Jealously Wears A Green Mask | Jily

1: Lily Evans was Pacing

And then, not three minutes after the initial length of carpet had been crossed, the common room was empty but for the three present marauders, Marlene, and Lily.

Remus and Sirius exchanged anxious looks; Peter suddenly had a very pressing need to be somewhere else and bolted. Lily's pacing was possibly the most frightening thing in the castle. Despite the fact that nearly everyone adored the redhead on an average day, her temper and outbursts were positively ... infamous, and, the ones that followed a good pace were always the most formidable.

Checking over his shoulder, Remus assured himself that there were no other potential casualties in the common room before asking quietly, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lily responded, looking at Remus as if his question had surprised her, "Why would something be wrong?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged another look while Marlene was entirely focused on her best friend, mind whirring.

"You're pacing," Sirius pointed out in an attempt at a causal tone, "Last time I saw you pace was the Great April Debacle. Still don't know what that was about mind you, but I know it was scary ... "

And then, it all clicked for Marlene.

"Boys," she said evenly, "Leave."

"Wha?!" Sirius turned to Marlene in surprise, "We're being helpful."

Marlene fixed him with one of her glares and Sirius sighed, "Fine, c'mon Moony, let's go pick the colors for Wednesday."

"Stay away from purple," Lily offered, not unkindly, "Outfit mishap pranks aren't nearly as funny when the target actually looks better after you've messed with their robes."

Remus laughed at the shocked look on Sirius's face and shepherded him up the stairs with an audible "Don't look so shocked Padfoot, you'll catch flies if you keep your mouth open for too long ... besides, you know Lily knows everything ... and even if she didn't, James tells her almost everything now anyway."

It was that last statement, drifting down the stairs into the common room that caused Lily to crack. She hurled herself down onto the couch the boys had vacated and scream long and hard into a pillow.

Marlene waited for the dust to settle and the scream to subside, and then poked the redhead with her toe and asked "So, what's the matter Lils?"

Lily picked her head up from the pillow, "The dance," she groaned, "the stupid, stupid dance. I don't have a date Marlene!"

Marlene froze, and then held in a chuckle. Lily Evans was worried about getting a date? She was, in Marlene's opinion, the only girl in Hogwarts who always had a date ready in the wings ... if she ever realized that she might actually want to go with him.

"I don't know what you're all upset about Lily," Marlene said carefully, "This whole dance was your idea. You did know that dances require dates, right? And you've turned down several boys ... I figured you had a plan or something ... "

In response, Lily just moaned, and threw her face back down into the pillow, "I did."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "Well, what happened then?"

Lily pulled herself up into a sitting position, clearly about to go into a serious rant.

"This dance," she sighed, "was going to be my way to ... well... ugh it doesn't even matter Marlene, he asked someone else."

"Who!?" Marlene demanded, unsure of what to think, but despite the indications that Lily longed to rant, the redhead didn't answer.

"You designed this entire dance just to get one boy to ask you out?" Mary realized, raising an eyebrow at her friend, impressed by the girl's ambition.