Disclaimer: I don't own this. Yeah, it's that simple xD
Read, and please review! Thank you!
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After a few hours of playing exploding snap (the end result being Peter with only one singed eyebrow, and a littlefirst year boy missing nearly half his head of red hair), the boys left Gryffindor tower to go the Great Hall and check on decorations. Of course, only James was supposed to go, but none of the Marauders could pass up an opportunity such as this.
"James, why isn't there any mistletoe?" Sirius asked. Both Remus and James groaned.
"Because Lily said there can't be any," James offered as an explanation, while Remus said,
"Because it's Valentines Day not Christmas, Padfoot."
"Oh," He remarked casually, and went back to looking at the Great Hall intently. "Why aren't there more decorations?"
The two looked around the vast Great Hall, which was decorated with all sorts of streamers and balloons, along with both paper and magical hearts.
"There should be more?" James inquired slowly.
"How about tinsel?" Peter asked excitedly.
"I find tinsel distracting," a female voice said loudly from behind them. The boys all turned around, and faced Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.
"Minnie! Dumble-bumble!" Sirius replied in turn. "How simply smashing to see you!"
"Shouldn't you boys be getting ready for the ball?" Professor Dumbledore reminded them kindly. Remus looked at his watch, and groaned.
"James, Lily is going to eat you alive!"
"Why?"
Remus shoved his watch in James' face, and the boy ran from the room in the direction of his dorm.
"Why was Jim-bob in such a rush?" Sirius asked.
"It's nearly half past six," Remus explained.
"What?" Sirius nearly yelped. "But I still have to do my hair!" He started to leave, but then fell on the ground in laughter. "Ah, nearly walked away that time. But just couldn't do it." Still chuckling, he, Remus, and Peter left Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall in the decorated Great Hall, complete with stage, cleared space for dancing, and mistletoe that Sirius had inconspicuously placed nearly everywhere during his intense scrutiny of the decorations.
James nearly flew down the moving staircases, sliding down one banister as he jumped to the next in order to get to the Great Hall quickly. Ignoring the passageways he could have taken, which were very dusty and probably would have caused him to have the need for a good cleansing charm, he managed to avoid a first year who was sitting on a landing and tripped down a flight of stairs before landing on the ground floor of the castle. After few moments, he reached into the air to grab his shoe, which had fallen off the balcony near the top of the steps.
Running as quickly as one can while trying to get a shoe on, James slid to a stop in front of Lily, who was demurely waiting for him in front of the entrance to the Great Hall, for they had to walk in together.
"You're late," She told him dryly.
"I am neither late nor early. I arrived precisely when I meant to," James informed her, panting slightly. It was quite a trek from the Head's rooms to the Great Hall, especially when moving staircases were in the mix.
"So you meant to arrive late then," Lilly clarified, but stopped talking when James grabbed her arm, slipped it through the crook of his elbow, tried to unsuccessfully pat down his hair, and propelled her through the now open door all in the same gesture.
Lily grinned as they walked in, but as she looked around the room she muttered,
"James, why is there no band?"
He chuckled nervously. "Well, see, Lils, about that-"
"You forgot, didn't you!" She nearly yelled. "I've worked so hard for this, and-"
"Oh, would that be lover-boy?" James interrupted.
"Potter-"
"Oh, so it's back to that now, is it?" He grinned cheekily at her, and pushed a lock of hair away from her face. "Don't worry about it, Flower, I've got it all handled. Now go play nice with Davy over there. Don't see why you picked him of all people. Honestly, he almost gets his eye knocked out by the Willow, and-" He noticed Lily getting slightly upset, and tucked the lock of hair behind her ear.
"And now I've kept you. Go knock his socks off," James said quietly. She turned to go with a huff, but not before James caught her wrist and said in a low voice, "You look beautiful."
Lily smiled bashfully. "Thanks, James."
"Glad to see I'm forgiven," He replied, kissing her hand that he had previously captured. Lily blushed, but said,
"Not about the band. Honestly, it's the one thing I ask you to do, and now this ball-"
"Will go perfectly to plan," James completed. "I've got it under control." He noticed Remus trying to catch his eye, and told her, "I've got to go now; I'll see you in a bit."
"But James!" Lily tried to get out before he left, "We have to dance the first dance. Tradition!"
"Make it the last one instead," He said with a wink as he disappeared into the crowd.
Lily fumed, but couldn't stay mad at him for long in the gaiety of the ball. Especially not when Davey was walking towards her with a somewhat concerned look upon his face.
"Are you all right, Lily?" He asked shyly, and she smiled.
"Peachy," Lily replied. "I was just having words with James."
"Ah, I see," Davy said, raising an eyebrow. Stopping his advance, he took a long look at her a whistled. "Might I say, Lily Evans, you do look stunning."
Lily blushed, and looked down at herself. Deep cream colored robes, with a hint of gold thread in the trim. Nothing much, in her opinion. She could have gone for a very fancy set of robes, such as the contraption that she saw Margaret Stebbins wearing across the hall. Pink stuffs and lace everywhere.
"Thank you," She murmured. "You look very nice yourself." She turned a critical eye to Davy, and groaned inwardly as she saw him wearing nearly the exact same midnight blue robes as James.
But I see he doesn't fill them out quite as nice as James does, the voice in her head told her.
Shut it Lily replied. "Very nice," She repeated out loud, taking his arm and walking towards the table that she had asked to be set aside for her, James, and their friends.
Of course James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and…Cai were missing.
"Not now," Lily groaned, and Davy turned to her.
"Is something wrong, Lils?" He asked.
It just doesn't sound like it does when James calls me that, she mused, before jumping back to the present.
"No, everything's fine," She told him, "Just that a few of my friends are missing, and I'm not quite sure where they are. But it's no big deal. I'm sure they're around here somewhere."
Stephanie and Ash exchanged glances from where they were sitting.
'Think she's gonna freak?' Stephanie mouthed.
'But of course!' Ash replied excitedly. Stephanie grinned back, and grabbed the hand of her date, Peter McCalley.
"First dance, mister, we're going to be out on that floor." The boy gulped, but squeezed Stephanie's hand.
"Of course, Steph," He replied calmly.
"Good," She told him, and went back to talking to Ash. Peter just went back to doodling on piece of parchment he had managed to grab from his bag before leaving. Lily just smiled at them, and motioned for Davy to take a seat, which he promptly did, Lily following him.
James would have pulled the chair out for her, Ash thought, but went back to her conversation.
About fifteen minutes later, a muttered Sonorus charm caught their attention.
"Excuse me… excuse me! Simmer down!" James' voice was heard from the stage. Lily groaned.
"Well, now that I've got your attention," James said with a grin, "I'm pleased to present The Lime Cats for your listening pleasure tonight… or at least, for the first half of the evening. And without further ado… the genius minds called The Lime Cats!"
The audience applauded, slightly confused as they had never heard of the band before, but a few people started to laugh as James went over and picked up one of the guitars.
"What," He asked jokingly, "You think there's something the amazing James Potter can't do?" Even Lily had to hide a smile, because he looked ridiculous in his dress robes, holding an electric guitar.
"Maybe a change of costume," He mused, and with a wave of his wand he was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans, a muggle band t-shirt, and a ripped blazer. As he was speaking, people noticed as four others wandered out onto the stage. Sirius, wearing a pair of jeans and… a leather vest. Peter, wearing a pair of khakis and a polo shirt. Remus, who was wearing another muggle band shirt over a button down shirt, as well as a pair of cords walked over to the keyboard.
And Cai finally wandered out onto the stage, wearing her sleeveless dark red-colored dress robes over a pair of jeans. Of course, her dress robes came to knee length, so she didn't look completely out of place. Just slightly.
"Now that my band has decided to join the festivities-"
"Excuse me, Jimmy boy, but this is my band!" A minor argument broke out on stage between Cai and James, but was quickly resolved by Remus putting one hand on Cai's shoulder and smacking the back of James' head.
"As you can see," He said, "We have some disagreements… but who wants to hear about that, huh? Who wants to hear some music?"
The only cheers that could be heard were coming from a table quite close to the front. Looking closer, one could see Ash and Stephanie cheering their heads off.
"All right then," Sirius said nervously, and sat down at the drums. "Ready to go, guys?" He looked at Cai, and added, "And girl?" Once they all nodded, he started to hit a beat.
And the entire room looked on in a bit of shock as they actually started to play.
- -
After playing a set, including a muggle song called "Dance, Dance", the band ambled on down to the table where their friends were sitting.
"So," James said hesitantly as he sat next to Lily in a vacant seat, "Up to your standards?"
Lily smirked, and debating on teasing him, but decided against it. "You guys were perfect James. Thanks for not ruining it." The rest of the table laughed at the look of indignation on James' face.
"I was never going to ruin it. I did contact a band-"
"Two weeks late," Remus muttered, but James ignored him.
"-And they weren't able to come till later. So they will come. Maybe you've heard of them. The Purple People Eaters."
A table full of third years gasped from next to them and one short girl hurried over to their table.
"Excuse me, Mister James," She said excitedly, "But did you just say that you got The Purple People Eaters to perform?"
"Is there something wrong with that?" He asked curiously.
"No, no, no," She insisted. "I was just wondering if it was true. Y'see, they are my favorite band in the entire world, and it would make this Valentines Day just terrific if they were here, and Andr-"
James broke her off with a wave, and leant down so she was a bit taller than he was.
"How 'bout this?" James asked. "You enjoy yourself, and once the band gets here, I'll see if I can wrangle up an introduction. How about that?"
The girl's eyes went wide. "You r-really w-w-would do that?" She stammered.
"Of course I would. Now go back and enjoy yourself, and I'll come find you when they get here." She shrieked excitedly and then skipped back to her table.
"Honestly James," Lily said exasperatedly, "How are you going to manage that one? And how did you even manage to get them to come here on such short notice, especially when they just switched drummers?"
Sirius started laughing. "Didn't know you were such a fan," He said grinning, and added, "But I knew you'd peg him on that one, Lils." He let James cover the rest of the explanation.
"See, their lead singer, Marcus Billstein, is my cousin… or something like that. He's my mum's cousin's son, so I'm not exactly sure what that makes me to him. And I asked him to play for us the whole time, but he needed to take his girlfriend out for dinner. They're going to make it official, y'know," He added, waggling his eyebrows. "And so they'll be here afterwards, because his girlfriend will force him to come, even if he doesn't want to; probably along with the rest of the bunch too, because they all went to Hogwarts a few years back."
Lily nodded slowly. "So," She said, putting it all together, "You talked to a band later than I asked you to, and then talked to Cai and got her to perform the spell that she uses every summer?" All the girls started laughing.
"Remember that 'concert' you gave?" Stephanie asked.
"I remember that!" Ash said excitedly. "Cai's mum had a recital for the entire family, and Cai invited us to liven things up a little bit…"
"But she forgot to use the right spell, and instead of playing classical she broke out into Led Zeppelin…" Lily added, giggling.
The men at the table looked on at their dates (Or friends) helplessly, until Dumbledore tapped his glass with piece of silverware.
"Why didn't he just use a Sonorous charm?" Davy asked.
The entire table replied unanimously, "It affects the aftertaste of sherbet lemons," before breaking out into laughter.
"Excuse me," Professor Dumbledore said, "But would our own musical group like to return to the stage?"
The boys and Cai grinned, and ambled over to the stage before Dumbledore added,
"And swallowing a sherbet lemon is never pleasant when the delightfully citrus-y aftertaste is not present."
The table group burst out into laughter again as the entire hall looked on in question.
"All right," James said nervously, "Who wants to hear some more songs?"
- -
Lily looked out at the dance floor dejectedly. Davy was a perfect date; or he would be, if they had anything in common and he didn't act uncannily like James. Looking out she saw Stephanie dancing with Peter McCalley, Ash dancing with a seventh year Ravenclaw whom Lily recognized as Benjamin Harris, and-
"May I have this dance?" James asked, offering his hand.
"Aren't you supposed to be playing music?" Lily asked in return.
James chuckled. "My services aren't needed for the moment," He explained, and pointed to the stage, where Cai and Sirius were fighting over the microphone.
"And why are two members of the band fighting over the microphone?" Lily asked amusedly.
"Because," James replied in turn, "We're each singing a 'solo' song, and Cai wants to sing hers first, before Sirius figures out what it is and starts to sing it himself."
"Ah," Lily said, albeit with a little confusion. Why would Sirius want to sing a song that Cai was singing? However, Cai triumphantly grabbed the microphone, motioned to Remus, and he started plunking out chords as she sang loudly,
"First I was afraid, I was petrified."
"I Will Survive?" Lily asked dryly, and James grinned.
"Give it a second…" They watched as Sirius knocked Cai out of the way, grabbed the microphone, and kept singing.
"Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side," He crooned to the audience, and Cai walked over to her guitar in a huff and started playing.
"But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong,"
Cai muttered something, and his outfit changed from a leather vest and jeans to a sparkly red dress and heels. Sirius just shrugged and continued.
"I grew strong, and I learned how to carry on-"
Lily looked a bit shocked, but James just kept laughing.
"So, may I have this dance?" He repeated.
Lily looked at Davy for a second, and quickly replied, "I guess so…"
Without another word, James whirled her out onto the dance floor, carefully trying to avoid stepping on her toes as he looked at her.
Lily was wearing floor length dress robes of a deep cream, with gold flowers embroidered into the hem and at the neckline, which dipped a bit low. Her shoulders were bare, but the sleeves of the dress started at a point just below them and flowed out at her wrists.
"Again, Flower," James said, "You look beautiful tonight." While avoiding stepping on James' feet as well as the nickname distracted her, he quickly unclipped her hair from its position at the back of her head.
"James Potter!" She shrieked. "Why in the name of Merlin's beard did you do that? It took me an hour to get that hairstyle right! And now I have to fix it."
"Don't," He murmured, "I like your hair when it's down." She glared at him, but made no move to excuse herself, and that made James smile.
"Go on now go, walk out the door.
Just turn around now,
'cause you're not welcome anymore,"
James and Lily looked up at the stage where Sirius was now trying to moonwalk, and they burst out into laughter.
- -
"C'mon, Remus," Cai cajoled a few minutes later. "You have to sing one solo song. And since you didn't pick on yourself, Sirius, James, and Peter picked one for you!"
The boys' eyes glittered dangerously, and Remus felt a sense of growing agitation.
"No! I refuse! You can't make me!" He exclaimed.
"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand," He sang dejectedly a few minutes and a scuffle later, amidst great laughter from his friends. He saw Lily smiling at him, along with Cai, which prompted a few thoughts to run through his mind.
Does she know about me? He thought, but the thought quickly disappeared from his mind as he sang the next line of the song.
The entire gang grinned after Remus finished singing and the band itself started plunking out the opening chords to "Le Chic". However, their amusement tripled when Gilderoy Lockheart ran out screaming from the ball.
"Whoopsies?" Sirius muttered, but everyone laughed.
James decided to sing his own 'solo' after the next song finished; what he wasn't counting on was Lily and Davy getting up and dancing right in front of him.
"'Ya sure you want to do this, Prongs?" Sirius asked quietly when they were done, and James shrugged before nodding.
"Doesn't really change anything, she can hear the band from any corner of the hall."
He took a deep breath, and motioned for Remus to start playing. The entire dance floor looked up as they broke out into a fast paced song.
"You," He sang, "Doin' that thing you do,
Breaking my heart into a million pieces,
Like you always do,
And you,
Don't mean to be cruel,
You never even knew about the heartache,
I've been going through
Well I try and try to forget you girl,
But it's just so hard to do,
Every time you do that thing you do-"
Lily looked up from her spot right in front of James, and sighed when they made eye contact.
"Is something wrong, Lily?" Davy asked, and she sighed again.
"No, no problem. Everything's fine."
- -
Lily managed a grin as James sat next to her again.
"I really liked the song you sang earlier," She told him hesitantly, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Thanks," He replied quietly, and they watched Peter try to sing "Afternoon Delight".
"No offense or anything, but how did Peter manage to get into the band? He's been tone deaf since first year, and they actually slightly deaf since third when you blew up that cauldron."
James grinned sheepishly. "Cai had him play the triangle."
Lily started chuckling.
"What? What's so funny about that?"
"Well," She told him swallowing a giggle, "Cai always gave her littlest brother the triangle. She never told us why, but maybe that's the reason."
James chuckled. "Probably why," He mused, and looked onto the dance floor where Ash was dancing with a seventh year Hufflepuff named Brian Miller.
"Think Sirius'll ever realize?" Lily said quietly from next to him, and James started.
"Hopefully," He replied calmly, although he wanted to retort, Think you'll ever realize? Lily looked at him as if she heard him, and sighed. James made a split second decision as Remus charmed a quartet of string instruments to play some classical music for a few songs, and rose.
"Lily, do you want to dance?"
She looked at him curiously. "Do you even know how to dance?"
"I danced with you earlier," He pointed out.
"Not this way," She scoffed, but took his hand and rose. Situating themselves on the edge of the dance floor, they started to waltz into the center.
"Sure you know how to dance?" Lily asked a second later, silently nursing her toe.
"Of course I do, I am the one who asked you to after all," He pointed out.
Still quietly arguing, they did not catch the amused glances of Sirius and Cai, who were sitting near the door in hopes of catching The Purple People Eaters before they were mobbed by people.
"I bet that its five minutes before James realizes that Lily is bluffing, and has no clue how to waltz, or tango, or whatever they're trying to do," She muttered to Sirius. He grinned.
"I give it one before James manages to screw it up and Lily ends up going to the Hospital Wing."
They watched in horror as James stepped on Lily's foot, tried to pull away, and then proceeded to crash their foreheads together and watch helplessly as Lily fell to the floor.
"Pay up!" Sirius said gleefully.
"We weren't betting for money!" Cai wailed, but turned around when someone said from behind her,
"Well, isn't that the only kind of bet one can make?"
She broke into a grin, and jumped into the arms of Andrew Roberts.
"Andrew, what are you doing here?" She nearly squealed, and then looked at him suspiciously.
"I am not scheming to kidnap Mr. Pup," He replied, hands raised, and then tweaked her nose.
"Well then," Cai said slowly, "That's all right." She pondered for a second, and whispered, "Are you the new drummer?" Andrew grinned.
"The one and only," He told her, raking his hands through his red hair. "And you, young lady, are you going with the young and dangerous Mr. Black to the ball?" She rolled her eyes.
"Andrew, you're only two years older than me," Cai informed him. "Don't try and pull the whole 'I'll be your brother, father, and great-grandfather' act on me. And no, I'm not. I'm actually playing guitar."
His eyes widened. "You didn't!"
"Yup, I did," She said, laughing. Sirius just looked on in confusion.
"Well," He tried to say, but was interrupted.
"I can't believe you would use the spell!"
"Hey, couldn't let Jim-bob take the fall!"
"Where is he, anyway?"
"Taking Lily to the Hospital Wing, most likely," Sirius interjected, happy to finally be able to put something into this conversation.
Andrew raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes sparkling. "He tried to dance?"
Both Sirius and Cai nodded, grinning.
A muffled voice came from the entrance hall, shouting, "Oy, Andrew! Get back in here!"
Andrew rolled his eyes, and jerked his thumb in the direction of the door. "The rest of them are in there," He said, "And they sent me in because they figured no one would recognize me." The three grinned.
"Guess they didn't factor in the fact that nearly everyone at Hogwarts faints when they hear your name," Cai said with a wink. "I'm still not sure if its because nearly everyone fancies you, or if its because they're terrified that you'll threaten them with five a.m. quidditch practice."
"Well, once we serve dessert, we'll start to set up all your stuff. That's in about a half hour or so." Sirius said, for once trying to sound professional.
"Hey, you guys think you could come in for a bit?" Cai asked excitedly. "I mean, we can do a spell and change hair colors or something like that. And-"
"Sure, Cai," Andrew said with a smile. "Give me a few minutes, and then we'll come in. And I want you playing your best, all right?" She smiled back, and skipped off to the stage, presumably to annoy Remus about playing better.
Both boys rolled their eyes, and walked in opposite directions.
- -
"I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey!" Lily insisted as the matron bustled around, looking for various potions. "In all honesty, I just hit my head on a very dense surface!"
"Hey!" James replied indignantly.
"What, it's true!" Lily retorted. "You are the densest person I know!"
"What about Sirius?"
"A close second then!" She replied.
Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat, and mock-glared at them.
"Now, you two-"
"I don't understand why you would think I'm dense!" James interrupted.
"Why wouldn't I?" Lily retorted. "How about the past six years as an example?"
"Excuse me-"
"Well, we're friends now," James interrupted again, "So you can't use that against me!" He stuck his tongue out at her childishly, and Madam Pomfrey took this time to raise her voice loudly, and say,
"Children!"
They both looked at her hesitantly, James' tongue still sticking out.
"Mr. Potter, if you would-" James grinned hesitantly. "Thank you. And now, Miss Evans, if you could take this potion, you will be cleared to return to the ball. Against my better judgement, Professor Dumbledore has insisted that any injuries sustained during the ball, unless life-threatening, should result in the student's return to the Great Hall. A load of poppycock, if you ask me. Why-"
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," James said, sweeping a bow. "If you would allow me to escort our graceful Head Girl back down to the ball…"
She grimaced. "I suppose, Mr. Potter. But please, make sure she is careful. I wouldn't want to see either one of you back here tonight."
James grinned while Lily scowled, and before she could respond he propelled her through the Hospital Wing doors and down the stairs. Upon reaching the Entrance Hall, he nearly squealed excitedly.
"James?" Lily asked hesitantly.
"They're here!" He replied happily. "For a bit there I thought I would have to play and sing the entire night… and that wouldn't be too bad, except… well, I had other plans!" Still babbling, Lily just shook her head before holding her finger to his lips.
"Quiet," She murmured, and James shut up. "Much better. Now, who's here?" James looked at her, a bit shocked.
"The Purple People Eaters," he replied, "Who else? Now where was that first year… or was she a third year? One can't tell, they're all about the same height."
Lily rolled her eyes, but once she started to walk into the Great Hall and James followed closely behind her, she snapped.
"James Potter," She nearly snarled, "Please stay at least five feet away from me."
"But why, Lils?" He asked, pouting.
"Because," She replied, "I don't want to end up in the hospital wing again."
James grinned. "Well, Lily, I would have to say that the entire episode was your fault." Noticing Lily's glare, he quickly backtracked. "I mean, you just looked so beautiful… it was a wonder I didn't accidentally lit the building on fire or something in my happ- I mean, my shock?" Lily quirked an eyebrow, but not before Remus, Peter, Sirius, Ash, Stephanie, and Cai ran out into the entrance hall.
"Hullo Jim-bob!" The six chorused, and the boys started talking with James while the girls turned to Lily.
"Lils, c'mon," Cai whined. "Andrew's here, and-"
"-And Cai needs the band to sing a song so she can dance with him." Ash finished. Cai rolled her eyes, but grinned.
"Hey, who can blame me if I want to dance with him? And-"
"James, that third year was looking for you," Remus told him.
"So it was a third year!" He replied, and all the other seven rolled their eyes and started chatting as they walked into the hall.
After Cai had gotten her chance to dance with Andrew, and The Lime Cats had played a few more songs, they were ready for an announcement.
"Excuse me," James said into the microphone, "But this will be the last song that we sing tonight." The entire group of students groaned, but smiled as James continued.
"We do have another band for you to listen to, but we'll let them introduce themselves." Here he winked at the third-year girl. "So, without further ado… a collaboration by Sirius, Cai, Remus, Peter, and myself." The audience clapped politely, but when only Remus moved towards an instrument they groaned.
Ignoring the whispers of the quickly agitated crowd, the other four took their positions on the front of the stage, with Sirius and James in the middle, and Cai and Peter on the outside edges. As a few opening chords were struck and the first lines sung, nearly all of the muggle-born students groaned.
(A/N: To the tune of "Just the Two of Us" xD Dr. Evil version xD Have fun, Ashey xD)
"This is a very sensitive subject," Sirius told the crowd knowingly, and Lily started hitting her head on the table.
"Oooooh!" Peter burst out off-key, but the rest of the band went along like it was supposed to happen.
"Just the two of us, oh yeah… Just the two of us!" Cai and Remus added.
"From the moment I met Sirius,
on the Hogwarts train-
I knew that I'd be safe, ne'er alone again," James sang.
"A Marauder really shouldn't speak a lot about his feelings,
my hurt and my pain would just make me too appealin'," He continued with a wink.
"And would get you too many beatings!" Andrew quipped from the crowd.
"I'd hoped Lily would like me." James continued to sing, but Sirius broke in.
"Think of names for the children of their family.
They would become Marauders, just like their dear old dad
He'd give them lots of love and stuff he's always had."
"She would think I was a cool guy
Return the love I had, make me want to cry
Be a Marauder, but have cool feelings too.
Change my life with the help of Remus, and I guess Peter too," James sang again.
At this point Lily was banging her head on the table top.
" But she rejected me. C'est la vie
Life is cruel, treat you unfairly
Even so, a god there must be,
Sirius, you complete me!"
The entire audience looked shocked at this statement, but started laughing as Sirius blinked bashfully and playfully hit (Punched) James in the shoulder, causing him to nearly fall off of the stage.
"Buildin' castles in the sky!" Peter shouted out, and everyone just looked at him.
"We gave up, Petey," Cai told him slowly, and the boy shrugged.
"Oh well."
After the Purple People Eaters were calmly situated on stage, and had started playing after a few girlish screams had broken out (mainly from Sirius and James, who were trying to annoy Andrew), James was found trying to cajole Lily into dancing with him again.
"I swear, Lils, I'll close my eyes this time."
"No you won't!" She nearly shrieked. Continuing in a quieter tone, she added, "That might just make it worse. But I'm not risking my health and my safety to dance with you again!"
James grinned knowingly. "Ah, but you promised me the last dance, my fair lady."
"I did no such thing!" Lily said, knowing he had her sunk.
"Yes you did," He drawled, "And I'll be coming by later to collect on that promise. Until then, I have other engagements." He tipped an imaginary hat and walked off in the direction of Professor McGonagall, whom he soon dragged out onto the dance floor and began to swing dance with.
Lily just shook her head, and allowed herself to be swept out onto the floor by Sirius.
"C'mon, Lily Flower," Sirius cajoled, "Why won't you dance with my bestest friend in the entire world?" He blinked his eyes coquettishly, as if to try and use them to persuade her to do as he asked.
She rolled her eyes in return. "Because, Sirius-"
"Sirius Sirius Bo-birius! Banana fana fo-firius! Me mi mo mirius-"
"Sirius!'
"Ah, the name game!" He exclaimed happily. "So joyful! So… exciting! So-"
"Annoying?" Remus broke in. Gently prying Lily away from Sirius' arms, he pulled her away from him.
"So, was the whole thing to your liking?" He asked worriedly. Lily thought about teasing him, but decided to tell the truth, and nodded.
"In all honesty," She informed him, "I didn't think that anything would turn out right. I mean, I've had absolutely no experience in planning anything like this, and James' help wasn't too much." Remus' eyes twinkled.
"Y'know, Lils," He said, "James was up all night, worrying about this."
Lily grinned. "Probably just because he left it to the last minute."
Remus chuckled. "Well, besides that fact, he wanted to make it perfect for you. He knew how much you were looking forward to this."
"Well, it's a good thing he didn't mess it up," Lily told him, "This night needed to be perfect. And I really think it will be. I mean, so far, nobody has really gotten hurt, the students are all enjoying their time, nothing has explo-" She broke off as a loud boom echoed throughout the room.
They all turned towards the sound, where they found Sirius and Peter sheepishly waving next to a disgruntled Hufflepuff fourth year, whose skin was currently spiraling through the colors of the rainbow.
"Well," She continued, "At least nothing exploded until then, and it wasn't too bad…"
Remus laughed. "True that."
Lily continued to dance with various 6th and 7th year boys, even pausing to dance with a second year who looked like he would have to be dared to talk to the Head Girl, much less dance with her.
Granted, this went on for at least an hour before she made her excuses and stumbled over to the table where Stephanie, Ash, and Cai were sitting.
"Hullo, ladies," She said wearily, and slumped into a chair, kicking off her high heeled shoes.
The three girls waved back at her, and went back to their card tower.
"Shouldn't you three be out there dancing?" She questioned.
"My feet hurt," Ash said.
"Peter went to go get drinks," Stephanie replied.
"My nose hurts," Cai said whimsically. Everyone looked at her curiously, before she told them, "And no one else will dance with me, I've broken too many toes."
The group giggled, before Lily pulled her chair around to their side of the table and started helping them.
"I've missed this," She said quietly, a few minutes later.
"Hmm?" Cai asked, absentmindedly twirling a strand of her blonde hair around her finger.
"Missed what?" Stephanie asked.
"Us just hanging out, like this," Lily reiterated. Ash grinned.
"Then I propose a plan, ladies." They all groaned, but listened to what she was saying.
"Every Wednesday, we'll get together. We can use the Head's Dorms-"
"Hey!" Lily interjected.
"-Because I don't feel like including Mary," Ash continued, "And we'll just sit up late eating chocolates and having ice cream and butter beer and doing makeovers and-"
"But it's a school night!" Lily exclaimed.
"You seem to be the only one voicing any objections," Stephanie told her.
Lily shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "All right, all right."
"-And we won't invite the boys, because then what would be the point of the girls night in?" Ash continued, completely ignoring the fact that two of the other three girls were breaking off into side conversations.
"And we can have pillow fights, and wear nighties, and we can gush over how handsome Sirius Black is," Another very familiar voice said from behind Ash. The girl nodded exuberantly, before realizing who was speaking.
"Sirius Black!" She yelled, jumping up in her seat. "How dare you intrude on a private conversation! We were-"
"Talking about how lovely I am, I know. It's on everyone's minds these days."
"If you had one ounce of respe-"
"Lily, may I have this dance?" Davey interrupted, finally finding his way back to her side.
She nodded, grateful for the interruption between the upcoming fight of Ash and Sirius, and pulled her shoes back on before she took the offered hand.
They danced for a bit before the final song of the night was announced.
"I know all of you wizarding folk might not recognize this tune," Marcus said softly into the microphone, "But I know all you muggle-borns out there will recognize it, and probably groan at the corny-ness of it. But without further ado…"
As he trailed off, Owen Smith started to play a few chords on the piano, and then grinned at the girls who recognized the song and sighed in contentment.
"Last dance… last dance for love…"
"Excuse me, but may I cut in?" James' voice broke in. He extended his hand to Lily, who hesitated for a moment before taking it.
"You don't have to, Lils," Davey said. "I thought we would dance together."
Both Lily and James' eyes narrowed at Davey's use of her nickname, but not before Lily answered,
"Well, you see Davey, I had promised James that I would dance the last dance with him, and-"
"-That last dance has come, so I've returned to collect. If you would excuse us?" James finished, whisking her away.
After dancing for a few moments, Lily murmured, "I suppose we were a bit rude."
"Nah," James scoffed, "He's all wrong for you anyhow. I mean, it's not like-" He broke off his speech in order to look directly above him. "Uh, Lils-"
"Wait, what were you saying before? James, you keep doing that. You never let me actually get to know a guy."
"Lily-"
"And why are you always doing that? It might be a good idea to actually let me date other guys… you would get to see me use my scathing wit on someone else for a turn." She winked, in jest, but his eyes were still focused directly above them. "James, are you even listening to me? You-"
"Ooooh, mistletoe!" Ash exclaimed from her spot next to them, where she was dancing with Sirius.
"Mistletoe?" Lily asked suspiciously, and James nodded slowly. "James, I thought I said no-"
"It wasn't me, it was probably Sirius," He interrupted. The guilty party nodded shamelessly.
"Hey, I felt it would liven up the party a little bit!" Sirius then proceeded to pull a few dance moves that had everyone in the room cringing.
"But anyway, you two cutest little lovebirds in the history of the entire world-" Here he paused to catch his breath after his… exhilarating routine. "Now you have to kiss, because you're caught under the mistletoe, and nothing is gonna let you go!" He grinned at his own little rhyme, while Ash groaned.
"Sorry Lils," She murmured, and quickly guided Sirius away from the two of them.
James blanched. "Just want to let you know Lils, I had absolutely nothing to do with this. I swear. Absolutely, positively, nothing-"
"It's charmed, isn't it?"
"The mistletoe?"
"Yeah, that stupid little bugger."
James grinned sheepishly. "Most likely, yes. And now that we're caught underneath it, it most likely won't let us escape from a five meter radius around it."
"Bloody brilliant," Lily exhaled loudly. As the closing strains of the song commenced, she sighed.
"Well, at least it could be worse," She conceded.
"How?" James said.
"I could be kissing the giant squid," She told him before pressing her lips to his.
James quickly closed his eyes after his state of shock, and unbeknownst to him one of his hands traveled up to the loose red tendrils of hair currently cascading over her shoulders, and held itself in place at the nape of her neck. All too quickly for him, she broke away and smiled shyly.
"Lily! Oy, Lily Evans!" Cai yelled from across the room. Lily shook her head to clear it of her stupor, before reiterating,
"As I said, at least you're not the giant squid." James spluttered indignantly at this statement, but before he could say anything of value, Lily had disappeared from his side and re-appeared at Cai's.
"So, Prongs, did you like the enchanted mistletoe?"
Still gaping in shock, James did the only thing he could have done.
And no, he didn't faint. He just clapped Sirius on the shoulder, and grinned, as Lily turned and smiled again.
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Authors Note: -grins sheepishly- Uh… sorry this is so delayed? And I'm soo sorry that I didn't get this out by ACTUAL Valentine's Day… whoops.
So… please review! Thanks so much!