Chapter 6

Meanwhile at the Costume Ball, Lily watched in awe as her date consumed most of the snacks on the refreshment table, which magically reloaded itself so that he could continue eating. When he noticed Lily's expression, he managed to say with a mouthful of food, "I'll dance wit you in a minute. Try the seafood," he clamored.
Lily rolled her eyes and took a sip of butterbeer, which was unusually good tonight. In a brief moment she had downed another cup. She frowned as James and Sybill, still looking very gorgeous, discoed on the dance floor. At a nearby table, Rosmerta (dressed as a—er—ten-sickle- floozy) was making an effort to pull her date out of his chair. It took Lily all of five minutes to realize who the mysterious pirate boy was. Severus Snape had washed his hair! He looked strangely fabulous as a buccaneer, or at least in comparison with Lily's date, who was Death. Lily took another cup of butterbeer and took the sweater off her slim shoulders. She was suddenly feeling rather hot...

All eyes were on Honey as she strolled through the door with a marauder on each arm. Soon after they entered, the Devil gingerly stepped in front of them. Honey did a double take. It was actually Narcissa dressed up as the Devil.
"Pardon me," Narcissa derided in her grating high voice. She was wearing a particularly distasteful leotard with fishnet stockings, and of course had a forked tail and two horns.
"Cissy, didn't anyone tell you this was a costume ball?" Sirius asked.
Narcissa wrinkled her nose and sneered."I wouldn't be so cheeky if I were you, Sirius. The bloody rich, powerful, and brutally handsome Lucius Malfoy—otherwise known as my boyfriend, is standing right over there." She waved her pitchfork toward the dais, where a tall muscular man was sitting on the steps, chatting with a man dressed as Merlin and someone with a sheet draped over their head. The handsome man was holding a particularly scary cane with a silver snake's head at the handle. This man on the steps was almost as gorgeous as Sirius; he and Honey were taken aback.
"Wow, that is a nifty cane, Malfoy! You're so lucky your dad's bloody rich!"
"Shut up, Goyle," a deep, aristocratically elegant (but slightly muffled) voice commanded. The guy dressed as a ghost took back the cane from the handsome man and strolled over to Narcissa.
"Hello, my sweet. I trust this young man isn't trying to steal you from me." His eyes intense as they stared through the eyeholes in the sheet.
"Ewwww..." said Honey, Sirius, and Narcissa in chorus.
"Don't have any worries, luscious Lucius," Narcissa's voice became squeaky, "he's a close relative."
"What do you mean, Cissy?" Sirius joked, "Its not as if your mother has much of a problem with that stuff. Anything to keep the family pureblood, right?"
Narcissa pursed her lips. "This coming from a boy who's dating a hick from the United States? The United States' South?" Narcissa laughed shrilly through her nose while Lucius cackled evily through his sheet. They strutted off.
Honey sighed, and motioned Remus over to the refreshment table. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Lily, who was now doing a strange dance by herself and singing along to the music. Surprisingly, she was very friendly.
"Try the butterbeer! Its geally rood! I mean really good." Lily straightened herself up and hiccupped, pretending as if she was perfectly fine. "Where'd Peter go?"

Just then a familiar couple waltzed over to Honey and Sirius.
"Your aura is glowing!" Sibyl exclaimed as James spun her around.
"Why thankyou—" James' brow furrowed as his hazel eyes met something in the distance. "Wormtail, what's wrong?"
Peter, the Grim Reaper, bounded over to his fearless leader with tears in his eyes. "I think that somebody put a curse on the deviled clams."
"Oh dear, is everyone going to get...sick?" Honey asked, pulling out her wand in case she needed to do a quick cleaning spell.
"No, I'm the only one who had the deviled clams." Peter clutched his stomach. "All the deviled clams..."
James sighed and nobly put his armored hand on Peter's shoulder. "I'll take him to Madame Pomfrey. I'll be back in a minute."
"Tell Lily I'm truly sorry." Peter said, as his watery eyes gyrated painfully.
Honey's amber eyes looked over at the refreshment table, where Lily was giggling and attempting to dance with a rather nervous and frightened Remus. Sibyll squinted at the blurry figures dancing around, unable to interpret Hagrid from Flitwick. She clanked over to the nearest red blob.
"Lily, dear, Peter wanted me to tell you that he had to go to the hospital wing."
"Who's Peter?" a preadolescent boy's voice asked. Honey and Sirius exchanged glances. Sibyll had comically mistaken a first year boy with long red hair for Lily Evans.
"Sorry Bill, she's blind without her glasses." Honey patted the boy on the head. She took the girl's skinny arm in her willowy hand and led her over to Remus and Lily. She quickly zapped the deviled clam plate into oblivion so that no one else would get a taste of its evilness.

"Honey, dear! You've came!" Lily kissed her as if she was an old visiting relative and not a classmate she spoke with every day. "And you look lovely as always! Oh my, and Sirius there was something I wanted to speak with you about." Lily straightened up again. Sirius took a frightened step back. Lily's vibrant green eyes focused on something on the enchanted ceiling that nobody else could see. "Oh well, I can't seem to remember!" Lily abruptly bear-hugged Sirius. Her floating halo bonked against his face. "Why do I hate you? You are really attractive," she slurred, staring at him and stumbling forward. "I miss you, remember when we went out. Remember how much fun we had."
"I remember you gave me a black eye." Sirius' grey eyes were begging for moral support from Honey, who seemed happy that they were getting along. Lily broke away and grabbed another cup of butterbeer.
Remus just then recognized Syble's costume: a (very short) old- fashioned crimson dress with a puffy skirt and tight bodice (with strings on the front.) She had on fishnet stockings and red high heels. Over her shoulders was a short red cloak, which had a red hood that she pulled up over her hair. Honey had let her borrow the peculiar glass pendant, which nobody knew anything about. There was a small basket of flowers in her left hand.
"That's a lovely costume, Sybill," said Honey pleasantly.
"Why thank you, dear," she replied, adjusting her hood. A sweatdrop appeared at Remus' temple.
For a while nobody said anything as Lily attempted to moonwalk to the romantic ballad that was playing. Her halo rocked about above her head. Honey chose to break the uncomfortable silence. "You know what cute thing she just did?"
"I was merely joking," Sybill cooed, then her voice became mystical. "I don't need my glasses when I have my Inner Eye to guide me."
"Glasses? Like these?" Remus pulled a pair of large spectacles from his pocket, "I found these by the Whomping Willow. I thought they looked familiar."
"Oh, heaven bless you, my dear!" She suddenly tilted her head up and closed her eyes. Remus looked to Honey who quickly whispered something to him. Turning slightly red, Remus set the spectacles on her face. She opened her now magnified eyes and smiled strangely, pondering something for a moment. "I remember seeing something about this while crystal gazing the other day. Oh yes, I recall something...something about you!"
"Was it bad?" he inquired, taking a step back.
"I don't quite remember. If I paid attention to everything the spirits told me I would be quite an eccentric person." She took a step toward him. "Haven't you had anyone crystal gaze for you lately?"
Remus shook his head.
She put a hand to her heart. "Oh my dear, you must as soon as possible, it could be life threatening." Sybil's voice was growing scarier by the moment. "Of course, you would need to get a reliable Seer."
"Like you?" Remus said smirkingly.
"Well, if you insist," Sybil said, grabbing his hand.
"Now?" he raised an eyebrow. "Don't you need a crystal?"
"Darling, a true Seer can never be restrained from her calling...I foresaw something like this and just happened to have brought along the key to the North tower." She plucked it out of her basket. "Lily dear, can I steal your date for the evening?" Sybll asked.
Lily was busy dancing "the running man," but slipped and fell; her halo stalleing in the air for an extra few seconds before yoinking back to its proper place. "Which one?" Lily blinked, using the nearest manly arm to pull herself to her feet. Sirius winced as the redhead squeezed his arm tenderly and painfully. Sibyll pointed to Lupin, and Lily nodded. "Mmmkay. I'm more in the mood for some "Sirius" dancing!" She snorted and pulled said boy over to the dance floor. "...MANIAC, MANIAC!!!" Lily sang, swinging Sirius over to the parquet floor.
"That's for sure," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.
Sybille gestured to Remus and he nervously followed. Honey waved as they disappeared out the back door, leaving Honey the honeybee all by her lonesome.

"Mr. Pettigrew, you're going to be fine." Madame Pomfrey said as James helped him onto a hospital bed. "And as for you Potter...you'd better leave. We don't need any of your tricks here. Although... I am impressed by your faithfulness to your friends."
"I'm sure Peter would do the same for me. Feel better, Wormtail." James patted him on the shoulder and left. Madame Pomfrey then exited into her office. Strangely enough, Peter was the only one in the hospital wing that night. It was very dark. Very dark. The only light came from Madame Pomfrey's single candle. Curiouser and curiouser...
The office door swung shut, revealing a dark, shapely figure hiding behind it in a slinky vampyra costume.
"Hello... Wormtail."
"Bellatrix..." Peter breathed. "You! You were in charge of refreshments! You cursed the clams didn't you?" Peter squirmed.
"You cursed the clams, didn't you?! Took you long enough to figure it out." Bellatrix mocked him, stepping into the moonlight, slinking toward him like a snake. "Oh don't take it personally; it was an act of desperation," she gently touched his hand. "You see I can never talk to you because you're always around Bigshot Potter, Goody goody Lupin, and my Siriusly idiotic cousin."
"Really?" Peter's eyes widened.
"Of course. And lately you've had a new addition to your group. That southern belle exchange student, Jessamine something."
"Honey..."
"Please, call me Bella." She sat at the foot of his bed. "Speaking of that girl, I heard some crazy rumor that there was something—really strange about her..."
"You mean—"Peter started, then stopped before he could reveal the secret. "I can't say."
"Oh, come on, you can tell me anything. Don't tell my boyfriend this, but I've always admired the Gryfindor house for its good-looking men. Especially your little group. But I'm beginning think that looks are all your friend James Potter is really good for. The Quidditch scores say he's losing his edge."
Peter shivered. Bella leaned forward. "But I'm never going to lose my edge Peter. As the Sorting Hat says, in Slytherin you make your real friends..."

Honey was a thoughtful wallflower back at the dance. She had no resentment in the fact that she had entered with two boys and now had none. It was her own fault that her date had been stolen by a tipsy tomato, and her other close male companion whisked away by a glittering insect of her own creation. Its not as if it mattered— her heart was on another.
"Honey! Where's my date?" James jogged up to her.
"She and Remus snuck out the back to go crystal gazing."
James bobbed his head. "Ah man... how'd did Lily feel about this?"
"Perfectly fine. She had a revelation...finally realized Sirius is hot." Honey leaned back, resting her arm abover her head.
"Oh," James frowned, then realized who her date was. "I'm sorry. Do you want some butterbeer or something?"
Honey bleakly nodded. James brought over two Dixie™ cups.
"Listen, as long as we're all trading lovers..." James' voice trailed off.
"Of course I'll be your date, Prongs." Honey took a cup. "Cheers."
They each took a gulp and immediately spat it out all over the floor.
"This tastes like fire whiskey!" James exclaimed.
"Texas fire whiskey!" Honey added. "Now I know what's wrong with Lily." She quickly zapped the alcoholic beverages off the table.
"You'd think someone would have noticed," James said with a smirk.
"Abra Abra KADABRA!!!! I WANT TO REACH OUT AND GRAB YAH!!!!" A crazy singing voice screeched toward them.
"How much did she have?" James raised both his eyebrows.
Sirius was carrying Lily toward them with an expression of concern on his handsome face. She had lost her headband, making her hair look very messy and maniacal. Her magic halo smacked Sirius' forehead as she turned every which way.
"James! How lovely to see you!" Lily leapt at him and gave him a bone- crushing hug. "Have you seen a white Alice band lying around, I seem to have lost mine!"
"Did somebody spike the butterbeer?" Sirius asked, trying to pry the girl off his best friend.
"Yes, but this looks more like a confundugus charm to me. Level 7 at least. Like the one we put on Chris Brown last year," James said thoughtfully.
"Oh, yeah. Good times." Sirius smiled, making a nearby first year girl drool.
"Well whether it's the fire whiskey or a spell, we can't let her run around like a lunatic. She has a reputation!" Honey exclaimed. Her voice grew poignant. "I guess I'll just have to walk her back to the girl's dormitories."
James frowned and dodged Lily's halo. "No, you need to have some fun. You've got your date back, I'll take her back. Besides, who would I dance with? Sirius? He looks better with you."
"What a considerate thing to do, Jimmy!" Honey gave him a peck on the cheek, making Lily and Sirius twitch. "You're really a kind soul, no matter what they say about you!"
James arched an eyebrow and picked Lily off the ground. Nodding virtuously, he carried her out the back door. So where is the Divination room? I've never taken the class."

Remus followed her up a number of steps. She stopped at a small landing and pointed at the ceiling, where a plaque with the Divination's teacher's name was stuck to. The trapdoor opened. Remus was overtaken with the scent of incense. A silver ladder descended down in front of them. He suddenly jumped back and made a noise somewhat like a growl. He turned to Sybyl, who had turned a bit pale and placed a hand over her mouth. He didn't know what to say.
"Why don't we use the stairs?" she cut in before he could speak. "the ladder is a bit unsafe."
She seized his arm and dragged him over to the wall. Waving her hand over it a secret door opened. She released his arm when they reached the tower room, he looked back to see the staircase was gone. A gabble of tables and chairs were on the other side of the room. She waved her wand to turn to on the lamps in the room, then turn most of them off, and then dim the ones left over.
"Want some tea, dear?"
He tugged as his collar. "No, thankyou."
"Sherry?" she asked.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Uh, yes, of course." Her heels clanked as she went to a crystal set in the middle of the room at a table. "Come here boy, I don't bite." She looked into the crystal. "Oh, my. You have a horrible enemy. You will continue to be discriminated against throughout the years. You will outlive most of your friends... and I see... a girl...in your future."
"Really?"
"Yes, definitely a girl. And much struggles and...
"Rowena's heir lives among us..." Her eyes suddenly grew larger than ever, staring straight ahead; her whole body stiff.
"'beg your pardon?" he asked.
"....after the houses are united...if power is put in the wrong hands....she will die gallantly after the unnatural moon; not at the hands of the Dark Lord, but by the hands of his lover ...all will mourn...and thedivision will begin again." She collapsed onto the floor.
"Sybill?" Remus leaned over her.
"Ten more minutes, Grandma..." she murmured.
"Sibyll?" he poked her.
Her eyes snapped open. "My goodness, what's happening here?" her eyes roved around where he was holding her.
"You made a prophecy," he whispered, "A real prophecy. You said something about the heir of Ravenclaw."
"Really?" Sybil rubbed her eyes, "Why are we on the floor?"
"You fell." He said without looking at her. "So, you really are a real Seer."
"You had doubts?" She frowned at a run in her stockings.
"I'm sorry if I offended you," he said sheepishly, grabbing her arm to her help her stand. Suddenly his voice turned dramitcally serious. "So does this mean you...know?"
"Dear, I know just about everything." She tilted her head.
"Is that a yes?" Remus twitched, sensing the fragrance of incense.
She didn't answer his question. "Are you sure you don't want any tea?"
"Actually, yes, I think I might like some," he sighed.

James carried Lily down the halls cautiously. He wished he had the Maurader's map with him, but he had lent it to Peter at lunchtime. He reached the Gryfindor tower and headed up the staircase toward Lily's dormitory when suddenly the stairs shifted into a type of slide. He and Lily ended up back at the foot of the stairs in a heap.
"Alright, let's try plan B."
He took Lily back out into the halls and walked past a certain wall three times. He then entered room of requirement, where there were plenty of fire whiskey antidotes and a little bed for Lily to sleep it off.
As he was setting her down, she took the opportunity to pull herself up and kiss him. It was the thing he'd been dreaming of all his life, but he'd never wanted her lips to taste of fire whiskey. "No, not now, Evans." he said, tucking her in. She clutched for his glasses.
"I need to tie my hair back, otherwise I'll get acne." She spoke as if this was a life or death situation, and put them in her hair.
"Feel better, Lily," he said gently and turned to leave, he said to a portrait on the wall, "Could you explain things to her when she wakes up and please try to leave me out of the story." The picture was also of a knight, who challenged him to a duel, but did agree to what he said.
"I love you!" Lily called as he reached the door.
"I love you, too," he whispered, and left. He knew the Hogwarts castle so well that he could navigate it without his glasses. Suddenly a shawdowy figure passed in front of him, burt he couldn't see who it was without his glasses.
"Who is there?" he asked. The person kept to the shadows.

Sirius and Honey were dancing at the dance when suddenly a solemn pirate boy came up to them. "Honey," he said gently, and turned to Sirus. "Black." He sounded as if he was trying to kill him with his voice.
"Severus, what's—" Honey took his hands in hers.
"I've done something..." he winced. "Terrible."
"Did you wash your hair? That's not terrible." Sirius asked.
Severus explained as much as he could of what he had heard around the Slytherin common room.
"So a gang of unknown Slytherin's has kidnapped James?" Sirius picked up Snape by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall.
"Yes."
"Using information that you contributed?"
"Yes, but I did not know it was their plan until recently."
"Sirius calm yourself, I'm sure we'all can stop them. But, where is he?"
"The Maurader's map, Peter has it!" Sirius said.
"Peter has dissappeared from the hospital wing, and if we look for him it will be too late." Severus narrowed his eyes.
"I know a spell that only 1/3 veela's can do that will help you find anyone! I'm 1/3 veela, but I can't do it without my necklace, and I can't remember the last word of the incantion." Honey sighed.
"I'll get you what you need," said Sirius.
"As will I," said Severus.
"Sevy, why are you doing this?" Honey mouth curled into a tight smile, as tears formed in her eyes.
"Well, I—its just. Y'know what I'm saying'? Its like this—kinda because. Y'know... and like—"
"Just snog already." Sirus said. And so they kissed. It was so romantic that Sirius turned away disgustedly, and after a few minutes cast a furtive glance over his shoulder.