"You guys are so in denial." Sirius said before taking another lick of his ice cream. "You two have a great chemistry."
"Sirius, we'd drive each other nutzo! I really don't want to talk about this, anyway. The whole relationship thing is crazy- My mother always said experimenting dating is for after you're not stuck seeing one of your exes day after day. This, ultimately means- NO DATING JAMES. I mean, interhouse dating has to be the easiest, because you don't run into them in the Common Room or in most of your classes or at the house table.." Lily said, ticking off these items on her fingers. "Do you know what? I believe that's my ice cream cone you're eating."
"Well, Johnny- Tell her what she's won!" Sirius drawled sarcastically. Jackie's death had given him more of an edge- Something to make him, well, more serious.
"Shut up, Sirius!" Lily said playfully, letting him demolish her cone. "And that was my favorite flavor.." She said in a more quiet voice.
"So interhouse dating is okay, huh?" A voice said behind them. Lily turned and saw an old friend, Ravenclaw David Morales.
"Hi, David!" Lily said excitedly, wrapping her arms around his neck in a big hug. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"David.. Uh, hi.. I'm Sirius.. Lily here has forgotten her charm school training.. I don't believe we've met.." Sirius sort of said suspiciously, making Lily glare at him. Lily knew for a fact that Sirius had the profile of every student in Hogwarts stored in his head.
"I'm, uh, David Morales.. Ravenclaw, about to be seventh year.." David stuttered nervously, running his hand through his hair.
"Well, er, David.." Sirius said, mocking him. Lily glared again. "Care to join us for an early dinner before we have to return to the castle?"
Lily smiled weakly. Sirius understood just like Dumbledore said he would.
"So, what's with the whole chicken thing?" Sirius asked as they both settled in Lily's dormitory to finish summer homework.
"Huh?" Lily asked with a confused scowl. While she laid flat on her stomach on her bed, Sirius was sitting up, using the lamplight as he scribbled on the window seat.
"This David person ordered a piece of dry white chicken. A big piece of dry white chicken with no sauce, flavoring or seasoning of any kind, and water." Sirius said simply, slipping on his reading glasses.
"Yeah, so?" Lily pondered while attempting to answer a multiple choice sheet on Herbology. She began to chew on her quill, and found it wasn't very tasty.
"And instead of macaroni and cheese, he ordered macaroni and butter." Sirius pointed out. "And the answer to number seven is B."
"Thanks.. Macaroni and butter? You notice more about my dates than I do." Lily muttered, cocking her head to one side and scribbling down her answer.
"Ah, a date? I don't remember a date. I remember a dinner with an old acquaintance who has the most boring appetite in the world. He even ordered chocolate pie without any chocolate or the whipped cream! Is that possible?" Sirius asked, taking off his reading glasses and putting his Muggle Studies homework down.
"He ate only pie crust? Gross." Lily said, wrinkling her nose.
"So, perchance you ever get away from the wonderfully charming me, would you go out with him?" Sirius asked in a mocking voice. Lily blushed and looked like she was thinking over it, but then started scribbling down some answers for the Herbology homework.
"Ooo! No answer from the dateless loser!" Sirius teased, making Lily blush deeper. She flipped over her paper and on three of the slots, instead of A, B, C or D, she had written Y! E! S!
They both started laughing hysterically.
"Lily?" Sirius said after a pause of silence.
"Yeah?" Lily asked after a beat.
"What's your shoe size?" Sirius asked, his head drooping off the edge of the window seat and the blood rushing to it. (Remus: "For once.")
"What's so important about my shoe size?"
"What's so unimportant about your shoe size?" Sirius asked, well, seriously.
"Just shut up, Sirius."
"Just throwing it out there!"
"Well, throw it back in!"
Lily began to drool on her Herbology homework, and Sirius's chart of how the Muggle postal system worked was lingering on the floor. They had fallen asleep, and suddenly, a breeze of sparkly gold opened the window and flowed through the room. The room was cleaned and suddenly, Lily was sleeping on the floor: There was no bed. The curtains flowed softly in the breeze, not making Sirius wake up. The nightstand disappeared, and everything on there did as well, except the music box, which fell to the floor with a crash. Both sleepers woke up instantly.
The gold disappeared and a green light flashed. The music box played 'On My Own' while Moonlight Sonata played at the same time, both very slow. Sirius rose and suddenly he was white like an angel, glowing in the darkness. Lily stood up slowly and the same glow surrounded her. The gold encircled them, and they started dancing really quickly, out of sync of the music, like Jackie and Sirius had danced in Paris.
A hurtling crash of the mirror flashed in Lily's brain and both dreamers woke to a start.
The room was back to normal. Sirius turned on a lamp. Slowly, with the same arms and at the same time, Lily and Sirius pinched themselves and leaped up into the air from the pain. Their every movement was like choreography, either completely contrasting or completely the same.
"What's wrong with us?" They both asked at the same time, swinging their arms about. Lily knocked over her music box and the spell was over. Instead of music, words in a monotone, almost automated voice came to their ears.
"You are the Gilded Elite. United you stand, divided you fall. Soon, you will be engaged in an accidental journey. Other members of the Elite will join you, and you will all return by the Red Lily's sixteenth birth anniversary celebration. Of the selected six, you two will trust each other beyond belief, but one mistake will ruin it all. Forget this. Your futures have been predicted and you cannot change them. Let things go as they go, and beware when the two songs you've heard tonight ever play. That means someone has betrayed you. This message will be destroyed with this music box in five... Four.. Three... Two.. One.."
The music box exploded and suddenly, the room was filled with a soft glow of light. A golden flash appeared and the two were fast asleep in the darkness again, the window open to let the breeze flow through.
"Dumbledore- They have been warned." Came a hoarse whisper in the darkness on the other side of the castle. "They'll have to live their fate as best they can, nothing will change it now."
"I know, I know.. But I can't help but worry that they are in immense danger."
"Perhaps it is because they are."