So, a new chapter's up!
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Enjoy!
Chapter 37: I want to be the one to walk in the sun. Oh girls, they wanna have fun!
End of Valentine's Day, 14th February, 1978. . . .
Lyanna lay on her bed, smelling the rose Sirius had given her. He had transfigured it to blue and Lyanna couldn't stop smiling. Her jaw muscles hurt because of it. He had casually told her it was no big deal, but Lyanna's heart had ponded so furiously that she thought it would jump out of her chest. At least she would have died smiling if that was the case.
"You know if you continue to smile like this, it might stuck on your face forever", Desideria said with a drawling, teasing voice, looking up from her magazine.
"I can't help it."
Since neither Lyanna nor Desideria had a date for this day's Hogsmeade trip, they had basically spent the whole day in their dormitory, doing homework and just chilling.
Mary had been asked out by Geoffrey and, after Lyanna had assured her a hundred times that it was okay, she had accepted it. Mary seemed to have said yes more out of politeness than nothing else.
Tanya's boyfriend had gotten the day off, so he would meet up with her in Hogsmeade. She had been glowing the last couple of days because of that.
The biggest thing that was gossiping around the whole castle was that Lily Evans had finally agreed to go out with James Potter. Yeah, finally. Lyanna wasn't surprised: James had matured a lot and he and Lily had gotten to know each other thanks to all the Head's stuff. Dumbledore, you sly old fox, playing matchmaker. . . .
"How do you think they're doing?" Desideria asked and turned a page in her magazine. "All three of them?"
Lyanna rolled over so she was lying on her stomach, carefully so she wouldn't destroy the rose.
"I'm sure they're having the time of their lives", she said and built up a scenario in her mind. "Tanya and Maximus are probably at Madame Puddifoot's, snogging each other senseless. Mary and Geoffrey are strolling around the village, if Geoffrey treats her like he did me on our date. Lily and James will presumably be at the Three Broomstick's while trying to fight their desperate urge to kiss one another. I've got it all figured out."
Desideria shook her head in amusement.
"The worst part is that I think you're right", she said humorously.
They talked a bit more of random things while Desideria read her magazine and Lyanna carefully stroking the rose's petals. Desideria watched her with an odd look on her face.
"You could've asked him, you know", she said softly, looking sympathetic.
Desideria was the only who knew about that Lyanna might feel something else for Sirius than just friendship. After the Christmas holiday, he had gone back to Lyanna and asked if the deal was still on. Lyanna had been unsure and asked about Desideria, but Sirius assured her that they were fine. Desideria did the same. Yet, Desideria was sure that Sirius liked Lyanna more than he let on. Otherwise he might as well have continued to snog her instead of Lyanna. She didn't feel angry, perhaps just a little bit offended, but she had started to observe Lyanna and Sirius and soon she noticed that Lyanna acted a tiny bit different.
"Don't be silly, Des", Lyanna said tiredly. "You know that's not a part of the deal."
"Yeah, 'cause give you a rose, which he had spent time enchanting may I add, is definitely according to the rules", answered Desideria sarcastically, wondering what was going on in her friends head.
"It was a friendly gesture. . . ."
"There are no friendly gestures on Valentine's Day. . . ."
". . . . besides, Peter gave you one as well."
Both girls glanced at the pink rose Desideria had put in a vase she had transfigured.
"That's different", she said and rolled her eyes. "Peter's sweet, but Sirius Black have never, and I mean never, bothered with a girl enough to give her flowers. You know that as well as I do, Lya."
"It's only one flower", Lyanna tried to make an excuse.
"It's still a flower", Desideria pointed out gravely.
Why couldn't Lyanna get it?
The mood got a bit strained after that, but they had been friends for so long that it didn't bother them that much.
"When do you think the others will be back?" Lyanna spoke up just to have something to talk about.
"Soon, I think. It's almost dinner."
More silence.
"You won't tell them that I've been up here all day smiling like a bloody fool just because of the rose, will you?"
Lyanna sounded worried and Desideria smirked, not knowing how Lyanna couldn't admit the rose mattered more to her than it should.
"Don't worry; I'll be as silent as a banshee with a sore throat."
"That's comforting enough, I suppose. . . ."
. . . .
"Spill it!"
Lily, Mary and Tanya barely had time to enter the dormitory before Desideria had put her claws in them. Lyanna watched it all with an amused look on her face.
"Take it easy, Des", Tanya laughed, looking very happy.
"What? Lya and I have been short of any romantic actions today, we need to hear something about it."
"Don't drag me into this", pleaded Lyanna, half amused and half horrified.
"Have you guys been up here all day?" Mary asked as she sat down on her bed, removing her coat.
"Yes, we've been up here and eating chocolate the whole day just because we don't have had any dates", Desideria said dramatically, gesturing to some chocolate boxes she had received as a Valentine's gift.
"Lily, are you alright?" Lyanna asked her friend. "You seem off."
Lily looked up, a small smile gracing her face.
"I'm fine", she said and her eyes sparkled. "I'm fine."
"Tell us how it went", Desideria said enthusiastically and almost bounced on her bed.
"Yeah, was a date with James as bad as you always imagined?" Tanya wondered teasingly.
Lily blushed, though not as vibrant as her hair, and she went to sit on her bed. She carefully traced her lips with her fingers and Lyanna knew what had happened. Heck, how many times hadn't she done so herself?
Tanya's eyes were comically wide and Desideria smiled like a Cheshire cat. Mary had a knowingly look in her eyes. Neither of them said anything, they waited for Lily to take the first step. They didn't want to ruin this moment for her.
"He kissed me."
Lily sounded breathless of happiness. Tanya and Desideria squealed and Lyanna and Mary exchanged pleased glances that said 'finally!'
"He kissed you", Desideria chanted in a sing-song voice. "James Potter kissed you! Was he any good?"
"Well. . . ." Lily looked embarrassed. "It was more like I kissed him."
"Lily. . . ."
"I wanted to", Lily interrupted quickly. "It felt like the right thing to do. He's been so sweet this last couple of months and I. . . ."
"So, you're like a couple now?" Tanya demanded to know.
Lily bit her lip, looking guilty yet very pleased at the same time. Lyanna smiled. Oh, she knew what that look meant.
"We are", Lily confessed, blocking her ears as Tanya and Desideria gave up a girlie shriek and Mary and Lyanna laughed.
"Oh my God!"
"Finally. . . ."
"I always knew. . . ."
They continued to chat, but Lyanna just listened. She found it amusing that the girl who had asked the question why someone would exchange saliva with James Potter actually was the first one to do so. Fate worked in the strangest ways sometimes.
"That's great, Lily", Lyanna said loudly to drown out the other's high squeals. "Really. But how did it go for you, Mary? And you, Tanya? Just don't give a detailed explanation on how a good kisser Maximus is, because then I'll leave."
Lily looked a bit grateful that Lyanna removed the attention from her. She knew she had a lot of teasing and gossiping in front of her from the whole school, for finally dating James Potter when she had rejected him for years.
At the mention of her boyfriend's kissing technique, Tanya stuck her tongue out to Lyanna as Mary started to tell them about what she and Geoffrey had been doing. It had gone well, but nothing more than that. Mary thought it had been a bit awkward since he was Lyanna's ex-boyfriend, but Lyanna assured her once more that it was fine.
It was in moments like these when Lyanna was glad she had Sirius. Though her feelings were a mess, their 'relationship' was not.
As all the girls continued to talk about their day, Lyanna thought dimly in the back of her head that she really needed to find another word for Sirius and hers 'relationship'. It was getting annoying not to have a fitting word for it.
. . . .
During spring break, 1978. . . .
Lyanna didn't like shopping clothes. She hated it. Especially trying the clothes on. She felt like a doll, a princess, and that was something she was not.
Lily, Tanya and Desideria were excited to go dress shopping. The Graduation Ball was occurring the day before graduation and all the seventh year girls seemed to find the dress shopping the most fun part. Except Lyanna and Mary.
"I'd rather go to class than to go shopping", Mary muttered and kicked some pebbles on the ground as they walked.
"I'm not that desperate for an escape, but I can see what you're getting at", Lyanna said, looking thoughtful and grimaced as the dress shop came into view. "Here we go, M. We have an appointment with the Devil."
Together, as brave soldiers before a fight, they took a deep breath, shook each other's hands and followed the other three girls into the shop.
It was clean and comfortable inside. The walls were bright and all the dresses and robes were nicely hanging on hangers, showing from their best angles. A few armchairs were placed in a corner so they could look out over the dressing rooms. Already they could see some girls from school, looking for dresses and exchanged opinions. Lyanna almost got a headache just to watch it.
A witch in plain, but oddly attractive, black robes came towards them as soon as they had closed the door behind them. She presented herself as Marcia and asked them if they wanted any help. Lily explained politely that they were just looking, but would call on her if they needed any help. Marcia nodded with a professional smile and told them that she always got a lot of clients around these times every year because of the Graduation Ball. She hinted – not so discretely – that she knew what she was doing with all the dresses. Lyanna thanked her with an almost painful smile before she and Mary took off to a corner to look for dresses while Desideria, Tanya and Lily explored the other part of the shop. They had agreed to call if they found a dress that would suit any of them.
"How about this?" Mary asked humorously and held out an orange dress with laces and golden rosettes.
"Really nice", said Lyanna, trying to keep a straight face. "It would go very well with your hair."
Mary fingered on a brown strand of her hair.
"Yeah, right, I would look like I were a dancer on a carnival."
She put the dress back on its stand.
They continued looking around for dresses. As boring as it was, Lyanna wanted to look beautiful. She wanted to look magical as a tribute to Hogwarts and to its magical glory and whatsoever. If that meant that she would spend her whole morning looking for the perfect dress, well, it was just to suck it up and act like a woman. And it became quite fun after a while.
It was tradition that you didn't have a date to the Graduation Ball: everyone should dance with everyone and remember happy memories of their years together. But that didn't mean that there wasn't some special boy the girls wanted to impress or the other way around. Not even Albus Dumbledore could control the raging hormones of a whole bunch of teenagers.
. . . .
"I give up!" Lyanna complained loudly and sat down in an armchair next to Lily. "I can't find a bloody dress. Do you think they let me in in my usual outfit?"
"You mean your black pants, black tank top and black jacket", Lily said, only a twitch of her lip betraying her amusement.
"You're sure you don't have a thing for black?" Mary questioned teasingly.
"Positive", Lyanna hissed, understanding the hidden meaning in the question.
"No matter what you wear, you'll look beautiful", Tanya called from the dressing room.
Lily and Mary nodded and Lyanna felt uncomfortable. She had never really cared about her appearance: it was just a reminder of her parents, of someone that didn't care. Samuel had told her she looked like her mother, but with her father's eyes. Lyanna had reacted to the information with nothing more than a shrug of her shoulders.
"I think I can help you."
Lyanna turned to see Desideria standing there with Marcia. The woman took a firm grip of Lyanna's chin and turned her face around to see it better.
"Yes, I see. . . . hm. . . . Sharp features. . . . A natural, classical beauty. . . ."
"Thanks?" Lyanna managed to squeeze out from the firm grip Marcia was holding her in.
"You need something elegant, simple in a strong color: red, blue or green perhaps?"
"I'll vote for red."
"Hm, I think I know something."
Marcia disappeared with grace behind some shelves and stands. Lyanna glared at Desideria, who was admiring her frosty purple dress.
"Why did you get her?"
"You need help to find a dress and we don't want to spend the whole day here", Desideria said impatiently.
"Oh, so this is my fault?"
"I didn't say that, I merely. . . ."
Desideria was interrupted by Marcia who came back with a deep red dress on a hanger. She carefully handed it to Lyanna.
"Try it on", she said encouragingly. "I think it will suit you perfectly and I've never been wrong before."
Lyanna grabbed the hanger with the dress and entered the dressing room Tanya was leaving, her peach colored dress casually ready to be bought. Just because Marcia had been so confident that the dress would be perfect, Lyanna had in mind to boycott it just to prove her wrong. However, when she tried it on, she couldn't say anything bad about it.
'I look good', she thought tentatively as she turned around. 'The color goes well to my hair and skin, and give me some red lipstick and I'll be downright dangerous.'
The thoughts made her smile in satisfaction, her pride only getting stung because Marcia was right.
"Lyanna, are you done?"
"How does it look?"
"Did you like it?"
"Come out so we can see."
Lyanna stepped out and Marcia nodded in approval, not even trying to hide her satisfied smirk. Her friends had identical looks of approval. Lily looked at her friends and their dresses.
"We'll look smoking at the ball", she said and looked very pleased about it.
The others laughed. It felt good being a girl and a teenager right now. Their smiles, however, disappeared when it was time to pay for it all. Lyanna sighed. She still didn't like to shopping clothes.
They're nearing the end of their seventh year. How sad...
The next chapter will be the Graduation Ball...