Chapter Eight: Sweet Revenge
Reluctantly, beneath the shade of a shedding deciduous tree, Lily cracked her change purse. A few bits of lint fluttered out, carried by the soft breeze that also pulled a few strands free of her tight ponytail. Curtly, she smoothed the hairs back into place and emptied the contents of the wallet into her open palm.
One…two…three sickles and four knuts. Well then. It appeared she'd be sitting this shopping trip out.
"Coming, Lily?" Kenneth had paused in the doorway of Honeydukes, his feet dancing on the steps in eagerness to enter.
"Er…" she glanced around uncomfortably. "I think I'll head over to…um…the Three Broomsticks."
He shrugged and did not hesitate to ask questions. The sugar quills were calling to him. Lily wasn't exactly crying to be rid of Kenneth. Granted, he was her friend, but they had never been particularly…close, to say the least.
Brushing her cloak back, she strode down the street, perusing the shop windows. She was just going past the robe shop when something made her jerk to a halt. There, glittering in the window, was a gorgeous set of deep blue robes, trimmed delicately with silver lace and embroidered with shimmering thread and iridescent beads. The sheer sight of them sent chills up her spine. They were so beautiful…Something was churning in the depths of her stomach. She'd never really cared about frilly, frivolous things before. Yet she was beginning to see what some of the fuss was about, why Charlotte and her friends spent so much time meticulously planning their evenings, and why every girl wanted to go with a handsome boy so that she would feel that much more beautiful.
She frowned suddenly. She may not have had any money, but that didn't mean she couldn't act like it. Puffing up her chest a bit, she flung open the shop door.
Her ego quickly shrank once she'd stepped over the threshold, her breath catching in her throat. The walls were lined with incredible robes of all styles and colours. Each was intricately embroidered, by hand no doubt, and gleamed in the warm light of the elaborate little shop. Clearly this was a more upscale portion of Hogsmeade. She wondered if it had always been there, or if she'd merely tried to block it from her vision to save herself disappointment.
And looking around at the finely dressed and polished shoppers, she wished she had ignored it once more. She watched a very pretty blonde girl pick up a set of peacock feather robes and add it to her hovering pile. Lily felt her cheeks flush involuntarily as she peered down at her own fraying robes.
"Can I help you?"
Lily's eyes flickered up, landing on a young witch in a set of trendy purple robes with gemstone trim. She raised a neatly shaped eyebrow and tilted her head. "Are you lost?"
"Um…" Lily could feel the blush deepening in colour. "Er…yes. I mean no. What I mean is… I'm looking for…a new set of dress robes."
The witch eyed her sceptically for a moment. With a new sense of pride, Lily stared her down defiantly, imagining she was the blonde girl casually carrying around a mound of beautiful new gowns.
The witch tapped her chin with a lacquered nail and nodded resolutely. "Well, I think I have just the thing."
With a flick of her wand, a measuring tape unravelled in thin air and began dancing around Lily's body. "Hmm…" she muttered, a hand thoughtfully at her chin. "Right…right…Excellent. You have perfect proportions, you know. Merlin I'm jealous!" she tittered gleefully. "Okay, you just wait in that dressing room and I'll bring you the perfect gown!"
"Oh…all-all right." Lily stumbled through the racks and sat herself inside a small room with mirrors on all sides. In the centre of the floor was a raised platform. She dropped into a green velvet armchair and waited, twiddling her fingers in anticipation.
Great. Just great, Lily. And how exactly did she plan on paying for these new dressing gowns? She had no money. And she was quite positive this store did not take I-owe-you's.
There was a soft pop outside the dressing room door and then a faint knock.
"Erm, come in?"
The door burst open. "Here we are!"
Immediately, Lily blanched. The young witch was carrying a stack of robes in hot pink, brown, powder blue, and various other colour combinations with an assortment of trims ranging from sequins to goose feathers.
"Er…eh heh heh." Lily smiled dumbly at the pile, which the witch set atop a velvet armchair. With a flick of her wand, she sent the gowns dancing around Lily in a whirlwind.
"So!" she exclaimed delightedly. "Which would you like to try first?"
"I, um, well, I-" Lily was desperately thinking of an excuse to escape when her eye caught a set of blue robes spinning past her face. "Wait stop. That one!"
The robes jerked to a stop, suspended in midair. Lily stepped down off the raised platform and stopped before the gorgeous set of blue robes- the very same she had been admiring in the window. "These…" she breathed.
Slowly, the witch smirked and tapped her chin. "Well, I was going to suggest the Fandango Pink set, but…well, yes. Those may just do fine…" She strode over to them and waved her wand. "Now hold still, I'll get them on you in a jiffy."
Lily shut her eyes tightly as she felt her own shabby robes fall to the floor with a flick of a wand and then the coolness of the softest fabric she'd ever known sliding over her skin. Oh, they felt so nice…
"There."
Lily opened her eyes. Wow. Wow. Was that…was that her?
"Hmm…" she tapped her chin. "Well, the pink was definitely more your colour, but goodness…these aren't too bad…"
Not too bad indeed, Lily thought in awe, gazing at the reflection of someone she didn't know, or at least, had only dreamed about.
"So you like them, then?"
"I…I…" Lily sighed wistfully and spun around. "I do! I adore them!"
"Excellent!" the saleswitch burst, her jewelled sleeves bouncing as she spun around. "I'll just go ring it up for you, then shall I?"
"What?" Lily's jaw dropped. "No, wait, I-"
But she had already apparated from the room.
Oh. Damn. Lily scrambled out of her robes. She had to catch her! She couldn't pay for these! She had just barely pulled on her own shabby robes and burst out the door when she nearly ran smack dab into the back of a curly blonde head. She stopped dead in her tracks, clutching the blue gown tightly to her frozen heart.
"…so then I said, 'Well obviously I want them in periwinkle blue and white. They are my colours after all!'" Charlotte Vane waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, nearly smacking Lily in the face. Her back, thankfully, was turned at just the right angle so that Lily remained out of her visibility. Lily ducked behind a rack marked "30 off" assuming that Charlotte would never look there.
Lily's brain was buzzing. She couldn't let Charlotte see her here. She'd never escape the shop! It was bad enough having to avoid that saleswitch who, incidentally, kept scanning the shop with hawk eyes waiting for Lily to emerge.
Lily watched Charlotte's polished shoes stride by on the other side of the rack. Two more pairs followed, presumably her posse of Helen and Florence.
"… I mean, talk about a pathetic excuse for a personal shopper. I told Daddy, I said, 'Daddy, I am going to do my own shopping from now on.' And he said, 'Darling, I will get you a new shopper immediately.'" Charlotte giggled during this interlude, then continued. "You see? He just hates the thought of me having to do anything myself. He can be sweet sometimes. If you know what buttons to push." She flicked her curls. Well, Lily couldn't really see if she flicked her curls, but it was just a very Charlotte thing to do.
"What on earth-?" A voice came from behind. "Whatever are you doing down there?"
Lily froze. Blast. She looked over her shoulder to find the saleswitch watching her with a mix of amazement and disbelief. "I…er…dropped my purse."
Her disbelief turned to genuine worry. "Oh dear. Let me help you look. Accio purse!"
Nothing. Lily blushed furiously.
"That's odd," the witch tapped her chin with her wand.
"Ah, well," Lily stood up slowly, still keeping an eye out for Charlotte who was now thankfully halfway across the store. "I must have lost it somewhere else. I'll just go look for it and come back, shall I?"
Fear darted across the saleswitch's face at the thought of losing a sale. "No, no, nonsense! Here, I'm sure we can work something out. Come with me."
"No, really, I should get going-" Lily began, but the witch was dragging her by the arm and before she knew it, she was at the register.
Lily's stomach flopped.
"Now…" the witch began scribbling something with her quill. "Do you have wizard credit?"
"Erm…" Lily wasn't particularly paying attention. She was busy keeping an eye out for Charlotte, but she seemed to have disappeared for the moment. "I don't know…"
"Really? Well, I'm sure we could set you up with an account here! What's your mother's maiden name?"
"An account?" Lily turned back to the saleswitch. "What for?"
"Well to purchase your new dress robes, of course! It's a simple payback plan with minimal interest."
"Oh well…" Lily flushed slightly. "I don't think I'd really be eligible…"
"Oh, nonsense!" she waved her hand dismissively. "There's always collateral."
"Collateral?"
"Yes. If you are unable to make payments, we usually take items to, you know, cover the cost."
"Oh. Well," Lily frowned, "what sort of items?"
She licked the tip of her quill and began scribbling something else on the parchment. "Oh, you know, limbs."
Lily blanched. "I-I'm sorry, limbs?"
"Yes," the witch nodded brightly. "Ears, toes, the occasional arm. We did take a right buttock once, but it was a particularly bad customer we were dealing with-"
Lily's eyes were the size of dinner plates. She liked her limbs! She didn't want to trade them for a missed payment on a lousy set of robes! Bloody hell! Just as Lily began to panic, the ominous bouncing curls of Charlotte appeared in her peripheral vision. Charlotte turned and headed toward the counter, a giant pile of robes hovering behind her. Blast. How was Lily going to get out of this one?
"There! All done. Your new wizard credit account is set up."
"What?" Lily whirled around. "No, I-" Charlotte was getting closer. Lily tried to hide her face behind a spinning display of non-fat chocolate frogs. "Look, I really shouldn't have an account-"
"But…" the witch's face dropped. "I already set one up…"
Lily was desperately glancing back at Charlotte. If she saw Lily, she'd never let her leave the shop without exploiting the fact that Lily didn't belong there and had no means to pay.
"Um, I really should-!"
"But what if I just-" the saleswitch began, but it was too late. Charlotte was only a few paces away, her head turning threateningly in Lily's direction.
"Ack!" Lily threw the blue dress robes over her face and made a dive for the door. She knocked into Charlotte, sending her hovering stack of robes flying. Several glittering pink and baby blue ones stuck to Lily's arms and head as she stumbled desperately across the threshold. She was almost home free, when- WHAM!
Lily could see stars. She blinked, realizing it was just a set of glittering pink robes blocking her vision. Slowly she peeled back the gown from her head and dropped her jaw.
Another girl, the blonde one with the pile of robes, was also on the ground beside her, in a bit of a daze. All of her beautiful gowns had been scattered across the cobblestone street, muddied and torn, some drenched and soiled in puddles. This fact finally seemed to dawn upon the girl and she glared incredulously at Lily who flushed with unparalleled humiliation.
The Saleswitch stood at the threshold of the shop, tapping her foot impatiently. Lily, who was attempting to avoid eye contact, very clearly spotted Charlotte giggling uncontrollably amongst the onlookers.
The saleswitch pursed her lips and held up the tattered remains of a yellow gown pinched between her thumb and middle finger. "I'll just add these to your tab, shall I?"
Lily blanched at the twenty some odd ruined dress robes, and shrank abashedly away from the blonde girl's seething glare.
---
Dejectedly, Lily licked a cut on the palm of her left hand and drug herself away from the crowds to a secluded bench amongst a few evergreen trees overlooking the Shrieking Shack. Now that she was officially in debt- oh Merlin was she in debt- Lily had to start thinking about what it was going to take to repay that debt. And still lingering in the back of her mind was how was she going to sneak that ancient copy of Crime and Punishment: An Advanced Theory of Charms in Law Enforcement back into the library without getting caught?
Lily's brain was swirling with the disasterous events of the past few weeks when she felt a presence beside her.
"Something wrong?"
Lily looked up. Remus was now lounging, cross-legged beside her. She flushed and shook her head. "No! No, I'm fine. Just...avoiding the crowds."
Remus nodded. "That's understandable. I'm not much for large crowds either."
She began fiddling with the muddy hem of her cloak. Oh, her cloak! It was filthy! She looked like she'd been rolling in the mud. Blushing furiously again, she tried to scrape some of it off, but to no avail.
Remus smiled, enjoying the spectacle, which just made Lily flush even deeper. She froze suddenly when Remus reached out and gently grasped her wrist, pulling her closer. Her red cheeks quickly became white with fear as Remus leaned toward her. What...what was he doing? Was he-?
She shut her eyes and pursed her lips, and waited. And waited. She opened an eye and glanced down. Remus had tapped the sleeve of her cloak and muttered "Scourgify!" Immediately, the mud dissipated and her cloak returned to its original faded black colour. And like the cloak, her original red blush had returned, rather quickly. Lily muttered a soft 'thank you' and tried to focus her attention on the peeling bark of the pine to her left. Was it her, or was Remus snickering at her? But when she turned back to catch a glimpse of his face, he appeared as stolid as ever.
"It's beautiful out here, isn't it?" He said suddenly. "Many people don't realize it."
"Right..." Lily mumbled. "Except for the Shreiking Shack..."
Remus smiled. "True. Very true...Lily, do you remember the first day at Hogwarts?"
"Er...I suppose, sure." She brushed a few stray hairs from her face and tilted her head. "I was like a scared little kitten."
Remus laughed. "So was I. I couldn't imagine being as comfortable here as I am now."
"Yes...I suppose that's true..." Lily sighed. Not that she was having a particularly good year or anything...
"I also remember the first time I met you."
Lily's ears pricked. "W-what do you mean?"
"Well...I mean that..." Remus turned to her quite fiercely. "Lily...I thought you were so pretty...and now, when I look at you...I just..."
Lily froze. Remus was proclaiming his love for her? "Remus...I..."
"I want to be with you."
Lily couldn't believe her ears. Before she could stop herself, the words tumbled out. "Remus, I want to be with you too. I want you, Remus. I think I love you, Remus." Then, just like that, she leaned in and kissed him. His were soft...but they began to curl into a smile.
Lily pulled away, and it wasn't Remus staring back at her:
It was James.
Lily shrieked and leapt off the bench and nearly tripped on a dead branch. "You!"
James was rolling with laughter, the last few strands of Remus' sandy hair fading quickly into James' famous messy black locks. "That was priceless."
Lily's insides were streched so tight with anger she thought they might snap. "You're sick!"
"Oh, Remus, I want you. I think I love you!" He bleated mockingly, practically rolling on his back with laughter. Yet...his wasn't the only voice laughing.
Lily ran. She ran down the path until she reached the main street. Blaring from some unknown source was Lily's own voice, repeating those awful words again and again.
"...I WANT YOU, REMUS. I THINK I LOVE YOU, REMUS. REMUS, I WANT TO BE WITH YOU TOO. I WANT YOU, REMUS. I THINK I LOVE YOU, REMUS. REMUS, I WANT..."
The entire town was stopping in their tracks, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, and all the eyes of Lily's classmates landed on her. Everyone was laughing, especially Charlotte and her friends who seemed to think this was the best thing that could possibly ever happen. Charlotte began mimicing the words and dancing around, as did many of the other students. And there, standing beside Sirius, who was, of course, laughing his arse off as well, was Remus, flushing scarlet. Lily caught his eye, and he simply turned away.
She thought she might cry. Biting back those tears, she turned on her heel and ran back into the trees. Hadn't she been humiliated enough for one day? Enough for her whole life? Why did James have to be so nasty!
The dark was settling upon the town, and it was only a matter of minutes before they had to be back on the train. But Lily couldn't bring herself to emerge from the forest. She was beaten down and tired. She hated not having any friends, she hated being smart, she hated having James around, and she hated being her! What was it about her she needed to change in order to be liked? Was it that she was a prefect? But no prefect from the other houses had any problems. The students respected them. But not Lily. No one seemed to respect her.
And why should they? Just look at her...she was, all in all, rather pathetic.
Lily simply sighed, then stood up. Enough wallowing, she had to get back to the train. She couldn't let it get to her so much. She just had to suck it up and finish out these last two years and she was gone, off to some dream job working for the Ministry in Australia or some such like that. She smiled to herself. It made her feel better knowing she had some place to go after this school, that she had the skills to get hired unlike many of the sorry wannabe's of her class. Ha. She'd show them. Especially James. That stupid, selfish-
Wait a minute...James...how had he gotten to Hogsmeade! He was supposed to be in detention and was prohibitted from trips like this! That conniving little...Lily growled to herself. But how had he done it?
She was just passing Honeydukes when she saw a few student stragglers being rounded up by the prefects. There was Remus, shaking his head, and apparently talking to himself. Great. Fantastic. Now she had driven him insane with the thought of him actually being in love with her. He probably thought she was stalking him. He glanced furtively around and hung back as the students scurried off, trying not to drop all their sweets.
Lily paused in her tracks and took a step back into the shadows. She really prefered not to have an awkward run-in with the boy she just proclaimed her undying love for.
But Remus was acting really odd. Shifting around, and...well...quite animatedly talking to himself.
Lily gasped. James' head had just emerged out of thin air. He was laughing. Then the rest of his body appeared. Tossed over his right arm was a silvery sheet of fabric, sliding around in his grasp. Could it be?
Remus motioned to something and then shook his head and stomped off toward the train. James shook his head nonchalantly, then threw on the silvery fabric and disappeared into thin air.
Ah...so it was. Lily felt a smirk creeping across her features.
James Potter had an Invisibility Cloak.