"What are you doing
here?" Lily asked as soon as her eyes fluttered open. What was James Potter
doing in her room at this early hour? Where was Jackie, why were her feet cold,
why was the jewelry box open.. Oh, she had so many questions.
"Get out." She said
before James had a chance to answer.
"What?" He asked.
He had been watching her sleep. It was about eight and the alarm clock hadn't
gone off yet. She had been so peaceful in her sleep. She had been.. What.. Too
haughty? She had always acted like a princess in her own like- But last night..
"Get out." She
demanded.
"What the hell is
wrong with you?" He asked. "Last night you were perfect.."
"What? Perfect? You mean
your idea of perfect. I was perfect before you came back." She said coolly.
"Get out."
"Princess.." He
began, thinking that would calm her down.
"Don't call me
princess." She snapped. "Get out, or I'll scream."
"What's that gonna
do? No one will hear you." James reasoned, not cruelly, he was just defending
himself.
If Sirius had been
there, he would have said, "You're asking for it, James."
Lily screamed.
Screamed with a capital S C R E A M E D. She screamed so loud that even the
janitor, working in the basement seven floors below, heard her clearly.
"GET OUT!!!" She
demanded. As James scrambled away Jackie rushed in. She had not paid any
attention whatsoever to Lily for a day and a half, she had let Lily get hurt.
She was letting Lily get hurt tonight- She had to stop the plan.
"Lily.. Are you
alright? What did he do?" Jackie asked, but Lily shook her head. Her migraine
raged like it never had before.
She was not
supposed to do this. She wanted to change. She didn't want to be the average
girl who fell for James Potter. She didn't want to be the girl seeing someone.
She wanted to forget good times with people she was attracted to so that she
could be able to be the society girl she had to be.
"Jackie, you've got
great taste. Pick something out.. Something, uh, conservative. Yeah,
conservative." She ranted. Jackie looked at her mentor with wide eyes. What was
wrong with her? She had been happy for a day and a half. She hadn't been
herself- That was it. Lily hated being the typical girl.
She rushed into the
bathroom as Jackie selected something for her. Thick white sweater set, pearly
white buttons, with a dark gray skirt that went past her knees. That would be
good. Black velvet heels? No, too raunchy.. Well, not really, but still- Too much.
Black patent flats and ankle socks? Good.
Lily rushed out,
her dark pink lips glossed, her eyelids just a bit shiny and the mascara barely
applied. Her hair was pulled away from her face in a very bouncy ponytail of
curls, and she nodded approvingly at the outfit Jackie had laid out on the bed.
She opened the jewelry box really quickly and found some very short chain and
fastened it quickly. She also found a pair of pearl studs and clipped them on
just as fast.
She studied herself
in the mirror. Okay.. Boobs not too big, skirt medium-tight.. She fidgeted with
the sweater a bit and had the top button buttoned, but after that, she was
satisfied. "Perfect, thanks, Jackie."
She picked up her
notebook and a fluffy pen and looked like something from the fifties. Jackie
winced a bit, what was with Lily's change of heart?
But she followed
Lily down the stairs anyway.
Breakfast was
toast and cereal. They all sat at a huge table, Jackie on one side of Lily,
Remus on the other. James sat across from Lily, Sirius facing Remus and
Arabella facing Jackie.
Remus mouthed
"What's wrong?" to Sirius while Lily avoided everyone's eyes and shoveled
cereal into her mouth. Sirius shrugged while on the other side of the bickering
lovebirds, Arabella was mouthing the same question to Jackie. Amazing how alike
their reactions were.
Every now and then,
James would look up from (in Sirius's words) "the ever so interesting cereal
milk" and glance at Lily, but if anybody looked up, he would be studying the
cereal bowl.
Fine, if she
wants to go back to normal, she can.
Jerk. I'm going
back to the plan. It's the boot for him.
James got his spoon
filled with cereal and milk, he looked both ways, making sure no one was
watching, and flicked the cereal at Lily, then paid attention to his cereal.
Smack.
Jackie heard something. On the center of Lily's nose was dripping milk and
three soggy cornflakes.
Everybody (except
Dumbeldore, who seemed to be immune to trouble) looked up when Lily groaned
with frustration.
Lily stood up with
her orange juice glass reached it over the table, and dumped it on James's
head.
Splash.
Sirius looked up from his silent word war with Remus to see his friend covered
head-to-shoulders in a icky, yellowy substance.
James picked up his
bowl and turned it over Lily's head.
SPLASH!!
Remus noticed that Sirius had stopped with his good insults for Snape, and that
there was a cornflake on his shoe. A soggy cornflake. And he looked up and saw
a soggy Lily covered in milk and soggy cornflakes.
Lily was wiping
herself off when a piece of toast came flying at her.
"That is IT!" She
bellowed, throwing down her napkin. "This is WAR, Potter." She stomped out of
the room, ignoring James's satisfied smirk.
Got her. Welcome
home, James.
The look that the
boys (except for James) exchanged clearly read, "What went wrong?"
Lily removed the
icky mess from her hair with obvious distaste. It was clean in under a second,
and she had a fresh sweater set (bright yellow cashmere) on in a second. But
that wasn't what was bothering her.
Lily, the longer
you stay, the more you're going to ruin your chances. Plenty of people have
made you mad before. You have to keep your cool. What about the first days he
was back? Huh? It wasn't until you brought up the Embassy Ball that brought you
into this mess. You are such an idiot. You've already made your revenge. Now
just ignore him.
She was downstairs
in no time, pleased to see James was wiping the orange juice out of his hair.
She sat down at her newly cleaned seat as if nothing had happened.
Look at his
face! Welcome home, Evans.
