Hey! So if you haven't already read my profile, this story may seem familiar. This is because my old account, (my same username except 03), had some problems working, so I have posted the new and edited version of the story I posted on my old account ("At Last"). There have been some changes, but the storyline is complete. I will post new chapters as long as I get a couple reviews (hehe ;) )

Anyway, thanks for reading, and enjoy!


Lily Evans was sick of James Potter, the quidditch-obsessed prat who was in love with her. Why? She still hadn't worked that out.

It was an exciting time for the sixth years of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Snow covered the school grounds and the general mood seemed merry indeed. So what other time of year could it have been but the holidays?

With the holidays came a special surprise - Professor Slughorn had volunteered to set up a fabulous holiday ball for the sixth and seventh years of the school in a mere three weeks. There really wasn't a set name for this event, thus the students resorted to calling it the Winter Ball.

Lily had not yet been asked by anyone, but fingers crossed her crush, Tanner Brown (aka the rather attractive Ravenclaw Quidditch captain) would ask her anytime soon. Him, or the infamous Potter, who could not seem to get over her.

Lily's whirlwind of thoughts was interrupted by the entrance of her best friend Marlene McKinnon squealing excitedly towards her (or her comfortable armchair she was quite contentedly resting upon in the common room).

"Lils, you will NOT believe this! I just came back from Quidditch practice, and Potter, being the captain, announced that our first game is just two weeks away!" Marlene burst out. Lily smiled at her friend's excitement.

"That's brilliant, Marlene!" Lily grinned at her best friend.

"I know! Wait, you're coming though, right?" Marlene said, her voice adopting a rather fierce air.

"You bloody well know I'm coming, Mar." Lily said, rolling her eyes, though her emerald eyes shone with laughter.

"Might I ask if it's because of a certain stunning Gryffindor Chaser I know?" James Potter entered through the door, winking at her with that unmistakable smirk on his face before stalking towards his dormitory.

Lily groaned, not bothering to hide it. She absolutely loathed Potter, that annoying prat. He thought just because he was quite attractive, had excellent grades without trying, all the girls, Quidditch captain, he could act all arrogant. Marlene, guessing what her best friend was thinking, giggled furiously.

"Oh lighten up, Lily. You know he's just teasing. A lot of girls would die to be in your place," Marlene reminded her friend practically.

"Whatever," Lily said, obviously wanting to take the topic away from Potter as soon as possible.

"Well, anyway, the Winter Ball's only in about a month! Has Tanner asked you yet?" Marlene said, swiftly changing the topic.

"Not yet.. Blimey, Marlene, if he doesn't ask me, I'm dead meat! I mean, how bad would it look for a prefect to go alone to the ball?" Lily said, a familiar wave of worry washing over her.

"Don't worry, Lils, he'll definitely ask you," Marlene smiled at her friend. Secretly, Lily hoped the same.


As Marlene and Lily made their way towards the Dining Hall for dinner, they were interrupted by a seemingly flustered Sirius and a James Potter.

"Heyyy Marlene," Sirius grinned nervously, glancing at the dark-haired girl.

"Hello Sirius, what's up?" Marlene said amicably, albeit confused with Sirius's out of character nervousness.

"It's just, uh, you know, wannagototheballwithme?" Sirius babbled, diverting his eyes. Marlene gasped. Potter, apparentely couldn't take it any more and burst into laughter. Lily took one look at Black's stricken face laughed out loud as well. This was too good, Lily thought, grinning madly.

"Oh.. uh, sure!" Marlene said, grinning a little.

"Blimey.. Great! Well let's go to dinner, shall we?" Sirius winked, seemingly having recovered from his shock. Marlene slowly nodded, as if still trying to grasp the fact that Sirius Black had just asked her out. James and Lily took one look at the pair and burst out laughing again.

"Well, let's leave the couple to themselves, as I'm in no mood to see passionate snogging right now," James snorted. "Come on, Evans." Lily followed James toward the Dining Hall, happy for her friend, but at the same time, quite surprised that James hadn't seized the opportunity to ask her out, as he usually would've done. Lily raised an eyebrow at this thought, but then shook it off. Potter couldn't change - he would always be the arrogant, proud prat that he was. Maybe, Lily thought, just maybe, if Potter fixed his arrogance (and prickishness), he would actually be a nice person. But that was yet to come.


"Tanner!" Lily smiled as she saw the tall Ravenclaw walked towards her.

"Hey! Lils, what's up?" Tanner grinned, pecking Lily on the cheek. Lily blushed happily.

"So what're you doing Saturday?" Lily said, in attempt to make conversation.

"How could you forget Lily? I have Quidditch practice, and seeing that I'm captain, I can't miss it. Anyway, the Ravenclaw team would do miserably if I wasn't there, since I'm the best player and all. And I…" Suddenly Tanner stopped smirking, and his face contorted into one of worry.

"Oh, shoot! Lily, I'm so so sorry, I'd promised to meet Flitwick after class for some Charms work I missed, and I completely forgot!" Tanner exclaimed.

"Oh.. that's all right, no don't worry, go ahead. I'll see you later?" Lily asked, putting up a smile. She couldn't help but thinking that Tanner had gotten quite full of himself ever since Dumbledore had awarded him his captainship.

"Definitely. Bye Lils!" Tanner said, in a half-run. But Lily couldn't help but notice that he had gone in the hallway quite the opposite of the Charms room. 'He couldn't be lying though, could he? I mean…. ' Lily wondered to herself. Then, she shook it off. Tanner would never lie to her, he wouldn't do that to her.


Thanks for reading! Reviews are loved :)