The Marauders Era

As Lily sat on a chair in the common room, she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander, certainly off to somewhere they shouldn't have been. Or rather, she would have done that, was it currently not for the black-haired boy that was sitting on the chair opposite her, who, with his hazel eyes, looked focused entirely on what he was reading. His face was void of any emotions as his eyes danced back and forth. Truth be told, Lily felt as if she was moments away from biting her fingernails. The silence was making her feel slightly uncomfortable, if not a bit nervous. Finally, after a while, the hazel eyes turned up from the parchment, and Lily felt almost trapt in the stare he sent her.

"Well... it's not bad, not at all. In fact, it's very good. I see all my tips from last time were put in good use." He said happily to her as he handed her the essay. "You did a great job."

The moment the parchment laid in Lilys hand, she looked down at it and could hardly stop the joy that appeared on her face. Having been praised by James Potter, who was by far one of the most talented students in transfiguration in their year, made Lily feel genuinely proud of herself.

"Thank you." She looked up and met his gaze. "Truly. I'm not sure I would have managed this without you."

James's face darkened slightly as he seemed caught off guard. "It was no trouble at all. I'm happy to help", he said as coolly as he could, though he couldn't help but run his fingers through his dark locks. "Besides, you'd do the same for me, I'm sure." He smiled at her, a smile so bright Lily herself couldn't help but smile along.

"As long as it's not transfiguration. Doubt I can teach you anything there." she joked.

"True." chuckled James. "How's Cassie doing?"

The prefect thought for a moment and laughed. From what she could remember, there had been little progress earlier that day with the older girl and her transfigurations essay. Compared to Lily, the girl had only written about 1/4 of it. However, Cassie's introduction sounded and looked a hundred times better than her own had, though a few tries later, Lily managed an acceptable beginning.

"You think she's gonna come to you for help?" Lily asked him curiously, though he only replied with a shake of his head. At least before explaining any further.

"Nah." He leaned back in his chair and continued. "Knowing Cas, she'd rain hell before she would even admit to needing help on transfiguration."

"The perks of being the second most talented student in our year when it comes to transfiguration."

"Better not say that when she's around, or her ego's gonna grow." James grinned as he saw a smile spread across Lily.

"Think you got the wrong twin there. Cassie's nowhere near as bad as Sirius."

He considered it for a moment before concluding that he, unfortunately, had to agree with her. No matter how bad Cassie could be, Sirius never missed the chance to one-up his sister.

"Oh," James's face lighted up in recognition as he remembered his conversation with the older boy during dinner. "I heard that you guys got invited to Slughorns party and that you're planning on taking Cassie dress shopping." He raised a single eyebrow at her and stared at her skeptically. "How on earth did you manage to convince her?"

A small giggle erupted from the red-haired girl as a knowing smirk grew on her face. "It really wasn't that hard. You see, the invitation said that professor Slughorn had invited friends and old students of his. We all just put two and two together and did a little teasing."

"Wha-what?" James looked at her, utterly clueless to what she was on about. "Two and two? what are you on about?"

"Really, James.." she sent him a dead paned look. "Have you been sleeping in class?"

He rolled his eyes at her before answering. "Well, no, but I can't say that I'm all-knowing."

"You know how Rabastan used to be in the slug club," she started, hoping and praying that the hint along would spark some kind of chain reaction within him.

"Yes, but I don't see how that's got to do with anything."

"Oh James.." Lily sighed. The poor boy looked so confused that if Peter had seen him, the blonde would have told him that he looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Rabastan is an old student, and Slughorn said that he had invited old students. The only reason I managed to convince her was that he might be there."

James's eyes lighted up in understanding, though an amused grin appeared just as fast. "Can't imagine that was a rather long conversation."

Lily giggled slightly as she shook her head. "Not at all. She did disagree at the start, but when I brought up Rabastan, it took a few seconds, and then you'd think she'd be waving the white flag."

The two looked at each other before laughing. As James's laughter died down, he couldn't help but smile warmly at Lily, who was too busy calming her laugh while rubbing her eyes, and though she tried to fight it, she couldn't help but yawn.

"How much's the clock?" She asked in between her yawning, making the words sound a bit strange at first. James chuckled at her as he raised his wrist closer to his face inspecting his watch. "Ehh.. a little over eleven. We should probably get to bed, though, unless you fancy falling asleep in potions tomorrow? I don't think professor Slughorn would appreciate it." he joked as a grin appeared. He stretched his arms for a moment before standing up as he gathered his defense against the dark arts books.

Lily felt as if she had swollen an elephant, her throat dried up as her hands started to clam, and what felt like an entire zoo trashed around in her stomach. She had been wondering and pondering about this the whole day, whether or not she should, or if she shouldn't. She did want to, in more ways than she could explain. But that tiny little voice in the back of her mind told her that he would never agree to it.

If Lily had so much had that thought last year, she would have laughed and said that someone must have spiked her pumpkin juice, for there was no way on earth she would ever do what she was about to. And because of that voice, she felt a particular annoyance at herself and thought, Noone but me can tell me what I can or can't do.

"Ehh... James." her voice wavered as she stood up abruptly, catching the attention of the boy. "I was- I was wondering," She stopped for a moment as she took a breath to calm herself. "If you'd maybe, go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with me?" the words left her slowly, which was a good thing seeing as the boy thought he had heard her wrong.

"You want me to go with you to Slughorn’s party?" his voice was laced with slight confusion but at the same time an undeniable excitement.

Lily nodded at first but quickly added. "As friends, I want us to go as friends. Sort of a thank you for helping me with my essay." For a moment, the boy looked slightly disappointed. However, a brilliant smile covered his face so fast that Lily was uncertain if the disappointment had even been there at all.

"I'd love to go with you." He beamed at her before adding in an almost amused tone. "As friends." James almost chuckled at the relieved look on the girl's face, and though truth be told, he did feel a bit disappointed that they were going as friends, he quickly reminded himself that alone was an enormous development since the previous years.

"Great!" Lily smiled gently at him as she started to collect her books and writing necessities. "Again, thank you so much for your help. Honestly, I don't know if I would have finished in time waiting for Cassie to help me."

"No worries, as I said, you'd do the same for me."

As Lily gave him a last smile, she started to wander off to the staircase to the dormitories before she suddenly stopped. Turning around, she studied James as he placed his textbooks back at the table before sitting back down in his chair. As he ran his fingers through his hair, he closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief before a joyful smile broke out, a smile that made Lily herself smile. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all; Lily thought as she gave the boy one last look before continuing to the dormitory.

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Dear Cassie,

Considering the number of times we've met now, I hope you don't mind me calling you that. Things have been a bit hectic lately, and I apologize for the late reply. I received my invitation to Slughorns Christmas party a few days ago, and I am hoping that I will see you there. Speaking of which, I just got a letter from your brother who asked me to remind you or rather beg you to wear something appropriate. Whatever that means.

I doubt you'd show up in your quidditch uniform or something like that, if it was that he was wondering about.

A chuckle filled the empty dormitory as brown eyes danced upon the letter that had arrived just a few moments prior. Typical Regulus, she thought but wondered for a moment why he hadn't asked her himself. The siblings had been in little contact since that short meeting on her birthday, though she understood why. Whenever she saw her younger brother, Rosier and Crabbe weren't usually far away, and neither was Snape. Shaking her head, she resumed reading the letter while smiling.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that my brother will be joining us this Christmas along with Bellatrix. Though I suspect that you were already prepared for that, it was a bit of a discussion whether they would be here or with Bellatrix's family. You should be glad you're not here right now.

 My mother is overjoyed to have some guests here finally and is redecorating the parlor, which means making me her personal slave when it comes to moving furniture. And though I'm not too sure, I did overhear her talking to father about having another pureblood Christmas dance. However, I'm not sure whether my father was encouraging her or disagreeing with her.

Cassie groaned loudly as the thought of having a Christmas ball nearly made her head spin. Her mother was going to be so thrilled if that happened. It was the perfect opportunity to, although most people knew of it, publicly and officially announce her and Rabastans's engagement. That, and the chance to push Cassie in a dress that she would most rather not wear. Well, at least with the girls, she had the opportunity to refuse the dress if she didn't like it. Her mother was not that merciful.

I hope I get to see you at the party, and I look forward to seeing the others again soon. A quick question for you, do you have any Christmas wishes?

Sincerely

Rabastan.

With each letter that arrived, Cassie noted that Rabastan wrote more and more casually, at least compared to the first letter. Though she supposed it wasn't really that strange, after all, they were a lot closer now than when they first met. Leaning her head back, Cassie was rather careful not to hit her head against the headboard, something she did quite often. 

Almost two weeks had passed since professor Slughorn had delivered the invitations and a few days ago since she had last written to Rabastan. However, much to Dorcas's amusement and Lily's annoyance, the girl had failed to write anything about the Christmas party; looking at the letter she had just received from him, it seemed that the girls hadn't need to worry about that.

Letting out a small giggle, Cassie sank lower in her bed, landing her head on her pillow. Clutching the letter in her fingers, she rested her hands on her stomach as she closed her eyes, letting her mind drift off to somewhere far away. That was until a thundering bang made Cassie's eyes shot open.

The door burst open so suddenly that Cassie was for sure that if she had been Alice, she would have jumped at least a foot up in the sky. Propping up her elbows, she lifted her upper body, so her gaze landed straight at the door opening where there currently stood her four roommates looking at her with something that made Cassie's stomach turn slightly for the worst.

"What are you looking at?" Cassie asked nervously as she bit her lower lip.

"You, of course. Or have you forgotten what day it is?" Marlene grinned at her friend before she continued. "Or rather you hoped that we would. Well, sorry to say this, Cas, but we've been looking forward to this day for so long now that we're not letting you get away." Dorcas and Alice shared a glance while Lily stared at her friend with a smug smile.

Dropping her head back, the older girl closed her eyes the moment she hit her pillow, hearing only the sound of feet shuffling across the floor, coming closer and closer to her bed.

"Cassie.." Dorcas muttered impatiently as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at her. Opening her right eye, Cassie moved it from one friend to another, catching looks that differed between amusement and impatience. Closing her eye, she laid still for a moment before opening them again as she sat abruptly up.

"Fine.. fine. Let's go dress hunting." She murmured lowly, reaching for her boots that sat on the floor just by her bed, and proceeded to put them on. Alice squealed excitingly as she hurried to grab her brown coat lying on top of her bed. As Cassie tied the last of her laces, she let out a silent breath before lifting her head as she stood up and looked at the others. "Let's do this."

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It truly was a wonder, she thought, that they had even managed to convince her to do this. That's what had been going through Cassie's mind for the last two hours, and truth be told, she had no bloody idea why she was even there. Lily had found a dress within their first hour, and since none of the others were coming, they had all resigned themselves to finding the perfect dress for Cassie. Since it was a Christmas party, they had ruled out a long dress as it seemed a bit too formal and instead focused on a knee-high, though that was easier said than done.

"What about this?" Dorcas asked as she held up a black strapless dress. Alice studied the dress for a moment before shaking her head and said, "It's a Christmas party, not a funeral."

Dorcas looked slightly taken back as she replied. "You'd wear this to a funeral?"

"Something like it, though there were straps on mine. And I'd use it along with a jacket, of course." She answered nonchalantly as she continued to browse through the dresses, occasionally stopping to observe a dress before scrunching her face and continuing to browse. Marlene and Lily shared a look before cracking a smile while Cassie hid her grinning face behind one of the racks of dresses.

"Try this." Marlene pulled out a dark blue one-shoulder dress that stopped just above the knee. Reluctantly Cassie took hold of the hanger and looked at it. It was a pretty dress, that's for sure, but would she still think that while wearing it? That was the question. She figured finding some more dresses wouldn't hurt; at least it would save her a little time instead of going back and forth between the dressing rooms. After almost ten minutes, the girls had bombarded her with a few more dresses in entirely different colors. The shades changed from dark blue to emerald green, blush pink, dark violet, and a dark red.

"One color for each girl." Alice laughed, almost amused by the number of dresses her friends held in her hands. "Let us get you into a dressing room." She said as she went behind Cassie, put her hands on her shoulders, and gently guided her to their destination.

While Marlene and Alice had occupied two chairs that were placed outside of the changing room, Dorcas stood leaned against the wall with her arms folded over her chest, occasionally shooting amused glances to Lily, who was asking several questions like are you done yet, how does it look, what do you think, can we see now.

As the doors opened, all the four girls immediately set their gaze on the appearing girl who looked a bit amused, especially when she looked down to the puffy mess that was below her waist. Dorcas snorted as she tried really hard not to laugh while Lily simply covered her eyes with a hand as she mumbled softly. "Oh Marlene..."

"What? It looked cute on the hanger. I wouldn't have picked it if I knew it was that.." She trailed off for a moment, searching for the right word to come to her. "Puffy?" Alice, who was on the verge of laughing, commented.

"Right! Puffy."

"I look ridiculous," Cassie stated as she turned to examine herself in the mirror. The dress had, in truth, looked better on the hanger, as it seemed less puffy than it appeared to be. "Did someone use magic to make this bigger? Because I could have sworn that it was much less puffy on the hanger."

"That's probably because it was hanging straight down." Lily rubbed her temple as she spoke.

"Okay, next one," Dorcas exclaimed as she started to usher her friend back into the changing room. Just as the curtain closed, several giggles could be heard from the girls. The next few dresses could hardly be called a success either. It was either too puffy, too short, too tight, or not really that flattering on.

Dorcas eyed her watch for a few moments. "You think we can still make the three broomsticks before it closes?" she wondered as she looked up at the others.

"The three broomsticks don't close for at least a couple of hours. We'll make it just fine." Alice assured as she leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. "I hope." She mumbled softly after a while, hoping to merlin that Cassie didn't hear her.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Cassie pitched from the changing room as she was zipping up the dark red dress that Dorcas had found. Alice smiled, almost embarrassed at the others, who were too busy stifling their laughs. "But I have to agree with you. I'm dying for something to either eat or drink," she said as her hand grabbed the curtain, moving it out of the way so they could see her. "What do you think?" She gestured to the dress, waiting for their reaction. Silence filled the air, and for a moment, the girls didn't speak. They looked almost taken back.

"Where did you find that?" Lily gasped. Cassie nodded her head towards Dorcas, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat, looking incredibly proud of herself.

"You found that?" questioned Marlene as she looked at her girlfriend in amazement.

"What? You doubt my fashion sense?" retorted Dorcas, sounding almost offended that her girlfriend would have so little faith in her fashion ability.

"Of course not. I'm very proud of you." Marlene smiled sweetly at Dorcas as she took her hand and squeezed it gently.

Cassie turned from the group and looked at herself in the mirror. This time she had to admit, the dress was indeed beautiful, and the beauty of it really was the simplicity. The top was with straps that ended in a v-neck, while the bottom was something like an a-line skirt that went out from her waist. It was simple but perfect. 

Thinking to herself, she knew that her mother couldn't disapprove of this dress. If so, it would have been the color. However, she smiled cleverly as she thought of using the excuse that red was a known Christmas color, trying to steer her mother away from a fit.

As Cassie looked longer in the mirror, she knew that she wasn't leaving the shop without the dress, not because it was the only one she genuinely liked, but because of the four smiling faces that she saw standing behind her in the mirror.

"Finally found one she liked, huh?" An older voice appeared, causing the girls to turn around coming face to face with the smiling shopkeeper. She was an older woman with short white hair and a warm smile, which she was currently giving the girls. The girls returned the smile, all pleased and happy that they had actually managed to find something.

"Yes, finally." Alice laughed, and Cassie herself couldn't stop the chuckled that appeared as she really had to agree with her friend.

"I was doing some cleaning, and I found this. You wouldn't mind, would you?" she asked as she held out an old camera.

Cassie looked at the smiling girls before shaking her head. "No, we wouldn't." The girls all huddled together, with Cassie in the middle, since she was the shorter of the five, Lily on her left, Marlene on her Right, while Alice and Dorcas, who were the taller ones, stood behind the trio. As the woman counted down, a click was heard, and a sudden flash of light appeared. As the photo appeared, not one but two came out. The woman looked approvingly at the picture before she handed it to Cassie.

She held up the other as she spoke. "You wouldn't mind if I kept this, would you? I would like to put it up here." She gestured to the wall on her left, and it was first then Cassie notice several photos of smiling girls dressed up in beautiful dresses. There had to be at least fifty pictures on the wall, Cassie concluded; they were no bigger than your standard envelope. Moving closer, she caught a glimpse of a familiar face and couldn't help the smile that grew on her. Touching the picture gently, she spoke in a warm voice. "We don't mind at all." She looked at the shopkeeper and smiled. "Thank you, not just for the picture but for having the patience with me."

The older woman simply laughed. "I know how hard it can be to find the perfect dress. I will tell you the same thing that I tell everyone who comes here. No matter what it is, if it's a dress or something more, don't settle for something you don’t want. Because somewhere out there is the exact thing that you need, and it is waiting for you. All you have to do is be brave enough to go for it." She saw the slightly confused look on all of their faces before she added. "Only you can make your own happiness, don't let what other people want you to do overshadow your own dreams, and never settle for less than what you deserve. I'll let you get change. I'll be out in the front."

As Cassie watched the older woman disappeared around the corner, she couldn't help but think about what she had said. Turning her gaze back to the picture, she couldn't help but smile yet again.

"That's Andromeda, isn't it?" Lily asked as she noticed the picture her friend had been watching.

"Yeah, it is. I had been hoping to visit her during Christmas maybe, but I suppose that's out of the question now." She was quiet for a while before she added. "I haven't seen her for a while, any of them." Cassie felt a hand land on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"You'll see them soon; they're family after all."

Cassie snorted. "Try to tell that to our parents," she muttered as she shook her head. She moved her gaze to the picture in her hand and grinned softly. "You two look crazy."

Showing the picture to the others, Marlene couldn't help but laugh, watching the two girls standing in the back holding up one hand each giving the peace sign.

"It was Alice's idea." Dorcas insisted, pointing to the brunette who threw her a shocked expression.

"It was not." She protested, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lily grinned at the two, knowing precisely that it was Dorcas's idea, no matter how much she would deny it. "We'll duplicate them later?" She asked Cassie, who only nodded in return.

Cassie handed the picture to Lily before returning to the changing room for a few minutes before exiting in her previous clothes. With the dress in one hand and her jacket in another, she walked back into the main shop along with the girls and headed to the older woman by the register.

As they walked out of the shop, there was a soft bell shimmering as they opened the door, and just as she crossed the threshold, Alice didn't lift her foot high enough, making her stumble out of the boutique. Marlene giggled slightly as she watched her friend. "Try keeping both your legs on the ground."

"I did. It's what caused me to stumble in the first place." She huffed back, clearly a bit embarrassed.

"Well, at least you didn't meet the ground. Suppose that would have hurt even more," Marlene added.

"What? Like Dorcas did earlier?" The two girls giggled slightly but were quickly quieted by a sharp look thrown their way.

"We agreed that didn't happen," Dorcas said sharply as she stared at the two wide-eyed girls. A grin was dangerously making its way back to Alice's lips as she just couldn't help but open her mouth. "No. You agreed. We just didn't say anything."

Marlene raised her hand, meeting Alice in a high five, while Dorcas looked as if she wanted to facepalm herself. Lily and Cassie shared a grin as the group walked towards the three broomsticks, in dire need of some butterbeer.