I'm back! And good news - I have four other prewritten chapters, which means that if I update every 10 days, you will have regular updates until half-term when I can write some more. Anyway, I know you are all dying to know what happens, so without further ado...
"You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip." - Jonathan Carroll.
Finally, the end of term was approaching, and the day of Lily's surprise party dawned. Lily's actual birthday was the next day. I had a lot to accomplish during the day, not least the party preparations amongst the more general end of term prefect admin, such as the leaving feast and packing. I awoke early, in order to start on my packing. I was spending the Christmas holidays at home with my family, and then going skiing in the French Alps over New Year.
I was the first up in the dorm, and crept around, trying not to wake anyone else up. I opened my underwear drawer, and found the present I had for Lily. I had always meant to get her a locket for her eighteenth birthday, but had also realised that she would have nothing to wear for the surprise party. I therefore, in addition, had a dress for her, which would be an early Christmas present. Satisfied that the present was still there, I continued with my packing.
I was half-packed when Katie rolled out of bed, effectively waking everyone else up, and soon the dorm was a bustle with everyone changing into uniform, trying to find shoes (Megs), applying make-up (Katie), day-dreaming (Alice), and making her bed (Lily). Having accomplished our various tasks, we then trooped down the staircase, in the direction of the Great Hall. As usual, since the beginning of their relationship, James and the rest of the Marauders were waiting for Lily and us.
Everyone looked exhausted: the toll of an intense term in Seventh Year, and the NEWTS course. Conversation was sparse. That was, until, out of the blue, someone began shouting. It took a moment for me to realise it was I who was being accosted. I blinked in confusion, in the same way that a person emerging from a dark place into the sun's rays shies away from the light.
"ROSE LOGANBERRY!" Somebody shouted.
A girl ran up, crying messily, and then flung her arms around me. To say I was disconcerted was an understatement. The rest of my friends had stopped, and were staring at me. I tried to reassure them by giving them a quick smile, and then turned back to my new barnacle.
"Thank you so much for helping Jess. We all suspected there was something wrong, but didn't know what. When Professor Sprout told us about the bulimia, we were shocked, but not surprised. I'm just so glad you found out and reported it before she went too far. Most people wouldn't have bothered."
With that, she slowly detached herself from me, and scarpered off.
I stared after her for a moment, but was brought back to earth by a gentle nudge on my arm.
"What was that about?" asked Sirius.
"Just a girl – the friend of a girl – I found her... sicking up in a bathroom a few weeks ago, and she acted very suspiciously, so I went to the Headmaster about it." I replied.
He raised one eyebrow at me, and in retaliation, I raised one back.
"Yes?" I enquired.
He cocked his head on one side for a moment, and then suddenly grinned and offered me his arm.
"Let's go grab some breakfast. I'm hungry."
The others quizzed me about the incident all the way to the Great Hall, and I had to repeat the story several times. Upon arriving in the Great Hall, I noticed Iz and Mia beckoning me over from the Ravenclaw table. Realising that it was most likely about last minute arrangements for the party, I hastily excused myself from my friends.
"So you aren't sitting with us for any meals anymore? Not even tomorrow?" asked Lily, sounding slightly bitter.
"What's special about tomorrow?" I questioned, nonchalantly. I knew full well that it was Lily's birthday, but decided to play ignorant, in order that she wouldn't suspect anything about the surprise party.
"Nothing." She muttered, and turned away.
I smirked to myself as I walked across to the Ravenclaw table, to sort out the last minute details for the party.
The day went very quickly, both my break and lunchtimes, as well as my free period, spent setting up the room behind the Great Hall for the party, sorting out the food, starting a present pile, setting up the underage spells on the alcoholic drinks, and stealing clothes from my friends for them to change into once they had been surprised. It was an effort finding shoes, and jewellery, and perfume and make-up for the girls, and in several places I had to create illusions, so that they wouldn't notice that anything was missing that afternoon.
The boys' clothing was a different challenge. Actually finding clean clothes amongst the heap of dirty laundry that constituted their room, and one hairy moment when Peter Pettigrew walked in. I dived into a wardrobe, and thankfully he soon disappeared into the bathroom for 10 minutes, leaving me to hunt for and find the Marauders' map, so that Iz and Mia could tell the party guests when to hide.
After lessons ended, I had a few hours in which to help Iz and Mia with the finishing touches of the room. All guests were to be there by 7:30, with Lily and the other Seventh Year Gryffindors being brought in at 7:45. At 7, the band arrived, and began setting up, and I snatched a few minutes to change into my dress. I was still wearing trainers, necessary for an important job I would have to carry out later.
Soon enough, guests from all houses, and fourth year up began to arrive. At 7:30, with all guests present and correct, and everything set up, I cast a quick illusion to change my appearance to that of school clothes, and no make-up, and headed off for the Heads' Common Room.
The greatest difficulty I had had was in thinking of a convincing, but unsuspicious way of getting Lily and my friends to the party. I told them that I was spending the evening with the Donahue twins. I had hit upon the notion of running into the Tower, reporting a crisis, and running off towards the party, hopefully with the Marauders and the Gryffindor girls following me.
I had checked, just before I set out, that they were all in the Heads' Common Room, which thankfully they were. Pausing outside the Portrait Hole, I worked myself up to a heavy pant, to the amusement of the Portrait, gave the password, and leapt into the Common Room.
"Lily! James!" I shouted. "You have to come quickly!" I bent double, pretending to catch my breath.
"Accident... blood everywhere..." I panted. They all immediately sprang to action, and came towards me.
"Where?"
What happened?"
"Are you alright?"
I waved away their questions, resting my hands on my knees, then beckoned to them, and sprinted off out of the Portrait Hole. Sure enough, they all ran after me, wands at the ready, with shouts of:
"Wait up, Rose!"
"Let me go first!"
"Where are we going?"
I ran round to the back entrance of the room, all my friends right behind me, and burst into the dark room.
Suddenly, the lights flicked on.
"SURPRISE!" Shouted all the guests, upwards of 100 students.
They all blinked in amazement at the bright light, at the huge banner which proclaimed:
"HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY LILY!" and "FINALLY YOU TWO GOT TOGETHER!"
Lily turned to me, incredulously.
"You organised this?" she asked.
I smiled. "With the help of Iz and Naomi. That's why I've been spending so much time with them. Not because I was ditching you, or anything. Because I was organising you a party."
"Oh, Rose!" She launched herself forwards and grasped me in a tight hug. "This is incredible!"
"I still have to give you your Christmas present." Levitating it over, I handed it to her. "Something to wear."
Her eyes filled with tears as she hugged me again, then pulled off the wrapping like an excited child. A gold and green dress with spaghetti straps, a handkerchief hem, and a corset bodice appeared.
"Oh, Rose!" she repeated. Her lip trembled as she looked at me. "Thanks so much – you didn't have to... I never expected anything like - ... this!" She gestured helplessly at the dance floor and party scene before her.
"Happy Birthday Lils. Now go and put the dress on!"
The Donahues had already handed my other friends their clothes, and so, whilst waiting for them to return, I chatted to a few students, commiserated with the under-seventeen year olds who couldn't even touch the Firewhiskey because of the age-requirement spell (a demand of Professor McGonagall's) and listened to the music.
Katie and Megs found me a few minutes later, to add their incredulous compliments to Lily's, then went off in search of some male company.
I danced with one boy (as soon as he approached me, my heart had immediately leapt to my throat, and my palms started sweating). Thankfully, the song was short, and so I could take my nervous body off to the bathroom to cool down.
When I came back into the room, I spotted Lily and James swaying gently on the dance floor, in a world of their own. Lily's head was resting on James' shoulder, his nose nestled in her hair. It was adorable.
As I stood there watching them, a light brush on my shoulder alerted me to the presence of someone behind me. Turning, I found myself pressed up against Sirius. My breath hitched, and my stomach felt like it had fallen out of my body. My heart accelerated, butterflies rampaged round my stomach, and my legs turned more into custard than jelly.
"This is an incredible party." He stated, unaware of my nervousness at his proximity. "I can't believe you managed to pull this off without us finding out. This must be the first time in the history of Hogwarts that the Marauders were unaware of a party. It defies belief!"
I smiled at his half-joke.
"And it's such an incredible party. The food, the location, the live band! It must've taken ages to plan and get together. I just don't know why you couldn't ask us for help."
I managed to dredge up my voice from somewhere.
"I didn't want Lily to find out- it would've looked suspicious if I started spending time with you guys without her."
"I'm sure we could've found some... alternative exploration. And you could have just asked me for help. Nothing suspicious about that. Especially if we'd thrown in a reference to the Astronomy Tower. Lily would've been begging us to be quiet!"
I blushed at the thought of what he meant, and more importantly, the idea of him and me up the Astronomy Tower. The snogging hot-spot of Hogwarts. Probably of the whole of Scotland.
"Care to dance?" he asked me casually.
Too flustered to think of an excuse from his previous comments, and the direction in which my thoughts were heading (shut up brain shut up brain shut up brain), he had pulled me onto the dance floor without me even noticing.
Gently, he drew me towards him, resting his hands on my waist (Very gentlemanly, commented my brain. This is obviously not the Astronomy Tower.) Hesitantly, I managed to flutter my hands up to his shoulders, completely unsettled by his nearness.
"I love this song," he commented, bringing my head up from my careful study of the floor. Perhaps banal conversation was just what I needed.
"Yeah," I managed to chock, my heart still in my throat, "it's quite relaxing." I felt far from relaxed, but hey, I had to make some comment.
"Lily and James look happy, don't they?" I looked up at his, and then in the direction his head was nodding.
"Awww. Hopefully someone will get a photo of that."
I looked back at him, and suddenly his face was right up close to mine, his breath tickling my lips, and his eyes earnestly staring into mine. He caught his breath.
"Rose, I-"
"ROSE! What a fabulous party. I'm having such a fantastic time!" I jerked my head back to see Titia, standing right beside us.
"You don't mind if I borrow Sirius for a moment, do you Loganberry. It's about our potions assignment." Her hand clenched around Sirius' upper arm.
"Actually –" Sirius drew back.
"No... it's fine." I said quickly. "I have to go and – talk to the band. See you later!"
Quickly, I walked off, my mind in turmoil, berating myself for being such a coward. Whilst I wanted to know what he was going to say, at the same time, I was so afraid that it would be something bad, like... that... he had a new girlfriend or something that I couldn't stay and hear it. What if he had been about to kiss me! Whilst I yearned for his kisses, I in no way wanted him to see what a rubbish kisser I was. Compared to him, I have practically no experience.
Besides, who was I to say that he was going to tell me he liked me. I was so egotistical. As if he would ever like me! I avoided him for the rest of the evening.
I would really appreciate reviews for this one. And I have a specially good reason today - IT'S MY 18TH BIRTHDAY! So a lovely present in the form of a review would be perfect. (I know, I'm greedy. But today, I don't care.) Have a good week, lol EllieBaby xxx