A/N: Hello. So all the dresses described in this chapter i have links for on my profile. Just follow the links! :) xxxx
'So, James Potter is officially back on the market. What a brilliant birthday present would a candlelit dinner with him be for Lily?' Maddie asks dreamily on Friday afternoon. I was released yesterday, scratch-free, and am currently enjoying freedom with my friends after a long day of lessons.
'It'd be a pretty bad one since she pledged her undying hatred of him to us on Tuesday,' Jelly reminds us.
'She didn't mean that,' Maddie scoffs.
'She seemed pretty serious to me,' Tessie says.
'She didn't mean it,' Maddie repeats knowingly.
'Oh? And what makes you think that?' I join in.
'You can see it in her eyes. She doesn't want to like him, but she does,' Maddie says simply.
'Funny, James said something just like that, right before she implied that he was a prick,' I recall.
'Let's just have a vote!' Tessie says quickly before Maddie can retaliate. 'All in favour of the surprise party next Friday, say I.'
'I.'
'I.'
'And I. Sorry Mads, looks like you've been over ruled,' Tessie shrugs. 'Now, let's start planning. Amy you can handle the guest list because everyone knows you and likes you- well, nearly everyone,' she amends.
'But who cares about the Troll Troop anyway?' Jelly inserts as I start to scowl. I told them every detail of James' and Vane's break up. I even put on the voices. James' cockney accent and Vane's blocked nose voice. They took much pleasure in it. Maybe a little too much, but that's ok. Anything that makes Tessie laugh, right? It's only been three weeks since Matt's funeral, so she's still a little fragile. Maybe even more than a little, depending on how well she's acting.
'You two organise the food and decorating the common room. I'll get the present,' she says grandly.
'One question,' Jelly says.
'Yes?'
'How are we,' she gestures to Maddie and herself, 'going to decorate the Gryffindor common room? We're not Gryffindors.'
'Good point,' Tessie frowns. 'Amy could you-?
'I'll give you the password on the day. Just get the stuff ready. The common room will be empty so ye can decorate,' I tell them.
'Why will it be empty?' Maddie asks.
'Everyone will be out on the Quidditch Pitch, watching me make a fool of myself,' I mutter, imagining the scene.
'Hey, have you seen Matthew Jones anywhere?' I ask a girl passing me in the halls.
'No,' she snaps.
I catch another boy by the arm. 'Have you seen Matthew Gordon?' I ask Gordon, Matthew's friend.
'He's tutoring some fourth years I think,' he shrugs.
'Can you give him this?' I ask, handing him an invitation to Lily's party.
'Yeah, I guess.'
'Thanks-'
'But I don't think he'll go,' Gordon continues.
'Why not? He likes Lily,' I argue.
'Yes, but he's not feeling very hospitable towards you lately,' he says.
'He told you that?' I ask sceptically.
'Different words, same meaning,' he shrugs.
'Is he really mad at me?'
Gordon rolls his eyes and begins to walk away. 'I don't think he's mad,' he says over his shoulder. 'More fed up.'
What the hell does that mean? What's he fed up of? Me being with Sirius? Well, I have no time to think about it now.
'Lily Evans' party, Friday, eight o'clock, in the Gryffindor common room. Tell everyone else in your year,' I say to Emily Vance, a fifth year Hufflepuff.
'Can I tell the sixth years?' she asks hopefully.
'No,' I say firmly. 'We're only bringing people Lily knows.'
'But my boyfriend's a sixth year,' she says. 'I can't go without him,' she says, looking tearful. I have no time for tears, I am on a mission.
'Oh fine, bring him, but no one else,' I warn her. She squeals and hugs me.
'I knew you were nice. Monica Jewelsworth told me you were a cow, but I knew you were nice,' she says breathlessly and then skips off. I sigh at her enthusiasm and at the fact that the Troll Troop was spreading stuff about me- and undoubtedly my friends.
'Hufflepuffs are only good in small quantities,' a voice chuckles.
I turn and see Remus. 'Hello,' I smile.
'Want help? I know most people,' he offers.
'I wouldn't expect any less from a marauder,' I tease, handing him some invitations.
He sighs deeply. 'My title seems to be exceeding me these days.'
I study his pretty face. He's very delicate looking. 'What's up Remus?' I ask, as I hand an invite to a fifth year Ravenclaw.
'Things didn't work out Aoibhinn Collins,' he says.
'Why not?' I ask.
'All she ever did was talk about James and Sirius and all the great things we've done,' he tells me.
'Isn't that what being a Marauder is about? Being recognised, talented, the best- and the girls.'
He laughs half-heartedly. 'No, not really. Besides, I'm not as popular with the ladies as James and Sirius,' he adds.
'You're just as good as them, Remus,' I say softly.
'Aren't you supposed to think Sirius is God?' he laughs genuinely now.
'Where does it say that?' I joke.
'Even if it did say that, I doubt you'd obey it,' he says.
'What's wrong with being an independent, strong-minded woman?' I ask defensively.
He laughs and pats my shoulder. 'Nothing, nothing. I think that's what Sirius likes about you. Although, it's also what he hates,' he chuckles.
'Sirius talks about what he hates about me, does he?' I ask thoughtfully.
'Oh-no,' Remus says quickly.
'I wonder if I should do the same. Maybe I could make a list,' I muse.
'Don't tell Sirius I said anything, ok?' he pleads.
'What else does he hate?' I insist.
He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably. 'Nothing,' he mutters.
'Tell me,' I say lowly.
'He might have mentioned something about stubbornness,' he admits.
'Keep going,' I say calmly.
'There's nothing else really. He might have said something like, 'We talk a lot. That's weird' but that's really it.'
'Thanks Remus,' I say stiffly, stepping into the flow of students making their way to the Great Hall for dinner. So he thinks I'm stubborn and I talk too much. He'd rather I be a spineless, brainless fan-girl. Well, I'd like to see how well he does without me, because I have a plan.
I sit beside Lily at the table. The Marauders enter shortly after me. The four of them make their way towards us, Remus looking very nervous indeed. They sit down, James next to Lily and Sirius next to me. He reaches for the mashed potatoes in front of me. I beat him to it and dig my spoon into it. I come out with it full of the creamy mush.
'Open up,' I coo. He frowns and opens his mouth to speak. I take my chance and shove the spoon of potatoes into his face. It forms a beard all around his chin and sticks to his nose.
'Amy!' he splutters. 'What are you doing?' he hisses lowly, as people start laughing.
'I'm sorry, Jelly bean,' I say. 'Let me help you.' I take a napkin and scrub mercilessly at his face.
'Ow! Stop,' he complains.
'You know what you need? A drink,' I say sweetly. I take my goblet of pumpkin juice and pour it down his throat.
'Amy,' Lily laughs awkwardly. 'Stop it.'
'Anything else I can get you, my little darling?' I ask hopefully.
'No,' he snaps. 'I'm going up to the dorms,' he tells the boys tightly.
'But you've hardly ate anything,' I object.
'I think I've had enough food- on my face!' he whispers furiously.
'I'll see you later baby!' I call as he and the other three boys leave. Remus looks back over his shoulder at me, his expression a mixture of incredulous and angry. I wave at him in a posh fashion, a wave I know from my great-aunt Matilda who is famous for her saying 'We're pure-blood, so we might as well indulge in pure vodka.' As you may have guessed, she says that mostly when she's drunk on pure vodka.
'Amy, would you like to tell me why you just went mental on Black?' Lily asks calmly.
I tell her the things Remus told me.
'What were you doing with Remus?' she frowns.
Handing out secret invitations to your surprise party. 'I just bumped into him,' I lie.
'Well, Amy, if I were you, I'd dump him,' Lily sniffs.
'That's because you hate the four of them,' I point out.
'No, no, that's not true,' Lily says. 'I hate Peter much less than the other three.'
'Why don't you like Remus?' I wonder.
'There's something funny about him. Something that just keeps me away from him,' she shrugs.
'Oh,' I mumble weakly.
'Well, yes, I'd dump him if I found out he was talking about me behind my back.'
'But it was to his mates,' I say fairly.
She looks at me mysteriously. 'For now.'
We eat pudding in silence. I stab my fork into my trifle and think about Lily's advice. Should I dump Sirius? He is immature, secretive, moody in the mornings and very cocky. But he's also sweet and charming and listens to me and thinks about me and he says he really likes me.
I stew over things on the way back to the common room too. As soon as I step foot through the portrait hole he's on me. He drags me by the elbow up the stairs of the boy's dormitories and them pushes me down onto his bed.
'What the hell was that about?' he demands.
'Well, I heardfrom a little birdie that you didn't like when I was smart and had a good head on my shoulders, so of course, me being the brilliant girlfriend I am, I went and decided to act in a way that was more in your league. Aren't you going to say thank you?' I speak in a withering voice.
He groans. 'It was Peter that let it slip, wasn't it? I knew as soon as I told him I shouldn't have,' he says. I say nothing, just stare expectantly at him. 'I'm sorry; I didn't mean it in a bad way. I like that you're smart and independent- I'd die if you were high-maintenance. I swear,' he says.
'Hmm…'
'Don't believe me?' he asks.
'What are words without proof?'
'Cheeky,' he grins. Then he tackles me back onto the bed and snogs me insanely.
Yeah. So not breaking up with him.
I am so breaking up with him. I am so breaking up with him! I hate him! I hate him! I HATE HIM!
'Alright, seekers, mount your brooms!'
I swing my leg over the stupid stick.
'Ascend!'
I kick off from the ground.
'Hover!'
I do what the captain says. Everyone in the crowd laughs as Pat Dean falls off his broom. I can't believe he's making me do this.
'I said HOVER!' John Bell roars at the third years that are showing off and zooming upwards.
I glance at the stands. I see Lily sitting with Tessie. Lily gives me the thumbs up. Tessie winks at me. She has to keep Lily occupied while Maddie and Jelly decorate the common room. And I get stuck with the glorious job of being the distraction. Why couldn't I have just run around naked? Why do I have to try out for the house Quidditch team?
'Alright, give me three laps of the pitch, at a slow pace!'
I float higher up into the air and begin to follow the other wannabes around the stadium. A couple of fourth years get cocky and try to pass out the rest of us.
'Number 7 and 12, you're out! I said SLOWLY!' Bell roars.
They land and start pleading with Bell. Well, this isn't too bad. I haven't fallen at least. But I've forgotten how uncomfortable the broom can be.
'Ok, speed up!'
I lean forward more on my broom and it shoots forward. I pull back and it slows down a bit. But now I'm at the front. Oh great! I see Sirius and James down on the ground with the rest of the old team, grinning at me. I bet they think I'm trying to show off.
'Now, GATHER!' Bell appears in the air on his broom. We all circle around him. 'I'm going to release the snitch.'
'What do we do, sir?' a sixth year asks.
He looks at her like she's an idiot. She is.
'Catch it.'
We all disperse and I watch the sky for a zooming ball of gold. It's a clear day, really good flying weather. I wonder if it's good party weather. Or if there's such a thing as 'party weather'. I hope the dress Tessie got me is nice. She got dresses for all of us. I've seen the one she got Lily. It's gorgeous! It will really compliment her-
Flash of gold!
Snitch!
Should I go after it? No one else has seen it, hovering over by the lake. I could even just be imagining it. But it looks right…I fly towards it, slowly. As I come closer I see it definitely is the snitch. I should grab it. But do I want to be on the Quidditch team? I want to play Quidditch. But all that pressure to win…
What the hell?
I fly up slowly. It doesn't move. I stretch out my hand. I can feel the air it's stirring with it's rapidly beating wings. I close my hand around the-
Empty air.
It flies away, so fast. I follow it determinedly. It zigzags and somersaults out of my reach. I frown and speed up. Leaning forward on my broom I reach out again. This time my middle finger grazes its wing and it slows down. I take my chance and close my hand around it.
I hover on the broom and stare at the now-still snitch. I smile slightly.
'I've still got it,' I whisper, before plummeting downwards, towards the ground. I pull up out of the dive smoothly and dismount my broom. I hand the snitch to Bell.
He smiles, looking satisfied. 'Welcome to the team.' My insides soar.
!
'Are you done in the shower yet?' Maddie shouts into me.
'Yeah,' I say, coming out of the bathroom.
'I don't see why we're all getting done up,' Lily frowns.
'It's your birthday. Today we celebrate 15 years of Lily. We're going to make it special,' Tessie says again.
'Can't it be special in a ponytail?' she mutters.
'No. Now, let's give you your presents,' I say after casting a drying spell on my hair. I fetch them from underneath my bed. They're all nicely wrapped and tied with ribbons. I hand them to her. She smiles.
'You didn't have to-'
'You know you'd be pissed if we didn't. Just open them,' Maddie says excitedly.
She opens the smallest one first. Inside is a white picture frame with the words, Best friends forever painted on it in colour-changing ink. There's a picture of the five of us from the Christmas Ball, in our gowns, smiling and laughing.
'I love it,' Lily says softly. She hugs us all.
'There's more,' Tessie says. She hands her another one. Lily tears into it. She laughs. The chocolate cake has happy birthday Lily! Wrote on it in bertie botts beans. It's a little wonky. She opens another. It's a book of defensive and offensive spells. Lily says it'll be brilliant for OWL's.
'And the last one,' Tessie grins as she gives it to her. Lily opens it carefully. Inside is her dress. It's soft green satin, the colour of lily leaves. It has tiny spaghetti straps and is low, but doesn't show boob. It has a bow at the front of the waist and comes above the knee.
'It's gorgeous!' she squeals. She hugs us all. 'Thank you so much!'
'Put it on,' Jelly urges. Lily pulls off her jeans and jumper and slips the light material over head. It hugs her curves and comes a couple inches above her knee.
'Beautiful!' we all whisper together. She laughs.
'I wish I could wear it all night!' Lily says longingly.
'Well Lily, you will be,' I grin.
'What?'
'We're all getting dressed up tonight. Tessie, where are our dresses?' Jelly asks.
'I'll get them.' She leaves. Lily looks at me questioningly but I just grin at her. This is going to be brilliant! Tessie returns with four dress bags. I rush forward to help her carry them.
'This one is yours Maddie. And this is yours Amy,' she hands us our dress bags.
Carefully, I zip mine open. I gasp. My dress is made of sequins! Blue sequins! Around the waist is a thick band of black with a small bow on it. It's strapless.
'Nice one,' I breathe. I quickly undress and step into it. 'Zip me up?' I ask lily. She does and I look in the mirror. It comes above my knee and floats out.
'You look so nice,' Lily smiles.
'Not as nice as you Lils! You're gorgeous!'
'Give us a look!' Maddie says. I twirl for her. 'Very nice,' she compliments.
'Let's see yours,' I order. She stands up straight. Her dress is shorter than mine. The top is black sequins that are ended by a pink band. From the band on the dress is a deep pink net material that looks perfect for twirling in.
'So cool,' I tell her.
'Jelly, show us yours!' Lily calls to her.
Jelly's dress is light pink on top and has a darker pink band around the waist. From the hips down is tie-die orange and cerise pink. It too is shorter than mine. I compliment her and then turn to Tessie. Her dress is also strapless, like ours, and is light purple with black poke-dots. It has a thick black band around the waist and comes above the knee.
'We all look fab!' Tessie announces.
'Picture time!'
!
'Why are we going down to the common room? In our dresses?' Lily asks suspiciously.
'No reason,' I say breezily.
'Now, we're here Lily,' Maddie says, giving the cue.
'Why are you talking so loud-'
'SURPRISE!'
Everyone jumps out from behind couches and tables. Lily stares around the room, dumb-struck. It looks amazing. Banners hang everywhere and a table is set up with drinks and food.
'What- how- when- AH!' Lily screams. Then she throws her arms around us again and squeezes tightly. 'I LOVE YE!'
'Ok,' we all chorus.
'Music comes on and the lights go low, and we're in the place after midnight,' Maddie says smoothly, doing a little ripple dance. Connor comes over, looking very fine indeed. They start to dance and I lead Lily over to Remus.
'Amy, what are you doing?' she hisses, trying to resist.
'You and Remus would get on brilliantly,' I tell her firmly.
'Hi Amy,' he greets me. 'Nice dress,' he smiles at Lily.
'Thanks,' she says awkwardly.
'Well, have fun,' I say, ignoring her protesting eyes and slipping away.
I back up into someone's strong chest. 'Sorry!' I turn and see Matthew gripping my elbow to keep me balanced. 'Matthew! Hi! I hoped you'd come. Gordon said you wouldn't, but I knew you would-'
'I'm just here for a minute,' he says. There's nothing wrong with his words, or his neutral tone, but his eyes are strange.
'Are you sure you can't stay?'
'Yeah, it's Maggie Smyth's birthday tonight too and I said I'd go.'
'So seventh years come before me,' I shake my head mockingly.
'Nothing comes before you,' he assures me.
'So stay,' I insist.
'We'll see,' he murmurs, gazing at my face. 'You look really nice.'
'You're just trying to change the subject,' I accuse, but I feel myself blush awkwardly.
'You're the one that distracted me. You shouldn't wear a dress like that if you don't want to dazzle everyone around you,' he says seriously.
I smile. 'It is pretty sparkly,' I admit.
'But I like it,' he smiles. We sway to the music a bit. Then a slow song comes on. 'Do you think your boyfriend would mind if I asked you to dance?' he asks pleasantly, offering me his hand.
'Probably,' I nod. He nods. I place my hand in his. 'But when do I ever take others into account?' I joke. He laughs and pulls me against him. He holds my wait with one hand and I put one hand on his shoulder.
'This is nice,' he murmurs.
I look away. 'Yeah,' I say. Tessie is watching me from where she's dancing with Andrew. She quirks an eyebrow questioningly. From the other side of the room, Maddie winks suggestively. I shake my head at her.
'Do you think I can have another dance, or would that be pushing my luck?' Matthew asks when the song ends.
'I think I'll take over from here, actually.' Sirius appears at Matthew's side. He smiles in a friendly way, but his eyes are challenging.
Matthew stares at him for a moment. They're around the same height, Matthew a couple centimetres taller than Sirius. Finally he looks at me. Oh God.
'Thanks for the dance Matthew,' I say with a tentative smile. I drop my hand from his shoulder and slowly, he releases me. Sirius wraps his arm around my waist and Matthew takes that as his cue to leave.
'So you're not going to stay then?' I ask.
'No, I think I know when something doesn't show promise,' he says quietly-which is probably really loudly, since the music is so loud.
'No promise? This party isn't in full swing yet,' I joke weakly.
'Bye Amy.'
I watch Matthew leave over Sirius' shoulder as we dance. At the portrait hole he looks back. I smile, but he doesn't return it.
'What do you think he met?' Sirius asks quietly.
'Probably there's firewhiskey at Maggie's party,' I mumble.
'I don't think that's it,' he says distractedly, glancing at the portrait hole where Matthew has disappeared.
I shrug, but inside I feel weird. I know that's not it either. I know why he cares now. It was plainly in his eyes.
He's jealous of Sirius. He likes me.
Just when I thought things were sorted!
Hope ye like it. It's longish. :)
Review!
