Chapter Twenty-One: An Eve Out
"I daresay that's the twenty-third time today," James remarked.
Alicia shook her head. "You're mistaken, Potter, that's the twenty-fourth. You are missing that crucial time the second we left that wretched restaurant at lunch," she corrected airily, giving a snide grin at him.
Snorting right back at her, he glared at her like the thorny plant she was named for. "I'll have you know, Rose, that I can keep much better count at these things than you. After all, it is my best friend's health at stake," he said with all the confidence of McGonagall.
Glaring right back at him, undaunted, she folded her arms haughtily. "You prat. My best friend's sanity is at stake, and I am sure that is much more of a grievous matter than Sirius taking a trip to a hospital wing—or St. Mungo's for that matter."
Lily sighed, coming between them. "The fact of the matter, you two, is that you are, in fact, both wrong. That is the twenty-eighth time today—"
"—twenty-ninth—ow!—thirtieth—ow!—okay, okay, twenty-eight—plus two more—today," Sirius corrected, sporting two more red marks on either side of his cheek. Whether such colour was from the cold or the harshness of Lily's slapping and sore hand was unknown.
Huffing indignantly, Lily glared at him icily. "I'll have you know, Sirius Black, that I shall not be bothered by the likes of you today."
Taking this as provocation of the largest form, Sirius smirked at her before it slowly paved way for a large grin. "Ah, my beautiful, wonderful and ever so… well, look at that! You make me speechless, Evans!"
Pursing her lips, Lily frowned ever more. There was simply no letting up to the brash compliments and endless supplies of the charming Sirius Black that Lily Evans honestly thought that she would go right mad if he made another one. It seemed that his relentless efforts had been doubled today, in fact. Reasons to that were unknown to her, and even so she did not want to dawdle her thoughts upon that either.
The first half of the day had been uneventful, aside from Sirius toting around mistletoe with him in vain attempts to kiss Lily. They had seen a Christmas play being shown in town square, gone shopping for gifts for each other—with different individuals—split up, had time alone with those they wished and were brought back together to now find a place to dine for dinner.
Taking the day in stride and reflecting over it, Lily smiled, thinking that this would be the first time she spent time with friends other than Alicia outside of school. Not her choicest group of friends, but friends nonetheless. The entire day had been splendid, as nature had decided to glitter them all with light flakes of fluffy white stuff from a beautiful clouded sky.
"You obviously don't know the finer side to dining, despite your cheap heritage, Potter," Sirius mocked in a childish tone of voice, adamantly crossing his arms and stamping his foot upon the ground, causing snow to flutter everywhere.
Lily scowled at him and he took the time to glance over and grin. "Black, if you so much as—"
"Charming, Evans, you look even more beautiful with such a pretty frown upon that dainty face of yours." Lily sighed, throwing her arms up in frustration before storming off. "My love! My radiant sun and beloved flower! Come back to me! I promise to shower you with extra bouts of love and other floral objects if you do! Give a man his air, woman!" he added desperately, giving Lily one final sickening feeling that reached every corner of her being.
"Then perhaps I should disappear so you shall choke to an immediate and very welcome death, Mr Black!" she cried out shrilly, sensing Alicia hot on her heels.
Grinning from side to side, Alicia took a sidelong glance at her friend since kindergarten. "My, my, my, Evans, what a vicious tongue you have today. No shortage on the one-sided comments for Black, are there? And that poor boy whom you love so dearly—"
"I do not love Sirius Black!" she cried out so loudly that the boys had heard it most utterly.
A faint call was heard back from the dirty mouth of the one and only Sirius Black; however such a comment was widely ignored by all others present.
Shaking her head, Alicia sighed. "Ah, what is pure bliss other than young love? My dear, just let him catch you under mistletoe and be done with it! Come back with a crowned king, you silly duck."
"Duck? What manner of household do you belong to, Rose? Surely not a normal one."
Smiling mischievously, Alicia let out a breath of air, letting it evaporate into nothing before coming back with a sharp-tongued comment all her own. "From the highest breed of pheasants and other winged edible creatures, of course, my love."
"Ah, I was starting to become worried for you, my darling Rose, I was afraid your name had mistakenly chosen you. Perhaps you should discard it and adopt something slightly closer—something perhaps with feathers for a start."
Realizing that their play had come to an end, Alicia having no more to say or do with such comments to relate to feathered objects, bird or roast alike, she simply burst laughing as Lily took a few moments to bask in the glory that was her victory over the matter before succumbing to the laughter herself. It had been a long time since their last quaff like that—as Hogwarts desired more culture from its individuals, and thus Lily forsook childhood memories to don the crown that had so presumptuously been placed upon her head. Fiona Wethersett had worn it with grace and style, however, Lily Evans brought to it a charm and a beauty that none had ever known.
Catching her long lost breath, Alicia sighed. "Ah, Lily, that was absolutely wonderful fun! Why don't we do such things more often?"
Snorting, Lily drew her scarf around her tighter, catching a chill not from the cold. "You know that already, Alicia. Foolish things are only reveries of childhood days. We've simply outgrown it. Although, for the memory, I must admit it definitely gets you thinking about what you've become since those times."
As if lost in thought, Alicia looked to the sky quietly. Her eyes seemed to glaze over ever so slightly as her lips formed a slow smile, as if she were too lost in the moment to realize anything else. Lily faintly guessed that no less than a building falling on her would shake her away from this dreamy state.
"Lily, it's so wonderful that you've found love. Sirius is a good boy; overall, he'll most certainly take care of you."
Pursing her lips at the distasteful comment, Lily narrowed her eyes cautiously—contemplating whether she should be angry in the next second or not. "You seem as though you've been smoking something muggle, Rose; drugs are unhealthy for you, you know. Besides, you were wired on your ridiculous assumptions that I liked James Potter. In fact, you were so utterly convinced that you downright accused me of such a horrendous thing."
Throwing her head back in laughter, Alicia shook her head, holding her middle as if it would burst. Feeling rather indignant, Lily frowned severely at her. "My dear, there is no way on God's green earth that you would possibly find Potter to be on par with yourself. There, my dear, is only one man upon this planet truly made heart and soul for specifically you. That man lies within the childish and foul depths that is Sirius Black. Besides, can you imagine yourself with Potter? What a riotous laugh that would be! Talk of the school, that would be."
Lily mechanically laughed with her. Silently, she finally realized it would never work out. It could never happen. Despite all she cared for the boy, it would never fully be accepted. The fine lines in society would be broken. A princess and a pauper relationship were much more troublesome than one would imagine. Ah, the wealthy princess going for some commoner, how nice. Were it Sirius Black, things would most definitely be different. Hogwarts would finally have a crowned king, first of all.
"You see? I told you, I have no affection for that boy. But I daresay that Mr Black will have to work harder than he is already trying."
Alicia nodded in agreement. "Yes, his Christmas present to you shall do the trick, I think. Oh, Lily, I have a favour to ask of you, it concerns a very important and special date some months in the future."
Quirking an eyebrow, she cast her glance fully over her friend bright with cheer—and not from the season at all. There was something hidden beneath that candour, beneath that shallow happiness that she could sometimes be known for. Beneath that, Lily saw excitement and fear.
"Possibly. What do you need from me on such a dubious and far-off occasion?"
Alicia now grinned, ear to ear and flashing her pearly whites. "My dear, I have told you many times how much in love I am with Sean Patil—"
"—Not really, no. His name is hardly mentioned between us. Ah, have you two broken up? I'm ashamed that I, of all people, must ask this very forward question, but simple observation simply cannot do it in your peculiar case with this boy."
Huffing, Alicia folded her arms, a scowl replacing her merry mood quite evenly. "Well, that's an Evans for you. Quite the opposite I'm afraid. Mr Sean Patil has asked me to marry him. You see? I told you he would be the one I one day marry."
Lily smiled for all the world to see; a rare smile that was granted to very few individuals, all of which were summed up as one Alicia Rose. Honestly, she never expected all those silly little claims of marriage to such a boy to ever be plausible. Then again, it was completely considerable when you remember that neither individual were much for public displays of anything pertaining to the opposite sex other than perhaps snickering and laughing—mainly on Alicia's half. Despite her demeanour, it was very hard to become good friends with Alicia Rose—for popularity mongers like Emily Richardson or Samantha Greenwood were never much taken well by Alicia. Evelyn Richardson, who had much tighter binds to Alicia since saving her daydreaming life during Quidditch practice when an incoming quaffle was sent her direction when practicing with Hufflepuff.
The poor Richardson twins were separated into different houses—although many wonder if they were sorted, perhaps, into the correct houses. Evelyn was much more aggressive than her twin, Emily, and thus stood out in a much clearer form—although not a single person could tell the difference when both twins were together. Hufflepuff had not done overly well for her as a house, while Gryffindor did very little for Emily as well.
"Rose! Oh, Rose! That's wonderful news! When did he propose? How did he do it? What did you say after?" Even to Lily, who often scorned even the hottest topics of gossip near her, felt inclined to be asking such belligerent questions like these in high hopes of receiving an answer—frankly to all of them.
Alicia simply smiled. "Well, I had volunteered to clean up the team locker room—as you know, Sean is also on the team—and he had coincidentally volunteered as well. I hardly believe this was his intent, simply because he was so shocked to see me there. In fact, he thought that Scott Bell would be helping—however that prat is much too busy with Miss Blume to be a use to any of us. Anyway, after we finished, it was after hours and curfew was due very soon. The stars shone and the moonlight cascaded down ever so magically as we sat talking on the bleachers.
"We started talking about the future… one thing led to another and he proposed to me straight out of the blue! He told me that he carried the ring around incase of such emergencies. I told him right then and there that I would never love another man for there was no other Sean Patil in this world who could compare. After that… well…"
Lily stared wide-eyed at her friend in suspense. "Well? Come on, love, don't leave me at that!" she protested, feeling the tension building up.
"He kissed me. For, the first time, he kissed me. Our relationship was never anything close, as you know—well, you should know since you are the primary individual who bothers me about the situation. However, it was… nice. Then he also said he loved me," she added belatedly—just about spoiling the effect.
Throwing her arms around her friend, Lily smiled into her scarf. "Oh, Rose, how wonderful! It seems like something straight out of a storybook. I hope certain boys propose in much the same romantic manner to me as well. How exciting!"
"Anyway, my proposition to you, Miss Evans, is if you would consider—nay, you don't need to consider because you will be it whether you like it or not. You shall be my one and only maid of honour. I need no other but you, love. Sean has also decided to choose one person as his best man as well. It will be… simply nice."
Lily hugged her tighter. "Oh, Rose! You're wonderful, you know that? Simply wonderful, love!"
Releasing her from her joy, Lily held Alicia at arms length for a moment before they both laughed a bit. Little did they know they had circled around the entire block during their meanderings and ended up right back where they started, the boys on the opposite end of the street flagging them down to a restaurant they had seemed to come to an agreement upon. The restaurant was high class and stylish and anything but quaint or ordinary. Lily belatedly wondered if Sirius and James expected her to pay for all this, since she was the only one with money in this muggle world—as far as she knew.
"Sirius Black, you cad, what a wonderful fine dining experience this will bring. However, I have to ask, who is paying the bill for all this?"
Throwing his head back in howling laughter, Sirius took her hand as she made a face—showing her obvious disgust. "My darling, Lily Evans, tonight you shall dine like the queen you are; courtesy of Mr Potter and myself. I am not only rich in good looks but wealth as well! Well? Are you surprised?"
James huffed. "You deadbeat. Stop lying, I'm paying this one, Lily. Sirius here has not a pound to his name in this world."
Grinning, Sirius let go of Lily's hand to throw an arm around James. "Yes, but we both have all the galleons to ours in the wizarding realm, now don't we, James? Of course, Lily love, James here is obscenely well off in both—are we not?"
Sighing exasperatedly, James' shoulder slumped dejectedly. "You, Black, are a bother sometimes. Come on girls, after you," he continued, holding the brass bar door open and allowing them through.
The inside of the restaurant was like fine china and most likely just as expensive as they stepped onto lush velvet rugs. Lily could sense the uneasiness of Alicia—as her only fine-dining experience lay in the magical world—wherein rules were very much different. Not grossly different, but enough to embarrass you silly in front of your peers. Despite that, her mask was of pure brilliance and it seemed that neither boy realized this.
A waiter came by and Lily took off her coat, handing it to him as everyone followed suit. It seemed that the fine taste Sirius had for everything applied to things even foreign to him—regardless of how much of an idiot he is.
This unknown bout of knowledge revealed itself as he offered his arm to her when their server came for them to seat them at a table. Customs dictated that—when young girls in the presence of young boys—everyone be paired up. Taking a quick glance at Alicia—who had already fully betrayed her by taking James' arm—she scowled at Sirius. The most genuine smile in the world was simply cemented to his face and she briefly wondered if she could shatter it with a hammer. Then again, large, blunt, metal and very heavy objects were wont to shatter many things it came into contact with.
Such things were common truths.
Groaning indignantly she slowly took his arm and he—if possible—grinned even more foolishly. As they walked along, following their server, Lily looked away from Sirius—her eyes trailing to the fine rug—a rug that looked more expensive than the one that adorned her room. The rug had been imported and made from the finest silks and velvets woven as one. Chagrined by this very plausible fact, Lily looked to the table they were being sent to.
It was secluded, it was secret, and it was private.
Nothing had prepared her for something quite like this.
They had their own room—as in, completely and absolutely to themselves.
The sound of money could be heard flapping away in the distance. Despite her ridiculous wealth in the muggle world, she still undeniably had a fair share of common economics and moral values. Splurging half your fortune in a single night at a single restaurant was not conclusive to existing wealth in your coffer.
"Oh my, well isn't this extensive," she stated plainly.
Seating her at the table, Sirius sat down next to her and smiled charmingly at her as he took her hand and kissed it. "Well, only the best for you, love."
It was if the world had stopped and Lily's stomach was the only one to feel it as it churned in distaste more than hunger or sickness ever could. This fool was playing her for one and she could feel the scent of his probably expensive cologne just ebbing off him in wave after wave of nausea. It was not that he had bad taste, this boy; it was simply that he was bad taste.
Snatching her hand away from him, she pushed his face away from hers before grabbing a napkin and rubbing her hand off. "Stop tainting me with your filth, you dog."
"Woof, woof," he said with a grin, wagging his eyebrows. "For you, darling, I could be."
Shuddering in horror, Lily opened her mouth to retort when she was unsuspectingly cut off. "Alright, there'll be enough time to harass Miss Evans tonight, Mr Black, lay off a bit. I'd rather not lose my appetite before the food arrives," James said, interrupting the exchange that could only have violent endings possible. It was a pleasant interruption because Lily was about to say something at that.
Such things shall not be mentioned, however.
Pouting at James, Sirius folded his arms. "Well, Potter, at least I've got a woman to pester. You've got someone who is taken for a date."
James looked quickly to Alicia and she shrugged shamelessly. Mouth slightly gaping in surprise, his eyebrows arched questioningly. "You are? Rose, the things I find out about you are absolutely fascinating. Who is the lucky prat, then?"
"Sean Patil," she replied, slightly put off by his enthusiasm about the topic. Alicia was coy to gossip about others but very blunt and straightforward when it came to herself and despised topics that pertained to her in any which way—oddly enough especially those containing certain boys.
Grinning ear to ear, James sighed. "Well, must tell mum then. She shall be in despair ever so that you will unfortunately not be the girl to whom I wed one day. Good for you, Rose."
Sirius nodded, "Yes, it's time for you to go and find some lucky lady, Potter. Plenty flowers in the garden; of course there's only one lily for me," he said suggestively, looking at Lily out of the corner of his eyes. "What say you we turn our current relationship into that of flowers and beauty in that they are always together?"
Lily inwardly frowned at this comment. James need not find any girl for Lily would be sure that any other girl would be effectively taken care of. However… should he find one simply ravishing on his own… her efforts would be for naught; for this boy would need the entire state and more to be against such a union for him to care either which way—this much was common sense from his maintenance of hair alone.
Thinking back upon that foolishly written letter, Lily pursed her lips ever so slightly, deciding that once back in school that she would tell this boy—who seemed to be ever so perceptive, yet as dense as they come.
"I am afraid that dubious outcome will only occur once I have received a severe case of chronic amnesia and have been shot senseless with Unforgiveables until my brain explodes."
Sirius sighed. "Ah, my sweet love, how you wound this poor man's heart with your hurtful words!"
"I will wound you far worse if you do not desist, Black," she threatened—with all ill intentions to do so.
"But, my darling—"
"Black, Evans, enough quarrelling. There will be enough time for that after, I do believe our server is more than ready to take our orders," Alicia cut in, making the final word on the matter. It seemed that James' word wasn't enough against theirs—regardless of his efforts to stop it. Thankfully Alicia's voice was blunt enough to simply drown out everything else.
Pursing her lips, Lily narrowed her eyes heatedly at Sirius as he threw his head back in laughter. "Ah, my apologies, kind sir. Just a bit of quarrelling—perfectly natural!"
"Ah, yes, perfectly natural except your filthy appendage seems to have moved itself around me. Remove it yourself or I will remove it for you in a very permanent way, Black," she threatened.
Paying her no mind, Sirius continued talking to the waiter, eventually ordering the food—surprisingly muggle—with a perfected countenance and even grace. To this end, Lily could not help but stare in shock at the boy who had destroyed his idiot status in her eyes—for now at least. Delusional fools like Sirius Black were likely to get themselves in dire trouble someday.
Such stares like this were often found within the same sentence with the word 'love,' and such proof was evident in Alicia smiling from across the table. Having noticed this reaction, Lily had to quickly quench this feeling of admiration she had for this boy before he noticed and—ah.
Too late.
"Surprised? I dabble a bit in the muggle world from time to time. Common etiquette is all. Simple chitchat with your server is mandatory—on both sides. True sign of those that belong in the upper circles it is."
Having keen senses attuned to those of rubbish and lies, Lily could hear the truth in his voice and his experience. Her parents had often chatted with the waiters, waitresses and staff at the classy restaurants they had gone to. Idle conversations were beyond her understanding back then, and even now up until this point. It felt like someone had shed a little light on the life she had lived for so long but knew nothing about. All the practices, all the etiquette—she hardly knew what it was for when she saw herself in comparison to the common girls who spoke volumes of their poor upbringing from their tone of voice alone.
Individuals like them never made it much further than the mounds of filth they had grown up around in her former opinion. At this moment, however, she was having second thoughts as to how unbelievably free they were from all the trash and restrictions the higher class had set upon themselves. However, it was much too ingrained within her very core to do much else about it.
Pure breeding was simply woven into the very fabric of her being.
"I see," she said simply, deciding not to pick a bone with this boy—who knew so much more about her world than she did. For all the mannerisms she acquired, they did nothing for her as they did for the ever-gallant Sirius Black—who knew them so well that they could only complement his existence rather than tarnish it.
Sirius merely smiled lightly at her—charmingly and kindly. It seemed like all eyes were on her at that moment in time as she found herself to be smiling right back at him—as if the most natural thing in the world to do. Truly, it had been the first time she genuinely smiled at Black with no ulterior motive behind it.
As she glanced across the table, she could see the smile clearly spoken in Alicia's eyes. It was apparent she approved of this progress—who couldn't? It seemed that Lily was finally moving on from her isolated rule to crown a king—a king that she would no doubt be expected to marry. It was her plan, after all, wasn't it? To marry, in the end, Sirius Black? Wasn't he the one that she should decide to be with? Wasn't he the one that would only flatter her crown ever more?
Wasn't the charming Sirius Black meant to be her knight in shining armour?
When her eyes passed over James, she saw him smile at the exchange as well before turning his eyes away smartly—as if catching her eye was a common mistake not to be repeated. Lily couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at this.
Was he disappointed? Sorrowful? Sad?
Did it even make a difference to him? Did James… possibly… did he feel the same way? Within those kind hazel eyes, those hazel eyes she had seen so long ago with the same life and the same depths brimming within them as the day she first saw them, within those hazel eyes she could clearly see her heart, encased within its hazel depths, never to leave fully or willingly.
It gave her a feeling of solace within the moment she had caught his eye and he turned away that she only blankly looked once more upon the charming Sirius Black and saw the same kindness reflected in his eyes as well. There was only one reason that the charming Sirius Black was so charming, and he was decidedly so because of James.
Everything because of James.
Sirius, having taken her hand and kissed it lightly, took upon the mantle of a prince and carried on more idle conversations—never letting go of her hand as his fingers wove themselves in with hers under the table—secret and away from all other prying eyes. It was comforting—to feel his hand securely around hers—so comforting in fact that she dare not remove it. The words that now flowed out of his mouth came with such elegance that she found herself listening to every word—despite how foolish she knew they must be.
This very moment, Lily had caught another glimpse of the prince that all of Hogwarts knew he must be—beneath the rubbish, the childishness and the filth, was a prince in beggar's clothing.
Now Lily knew what people saw in him, why people listened to his stupid and meaningless words—this prince brought himself off his throne to mingle with those of lesser breeding. The Noble House of Black, after all, was said to be of the purest bloods—dating back generation upon generation. There was no child born to the Black household that could compare with the likes of Sirius Black—because he was a prince that became a pauper then elevated himself to prince once more.
"You must take manner lessons and etiquette, Lily; am I correct?"
"Er… yes, that's right. Although… more often than not, I believed them to be rubbish… and thankfully… I now never have to suffer them ever again…"
A compassionate look entered all their eyes as they all heard the nostalgia and the sorrow in her tone. There was no hiding it from them. They all knew—if not told directly by her, by others around her who had questioned the same thing they once did.
What happened to the glamorous Lily Evans?
"Three days from now… I am to attend a funeral. It has been arranged by others to lift the burden off myself and my older sister. Would you all… please attend?"
There was no other answer to that question for any of them other than a unanimous yes.
To My Reviewers:
In a car? Yes, yes she did. Unlike everyone else who took the train, she took the car from having the luxury of being picked up straight at the station by family. Yes, I thought this once too and then remembered why I wrote it that way through editing. Of course you never know that because Emily is a fairly insignificant character in RAIN and thus does not demand as much information about her to be very well known. And, yes, everyone else takes the train, they are just not mentioned in that chapter for doing so.
I could think of a million and one ways to say it, but there is still only so much that can get the message across other than a point blank 'Thank You,' so Thank You.
Also, on a seasonal note, Happy Single's Awareness Day! SAD for short. :)
Comments:
I didn't like this one. I'm not really quite sure why.
Please R&R.
- Minute Maid
Beverage of Queens.