THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE LAST DISCLAIMER FOR THIS STORY. I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.
Chapter 12
The fire in the Ravenclaw common room crackled merrily as Joy entered. It was dark and quiet – all the Ravenclaws had gone to bed – they had nothing to celebrate, really. All but one. In the corner, just outside the glow of the fire, a figure crouched, furiously writing on a piece of parchment, As Joy watched, she sighed exasperatedly and tore it up and flung it into the fire.
"Beatrice?" Joy walked closer. Beatrice jerked up in surprise and smiled fleetingly.
"Hey Joy. How are you?"
"Fine. I was just wanting to talk to you?" Joy sat down on the squishy armchair. Beatrice looked at her expectantly. "You know how James likes Lily…"
"Obviously."
"Are you going out with him?" The words came out in a rush. Beatrice looked appraisingly up at Joy before answering.
"Blunt… but correct."
"You know that he likes Lily?" Joy prodded further. Beatrice's face showed no change of expression.
"Yes."
"Oh." There seemed to be no more to say. Beatrice turned back to her parchment.
"And speaking of James… what about Sirius and Rebecca?"
Joy frowned.
"Eh?"
Beatrice glanced up, eyes dancing mischievously, obviously suppressing laughter.
"A little bird told me that she agreed to go out with him?"
Joy grinned.
"It's probably true… Sirius is very persistent."
"Mmm, I've noticed." Beatrice folded her parchment, and put it away.
"You notice too much." Joy told her, causing the younger girl to grin.
"I'm a flaneur!" She proclaimed triumphantly. Joy raised her eyebrows.
"A flaneur is a lazy lump."
"Oh." Beatrice's face fell. "Are you going to bed?" Joy glanced at her watch.
"Yes."
"Okay."
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The students shivered as they filed across the corridor. Summer had left and autumn was going. Rebecca filed along with the crowd as they milled around classrooms talking incessantly.
"Beck!"
Rebecca turned at the loud cry reverberating over the noise. Kahlia waved to her from the other end of the corridor, signalling for her to stop.
"Hi Karl." She greeted her friend as soon as they were within hearing distance.
"Hey…" Kahlia grinned. "How are you?"
"Tired." Rebecca answered, rolling her eyes. "I got less than three hours sleep."
Kahlia raised her eyebrows in mock concern.
"Why?"
"Oh hush up." Rebecca snapped. She had not appreciated the girls' incessant efforts to pump information out of her late into last night.
"Well, we got the same amount of sleep as you." Kahlia's grin broadened. "But we're not complaining." Rebecca rolled her eyes and chose not to answer. "What have you got now?" Kahlia asked, changing the subject.
"Charms." Rebecca answered.
"Have fun!" Kahlia said with a wink. "Expect me later…" She trailed off, and giving Rebecca the most evil, scheming look Rebecca could imagine Kahlia making, she left. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rebecca entered the Charms classroom. It was silent, as no one had arrived yet.
"Hello Rebecca." A voice spoke from behind her, making her jump. Beatrice brushed past her and to her usual seat at the back of the classroom. "How are you?"
"Well, thank you." Rebecca said hesitantly.
"Congratulations on getting asked out by Sirius Black." Beatrice said, a glimmer of mirth in her dark eyes. "You must be so proud."
"I am." Rebecca said, rolling her eyes. "Trust me, I am."
"I can tell." Beatrice reached into her bag and pulled out her wand. Glancing at the smudge marks on it, she rubbed it with the edge of her robe. "You know, Rebecca… I really can't believe you agreed to go out with him." Rebecca walked slowly over to her and sat in the seat in front of her.
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know… I just didn't expect you to give in the swollen headed git, that's all."
"You're one to talk!" Rebecca exclaimed defensively. "You're going out with James Potter!" Something in Beatrice's face seemed to shut down.
"Joy told you?"
"Mmhm."
"I see." Beatrice turned her attention back to her wand. She closed her eyes and a jet of light shot out from it. "Sometimes things are more complicated than they seem, Rebecca." Beatrice's voice echoed in the empty classroom. "I am not g- "
"Beatrice!"
At the male voice, Beatrice's eyes flew wide open.
"Hi James." She said calmly. Rebecca could have almost sworn that the other girl had said 'Oh great…' under her breath. James walked over to Beatrice and with a half glance at Rebecca, swung his arm over Beatrice's shoulders and gave her a quick peck on the check.
"How are you?" He asked.
"I'm good… tired, but good." Beatrice smiled wanly. "James, you know Rebecca, right?"
"Uhuh…" Rebecca nodded. "We've… met."
"Yes, you're going out with Sirius!" James exclaimed. "He was telling me." Rebecca rolled her eyes.
"When is next Hogsmeade weekend anyway?" She asked.
James shrugged.
"Beatrice, when is it?"
Beatrice reached into her bag for her diary.
"Two weeks from now. It'll be good to do Christmas shopping…" She told James, smiling.
"True…" James mused reflectively. He placed his books down on the desk next to Beatrice as the other students began to file in. "I was thinking of doing a Christmas Ball this year? I was going to suggest it to Lily at our coming meeting… what do you think?"
"Hm… it'll be good to – you know." Beatrice broke off, looking at James meaningfully.
"Mm… I was thinking that, actually." James commented.
"You're getting better at this," replied Beatrice quietly. "You'll be ready soon."
Rebecca looked from one person to the other in a valiant attempt to follow the conversation fraught with ambiguity. She raised questioning eyebrows at James as Professor Flitwick entered.
"Don't worry." James said. "It doesn't matter."
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James glanced at his watch. What he saw there caused his eyebrows to rise and spur him walk faster. He was late. Late, late, late. As he walked, he allowed his mind to wander.
Charms had been good. He had mastered the Bubble Head Charm and earned a compliment from Beatrice regarding his performance as the 'loving boyfriend'. He wondered vaguely why her opinion mattered so much.
Ah, the library.
He broke into a jog and ran inside, searching hastily for Lily. He found her seated at one of the tables, a frazzled expression on her face.
"I'm really sorry I'm late, Lily." He gasped before she could start screaming. "I was talking to my classmates about the Bubble Head."
Lily closed her mouth abruptly, the opened it again.
"That's okay." She forced out through her surprise. Although everything James Potter did was surprising her nowadays. "So…" She pulled the piece of parchment she had been doodling on over to her. "Any ideas? We do have to do something. Otherwise it'll just look like we're enjoying the position of privilege and not actually doing anything."
"Relax, ma cher." James said with a suave wink. "I have an idea."
Lily folded her arms and sat back.
"This is going to be interesting." She muttered.
"It is." James grinned.
"So what is it? Bunnies lining the ceiling for Halloween? Turning one of the corridors into a swamp?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, actually, I've never figured out how to do that." James frowned thoughtfully. "But my idea is even better!"
"Go ahead. Amaze me." Lily invited.
"I propose we have a Christmas Ball!" James said triumphantly. A thoughtful frown crossed Lily's face as she considered the idea.
"Not bad." She said finally. "I like it."
"I knew you would, your Highness." James bowed gallantly. Lily giggled. It took James a while to register that. Lily. Giggled. Two words, not really that hard… but the concept behind them? Far too complex to understand.
He chose to ignore it.
"So is that all?" James asked. "Can I go now?" Lily shrugged.
"If you want." She answered, looking – was it his imagination? – vaguely disappointed. With a muttered 'thanks', James bounded out of his seat and out of the library doors.
Lily sighed and picked her parchments up and placed them in her bag. She stood up and smiled politely at Madam Pince on her way out. Outside the library, she stood and wondered where her friends might be.
"Maybe they'll be by the lake." She spoke aloud, wandering over to the window overlooking the aforementioned location. She could see a dark haired girl standing overlooking the lake. A boy with messy black hair came out to join her. The girl turned and smiled. James and… someone.
Lily turned away from the window, ignoring the queasy feeling in her gut. She quickly walked to Gryffindor tower and went in.
Kahlia and Pearl were in the common room, discussing something quietly over a game of Exploding Snap. Lily walked over to them and slumped herself in a chair.
"Hey, what's up?" Kahlia asked instantly.
"Nothing; just tired." Lily attempted to smile. Pearl exchanged glances with Kahlia, but neither pursued the subject further.
"We were just discussing Pearl's stalker." Kahlia beamed. "Want to join in?"
"Peter Pettigrew?" Lily asked, sitting up. "I've noticed that he's been following you around lately…"
"You and the rest of the world." Pearl grumbled. "He's so annoying!"
"Hm… I reckon he'd ask you to the Christmas Ball." Lily grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously. Both girls sat up.
"Christmas Ball?" Kahlia asked, grinning as well. "Peter and Pearl? Awesome!"
Pearl glared at both of them.
"I hope I'll find someone else to go with, thank you."
"Oh, you'll have no problem." Lily dismissed with a wave of her hand. "All the guys are after you."
Pearl glared harder, reducing Lily to ashes with a loud pop.
Only hypothetically.
At this moment, Sarah and Rebecca chose to wander in. Lily glanced up at them and smiled briefly. Rebecca bounded over to the trio, followed closely by Sarah.
"Did you hear that James is dating Beatrice?" Sarah asked succinctly.
"Sarah!" Rebecca reproached.
"What?" Sarah protested.
"Never mind…" Rebecca sighed. "Lily, should I stand Sirius up or not? I mean, it'd do very well for his ego…"
Lily shrugged, feeling slightly off-balance.
"I don't know… it's not very nice, is it?"
"No…" Rebecca mused.
"Maybe you should go out with him this once, just to give him a chance and dump him later on?" Lily suggested. "Nicely of course…" She added as an afterthought.
Rebecca laughed.
"This is me you're talking about. I don't do nicely."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"As if, Becky."
"Did you hear about the Christmas Ball?" Pearl interjected eagerly. "Are you going?"
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Joy glanced up from her conversation with her Ravenclaw friend, Jess as Beatrice entered the Portrait Hole.
"Hey Bertina." Jess greeted the other girl. Beatrice smiled at the interesting choice of nickname as she came to sit by them.
"Hi Jessina…" She returned. "Hi Joy."
Joy smiled in reply.
"It's getting rather chilly, isn't it?" Beatrice commented with a wistful smile. "The lake doesn't freeze over does it…"
"No, I don't think so, why?" Joy asked curiously. Beatrice sighed.
"Drat." She smiled. "I do skating lessons… before I came here that is."
"Cool." Jess grinned. "Maybe you could get Flitwich or someone to freeze it over."
"That'll be good." Beatrice mused thoughtfully. "Are you going to the Christmas Ball?" She asked suddenly in an abrupt change of topic.
"Christmas Ball?" Joy queried, eyebrows knitting together.
"Mmhm."
Joy looked at Jess questioningly.
"Sure, that sounds fun!" Jess enthused. Beatrice smiled thoughtfully.
"I'm sure Grant will ask you to go." She laughed, referring to a fellow seventh year Ravenclaw. Joy looked at her open face. Somehow Beatrice seemed rather relaxed and carefree today – for a change. Jess laughed too, smiling broadly.
"Are you going to go, Joy?" She asked. Joy shrugged.
"I don't know… "
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Jess urged. "And you don't have to go with a partner if you didn't want to…"
"Oh don't worry." Beatrice injected, a small secretive smile coming over her face. "Someone will ask her. And if he doesn't – which I doubt- we can be wallflowers together."
"Wallflowers?" Joy raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going with James?"
"Ooh, are you going out with James?" Jess asked wiggling her eyebrows. Beatrice shrugged.
"I don't know… I think it's time for him to… work things out."
Joy observed Beatrice's suddenly shuttered face and changed the subject.
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