DISCLAIMER: YES YES! WE ALL KNOW THE ALMIGHTY J.K. ROWLING OWNS EVERYTHING BUT THE PLOT AND THE CHARACTERS YA'LL DON'T RECOGNIZE. ON WITH THE STORY!
I MIGHT WARN YOU! THIS IS NOT A JAMES AND LILY DATE. SIMPLY A MEETING OF SORTS. LILY IS ONLY BEGINNING TO REALIZE THAT SHE MIGHT FANCY JAMES!
HELLO EVERYBODY! i'M FEELING BAD NOW! I'VE ONLY HAD THREE REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER. I THANK YA'LL! PIA O'LEARY, FEARTHEDARK10 AND SECLUDEDDARK! THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME KNOW I'M NOT JUST A WRITER THAT NOBODY READ THEIR WORK! ANYWAY, FEARTHEDARK10 HAS BRUTALLY DRAGGED ME OUT OF MY SELF PITY STAGE SO HERE'S THE STORY! READ, REVIEW AND ENJOY!
CH.8
"So-o-o-o…Where would the lady like to go first? We have to figure out what kind of decorations and food we want so we can get some ideas here." James asked in a would be suave voice. I giggle and stick out my tongue as if I were thinking, but really I'm admiring the small town. Rain is beginning to fall and it just looks mystical. I feel as though someone were following us though. Hmmmmm. Oh well, I'm getting soaked so-o-o-o might as well go inside and get a butterbeer to warm up.
"Let's grab a butterbeer then go to Zonko's and Hunydukes." I answer his question finally and we ran, laughing the whole way, to the Leaky Cauldron. Out of breath and soaking wet James and I stop as we enter the doorway and catch our breath.
"Wow! You run really fast." James said. I just laugh. Hey, that's what I get for chasing the annoying little boys back in elementary school! I smile at him and drag him over to the bar to order our drinks.
"Two butterbeers, please." I say to the very young Rosemerta. She nods and James drags me over to a booth in a secluded corner of the bar.
"Ok, so we're doing a muggle ball so no robes of any sort. We need tuxedos for the guys and ball gowns for the girls. We have to make invitations too. Who should be invited? The fifth years up?" I ask in a quick rush. James looks like I spoke alien or something. Geez…it really isn't that hard to comprehend. A cold gust of wind swept over James and me but we paid no attention.
"Hellooooo!" I lean forward and wave my hand in front if his face. I put my index finger under his jaw and push it up, closing his open mouth. "Yoohoo!" I wave a hand in front of his face again and laugh as he snaps out of his revery.
"Sheesh. Thought you'd never snap out of it." I laugh and he blushes.
"Sorry, but yes. No robes, invitations for fifth years and up, anything else other than deciding on decorations and food?" I shake my head no and we just sit in a comfortable silence until Rosey brings our butterbeers.
"So, do you want to visit the dress shop while we're here anyway?" James asks, breaking the silence. He is so thoughtful.
"Yeah, I think I'd like to get that out of the way. OH! We have to make a Hogsmead trip for the fifth years and up so they can get their outfits! We have to make the invitations tonight and send them out tonight so they can be received tomorrow morning. We only have two weeks before Halloween!" I say exasperated.
"Calm down Lily. Calm down." James soothes and places a warm hand over my small, cold one. He pulls a 4x6 black box. He opened the lid and I gapped as I saw the elaborate invitation cards.
"Wow!" I say in aw. The card were on white, thick parchment with black script on the front covered by a sheer, black cloth. I take one and open it. Black script with silver shadow filled the card.
"These are awesome. I'm surprised."
"Why?" James gives me a funny look and I can feel myself going red.
"Well, you see, I just…it's just that…you…pranks…never thought…um…" I was cut off by his index finger on my lips to shut me up.
"It's ok. Don't worry about it. Ya know, you're cute when you're at a loss for words." He chuckled. What's that supposed to mean? Grrrrrrrr. He must have seen the look on my face for he quickly added, "That is a good thing. It was a compliment." I nod and smile slightly.
"Alrighty, On to Zonkos!" We get up and leave a few sickles on the table and walk out. I laugh as we run through the rain to Zonkos. It's very wet. That was stupid, of course it's wet. It's rain which is water which means that rain is wet because it's water and I'm wet because it's rain and…
"Lilyyyyyyyyy." Huh? I snap out of my strange explanation. Wow. Zonkos is awesome. Decorations and surprises, I hopped to a bin of colorful bags. I opened one and heard a laugh come from James as I turned around. The bag had exploded in my face, an explosion of confetti. I was covered head to toe in brightly colored confetti. I began to laugh. James looked at me one more time and joined me in raucus laughter.
"What…hmmph…kind of dec…heehee…decorations should we get?" I asked between laughter. James shrugged and helped me get the confetti off.
"Well, we can have colorful decorations, such as yourself or we could go black and white." I like that idea. Black and white, I don't look very nice in white though and I kinda wanted to wear green. Hmmmmm.
"I'm not sure. This is hard. How about the decorations are black and white but we can wear whatever color we want." I tried to see whether he liked the idea but I couldn't tell.
"Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that idea. This will be easy to decorate." James said and we got to work figuring what we needed and how we would decorate. Next we slipped over to Hunydukes to check out the newest candies that we could get for the ball.
"I like this one, it's sweet and tangy at the same time." I smile as James shoves a lolli into my mouth so I could taste the candy. I nod my head in response. This one is the best we've tried yet. An idea struck me for the ball and I whipped the lolli out of my mouth and spoke quickly.
"How about we have a um, bachelor/bachelorette-like-thingy auction! Like to raise money for that new orphanage! They need the help and I thin it would be fun!" I was overly pleased with myself for coming up with such a good idea. I watched as James contemplated this.
"How would we do that?" he asked me.
"Well, we could take a poll of the hottest single guys and girls and choose six of them, they must willingly agree though. Then at the ball the other students bid money on them to go on a date with them, or something like that. The money we make will go to that new orphanage." I explained and James nods his head and agrees.
"Since we now have the candy and sweets, would you like to go to the robe shop?"
"James, this is a muggle ball, no robes." I say to him.
"I know, they have gowns and tuxedos there." Oh, I didn't know that. I nod and we pay for our purchases and leave for the shop. We walk in and a young woman about nineteen came toward us.
"My name is Marissa. Are you here for the Hogwarts ball?" she asked and we nod.
"It's a muggle ball so I need a gown and he needs a tuxedo." I point to James when I say tuxedo. The Marissa smiled and whisked me away as James went to look at the tuxedos.
"Alrighty dear, try this one." She said and handed me a cream gown. I went into the dressing room and tried it on. The dress made me look ghostly. I stepped out and Marissa shook her head and handed me a red dress this time. I turned around and went back in. I tried this one on too. It was a halter-top that clung to my body. Yug! It sags way to low in the back! I'm just gonna take this one off. I hand Marissa the dress and she hands me another. This one a midnight blue and strapless with a ball gown skirt. My boobs are hanging out! This is a NO! I quickly take it off and hand it back to Marissa who yet again hands me another. This one is a silvery dress. I slip the cap sleeves over my shoulder and zip up the back. I look into the mirror and grimace. The fabric at the bottom is pooling way to much and I look like I'm a six year old trying on her mothers wedding dress. Definitely not, I yet again hand Marissa the dress and receive another. I look at this one before putting it on. It's gorgeous! Double spagetti straps, and a tight fitting top that flowed into a softly billowing bottom, would most likely touch the floor. The dress was black, but starting at the top an emerald green sliver widened all the way down the dress. Green ivy lined both sides of the green river in an almost magical way (no pun intended). I stepped into the dress and looked at myself in the mirror. This was the dress, the perfect dress. I stepped out to show Marissa and she almost cried with joy as she saw the way it fit. It seemed as if it had been made for me. It walked down a small hallway to see how it looked in a large full-length mirror. It seemed as if I were floating towards the mirror. Grinning ear to ear I returned to the dressing room and put my normal clothes back on. I walked out with the beautiful dress in hand. Marissa took it from me and put it in a black dress carrier to keep it safe she also put a few charms on it. I walked to the front of the shop with her and met up with James again who was holding a tux in his hand and leaning against the cash register.
"Ready?" he asked and I nodded. I glanced at his tux and almost let out a yelp of surprise. James' tux was black, a new white shirt and an emerald green vest. On the pocket of the jacket there was a small line of green ivy on top. His tux matched my dress perfectly. Weird and slightly creepy indeed. Marissa seemed to know something I didn't but didn't say anything.
"Shoes! I don't have shoes to go with my gown!" I exclaim and Marissa and I quickly disappear to the back of the shop again. We decided on a pair of satin, black ballet flats with a small bow on them. Finally we pay for our purchases and leave.
"Can I see what you bought?" James asked me in a I-wanna-know-I-wanna-know kinda voice. I shook my head and he pouted. I looked at him and giggled. I giggled! Me! Me, Lily Rae Evans, GIGGLED! Hmhmhmhm. It is rather funny though. Oh! James lunged at me trying to see the dress. He was grinning like a maniac as he landed in a pile of wet leaves. I laugh at him as he gets up covered in leaves and he begins to chase me. Him, holding his tuxedo in one hand and trying to grab me, with the other, and me, with my gown, trying to escape. Laughing we ran back to the castle that way and into the Heads common room. No one was there because lessons were still going on. I turn and go into my room and put my dress in the closet. I walk back out with a sketchbook and pencil. James walked out of his room and stared at my muggle writing tools. I quickly explain them and we sit down on the couch in front of the fireplace. I begin to sketch the Great Hall, decorated for the ball. I show James the sketch and he looks really surprised.
This is really awesome, Lils. I like the detail. I like the decorations too. We had better send out the invitations now before the kids get out of class. I nod and we head up to the owlery.
