The Date
I sped up slightly upon noticing Jason Zabini waiting close to the gates. The sun shone down on my bare legs and arms. My short shorts and fitted red strapless top with a pink heart on it were perfect for this weather and day. My feet were in pink flip-flops and my ears were adorned with silver hoops. As Jason saw me, he pushed himself off the wall and started walking towards me. When he was close enough, he leaned over and kissed me. I had to stop myself from recoiling. I mean, he was cute but…he was Jason Zabini. He slipped an arm around my waist and we walked out of the gates. I was pleased to see I was almost as tall as him. It made me feel good. I felt I had to break the silence.
"So…you're on the Quidditch team. When's your next match?"
"On Saturday- against Gryffindor." I laughed. Enmity at the beginning.
"Do you think you'll win?"
"Who will you be supporting?"
"Gryffindor," I said without hesitation.
"Then I'm not sure," he said. I smiled and ruffled his hair. He could be charming too.
"So are you superstitious? Do you believe in lucky charms and stuff?"
"You look like the perfect lucky charm, but in general I don't. I mean there's always Sluggy's Felix Felicis to steal." I frowned.
"I'm not sure about the stealing but I think I could make some lucky potion for myself." Jason raised his eyebrows.
"Potion nerd, huh?"
"NO!" I said, annoyed. "It's natural talent," I added smugly.
"I prefer transfiguration. I love the way an object is never fixed. Anything could be anything."
"Nice. I'm impressed."
"It's my aim."
By this time, we had entered into Hogsmeade. The streets were crowded with friends and couples wandering around, laughing talking and even singing. The atmosphere was wonderful.
"So where do you want to go?" Jason asked me.
"How about Zonko's?"
"Uh…OK."
We came out of Zonko's half an hour later, loaded with crazy stuff. Jason presented me with a beautiful bunch of red roses. I smiled at him and bent over them to sniff. I was hit by the most terrible pong I had ever smelt. It was a mixture of cow manure, old fish and rotten eggs. I looked up at Jason and smiled again, very sweetly. He didn't know the danger sign. I then proceeded to whack him over the arms and head with the bunch of roses. He tried to protect himself with his arms, swearing and laughing at the same time. I slowed down, panting, and leant against the wall, laughing. As my breathing evened, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned round to see a little boy of about eleven or twelve whom I thought I'd seen somewhere around school. He was holding a heart-shaped card which said,
"Happy Valentine's Day!" in gold italics. He handed it to me and then scampered off. I opened it. It started singing a Celestina Warbeck song. I shut it. Someone coughed and I looked up. Here stood another tall boy who liked he was a fifth year. He was holding a red rose. I had a feeling this one wouldn't be a trick. I stepped sideways and saw that there was a huge line of boys, young and old, some who I recognised, but most whose names I didn't know, some whose faces I had never seen. Some were holding teddy bears, some cards, some roses, and one seemed to be holding a doll which looked just like me. OH. MY. GOD. Last Valentine's Day, I had only got one or two anonymous cards. This time I guess it would be a little different.
Over the next hour, I received 163 cards, 78 teddy bears and 214 bunches of roses. The first hundred gifts were just received silently, dumbfoundedly. Then I managed to be a little less shocked and a lot happier. I mean, this was a pretty big compliment. The first smile a boy received, he looked ready to faint with happiness. That was when I regained composure. I even gave each of them a kiss on the cheek for being so sweet. Last in line was a tall, burly, incredibly cute guy with floppy brown hair and blue eyes. He looked very familiar and was holding a red rose.
"Drake." The Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain's expression was a mixture of sheepish and arrogant, as he offered the rose to me. I didn't take it, but looked at it and then at him. I stared at him for so long, that he started to fidget.
"Funny how we've changed places," I said. "Funny how a year ago I was just a little girl you could kiss and then push away." My voice was rising. I forced myself to stay calm. "Funny how with a new hairstyle and different clothes I seem so much more appealing." Drake was staring down at his shoes. His arm had fallen limply at his side, loosely clutching the rose. I took the red flower which signified so much. "I'm going to keep this as a reminder that looks can be deceiving. And thank you Drake." He stared at me, confused.
"For making sure that no guy is ever such a jerk to me as you were. My looks don't allow it." Then, with a disdainful toss of my head, I turned around and walked away.
"Lily! LILY! Wait up!" Jason ran up to me.
"What was all that about?" he asked.
"Oh nothing. Just an old…thing I had to sort out. I hate that stupid guy!"
"No, I'm confused about that too, but I'm talking about all those Valentine's Day cards and teddy bears and stuff. And the way you kissed all those guys on the cheek!" He sounded surprisingly angry.
"What?" I asked, bewildered.
"What was that all about?" he repeated.
"Nothing. They were just giving wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day and I thought it was sweet and-"
"So why did you have to kiss them?!"
"It was only on the cheek! Come on Jason! Look, whatever. Let's forget about it. OK?"
He didn't answer. My temper was about to flare up, but I took a deep breath and said,
"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, yeah?"
"Fine, I'm hungry from standing around, doing nothing, watching my girlfriend receive Valentine's gifts from a million boys." Girlfriend? Oh shit! He had taken this seriously. Eeeek! He was gonna be mad when I broke up with him. 'Cause I was gonna break up with him, especially after this stupid behaviour. He seemed jealous almost.
As we walked into the Three Broomsticks, the door-bell tinkled. I looked around for a table and was immediately greeted by a,
"Lily! Lily! Over here!" It was Vera's voice. I looked for her and saw that she was sitting at a table, along with James, Marley and Hugo. I pulled a reluctant Jason over, saying,
"Let's go and sit with my friends." Vera pulled out a chair beside her and Jason sat down opposite me.
"Hey!" Vera said, putting her hand out for Jason to shake. "I'm Vera." Jason gave her a fake smile. She looked ready to laugh.
"Zabini,"
said a cold voice. Uh-oh! James. He took the Gryffindor-Slytherin
thing veeery seriously.
"Potter," Jason replied. I thought I
might as well say hi to the rest of the group.
"Hi Marley, Hugo." Marley waved at me with a grin on her face. Hugo just nodded stiffly, and I felt the lack of his normal easy smile. He too, seemed affected by Jason's presence. James turned his head and looked at me.
"He's your date for today?" He jerked his head towards Jason.
"Yes, James. Shut up!" James got up and walked to the opposite side of the table. Standing behind Vera's chair, he bent down and kissed her.
"Sorry, I have to go. I don't like being in the presence of slimy snakes." He walked off.
Hugo stood up as well.
"The atmosphere's not right here. I'm leaving too. See you."
"Hugo, wait!" Marley exclaimed. "I'll come with you." She stood up, and Hugo slipped an arm around her waist. I pursed my lips and I glared at her. She shrugged her shoulders in a there's-nothing-I-can-do-about-it way. They walked off together. Now it was just Vera, Jason and me.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Vera said.
"Me too," I said. "Do you mind waiting, Jason?"
"I don't suppose I have much choice."
"This is not going very well," I said to Vera, looking into the mirror.
"What do you expect, he's Jason Zabini!"
"Yeah, but he was fine until a while ago. In fact, he was pretty nice."
"Whatever. Just break up with him, and do it fast," was the reply.
As we came out of the Ladies, we saw a couple kissing. The girl had brown hair in corkscrew curls which the boy was running his hands through. The boy had spiky black hair and he looked surprisingly like-
"James," growled Vera. Oh my god! James was cheating on Vera! After their first date. Vera, wearing a mutinous expression, marched over to her boyfriend and pulled him away from the pretty girl he had previously been so closely entwined with. She then proceeded to- and even though he was my brother, I didn't stop her, as I thought he deserved much worse- slap him very hard on both cheeks.
"How DARE you!"
"It wasn't- Trisha- she grabbed -couldn't do-" James spluttered.
"I DON'T CARE HOW IT HAPPENED! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT!!" The brunette had scampered off. In a voice of forced calm, Vera said,
"I never want to see you again." Then she stomped off.
"Noticing me, James started to say,
"Lily! It wasn't my fault! Trisha-" I just glared at him and followed Vera back to our table. He stared after us speechlessly. Vera had stopped in front of our table. I stopped too and saw that someone else was sitting opposite Jason. A certain silver-blonde someone.
"Malfoy," I said coldly. He turned round and looked at me. "Why Potter! What an unpleasant surprise." He stood up and offered me his chair. Then he sat down beside me. Vera had to go around and sit beside Jason. I knew I had to break up with Jason. Better get it over with.
"Uh…Jason?"
"Yeah Lily?" That angered me. I was going to be nice but…
"I'm breaking up with you," I said bluntly.
"What?" he said.
"I don't particularly like you and I don't want to be your girlfriend," I explained slowly.
"So you just tied me up in a net and dragged me with you for one date and now you're throwing me away?" he said angrily. I cocked my head.
"You could say that. Fly away, little birdie."
"I don't believe you!" he hissed, only keeping his voice down so as not to attract attention. The great Jason Zabini couldn't be seen getting dumped. "You are such a bi-"
"Oh no you don't!" growled Vera.
"Bitch!" he snarled. Suddenly Scorpius was at his side. Casting us a scornful glance, he said, with a restraining hand on his friend's shoulder,
"No need to get worked up about filthy Gryffindor sluts." My eyes blazed. I turned to look at Vera and we nodded together. In perfect unison, we drew our wands and cast the spell.
"Leviocorpus!" The boys were yanked up into the air by the ankle, and they hung there in angry silence.
"Remember me?" I hissed at Jason. Realisation dawned on his face and he seemed about to say something but-
"Potter, Genning, Malfoy, Zabini!"
The sharp, outraged voice cut through the air like a knife. I winced. Thud. Thud. Thud. The Professor walked towards us. I could barely summon the courage to turn around, but when I did, I immediately observed that the Professor was in such a state as I'd never seen before. Her eyes had narrowed to slits, her lips were thin and white with rage. She looked beside herself with fury. With a quick wave of her wand, she let the boys down, and they fell into a heap. They stood up hurriedly and straightened their clothes.
"Disgraceful behaviour! How dare you! Next time one student performs a harmful spell on another, they will be suspended!" Uh-oh!
"This time, however, you will only serve a detention." As we groaned, and the boys started protesting, she said,
"Together. You girls because of the spell and you boys for provoking them. I heard your filthy language! What behaviour towards a lady! Though I admit, I thought students of my own house would not allow themselves to be provoked so." The boys looked down at their shoes, and we didn't know where to look. We were not ashamed of what we had done, only embarrassed that a professor had caught us in such a fight. About breaking up! I mean, that's just plain weird.
"You will come to the Entrance Hall tonight, and I will tell you what you will be doing. If you are late, you will suffer the consequences." With that, she turned on her heel and swept away.
After she left us, the whole of 'The Three Broomsticks' was filled with a pregnant silence. Everyone was staring at us. We were glaring at each other. Finally, Vera and I left with a contemptuous toss of our heads, leaving all the people staring after us.
Well, how is it? I'd love more feedback, and perhaps a few ways to make my writing better? Thanks to everybody who reviewed! It really boosts my confidence. I always feel great when I see a new review. Thank you, Possibletyna, Algor Nox, and also the anonymous reviewer The Queen of Lunacy, who also happens to be my best-friend-who-lives-far-away, and anybody else who reviewed. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I love it each time I see a new review in my inbox!
As you've probably guessed, Genning is Vera. Hey! I couldn't think of a better name! If there are any good suggestions, I'm open, and I'll mention it in the next chappie. The next chapter is, "The Detention- No Liars or Cowards Allowed". Guess what that means. Big clue- it's cliché!! Well, until then, tata.