Disclaimer: -Sighs- How many times do I have to tell you? I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. –Sighs again-
A/N: Check out my other story, 'Meet the Parents!' and the sequel 'Meet the Parents 2' coming soon!
Chapter 12—A Ray of Hope
After those 'auditions' that Sirius and Remus gave James, he didn't trust his friends with helping him find Miss Cinderella anymore. He was too afraid that they would pull another stunt—like hiring a fake Cinderella.
The days soon melted into weeks and the actual Cinderella never stepped forward. Oh sure, other girls claiming they were Cinderella stepped forward but none were the real deal.
James was beginning to give up hope that he would ever find Cinderella.
"Maybe I had been dreaming it the entire time." He said one day after classes ended. "Maybe this is all a dream and if I pinch myself, I'll wake up and it'll be October 30th again."
Sirius smirked and pinched James on the arm.
"OUCH! That hurt! God damn Sirius, what was that for?"
"You said you wanted somebody to pinch you to see if you were dreaming," Sirius protested. "I was grateful enough to do it!"
"Why you bloody bastard—"
"Guys, guys," Remus said smoothly, "Don't argue about this. My god, do I always have to play peace maker between you two?"
The two boys nodded. "Yup."
Remus shook his head. "Figures."
"JAMES!" Shouted a voice. "JAAAAMMESSS!"
The messy haired boy turned around to see a girl with brown hair and brown eyes stand in front of him.
"It's me James!" The girl said breathlessly. "I'm your Miss Cinderella. I've been searching for you for the past month!"
James shook his head. "Sorry, you're not."
The girls stamped her foot. "How come?" She whined.
"Because my Cinderella had red hair."
"What?" Remus hissed.
James turned to Remus as the girl stalked away. "I said my Cinderella had red hair."
"How do you know?" Remus asked in excitement. "Bloody hell, why didn't you tell this to us before?"
"I remember the way her hair was shining and I kept thinking of blood." James recalled. "Also, I just remembered this so back off."
Remus' eyes gleamed and a second later, he took off running.
Sirius watched his best friend. "What's with him?"
"I have no idea."
The girl stamped her foot again. "Uh hello? Jamie?"
"Take a hike you fake."
--
"Well I'll have to say," Tessa, said cheerfully, "That was funny."
Erica looked at her sister. "How could you think that was funny? I thought that was cruel. Watching girls get eliminated because they don't look like the real girl."
"No, the only cruel thing would be to miss the humiliation. Did you see that fat girl? What's her face—Leslie Hannah? How the hell would she ever think she could be chosen as Miss Cinderella! After all, we ALL know who the REAL Miss Cinderella is!"
"SHHH!" Erica looked over her shoulder suspiciously. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she heard somebody.
Tessa gave her sister a look of annoyance. "What?"
"I think I heard somebody."
Tessa rolled her eyes but kept silent.
"Honestly Tess, you really need to learn to keep your mouth shut. For all we know, James could be lurking around the corner listening to us!"
"Erica, I swear to god, you have paranoia."
As the two girls turned the corner, somebody swore.
"Damnit."
--
As the days passed, Lily was even more confident that her secret identity as Miss Cinderella would not be revealed.
Early in December, Lily walked into the Great Hall and promptly ran into somebody.
"Whoops." Lily said softly. "I'm sorry."
"No, my fault." The person said apologetically.
Lily looked up to see whom she had run into when she saw that it was James Potter.
Her heart pounded and her stomach rose to her throat.
"James!" She squeaked.
"Hi Lily," James straightened his robes. "How are you?"
"I'm—uh—doing okay." Lily hoped that her voice did not crack. "How's the search?"
James' shoulders sagged. "Not very good. There haven't been any clues and the only Cinderella's I'm finding are the fake ones."
Lily offered a strained smile. "Keep your head up. You never know when the right moment may come."
"I've waited a long time," James said miserably. He could not believe he was talking to Shy Lily in front of the entire Great Hall (who was watching the pair with keen interest) about Miss Cinderella!
Lily nodded sympathetically as she tried to compose herself. She felt so bad now! James obviously was hurting pretty badly because his Cinderella wasn't stepping forward. Lily desperately wanted to shout right now, 'I'M YOUR CINDERELLA!'
But she didn't.
Instead, she patted James' shoulder (and felt a surge of warmth that didn't go unnoticed by both of them) and said, "Hey, you never know. Miss Cinderella might be waiting for you and you don't recognize her. She might even be right under your nose!"
She was offering him subtle yet obvious hints that she was the girl he had given his heart to. However, James was acting daft right now and was not concentrating.
James flashed Lily the famous 'James Potter' grin. "Thanks Lily. You gave me another stab of confidence that I'll be able to find her."
Lily gave him a wavering smile. "Any time you need a morale booster, just find me."
James waved good-bye and walked out of the Great Hall.
Oh James, can't you see that I'm your Cinderella?
--
"Well, will you look at that?" Morgan pointed out. "Shy Lily Evans is actually talking!"
"Ehmagawd," Marissa gasped putting her perfectly manicured fingers up to her mouth so they lightly touched her perfectly glossed mouth, "She is! Wow, I thought she was mute!"
"And it's not just any person she's talking too," Morgan said, shooting Kellie a look, "It's James Potter."
"What?"
Morgan pointed towards Lily and James. "Look for yourself."
Kellie shoved Morgan over so she could have a better look.
"Watch it." Morgan hissed. Ever since her breakup with Sirius, she had been edgier and able to stick up for herself.
"No, you watch it." Kellie held Morgan in a glare until Morgan looked away. It was pointless arguing with Kellie anyway. She always won.
Her eyes narrowed. "What is Evans talking to James about?"
"Ehmagawd!" Marissa screeched her eyes wide. "I just thought of something!"
"About time." Morgan muttered.
Even though Kellie did not laugh at anybody else's jokes except her own and James' she felt the corners of her mouth tug as if she wanted to start laughing.
Marissa pretended not to hear Morgan as she leaned in as if telling her friends a bit of dirty gossip that she did not want anybody else to know.
"What if Lily Evans is Miss Cinderella?" Marissa's bulgy brown eyes were even wider.
Kellie snickered and soon Morgan joined in until they were rolling around laughing.
Marissa, not liking to be left out of an inside joke, started to laugh too and did not stop until Kellie and Morgan did.
"What's so funny?" Marissa asked uncertainly.
"You!" Morgan gasped, carefully wiping away tears of mirth, "Oh Merlin was that funny."
"Indeed," Kellie said coldly, "How could you possibly think that Lily Evans could be Miss Cinderella?"
Marissa shrugged. "I don't know. It could be a notion. Maybe it was them twins too."
Kellie rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease, them freaks that are the Christmas Tree's best friends? No way! I saw Twin Number one with the black hair dance with that perv Mitchell Braden and Twin Number two was with Kendall Porter."
"What about Evans?" Morgan asked. "Who did she dance with?"
"She most likely stayed in her dorm all night long," Kellie replied, applying a fresh shade of red lipstick, "We all know that girl has two left feet."
--
Lily was sulky as she sat down by her friends and took a piece of toast.
She was so depressed; she did not notice Tessa and Erica's looks of surprise.
It wasn't until she felt their looks did she look up.
"What?"
"Were you talking to James Potter?" Erica asked.
Lily nodded as she spread a thick layer of marmalade on her toast.
"What were you talking to him about?" Erica asked eagerly.
"I asked him about his search about Miss Cinderella."
"Did you tell him that you're his Cinderella?" Tessa said in a very low voice.
Lily shook her head. "If I told James you would have seen him start to laugh and me run out of the Great Hall in tears."
Tessa shook her head as if to say 'Oh Lily.'
"What did you talk to him about?" Erica asked persistently.
Lily bit a piece of toast, "Oh. I was giving him subtle hints that I was M.C."
"M.C?" Erica cocked her head so her hair spilled over her shoulder.
Tessa smacked her sister. "Miss Cinderella, idiot."
"SHHH!"
"Sorry."
"Anyway," Lily continued giving Tessa a glare, "I was telling him that Miss Cinderella was right under his nose and that she was waiting for him but he didn't recognize her."
"Busted," Tessa smirked, "I would have guessed you."
"Yeah, but I bet that boy was a bit daft. He rushed off saying I gave him some 'confidence'."
Erica shrugged. "That's better than nothing."
"True—I would hate for something terrible to happen like one of his friends finds ou—"
"Hey Tessa."
The three girls turned around to see Mitchell Braden stand in front of the girls, a look of love plastered on his face.
"Hi Mitchell," Erica and Lily greeted the boy.
"Beat it muskrat." Tessa snarled.
Mitchell blew Tessa a kiss. "I'll wait for you my love." He walked away backwards, watching his beloved.
Tessa's face turned bright red as she buried her face in her arms. "Whoever says anything about Mitchell—I'll shoot them."
"I think it's sweet," Erica cooed. "He's never acted like this around any other girls."
"I feel so flattered." Tessa said sarcastically. "God damn do I wish that I had never danced with him! Any of you guys have a Time-Turner?"
The two girls shook their heads. "Sorry Tess." Erica said sympathetically.
Lily, however, stared into blank space for a few moments. She struggled with something before she burst out, "I can't take it anymore!"
Tessa and Erica whirled around and gave their friend an odd look. "What can't you take anymore? Eating toast for breakfast since the beginning of first year?"
"No!"
"What then?" Erica asked in concern.
"I love him." Lily whispered.
"Who? Mitchell Braden? Ew Lils. That's nasty."
"No." Lily whispered again.
"Who else could it possibly b—oh my good god," Erica's eyes went wide as Tessa spoke the words,
"James Potter?"
--
James walked down the hall merrily. After speaking with Lily, his confidence had been boosted. Lily was right. Miss Cinderella was just too shy to come out into the open. Or afraid.
As he walked down the hall, he bumped into a frazzled Remus.
"Ahoy there Remus," James said cheerfully.
"Hey James—what are you so cheerful about?"
"I spoke to Lily today," James replied.
Remus' eyes narrowed. "You did?"
"Yup, and she boosted my morale! She said that my Cinderella is right under my nose! And that she was nearby but I did not recognize her! That means she is here at this school Remus! I can still find her!"
Remus' eyes were still narrowed in suspicion. "She said that didn't she?"
James nodded, not noticing the way that Remus was deriving a conclusion.
"Okay then James," Remus said, "I'll see you around."
As James walked off Remus thought,
Could Lily be Miss Cinderella?
--
"Ha ha!" Ginny cackled, "I was right! Remus DOES know it's Lily!"
"No he doesn't!" Harry was not ready to admit defeat. "He thinks it 'could be Lily.' That doesn't mean the same thing."
"Oh yes it does."
"No it doesn't. Until Remus makes a conclusion, I am not handing over my money."
Ginny frowned and flipped the page to start Chapter 13. An evil smile split across her face.
"I like this chapter," Ginny said evilly, "It's on my side."
"What?" Harry looked over Ginny's shoulder and she could not help but feel very conscious.
Stop it, she told herself, Stop it. You don't like Harry Potter. He already broke your heart.
"Bullocks," Harry snapped, "That doesn't mean anything."
Ginny regained her composure and smiled. "Yes it does, I'll prove it too. Now sit down and let me read."
--
Ha ha. Finished.
Eh, took me 2 days but I had a stupid garage sale to run and that took up most of my stamina and time so now I am back on track.
I'd like to say this very quickly for my reviewer who said this story is 'a total copy of A Cinderella Story.' It is NOT a copy and the only things that were similar were the auditions and posters and I cannot find anything else so please, do not say that this is a total copy. My neighbor just gave me her copy of the movie and I do not think it is a copy. If it were a total copy, you would see everything that had been in the movie. Kapish?
Anyway, I'll leave my rant alone and hopefully I'll have Chapter 13 up by tomorrow.
Until next time.
--Greekchic.
P.S. As you can tell, I deleted 'until next week' because I'm not updating every week.