Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, that's all property of JK Rowling. Although,
anything that you don't recognize is mine (Ava, Grace....)


~Chapter 4*

"I'm full of regret
For all things that I've done and said
And I don't know if it'll ever be ok to show
My face 'round here
Sometimes I wonder if I disappear

Would you ever turn your head and look
See if I'm gone
Cause I fear

There is nothing left to say to you
That you wanna hear
That you know
I think I should go
The things I've done are way too shameful"
- Maroon 5
"Tangled"

"I cannot BELIEVE James Potter!" fumed Lily as she walked out of Three
Broomsticks, accompanied by a stiff posture and clenched fists.

"What did he do this time?" questioned Grace from behind, out of breath from
trying to catch up with Lily. Lily turned around startled, then her face resolved
back to anger and she stormed forward again, her mind set on getting back to
the castle.

"He has the nerve to believe that Lucius is using me! I can't believe he would
make up such an awful story just so I would go out with him," she finally
answered angrily.

"Maybe he wasn't lying, Lily. Malfoy can be , well, a little out of sorts," said Ava,
she was never Malfoy's biggest fan.

"You're on his side too?! I can't believe this!" bellowed Lily.

"Lily, we're only trying to help. Why did you have to jump to conclusions? Hear
James out for a change."

"What the hell do you think I did? I heard him out, and even that was a lie. I can't
stand him!"

Neither Grace, nor Ava responded to this comment, but Ava muttered something
that sounded extremely close to, "Nothing like intellectual banter."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The following weeks after the Hogsmead weekend seemed to melt away, with
Lily and James still avoiding each other at all measures. Everyone seemed to be
getting of tired of hearing, "Can you tell your friend that..." All was forgotten in
terms of the blow up between Lily, Ava and Grace though, it seemed to be
resolved into one of things best left not mentioned. On a particularly cloudy
October 31st, the Marauders found themselves relaxing in the common room
after an un usually violent Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Who knew a Dugbog could be so... vicious?" Sirius questioned, rubbing his
battered ankle. (a/n- I was reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
and I came across a dugbog, so I put it in here. hehe. It attacks peoples ankles.)

"Quit whining Black, you know you enjoyed it," joked James, not taking his eyes
away from a faded page in his well used copy of Quidditch Through the Ages.

" Funny ,James, " retorted Sirius. "Right. out. hilarious."

"Anytime, " said James, looking up from his book and giving a lopsided grin,
leaving Sirius to roll his eyes.

"Where are the girls?" asked Peter, these days they were the only thing on his
mind.

"Getting ready for the ball," sighed Remus.

"Why so early?" asked Peter in disbelief.

"Ha. I asked the same thing. 'By the time we wash our hair and get into our
dresses and put on our make up....' " answered James in a high pitched voice.

"Girls." muttered Sirius.

"Amen to that," added James.

~*~

"So Lily, you excited?" questioned Grace as she brushed her long, blonde hair.

"Excited about what exactly?" asked Lily confused. The girls were in their
dormitory getting ready for the Halloween Ball together. A mass amount of
shoes, jewelry, and make up sprawled out across the floor, the usual for them.

"Going with Lucius of course, " answered Ava for her, walking out of the
bathroom and carefully across the "disaster area" that had become their
bedroom. "Are you getting the butterflies in your stomach?" she added
dramatically as she plopped down next to Lily on the bed.

"Strangely enough, " began Lily seriously as she shook her head. "No."

~*~

"So are you sure you don't want to go, mate?" Sirius asked James. The
Marauders were waiting in the common room before the ball, waiting for the
girls to come down.

"Positive," replied James slowly, as if he really did want to go. "I just think it
would be uncomfortable, but you guys go, don't worry about me."

"If you're sure...." began Remus, but stopped when he saw three figures
emerging from the girl's staircase.

Lily, Ava, and Grace began to slowly walk down the staircase and into the
common room. Grace was wearing pretty deep blue dress robes that made her
eyes look stunning and her blonde hair up in a simple twist. Ava was in
cranberry coloured dress robes, her hair elegantly tumbling over her shoulders.
Lily was wearing bottle green dress robes that made her emerald eyes sparkle,
half of her hair was pulled back with a crystal crusted clasp and a smile
occupying her face. James was staring at her longingly, causing Lily to feel a
pang of guilt in her heart, she was already regretting her acceptation of Lucius's
offer.

"Well you kids have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do," James joked with a
wink.

"Will you do me the honours?" Sirius asked to Ava, as he offered his arm. Ava
walked to him and accepted it with a smile. As they walked out of the portrait
hole he whispered in her ear, "You look beautiful."

Remus directed a charming smile towards Grace and took hold of her hand, the
pair blushing slightly. As they walked out of the common room Peter followed
them out, leaving Lily and James alone together.

"You aren't going?" asked Lily timidly, noticing James in his school robes.

"Oh, um, I had allot of homework," mumbled James.

"Oh," frowned Lily looking towards the red carpet. " Well I should probably go..."
she started, as she walked by James, lightly brushing his shoulder in the
process, leaving him with a warm tingly feeling consuming his body.

Lily caught up with the others as they were entering the Great Hall, numerous
Jack-o-Lanterns were hovering in the enchanted ceiling, many tables were
festively decorated and covered in sweets.

"Would you like to dance, " Remus asked Grace gently. She nodded and they
walked over to where other couples were shifting their weight to the music. (a/n
haha Alex "shifting weight")

"Well I better bring Sirius to the food before he wets himself," said Ava as she
turned to face Lily. Lily laughed, it was true, Sirius had been eyeing the sweets
since they had walked in. "Will you be okay here alone?" she finished.

"Oh, yeah, you go along, I'll look for Lucius," said Lily dreadingly. Lily's eyes
darted through the crowd, looking for a shock of blonde hair. She spotted Lucius
walking towards her.

"You look beautiful," he muttered as he kissed her cheek.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked, gesturing towards to doors leading to
the fairy lit courtyard outside.

"Alright." Lucius grabbed her hand and led her outside.

~*~

"Bored, bored, bored," James thought to himself. He had been pacing around his
dorm for the past hour trying to find something to excite him. "Ow!" He had
tripped over his broomstick that he had forgotten to put away after practice
*again*. "Ah ha! Quidditch!" With that James grabbed his broomstick and made
his way out towards the pitch. He sighed as he realized that he would have to
walk through the courtyard to reach the field. The last thing he wanted to see
was Lily and Malfoy having a good time at the ball. He darted his way through
but came to a sudden halt as he recognized some voices coming from the
bushes.

"Lucius, stop."

"Just relax."

"Get off me!"

"Come on Lily, I'm just trying to have a little fun."

James ran over to where he heard the voices, to his shock he say Malfoy trying
to snog Lily without much luck. "She told you to stop Malfoy," yelled James as he
flung Malfoy off of Lily by the collar of his robes.

"Mind your own business Potter."

"I thought I told you to stay away from Lily. You're only doing this to impress your
father."

"You don't know what your talking about," hissed Malfoy with a look of death in
his eyes, making it clear that James was right.

"Come on Lily, lets go," said James as he grabbed Lily's hand, giving her just
enough time to abruptly slap Malfoy across the face.

"Bastard," she said under her breath, fire in her eyes. James led her down to the
lake, where he finally stopped and looked at her in the eye.

"Are you ok? I swear, I'm going to kill Malfoy."

"I'm fine," lied Lily, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She quickly turned her
head away from James.

"Don't cry, Lily," he said as he wiped a tear off her cheek and tucked a loose
strand of hair behind her ear in one swift movement.

"I'm sorry James," she admitted. "You were right, I should have believed you to
begin with."

"Don't worry about that now," he said as he wrapped her in a hug.

" I should have said yes to you," she whispered into his shoulder. "I should have
said yes to you a long time ago." James smiled, he had been wanting her to say
that since he could remember.

"Lily," he began, gently breaking apart from her and grabbing hold of her hands.
"Will you go out with me?"

A smile broke across Lily's face as she nodded yes.

"You won't regret it," James grinned as he kissed her forehead.



a/n- I hope you enjoyed it, it took me a while to word things like I wanted without
it being too cliché. Please review if you have the chance, I love reading them.
Thanks Alex (it's her that gave me the song at the top) and Kitty. Lyl.
Thanks for reading!
~Padfoot356*