Disclaimer: I don't even bother.
A/N: I'm so sorry about that thing with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in the A/N right before last chapter, I realised my mistake just after I had posted it. This chapter might get very fluffy, so bear with me. And I just couldn't get them to pull any pranks, since it would be James' turn and he's starting to realise something.
You make me sick
Chapter three: Dancing Lessons
"Where are you going?" Laura asked as Lily headed towards the hole.
"To the library. Why?"
"You've been there a lot lately, haven't you?" Laura asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Excuse ME, it's only a month till Christmas tests!" Lily said and turned towards Laura.
"You're seeing someone, aren't you?" Laura asked. Syn and Nicki turned their attention away from their chess game.
"No!" Lily said, cursing herself for blushing.
"You are!" Nicki said.
"No! Who do you think you are, anyway? My mother?"
"We're only curious," Laura said, turning towards her book.
"Yeah, too curious! I can't believe you guys actually made it to Ravenclaw! You should be in Hufflepuff, the way you act!"
They gaped at her.
"I'm going to the library. To study." And Lily slammed the hole shut, leaving a stunned common room. Laura turned towards Nicki and Syn.
"We must have hit a soft spot there, girls," she said. Nicki nodded in agreement.
"Yes," Syn said. "I mean, no one can be so interested in studyi- Oh! Chow!"
"Want to play some chess?" Laura asked.
"Anything to not seeing those two lovebirds," Nicki said. They tried to ignore the kissing noises Syn and Chow were making.
***
"Hi, Remus," Lily said as she came into the unused class room. Remus had moved all the desks to one side, so they got dancing space.
"What took you so long?" he asked.
"Laura and the gang," Lily said, sitting down on the floor. "They wanted to know if I was seeing someone."
"You are, aren't you?" Remus smiled.
"Well, yeah, but if I said yes, they would think it was James. So I said that I was going to the library to study for exams." Lily grimaced. "Actually, I need to do that."
"But you get top grades!" Remus protested.
"That's only because I'm good at Charms," Lily said.
"Isn't that under-estimating a bit?"
Lily ignored him. "I suck at Transfiguration."
"Oh," Remus said. "Right. I think we'll begin with an easy dance, so the first thing you're going to learn is the waltz. Take my hand."
Remus guided Lily to the right position (she jerked a little when he placed his hand firmly on her hip) and he started explaining the steps.
"In the waltz we sort of go around in a circle. I step forwards, you step backwards. Start with your left foot." Lily stepped one step back, and he followed her.
"Now you take one step sideways with your right foot, and place your left foot lightly beside it. Good. Now do the same procedure, only starting with the right foot. Good!"
They did this, circling around the class room a few times before Remus stopped again.
"Very good! Now comes the tricky part. After we've taken two steps back, we will turn. Just look at my feet once." Remus demonstrated. "Get it? Left back, half turn right, together. Right forward, half turn left, together. Then from the beginning again. Try alone." Lily nodded, and did the steps.
"Yes! Good, Lily! Now let's try together."
They did so for about ten minutes, till Lily got the hang of it.
"Now we'll try with music," Remus said and turned on a CD-player (wizard type). "Listen to the music beat while you dance. It's like: heavy, light, light. Heavy, light, light. Just like the steps in the dance."
"OK," Lily said.
"Try alone one time." Lily did, feeling the music guide her feet. "Very good! Let's try together. You have to listen to the music to know when to start." Remus started the song again. "Ready? Wait! One more...now!"
They danced for almost an hour, Remus saying under his breath to help Lily with the steps: "Heavy, light, light, heavy, light, light. Don't look down! Look at me! Left back, side right, together. Right back, side left, together. Left back, right turn- don't take so long steps! It's on the left turn you're supposed to take a long step!"
When they stopped, Lily knew she could do it as if she had learned it years ago. Remus was a very good dancer – he had a strong lead.
"That's enough for today," Remus said and turned off the CD-player.
"What do you think? Am I...er... good?" Lily asked.
"You're a natural talent, Lily," Remus smiled. Lily smiled back.
"When's the next time?" she asked.
"I dunno," Remus said. "Tomorrow?"
"No. Hogsmeade, remember?"
"Oh, right. What about Monday?"
"Okay. See you, Remus."
"You too, Lily."
They went to their different Houses, Lily skipping as she walked down the corridor.
***
"So, where are we going first?" Lily asked as she walked down the street in Hogsmeade with her friends from Gryffindor.
"I dunno," Molly shrugged.
"Not Honeydukes," Pennie said. "Everybody goes to Honeydukes first, so we'll be stuck there for an hour before we can get something."
"Hmmm. Should we just go to the dress robe store first, then?" Marybelle suggested. The others agreed, and they went to The Dressy Wizard: Dress robes for witches and wizards.
"Hello, my dears," the store owner greeted them. She wore a friendly smile and flowing robes in scarlet and silver. "Looking for dresses for the Ball, I presume?" The girls nodded. "Do you want to look for yourselves, or do you want my guidance?"
"Um...we'll look for ourselves first," Molly said. The witch smiled and went behind her counter again to do whatever she was doing.
The girls walked around in the women section, looking at all the dresses.
"Hey! Lily!" Molly called. "Come and look at this!" Lily went over. Molly held up a dress which was loose in the top and tight in the bottom, with pink and orange stripes. Lily almost gagged.
"You're not thinking of going in that, are you?" she asked. Molly laughed.
"Of course not. I only wanted to see your response. No, I was thinking about this one." She held up a white, glittering robe.
"I'm sure that one will suit you," Lily said. "Try it!" Molly nodded and went to the changing rooms. Lily looked around, and her eyes fell on a green dress. Perfect, she thought, and went to the changing rooms.
"Have you found one?" Lily asked Pennie. Pennie shook her head.
"No," she said. "I'm just waiting for Marybelle and Molly to change. Go and change, you too. I'll wait."
"Okay." Lily went inside one of the changing rooms.
After a minute or two, the girls came out in their dresses.
"What do you think?" Molly asked the same time as all the others said:
"It's perfect for you!"
"It really suits your hair," Lily said. Molly also had red hair, only hers was auburn.
"You really think so?" Molly asked, looking over her dress. It was something between loose fitting and tight fitting and reached down to her ankles, and had a cleavage forming a V in the back and front.
"YES," they said.
"What about me?" Marybelle asked, turning around so that they could see her dress. It was midnight blue and strapless.
"Great, Mary'."
"Am I the only one without a judgement now?" Lily joked. They looked at her.
"Oh, it's sooo great!"
"Perfect!"
"It's the same colour as your eyes!"
"So it's okay?" Lily laughed.
"It's perfect."
"Yeah."
"Absolutely."
"Oh, and just a tip: you should make sure you can dance in your dresses," Lily said. "I think Dumbledore wants a dancing contest."
"That's no problem in your dress, now is it, Lily?" Molly smiled. Lily looked down at the flowing parting in the front of the dress – it reached up her lower thigh.
"Something wrong with a high split?" she asked innocently.
"No, of course not. Only – make sure you don't have long underwear on."
"Okay, mum."
They all laughed and went looking for dresses for Kathy and Pennie.
***
"I am sooooo burned out," Lily groaned.
"I'm hungry," Pennie said.
"Let's go to The Three Broomsticks, 'kay?"
"Sure."
"Fine."
"Sounds great."
The five girls staggered over to the inn.
"Oh, no," Molly said, looking at all the people.
"There's a free table!" Marybelle pointed and they practically ran over.
"Yes," Pennie said and dumped down on one of the chairs. She giggled. "Looks like we took it right up under his nose." She pointed at a very annoyed looking Snape. The others giggled too.
"1-0 to us versus ugly Slytherins," Lily smiled.
"So Ravenclaws hate Slytherins, too?" Kathy asked.
"Oh, come on. Everybody hate Slytherins," Lily said. "Gryffindors only hate them more than the rest of the world do."
"I'll go get some butterbeers, 'kay?" Molly said and went to the counter.
"Let's see," Lily said and looked into her shopping bag. "We've got dresses, we've been to Honeydukes, we've been to Zonko's-"
"You've been to Zonko's," Pennie interrupted.
"okay, I've been to Zonko's, Marybelle sent a birthday owl to her brother," Lily continued. "Anything else we need to do?"
The others looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Oh, good. I don't think my feet can take anymore of this anyway."
Then Molly came with the butterbeers, and they started talking about the ball.
"So, you said that there's going to be a dancing contest?" Kathy asked Lily.
"I'm not sure, but I think so. Dumbledore hinted."
"Hinted?"
"He said that we would need our dancing skills."
"What sort of dancing will it be?" Pennie asked.
"I think it's going to be traditional at first and then free."
"Cool. Can any of you dance traditional?" Molly asked the others.
"What is traditional?" Marybelle asked.
"It's like, waltz and tango and swing and so on," Molly said.
"Oh. I know that – my mother dragged all my family to a dancing camp last summer," Marybelle grimaced.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Pennie looked at her.
"I tried to forget it."
"Ah. Well, since my mother too is hooked on dancing, I can some too," Pennie said.
"I'm learning it," Lily said, and immediatly regretted it as the others looked at her.
"You're learning it? Now? Who teach you?"
"Remus is teaching me."
"Remus? The Remus? Remus Lupin, the Marauder?" Pennie asked in disbelief.
"Um...yeah."
"Why does he want to teach someone to dance?" Molly wondered.
"I'm helping him win a bet he's got with Sirius. It's something about me doing something or another. Sirius doesn't think I'll do it, so..."
"What does Sirius have to do if he loses?" Kathy asked, her eyes glinting with interest.
"Oh, nothing, really. Just go with Hidney from Hufflepuff in boxers and blue hair at the Ball. Nothing special."
They gaped at her.
"Is something wrong with that?" Lily asked.
"There has to be some really unbelievable thing you're gonna do if Sirius agrees on going with Hidney, Lily," Molly said.
"Don't forget the blue hair and boxers," Kathy reminded her.
"Maybe they're betting on if Lily and James are going to the ball together," Pennie snickered. Lily shot a death glare at her, but her smile just broadened.
"Yeah, something like that..." Marybelle agreed.
"I think I want to puke," Lily said.
"Well, do it on James, then!" Marybelle pointed towards a table at the opposite end of the room, where James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat talking. "It's his fault."
"Or we could go home," Molly suggested. "It's getting late anyway."
"Yeah," Pennie agreed. "We've been here for, like, six hours or something."
The others nodded, and they went out the door.
***
"Ready for lesson two?" Remus smiled at her.
"Sure," Lily replied.
"I thought you should learn the swing," Remus said. "It's a little complicated, so you'll learn the basis steps today. If you get the hang of it, we'll take it with music. Now, look at the steps I'm taking. Remember that you're going to do it the other way – it's like a mirror."
Lily nodded. "I'm ready."
"Good. Now: You've got to think in six beat. First it's two steps a little from each other: right step, left step. Then closer: right together, left together. Got it?" Lily did the steps. "Yes. Now, you take your right foot aslant behind the left foot, and make a step with the left foot in the same place." Remus demonstrated, and Lily followed. "Okay, let's do it together. Right step left step, together together, back forward. Right step, left step, together together, back forward. One two three four five six, one two three four five six. Good, Lily! Can you do it now without me?" Lily nodded and demonstrated. "Good. Now comes the actual 'swing thing'. Um, I'm not so good at this since it's only the girl doing it, but..." Remus stood still a little, thinking. He went through a series of steps. "Right. I think I know it now. Look at me. Turn towards the left – that means going forward with your right foot – and take your left foot beside your right. Then you take the four last steps." They did it together a few times (besides each other, not dancing).
"Good, Lily! Now, do all the steps. You do two rounds with original steps, then starts with the swinging." Lily did it a few times. Remus grinned broadly. "Great! Thank god you're a talent, or else I would have lost my patience last year!" Lily smiled.
"Are we going to do it together now?" she asked.
"Yes. We'll not do it to music yet."
"OK. Um, same hand position as in the waltz?"
"Yup."
They started dancing. The first time Lily was going to take the swing, she almost twisted Remus' wrist.
"Stop, Lily! Ouch! You can't hold on to my hand like that when you swing! It has to be looser!"
"Sorry," Lily said.
"It's okay. Oh, and don't start swinging before I make the sign, kay?"
"Okay. Um, what's the sign?"
"You'll see," Remus grinned. Lily rolled her eyes. When it was time for the swing, Remus shove her with the hand he had on her hip, into the swing. She almost stumbled – she hadn't been ready for it.
"Oops, sorry," Remus grinned. She stuck her tongue out at him. "That's a little childish, isn't it?" he asked.
"So? Girls have a right to be childish some times, too."
"They have?" He ducked under her arm which swung dangerously close to his head. "Okay, okay, they have."
"Hah!" she said triumphantly.
"Shall we continue?" he asked.
"We shall," Lily said and grinned at him. They danced a while, Remus all the time muttering the beat and things like "Don't look down at your feet: I'm up here." and "Okay, just because you don't look down, doesn't mean you get to step on my feet." and of course "You begin with the right foot, not the left!"
After fifteen minutes, they were both a little sick of dancing in the same tempo and without music – and Remus claimed that he had to rest his smashed feet.
"I'm not that heavy," Lily said as she looked at Remus sitting on a desk and groaning in self pity.
"Of course not. This is just an act." Remus suddenly jumped up again. Do you want to try with music?"
"Er..."
"Okay. I'll say when to start."
"I'm not deaf either, Remus."
"Of course not."
An hour later Lily came out with a smile on her face. With the music on, they had to dance faster, and she really liked it – she had to admit that swing was exhilarating. After a little while Remus started with another complicated move – for the boys – where he changed the hand he was swinging Lily with.
"Same time next week?" she called back at him.
"Sure, but don't you want to anytime sooner?" he said.
"We have homework to do too," she pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to explain to Laura and the others why I spend so much time at 'the library'."
"But why don't you just tell them?" Remus asked confused.
"You haven't listened to them," Lily said. "They almost sound like Hidney and her gang." Remus shuddered in sympathy. "See you later, Remus."
"Okay."
***
"James, I've got a problem," Remus whispered to James during breakfast. "You know I have to leave soon to do you-know-what, right?" James nodded from behind his toast. "But I've got a problem. See...I promised to help someone with some work, and I forgot that it would be during the time! Can you do it for me?"
James swallowed his toast. "Can't Sirius or Peter?"
"I doubt Peter would be any help, and Sirius...well, I want to have one of you with me and you're the best qualified to help..." Remus looked pleadingly at James.
"Oh, all right. If you do my Divination homework." Remus groaned (he had used up all his ideas of how to die on their last homework) but nodded. "It's a deal."
"When am I going to meet this...someone?"
***
"Hold it, Lily."
Lily turned around and saw Laura, Syn and Nicki with identical expressions and their hands on their hips.
"What?"
"Where are you going?" Syn asked.
"I'm visiting Molly."
"We don't believe you."
"Why not?" Lily sighed. Not again...
"Well, this time we have proof. Every Friday night in over a month now you go out 'to the library' or 'visiting Molly'. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but we checked. You weren't in the library last Friday. And Molly had no clue at all that you had visited her the Friday before last. Explain, please," Laura said.
Damn, Lily thought. Why didn't you think a little faster, Molly? She sighed. Sometimes you just have to tell the truth. "Okay. I confess. I've been taking dancing lessons." They gaped at her. They didn't expect that one.
"You're taking dancing lessons?" Syn said disbelieving.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Laura asked a little hurt.
"Because I knew you either would react thinking that I was interesting in a boy or just like Syn did just now."
Nicki kicked Syn in the shins.
"Well, are you interested in a boy?"
"Of course not."
"Okay then. Let's go, girls." And Laura guided Syn and Nicki up the stairs to their dorm again.
That went smoothly, Lily thought, and walked down towards the classroom where she would meet with Remus. She went in. Funny. He's never been late. She sat down on one of the desks and waited for him. After a few minutes, a boy came in. But it was not Remus Lupin.
"You?!" Lily and James said together.
"What're you doing here?" Lily was the first to speak again.
"That was my line."
"James Dumbass Potter, what are you doing here?" Lily repeated.
James ignored her. "You're the one Remus is helping with work?" he asked in disbelief.
"You've got a problem with that?"
"Um, no..." James backed away.
"Where is Remus anyway?" Lily asked.
"He...got sick. He's in the hospital wing. We're not allowed to see him."
"Why not?"
"Um, they think he's infectous."
"Oh. So you're here instead of him?"
"Yeah. I can go, if you want me to." James turned towards the door and freedom from Lily's temper which he believed would explode anytime in the near future.
Lily looked at him. "No, it's okay. Have you brought the CD-player?"
"The what?"
"The CD-player. You know, the thing that plays music?"
"Yeah, I know that. I'm not stupid."
"And here I've thought so all along," Lily muttered just loud enough for him to hear. James ignored the comment.
"What I mean," he said, "is: why do we need a CD-player?"
"Didn't Remus tell you?"
"Obviously not."
"He's teaching me to dance." James gaped at her. "What's so wrong with that?" she asked angry. "You're the fourth person to gape at me like I'm confessing my engagement to Snape or something."
"You're engaged to Snape?" James asked dumbly.
"NO!" Lily screamed.
"Uh..." There blew the temper.
"And DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL TO TAKE DANCING LESSONS!"
"Uh...are you finished?" James tried. Lily took a deep, trembling breath.
"Yes," she said.
"Okay. Um, do you want to have a lesson?"
"With you?"
"Yeah." James closed his eyes and waited for the blow. And waited. It never came. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Lily looked at him in a way he couldn't read.
"What?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. How are we going to get a CD-player?"
James realised he was gaping again and clamped his mouth shut. Then he transformed one of the desks to a CD-player, earning himself an envious look from Lily.
"What has Remus teached you?" James turned towards her and missed the glance.
"Um, let me see," Lily held up a hand and started to tick off fingers. "First it was the waltz, then the swing, then we took tango, then cha cha cha, and the last time I learned the mambo." James looked at her in disbelief.
"How many times have you danced?" he asked.
Lily shrugged. "One lesson every week the past six weeks...eight lessons in all, since it was two the first week and the last."
"And you've learned five dances?"
"Yeah. I had two lessons on the mambo and on the cha cha cha, though. And I'm not sure with the mambo."
"Man. Either you're a natural talent, you lied to me the other day or Remus Lupin has learned a new spell where you stop time."
"He did say that I'm talented."
"Let's see, then. I don't think it's much use in you learning more dances – not that there's so many left I can – so we'll just go through all the dances, okay?"
"Sure. What do we start with?"
"Tango, if that's okay."
"Okay."
James placed the CD into the player (A/N: I don't know where he got it, so don't ask me) and went over to Lily again.
"Ready?" he asked and took the hand positions.
"Yeah," Lily said. She got goose bumps on her waist where James had placed his hand. He flicked his wand at the CD-player, turning it on. They started to dance, James murmuring when to do the head turns. When the song stopped, they did too, still standing in the dance position.
"That's good, Evans," James said.
"You can call me Lily, Potter."
"Then you can call me James."
"...okay, James."
"What I was going to say, Lily, is that you're good at tango. But there is some things wrong here. First, you've got the head turns a little out of the beat. So I'm going to tap you when you're supposed to turn your head – although it's really easy. It's every short step."
"Okay."
"The other thing is that we're too far from each other," James said. Lily's eyes widened. It wasn't as if they had a mile between each other – only three inches or something. "The tango is a 'close' dance," James continued. Lily suddenly felt him tighten his grip around her waist, pulling her really close to him.
"I can't breathe, Potter," she said through clenched teeth. James grinned. I'm playing with the devil, he thought.
"Sorry about that, Lily," he said and loosened his grip. Lily pulled backwards. "Ah ah ah," he chided. "You're not supposed to do that."
"So I'm supposed to be glued to you?"
"Yes."
"No wonder Remus didn't mention it," she said. "He knew he would be in mortal danger."
"Ah, but will I?" He grinned at her. "Come on, let's dance."
This time, Lily didn't miss a beat when they did the head turns. James had as good a lead as Remus, and steered her around the classroom.
"Let's try with some other moves too," James said.
"Other moves?"
"Yeah. You know, the leaning backwards and such."
"Oh, no. You're not making me lean backwards with only your arm for suppo-" But James had already done it.
"Lift your foot," he said. "Don't be so stiff."
"You could give me a warning, you know," Lily said through clenched teeth.
"I'm sorry. Want to try again?" James flashed his perfect teeth at her.
"All right," she said hesitantly. James leaned her backwards again. "Good, Lily!" James sounded pleased.
"Can we take another dance now?" she asked. "I think I know the tango."
"Fine by me," James said. "The swing?" She nodded and he changed the song.
They started to dance. Lily whirled around, letting James guide her. In the middle of the song, he asked: "You want to learn a new move?"
"Sure," Lily said a little breathless.
"Take my other hand too," he said. She took his other hand. "Now take the first series of steps once. Then," he spoke as they did it, "you swing around just like usual, but don't lose the grip with your left hand." She did, and suddenly James was behind her holding her arms, which was in the position of a strait jacket. "Now take six steps backwards," he smiled at her look of surprise. They went six steps around forming a circle, before James sent her out in the usual position. They danced on.
"So, what do you think of that move?" James asked when they had finished, turning off the CD-player.
"It was," Lily swallowed, "okay."
"Okay?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. Okay," she said stubbornly. He smiled again – He's got such white teeth, Lily thought – and jumped up on one of the desks.
"Isn't it now you're supposed to bang me in the head because I were two inches away from your face?" he asked, his eyes glinting with...something.
"I'm having good will right now," Lily replied, looking out the window. "Oh, look! It's snowing!" she ran over to the window and looked outside at the snow falling peacefully down to the ground. James followed after her.
"Lovely, isn't it?" he murmured in her ear. She jerked around and stared intently up at him. He looked back. Lily turned back to the window, her face flushing – although that could have been from the dancing.
Oh, no, what am I doing? she asked herself. He's James Potter, for Christ's sake!
Yeah, but his eyes are so soft...
Stop it!
"You want to take the waltz before we go?" James asked. "Next time we can work on the cha cha cha and the mambo."
"...okay," Lily said reluctantly.
James turned on the music. They started to dance.
It was totally unlike dancing with Remus. Remus was just a friend, really – they were just friends helping each other out. But James was different...he was James Potter, the guy she had hated for six years. But now, he acted so different from how she had thought he would act, and she felt her hatred slipping... Another thing was that Remus never held her that close during the tango.
Lily found herself lost in James' eyes as they danced. His eyes were so soft and brown behind the spectacles... James smiled at her. His teeth were white and even, so contrary to his messy hair... To her surprise as much as his, Lily smiled back.
Suddenly she tripped over a chair leg. She fell down on the floor, dragging James with her. He landed on her, their heads only half an inch apart.
"Uh..." Lily started, but was interrupted by a quick kiss. Lily stared up at him in surprise. He looked back with questions in his eyes. She answered him with a soft, long kiss.
She felt like flying. No: it was better than flying. There was a singing noise in her ears, and behind her closed eyes danced sparkles and stars. She didn't want to pull back, but she had to breathe.
After what seemed like hours, but probably was only a minute, they pulled back, both of them gasping. James tried to roll off her, but she held on to his shirt.
"See you next week," she whispered to him and kissed his nose. Then she went out of the classroom, humming softly. James looked after her in a mix of shock, confusion and something he didn't want to confess right yet, before he stood up and went over to the window.
The snow was still falling.
A/N: Hope you didn't think the dancing lessons with Remus were too boring.