A/N: I am soooo sorry for the long long wait. I had a rough time getting this finished. I know I said this one would be the ball, but I couldn't fit it all in so I have to make it two chapters. I promise to get the other one out asap, my life is very busy right now and I'm doing the best I can. I hope you'll all forgive me for the long wait. Oh yeah, and I apologize in advance for spelling and grammar errors, I do use spell check surprisingly, and I do reread it but sometimes that just doesn't work.

Enjoy...

Chapter 14

Just Before The Ball

The next morning came too quickly for both Lily and James and the thought of waking up angered the pair, but the fact that James' parents would be arriving at noon woke them immediately. James was the one to get up first and one glance at the clock made him jump out of bed and head for his room despite his grogginess.

Lily's eyes popped open instantly as she felt the bed jolt and heard a door slam, she turned over and noticed that James was gone. Finding this extremely unusual, as she was normally the one to wake first she got up as well.

" What the hell..." she muttered as she stretched and swung her feet over the edge of the bed.

As she was yawning she caught sight of the clock and jumped in alarm.

" 11:35?"

Lily ran to the closet and began searching for an outfit to wear before having to change into her Ball robes a few hours later.

Before a single minute could pass she had her outfit and was in the showers, and just as fast as she had begun she had finished. Lily dressed and rapped a towel around her head, forming a turban type thing. She was afraid she wouldn't have time to be... presentable in front of his parents, who were very popular in the wizarding world, so she constantly found herself checking the time.

11:40... drying hair... 11:47... applying make up... 11:48... looking for lost mascara brush... and it continued like that, annoyingly, almost, until her hair was completely straight, and her make up was just right.

Lily looked in the mirror and smiled in approval, she had picked the most conservative, but at the same time- stylish, clothes she could find.

She wore a blue tank under a white button up shirt, which she left unbuttoned. With the upper outfit she wore new jeans that had not yet faded and were free of holes, Lily also had a long white necklace that she had draped around her neck twice and it still fell below her chest. Her hair was pulled half back with a few strands of her hair framing her face and her make up consisted of mascara and a light pink lip gloss that looked nearly clear.

As she was smoothing her hair she heard her bedroom door slam open and heavy breathing enter her room.

" Lily! My parents are here!" said James franticly.

Lily made a point to seem extra calm as she walked from her bathroom and over to where he was standing. This was very hard for her, considering the small fact that she had never met any of her boyfriends' parents before.

" Geez, calm down, you sound like you expected me to still be in bed or something."

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, " I did,..."

She laughed and took his hand and walked out of the room with him.

" You have no faith in me, James, absolutely none."

" What?" he asked in shock " Of course I do."

Lily shoved him playfully and stopped in front of him with a smile on her face.

" You seriously need to loosen up, James, I was only kidding."

" Sorry, I'm just a little nervous."

" Why? It's not like they've never met one of your girlfriends before." she said shaking her head and making her hair fan out around her. " Relax.

He smiled as he thought of what he really wanted to say, 'No, not the girl I plan on marrying someday.' but instead out came, " No, not really, you're the first serious girlfriend I've ever had."

Lily leaned up and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

" Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be okay, I'll be good," she said with a smirk.

He elbowed her playfully and kissed her back, " Why would I want you to be good?"

" There we go, the pervert's back."

Now that the spirits of both of them were lightened a bit, even though they were both scared to have that chat with James' parents, they continued downstairs where they would find Mr. and Mrs. Potter sitting next to each other on the medium sized sofas.

Sirius, Mallory, Remus and Amanda were sitting on the couch across from them, leaving Lily and James to sit next to James' parents.

But something took Lily by surprise when she entered the room and saw his parents stand up in greeting them, it was Mrs. Potter and the way she looked.

Lily gaped at James for a second and then looked at his mother. Mrs. Potter was a little taller than Lily, and looked much like her from a distance. She had long dark red hair and green eyes. It had never occurred to Lily that it was possible for a child with black hair to have a parent with red hair, James had gotten his hair color... and the unruly way it stood up without any possible way of controlling it, from his father.

Mr. Potter, unsurprisingly, looked almost exactly like James, so when they stood together across from each other it looked as if there were a mirror in between the couples. The only difference was Lily's hight and their ages.

James' mother ran up to James and hugged him like she hadn't seen him in years.

" Er, missed you too mum,"

Mrs. Potter smiled and kissed her sons' cheek, " It's great to be back even if it is only for a few days."

James' father then gave him a slight hug and ruffled his hair, " Nice to see you son, but you seriously need a hair cut," he waved his wand and James' long black hair shortened considerably and gelled itself.

James smiled and nodded, " Great to see you too pop, thanks for the hair cut... it.. probably.. looks good."

Mr. Potter then extended his hand to Lily and smiled, " You must be the Lily that James always talks about."

She smiled back at him and smirked up at James, " Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter."

" Oh, please you don't have to call me Mister," He laughed " That makes me sound old, call me Harold, or Mr. P, which ever."

Lily nodded and let go of his firm grasp.

Mrs. Potter smiled, showing Lily the same bright straight teeth that James had inherited.

" Hello, Lily, I'm glad to finally meet you. Oh, and please either call me Hannah or Mrs. P, which is what everyone else calls me as well."

" Sure, Mrs. P, it's great to meet you too."

" Well, James it looks like you've got yourself a good one this time... let's try to keep her for a couple weeks at least," Mr. P said chuckling to himself and making James blush.

Hannah bit her lip to hold in a laugh while she sent her husband a scolding look.

" What? Now, honey you know it's true."

Hannah said nothing she just rolled her eyes and looked back towards Lily.

" I heard that you decorated the Mansion for the Ball today."

Smiling nervously she nodded.

" Yes, but I didn't do it alone of course, everyone worked equally."

Mrs. Potter turned and started towards the ball room, motioning for Lily and James to follow them. Sirius, Mallory, Remus and Amanda stayed back because at the moment they were in the middle of a very heated game of Wizards Chess.

" Well, this looks absolutely wonderful Lily!" Hannah exclaimed when she saw the ball room.

Harold nodded and smiled in agreement, " Yes, it looks fantastic! This must have taken you lot ages, even with your wands."

Lily smiled," Thank you, but with the help of everyone else it only took up a day really."

" Thats not bad at all," Hannah said in surprise. " Well, I think I'm going to head to the kitchen and fix up a lunch for us all, I'm sure none of you have eaten."

James smirked, " You know us all too well, Mum."

" That's my job, Jamesie."

James winced at the nickname and blushed as both Lily and Harold tried to stifle laughter.

" Oh shut up will you?"

Mr. Potter bit his lip and then sighed heavily.

" Well, I'm going to see if Milly put all of our suit cases away, she's getting a bit old and tends to put things in the wrong places."

He smiled and nodded at Lily and left the two standing in the middle of the Ballroom alone.

" Well, I think I did okay." Lily said after a while.

" Okay? You did fantastic, they love you!" He took her hand and kissed her cheek as he led her back to the entry room.

" You think so?"

" No, I know so. They've never taken so quickly to anyone." He laughed, " I mean they questioned Remus and Sirius for an hour before they were allowed to stay the night."

She seemed to relax at that, and he smiled to himself. They both were silent until they reached the rest of their friends, when they did they stopped dead in their tracks and took in all that was happening.

The chess board was in between the two couches, turned over with broken pieces every where. Sirius was hiding behind a vase in the corner and Remus was under the couch with his head poking out. That was weird enough, but what disturbed Lily and James most was what Mallory and Amanda were doing.

They were rolling on the floor beating the shit out of each other. Mallory was on top pulling Amanda's hair, and Amanda was currently slapping Mallory repeatedly across the face. She hit her one last hard time and Mallory let go of her hair and began to strangle her.

" You stupid bitch!" Amanda wheezed as she grabbed Mallory's hair and twisted it around her arm.

" I'm the stupid bitch! I don't think so you, good for nothing..." Mallory started to say as she squeezed Amanda harder.

Lily's eyes widened as she looked at James.

" I'll get Amanda," he said in understanding.

They ran over to the two girls and grabbed them by the waist. Lily pried Mallory's fingers off of Amanda and pulled her back.

" What the hell is going on here!" She screamed, in confusion and anger, she'd never seen the two of them fight before, much less try to kill each other.

Amanda struggled against James' grasped and yelled, " She called me a whore! Let me at her."

Mallory grabbed at Lily's hands, but she wouldn't let go, " That was only because she called me fat!"

James looked at Lily with a confused look, immediately Lily returned it because she was just as lost as he was.

They let go of the two, and surprisingly they just stayed there.

" Wait a second, how did all this start?" Lily asked.

Sirius and Remus came out from their hiding spots and walked over, seeming to be scared of their girlfriends.

" Well, Sirius won the chess game, and we started to joke around with each other." Remus said.

Sirius nodded and looked again as if he was frightened, " Before we knew it the two had taken it seriously and were shouting things at each other."

Remus barged in and added, " We thought they would stop considering how close they are, but they didn't. All of the sudden they were rolling around on the floor trying to kill each other."

" And that's where we came in.." Lily concluded.

James looked at Sirius and Remus as if they were lunatics, " And why were you hiding? For what reason didn't you try to separate them?"

" We weren't going to run in there separate them and get killed ourselves! Are you insane!" Sirius exclaimed. " I mean you saw them!"

" They're your girlfriends! Merlin! You have no reason to be afraid of them!"

" This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen." She muttered under her breath as she made her way over to Mallory and Amanda who were sitting as far away from the other as possible.

Lily sat in the middle of them and sighed, " Okay, come on, you aren't going to let something stupid like this get between you two now are you?"

Neither of them moved.

" Mal, Mandy, look at yourselves, this is ridiculous! We've been friends forever, and you're going to let a game get between you."

Mallory looked at Lily and smiled sarcastically, " Well, she should have thought about this before she said I was fat." She pulled out her wand and made all of the scratches and bruises vanish from her body. " I'm going to help Mrs. P with breakfast. When she decides to apologize I will, but until then she can befriend someone else."

" Mallory!" Lily said, attempting to make her stay, but it didn't work she had already reached the kitchen.

She turned to Amanda, " Mandy, you surely aren't going to just let the friendship you had with her go are you? I mean after all I'm sure neither of you meant it."

Amanda just looked at Lily and raised her eyebrow.

" Merlin..." Lily sighed, " Okay, just think of all that we've been through! You've always been there for her and she's always been there for you."

" She deserved it all." Amanda said looking out the window and ignoring what Lily was saying.

Lily groaned and smacked her forehead, " For Gods Sake Amanda! Just go in there and apologize, everything will be okay then! The ball is tonight, we're all supposed to be able to have fun together, now that's all screwed up because of something as stupid as name calling."

Amanda got up and brushed herself off, " You know what Lily? You're right." Lily smiled, " But she can do the apologizing, she started it after all." Lily frowned and watched Amanda walk off in the direction of the bathrooms.

XxxxX

Amanda never came back to eat lunch she went back to her room and stayed there. The entire meal was spent with everyone trying to convince Mallory to apologize to Amanda, but she never agreed to it. Instead she ended up leaving the table disgusted with everyone and everything.

Now, about two hours later,Lily, Sirius, Remus and James were all sitting in one of the game rooms thinking of ways to make the two friends again.

" I still say my idea was the best." Sirius said moping in his chair.

Lily heaved a sigh, " We are not going to hang them over a giant boiling pot of nacho cheese until they decide to be friends again! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

" But think about all the cheese!"

" Sirius! Shut up!" all three of them yelled in unison.

" Fine... What about chocolate?"

" No!"

" Why don't we just let them figure it out on their own?" Remus said as he walked behind the bar and pulled out a butterbeer from the mini fridge.

" No, we can't because they are both as proud as a hippogriff," Lily said.

Remus plopped back down in his chair and sighed, " Well, what are we going to do then?"

James shrugged, " I say we stand there and make them apologize and don't leave until they do."

" And if that doesn't work?"

" We leave them alone, they can work it out by themselves then."

Lily checked her watch, " Well, let's go then its half past two and I have to start getting ready in forty five minutes."

With that the four of them left to gather the girls.

XxxxX

Lily stood in front of Amanda's door with Sirius and waited for the other two to retrieve Mallory. But when they returned they didn't have Mallory with them.

" Where is she?" Lily asked with a confused look crossing her face.

James bit his lip, " I dunno, she wasn't in her room."

" Yeah, she was just gone."

" Oh, Merlin, this can't be good."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the loud sound of... laughing, coming from Amanda's room.

Remus looked over at James, who looked over at Sirius who glanced at Lily who opened the door and gasped.

" What the hell!"

Mallory and Amanda were sitting next to the bed playing a game of Wizards Chess.

Amanda looked up and smiled, " You can play the winner Lily! Come in! I'm just about to win."

" Oh, no you aren't, I am so going to win." Mallory said with a high pitched giggle.

Lily turned around and looked at James with disbelief, then turned back to the girls and shook her head.

" There is no doubt in my mind that you two are bipolar." she mumbled.

Sirius gaped at them and shook his head, " Uh... aren't you supposed to be mad at each other?"

Mallory laughed, " Well. Yeah I suppose we are, but I just couldn't stand being mad at her for longer than a half hour and decided to say sorry."

" Yeah, no big deal. Go Mal, its your turn. And will you all quit standing there with that look on your face."

Lily looked at them for a second before she began to laugh hysterically.

" I have the weirdest friends ever."

Remus nodded, " That kind of goes unsaid."

James laughed and walked into the room, sitting down next to Amanda.

" Whatever, this is better than them tearing their eyes out."

Sirius shrugged and went over to his girlfriend like Remus had done. Lily sat down next to James and sighed.

" That was easy."

James smiled, " Yup, we hardly had to do anything."

Lily laughed and watched the game continue for another twenty minutes.

XxxxX

At three thirty the whole Mansion had transformed into a chaotic mess. Everyone was running everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were making last minute calls and elves were finishing up the food trays. The only quite places were the ones located outside of the house.

The girls were all in Lily's room getting ready. Lily was brushing her hair while Amanda took a shower and Mallory gave herself a French manicure.

" Mal, where is my clip, I had it just a few minutes ago!"

Mallory looked up for a brief second and snorted, " Um, try clipped to your robe."

Lily looked down and sure enough on the collar of her robe was her diamond flower clip. She sighed and placed the clip on her nightstand.

" Hey can you curl my hair for me?" Lily asked.

" Getting lazy now are we?" Mallory said, only getting a annoyed look from Lily, " Okay, okay,"

She reached behind her and grabbed her wand.

" There happy?"

Lily looked in the mirror and smiled, soft curls, perfect.

" Yup, thanks!"

Just then Amanda stepped out of the bathroom in her red slip that would go under her dress.

" Hey Mallory, can you dry my hair for me?"

She groaned, " What is this? Am I some kind of servant?" She waved her wand and Amanda's long brown hair instantly dried.

" Sorry I would do it myself but I can't, do you mind straightening it?"

Lily laughed as Mallory threw down her wand and screamed for Milly, one of the house elves.

With a pop the short elderly elf appeared smiling from ear to ear.

" Yes, Miss. Oliver, can Milly help you?"

Mallory smiled out of relief and nodded, " Yeah, can you help them?"

Milly bowed and pulled out her wand, " Milly would be happy to, she would."

While Amanda was getting her hair done Lily changed out of her robe and into her slip as well. Checking the clock on her wall her eyes widened, it was already four fifteen, almost an hour had passed and she had only finished pinning her hair up.

When she walked back out of her closet she noticed that Amanda had finished getting her hair done and was now taking up the entire mirror to do her make up. She sighed and turned around to use the other mirror, but yet again it was already being used by Mallory who was doing her make up as well.

" Oh, I see, this may be my room but I have to go to the bathroom to do my make up... how nice."

" Sorry, Lils," Amanda said as she reached for her eyeshadow.

Mallory laughed, " That's what you get for taking forever to get your hair done."

Lily smiled and rolled her eyes, " Milly, do you know where my make up bag is?"

" Milly will get it for you Ma'am," she waved her wand and the make up bag appeared in Lily's hand.

" Thank you."

Milly bowed and watched Lily disappear into the bathroom.

Lily looked in the mirror and frowned. She reached for her foundation and began to cover up her uneven skin, then she applied the powder foundation... blush... silver eye shadow... a dust of shimmering powder to line her eyebrows, mascara. And just as she began to put on her lipstick she heard a knock at the door. This made her jump which resulted in her going off of her lips.

" Dammit!" she said angrily.

Lily left the bathroom and looked around for Milly. " I'm so sorry to bother you Milly, but could you fix this for me," she pointed and her lip and without a word Milly fixed it.

She thanked the helpful elf and turned to the door, " Who's there?"

" It's me," she heard James said from the other side of the door.

At the sound of his voice her heart skipped a beat... like usual, and she instantly smiled.

She turned around to find both Mallory and Amanda smiling mischievously back at her and she had the odd feeling that they knew something she didn't.

" Uh,... I'm going to go out there for a second, okay?"

Mallory's smile widened, " Sure."

With one last curious glance, she opened the door and stepped out only too find James in black dress pants, polished shoes and a white undershirt. She had completely forgot that she was only wearing her thin white slip that just barely reached mid thigh.

But this didn't seem to mind James, of course he loved it.

Lily smiled and blushed as he continued to check her out.

" What's up?"

He blushed and cleared his throat, " Um, I brought you something," he said pulling two small boxes from behind him and holding them out to her. One was long and thin, and the other was short and fat.

She took them and smiled, " Thanks,"

When she opened the first one she gasped and looked back up at him with a look of complete shock.

In the long thin box was the necklace that she had been admiring the night that James had been taken to St. Mungos. She opened and shut her mouth repeatedly, how had he known? And it was so expensive, she just couldn't believe that he had went out and got this for her.

The diamonds and emerald sparkled up at her they seemed to be smiling at her just as James was.

" Mallory and Amanda said you might like it. When I saw it I knew I had to get it for you."

" Oh thank you so much James!" She said as she threw arms around him and kissed him hard on the lips.

He took the box from her and pulled the necklace out, motioning for her to turn around. When she did she could feel the necklace slip around her neck and clasp. She reached up and ran her fingers over it as she turned back to him and smiled.

" Don't forget about the other one, go ahead open it."

" Oh, yeah that's right," she said laughing as she opened the small box.

She looked down and her eyes widened, she looked back up at him and he smiled.

In the fat box was a white gold diamond ring, the diamond was shaped as a heart and on either side of it were small heart shaped diamond settings in the band.

" It's a promise ring Lily, will you promise to stay with me no matter what until we... hopefully... eventually get married?"

That was the first time marriage had ever been brought up in one of their conversations, her heart seemed to temporarily stop as she imagined James and herself standing at the alter.

" Of course!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him again, a tear escaped her eyes as James kissed her again.

He wiped it away and took the ring out of the box, placing it on her right ring finger.

James smiled and took her in his arms again, he nuzzled his face up against her neck.

" I love you," he whispered in her ear.

Lily pulled away and kissed him, " I love you too, thank you so much James."

He shrugged and let go, " Oh, don't thank me. Now you better get back in there and finish getting dressed. You have... twenty minutes until the Ball starts, the band is already here."

Lily nodded and kissed him one last time before returning to her room.

When she re-entered she found both of the girls already dressed and making their finishing touches.

They turned around, their dresses fanning around them and smiled.

" Oh, Lily it looks beautiful on you!" Mallory said as she gave her a quick hug.

Amanda ran over to her with her dress and handed it to her, " You look beautiful, the ring is fantastic! I'm so happy for you."

" Thanks guys, I'm going to go get dressed though I don't have much time."

They nodded in agreement as Mallory handed her shoes to her. " Yeah, go, hurry."

She changed in record time, 3.5 minutes. Amanda and Mallory were sitting on her bed waiting patiently for her to come back out of the bathroom. And when she did they started to laugh and compliment her again. But they had to quit because she still had to make a few last minute touch ups.

Lily put on a pair of emerald tear drop earrings and made sure her hair was pinned securely before she turned back to her friends.

" How do I look?" she asked as the two of them stood up.

" Gorgeous," Mallory said.

Amanda smiled " Stunning, what about us?"

Truthfully Lily thought they looked better than her. Amanda's red gown reflected her personality and made her sparkle. Not to mention her hair. It was styled in layers and had streaks of blonde placed perfectly, her hair was pinned half back and long bangs framed her delicate face. She had on a reddish brown eyeshadow with dark brown mascara and a medium dark red lipstick to compliment it all.

Mallory's dress was also amazing, the blue color enhanced her eyes and fit her like a dream. Her platinum blond hair was left down in loose curls, and her make up was left simple and light, clear lip gloss, shimmering blue eyeshadow and a few coats of mascara.

" You both look beautiful. Now let's get down there before everyone starts arriving."

The three of them left, each of them just as excited as the other... well maybe Lily was a little bit more thrilled, but that's only because she knew she would be dancing with James all night long. What could possibly be better?

A/N: Okay, well once again sorry for the long long long wait, I'll do better. I hope you all liked this chapter! Please give me some input, I really enjoy hearing what each of you have to say.

In the next chapter, obviously, will be the Ball. But there will be a party wrecker present that will ruin the fun for Lily and James, especially Lily. And this party wrecker may not be a person...

Review please!

Love,

Lissa