Chapter Eight: Magicians, Gypsies, Vampires and Fairies… Oh Yeah, It's Halloween

(POV of James)

If he thought that Lily Evans looked gorgeous dressed regularly at the train station… then what was she now?

She was gorgeous too…

… but also downright sexy.

Sirius, of course, was the first to comment on this. "Bloody hell, Evans! How'd you grow up to be so fuckin' hot?"

Lily was a little taken back by this statement, James could tell. "Er… thanks?"

Sirius shook his head and was off to go find his new Ravenclaw girlfriend, who, to the surprise of everyone, wasn't slutty in the least. She was pretty and kind and… looked almost exactly like Estella.

Everyone, of course, took notice of this but Estella, who was now ignoring him. Estella had already gone down to the ball by then—she was with her Hufflepuff date… whose smile resembled Sirius' quite strongly.

But, as author, I digress.

James couldn't stop staring at her as she made her way down the common room.

Her costume clung to her, emphasizing all of her curves. She had put glitter on her wings and they flapped sometimes, but she was careful to show them off when there was no one directly behind her. Her hair was curly, giving it a more "earthy" look, and she obviously transfigured something into ivy to twist into her hair. She was wearing dark green strappy sandals, and James could feel some heat radiating off of her… he guessed it was probably the heating charm, or it could just be him… Sirius was right. She was fuckin' hot.

He gulped and held out a white lily. "For my fanciful fairy," he said charmingly, surprising when he could barely stand up right just looking at her.

She accepted it with a smile. "Where's Remus?"

James shrugged. "Fixing with his fangs."

"His fangs?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"He's' a vampire," James whispered.

Lily laughed. "Ooh, Selene better watch out!"

James grinned then looked around. "Where's Selene, by the way?"

Lily said, "She just had to add something… oh! There she is!"

"There's Remus as well," James replied. They were half-way down the stairs of their respective dorms when they caught sight of each other.

"Hi," they heard Selene say shyly.

"Hello," Remus said hoarsely.

James and Lily grinned to each other knowingly. "We'll meet you two down there, okay? We just need to…make sure Peeves didn't mess with the decorations."

"Yes," Lily called up, playing along. "I'm a bit worried about the band as well. Want to make sure everything's working properly. See you two in a bit."

The two grinned until they were out in the hallway.

"Brilliant," Lily said as she high-fived James while she laughed. "Now if we can get Estella and Sirius together…"

James grimaced. "Eh, I dunno… they loathe each other."

Lily nudged him as they walked along. "Well, we did too for a while, but at least we're friends now, right?"

"Yeah," James said, his heart sinking just a tad, "We're at least friends."

God, why couldn't he forget about her? It was so damn hard… she was standing next to him, smelling so damn good, like lilacs and white lilies… wait a minute, was that…?

"It looks good like that you know," James told her suddenly as they made their way down the steps to the Great Hall, "in your hair."

Lily touched her namesake flower. "Oh," she flushed. "Thank you."

She looked him up and down. "So, a magician, eh?"

"Yup," James grinned. "One of those horribly phony ones I've read about in muggle studies."

Lily laughed. "You certainly look the part."…

-

(Lily's POV)

And damn did he look good too.

She never thought she'd see the day when James Potter, her ex-arch-nemesis, would look so damn hot in a muggle tux.

Although, boys with dark hair always seemed to look good in tuxes, she reflected.

But, she thought, she doubted Sirius would look half as good as James did.

He wore it with a refreshing self-confidence—not arrogance, like he might've two years back—and had an easy and genuine smile on his face when he looked down at her.

Somehow they had ended up arm and arm and Lily confusingly wouldn't have it any other way.

Selene and Remus had arrived a few minutes after, and couldn't take their eyes off each other.

Selene looked quite intriguing as a gypsy with silvery blonde hair, but that was quite all right. It was wavy and loose, and she wore it with a handkerchief that matched with her dark purple dress, that went well with her eyes.

Remus looked good as well, Lily mused, (although couldn't measure up to James.) He was in a tux as well, with a black cape around his shoulders. His hair was slicked back, but not overly so, like Lucius Malfoy's, and there was a single curl in the middle of his forehead that looked quite… dashing.

Lily spotted Frank and Alice dancing near a corner. Alice looked very pretty in her pale blue princess dress that matched her eyes. Frank was in a suit of armor, but seemed quite comfortable in it… Lily noted that she would have to ask him what sort of charm he used.

Estella looked quite sexy as a black cat. She wore a little headband for ears and her outfit was one piece of black velvet, clinging and emphasizing every single curve. Lily noticed Sirius was eyeing her—his gray eyes nearly black with desire and longing. Poor Sirius… Lily shook her head. She hoped her friend would see that Sirius wasn't so bad after all… Hell, if she wasn't so attracted to James, Lily would've gone out with Sirius if he asked…

Whoa! Hold on a minute! Lily told her mind. I did not just admit that I'm attracted to James!

Afraid so, dear, that infuriating, motherly voice answered in the back of her mind. And there's no stopping now.

Screw you, Lily thought rudely. I know myself better than you. I am not attracted to James Potter!

Trying to block that thought of her mind, she smiled up at James, trying to prove that she felt nothing when he smiled back.

What a failure that turned out to be.

When her green eyes locked with his hazel ones, the world seemed to stop. Her head felt a lot lighter, and her throat was parched. And yet… it was one of the best feelings in the world.

She took a step away from him, causing him to frown before he knew what he was doing. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, a tad nervously.

"Oh," James said, and then blinked, pulling himself out of a trance, it seemed. "Oh! Here, let me." And he left.

Lily found a table and pulled up a chair, letting her half-clothed body slide into it. What a long night it's going to be, she groaned.

And yet, in all honesty, she didn't mind in the least…

-

Author's Note: Sorry that it's not seven pages… I just thought that was a good place to stop… man, everyone is in a romantic mood, I know… had to get a little fluff in there… the next chapter is going to be action packed… a lot is going to be going on… I'm getting excited just thinking about it… tee-hee… although, I'm going to be taking a bit of a break. The next chapter will be posted sometime after Christmas (of course)… probably between Tuesday and Friday of next week… sound good?

HoAKR (Hall of Arse-Kicking Reviewers)

SnakeEyesHannah: Ooh, sorry about your stomach. That really sucks. Hope you're better now, though. I'd hate to be sick on Christmas. And yeah, I totally wish I had Lily's body… but I don't, so I won't dwell on it.

soccerchic1989: Yeah, I thought about their names having to do with the story, but I couldn't think of any good plot… Oh well, though. Now you guys know the connections with the names.

hunnydukes-chocolate: I'm glad you like the idea of Selene and Remus. Also, I'm terribly sorry about the confusion with Estella and Sirius. What I meant to say was that that they both like each other and will (maybe) have an ending like Lily and James…no, not Voldemort killing them...(except Bellatrix killed Sirius, frigid bitch…) a happy ending where they finally get together… okay, sorry, rambling. Basically they're going to hate each other, and the tension (sexual and otherwise) will climb up until… okay, not giving it away.

The ORIGINAL Meathead: Was James' reaction good enough? I didn't really know how else to write it… and I got a bit off-track with the Sirius/Estella bit… terribly sorry, but I didn't know where else to fit it in.

Black Rose: Glad you like it. I know… some of the James/Lily stories are really bad and James and Lily (Lily especially) are really out of character, and it drives me nuts! And I can't reveal anything about Selene and Remus but… they are really sweet together, aren't they? If you want, I'll dedicate a chapter just of them… but you have to review again and let me know!

And thanks to… scullymulder1234, Autumn Rhea, and Siriusly Sirius Lily Black … for reviewing! Love you guys!

Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays, to quote NSYNC…lol)

-FieryStar90-