"Okay,I'm ready to get this over with," Lily muttered.
"Oh,but Lily,let me just get you my new hair clip-"
"I'm fine, Alice!" Lily interjected, pushing her over-excited best friend away from her already perfect hair.
"Okay...Are you nervous?" Alice questioned Lily eagerly.
"Nervous...Why should I be nervous?" Lily said defiantly.
"Oh come on...You're going to the New Year's Eve Ball with James Potter!" Alice exclaimed.
"So?"
"So...Okay,so James's head used to be terribly over-inflated,but were in seventh year now and he's a great guy! Also,you have to admit he's pretty hot!"
Lily just watched Alice walking around their dorm while pouting slightly.
"And," Alice continued, "I know you have a crush on him."
"What?!" Lily said, jumping up. "There is no way I have a crush on James Potter! I only agreed to go to the ball with him because all the other guys were already taken and I just wanted him to shut up!"
"I've seen you staring at him," said Alice smugly.
"In his dreams," said Lily,but she turned away from her friend, pretending to dig through a drawer for her lip gloss, to hide the small blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Come on, Lily. You're my best friend. You know you can tell me anything-"
"Let's go, I'm ready," Lily said quickly, smoothing out her dark purple dress and heading down the stairs to meet her other friends, Mellisa and Taylor.
All the guys had agreed to leave early on the night of the ball and meet the girls in the great hall, so the common room was full of different bright colors, and not punctured by any black tuxes, Lily noticed.
"Oh my gosh, y'all look so beautiful!"
Lily had always been amused by the way that Taylor talked. Even though she was raised in England, her parents were Muggles from the southern United States. But this was just one thing that made Taylor unique. She had a strange taste in men. Or at least Lily thought so. Mostly because of who she was dating at the moment, though...
"I can't believe I'm goin' to the New Year's Eve Ball with Sirius Black!" Taylor exclaimed.
Sirius was alright to hang out with, but to date...? Lily wasn't sure about that.
"Why, Taylor? You two have been dating for three months!" Lily said.
"I know...He's just so sweet though! I love him so much!"
Lily looked around and saw Mellisa putting on earrings in the mirror across the common room, looking quite nervous.
Mellisa was a sweet girl. She was usually quiet, but when with her friends, Mellisa would do anything for a laugh. Even though she used to be terribly shy, she was staring to come out of her shell, which had been noticed by several of the boys at Hogwarts. Since Mellisa was extremely pretty to begin with, she had recently been a talking point for many of their conversations. Mellisa had never had a boyfriend before, but she did have a crush on a certain brainy marauder...
"Hey, Mell," Lily smiled. "Finally, some peace and quiet."
"Yeah, if that's what you're looking for, though, it's going to be pretty hard to come by tonight. What with James Potter and all," she grinned back.
"Well what about you and Remus, huh? What's going on there?" Lily said, nudging Mellisa with her elbow.
"Oh shut up, Emralds."
"You dare?"
"Yes I dare!'
"Emralds" was Lily's nickname which was usually only spoken by the Marauders.
"I would so challenge you to a pillow fight to the death right now, but my hair is finally cooperating," Lily said.
Mellisa laughed as Taylor, in pink, and Alice, in pale blue, walked up.
"Ready to go?" Alice asked.
"Yep," Mellisa answered.
"Duh!" Taylor replied.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Lily said grimly as they all started down the corridor, laughing.
It's a shame Peter had to go home for the holidays and miss the ball, Lily thought. It was looking like it was going to be a lot of fun. But, she figured, he most likely wouldn't have gotten a date anyway, so it was probably for the best that he was absent.
"Okay," Mellisa said quietly as they all stopped walking abruptly in front of the corner they had to turn to get into the great hall. "Let's do this."
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