Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
The two weeks until the ball passed surprisingly fast, and students were rushing everywhere to put together their costumes. Lily and Treasure were finally dismissed from their last class at five o' clock, and rushed to the kitchens to grab a bite to eat before dashing up to the Common Room to get ready.
"Oh, Treasure, why did you force me into wearing this costume? Its so…revealing," Lily said nervously, tugging at the fabric of her skirt.
"Lils, you look amazing!"
"No, I look like - like -"
"Exactly like a siren. Dumbledore would be pleased - he said that our costumes should be authentic."
"I'm quite sure that he didn't mean this authentic!" Lily moaned, tossing herself on the bed. Isabelle and Violet had left early and went to the Ravenclaw Common Room to prepare. Isabelle's sister, Jezebelle, was there.
"Well don't feel too bad, I'm just as bad," Treasure said sarcastically, her hands on her hips. Lily grinned. "I still cant believe that you decided to wear that," she said.
Treasure pouted. "Yes, well it happened to be a very good suggestion. Now, what are you going to wear if you are not gonna wear what you're wearing?" she asked. Lily blinked. "I mean, what alternative costume do you have?" Treasure said, exasperated.
"I haven't got one!" Lily cried.
"Hmm…I have an idea!" Treasure hurried over to the coat rack on which Lily had hung her cloak. Pulling the cloak down and examining it for a moment, she suddenly tossed it in the air and, with a firm wrist movement, transfigured the cloak into a trench coat. "Voila!" she said proudly.
"And what am I supposed to do with this?" Lily asked, holding up the trench coat dubiously. Treasure rolled her eyes. "Wear it, obviously."
"And what am I supposed to be?" Lily asked.
"Honestly, Lily, you're the Muggle-born one here. You're a detective, obviously. Here-" Treasure grabbed Lily's hat from the coat rack and with the same wrist movement, transfigured the hat into a fedora. To finish off the outfit, she Conjured up a pair of fancy black boots and dark sunglasses.
"Perfect."
"Tres, I really don't think its going to fly…"
"Well, fine then, Lils. Go in your uniform and get a detention." Treasure hurried over to the full length mirror that the girls shared, and carefully arranged her long hair - usually so unruly but now pin-straight and sleek - so that it hung precisely over each shoulder and covered her scandalously sheer dress. Lily, Laurel, and Treasure had decided to work on their costumes together and to go, respectively, as a siren, veela and succubus. The costumes had required hours of careful research in the library, which Lily's status as Prefect had allotted them, as well as access to the Restricted Section of the Library. James and Sirius had, at first, been most eager to help (mostly because they wanted to look through all the illustrations in the books that the girls had borrowed) but a few well-placed jinxes of Lily's doing, surprisingly, and not Treasure's, had sent them not-so-merrily on their way.
Treasure's costume was the easiest because it required less work. The Darkest of the three creatures, the succubus was a dream-prowler that relied on her physical charms - and her own peculiar kind of magic that stemmed from man's helplessness to lust and sensuality - to invade her victim's dreams and slowly leach the magic from him. It took a wizard of the strongest calibre to avoid a succubus' lure, something which Treasure found highly amusing. Her costume was a simple dress of off-white satin that hung off her shoulders and was drawn at her waist with a thin gold sash. It's appeal was in its suggestion rather than display, but all the same Treasure felt slightly uncomfortable. She conjured up a silvery mist that would hang about her body and obscure her features, giving her the appearance of a succubus as it visited in dreams.
"Tres, you really look fabulous," Lily said, impressed with the tricky little charm Treasure had managed to master in time for the Ball.
"As do you, Lily," Treasure said happily, flouncing from the room. Lily smiled - the seductive visage of the succubus would be ruined quite thoroughly as Treasure's playful nature seeped through even the most skillfully conjured mist.
Sirius pulled on his bandana and hat, and studied himself in the mirror. James was already at the door, "Would you mind hurrying up, Sirius, you git. Treasure'll never see you if you stare at yourself in the mirror all evening," he said, annoyed. Sirius glared at him.
"For you information, I don't care about what she thinks anymore. She's made it perfectly clear that she doesn't give a damn about me, so I gave up," Sirius said
"Padfoot, my friend, you've never given up on anything in your life. Now, while Peter may have been thick enough to fall for that, I am not. Remember, I knew you fancied the chit before you even knew it," James said. Sirius said nothing, and pushed past him angrily, coming face to face with the very subject that had him so brassed off to begin with.
Sirius felt his jaw drop as he stepped back from Treasure.
"Hi," she said, fixing the top of her dress. She looked up when he failed to make a sound. "Hi?" she asked. She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, and he started and looked at her sheepishly. She raised an eyebrow.
"Right, well, I'm just going to leave now before you space out again," she said sarcastically, turning away. James was behind Sirius, watching this all with glee.
"Wait," Sirius said, and Treasure turned around. She had one hand on her hip, looking rather annoyed. "Let me walk you down stairs," he muttered, looking utterly embarrassed. Treasure grinned, finally seeing a bit of the Sirius who had met her in the forest. He didn't look quite so awkward this time, but her costume certainly did catch him off guard. She thought quickly of the way succubae were supposed to walk…they floated, really, and legend had it that the mere walk of a succubus could bring a man to his knees. Treasure didn't really want Sirius to be falling over himself all night, but it would be nice to keep his usual haughty countenance at bay for awhile - she really did like it so much when he let his guard down.
Sirius, though, looked amused. As soon as Treasure got it into her head that she would have to walk the walk, so to speak, it became painfully obvious that she was acting. Sirius chuckled to himself, which he covered quickly with a cough at the pointed look Treasure gave him. She shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably, aware that for whatever reason he was laughing at her.
"May I?" Sirius asked politely, offering his arm. With his dark eyes and wavy dark hair, he was kind of the embodiment of tall, dark and handsome. And Treasure found herself wondering what it would be like to really kiss him - not just for some prank, but for real. It was enough to make any succubus flustered.
"Sure," she said, tossing her hair and then instantly wishing she didn't. The dress was really not made for such movement - or, on the contrary, it was too well made for such movement. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that Sirius's eyes crossed. She patted her hair nervously back into place . He held out his arm and Treasure bit her lip before linking arms with him. Friendly, nothing more. She was terribly worried that it would look like she and Sirius were an item. And Treasure just might have to murder herself it that rumor got around, because she would surely never hear the end of it.
Sirius, having found his characteristically calm demeanor, led Treasure out of the Common Room. Treasure was very uncharacteristically nervous. She decided that the goose pimples on her skin were caused by the drafts in the castle more than anything else.
Lily looked at herself nervously in the mirror once more, before firmly pulling the cloak-turned-trench coat on. Next came that hat, followed by the glasses. Her hair spilled in waves of deep, rich red halfway down her back. She sighed, wishing she was a bit braver. Her dress was sea-foam green and very pretty, but the skirt was made of thin panels of silk and showed entirely too much skin. Her sandals were made of seashells - but she had opted for the boots instead - as was the rest of her jewelry. There were large cut-outs at the side of her dress showing even more pale, ivory skin. She turned resolutely and walked out the door, to the Common Room, tying the trench coat closed.
"Whoa, Evans, is that you under all that? I wouldn't have known!" James lied, as soon as she walked out. Of course he knew it was her, all the other Gryffindor fifth years had left, and he was left alone among the fifth year boys, waiting for Lily. But Lily didn't know that.
"Shut up, Potter," she said miserably, shuffling past him. "Hey, I think it's a great costume," he said. Lily gritted her teeth and kept walking, glad that her eyes were hidden beneath the ridiculously large sunglasses that Treasure had conjured up for her.
"No, really, it is -" he started. She whirled on him, whipping off the sunglasses to glare at him fully. It would have been more effective if it weren't for the fact that the thing about Lily that James liked to look at most was her eyes.
"Don't bother me, Potter. I know you were expecting some revealing little number from all those pictures you and your sick friends drooled over for the past two weeks, but you're not going to get it from me!" she said angrily.
"I wasn't expecting to, Evans. Calm down. You really do look nice," he said, shrugging and heading out of the portrait. Lily cursed under her breath and followed him as carefully as she could without letting the trench coat fall open. The figures in the portraits all along the walls whistled at her, and it wasn't until she passed a mirror that she realized it didn't look like she was wearing much underneath her make-shift costume.
"Damn you, Treasure!"
Laurel was already at the Ball, wearing a lavender dress with an empire waist and gauzy see-through sleeves. The dress was, of course, down to the floor and would have been quite conservative but for the low cut neck line. It was plain, but radiant in its lack of being ostentatious. Laurel, light blonde hair, so blonde it glowed nearly silver, was braided elegantly down her back.
Laurel wore no make up, as veelas wore none, and her dress was wispy silver underneath pale lavender silk. She had soft slippers that didn't show, as the dress was so long. She stood next to Remus, who had an arm around her waist a bit protectively, scowling at any male who looked at Laurel. Laurel herself found this infinitely amusing, even more so when girls shot her dirty looks and smacked their dates. Sometimes being part veela had its perks.
Remus was dressed as an Elf, having no idea of what to come as, he let Laurel decide for him. He was wearing leggings and a tunic that at first glance seemed less than extraordinary, but if one looked closer, saw intricate embroidery. Of course, no one scrutinized too much, or at least they didn't do it obviously. But it was obvious that this would be the couple most looked at, envied, and admired this night.
Laurel spotted Treasure walk in, arms linked with Sirius who was dressed as a pirate. Treasure looked around nervously, but relaxed when she saw that no one was looking particularly at her. She spotted Laurel and grinned, practically dragging Sirius over.
"The Hall looks absolutely beautiful!" she said excitedly.
"Yes, the pumpkins are huge! They practically have bon fires in them! And of course, the ghosts will be putting on a show, and I've heard that Dumbledore hired pixies!" Laurel said.
"Hired?" Sirius asked, and Treasure tried to pull her arm away without being quite overt. Sirius saw this and let go, "You could have just asked," he said quietly. Treasure felt her face heat, and she thought that perhaps Lily tied the gold sash around her waist too tightly.
"Of course hired!" Laurel said, changing the subject hastily. "What, do you think they are slaves? Although they are little sprites, non-human, they are still in charge of what they do and where they go. It is only cruel, heartless beings who capture others and force them to do their will," she said angrily. The subject of non-humans, even hostile ones like vampires, being treated unfairly, made her very worked up.
"You should know that, Sirius," Remus remarked quietly, looking his friend dead in the eye. Treasure looked puzzled, but Laurel leaned closer to Remus and he tightened his grip on her. Treasure cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Everyone looks wonderful, don't they?" she said.
Isabelle was dressed as a fairy in a short white dress that had a circumference of at least five feet around. Violet, a banshee, was dressed surprisingly similar to Treasure herself, although with an unsettling tinge of green. Ilenya looked pretty dressed as an archer. Bellatrix had decided to come dressed as Dementor.
"My cousin is mental," Sirius said dryly. Laurel snorted into her punch.
Luckily, Lily walked in at that moment, followed quickly by James, who was still staring.
"Lily!" Treasure said, relieved. Lily smiled, still dressed in the trench coat.
"So you are a…" Laurel prompted. "Old fashioned detective," Lily said happily. Suddenly, she grinned and pulled apart the lapels of her trench coat. "Or a siren undercover!"
"You better cover that up, Lils, here comes James!" Treasure teased. Lily scowled and disappeared off into the crowd in search of Severus, who had said he would come dressed as a vampire and had offered his protection from James Potter, in case she needed it. Lily assured him she didn't, but it would be nice to be around a boy who wasn't as intent on groping her as Potter was.
"Ahem, students, ghosts, goblins, vampires, pirates…succubae…pixies, fairys, veela, and others in all sorts of odd attire, the Ball is about to begin." Professor Dumbledore said, standing as silence overtook the Hall. "Tonight, those of you who are dressed as monsters are only physically what you really are and tonight you are being given the chance to express that. I, on the behalf of all my colleagues, only ask that you do not tear down the castle as you celebrate our Halloween Ball, commencing…now," Professor Dumbledore said, and the music began to play. The Ball had begun.