Foggy eyed and dead tired, Lily muttered, "What time is it?"
"Almost midnight. Wake up!" Alice said forcefully, and added, "Aguamenti!"
Water splurted out from the end of her wand, hitting Lily directly in the face. "What are you doing?" she spluttered when the water stopped.
"Did you think that I wouldn't find this?" Alice waved The Envelope in her face. "You have got to go!"
"Alice, it's just James and another one of his attempts to get me to go out with him."
"Why don't you?"
"Because he's ignorant, irritating, has an ego bigger than the castle, always fooling around.." Lily's voice dropped to a barely audible murmur, still listing reasons not to go out with him.
"If you don't go I'll steal Hogwarts: A History from your trunk and burn it, page by page." Lily turned deathly pale at this revelation. "You okay? So, what were you thinking of wearing?"
Lily realized she was still in her nightgown. "Er, I don't know!" she exclaimed.
"Shhhh! Other people are sleeping, Lily," Alice warned. "Hmmm, how's this?" she held up a sparkly pink dress.
"Absolutely not," Lily said flatly, "Can't I just wear jeans and a sweater?"
"I'm picking the sweater," Alice said quickly.
"Wait," Lily said, "What am I doing? It's midnight, I can't go to the lake! I have to be head-"
"Stupefy," Alice said, and Lily's head hit her pillow again. "Good grief, she can be annoying."
After transfiguring Lily's clothes into a more appropriate jeans, fur-lined boots, and scarlet sweater, she woke Lily up again by shaking her excessively.
"Did you just- Alice!" exclaimed Lily.
"And now it's time to go," Alice said, pushing Lily out the door.
She cautiously climbed out the window of the Gryffindor common room, wincing when her boots crunched in the snow.
How would she get to the lake without waking half the castle?
"Lily!" called a voice that sounded very far away. With a pained look on her face, she looked up.
"No, no way. I am not going to fly on that thing," she said, "No way."
"That thing that you're refusing to ride is the best broom of our generation," said a voice behind her. "The Icebolt," James announced in a low, announcer-type voice.
Lily spun around to see him hovering a few feet above the ground, scooting over to make space for her. "Hop on," he said.
Why not, she thought. There was no point in arguing, and she was already outside. It's not like he's going to let you fall off, and if he did, he would catch you. Right?
He lowered the broom and she slowly got on, holding the end of the broom tightly, feeling like she'd fall off any second.
James rolled his eyes and took her hands in his own, placing them around her waist. "You don't want to fall off, do you? Hold on tight!" he grinned.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clinging to James. So she wouldn't fall off, of course. She had to consider safety and health in matters like this, she told herself.
A little voice in the back of her head informed her that she was a terrible liar. She tried to ignore it, but she knew it was partly right.
"Don't the stars look brighter from up here?" he asked.
Lily opened her eyes, and gasped. They were so high that the castle looked like a muggle toy set, she thought. The stars looked close enough to touch and brighter than the midday sun.
"They're beautiful," she murmured, unable to tear her eyes from the sky.
And then she felt like her heart had dropped into her feet.