A/N: See? I updated quickly this time! =D
I expected more reviews though, so I think I was a bit disappointed about that. Hopefully all of you review a bit more this time... *cough*
Enjoy! (and then the disclaimer again, etc...)
The next week seemed to pass by in a blur of girls frantically getting ready for the ball, boys asking girls—as in anyone but me—to the ball, and classes, which no one was actually paying any attention to.
That was how, the night before the ball, I found myself just about the only sixth-year girl without a date, feeling miserable. I sat in the library, reading a book and wallowing in self-pity, which I know is never the best thing to do, but honestly! Everyone but me had a date.
I let out a frustrated breath. I'd been reading the first sentence of my Muggle book for the past hour; I really was getting nowhere.
"What're you so pissed off about, Potter?" a snide voice said.
Glaring as I looked up at Malfoy, I muttered, "None of your business."
"What, you don't have a date?" he taunted. He smirked when he saw the expression on my face, which probably told him what he needed to know. Then, his smug expression faded. "Well," he told me lightly and in a tone that was very un-Malfoy-ish, "I don't have a date either. I was waiting for someone else."
"Who," I said haughtily, "Peony Parkinson?"
He laughed, a sound that was strange and unfamiliar to me. Who'd have thought that Scorpius Malfoy could actually laugh? "As a matter of fact, Potter, I was waiting for you."
I gaped at him for a second, before spluttering, "What?"
He shrugged. "You're pretty."
Malfoy? Saying I was pretty? This was just unreal. As much as I wanted to say that none of that affected me, his words made my heart skip a beat. After a few moments of me staring at him wide-eyed, I finally mumbled, "And this time you're serious?"
"Yeah, no joke," he said, flashing me a dazzling smile. I felt a bit lightheaded, then inwardly scolded myself for acting like this around him.
If you keep this up, you won't be any better than all of those other girls! I thought to myself.
"So... Did you mean it when you said that I'm pretty?" I finally managed to say in a voice that was very unlike my own.
He smiled kindly and my mind reeled in shock. Honestly, I'd never seen him be this nice before. It was bizarre. "Obviously, Lily. I wouldn't say it if I didn't think so; I wouldn't compliment you and be lying about it."
"But... you stood Rose up at the Hogsmeade weekend! How do I know you don't do that to me?" I managed to stammer, still feeling a bit dizzy.
"I only did it because I realized that I never liked your cousin," he said calmly, looking me in the eyes. His silvery-grey eyes seemed to pierce my own green ones, and I felt frozen, unable to move. "I realized that the one I liked... was you."
I groggily pulled myself out of bed the next morning; I'd decided that if Dom was going to spend the whole day doing our makeup, I might as well get up by myself.
I was still in shock from the events of last night, and I wasn't sure if I'd been hallucinating or something. I mean, honestly, Scorpius asking me out? It was just impossible.
Wait. When had I gotten to a first-name basis with him? He had always called me Lilykins or some other annoying pet name, but I had always referred to him as Malfoy. When did that change?
My thoughts were interrupted by Dom literally jumping out of bed and yelling, "WAKE UP, GIRLS! IT'S TIME TO DO YOUR MAKEUP!" She had a fantastic grin on her face and looked as if she'd already done hers. Why couldn't we all look like her first thing in the morning? Bloody part-Veela.
As Jenny and Rose reluctantly extracted themselves from the bed, Dom instructed, "All of you, take a shower and make sure you exfoliate!"
Taking advantage of the other two's half-asleep states, I jumped up and shouted, "ME FIRST!" before running into the bathroom. Ten minutes later, I came out with a bath towel wrapped around myself, grinning at Rose and Jenny, who were glaring at me.
"What took you so long?" Rose demanded. She never was a morning person, and neither was Jenny, I suppose. They both looked very grumpy, and their petulant expressions made me burst out laughing.
"I was just taking my time," I told her with a smile. Before Jenny could do anything, Rose had run into the bathroom and we heard the water start.
Dom looked up from her latest copy of Witch Weekly. "Good, you're finally done. Make sure you moisturize everywhere and then put the towel back on. We can't very well smudge your makeup or ruin your hair when you take your shirt off, can we?"
Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, "Yes, ma'am," before taking the bottle of moisturizer from Dom's outstretched hand.
"Apply it generously!" she barked.
And so the day continued. As each of us came out of the shower, she instructed us to moisturize ourselves and stay in our towels. When I had finished, Dom sat me in front of the vanity that she brought with her every year. Apparently, it was a necessity.
Watching Dom do her work was boring and tedious, although she let me borrow her copy of Witch Weekly at one point and we chatted about the articles. I snorted with disgust at one they'd printed about Aunt Hermione, talking about her apparently atrocious taste in clothes. I mean, honestly, her style is sensible yet elegant—altogether, far from distasteful.
Hearing me snort, Dom scolded, "That's very unladylike, Lily!"
I rolled my eyes and said, "You'd do it too if you'd seen this article!"
She stopped curling my hair for a second to glance at it. "Oh, that one?" she said dismissively. "I know, it's a load of rubbish. They just caught her on a bad day is all. I suppose that's all the tabloids ever do: make up stories based on pictures taken at unfortunate moments."
"Then why do you get these magazines in the first place?" I questioned, puzzled.
Dom shrugged. "Their makeup tips are useful. Besides, I'd have nothing else to read otherwise."
It was true; Dom probably had never even picked up a real book in her life, choosing instead to pore over fashion and gossip magazines in her spare time. The closest thing she'd ever used was a textbook, and those didn't count.
At that moment, Rose complained from her bed, "When is it going to be my turn? You're taking forever!"
We were used to Rose's complaints, and Dom obviously wouldn't be done with me for another couple of hours, so we just rolled our eyes and continued with our conversation, Rose grumbling to herself all the while.
I stared at my reflection, not comprehending a thing I saw. The girl in the mirror looked nothing like me, yet it obviously was. My green eyes seemed to shimmer and my pale skin seemed to glow, while my bright red hair—whose hue was unlike anyone else's—was curled in soft, elegant ringlets, framing my face perfectly. Dom was masterful with makeup, putting just the right amount on our faces so that it looked almost natural and highlighted our best features. My crimson dress had a plunging neckline that the others assured me I looked gorgeous in, but I felt almost naked with so much skin exposed. Besides, my whole back was bare as well. At least the rest of it went almost all the way down.
Jenny looked beautiful in her shimmery gold gown, her blonde hair gleaming in the light. Dom had put her hair up in a crazy hairdo that none of us could put a name to that looked absolutely gorgeous on her, and she had just a touch of gold eyeshadow and a bit of blush on her, in addition to the thin layer of lip gloss that Dom had quickly put onto her lips.
Dom, as usual, was stunning and, of course, sexy in her long black dress. It went down to about two inches below her knee and showed off more skin than even mine did. It had thin straps and an open back that was crisscrossed with thin, see-through strips of fabric and had a slit up one side that gave a peek of her whole leg. She had dark, smoky-looking eyes and on sight Peter was probably going to drag her off to an empty classroom to do Circe-knows-what.
Rose's hair was perfectly straight, not a single hair out of place, and her modest-yet-elegant red dress showed her curves off in all the right places, making her look incredibly sexy, even though the long-sleeved dress covered just about all of her. Aidan Price was going to literally faint when he saw her, I was sure.
In fact, he did just that. When Aidan saw Rose, his eyes got impossibly wide and he just crumpled to the ground in shock. We all thought we'd have to take him to Madam Pomfrey or something, but within a minute he got up, dusted himself off—although he did look a bit tousled afterwards—and shakily offered his hand to Rose. I almost felt bad for him; upon seeing Rose, he'd become horribly nervous and couldn't form a coherent sentence. Rose giggled and walked off.
To my surprise, Scorpius was there. I suppose I wasn't hallucinating after all. His eyes widened in shock for a moment when he saw me before he composed himself and calmly handed me a perfect lily. I smiled. It was a bit tacky, but I still thought it was sweet. Turning to look at Dom, I noticed that her eyebrows were raised in surprise; I'd forgotten to tell them about Scorpius asking me to the ball the night before, and Jenny just grinned before walking off with her date, a seventh-year Hufflepuff.
"Seeya, Dom!" I said as Peter waltzed up with a grin on his face and I watched them sneak back up to the common room. She winked at me before they climbed back through the portrait hole.
We walked down to the Great Hall, but before we got there we were ushered back to another room not too far away. Dom and Peter breathlessly arrived a couple minutes later, both looking ridiculously smug. I rolled my eyes at her, and she grinned in response.
Jenny stood next to me, and I whispered, "What do you think is happening?"
She shrugged. "I guess this is the surprise they were talking about."
Within minutes, the doors were closed and McGonagall swept into the room. "As you can see, this is no ordinary ball! Tonight we have placed an enchantment on everyone in this room. The enchantment makes you unable to remember the exact features of the people you are with; when you are with them, you will not be able to recognize them and will only be able to focus on one feature at a time, but that feature will be crystal-clear. Later, you will only be able to remember bits and pieces of their appearances. Hopefully it provides you all with a bit of... mystery." McGonagall said, exiting with a flourish of her wand.
Suddenly, I was swept to my right, and looking around, all of the other girls in the room were too. The boys were pushed off to the left. "All right, everyone!" called Professor Turner. "Girls and boys will be brought to the Great Hall separately, so don't even think about trying to stick together!" Rose and I sniggered at Dom and Peter who reluctantly stopped devouring each others' faces and separated.
"Ladies first," Professor Turner said, and led us into the room.
A/N: Like it? :D Hehe, finally some Lily/Scorpius chapter... and yes, the chapters WILL be getting longer soon. I promise! (PLEASE REVIEW!)