A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, it means so much! Thanks! And if anyone wants to hear the music that inspired the last part of this chpater with the dancing, it's from the Disney movie Tangled - because I have odd obsessions I suppose - and its' the score 'Kingdom Dance', just if you're interested.
Happy reading!
Oh, and disclaimer for this whole thing: I own aboslutely nothing. . . . That's all there is to it.
Hanging By a Moment
"Now, Dorcas, you better smile when you walk down those steps, dear," Mrs. Natalie chastised her daughter as she laced her dress up in the back. "Remember what I said about the men that are going to be there - "
"Yeah, I know, they're charming and powerful and all that rubbish." Dorcas finished monotonously.
Lily smirked and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched. Lily had gotten ready much earlier than Dorcas, who had been procrastinating until the last minute. When Mrs. Natalie popped in to check on them half an hour ago and saw her daughter was still in her normal clothes, she about had a hernia. Lily now got to lounge back and laugh at her best friends melodramatic misery, her mother scolding her the whole time.
Mrs. Natalie sighed deeply as she delicately styled Dorcas' hair into an updo. "Why couldn't I have had a more feminine daughter? Where did you get your personality?" she joked exasperatedly, though she looked partly serious.
"I'm guessing from Dad." Dorcas said dryly.
"Dorcas Rose, quit with the attitude."
"Aw, mum, not with the middle name," Dorcas complained, then sighed in defeat at the look her mother gave her. "Fine. I'm sorry. Parties just aren't really my thing."
Lily, feeling a mother-daughter heart to heart coming on, quietly slipped off the bed and out the door to they could have some privacy. It was an extremely rare thing, for Dorcas to actually reveal her emotions, and Lily would give Mrs. Natalie and her all the time they needed to sort out their underlying issues. Lily closed the door as quietly as she could and looked left and right, wondering which way she should go. She knew Mrs. Natalie would have a cow if the boys saw her in her dress before the ball, so she knew not to go right, where both their bedrooms were - or so she thought, the place was so massive - so she was about to go left when she heard a low wolf-whistle.
She turned and saw Sirius leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. Well, there goes the idea of avoiding them - or at least one of them.
He chuckled. "You're gonna knock him off his feet, Evans." he said, and she, of course, knew who he was talking about.
"Well, that was not my intention," she snorted, then hastily changed the subject, smirking at him. "Well, you don't look too bad yourself. I'm sure Dorcas will appreciate that."
He laughed and shook his head. "Oh, no, she doesn't like me like that, Evans - as her best friend, I'd think you should know."
Oh, dear. Sirus really did think Dorcas didn't like him.
"Sirius, you do know that Dorcas truely does - "
"Padfoot. Padfoot. . . . Sirius!"
"I'm right here, Remus." Sirius called, and Remus rounded the corner, an apple in his hand. He caught sight of Lily and paused, shaking his head with a smirk.
"Oh, my. James is a dead man." he chuckled, leaning against the wall next to Sirius.
Lily scoffed and shook her head. "Oh, shove off, I'm not dazzling or anything. Now - "
"Sirius? Remus? Where are you two?"
At the sound of James' voice, the two Marauder's looked at Lily, panicked, and then started shooing her down the hall.
"What's wrong?" she hissed frantically.
"He can't see you before the ball!" Sirius explained like it was obvious.
"His face'll be way to priceless, we can't waste it with only us to see!" Remus added.
And she rounded the corner, the two boys doubling back to find their friend. She sighed and blew some hair out of her face, shaking her head. Then, she suddenly hear familiar voices.
"Come on, hurry! We're already half an hour late!"
"Well, I'm sorry, I had to meet Frank before this, and my trunk is so heavy my hand's about to fall off."
"What the bloody hell's in there?"
"My dress . . . and some other nessecities."
"Oh, I'm sure."
"Mary? Alice?" Lily gasped and hurried around the corner to find Mary and Alice on the staircase, Alice attempting to drag a huge trunk behind her. They both looked up and beamed at her.
"Lily!" they both exclaimed and Mary ran up the stairs to hug her first.
"Oh, you look beautiful!" Mary gasped, leaning back to study her outfit.
"It's gorgeous, Lily!" Alice agreed and abandoned her trunk, coming up to hug her as well.
"What are you two doing here?" Lily laughed.
"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess we were a bit loud," Alice grinned, still breathing rather heavily from trying to get her trunk up the stairs, "It's sort of a long story - you know, Mary's parents work in the Department of Mysteries and my parents work in the Department of Magical Cooperation, so we were all going to the ball anyway, and then our parents got in touch with James' parents and they decided to invite us over since they already had you lot over, and . . . yes, that's how it went."
"Brilliant!" Lily laughed, "Well, I was just with Dorcas, but then her and her mum sort of start having a heart to heart so I let them be."
"Dorcas having a heart to heart?" Mary repeated, raising her eyebrows. "That's quite something."
Lily snorted. "Tell me about it. That's why I left. Here, we can go to my room and talk, though. Alice, do you need help with that trunk?"
XXX
After they got settled in Lily's room, they climbed onto the bed so they could exchange stories of how their summers went. Mary had gone on a trip to the America's and she gushed on how much she adored New York City specifically, and how Americans were so different from them. Alice had spent most of the summer with Frank, much to the other girls amusement, and they met each others families, which Alice said she was quite frightened about. She said she was sure her two older brothers, Gideon and Fabian, had dragged Frank off at some point when she wasn't looking to threaten him if he ever hurt her.
"The two are such idiots." she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Lily then told the other two about her sister's dreadful boyfriend and how she played along with the 'anger management' issue she apparently had and how, much to Vernon's annoyance, she called him Vern. That had them in stitches for a while, and then Lily proceeded to tell them about the few days her and Dorcas had spent with the Marauder's, explaining that it actually wasn't that bad.
"Not that bad?" Alice repeated in surprise. "Lily, dear Merlin, I thought you hated James' guts."
"I do - I mean, sort of. Okay, not really," she admitted, "I mean, it seems like everything's changed since I got here - he's been so . . . not Potter-like. The way I see it, there's Potter, and then there's James. When he acting like James, I find myself actually anjoying his company. But when he acts like Potter, I swear I just want to hex him into oblivion. It's sort of confusing. But do you get what I mean?"
They both nodded and Alice asked, "So do you think you'll actually . . . get along now? Because I'm not gonna lie, that'd just weird me out."
They laughed and Lily was about to reply when the door burst open and Dorcas stood there, all dolled up now.
"There you are, I've been - Alice? Mary? What are you doing here?" she excalimed, running forward and throwing her arms around both of them.
They laughed, and Alice replied, "We just got in. It was a surprise, but Lily caught us at the steps."
"Only because Alice was being so loud." Mary said jokingly.
"Well, I'd love to chat, but Mum just told me we have to go soon," Dorcas said wearily, "It's past dark now and the ball starts in half an hour - you know how ancy she is."
Mary and Alice looked at each other, then down at their clothes.
"Guess we better hurry up and get dressed then."
XXX
"Merlin's shaggy beard, I really think this collar is going to cut off my air circulation." Sirius said, pulling at the thing to loosen it.
Remus looked at him in the mirror as he straightened his robes and rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should try loosening that very fashionable bowtie of yours, genius."
Sirius paused and then scowled at him. "No need for the attitude, Moony. I knew that."
"Sure you did." he muttered to where Sirius couldn't hear.
"Will you two shut it?" James exclaimed hysterically as he paced. "I'm freaking out!"
"Yeah, you look a little frazzled, Prongs." Peter noted, frowning.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's just freaking out about Lily. He gets like this sometimes. Jamesy, if you keep it up, your hair is going to get even more ridiculous-looking than it is now. It'll friz. So you sould probably calm down at bit."
James glared at him. "Calm down? Calm down? This is a big deal! What if I ask her to dance and she refuses?"
"Wouldn't be any different than when you ask her out to Hogsmeade at least seven times every year and she refuses." Sirius replied nonchalantly.
James scowled. "You're not helping!" he complained.
"Well, Padoot's sort of right, James," Remus said, turning to him. "There's no harm in asking. We'd think you'd know that by now. If she says no, okay, but if she says yes, you'll be glad you asked."
James stopped pacing and sighed. "You're right. You're right, I'm just acting like a - "
"Woman." Sirius finished.
"Well, I was going to say 'Hufflepuff', but whatever." James muttered.
There was a knock at the door and Mrs. Potter walked in, beaming as she saw the boys. "Oh, look at all of you dressed up! You look so grown up now! You know, I still remember when all of you were first years - "
"Mum, not now." James sighed.
"Right, well, the MacDonalds and the Prewetts are here, so that should be enough to side-along Apparate you kids. The ball's in fifteen minutes, so we're counting down now - be downstairs by the fireplace in ten minutes," she ordered, and started to walk out the door, but without a reminder of, "Ten minutes, James Benjamin!"
"Alright, Mum!"
The door closed the other Marauders snickered - well, Sirius right out laughed, but only because he knew the usage of James' middle name irked him to no end.
"'James Benjamin'," he repeated with a sigh, adjusting his bowtie in the mirror, "Gets me every time."
XXX
"Girls, come on, the others have already Apparated to the ball, they thought we were right behind them," Mrs. Prewett said, and the four girls shoved on their shoes, hurrying out of Lily's bedroom and down the stairs.
Gideon, Fabian and Mr. Prewett were already standing there in the living room. They looked up when the girls descended the steps and the twins let out joking wolf whistles.
"Alice, if any boy such as looks at you too long - " Fabian began as Dorcas took his arm to side-along Apparate, but she cut him off.
"I have a boyfriend, Fabian, remember? I'll be with him all night."
"Doesn't stop the others from lookin', Ali." Gideon muttered, and then grinned at Lily, holding out his arm for her. She smiled back.
"Alright, alright, enough of that." Mr. Prewett insisted, who had Alice on his arm. (Mary was of course with Mrs. Prewett). "Al, you look beautiful. Now let's get jiggy with it."
The Prewett kids groaned.
"Dad, enough with the 'hip' terms - they're not hip!" Gideon exclaimed hastily, but Mr. Prewett just grinned and Apparated with a pop.
Lily realized where the twins got their joking streak.
Then, the rest of them Apparated, too, and Lily had that unpleasent tugging feeling, but luckily it was over soon, and they were suddenly standing in the middle of the Ministry of Magic. People were milling about, all dressed as fancy as them, gossiping, drinking, laughing.
"I feel like I should be talking in Old English," Gideon muttered to Lily as she released his arm, and she chuckled. "Excuse me, thine fair lady - " he began grandly, Lily already laughing, but Mrs. Prewett cut him off.
"Fabian - I mean, Gideon," she sighed, waving him to where the entrance doors were. "Stop joking around. Let's go already!"
Him and Lily laughed before they joined the others, walking into the entrance of the ballroom. Lily gasped when she walked through the doors. The golden ballroom seemed to shine, and the enormous dance floor at the bottom of the stairs they had yet to descend was filled with people, dancing and laughing. The crystal chandelier hanging from the cieling glittered and winked at Lily, and she almost missed their cue to walk down the steps.
Dorcas came up beside Lily when they were halfway down, trying not to laugh out loud at something. Lily raised her eyebrows at her best friend.
"What on earth is wrong with you?" she asked, chuckling.
"You should see James' face right now," she finally laughed, "but don't look now. Look later, I'm sure he'll still be staring then."
Despite what Dorcas advised, Lily's eyes scanned the room and when she saw James, she didn't have an urge to laugh - she had urge to gape at him. Never had she realized how handsome he really was -
"Aw, Lily, I told you not to look!" Dorcas complained, obviously not realizing what was going through Lily's head.
Lily snapped out of it and took another one-dimensional look at James. He was staring at her like she was a diamond in the rough or something, and Lily looked away, blushing.
Alice and Mary joined them once they finally made it down the steps and was in the midst of the party, and Alice grabbed her and Dorcas' arms excitedly. "This is going to be so - "
Before she could finish, Mrs. Natalie swept over to them, grinning, and hugged them all. "Oh, girls, you look so beautiful! I'm sure every eye was on you as you walked down the stairs."
"I seriously doubt it." Dorcas muttered, and Lily stifled a laugh.
Alice went to go find Frank, and Mary went to find her mother, leaving the two other girls alone with Mrs. Natalie. They glanced at each other in mild fear.
"Okay, girls, come here," she demanded, grabbing both of the girls wrists and dragging them along anyway. "These two boys I'm about to show you are the Trumpett twins and their father owns the Magicked Hair chain. Now I want you smile and act pretty. Oh, hello, boys! This is Dorcas, my daughter, and her best friend, Lily."
The Trumpett twins were identical, and Lily predicted, just by looking at them, that they probably acted the same as well. Dorcas tried to turn and run, apparently on the same track as Lily, but her mother spun her back around and before they knew it, both girls were alone with the Trumpett twins. They both had hair that defied gravity, but it a different way than James' - it was more of a swooshed blonde poof in the front - Lily suspected it had something to do with their father owning the Magicked Hair chain - and their eyes were both crystal blue. Their identical "charming" half-grins showed their blinding white teeth and their perfect, ironed dress robes looked way too expensive for just one lousy ball.
"Erm, hello." Lily said after a moment, when it was clear Dorcas was refusing to talk. She just crossed her amrs over her chest and glared at the brothers.
"Hi." one of them greeted her in what Lily guessed would be flirtatiously, winking at her. She suppressed either a griamce or a laugh, she didn't know which.
"He's Chad." the other one said, nodding nonchalantly to him.
"And he's Brad." Chad said, smirking as he indidcated his brother.
"Um, I'm Lily," Lily said and waited for Dorcas. When she didn't say anything, she sighed, "And that's Dorcas."
"So," Brad drawled, looking at Dorcas, and leaned into her. "Dorcas. That's a pretty name."
Dorcas stared at him, her mouth slightly open in astonishment. "Okay, look, Blondie, there is only one reason I'm over here - "
"SO, CHAD," Lily exclaimed over her before things got out of hand. "I hear your father owns the, uh, Magicked Hair cooperation. . . . That's - great."
The twins seemed oblivious to the tension with the girls and Chad flipped his hair easily. "Yeah, it is great - isn't it?" he said in a low voice.
Lily really couldn't help but laugh a little now. "Um - yeah, it's really great."
"Yeah, it is. Isn't it, Brad?"
"Yeah. It is, Chad."
There was a short silence in which Lily desperately looked for a way out of this dreadful conversation. Dorcas wasn't even paying attention, so it was up to Lily.
Her eyes fell on the Marauder's. They were sure to get them out of this torture trap. She was sure if she told the Trumpett's they was thirsty, they'd either follow them to the punch or get it for them. If she said she wanted ot go to the bathroom, Lily bet they'd wait for the the two girls.
So, as Chad and Brad went on about how exactly they got their hair to look like it does, Lily bounced on her toes enxiously as she tried to make eye contact with one of the four pranksters. Finally, she caught Sirius' eye, and he did a double take when he realized she was staring at him with huge eyes that she hoped screamed 'HELP US'. Sirius burst into laughter, and nudged James, pointing to her. James started to laugh at her expression, then looked at the two boys she was with. His face immediately turned into a frown and he started to stomp over when Sirius grabbed his arm. Lily let out a frustrated breath as they conversed, their arms flailing. Siruis seemed to be amused, and James seemed to be distressed.
"Will one of you just help already?" she muttered.
"What was that, beautiful?" Chad asked, and she glanced at him in surprise, then grinned brilliantly.
"Oh, nothing - go on, please, it's so interesting, what you're talking about." she urged falsely - she had no idea what they were on about.
"Yes, like I was saying - so I lured the giant out of it's cave - "
"And then I weilded my sword, then flung my cape off with the wind - it was very heroic, you can imagine. . . ."
Lily tuned them both out and looked back to James and Sirius, who were on their way over. She sighed in relief and nudged Dorcas, who looked at her, then followed her line of sight. She snorted.
"Oh, there you two are, we've been looking all over!" Sirius exclaimed, bursting into the conversation.
"It was devastating without you!" James added, coming to Lily's side. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"And who exactly are you?" Brad asked, eyeing Siruis' arm, which was around Dorcas' waist.
"We are . . . " James began, but trailed off uncertaintly.
"We're their . . . " Sirius tried, but just mumbled incoherently.
"I didn't catch that." Chad admitted, clueless.
Brad raised an eyebrow. "You're courting them, I presume?"
Lily almost blatantly lurched forward, but she managed to just put a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. James squeezed her arm.
"Um, yes - yes, we are . . . courting them." Sirius said, obviously trying to hold back laughter.
"Hm," Chad murmured, glancing in disapproval to Brad. "Well, ladies, if they do not . . . fulfill your needs, we'll be waiting."
Lily was speechless, and Dorcas seemed to be in the same boat, but the boys seemed fine. James waved sarcastically.
"Oh, that won't be a problem." James said, and Sirius grinned.
The Trumpett brothers walked off, leaving the four alone. Lily buried her face in her hands, trying to suppress a blush and she heard Dorcas punch Sirius' arm.
"Ow!" Siruis complained, "What? I was helping you!"
"You could've just said we were friends or something!"
"He suggested it!"
"Nice excuse! And look at Lily, you have her all embarressed now!" Dorcas exclaimed.
Lily scowled and lifted her head. "I am not! That was just . . . different."
Dorcas rolled her eyes and shook her head with a small smile. "They were absolutely terrible. Let's go find Alice and Mary or something."
"You're welcome!" James said exasperatedly.
Dorcas laughed at him. "Thank you, James."
"Oh, of course!" Sirius scoffed. "Thank James, but not me!"
She glanced at him, half-smiling. "Thank you, Sirius. Come on, Lily."
Lily gave them both grateful glances as well before Dorcas tugged her off to the other side of the room, and they left both James and especially Sirius to wonder what that look Dorcas had given him meant.
"Girls confuse me." Sirius noted, still staring after the blonde.
James also stared after Lily and nodded absently. "Yeah."
XXX
They ended up dancing - and Merlin, did they dance. It was a fun dance, the kind where you kick off your shoes and lift up your skirts and move your feet whatever way you want. Lily let her hair fall out of its bindings and in her face as she laughed along with her friends, feeling more carefree than she had in a long time.
Lily danced and danced and danced, sometimes with her friends, sometimes alone, sometimes with a partner, laughing all the way. She felt like her feet weren't even touching the ground as she moved in tune with the music. She lifted her skirts as she twirled and spun and side stepped and sashayed, switching dance partners every few mintues. The song was an upbeat tune, with everyone clapping to keep the tempo going. If Lily wasn't mistaken, it seemed to get faster and faster, and she seemed to twirl faster and faster, and soon she couldn't even keep track of where she was going or who she was dancing with. She spun and spun and spun and spun and -
Then, she stumbled into someone's arms and looked up to find James there, looking just as breathless as her. She let out a whoosh of breath in surprise, but they didn't stop their dancing as the music gained momentum like never before. They spun and jumped and moved their feet quickly in time with the tune.
Finally, it was like they lost control of what they were really doing, and they were moving so fast they couldn't stop, and the music was so loud and so fast and they were moving so quickly and -
And then the music stopped and Lily and James halted abrupted, ending up closer than they had ever been. Their noses were almost touching, James had one arm around her waist, Lily had one hand on his chest, and their hands were clasping each others out to the side. They were both breathing hard, and though only a couple seconds passed, it seemed like forever to both of them.
"Oi, look out for the dancing king and queen over here!"
And then they were back in the real world, Sirius laughing and clamping James on the shoulder, pulling him away from Lily. Mary, Dorcas and Alice pulled Lily away as well, laughing.
"You were brilliant, Lily! I've never seen you look like that before! You looked so - care-free!" Mary exclaimed, but Lily was still out of it, staring at James.
"Don't be so overdramatic," Lily said dazedly, "It was nothing."
"But you and James - you two just looked so . . . perfect together." Alice murmured.
Lily snapped out of it and looked at them, rolling her eyes. "Yes, well, it was just a dance."
"Seemed like more than that to me." Dorcas sang, laughing.
Lily looked over her shoulder and saw that James was already looking at her while Sirius, Remus and Peter were joking with him. She smiled and curtsied somewhat sarcastically and grinned, bowing in the same manner. They shared a smile before Mrs. Natalie dragged her and Dorcas to meet some other people who paled in comparison to James Potter - yes, though Lily was still determined to loathe him, she could at least admit that.
James Potter really was something else.
XXX
"You danced like a gazelle, Prongsie!"
"A leaping gazelle that had found it's life-long mate!"
"A leaping gazelle that had found it life-long mate and discovered a giant field of yummy grass to eat!"
"Do gazelles even eat grass?"
"I don't even know."
James rolled his eyes as his friends joked around, but he didn't really care at that point. He danced with Lily Evans - and it was amazing. She didn't even back away or look disgusted. She actually looked really happy. And he was really happy.
He wondered, and it was a realistic thought for a change, if there really might be a chance for the two of them.