Chapter Four :: Friends Forever
"I really didn't mean to! I'm so sorry, girls! Who am I to turn away my two best friends when all they want to do is help me!"
"Lily, stop crying. It's no big deal, and Abs and I completely understand why you felt that way."
"So he REALLY wants to go with you?"
Lily grinned. "Unless if I was dreaming, yeah he does." She frowned quickly. "Oh no! What if I was dreaming?!?"
"Lily. We're not even going to consider that, m-kay?
The girls finished getting ready in their dorm's bathroom and walked down into the common room. Sirius was there waiting for Abby, and James, Remus, and Peter were waiting for Sirius.
"Well, if it isn't my precious . . ."
"Sirius, if you call me flower . . ."
"I was GOING to say . . .oh . . .yeah. I was going to say flower. Sooorry!"
Abby smiled. Lily had never seen her smile so much until Abby started seeing Sirius so often.
"Can we go to breakfast now?" Peter whined. "I'm starving!"
"Shut it, Peter." Remus said.
"Hey, Lily. Hey, Natalie. You two sleep well last night?"
Natalie giggled while Lily blushed. James stood there looking confused but blew it off thinking they had a full night of gossip.
As they all walked down to the great hall, a horrible thought came over Lily's mind.
"Oh my gosh! What would I have done if the robe was from Severus?"
"EEEWWW! Refused!" Natalie shrieked.
James and Remus both stopped in their tracks with horrified looks on their faces.
"That would have been funny," Sirius started. Lily shot him an evil look. Sirius continued, "No just think of it! Lily walks down there thinking someone with a brain would be holding the rose, and instead she gets ol' slimy, whose hair has sucked out all of the little intelligence he once had. You probably would have cursed him so bad. . .hey, Lil! Any chance. . ."
"Oh no, what are you thinking of now." Lily said.
"Ooh! Whacha thinking? Whatcha thinking?" James said childly. "You got a plan?"
Sirius stopped and stood in the middle of the corridor with an incredibly devilish look on his face.
"Hmm. . .I need time. Give me 'till Herbology, and my plan will be complete."
Abby laughed. Herbology was their first lesson of the day. "It will take you that long, huh?"
"Shad-up, smarty pants. Let's see you come up with one of my mastermind plans!" Sirius replied playfully.
"Mastermind plans? More like foolish pranks!"
"Yeah . . .so?!"
* * *
Sirius' plan turned out to be a horrible one. Sirius was able to find out that Snape was still without a partner to the ball. Sirius wanted to tell Snape that Lily would agree to go with him to the Yule Ball, even though Lily already had a date. Therefore, Snape would show up to the ball, and be dateless for the night. As much as she hated Severus, Lily would never do something like that to anyone. Sirius was extremely disappointed, but quickly started to plan his next attack.
The last week of term went by slowly. Everyone was anxious for the Christmas break and the ball. The only teacher who didn't bother teaching was Flitwick. As usual however, McGonagall and Ithitus, their potions teacher, were as tough on the students as ever. Finally, Friday came and they were dismissed from their last class of the day, Astronomy. James and Remus shot off sparklers with their wands while Sirius grabbed Peter and jumped up and down like a maniac. Lily, Natalie and Abby exited the room as soon as the boys started their celebration. The quicker they left, the longer the boys would take to realize that the girls had gone. All the girls could think about, including Abby, was the Yule ball. It was only a few days away, and Natalie made it seem like it was a few hours away with all the excitement she was showing. She was constantly talking about what she was doing for her hair and makeup, and when she wasn't doing that, she was talking about what she was going to do for Abby and Lily.
"Are you saying I can't do my own makeup?" Abby yelled.
"No . . .Well, perhaps . . .yes." Natalie said, looking apologetic.
"I'm sure she will do it well, Abs. She seems to know what she's doing, and it's not like you are going to be able to stop her now." Lily said with a grin.
"You had better not make me look like a freak." Said Abby to Natalie.
"You're idea of a freak is anyone who wears spends more than five minutes getting ready in the morning!" Nataile laughed back.
* * *
"Lily! Liiillllyyyy!!!! Wake up! It's Christmas for goodness sakes!"
"Wha-What time is it?" Lily yawned.
"If I tell you, you will go back to sleep, and then I'll just have to keep bugging you until you wake up!"
"Just give me five more minutes."
"I don't think so! You are gonna regret going back to sleep. . .Aquarious totalus"
"ABBY NO!"
But it was too late. Lily was soaked from head to toe.
"Abby! You know how much I hate that spell!"
Abby laughed. "Of course I know. That's why I used it. Hey—just be glad that that spell only gets you wet, not the stuff around you."
"Ha ha, Abby. Where's Natalie?"
"She
is in the bathroom. She got some new makeup from her older sister and she's
trying it out."
"Doesn't she have enough already?"
"That's what I thought, but you know her sister. She has that weird fascination with muggle beauty products."
"At least we know where Natalie gets it from."
"I'm gonna dry off." Lily said. "Assiccare." In an instant, Lily was fresh and clean, as if she just finished drying off after a shower.
"Thanks for saving me the trouble of taking a shower, Abs."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for."
Lily slowly got out of bed and looked out the window. A thick blanket of snow covered the Hogwarts grounds, and a large white flakes were gently falling from the sky.
Lily went back to her bed and noticed the pile of presents, all waiting to be opened. The first one she picked up was from Natalie. It was a How-to guide to putting on muggle make up.
"Thanks, Natalie!" Lily shouted.
"No problem!" Natalie shouted back from inside the bathroom.
Lily's next present was from her parents. They gave her a few different outfits of muggle clothing from her favorite muggle store back near her home. Abby gave Lily a set of books on Lily's favorite subject, Charms. Sirius gave Lily a package of his favorite jokes and tricks, with little suggestions on who falls for each one the best. Remus and Peter gave Lily an assortment of Honeydukes chocolate, each of Lily's favorite flavors. Lily also got a few other presents from other students in Gryffindor, mostly 1st and 2nd year boys who had crushes on her. Lily's favorite present was from James. It was a silver ring, with six small diamonds in a row, and an emerald in the embedded in the center of the ring. There were designs around the ring and on the inside, the words "Friends Forever" were engraved in elegant writing. James also wrote a note to go along with the ring.
Dear Lily,
This friendship ring is to remind you that I will always be your friend. I also gave one to Sirius, Abby, Remus, Natalie and Peter. The diamonds represent each of us, the emerald is to represent you. With this ring, may you never forget the memories that we have had here at Hogwarts, and the memories to come. Merry Christmas.
James
"You got a ring also, Abs?"
"Yeah, mine has a light purple stone, like an amethyst. Can I see yours?"
"That's really thoughtful of James, I would have never expected that."
"He surprises us all sometimes."
"Hey,
Natalie, what color is your stone?"
"Light blue! It matches my eyes!" she said as she walked out of the
bathroom. Her face was a little pink
from putting so much makeup on, taking it off and the reapplying it over and
over. "Ooh, Lily, can I see yours?"
While the girls were looking at each other's rings, the boys walked in, looking very pleased. Each of them was also wearing a silver ring on his hand.
"I'm glad to see you all like my present," James said with a huge smile on his face.
"Of course we do! They are all so beautiful, and yet, so unique to each of us."
"Very good choices on the colors for us, James." said Abby.
"Hey, let's see what yours all look like!" Natalie said to the boys.
All of the guys' rings were a little thicker than the girls'. Sirius' ring had a sapphire, Remus' had a topaz, Peter's had a black onyx, and James' had a ruby.
"James, how did you pick the colors?" Natalie asked.
"Well, yours and Lily's were the easiest, I just went with the beautiful colors of your eyes. Abby, I knew that your favorite color, even though you hate to admit it, is light purple. For Sirius', Peter's and my own ring, I went with our favorite colors also. For Remus' . . .that was a different reason that I won't get into."
Lily knew why James picked that color for Remus. It was to represent Remus eye color, after he became a werewolf.
"So what do you guys say to heading down for some good Christmas breakfast?" Abby asked.
"'Bout time someone mentioned it!" Peter said. Everyone laughed.
* * *
After a cold and wet afternoon involving ice-skating (also known as sliding around in their shoes across the frozen lake), a rough snowball fight, and lots of funny looking snowmen; Lily, Natalie and Abby left the boys and headed inside to prepare for the ball. Even though Abby didn't understand why they needed to spend four hours getting ready, Natalie insisted that she would need all the time she could get. And she was right.
* * *
With barely any time to spare, Natalie made the finishing touches on her dress robe. She looked very satisfied.
"Well, if this doesn't knock him off his feet, nothing will." Natalie said to herself in the mirror.
Lily couldn't believe how beautiful each of them looked. Abby was by far the most drastically changed. If Lily hadn't actually seen Natalie put the make up on her, Lily would have never know that the gorgeous girl beside her was Abby. Her hair was very sleek. It was parted in a zig-zag fashion, and slicked back on her head. [A/N: Think Gwyneth Paltrow: 2000 Oscars] Her makeup, however, was what changed her appearance the most. She had a smudged eyeliner look around her eyes with a dark blue eye shadow on her eyelid. Her lips were colored with a dark ruby red lipstick. From the look on her face, Abby couldn't believe how good she looked either. Natalie had kept her own makeup and hair a lot simpler than Lily had thought she would. She decided to pull her hair back into a twisted bun on the top back half of her head. On her eyes she put a light, iridescent glitter that added an extra sparkle to her wink, along with a light coating of mascara. Her lipstick was a barely-there-pink that was more like a gloss than a lip color. Lily asked Natalie why such a glamour queen like her was going so simple on the makeup and hair, and Natalie replied that she didn't want to clash outrageously, nor draw too much attention away from herself and the dress robe. Even though both Abby and Natalie looked different, Lily was by far the most surprised by herself. Natalie had done a sultry look, but nothing close to being someone who Lily isn't. Her hair was done in loose waves that flowed around her face and off her shoulders. Natalie had applied a light golden shimmer around Lily's eyes and on her cheekbones. Natalie also put on a coat of mascara and eyeliner on the top lashes and lid. Her lips only had a simple lip-gloss on them but she looked anything but plain. As she took one last look in the mirror, she admired her dress robe. It was very fitting to her body, but not so tight that she wasn't able to move comfortably. She turned around to Natalie and didn't know what to say. Abby was kind enough to speak first.
"Natalie, I will never bug you again for spending so much time with makeup." She said.
Natalie laughed. "It's about time you realize I know what I'm doing. So are you guys satisfied?"
"No." Lily said.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Natalie asked in disappointment.
"No, I'm thrilled. Thank you, Natalie."
Natalie smiled. "So what do you say we knock those boys off their feet?"
"Sounds good to me!" Abby said.
"Sirius is not going to recognize you. Be prepared to tell him who you are." Lily said sarcastically.
Abby laughed. "I think we should play a little trick."
Abby, Natalie and Lily walked out of their dorm to find the common room completely full of people. Abby didn't have to push her way through the people to get to Sirius though, who was on the opposite side of the room. People seemed to part out of the three girls way as they walked past, awestruck by their appearances. Sirius didn't seem to realize, as Lily predicted, who Abby was. As the girls approached Sirius, Peter and Remus, Sirius didn't even seem to notice Abby. He was still looking up at the dormitories, as if Abby hadn't come down yet. Natalie began to laugh as Remus', Peter's and Sirius' mouths all dropped when they saw Lily and Natalie, still not realizing who Abby was.
"Umm…hello, girls. You look….wow."
"Thanks, Remus." Lily replied, flushing to a pink shade.
"Hey, where's Abby, Natalie?" Sirius asked.
As Sirius asked Natalie that question, Abby casually slipped her arm around Sirius' and looked up at him with a small smirk on her face.
"No . . .way." Sirius said as he looked at Abby. "This isn't? She isn't? It is?" Natalie and Lily both nodded, desperately wanting to burst out laughing.
"My god. Look at you." He said to Abby. He took her hand and had her do a spin. "You are sure it's her?" he asked Natalie.
"Would you just kiss her for goodness sakes? I promise it's her!" Natalie yelled.
Sirius grinned and swooped Abby into a dip and kissed her. As he pulled her back up, Remus and Peter clapped and whistled, while Lily and Natalie laughed. Abby looked like she'd never be happier.
"Well, what do you say we head down and go have some fun tonight?!" Remus said.
"Don't we need to wait for James?" Lily asked. She noticed he hadn't come down from the dormitory yet.
"Oh, he's already down by the great hall, Lils. We're meeting him there."
"Ok." Lily guessed that he was meeting his date, Emily, outside the Great Hall.
After they all walked out of the portrait hole, the fat lady gave them her best wishes for the night and they continued on to the Great Hall. Other students began to exit the common room behind them and people from different houses were walking into the corridor, looking excited about the night to come. Lily noticed a lot of boys looking her way, and Natalie seemed to love every moment of it. As they approached the Great Hall, Lily began to look for her date with the rose in his hand. She knew who would be holding it, but it was still a challenge, considering all of the people who were crowding near the Great Hall doors.
"Natalie, do you see him anywhere?" Lily called to her friend.
"He's . . .right . . .over . . .there." She said pointing over, completely stunned.
Lily looked in the direction she was pointing, and almost fainted by what she saw. She walked over to him, and he gracefully extending his hand, grabbed hers and kissed it.
"Hello, Lily."
A/N: I don't really want to write this note, but I felt that it was necessary just to clarify. Although you probably won't believe me . . .I practically never wear makeup—I just enjoyed describing it. I've always enjoyed putting makeup on other people—just not me! =) Okes….so please review! And I would like to thank HiLLBiLL, SailorJuno, and animalcrackers for doing so already! I'm really glad you all like the story. If you have any questions, you can ask in your review, or e-mail me at TheStekSurfing@aol.com. Next chapter: THE BALL!
