How to Lose a Wizard in 10 Days
Chapter Two – Even More Heartbreak
The day was over and the skies grew murky and dim-lit. Lily was a bit tired, stifling her yawns, but still in a cheerful mood. She was still working in the office, coming up with new ideas for her next 'how-to' article. She realized that hunger enveloped her when her stomach began to grumble lightly.
"Hey, what's on the menu for tonight?" Lily asked. "Italian? Chinese?"
"Out to eat again?" Arabella asked.
"Of course," Lily replied, as if it was obvious. "Do you want me to cook?"
"Good heavens, no!" Arabella exclaimed, laughing. "You cooking is like the Devil baking petite French-baked delicacies like madelines."
"Thanks, Bella," Lily snorted. "That certainly boosts up my confidence for cooking."
"You are very welcome."
Katie sulked. "I'm not going to eat."
"Why not?" Lily asked.
"I'm too fat," Katie replied gloomily. "That's why Frank dumped me, of course."
"You're not fat!" Lily and Arabella exclaimed.
"Yeah right," Katie muttered, playing with the ends of her blouse.
"Anyways, Amos has asked me to dinner tonight," Arabella replied cheerfully, checking her reflection in the mirror and applying some make up. "So - sorry girls! Maybe tomorrow night!"
Lily sighed and buried her head in her hands. "Argh…" She said. "To think, Teen Witch is such a successful magazine and I don't even have one person to have dinner with tonight. This is pathetically sad."
Arabella looked away from her compact make up and grinned at Lily. "Oh, come on. You'll find a boyfriend!" She said, giving Lily a wink.
"I don't need or want one," Lily stated. "Men are just so… time consuming and boring."
Arabella looked shocked. "No they're not!"
"Yes they are," Lily said. "You have to call them, go out to dinner with them, be seen with them, watch the sports they want…" Lily rubbed her temples. "I just find that… time consuming."
"Well, yes, but, you don't have to do those things," Arabella protested, applying her lipstick.
"Then, they dump you," Lily said, flatly. "And they have a jolly good old time bragging about how he just shagged you last night to their friends and how joyful it was to them. They're just a waste of time, and I don't need one."
"Well, actually, you do…" Arabella said, closing her compact mirror shut and giving Lily a smile. "If you want children."
"I know," Lily said, smoothing out her skirt again. "But I heard giving birth hurts ever so much… so, I might adopt. There are so many orphans in those orphanages… those lonely, poor, little things…"
Katie sniffed and said, "Frank wanted to adopt children too!" Arabella took the hint and quickly said good-bye and Apparated away.
Lily sighed. "So, Katie… I guess it's just you and me tonight."
"I told you," Katie replied flatly. "I'm not hungry." And with that, Katie grabbed her bag, and Apparated away. Probably to their flat.
Lily sighed in an aggravated tone. Fucking men, they always take her friends away. One friend had ditched her for a boyfriend, and another of her friends had just ditched her because she wasn't hungry. Lily grabbed her purse and left the office, locking everything up. Looks like another night at Diagon Alley…
Lily woke up the next morning, totally trashed. Last night, at Diagon Alley, Lily drank so much that she basically lost count after the 7th drink. She had no idea how she got home and she felt so tired and cramped.
"Uughaudff…" Lily moaned as she tried to get up from her bed. She couldn't get up. Lily tried again but her body just wouldn't respond. Lily had been through this before, countless of times. She rolled off her bed and tried doing a pushup. When she went up, she pushed her knee forward, and slowly got up, smiling at her little 'maneuver'. She slowly dragged her feet to the bathroom and almost collapsed on her sink.
Arabella walked in, wearing a tank and shorts. Once she saw sight of Lily, trying to paw at her toothbrush, Arabella looked shocked. "Lily! What the fuck happened to you!"
"Diagon Alley… too much beer…" Lily muttered, trying to get her toothbrush. After several attempts, she stopped. The toothbrush looked like it was flying around the room, like a snitch, except her toothbrush was a dull green color.
Arabella massaged her forehead. "How many times do I have to tell you!" Arabella asked impatiently. "Don't go drinking! Look what you've done to yourself. You can barely walk, let alone say your name."
"I remembered my maneuver though," Lily murmured proudly. She would have liked to stand up straight and said it to Arabella's face, but she couldn't. Her brain was saying move, but her body was ignoring her brain.
"That's about all you can remember," Arabella muttered. "Gosh, you're lucky it's a Saturday. You better stay home today." Arabella dragged Lily back to her bed, and pulled the covers over her. "Now, you stay here and take a nap. If you need anything, just holler."
Lily grinned. "Okay, Mom," She teased Arabella, while falling fast asleep.
Arabella sighed. Lily was drunk a lot, lately. She didn't know anything that was wrong with her though. Her family was good, except for that tub-of-lard sister she has, Petunia. Yuck. Arabella shuddered at the thought of Petunia. Lily wasn't heartbroken, her family was good (except for Petunia), and she had a good job… so what was the problem? Arabella sighed again. Maybe Lily liked to drink, just for fun…
There was a knock on the apartment door, interrupting Arabella's thoughts. She got up and walked to the apartment door. It was Amos. His amazing dark brown hair was in perfect condition and his gray eyes were absolutely lovely. He had a serious expression on his face but greeted Arabella with a kiss.
"I really loved last night," Arabella replied, closing the door, as Amos came in.
"Me too," Amos said. "I was rather fond of it, too…"
Arabella giggled and replied, "So what brings you here?"
Amos held her hand in his. "Well, you know how I love Quidditch, right?"
Arabella replied, "Yeah…"
Amos looked down guiltily, and it worried Arabella a bit. "Well, they've offered me a spot on the Chudley Cannons team. Manager's assistant. The pay is awesome and I get to travel around the world and watch their Quidditch games for free!"
Arabella's eyes looked shocked and amazed. "Amos, oh my god, that's absolutely wonderful!"
Amos looked to the side, and replied in his gentlest tone. "Bell, this means… that there won't be an 'us' anymore… since I have to travel so much and everything. I hope you understand… this job… it means everything to me…"
"Oh," Arabella replied softly. It was about all she could say. Her eyes clouded with tears, as the feeling of being dumped sunk in. She realized that Amos thought Quidditch was more important than her. How could he? That bastard! "So, Quidditch is more important that your girlfriend? Is that how it is? I thought you were caring, Amos! I really thought you were! I thought this time it'd be different from my past relationships – but I see it's all the same." Arabella said in a raspy voice, trying to stop the tears from cascading down her cheeks.
"Arabella, you know I don't," Amos said, grabbing her hand before Arabella could run out. "It's just… I've been waiting for this my whole life. I thought you'd understand." He got up and cupped Arabella's face. "I'll still love you."
Arabella shrugged out of his grasp and went to the door. She opened it and pointed outside. "Out," She commanded.
"But -" Amos protested.
"OUT!" Arabella screamed.
Amos looked a bit frightened, but scampered out quickly and left.
Arabella slammed the door and locked it. She'd never date again. She thought she'd found the perfect one, but apparently she was wrong. She collapsed in a withering heap on her couch and started bawling and didn't for quite a while.
Lily finally awoke from her slumber. She got up sleepily, and miraculously, this time, she didn't need to try 'the manuver'. She felt quite stoked, she could actually get up on her own after who knows how many cups of alcoholic liquor. She looked at her enchanted clock and realized it was about 2 in the afternoon.
"Bella!" She yelled. No answer. "ARABELLA FIGG!" Still no answer. Lily sighed. Whatever happened to 'If you need anything, just holler'…? Lily got out of her bed and started to walk to the living room. Amazingly, she made it. When she got there, she saw Arabella in a crumpled heap, sobbing like there was no tomorrow. Lily immediately rushed to her side and started asking what was wrong.
"Bell… what's wrong?" Lily asked. "What happened?"
"Amos," Arabella sobbed. "He came by…"
"And…?" Lily asked.
Arabella wiped her tears and cleared her face. She muttered a charm that made her red eyes and flushed cheeks go away. "He broke up with me," She said finally.
"Oh," Lily said. She gave Arabella a reassuring hug. "Don't worry, he'll come around later."
"No, he won't," Arabella replied, pulling out of the hug. "He's been accepted as the Chudley Cannon's assistant manager. He's going to travel the world… without me."
"Oh, really!" Lily asked her eyes brightening. "Maybe he could get us free tickets!"
Arabella glared. "It's not the time to ask for free tickets, Lil. I screamed at him to get out of her flat."
Lily laughed. "You screamed at him!" Lily asked, in shock. "Poor guy… Sorry! I just find this funny!" Lily dodged Arabella's glare.
"It's not," Arabella said crossly.
"Well," Lily said, putting an arm around Arabella. "A couple of years from now when he meets someone he falls in love with and gets fired from that damn Quidditch job. She going to ask him about his ex-girlfriends… and when he mentions you, he's going to realize what big of a dumbass he was for dumping you."
Arabella smiled and patted Lily. "Thanks so much," She said, grinning at last. "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you."
Lily just smiled back and gave Arabella a reassuring hug. "You're welcome."
Arabella sighed and finally said, "At least I'll have something to talk about with Katie, now." She said, chuckling.
A/N: Chapter 2 is finished. :) I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm sorry for not putting any of James, Sirius, or Remus in here, but they definitely will be making another appearance in the next chapter :) Poor Arabella and Katie! Like Arabella said, they'll have something to talk about now, lol.
Love Always, Angeline
