Finding Out
Lily was wearing black joggers and a big, hot pink, puffer jacket. Underneath, she wore a bright pink, two-piece swimsuit with a floral pattern designed onto it. "Bye, Flower." She called out to Petunia before she left. She decided to skip towards the party, recalling what Marlene and Mary had said the previous day. They'd explicitly told her that a pool party was too dangerous, but Lily couldn't be seen as the geek for any longer.
She saw a massive mansion with music blaring and multicoloured lights flashing in the distance. Lily slowed her pace and began walking, passing a few girls and guys alike in skimpy swimsuits who were headed the in same direction. Lily received a few judgemental stares as she walked, so she hung her head and hurried inside.
At the door, Emma Vanity had her arms folded, in a position that pushed up her breasts, and she scoffed at the appearance of Lily. Lily tucked a loose, ginger strand behind her ear and smiled kindly. "You know, you're supposed to wear a swimsuit at a pool party." She said, sarcastically.
"Oh, I know." Lily unzipped her jacket quickly, revealing her swimsuit, before hurriedly zipping it back up. "I've got cold." She lied, before faking a tiny 'achoo'. Emma gave her a disgusted look before shoving her away.
Lily stumbled before walking around the house for a bit. There were four girls on the sofa, an Indian one with long, black curls giving a hickey to a muscular blonde boy. He was decent-looking, but he was too arrogant. His name was Lock something, that was all Lily could remember of him. On the seat next to the moaning couple, three other girls were talking loudly, probably trying to project their voices over the music. One of them, a blue-eyed girl with short, brunette hair had an empty vodka bottle on her lap. Ah, that explains it.
The other two were cuddling closely to her, slurring their words out. "That bitch, Molly Prewett," A girl with black, long, straightened hair shouted. "Oh she married that poverty stricken man, didn't she!"
Her other friend with dyed, curly, blue hair then got up and then proceeded to prance around the room dramatically. "Oh look at me look at me! I'm not like all of you, so I'm gonna go get fuckin' knocked up!" Lily didn't know that Molly was pregnant, she'd send a congratulations card later.
Lily continued around the house, watching a few more events unfold before her. She even saw a fight between two perfectly sober girls. Apparently, the one with the black, feathered hair which was tied in a ponytail slept with the one with long, blonde curls' boyfriend. The one with the black hair was called Lucinda Talkalot, if Lily remembered correctly. And the blonde was Peter's childhood friend, Sybill Trelawney.
Lily walked over towards the pool and sat down on the edge of it, careful not to get too near to the water. As long as she didn't fall in, a splash should've been okay. She wasn't counting on being thrown in, though. "Lily!" She heard a raspy voice from behind, and she turned around to see a familiarly brooding figure towering over her, hands on hips.
"Piss off, Dorcas." Lily said, carelessly.
"Oh come on, I think you need a swim." Dorcas teased, some of her friends by her side. Barty Crouch and Edgar Bones were laughing, along with Dorcas, of course.
"No," Lily was panicking now, she got to her feet and began backing away, forgetting completely about the pool nearby. "I have a cold, you don't want to catch it!" She shouted, as she almost stumbled over the pool edge. Lily came to an abrupt halt, feeling as nervous as ever. Barty proceeded to grab her by the wrists and lift her arms up, whilst Edgar grabbed her ankles and held those up as well.
She was now swaying at their will like a porch swing, and whilst she cried, begged, and pleaded they began to count down. "Three..." She slammed her eyes shut and began to kick and scream in an attempt of resistance. "Two..." Her lungs were hurting now, her throat had a burning feeling that scratched the back of it. "One..." Lily had accepted her fate now so she held her breath.
One thought rushed through her head as she was launched into the pool, at least thirty people watching with laughter. When she was five, and she'd fallen off of her bike, the girl down the road had jumped off of her scooter and hurried over to her side. "Oh no!" The girl exclaimed, her curls looked like a babies hair.
Being young, Lily cried and kicked her feet, just as she was doing now. That girl was Mary Macdonald. She saved her then, and she'd do it again, of course. Lily knew that Mary would save her a thousand times over and never get bored. Lily loved all her friends, but what she felt for Mary, was different. She didn't know why, but it just was.
The water hit her like a brick, and Lily kicked frantically underwater, gasping for air, as she submerged, expecting to see the shocked faces of everybody around her. Instead, she saw only one shocked face. Somehow, everybody around the pool had gone inside, and left Lily there almost completely alone. Almost.
James gaped down at her, staring from her own petrified expression to her tail which was restlessly swaying. He stammered slightly, but Lily could feel tears welling up. "Please, James you have to help me." She begged, but James was hesitant, he didn't look like he wanted to help, and he kept glancing back from the glass door of the house to the mermaid in front of him.
Lily stuck her arm out, extending a hand for him to take, with begging eyes. He finally accepted her hand, and pulled her onto the pools edge. "You really should hit the gym." He huffed, as he still stared at her in a mix of horror and joy. It wasn't in a repulsed manner, though. More of a relief.
"Very funny, I need a towel or something." She said, staring at James with grateful eyes. A look that told her feelings better than any words ever could.
"How about me?" She heard a girls' voice call from behind, and as she craned her neck, she saw Marlene jump over the fence with Mary in tow.
Lily shot them both an apologetic glare, but they had too much urgency in their eyes to care about her bad decisions for now. Marlene crouched down next to her, placed her palm out flat and then scrunched up her fingers.
The water began to evaporate, and Lily avoided James' eyes as she prayed that nobody would see them. Her tail disappeared, and soon enough she had her human legs back. Mary grabbed her hands and pulled her up with a grunt, and the four wordlessly hurried out of the party.
Once they were wondering the street, James had decided to bring up what had happened. He paused and grabbed Lily by the wrist gently, she turned to face him with fear. "Are you going to explain or what?"
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Peter was braiding Sybill’s hair as they talked. “So I went up to Emma, and she decided to deny it all.” She said, complaining as she took a puff of her cigarette, then turning her head to blow the smoke out. Peter admired the beauty of her jawline as she turned, her blonde curls between his fingertips.
His hands were chubby and pink, he couldn’t comprehend why anybody would want to be seen with him, especially Sybill. She had pale, fragile skin along with dirty blonde locks of hair. Her favourite subject was astronomy, specifically divination.
“It’s a full moon tomorrow night.” Sybill randomly said, cutting herself off. Peter was snapped from his daydream, and he looked down at Sybill, whose head was now rested in his lap.
“What?” He asked, genuinely confused.
“I suspect that strange things are going to happened tomorrow, very peculiar circumstances.” She continued, ignoring Peter’s confusion. He was used to her weirdness, they’d been friends since they were young, and Peter might even dare to say that she knew more about him than James.
“Do you want a smoke?” She asked, holding up the cigar to Peter’s lips. He’d never smoked before, but nonetheless, he took the cigarette and attempted to cooly smoke it. He coughed and hit his chest, his throat burning with ash.
“Is the first time always that bad?” He wheezed, and Sybill laughed. She radiates positivity always, but her laugh was something completely different. It was better than the awakening of spring, some might say. Peter is ‘some’.
The bell went off, signalling that they should go to class, so Peter pushed Sybill off with ease, and began to pack up his things. He felt a tug on his baggy shirt as he begun to leave, and he looked down to see her smirking up at him.
“I’m bunking, let’s meet-up after school in the forest.” He smiled and nodded, the thought of her concern over the full moon still lingering in his mind.
That was weirdly specific, even for Sybill, who was fully convinced that she could tell the future.