"Found mine in my school bag finally, inside my power case! It's so weird, it wasn't there this morning and I've had it with me all day! Where'd you find yours?"
"Back of my Potions textbook."
"Dorcas?"
"In my underwear drawer."
"Well that's not half disturbing."
"You're not wrong! How do they do it?"
"I don't think I want to know."
The three girls compared their invitations to Peter Pettigrew's eighteenth birthday party. It was only two weeks away, and as tradition, the invites started appearing in random places all over the school. No one knew how they did it, because Lily was sure she'd left her Potions textbook in her bag (under her bed) but upon opening it during class that morning she had found the folded bit of parchment inside the back cover. It was really odd.
"Wait a minute," Dorcas said, pausing in the corridor as the girls made their way down to dinner. "They're holding it on the seventh floor! They're not stupid enough to use a classroom, are they? We'll all get detention!"
"I didn't think there were any rooms up there," Lily added, referring to her invitation once more. "Seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."
"Are you sure?" Emmeline added, checking her own. "There's got to be some sort of room up there. They're not going to hold it in the corridor."
"Oh God, I hope they're not going to try anything too stupid," Lily muttered, folding her parchment and stuffing it back into her pocket.
"Let's hope they know what they're doing," Emmeline added gravely.
The girls descended a flight of stairs and caught sight of John heading up another with Judy Webster. He didn't see them. "Where'd you suppose they're going?" Dorcas muttered darkly.
"Who cares," Lily replied nonchalantly, continuing their steady pace down the hall. "As long as she's keeping him occupied he's not bothering me."
"Don't worry, Lil," Emmeline said encouragingly. "Only two weeks left until you're shot of him for good. How's practice with Potter going?"
Lily shrugged. "It's not."
"Really?" Emmeline said, sounding concerned. "You're just going to wing it?"
"I don't see why not?" Lily replied haughtily. "Why does everything think we're a pair of prudes that can't kiss to save our lives? You never had a boyfriend until Sirius," she said accusingly to Emmeline, who looked slightly sheepish in return. "James has had tonnes of girlfriends and I'm – well I've had a few, and I've been with John for ages - I know what I'm doing!"
"Of course you do!" Dorcas added. "We're not saying anything less; but it was you that insisted on practising."
"Actually, it was Sirius who talked me into it."
"Fair enough," Dorcas conceded. "But now you know you don't need it. It's good that you're all ready – it'll come around fast."
Lily nodded and they lapsed into silence for a moment as they continued the walk to dinner, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Dorcas had just said.
Now you know you don't need it. It's good that you're all ready...
But she had needed it, hadn't she? The first time she tried to kiss James they were a mess. Sirius had helped them find a good pace and helped them choreograph a sort of routine – how to hold each other, how to initiate the kiss, when to let her hands wander, when to let him kiss her neck while she faked an expression of ecstasy... It was never something that was going to come naturally between them and they had needed that guidance.
