"What are you doing with your hair?" Isabella asked, glancing at Lily who was lying on her four-poster, daydreaming. There were exactly two hours to the ball and while the rest of her dorm-mates were preparing, she divided her time between staring at the ceiling, fantasizing about the ball, and watching Isabella work on Angela's hair at the foot of her bed. Isabella stood up slowly, inspecting her work and pointing her wand at loose strands that curled themselves instantly.
"I don't know… I'll see…" she replied absent-mindedly. Isabella rolled her eyes, Angela smirked and Vanessa, looking appalled from her seat in front of the mirror at the bed across from them, put down her case of assorted eye shadows and raked a hand through her hair in a highly frustrated manner.
"Lily!" she cried indignantly, turning around in her chair.
"Oh lord, not again…" she muttered in return.
"There are barely two hours left and you're still lying there, staring at the ceiling! When are you going to get ready? I mean, I know you're going with Peter and all but other people will be there too!" Vanessa scolded, watching her sorrowfully.
"Honestly, I don't see why you care…" Lily replied crossly. Nevertheless, she sat up, cross-legged at the edge of her bed, bent forward and pulled a box out from deep under her mattress. She opened the lid and unfolded a navy-blue dress made of a soft, light material. She felt a tinge of excitement – she hadn't worn a Muggle dress in what seemed ages, and she felt she never would again.
"I'm going to take a shower." She announced, jumping off the bed and kneeling in front of her trunk, looking for clean underwear.
"You should have gone earlier. You'll have to use a drying spell when you come out and you know how frizzy they leave your hair…" Giselle said from her spot behind a heap of accessories piled on one side of the room's only desk. She eyed Lily's dark red locks with concern.
"Don't worry, Lily. I'll leave my Sleazy's Anti-Frizz Topical Potion out for you. But don't use too much, you know how strong that stuff is…" Charisma offered with relish, smiling sweetly and pulling a bottle out of her trunk. Lily was not fooled as she had seen the various looks of disgust Charisma had been throwing at her all day. She glared at her, grabbed her underwear and stomped seething towards the showers. Isabella stifled a laugh at the furious look on Lily's face and Angela settled for an amused expression that she hoped would communicate that she was over-reacting as she passed them.
-:- -:- -:-
"They've made a mistake!" James declared, throwing down the box he was holding onto his bed angrily. "I should have opened them before…" Remus looked up.
"What, not your size?" he asked, pulling out his own to check for any defects.
"No… the size is fine…" he muttered, "But the robes…" Sirius summoned the box from James' hands and almost tore through the contents. He took out his own package and did a similar search while James did his part by grabbing Peter's set and rummaging through that as well.
"He's right… Quick! Remus, check yours. They forgot to send us the robes with our Tuzeedos!" Sirius said, annoyed. Remus looked confused for a second before he started laughing. The three of them stared at him impatiently.
"Tuxedos, as they are called by most Muggles, don't come with robes…" Remus explained, surprised that they hadn't known this already. "Muggles don't wear robes to cover what they're wearing. You don't wear robes with Tuxedos." He clarified as Sirius began spreading the garments on his bed and picking at the buttons on his jacket tentatively.
"Don't they feel naked?" he muttered sadly as Peter eyed his own with distaste, picking up his tie.
"We're supposed to tie this… this "tie" thing around our necks?" he asked, disappointed when Remus nodded confidently, "I bet we're the only ones who actually listened to Dumbledore. I bet we're the only ones who'll wear these…"
"Well, we know the Slytherins won't. They'd rather bathe in a tub of grease than dress like Muggles…" James said, scornfully.
"Oh but bathing in a tub of grease is not a punishment for the almighty Slytherins. Just look at Snape, he does it all the time." Sirius amended picking his dark blue, silk tie out of the package.
"Damned, suicidal Muggles…"
-:- -:- -:-
Lily walked back into her dormitory in a bathrobe topped with a soaking wet mop of hair. She sat on her four-poster and tossed her hair out of her face, shaking water at the other occupants with every turn of her head.
"Couldn't dry your hair, could you?" Isabella asked, wiping the water off her cheek.
"Feeling better?" Angela arched an eyebrow at her flushed cheeks and bright smile while she tied Isabella's hair up into an elaborate twist, leaving several tendrils to frame her face. She added tiny, jeweled pins to finish off her masterpiece.
"Yeah, much better. Where have the insolent witch and her faithful slaves gotten to? I was looking forward to drying my hair on her dress…" she asked with a bitter smile. Isabella laughed.
"Charisma and her faithful slaves have gone down already to wait for dear James-ey." Angela answered.
"And most people in the wizarding world don't take it as an insult when you call them a witch… unless the person is a wizard, of course." Isabella reminded her.
"Ugh… I wish I could hex the life out of her and not rot in Azkaban for it…" she sighed wearily.
"Or you can just hex her a couple of times and show her who's boss…" Isabella suggested instead.
"Or I can modify her and James' memories and convince them that they hate each other. Maybe I can tie them to other people too… Yes, I could convince Charisma that she's madly in love with Peter…" Lily said, conjuring a towel and tousling her hair roughly with it, trying to dry it.
"Or you can just hex her…" Isabella repeated, admiring the reflection of herself in her royal purple dress in the large mirror. The thin straps were tied at the back of her neck and the low cut dress was backless with a snug fit down to her lower waist where it loosened slightly, accentuating her hips from which the soft, heavy material hung down to the floor. Isabella pulled an old case from her trunk and opened it to reveal a family heirloom set that her grandmother had sent her for the occasion. She slipped a rusted black-silver band topped with a single amethyst onto her slender middle finger, clasped a matching silver bracelet studded with amethysts onto her wrist and a longer version of the bracelet around her neck. The beautiful job that Angela had done with her hair added to her image of style and elegance.
"You'll get caught if you do any of those things, and Charisma could use it against you too…" Angela pointed out, sighing as she watched Isabella twirl in front of the mirror.
"Yeah, I guess… Should I use a drying charm on my hair?" Lily asked, finally tired of her towel-dry method, which she had been working on vigorously in the last few minutes.
"No… you have more than an hour to get ready, I'm sure it will dry by then…" Isabella answered, touching up on her make up.
"Whatever you do, don't use that Sleazy's crap Charisma left for you. I think she might have tampered with it…" Angela informed them, kneeling on the floor beside her bed, struggling to pull out a large trunk from underneath it. She made progress, inch by inch.
"What! How do you know?" Isabella asked, the open lipstick dropping from her hand and squashing into a small pile of mush on the floor, "Shit…" she exclaimed, bending down carefully to clean it up and, remembering her wand half-way, standing up again and cleaning it with a simple flick.
"She poured some of it into a little container for Lily and I saw her adding something to it…" she answered, and with a last tug, pulled the trunk out completely. Isabella walked swiftly over to Charisma's bed and picked up the glass vial, examining its clear contents closely. Lily stood up and joined her, trying to comb her furiously messy hair.
"Looks normal to me…" she muttered, eyeing it closely and wincing as she tried to pull the comb through a particularly large tangle.
"Lily! I have the perfect idea!" Isabella exclaimed mischievously.
"What?" Lily asked and Angela looked up from her task of unlocking the trunk. They watched Isabella summon Charisma's pillow, open the vial and hold it poised over, tilted at an angle so the gel slowly slid towards the tiny opening. She looked at them imploringly.
"Should we?" she asked. Angela nodded slowly, am evil smile spreading across her face. Lily watched the gel slide, painfully slow, towards the opening with glee.
"Hold on. I want to do the honors, since she meant it for my hair. But wait, let me get dressed first, my hair isn't wet enough to mess up the material now." Lily said, prying the vial out of a very annoyed Isabella's hand, replacing its cap and putting it on her dresser. She then picked up her dress and disappeared into the bathroom. Isabella sighed, as though she had missed out on a great treat, and turned to Angela.
"What is that?" she asked, watching Angela place a key into the last of five holes and turning it. The trunk opened with a click and revealed four large packages, four pairs of shoes and four small cases.
"Ah… your clothes…" she answered for herself. She gave her a hesitant smile and wondered what her reaction would be.
"Mother sent this to me a few days ago…through Dumbledore, of course." Angela started grimly, "You know what she wants for me and it applies for this event too. She wants me to be beautiful, she wants me to be elegant, she wants me to rub our wealth in all those commoners' faces, and – the most important of all – she wants me to secure a gentleman willing to marry me who must be pure-blooded so we can continue the Heathers line untainted…" she sighed. She pulled out the first large package and ripped the brown paper off carefully.
"Remus…?" Isabella asked, taking out the second package and gently tearing the wrapping off.
"I don't know if he qualifies."
"Well, it doesn't really matter 'cause you don't care."
"It does matter." Angela muttered defensively, unfolding the gown she had just taken out of the its packaging.
"What matters?" Lily asked, walking towards them.
"I love the dress!" Angela exclaimed, somewhat grateful for the interruption. Isabella sighed; she knew their conversation had just ended.
"Yeah, that's a great color on you." Isabella commented. Lily beamed at them happily and clasped a thin silver chain from which hung a single blue crystal rose around her neck. The dress she wore was a midnight blue and sleeveless with tiny spaghetti-straps that formed a perfectly rectangular neck. Below it's empire waist, the silky material was covered with sheer netting of the same color with silver embroidery of leaves and vines, that parted in the middle and flowed out longer than the rest of the dress, dragging on the floor around her. She walked over to her dresser and picked up the vial of hair potion.
"Ready?" She asked. Isabella and Angela scrambled to her side, the former holding out Charisma's pillow and the latter conjuring a silver butter knife. Lily unscrewed the lid and tilted the bottle over the pillow. They watched, grinning excitedly as thick, clear globs dropped onto the pillow. Angela started spreading it across the white surface, forming a glossy coat.
"Is this some new beauty remedy?" A voice asked from behind them. Angela shrieked and the knife flew up in the air, landing with a clatter, narrowly missing her toes. Lily jumped, dropping the empty vial and Isabella reached out the pillow just in time to catch it before it shattered.
"SIRIUS! What the hell are you doing here?" Isabella turned to him, scowling angrily.
"Well, James is with his girlfriend and Peter kept whining about his clothes until Remus managed to shut him up with chess and then I got bored and-"
"Sirius, get out!" she interrupted, putting the pillow aside and pushing him towards the door.
"Why?"
"Because you've scared the shit out of us and I might just bash your head into the wall if you annoy me any more!" She opened the door and tried to push him out but he had his feet planted firmly on the ground and was gripping the doorframe with all his might.
"Calm down, Izzy! Why are you so mad? It's not my fault you didn't notice me coming in…"
"Get out!" she reiterated. He let go of the wall and allowed himself to be pushed out but very slowly.
"Okay, sure. I'll go down there and tell…" he peered at the six four-posters to see which was missing a pillow, "Charisma that you're all pouring some potion onto her pillow…" he finished, arching an eyebrow at their angry faces.
"Get in here!" Isabella snarled, pulling him back inside and slamming the door behind him. He walked over to the pillow and examined it. After a minute, he poked a finger into the shiny substance, rubbed it between his index and thumb and looked up at them curiously.
"May I ask why you've spread Sleazy's Anti-Frizz Topical Potion onto Charisma's pillow?" The three of them stared at each other before Lily sighed.
"Charisma gave me some to use before she left and Angela saw her adding something to it so we thought we'd get her back…"
"Why would she do that?" he asked dubiously.
"Because she hates me. She thinks I like James or something and she keeps accusing me of trying to take him away from her."
"Oh okay then. Do you know what she added?"
"No. What do you mean 'oh okay'? I don't get why she picks on me. Why not Izzy or Angie or Vanessa or Giselle?" she asked despairingly. He plopped himself onto the nearest bed and Angela went back to unpacking her trunk.
"That's easy. She knows that me and Izzy are together, James has never hung out with Vanessa or Giselle until he met Charisma and they're not interested in him anyway and its obvious Angela's madly in love with Remus and that leaves you." He answered, grinning at the embarrassed glare that Angela shot him.
"I still don't understand. There are dozens of girls that follow James around all the time, why me?"
"Because James doesn't care about those girls and Charisma can see that you two are friends, you have something with him that she doesn't." She opened her mouth to protest but then closed it again, thinking over what he said.
"Exactly. For once Sirius isn't being an idiot, Lily, and he's right. Now you can go." Isabella said, turning to Sirius.
"Aw, c'mon. I just gave Lily brilliant insight, why can't I stay?" he said, pouting ridiculously. She looked around the room and her eyes fell on Angela.
"Because you're intruding on poor Angie. Look at her, she can't dress with you sitting here." She said, hands on her hips, as though accusing him of a horrible crime.
"Oh, she doesn't mind."
"Yeah, I don't. Look here for a sec?" Angela asked, standing in front of her bed where she had spread the four gowns. Lily, Isabella and Sirius walked to her side and peered at them. The first two were the exact same thing, one a soft pink and the other an ice blue. The princess-style gowns had small cap-sleeves, a fitted bodice and a voluminous skirt. The skirt was trimmed with and the bodice embroidered with lines of iridescent sequins that crossed and twisted to form an intricate vine-like pattern. The third gown was an ankle-length dark red of a soft, shiny material that felt like liquid to touch. It's stringy straps and fitted bodice glittered golden from different angles and the burgundy skirt hung down limply. The last dress was simple, an emerald green heavy skirt that flared out was topped with a black velvet strapless bodice and piece of cloth to drape about the arms fashioned from the same material. Angela watched their reactions of awe, "Which should I wear?"
"Ooh, feel this…" Lily muttered, her hands running through the red-gold dress. Sirius immediately took her advice while Isabella looked at the choices inquisitively.
"She wants you to wear one of these..." She said, smirking at Angela and pointing to the pink and blue princess style dresses.
"Yeah, I think so too… that's why she sent two and the others are nothing compared to them anyway. I suppose she still wanted to give me some sort of choice…"
"Or the illusion of…" Lily muttered now looking at the last two dresses with an expression of distaste.
"So the blue or the pink?" Sirius asked, scrutinizing the first two.
"I don't know."
"Blue." Isabella and Sirius said simultaneously.
"Pink." Lily said a second later.
"I think I'll go with blue then. I'm rather not in the mood for pink right now." Angela answered, picking up the blue dress and with a flick of her wand, banishing the other three to the old trunk. She took out the jewelry and shoes that came with the gown and stared at Sirius imploringly. He sighed and left the room and Angela pulled on the dress, struggling to fasten the dozen buttons that ran down her back.
-:- -:- -:-
"Angie, slow down and cover me!" Lily whispered from behind. Angela rolled her eyes but slowed her pace considerably and Lily abruptly stumbled on the sizable bottom half of her dress.
"Lily!" she cried, holding onto the banister to stable herself and turning to face the apologetic smile on her friend's face. She sighed and hurried down the stairs, daintily holding onto her skirt as she walked towards Remus and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. He kissed her cheek and said something that made her giggle and answer him, blushing. Lily glared at the two of them and continued down the stairs as slow as possible. Isabella snorted behind her.
"Nice move there, Lily. Real smooth." She said, smirking and skipping two steps so that she was next to her, Lily swiftly stepped back and walked behind her.
"Izzy, please cover me!" she said urgently, quickening her pace when they reached the common room, struggling to stay close behind her. Isabella didn't answer and instead walked towards Sirius, smiling at his crisp black tuxedo and arching an eyebrow at the tie that hung, knotted loosely at his chest.
"Wow! You look great!" he exclaimed, looking her up and down.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, you saw me upstairs and you didn't say anything then…" she said in mock fury.
"Well, I would have if you weren't so busy trying to throw me out while you-aachh!" he gagged as she took it upon herself to tighten his tie. She bit her lip, quickly loosened it a little and reached up to kiss him and prevent further comments. Lily, who had been watching them with amusement now looked around the room that was crowded with Gryffindors, first year and up, waiting for their dates.
"Oh good, Lily. You've come." Sirius said, noticing the redhead hovering about behind Isabella. Remus and Angela had joined them, looking very formal with their arms linked and decorated by Angela's fabulous attire. Sirius and Remus exchanged identical grins.
"Oh Peter!" Sirius called, despite Isabella's slapping his arm in an attempt to stop him.
"No, no, no…" Lily mumbled, frantically skirting around Isabella who stepped aside uncomfortably.
"Lily's waiting for you!" Remus yelled to a figure near the fireplace. He jumped up at his words and walked towards them. Lily, ducking behind Remus to seek refuge on the floor, covered by Angela's dress, just happened to peek out and catch his eye. Peter walked towards her and found her kneeling.
"You look really nice!" he said, beaming at her, his cheeks flushed.
"Er… Thankyou, Peter." She forced a smile on her face and stood up, "Let's go!". Peter colored more at her newfound enthusiasm and hardly noticed that she was practically dragging him out of the portrait hole and towards the Great Hall, so thrilled as he was at her holding his hand. Their friends followed them out of the common room, trying not to laugh out loud.
"Oh you guys, that was really mean…" Angela said as they strolled through the corridor, Lily and Peter a good six yards ahead of them.
"No it wasn't, Lily can't just hide from Peter when she voluntarily decided to go with him." Sirius pointed out while Remus nodded in agreement.
"Oh c'mon, you know you would've done the same if you were in Lily's place…" Isabella said as they turned a corner and the doors to the Great hall stood open at the end of the corridor.
"I don't know, Izzy. If Peter had asked me, Sirius Black, to the Anniversary Ball, I would have been horrified and concerned at the state of our friendship…" he mused and the others laughed. They could see the couples inside, dancing as the music had already commenced. Lily and Peter were almost at the door now.
"Well, if I were Lily, I wouldn't have said 'yes' if I was planning to abandon him at the door and run off with the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain…" Remus added, nodding towards Lily who had just stepped inside with Amir Patil and immediately started dancing. Peter turned around and watched them approach with a grim smile on his face, along with a glaring blond girl dressed in emerald green who's face lit up instantly when she recognized Sirius.
"Oh no…" he groaned, putting his arm around Isabella.
"Ignore her, ignore her, ignore her…" Isabella muttered, burying her head into his chest possessively.
-:- -:- -:-