#*doris

What a difference a year could make, Lily thought, watching the room full of witches mingle. 

Roughly this time twelve months ago, Lily had been standing awkward and alone in the crowd, wondering if she had been out of her mind to make a go of the JWL to begin with. Now, with her JWL pin and Prefect badge attached to her dress robes, a strange alchemy occurred. Suddenly, she was one of the people attendees wanted to please. 

She had been in and out of conversations all night, with the occasional errand out of the room to help the house elves carry in additional buckets of ice. It had been like that all week, a constant onslaught of set-up, socializing and take-down. She was looking forward to deliberations the next day with relief, she would be glad for the break, and nervous anticipation. 

Doris caught her eye across the room and Lily seized the opportunity. Busy as she had been, she hadn’t had time to thank Doris for her support throughout the week. It had been good of her to participate, having a friendly face in the room had certainly helped ward off any moments of self-doubt. Lily managed to weave her way through the room without getting side-tracked and arrived at Doris’ side with a smile on her face and drink in hand. “Getting on alright?”