"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, thank for you for meeting with me this afternoon. I would like to take this time to congratulate you both for being made Head Boy and Girl. It is not often that both the Head Boy and Head Girl are in the same house. But I digress. I brought you here to discuss the Commencement Ball. It is a tradition to have this ball each year in late September or early October, to celebrate the year ahead. It is open to fifth years and up. Also, it is tradition for the Head Boy and Head Girl to go to the ball together." James grinned ecstatically, and Lily sat up from her chair indignantly.

"WHAT? WITH HIM? Professor! Please! I mean…look at him!" James glared at Lily indignantly.

"Excuse me? What, exactly, is wrong with my appearance? I don't think there is anything wrong…I mean, obviously loads of girls think love my appearance," he smirked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Potter, nothing is wrong with how you look. You look…fine, alright? Moving on. Professor! Can you see now what I have to put up with? I have to deal with…with…this all day long! One can hardly bear it, being with Potter all day! And you are asking me to attend a social event with him? Preposterous! Think of what it will do to my social reputation! Boys will think I'm off-limits, and…sorry, Professor. You don't really want to hear about that, do you? But still! Can't we just break tradition just this once?"

McGonagall stood up, and if you looked closely enough, you could just see a slight bit of a smile spreading across her lips. "No, Miss Evans! Rules are rules! You know that! And I am not about to be the first one in centuries to break a tradition! Absolutely not!"

Lily groaned. "Do I have to stay with him all night?" she asked through gritted teeth.

McGonagall pursed her lips, successfully hiding her smile. "Yes, Miss Evans. You must stay with Mr. Potter all night. Of course, the occasional dance with another young man will not hurt…" Lily grinned. As long as she was able to dance with other boys, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. As long as she wouldn't have to dance with Potter, she would be alright. She sighed, trying to adjust to this new piece of information.

"There is another tradition that will apply to you two," said McGonagall, now unable to hide her smile. Lily's expression of relief instantly slid off her face.

"What tradition?" asked Lily suspiciously, getting nervous. James looked up at McGonagall with amusement in his eyes.

"The Head Girl and the Head Boy must dance together for the first three songs. For the first song, you two will be alone on the dance floor. Then, for the second song, prefects will join you. Lastly, in the third song, faculty will join you and the prefects on the dance floor."

James grinned at this new piece of information. He now had a reasonable excuse for being extremely close to Lily. And she couldn't file for sexual harassment.

Lily gasped. She was going to be close to Potter for approximately fifteen minutes. And she had to dance with him in front of the whole school – just her and James on the dance floor. She turned pale.

"PROFESSOR! I don't know how to dance! Not in public, anyway! How am I – how are we? We'll make fools of ourselves! I can't believe I never took lessons-" James laughed at her anxiousness.

"Relax, Miss Evans. I will privately teach you two to dance, do not worry. You will not make fools of Gryffindor House. Certainly not," McGonagall sniffed. "Now on you go, or you will miss lunch completely. You will have your first dance lessons in two days, six o'clock sharp, my classroom."

James and Lily quickly walked out of the office, and made their way to lunch.

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"YOU GET TO DANCE WITH JAMES? FOR FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES!" Whitney exclaimed. "You are SO lucky, Lily!"

Lily collapsed onto her bed, and groaned. "No, I am not. He'll probably step on my feet, or something."

Paige rolled her eyes. "James? Please. He's the most charming, sweet, sensitive, romantic, understanding man in seventh year! He's perfect," she sighed.

Lily snorted. "Wow. You used a lot of adjectives! Do you like him or something, Paige?"

Paige snapped out of her trance. "What? NO! 'Course not!"

"This is perfect. Now Andrew probably thinks I like Potter! We'll never get together," moaned Lily, rolling over on her back, hugging a pillow.

"Don't worry, Lily. If he's the Andrew I've heard about, he'll understand," reassured Whitney.

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"You and Evans? On a date? Really, Prongs?" asked Sirius giddily.

"Well, it's sort of necessary, and Evans is forced to do it…but I'm excited about it nonetheless," said James, staring into space in the common room, thinking about Lily.

"But Prongs! You can't dance! It's…it's just not you!" said Remus, dazed. James threw a chocolate frog at him.

"Shut it, Moony. I'll learn. And I'll sweep Evans off her feet."

Peter, Sirius, and Remus all snorted with laughter, nearly falling off their chairs. James got revenge by pelting gobstones at them repeatedly, making them smell horribly.

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Dear Journal,

You will never believe it. I have to GO TO THE BALL WITH POTTER! It's my worse nightmare. I have to dance with him for three songs, as well! Paige and Whitney are teasing me about it. I don't think I will ever live it down. I'm only going to the ball with Potter because its tradition, and I have to! Otherwise, I would never attend the ball with him! I'd much rather go with Andrew Gates, that cute Hufflepuff in our year. I think he likes me back, too. I just hope Potter doesn't go insane on him and start randomly hurting him. Potter's crazy like that. Imagine. Me and Potter, out on the dance floor, everyone staring at us! On top of that, I have to have dance lessons with him!

Today, after History of Magic, as I was walking towards the door, Potter stopped right in front of me. Naturally, I started flying through the air, and grabbed the first thing I found – Potter's neck. He grabbed my waist to steady me. It was mortifying. He had this smirk on his face, like "ha! I told you that one day you would finally like me!" It was disgusting. I hate that smirk. Also in History of Magic today, Paige and Whitney started gushing over Potter. It was horrible! They kept saying he was so sweet and good looking! Ok, I have to admit, Potter is hot, but EW! Imagine ever liking Potter! It was as if Paige and Whitney had rehearsed what they were going to say. Like they wanted to get us together. If they ever do that, I'll kill them. I swear I will.

Nothing else really eventful today…I successfully turned Paige into a penguin in transfiguration today. It was quite fun. In charms we reviewed cheering spells, and Potter accidentally overdosed Sirius. He ran around the room hugging everyone. He even tried to snog Paige. Then he started giggling uncontrollably. It was very amusing. I think that perhaps Potter did it on purpose, to put on a show, if you will.

No word from Mum and Dad. I hope they're alright. They didn't seem to take me seriously at King's Cross when I warned them about Voldemort. I hope they are careful and safe. I dunno what I would do if I didn't have them around. Life just…wouldn't exist anymore.

Ugh. Whitney wants to go downstairs now and spy on the "marauders." Joy. I'll write more later, promise.

Lily Evans