IWSC, Season 3, Round 4,

Ilvernomy - Year 1

Infighting - Write about a positive friendship turning sour. - Betrayal

Prompts:

[Object] An ill-fitting bra; [Word] Worse

Word Count: 2026

Beta(s): Quicksilverfox3, Accio-broom, V Grahams.

Lily wasn't a vindictive person. In fact, she had been known to forgive her friends rather easily. She didn't want the wedge that had happened between her and her sister to extend to her friends. What if it was her that was the problem? What if it wasn't her sister's fault? Maybe she was the one who needed to 'buck her ideas up'. What if she was the worst one?

Therefore, when Marlene had started to date Sirius, she tried to not be rude about it. It was her choice to date one of the 'Marauders' despite them being bullies. Their behaviour was the worst in the school; it had been for the last six years! Though, they settled down last year after she stopped hanging out with Severus - or maybe she just hadn't noticed it as much.

"Anything, I'm sure he won't care," Lily stated as she attempted to keep her tone of annoyance hidden. This was the eighth outfit that Marlene had shown her for her 'walk around the lake date' with Sirius. How could she be so stupid to fall for his fake charm? They were all fake! And what was worse than that: Marlene knew this!

Marlene did a twirl, the skirt flowing up. "You sure? I don't want to come across… too forward."

"I'm sure that that self-absorbed jerk wouldn't even notice what you chose to wear." Oops.

"He's not like that," Marlene replied casually. "None of them are."

Lily felt her mouth drop at her words. How could she be fooled by him? They had spoken in depth about the Marauders: how rude they were, how to avoid them, how to rectify the evil they did in the world. And yet, here she was, not only defending Sirius but the rest of them, including James! The ring-leader, the worst of them! "Who are you? This is not my friend speaking!"

"Calm down," Marlene said, dismissing her with a wave of her hand. It's like she didn't care about all of the bad things they had witnessed in the past. Just because Lily wasn't friends with Severus anymore didn't change the things those boys did.

"It's like I don't even know you anymore," Lily muttered.

That got her friend's attention. "It's not like I've stabbed you in the back, Lils. Stop being so negative!"

Lily scoffed. "Haven't you? Dating my enemy makes you my enemy!" she said, without really thinking what her words meant. She froze as she realised exactly what she had just said and turned to Marlene.

Her expression was exactly what she had expected. Hurt. Betrayed. Devastated. "Well, if that's the case, I'll go."

"Wait," Lily said regretfully. "Casual — jeans and a nice top. Don't want to come on too strong," she advised before walking out of the room. Marlene was her friend, she wouldn't change that, but Lily couldn't help but feel like she was going directly against her without considering her own feelings.

Did she really think that Sirius would be faithful? That they'd be a good fit? Was she that deluded that he'd be anything more than a Pureblood prat?

She walked into the Common Room, fully set on continuing through, when she was interrupted by the very person who had caused this issue. "Hey, Lil! You saw Marl-"

"It's Lily to you! And yes, she's still getting ready for your date," she snapped, spinning around to face him, her hair floating into her face. Just as she was about to continue, she noticed that he was actually dressed nicer than she had seen him in years. Usually, he looked like he'd simply grabbed the first thing he saw, not always matching, as a way to embarrass his family name even more. But you could tell he had made an effort this time; black trousers, a grey top, with an almost-formal grey jacket on top. He looked good. Taking a breath to calm down, she added more politely, "She's just changing again. She'll be down soon."

Sirius nodded, a little taken back. "Thanks."

Lily cleared her throat and quickly walked out of the room, ignoring the lingering look from James. She just needed to get away from them, from all of them. She couldn't even run to Marlene, her best friend, because now she was on their side.

While Lily was sure that things would blow up and her friend would be back on her side soon, she'd have to wait. Betrayed and alone.

She made her way to the library and sighed, so much for not doing homework on a Saturday night. Roaming the shelves, she found the relevant books and borrowed some parchment from the librarian before sitting down.

Lily had made it back to her dorm late after sneaking through the castle after hours. She had made excuse after excuse the entire journey, just in case, but had settled on her being on patrol. Luckily, nobody had spotted her, so she hadn't had to make up an excuse as to why Remus wasn't with her. She had gotten so caught up with her homework that time flew. At least she was now up-to-date, so she wasn't upset about being late. She could sleep in tomorrow.

She snuck into her room and quickly threw off half of her clothes before climbing into bed. A breath left her as she let herself fall into a night of uninterrupted sleep.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Lily rolled over in disdain. Why was it so bright? Slowly, she forced one eye open to look around. The dorm was empty, and the sun was brightly shining in through the thin curtains. How late had she slept?

Rolling over again, she pushed herself up into a seated position and looked around. Her clothes were still on the floor where she had dropped them last night; she must have been tired. Leaning forward, she grabbed them and tidied up the mess around her bed. She had forgotten she had been searching for her History of Magic book when Marlene was asking her about outfits. That was the worse one that could have gone missing as she had a test on Tuesday and really needed to study for it.

Maybe it was under her bed? No, she already checked there. Though, she still dropped down to her knees and ducked her head under. As she reached out, her stomach rumbled. However, that didn't distract her as she still slid her arm underneath to search through her usually organised area.

Still not there.

With a huff, she sat up. Though she was tempted, she wasn't about to attempt Accio yet. She had learnt that that didn't always go well; she had a bruise on her ankle after summoning her high heels a few months ago. She wasn't ready to try that again.

Though, if she hadn't found it by tonight, she definitely would summon it.

Another rumble of her stomach. This time, she listened to it and got ready. She wiggled during getting dressed and readjusted her bra. It just wasn't sitting right today, but she had worn it several times before. It was probably because she was rushing to get dressed in hopes she hadn't missed breakfast. But, secretly, she knew she had.

Finally, she slipped on her shoes and headed down, passing a few Gryffindor students in the Common Room, and walked to the Great Hall. She had missed breakfast. Wondering what to do, she stood there and tried to adjust her bra without actually touching it.

"Got your knickers in a twist?" James asked, appearing next to her.

Where did he come from? "No."

"Didn't see you earlier, slept in?"

Lily closed her eyes for a few seconds and turned towards him. "What do you want?"

James grinned at the eye contact. "Well, a little birdy told me that you got back to your dorm after curfew."

"Great, now Marlene is spreading gossip." Lily shook her head and pulled at her bra from the side. "I thought she was my friend; I guess I was wrong."

Concern etched into James' stubborn features. "You two get into a fight?"

"More like she betrayed my trust as a friend."

"What happened?"

Lily glanced towards the empty tables of the Great Hall to the man she despised. At her hesitation, he spoke up.

"How about you talk while I lead you to the kitchens?"

"Of course, you know where they are," she almost laughed. "Fine."

A chuckle left her at the surprise on his face. "This way," he said, starting to walk.

Lily followed him and sighed. Here goes nothing. "You know I don't like you, right?"

"Yes."

"And your friends. Marlene knew that. And she agreed." She looked at him. "Then she randomly comes back to the dorm four days ago, singing Sirius' praises and pretending like you four hadn't bullied and belittled anybody they chose to. Calling me irrational and acting as if I had betrayed our friendship when that was her! Did she ask how I felt about this? No! Did she even care? Maybe not. She let Sirius' charm come between our friendship."

James nodded along to her ramblings, and she appreciated that, but that didn't make her dislike him any less. He had a bad past. The worse, in fact! He was an awful person.

"Sirius does like her," he spoke after a few seconds. "A lot."

Lily stopped and looked up at him. "Really?"

"Why would he try on six different outfits before going out for their date?" he questioned. But then added, "Though, I wouldn't call walking around the lake a proper date."

"Is that so?"

"Trust me; my dates would be romantic. If you ever wanted to find out…"

"Duly noted." Lily shook her head, though she held a small smile for the first time after being asked out by him. "Do you know where Marlene is?"

James grinned. "By the lake near the forest."

Lily turned. "Thanks, James; I still think she's an absolute idiot, but maybe I shouldn't be against her giving it a try."

The two of them shared a look before she walked off, half expecting James to follow, but he didn't. So she walked to the lake alone in silence.

As she saw her best friend and Sirius laughing, she paused and adjusted her bra. What was going on with it? It's just too tight. Maybe she should change it instead of talking to Marlene right now. Just as she turned to walk off, she and Marlene locked eyes.

Straightening her back and pulling on every ounce of her courage, she walked over to Marlene and Sirius. And she wasn't apologising because she wanted to save her friendship; she was apologising because she had been wrong to not take her friends feelings into consideration. She should at least give Marlene's judgement a chance.

She might not trust Sirius, but she did trust Marlene's.

Slowly, she approached. "Marlene…"

"Hey, you here to tell me I'm making an awful decision again?"

"No," Lily awkwardly looked towards Sirius and then back to Marlene. "I should… I…"

"I'll leave you two alone for a few minutes," Sirius said as he walked off.

Lily waited a few seconds before taking a deep breath. "I shouldn't have questioned your judgement. We've been friends for years, and to just ignore your opinion because I don't like who you're deciding to spend your time with isn't fair on you, even if it is Sirius. I'm sorry."

Marlene smiled a bit guiltily. "I sort of wish you hadn't said sorry so quickly."

"Why?" Lily asked, the hurt instantly rising in her.

"Because I transfigured all of your bras to be a size smaller… and now I feel bad. I thought it'd take you longer to come around," Marlene admitted.

Lily's mouth gaped open. "You what? That's why it's so uncomfortable! I can't believe you!"

"You called me your enemy! There were worse things I could have done."

"Yes…" Lily drifted off. "I'll forgive you if we can prank James and Sirius with something similar - if you want to join them, you have to get there first."

Marlene grinned. "Deal!"