Delicate | James Potter

1.10

~

Her leg was shaking, bouncing on the spot. Godric, why did she have to shake so much? It was the nerves, she knew it was, but Alice couldn't stop worrying about her date. What if it went wrong? What if he thought her weird? What if she was late or lost her wand or fell over or accidentally set fire to his hair and burnt it all off? No, she reassured herself, that had just been a dream. Those sort of dreams had a tendency to show themselves right before important events, but she supposed now that at least she definitely wouldn't be setting his hair alight: special precautions would be taken specifically to avoid that.

The girl had desperately attempted to de-frizz her messy golden curls, even using Mary's special witches cream, but the fly-aways just kept springing back up no matter what she did. With a deep sigh Alice decided it would have to do, it was slightly damp outside anyway and besides, if he really liked her that much it wouldn't matter how much her hair stuck out. It had never been an off putting factor for her mother, who had the exact same frizz (just slightly darker) and rocked it with confidence. Alice nodded to herself in the mirror with a satisfied grin, if her mamma could do it then so could she.

"Oh Alice you always look so pretty, it's really not fair!" Lily Evans had burst through the door in a seemingly urgent rush, but abruptly stopped when she noticed the blonde stood there too. Alice thought Lily ridiculous for such words considering she herself was absolutely gorgeous, but she smiled and mumbled a shy thank you all the same.

"Are you- Were you looking for something?"

Lily shook her head. "No, well yes actually- someone. Have you seen Marlene?"

Alice frowned as she picked up her coat and swung it over her shoulders. "Not since you all left earlier. Is everything okay?"

"Fine." The redhead's lips twisted into a small smirk. "She's probably with Sirius. They'll be fine. You know, I've caught them in the broom cupboard down the corridor three times already this month."

"The broom cupboard? Why would they be-" And then it clicked. Her eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yes, 'Oh'. Couldn't have said it better myself." Lily chuckled slightly. "Anyways, we should get down to the courtyard if we don't want to miss the carriages to Hogsmeade. You coming?"

Alice nodded eagerly, picking up the striped Gryffindor scarf that hung over her bed. "Yeah, sorry. I'll walk down with you now."

"Oh yeah that's right. You've got your date with that Hufflepuff lad? Is that why you're all dressed up?" The other girl raised an eyebrow as they scuffled down the stairs to the common room together.

The blonde felt the familiar warm touch to her cheeks. "Do I look too dressed up?"

"No! No, sorry, I didn't mean that like that." She stumbled over her words just as she stumbled through the portrait hole. "You look really nice, I just noticed the lip gloss is all."