Disguised

A/N: Here's the fourth chapter!

I'd just like to say thanks to the people that have reviewed this story. You help me write faster! ^_^

By the way, this chapter's in fifth year.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. All unrecognizable characters belong to me. Don't sue me; you wouldn't get much anyway.

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Disguised

Chapter IV

Fifth year. Things were going along about the same as they had been for a while, thought James Potter. Sirius was still dating Izzy; James was the Quidditch captain now; various girls were trying to get James to go out with them and failing; Lily Evans still hated him, and vice versa.

And Halloween was in a week, and there would be the party, just like the two years before. Remus would finally be able to come this year, since it wasn't a full moon, but he was so introverted sometimes that he was going to stay in the common room.

Sirius was going with Izzy, Peter was going with some 4th year Hufflepuff named Felicity Aster, and James was going with no one. If one of the girls who had asked him was Emerald, he would have said yes without thinking. But he didn't even know her real name, or even what she really looked like, so how could he tell?

***

As for Lily's group, they weren't quite as prepared in the date department, but they were getting there.

Lily had gotten a couple of admirers over time, but she'd turned them down when they asked her to the party. She couldn't go meet with her mystery boy if she had a date.

Sophia's admirers had gotten more noticeable to Sophia lately, and three or four people asked her to the party every day. However, she'd turned them all down so far. She seemed like she was waiting for something.

Two people had asked Ella, and she didn't want to hurt either one's feelings. She was trying to think of a solution.

Isabella, of course, was going with Sirius Black.

***

Three days before the party, Ella said, "I know! I'll go with both of them!"

Lily rolled her eyes. Ella, Isabella and her were talking in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Honestly," she said, "Why don't you just pick one?"

Ella looked horrified. "Because then the other one will be hurt!"

Lily sighed.

Ella looked at Izzy. "What do you think?"

"I think…Yes, green eyes…" She obviously hadn't heard a word Ella had said.

Lily said to Ella, "Right, then. Choose one. Dave McKinnon, or Mike Prewett. Dave, Mike. McKinnon, Prewett. Ravenclaw 5th year, or 6th Year Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. Okay-looking…or HOT!" She yelled the last word in a moment of appreciation for boys, causing half the people in the common room to stare at her.

"I said, 'Salsa is HOT!' " she lied. "You have a problem with that?"

Thankfully, they looked away, even though a couple of them gave her strange looks.

"Erm…Dave McKinnon," Ella said finally. "But how do I break it to Mike?"

"WHAT?!?" Lily yelled. "YOU MUST BE MAD!!!" This time, she got even more stares. Ick. She must be having boy-appreciation overload today or something.

"How do you explain that one, Evans?" someone yelled across the common room.

"The author of this book is MAD!" she lied again, jabbing a finger at her History of Magic book, which happened to open on the table in front of her.

This time, even more of them gave her strange looks, but most of them looked away, shaking their heads.

"What do you mean?" Ella said.

"Mike Prewett is…erm…the Quidditch Captain," Lily said.

"Well…I don't want to go out with the Quidditch Captain. I'm not all that interested in Quidditch, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, whatever," Lily said. Ella would never go to Quidditch games with her. Lily always went to the games though. She'd seen some Gryffindor games, come to that. James Potter was good at Quidditch…Oh, how can I even think something good about James Potter? she thought, disgusted with herself.

"But how do I break it to him, anyway?"

"Just lie and say you've decided not to go. Give him whatever reason you want. He won't know you really are coming; you're going to look different at the party."

"Good idea! Thanks, Lily!"

Suddenly, Sophia burst into the common room and yelled, "LILY!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?"

"Will you people stop yelling?" an annoyed prefect said.

"Oh, be quiet!" Sophia said. Wow, Lily thought. She must really want to talk to me if she doesn't even care about a prefect.

"Over here, Sophia!"

Sophia rushed over. "Ben Gilmore asked me to the Halloween thingie!"

A sixth year walking nearby heard and said loudly, "What?", dropping the books he was carrying on his friend's head. "Did you just say Gilmore asked someone out?!?"

"Yeah, me," Sophia said, grinning. The sixth year stared, then walked away, muttering. Apparently, Lily thought, Ben Gilmore wasn't the type to ask people out. But who was he in the first place?

"Ben Gilmore?" she asked, looking questioningly at Sophia.

"Yeah. You know, he's in our house, sixth year!"
"Eh?" Lily was still drawing a blank.

"Brown curly hair, hazel eyes…" Sophia said impatiently.

"Oh, you mean the one who's always talking about random science stuff?" Lily said, finally getting an idea.

"Yeah, him!"

"Did you say yes?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Er, actually, I've liked him for a while now…"

"What?!? Why didn't you tell me?!?"

"Calm down, Lils!" Sophia looked a bit scared.

"When did you even talk to him?"

"A few months ago, in the common room. We got into a discussion about how homework essays should be banned. He's actually really fun, and smart."

"So when did he ask you?"

"Just now. We got stuck on the stairs…you know, they like being annoying and moving around, and he asked me. You know, I didn't think he was actually going to ask me…He seemed like even the idea of asking anyone out revolted him. I guess he liked me enough," Sophia said happily.

"Cool."

"Are you going with anyone yet?" Sophia asked.

"No."
"Why not? You've had loads of people asking you!"

"I could have said the same about you, until just now. But oh well…I just feel like going alone." Actually, she didn't, but she couldn't get up the courage to tell Sophia about the boy she'd been meeting in the kitchen for two years now.

"Right," Sophia said, nodding.

"So," Lily said, changing the subject, "Have you done the Transfiguration homework yet?"

***

Fifth year. Halloween night. Lily was glad it was finally here. She'd been starting to get tired of Sophia doing cartwheels at the mere mention of the dance. The girl was thrilled she finally had a date.

This year, Lily had black hair, and again, green eyes.

Izzy had decided to be like Sirius this year, and had orange hair. She had green eyes though, which was a fairly normal color.

This year, Sophia had dark red hair and light blue eyes, and had apparently had too much sugar in the afternoon, since she was hugging everyone in sight.

Ella was putting in her grey contacts again, and she'd also gotten better at Charms over the years, so she had blond hair instead of the normal brown now.

They went down to the common room when they were done, and Sophia went over to a boy with curly multi-colored hair and hazel eyes and said, "Hey, Ben! Hey, Lily, this is Ben. Ben, this is my friend Lily."

Ben grinned and said, "That you, Sophia? You look great. Nice to meet you, Lily."

Lily was still staring at his hair.

He scowled a bit and said, "Yes, I know my hair's multi-colored."

"Yes…" Lily said faintly. Then she grinned. "I like it!"

He stopped scowling, thankfully. "Thanks! It was bloody hard getting it that way too…"

"C'mon, we should go," Sophia said to Ben. "See you, Lily!"

Ella met her date, and they left too.

Lily waited a minute, then went out with Izzy toward the Great Hall.

When they got to hall outside, Lily said, "Good luck finding Sirius!" and slipped off through the crowd.

She got to the kitchen without trouble. There was just one problem. The caretaker, Filch, happened to be standing by the entrance!

If Filch caught her, she'd definitely get detention, for whatever reason Filch found. She cursed and went back to the Great Hall.

She wandered over to the refreshment table. Suddenly, she caught sight of him. The mystery boy. Drinking some punch! He must have seen Filch too!

She walked over and said, "Hello."

He stared at her, and then seemed to figure out who she was. "Care to dance?" he said.

"Of course," she said, and smiled at him.

He smiled back, and took her out on the dance floor.

They both danced perfectly. He stared into her eyes, and she stared back into his with a dreamy smile on her face.

***

So there James was. Dancing with Emerald. They were staring at each other, and James knew in a moment that he needed to know who this girl was. He loved her.

"Emerald?" he said.

"Mm?" She was still staring at him with that smile on her face.

"Who are you?"

James could feel her tense up. "I…Why is it so important for you to know?" she asked, seeming to recover herself.

"Because…because…I love you," he blurted.

She stared at him.

Suddenly, Sirius, who was dancing with Izzy, came over. "Do you have any idea who you're dancing with, James?" he hissed, staring at them with amazement.

Emerald started at Sirius' question. "J-James? James Potter?"

James was startled. "Yes, but--"

"James Potter!" Emerald dropped his hand, staring in horror, and ran off through the Hall.

"Wait!" he yelled. But it was no use. She'd disappeared. "What did you do, Sirius?" he said, looking at him angrily.

"Do you have any idea who that girl was?" Sirius said, looking back at him.

"What does that have to do with anything?" James asked angrily.

"That was Lily Evans."

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A/N: Wow! I had a…erm…half-cliffie! Fun! :-)

And this is not the end! There's still a chapter or two coming! Watch for it! And review!

~Hermione2