Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. If I did, you would be reading this in a book and the plot wouldn't be a film.
A Cinderella Story
By Araidel
An Invite
After all of the lessons had finished, Lily was dragged into the library.
"I want you to clean the bookshelves tonight." Linda had said as soon as Lily had entered the library that evening. "They are getting to dusty and it is decolouring the walls.
Lily looked around the library. It was a huge room with hundreds of bookshelves in it. There was also the upstairs and the Restricted Section which were not small either. Last time Linda had made Lily clean the bookshelves, it had taken her a good few days to get one floor done and Linda had flipped her lid.
Lily gasped and said "Every single one?" Her voice was pleading so Linda looked up from the catalogue of Newt Salamander Posters.
"Of course every single bookshelf. All of the walls are being discoloured by dust. But before you do that, I need you to watch the desk for a while. " Linda looked at Lily with an arrogant expression and then walked off.
Lily sat down in the chair and got out her Potions homework. She had barely set quill to parchment when someone knocked on the desk. Lily looked up and came face to face with Rosanna.
Lily sat up straight and said "Yes?" Behind Rosanna were Noël, Natasha, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Each one looked highly bored but had obviously been dragged to the library by Rosanna.
Rosanna looked down the basic index of books that stood on the corner of the librarian's desk. She pursed her lips and said "Where can I find a book that is nothing to do with school, nothing to do with the Ministry and nothing to do with work?"
Lily also looked at the booklist. "You mean like '30 Different Spells to Curl Your Hair?" she said sarcastically.
Lily heard James snort behind Rosanna and she pursed her lips again. Lily sighed and got up from her chair. "If you just sign your name here," she said pushing forward a piece of parchment, "so we know who has taken out which book, and take a seat over there, I will try and find something."
They walked over to the table where Lily was pointing, Noël signing her name before she sat down. Lily then walked over to the section of the library which Linda had added; the section on beauty, hair care and famous authors. All the information that was about appearances had been placed in a huge part of the library.
Lily walked around trying to find a decent book to give Rosanna. She looked on the shelf baring the title 'Hair Care Spells'. Lily started to brows this sub-category and found a book on different hair styles. She pulled it out and looked at the title. 'Hair Spells the Need Colour-Coordination not Cleverness'
She put it under her arm and made her was back to the librarian's desk. She heard voices just as she came nearer the bookshelf separating her from the desk where Rosanna and her friends sat.
"James," Rosanna's voice reached her ears. Lily peeked around the bookshelf and saw Rosanna give James, who she sat next to, a flirtatious smile. James lent away slightly and rested on Sirius' shoulder. "What are you doing for the Halloween ball? After all, we are going together."
James looked uneasily at Rosanna and said "About that, Rosanna. We need to break up."
Rosanna's smile dropped like a brick and everyone else around the table snapped their heads around to watch James and Rosanna. Even Lily's mouth dropped open. James and Rosanna were the perfect couple in Hogwarts. For James to want to break up with Rosanna, he must have a really good reason. And the look on James' face, it appeared to Lily that he hadn't really thought of a 'good enough reason' that Rosanna would want for his wishes to break up.
Rosanna scowled. "And why is that?" Noël and Natasha were looking at James with the same expression of disgust on their faces while Sirius, Remus and Peter were merely looking at their friend with mild surprise and interest.
"It isn't working." James said urgently. "Its-"
"Oh, no." Rosanna interrupting him, the look of revulsion plainly written across her face. "You have met someone other than me."
James raised an eyebrow and Lily knew that the conversation was over. She came around the bookshelf and held out the book for Rosanna to take. However, Rosanna signalled to Natasha to move out of the chairs and the girls walked out, shooting looks of loathing at James. They walked straight past Lily, knocking her aside as they did so.
Peter, Remus and Sirius got up next and began to walk out of the library, signalling to James that they would meet him outside the library. Lily stood by the librarian's desk having watched the girls and boys walk out with surprise on her face. James looked up and saw the book Rosanna requested in Lily's hand.
He stood up and moved towards the desk; in the opposite direction of the door. Lily blinked and looked at James as he signed his name on the return parchment. He smiled briefly at Lily and walked out meeting up with his friends.
Lily watched him go, her mouth open. She had been the first to know that James and Rosanna had broken up and, as much as it sounded weird, she felt a bit proud to be the first one to know the gossip. No doubt, Lily thought as she walked back to the 'Hair Care Spells' section of the library, it would be all around Hogwarts by tomorrow morning.
Lily then sat back down at the librarian's desk and started to write her potions essay again. However, once again she was disturbed by a knock on the desk. Linda had returned from her tanning spell and she was looking at Lily with her arrogant expression. Lily put her quill down and replaced her homework in her bag.
Lily stood up and Linda took the seat. She looked at Lily and said, superiorly, "The bookshelves, Lily."
Lily then, sighing, turned to face the library. Every single book had to be taken down, cleaned and placed back in the exact same spot that had to be cleaned as well. She picked up a dust cloth and her wand and moved towards the first bookshelf.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing with that dust cloth girl?" Irma asked as she walked by Lily, holding a tottering pile of Defence books.
"Cleaning the bookshelves, Irma" Lily answered in a monotone.
Irma placed the books down on a near-by table and pulled Lily towards her. "Are you serious?" she growled. "That cow is making you clean the bookshelves again? It took you days last time."
Lily nodded and shrugged. "What can I do about it? I would love to just go and curse Linda so badly that her muggle facelifts would just drop but she is my guardian, what can I do?"
"You can bloody well report her to Dumbledore, that what you can do. It is a Monday evening and not to mention your NEWT year." Irma said outraged "You need to do your homework and not be wasting your time cleaning bookshelves for Miss Bitch over there."
The two of them looked over to where Linda was sitting, behind the librarian's desk and reading Witch Weekly. Irma then looked at Lily and said "You take my shift today and I'll do-"
"No Irma." Lily interrupted. "If you do the bookshelves then you will get fired. Though I wouldn't blame you if you would want to-"
Lily was cut off by Irma's exclamation of "The only reason I am staying on is because of you, Lily. Otherwise I would be out of here like a ton of bricks. I know." she said as she spotted Joseph walk into the library. "Get Joseph to help you do this floor and I'll get Natalie to help me do upstairs. That way, the bookshelves get done and Linda doesn't know that you aren't doing the whole lot."
As Joseph spotted Lily and started to walk over, Lily said "Thanks Irma." and walked over to tell Joseph the situation. A few minutes later, the two 17 year olds could be found running through the library shouting "Scourgify!" at every book shelf.
Lily ran passed a table full third year Hufflepuffs, smiled at them as they turned to look at her flying passed and watched the dust vanish from the shelves as she pointed her wand at them saying "Scourgify!". She laughed as she saw Joseph run pass the row, tripping on a loose book in his haste to finish the bookshelves so Lily could be in the owl-room at 9:30.
Joseph ran around the library trying to find Lily. He had finished his half and it was 9:25. As much as he thought it was funny that Lily had a secret admirer, he didn't want Lily to loose her fun in her life.
He looked round a book shelf and saw a lick of red hair fly past. He shouted "Lily!" and ran towards her.
Lily stopped and turned around to face her friend. "You go on the owl-room." Joseph said as he caught up with her. "I'll finish the rest of the shelves."
Lily smiled widely and hugged him. She ran around the corner and said, over her shoulder, "I'll be in my room if you need me." Joseph nodded and pointed his wand at the bookshelf.
Lily ran upstairs and dived onto her bed. She pulled out her wand and muttered "Instansus" tapping her parchment as she did so. She pulled out her quill and wrote 'To: Prongs42, From: DMLEgirl'
Lily waited. Knowing that if Prongs had received her instant-owl message, she would receive a confirmation message at the top of her parchment. Within a few moments of waiting, words appeared and read 'To: DMLEgirl, From: Prongs42'
Lily smiled and wrote 'DMLEgirl: Heya Prongs.'
The reply came back instantly. In the ministry owl-rooms, you had to fill in a form with your details and then you had to register your screen name. It was put up on a board and you could choose someone to contact. Normal owls would know who each screen name belonged to, so normal letters could be sent but in the owl-rooms, the messages were instant. It was just a piece of parchment that was spelled to send the messages instantly, so both of the senders could read the messages.
'Prongs42: My dearest, DMLEgirl. It has made my day to hear your voice again. Well, see your writing that is.'
Lily laughed at Prongs' poor joke. After the year that she had owled him, she knew his sense of humour was dry and really not funny. But it was so unfunny, that she had to laugh at him.
'DMLEgirl: How were your NEWT lessons?'
'Prongs42: Well ... it depends on what subject. Transfiguration was the best; it is my best subject after all. DADA wasn't too bad and Charms wasn't too bad either. Herbology, well, I'll be lucky to scrape and 'A' but Potions ...'
'DMLEgirl: Well, well done for the other subjects and I am sure that you will get more than an 'A' for Herbology. But Potions ...?'
'Prongs42: Don't get me started on Potions. Bloody Professor Reedman. Anyway ... yours?'
'DMLEgirl: Mine? Charms was good; my best! And DADA was too bad either. Transfiguration; that was all right, I guess. And Arithmancy, I can't wait to take the exam; it is so easy!'
'Prongs42: Ok, off topic question, but what are you wearing to the Halloween dance?'
'DMLEgirl: The Halloween Ball? I really don't know... why?'
'Prongs42: Well, I have been thinking, mainly in Transfiguration but, that would be the perfect time to meet. I need to meet you. Meet me at 11 o'clock at the Halloween ball, in the very centre of the dance floor. It is a perfect place and time. What do you think?'
Lily paused, her quill suspended over the parchment, thinking. If she agreed then here was no going back. If she met Prongs, then if he wasn't what she expected, Lily would know and she couldn't imagine him as anyone but his real identity. However, knowing who Prongs was and finally meeting her secret admirer was very tempting. Lily looked at the parchment again and saw Prongs had owled her again.
'Prongs42: Come on, DMLEgirl. I need to meet you. And you need to meet me.'
Lily put her quill to the parchment and wrote out her answer.
'DMLEgirl: Middle of the dance floor? Under the muggle disco ball that Dumbledore had last time there was a ball? I will be there. You had better be there too.'
AN: This chapter is short - I know - but the next two chapters will be longer! I promise! And I know the first bit isn't in the film, but I had this vision of Lily and Joseph running around the library and I had to put it in.
Kel Potter: I am sorry about putting Ken, I really cannot read at the moment. I've gone and changed it ...The chapters will get longer - the next two are fairly long and when I get the DVD, I will be able to make them longer.
Sydney Games: Lucy is my favourite to and she plays a bigger part towards the end - well at the end. A Harry story would really be good so do one. I haven't beaten you to it as mine is about Lily and James so ... great minds really do think alike. Smiles widely