Disclaimer: Still not mine and won't EVER be mine.
Chapter 10—The Search is on!
Lily knew she had to leave the Great Hall when Kellie started yelling about 'that girl in green.'
Oh boy.
Quietly, without anybody noticing, Lily slipped out of the Great Hall and into the hallway, where she leaned back against the cold, wall and took a long shuddery breath.
God was she now regretting that she ever danced with James Bloody Potter.
--
Thankfully, there were no classes today because the professors knew that none of their students would be able to pay attention after a four-hour ball.
Therefore, students were roaming around the castle and the grounds aimlessly.
Lily, on the other hand, was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room when Erica and Tessa ran in.
"LILY!" They shouted.
Startled, Lily dropped the book she was reading and looked over. "My god," she gasped. "You scared me!"
"Sorry," Erica said cheerfully.
Lily scruntchized her with narrowed eyes. Something wasn't right. Why was Erica so cheerful?
Even Tessa was happy about something!
"Okay," Lily said finally, "What is going on here? You guys are way too cheerful and you guys aren't arguing for once."
Under her breath, she muttered, "Not like I'm complaining."
Usually, Tessa would have caught what Lily just said and make a sarcastic reply, but today, she said nothing.
"Well?" Lily crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "I'm waiting."
Erica grinned and said, "You missed the huge showdown between Barbie Number One and Ken Number One."
"Who? You mean Kellie Crosby and James Potter?"
"You could say it like that but yes."
"What happened?"
Tessa gave a snicker. "To say the least, Kellie was screaming at James."
"About what?" Lily asked stupidly.
"Because!" Tessa cried, wanting to bash her friend in the head for being so stupid. "James broke up with her!"
Lily's face drained of color. She had a nasty feeling what the real reason was and that it had to do with the fact that she danced with James at the ball.
Erica nodded and picked up, "And do you want to know the reason WHY he broke up with her?"
Lily shook her head.
Erica, on the other hand, ignored the silent protest and exclaimed, "It's because of y—!"
Lily clamped a hand over Erica's mouth and cut her eyes towards the portrait hole where James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were entering.
"Dormitory!" Tessa sang as the three (with Lily's hand still over Erica's mouth) rushed up to their dormitory.
--
"Wonder why those three girls rushed out of here so fast?" Sirius remarked thoughtfully.
"It's probably because they saw your face." James said.
Sirius made a face. "For your information," Sirius said defensively, "I have been told my thousands of girls that I have a face carved by angels."
"Yeah, the angel from hell." Remus sniggered, catching onto the game James was playing.
Sirius frowned. "Would you stop making fun of me?"
Remus shook his head while James grinned. "It was fun while it lasted."
"Thank you."
"So," Remus said, sitting down in the armrest. "Why did you tell us to come here? I could have been studying."
"For what?" Sirius asked in amazement. "N.E.W.T.s? That's not for another eight months."
Remus gave Sirius a steady look. "You always need to be prepared."
"Hey!" James shouted. "Hey!"
Sirius gave James a funny look. "Hay is for horses."
"Padfoot," Remus asked, "Do you even know what a 'horse' is?"
"Nope."
"GUYS!" James roared. "Please—shut up."
"Fine."
"Geez."
The two Marauders (actually Sirius) sat down in a chair and waited for James to begin to speak.
"Well?" Sirius asked. "What did you call us for? Its has to be something important—otherwise, you wouldn't have dragged me away from my stack of pancakes, toast, cereal, porridge—"
"We get the point Padfoot."
"Anyway," James glared at his friends. "The reason I called you guys over is because I need your help."
"For what?"
"I need you to help me find Miss Cinderella."
--
"Is there a reason why you dragged me up here with your hand over my mouth?" Erica demanded as Tessa shut the door.
"Because," Lily exclaimed. "You were about to say that I was the reason that James broke up with Kellie."
"But you ARE the reason." Erica insisted.
"Well obviously," Tessa remarked from the door.
"Don't get smart with me Tess. I saw Mitchell Braden checking you out at breakfast."
That shut Tessa up fast.
Lily couldn't help but smile. "He was?"
Erica nodded, her amber eyes alight. "He was! It was soo cute! He was staring at her with a dreamy expression in—"
"Sister!" Tessa barked. "Shut up."
"Whatever you say—Mrs. Braden."
--
"What do you mean, 'find' her?" Remus asked.
"Well you see," James said, quite lamely, "I—uh—don't know who she is."
"Aww," Sirius exclaimed. "You dance with the girl the entire night and proclaim you love her in front of your ex-girlfriend AND the entire school, but you don't know the girl's name."
"No, he does know her name Padfoot." Remus said.
Sirius and James stared at Remus as if he were crazy. "I do?" James asked.
"Yeah, she's 'Miss Cinderella.' Isn't she?"
Sirius laughed.
James scowled. "It's not funny you guys. I really want to find her."
"Okay, okay." Remus said the grin still on his face. "Can't blame a boy for wanting to throw in a little humor."
"Moony, you don't have humor."
"Sirius." James warned.
But Sirius wouldn't be stopped. "I mean," he continued, snickering slightly, "The only humor he has is book humor and we all know that's the worst kind of—"
"Silencio."
No more sounds were issued from Sirius' mouth.
"Thank you James," Remus said gratefully. "I was wondering when the batteries would die."
Sirius was mouthing some words that would make Minerva McGonagall faint.
"Now," Remus said, "Continue Prongs."
"Thanks. Anyway, I was hoping that we could put signs up around the school."
"Okay, first off. This 'Miss Cinderella' could be hundreds of girls. What makes this girl so unique?"
"This mask." James withdrew the miniature mask.
"Uhh, is your Cinderella a rat or something?" Remus asked, taking the tiny mask and examining it.
"Of course not!" James exclaimed, agitated. "I just downsized it! Here, this is the real size."
Taking out his wand, James made the mask go back to its regular size.
"That's better." Remus said, as he examined it closely.
After a few moments of careful searching for a name or anything Remus said, "We have a problem James."
"What?"
"This mask could fit any number of girls. How can we tell if it belongs to one certain girl?"
"It just will." James said firmly. "I know it."
--
Twenty minutes later, Lily decided to head outside and enjoy the false spring weather. Even though it was November 1, it was at least sixty-five degrees outside and Lily wasn't about to let a beautiful day like this to go to waste.
As she crept downstairs, she saw James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black still sitting down. James was explaining something and writing something down.
Her heart racing in fear, Lily tried to walk down the stairs as quietly as possible but unfortunately, a squeaky floorboard dropped her cover.
James looked up while his two best friends looked over their shoulders to see who made that noise.
"Hi Lily." James said. "How are you?"
"I'm—er—fine," Lily stuttered, her face turning red.
"Where you heading?"
"Outside," Lily said, trying to calm down her nerves. "It's such a nice day outside."
Lily noticed Sirius write something down and held it up.
We should join you.
"What's with him?" Lily asked James.
"We put the Silencio charm on him." James said as if it were something he did everyday.
Lily managed a weak smile. She suddenly noticed how hot it was in the common room.
"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around." Lily started walking towards the portrait hole. "Bye James, bye Remus, bye Sirius."
"See ya later."
Lily disappeared.
Remus looked amused. "If I didn't know any better, I would think that she's hiding something."
He glanced at Sirius, who was writing on a piece of parchment. "Don't even think about it Sirius."
--
Kellie Crosby was beyond humiliated.
This morning sucked ass.
She couldn't believe this was happening. James Potter—her Jamie—broke up with her!
Why did he break up with her?
To find some stupid girl that he met at the Halloween Ball!
So, this was how he was going to repay her? For two years of loving him and being fateful, he was going to throw it away for a girl he knew for only three hours.
To make it worse—she was without a boyfriend and her dimwitted friend Marissa Everhard had one still!
No, that was unacceptable.
"That really sucks about James," Marissa chirped as she scurried over to the bureau to fix her hair for the fifth time. She reapplied some eyeliner to her bulgy brown eyes and looked at her appearance.
"It also sucks about Morgan's boyfriend," Marissa said, going to her dresser to change into her afternoon outfit. "But thankfully, Remy and I will be together forever."
Okay, that was it.
Kellie looked up, her blue eyes cold as ice again. "Marissa?"
"Yeah?" Marissa peered over from the bureau where she was changing into a tank top.
"Break up with Remus."
Marissa gasped. "Why?"
"Because," Kellie had to think of something fast. "It's not cool to have a boyfriend right now."
"What are you talking about?" Marissa demanded. "You were the one that kept moaning about James breaking up with you."
Ooh, she was good. For once, Marissa wasn't acting like the ditzy idiot she usually acted like.
Kellie had to think of another excuse soon. "Well," she chose her words carefully, "I just looked in my newest issue of Teen Witch and Matilda just said that boyfriends were a total 'OUT.' Thank gawd James broke up with me."
Kellie watched as Marissa's eyes narrowed as she thought. Kellie smirked. She could almost hear the thoughts cascading through Marissa's mind. Should she keep her boyfriend and be a total out? Or follow the In and Out Guru Matilda and dump him?
Finally, Marissa made her decision.
"Matilda actually said that?"
Kellie nodded. Thank god, she was an expert liar.
"Well then, I don't want to be a total 'OUT' then. I'll break up with Remus."
Sucker.
--
"Deep cleansing breaths Lily, deep cleansing breaths."
Lily mentally told herself this as she walked onto the grounds.
A gust of warm air hit her face and jerked her back to reality.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think that she's hiding something."
She wasn't deaf or stupid. She heard Remus say those words and it scared the hell out of her.
Are they onto my secret? Do they have a notion that I may be Miss Cinderella?
Lily hoped to dear God that wasn't what they were thinking.
--
"Now," James said to his friends. "Do we know what we have to do?"
Remus nodded while Sirius shook his head.
"Why don't you understand Sirius?"
Sirius wrote something down on his parchment.
Do we have to put the signs up around the school? Now?
"No Sirius. I'm thinking we should put the signs around midnight. That way, nobody will know."
Are you being sarcastic?
James shook his head. "I'm being dead serious."
A grin unfurled from Sirius' features as he wrote down.
No, I'M Sirius.
James and Remus groaned.
"Sirius," Remus said, "That was funny the first five times in second year. Now, it's just plain annoying."
Ahh, but that's why it's so fun.
--
While Lily was outside on the grounds, panicking about hearing what Remus said, Kellie was in her dormitory—livid.
Marissa was sulking because she had just broken up with Remus not even five minutes ago and it didn't seem to bother him one bit. She thought that Remus would beg her not to break up with him!
However, Kellie didn't really care that her so-called best friend broke up with her now ex-boyfriend. All she cared about was the fact that her boyfriend dumped her in front of hundreds of people for someone else.
Kellie curled her hands into fists, relishing the fact that her freshly manicured hands were digging into her flesh.
When I find out who 'Miss Cinderella' is, she thought nastily I will be sure to make that girl's life a living hell.
And Kellie would live to that promise.
Guaranteed.
--
Well, there you go. Chapter 10. Big thanks to one of my reviewers (damnit, I forgot the name, but you know who you are!) who asked if Kellie could make Marissa dump Remus. That was an awesome idea. Many thanks!
Well, yea. That's about it. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow.
Oh yeah. To some of my reviewers—Sirius and Remus AREN'T going to get together with the Monterey twins. That's WAAY too cliché.
Until next week!
--Greekchic