A/N: Okay, I know that they'd probably never have a Halloween ball at Hogwarts I just really wanted to have this because I had a really great idea for it. Not to mention that I love what I made Lily, James and Remus. Which brings me to say that the costumes aren't really time related so just bear with me! This is my pride and joy chapter so I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it! Cheers!

Chapter Twelve: The Halloween Ball

On the night of the Halloween Ball, thirty minutes before it started was dedicated to getting ready in the seventh year boys dorm. Lily, on the other hand, had gone to her dorm a good two hours before to get ready stating that, unlike boys girls take more time to get ready.

James stood in front of a small mirror trying to slick his hair back while Sirius, Remus and Peter were still getting changed. So far he had put two handfuls of gel in his hair but with no success and, getting frustrated, didn't turn around when he heard the bathroom door open until he saw Sirius' reflection in the mirror.

"So," Sirius said, "how do I look?"

"Orange," Remus replied instantly.

"No really?" Sirius said sarcastically. He was wearing what seemed to be a big orange circle with triangle eyes and nose and a crooked mouth. "it came with some hat too," and Sirius put on an orange hat with a green piece sticking out of the top. Remus walked around Sirius and said, "You know what Padfoot? I think you're a giant pumpkin."

"This doesn't make me look fat does it?"

"No, but I really think Lily got you a pumpkin suit."

Then James saw it too and laughed at Sirius' mortified face.

"You're not serious!"

"You're right, you are."

This reply of Remus' made James and Peter laugh harder.

"Shut up you!" Sirius yelled at them pushing Remus aside to look in the full-length mirror. Seeing that what Remus said was true, he ripped off the hat and chucked it across the room at James, who was still laughing.

"What are you supposed to be then, huh?" Sirius asked angrily, and for the first time since James got changed he fully acknowledged the costume Lily picked out for him. He was wearing, what looked like, a tux from the1800s.

"I dunno."

"And you?" he asked turning to Remus who was clean shaven and wearing a nice shirt, pants and jacket that looked as though it too was from the 1800s. But all Remus did was shake his head as a sign that he didn't know.

"I think we can all guess what I am," Peter said and they looked at him.

"Wow, Peter," Sirius said brightening up. "Lily sure knows you well."

The three of them laughed as Peter looked down as his rat costume, and began to laugh too. James looked back at the mirror and used the rest of the gel in Missus Steels magic gel bottle and finally made his hair slick back. Satisfied with himself, he was finally able to go down into the common room with the other three.

Reaching the bottom of the boys' dorm staircase they found Lily standing there tapping her foot impatiently.

"Finally," she said annoyed. "What took you guys so long?" James looked at Lily and found her stunning in a long what gown, style of the 1800s, with small white lilies in her hair.

"Hair," was all James could say.

Lily sighed and looked at his hair. "Well at least it stayed." Turning around she saw that the common room was almost empty, besides those students who weren't going to the ball. "Quickly, stand into line so I can see that you all look alright." When they were all in line she first looked at Peter, who seemed to look fine because she smiled and moved onto Sirius.

"Sirius," she said sternly, "where's your hat?"

Sirius frowned, "I'm not wearing that hat."

"Oh yes you will! It pulls the whole costume together." When Sirius wouldn't oblige, Lily pulled her wand out of a small white purse she was carrying and that seemed to change his mind. It took Sirius no more then a minute to run upstairs, get the pumpkin hat and come back down, jamming it angrily onto his head. Lily smiled when he got back into line. "Much better," she said and moved onto Remus. She walked around Remus a few time looking him up and down before she pulled out a black ribbon and tied back his hair, which was now almost down to his shoulders. Lily was happy that the promise he made to her when they found out about the ball not to cut his hair was kept. When she moved onto James she was half way looking him up and down when she reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of white kid gloves, a half mask and a folded up black cape.

"How much can you fit into that thing?" James asked as Lily handed him these items.

"A lot more then you can imagine." She smiled and tied the cape around his neck while he put the white kid gloves on. As he was situating the mask onto his face Lily said, "Alright we can go now," and they walked out of the common room.

Half way down to the Great Hall James asked, "Hey Lils, what are we supposed to be anyway? I mean we already guessed Sirius and Peter's costumes but you, Remus and me-?"

"Oh well," Lily said, "I got the idea from a novel I love, I was so happy when I found these costumes. They're not supposed to be what I got them for but they're close enough." When she fell silent James had to ask "Well?" to get her to continue.

"Oh, well I got the idea from the novel The Phantom of the Opera. You, James are the Phantom, Remus is Raoul and I'm Christine. Long story short, the Phantom loves Christine but Christine loves Raoul so the Phantom steals Christine and when Raoul comes to save her the Phantom almost kills him to have Christine all to himself. But on Christine's wishes the Phantom lets her go and Christine and Raoul get married. Then the Phantom dies of a broken heart, or because he loves her so much, whatever one sounds better to you."

"And are you trying to say something out of dressing us up like this?" James asked smiling.

Lily blushed. "Well I was going to make Remus the Phantom but I thought the looks fit better this way."

"And why do I have to wear a mask that covers half of my face?"

"Because half of the Phantoms face is all destroyed from what, I'm guessing, was a birth defect because he was born that way."

"Oh thanks Lily."

"You know I love you."

James sighed, "Yes, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this."

Their conversation had led them to the entrance hall and just before they opened the great Hall doors they heard footsteps coming from behind them. Turning around they saw a Slytherin seventh year by the name of Severus Snape, a rather tall but greasy looking kid, walking towards a door that led to the Slytherin common room. Snape and the Marauders were well known enemies and James and Sirius never gave up a chance to torment him, which is why Sirius called out, "Hey Snivellus. Nice costumes, it's perfect. You're scary all year round."

Snape stopped, his hand reaching out for the door handle, and glared at them. They then heard him distinctly say, "At least I'm not a bloody pumpkin," before he disappeared through the door. If it wasn't for James, Remus and Peter, Sirius would have sprinted across the room, flung the door open and attacked Snape. Knowing these were his intentions they grabbed hold of him before he could do any real damage.

"I don't understand why you guys are so mean to him," Lily said. "He can't be that bad of a guy, can he?"

"Lily," James said, "he's knee deep in the dark arts."

"I even heard he's a Death Eater," Peter squeaked up and Lily's eyes grew wide.

"That can't be true, can it?"

"Seems to fit him," Sirius said agitated, but calming down. There was a subdued silence around the group that was broken by Remus who cleared his throat and said, "Shall we?" and they opened the Great Hall doors.

The Great Hall looked almost the same as it normally did on Halloween. It had a bunch of live bats and about ten large pumpkins that would easily fit five people. But instead of the four house tables, they were pushed aside and around a hundred small tables were set up with lit pumpkins in the center. Another difference was that there was a band playing music that fit the mood of Halloween. Most heads turned when the five of them entered since they were late.

"Great," Lily whispered through a smile that seemed strained. "Now everyone's going to be staring."

"Oh don't think that's not what you want," Sirius whispered back.

Lily glared at him. "No, that's not what I want." Before Sirius could try to make her believe that that's what she wanted a bunch of giggling girls distracted him.

"Hey Sirius," they all said together. Then a brunette in the group said boldly, "You look so cute. Why don't you come join us?" And without even a word of goodbye, Sirius followed the girls across the Great Hall.

"Your welcome!" Lily shouted after him and when James looked at her she said, "Well I did pick out his costume." Hearing a slow song starting up from the band she gasped and commanded, "James dance with me." Before he even answered she dragged him onto the dance floor. Remus sighed and said, "I guess it's only you and me Peter." But when he turned to look at Peter, he was feet away deeply in conversation with Sarah. "Or just me," and sadly Remus walked to a table and sat down. He sat there for a while just watching everyone dance with their partners and when the song was over and Lily and James didn't come back he sighed. "Looks like you're gonna be alone tonight," Remus said aloud to himself. Sitting back, trying to get comfortable for a long night, he was scared half to death when he heard a voice next to him.

"Hey sweetheart, what are you doing by yourself?"

Remus turned to see a dark raven-haired girl with icy blue eyes. She was wearing a French maid out fit, which Remus found to be a little too revealing.

"Aren't you that Slytherin girl in my year?"

"Yup, Sam Knox, what's so wrong with that?"

"You're a Slytherin."

"And?"

"And I'm a Gryffindor."

"So what? Does the Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry have to get between us?" When Remus didn't answer she said, "Of course not! Besides I really wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"
"Why else! You're such a catch. I'm surprised you're not taken by now." Remus blushed. They were silent for a while when suddenly Sam stood up.

"Where are you going?" Remus asked suspiciously.

Sam smiled. "No where. I was just stretch- oops." When she stretched out her arms to indicate she was just getting up to stretch she fell over onto Remus' lap. It was a gesture that Remus felt was done on purpose rather then an accident. "I'm so clumsy sometimes," and she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. Remus realized quickly how close their faces were now and how, at this angle, he could see perfectly down her dress. He only started to get really nervous though when he realized her eyes kept darting from his eyes to his lips.

Please don't kiss me. Please don't kiss me; he thought frantically praying she had telepathic powers and could read his thoughts. Obviously not though, but as she leaned forward for a kiss his savior came to the rescue.

"Excuse me Remus?" Sam stopped in mid-motion and they both looked up to see Lily standing there. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Remus said immediately. "If you'll excuse me," and he practically pushed Sam off him so he could get up, walk out of the Great Hall and out onto the grounds with Lily.

The grounds looked strange tonight covered with many colored leaves, it was as though Remus was looking at it for the first time. He breathed in the fresh night air and looked up at the stars, which could be seen clearly in the night sky.

"Thanks Lils," he said turning towards Lily. "You saved me."

"Oh it was nothing," Lily replied waving a hand at his thank-you. "You looked very uncomfortable so I thought I'd help out a friend."

"For what price?"

Lily smiled. "No price, just for the satisfaction of helping a friend."

They walked on a while in silence till they came to a cement bench by the lake where they sat and stared out at the water. Then a question that was bothering Remus came out before he could stop it. "So James doesn't care you're out here with me?"

"No," Lily said, "I pointed you out and he graciously let me go and rescue you. He knows he can trust you." She smiled at him. Remus looked away from her and out into the distance. He was getting awfully hot out here despite the chilly weather and there was a sharp churning pain in his stomach but he didn't know what it was from.

It's probably noting, he thought and tried to ignore it, which was proving harder and harder to do as the pain got worse and worse. It happened so fast that Remus wasn't ready for it. The sharpest pain of all erupted from his stomach and he fell to the ground clutching it.

"Remus?" Lily asked sounding alarmed and worried. She kneeled down next to him and looked at his face, which was now contorted with pain. "Remus, are you all right?" but he couldn't answer because the pain was making it hard to breath. Suddenly his hands began to shake violently and in a hoarse whisper he managed to get out, "Get…away…" Lily looked utterly confused and Remus reprimanded himself in his head, wondering how he could forget.

"I'm not leaving you Remus!" Lily said determines to stay. "You're hurt! Now tell me what's wrong?"

Tears started to leak from his eyes, from sorrow or pain Remus didn't know, and mingled with the sweat that was coming from his forehead.

"Lily…go…should've…remembered…. forgot…stupid…"

"Forgot what Remus?"

Remus looked into the caring eyes of Lily's, which were bright and brimming with tears. In a whisper so low that she had to lean close to him to hear he said, "Full moon."

Lily gasped and jumped up as Remus let out a defining howl. Turning Lily saw the bright full moon that their back was facing. Knowing she should run, Lily found her legs were paralyzed there. She wanted to help Remus, who was withering on the ground in pain, but knew that there was nothing she could do and that at any moment she would be face to face with a pre-mature and highly dangerous were-wolf. Suddenly her legs began to move and she was running towards the school. She tripped over her gown and sent herself face forward to the ground. Just in time she threw her hands out to stop her fall but twisted her wrist in the process. Sitting up Lily caught the eyes of Remus, which were no longer caring and warm but fierce and dark in his were-wolf form. The were-wolf turned to look at Lily baring its teeth.

"Remus?" Lily whispered frightened.

The were-wolf growled and started to charge at her. Too frightened to move, Lily sat there, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream.

Suddenly two big somethings went charging past Lily right at the were-wolf. Lily looked closely and noticed a black dog and a stag attacking the were-wolf, fighting it. The were-wolf retreated and ran towards the Forbidden Forest. Lily stood up slowly and walked towards the two animals, expecting them to run. When they didn't she reached out to touch the stag and it let her. Suddenly it turned into James.

"James?" Lily whispered right before she passed out. James caught her before she hit the ground and turned to look at the black dog, which had turned into Sirius.

"Let's go," James said and they walked back up to the school and up to the Gryffindor Tower.