Dear whoever is reading this,
Hopefully this is a girl. If it’s a guy, please pass this to the nearest girl, and stop reading immediately, because this could get a little awkward.
This is a girl now, I trust? Good. Now, onto the real point of this letter. I’m a nice guy, whose looking for a nice girl to go out with. The problem is, I’m shy. Every time I try to ask a girl out, I freeze up and usually stutter some nonsense syllables. So I’m trying a new approach.
I’m leaving a letter trail. Every letter will have a random fact about me, and will lead you on to the next letter. After ten letters, it will tell you a time and a place to meet me. Sound good so far?
Here’s the catch. You’ve got to write letters back. You also have to tell me a random fact about yourself, and leave the letter in a place that I tell you.
Interested? If you are, please leave a letter under the big willow tree near the lake.
I’m a nice guy, I promise you, but I’m unlucky in love. I hope you give me a chance and leave a letter under the tree.
See you soon…I hope,
Anonymous
Her jaw dropped open. What was she going to do now?
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Lily, for once in her life was speechless. This was a rare occurrence in her life, and was usually caused by James Potter. This time, however, a simple piece of parchment rendered her with no words. I must be losing my touch she thought, staring blankly at the letter, her mouth wide open in shock. She stayed that way until the voices of her best friends, Charlotte and Leah shook her out of her reverie.
“Lily, Lily, Lily!" Char’s voice echoed through the hall. A naturally loud person, she was even louder now that she was trying to get her unresponsive friend’s attention. She ran up the stairs, her shoes making thumping noises that echoed throughout the large hall.
Leah, her other best friend, was quiet in comparison. Her light brown hair and navy blue eyes were part of what made her such a good blend-into-the-background kind of person, which was just the way she liked it. She appeared quiet and shy to most people, and they tended to overlook her, giving her a chance to pick up valuable gossip and little tidbits of information that people didn’t want publicly known. This made her the official informant for her group of friends.
Charlotte had finally caught up to Lily, and was attempting to pull her out of the staircase. “Give me a hand, would you, Leah?” she asked, grunting as she pulled Lily’s arm.
“Sure,” Leah answered. “How’d you get yourself stuck in here anyway?” she asked Lily, straining to pull her out.
“Long story,” Lily replied as they finally managed to pull her out of the step. “We need to call a group meeting. Char, can you get Sean and Greg? Leah, can you get Keegan, Natalie, and Sarah? I’ll grab Andi and meet you guys in the Head’s Common Room.”
“Sure,” they replied, and headed toward Gryffindor Common Room. Lily gathered up her things and headed to Ravenclaw Tower. It was time to do some planning.
************
Earlier, at dinner,
“So, what was up with you guys today?” James asked through a mouthful of food.
Remus, Sirius and Peter exchanged nervous looks. “What do you mean, James?” Peter asked, his voice shaking.
“I’m not stupid. I know you guys were trying to hide something from me when I walked in after lunch, and the fireworks in Transfiguration were a distraction so you could do whatever you were planning without getting in trouble.” James sat back, looking smug.
“Not quite without getting in trouble,” Peter muttered, “I got a week of detention.”
“Do you think we should tell him?” Sirius said, looking at the others. “He’s going to have to find out eventually.”
“I guess so,” said Remus. The three of them blurted out the story to James, who was looking more furious by the second.
“And then some Ravenclaw guy took the book from her and walked out. We would have followed him, but you showed up,” Remus concluded apprehensively.
“How could you guys do something like that? I’ve been chasing Lily for five bloody years! I’m not going to stop because of some letter. But,” he said, calming down slightly, “I guess Fate didn’t like your plans.”
“What does Fate have to do with this! It was a brilliant plan!” Sirius said, looking outraged at the suggestion that his plan wasn’t a good one.
“Well,” James patiently explained, “if the letter thing was actually going to get me the girl of my dreams, don’t you think that Fate would have arranged it? Face it, this letter thing just isn’t the way to go. If it was, Fate would have made sure it fell into the right girl’s hands.”
“You know, Remus…that actually made sense. I think we’ll have to take his word on this,” Sirius commented, helping himself to some treacle tart.
“Fine,” Remus sighed, “but you have to check the willow every day next week, just in case.”
James opened his mouth to reply when a distraction in the form of Charlotte Holloway came rushing up the table. The Marauders watched as she walked over to where her twin and his best friend, Greg, were sitting, spoke to them, and, when they didn’t respond to her liking, grabbed them both by the collars of their robes and hauled them out of the Great Hall. The hall had gone silent, as everyone watched Charlotte haul her brother and his friend out by their collar, and as soon as the door had slammed shut, everyone burst into laughter before returning to their dinners.
Finding Someone New by LilyGinnyWrites92
Chapter Notes: Thanks to my beta, jennyb!