Ch. 6
A Whirlwind of Pink and Fluffy Penguins
I try to play cool, acting like what you do don't faze me
Meanwhile I'm sitting at home, trying to keep myself from going crazy
I thought it would be easy but it's hard for me to let you go
Fabolous ft. Tpaine: Baby Don't Go
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Lily Evans was having a wonderful dream. What it exactly was, she could not quite say but it was wonderful to say the least. Imagine her surprise when her dream was rudely awakened by the impact of something big and fluffy making contact with her body. Lily opened one eye wearily, mildly annoyed as another pillow bounced off her head. She sat up straight, her blankets strewn around her in a messy pile and glared at Alice.
"Was that really necessary?" she grumbled, rubbing her eyes to rid herself of her lingering sleepiness.
Alice merely smiled serenely and chirped, "Rise and shine sleepyhead!"
"Guess what day today is?" she continued, ignoring Lily's lack of enthusiasm. "Hogsmeade weekend!" Alice said, without waiting for a response. "Therefore, my dear, you must drag your arse out of bed and get ready!"
Lily gave Alice a blank look. How the name of Merlin was her friend so…awake all the time was beyond her. Alice was most definitely a morning person. And Lily, on the other hand, was not and-well, let's just leave it at that.
"What is there to get ready for?" she said at last, her voice full of fatigue. "I'm not going,"
Her words stopped Alice, who was drawing the curtains open, in her tracks. Her hands fell limply from the fabric and the curtains drifted apart from each other, allowing the feeble rays of the morning sun to shine weakly through. Alice's expression was one of disbelief when she spun around to face Lily.
"What do you mean you're not going?" she demanded, akimbo.
"I meant exactly what I meant," Lily replied vaguely as she arose from her bed. She yawned and lazily stretched her arm over her back and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "I need a hairbrush," she noted absent mindly, her deep green eyes scanning the dormitory for one.
"Never mind about your hair, it's fine," Alice snapped. "Don't try to avoid the question now. What do you mean you mean exactly what you mean?"
Lily blinked, unable to comprehend Alice's words. There were much too many "mean"s in there…
"I. Am. Not. Going." She said in a final manner. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go brush my hair." Saying this, Lily wandered away from her bedside and almost floated across the room to the bathroom with Alice at her heels.
"Honestly, Als. Would you stop?" Lily asked exasperatedly, almost colliding with her friend when she turned around. She picked up a hairbrush and began moving it rhythmically through her hair. "I hope Briennah doesn't mind me using her brush," she remarked between strokes.
"Bree!" Alice said suddenly, as her eyes moved back to the dormitory. "Where is she? Maybe she can talk some sense into you."
Lily rolled her eyes and laid down Bree's brush. "Will you please stop with this whole thing?" she said, almost pleadingly.
Alice, however, did not hear a word she said. She exited the bathroom, leaving Lily to stare at her own reflection. She only had a few minutes of blessed silence when Alice returned, dragging a girl in tow.
"There!" she said triumphantly. "Bree already left for breakfast but I found Marica!"
Lily looked Marica over warily. The poor girl was only half wake. Lily briefly wondered if to Marica, this was all some odd dream or something.
"Mars, tell Lily she ought to go to Hogsmeade today," Alice ordered.
Maricarmen Paz stifled a yawn behind her hand. "Go to Hogsmeade Evans," she said in an emotionless voice, She turned to Alice, who was beaming encouragingly. "Can I go back to sleep now?"
Alice waved her off, believing that Marica's work was done. "Does that convince you now?" she asked hopefully but was disappointed when Lily gave her a blank look.
"All right, fine," Alice said, relenting. "But can you at least tell me why?"
"Why I'm not going?" Lily asked and Alice nodded vigorously. "Why would I? Hogsmeade is no fun without a date…"
"You almost had a date, Lily."
"Potter does not count."
"Don't be mad at him now," Alice said soothingly. "It is not his fault you always reject him."
"Excuse me?" Lily replied, her voice losing its dreamy tone as her eyes became icy. "If I remember correctly, he did not even ask me. He asked Kay. And I'm fine with it. Really." She did not sound fine at all to Alice but Alice was wise enough to let it go.
"Okay Lily," she answered in a weary voice, indicating she was giving up. "Do whatever you want. I'm off to breakfast." Alice paused with her hand on the doorknob and glanced back at Lily. "Are you going to be fine?"
Lily nodded, her eyes downcast. Alice sighed one more time and left the room. Lily slowly turned back to her bed and was about to plop down on it when she heard a voice.
"You really should go Evans," Marica mumbled groggily, still half asleep. "Go and show Potter you can have fun without him."
"Thanks Marica, I'll keep that in mind," she smiled and curled back under the blankets. Lily wanted to go to Hogsmeade. Really she did. She was running out of candy anyways and a visit to Honeydukes always lifted her spirits. But she did not wish to run into Kay and James. Thinking about them made her feel more uncomfortable than she already was and Lily snuggled even deeper under her covers, trying to keep her disturbing thoughts away.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
What in the name of Merlin was she doing here? Lily's eyes darted nervously around her, wondering if anyone would recognize her. Her eyes focused on the little wooden sign in front of her.
Welcome to
The Three Broomsticks
Lily cringed at her behavior. She was almost acting like she was doing something wrong. Well, she wasn't. She had every right to be here. What exactly was she doing here, she did not quite know. With trembling hands, she slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside.
A wave of warm air hit her and the smell of freshly baked cookies swarmed around the air. The atmosphere was cozy and cheery. Lily felt even more out of place than ever as she stared gloomily at the pairs of happy couples sitting around the tables, holding hands. She had half a mind to hex them all.
Her eyes flickered to a table some feet away and try as she may, Lily could not look away. It was them. Kay and James. Kay was chatting animatedly while James hung on to her every word, gazing at her with an unreadable expression in her eyes. After watching them for awhile, Lily felt as if she was going to throw up and turned away to leave.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Sirius was at the table as well, but of course Lily could not see that. He drummed his fingers restlessly on the tabletop, sipping his butterbeer. Every now and then, he shot a dirty look James, who ignored it. Kay, on the other hand, noticed nothing and was happily chatting away, unaware that she was losing her audience.
"…then Xenophile told me that there were Bumbling Pixies in Europe!" Kay said excitedly. "I was so pleased when I found out. I am going to try to convince Daddy to let me look for them over summer break. James, you will come with me won't you?"
James was startled at being addressed to. "Uh, what?" he replied rather stupidly. His eyes still had that glazed over look. Sirius stifled a chuckle but his mirth was unmistakable.
"Aren't we spending the summer together?" Kay asked, oblivious to everything around her.
"Kay…school just started…I don't plan that far ahead…" James said slowly with the air of talking to a six-year-old.
"Oh." Kay replied, her expression still serene but wavered a little. "Aren't we dating?"
Sirius, who was still sipping his drink, choked and sprayed saliva and butterbeer over the surface of the table. Kay turned to him, mildly disgusted but made no comment.
"Uh…well…I…" James began but came up with nothing. He shot Sirius anxious look but his supposed best mate was doubled over in amusement. "You see Kay…" his voice faltered as he looked around for a distraction. Anything. His eyes landed on a familiar redhead near the entrance of the pub. "Evans!" he called out in relief.
Lily's head whirled back to look at him, an odd expression in her eyes. James was unable to tell what she was thinking but her intentions became clear when she turned back and quickly exited through the door.
"I have to go," James told Kay and Sirius before following Lily out the door.
Sirius gave Kay a weary look and Kay met his gaze calmly.
"So, have you heard any news about the Blibbering Bumdingers?" Kay asked conversationally.
Sirius groaned and began banging his head rhythmically on the desk. Bam. Bam. Bam.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Evans!
Lily heard the call, she was not deaf but she continued to act like she did not hear a thing. Her feet moved quickly along the stone pavements of the village, never once looking back. Her breathing grew shallow and rapid as panic overcame her. She must not let Potter catch up. He would want to talk. He would want to ask her what she was doing here and then ramble off about her amazing date with Kay. How could she let this happen? She was not ready for a conversation. Not yet, anyways. Actually, never was looking pretty good right now as well.
Wait up!
Again, Lily feigned ignorance as her eyes searched frantically for a store, any store, that she could hide in. To her relief, a wooden door magically appeared in her line of vision. Not even caring what it sold, she ducked her head and slipped through the revolving door. She leaned against the wall, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Damn it Evans, why didn't you wait for me?"
Her relief flew right out of the window. Lily reluctantly opened her eyes and found-who would have guessed-James Potter staring right back at her, a hint of anger in his hazel eyes.
"Oh. Were you the one calling me? I didn't hear you…" she replied brightly, trying to play it off.
"What the hell are you talking about? The whole bloody village heard me?!" James demanded indignantly.
"I was in a hurry," Lily defended herself quickly.
"To go where?" he shot back at her, refusing to let the matter drop.
"Why here of course!" Lily said triumphantly, waving a casual arm around at her surroundings.
Jame's eyes narrowed and he gestured around as well. "Here?" he remarked dubiously. "Evans, are you mental?"
Lily gave him a confused look and then actually looked around her. Oh, she thought with sudden understanding.
She had never been here before, and with a quick glance, Lily knew instantly why. You see, it was a store. One of those stores that sold one thing and one thing only. Odd, but there were a bunch of these stores floating around. Lily never imagined that she would enter one.
All around her were pink, fluffy stuffed penguins.
And that was all that was around her.
Lily felt like she was trapped in some horrible nightmare. She was suffocating from all the pinkness floating around.
"Oh dear Merlin," she said softly, hoping James didn't notice.
But of course he did. He stood there, arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
"Funny Evans, I never knew you liked pink and fluffy penguins."
"Oh put a sock in it," she snapped and stalked off, eager to escape from the whirlwind of…well you-know-what. As soon as Lily was outside of the shop, she quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure that James was not following her but of course he was.
She huffed loudly and gave him withering look though he only smiled in that amused way of him.
"Damn it, Potter. Why are you following me?" she asked finally, as she turned around to face him, her arms crossed defiantly over her chest.
He stuck in a hand in his hair, subconsciously and answered, "I wanted to know why you were ignoring me. There I was, innocently in a pub with a couple of friends, and you come in, gives me a Look and then runs away! What the hell am I supposed to think?" he retorted, a faint redness on his face.
Lily blinked and said slowly but dangerously, "You want to know why I'm ignoring you? You want to know why I'm ignoring you?"
"That would be helpful, yes" James replied with a smirk.
She closed her mouth as her face turned red, an ominous sign that nothing good was going to happen.
"Oh come on now. We haven't got all day," he reminded her, his grin growing wider.
"Let me tell you something, Potter," Lily said fiercely, gritting her teeth. "Why, do you ask, did I not join your little party earlier at the Three Broomsticks. Try to get this through your thick head. You were on a date. With Kay, none the less. No sane girl would ever wanted to intrude on an infamous James Potter date. You got it now?"
James, who looked confused when she began talking, brightened and gave Lily a big smile. She stared back at him, dumbfounded.
"What?" she snarled.
"You like me…" he replied in a singsong voice. "you like me. Admit it, you were jealous of Kay, weren't you? You wish it was you could be Kay, just to be near me."
"Wha-? I-..never!" Lily sputtered while he watched her, amused. "Don't you dare say that again!"
James opened his mouth wide and bellowed, "Lily Evans is in looove with James Potter! Lily-oof!"
Lily, who was getting quite red, had ran head first into James and knocked him right over.
"You know, if you wanted me that bad, all you had to do was ask," he said cockily, seeing how Lily was now on top of him.
Lily straightened up and leaped off of him. "Don't you ever talk to me again," she warned him, still blushing. With a final disgusted look at the figure on the ground, Lily walked away, leaving James chuckling behind her.
"I'm getting to you Evans," he whispered softly, smiling in a dreamy sort of way. "One of these days, I'll break though. You'll see…"
A/N: Sorry for the long update! Life is getting quite hectic. A review would be nice... :
3 C
