I own nothing, all down to JK
Please review and encourage me…
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"Alright girlsss!!! Time to leave these kids and get ready for the ball tonight!" cried Bella
"You're kidding…we just got back from lunch" laughed Sirius
"Do you want me to look nice? Let me go get ready!" yelled Bella, then sighing, she gave Sirius a peck on the lips and ran upstairs, followed by Lily and Sara.
"Girls…" muttered James
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"Alright, so much to do, so little time! Lily, you take a shower first because your hair is the longest and the hardest to do. Bella and I will find some way to occupy ourselves," said Sara. Lily nodded and headed into the shower.
Sara and Bella laid out their dresses, then Sara noticed Bella getting that dreamy look on her face that could only mean one thing. "Bell, stop thinking about Sirius, come on. I know he asked you to the ball…"
"That was not only an asking my friend! Seriously! Do you even remember what happened?"
FLASHBACK
"Hey, Bell, you wanna go to Hogsmeade with me tonight?" asked Sirius on a mundane Tuesday evening
Bella glanced over to a table in the corner where Lily and James were doing their charms and transfiguration homework together. They looked like they might be there all night. "Sure, why not?" she answered, smiling at him.
(later that evening)
"Get under the cloak…we have to go into the hump…nope, no Filch, thank God" Sirius mumbled
"What hump? Where are we going? I'm so confused" Bella whispered, then let out a yelp when Sirius pushed her into the one eyed witch's hump. The next thing she knew she was sliding down and landing roughly in a long and very dark tunnel. When Sirius came behind her, she hit him on the head and started yelling at him for pushing her down a slide.
Sirius replied by whispering "Lumos." Bella followed suit. After about 20 minutes of walking, Sirius led the way to a trap door, and pushed Bella up into what appeared to be a storeshed. "where are we?"
"The cellar of honeydukes, of course. Lets go find something fun to do."
Little did Bella know that 'finding something fun to do' would entail going to a club on the north end of hogsmeade. Not that she was complaining, of course, she loved to dance, and couldn't wait to dance with Sirius.
Sirius opened the door to the 'disco bar' and then found a table for them to share. It was about 10:30 and things were barely getting started. They ordered a couple beers and small pizza by yelling into their plates. The food instantly appeared and they dug in. Sirius was preoccupied thinking about his plan for asking Bella to the Ball. Bella was preoccupied trying not to make a fool of herself in front of the boy she had a huge crush on. They started talking about their childhood (of all things…), then at about quarter to midnight, the music began and Sirius asked Bella to dance. They went out to the center of the dance floor. Bella relaxed and just became herself. Sirius was astounded by her beauty and talent.
Everyone else backed off the dance floor as a gold mist settled over the dancing couple. They were one with each other, and had created a different kind of magic. They lost themselves in each other and could not stop staring into the others' eyes.
Suddenly, the music changed…Sirius and Bella realized themselves, and broke with a kiss, not a passionate one, but a soft romantic kiss that showed what they felt for one another.
I was in a tunnelAnd couldn't see the lightAnd whenever I'd look upI couldn't see the skySometimes when I'm standin'It seems like I done walked for milesAnd my heart could be cryin'Dead in the middle of a smileBut then I climbed the hillsAnd saw the mountainsI hollered help 'cause I was lostThen I felt the strong windHeard a small voice sayin'The storm is over(The storm is over now)And I can see the sunshine(Somewhere beyond the clouds)I feel Heaven, yeah(Heaven is over me)Come on and set me free, whoa…They started waltzing and having the time of their lives. Laughing and singing along. Sirius thought…this is it, the song is perfect, she is perfect, if I could only be perfect for her…
Sirius separated himself from Bella and walked onto the stage where the magical DJ made space for him with a wave of his wand. He started swaying with the song and singing along, with Bella gazing up at him from the dance floor.
But then I climbed the hillsAnd saw the mountains (Mountains)I hollered help 'cause I was lostThen I felt the strong windAnd then a small voice sayin'The storm is over(The storm is over now)And I can see the sunshine(Somewhere beyond the clouds)I can feel Heaven, yeah(Heaven is over me)Come on and set me free"yeah, Bella, the storm is over now…I can see the sunshine…come and set me free…" he held his hand to Bella and brought her on the stage with him. "Bella, you made me see past the storm. You are perfect, will you be my girlfriend?" Bella responded by kissing him lightly and dancing with him on the stage. "Go to the dance with me?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded with tears in her eyes.
END OF FLASHBACK
Bella sighed with tears in her eyes. Lily rushed out of the bathroom apologizing for taking so long. Bella went in and Lily sank into the chair in front of the mirror and Sara started putting on her makeup.
"Lils, whats wrong? You sad to be going by yourself?" Sara asked
"Yes…no…I'm just confused. I mean James, he's wonderful. He makes me feel perfect and complete, like there is no one that I couldn't take on in that one moment. But…how do I know? I think its safer that I'm going by myself. But I didn't want to hurt him…"
FLASHBACK
It was Monday, and James decided he was going to ask Lily to the Ball. He took her on a walk through the grounds and they stopped by the lake. The moon looked huge and was reflecting perfectly onto the lake. Lily looked gorgeous, as always… They sat in silence for a long time, when they fell into an easy conversation.
"You know, its amazing," James said, "the we could become friends. I mean, we come from opposite sides of London, we never met during six years of school, and somehow we have just clicked… Life sometimes brings our best gifts at the oddest of times."
Lily looked at him and nodded slowly. He continued, "I think that we've gotten closer over these past few weeks…and I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Ball together, just as friends of course…"
Lily stared into his hazel eyes and scanned the now familiar messy black hair and round rim glasses. She wondered what a dance with him would be like…but all she could picture was his face…she closed her eyes, ready to agree…Then a mental picture of her mother popped into her head. What if she walked out of him and hurt him like that? She couldn't take it.
"James…I don't think I'm ready for that. Not officially anyways. I'll save you some dances…" Lily replied hesitantly. James' face fell. He thought that she would trust him enough to go with her, what he didn't know was she didn't trust herself to be with him.
"Can we still be friends?" Lily asked with tears in her eyes
"Lily, I'm not giving up on you! Of course, I'll always be here, and I mean that" he said, punctuating it with a bone breaking hug which she returned, crying softly into his shirt.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Do you know who he's going with?" Lily asked Sara
"You don't know? He didn't tell you?" she responded, surprised. Lily shook her head.
"He's not going with anyone, he said if he couldn't go with you he didn't want to go with anyone. I can tell you that I saw him turn down at least a dozen girls. You got a good one there, Lils."
Lily didn't know what to say…she had never known anyone to do something like that for her. She shook herself out of it and started to think about what to do with her hair. Bella came out of the shower and Sara went in.
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"Whats taking them so long?" Sirius demanded
"They're girls, Padfoot, what do you expect?" replied Remus, amused.
Just then Remus saw Sara and felt something deep in his chest, and gulped, unable to say anything. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The red robes, low cut, accedntuated all her curves and she came up to him, smelling like lavender, and gave him a kiss, which Remus was determined to deepen. When they finally broke, they were both panting. "I guess you like my dress?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," he replied.
Sirius looked up the stairs, taking his eyes off the snogging couple to be greeted by the sight of an angle. She was wearing a blue dress that seemed to be shimmering with its own light. His breath caught in his throat. Bella came up to him and asked in a low voice, "was I worth the wait?" Sirius responded by looking her in the eyes and kissing her hand and bowing over it. "You deserve so much more than me. You are everything. Lets go to the ball, angel." They walked out of the common room, closely followed by Remus and Sara.
James was left standing in the common room, alone. He wanted to escort Lily to the dance, even if she insisted she didn't want to go with him. But where was she? Could she have left before he got there? He looked down at himself and inspected his Gryffindor robes that his father had given him after he was sorted. The gold trim brought out the gold in his hazel eyes and the dark flowing red matched his character and beliefs. His hair was slightly less messy and he had put in contacts instead of wearing his glasses.
"James? What are you doin here?" said a voice from the stairs. James looked up to what must've been Lily. She looked completely different. James looked closer and saw the spark that was always in her emerald eyes and the silver ring with an emerald in it that she always wore. She had her hair up, with red curls cascading down her back from a tiara. Her dress was pristeen white that shimmered and seemed to glow. Her shoes weren't visible, but when she stepped down, he saw that they were glass. She wore a necklace with an emerald that matched the one on her finger, and she was wearing make up.
James cleared his throat and mentally told himself to stop staring. "ummm…I just…um…I was going to escort you to the dance, I didn't want you to go in by yourself…"
"James…"
"I know we're not going together, but since we're both going stag and in the same group of friends, we could just go in together. And you look stunning," he added, his eyes softening.
"I'd love for you to take me to the great hall. Thanks for thinking of it James. Since all of our friends seemed to have abandoned us." She smiled, and James smiled back at her.
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They walked into the great hall to be greeted by a huge dance floor and tables raised on the sides. Many boys turned when Lily walked in, and James gave them all glares. Girls also turned to James, but saw that he only had eyes for one girl.
"God, I feel like every one is staring at us…is there something wrong?"
"You're the bell of the ball, Lily. I think I'm going to have some competition for those dances, I'm afraid," said James with a scowl.
Lily took his hand, "Don't worry, James."
They finally had reached the table that their friends had saved for them. "Hey guys" they said together.
After carrying on casual conversation for about an hour while eating their food, they heard the DJ start up the music. Sara and Remus stood up immediately while Sirius and Bella were discussing something passionately. Lily look at James and saw him staring at his plate apparently deep in thought. Then she saw his eyes and knew that he wanted to ask her to the dance, he wanted her to go with him, he wanted to ask her to dance, but he didn't want to disrespect her. "James, do you want to dance?" James, Bella, and Sirius looked at her like she had gone out of her mind.
"W-what?"
"Do you want to dance?" she repeated slowly, afraid of rejection.
James broke into a huge lopsided grin and jumped up, knocking his chair over in the process. Lily smiled and laughed and grabbed his outstretched hand. Bella and Sirius traded an amused look and followed them.
Soon they found out that Lily and James were two of the best dancers they had ever seen.
"God I missed dancing!"
"Me too!" James replied as one song faded into another and they didn't skip a beat.
"I miss swing dancing though, I've been taking classes since I was really little…"
"Oh my God, me too! Lets go!" he said, grabbing her waist and doing a very complex lift which Lily responded to like a Pro, still keeping it modern and with the beat of the music.
They continued like this through many songs, both having the time of their lives. Lily could not remember having fun like this with anyone. Then their dancing was interrupted by a slow song…a muggle song, Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles.
Lily felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to be face to face with Frank Longbottom.
"um..hey Frank, whats up?"
"Do you want to dance with me?" he asked, ignoring the look that James was giving him.
"Do you mind James?" Lily asked quietly.
"Go ahead, I guess, just leave me the next one, eh?"
"Sure" she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then turned to dance with Frank. She was having an OK time, but it wasn't natural like being with James was…wait why am I comparing Frank to James? Oh, who're you kidding, you like James! Lily thought I can't like him…but would it be so bad if I did? "Sorry…what'd you say?" she said, turning back to Frank…
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"You haven't stopped staring at her, Prongs. Just go after her." Sirius said
"Ok…whatever you say Padfoot." Just then the song ended and James leaped up just in time for him to see Malfoy make his way over to Lily. He saw her face and knew she didn't want to dance with someone who constantly called her mudblood and taunted her. James beat Malfoy to her.
"Hey Lily, you wanna dance?" She nodded and mouthed a 'thank you' and they started swinging again. When the next slow song came on, they looked at each other and without a word, they started swaying comfortably. Lily rested her head on James' chest and knew that this was the best day of her life. She smiled up at him and saw him smile down at her…
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"Can't they see it?" asked Bella.
"Its obvious enough to us, isn't it?" Sirius asked, looking down at her.
"They'll get there, Lily just needs some time. I know she likes him, it just may take until Christmas for her to realize it. When it comes to relationships she just needs more time than the rest of us do." She smiled and looked up him giving him a soft kiss. They stared into each others eyes and then Sirius gave her a look and said, "You know today is our three week anniversary of our first kiss…"
She looked at him, astounded that he even remembered that. She brought him closer and they continued to dance to their song, "The Storm is Over Now."
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"Now, the dance has been a huge success…and I'd like to thank the Head Boy and Girl who pulled this off all by themselves. We also have a couple prizes to award. The categories are: Best Dancing couple, most romantic pair, Best Dressed (boy and girl), and then two people will be named Bells of the Ball and will be crowned as such. The judges have been the teachers and nobody has influenced them, despite Mr. Black's attempts." Professor Dumbledore said with a wink. Bella gave Sirius a quick crack on the head.
Before I announce the winners, we were considering a total of 10 people for these awards, I would like to honor them and have them come up here. Sirius Black and Arabella Figg (Sirius whooped and dragged Bella onto the stage), Frank Longbottom and Alice Walace, Remus Loopin and Sara Wood (they both blushed and looked at each other while heading on stage), Michael Flinch-Fletchitty and Angela Harris, and James Potter and Lily Evans (James smiled at the shocked look on Lily's face and dragged her up to the stage and stood behind her with his arms circled around her)." Dumbledore glanced at the candidates on stage and gave a half smile when he saw James and Lily. He continued, "The winner of the most romantic pair is Sara and Remus." The whole school gave an 'awwwww' when they kissed, linked hands and received a dinner certificate at one of the most romantic magical restaurants in London Diagon Alley. "We have two sets of winners for the best dressed. It seemed that our judges were torn. The tie is between Mr.'s Black and Potter and Miss's Figg and Evans. If you could please come forward." Lily looked at James blankly, and he lead her to get her prize (a certificate to a very expensive robe shop in Hogsmeade). Sirius and Bella were hooting and showing off on their way to Dumbledore. They all received their prizes and Dumbledore continued with a wink to the crowd. "Now for the Best Dancers and the Bells of our Ball. It so happens that the prizes were swept by one couple, the judges were unanimous. Lily Evans and James Potter, please come forward." James grinned at Lily and whispered, "You are the Bell of the Ball, Lils, you deserve it." He punctuated his comment with a soft kiss on her lips and then dragged her to the stage. They received a large sum of money to spend at one of London's most popular discos and dinner for two at any magical restaurant in Diagon Alley.
"Now, if we could have the winning couples lead us in a dance on the stage please. This will be the last dance of the night. I hope you have had fun and I bid you good night."
The DJ started up "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton.
James took Lily in his arms and starting singing softly in her ear:
It´s late in the ev´nin´she´s wond´rin´ what clothes to wearshe puts on her makeupand brushes her long blond hair.And than she asks me: "Do I look alright?" and I said:"Yes, you look wonderful tonight!"We go to a partyand everyone turns to seethis beautiful lady,whoes walking arround with me.And than she asks me: "Do you feel alright?" and I said:"Yes, I feel wonderful tonight ......I feel wonderful because I see the lovelights in your eyes, and I wonder,after all, that you just don´t realized, how much I love you!"It´s time to go home nowand I´ve got an aching head.So I give her the carkeysand she helps me in the bed.And than I tell her,as I turn off the light, I said:"My darlin´ you were wonderful tonight!"When the song ended the did not stop dancing. "You look wonderful tonight, Lily. Thank you for an evening I will never foget," James said, looking into her eyes. He kissed her softly and they walked hand and hand back to the dorm.
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Now kids, this doesn't mean they're together yet. They're getting there though. I hope you like this chapter. If you do, just write me two words as a review. Thank you!