Cause Saying I Love You

Has Nothing To Do With Meaning It

-Maroon Five

Ch. 5: Love is Blind

Lily could hardly believe it when she discovered that the dance was a mere week away. James and herself hadn't even discussed what they were going to wear, while everyone else was just putting on the finishing touches. Instead of consulting James for his opinion, Lily went shopping for her dress robes with Ashton.

After rummaging through shelves of robes, they came upon a set of dark green dress robes. It was so silky that it nearly fell off of Lily's pale shoulder, and tiny silver sequins adorned the edges. Using their fantastic shopping skills, Ashton and the store clerk quickly found matching shoes, a small silver purse, and even two tiny silver hairpins with sparkling emeralds set into them.

Altogether the price was very low; the clerk said that they had been trying to sell the robe for ages and it was a relief to finally get rid of it. Lily walked bouncily back to Hogwarts, excited about her purchases.

The day of the ball dawned cold and bright. Lily lounged in bed lazily for an hour before getting up to get dressed. There were no classes today, and tomorrow most of the students would be leaving for Christmas. As she rushed around in the cold air, trying to get dressed as quickly as possible, she heard a small grunt issue from James' bedroom.

As she pulled on her favorite sweater, she realized that she didn't really mind going to the ball with James. If you had told her this a month ago, she would have laughed in your face. But now she didn't mind at all; she was almost looking forward to it.

The one thing she did mind, though, was Derricks date. He had chosen to take Cynthia Krill, quite possibly the most loathsome girl at Hogwarts. Cynthia, a seventh year Slytherin, had long dark hair, deep eyes, olive skin, and the most perfect complexion you have ever laid eyes on. Although extremely beautiful, her reputation made her much more popular with the male population than the female.

As soon as Lily found out about Derrick's plan to take her, she told him not to. But as Derrick told her that he had already asked Cynthia, Lily knew that it was too late for him to ask someone else. In the end Lily made herself believe that it was perfectly ok for Derrick to take Cynthia. After all, why wouldn't it be? There was no reason for her to not trust Derrick.

Lily finished pulling on her shoes and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. James was still snoring softly in the room next to her. She finished brushing her teeth, combed through her hair, and slipped out the door into the silent hallway.

As Lily made her way through the empty corridors, her thoughts fell again on the dance. It was quite possibly the most anticipated event in Hogwarts history. She and James had spent many long hours discussing the plans, and from the way it looked, everything would be perfect.

Lily stepped into the Great Hall to see it looking normal. The four long tables were in their usual places, and breakfast was laid out upon them. A few early birds were already chewing contentedly on ham and eggs. It amazed Lily that in a few hours the Great Hall would look completely different, and she would help it become that way.

Biting into her egg, Lily felt a hand rest upon her shoulder. She knew it was Derrick before she even saw his face, and a warm glow immediately settled into her stomach. He sat down beside her and smiled before scooping a large portion of scrambled eggs onto his clean plate.

"Morning," Lily said cheerfully as Derrick added sausage and toast to his plate.

"Morning," he replied through a mouthful of bacon. He swallowed and added, "Sleep well?"

"Yes, and you?"

"Good, good."

Derrick added a huge forkful of eggs to his mouth and Lily said "Are you excited?"

"About?"

"The dance, of course!"

"Oh, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Derrick said, taking Lily's hand in his and smiling again.

Lily waited for him to continue talking, but he didn't. After a few minutes of silence she said "You seem a bit distant this morning."

Derrick finished his last bite of breakfast and looked at Lily. "You are quite possibly the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen."

Lily blushed as Derrick gave her a small kiss on her cheek. With a quick wink and a squeeze of her hand, Derrick stood up and walked through the doors at the end of the hall. Lily, a bit confused but overwhelmed by love, picked up her Daily Prophet and began reading an article on wand quality in South Africa.

Ashton soon joined her, and they discussed the night ahead as they finished their breakfasts.

"You know, I really don't trust that Krill girl," Ashton commented, eating her last bite of toast.

"Me either, but I do trust Derrick," Lily replied..

Ashton said nothing to this, but instead stood up. "Here comes your date. I'll see you up in my dorm; 4:30 sharp!"

"I'll see you then, Ash, Lily said as James took a seat beside her.

"Good morning," he said through a mouthful of eggs and bacon.

"Good morning."

"Are you excited about tonight?"

Lily contemplated this question for a moment before saying, "Yeah. You?"

"Of course."

Lily smiled a little and said "Well, you should hurry up; we're supposed to start decorating in five minutes."

James followed her advice and finished his breakfast at an alarming rate. He was just cleaning the last crumbs off of his plate when the entire staff, including a few ghosts, walked into the Great Hall. Lily and James gave them detailed descriptions of how they wanted the Hall to look, and everybody got to work.

Within a few hours, the Hall had been transformed into a magical winterey paradise. Only a few final touches were left when Lily glanced at her watch.

"4:40 already? I was supposed to start getting ready ten minutes ago!" she exclaimed.

"Go get dressed; I'll finish up in here," said James, who was nearby working on some Christmas trees. Lily was just about to protest when he added, "Really, go! You know me, I'll be ready in five minutes flat. I'll meet you at the bottom of the stairs at 6:00, ok?"

Lily smiled, said a quick thank you, and ran towards Ashton's dorm.

As she entered, she found her fellow Gryffindor 7th year girls halfway through getting dressed. Ashton ran up to her and immediately began bickering about how late she was. An hour later Lily was completely ready to go. Ashton, dressed in dark blue robes, accompanied her to the top of the stairs.

As soon as they reached the stair, Aston leaned towards Lily and whispered into her ear, "Did you see how big his eyes got? You look gorgeous." She was right. At the sight of Lily, James' eyes had grown to the size of pie plates and his mouth had even opened a little. He quickly recovered, and was back to his normal, cool self as she hooked her arm into his.

James guided her into the Great Hall, and even she had to gasp at their marvelous creation. Warm snowflakes fell from the enchanted ceiling, huge sparkling Christmas trees were set in every corner, and the four long tables had been replaces by a hundred tiny round ones.

As Lily and James took their seats at the staff table, she glanced over to see him grinning. "Not too bad, eh?" Lily couldn't help but smile as Dumbledore stood up. The room, which had been filled with the sound of happy students, soon fell silent, and Dumbledore began to speak.

"Welcome to your first Hogwarts Yule Ball. It was once a tradition, but was lost, as many traditions are. Our very own Head Boy and Girl, James Potter and Lily Evans, were able to bring this tradition back, and better than ever. How about a round of applause for their great work?"

Lily blushed as the room was filled with clapping. Dumbledore soon cleared his throat and continued, "We will first have a light dinner, which will be followed by the dance. Refreshments will be served the entire night, so try not to fill up too much at dinner. Now, let us all dig in."

At his final words, the plates in front of them filled up, and dinner began. The students all ate quickly, ready to finally begin the dance. When everybody was done eating, the plates were cleared with a snap of Dumbledore's fingers, and refreshments appeared on a long table that had been pushed against one of the walls.

Lily felt an elbow in her ribs, and looked to see Professor Flitwick. "The Head Boy and Girl always start the first dance."

Lily looked at James, who grabbed her hand and steered her towards the dance floor. As soon as their feet touched the floor, a light waltz began to play. James took the first step and crunched directly onto Lily's toe. Lily held in her squeal of pain, and they continued to dance.

Other than this first mistake, Lily was surprised to find that James was much better at dancing than she had expected. Although they realized they were doing quite well, they had no idea how well. The students were soon mystified by their amazing dancing abilities, and a raucous round of applause followed the last note of the waltz. Lily and James, breathless from their dancing, merely smiled.

As the students began filtering onto the dance floor, Lily and James took a seat at one of the smaller tables.

"That went well," Lily said once James had returned with drinks.

"Surprisingly well. I didn't even know that I could dance like that," James replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lily agreed. After a few moments of looking at the crowd in front of them, Lily added, "I wonder where Derrick is…"

"I don't know, but how about another dance?" James said, trying to take Lily's mind off of her boyfriend.

Lily agreed, and all thoughts of Derrick left her mind as they stepped onto the floor and began dancing. The Wand Washers arrived at around 8:00 and helped pick the party up. Even Ashton, who had come with out a date, seemed to be having a good time. She joined Lily and James, and Sirius soon followed her example.

By the end of the night, Sirius and Ashton were dancing and joking around like old friends. Lily's heart filled with joy at the sight of her best friend with her crush of four years. James caught her smiling, and glanced in Sirius and Ashton's direction.

"You know, he's had a crush on her for forever," James said.

Lily looked up at James, "Are you serious?"

"No joke."

"Well why didn't he even ask her out?"

"He didn't think she would take him seriously; I mean, you know what his reputation is like."

"His reputation is no better than yours! But he should have said something to her; she's liked him for years."

"I'll ignore that comment about me for now. I guess it's a good thing that we sort of forgave each other, or maybe they never would have talked at all."

"That's true," Lily agreed. A slow song began to play, and Lily instinctively laid her head upon James' shoulder. James smiled a little, and continued to dance.

After the slow song, Dumbledore insisted that the dance end. Lily and James lead the rest of students out of the Great Hall. As they left the Hall, Lily jumped as something fell out of a closet on her left. A giggle emitted from the undistinguishable thing that had come out of the closet. As the truth dawned on Lily, she tried her hardest to block it out. Anything but what lay before her. But it couldn't be blocked as Derrick and Cynthia untangled themselves.

"Hey babe," Derrick said, standing up and looking at Lily.

A strong smell of alcohol met Lily's nostrils as she felt rage begin to grow in her. It grew in her stomach, and drifted slowly upwards. "How could you?" she whispered,

"Gosh Lily, you are so stupid! You're the only person in the entire school who didn't know it was happening. It's been going on for months, but you were too blind to see it," Derrick replied, his words slightly slurred.

"You said you loved me!" Lily wailed. Her heart felt like it was being ripped down the middle, each little vessel being plucked from its surroundings.

"Do you really think I meant it?"

At these words Lily's slowly boiling rage exploded, and she jumped towards Derrick. Just before she tackled him, she felt strong arms wrap themselves around her waist. Hot tears ran down her burning cheeks as she screamed "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" She struggled against the force holding her back, but it wouldn't release her. She felt herself being dragged backwards, and Derricks face was lost amongst the faces of students.

Lily continued to cry and scream as she was dragged up stairs, hundreds of eyes following her slow progress. She finally began to quiet down as the crowd disappeared, and she stopped struggling against the person guiding her. She looked up to see James' face, looking more stern than usual.

As they entered their dorm, Lily let out a small wimper, and James took her into his arms. She began to cry great, bone-shattering sobs. "How could he?" she whispered between sniffles.

James sighed and said "Lily, some guys are just like that. There's nothing the rest of us can do to stop them."

Lily howled, and said "But how could he do it to me?"

"I don't know, Lily; I don't know."

-x-

Very cheesy, I know, but I couldn't figure out how to write it without it being cheesy. Yet again, I'm sorry for the awfully long wait. Hopefully I'll update again soon. You know what will help me to update even faster? Reviews! 