Lily was very excited. Her parents had been going to dances at her father's work for year, but for the first time she as allowed to go with them. Her dad, Mr Thomas Evans, work for the Ministry of Magic in the minister's personal office. This meant that her had to accompany the minister to events that, luckily for Lily, included balls.
She had her outfit, from makeup down to shoes, prepared weeks in advance. She knew what dress she was going to wear, how she was going to have her hair and what lipstick she was going to wear… until her parents told her that it was going to be a masked ball. At first, this thought depressed her; it made all of her plans worthless. But in time she realised that wearing a mask could be quite fun. It meant that she did not have to be just Lily Evans, for one night she could be anyone she wanted.
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"MUM! Get Lily to shut up about this stupid ball!" Petunia whined as she stomped downstairs to breakfast.
"OUT THE WAY! JEALOUS MUGGLE COMING THROUGH!" Lily yelled as she followed behind Petunia.
"Lily stop winding up your sister," their mother warned, but smiled as she saw Lily's grin.
"Got your outfit ready yet?" she asked her daughter sarcastically. She knew that the party was all Lily had thought about for the past few weeks. Then ignoring Petunia's glare, she asked who else was going.
"The minister obviously…." Her mum answered.
"Yeah, but anyone interesting?"
"The Blacks," Lily made a face, "The Malfoys," and another face, her mother continued to list the families but Lily quickly got bored and tuned out until she heard her mother say "The Potters".
"James Potter's coming?" she asked dismayed. Her mother laughed at the look on her face but reassured her.
"Don't worry dear. I've never seen him at a ball. Besides can you imagine James enjoying anything formal?" Lily laughed at the thought of James in a tux. He would have his tie wonky, his shirt untucked, his hair, always untidy, just completed the picture. She relaxed and returned to looking forward to that evening.
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Eight hours later and Lily was putting the finishing touches to her outfit, 'helped' by Petunia, who was sitting on Lily's bed watching.
"I don't know why you're bothering. No one going to want to dance with you."
"Thank you Petunia."
"Only a loser would dance with you,"
"How's Vernon?" Lily turned round to ask.
"Don't change the subject!"
"I didn't," replied Lily smirking. Fortunately for her, Petunia did not understand her comment until much later in the evening when Lily was in London. Petunia chose to ignore her remark and continued to criticise her sister.
"Why do you have to wear those stupid robes?" she asked.
"We have to. There's a dress code," Lily replied grinning. She knew Petunia was such a snob that she would have killed to go anywhere with a dress code.
"They make you look fat,"
"Then it's good you're not coming,".
It was not as though Petunia had not been invited because she was not magical, being older than Lily she had received invites for a few years. But she refused to spend her time in the company of the people she called 'freaks'.
After checking she had got her mask and putting the rest of her makeup in her bag, she walked downstairs where her parents were waiting for her. Her mother began to compliment her as she walked through the door. Confused by all the attention Lily just smiled modestly and asked if they could leave.
"Bye Petunia," they yelled as they walked out.
"Whatever!" Was their reply.
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"Oh Lily, you look beautiful," her mother said as the drove up to the house. The ball was being held in a huge manor.
"Mum, please! You can't even see my face," Lily had sent the last hour being admired by her mother and had resorted to putting on her mask. But despite trying to ignore her mother's comments Lily had to admit she felt pretty. Her long red hair had been curled and was partially tied back, leaving some curls to tumble down her back and across her face. Her robes were made from a light material that made her look as though she was floating and her mask, matching her robes, was white. It was shaped like a cat's face, came down to her nose and perfectly contrasted with her brilliant green eyes. She sighed and prepared to go in.
Not knowing what to do once inside, Lily stayed close to her mother. There was an embarrassing incident when she realised that her mum had moved and she was standing with a stranger. Hoping that in the commotion of the party, no one would notice she slipped away and quickly found her parents again.
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Two hours later and Lily was bored. Her parents were dancing, but as she had not come with anyone and was to shy to talk to people, she had not danced all night. She was wondering why she was being so quiet, why she did not have the guts to talk to someone. Generally she was a confident person and never felt shy. She supposed that she overwhelmed by grandness of the ball. She had never seen anything like it. Everyone was in their finest robe and everyone wore a mask. Candles floated in mid air just above the dancers, there was a group playing music wearing masks in one corner of the hall and a company of house elves had been hired to wait on the guests. They wore small masks and bowties and carried trays of champagne and food. This confused Lily for a while, as surely a house elf with a bowtie would be free? And if they were free why would they be working as waiters at a party? She shook of the thought to go and get a drink. She wandered over to an elf, and was too lost in thought to notice where she was going. Lily was brought back to Earth with a thump as she walked straight into another guest. Immediately she started to apologise as he helped her up. He almost gasped as he saw her sparkling green eyes and realised in an instant who he had just knocked over. He decided to feign ignorance for the time being.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yes I'm fine, but it wasn't me that just fell over. Are you hurt?" he replied, but seeing that she was still a bit muddled added, "I'll get you a drink." Lily opened her mouth to refuse but he had already left. Her dad would kill her if he knew a strange boy was getting her a drink. Actually he would kill her if he knew she was drinking. He had given her strict instructions not to drink until she was old enough.
"Still, I'm seventeen," she thought to herself, "Which is close enough to eighteen. And besides that boy had seemed so……. charming" He was taller than her; though not by much and by the way he acted she reasoned that he could not be much older than her.
He returned with two drinks and seeing that Lily was unhurt asked her to dance. It was as they were dancing that she managed to get a proper look at him. He was wearing a simple red velvety mask that covered his entire face. She was disappointed that she was unable to see anything about his face other than his eyes. They were deep brown and seemed to go on forever. Lily was comfortably getting lost in them when the song ended and they broke apart, having to applaud the band.
"Well…I'll see you," he said before walking off. Insulted she stared at his back before recovering and finding her parents again, making a metal note to tell Petunia about thee charming stranger she had danced with.
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The evening passed and Lily watched the clock turn from 9 to 10 and then to 11 o'clock. She had danced with several people having no idea who they were. She had seen the red masked boy dance with other girls and was considering walking into him again but this time 'accidentally on purpose', when he came up to her and asked her dance. So they danced again. And again. And again. In fact they did not dance with anyone else all night. While she was dancing, Lily wondered who this boy could be. She decided that he must either have left Hogwarts or go to a different school. And she wondered if she would be able to see him after the dance. Sure there were boys at Hogwarts, but boys in Slytherin tended to be slightly……evil, and she was not desperate enough to go out with a boy from Hufflepuff who were considered to be 'Last Resorts' among the girls at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw boys were 'too much with the books' and as for Gryffindor: Well……… in Gryffindor James and Sirius were about as good as it got. As much as Lily hated to admit it they were very good looking, it was just that they knew it and were so arrogant.
Anxiously Lily watched the clock, as much as she willed it to stay still it continued to edge towards midnight. They chatted as they danced and she was amazed at how mature he sounded. She became an expert at keeping one eye on the clock but still managing to look into his eyes. Eventually it became close to midnight and the music stopped. Suddenly she found herself being dragged out of the hall, grinning as she realised it was time for the Minister of Magic's speech. Although she was alarmed she was relieved that she did not have to listen to the, no doubt, very long and very boring speech.
They sat down on a stone bench and talked until they heard the music start up again. There was only time for a couple of songs before the clock struck midnight.
"Like all good fairy stories" Lily thought.
The lead singer of the band announced that it was time to take off their masks and see whom they had been dancing with. There was an excited murmuring. The band started and revealed themselves to be the most famous and popular group around. People started to laugh as they saw who they had been dancing with. Lily saw her mum, very embarrassed as she saw that her father had swapped masks with his best friend. Her dad was watching from the edge of the room, bent double from laughing. She giggled but stopped as she realised that she had not taken her mask off yet. She was about to pull it off when she was dragged back into the garden.
"Why are we here?" she asked bewildered. Her partner shrugged,
"It's better outside, less crowded,"
Her partner looked nervous, as his eyes were large behind his mask. He knew who she was but he had no idea how she was going to react to him. Would she laugh, like the rest of the guests or would she be offended and walk off? He decided that the only way to find out was to take of his mask.
"Want to do it at he same time?" She asked, feeling just as nervous as him. He nodded. She counted to three and they both removed their masks.
"Hey Lily," he said.
"JAMES!"