Lily was awoken by the sound of Mrs. Pomfrey calling her through her door, saying "Princess Lily, the Coronation ball will start soon!" Lily got up and stretched, and said "Thank you Mrs. Pomfrey! I'll be out in just a minute." When Lily got up out of her bed, she noticed that there was a small plate of chocolate-chip cookies, her favorite, laid out on the table next to her bed. She smiled, and took one, savoring the flavor of the chocolate pieces and the soft cookie. Chef Dobby knew her too well, and she reminded herself to thank him later for the treat. After she put her shoes back on, put her hair up in a neater French braid, touched up her make-up, and smoothed out her dress, she was ready. She checked her appearance in the full-length mirror next to her dresser, and then headed out the door to wait by the top of the stairs, when Mr. Dumbledore would tell her when she could enter.
Sirius had fallen asleep in the armchair he had been sitting in earlier, and was startled awake by the soft knocking on his door by Mrs. Pomfrey, who said "Pri- I mean, King Sirius, the Coronation ball will start soon." "Thank you Mrs. Pomfrey, I will be out shortly." He replied, and he smoothed out his uniform, fixed his hair into the same short ponytail he wore earlier, and put the crown on once again. He looked at himself in the mirror, and realized how trapped he felt. He felt trapped in this very room, his very soul, and now his position as King. He took a deep breath, and left the room to wait by the top of the stairs where Mr. Dumbledore told him to wait until he was called to the ballroom with his sister.
Lily paced back and forth at the top of the stairs, but when she heard footsteps coming, she stood still and fidgeted with her hands. Her brother Sirius joined her as they waited for Dumbledore to announce their arrival. Sirius and Lily stared nervously down the stairs, but looked up at each other, and smiled briefly before looking away quickly. Sirius finally said as he looked at Lily again "You look beautiful." Lily looked at him in surprise, and said "So do you! Er, wait not beautiful. Not that you're not beautiful, but you're handsome! That's it! You look handsome." She had a tendency to ramble, and he smiled and chuckled as he said "Thank you." "What's that wonderful smell?" said Lily, and they said "Mmm chocolate!" at the same time, and then laughed for a moment. Sirius asked "Remember when we snuck into the kitchen one night because you really wanted that last chocolate-chip cookie that was left on the plate after dinner? You would not go to sleep until you got that cookie!" Lily started giggling as she said "Yes! And we ended up getting caught by Mrs. Pomfrey when I had my hand stuck in the cookie jar that Chef Dobby kept in the pantry!" They both laughed for a few moments, and Lily smiled as she wiped her tears of laughter and said "I will never forget the look on her face when she saw me on top of your shoulders with my hand caught in that jar; she looked as if she was going to have a heart attack! She never told Mom and Dad, but she made me swear to never do that again." Sirius smiled, and said "Yeah, we were quite the troublemakers back then, weren't we?" Lily nodded in agreement and replied "Yeah," as she sighed. Suddenly Mrs. Pomfrey bustled in and straightened out Lily and Sirius's outfits, and said "You're about to be called downstairs, so get ready!" She smiled at them as she walked away quickly, and Sirius held out his hand for Lily to lay hers on top of, and they prepared to walk down the stairs together.
"Presenting His Majesty King Sirius, and Her Royal Highness Princess Lily," Mr. Dumbledore announced, and Sirius and Lily descended down the stairs into the ballroom. There were cheers and applause as they walked in and sat in their parent's thrones in the front of the room, and the ball commenced. King Sirius fidgeted with his gloves as Princess Lily had her chin on her hand, looking quite bored sitting there. They both sat up straight when they saw a scrawny, mousy-looking man with straw-colored hair as well as a mustache wore a monocle and white gloves, and a navy blue uniform with gold trimmings, and had two huge bodyguards walking behind him, approach them. "Your majesties, I am the Duke of Rastleton, and I would like to offer my compliments to the King, and ask if I could dance with the fair Princess." He said as he bowed, with his toupee almost falling off his head as he did so, and Sirius and Lily had to stifle their laughs, and Sirius coughed to maintain his composure, and said "Well my sister would be honored by a dance, Duke of Ratstown." As Lily said "Wait, what?", and the Duke said "Duke of Rastleton, your highness," as he grabbed Lily's hand and walked quickly to the center of the dance floor. He immediately spun her around, and brought her down for a very low dip, and then spun her out and began dancing around her quite horribly, some of his moves quite like those of a chicken, and all the while asked her inquisitively "I wonder why the gates were closed for so long…Do YOU know why?" Lily said as she tried to dance in place "Umm, no?" And the Duke shrugged and sent her down again for another low dip, and then let her go, and she massaged her back for a second as she reached her throne again, and Sirius, who was laughing at the sight of the entire dance, said "Well he sure had quite a few moves," as Lily sat down and replied "He sure is spritely! If he asks me to dance with him again, please hide me." They both laughed for a moment, and Lily commented as she sighed "I wish it could always be like this," and Sirius nodded and said "Me too…but it can't." Lily looked at him questioningly and asked "But, why not, Siri?" "Because it just can't! Life isn't always fun, Lily." Sirius replied, clearly frustrated, and Lily looked hurt. She got up and walked away, on the verge of tears as she walked through the crowd, and just as she tripped and was about to fall, someone caught her arm. "We seem to keep running into each other, don't we?" "Severus!"