Fiancé

Chapter 7

Sisterly Abandon

"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child." - Barbara Alpert

"Lily."

I stayed completely still in my bed.

"Lily."

I shut my eyes the slightest bit tighter.

"Lily."

Perhaps if I never answered her, she would go away. I would be able to sleep, and everything would be wonderful. It would be wonderful and warm and soft and...

"C'mon, Lily, I really don't have time for this."

I exhaled and a moan escaped through my lips as I turned the slightest bit to my left to avoid the finger poking into my back.

"Lily, you have to wake up. Stop lying there and pretending you can't hear me."

I grimaced as hands forcefully gripped my shoulders, pulled me up in my bed, and shook my torso vigorously. I willed my eyes to stay shut.

"It's time to wake up."

"Not now, please," I mumbled as I let myself sink back into my warm and fluffy pillow. "I'm sleeping."

I heard a loud humph and then a chorus of stomping feet. A lazy smile drifted over my face as I drifted back into slumberland where the normally tapdancing monkeys had changed their routine into a seductive tango with the cupcake fairies.

A bright light filled the room after I heard the curtains being ripped away from my window.

"Gah!" I groaned shrilly. "Too bright," I said. "Turn it off. Too bright."

"There's nothing to turn off, Lily. It's morning. You can't stop the sun from rising, not even with your freakish powers."

I thought about opening my mouth to correct her, but I was far too tired for that kind of effort.

Suddenly, I felt my slender fingers grip my biceps. "No, no, no," I protested as I struggled in vain to release myself from her death grip.

She pulled me upwards with her practically superhuman upper body strength and started to drag me out of bed.

I squirmed and kicked and held onto my bed, but the sheets slipped from my fingers, and I abruptly found myself sprawled across on my yellow carpet.

"I can see your knickers."

I groaned.

"Why are there little cauldrons on them?"

I mumbled a muffled reply as I lifted my face off the floor. Disgruntled, I pulled the hem of James's scarlet Quidditch shirt down.

"Better. Now, get up. We have to get ready for my wedding."

Exhausted, I raised my gaze up to my sister's frantic, blue eyes. She was wearing a pink terry robe tied loosely over a white slip that she wore underneath it. Her face was clear of any makeup, and her hair was wound into tight curlers on top of her head. I fought the idle urge to laugh. "Wouldn't want to be late for that," I muttered unenthusiastically.

"Lily. Bathroom. Shower. Now."

I nodded listlessly until she dashed out of my room. Too sluggish to attempt the Herculean feat of picking my body off the floor, I blindly pulled my pillow off my bed and threw it onto the carpet beside me. I nestled my head into its soft center and let my eyelids relax.