-Chapter 10-
-The Trip to Hogsmeade-
The sun was shining down upon the backs of the students that were walking down the dusty road to Hogsmeade. It was perfect outside two days after the full moon. The snow had melted and believe it or not the students actually took off their cloaks in the warm sunshine. Lily's grandmother had lived through one of these years and had described it her as something called "Indian Winter" and it was very rare in this area of the globe. Nonetheless it was happening and James has happy about it because he wouldn't have to practice Quidditch in the snow after all.
Yesterday Professor McGonagall had rounded up the students and explained to them how they would be buying brooms again for the school. Unfortunately, the school could not afford to buy anyone personal brooms to replace the ones lost in the accident. Instead, the perpetrator would be asked for this sum of money, when he or she was caught, but it was still undergoing investigation. For now Hogwarts could only promise brooms by Tuesday of next week. So the students were somewhat cheerier as they tramped through the dust and mud on their way to order their ball costumes.
Lily still hadn't decided on what color to get her gown, Maggie had decided and was already going through the details.
"I want a royal blue dress, with violet and gold piping. I'll probably find some kind of gold and amethyst jewelry. Or no, sapphire jewelry! Or maybe just plain gold! I don't know!" had been the conversation Maggie held with herself the night they found out how they had to dress.
Lily threw her black cloak over her shoulder, and trudged along, glad to see the small wizarding town blossom into view as they rounded the last bend of the road. Lily sighed with pleasure; Hogsmeade was kind of like a home away from home. It was not nearly as big as London, but it was still a bustling little break in the scenery. Lily pulled her muggle camera from its pocket waited until the rest of the students were ahead of her. She smiled and pulled the viewfinder to her eye. The layout before her was a sight many would take for granted, but Lily knew how to capture it and make many people realize the beauty in simple and real life.
She fixed the focus and snapped a photograph of Hogsmeade, living and thriving, welcoming into it a stream of students, all of their backs to the camera. It was the perfect candid shot. Lily would put this in her closet. She stood there holding the mental image in her mind, when Maggie turned from the group. She waved and shouted at Lily to catch up. Lily laughed and ran through the beautiful late September weather, still reminiscing on the photo.
"What were you doing?" Maggie wanted to know, and then she saw the camera in Lily's right hand. "Oh. So, what did you shoot this time?"
"Hogsmeade and the students entering it." Lily said proudly.
"What? I don't get it. That happens all the time."
"I know! That's why I had to have a picture of it. When I'm old and grey, and my grandkids ask me 'What did Hogsmeade look like when you were a little girl?' I just have to show them this picture." Lily stated as though it were very obvious. Maggie rolled her eyes.
"What are they going to call you, 'Granny Lily'?" Maggie laughed at her own joke.
Lily remained serious and firmly said, "Yes."
"Okay, I'm sorry. It's just kind of funny to think of you as a grand parent!" Maggie said, fighting her giggles.
"Why?" Lily wanted to know.
"Because- well it is- it just is!" Maggie stuttered.
"Keep up please! Separate into one line according to your house and year. Beginning With seventh year Gryffindors and ending with the youngest Slytherin with us." Professor McGonagall commanded.
Lily scrutinized the small dwelling before her, it was painted a peeling blue and the sign that used to grace the shop was now titled and propped up against the house on the ground. Lily wondered why she hadn't noticed it before, then she realized because there wasn't much to notice. Lily also distinctly remembered Professor McGonagall saying something about a factory . . .
Lily hopped into the line with Maggie right in front of James, Sirius and Remus. Peter was pushed further back by Brett.
"Hey! No cutting!" Sirius mock whined at the girls.
The girls laughed and watched the eleven seventh year Gryffindors enter the shack. Maggie was now the head of the line, and Lily began to feel very nervous about her dress. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, it was James.
"Are you okay," he asked consolingly. "You look a bit green."
Lily laughed weakly, knowing fully that James was making that joke because of her vivid green eyes. "Actually," she began, but could not finish because Professor McGonagall was herding the twelve sixth year Gryffindors through the rusty door of the shack.
Lily blinked as they entered the dark front room; it was hard to see in the gloom. A stout older wizard smiled and separated the teens,
"Gentlemen to the right and ladies to the left."
Lily and Maggie walked through the curtain on the left and rubbed their eyes to make sure they were seeing correctly. There wee standing in a large, beautiful room with amber lighting and purple wall coverings. There were seven witches scattered about the room, knitting, sewing, and weaving beautiful fabrics. The witches looked up from their work and noticed the girls. Each one hopped up and ran over to the girls, picking which one they wanted to sew for. An older, gray haired witch with sparkling blue eyes claimed Maggie and a younger witch with long blonde hair and hazel eyes claimed Lily.
"Come over here." Lily's witch said.
Lily followed her to her work area and marveled at the plethora of rich fabrics.
"My name is Tabitha and I'll be your seamstress." She smiled at Lily.
"My name is Lily."
"It is?" Tabitha asked with wonder. "Then with your eye color and your name, we will have for you the best dress I know how to make." Tabitha smiled and lifted up fabrics, comparing them to Lily's skin and hair. Lily could hardly wait.
~-~-~-~-~-~
"Right this way Gentlemen." A deep bellowing voice said from behind a curtain of deep red velvet. A wizard threw aside the curtain and introduced himself,
"I am Mr. Coppertop, and this is where you will learn how the men of the sixteenth century dressed." Mr. Coppertop was a tall and well-built man, probably in his early forties. He surveyed the six boys before him. "It seems you are all Gryffindor! Perfect! I was a Gryffindor myself! I was a beater for the Quidditch team! Any of you play Quidditch?"
James, Bret and Eric Yhao slowly raised their hands, and Mr. Coppertop broke into a rumbling laugh that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him.
"Well then! Let us get started!"
He herded them behind the red curtain into a small room. Everything seemed to be crammed in there all of the men excepting a couple had to duck down below the low ceiling because of their size. White wall sconces lit the room and Mr. Coppertop pointed each boy to a man bending over a machine. James was directed to one of the shorter men, but, as far as James could tell, was still a force to be reckoned with.
"Hello Mr. Potter." The small wizard said without looking up.
"How did you know . . ." James trailed off.
"By your feet."
"Excuse me?"
The small man looked up at James with his dark brown eyes, and nodded. "Yes boy, by your feet. You and your father have he same feet. I see you have your mother's eyes and hair though." A large smile broke the man's face. James was clearly confused. The short man rose to his full height of 5' 2" and extended a hand,
"Frederick Figg is the name. I played Quidditch with your mother at Hogwarts."
"She played Quidditch?" James was REALLY confused now.
Frederick dropped his hand; "She doesn't have her trophies around the house at all? Has she never shown any interest in Quidditch?" James shook his head and Frederick sighed. He told James of what an amazing seeker his mother was as he began to walk around James and take his measurements.
James interjected, "You don't mean the replica of the Hogwarts Quidditch cup my mom has in her library do you?"
"The very one!" Frederick Figg's small face lit up. "Your father made that for her." Continued Frederick as he circled James taking his the size of his waist.
"All right!" Frederick stood up. "That shoud be it. Now I think that this deep red velvet with this simple black satin will do your outfit nicely. What do you think?"
James surveyed it, he guessed it was a nice fabric, "I don't really care. I just want to go to the ball." James said with a lopsided grin.
"I see." After a long pause of matching up some more fabrics, "Who are ya taking?"
"What?" James was caught off-guard.
"Who is the son of Tiffany and Edward Potter taking to the Queen Anne's Halloween ball?" he asked, drawing out each word.
"No one yet." James mumbled.
"No way!" Frederick shouted, accidentally sticking James with a pin.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry about that."
"Why did you say 'No way'?" James queried.
"Because your father had all of the girls falling for him and your mother was the same way. She had every boy walking up to her when they were told they were going to have a Valentine's dance."
"My parent's were the 'knockouts'? No way!" James laughed.
"Yes." Frederick smiled. "Okay, that should be it, you can go join your friends now."
Only then did James notice that he was the only student left in the room, he said bye and fled the teeny room.
~-~-~-~-~-~
"What took you so long, Prongs?"
"Sorry Padfoot. My costumer was an old family friend. He played Quidditch with my mom."
"Your mum played Quidditch?" Remus asked, astonished.
"Yeah! I didn't even know that!"
Sirius left out a small whistle and commented that he was hungry.
"Then let's go to the Three Broomsticks." Remus put in, understanding the feeling of an empty stomach.
"I'll be there in a little while chaps." James said distractedly staring down the street.
The other three boys stared down the High street in the same direction, and upon not seeing anything important, they looked at James to make sure he was James Potter. He was. So they shrugged and headed up the street as James walked in the opposite direction. He knew exactly what he wanted, and it had just walked into a teashop a little way down the street.
It couldn't hurt . . .
James straightened his robes and swallowed a huge breath . . . this was it. James walked into the shop and approached the table of seventh year Gryffindors. The girls looked up and acknowledged his presence, waiting on what this intruder would say.
"Miss Marfunkle, may see you outside for a moment?" James asked in his most business like manner.
Alice looked wide-eyed at James and solemnly followed James out the doors and past the windows so James couldn't watch the girls giggling inside.
"Miss Marfunkle--," James began.
"Alice," interjected Alice.
"Miss Marfunkle," James began again as though uninterrupted. "I have been consulting your star maps and I have found who you should go to the Queen's Halloween ball with."
Alice turned very red and began to shift from foot to foot, "I already am going with someone James. I'm sorry."
James paused in mid-thought. Did she think HE was asking HER to the ball?
Instead he asked, "And who would be the gentleman?" very curious.
"Frank Longbottom," she sighed dreamily. Her slightly pudgy face broke into a shy grin.
"Perfect!" James shouted, startling Alice.
She sputtered, "W-what?"
"That is exactly the young man whom your star maps told me you should go with!" James said with a grand flourish of his arms.
"Oh! Really?" Alice was very surprised, and relieved that she didn't have to disappoint, the very cute, but rather arrogant James.
"Yes! It seems fate is ahead of me!" he gave her a grand bow and strutted down the street to the Three Broomsticks, leaving behind a very puzzled Alice Marfunkle.
A faint glimmer caught and rested in the corner of James's eye. It made him turn his head and watch with wonder the two young ladies inside 'Young's Jewels and More!' James watched Lily pick up a ring with an emerald almost the size of a walnut and place it on the ring finger of her right hand. She smiled and looked at Maggie who was pushing her dark locks behind her to fasten a string of sapphires around her neck. All James could see was glittery rocks, nothing special. The girls were holding them in such high respect though.
All of this observation took place in the space of time it took first years to "swish and flick!". James hurried on, planning on asking Remus what was so special about Young's jewels . . . or any jewels for that matter. Remus knew these things, though he was a werewolf, he understood women extremely well. Remus's date for the ball would definitely have a wonderful time. So long as the ball wasn't on one of those special nights for Remus . . . James would have to check that out.
James stopped to rumple his hair and then sped through a group of sixth year Ravenclaw guys who were flirting with some fifth year Hufflepuffs. The nice Hufflepuffs' eyes were drawn away from the boys to follow the daring Gryffindor seeker for a few moments, but soon the girls were all for the smart Ravenclaws.
~-~-~-~-~
"All right Ladies." Came a melodic voice behind them. "What are you up to?"
Lily and Maggie froze in their glittery enjoyment to see the owner of 'Young's Jewels and More!' standing with her hands on her hips. Sarah Young was a shorter and rounder teenager than Lily or Maggie, but she also had an accent they couldn't place. She had a wide smile and dark brown eyes that seemed to know exactly what they were searching for.
"We are- er- we're" Maggie fumbled with her words, feeling she was going to be kicked from the store.
"I know what your doing!" Sarah said with a wink. "Please come this way. These might be a bit more suitable for ya'lls ball!"
Lily could no longer contain her curiosity as Sarah led them to another stand in her shop.
"How old are you?"
"Where I come from it is not polite to ask a lady her age," Sarah distractedly said while picking out some jewels from a case.
"I'm sorry." Lily mumbled, still curious.
Sarah studied Lily's face and smiled, "All right! Don't pout! And your name is . . .lemme guess . . . Deborah?" Sarah asked, seemingly avoiding Lily's question.
"No. It is Lily. And you're avoiding my question." Lily said, a grin growing on her face.
"Yep. Ya got me. I'm not a day older than you two." Sarah stated, turning to show Maggie and Lily the jewels she had chosen for them. "Now after you've picked your jaws up offa my floor, try these on."
Sarah handed the flabbergasted Lily the tray of goodies and left the shop's front room in a swish of scarlet robes through a curtain on the back wall. "Shout out if ya be needing me!" floated her voice through the curtain.
"She-she is sixteen AND owns her own shop!"
"I know Maggie!"
"Let's see what she picked out for us."
~-~-~-~-~-~
"Prongs! Over here!" Sirius was waving furiously through the masses of people in the Three Broomsticks.
"Where did you go?" Remus asked, sliding James a Butterbeer.
"I was doing a friend a favor." James chugged down half of his drink.
"Who are you asking? Remus won't tell me," Sirius sighed, "and Pete ol' buddy . . . I have no idea who you'll get to go with you!"
"Thanks for the support Padfoot." Peter said with a sarcastic smile.
"Any time worm butt." Sirius slapped Peter on the back.
"Worm butt?" Peter choked. "Why can't you just call me by my REAL nickname?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because."
"Because why!?"
"Because."
"BECAUSE BLOODY WHY!?" Peter's face was about to explode and Sirius was enjoying every moment of it.
"Peter! Come on. Calm down!" James whispered, trying not to attract any more attention from neighboring tables, they already had enough.
"FINE! I SEE HOW IT IS! JUST BECAUSE I'M A LITTLE SLOWER THAN YOU GUYS YOU THINK I'M STUPID AND NOT A REAL MEMBER! BLOODY FINE!"
Peter threw his drink to the floor with a crash and left the now perfectly silent Three Broomsticks. A house elf appeared from nowhere and began to mop up the glassy mess. Remus swallowed as the noise level began to pick up again.
(End Chapter 10)
(For The Goddess of Purple Coats who has faithfully written her beautiful fics and inspired me to write better, also thanks for listening to my advice.)
-The Trip to Hogsmeade-
The sun was shining down upon the backs of the students that were walking down the dusty road to Hogsmeade. It was perfect outside two days after the full moon. The snow had melted and believe it or not the students actually took off their cloaks in the warm sunshine. Lily's grandmother had lived through one of these years and had described it her as something called "Indian Winter" and it was very rare in this area of the globe. Nonetheless it was happening and James has happy about it because he wouldn't have to practice Quidditch in the snow after all.
Yesterday Professor McGonagall had rounded up the students and explained to them how they would be buying brooms again for the school. Unfortunately, the school could not afford to buy anyone personal brooms to replace the ones lost in the accident. Instead, the perpetrator would be asked for this sum of money, when he or she was caught, but it was still undergoing investigation. For now Hogwarts could only promise brooms by Tuesday of next week. So the students were somewhat cheerier as they tramped through the dust and mud on their way to order their ball costumes.
Lily still hadn't decided on what color to get her gown, Maggie had decided and was already going through the details.
"I want a royal blue dress, with violet and gold piping. I'll probably find some kind of gold and amethyst jewelry. Or no, sapphire jewelry! Or maybe just plain gold! I don't know!" had been the conversation Maggie held with herself the night they found out how they had to dress.
Lily threw her black cloak over her shoulder, and trudged along, glad to see the small wizarding town blossom into view as they rounded the last bend of the road. Lily sighed with pleasure; Hogsmeade was kind of like a home away from home. It was not nearly as big as London, but it was still a bustling little break in the scenery. Lily pulled her muggle camera from its pocket waited until the rest of the students were ahead of her. She smiled and pulled the viewfinder to her eye. The layout before her was a sight many would take for granted, but Lily knew how to capture it and make many people realize the beauty in simple and real life.
She fixed the focus and snapped a photograph of Hogsmeade, living and thriving, welcoming into it a stream of students, all of their backs to the camera. It was the perfect candid shot. Lily would put this in her closet. She stood there holding the mental image in her mind, when Maggie turned from the group. She waved and shouted at Lily to catch up. Lily laughed and ran through the beautiful late September weather, still reminiscing on the photo.
"What were you doing?" Maggie wanted to know, and then she saw the camera in Lily's right hand. "Oh. So, what did you shoot this time?"
"Hogsmeade and the students entering it." Lily said proudly.
"What? I don't get it. That happens all the time."
"I know! That's why I had to have a picture of it. When I'm old and grey, and my grandkids ask me 'What did Hogsmeade look like when you were a little girl?' I just have to show them this picture." Lily stated as though it were very obvious. Maggie rolled her eyes.
"What are they going to call you, 'Granny Lily'?" Maggie laughed at her own joke.
Lily remained serious and firmly said, "Yes."
"Okay, I'm sorry. It's just kind of funny to think of you as a grand parent!" Maggie said, fighting her giggles.
"Why?" Lily wanted to know.
"Because- well it is- it just is!" Maggie stuttered.
"Keep up please! Separate into one line according to your house and year. Beginning With seventh year Gryffindors and ending with the youngest Slytherin with us." Professor McGonagall commanded.
Lily scrutinized the small dwelling before her, it was painted a peeling blue and the sign that used to grace the shop was now titled and propped up against the house on the ground. Lily wondered why she hadn't noticed it before, then she realized because there wasn't much to notice. Lily also distinctly remembered Professor McGonagall saying something about a factory . . .
Lily hopped into the line with Maggie right in front of James, Sirius and Remus. Peter was pushed further back by Brett.
"Hey! No cutting!" Sirius mock whined at the girls.
The girls laughed and watched the eleven seventh year Gryffindors enter the shack. Maggie was now the head of the line, and Lily began to feel very nervous about her dress. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, it was James.
"Are you okay," he asked consolingly. "You look a bit green."
Lily laughed weakly, knowing fully that James was making that joke because of her vivid green eyes. "Actually," she began, but could not finish because Professor McGonagall was herding the twelve sixth year Gryffindors through the rusty door of the shack.
Lily blinked as they entered the dark front room; it was hard to see in the gloom. A stout older wizard smiled and separated the teens,
"Gentlemen to the right and ladies to the left."
Lily and Maggie walked through the curtain on the left and rubbed their eyes to make sure they were seeing correctly. There wee standing in a large, beautiful room with amber lighting and purple wall coverings. There were seven witches scattered about the room, knitting, sewing, and weaving beautiful fabrics. The witches looked up from their work and noticed the girls. Each one hopped up and ran over to the girls, picking which one they wanted to sew for. An older, gray haired witch with sparkling blue eyes claimed Maggie and a younger witch with long blonde hair and hazel eyes claimed Lily.
"Come over here." Lily's witch said.
Lily followed her to her work area and marveled at the plethora of rich fabrics.
"My name is Tabitha and I'll be your seamstress." She smiled at Lily.
"My name is Lily."
"It is?" Tabitha asked with wonder. "Then with your eye color and your name, we will have for you the best dress I know how to make." Tabitha smiled and lifted up fabrics, comparing them to Lily's skin and hair. Lily could hardly wait.
~-~-~-~-~-~
"Right this way Gentlemen." A deep bellowing voice said from behind a curtain of deep red velvet. A wizard threw aside the curtain and introduced himself,
"I am Mr. Coppertop, and this is where you will learn how the men of the sixteenth century dressed." Mr. Coppertop was a tall and well-built man, probably in his early forties. He surveyed the six boys before him. "It seems you are all Gryffindor! Perfect! I was a Gryffindor myself! I was a beater for the Quidditch team! Any of you play Quidditch?"
James, Bret and Eric Yhao slowly raised their hands, and Mr. Coppertop broke into a rumbling laugh that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him.
"Well then! Let us get started!"
He herded them behind the red curtain into a small room. Everything seemed to be crammed in there all of the men excepting a couple had to duck down below the low ceiling because of their size. White wall sconces lit the room and Mr. Coppertop pointed each boy to a man bending over a machine. James was directed to one of the shorter men, but, as far as James could tell, was still a force to be reckoned with.
"Hello Mr. Potter." The small wizard said without looking up.
"How did you know . . ." James trailed off.
"By your feet."
"Excuse me?"
The small man looked up at James with his dark brown eyes, and nodded. "Yes boy, by your feet. You and your father have he same feet. I see you have your mother's eyes and hair though." A large smile broke the man's face. James was clearly confused. The short man rose to his full height of 5' 2" and extended a hand,
"Frederick Figg is the name. I played Quidditch with your mother at Hogwarts."
"She played Quidditch?" James was REALLY confused now.
Frederick dropped his hand; "She doesn't have her trophies around the house at all? Has she never shown any interest in Quidditch?" James shook his head and Frederick sighed. He told James of what an amazing seeker his mother was as he began to walk around James and take his measurements.
James interjected, "You don't mean the replica of the Hogwarts Quidditch cup my mom has in her library do you?"
"The very one!" Frederick Figg's small face lit up. "Your father made that for her." Continued Frederick as he circled James taking his the size of his waist.
"All right!" Frederick stood up. "That shoud be it. Now I think that this deep red velvet with this simple black satin will do your outfit nicely. What do you think?"
James surveyed it, he guessed it was a nice fabric, "I don't really care. I just want to go to the ball." James said with a lopsided grin.
"I see." After a long pause of matching up some more fabrics, "Who are ya taking?"
"What?" James was caught off-guard.
"Who is the son of Tiffany and Edward Potter taking to the Queen Anne's Halloween ball?" he asked, drawing out each word.
"No one yet." James mumbled.
"No way!" Frederick shouted, accidentally sticking James with a pin.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry about that."
"Why did you say 'No way'?" James queried.
"Because your father had all of the girls falling for him and your mother was the same way. She had every boy walking up to her when they were told they were going to have a Valentine's dance."
"My parent's were the 'knockouts'? No way!" James laughed.
"Yes." Frederick smiled. "Okay, that should be it, you can go join your friends now."
Only then did James notice that he was the only student left in the room, he said bye and fled the teeny room.
~-~-~-~-~-~
"What took you so long, Prongs?"
"Sorry Padfoot. My costumer was an old family friend. He played Quidditch with my mom."
"Your mum played Quidditch?" Remus asked, astonished.
"Yeah! I didn't even know that!"
Sirius left out a small whistle and commented that he was hungry.
"Then let's go to the Three Broomsticks." Remus put in, understanding the feeling of an empty stomach.
"I'll be there in a little while chaps." James said distractedly staring down the street.
The other three boys stared down the High street in the same direction, and upon not seeing anything important, they looked at James to make sure he was James Potter. He was. So they shrugged and headed up the street as James walked in the opposite direction. He knew exactly what he wanted, and it had just walked into a teashop a little way down the street.
It couldn't hurt . . .
James straightened his robes and swallowed a huge breath . . . this was it. James walked into the shop and approached the table of seventh year Gryffindors. The girls looked up and acknowledged his presence, waiting on what this intruder would say.
"Miss Marfunkle, may see you outside for a moment?" James asked in his most business like manner.
Alice looked wide-eyed at James and solemnly followed James out the doors and past the windows so James couldn't watch the girls giggling inside.
"Miss Marfunkle--," James began.
"Alice," interjected Alice.
"Miss Marfunkle," James began again as though uninterrupted. "I have been consulting your star maps and I have found who you should go to the Queen's Halloween ball with."
Alice turned very red and began to shift from foot to foot, "I already am going with someone James. I'm sorry."
James paused in mid-thought. Did she think HE was asking HER to the ball?
Instead he asked, "And who would be the gentleman?" very curious.
"Frank Longbottom," she sighed dreamily. Her slightly pudgy face broke into a shy grin.
"Perfect!" James shouted, startling Alice.
She sputtered, "W-what?"
"That is exactly the young man whom your star maps told me you should go with!" James said with a grand flourish of his arms.
"Oh! Really?" Alice was very surprised, and relieved that she didn't have to disappoint, the very cute, but rather arrogant James.
"Yes! It seems fate is ahead of me!" he gave her a grand bow and strutted down the street to the Three Broomsticks, leaving behind a very puzzled Alice Marfunkle.
A faint glimmer caught and rested in the corner of James's eye. It made him turn his head and watch with wonder the two young ladies inside 'Young's Jewels and More!' James watched Lily pick up a ring with an emerald almost the size of a walnut and place it on the ring finger of her right hand. She smiled and looked at Maggie who was pushing her dark locks behind her to fasten a string of sapphires around her neck. All James could see was glittery rocks, nothing special. The girls were holding them in such high respect though.
All of this observation took place in the space of time it took first years to "swish and flick!". James hurried on, planning on asking Remus what was so special about Young's jewels . . . or any jewels for that matter. Remus knew these things, though he was a werewolf, he understood women extremely well. Remus's date for the ball would definitely have a wonderful time. So long as the ball wasn't on one of those special nights for Remus . . . James would have to check that out.
James stopped to rumple his hair and then sped through a group of sixth year Ravenclaw guys who were flirting with some fifth year Hufflepuffs. The nice Hufflepuffs' eyes were drawn away from the boys to follow the daring Gryffindor seeker for a few moments, but soon the girls were all for the smart Ravenclaws.
~-~-~-~-~
"All right Ladies." Came a melodic voice behind them. "What are you up to?"
Lily and Maggie froze in their glittery enjoyment to see the owner of 'Young's Jewels and More!' standing with her hands on her hips. Sarah Young was a shorter and rounder teenager than Lily or Maggie, but she also had an accent they couldn't place. She had a wide smile and dark brown eyes that seemed to know exactly what they were searching for.
"We are- er- we're" Maggie fumbled with her words, feeling she was going to be kicked from the store.
"I know what your doing!" Sarah said with a wink. "Please come this way. These might be a bit more suitable for ya'lls ball!"
Lily could no longer contain her curiosity as Sarah led them to another stand in her shop.
"How old are you?"
"Where I come from it is not polite to ask a lady her age," Sarah distractedly said while picking out some jewels from a case.
"I'm sorry." Lily mumbled, still curious.
Sarah studied Lily's face and smiled, "All right! Don't pout! And your name is . . .lemme guess . . . Deborah?" Sarah asked, seemingly avoiding Lily's question.
"No. It is Lily. And you're avoiding my question." Lily said, a grin growing on her face.
"Yep. Ya got me. I'm not a day older than you two." Sarah stated, turning to show Maggie and Lily the jewels she had chosen for them. "Now after you've picked your jaws up offa my floor, try these on."
Sarah handed the flabbergasted Lily the tray of goodies and left the shop's front room in a swish of scarlet robes through a curtain on the back wall. "Shout out if ya be needing me!" floated her voice through the curtain.
"She-she is sixteen AND owns her own shop!"
"I know Maggie!"
"Let's see what she picked out for us."
~-~-~-~-~-~
"Prongs! Over here!" Sirius was waving furiously through the masses of people in the Three Broomsticks.
"Where did you go?" Remus asked, sliding James a Butterbeer.
"I was doing a friend a favor." James chugged down half of his drink.
"Who are you asking? Remus won't tell me," Sirius sighed, "and Pete ol' buddy . . . I have no idea who you'll get to go with you!"
"Thanks for the support Padfoot." Peter said with a sarcastic smile.
"Any time worm butt." Sirius slapped Peter on the back.
"Worm butt?" Peter choked. "Why can't you just call me by my REAL nickname?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because."
"Because why!?"
"Because."
"BECAUSE BLOODY WHY!?" Peter's face was about to explode and Sirius was enjoying every moment of it.
"Peter! Come on. Calm down!" James whispered, trying not to attract any more attention from neighboring tables, they already had enough.
"FINE! I SEE HOW IT IS! JUST BECAUSE I'M A LITTLE SLOWER THAN YOU GUYS YOU THINK I'M STUPID AND NOT A REAL MEMBER! BLOODY FINE!"
Peter threw his drink to the floor with a crash and left the now perfectly silent Three Broomsticks. A house elf appeared from nowhere and began to mop up the glassy mess. Remus swallowed as the noise level began to pick up again.
(End Chapter 10)
(For The Goddess of Purple Coats who has faithfully written her beautiful fics and inspired me to write better, also thanks for listening to my advice.)
