Chapter 8 ~Shop till you Drop!
"The most satisfying thing is life is to have been able to give a large part of one's self to others."
~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The next day was Saturday and James, Lily, Mollie and Remus were chilling in the common room. Mollie, who was determined to win this bet, began badgering Lily and James about how the plan was going.
"So you guys, how're things going. That act yesterday was TERRIFIC! I can't believe how real that looked," she stated to them.
"Ah well you know, I guess we're just good actors," James replied uneasily.
"Yea, I guess. You guys seem a lot closer to each other too ya know? You aren't bickering at each other like you normally would," she pushed.
"Well, we've come to an agreement to try and be friends. I mean we've gotta be nice to each other or else this won't ever work the right way," Lily covered.
"Whatever!" Mollie sighed. Remus got a smug look on his face, which Mollie noticed and she scowled at him.
"Yea, I think that I saw Arabella gawking at you Jamesie boy," Remus said, trying to push his side of the bet forward.
"Really?" James asked, not quite engrossed but showing enough interest so they wouldn't suspect anything.
"Yea, she was giving you dirty looks," Remus said talking to Lily.
"Great!" Lily replied, trying to disguise her displeasure.
Mollie was getting very tweaked with Remus and his haughty looks at her. "Come on Lily, let's go to Hogsmeade. Leave these men to themselves," she said, seizing Lily's arm.
"Do you guys want to come?" Lily asked.
"NO! Lily we're gonna have some girl time," Mollie persisted while pulling Lily after her. After they left, Remus turned towards James.
"So Prongs, How does the plan go?" Remus asked.
"Well Moony, I believe it's going rather well. Every time she and I walk past Arabella, I can feel her glaring at me. But…"
"But what James?" Remus asked, trying to scare him out of talking.
"Never mind, just brambling on," James waved away and Remus inwardly sighed. He really wanted to win this bet if it was the last thing he did. He had some really good marauder-type ideas.
"So, what do you want to do James?" Remus asked warily.
"Well I haven't been Christmas shopping yet. I still have to get gifts for… two people," James replied counting in his head who he still needed to get something for. Sirius and Lily, what am I going to get for her. Well I figure that I'll find something if I just look around.
"Well then, let's go chief!" Remus said as he began to walk out of the common room.
"Wait a sec Moony, we gotta get our cloaks, it is December ya know!" James said as he walked up the staircase.
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"So, you and James are friends now? I never thought I'd she the day!" Mollie said, still trying to get the juicy stuff out of Lily.
"Yea, he's actually quite nice once you get to know him," Lily said nonchalantly.
"You know, he is kinda cute!" Mollie added, going into gossip mode.
"He's not ugly, I'll admit to that, but I still think Amos is MUCH sexier," Lily lied.
"Don't tell me that since you two have been 'going out' that you haven't thought of what he looks like underneath his robes!" she stated, trying to make Lily slip.
"Okay Mollie, James used to be my mortal enemy, would I think about him like that?"
"YES! I've done it," Mollie replied.
"MOL! Why?" Lily asked appalled.
"Hey, he's got a nice ass, what can I say?" she said calmly.
"I will give him that, he does have a nice butt," Lily said, giggling girlishly, "but, Amos' is better," she masked.
Damn! This girl knows how to cover! But I can sooooooooo tell she digs Potter! I'll make her slip sooner or later! Hopefully sooner rather than later. Something will crop up to make her screw up her little act and I'll be there when it happens. But I guess for now, I better lay off before she gets suspicious and questions why I'm behaving this way.
"You're right, Amos does have a nice arse, but enough about boys, let's do what we girls do best: SHOP!" Mollie commanded more than suggested.
"Good idea, I gotta get Christmas presents!" Lily said elatedly.
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James walked into a jewelry shop by himself. He had convinced Remus to stay behind at Zonko's with Sirius while he looked for his present. Luckily for him, Remus hadn't seen him walk into the shop or he would've known it wasn't something for one of the Marauders.
He started looking in the showcases, searching for the perfect gift for Lily. He didn't want to get her anything to gaudy, but nothing to unadorned either. It had to be just right. He walked towards the box with the bracelets but his eyes then caught sight of a small box in the center of the room. Inside were three different sets of jewelry. His eyes skimmed over the glass and stopped over the set just right for Lily.
The set consisted of a silver bangle bracelet, silver necklace and pair of earrings. Each piece of jewelry had the same charm on it, a very detailed lily. On the bracelet it hung kind of loosely and was a medium size. The necklace's charm was a little bit bigger, so as to show more. And the earrings were quite small. Next to it was a card that explained all about the collection.
Made in Ireland, this set is supposed to bring good luck to whoever wears it. The lily charms will change colors with the emotions the person is feeling. Normally a gift given by a lover, the charms will stop working if the person whom wears them stops loving the gift giver. Made by the most prestigious company in the wizarding world: Blarney Enterprises - 42 galleons, 5 sickles, and 8 knuts.
Green = relaxed
Blue = hurt/sorrow
Yellow = bliss
Purple = tense
Red = love
Orange = energized
Black = furious
Grey = mad
White = no more love for the giver
"May I help you sir?" came a feminine voice from directly behind him. James jumped with initial shock because he was absorbed in reading the card, but then he realized it was the clerk.
"Yes ma'am. I'd like very much to buy this lily collection," he replied.
"Ah, a very good selection," the clerk started as she began unlocking the case. "Blarney Enterprises has made some of the most exquisite pieces of jewelry we have here," she continued. "One of a kind, this collection is," she admired. "Let me just put these in a box and you can be on your way." She then walked behind the counter and James headed towards the register.
James laid the money on the counter as the clerk carefully placed the jewelry in its boxes. She handed them to James and he laid them tenderly in his Zonko's bag so no one would suspect anything. He was then on his way out the door and back to Zonko's to hang with the guys, frenziedly trying not to look suspicious.
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Lily and Mollie were window shopping around Hogsmeade when they crossed a store that neither of them had noticed before.
"W & W? How come I never heard of it before?" Lily asked Mollie.
"It's sort of like an el-cheapo store," Mollie said looking a little appalled. "Not many people shop there."
"Oh, so it's sort of like Wal-Mart," Lily said in realization. Mollie gave her an uncanny look. "Muggle store, let's go in."
"Lily, no, I'm not going to be seen in that store!" she exclaimed.
"Come on girly! If it's anything like the muggle stores then it'll have good stuff, cheap!" Lily said as she pulled her best friend in after her.
Lily was walking around the store. It was exactly like her muggle stores. It was huge, much bigger than it looked outside. Everything inside it was of great quality and it was not that pricey. Lily was astounded. She went over to the cosmetics section and couldn't believe her eyes. She looked over to Mollie and noticed that she looked like she'd just walked into a palace made of gold.
"I didn't know it was like this!" she said before she ran over and started grabbing anything and everything she could reach. Lily just shook her head at her crazed friend and went off to look for presents.
What am I going to get him? I can't think of ANYTHING! I hate shopping for men! You never know what they want. Then again, it's normally not hard. A few Zonko's products or candies, but I want to get him something different, something special, Lily thought.
She was walking down an aisle when something caught her eye. It was a book. An elegant dark leather bound book. Around the edges of it were golden designs for decoration. In the middle was a hole for a picture. It was beautiful.
Lily grabbed the book and opened it. Inside were about 100 blank pages. "It's a photo album and it's perfect!" Lily exclaimed. "He'll love it!" She placed it in her shopping basket and went on shopping.
When she was done, she went to look for Mollie. She went to the next aisle and found her by the hair care products. Next to her were two full baskets of make up and one of hair care. She had one in her hand that was already half full with more.
"Having fun?" Lily asked, making Mollie jump.
"God you scared me! Hell yes! I never knew this place had so much!" she said.
"So, glad I brought you in here?" Lily asked wanting her to admit she was wrong, which she never did.
"Yes, for once I was wr- I was… I-"
"You were wrong," Lily laughed.
"Yes okay, I was wrong! Happy? I said it for you!" Mollie half shouted.
"Yes! It was the best early Christmas gift I could have gotten!" Lily joked.
"Really? Well in that case, I'll just return what I got you," Mollie retorted.
"Oh no you don't! I got you something good, now you better get me something just as good!" Lily said, thinking she was serious.
"Calm down silly! I've already got it so there's no need to worry," Mollie reassured her.
"Well that's a relief. Now come on, I wanna go to the Three Broomsticks before we leave," Lily said.
"Okay, let me just finish here," Mollie said as she grabbed one of everything until her forth basket was filled. Lily just laughed at her.
When they reached the Three Broomsticks, James invited them to sit with him and the Marauders. The girls happily obliged. When Remus saw Mollie's many bags from W & W he chuckled a little.
"So, Mollie, you went all out huh?" he asked her.
"I couldn't help it! It's only my nature to go hog wild when it comes to shopping!" she replied back. The whole table erupted in laughter.
"Yea, I guess you're just like Sirius here when he gets inside of Zonko's," James said.
"Hey! I resent that!" Sirius pretended to be hurt and the table laughed again.
"Oh calm down ya baby!" James told him. "Butterbeer Lily?"
"Yes, thank you," Lily replied. James ordered them both a butterbeer and they drank happily.
"So," James started, "What did you get Lily?" he asked while trying to peek into he bag.
"Stuff," Lily responded as she snatched the bag out of his reach.
"Anything for me?" he asked.
"Maybe," Lily said, trying to make him curious. "What did you get?" she asked him. James pulled up a Zonko's bag from under the table. "I should have known nothing but crap!"
"It's not crap!" he defended. "Some of its Christmas presents."
"Yea, okay," Lily said and they continued their conversation like that.
"So Sanders, did she say anything yet?" Remus whispered in Mollie's ear.
"No, but I know she does! You can tell by the way she looks at him. Did Potter say anything?" Mollie whispered back.
"Now why would I tell you? But to answer you, no he didn't," he said, leaving out the part where James had faltered.
"You can tell they do, I mean look at them," Mollie said. "Lily has a certain sparkle in her eyes when she's around him. She never hat that sparkle before, no even when she was thinking about Amos,"
"Yes, they may love each other, but… will they admit it? Now, like I said before, if I know James, he won't admit a damn thing," Remus explained.
"Well, all they need is a little persuading," Mollie said mischievously.
"You've only got five days left, five days," Remus said as he pulled away from the conversation and starting one with Sirius.
Mollie began observing Lily and James. Lily looked so happy. She was laughing at one of James' jokes, her eyes dancing as they looked at James lovingly. I've known Lily for five years and she's not that good at acting. She can't even lie to a teacher, let alone the whole school! Lying is practically the same thing as acting. Besides, no one's so good at acting that they can fake that look at anyone, especially if they used to hate them. Now all I need to do is get her to admit she's not faking it, Mollie thought to herself. Even James has that look in his eye! They both feel the same way, now they need to admit it damn it!
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Authors Note ~ I hope you guys like this chapter and all the other ones. I didn't really get many reviews for the last chapie. I know you guys can do better than that. I'll try and write more as soon as possible. Not like I have much to do this summer. Please please be good readers and REVIEW!!!!
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