Disclaimer: Yeah, so for plot purposes I'm making up a Hogwarts only Winter Ball that happens every year. Carry on :D
"Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." – Stevie Wonder, 1970
James Potter nervously picked at his nails before chewing on his cuticles. Where the hell was Lily?
The rest of the Prefects impatiently bided their time as they waited for the Head Girl to finally show her face; a couple of Slytherins guffawed after Rabastan told an extremely racy joke about Russian Muggles and a light bulb. Thomas Weir, a Ravenclaw, scoffed loudly in response. Rabastan pulled out his wand to retaliate, but stopped when he caught Marianne's wandering, dazed gaze. Marianne closed her tired eyes and rubbed her temples, not acknowledging his presence any further.
Suddenly, the door flew open and Lily burst into the room, looking like an absolute mess. Her school uniform was wrinkled and askew, her thick wool socks didn't match and she had thrown all of her tangled hair under a large black knitted cap. The other students erupted into spontaneous discussions about Lily's appearance as she shuffled towards the front of the room to take her seat. Her hand flew to her chest and a hacking cough rattled her petite frame.
"Alright, alright!" James exclaimed after thumping the table to get everyone's attention. "Time to settle down and get this meeting started. We don't want to be here all night."
The side conversations calmed down to quiet murmurs and the Prefects finally directed their eyes to the front of the room. James cleared his throat and apprehensively shuffled a couple of papers back and forth across his desk. He snuck a glance at Lily just before she sneezed loudly into the crook of her arm.
His heart immediately swelled with concern. James knew something was wrong the moment she failed to show up half an hour early, but never would have guessed that she was sick. Since he had basically stalked her for the past few years, he knew that Lily never got sick. Ever. She vigilantly tried to avoid the Hospital Wing at all costs and her stubbornness resulted in an extremely healthy lifestyle … but now, she was in no condition to be out of bed, let alone running a Prefects' meeting.
"Let's review the calendar, shall we?" Lily finally croaked.
James locked eyes with her and caught her fleeting, painful expression. She looked absolutely abysmal. However, her demeanor quickly changed and she threw him look that said "If you don't start this meeting, I will keel over and die and then likely figure out a way to kill you from the afterlife". James had to stop himself from laughing.
"Are you really fit to be here, Evans?" asked Zidane Zito, one of the Gryffindor Prefects. "You look terrible."
"I'm fine," Lily answered after wiping her nose with another tissue. "Really."
A few Prefects sniggered and James bit his lip as Lily attempted to control them with her hoarse voice. He tried to put two and two together and guessed that she was falling into a downward spiral; her illness only confirmed his suspicions that she was in the middle of an emotional crisis. She had been acting weird for weeks now. He didn't know what was triggering her erratic behavior, but longed to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be all right - that she had someone to lean on to help shoulder whatever burden she was carrying.
But he gulped, remembering his promise to her at the beginning of the term. So far, he'd kept his word and left her alone, even though he had desperately wanted to punch Davies several times in the face for taking her to Hogsmeade. But as she sniffled again, James decided that enough was enough. It was absurd for her to be out in the cold December air when she was already coming down with the flu.
"Let me take over so you can go back to bed," he murmured as the rest of the Prefects continued their own personal conversations.
"No!" she hissed sharply. "I'm not going anywhere. I am Head Girl and I should be here!"
"Merlin," James muttered to himself. He was trying to offer her an olive branch and she was refusing to budge. She was not making this easy for him, was she? "Fine. You can stay here, but please let me do all the talking for your throat's sake. You're starting to sound like a frog."
Lily's face froze in shock. She clearly took his joke to be an insult and in a panic, James started to clumsily backpedal.
"Well not one of those gross frogs you find by the Black Lake. You're … a very beautiful frog! With a sexy, raspy voice …"
Her jaw dropped sharply and James couldn't believe he'd just blurted out his inner, erotic train of thought. His eyes widened significantly and in an attempt to divert the conversation away from his large moment of weakness, he thumped his fist against the table to silence the room.
"Ok, settle down now," he began shakily as he tried not to look at Lily's stunned expression. "The next big event is the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin Quidditch match on Saturday afternoon. It starts at 11 am."
"Ahem," Donna Jordan, a Hufflepuff, interrupted as she held up a bright yellow button in the air. "I'd like the bring up the issue of these pins? Someone is using them to bully one of our players."
She quickly threw it towards the front of the room and James caught it with ease. He took a few seconds to examine the small plastic button, which had a nasty pun using the words "Puff" and "Poof" written on the front. Meanwhile, Lily covered her mouth and burst into a fit of coughs as the rest of the room fell silent and listened to her exercise her lungs.
"You can't prove that they were made by Slytherins," Rabastan retorted.
"I'll alert the Headmaster, Donna," James cut in. "We're going to take these pins very seriously, mark my words. Now, the next event after that is our second Hogsmeade weekend of term. Professors Artro and Stotch will be inspecting the path for anything suspicious. There has been a sharp rise in Muggle attacks and I would hate for that to spread to our students. So remain vigilant and prepare for the unexpected."
"What could possibly go wrong?" asked Thomas. "Everyone knows the second Hogsmeade weekend is always tame - every girl is too focused on buying their new Winter Ball dress robes."
"Not true!" Hildie Waltz, his Ravenclaw counterpart, exclaimed. "We single girls always order our dresses from somewhere else! The school has never announced the Winter Ball date before the second Hogsmeade weekend so we never know whom we have to match with ... so only girls with boyfriends can buy dresses at Hogsmeade. It's bloody unfair, if you ask me! We never get to try our robes on, we just have to hope they fit!"
"Yeah!"
"Tell 'em Hildie!"
"I have no idea what you just said," Zidane whispered incredulously.
"That's because you don't speak teenage girl," Rabastan mocked from the other side of the room. Marianne rolled her eyes.
"Well, why don't we just announce the Ball next Monday?" James responded, clearly confused why the problem hadn't been solved before. "That way there will be enough time for people to ask each other so that all the girls can shop for their robes at Hogsmeade."
"No!" Thomas spouted before glaring at James. "If you announce the Ball before the second Hogsmeade weekend, you will be breaking with tradition."
"And that's a problem?" James questioned as he raised one of his brows. The students immediately broke out into side conversations; the girls praised James for his liberal interpretation of the scheduling rituals and the boys grumbled about having to finds dates earlier than they expected. Lily sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve.
"I think we should put it to a vote," growled Thomas.
"You're not going to win," spat Hildie.
James immediately quieted everyone down and called for a vote. Each student raised their hand for their choice when James called "Yes" and "No"; all of the girls voted for the schedule change and a handful of males – himself included - joined their cause, which left Thomas and some younger students in the minority.
"The motion passes," James exclaimed. "We will announce the Winter Ball details next Monday!"
"Yes!" Hildie whooped and then high fived her best friend, Lavinia Cartwright. Thomas huffed and rolled his eyes. James couldn't help but be a little joyous that the Ravenclaw wasn't getting his wish. Thomas' pretentious nature was starting to rub him the wrong way.
"Well, you've certainly set a precedent for yourself, haven't you Potter?" Rabastan drawled. "Your whole reign as Head Boy has been one change after another. Tell me, what do you have planned for the Ball? I've never actually been to one your Marauder parties before, but I hear you always have a surprise planned."
"Yeah!"
"What are you going to do James?"
"Are you going to enchant the portraits to serenade us with dirty songs, like that one time last year?"
The rest of the Prefects buzzed with excitement as they recounted his other, past party tricks, even though they had never witnessed them personally. Soon, all of their eyes landed on him and James tried to think on his feet to brilliantly answer Rabastan's taunt.
The statues could ask any unaccompanied student to dance. No, he thought, that wasn't risky enough. He had to do something like smuggling in booze from Hogsmeade in order to spike the punch – a feat the Marauders had pulled off during their Fourth Year.
Suddenly, James realized what Rabastan was trying to do. All of his past surprises had managed to break the rules somehow and the Slytherin's challenge forced him to keep his Marauder reputation, but laid down extreme parameters. The Head Boy could not be seen breaking the rules, but still had to dazzle the rest of the Castle with his brilliant idea.
"Ahem," Lily finally piped up as she cleared her throat. She sniffled loudly and then continued. "James and I have already discussed this. We're going to have a live performance."
James' eyes popped out of his sockets in shock. They had barely spoken to each other since their spat at the beginning of the term … so why was Lily trying to help him?
"Well that's not very original," Rabastan scoffed and the other Slytherins around him laughed quietly. "The Hogwarts Orchestra always plays each Winter Ball. I expected something more thrilling than that."
The Head Boy tugged on his collar nervously. He didn't understand Lily's attempt to save him, but her lie seemed to have some traction with their audience. Yet, he suddenly wished she hadn't said anything at all. Her suggestion was rather tame and he could hear some of the students muttering that he had gone soft.
"No," Lily began, but then fell into a string of deep, hacking coughs. When she finally stopped, she took a deep breath and finished her sentence. "We're going to have a rock concert. Here in the Great Hall. On December 19th."
The room burst into a frenzy; even Rabastan's eyebrows popped up in surprise. It was true that Professor Flitwick and his extra curricular Orchestra Club played every year, but they always put the students to sleep with their monotone musical selections. The prospect of a modern rock band thrilled the other Prefects beyond belief. It was the perfect solution to Rabastan's challenge; it broke with tradition, but still adhered to school rules. James felt so elated that he had to physically stop himself from kissing Lily fully on the mouth.
"Who's going to play?" Zidane asked excitedly.
"Tarantellegra. They are a group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. They've played around the Castle before, if I'm not mistaken."
She avoided James' shocked reaction by strategically blowing her nose to the side. He couldn't believe his ears. Lily was suggesting that a student rock band should play at the traditional Winter Ball and moreover, she was giving him some credit for the idea! In truth, he knew she was drawing on Sirius' antics from the first party of the year when she mentioned Tarantellegra by name, but he never expected her to actually suggest that they headline the Ball.
It seemed that she had finally loosened up.
"I would die if I could be in the front row, just below Giovanni Costa and his tight trousers," Donna pleaded, her eyes turning misty with desire.
"Well I'm calling for another vote," Thomas declared. "This is just too much change."
"Double or nothing," Hildie challenged again. "James Potter has great ideas and we support him."
James couldn't keep his eyes off of the sick girl next to him. She tilted her head to the side in order to blow her nose again and froze when she caught his smoldering gaze. He tried his hardest to silently display his unending gratitude and Lily inhaled sharply a few seconds later. Her lips spread into a warm smile moments before she ungracefully sneezed into her hand.
"Right," she croaked. "All those in favor?"
"That settles it, Tarantellegra will officially be performing live at the Great Hall," James grinned seconds after counting up the votes. Hildie stretched out to high five Donna triumphantly; the losers grumbled and muttered insults under their breaths, but James chose to block them out. He bobbed excitedly in his chair and longed to tell his friends about the good news.
Suddenly, Lily fell into another coughing fit and he remembered that his companion was still suffering next to him. It was time to cut this meeting short so that he could force her to go to the Hospital Wing. It was the least he could do after she secretly saved his arse.
"Well, I don't think there's anything else that we need to go over right now," he proclaimed. "I think we can all head back to our Common Rooms. Good night everyone! Oh … actually Lily, could you stay back for a moment? I need to talk to you. Official Heads business."
The rest of the students slowly trickled out of the classroom and Lily leaned back in her chair, finally relaxing for the first time that night. A few red hairs escaped from beneath her black cap as she tilted her head backwards and closed her eyes. When the last student finally left the room, she moaned appreciatively.
"Silence," she muttered as she opened her arms wide. "Beautiful silence."
"Why did you do that?" James said, not knowing quiet where to begin.
"Do what?"
"You know what. We've never talked about having a band."
"Oh, that thing. Yes, well … I just wanted to best Lestrange. Worth it – given the look on his face. It will still work out, though. Tarantellegra will accept our offer, they'd be mental to turn down such an opportunity."
"We have to get you to the Hospital Wing," James said in a concerned tone. "You're being mental. You haven't been yourself lately. You have to get some help."
"How would you know that I haven't been myself lately?"
"Because I'm around you quite a bit, Lily," James answered with a shrug of his shoulders, choosing to be honest rather than cocky. "I know we aren't supposed to talk to each other, or even be friends, but something is wrong with you and I can't stand here anymore and pretend that I don't see it. I still care about you, Lily."
He gave her a soft smile and then placed a hand on her shoulder to try and show that he wasn't lying to her. Their tender moment lasted for only a couple seconds before he slowly let his hand fall back to his side.
"Although I suppose I shouldn't be saying anything. You may be acting mental – I mean, did you really just take a page out of the Marauder book and suggest that a rock band should play the Winter Ball? - but you're uncharacteristically helping me. And I can't say no to that. I like when we work together."
Suddenly, Lily launched herself at him and pressed her lips against his. He faltered backwards in extreme surprise, but once he regained his balance, reached out and tightly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She continued to kiss him as if her life depended on it and snaked her arms around his torso. James shuttered with delight as her fingers roamed through his messy hair.
They continued to kiss between her coughs for several minutes. James eventually pushed her black cap off and let his fingers tenderly run over her tresses. She softly and lovingly caressed the sides of his face and the Marauder started to see stars on the back of his closed eyelids. He couldn't believe that he was finally kissing the Lily Evans. The girl he had been chasing for years. The girl who insulted him at every turn and rejected all of his advances ... but now she was kissing him with great heat and James concluded that she tasted like absolute heaven.
Lily finally pulled away and rested her forehead against his as she wheezed. James locked eyes with her and felt goofy grin burst across his face; this was hands down the happiest moment of his life. Lily laughed softly and then suddenly scrunched up her face. She immediately turned her head to her side and sneeze into her elbow.
"I am totally going to get you sick!" she gasped after she regained her composure.
"I don't care," James replied dreamily. "I'd even fight the Giant Squid if it meant I could kiss you again."
"You're such a horrible romantic sometimes," she chuckled after letting out a cough. "I can't believe you called me a frog! Although, to your credit, it worked."
"It did?"
"Yes. It was the worst pick up line you've ever used on me, but I could tell for the first time that you actually meant it. You really think my raspy sick voice is sexy, don't you?"
"Of course I do, everything about you is sexy! I've been telling you that for years!"
"But you always used recycled lines and horrible pranks to get my attention. It was forced and cocky," Lily responded before sniffling deeply.
She wiped under her eyes as they began to turn slightly red.
"But the moment you called me a beautiful frog with a sexy voice, I knew you'd really changed. You left me alone for months and when you finally cracked, you voiced your real thoughts and not some cheap imitation."
She reached out and placed a hand on his chest, sniffling again.
"I thought you were an overgrown child for the longest time, but you've finally proved me wrong. Deep down, you're a good man James Potter, and I want to be your partner, not your enemy."
James immediately captured her lips once more kissed her with as much passion as he could muster. She responded just as eagerly and they continued to snog for several more minutes in the middle of the empty classroom. Thankfully no one walked in on them because they both wanted to avoid a public explanation for their sudden union.
"So, Lily," James finally asked as he pulled away for air, "what color will your Winter Ball gown be?"
"Oh do shut up," Lily growled as she pushed herself against him once more and playfully smacked him in the chest. "The last thing I want to do is talk about dress colors. Now kiss me, you toerag, or I will hex you into next Tuesday!"
She didn't have to ask twice.