Chapter 11 – The Winter Ball

"Oh…yeah!" nodded Arabella as she propped Jessica's hair into an elegant French twist.

"Wow!" Jessica grinned. "Thanks, Bells!" she gave Arabella a fleeting hug.

Arabella smirked as Jessica gave her a squeeze. "Story of my life. Now......it's Lily's turn!"

"I'm scared." Lily grumbled as she reluctantly sat down in the swivel chair in front of the mirror, as she prepared to take on the torment of "Arabella Hair Salon".

After a small argument, Bella persuaded Lily to have her hair curled down, and not up. An hour of curlng irons, millions of bobby pins, and hair products later, the girls were ready and more beautiful than ever.

"Hey I was thinking," Jessica said as the girls did their finishing touches in front of the mirror, "since Remus and I have never officially started dating, maybe I should ask him!"

"Sounds like a plan," Arabella commented while curling her eyelashes with mascara with expert taste, "I mean, he's already head over heels for you,"

"Really?" she asked softly.

"For the last time Jessica," Lily and Arabella stood up straight from leaning towards the mirror, with lipstick and mascara in hand, and said in unison, "Really."

Jessica blushed and applied some of her cherry bomb lipgloss to avoid talking about it anymore.

"So guys," Bella said, turning around slowly as if practicing on a runway, "Whaddaya think?" she gestured towards her hair, make up, and dress. Arabella's short dark curls were pinned into an elegant bun, with a few curly tendrils falling down off the sides to frame her face. The shiny aqua marine earrings matched her breath-taking dress, and thanks to her MAC navy blue eye shadow, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle.

"You look great Bells," Lily said, smiling at her friend.

Arabella snorted and rolled her eyes. Lily and Jessica glanced at each other and grinned knowing she was very tempted to say, 'I know!' "Not me, silly girls, I'm talking about you! Did I do a fabulous job or what?"

Truth be told, Arabella had done a fabulous job. Jessica was wearing a strapless, silk, hot pink dress that fell down to her feet. Diamond-like jewels decorated the top and soft ruffles lined the bottom. She was glad to say she was wearing the heels Remus had given her for Christmas. Her fiery hair in the pretty French twist, sparkled with a diamond head- band and had created her once pale lips into a cheery, cherry, red color.

Lily had, of course, her amazing green gown that accented her eyes. Arabella added a bejweled velvet belt that wrapped around the bust, and all in all made people just plain stare in jealousy or awe. Green emerald earrings and the necklace Lily had recieved from James at Christmas, was perfect for this look, and stunning auburn hair was curled brilliantly into a lovely cascade of ringlets. Her dark green gown seemed even more magnificent up close, and thin figure was flawless by night.

They sighed in content and nodded. Arabella, Jessica, and Lily all looked beautiful.

The girls giggled and hugged each other delicately, making sure not to wrinkle their dresses.

"Girls," Arabella said, ruffling her curls. "Get ready for the gun show."

***

Finally, it was time for the Winter Ball to begin and hundreds of Hogwarts students in dresses and suits swarmed the main hallway, either waiting for their dates, or wanting to get inside.

Several girls accidentally bumped into Lily because of the squished crowd, and looked at her dress enviously. Then they uneasily pushed on.

"Oh. My. Gosh!!!" squealed Arabella excitedly. "There's Sirius! Oh, he looks so fine!!!

"Do I look okay?" she asked, facing them and fidgeting with her hair and earrings.

"Ah-dorable." Assured Lily. "Now hop to it. You should go with her too, Jess, I remember hearing the boys talking that Remus and Sirius would be together."

Arabella and Jessica smiled at her gratefully. "Good luck!" Then they skipped off to their dates, soon disappearing from sight.

Watching her two friends skip off to their dates, Lily suddenly thought of when she used to hate James; despise James. Back then, the only time she would accompany him to a ball would be in nightmares. So, in real life, would this be a good or bad dream?

Lily gasped aloud. James. He was waiting by the gates for her, hands in his pockets, eyes searching among the many girls. He looked very handsome. Undescribably handsome! Sooner or later, the students began to pile into the ball room, leaving only Lily standing there by the brush. James finally noticed her. His mouth dropped in astonishment, but quickly remembered she was watching and pushed it back up. He grinned that flashy smile of his, even though tonight it looked a little nervous, and held out his hand invitingly.

Lily hesitantly flowed down the marble steps, almost tripping over her gown, but luckily caught herself before anything major happened.

James took her hand tenderly and smiled. "Hey, uh, I couldn't see you there."

"Um, it's okay."

They walked in. The Grand Ballroom was decorated in a beautiful winter scene. Light blue twirled ribbons hung from the sides, and dance floor was supposed to be real ice. It was as if it were all a breathtaking dream. (Portraying HP movie #4 at the ball)

"You, you look…" James stuttered looking at her softly.

"Yes?" Lily asked.

James was wearing a shiny black Italian tuxedo. He had somehow managed to comb back his hair, and looked very, very, cute. No not just cute. HOTT. Period.

"You look nice…"

"What? I can't hear you." Lily egged on.

James looked at her strangely. He was talking normally, not quietly.

"You could answer me." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I was just trying to give you a…"

"A compliment?"

"Hey, lovers!" Sirius valiantly interrupted their moment, swinging a butter beer in one hand, and was linked arms with Arabella in the other. He was surely catching attention in his bright pink satin tux with black tie, and blue eyes seemed sparky and excited.

"It would be awesome if there was a rock band here and not symphony." Sirius sneered at the word. "They play symphony at the ballet."

The four laughed.

"I can tell you really actually enjoy the ballet, then." Lily reasoned, smiling.

"Actually, I do!" Sirius turned starry-eyed, "Pretty ballerinas."

Arabella rolled her eyes sarcastically. "C'mon, ballet boy," she tugged his bright pink sleeve, "let's go dance."

Even though she was trying to fake it, Lily and James could hear Arabella complain to Sirius as soon as they walked off. "You like ballerinas?!"

"Um…" James smiled at first at the sight of Arabella and Sirius but then looked hopeful as he asked, "Hey do you wanna dance? You know, just so Sirius won't bug us."

Lily raised her eyebrows. Hmm so Sirius won't 'bug' them. "Rrriiiggghhhttt," she rolled out the word.

James awkwardly led Lily onto the dance floor, and cautiously put a strong hand around her waist. Lily clasped his hand and felt herself blush. For some weird reason, his hands felt nice!

Oh, please please PLEASE don't be a slow dance!!!

But coming from Lily's bad luck, the band started to play a slow dance with a meaningful tune.

What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumpin' off the edge?

Lily, from the corner of her eye, saw Sirius and Arabella dancing, of course having the time of their lives. She also spotted Jessica smiling up at Remus as well. They were perfect for each other.

Well....it was sort of getting awkward between Lily and James. They both did not dare to look at each other in the eyes but Lily wanted to be friendly."So…how'd you get your hair so straight?" she asked, trying to start up a conversation.

He smiled playfully, knowing Lily was trying to make the dance comfortable. He chuckled. "Sirius' hair gel. It turns out it really does work."

James was acting so casually. Obviously, he wasn't nervous anymore. Unlike Lily.

"I sort of like the messier hair style on you better," she swallowed.

He winced, in surprise and then looked at her curiously. "Well, um, I like your 'hair style' any time, Lily. You look very beautiful tonight."

She smiled at her feet. "Thanks."

"I mean it."

It took a moment for Lily to talk again. "Hey, why do you act so different now?" Lily asked suddenly.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Well, you used to act kind of like a…I don't know…a show off. Now you're…different."

He smiled. "Haven't you figured it out already?"

"What?"

"Why, I'm 'different' so to speak."

"No. I just thought you had a sudden different point of view, I guess. I mean, maybe you just decided to…change."

"Maybe I changed…because you changed."

Lily looked up into those engaging brown eyes. What did he mean?

What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumpin off the edge?

All so quickly, Lily stepped in closer and James bent down. Was this really happening? Lily's breath started quickening and her eyes went wide while staring into James' chocolate brown ones. Both heads cocked sideways and before they could share the most memorable moment of their life –

"James!"

They quickly stepped back.

Wow, thought Lily. I can't believe I almost actually kissed James Potter!

"Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh!"

A crying Arabella ran up to them.

"J-James!" she sobbed, her mascara smearing, as she frantically fanned herself. "Th-they, they took him! They took Sirius!"

James frantically looked around for his friend in a pink tuxedo and black long hair, but did not prevail. He sprinted off out the front doors before anyone could stop him. Lily followed anxiously.

Outside Hogwarts, the dark night was twinkling, allowing Lily to make out the silhouette of James, running in the distance.

"James!" she yelled, pulling off her heels, and throwing them behind her, "WAIT!"

"STAY THERE LILY!" James shouted loudly without turning back.

Of course she wouldn't, and continued with much effort, running and following James until she reached the lake. When she reached them, she saw Macnair, Avery, and Mulciber levitating James, and Sirius, seriously injured and bloody, off to the side by the peach tree.

Sirius saw Lily, hiding behind the bushes, and managed to signal her to get away. But she stood firm.

James was being levitated over the lake, his head closest to the water. It seemed like a pretty lame punishment, but when Lily looked closely into the cold water, one could see hundreds and thousands of razor sharp rock shards laying directly beneath. She could just see James falling to his death. Lily gasped.

"Oh, hello mudblood." Sneered Mulciber. "Do you like our little punishment for Jamsie Boy here?" The Slytherins snickered evilly.

"Okay, it only works when Sirius calls me that," James said, rolling his eyes.

"Let him go!" Lily pleaded.

Avery snorted. "Yeah, right! Not after James made us look like idiots. I mean, seriously, who's lame idea was to put me into a teddy bear?"

"As a matter of fact it was mine!" Sirius called weakly from the sidelines.

"Okay, James," said Macnair, rolling his eyes. "Enough chat. Which do you think would be most pleasant to watch suffer? You or your girlfriend?"

James looked at Lily intently and whispered, "Me."

"No!!!" screamed Lily, trying to strangle Mulciber, who was the one dangling James, but Avery held her back.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash and a painful scream, and Lily fell to the ground in despair.

Why? Why? Why? Why???

Lily looked up and saw Mulciber start a fire to one of the nearby bushes, and a dangerous flame began to grow. She saw Sirius screaming, too hurt to confront the Slytherins, but expressing his anger furiously. There was an unknown rage flickering in his eyes now, instead of his usual happy twinkle. Lily was enraged as well, but weaker in mental wise.

She didn't understand. How could those boys be so evil?! To kill a loved one was so unexpected, so surprising. She had never guessed they would go this far. But they had. It was over. James was dead. No longer would she see giggling girls walk by him excitedly. No longer would she hear his cocky replies. No longer would there be that spark of enjoyment of the Hogwarts Heart Throbs in the school hallway. And no longer would she see those beautiful chocolate brown eyes. It was completely, unthinkably over.

Through her tear soaked eyes, Lily could barely see Mulciber, Macnair, and Avery run away at the sound of footsteps and a bloody red substance floating through the water in front of her. Arabella, Jessica, Remus, and Professor Dumbledore stumbled into the scene.

Arabella screamed and ran over to Sirius. Jessica started to cry and came to Lily. Remus looked around for any victims, and put out the growing fire. Professor Dumbledore frowned and shook his head, shocked.

Jessica stroked Lily's forehead. "Oh, honey. I'm sorry." She sobbed.

"I'm sorry too." Lily whispered. Then she cried so hard until she could cry no more.