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"LILY, YOU NEED to let him go", hermione said, making the little girl pout and on the verge of tears.

"no!! draco's happy as a ferret!!", lily protested.

draco malfoy—who was still currently a ferret even though snape finished brewing the potion two days ago—was stuck in lily's arms, wearing a matching pink bow with the girl, much to his dismay.

though he would never admit it, the girl did indeed do a good job of taking care of him.

lily and ferret boy would wear matching outfits that lily had hermione make and brush his fur every morning or whenever he desired.

the two would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and lily would feed draco apple slices dipped in peanut butter.

after classes, lily would occasionally take draco outside to play on the field with the permission of snape of course.

then at night, both took bubble baths as they even had matching yellow pajamas once they were out.

and obviously, no day ended without a hot chocolate and snuggling each other on lily's bed while snape just robotically read snow white.

"yeah, why can't we keep him that way? I honestly prefer him like that too", ron snorted, making the ferret snarl at him.

"lily, malfoy needs to go back to a person so that he can study and get an education", hermione reasoned.

"but why? he can get an educ...education as a ferret!"

"well I don't think the wizarding world likes to hire ferrets for work", hermione slightly smiled as she watched the little girl sigh.

"fine", lily huffed out, handing her newly made best friend to hermione, who handed draco to snape, who already had the potion ready.

"thank you for doing the right thing", hermione smiled as she picked up the clearly upset girl.

"hm...is this what it feels like to do the right things, because it doesn't feel good", lily mumbled.

"finally!! someone that understands me!", ron exclaimed, making the little girl slightly smile.

in a puff of smoke that made nearly everyone cough, draco malfoy was finally human again.

"aw", lily whined, puffing out her cheeks.

she had somewhat hoped that her father's potion would've failed, but she knew better, as snape highly excelled at making concoctions.

"dear merlin, I'm finally back!", draco grinned, quickly snatching the pink bow out of his hair as he looked over at the pouting girl that was being carried by hermione.

draco hastily strolled over as he snatched the girl out of hermione's embrace, making her gasp.

"quit whining, it's not like I'm gone or anything", draco said as pinched lily's cheek, making the girl pout even more.

"but your fur's gone!!"

draco just rolled his eyes in response. he'd be lying if he said he didn't build a connection with the little girl throughout the entire week.

"anyways, now that mr. malfoy's back to normal, class shall proceed as normal", snape interrupted.

everyone sat back down as lily clung onto draco throughout the entirety of class.

that is, until the girl had reached the dining hall.

"FRED!! GEORGE!!", the girl screamed, making nearly everyone move out of the way for the girl to run to the twins.

draco scoffed as he watched the girl run towards the weasley twins.

"hey there pipsqueak!"

throughout the week, lily had learned that fred tended to call her nicknames while george was usually the one picking her up. hence how she was able to somewhat tell them apart.

george picked lily up as he started heading towards the gryffindor table.

lily waved back at draco and blew kisses at him, to which he just raised a brow and left for the slytherin table.

"lily! would you like to join us later? we're heading to hogsmeade", hermione smiled.

"hogsmeade?? what's that? and why?"

george then set a plate down in front of the four year-old, placing a napkin on her lap so that when food fell, it wouldn't ruin her dress.

"it's a village where you can buy many sweets, goodies, and clothes. anything really", hermione explained.

"the girls are going to get their dresses", harry then said.

"dresses?? for what? is there a special occasion?", lily asked, eating roasted chicken like how ron had taught her.

"oh yeah!! the yule ball that happens only when the triwizard tournament is in session. it's a formal ball so we need beautiful dresses", hermione cheerfully smiled.

"am I allowed to come too?", lily asked, making the brown-haired girl chuckle.

"why of course! I don't see why not", answered hermione.

"then is ron and harry coming shopping with us too??"

hermione glanced over at ron and harry, who weren't exactly on speaking terms.

"umm...haha...yeah...".

//❁//

lily happily held george and fred's hand as they swung her, letting her little legs flail slightly above the snowy ground.

"we're here!", ginny exclaimed as she entered gladrags wizardwear.

lily's eyes widened in awe as the store had many mannequins with dresses and tuxes and...very odd socks.

"see anything you like?", fred asked as the three watched hermione and ginny roam around while harry and ron sat on opposite sides of the couch, arms crossed.

"mm...I don't know", lily replied.

the little girl was very indecisive when it came to buying clothes, picking the color she wanted to use to color snape's hair (even though it's just plain black), and choosing what to eat.

"how about this one?", george asked, picking out a frilly white dress with light pink flowers patterned all over it.

"this one's better", fred countered, holding up a red dress with short sleeves and sparkles.

lily looked up at both boys as she skipped away to another section of the store.

looking at dresses, she had found one that was red and white, perfectly encompassing both george and fred's desires.

lily reached up, only to realize that she was too short.

"do you need help?", a voice asked, making the girl immediately turn around.

"cedric!! what are you doing here??", lily asked as cedric handed the girl the frilly white dress with a red overlay.

"I'm here with my date, cho chang", cedric answered, looking over at the girl that was currently picking out a dress.

lily had remembered harry mentioning something about that ravenclaw girl.

she thought she was pretty, but she's never actually met her before.

"anyways, who are you going to the ball with?", cedric asked.

"umm...I don't know. maybe papa", lily smiled as she imagined snape doing her hair.

despite what everyone thinks, snape was a pro at doing lily's hair, as the girl had once requested dutch braids and snape felt embarrassed that he didn't know what it was.

"that's sweet, but if you want, perhaps you'd like to walk down the aisle with cho and I? all competitors are required to", cedric offered, making lily smile.

"really?! I can walk with you guys??"

"of course! I'll see you soon then", cedric laughed as he patted lily's head before going off to find cho.

lily took the dress and ran back to where fred and george was, who were nearly freaking out as they had thought they lost snape's child.

"FRED! GEORGE! LOOK!! can we get it??"

george sighed a breath of relief as he hoisted the girl up into his arms. meanwhile fred paid, the twins brought lily to get some honeydukes best chocolate as ginny and hermione were taking way too long.

"who are you two going with?", lily asked as she stuffed her face with chocolate.

"angelina", fred swiftly replied.

"and you?", lily asked, looking up at george.

"mm...haven't got someone yet", george honestly responded.

"well if you don't find someone can I go with you?", the girl casually asked.

"if you pay me", george responded.

lily furrowed her brows as she hesitantly took her last two chocolate frogs and stretched it out for george to take.

the boy laughed.

"I was just kidding. of course I'll take you to the ball".

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