Author's Note: Sorry, I know this is a short chapter, but the next one is longer. Anyway, thanks for the reviews; you guys rock! To sittingcow, I don't think I'll be killing Lily anytime soon, but it's nice that you took a break from herding cows to review. So, here's the next chapter. Fluffy-stuff rox!
-Kat
Chapter nine – Quidditch and More Shopping
"Lil-ly! Christine! Come on! We need dresses!" Lydia and Enid were each pulling one of their friends behind them on the sidewalk.
(A/N: Chances are that the students wouldn't be allowed to go to Hogsmeade whenever the wanted, even in the holidays, but they can (for the holidays) in this story).
"I don't want to wear a dress!" Christine complained.
"Yeah, I don't even have a date, so why do I have to go anyway?" Lily protested as Enid pulled her into a 'Madam Minkin's Little Miss Robes' outlet store.
(A/N: Madam Minkin is Madam Malkin's sister).
"Duh Lily!" Lydia rolled her eyes, "James!"
"He probably already made plans with some other girl. I told you how much he wanted to get rid of me," Lily kept up her side of the argument, even though her stomach did a little belly-flop when his name was mentioned.
(A/N: The dress robes for girls are just dresses).
"Shut up Lily, and tell me if you think this would look good on me," Enid held up a long, one-strap midnight blue dress, with silver embroidery up the sides.
"Oh, my gosh, Enid. Try it on. That will look fantastic on you."
Lily was amazed, when Enid came out of the dressing room in the beautiful gown. It clung to her hips just right, and flattered her chest by the low neck. All of Enid's friends gasped and smiled when they saw her. She did look fabulous.
Lydia grabbed a long and pale, 'off-the-shoulder' dress, which fanned out nicely at the bottom when she twirled. The pink shade with her blonde hair made her look like a super-model (and only slightly like a Barbie).
They forced Christine into a pretty, long, yellow dress which was (for Christine) very low-cut, but for every one else, just normal.
Lily was having trouble finding a dress that didn't clash with her flaming hair. That is, until Christine (I know; Christine finding it is surprising, but she has an eye for this sort of thing) found a perfect one made of a silky, green material.
The girls bought their dresses and moved on to the 'Madam Malkin's Little Boys' Robes', where the guys were supposed to be getting their own dress robes.
"Sirius, you look like the Easter Bunny gone horribly wrong," James said disgustedly as he looked the powder-pink robes Sirius was trying on up and down.
"I agree," Peter pretended to gag, making James and Remus laugh, but Sirius scowl.
"Geez Wormtail, it's not like I'm gonna buy them," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I just wanted a laugh, but it's more embarrassing than funny."
"I think you should buy them," Lydia said with a surprisingly straight face, "They match my dress."
Sirius' face went white, "You can't be serious Lydia. They're pink, I can't buy them…"
"Relax, I was joking. They're hideous; take them off."
Sirius' face returned to its' normal colour, and he calmed down enough to go back to his sick, joking ways, and say, "If you insist…" He started to undo the robes. The girls rolled their eyes (Lydia hit him), but the rest of the guys laughed.
"Not here, smart-ass!" Lydia pushed him into a changing room.
(A/N: Sure, you don't need a changing room because (hopefully) they wear pants under those things, but use your imagination).
"James," Peter hissed in an undertone when everyone had resumed their 'robe-searching', "I still don't have a date for the ball."
"No problem," James winked, "Hey, Christine!"
"Yeah?" Christine yelled back from across the shop.
"You wanna go to the ball with Peter?"
"Sure!" Christine shrugged when Lily, Enid, and Lydia all looked at her funny, "I don't have a date yet, so what the heck?"
Sirius (with Lydia's input), finally decided on a simple, black set of dress robes. So did Peter (who copied Sirius because Christine couldn't have cared less what he wore, as long as he wore something). Remus, whom Lily and Enid had been helping, didn't know what to buy, so Lily helped him out a bit, by telling him that Marrella's dress was blood red. This helped him to choose a dark blue set of robes.
"Are you going to buy that, James?" Lily made a face, "Because it makes you look like you belong either at a drag club, or in a strip joint."
James, who had been trying on the ugliest robes he could find all day, was standing on the mirror platform in shiny, gold, ugly robes. He surveyed himself mock-thoughtfully, "So they're really that bad, huh?"
Lily nodded. Then James asked, "So, what colours' your dress then?"
"Green. Everything else clashes with my hair, unfortunately."
"Oh, how about I wear this, then?" James held up a 'Robin Hood'-ish set of robes and twirled.
"How about not?" Lily said sarcastically, "Why don't you just try on something normal? Like…" Lily scanned the racks, "This!"
Christmas Eve day dawned bright and sunny, everything covered in snow. Lily, who was not usually a morning person, was up early for once. She had nothing to do, so she just sat on the windowsill in the Common Room, staring out at the snowy-white grounds.
Then, she saw a dark-haired figure, holding a package, trudging through the snow towards the forest. James! She watched him stop at the Game Keeper's hut and disappear into it. He was going to see Hagrid. Lily quite liked Hagrid; he was always polite and friendly, plus, he was always baking toffee. MMmmm… Who didn't love toffee?
"James!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Thought yeh'd forgotten about me."
"Sorry Hagrid; I've been so damn busy lately. It's not like I didn't want to come down here, I just… You're joking!" James grinned and pulled up a chair.
"Yeah, I'm joking. I've seen you playing Quidditch non-stop. Your team is pretty good, compared to last years'. 'Specially your Keeper. She's new isn't she?"
"Yeah. She is." James' face darkened.
"Sounds like you're not 'er biggest fan; who is she?"
"Lily Evans."
"OOhhh, so that's her is it? But what happened? I thought you fancied her?"
"Just open your present." James thrust the long stripey parcel into Hagrid's hands.
Hagrid felt around it for a bit, just to try and see if he could guess what it was. He couldn't, so Hagrid tore open the wrapping paper and pulled out a pink umbrella.
"A pink umbrella? Thanks James… I think."
"It was the only one that fit. Watch," James took the umbrella from Hagrid and aimed at an apple on the table. He muttered 'Accio', and the apple soared towards him. James grinned as Hagrid took his present back with a new found affection, "My old… How'd yeh…?"
"Sirius and Remus helped; we just found an umbrella the right size (we figured it's not unusual to see you with an umbrella in the grounds), put the pieces inside the tube-y thing, and 'voila' (uugghh – French)!"
"UUgghh… French? Had a run in with some foreigners, I take it?"
"Yeah, kinda," James mumbled while Hagrid made some tea to celebrate.
"Gonna tell me about it?"
James shook his head, so Hagrid said, "Didn think so. Well, now I can threaten to zap it out of yeh…"
So James told Hagrid all about Lily, Eric, and the ball. Hagrid was a great listener and he gave good advice, so James didn't mind him commenting afterwards.
James came into the Common Room at around ten to find Enid and Lydia studying their magazines, Sirius and Remus playing a game of wizard's chess with Peter 'ooo-ing' and 'aaahhhh-ing' when either of them made a smart move, and Christine and Lily, each curled up with a book.
A chorus of 'where have you been' s greeted him, to which he responded, "I was at Hagrid's".
"Oh, okay…" and everyone went back to themselves.
James took off his cloak and removed his boots. Then he took them up to his room and changed his trousers (they had gotten all wet and slushy because he had fallen over on his way back up to the castle).
Once James had returned to the Common Room, Sirius made a random suggestion:
"Tonight's Christmas Eve, right?"
"Right. Sirius, is there a point to your sudden interest in the date?"
"Yes, there is Silly Lily…"
"Call me that once more and I shove your broomstick up your ass…"
"Yuck! No call for violence," he held up his hands in peace signs, indicating that he 'comes in peace', "Anyway, like I was saying. As it's Christmas Eve, the most fun thing to do when you were little, was camp out by your chimney, right?"
"Sure."
"Well, if so, I am suggesting that all of us do that tonight. You know, we stay up late talking, wake up to presents… All that good stuff. Everyone in?"
A general murmer of agreement came from everyone in the room.
"But," Enid said, partly to make it interesting, and partly for Lily, "Everyone has to wear what they usually wear to bed."
Sirius, who didn't mind his girlfriend seeing him in boxers, agreed readily. James however said, "No undergarments on the bottom half though. Just something close."
Remus nodded his head in agreement, but Lily was shaking her head and poking Enid, "I hate you Enid. NO! Only if we can't wear undergarments on the top either!"
"Come on Evans, what's the matter? Live a little!" James smirked.
"Fine, but the ban on undergarments on bottom halves is lifted." Lily smirked back, "Or are you too embarrassed?"
"OOHhhh… Burn!" everyone laughed at James. Enid high-fived Lily.
"Okay, let's separate them before they turn it into a stripping contest." Sirius turned and opened the portrait hole, waiting for James to follow him, "Who's up for Quidditch?"
Everyone agreed (even Christine) to play, except Lydia, who was even worse on a broom than Lily.
"You guys go ahead," she bargained, "I need to catch up on my reading."
Sirius landed a quick kiss on her and left, with everyone else.
"Race you?" Enid challenged James to race to the goal hoops. He won, of course, but she had fun anyway.
"So, who's gonna play my team?" Sirius yelled from the other end of the pitch.
"Whoevers' not on my team, stupid!" James yelled back, laughing.
"I get Evans!"
"Fine, I get Enid!"
"I get Christine!"
"I get Peter and Remus!"
"Hey, you can't do that!"
"Can
now!"
"Fine! We're playing two or three Chasers and a
Keeper?"
James gave Sirius the thumbs up and gathered his team into a huddle.
Sirius did the same at the other end of the pitch, "Lily, we need you in goal. James is definitely gonna play Chaser, so you can just bat your eyelashes at him if he gets too close to scoring," Sirius winced as Lily hit him, "Christine, we're gonna play Chasers. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir!" Christine and Lily both made Hitler signs at Sirius.
(A/N: Politically incorrect AND offensive… Go me. Sorry – no offence meant).
At the other goal post, James was assigning himself, Peter, and Remus to Chaser, and Enid to Keeper.
"Start!" James threw the Quaffle (courtesy of the Marauders) into the air and Sirius caught it.
"Christine, catch!"
Christine caught it and shot off towards Enid. She aimed well, but Enid saved it, leaving the score at 0 – 0. James got the Quaffle after that, and headed for Lily, but dropped the ball when she looked at him. She laughed, and threw the ball to one of her own teammates. Sirius scored a few times, but no one (meaning James) could get past Lily.
When Sirius' team was leading by 60 points, Enid made James switch positions with her, so Sirius switched with Lily. Enid scored twice on Sirius, bringing the score to 20 – 60. Lily then got the Quaffle and flew to James. She scored on him faking to the left and throwing to the right, a move that, had it been anyone else, he could have stopped easily.
"James, get your head in the game, and off Lily!" Enid shouted as Lily scored again. James turned red and swore not to look at Lily for the rest of the game.
When Lydia asked, later, how the game had been, Sirius crowed happily that they had won, '120 – 50', even with a 'one player disadvantage'. James and Enid came in looking grumpy a few minutes later. Remus and Peter didn't really care, and had just been playing for fun anyway.
Lily and Christine had decided to stop off at the library, and meet up with them at dinner.
Author's Note: Hiya! Did you like the (short) chapter? I had fun writing it. Anyway, the next chapter is called Christmas Eve (original, huh?), and I will post it when I've got around 35 reviews (hey, if I don't set the goals further away, I'll run out of story, and that would suck, because I like being prepared). Please keep reviewing points at review button and I'll keep updating sets up neon flashing arrow sign pointed at review button. Hot chocolate and lemons!
-Kat
