A/N: Okay, so this chapter took a bit longer for me to put up- but it's a really long one- so hopefully it will keep you busy for a while. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty One: The Pageant
Lily was petrified on the day of the pageant. By some stroke of good luck she had managed to get past the preliminary tests (which was no small feat); but now, with Merlin looming over her like some type of terrible beast, she wished that she had failed those tests miserably.
"Lighten up, Lils, you'll do fine" Sora said, helping the girl slip into her dress.
"I can't lighten up! It's too nerve-racking" Lily groaned, fingering the fine silk material of her gown. James had hired a designer to make it especially for her. It was gorgeous, but just looking at it made her want to throw up in nervousness.
"Lily, we've been training you non stop for the past two months. You know everything there is to know!" Sora said, fixing Lily's hair.
"I know- but there is just so much at stake here. I don't know why James had to go and make that wager with his mum" Lily grumbled, sinking down into a chair next to the window.
The H6 had all come to London two days ago to get ready for the pageant. Lily had been going through the last minute, high intensive training sessions as well as spending four hours a day in a very fancy magical spa, getting primped, exfoliated, purged, rejuvenated, and everything else she needed to do to look the part of a perfect pageant princess.
Lily looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She looked good, better than she ever had looked before, in fact- but she felt fake. The smooth, un-curly red hair that hung silkily around her face seemed unfamiliar to her, and her face, made up to perfection- seemed as though it belonged to somebody else.
"I don't think I'm ready" Lily said, sighing.
"You are the most prepared of all the girls here" Sora said, packing up all of their things and putting them away. "Don't worry, Lily. We won't let you loose"
Lily was just about to ask what exactly Sora meant by that when there was a knock on the door.
"Are you two ready yet?" James's voice rang from outside the small door. The four boys had been sharing the room next to Lily and Sora's.
"One minute!" Lily cried back, getting up and taking one last look in the mirror. Everything was perfect…at least on the outside. On the inside, Lily was a train wreck.
"Come on, Sora, we better get going before the boys barge into here" she said, picking up the miniscule evening purse that Peter had bought her and walking towards the door. Sora nodded her head and walked behind her.
Lily opened the door to see James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus all standing, looking bored but very cute indeed in their formal evening suits.
"Well aren't you four an eye-full" Lily said, grinning at them.
"Same as you" James answered "you…you look like a beauty queen" he added.
"Ah, don't get her head too swelled up" Sora said, smiling, locking the door behind them.
"We better get going- registration starts soon" Peter said.
"Wait- I have something for us" James said, holding out the sleek, black bag that had been resting at his side.
"What is in that?" Remus asked. James just grinned and opened the bag, taking out a beautiful red cloak.
"Oh my, those aren't what I think they are" Sora breathed, looking at them.
"They're the official H6 cloaks- the same ones that we wore in our third year when we stood in front of the whole school and told them about the forming of our group" James said happily.
"Third year- that was so long ago" Lily said, smiling fondly at those more…peaceful times.
"Wow- I thought that you had thrown these away" Sirius said, looking through the back, taking out five more identical cloaks.
"Nah- I had just sort of…misplaced them" James said sheepishly "I found them the other day when I was going through all of my old stuff"
"You want us to wear them…now?" Remus asked, looking up at James.
"Sure, why not- we need to make a dramatic entrance" James said. The rest of the group just shrugged and put on their capes, nostalgic about that far off time when their biggest troubles had been each other.
The lobby of the Merlin building was crowded with pageant hopefuls, all in their finest dresses and made up to perfection. They were the top fifty teen witches in the entire world, and they were all desperate to win- each for a different reason; most of those reasons having something to do with marrying a rich husband. Reporters from all the major magical papers stood ready, waiting for something exciting and dramatic to happen. And they wouldn't be disappointed.
The main door of the building burst open very loudly. All eyes turned towards the entrance, where six teens, all wearing matching red capes stood. They walked into the building in long, self assured strides as murmurs started to break out among the crowd.
"Who are those people?"
"What? Have you never heard of the H6?"
"Oh my, those are them- aren't they- is one of them entering the pageant?"
"I think it's Lily- the redheaded one"
"But isn't she a muggle born?"
"Who cares; she's one of the H6"
From the corner of the lobby, Bellatrix Black stood and smiled evilly as the group walked past her.
"They are always so over dramatic, aren't they Thomas?" she said to the man beside her.
"Yes, quite so, Mistress Black" Thomas said, eyeing the group. They might be overdramatic, but they sure knew how to make an entrance.
"I think that entrance went rather well" James commented as they reached the registration, leaving a lobby full of gaggling contestants and reporters in their wake.
"A bit too well" Lily said "now they expect me to be amazing"
"Don't worry, Lily, with the amount of time we spent training you- you will be amazing" Peter said. Lily sighed.
"Oh my- look over there!" Sora cried, pointing to the corner of the lobby. The rest of the group followed Sora's finger and saw a figure walking over to them.
"Bellatrix?" Sirius asked in confusion as his cousin walked up to them.
"Hello, Sirius" Bellatrix said, stopping in front of the group. Lily gasped. The girl looked…amazing. Her black hair had been perfectly coiffed and she looked elegant and poised. Lily felt like a drab wallflower next to her.
"Surprised to see me?" Bellatrix asked the group.
"Well, yes. You never seemed like a pageant witch before" Remus said to the girl. Bellatrix just laughed.
"I wasn't. That was, of course, until a certain benefactor paid me a king's ransom to enter and win" she replied.
"Somebody paid you to enter?" James asked, confused.
"Well yes, in fact, your own mum paid me to enter" Bellatrix said, smiling smugly.
"My mother!" James said, stunned. "But, why?"
"Your mum wanted to make sure that Lily lost, so she hired me to win the pageant- which I will, no doubt" Bellatrix answered. James's eyes flashed with rage. It was just like his mother to play dirty like this.
"Sorry, Bella, but Lily is going to beat you, hand's down" Sirius said. Bellatrix just laughed.
"Sirius, there is no way a mudblood is going to beat a Black" she said before turning around and walking away, towards the auditorium.
"I can't believe my mother did that!" James cried, leaning against the registration table.
"Please, Prongs, you couldn't have possibly expected your mum to play fair" Remus said. James sighed.
"James…I don't think I can beat her" Lily said, still awestruck over the whole situation.
"Lily- you have to beat her, not only to win, but also to prove her outdated style of thinking is wrong" James said.
"Like your mum doesn't have the same style of thinking" Lily said, sighing.
"Of course she does- she's insane!" James said "has been ever since she met that man"
"You dad?" Lily asked, confused on who 'that man' was.
"Nah- my father's okay. It's that crazy man, Voldemort. Mum met him at some sort of meeting about nine years back and ever since then she has gotten into all that fanatical pureblood stuff" James said, sighing.
"Never heard of him" Remus said, thoughtfully.
"I have" Sirius said ruefully "mum and dad are great friends with him. And you know what that means" he added.
"But James, your mum wouldn't be friends with a dark wizard, would she" Lily said. James just shrugged.
"Who knows what my mother will do. I really don't care anymore" he said before turning to the registration table. "But enough about her, we need to get you set up to go" he added.
"I don't feel so good about this" Lily sighed.
Lily sat backstage, waiting for the pageant to start- trying not to let her nerves take the best of her. Around her girls were sitting, staring, and gossiping. They had all seen her entrance and, somehow, they had all heard her story. Lily had a feeling that Bellatrix was to blame for that.
"Why did I let James talk me into a dramatic entrance" she said to herself, leaning back in her chair.
Suddenly a very tiny man in a suit walked briskly into the room.
"Ladies, we are about to begin- please line up and wait for your name to be called" he said in a tight, formal voice, before turning on his heels and walking out of the room. All of the girls got up and lined up, waiting.
Lily saw as the girls were called up one by one; each one of them gracefully walking through the curtain that led to the stage. And with each name that was called, Lily felt her stomach dropping a bit more. Finally it was her turn.
"Lily Evans" a loud, booming voice called. Lily took a deep breath, put on her most dazzling smile, and walked through the curtain.
The stage was massive, as was the crowd. Thousands and Thousands of people, and a good share of various magical creatures, watched the girl as she walked across the stage. There was quite a bit of polite, formal clapping; which sounded more like leaves rustling than actual clapping; and quite a bit of murmurs coming from the crowd; but Lily didn't hear any of it. She was just concentrating about getting to the other side of the stage without making a fool of herself.
Lily reached the other side and felt a great sense of relief. It definitely wasn't the hardest part of the pageant, but Lily felt a bit better. She had nailed the poised, graceful walk that Sora had been trying to teach her nonstop for the past two months. One by one, the rest of the girls also walked past the stage. (The only person that messed up was some Cambodian girl who accidentally tripped halfway through and then ran off the stage, bawling). Finally all of the girls (minus that one girl) were standing, smiles plastered to their faces, waiting for the first round of the pageant to begin.
The thing about the Merlin Pageant was that it wasn't run like the usual pageant; where girls would just dress up in different clothes and walk across the stage. The Merlin tests not only the girl's physical appearance, but her knowledge of al things that were high society. None of the girls knew exactly what the rounds were going to be about, but they knew they were going to be challenging.
The small man walked to the middle of the stage and addressed the girls and the audience in a large voice.
"Honorable guests, esteemed contestants; welcome to the hundredth annual Merlin Pageant" he said "We are very humbled to have all of you here. This year, our theme will be International Etiquette. We will test our contestants over etiquette not only from their own country- but from many different countries across the globe. Our panel of judges each come from twelve different countries and will be judging the girls on the level of perfection that they perform their tasks."
Lily felt a bit better upon hearing the theme. The H6 had spent a lot of time prepping her on various cultures and Sora taught her all there was to know about Japanese etiquette. Plus, looking around, she saw the blank, slightly frightened faces of the girls around her. It seemed as though most of them hadn't studied about etiquette from other countries.
"The first round will be…music" the small man said "each contestant has to play an instrument for us. They may pick the instrument- but it must be one that is not common to their respective country. We have a large selection of instruments in the back from which they may choose from. The contestants will have forty minutes to prepare".
And with that he dismissed the girls, who all walked backstage gracefully. Once they were off the stage though, all the girls dashed wildly to the room where all the instruments were. When they were inside the room, everybody just stood there, staring at the large collection of instruments, not quite knowing what to do.
"I don't know how to play any foreign instrument!" One girl cried. Many of the other girls nodded their heads. It was a hard challenge.
Lily, too, didn't know any type of foreign instrument. She knew how to play the piano, Sirius had taught her basic violin, and Regulus had taught her basic viola; but all of those instruments were common to England.
"What am I going to do?" Lily cried, sinking to the floor. She eyed Bellatrix who was smiling widely, holding some type of flute in her hands. Apparently the girl had been prepared for the challenge.
"Here, try this" a lady said, handing her something that looked like a wooden xylophone. Lily looked up in surprise. The woman had a good natured face, a large smile, a cloud of red hair, and was wearing the black robes that all the people who worked at the pageant wore.
"Don't be afraid, Mistress Evans, I'm on your side" the lady said. Her voice was kind and warm, but Lily still felt a bit on guard.
"Thank you, but…who are you?" Lily asked taking the instrument. The lady smiled brightly.
"My name is Molly Weasley. I'm a pageant coordinator" she said. Lily looked up at her in wonder.
"But, why are you on my side. Did James hire you?" she asked. Molly laughed good naturedly.
"No, no, my dear. I just heard that nasty girl Bellatrix telling a group of girls about your story, and, well, I felt as though I had to help you win" Molly said. Lily beamed up at the woman.
"Thank you, Molly" she said, tears shining in her eyes.
"No need to thank me, dear, it's the least I can do to help true love" the lady said. "Now, about this instrument. It's called a marimba, and it makes a lovely sound. I learned to play it when I was working with the ministry in Africa."
For the next forty minutes, Molly taught Lily the basics of the marimba as well as showed her how to play a simple, yet very pretty song. It wasn't a particularly hard instrument to play; all it took was a good memory; and Lily had that. By the end of the time, Lily was on good spirits about the challenge- which was more than what could be said about the other contestants.
Up in the audience the rest of the H6 were sitting, extremely nervous.
"Regulus and I never taught her how to play any foreign instruments" Sirius said.
"Lily is smart, she'll find something" James answered.
"James- she might be smart- but we're talking about learning to play an instrument, in forty minutes!" Remus said.
"I'm sure Lily found someone in there to help her" Peter whispered.
"Yeah- she'll find out something" Sora said.
Suddenly the small man stepped out onto the stage and began to call the names of each girl, one at a time.
"Aing, Maima" A tiny Asian girl stepped out onto the stage and played a violin.
"Arlee, Janette" A French girl came out and did a song on some type of drum.
"Berer, Jakimba" An African girl played an unusual tune on a guitar.
"Black, Bellatrix"
The H6 all turned and watched the pretty girl cross the stage with a flute in her hand.
"That's a Japanese flute" Sora whispered to the boys "it's very difficult to play; but if it's played properly, it makes an extremely pretty sound" she added.
"Let's hope she doesn't know how to play it properly" Sirius said.
Unfortunately, Bellatrix did know how to play it, and rather well at that. Even James, who hated the girl with a passion, had to admit that the music that she made with the flute was beautiful.
"Lily better be amazing" Remus said after Bellatrix flounced off the stage cockily.
"She will be" James said, his confidence not slipping an inch. The H6 just sat back and watched the next few girls come onto stage. Some of them were horrible, some of them were passable, but none of them were very good.
"Evans, Lily" the small man finally announced. The crowd once again erupted into murmurs and the H6 sat at the edge of their seats as Lily walked onto the stage, a large smile on her face, and an odd instrument in her hands.
"What is that?" Peter asked, looking at the instrument.
"It's a marimba" Sirius answered "from Africa"
"Does she know how to play that?" James asked.
"Well, we'll find out soon" Sora said, holding her breath as Lily sat down and started to play.
To the H6's surprise, Lily actually looked like she knew what she was doing. The song that she played on the marimba was simple yet very pretty and in a way, she was almost as good as Bellatrix.
"How…how did she learn how to play that?" James asked as Lily left the stage.
"Well, the marimba isn't very hard to learn; but somebody had to have taught her" Sirius answered. Everybody looked at each other in confusion.
"James, did you hire somebody to help Lily without telling us?" Remus asked. James shook his head violently.
"No way" he answered.
"Oh well" Peter said, shrugging "at least we can feel better, Lily did extremely well that round" he said.
"Yeah, the only competition for her now is Bellatrix" Sora said. James's eyes darkened.
"If my idiotic mother had never hired that stupid girl to compete, Lily would have had this competition, hands down" he said angrily. Sora was just about to say something when the small man once again came on the stage.
"Thank you ladies. The first round of the competition is complete. The judges will now pick the top eight girls to go on to the second round" he said. The girls all came on stage and the H6 watched with bated breath as the verdict was called.
"Justine Harding from America"
"Opri Kalumbajar from Namibia"
"Bellatrix Black from England"
"Maria Sandoval from Spain"
"Stella Rechvicov from Russia"
"Esperanza Roseo from Columbia"
"Aisha Kaldari from Egypt"
"Lily Evans from England"
Lily broke out into a huge grin and the H6 broke out into such a loud applause that many of the people sitting around them looked up in wonder at the teens.
"I knew she would do it" James said, grinning from ear to ear, shooting Lily a thumbs up. Lily just shook her head and smiled at the boy's enthusiasm.
"The second round" the small man said, bringing everybody back to reality "will be even more difficult than the first" Lily paled. The first round had been extremely hard- in fact- if it hadn't been for Molly she wouldn't have been able to get through it.
"For a girl to be a good hostess, she must cater to the needs of her guest, no matter what nation they are from. And the first step of catering is communication. For this round- each girl will need to give a thirty second speech on the benefits of learning international etiquette"
Lily sighed with relief. Peter and Remus had trained her countless hours in public speaking. Giving such a short speech was no problem for her now. She looked up at her friends in the audience and winked. This wouldn't be a hard round after all.
"But wait" the little man said "while giving the speech the contestant will have to speak in something other than her national language or English, for all contestants are required to know English."
Lily felt all of the happiness leave her all at once. She looked back up at the crowd to her friends only to find them whispering ferociously to themselves. She thought wildly at any foreign language that she knew. All she knew was a few French words that she remembered from when she had taken a class during her elementary years in muggle school; but she defiantly didn't know enough to create a thirty minute speech.
"The contestants will have another forty minutes to write and memorize their speeches. You may go now girls"
The girls all left the stage, some of them with smiles on their faces, some of them with looks of horror.
"What's Lily going to do now? I know for sure that she doesn't know any other language; except a bit of French" Sora whispered.
"Enough French to write a thirty second speech?" James asked. Sora shook her head.
"And Bellatrix used to live in Spain. She's fluent in Spanish" Sirius said.
"So what do we do?" Peter asked "I don't know who taught her how to play an instrument; but learning a language will be ten times harder for her to do"
"It's impossible- she can't learn another language" Sirius said, sighing, leaning back in his seat.
"You can't be giving up this soon, Padfoot" James said to Sirius angrily.
"What can we do then, Prongs? We can't teach her another language" Sirius said. James just smiled slyly and pulled out a little box from his cloak.
"What's that?" Remus asked, eyeing the box warily.
"Something I picked up" James said cattily.
"Something you picked up where?" Peter asked.
"At…somewhere" James said, suddenly embarrassed.
"James, where?" Sora asked, her eyes narrowing.
"At…at a muggle store" James answered finally.
"What? A Potter went to a muggle store. What would your mother say?" Sirius asked in mock surprise. James promptly hit him on the head.
"But James, will…whatever they are, work here? I know that muggle things don't work at Hogwarts" Peter said.
"Yeah, they will- I already tested them" James said.
"Well, what are they" Sirius asked. James opened the box and brought out two little buds and a tiny microphone.
"This is top muggle technology, it just came out. I had to pay a fortune for this" he said proudly. Everybody looked at them in confusion.
"What are they, Prongs?" Peter asked. Instead of answering him, James just took one of the buds and put them in Peter's ear. Then James just smiled and walked out of the auditorium.
"What in the bloody hell was that all about?" Peter asked, just as confused as everybody else.
Suddenly he heard James's voice, as clear as if he was standing right next to him.
"So, Wormtail, what do you think?" he said. Peter's eyes grew wide.
"Prongs where are you?" he asked.
"I'm outside. This device lets you hear me as long as I stay in 7 kilometers of the building" he said. Peter's eyes lit up.
"Brilliant!" he said, smiling widely.
James walked back inside the auditorium and him and Peter explained how the buds worked.
"Okay, so that's neat and all, but how are we going to help Lily?" Sora asked.
"We'll give lily one of these buds and one of us will go outside and whisper to Lily everything she needs to say. She won't sound perfect, but it'll work" James said.
"But who here knows a foreign language?" Remus asked.
"Sora knows one" Sirius offered. Sora nodded suddenly. She had grown up her whole life in Japan so she was quite fluent in Japanese.
"There we go, Sora, go give this to Lily" James said, handing the girl a bud.
"How will Sora get it to Lily?" Peter asked. Sora just smiled.
"Peter, I might not have the best grades in most of my classes, but when it comes to transfiguration- I'm an old pro" Sora said, turning on her heels and walking out of the room.
Lily was sitting down backstage, head in her hands, not knowing what to do. She had already spoken with Molly and the lady had said that she didn't know any foreign languages.
"Hello there, young girl"
Lily looked up and saw an old woman wearing black robes standing in front of her. The woman was about her height and had the most fabulous snow whit hair that came all the way down to her knees.
"Um…hello Madame" Lily said, getting up, trying to be polite, though a million questions were racing through her mind.
"I have a present for you, dear" the lady said. Lily looked up at the woman, confused, as she pressed something into her hand.
Lily looked into her hand and saw a tiny bud in it.
"What is this for?" she asked. The old woman's wrinkled face broke out into a smile.
"You put it in your ear, love. The rest will fall into place" the old woman said. Lily looked up at her.
"Who is this from?" Lily asked. The old woman looked her straight in the eye.
"Let's just say it's from those who care" she said, winking. And amid the woman's wrinkles and lines, Lily recognized the sparkling blue eyes.
"Sor…"
"Sorceress Adams" she said quickly, cutting Lily off "that's my name"
Lily suddenly understood. Sora couldn't reveal her true identity. Another member of the H6 coming backstage would be very suspicious.
"Just put it in your ear- we'll take care of the rest" Sora whispered to Lily before winking at her once again and walking away.
"Thank you…Sorceress Adams" Lily cried out. Sora just waved her hand at her and walked out of the room.
Lily put the bud in her ear and waited. The forty minutes went by in a flash and before she knew it the small man was calling her name to come up onto the stage.
"I hope you know what you're doing Sora" Lily said, walking out onto the stage, a bright smile plastered to her face. She didn't quite know how the small bud Sora gave her was supposed to help her in any way, but she trusted her friends. They hadn't let her down before.
Lily walked up to the stage and stood at the microphone, wondering what was going to happen. Suddenly she heard Sora's voice in her ear.
"Lily- I am going to tell you what to say. Repeat everything I say exactly" the voice said. Lily tried not to look as shocked as she felt. Sora started to talk very slowly and clearly in Japanese and Lily repeated what the girl said into the mike.
It wasn't a perfect speech, but it wasn't a bad one either. Lily spoke the Japanese with a terrible British accent and she tripped over a couple of words; but the grammar was perfect and the speech itself was strong. Plus Lily would be getting extra points because Japanese was such a hard language. From up in the stands, the H6 smiled at each other.
"That was actually a pretty good speech" Remus said once Lily had finished and walked off the stage.
"Like you understood what it meant" Peter said, rolling his eyes.
"I didn't- but I mean, she spoke clearly and her poise was good. We taught her well" Remus answered. James nodded his head.
"Lily was loads better compared to these other girls" he said. And it was true- almost none of the other girls knew how to speak a foreign language and most of them just came up and gave a painfully short speech in some butchered language; usually French. In fact the only girl that was superb was Bellatrix, who addressed the audience in beautiful, fluent Spanish.
The group sat in the stands, waiting nervously, as the judges tallied up the scores and handed the small man an envelope. The man took it and walked across the stage.
"The scores for the second round are in. I will now announce the two girls who will compete in the third and final round" he said, opening the envelope. Up in the stands, the H6 waited, fingers crossed; and behind stage, Lily sat- anxious and shaking.
The small man looked at the contents in the envelope and raised his eyebrows.
"For the first time in Merlin history, both of out finalists are from the same country. Mistress Bellatrix Black from England and Mistress Lily Evans from England" he said.
From behind the stage, Lily broke out into a huge smile and leaned back against her chair in relief. She was going to the finals. She might just have a chance at winning this thing; and the thought of that filled her up to the brim with happiness.
Suddenly the door to the backstage flew open and the H6 all tumbled in, wearing huge smiles.
"You did it, Lily!" Sora cried, running over to the girl. The boys followed behind her.
"I know, I still can't believe it" Lily said to the group.
"Ah- we all knew that you would make it to the finals" Peter said.
"Yeah- you practically have this thing in the bag" Remus said. Lily shook her head.
"I still have to beat Bellatrix- and that won't be easy" Lily said.
"Please, Lily, don't worry about my lovely cousin. You can beat her, no problem" Sirius said. Lily wished that she could believe the boy, but deep down she knew that Bellatrix would be a hard one to beat.
"The third round doesn't start for another three hours- we have a lunch break right now" Lily said.
"Do you guys want to go out somewhere?" Peter asked. The group nodded, and they decided on the Chinese place right across the street.
"We'll go get a table" Sirius said, motioning to Peter, Remus, Sora, and himself. He knew that James would probably want some alone time to talk things over with Lily right now, and the rest of the group understood that right away. They quickly left, leaving James and Lily in the now deserted room.
Lily knew that James would be waiting to hear her decision on whether or not she would accept his proposal. It was the day of the Merlin pageant, after all, and she had told him that she would have made a decision by then.
"James" she started to say, but was stopped by the boy.
"Listen, Lily. You don't need to tell me your decision right away" he said. "wait until after the pageant when my mum will approve of you and there won't be anything standing in our way" he said.
"But James, what if I don't win?" she asked. James just smiled at her.
"If you don't win, then you don't. It doesn't matter- I'll still be just as proud of you" he said "I agreed to my mum's wager because if I hadn't she would have never accepted you. If winning over her approval means having to spend six years in America then I am willing to do it" he said.
"But James…" Lily started
"Lily, listen- if the only way that I can get to be with you is to go to America, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love you, and that is all that matters to me right now" James said, cutting her off "but we won't discuss this until after the pageant. Right now, let's just go and enjoy lunch with our friends" he said, Lily nodded her head, smiling. Her eyes were filling up with tears- tears of admiration and love. She was amazed by how much James had matured over the years that she had known him. Gone was the cruel, brutal thirteen year old boy she had despised. In his place stood a loving, attentive person who could be a bit arrogant and annoying at times but absolutely uplifting at others.
"Come on" James said, holding out his hand. Lily took it and the both of them walked out of the building and out to lunch.
The third round of the pageant started sooner than Lily would have liked. Lunch had been amazing- it was just like old times- the H6 all hanging out together, goofing off, joking around, having a wonderful time. Lily wondered if the six of them would ever have another lunch like this again- where they were all so carefree and jovial.
But all traces of happiness from lunch were gone from the girl as she stood, shaking and nervous on the stage next to the poised and perfect Bellatrix. The little man walked up onto the stage.
"Welcome, fair audience to the third and final round of the Merlin Pageant. So far we have put our contestants through two very challenging rounds- and these two lovely ladies have stood out to our panel of judges. This next round will not be judged by the panel, however" he said. Lily looked at the man, perplexed. Who would judge the next round, then?
"The next round will be judged by our special guests" the small man said, sweeping aside. From behind the stage a group of ten young children, all looking to be around five years old, came out. Lily smiled as she saw the children and Bellatrix grimaced.
"In this round, our two finalists will be in charge of these ten children for forty minutes. They will have to watch them, entertain them, and make sure that they stay out of trouble. At the end, the children will tell us who they believe the best caretaker was- and that girl will win the pageant" the small man said.
Lily felt a bit better and a bit worse at the same time. At least she would have a fair chance of winning this pageant- but, on the other hand, she never really was good with little children. But she had a feeling Bellatrix wasn't much of a caregiver either.
"Your forty minutes starts now" the man said and immediately Bellatrix walked up to the children, a bright smile on her face.
"Hello children, my name is Auntie Bellatrix. I have a feeling that we are going to become fast friends" she said kindly. All the children smiled up at her. Lily made her way over to the children as well.
"My name is Miss Lily" she said brightly "now who wants to go and play a game?" she asked.
"I do!" all the little children cried, following Lily off the stage. Lily threw a smug grin at Bellatrix and led the children backstage. Bellatrix scowled deeply and followed.
The forty minutes seemed to last for forever. Lily tried her hardest to be optimistic and caring and bright the whole time- but taking care of ten hyperactive children was exhausting. Bellatrix, surprisingly, was an excellent caregiver as well. She was one of the coldest hearted people in the world, but when she was farced to do so, she could be quite the lovely person.
At the end of the time Lily and Bellatrix, both half dead, walked back out on stage, the children scampering behind them. The small man walked up to them.
"The last round of the Merlin pageant is officially over" he said jovially. "Now I shall ask the children who they thought the best caregiver was and the pageant winner will be announced" he said, before turning towards the kids.
"Okay now, my dears- have you picked the winner?" he asked. The children nodded.
"Who is it?" the man asked. Lily held her breath and shut her eyes. This was the moment that decided everything.
"We like both of them the same!" one of the kids shouted, and the rest of them nodded. Lily opened her eyes and opened her mouth in shock. A tie! What would happen now?
The small man, too, seemed to be a bit confused. He walked over to the panel of judges and the immediately huddled together, discussing. Lily looked up at her friends in the crowd and they exchanged confused looks. No one knew what was going to happen.
After about ten minutes, the small man walked back to the two girls.
"In the case of a tie- the panel and I have decided to award first place to the girl who has the most points after all three rounds" he said "but the money prize will be split in two". Lily nodded her head, not caring about the money prize. All that mattered was the title.
"So, the girl who scored the higher score is…"
Lily held her breath once again, not daring to breathe.
Up in the audience, the H6 all bent their heads- willing the man to call out Lily's name.
"Mistress Bellatrix Black of England!"
Bellatrix beamed, pumping her fist in the air.
Lily felt her stomach plummet, not only because she didn't win, but also because that meant that James would have to leave for six years.
Bellatrix ran off stage as soon as the whole crowning ceremony was over, but lily just trudged backstage, her heart heavy, tears stinging in her eyes. She opened the door to the backstage room to find her friends there.
"Congratulations, Lily!" Peter said as she walked in.
"On what?" Lily asked.
"You tied with Bellatrix" Sora said.
"Yeah, well I ended up getting runner up" Lily said halfheartedly.
"That doesn't matter- you gave a valiant effort, and we're proud of you" James said.
"But it wasn't enough- I lost" Lily said.
"Lily, please, you did great" Sirius interjected. Everybody nodded their heads.
"Come on, let's go have a celebration dinner" James said, rounding up everybody and taking them out.
Dinner was a pleasant affair, though Lily couldn't help but feel miserable.
"What's the matter, Lily, you don't look like out lovely little pageant girl" James said to her.
"You have to leave" Lily said to him. James stalled for a moment but then smiled at her.
"It's only for six years- it's not like I'm going to be gone forever, right" he said.
"James- six years- do you know how long that is?" Lily cried. James just held up his hand to shush her.
"Lily, I don't want you to feel like your to blame for this. I don't mind going to America. I'll come back here, and it's not like I'm going to be a different person when I do come back" he said.
Everybody at the table nodded at this, though they too felt a bit depressed. The H6 without James there just wouldn't feel right. He was arrogant, but they loved him all the same. They would miss him terribly.
Lily was so tired that she fell asleep at the dinner table, which was probably best, in James's opinion. He hadn't told Lily yet, but part of his mother's deal was that if Lily lost the pageant he would head off for America the very next day.
"Sora, take her your room please" James said, looking at the sleeping girl.
"Don't you want to tell her goodbye?" Sora asked. James shook his head.
"I don't think I'll be able to handle that" James said.
"But, Prongs- you aren't going to see her for six years" Peter said.
"I know- saying goodbye would just make it sound so final" James answered.
"I'm going to miss that warped ideology of yours" Remus said to the boy.
"I'm going to miss you period" Sirius said. James smiled at the group
"I'm going to miss you lot as well" he said.
"Are you sure you have to go?" Peter asked. James nodded.
"Can't we go with you?" Sora asked. Everybody in the group stood for a minute, thinking about that possibility.
"No- don't. All of your futures lie here in England- don't ruin them to come keep me company" James said.
"Prongs- you have to promise to all of us a letter everyday" Remus said.
"two letters" Peter corrected, his eyes starting to well up. James felt himself starting to get a little teary.
"I will- I promise" he said.
'Take care of yourself, Prongs" Sirius said, patting his best mate's shoulders, his voice sounding choked.
"You too- don't get into too much trouble without me" James said, tearfully. It was an emotional leaving- but it was one that he had to make. The group stood there for a moment, all of them trying not to cry.
"Ah- what's the point of holding back?" Sora asked, letting the tears stream down her face. Soon, everybody was sitting there, crying, in the middle of the restaurant. The waitress rushed up to them to assist them, but James just waved her away. It was the last time in quite a while where he would be here, with his friends, having dinner all together, crying, laughing, doing anything. He would miss them all like hell.
Lily woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed. She looked around the room and saw Sora sleeping in the bed next to her, still dressed in her robes from the day before. Lily sat there for a few moments, letting the events wash over her when she remembered one crucial fact. She had never told James her decision about the proposal. Lily jumped onto Sora's bed and shook her awake.
"What is it, Lils?" Sora asked, groggily.
"Sora, where is James?" Lily asked.
"Gone" Sora answered.
"What?" Lily asked suddenly. Sora sat up in her bed.
"James left this morning" Sora said. Lily looked at her, shocked.
"But…he didn't say goodbye" Lily said. Sora shrugged.
"He said it would be too hard" she said.
"That…fool!" Lily cried "He won't be seeing me for another six years and he wants to leave without telling me!" she felt like she was going to cry.
"He's probably still at the train station. You'll be able to catch him if you hurry" Sora said. Lily immediately got up and rushed out of the room, not bothering to comb her hair or wash up. She needed to see James.
James and his mum were standing on the train platform, ready to board, when a small girl with wild red hair ran up to them.
"James!" she cried. James turned around and saw the very person who had been plaguing his thoughts.
"Lily!" he cried, running up to her. Marissa looked at the girl in distaste.
"Lily, what are you doing here?" James asked. Lily didn't answer, but instead, punched the boy square in the chest, causing him to wince in pain.
"What in the world…"
"James Potter- how could you dare leave me without telling me goodbye?" she demanded.
"Lily, it would have been too hard" James answered.
"Are you some type of coward now? I won't see you in six years and you decide to leave without even letting me talk to you?" she demanded.
"It would have been for the better, Lily" he said. The girl scoffed at him.
"You are so boorish" she said.
"Well you're so stubborn!" he cried.
"You are an arrogant jerk" she said, bringing herself up to her full height
"Well you're an introverted bookworm" James said, towering over her still
"I hate you" Lily cried
"I hate you more" answered James
"Let's get married"
"Yeah, well I…what?"
James stared at the girl in shock. Had she just said what he thought she did?
"I said let's get married" Lily said to him.
"Are you proposing to me?" James asked. Lily nodded her head pertly.
"You didn't give me a chance to accept your proposal, so I thought that I would just go ahead and propose instead." She said. James stared at her for a moment and them threw his head back and laughed.
"You are quite something" he said.
"So is that a yes?" Lily asked.
"It's a yes" James answered before swooping down and kissing her.
"But our marriage will have to wait until I get back from America" he said. Lily nodded her head.
"I'm willing to wait" she said. James smiled at her.
"I'll write to you everyday" he said.
"You better or I'll find some other man to propose to" Lily answered. James hugged the little girl.
Marissa looked on at the scene, a bit disgusted and a bit… she didn't even know. She had never seen her son as happy as he was at that moment and she felt her cold heart melt just a bit.
"James, we are going to miss our train" she said coolly. James kissed Lily once again and gathered up his bags.
"Goodbye then, future Mrs. Potter!" he cried out to Lily, who just shook her head and grinned. Marissa walked up to Lily, taking in the girl's rumpled clothes, tangled hair, and glowing eyes.
"So Mistress Evans, you came here looking like some type of pauper girl, yelled at my son, and then proposed to him?" she asked.
"Yes Madame" Lily answered.
"Have you no shame, girl?" Marissa asked.
"Apparently not" Lily answered, grinning up at her. Marissa was quite taken aback by the girl. She had never seen such firs and such, well, insolence, from a girl since…herself, if truth be told.
"I'll see you in six years then, Mistress Evans" Marissa said, primly nodding at her and boarding the train.
Lily stood on the platform waving at the train until she couldn't see it anymore. She stood there, the wind tugging at her hair and, for the first time since the pageant results had been read, she felt as though everything was going to turn out all right after, all.
A/N: Okay, so how was that? It know it was a bit long- but I hoped that it was interesting. The next chapter is going to take place six years in the furutre when James comes back to England- so the H6 members will be all grown up and working at their own jobs and such and Voldemort will be coming into power soon- so you know what that means for our favorite couple. But- that's in the future. For now, I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. As always, please review- you make my day!