Chapter 17: Perfect
Lily stretched as she woke up, and she hopped out of bed. Her head hurt from staying up late, and getting up too early, so she performed a Relief spell, which helped a lot.
Lily walked out of her room after she had gotten ready, and as she passed through the common room, she heard a humming noise above her.
A bit of mistletoe was hanging above her, humming sweetly "Deck the Halls". James probably had perfected his charm on the mistletoe after Lily had gone to bed, and had chosen her as the first victim.
James probably hadn't anticipated the problems about exactly who gets stuck under mistletoe with who…
Lily smiled and continued walking out of the Head's common room. She figured James was already up and down at breakfast, seeing as they had a test in potions this morning. Won't that be fun!
Lily passed several f her friends from other houses on the way to breakfast, and each time she remembered the mistletoe last second and kept her distance from the males in the corridor. She didn't know how close you had to be to be stuck under the mistletoe.
Upon entering the Great Hall, Lily spotted her friends and went to sit next to them. James had saved her a seat, and as she sat down, James kissed her. With a final hum, the mistletoe departed with a pop.
"Nice charm work, buddy boy." Lily said, cheerfully. She noticed Alanna and Remus talking casually, and Sirius and Anya were having an argument/friendly debate/asking Anya out thingy.
Sirius continually was asking her out, while Anya was either declining or arguing why he wanted to go out with her. Lily snorted into her oatmeal when Anya said, "If you want to go out with me, ask!" Apparently, she hadn't heard Sirius persistent questions of, "Will you go out with me?"
Lily laughed, and turned back to her breakfast.
"I can't believe Slughorn's giving us a test. He really sucks." James grumbled, staring glumly into his now cold oatmeal. Lily laughed.
"Of course, he won't suck when you ace the test and become a great Auror or whatever you're planning, right, James?" Lily said, laughing again.
"Speaking on planning, what's your career plan, Lils?" James said, smiling at her.
"Oh, I think I'll be a Healer, or an Auror. It depends on my grades." Lily said, laughing slightly.
"what's so funny? I think it's great that you want to be a Healer! But I'll be worried if you become an Auror…" James said, staring at Lily with a bit of worry.
"Don't be worried. You'll probably be right by my side, won't you, James?" Lily said, smiling sweetly.
"Hopefully." James said, smiling back at Lily. James caught sight of his watch and exclaimed, "We have less then ten minutes before the test! We gotta hurry!"
Lily jumped up, still holding a piece of toast, and James, Lily, and their friends rushed off to the potion's classroom.
The 6 friends slid into the classroom just as the bell rang. They sighed with relief, and they paired off to sit at their desks.
"Now, students, you have the test on the board as well on the parchment I'm handing out. Complete the potion on the board and answer the questions on the parchment. You have one hour." Slughorn said, passing out the parchment.
Lily had paired up with Alanna, and they both gathered the ingredients silently. Lily started mixing the potion, and Alanna started answering the questions. They both did about 5 steps or questions, then traded off.
That system worked quite well, and hey finished quickly, unlike the people silently fighting over who did what or both doing one thing and having little time for the questions or potion.
Lily sat back in her chair, watching the purple haze rising from the complicated potion she and Alanna had brewed.
Alanna was doodling on a spare piece of parchment, like she often did. Alanna liked her doodles and got, er, 'insight' from them often and saved them in a desk drawer in her dorm. Lily leaned over to see what she was doodling.
The parchment said, "Alanna+Remus…" and the names were circled by a heart. Lily sighed and grinned as Alanna looked at her, blushing. Lily flashed a small inked doodle on her wrist saying, "Lily+James." Alanna giggled softly, and Lily grinned again.
Classes were over quickly that day, and Lily collapsed on the couch in the Head's rooms.
"James." She whined, positioning herself so she was hanging upside down from the couch.
"What?" James said, walking into the common room.
"We have a prefect meeting tomorrow." Lily said, twisting her body so she was upright on the couch again.
"/Don't worry about it. It's a piece of cake, really. Just say, 'Make the Great Hall pretty by the Yule Ball and patrol every once in a while, and you're good.'" James said, smiling.
"Right. You forgot Peeves." Lily said, smiling, and she once again positioned herself upside down.
"Oh, yeah, and we'll tell the ickle prefects to watch out for Peeves." James said, laughing. Lily giggled.
James set his face so it was inches from Lily's upside down one, and he said, "I absolutely love every inch of your smart-aleck being."
Lily smiled sweetly. "Oh, James, you're so sweet!" After saying this, Lily brought her upside down face forward and kissed James.
It was a sweet kiss, like the ones every young girl dreams about. Lily pulled away and pulled herself upright, stretching.
"I'm heading to bed, night James." Lily said, as she walked to her bedroom.
James gave her a puppy dog face, and Lily laughed.
"Sorry, James, I'm exhausted. See you tomorrow!"
The week came and went, then two weeks, then the whole month, practically. The Yule Ball was upon them, and Lily and James were swamped with preparations.
The day of the ball, Lily and James were setting up decorations and the tables and such.
"Mood lights- set!" James said, laughing as he flicked his wand and the room became dimly lighted and the light was slightly tinted blue.
"Nice effect." Lily said, as she was stringing holly around the room.
A slight humming was coming from the mistletoe hanging around the room. Lily had charmed them to hum softly when 'dormant' but when activated by a student, they would hum a bit louder.
James had gotten hold of a band called, "Hex A Gone". James didn't really get the name, but he did know that the songs were popular and that they could play some really original Christmas music.
After setting up, Lily and James left to go get ready.
Lily walked into her room, and smiled seeing the plain white dress she ha bought for 12 galleons. Lily, first of all, was not rich. That was obvious. But she really is a good witch.
Lily lengthened the short dress to about floor length. Then, she transfigured the sleeveless dress to have bell sleeves and the neckline to be a flattering V-neck.
The color, she changed to an off white.
Lily charmed her hair to be in a twist that loosened and spilled onto her porcelain neck and her bangs were in a slanted cut that flattered her soft features and green eyes.
She also transfigured a small silver necklace into a silver chain that held a single small emerald.
Lily walked out of her room, and into James's arms to walk down to the ball.
"Lily, you look… You look amazing!" James said, grinning hugely. Lily smiled and nodded slightly.
"James, you couldn't look more handsome." Lily reached up and mussed James's carefully gelled hair.
"Hey!" James said in indignation. Lily grinned.
"You looked better with messy hair." Lily said, smiling. James laughed and they continued down the stairs into the Entrance Hall.
Lily gasped, even though she had been here just a few minutes ago. It was because the Marauders had spelled out, "MERRY XMAS, HOGWARTS! SINCERELY, THE MARAUDERS!" Lily laughed, and turned to James.
James whimpered slightly, and Lily laughed again. Lily gave him a slight shove, and then hugged him.
"You and your retard friends are geniuses…" Lily said into James shoulder, grinning madly.
Lily pulled away and the two walked into the Great Hall, hand in hand.
The hall was beautiful. The music was already playing, and the hall was filling up with 1st and 3rd years. The other years weren't that desperate to be at a school dance, and were staying away for a little time.
Lily and James both sat at the heads table, and said to their plates their meal choices. Lily ordered ravioli and meatballs, while James had some shepherds pie and pizza.
Lily and James talked about what a success the ball was so far. As Lily put it, "It couldn't be more perfect, so far."
The fourth years had arrived about an hour into the ball, and Lily decided to open the official dancing. She had explained to the band that they were going to play mostly music in the background until she and James opened the dance.
Lily leaned into James's chest, and they slow danced for the first time. It was so sweet, and James whispered into Lily's ear, "Enjoying our first date?"
"You know I am." Lily closed her eyes and let herself be swept into the perfect dance, the perfect date, and her (kinda) perfect man.
As everyone in the world knows, nothing can be perfect for long…
I haven't updated, I'm not answering reviews... I'm SO evil, aren't I?
To let you know, I ove you, all of my reviewers! Not gushy love or anything, just the appreciation of you being there... So it pains me to say I'm not going to be answering reviews anymore.
I enjoy writing, but I'm sooo busy with sports and stuff and I just think it would be easier for me to get out chapters faster without the hassle of answering every single review. I'll talk to you people later! And I hope this doesn't mean you'll stop reviewing! I still reading my reviews, you know!
Now, I shall make like a donut hole and dissapear!