Silver Spring

padfoot

THE FIRST WEEK HAD came and went, Flora melting into her cousin's friend group perfectly. Sirius had playfully dubbed her 'their missing piece' one night when they'd all stayed up past curfew. The Gryffindor music students often ended their days with jam sessions, lounging by the fire while someone strummed a guitar. It was amazing, her previous school had been rather stiff when it came to free expression.

Now, Flora was in Lily's dorm having a slight mental breakdown as she searched for an outfit. Tonight was Hogwart's annual 'back to school bash', it was Gryffindor's turn to host. The others had been talking about it all week, an age-old tradition that the staff pretended not to know about.

"Flora, you have an entire mall in your dorm. I'm sure you'll find an outfit," Mary laughed, turning to her closet and throwing out different outfit options.

Flora pouted, opting to try on another top. "Yes, but this is my first and last back-to-school party, I wanna look cute."

Lily strolled into her dorm, eyes widening at the piles of clothes Mary and Flora had strewn around the room. It looked like a Forever 21 had blown up, and that didn't even include the accessories and shoes that were lying on the floor.

"You two are still at this? I've been gone for three hours."

Sheepish laughs echoed through the dorm, "Sorry Lils, but we just had to have a fashion montage," Flora shrugged "and neither of us have found an outfit yet."

The ginger girl rolled her eyes, huffing a sigh as she moved around the room grabbing some clothes. Lily tossed a blue halter top and a pair of tight low-rise jeans to Mary, then chucked a sparkly pink halter to Flora. "Wear this with your jean skirt, the pleated one."

"Hey! This is actually pretty cute," Mary said, trying on the outfit Lily gave her.

"Good. Now you two can clean this mess up."

"Aye aye, cousin." Saluted Flora.

*****

After they'd cleaned up Mary and Lily's dorm, Flora went back to hers so she could finish up some homework before dinner. Unlike her old school, where they had a cafeteria that ran all day, Hogwarts had the 'Great Hall'. The whole school ate all three meals together, which was honestly a refreshing change for Flora since she'd been rather isolated when attending Beauxbatons Music Acadamy. 

A loud knock on her door made Flora jump slightly, setting down her pencil she got up and answered the door. Surprisingly she was greeted by James Potter, he was sporting a rather large grin as he pushed up his glasses. "Ah! Flora, love, I'm walking you to dinner." He stated happily, not leaving much room for argument.

"Oh- um why?" she asked a bit awkwardly, as nice as James was the two of them hadn't spent much time together, and never outside of a group setting. Flora had spent most of her time with Lily and Mary or getting stoned in Rem and Petes dorm.

"Because young Flora-Fauna, you've been here a week and haven't dubbed me your best friend yet," He grinned, and Flora couldn't help but grin back. James Potter had one of the most infectious smiles she'd ever seen. "And, if I'm going to marry your cousin one day I'd prefer if I had your blessing." A mix between a scoff and a laugh was all Flora could manage to respond with.

As the two made their way down the winding halls, they bonded over their shared loves. Lily, Converse, and Ranch Dressing.

"I'm serious! Lily kicked me out and made me finish my pizza outside. All because I put ranch on in." Flora huffed, remembering how her cousin Petunia, who was babysitting them had just laughed and went back to texting her boyfriend, Vernon. It was funny looking back but at the time, 8-year-old Flora had been so pressed.