Much Ado About Something
Chapter 4: We Shall Have Reveling Tonight
During the week before the ball, the seventh years found themselves with more work in that one week than any one month during sixth year. The teachers had decided that cramming for NEWTs must begin the very first day of classes. So Thursday night found Lily, Nandi, and Lizzie sitting around a small table in the common room, doing their homework.
Lizzie sighed, frustrated. "Ugh, what's that spell that forces a werewolf to turn back into its human form?"
"Homorphus," Lily answered, not looking up from her own essay.
"Right, thanks," Lizzie quickly scribbled that down, then set her quill hard on the table. "I am so tired of this!"
"Lizzie, we've had four days of school, how can you already be tired of it?" Lily laughed.
"I just am!" Lizzie insisted. "Besides, the masquerade's tomorrow, shouldn't we be gossiping about who we want to be our mystery men instead of doing stupid essays for Defense Against the Dark Arts? Seriously."
Lily rolled her eyes. "No, Lizzie, we have to have this all done."
Nandi placed her books on the table. "No, Lily, we don't. We've already done the Potions and Arithmancy homework for tomorrow. You don't always have to have your homework done weeks before it's even due. Why don't we be girls for two nights, then on Saturday we can revert to being the biggest nerds ever? How's that sound?"
Lily looked longingly at her Charms book. "But–"
"No, Lily! Resist! Resist the Charms!" Nandi waved her hands in front of Lily's face, and the latter swatted her hands away, laughing.
"Fine, alright," she conceded. "Well, we all know who Lizzie wants to be paired up with..."
Lizzie blushed. "Do we?"
"Do we? Do we? Oh, please, Liz," Nandi sounded exasperated. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Guys, we don't even know if Remus likes me or not..." the girl began timidly.
"Yeah, sure, we don't," Lily laughed. "It's not like he doesn't stare at you in class, sit next to you at lunch, ask you to study with him..."
"But friends do those things too!" Lizzie protested, trying not to break into a grin at the thought of Remus, maybe, liking her. "I mean, I sit with you two at lunch, and you guys don't have crushes on me. Unless..."
"Oh, yes, Lizzie, you've caught me," Nandi put on a face of mock seriousness. "I am completely and utterly gay for you."
Sirius Black chose that moment to pass by behind the chair Nandi was sitting in, and stopped dead in his tracks. Lizzie and Lily saw this and burst out laughing. Nandi turned around, confused, then quickly whirled back facing front, mortified.
"Well, well, well, Miss Rose," Sirius said, draping an arm around the back of her chair and leaning forward to face her straight-on, slipping her a small piece of parchment in the process. "I had no idea you swung that way. I knew there had to be a good reason you kept turning me down."
"Oh, please, Black," Nandi groaned, closing the slip of paper tightly in her fist. "I turn you down because you are insufferable and I can hardly stand to be in your presence. I am not a lesbian. It's called a joke. Maybe you've heard of one? Joke. That's j-o-k-e. Do you need a quill to write this down?"
"Well, you know," Sirius smirked, ignoring the girl's other comments. "It's not like I'd totally mind you and Lizzie hooking up. As long as I could watch...Lils, if you'd like to join too..."
"Stuff it, Sirius," Lily leaned over and pushed him away from Nandi.
"Alright, alright," the boy retreated, his hands in the air, admitting defeat. "But remember girls, if you ever need an audience..." This statement was met with three throw pillows hitting him in the head. "Okay, I know when I'm not wanted," he turned and jogged up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"Which is always!" Nandi yelled up to him, unfolding the parchment in such a way that Lily and Lizzie will not see. It read: Will begin Operation James and Lily are Meant for Each Other after Masquerade. Meeting for conspirators Saturday, 12 pm. Be there. Bring Agent EF.
"Love you too, Nandi!" he called down.
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At five o'clock the next night, the Lily was found sitting at a vanity in the girls' dorms while Nandi fluttered about her hair and face, trying to decide how to make the girl up. The ball was beginning at 7 o'clock that night.
"Your dress is kind of off-white, right?" Nandi asked.
"No, it's cream, Nandi," Lily grinned. "Obviously." She winked at her friend. Lizzie, who sat on her bed reading Witch Weekly, laughed. At the end of sixth year, Nandi had given Lizzie and Lily an extremely long-winded speech on the differences among cream, off-white, and ivory. Needless to say, neither girl understood it in the least.
"Oh, be quiet, you," the teased girl admonished. "Or I'll make you look like a troll." That shut Lily up in an instant. "That's what I thought."
Nandi did the other girls' makeup and hair, then fixed herself up. Since they finished that at around six, the three of them sat on Lizzie's bed, expressing their wishes for dance partners.
"I really hope I get Remus! I mean, I guess anyone would be fine. Anyone but a Slytherin," Lizzie shuddered. "Ew, can you imagine having to dance with someone gross like, like, like Severus Snape all night?"
"Oh, Lizzie," Lily scolded. "He's not so bad."
"Are you kidding, Lil?" Nandi just couldn't understand her friend sometimes. "This is the same boy who calls you–that word at every chance he gets! How can you say he's not so bad? He is so bad."
"Well, whatever," Lily waved her friends off. "As long as I don't get Potter, I'll be good. Ohh, maybe I'll get Amos. Did you guys notice how he got even hotter this year? Oh, lord!" she fell back in a mock faint.
Nandi grinned. "Oh, I most definitely noticed."
The girls continued to chat away about boys until 6:30, when they put on their robes. Lizzie was wearing stormy blue robes that matched her eyes and set off the glow of her pale skin. Nandi wore scarlet-colored robes with gold trim around the wrists, showing her loyalty towards Gryffindor.
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The boys were lounging in the Common Room, trying to kill time until 6:30 when they would begin to get ready for the ball. Sirius suddenly got an idea.
"Hey, Moony, I have a brilliant idea!" he exclaimed.
Remus looked wary. "Okay, Padfoot, what is it?
"Since you're all Mr. Stutter whenever Miss Fox is around, why don't I dance with her tonight and woo her for you?" Sirius finished, a huge grin on his face as if this was the best plan ever.
Silence. Then James, Peter, and Remus burst out laughing.
"What? It's such a good idea, don't even," Sirius said, offended.
James wiped away a tear of mirth that had leaked from his eye. "Sirius, please. You've been trying to ask Nandi out for how long? And she still says no? What makes you think that if you went up to the girl that Remus likes and said you were him and that you as him wanted to date her it would work?"
For the second time in less than thirty seconds, there was only silence. Then,
"What?" That was Peter.
Sirius got it. "Yes! It will! I mean, Moony, mate, no offense, but you really suck at words when that girl is right in front of you."
"I know!" Remus let out an exasperated sigh. "I just can't help it, though! She's too...perfect..." he trailed off with a dreamy look on his face.
"Wow, Sirius, you might actually be right about this plan," James said, looking with disgust at Remus's expression. "If this is how this girl makes him when she's not even around, I do not want to see how it goes when she's placed right in front of him. And in dress robes, no less!"
Remus's eyes grew wide and he shot up from the couch. "Oh, my God. I have to go get ready! What if Lizzie doesn't like my dress robes? What if my hair looks bad? What if I'm a bad dancer? What if–"
"Woahhh, Moony," Peter said, standing up and easing Remus back onto the couch. "Calm down there, cowboy."
Sirius stared blankly at Peter. "What's a cowboy?"
"It's–nevermind," Peter just shook his head, deciding not to give Sirius more crazy ideas for Halloween than he already had.
Sirius shrugged and looked back to Remus. "Well, it's settled, then. You're a mess when you even just think about her, and I'm Mr. Smooooth when it comes to the ladies. I'll pretend to be Remus and make Lizzie fall in love with him. If she's not already, anyway...which is entirely possible."
Remus looked up, eyes wide with hope. "Do you think she might? Really? Really really?"
James laughed. "Really really." He turned to Sirius. "One problem, Padfoot. What if Lizzie isn't your partner? Do you really think it'll work out that way?"
Sirius sighed. "I really really do." He grinned. "We shall have reveling tonight. Now, let's go make me pretty."
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The three girls arrived at the Great Hall just as the seventh toll sounded. They placed their masks on their faces as the stepped into the hall, which was in the semi-darkness, with only a few candles floating scattered around. Lily's mask changed a little to match her dress, Lizzie's remained white with the stormy blue color as a trim around the rim, and Nandi's was shimmering gold with a scarlet trim, the opposite of her robes.
Dumbledore clapped his hands for attention. "Good evening, ladies and gentleman," he was standing on a stage at the front of the hall, addressing all the students attending. "Each of you has a partner that has been chosen for you randomly. When I wave my wand, you will be placed into two lines, with girls on one side, boys on the other. Then you will find your partner, who you will dance with for the rest of the night. If you so choose, you may tell your partner your identity, or you may leave it a secret. It's up to you..." the Headmaster waved his wand and two lines were formed running down the center of the hall. Boys stepped up to their respective girls and bowed, requesting for a dance.
"Speak low if you speak love," a tall, dark-haired boy Lizzie recognized as Sirius bowed to her. She noticed he was doing something kind of funny with his voice. He was talking a little higher and seemed like he was attempting to sound like...Remus? But why?
She curtsied, trying not to smirk too hard at Sirius's voice. "Charmed, my lord."
Sirius cleared his throat, then resumed his strange Remus-impersonation. "I decided that, since you look so lovely tonight, I would tell you who I am."
Lizzie was a bit confused, as to how those two really connected, but smiled nonetheless.
"It's me, Remus. Remus Lupin."
It was all Lizzie could do to keep from bursting out in laughter. It was obvious who the boy really was, but Lizzie decided that there must have been a good reason for Sirius to (try to) take on his friend's persona, so she played along.
A devilish twinkle in her eye, she held out her hand to him in greeting. "Since you look so dashing, I will tell you who I am. I'm Lizzie. Lizzie Fox."
Instead of shaking her hand, he took it and kissed it, giving her a devilish wink that was so painfully Sirius she let out a little chuckle. She attempted to it cover up with a–fake–hacking cough, but was afraid that he would not be convinced. Apparently, he was, as he simply frowned with concern at her.
"Are you alright? That cough sounds dreadful."
"Yes, Si–er, Remus, I'm fine, thank you." She just barely caught herself.
Sirius eyed her closely before shrugging it off and bowing to her again, holding his hand out to her. "Dance with me, fair dame?"
She just laughed, placing her hand daintily into his. He quickly swept her away into the music, all the while leaning down to whisper into her ear sweet-nothings from "Remus" at which she couldn't do anything but laugh inside.
On the other side of the room, the real Remus had been paired up with a fifth year whose name he didn't know. He idly spun her around while he watched his supposed best friend flirt outrageously with his girl. Okay, so Lizzie wasn't exactly his yet, but she was supposed to be after tonight! Now, it seemed, Sirius just wanted her for himself. Remus could feel the anger simmering in the pit of his stomach, ready to lash out at Sirius.
Lily was not happy. Neither, for that matter, was James. The last thing either of them wanted for this ball was to be dancing with the other. Though James did have to admit, Lily looked gorgeous that night. Lily also couldn't deny the way the forest green robes James had chosen complemented the green in his hazel eyes. Then James said something that made Lily decide to mess with the boy's head.
James had been fuming over his fate for the first few minutes of the ball, when he decided to just poke a little fun at Lily while they were dancing. He dropped his voice a little lower to try and disguise it.
"You know, Lily," he started, emphasizing her name so she knew that he knew who she was. Right. "I heard that you get all your wit from Kicks and Giggles for Young Witches, and that you really know how to lay the pipe right, if you know what I mean."
"What?" Lily could hardly believe her ears. Would James really say something like that to her face? Only then did she realize that he didn't know that she knew who he was. Yeah. So she decided to turn the tables on him. It was a good thing Lily was an excellent actor. "Who said that?"
"Oh, I never reveal my sources," James said, offhand.
"It must have been James Potter," she said emphatically, feigning anger. "Only he would say something so crude."
James's eyes widened with mock befuddlement. "James Potter, did you say?" He pretended to think. "Nope, I don't think I've ever heard of him. What's he?"
"Oh, you must know him," Lily waved the question off before looking up at her partner, "shocked." "Really? You don't? He never...made you laugh?"
"Not that I can recall, no," James was interested now. What would this girl say about him? "Tell me about him."
Lily eyed the boy carefully before responding. "Well, he's basically just Sirius Black's friend, not much really more. He's quite a dull fool, his only gift is in devising ridiculous jabs that are supposed to wound but are simply false."
"Oh, er..." James was a little hurt. He was way more than just Sirius's friend. He, well, he was...um...oh! He was Quidditch Captain! And Head Boy! Take that, Sirius! "If I meet him, I'll, erm, tell him what you said."
Lily struggled to hide a smirk that was tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Yes, do. I'm sure he'll have something "witty" to say right back. Don't you think?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah..."
Dumbledore clapped his hands once more for the attention of the students, distracting his Head students from either their discomfort or their hidden smirk. "Now, when I wave my wand again, you will be separated from your partner, and you may dance with whomever you wish. I do hope, however,"—his eyes twinkled, and Lily and James could have sworn he was looking right at them—"That some of you will remain with your given partners, as you were picked for each other for a reason." He waved his wand and many guys sprinted from their atrocious dates, and some girls backed away politely from their not-so-handsome men.
Remus thanked his partner–what was her name again?–and ambled out of the hall into the garden outside that had been lit up with beautiful fairy lights. Peter was one of the not-so-handsome men who was left alone, so he slumped into a chair near the doors and glared at the still happy couples. James let Lily run off to Nandi (who had, incidentally, been paired with Amos. Lucky, Lily thought), who quickly pushed her friend away and kept dancing.
James stalked outside, following in Remus's footsteps to the garden. When he saw his friend hunched over himself on a stone bench, mask forgotten beside him, he walked over and stood in front of him.
"Your night could not have been worse than mine," James said, ripping off his own mask.
"Oh yeah?" Remus looked up. "Well, I'm sure Sirius had a fantastic time."
James was confused. "What? Did he get Lizzie to fall in love with you?"
"No, he got her to fall in love with him. Well, at least he was right about something. He is Mr. Smooth with girls. Too smooth." He sighed dejectedly. "I really liked her too. No, not past tense, I still do. Dammit, Sirius!" He punched his left fist against the stone bench. Hard. "Augh!"
James shook his head in disbelief. "Sirius would never do that, you know that..."
"Do I?" Remus just stared absently at a fairy light. "Anyway, enough about my ruined life, why was your night so terrible?"
"Ugh," James groaned. "I had to dance with Evans."
"Is that all?" Remus asked. "That's really not so bad. I'd take Lily over my friend stealing the girl I like any day."
"Yeah, but she just spent the whole time mocking me! And she didn't even know I was I! I mean, me! I mean, I! Dammit, I don't know what I mean."
"What did she say?"
"Oh, man, she said all I am is Sirius's friend. Nothing more! She seriously said that! About me! I mean, I'm Head Boy, I'm Quidditch Captain, I have so much more going for me than Sirius. I'm friends with you, too! And Peter!" James ranted.
"Wow, James, impressive. You have all of three friends. Nice," Remus mocked.
"Oh, shut up," James playfully punched his friend in the shoulder, then his face hardened. "God, I hate that girl. How can anyone be so–"
"You might want to shut up now, Prongs," Remus said, looking back over James's shoulder.
"What? Why?"
"Uh, because said girl is coming this way right now. Oh, great, she's with Sirius. Oh no," Remus went deathly pale. "It's her. What do I say? How do I act? What do I do?"
"Calm down, Moony," James looked at his friend uneasily. "How should I know? What I do know is that I need to get out before she comes. I cannot endure my Lady Tongue." He said the last part just loudly enough so the approaching party could hear him. Lily just rolled her eyes.
Sirius watched his best friend go then laughed and turned to Lily. "Well, Lily, it looks like you've lost the heart of Mister Potter."
"Indeed, Sirius," Lily cracked a smile. "I had it once, and he had mine. But then, well, we all know what happened..." she trailed off before brightening up again. "But we're not here to talk about my–failed–love life, are we? We're here to begin a successful one!"
"Oi, Moony, why the long face?" Sirius sniggered to himself at his–lame–werewolf joke.
Remus just stared stonily at Sirius before shaking his head and getting up off the stone bench to stalk off.
"Seriously, Remus," Sirius stopped him, lowering his voice. "What's going on? I totally scored Lizzie Fox for you!" he said eagerly in Remus's ear, grinning widely.
Remus laughed coldly. "For me? Really, Sirius? Because it looked an awful like you were winning her for yourself."
Sirius barked out a good-natured laugh. "Merlin, is that why you're all bent out of shape? God, no! I had to get her to trust "Remus," so I tried to be like you. Apparently, though, my little scheme wasn't even necessary."
"What? Why not?" Remus was still mad at Sirius, but also curious. But you know what they say about curiosity...
"She already had the hots for you."
Apparently it doesn't always kill the cat. Sometimes, just sometimes, it gets the werewolf the girl.
Sirius waggled his eyebrows at his friend before jerking his head toward Lizzie. "So go get her!"
Remus grinned at Sirius then hesitantly walked over to Lizzie, who was blushing furiously. "Er...Lizzie?"
"Yes, Remus?"
"Do you, er, want to go for a walk?"
"Yes. I do." Lizzie placed her small hand in his bigger one and he led her off into the garden.
Sirius and Lily grinned at each other.
"Will you walk, Lady Lily?" Sirius said, offering her his arm.
Lily rolled her eyes and hooked her arm through his. "Take me away, fair knight!"
