Lily woke up the next morning feeling a little tired. The plan of the previous night had already been forgotten.
“Up, up, up!” A familiar voice called to Lily. It sounded extremely far away, and Lily was slightly confused, pulling the covers back over her head.
“Lily!” This time it was a shriek. Lily quickly jumped out of bed, put on her robe, and ran to the portrait hole.
“What’s wrong?” Little yelled, thinking that something was the matter. As her eyes fell upon her beautiful friend with ebony hair, all panic left.
“What in the world do you want?” Lily asked with more disdain than she meant. She looked at her watch and noted that it was 5:30 in the morning, much earlier than she had intended to get up on her first day back at Hogwarts. Dorcas did not seem to notice Lily’s dislike of the situation.
“Get dressed, we don’t have much time!” Dorcas shouted after Lily roughly shut the portrait behind her, much to Winston’s dismay.
“Why?” A dreary Lily asked.
“OAF!” Dorcas exclaimed.
“I beg your pardon?” Lily asked, confused.
“No! No, not you. The plan, remember?” Dorcas asked. She raised her eyebrows expectantly.
“Oh, come now, Dory,” Lily said wisely. “That was all just a joke. It’s not as if I’m really going to date Potter just to dump him.”
“Oh yes you are!” Dorcas cried.
“Make me,” Lily snorted. The quick stream of air from her nostrils blew the hair out of her face.
“All right, I will. I already told Sirius to meet us for breakfast. And you know that Marlene fancied Sirius last year. If you don’t come, I’ll tell Sirius not to go and then Marlene will be devastated,” Dorcas said, as if it were rehearsed.
“You’re truly evil on the inside, aren’t you?” Lily shook her head.
“Yes, Lily. Yes, I am,” Dorcas said with a smile. Lily shook her head and turned back toward the enchanted door to her own dormitory. “Does that mean you’ll do it?” Dorcas asked.
Lily turned around and put her index finger to her lips and then pointed toward James’ door. Dorcas’ eyes got wide and she shoved Lily back into her dormitory and shut the door quietly behind them.
“You share this dormitory? I thought this was yours and Potter’s was next door? You know that portrait with the old man and the rabbit? Oh, what’s his name…?” Dorcas tapped her chin and looked up toward the ceiling as if the lights held her answer. “Oh, it doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is that you two share a room?”
“It’s not a room Dory,” Lily replied. “It’s just like a smaller common room. This is the same as in the Gryffindor one. Besides, he can’t enter my room.”
“Ah, but you can enter his?” Dorcas asked with a big smile.
“Dorcas Meadowes,” Lily said with a warning tone.
“No, dear. I’m just thinking that’s all. Just thinking about OAF.” Dorcas then looked down at her watch and gasped. “We’re already late! Come now, Lil, we must get you ready.”
“I’ve dressed before you know,” Lily said sarcastically, pulling on her school robes.
“What is that?” Dorcas asked, looking straight at Lily’s face.
“This?” Lily gestured to her own face. “This is my head.”
“Oh, dear. He’ll never ask you out looking like that. Come here. I’ll fix it,” Dorcas demanded. Lily went over to Dorcas and she began to brush Lily’s hair. When Dorcas was finished with Lily’s hair, she dug through her small purse and pulled out an extremely large makeup bag.
“Dorcas! Please, you know I don’t wear makeup.” Lily looked at her friend with large eyes.
“I know, I know. You’re just too naturally beautiful for your own good Ms. Evans,” Dorcas stated as she slightly blushed Lily’s cheeks with blush. Dorcas then stepped back and examined Lily, like a painting making sure he was finished with is canvas.
Lily studied her friends face, hoping that a frown would not appear. But instead, Dorcas looked at Lily and sighed. “You really are too pretty for your own good.”
Lily laughed a little and then said, “Shall we head down to breakfast then?” Lily opened up her bedroom door and let Dorcas out before closing it behind her once more.
The pair walked down the long staircases towards the Great Hall, Dorcas bothering Lily about OAF the whole way. They met Marlene halfway down.
“I can’t believe Dory managed to talk you into to this!” Marlene said, exasperated.
“Well, to be entirely honest,” Lily said as the trio walked into the Great Hall, “she mentioned your fancying Sirius and everything and she knew I couldn’t resist.” Lily smiled at Marlene as they continued walking. Marlene only gave her a questioning look.
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James was quickly shoveling down some hash browns when Sirius let out an astonished, “Whoa.”
“What?” James said with a very full mouth. He looked at his friends, all of whom were staring at the entrance to the Great Hall. He followed their eyes until his eyes fell upon the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen: Lily Evans. But there was something different about her today. Today, she walked with a different air; it was not of arrogance or sarcasm- it seemed to be of intelligence and understanding and compassion.
Yet there was even more different about her today: she was headed directly for him.
“Hello, boys,” Dorcas, who happened to be the more outgoing of the three, cooed. “Mind if we join you?” All four boys speechlessly shook their head, unable to keep their eyes off the three girls. “Great!” Dorcas pushed Lily toward James’ end of the table and said, “sit, ladies.”
Marlene sat across from Remus and Sirius and Dorcas gladly sat in between Lily and James. Dorcas glanced at Marlene’s content face and then looked over at Lily. But ‘content’ was not a word that would be used to describe Lily’s face. ‘Disgusted’ was a better word.
“Potter, if you think for one second that I like seeing down your throat you’ve- ouch!” Lily began, but was stopped with a quick jab in the side. Lily sneered at Dorcas who shook off the dirty look.
“So, James,” Dorcas said politely, “there’s a Quidditch match coming up, isn’t there?” James, still with a full mouth, nodded his head. “Oh, well that’s just wonderful. Lily’s been dying to see you play.” James choked slightly on the wad of hash browns in his mouth.
“Beg your pardon?” he asked, while wiping his mouth with his napkin. He was positive that he had heard Dorcas wrong.
“It’s Lily. She just won’t stop talking about how much she’s wanted to see you play.” James stared at her incredulously and then looked over to Lily. He heard no cries of disagreement from her.
“Um,” James began. He looked over at Lily who was only staring down at her plate.
Dorcas jabbed Lily in the ribcage once more, forcing her to yelp with pain. As Lily glared at Dorcas, Dorcas gave her a pushy glance, one that said come now, play along!
“Why don’t you tell James what you’ve been telling Marlene and me?” Dorcas asked, her teeth slightly clenched.
Lily forced a smile at James, “When is the next match?”
“Tomorrow,” James said. He offered up the information slowly, waiting to see Lily’s reply.
“Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! Aren’t you just ecstatic, Lily?” Dorcas prompted Lily and then pushed her dark locks behind her ear, slyly reminding Lily of James’ prank the previous day.
Lily’s face began to heat up as she remembered the disgusting goo. “I’m very happy,” Lily said, awkwardly touching James’ arm. Lily turned her head and realized that Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Marlene had all stopped their conversations, and were now staring at Lily. Lily gave them a stiff smile, and then turned back to James. “Would you mind if I watched?”
James choked once again. “Um,” he began, “’course not.”
“Great! We’ll see you then! Tootles, boys,” Dorcas stood up, roughly grabbing Lily’s arm. Dorcas then grabbed Marlene by the elbow and pulled her off the bench. Marlene, who was in the middle of eating eggs, yelped with pain and glared at Dorcas but did not argue. Dorcas dragged her two friends out of the Great Hall quickly and began dashing up the stairs toward their first class, transfiguration.
“Tomorrow, we begin,” Dorcas said as they finally reached the classroom. She gave a sly smile at Lily and Marlene before sitting down. “Oh, and Lily, I think you’re a little out of practice with all of this. You should probably prepare for tomorrow’s game,” Dorcas said, matter-of-factly- as if she pulled pranks like this every day.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Marlene mumbled to Lily.
Lily looked into Marlene’s frightened eyes and replied, “Me too.”
OAF: Operation April Fools by The REAL Weasley Twins
Chapter Notes: Hope you like it!