(A/N) Hey! I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas! I know I sure did, and I think this was one of my favorite Christmases. Is that even a word? Cool, I made up a word ) Well on with the chapter. And this chapter might be short, I wanted to update ASAP! I'm also going to play a little…uh…cards. I might lose some money lol!!
# of Words- 2659
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with JK Rowling!!
Chapter 11- Tonight is the Night"Still thinking, Lily?"
"Yeah." Answered Lily.
"So…I guess you want to be alone?" she asked.
"Yeah." Lily looked up into the hazel brown eyes of Rebecca.
"I…uh…just wanted to tell you that I'm going to the dance and hayride with Remus. I don't think Peter is even going, and Sirius is going with one of his Hufflepuff admirers."
"Crap. Who am I going to go with? I'll look like a loner if I have no one to go with!" Lily was getting frustrated. She was thinking through all the guys that had seemed half interested in her…which also meant the guys who had just said hi to her. Lily had lost track of who she was at when Rebecca interrupted her.
I am NOT going with Potter. I don't care if he is Beck's cousin, and I wouldn't care if he were the last guy to go with to this stupid hayride. Same goes for the dance. I'd rather go alone!
She wouldn't dare go with a Slytherin, even if a few of them were kind of nice. She just wouldn't allow herself to stoop so low. She wasn't going to become a low life like them.
"Got any ideas?" asked Lily desperately.
"Well," said Rebecca thoughtfully, "there is that nice Slytherin boy…"
"NO!" snapped Lily. "No Slytherins! I was thinking Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Maybe Hufflepuff, but not my favorite choice."
Rebecca laughed. "It sounds like your shopping for jewelry! Not looking for a guy to go to a dance with you!"
"Shut up and leave me alone!" spat Lily venomously. Rebecca left without another word.
Ok, so that cancels out Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Damn it, that leaves James! I hope he doesn't want to go with me. I would die of embarrassment. Well, I actually wouldn't die. Just…I'll just be really embarrassed, that's all.
Lily sat in the squishy, red chair, embraced in her thoughts until someone came up to her. Lily thought it was Rebecca again, but it wasn't, and Lily was glad she didn't attack him with her words.
When she heard him approach, Lily sighed and glared at her hands. He stopped right in front of her, and she closed her eyes. Her head snapped up when he shifted.
"Oh…hi," she said softly.
"Uh, hey. I was wondering if you would uh…want to go to the hayride with me…?"
Lily looked into his auburn eyes. His jaw muscle twitched, and he was fiddling with his hands. It took Lily a few moments to realize who he was.
His name was Tyler Bowie. He was in the same year as Lily, and he was a very skilled at Potions. He had auburn eyes and dark, wavy hair. He was very well built, and he was a little bit taller than Lily. He was a normally outgoing person, but right now he seemed shy.
"Sure. I'll go to the hayride with you!" Tyler's face brightened.
"Do you want to go to the dance with me too, then?" he asked hopefully.
"Okay. I'll see you tonight, then." Lily watched as he walked away, and up the stairs with a cocky stride.
Thank God he asked me before Potter asked me, thought Lily. At that exact moment, James strode into the common room. He looked around, then spotted Lily and walked over to her.
"Lily, do…" He was cut short.
"No!" said Lily as she held up a hand. "I'm not going to the hayride with you!"
James looked disappointed. "Okay," he said as he sulked away. Lily watched him as he went up to a girl named Gwen Hymen. She had always been one of James's admirers.
Lily eyed him carefully as he leaned against the wall and said something. Lily could not hear him. Gwen flushed and looked at her hands. She said something in an undertone, and then smiled and reached up and hugged him tightly.
Lily rolled her eyes and picked up a random book. The title was 'Love in a Dangerous Time'. Lily threw the book back down on the table and picked up another one. It looked interesting enough, so she started to read it.
After reading the first few chapters, Lily looked up from the book. Her eyes had a glazed expression. She absent-mindedly pulled out some candy her mother had gotten her and started to chew on it. Two girls that Lily knew were playing chess nearby, but Lily had no inclination to join them.
She noticed that it was only a couple hours until she had to go out with Tyler. Crap, I spent most of my Christmas sitting in this chair, and I have only 2 hours before probably the worst night of my life. Great.
Lily dragged herself up from the chair and climbed the stairs to her dorm. When she stepped inside, a powerful smell of perfume reached her nose.
"Phew, don't you think you have enough on?" Lily covered her nose. She had never really liked perfume.
"Aw, c'mon, Lily! Its not that bad, is it?" asked Katie with a puzzled expression. Katie normally wore tight jeans and a loose t-shirt, but she looked totally different now.
Katie was wearing a t-shirt that showed her stomach, and a black, zip up sweater overtop. Her belly button was pierced, and Lily wasn't surprised. Katie was the kind of girl to do those kinds of things. That's what she thought was fun. She was wearing a pair of black shorts with a pair of navy blue sweatpants over them. Lily thought she looked really cute.
Elle was wearing a pair of light blue jeans, and a brown tank top. She was pulling on a baggy, gray sweater overtop. When she turned around, Lily could see a symbol of a black bear on the back.
Rebecca looked beautiful. She was wearing a pair of jeans that she rolled up to her knees. She had black boots on. Her right wrist was covered in metal bracelets. Her shirt was red and it went down over her waist.
"C'mon, Lily! You need to get dressed too!" exclaimed Elle as she pulled Lily over to her bed.
"But, I can…" said Lily, trying to get away.
"Nuh uh! We're going to dress you tonight!"
"But…"
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Lily stood in front of the full-length mirror an hour later. She was wearing a black, leather skirt that came just above her knees. Her shirt was long sleeved and yellow. Two tassels came down on her left side at the very bottom. Her hair was put up in a loose bun.
"Ooh, you look stunning!" said Katie in awe.
"Yeah, I guess its okay…" Lily turned around to examine the back.
Lily heard the excited screams of girls coming from the other dorm rooms. She then heard people pounding down the stairs, and Lily reluctantly followed them.
The common room was full. Girls were searching for their dates, and guys who didn't really want to go were trying to avoid the girls that were searching for them. Lily spotted Tyler standing by the exit, and she slowly made her way over to him. When Tyler spotted her, he grinned.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked. Lily nodded in response and they went out of the common room.
Once they were in the hall, Lily breathed in the fresh air. Even though they were still inside, the air here was refreshing after the stuffiness of the common room. Tyler led her down the stairs, and through the many halls.
Lily gasped when they got outside. It wasn't because she was wearing a skirt and it was below zero, but because there were at least 100 carts filled with hay, but the strangest thing was the horses.
They looked almost dead. You could see their skeletons; it looked like they were underfed. Lily wondered why Hogwarts wouldn't feed them. It seemed cruel.
Lily pointed to the nearest horse. "Don't the horses look weird?" Tyler was confused.
"Uh, Lily. There aren't any horses. Magic pulls the carts." He looked at her strangely.
"But…there's a horse right in front of us!" Lily pointed to the horse that was standing not even three feet away.
"Lily, you're scaring me," said Tyler, who was looking at her strangely still. Lily gave a frustrated sigh, and then followed Tyler to go sit in a cart. They hay was itchy, and bugs were crawling around in it. "Ew…" Lily muttered under her breath.
About 10 minutes later, more and more people began showing up. To Lily's dismay, James and Gwen sat right across from Lily and Tyler. James momentarily glared at Tyler, and then hugged Gwen by surprise. He was obviously making Lily jealous that she wasn't going with him. It wasn't working.
Rebecca and Remus came and sat in the same wagon as them, too. Rebecca smiled at Lily, and Remus was looking dazed. He came out of his trance a few moments later, though. He immediately started talking to James, and ignored Rebecca. She gave a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms.
The carts started moving about 15 minutes later. Teachers came around with blankets and hot chocolate. Lily grabbed her blanket and hot chocolate in a second. She was freezing cold!
The girl next to her was looking at the front of the wagon with a confused expression on her face. Lily guessed she could see the strange horses as well. Lily nudged her.
"Can you see them too?" she asked. The girl nodded.
"I've heard of them. They're called Thestrals. You can only see them if you've seen someone die." She had a pained look on her face. "I'm Chrissie Benson. What's your name?"
"Lily Evans."
"Who did you see die?" asked Chrissie "I saw my cat die. I didn't know animals counted. Oh well!"
"Uh…I saw my grandpa die." Lily answered, not wanting to go on with this conversation. "Have fun at the dance!" Then Lily turned away.
The thestrals galloped around the lake. When they reached the front doors to Hogwarts, Lily grabbed Tyler by the collar and practically dragged him in. The truth was, Lily was freezing cold. She had scorched her throat and tongue drinking the hot chocolate in only a couple of gulps, and the blanket was thin, and it still let the cold air in.
She welcomed the warmth of the castle. In a few seconds, she stopped shivering and she followed Tyler into the Great Hall.
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Half an hour later, the whole school was in the Great Hall, dancing to the music. Lily had gone up to dance with Tyler once, and then went and sat down and drank butterbeer. She was watching her date dance with Chrissie. Couldn't he keep her company?
She scanned the dance floor some more. Rebecca was dancing silently with Remus, while Katie was off to the side telling jokes to people. Elle was dancing with James. Lily felt sorry for her.
Finally, the song ended, and people broke up with their partners and went to talk to their friends. Tyler came over to her and sat beside her.
"Boy, is Chrissie a good dancer. She must have went to some sort of dancing school," he said.
Lily looked at him. "What, and I'm not a good dancer? What's wrong with my dancing?"
"Uh…nothing, its just…well, you stepped on my feet a lot, and Chrissie didn't so…" Lily snorted.
"Why didn't you ask Chrissie then?" asked Lily. Tyler was looking at her with wide eyes.
"Uh…cause I thought you were prettier?" he answered quietly. Lily rolled her eyes.
"So you just care about girls looks. Well, Chrissie isn't that pretty, I know that. But she's stupid. She is in my Charms class, and quite frankly, she's not very good at it." Lily hoped she proved her point.
She didn't, because Tyler got up and went to dance with Chrissie again. Lily crossed her arms and rolled her eyes once more, then got up and left the dance without another word.
While she was walking up the stairs, she heard the thudding of feet behind her. She turned around to see Tyler and James running towards her.
"Lily! Why did you leave?" asked Tyler, gasping for breath.
"You maybe spent 5 minutes with me at that dance, Tyler! I was bored out of my mind, and you wouldn't even ask me to dance with you!"
James looked bewildered. "You asked her to the dance, and you refuse to dance with her?"
"Yeah!" Tyler answered smugly.
"Why not?" James demanded. Lily was afraid that this argument would get violent. She didn't want to be in between it all.
Tyler glared at James. "I think Chrissie is nicer, prettier, smarter, and more down-to-earth than Lily. I think Lily is ugly and stupid. I'm sorry I even asked her to come to this stupid thing. I should've asked Chrissie."
Lily was utterly shocked. No one had ever called her ugly or stupid before. Maybe once or twice she was called not attractive or not as smart as other people, but she was never called ugly or stupid.
Tyler made a move towards Lily, but was stopped by James.
"Don't touch her," he growled. Tyler ducked under his outstretched arm and lunged at Lily. She shrieked, and then started to gag. Tyler had her in an arm hold around the neck, and was slowly lifting Lily off the ground.
Lily was clawing at Tyler's arm to let her go, but he kept a firm grip on her neck. James grabbed Tyler and pulled him off of Lily. She fell to the ground, gasping. Meanwhile, Tyler and James were rolling down the steps, toppling over each other.
When they finally reached the bottom, James started punching Tyler in the face. Both of them had bloody noses, and Tyler's was getting worse. Lily ran down and pulled James off of him.
"Lily! Let me go!" he said.
"No! No, James, you have to take him to the Hospital Wing!" James turned and looked at her tear-stained face and nodded. He lifted Tyler's shoulders off the ground, and Lily grabbed his feet.
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An hour later, Lily and James were sitting in the hall just outside the Hospital. Lily was crying silently; she knew this night would turn out like this. She wished James would just get out of her life, but she had to admit, that if James hadn't attacked Tyler, Lily would have probably chocked to death.
Lily felt the tender spot on her neck. She cringed when she touched it too hard. Lily knew that it was going to turn into a bruise in the morning. She was glad that classes didn't start for another week.
Then she got an idea. Lily got the perfect idea to get rid of James for good. Lily stood up and left James sitting in the hallway all by himself.
James Potter would finally leave Lily alone.
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(A/N) Okay, chapter done! I ended it in a weird place, sorry! I hope everyone had a good New Years! And remember, the more reviews I get, and the faster I get them, the faster I post the next chapter!
Oh yeah, if you haven't read my one-shot fic yet, why don't you? It is kind of weird, but yeah…it's just weird. You don't have to read it. I'm not expecting a lot of reviews for it.
-Rittzi