The Ball (A long chapter)

The Great Hall was decorated for the festivities with garlands of silver, red and green tinsel. Mistletoe hung over the doorway and by the tables; there were several round tables that sat about a dozen people. The lights were off but small Christmas lights were twinkling and red, green and white spotlights shone down onto the dance floor moving from couple to couple. James looked for the source of the lights but he could not find them. There was a small wait at the doorway as some couples had stopped for the traditional kiss under the mistletoe.

'Excuse me, coming through' shouted Nearly Headless Nick who had a Santa Claus hat on. He ran straight through everybody. Kaycee Handley was waiting a long with them. She grabbed Sirius and pulled him in for a long kiss, Sirius pulled away first slightly confused,

'Didn't want to fight tradition,' Kaycee told him and walked away. Sirius went in to find Katie. She sat on a chair looking lovely in a green dress which was a darker, less bright shade of Lily's. The back tied up like a corset and the dress flowed down to her knees. Her dark brown hair was straightened and she had a small pompadour pinned up. Boys milled around and asked her to be their dates for the remainder of the dance,

'Sorry, I'm just waiting for my date to show up,' boys left disappointed. Three boys sat around talking to Katie as Sirius pulled up. He listened to one of them,

'Come on doll why you don't dance with me?' a seventh-year Ravenclaw asked.

'Because you haven't even learned to talk properly yet…I'm not sure if you'll be able to manage dancing,' Katie told him. Sirius smiled. He sat down with the boys as she declined more offers.

'How about me Katie?' Sirius asked smiling his sly sexy smile,

'Oh Sirius Black!' Katie said dramatically, 'You want me to be your date! How could I ever decline?' And with that Katie got up and grabbed Sirius's hands walking away from the dumbfounded boys that she declined. 'Thank you for rescuing me,' Katie told him as they walked towards James and Chloe.

'Anything for a beautiful girl,' Sirius told her. Sirius noticed that there was a pink tint to her cheeks as she smiled after he said that. 'So you have met James?'

'I know of him,' she winked. It was true that Katie did know of the famous James Potter and he was even in a few of her classes however she never really talked to Sirius or James that much.

'And Chloe,' Sirius motioned towards Chloe who had her arm hooked through James's.

'Hi Chloe,' Katie smiled, 'I love your shoes!'

'Thanks.' Chloe told her. The girls had talked a few times but never formed a friendship. There are always people in the school who you get a long with and enjoy their company but remain as a fellow student rather than a friend.

The four found Mel Harrison and her date; Arnold Wigby who was in Ravenclaw. Peter Pettigrew joined them for dinner who was dateless.

'Lily,' begged Chloe, 'please have dinner with us.' Lily looked over and saw Sirius and James talking as Katie and Mel chatted.

'I don't know,' Lily said looking towards Roger.

'You don't mind now do you Roger? You, me and James could perhaps talk a bit of Quidditch!' Chloe told him.

'C'mon Chloe I really don't get a long with James.'

'Then don't talk to him.' Chloe grabbed her friends hand and led her to the table with Roger in tow. Lily sat down between Roger and Chloe. Katie and James were in a deep conversation about Quidditch and Roger and Chloe joined in. Katie laughed,

'This isn't fair! I'm the only Hufflepuff here who plays Quidditch!' as the Gryffindor players were talking about how they were going to take Hufflepuff down.

'We're only messing with you Katie,' Chloe told her.

'Except for the fact that you are going to lose!' James exclaimed.

'Well we'll see about that, our match is just next month.' Katie told them. The Quidditch discussion ended and everybody decided to order their meal. They all looked down at their plates and said either chicken, pasta or ham.

'Man I wish I could have chicken and pasta...I mean who just eats one of them?' Katie told the table. Sirius agreed with her and they decided for each of them to order one and they would split both in half. Peter Pettigrew had a lot of difficulties with cutting his meat which made the whole table silently laugh.

'How hard is it to cut chicken?' Chloe whispered to James.

'Anything is difficult for Peter,' James whispered back and they both laughed. Lily so far hadn't said a word and was working on her pasta looking over to Chloe and James now and then.

'You a vegetarian?' James asked Lily trying to include her a bit while acknowledging her penne.

'No,' Lily said and then stopped talking.

Ok then… James thought and didn't ask her another question. Mel who was sitting next to Peter offered maybe to help but he took it very offensively and spat,

'I can do it myself!'

'Well,' Mel retorted, 'clearly you can't!' Peter Pettigrew glared at her and she said, 'I was just trying to help…' in a quiet voice.

'Never mind him Mel,' Sirius told her, 'He doesn't get a long well with anybody.' Then Sirius whispered, 'God knows why he hangs around with us all day,' to Katie. When Sirius's and Katie's meals arrived Sirius realized that ordering chicken meant ordering a full chicken dinner complete with vegetables and potatoes. 'We have a lot of food!' Sirius told her. Katie forked a potato and flung it across to hit Peter squarely in the face,

'Not anymore we don't,' Katie whispered to him and Sirius laughed as Peter tried to wipe bits of potato off of his face. 'That was for being rude to Mel,' Katie told him and the whole table laughed. Sirius flung a potato over to hit Peter and said,

'That was just to watch you pick potato off of your face again!' Peter turned bright red as the whole table giggled quietly. He stood up abruptly and walked away from the table in a huff.

'See now you're my kind of girl,' Sirius whispered into Katie's here.

Sirius, Katie, James and Chloe headed off to the dance floor where Come Together by The Beatles was playing. The couples danced until their feet became sore. James noticed Roger and Lily talking on the side and Lily glancing into the group of dancers wishing to dance. Chloe decided to take a quick break and go get a glass of egg nog. James took this chance to ask Lily to dance. As he reached her 'Your Song' by Elton John started playing.

'Roger do you mind if Lily comes and has one dance with me?' James asked politely. Roger looked towards Lily shrugging and motioning towards James,

'I'm not much of a dancer myself' Roger told him and James smiled.

'Lily?' James asked and held out his hand for her to grab. She looked at him for a second and then at Roger. She smiled as she grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. He held on to her tightly as the slow song played and they swayed back and forth. He felt her breath on the side of his neck. Lily brought her head up so she was staring directly into James eyes. Anyway the thing is what I really mean.Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seenand the song stopped as James stared into Lily's green eyes.

'They really are,' he whispered to her.

'What?' she asked.

'Your eyes, they are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen,' She smiled slowly and then saw Chloe walking over to her.

'Hey Lily,' Chloe said giving her a hug. She looked at the two of them for a second looking confused.

'Roger wouldn't dance and I really wanted to so James offered to dance with me,' Lily told her looking over at James.

'Hey that was nice of you James,' Chloe smiled at him and hooked her arm through his. Chloe stood there smiling at Lily and Lily stared at James not wanting to let go of her gaze as James stared back. Chloe turned to smile at James and the magic between James and Lily was gone. Lily smiled at James and nodded and then smiled over at Chloe.

'I have to go get back to Roger,' she told them, a little sad, 'thanks for the dance James.' He nodded at her and then Chloe pulled him in as Stairway to Heaven started playing.

Sirius and Katie were dancing to the Led Zeppelin hit more in the middle of the dance floor.

'So having fun?' Sirius asked her.

'Ya, I am' she told him smiling.

'So am I,' he told her and then leaned down to kiss her. She smiled slightly as they kissed, it was short but sweet and Sirius pulled back smiling. He was genuinely happy at that moment, a feeling that he wasn't used to feeling. He was used to living on the edge, being a little moody. In a way he thrived on that feeling. When Katie went to the bathroom Kaycee Handley came up to him as a techno mix played.

'Dance with me,' she said seductively. Her long blonde hair was straight and fell down her back. She wore a tight black strapless mini dress and she looked really hot. Sirius thought for a moment and then decided to see what he liked more: Sweet, pretty, funny Katie or hot, seductive Kaycee. She danced close and wrapped her arms around his neck and grinded with him. He thought Kaycee was a fun party girl but he realized that he actually liked being with Katie.

'Sirius?' he heard and he turned around, Katie stood there looking a little shocked and really hurt. She turned and walked away,

'Katie!' he yelled and ran away from Kaycee, 'Katie! Listen to me!' He followed her outside of the Great Hall.

'Listen to what?' she said and she turned, a few silent tears dripping down her face.

'I…' he didn't know what to tell her. What he wanted to do was make the tears disappear and for her familiar smile to spread across her lips. He stood there staring at her still pretty face and didn't know what to say. His mouth froze still open but no sound escaped. Katie glared at him giving a 'screw you' smile and turned around and walked away. Sirius walked back in and Kaycee stood there at the door, 'I liked her!' he told her, 'you know that? I really, really liked her.'

'What?' she said inching closer to him, 'and you don't like me?' she came up and kissed him. Not the kind of kiss he shared with Katie. This kiss was longer and hot. It was filled with lust and anger, not love and happiness. This was the kind of kiss that Sirius usually shared for he had never loved anybody in his life. Sirius pulled away first and looked down on Kaycee and thought for a moment. What was he getting into?

'Let's dance,' she whispered. He nodded and danced with her for the rest of the night but did not say a word.