Pandora's gone mad...
Lily woke with a start to Mary’s wide eyes staring at her. It was still dark.
“Merlin, Mary.”
“So? How was it?” She asked, eagerly sitting herself on top of Lily.
“Who was it?” Marlene said dryly from the other side of the room. She heard a pillow thump in response, and Marlene’s hissed comment back; “Seriously Em?”
“Was it really necessary to wake me over this?” Lily murmured, wishing she was asleep.
“Yes.” They chorused.
Lily sighed heavily and threw back her covers. “It was just Dora, okay? I knew it was.”
She heard three groans of disappointment. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, Lily. Why did you not tell us?” Lily looked over to Emmeline’s bed, where she was sat on the end, feet rested on her trunk, head in hands. There was a flicker of humour in her eyes. Lily ignored it.
She shrugged. “Didn’t think it was important. Now–” she interrupted herself with a yawn. “–can I please go back to sleep?”
It was Remus, alongside Peter, that Lily found sitting in the Common Room later, after she had woken fully. They were engaged in in what appeared to be a very tense game of Wizarding Chess and had developed a growing crowd of spectators; Remus and Peter’s games tended to be quite…explosive. Lily sat down on the edge of the sofa nearest to her, watching. The two boys were sat across from each other, still like statues, almost as if they were attempting occlumency on their opponent.
“Who’s winning?” She asked the third year sat next to her.
“No one’s sure.” He replied. “Though, my money’s on Pettigrew; Lupin looks too tense to be winning.” Almost on cue, Remus’ side on the board let out a hiss of smoke.
Lily looked away from the game, scanning the crowd, until she found the other half of the marauders. Uncharacteristically quiet, Sirius and James were sat on the sofa opposite the game. James appeared uninterested, levitating his Quidditch magazine above him. Sirius, on the other hand, was enthralled by the game. He never took his eyes away from Remus, though that was hardly out of character for him, watching his every move. The game continued and the dip between Sirius’ brows deepened. Eventually, a series of explosions erupted from the chess board signifying the end to the game. Remus and Peter stood; Peter stretched out a hand.
“Good game.” Peter said, with a satisfied smirk.
Remus pushed him down on the sofa. “I’ll get you next time Wormy.” He replied with a huff.
Peter just laughed. Remus’ lip turned up in the smallest of smiles before he ruffled Peter’s hair and nudged him on the shoulder. During their small exchange, much of the crowd had left to return to their dorms. Only Lily, Sirius and James remained. Sirius crossed the length of the room only to drop himself on top of Remus.
“You’re the winner in my eyes Moony!” He said with a wink. And Remus’ hand made its way into Sirius’ hair again.
Lily was too preoccupied watching the two of them to notice that James had made his way over to her. He was all smiles when he looked at her.
“Lily!” He exclaimed.
“James.” She replied.
“It’s Hogsmede weekend.”
“That it is, Potter.”
“How about it, you and me?”
“Evans is off the market Potter, haven’t you heard?” A small voice interrupted from behind. Word of her ‘little gift’ must’ve made its rounds – she blamed Mary.
“Aurora!” Remus admonished. “What have I said about listening into my friends’ conversations.”
“You said not tae.” His sister replied with a very Sirius-looking grin, her accent much thicker than her brother’s. The two Lupin siblings exchanged a silent look before she broke it off and walked over to her fourth-year friends. Remus sent an apologetic look Lily’s way before tucking Sirius’ head under his chin.
“For the record, I’m not.” Lily said, returning to the conversation. “It’s still a ‘no’ James.”
“One of these days, you’ll stop resisting me, Evans.” James said, his face unperturbed.
Over the next week, Lily found she was unable to escape James’ attempts. He appeared at her desk to carry her books, brought her flowers and sweets, and even offered to study in the library with her one day. It was exhausting turning him down so often; how did he have the courage to be turned down so often? At times, Lily wished she could just like him. I mean why didn’t she? He was attractive, yes, she could see that much. He was funny, charming, and smart; any girl would be lucky to have the attention James lavished her with. Most importantly, James was nice. His attention was unwanted, but he was never rude or mean when Lily refused him. Not once. Yet, she could not understand why she did not want to go out with him.
Lily turned her attention towards the Ravenclaw table, seeking out Pandora. When she spotted the blonde, she noticed that a certain Baby Black was also sat at her table. There were no official rules, per se, about house seating arrangements, however it was sort of unwritten that you sat with your house during mealtimes, this clearly did not seem to bother Regulus, who seemed perfectly fine among blue ties instead of green, this evening. She watched the two sixth years exchange, what looked like, quiet pleasantries. Regulus’ eyes flicked towards where his Slytherin friends sat at the table over, Lily followed his eyeline; she watched as the other Rosier twin attempt to signal something to a confused Regulus while Barty looked like he was trying not to laugh. Regulus then appeared to have given up with the conversation he was trying to have with Dora. Lily felt her lips turn up slightly in amusement.
A day or two later, during breakfast, a note was dropped next to her tea (little milk and a little sugar). It was a penmanship she recognised as Pandora’s; the following message was written on the soft blue/grey paper.
“Mo, leòmhann,
an duilgheadas na bhun.”
Though the words on the paper stayed the same, Lily heard them spoken to her in a way she understood, the words filling her head.
“Mo, leòmhann…The problem at the root.”
Then the letters on the page changed and initials appeared in the top corners – RAB and JFP. Regulus and James. Lily looked up, trying find Pandora in the sleepy Hogwarts hall. It took her a second but eventually found her next to the entrance, halfway up the stairs. Lily shoved the note into the pocket of her robes, and tried to finish her tea as quickly, and unsuspiciously, as possible.
“Where’s the fire, Lils?” Marlene asked, dryly, from across the table. Lily held her eyes closed for a moment before opening them to look at Marlene – clearly, she had done a terrible job of nonchalance.
“Nowhere! I just realised…I left my book in my room. I’ll meet you in Potions!” And with that, Lily headed for the exit.
“We have Runes not Potions, by the way!” Marlene shouted to her. Lily stuck two fingers up behind her, she heard Marlene cackle in response.
“Rosier, hey! Pandora – Dora!” She managed to catch the Ravenclaw before she disappeared into the depth of Hogwarts’ corridors. Pandora turned to face her then, a smirk dimpling her freckled cheek. She looked startling like her brother with that expression – full of mischief and a touch of something else, Lily wasn’t sure what it was.
“I’ve had an idea.” Was all she said, her blue eyes storming with excitement.
“Well?” Lily said impatiently.
“I know how we can solve our beag trioblaid. Our little boy problem, Lily. Sweet somaltanean.”
“Dora… what–”
“We date them.” Pandora said finally.
“Sorry…we’re doing what?!”
Lily stood, staring at the small blonde in front of her, wondering if she had finally lost her mind. “How is us dating them going to fix our problem?” Dora’s smile widened, which Lily did not think possible; she looked a bit manic.
Pandora grabbed Lily by the shoulders. “Chan eil. No, see we’re not actually dating them, leòmhann, they’re going to think we are but, really, they are going to be dating each other, not us.”
“Dora, I don’t understand your riddles. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, we set them up under the guise of double dates!”
“That’s not going to work – they don’t like each other like that! This is not going to work Dora.”
Pandora hummed unconcerned. “I have… a feeling.”
As if prompted, the boys in question walked in view – together – of the two girls, and into the Main Hall. There seemed a slight awkward conversation as they split to their respective tables, Lily would have thought nothing of it, had Pandora not said what she had just said. Lily watched as James ruffled his hair and looked slightly over his shoulder – to Regulus’ retreating form, before catching Lily’s eye.
Lily then watched as James Potter blushed.