"Ugh. That idiot! Change me back Marlene!"

Lily stormed in, her hair violet and sparkly, fuming.

"Woah, Lils darling, calm down!," Marlene said, as she whipped out her wand and muttered the counter-curse. "was it Potter again?"

"strangely, no. He hasn't bothered me for months!" she sighed. "I kind of miss yelling at him, his reaction was always priceless."

"You know Lily, Maybe you were a bit too harsh on him. Why couldn't you just agree to go on a date with him?" Marlene teased.

"Why couldn't you date Sirius?"

"Black doesn't like me though...and i don't like him. However, james likes you, even if you don't return those feelings."

Lily sighed.

"You know Lils, give him a chance for me. Just try to get along, will you?"

Just as Lily was contemplating what to curse Marlene with, their best friend Alice came bounding in, her face alight with excitement.

"LILY! MARLENE! FRANK PROPOSED! PARTY THIS AFTERNOON!"

Marlene squealed, "i'm so happy for you Alice, show me the ring!"

Alice beamed and showed them her finger, now adorned with a golden band, embedded with small, princess-cut diamonds, and a huge diamond in the center.

"Um, Alice, im super happy for you and all, but don't you think you're a bit too young to be engaged, i mean, you're only 17."

Alice scoffed, "And don't YOU think that you're a bit too old to be complaining about the childish pranks James pulls on you? Besides, in the muggle world, some people get married at 18."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "when's the party?"

"At 8:00. I even got special permission from McGonnagall." Then she smirked. "You don't have any dresses to wear do you Lily? I think you have no choice but to wear something of Marlene's tonight. You two are practically the same size."

Marlene gasped. "That less than 2 hours away! Come on Lils! I have to get your makeup done and your hair, and WHAT will you wear!"

Lily sobbed as she propped herself on Marlene's bed. "I'm gonna kill Frank for this."

Marlene rummaged through her closet until she found what she was looking for.

"Party dresses! These will be perfect for you!" she said as she held out two dresses. One was deep maroon, with a V-neck. It was strapless, and had a slit down one leg. The other, was black, an off-the-shoulder dress, with a sweetheart neckline. It ended mid-thigh and had an open back.

"Try them on!" Marlene exclaimed, as Lily eyed the dresses suspiciously. "They're not going to kill you Lily."

Lily sighed and did as she was told. The deep maroon dress, in her opinion, was way too revealing, so she tried on the black one. It fit her perfectly, and accented her figure perfectly.

"You have to go bra-less, Lils. It has an open back." Marlene noted.

"Do I have to wear this?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING? this dress was made for you!"

Lily sighed, unsnapped her bra, and slid into the silky material. Marlene was right. It looked as if it was made for her.

Marlene smirked evilly. "Poor Potter is going to pass out tonight."

Lily glared at her and retorted. "Let's see if Sirius will finally fall for you tonight."

Marlene grinned. "Those boys have got it coming."

Lily put on some mascara, and deepened the color of her lips with a lipstick that matched the shade of her red hair.

Marlene frowned, as she got her own makeup done to match her deep red dress. "You need to fix that hair."

She came over and curled Lily's hair, then put it up in an elegant bun. She pulled out a few strands of hair to frame her face. "Perfect Lils."

Marlene's hair was down and wavy. she pinned a few strands away from her face, and behind her ear.

"Lets go, Lils. I hope Alice went to a good stylist, because that girl does not know how to play up her features."

They slid on some wedges, then walked down to the common room, where the party had just started. Alice rushed to the foot of the stairs to greet them. She gasped. "you two look beautiful!" Marlene smirked.

"SHH...don't tell anyone, but i got the marauders to sneak in some firewhiskey to spike the punch. They're over there, doing just that." she said pointing to a corner.

Lily almost laughed, but suppressed her smile. Remus was throwing his head back in exasperation from trying to wrestle the boys into their ties. Potter looked uncomfortable, tugging at his tie, and running his fingers through his hair. Sirius looked angry, glaring at Remus, but he managed to keep himself from ripping off the tie. Peter was running from Remus, but eventually surrendered to Remus, and allowed him to slip the tie around his neck. Not able to control her laughter any longer, she let a loud chuckle escape her lips. Remus turned to her, as did the other marauders.

"Do you see what i have to go through?" he groaned. Lily shook her head and pecked him on the cheek. Potter glared.

"You look nice," she said, as he hugged her.

"You look absolutely amazing" He whispered to her. "Is James glaring at the back of my head? he's going to go on and on about what a traitor I am."

"What? I'm not allowed to have friends now?"

"Come on Lils, you know it's not like that...He just really likes you."

She pulled away from his embrace, as the people started to come in. Potter walked up to her. He gulped, his adam's apple bobbing up and down, then cleared his throat. "Evans, one dance, please?" He held out his hand.

"Never in a million years Potter."

"Please?"

"No."

"Can't we all just be happy for this one night."

"Great, now you're guilting me into dancing with you."

He grinned sheepishly. "Just one dance and i'll leave you alone for the rest of the night."

She paused. Well, being Potter-free for a whole night seemed almost too good to be true. Plus, One dance couldn't hurt, could it?

"Fine. Just one though." She took his hand and gasped when he placed hi hand on her waist.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He smirked. "This is how people dance Evans. Now put your hands on my shoulders."

"Definitely not"

"You don't want to look like a dancing hippogriff, now do you."

She gritted her teeth and placed her hands on his shoulders, as he glided around the room with her. Damn, she thought, he was a good dancer. She was so caught up in the song, that she didn't realize what he was going to do until he suddenly picked her up and swung her around in a circle.

"Merlin,Evans, Do you eat at all?"

"Yes. I do. And even if I don't, it's really none of your business."

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay woman, i'll back off."

James thought his hands were in heaven. Never had he thought that he'd get this close to touching the milky-white, smooth skin on her back, or gripping the tiny waist of the woman he'd liked for years. Her hair framed her face perfectly, drawing attention to the striking green eyes, now accented with mascara. Her lips were so perfect, they looked so soft, and for that dress, he guessed it was Marlene's work, the little thing showed just enough of her cleavage to leave him panting, and showed most of her long, creamy-skinned legs.

"Evans, goddammit, tell Marlene that your dress is doing more harm than good."

She smirked. "What happened to you really, Potter? You're awfully nice today."

"Listen, Lily (she glared at the mention of her first name), I promised that i'd leave you alone, and I did. I can't force you to like me. I'm not quitting yet, but im not going to torture you anymore. That's it."

The dance ended before she could reply, and he disappeared into the crowd.