Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter in any of my fanfics except for my original characters however I wish I did.
A/N: Because you guys were fantastic reviewers for the last chapter, I'm posting this one quicker then expected. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Frill's and Lace
The rest of the week dragged so slowly for Lily it was as though it was standing still.
'If a week is this slow, I wonder how slow a whole year is' she thought to herself on the way down to dinner Friday night. She had just returned from a much needed time by herself in the prefects bathroom (Since Claudia was a prefect, she told them the password as the ordinary bathrooms where 'awful!') which had given her a chance to escape from the act.
"There you are! We were wondering where you got to" Lily had long ago taught herself to suppress the groan as Claudia and Felicity caught up to her.
"So what do you think will be for dinner? I hope its not too fattening" Felicity said as the walked down the marble staircase, jumping the trick stair.
"I know! Last night we had Sheppard's Pie and that has pastry and potato, I mean, how fattening can you get?" Lily replied as they joined the crowd of people making their way into the Great Hall.
"And it clashed horribly with my no carb diet. That meal was just full of it!" Claudia complained as they walked over to the Gryffindor table.
"Well, I think your diet's safe, it looks like we're having lamb chops tonight" Felicity said as they sat down at their usual places. Lily and Felicity waited for Claudia to serve herself before serving themselves a little more than what she had to look as though her diet was working.
"Mmmm Lily, I meant to tell you before. This morning in Herbology, James Potter was SO totally checking you out!" Claudia exclaimed in the middle of dinner.
"Oh my God, no way!" Lily shrieked, practically jumping up and down in her seat.
"Total way! He kept staring at you from across the classroom with a totally weird expression on his face" Felicity added after clearing her mouth of food.
"And you two would look totally cute together!" Claudia added, putting her fingers in a sort of rectangle and staring at Lily threw it first, then at James who was sitting a little further up the table and then back at Lily.
"You think?" Lily asked shyly, looking down at her food and then back at Claudia
"Well, probably not as much as how good Roy and I look together, but better then what Felicity and Remus would look" Claudia thought, before having another mouthful of food.
"Hey!" Felicity exclaimed with a look of hurt on her face and Claudia shrug her shoulders.
"What can I say? He was my boyfriend first so he will always look better with me then with you" she replied logically.
"I guess" Felicity sighed before taking a larger then normal mouthful of mash potato. Once finished she turned to Lily.
"Hey Lily, has your mum sent you your clothes yet?" Lily had thought about this answer good and hard and came to an easy option; what would Petunia say?
"No, and mum figured because I would want to buy some more clothes anyway there was no point sending them here which means I have some serious shopping to do!" Claudia cleared her throat.
"We have a full weekend ahead of us ladies. We have to help Lily shop, do something with her hair and do her nails. We better head up to bed; we'll have to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning" Claudia stood up and the others followed suit.
"Ah, I'll meet you guys up there in a minute. I, ah, want to do something first" Lily said. Claudia nodded and she and Felicity walked out of the hall. Once out of sight, Lily bolted to the free seat next to James.
"Why where you staring at- OOOOO pudding!" she exclaimed and started loading the bowl in front of her with it. James and the others just stared at her as if she was off her rocker.
"Er Lily? You might want to slow up a little. You kinda need to breath to live and, uh, you don't seem to be breathing" Remus said as Lily stuffed spoonful after spoonful into her mouth while her friends watched her with a look of disgust on their face which was saying something since Sirius did something of that sort at least once a week. Finally Lily slowed up enough to explain.
"I have been without pudding for six ruddy days including the night we arrived here I think I am entitled to stuff my face," she exclaimed. Sirius had a look of shock on his face but Lily didn't know whether it was the fact that she wasn't acting like a girl at the moment or the fact that poor Lily Evans had gone six days without any kind of pudding.
"What where you saying before you launched into the pudding?" James asked Lily as she polished off the bowl.
"Oh! Yeah, why where you staring at me in Herbology this morning?" A little more colour flooded into James cheeks but nobody but him noticed. Lily continued to stare at him.
"Well, why wouldn't I stare at you? Especially if you were discussing wand curling techniques without throwing up"
Lily groaned.
-:-
Lily was woken earlier then she would have liked for a Saturday morning by Felicity. She managed to pull her herself out of bed and into the bathroom where she successfully put on mascara for the first time in her life without poking herself in the eye with the stick. Felicity had given her a mini dress with a little tie and some sandals to wear for the day, making Lily wear a dress for the second time in her life.
She meet the others down in the common room, which was silent so early in the morning, except the noises coming from a chess board where a knight was beating the crap out of a pawn.
"I'm so glad we can go to Hogsmeade any weekend now" Felicity said happily as they walked towards the entrance. Lily hadn't expected them to stop for breakfast and was right.
"I know, last time I had to wait, like, three months, to buy my spring wardrobe!" Claudia complained as they descended down to the Entrance Hall and looked longingly into the Great Hall before they walked out the front doors.
"So where are we going to go first?" Lily asked as they entered the small town, looking up and down the main street.
"Where do you think? Only the hottest fashion spot: Condé Nast!" Claudia exclaimed, grabbing Lily's elbow and leading her up the high street. Lily looked longingly in the windows of Honeydukes and Zonko's as they walked past, wanting to give anything in the world to go inside.
Claudia steered her down a little lane, past Madam Puddifoot's little coffee shop and paused in front of a glass window with two dummies in it wearing the latest fashion and changing their pose every fifteen seconds.
"I don't think its open" Lily stated, looking at her watch which read 7:42 am.
"Nonsense" Claudia said, climbing up the stares that led to the shop door and delicately rapped on the door. Lily heard shuffling from the back of the store and then the clink of high heels on tiles towards the door. The women opened the door a fraction, letting a stench of perfume out on the street.
The woman had long, sandy blonde hair that was tied up in a lose, fashionable bun at the back of her head, she was wearing a white blouse with some frills down the front and a mini denim skirt and 2 inch heels. Her manicured hands were wrapped around the door frame as she stuck her head threw the small gap.
"Oh Claudia, darhling! How are you?" she exclaimed before swinging the door open and kissing her on both cheeks.
"Good Doris! But my friend Lily on the other hand isn't. She needs to buy a whole new wardrobe and she wants the best of the best. Can you help?"
"Of course I can darhling, you know I can!" Doris and Claudia linked arms and Doris led her into the store.
"Claudia and Doris seem to know each other quite well" Lily commented as she and Felicity followed them inside.
"Well she should, she was her father's fifth wife" Felicity said as they wove between the racks.
"Her father had five wives!" Lily exclaimed in hush tones as they slowly followed.
"No, he's definitely had more" Felicity said with a thinking look on her face "Not sure how many, lost count" she shrugged as they caught up with Claudia and Doris.
"Anyway, Doris, this is Lily" Claudia introduced, turning and pointing at Lily. Doris stared at Lily, fingers under her chin as she surveyed her.
"Do come this way; I know the perfect place to start"
Lily sighed. It was going to be a really long day.
-:-
Lily stripped off her third mini skirt, placed it back on its coat hanger and reached for the next one which hung over the changing room door.
"I think I'm going to need some tops to wear with the skirts" Lily commented as she had already spent at least half an hour trying on bottoms.
"Of course you're going to need some tops! But we'll do all the bottoms first, so we know what tops will match," Felicity explained before gasping as Lily walked out of the changing room in another mini skirt, striking a pose.
"You look gorgeous darhling!" Doris exclaimed, her hands clasped together.
"You think so?" Lily asked her, though she knew she would have to rely on herself for that answer, shop assistants were so untrustworthy.
"Of course, and they make your legs look beautiful!" Lily looked down at her pale legs.
"But my legs are going to freeze to death in winter!" Lily complained, thinking how on earth Felicity and Claudia didn't feel the cold.
"You're not going to be wearing that in winter silly! This is your summer wardrobe, you still need to try on winter clothes and accessories and my personal favourite, shoes!" Claudia exclaimed coming back from another rack with an armful of clothes and dumping them in Lily's arms.
"These are some more clothes that I personally think you will look fab in," Claudia said as she walked back to stand next to Doris and Felicity. Lily returned back to the dressing room which had conveniently grown more hooks for her to hang the clothes off. She looked through the bunch of clothes and spied something that was actually to her taste: jeans!
She ripped the coat hanger off them, pulled off the skirt she had on and dumped it on the floor before sticking one foot, then the other into the jeans. All was going well until she got to her hips. Lily knew her hips weren't that big so she came to the conclusion that the jeans were too small. She tried pulling them up again, thinking that they might be made of stretch material. The got over her thighs but they refused to go up past her backside.
"Um, these jeans are too small" Lily called out from the dressing room, still struggling with the jeans.
"Nonsense," said Claudia "They're the right size I checked" and with that she pushed back the curtain to Lily's changing room, catching Lily by surprise.
"Well, there's your problem right there" Claudia said, gesturing to her underwear.
"My underwear?" Lily asked puzzled, looking down at them then back up at Claudia, more confused then ever.
"Duh! They're totally the wrong type of underwear to wear with those jeans" Felicity piped up from where she had come up from behind Claudia.
"You mean there is more then one type of underwear?" Lily asked them confused. She had never been underwear shopping, permitting her mother to buy her what she needed. The other three laughed.
"Gee you make me laugh sometimes" Felicity said after they had finished laughing.
"Doris, I think we should take Lily underwear shopping first before she tries on anymore clothes," Claudia announced to Doris, who nodded her head.
"Yes I think that's best, where were you thinking of going?" Doris asked Claudia.
"I think we should go to Frills and Lace. That's the best underwear store in Hogsmeade isn't it?"
Lily tuned out before Doris replied as she heard the name of the underwear store. She had one rule for her mother when she went shopping and that was 'No frills, No lace'. And now she felt as if she was in over her head.
"Lily!" Felicity said, bringing her back to reality.
"Oh sorry, tuned out for a second there" Lily said, turning back to face them all.
"Just get changed back into what you had on while we go across the road," Claudia ordered, turning to Doris to talk about holding the clothes.
Once Lily came out of the dressing room, Claudia and Felicity ushered her across the street to Frills and Lace. They sun was fully risen in the sky, waking the little town and causing all the shops to be opened by now.
Claudia pushed open the door and was instantly greeted by a young woman who kissed her on both cheeks.
"Please tell me that's not another of her father's many wives" she whispered to Felicity as they entered after her again.
"God no. That's Pamela her cousin" Felicity replied, giving her a strange look.
"How many family members does she have in Hogsmeade?" Lily whispered as Pamela lead them into the main part of the store.
"Just the two of them," Felicity said before they caught up with Pamela and Claudia.
"Lily what's your size?" Claudia asked her after finishing her conversation with Pamela.
"My size?" Lily asked confused.
"Yeah, you know, A, B, C, D? 32, 34?" Claudia asked her tapping her foot.
"I dunno, I'll check my tag," Lily said, but Felicity came up behind her and pulled the tag out before she could get there herself.
"You're a 32C" Felicity told her and Pamela left instantly to start roaming the racks. She came back a few minutes later, holding them out for Claudia to see.
"Hmm they're all good except for those mauve and pink ones," Claudia told her. Pamela dropped them in a pile and hung the rest in a change room.
"Well, go in and try them on" Claudia ordered and Lily walked in, making sure the curtain was fully closed before trying on the first one. She picked up the one on top which was black with pink lace weaved in up the top.
A minute or so later Claudia demanded "Have you got it on yet?" Lily who was just taking it off paused in surprise.
"What? You want to see me in it?"
"Duh course," Claudia said and Lily had a mental image of her with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.
"Just a minute!" Lily called, clipping it back up again, took a deep breath and pulled open the curtain to come face to face with the three of them. Pamela instantly went over to her, pulling up the strap.
"No, this won't do" she muttered as she fussed over Lily who was feeling quite self conscious.
"What's that?" Claudia said sharply, obviously hearing what Pamela was saying.
"This is two small for her, see here and here" Pamela gestured and Claudia nodded "I'll get these in a 32 D" she said, picking up the stack and coming back with the new ones.
"Just so you know, I thought you looked hot in that bra" Felicity whispered in her ear before she went back into the change room. Lily didn't know whether to be happy or scared.
-:-
The day continued the same after that. After the underwear shopping, they went back to Doris who told Lily which pairs of underwear to wear with the different items of clothing. After that Claudia led them over to Hinda Honovi's Hair where she got Hinda to cut and style Lily's hair. Once Lily was allowed to open her eyes she say her hair was now just past her shoulders, it had a layer or two and it was straight. Lily thought she actually looked good. Then they waltzed across the road to Wildana's Witchy Nails where they all sat down and talked while Wildana and her assistances did the girl's nails.
After this was done it was around two o clock in the afternoon and Lily who hadn't eaten all day was feeling surprisingly faint and wondered how they managed this. Thankfully, Claudia steered them into the Three Broomsticks. Lily ordered water and a chicken and avocado wrap. Claudia and Felicity just ordered water.
After they watched Lily eat, Felicity insisted that she change into some of her new clothes before they left to go back to Hogwarts. She led Lily to the bathroom at the back of the pub where Lily went in and searched the many bags in her backpack for the skinny jeans she had fallen in love with and her 'Mildred the Muggle' tee. She put on her black ankle boots and a silver bracelet as well before walking back into the pub.
"Wow, you sure are good at accessorizing" Felicity commented as they walked back down the main street, Lily looking longingly into the windows of Zonko's and Honeydukes as they walked past.
"Yeah well, I have inspiration" Lily shrugged and they continued up the driveway. Lily broke the silence when they reached the front doors.
"I think I'll go for a walk before dinner, you know, to burn off that wrap" Lily said, stopping in her tracks.
"Good idea. See you there" Felicity said and Claudia and her climbed up the stairs. Lily turned around and began walking back the way they came, glancing over her shoulder now and then to make sure Claudia or Felicity hadn't come back down.
She walked as fast as she could in her new boots all they way back to Hogsmeade and bolted into Honeydukes. She grabbed a bag and began loading handful after handful of sweets into the bag. She filled it to the top of the bag, all her favourite sweets inside. After she paid, she shrunk it and made sure she was the only one who could see it.
She exited, walked up the main street a way, and then ducked into Zonko's. She paused for a minute in the doorway, lost in thought. Candy she could get away with. Itching powder and painful instruments might be a bit harder to explain, plus she wouldn't have any use for them anyway.
She walked back up the high street to the driveway, popping a chocolate frog in her mouth as she did so. It was getting late so she decided to go straight to dinner instead of trying to find the others.
She walked through to the Great Hall and along the Gryffindor table looking for someone she knew. She spied Remus, Sirius and James sitting along the far side of the Gryffindor table and she walked over to the empty spot next to Remus and sat down, starting to load her plate with food.
"Do I know you?" Remus asked her once he noticed her sitting there.
"Course you do dickhead" Lily snorted without looking at them.
"You know, that voice sounds somewhat familiar yet I just can't place it" James said, with a thinking expression on his face which scared Remus.
"You better recognize this voice" Lily joked, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Do you ever get that feeling when you're supposed to know something but you don't and its all awkward? Well I've kinda got that feeling right now" James said to Remus who nodded. Sirius, who had been focusing on his dinner, looked up and said
"Woah! Do I know you? Let me introduce myself, I am Sirius Black," he said, holding out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Sirius Black. Again," Lily said, shaking his hand and turning back to her food.
"Wait, you didn't tell me your name!" Sirius cried out in a hurt voice. Lily, who had finished her dinner turned to him and said
"It's me Lily, you arsehole" And with that she walked out of the Great Hall, flicking her hair and leaving Sirius with a shocked look on his face.
"Don't worry Sirius, she fooled us all, there's no need to look THAT shocked" Remus said, turning back to his dinner.
"Well, obviously you guy's didn't see her wearing a gee-string"