Chapter Eleven: Clothes, Pranks, Makeup, and Candy

*“…But now I’m not sure whether I really want to go or not. I mean, what if I make a complete fool of myself? What if I hurt someone, or…” The light voice was filled with worry and nervousness.

“You stop right there! Now then, I thought you were a freak.” The gruff voice answered.

“I am.”

“Then if you’re already a freak, there’s no way to go down any lower, you can only go up!”

“Oh Hagrid!” Lily had to shake her head in silent amusement. No matter the situation, Hagrid was always able to help her find the good in it. Or in this case, at least make her smile. But she ha to admit that this time what he had said made sense. If she was already at the bottom of the social hierarchy, she couldn’t go any lower. But if Ara and James already liked her for her, did she really want to change at all?

“Lily?” Hagrid broke her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“What do you think of James?”

“James? What for?”

“In general. What do you think of him?”

“He’s nicer than I thought. Both he and Ara are very nice. I was glad, though, to learn they were so different- it is rather nice to feel wanted.”

“You’ve always been wanted Lily.”

“No Hagrid, not always…” A knock interrupted them.

“Hey Hagrid! Is that lovely Lady Lily in there?” James’ head popped in through the crack in the door.

“I’m here James. Did you all get in trouble with McGonagall for your prank last night?”

“Detention. She can’t do much else anymore. I don’t even think she wants to try to do much else anymore. She has to do it for appearance’s sake, of course, but other than that… she’s given up on us Marauders. Besides… we were a lost cause to begin with!” James laughed. Hagrid gave him a dubious glare.

“James! Are you giving old McGonagall a hard time again?”

“No Hagrid, not me. Never me.”

“A lie is one thing, but sarcasm is another.” Hagrid boomed, his eyes dancing.

“Of course.” James grinned widely. “Anyway. Lily, come on! Ara and I have been looking all over for you! It’s time to go!”

“But James, it’s eight thirty! Why so early?” Lily asked softly.

“Something about needing to maximize your time for the three S’s.”

“S’s?” Hagrid asked.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger! Come on!” James grabbed Lily’s hand and began to drag her along.

“James, I…”

“Lily, today you’ll have fun, I promise.” Lily stood a moment longer in hesitation. The she looked up and her eyes met James’. His eyes were so imploring, so gentle and pleading. How could she ever refuse him?

“Alright. Let’s go.” She whispered.

“Great!” James whooped. He dragged Lily out the door and all she could do was wave goodbye to Hagrid, unsure of where James would drag her next. They walked around the wall of the castle until they came to the front, where they saw the group waiting for them.

“There you two are! We were getting worried! Come on Lil! We need to go to maximize our three S’s!” Arabella laughed as she grabbed Lily’s hand from James.

“What are those three S’s again?” Lily asked confused.

“Shopping, splurging, and spilling of course!” Eva, Arabella’s friend stepped forward, Kat right behind her.

“Come on Lily!” They cried together. Then they laughed and all four of the girls set off on the road, the guys of the Marauders walked amicably behind them. Soon the eight reached the outside of the town, and Lily’s jaw dropped.

The only wizarding town she had ever seen was Diagon Alley, and this was twice what that had been. All around her people hustled and bustled, all in witches’ and wizards’ garb. The stores were larger than the Alley’s, and there were more choices. Lily recognized a few students from Hogwarts inside of the pub called ‘Three Broomsticks’, and a few more that were hanging around just outside of it. A few other stores popped out at her, Zonko’s, and Melphina’s, and, of course, Magical Make-ups and Costumes, the store Ara and her friends had been so worked up over. She had only heard the names of the other stores a few times before.

“Wow, it’s packed today.” Remus muttered.

“No problem! I bet it’ll clear out once everyone hears we’re in town!” Sirius announced.

“Why would it do that?” Lily whispered to Ara.

“Last year the boys set off a stink bomb in the center of the town. It stunk so bad that the whole town closed shop for a day and the Ministry had to send out a clean up crew.”

“No!”

“Yes!” James laughed as he confirmed it- he had overheard Ara’s explanation and was more than willing to take credit for the work. “Those were the good days, eh boys?”

“Well, until we got punished anyway…” Peter grumbled.

“Peter, there is nothing wrong with getting punished once in a while. It keeps us humble.” Remus grinned wildly.

“Keeps you humble. I got punished and I didn’t even help set off that bomb.” But no one really listened to his whining.

“Let’s go to Melphina’s first! They just got in a new shipment of robes, and I can’t wait to see the styles!” Eva babbled.

“Clothes?” Sirius moaned. “What is with girls and clothes?”

“We wear them to look good for you.” Ara explained sweetly to him.

“You’d look better to me without them on.” Sirius grinned and practically drooled.

“You’ll only be that lucky, Mr. Black, if we get married.” Ara teased him and winked.

“A girl with morals? I hate those… I don’t like to wait!” Sirius groaned.

“Then don’t.” Ara began walking away, swaying her hips as she did. “But don’t expect any of this either.” She called back. As Sirius swore, the other three guys around him laughed.

As they stepped into the boutique, a throng of three saleswomen greeted them. They prodded the four girls and left the four boys in the dust. The guys all grabbed seats on the floor and settled in, discussing their latest plans for a prank. The girls, on the other hand, were being dragged around the store, being shown robes, picking colors, and trying things on. Robe after robe was either decided for or against, and soon three of the four girls had two new robes each.

“Lily, come on! Let us see the robe!” Kat yelled into the dressing room.

“I’m not coming out!”

“Please Lily?” Eva yelled.

“No!”

“Why not?”

“It looks horrible!”

“Please?”

“No!”

“Lil…I’m coming in there!” Ara yelled through the curtain. Then she pulled it aside and stepped into the tiny dressing room. “Oh Lil…”

“Is it that bad?”

“No! It’s gorgeous! You have to get that robe! For the formal ball this year, or some other special occasion. It’s beautiful on you. The cut and color are perfect.”

“But it’s…”

“Perfect. Here now, take it off and give it to me. I’ll go buy it while you change.”

“Ara…”

“No buts! Let’s go Lil!” Lily took one look at her newest friend’s adamant face and nodded. Without speaking, she took off the robe and handed it over. As she put her other school robes back on, she could hear Ara getting checking out. Shopping was tiresome and wore her nerves out something terrible, and they had only been here for two hours!

“Are you four ladies done yet?” Peter asked for the guys.

“Yes, we’re done here.” Eva told them happily.

“Now onto Zonko’s!” Sirius and James yelled together. Remus laughed and Peter merely grinned. As they entered the joke store, the girls plugged their noses. Obviously there had been an accident with dung bombs sometime earlier in the week, because the place still reeked of the stench.

“What are you guys looking for? Anything in particular?” Kat asked.

“No. Just some boring prank supplies.” Peter told her.

“Hey look at this! It’s new! Called the ‘Do-it-Yourself Powder Set’” Remus held up a thick box. “It gives you ingredients and directions to making itching powder, sneezing powder, laughing gas, and tear gas.”

“That’s pretty good. We could do a lot with that.” Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Here’s a good one: ‘Ooffal Wooffal’.” James looked proud.

“What’s that one for James?” Ara asked.

“It, in short, will make the person who drinks it bark like a dog for three days.” Laughter ensued. A few moments later and they were done in Zonko’s. The boys had been ready to pull a prank inside the store, but at the last minute cancelled it. They didn’t want to be banned from the store yet this year; there was still a lot of time left. As they headed back out into the crowded streets, they went over to the Three Broomsticks.

They got a small booth in the back of the room and managed to squeeze into the benches. To be cliché, they all decided on butterbeer. Well, Lily had wanted water, but James had convinced her otherwise. Once she had gotten her first taste of butterbeer, he had said, she would understand why everyone made such a big deal about it.

“So where to after this?”

“The Magical Make-ups and Costumes store.” Eva said decidedly. “We’re going to give Lily a makeover.”

“We are?” Lily whispered.

“Absolutely.” Kat nodded.

“And I was just getting used to the heavy makeup.” Remus frowned.

“We’re only going to do it if Lil says yes though.” Ara shot looks at her friends. They shouldn’t want to change Lily so much. It was too bad they couldn’t like her as she was.

“Well Lily?” Eva asked. “Can we?”

“I don’t know.” Lily bowed her head.

“Lil, come here.” Ara pulled Lily out of the booth and to the side, away from the others. “Look. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Lily, no matter how you dress, you’ll still be you. That’s what I like about you, and that’s what James likes about you. If you want to change your appearance, that’s fine. Just don’t let it change you. We like you more as a ‘freak’ than as what those two twits want to change you into any day.”

“Lady Lily?” James joined them. “What’s going on?”

“I’m just explaining to her that we like her no matter how she looks.”

“I can help with that! Lily dear, your gorgeous as you are. Don’t change yourself to fit in. Besides, I hear being normal is vastly overrated.”

“Lily?” Ara asked.

“I understand what you guys are telling me. But you should know, I’m a freak. No matter how I look I’m always going to be a freak. So it doesn’t matter what those two girls want to do to me, because I won’t change. I can’t.”

“Lily.” James and Ara sighed together. Some day they were going to convince their friend otherwise. They just watched as she shrugged.

“Ara, you might as well let your friends do their worst.”

“Alright.” The three of them re-joined the table.

“So?” Chorused the two other girls together.

“She says it’s alright.” Ara answered for Lily.

“What!” Sirius and Remus yelped. All heads turned to look at them.

“Sorry. It’s just that we like the way Lily looks. She’s sweet in personality and tough in style.” Sirius put his arm around Lily, who was now sitting next to him.

“I’m with the idiot on this one. Lily, we like you for you. Don’t go trying to change to fit in, you already do as you.”

“I’m not going to change. I promise. There’s not really a way to get rid of freakishness in nature.” Lily told them, flushing bright red. They all seemed so dead set against her changing. Did they really like her just as she was? But why would the most popular people in school like such a freak? She was so weird compared to them. What James had said about normalcy couldn’t be true… could it? No, she didn’t suppose it could.

“Speak for yourselves. Her eyes creep me out.” Peter mumbled under his breath. Lily overheard him, and nodded. She was a freak all right. No matter what.

“Shut up Peter!” Ara elbowed him harshly. “That was rude!” And she left it like that.

“Look. Why don’t you all go into the makeup store without us guys? I personally feel like taking a trip to the Shrieking Shack.” Sirius almost looked serious. Remus looked at him and nodded.

“I’m going to come with you.”

“Don’t leave me out.” Peter chorused.

“James?” Lily asked. She didn’t want to be left with only the girls. As much as she almost trusted Arabella, it was safer to be with both her and James. Or only one of them.

“I’ll come with you Lady Lily, wherever you want to go. Remus?”

“That’s fine James.” Remus gave his friend a large smile. He was happy James wasn’t quite so worried about his condition anymore. Watching James smile made him feel good. He almost wanted to laugh.

When he had first met James, he hadn’t wanted to trust him with his secret. But James had somehow found out, and ever since then he had been very supportive, often Remus’ only companion during the transformations. That was until they had met Sirius, and then Peter and become animagi of course. After that things had gotten better. Still, on nights when he transformed and both Sirius and Peter had dates, James was the one to blow off whatever he had going on for him.

And now, to finally see James less preoccupied with him and more interested in a girl, particularly with Lily, Remus was happy. It would be good for Lily. James was a great person, a good and true friend who was supportive and understanding and never minded helping others. It was just what Lily needed right now. And for some reason, Remus thought, James needed Lily. What for, he wasn’t sure. But he knew he needed her.

“Well then ladies. Looks like I’ll be joining you in the makeup store.” James squirmed a bit at the thought of makeup, but tried to smile. For Lily.

“Ara, why don’t you and the others go to the store? I don’t really want to be there when they pick out how to ‘change’ me.” Lily said quietly.

“Are you sure Lily? You don’t want to supervise it?”

“I don’t know enough to anyway. I trust you.”

“Alright then.” Finished with their drinks, they stood and prepared to leave. The wind outside had picked up, and it was getting rather chilly. The three guys that were leaving for the Shriek Shack departed quickly, and then the girls managed to get going soon afterwards. James and Lily were left standing alone, with nothing to do.

“Where do you want to go Lady Lily?”

“I don’t know.” She looked down at her feet and muttered.

“Well, you’ve never been to Hogsmead before, so do you want to go back to the… clothes store?” James shuddered as he said it. But if Lily wanted to, he would.

“No. I’m not one for clothes.”

“Ok. There’s a bookstore, or the owlery, or the Hogsmead Gringott’s branch, or Honeyduke’s Sweet Store, or the Potions Unlimited…”

“Sweets?” Lily brightened.

“Yeah. You like candy?” James watched as Lily smiled a tiny smile and nodded vigorously. “Great! To Honeyduke’s we go!” He laughed, happy that he had pleased her and found something that he liked at the same time.

Two hours later Lily and James began their trek back to the Hogwarts castle grounds. They were eating their candy and talking. Well, James was talking and Lily was eating. But in a strange way they were both content with the arrangement. James had learned in the last few hours that Lily was a chocoholic. She couldn’t get enough of the stuff. She liked almost all of the same candy he liked, and both of them didn’t like the exact same stuff. It was almost laughable how similar their tastes were.

James had almost gotten her to laugh, too. That had become his goal for the end of the year: make Lady Lily laugh. Her smile was pretty, gorgeous even, so her laugh could only be better. Besides. It was good for a person’s health to laugh. James had discovered that from Remus. Remus had been so sick when they had met, but after only a little while of knowing each other, Remus had gotten healthier and happier. James could only hope for the same great results with Lily. He wanted to bring her out of her shell, teach her she was a beautiful person, inside and out, and dispel her mythical beliefs that she was a freak. And he would, too. *

~~~Hey! If you couldn’t tell, this was a filler chapter to kind of transition… yeah. Anyway, the next ch will be more exciting. I don’t like being this boring! And vain… this whole ch is so… valley girlish! Not my usual style. Oh well. Much love, Vixen~~~