"I've made a horrible mistake," Lily announced. She flopped into a seat next to Millie at the table she was currently occupying. It was still relatively early on a Saturday morning, but uncharacteristically for her, Millie had woken up early and was actually hungry enough for breakfast.

"Oh?" Millie murmured, moving her plate of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and crunchy potato gems – all smothered in golden syrup, of course – out of the way of Lily's errant elbow.

"Yes." Millie regarded her friend's face more closely. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her normally pale skin was even paler. She'd flung her lovely, dark red hair over one shoulder. Wearing a Gryffindor Hall hoodie, old jeans, and tennis shoes, Lily still looked far more sophisticated and put-together than Millie ever would. Was it genetic? Was it something that she'd learnt at an early age? Ballet? Yoga?

"You do look a little pale," Millie replied quietly, watching Lily over the edge of her second cup of black coffee.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Do you ever drink anything other than coffee?" she asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you drink even water."

Millie shrugged. "I drink a lot of green tea, too. But that's usually in my room where I have a kettle – but that's not what we were talking about. You made a horrible mistake."

"Oh, yes. My horrible mistake."

Millie looked at her expectantly.

Lily looked back at her for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "I made out with Potter."

Millie breathed in sharply, forgetting that she was sipping at the exact same time, so her lukewarm coffee went down the wrong pipe. She spluttered and coughed, trying to remove the liquid before it reached her lungs and she drowned in coffee from the inside out. What a way to go.

Lily slapped her back somewhat ineffectively as Millie attempted to hack out a tonsil or two with the errant coffee.

"What?" she asked, with the first breath she was able to pull into her – thankfully dry – lungs.

Lily's look was bleak. "I know!" she moaned, flopping her head down to the table. Millie winced at the sound her forehead made as it slapped onto its surface. Her red hair fanned out around her face, obscuring it from view. "This is the worst," she continued to moan through the thick curtain of hair.

Millie, unsure of what was required of her in this situation, awkwardly patted Lily's back. One, two, three times. There. Any more, and things would just become too awkward. "Tell me what happened," Millie said. Clearly, this wasn't a situation that required any sort of tangible solution. Her friend just needed someone to vent to.

God, since when had she managed to procure an actual friend who told her about their actual problems? Despite all logical indications that this was an added social stress in her life that she just didn't need, a strange warmth spread through her chest. Lily needed her. She squared her shoulders, straightened her back, and put down her coffee cup.

"Okay, so after you left the party," Lily continued to talk through her hair. Millie leant in a little closer to hear her better. "Which I'm a little pissed at you for doing, by the way. I'm sure if you'd been there, none of this would've happened."

"What did happen, Lily?" Millie asked, ignoring her friend's jibe. She'd done as promised – finding Lily after leaving her bewildering conversation with Sirius Black of all people, spending approximately twenty-eight minutes hanging out with Lily's friends – which mostly involved her staying quiet and listening to the ebb and flow of conversation around her, clutching her untouched bathtub alcoholic beverage tight in her hand – and then quietly vanished to the peace and quiet of her dorm room. She'd spent a few minutes standing at her window, watching the revelry. A sense of accomplishment had spread through her as she'd stood there. She, Millie White, had spent an entire ninety minutes at a college party. Something to cross off the bucket list, for sure.

"So, you left. And then I think I might have imbibed a little too freely from the bathtub. But that really wasn't my fault. The guy in charge was just so friendly – you saw him."

Millie didn't think a manic grin made anyone appear particularly friendly, especially if they were giving out strange purple liquid from a bathtub, but she kept her thoughts to herself, and just nodded for Lily to continue.

"So, yeah. I may have become a leettle bit tipsy, and then Potter was there, and he was wearing a necklace of different coloured plastic cups – which was weird, even for him – and then we were dancing, and then we were making out, and it was so –"

Millie raised an eyebrow. "I really don't want the details, but I think in this case, some paraphrasing may be necessary." Millie had a sneaking suspicion what Lily would say, but it was important for her to say it out loud. And maybe acknowledge that her feelings were valid. That she even had feelings that weren't just a deep-set hatred for the boy with jaunty black hair, and even jauntier glasses.

Lily was quiet for a long time. She sat up straight again, and stared off into the distance. Millie pushed her plate of food in her direction, gesturing that Lily should help herself. Lily absently picked up a piece of bacon and chewed.

Millie quickly finished off her cup of coffee, and accio-ed the carafe from across the room. Pouring her third cup of the morning, she waited patiently for Lily to continue.

Finally, Lily said quietly, "It was… nice."

Millie didn't say anything, waiting a little bit more.

"That's the worst part," Lily blurted. It seemed that now she'd started, she couldn't stop. "I've spent so long hating him, and now my treacherous body enjoyed making out with James Potter. What am I going to do?" Lily wailed, before taking another piece of bacon.

Millie shrugged. "I'm hardly qualified to speak on this matter, what with no such similar experiences myself, but from what I have gathered through my observations of our fellow peers, I don't think there's anything you need to do."

Lily blinked at her as if she'd spewed forth wisdom like a mountain-top sage. Millie wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. "You… really think so?"

Millie nodded, taking a large gulp of coffee to fortify herself. Merlin, she didn't think her opinion on something that wasn't academic had mattered to someone for… well, ages. Not since her parents had died, probably.

Pushing that particular thought away quick-smart, Millie continued. "You can ignore its very existence, if you like. Pretend it never happened."

"Why do I get the sense that there's a 'but' coming?"

"Probably because you're thinking about James Potter's butt."

Lily gasped in outrage, but Millie's desired effect was achieved, a shocked sort of amusement now dancing in her eyes.

"But… I don't think you should ignore this."

Lily sat there in silence, and Millie stabbed her fork at a potato. Its fried, golden goodness burst into her mouth, saturated with the saccharine syrup. If heaven existed, it would probably taste like this potato. "Should I talk to him, maybe?"

"That's a good place to start as any," Millie replied, shoving another potato in her mouth, this time accompanied with a sliver of bacon. She'd been wrong – this was what heaven tasted like. "Maybe you can work something out. I mean, you don't have to date him to kiss him."

Lily regarded her thoughtfully. "That is a very good point, and requires further consideration."

Millie bobbed her head, and grinned. "Great. In return for my wisdom, can you get me some more bacon?"