The Perfect Gift?
Love between people is always considered something unique by some and saddening by others. But it can be something so special, a feeling that makes you do the unthinkable, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way.
At the end of the day, love will always be the fuel to someone’s life. The anchor that keeps them alive and moving.
Lily Evans would consider herself to be one of those people. Every day, she was reminded how much she appreciates the concept of love in her life and how much she needs it to be able to get past delicate situations.
She loved the idea of being one’s forever love. And she became someone’s agape. Lily surrendered herself to this kind of relationship and she wouldn’t trade it for nothing else.
It took quite some time for her to figure this out, especially since the answer was always sitting right in front of her.
ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ──────────────
“I just don’t know what I could possibly get Remus for his birthday, Sirius and James are already showering him with everything he could wish for you know,” Lily sighed loudly, feeling exasperated.
“I don’t know, Lils, even if he is indeed ‘spoiled’, I think he would love everything you’d buy for him,” Marlene said, finishing a braid in Mary’s hair.
The three of them were currently sitting outside in the sunny weather, near the Black Lake. Marlene came up with this idea after they got extremely frustrated with an important potion that was to be analysed as homework for Slughorn’s class.
“Have you tried that new shop everyone’s been talking about? I heard that the shopkeeper sells a lot of different things, maybe you could find something for Remus too,” Mary says.
“New shop?”
“Yeah, it’s near Ollivanders. It’s a small boutique and from what I heard the owner’s daughter attends Hogwarts,” Marlene chips in.
“When will the next trip to Hogsmeade be?”
“I think in two days? Dorcas asked me to go with her,” Marlene smiles warmly.
“Dorcas has been asking you to go with her since you were in like…the fourth year? She’s always going to ask you,” Lily chuckles and looks over to Marlene, only to see her face flush a bit.
“You’ve been together since the fifth, Marls,” Mary tilts her head back to grin at her.
“Lils,” someone yells from somewhere behind them.
The red-head turns around to see Pandora’s big smile, the girl waving at them enthusiastically. Lily signals for her to come over to them.
“Hello, Pandy,” the girl flashes her a big smile.
“Hi,” she warmly greets the three of them.
“Did something happen?”
“No, I was just in the common room and got super bored and decided to come looking for you. Will you be going to the next Hogsmeade trip?”
“Yes, I actually need to buy-”
“Perfect, we will be going together, Lils,” Pandora grins at her and then turns around to leave.
Mary blinks rapidly looking after the blonde girl, “Well, that was quick.”
Lily hums, “It was indeed, but this was always her way of inviting me somewhere, so I don’t mind.”
Mary raises her brows, “So is it a Marlene and Dorcas thing as well or-”
Marlene laughs loudly at the face Lily made, “Those two have been in love since they laid eyes on each other, me and Pandora aren’t together, she just behaves a bit more affectionately with her friends,” she takes a pause to look at the two of them, who were looking even more unconvinced than before, “That’s all, really.”
“It doesn’t seem that way for her though, she always has that bright smile on her face when she sees you,” Marlene pats the other one on the back to show she is done with her hair, only for Mary to lay her head down in her lap.
“Do you think so?” Lily looks again after the blonde girl, only to see a bit of her robes, before they disappeared with her in the castle.
Marlene raises an eyebrow at her, “Well, there must be some reason why you want to know this,” she smirks, almost knowingly.
“I’m just curious,” Lily says, rolling her eyes, “And besides, she looks so dreamy at everyone, that’s just the way she is,” she shrugs, “We should get back to finish the homework anyway,” she says, earning groans from the other too.
Marlene stands up slowly, at the same time with Mary, “Do we really have to? Don’t we have like a whole other week to do it?” the blonde says, frowning.
Lily shakes her head, “I wish we had another week, tomorrow’s the deadline.”
ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ──────────────
Lily could hear someone knocking faintly at the door, only a specific someone would knock so delicate.
She opened the door, getting out as quietly as possible as to not wake Mary, who was still sleeping peacefully in the bed near Lily’s. Her braids were all over the pillow, her blanket being thrown on the ground as she always kicks it in the night.
Lily could say that the first few years she spent at Hogwarts were used just to observe some people closely, especially Mary.
She knew that she liked girls ever since she stepped in a compartment in her third year, near a flustered Mary who had to run to catch the train, but still got here faster than her.
Her mass of curls was a bit messy, not tied in some way like other years. The sun was settled upon her brown skin, glowing, looking more magical than anything they learnt about in all those school years. She loved gazing at the stars at night, so how could she not compare her beautiful eyes to all the constellations she saw on the sky.
And that was the moment Lily really took the time to think about all these things and why she observed them so closely. For the whole third year she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t possible and normal for a girl to like a girl.
Those thoughts only vanished towards the second year when Marlene confessed to her that she realised she likes both boys and girls, which opened a new way for Lily’s mind to work.
She quickly came to terms with it, only for her progress to be pushed back a bit when she told her sister, Petunia, who looked at her with such hatred and disgust like she has never seen since she found out she was a witch.
After the fifth year, Lily realised she would never get the courage to ask Mary on a date or ask how she feels, so her feelings slowly dissipated and were replaced by pure admiration and respect that she usually felt for all her friends.
Pandora was now standing in front of her, which made her think about what she truly feels towards her too. Maybe the two girls were right, maybe there could be something between them and maybe they could live a happy life together. Only if she took just one step closer, just a faint touch of-
“Hope I didn’t wake you up,” and there it was, that warm smile of hers that they talked about yesterday, the way her eyes immediately lit up more than they were before, “I just wanted to let you know that we can leave in a bit if that’s fine with you, I’ll be waiting by the Lake.”
“Oh, it’s fine, you can wait here, I just have to go take my bag, yeah?”
Pandora nodded and leant against the wall in front of the door, fidgeting with the sleeves of her green sweater, probably one she took from either Regulus or Evan, seeing that she always borrows clothes from them.
Lily quickly grabbed the bag where she held her galleons and rushed out the door, not too hard as to not wake up Mary who was still sleeping.
“All ready to go now,” she beamed at the blonde girl.
They walked slowly to Hogsmeade, taking their time to enjoy each other’s presence, doing small talk, but being in a comfortable silence as they always liked quietness more.
It was peaceful to just walk around, with nothing disturbing the calmness. Some people would say that they probably don’t have subjects to talk about, others would say that in the first years of friendship they talked so much that now they understand each other with simple gestures and glances.
Even if they liked being in silent places, nothing could beat the buzzing of beaming students from Hogsmeade. Some alone, some with their friends and others simply walking hand-in-hand with their lovers.
“I really need to buy a new book so I’ll go to that little bookstore near Honeydukes,” Pandora turned her head to Lily, pointing quickly to a building.
“That’s perfect, we’ll meet in ten in front of it, yeah? I want to go to a shop to buy a present, I have to find it first though,” she huffed amused.
Pandora hummed, “Take your time, Lils.”
Lily gave her a bright smile and began looking for the shop. As it turned out, it didn’t take her a lot of time to find it, even if it was indeed a small shop, tucked away from the busy world.
“Hello there, darling. May I be of any help to ya’?” A middle-aged man spoke from behind the counter, as she was looking a bit lost to all the things the shop had. It looked more like an…antiques shop than anything else, which Lily loved and knew that Remus did too.
“Hello, sir, actually yes. I am here to buy a present and I see that you have a lot of antiques around here. Would it be possible to tell me if there’s anything book related you’re selling?”
“I have a variety of special editions of Oscar Wilde’s books,” he said and quickly moved over to a small shelf near a display case.
The red-head hummed and picked up a book with a breath-taking cover. Was she aware that Remus had like two other copies of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”? Yes, yes she was, but will that stop her? No.
She decided quickly that it could be the perfect gift, until she realised, she could add a little more to it.
Hidden behind a small book, were sitting a few crocheted book covers that would look absolutely gorgeous with the book.
“Are these for sale as well?” she picked up a blue one and was a bit shocked to find that it was decorated with a few stars on the front. Lily thought that Remus will absolutely love it, especially since it reminds him of his boyfriend.
“Oh, yes, definitely! They were made a few years ago by my daughter, she didn’t know what to do with them so I suggested selling them. Aren’t they pretty?” the man spoke very quickly, looking very proud of his daughter, which warmed Lily’s heart in a way that she couldn’t explain.
“I love them, sir! I’ll only take these two please,” she smiled at him.
“Good choice, good choice!”
After paying for the goods, she left the shop feeling extremely excited for Remus’ birthday.
Pandora greeted her with a quick hug and took her hand in hers to get her to follow to Honeydukes, where they’d spend most of their money on weeks’ worth of sweets.
“Let’s go to Three Broomsticks too, I haven’t drank some butterbeer in a long time,” Pandora spoke while they were slowly walking down one of the alleys.
Lily hummed, “I haven’t gone there since like…the beginning of the fifth year? I almost always forget about it.”
“I can’t really do that, Barty really enjoys coming here so I always join him to keep him company,” she shrugs.
After two hours of talking and laughing together, they both decide it would be time to go home.
Lily loved this day, she wishes she would spend more days like this, some moments quieter, others laughing and talking.
She loved spending days like this with Pandora most, because the blonde always understood exactly what she needed and vice-versa. There wasn’t a moment in their friendship when they felt awkward around one each other.
Maybe that’s why they were best friends. Or maybe that’s why there could always be space for a step to be taken.