A/N: Loooooooong chapter! But this one is good. I know certain people don't exactly love romance -coughs- Cat... so I've obliged as much as possible. Bada bing, bada boom, read on! But before you do...

Johnny Howard, GO ON ROVE LIVE!

'Wingardium Leviosa!'

I kept my wand trained on the ribbon, watching it float upwards. Beside me, Howard, a short, red headed Hufflepuff, muttered and the ribbon stuck itself to the walls, dipping gracefully downwards. I grinned and looked at him, then shook his hand.

'We make a great team.'

I turned and surveyed the Great Hall. Small round tables were scattered around, the house tables and benches gone. Ribbons of gold, silver, ruby, emerald, sapphire and royal purple fluttered against the walls, a few Christmas trees, decorated with snowflakes, diamonds and golden balls were scattered around. The tables were placed around the dance floor, a stage set up for the band, The Magi Brothers. It had taken about thirty five owls until we had finally received a reply... and then twenty two more to get them to agree. It was well worth it.

'Lily, come on!' Remus was standing in the doorway as I looked around, shaken from my thoughts. He raised an eyebrow and smiled. He and I were the only ones left in the entire hall. I looked at my watch and gasped.

'Yeah,' he grinned, nodding. 'You have less than an hour.'

I ran a hand wildly through my hair. 'Is everything ready, everything done?'

'Certainly looks like it. The guys are probably having a shower now-.'

'There's a mental picture I didn't need. See you soon!' I smiled and dashed past him, pelting up the stairs and through the corridors, into the common room. Sirius, James and Peter were there, lounging back on the sofas. They were already in their dress robes and I stopped short and blinked. James and Sirius looked very handsome. Black grinned at me.

'Half an hour...'

My eyes widened and I tore my eyes away from James, who was watching my flushed face and nervously twisting hands. Whirling around, I pelted up the stairs.

'Lily, hurry up!'

I had ten minutes as I tore from the bathroom, hair and makeup done. Aoife smiled, although she was hopping from one foot to the other, her violet dress robes swirling around her feet. She looked so sweet, with that angelic face. 'You look very pretty, here's your dress.'

I caught the bundle of emerald cloth just in time and looked down at it.

'Hurry up!'

No time. I darted into the bathroom again and wriggled into it, then pulled on my shoes. Only then did I look in the mirror.

I thought I was looking at my mother, for a moment. My hair had been pulled up into an elaborate sort of bun, little ringlets tumbling down around my face, here and there. My eyes were huge, almond shaped, and a fierce bright green. The dress matched my eyes perfectly, a deep green, satin... I never thought it would be so pretty. Sam smiled at me, her black gown making her look completely different. Female.

'James will get a shock.'

'Oh, shut your face.'

'Woo, there's Lily! Lost her for a second...'

'Don't make me tell you again.'

Hannah emerged from the bathroom, her dress white, perfectly suiting her dark skin, eyes and her hair, which hung in curls down her back. She never wore her hair down.

'Come on, we'd better go.'

She looked terrified at the thought.

Everyone was already in the Great Hall by the time we got there, so us four girls, all dateless, as we'd decided the week before, slipped in. We headed over to our table and I nudged Sam as a whistle rang out from a group of seventh year boys, standing near us. She nudged back.

'They're whistling at you.'

'No, at you. They just realized you're a girl.'

'What, they couldn't tell before? I would have thought these would be a dead giveaway.' She inclined her head, gesturing to her chest.

I just smiled as we reached out table and sat. I felt more like a lady than ever, it was incredible what a bit of makeup and a dress could do. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked around, smiling brightly when I saw Remus, looking very pale, crouching beside me.

'You look wonderful, Lily.'

'You scrub up pretty good yourself, Lupin.'

He grinned. 'Well, at least now I know for sure it's you. You should have seen James' face when you walked in...'

'Oh, really, I don't want to know,' I interrupted, holding up my hands in mock surrender.

Remus laughed. 'I think you do, but I won't trouble you.' He tweaked a ringlet and stood up. 'I want a dance with you and your beautiful friends tonight, too.'

He smiled shyly at Hannah who looked down at her hands, folded politely in her lap. I laughed as he walked off. Hannah and Remus, who'd have guessed?

Professor Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat, his blue dress robes swishing around his ankles.

'Welcome one and all! A perfect night for a ball, Christmas Eve, although this year has been far from nice for a number of students among us. We must all hold our chins high and become united to win against this threat, this danger to our lives, friends and families. But enough of this moral speaking, tuck in!'

The hall exploded with chatter as people turned back to their tables and began to assess their menus. I picked up mine and, as I did, spotted James sitting facing me a few tables away. He looked up and met my eyes, but nothing in his face changed. No look of surprise, no evil glare. Nothing. I swallowed and looked down at the menu, listening to Aoife yabber on and on about so many superficial things.

I know this section is rather long, but a lot happened at the ball. A lot... changed. Plates were picked clean by the time the band struck up their first song and people made their way to the floor to dance. It was after a rather exuberant song and energy burning dance with Andrew, a friend of mine from Ravenclaw, that I was sitting in a chair on the sidelines, fanning my very flushed face and laughing at Sam's stupid jokes about the boys stepping on girls toes because they're so desperate to be all over the first girl they come across, that James Potter asked me to dance.

I could see him a few feet away, Remus pushing him in the arm gently. James scowled and I looked abruptly away as he turned and walked over. He stood in front of me for a moment, as Sam fell silent.

'Want to dance?'

I looked up at him and opened my mouth to say no, followed with a sarcastic comment.

'Sure, ok.'

Hello? Did I have some mental breakdown without me knowing it? Brain sends message to mouth, mouth moves and makes noise according to what the message from the brain says. Where along the line did the message become the complete opposite? I saw something glint in James' eyes but he just glared at me and held out his hand.

It was like we were daring each other, a silent fight, a game of wills. The dance was one of those old fashioned ones, one we had been taught, where you take so many steps one way and move your arm like that, twirl and take a step backwards. A routine, over and over. We never glanced away, my eyes were locked with his the entire time, his boring into mine angrily. The steps were flawless, possibly because we weren't concentrating, it was more feeling the music and letting our bodies do the practiced routine. It was a war of determination, I never looked away, and his face was stony, his cheeks flushed with antagonism.

I never noticed the other dancers around us, I couldn't understand why, just that I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. He was not going to win this staring contest, I made damn sure of that.

The music ended and I took a step away from him. Something flickered in his face, so fast I nearly missed it, but he turned and stalked off before it really registered. I headed for my seat. I needed a few minutes to sit and calm myself down.