Mélange
Full Summary: Lily has always been the pretty face. No one ever sees past the
flawless face, thick and majestic red hair, and those expressive green eyes.
When the Hogwarts letter arrived, it was what Lily had been waiting for. No one
would know of her past of being on magazine covers and a face on commercials.
She can start out as a normal student and focus on academics. That plan had
worked, until the teen magazine for the wizarding world found her. She didn't
even know such magazine existed in her new surroundings.
Author's Note: I revised it a bit. Some of the grammatical errors and typos that I found were changed and what not. Hopefully this won't hinder the reading process as much. Happy reading!
~*~*~
Chapter Eight: Dance Part I – New Friends Open up New WindowsJames Potter asked me to go to the New Years Ball with him. Repeated in Lily's head over and over again throughout the night. What was his motive for asking Lily to the ball when everyone knew it was due to an argument about Lily that made him break up with Moira? Lily didn't want to be used as a way of spiting Moira, nor did she want to be a trophy on James Potter's arm. Noticing that her clock said it was a little past eleven o'clock, Lily decided to not worry and sleep. She still had classes the next day.
However, the resolution was nearly impossible to complete. The worry was still in her heart so she could not truly sleep. Any slight movement or noise woke her up. Fears of what would happen to her with both decisions plagued her dreams when she did fall into a deep sleep. The option with the least damage would be saying no to James. He would be the only hurt and the least damage. It wasn't like James would be heart broken, he would only be stuck with a date he didn't like, but at least his family and friends were present. As for Lily, going to the ball was be stepping out into the open. Being a date to the Minister of Magic's son would be a very public position. James was the only Potter heir so he would be under everyone's scrutiny all the time.
Exactly, I'll tell him I won't go to the ball. I'll do that tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and went until the every single tomorrow became a today. It had been nearly two weeks since James asked Lily. It had been nearly two weeks Lily had pushed back the encounter. She woke up this particularly sunny morning and decided she was going to give her answer at breakfast.
Breakfast came and went. The happy sun seemed to mock the less than happy news Lily was going to tell James. Classes with Gryffindors passed one after another. And James tried to speak to her various times.
All those chances to reject the invitation to the ball, but Lily wouldn't bring herself to say no. She wasn't sure why it was so difficult for her to refuse. One rejection wouldn't hurt James permanently. He might have a bruised ego or something for a bit, but nothing everlasting.
On the other hand, the one weakness of Lily, the small voice of (sometimes) reason in her mind kept on buzzing. It told her to be a nice and kind person. She should happily accept James's invitation and have a great time. Even though she might feel like a puppet or on-the-arm decoration, that wasn't important. She didn't even know for certain that James asked her to use her as a date. He did mention the date was the friendly sort, nothing like something between couples. James probably only asked her out of friendship. After all, the endearing way he requested for her to join him at the ball should have been enough to garner her kindness and go.
To make life complicated, Lily realized everything her so-called reasonable voice nearly swayed her, one of James's ex-girlfriends would be around. The numerous girls he had dated certainly showed James was like a spoilt child with every girl being a toy. When he got bored with them, he found another. She probably was his newly favored toy. They didn't even know each other well enough, and that was the sort of situation the other girls found themselves in when James asked them out.
"Lily!" Sirius called out as students were walking towards the Great Hall for dinner. "Did you have an answer yet? Poor Jamesie's acting like a very difficult test is coming up. I don't think he slept very well and he hasn't eaten anything yet." Lily looked at him dubiously. Was this a ploy to play with her emotions? "Seriously though, I am going to get fat with all the food James is making me eat because he doesn't have an appetite."
"Yeah," Remus added sarcastically. "Can't you see the flab of fat around his middle? He'll look as though he has a car tire around him in about a month."
Lily laughed at Sirius's attempt at pity. "Nice try Sirius. I might believe you if you were a different person."
Remus then turned to her with an expression lacking the laughing glimmer he had before. "Lily, do you have an answer for James though? He has been fairly nervous and I think he's getting a little short tempered about the wait."
"Short tempered?" Lily whispered with her eyes wide in disbelief. How dare James Potter send his friends over to get her answer? How dare he be mad because she needed time to answer him? How dare he?
"Yeah . . ." the two Marauders replied in unison. Lily mumbled a "see you later" and walked briskly towards dinner. This whole ministry ball event was making her stressed. She hadn't felt so uptight since she . . . since her first photo shoot at the age of three for a major department store catalogue. But that wasn't really uptight. She was too young to really be uptight. She was nervous maybe . . . but it doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is that James Potter was an arrogant, pompous Gryffindor quidditch player who made life difficult with one proposal.
"Lily!" Aleia shouted across the dining hall. She was already there with Jon, who chose to ditch the Ravenclaw table for a meal to join sit with his girlfriend. Lily smiled and walked towards her two friends. "So, did you make up your mind?"
Lily wasn't sure if she should reacquaint herself with the brick wall or the wooden table. How did going to a stupid ball with James Potter become such an urgent event? Whatever happened to worrying over the next transfiguration or potions exam? Frustrating Gryffindors.
"Yes, I have made my decision," she replied, exasperated. The Gryffindors within hearing range perked their ears. "I am not going." A few forks and knives fell to the plates with a clatter. Some girls had a crude expression resembling a gold fish. Aleia blinked and tilted her head in disbelief while Jon stared at Lily with a frown.
With the gods above bent on making Lily's life miserable, James Potter appeared. "Why the silence at the loudest table in the Hall?" All the head turned from Lily and faced their prefect and then returned to staring at Lily. "Oh hi, Lily," James stammered with a frown in place. "What brought you here?"
A chatty girl opened her mouth to say something but her friend elbowed for her to keep quiet. Lily slowly faced James completely and her mouth curved upwards uncertainly.
"What happened?" Sirius asked when he appeared in the Great Hall with the rest of the Marauders in tow.
"I think I am going to get my dinner now," Lily responded finally. She walked towards the Ravenclaw table. However, that meant she had to walk pass James. Although his expression of utter confusion did look adorable with his dark messy hair and skewed glasses, she still wasn't going to go to the ball with him. Looking at all the girls in the hall, Lily was certain James Potter could easily find someone else to be on his arm for the three nights of the ball.
"Wait," James mumbled when she walked by him. He had a tight grip on her sleeve. Lily looked at the open bell shaped of her Hogwarts uniform in dislike. "When dinner is finished, will you take a walk with me?" Seeing as he wasn't going to let go of her sleeve unless she agreed, Lily nodded. Once she was free, the few steps to the Ravenclaw table seemed like walking from coast to coast in America with all those pairs of eyes staring.
Lily realized she didn't really have an appetite for food. After a few bites of some chicken, a couple of spoonfuls of vegetables, Lily got ready to leave. She didn't bother to check what would happen at the Gryffindor table since she could hear the whispers of people wondering what was going on between Lily Evans and James Potter.
"Lily!" she heard the urgent whisper of James echo in the silent halls. "Wait!" She paused looking at the nearing shadow of James Potter on the floor. The distortions of the light made him seem oddly disjointed. Being lanky anyhow, the elongated shadow made James seem like a stick even more. The light blurred any muscle definition he had.
"You don't feel like eating either?" she asked when he caught up with her in five giant steps. She saw the shadow shake its head.
"What's so interesting about my shadow?"
Lily tilted her head but still didn't make any eye contact with James. "When I was little, I believed a person's shadow was their true self. We cannot see the details of their face so what we see in the shadows are their inner beauty. I didn't have many friends when I little – I still don't have a plethora of friends now – I considered my shadow my best friend. I would tell it secrets and it would never divulge anything to anyone, except perhaps to other shadows."
The shadowy head of James nodded slowly. Since the elongated shadow dented right at the neck do to the floor becoming a wall, it looked as though he was being decapitated with each nod. These observations are getting dark, Lily thought and shook out of her revelry before having a conversation with the real James.
"Lily . . ." he trailed off when she looked at him. "I don't want to pressure you, but I wanted to know if you had made a decision." From the fearful expression on his face, she knew James heard from his fellow Gryffindors her answer earlier. Perhaps he wanted her to change her mind, to over rule the yet-to-be confirmed rumor.
The redhead sighed. "James, I am not very keen on dances. Since I don't even care much for school dances like the one coming up at the end of the week, you can guess my opinion on large events like ministry balls." Lily waited for James's reaction. He just kept on staring at her. "Translation: I am not going to go the ministry ball."
"Oh." James closed his mouth that popped open at her reply. "Okay."
He seemed so forlorn about being rejected. That's why I should steer away from having boyfriends. Until I have time to worry about his feelings, I shouldn't have one. "James, this isn't that I don't like you. I just don't like dances. If I have a choice, I wouldn't go to any unless there is a good reason for it, like our Yule ball. I helped planned so I would go to see my handiwork."
James nodded. "Thank you for considering it though."
He straightened his back and held out an arm for Lily to hold as he lead her on a walk of various places in Hogwarts for the night. Their conversation was superficial. It seemed like a conversation at tea between the wives of businessmen. Having never met before, the women discuss the weather, the current fashion, some popular gossip, and the food. In Lily and James's case, they steered away from conversations that explored their friendship. Instead of asking about favorite colors and discussing the meaning of life, they pointed out various characteristic of Hogwarts's night scene.
"Ooh, look at that star!"
"The clouds are so wispy."
Lily felt horrible that her refusal had made them more like business acquaintance than friends. Any progress towards being best friends that developed when James bought her at the Prefect Sale diminished to lower than their friendliness of before that event. James treated her like one of the girls at Hogwarts he wasn't sure about. Did she have a crush on his or did she hate his quasi-playboy persona?
When the tension got too tiring, Lily excused herself in order to sleep early. The Chinese representatives of the Young Wizard and Witches Conference would be arriving early the next morning. She and James were needed as a part of the welcoming committee.
"Alright, goodnight Lily!" James said when he walked her towards the Ravenclaw tower. She had asked him to go rest early since he needed to wake up early as well.
The night's sleep somehow came easy for Lily. While she did feel distressed that James distanced himself, finally telling him her refusal for the ball lifted a big load. Having had sporadic sleep for the past two weeks, Lily settled into a dreamless rest until the sun rose and her alarm clock started chirping by her bed stand.
~*~*~
Morning came early for Lily than the rest of the students. The Chinese representatives were coming early in the morning so she couldn't sleep in. It was one of those moments where she enjoyed not having any roommates because she didn't have to hear anyone grumble of the godforsaken hour Lily woke up.
When Lily got to the nearly silent Great Hall, her makeshift breakfast by the house elves that composed of apple turnovers and warm tea were set on one long table where all the teacher sat finishing up their quick morning meal. James was nowhere to be seen, but the professors brushed that off as a teenage boy wanting to sleep in over the weekend.
"Hello Mr. James!" a house elf announced the Gryffindor's presence after Lily had even finished her food. "What would you like for breakfast, sir?" James mumbled like along the lines of a muffin and faced the professors.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized. The teachers all waved their hands carelessly to show how much his tardiness had mattered. Lily noticed how James seemed to look away from her. Every time their eyes met, he would turn his focus onto something else, like asking the house elves for something completely useless for whatever he was doing or stuttering a hi to some professor.
Professor Dumbledore got out of his seat and motioned for the welcoming party to go to the horseless carriages to the train station. Lily and James were in the same carriage since the professors decided to sit with each other and discuss their curriculums for teaching. For the two young representatives of Hogwarts, the ride was less than comfortable. Lily wasn't sure what she should say to James and it didn't seem like James was about to talk to her anytime soon. He was asleep.
The carriages stopped rather abruptly for its unsuspecting passengers. Since the ride was silent, it seemed longer. So long that it seemed as though it would go on forever. Lily and James got flung forward and had to hold each other to brace for the fall from grace, or the seat.
"Are you okay?" Lily asked when she got up from lying above James. His body took the full impact of the lunge and Lily's weight.
James stood up without any traces of pain and smiled. "Perfectly fine. Luckily there wasn't anything sharp to land on." The professors opened the door of their carriage since they seemed to be idling too long.
"James, Lily," Professor McGonagall started. "When the representatives arrive, you will be their student guide for Hogwarts while the adults discuss the logistics of their stay and the competition."
From far away, a hint of red appeared in the snowy scene. The Hogwarts Express was coming towards its destination. Within moments, the train stopped and people came out. First came the conductor to open the door to one of the doors; two students jumped out in their thick coats and hats; the Minister of Magic appeared with an Asian looking man without most of his hair.
"Hello James!" The minister greeted after he introduced the newcomers to the professors. He turned to the two young representative, "This is James Potter, my son. This lovely young lady next to him is Lily Evans. These two are the Hogwarts representatives for the conference. Lily and James, this is Mei Chang and her brother Feng Chang." James and Lily struck out their hands for a polite but welcoming handshake. The two Chinese representatives struck out their hands tentatively, but the confidence in being so far from home seemed to decrease as each of them smiled.
"Hello, welcome to Hogwarts," James said when his dad left the youth to their own devices. "How was your trip?"
The girl yawned. "Very exhausting." Lily and James looked at each other with a smile. It doesn't seem like there would be any communication problems.
"My sister can't stand traveling. She gets sick easily," Feng replied wryly. "But the scenery was nice. It seems to resemble our home except with snow. The geographical location in our hometown doesn't allow snow to happen often."
"Have you ever played with snow?" Lily inquired politely and looking at the girl in pity. If floo powder was bad, transcontinental port keys must be worse.
"Not really," the brother replied again. "We've only seen it little patches of it." The students looked at the adult. It seemed as though they were getting ready to return to Hogwarts.
"You have some rather odd animals leading the carriages," Mei observed when they approached their mode of transportation to return to Hogwarts. James looked at them in surprise.
"Yes, they are ____ The History of Hogwarts didn't explain why. You can probably ask the headmaster about this." Lily answered. "So, are you excited about the conference?" The line of conversation did end the silence for the trip to the castle, but no one felt any closer to the others as a result. If they were going to spend three months living under the same, albeit gigantic roof, they should become more friendly with each other.
"I guess we'll be discussing rooming arrangements now," James observed when the group walked towards Dumbledore's office. He turned to the two foreign students. "We are placed in houses by a sorting hat. It's been in the school since it was started. You might think it's a bit grungy in that it's kind of dusty and raggedy, but it's smart. The Sorting Hat knows where to place people."
The headmasters turned to the students when they arrived in the office. The Chinese headmaster spoke with his students privately in rapid Chinese while Dumbledore chatted with Lily and James.
"Do you mind having these you in the same house as you?" Both shook their head negative. "Good. Now, Mr. Potter. Do you want Mr. Chang to share a room with you? Same goes for you, Miss Evans." The two students shook their head again. While the limited privacy they had with their current roommates or lack of roommates was nice, it might be a good idea to share rooms with them. Perhaps being roommates might be a good icebreaker.
"Albus," Mr. Potter added in. "I don't think sharing rooms would be a good idea. First of all, how are we going to fit the rest of the representatives in? Also, regarding the matter of personal comfort and privacy, I am not sure how the student representatives will feel when we semi-impose our students on them. It's intimidating enough to be in a new country and a new school. I think we should give them their own rooms."
The suggestion was sound, but Lily and James didn't voice their opinions. If they did, the adults would think them selfish for not wanting to share their friends and bedrooms. It seemed as though the adults needed to sort out this problem without the input of the students. After a few moments of whispered debate among the professors and the minister, it was decided that the students would get their own rooms. Hogwarts was a castle; room arrangements shouldn't be a problem.
"Well then, why don't you two help them get settled and begin your role as the Hogwarts representative?" the minister suggested when the decision was made.
~*~*~
Lily and James walked with the brother and sister around Hogwarts with students looking at them from a distance. No one dared to openly flirt with James and it seemed as though the rest of the Marauders had no trick up their sleeves with their ringleader busy.
"Wow, you have so little students at your school," Meg observed as the students piled into the Great Hall for lunch. "For all seven years, you have as many students as we have in years four through seven."
Lily shrugged. "Really? I thought we had quite a lot." The Hogwarts students all waved for Lily and James to take the new pair towards their seat. "Come on. Why don't we eat at the Gryffindor table since it seems as though that's the center of all the activity." Mei nodded while Lily led her towards crowded table with many students stuffing their faces, laughing, and talking.
"Hi Lily!" Sirius declared over all the noise. "Lovely seeing you today. Are you joining us? How nice! Anyhow, is this the Chinese representative? She's cute. You know, she looks quite a lot like the other rep – "
Remus smacked his friend in the back of his head. "Of course you idiot. Haven't you heard James telling you that the Chinese representatives are siblings? They should look alike." Like all Marauder conversations where Sirius decides to act stupid, it became a drawn out discussion.
"Um, are they always like this?" Mei asked looking at Lily. None of the seated Gryffindors moved to allow them to sit down.
James and Aleia finally noticed the two standing guests and proceeded to attempt to injure Sirius to stop the pointless conversation.
"Hello!" the unruly Gryffindor greeted with a smile while rubbing his head. "I am Sirius Black. That is, S-I-R-I-U-S, like the constellation. The person that hit me first is Remus Lupin, the kid eating a lot next to him is Peter Pettigrew, the two that his me last the Potter siblings. The girl is Aleia, she used to be my sweetheart but not anymore since I've now met you."
Everyone at the table stared at Sirius and the new student. He probably broke all but five of the rules regarding respect of culture with the last sentence of the declaration, but his prologue to the announcement managed to aid him in breaking the entire set of rules. Neither knew how to react to the situation. Weren't the Chinese very conservative about that aspect of life? Declaration of infatuation like midnight sonnets and serenades didn't happen in China, at least to everyone's knowledge.
Lily was about to apologize to Mei on Sirius's behalf, but she was cut off.
"Sirius as in the dog star?" the girl asked with her eyebrows trying to reach her forehead. Sirius nodded gleefully. "I am not partial to dogs." There was another round of silence. And Aleia decided to take charge.
"Good, at least I'm not the only one who thinks him a goofball. For that, you'll be sitting next to me." Jon was pushed to the other side of the table to sit next Mei's brother. Along with Mei, Aleia dragged Lily along as well. "We can all squish in. The more the merrier, right?" On the far side of the group, Peter was on the verge of getting pushed off the table.
The lunch conversation eventually turned to the inevitable: the first Yule ball to ever be held in modern Hogwarts. Students were excited about the prospect of dressing up and asking their dates to the dances. Mei and Feng were lectured on the concept behind the yuletide season and were explained the logistics behind the planning session.
"We have festivals like that for Chinese New Year," Feng added at the end of the explanation. "It's not a dance, but more like a major social gathering. Those who know traditional dances would perform while the others ate. Then at dusk, we had fireworks, non-magical and magical alike. The goal of our fireworks competition is to use our wands to charm the lighting so it defies the technical laws of nature."
Mei smiled openly for the first time that day, until Sirius decided to place himself next to her. "It's the best part of the evening. Our charms final before Chinese New Years is basically the fireworks show. We do have a written test of sorts, but that fireworks are much more entertaining."
"Lily's our charms expert. She's awfully good at everything," Sirius added his two cent. "James lent her this advanced book and she knew almost all of the charms, or could perform almost all of them."
Aleia, being the best moderator, decided to help out the distressed again. "Anyhow, the dance is tomorrow night. Once lunch is over, we will be going to Hogsmeade for last minute items and for the students to do some last minutes shopping."
Upon seeing the confused looks on the two newcomers' faces, Lily started another recitation/paraphrase of The History of Hogwarts. "Hogsmeade is this wizarding colony of sorts near Hogwarts. It's kind of like a stop before people enter the high security lands of Hogwarts. For those who apparate to get to our school, they have to stop at Hogsmeade and then take this special route to Hogwarts. Aside from being a secondary stop, the place had lots of shops. It's basically a leisure place for all persons at Hogwarts." The others then explained the specific shops of Hogsmeade seeing as Lily was only acquainted with Madame Rosemerta's shop.
"So, are you going to go to the ball?" Sirius begged, looking strangely canine.
Mei inched away from the pleading boy with an uncertain smile at the rest of the crowd. "I guess . . ." She looked at her brother who nodded and then turned to Lily with the pleading face. "If only Lily is going as well." The redhead nodded affirmative. No matter how much she disliked social events like balls and dances, she did help plan the Yule Ball and it will be her spells that will decorate the place.
"Good!" the Marauders all exclaimed happily.
"You are going to the Ministry Ball, right?" Aleia asked the raven-haired siblings. "I remember Dad saying something about the representatives coming. I am not sure if it has changed since some countries won't be sending their representative until after New Years." Mei and her brother nodded again.
Lunch seemed like it flew by to Lily as she listened to the Marauders' exaggerated account of everything about Hogwarts. The Chinese siblings didn't seem gullible then; at least they trusted Lily's words earlier that day over the tales of the four mischief-makers. When everyone dispersed at the end of lunch, Mei chose to remain with Lily when the Marauders thought dragging Feng on a Marauder-sponsored tour of the school and Hogsmeade was a good idea.
Lily wasn't sure how she was supposed to act. She couldn't remember the last time she had a friend. When her usual hours were spent observing people and reading books, her social skills atrophied. She had the unnatural urge to talk continuously yet the shy part of her personality held back. The Chinese girl seemed to feel just as awkward since she was quiet as well. Surrendering to the initial awkwardness of trying to know someone beyond the superficial name, the girls made their way to Hogsmeade silently among a group of chatting students.
Mei was the first to initiate a conversation, to Lily's glee. "This is so adorable. All these cottage – is that the right word?" Lily nodded. She didn't think the girl had any problems with English. She seemed fluent in English except a few holes in vocabulary. "Right, these cottages are so cute. They look like something fluffy. You know, the pagodas are sharp and seem stiff. These little houses make the scenery comfortable." The comparison between England and China began. Lily would ask something about China and the other girl would respond with an explanation and another question to follow up the question. When the more studious inquiries ran out, the questions became silly.
"Why do you westerners like dogs?"
Lily laughed at her new acquaintance-near-friend's wrinkled nose. Apparently when the girl was young, she was walking in her country home one early morning with a roll. A neighbor's dog decided that he would like to eat the roll and chased her across the small neighborhood. It wasn't until Mei was about to be home when she realized the dog wanted her snack and threw the rest to him.
"Well, they are nice companions. I can see why some big dogs are scary, but my grandmother owned this cute little Scottish terrier. He acted just like a gentleman. It was the most charming scene to see him sit up straight and listen while a five-year-old complained about the world," Lily replied.
Mei shook her head. "But they don't smell very nice and then the excrements and all that stuff." Lily stared at the girl. For someone with English as a second language, excrement was a strange word to use to bodily waste.
"Excrement?" she asked in a comically confused expression.
The Asian girl gasped and blushed. "Did I use the wrong word?"
"No, it's just not exactly the word people usually use, I guess, for that term." Lily turned and noticed a clothing store was a few yard away. "Hey, we probably should get some dress robes for the dance tomorrow night." The two girls looked at each other, laughed and ran towards the crowded store. Seeing as Hogsmeade was a small place, this was one of the few stores that offered clothing.
Once the girls entered, the owner of the place apologized since they couldn't help all their customers. Lily and Mei had to look without any guidance. It wasn't a bad idea, without the salesperson's meddling, they could look for whatever they wanted and have a small dress up party. The end result was a dark green velvet dress robes for Lily and a black and red one for Mei.
"Lily," Mei asked when they were returning to the dress. The girl fingered the package that was her new article of clothing hesitantly. "What's Sirius Black like?"
Lily looked at the girl in shock. She didn't know how to explain the personality of Sirius Black. In fact, she didn't know much about him except he was relatively rich (at least rich enough to have enough money to pay for the all the expenses of the dance), he was James's best friend and also the key nut of the Marauders. "Well, he likes to act funny. Although some people might not like his humor, he does make a large percentage of the student body laugh."
"Is he always . . . um, how do I describe it . . ." the girl trailed off staring at the air in front of her as though the clear substance could help her. "He acts like a flowery prince. That's the literal translation from Chinese. It's means a man who likes women."
"You mean a flirt?" Lily pointed out with a shrug. Didn't all men like women unless he was gay? "He tries to charm all the girls, if that's what you mean."
Mei smiled and nodded. "Flirt, got it!" The two continued their march back to Hogwarts. "You know, all those English classes never teach any useful vocabulary."
~*~*~
It was the night of the ball. Lily was exhausted. The prefects had to block off all students from the Great Hall after lunch so they could decorate. When the decorating committee went insane with the ornaments, the prefects had to shoo away stray students from the vicinity of the Great Hall. By the time all the preparations were complete, all the female prefects fretted about not having enough time to get ready. At least none of the prefects (including the head boy and girl) were going to start the dance. Everyone voted off that tradition since no one wanted to open a ball. It made the event too formal when its sole purpose was to have fun and be like children.
Lily invited Mei to her room so they could get ready.
"You have your own room as well!"
Lily shook her head and caused her closet full of clothes to move since her head was embedded in it. "Sort of. I am the only Ravenclaw girl. Apparently for my year, Ravenclaw was the least popular house."
"It must be lonely." Lily shrugged and caused her clothing to move around once again. She stuck her head out of the closet and pulled out what looked like a jewelry box.
"A friend of mine in the muggle world gave me this," she explained. "It's a jewelry box for all those jewelry I got from when I was little."
Mei opened the box with Lily's urging and frowned. "You got pearls, diamonds, and other gemstones to play with when you were little?"
Lily hesitated in her answer; she wanted to say she was a model when she was little, but Mei didn't know her well enough to judge her without bias. "Well, yes." Mei scrutinized her for a few moments before a shrug directed the focus to looking nice for the ball.
The two girls got ready with an hour and a half before the beginning of the ball.
"Is it nice having a brother?" Lily asked, trying to initiate some sort of conversation with the silent Asian girl. It was her job to make the girl feel comfortable, wanted, not homesick. "I have a sister that doesn't get along with me."
"I suppose. My brother and I are twins. It was like a miracle for the family or something. All my relatives think we are very special because we are twins," the Chinese girl replied. "He was chosen as my protector before we left. Something about how westerners were lusty people and stuff. I think whoever brought those Roman statues was really bad at explaining how it was art." Lily laughed. For someone from a rather conservative culture like the Chinese, looking at a statue of a man or woman naked was probably something of a cultural taboo.
"Right, that statue of Venus . . . and the painting of her. Yeah . . ." Lily trailed off with a wry grin. "Anyhow, I have an older sister. I guess we get along well enough to live under the same room, even though our rooms are on opposite rooms of the house."
Mei shook her head vigorously. "My brother and I still argue. Before we had control of our magic, we've wreaked havoc upon our home with all the ranging emotions involved in a brother-sister fight. I think there was once we blew up the kitchen when we were fighting over what snack to make." The clock in the room chimed seven.
"I guess I'm ready," Lily mumbled looking down at her attire. "I'll just leave my hair down and it should be enough." She felt the other girl walk behind her.
"No, you should have it up. I think showing off your neck would be great for the dress robe. Besides, you thick hair is covering the necklace when it's down." Mei grabbed golden broach from Lily's jewelry box and transfigured the pin part to an elongated stick. Grabbing all of Lily's hair, the girl twisted it around the broach to form something like a French roll. "Now, some hair out of the style to frame your face and you look wonderful!"
Lily cocked an eyebrow with the cool air brushing her formerly insulated neck. "Now I feel naked. I don't have my hair anymore! Anyhow, I do have a lot of hair. It's going to get loose and be down again."
"Easy, charm it to stay. Here, I'll do it." Lily felt the wave of the wand over her head. "Good, now we're ready to go. We'll be slightly late, but oh well. At least you look beautiful!"
"Yeah, but the good thing is we missed the part where the girl march down the stairs to make their dates stare," Lily grumbled. There was no way Mei was getting out of the room without Lily doing something to her appearance. "Now, let me help you arrange your hair. It's down, that's good but we need to give it some shape." The other girl backed a few steps in mock fear.
"Don't you dare get close to me with that wand." Lily smiled and aimed. She didn't have to be close to the girl to magically style her hair. "Lily!" Mei shrieked when the girl felt her change.
"I didn't know you hair was wavy. That's great. You'll have your hair half up. I have some beautiful ruby hairpin to decorate it." Lily turned to get the decoration but saw from the shadows that her new friend was about to redo her straightening spell. "Oh no, you do that am I will merely undo it again."
"But it will fly in my face. Hair isn't very nutritious."
"That's what the broach is for, to keep hair out of your face." Lily held out a ruby hairpin and advanced menacingly.
~*~*~
This chapter was getting too long, BUT I felt bad so this is going to be it. I will go into the dance later on. Anyhow, I apologize for the long wait, though perhaps this longer chapter might be enough for forgiveness. Being a junior in high school, looking for colleges, SATs, SAT IIs, ACTs, AP classes are kind of killing my time. Not to mention a dance concert coming up along with the real life version of the Young Wizard Commission/Conference thing. They are all in March and ooh boy, I am not getting enough sleep to function.
If I have good luck later, there might be another chapter or perhaps a newer, elongated chapter eight (this on) in two weeks. So sorry!
Replies~
Patrioticangel: Thank you. I do try to be different. In fact, I am not sure if I know how to write clichés, although that might be because I don't recognize clichés. However, if I ever board the unwanted bandwagon, don't hesitate to let me know.
Lololchik: Really now, you have a theory of how Lily's other profession will be revealed? We'll see if you are right. If you are, you get a cookie and a pat on your back while I ponder how I was too obvious.
Dee Ann: Sisters annoy the hell out of James. I think it might be a definite. But it all depends on the mood I am writing. Part of the reason I couldn't update sooner although a majority of the chapter was completed a week and a half ago was due to the fact that I wasn't in a festive mood. And a belated Happy 2004!
SummrMagic: Thanks! I am glad you like this. While I may write to de-stress myself, it's nice to "meet" – or rather interact – with other people since they like my stories.
Princess19: Wow, you like it that much?
FrankieBGoode: Thanks. Junior year is an awful year, but the good thing is that I've got more opportunities like summer programs and such like Telluride and some summer internships in science. But I do want high school to be over. My college-preparatory school has just about driven every school enthusiast to the other side. No one really likes school anymore.
Chicken Stars: Exactly, you'll never know . . . how was the outcome though?
CrystalBallerina: Strangle Sirius . . . I was thinking about that. It just might be the theme of a chapter. Strangle Sirius . . . I like it!
lady-anna-bee: Erm, not quite. The revelation of Lily being a model will be later. I think it's a bit early, but then again, you never know how sometimes plots weave themselves.
CrimsonHeart: Thanks, I needed that to move on.
IcePhoenix128: Um . . . this isn't considered soon, but it's better now than never, right?
animalluvr75: Same thing. Not exactly soon . . . sorry.
Jegan: No, don't die! I will get there. In a chapter or two. Other wise it would just drag on too long. AND very sorry about the month-long wait. *wince*
Thedevilsangel: Thanks for the review. Did you mean soon by my update or when Lily's modeling job is revealed? ^^
Colleen: Thank you. There are other great authors to counter the not-so-good. I highly doubt this is good, but I am working on my narrative style. Personally, I think this chapter was a bit dry.
And to all readers, feel free to review and let me know what you think. After all, I do write to learn so constructive criticism is most welcome, if not almost demanded. ^^ Anyhow, this is another non-betaed chapter seeing as Pristine was a bit busy. I think I gave her too much to read over. Oopsy.
Thanks for all the reviewers!
~Omnifarious