“Lily,” began Remus. “You-”
James looked at Lily, alarmed. She was bewilderedly glancing back and forth between him and Remus. Then James noticed Sirius at the bottom of the boys’ staircase as he interrupted Remus.
“Back from your detention, Moony?” he asked casually with a stretch and a yawn.
“You had detention?” Lily looked at Remus in surprise.
“Yeah, all night,” continued Sirius, laughing a little. “I think it’s his first, to be honest. Me and Prongs, here, always get in trouble, but Moony and Wormtail were busted too this time. Looking for some kind of herbs in the Forbidden Forest that could only be found at night. It was Filch’s idea, of course.”
“How did that turn Remus into that, then?” asked Lily, hesitating to believe Sirius’s story.
“I fell out of a tree, actually,” Remus lied in a sheepish voice, “looking for that stupid stuff.”
Lily was convinced. “Oh, wow. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” said James. “He should probably get some rest, though.”
“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry. I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow then. ‘Night.” Lily smiled and waved before heading up the stairs to her room.
“’Night,” the boys echoed.
James waited until he were sure Lily was safely out of earshot before falling back on the couch. “I didn’t think there was any way we could get out of that,” he said tiredly, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead.
“Pretty close, wasn’t it?” Sirius grinned and sat down next to James.
“I didn’t even think she would’ve believed you, Padfoot,” said James. “I’m thinking it was when Moony went along with it that she was convinced.”
Remus looked down and sighed. James frowned, knowing that Remus didn’t want to have to lie to everyone, especially someone who trusted him like Lily did.
James stood up and clapped Remus on the back. “Well, it’s around sunrise, so I think it’s time for bed. Night, boys.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the last couple of weeks before the first Hogsmeade weekend, girls gossiped and flirted in the corridors, trying to subtly eye the boys standing around and faking nonchalance. Everyone discussed who was going with who and desperately tried to secure a date.
“I’m definitely fine,” Kathleen said, coughing. She rearranged her hair around her face and looked at Lily.
“About having to miss Hogsmeade?” Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend, who was lying in her bed, looking miserable.
All of the students had gotten out of class for lunch the Friday before Hogsmeade, so Lily had taken the time to visit Kathleen, who was sick, in the dormitory.
Raising her eyebrows back up at Lily, Kathleen put on her serious face. “Yeah. It’s not a big deal, so you can stop looking at me like that.”
“Well, I wish you didn't have to miss the trip.”
“Yeah, well, I didn't have a date anyway. Although it isn’t like no one has asked me; if that was the case, then I would be in an even worse mood.”
“The horrors,” said Lily sarcastically, finding a shirt on the floor and throwing it at her friend's head.
Kathleen blew her nose. “Well, who asked you besides Potter?”
“He actually didn’t ask me,” Lily said evenly.
Kathleen’s mouth opened. “Really?” she said with interest.
“Yes. No one seems to believe that though, even though James is totally different than he was last year.”
“Well, I knew he wasn’t being an ass anymore, but I still thought he’d try to date you eventually - just not as obsessively. How about that,” Kathleen said thoughtfully. “Oh, but who else asked you?”
Lily grimaced. “Mark Bearden, that guy from Charms that’s in Hufflepuff, and two fifth years.”
“Fifth years?” Kathleen laughed. “But the other two were fine. What about them?”
“I just thought I’d go alone, too. But I'm starving, so I'm going down to eat. Get some sleep and I'll see you later.” Lily stood up and began to leave.br />
“He, you weren't going solo so I wouldn’t be alone, were you?” Kathleen asked with accusation in her voice. “You know I could've just shopped with Annis; she’s still with the guy who graduated last year so she won’t have a date.”
“I just didn’t want to date any of the guys that asked me. But you know what? I bet Annis will get married within the next year or so. They’re pretty serious, right?”
“That would be great. Annis would be, like, the best wife,” said Kathleen, nodding.
"Yeah. I'll tell her you said that," Lily laughed and said.
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“Wow, thanks,” said Annis, who sat down across the table from them. “Any particular reason you two were discussing my possibility of marriage?”
Lily laughed and shook her head. “We were just talking about dates.”
“Not you, too,” Peyton jumped in as she and Hallie approached their roommates. “That’s all everyone’s discussed for weeks. Well, and Voldemort.”
“Yeah, that’s great, Peyton. Thanks for the downer,” Hallie said sourly. She stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth and chewed forcefully.
Lily looked at Kathleen questioningly, but she shrugged. Noticing this, Peyton sighed.
“She’s just mad that her date broke his skull at Quidditch practice last night and had to cancel on her,” Peyton announced, dismissing it with a wave of her hand.
“Seriously?” asked Lily, her eyes widening. “That boy in Ravenclaw?”
Hallie said nothing at first, but then sighed. “Yes. I was really looking forward to, you know, after the date, but I guess that’s ruled out now.”
“Merlin, Hallie, I bet he’s not feeling too great about it, either,” said Lily incredulously.
“It’ll be fine; I’ll just hang out with Lily,” Hallie replied.
“James didn’t ask you?” Peyton asked, swallowing her bite.
“Nope. Apparently, he’s doing a total change this year,” Kathleen answered for Lily. “Isn’t that crazy?”
“Yeah, I thought he would’ve asked her now that they’re friends,” said Hallie.
“What? Me and James aren’t exactly-” Lily began.
“Well, he still could, couldn‘t he?” Annis pointed out. “It’s not until tomorrow, after all.”
“He’d better not!” Peyton exclaimed. “Haven’t you ever heard of The Wednesday Rule?” She rolled her eyes and took a sip of pumpkin juice.
“Apparently, it’s forbidden to accept a guy’s offer for a date for the weekend after Wednesday of that week,” Lily explained with a smile.
“What if you do?” asked Annis.
“Then your roommates ambush you in your sleep, drag you outside, dump you in the lake, and leave you at the Giant Squid’s mercy,” Lily joked.
“Oh, yeah, I think I heard last year’s class of Gryffindors did that to some poor girl,” Peyton threw in conversationally.
Annis and Lily exchanged an amused glance before going back to their meals to hide any giggles.
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After hearing one too many shrieks of “Where’s my mascara?” and “Stop with the noise! I'm sick, dammit!”, Lily slipped out of her dorm room and closed her eyes in relief. She leaned against the wall for a moment, then headed down the staircase to wait for the girls to emerge from long and tiring battles with their hair.
She had only sat down for a moment when Annis came running down to the Common Room with parchment in her hand and a grin on her face.
“Michael’s coming!” she announced, collapsing into a chair next to Lily’s.
“To Hogsmeade?” asked Lily in surprise.
“Yes, he’s just going to Apparate over when we get there.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Lily said, smiling. She noticed Hallie coming down the stairs. “Hal, I guess it’ll just be me and you.”
Hallie looked sheepish. “Actually, Brad just asked me at breakfast when he heard about my date being cancelled.”
“What the Wednesday Rule?” Lily asked dryly.
“I didn’t know Annis was getting Michael to come, but I’ll go cancel now. It’ll just take a minute.”
“Oh, I don’t want you to cancel,” Lily said sincerely.
“No, it’s okay,” began Hallie.
“What’s okay?” asked Sirius, who was walking by with his friends.
“I, uh, have to cancel on somebody so Lily won’t be alone at Hogsmeade,” explained Hallie.
“We can take care of her,” Remus said, smiling at Lily.
“Oh, that’s okay-” Lily glanced at James, then looked helplessly to Hallie.
“No, it’s settled. Lily can come with us,” decided Sirius. “I’ll be with my date for a while, but the other guys will be with her then.”
James smiled at Lily. “You don’t have to, but it’ll be fun.”
Lily thought for a moment. “Okay,” she answered.