Author's note:
Prepare for me to be longingly describing dresses that I could wear, one of them is mine but I'm scared to say which one in case I'm judged :P I get internet every now and then so I'm going to try and post this before I get back, although you already know that judging from when you're reading this… babbling again, better write the chapter. This is going to be hard because I have no internet to check facts or maiden names, damn.
"Sirius!" James slapped him in the face as he lay forlornly of his bed.
"What?" He asked dramatically "Would you like to make my life even worse than it already is?"
"Two girls, Pads, that's it! You can get a date easily" James tried to convince him. "This is going to take some serious ego massaging" James sighed to himself.
"How do you know James?" Sirius wailed.
"Because, ur" James tried to think of the thing that would make Sirius most vain "Your hair! It's amazing, plus you've got looks that could challenge those of a God" James was close to throwing up over the stuff he was drivelling.
"I do don't I?" Sirius beamed as he sat up.
"Of course" James smiled falsely.
"I'm going to go get a date!" Sirius leapt of his bed and skipped down the stairs.
"A bit less camp, Pads!" James laughed after him as he followed. Sirius entered the common room and looked around at the girls. He really wanted to go up to Kara but his brain was beating his heart this time. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Felicity Hayes sat giggling with all of her friends.
Felicity Hayes was number five on the Marauder's 'fit list' that they had made back in fourth year. The list had Lily at the top (James threatened to beat them up if she wasn't – and Sirius couldn't ask her for obvious reasons), Mary Macdonald (going with Peter), Kara Shaw (Totally off limits, plus was going with a guy so absorbed in himself he wouldn't even notice her), Shanice Wilkins (regrettable but true – and he couldn't take her because her face is so covered in make-up on important occasions it's scary), then Felicity Hayes.
After he made his mind up he did his 'sexy walk' (James always said it made him look like a chicken) over to Felicity, all of her friends giggled when they saw him and started blushing so that gave him more confidence "Hey Felicity" he grinned "You wanna go to the ball with me" Felicity went bright red.
"Uhh, yeah, of course" She beamed. Normally at this point Sirius would nod, and walk of coolly, but he was so used to being turned down by this point he skipped off squealing.
"That was Sirius Black wasn't it?" Felicity asked confused.
"Yeah." Her friends laughed at his reaction.
"I can't get this stupid dress on!" Sasha moaned as she tried to pull her dress over her hips. It was a royal blue knee length dress with a lace pattern bodice that continued onto the short sleeves, and a floaty chiffon skirt.
"You haven't got the zip down you idiot" Kara sighed as she abandoned her pearl pink heels to go and help Sasha. She was wearing a floor length sweetheart light pink chiffon dress speckled with diamonds.
"You two are getting in too much of a state over this" Lily laughed as she easily zipped up the back of her silky empire line emerald green dress which was ruched in the middle with a cute silver bow.
"How on earth are you so cool and collected?" Sasha gasped as Kara shoved the zip up of her dress.
"Oh believe me, on the inside I'm dying, but at least we have these if we look like idiots" Lily produced three masks from her bag.
"What are those for?" Sasha asked in awe as she took the silver mask with blue glitter around the eyes and crystals dotted in swirly patterns around the border.
"It's a masquerade ball, you idiot, everyone will be wearing masks" Lily explained as she handed Kara the mask that was based on a princess tiara, and was cut into intricate patterns on the top with pink glitter swirling in pretty flowers around the mask.
"Oh my gosh they're beautiful" Kara squealed, the other two stared at her sudden girlish outburst "I mean… ur… they're awesome… innit?" Kara said desperately.
"Right" Lily chuckled as she put on her own mask which was white and had butterfly wings cut out of either side, and the beautiful design of a bottle green butterfly. The three of them stood in the mirror with their outfits on.
"We are smoking hot" Kara laughed as she struck a pose.
"How are we going to know who anyone is if we're wearing masks?" Sasha questioned as she adjusted the skirt on her dress.
"Ah, well that could be a problem" Lily admitted "I didn't really think that through"
"Oh well" Kara sighed "I'm sure we'll find a way"
The Great Hall had been expertly designed to suit the ball by Lily, Sasha, and Kara because according to the boys interior design was 'to girly for us men' so they were sent off to work on flower arrangements much to their disgust. It had a purple and gold colour scheme with the banners that usual sport a house's colour had been changed to purple and gold, and the walls had purple and gold material hanging from them. The end that normally hand the teacher's table had a massive stage with instruments laid out ready, a dance floor filled most of the rest of the hall with carefully laid tables dotted around the outside with massive, beautiful centrepieces standing out in the middle. Much to Sirius' delight they had finally agreed to have one entire wall dedicated to food and the house elves had created a banquet which filled in to the brim.
"Wow" Sasha beamed as they walked in.
"I know" Kara gasped as she ran over to a table and admired the detail.
"Dumbledore was right" Lily announced "This has kind of brought us all together after all that's threatened to break us up, hasn't it" Lily thought back to all of the late nights in the library, trips to Hogsmeade, and days tasting food in the kitchen.
"Yeah" Kara admitted "But let's not go all philosophical, I wanna party!" She swirled around in her dress, then stopped when she got dizzy and realised the ball hadn't started yet. "Why are we even here so early?"
"To make sure everyone who gets here is having a good time and…" Lily thought about it "No I've got no good reasons, anyone up for chips in the kitchens?" The other two nodded and grinned and they hobbled off in their heels.
"I don't want to put that thing on, no-one will be able to tell it's me with all of my awesomeness!" Sirius threw the black shimmering mask back at James.
"Sirius, it's a Masquerade ball, no-one can know who you are, that's the point!" James sighed as he slipped his green mask, to match the green skinny tie he had on with his dress robes and he guessed Lily would be wearing green, over his head.
"Ugh, fine" Sirius reluctantly put the mask on "And what's with these stupid dress robes" Sirius sighed as he flattened down his waistcoat. "What's wrong with jeans"
"You really don't understand the concept of a masquerade ball, do you Pads?" Remus asked sarcastically as he put on his read mask which faded into flames on the edges. "Wormtail, what on earth are you doing?" Remus helped Peter yank his robes over his head.
"My mom sent the wrong ones" He muttered as he put on the blue mask Lily had given him. The four of them stood and looked at themselves in the mirror.
"You can't tell us apart!" Sirius moaned "Well, you can tell who Peter is" With James, Sirius, and Remus with perfectly kept shiny hair without being able to see their faces it was pretty hard to tell them apart. James blew a strand of black hair out of his face.
"Ready to go then guys?" Remus asked as he straightened his tie.
"As I'll ever be" Sirius said in an exasperated tone.
"There are the Marauders" Lily pointed out as they walked back from the kitchens, pushing Kara and Sasha against the wall.
"How do you know it's them?" Sasha asked whilst rubbing the back of her head after having it hit the stone wall.
"Peter" Lily said simply "Let's wait for them to go in, then we can make an entrance"
"Alright then, we've already seen Davey go in, Sasha who did you say you were going with?" Kara had been waiting to see this mystery date for ages.
"You'll see" Sasha murmured as they began to make their way back to the Great Hall. It was packed with students from all years and houses all mingling together not knowing who they actually were. By the food table a third year Gryffindor was chatting happily to a sixth year Slytherin; a Hufflepuff was snogging a Ravenclaw in the corner.
"It's great" Lily beamed at their work as they appeared at the doorway, the whole hall turned to watch them walk down, everyone talking to try and find out who they were.
"It's the girls" James told the rest of the Marauders.
"How did you know that?" Remus asked, to them they all just looked like girls wearing dresses and a mask.
"Easy" James didn't give away his secret as he walked over, bowed to her and took her hand. "You look gorgeous Lils" he smiled at her as he walked her over to the dance floor.
"How did you know it was me?" Lily had been clever to twist her hair back to it wasn't so obviously red.
"I have my ways" He grinned before pulling her closer and taking her hand "So may I have this dance?"
"Always" Lily smiled.
Over on the other side of the dance floor Shanice was stood with Violet staring at Lily and James dancing.
"Bitch" Shanice scorned "She's wearing my dress" She pulled at the same emerald green empire dress Lily was wearing, it looked limp on her now that she'd seen Lily glowing in hers.
"We could always use this to our advantage" Violet suggested "I mean, this is masquerade, I can barely tell it's you in that dress…"
"I see your thinking" Shanice leaned over and whispered the plan into her ear.
"I have no idea who my date is!" Kara moaned whilst looking around at all of the masked faces walking around.
"Me neither" Sasha grumbled as she watched all of the happy couples dancing together.
"Well they've got to be somewhere, haven't they?" Kara said determinedly as she pulled the mask of an unsuspecting passer-by.
Over by the doors Sirius, Peter, and Remus stood looking confused.
"Ok, these masks weren't the best idea, where they?" Sirius said as he frantically searched the crowd for Felicity.
"No, they weren't, were they?" Remus and Peter agreed. Just then Mary skipped over wearing a purple floor length chiffon dress with a crystal encrusted single strap that wound around one shoulder.
"Peter!" she smiled uncertainly down at him "Do you want to maybe go and get something to eat?" She avoided the dance floor, everyone avoided dancing with Peter after the 'incident' in second year.
"Sure" He grinned, taking her arm and they walked back, Peter turned back and stuck his tongue out at Sirius and Remus who were looking even more desperate to find their dates.
"Ok then, this should be easy, we're looking for the two girls who look as confused as us, aren't we?" Remus tried to think logic when he saw two girl who fit this criteria. "Hey, look over there! Those two girls, there's one in a short blue dress, and another in a long pink one" Sirius looked over.
"Ah, that must be Felicity in the pink dress, she is looking fit" Sirius winked at Remus before they strolled over to Sasha and Kara.
"Hey girls" Sirius beamed at the girl he thought was Felicity.
"Oh hey, we've been looking for you!" Kara figured that the shiny brown hair behind the mask belonged to Davey.
"So have we, good we finally found you though" Remus beamed over at the person he thought was Emmeline.
"I know, right?" Sasha laughed "So, do you want to dance?"
"I didn't think you liked dancing?" Emmeline had made that clear when he asked her.
"Yeah, like you know me well enough to think that" Sasha wondered why Gordon had made this assumption when she'd only just really spoken to him "Has he grown?" She thought to herself as they walked away from Kara and Sirius.
"You go get her away now, then" Shanice hissed at Violet. Violet proceeded to waltz over nonchalantly to Lily and James before tapping on Lily's shoulder.
"Hey, Lily? You organized this, didn't you?" Violet asked suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah? Why?" Lily looked quizzically at her.
"Well I was just wondering if you knew that we've, uh, run out of salsa dip?" Violet tried to make up an excuse on the spot.
"Ugh, I told Sirius to keep an eye on that" She sighed and looked up at James "Mind if I go quickly?"
"Of course Lily" James smiled at how Lily kept everything in line "I'll go bother Sirius until you get back" And with that Lily ran down to the kitchens to get the elves to make some more, her mask falling off at the door without her realising.
Shanice quickly moved in to grab the mask, waited a minute, and then skipped over to James.
"A mix up" She tried to put on Lily's annoying high pitched voice.
James glared at the Lily impersonator unconvinced "Is there something wrong with your throat, Lily?" He asked, trying to make the imposter own up.
"Oh" she fake coughed "I think I've got a cold coming that's all" She laughed it off.
"And your hair's in a different style" James persisted.
"I just wanted a change, now come on let's dance" Shanice grabbed his hand put he pulled it a way and used his quick seeker reflexes to whisk the mask off the top of her head.
"Don't try and fall me Shanice, I'm not an idiot, I know when the person I love is stood in front of me" and with that he stormed off, and Shanice stomped over to Violet ready to yell at her for such a stupid idea.
"It's really amazing in here" Remus stared up at the decorations as he danced with Sasha, who he thought to be Emmeline.
"Yeah, I helped design it" Sasha bragged.
"No way!" Remus didn't realise that 'Emmeline' had had a role in the role of decorating the hall, Lily had never said.
"Yup" Sasha smiled "It is quite picturesque in here now, isn't it? Makes a change from crumbling stone walls" They laughed, then stopped to look at each other.
"Really romantic, isn't it?" Remus whispered to 'Emmeline'. Sasha had no idea that 'Gordon' would be so much fun to go to the ball with.
"Uhuh" Was all Sasha could say as she stared into his eyes before Remus leant down and kissed her softly on the lips. They stayed there for a minute completely happy.
"So, what made you say yes to me?" Remus asked 'Emmeline' as they started dancing again.
"What? I asked you remember?" Sasha looked at 'Gordon'.
"No… I definitely asked you, in the common room remember? You were with Mary?" Remus looked completely confused at 'Emmeline'.
"What are you on about, Gord? I never hang around with Mary" Sasha stepped back from 'Gordon'.
"Wait, what did you just call me Emm?"
"Emm? I'm Sasha!" Sasha took off her mask and Remus stared open mouthed at her before he took of his mask.
"Oh my God" Sasha gasped.
"We can never mention this again!" Remus and Sasha agreed before a thought popped into Remus' head.
"Hang on, if you're Sasha who did Sirius just walk off with?" Remus looked around panicking.
"SIRIUS?!" Sasha realised Kara and Sirius were alone together and they ran off to find them.
On the other side of the food table hidden by the stage Sirius stood snogging Kara, who he thought was Felicity. Kara ran her hands through, who she thought was, Davey's hair.
"Your hair's so soft" Kara whispered as 'Davey' kissed her neck.
"Of course it is" He smirked "I spend enough time on it" They didn't say anything else after that until Sirius slipped his hand down the front of 'Felicity's' dress.
"Oh Davey" Kara giggled. Sirius stopped immediately.
"Felicity, who the hell's Davey?"
"Felicity?!" Kara jumped back from him.
"What on earth's going on?" Sirius asked as he pulled up his mas to scratch his nose.
"SIRIUS?" Kara exclaimed, utterly shocked.
"Yeah… And you are?" He looked confused at Kara.
"Uh, doesn't matter" She babbled before running away.
Lily had just run back up from the kitchens and laid the salsa down on the table when she noticed a practically full bowl next to it.
"What?" She though, completely confused. A she was going back to find James a tall figure in forest green dress robes, a deep green mask with golden brown speckles on it with slicked back jet black hair stood dead in front of her.
"Lily" He said softly.
"Um, who are you?" She asked uncertainly.
"Surely that would spoil the ball" He said simply.
"I haven't got time for this" Lily sighed and tried to walk around him.
"Ok, ok, ok" The man stopped her from walking away. "Ten questions to figure out who I am"
"Fine, do I know you?"
"Yes"
"Are you in my year?"
"Yes"
"Are you a Gryfindoor?"
"No"
"Slytherin?"
"Yes, and that's two questions"
"Dammit, are you clever?" That would exclude half of the Slytherins.
"Well… yes I suppose so"
"Hmm, Are you a prefect?"
"No"
"Damn, thought it was that idiot Regulus" Lily thought to herself.
"Would I know you if I passed you in the corridor?"
"Definitely, but you rarely choose to see me" He muttered the last bit.
"Are we friends then?"
"Once" It clicked and Lily knew who it was, but she decided to use the last two questions to her advantage.
"Do you still like me?" She asked curiously.
"Yes, although I don't see how that tells you I am"
"Sh, I have one more question – why did you do it Severus?" She glared at him.
"I, er…?" Once having his identity revealed it felt like his shields were down and he was completely vulnerable.
"Don't try Severus" Lily sighed "There could never be anything between us again, that got burnt by what you said, like you'll ever feel like that again" Lily flounced off trying to hold back all of the tears that have accumulated over the years.
"Always" Severus whispered.
'The Boomin' Basilisks' had just come onto the stage when everyone was finally reunited with their proper dates.
"Where did you actually go?" James asked Lily once she'd found him stuffing his face with cake.
"On a wild goose chase apparently" She glared over at Violet. Kara, Sasha, Remus, and Sirius walked over to them. Kara upon seeing Sirius quickly said.
"Have you seen that stupid Hufflepuff who's wearing the same dress as me?" She saw Sirius let out a sigh of relief out of the corner of her eye."
"No?" Sasha started, but Kara elbowed her in the ribs.
"Weren't you guys just with other people?" Lily waggled her finger between all of them and they shuffled uncomfortably on the spot, luckily the band started playing.
"Guy… LET'S DANCE" Sirius shouted excitedly as he dragged Felicity over to the dance floor.
The gang spent the rest of the evening manically dancing to the rock music, because as Sirius said:
"No-one will ever know the fucking weird twat behind the mask"
Authors Note:
INTERNET CONNECTION, I HAVE FOUND SOME! :D Wow that was nice to find a place in this resort with some. I would like to apologize for the rubbish band name, with no internet connection it's flipping hard trying to remember animal names, etc. to use in it. Luckily I brought chamber or secrets with me so I at least remembered that – I should be ashamed to call myself a 'crazy addicted Harry Potter fan' ok, gtg, going to the beach, bye :-)