Chapter ten: Madam Lucinda
The week went by quite quickly for all of the Marauders. James had got top marks (O's) in all his assessments along with Sirius, Remus had also got, almost top marks, but he had a few E's (Second Best (B)) but Peter, well. Peter had come of with quite bad marks, his best was an E, but, as James said to cheer him up, at least he didn't get any T's. Before they knew it, it was Thursday afternoon, and they had just exited their last class (Potions). "I'm never going to understand a forgetfulness potion," Peter complained to the rest of the Marauders.
"Well, to be honest, you wouldn't, you see James," Sirius said putting an emphasis on James's name, "Well, he decided to put a little of his potion in to your drink, you know, to test it" Sirius continued,
"James!" Peter wailed, "Awwwww, how could you" he wailed again.
"I'm sorry, mate" James said. James spent most of the night apologising to Peter while Peter tried to make up the remedy, then Peter became even madder at him when James told him,
"Wormtail, I already made you an antidote. I made it just encase my potion worked"
"Oh, thanks for telling me, James" Peter said, James knew he was mad at him; he always called him by his real name when he was really mad at him. They all called each other by their real names, if they were mad enough at each other.
"I did tell you! About three hours ago, but you said you were busy and to go away" James protested
"Oh, and when do you ever listen to me?" Peter shouted back to him, "If you were a good friend you would have shoved it down my throat" Peter shouted again.
"Oh, so what are you saying, I'm not a good friend, well fine, see if I care, I've got better things to be doing than trying to help you!" James shouted. James was well known for his quick temper, it got him in a lot of trouble with teachers, and Peter. Remus and Sirius, though, both knew when to stop winding James up, or when to stop having a go at him, since they both knew that James would do something he would regret, and they too, would regret it.
"Oh, and I'll do you a favour, if your so keen on me sticking something down your throat, how about I stick this down your throat" James said, waving his wand to try and threaten Peter
"Oh, so my best mate is now threatening me then?" Peter asked, trying to stay cool, but the colour had rose in his cheeks and he had just gulped very loudly, indicating that he knew fine well that James was threatening him, and he was scared to death.
"Your best mate? Who's that, remember, I'm not a proper friend, but apart from that, yeah. Yeah, I'm threatening you!" James said, "So watch your step, Peter," James said, making his wand emit a huge bang, scaring the contents of the Gryffindor common room, including Peter. Later that night, Peter and James still weren't talking to each other. James was the type who would have a huge go at someone, but forget about it in the space of an hour or two, Peter on the other hand. Well, Peter didn't forget easily, and although people usually apologised to him after a while, it would take Peter the course of a week to make friends with them again, and another week to be on proper speaking terms with them. So you could say James had the memory of a fly, when it came to forgetting arguments. Peter though had the memory of an elephant, and, 'elephants never forget'. By the next morning, James and Peter still weren't talking to ach other, James had decided to stop begging Peter to be friends with him, and he said 'It wasn't worth the hassle.'
"What are we going to do when we go to Hogsmeade?" James overheard Remus ask Sirius, "The trip is in less than two hours"
"Well, I suppose we could split up, you know, let Lily go about with Prongs and Penny with Wormtail, I mean, its either that or leaving them two together, and I don't want to be known as the three Marauders just yet" Sirius said grimly
"I know, if Peter even says one thing wrong James will have his wand on him in a millisecond, you know what he's like" Remus said getting up and looking out of the window. "He wont do anything rash, not if were there. Anyways, he values Wormtail's friendship to much, he would threaten, but never act on it" Sirius said
"That's what we said last time" Remus said gravely, turning back to Sirius, "anyways, we better go wake him up" he added in, James made a movement down the stairs, pretending he didn't hear the conversation. "Morning" He said brightly. Both Sirius and Remus pretended they didn't have a conversation and so did James. Soon they were in the common room after breakfast, with half an hour to go before the trip to Hogsmeade, "I'm going to get ready" Sirius said, Remus, Peter and James all followed in suit. The boys took fifteen minuets to get ready, even though all they were doing was putting on some muggle clothes. They were all wearing a pair of slightly baggy jeans, but all in slightly different colours and different coloured shirts. James was wearing a brown shirt, bringing out his eyes, and a pair of dark blue baggy jeans, Sirius had decided to wear a black shirt, as he said it made him, "It makes me look, good, in fact. It makes me look, great!" and he too was wearing baggy jeans, but they were a lighter shade of blue. Peter was dressed in a Blue shirt and slightly green coloured, baggy jeans. Remus was dressed in a Green shirt with black baggy jeans. All in all, they looked casual, but smart, "Now remind me, why are we getting dressed up again?" Remus asked,
"Because, James has a date, so does Peter, and I don't know about you, but I plan to get a proper date as well" Sirius said. Remus just sighed, and nodded.
"You coming down?" Sirius asked them, they all murmured in agreement, and followed him. The boys made them selves comfy and sat on the couch, waiting for the girls, Penny was first to come down from the girls staircase, "Hey, Peter" she said in a really girly voice, "Hi, Penny, ready to go?" Peter replied, James noticed that Peter had a newfound confidence now that he was with Penny, or was it because he wasn't a friend to James anymore? He asked himself, that reminded him, "Hey, Peter, before you go, can I have a quick, private word with you?" James asked Peter standing up. Peter obviously didn't want to make a scene in front of his date, so he agreed, "Look, man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of jumped down your throat, nor should I of even thought to put that potion in your drink, I am really sorry" James pleaded. Yeah Peter could be a bit of a pain, but who isn't, I mean, so could Sirius and Remus, but he couldn't lose any of his friends, not if he could help it anyway.
"Okay, its cool, are we cool?" Peter asked,
"Yeah, were cool, now go get your girlfriend!" James said
"She isn't my girlfriend!" Peter sad blushing slightly
"That's my point, go get her to be" James said, winking then, walking over to the rest of the group.
"Oh, by the way, Lily, Lou and Laura said they would just be a minuet, something about Lou not being able to fix her cloak clasp or something" Penny told the group,
"Oh, thanks for telling us" Remus said, grinning.
"No problem, are you coming Peter?" Penny asked
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later" Peter said out loud, then he mouthed, "Much later" making the boys go into fits of silent laughter. Next to come down the stairs, was Laura and Lily. Laura was wearing a light pink tube top, with an ankle length denim skirt and a pair of blue kitten heels. Her toenails were painted blue and they sparkled as she moved, they matched her skirt and sandals. Her blonde/brown hair hung loose, just below her shoulders and the sun glistened on it, making the natural highlights show more than ever. Laura flashed a nervous smile at the boys, before coming down the stairs to talk to them. Lily was wearing a purple crop top with a knee length emerald green skirt, which bought out the colour of her eyes more than ever. She had a pair of black kitten heels on, and her toenails were painted purple to match her crop top, her hair was tied up in a ponytail at the back, she too flashed a nervous smile and went to talk to the boys, "Lou was having trouble getting her cloak off, so she's still trying to get it off now," Laura explained sitting down.
"Why's she trying to get it off?" Sirius asked
"Because she thinks it doesn't go with her outfit" Laura explained, rolling her eyes.
"By the way, you both look great" James said, the girls blushed,
"Thanks, you lot look great too" Lily said.
"Yeah, thanks" Laura said shyly
"God, I hate that flipping cloak so much" Lou said from the top of the stairs. Lou was wearing an off the shoulder baby blue top, and a white pencil skirt, and a pair of white kitten heels. Lou, like Laura and Lily, had her toenails painted, and they were a pinkie, sparkly colour. She had her blonde hair loose like Laura's, only hers went down to her back. Lou was carrying three denim jackets, all of which were light shades; one a light shade of blue, one a light shade of pink, and the last was a light shade of purple. "Oh thanks Lou" Laura said, grinning at her friend and taking the blue denim jacket. Lily also took a jacket, the purple one, and thanked Lou, leaving her to put on the blue one,
"No problem, I didn't want to be a loner, you know, the only one wearing a jacket" Lou laughed, "Sorry I took so long," She added
"No problem" They all said.
"Shall we go then?" Sirius asked, looking into Laura's eyes, she blinked and blushed,
"Yeah, sure" She said Lily whispered something into Lou's ear, and she laughed and nodded, then Lily whispered something else into her ear, and Lou looked sternly at her and said,
"I don't think so." They arrived at Hogsmeade at twelve o'clock; they only just caught the last coach, Lily was very quiet on the way to Hogsmeade, but she didn't tell any of the boys why.
"So, what are we doing?" Laura asked when she had hopped off the coach,
"Well, what ever it is, I'm doing it with Lily" James said winking at her, Lily just shook her head and sighed,
"Well, that's that settled then, Lily and James can go somewhere, and we can go somewhere else," Lou said looking hopefully at the rest of the group, as if to say, well, what do you think.
"Well, I was kinnda only joking, but you know, it is high on my priority list" James said winking at Lily again, who again, sighed and rolled her eyes,
"Great, well, we'll see you late then" Lou said, leaving them to it,
"Hey, hold on. How come me and Lily have to go together, not that I'm complaining, but, I think you four should split up as well" James said
"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Lily said smirking, the smile on Lou's face faded,
"Why would we do that?" Lou said, trying to laugh
"Because if we have to split up, so do you!" Lily said
"Fine, me and Lou will go together and Sirius and Remus can go together," Laura said. Lily gave her and Lou a stern look,
"Okay fine, who's going with whom?" Lou asked the group,
"Don't mind," Laura said
"Me neither" Remus said
"Well, I'll go with Laura, if that's okay with you" Sirius said bluntly. Laura blushed,
"Yeah, sure" she said
"You okay with me?" Remus asked half jokingly
"Yeah, that's great" Lou said
"Right, so shall we meet back at Hogwarts or round about here?" Laura asked,
"Wherever" Lou said
"Okay, well just meet up at the three broomsticks for a butter-bear?" Laura suggested. There was a murmur of agreement, they finally agreed on a time, and went there separate ways.
"You don't really mind me going about with you do you?" James asked Lily, while peering into a shop window,
"No, of course not, if I minded, then I wouldn't of let Lou trick me into it, she has a habit of doing that" Laura laughed.
"Yeah. I noticed" James admitted. James and Lily got everything they needed from the shops, and to James surprise; Lily went happily into Zonco's, "I thought you didn't like pranks and stuff" James said to Lily, after he bought some dungbombs,
"No, I never said that, I just said that I didn't like having them used on, me" Lily corrected him. James noticed there was a new shop opened, Florean Fortescue, it was a new ice cream parlour, "What your favourite ice cream flavour?" James asked Lily, hoping she hadn't seen the ice cream place,
"Chocolate, why?" She asked
"No reason, just wondering. Oh I need to go get something, will you stay here for a moment?" James asked Lily,
"Erm, yeah, sure" She said, sitting down on one of the benches near by. James went rushing off and bought Lily and himself an ice cream. James got a vanilla one, and James obviously got Lily a chocolate one. When he got back to Lily, she was looking around to see where he had gone, "Where'd you go?" She asked him, James pulled out the ice cream from behind his back and handed it to her,
"Oh, James, you shouldn't have" Lily gushed. James and Lily ate their ice creams in silence, and then Lily said something making James jump in shock,
"Sorry,"
"What for?" James asked
"For being so nasty to you. I guess I never gave you a chance, and I should have" Lily said, looking at her feet.
"Don't worry about it, I can be an idiot. I know I am, it's okay" James assured her,
"Thanks" she said, kissing him on the cheek, James blushed and smiled,
"What was that for?" He asked, "Not that I'm complaining of course" He added in. Lily laughed,
"For being a good friend when I need one" James laughed to himself, him, a good friend, Lily knew perfectly well that he fancied her crazy, but in the long run, he still wasn't complaining.
"Do you want to go get a drink?" James asked Lily about half an hour after his kiss on the cheek, (which he was still reliving the memory of.)
"Yeah, I'd love to, where?" She asked,
"Well, I know this little place," James said, he took her hand, and preyed that she wouldn't pull it away, she didn't, but she did blush. James led her to a place off a little alleyway, the place had the lettering: Madam Lucinda's, written on it, "Oh, this is so cute James," Lily squealed, "I never even knew this place existed!" She said. James smiled. The one thing James liked about this place is that it was small, friendly and pretty. There was no hanging around, or any people on the wrong side of the tracks; it was just a great place. James had been with quite a few girls, but he had never taken any of them to this place, this place was special, just like the girl who he was with now. James and Lily got a drink, and Lily kicked up a bit of a fuss when James paid, "You paid for the ice cream, can I please pay for this, if not then I'll feel although I'm in debt to you!" Lily hissed
"That's the point," James said handing Madam Lucinda some silver. Lily blushed at his comment but made no more fuss about the money. They both talked for sometime, about everything, James now knew Lily's favourite film, colour, animal, class, food, everything. James found that the more he spent with Lily Evans, the more he found himself falling out of a crush, and into love. After they had finished their drinks, and could find no more reason for staying in the pretty little café, they made their way outside. The café was on a quiet little lane, with pretty houses and big gardens, full of mostly roses and bright coloured flowers. James and Lily sat down on the bench, since they decided that it was to late to go anywhere else, before meeting up with the rest of the group. "Look, James, I really meant it when I said I was sorry, I suppose I've seen a whole different side to you today, and over this summer" Lily said. James wondered, is she hinting, should I try to kiss her? What if that ruined the special bond they had just made, should he risk it? He didn't know, all he knew is that he was falling in love with Lily Evans and that he really wanted to kiss her, her voice bought him out of his thoughts, "I'm so glad I spent the day with you, James" Lily said, if that wasn't a hint then James didn't know what was, he smiled, "Me too" he said quietly, "Me too" He repeated. James looked Lily in the eyes,
"You've got really pretty eyes" James stated moving closer to Lily, smiled,
"Thanks," she said, before tilting her head into meet James lips and kissing she him softly. So, this is what it feels like to kiss the girl of my dreams, James thought, it sure was a good feeling. He had kissed tons of girls before, but with none did he ever feel this way. Lily pulled away, James didn't want it to stop, but he to pulled away, "You have nice eyes too" Lily said to James, and she smile, James had never properly noticed it before, but Lily had the nicest smile he had ever seen, and the nicest eyes.
"We better get back" James said to Lily,
"Yeah," She agreed, they walked hand in hand back through the pretty lane, back through the street of Hogsmeade, and into the Three Broomsticks. No one was there yet, when they looked around the pub. Lily and James sat down, they started to talk, again, then kiss, then talk again, they finally stopped talking ten minuets later when Remus and Lou walked in, they weren't holding hands, but they were talking fondly, "Shame" Lily whispered,
"What is?" James asked confused
"What is?" James asked confused
"I was hoping I could get those two together. Oh well, never mind" Lily said
"Yeah, I had that hope too" James said.
"Heya," Lou said in her normal bubbly, optimistic voice "Have a good day?" She asked, sitting down opposite the couple, Lily and James grinned,
"Yeah, you could say it was a good day," James said holding Lily's hand under the table. "How was your day?" James asked Lou and Remus, Lou and Remus both looked at each other,
"Alright, I guess" Lou said with a straight face,
"Yeah, alright" Remus said with a smile on his face, James looked at them both as if they were hiding something.
"Sirius and Laura not here yet?" Lou asked
"Nope," Lily said. The group talked for about five minuets, until the door to the pub opened again. Sirius walked in with his usual elegant walk, but this time something was different, this time he had a girl attached to him, this time, he had his arm round Laura, who looked extremely embarrassed about making such a scene on their entrance. They both sat down, Laura next to Lou and Sirius next to James, "So, how was you day?" Lou asked them brightly, Laura went beet red, and Sirius grinned, "Alright" he said causally,
"Is anyone thirsty?" Laura asked the table, quickly changing the subject
"Yeah, a bit" The girls said, not wanting to put too much pressure on Laura,
"Okay, cool, I'll go get some butter-bears," Laura said,
"We'll come too," Lily said, dragging Lou to her feet and pulling her over to the bar.
"Okay then, what happened?" James demanded
"Well, we just found out me and Laura are soul mates, and lets just say, we got together, and we got err, what's the word, oh yeah, we got caught doing something we shouldn't be doing in the play park down the road, you know, the ones that has all the little kids in it" Sirius said looking over at the girls, "Oh my God, you never, that's so cool," Lou was saying rather loudly,
"Lou," Lily snapped, "That's setting a bad example" Lily told her, Lou looked as thought she ignored Lily's advice, as she went on talking to Laura, but slightly quieter, so no one could hear.
"Err, Padfoot, what may I ask were you doing in the park?" Remus asked with caution,
"Oh, nothing like that, we just got caught kissing, and you know what the security is like there," Sirius said offhandedly. The boys laughed and chatted about what happened during the day. James told them about Lily, and they were just about to go on to Remus's day, when the girls came back. They placed the drinks on the table, and sat down. Lily and Laura both had identical smiles on, the type which looks like I you speak, your going to die of laughter, Lou though, didn't, she was acting as though nothing was different, even thought she had just shouted out half of Laura's love life to the pub. They all made there way back up to the castle at around about six o'clock. Lily and James, hand in hand and Sirius had his arm around Laura's shoulder, with her hand around his waist. Remus and Lou were just walking normally, not hand in hand, or anything. Dinner that night was filling. By the time they were in the common room later that night, Sirius and Laura had made plans to stay at each other's side throughout the weekend, and so had Lily and James, leaving Remus and Lou together. "You don't mind do you?" Lily asked Lou,
"No, no, of course not, why should I care?" Lou asked sarcastically, Lily went to say something else, but Lou cut in, "Don't bother, its fine, its cool" Lou said, but she still had a cold, icy frost to her voice. By the end of the night, when the girls said they were going to bed, Lou still wasn't back to her bubbly self, she didn't snap at anyone, she just didn't talk much, she just sat there, reading her Divination book, and when she did talk, her voice sounded colder, not as inviting, as her usual one.
"She'll be fine tomorrow" Laura assured Remus before they went to bed
"Yeah, she just gets like this when we lave her out, she thinks we'll abandon her, like Sa-" Lily cut off, "Never mind, it doesn't matter, night" Lily said quickly. Laura bit her lip and glared at Lily,
"I didn't mean to" Lily whispered so only James could hear it faintly. Soon after the girls had gone to bed, Peter came into the common room, with Penny; he kissed her and watched as she went up the stairs to her room, "Where have you been all this time?" Sirius joked
"Hogsmeade" Peter said laughing, "I'm a knackered, night guy's," He said to them yawning,
"I bet you are," Sirius said quietly so only James and Remus could hear him; they both snickered at Sirius's comment. The rest of the boys soon followed lead and went to bed. James couldn't get to sleep, he was so excited about the weekend, spending it with Lily Evans, sure, he felt a bit bad for Moony not having fun with the lads, but this was Lily, the Love of his life. On that thought he fell in to a deep slumber.
The week went by quite quickly for all of the Marauders. James had got top marks (O's) in all his assessments along with Sirius, Remus had also got, almost top marks, but he had a few E's (Second Best (B)) but Peter, well. Peter had come of with quite bad marks, his best was an E, but, as James said to cheer him up, at least he didn't get any T's. Before they knew it, it was Thursday afternoon, and they had just exited their last class (Potions). "I'm never going to understand a forgetfulness potion," Peter complained to the rest of the Marauders.
"Well, to be honest, you wouldn't, you see James," Sirius said putting an emphasis on James's name, "Well, he decided to put a little of his potion in to your drink, you know, to test it" Sirius continued,
"James!" Peter wailed, "Awwwww, how could you" he wailed again.
"I'm sorry, mate" James said. James spent most of the night apologising to Peter while Peter tried to make up the remedy, then Peter became even madder at him when James told him,
"Wormtail, I already made you an antidote. I made it just encase my potion worked"
"Oh, thanks for telling me, James" Peter said, James knew he was mad at him; he always called him by his real name when he was really mad at him. They all called each other by their real names, if they were mad enough at each other.
"I did tell you! About three hours ago, but you said you were busy and to go away" James protested
"Oh, and when do you ever listen to me?" Peter shouted back to him, "If you were a good friend you would have shoved it down my throat" Peter shouted again.
"Oh, so what are you saying, I'm not a good friend, well fine, see if I care, I've got better things to be doing than trying to help you!" James shouted. James was well known for his quick temper, it got him in a lot of trouble with teachers, and Peter. Remus and Sirius, though, both knew when to stop winding James up, or when to stop having a go at him, since they both knew that James would do something he would regret, and they too, would regret it.
"Oh, and I'll do you a favour, if your so keen on me sticking something down your throat, how about I stick this down your throat" James said, waving his wand to try and threaten Peter
"Oh, so my best mate is now threatening me then?" Peter asked, trying to stay cool, but the colour had rose in his cheeks and he had just gulped very loudly, indicating that he knew fine well that James was threatening him, and he was scared to death.
"Your best mate? Who's that, remember, I'm not a proper friend, but apart from that, yeah. Yeah, I'm threatening you!" James said, "So watch your step, Peter," James said, making his wand emit a huge bang, scaring the contents of the Gryffindor common room, including Peter. Later that night, Peter and James still weren't talking to each other. James was the type who would have a huge go at someone, but forget about it in the space of an hour or two, Peter on the other hand. Well, Peter didn't forget easily, and although people usually apologised to him after a while, it would take Peter the course of a week to make friends with them again, and another week to be on proper speaking terms with them. So you could say James had the memory of a fly, when it came to forgetting arguments. Peter though had the memory of an elephant, and, 'elephants never forget'. By the next morning, James and Peter still weren't talking to ach other, James had decided to stop begging Peter to be friends with him, and he said 'It wasn't worth the hassle.'
"What are we going to do when we go to Hogsmeade?" James overheard Remus ask Sirius, "The trip is in less than two hours"
"Well, I suppose we could split up, you know, let Lily go about with Prongs and Penny with Wormtail, I mean, its either that or leaving them two together, and I don't want to be known as the three Marauders just yet" Sirius said grimly
"I know, if Peter even says one thing wrong James will have his wand on him in a millisecond, you know what he's like" Remus said getting up and looking out of the window. "He wont do anything rash, not if were there. Anyways, he values Wormtail's friendship to much, he would threaten, but never act on it" Sirius said
"That's what we said last time" Remus said gravely, turning back to Sirius, "anyways, we better go wake him up" he added in, James made a movement down the stairs, pretending he didn't hear the conversation. "Morning" He said brightly. Both Sirius and Remus pretended they didn't have a conversation and so did James. Soon they were in the common room after breakfast, with half an hour to go before the trip to Hogsmeade, "I'm going to get ready" Sirius said, Remus, Peter and James all followed in suit. The boys took fifteen minuets to get ready, even though all they were doing was putting on some muggle clothes. They were all wearing a pair of slightly baggy jeans, but all in slightly different colours and different coloured shirts. James was wearing a brown shirt, bringing out his eyes, and a pair of dark blue baggy jeans, Sirius had decided to wear a black shirt, as he said it made him, "It makes me look, good, in fact. It makes me look, great!" and he too was wearing baggy jeans, but they were a lighter shade of blue. Peter was dressed in a Blue shirt and slightly green coloured, baggy jeans. Remus was dressed in a Green shirt with black baggy jeans. All in all, they looked casual, but smart, "Now remind me, why are we getting dressed up again?" Remus asked,
"Because, James has a date, so does Peter, and I don't know about you, but I plan to get a proper date as well" Sirius said. Remus just sighed, and nodded.
"You coming down?" Sirius asked them, they all murmured in agreement, and followed him. The boys made them selves comfy and sat on the couch, waiting for the girls, Penny was first to come down from the girls staircase, "Hey, Peter" she said in a really girly voice, "Hi, Penny, ready to go?" Peter replied, James noticed that Peter had a newfound confidence now that he was with Penny, or was it because he wasn't a friend to James anymore? He asked himself, that reminded him, "Hey, Peter, before you go, can I have a quick, private word with you?" James asked Peter standing up. Peter obviously didn't want to make a scene in front of his date, so he agreed, "Look, man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of jumped down your throat, nor should I of even thought to put that potion in your drink, I am really sorry" James pleaded. Yeah Peter could be a bit of a pain, but who isn't, I mean, so could Sirius and Remus, but he couldn't lose any of his friends, not if he could help it anyway.
"Okay, its cool, are we cool?" Peter asked,
"Yeah, were cool, now go get your girlfriend!" James said
"She isn't my girlfriend!" Peter sad blushing slightly
"That's my point, go get her to be" James said, winking then, walking over to the rest of the group.
"Oh, by the way, Lily, Lou and Laura said they would just be a minuet, something about Lou not being able to fix her cloak clasp or something" Penny told the group,
"Oh, thanks for telling us" Remus said, grinning.
"No problem, are you coming Peter?" Penny asked
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later" Peter said out loud, then he mouthed, "Much later" making the boys go into fits of silent laughter. Next to come down the stairs, was Laura and Lily. Laura was wearing a light pink tube top, with an ankle length denim skirt and a pair of blue kitten heels. Her toenails were painted blue and they sparkled as she moved, they matched her skirt and sandals. Her blonde/brown hair hung loose, just below her shoulders and the sun glistened on it, making the natural highlights show more than ever. Laura flashed a nervous smile at the boys, before coming down the stairs to talk to them. Lily was wearing a purple crop top with a knee length emerald green skirt, which bought out the colour of her eyes more than ever. She had a pair of black kitten heels on, and her toenails were painted purple to match her crop top, her hair was tied up in a ponytail at the back, she too flashed a nervous smile and went to talk to the boys, "Lou was having trouble getting her cloak off, so she's still trying to get it off now," Laura explained sitting down.
"Why's she trying to get it off?" Sirius asked
"Because she thinks it doesn't go with her outfit" Laura explained, rolling her eyes.
"By the way, you both look great" James said, the girls blushed,
"Thanks, you lot look great too" Lily said.
"Yeah, thanks" Laura said shyly
"God, I hate that flipping cloak so much" Lou said from the top of the stairs. Lou was wearing an off the shoulder baby blue top, and a white pencil skirt, and a pair of white kitten heels. Lou, like Laura and Lily, had her toenails painted, and they were a pinkie, sparkly colour. She had her blonde hair loose like Laura's, only hers went down to her back. Lou was carrying three denim jackets, all of which were light shades; one a light shade of blue, one a light shade of pink, and the last was a light shade of purple. "Oh thanks Lou" Laura said, grinning at her friend and taking the blue denim jacket. Lily also took a jacket, the purple one, and thanked Lou, leaving her to put on the blue one,
"No problem, I didn't want to be a loner, you know, the only one wearing a jacket" Lou laughed, "Sorry I took so long," She added
"No problem" They all said.
"Shall we go then?" Sirius asked, looking into Laura's eyes, she blinked and blushed,
"Yeah, sure" She said Lily whispered something into Lou's ear, and she laughed and nodded, then Lily whispered something else into her ear, and Lou looked sternly at her and said,
"I don't think so." They arrived at Hogsmeade at twelve o'clock; they only just caught the last coach, Lily was very quiet on the way to Hogsmeade, but she didn't tell any of the boys why.
"So, what are we doing?" Laura asked when she had hopped off the coach,
"Well, what ever it is, I'm doing it with Lily" James said winking at her, Lily just shook her head and sighed,
"Well, that's that settled then, Lily and James can go somewhere, and we can go somewhere else," Lou said looking hopefully at the rest of the group, as if to say, well, what do you think.
"Well, I was kinnda only joking, but you know, it is high on my priority list" James said winking at Lily again, who again, sighed and rolled her eyes,
"Great, well, we'll see you late then" Lou said, leaving them to it,
"Hey, hold on. How come me and Lily have to go together, not that I'm complaining, but, I think you four should split up as well" James said
"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Lily said smirking, the smile on Lou's face faded,
"Why would we do that?" Lou said, trying to laugh
"Because if we have to split up, so do you!" Lily said
"Fine, me and Lou will go together and Sirius and Remus can go together," Laura said. Lily gave her and Lou a stern look,
"Okay fine, who's going with whom?" Lou asked the group,
"Don't mind," Laura said
"Me neither" Remus said
"Well, I'll go with Laura, if that's okay with you" Sirius said bluntly. Laura blushed,
"Yeah, sure" she said
"You okay with me?" Remus asked half jokingly
"Yeah, that's great" Lou said
"Right, so shall we meet back at Hogwarts or round about here?" Laura asked,
"Wherever" Lou said
"Okay, well just meet up at the three broomsticks for a butter-bear?" Laura suggested. There was a murmur of agreement, they finally agreed on a time, and went there separate ways.
"You don't really mind me going about with you do you?" James asked Lily, while peering into a shop window,
"No, of course not, if I minded, then I wouldn't of let Lou trick me into it, she has a habit of doing that" Laura laughed.
"Yeah. I noticed" James admitted. James and Lily got everything they needed from the shops, and to James surprise; Lily went happily into Zonco's, "I thought you didn't like pranks and stuff" James said to Lily, after he bought some dungbombs,
"No, I never said that, I just said that I didn't like having them used on, me" Lily corrected him. James noticed there was a new shop opened, Florean Fortescue, it was a new ice cream parlour, "What your favourite ice cream flavour?" James asked Lily, hoping she hadn't seen the ice cream place,
"Chocolate, why?" She asked
"No reason, just wondering. Oh I need to go get something, will you stay here for a moment?" James asked Lily,
"Erm, yeah, sure" She said, sitting down on one of the benches near by. James went rushing off and bought Lily and himself an ice cream. James got a vanilla one, and James obviously got Lily a chocolate one. When he got back to Lily, she was looking around to see where he had gone, "Where'd you go?" She asked him, James pulled out the ice cream from behind his back and handed it to her,
"Oh, James, you shouldn't have" Lily gushed. James and Lily ate their ice creams in silence, and then Lily said something making James jump in shock,
"Sorry,"
"What for?" James asked
"For being so nasty to you. I guess I never gave you a chance, and I should have" Lily said, looking at her feet.
"Don't worry about it, I can be an idiot. I know I am, it's okay" James assured her,
"Thanks" she said, kissing him on the cheek, James blushed and smiled,
"What was that for?" He asked, "Not that I'm complaining of course" He added in. Lily laughed,
"For being a good friend when I need one" James laughed to himself, him, a good friend, Lily knew perfectly well that he fancied her crazy, but in the long run, he still wasn't complaining.
"Do you want to go get a drink?" James asked Lily about half an hour after his kiss on the cheek, (which he was still reliving the memory of.)
"Yeah, I'd love to, where?" She asked,
"Well, I know this little place," James said, he took her hand, and preyed that she wouldn't pull it away, she didn't, but she did blush. James led her to a place off a little alleyway, the place had the lettering: Madam Lucinda's, written on it, "Oh, this is so cute James," Lily squealed, "I never even knew this place existed!" She said. James smiled. The one thing James liked about this place is that it was small, friendly and pretty. There was no hanging around, or any people on the wrong side of the tracks; it was just a great place. James had been with quite a few girls, but he had never taken any of them to this place, this place was special, just like the girl who he was with now. James and Lily got a drink, and Lily kicked up a bit of a fuss when James paid, "You paid for the ice cream, can I please pay for this, if not then I'll feel although I'm in debt to you!" Lily hissed
"That's the point," James said handing Madam Lucinda some silver. Lily blushed at his comment but made no more fuss about the money. They both talked for sometime, about everything, James now knew Lily's favourite film, colour, animal, class, food, everything. James found that the more he spent with Lily Evans, the more he found himself falling out of a crush, and into love. After they had finished their drinks, and could find no more reason for staying in the pretty little café, they made their way outside. The café was on a quiet little lane, with pretty houses and big gardens, full of mostly roses and bright coloured flowers. James and Lily sat down on the bench, since they decided that it was to late to go anywhere else, before meeting up with the rest of the group. "Look, James, I really meant it when I said I was sorry, I suppose I've seen a whole different side to you today, and over this summer" Lily said. James wondered, is she hinting, should I try to kiss her? What if that ruined the special bond they had just made, should he risk it? He didn't know, all he knew is that he was falling in love with Lily Evans and that he really wanted to kiss her, her voice bought him out of his thoughts, "I'm so glad I spent the day with you, James" Lily said, if that wasn't a hint then James didn't know what was, he smiled, "Me too" he said quietly, "Me too" He repeated. James looked Lily in the eyes,
"You've got really pretty eyes" James stated moving closer to Lily, smiled,
"Thanks," she said, before tilting her head into meet James lips and kissing she him softly. So, this is what it feels like to kiss the girl of my dreams, James thought, it sure was a good feeling. He had kissed tons of girls before, but with none did he ever feel this way. Lily pulled away, James didn't want it to stop, but he to pulled away, "You have nice eyes too" Lily said to James, and she smile, James had never properly noticed it before, but Lily had the nicest smile he had ever seen, and the nicest eyes.
"We better get back" James said to Lily,
"Yeah," She agreed, they walked hand in hand back through the pretty lane, back through the street of Hogsmeade, and into the Three Broomsticks. No one was there yet, when they looked around the pub. Lily and James sat down, they started to talk, again, then kiss, then talk again, they finally stopped talking ten minuets later when Remus and Lou walked in, they weren't holding hands, but they were talking fondly, "Shame" Lily whispered,
"What is?" James asked confused
"What is?" James asked confused
"I was hoping I could get those two together. Oh well, never mind" Lily said
"Yeah, I had that hope too" James said.
"Heya," Lou said in her normal bubbly, optimistic voice "Have a good day?" She asked, sitting down opposite the couple, Lily and James grinned,
"Yeah, you could say it was a good day," James said holding Lily's hand under the table. "How was your day?" James asked Lou and Remus, Lou and Remus both looked at each other,
"Alright, I guess" Lou said with a straight face,
"Yeah, alright" Remus said with a smile on his face, James looked at them both as if they were hiding something.
"Sirius and Laura not here yet?" Lou asked
"Nope," Lily said. The group talked for about five minuets, until the door to the pub opened again. Sirius walked in with his usual elegant walk, but this time something was different, this time he had a girl attached to him, this time, he had his arm round Laura, who looked extremely embarrassed about making such a scene on their entrance. They both sat down, Laura next to Lou and Sirius next to James, "So, how was you day?" Lou asked them brightly, Laura went beet red, and Sirius grinned, "Alright" he said causally,
"Is anyone thirsty?" Laura asked the table, quickly changing the subject
"Yeah, a bit" The girls said, not wanting to put too much pressure on Laura,
"Okay, cool, I'll go get some butter-bears," Laura said,
"We'll come too," Lily said, dragging Lou to her feet and pulling her over to the bar.
"Okay then, what happened?" James demanded
"Well, we just found out me and Laura are soul mates, and lets just say, we got together, and we got err, what's the word, oh yeah, we got caught doing something we shouldn't be doing in the play park down the road, you know, the ones that has all the little kids in it" Sirius said looking over at the girls, "Oh my God, you never, that's so cool," Lou was saying rather loudly,
"Lou," Lily snapped, "That's setting a bad example" Lily told her, Lou looked as thought she ignored Lily's advice, as she went on talking to Laura, but slightly quieter, so no one could hear.
"Err, Padfoot, what may I ask were you doing in the park?" Remus asked with caution,
"Oh, nothing like that, we just got caught kissing, and you know what the security is like there," Sirius said offhandedly. The boys laughed and chatted about what happened during the day. James told them about Lily, and they were just about to go on to Remus's day, when the girls came back. They placed the drinks on the table, and sat down. Lily and Laura both had identical smiles on, the type which looks like I you speak, your going to die of laughter, Lou though, didn't, she was acting as though nothing was different, even thought she had just shouted out half of Laura's love life to the pub. They all made there way back up to the castle at around about six o'clock. Lily and James, hand in hand and Sirius had his arm around Laura's shoulder, with her hand around his waist. Remus and Lou were just walking normally, not hand in hand, or anything. Dinner that night was filling. By the time they were in the common room later that night, Sirius and Laura had made plans to stay at each other's side throughout the weekend, and so had Lily and James, leaving Remus and Lou together. "You don't mind do you?" Lily asked Lou,
"No, no, of course not, why should I care?" Lou asked sarcastically, Lily went to say something else, but Lou cut in, "Don't bother, its fine, its cool" Lou said, but she still had a cold, icy frost to her voice. By the end of the night, when the girls said they were going to bed, Lou still wasn't back to her bubbly self, she didn't snap at anyone, she just didn't talk much, she just sat there, reading her Divination book, and when she did talk, her voice sounded colder, not as inviting, as her usual one.
"She'll be fine tomorrow" Laura assured Remus before they went to bed
"Yeah, she just gets like this when we lave her out, she thinks we'll abandon her, like Sa-" Lily cut off, "Never mind, it doesn't matter, night" Lily said quickly. Laura bit her lip and glared at Lily,
"I didn't mean to" Lily whispered so only James could hear it faintly. Soon after the girls had gone to bed, Peter came into the common room, with Penny; he kissed her and watched as she went up the stairs to her room, "Where have you been all this time?" Sirius joked
"Hogsmeade" Peter said laughing, "I'm a knackered, night guy's," He said to them yawning,
"I bet you are," Sirius said quietly so only James and Remus could hear him; they both snickered at Sirius's comment. The rest of the boys soon followed lead and went to bed. James couldn't get to sleep, he was so excited about the weekend, spending it with Lily Evans, sure, he felt a bit bad for Moony not having fun with the lads, but this was Lily, the Love of his life. On that thought he fell in to a deep slumber.