Pumpkin Juice, Dance Partners and Bavarian Fruitcakes
By the Drunk Elves
Dobby: This was our entry for the most recent Writer's Duel on We entered Challenge No. 3.
Dobby: So if this looks familiar, it's probably cause you read it in the Duel Archive…
Winky: So don't sue us!
Dobby: Review us!
Winky: Hey, that rhymed!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related things belong to J.K Rowling. The line about a 'Bavarian Fruitcake' and the costume comes from the movie, 'Miss Congeniality'.
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The greenhouses were completely silent except for the click of secateurs, the rustling of leaves and the extremely noisy conversation of forty or so seventh years. So it wasn't really silent at all.
James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were hunched over their trays, trying to plant more Screechsnap seedlings than Lily Evans' group. They were about to re-pot their twenty-third seedling when there was a shriek from behind them.
"Miss Bulstrode!" cried the round and – usually – cheerful Professor Sprout to the huge troll-like girl who was surrounded by orange bell-like flowers. "Careful, please! Those Autumn Bells are for the Halloween Ball!" As soon as the words were out, the professor clapped a hand over her mouth.
"There's a ball?"
"When is it?"
"Is there a theme?"
"How can we get out of it?" called Lily Evans, sending a reproachful look at James. She was nudged by her friend, Tia – Hestia – Jones.
Professor Sprout, looking extremely annoyed, said, "Yes, there is a ball, and it is on the 31st of October, naturally. There is no theme unless you wish to dress up as a pumpkin and no, I'm sorry, Miss Evans, you cannot get out of it." Lily looked extremely disappointed.
"It was supposed to be a surprise," continued Professor Sprout reluctantly, "but since I slipped already, I might as well tell you what Professor Dumbledore was planning to announce tomorrow. This ball includes a surprise which I have not been silly enough to reveal yet which involves inter-house unity." Then as the bell rang loudly, she added hastily, "Class dismissed!" and walked hurriedly out of the greenhouses, leaving the buzzing seventh years to clear up.
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All that day, the whole school could talk of nothing else but the upcoming Halloween ball. Everyone was puzzling over what the inter-house unity surprise was. There were many different theories ranging from each house having to wear the other's uniform to Gryffindors having to learn Parseltongue to understand Salazar Slytherin better.
One Slytherin seventh year complained about how the Slytherins would have to live in the Gryffindor common room while allowing the Hufflepuffs in theirs before Remus squashed this theory by pointing out that it didn't encourage inter-house unity.
"So…" said Sirius at dinnertime, looking at James with an evil grin. "Who are you going to ask with you to the ball?"
James reddened and shrugged, looking over at Lily. He mumbled something like "I'll go by myself".
"Come on, Prongs," whined Sirius. He had always thought that James obsessed too much over the redhead. "We can ask those blonde twins from Ravenclaw! They look exactly the same, so we can swap and nobody will notice- Prongs?"
"Sorry, what?" asked James distractedly, still looking at Lily. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Never mind," said Sirius grumpily, spearing a potato on his fork and stuffing it in his mouth. "Ongs, or geing a bi oshesh!"
"Padfoot, you know that's disgusting, don't you?" asked Remus conversationally.
"Whuzzor plolem, Oony?" asked Sirius indignantly, spraying bits of potato everywhere.
"Why is he speaking gobbledegook?" Peter asked.
Remus replied resignedly, "Because he's Padfoot."
Just then, Professor Dumbledore stood up. Eventually, silence fell, and everyone turned their attention towards the silver-haired Headmaster.
Professor Dumbledore smiled and said, sounding as though he was about to laugh, "Good evening, students! I heard through the grapevine that our dear Professor Sprout let slip about the Halloween ball!" There was a small amount of tittering from students and Professor Sprout blushed.
"I have heard that some of you are so enthusiastic that you have begun asking prospective partners already!" There were cheers in the Great Hall.
"However," continued Dumbledore, looking more serious (no pun intended), "I am afraid I cannot allow this. You see, the staff have a slightly different plan for the ball. We will choose your partners for you." There were a lot of outraged whispers but Dumbledore ploughed on.
"I have put the names of every student above fifth year in these two hats." With a flick of his wand, two brand-new wizard hats appeared. One was white and the other one black. "Boys," he pointed to the black hat, "and girls," he pointed to the white hat. "So," he continued, "let us begin!"
As Dumbledore put his hand in the white hat and drew out a green slip, the atmosphere in the hall was so tight you could cut it with a knife. "Margaret Eggleston." James looked at Sirius who had his eyes screwed shut with both fingers crossed and who seemed to be muttering, "Please not me, please not me…" From the looks of most boys in the Hall, they were thinking along the same lines.
Dumbledore reached into the black hat and drew out another green slip. There was a huge sigh of relief from the boys of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Margaret – aka pugface – who had been looking bored, suddenly looked interested. She was looking at Lucius Malfoy, who was lolling in his seat, completely unaffected by the whole situation.
"Angus Crabbe," read Dumbledore. There were some sighs of relief from some Slytherin boys and Margaret looked very sulky while Crabbe just looked confused.
The partner allotting went on for some time. Some of the most unlikely people were paired together. Tiny Matthew Parker was paired with Prudence Bulstrode and David Bell who was Ravenclaw Quidditch captain with Melanie Hargraves, Gryffindor captain. On the other hand, Sam Jordan and Alexis Blue who had been going out for two years were put together.
"How come they get each other?" whispered Sirius crossly.
James was about to reply when Remus shushed them and nudged Sirius to look at Dumbledore.
"James Potter." There was silence in the Hall once more and though James didn't notice, many girls suddenly looked very excited.
"And…" Dumbledore fished in the white hat for another name. A red slip was pulled out. A Gryffindor! James felt hopeful…maybe he would be put with Lily… "…Hestia Jones."
James grinned at Tia and she smiled back; he and Tia had been neighbours for practically their whole lives and he liked her. But he couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment at not being put with Lily. Oh, well. She would be happier. For Lily had let out a huge sigh of relief when Tia's name had been called out.
Soon, the chatter died down because Dumbledore said, "Sirius Black." Even more girls looked excited at this and Sirius eyed the blonde Ravenclaw twins…maybe he would be put with one of them…
"And…" Out came a blue slip. Sirius grinned at the Ravenclaw twins. They both smiled sweetly at him and simultaneously gave him the finger. He scowled. "…Rachel Quinn." Sirius grinned and winked at her. She was hot. He would be okay. She rolled her eyes. Ah, well.
In this manner, several people were paired up. After the initial tension at the start of the partner allotting, most people had gotten bored and weren't really listening, starting when their names were called. Soon, there was only one slip left in each of the hats.
From the boys' hat, Dumbledore drew out a green slip. "Lucius Malfoy." James was so busy thinking that maybe there was one more boy in the school than girls and hoping that Malfoy would have to go by himself that he didn't notice the look on the face of the last girl, the one who knew she would have to go with Malfoy.
"And…" Dumbledore pulled out a red slip. Reading it to himself, his merry smile disappeared for the first time. His voice did not sound as enthusiastic when he read out, "Lily Evans."
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There was a pause, and one of the loudest silences James had ever heard. Well, not heard. Because there was nothing to hear. But still.
"No way!" yelled Tia, standing up and glaring at Dumbledore. "She's not going with him!" She spat out the word him as if she were talking about the scum clinging to the scum of her shoe.
Some of the Slytherins stood up and yelled back at Tia, and soon the two houses were yelling at each other and the other houses, not wanting to feel left out, joined in, throwing insults right and left. There was a scene of chaos in the Great Hall and Dumbledore's plan of inter-house unity went out the window. The only people who hadn't moved were Lily and Malfoy. Lily's face was pale and she was staring, wide-eyed and unmoving, ahead of her. Malfoy, on the other hand was lolling in his seat and lazily playing with his goblet.
"I'll swap!" said Margaret Eggleston loudly.
"Enough!" said Dumbledore loudly. For the most part, silence fell. "Thank you, Miss Eggleston, but that won't be necessary. If we rearrange one pair, then we will have to rearrange them all."
Most students agreed that they wanted a redo, but some like Sam Jordan and Alexis Blue wanted to stay the way they were.
"That will be quite enough. The partner arrangement will stay. You and your allotted partner must walk into the Hall together and share the first two dances together as well as have dinner together with another pair of your choice. The rest of the night is yours. I think that's quite fair," Dumbledore added a little louder to drown out the mutinous mutterings of people who didn't think this was quite fair at all. "You may also want to consult with your partner about the colour of your dress robes, just so you don't clash. You may go to bed."
There was a great scraping of chairs as everyone moved to go back to their various common rooms. Soon, only Lily and Tia were left. Lily had not moved since her name had been announced and Tia was gently getting her to stand up and comforting her.
As Lily and Tia passed the Marauders, Lily and James' eyes met for a second. James tried to tell her with a look that she would survive, but then she looked away as Tia hurried her off to get to Gryffindor Tower.
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As Lily stepped into the noisy common room, it fell silent immediately, a sure sign they were all talking about her. She bowed her head, surveying the common room with her big green eyes.
She slowly walked up to bed.
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The night was frosty and a chilly draught blew along the corridors. She was wearing only her white flannel pyjamas and looked like a lonely ghost, wandering a haunted house. For that was how Hogwarts looked at night. Deserted. Lonely. Dusty. The dust that lay thick upon the stone stuck to her bare feet.
She trailed a hand along the banister as she walked down the stairs. She would have to go to the ball with Malfoy… Well, she would only have to dance two dances with him. And they could choose another couple to sit with at dinner. Maybe she could choose Tia and…Potter. Well, even James was better than Malfoy, she supposed. She could have other company at least during dinner…it wouldn't be so bad, really…
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the freckle-faced Mudblood," said a lazy, drawling voice and as Lily's head snapped up as though tugged by a string, she saw the pale, pointed face and sleek blonde hair of a smirking Lucius Malfoy.
It was bad.
Lily set her jaw and decided that none of his taunts would get to her. "So…" said Malfoy, smirking, "…about this ball. You meet me outside the Slytherin common room at seven sharp tomorrow. Don't be late." He turned to go when-
"No," said Lily at a barely audible volume.
Malfoy turned to face her. "No?" he repeated, looking highly amused.
"No," Lily repeated, a little louder this time. "It is customary for a man to pick a lady up," she said, hating the fact that she sounded exactly like her mother who was very old-fashioned. "You come to Gryffindor Tower."
"I'm not going anywhere near the rathole of Mudbloods and blood traitors. We will meet outside the entrance hall," said Malfoy decisively.
"I'm wearing white robes," blurted Lily, thinking that as she would have to tell him, she might as well get it over with.
"I'm wearing black," said Malfoy sardonically. "You know, it's a good thing we have allotted partners; otherwise you would be all alone. No one wants to go with you."
Lily forced herself to blink back the tears and swallow her hurt feelings. "James does. James wants to go with me."
"Potter?" Malfoy was looking amused again. "Like he even counts."
Lily turned abruptly and walked stiffly away, hoping that Malfoy had not seen the tears that had dropped out of her eyelids and down her face. No one wants to go with you.
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The next morning, the dark circles under Lily's eyes and her tousled hair betrayed her sleeplessness. Lily had not slept all night, dreading the prospect of going to the ball with Malfoy.
James was watching Lily from the Marauders' place in the common room. The thought of Malfoy dancing with Lily made him feel decidedly ill. Maybe he and Tia could sit with her and – he shuddered – Malfoy.
Well, she was a fiery little redhead, he would have to give her that. He had seen that side of her many times. She was strong. She could survive Malfoy.
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James walked down to the Great Hall alone. Tia was still getting ready, so they had agreed to meet in the Entrance Hall at seven. Sirius had gone to meet Rachel Quinn at the Ravenclaw common room, and Remus, who was with a nice girl from Hufflepuff, had gone to meet her there. Peter and his Ravenclaw date – who was half a foot taller – were to meet at the Ravenclaw common room also.
James walked along until he heard a what sounded like a girl's voice saying, "Oh no!" He heard the clanking of armour. He hesitated. Peeves sometimes pretended to be a girl to lure unsuspecting victims to him.
A second later, he decided to investigate. There was a shriek, and he ducked as something heavy and white was hurled at his head.
"Lily?"
"James?"
"Why did you throw a shoe at me?" asked James, perplexed, picking up the shoe from where it lay. He noticed that Lily had only one shoe on.
"Well, the heel of my shoe snapped and I forgot the spell to repair it and now I'll have to go with only one shoe and-" Lily looked near tears.
"Whoa, hold on! The spell for repairing things…" James thought hard, remembering something Remus had said about his broken glasses once. The spell to repair objects… "Reparo!" With a squelching sound, the heel of the shoe stuck itself back on.
"Oh, thank you," Lily said earnestly, beaming up at him.
"No problem," said James, swallowing. James didn't know why he did it: he knew Lily hated him. Perhaps it was because he was feeling particularly gentlemanly that night; maybe he was feeling protective of his date's best friend, maybe it was because she looked particularly beautiful, even when her hair was slightly askew.
Lily took James' proffered arm, smiling slightly.
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Lucius Malfoy was tapping his foot on the marble floor of the Entrance Hall. It was two minutes past seven. Where was the Mudblood? He had told her expressly not to be late. She would pay for that.
Ah, there she was. She and the blood traitor Potter seemed to be having an animated conversation. She looked up and saw him and frowned. She walked over to him. Her hair was falling out of its style, Malfoy noticed with contempt.
Then, as the flood of couples rushed into the Great Hall, Lily, with a determined look in her eye, grabbed his arm and dragged him with her in the direction of the opening song.
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"Albus," whispered Minerva McGonagall anxiously, "do you really think it wise to let Miss Evans go with Mr Malfoy? This will not end well."
"Minerva," said Dumbledore patiently, "I believe Miss Evans completely capable of managing this situation. She has all the passionate fire that her red hair hints. Besides, I am interested as to how this will turn out."
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Lily dragged Malfoy onto the dance floor for the first compulsory song and she placed her hand on his shoulder and tried not to shudder as he placed a hand on her waist.
He was a good dancer, she noticed. He suddenly spun her around and her arm twisted at an unnatural angle. She just managed to swallow the sharp cry of pain that nearly came out but couldn't stop herself from taking a quick breath. Malfoy's eyes glinted.
He turned her towards the left and suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.
"Sorry," called Sirius, dancing away with his Ravenclaw partner, "too exuberant!"
When Lily tried to move her shoulder, it sent stinging jolts of pain up her arm. She glared at Malfoy. "You did that on purpose!" He merely smirked.
Lily wondered in despair how much more she could take of this. And it was only the first dance.
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James and Tia were having a good time on the dance floor, making fun of each other's poor dancing and joking around.
"Look at Binns," she giggled, pointing to the sour-looking History of Magic teacher. "Oooh, doesn't he look grumpy?"
"He couldn't get a date to the ball," James said gravely.
"Yeah, McGonagall turned him down," said Tia equally seriously and they both burst out laughing, unfortunately attracting the attention of the sour Professor Binns, who glared at them before staring at Sirius to make sure he didn't make trouble. But Sirius had some trouble planned. Trouble involving Malfoy.
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Finally, the disastrous two dances were over for Lily. She had had her toes stepped on countless times on purpose, received many kicks in the shins and also suspected a sprained shoulder.
Now, if she could only get through dinner, she would be free. Free to dance with whomever she liked. But…who?
Looking around for James and Tia, when Lily found them, she started towards them. A hand on her shoulder held her back.
"No, I don't think so," sneered Malfoy. "How about some of my friends? They're just dying to get to know you better."
Before she knew what was happening, she was whisked off to a table with Margaret Eggleston and Crabbe. Great. Just great.
-----
To Lily, the air around felt like Garrotting gas, suffocating her. So far, she had survived many scathing remarks about her parentage, her house, her friends, and her 'scrawny' figure.
She had looked down at her plate, trying to block out the things Malfoy said.
"…Mudblood, gone bad like all of them. In fact, you should be thanking me for even dancing with you."
Lily stared down at her favourite dish, cottage pie, but she had absolutely no appetite.
"Well, Mudblood? Are you going to thank me?"
Lily looked up and glared defiantly at Malfoy.
Crabbe kicked her sharply under the table. Gasping in pain, she said with her teeth gritted, "Thank you."
"That's better," drawled Malfoy. "We purebloods need a bit of respect from lesser wizards and witches. Mudbloods like yourself…"
Lily tried to tune him out, clutching her arms so hard that one of them began to bleed. She started in surprise when her fingers became wet. She bent her head and fumbled for a napkin.
"What's the matter, Mudblood?" taunted Malfoy, "You're going to cry already?"
Lily suddenly realized that with her head bent and fumbling for a napkin, she looked like she was crying. She looked up. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She continued fiercely, standing up, "You can insult my house, my friends, my parents and me, you can kick me under the table all you like, but you will never be the one who make me cry, Lucius Malfoy!"
There was a ringing silence in the Great Hall.
Then Dumbledore said gravely, "Admirable sentiments."
"You kicked her?" said James dangerously, standing up and glaring at Malfoy.
In second, he and Sirius had rushed towards Malfoy and started punching every inch of him they could reach.
Professor Binns stood up and with a simple spell, effortlessly pulled them off. He promptly took fifty points off from Gryffindor, but when Professor McGonagall pointed out that Malfoy had kicked Lily-
"That wasn't me-"
-Professor Binns was forced to take fifty points off Slytherin as well.
"Lily?"
Lily looked behind her to see Margaret. "Yes?" she asked warily.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Was it possible that she was actually sorry for being so awful? Was there such thing as a good Slytherin?
A truly evil smile lit up Margaret's face. "For being the one that makes you cry." With that, she tipped the entire contents of her goblet on Lily's white dress.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Tears blurring her eyes, Lily rushed out of the Great Hall.
-----
"Prongs?"
"Yes, Padfoot?"
"I think it's time for our little revenge on Malfoy. What say you?"
"Right with you, Padfoot buddy. You slip it to him, I'll go find Lily and see if she's alright, okay? Here." James handed over a black and gold snuffbox filled with a strange glowing, purple powder.
"Roger, Prongs."
Nobody, not even the ever-observant Professor Binns noticed the evil cackle Sirius let out.
"Watch out, Malfoy…"
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"Lily, come on," begged Tia, outside the girls' toilet stall. "I'll clean up your dress for you, come on, you have to come back!"
"It's no use, Tia," said Lily, sniffing. "I'm not coming back, okay? I think I'll go up to the common room and read a book or something."
"Well…okay," Tia said finally, reluctant to let Lily go, but wanting to abide by her wishes. "Just let me clean up the dress so it's not ruined forever."
There was the sound of unzipping and a white dress with a huge orange splotch was thrown over the top of the stall. Tia caught it and ran it under the tap. The stain wasn't coming out, so she conjured up a bottle of Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Stain Remover.
She washed out the stain, then conjured a fire in the plug-hole of the sink and levitated the dress to dry there.
The door of the bathroom opened hesitantly, and someone tall hovered at the doorway, not sure whether to enter or not.
"James!" Tia exclaimed in relief. "What's going on outside?"
"Oh, nothing much, we got pulled off Malfoy, but not to worry. Sirius has some revenge planned," he finished with an evil grin.
"What?" cried Tia in alarm. "No! He'll just get in trouble and get points taken off! Look, you wait till this dress dries and stay with Lily and I'll go and put a stop to this stupid revenge business."
"Wait, no-" But before he knew it, the door swung shut and James was left alone in the girls' bathroom with Lily in a stall.
Sighing, he slid down on the floor so his back was resting against the sinks.
"Are you okay?"
There was a pause as Lily contemplated this. "No," she finally answered, sniffing.
"What happened?"
"First, when we danced, Malfoy twisted my arm then swung me around so I hit Sirius. I think I sprained my shoulder. During dinner, he and Margaret insulted me, my parents, my friends, my house and you. Crabbe was the one who kicked me. Then Margaret tipped her pumpkin juice on me. Then I came here." All of this was said tonelessly.
Anger welled up in James, anger at the people who had done this.
"Are you coming back?"
The answer came at once. It sounded muffled, though, as if she had a cloth over her face. "O. Alloy hit himself, noowawas to pants wifme. Mm not going pack ingare."
"Alloy?" asked James confused. Then understanding, he added, "Oh, you mean Richard Alloy in Hufflepuff. He hit himself? What, was he drunk or something? Must've had too much elf-made wine. Who's Noah Was? Yes, I know people wander around in packs."
"Ohhhhh! Alfoy!"
"Oookkaaaayyyy…" James said slowly. "Who's Alfred?"
"Ever ine."
"Right, well, do you want to come out now?"
"I will if you give me my dress," Lily said, sounding embarrassed.
James blushed. He had forgotten that Lily was in there with nothing but her… "Here," he said, levitating the now-dry dress over the wall of the toilet stall.
There was the sound of zipping and soon Lily was out of the stall. She looked…erm, well, she looked normal, except her nose was very red and her eyes were slightly puffy.
"Do you want to come back to the ball now?" asked James.
"No, do I have to?" said Lily exasperated. "I've already danced the compulsory two dances with Malfoy and had the dinner. I don't need to go back! I am not going back!"
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"I can't believe I came back," muttered Lily crossly. "This revenge had better be good!"
"Oh, it is," James assured her, smirking.
Suddenly there was a shriek and a loud bang from the other side of the room. Once the glowing purple smoke cleared, there stood…Lucius Malfoy.
Only…he wasn't Lucius Malfoy anymore. He was Lucius-lina.
There stood a blonde girl with pigtails and a pale pointed face wearing a very tight, German sort of outfit. It had white puffed sleeves and a black bodice with red laces. The skirt was red and practically horizontal. You could see huge puffy white lacy underpants underneath.
For a moment, there was a stunned silence, then everybody started laughing. Dumbledore's beard twitched and Professor McGonagall looked like she was about to smile. Lucius-lina's face turned the same shade as his – or her – dress.
Professor Binns stood up. "Sirius Black," he hissed. Sirius cackled. "Detention," he spat. Sirius went, still cackling evilly.
-----
Lily never knew that when she had agreed to dance with James – who was trying to keep her at the ball – that they would be dancing to what Sirius would have called a 'slushy' song.
She had only agreed because James had not asked her out all year and had been really nice to her for the past few days.
Worse than going to the ball with Malfoy was the feeling she was experiencing. When James had grinned at her earlier, she had realized what so many girls loved about his smile and she hated herself for it. Now whenever she saw him smile, her chest tightened. It didn't help that he smelled like soap, either.
For all she knew, he had probably given up on her last year. She had to calm down. She was just dancing with a friend- Wait, was that cologne?
Lily sniffed. It was. There wasn't heaps of it, Lily would have hated that. There was just a little bit. Lily had her head on James' chest and she could hear his heart pounding. She knew her own was too.
"This is weird," Lily said quietly.
James looked down at her in alarm. Was it possible that the feeling he was having was only one-sided?
"In a good way, I mean," she added quickly. James seemed to relax. He smiled at her and that annoying feeling came over her again. She quickly looked down.
Finding herself completely incapable of looking at James, she looked around the room. Near them, Margaret Eggleston was dancing grudgingly with Ferlus Parkinson, also from Slytherin.
"James," Lily whispered, "hide me from Margaret, but make it look like we're still dancing, okay?"
James was puzzled, but curious as to what she would do, so he obeyed. She whipped out her wand, muttered a spell and made her wand go up sharply and then made a tucking motion. James was even more intrigued now.
"What was that?" he whispered curiously.
She grinned very mischievously. "My revenge," she replied simply and turned him around so that he could see it.
What he saw was Margaret Eggleston with her puffy, expensive-looking dress robes tucked neatly into her frilly pink underpants.
He burst out laughing. "Genius," he said, chuckling, "and very disturbing," he added, shuddering. Lily giggled.
The song went on for a few more minutes. At the end of it, James bowed and Lily curtsied.
They went to find Tia who was dancing with Sirius. Apparently, McGonagall had gotten him out of detention saying there was no proof that it was him who had turned Malfoy into a Bavarian fruitcake. Despite Sirius' protests that he hated dancing, he and Tia looked like they were enjoying themselves immensely.
Lily and James looked at each other, eyes sparkling. "I thought Tia liked him," whispered Lily.
"Yeah," said James, whispering back. "But Sirius, well…sometimes it seemed like he liked her, but then he flirted with some random girl, so I wasn't really sure…"
Both Lily and James had had enough of dancing, so they sat on chairs around the Great Hall and talked.
Lily found to her surprise, that she was having a great time with James. They both had a similar sense of humour and Lily was often laughing so hard she was practically crying, and over the stupidest things.
At the end of the ball, Lily, Tia, James, Sirius and Remus walked back up to Gryffindor Tower together. They were chatting happily about the events of the evening and laughing at Malfoy. Sirius said the curse would not wear off for two months.
Once in the common room, Tia hugged Sirius and they both headed their separate ways. Remus yawned and went up to bed as well.
Lily gave James a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," she said softly.
He blushed furiously but smiled again. "What for?"
"For being you."
Maybe, she thought, just maybe she and James could be friends…
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