Chapter 5
The Christmas holidays were coming faster than expected. The teachers were all a bit more relaxed and so were the students. Even Lily and Remus were taking a break from studying to get into the Christmas mood.
Now it was the last school day. With tears in her eyes she hugged her friend. "I'll miss you so much Marls!" "Calm down Flower, I'll be back in two weeks!"
Lily wiped her nose and laughed slightly. "Say your little brother hi from me" "of course"
One last hug, then Marlene was gone.
She felt kinda alone in her girls dorm now. It wasn't this quiet in such a long time. With every day that passed by, it seemed even more silent.
Somehow, the time went by after all and suddenly it was the day before Christmas Eve.
The day before the last Hogsmeade visit of the year and her date. She didn't know where to go with her thoughts, so she tried to sort them and think about what she had to prepare. Like ... her outfit.
Usually, Marlene would help her pick something since Lily didn't have the creativity to create pretty outfits, but she isn't here right now...
But she could really need another girl opinion about what outfit she should wear. Then she had an idea. She went out of her door and knocked at the door from the second girls dorm. Luckily, a girl she knew quite well opened. Lily smiled at her. "Hi Alice! Do you have time right now? I might need a little help in some girl things."
Alice returned the smile. "Of course, what's wrong?" "I've got a date tomorrow and need an outfit."
"Uhh, I like that! It's a pleasure to help you." She turned back in her room to close a photo album on her bed, then she followed Lily into her dorm.
Lily sat on her bed while Alice looked through her closet. "I just wear school uniforms all the time. And the rest of the time I don't care what I'm wearing. But now ...", Lily tried to explain. "Don't worry darling, we'll find something for you", Alice calmed her down.
She pulled out some things and showed them to Lily. "What about this combo? I think it'll look cute on you!" "Not this hoodie. James always makes fun of it." "Alright, then we'll find something different!" Alice threw them back in the closet and continued looking. "What about a dress?" "No, it's winter! It'd definitely be too cold for that."
After a while, they found something Lily was happy with. A colourful sweater with a plain Jeans. Alice convinced Lily to let her draw a smiley face on it. "Perfect!" Alice beamed. "Thank you so much", Lily said gratefully and gave her a short hug. "Anytime", the girl grinned and disappeared into her own dorm.
There was still one thing missing... So she went to the boys dorm. There were Sirius and Remus talking excitedly. "Oh, am I disrupting you at something?" "Not at all", Remus smiled at her kindly. "What's the matter?" "Sirius, can I borrow your dark blue boots tomorrow?" Sirius looked at her confused. "Uhm... Yeah? Ah, because of your date, right? Sure, wait a second!" He stood up and pulled them out from under his bed. "Thank you, see you guys later!", she waved them goodbye.
She arranged all of her clothes for tomorrow and couldn't suppress a smile. When she asked herself what she could do now, she realized it was already time for dinner.
She knew she couldn't eat a single bite if she was with the boys right now, so she chose a seat next to some girls she knew from some of her classes, but never really talked to. But since they knew about her date (it would've been weird if they didn't after James' show) they were totally understandable.
They were really kind and tried to distract Lily from her nervosity by talking about anything but boys.
At least until the tables were cleared. While everyone else was standing up, going back to their common rooms, they remained seated and asked Lily if they could do anything to make her feel fully prepared. She explained that everything was already done. "And your hair?", one smaller girl asked. "I was just planning to just let it open." "No, you won't do that", the girl determined and ran her fingers through Lily's beautiful red hair. "I'll braid it. Just knock on my dorm tomorrow."
The girls got excited when they heard that and said that was a wonderful idea. They explained to Lily that Jenny's parents were muggle hair dressers who taught her beautiful braiding techniques.
At last, Jenny told her she was in the same dorm as Alice and the girls were all getting up together and leaving the great hall. Lily looked after them and was once again quite moved about how helpful everyone in Hogwarts was.
With a warm feeling in her heart she also got up, to her dorm and read a little bit in her book before going to bed.
James indeed wasn't quite sure if he should be totally calm or exhilarated. He already asked Sirius what he should wear so that was something he didn't have to worry about anymore. But he was still nervous if anything he had no influence on would go wrong. Remus tried to calm him down. "If you don't have any influence in it, you don't have to worry about it. Because you can't change it, even if it happens."
The only thing James did in the evening was practicing the Herbivicus Charm. He said earlier that he wanted to give her flowers on their first date, but since it was winter and no flowers growing, he had to help it a bit. With magic.
He only stopped when Remus got to him to shut the book. He looked him into his eyes and said:"For Merlin's sake, go to sleep, Prongs. It's late and we can't sleep with the light on. Everything will be fine tomorrow and you and Lily will have a wonderful first date. So, don't stress yourself too much and fucking go to sleep."
And exceptionally, James did as he was told and went to sleep.