ACT I.
PROLOGUE.
For three long years, James Potter found himself enthralled with Lily Evans;
And for three long years, Lily Evans found James to be arrogant and foolish.
Thus, the summer before their final year at Hogwarts, James formed a plan;
He would woo and win the hand of his lady love from beneath a dark shroud.
But this proved to be a challenge, you see, so James sent forth his best mate;
And tasked him with acquiring an invitation to the Meadowes' masquerade.
SCENE I. London. Inside a Muggle café.
Sirius Black stepped inside of a tiny Muggle café in London. Over a year he had spent out of his parents' home, but he still felt awkward and out of place inside the predominantly Muggle establishment. More so, he looked awkward and out of place clothed in a finely pressed, full white suit and tie. He flicked nervously at his collar and scanned across the faces of several teenagers, all staring at him as though he were a side show attraction. The boy flashed a dazzling grin and dragged his fingers back through his shaggy black strands; a classic move that he found had just as much charm when used on these Muggles as the girls back at school.
The nearest girl jumped to her feet and smiled casually at Sirius as she slowly approached him. "You're not from around here are you?" she cooed, letting her eyes flicker over the boy's attire. "I think I'd remember you," she added as she twisted a strand of her long brown hair around her finger.
Sirius shifted in spot and gave a careless shrug. "No, it's my first time to this area," he answered with a laugh. "I'm supposed to be meeting a girl here," he continued, much to the brunette's chagrin. "She's a friend of mine." The boy smirked as the young girl's eyes lit up once more.
"What's this friend's name?" she asked, tilting her head to give herself an innocent appearance.
"Dor-"
"I'm right here," interrupted a young girl's voice as she pushed herself between Sirius and the brunette. "I'm late and you...look ridiculous." Dorcas Meadowes folded her arms over her chest and gave Sirius the full look over. "What are you wearing?" she asked, laughing quietly as she pushed the nameless brunette out of her way and led the boy to a back table.
"Muggle clothes," Sirius whispered as he dropped down into a chair across from Dorcas. "I've seen Muggles dress this way," he insisted.
"Yeah, ones that are thirty-years-old," Dorcas laughed as she tossed her soft, golden curls back over her shoulder. "Doesn't matter. I don't care what you're wearing." She waved her hand idly at the boy and adjusted the shoulder of her sundress.
Sirius ran his hands over his tie and scowled. "Why are we meeting in a Muggle place anyways?" he asked, not bothering to hold back his annoyance.
"You have a problem with Muggles?" the girl snapped, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"No!" Sirius put his hand over his mouth and glanced around, feeling a bit foolish at his loud outburst. He leaned closer to Dorcas and proceeded to speak in a whisper. "No. I just find it odd that you want to meet me here."
"I like their pie," Dorcas answered in a simple tone.
"Their pie?"
"That's what I said." The blonde girl raised her eyebrows and smirked when Sirius put his hands up in defeat. She looked up and smiled at the server girl as she appeared at their table. "You want something? On me," Dorcas offered.
After the two ordered slices of coconut cream pie and something Dorcas called Coca Cola, Sirius scooted his chair around to be closer to the girl. "Well, did you bring them? You are gonna let me have them, aren't you? You said if I met up with you, you'd give me the invitations."
"That I did," Dorcas answered with a nod. "And I will. If..." the girl trailed off with a sneaky smile and dug into her purse. "If you take more than two," she finished. She waved four heavy envelopes in front of Sirius' face, teasing him with the prospect of attaining what he desired.
Sirius raised one eyebrow and stared at the girl's offering. "You can't be serious. You don't actually think that Remus is gonna come along, do you? There's no way in hell that I could get him to go. No, not gonna happen." He shook his head adamantly and leaned back in his chair.
"Either you get him to come...or you don't get these," she said softly, waving the invitations in his face once more. "It can't be too hard. My parents' masquerade is well known and anyone who's anyone is going to be there. They always are. Even the Minister of Magic shows up every year."
"Well, that would be fine, I'm sure that Remus has nothing against the Minister of Magic." Sirius gave the blonde girl a rather arrogant grin and added, "After all, the Minister didn't almost knock him out of the owlery window."
"He needs to get past that. It was ages ago!"
"Dorcas, it was five months ago."
"That's ages in teenage years. But that's exactly why I need you to bring him to the party," Dorcas hissed, slamming her hand down and smashing the invitations into the table. "I just think - No, I know that if I could get a few minutes alone with him, without him knowing who I was, then he would come around. He would see that we belong together."
"You're awfully sure of yourself," Sirius snorted.
Dorcas slowly picked up the invitations from the table and held them next to her face. "I have four of them, one for you, one for Potter, one for Pettigrew and one for Remus. Either you bring Remus along, or I'll have the house-elf toss you like week-old rubbish and James will never get his shot at Lily."
Sirius swallowed back a lump in his throat and nodded slowly. "I'll get him to come."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. I'll think of something; I will! I'll...appeal to his sense of friendship and...I'll bribe him with something." Sirius reached for the envelopes, hope gleaming in his eyes.
Dorcas pulled the invitations back out of Sirius' reach just before his fingers touched them. "And you'll send me an owl with what his mask looks like," she added. When the boy nodded hesitantly, the blonde handed over his reward. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mister Black," she said in a rather pleased-with-herself tone.
Sirius stared down at the victory that now lay in his hands, torn between the joy of getting exactly what James wanted and the sinking feeling from the dreaded task it would be to get Remus on board.
SCENE II. Backyard of the Lupin house.
A loud crack shot through the air in the backyard of the Lupin household, closely followed by a second, even louder crack. The two figures of James Potter and Sirius Black bumped into each other, still a bit disoriented from their Apparation. Laughter erupted from the boys as they clung to each other for support and tried to regain their balance.
"Could you have been any louder?" growled Remus Lupin as he charged across yard and looked around, fearful for prying Muggle eyes.
"What was that?" yelled a voice from the back door of Remus' house. A woman in her late forties peeked out of the doorway and frowned upon seeing Sirius and James' smiling faces. "I've asked you boys not to do that until you get better at it," the woman scolded with narrowed eyes before disappearing back into the house.
"Your mum's in a mood," Sirius teased, knocking Remus on his arm with his fist and grinning.
"She wasn't," Remus argued, "until you two shot in here like a couple of rifles."
"Couple of what?" Sirius inquired, but James waved his hand, uncaring for an explanation.
"We need to talk to you," James started, tugging on Remus' shirt sleeve to get his full attention. "Why are you covered in dirt?" he asked, suddenly aware of the taller boy's messy appearance.
Remus rolled his light blue eyes and clapped the dirt from his hands. "I was working in the garden," he muttered, his head ducked, knowing that teasing was sure to follow. "Did you guys want something?" he asked, quickly, hoping to get off the subject before Sirius could have a proper go at his Muggle-style gardening habits.
James nodded eagerly and clapped Remus on the back, giving him a bright smile. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked, his tone innocent and light.
"I was gonna get started on some of the required reading for classes. I just got the Hi- Why?" Remus' tone changed from casual to terrified as realization dawned over him. "I'm not going," he said suddenly, shaking his head with resolve. "You-you two are going to that masquerade, aren't you? You got her to invite you and you think I'm going too, don't you, don't you? You think I'm gonna go!"
Sirius gave a lighthearted laugh and laid his hand on Remus' shoulder. "Moony, Moony, Moony," he began as he tried to keep the nervous smile from his lips.
"Don't you Moony, Moony, Moony me! I'm not going."
"But Remus, this is important," James pleaded. "If you don't go along, we can't get in."
"She threatened to toss us like rubbish if you don't go." Sirius clasped his hands into a pleading position and pouted out his lips at Remus.
"So just tell her I'm there...lie."
"Lie? That's not a very Gryffindor thing to say, Moony," Sirius teased.
Remus raised his eyebrows in defiance and folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not going," he repeated.
James and Sirius exchanged glances and nodded at each other before Sirius made an offer. "I'll buy you anything you want from Honeydukes. As much as you want. Mounds and mounds of anything and everything." When his offer was met with Remus' head shaking, the boy threw up his hands. "Show him, James," Sirius barked.
James sighed and pulled a thick, leather bound, antique book from inside of his robes. "So, I was going through a box last night, just some old gifts and stuff that I never looked twice at, you know all that junk that relatives send and you don't really want, but your dad won't let yo-"
"The point?"
"Oh, right, the point...okay, so I happened to come across this book," he finished, holding it up to allow Remus to see the front of it.
"Is that...? It can't be," Remus whispered, leaning forward to see the cover better. "That's really rare, James. You just had that stuffed in a box somewhere?" The boy stared over at James with a mix of astonishment and disappointment.
"Yeah...I didn't know it was special," James defended. When Sirius nudged him in the side, he straightened up and went on. "You can have it," he told Remus, holding the book out towards him.
Remus' eyes just about leapt from his skull at the other boy's words. He pulled his hand back through his light brown hair and let out a shuddered laugh. "Really?" he asked, reaching towards the book. Just before his fingers could reach the cover, he jerked his hand away and scowled at James and Sirius. "No. This is a trick. You say I can have it, but what? Only if I go to that party, right? Nu uh."
"But this is rare," James whined, waving the book at Remus enticingly.
Remus turned his eyes up to the sky in an effort to ignore his friend's pleading eyes and the book he was finding hard to resist. James let out a growl and threw a desperate glance over at Sirius.
Sirius took a deep breath and chewed his bottom lip for a moment. "Last chance to change your mind," he told Remus. When the taller boy once again refused, Sirius took a step closer and smirked. "If you don't come along...I'll tell everyone that your first kiss was Della Prang," he whispered.
"You wouldn't!" Remus cried out, his eyes wide with horror. "That isn't true though! No one would believe that."
"Maybe," Sirius agreed, a laugh teetering on his words. "Or maybe everyone will believe me. And they'll all think that you kissed her and you'll forever be known as t-"
"Fine!" Remus snapped. "I'll go along," he forced out through his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Sirius. His hand shot out and snatched the book from James' unsuspecting hands before either of the other boys could even register the movement. "I'm keeping the book though," he added as he clutched the leather treasure to his chest and closed his eyes.
James hopped into the air and let out a joyful hoot, his smile stretching so far across his face it was near painful. "Remus, I knew you wouldn't let me down."
Remus' eyes cut over towards James and he twisted his lips. "If I end up dangling from the roof, or worse, then my blood is on your hands, James Potter."
"I can live with that possibility," James consented, still grinning like a fool. "Oh...and I have some robes you can wear," he added tentatively.
"And I got you a mask already," Sirius added, clearing his throat awkwardly.
"You know, since we're forcing you to go." James turned his eyes towards the ground and bit his bottom lip.
"Thanks guys."
SCENE III. A dress shop.
Lily Evans reluctantly allowed her best friend, Dorcas, to tug her into a high-end dress shop. She let her emerald eyes fall over the vast array of fine fabrics and intricate detailing on each of the displayed gowns. The girl hung back, staring nervously at the wall as Dorcas greeted the shop girl and began talking about Lily as though she wasn't standing a few steps away.
"No emerald," Lily finally spoke up as Dorcas and the shop girl started mentioning her eyes. "I don't want to wear emerald. I always get put in green and I just want something...different." She gave a weak smile to both of the other girls and twisted her hands in front of her as they resumed chatting.
Two hours and fourteen dresses later, Lily Evans stood in front of a full length mirror, admiring her reflection in a deep blue gown with silver trimming. "I love it," she whispered, more to herself than the very pleased Dorcas standing next to her. "But it's too much," the red-head added, her smile fading.
"Too much? What do you mean too much? It looks fantastic on you. It isn't over showy or anything," Dorcas whined.
"I meant the price is too much," Lily explained as she stepped down off the mirror lined platform. "It's almost twice what I have saved and I won't get paid again until next week." She sighed and slipped into the changing room to take off the dress.
Dorcas let out another whine and hooked her fingers over the top of the changing room door. "Then let me pay for what you don't have," she said. She laid her head against the door and batted her lashes, despite the other girl not being able to see her.
"I can't ask you to do that," Lily called out. "And don't make those puppy dog eyes at me, either."
"I wasn't!" Dorcas lied, arranging her face and letting her arms fall heavily to her sides. "Besides, you aren't asking me, I'm offering. If you already had your money, would you buy the dress?"
"Yeah," Lily answered as she stepped back out of the room and handed the deep blue gown back over to the shop girl.
Dorcas held up her hands and smiled. "There you go. Consider it a loan. I'll pay for what you don't have now and you can you just pay me back whenever."
"Not whenever, next week. Right away."
"Whenever," Dorcas laughed. "It's the least I can do after what I did."
Lily faltered in her steps and grabbed onto the other girl's arm. "What did you do?" she asked slowly, forcing Dorcas to turn around and look at her.
The blonde put on an innocent smile and let out a nervous laugh. "Nothing," she lied, shaking her head.
"Dorcas!"
"Okay! I-gave-Sirius-invitations-to-the-masquerade-and-he-is-gonna-bring-James," she admitted, her words coming out fast and mumbled.
Lily's eyes narrowed and her hands curled into fists. "You...gave Sirius Black invitations to the masquerade?" she hissed. "And he's bringing James?" She threw her hands up with frustration and began muttering hostilities under breath as she charged towards the counter.
"Lily, it'll be fine. He won't even know wh- What did you call me? I heard that Lily Marie Evans and don't you dare think that you aren't going."
"I'm not going; not with Potter there. He'll follow me all night and I won't get to talk or dance and -"
"He won't even know how to find you!" Dorcas interrupted. "You'll be in a mask, remember?" She sighed heavily and grabbed her friend's shoulders. "You'll be in a mask. And you'll definitely know which bloke is Potter. He's not hard to find. Just look for the one with the mess on his head he can't keep his fingers out of and then avoid him."
Lily squirmed under the other girl's hold and frowned. "But he'll know me right away." She tugged on the end of her red strands and gave Dorcas an obvious look.
Dorcas raised her eyebrows and giggled a little. "Are you serious?" she asked, grinning up at Lily. When the red-head didn't follow, the blonde rolled her eyes. "Just charm your hair. A few shades and you'll be a brunette."
Lily bit her bottom lip and gave Dorcas a sheepish grin. "I forgot that I can do that now," she admitted with a laugh. "Oh, come on, it's easy to forget. You get told over and over that you can't do magic outside of school, then when you're seventeen, you just...it's easy to forget." She pouted her lips and let her eyes move towards the counter where her gown now lay in a neat box. "Okay."
Dorcas squealed in excitement and rushed up to the counter. "We'll take it!"
Lily smirked and stepped up beside her friend. "Uh, Muggle money," she whispered as she spotted a flash of gold in the blonde's hands.
"I knew that," Dorcas huffed as she replaced the Galleons and pulled out a handful of pounds. "Wanna get some ice cream when we leave here?" the girl asked, her tone light and playful.
Instantly, Lily's face flushed red and the girl nodded. "If you insist," she giggled.
SCENE IV. Diagon Alley. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
Davey Gudgeon had been working summers at his Uncle Florean's ice cream parlour since he was eleven years old. The boy had been headstrong, determined to pay for his own school things his first year of Hogwarts, and his uncle always had a soft spot for children. It started easy, he would merely clean tables and greet customers, but as the years went by, Davey became more and more useful around the shop. Now, at seventeen, he was able to manage the entire parlour alone during even the hottest of summer days.
The worn out young man was just wiping down the last of the outdoor tables after a busy shift when his light brown eyes spotted two girls headed his way. Initially, he prepared himself for the traditional greeting that he would always give to customers. On second glance, the boy recognized the two. His smile grew wide and he quickly tucked his cleaning cloth into his back pocket and pulled at the bottom of his shirt to straighten it out. "Well hello, ladies," he greeted the girls as they neared, pulling one hand back through his wavy locks of dirty blonde.
Dorcas wiggled her fingers at Davey and hooked her arm through Lily's. "Got a table for us?" she asked with a smirk as she glanced around at the now empty establishment.
"Only the best for you two," Davey answered with a grin as he waved his hand for the girls to follow him inside. He led them to the table nearest the marble slab mixing stones and hurried behind the display case. "What can I get you?" he asked, putting on an eager smile. "And make it something wild, I've been practicing with some new charms." He pulled out his wand and twirled it playfully around his fingers.
Lily grinned at the boy and slid her dress box onto the table before her and Dorcas approached the counter. "You go first," she told her blonde friend.
Dorcas twirled a strand of hair around her finger and stared over the case a moment. "Alright, Davey," she began. "Give me some butter pecan ice cream with chunks of strawberries and fudge syrup and some of those little crushed cookies." She nodded at the boy and quickly added, "Oh, and add a little coconut. I love coconut."
Davey nodded and pointed his wand at the ice cream as his free hand scooped up a dish. It was quite the show he put on; the ice cream leapt into the air and the drizzles of fudge syrup charmed to weave itself into the butter pecan. Davey twisted his wand and beamed a smile as the chunks of strawberries, crushed cookies and coconut flew up into the ice cream and worked themselves around inside of it just before the entire mixture slid effortlessly into the glass dish.
Both Lily and Dorcas clapped as the boy handed over the ice cream dish. "That was awesome," Dorcas giggled and Lily added in, "It really was."
Davey preened at the compliments and gave Lily a soft smile. "Thanks. It's so much more fun than just mixing it up by hand on this thing," he told her, tapping his wand on the cold marble slab to indicate what he meant. "So...what can I get for you then?" he asked, waving his hand over the vast display of ice creams and smiling widely at the red-head.
Lily ducked her head a bit, a slight pink raising to her cheeks. "I'll just have some vanilla with treacle syrup," he answered, shrugging a bit.
"That's far too easy," Davey whined playfully. "Nothing else?"
"Um...you can add some sprinkles," she offered with a grin.
Davey's eyes lit up and the boy quickly made the same wand movements as he had when pulling Dorcas' ice cream from the containers. His hand swept up a dish and the vanilla twisted in the air in front of him, ready to receive its lace of treacle syrup. And Lily's smile stretched across her lips, pulling the boy's attention from his work at the most crucial moment. The stream of treacle syrup rose into the air, heading for the ice cream; the wand movement wasn't precise enough, however, and instead the stream shot past the vanilla and straight onto the smiling Lily Evans.
The girl let out a cry of surprise and stood motionless from the shock of being hit with syrup. Davey's mouth dropped open and a string of apologies rattled out over and over as he let the mixture splatter over the counter and rushed around it to the red-head, grabbing a fresh cleaning cloth as he ran. Lily burst into a fit of laughter as the boy dabbed a line of treacle syrup from her cheek.
"I guess it's a good thing I didn't want hot fudge," Lily laughed, pulling the cloth from Davey's hand and wiping at her own neck.
"I'm so sorry, Lily," Davey whispered, unable to contain his grin.
"That's okay, you can make it up to me with a dance at the masquerade," Lily whispered back.
A Note From the Author: Thank you for reading. I really hope that you chose to follow the story. It isn't very long at all. Only three chapters. :D Written for the "Romeo, oh Romeo" challenge where the prompt was to write a true love story. It was really hard to think of a Lily/James idea that hasn't been done already, but I hope, hope, hope that I got something a little original at least. Review please? Good or bad. :D –Jenna