The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Lily examined herself in the mirror, checking and double-checking her hair and makeup. As she scrutinised her reflection she found herself wondering once again whether earrings she had chosen matched her dress. "You don't think these make my outfit too gold do you?" she asked as Cassie rolled her eyes behind her.

"Honestly Lil, that's the fifth time you've asked that and the answer's exactly the same: you look fine." Cassie's exasperation stretched the final word out into a long sigh as she shook her head at Lily; although she enjoyed dressing up she had a very blasé attitude towards it and, unless it was an important event, just grabbed something from her wardrobe before putting on slightly more elaborate makeup than usual. She did, however, manage to make this take longer than most other people and Lily, even after nearly six years, still had no idea how she did it. Cassie wore her clothes with an air of nonchalance which made it hard to believe that she had dressed up, even when she had spent far longer on her appearance than usual, and today was no exception; she looked wonderful but the way she carried herself made it impossible for anyone to believe that she had actually made an effort to do so and Lily sometimes found herself envying that and the ease with which she carried herself. At other times though she wondered if Cass would ever walk normally and not bounce around like her limbs were too loosely connected for her to ever slow down. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, you look wonderful," Mary said from the bed where she was tying her shoe up. "It's not like it matters anyway, it's only Slughorn's party."

"I just want to look good," she shrugged as Alice spritzed herself with perfume, said, "Fair enough," blew kisses to them all and hurried out the door to meet Frank.

"I don't understand why we put so much more effort in parties like this than what we look like every day," Cassie said. "You'd think that, if you were going to get a boyfriend, then it'd be based more on what you look like every day than just one night a year."

"What?" Lily's eyes flickered to the Cassie reflected in the mirror.

"It just doesn't make sense," she said, almost with an air of triumph, as if she was unveiling something which had never been seen before, as if she had just discovered something which would change the world.

"Yeah but it's nice to dress up for parties," Mary pointed out.

"I know, it's just that I've realised it's a bit odd now that I think about it," she replied. "A little similar to the feasts and Hogsmeade trips."

"So you're also including Hogsmeade trips in this?" Lily said, seeing Cassie nod out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah," she said, "I just think, especially if it's a boy in the same house as you... well they've seen us all in our pyjamas when we lounge around in the common room and they've seen us soaked through from rain so why would looking good 'in public', so to say, make any difference? It's not like they haven't seen us at our worst."

"It's not always about getting boyfriends Cassie," Mary said dryly. "I mean, you have to do it so that the rest of us don't go blind and half the people just do it for confidence. Besides it's one of the fun things about parties."

"Oh thanks. Don't get me wrong though, I agree with all of those things – apart from the blinding people bit – but there must be someone who does it to attract someone and whoever they are... well they should listen to my logic instead," Lily heard Cassie say from the corner.

"Enlightening," Lily replied. "Oh actually, speaking of Hogsmeade, did you know that they might cancel Hogsmeade weekends?" Lily said as she turned back to the mirror, all eyes now trained on her.