The Queen, The Knight and The Marauders

8. The Disobedient Wall

Chapter 8

When Lily arrived in the Great Hall and headed to the Gryffindor table, she was greeted with a sight most pleasing.

At least half of the girls in the Hall had cut their hair short, most of them from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The horrible monuments they previously had upon their heads had been replaced with pixie and bob cuts, and dyed with bright colours, Gryffindors with mostly red and Ravenclaws, for some reason, with blue and green.

Lily sat next to Marlene, who herself had somehow had the time to cut her own long hair into a pixie as short as Lily's, and changed it to bright purple. The girl was talking vividly with Evans, who seemed to have no interest in the topic as she looked like someone was trying to skin her cat alive. Really, what could've been a topic so horrible?

"Oh, Luna! What took you so long? I was just telling Lily how she should cut her hair, too! I mean, as soon as you told me that short and colourful hair was in, I just had to tell Mellie about it, and she of course told her friends, because it would be awful not to tell, you know, keep a friend in the dark that their style was so last season, and now everyone is doing it, and of course I'm trying to get Lily to cut her hair too, as she is the Head Girl and it would be terrible if our Head Girl was not aware what is in, so–"

"Marlene! Breathe!" Lily laughed, putting her hand over the babbling mouth of the overly enthusiastic girl. She kept the hand still, looking at the girl with a suspecting look.

"If I take my hand away, will you keep quiet for a second?" she asked, and Marlene grinned and nodded.
"Okay." She let her hand fall.

"So, what's up with all the colourful hair?"

Marlene seemed to be confused.

"Well, you told me it was the latest in London, so I–"

"I did not, I told you the short cut is," Lily said stubbornly.

"Then why in the name of Morgana is your hair so red?"

Lily and Evans sighed as one.

"Marlene, did it occur to you that her hair might be red because it's her natural colour?" Evans laughed.

"Ooohh, well that explains a lot. I guess I wasn't really thinking," the girl shrugged, grinning.

"Well, I can't say I dislike the colourful scene," Lily said honestly. Somehow, it made her feel happier seeing the girls around the Hall laughing and chatting with their friends, their hairs dots of brightness in the sea of black cloaks.

"Oh, me either! Mellie said that her friends were going mostly with shades of blue, to honour their House, but as you can see, most of our girls are going with red, a bit unimaginative if you ask me."

Lily nodded, trying not to laugh.

"And you are trying to convince poor Lily to cut her hair and dye it?"

Evans looked annoyed that she was once again the topic of their conversation.

"I'm not doing it! I like my hair long, thank you very much!"

"Oh, don't be a buzzkill, Lily! You would look so fab if your hair was just a tad shorter, I like so see you with red hair!"

"Marls, her hair is already red," Lupin said with an amused tone from her other side.
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that. But still, pretty please, Lily? Let me do your hair!"

"No! Absolutely not, you are not touching my hair, you wicked witch!"

As the two girls continued to argue like three-year-olds, Lily looked at Remus.