Chapter 2: 'Miss' and 'Mister'
A/N: A shout-out to shana.rose., thanks for reading : )
Lily Evans had burst into her dorm, causing squeals and shrieks to erupt in the once serene atmosphere. Her cheeks were flushed from rushing into the dorm at a record-breaking speed, not to mention her short yet embarrassing bump-in with James Potter. The grin plastered on her red face was going to make her explode any moment if she had to keep it all the details from her best friends any longer. "Lily, count to ten, then if you still can't let it out, go take a shower or something," said Alice who was clearly experienced in having flushed-faced best friends pour their hearts out to her. Without saying another word, Lily ran into the bathroom with her pyjamas. Dorcas and Emmeline who were once reading a startling article on the gruesome breakup between the Head Boy and Head Girl had spilled their box of Cauldron Cakes on the floor and were now cleaning it up. "Marly, read out the article on the 'Head Breakup', will you?" asked Dorcas.
"Sure. Anything to do while we wait for Lily to cool down," Marlene replied before taking a deep breath. "The Head Breakup by Rita Skeeter. Just yesterday, startling rumours of the breakup between our Head Boy, Francis Dermont and Head Girl, Candice Danes were spread around Hogwarts. This rumour was quickly and efficiently picked up by reporter Rita Skeeter and now the veil of confusion behind their breakup shall be lifted in this month's Hogwarts Monthly. Francis and Candice were caught having a private argument in the prefect's bathroom yesterday at approximately quarter past three when they were expected to be attending their Herbology class. The former couple had a feisty exchange in the bathroom. A fellow prefect, who will remain unnamed due to confidential reasons, had overheard that the couple had separated due to the betrothal of Candice to an anonymous Durmstrang student. Hopefully, Hogwart's Head Couple will be able to mend their relationship as soon as possible. We have no more news on the couple at the moment, but we shall be keeping you posted in our new column, titled 'Breakup by Betrothal'," Marlene let out a loud gasp as soon as she had finished reading the article.
"As shocking as article sounded, all along I had thought that those two had a flaw in their relationship," commented Mary in a calm manner. "But who in the world has betrothal nowadays, for goodness' sake?" shouted Lily in exasperation as she trudged out of the bathroom clothed in her pyjamas and very pink in the face. She had watched many movies which had depressing betrothals in them and she was clearly unhappy for the dear couple. Her emotions were strong and she was one of those people who believed in true love, or that love conquers all. "That Skeeter girl should stop writing about this nonsense too," she added before pouncing onto her bed.
"Never mind her and the Head Breakup, we want to know what happened to you just now!" squealed Dorcas while clutching her pillow tightly. As Lily slowly told them about her evening date, the other girls listened to her intently. "And I kissed him on the cheek before bumping into Potter and rushing up here. Finito," said Lily to end her account.
Alice was the first one to point out Lily's mistakes during her date, "Well, Lily. First things first, you should never ever move first. Basics of the first date, number one, don't be the first one to kiss, especially if you are the girl. Number two, don't be distracted by other things on your date..."
"And three, don't let the guy kiss you unless he is Paul McCartney," interrupted Mary in a motherly tone to mimic Alice. The girls burst out laughing at her, Alice had a grin on her face as she rolled her eyes at Mary.
"But, first dates aren't everything. You see, love is a journey. I don't want things to be perfect all the time, the curves and bends we go through in everyday life, they help us out along the way. And, there is no reason why love should have rules. To fall in love is simply breaking one of the rules already," Lily declared aloud. Her way of looking at the world was unlike the other girls, she loved to fantasize so much that she could float into the sky with her dreams. Thankfully, her friends often looked out for her and pulled her back to Earth once her head had went up too high into the clouds.
"That is true, in a philosophical way," agreed Dorcas who was another fellow daydreamer. "In life, not all is romantic red roses and white chocolate hearts, my dears," Emmeline sighed. Marlene's dark sapphire eyes showed that she was in deep thought until she snapped back into reality after a while, "Hold on a bit, did you mention that you bumped into Potter on your way up here, right after you had kissed Matthew on the cheek?" she questioned Lily eagerly. "Yes, that is a fact," answered Lily.
Before anyone could ask why, Marlene had retrieved a pack of cards from her trunk. It looked like a deck of fairly old playing cards but somewhat similar to Tarot cards used during fortune-telling sessions. "What is that?" asked Mary as her eyes focused upon the cards.
"A deck of Romanian fortune-telling cards, created by the Green Elves and believed to work for centuries. There is a setback on these cards though, they only show one sign for an event in the future and that's all, so don't expect too much from them," Marlene then explained the simple process of using the fortune-telling cards to the girls and they simply looked at the cards, trying to figure what symbols were on the cards.
"As I shuffle these cards, please pick a card. You have to be fast because the belief is that life is like a moving carousel to the Elves so you must take chances at some times in life," Marlene continued shuffling the cards quickly yet skillfully and Lily randomly snatched a card out of the deck. Marlene removed the first card of the deck and flipped it, revealing the sign of a doe. "Anything familiar about this animal?" she queried.
"I do like does and my Patonus is a doe too," Lily answered, blinking her eyes in confusion. Marlene turned over the next card, unveiling a tree. "Do you have any favourite trees?" Marlene asked Lily with a puzzled look on her face. "Not really, but I do like apple pie a lot and apples too, does that consider me an apple tree lover?" Lily inquired. "Commonly, no. But in the world of the Elves, anything you think about can be considered the clue to finding out what lies within the card for you," Marlene voiced out, all the girls were baffled by the cards, especially the card with the tree on it.
"Oh, well. I was just following some random rhyme which I recall my grandmother telling me, 'The first you kiss, but the second you miss'. Whatever that meant," Marlene shrugged her shoulders. "Wasn't she the grandmother who always spoke in rhymes?" Emmeline finally remarked. "Yes, that's her, from my mother's side," nodded Marlene.
"Okay, let's put aside the fortune telling for a moment because it is confusing me, that rhyme is something worth considering though. How cool to be able to say something which rhymes so nicely, 'the first you kiss, but the second you miss'!" exclaimed Mary admiringly. "It does have a nice ring to it, but why would you 'miss' the second? 'Miss' as in 'I missed the bus' or 'I miss my mum'?" Alice had her chin balanced on a fluffy, white pillow. The whole dorm was filled with questions on the queer fortune telling session as well as the rhyme made by Marlene's grandmother.
In Lily's mind, her inner voice was screeching at her brain for answers, but it was working quite slowly due to her blank mind. The discussion of her fortune telling session and the funny rhyme had made her reconsider going out with Matthew. What if she had only one more chance to mess up to meet that 'second' person who she might miss? It sounded logical if she kept looking for that perfect someone to mess up her second chance on. She snapped her fingers once she concluded on doing that, telling the girls of her plan, which she thought was, pretty perfect.
In the boys' dorm, James Potter squirmed in his bed, trying hard to sleep while Sirius did his victory dance. Sirius had finally finished his Charms essay, but he certainly was not going to sleep without having a bit of a celebration to commemorate his first success at finishing a Charms essay without any assistance. James tried to drown out Sirius' voice by stuffing his face into his pillow but eventually, he had to come up for air before he suffocated himself with carbon dioxide and the stench of a sock which was hidden behind his pillow. His face was rosy due to the lack of oxygen once he had turned over. After putting on his spectacles, a grimace formed on his face and he put all his irritation into thrusting the old, foul-smelling sock onto Sirius' bed. "Sirius, shut up and go to sleep," groaned Remus who had purple eye-bags under his eyes. Apparently James was not the only one who had problems sleeping while Sirius was awake. "I should have stowed away the Honeyduke sweets," grumbled James while mentally reminding himself to do so in the future.
"I... have never ever finished an essay-yyeay-eay..." sang Sirius loudly and out of tune but he still had a proud aura around himself. His singing skills had not improved since the last time he had sang after accidently getting drunk drinking spiked punch at a party. "When in the world will you throw in the towel, Mister Padfoot?" James asked while throwing a rubber ball at him. As Sirius started to trip, Remus secretly aimed his wand towards Sirius and whispered "Silencio". Remus and James exchanged sleepy smiles before dozing off in peace and quiet.
"Now, is my plan perfect or what?" Lily had a satisfied smile on her face after she had finished telling her plan to her friends. "I don't quite agree with you, but it is going to be a tough challenge for you and I'll support you all the same," Mary ran over to Lily and gave her a short sisterly hug before scurrying back to her bed.
The rest of the girls had their heads inclined in agreement. "Go Lily!" Dorcas attempted to cheer loudly but had failed to do so and ended up letting out a soft yawn instead. "It's time to go to Dreamland now," Dorcas opened her mouth wide open wearily.
"Thanks, all of you, for agreeing to my plan. Hopefully it will work and then I'll be able to find out more about that tree," Lily whispered as the girls turned off their bedside lamps. As thoughts started to fill her mind, one by one her friends had slowly dozed off into slumber. Lily mused on the Muggle idea of counting sheep to go to sleep. As she imagined her twenty-third sheep with weird limbs and rose-coloured sunglasses on its eyes, she slowly fell asleep with triumphant grin on her face, determined to find out who would be her second and only person to miss.
A/N: Reviews are appreciated. Sorry for the short chapter, I will make it up soon. James' part is super short in this chapter because it's at night and Lily is chatting to the other girls while he is trying to get some sleep. My school exams are over now and there is a week long holiday break after this so, expect another chapter coming at you soon! Questions? Errors? Tell me : ) Thank you.