Chapter 8 ~ The Sadie Hawkins Halloween Ball
Sirius escorted Lily down to the Great Hall where the ball was to be held, and, contrary to more people's first dates, talked away without a second thought of nervousness. They discussed Quidditch (of course), who was going with who to the ball, school in general, the Muggle life (of which Sirius knew nothing about), and how much of an old cranky cat McGonagall was in Sirius' eyes. Evidently, she had already given the boys (including Peter) countless detentions. Lily found this tragic, but Sirius was used to weekly trophy polishing and Cauldron cleanings.
"I mean, how many times can you polish the Triwizard Cup?! It's HUGE and I bet you I've cleaned it AT LEAST four times. Plus, James and Remus have polished it a few times too!" Sirius told her, completely bewildered with the staff's illogical reasoning.
"Well, maybe he prizes the cup! I read somewhere that last year was the first time that Hogwarts has won it in decades! If it bothers you that much, try to calm down on the pranks. Yes, they are fun, but you four go overboard."
"Naw...making Malfoy jump up on the dinner table and flap around, trying to fly was well worth detention."
This last comment put them in a fit of hysterics as they reminded each other of all the other trouble they've gotten themselves into so far. It took Lily to trip over her one inch heels ("I'm not used to wearing heels! I knew I should have worn my sneakers!") to get them to calm down and pull themselves together.
Sirius tapped her on the shoulder. "Ok Lily...errr....how should I say this? Ummm...Well, James Remus, and I have planned a little...errr...surprise..."
Lily knew instantly what he was talking about. "Oh no Sirius! Tell me RIGHT NOW what type of prank you have planned! If it involves me, I'm turning around and going back! I have a detention-free record right now and you're not ruining it for me!" She threatened.
"No no Lily!" He turned her and held her hand tighter. "It's nothing like that. Just pure harmless fun. I've actually got the idea that you'll like this! Just...when the time comes, follow my lead. You'll catch on quickly." He reassured her.
"Fine...I agree to your terms, but if you embarrass me, I'll make sure it comes right back at ya!"
"Don't worry about a thing Lils. Leave it ALL to us!"
Lily felt a bit of uneasiness for awhile about Sirius' surprise, but with a squeeze of his hand, she knew he would do anything to embarrass her. They were nearing the Great Hall now which made Lily's mind race. "Sirius! What if I over-did it! What if everyone laughs at me? I've never looked like this before!"
"Don't worry Lily! You look great, and if anyone says otherwise, it's only because they're jealous."
Lily smiled and nodded just as they walked through the doors to the hall. It was everything she had imagined it to be and more. She loved Halloween for it was a day of ancient myth and the enjoyment of deceiving. But the decorations and the music at the ball were amazing and completely made known the mood of this mysterious night. The music was very interesting, but the only way to dance to it was to waltz. Lily loved waltzing, but no one else seemed to. The school was just standing around the edges of the dance floor swaying awkwardly.
"Hey Lily and Sirius! It's about time you got here! We thought you had decided not to come!" James, Kristy, Remus, and Ashley had just ran over to them.
"Nope! We're here...but is everything ready?" Sirius inquired to the other boys, winking.
"Yep! We've got it all figured out, but we're going to do it sooner than planned because this music is awful! Trelawney must have hired this group: 2 violinists, a chellist, a pianist, a drum set, and one electric guitar. Yeesh! So...why don't you and Lily get out there and dance!" Remus winked as him and James snuck their way over to the band, Kristy and Ashley observing.
"C'mon Lily! Let's dance!"
"Ummm...sure!" Lily thought this a little odd: Sirius? Waltzing???
"1...2...3! 1..2...3!" She could hear Sirius whispering under his breath and she laughed.
"What!? I don't want to step on your feet!"
"Oh, it'll be no problem. I'll just return the gesture by stepping on your feet with these heels."
"How comforting..."
"Yes, I have a knack for making things seem so."
"Uh-huh...ummm...Lily? There's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said quietly, staring at the floor.
"Ok, ask away!"
"Well, ummm...you see...I....uh..."
"OOH! Smile, take a picture, and log it away in my memory forever! Sirius is nervous! This is a great moment in history!"
Sirius blushed. "Ha ha Lily. No, seriously, this is important!"
"Ok ok. I apologize. Please continue."
"Ok...err...well, I'm just going to come right out and say it...Lily, will you go out with me?" By this time, he was blushing furiously.
"Excuse me? Could you please repeat that? My ears are a little waxy."
Sirius about fainted and let out an exasperated sigh. "Are you serious?"
"No, you're Sirius!"
"Jeez! You really know how to drive a guy crazy!"
"Thank you, I try." She was now close to keeling over, she was laughing so hard. "Yes Sirius, of course I'll go out with you."
Both of them were smiling ridiculously until they noticed that the dance floor had completely been evacuated. They were the only ones dancing and Remus and James had just ran out from behind the stage where the band was and grabbed their dates, heading out to dance.
The boys gave each other thumbs up as there was a pop from the band. Lily gasped as both the band's and her and her friends' clothes were changed to Mexican Matador costumes, the band's instruments changed to maracas and a Spanish guitar, and a cha cha started being played.
"OLAY!!!" James yelled and the others all yelled it back. The six began dancing the cha-cha excitedly, having a great time. 1..2... 1, 2, 3! 1...2...1, 2, 3!
James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Ashley, and Kristy were the only ones dancing. The rest of the school was cheering, clapping and laughing. Even McGonagall and Dumbledore were having fun with this!
After about 2 minutes of cha-cha'ing, the dancers were really getting into it and were sure putting on a show. There was another pop and all costumes and instruments were turned French and the band started a slow tune to which they did the tango. At this, everyone went into a laughing riot. It's not everyday you see six 11 year old kids tango across a dance floor.
2 minutes later, all scenery changed to the of a Hawaiian Luau. The girls were wearing grass skirts, leis, and (to the anger of Lily) coconut bras. The boys were just wearing leis and flowery shirts.
"Aloha oy! Aloha oy!" Remus started singing as they did the hula.
"Shake it Lily!" Sirius cheered her on laughing.
"This coconut bra had better not fall off buster," She told him through gritted teeth, but still smiling. "Because if it does, you'll wish you had never met me."
"Oh, don't worry. We wouldn't let that happen. We made sure that yours wouldn't break because none of us want to see that." He explained calmly.
Lily smiled evilly and hula'd around him and elbowed him in the stomach nonchalantly. "I should sure hope not." She replied, changing her smile to a grin of innocence.
The music and attire continually changed from the hula to break dancing (which Lily was surprisingly good at), to tap dancing, to Irish step-dancing, to waltzing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and then to the YMCA. This was the only song that the whole audience participated in.
"Y...M...C...A! It's fun to stay at the Y...M...C...A!!! You can pick up your feet! You can have a good meal! You can do whatever you feel! Yo man!"
With another short pop]/I], everything changed to a disco scene. The girls had on flare pants, a sequin shirt, and a giant afro to match their outfit. The boys had on practically the same thing. This was the last and most fun dance.
"Shake ur groove thang! Shake ur groove thang! Yeah yeah! Show em' how to do it now! Shake ur groove thang! Shake ur groove thang! YEAH YEAH! Show em' how to do it now! Show em' how to do it now! We'll show the world we can dance..."
When this song ended, the band stopped and all the afros and flares disappeared. The best friends were panting wildly, their cheeks matched Lily's hair. The applause lasted until people's hands were stinging so badly that they were forced to cease their clapping. In total, the 'artificial thunder' lasted for close to 10 minutes. Bows were taken over and over again. Even the band, who had NO idea what was going on because they were under a charm took a bow.
This had to be the best night that Lily had EVER had. She was with her friends, she danced the night away, and she even got her first boyfriend.
To make herself even happier, Lily reminded herself that the dance wasn't anywhere near over yet. Only one hour out of a scheduled five had gone by. Then, Dumbledore stood from his observation position at the teacher's head table.
"Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts' first ever Sadie Hawkins Halloween Ball!" There were cheers and hoots from the students. "I would like to thank our new first year Gryffindor boys, James, Sirius, and Remus, for that delightful dance routine, complete with scenery changes! What a way to start off the ball!" The boys grabbed their dates and took a final bow in the middle of the dance floor as an encore. When the applause finally died down, Dumbledore continued. "Yes yes! Great work boys! I even happened to catch it all in the School's 'Memorable Moments' pensieve. Also, Gyffindor house will be awarded 20 points! Now, the ball's not nearly at it's end, so I'll let the band play some music! How about a song for us old timers, Bob?" He glanced over at the lead singer.
Immediately, the band (who now permanently had some normal instruments) started playing the 50's hit by Frank Sinatra, 'Just the Way You Look Tonight'
Sirius and Lily danced for a maximum of 30 seconds before a Ravenclaw came up and tapped on Sirius' shoulder. "May I?"
Sirius looked like he could have punched the guy, but he wasn't about to make a fool of himself in front of Lily. "Uh...yeah. Sure."
Lily. "Uh...yeah. Sure."
Lily smiled weakly as she began to dance with this guy. She didn't even know his name! She could hear people whispering as she passed them, but wasn't able to tell exactly what they were saying, but she did hear her name...a lot. She decided to ignore this. Her dancing partner changed six times in the next minute, none of which were Sirius. It was starting to annoy her. Where was he?
Meanwhile, Sirius was on the other side of the room trying to get over to Lily but she kept switching partners so often that he couldn't keep track of where she was! After all, the Great Hall was not a small room by any means. Plus, he could hear all the other guys telling eachother that even though she was only a first year, they wanted to dance with Lily and that she was really pretty. This ticked him off because it made him feel as if they were snatching her away. Finally, he managed to get to where Lily was dancing with a fifth year Gryffindor.
"Excuse me, do you mind if I dance with MY girlfriend?" He emphasized the 'my'.
"Oh...yeah. Sorry man. I didn't mean anything by it."
It only took a minute or two for the whole school to be aware of the fact that Lily was dating Sirius.
"Thank God I'm dancing with you again! These people are acting so weird! I mean, HELLO! A 5th year asked me to dance with him!"
"Uh, yeah..." Sirius replied, jealous. "I just hope that I get to dance a whole song with you before you're stolen away from me again."
Lily was just about to contradict the 'stolen' part. She was no one's property. But she was interrupted when Severus decided to try his luck.
"Can I cut in?"
Sirius thought that he was being delusional when he heard that, and Lily could have fainted on the spot. Unfortunately as he looked towards the staff table, Sirius saw that both McGonagall and Professor Secreus Snape were on-looking the scene, so he couldn't say anything mean or rude. Lily was eyeing Sirius with a look that clearly said 'If you make me dance with this imbecile, you're in for it!', but he just shook him head, frowned, and glared at Severus.
"Fine Snape, but I'm warning you. If you touch her and she gets an incurable disease, you die."
"Give it a rest, Black."
Lily cursed Sirius in her mind and shot him a murderous glare, her eyes alive with fire.
"There was nothing I could do!" He mouthed to her.
She rolled her eyes and turned to face Snape who had just wrapped his arms around her waist. "Watch it Snape! I have a boyfriend, believe it or not!" She loosened his hands around her hips and backed away from him as far as she could without making it painfully obviously that she didn't want to be in this position.
"Who? Black? Ha ha! What a laugh!"
"And your point is?" Lily was becoming seriously infuriated.
"I could take your loser boyfriend anytime, and he's talking about killing me." He let out a sickening laugh as Lily ripped from his arms. "That's no way to get a girl to like you, you slime ball!" And she ran off the dance floor as fast as she could to the bathroom.
The hall went silent for a few seconds, but eventually resumed it's chatter and dancing.
"Kristy, Ashley, would you go and talk to her?" Sirius, who had seen the whole thing, asked them.
"Why don't you? You're her new boyfriend." Ashley smiled sweetly.
"Well, she kind of went into the girls' bathrooms and that's not a vacation location I think I'd fancy."
"Ahh...I see. Let's go Ash!" And Kristy pulled her in the other direction, disappearing into the bathroom.
"Well mates, what say you?" Sirius grinned at James and Remus evilly.
"I say this is a great time to get out those delicious desserts and put them in action!"
There was a chorus of 'yeah's and a loud smack caused from high-fives. Remus ran back to their original table and pulled out from under it, a small tray of glazed cream puffs. He snuck around the crowd and slid them onto the dessert table just as Snape walked up.
"Mmm...these look good." He greedily picked up the biggest one and stuffed it into his mouth. In no time at all, his ears began to grow. Soon, they were so large that they touched the floor. "What the?...AHH!" He screamed as the realization of what was happening hit him.
The whole hall was laughing and pointing insanely at Snape.
"LOOK! IT'S DUMBO!!!" James yelled, enhancing the riot.
"Ha ha ha! He's such an idiot!" Sirius was kneeling over.
"Mr. Snape! Please stop this nonsense! If you want to draw attention to yourself, I suggest doing in a matter that won't embarrass yourself!" She pointed her wand at his ears which shrunk back to their normal size. (Which was still fairly abnormal)
"But Professor McGonagall! I didn't..."
"5 points from Slytherin for performing an act of stupidity such as enlarging your own ears! End of discussion! Now, please return to the dance."
James, Remus, and Sirius could barely take it. They were doubled over, leaning on eachother for support. "That was priceless! Our first invention: Elephant Ear Puffs!"
"Well, we had better get them off that table before someone else eats one! We don't want the teachers to know what's going on."
"Good idea."
The pushed their way through the crowd and still had half of the Hall's length to go before they saw someone pick up one of the puffs.
"No! Don't eat it Lily!"
Lily and the girls had been in the bathroom during Snape's little episode and didn't have the honor of witnessing it. Sirius kept yelling, but she was too far away to hear over the music and the boys just happened to have a cliche of friends right in front of them that weren't willing to move. They were too absorbed in their conversation. There was no way in getting to her in time.
It was just then that Severus had the courage to show himself again. "Hey Lily!" He called, swiping past her and smacking her butt.
Lily's eyes lit with rage and she shrieked. He just smiled so she slapped him across the face as hard as she could. It was like she was swatting at a fly, but with Snape, she was just intending to rip his head off. "Don't you EVER do that to me again!!!" She slapped him again with a full force blow.
"Miss Evans!!!" McGonagall yelled extremely loudly over all the music and talk. Everything stopped. "Please try to refrain yourself from slapping him again! I think he gets the point."
"He better, cause if he ever touches me again, I'll be forced to kick him where it counts." She muttered, glaring him in the eyes.
"I would rather not hear that from your mouth again Miss Evans...and as for YOU..." She shot her glance over to Snape who was on the floor. "Be proud of yourself! You just lost 20 more points for Slytherin and you also got the ball canceled on account of unwanted sexual contact!" She then turned to the rest of the hall. "Be sure to thank Mr. Snape here! It is because of his lack of thought that you all must return to your common rooms right now! That's right! The ball's over!"
Everyone groaned and yelled: "Thanks Snape!" "Great job!" "Loser!" "Spare us next time by not coming to the next dance!"
So, the dance which had started so well ended terribly, and they all returned to their dorms feeling an even greater hatred towards that Slytherin in particular.