𝐿𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒

Dealing with Rumors Preemptively

It was their final Hogwarts Halloween, which meant their first last Hogsmeade trip, which meant Lily and James's first official date, and for them that meant rumors.

Yet, for now, the girls were in Lily's head dorm trying to pick out her outfit while she sat watching her friends scramble around the room like headless chickens.

"Y'know my outfit really isn't that big of a deal, right?" Lily asked matter-a-factly.

"Of course it is! It's a date!" Marlene looked like she had just heard something far worse come out of Lily's mouth.

"A date with James for crying out loud! He doesn't care what I wear and neither do I!" Lily said getting up off of her bed, walking over to her dresser, and pulling out a few choice items, only after shooing her friends away to where she had been previously been seated.

Lily first held up a pair of black wide-legged jeans and after three nods of approval, she placed them on the floor. Then, she took a thick, royal blue belt in one hand and a black long sleeve v-neck shirt in the other. Marlene, Mary, and Alice quickly approved the outfit, and just as she was about to step in the shower, they spoke up again.

"What will you do about shoes?" Alice asked, genuinely curious.

"For a special occasion, such as this, I will wear the brand-new, white gogo boots that Henry and my mum sent in the mail the other day!" Lily squealed a bit along with the other girls in excitement.

The white leather gogo boots reached just above her ankle, as they were the newest model, coming out after the more traditional upper calf length gogo boot. The girls' eyes had all widened in excitement when Lily opened the box last week at breakfast.

"And while I'm in the shower you can set up the beauty salon since you guys like to play dress-up so much."

On the other hand, James was not nearly as confident as Lily was about their upcoming date. Whether that was under Sirius's influence or his own, no one would be able to tell and Remus was having a hard time not knocking the two of them out.

"What if she figures out that she actually hates me?" James practically bellowed.

"I'm sure she'd already have figured that out, mate," Sirius said in response, earning a hit on the back of his head from Remus.

"She won't hate you unless you give her a reason to. So, if you're thinking logically-"

"There's his problem, Moony, Prongs doesn't think logically," Sirius spoke again picking at the black nail polish that Marlene had painted there.

"If you're thinking logically," Remus continued with a glare at Sirius, "then all you have to do is not give her a reason to hate you."

"But, what if I royally screw it all up?" James asked with actual fear in his eyes.

"Which is a real possi-"

"Screw off, Sirius! Your best mate is having a crisis here and you're not even trying to help! You're not even being funny anymore! Just downright cruel!" Remus said losing his patience and temper.

"Fine, I'll leave then," Sirius said grabbing his leather jacket off his bed, Remus sighed defeatedly.

"James, go take a shower, Pete, help him not self-destruct," Remus said picking himself up off his own bed.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked.

"I'm going to go get Sirius before he royally screws something up and apologize. I might not be back for a while," he said, walking out the door.

...

Lily stepped out of the steaming bathroom with the previously mentioned outfit on, minus the gogo boots, and a towel wrapped around her hair.