A Hogwarts Cinderella

By: Tiger Lily21

Chapter Twelve

A/N: Merry Christmas guys! This is your present. I hope you like it! Toodles!

The day of the ball finally came and everyone had a severe case of nerves. Both Lily and James were jumpy if anyone came up behind them or talked unexpectedly. Lily broke several ornaments while she and James were decorating the trees in the Great Hall because Sirius had decided it would be fun to go up behind her and scream, " POTATO!" in her ear.

By six o'clock every girl in Gryffindor Tower, including Lily, was getting dressed for the ball at seven. Lily's costume was fairly simple. An old blue dress had been covered in ashes from the fire in the common room. A rag of the same material had received the same treatment and she had a small container with more ashes for her face. She also had a broom and a dirty (ashes again) blue mask. When she was completely ready she made a perfect Cinderella.

Violet had certainly changed the Lady Gryffindor dress. It was shorter now and had many more ruffles and considerably more lace. On her neck Violet wore a large amount of frippery, that is, tacky jewelry. A tiara of the same style balanced on her head. Her mask was covered in fake rhinestones. If Lily hadn't been hoping James could tell the difference between Violet and Lady Gryffindor (or rather, Cinderella) she still wouldn't have been worried. Violet was certainly not Lady Gryffindor, with or without the dress.

Rose was a flower fairy. She was pink from head to toe and had a few too many fake roses in her hair. Lily thought she looked like a piece of bubblegum in a rosebed but she kept her thoughts to herself. Violet didn't.

"You look like a piece of Drooble's gum in a garden," she said. "And Lily, you look like you fell in a fireplace."

"And you, Violet, look like a cross between Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West," said Lily.

Violet stormed out of the dormitory. Rose smiled at Lily.
"Good luck tonight," she said." I hope your fairy godmother comes to change those rags into a pretty dress!"

"Thanks Rose but that won't happen," Lily said. "Cinderella is going to the ball as is."

"You'll never find a boyfriend," muttered Rose.

She left the dormitory. Lily waited until she heard Remus's signal, a shrill whistle, then came down the stairs to find her friend waiting there for her. He looked rather pale and drawn but there had recently been a full moon so this was no surprise.

"Good luck, Cinderella."

Lily smiled.

"Thanks, Remus," she said. "I'd hug you but you'll get all dirty."

" See you after the ball, Lily. And remember, be yourself!"

As Lily entered the Great Hall she couldn't believe her eyes. Even if she had decorated the hall herself it still looked as magical as it had three years ago. She spotted Violet whirling around with Snape. They both looked absolutely disgusted at each other's presence. Rose was waltzing with Gilderoy Lockhart, her pink dress swishing around behind her.

"She looks rather pretty in that dress actually," thought Lily.

She tore her gaze away from Rose to continue searching for the one person she wanted to see, James.

At last she spotted him, sitting in a corner by himself. As unobtrusively as she could she made her way over to him.

He wore a costume very similar to the one he had worn three years ago. However this one was black with silver trim. A cloak of the same colors was on his shoulders and he had a sad look on his face. Their eyes met and he smiled at her and came over.

"Why are you wearing black, sir?" asked Lily in a mock-formal tone.

The smile faded from James's face although it remained in his eyes as he said, "Because I have lost my true love."

"Really?" asked Lily. " Who was she?"

"A lovely young lady like yourself who loved fairy tales and writing and who knew how to make me laugh!" declared James. "But I made a stupid mistake and for three years I didn't try to do anything about it."

They had drifted almost unknowingly over to a table. Lily sat down as James continued.

"Then this year I met another lovely girl who taught me, among other things, to look with my heart and to never give up on my dream girl. And then, with some help from a friend and our own headmaster, I figured out that these two girls were one and the same."

Lily gasped. He had figured it out!

"And so what will you do now?" she asked.

"I want to tell her that I'm sorry for being such a thick-headed fool. I want to see her again and dance like we did at the last ball. And most of all I want her to know I love her. But enough about me. Who are you, Cinderella?"

Tears were threatening to spill over Lily's mask. She closed her eyes for a moment, begging them to leave. Then she looked at James.

"A friend whose identity you'll have to guess while we dance!" she cried.

The Weird Sisters were playing "Spring" from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Lily and James whirled through the hall, laughing but not saying a word. Both were thinking.

Lily was thinking, " Should I tell him or should I let him guess?" and generally playing "Eenie-meenie-minie-mo" with the decision.

James's thoughts were a jumbled mess of, "Who is this girl?" "Where's Lily?" and "If this is Lily then how do I tell her how I feel without looking dumb?"

At last the song ended and they found themselves right back at their original table.

"I love that song!" declared Lily.

She was breathing heavily and her cheeks were flushed pink beneath the soot but her eyes were dancing.

" It sounds like something Cinderella and her prince would have danced to at their ball," ventured James, in an attempt to find out if this was Lily or not.

"Oh no!" cried Lily. "I don't think that at all! Cinderella and her prince danced to something slow and light and sweet. Something that sounded like fairies dancing in the moonlight!"

As if on cue (because this is what I think of when I hear this piece) the musicians struck up Tchaicovsky's "Dance of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker.

"You mean like this?" asked James.

"Exactly!" declared Lily. "Now let's pretend you are the prince and I am Cinderella and dance just as they must have done in the fairy tale!"

And somehow, just by the way she said that, James was pretty sure this girl was Lily Evans.

They moved slowly onto the dance floor and if Cinderella and her prince had been at this particular ball they would have been jealous of the lovely couple.

A/N: Gosh wouldn't this be a great place to stop? Right at the exciting part! I know you guys all love it when I do that!

Okay, so I can't be that mean! Here's more of the ball!
Violet watched from her place at a table with Severus Snape. Seeing Lily and James so happy made her blood boil. It was time to put her plan into action!

"Severus, let's dance again!" she said.

Reluctantly Snape took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

"Is it time yet?" he asked.

"Yes," hissed Violet. "Now just go with the plan and don't mess up!"

"Don't boss me around, Thompson! I'm only doing this to get back at Potter for everything he's done to me! I'm not stupid, you know!"

Violet hit him on the head.

"Shut up!" she growled. "Or you'll be next on my list!"

Snape shut up.

They were close enough to Lily and James now that all Violet had to do was reach out her hand and tug to remove Lily's mask, which is exactly what she did.

Lily screamed and covered her face. She ran but Snape grabbed her, holding her in such a way that she had to look at James.

To her utmost surprise James began laughing.

"Thank you, Violet," he said. "For revealing the identity of that lovely lady. But you know, I was planning on being polite and asking her to remove her mask."

Violet gritted her teeth.

"Do you know who this is, Potter?" she asked. "This is the girl who stole your heart three years ago by disguising herself and coming to the ball. Then she lied to you. And worst of all she had the insolence to show up again tonight, intending to fool you again! She is a snake!"

James's face was stone hard and his voice was stone cold.

"Violet, I know perfectly well what Lily did, " he said. " She came to a school function, which was perfectly all right. She met me and I fell in love with her because she was so beautiful and wonderful. Then you tricked me into thinking it had been you I'd danced with and for two years I was miserable with you. Then I met Lily. I didn't know she was the girl I'd met at the ball. She helped me realize that you were wrong and then she helped me figure out who the real girl was. Tonight she came again, I suspect, to dance with me one last time before she completely gave up. I was being so thick that I can understand why. So tell me, Violet, who's the real snake? Is it you or is it Lily?"

Violet screamed in rage and rushed at Lily, hand raised to slap her.

James ran too and caught her before she reached Lily. Then he dragged her, still screaming, to the refreshment table and proceeded to dunk her in cheese, salsa, and punch.
"How dare you?" screamed Violet, whipping her head out of the punch bowl and showering everyone near her with glop.

Meanwhile Lily had broken away from Snape and was running out of the hall.

"Sorry Violet, I can't answer that right now," said James quickly. "I have to go catch Cinderella."

He took off after Lily.

A/N: Okay guys, I'm really sorry but I don't want this fic to end yet so I'm stopping the chapter here, for real this time. The next chapter will probably be very short and describe what happens when James catches Lily and then… the epilogue. If I said there would be a sequel (I don't remember. Did I?) there will be, as soon as I get an idea for it. If anyone has ideas please email them to me. I would be eternally grateful. Merry Christmas! Toodles!

--Tiger Lily