Ugh. You guys are still going to hate me for this chapter… but you'll like the next one, I promise ;)

Anyways enjoy please ^^

Also, for some reason hates me, and my breaks aren't showing up in the chapters, so I'm using the line dividers right now. I hope this is okay. If it get's to annyoing, let me know and I'll try to do something else :)

Chapter 25: Dance the night away

It was the day of the dance. Classes had finally ended and Lily, Ruby, and Reed were all in the bathroom that they shared, getting ready. Reed had been giddy and excited all day, and although Lily and Ruby really wanted to not like Alex, they couldn't help but feel good for Reed's happiness.

"Which eye shadow Lily?" Ruby asked holding up two different round cases.

"The goldish one." Lily said pointing to the one in her left hand.

"Good choice." Ruby said putting the other one back while she twisted the top off of the other one and started applying it to her eyelid.

"How does it look?" Reed asked as she stepped out from behind the curtain she was dressing behind.

Neither Lily nor Ruby had seen her dress yet, she had wanted to keep that a surprise too. Lily dropped her mouth open when she saw it, "When did you get that?"

"I was talking to June, and she sent me this by owl." Reed said.

The dress was golden at the top and then faded into white, the spaghetti straps were barely noticeable, but made the dress a little more modest. The beading at the bust gave it a little shine, and the flow made her look like she was floating. Her hair was tied up in an extremely difficult looking knot that only Lily could have done. Little wisps of hair fell around her shoulders.

Ruby had done her hair up too, she had folded it under, giving in the look of a muffin. It would have looked funny on anyone else, but Ruby seemed to pull it off with effortless ease. Her dress was a water blue cap-sleeved floor length gown that.

Lily had on a white deep V neck dress with a ruched waistline; there was lace around the bust. She was going to wear a green one she had, but James had out right told her no, saying that green was strictly a Slytherin color when it came to clothing. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun at the nape of her neck.

"Don't we all look so gorgeous?" Ruby laughed as she finished up her make-up.

"Of course. We always do." Lily said giggling as the three of them went downstairs.

James, Remus, and Sirius were the only ones left in the common rooms, as they were all, albeit Remus, waiting for their dates. Reed giggled excitedly as she heard a quiet knock on the portrait. She rushed forward to answer it.

Alex, Oliver and his date, Rowena Burwell, stood at the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Alex looked handsome in his black dress robes. They seemed to fall around him nicely, giving his frame a nice outline. Oliver also looked charming in his dark blue dress robes. Rowena had on a bronze-ish colored dress. Together the two of them made up the Ravenclaw colors. Reed couldn't help but find that cute.

"You look lovely." Alex said taking her hand and walking further into the common room, Oliver and Rowena close behind.

"Hello James," Rowena said as she entered behind them, she sent a genuine smile to Lily then, "Hello Lily."

"You look lovely Rowena." Lily said looking the dress up and down.

James narrowed his eyes a little bit, he wasn't particularly happy with Reed's alternate date choice. But he could live with it, "We should get going now."

"Of course," Alex said, "Ladies first." And with that Reed had latched on to his arm, and they were on their way to their first Hogwarts dance.

"I can't hear myself think!" Reed giggled happily as she, Alex, Rowena, Lily, Ruby, and Oliver danced in a tight space together.

"God I love this place!" Oliver yelled as they jumped up and down to the pounding bass of the music that was playing.

The dance had started out, much to McGonagall's enjoyment, as a type of ball. Everyone was dancing classical waltzes across the dance floor. That was until Sirius had enchanted a radio to play other music. Music that kids were now grinding and jumping too, much to McGonagall's disapproval. Dumbledore wouldn't let her turn the radio off, as he himself was enjoying hopping around to the beat of the music.

It had only gotten better when someone had started passing out the enchanted plastic necklaces that glowed like the toy muggles got when it was dark, glow sticks. Now it was almost pitch black in the Hall, and there were glowing necklaces bouncing all over the place.

"Rave in the great hall!" Ruby yelled over the music, and anyone who could hear her cheered happily.

Even Francesca, who was dressed in an emerald green dress that was both seductive and classy at the same time, seemed to be having a lot of fun. Severus, although not as entertained as the others, still had a small smirk on his face as he shuffled along with the music, even if he was being forced to do it.

"I think I should have transferred here permanently about six years ago!" Oliver yelled over the music as he spun Rowena.

"That would have been nice!" Rowena laughed over the music.

Reed smiled, it was cute to see how infatuated they were with each other already. It was like they had known each other for years. It made her sad to think about when Oliver would have to leave.

"Do you want something to drink?" Alex asked as he twirled Reed around by her hand.

"Oh, yes. That would be lovely. I'll come with you!" Reed let Alex take her by the hand and lead her out of the masses of people who were so packed together she felt like she was in a sardine tin.

Reed was tempted to look at the table the boys were all sitting at when she and Alex passed it. But knowing that Remus was sitting there with Sirius and James made her ignore her impulse all together. She put the thought in the back of her head and followed Alex over to the punch bowl.

"I think I might puke." James said as Reed and Alex passed their table, Reed's hand firmly in Alex's.

"You know, they make a perfect couple," Sirius said seriously, "Both blond, both blue-eyed, both pure-bloods. A match made in wizarding heaven."

James rolled his eyes, he knew Sirius was trying to goad Remus. But as Remus was, at this point, watching Reed's every movement, it didn't work. James almost cringed at how cruel Reed was being. He knew she was just trying to teach Remus a lesson, but the poor werewolf sitting beside him looked like he was going to crumble into little pieces.

"James, look." Sirius pointed to the dance floor.

Severus had gotten away from Francesca. Most likely because someone had slipped fire whiskey in the punch bowl, and she was busy fawning over a group of guys. She probably didn't even know that Severus was gone. He was talking to Lily now. He looked nervous and confidant at the same time, like he had rehearsed what he was going to say to her.

Lily said something back to him, and then glanced over at James. There was a look on her face that he had never seen before. One of complete and udder sadness. James knew that Lily and Snape had been best friends when they had gotten to Hogwarts, had been best friends until the end of their fourth year.

He knew it was killing Lily that she couldn't do anything about the way his life was heading. He nodded at her, letting her know that she could go do what she wanted, even if she was going to go talk to the creep alone.

"Are you sure you want her to go off with him?" Sirius asked.

"She'll be fine. Snivellus wouldn't hurt her." He knew this for a fact.

Sirius didn't look so sure. They watched as Lily and Severus walked out of the Great Hall, past Reed and Alex. Reed sent James a startled look, but he just waved it off with a smile. Hopefully this night would end well. Hopefully.

Lily stood on the first landing of the staircase with Severus. They were in the middle of an awkward silence, with her holding her arm, and him looking down at the cobblestone floor. He had asked her to come with him, that he needed to talk to her.

"Severus…" Lily started, trying to get him to start talking.

"Do you love him?" Severus asked at once.

"Love who?" Lily asked, although she knew perfectly well who he meant.

"Don't play stupid with me, Evans! Do you love Potter?" Severus had a flat face. Not showing any emotion, not anger, or sadness.

"I... I think I…" Lily said looking down at the floor guiltily. She didn't know why she felt this bad telling him all of this.

Severus had been her friend from the time she was ten to the time where they had fallen out at age fifteen due to his choice in friends and life-style. But she could nearly feel her heart break when she told him.

"Then I can't be friends with you anymore. I wanted to try, to see if I could persuade you to be with us…" He said, unable to get the words out of his mouth, he was starting to choke on them; "I wanted to still be your friend. But I can't. Not if… not if you're with him."

"Severus please. We can still be friends," Lily said this desperately, this was her last chance to save him, "Please, stop all of the horrible things you're doing, we can be friends again!" Lily could feel her face heat up with tears.

"If you leave him, I will sever all my ties with anything doing with The Dark Lord." Severus, of course, knew this was an empty promise. He would never be able to sever ties with that thing. Never.

Lily looked at him, the shock in her face was clearly evident. She hadn't been expecting him to give her an ultimatum. Could she leave James if it meant saving what was left of Severus's soul? Could she do it?

Lily let out a gasping cry. Her knees buckled out from under her and she fell to the cobblestone floor. Her face buried in her hands. Her sobs were muffled a little bit now. Severus didn't wait for her to reply.

"We won't be friends next time we see each other out of school Lily. I can't guarantee I won't kill you. Or Potter. Or any of your friends for that matter." And with that one last quip, Severus Snape was gone, down the stairs and back into the dungeons to his common room.

Lily sobbed harder now. She had been selfish. She had had the chance to save him, to help him. And she stood there and didn't. Just because she had a boyfriend. A boyfriend she hadn't known for as long as Severus.

Lily couldn't bear what had just happened. Without telling James, or anyone else for that matter, she walked up the stairs toward the Gryffindor common rooms. She crawled into her bed when she got into the dormitory, not even taking off her dress. And as she lay there, silent with no one else in the room, she hoped for a second that the next time she saw Severus Snape outside of school, he would hold to what he said, and kill her.

"I wish we had dances like this back home," Alex laughed as he spun Reed around gently to a softer, slower song.

"You American's don't know how to have any fun," She giggled.

Alex pulled her back to him, one of his hands on the small of her back, the other holding her hand to his chest. This was nice, he hadn't had this much fun in a while now. Reed sighed as she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes and swaying with him to the beat of the music.

"Reed?" Alex asked quietly, his lips close to her ear.

"Hmm?" She mumbled tiredly.

"I was thinking… well I've asked you to this dance and we uh," His face went scarlet thinking about the day down at the lake, "we've gotten to know each other well…" he finally settled.

Reed laughed, knowing what he was talking about; honestly it was cute the way he got so flustered, "Yes we have gotten to know each other."

"I was just wondering… well next weekend we have that trip to Hogsmeade…" He paused for a seconds before continuing, "And I wanted to know if you'd go on a date with me," he cleared his throat, "As my girlfriend."

Reed looked up suddenly, as his girlfriend? Alex Emerson was asking her to be his girlfriend. A wide smile broke across her face, as she stood on her toes to place a chaste kiss to his lips. She could feel him smile as he held her a little more securely.

"I would love to."

Lily decided right away she was going to pretend that everything was okay. That she hadn't just spent almost half an hour in the girl's bathroom crying her heart out. So when the dance was finally over and the girls were back in the common room, she laughed along with Ruby while Reed danced around and hummed happily.

"I'm going on a date! A date, a date, a date!" She sang she spun herself around again, and flopped down on the couch, her head resting neatly in Ruby's lap.

"You're going to make yourself sick spinning so much love." Ruby said playing with her hair.

"I'm already sick." Reed said dazedly.

"What?" Lily asked suddenly, Reed didn't seem sick…

"Love sick!" Reed laughed uncontrollably.

"That was so cheesy." Ruby couldn't help but laugh with her.

"If you three wouldn't mind hushing up a little…?" Sirius asked with a laugh as the boys entered the common rooms.

Sirius looked fine, Remus looked a little less then happy, and James looked down right angry. Lily steeled herself, ready for the impending fight she knew was about to happen.

"What's got your knickers in a bunch James? You look positively fuming." Reed said worriedly.

"Well dear sister, I would be happier if I didn't watch you throw yourself at that American idiot all night."

Lily sighed, and there it was. James and Reed fought more then James and Sirius did, and that was surprising. Lily watched as Reed's face went from worried, to shocked. If this had been the 'old' Reed as she and Ruby liked to call it. She would have started crying. This however was the 'new' Reed and she was starting to look down right scary at the moment.

"Since when is dancing throwing yourself at someone?" She hissed.

"It's not, but kissing him when you have a boyfriend is!" James yelled.

Ruby sighed, that was defiantly the wrong thing to say, "I'm sorry, but incase you forgot, Remus and I broke up!"

"So what, you guys had a fight, you two always fight! That doesn't mean you broke up with him!"

"Actually James, it does, and it doesn't even matter now, because for your information, I have a boyfriend!" Reed yelled getting off of the couch in a huff, she climbed the stairs to the girl's dorm, stopping half way, "And you know something else? If you were a good brother, you'd be happy that I was happy myself." And with that the door slammed.

James looked around for some confirmation that no, he was not in fact, a bad brother. Just one who knew what his sister should do.

"Sorry mate," Sirius sighed, "I would like it if Reedy and Remus got over this fight, but she's right."

James turned his head towards Lily and Ruby now, both girls held their hands up in mock surrender. Neither of them were going to say anything against Reed or James. When James went to look at Remus, he noticed he had already left, presumably to cry himself to sleep.

Okay so hello there! This is WonderBunny with the lovely A/N at the end!

I just wanted to thank everyone who didn't call me mean names because of the whole Alex and Reed thing. I swear, things will get better for those of you who absolutely hate him haha.

Wow… 25 chapters! That's a lot for me I think… I'm not sure how many chapters there is going to be in all, but I'm thinking around 40 something right now.

My biggest wish right now for this little piece of work is to obtain 100 reviews. I want all of you to help me with that! Please review, even if it's just "I liked this chapter a lot" Or "Maybe you could try this differently next time…" Or, "English people don't say that..." (This was a big help by the way!)

Thanks for reading!