Fizzing Whizbees

~7~

Lily ate breakfast slowly and peacefully, absorbing every detail of the Great Hall she was in, and the great food she was eating. Like every summer, Lily was afraid she would forget the magic that existed in the world after being away from it for so long. And after four years she still held onto the fear that Hogwarts was just a dream. In time, she would wake up to her mother patting her shoulder and whispering Lily's name into her ear with a call as suggestive as the sun rising. But, try as she may, Lily could not procrastinate her departure any longer. Accepting this fate, she pushed her golden plate into the centere of the table where house elves would clear it for her, stood up and headed to her dormitory to collect her belongings.

When Lily entered her dormitory, she was greeted with a shower of feathers and a shocked look on Nova's face. "I'm... I'm sorry..." Celeste was murmuring from behind a split pillow; half of it was in her hands and the other half was stuck between the headboard and the mattress of her bed.
"You. Didn't." Nova finally found her voice. The feathers covered the floor like a think layer of snow fresh fallen from the sky. "What's going on!?!" Chara, classmate and dorm-mate of Lily's, shrieked as she walked into the room. "You realise you have to clean up this whole mess? And I'm not helping, the train leaves in less than and hour and I promised Callum I would meet him early to get a good compartment." Chara grabbed some lose items laying on her bed, shook off the feathers, threw them in her trunk and left the room, carrying her closed luggage behind her with no intention of coming back until next school year. "Now what?" Nova asked Celeste, almost mockingly. "I guess we clean," Celeste responded, still out of breath from the shock "and hope we make the train on time." The two girls got to their knees and started picking up the feathers, one by one and unsuccessfully. Lily rolled her eyes and stepped out into the room from the door frame. "Scorgify." She said, pointing her wand to the mess of feathers. In an instant, they all disappeared. "Right!" Celeste breathed with relief. "Magic!" Nova finished her thought. Lily smiled at her friends sheepishly, wondering if this would be her last spell for the year, as she glided into the room and grabbed her packed trunk. "I'll save us a compartment." She said back to her friends before exiting the room, heading down to the Hogwarts Express.

"Score!" James yelled as he plopped down into the last free compartment on the train, just as the last horn before departure rang. Every year James and his gang made the train by the skin of their teeth, hopping on just before the doors closed, and he wasn't about to break the tradition. "We've done it again!" Sirius said with a devilishly handsome smile, winking at the two blonde fourth years in the compartment adjacent to them. James smiled and stretched out on the seat, propping his feet up on Peter's lap. Remus finished adjusting his rugged trunk on the shelf above the seat, with the RJL initialed side facing out, and turned to sit down as the door slid open.
"Excuse me?" A voice projected from the doorframe. It was Lily, still in her wizard's robes, poking her head through the door. "Lily!" James exclaimed in surprise, sliding his feet off Peter's lap and onto the floor. "Please, come join us!"
"Sorry," she responded "I can't. I was only looking for Remus. We're wanted in the front to do a last sweep of the compartments. Apparently someone brought a Zonko's product onto the train and are planning a miraculous prank." Sirius laughed, and Lily shot a look at him. "You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?" She asked suspiciously. "Unfortunately, I do not." Sirius responded. "If only I were that clever and deviant, but I'm much too respectful to pull something like that on the Hogwarts Express, of all places." Lily scoffed and Sirius could barely contain his grin. "Alright," Lily said rolling her eyes, "I must go. Remus, when you're ready." She nodded at him and turned to leave. "Wait!" A voice came from the compartment. Lily turned back. "You mustn't leave so soon." It was James, his expression changing from awe to a cool conviction. "James," she mumbled "I really must go...you know...find the culprit of this soon-to-be prank." Her eyes glared at him, still angry from his actions the night before. "Then I wish you the best of luck for the task ahead." James said, building confidence. He stood up and took a step towards Lily. "And here, a bit of luck for you, too." James said as he stepped even closer to Lily. At this distance their noses could almost touch, and Lily could feel the sweet breath of James on her cheek. She was too scared to move, and too intrigued to leave. James brought his hand up to her check and brushed a lock of red hair that feel out from behind her ear off her face. Lily was still. Suddenly, James hand made its way down to Lily's and placed an object in it before closing her fingers on each other. Lily grasped the item, and turned away from the compartment, her back against the wall next to the door. She had to remind her lungs to breathe, and her heart to slow down. Inside the compartment, James sat down. His previously flushed faced went pale and his eyes absently stared at the wall in front of him. The only indication of what just happened was the wild smile on his face, which spread from ear to ear.