Chapter 11
A Day At Hogsmeade
James walked into Lily's bedroom the next morning, creeping along slowly and quietly so he wouldn't wake her. Little did he know that, at times, Lily could be quite difficult to get up, she wasn't exactly what you'd like to call a morning person. Actually she hated the morning just about as much as she did her sister.
He walked up to her bed and sat down on the edge closest to her. James had had a few girlfriends over the years and each and every one of them were as ugly as a troll covered in dung in the morning, but when he looked down at Lily as she slept a smile crept across his face. He never doubted she would be pretty in the morning but it hadn't crossed his mind that she would look like she did, an angel, his angel.
Ever so gently, still not wanting to wake her, he caressed one of her soft cheeks and pushed the few ringlets of auburn hair that had fallen onto her face off to the side. James bent down and planted his lips on her forehead, pulling away slowly.
" Lily..." he whispered rubbing her bare shoulder carefully, " Lily, it's time to get up."
Not knowing who in hell it was that was waking her, and being the 'morning hater' that she was she did something totally unexpected.
She made a fist and punched at the air, but unfortunately it wasn't the air she hit, it was James' nose.
" OHH!" he shouted; jumping off of the bed and hopping around with his hands on his nose.
Lily woke with a start, she had no clue what she had done but when she saw James wincing as he touched his nose she knew what had happened immediately.
She hopped out of bed and ran over to him, " Oh merlin... I'm so sorry James!"
He looked at her as if she were nuts, " What the bloody hell was that for?"
She bit her lip and tugged at her thin white tank top, " Uh, ... I didn't exactly realize I had done it until you screamed. James I'm really sorry, are you alright?" she asked, concern filling her emerald orbs.
He rolled his eyes and smiled at her, showing that he had already forgiven her. Taking his hand from his nose she could see a few drops of blood seeping from it. James wince in pain and groaned quietly, " Ow, you've got a good punch there Lily"
She gasped " Oh my god, I've broken your nose!" she put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed his forehead, " I'll be right back, let me just go get Mallory, she can use magic but I can't. So just... yeah uhh,... wait right here," She turned and headed for the door but then stopped and turned around again.
" Heh, forgot I was in my pj's" she said, laughing lightly as she shrugged on a robe and ran out of the room.
A few minutes later she was back, dragging a very groggy Mallory behind her.
With one look at James she completely woke up and burst into a fit of giggles.
" Damn Lily! You'd think you would be a little more gentle with a guy if he was your boyfriend. I guess you don't live by that, Merlin, you've broken his nose!"
Mallory snorted loudly and began cracking up again. Lily had turned bright red out of embarrassment and anger, she slapped Mallory upside the head and instantly she quit laughing.
" No really? You think so? How about fixing it then!"
She glared at Lily angrily, " Fine, fine, fine, I'll fix the poor guy!"
Mallory said the basic healing charm and with a flash of bright white light James' nose was completely healed.
He touched his nose carefully, expecting it to hurt still, but no pain was experienced, " Thanks Mal, couldn't live without you,"
She shrugged and giggled quietly before walking out of the room, she shouted back at them as she continued down the hall, " I'll be in the kitchen fixing breakfast if you need anything else, and Lily, please don't kill the poor bloke, all he ever did was ask you out,"
Lily rolled her eyes and walked up to James quickly, she threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. He rapped his arms around her and smiled.
" I'm really sorry about that James, I honestly didn't even know I h-" she started
James placed a single finger on her lips and lifted her chin up so that they were eye to eye, " Lily, my dear Lily Flower, it really is okay. Don't worry yourself over it, alright?"
He then bent down and kissed her softly on the lips, " Now, why don't you get dressed and meet me down in the kitchen, I think we'll leave for Hogsmeade after we eat."
She nodded and kissed him on the cheek, " Alright, I'll see you in a few then."
He put up a hand as he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.
Ten minutes later everyone was fully dressed and they were all eating breakfast together, although, everyone still seemed to be dead tired. Even Sirius was a bit groggy, which was extremely uncommon.
Lily cleared her throat and smiled, " So, er, how did you all sleep last night?"
Sirius groaned and rubbed his head, " A damn branch off of a tree kept banging up against my window. It kept me awake basically all night,"
Remus grinned and rolled his eyes, " Are you unaware of owning a wand and possessing magical powers?"
He shot a glare in his direction and growled, " I couldn't find my bloody wand, it was dark, need I remind you?" he said through gritted teeth.
Remus looked at him as if he had lost his mind, " Ever heard of a light switch?"
Sirius said nothing, he just shook his head in anger and mumbled under his breath as he began to violently smash his food.
" Well, I slept fine. Just like a baby," Mallory chirped now fully awake.
Amanda nodded in agreement and looked towards Lily and James, " How did you two sleep,"
" Good," she said.
James smirked and shrugged, " Well, I slept just fine but it was waking Lily up that went wrong,"
She slapped his arm gently and blushed, feeling eyes upon her. They all began to laugh.
" Yeah," Remus said chuckling slightly, " We heard about that."
" At least we know that if our wands are taken away we can go and hide behind Lily and we'll still be safe," Amanda added sarcastically.
" Oh, leave me alone, for heavens sake I didn't mean to hit him. Why the bloody hell would I purposely punch James?" Lily said, laughing quietly.
Mallory giggled, " Well, Lily, we don't know but we were hoping you would tell us that."
She stood up and walked her plate over to the sink, " Sod off, Mallory,"
Mallory laughed, " Lils hon I'm only fooling with you. We all know you two are madly in love with each other and neither would purposely do anything to hurt the other."
James stood up and walked over to Lily, beginning to wash his plate in the sink next to the one she was using.
" Alright, alright, enough making fun of us," he said, " I think, I, personally have been through enough and, Lily, we all know it was an accident."
Mallory raised her hands in defeat, " Okay, I quit. So, when are we leaving for Hogsmeade?"
" Whenever you're all ready."
Amanda stood up and collected all of the plates, she walked over to the sink and washed them clean.
" Okay then let's get out of here and spend some money, I'm getting tired of making fun of Lily anyway," Amanda said, patting her on the back, as if to show she was only kidding.
Lily sighed, " I'll be back in a second, let me just go get my purse." she walked out of the kitchen and started up the stairs.
" Yeah, me too, I'll be right back," Mallory said, following Lily.
Amanda nodded, " Same for me," and went with the other girls.
" Oh, yeah I better go get mine!" Sirius said in a mocking voice. Mallory, Amanda and Lily glared at him, then turned around; quickly continuing up the long stair case.
" We'll be waiting at the door, hurry, we want to miss the crowds!" James shouted up after them.
Once the girls had grabbed their purses they apparated to Hogsmeade. First they went to Madame Malkins Robes For All Occasions, (( A/N: okay two things, One: I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly and Two: I'm not sure if that is in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, so for the time being that is how it's spelled and its located in Hogsmeade lol, continue reading!... please! )) but they couldn't really find anything they wanted.
Remus picked up his dress robes there, but James, Sirius and the girls didn't find anything appealing to them. Remus had chose the traditional black robes with a white undershirt, a black tie and black polished shoes. He had tried it on and it fitted perfectly, it made him look very sophisticated, so he bought it.
Lily had tried on a few robes but they just didn't seem to be the one she was looking for.
" So where are we going to go if we can't get the robes here?" Mallory asked, sighing heavily and pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head.
" We could go down to Eva's Elegant Robes. It's not to far away," Amanda suggested.
Lily nodded, " Yeah let's go there,"
James shook his head, " Well, we won't be able to get anything there, they only carry women's robes."
" We'll find a place, just meet back here at three thirty and we can go out for lunch." Sirius said.
" Alright see you guys later,"
With that the girls set off down the street. Once inside the store they began to browse first for Mallory's dress. They decided that if they all helped pick it out they may be more successful quicker.
Lily pulled out a yellow dress with red swirls all over it and held it up to Mallory, Mallory winced and stuck out her tongue.
" This dress reminds me of vomit," she said, scrunching her nose in dislike.
Lily seemed offended at this and huffed, " Well I think it's pretty!"
Amanda shook her head, " Nah, Mallory's right Lils, it looks like someone spilled paint all over it."
She raised her eyebrow and shoved it back onto the rack.
Amanda offered up another dress. It was the most hideous thing Lily had ever seen.
It was a neon purple, if you could call it that, and it came up about mid calf. But what made it ugly was the puffy sleeves, frilly collars and the horrible way it seemed to puff out around her legs.
With one look at each other the three of them burst out laughing.
After they had recovered from the initial shock of that dress they began to search again. They continued to pull out dresses, insult them and shove them back onto the rack. After fifteen minutes of searching, Lily pulled out the perfect dress and they all scurried back to the dressing rooms.
She slipped it on with ease and stepped out of the stall, she looked like a goddess. Lily knew that if Sirius would have been there he would've snogged her right then and there without any concern for the fellow customers.
Mallory was wearing a beautiful, midnight blue dress that fit her like a dream. It enhanced her every curve and made her smile seem brighter than it already was. The dress was sleeveless and it had a rounded neck line, it had a small dip in the back and an equally small slit on the side. It reached the ground and drug slightly.
Lily smiled, " Yep, this is the one, it looks great."
" Yeah, you look fantastic Mal!" Amanda agreed.
" Thanks guys, alright let's go get your dress robes Mandy" she said enthusiastically.
Mallory stepped back into the dressing room and took off her robes, placing them back on the hanger. When she had came out once again she flattened her hair in the mirror and turned to her friends.
" Okay, you guys go ahead and get a head start while I go pay for this."
Lily nodded and they left the dressing rooms, " We're going to be over on the other side," she said.
Mallory gave her the thumbs up sign and walked up to the counter.
Amanda sighed, " I hope I can find a dress that will fit me as well as the one she got fit her."
" I'm sure you will, here this looks nice," Lily pulled out a silky pink dress with sparkles covering it.
She nodded, " Yeah that one is really nice, I'll try it on, but I want to keep looking. That just doesn't seem to be the one I'm looking for," Amanda said, searching still through the rack.
" Oh, this one's pretty... no it's not, never mind."
Lily laughed and shook her head.
Suddenly Mallory turned the corner and met up with them again, " I found one on my way up here, and it just screamed Mandy."
She handed Amanda the dress and instantly her face brightened, " Oh, yes, this is wonderful. Come on I'm trying these on!" she said full of excitement.
They entered the dressing rooms for the second time, Amanda went into one of the stalls and quickly changed into the first dress they had picked out.
When she stepped out and looked in the mirror she shook her head, " No, this just isn't me."
" Yeah, its a little too loose in all the wrong spots," Mallory agreed clicking her tongue.
Lily waved her hand at her, " Well, go on and try the other on, I'm sure it will fit nicely."
She nodded and went back into the stall. A few minutes later she walked out beaming.
Amanda looked the nicest either of them had seen her look in ages. The robes were a shimmering dark red color with long bell sleeves, it drug on the ground a bit more than Mallory's robes had but that seemed perfect for her height and body structure. This dress also had an extremely low neck line, showing off a fair bit of Amanda's cleavage, which, Lily was sure, Remus would enjoy.
Amanda twirled around a few times and looked toward the girls in approval.
" So,... what do ya think?" she said, still bearing a huge grin.
Lily gave her a hug, " You look beautiful, Mandy!"
" Yeah, absolutely fabulous! There's no doubt that this is the one!" Mallory chirped.
" Okay, my turn!" Lily said, giggling madly.
The girls rolled there eyes and laughed.
" Hurry up and change before she shits herself," Mallory said sarcastically.
Lily shot her a dirty look but then laughed, " Oh, shut up,"
Amanda stepped out of the stall and handed the pink dress to Lily, " Here, be a dear and put this back onto the rack while I go pay for this,"
" Okay, we will be right where we were before," Lily said, starting off eagerly towards the dress robes once more.
Mallory followed close behind, and checked her watch, " Oh my, we have to hurry, its 2:30 and we haven't bought our shoes or picked out purses!"
" Merlin, well we'll just have to hurry up and find my robes then,"
Without another word they began to search. After five minutes of digging through the hangers Amanda and Mallory soon found out that Lily was the hardest girl on the face of God's Green Earth to please. They had gone through at least ten dresses and none of them she liked.
Five more minutes passed... five more... ten more, and then finally Lily screeched and started to dance.
" Yes! This is it, perfect!" Lily shouted from the opposite side of the racks so that the girls didn't even get a chance to see what it looked like.
Mallory sighed, " It's about time!" just as they started to round corner to see it a blur of red flew past them, heading towards the dressing rooms.
Amanda laughed and shook her head, " Wow, it must be a good one!"
" It better be, because I'm not going to look anymore!" she said huffily.
Mallory and Amanda took a seat on one of the small benches in the dressing rooms and waited for her to walk out.
Lily giggled eagerly, " You lot ready?"
In an annoyed voice they replied in unison, " Yes, Lily,"
Lily opened the door slowly and stepped out, sending her friends into a panic attack.
Mallory jumped up and stared at her, " Merlin! Wow! You look beautiful!" She ran up to her and squeezed her.
Amanda stood there wide-eyed, " James, is going to have a fit! I can't believe how wonderful it fits you!"
Lily smiled and turned, she knew she had the best dress robes out of the entire shop and she was ready to show it.
The robes she had picked out were dazzling with each and every move, her eyes seemed to sparkle along with the elegant dress. The robes were white, and covered in sparkles, it was sleeveless and there were two straps that tied behind her neck. It dipped very low in the front, like Amanda's dress had, and it showed off Lily's every curve. It was without a doubt the prettiest, and best fitting dress she had ever worn. Just where the neck line ended there sat a delicate diamond flower, attracting attention to her chest. This would definitely be of James' approval.
It melted into her skin and enhanced her thin waist, which a strap was wrapped around, tying on her side. As she turned around the girls got a view of the back of the dress. Most of the back was open, it slanted downwards in a 'V' shape, showing her clear ivory skin, and it closed at mid back. There was a slit on the side of the dress that went halfway up her right leg, allowing her to move more freely. It was the perfect fit, and the perfect dress robes for a Ball such as this one.
Lily was beaming, every part of her body was glistening with happiness, " I love it! It's perfect! What time is it Mal?" she added as an after thought.
Mallory checked her watch and looked up hastily, " It's three fifteen! We only have fifteen minutes to buy our shoes!"
Amanda looked at them like they were crazy, " That's nearly impossible!"
"No," Lily said, running back into the stall and changing out of her dress robes in record time, " it is impossible if we don't get out of here fast."
XxxxxX
The three of them were now shopping in a shoe store for their... shoes, wow never would've guess that!
Lily had already bought hers, she had picked out a pair of open toed silver strappy heals that matched her dress surprisingly well.
Amanda and Mallory were still looking for their shoes, so Lily went over to the other side of the room and began to look at the jewelry. It really didn't make sense to her why a shoe shop would carry jewelry but, hey, she didn't mind.
Lily picked up a gold locket necklace and scrunched her nose.
Wow, that's sure ugly, ha, I'd never be caught wearing that thing...
She walked over to an inclosed case full of beautiful jewelry. Lily scanned the case suddenly gasping and smiling broadly.
Oh, This one's nice!
The necklace she was looking at was made almost entirely out of diamonds and emeralds. The chain consisted of a small diamond and then an equally small emerald, then another small diamond and another emerald. It continued that way until it met a beautiful heart shaped pendant in the middle of the necklace that was made of the most eye catching diamond she had ever seen in her life.. She loved it, glancing at the price tag below the beautiful piece, she gasped loudly.
" 3,000 Galleons? Merlin!" she said out loud.
All of the sudden she heard the familiar clicking of heals behind her.
" May I help you ma'am?" a kind old lady asked from behind her, smiling sweetly up at her.
Lily looked down at her sadly, " I'm afraid not, Ma'am, I can't afford this, but it's beautiful. Thanks anyway."
The old woman smiled and nodded, " Yes, many things here are a bit over priced, if I do say so myself. Well," she started turning slightly, " if you need anything just give me a holler, dear."
" Thanks, I will," she replied smiling.
Mallory and Amanda appeared around the corner just as the lady was walking away, they were carrying their shoes in large pink and red striped bags.
" Ready, Lils?" Amanda asked.
She nodded, " Yeah, just a second."
Mallory walked over to her and followed her eyes to the necklace that she had been admiring, " Wow, that's really nice! That would go with your robes really well, Lils."
Lily smiled sadly, " I know, but its 3,000 Galleons,"
Amanda's eyes widened, " Geez, isn't that just a tad pricey?"
She laughed, " Just a little, well, we better go meet up with the guys." Lily picked up her bag and followed the two out of the shop.
" Well," Mallory said, as they turned the busy corner, bumping into a tall dark haired man, " I think we caught some pretty good deals today, don't you?"
Amanda nodded, " Yeah, if we would've gone to Diagon Alley, everything would be twice as expensive."
" I remember when it was cheap there," Lily commented " in our first year everything was perfectly priced but now that,.."
" That everyone is afraid that something is going to happen to their belongings because of Voldemort, they've raised their prices." Amanda finished.
" It's such a shame," Mallory said, sadly, " that stuff like this has to happen."
" Yeah, I know, I don't understand why everyone can't just get along, for Merlin's sake, we only get to live once and they want to screw it up!" Lily agreed.
The three of them turned another corner and searched the busy sidewalk for the guys. Sure enough there they were, chatting animatedly, waiting patiently for the girls.
" Ah," James said smiling as he noticed them coming in their direction, " There you are."
" We were afraid you had decided to eat lunch without us!" Sirius said, leaning down to give Mallory a kiss.
" Nah, we wouldn't miss a lunch date with our men for anything," Amanda said, laughing sarcastically.
" Do you want to go over to the Hogs Head?" asked James, as he transported the girls' bags back to his house.
The three of them nodded, " Yeah, sounds good to me," said Mallory.
XxxxxX
Once at the Three Broomsticks they dashed to the nearest table, since getting one at lunch time was very rare, they had to take one as fast as possible. It was a table for ten, but with Sirius' and James' appetites, they figured a table for ten was barely enough room for their plates.
While they waited for the waitress to come along to their table they talked about where they went shopping and what they did while they were apart. At the moment Lily wasn't talking, but she was listening. She started looking around the large room, just to see if she saw anyone from Hogwarts, and just as she did two of her good friends walked in the door. Alice and Frank Longbottom, they had just been married recently so of course Lily was eager to see them.
Before they had figured out they were witches, Alice and Lily were very close friends, as a matter of fact they had lived about ten minutes away from each other, but when school had started they sort of drifted away. Ever since then they hadn't really spoken much, they still liked each other and got along just fine, as far as Lily knew, but they hadn't been real friends for a very long time.
" James," she whispered in his ear, " I'll be back in a second, Alice and Frank just walked in."
He nodded and continued talking as if she had not said anything, Only men, she thought laughing to herself.
She got up from her seat and rushed over to them, smiling broadly.
" How are we supposed to find a seat in this place?" she heard Alice ask in an aggravated tone.
" Well," Lily said, jumping into the conversation, " you can come sit at our table, ironically we have two seats left!"
Alice turned around and smiled, " Lily Evans! I haven't seen you in ages it seems like!" She gave Lily a hug and grinned.
" I know it's been quite a while, so you guys want to join us?"
" Yeah it sounds good to me, we're never going to find a table for two in this place," Frank agreed.
" But, are you sure the rest of them won't mind?" Alice asked, suddenly turning timid and seeming quite shy.
She rolled her eyes and snorted, " They don't even realize I'm gone, I'm sure if we added the entire school to the table they wouldn't care. Come on,"
Alice smiled sweetly and followed her to the table.
" Hey, guys?" Lily said quietly, no one flinched at all, " Hey... guys!" she said a bit louder and with more attitude.
Once again no one flinch, now her patience was running low, " Hey! You Lot!" that time Sirius about fell out of his seat, since she was standing right behind him.
Sirius turned around and glared at her, " We heard you the first time! You didn't need to bloody scream in my ear, Lily!"
" Oh, really, if you heard me the first time then why didn't you respond?" she squinted her eyes at him and he twitched.
" Sorry, Lily." he said, turning back around quickly.
She smiled in satisfaction and looked at her friends, " Okay, would it be alright with everyone if Alice and Frank sat with us?"
They all nodded and mumbled agreements, " Yeah, that would be fine," James said, finally setting an answer.
She led them over to their seats and slipped in next to James, who then slithered his arm around her waist so that no one would know it was there.
" So, Alice, I haven't talked to you since... oh probably our first year! How have you been?" Lily asked as she leaned into James a little.
Shrugging she replied, " I've been pretty well, although, my mother passed away last year, I dunno if you had heard. Otherwise things have been pretty well, Frank and I have been dating since our fifth year so I've been pretty happy over all." she said, giggling, and kissing his nose.
All three of the girls 'aww-ed' and the guys laughed, making Frank turn red and chuckle lightly.
" Have you two bought a flat or anything yet?" asked Remus.
Frank nodded, " Yeah, right now we live on Rivington Avenue in Diagon Alley, in the small complex, but we have a house being worked on further out in London."
" My father and his parents are building it for us actually." Alice added, " We paid for our own wedding and honey moon, so they decided they would get us the house."
" Well, that sure is sweet of them." Mallory exclaimed.
Amanda opened her mouth to comment but heard the sound of a girl clearing her throat.
They all turned to see the waitress, smiling and holding a pen and a pad of parchment ready to take down orders.
" Sorry, if I'm interrupting anything, I just wanted to see if you had decided what you lot wanted." the brunette said, straighting her dull brown uniform.
" That's quite alright, and yes I think we're all just about ready." Remus said, looking around the table.
They all began to shout out their orders at the girl, in an orderly fashion of course. When they were finished giving the teenager their orders, they went back to their chatting session, laughing merrily. The meals arrived ten minutes later and conversation was cut short for awhile. By the end of the meal Lily felt as if she and Alice had never grown apart for more than a few minutes and she had easily convinced James to invite the couple to the ball. Alice and Frank seemed eager to come... especially Alice, what girl wouldn't? You get to go shopping and get fancy clothes!
As soon as they had finished eating Alice an Frank said good bye, thanking them for paying for the meal. Alice went around giving everyone friendly hugs and thanking them again. Frank did the same but did that sort of, 'manly handshake back slap' thing instead of hugging. Once they were gone and it was just the six of them, since it was only four o'clock they decided to look around for accessories.
James took Lily's hand and led the pack of friends across the street to the jewelry shop. The guys weren't particularly excited, but if it made their girls happy, it would make them happy.
When they entered the building the guys restrained their girlfriends from going wild and running like a crazy pack of wolves.
James looked at them seriously, " Okay, you can have whatever you want, just don't make us carry your purses or be nice to the shop ladies."
Lily laughed and sighed, " Alright, I won't make you carry my purse."
" And you don't have to be nice to the clerks, Sirius."
Sirius punched the air and smiled, " Yes!" he said with relief.
" Alright let's let the poor women go,"
James laughed, " Have fun." he said, smacking her butt and making her grasp it, shriek and jump.
" James!"
He put his hands in the air and shrugged, " It was too tempting."
XxxxxX
The guys hung around, unwillingly giving opinions on pieces of jewelry and eventually being convinced to carry their purses, for a lingering twenty minutes. They all paid for their things and left the store, only to run into another unpleasant surprise; only this was much worse than carrying purses.
Right in front of them walking in their direction was the Slytherin clan, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa and Bellatrix Black and Severus Snape.
" Well, well, well," Lucius hissed, smirking evilly, " if it isn't Hot shot Potter, and his Mudblood girlfriend! Oh, and look here he even has Traitor and Half breed with him."
A/N: Well, that took me long enough to update. I hope the length of it was worth the wait, I will do my best to get the next chapter up within the next two weeks. There are going to be some major changes, so prepare yourself for some serious drama.
This chapter was officially the longest chapter I've ever written in my entire life, it was 13 pages, and 5230 words. Please give me some feedback, I'm getting really discouraged, but thank you so very very much to the people who do read, and who do review. It means so much to me that you all care enough to read it, and then it means even more when you review.
Thanks again!
Lissa