A/N: Oh, I have been working on a Twilight fic to anyone who read that book or New Moon which was incredible and very twisty, especially with the whole romanticide (suicide with romance tacked on at the beginning) Edward thing, that was a good word for it, anyway. The Dresses are up on my freeweb already, so check them out because they're gorgeous!
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James stirred slightly in his sleep and felt a hand coiled around his arm. He opened his eyes slowly and saw Lily resting against him. He smiled softly and looked at his watch. Merlin! It was already the next morning. He sighed and grabbed the nearest pillow, placing it under Lily's head and sliding out from under her, uncoiling her arms and brushing the hair out of her face. He looked around the room. Claire was sleeping, her head on Sirius's shoulder and his head on top of hers. Remus and Tanya had fallen asleep too, in each other's arms, how sweet. Must've been a tiring night for them to have not made it up to the dormitories in time.
As soon as Lily felt James move, she woke up too and stretched. Today was the day of the shopping trip where they would pick out there gowns; it was going to be amazing.
"Sleep well?" asked James's amused voice from the dormitory stairs. He had already changed.
"Yes, actually," she said playfully.
"What's all this?" asked Sirius, sliding out form under Claire as she woke up bleary-eyed.
"We fell asleep in the common room. Good thing McGonagall never showed up," joked Claire.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Remus, pulling Tanya to her feet.
"I think it's time we got ready for the trip, don't you?" asked Lily.
"Lily, you're right, I can't wait to get my gown," said Claire excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Wait, what?" asked Sirius.
"This is our last trip before the ball, we need to get our outfits for it. You were planning on wearing a tux, right?" asked Claire, turning to him.
"Oh, uh…yeah," he saved himself.
"Come on, Claire, Tanya, let's go change!" said Lily excitedly.
The girls were back downstairs and primped and ready in about an hour, which was practically record timing for them. They left the common room around ten, seeing as everyone was already down at breakfast. They decided to skip and get some lunch there. As soon as they got to Hogsmeade, they went their separate ways.
"I has to be a surprise!" said Claire excitedly.
"Yeah, I mean, we don't go around asking what your tux looks like do we?" asked Lily.
"Fine," sighed James, kissing her lightly before letting her walk to the ladies' dress robe store the opposite end of the village of the men's. Claire stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Sirius with a small peck. Then, she too, was gone. And, last, but not least, Remus kissed Tanya on the cheek before sending her off too.
"So, what colors are we looking at here?" asked Lily with a grin as they stepped into the store.
"I say that you, Lily, need something to go with your hair or eyes. I think Tanya should wear cream," said Claire.
"Claire wears white," voted Tanya. On days like these it was so easy to forget Claire's fate.
"White?" asked Claire, obviously not getting it.
"Yeah, I think it would look good on you," Lily backed up.
"Whatever you say," sighed Claire. Lily trotted over to a large rack of dress robes and a small lady came bustling over.
"Can I help you girls?" she asked.
"Yeah, actually, I need a dress to match my hair, apparently. She needs a white one to go on her flawless figure, and a creamy or a tan one for her," said Lily, pointing to her friends.
"Okay," said the woman. She bustled back to the counter and returned with three dresses in hand, all ravishingly beautiful. She handed the first to Lily, which was a reddish-orange and had a beautiful sheen to it. It was strapless and it seemed to glow. Lily grabbed it and thanked her, running into the dressing room. She then handed off a cream colored dress with bodice a rippling decorated with shimmering designs to Tanya. Claire snatched it, thanks her and rushed into the next unused dressing room. She then held one of the most beautiful dresses in the world, It was white and clung tightly at the bodice and hips. It was strapless and had a dip in the center. After the clingy part, came a flowing bottom that fanned out in every direction. Claire couldn't help but stare at it, at the complexity, at the beauty.
"Here, dear," said the lady, trying to hand the dress to Claire. Claire shook her head as if the dress would change into rags or at least become something more…ordinary, but it didn't change.
"That can't be for me," she said softly.
"I assure you, dear, this is the perfect dress for a figure and a girl of your looks, try it on, darling," pressed the woman. Claire held out her hand and the woman handed the dress to her. Claire walked to the dressing room, holding the dress as gingerly as a baby. All three emerged at the same time. Lily and Tanya took one look at Claire and practically passed out.
"You look amazing," breathed Lily. Claire blushed, adding color to her paling cheeks.
"No, seriously, you look like a goddess," said Tanya softly.
"You guys look amazing, too," said Claire, looking at her gorgeous friends. Lily's dress made her hair look like fire, a perfect combination, and, it brought out her eyes a bit too. Tanya's dress made her look so beautiful because it went perfectly with her skin. There were no other dresses that were this perfect for them, and they all knew it.
"We'll take them," said Tanya to the woman, who smiled appreciatively. They went back into the dressing rooms and changed again, back into their normal clothes. The girls ended up getting a discount due to the fact that they had brought so much business lately due to the fact that ball gowns were mandatory for the ball. When they came out with their dresses in bags, the boys were waiting for them, also holding bags. Sirius groaned as Claire walked up to him with the dress in a bag. (I repeat, dress pics are on my Freeweb, everyone, and you can get there through my profile thingy)
"Sirius, you won't be disappointed," said Lily with a mock smile.
"Yeah, it'll be worth the wait," said Tanya.
"Shut up, you guys, yours looked amazing too," said Claire, trying to get the attention away from her.
"Alright, to lunch," said James as his stomach growled.
"James, do you ever think about anything other than food?" asked Lily with a smile.
"Yes," he said triumphantly.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" asked Lily placing a hand on her hip.
"You," he said softly, placing his arm around her shoulders. Lily's spine got a chill. He was so cute when he wanted to be.
"Alright, to the Three Broomsticks then," sighed Lily. They all walked to the pub, ordered sandwiches and Butterbeer and left to go do some fun shopping. James had run into Quality Quidditch Supplies, Sirius into Zonko's, Lily, Claire, and Tanya into Honeydukes, and Remus just waited for them to finish shopping because he really didn't feel like being ensnared by their shopaholic-ness. When the day was spent and dinner was approaching, they took their carriages back to Hogwarts and went for dinner.
"Please tell me what the dress looks like," begged Sirius.
"No," said Claire playfully, not looking at him.
"Please," he begged again.
"Nuh uh," she held her ground. All of the boys had been begging all afternoon for dress descriptions, after all, hadn't they learned that no one was telling from the Halloween Ball? When they went up to the common room for the night, the begging was still going on. It was maddening. Lily wanted to say something because it would shut James up with the begging, but she couldn't, she had to remain strong.
"Why would we tell you?" asked Lily playfully.
"Because you love us," said James with his innocent little eyes. Lily looked away. She was losing her stare-down skills and she wasn't going to let James prove it. "Look at me, Lily."
"Nuh uh," she refused. "You'll see our dresses at the ball and no sooner."
"Come on, Lils," he urged.
"No," she said. It went like that the rest of dinner. The boy asked the girls about their dresses and the girls refused to say anything about them. When they went back to the common room, the boys had finally decided to give up and just wait for the ball, but they were still so curious.
"When's the next full moon," asked Claire so out of the blue.
"Not sure…Moony?" offered Sirius.
"Tonight," sighed Remus. "I had completely forgotten with all the fun we'd been having. It's almost seven. I better go. See you guys later." Tanya got to her feet and stepped gracefully over to Remus, kissing him on the cheek and whispering "Be careful," in Spanish. When Remus left, the room went dead quiet.
"Uh…Prongs, the map could come in handy," said Sirius sarcastically.
"Oh, um, yeah," James pulled out the map and saw Remus walking down to the hospital, where Pompfrey was, and then both of them going onto the grounds where Remus slipped below the Willow and Pompfrey walked back to the school.
"It's time," said Sirius thoughtfully.
"Let's go," squeaked Peter.
"I hate these nights," said Claire nervously. She placed her head in her hands and closed her eyes.
"I know, me too," said Lily, rubbing her friend's back.
"They'll be alright," whispered Tanya, leaning against Claire out of her own nervousness. James laid the map on the table in front of the girls and then grabbed the invisibility cloak from their dorm. When he came back down, the girls were still nervous. He went to Lily, and lifted her chin with his finger, looking into those emerald green eyes.
"Lils, we've been doing this for years now. We will be perfectly fine," he whispered. Lily threw her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shirt.
"Please be careful," she whispered. "I don't want to use any more of my Muggle medical kit ever again."
"We will. I promise," he whispered, pushing her gently off of him, and bending down to kiss her, softly, but meaningfully. It was Sirius's turn, and he went to Claire, who still had her eyes closed.
"Hey," he said, shaking her gently. She groaned and turned her face up to him, her eyes squinting shut. "Open them," he commanded. She opened one eye while the other stayed tightly shut. "Both." She opened both her eyes and looked right into those deep, gray eyes. "I'll be careful without me, those other three would've gotten themselves killed form being so stupid." James snorted. He was usually the one who intervened between Sirius and Remus. Claire nodded softly. Sirius kissed her neck once and ran his fingers along her cheek before backing away.
"Ladies," they said at the same time.
"Bye," whispered Lily sadly. Them they were gone, under the cloak. Lily looked down at the map. They were ducking out of the portrait hole already.
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A/N: wow, I am definitely going with short chapters this weekend. Sorry about that guys. Cliffy, muahahaha!