Framboise et Coquelicot

Lily yawned as she stepped through the portrait hole the next morning. She loved going to Hogsmeade, but she could have done without Amy´s cheerful wake-up call. Well, it wasn´t exactly the cheerful wake-up call she resented, but rather the ungodly hour at which it was made. Half past six wasn´t what Lily considered a reasonable time to get up on a Saturday, even if a Hogsmeade trip was scheduled. But Amy and Beth, the other Gryffindor 6th year girls, had it in their heads that they should be the first ones to arrive in the village so they could have a look at all the novelties before the throng of students descended upon the village.

Walking through the corridors of Hogwarts could be quite a risky business, even if you were alert. You never knew for sure what surprises the old building held in store for you; it could range from tricky staircases to wandering classrooms - without forgetting, of course, the numerous creatures you never wanted to run into, Peeves being a perfect example. But walking through those same corridors half-asleep was nearly suicide. Lily wasn´t worried though. Amy had her arm in a death grip and was dragging her firmly to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast. She was sufficiently awake for both of them and Lily didn´t have to snap out of her sleepy daze. She could vaguely hear Beth babbling about how great the day was going to be and how wonderful it was to get out of the castle. Marian was silent and probably not quite awake either. They were lucky they didn´t have any important classes to attend.

The fresh autumn air did wonders for Lily and Marian though, and the four girls arrived in Hogsmeade in high spirits. It must have been around eight o´clock and the village presented a happy picture indeed. Most of the shops didn´t open before nine but a lot of people were walking along the main street, going about their usual business..

A gust of wind carried the divine aroma of fresh baked brioches and Lily´s mouth watered - she had barely had the time to eat a piece of toast before Amy ushered them all out of the Great Hall and she was still hungry. She looked longingly at Bel´s Breads & Brioches in front of which a small queue of witches and wizards was already forming on the street. "The best breads and brioches of the Wizarding world" was written in colourful lettering on the shop window, and Lily knew from experience that it was absolutely true.

Belinda Browning was one successful witch. A potion prodigy in her time at Hogwarts, she had chosen to use her gift to create irresistible recipes for the sweet-toothed people rather than to become a Potions Mistress at one of the renowned wizarding schools or devote herself to research. She was very proud of the fact that her recipes looked more like complicated formulae than anything else, and she claimed it was the reason for her success, which was probably true. Even the most hopeless at potions knew that a single drop could make a difference, or that simply by combining the ingredients of a given potion differently you would obtain a completely unexpected result. It made sense that someone good at potions would be good at cooking. Belinda, or Bel as she was more commonly known, was more than good: she had transformed it into an art, and had become very famous in the Wizarding world. She refused to open other shops in other places, though. "I started in Hogsmeade and in Hogsmeade I will stay," she often said. She had a couple of young witches working for her but she was never above standing behind the counter from time to time, especially when the Hogwarts students came flocking into the village. She was very fond of children. Lily recalled with some nostalgia her first visit to Hogsmeade at the beginning of her third year. She had stepped into the shop lured by the delicious smell, and Bel herself had handed Lily her very first `Summer Délice´, a wonderfully soft brioche

"Stop staring at BBB, Lily! You don´t want to add an ounce to that great figure of yours, believe me." Amy. Always the vain one.

"You´d better listen to Amy. You´ll want to look your best in the dress robes we´re going to buy today." Beth. Usually always agreeing with Amy on appearance matters.

Lily looked at Marian and rolled her eyes. "I won´t look like anything if I pass out because I didn´t have anything decent to eat since yesterday evening."

Amy didn´t seem put out; the contrary, in fact. "Well then, let´s just go to the Three Broomsticks. I must admit, I´m still hungry too. They serve a figure-friendly breakfast and we´ll be able to pass the time until the shops open," she said with a bright smile.

The four friends set off for the pub, walking arm in arm and occasionally bumping playfully against each other. Lily had a very special bond with Marian, and while she wouldn´t call Amy and Beth her close friends, the four of them got along pretty well. They always spent the first Hogsmeade trip of the year together and they had some kind of all girls evening from time to time. They would dress up like they did two days ago, talk about their problems, wishes, boys...it was mostly boys though.

The Three Broomsticks was almost empty when they stepped in. The pub never closed but not many people came in early on Saturday mornings. The `figure-friendly´ breakfast looked suspiciously like any breakfast served at Hogwarts but with the added bonus of free hot Honeymilk served in a self-refilling pitcher, Lily noted.

"So," Marian said between mouthfuls of warm porridge, "why are we supposed to buy dress robes today? We never use them at school."

"Correction. We never had any use for them..." Beth grinned, looking like the cat who got the cream. "Until now."

"What do you mean?" Lily frowned.

Amy leaned across the table and looked at her friends with an all-knowing expression. "There´s going to be a ball at the end of the year, in honour of the winner of the Duelling competition."

Lily´s frown deepened. "How do you know about the competition? Only the prefects were told about it at yesterday´s meeting. Anyway, the ball is going to be costume, not formal."

"They changed it, it´s going to be formal. I have my sources," Amy answered smugly.

Lily wanted to know more about Amy´s `sources´, but was prevented from enquiring further by Marian´s outburst.

"Hold on a minute! Where does that competition thing come from? I thought it was just going to be a club we would be free to go to if we wanted to learn about defence and all that. Lily?"

Lily shifted uneasily in her chair.

"Dumbledore kept his announcement rather vague. Everything will be explained at the special assembly tomorrow."

"So?" Marian was not deterred. "Since you obviously know all about it, you can tell us, it won´t hurt anyone. I bet James told his friends as soon as he came out of that prefect meeting."

"James can do what he pleases. It´s no concern of mine."

"Come on, we won´t tell a soul," Marian persisted. She looked at Beth and Amy for confirmation. The two girls nodded eagerly. Despite Amy´s `sources´, they didn´t know everything about the Duelling club, they just knew about the ball.

Lily gave in. Marian was right anyway. It wouldn´t hurt anyone to tell. "Fine, I´ll spill the beans," she said. She took a sip of Honeymilk before starting. "From next week on, Duelling is going to be a compulsory subject for everyone. We´ll even have a special uniform for it. They´ve sorted out six levels: first and second years together, and a level for every other year. There will only be one weekly lesson for each year, and that means that for the first time, the four houses will have a common lesson together. Now the Duelling club. It won´t be compulsory and only the fifth years upwards can join. You´ll be able to practice what you learn in class in a friendly environment, and as you know, practice makes you better. The best duellers from each house who are enrolled in the club will be asked to participate in the Duelling competition. They will fight each other several times during the year, exactly like Quidditch, and the winner will get the cup. There, I´ve said everything I know. Any questions?"

"Yes!" three voices chorused together.

"I should have known," Lily sighed. She took another sip from her drink. Really, she would take Honeymilk over Butterbeer anytime...

"I´ll go first, said Marian, ignoring Beth and Amy´s glares. "It´s a bit weird than they´re only announcing it now, a week into school. Why didn´t they say this in our Hogwarts letters this summer?"

"From what I understood, it was decided only recently; a long time after the letters were sent. They didn´t even have a confirmed teacher until yesterday. So I suppose they didn´t want to tell us in case it would never happen. They planned everything right though. Each year has two free half-days and one of them will be filled with the Duelling class. We´re supposed to meet the teacher in the assembly tomorrow."

"Oh, right." Marian seemed only half convinced by the explanation but kept silent.

"My turn now!" said Amy. "Do you know what the uniforms will be like? Anything form-fitting?"

"Amy!" Lily exclaimed exasperatedly. "Is that all you think about?"

Amy shrugged. "Seemed a relevant question to me."

Lily ignored her and turned to Beth. "What was your question Beth?"

"Same as Amy´s," Beth answered sheepishly.

"Great, just great," Lily muttered. "Well, I think I should be entitled to a question too. Why do we have to buy dress robes now since the ball is nearly a full year away?"

"Isn´t it obvious?" asked Amy, her eyes wide opened. "Since the school governors are willing to spice up the year with a ball in June, we might be able to talk them into having another one before that. Halloween would do, or before the Christmas holidays..."

"The key word here is `might´, Amy," Marian said sarcastically. "Supposing, and I say `supposing´, the Head Boy and Head Girl took the matter to Dumbledore, we have no guarantee the idea would be accepted. So you´d better save your money for when it´s definite."

"You could do with a bit more optimism today, Marian. Have you no faith in my persuading powers?" Amy pouted.

"Of course she has faith in your powers," Beth intervened smoothly. "But we don´t have to buy anything, we can just try things on, can´t we?"

Everyone found the idea quite appealing. They paid for breakfast and left The Three Broomsticks. The shops had opened while they were having their little conversation, but it wasn´t too late, and the streets were still relatively student-free.

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

They stayed in Hogsmeade until the middle of the afternoon, and Lily finally had her `Summer Délice´.. They were all famished again after many hours of walking and shopping, and Amy hadn´t objected. Besides it would not be long before the `Summer Délices´ disappeared in favour of the `Autumn Fantaisies´, and it might have been their last chance to taste the dainty brioches before the next year.

Once they had got back to their dormitory, their purchases safely tucked away, they separated, and Lily found herself alone in the common room, working on a Transfiguration essay. Marian had gone to meet the seventh year Ravenclaw boy who was going to tutor her in Charms. Professor Flitwick had recommended it since she hadn´t done very well the previous year. She was a bit nervous since she had never really met this boy before. Amy and Beth were still in the dormitory, probably doing anything except homework.

The common room was deserted as even the first and second years had decided to spend the day outside. From her seat by the window Lily could see some of them enjoying the sunny afternoon on the shore of the lake. She watched them for a moment before looking back to her nearly blank sheet of parchment.

Her assignment - "Discuss the possible dangers of Animagus transfiguration" - didn´t seem to agree with her. Oh, she found the subject fascinating enough. But Transfiguration had never been her forte. It was a pity, because becoming an Animagus did sound quite appealing. Lily sighed. No use dwelling on useless wishes, she told herself firmly, turning her attention back onto her essay.

She wrote a few sentences down before realising she was wasting her time. She would need more books from the library to produce a decent piece of work, and she would probably end up discarding the few pathetic words she had just written. She still had two weeks to complete the essay anyway; there was no need to rush.

She was just starting to put her things away when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung opened and none other than the Transfiguration wizz James Potter stepped into the common room. She considered asking for his help but quickly dropped the idea. Lily Evans didn´t ask for help with her homework; she was perfectly capable of finishing that essay on her own.

James didn´t seem in the best of moods, but his face lit up when he spotted Lily sitting at her regular table by the west window with a couple of books and a few sheets of parchment around her. She watched him as he swiftly crossed the room and plopped down in the chair opposite hers.

"And what may the marvellous Lily Evans be doing indoors on this lovely Saturday afternoon?" he teased, reaching out across the table for a medium sized and plain looking brown book. Lily frantically tried to grab the book before him but he was too quick.

James raised an eyebrow as he read the title. "I didn´t know you were that desperate, Lily."

Lily didn´t notice that his voice held not one ounce of mockery. Her face was red and she felt she had never been more humiliated in her entire life.

"I thought it would contain some useful information for my essay," she snapped. "I am not `desperate´ as you put it. A good wizard must know how to check every possible source available when writing on a specific subject."

"Lily, if you need help, I -" James started to say softly, but was cut off by Lily.

"I do not need help! Didn´t you hear me?" she said, exasperated, then immediately regretting her outburst.

James got up, his whole face seeming to close down.

"Well, I hear you perfectly now. You don´t need to be so snappy when someone is offering to help you," he said putting the book back on the table, keeping his unreadable eyes on hers the whole time. He didn´t seem particularly angry, more resigned. It was hard to tell though.

He turned around and started to walk away but Lily wouldn´t let him leave without apologising to him. She pushed her chair back and run to catch him at the bottom of the stairs leading to the boys´ dormitories. She felt him tense when she put a hand on his arm to stop him, but he didn´t turn around.

"I´m sorry James, I shouldn´t have talked to you like that. I´d just realised that everything I´d written was rubbish, and I was very frustrated when you came in. But it´s no excuse for my behaviour."

James looked down at her and smiled briefly, his eyes still guarded.

"It´s okay Lily, there´s no harm done," he said softly.

As she stood there, staring, he gently took her hand off his arm and started up the stairs. Why did she have the feeling he was not entirely sincere? And, was that guilt she had felt when he´d turned away?

Lily was jolted back to reality when she realised she was alone. She went back to her table and finished packing her things away - except for the brown book, which was due back to the library today. She gazed at it for a moment. She hadn´t told James she had been mortified that he had caught her with it. He didn´t need to know that; besides she hadn´t exactly told him a lie, rather a half-truth.

Oh, so what? It wasn´t important anyway. She picked up Transfiguration for the Magically Challenged from the table and went back to her dormitory.

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

She found Beth and Amy sprawled on the floor with a large piece of parchment in front of them. Beth was just signing her name with a flourish when Amy looked up and spotted Lily.

"Lily! You have perfect timing," she beamed.

"Really?" Lily said sceptically, dumping her bag at the foot of her bed. She placed the brown book cover-down carefully on top of it.

"Yes. Here - take Beth´s quill," Amy went on, plucking the light feather from her friend´s fingers and waving it in Lily´s general direction. "You´re going to sign our petition."

"What petition?" Lily asked distractedly while petting her cat, Cléobulle, who was currently dozing on her bed. She had not seen him in two days and was surprised to find him there.

"The petition asking for a ball at Hogwarts, of course! Didn´t I tell you I would make sure we had one before June?"

"Are you sure it´s a good idea?" Lily wasn´t very enthusiastic. She wasn´t very eager to attend that one ball in June in the first place, and she certainly didn´t wish for another one earlier than that.

"Of course it´s a good idea!" Beth spoke up. "Everyone will want to sign it."

Lily reluctantly made her way to the two girls and took the quill from Amy. It was no use arguing with those two anyway, it was better to let them think she was all for the it or she would never hear the end of it. She looked down at the parchment and tried not to giggle when she saw what they had written:

The large space beneath the written paragraph was divided in two columns, one marked `Halloween ball´ and the other `Winter ball´. Amy and Beth had written their names under the Halloween one.

Lily knelt down on the floor and signed her name under `Winter ball´. The later the better in her opinion.

She gave the quill back to Beth and walked up to her bed. She picked up The Moonstone--a Muggle book-- from her night table and made herself comfortable. With any chance she would finish the book before she had to go down for dinner. Cléobulle came over to pester her for a fuss and settled close to his mistress, purring contentedly.

Amy and Beth made three other copies of their petition and left soon afterwards, presumably to try and sneak a copy into each common room.

The room was totally silent after their departure, save for Cléobulle´s lawn-maweresque purring.

. The time passed quite quickly, and Lily was just about to find out who exactly had stolen the famous Moonstone when Marian stepped into the room, a silly grin on her face.

"Why so happy?" Lily asked. "I didn´t know getting tutored on a Saturday could do that to you."

Marian giggled in a most un-Marianish fashion. "You´d be surprised," she said, leaning against Lily´s bedpost. "You should try it sometimes. But then I suppose you wouldn´t end up with a tutor like Gregory, he´s one in a million."

Lily blinked.

"Gregory? As in Gregory Wentworth?"

Marian nodded, silly grin still in place.

"Gregory Wentworth is the seventh year boy tutoring you in Charms," Lily said slowly. She couldn´t believe it. Gregory was Howard´s best friend, and she had met him a few times when she and Howard were still dating. He was quite the womanizer, among other things. She would never have guessed Gregory would have good enough grades to be a tutor. And now it seemed as if Marian was smitten with Wonderboy Wentworth...Lily didn´t like that at all.

"Well, yes, that´s what I said." Marian gave her friend a wry look. "And you don´t have to be so gloomy about it! He´s very nice. When we bumped into Beth and Amy coming back from our lesson, he offered to take their petition to the Ravenclaw common room himself, and he even said he would be the first one to sign it. I thought Beth would faint on the spot!"

Marian had seen the petition and didn´t seem the least bit bothered by it? Well, that was worrying.

"Did you sign that petition, Marian?"

"Of course I did."

"But I thought you hated balls and large gatherings in general?"

Marian dismissed several years of aversion for those sorts of events with a careless wave of her hand.

"Well, everybody can change their opinion, can´t they?"

"Sure." Lily answered rather sceptically.

But Marian didn´t notice. She plopped down on Lily´s bed and started tickling Cléobulle like mad. She got a nasty scratch on the back of her right hand for her efforts, but was still in the best of moods. Totally the opposite to yesterday, in fact, Lily thought. Perhaps a boy was just what her friend needed at the moment. It was just that Gregory Wentworth seemed so wrong for her. It was not her place to say anything though, at least not yet.

"Want to go down to dinner?" she asked after a quick glance at her clock sitting on her bedside table. "It´s nearly seven."

"Alright, let´s go. I´m starving."

Marian sauntered gaily to the door and waited for her friend. Lily closed The Moonstone and got up from her bed, giving Cléobulle a light tap on his well-rounded belly.

"I just have to return this book to the library first," she said, picking up Transfiguration for the Magically Challenged on her way to the door.

Marian just nodded and the two friends were soon walking through the corridors, chatting amiably.