DISCLAIMER: Uhhh I wonder! Duh, I don't own the H.P. characters.
(A/N I hope you liked the last chapter!! This chapter… I think is going to have an interesting, temporary character. MUHAHA, oh my god I just checked my statistics and it said I had 71 reviews!!!!! AHHH!!! Seventy used to seem so far away. I remember when I first started this fic, and I was only getting two reviews per chapter…but YEAH now I've gotten seven from last chapter!! Okay, okay, I know I'm pathetic! All right on with the story! Oh yeah, Amanda…sorry about the author notes…I'll stop, thanks for telling me! I'm still keeping them at the beginning though! I can't stop that! If you all REALLY want I can go back and take them out of all the chapters…I want people to like this story! When I read fan fics with lots of author notes and half the time I don't even read them…I didn't know you guys would actually read through all of them So if you see anymore of the in text they will have stuff I NEED you to read! But apparently it didn't bug you enough to stop reading my story! LOL)
*~*~*~*~*
CHAPTER 21
Lily, Mindy and Mr. Ewing made it out of the muggle car alive, much to Mr. Ewing's surprise. The driver knew what he was doing, and Lily was used to it and had no problem with it.
Mindy and Lily said good bye to Mr. Ewing and went quickly through the barrier, and immediately found Sierra. They talked to her for a while, and were wondering if Jimena would come onto the train, or if she would already be at Hogwarts.
They waited a while for her, and were happy to see her show up.
"JIM!!!" Lily, Sierra and Mindy all screamed, ran over to her and tackled her.
"Where were you?" Sierra asked referring to where she'd been that morning.
"I had to say hi to Remus, we have to go sit in his compartment!" Jimena was beaming with happiness at finally seeing her friends.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but there are some certain seventh years I would like to sit with today!" Mindy said and ran off onto the train.
"Let's go find…The Marauders." Lily said with a sigh, she was happy for her friends, but dreadfully depressed for herself. It sucked being alone when everyone else just about had someone or was at least happy.
They found the four boys in the last compartment, whispering about something. "Planning your pranks already?" Jimena asked stepping into the room, Remus jumped up and gave her a hug and quick kiss, and they sat down next to each other.
Sierra greeted Sirius the same way, Lily looked uncomfortable, and sat next to Peter, who was next to Sirius and Sierra. Leaving Jimena, Remus and James across from her, meaning Lily had to look at James the whole way to Hogwarts. Then Lily had an idea, she was going to sit with the "Prefects." She hadn't the year before, and she might not have much time left, so she decided to go. Lily stood up, and opened her door.
"Lils where you going?" Sirius asked curiously.
"The prefects' compartment, it's a bit…crowded here, so I'm going there, I would normally stay, but I just want to see what it's like in there." Lily said grabbing her trunk and heading out the door.
Her friends looked at her in shock. "Lily, don't go in there, it's too dangerous! You don't want to be with those brainy, book wormy people! They'll eat you alive!!" Sirius said pulling her back in.
"Sorry guys, but I'm going!" Lily said getting loose from Sirius' grip and went out the door once again. She heard some clunking noises from inside the compartment and a ("Make sure she doesn't get herself hurt!") Lily shook her head, and went to the Prefects compartment.
"Hey Lily wait up!" It was James, carrying his trunk behind him. "They sent me to protect you from the other prefects, only because I'm the only one who can go in there." James added quickly.
"Um, okay." Lily said nervously, and a little irritated that her plan hadn't worked out.
The Prefect compartment seemed like the perfect place to go to get study tips, because that's all they talked about! James and Lily got so bored they even started talking to each other about Quidditch to save them selves from the book talk.
They left after only a few hours, to join their friends who were in the middle of setting off dung bombs in Malfoy's compartment. James and Lily joined right in, and they had fun for the rest of the trip.
*~*~*~*~*
The school year started in the usual way, everyone got used to the old routine. Quidditch practice started up working them as hard as ever, Robert was obsessed with the Quidditch Cup. Lily wasn't having as much fun flying as she usually did, probably because of the fact that she spent half the time staring at one of her fellow chasers…Not Steven I might add.
Two weeks had soon passed and Lily was bored late Friday night. She went to bed early, so she wouldn't be kept up by her friends' snoring, she hoped she didn't have any nightmares.
Lily had been in bed for about twenty minutes when she fell asleep. Then she awoke to an odd sound coming from her open window. Lily discovered two people running around the edges of the Forbidden Forest, and Lily was unable to stop herself she grabbed her broom and was out the window before you could say "Quidditch'.
Lily rode her broom to the place she had last seen the two people, and circled around in the air. She heard a few noises coming from a tree not a foot below her, but before she could look, she felt a large cold hand grab hold of her ankle, and drag her down to the depths of the Forest Floor. She didn't even have enough time to scream, before the same cold pale hand covered her mouth. It was obviously a man, by the shape and size.
She tried to get a look at her captor but was unable to. Lily was scared, but was trying to think of a way to escape, before James had to come to her rescue. The person took off running deep into the forest, and eventually tossed her to the ground, and Lily tried to move, but found she wasn't able to, even though nothing held her. It had to be some invisible force field holding her.
For the first time Lily was able to get a look at her captor in the face, and Lily screamed as loud as she could when she did.
It was a vampire.
The teeth stood out brilliantly in its evil smile, and made Lily shudder. He never spoke, but only looked at her. Finally he said something. "My master will be pleased if I bring you to him, dead, alive, or a vampire. And I'm so thirsty right now, and your blood smells so sweet." Lily was officially disgusted. "You could be my Queen you know." He said simply.
Lily had heard about this kind of thing, but she'd never believed it. Vampires didn't make innocent girls vampires and then turn them into their Queens or what ever that official name was, especially not Lily Evans, that kind of thing wasn't real.
The Vampire lifted Lily up and she felt her body go rigid then limp. And she couldn't move anymore, he held her close breathing on her neck. Inhaling the smell of her blood, Lily wanted to scream, but enough air didn't come into her lungs do so.
Lily got a good look at the vampire's face. It was pale, and its lips were blood red, it was the ugliest thing she'd ever seen, it was so gruesomely dead looking, and she wanted to run right for her life. Lily felt him move his teeth onto her neck ready to bite. Lily all of a sudden felt all her fears leave her. She felt at peace, then the Vampire was all of a sudden let go of her, or more likely dropped her because of the fact that James had kicked him in the head and knocked him out.
He grabbed Lily's hand, and Lily felt her self come out of the trance, and James pulled her in front of him onto his broom that he'd been hovering on. Brooms are unimaginably useful things.
Lily felt fidgety being so close to James after so long. James flew the broom out of the forest and landed by the lake. Setting Lily down, she was a bit disappointed to leave him, but she knew she had to.
James made her explain what had happened, and James just shook his head, and said they'd better tell Dumbledore there was a vampire nearby. But before they walked back to the castle Lily picked up her courage and pecked him on the cheek. Making her and him blush pink. "That's for saving me for like the 10th time." Lily said smiling at him.
"Um, no problem" James finally stuttered breathlessly.
*~*~*~*~*
The Vampire was captured easily and taken away to somewhere Lily didn't know about. Things went back to normal once more.
Lily was studying, trying to keep on her best behavior so she could become head girl.
James did the same thing, but not the best behavior thing, he and the Marauders continued to pull pranks on the Slytherins. Occasionally other houses would get pranks too, but those weren't as bad as the Slytherins.
Before they knew it, September was over, and October had begun, and with it came startling announcement.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to breakfast with Sierra and Jimena. They had made sure to get there on time because they had heard Dumbledore was announcing something important to the school.
Not far into breakfast Dumbledore stood up to talk.
"Excuse me for interrupting your breakfast, but I have a very exciting announcement to make that will involve our wonderful Quidditch Teams." Everyone started whispering loudly. Lily's ears were very alert not wanting to miss what he said. "Well, as a lot of you know there is going to be a Quidditch Convention at the Ministry of Magic Head Quarters." Everyone quieted down again. "They have decided to allow one Quidditch House Team to go to the convention, and that means the ball they are holding on Halloween." The room burst into excited chatter, and Dumbledore hushed them once more. "Since only one team can go, we are moving up the games, Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin will be next week, and the day after that will be Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, and the winners of those matches will play each other to see who goes." More people began talking; Dumbledore only looked slightly irritated that he kept getting interrupted, quieted the hall again. "Then the Quidditch games will continue as normal towards the cup, since most teams are quite unprepared for this. The Quidditch Team members will be able to bring dates to the ball, but that is the only time anyone else will get to go. The convention will be held from the 26th to the 31st I hope the best house wins." With that Dumbledore finished at sat down.
"Wow, this is great! Lily you are going to have a blast! The Quidditch conventions are amazing, pros are there! You can meet all those hunky-." Jimena was quieted with a look from her boyfriend. "Well I've heard it's a lot of fun."
"Yeah Lils, you guys are going to win for sure! You have the best team! Plus we're the only house with out new players to train!" Sierra told her happily. "Too bad we can't go, unless…Sirius, you are SO taking me to that ball!"
"Oh Jim, if we win you still can't go because you won't have a date! Unless you want to hook up with James, or maybe you could go with Sam or maybe Sierra's brother!" Lily said jokingly Jimena didn't look that disappointed that she wasn't going so they dropped that part of the subject.
"Robert is going to be working your butts off at practice to night!" Jimena said. "Hey I just remembered, since Mindy's going out with Robert, she can go with you guys too! Everyone's going but me, Remus and Peter! Unless Peter gets a date with Winnie, I doubt he'll be going." Jimena said smiling.
"Um, didn't you hear? Winnie likes Peter, so more then likely he'll be going." Sierra said trying to hide her laugh.
"Is that a joke, or are you telling the truth?" Jimena said suspiciously.
"It's the truth; you can ask Winnie about it!" Lily said grinning at Peter who had started listening. "Don't worry Pete she'll ask you."
"Hey Lils, who are YOU going to go with?" Sierra said, and glanced slightly in James' direction.
"Um, I don't know…Maybe I'll just go by myself."
"NO, no, no we won't let you! You are going to go with some one." Jimena said firmly.
"You guys are acting like we already won! Right now I'm going to worry about the game before I worry about a date." Lily said standing up and going to class, with her friends trailing behind her.
*~*~*~*~*
Quidditch Practice got extremely hard over the days that followed, they practiced all the time, early morning, late at night, during lunch, breakfast, dinner, and once during Transfiguration.
Then finally the day of the game came. Lily was nervous; everyone was counting on them, all the pressure! Robert came into the locker room looking like he hadn't slept all night. He looked stressed and panicked. Then he tried to say a quick pep speech.
"Erm, today we're going to win. Um…We practiced hard, we may be tired but we're going to win." Then he said the exact same thing a few times, and finally started saying something different. "Try as hard as you can, don't let them intimidate you, not even ex- boyfriends." He said looking at Lily; he was still a bit angry at her about that. "Also look out for out of control bludgers, Dementors, death eater professors, and anything else out of the ordinary that might try to finish Lily off." Most would have thought it a joke, but it wasn't. He was being dead serious. The rest of the Quidditch team knew something was going on with Lily that made her have awful bad luck, but had no idea what, and they didn't ask. "Um, I'm trying to think of something…" Robert was hopeless he was so nervous; finally Sirius saved them from listening to him stutter for words.
"Let's go kick some Eagle butt!" Everyone cheered and headed out to the pitch.
The game got started quickly, James, Lily and Steven were getting most of the action they had scored 3 goals within the first 5 minutes of the game and the Ravenclaws didn't have any.
Marvin came up and hit a bludger at Lily which she swerved to miss. He then hit one towards Steven who missed it by an inch. As this was going on James scored a goal. James ad scored a great deal of the goals, he was playing magnificently. He was the best on the team followed closely by Robert.
Lily found herself in possession of the Quaffle and swerved around the other Chasers, got above them and passed it to Steven who passed it to James after a brief run in with a bludger again, and then James passed it to Lily when a bludger almost knocked him over, and Lily took off at a fast pace dodging other players, and finally she saw James was open and threw the Quaffle at him, he had a clear shot at the goal and they scored. 'We're going to win!' Lily thought happily. She chanced a glance at Robert who was hovering above them looking for the snitch.
Winnie and Sirius were hitting bludgers left and right towards the end of the hour they'd been up in the air. Sam Wobblesby was doing great, the Ravenclaws had only gotten two goals through.
The game seemed to have the tension of the end of the game. Gryffindors were killing the Ravenclaws with a score of 170-20 It was a sad sight to look at the score board. Right then if the Snitch had been caught the Gryffindors would have tied the game, so Lily, James and Steven needless to say when they saw the two seekers diving, they ran for the goal, Lily had the Quaffle, and the other Chasers were after them the beaters had slowed their paces because they were watching the seekers.
"JAMES HERE!" Lily yelled and threw the Quaffle, James caught it and flew as fast as possible to the goal, he scored and then ten seconds later the snitch was caught by Robert. There was a lot of cheering and yelling, and they were happy to be going against the Slytherins in the finals…No they weren't happy that they were fighting the Slytherins, but just going to the finals was great.
*~*~*~*~*
There wasn't much time to celebrate victory, for the next day was the match against Slytherin. The whole team got lectures about their strategies from Robert who became even more a nervous wreck. All he talked about was Quidditch; Mindy tried to calm him, but he didn't listen well when she told him everything would work out okay. He was determined to win, and he didn't let them forget about it.
"WE ARE GOING TO WIN!" He yelled for the umpteenth time that day at breakfast, the day of the match.
Everyone was tired; none of them had gotten much sleep. Sam Wobblesby had fallen asleep on his plate. When Winnie went to wake him he yelled out "Die Slytherins!" And everyone burst out laughing, calming them for a brief moment.
Lily wanted to win, she really did, but she didn't exactly want to deal with the ball that was only two weeks away. Lily felt sick at breakfast, so she just sat and watched everyone else eat. Sierra and Jimena were being supportive, telling her to look out for Crabbe who was a new beater that year, and was sickeningly strong.
Lily was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't notice the odd looks they were getting from the Slytherins (odder then usual anyways). Sierra finally brought it up into conversation.
"Look at them, it's like they're…laughing at us! Do you think they'll pull something at the match?"
"Huh what?" Lily asked, finally tuning in to the world.
"The Slytherins, they've been staring at us! Or should I say you and the rest of the Quidditch team." Sierra said.
"Yeah, you might keep a close watch out on the game; they might try and jinx your broom!" Jimena said worriedly.
"Don't worry; we keep a good look out every game!" Lily said standing up with the rest of the team, to get ready for the game, early.
"We have to win, we have to win, we have to win." Robert kept muttering to himself all the way down. Lily, Sirius and James all looked at each other nervously; Robert was starting to scare them.
Before long, Lily found her self up in the air and in the middle of the game. The Slytherins were playing dirty. Several times there were penalties. The first one was for grabbing onto Steven's arm so he couldn't catch the Quaffle. The next one was when a beater held on to a bludger, and then let it go while he was standing next to James, and it hit him hard in the stomach.
Lily was only waiting for them to mess with her, when the storm started. Everyone had seen it coming, but they had been hoping the game would be over before it started.
It started as a light sprinkling at first, they into a down right hard pour. Everyone was soaked, and James and other kids with glasses had to call a time out so they could cast a charm on their glasses to get the rain off.
Lily had trouble seeing where she was going, everyone huddled close together so they could tell what was going on. Lily knew the game was going to be a long one, because Robert had to catch a snitch in this, and it was going to be quite a task.
The goals were few, and several times Lily had lost her grip on the Quaffle, since it was wet, and her hands were slippery. But while the goals were few, the tricks were many. Sirius was almost knocked off his broom by that Crabbe guy, and Sam had even been smacked in the face by the bristled end of a broom!
Then the worst trick happened, Crabbe, and a Chaser on the Slytherins side, followed Steven around, if he went left one of them was there, if he went right one of them was there, he was surrounded, making it hard to score goals, while short one player. Then Crabbe and the Chaser closed the space and Steven tried to lose them once more. Then Crabbe made a quick swerve and knocked Steven off his broom.
James and Lily took no time to think, they just dove straight to him, and they saw the look of shock on his face, he wasn't even screaming. James grabbed hold of his robes and Lily got his foot and they lowered him to the ground, he almost slipped a few times from the rain, but it ended up all right. They collected his broom, and they continued play.
The game went smoothly, the rain was still pouring. Lily couldn't even hear the announcer any more, if they'd won the game, she wouldn't have been able to tell unless she saw Robert with the Snitch.
The game had been going on for three hours, and showed no sign of ending any time soon. Lily was getting cold and tired, and they hadn't made any goals for half an hour, Sam looked bored with nothing to do. The Quaffle went back and forth between players, but the game had lost its competitiveness.
That was of course until, Crabbe called her a mud blood and he found himself being pelted by a bludger from Sirius and Winnie, who looked pleased with themselves. Then the game started to get back into action
Lily, Steven and James were playing their hearts out tossing the Quaffle every which way, using their best moves. Even in the rain, they were doing well, the rain had let up and it was much easier to see. Then it happened, Robert and the Slytherin Seeker broke into a steep dive. Their hands were stretched out in front of them Robert took the lead and grasped the snitch in his hand. The Gryffindors broke into cheers, the team landed and surrounded Robert, Lily and Winnie hugged him and kissed him they were all jumping up and down, then Robert got a reward that pleased him a lot. Mindy came running over to him, tackled him and started snogging like mad, the rest of the unoccupied team hid them from the teachers' views.
They were all beaming with smiles as the rest of Gryffindor came to congratulate them. Sierra ran over and hugged Sirius then her brother, telling him she was so worried when she saw him fall. Remus and Jimena came over to Lily and James and started talking about how cool the game had been, and that Lily was lucky to be the only one who hadn't been hurt by the Cheating Slytherins.
"So Lils who you taking to the ball on Halloween? And WHAT are you going to wear?" Jimena said while they were walking back to the Gryffindor tower to change out of their wet clothes.
Lily's heart froze for a moment, she knew who she would LIKE to take, but she also knew they wouldn't want to go with her…She didn't even think he liked her anymore.
"Um, I'm not sure; who do you think I should take?" Lily asked finally.
"James you ninny! He doesn't have anyone to take either…Not that he can't find anyone, but still you should ask him he still totally likes you!" Jimena said.
Lily tried not to blush. "He still likes me? I thought that he would be over me by now…"
"Lily! Seriously don't you notice anything?! Whenever you are around each other, the emotions are running hay wire!! It's so obvious it's not even funny!" Sierra said smirking at Lily.
"No he doesn't…It's not like that, I don't like him, I'm over him!" Lily tried to defend herself.
"No your not, you do know that you talk in your sleep, don't you?" Jimena said grinning.
"Yeah Lils me and Jim heard you one night mumbling something about 'James'! Frankly it disturbed me a bit; your lucky Vanessa and Catty weren't there!" Sierra said giggling slightly.
Lily turned bright red, and tried to think of something clever to say, but wasn't able to. "Uh, so what, maybe I was just talking to him in my dream…" Lily blushed harder when she saw Remus and Sirius appear. Lily hoped they hadn't heard what they had been talking about.
"So Lily, taking James to the ball are you?" Sirius said grinning like a maniac, Lily glared; he had heard what they had been talking about.
"NO, and may I ask WHY were you listening to our PRIVATE conversation!?" Lily demanded, trying not to blush.
"Um, no reason, but seriously James does still like you, but don't tell him WE told you!" Remus said.
"He does?" Lily asked a little too hopefully.
"Yeah, he talks in his sleep too!"
"I DON'T talk in my sleep!!" Lily yelled.
"Yes, we know, we know." Sierra said trying to calm Lily down, they got to the fat lady and entered the common room, where a party had started. Celebrating victory, the party lasted late into the night.
Lily went to bed exhausted, it had been a long day and she'd stayed up too late that night, and she'd barely gotten any sleep the night before and the Quidditch game had been so loooong. Lily fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
*~*~*~*~*
The Quidditch convention was a blast, the first day they were given tons of tips on playing Quidditch and they got new plays that would certainly beat the Slytherins.
The second day they actually GOT to play Quidditch, with the Pros. Lots of autographs were handed out and James got lots of compliments from the pro Chasers, and Robert did from the seekers. Lily didn't mind not getting any; they were the two that wanted to be Professional Quidditch Players, not her.
The third day was spent talking about this year's season of Pro Quidditch. The kids got to help plan out the schedule, which was fun.
The fourth day was spent talking business, and new recruits and the kids learned what they were looking for in Pro Quidditch.
The fifth day the Ministry met with the Quidditch players of England and they were discussing boring stuff which made the kids fall asleep in their chairs, but they didn't mind, since they still got out of school, and that nasty potions test.
Then that night, the day before the ball, Lily was thinking of asking the first guy she saw to go to the ball or James. She had her dress robes laid out, and she, Sierra, Winnie and Mindy were planning on getting ready together. Steven and Sam had asked some girls in their year to go. James was still dateless. Lily was seriously thinking of asking him; just as friends though.
Lily was telling her friends this that evening, while they were talking in their dorm after dinner.
"So do you think I should ask James to the ball-but just as friends?" Lily asked.
"Yes definitely! You need a date! Plus your so perfect for each other and- ." Sierra was quieted.
"Err, I don't know Lils, you don't think it will…like, bring up old feelings or anything do you?" Jimena asked sensibly.
"Yeah, that's what I was wondering about myself, I'm still trying to put him in the past…but I'm not sure; sometimes I wonder if I really should have broken up with him in the first place." Lily had been thinking about it a lot, she was thinking about how James' parents were still alive, so why couldn't she be with James? They were already destined to be together, so why not just give in?
"Lils, you two are depressing! Just DATE him already! I know you love each other-." Jimena started to say.
"I do NOT love him; I just like him…a lot." Lily said doubtfully.
"God, WHY do I put up with you? You know you like each other," Sierra glanced at her watch. "Come on Jim let's go talk to our boyfriends!" Sierra said jumping up. "Err, didn't mean to rub that in your face or anything, but honestly just date him already!" The two of them left with Jimena apologizing quickly.
Lily sat there alone for a moment, and then got up and stormed out of the room knowing what she was going to do.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to the common room, and found James doing his Transfiguration homework, Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him out the portrait, ignoring Sirius' calls that they shouldn't be snogging anymore.
"So Lils, what do you need? If it's not that important, I have something I want to ask you." James said staring at his feet.
"Uh, I just wanted to ask you if…well you know that thing tomorrow?" Lily stuttered, she'd never asked anyone to a ball before, and it was kind of hard!
"Oh that ball?" James asked, and Lily nodded. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Lily looked James in the eye. 'Did he want to ask me too?' She wondered to herself.
"Do you want to go to the ball with me?" They asked at the same time.
"Yes." They answered at the same time again. "But only as friends." They said once again at the same time. All nervousness left Lily and they agreed to go to the ball together as friends and nothing more, no feelings would get in the way either.
Lily went back to her dorm, and Sierra and Jimena followed her immediately. When they got to the dorm and the door was shut they pelted her with questions.
"Did you ask James to the ball?"
"Did he say yes?"
"Did he say no?"
"Was it awkward?"
"Is it going to be a real date?"
"QUIET!!" Lily yelled hushing her friends. "Yes I asked him, and he also asked me, it wasn't that awkward, and we're going as just friends; happy?"
"Awe! That's great! Yeah! Now everyone has a date!" Sierra said jumping up and down happily and dancing with her.
"Well everyone who's going." Lily said looking at Jimena who was grinning.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine with Remus here." Jimena said with an evil grin.
"Hey don't do anything that I wouldn't do!" Sierra scolded.
"What DON'T you do?" Lily asked laughing, and got a scowl from Sierra.
"I can't wait until tomorrow night! I am so doing one of your guys' hair!" Jimena squealed.
Lily, Sierra and Jimena were talking when Vanessa and Catty came into the room. They were talking about the Marauders.
"James was grinning like an idiot! I think he really likes her-. Err hi guys!" Catty said nervously looking at the three girls who were staring at her.
"Lily, I told you he likes you! Now you've made him so happy!" Sierra giggled, as Lily glared, but couldn't help but smile.
"Oh dear, now I have to put up with this!" Lily said gesturing to Sierra and Jimena who were laughing and holding onto each other for help. "Cat, you just had to come in when we were talking about him and add that into the conversation just proved their point!" Lily said shaking her head.
Lily went to bed with a smile on her face, and when James came out to help her while she was sleeping he for once stayed, and they talked decently to each other and enjoyed it. Lily had missed seeing James, they had had something special. They'd had a close bond something she would never find any where else.
*~*~*~*~*
James was smiling when he woke up; Lily still liked him so life was good. Everything was going great; he couldn't wait for the ball.
James got dressed and spent the rest of the time until the ball with his friends, but half of that time he spent day dreaming about his favorite red head.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily, Jimena, Sierra, Mindy and Winnie, were getting ready for the ball together in the Head Girl's room since Winnie was Head Girl after all. The Head Girl room was nice, you had it all to yourself, your own bath room; the only bad part was the Head Boy was across the hall from her, so of course Marvin barged in and started talking to them for awhile while they were doing their hair.
"Why did I ever give YOU the password?" Winnie muttered, mostly to herself.
"Because you needed help with your homework even though your head girl and are supposed to know everything-." Marvin started to say.
"Shut up!" Winnie said annoyed, Lily was beginning to wonder if something was going on between the two of them, but didn't Winnie like Peter?
"All right, so should I curl my hair or leave it like this…All wavy and stuff." Lily asked, looking at her hair.
"I think you should give it nice thick curls like Sierra's." Mindy suggested.
"Yeah Sierra you have great hair, as we've talked about before." Lily said smirking at the glaring Sierra.
"I don't care what you guys think of my hair, but what should I do about it? Leave it or straighten it?" Sierra asked brushing her hair out.
"Straightening it would give you a different look, but curling it is still beautiful, it depends on what you like." Winnie said fingering her own straight blonde hair.
"Hmm, I guess I'll keep it how it is." Sierra decided.
Jimena started putting Mindy's hair up in an elaborate bun with bits of hair hanging down the sides of her face.
Lily did Sierra's hair and Winnie did her make up while waiting for Jimena to do her hair. Sierra and Lily traded places and soon everyone's hair was done, except Jimena and Marvin. Marvin got bored and left not long after that.
The girls spent a few hours getting ready, and went down to the Gryffindor Common Room where they met up with the guys, and the two girls and went to the carriage that would take them there.
Lily was pleased to see the boys stared with their mouths open as they traveled to the Ministry Headquarters. When they arrived the boys escorted the girls to the ball arm in arm. James grinned at Lily as he took her arm, and they started talking about what was going to happen at the ball.
"I heard the 'Cackling Hags' are playing tonight, and they are awesome!" James said excitedly.
"Really, I think I've heard them once or twice they seemed pretty good." Lily agreed.
They arrived at the ball, and it was packed with people who were sitting down to dinner, and there was a wide space in the middle for dancing which would start later. Lily glanced down at her Forest green silky dress robes, and hoped she looked all right.
They got two tables to themselves and sat down and ate an elegant meal among some of England's best wizards and witches, Lily felt nervous. James looked nervous too, several very important people were there including the Minister of Magic, who was talking to the head master Dumbledore.
When dinner was over James led Lily onto the dance floor, and they both happened to be very good dancers. You couldn't say the same thing for Peter who was stepping on Winnie's feet and she tried to hide the pained look on her face.
Lily liked dancing with James, it was so…magical. He just about swept her off her feet. She felt warm and fuzzy the whole time, and was afraid to leave him when a young Quidditch Player asked her to dance, but she went on ahead and James went off with some girl.
Lily found herself back in James' arms right as a slow song started, and he looked uncomfortable for a moment then covered it up and held her close. Lily had her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder and the world seemed perfect for a few precious moments. When the song ended James said something Lily found a bit funny, as in strange.
"This seems like a day that something really important will happen." Little did Lily know just what kinds of important things would happen on future Halloween nights.
The ball ended all too soon, and the Quidditch Team was disappointed to leave as they got into the carriage that took them home. Lily felt funny under James' gaze, he kept looking at her, but she could tell he was deep in thought.
Lily stepped out of the carriage and the students headed up towards the Gryffindor Tower and just as Lily was about to step through the portrait James pulled her back and the others went on through.
"What is it James?" Lily asked looking at him, she noticed how intense his eyes looked, she saw a flicker of doubt or worry cross his face and then he closed the gap between them and kissed Lily passionately for a few moments. During that time Lily wound her arms around his neck, and when they parted she smiled at him and he grinned back at her. "Um, thanks?" Lily said finally breaking the silence.
"Uh, sorry about that, I just couldn't help it, tonight you looked so beautiful, and it made me miss you more than ever. Sometimes Lily I just wish we could be together."
"Me too, maybe…maybe we should try you know? I mean everything is telling us that we are supposed to be together, so why fight it?" Lily asked him, and he looked at her attentively.
"Maybe- Maybe we should, I mean if we like each other, why torture ourselves?" James said casually and they silently agreed to it with another kiss, but this one lasted much longer.
They went into the common room and found their friends including Jimena and Remus; looking at them awaiting an answer to a silent question, Lily and James ignored their friends and went straight to bed with out a word.
*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N ALL right, that's done, I bit short I know, but oh well! It's my story and I say how long the chapters are, even if I'm not happy with the length, but I try really hard to get lots of chapters out on weekends. So maybe if you all get lucky (not it a nasty way) you will have another chapter by Sunday night, but it's not likely since I have this HUGE church thing tomorrow, so I get to go be bored. REVIEW and tell me if you like it, or if there are some screw ups some where, cause I know I made them!!
*~Sierra~*
(A/N I hope you liked the last chapter!! This chapter… I think is going to have an interesting, temporary character. MUHAHA, oh my god I just checked my statistics and it said I had 71 reviews!!!!! AHHH!!! Seventy used to seem so far away. I remember when I first started this fic, and I was only getting two reviews per chapter…but YEAH now I've gotten seven from last chapter!! Okay, okay, I know I'm pathetic! All right on with the story! Oh yeah, Amanda…sorry about the author notes…I'll stop, thanks for telling me! I'm still keeping them at the beginning though! I can't stop that! If you all REALLY want I can go back and take them out of all the chapters…I want people to like this story! When I read fan fics with lots of author notes and half the time I don't even read them…I didn't know you guys would actually read through all of them So if you see anymore of the in text they will have stuff I NEED you to read! But apparently it didn't bug you enough to stop reading my story! LOL)
*~*~*~*~*
CHAPTER 21
Lily, Mindy and Mr. Ewing made it out of the muggle car alive, much to Mr. Ewing's surprise. The driver knew what he was doing, and Lily was used to it and had no problem with it.
Mindy and Lily said good bye to Mr. Ewing and went quickly through the barrier, and immediately found Sierra. They talked to her for a while, and were wondering if Jimena would come onto the train, or if she would already be at Hogwarts.
They waited a while for her, and were happy to see her show up.
"JIM!!!" Lily, Sierra and Mindy all screamed, ran over to her and tackled her.
"Where were you?" Sierra asked referring to where she'd been that morning.
"I had to say hi to Remus, we have to go sit in his compartment!" Jimena was beaming with happiness at finally seeing her friends.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but there are some certain seventh years I would like to sit with today!" Mindy said and ran off onto the train.
"Let's go find…The Marauders." Lily said with a sigh, she was happy for her friends, but dreadfully depressed for herself. It sucked being alone when everyone else just about had someone or was at least happy.
They found the four boys in the last compartment, whispering about something. "Planning your pranks already?" Jimena asked stepping into the room, Remus jumped up and gave her a hug and quick kiss, and they sat down next to each other.
Sierra greeted Sirius the same way, Lily looked uncomfortable, and sat next to Peter, who was next to Sirius and Sierra. Leaving Jimena, Remus and James across from her, meaning Lily had to look at James the whole way to Hogwarts. Then Lily had an idea, she was going to sit with the "Prefects." She hadn't the year before, and she might not have much time left, so she decided to go. Lily stood up, and opened her door.
"Lils where you going?" Sirius asked curiously.
"The prefects' compartment, it's a bit…crowded here, so I'm going there, I would normally stay, but I just want to see what it's like in there." Lily said grabbing her trunk and heading out the door.
Her friends looked at her in shock. "Lily, don't go in there, it's too dangerous! You don't want to be with those brainy, book wormy people! They'll eat you alive!!" Sirius said pulling her back in.
"Sorry guys, but I'm going!" Lily said getting loose from Sirius' grip and went out the door once again. She heard some clunking noises from inside the compartment and a ("Make sure she doesn't get herself hurt!") Lily shook her head, and went to the Prefects compartment.
"Hey Lily wait up!" It was James, carrying his trunk behind him. "They sent me to protect you from the other prefects, only because I'm the only one who can go in there." James added quickly.
"Um, okay." Lily said nervously, and a little irritated that her plan hadn't worked out.
The Prefect compartment seemed like the perfect place to go to get study tips, because that's all they talked about! James and Lily got so bored they even started talking to each other about Quidditch to save them selves from the book talk.
They left after only a few hours, to join their friends who were in the middle of setting off dung bombs in Malfoy's compartment. James and Lily joined right in, and they had fun for the rest of the trip.
*~*~*~*~*
The school year started in the usual way, everyone got used to the old routine. Quidditch practice started up working them as hard as ever, Robert was obsessed with the Quidditch Cup. Lily wasn't having as much fun flying as she usually did, probably because of the fact that she spent half the time staring at one of her fellow chasers…Not Steven I might add.
Two weeks had soon passed and Lily was bored late Friday night. She went to bed early, so she wouldn't be kept up by her friends' snoring, she hoped she didn't have any nightmares.
Lily had been in bed for about twenty minutes when she fell asleep. Then she awoke to an odd sound coming from her open window. Lily discovered two people running around the edges of the Forbidden Forest, and Lily was unable to stop herself she grabbed her broom and was out the window before you could say "Quidditch'.
Lily rode her broom to the place she had last seen the two people, and circled around in the air. She heard a few noises coming from a tree not a foot below her, but before she could look, she felt a large cold hand grab hold of her ankle, and drag her down to the depths of the Forest Floor. She didn't even have enough time to scream, before the same cold pale hand covered her mouth. It was obviously a man, by the shape and size.
She tried to get a look at her captor but was unable to. Lily was scared, but was trying to think of a way to escape, before James had to come to her rescue. The person took off running deep into the forest, and eventually tossed her to the ground, and Lily tried to move, but found she wasn't able to, even though nothing held her. It had to be some invisible force field holding her.
For the first time Lily was able to get a look at her captor in the face, and Lily screamed as loud as she could when she did.
It was a vampire.
The teeth stood out brilliantly in its evil smile, and made Lily shudder. He never spoke, but only looked at her. Finally he said something. "My master will be pleased if I bring you to him, dead, alive, or a vampire. And I'm so thirsty right now, and your blood smells so sweet." Lily was officially disgusted. "You could be my Queen you know." He said simply.
Lily had heard about this kind of thing, but she'd never believed it. Vampires didn't make innocent girls vampires and then turn them into their Queens or what ever that official name was, especially not Lily Evans, that kind of thing wasn't real.
The Vampire lifted Lily up and she felt her body go rigid then limp. And she couldn't move anymore, he held her close breathing on her neck. Inhaling the smell of her blood, Lily wanted to scream, but enough air didn't come into her lungs do so.
Lily got a good look at the vampire's face. It was pale, and its lips were blood red, it was the ugliest thing she'd ever seen, it was so gruesomely dead looking, and she wanted to run right for her life. Lily felt him move his teeth onto her neck ready to bite. Lily all of a sudden felt all her fears leave her. She felt at peace, then the Vampire was all of a sudden let go of her, or more likely dropped her because of the fact that James had kicked him in the head and knocked him out.
He grabbed Lily's hand, and Lily felt her self come out of the trance, and James pulled her in front of him onto his broom that he'd been hovering on. Brooms are unimaginably useful things.
Lily felt fidgety being so close to James after so long. James flew the broom out of the forest and landed by the lake. Setting Lily down, she was a bit disappointed to leave him, but she knew she had to.
James made her explain what had happened, and James just shook his head, and said they'd better tell Dumbledore there was a vampire nearby. But before they walked back to the castle Lily picked up her courage and pecked him on the cheek. Making her and him blush pink. "That's for saving me for like the 10th time." Lily said smiling at him.
"Um, no problem" James finally stuttered breathlessly.
*~*~*~*~*
The Vampire was captured easily and taken away to somewhere Lily didn't know about. Things went back to normal once more.
Lily was studying, trying to keep on her best behavior so she could become head girl.
James did the same thing, but not the best behavior thing, he and the Marauders continued to pull pranks on the Slytherins. Occasionally other houses would get pranks too, but those weren't as bad as the Slytherins.
Before they knew it, September was over, and October had begun, and with it came startling announcement.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to breakfast with Sierra and Jimena. They had made sure to get there on time because they had heard Dumbledore was announcing something important to the school.
Not far into breakfast Dumbledore stood up to talk.
"Excuse me for interrupting your breakfast, but I have a very exciting announcement to make that will involve our wonderful Quidditch Teams." Everyone started whispering loudly. Lily's ears were very alert not wanting to miss what he said. "Well, as a lot of you know there is going to be a Quidditch Convention at the Ministry of Magic Head Quarters." Everyone quieted down again. "They have decided to allow one Quidditch House Team to go to the convention, and that means the ball they are holding on Halloween." The room burst into excited chatter, and Dumbledore hushed them once more. "Since only one team can go, we are moving up the games, Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin will be next week, and the day after that will be Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, and the winners of those matches will play each other to see who goes." More people began talking; Dumbledore only looked slightly irritated that he kept getting interrupted, quieted the hall again. "Then the Quidditch games will continue as normal towards the cup, since most teams are quite unprepared for this. The Quidditch Team members will be able to bring dates to the ball, but that is the only time anyone else will get to go. The convention will be held from the 26th to the 31st I hope the best house wins." With that Dumbledore finished at sat down.
"Wow, this is great! Lily you are going to have a blast! The Quidditch conventions are amazing, pros are there! You can meet all those hunky-." Jimena was quieted with a look from her boyfriend. "Well I've heard it's a lot of fun."
"Yeah Lils, you guys are going to win for sure! You have the best team! Plus we're the only house with out new players to train!" Sierra told her happily. "Too bad we can't go, unless…Sirius, you are SO taking me to that ball!"
"Oh Jim, if we win you still can't go because you won't have a date! Unless you want to hook up with James, or maybe you could go with Sam or maybe Sierra's brother!" Lily said jokingly Jimena didn't look that disappointed that she wasn't going so they dropped that part of the subject.
"Robert is going to be working your butts off at practice to night!" Jimena said. "Hey I just remembered, since Mindy's going out with Robert, she can go with you guys too! Everyone's going but me, Remus and Peter! Unless Peter gets a date with Winnie, I doubt he'll be going." Jimena said smiling.
"Um, didn't you hear? Winnie likes Peter, so more then likely he'll be going." Sierra said trying to hide her laugh.
"Is that a joke, or are you telling the truth?" Jimena said suspiciously.
"It's the truth; you can ask Winnie about it!" Lily said grinning at Peter who had started listening. "Don't worry Pete she'll ask you."
"Hey Lils, who are YOU going to go with?" Sierra said, and glanced slightly in James' direction.
"Um, I don't know…Maybe I'll just go by myself."
"NO, no, no we won't let you! You are going to go with some one." Jimena said firmly.
"You guys are acting like we already won! Right now I'm going to worry about the game before I worry about a date." Lily said standing up and going to class, with her friends trailing behind her.
*~*~*~*~*
Quidditch Practice got extremely hard over the days that followed, they practiced all the time, early morning, late at night, during lunch, breakfast, dinner, and once during Transfiguration.
Then finally the day of the game came. Lily was nervous; everyone was counting on them, all the pressure! Robert came into the locker room looking like he hadn't slept all night. He looked stressed and panicked. Then he tried to say a quick pep speech.
"Erm, today we're going to win. Um…We practiced hard, we may be tired but we're going to win." Then he said the exact same thing a few times, and finally started saying something different. "Try as hard as you can, don't let them intimidate you, not even ex- boyfriends." He said looking at Lily; he was still a bit angry at her about that. "Also look out for out of control bludgers, Dementors, death eater professors, and anything else out of the ordinary that might try to finish Lily off." Most would have thought it a joke, but it wasn't. He was being dead serious. The rest of the Quidditch team knew something was going on with Lily that made her have awful bad luck, but had no idea what, and they didn't ask. "Um, I'm trying to think of something…" Robert was hopeless he was so nervous; finally Sirius saved them from listening to him stutter for words.
"Let's go kick some Eagle butt!" Everyone cheered and headed out to the pitch.
The game got started quickly, James, Lily and Steven were getting most of the action they had scored 3 goals within the first 5 minutes of the game and the Ravenclaws didn't have any.
Marvin came up and hit a bludger at Lily which she swerved to miss. He then hit one towards Steven who missed it by an inch. As this was going on James scored a goal. James ad scored a great deal of the goals, he was playing magnificently. He was the best on the team followed closely by Robert.
Lily found herself in possession of the Quaffle and swerved around the other Chasers, got above them and passed it to Steven who passed it to James after a brief run in with a bludger again, and then James passed it to Lily when a bludger almost knocked him over, and Lily took off at a fast pace dodging other players, and finally she saw James was open and threw the Quaffle at him, he had a clear shot at the goal and they scored. 'We're going to win!' Lily thought happily. She chanced a glance at Robert who was hovering above them looking for the snitch.
Winnie and Sirius were hitting bludgers left and right towards the end of the hour they'd been up in the air. Sam Wobblesby was doing great, the Ravenclaws had only gotten two goals through.
The game seemed to have the tension of the end of the game. Gryffindors were killing the Ravenclaws with a score of 170-20 It was a sad sight to look at the score board. Right then if the Snitch had been caught the Gryffindors would have tied the game, so Lily, James and Steven needless to say when they saw the two seekers diving, they ran for the goal, Lily had the Quaffle, and the other Chasers were after them the beaters had slowed their paces because they were watching the seekers.
"JAMES HERE!" Lily yelled and threw the Quaffle, James caught it and flew as fast as possible to the goal, he scored and then ten seconds later the snitch was caught by Robert. There was a lot of cheering and yelling, and they were happy to be going against the Slytherins in the finals…No they weren't happy that they were fighting the Slytherins, but just going to the finals was great.
*~*~*~*~*
There wasn't much time to celebrate victory, for the next day was the match against Slytherin. The whole team got lectures about their strategies from Robert who became even more a nervous wreck. All he talked about was Quidditch; Mindy tried to calm him, but he didn't listen well when she told him everything would work out okay. He was determined to win, and he didn't let them forget about it.
"WE ARE GOING TO WIN!" He yelled for the umpteenth time that day at breakfast, the day of the match.
Everyone was tired; none of them had gotten much sleep. Sam Wobblesby had fallen asleep on his plate. When Winnie went to wake him he yelled out "Die Slytherins!" And everyone burst out laughing, calming them for a brief moment.
Lily wanted to win, she really did, but she didn't exactly want to deal with the ball that was only two weeks away. Lily felt sick at breakfast, so she just sat and watched everyone else eat. Sierra and Jimena were being supportive, telling her to look out for Crabbe who was a new beater that year, and was sickeningly strong.
Lily was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't notice the odd looks they were getting from the Slytherins (odder then usual anyways). Sierra finally brought it up into conversation.
"Look at them, it's like they're…laughing at us! Do you think they'll pull something at the match?"
"Huh what?" Lily asked, finally tuning in to the world.
"The Slytherins, they've been staring at us! Or should I say you and the rest of the Quidditch team." Sierra said.
"Yeah, you might keep a close watch out on the game; they might try and jinx your broom!" Jimena said worriedly.
"Don't worry; we keep a good look out every game!" Lily said standing up with the rest of the team, to get ready for the game, early.
"We have to win, we have to win, we have to win." Robert kept muttering to himself all the way down. Lily, Sirius and James all looked at each other nervously; Robert was starting to scare them.
Before long, Lily found her self up in the air and in the middle of the game. The Slytherins were playing dirty. Several times there were penalties. The first one was for grabbing onto Steven's arm so he couldn't catch the Quaffle. The next one was when a beater held on to a bludger, and then let it go while he was standing next to James, and it hit him hard in the stomach.
Lily was only waiting for them to mess with her, when the storm started. Everyone had seen it coming, but they had been hoping the game would be over before it started.
It started as a light sprinkling at first, they into a down right hard pour. Everyone was soaked, and James and other kids with glasses had to call a time out so they could cast a charm on their glasses to get the rain off.
Lily had trouble seeing where she was going, everyone huddled close together so they could tell what was going on. Lily knew the game was going to be a long one, because Robert had to catch a snitch in this, and it was going to be quite a task.
The goals were few, and several times Lily had lost her grip on the Quaffle, since it was wet, and her hands were slippery. But while the goals were few, the tricks were many. Sirius was almost knocked off his broom by that Crabbe guy, and Sam had even been smacked in the face by the bristled end of a broom!
Then the worst trick happened, Crabbe, and a Chaser on the Slytherins side, followed Steven around, if he went left one of them was there, if he went right one of them was there, he was surrounded, making it hard to score goals, while short one player. Then Crabbe and the Chaser closed the space and Steven tried to lose them once more. Then Crabbe made a quick swerve and knocked Steven off his broom.
James and Lily took no time to think, they just dove straight to him, and they saw the look of shock on his face, he wasn't even screaming. James grabbed hold of his robes and Lily got his foot and they lowered him to the ground, he almost slipped a few times from the rain, but it ended up all right. They collected his broom, and they continued play.
The game went smoothly, the rain was still pouring. Lily couldn't even hear the announcer any more, if they'd won the game, she wouldn't have been able to tell unless she saw Robert with the Snitch.
The game had been going on for three hours, and showed no sign of ending any time soon. Lily was getting cold and tired, and they hadn't made any goals for half an hour, Sam looked bored with nothing to do. The Quaffle went back and forth between players, but the game had lost its competitiveness.
That was of course until, Crabbe called her a mud blood and he found himself being pelted by a bludger from Sirius and Winnie, who looked pleased with themselves. Then the game started to get back into action
Lily, Steven and James were playing their hearts out tossing the Quaffle every which way, using their best moves. Even in the rain, they were doing well, the rain had let up and it was much easier to see. Then it happened, Robert and the Slytherin Seeker broke into a steep dive. Their hands were stretched out in front of them Robert took the lead and grasped the snitch in his hand. The Gryffindors broke into cheers, the team landed and surrounded Robert, Lily and Winnie hugged him and kissed him they were all jumping up and down, then Robert got a reward that pleased him a lot. Mindy came running over to him, tackled him and started snogging like mad, the rest of the unoccupied team hid them from the teachers' views.
They were all beaming with smiles as the rest of Gryffindor came to congratulate them. Sierra ran over and hugged Sirius then her brother, telling him she was so worried when she saw him fall. Remus and Jimena came over to Lily and James and started talking about how cool the game had been, and that Lily was lucky to be the only one who hadn't been hurt by the Cheating Slytherins.
"So Lils who you taking to the ball on Halloween? And WHAT are you going to wear?" Jimena said while they were walking back to the Gryffindor tower to change out of their wet clothes.
Lily's heart froze for a moment, she knew who she would LIKE to take, but she also knew they wouldn't want to go with her…She didn't even think he liked her anymore.
"Um, I'm not sure; who do you think I should take?" Lily asked finally.
"James you ninny! He doesn't have anyone to take either…Not that he can't find anyone, but still you should ask him he still totally likes you!" Jimena said.
Lily tried not to blush. "He still likes me? I thought that he would be over me by now…"
"Lily! Seriously don't you notice anything?! Whenever you are around each other, the emotions are running hay wire!! It's so obvious it's not even funny!" Sierra said smirking at Lily.
"No he doesn't…It's not like that, I don't like him, I'm over him!" Lily tried to defend herself.
"No your not, you do know that you talk in your sleep, don't you?" Jimena said grinning.
"Yeah Lils me and Jim heard you one night mumbling something about 'James'! Frankly it disturbed me a bit; your lucky Vanessa and Catty weren't there!" Sierra said giggling slightly.
Lily turned bright red, and tried to think of something clever to say, but wasn't able to. "Uh, so what, maybe I was just talking to him in my dream…" Lily blushed harder when she saw Remus and Sirius appear. Lily hoped they hadn't heard what they had been talking about.
"So Lily, taking James to the ball are you?" Sirius said grinning like a maniac, Lily glared; he had heard what they had been talking about.
"NO, and may I ask WHY were you listening to our PRIVATE conversation!?" Lily demanded, trying not to blush.
"Um, no reason, but seriously James does still like you, but don't tell him WE told you!" Remus said.
"He does?" Lily asked a little too hopefully.
"Yeah, he talks in his sleep too!"
"I DON'T talk in my sleep!!" Lily yelled.
"Yes, we know, we know." Sierra said trying to calm Lily down, they got to the fat lady and entered the common room, where a party had started. Celebrating victory, the party lasted late into the night.
Lily went to bed exhausted, it had been a long day and she'd stayed up too late that night, and she'd barely gotten any sleep the night before and the Quidditch game had been so loooong. Lily fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
*~*~*~*~*
The Quidditch convention was a blast, the first day they were given tons of tips on playing Quidditch and they got new plays that would certainly beat the Slytherins.
The second day they actually GOT to play Quidditch, with the Pros. Lots of autographs were handed out and James got lots of compliments from the pro Chasers, and Robert did from the seekers. Lily didn't mind not getting any; they were the two that wanted to be Professional Quidditch Players, not her.
The third day was spent talking about this year's season of Pro Quidditch. The kids got to help plan out the schedule, which was fun.
The fourth day was spent talking business, and new recruits and the kids learned what they were looking for in Pro Quidditch.
The fifth day the Ministry met with the Quidditch players of England and they were discussing boring stuff which made the kids fall asleep in their chairs, but they didn't mind, since they still got out of school, and that nasty potions test.
Then that night, the day before the ball, Lily was thinking of asking the first guy she saw to go to the ball or James. She had her dress robes laid out, and she, Sierra, Winnie and Mindy were planning on getting ready together. Steven and Sam had asked some girls in their year to go. James was still dateless. Lily was seriously thinking of asking him; just as friends though.
Lily was telling her friends this that evening, while they were talking in their dorm after dinner.
"So do you think I should ask James to the ball-but just as friends?" Lily asked.
"Yes definitely! You need a date! Plus your so perfect for each other and- ." Sierra was quieted.
"Err, I don't know Lils, you don't think it will…like, bring up old feelings or anything do you?" Jimena asked sensibly.
"Yeah, that's what I was wondering about myself, I'm still trying to put him in the past…but I'm not sure; sometimes I wonder if I really should have broken up with him in the first place." Lily had been thinking about it a lot, she was thinking about how James' parents were still alive, so why couldn't she be with James? They were already destined to be together, so why not just give in?
"Lils, you two are depressing! Just DATE him already! I know you love each other-." Jimena started to say.
"I do NOT love him; I just like him…a lot." Lily said doubtfully.
"God, WHY do I put up with you? You know you like each other," Sierra glanced at her watch. "Come on Jim let's go talk to our boyfriends!" Sierra said jumping up. "Err, didn't mean to rub that in your face or anything, but honestly just date him already!" The two of them left with Jimena apologizing quickly.
Lily sat there alone for a moment, and then got up and stormed out of the room knowing what she was going to do.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to the common room, and found James doing his Transfiguration homework, Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him out the portrait, ignoring Sirius' calls that they shouldn't be snogging anymore.
"So Lils, what do you need? If it's not that important, I have something I want to ask you." James said staring at his feet.
"Uh, I just wanted to ask you if…well you know that thing tomorrow?" Lily stuttered, she'd never asked anyone to a ball before, and it was kind of hard!
"Oh that ball?" James asked, and Lily nodded. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Lily looked James in the eye. 'Did he want to ask me too?' She wondered to herself.
"Do you want to go to the ball with me?" They asked at the same time.
"Yes." They answered at the same time again. "But only as friends." They said once again at the same time. All nervousness left Lily and they agreed to go to the ball together as friends and nothing more, no feelings would get in the way either.
Lily went back to her dorm, and Sierra and Jimena followed her immediately. When they got to the dorm and the door was shut they pelted her with questions.
"Did you ask James to the ball?"
"Did he say yes?"
"Did he say no?"
"Was it awkward?"
"Is it going to be a real date?"
"QUIET!!" Lily yelled hushing her friends. "Yes I asked him, and he also asked me, it wasn't that awkward, and we're going as just friends; happy?"
"Awe! That's great! Yeah! Now everyone has a date!" Sierra said jumping up and down happily and dancing with her.
"Well everyone who's going." Lily said looking at Jimena who was grinning.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine with Remus here." Jimena said with an evil grin.
"Hey don't do anything that I wouldn't do!" Sierra scolded.
"What DON'T you do?" Lily asked laughing, and got a scowl from Sierra.
"I can't wait until tomorrow night! I am so doing one of your guys' hair!" Jimena squealed.
Lily, Sierra and Jimena were talking when Vanessa and Catty came into the room. They were talking about the Marauders.
"James was grinning like an idiot! I think he really likes her-. Err hi guys!" Catty said nervously looking at the three girls who were staring at her.
"Lily, I told you he likes you! Now you've made him so happy!" Sierra giggled, as Lily glared, but couldn't help but smile.
"Oh dear, now I have to put up with this!" Lily said gesturing to Sierra and Jimena who were laughing and holding onto each other for help. "Cat, you just had to come in when we were talking about him and add that into the conversation just proved their point!" Lily said shaking her head.
Lily went to bed with a smile on her face, and when James came out to help her while she was sleeping he for once stayed, and they talked decently to each other and enjoyed it. Lily had missed seeing James, they had had something special. They'd had a close bond something she would never find any where else.
*~*~*~*~*
James was smiling when he woke up; Lily still liked him so life was good. Everything was going great; he couldn't wait for the ball.
James got dressed and spent the rest of the time until the ball with his friends, but half of that time he spent day dreaming about his favorite red head.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily, Jimena, Sierra, Mindy and Winnie, were getting ready for the ball together in the Head Girl's room since Winnie was Head Girl after all. The Head Girl room was nice, you had it all to yourself, your own bath room; the only bad part was the Head Boy was across the hall from her, so of course Marvin barged in and started talking to them for awhile while they were doing their hair.
"Why did I ever give YOU the password?" Winnie muttered, mostly to herself.
"Because you needed help with your homework even though your head girl and are supposed to know everything-." Marvin started to say.
"Shut up!" Winnie said annoyed, Lily was beginning to wonder if something was going on between the two of them, but didn't Winnie like Peter?
"All right, so should I curl my hair or leave it like this…All wavy and stuff." Lily asked, looking at her hair.
"I think you should give it nice thick curls like Sierra's." Mindy suggested.
"Yeah Sierra you have great hair, as we've talked about before." Lily said smirking at the glaring Sierra.
"I don't care what you guys think of my hair, but what should I do about it? Leave it or straighten it?" Sierra asked brushing her hair out.
"Straightening it would give you a different look, but curling it is still beautiful, it depends on what you like." Winnie said fingering her own straight blonde hair.
"Hmm, I guess I'll keep it how it is." Sierra decided.
Jimena started putting Mindy's hair up in an elaborate bun with bits of hair hanging down the sides of her face.
Lily did Sierra's hair and Winnie did her make up while waiting for Jimena to do her hair. Sierra and Lily traded places and soon everyone's hair was done, except Jimena and Marvin. Marvin got bored and left not long after that.
The girls spent a few hours getting ready, and went down to the Gryffindor Common Room where they met up with the guys, and the two girls and went to the carriage that would take them there.
Lily was pleased to see the boys stared with their mouths open as they traveled to the Ministry Headquarters. When they arrived the boys escorted the girls to the ball arm in arm. James grinned at Lily as he took her arm, and they started talking about what was going to happen at the ball.
"I heard the 'Cackling Hags' are playing tonight, and they are awesome!" James said excitedly.
"Really, I think I've heard them once or twice they seemed pretty good." Lily agreed.
They arrived at the ball, and it was packed with people who were sitting down to dinner, and there was a wide space in the middle for dancing which would start later. Lily glanced down at her Forest green silky dress robes, and hoped she looked all right.
They got two tables to themselves and sat down and ate an elegant meal among some of England's best wizards and witches, Lily felt nervous. James looked nervous too, several very important people were there including the Minister of Magic, who was talking to the head master Dumbledore.
When dinner was over James led Lily onto the dance floor, and they both happened to be very good dancers. You couldn't say the same thing for Peter who was stepping on Winnie's feet and she tried to hide the pained look on her face.
Lily liked dancing with James, it was so…magical. He just about swept her off her feet. She felt warm and fuzzy the whole time, and was afraid to leave him when a young Quidditch Player asked her to dance, but she went on ahead and James went off with some girl.
Lily found herself back in James' arms right as a slow song started, and he looked uncomfortable for a moment then covered it up and held her close. Lily had her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder and the world seemed perfect for a few precious moments. When the song ended James said something Lily found a bit funny, as in strange.
"This seems like a day that something really important will happen." Little did Lily know just what kinds of important things would happen on future Halloween nights.
The ball ended all too soon, and the Quidditch Team was disappointed to leave as they got into the carriage that took them home. Lily felt funny under James' gaze, he kept looking at her, but she could tell he was deep in thought.
Lily stepped out of the carriage and the students headed up towards the Gryffindor Tower and just as Lily was about to step through the portrait James pulled her back and the others went on through.
"What is it James?" Lily asked looking at him, she noticed how intense his eyes looked, she saw a flicker of doubt or worry cross his face and then he closed the gap between them and kissed Lily passionately for a few moments. During that time Lily wound her arms around his neck, and when they parted she smiled at him and he grinned back at her. "Um, thanks?" Lily said finally breaking the silence.
"Uh, sorry about that, I just couldn't help it, tonight you looked so beautiful, and it made me miss you more than ever. Sometimes Lily I just wish we could be together."
"Me too, maybe…maybe we should try you know? I mean everything is telling us that we are supposed to be together, so why fight it?" Lily asked him, and he looked at her attentively.
"Maybe- Maybe we should, I mean if we like each other, why torture ourselves?" James said casually and they silently agreed to it with another kiss, but this one lasted much longer.
They went into the common room and found their friends including Jimena and Remus; looking at them awaiting an answer to a silent question, Lily and James ignored their friends and went straight to bed with out a word.
*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N ALL right, that's done, I bit short I know, but oh well! It's my story and I say how long the chapters are, even if I'm not happy with the length, but I try really hard to get lots of chapters out on weekends. So maybe if you all get lucky (not it a nasty way) you will have another chapter by Sunday night, but it's not likely since I have this HUGE church thing tomorrow, so I get to go be bored. REVIEW and tell me if you like it, or if there are some screw ups some where, cause I know I made them!!
*~Sierra~*