CHAPTER 2: GIRL WITH A MOUSTACHE

It was a great Saturday. Lily Evans woke up, stating that it was a normal day to rest and do her homework.

"Good morning, Lily," a voice sounded along the room.

"Good morning," she replied, yawning. As she stood up, however, she noticed something different with the voice. It was a boy's voice! She looked around the room. It was almost impossible for a guy to enter the girls' dormitories.

"Is it not nice to see me?" the voice asked again. This time, a golden ball hovering on top of her four-poster bed started to spin rapidly, sending up sparks. With a pop, a boy appeared, complete with his bow and arrow, and a pair of angel wings.

"You?" Lily asked, looking at the boy and rubbing her eyes. "I must have been dreaming," she said, slapping herself. After successive slaps, nothing happened. The boy was still sitting on top of her bed.

"Hell," he said, sighing out loud. "Why didn't you show respect?" he said.

"Respect?" she repeated. "Hello? Why do I have to respect a boy that is prepared to go to a costume party as Eros?"

"Actually, Lily, we're in the Wizarding world. And I am Eros," he said sweetly. For a demonstration, he shot an arrow towards a painting of a nymph and a hunter, and instantly, the two of them kissed.

"Oh, that's not true," she said. "That's not true!"

"Yes it is, young lady. I'm a little bit stressed so I needed a colleague," Eros explained. "By the way," he added, taking a glittering scroll from an invisible pocket, "my mother gave me the permission to assign you."

Lily snatched the scroll that he was holding and read the contents.

Dear Miss Lily Evans,

I am signing this document to assign you to be a temporary matchmaker assigned in the bowels of this school. I hope that you will compel with the requirements as soon as possible because certain consequences await everytime you try to fight off your duty.

As an assurance, I am giving you an official charm that will bind you to the tasks, and it will only be removed after the last project. Each project will be given to you by Eros, the God of Love.

(Signed)

Aphrodite

(Goddess of Love and Beauty, Golden Goddess, one of the twelve Olympian Gods, one of the three virgin goddesses, received the 'For the fairest' golden apple…)

Lily scanned the super-long scroll, mostly consisting of Aphrodite's achievements and identities. As she closed the scroll, it became a small golden chain, and it wrapped itself around Lily's wrist, as a bracelet. "Why do I have to do this, anyway?" she asked Eros.

"You hit and insulted a god. This is the punishment," Eros said smartly, transforming to the boy that she saw in Hogsmeade.

"You?" she said disbelievingly. "Well, I didn't know," she tried to explain.

However, Eros raised a finger to silence the red-haired lady. "No more explaining!" he said. Before the lady could say a word, he disappeared in a golden light.

"Now, what am I going to do?" she asked herself.

"By the way, here's your first project," Eros' voice sounded throughout the room. Lily caught a piece of parchment midair.

She looked at it disbelievingly and said, "No way!"

"Final answer?" the voice asked again.

"Final answer," she repeated confidently, unsure of her act.

"Then, my mother should give you her gift," Eros said in a singsong voice.

"What?" Lily shouted. There was a blinding flash of golden light and Lily found herself lying on top of her bed. "That geek's joking," she said, laughing a little.

The door opened. One of her best friends, Danicia Stacey, entered the room. "Lily," she said, "we have to..." She stopped as her stare fell on Lily's face.

"What is it, Dani?" Lily asked innocently.

Danicia covered her mouth to stifle her laughter as she levitated a mirror to Lily. "See for yourself," she said.

Lily looked at Danicia with suspicion but as she looked at her reflection on the mirror, her eyes narrowed. "Why the hell do I have this?" she asked.

"Don't ask me," Danicia said innocently. "Speaking of your moustache," she added, changing the topic, "you have a letter from your Raven," she said, taking a letter out from her sleeve.

Lily grabbed the letter and cursed deeply. "This is a curse," she said.

"From the heavens?" Danicia asked. "Gosh, Lily. You're the smartest student here. Can't you just remove it?"

"I'll try to," Lily said brightly. "But can't you just leave me alone?" she said. "I feel uncomfortable now."

Danicia shrugged. "By the way, Kris wants to talk with you in the library."

As she zapped the wand on her rich moustache, there was a blinding ray of light and Lily found herself on the floor. "What was that?" she asked stupidly, waving off the hair that fell on her face.

"I don't like it when someone does that," a voice replied. A small ray of light from her bracelet, or chain, or binder, or whatever, escaped and smoke went out of it. The smoke formed shapes until a figure of a woman appeared. After a second, the dark silhouette became colored, revealing the face of the most beautiful woman she ever saw.

"Who are you?" Lily asked.

The woman chuckled. "Hey, there's nothing funny, anyway. I am just here to tell you that what happened to your face is one of the consequences," she reminded.

"So you are…" Lily guessed.

"No need to say, no need to say," she repeated, waving a hand carelessly. "So," she said, shifting to a serious face, "do you accept the project now?" she asked.

Lily reluctantly nodded. It was now or never. "But are you sure that I won't encounter anything like this anymore?"

Aphrodite frowned. "It depends. There's no time limit in each task I will give you. However, that will depend on the time that you will be bound to this project. You have six couples to pair-up, and the faster, the better. If you try to stop, you'll have another consequence, understood?"

Lily nodded. "So, can I go now?" the goddess asked.

"Wait!" Lily reminded. "How about this moustache?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Do remove it in a muggle way," she said. The smoke disappeared, and a piece of parchment hovered to the spot where the smoke was.

"Oh, really!" Lily exclaimed. Determined to remove the moustache as fast as she can, she took a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to her parents.

Dear Mum,

We have a technical problem here. Can I borrow Dad's shaving set? Thanks. I really need it ASAP.

Lily

She enveloped the letter and she was figuring out how to send it when an owl miraculously tapped on the window. She happily took the owl and removed the letter from it. "I'm really sorry, Raven. Can I borrow your owl?" she asked no one. Without waiting for a reply (as if someone would), she snatched the owl and tied her own letter to it. "If you know where to take it, take it there," she said. The owl hooted as if to say yes, and took flight.

However, nothing can stop this letter. Lily opened it excitedly.

Dear Green Apple,

Actually, I really missed writing to you. Do you think we can see each other?

Raven

Lily bit her lip to stop herself from giggling. She was a hard rock outside but this guy knocked the statue off. She took another piece of parchment and wrote her reply, to be sent later.

Dear Raven,

Actually, I also missed you. I'm just that busy. I also want to meet you. Can you tell me when, where, and how? I'm quite a busy fellow and if this meeting happens, I don't want too many people seeing me on it.

Green Apple

She rolled the letter and took a piece of green ribbon, her signature, to tie it. Her moustache felt itchy so she decided to scratch it. "Is it really this hard to have a moustache?" she wondered. The owl that she sent away returned, carrying a small paperbag. Lily took it.

"Now, take this to Raven," she ordered the owl. The owl flew out.

She fumbled through the paperbag and took out the razor and the shaving cream. "Now, how does this one work?" she asked, looking at it.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lily," Kristanna hissed from the farthest table in the library.

"Hi, Kris," Lily greeted, managing to cover her face with a book. "What is it?"

"I just need some company," Kristanna greeted, looking at the next table. "That Sirius Black bugs me very much," she said.

"Well, why don't you just ignore him?" Lily said irritably, still covering her face with the book.

"Well, he's really a bu… Hey, Lily, can't you just remove that stupid book of yours?" she hissed, trying to remove the book. She managed to remove it and said, "See? There's nothing wrong with you."

"Is there really nothing?" her friend asked suspiciously, judging by the fact that there is no mirror.

"Unless," Kristanna touched Lily's chin and held out a white spot in front of her. "Lily, what is this?" she asked innocently.

"That is nothing," Lily replied. It was an advantage that Kristanna is a pureblood.

"Don't lie, you bugnut," Kristanna hissed. "This is shaving cream. Why are you using shaving cream?"

Well, wrong answer. Lily looked sideways. "Well, it's a long story but I cannot tell you, anyway."

"That sucks, Lily," Kristanna said. "Anyway, am I invading your privacy?" She glanced at Lily's bulging envelope and said, "How's life with Raven?"

Lily hastily pressed her finger to her lips. "Hey, don't say that too loud!" She looked around. Lily saw James writing and whispering to Sirius. Then she glanced back to Kristanna. "They could hear it."

"I'm not saying something like that, Lils," Kristanna said. "Anyway, I was wondering. You've been writing with Raven the whole year and still, you don't know who he is?" she said.

Danicia went to the table and sat beside Kristanna. "How are you doing?" she asked.

Suddenly, the bracelet burned on Lily's wrist. Lily stood up automatically and excused herself. She walked briskly out of the library.

"What happened to her?" Danicia asked Kristanna.

"Maybe that's Raven," she said, continuing on her notes.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lily went on the school grounds, waiting for something to happen. Eros appeared. "So, it's a miracle that you went out on your own."

"I don't want to grow another set of moustache, you idiot," she said. "Anyway, what is it?"

Eros sat down and took out the catalog. "I am here to give you your first project. Actually, this pairing is one of the hardest that I cannot even shoot my arrow on them."

"Who is it?" Lily asked apprehensively.

Eros frowned and raised an eyebrow. "The couple is Kristanna Spencer and Sirius Black," he said.

"What?" Lily shouted, all the owls on the tree flew out. "It's like pairing a cat with a dog!"

"That's why I'm having you to take care of this," Eros said frankly. "Don't be a prat, Lily."

"That Sirius Black is a lecher! I would not let him touch Kristanna with a one foot pole!" Lily screamed with rage.

"Mother said that the pairing was really hot. Apollo agreed," Eros said. "The pairing was determined by the Fates," he added. "You have no power to detest the Gods."

Lily had no choice but to agree. She sighed. "Whatever."
"Project A starts tomorrow," Eros completed. He took a large, ostrich feather quill and indicated the date. "Goodbye!" he greeted.

Character description:

Lily – as if you need it. Of course, green eyes and red hair.

James – Black hair and hazel eyes.

Sirius – front-cut long hair (the Asian trend these days), and gray eyes (that should look like black).

Kristanna – brown, wavy hair, grayish-blue eyes, as tall as Sirius (compatible, ei?)

Danicia (which is derived from a real person) – black, layered hair, not so tall, brown eyes