Sirius and I had been SO convinced that the final phase of our plan would work out beautifully. Too bad that it didn’t. James, it turned out, was much more stubborn than I thought.
First, Sirius tried telling him flat out that Lily fancied him and wanted him to ask her to the ball.
“Are you serious?” James exclaimed at the news, but his face soon fell. “Wait… is this a joke? Sirius, this really isn’t funny. You know how I feel about Lily, it’s really not amusing to joke about something like this.” He turned and stormed away.
Maybe Sirius had been too abrupt with this announcement, because James had given his best friend the cold shoulder the rest of the day, which was something almost completely unheard of. Our second attempt included me giving my first-hand account of my conversation with Lily by the lake, and he still wouldn’t listen.
“Amelia, you’re still pretty new here. Lily Evans has hated me since, well, since the beginning of Hogwarts, and there’s no way she could stop hating me. It’s just how it goes, I’ll always love her and she’ll always loathe me,” James had said firmly.
On our third attempt at talking to him, he told us the real reason why he’s been ignoring what we had told him. “She’s actually starting to be kind of nice to me, and I don’t want to ruin that by asking her out again. Lily will think I’m going back to my old ways and I don’t want to lose her trust!”
I could see his point here, but it was still extremely frustrating when your two best friends liked each other, but they were too stubborn to admit it.
“You know,” Sirius said to me later as we sat side by side in the nearly empty common room. “I think this means we need a new strategy.”
Sirius was right, but I had other matters on my mind at the moment. In true Hogwarts fashion, while the two of us were busily plotting the love lives of our two best friends, the rest of the school was abuzz with gossip. Although I had only told the other girls in my dorm that Sirius and I are going to the ball together (as friends, of course), the news somehow managed to leak out. The next few days were spent under the admiring eyes of Sirius’s admirers and the evil gaze of Hollie. It was awkward, to say the least, to have almost every girl want to be you. Nobody ever took much notice of me at Beauxbatons, so this was like a page from another girl’s life.
“How did you do it?” a third year Hufflepuff asked after cornering me in the library one evening. “I heard that you cooked up some illegal love potion!”
I laughed at the silliness of this idea. “Who in Merlin’s name told you that?”
“This really pretty Ravenclaw seventh year. She was telling everyone in the Charms corridor yesterday that Sirius Black would never really ‘fall for a plain thing like you’ and so you obviously bewitched him.”
So it’s been Hollie starting all the rumors. “Well, do you believe them?”
The girl shrugged. “Not really. I think that she’s just trying to get attention.”
“Good, because whatever Hollie is saying about me isn’t true,” I told her, pleased to find that she didn’t actually believe the ridiculous rumor.
Perhaps I’m just not used to being the subject of gossip, but the amount of strange and sick tales seemed to grow steadily worse as October 31st grew nearer. Hollie must have been desperate; she hadn’t gotten a date yet, and wanted to steal some limelight. I don’t mind though, people can talk all they want.
The Saturday before the Halloween Ball was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, conveniently timed so that we could buy our dresses.
“This is the day I’ve been waiting for!” Micky shouted in glee as we trooped down the dirt path to the village. “Since I couldn’t afford material to make my own dress, we can have some good quality shopping! But first, we’re”“
“Meeting the guys in The Three Broomsticks to discuss plans,” Leah finished firmly.
Micky rolled her eyes. “All right, but after that we’re going to Sylvia’s Spellwork to buy our gowns. I’d give us at least two hours there…”
“Hold on, did you just say at least two hours?” Lily exclaimed. “Micky, how long does it take to pick out a dress?”
“They’re gowns, Lily, not dresses,” Micky corrected, “and great things take time. We need to find the perfect dresses so that when our dates see us…”
Leah put her hand up. “We get the picture. Just a question though, once we finish, are we free to do whatever we want?”
Micky nodded, “Yep.”
“Leah, what are you planning on doing later?” I asked.
Leah shrugged. “I don’t really know for sure, but I was thinking of seeing if Remus wanted to find somewhere to sit and talk.”
“Talk? Leah, you’re so boring!” Haylie scoffed. “I think that Amos and I are meeting in the Quidditch shop, and after that I’m sure we can find things to do.” She giggled to herself.
“Troy and I are doing something similar,” Micky’s brown eyes glinted mischievously, “but we’re meeting in this cozy little tea shop near the end of the street. It’s fairly new, I think it was put in during fourth year, but I’ve never been in there. I’ve talked to some other students though, and I hear it’s really romantic.”
“Amelia and Lily, where are you guys going?” Leah asked, ignoring the glazed look that had covered Micky’s face.
“I dunno… I was thinking that maybe Lily and I could hang out with the guys,” I said. “I mean, Peter didn’t come because he has a tutoring session with Slughorn, so it would be just James and Sirius, but that would be nice with just the four of us…”
“Oh, so you’re hanging out with Sirius!” Haylie squealed, emphasizing the last word.
“Haylie!” I said warningly.
“Come on, Amelia, you two so like each other! You ARE going to the ball with him,” Haylie replied.
“Haylie, they’re going as friends,” Lily reminded Haylie for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day.
Haylie shook her head in mock shame. “Keep telling yourselves that, it’s not going to get you anywhere. Amelia, whether you like it or not, you and Sirius are a couple now.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling my stomach flutter slightly. For some reason, this didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. It actually made me feel kind of good about myself.
Haylie and Micky chattered to themselves as we walked through the large iron gates of the school. I remained silent, too wrapped up in my own thoughts to notice as we slowly made our way into the small postcard-worthy village.
The village of Hogsmeade was like something pulled straight from a Muggle fairytale. On the main street, there was cute little shops and on the lesser ones were adorable little shops with pretty shutters on the windows. Of the entire village, High Street seemed to be the main attraction. Students milled in and out of the shops as they went along their business.
“Look!” Micky cried, pointing to a large pink sign above a door. “There’s Sylvia’s Spellwork!”
“And there’s Honeydukes!” Haylie exclaimed. “I’ll have to get Amos to take me there as well!”
We pushed through the small crowds, passing numerous bookshops, apothecaries, a store that specialized in parchment, quills, and ink, a very large Quidditch supply store and a few secondhand shops.
“There’s The Three Broomsticks,” Lily pointed out as we came to a stop in front of a merry looking pub. “Let’s go in, the Marauders are probably already waiting.”
Upon entering the crowded building, we immediately spotted three of the Marauders seated in a corner booth. A woman I assumed to be the barmaid, a tall curvy woman with sparkly turquoise heels, was scribbling down orders while laughing heartily.
We approached the table as James noticed us. “Hey there ladies, thanks for finally showing up!” he joked as we filed into the booth.
I squeezed in next to Sirius with Haylie and Micky next to me, while Lily got stuck across the table between James and Remus. The barmaid smiled widely at us while twirling a strand of her bouncy honey-blonde hair in one of her fingers.
“Why, I was starting to wonder when I’d see you girls and blokes all hanging around together,” she said, pausing to inspect me, “but I don’t know your face…”
“Um, I’m Amelia Jordan, one of the transfers.” I smiled shyly.
She returned the grin warmly and extended her arm across the table. “I’m Madam Rosemerta, welcome to The Three Broomsticks.”
I shook her hand and muttered, “Thanks.”
We ordered butterbeers for everyone and Madam Rosmerta left, leaving us on our own.
“OK, so what were you girls planning on doing first?” Remus asked.
Lily sighed heavily. “Well, Remus, Micky here insists on spending two hours at the new dress shop across the street…”
James snorted into his butterbeer that he had been drinking, causing Lily to shoot him a questioning glance. “Two hours to buy dresses? Micky, I’m thinking it’s about time to take that little trip to St. Mungo’s that we’ve been joking about for years…”
Micky glared at him. “First of all, James, they’re GOWNS, not dresses, and yes, we do need at least two hours. You want us girls to look wonderful for the ball on Friday, right? That means that we need plenty of time to pick everything out. Plus, besides the gown, we need to get shoes, jewelry, makeup…”
James cut her off. “OK, Micky, that’s quite enough information.”
I turned to Sirius and said quietly, “I highly doubt that it’ll take that long.” He grinned at me, causing my heart to flutter a bit.
“Ok, so well then, what is everyone doing after we buy dresses?” Leah asked.
“They’re gowns,” Micky mumbled to herself, but she was completely ignored.
“Micky and Haylie already have plans for later on, but maybe the rest of us could all hang out somewhere,” I suggested.
“How about meeting at the Shrieking Shack?” Lily suggested. “Amelia, you’ve never seen it, it’s really cool, and there’s never anyone over there. It would probably be just us.”
Leah nudged Remus, who was looking slightly uncomfortable. “Remus, do you maybe want to go do something, just the two of us, after the dress shopping?”
He smiled widely at her, suddenly looking less pale and sickly than I had ever seen him. “I’d love to. Why don’t we meet back here at two o’clock?”
“Okay,” Leah nodded.
We talked amongst ourselves for a few minutes, and when we had all finished drinking our butterbeer, we got up and headed our separate ways.
Sylvia’s Spellwork was the perfect store for Micky. It had a pink and white plushy carpet and I could hear the latest music blaring from the wireless radio in the corner. We were greeted instantaneously by a smiling blonde witch in a pair of pale pink robes. She also wore a small pin that said, “Hi, I’m Angie and I’m here to assist you,” in bright ink.
“Hi, welcome to Sylvia’s Spellwork, how may I help you?” Angie asked with a wide, fake-looking grin on her face.
“Um…” Leah said, looking slightly intimidated by all the pink.
“We have several different departments for you to shop in,” Angie continued, completely ignoring Leah. “We have our everyday robes in front, dress robes to your left, and our specialty line of ball gowns in back. Also, we supply an extensive collection of materials to use with our wide variety of fashion books that include patterns and spells for making your own amazingly original robes! Any questions?”
Haylie blinked blankly at the lady for a few seconds and then grinned, “How long did it take for you to memorize that speech?” Angie’s wide grin momentarily faded as she shot Haylie a glare.
Micky elbowed Haylie before turning back to the annoying employee. “Thanks, but we’re just here for the ball gowns.”
Angie did a little head bob thing to Micky and resumed her smiling. “All right, they’re in the rear of the store, you can’t miss them. Just ask me if you need anything, and have fun, ladies!”
Thankful to ditch Angie, we scuttled to the back of the store. Despite the overall girlyness of the shop, the ball gown section was very well done. There were moving mannequins that posed in brightly colored dresses with old fashioned hats and gaudy jewelry. Row upon row of gowns hung on shelves that filled the entire area.
Determined to get out of there so Lily and I could meet James and Sirius, we began sifting through the gowns. The store featured a unique mirror system, so whenever we found a dress that might work, we would touch the glass surface of the handheld mirror and we would appear in it wearing the dress of choice. There were also larger versions of these mounted on the walls that had little words popping up in the corners like “too tight” and “just right”. Overall, the mirrors really helped, but as we narrowed our choices down to a few dresses, we needed to try them on in the dressing rooms.
We spent the next twenty or so minutes sorting through the racks of gowns. Other Hogwarts students came and went as we shopped, all searching for the perfect dress. I tried out some blue gowns and then some red, but I later decided on a forest green one. It wasn’t too long after that when Lily selected a beautiful ivory dress and we were ready to go.
After paying Angie for our purchases, we made our way back out onto the street.
“I’m so glad we’re out of there!” Lily said as she took a large gulp of the fresh air. I silently agreed, glancing down at the bright pink bag in my hands and wondered what Sirius would say if he saw me carrying it.
“Say, Amelia, we still have a long time until we need to meet Sirius and James at the Shrieking Shack… can we run these bags up to the common room? I really don’t want to carry these things around,” Lily suggested, glancing down at the bag in her hands.
It sounded like a great idea to me; this way I’d never have to face Sirius while holding something pink. “Yeah, I’m sure we’ll get back in time.”
Lily and I hurried back through the crowd and dashed up to the path to the castle. It soon turned into an all-out race between us, laughing merrily when we needed to stop for a breath before taking off again. Naturally, due to Quidditch practice three nights a week, I was the first to reach the front doors to the school.
We walked at a brisk pace up all the staircases and down corridors, until we came to the Fat Lady. After quickly dispensing our purchases on our beds in the dormitory, Lily and I walked back to Hogsmeade.
“So, Amelia… what’s your plan for when we’re with James and Sirius?” Lily asked casually as we strolled back down to the village.
I cast her a sideways glance. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you hang out with them all the time, but I don’t really know how to act around them. What will I do? What will I say? Lily’s eyes were filled with worry.
I couldn’t help but smile at her. “Lily, just be yourself! Be the sweet, fun, amazing Lily that you are every day.”
Lily grinned at me meekly. “Amelia, you exaggerate too much.”
“Just telling the truth,” I replied as we entered the village again. “You’ll be fine.”
At the end of High Street, we turned onto a smaller, more worn down path. After a few more minutes of walking, the road ended and I found myself gazing at the old pathetic building that lie before me.
The Shrieking Shack was everything a haunted house should be. Its shingles were falling off, it’s siding faded, and the windows and doors were all boarded up. If you looked really closely, you could even see bats nesting in the cracks between the planks of wood.
Surprisingly enough, Sirius and James were already there, sitting comfortably on the front step. “Where are they anyways?” James asked Sirius, his head ruffling his hair absentmindedly. “They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”
Sirius yawned ant stretched. “They’re girls, Prongs, they run on their own schedule.”
“Hey!” I shouted at him. “That‘s not true!”
Sirius and James’s heads shot up and Sirius’s face broke into a grin. “Speak of the devil! Took you long enough!”
“I thought it didn’t take two hours to buy dresses?” James joked, grinning at Lily.
Her green eyes narrowed. “For your information, it took about a half an hour to buy dresses, but we ran our bags back up to the castle.” Her tone was hard, but not as icy as it usually was when she was speaking to James.
James looked a bit affronted, and then smiled, raising his hands in defeat. “Ev-Lily,” he corrected himself. Lily’s expression softened. “I was just teasing you.”
Lily’s face turned slightly pink, she must have realized what she had said. “Oh… sorry.” She gave him an apologetic grin. “I guess old habits die hard.”
Sirius must have decided that he didn’t like where this conversation was going, because he interrupted, talking a little too loudly. “Why the hell would you go all that way to put away some bags?”
I glared at him, but Lily simply smiled her charming Lily-smile and stated, “They were pink,” as if that explained everything.
Both boys laughed. “That explains a lot,” James said.
Now that the awkwardness of the first greeting was over, things seemed to go very well. We sat there and talked for what seemed like ages, Sirius or James would crack a joke every so often, which would send Lily and I into fits of laughter.
After awhile though, we began to get tired of simply sitting there, so we got up and headed back up the path to the village. We walked two by two, Sirius and I in the front holding hands, which is something we have been doing quite a bit since agreeing to go to the ball together. Lily and James brought up the rear; they talked and laughed like they had been friends forever. I had never seen Lily smile this much in the entire time I had known her. Her face simply glowed, and I had never seen James so completely at ease.
I was so happy for the two of them, and as we wandered our way through the quieter streets of Hogsmeade and back up to the castle, I began wondering if James was going to ask Lily the special question some time soon.
As we reached the Gryffindor common room and parted ways, the guys to their spot by the fireplace and Lily and I to our dormitory, I realized that he wasn’t going to ask her any time soon. Sadly, there was only one week left until the ball!
We made our way back up the stairs and the second we entered our empty room, Lily turned on me. “Amelia, what happened back there?” She sounded infuriated.
“Wha-what do you mean?” I stumbled. Why on earth was she suddenly so angry?
“We were getting along wonderfully, which is a first, and it was so nice! You were totally right about him, he’s such a great guy, and I was sure that he’d ask me to the ball! But then he didn’t!”
“Lily!” I tried, but she cut me off.
“How thick is he? I mean, you flat out told him that I fancied him, didn’t you?” I nodded. “Well, then, I don’t see what the problem is! I fancy him, he fancies me, so why won’t he just pluck up the courage and ask away?”
“Lily, I think I know why he hasn’t asked you yet,” I said quietly.
“You do?” Lily cried, “please tell me so we can straighten this whole thing out!” She pulled me to her bed and pushed me so I was sitting. “Spill.”
I took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to like hearing this. “Well, James said that he isn’t going to ask you because he doesn’t want to risk your new friendship.”
Lily’s mouth fell open. “Is that it? But… that’s so stupid!”
I nodded. “I know, but nothing Sirius or I said would change his mind. We were kind of counting on today for him to ask you.”
“Well then,” Lily’s face was determined, “you know what they say, ‘if you want something done you just have to do it yourself’.” She got to her feet.
“Wait… what?” I asked.
“Since that idiot Potter is too… too… stupid to ask me himself, I guess I’m just going to have to ask him,” was her reply and then she was gone down the stairs.
I followed her, briefly catching a glimpse of her red hair as she whipped down the staircase and into the common room. After glancing around, my eyes lay on a single figure by the fireplace: Sirius.
“Sirius!” Lily shouted, gaining the attention of several first years. “Where is James?”
“He… uh… went down early to dinner,” Sirius replied lamely. I knew instantly that he was lying.
“Ok, thanks.” Lily must not have noticed the obvious fib, for she was gone from the common room in the blink of an eye.
I grabbed Sirius’s arm and dragged him after Lily. “Come on, you don’t want to miss this.”
“Amelia”“
“Lily is going to ask James herself, she’s sick of him not taking the initiative,” I explained as we stepped into the corridor.
“Wait… what?” Sirius stopped. “That’s not a very good idea, Amelia, James is pretty upset right now. He went for a walk to clear his head, that’s why he’s not here with me.”
“Upset… how?” I asked, feeling completely lost.
Sirius sighed, leaning against the wall. “We heard shouting from the girl’s dormitory, it must have been Lily. You two were probably some of the only girls up there, so the sound carried better. James got it into his head that Lily was shouting about him and so he left.”
“Well yeah, she was shouting about him all right, but it was only venting. She’s frustrated that he hasn’t asked her out yet,” I said.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“James is under the impression that he had done or said something wrong. It’s good that she’s taking the initiative to do it herself.” Sirius paused, considering something, “but… James is known for making rash decisions when he’s depressed or angry. That’s how he gets into half his detentions, you see.”
“And is this one of those times when he could do something unexpected?”
Sirius nodded. “When it comes to Lily, everything he does is rash.”
“If he does something stupid, then he could completely jeopardize our whole plan to get them together,” I pointed out.
“Exactly.”
“So we need to find him!” I cried and set off at a brisk pace through the halls.
“Amelia, wait!” Sirius suddenly stopped. “I have an idea.” He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up to his face. It was a hand held mirror. He peered into it and said loudly, “James! James, are you there?” Sirius looked up at me. “No response. He must not have his mirror with him.”
“What is this?” I asked, gently removing the mirror from his hands and inspecting it.
“A two way mirror. James has the other one. We use it to communicate when we’re pulling pranks, or in different detentions.”
“Ah,” I handed it back to him. “Since it’s not working, why don’t we work our way down to the Great Hall? They’re bound to be there.”
Sirius agreed and we headed back down to the Hall. When we reached our destination, I noticed Lily sitting alone at the Gryffindor table. Her face was expressionless, but I could see a single tear sliding down the side of her cheek.
My face fell and next to me, Sirius had stiffened. “I need to find James,” was all he said before taking off in the opposite direction.
Just then, I heard a voice behind me say sweetly, “Why hello, Amelia! Fancy seeing you here!”
I turned and scowled at Hollie. “What are you up to?”
She smiled and laid her arm over my shoulders casually. “Amelia, Amelia, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She laughed, which is a sure sign that she was indeed up to something.
“Your friend, she looks so sad.” Hollie commented, pointing to Lily. I nodded, my mind momentarily returning to wondering why Lily looked so upset. “What’s her name again? Daisy?”
“Lily,” I corrected. “Her name is Lily.”
Hollie shrugged. “Same thing. Lily, such a pretty name. I do wonder what is wrong with her.”
I pulled away from her tight grasp on my shoulders. Now I know that she’s up to something. “I know,” I agreed, deciding to play along.
Suddenly, Hollie grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her. I looked up into her lovely face, with her pale eyes and her long sheetlike hair, and wondered how someone so pretty could turn out to be such a nasty person.
“Amelia!” she shrieked excitedly, as if just noticing my presence. “You’re going to the Halloween Ball with Sirius Black, right?” By the tone of her voice, it would seem as though she’d just heard the news.
“Um… yeah… but you already knew that. You started all those nasty rumors about me,” I reminded her dryly.
“Oh, I know, but it’s okay now,” Hollie said reassuringly. “I just think that it’s funny how we went to Beauxbatons together, and now you’re going to the Ball with Sirius Black, because I’m going with his best friend, James Potter!”
My mouth fell open and I lost my ability to speak.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Hey everyone! I'm back again with chapter eleven, overall one of my favorite chapters. Thanks so much for Kate for the amazing beta job! Happy reading!
Chapter Endnotes: Dum dum dum!!!! A cliffhanger!!! I've been looking forward to submitting this chapter for a long time just for the fact that I'm actually pulling one of these off. So, what do you guys think will happen? Is Hollie telling the truth? Is she just making something up to stir up trouble? Let me know what you think in a review!!