Visiting One of Saturn's Rings chapter 5 by shana shanaisme@yahoo.com aim: meshananotu

books hp pre-1981 romance pg

"It's tonight," someone said. Walking to the Great Hall for their free period, James wildly looked around at those near him. How did they know? Tonight it would be Thursday night, and on Thursday night he had to sneak into Hogsmeade for his 'blind date' courtesy of the Hogsmeade Herald.

Blind date. Who invented that phrase? It was so stupid. It gave off the impression that the daters were going to be blindfolded or something and had to rely completely on sound and touch. He laughed at the visual it gave him and almost stopped walking. /I'm over here you idiot!/ \Sorry, I can't see you.\

"What's so funny?"

Still laughing, James gasped, "What if people tried to kiss while they were blindfolded?"

Having handed off the mental image, James stopped laughing and was now choking on his own breath. His friend Dan was next to him, almost rolling from the picture in his head. "Damn, we have got to get someone to try that!"

"I know, man!" Nearing the Great Hall, James quieted, still discussing the image he and Dan now shared. "I can just see it; the girl yelling at him for not being where she was."

"Oh, see I thought their hands being tied together too, so they looked like those annoying little pecking birds they sell in souvenir shops."

This picture now in James's head, he started laughing out loud, halting the quiet rumble of the student body's voices. "Sorry," he said, sitting down near the middle of the Gryffindor table. Seeing a flash of auburn hair go by, he called out "Lily!" about to tell her about the pecking birds. She stopped and turned around, the surprise clearly shining through her eyes. James tinted pink. "Oh, er, never mind."

"James Potter," a loud voice suddenly sounded, "would you please come here?" Professor McGonagall was standing at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Not afraid of trouble, James shrugged and stood back up. "Pass it on!" he whispered to Dan, who silently laughed as he nodded and turned towards their good friend Sirius Black.

As he walked back to the entrance, he tried to think of why McGonagall wanted him this time. He hadn't done anything wrong or reprimandable in a long while: it had been at least a week and a half since his last detention. Maybe he had done something good in Transfiguration, it was one of his strengths. Nah, it was probably just her telling him that his 'perfect-ness' had finally gotten to her and she was awarding him with a Head Boy badge. He chuckled at the absurdity of that last thought as he reached the doors.

"Yes, Professor?" James asked. When she looked at him, bewildered, he added, "You wanted to tell me something?" Understanding flashed over her face and she nodded, starting to walk out of the Great Hall.

"James, I would like to speak with you about your grades." For a few moments there was a silence as James followed her, as if she were trying to put her words in a way that James would actually do what she told him to do. She finally continued: "As you must know, you are in the above-average percentage of students in your year. However, for the last few years your Charms grade has not been Proficient, nor is it Average or Minimal; it is Poor. You know as well as I do that even with 4 points in all of your classes and 1 point in only one of them, it brings your whole grade down to a two-and-a-half, which is classified as Minimal.
"I'm sure neither you nor your parents would like to see you that low on the Hogwarts grading scale when all of us know you can do much better. I advise you to ask Professor Flitwick for extra help, or maybe ask one of your fellow students to tutor you. Do something, James; anything." She seemed to lose the pleading voice and regain her composure for a moment as she stopped and took a few deep breaths.

"As your head of house, I regret to give you that information. I suggest you go back to your dorm and collect your Charms things and start studying for your finals, even if they are many months away."

Having said nothing during McGonagall's speech, James now put in a quick, "Yes, Professor. Thank you for speaking to me so early in the year."

"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. Hurry along, now." She started towards her office. James waited for her to turn the next corner before spinning around and running to the Gryffindor tower.

Maybe if he just studied for one day McGonagall would get off his case—but any day other than today. Right now, he had to get to the tower and change. He had almost forgotten about going to Hogsmeade, but when McGonagall had told him to hurry along it had all come back to him in a jiffy.

He slowed down a few feet away from the Fat Lady. Hearing footsteps, he stepped behind a statue of Henry the Hurtler, legendary Banisher and Summoner. It was Lily Evans, the girl he had called out to in the Great Hall. 'Maybe she'll just walk past,' he thought. She did, but not without speaking loudly to herself.

"Charms is easy, Arithmancy is easy, Astronomy is easy, CAMC is easy, DADA is easy, Trans is hard. So, that's what I need to study. Bloody old Transfiguration. A stupid class, it is."

James watched her go into the Gryffindor tower before following her through the portrait hole. Once inside, she seemed to have disappeared. 'She's probably studying. Funny, Transfiguration is one of the easiest classes,' James thought as he walked up to his dormitory. 'I'm surprised Lily's having troubles in it—not that I care.' He went into the room he shared with the other Gryffindor seventh years and opened his trunk, looking for the suit he had packed for graduation.

"Guess this'll be used more than once this year," he said aloud as he held up the black suit and gave it a once over. Carefully folding it, he put it in his bookbag so he could change into it once he got into Hogsmeade. Then he closed his trunk and stepped back, checking to see if he had forgotten anything as he slung the bookbag diagonally over his shoulder.

He had. He didn't know where this date was going to happen.

He went up to his bedside table and opened its drawer. Sifting through the contents, James finally found the letter he had received from the Hogsmeade Herald. As he skimmed it, the name of the restaurant practically jumped out at him: Le Champagne. 'Well, time to go.' He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak (a necessity everytime he snuck out of the castle) from on top of the canopy of his bed, threw it on, and headed out of the Gryffindor tower on his way to the statue of the witch with one eye.


*


"Wow. What a difference brown makes." Lily analyzed her looks in the mirror of the seventh year girls' bathroom. She had just used magic to dye her hair brown, and it seemed to change her whole profile: her skin looked less pale, her became eyes a deeper emerald color, and her nose looked a hint smaller (not that it mattered; her nose was already normal sized).

She picked up the paper she had written the spell on and crumpled it up, tossing it into the wastebasket. Walking over to her bed, she smoothed it out before falling on it face forward. 'What should I wear?' she thought. She got up off the bed and went to her trunk, opening it and going through what she had in there.

Near the bottom she found a dark blue elegant dress. She had put it in there anticipating wearing it to graduation, but it came in handy in a moment like this. Gently pulling it out, she looked it over. It was long and almost perfectly straight—only a few well placed triangles of fabric were stitched in to allow her to walk. There were no sleeves, and there was a neck that was more of a horizontal slit for her head to slip through. It was made of a satiny-silky material. Looking at the tag, Lily realized that it indeed was silk.

"Better not spill anything tonight," she told herself sternly. She found the matching pair of high-heeled shoes and put them in her bookbag, carefully slipping the dress into the bag on top of the shoes. Closing her trunk, Lily stepped back and stared at it, making sure she didn't forget anything.

She had. She didn't know where this date was going to take place.

She went to her nightstand and opened the drawer that was in it, going through it to find the letter she had received from the Hogsmeade Herald. Finally, she did. She looked for the name of a restaurant and found it near the top: Le Champagne. 'What a dumb name,' she thought. 'How original of the owners.' Lily put the letter in her bag in case she needed it once she got to Hogsmeade. She grabbed some lipstick and mascara from the drawer and closed it, having nothing further that she needed from it.

'Okay, now I have everything.' She left the Gryffindor tower and swiftly made her way towards the statue of the one-eyed witch.


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