"Where have you been?" Hestia hissed when Lily slid into the seat next to her at dinner. Lily shrugged. "Nowhere."
"I've been looking for you everywhere! Why didn't you come to Runes? Are you feeling okay?"
Lily saw the opportunity and took it. "Actually, I felt a little ill during lunch so I went to the hospital wing. I must have eaten something strange."
Hestia frowned. "I saw you leaving with James," she accused.
"Uh, well, he wanted to go over our Halloween decoration plans," Lily invented. Hestia's curiosity visibly peaked. "And no, Hest, I can't tell you anything about it. None of it is confirmed, anyway."
Hestia slumped. "What kind of friend am I," she mumbled, "If you can't even organise a party with me?"
Lily giggled at her friend and began helping herself to dinner. Yorkshire pudding was calling Lily's name. "Where's Marlene?" Lily asked. Hestia shrugged.
"I have no idea. I've been alone since lunch. Everyone just disappeared." She nibbled on some garlic bread. "She did receive a strange owl this morning, though."
Lily wondered what that could mean but decided that it could wait until she saw Marlene. "She has to come back eventually, right?"
Hestia nodded her agreement. "You have grass in your hair, by the way."
Lily pretended to be shocked and disgusted. "What the hell? Where did that come from?" She pulled her fingers through her hair, hoping to get the grass out. Hestia laughed at her failure.
"Stop, you're making it worse." She leaned over to help.
"Do you think Marlene would be in the common room by now?" Lily asked. Hestia shrugged.
"I checked before dinner and she wasn't there. Let me have some dessert and we'll go up."
Hestia gave herself a small helping of jelly and ice-cream which she gulped down. Lily gazed around the Hall while she waited.
Severus was sitting amidst his Death Eater friends with his nose in a book. He was frowning and had wrinkles on his forehead. Lily looked away sadly. Despite of all the bad things Severus was interested in, she had lost her first magical friend. That didn't sit well in her heart.
"Let's go," Hestia said at last.
Marlene wasn't in the common room, but Lily found her crying on her bed in the dormitory. Figuring that Hestia would come in and investigate when Lily didn't return, she sat beside Marlene and started stroking her hair.
"What's wrong, Marlene?' Lily asked. She was so worried about her best friend; Marlene rarely cried. Marlene tried to cease her sobbing.
"It's… stupid," she got out. Lily handed her a fresh tissue and Marlene gratefully blew her nose. "I just... I got an owl this morning from my parents."
"What did it say?"
"They were telling me that Pippy had died yesterday!" Marlene erupted into tears again. Lily knew that Pippy was Marlene's horse, and was the first pet she had ever received. Marlene had had Pippy since she was four. Lily would be distraught if she lost her lifelong pet too.
At this point, Hestia entered the dormitory, saw Lily sitting next to Marlene helplessly, and rushed to her side. "Marlene," she cooed. "Everything will be alright."
She looked to Lily for an explanation so Lily mouthed 'Pippy' and hoped Hestia would understand. By the looks of it, she did. "We all have to lose someone eventually."
"I know," Marlene sniffed. "But it's so hard!"
Hestia and Lily hugged Marlene simultaneously. There was nothing they could do except offer their condolences. After a few more minutes, Marlene decided to go down to the hospital wing.
"A sleeping draft will do me good," she told them. "An easy sleep or something."
Lily offered to accompany Marlene to the hospital wing, who accepted, and the two left Hestia in the dormitory. She allowed herself a brief moment to grieve Pippy, then focused on what she could do. "The Christmas Ball needs a lot of work," she said to herself. "I could do some work on that."
So she did.
Hestia grabbed some spare parchment and borrowed one of Lily's muggle pencils. She would write a list and draw some sketches of what she thought it would look like. Hestia was quite the drawer.
She made her way downstairs to find the common room practically empty. Dinner would be finishing soon, so Hestia took the time to appreciate the silence. She sat herself in front of the fire, resting the parchment on the low table there. She began drawing.
Eventually, she finished a sketch of the tables and chairs. She added floating lights and the elves in Christmas wear, although she knew they would be extremely reluctant to wear clothes. Perhaps Dumbledore could persuade them to dress for the occasion. The roof would drip snow and snowmen would guard the doors. Maybe Dumbledore could organise a band to come play? The gramophone was nice, but it was nothing compared to live music…
Lily returned from the Hospital wing, but Hestia didn't realise. Lucky for her, the list labelled clearly as The Christmas Ball was hidden from sight. Her drawing, however, was not. She only realised Lily was standing over her shoulder when it was too late.
"What are you drawing?" Lily asked. Hestia jumped and covered the drawing with her hands.
"Nothing!"
"Liar! Tell me!" Lily sat beside her and waited for an explanation. Hestia thought up a lie quick.
"It might be a draft of what I want my wedding to look like," Hestia mumbled. Lily started giggling.
"Hest, I never picked you to be dreaming about something so far away! You hardly seem the type!"
"Looks can be deceiving," Hestia said defensively. "Besides, it never hurts to be prepared."
Lily looked doubtful. "You're going to have your wedding in the Great Hall?" she questioned. "At Christmas?"
Hestia huffed. "Well, Lily, seeing as I haven't thought that far ahead, I figured the Great Hall would be a nice basis for my drawing. And at Christmas? Of course. Best time of the year!"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Hestia. Though, you might want to find a husband first," she teased. Hestia frowned. "Well not all of us have had boys pining after us since fifth year," she grumbled.
"I'm not marrying James, if that's what you're getting at," Lily said immediately. This made Hestia laugh.
"If you say so."
"I'm not!"
Hestia appraised Lily carefully. "I've seen the way you look at him, Lily. Especially lately. You feel something for him, and Merlin knows he's completely in love with you. I think that he'll just keep asking you to marry him, even if you say no. Just like he used to keep asking you out every day!" This struck a memory in Hestia's brain. "Wait a minute, has he stopped asking you because you said yes and you never told anyone?"
Lily's jaw dropped. "What? No! I don't know why he stopped asking."
Hestia decided she was telling the truth. "Sorry. I had to check. It was a very convincing rumour." Lily couldn't care less that there were rumours flying about her and James. She cared that Hestia thought she wouldn't tell! "I would tell you if that happened," Lily promised. Hestia nodded and the portrait opened, letting in people from younger years.
"I suppose that dinner is over. Do you want to do some homework?"
"Of course not," Lily said with a smile. "But it's necessary."
The two decided to tackle the Potions foot-long essay that was due on Veritaserum. Slughorn had assured his students that they wouldn't need to go to the Library for this essay, but Lily was starting to doubt her professor.
"I wish I could ask Severus about this," Lily grumbled. Looking over at Hestia's paper, Lily noticed she was using her largest handwriting. Cheater.
"You've been thinking about him a lot lately, haven't you?" Hestia asked. Lily nodded. "Do you think it's because of James?"
Lily hadn't really thought about the reasons. "I guess it's because our last year at Hogwarts and I may never see him again. And with what he said in Potions the other day about James…" Lily had to smile at Marlene attacking him afterwards, but it disappeared quickly. "I just wish he was as nice as he was when he first met."
Hestia chewed on her quill in thought. "Maybe he still is," Hestia suggested, "but because you've been subjected to nicer, he seems moodier in comparison."
Lily shrugged. "It doesn't matter. He's chosen his path, and I've chosen mine." The phrase one side has got to come out on top ran through her mind. It was what she considered to be war propaganda. "I think we need to go to the library for this one," Lily said. Curfew was in an hour though, so she decided it could wait. She moved on to Defence Against The Dark Arts work whilst Hestia chose Care of Magical Creatures.
Lily would have loved to do that subject, for she did have a soft spot for animals, but she figured it just wasn't a priority with a war raging. She could always read up on the subject later in life anyway.
The dreaded though ran through her mind. What if she didn't have a 'later in life'? She was only too aware of the fact that the war was being fought over people like her. But Lily was determined to have a later in life. She would join the ministry's fighting forces and she would be on the front line! Lily was a fighter. She would not back down and let people fight for her. They would win the war, the good people. One side had to come out on top, and she would make sure it was hers.
Hestia could see that Lily was in deep thought but couldn't help be amused by her facial expressions. They went from concentration, to sadness, to fierceness, to anger, to determination. Hestia discovered long ago that Lily was the type of girl who would have a conversation with herself and outwardly show her emotions without realising it.
She also knew that Lily would get quite angry and embarrassed if anyone ever commented on it, so Hestia turned her head and pretended not to notice her strange friend.