eye liner on. Her eye brows were plucked to an arch and were accented with a light brown. Her cheeks were a healthy pink, like she had stepped into a cold wind, and her lips were a natural pink color.

All three of them had makeup and hair supplies in their arms. After paying for their supplies – Cat insisted on paying for everything – and thanking Erin one last time, they left the hair/beauty salon.

"Next up," Said Ara, "Are nails!" They walked down the road a bit to a nail salon and they all got French manicures. Lily was so happy that her nails finally looked clean and long. It almost made her hands themselves look more elegant.

As the three broke for lunch they all talked about what clothing stores to hit and what the spending limit was. Cat had exclaimed, "Spending limit! There isn't a spending limit! How will we get anything good with a spending limit?" The three had laughed at that and went to horde some innocent clothing store.

Lily and Ara both got plenty of comfortable yet flattering clothes and they each got several pairs of shoes. Cat had gotten some work clothes, but had also gotten some to wear around the house or on weekends.

Lily and Ara also got some books and CDs with their own money, not wanting to take advantage of Cat's kindness.

When Ara and Cat were both not paying attention, Lily bought Cat a silver necklace with a dragon pendant on it and Paul a batch of cookies. He generally didn't get to have sweets because both Cat and Ara were diabetics, so she thought this would be a good treat for him.

The summer mainly consisted of London visits, girl talks, movie watching, and walks around town trying to spot how many guys looked their way. Their highest count was 25 combined looks, but they were sure they didn't catch all of them.

&%&%&%

The day before Ara and Lily were due back at Hogwarts, they were up all night talking.

"I'm so happy you're Head Girl, Lils, and with James Potter as Head Boy! You're going to have a fun year."

"It sucks that I have to move out of the dorm though… How will we have late night gal sessions?"

"You can sneak over!"

Lily grinned, "Yeah, good point."

"Just remember, Lils. Don't fall back into your old routine. Let people know who you are this year. Act like you always have around me. Joking around, smiling, completely insane…" They both laughed, "And you'll be fine. Just remember, I was your best friend for six years, don't go forgetting me."

"Arabella Figg!" Lily looked honestly shocked and appalled. "How dare you accuse me of forgetting you! You're the one that saw me when I was invisible, you'll always be my best friend. You're going to be my Maid of Honor and my wedding. There's no way in Hell that I'll ever forget you."

Ara smiled and hugged her friend. "Good to hear."

It was about 5:00 AM and they figured they might as well take showers and get dressed. Lily did first, and then went down to make everybody breakfast.

"I can't believe this'll be the last time I do this until Christmas break." Said Lily sadly.

Paul and Cat hugged her, "Don't worry, you'll see us sooner than you think."

They couple drove the girls to the train station and, since they were Muggles, they said their good byes at the barrier.

"Take care of your selves." Cat hugged them both to the point where they thought their ribs would crack.

"And don't break too many hearts." Paul winked at them and hugged them, giving them a peck on the forehead.

As the two girls looked at the barrier, they both took a deep breath.

"Ready to show them who you really are, Lils?"

Lily responded by walking thought the barrier, head held high.