A/N: If you have problems with missing socks, Muggle studies homework, Glee related dramas, and betrothals, refrain from reading.

A/N: P.S. slight cliffy. :D

Over the course of the week, Lily discovered several things.

One, she now had only one black sock.

Two, her essay about the history of Muggles was due in another week.

Three, James was almost at breaking point.

Every day, James seemed liable as to breaking something, sobbing, or hiding in his bed without ever coming out.

Lily was sure that if she never knocked and threatened him to a year with pink, bubblegum ridden hair, James would probably have discovered the fact that House-Elves could easily come and go to his dorm, bringing food, homework and freshly laundered clothes.

As Lily was jostled by the ordinarily packed corridor, she thought of where her other sock was.

Lily had confided her problem to her best friend, KayCee Williams, who simply rolled her eyes and told Lily to just 'duplicate the bloody sock'. But Lily didn't want to give up, so she upturned her bedroom and bathroom on a dreary Saturday morning when KayCee unceremoniously barged in.

"Remind me why I told you the password?" Lily said idly as KayCee flopped onto Lily's dark scarlet bed that matched Lily's hair.

"Because you love me?"

Lily rolled her eyes and poked her friend off the four-poster bed.

Diving back in her mass of letters, notes and whatnot, Lily tried desperately find her sock.

"You know, I can't fathom why you refuse to duplicate the sock," said KayCee after several moments of an awkward pause, which had only been filled with the sounds of rummaging.

Lily gave her friend a look and answered in a crisp tone.

"Just because you have been hanging around wizards and witches all your life and been entirely dependent on magic, doesn't mean that you can't find things yourself."

"Wow, you make me sound so... lazy," muttered KayCee as she flopped back onto the four-poster.

Then, she started to fidget. Her ice blue eyes stared in a particularly dirty corner of the bedroom. KayCee checked and rechecked her nails and tapped her foot.

And all the while, Lily rummaged in her vanity drawers, pushing aside the complimentary vats of makeup she had received when she bought the shoddy thing for two galleons.

Lily glanced in the mirror and saw KayCee twirling her thick black hair. As time went by and Lily still hadn't managed to retrieve her sock, KayCee's guard came down.

Watching her friend flit around the bedroom, KayCee snuck a look at her reflection and glared at the freckles dotting her nose and high cheekbones.

People called KayCee cute, and pretty, or pretty cute. And there was the occasional 'Aye, yo, you hot!' from laughing guys. But never was she called beautiful. KayCee didn't know why it bothered her so much, but it definitely did.

"Erm, Lily?" KayCee called tentatively in her sweet voice.

"Yes?" Lily poked her head out of her wardrobe and looked at KayCee in concern.

"Did you – did you know that I had a boyfriend?" asked KayCee, swallowing in spite of herself, putting a shaky emphasis on 'had'.

"No... Why, did he do something bad?" asked Lily, rubbing her temples in concentration for the position of the sock.

"No. It's just that..." KayCee trailed off, her voice faltering uncertainly. She was entering an area that she never entered, nor cared about, before.

"What? Did he take all your money and punched you so hard that you can't have children?" asked Lily in a joking manner, her attention snapping entirely on her fidgeting friend. Her demeanour softened as she sat beside KayCee. The answer was on the tip of the Irish girl's tongue, Lily could tell.

"KayCee... What's wrong?" asked Lily gently.

KayCee stared determinedly in Lily's bright emerald eyes.

"I am betrothed, pregnant and no one calls me beautiful!" wailed KayCee unexpectedly.

Whatever Lily had been expecting, it certainly was not that. The bed swayed alarmingly beneath her as KayCee began to break down in sobs and Lily's mouth formed an O. After the shock wore off, Lily shook her head disbelievingly, hoping that she had heard wrong.

"Holy Merlin!" gasped Lily. "Did you just say betrothed and pregnant?"

KayCee sniffled as a confirmation.

"I – I honestly do not know what to say. Oh KayCee," Lily pulled her friend in a hug as KayCee started to hiccup.

"And as to the beautiful thing... well, just because no one's said it doesn't mean you aren't," Lily said, grinning down at her friend who feebly grinned back.

After KayCee's sobs began to disappear and her hiccups gone entirely, Lily surveyed her friend. There was no bulge showing, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't arrive soon.

"How long – "

"Hardly four weeks," answered KayCee as she subconsciously patted her stomach.

"And this... child," Lily stared at KayCee's hips, hardly daring to believe that a watermelon would soon be passing through that area and into the world.

"Is it your betrothed's?"

KayCee's eyes began to water as she shook her head.

"That's why I had to break up with my boyfriend... he's the – the father, Sean Argent, the seventh-year Ravenclaw Prefect."

"... And who is your betrothed?"

KayCee looked as though she was about to refrain from telling Lily, but sense told her to answer.

"James Potter."