Nah, She Didn't

~ Part 58 ~ When Have I Ever Failed You? ~

Aaron Burr, Sir - Hamilton

-Lily POV-

I open my eyes after a good night's sleep to a tapping at my window. I sleepily pull back the covers and walk over to the window.

I unhook the latch and it swings open, and Felix comes soaring in. He drops a letter on the desk and perches onto his cage.

I look at the letter and see Marlene's scratchy handwriting.

Lilyflower,

We're coming at 7
You had better tell us everything or things will get dirty

Lots of love,
Maraudetts

I chuckle at them. Then I look at the time; 6:57. Well, I got up just in time. If I was alseep and they came in, they'd probably jump on top of me and spray me with water, so... glad I got up.

I walk over to Felix, perched on his cage, and stroke his head, him giving a little hoot-purr thing in return.

All of a sudden, my door bursts open and in come Mary, Marlene, and Alice, all with red faces as if they'd been running.

"-well maybe if she hadn't hogged the shower all morning-" I hear one of them complain.

"Me? You were sitting your lazy arse in there for 30 minutes!" Another argues.

"Guys! Mary takes longer in the shower, Alice takes longer getting herself dolled up. There! Problem solved!" Marlene finally exclaims. And before either of them can retort, she turns to me. "So, we all know who you're going on a date with. The question is how."

"Tell us how this happened, Lily, if you know what's best for you," Mary warns.

Alice just squeals and does a little happy dance. "I'm so excited! Lily and James! James and Lily! Ahhh I can't believe it! You've finally gotten together!"

"Say it louder why don't you," I reply shortly. "And we're not together, it's a date. Not the same thing."

"Oh, same difference," Alice replies.

"Who's gonna even hear, Lily?" Marlene asks, commenting on my say it louder, why don't you statement. "The guy who you're going on a date with?"

"And besides, stop avoiding the question," Mary says in a sing song voice.

"Well, it's a slightly long story..." I answer.

"Well, we've got like, four hours still to get you ready, so, tell," Marlene replies.

"Fine. So, as it turns out, Snape had a Polyjuice potion, and had changed into James!"-all three of them have an outburst of confused and outraged noises, but I continue-"And he was saying all this crap about me just being a game to him, things like that. Well, the real James came back and I was like, what? There are two? We figured out it was Polyjuice and basically just waited it out. So then he like, turned back into Snape, and James took 50 points from Slytherin," I tell. "Then we both went down to the kitchens and I told him what Snape said. Then I went out into the hallway and he came after me and told me that I'm not a game and that he never wants to, uh, hurt me"-me cheeks start to turn a darker shade-"then he, ah, um, kissed me." I hurry past that detail, and tell the rest of the story. "Well, then he asked me out, and I said yeah."

They all jump on top of me, and we all end up on a heap on the floor with a loud thump.

"Okay, okay, I get it," I say. "Can you help me get ready or not?"

"Of course!" Alice exclaims.

"Competently forgot why we even came here!" Mary adds. I roll my eyes. She strides over to my wardrobe and swings open the door. "Ugh, Lily, you have barely any good clothes! Merlin!"

After about half an hour of fishing through every piece of clothing in my room, we finally come up with an outfit that I actually liked.

Both Mary and Alice had tried to convince me to wear shorts, but for crying out loud it was autumn! It was cold!

We'd agreed on some jeans for me to wear, along with a red-striped t-shirt I would most likely freeze in. But oh well. Beauty hurts, or whatever the saying is.

I had persuaded them to let me wear my favorite green fuzzy socks, so that was a plus. Alice had said I'd look too Christmas color-y, but who really even cares? Everyone loves winter holidays, so I don't see the issue. And over my fuzzy socks, I wore some old plain grey tennis shoes.

After I had gone into the bathroom and put on all the clothes, Marlene insisted on doing my hair. I had told her that I didn't want to go overboard, but she wouldn't hear of it.

So here we are, Marlene is pulling back my hair and tying it into Merlin knows what.

"Marls, what are you even doing to my hair? I told you I didn't want to overdo-" I begin.

"Lily, just trust me! When have I ever failed you?" Marlene reasons. I open my mouth to reply, but she beats me to it. "You know what, don't even answer that." She continues pulling back my hair, and twisting it up. "Alright. Take a looksie at my masterpiece."

I get up and walk across the room to the mirror to check out my appearance. It's a simple low bun at the back of my head, not too tight to seem pretentious but not too messy to seem it's-the-middle-of-summer-and-I've-stopped-caring-about-my-appearance-and-am-still-in-pajamas-at-4-in-the-evening.

Not bad, actually.

"You look great, Lils!" Mary says.

"We did a good job," Marlene adds haughtily with a playfully raised eyebrow and a smug look.

Alice smirks. "James won't be able to keep his hands off."

~ ~ ~
NOTES: X

-Amelia