gold rush

Lily finally told Mary and Marlene what happened four days later, deciding to leave out the fact that James was essentially shirtless. She would just get teased about this, and the point of telling them in the first place was so that there were more people to tease James about it.

“I swear, I don’t know how they’re still alive,” Mary said, reaching forward for more toast.

“I still can’t believe he didn’t know that could kill him,” Lily said. She just figured it made sense that hanging upside down for too long would be disastrous. She had forced him to get checked out by Madam Pomfrey, and she had assured them that James didn’t have any brain damage. At least, not any from the tree.

“I’m starting to think he cheated on his exams,” Mary said, spreading some jam. “No way he got eighth.”

“He got ninth,” Lily said, barely thinking about it.

“How do you know that?” Marlene asked, her head tilted to its side. 

Lily shrugged. “I just asked him.”

“When?”

“Back to school party.”

“What? I didn’t even see you talking to him,” Mary said.

“Yeah, you disappeared super early.”

Lily frowned, and then she realized she never told them that she went to James’ room. She couldn’t really explain it properly, not without telling them about the cloak. 

“Oh. Right, we had a small chat.”

“A small chat?” Marlene asked. They both knew how Lily acted when she was drunk, she could talk on and on for hours. There was no such thing as a ‘small chat’.

“I have to get to class,” Lily said, not wanting to get into this right now. 

“Coward,” Marlene said through a fake cough. 

“I do. I have potions, and you know how far away that is,” she said. “Mary, the meeting is at four tonight, yeah?”

Mary’s eyes widened. “What? It’s today?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Oh my God. We haven’t found the last vote,” she said.

Lily shrugged. She wasn’t too worried. She didn’t think there was anyone who would actually vote against having the dance. The last couple of prefects that they haven’t spoken to about it were all relatively chill. “It’ll be fine.”

Lily left after that. It was better that she got to class earlier anyway, she still needed to check with Slughorn about having a dance at all. She had forgotten to do it throughout the week, too busy with homework and patrols. She had to do it twice this week because everyone seemed to be getting sick. She patrolled with Regulus once, but he didn’t talk a whole lot. The other time was with Emmeline, and she was much more fun to chat with.

“Miss Evans, you’re early,” Slughorn said. He was writing on the board their lesson for today.

“Yes, I know. I had something I needed to talk to you about.”

He set down the chalk, showing Lily that she had his full attention. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, professor. Me and some of the other students have been thinking about having a formal.”

“A formal?”

“Yes, like a dance. We’re planning to vote on it at the meeting today, but I wanted to make sure we had proper approval.”

Slughorn didn’t say anything for a moment. Lily knew that there was no one better to ask him, she was one of his prized students. It was only because she liked potions so much that she excelled, but over the years she’s developed a liking to the professor and his whimsies. “Well, I don’t see why not. Have you got the funding?”

Lily’s face dropped a little bit. They did not have any sort of funding. They hadn’t even thought about it yet. “Not yet, but we will.”

“And you have someone to plan this event?”

“Yes. Mary MacDonald will be in charge.”

Slughorn nodded. “You have my approval, barring you find a way to get some funding for this. I don’t believe there is a section of the budget dedicated to school dances.”

Lily nodded again. “Of course,” she said. A couple of students had started filtering in as class was starting in a couple of minutes.

Slughorn clapped his hands together. “Wonderful,” he said with a smile. 

Lily managed to smile back before taking her seat next to Remus. How was she supposed to come up with funding? How much was something like this going to cost?

They were brewing rat tonic today, but Lily was very clearly distracted. 

“Lily, you’re going to blow something up,” Remus said, stopping her from dumping the wrong ingredient into the cauldron.

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing really. Just some dance stuff.”

Remus kept working on the potion while Lily decided it was best she didn’t touch it for a while. “What kind of stuff?”

She sighed, leaning against the desk. “We need to find funding.”

“Oh. How much is it going to cost?”

“No idea. It depends on how big Mary’s ideas are,” Lily said. Knowing Mary though, she definitely had some very big ideas. 

Remus cleared his throat, drawing Lily’s attention back to him. “You do know you’re friends with the two richest people in Hogwarts,” he said, pointing over at where James and Sirius were working on their potion, just a couple of tables down. 

She shook her head. “No.”

“They’ll say yes. It’s not like they have anything else to do with their money.”

“It feels wrong. They can’t just pay for the dance by themselves.”

“Well, they can,” Remus said under his breath. 

“I’m not asking them,” she said. “We just need to have a fundraiser, or something.”

“A fundraiser?”

“Yes. Those can’t be too hard to figure out, right?”

Remus didn’t seem too convinced, and neither did Lily. Most students at the school weren’t nearly as rich as James and Sirius, and they were also not very likely to put money towards it at all. 

“We could sell tickets,” Lily said. “Would people buy tickets?”

“Probably.”

“Moony!” Sirius said loudly, walking over to them. “What does your guys’ potion look like?”

Lily looked inside. “It’s dark purple.”

“Dark purple?” James said, joining Sirius as they looked inside. “Is that right?”

Sirius hit him. “Of course it’s right. It’s Evans and Moony.”

Remus shrugged a little. “It’s the color it’s supposed to be.”

James frowned, pushing his glasses up where they had slid off a little bit. “Ours is orange.”

“Orange? How did you manage that?” Lily asked, struggling not to laugh at them.

“See, I knew I shouldn’t have taken potions,” James said to Sirius.

Sirius sat down in Remus’ chair, watching him work for a second. “Are you making him do all the work?” he asked Lily.

Remus rolled his eyes. “She was messing it up.”

“I was not,” Lily said. She’s positive she was still on the right step, no matter how distracted she was. “He’s just too particular about this potion.”

Sirius snorted. “Well, yeah. Gotta make sure we can make it for Wormy.”

Lily frowned in confusion, eyes going to James on instinct for some sort of explanation. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. 

“It’s not nothing,” Lily said, holding his eyes. James was not a good liar, especially if somebody was forcing him to hold eye contact. He looked away, rubbing at his neck and coughing a little bit.

“He wants to get a pet rat,” Remus said, drawing her attention. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, he’s a bit odd,” Sirius said. “We love him though, our Wormy.”

Lily shook her head. “He got stuck with the worst nickname. I mean, where did these come from?”

James seemed to have recovered enough to actually speak again, a smile on his face. “That’s top secret information only for those in the inner circle.”

“If you guys were cooler, I’d think you were involved in a cult,” Lily said.

Sirius gasped. “You don’t think we’re cool?” he asked, a hand to his chest in shock.

“You walk around calling yourselves the marauders,” Lily said, which was evidence enough for their uncoolness.

“It’s a cool name,” James defended.

Lily sighed. “If your potion is orange it means you need more stewed mandrake,” she told them in hopes that it would get them to go back to their work. 

Sirius stood back up, pointing at James. “I told you that’s what we needed!”

They sort of skipped back to their own table, ready to fix their potion, and Remus was able to sit back in his own seat. “Potion’s done,” he said.

“Thanks,” Lily said. “Although I really think I was capable.”

“Any other day, maybe.”

After class Lily had a small break before charms, so she went to go find McGonagall. She was in her office, talking with Dumbledore. They don’t see Dumbledore around the school much, and Lily’s kind of grateful for that. She’s always gotten bad energy from him, and she doesn’t like the way he seems to think he’s an omnipotent God.

“Oh,” she said, realizing McGonagall wasn’t alone. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Lily said.

“You’re not interrupting,” Dumbledore said. “Come on in, Miss Evans. I was just leaving.”

Lily nodded at him as he left, a chill running down her spine. Seriously, she didn’t like him.

“Do we have a meeting?” McGonagall asked. She was doing meetings with all of the seventh years about their futures, but Lily’s wasn’t for a couple more weeks.

“No, I just needed to talk to you,” she said, taking the empty seat across on the other side of her desk. “At the perfect meeting today we are planning on putting the idea of a formal to a vote,” Lily explained to her. “We just need your permission beforehand.”

“A formal?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?” she asked. 

Lily nodded. “Yes, professor. Lots of people are already on board to help, and we have plans to get funding.”

“Well, you have my approval then, of course.”

Lily smiled. “Thank you, professor,” she said, standing up to get ready to leave.

“Miss Evans,” she said, stopping Lily from leaving. “Would you mind sitting for just one more minute?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lily said, sitting back down.

“I wanted to check in. You’re taking a lot of classes this term, and I wanted to make sure you’re handling them all right.”

Lily frowned a little bit. “Are my grades slipping?”

“No, they’re perfect as ever. I just want to make sure you’re not getting burnt out.”

“I’m doing fine,” Lily said. She was a bit stressed, but the last thing she wanted to do was drop a class because she couldn’t handle it. “But thank you for the concern.”

McGonagall didn’t say anything for a moment before nodding. “Okay. You are free to go, Miss Evans.”

Later, Lily went back to Gryffindor to find Mary so they could go to the meeting.

“I can’t believe prefects have their own meeting room,” Mary said as they made their way up the stairs.

“It’s just an old classroom,” Lily said. It hadn’t been used for classes in decades, but every two weeks the prefects used it to go over the patrol schedule.

“Still.”

They were running a bit late because Mary insisted on being very prepared. Lily had brought up the funding issue to her over lunch, and Mary had been trying to work out a cost estimate. It wouldn’t be too bad if they got most of the stuff they needed secondhand. Plus they were pretty sure they could convince the kitchen elves to make food and provide drinks for a relatively cheap price.

Lily took her usual seat next to James, and Mary took the empty one next to Lily. 

“You guys are late,” James said, leaning back in his chair and smiling over at Lily.

“Sorry,” Lily said to everyone except for James. “This is Mary, she has something she would like us to vote on.”

Mary stood at the open end of the table, chatting excitedly about her ideas for the dance and answering any questions that people had. She really was very prepared for this, and it made Lily think that Mary skipping her classes might actually have been worth it.

“Okay, I think that’s everything,” Mary said, trailing off and looking at Lily.

Lily smiled. “Yeah, should be. Are we ready to put it to a vote?”

“You support this?” Severus said suddenly. It was the first time he had ever spoken up in anything having to do with prefect stuff, and Lily was actually shocked. She hasn’t directly spoken to him since everything went down.

“The dance? Yeah, I do,” she said.

“Let me guess, you have a problem with it?” James asked, sitting up a little bit straighter.

“It’s an idiotic use of time and resources,” he said. “It's frivolous and silly. I just thought you were better than them.”

“Better?” James said before Lily could even speak. “What, because she wants to have fun with her friends and plan an event where lots of other students will have fun she’s suddenly someone to look down on?”

“James,” Lily said, trying to stop this before it became a fight. 

“When the friends happen to be you and your friends, yeah, I have a problem with it,” Severus said. He wasn’t backing down even though James was taller and stronger than him, both physically and with magic. 

“And what’s wrong with my friends?” James asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Lily looked at Mary, and she shrugged. Neither of them knew what to do, and nobody else in the room seemed to be interjecting. 

“You’ve corrupted her. Lily is better than you guys, she shouldn’t be slumming it.”

“Slumming it? At least we’re not greasy, blood supremacists. She was doing charity work being friends with you-”

Lily stood up, hands on the table. “Okay, that’s enough!” she said loudly. Both James and Severus looked at her. “The dance is an opportunity for lots of students to let out some steam, and it falls right after the end of term exams. However, attendance will not be required if you don’t want to go,” she said, aiming this at Severus. “Are we ready to put it to a vote?”

Remus cleared his throat. “I vote yes,” he said after nobody was coming forward. 

Lily hadn’t wanted all of her drama aired out in front of everyone like that, but she should have expected it would happen eventually. Severus never could keep his opinions to himself.

“I vote yes,” James said.

“I vote no.”

Soon, everyone was perking up with their own votes. Severus was the only one who voted no, which again, Lily should have expected. Luckily, they didn’t need everyone to agree, just fourteen out of nineteen. And they got better than that with eighteen. 

“Okay, wonderful. You are free to leave, but you can see James or me with any questions about the patrol schedule,” Lily said, never happier to send everybody on their way.

Severus practically stormed out of the room, and Lily watched him go for a moment. It was hard to reconcile the Severus she once knew to the person he had become. If you had told Lily when she was eleven that Severus would grow up to call her a mudblood, she would have laughed. It wasn’t so funny anymore. 

Nobody really had any questions, and soon it was just Lily, James, Mary, and Remus left in the room. Regulus lingered at the door for a moment though.

“He’s an ass,” Regulus said, seeming to debate saying it for a moment.

Lily let out a small laugh. “Yeah, he is.”

Regulus nodded at her before slipping out of the room, and Lily thought for a second that maybe she had found a friend in Regulus Black. 

“Are you-”

“What the fuck was that?” Lily asked, rounding on James and cutting off whatever he was going to say.

James looked a bit taken aback. “What?”

“What was that?”

“What do you mean what was that? He was being a dick!”

“I don’t care,” Lily said. “It’s not your fight. What? Do you think I’m helpless? Or that I can’t stand up for myself?”

“Obviously I don’t think that. You’re more than capable. But I’m not just going to sit back when he attacks you. Or when he attacks my friends.”

Lily took in a deep breath, shaking her head. “That was so fucking stupid. He’s not worth it.”

“Lily-”

“No, I’m serious James. Severus was bound to start interjecting his opinions at some point, and I thought it was obvious not to egg him on. We have to see him all year at these things.”

James frowned. “You’re not actually mad at me?” he asked, like he couldn’t fathom Lily having a reason to be upset with him. 

“I’m pissed at you, actually. I mean you think I want everyone in this fucking castle to hear you defend my honor? Like I’m some damsel in distress? You think I want everything going on in my life put on display for everyone?” Lily asked.

It was obvious that something had happened between Severus and Lily last year, but she didn’t go telling the whole castle about it. She waited months to even tell her friends about it because she did not want everyone knowing her business. And most of them still didn’t have the full story.

James seemed to shrink back a little bit. “That’s not what I was doing.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Intentionally or not, James, it’s exactly what you did.”

“I’m not sorry for what I said, if you’re waiting for an apology.”

Lily bit her tongue before walking out of the room. She was too busy to explain to James that what he did was wrong, he should just know better. 

Lily knew that Mary had followed her out before she heard her. Mary found her around the corner, knees curled to her chest and head between them on the ground, taking deep breaths.

Mary sat down next to her without a word, pulling Lily closer to her.

There are only two people who know the full extent of what happened with Severus, and that’s Mary and Marlene. They’re the only ones who know how hard this whole situation has been for her. She doesn’t know how to treat him anymore. They grew up together, he’s in so many of her happiest memories. And now he’s just completely different.

“I don’t know what happened to him,” Lily said, pushing her hair back away from her face and resting her head on Mary’s shoulder.

“He just changed, Lils. Sometimes people do that, and we can’t do anything about it.”

“I know you think I was stupid for being friends with him as long as I was,” Lily said.

“I never thought you were stupid.”

“I saw the signs, I wasn’t blind. I just thought that if he had a positive influence…”

“You shouldn’t have put that on yourself. You weren’t his babysitter.”

“No, but I was his friend. I feel like I failed him.”

“Lily, no. You were always so much better to him than he deserved,” Mary said.

“I know it’s irrational. I know I shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“But you do?”

“Yeah, I do. If I spent more time with him, then maybe he wouldn’t have fallen in with Mulciber and stuff.”

Mary shook her head, lifting Lily’s own head off of her shoulder and holding her in place, forcing her to make eye contact. “You can’t blame yourself. There wasn’t anything that you could have done, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for having other friends.”

Lily let out a small laugh, her eyes still wet with unshed tears. She hated crying, especially in front of other people. Honestly, she hated talking about her feelings in general. Mary loved it though, and she could always get the truth out of Lily when no one else could.

Mary rubbed Lily’s cheeks a little bit with her thumb before taking her hand away. “You were right, you know? He’s not worth this,” Mary said.

Lily sighed, rubbing at her eyes. “I know. I can’t help it though.”

“I know you can’t.”

“Just… did they have to do that there? It’s literally a twenty minute meeting, they couldn’t have waited?”

“You know they have history,” Mary said, voice still soft. Lily did know that, actually. James and Severus have been fighting each other for no reason since first year. It’s just been a constant war. “And you know James cares about you.”

“I’m so fucking mad at him.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you mad at Snape?”

“Yeah, but it’s different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just… I don’t expect anything from Severus anymore. Potter is supposed to be my friend though.”

“He was standing up for you.”

“I don’t need him to.”

“No, you don’t. But you know how James is, he would do that for anyone.”

Lily took a deep breath and stood up, wiping off any dirt from her pants. “I don’t want to talk about them anymore,” she said decisively. Neither of them were worth her time or energy at the moment.

Mary smiled, standing up with her. “Okay. What do you want to do?”

“I want to cut my hair.”

Mary laughed, grabbing Lily’s hand and pulling her in the direction of Gryffindor tower. “We’re going to need Marlene for that then.”

They basically ran all the way to the long staircase, laughing the whole way. 

“Wait, we need to make a stop,” Lily said, turning on her heel.

Mary followed her, not asking any questions until they got to the kitchens. Lily opened the door quietly, hoping not to alert any lingering kitchen elves. They were usually on a break at this time before dinner, and Lily didn’t see any before she pushed the door the rest of the way open. 

On the highest cabinet were several bottles of wine, Lily climbed onto the counter and grabbed two of them, handing them to Mary to hold while she got down.

“Stealing alcohol?”

“It’s not stealing if we pay to be here.” Lily said, justifying it in her head.

They made it back to the tower without being seen, and they ignored everyone in the common room, going straight for the stairs and running up to the room.

Marlene was there, thankfully, and she looked up when the door opened. “What has you two giggling so much?”

“Lily wants a haircut!” Mary said, holding up the bottles of wine.

Marlene raised an eyebrow, looking at Lily. “Really?”

Lily opened one of the bottles. “Yes, really. Will you help.”

Marlene closed her book, not looking like she had gotten much done anyway, and swung her feet off the bed. “Of course I’ll help. I’ve been waiting for this.”

The three of them crowded into their small bathroom, and Mary dragged one of their chairs in for Lily to sit on. The three of them drank straight out of the bottles, although Lily opted for the white wine every time while Mary liked the red. Marlene seemed fine with either, not fussed either way.

First they got Lily’s hair sopping wet, and Lily had to take off her shirt since it got soaked through, leaving her in just her bra. It would be easier for Marlene to cut it when it was wet, that way she could make sure it was more evenly.

Mary just sat on the counter, swinging her legs a little bit while Marlene did all of the work. 

“Okay, what do you want?” Marlene asked, brushing through Lily’s hair. Lily almost never brushed her hair. It was curly, and it never stayed detangled.

“You pick,” Lily said. All she knew was that she wanted a change. 

Marlene grinned at her through the mirror. “Yes ma’am.”

They didn’t let Lily look at it while Marlene was cutting, turning her chair around so that it would be a complete surprise. Marlene didn’t ask about Lily’s slightly puffy eyes, or what had brought on the need for this change. Lily’s hair was heavy, always weighing her down a little bit. And everyone liked to talk about how much they loved her long hair, which made her hate it even more. She used to be too scared to cut it, using it as something to hide behind. But honestly, she was done with that. She was fine being seen, in fact she wanted to be seen.

Mary got them some snacks while Marlene was cutting away. Lily could see a lot of her hair fall to the floor, and for just a moment she was worried she made the wrong decision. Marlene would never do her wrong though, and she’s cut her own hair enough that Lily trusts her. 

Mary gasped when she came back. “Holy shit,” she said, probably seeing how short it was. Lily reached her hand up a little, and it was significantly shorter. Before, it fell to her lower back, now it was somewhere at her collarbones. 

“In a bad way?” Lily asked. 

Mary shook her head. “You look so fucking good,” she said.

Marlene started swiping away some of the hair that had fallen on Lily’s shoulders and back. “Okay, you can look now.”

Lily’s hair had started to dry a little bit, so it was already starting to curl. She scrunched it a little, trying to help it get its shape back before she stood up to look in the mirror. 

Her own jaw dropped as she saw the work Marlene did. The first thing she noticed was the bangs. Lily has never had bangs before, but she had been missing out. They framed her face really well. Marlene had cut some slight layers into Lily’s hair too, making it even curlier than it had been before this. The longest parts of it fell just below her shoulders while other sections didn’t quite fall past her jaw.

“Holy shit,” Lily said, miming what Mary had said moments ago. 

“You like it?” Marlene said, looking at her through the mirror. 

“I love it. What the fuck?”

Lily started messing with it a little bit, loving how much lighter it was.

“Okay, come on. We’re going to put you in a hot outfit,” Mary said, dragging Lily out of the bathroom. Marlene followed them out, jumping a little bit as she approached Lily’s wardrobe. 

“An outfit for what?” Lily asked. “We’ve missed dinner.”

“You don’t need an excuse to wear a cute outfit,” Marlene said. 

Mary gasped. “The new clothes,” she said. They were still sitting in the bag, waiting to be worn at the side of her bed. 

Lily smiled as Mary tossed the bag to her. “Really?”

“C’mon, put on a show for us, Evans,” Mary said. 

Lily rolled her eyes, pulling out the top and starting to get dressed. The first couple of years at Hogwarts, Lily had been too shy to change in front of them, but there was no room for shyness with Mary and Marlene. Lily learned that eventually, and now she’s more than comfortable around them.

“Woo! Take it off, Evans!” Marlene said as Lily shimmied out of her jeans.

Lily posed for her, half dressed in a shirt and nothing else, causing cheers from both of them. The three of them made quite the dent in the bottles, and Lily couldn’t help but giggle a lot after she had wine. 

She finished getting dressed, looking at herself in the full length mirror. She was still surprised by her hair, and she scrunched it up a little bit more. She liked it when it was just a little bit messy and unkempt. When she was younger, her mother used to straighten her hair a lot so that it was easier for her to deal with, a habit Lily then had for a long time after.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Marlene said when Lily did a small turn for them.

“Fuck off,” Lily said with a laugh. She finished off the white wine, placing the empty bottle on her night side table.

“Honestly,” Mary agreed. “Accept my hand in marriage, Miss Evans.”

Lily shook her head. “I’m afraid your heart belongs to another, Miss MacDonald, and for that I cannot accept.”

“Marry me, Lily! I’ll treat you real well,” Marlene said, grabbing Lily’s hand.

“Again, I cannot accept! Dorcas would probably hex me if I did,” Lily said, laughing as she gently gave Marlene her hand back. 

“And she would look so hot doing it,” Marlene said, flopping back onto her bed. 

“Lily’s only saying no because she wants Jamie Pie to ask for her hand in marriage,” Mary said, laughing when Lily threw a pillow at her,

“Absolutely not. Besides, I’m still upset with him.”

Marlene groaned. “What did he do now?”

“He came to Lily’s defense, which is apparently punishable by death,” Mary said, giving Lily a look.

“It was more stuff with Severus,” Lily said, ignoring Mary.

“I hate that guy,” Marlene said. She got off her bed and walked to the window, opening it wide. She pulled out a cigarette, lighting it with her wand.

“Those things smell disgusting,” Mary said. 

Marlene smiled around the cigarette. “That’s why I smoke them out the window, to be a good roommate.”

Lily joined her at the window, and Marlene passed it to her easily. Lily used to hate smoking, but after spending far too much time around Remus, she picked up the habit right along with them. Although she smoked a lot less than they did, usually only when she was drinking. 

“A good roommate wouldn’t smoke in the room at all,” Mary said. 

“You don’t mind when it’s weed that I’m sharing,” Marlene pointed out.

Mary relented. “Fine, smoke all the cigs you want.”

“We will, thanks,” Marlene said, blowing smoke out the window. 

“You’re wearing that tomorrow night, right?” Mary asked, changing the topic.

Lily raised an eyebrow. “What’s tomorrow?”

Marlene gasped. “It’s Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw,” she said, hitting Lily’s arm as a reprimand for forgetting. “And you will be wearing one of my jumpers. I can’t have you supporting Slytherin again.”

“I wasn’t supporting Slytherin,” Lily said for what felt like the millionth time. “I just happen to look good in green.”

“Well you look even better in red,” Marlene said. 

“I don’t fit into your jumpers,” Lily pointed out.

“Yes, you do.”

“They’re tight.”

“Yeah, but that makes you look hot.”

Lily laughed. “No, it does not.”

Marlene gave her a look. “Are they uncomfortably tight?”

“Well, no-”

“Then you’re wearing one.”

Mary clapped. “And then this outfit for the victory party!”

“Mary!” Marlene said, knocking on the wood of the dresser immediately. Marlene was always incredibly superstitious before a game. 

“What?”

“You can’t call victory before the game!”

“Yes, I can.”

“You don’t get to borrow one of my quidditch jumpers,” Marlene said to Mary.

“I didn’t want one,” Mary said.

They went to sleep not long after that, and Lily was feeling incredibly excited about her new hair. She didn’t care about boys being stupid, or the fact that she was mad at someone who had become a really good friend to her in the past month. That was all stuff for Lily to deal with in the future.