Chapter 2
Lily quickly scanned the Gryffindor table. Nearly all the spots were taken up. The only spot open was next to Remus. Oh no!
She groaned inwardly. She hurriedly decided to just go back to the common room and skip dinner altogether when Dumbledore stood up from his seat.
"Will everyone please take his or her seats?", he asked. His eyes were twinkling at Lily. She looked around to find that she was the only person on their feet.
She hung her hand and swiftly sat next to Remus. He tried giving her a smile, but she just didn't want to look at one of them. Those immature marauder boys. After Lily was seated, Dumbledore continued, "Well, as you all know, Christmas Holidays are fast approaching." He paused and waited with a patient smile for all the cheering to go down. James and Sirius were the very last people shouting. "It has been a debate for some time, now, but I must inform you that this year there will be a Ball this year for the entire school to attend."
Whispers and shouts of glee spread throughout the Great Hall like wildfire. Lily felt a pair of eyes boring into her. She looked up to see Severus Snape staring at her.
"Oh! Pardon me! I almost forgot to mention that this is a formal Ball, and along with the proper etiquette, dates are required."
Lily was still looking at Snape. He seemed to color a bit and then he smiled somewhat sheepishly at her. She simply beamed back at him. She was so relieved to find that there was actually someone out there who would be so sweet to her.
"So, Lily, you gonna go to the ball?"
Lily frowned. She was immensely disturbed to be interrupted from her thoughts. Actually, I wouldn't mind at all if it had been anyone else but him. Her head snapped up to meet James'.
"If someone worth while asks me, I guess, but as of now, I don't have a date.", she answered curtly. She tried her best to be civil towards him, she really did. She just couldn't help but snap at him every time he tried to talk to her. She always felt like he was making fun of her. It's probably his eyes. They're always laughing at me.
"Well, who do you want to go with, Lily dear?"
Lily glared at him. Sirius and Remus both got quickly and quietly involved in a very intense Quidditch conversation.
Don't snap at him Lily. Don't snap. You can do it. "I really don't know.", she said quietly, though she glanced in Severus' direction to find him staring at her again. She smiled.
James turned just in time to see Snape blush. What was with that? Lily couldn't POSSIBLY been FLIRTING with SNAPE!!
"Well… I hope someone asks you," he said while slowly turning around.
"Yeah, me too." She smiled at James. She couldn't help but be happy. Severus was so sweet to her, and she had just caught him staring at her twice now. 'If only James, Remus and Sirius would quit playing pranks on me, I could easily become their friends,' she told herself thoughtfully while looking at the three of them stuff their mouths full of food.
James sat down in the common room, staring into the flames in the fireplace. He was mesmerized.
"Sirius! My queen!!!"
"Ha! This game'll be over before you know it! Prepare to lose!"
"Never!"
James heard a giggle coming from a big armchair a few feet away. When he saw who was in it, he sat up straight. Lily Evans was lounging in the chair, dressed in gray sweatpants and a white spaghetti strap shirt. Her hair was in a messy ponytail high up on her head. She was smiling into her book, but he saw her glance up at Sirius and Remus and shake her head gently. 'She's really pretty like that.' 'Wait… what am I saying?'
"You know your friends are total dork-brains, don't you?"
"Yeah. I know."
Lily looked back down at her book. It was her all time favorite in the entire world called Ella Enchanted. She guessed she had always liked it, because she knew that falling in love really didn't happen. It was just as much pretend as the make-believe curse that made Ella obey anyone who told her to do something ( Although, she thought, there might actually be a curse out there like that. Oh, Lily! You're such a dork! That's besides the point! Oh… ok.) But… somehow Lily had found a friend in this heroine. She didn't know how or why, she only knew that every time she read this book, in the end, she was comforted beyond belief.
"So, what're you reading?"
"Oh… just an old book I like. It's based on a classic fairy tale called Cinderella, but was so different (you know?) I didn't even realize that was what the story was until the very end. I just thought it was another novel, not a retelling of a story I'd been told hundreds of times." (Lily's parents had told her that story to comfort her when she was feeling bad about Petunia being mean to her again. They tried their hardest to keep their youngest daughter under control, but somehow, it just didn't work out right.) "It's my favorite book." 'Why am I telling him this?' 'It's just because you're feeling good. Ella was just riding down a banister with a great guy. What could make you not happy?' 'Oh, right! Thanks.' 'Anytime.'
"Cool. Could I… take a look at it sometime?" 'What in the world am I saying?'
'What is he getting at?' "Sure, I suppose so… here, uh, you can have it now if you want, considering I already know almost word for word how it ends," she said smiling at him.
"Thanks."
"I won! Yes!!! I told you you'd lose! No one beats me, I tell you!! No one!!"
"You cheated you little prat!"
"I did not!"
"Well, I best be off to bed," and with that Lily walked over to James, handed him her book and left. James opened the book.
(A/N if you haven't read the book, it's really good, or I thought so. It's about a young girl named Ella who was placed under a curse at birth. The fairy that put her under this curse had thought that she was giving Ella a great character traight. Obedience. Ella had to obey any order. Any one at all, whether it was 'stuff it' or 'go now and run into someone else.' Even the dangerous ones. Her mother and cook tool every precaution to ensure that she would be safe and that no harm would come to her. Ella and her mother both got sick. Their cook made them both special concoctions that would make them well, but Ella's mother had taken the unicorns hair out of it, and died. Ella's father had always been away on trade, so he wasn't really around all of the time. Ella's mother was envied by everyone because she was dignified and elegant, but Ella knew the side of her mother that used to slide down the banisters with her when know one was looking. She knew the side of her mother who would dance with her in the halls. She grieved deeply for her. When the funeral came around, she ran off, and the prince had told his father he'd come and find her. Well, she and the Prince made good friends. Then her father decided to send her off to finishing school, in which she would learn to be poised and elegant, like her mother. When the prince found out he was upset, but could really do nothing, as they were only friends. Well, Ella was tortured at finishing school, mainly by a mean girl who was jealous of her. But, she was also in misery, because whatever her teachers told her to do, she had to do. She managed to escape from finishing school, and was trying to go and find her father, when (I know I'm skipping parts, but I'm trying to SUMMARIZE) she was abducted by awful creatures. These creatures had almost eaten her, when she finally got down how to use their hypnotizing voice, and used it to get them to sleep. She tried running away, but one of the creatures had told her to stay still. Then the prince and some men came who were hunting these things, and she helped him by talking them into staying still while the men tied them up with ropes. She left, to try to find the giant wedding (she had heard that the fairy that had given her her "gift" usually came to other such happy occasions to given them gifts too). Also, her father was supposed to be there, and he could take her home. Well, she found the fairy, but the fairy didn't remove the curse from her (I don't remember exactly what happened, only that she didn't lift it then). She went home with her father, and later, her father got himself engaged to the mother of the horrid girl who had tormented her so at finishing school. He was only going to marry her because he was bankrupt and he knew she was a fairly rich woman. So, they got married, but at the wedding, Ella had slipped out, in fear of meeting the fairy again, and had met the Prince. They had a fun time talking and searching the entire place for secret rooms and things. And when they decided to go back down, they rode the banister and he caught her at the bottom and swung her around. Then they saw her father and her new mother and 2 new sisters standing there looking at them in shock. Her father had smiled, and her oldest new sister had scowled. Well, her father had to leave on trade, and her mother treated her as a servant, because of what Ella's father had done to her. Ella and the prince exchanged many letters through the cook(Ella's fairy godmother), because they knew that Ella's mother would not let it continue if she knew. The prince was still out hunting, and Ella was forced into humiliation by the jobs she was given. Finally, in one letter, the Prince asked her to marry him, and she was happy, but then realized what danger she would be putting him in, For if his enemy's found out, they would surely abduct her, and tell her to murder him, or make them tell them all kinds of top secret information. And she cried. She ran away and left a note to her step sister that portrayed her as a selfish wench, and she knew her sister would show the prince, to shame her name. Well, the prince did find out. It had said she had left to marry and old rich man for his money and that she was laughing at the world. The prince was upset. And angry. Very angry. His parents threw a ball, in which he would find a bride, and Ella went to it, with the help of her fairy godmother, and told him her name was Lela. Well, he danced with her the 3 nights the ball had been held on. Each time Ella had worn a veil, or mask, so he would not recognize her. Her step sister had become jealous of this strange girl who was hogging the prince all to herself, and betted the girl was hiding an ugly face under that veil. So, she ripped it off of her while Ella and the Prince had been talking. Ella ran out of the castle, all the way back to her house and began to pack, frantically telling her god mother what had happened. The Prince had gotten there though, before she could leave and confronted her. He asked her if she loved him, and through the curse she was forced to tell him the truth. That she indeed did love him with all her heart. "Then marry me, Ella!" She fought the curse with all her might. She wanted more than anything in the entire world to marry him, but she knew what danger it would put him in. She fought it so hard, she nearly keeled over with pain from stuggling with it. "NO!" she had shouted. "I will not marry you and you can't make me!" She had finally broke the curse and didn't even notice she had until her fairy god mother told her so. She had gotten down on her knees and asked the prince to marry her. It was a really a lovely book. I seriously cried. It was a lot more emotional than I make it sound, because I'm horrible at summarizing. Anyways, on with THIS story…)
"Hey, James… it's late. We're gonna head on up, ok?" James waved them away. He was completely astounded with this book. He couldn't believe that Lily read something like this.
Two Hours Later
James had cried. He had finished the book, and while reading it, he had cried. Never had he heard of such love. Never. He guessed his parents had it, but still, they had never told him of how it had come to be. This book was amazing. If Sirius had known he had gotten so emotional over a stupid muggle book, James would never hear the end of it.
Meanwhile
Lily crept back down the stairs. She had left her extra blanket down there while she was reading, and now she was freezing. She stopped on the staircase when she saw James sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning over her book. Lily glided closer, not wanting to disturb him. She froze completely when she was approximately 10 feet away from him. He was crying. Tears of pity for the two young ones in love were falling into her book. She knew. She had cried over it many a time. She sat down slowly and watched him read. He didn't even notice she was there. She watched him for hours as his emotions spilled out all over his face. Happiness, sadness, anger. He finally closed the book and laughed merrily. His voice was filled with joy for the girl who had overcome the impossible for the one she loved. He turned the book over in his hands, still smiling.
"Only you, Lily. Only you would love to read something like this."
"Oh, really?"
James started. He hadn't known she had been there. He blushed furiously, a look of shock still apparent on his face.
"How long have you been there?" he asked quietly averting his eyes to anywhere but her face.
"Don't concern yourself with that. Did you enjoy it, then?"
"….Yes."
"I'm glad you did. Well, it's nearly time for breakfast, Mr. Potter, so I'm afraid I must go take a shower." She stood up smiling at him. He looked down at the book in his hands.
"Here's your book back," he said while holding it out to her.
"That's okay. You can keep it for now." And with that, she was gone.
Lily quickly scanned the Gryffindor table. Nearly all the spots were taken up. The only spot open was next to Remus. Oh no!
She groaned inwardly. She hurriedly decided to just go back to the common room and skip dinner altogether when Dumbledore stood up from his seat.
"Will everyone please take his or her seats?", he asked. His eyes were twinkling at Lily. She looked around to find that she was the only person on their feet.
She hung her hand and swiftly sat next to Remus. He tried giving her a smile, but she just didn't want to look at one of them. Those immature marauder boys. After Lily was seated, Dumbledore continued, "Well, as you all know, Christmas Holidays are fast approaching." He paused and waited with a patient smile for all the cheering to go down. James and Sirius were the very last people shouting. "It has been a debate for some time, now, but I must inform you that this year there will be a Ball this year for the entire school to attend."
Whispers and shouts of glee spread throughout the Great Hall like wildfire. Lily felt a pair of eyes boring into her. She looked up to see Severus Snape staring at her.
"Oh! Pardon me! I almost forgot to mention that this is a formal Ball, and along with the proper etiquette, dates are required."
Lily was still looking at Snape. He seemed to color a bit and then he smiled somewhat sheepishly at her. She simply beamed back at him. She was so relieved to find that there was actually someone out there who would be so sweet to her.
"So, Lily, you gonna go to the ball?"
Lily frowned. She was immensely disturbed to be interrupted from her thoughts. Actually, I wouldn't mind at all if it had been anyone else but him. Her head snapped up to meet James'.
"If someone worth while asks me, I guess, but as of now, I don't have a date.", she answered curtly. She tried her best to be civil towards him, she really did. She just couldn't help but snap at him every time he tried to talk to her. She always felt like he was making fun of her. It's probably his eyes. They're always laughing at me.
"Well, who do you want to go with, Lily dear?"
Lily glared at him. Sirius and Remus both got quickly and quietly involved in a very intense Quidditch conversation.
Don't snap at him Lily. Don't snap. You can do it. "I really don't know.", she said quietly, though she glanced in Severus' direction to find him staring at her again. She smiled.
James turned just in time to see Snape blush. What was with that? Lily couldn't POSSIBLY been FLIRTING with SNAPE!!
"Well… I hope someone asks you," he said while slowly turning around.
"Yeah, me too." She smiled at James. She couldn't help but be happy. Severus was so sweet to her, and she had just caught him staring at her twice now. 'If only James, Remus and Sirius would quit playing pranks on me, I could easily become their friends,' she told herself thoughtfully while looking at the three of them stuff their mouths full of food.
James sat down in the common room, staring into the flames in the fireplace. He was mesmerized.
"Sirius! My queen!!!"
"Ha! This game'll be over before you know it! Prepare to lose!"
"Never!"
James heard a giggle coming from a big armchair a few feet away. When he saw who was in it, he sat up straight. Lily Evans was lounging in the chair, dressed in gray sweatpants and a white spaghetti strap shirt. Her hair was in a messy ponytail high up on her head. She was smiling into her book, but he saw her glance up at Sirius and Remus and shake her head gently. 'She's really pretty like that.' 'Wait… what am I saying?'
"You know your friends are total dork-brains, don't you?"
"Yeah. I know."
Lily looked back down at her book. It was her all time favorite in the entire world called Ella Enchanted. She guessed she had always liked it, because she knew that falling in love really didn't happen. It was just as much pretend as the make-believe curse that made Ella obey anyone who told her to do something ( Although, she thought, there might actually be a curse out there like that. Oh, Lily! You're such a dork! That's besides the point! Oh… ok.) But… somehow Lily had found a friend in this heroine. She didn't know how or why, she only knew that every time she read this book, in the end, she was comforted beyond belief.
"So, what're you reading?"
"Oh… just an old book I like. It's based on a classic fairy tale called Cinderella, but was so different (you know?) I didn't even realize that was what the story was until the very end. I just thought it was another novel, not a retelling of a story I'd been told hundreds of times." (Lily's parents had told her that story to comfort her when she was feeling bad about Petunia being mean to her again. They tried their hardest to keep their youngest daughter under control, but somehow, it just didn't work out right.) "It's my favorite book." 'Why am I telling him this?' 'It's just because you're feeling good. Ella was just riding down a banister with a great guy. What could make you not happy?' 'Oh, right! Thanks.' 'Anytime.'
"Cool. Could I… take a look at it sometime?" 'What in the world am I saying?'
'What is he getting at?' "Sure, I suppose so… here, uh, you can have it now if you want, considering I already know almost word for word how it ends," she said smiling at him.
"Thanks."
"I won! Yes!!! I told you you'd lose! No one beats me, I tell you!! No one!!"
"You cheated you little prat!"
"I did not!"
"Well, I best be off to bed," and with that Lily walked over to James, handed him her book and left. James opened the book.
(A/N if you haven't read the book, it's really good, or I thought so. It's about a young girl named Ella who was placed under a curse at birth. The fairy that put her under this curse had thought that she was giving Ella a great character traight. Obedience. Ella had to obey any order. Any one at all, whether it was 'stuff it' or 'go now and run into someone else.' Even the dangerous ones. Her mother and cook tool every precaution to ensure that she would be safe and that no harm would come to her. Ella and her mother both got sick. Their cook made them both special concoctions that would make them well, but Ella's mother had taken the unicorns hair out of it, and died. Ella's father had always been away on trade, so he wasn't really around all of the time. Ella's mother was envied by everyone because she was dignified and elegant, but Ella knew the side of her mother that used to slide down the banisters with her when know one was looking. She knew the side of her mother who would dance with her in the halls. She grieved deeply for her. When the funeral came around, she ran off, and the prince had told his father he'd come and find her. Well, she and the Prince made good friends. Then her father decided to send her off to finishing school, in which she would learn to be poised and elegant, like her mother. When the prince found out he was upset, but could really do nothing, as they were only friends. Well, Ella was tortured at finishing school, mainly by a mean girl who was jealous of her. But, she was also in misery, because whatever her teachers told her to do, she had to do. She managed to escape from finishing school, and was trying to go and find her father, when (I know I'm skipping parts, but I'm trying to SUMMARIZE) she was abducted by awful creatures. These creatures had almost eaten her, when she finally got down how to use their hypnotizing voice, and used it to get them to sleep. She tried running away, but one of the creatures had told her to stay still. Then the prince and some men came who were hunting these things, and she helped him by talking them into staying still while the men tied them up with ropes. She left, to try to find the giant wedding (she had heard that the fairy that had given her her "gift" usually came to other such happy occasions to given them gifts too). Also, her father was supposed to be there, and he could take her home. Well, she found the fairy, but the fairy didn't remove the curse from her (I don't remember exactly what happened, only that she didn't lift it then). She went home with her father, and later, her father got himself engaged to the mother of the horrid girl who had tormented her so at finishing school. He was only going to marry her because he was bankrupt and he knew she was a fairly rich woman. So, they got married, but at the wedding, Ella had slipped out, in fear of meeting the fairy again, and had met the Prince. They had a fun time talking and searching the entire place for secret rooms and things. And when they decided to go back down, they rode the banister and he caught her at the bottom and swung her around. Then they saw her father and her new mother and 2 new sisters standing there looking at them in shock. Her father had smiled, and her oldest new sister had scowled. Well, her father had to leave on trade, and her mother treated her as a servant, because of what Ella's father had done to her. Ella and the prince exchanged many letters through the cook(Ella's fairy godmother), because they knew that Ella's mother would not let it continue if she knew. The prince was still out hunting, and Ella was forced into humiliation by the jobs she was given. Finally, in one letter, the Prince asked her to marry him, and she was happy, but then realized what danger she would be putting him in, For if his enemy's found out, they would surely abduct her, and tell her to murder him, or make them tell them all kinds of top secret information. And she cried. She ran away and left a note to her step sister that portrayed her as a selfish wench, and she knew her sister would show the prince, to shame her name. Well, the prince did find out. It had said she had left to marry and old rich man for his money and that she was laughing at the world. The prince was upset. And angry. Very angry. His parents threw a ball, in which he would find a bride, and Ella went to it, with the help of her fairy godmother, and told him her name was Lela. Well, he danced with her the 3 nights the ball had been held on. Each time Ella had worn a veil, or mask, so he would not recognize her. Her step sister had become jealous of this strange girl who was hogging the prince all to herself, and betted the girl was hiding an ugly face under that veil. So, she ripped it off of her while Ella and the Prince had been talking. Ella ran out of the castle, all the way back to her house and began to pack, frantically telling her god mother what had happened. The Prince had gotten there though, before she could leave and confronted her. He asked her if she loved him, and through the curse she was forced to tell him the truth. That she indeed did love him with all her heart. "Then marry me, Ella!" She fought the curse with all her might. She wanted more than anything in the entire world to marry him, but she knew what danger it would put him in. She fought it so hard, she nearly keeled over with pain from stuggling with it. "NO!" she had shouted. "I will not marry you and you can't make me!" She had finally broke the curse and didn't even notice she had until her fairy god mother told her so. She had gotten down on her knees and asked the prince to marry her. It was a really a lovely book. I seriously cried. It was a lot more emotional than I make it sound, because I'm horrible at summarizing. Anyways, on with THIS story…)
"Hey, James… it's late. We're gonna head on up, ok?" James waved them away. He was completely astounded with this book. He couldn't believe that Lily read something like this.
Two Hours Later
James had cried. He had finished the book, and while reading it, he had cried. Never had he heard of such love. Never. He guessed his parents had it, but still, they had never told him of how it had come to be. This book was amazing. If Sirius had known he had gotten so emotional over a stupid muggle book, James would never hear the end of it.
Meanwhile
Lily crept back down the stairs. She had left her extra blanket down there while she was reading, and now she was freezing. She stopped on the staircase when she saw James sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning over her book. Lily glided closer, not wanting to disturb him. She froze completely when she was approximately 10 feet away from him. He was crying. Tears of pity for the two young ones in love were falling into her book. She knew. She had cried over it many a time. She sat down slowly and watched him read. He didn't even notice she was there. She watched him for hours as his emotions spilled out all over his face. Happiness, sadness, anger. He finally closed the book and laughed merrily. His voice was filled with joy for the girl who had overcome the impossible for the one she loved. He turned the book over in his hands, still smiling.
"Only you, Lily. Only you would love to read something like this."
"Oh, really?"
James started. He hadn't known she had been there. He blushed furiously, a look of shock still apparent on his face.
"How long have you been there?" he asked quietly averting his eyes to anywhere but her face.
"Don't concern yourself with that. Did you enjoy it, then?"
"….Yes."
"I'm glad you did. Well, it's nearly time for breakfast, Mr. Potter, so I'm afraid I must go take a shower." She stood up smiling at him. He looked down at the book in his hands.
"Here's your book back," he said while holding it out to her.
"That's okay. You can keep it for now." And with that, she was gone.