Lily laughed with Dorcas on the way up to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory.
"What? You're kidding me?" Lily laughed disbelievingly.
"I kid you not, he was just standing there, holding a pigeon over his–you know!" Dorcas giggled. "He was bright red!"
"I'm not surprised! What did you say?"
"Nothing really. I sort of went 'Oh, err, sorry, I'll leave you in peace...' and ran away," Dorcas snorted. "I haven't been back to Zonko's at night since..."
Lily giggled again, shoving open the door to the dormitory with her foot. She flung her book bag onto the floor, where it thunked, and several quills and an Arithmancy textbook fell out, and threw herself onto her bed.
"So, what do you want to do? It's nearly eight, so we've got about an hour until we have to be back. Kitchens?" Dorcas asked hopefully.
"Doe! You ate less than an hour ago!" Lily exclaimed.
"So? I fail to see your point."
Lily snorted. She rolled over from her back to her side, and felt something crinkle underneath her body that didn't sound like bedsheets. Lily felt behind her back, and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment folded into three. On the front, her name was written in neat, but slanted and angular writing.
"Huh?" Lily asked confused.
"What? What is it?" Dorcas inquired curiously. She got off her own bed, and came to sit on Lily's. "Who sent that?"
"You know as well as I do," Lily said, thinking the same thing. "Only one way to find out." Lily slid her finger underneath the top fold of the paper and broke the seal, unfolding the note.
Her eyes scanned the page quickly, and she snorted when she had got to the end. She re-read it carefully just to check she hadn't misread it, but she hadn't.
"What does it say?"
"Roses are red," Lily read aloud. "Violets are blue. You're really pretty, I want to snog you. Your hair is red, but your eyes are green. A prettier maiden, there never has been. We aren't best of friends, and you yell at me lots. But at least when you're angry, you look really hot!"
Dorcas doubled over laughing, "Well, at least it's original. Cheesy, and a little pathetic. But original!"
Lily glared at her friend. She stormed out of the dormitory grumpily, back down to the common room where she'd seen a certain foursome by the fire.
"POTTER!" she screeched.
His head whipped around, and he smirked charmingly. "You called?" He winked. "Did you like my letter, Lily-flower?"
She slapped him upside the head, hard, dropped the screwed up parchment on his lap, and stormed back upstairs. James shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea," he defended himself to his chortling friends, smirking to himself.