Disclaimer
HARRY POTTER & all related characters and elements are TM of ©Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.
NEWSFLASH! GIRL SUEING OVER OWNERSHIP OF HARRY POTTER!
Yeah right.
Wish I could sue and win, though. Hehehe.
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LILYandJAMESareCUTE and NorahJones: Yes, although in my eyes it's awesome because it's actually written down and because it's going to be finished very soon.
Amy: Go evil attack sisters, wimp wuss losers indeed! Hehe.
brand-new-red-head: Is it a hag? Is it McGonagall? No! It's SuperGodwitch and her legion of enchanted evil creepy attack dummies! Woohoo!
Lady Knight Keladry: Say rather that it was made for her face. You know, the hand of fate or something that tends to creep into my stories to Amy. Just ask about Bastia sometime.
jamespotters girl101: No, a grate is a grill put over a hole to prevent things putting in, if it's a noun, and it means to irritate or annoy, if it's a verb. Therefore I am assuming you mean "great" and must thank you for the compliment.
serenity12345: Dude, me too! Like, they seem to have a mind of their own!
Seriously folks, this looks like the final chapter unless I decide to do an epilogue. Of course, the epilogue will only happen if you readers vote for one on my page.
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Chapter Nine
Climax and Conclusions
James pondered Mathilde's words as he settled in his chair in the Common Room that night, oblivious to others. If the mask was fitted to his dream girl's face, then it would only fit her. If so, then all he had to do was try the mask with every girl in Hogwarts.
But how was he to do this when lessons happened every day? Even if he did dare to skip lessons (which he didn't), everyone else would be in class and he wouldn't be able to get to the girls. He couldn't get into any house except his own and he didn't know which house she was in.
He wondered if he could visit the tables at breakfast at breakfast, lunch and dinner and ask them then. Still, would he want to find her stuffing her face?
James sighed. He could at least search the Slytherin table and the Hufflepuff table at breakfast and lunch, and the Ravenclaw table at dinner. If she was a Gryffindor, he could find her in the Common Room.
As he went to bed, feeling slightly better now that he had thought out his plan of action, Lily tossed and turned on her bead. Her dreams were filled with nightmares
James had found her, his Cinderella, when the mask had fitted onto her face. Lily took the mask off and held it in both hands shyly as she stood between the tables in the Great Hall.
After a few seconds of staring, James said curtly, "Put the mask back on. You looked better in it." He smirked as she blushed red in shame. "Did you think I would want to find a little nothing like you and live 'happily ever after'? How naïve."
Everyone laughed at poor Lily, James and his friends included. She could see Sirius howling with mirth, Peter giggling on the floor, and James, chuckling at her humiliation.
Lily felt tears running down her cheeks as her face burned. Throwing the mask to the floor, she ran out of the Great Hall, the hoots and jeers of the school driving her onward.
Mathilde was mistaken, the tale was wrong, Lily was an arrogant fool to believe that James Potter would want her…
Lily woke, half convinced that her dream was real. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to forget the mocking laughter that still rang in her ears.
James woke up early the next day, dressing in pitch darkness. He hurried down to the Great Hall in time to see a few early risers sitting sleepily on the benches.
He waited by the Slytherin table until it was filled then walked to the nearest Slytherin girl and held out the golden mask he had brought down. "Would you please try this on for me?"
She nodded dumbly, holding the mask up to her face. She handed it back when it didn't fit. James, unfazed, held it to the next girl and repeated his question.
"Still trying to find that girl?" the Slytherin asked as she tried to make the mask fit her nose with no success. The mask was as hard to bend as stone. "One would think that you're in love with the girl or something." James plucked the mask from her proffered hand.
"Good guess," was all that James said before he went on to the next girl. Not all gave it back when it initially fit, trying to bend it to fit their faces. James once had to physically remove a girl from the mask.
James felt lucky that he had managed to complete the Slytherin table during breakfast and disappointed that he hadn't been able to get any breakfast for himself. He did better in lessons though, despite a hollow emptiness in his belly.
Suddenly, everything speeded up dramatically, as if everything was on high motion. This speediness did not end until dinnertime.
Lily didn't know why she had put her golden slippers into her robe pocket. She wasn't going to be dancing today or something. She blamed her actions on the little voice inside her head. Lily smiled at this thought as she sat down at her the Gryffindor table for dinner.
She watched James try to pry a girl's fingers off of the beautiful mask. Strange, really, that that mask was made for her face. It was almost like… no. Never mind.
She returned her attention to her shepherd's pie, prodding her fork at the mashed potatoes and lamb.
James sat back at his table a while later, hoping to get a few bites before the meal ended. Unfortunately for him, a few bites were all he got before the food vanished and he bit his tongue. Growling, he raced for the Common Room before anyone else could get there.
When he got there, he stationed himself in the Common Room, asking any girl who came in to try on the mask. Girl after girl went by, each struggling with the mask.
As James watched the latest girl wrestling to bend the mask, Lily slipped through the portrait hole and stopped, watching the girl as well.
With a Crack!, the mask snapped in the girl's hands. The mask had taken one strain too many. James stared at the two halves of what had been his lifeline, unable to say a word. Everyone in the Common Room watched as the girl threw down the pieces of the mask and ran upstairs, crying.
Lily watched almost without surprise. A familiar voice in her head said, You know what to do, dear. You have the slippers with you. Just say that it's alright and that you have the slippers. Don't worry; they're also made for you. I've done all I can do for you. It's up to you now. Lily sighed mentally and opened her mouth.
"It's alright." Her voice was too high from excitement, her breathing too fast, she thought. "I have the shoes." Slowly she pulled out the tiny slippers from her robe pocket as James turned to her, bewilderment in his hazel eyes.
Her heart nearly failed her when he gently took the slippers and motioned for her to sit down. She took off her normal shoes, dropping them to the floor as the rest of the Gryffindors watched in silence.
He took one golden slipper and put it on her foot hesitantly, as if afraid that it wouldn't fit. Encouraged when it did, he slipped the other onto Lily's other foot and stood up, drawing her to her feet as well.
Lily looked in his eyes and swallowed, ready to run like the other girl if he rejected her.
She didn't count on him suddenly kissing her.
A loud cackling made everyone jump and the two lovebirds break apart. Lily took a step backwards but James put his arms around her. They all stared at a spot in the middle of the room where a familiar witch had materialized impossibly into the common room.
Mathilde grinned at the pair. "It's good to see that my time hasn't been wasted. Now remember, you two are to live happily ever after, right? Of course."
"Wait!" Lily said quickly. "Will we ever see you again?"
Mathilde shook her head. "I'm afraid not, dearie. I only appear when I have a story to complete. Ta ta!" And with a puff of grey smoke, she was gone.
Lily frowned slightly. At least, she did until James started kissing her again.
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"And they lived happily ever after, to the end of their days," the girl typed at her computer. She sighed contentedly and leaned back in her swivel chair as she looked at the completed story. Suddenly, she jumped as she heard a loud cackle through her headphones. The hair stood on the back of her neck as she scanned the dark room, resting on two wooden dummies that were slowly walking toward her. They were egged on by a little old lady with gray teeth who was cackling madly as they closed in on the young writer…
Now, as I've repeated before, if you want an epilogue you'll have to vote on it in the poll on my page. Now, as Mathilde says, ta ta!
