Six o'clock and the girls were frantic. Lily and Hannah had made up after their little dispute and all four of them were running around trying to get ready but there were fresh screaming matches when someone hogged the bathroom for more than fifteen minutes. Lily had been in there for over twenty-five and all three girls were getting really pissed off with her.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Clare yelled through the door, "Some of us still need to get ready!"

"Keep ya hair on Clare! I'm almost done!" Came Lily's muffled reply

Lily emerged from the bathroom, looking like what resembled a drowned rat having had no time to dry her hair. She shot Clare a humungous glare which made her laugh as she walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. She dried herself and started to get changed into her costume, which took her forever to work out how to put it on. When she was half way through after putting on the dress, she let Hannah do her hair and Carolyn do her make-up. She had given Hannah permission to dye her hair white blonde with a special potion, knowing however she would probably live to regret it but Hannah had assured her that it was safe and it would work with no side effects. With a light dusting of make-up and her lipstick done, she let Hannah dye her hair. She held her breath and waited for her to finish, once Hannah had said the words 'Voila' she looked at her hair and gasped, she didn't know how she managed to get herself talked into it. Hannah dried it carefully and put it into loose ringlets and gave it a spray with some super strength hairspray. Lily stood up and looked in the mirror, putting on her crown, she would never have believed it was her if she hadn't of been standing there looking at the reflection. Her pale blue dress was stunning and was just touched the floor, it was sprinkled with small (real looking) frosted diamonds to add to the effect, she certainly looked the part of an ice queen

Carolyn changed into her outfit but refused to let either Hannah or Lily do her make-up or hair. Her brown hair was now blonde but not white blonde like Lily's, it hung down loose but was shorter than it usually was. Her dress was a green and resembled something that reminded all four girls of a nymph. It fell just below the knee and was cut jaggedly at the bottom, she tied a green ribbon around her hair and wound it into a bun and put on her pale green slipper like shoes. Her make-up was simple, a bit of concealer and a faint brush of green eye-shadow, her lipstick was of a faint pink. She no longer looked like what she had done a few hours previously.

Clare came out of the bathroom, already wearing part of her outfit, the pleated skirt. It was blue and white and was short for what she would usually wear, but nonetheless it was her outfit and she pulled the top over her head - it had originally had a letter "L" on it but she had changed it to a "H", the top showed off some of her midriff but she didn't complain. The only thing missing from her outfit was pom poms but she was hardly going to take them to a ball. Clare's hair was tied in a twist at the back, with a blue ribbon keeping it in place.

"Someone help me with my make-up!" She cried out

"Clare, I had my shower first and I'm still running around in my underwear!" Hannah snapped, but grinned, "Get Lily to do it!"

Lily rolled her eyes but she did however do Clare's make-up, simple but effective. Blue eye-shadow to match her outfit and bright red lipstick, she also painted her nails blue and white.

"Lily!" Hannah called, "I need your help!"

Lily walked over to her friend's bed and looked at her outfit, raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. Hannah's outfit consisted of an extremely short black skirt and a very revealing black corset style top and as her outfit was so revealing she had taken to wearing just a pair of black knickers for underwear.

"What do you need help with?"

"Fastening the top."

"Why didn't you use your wand?"

"I can't find it!"

Lily let out a hollow laugh but she fastened it for her and dragged her to the mirror and said.

"I'm doing your hair and your make-up so don't even think about doing anything!"

Lily grinned evilly. With her outfit being black, Lily chose to use dark colours, She used bronzer to darken her pale skin, but also used a small amount of fake tan much to Hannah's disgust. She put on a deep red shade of lipstick and a dark blue eye-shadow. Just as Lily was about to change her hair, Hannah stopped her.

"Change the colour and I will personally kill you, three blondes are enough!"

"I wasn't going to." Lily responded, "But now you mention it…"

"Don't you dare!"

Lily laughed slightly, She flicked her wand and styled her hair elegantly.

"Shit it's half past seven!" Carolyn said

The four girls rushed to find shoes and other little accessories, they were late as always but the boys didn't expect anything different from them, it was a regular occurrence. They joked that the girls would be late for their own funerals, Sirius even piped up that Hannah would be hours late for her own wedding - to which he had been slapped. As Lily and Hannah were leaving they saw Clare and Carolyn having a heated discussion.

"You'll only end up getting hurt!"

"It's my life Clare, now butt out of it!"

"Come on you two!" Lily yelled, "We've gotta go."

The girls rushed down the stairs and saw two very annoyed looking Marauders. Clare and Carolyn giggled and said to Lily and Hannah

"Have fun."

Both Lily and Hannah smiled innocently, knowing it wouldn't work and linked their boyfriends arms. Lily kissed Sirius on the cheek and told him that she was sorry for being late. Sirius snorted, she was never sorry for being late, if she was she wouldn't be late again.

"You're mad at me aren't you?" Lily said to him quietly

"No." He said, "Just narked that I had to sit there in this ridiculous costume for half an hour!"

They walked into the Great Hall, and they were amazed by the decorations, the Slytherin's had gone all out, the Hall was decorated with the usual Halloween stuff, but this year it had that extra twist that no-one could quite put their finger on.

"You look beautiful by the way." Sirius whispered

"Thanks, you look - "

"Don't even say it."

"Dance with me."

Sirius smiled and spun her towards him and they danced to a fairly fast song by the Weird Sisters.

"I like your hair, you suit blonde."

"Well tough, I don't even know why I let Hannah talk me into it to be perfectly honest."

"How did I know this would have something to do with my sister."

He kissed her lightly on the lips just as the song finished.

--------

"Why were you so late down?" Andrew asked

"We were getting ready." Clare answered as they danced

"Just out of curiosity, what are you meant to be?"

"Muggle Cheerleader!" Clare said, as if it were obvious

"Thought you were pure."

"I am." Clare snapped

"Oh."

Clare looked at him, he seemed to have all the arrogance of a Slytherin, come to think of it, she didn't actually know what house he was in, he was with Cian at the time so she just assumed he was a Hufflepuff. She sounded like Malfoy, the fact that he had asked her if she was a pure blood made her think, no-one had ever asked her about it before.

"What house you in?" Clare asked him, "'Cause I never asked."

"Slytherin." Andrew answered, "Cian's my step-brother. That's how come we're in different houses."

"Oh right." Clare responded

The pair of them remained quiet for the rest of the song, just dancing slowly, Clare wanted nothing more than to stop dancing with him and sit down but she wasn't about to spend the entire night sitting alone whilst she watched her friends having fun. She just happened to glance over at where people were sitting and saw Snape looking depressed - she did not want that to be her. She saw Carolyn with Cian, she looked like she was enjoying herself but Clare knew something was bothering her. She saw Lily and Sirius sitting down talking, she knew how much Lily hated the song that was playing. Hannah and Remus on the other hand looked happy dancing - Clare was the first to admit she was jealous of her friends, they all had people who cared about them - loved them, she didn't.

- - - - - -

Slowly dancing to a Muggle love long that Dumbledore had told them must be played, Hannah leant her head on Remus' chest. She knew the song that was playing but she just couldn't think what it was called, she didn't like the song much, but she didn't care about the song - just the person she was dancing with.

"You do realise you have quite a lot of guys staring at you." Remus said

"Yeah." She replied, "But there is only ever going to be one guy who will see what's under it." She made a point of smiling at him when she said it.

"Well I plan to have you for a very long time." He whispered, "Well for as long as you'll let me have you."

"I don't plan on running away." Hannah said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Remus smiled, "How can I not love someone so sexy."

She hit him playfully on the arm and kissed him on the cheek.

"Unchained Melody." She said suddenly

"What?"

"The song, I couldn't remember what song it was, and I just remembered, it's Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers."

"As always, your extensive knowledge of Muggle Songs amazes me." Remus chuckled, "Although why play a love song at Halloween?"

"Dumbledore."

Remus looked at her

"Well their playing Wake Me Up When September Ends at some point."

"How do you know?"

"I have sources." Said Hannah simply, "And you are not getting out of dancing for that one."

- - - - -- -

"You okay babe?" Cian asked, spinning her, "You seem distant."

"I'm fine." Carolyn said for about the twentieth time that night.

"You want a drink baby?"

"Sure." She said

She went to sit down and sat next to Snape as there were only two seats left unoccupied.

"Pretend to threaten me." She whispered to him, "Grab me or something."

He nodded, he made it look like he was shouting at her and then grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her onto the Dance floor.

"Look as if your not enjoying yourself."

"Now that is hard." However she did put on as face that did look like she thoroughly hating being with him. She could see people staring, but they thought he had something on her - it looked like he really was threatening her. She could see her friends looking quite taken aback apart from Clare who had a smile on he face.

"He is driving me insane!" She muttered, "He keeps calling me baby or babe. I don't even think he knows my name."

"Why exactly did you ask me to dance with you?"

"To be honest I don't really know." She answered, "Go to kiss me at the end of the song and if I hurt you I'm sorry."

He had a look on his face that looked extremely evil but Carolyn knew better. In that moment though, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, she felt love.