The next day, Ariadne woke up in the late afternoon – she had taken to staying up too late, forgetting that she was human and needed sleep. She looked at the clock and saw that it was barely an hour to the dance, and let out a tiny squeal.

"Oh no!" She cried. She hadn't even picked out a dress yet. She settled on her favourite, the white dress with the yellow flowers. She laid this dress on the bed and ran to her personal bathroom to wash herself. Once the dress was on and her hair had dried, she rushed to the seventh-year girls' dormitory, where Lily had promised to do her hair if she arrived in time. It was five minutes until the dance was scheduled to start and Lily was about to leave the dormitory in a beautiful, flowing white dress when Ariadne burst in.

"Is there still time? Is it okay?" She cried.

"Yes, it will only take a second… carmelinius!" Lily uttered, pointing a wand at Ariadne's head, and her hair bounced into beautiful brown waves. They walked down to the common room together, Lily in white sandals, Ariadne barefoot, only to see their dates standing in the middle of the room, watching them descend.

"You look absolutely stunning, Lily," James said, offering a hand, which went ignored.

"Shutup, Potter," came the reply, Lily stomping out of the common room and James following her reluctantly, clearly not wanting to be on the receiving end of more hostility.

"Ariadne," Remus said, nodding. "May I say, you do look lovely. It must have taken a long time to get your hair to do that."

"Oh, yeah, it took forever," Ariadne said absent-mindedly as she watched James leave. Remus sighed, and Ariadne noticed. "You look nice too, Moony," she said with a smile, which he returned.

-----

The dance had been going on for half an hour and Remus was bored out of his mind. He and Ariadne both hated dancing but had danced a few songs just because there was nothing better to do. After the dancing became unbearably boring, they decided to just sit and talk with butterbeer.

"Why did we even come to this?" Ariadne mused, taking a sip. "It's awful. You always think dances are going to be fun, then you actually go to one and it's just… it's just not."

"I know. I wasn't going to come, I hate dances. At least I have someone to hate dances with me, though," Remus replied, smiling at her. He was going well. She had barely glanced at James all night. He took a deep breath, it was now or never. "I was thinking of maybe going back to Gryffindor Tower," he said, trying to hint at her to come with him.

"Oh," she said. "Bit boring here, isn't it? Well, I don't mind. You can go, I'll stay here a while, finish my drink. See you later, maybe."

Remus sighed inwardly. He rose and pushed his chair in with a bit more force than was completely necessary, causing his empty bottle to fall over and clunk loudly on the table. Ariadne picked it back up. "Careful," she said. "Sleep well, Moony." He looked at his feet for a moment.

"Have a nice night," he said, and left without saying goodbye. Ariadne didn't notice, however, for at the precise moment the doors closed on Remus' back, there came an angry shout from the dance floor. Ariadne's head shot up to see Lily screaming at James. Ariadne wondered what had got her so riled up, but then realised she was waving about a crumpled piece of parchment that looked dangerously like the one James had given to every male at Hogwarts warning them against inviting Lily to the dance.

"I can't believe you! You threatened every other boy at Hogwarts? You… you don't care about my feelings, do you? Never have! All that matters is that you get exactly what you want. Well, Potter," she shouted, spitting out the name as if it were poison, "this time you aren't going to get what you want, because no matter how much you pester me, no matter what you say, I never have and never will want to ever go out with you! You are ruining my life! Can you just leave me the hell alone? Please!"

James stared at her. This was a violent reaction he had not expected. Tonight was supposed to be the night that Lily realised how great he was. Tonight was supposed to be the night that his life changed, because he would be with Lily. He had been so sure about her. So sure that they were meant to be together, that he could not be without her. How could he have been so wrong?

"I'm sorry, Lily," he said. "I'm sorry you feel that way, and I'm sorry if I've ruined your life." And with that, he turned and walked out of the Great Hall towards the Entrance Hall, Lily stalking off towards the doors that led to the rest of the castle. Ariadne ran out of the Great Hall, after James. She found him sitting at the edge of the pier at the lake.

"Hey," she said, sitting down beside him. James shivered in the cold autumn night. "If I were wearing a coat I'd give it to you."

"Then you'd be cold," James said, then looked at her. "Aren't you cold now? I'm wearing long sleeves, and I'm freezing."

"I don't feel the cold," Ariadne said simply. "Gods are impervious to temperature."

She smiled at him, and James looked at her properly for once. He saw her bright, emerald green eyes, just like Lily's. Then, after that split-second, the resemblance was gone and he was left with Ariadne, a stunningly beautiful goddess with amazing eyes.

"Riddle me this," he began, lying back on the pier. Ariadne joined him, staring at the stars. "Why have I spent all this time trying to get a girl who loathes me, when there is an absolutely divine creature right under my nose?"

"I don't know, it sounds like a stupid thing to do," Ariadne replied. "But I think you should tell Remus how you feel. He'll be absolutely over the moon, and you guys can adopt." This earned her a playful thwack on the arm from James.

"You know what I mean. I think I may be falling for you, Ariadne, my beautiful goddess."

-----

The next morning, they walked back to the Gryffindor common room from the pier. They were just about to go their separate ways up to their respective dormitories, when James took her hand.

"So, are you gonna be my girl?" He said to her with his lopsided grin. She nodded.

"Sure."