Ok so I really need you guys to review. Really badly. I love it that you guys read my story, but I'd love it even more if you'd review it! I'll dedicate my next chapter to you if you review. Please? kthx

Year One

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chapter 3

September passed quickly enough. The weather had started chilling and the leaves on the trees started falling. Lily looked out of the window through her dormitory one morning. The sun was not all the way up yet. She looked at the beech tree out by the lake. She saw the Giant Squid come up to the surface for a second before disappearing again under the black lake. The beech trees' leaves had only a few leaves left. The branches were blowing to the East, due to the harsh wind that was taking place that October morning. Halloween was rapidly approaching and Lily was thinking of the perfect costume to wear to the Halloween ball. It had been a tradition at Hogwarts for twenty years, but Lily had no idea what she'd go as. The other girls in the room had started stirring.

"Lily, what are you doing up this early on a Saturday?" Julia asked. Lily didn't take her eyes away from the window.

"I couldn't sleep." Was all she said. She wasn't lying. She hadn't been able to sleep for quite sometime. She had no idea why she couldn't sleep either; she just had this feeling that something wasn't right. Something big was going to happen. She got dressed and made her way downstairs for an early breakfast. She sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table, which was seemingly empty. There were only a few students in the Great Hall at any of the tables. The Slytherin table was completely empty. Lily had grabbed some toast and spread some jam on it. She also ate some eggs and a sausage. She went back up the stairs and into the common room. She grabbed some parchment and started writing some ideas for her costume. The ball wasn't until next Friday. She had six days to get an outfit. Soon people started leaving their dormitories and heading for breakfast. About half of them came back with nothing to do today. Julia and Megan came back to see what Lily had been up to.

"Just thinking of what to wear for the Halloween ball." Lily said.

"That's easy." Megan said. "Just don't go. I'm not."

"What? You have to go, it's tradition!" Julia said.

"Well I'm not, and there's nothing you can do to make me go."

"Even if someone asked you?" Julia asked her, concerned.

"Nope."

"Fine, anyway, I'm going as Cleopatra, I know it's kind of lame, but I didn't know what to go as either. Hmm, I'll help you come up with something." Julia had offered. They sat for two hours debating ideas when they finally narrowed it down to an angel, a princess, or a masquerade woman.

"Where am I going to get a costume though?" Lily asked before deciding.

"Well there's always Hogsmead." Megan said.

"But first years aren't allowed to visit Hogsmead!" Julia said.

"What's Hogsmead?" Lily asked, completely clueless.

"It's the village outside Hogwarts. Shops, homes, you name it, it's there." Megan replied.

"Well how am I supposed to get a costume from Hogsmead if first years aren't allowed to visit it?" Lily asked them.

"My sister could go!" Julia said. "She could go and pick up a costume for you! She has good taste!"

"Well, alright, but first I should probably pick which one first." Lily told them.

"I think you should go with the whole masquerade thing. Very mysterious. And who knows, maybe you'll meet a cute boy who will be obsessed with finding out who you are or something!" Julia said. Lily looked at Megan, expecting an opinion from her.

"What? I don't care, I'm not going remember?"

"Okay, I'll go as a masquerade. Can you tell your sister to pick up a cute dress and a mask and bring it in a box so no one will see it?" Lily asked.

"Sure, the next trip is tomorrow I believe, she could get it then." Julia told her and rushed down to the Great Hall to ask Maddie if she would pick it up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

James woke up the same Saturday afternoon, and looked out the window. He wasn't the first to wake, but he wasn't the last to wake either. He looked out the window to see the same things that Lily saw. The beech tree with hardly any leaves on it, the black lake and the Giant Squid's tentacles thrashing about. He noticed the wind was quite harsh that day, as he could see the branches and leaves (or what was left) blowing in the wind. He turned away from the cloudy day outside the window and opened his trunk to take some clothes out of it. He got dressed and went to the stairs that led to the common room, just as every other morning. He entered the common room to see only three people in it at the time; Lily and her two friends, Julia and Megan. They were huddled over a piece of parchment, discussing something; not noticing anyone had entered the room. He tried to get a glimpse of the parchment, but couldn't. He went through the common room and down to breakfast, well lunch. By time he came back, Julia had left them, but Lily and Megan seemed to still be discussing something that looked important to them. He strode up to them, wanting to strike up a conversation with the girl that despised him with all her being.

"Hello Lily, what are you doing this fine day?" James had snuck up on her and asked. She scrambled to hide her parchment.

"Um, nothing, nothing at all." She seemed slightly awkward around James. That wasn't like her. She was usually a shy person, but not around James. She seemed to speak her mind to James.

"What's on that paper?" James asked.

"Nothing." Lily said, but James didn't believe her.

"What does the paper really say?"

"Why do you care so much?" Lily asked and then ran upstairs. James was really confused. He went back downstairs looking for Sirius and found him eating lunch.

"Just get up?" James asked Sirius.

"Yeah, hey I have a question for you."

"Ask away my good friend."

"Did you ask anyone to the ball yet?" Sirius asked. James did not know that there was a ball coming up. He gave Sirius a look that looked like he was questioning Sirius's sanity.

"What ball?" James finally asked.

"The Halloween Ball next Friday. I guess you haven't asked anyone then. What are you going to go as?"

"Well, I'll probably just go as a swordsman or something. Have you asked anyone yet? What are you going to go as?"

"No I haven't asked anyone, thinking about asking Megan, you know Lily's friend? I'll probably go as…I'm not sure. I'll think about it. Who are you going to ask?"

"Well, I probably won't ask anyone."

"Oh, well, good luck with that. I'm going back upstairs and play some Exploding Snap with Remus."

"I'll go with you." James chipped in. They climbed the stairs again to play some Exploding Snap.

-------

Maddie came back from Hogsmead the next afternoon with a big box. She went through the Entrance Hall and up the stairs leading up to the seventh floor. She walked through the seventh floor to the portrait of a Fat Lady. She spoke the word, "Flobberworm Mucous" and the portrait swung open. She entered the Gryffindor common room, decked in red and gold and looked for her sister's familiar face. She went up to the girl's dormitory and into the first year's dormitory. Sitting in there were her sister, and her two best friends.

"Here's the dress and the mask." Maddie said.

"They match, right?" Megan said before Julia opened the box.

"Of course they match!" Julia opened the box to see that they did indeed match. Lily was sitting on her bed, trying to see the dress from where she was sitting, but too afraid to see in case she didn't like it. Megan had leaned over the box with Julia to see what it looked like, when she looked back at the door to see Maddie still standing in the doorway.

"You can go now, we've got it from here." Megan said. Maddie gave a disgusted look and turned to leave. Lily could hear that she muttered something that sounded something like: "First years!"

"Oh, my, goodness! It's gorgeous!" Julia said.

"Lily, I think you're going to love it." Megan said. Lily was certain Megan wouldn't have an opinion on it because she didn't like dresses. She was too tomboy to like dresses. Lily and Julia once had a discussion that one day, she'd grow out of her tomboy qualities and come running to them for help.

Julia ran to the door, shut it, and magically locked it so no one could see the beautiful dress. She came back to the box and pulled the dress out so Lily could see it. It was yellow with a dark orange sash around the waist. It went all the way to the floor, and had spaghetti straps (she was only eleven). Along the top was a flowery pattern and on the skirt half was a transparent over skirt that had little flowers on it. It was so pretty. The dark orange sash was transparent and tied around the waist and puffed in the back and stretched almost to the floor. Megan pulled out the mask which was a gold mask that would have only covered her eyes and nose. There was dark gold glittering all around the mask in little swirls. Lily was speechless. At her age, any dress that wasn't a sundress was beautiful to her though.

"Do you like it?" Julia asked, frantic. She couldn't tell if Lily was silent because she loved it or silent because she hated it.

"It's amazing!" Lily finally said. She ran over to it and tried it on. It fit just right. "But what am I going to do with my hair?"

"We'll figure something out." Julia told her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

James and Sirius sitting in front of the fire, discussing what to do, because they were bored. Sirius was saying that he was thinking about asking someone to the ball that very day. They noticed the portrait hole opening and an older girl came in with a slightly large box. She looked familiar, who did she remind them of? She looked around the common room, apparently unsatisfied, and climbed the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

"Who was that?" James had asked Sirius.

"I think it was Julia's older sister. They look a lot alike, huh?" Sirius said while throwing a piece of parchment into the fire.

"What do you think was in that box she was carrying?" James asked. He really wanted to know why everyone was keeping secrets from him lately. He ran over to the girl's dormitories to follow Julia's sister and see what was in the box. He made it halfway up the stairs when they melted together and formed into a slide. James slid back down and tried running up the slide. Sirius laughed.

"Good try mate, but I think there's a charm on that staircase."

"No kidding."

"Why did you want to go up there all of a sudden anyway?"

"Well, it seems everyone is trying to keep secrets from me lately. Yesterday, Lily, Megan, and Julia all were keeping something on a piece of paper from me, and now that box looked very suspicious. Why did Julia's sister need to keep it in a box?" James wondered aloud.

"Why do you care what's in that box? It's nothing for you."

"You don't know that!" James retorted.

"There's a 98 percent chance that it's not for you." Sirius said, still throwing things into the fire. Suddenly, the two boys could hear screams coming from upstairs. They were undoubtedly the girls that had received whatever was in that box.

"I'm bored, lets do something fun." James told Sirius. He really just wanted to get his mind off of that box. At that moment Julia, Megan, and Lily all came sliding down the slide that once was the staircase with the box that Julia's sister had taken up there.

"Who tried going up the stairs?" Julia asked.

"James." Sirius said, ratting out James immediately without looking up.

"Why?" Megan asked, curiously.

"Because I heard screams and thought someone was in trouble, thank you very much!" James replied back, insulted.

"Whatever." Megan said and they ran out of the portrait hole and out of sight. Where they were going, was unknown to James and Sirius.

"I told you it had something to do with me!" James said when he believed the girls were out of earshot.

"You have no idea if it has anything to do with you." Sirius said, starting to laugh.

"Okay, yesterday, I walked into the room and there was something on this piece of parchment that those girls had. I asked what was on the paper and they ran away and wouldn't let me see. Now, those same girls are getting mysterious boxes from Julia's older sister, which are undoubtedly from Hogsmead. What's in Hogsmead that those girls would need that they didn't want me to know about?"

"What if it's not for you, they just didn't want you to know about it because you'd spill the beans? I think you're overanalyzing things way too much." Sirius said.

"I don't spill the beans! People can trust me!"

"Then why are they hiding something from you!?" Sirius asked, not seeing why they were having this conversation.

"I DON'T KNOW!!"

"Then why are we talking? Let's follow them!"

"We're too far behind them now!"

"But we can try! Let's go!" The two boys got up and out of the portrait hole. There was no sign of where the girls had been or were going. Sirius held up his forefinger to his lips to signal him saying: "Shh!" They knew that they were heading for the stairs, so that's where they started. If they were quite enough, they could maybe hear the girls' giggling. Sure enough, they could hear it just down the hall. They turned down the hallway with the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, where the girls were undoubtedly heard, but when they looked. They saw no one, and heard no one.

"I could've sword I heard them come down this hallway!" Sirius whispered.

"I heard them down here too! Where could they have gone?!" James whispered. The two boys snuck back down to the Gryffindor common room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The three girls had slid down the stairs; obviously some boy was trying to get up into the girl's dormitory for some reason. They didn't really care; they just wanted to be alone. A few of the other girls that lived in that dormitory with them had shown up looking for privacy, so the other three left for some privacy of their own. The reached the bottom of the slide to find James and Sirius to be the only people in the common room. It was strange for five o'clock in the afternoon. Sirius was lying right in front of the fire, propped up with a few pillows from the couches on his back. James was sitting on the back of the couch and falling backwards, so his head was on the cushions and his feet were in the air. They looked really bored. The girls had reached the bottom, almost loosing the box with the dress in it.

"Who tried going up the stairs?" Julia asked.

"James." Sirius said, ratting out James immediately without looking up.

"Why?" Megan asked, curiously.

"Because I heard screams and thought someone was in trouble, thank you very much!" James replied back, insulted.

"Whatever." Megan said and they ran out of the portrait hole and out of sight. They didn't want to run, because they had to remember where exactly it was that they were going. Maddie had told them about a secret room on the seventh floor that was called 'the Room of Requirement'. Whatever you needed, it would be in there. They had to go slow to remember the directions that Maddie had given, and to find where it was. They were giggling the whole way, so excited to finally have some peace and quiet. They reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. Behind that portrait was supposed to be this sacred room.

"Okay, so we just need to walk by it three times thinking of exactly what we want in the room or something." Julia said.

"We need some boys!" Megan said. They all laughed the hardest they had all night.

"Shh! Did you hear that?" Julia said.

"What?" The other two girls had said.

"I heard someone, what if someone's trying to follow us?"

"Then let's hurry!" Lily said. They three girls walked by as quickly as possible; thinking about what they wanted in the room. Suddenly, a door handle appeared and the three girls jumped into the portrait just in time. The two boys had just looked down the hall two seconds after they jumped into the room.

The room looked just as the dormitory did. There was three beds, a dresser, a mirror, and posters of cute Quidditch players, everything three teenage girls would want in a dormitory at school. The girls took the dress out of the box once again and Lily put the dress back on. Julia ran over to the dresser and opened it up to find it empty. She shut the drawer, whispered something under her breath, and reopened the same drawer. She pulled out the dress that she was going to wear to the ball. They both put their dresses on. Lily put the mask on and Julia got out her 'magic wand'. She was going as a fairy princess. Megan looked at them and told them exactly how she felt and how they looked.

"You guys look amazing. I'd somewhat like to go now, but I have nothing to wear."

"I bet this room could come up with something!" Julia put in. She opened a drawer and pulled out this extravagant dress. It was short and black. That was all that was to it.

"I love it! But I'm still not going with someone if anyone asks. I wouldn't know what to do and my whole time would be ruined." They were all wearing their dresses, and had asked for more mirrors so they could look at themselves more efficiently. "Now we just have to worry about our hair." The girls groaned. But there was always magic. They took off their dresses, put them into boxes, and went back into the Gryffindor common room. They were still gigging then, and noticed that James and Sirius were still in the common room doing nothing. Remus now joined them though, and seemed to be trying to tell them something, but dropped dead silent when the girls entered.

"What are you guys doing?" Julia asked?

"Nothing, why do you have two more boxes than when you left?"

"None of your business!" Lily said protectively.

"Hey Megan! Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sirius had asked. Why had he wanted to talk to Megan?

Julia and Lily went upstairs and started getting ready for bed. They had classes tomorrow and didn't want to fall asleep during class. Megan came back upstairs about five minutes later.

"What did Sirius want?" Lily asked very curious. She had no idea why Sirius would want to talk to Megan, she was always mean to people.

"He wanted to ask me to the ball."

"Oh my gosh! What did you say?!" Julia said, sitting down. She couldn't stand from all the excitement.

"I said no of course! I told you that I wasn't going with anyone. I want it to be the perfect night, and I'd rather spend it with my friends than some boy. Besides, this dance will come up more than once. It's not going to be my last one." Megan told her.

The next morning, the three girls had gone down for breakfast. Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus had gone down early for breakfast as well. Julia and Sirius sat on the end. There was a long conversation during breakfast, and then they all went to History of Magic. After that they had Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and later that evening, Astronomy. The girls had started walking away from the boys, they had girly things to discuss.

"Guess who asked me to the ball!?" Julia said walking to History of Magic.

"Sirius?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because he was turned down by me, and he's not going to go to the ball alone. Plus, you were sitting on the same end of the table." Megan told her.

"Did you say yes?" Lily asked her.

"Of course. He was so sweet about it."

"Have fun." Lily said. She was still going alone. She was okay with it though, like Megan said, there would be other dances.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After their classes were over (except Astronomy), the girls were up in their dormitory picking out hairstyles. Lily decided on wearing hers down with loose curls. Julia was curling hers and putting it up into a twist with a sparkling headband. Megan had decided wearing it down it loose curls with some sparkling barrettes and a tiara. She was going as a princess. They redid their hair back to what they normally wore it, and got ready for Astronomy. They were really excited for the upcoming ball.

----

I hope you liked it. I'm excited for the ball. How about you? Well I thought you guys would like to see what the dresses and hairstyles looked like. So if you want the links with them on it, etll me in a review, and i'll be sure to tell you. it wont let me put them on here for some reason.

REVIEW:)