Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 31 - Witch direction?
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Kassie watched the oak door to the potion room slam after the exit of Professor McClure and she sighed deeply, spun around and found herself on the receiving end of Bellatrix Black's wand. She wanted badly to close her eyes, and not see the look of glee on the other witch's face as she pronounced her curse, but she refrained. If she was going to stand up to Bellatrix, she was going to do it with her eyes open and her wits about her. The Slytherin in front of her flicked her wand and Kassie prepared herself.

"Cataracia!"

Even though every nerve in Kassie's body jerked, willing her to flinch, she didn't. And it was probably a good thing since the beam of light that left Bellatrix's wand didn't hit her, but locked the door behind them. This split second, however, did give Kassie time to pull her own wand and take a step back.

"Now that we won't be disturbed by my charming cousin and his idiot friends," Bellatrix said, grinning insanely. She took two lazy steps to the side and Kassie watched her like a hawk. With her own wand in hand, instead of thinking about her fear, she thought about every counter-curse she had ever learned. Unfortunately there wasn't anything useful coming to mind and Bellatrix was talking. Kassie rolled her eyes, all the girl ever did was talk, talk, talk. Kassie wondered idly if the Slytherin actually knew any curses or was she all talk?

"...it's needless to tell you that my master is not very happy with you and your kind. The magical school should be for magical families, not muggles that happen to spit out a weaker version of our race." On and on Bellatrix went, talking about her "master" and his "plans" for the magical community, and his "purging" of the mudbloods. Kassie watched her lips move and thought if all of these so-called Death Eaters were this stupid then Voldemort wasn't as big a threat as the Ministry thought. Sure, Bellatrix's wand was trained right on her heart, but she was so caught up in talking Kassie wondered if she could get a curse or a disarming charm in and be done with this. Deciding to test this theory, Kassie raised her wand, "Expell--"

Unfortunately, Bellatrix was faster than Kassie gave her credit for. As Kassie tried to disarm the other girl, several things happened. Bellatrix fired a curse at Kassie, the dungeon door flew open, a black shield formed between the two girls, Kassie was roughly thrown to the side, and through it all the sounds of Bellatrix's screams filled the room.

Kassie blinked, trying to rub the dust out of her eyes. She looked up only to find herself blinded by black robes. She tried to move, but the weight on her was larger than she had first thought and the only thing she managed to do was edge the end of her wand out of her arm where it had poked her. As suddenly as they had started, Bellatrix's screamed died. The room went eerily quiet, and the sound of her own breathing mingling with the breath of the person over her was as loud as a marching band in her ears.

"What happened?" Lily said from somewhere to the left of Kassie. The dust started to clear and as it did so the person on top of her moved. As always, it was Sirius who had shoved her out of harm's way. It was starting to be a constant, she mused as he helped her to her feet. Beside them James was standing next to Lily, who had her wand pointing to a black shield that was standing between them and Bellatrix.

"It backfired," Remus answered sternly, his wand raised and trained towards Bellatrix like he expected her to jump up and throw curses. Kassie glanced his direction, then looked again. His eyes were so hard. She had never seen that look on him, he looked so different. Remus was usually a kind, even-tempered wizard who never raised his voice. But now his face was hard, his chin seemed to be carved out of stone. Slowly Kassie looked to Sirius, but he wasn't paying attention to Remus. He was looking at Bellatrix, who was lying on the dungeon floor.

James took a step toward the shield. "Was that what I thought it was?"

"The Cruciatus curse," Sirius said, his voice so low that Kassie jumped slightly. Why had she never noticed this side of them before? Why did they suddenly seem so much older than fourteen? Was this the effect Voldemort was having on her generation?

For a few minutes they stood in silence, looking at the crumbled form of Bellatrix Black laying on the floor. Then suddenly Lily jerked her wand up and the black shield disappeared. Remus shook his head and turned toward Peter, who was standing near the door. Without a word he left the room. Sirius moved to follow, indicating Kassie should go ahead of him, but instead she was watching Lily. The redhead still had her wand in hand and was staring at Bellatrix as if she longed to throw a few nasty curses at her while she was down.

"Lily," James said softly, reaching for her arm. She jerked it out of his grasp and took a step forward. "No Lily," James pleaded.

"Obliviate," Lily said softly. A silver light erupted from her wand and hit Bellatrix straight in the temple. James grabbed her arm again, but this time she didn't struggle. They went out of the room, leaving Sirius and Kassie alone.

Kassie stared at Bellatrix for a long moment. "What about Professor McClure?" she finally asked, her voice a near whisper.

"What about her?"

"If she finds Bellatrix here, she'll think I did something to her. Shouldn't we tell someone what she tried to do?"

Sirius shook his head, sending a few stray pieces of black hair across his forehead. "No. Lily did a memory charm, I'm assuming to keep her from remembering what happened here. If she can't remember, then it's a safe bet if McClure finds her here she won't be able to say anything. If McClure asks you, just say you left and she was still here and you don't know what happened."

Kassie nodded thoughtfully, threw one last glance at Bellatrix (who had started to stir as she and Sirius talked) and left the room praying that Bellatrix hadn't been lying there awake and listening to them.

***********

The next morning, Lily woke up early. She blinked at the sun, looked at her clock and moaned. "Why do I have to wake up at such ungodly hours at the weekend, but oversleep during the week?" she asked aloud. On the bed next to her, Kassie groaned.

The rather loud sound of birds singing drifted into the room as Lily tossed and turned, trying to go back to sleep. She had had horrible nightmares all night about Slytherin house members breaking into the Gryffindor common room and cursing everyone because of what happened to Bellatrix. To top it off, she woke up not with a fear of Slytherin house, but with a thought that made her want to go over and pound James in the head.

About an hour later, after lying in bed on her back and brooding over this new revelation about James and his friends, Lily gave up on sleep and yanked her curtains back. Determinedly she jumped off her bed, walked ten feet, pulled the curtains back on Kassie's bed and jumped onto the mattress. Kassie squeaked out a scream, leapt into the air, jumped to the opposite side of the bed and fell into the floor with a very ungraceful "thump".

"Owww," the black haired witch moaned, sitting up and rubbing her elbow. "Who needs Bellatrix Black to curse you when your own best friend is after your skin?" she muttered, fumbling back onto her bed and shoving at Lily. "Go away. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean I can't."

"I've had an idea," Lily said instead of responding to Kassie's mad rambling. She yanked Kassie's pillow off her head and threw it into the floor. Muttering darkly, Kassie groped for her pillow with her eyes shut against the light the sun was pouring on her bed. "Do you want to hear it?"

"No," Kassie replied, pulling the blanket over her head. "But you're going to tell me anyway, right?"

"Yes," Lily said, yanking at Kassie's blanket. "So listen. I was thinking, you know how we thought it strange that James and Sirius have been following us? And Peter and Remus have been following everyone else?" She poked Kassie to be sure she was awake and continued when Kassie finally gave in and pulled the blanket off her head. "Well, didn't that start right about the time we ran into Snape in the corridor after the Christmas holiday? Do you think that somehow they found out about that and decided to follow us?"

"And what, protect us?" Kassie retorted. Her eyes grew huge after the words left her mouth. She leaned up on her elbows, staring at the redhead as if she hadn't properly seen her before this moment. "They would do that, wouldn't they?"

Lily nodded triumphantly. "House of the noble, brave and stupid, remember? They would do that."

"It's like they don't think we can handle ourselves," Kassie muttered. "And I'll thank them to remember that shield charm you performed last night. It blocked Black's curse, and that was an unfo--mmmmppph!"

Lily slapped her hand across Kassie's mouth and giggled nervously. She nodded her head towards the other beds to indicate they weren't alone. Kassie nodded and Lily moved her hands. "The point is," Kassie began again, sitting up completely now that she was a bit more awake. "We can handle ourselves nicely."

"No, the point is that they should have told us. Let's face it, I'm not keen on the idea of running into a bunch of Slytherins alone in a dark corridor. And if they are following us, at least that would even out the odds a bit. But they should have told us."

"That, too," Kassie agreed. "So what do we do?"

"Well, that goes to the idea I've had."

*************

One tower over, in the fourth-year boys’ dorm, four of the five fourth-year Gryffindor boys hadn't been to sleep yet. The fifth Gryffindor fourth-year was currently sleeping on the sofa in the common room because of the other four staying up. But sleep was the least of their worries at the moment, because Sirius Black had grown hair.

A lot of hair, at that.

James Potter was laying on his back, on the floor, howling in laughter as tears poured down his face in glee. Remus was chuckling, holding his wand up, but not steadily, and Peter was doubled over in silent laughter as Sirius stared at the three of them with a huge grin. "I don't see any of you three with hair!" he announced, looking back in the mirror with a smile that stretched across his whiskered face.

James' only response to this was to point at Sirius' behind and begin laughing again. "You--*gasp*--have--*gasp*--a tail!"

"Too bloody bad I can't move it!" Sirius complained, turning in the mirror to admire the long, black tail that had grown from his rear. It hung limply on the floor next to his bare -- and human -- feet. His hands were covered in black fur, his face was whiskered, and floppy ears protruded from his head. Otherwise, Sirius Black was human. From his ten toes to his forehead. Ignoring his friend's laughter, he admired his self in the mirror for a moment longer before turning and declaring in a very serious voice; "Is it safe to say my animagus is a dog?"

"Pretty safe," Remus laughed, holding onto the edge of the dresser. He had nearly got control of himself, but his jaw was sore from laughing. It had surprised them all, when at four o'clock this morning Sirius had begun sprouting whiskers. And then a tail. And the ears were icing on the cake. Remus wondered idly if James had wet himself. He had laughed so hard, pointing and then laughing more. Sirius didn't seem to mind, though. He was completely happy with his one-third transformation. It was the first change any of them had seen since trying to do the animagi transformations. It was a huge step forward in their progress, and a huge leap backwards for James' ability to handle situations with calmness.

Finally Sirius grew tired of examining his limp tail and he turned to Remus. "Well, mate, let's see if you really know the reverse for this."

"Shouldn't you try to get rid of it yourself, first?" Remus asked.

"Oh yeah," Sirius replied. He closed his eyes, but James' snickering penetrated his concentration and he ended up throwing a hair brush in his general direction. It hit the wall and crashed to the stone floor. "Shut up, I'm meditating here," Sirius warned, not opening his eyes. James either shut up or held his hand over his mouth, because suddenly there was complete silence. For a long moment nothing happened. Sirius concentrated on becoming human again, but it seemed it wasn't working. And then, out of nowhere, he remembered something he had read in one of the books about animagi. Concentrate on one aspect at a time. Determinedly Sirius concentrated on making the ears disappear, then his whiskers, the hair on his hands, and his tail. When he opened his eyes and looked in the mirror, his whiskers were still in tact.

"That's an excellent start," Remus said, waving his wand. The whiskers disappeared and he let out a sigh of relief. "And it's good to find I don't only know the counterspell in theory."

Peter watched in awe as Sirius checked to make sure he wasn't still sporting a black, limp tail. James had finally gained control over his laughter and was only grinning widely. "So, who's next?" Sirius said. Suddenly, though, James stood up and ran to the doorway. He opened it, stuck his head out and listened. A second later he ran back in the room, grabbing shoes. "What?" Sirius asked. Remus and Peter had both jumped up.

"I hear the girls going downstairs," James said, pulling his trainers on and grabbing his wand. "Awfully early, isn't it?"

Sirius, Remus and Peter shrugged, but also grabbed their own shoes and shoved them on. By the time they left, James had already made it halfway down the stairs to the common room. "Wait up, mate," Sirius hissed, taking the steps two at a time. "Do you have a tracking charm on them or something?"

James blushed, with even his ears turning a bit red. "Just something to let me know when they leave their room," James muttered and ran down the rest of the steps. Sirius shook his head and barked out a laugh before following.

By the time they got to the portrait hole, all six of the Gryffindor girls had gone downstairs. Going as fast as they dared, the Marauders followed them, trying to stay quiet but not really succeeding because Peter stubbed his toe and let out a curse or two. "Shut up and come on!" Sirius hissed at the shorter boy, only glancing back to be sure Peter was still with them.

When they got to the bottom of the steps, the corridor diverged, going off in two directions. Gabrielle, Kathleen and Madison were going one way and Kassie, Lily and Alexis were going the other. James and Sirius followed one corridor and Remus and Peter followed the other.

With Hogwarts being a huge castle, complete with trick steps, moving doors, disappearing rooms, and more corridors than one could count in a day, it would be easy to loose two boys. And that is exactly what each group of girls was setting out do to. So when the corridor they had chosen split again, Kathleen went one direction, Gabrielle another and Madison yet another. Remus and Peter stopped, looked at each other, at the three corridors and back at each other.

Peter was the first to voice what they were both thinking. "What do we do now?"

Remus stared at the girl's retreating backs for a moment, then back down the corridor they had just come from. "I've an idea we're being tricked."

Two corridors and one staircase over, James and Sirius were stealthily following the remaining three Gryffindor girls. The witches were talking and laughing, acting for all the world as if they had no idea they were being followed. James and Sirius continued on, trying to walk casually, lest one of the girls notice them, and watching the corridor at the same time, in case a Slytherin should pop out of the woodwork. Or stonework, as the case may be. But as they reached the end of the corridor, suddenly the three witches went in three different directions. Sirius and James, completely dumbfounded, stopped and watched their retreating backs. "What now?" James muttered.

"I follow Kassie, you follow Lily," Sirius ticked the list off his fingers, but then his eyes fell on the retreating back of Alexis. "Damn."

Before they could decide which witch to follow, the sound of approaching footsteps made both wizards turn and pull their wands. They were greeted, however, with Remus and Peter, both whom were out of breath and looking more than a bit angry. "Let me guess," Peter said sarcastically as he and Remus came to a stop before Sirius and James. "They split up on you, didn’t they?"

"How'd you know?" Sirius asked.

"Gabrielle, Kathleen and Madison did the same to us," Remus replied, rolling his eyes. "I think they may be on to us."

"Do you think?" a female voice suddenly said. All four boys jumped nearly out of their skins, and only just managed their innocent looks as they turned to face the six Gryffindor fourth-year girls. It was Lily who had spoken, and from the looks of her hands on her hips and her green eyes blazing, she wasn't done. "Loose something?"

James muttered something under his breath and Sirius stood on his toe to hush him. Which might have worked had James not yelped and glared at his best friend accusingly. Sirius laughed rather unconvincingly. "We were looking for the way to the Great Hall. You know, with all the moving staircases, it's hard to get there sometimes."

"Sirius Black, you could find your way from the North Tower to the Great Hall with your eyes shut," Kassie retorted, folding her arms across her chest. "Try again."

"You obviously know what we were doing," Remus calmly suggested, much to the dismay of his three best friends. "So why all the questions? Shouldn't you go ahead and start on telling us off?"

"Yes, but we'd much rather hear it from your innocent looking mouths," Alexis said.

"Fair enough," Kathleen suddenly interrupted the blonde, throwing her a slightly apologetic look as she did so. "Then we'll cut to the chase. Why have you four been following us for over a month?"

James' face turned an odd shade of green and Lily resisted the urge to giggle. Obviously they thought they were being very secretive about following the girls, and hadn't the first clue that the witches knew. "How did you know?" James asked, confirming their suspicions.

Sirius stepped on his toe again, only this time a lot harder. James yelped and jumped into the air as Sirius hissed, "Subtle, James, real subtle." He then turned his blue eyes to the six witches in question. "Ladies, we confess, we were worried about your safety and thought it best if we just tagged along a bit, to make sure you didn't get cornered. And judging by the events of past evening, we were right in our concerns. So are you going to hang us for worrying about you?"

"Yes!" Lily and Kassie said together, a bit louder than either expected. Sirius cowered back a bit, his eyes as round as saucers. That obviously wasn't the answer he expected. Before Lily or Kassie could begin a fully fledged rant, however, Gabrielle and Kathleen turned and at the same time asked; "What happened last night?"

Lily looked to the heavens, as if searching for advice. "We'll tell you later," Kassie muttered, turning her attention back to Sirius. "While we're discussing the events of past evening, as you put it, did you forget that we took care of ourselves perfectly well?"

"Of course you did!" Sirius retorted, his innocent face gone now, replaced with one that, had Kassie ever seen it before, she would have recognized as worry. But since she hadn't, she continued on. "Who performed a perfect shield charm that blocked Bellatrix's curse?" she fired back at him.

"Who had to throw you out of the way of that curse?" Sirius backfired, taking a step towards Kassie. The rest of the fourth-years watched in fascination as the couple's voice rose.

"Nobody asked you to!" Kassie retorted.

"Oh, and wait, that wasn't the first time I've pulled you out of the way of a curse, was it?"

"Well maybe if YOUR FAMILY WASN'T SO EVIL--" The words escaped Kassie's mouth and almost immediately she wished she could take them back. But what had been done was done. Sirius' face drained of what little colour he had left in it and he shut his mouth with a snap. Kassie looked as if she was going to apologise, but she didn't have the chance. Sirius had turned away, mumbled something under his breath that sounded like "I won't bother, then," and stalked off down the corridor.

Kassie watched him go, her eyes filling with tears that no one but Lily saw before she blinked them back. Without a word, she walked off the other direction. Lily threw one last look at James, Remus and Peter before turning and walking off towards the Great Hall. Alexis, Gabrielle, Kathleen and Madison followed her silently. When they finally made it to the double oak doors in front of the Hall where breakfast was being served, Kathleen spoke. "She's got it bad for him, hasn't she?"

Lily jerked her head up, a bit surprised. She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so," she muttered. "Look, I'll catch up with you all later. I'm going to take Kassie some breakfast."

The four girls nodded as Lily gathered up a stack of toast and two glasses of pumpkin juice. She started upstairs, hoping she didn't run into the Marauders. Luckily, wherever they had gone to find Sirius, it wasn't along any of the seven staircases to the Gryffindor Tower. She climbed through the portrait hole, thinking that Kassie would be in their room. Instead she found her sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace in the Common Room.

Lily made her way over and placed the stack of toast and glasses on the floor before sitting down herself. "I thought you'd be hungry," Lily offered, nodding towards the food and taking a piece for herself. She wanted badly to start asking questions, but if she knew Kassie like she thought she did, there would be no need. She wasn't disappointed.

After sitting in silence and eating for a few minutes, Kassie suddenly sighed heavily and threw her crusts into the grate. "I didn't mean to say that."

"I know," Lily replied, not looking at Kassie, but at the sun light that was slowly filling the room they were sitting in.

Kassie took a last drink from her glass and set it down hard on the floor. "What is it about him that makes me so--so--irritable? He always makes me say and do things I don't mean to."

"Do things?" Lily asked, grinning a bit. "Is there something you need to share with your best friend?"

"No!" Kassie said, a bit too quickly and definitely too loud. "I mean, well, see? I can't even talk about it."

Lily laughed a bit. "I know what you mean. It's like Sirius brings out the worst in you sometimes." Lily pondered this for a moment while Kassie was nodding, eager to agree. "But Kassie, sometimes he brings out the best in you, too."

That Kassie didn't want to agree with. She glared sideways at Lily for a full minute while Lily decided that Kassie definitely didn't see things the way she and Kathleen did. Another long stretch of silence filled the room, this one only slightly more comfortable than the last, while Lily searched her brain for things to take Kassie's mind off her troubles.

"Hey!" Lily suddenly said, her voice light and cheery. She had the perfect thing to distract Kassie. "Did I show you the horrid dress I have to wear for my sister's wedding?"

Kassie jumped on the opportunity. "No! How could you? Come on, I have to see this!"

**********

Elsewhere in the castle; on a rooftop, more precisely, James, Remus and Peter were attempting to calm Sirius down. His current activities included pacing back and forth on the ledge, overlooking the ground at seven stories up, and blasting small insects with his wand. As another fly became victim of what was Sirius' current rage, James kicked his feet forward and crossed his arms over his chest.

At the end of last year the boys had discovered a set of stairs that appeared behind a door that disappeared every half hour for fifteen minutes. The stairs led to a large, flat rooftop that, if they were judging correctly, was located between the Astronomy and Divination towers, but visible from neither.

Deciding this was the perfect place to get away from everything if the need should arise (and it did, especially if they were in need of a hiding place from the caretaker and his stupid cat) they had brought up a few squishy arm chairs from a spare classroom on the first floor, a small table and a broomstick to get down if the door happened to disappear and they needed to get down fast. Unless it was raining, the rooftop was a perfect "home away from home" setting for the four boys to get away in.

Because the Marauders spent so much time up on this roof, it was not a big surprise when James, Remus and Peter found Sirius here after his encounter with Kassie. Currently James was leant back, relaxing in one of the armchairs, while Peter sat in the other and Remus leaned against the wall just behind and to the left of them. Sirius, acting for all the world as if he didn't know the three of them was there, was muttering darkly to himself and pacing faster.

"Mate, you know she didn't mean it," Peter suggested lightly.

Suddenly Sirius' head snapped up and the three wizards had a sneaking suspicion that Peter had just said the wrong thing. Sirius' next words only confirmed it. "Meant it?" he whispered, jumping off the ledge and towards them, his wand still in hand. "She should have never let the thought cross her bloody mind!"

"We kno--" James began, but had no change to finish.

Suddenly Sirius took a deep breath and turned his back on his three friends. His voice carried through the wind and made a small shiver run down James' spine. "I'm through with her. All witches. They are back stabbing, good for nothing... I'm through."

As Sirius stalked away, slamming the door behind him, James, Remus and Peter gazes met and Remus let out a long, deep sigh. "When he calms down he'll be ok."

Remus and Peter followed Sirius, leaving James alone on the rooftop. He looked out across the grounds, then towards the sky where dark clouds were rolling in from the west. A small spark of lightning flashed, followed by a roll of thunder. The clouds rushed across the sky, covering the nearly full moon. With a sigh of worry about too many things, James stuffed his hands deep in his jean pockets and went inside just as the first raindrop fell.

************

Kassie flicked her wand towards a crumbled piece of what was most likely the ugliest looking green material on the face of the Earth. It floated up to approximately two feet off the ground and hung limply, revolving slowly. Kassie wrinkled her nose in distaste and glanced at Lily. "It looks even uglier like this."

"Thanks," Lily replied dryly, sitting cross-legged on her bed and flipping through a charms book. She glanced at a few of the charms, muttered under her breath and pointed her wand to the dress. "What if I were to change the colour?"

"Oooh, a deep green, like your eyes, would be pretty," Kassie approved, levitating the dress higher and inspecting the hem. "And something to decorate up the bottom here, maybe add a train."

Lily grinned wickedly and slammed the book shut, throwing it aside. "My dear sister would kill me, you know," Lily said, excitement making her blood run faster.

Kassie tilted her head as if in deep thought and then her violet eyes lit up. "Not if she didn't see it until the ceremony."

Lily leapt from the bed to stand at Kassie's side. Both girls looked at the revolving revolting dress thoughtfully, both of them cracking identical evil grins. "Sounds like a plan," Lily said, nodding once and clapping her hands together. She pointed her wand thoughtfully at the dress, narrowed her eyes and flicked her wrist.

Kassie nearly fell to the floor with glee. "That--!"

"Looks terrible, I know!" Lily gasped, nearly dropping her wand in surprise. "I wasn't exactly thinking of that colour green!" Shaking her head a bit, she pictured in her mind the colour of her eyes and flicked her wand again. This time the pale green fabric erupted into a deep, emerald green, starting at the bottom hem and working its way quickly to the top until the entire dress was the same colour. Lily looked to Kassie, who nodded approvingly.

"What about the arms?" Kassie said, levitating the dress closer. "I don't like the sleeves. It's going to be hot, I think spaghetti straps would be wonderful."

"Hmmm," Lily said thoughtfully. "I don't care much for them. Quarter sleeves?" With a twist of her wrist, it was done. She walked slowly around so that she was standing opposite Kassie. "Well?"

"Rather dignified, if you ask me," Kassie replied smartly, looking down her nose in her best impersonation of Petunia. "But this horrible length must go. I don't know a soul who wears mid-calf in a wedding."

"Agreed," Lily replied, also in a tone of voice that suggested that she had a sinus infection. She was so tempted to burst into giggles. It was good to make fun of Petunia for once. She had been right when she had told Petunia that she would be the freak here. Lily pointed her wand at the hem of the dress and envisioned a beautiful layered train that would gracefully glide across the floor, but not drag. The material adjusted itself accordingly.

Kassie made the dress rotate in air so that they could see every angle. Where once the dress had been a horrible sea green, mid-calf length with sleeves that ended at the elbows it now looked as if it was the most expensive haute couture gown. Lily applied one last spell that would make it sparkle just a little and stood back to admire her charm work. The dress was now slightly off shoulder with quarter length sleeves, a fitting bodice that flowed gracefully to the floor, ending in a semi-short train.

Lily sat back on her bed, still staring at the beautiful dress before her. She bit her bottom lip. "I can't leave it like that, you know."

"What?" Kassie asked, accidentally letting go of her wand. The dress crumbled to the floor in a heap. Kassie flicked her wand to bring it back up. "Why not?"

"Could you imagine Petunia if I showed up in this?" Lily muttered.

Kassie plucked the dress from the air and laid it out on Lily's bed. She then sat down beside her best friend and looked her straight in the eye. "Who cares?" Lily started to open her mouth to declare that quite a few people would care, and she would be happy to list every last one of them, but Kassie cut her off. "You can't honestly tell me that you want to embarrass yourself in front of your entire family. Not to mention Vernon's." Kassie winked, suddenly, grinning a bit. "Besides, if you show up looking like you live on the streets, Vernon's family may be so horrified that they keep him from marrying your sister. And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"

Despite herself, Lily grinned and looked down at the dress again. "You're right," she admitted. "I wouldn't want to ruin my sister's wedding. Merlin forbid, we might not find someone else to take her off our hands."

--End chapter 31.