- Chapter Fourteen -
"Of course it did, I'm fucking God."

(A/N: long chapter ahead, I'm taking 3700 words when my chapters are normally at least 2100. I promise it's worth it though.)

AMBER WAS PRETTY SURE THAT she had looked in the mirror more times in her fifth-year sharing a room with Sherry then she ever had in her life. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, if anything it had helped improve her confidence when she had been complimented by her friend every morning but it felt like it was becoming some sort of thing that had to be done in the morning or every single time they were about to leave their dorm. It didn't matter to Amber that much, but to Sherry, it mattered a lot.

Amber didn't know whether to start being concerned about the amount of time Sherry spent in front of the mirror, fixing her hair or makeup even though there was nothing to fix and she already looked absolutely stunning. She didn't know whether to stop it before it became an obsession or just let her friend do her own thing. Admittedly, there were time when Amber couldn't help but to take a quick peek in the mirror, especially when she wanted to see if Sherry was being honest or just nice.

But when she saw that there was nothing wrong with her appearance after Sherry's compliment, her confidence boosted greatly. The mirror obsession seemed odd on normal days but on Halloween, it was a whole other story, Sherry had been curling her hair tightly in the mirror for a full hour. She had said It can't just be normal curls, Amber, have you even seen Magenta? Amber couldn't argue there, she was actually really excited to see how their costumes had turned out seeing as Sherry had to order them in from muggle shops instead of buying them out in Hogsmeade.

"Wow." Amber said softly as she pulled out the sequin tailcoat of her costume out of the box on her bed. In there was the rest of the costume, but Amber was amazed at how the coat looked as if it would fit her exact body type. "Woah, how did you get one that looks like my size?"

"I didn't." Sherry shrugged, releasing a curl and using her hand to bounce it slightly. "I ordered the average and altered it myself."

Amber looked over at her with a soft smile but the girl was too concentrated on her now frizzly curled blonde hair in the mirror. She was so grateful that Sherry didn't insist on them changing their hair or wearing wigs because she liked  her natural hair and didn't fancy having it red and short even if was just for a night.

"Ever thought about being a designer?" She asked her friend, watching as she moved to the final strands of hair with a small and satisfied grin. "You could make great money off of your style and your skill."

"It's a possibility." She shrugged her shoulders, glancing at her through the mirror. The two were the only ones in the dorm, Anna and the other girl she had still yet to learn the name of had already head down to the Gryffindor Common Room whereas Sherry had stressed the importance of being fashionably late. "I don't quite think that's what I want to do though."

"Well, you'd be good." Amber complimented, receiving a thankful smile.

"Aha." Sherry said once she had finished her hair, she turned with a wide grin and Amber gaped at her. It was amazing how the littlest changes could make such a difference. Obviously you could still tell it was Sherry, but her hair had never been that wild before.

She had done both Amber's and her own makeup before she did her hair since it would take long and she had to copy the makeup looks from a picture in one of her American magazines that had the latest new movies inside of it along with pictures of the characters. Amber was not used to having to sit patiently whilst her friend stroked intricately at her face with a small brush so the mascara stick nearly poked her in the eyes a couple of times but Sherry just shook her head in amusement when that happened.

At first, Amber had looked warily at the bright red gloss on her lips but had grown to like the look that Sherry had replicated onto her face. Of course the girls were two different skin tones but Amber had naturally lovely skin so Sherry did what she could without having to use anything made for paler skin like hers. Obviously because she didn't get any foundation or concealer, it took a shorter time than Sherry's did.

"Woah, you look absolutely amazing!" Amber complimented as Sherry walked away from the mirror and towards her costume that was on her on bed. It was a simple black dress with a white collar and a small apron thing to go over it as well as a white head piece she could clip on. Fishnet tights and black boots completed the look.

"Thanks, Ams, now get ready. I'm sure Oliver and Louis are waiting." She grinned and shut the curtains around her bed to get changed in as much privacy as she could manage.

As confident as she may be, the one thing she would not do is change in front of people. With clothes on, she thought she looked amazing but when her features are more pronounced with nothing to press her stomach in or hide her cleavage, it was absolutely possible that she became self-conscious. She had never come out to anyone about it, not feeling any need to and even at Ilvermorny there was a bathroom that the girls could get changed in one after the other.

Sherry was quick to change, examining herself in the mirror and smiling at her reflection. Her confidence was boosted once again as she touched her hair slightly, her eyes having the gleam in them that they always did when she looked in the mirror. The reason she always looked in the mirror was not for anyone but herself and her mother to know and she wanted to keep it that way, no matter how close to someone she got. If it got out then she didn't know what she was going to do because she knew people would look at her differently.

She tried to block it out of her mind often and just revel in the fact that this was her now and she was beautiful. The boxes of blonde hair dye she had hidden in her suitcase were to be used only late at night when she was sure that everyone in the dorm was asleep, she hadn't had to do it yet but when putting on her hairpiece, she saw that her roots were starting to grow their original dark brown colour again. She almost threw and smashed her handheld mirror when she saw them but just settled on clipping her hair piece on.

"I'm ready." She pulled the bed curtains open again and stepped out, grinning when she saw Amber smiling in the mirror. There was a small and excited bounce in her step as she bounded up behind her. "We look so good."

Amber giggled slightly before turning around, the sequins on her outfit glittering slightly.

"Okay, let's go."

The two of them exited their dorm room, walking past the other rooms where the lower years were stuck for the night having not been invited to the party. They walked down the hallway and went into the main Common Room where Oliver and Louis were lounging around waiting for them. Sherry let out a bark of laughter when she caught sight of them, Louis must have gotten pointers from Oliver about being Brad since he had the glasses, the khakis and the button up too. The whole package.

"How cute." She teased as she approached, the both of them standing up at the sight of the rest of the group approaching. Louis smiled as Sherry took the glasses off of him and put them on herself, laughing slightly before giving them back to him.

"You look really pretty." He complimented, smiling politely and she glanced down at the floor slightly whilst biting her lip before she set her eyes on Oliver's costume and gasped in awe.

"Dude." She laughed as she approached him and he did a quick spin to show the leather jacket with the leopard print lapels. "Bless my soul, you are one hot patootie."

"You've made that joke before." Amber let her know, coming up beside her. Sherry just shrugged, claiming it was funny before proposing that they should go.

It only took them five minutes to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady at Gryffindor Tower, she glanced down at their outfits and sighed. Marlene had told Sherry that her brother and the rest of the people who were setting up the party had practically bribed her to change the password for one night and change it back to the one it was before after the party had finished.

"Password?" The lady asked boredly.

"McKinnon." Sherry smiled amusedly as the portrait swung open, letting the music and the chatter of the other students filter out into the corridors for a second as they stepped in. Oliver immediately adjusted his jacket and popped his collar as he entered, looking around for girls he could try and flirt with.

It truly was a big party, four years of each house crammed into one Common Room. It was busy but not claustrophobic busy as a lot of people had decided not to come since it might've been their exam year. Like a boy in Oliver and Louis' form had not come because he was already studying for his O.W.Ls even though it was still October.

"Sherry!" A supposedly tipsy Marlene came over, two cups in her hand. She was dressed in a lovely red dress that had nearly everyone drooling, a headband on her head with two devil horns sticking out of it and bright red lipstick that outlined her lips greatly.

"Marlene!" Sherry greeted just as enthusiastically, sending a teasing wink to Oliver who rolled his eyes and stepped away towards some Hufflepuff girls, Amber making her way over to some Gryffindor friends. Louis stood idly for a second before spotting Jacob Sawyers, one of the teams Chasers. He made his way over to him leaving Sherry with Marlene, not that either of them were complaining.

"You're late to the drinking." Marlene smiled, handing a cup over which Sherry accepted with enthusiasm and began to drink it straight away. "We may be only fifteen but no one's going to tell, I don't think. Anyway, come dance!"

"Of course." Sherry grinned and let the girl take her hand and lead her to the group of students that were dancing to the wizarding radio at the moment. "I thought you were dressing as peanut butter."

"Not sexy enough." She giggled under the influence, bopping slightly. Sherry drank some more of her drink to keep up and bopped along to the upbeat music. "Lily also changed her mind last minute."

As she pointed across the room, Sherry also looked over to see Lily Evans dressed in an angelic white dress that floated out at the bottom and small dress-up angel wings. She was also dancing along, laughing with Amber and Mary MacDonald.

"Yeah, I started off with matching costumes with Amber and it lead to like a whole group thing." Sherry downed the last of her drink, shaking her head with her eyes shut tight before smiling again. "Louis has never seen Rocky Horror but it was fun seeing him in his costume."

"You make a good Magenta." She complimented, finishing off her own drink, it must've been her second. "You got the sexy down well." She slurred through a small grin and Sherry smiled before holding up a finger and walking away to get another drink, returning soon and determined to catch up with Marlene.

"Chug, chug, chug." Marlene chanted quietly, loud enough to make her laugh but not loud enough to draw the attention of everyone. Sherry still did it, taking a deep breath before downing it one. "You just get better and better!"

After a few moment of disorientated shaking of her head as she let the alcohol go through her body, she looked back up with a smile and was sure that the two girls were at the same level of intoxication now. Sherry laughed slightly at the rush and so did Marlene before she glanced across the room and suppressed a laugh, Sherry turned too to see an older boy shaking his head at her.

"My brother." She explained with a wave of dismissal. "He'll act like he's disappointed when he knows full well that he was the one who gave me my drinks."

A familiar no-maj song started playing and Sherry gasped in delight, Marlene blinking at her with a clueless look on her face as she became excited.

"I love this song!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Fox on the run, Sweet, 1974. Riding bikes along the road with Connor whilst the radio blasted this song."

"Who's Connor?" Marlene asked, listening to the song and getting bopping to the beat as the kids with no-maj relation all started expressing their love for the song. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Sherry snorted before allowing herself to actually laugh at the insinuation. "No, no, no, definitely not. Best friend back in America. One of them, anyway. I'm single and not bothered."

"Good." Marlene smirked ever so slightly and Sherry bit down on her lip as a small red hue came up to her cheeks, she had no idea alcohol could make her skill of self-control crumble.

The chorus of the song hit and the room erupted with exhilarated shouts and yells of the words, the atmosphere had upped itself with the upbeat song and everyone's jumps. Sherry began getting more comfortable as the crowd grew and the alcohol allowed her to dance around too, Marlene following her lead even though she couldn't sing along. No one had noticed the two girls closeness being too wrapped up in the song themselves but they didn't seem to mind even if they were getting stared at, just dancing with each other all the same.

A sudden loud gasp made Sherry look curiously over in the direction where it came from, Marlene turning under her arm as she also turned to look at the gasp. Sherry didn't even try and hide her laugh at the sight in front of her, if anything she was the one who started it all off.

Her reverse psychology had worked it seemed because coming down the stairs that lead up to the dorms, were the infamous marauders. All of them in normal costumes that screamed basic, like zombies, werewolves and a vampire. But the one that caught everyone's attention was James Potter who had fallen into her trap and was stood with a blonde wig on and an obvious attempt at copying Sherry's style.

Marlene joined Sherry in laughter and covered her mouth ever so slightly as she began to ty and quiet down, making Sherry laugh even more. Potter seemed cocky about it, well that was until his eyes finally found the girl he was looking for only to see her not in the expected costume at all. She was not in a custom-made  quidditch jersey with glasses  on, but instead dressed as some sort of maid or housekeeper with her hair fluffed out.

"Let's go get a drink." Sherry said to Marlene, snorting slightly at the sheer humour of it all. Marlene agreed and they both walked over to the drink table again, stumbling slightly.

"Sher, it worked!" Amber appeared next to them, looking humoured too. Sherry knew she had her doubts but the amusement on her face said that she had been proven greatly wrong as Potter burned red with embarrassment.

"Of course it did, I'm fucking God." She laughed, pouring two drinks and handing one to Marlene who thanked her with another laugh. "Ravenclaw for a reason."

Amber smiled slightly at the two blondes standing close to one another at the drinks table, sipping on their third cups of alcohol that evening. She decided to leave them to themselves, smirking as she made her way back to Lily Evans who she had found herself in the company of for this evening. Sherry was just waiting to be confronted but decided to enjoy her time with Marlene before Potter decided to disrupt it.

"What the hell, Opal?"

Here they go. Sherry looked down at Marlene who was slightly smaller due to the extra height on Sherry's shoes, Marlene smirked and brought the cup up to her lips again. Sherry did the same but turned around to face a very enraged James Potter who had yanked the wig off of his head and was still red with embarrassment, glancing around nervously even though only a few people were still looking.

"What?" She asked innocently, blinking up at him. Even though she had her boots on, he was still taller than her. The boy was literally a giant.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He gestured down to her outfit, glaring as his chest heaved up and down with angry pants. "You were supposed to be dressed as me and then I was supposed to be dressed as you so we would balance each other out and no one would be amused at your costume because it wasn't original."

"Why would I ever dress up as you?" She scoffed like it was the most ridiculous thing someone had ever said. The alcohol wasn't letting her keep a straight face but the small smirk tugging at her lips just irked him even more. "That would be so embarrassing, don't you think? To dress up as someone you know for Halloween?"

Potter only glared harder, glancing around them again with his cheeks still aflame before he looked back at her and hit the bottom of her cup harshly, sending the liquid inside al over her costume before he turned and stormed back up to his dorm. Remus, who wasn't really dressed as anything except for his shirt collar turned up and a pair of fake fangs in his hands sent Sherry a look before following him back up. Peter, who was dressed as some sort of basic zombie went up after and so did Sirius, who was dressed as a werewolf.

"Bitch." Sherry looked down at the wet patch in her costume before looking back at Marlene who sighed at the sight of it.

"Come on, I'll dry it with my wand. It's just in my dorm." She said and finished off her drink, Sherry doing the same before Marlene gripped her hand and lead her to the staircase up to the girl's dorm.

They made their way upstairs, nearly falling because of the steepness and the way they were kind of bouncing up and down as they ran. Their finished third drink was beginning to take effect and make them even more giggly and influenced by their drinks. Marlene opened the door to her dorm, still hand in hand with Sherry, it was completely empty aside from the makeup products sprawled across the desk.

"Okay." She grabbed her wand from her bedside table and stumbled back over, her red heels nearly giving up on her but she managed to grab the bed post to stabilise herself. She walked closer to Sherry who had taken her boots off, giving herself a moment of respite for all the stumbling she had done in them.

She stood up again, the only thing on her feet was the bottom of the fishnet tights that Marlene glanced at slightly before stepping closer. Sherry was smaller now, her heels having been taken off. It was only an inch difference but Marlene revelled in it, smirking at Sherry who laughed quietly as the girl got closer to her.

She could've been a bit further away to perform the spell but it wasn't like Sherry was complaining at how close they were to each other. It was a non-verbal spell that Marlene performed but Sherry saw a small bit of steam float off of the material of her costume, the water having been heated off of the dress. The steam floated up the small space in between them and dissipated into thin air.

It was silent in the room except for the sound of the pumping bass of the music downstairs, Sherry tore her eyes away from where the smoke had disappeared and looked at Marlene again who was already looking at her. Their eyes met for a second and Marlene let out a small sigh before launching forward.

Sherry felt a pair of lips on hers at once, a hand cupping at her cheek and she wasted little to no time in kissing Marlene back, bringing her hands up to cup at her cheeks as well. Sherry had never kissed a girl before, only admired them from afar but now she actually was and it felt heavenly. The kiss was soft yet quite desperate.

Marlene allowed her hands to travel down to Sherry's waist as their lips continued to move against each other's, the American was turned and pushed back slightly, the back of her knees hitting the end of Marlene's bed before she put a hand out to stabilise herself when Marlene's lips went from her mouth to her neck quickly.

"Wait," Marlene pulled away slightly, lips bruised and pupils dilated as she looked up at Sherry who had the same appearance. "Is this okay?"

Sherry breathed deeply for a couple of moments, her breath having been taken away by the kiss. All she could really think about was how gorgeous Marlene looked and with a gulp, she nodded.

"Of course."

"Great."

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: very long chapter but surprise! I actually felt really bad for the James bit but then I wrote the Marlene bit and am now really tempted to go read a Marlene fic.

I've seen a lot of people make their characters bisexual (nothing wrong with that, literally nearly all of my OCs are) and then just having them date boys (again, nothing wrong with that, this is literally a James Potter story) so I just wanted to actually include that representation and as a bisexual myself, I really put myself in a panic when thinking about Louis dressed as Brad and then Sherry dressed as Magenta so be grateful for what I put myself through for you.