Chapter 29: The Last Dance

"Very nice, Mr Potter, very nice."

"Why thank you," James replied, trying to sound debonair.

He was just walking down the bottom few steps of the head quarter's staircase, adjusting the cuffs on his dress robes. They were jet black, apart from a trim of red silk around each cuff and the neck.

"May I add you look particularly ravishing yourself, Miss Kenworthy?"

Caitlin smirked back at him. She was lying on one of the settees in the common room, her curly blonde locks scrunched back in a pony tail, wearing pyjama bottoms and one of Sirius' jumpers.

"Cutting it a bit fine are you not?" she asked, her eyes returning to the book she was reading.

"I like to be fashionably late," James replied suavely again.

Caitlin rolled her eyes at him.

"Cait are you sure you won't come tonight?" James tried. "It'll be good fun. We can make fun of other people's outfits together!"

"As delightful – and girly – as that sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to give it a miss." James gave a whimper like a hurt puppy. "I'm just not in the party mood, James," Caitlin said firmly.

"Alright then," James conceded, realising it was better not to push the subject. "Won't be the same without you though. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow," he said, as he leant down and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

It was bad enough that he had lost two people who were practically his aunt and uncle at New Years, but it hurt James even more to see the one friend he had had his whole life so sad and confused like this. He was praying for the day she would get back to normal.

"WAIT!" a voice bellowed down the boys' staircase.

Sirius stumbled out at the bottom, apparently in the midst of a great battle with his dress robes. Caitlin obligingly got up out of her seat and fixed them for him.

"You're going?" James asked incredulously, as he watched Caitlin lovingly fix Sirius' collar button.

"And why not?" Sirius replied.

"You hate balls," James pointed out. "And I thought you would have stayed here with Caitlin."

"I don't need anyone to baby-sit me," Caitlin protested. "Besides I want you all cleared out so I can have peace with my book!"

"So that means you're my date for this evening," Sirius said gleefully.

"Now I don't know about that mate…" James began.

"It's me or Avril."

"Padfoot, did I tell you how wonderfully that colour matches your eyes?" James said sincerely.

"Oh do you really think so?" Sirius replied, giving them a flutter.

"Well, you two have a good time," Caitlin laughed, sitting back down with her book. "And be good, and if you can't be good be careful!"

"We'll try!" the boys chorused, as they grabbed each other's hand and skipped out of the portrait hole.

"Seriously though," James began once the Fat Lady had closed firmly behind them. "Do you think she'll be alright in there by herself?"

"Well," Sirius sighed, as if he had been giving this some serious thought. "She made such a big fuss of making me go tonight, I think she just wants some time on her own to think. I mean, the last time she was at a party was when her parents were killed, so maybe the ball had triggered something? I think its best just to leave her to maybe sort out some things in her head. Besides I'll only be down here for a little while and then I'll go back and check on her."

"Well if you're sure," James replied. "She'll be missing all the fun though."

"Prongs, what fun? It's a ball. It'll be crap. Like all balls are crap."

"No," James contradicted him with a knowing smile. "This one should be more fun than most."

"And why's that?" Sirius asked, intrigued.

"Just a feeling I have," James smirked again.

"Just a feeling eh? Well I hope your feeling's right; otherwise I am going to have one very dull night!"

With that the pair of them walked into the now unrecognisable Great Hall, and so commenced their last ever ball at Hogwarts.


"You know this really depresses me," Remus stated simply. James and he were standing on one side of the Great Hall, surveying the party that was going on all around them. They had been there for about two hours now, and James was yet to see Lily.

"Great, remind me not to bring you to any more joyful occasions," James replied.

"No but looks around you Prongs, this is our last dance at Hogwarts," Remus said grandly, gesturing his hands round the room.

"Oh don't start that rubbish," James scoffed.

"What rubbish?" Remus said startled.

"This 'oh this is the last time we'll do this at Hogwarts' or 'this is the last time we'll do that at Hogwarts' or 'this is the last 5th April we'll eat breakfast at Hogwarts'!"

"Well now you come to mention it, this 5th April will be the last time we eat breakfast at Hogwarts on that date," Remus said solemnly, mockingly raising his glass.

"Just remind me to go to Hogsmeade that morning," James shot back. The pair of them chuckled slightly as Peter arrived.

"Alright?" he puffed.

"Alright Wormtail? All danced out are we?" James jested.

"You can laugh, but at least I'm not stood here like a wallflower!" Peter shot back. He bust a little move to proof his point.

"Wormtail, what age is that girl you've been dancing with? Eight?" Remus had taken slight offence at Peter's last remark.

"No she's in fifth year. And what does it matter anyway? I'm not going to marry her, I'm only having a laugh," Peter said breezily.

"Whoooo! Party!" Sirius had just joined them.

"What the hell has got into you?" James exclaimed. "I thought you were meant to be my date. I haven't seen you all night!"

"Darling I'm so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?" Sirius said sincerely.

"Oh alright then," James said, pretending to blush. "But only because you're so devilishly handsome."

"Thank you," Sirius mouthed seductively.

"I thought you hated balls?" Remus interrupted them before they could take it any further.

"I did!" Sirius cried happily, as though glad someone had finally pointed this out. "BUT that was until I discovered the joys of coming without a partner, and also the joys of girls who are young enough to be – well girls who are just too young!"

"Sirius what have you been doing with the… third years I'm guessing?" Remus said warningly.

"Formation dancing!"

Of all the answers he could have said, James was never expecting to hear that one.

"I'm sorry what?" he spluttered.

"It's great! You all stand round in a circle, and someone's the leader and all you have to do is copy them," Sirius explained. "They think I'm some kind of God," he mused.

"Well they are in third year," Peter said, as if this explained their lack of judgement.

"They are completely in awe of me," Sirius went on.

"They're probably a bit freaked out," Remus interrupted.

"See me and Leanne Brown," Sirius continued, ignoring him. "We're like that!" He held up his crossed fingers in front of them all.

"What's this about you and my 13 year old sister?" Robbie asked, as he walked past with Scarlet.

"She's my new best friend," Sirius replied innocently. Robbie looked a bit annoyed.

"Look Robbie, you should be happy for Sirius. He's finally found someone on his intellectual level," Remus said shrewdly.

"Scarlet, would you lend Sirius your handbag so he can dance round it?" James asked politely.

Scarlet gave a nervous laugh; James suspected she hadn't understood the joke.

"Right come on, you both are not standing here all night!" Sirius said abruptly, pointing at James and Remus. "Come dance with the third years! You too Wormtail!"

"Somehow I don't think 'the swim' is exactly my thing," Remus declined.

"Spoilsport! What about you Prongs?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Nah mate, I'm alright here thanks," James said innocently enough, although he did notice Scarlet give him a slightly penetrating glare as he said it.

"Awh well, at least I can say I tried. Come on Wormtail," Sirius beckoned.

"Ooo can I be the leader?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Course you can! At least someone's getting in the party mood," he added to James.

"My party hasn't started yet," James muttered to himself, at which Scarlet gave him another glare, as she and Robbie walked off into the throng of the dancing.

He looked down at his watch and saw it was nearly half past ten. It was getting quite late, and James felt his heart sink as he realised that Lily wasn't going to show. He had been so sure that the "maybe" had meant yes, but maybe she had had second thoughts; maybe she wasn't over her mother's death yet.

He scanned the room hard again, searching every nook and cranny with his eyes, making sure that he hadn't missed her – but how could he? If Lily was in the room, she would be the only thing he would see. She definitely wasn't there.

He stared moodily at his feet, wondering how long it would be before he could leave without leaving Remus in the lurch.

The opportunity came faster than he had expected.

"Remus would you like to dance?" Both Remus and James looked up in shock. It was Scarlet who had spoken.

"I would be delighted," Remus managed to say chivalrously, once he had composed himself. Scarlet and he had never been that close, he was much fonder of Alice. However, he offered her his arm and led her to the dance floor.

James stood for another few minutes, waiting until the next two songs were over to see if Remus would come back. Halfway through the third song he decided he must have got waylaid, and it was safe enough for him to leave. He gave the room another quick glance and noticed that the third years were now dancing happily in the far corner without Sirius and Peter.

He was just about to nip out unnoticed when a hand, with brightly painted red finger nails, grabbed his arm from behind. He spun round to find Avril in an equally bright red dress standing behind him.

"Are you not having a good time Jay?" she asked, what she probably thought was seductively.

"No, no, I am. I'm having a great time," James lied. Admitting he wasn't would only lead to the whole 'well what can I do to cheer you up?' conversation he would rather steer away from.

"Oh," said Avril slightly taken aback. "Well it didn't look like it…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"Well I take it back Avril," came a familiar voice from behind James, breaking the awkward silence. "I can see why you're in Gryffindor now. You'd have to be brave to try and woo him with a chat up line like that."

James looked round to see Caitlin, still in her pyjamas and Sirius' jumper, standing with her hands on her hips behind him.

"Come on I really need to talk to you," she said grabbing his hand, and not waiting for Avril or he to respond she started to quickly lead him out of the hall.

"Caitlin, you do realise you're still in your pyjamas don't you?" James asked carefully, noticing the strange looks they were getting.

"James please, this is important," Caitlin pleaded.

"What is it?" James asked, suddenly taking it more seriously. For some reason he thought of his parents and a sick feeling ran through his stomach.

"Not here," Caitlin insisted, dragging him into the entrance hall. There he noticed Frank, Alice, Scarlet and Robbie huddled in one corner, talking in hurried whispers. The feeling of dread worsened.

He had no idea where they were heading at all, and before he had even had time to register the glances his four housemates had given him, Caitlin had whisked him out of the entrance hall and into the grounds.

"Caitlin please tell me what it is!" James pleaded. He wasn't sure whether it was the cold or fear, but his voice trembled as he spoke.

Caitlin didn't answer but started to move even faster, the pair of them were practically running now. They kept going for what felt like an eternity, and James had completely lost all sense of where they might be.

The faster they went the looser Caitlin seemed to hold James' hand, until suddenly she let go completely and sprinted into the distance.

James didn't even have the breath to call after her. He just fell to his knees exhausted, wondering what the hell was going on.

He looked around in the darkness, but could see nothing. Caitlin had pulled him out of the bright hall so fast that his eyes hadn't adjusted yet. He reckoned he must be on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, but exactly where he didn't have a clue.

He sat and wondered about what he could possibly do next. His wand lay forgotten in his bedroom, and he couldn't transform into a stag for fear that there might be someone watching him.

He was just right, for about 200 yards away, standing in the trees, two shadowy figures were surveying the scene.


"Bit extreme all this is it not?" the first figure spoke.

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures," the second said firmly. "He'll thank us in the long run."

"Have I… missed anything?" a third figure puffed, as they ran in.

"No not at all," the second reassured. "He's just sitting there panicking."

"Good, good."

"I can't believe you went into the ball in your pyjamas," the first laughed.

"Yes well… desperate times… desperate measures…" Caitlin panted.

"Yea, that's what Padfoot just said," Remus agreed.

"Is she there?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes about 50 feet to the left of him," Remus replied.

"They haven't noticed each other yet," Sirius added.

"I see her now," Caitlin answered. "Have you given Peter his cue?"

"Yep, should be any minute now," Sirius confirmed.

"How'd you get her down here anyway?" Caitlin asked.

"I told her you needed to speak to her," Remus replied. "Pretended I didn't know where you'd gone when we got here, said I'd go find you. She's waiting for me to come back."

"Does she know where she is?" Caitlin asked.

"She knows she's near the forest, but I don't think she's worked out exactly where yet. I just said you had been going out for a walk and I thought this is where'd you be – I didn't feel the need to put the fear of Merlin in her," Remus said pointedly.

"Well what can I say? I like a bit of drama!" Caitlin shrugged off his remark.

"Do you not think this is dramatic enough without having James think that his life is in danger?" Remus snapped.

"Look I…"

"Shush the pair of you," Sirius scolded. "They'll hear us. Besides I think it's starting to move."

"Took me ages to find you!" Peter exclaimed as he transformed from a rat. "This place seems a lot bigger when you're that small."

"Well it's only starting now so you made it in plenty of time," Caitlin reassured him.

"Let's just hope it doesn't kill them," Remus added morbidly.

"I can't look," Peter said squeamishly.

WHOOSH

"There it goes," Sirius stated.

"Thank Merlin James is sitting down, that would have taken his head off!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Well that gives him a bit of warning, he'll realise where he is now," Sirius comforted her.

SWISH

"See he jumped that one," Sirius said almost happily.

"Yea but it almost got Lily though," Peter said, sounding petrified.

SWOOP

"To think all this because Scarlet told me about that little figure she bought him for Valentines," Remus mused.

"Well at least she had the sense to realise James was waiting for Lily to come to the ball, when Lily was in the entrance hall all evening!" Caitlin said exasperated. "We had to do something!"

"Yes, it was either this, or let them try and sort it out for themselves, which would probably take another seven years!" Sirius pointed out.

WHOMP

"There we go," Sirius smiled.

"Thrown together at last," Caitlin whispered.


"James?" Lily squealed as she was heavily thrust into his arms.

"Yep," was all James could reply. He was trying to work out just exactly which way was away from the Whomping Willow.

"What's going on? Who's attacking us?" she asked, panic-stricken.

"THAT!" James called, pointing to the trunk of the Whomping Willow. His eyes had now adjusted so he could just make it out in the darkness. "Come on!" he said, grabbing Lily forcibly round the waist and dragging her backwards.

He collapsed backwards onto the ground, Lily landing on top of him, just as the last branch took a swipe at them – luckily they were just beyond its reach.

Lily got up onto her hands and knees and tried to scurry away from it even more.

James just lay back and started to laugh.

"Don't worry Lily it can't get us now," he tried to reassure her, but because he was laughing she didn't seem to believe him.

"Sod off Potter," she spat.

"What!" James hated it when she called him by his surname. "What did I do? It wasn't me that brought you down here!"

"Yes but it was one of your friends! You probably had it all planned! You lot probably thought it would be funny to try and get me killed!"

"Well it was your friend that brought me down here. I didn't know what was going on," James argued.

"You do now though?" Lily accused.

"Yes I do," James said calmly. "Lily Evans I believe we've been set up."

"By who?"

"Well I'm guessing most of the 7th year Gryffindors," James surmised, getting up from the wet ground and dusting down his robes.

"Well Remus brought me down," Lily began the list.

"Caitlin brought me," James continued. "I know for a fact Wormtail had something to do with this," he added, thinking of the only animagus he knew what small enough to hit the knot to activate the tree. "And Alice, Frank, Robbie and Scarlet were looking pretty suspicious when Caitlin was bringing me down here."

"And the whole 'killer tree' episode just reeks of your friend Mr Black," Lily finished.

"Yea," James laughed softly. "I dare say that was Padfoot's idea."

"So we have been set up."

"Yep."

"Do you think their watching us?"

"Oh yes," James laughed, as if this would have been obvious.

"I think we should move."

"So do I," James agreed, offering his arm to Lily liked he'd seen Remus do with Scarlet about 20 minutes before.

They didn't speak again until there were sure they were a good distance away from the Whomping Willow.

"Why would they go to all this trouble to get us out here?" Lily asked.

"Oh I wonder," James said sarcastically. Lily seemed to get the idea, and turned her face away from him. "Why didn't you come to the ball? I thought you were going to come and meet me?" James asked dejectedly. He stopped walking, took off the cloak of his robes and sat down on it. They were just beside the lake.

"I did!" Lily protested. She was still standing facing him. "I mean I was going to! I walked into the hall – and then I turned round and walked out again."

"Why?" James asked, looking up at her.

"You wouldn't understand James," Lily said quietly.

"Try me."

"I walked in, and I saw you and Remus standing, so I walked out and spent the night with Frank and Alice in the entrance hall," she paused. "You were in your designer robes and I was in something I picked up off a bargain rail. It just brought it all home to me you know? How I've no money, and how my mum is dead, and my dad is going crazy and my sister is just so… UGH! You don't need someone with my baggage James, it wouldn't be fair on you."

"Sit down," James said quietly, patting a bit of free cloak beside him. Lily did as he asked.

"Do you think my life is easy?" he asked simply, staring hard at the lake in front of him.

"Well I…"

"Do you not think I need to go a little crazy sometimes too?" he continued. "Do you not think every single person we just named, that brought us down here tonight, that they all don't have their own baggage as well?"

"I never really…"

"If you think that your life is too complicated at the moment, and you need to wait until it calms down a bit before you can have a boyfriend, let me tell you Lily, with the way our world is at the minute, your going to be waiting for a very long time."

"James I…"

"And if it is complication your worried about," he cut her off again. "Then let me make this really simple for you – cause I know with us, simplicity has never really been our strong point," he laughed softly.

Finally taking his eyes off the lake, he looked round to see Lily's beautiful green ones staring at him.

"Evans, will you go out with me?"

"Yes," she whispered.


THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!

How fast am I updating? Anyway I really liked that chapter and if any of you didn't then you can go and screw yourself because it's my favourite so far!


BurningIce22: Hope you thought that chapter was cuter. They are definitely together now.

MJshunpike: James did realise Lily had given him the present he was being sarcastic. Sorry if you missed that. Anyway thanks for reviewing!

Alantie Mistaniu: Well that ending wasn't exactly a cliff-hanger. Hope you liked it better!

man eating plant: OMG I hate Avril Lavigne too that's why I called the character that! Thank you for picking up on that!

Oliverwoodschic: Thank you! I know what it's like to be busy I should be revising for an exam tomorrow right now but I…. :S Anyway hope you enjoyed that chapter!

Ruinsul: I know I liked that line as well, but I think Caitlin's bitchy comment in that one well got her back though. Btw I accept no responsibility for your insanity and will not be paying your bill. You read this story at YOUR OWN RISK!