A/N: This is a song fic about Lily and James. The song I'm using is "She's More" by Andy Griggs and the lyrics will be between the ** 's because the program I use doesn't show Italics on the screen. @#$*%^ thing. The song doesn't actually start until about half-way through the story and it goes from Lily's point to view to James' point of view. And if cheesy teenage romances get to you, then turn this off right now. This fic is really fluffy and sadly predictable. Anyway, that's the warning, on with the story...
Lily Evans was lying on her bed, writing a Transfiguration essay that was due the next day. She was flicking through a book, trying to find something that would use up the last eight inches of her parchment when the door of her dormitory suddenly flew open and her best friend, Fliss flew in and flopped into her bed.
"Do you mind?" Lily snapped as the ink bottle turned over and spilled over her bed covers. She pulled out her wand and began using magic to take it off, but Fliss didn't seem to be paying attention to this, she was too busy staring up at the canopy above her with an odd grin on her face.
Finally, she sat up, still grinning weirdly, and said, "Lily--I'm in love."
"What?" Lily looked up from what she was doing and stared at her. "With who?"
"Oh, just the most handsome, caring, wonderful, intelligent guy in the whole world." She flopped back into the pillows with a love sick look on her face. "Sirius Black."
Lily's stomach dropped. Why did Fliss have all the luck when it came to boys? It had seemed at least a million years since she was that in love and infatuated with a certain boy. She had always stood on the side lines while boys wondered after Fliss like sick puppies, feeling jealous but trying her best to hide it. And now she was in love, again, this time with the cutest boy in the entire school.
"Well?" Fliss said, sitting up again. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"That's great, Fliss," said Lily, giving her a very forced smile. She quickly turned away before Fliss could see the look on her face, but she was too late.
"Oh, Lily," said Fliss, scrambling over the parchment and books over to her. "You're upset."
"I am not," said Lily, busying herself with her Transfiguration book.
"Yes, you are," Fliss said. "Your upset because you haven't had a date in ages and I always seem to be rubbing it in your face."
Lily stared at her. Sometimes, her friend had an almost uncanny ability to read her mind.
Fliss put her arms around her neck. "It's okay, Lil," she said. "You don't need scores of suitors, just the one, if he's the right one."
"Yeah, I know that, Fliss."
"You're a million times prettier than all those other girls, and boys must be mad not to ask you out."
"You've told me that already, Fliss."
"And you're nice, you're funny, you're generous, you're cool, you're...hey, I have an idea." Fliss suddenly let go of Lily and looked at her, her eyes bright with mischief. "Blind date."
"Huh?" said Lily, rubbing her neck.
"I'll set you up on a blind date," Fliss said. "Next Hogsmeade trip. I'll get an absolutely gorgeous guy to take you out then everyone will find out what a wonderful person you are and you'll have a million guys chasing after you."
"Very funny, Fliss."
"No, I'm serious. If I can get just one guy to ask you out... pleeease, won't you do it, Lil? Pleeease?"
"Well, it's a stupid idea," Lily said. "But I'll say yes anyway."
"You will?" Fliss said. She engulfed her friend into another bone-breaking hug. "Good. You won't regret it, Lil, I promise I'll find the perfect guy for you."
"Whatever you say, Fliss," Lily gasped. It was difficult having such an affectionate friend sometimes.
*****
Almost a week later, Fliss was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room doodling inside the cover of her History of Magic book. FE luvs SB surrounded by little hearts mostly, but there was also the occasional Mrs Felicity Black written here and there.
She was just scribbling down an imaginary guest list for her wedding day when Lily suddenly burst into the room and flopped down next to her, looking hassled.
"Have you finished your Potions assignment?" she asked. "I need to copy some stuff off it."
"Yeah," Fliss said, pulling it out from under her books and handing it to Lily. She watched as her friend began fumbling around for quills and parchment. "What's the rush? You've got all of tomorrow to do it."
Lily looked up from what she was writing. "No, I don't. It's the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow, remember?"
"The Hogsmeade trip?" Fliss thought. Duh. It was her date with Sirius. But there was something else that she seemed to have forgotten that was nagging at the back of her mind...
"Yes, the Hogsmeade trip." Lily put down her pen and looked at her friend suspiciously. "Felicity Ellis, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
"Forgotten what?" said Fliss. She searched quickly through her memory, wondering what it was she couldn't remember. It must have been something pretty important or Lily wouldn't be looking like that.
"The blind date!" Lily said. "You promised remember? You set you'd set me up with someone!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, the blind date!" Fliss said, finally remembering. She had completely forgotten about her promise and now it looked like she was going to be in deep trouble.
Lily put her hand on her hips. "You did forget, didn't you?"
"No! I mean, no, of course I didn't," Fliss said, quickly crossing her fingers behind her back and trying to look innocent. "I've already got someone set up for you. As a matter of fact, he'll be waiting for you at about three-thirty tomorrow, so there."
Lily's face relaxed. "Thanks, Fliss. I knew I could count on you." She giggled. "I hope he's cute."
"Yeah...course he is," Fliss said, getting up and backing towards the common room door. "I'll see you later ,okay, Lil? I, uh... forgot to tell Sirius something and I'm just going to find him now."
"Yeah, okay," Lily said absently as she turned back to her essay. "Don't stay out too late."
"Yeah," Fliss said, turning around and quickly scrambling out the door. She hurried up the corridor to find Sirius. Lily was going to kill her.
*****
Sirius was walking up the Charms corridor, whistling to himself. He was in a pretty good mood, he'd managed to plant about half a dozen dung bombs in Filch's office without getting caught, plus Flitwick had given him an A+++++ for his last essay and he hadn't even tried.
Humming, he walked down a flight of stairs, thinking vaguely of visiting the kitchens to get eat a few well-earned cakes, when suddenly, he was almost knocked over by what seemed like a miniature tornado that wrapped itself around his neck.
"Oh, Sirius," the tornado gasped. "I've just done the most terrible thing."
Sirius recovered just enough to notice the tornado was not a tornado, but in fact, his girlfriend, Fliss.
"Arrgh, let go, Fliss, you're strangling me," he said, trying to pull her arms off from around his neck.
Fliss loosened her grip but didn't let go. "Lily's going to kill me," she wailed. "I promised her that I'd set her up with someone tomorrow so they could go to Hogsmeade together but I forgot and now..." she buried her face into Sirius' robes.
"Ookay," Sirius said, trying to think and untangle himself at the same time. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Couldn't you get one of your friends to go with her?" Fliss asked, her eyes wide. "Pleeease?"
"One of my friends?" Sirius thought. Peter definitely was out of the question, Remus had never shown much interest with any girls at the school, and James... well, maybe. It would take a lot of convincing. "I don't think so, Fliss."
"Oh, pleeease," Fliss said. '"It's only for a day." She buried her face back into his robes. "I'll never ask for anything else from you again."
"Well..." Sirius sighed. How could he say no to this? "I suppose I could try."
"Really?" Fliss said hopefully, looking up. "You'd do that for me?"
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Just... wait here while I go ask someone."
"Thanks, Sirius," she said, kissing him. "You're the greatest."
"I know," Sirius said, untangling himself again. "Just wait five minutes. I'll be right back."
He set off back to the common room, shaking his head. Love made him do weird things sometimes..
*****
Sirius entered the Gryffindor common room and looked around for James. He was sitting by the fire, polishing his broomstick and talking to Remus and Peter about something or other. Sirius sauntered over, looking casual, and sat beside him.
"James," he said. "How would you like to go to Hogsmeade with a gorgeous babe tomorrow?"
James stopped in mid-sentence and looked at him. "What?"
Sirius sighed. "Fliss wants you to go out with one of her friends on this blind date thingy."
"Why?"
"I don't know," said Sirius, beginning to get irritated. "Just say yes."
"But why?"
"Oh, come on, James, it's not as if you've got anything better to do."
James thought about it. It had been a while since he's been out on a date, and Sirius did have a point, he didn't have anything better to do...
"Well, okay," James said at last. "But only if you tell me who this girl is..."
But Sirius was already scrambling out of the portrait hole to Fliss.
*****
"Well?" Fliss demanded as Sirius came puffing up to her. "Did you get someone?"
"Yeah," Sirius said.
Fliss beamed and hugged him. "I knew you could do it," she said. "Who is it?"
"James Potter," Sirius said.
Fliss stepped back from him. "Oh, no *way*" she said. "Not him."
"What's wrong with James?" Sirius said defensively.
"Well, no offense, Sirius, but he's got four-eyes and does he ever brush his hair?"
"Hey, he was the best I could find and Lily's not exactly a super model either. Besides, it was either him or Peter."
Fliss thought quickly. It didn't take long for her to make up her mind to whom she preferred.
"Okay," she said. "Tell him to meet her at the Entrance Hall at three-thirty."
"Will do," Sirius said. He kissed her goodnight. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you."
Fliss made her way back to the common room, hoping that Lily wouldn't kill her when she found out who she had set her up with.
*****
At two-thirty the next day, Lily was lying on her bed, brushing her hair. She stopped as she wondered who Fliss had set her up with.
I bet he looks just like Sirius, she though. Only taller...
A vision of a tall, dark and handsome stranger suddenly filled her mind. He would take her arm, the perfect gentleman, and then take her out for dinner in an elegant Hogsmeade restaurant...
Lily grinned to herself as she continued brushing her hair. Well, she could dream, couldn't she?
*****
Back in the Gryffindor common room, James was making his own attempts to look good by flattening his hair down with water. It wasn't working though, every time he plastered a piece down it just sprung right back up again.
He thought to himself as he tried to force another piece down. Who was this mystery girl Sirius was trying to set him up with, anyway?
He let his mind wonder. A vision of a tall, blond girl with bright blue eyes suddenly appeared, clinging to him at the back of a broomstick as they flew off into the night sky...
He shrugged to himself, grinning slightly. Who knew? Fliss was a babe. Maybe her friends were the same.
*****
At three-thirty, Fliss could be found leading Lily up from the Ravenclaw common room to the Entrance Hall. Lily was looking unusually pretty, she had gone to a lot of trouble looking good for the afternoon which only made Fliss feel worse.
I hope to God she doesn't kill me when she finds out, Fliss thought to herself.
"So, anyway, you haven't told me much about this guy you've set up for me," Lily said. "What's he like?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you," Fliss said lightly. "It's meant to be a surprise."
"Oh, come on," Lily said. "Just give me a little clue." She giggled. "I bet he's cute."
"Well, um... he's very, uh, masculine," Fliss said, chewing nervously at her lip. Well, he was tall anyway.
"He is?" Lily said brightly, skipping along. "Tall, dark and handsome, huh?"
"Um, sort of," Fliss said, but Lily wasn't listening, she was too busy asking the next question.
"Do you think he'll like me?" Lily asked anxiously.
"He's be crazy not to," Fliss said. "Listen, Lil, if it turns out you don't like him, just come right back to the castle and tell me. I'll understand."
"But of course I'll like him, Fliss." Lily smiled, clearly not suspecting that her best friend could possibly be as low and sneaky as she was at that moment. "You chose him for me, remember."
"Uh, yeah." Fliss stopped when the reached the doorway to the Entrance Hall. "We're here," she said. "Shut your eyes."
Lily closed them.
*****
At about the same time, Sirius was leading James out of the portrait hole and towards the Entrance Hall.
"So, Sirius," James said. "You never told me who this girl I'm going out with is."
"She's a friend of Fliss's," Sirius said nonchalantly.
James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you told me that already. I meant what does she look like. What color is her hair?"
"Her hair? Her hair is, uh..." Sirius tried to think of a word that would make Lily's red hair seem less... red. "Maroon," he said. "Her hair is maroon."
"What?" James stared at him. "I'm going out with a girl that has maroon hair?"
Sirius sensed that he'd made a mistake. "No, no, not maroon," he said hastily. "What I meant was... auburn. Yeah, auburn." That didn't sound too red.
James' face relaxed. "Yeah, that sounds pretty cool," he said.
The reached the bottom of the marble stair case.
"Shut your eyes," Sirius said.
James closed them.
*****
Fliss led Lily to the middle of the Entrance Hall just as Sirius got there with James.
"I hope Lily doesn't kill me."
"I hope James doesn't kill me."
"Shall we do it together?"
"I think so."
Fliss took a deep breath. "One... two... three... open!"
*****
Lily opened her eyes. And stared.
Standing in front of her was definitely not the guy of her dreams.
Sure he was tall, but he was *skinny*. Not to mention the fact that he wore glasses and he looked like he hadn't brushed his hair in about a year.
He didn't look too impressed with her either.
Fliss broke the silence by saying, "Lily, this is James."
More silence.
"James, this is Lily," Sirius said unnecessarily.
The scene was getting uglier and uglier.
"Um, so... do you guys want to talk about where you're going to go?" Fliss asked.
Nobody said anything.
"Like, to the Three Broomsticks or wherever?"
Both Lily and James were staring daggers at their best friends. Fliss wanted the ground to swallow her up.
"So, uh, you two have fun together," Fliss said as Sirius dragged her out the door. "And don't come back too late."
The door slammed behind shut behind them.
Fliss sighed as she sank slowly to the ground.
"We blew it," she said.
"Big time," Sirius agreed.
*****
After a few more minutes of staring, James had had enough.
"Um... so, do you want to go to Hogsmeade?"
"I guess so," Lily said unenthusiastically. James didn't look too thrilled either. Why on earth did Sirius want him to go out with a girl that only came up to his shoulders? Definitely not his dream girl. But then, she wasn't exactly throwing herself onto him either.
The second they walked out the door, a cold gust of wind almost blew them over. This just gets better and better, James thought to himself, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.
"Where should we go?" Lily asked him after about five minutes of silent, uncomfortable walking towards the village.
James shrugged. "Do you want to try that new restaurant that just opened near Zonko's? The Crystal Ball or something?"
Lily shrugged. "Sounds okay to me."
They walked in silence for the rest of the way.
*****
I'm going to kill Fliss, Lily thought furiously as she trudged through the snow. She goes and sets me up with some guy who isn't even that cute then sends us out into the snow to go to some crappy restaurant...
They reached The Crystal Ball and James held the door open for her. Well, at least he has manners, Lily thought as she stepped inside. Sort of.
The Crystal Ball was a nice enough restaurant, full of cosy little tables for two and a dance floor up the front. A waiter showed them to their seats and left them to look at the menus while he went off to serve other customers. Lily propped her's up in front of her so she wouldn't have to look at James and listened to the band that was playing.
Tick, tock. When was this day going to end?
*****
James watched as Lily flicked boredly through her menu, feet tapping to the music.
What the hell was Sirius thinking, setting her up with him? He must have been out of his mind. She didn't look anything like the girl he'd been thinking of, quite the opposite, in fact...
**I like blue eyes, her's are green...**
But a nice sort of green, he decided. Like emeralds, almost. Maybe a bit darker. But still, he's always preferred blue.
**Not like the woman of my dreams
And her hair's not as long as I planned...**
Sirius had lied. Her hair was red. Flaming red, not auburn. He wondered whether she had a temper to match it, but then reminded himself that he was only there for this one date and probably wasn't going to find out.
**Five foot three isn't tall...**
And she was a real shorty. He resisted the urge to ask her "Do you ever look down?" because she looked annoyed enough as it was. He didn't want to make it worse. He flicked through his own menu, feeling bored.
**She's not the girl I pictured at all
In those paint by number fantasies I've had.**
Crap. It was going to be a long day.
*****
"C-can I h-have your o-order?"
Lily looked up. A terrified looking wizard, about her age or older, was standing in front of her, holding a quill and a pad of parchment and shaking slightly. He had his robe buttons done up in all the wrong holes and his glasses were sitting at the end of his nose, about to fall off. He pushed them back on with a trembling finger and said in a clearer voice, "O-orders, please."
"Um..." Lily resisted the urge to laugh at him. It was obviously his first night on duty and she didn't want to ruin it for him. "I'll have the..." she flicked through the menu.
"Merlin's Special," she and James said at the same time. They stared at each other. James smiled at her slightly. For some reason, she blushed.
The wizard scribbled it down. "Anything else?"
"That's all for me," James said. He looked at Lily. "How about you?"
"That's all," she said.
"Right," the wizard said, trying to look professional. "That's two Merlin's Specials coming right up."
He set off towards the kitchens, tripping over his feet and pottering around. Suddenly, he tripped over someone's foot and went flying into a fat lady's chest.
"I'm terribly sorry," he stammered, backing away fast as the fat lady squawked and batted him away with her handbag.
Lily couldn't help herself. She laughed.
*****
Lily laughed. She quickly stopped but it was almost a relief knowing she could do something like that even if it was for a short while, and James felt himself relaxing slightly.
The waiter was a moron. That was for sure.
He decided to make conversation. "So, anyway," he said. "Do you like the music?"
"What?" Lily glanced over at the band. "They're alright, I suppose. I don't listen to the Wizarding Wireless much."
"You're Muggle-born aren't you?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Just guessed. Is it true that Muggles eat soup with their forks?"
Lily snorted with laughter. "No! What gave you that idea?"
"Um... someone told me..." James shrugged, embarrassed. That gave him two reasons for killing Sirius.
"Well, we don't," Lily said. "We use spoons like any other normal person would. You don't do Muggle Studies do you?"
"How did you guess?" James asked.
Over the table, Lily smiled at him. Maybe the day wouldn't be quite as long as he'd thought.
*****
"...and then when I've finished school, I want to be an auror." Lily scooped up the last of her desert and smiled at him. "Are you shocked?"
James smiled back. "Oh, very," he said. The evening was turning out to be much better than he could have expected. To his shock, he'd found that Lily was *smart*... and funny and nice and kind of pretty too, in a red-headed sort of way...
"Do you want to dance?" James asked, putting down his own desert spoon.
"I'd love to," Lily said. She accepted his arm and he led her out to the dance floor.
Lily was a good dancer and she seemed to fit in his arms just right. Although she was still shorter than what he would have liked...
But not as short as she was at the start of the day, he found himself thinking.
She smiled at him as they twirled around on the dance floor and he could feel himself smiling back and looking straight into those green eyes of hers. Come to think of it, they weren't that green after all, when she tilted her head sky-ways like she was doing now they looked kind of blue...
"Do you like this song?" Lily asked him, twirling around.
"Oh, yes," James said. Only because you're in it.
"I love it," Lily said. "It's so lively, so fast..." She twirled again and James found his stomach giving a funny little lurch with her.
**So it took me by complete surprise
When my heart got lost in those deep green eyes...**
As a matter of fact, I kind of like green eyes, James thought. Blue eyes seem kind of cold now...
**She's not at all what I was looking for...**
Lily grinned up at him. "Having fun?" she asked.
**She's more.**
*****
Fliss looked at her watch. It was getting late. Very late. They had been out of hours and hours and hours. If they weren't careful, McGonagall would close the gates before they came back. Where were they?
"What has James done to my best friend?" she muttered out loud, pacing the room. Probably dumped her in a lonely Hogsmeade ally on her own with all the rats and other disgusting rodents. Yeah. Maybe that was it.
The door of her dormitory suddenly swung open and Lily walked in with a dreamy look on her face. She wondered over to her bed and started taking her cloak off.
"Where have you been?" Fliss asked. "Listen, I'm really sorry about the date, I promise I'll make it up to you, I feel really bad about the entire thing and I know that you must be really mad..."
"Mad?" Lily looked up from what she was doing. "Why would I be mad?"
"Well... because I set you up with James..." Fliss said, her voice faltering. Something very strange was going on.
"Oh, James," Lily sighed, flopping down on her bed. "He's just the most wonderful boy I've ever met, Fliss."
Fliss looked at her dumbly. "What?"
"Oh, he's just so much fun to be around," she said. "We just talked and laughed and danced all evening... he has the best sense of humor. Time just flew by... I didn't realize it was getting so late." She sat up and looked at her friend soberly. "I have to admit, Fliss, that when I first saw him I thought you'd gone off your tree. But now I realize why you put us two together. We were made for each other." She reached over and gave her friend a bone breaking hug. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Fliss," she murmured. "You're the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for, you know that?"
"Whatever you say, Lil," Fliss gasped.
*****
James sat at the back of Arithmancy the next day, staring at the back of Lily's head. She was really pretty. He wondered why he had never noticed it before.
**No it wasn't at first sight
But the moment I looked twice
I saw the woman I was born to love...**
His mind drifted back to the previous day. They had danced and laughed the whole evening...
**Her laughter fills my soul
And when I hold her I don't wanna let go
When it comes to her I just can't get enough.**
Yeah. He was definitely in love. It was a nice feeling too, he didn't know the back of Lily's head could be so interesting. He loved the way it was sort of wavy and curly and frizzed up a bit. He even like the color.
I could live with red hair, he decided.
**So it took me by complete surprise
When my heart got lost in those deep green eyes
She's not at all what I was looking for
She's more.**
A/N: That was really rushed and kind of stupid in my opinion, I don't know what you guys will think of it. It was written pretty late at night because where I live (Melbourne, Aust.) it's soooo hot during the day that I can't think properly. I hate Summer. Anyway, I'm too tired to proof read, so excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes, and the next part of Loving Lily is coming out soon, I just have to finish it off. I knew I should have done that first but I just had this weird urge to write this instead... anyway, review.
Lily Evans was lying on her bed, writing a Transfiguration essay that was due the next day. She was flicking through a book, trying to find something that would use up the last eight inches of her parchment when the door of her dormitory suddenly flew open and her best friend, Fliss flew in and flopped into her bed.
"Do you mind?" Lily snapped as the ink bottle turned over and spilled over her bed covers. She pulled out her wand and began using magic to take it off, but Fliss didn't seem to be paying attention to this, she was too busy staring up at the canopy above her with an odd grin on her face.
Finally, she sat up, still grinning weirdly, and said, "Lily--I'm in love."
"What?" Lily looked up from what she was doing and stared at her. "With who?"
"Oh, just the most handsome, caring, wonderful, intelligent guy in the whole world." She flopped back into the pillows with a love sick look on her face. "Sirius Black."
Lily's stomach dropped. Why did Fliss have all the luck when it came to boys? It had seemed at least a million years since she was that in love and infatuated with a certain boy. She had always stood on the side lines while boys wondered after Fliss like sick puppies, feeling jealous but trying her best to hide it. And now she was in love, again, this time with the cutest boy in the entire school.
"Well?" Fliss said, sitting up again. "Aren't you going to say anything?"
"That's great, Fliss," said Lily, giving her a very forced smile. She quickly turned away before Fliss could see the look on her face, but she was too late.
"Oh, Lily," said Fliss, scrambling over the parchment and books over to her. "You're upset."
"I am not," said Lily, busying herself with her Transfiguration book.
"Yes, you are," Fliss said. "Your upset because you haven't had a date in ages and I always seem to be rubbing it in your face."
Lily stared at her. Sometimes, her friend had an almost uncanny ability to read her mind.
Fliss put her arms around her neck. "It's okay, Lil," she said. "You don't need scores of suitors, just the one, if he's the right one."
"Yeah, I know that, Fliss."
"You're a million times prettier than all those other girls, and boys must be mad not to ask you out."
"You've told me that already, Fliss."
"And you're nice, you're funny, you're generous, you're cool, you're...hey, I have an idea." Fliss suddenly let go of Lily and looked at her, her eyes bright with mischief. "Blind date."
"Huh?" said Lily, rubbing her neck.
"I'll set you up on a blind date," Fliss said. "Next Hogsmeade trip. I'll get an absolutely gorgeous guy to take you out then everyone will find out what a wonderful person you are and you'll have a million guys chasing after you."
"Very funny, Fliss."
"No, I'm serious. If I can get just one guy to ask you out... pleeease, won't you do it, Lil? Pleeease?"
"Well, it's a stupid idea," Lily said. "But I'll say yes anyway."
"You will?" Fliss said. She engulfed her friend into another bone-breaking hug. "Good. You won't regret it, Lil, I promise I'll find the perfect guy for you."
"Whatever you say, Fliss," Lily gasped. It was difficult having such an affectionate friend sometimes.
*****
Almost a week later, Fliss was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room doodling inside the cover of her History of Magic book. FE luvs SB surrounded by little hearts mostly, but there was also the occasional Mrs Felicity Black written here and there.
She was just scribbling down an imaginary guest list for her wedding day when Lily suddenly burst into the room and flopped down next to her, looking hassled.
"Have you finished your Potions assignment?" she asked. "I need to copy some stuff off it."
"Yeah," Fliss said, pulling it out from under her books and handing it to Lily. She watched as her friend began fumbling around for quills and parchment. "What's the rush? You've got all of tomorrow to do it."
Lily looked up from what she was writing. "No, I don't. It's the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow, remember?"
"The Hogsmeade trip?" Fliss thought. Duh. It was her date with Sirius. But there was something else that she seemed to have forgotten that was nagging at the back of her mind...
"Yes, the Hogsmeade trip." Lily put down her pen and looked at her friend suspiciously. "Felicity Ellis, you haven't forgotten, have you?"
"Forgotten what?" said Fliss. She searched quickly through her memory, wondering what it was she couldn't remember. It must have been something pretty important or Lily wouldn't be looking like that.
"The blind date!" Lily said. "You promised remember? You set you'd set me up with someone!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, the blind date!" Fliss said, finally remembering. She had completely forgotten about her promise and now it looked like she was going to be in deep trouble.
Lily put her hand on her hips. "You did forget, didn't you?"
"No! I mean, no, of course I didn't," Fliss said, quickly crossing her fingers behind her back and trying to look innocent. "I've already got someone set up for you. As a matter of fact, he'll be waiting for you at about three-thirty tomorrow, so there."
Lily's face relaxed. "Thanks, Fliss. I knew I could count on you." She giggled. "I hope he's cute."
"Yeah...course he is," Fliss said, getting up and backing towards the common room door. "I'll see you later ,okay, Lil? I, uh... forgot to tell Sirius something and I'm just going to find him now."
"Yeah, okay," Lily said absently as she turned back to her essay. "Don't stay out too late."
"Yeah," Fliss said, turning around and quickly scrambling out the door. She hurried up the corridor to find Sirius. Lily was going to kill her.
*****
Sirius was walking up the Charms corridor, whistling to himself. He was in a pretty good mood, he'd managed to plant about half a dozen dung bombs in Filch's office without getting caught, plus Flitwick had given him an A+++++ for his last essay and he hadn't even tried.
Humming, he walked down a flight of stairs, thinking vaguely of visiting the kitchens to get eat a few well-earned cakes, when suddenly, he was almost knocked over by what seemed like a miniature tornado that wrapped itself around his neck.
"Oh, Sirius," the tornado gasped. "I've just done the most terrible thing."
Sirius recovered just enough to notice the tornado was not a tornado, but in fact, his girlfriend, Fliss.
"Arrgh, let go, Fliss, you're strangling me," he said, trying to pull her arms off from around his neck.
Fliss loosened her grip but didn't let go. "Lily's going to kill me," she wailed. "I promised her that I'd set her up with someone tomorrow so they could go to Hogsmeade together but I forgot and now..." she buried her face into Sirius' robes.
"Ookay," Sirius said, trying to think and untangle himself at the same time. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Couldn't you get one of your friends to go with her?" Fliss asked, her eyes wide. "Pleeease?"
"One of my friends?" Sirius thought. Peter definitely was out of the question, Remus had never shown much interest with any girls at the school, and James... well, maybe. It would take a lot of convincing. "I don't think so, Fliss."
"Oh, pleeease," Fliss said. '"It's only for a day." She buried her face back into his robes. "I'll never ask for anything else from you again."
"Well..." Sirius sighed. How could he say no to this? "I suppose I could try."
"Really?" Fliss said hopefully, looking up. "You'd do that for me?"
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Just... wait here while I go ask someone."
"Thanks, Sirius," she said, kissing him. "You're the greatest."
"I know," Sirius said, untangling himself again. "Just wait five minutes. I'll be right back."
He set off back to the common room, shaking his head. Love made him do weird things sometimes..
*****
Sirius entered the Gryffindor common room and looked around for James. He was sitting by the fire, polishing his broomstick and talking to Remus and Peter about something or other. Sirius sauntered over, looking casual, and sat beside him.
"James," he said. "How would you like to go to Hogsmeade with a gorgeous babe tomorrow?"
James stopped in mid-sentence and looked at him. "What?"
Sirius sighed. "Fliss wants you to go out with one of her friends on this blind date thingy."
"Why?"
"I don't know," said Sirius, beginning to get irritated. "Just say yes."
"But why?"
"Oh, come on, James, it's not as if you've got anything better to do."
James thought about it. It had been a while since he's been out on a date, and Sirius did have a point, he didn't have anything better to do...
"Well, okay," James said at last. "But only if you tell me who this girl is..."
But Sirius was already scrambling out of the portrait hole to Fliss.
*****
"Well?" Fliss demanded as Sirius came puffing up to her. "Did you get someone?"
"Yeah," Sirius said.
Fliss beamed and hugged him. "I knew you could do it," she said. "Who is it?"
"James Potter," Sirius said.
Fliss stepped back from him. "Oh, no *way*" she said. "Not him."
"What's wrong with James?" Sirius said defensively.
"Well, no offense, Sirius, but he's got four-eyes and does he ever brush his hair?"
"Hey, he was the best I could find and Lily's not exactly a super model either. Besides, it was either him or Peter."
Fliss thought quickly. It didn't take long for her to make up her mind to whom she preferred.
"Okay," she said. "Tell him to meet her at the Entrance Hall at three-thirty."
"Will do," Sirius said. He kissed her goodnight. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you."
Fliss made her way back to the common room, hoping that Lily wouldn't kill her when she found out who she had set her up with.
*****
At two-thirty the next day, Lily was lying on her bed, brushing her hair. She stopped as she wondered who Fliss had set her up with.
I bet he looks just like Sirius, she though. Only taller...
A vision of a tall, dark and handsome stranger suddenly filled her mind. He would take her arm, the perfect gentleman, and then take her out for dinner in an elegant Hogsmeade restaurant...
Lily grinned to herself as she continued brushing her hair. Well, she could dream, couldn't she?
*****
Back in the Gryffindor common room, James was making his own attempts to look good by flattening his hair down with water. It wasn't working though, every time he plastered a piece down it just sprung right back up again.
He thought to himself as he tried to force another piece down. Who was this mystery girl Sirius was trying to set him up with, anyway?
He let his mind wonder. A vision of a tall, blond girl with bright blue eyes suddenly appeared, clinging to him at the back of a broomstick as they flew off into the night sky...
He shrugged to himself, grinning slightly. Who knew? Fliss was a babe. Maybe her friends were the same.
*****
At three-thirty, Fliss could be found leading Lily up from the Ravenclaw common room to the Entrance Hall. Lily was looking unusually pretty, she had gone to a lot of trouble looking good for the afternoon which only made Fliss feel worse.
I hope to God she doesn't kill me when she finds out, Fliss thought to herself.
"So, anyway, you haven't told me much about this guy you've set up for me," Lily said. "What's he like?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you," Fliss said lightly. "It's meant to be a surprise."
"Oh, come on," Lily said. "Just give me a little clue." She giggled. "I bet he's cute."
"Well, um... he's very, uh, masculine," Fliss said, chewing nervously at her lip. Well, he was tall anyway.
"He is?" Lily said brightly, skipping along. "Tall, dark and handsome, huh?"
"Um, sort of," Fliss said, but Lily wasn't listening, she was too busy asking the next question.
"Do you think he'll like me?" Lily asked anxiously.
"He's be crazy not to," Fliss said. "Listen, Lil, if it turns out you don't like him, just come right back to the castle and tell me. I'll understand."
"But of course I'll like him, Fliss." Lily smiled, clearly not suspecting that her best friend could possibly be as low and sneaky as she was at that moment. "You chose him for me, remember."
"Uh, yeah." Fliss stopped when the reached the doorway to the Entrance Hall. "We're here," she said. "Shut your eyes."
Lily closed them.
*****
At about the same time, Sirius was leading James out of the portrait hole and towards the Entrance Hall.
"So, Sirius," James said. "You never told me who this girl I'm going out with is."
"She's a friend of Fliss's," Sirius said nonchalantly.
James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you told me that already. I meant what does she look like. What color is her hair?"
"Her hair? Her hair is, uh..." Sirius tried to think of a word that would make Lily's red hair seem less... red. "Maroon," he said. "Her hair is maroon."
"What?" James stared at him. "I'm going out with a girl that has maroon hair?"
Sirius sensed that he'd made a mistake. "No, no, not maroon," he said hastily. "What I meant was... auburn. Yeah, auburn." That didn't sound too red.
James' face relaxed. "Yeah, that sounds pretty cool," he said.
The reached the bottom of the marble stair case.
"Shut your eyes," Sirius said.
James closed them.
*****
Fliss led Lily to the middle of the Entrance Hall just as Sirius got there with James.
"I hope Lily doesn't kill me."
"I hope James doesn't kill me."
"Shall we do it together?"
"I think so."
Fliss took a deep breath. "One... two... three... open!"
*****
Lily opened her eyes. And stared.
Standing in front of her was definitely not the guy of her dreams.
Sure he was tall, but he was *skinny*. Not to mention the fact that he wore glasses and he looked like he hadn't brushed his hair in about a year.
He didn't look too impressed with her either.
Fliss broke the silence by saying, "Lily, this is James."
More silence.
"James, this is Lily," Sirius said unnecessarily.
The scene was getting uglier and uglier.
"Um, so... do you guys want to talk about where you're going to go?" Fliss asked.
Nobody said anything.
"Like, to the Three Broomsticks or wherever?"
Both Lily and James were staring daggers at their best friends. Fliss wanted the ground to swallow her up.
"So, uh, you two have fun together," Fliss said as Sirius dragged her out the door. "And don't come back too late."
The door slammed behind shut behind them.
Fliss sighed as she sank slowly to the ground.
"We blew it," she said.
"Big time," Sirius agreed.
*****
After a few more minutes of staring, James had had enough.
"Um... so, do you want to go to Hogsmeade?"
"I guess so," Lily said unenthusiastically. James didn't look too thrilled either. Why on earth did Sirius want him to go out with a girl that only came up to his shoulders? Definitely not his dream girl. But then, she wasn't exactly throwing herself onto him either.
The second they walked out the door, a cold gust of wind almost blew them over. This just gets better and better, James thought to himself, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.
"Where should we go?" Lily asked him after about five minutes of silent, uncomfortable walking towards the village.
James shrugged. "Do you want to try that new restaurant that just opened near Zonko's? The Crystal Ball or something?"
Lily shrugged. "Sounds okay to me."
They walked in silence for the rest of the way.
*****
I'm going to kill Fliss, Lily thought furiously as she trudged through the snow. She goes and sets me up with some guy who isn't even that cute then sends us out into the snow to go to some crappy restaurant...
They reached The Crystal Ball and James held the door open for her. Well, at least he has manners, Lily thought as she stepped inside. Sort of.
The Crystal Ball was a nice enough restaurant, full of cosy little tables for two and a dance floor up the front. A waiter showed them to their seats and left them to look at the menus while he went off to serve other customers. Lily propped her's up in front of her so she wouldn't have to look at James and listened to the band that was playing.
Tick, tock. When was this day going to end?
*****
James watched as Lily flicked boredly through her menu, feet tapping to the music.
What the hell was Sirius thinking, setting her up with him? He must have been out of his mind. She didn't look anything like the girl he'd been thinking of, quite the opposite, in fact...
**I like blue eyes, her's are green...**
But a nice sort of green, he decided. Like emeralds, almost. Maybe a bit darker. But still, he's always preferred blue.
**Not like the woman of my dreams
And her hair's not as long as I planned...**
Sirius had lied. Her hair was red. Flaming red, not auburn. He wondered whether she had a temper to match it, but then reminded himself that he was only there for this one date and probably wasn't going to find out.
**Five foot three isn't tall...**
And she was a real shorty. He resisted the urge to ask her "Do you ever look down?" because she looked annoyed enough as it was. He didn't want to make it worse. He flicked through his own menu, feeling bored.
**She's not the girl I pictured at all
In those paint by number fantasies I've had.**
Crap. It was going to be a long day.
*****
"C-can I h-have your o-order?"
Lily looked up. A terrified looking wizard, about her age or older, was standing in front of her, holding a quill and a pad of parchment and shaking slightly. He had his robe buttons done up in all the wrong holes and his glasses were sitting at the end of his nose, about to fall off. He pushed them back on with a trembling finger and said in a clearer voice, "O-orders, please."
"Um..." Lily resisted the urge to laugh at him. It was obviously his first night on duty and she didn't want to ruin it for him. "I'll have the..." she flicked through the menu.
"Merlin's Special," she and James said at the same time. They stared at each other. James smiled at her slightly. For some reason, she blushed.
The wizard scribbled it down. "Anything else?"
"That's all for me," James said. He looked at Lily. "How about you?"
"That's all," she said.
"Right," the wizard said, trying to look professional. "That's two Merlin's Specials coming right up."
He set off towards the kitchens, tripping over his feet and pottering around. Suddenly, he tripped over someone's foot and went flying into a fat lady's chest.
"I'm terribly sorry," he stammered, backing away fast as the fat lady squawked and batted him away with her handbag.
Lily couldn't help herself. She laughed.
*****
Lily laughed. She quickly stopped but it was almost a relief knowing she could do something like that even if it was for a short while, and James felt himself relaxing slightly.
The waiter was a moron. That was for sure.
He decided to make conversation. "So, anyway," he said. "Do you like the music?"
"What?" Lily glanced over at the band. "They're alright, I suppose. I don't listen to the Wizarding Wireless much."
"You're Muggle-born aren't you?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Just guessed. Is it true that Muggles eat soup with their forks?"
Lily snorted with laughter. "No! What gave you that idea?"
"Um... someone told me..." James shrugged, embarrassed. That gave him two reasons for killing Sirius.
"Well, we don't," Lily said. "We use spoons like any other normal person would. You don't do Muggle Studies do you?"
"How did you guess?" James asked.
Over the table, Lily smiled at him. Maybe the day wouldn't be quite as long as he'd thought.
*****
"...and then when I've finished school, I want to be an auror." Lily scooped up the last of her desert and smiled at him. "Are you shocked?"
James smiled back. "Oh, very," he said. The evening was turning out to be much better than he could have expected. To his shock, he'd found that Lily was *smart*... and funny and nice and kind of pretty too, in a red-headed sort of way...
"Do you want to dance?" James asked, putting down his own desert spoon.
"I'd love to," Lily said. She accepted his arm and he led her out to the dance floor.
Lily was a good dancer and she seemed to fit in his arms just right. Although she was still shorter than what he would have liked...
But not as short as she was at the start of the day, he found himself thinking.
She smiled at him as they twirled around on the dance floor and he could feel himself smiling back and looking straight into those green eyes of hers. Come to think of it, they weren't that green after all, when she tilted her head sky-ways like she was doing now they looked kind of blue...
"Do you like this song?" Lily asked him, twirling around.
"Oh, yes," James said. Only because you're in it.
"I love it," Lily said. "It's so lively, so fast..." She twirled again and James found his stomach giving a funny little lurch with her.
**So it took me by complete surprise
When my heart got lost in those deep green eyes...**
As a matter of fact, I kind of like green eyes, James thought. Blue eyes seem kind of cold now...
**She's not at all what I was looking for...**
Lily grinned up at him. "Having fun?" she asked.
**She's more.**
*****
Fliss looked at her watch. It was getting late. Very late. They had been out of hours and hours and hours. If they weren't careful, McGonagall would close the gates before they came back. Where were they?
"What has James done to my best friend?" she muttered out loud, pacing the room. Probably dumped her in a lonely Hogsmeade ally on her own with all the rats and other disgusting rodents. Yeah. Maybe that was it.
The door of her dormitory suddenly swung open and Lily walked in with a dreamy look on her face. She wondered over to her bed and started taking her cloak off.
"Where have you been?" Fliss asked. "Listen, I'm really sorry about the date, I promise I'll make it up to you, I feel really bad about the entire thing and I know that you must be really mad..."
"Mad?" Lily looked up from what she was doing. "Why would I be mad?"
"Well... because I set you up with James..." Fliss said, her voice faltering. Something very strange was going on.
"Oh, James," Lily sighed, flopping down on her bed. "He's just the most wonderful boy I've ever met, Fliss."
Fliss looked at her dumbly. "What?"
"Oh, he's just so much fun to be around," she said. "We just talked and laughed and danced all evening... he has the best sense of humor. Time just flew by... I didn't realize it was getting so late." She sat up and looked at her friend soberly. "I have to admit, Fliss, that when I first saw him I thought you'd gone off your tree. But now I realize why you put us two together. We were made for each other." She reached over and gave her friend a bone breaking hug. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Fliss," she murmured. "You're the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for, you know that?"
"Whatever you say, Lil," Fliss gasped.
*****
James sat at the back of Arithmancy the next day, staring at the back of Lily's head. She was really pretty. He wondered why he had never noticed it before.
**No it wasn't at first sight
But the moment I looked twice
I saw the woman I was born to love...**
His mind drifted back to the previous day. They had danced and laughed the whole evening...
**Her laughter fills my soul
And when I hold her I don't wanna let go
When it comes to her I just can't get enough.**
Yeah. He was definitely in love. It was a nice feeling too, he didn't know the back of Lily's head could be so interesting. He loved the way it was sort of wavy and curly and frizzed up a bit. He even like the color.
I could live with red hair, he decided.
**So it took me by complete surprise
When my heart got lost in those deep green eyes
She's not at all what I was looking for
She's more.**
A/N: That was really rushed and kind of stupid in my opinion, I don't know what you guys will think of it. It was written pretty late at night because where I live (Melbourne, Aust.) it's soooo hot during the day that I can't think properly. I hate Summer. Anyway, I'm too tired to proof read, so excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes, and the next part of Loving Lily is coming out soon, I just have to finish it off. I knew I should have done that first but I just had this weird urge to write this instead... anyway, review.