The Unexpected Love [Rewrite]

Chapter 2

"No, what?" Lily asked, sitting up. "Tell me."

Marlene pretended to stare at her homework for a full minute before meeting Lily's eyes once more. "Should I let it go?"

Lily sighed and crossed her legs. "I don't know. Are you willing to do so?"

Hazel, gray, green, blue. Laughter. Hazel, gray, green, blue. Pointing from all around the Great Hall. Hazel, gray, green, blue. She was on the floor, crying. Hazel, gray, green, blue. 

"No." Marlene replied. "I'm not."

"Maybe you should." Lily said, choosing her words carefully. "You forgave Remus."

Marlene bit the bottom of her lip, which was something she only did when she was nervous. "I did, but that's different. He apologized endlessly and has never teased me since."

"Good people make bad choices."

The words replayed themselves in Marlene's head a few times before she noticed Lily drifting off. 

"Go to sleep, Lily. It's almost Christmas break, relax."

But the redhead didn't hear a single word Marlene said, as she was already asleep, sprawled all over her books. 

~ 

The next morning, Marlene awoke to a scream. She sat up quickly, noticing that Lily was missing from her bed. Marlene rushed toward the bathroom in their dorm and stood in front of the door. 

"Lily. Lily!" she yelled, knocking on the door roughly. 

Lily opened the door slowly, her hands over her face. 

Marlene's worried expression disappeared as burst out laughing. Lily's waist-length hair was covered in gold glitter, and now resembled Gryffindor themed ties, scarves, and banners. When she removed her hands, Marlene saw that her face was burning red, which clashed with her hair. 

"I found this on my bed." she muttered, handing Marlene a note. 

Lilies are white

Mar's eyes are blue

I pranked you last night 

And stole something too 

Marlene laughed, shaking her head. "I wonder what they stole?"

Lily growled under her breath. "Git stole my locket. You know, the one with the gold lily?"

She nodded and looked at the back side of the note. "Your boyfriend sent it. It has a winking face and everything."

Lily scoffed. "Potter? I can't believe him."

Marlene clicked her tongue in disgust and left the note on Lily's desk. "I'll see you downstairs, I'm going to go get breakfast in a bit."

Lily stared at her reflection in the bathroom and fingered her wet curls. She frowned as she noticed most of the damage was on the tips rather than the roots. She sighed and rummaged around the drawer under the sink. Lily sighed as she felt her hands close around the cold, double silver blades. 

Lily pulled out the long pair of scissors and set them before her. She'd cut Petunia's hair once; it really wasn't that hard. And she'd done it to herself on multiple occasions. Lily gulped and placed the scissors under her head. Her eyes squeezed shut as she heard the first snip, and her lip trembled as the lock of hair fell to the ground. She did the same to the rest of her head hesitantly, and by the time she was done her hair was evenly cut right beneath her chin. Lily's hair had lost its curls; now that it was short, it lay in waves around her face. The remaining glitter disappeared from her hair, and she sighed once more, staring at her reflection. 

~

"What did you do to your hair?!" Marlene asked, nearly choking on her food. "I leave you alone for a few minutes and you do that? For Merlin's sake, you're the brightest witch of your age! Surely you could come up with the counter charm for a childish prank!"

Lily shrugged, reaching over to put some bacon and toast on her plate. She made eye contact with James, and his eyes widened. He stood up and rushed over to her. 

"Evans," he hissed, almost whispering. "What the bloody hell did you do to your hair?!"

"None of your business, Potter. Give me back my locket." Lily hissed back, her green eyes narrowing. 

James's hazel eyes were wide as he reached into his pocket and handed her the golden chain. 

"Oh, and your poem was ridiculous." Lily added, snatching the necklace and turning back to her food. James huffed and walked back to his friends. 

"I take it she enjoyed the poem?" Sirius asked, a smirk on his face. 

"She thought it was ridiculous. But that didn't hurt at all, considering you wrote it." James said, rolling his eyes. 

Remus and Peter laughed quietly, and Peter said, "Guess your prank to make her fall in love with you only made her cut her hair, because she just hates you that much. She probably wanted to cut it off because she thought you contaminated it."

James's jaw dropped, while Remus and Sirius exploded in laughter. Remus patted Peter on the back, and Peter grinned triumphantly. 

"I thought we were supposed to be friends, not mortal enemies."

"You claim Lily's the love of your life, and the two of you are mortal enemies." Sirius pointed out. 

James threw a piece of toast at each of them, glaring while he did so. 

The owl post arrived, and Lily, James, and Sirius each received an invitation to Slughorn's Christmas Eve party. Sirius ripped his to shreds under the table. He didn't care for Slughorn's approval, as the only reason he had it was because of his heritage. Lily and James, however, opened their envelopes in unison despite the fact that they were sitting at opposite ends of the Gryffindor table. 

"Are you going?" Marlene asked, eating her porridge slowly. She still stared every so often at Lily's hair. 

"I don't have anyone to go with, so I guess not." Lily said, shrugging and placing the letter back in its envelope. 

"But it's a party with free food, fancy music, and extremely rich guests that can get you good jobs in the future." Marlene said. "I thought you liked all of that."

"Come with me!"

"But I didn't get an invitation."

"We're always allowed to take a date or a friend. Come on, Mar, please?"

Marlene scoffed. "Not if Potter's going."

"Marlene, don't throw a fit! For Merlin's sake, he's your captain, and you didn't quit Quidditch! You can't let a ridiculous argument stop you from doing things you want! Who cares about Potter? He's just another git at Hogwarts."

She sighed and surrendered. "Fine. But if they don't have dessert, I'm leaving."

Lily smiled and rolled her eyes playfully, knowing Marlene would keep her word.