Regulus and Avery had been at the masquerade for twenty minutes before Lily arrived. Regulus had worn the clothes Hermione laid out for him on his bed: black slacks, blazer, waistcoat and some fancy shoes he didn't know the name for, red tie and pocket square and the masquerade mask she'd handmade. He had also taken the liberty to find some onyx rings and a ring of a snake, because Hades had a thing for those, and he had slicked his hair back with enough gel to keep it stiff for the rest of the night.
Avery hadn't put as much effort into his, with pale tweed blue robes and a blue mask that Hermione had made look like waves, calling himself Poseidon. They were standing with Snape, who had everything he was wearing in a plain bottle green, the ends of his robes looking worn and the sleeves cuffed to hide stains. He was talking about the potions extra curricular work he was doing for Slughorn, and even though potions was Regulus's favourite subject, just listening to Snape drone on was enough to have his mind wandering off.
"and so I added the beetle legs and Slughorn said that it truly was..." Snape drifted off, and Avery looked up from his drink for the first time in ten minutes to see what had distracted the lecturer, Regulus following his gaze.
Lily was drifting down the stairs, playing with a ring on her finger. She was looking around for anyone familiar, and the wings on her shoulders glistened under the chandeliers. Her fiery hair had caught Snape's eye, and he practically rushed to the steps to meet her, relieving Regulus and Avery from his speech.
After asking Snape to bring her a drink, Lily arrived in front of the boys and removed her mask to look at them properly.
"Mione did a good job with your outfits, I think she should abandon her hopes for a law changing occupation and just be a fashion guru!" She laughed "Oh Avery your eyeliners amazing, you'd never think it was your first time"
Avery blushed slightly, and the pair delved into conversation about how difficult it is to get the wing right without a smudge.
"Where's Nita?" Regulus interrupted them.
"Nita?" Lily questioned, taking her sparkling pumpkin juice from Snape.
"Hermione" Avery clarified, sighing that Snape was back.
"Oh" Lily smirked at Regulus. She had theories about the pair, but it was only from a days observation, so she couldn't be sure. "She said something about being fashionably late"
Regulus rolled his eyes and sipped his mocktail passive aggressively.He was about to start complaining about how his aunt Druella had corrupted her with these ideas, when he heard everyone gasping and saw everyone pointing.
He turned around, and saw a beautiful girl standing at the top of the stairs, surveying the crowd. The red flowers in her hair and on her mask covered up her identity, and her skin glowed vibrantly. As she made her way down the stairs, her skirt swished around her feet, and the music seemed to be for her and not the dancers.
"Who's that?" Regulus asked, his eyes not leaving the girl as she looked around for who he assumed was her lucky date.
Lily smirked again and started to giggle uncontrollably. Avery between her, Regulus and the girl, before his hand came to his mouth in a gasp and he and Lily started nodding and laughing together.
"What? What's so funny? Lily why are you laughing?" Snape asked, feeling beyond excluded.
Lily looked at him, holding in her laughter long enough to shout "Hermione! Over here!" and Avery waved his arms.
To say Regulus's jaw dropped would be an understatement.
Hermione ran over and hugged Lily excitedly. She then swept her eyes critically over Regulus before nodding to herself. "I knew the waistcoat wasn't too much. Nice touch with the rings"
Regulus's speaking skills weren't coherent, so he just nodded and gulped, surprising Hermione because he usually had a sarcastic quip ready for her.
The music ended, and the band started to play a melancholy melody. Hermione beamed and looked up at Regulus, who had a soft smile on his face.
"C'mon Reg! Our song" and she dragged him by the hand into the middle of the dance floor.
Lily stood in between Snape and Avery, watching them go, and exclaimed "they have a song?"
Avery ran a hand through his hair "first I'm hearing of it. Not surprised though, they're like a walking rom-com but with more swearing and sarcasm"
"Sickening" Snape drawled and walked away.
Regulus put a delicate hand on Hermione's waist and used the other to hold her smaller hand.
"You look beautiful Nita, which is shocking due to how you usually present yourself" he said, finally recovering.
"And you're lucky I picked out your clothes, because that's the only way you could look as dashingly handsome as you do" Hermione retorted, remembering their first dance a while back.
Regulus made a noise of joking contempt, spinning her around in the air before setting her down in a dip.
"Your skills have gotten better, Reggie, you haven't stepped on my toes once" Hermione used a baby voice, but then winced and giggled when he deliberately stamped on her heels. "Oh c'mon Reg! These are expensive"
He raised a brow "your Dad's paying for them, love, and I doubt it's going to put a dent in your Gringotts vault"
Hermione rested her head on Regulus's shoulder as the music lulled, and he stiffened as he usually did at sudden physical contact, but then he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer as they swayed to the music.
The night went wonderfully, the only downside was the sore feet. Hermione chatted with Andromeda, and gave messages to Ted from her and took them back. Persephone hadn't came to the masquerade, she was sick, but Hermione promised Ted she'd look out for her. She danced with Avery, Rabastan, Lucius and even waltzed with Lily for a short song, but she danced the most with Regulus.Every dance with him seemed too short, whether it was upbeat or slow with minimal effort. Sometimes they passed witty banter back and forth, sometimes they just let the music engross them in each other.
At the end of the night, Hermione and Lily went to the classroom next door with their galleons, to view the pictures. Hermione selected every one that people she knew were in, and took them to a desk so her and Lily could selected the ones they wanted.
In the end, Hermione bought one of her and Regulus dancing with the background blurred, one of her and Lily cackling as they were coming back from their waltz, her and Bellatrix having an arm wrestle (which she lost), her and Avery giggling at Snape who was nervously asking Lily to dance and finally one of her sitting on Regulus and Avery's shoulders after claiming that her feet hurt too much to walk.
Lily picked one of her and Snape awkwardly dancing, her and Hermione waltzing, the one of Regulus and Hermione just so she could show the Gryffindor girls and her and a Muggleborn she knew, Deidre Jordan.
Hermione also bought one of Andromeda and Ted. It was of them walking past eachother, but Ted sent her a wink and it was captured perfectly. She put a charm on it, so any other onlooker would think it was of a landscape, and decided to give it to Andromeda in a frame as her graduation gift.
Lily stepped through the portrait hole at two in the morning, surprised to see Marlene, Sirius, Peter and a snoozing James sitting by the fire.
Marlene stood and her hand flew to her mouth. "Lily you look beautiful! I'll have to get Narcissa to style me one day! Ooooh and your makeup, did you do it"
Marlene had Lily's face in her hands and Lily explained, though her voice was a little stifled, "No Mione did. If you let go of my face, I'll show you photos"
The pair walked over to the boys, and Sirius shook James awake as he said "Rem and Alice went to bed an hour ago, but Jamsieboy insisted to be here when you came back and didn't think Marlene would wake him up"
"LILYPAD" James sat up, and his eyes widened as he took in her appearance. "You ... you... you look, oh I can't even describe how you look, you... ugh!"
Lily raised an eyebrow, and Sirius and Marlene cackled. She spread out the photos on the table, but kept the Regulus and Hermione one to show Marlene separately.
James picked up the one of her and Snape, and whispered something to Sirius, who looked at it and they both smiled mischievously. Marlene and Lily were fawning over the one of her and Hermione, and when James looked over, he pulled Sirius with him to stare at it.
"Well Hermione's... grown up" Peter said, and if looks could kill, Peter wouldn't have lived to betray the Potters.
"She gets enough of that from older years Pettigrew, she doesn't need it from you" Lily snapped.
The room went silent, before James asked tentatively "what do you mean, Evans"
"It's not like you care, Potter" Lily glared at him, and the rest of them found themselves as an audience, watching a soap.
"Of course I care, she' s my sister! What did you mean Evans?" James raised his voice at Lily for the first time.
"I mean that she feels the constant need to have Avery and Regulus with her, because she's constantly being hit on! They're her buffers and they're so fiercely protective of her, they could probably save her from the devil himself." Lily rolled her eyes. "Not that she needs them, but it's probably tiresome to deal with"
"How do you even know this is true?"
"I witnessed it myself. I was under an invisibility charm, and Dolohov obviously assumed she was alone. It was disgusting! He's three years above her." Lily practically yelled, and watched James's eyes flash venomously.
Peter spoke up "but don't girls like attention? Isn't that why they dress nice and wear makeup?"
Before Lily could answer in an outrage, or Marlene could answer with violence, Sirius said "No, Pete, Marls says they do it for themselves. Self empowerment. And they only like attention when it's warranted. Not when it's creepy, pervy guys like Dolohov" He'd learnt this when he'd asked Marlene about it earlier in the year when he was considering asking Shelly Undersome to Hogsmeade.
"You may disapprove of their friendship, but Avery and Regulus care for her as much as you do Black, Remus and Pettigrew, Potter. I've learnt as much from spending a day in their company, maybe you could learn a lot... if you just tried to..."Lily trailed off, looking at James and Sirius meaningfully.
"We'll think about it, for you Evans" James smiled.
Lily shook her head sadly "no, James, not for me. For them" collected the photos, leaving behind the one of Regulus and Hermione dancing for them to see.