Disclaimer- I own nothing!! I never have and never will! This is my last chapter with a disclaimer in it. Everyone knows I'm not JK so live with it!

To my reviewers who want to know if it will be Lily and James in the end, it will be, but not for a long, long while. I truthfully have no plan, I'm just playing it by ear, writing it as I think of it. The sequel is already started, but it is also its own story, it is not really a sequel, but it has the same OC and plotline continuation! Thanks for the support, please read and review! This is be the start of the ball, so it will be major fluffy and such, and pointless to the plot. This chapter is now beta-ed, so if you want you can re-read it I changed a little.

Lily awoke the next morning to the sun shining in on her. She smiled as the events of the previous night came back to her. She was going to the ball. With Remus Lupin. She sniggled back into her covers, but a moment later they were cruelly ripped away.

"Well? What happened? We want details!" Kat screamed excitedly. "Did you kiss? Well?"

Lily sighed and grudgingly told them everything. Well, omitting one small thing that she shook off. That strange feeling she had got, like someone was watching them. Last night she had dismissed it as a animal or something, but, thinking back, she was positive someone had saw their private moment.

"Yeah, we kissed. and OMG we are going to the ball together! By the way, who are you all going with?" Lily asked, realizing she was so wrapped up in her own joy she hadn't spent much time with her friends of late.

"Kat's going with Sirius, Nat is going with that sexy Ravenclaw Amos, and I'm going with. um. yeah. So anyways, Lily how was the kiss? How did it feel. You are so lucky, Remus is a TOTAL hottie!" Livi rushed on.

Lily rolled her eyes at Livi's not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject. " Livi, I'm not stupid. Who are you going with? Snape? James? Peter?"

Kat snorted and looked disgusted. "I wish she was going with Snape! She's going with Lucy."

"Lucy?" Lily questioned. "Livi, your not."

"OMG no I am not lesbian. Lucy is just a nickname Kat gave him. A very stupid nickname! Lucius is very nice, really. He just tends to get a little rough at times."

Kat snorted again. "A little too rough. And what is with that bow?"

"Kat, Sirius is immature and obnoxious, but I respect your choice. Respect mine!!"

Just then an owl flew in. Lily looked up in wonder as it landed before her. She had never seen this owl before, and she thought he looked a bit dodgy, thought how owls could look dodgy was beyond her. She opened the parchment, scanned it quickly, and gasped.

Before her friends could ask what was wrong, she ran out of the room. Livi tried to stop her, but Nat held her back. Always the practical one, she said quietly, "I think Lily needs some alone time."

At the same time, James and the marauders were lounging in their dorm room, talking about their dates. Remus, we knew, was talking Lily.

Sirius was taking Kat, and Peter was taking Alyssa Mokena, a HufflePuff. Peter had been spending a lot of time with the HufflePuffs, because many think he would have been better suited there. However, no one had the slightest idea who James was taking.

"C'mon, Prongs. Tell us, we won't laugh!" Sirius urged. "Have we ever laughed at you?"

James looked at him skeptically. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Sirius looked sheepish and let out an almost inaudible, "no."

Remus and Peter, who had kept silent until then, chimed in also, nagging and begging.

After constantly bugging him for about an hour, James consented. Or else he seemed to.

"Paddy, Moons, Wormy, my friends, you have to wait and see." James replied to their constant nagging. And while they were contemplating the mini nicknames, James ran out of the room, sneakily of course. Potters did everything sneakily. They didn't even notice his departure until minutes later.

James ran out the room, down the stairs, and straight into Lily. He immediately saw her tears, and gently guided her to the couch without a word.

"Lily, what's wrong? Lily? Its ok, relax. Everything's going to be okay." James tried his best to comfort her. "Its okay, I'm here, you can talk to me."

Lily looked up, and laughed a bitter laugh, which still sounded sweet in James' ears. "What's wrong? Its not all going to be okay, that's what is wrong. My parents. their gone. And it's my fault. If only I wasn't a witch they would be fine!"

Remus, Sirius, and Peter had all heard the last bit, and two seconds later, with everyone stunned silent, the girls came rushing down. "Lily!"

"What happened? James, why is she crying." Nat, the quieter one, said softly.

"Er, I don't think I should be the one to tell you. Its up to her." James suddenly became painfully aware of the fact that Lily was sobbing into his lap, and Remus was giving him a slight glare.

He eased her carefully off his lap, and motioned for Remus to hold her. He accepted her with open arms, and wept for her.

Apparently a guy crying makes girls cry, because the waterworks went off. Lily's friends cried for her and with her, and they didn't even have the slightest idea why.

When everyone had finally calmed down, Natalie once again asked what was wrong. "Lily, sweetie, you can talk to us about anything. What's wrong?"

"My parents." Lily hiccupped. "Their dead in a plane crash. They were in Vietnam, as doctors. A U.S plane took them for the enemy and shot them down. I-I can't believe I'll never see them again!"

"Lily, love, what does that have to do with you being a witch?" Remus questioned tentatively.

Lily promptly burst into loud, racking sobs. Remus held tightly, but Lily stood up and took a deep breath. She announced, "I'm going to be okay. My sister is okay. I have family."

Everyone stared at her, shocked. They were all incredulous as to how she could possibly be okay in 5 minutes. But they tactfully decided to ignore that, and went with it.

Since Lily was determined to get it out of her head, the girls went upstairs to show off their dresses, and do each others hair. There was only 6 hours till the ball began. They sat Lily down, and bombarded her with questions.

"Lily, what does your dress look like?" "Does it match Remus' robes?" "What color is it?"

Lily laughed, and it sounded a bit forced. "Girls, if you wait a minute, I'll get out my dress."

She rummaged around in her trunk a moment, then pulled out a gorgeous dress. it was a light blue, silky shimmer material, that clung to her figure to her waist, where it became looser and less tailored. She also had a matching blue handbag. (A/N no she didn't wear a green dress that matched her eyes Lol)

"Happy now? And yes, Livi, Remus is wearing a blue robe." Lily smiled as Livi grinned sheepishly.

After that, Livi, Kat, and Natalie all pulled out their dresses. Natalie was once again making a fashion statement, wearing a vibrant yellow dress, matching yellow platforms, and a yellow daisy in her hair.

Kat was going as a wild child, in a fuzzy red tank top and floor length sparkly red skirt, with holes cut where there once was silver stars. Sparkly flip-flops completed the look.

However, Livi's ensemble topped everyone's. She had gone French, with a one shoulder simple black dress, a beret, and tall black stilettos.

Lily and Kat teased her a moment, "OOO la la, ma Cherie. May I have this dance, mademoiselle Lily?" Kat took a sweeping bow. Livi scowled.

"Oui, Oui, my fair damsel. I am honored." Lily took a curtsey, and fell over, knocking over Kat. They were laughing so hard, they didn't see Livi sneak up on them until it was too late. She flung it at them, Lily screamed, and everything went dark.

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(Only kidding!)

Soon a full pillow fight was in action. Only 2 hours to the ball. So, naturally, the guys were still outside playing quidditch.

"James, why are you landing?" Sirius yelled from the top of the pitch. "C'mon we were about to win!"

"Only an hour and a ½ left. Got to get ready!" James bellowed back. "Of course we were going to win, we had me, remember? C`ya later!"

Remus gave a cough, sounding oddly like "CONCIETED" but James either didn't hear, or chose to ignore it. He headed inside without a glance backward.

The guys all exchanged glances, because they had never seen James actually "get ready" for a ball before, and it must have had something to do with his date.

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One hour later, the girls headed down to the dance. Lily met up with Remus, and they immediately started to dance. Sirius and Kat headed to the food table.

Natalie mat up with Amos, and nobody saw them for a while. Everyone assumed they went outside where there were pixies flying around.

All the Gryffindors and Slytherin scowled when Livi met up with Lucius and they sat down.

Everyone was curious to find out James' mystery date, and their jaws dropped, and Lily felt a little unwanted pang when it turned out to be that slut Kali. She quickly shook it off and rested her head on Remus' shoulder as a slow song started.

But once again, someone sat alone, scowling. He wanted Lily to be his own, and he didn't want anyone to stand in his way.

Take me by the hand

Take me somewhere new

I don't know who you are but I'm

I'm with you

Lily, formerly the unpopular, smart bookworm, had gotten more than she ever dreamed. Or more than she even knew. Because not one, not two, but 3 guys were all staring at her. But no matter what they said or did, she kept thinking of her parents. There was something nobody knew, and she wished she could tell them.

A/N Well there you go the next chapter finally I probably wont be writing for a while, at least until X-Mas break. Not as long as I hoped, but its ok. My inspiration was when a guy at my school moved to Australia - I'm from the states- and his friends were crying. It was so sad!!!! I started crying, and then all of us were hugging and crying! Thanks for reading, now review. I hate authors who do this, and I can't believe I have sunk so low, but unless I get 15 reviews, I won't update! So review! Even if you don't like it, helpful ways to make it better are appreciated.