Chapter five
To Lily's great and utter disappointment, there was absolutely no progress on the Bridget case over the next week.
Bridget continued to occasionally snap and was now always the first one in the great hall for breakfast and the last one to leave. Her eyes were continuously on the owls, watching them flutter down onto the tables, a poorly hidden look of relief in her eyes when no mail arrived for her.
Lily wondered if all the answers where hidden in the mail; hidden in the letter Bridget had thrown into the fire one week previous. But of course with the letters charred ashes now resting amidst the charcoal in the fireplace, there was no way of finding out whether or not this was true.
The week was not an entirely wasted one however. On Saturday there was indeed an occasion to celebrate.
Lily and Alice were just outside the Hogwarts, heading back into the castle after visiting Hagrid when Amy came bursting through the front doors, breaking into a large grin when she spotted her two companions.
"Guess what just happened!" she practically yelled into their ears breathlessly.
"You've finally discovered what that mysterious gooey substance in your trunk was?"
"No!" Amy took in a deep breath. "James and I are going to Hogsmeade together," she said in a sing song voice.
"Huzah!" Alice punched the air in triumph. "We won't have to hear anymore on the subject!"
"I wouldn't count on that," Amy said with a smile.
"How did it happen?" Alice asked.
"Oh. I was just talking to him about - er - homework and then we were just about to go our separate ways when I blurted it out to him. And, well, at first he looked a little surprised, but then he agreed and," Amy looked up at the sky dreamily. "Then he smiled at me...and then...I don't really remember what happened next and when I finally came back down to earth, I suddenly realized what had just happened and then I had to go find you two to tell you the great news!"
"Well good job, Amy," Lily patted her on the shoulder, "I knew you could do it."
"This calls for a celebration," Alice said reaching into her bag, "Rock cakes anyone?"
"Ew, no," Amy backed away from the cake Alice was holding up to her. "I'd rather keep my teeth thanks."
"They're not that bad," Alice bit into one, "I've still got all of my teeth in tact and - ow!"
"Do you think Madam Puddifoots would be a good idea?" Amy asked.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "If you insist."
"Aw! You'd be such a cute couple!" Alice exclaimed. "And I'd go for it!"
"No you wouldn't Alice," Amy laughed.
"I would too."
"Alice, when it comes to guys you're the shyest person I know," Amy chuckled.
Alice glared at her. "I could ask a guy out! Its just I don't really want to ask one right now..."
Amy snorted. "Sure."
"Oh come on. Before today you were just as bad!" Alice said loudly, her round face flushing slightly.
"I was just waiting for the right moment," Amy explained calmly.
"It doesn't really matter you guys," Lily said quietly stepping between them. "Let's just go back inside. I'm starving and its almost din - "
"I could ask any guy right now!" Alice moved around Lily to get a clear view of Amy.
"Well then why don't you?" Amy said in a taunting voice. "No one's stopping you. Go on then!"
Lily was surprised there wasn't any steam coming out of Alice's ears at the moment. She knew how touchy Alice was about this kind of thing. The truth was, Alice did tend to be quieter around any boys she liked, but Alice was the bravest person Lily knew. Just not in that certain field.
"I told you, there's no boy I'd particularity want to ask!" Alice yelled.
"You don't have to scream, I'm right here," Amy replied coolly. "And you're just saying that so you don't have to ask anyone. Spaz why don't you."
"Stop it!" Lily pushed Alice away from Amy for Alice had just pulled out her wand, and, knowing Alice's wide knowledge of many curses and hexes, that could only have ended badly.
"It's fine Lily," Amy told her. "She's just jealous. I'm going to dinner. See you two later."
And with that, she wrenched open the doors and walked back into the castle.
"Oh the nerve of her!" Alice was still shaking with rage. Her and Lily where breathing heavily; Lily still keeping a tight grip on Alice's shoulders.
"Don't let her bug you Alice," Lily said once her friends cheeks had lost their red tint.
"I just hate it when she does that," Alice said glumly sitting down on the stone steps infront of her.
Lily sat down next to her. "She was just really happy about the date. But I agree with you, she didn't have to rub it in your face."
Alice put her hands on her chin, "The worst part is she's right."
Lily looked at her questionably. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I do have someone I'd want to ask..."
"Oh..." Lily didn't say anything else. She instead waited for Alice to speak again.
Alice exhaled. "It's just a crush I'll get over it."
"Do you mind me asking who?"
"Don't laugh," Alice looked up at her.
"Come on, would I?"
"Frank Longbottom..."
"Oh...well, if you don't feel like doing anything about it then you don't have to."
"But I do want to do something about it," Alice sighed. "But like Amy said, I just can't gather up the courage...Eug! Sometimes I just want to take her neck and - "
"Calm down," Lily said, standing up. "And come on. Let's head over to dinner."
"You go. I don't feel like eating," Alice said sourly.
Lily didn't really feel like leaving Alice alone and was just about to tell her so when -
"Go, I'll be fine. I want to be alone for a bit. Maybe I can sort out my predicament."
"You're sure?"
"Very."
"Ok," and Lily left Alice there, stepping back into the warmth of the castle.
xxx
Over the next few days Alice, being the remarkably stubborn person she was, completely ignored the fact Amy existed and Amy was far too proud to apologize, so the two of them weren't speaking to each other.
Lily stayed away from they're silent fighting, wanting to stay on good terms with both of them. But she did wish one of them would step in and simply apologize. Or rather, Amy apologize.
Wistful thinking.
But now Lily had another problem on her hands. She was now starting to get nightmares about the cup everyday. Each one worse than the next. She was starting to get exhausted, a side effect of the lack of sleep. Lily just did her best to ignore them, hoping it was just a phase.
She had had a particularly bad one on the night just before Halloween. The cup and its razor sharp teeth had finally made contact with her skin, grazing her left arm. Lily had yelled out in pain in the dream, for usually you couldn't feel anything in dreams. But the pain was very real as she discovered seconds later when she had come back into full consciousness. There was indeed a large cut on the side of her arm.
Lily was a muggleborn so she didn't know whether or not it was normal for dreams to somehow cross into real life in the wizarding world. She decided not to bother her friends about it and simply ignored the cut.
She had put up some lost posters for the cup, but no one had claimed it. Lily guessed the key to stopping the dreams was to hand the cup back over to its owner, and, unfortunately, it looked like there was no owner.
On October 31st, Lily walked down to breakfast with Alice, who was looking very unhappy after glaring at Amy as she fretted over which dress robe to wear for her date. Finally ending up losing her temper again and throwing a badly aimed curse at the back of Amy's head; instead, the jet of plum purple light hit the window opposite her, sending a sheet of broken glass crashing onto the carpet.
Lily had quickly mended the glass and pushed Alice out of the dormitory before Amy had a chance to pull out her wand.
"Alice," Lily asked as she jumped over the trick step in the stairs. "Is a simply apology from Amy all you're waiting for?"
"Yes," Alice replied. "And I also want to prove her wrong."
"Even though she's right?"
"Ya..." Alice looked down at her feet as she walked. "I think I should just hope for the apology...only she's not backing down. I hope her date goes horribly today."
"Alice..."
"And I hope yours goes well," Alice suddenly smiled.
"Mmm, right..." Lily mumbled. "I'll have to see..."
"I guess I'll be spending the day with Bridget..." Alice went back into her glum mode.
"Hogsmeade should be fun," Lily told her warmly.
"Ya..."
Lily ate breakfast with Alice and Bridget and then waved them goodbye as she headed into the entrance hall to meet Dom. He was already there, waiting for her and holding a box of, what Lily guessed, were chocolates in his right hand. Which he handed to her when she approached him.
"Awww," Lily smiled. "That's so sweet, thank you I love them." She peered into the box. "Oh and my favorites too! Mmm, I'm sorry I didn't get anything for you..."
"Its alright. This date is more than enough."
Lily took his hand and said, "Come on, let's go."
They chatted merrily on the walk to Hogsmeade, talking just like friends would. To Lily, it didn't feel like a date, it felt like two friends hanging out. There was no real chemistry. Unless she just didn't know what it meant or felt like exactly...
The clouds were starting to come in, casting a dark shadow over the village and the wind was starting to pick up, a very cold wind at that.
"Let's go somewhere indoors," Lily shivered.
"Do you - um - want to get a coffee?"
Lily saw Dom's face turn a dark shade of red.
He's going to suggest Puddifoots, she thought. Why not?
"Madam Puddifoots?" Lily asked.
Dom jumped. "Uh - ya, ok."
And so the two of them stepped inside the cozy shop, sat down at one of the round tables, and ordered two cups of coffee.
They waited quietly for a few minutes.
"Oh," Dom broke the silence, "Did I tell you I made the quidditch team?"
"No," said Lily surprised, "I didn't even know you were trying out."
"Well I did and I made it," he said proudly as Lily took the coffee from Madam Puddifoots outstretched hands.
"Well congradu - " Lily was interrupted. She had just heard a familiar voice shriek with laughter.
Sure enough, there was Amy giggling and clutching James's hand tightly as the two of them made their way over to a table.
"Never mind her," Dom said impatiently and Lily turned back to face him.
"Sorry. So what position are you playing?" Lily inquired curiously before taking a sip of coffee.
"Chaser," Dom said sounding very pleased with himself. "I've been training a lot during the summer; hours on end, rain or shine." He took a swig of coffee before continuing. "You - you know it's been my lifelong dream to play professionally."
"Oh, no I didn't know that."
"Well I've tried out every year since the fourth, when I finally got a decent broom. I was never that great though so naturally I never made the team. It was mainly due to a lack of practice. But this summer it was about nothing else. I knew this would be my last year. My last chance."
"Mmm," Lily was astonished. She had never known or heard anything about these quidditch dreams before and told Dom so.
"Well," Dom replied looking down at the remaining dregs of coffee in his cup. "I never really mentioned it to anyone because it was kind of embarrassing to have a dream like that when I'd never made the Hogwarts quidditch team. I told myself I wouldn't tell anyone until I did make it."
"Oh, well congratulations again," Lily repeated.
Dom looked up into Lily's emerald eyes. "There's something else I was determined to do this year."
"What?"
"This."
Lily had barely anytime to register what was going on when Dom suddenly leaned in towards her and kissed her.
This gesture surprised Lily of course, but she didn't pull away. She kind of like the feeling of his soft lips pressed up against hers and didn't object at all when he deepened the kiss...
xxx
It was now dark; the sky showing no signs of the stars hiding above the blanket of clouds.
Lily could feel a hint of rain in the air as she walked back towards the castle hand in hand with Dom, her dark red hair playing with the wind and nose already numb with cold. She was looking forward to getting back inside Hogwarts and enjoying the feast.
"Come on, let's move faster!" she said with chattering teeth. "It's really cold out here!"
"Good idea. I want to get to the feast too."
They were back at Hogwarts in only a few minutes, bursting into the great hall, already half filled with excited, hungry people.
Lily's eye's scanned the room and soon spotted Alice sitting alone, sadly looking down upon the empty platein front ofher. Lily saw her glance over her shoulder where she could see Amy and James sitting together with the rest of the master pranksters; sitting very close together.
Lily saw Alice scowl and turn away. The redhead turned to Dom. "Listen, I'm really sorry about this, I know it was kind of hinted we'd be eating together, but I'm going to go sit with Alice instead. Is that alright?"
Dom looked a little disappointed, but said, "Yes, of course. Let's try to arrange something else together though."
"Yes," Lily smiled graciously at him. "That would be lovely."
Dom smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before heading off towards the Ravenclaw table.
Lily rushed over to the Gryffindor table and joined Alice.
"Hi, feeling any better?" she asked.
Alice shook her head. "I didn't have much fun at Hogsmeade. Bridget and I went to the three broomsticks, but then she told me she had to go somewhere else so then I was all alone...I just sort of wandered around for a bit then headed back to the castle. Did you have fun?"
Lily nodded. "Yes. Dom joined the quidditch team."
Alice's eyes widened in surprise, "Did he really?"
"Yes he said it was his life long dream. Apparently he's been trying out since the forth year. He wants to play professional."
Alice studied Lily as she started piling food on her plate before finally saying, "And you're not okay with this."
Lily looked up at her surprised. "Yes, of course I am. I...no. No I'm most defiantly not...and Alice please take some food, its really good."
"I don't blame you. For one thing you hate quidditch."
"I do not hate it," Lily took a swig of pumpkin juice. "I just thing there are much better things you can do with your time. And having is as a career! Don't get me started!" she waved her fork around in irritation splattering Alice with some potatoes. "Oops, sorry. Here's a napkin."
Alice took the napkin before continuing, "So what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing," Lily shrugged, "What can I do? I'll just sit back and hope for the best. The best being of course that he realizes what a stupid idea playing professional quidditch is and decide on a much better, steadier career."
"So leaving him is not an option yet?" Bridget asked sitting down at the table. "And sorry about leaving you Alice. I just remembered I had left something important back up here and had to rush back."
"No, leaving him is not an option," Lily said. "He's so sweet, I shouldn't even think of something like that."
"He'll get over the quidditch phase, don't worry about it," Alice said soothingly.
"Doesn't sound like it," Lily sighed. "Not if he's been thinking about this since the start of school..."
"Gee, sorry for trying to boost your happiness."
Lily laughed. "Sorry, I'm happy."
"And so that makes me happy," Alice smiled and started cutting up a steak.
"So have you talked to Amy yet?" Bridget asked Alice.
Alice shook her head, mouth full of food. She swallowed and said angrily, "She has to apologize to me before I even consider it."
"Don't you think you're overreacting to this?" Bridget inquired.
Alice glared at her angrily, "Of course not! It's you who's prone to overreacting!"
The both of them tended to overreact, Lily thought, wisely choosing not to express her feelings on the subject out loud.
"Fine then," Bridget said calmly turning back to her food.
"Do you have a crush on someone?" Lily asked Bridget, wondering if her and Alice's sudden mood swings were both triggered by the same thing.
Bridget looked at Lily in disgust before replying, "No."
"Sorry, just asking," Lily piled some more sprouts on her plate.
"This really is good food," Alice said changing the subject. "Wonder who makes it."
"House elves," Lily replied simply before draining her glass of pumpkin juice.
"Oh...well they really know how to cook! Wish I had a house elf at home..."
Bridget snorted, "Ya, dream on. You'd have to be really rich. Well I'm full. I think I'll go to bed."
"But you've only just got here!" Alice said in surprise. "You can't have eaten that much."
"I'm still full. See you two later," and without another word, Bridget got up and left the great hall, cloak swishing around her ankles as she walked.
"There's something fishy about her..." Alice said before going back to her food.
"I thought so too so Amy and I are having James and Sirius find out what's up with her," Lily said before she could stop herself. She did indeed have a hard time concealing things from her friends.
"W-what?" Alice choked on her broccoli. "Were you ever planning on telling me!"
"Well...no...but only because I was worried you'd tell Bridget what we're up to," Lily explained hastily.
"Well I'm glad you told me at any rate. And anyway James and Sirius are the best men for the job..."
"Its only because we want to help Bridget," Lily said quickly. "Not - not because...do you think we're being bad friends by doing this? Because after this I really did feel we were being nosy and - "
"Don't worry about that Lily," Alice said. "You're a really good friend and yes, we just want to help her. Anyways, I think she should have told us in the first place. I mean, I know you've become desperate when you ask those two for help," she nodded in the direction of James and Sirius.
"That was Amy's idea."
"Mmm, I should have known..." Alice looked away from them, taking another spoonful of mashed turnips and shoving them into her mouth bitterly.
There's chapter five.
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