So…

I'm sorry it took me so long to write this. I had major writer's block this time around. I do hope you enjoy this. Happy Reading

Disclaimer: We've been over this.

Our relationship is purely business-like. We aren't even really friends.

The words had been bouncing around in Lily's head for days. Every time she looked at James, they would repeat over and over again, like a broken record.

She felt like one too.

James had tried to apologize to her, more than once, but each time, Lily had stalked away, leaving him standing there. It physically hurt her each time, but then she would remember:

Our relationship is purely business-like. We aren't even really friends.

Any sympathy went out the window after that, and she would just feel worse. What made everything even more painful was that Annie seemed to know that she had some part in their break in friendship, and she held it over Lily's head every time she saw her, and it was only when Lily had jinxed her that she had finally shut up. Marlene found this rather hilarious, and even Mary smiled.

"I'm assuming this won't heal things between you and James though," she had said as she ate her beef stew one evening. Lily looked up at and scowled at her.

"Why would I want that?" She scoffed, trying to force down the rising feelings of remorse. Marlene sighed deeply and met Lily's eyes.

"Lily, I do appreciate you jinxing that cow, and I know what James said was awful, but you're head boy and girl. You have to at least talk to him." Lily looked at her blankly, spoon hanging in midair.

"That's nice," she said shortly, and ate the rest of her stew in silence.

After their fight, Lily had refused to speak a single word to James outside of rounds, and even then, the conversation was fairly nonexistent. Because of this, the running of Hogwarts headed by the students suffered. It got to the point that one of the prefects (from Hufflepuff of all places) threatened to resign if they didn't get their act together.

This, at least led the two to speak to each other.

Unfortunately, their conversations were short, vicious and biting. Lily's anger had evidently spilled over to James, and the fact that Lily had jinxed Annie escalated his anger. Lily had felt as if she had been transported back to fifth year, when she and James hadn't been able to get through one day without arguing. She was so very thankful that Christmas break was a few days away, and that the ball they had been working on was going to be over tonight.

"Lils, I can't find my shoes, have you seen them?"

Lily looked up from the tedious process of curling her hair to see Alice, who was looking under the bed. She looked very pretty in a pale purple dress, her hair in a loose low bun.

"I think you left them in the bathroom, Alice. When you went to get changed," Lily said.

"Thanks," Alice murmured without looking at her, and she ran to grab her shoes.

"Are you alright Alice?" Mary asked as she zipped up Marlene's dress. It was strapless and midnight blue, with heavy sparkles at the bottom, slowly fading up to the waistline.

"I'm fine," Alice said as she put her shoes on, looking slightly green. "I'm just a little nervous." Lily stood up and guided Alice to the chair to do her makeup.

"You've been on plenty of dates with Frank before," Lily said reassuringly. "Merlin, you two have been going out since fourth year. What's different about this time?" Alice took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"This one just seems more… serious. I think… I think he's going to…" she broke off, and Lily shared a quick glance with Marlene and Mary.

"Think he's going to what, Alice?" Marlene prodded gently, now lacing up Mary's champagne colored dress. Alice said nothing for a few moments. And then, with an air of forcing something out unpleasant, she said,

"I think Frank is going to propose."

There was silence in the dormitories as the girls stared at each other in shock. Dorcas was the first to break the silence, smiling widely.

"Well that's wonderful isn't it?" she asked brightly. "You've been dating for years. It was bound to happen." Alice smiled weakly and closed her eyes, letting Lily apply her eyeliner.

"Do you want to marry him, Alice?" Mary asked gently.

"Yes," Alice said, "Of course I do. But it's just… we're so young."

"Everyone is getting married young these days Al," Dorcas said easily, pulling her long black curls into an elegant braided crown. "Hestia Jones and Luke Peters sent me a wedding invite yesterday, and they only graduated last year."

"Life is short Alice," Lily said kindly, applying the last bits of makeup onto her friend's face. "I think you should go for it. We all could use some happiness now. More than ever"

"But," Marlene piped up, now doing her own makeup, "If you say no, then we'll support you."

"Yes," Lily said. "We always will. Now." She turned Alice's chair to the mirror. "You're done. What do you think?"

Alice looked at herself and smiled. "I think it looks great Lily, thanks."

"No problem," Lily smiled at her fondly. "Now, I ought to put on my dress. I suppose. Can't go in these." She gestured to the pajamas she was wearing.

"No, you can't," Dorcas called over her shoulder as Lily walked into the bathroom to change. "And you're going to look fabulous." Lily shook her head.

"I'll look just as fine as the rest of you," she replied from inside the bathroom. She smiled as she put on her dark green form fitting dress. It had been a dress she and Petunia picked out. Well, mostly Petunia. Lily had written home to her mother, telling her about the Christmas ball she and James were working on together.

To Lily's surprise, Petunia had written back instead of her mother, offering to go shopping with her. This was a strange gesture, but apparently, some small sisterly bond had flickered in her, (though Lily suspected it was her mother's doing) and Lily traveled home one weekend to get the dress. It was a pleasant outing, if not a little awkward, but they accomplished their mission.

She put it on, and Marlene broke into a huge smile when she saw her.

"You look gorgeous Lily," she said fondly. "Come here, I'll zip you up." As Lily walked over to her, Mary looked away from applying her makeup and smiled.

"Whoever you're going with is going to flip out when they see you," she said humorously. "Who is it you're going with again?"

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," Lily said, now slipping into her shoes.

"From Ravenclaw?"

"That's the one," Lily mumbled. "And we're going as friends," she said sharply as Marlene opened her mouth in surprise. "He said so himself."

"Right," Dorcas said absentmindedly, doing a once-over in the mirror. "we all know you wanted to go with James,"

"Dorcas!" Marlene hissed, glancing at her in the mirror. "Don't. You know they aren't talking."

"It's fine Marley," Lily said in exasperation. "There's no need to be upset. But I'm not speaking to him at the moment. And he isn't speaking to me."

"Not for lack of trying though," Lily heard Mary mutter under her breath. Lily was about to retort that James hadn't been much kinder to her either, but Alice interrupted, addressing the room at large.

"Alright then," she said loudly as she stood up from the chair. She faced the other girls and smiled, though still looking a bit nervous. "Are we ready?" There was a series of "yes's" and one by one, they left the room. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the rest of the boys were waiting for them. Sirius made a beeline for Marlene, and made no attempt to be subtle as he kissed her in front of the rest of the common room.

"Honestly, you two," Remus mumbled as Mary took his hand, "get a room."

"Already have Moony," Sirius said, giving him a dirty look. Alice grimaced and shook her head.

"Don't Sirius," she said. "Please just… don't."

"Shall we get going then?" Peter said, looking at his watch. "We'll be late.

"Right you are, Pete," Sirius said. Let's go."

Overall, Lily thought they did a good job.

The great hall was all decked out, fairy lights, snow-dusted trees, and red, silver, and green decorated the dance floor. Everyone looked like they were having fun, and even Lily was able to enjoy herself. Kingsley had been nothing but kind to her, and even though they were just going as friends, he treated Lily as if it were any other date.

They were on the outskirts of the dance floor, about to dance again, when James walked up to them.

"Mind if I cut in?" He asked nervously.

"You want to dance with Kingsley?" Lily asked coolly. "be my—"

"No problem," Kingsley said easily, stepping aside. "She's all yours." Lily glared at him, but Kingsley merely smirked at her as he walked away. James offered his hand, and Lily reluctantly took it as he led her a little further into the sea of couples. He placed his hand on her waist, she put hers on his shoulder, and they started to dance.

"You look nice," James said in a strained voice.

"Thank you," she said shortly. "My sister helped me pick the dress out."

James raised his eyebrows. "Petunia helped you? I thought you two weren't on the best of terms." Lily shrugged indifferently.

"I assume it was my mother's doing," she said. They danced in silence for a moment, until James spoke.

"So, you and Kingsley, huh?" Lily met his eyes and shook her head.

"He's my friend," she said. "I think he wanted to ask out Dorcas, but she was taken by the time he worked up the nerve to ask her, so he came to me instead." James nodded.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised myself," he said. "Didn't know he fancied you." For some reason, this comment rubbed her the wrong way.

"You're so surprised that someone fancies me, are you?" she asked annoyance building up in her.

"No," James said quickly, eyes widening. "No, I only meant that- I thought he fancied Doe over there, so I was just a bit caught off guard." Lily looked at him and sighed.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "What with your recent track record of comments about me, I wasn't sure if it was an insult." James winced at her tone.

"No Lily, I'm sorry," He said. "I'm just… I was wrong. I shouldn't have said what I did. Just now… and the last time." Lily looked back at him, trying to keep her expression neutral. James sighed. "Look, I don't want to talk here, but meet me at the astronomy tower after it's over, okay?"

The song ended, and they broke apart, still gazing at each other. There was a sad, earnest look on James's face, and Lily sighed.

"I- I don't…" she trailed off and fixated at a point just beyond James's shoulder. "I'll think about it, alright?" she said. "What you said…" she felt her eyes burn with unshed tears, and she blinked them away, breathing deeply.

"I know," James said in a pained voice. "I was a prat. And again, I'm sorry. Just let me explain tonight okay? I won't be upset if you don't come, Merlin knows I probably don't deserve it. But if you can…" He broke off as Annie came running up to him.

"James! I've been looking everywhere for you," She pouted. "You're my date!" She glared at Lily, and despite her anger, Lily felt a rush of satisfaction as she saw Annie's pale blonde hair was still slightly pink. "Let's go," Annie said, and she dragged James away, Leaving Lily standing alone in the crowded dance floor.

Lily found Sirius later, leaning against the wall and sipping a drink

"You look like you're having fun," he said.

"The best," Lily replied shortly. "I mean, Annie's hair is still a bit pink, so that's good." Sirius snorted into his drink.

"I agree. It certainly makes looking at her easier." They said nothing as they watched the dancers on the floor, laughing and singing along to the music. "I saw you dancing with James," Sirius said easily, taking another sip of his drink. Lily's eyes flitted to Sirius and away again.

"So?" Lily muttered.

"So, I thought you two weren't talking. Tell me everything."

Lily shrugged. "There isn't anything to tell. He asked me to dance, and Kingsley so kindly handed me off to him." Sirius eyed her curiously.

"So nothing happened?" She asked, a little disbelievingly. Lily's eyes focused on a particularly large christmas tree on the opposite side of the room as she said,

"He asked me to meet him tonight at the astronomy tower." The words came out in a rush, and out of the corner of her eye, Sirius straightened in surprise.

"James said what now?" he asked.

"He wants to talk to me. I don't know. He said he wanted to explain, but…" She shook her head, trying to clear the jumbled mess of thoughts in her head.

"Well what are you going to do?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know Sirius," Lily said, a little desperately, meeting Sirius's eyes. "I don't know!" Sirius looked at her thoughtfully, and then said tentatively,

"Do you love him Lily?" Lily frowned.

"Sirius, you already know—"

"Do you love him?" Sirius repeated forcefully. His eyes were sincere, genuine. Lily closed her eyes and nodded.

"Of course I do," she said quietly.

"Then don't wait," Sirius said earnestly. "Don't let him slip away." Lily looked at him and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Sirius smiled at her gently. "It's going to be okay Evans," he said. "I promise." And then Marlene dragged him onto the dance floor, leaving Lily alone again.

Sirius's words swam in her head, over and over.

Don't let him slip away.

Lily knew she loved James. She knew it. And she wasn't sure if he loved her, but surely friendship was better than nothing. Wasn't it? She looked at the tree again and folded her arms as James's words bounced around her memory.

Meet me at the astronomy tower after it's over.

She wanted to. She really did.

And she would.

A/N:

Thanks so much for reading! Leave a review if you can, they give me a lot of motivation.

You all are awesome! :)