A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reviewing...and keep it up!
Nope...Still don't own Harry Potter
The Yule Ball
As November passed, Lily and James' casual sex relationship grew into a true romance. Unless they were in class or in Gryffindor Tower studying with their friends, they were usually alone, lying in each other's arms, or doing "other" things.
And except for Sirius and Remus, their friends were still completely clueless. Remus did a very good job of pretending not to know anything, while Sirius would often give Lily and James understanding looks when they would tell everyone that they had "patrol duties". This had unnerved Lily more than once. What if Sirius knew someone?, she asked herself more than once. But because Lily and James had been very careful about what they said, how they acted around each other, and where they messed around, their was only one way that Sirius could know; if James had told Sirius. But Sirius surely would have said something to us, even if it would be to rake us over the coals, she thought.
Lily walked into Charms one Monday after lunch in early December with a look that told everybody that, yes, she was upset and, no, she didn't want to talk about it. Although Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas looked questioning at Lily, no one said a word. They knew that if something were seriously wrong, Lily would have no hesitation in telling her friends.
But this was the one thing that she could not talk to the girls about: James.
Last night, they had been discussing about the Yule Ball that was to take place shortly before Christmas. After talking in circles for a good hour, they decided that they couldn't go together. Lily and James both wanted nothing more than to go with each other, but they also feared that their other friends would figure out that Lily and James were far more than just friends.
Lily had come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be able to go to the ball with the one person that she really wanted to go with, yet what truly upset her was that she had seen James asking a seventh year Ravenclaw to go with him shortly after lunch that very day. And just to make matters worse, James had asked Simone Lyn. Now most guys couldn't see the problem with this, but this was a very big deal to any of Lily's close friends. Lily and Simone used to be good friends when they started school...that was until Simone started dating a Slytherin in their fifth year, who would constantly call Lily a Mudblood. While most girls would have stood up for their friend, Simone did no such thing. The two friends had some very unfriendly words, and had hated each other ever since, even though they were coolly civil in front of others. Not to mention the fact that Simone was best friends with Rita Skeeter, who had been Will Logan's girl-on-the-side when he and Lily had dated last year.
Lily couldn't help but feel extremely jealous when she had accidently-on-purpose overheard Simone excepting James' offer. Simone was one of those girls that all the guys loved, and all the girls loved to hate. She had perfect blonde hair that never seemed out of place, big blue eyes, a great figure, and was very "gifted" in the chest area. Lily took grim satisfaction in knowing that she was even more "gifted" than Simone in at least one area.
Although Lily tried to hide how upset she was, Alice saw right through her sham. Usually Lily answered every question that Professor Flitwick asked, as Lily's favorite class was Charms. But today, Lily sat quietly through most of the period.
About half way though the class, Flitwick divided everyone into pairs to practice a difficult new charm. As usual, Lily and Alice were paired together. Once everyone started practicing, Alice was able to talk to Lily without interruption.
"Are you okay, Lil? You seem pretty down." said Alice once the noise level had risen considerably.
Lily looked sadly at her friend. She desperately wanted to tell Alice what was bothering her.
"It's nothing, really..."said Lily slowly, trying to think of a good excuse. "I guess it's just that the ball is getting pretty close and I haven't found a date yet"
Alice looked critically at Lily, knowing that this was not the full story. "I won't worry about it too much. I'm sure that some one will ask you"
"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhearing" said Brandon Rhodes, a very handsome seventh year Ravenclaw. He about gave Lily and Alice a heart attack. "Lily, would you like to go with me to the ball?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw that James was listening intently. "Sure, that sounds great" Lily smiled.
As December faded, both Lily and James' schedules became even more hectic than they already were, because now they had the Yule Ball to organize right along with everything else they had to do. The prefects had turned out to be a huge help, and Lily knew that James was loving every minute of telling Snape what to do.
As the ball approached, all that anyone could talk about was the upcoming ball. It seemed as though every girl was talking about what their dress robes looked like and the guys tried to find last minute dates. Lily could have cared less; she was more concerned that her (secret) boyfriend would be going with what was quite possibly Hogwarts' biggest slut.
The seventh year History of Magic class clamored into Professor Binns' classroom on th last Friday of the term. Most of the students wee to leave Tuesday morning for Christmas break. The seventh years were all very excited because they were so close to a nice long break that they so desperately needed, but all the excitement seemed to die away once Binns started lecturing about goblin rebellions.
Lily and James were sitting in the back corner, in front of Alice and Elizabeth. About ten minutes after Binns started talking, nearly everyone fell asleep. James glanced around. Remus, Sirius, and Peter, all of whom were in front of James and Lily, were asleep. He couldn't blame them; only two nights ago was the latest full moon adventure. Behind him, Elizabeth was slightly smiling into her book as she slept and Alice had nodded off as soon as she laid her head on her arm.
James and Lily passed the hour quietly talking to one another. But finally, the class was coming to an end. Lily started to throw her book, parchment, and quill into her bag, when James leaned over and whispered in the seductively deep voice that Lily could never resist, "I want to kiss every part of your body and make love to you like no man has ever made love to any other woman before."
Lily nearly melted in her chair. But she wasn't the only one that heard...
Alice woke up just in time to hear James' comment to Lily. At first, Alice thought he was just kidding...that was until she noticed that Lily wasn't laughing. She had a fire – a passion – in her eyes that Alice had never seen before.
"You know," Lily began seductively. "Its going to be your fault if we get caught"
"Would that really be so bad?" asked James.
But before Lily could answer, the bell rang, and everyone left the classroom. Alice followed Lily, Elizabeth, Dorcas, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter down to the Great Hall in a state of shock. How could this even be possible, she thought. But as everyone ast down and started eating, Alice formed a plan.
"Hey, Lil, what are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Well, I was thinking that we haven't had a girls' night all year. You should spend the night in our dormitory tonight and we can catch up on everything."
Lily walked into the Gryffindor common room just past nine. When the other Marauders saw Lily, it was their signal to meet James in the Heads' common room.
Lily walked into her old dormitory to see Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas with very serious expressions on their faces. Lily sat down on Elizabeth's bed and looked up at her friends.
"What's going on?" she asked, feeling confused.
"Lily, we need to ask you something..." Dorcas seemed to be struggling to find the right words; she looked to Alice for help.
"And we know that you've always been an honest person, so we promise to believe whatever your answer is..." said Alice. "Are you having some kind of more-than-just-friends relationship with James?"
Lily had known that her friends would eventually ask her this question; after all, her friends weren't stupid. She drew a long, steadying breath before answering "Yes,"
The other girls looked at Lily in total shock.
"What, did you guys think I'd deny it?"
"I did" said Dorcas.
"Me too" said Elizabeth.
Regaining her composure, Alice asked Lily, "How did this happen?"
It took Lily about an hour to tell the girls everything from the way she was attracted to James this past summer, to Halloween night, and everything after. And then the girls wanted details, about everything...that took the rest of the night.
Once Sirius, Remus, and Peter reached the Heads' common room, Sirius said to James, without preamble, "Look, we know that you and Lily have been having sex since Halloween, so just go head and tell us." Sirius and Remus had finally told Peter what was going on and they all decided to just talk to James about it.
James looked at his three friends in shock. "How did you know?"
"We kinda saw you two together" said Remus in an almost apologetic tone.
"How long have you guys known?"
"Remus and I have known for nearly as long as you two've been together" replied Sirius. "And we told Peter a couple hours ago."
James started to laugh. "Now I know that Remus could keep a secret, but how in the hell did you not explode from this, Sirius?"
Sirius glared at James. "Very funny, smart-ass." Then he too started to laugh.
The next day, Lily and James got all of their friends together and admitted everything, even though they already knew. Lily and James both felt a sense of relief now that their friends knew everything. But it did take them a while to explain why they couldn't go to the ball together, because they still didn't want everyone to know about them.
As the ball approached, Lily became slightly depressed about not being able to go to the ball with James, especially now that all their friends knew about their relationship. Lily had decided to get ready with Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas. Lily knew very well that if she and James got ready in the Heads' dorm rooms, they would be half-naked, only a room apart, and probably would not make it to the ball. Lily had deep, bottle green dress robes that brought out the color of her eyes. Alice's were lavender, Elizabeth's soft pink, and Dorcas' were light blue.
Since all of the Gryffindors had dates that were not in Gryffindor, they all walked down to the Entrance Hall together. While Lily searched the hall for Brandon, she saw James with Simone, who was giving James a hug. Lily glared at the pair of them until Brandon tapped her on the shoulder.
The seventh year Gryffindors and their dates made their way into the Great Hall to find a table. Once everyone was seated, Lily noticed that there were two extra chairs at their table. And as though on cue, Simone said, "James, would it be alright if Will and Rita come to sit with us?"
James looked quickly at Lily, whose eyes were the size of galleons, and said, "Sure, Simone."
Simone signaled to Rita, who came over with Will a little to quickly in Lily's opinion. This night couldn't possibly get any worse. Lily, who prayed that Will and Rita would not stick around once the music started, was convinced that that total bitch Simone had planned this out somehow. Once the feast began, Lily didn't say much because she was extremely unhappy sitting this close to her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
Finally, the food and plates magically disappeared. Lily was hoping that Brandon would ask her to dance, when Dumbledore stood up.
"If its not too much trouble, I would like to have the Head Boy and Girl to open the dance, with the prefects joining in half way into the song."
Suddenly, Lily felt like everyone was watching her. James got up, walked around the table to where Lily was sitting. "May I have this dance, Ms. Evans?"
Lily looked at James in awe. "Sure." They made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Lily took great satisfaction when she saw the extremely pissed off look on Simone's face.
James was, surprisingly, a good dancer. "You wouldn't have had anything to do would this, would you?" Lily asked. By now, the prefects had joined them on the dance floor.
"Did you honestly think I could go all night without dancing with the woman I love?"
Lily looked at James in surprise. "You love me?"
"I've been thinking about this for a while, now, and yes...I love you, Lily,"
Lily nearly cried. "I love you too, James"
The both beamed at each other for the rest of the song. Lily and James had planned on sneaking off to their dormitories as soon as possible, but it seemed as though it were impossible for James to get away from Simone; she wanted to dance every dance and be at his side the whole night.
Everyone was seated at their table, except James, Simone, Rita and Will, who dancing, when Brandon excused himself to get something to drink. This was the chance that Alice had been waiting for all night.
"How are you holding up Lils?" she said, her voice full of concern.
"I'm actually doing pretty good, beside the fact that I've had to watch Simone hang all over James and Rita hang all over Will all night" Lily replied, smiling slightly.
"I don't get it Lil," said Sirius. "What are you so happy about?"
Lily's smile only widened. "James told me that he loves me"
"What did you say?" said Elizabeth.
"I told him that I love him too."
All of the girls went "awww" at the exact same time. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were smiling at Lily.
But Lily's happiness was short lived. Suddenly, all of her friends were watching something behind Lily that made their jaws drop. It was the same expression Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas had when Lily had admitted her relationship with James.
Lily spun around in her chair and what she saw nearly made her sick: James was kissing Simone.
Without a second glance, Lily ran as fast as she could out of the Great Hall, towards the Gryffindor common room. She was unaware that someone was calling out her name.
How could this be possible?, Lily thought, tears streaming down her face. I thought James was different, but I was wrong! How could that son of a bitch tell me that he's in love with me and ten minutes later he goes snogging with that total SLUT Simone!
Lily only paused to give the Fat Lady the password into Gryffindor Tower. It was then that she realized that James had been running after her, and had nearly caught up with her. Lily threw him the dirtiest look she could muster, then ran into the common room, James still calling her name.
Because it was still early, just after ten, many of the third years and below were still sitting around the common room, but Lily barely noticed them. When she was about halfway to the spiral staircase that led to her old dormitory, James grabbed Lily's wrist, saying "Lily, let me explain"
But Lily never gave him the chance. She spun around and slapped him across the face with all of the strength she could summon. He stumbled back slightly, with every set of eyes in the common room on them. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Alice, Elizabeth and Dorcas ran into the common room in just enough time to see James get slapped.
Lily wanted to scream at James as loud as she could, but she couldn't find her voice. It hurt her just to see him standing there. Instead, she ran up the spiral staircase and slammed the door. Lily didn't even make it to a bed; she stood, shaking from head to toe, and collapsed in the middle of the floor, sobbing so hard that she could barely breathe.
In the common room, James was in a total state of shock. Remus grabbed him by the elbow and led him to a chair to sit down in.
Sirius glared at the ever-watching crowd. "What are you looking at?" he barked at the other students. They instantly stopped staring so openly.
"We're going to do some damage control." Elizabeth told the boys as she, Alice, and Dorcas hurried up the stairs to talk to Lily.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all speechless (which is really saying something for Sirius). They all felt terrible for James, and knew that what Lily saw was only half of what happened.
James was the first to break the silence. "I didn't kiss Simone." he said tonelessly.
"We know" said Remus comfortingly.
"Simone kissed me."
"We know" Sirius said.
"I'm in love with Lily...she probably thinks I'm the biggest bastard in the world, right down their with Will fucking Logan." James put his head in his hands.
"Hey, guys, lets go to the Heads' common room so we can have some privacy." said Peter.
They all stood up silently and walked to the Heads' common room. Once they arrived, James said, "Guys, I appreciate you wanting to be with me and everything, but I'm going to bed." And, without and another word, James went into his bedroom, and tried to sleep.
"Do you think we should stay for a while?" asked Sirius.
"Definitely." said both Remus and Peter.
Alice, Elizabeth, and Dorcas arrived in their dorm to find Lily crying her eyes out, her knees against her chest, sitting in the middle of the floor.
They swooped down on Lily, offering her kind words, and rubbing her back soothingly. But nothing they did made Lily's flow of tears slow.
"There's something that you need to know Lily," said Alice carefully. "James didn't kiss Simone."
"Oh, and suppose that their lips just happen to meet in the same place?" asked Lily though her tears.
"Lily, the truth is that Simone kissed James, not the other way around." said Dorcas as Elizabeth and Alice nodded their agreement.
Lily stopped crying and looked at her friends in disbelief. "Are you serious?" she asked.
Once again, they all nodded.
Lily stood up quickly, said "I need to talk to James" and ran out of the door.
Once in the common room, Lily couldn't find James, or any of the Marauders. They could be anywhere, she thought desperately, those four know the castle and the grounds probably better than Dumbledore himself. But she got the feeling that James was in the Heads' common room.
Lily slowly walked into the Heads' common room. Sure enough, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in around the fireplace. They were talking as quietly as though they were sitting in a dying person's room. She took a few steps toward them.
The boys looked around and relief spread across their faces as they Lily. "Is James in his room?" she asked.
"Yeah," they all replied.
Lily walked over to James' room, took a deep breath, and opened the door. James, who was not facing Lily, was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He either didn't notice or didn't care that someone had entered his room. Lily closed the door, with the Marauders yelling, "Aw, come on, don't close the door!" behind her.
The yelling must have jerked James out of his thoughts; he turned around, slightly startled to see Lily standing before him. She walked over to his bed, sat down beside him, and held his hand.
"I'm sorry that I overreacted," Lily began. "I know that you didn't kiss Simone, and I know that you love me." More tears fell down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry too, Lils."
"For what?"
"For causing you to cry" He leaned in to kiss her, which told Lily how much he loved her more than words ever could.
Lily's hands raced across James' chest before they figured out how to take his robes off...
"Well boys," said Sirius, grinning at Remus and Peter. "I think it's safe to say that they'll be occupied for a good portion of the night. Let's get some sleep."