20 Reviews for the last chapter??? Thank you sooooo much guys! You have no idea (Or maybe you do...) How much it means to me for all you nice people to review! Thanks so much! And in return I made a super-long chapter for you all! (Well, long for me) Oh, and this is the moment a lot of you have been waiting for. Slightly dramatic, yes, but drama is great. I just hope I portrayed it right. Read Review and hopefully Enjoy!
Chapter Ten
The Halloween Ball
Lily nervously paced around her bedroom. "Coiffeuse." She said, pointing her wand at her hair. It instantly sprang into tight spiral curls, and folded up creating a waterfall-like effect of red spirals.
"This is as good as it gets." Lily sighed, examining her appearance in the mirror.
"As good as it gets." James shrugged, examining his costume. He had finally decided to go as Zorro, the Muggle hero. He had put a spell on his eyes, so he could go without glasses for the night. He fixed his mask, then put the black plumed hat on and exited out the portrait hole to meet Alena, who had agreed to come to the ball with him.
He walked down six sets of stairs, then finally rounded the bend to the Charms corridor, where he and Alena had agreed to meet. James thought maybe he needed his glasses back on when he saw her, for she didn't look like the same girl.
Instead, standing in front of him, was a beautiful Medieval princess. Spiral curls flowed from an elegant red scarf that matched her long red dress, and rested softly on her shoulders. Her dress fell in elegant folds to the floor, and were lined with gold ribbon. The dress was off her shoulders, and cut extremely low, revealing more of Alena then he had ever seen before. The dress was tight in the bodice, and accented her curves, most likely meaning there was something like a corset under her dress. James gasped in awe, but immediately pulled himself together, so not to look like a gaping idiot.
"Hey James. Looking quite handsome tonight." Alena smiled.
"And you look nothing short of beautiful." James grinned as he kissed her hand in a suave like manner. They headed down the Charms corridor and toward the Entrance Hall.
They exited the Entrance Hall amongst the other fifth, sixth, and seventh years, and took a seat on one of the horseless carriages which were taking them to the old theater in Hogsmeade.
"I can't believe you set this all up." Alena told James fondly. She scooted closer in her seat to him and rested her head against his shoulder.
"It wasn't too bad. Lil...er...Evans helped with a lot of it." James answered, catching himself before it sounded like he was on friendly terms with Lily, even if he wasn't. He didn't want anything to ruin the night for him.
"You're so modest." Alena smiled. She sat up, looked James in the eyes, then leaned in and pressed her lips against his. James allowed his hands to run down Alena's back to her waist, where he let them rest.
With a small bump, the carriage stopped in Hogsmeade. James pulled away, then stepped out of the carriage and extended his hand to Alena, helping her out of the carriage. He then led her up to the old theater, which was now lit up in a ghostly manner. James looked through the crowd in attempts to find Sirius, who had brought Candace. All of a sudden, he caught sight of someone else.
Some beautiful green eyed, red-haired, beauty of a southern belle. Her dress was off her shoulders a bit, showing her usually hidden creamy skin. Black lace ran across the top of the tight bodice which accented her curves. The skirt was full with several layers of red netting, all ending with black lace. Her hair was up in spiral curls falling down gently onto her neck where a red choker was fastened, and elbow length black satin gloves were on her hands.
James stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Lily. "Jesus." James gasped.
"What is it?" Alena asked looking around for the source of James' distraction.
"Hey Prongs!" Remus said, coming up to James. He was dressed as a muggle British soldier. "Have you seen Lily?"
"Yeah." James gasped. "Yeah, she's over there." He pointed through the crowd to where Lily was standing, anxiously looking around.
"Wow! She looks gorgeous!" Remus gasped.
'Lucky bastard.' James thought to himself. He turned back to Alena, forced a smile, and led her inside. In the front most room of the old theater, tables of food spread about the room, caterers' bustling about checking that everything was in order. Music was already playing in the room next to them, which was the main stage. James lead Alena in, and they entered onto the stage. The audience seats had been removed, and another floor had been placed for more room to dance.
Halloween decorations were set around the large room, and the torches were bewitched to burn blue. Small tables with only two seats around them were placed every here and there along the walls of the old theater.
James filed into the theater among the other students, waiting for some indication for the dance to start. Professor Dumbledore finally strode in, dressed as a large, thin bumblebee. He was wearing yellow and black striped robes, with giant wings bewitched to flap back and forth on his back. He even had two antennae coming out of his black wizard's hat.
Professor McGonagall, dressed as herself, filed in after Dumbledore, along with little Professor Flitwick dressed as a king, crown and all.
"Welcome students, to Bijou Theater, site of our Halloween Ball." Professor Dumbledore called, his voice magnified to be ten times its usual volume. "Now, may the dance begin!"
James spun Alena around, smiled at her and began to dance to the upbeat music.
"This is amazing." Alena smiled at all the decorations.
"Great isn't it?" James asked.
"So, Gryffindor Seeker, my rival," Alena smiled. "Tell me, what is your secret to winning?"
"There is no secret." James grinned.
"There must be. I mean, you win all the time." Alena smiled as James steadily twirled her around the dance floor. Dumbledore was seen close by dancing with an extremely reluctant Professor McGonagall. The rest of the teachers were sitting at the tables located through the theater.
"You want to know my secret?" James grinned, as he heard the song come to an end.
"Yes I do." Alena smiled. James dipped her, her back arching over his arm. James leaned in closer to Alena and whispered,
"The secret, milady, is to be the best." He grinned, as he pulled Alena back up.
"You're so sure of yourself all the time." Alena said in admiration. "I wish I could be that way."
"It's not worth too much. You're not missing out." James grinned.
After three songs, he led her off the floor. "I have to dance with Evans really quick." He told Alena. "It's a Head Boy/Head Girl thing. Unavoidable unless we didn't want a dance to take place." James lied.
"All right." Alena shrugged. "I'll just step in her place." She smiled. James wove his way through the dancing couples and found Lily and Remus in the middle.
"Hey Lily. I believe you owe me a dance." James grinned.
Lily looked James up and down in his Zorro costume. She attempted to cover a smile, yet failed. "Is it all right with you?" She asked turning to Remus.
"Uh...sure." Remus answered. Alena took Lily's place as a slow song began to play. James rested his hands around Lily's waist, as she placed her arms around his neck. They began to sway back and forth to the music.
"So how are things with Alena?" Lily asked stiffly. She couldn't believe she had actually agreed to dance with James. Of all people!
"Er, great." James answered. "And with Moony?"
"Oh, fine." Lily answered airily.
"You look...er...very nice tonight." James said, continuing their small talk.
"Thank you." Lily replied rather quickly. "And you don't look too bad yourself." She continued.
"Thanks." James answered gruffly. Without warning, the tempo of the song greatly increased. James reacted rather quickly, and spun Lily out, then pulled her back in and began a more upbeat form of dancing.
"Quite the dancer, are we?" Lily laughed.
"One could say that." James grinned. "My parents made me take swing dancing lessons summer before our sixth year."
"I love swing dancing!" Lily smiled. "I've taken lessons every summer since I was eight!"
"No kidding." James grinned. "Small world after all, eh?" He laughed.
"Guess so." Lily answered.
"Not sure if I can do this anymore, but I'll give it a go." James grinned.
"James, whoa, what're you trying?" Lily asked uneasily as James scooped her up. "Oh geez, put me down!" Lily squealed.
"Come on, I thought you could swing!" James laughed. He spun her around, grabbed her behind his back, then spun her back into a baby cradle. "Think you could handle a flip?" He grinned.
"You're the one who can't handle it." Lily grinned as James pushed her feet over her head. She rotated around his arm, and landed firmly on the ground. "Now that's what I'm talking about." Lily smiled. "And all in a dress."
Remus watched from a couple feet away, as Lily and James danced together, looking like they were made just to be dance partners. Remus smiled to himself. Lily really was an excellent dancer. If only he could keep up with her.
But it looked like James could keep up with her just fine, even give her a run for her money. 'No, don't be stupid. She loves you. She would never choose Prongs over you. Would she?' Remus twirled Alena a couple times as his mind reeled on.
Sirius clapped Moony on the back. "What happened to Lily?" He laughed. He was dressed as a knight...a knight in shining armor. And by the looks of Candace's long purple gown, she was his damsel in distress.
"She's dancing with Prongs for a bit."
"Lily and James?" Candace asked, her eyes meeting the sight of Lily and James twirling across the floor. She leaned in and whispered in Sirius' ear. "Look at they way they're looking at each other."
Sirius grunted in response.
"Think she's falling for him?" Candace whispered, giggling.
"It's hot in here. Let's go get something to eat." Sirius said loudly. "Catch up with you later Moony." Sirius lead Candace off the floor and out into the lobby area. He grabbed a glass of punch for himself and Candace. A few girls across the room hanging at one of the concessions stands glared at Candace.
"Don't look now, but you have a fan club over by the concession stand who looks like they want to murder me." Candace laughed.
"But we're not even together." Sirius muttered absentmindedly, looking over his shoulder catching a small glimpse at the group of girls. "I mean, we're here together, but not like dating or anything." He said, looking back at Candace, taking a sip of punch.
"Well, I guess you could look at it that way." Candace said, looking at the floor sadly.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked wondering why she had taken to looking at the floor, as if it were more interesting then anything else in the room.
"It's nothing." Candace lied.
"It's not nothing." Sirius answered, raising her chin so she was looking at him, rather then the horribly outdated green carpet. "Tell me what it is. If you don't say anything, how can it be made better." He smiled trying to cheer her up.
"I'm just...never mind." Candace said, blushing slightly.
"Come on, Candace. Is it something I said?" He asked looking concerned.
"Well...yes." Candace admitted. "It's just, I feel you're being a bit unfair to me, Sirius." Candace said, hoping he wouldn't become upset with her. "You give me all these signs that you like me, but the next minute it's just like we're friends. I don't know what to think when I'm around you."
Sirius took another sip of punch. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that. "I don't understand," He answered, trying to buy some time to think of a response to her.
"You understand, Sirius." Candace sighed. "You just don't know how to answer me."
Sirius thought for a moment. "That's what I love about you. You're such a people person, you can tell what people are thinking by their expressions, body language, or by the way they say things." He smiled.
"See, there you go again, saying things that would lead me to believe that you actually have feelings for me, just after you said we were just friends. It's not right, Sirius."
"You think I don't have feelings for you?" Sirius laughed. "Just when I thought you could read minds..."
"Can we get away from here?" Candace asked.
"Uh, sure." Sirius answered. He pushed a door open that revealed a long hallway, with several doors on each side.
"Just as long as those stupid sixth years aren't watching." Candace said, happy to have some privacy. "So," Candace rounded on Sirius. "If you have feelings for me, then why are we still just friends?" She asked, staring into Sirius' dark eyes.
"Candace, please. Can we not do this tonight?" Sirius pleaded running a hand distractedly through his black hair, trying to escape answering the question.
"Answer my question, Sirius." Candace said firmly.
Sirius sighed. "I don't know why we're just friends! I guess the timing just isn't right at the moment."
"Why isn't it right?" Candace asked. "Are you with someone? Because the last time I checked, rumor had it you only had your eyes set on me."
"They are only on you." Sirius answered, making Candace's legs go weak. He stared at Candace in awe, as if just really taking in what she looked like. "God you're beautiful." He gasped. Candace smiled meekly.
Sirius put his hand up, and ruffled her mahogany hair, feeling how soft, how smooth it was. Before he could help himself, he leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers for the first time.
Alena and Remus continued to watch James and Lily dance. "He's a great dancer." Alena remarked with great admiration.
"Guess so." Remus answered, his jealousy growing.
After about fifteen more minutes, Alena's admiration disappeared. "Will they EVER stop dancing?" She asked Remus. It must have looked odd to someone else watching. Lily and James, dancing so passionately it looked like they were in love, and Remus and Alena dancing near by, their eyes glued on the scene in front of them.
"Hey, Lily. Want to dance?" Remus asked, pulling away from Alena.
"Oh, after this one, OK?" Lily answered as James twirled her again, both of them completely oblivious to the fact that Alena and Remus were watching with intense jealousy.
Three songs later, Lily and James continued to dance. "I thought you came here with me, not her!" Alena huffed, storming away through the crowd of dancing people.
"What was that about?" James asked Lily and Remus. Remus just rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Lily." Remus said, pulling her away from James.
"What...?" Lily asked, as she was pulled away. Why did he have to do that? She was having so much fun!
Remus pulled her out of the crowd and into the lobby area. He grabbed a glass of punch and began sipping it through pursed lips, looking thoroughly pissed.
Lily stood in fear, afraid that saying anything might make Remus blow his top. "Remus?" She asked meekly. He whipped to face her, his face twisted with hate.
"What?" He asked, anger dripping from his very words.
"Are you...OK?" She asked cautiously.
Remus let out a laugh, a cold hard laugh that made Lily cringe. "From what I was watching it looked like you were with James Potter!" He yelled. Several heads turned throughout the lobby, and several people turned to watch the fight, many gathering for entertainment. The thought disgusted Lily.
"What are you talking about?" She asked firmly. "We were just dancing."
"Dancing, making it look like you were together with him. It was in your eyes, and I'm not the only person who saw it."
"That's a blind assumption!" Lily yelled, growing angry. More people were gathering to watch. "You're completely overeating!"
"I'm not overeating!" Remus yelled. "I saw you out there with him..."
"Moony! You bloody prat!" James yelled pushing his way through the group that had formed. "All of you, sod off!" James yelled, attempting to disperse the people.
"Moony? Prongs?" Sirius asked, coming back into the lobby, hand in hand with Candace. "What the hell is this?"
"You must be blind to think that I actually like him!" Lily yelled, motioning to James. A few people who had gathered laughed in amusement. Lily grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him out of the lobby into the hallway that connected to the theaters. James, Sirius and Candace followed. Sirius shut the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Sirius asked.
"Moony's being a bloody prat thinking that she was cheating on him, basically." James said, glaring at Remus. Sirius let out a bark like laugh.
"Are you kidding me, Moony?" He laughed. "What would make you think that?"
"I thought I told you to back off of her!" Remus yelled, glaring at James.
"You told him to back off of me?" Lily asked in anger. He didn't trust her judgement? "You didn't trust me enough to know that I wouldn't cheat on you?"
"Well, by the way things were looking your judgement isn't very good."
"My judgement is bad? What about yours, huh? Or have you forgotten?" Lily yelled angrily. Candace pulled her hand away from Sirius and backed into the door.
"Lily, can we please not go there?" Candace begged.
"What?" Sirius asked, looking from Lily, to Candace, to Remus.
"Tell me, Remus. Whose judgement is worse? Who happens to be more faithful then the other?" Lily snapped.
"This happened a long time ago, Lily..." Remus said, his eyes darting to the door.
"So it can just be dismissed because it happened almost nine months ago? Sorry, but time passage doesn't heal that pain." Lily spat.
"Then why are you still with me, huh?" Remus asked angrily. "If you were forever scarred then why didn't you get rid of me?"
"So you want me to get rid of you?" Lily asked, slightly crestfallen.
"I didn't say that." Remus sighed. He looked extremely tired, almost ill.
"What are you guys going on about?" Sirius and James asked through a blur of words.
"And why are we the only ones who don't know?" Sirius asked.
"They don't need to know." Candace said loudly.
"Really, they don't." Remus agreed. Candace and Remus avoided making eye contact.
"Yes we do." Sirius and James insisted.
"I'll tell you later, James." Lily sighed. Remus' eyes burst into flames.
"Tell him later, huh? During your cozy little tutoring sessions, I suppose?" Remus scowled. "If that's what you really do."
Lily's face burned with anger. She raised her hand and brought it hard across Remus' face. The sound of her hand on his face echoed through the hallway. Everyone fell silent, and Remus lifted his hand and gingerly touched his cheek, where a red hand print was appearing.
"That's it." Remus said, his voice quaking. "We're through. You can be a whore to that gutter rat if you want." Remus turned and threw the doors open and stormed out. Several faces stared into the hallway as the doors shut slowly.
His words echoed through Lily's head.... 'That's it. We're through. You can be a whore to that gutter rat if you want....'
Sirius, Candace and James stared at Lily, silence pressed against Lily's ears. It was almost deafening.
"Lil?" Candace asked quietly. Lily didn't know how to react. She was still processing what had happened, their whole fight running through her head, right up until the very end where Remus had stormed out of the room.
Tears began to well in Lily's eyes. She turned on her heel and ran flat down the hallway, disappearing into one of the theaters.
The three left in the hall stood in silence. "What do we do?" Candace finally asked.
"I'll kill him..." James growled. "Calling me a gutter rat...and hurting Lily like that."
"I thought you would be happy...I mean, she's free for you now." Sirius said quietly.
"I am against anything that hurts her." James snapped. He followed Lily's track and entered the theater Lily had disappeared into. "Lily..." He said softly, when he saw her standing across the stage by the orchestra pit.
"Haven't you done enough damage yet?" Lily cried.
"What?" James asked, not expected her to be mad at him.
"If we hadn't danced together, he never would have thought anything of it!" Lily yelled.
"So you're going to blame it on me, now are you? You definitely agreed to dance with me. You can't just blame this all on me!" James said furiously.
"This is an old theater." Lily commented, looking into the pit.
"Yeah, and what of it?" James growled. Lily kicked a piece of old wood that was sitting on the stage into the pit. There was no sound, nothing for about five or six seconds, until a small sound echoed up.
"The pit's totally rotted out, it connects with the basement now, and has decayed into the ground a bit." Lily said, tears pouring down her face.
"So?" James asked, anger pumping through him that he had gone against his best friend to take Lily's side, and then she had ended up being angry with him anyway.
"You don't leave me alone, I'll jump." She said, stepping toward the pit.
"Whatever." James muttered angrily, turning and kicking the door open. Just as the door closed, he heard a loud scream from inside the theater.
"Lily!" He yelled in shock and spun around, racing back into the theater. Lily was nowhere to be seen.
Thank you's:
MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus- Yeah, dating another to get over someone else doesn't work. It just makes you think about the other person even more. Shows you James mentality rate. :-) Thanks for the review! I hope you liked this chappie!
YoukaiGryffindor4- I made a goal about a month ago that I would post Lily and James Christmas experience on Christmas, but (Looks at calendar) X-Mas is a week away (Yah!) And I haven't even written the X-Mas part yet. So, I'll be drinking egg-nog in about two weeks celebrating the L/J X-Mas fluff to come! Thanks for reading this first for me!
pRoNgSmOoNyPaDfOoT- I'm glad you like my story! Yes, Candace and Sirius are cute...too bad I made her up! Oh, and there will be more Harmony to come, don't worry! Thanks for reviewing!
LJstagflower4e- Sorry, I got confused and could only get up to about half of your penname. I hope you liked Lily and Remus' super dramatic break up! And no, they won't be getting back together even if late rit explains Remus wants to...No more L/R! Thanks for reviewing!
JoyaSagrada- Noooo! Sirius! Jamesie! Thanks for reviewing! *Runs after Joya to steal Sirius back* Meh, you can have James. Lol
specially 4 u- I'm glad you decided to review for me! Thanks a bunch! Remus and Lily broke up! I hope you liked how they did! I'm glad you like my plot, but I'd have to say I agree with you. Some stories go nowhere. There is no passage of time, the only events are L/J fluff and more and more fluff that usually ends up making no sense because there's so much of it. Thanks again!
Gryffspopgurl- Yeah, I really don't like those stories where Lily and James are totally OOC. I mean JK could make the characters a little more realistic by following what REAL teenagers are like, but some stories are so over exaggerated it makes you sick. Thanks for the review!
B-a-b-i- Thanks for the review! I really enjoyed writing the pig thing, It made me think of the days when I used to be obsessed with Animorphs...way back when in like third grade. Thanks for putting me on ur favs list! I even got inspired and went and read ur bio! I plan on reading ur story too once I finish the thank-you's! When did you turn 14? I'm 14 too! Perfect age to be...well not really. More like 16, but that's Ok. Only about 1 ½ more yrs for me!
Jillian Ryn- Thank you so much! That's such a nice review! Thank you thank you thank you! I hope you liked this chapter! Thanks again...and again!
Firehottie- Glad you like my story! I hope you liked this chapter! Thanks so much for reviewing!
Gryffindor620- Thanks so much for the review! I hope you liked this chappie! I hope I updated soon enough, can't really remember the last time I updated....
Sasatia- Glad you like my story! Thanks so much for reviewing!
J.E.A.R.Potter- James' luck is about to strike. Of course he'll have to go through a bit of pain due to his loud mouth but....oops! I'm giving away stuff that's supposed to happen later! Thanks for reviewing!
A.M.Bookworm247- I'm glad you like my story! How come you haven't been allowed on a computer? Well, thanks for reviewing!
Mintytoothpick- I like ur penname! It made me laugh. James and Lily will be together rather soon, so I hope you like it! Thanks for reviewing!
KristiexxNguyen- Oh, James hasn't given up on Lily. Not quite yet...not quite ever. Thanks for the review!
Jessie xx- It would be an awesome reality if pigs really could fly. I'm glad you like my story! Thanks so much for reviewing!
SaMBrAT- Thanks for the review! I hope you liked this chapter! Thanks again!
BBLG- Yes, Remus is an annoying prat, isn't he? Hope you liked their whole break up thing! Thanks for reviewing!
Allied-Inspiration- Glad you got your internet back, Pagan! I am very grateful, and honored that you stayed up till 1 o'clock to read this! I find that the best "creative juices" flow in the early hours of the morning, and late hours of night. That's when I do a lot of my writing! I love wasting myself until like four in the morning then sleeping till noon.... Thanks for reviewing!
Thanks everyone for your reviews! I hope the whole break up think wasn't too OOC. I'm just a fan of drama! Please review and I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
Pixie