Hello all. Sorry that I haven't update in a bit. I had a tad bit of writers block. But, its okay now I am over it. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I loved them all!!! And now onto our story!!

Disclaimer: See the other chapters where I wrote it.

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Chapter 19: Impatient

One week after Gryffindor's win it was time for the Masquerade Halloween Ball. Lily woke that morning very tired as she was up last night on a date with James. All of the sudden realization dawned on her. She remembered that it was Friday the day of the Ball, and she was going with James. Lily smiled to herself as she got up from her bed and draped a robe over herself. As Lily was rummaging through her clothes looking for her dancing outfit she wanted to get a few hours in before she went to classes at 9. She was making quiet a loud ruckus and Jane woke from her slumber. She glanced at the clock it was 5:30 a.m. She groaned. Lily was always one to rise with the birds.

"Lils, go back to bed," Jane said groggily.

"Shhhh, you'll wake everyone else up! Go back to bed. I'll see you at breakfast."

Lily was about to slip out when someone else stirred. "Lily wha…" Avril paused for a yawn, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the studio. Come by later if you want."

"Oh, Lily I can't Remus and I are going to Hogsmeade early this morning to get some last minute things for the ball tonight. And don't worry we got special permission from Dumbledore."

Lily smiled. "Okay, I'll see you later."

Quietly Lily crept through the halls desperate not to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris as she had left her cloak stupidly in her dorm and didn't want to go back and get it. After narrowly avoiding Peeves the Poltergeist she finally made it to the studio and spoke the password so quietly she didn't even think the portrait heard her until it swung open soundless. Lily walked into the room quietly. She sat down facing the giant mirror that ran the length of the room when suddenly she gazed into and saw someone else there. But she was not frightened by the appearance of someone else. Actually she was delighted.

"James? Did Sirius mess with your alarm clock again? It's only 5:30, otherwise you'd be sleeping till noon," Lily regarded him with a puzzled look as he came closer.

"No, Sirius may be a nut but I doubt even he'd be foolish enough to do that again!" James said reminded of when Sirius had fooled with his quidditch alarm clock so that it read ten a.m. when in actuality it was four. James had thought he was extremely late for quidditch practice and was waiting for the team in the meeting room until about six when McGonagal came by and noticed that he was in there and explained to him that practice wasn't for another four hours. James was seething mad and hexed Sirius into next Monday, even though he was laughing like a lunatic the whole time.

"So, then why are you here?"

"Well, I was kind of sorta hoping that you would be here. I was just about to leave when I saw you come in,"

"What did you want to see me for?" asked Lily.

"Just for the simple reason that I missed you," said James as he pulled her into a warm embrace.

"James," Lily breathed after a few minutes of just standing there in each other's arms. "I have to practice I haven't in weeks. I've been to busy with you," Lily said. But still making no attempt to pull away. Finally after ten more minutes of hugging and kissing Lily set to work. She told James he could stay, she didn't mind him being there he had seen her dance before and she had pretty much conquered her fear of performing for others.

James watched Lily intently as she swerved on the floor gracefully and artfully. I wonder how many times she has done this? It takes me forever to wake up in the morning. I have trouble waking up 5 minutes until class starts. She must get up everyday at this time to practice enough to be that good. James thought to himself as he continued to watch the form of his girlfriend twirl into a turn that lasted for ages. James wondered how she was able to keep balance for that long amount of time and how she managed not to get dizzy and throw up. Just looking at her do it made him queasy. Then the music stopped and she smiled pleasantly at him as she waltzed over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"So, what did you think?" she asked smiling.

"I think that if I were you I would be rushing to the bathroom right now to puke. How did you manage to keep all your stomach contents inside when you spun around like that for so long?"

"Okay, first, that was really disgusting. Second, I have had a lot of time to practice. And third, I haven't eaten anything yet this morning to as you say puke," as if on cue Lily stomach started to grumble. "Speaking of which I think that the hall should be open for breakfast now. You wanna go and get something to eat?"

"Sure."

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Lily sat in charms listening to Professor Flickwick's lecture. Normally she loved charms but she was really getting tired of listening today due to the fact that she would only have four hours to get ready for the ball and she needed every minute she could get. She was going with James, Avril was going with Remus (an: awe!), Peter was going by himself, and Sirius, well, no one knew who he was going with.

Lily was drumming her fingers on her desk impatiently and watched the clock counting down the final minutes until she could burst out of the room and get to her dorm to prepare for that night. Drum, drum, drum.

"Psst. Hey, Lily cut it out," whispered Remus in her ear. She turned around and whispered a sorry. Just ten minutes to go. Just ten more minutes, thought Lily silently.

After another two minutes Lily found herself drumming her fingers again on the desk. Suddenly she stopped, she looked down at her hand and realized that someone else's was on top of it. She looked up to its owner. James took her hand to his mouth and kissed it.

"Just try and pay attention for the last few minutes of class. You'll have plenty of time to get dressed. Besides it would be impossible to make yourself look more beautiful then you already are." Lily smiled, boy are you going to be proven wrong. "RINGGGGGGGG!" Lily jumped up kissed James and said she would see him at seven in the common room.

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James was getting impatient; Lily said to meet him in the common room at seven. It was now seven twenty. Just then her friend Jane came down the stairs to meet her Hufflepuff date. "Hey, Jane," called James waving her over. "Is Lily still up there?"

"Yeah, and Avril too?" asked Remus coming over abandoning his spot by the fire.

"Um, yeah, I think so they were still in the bathroom the last time I saw them. Well, I have to go don't want to keep my date waiting. See you at the ball," replied Jane as she walked towards the portrait placing a mask over her oval shaped face.

James and Remus were getting ready to charge up the stairs and drag their girlfriend's to the ball done or not when the light clamoring of feet descending the stairs was heard. Both James and Remus looked up at the same time and Remus gasped. The sight before them was enough to make any guy's mouth dry.

Avril descended the stair she was wearing a deep red dress floor length, with three quarter length sleeves. The edges were accented with gold trim and it was a low cut showing off just enough so that the mind wandered. Her strawberry blonde hair half up and half down was curled and flowed down to her waist. She extended her hand to a shocked Remus and curtsied. "Remus," she said trying to figure out what in the world he could be staring at. Remus as if shocked out of a dream grasped her hand tighter and looked at her in awe.

'You, you look amazing Avril," he said breathlessly.

Avril smiled. "If you think I look good you should see Lily. Oh yeah, James, Lily said she would meet you there she didn't want to hold you up. She said to go without her and that she would meet you there in a little bit. She still has a few more things to take care of then she said she would be right down."

"No, it's alright. I'll wait right here for her to come," said James plotting himself in an armchair by the fire.

"Really James she said she would be there in a bit and she wanted you to go to the hall and meet her there. She would appreciate the gesture, I'm sure, but she really is going to take a bit and made me promise not to leave you here by yourself. Now I'm not willing to break that promise so don't make me have to kick your ass all the way down to the hall," said Avril in all seriousness that made James wince. I bet she could kick my ass all the way there too if I let her, thought James to himself. What in the hell is taking that girl so long anyways? To me she would still look beautiful even if she were wearing her underwear on her head and dancing the hula in front of the hall and flashing the Slytherins. James grimaced at his own thought. In the end he agreed to go with Avril after being threatened a good six times. He would just meet Lily later.

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Lily sat in her dorm room listening to the conversation in the common room through a charm she placed so that she could hear what Avril heard. (an: the spell ended after five minutes so that Lily couldn't hear any other conversations while in her dorm.) She smiled when James protested to leaving Lily to walk to the hall by herself. What did I do to deserve him? Lily sighed. When they finally left she went back to work. Lily looked at herself in the mirror. She thought she looked good it was just that something was missing. She looked into the mirror and did a mental check.

Dress is on and looks good, I did right in picking it out when Avril told me I could keep it, check. Hair, curled, check. Lily smiled as she observed her hair it would have taken hours for her to curl it like that. However she had done it in five minutes. She used a simple charm that curled the hair perfectly and made sure it kept for days at a time. Lily had used it before on separate occasions and was happy with the results. Heels check. Make-up, good not to much, check. What is it I'm missing? Lily wandered over to her bed and glanced down at the flyer for the ball. 'Masquerade Ball, October 31 at seven thirty'. Lily then noticed something in small print underneath the bold announcement. 'Masks required'. Ugh, Lily you dunce! It's a masquerade ball that means masks!

Lily began to panic, Shit. Then she remembered something. I'm a witch I can just conjure one up! Lily took out her wand and said a spell. Instantly a mask appeared in her hand. Lily studied it. It was a white mask and had a feather sticking out of the side. She held it up to her dress it was a different shade. She took her wand and changed it slightly. It had become a color that matched her dress perfectly a shade of off cream and now had glitter sparkles running along the front and a silver outlining. She had enlarged the feather that stuck out on the right side. It was silver.

Lily put the mask on and thought that her look was complete. She descended the stairs and went out through the portrait. She entered the great hall and all fell silent.

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Cliffy! Sorry I had to. But, the sooner you review the sooner I will post the next one. Hopefully that will be sometime this week. I don't know my schedule is pretty busy. My own dance classes are stepping up a notch or two. I have to start work on my solo number, and my dance teacher just broke her foot. So it looks like I'm gonna be on my own with this one. Well please review! Thank you! And if anyone would like me to email them when the story is updated send me your email address in the review. I will be sure to notify you.

~*~Midnight