Lily Evans was a lot of things: To her professors she was brilliant, a prodigy in potions, herbology, transfiguration and charms and her defensive jinxes were only matched by Severus, Remus, James and Sirius. To her fellow Gryffindors, she was the outspoken heroine of the underdogs. The Ravenclaws admired her for her brilliance and Hufflepuff lamented the loss of such a humble and hardworking friend. Even the Syltherins couldn't deny her talent, even though murmurs of "Mudblood" followed her frequently in their presence. But despite her brilliance, her bravery and talent, it was her beauty that she was most well known for by the boys of Hogwarts and it irked her to no end.
She could hardly stand the thought of all the boys that fantasized about her that didn't even know her, that didn't stop to notice all of her admirable traits instead concentrating on her vibrant green eyes or her cascade of fiery red hair. Even the way she walked was subject to their endless, shallow praise.
"Lily Evans doesn't walk to class, she floats like an angel," she over heard some Ravenclaw fifth year proclaim dreamily as she walked down the corridor to her next class. She rolled her eyes thinking that many things floated besides angels and for all he knew she could have the personality of a banshee.
There was only one exception that Lily could think of, her dear friend Severus. He had known Lily since she was just a girl, before Hogwarts even, and he had never given her meaningless praise. When he did compliment her it was rarely on her looks, though she felt certain that he had noticed them. She wondered if he had noticed how she cringed at the boys who blindly proclaimed her beauty and purity. Regardless, it was nice to have someone who valued her as a person and not just for her looks.
It was November of her fifth year when Professor McGonagall announced to her Transfiguration class that the traditional Yule Ball would be held on Christmas Eve. Although the Tri-Wizard tournament that the ball had originally been associated with had long since been banned, Hogwarts still held the Yule Ball every four years to offer the students a rare social event.
Lily scowled as Professor McGonagall continued on to announce further that she would be teaching dancing lessons on a few select Monday evenings for anyone who was interested. But all Lily could think of, with increasing horror was the effect this announcement would have on her fellow students. She shuttered when she thought of the new wave of unwanted male attention that was surely to come her way, knowing full well that she would be a number one choice of date for over half of the male population. Sure enough, when she ventured a look around the room, James Potter and his gang were all looking her way. James smiled at her from across the room, a fiery look in his eyes that she knew meant something like "the chase is on".
It started the very next day. By the time she had made it down to breakfast she had already been asked by five different boys, three of which she had never even spoken too before. Then on her way to her first class three more has ambushed her, two bringing along flowers (one even bringing lilies) and the third had actually sang a horrible, off-key song that she was sure he had made up himself. She had rushed, mortified into the wrong classroom, but had waited a few minutes before crossing the hall to her own classroom just to make sure the coast was clear.
She spent most of Charms, marveling at the stupidity of the boys and wonder with horror when James would try his luck, dreading the ridiculous romantic gesture he was sure to have thought up. She wondered if she should just go home for the Christmas holiday, but the thought of Petunia, dodging out of the room whenever Lily entered it made her sick to her stomach and she knew she would rather deal with this ridiculous dance then return home to deal with her sisters loathing.
"Why don't you just ask someone?" Ellina Demsy, on of her door mates, suggested when she found Lily hiding out in their room in an attempts to dodge more pursuers she knew would be waiting to ambush her in the Gryffindor common room, "That way no one else will bother you. You could have anyone you know," the girl finished, failing to keep the hint of jealousy from her voice. Lily said nothing, but admitted silently to herself that the girl's idea was probably the only way to end this ridiculous business, but she couldn't think of who she could ask that wouldn't cause even more of a hassle at her invitation. After all asking someone would imply more than just a one-night date to this silly dance, even if that wasn't what she was intending.
She sighed heavily and glared at the ceiling, wracking her brain for an answer.
The next morning, the 'romantic' gestures became even more ridiculous and Lily began threatening to hex anyone who got in her way of getting to class on time. "I'm serious! Unless you want to spend the class period with your face glued to the floor, you better just turn around and walk away right now!" She exclaimed when someone poked her in the back.
"Well that's kind of harsh. I was only going to ask you if you wanted to walk to Herbology together," she heard Severus' familiar voice chide.
"Oh, Severus, I thought you were another one of them," she remarked with an uncharacteristic amount of venom in her speech.
Severus chuckled, but quickly stopped at the sight of her face, "No, I'm not stupid enough to invoke your wrath, I've been on the receiving side of your Jinxes one too many times."
She shrugged and they walked on to Herbology, chatting about homework and much to her amazement, she was not approached again on their way.
"No! Never! Not in a million years!" Lily exclaimed to James after he had swooped down on her in the great hall on his broom, jinxing a very unfortunate third year that had been trying his luck with Lily. "You are the very last person I would ever go to a ball with James Potter!" She screamed at him as he landed next to her, but for all her shouts of disapproval he did not seem dissuaded.
"Oh come on Lily, you know we belong together. Perfection like this deserves the company of other perfection," he pronounced.
Lily just glared at him with a new level of ferocity she didn't think she was capable of. It seemed she was so angered by his comment that she couldn't find words loud and vicious enough to describe what she thought of him.
Sirius was laughing at James pathetic attempt to woo Lily from the background of the crowd, while Remus looked on silently in a semblance of disgust and Peter smiled encouragingly at James. The third year moaned loudly from the floor, his face still covered in hot, red welts, and this shook Lily from silence, "You fix him, right now Potter, before I jinx you and I won't aim for the face," she remarked.
James' face fell a bit as he muttered the counter curse and the welts faded from the poor boy's face. Lily gave one last look at the third year, and then stormed off, leaving James with a scowl on his face.
Lily was not naïve enough to think that James would stop at one failed attempt. He attempted to ask her out several times a month and the prospect of the Yule Ball only seemed to harden his resolve. It was time, she finally confessed to herself, to get a date to the Yule Ball and stop this ridiculous tirade of obsessed suitors.
But who she thought? Her original thought was Sirius Black, after all wouldn't it be wonderful to see the look on James' stupid, arrogant face if she asked his best friend to the ball after his failed attempt to secure her as a date? It was brilliant she thought, before she remember that Sirius was hardly and better than James, he wasn't quite as arrogant but still a self-absorbed, conceited git, who picked on people just because they were there and he was bored. And so Sirius was crossed off the list of potential dates, along with a long list of tolerable boys that would most definitely take her invitation as something more than it was.
She spent many hours trying to think of someone that she could ask that wouldn't take her invitation the wrong way and wouldn't annoy the hell out of her with an endless string of meaningless praise, but it wasn't until Herbology when she had accidently knocked over her bowl of bubotuber pus and Severus had bent down to repair it that the thought struck her that perhaps there had been someone she could ask all along.
Severus had carefully avoided the subject of the Yule Ball in his conversations with Lily over the past few weeks. She wasn't sure if it was an assumption that it was the last thing she wanted to talk about or perhaps another reason, like that he hadn't wanted to draw her attention to it while in his presence. She frowned for a moment; he definitely wouldn't be going home for the holiday. He always stayed at Hogwarts for vacations to avoid his parents' endless stream of arguments.
They had been friends since well before Hogwarts and even though he had been spending more and more time with his fellow Syltherins and less time with her lately, she still thought he would understand. Besides this was the only way she could get Potter to leave her alone.
"So, Severus," she began as he straightened up and set the repaired bowl on the table. He didn't look at her immediately, instead pointing his wand at the spilled liquid on the floor, which rose from the ground and floated gently back into the bowl. Lily smiled, at the spell. Not every fifth year could manage to move liquid in such away, it was hardly an easy spell.
"What Lil?" he asked returning her smile faintly.
"Oh," she replied, shaking herself slightly, "Oh, I was just wondering, er, would you like to go to the ball with me?" she asked trying to keep her voice from sounding desperate.
"What?" He asked with a small blush. "Me," he asked quietly, as if he were speaking to himself rather than her.
"Well, it's just that I'm sick of Potter trying to get me to go with him, and it's getting impossible to go to class without all of them fighting over me and I just want to get it –"
"Yes," he interrupted, her nervous impromptu speech. "Yeah, I'll go with you," he assured her, trying not to look too astonished.
Her face was filled with thanks. "Oh good," she replied, smiling with relief, "Well then I suppose I don't have to worry about all of them, anymore."
"Yeah," he replied softly. He couldn't believe his luck and hardly even cared that she had most likely only asked him to get rid of all the other unwanted pursers. Even if it was only as friends, she still preferred him to the rest of them. He returned to the task at hand, not even attempting to hide his smile.
"Well, if it's alright with you," Lily continued, regaining her normal composure, "I think we ought to get the rumors rolling, you know, to get rid of these ridiculous gestures. Some boy tried to impress me by juggling with giant stone hearts earlier but the weightless charm wore off too soon and he ended up in the hospital wing with a concussion. I honestly don't know where they come up with this stuff," she finished with humor in her voice.
Severus just nodded his head and Lily winked, then said rather loudly, "I'm so glad you are going to go to the ball with me Severus."
From a couple rows in front of them, they saw Lily's roommate Ellina and her friend Janet Brooks turn around and stare at them in awe. They quickly spun back around when they spotted Lily and Severus looking at them, and began whispering adamantly. "Well that ought to do it," Lily said with another smile. "No one spreads gossip, quite like Ellina and Janet," she assured her friend. He simply raised an eyebrow and went back to work, the faint smile still visible on his face.
A couple hours later, Lily sat at the Gryffindor table, thoroughly enjoying her lunch as a very disgruntled Potter stared at her in shock. Sirius was patting his friend gently on the arm and Remus was barely suppressing a smile. Of all of their gang, she had always liked Remus the best, though he never spoke out about his friend's rather large ego, he couldn't seem to quite suppress his approval when James got a bit of what he dished out. Lily just smiled serenely and giggled a bit when she saw James outright look of anger. She silently thanked her friend, Severus, glad that the whole Yule Ball ordeal was over with, despite the fact that the actual dance was still a few weeks away. All the more time to enjoy James' commiserating and a few weeks of gossip about her and Sev, instead of the endless comments about her 'unmatched beauty' and the endless stream of annoying confrontations with all the boys' eager attempts at wooing her. She smiled more brightly at the thought as she pulled out her Transfiguration book and began to read, uninterrupted.
Meanwhile over at the Slytherin table, Avery was unwaveringly revealing his many strategies for knocking Potter off his broom in the next Quidditch match to Severus and the rest of the table, but Severus wasn't paying any attention. His mind was back in Herbology, where Lily Evans had just asked him to the Yule Ball. While Avery interpreted his smile as encouragement, his mind wandered to the Christmas Eve when he would be dancing around the hall with Lily. Some of the other Slytherins wondered silently about the smile on Severus' face, none of them could remember him ever smiling like that. He must have really hated Potter to smile like that at the thought of him falling off his broom. Severus only continued to smile as he got up in the middle of Avery's speech and headed off to class, leaving the rest of the table in a stunned silence.