DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of this by JK Rowling or Jane Austen.

Gosh, have you ever just had a period where you're really excited to write something, so therefore you think about it every day, but then when you go to write it…….stuck. That's my story. Writer's block. I've been so excited about this chapter (and even more so about the upcoming chapters) I just didn't feel like I could get my vision across…and glares evilly at the computer Microsoft word decided it wanted to close and for some reason the recover function didn't work. So….most of what I had written..grr..disappeared.

Chapter 10: The Halloween Dance

"I can't believe we're actually wearing these…these….neck things tied in weird knots." Sirius complained to James while looking at his fully dressed self in the mirror.

"You know, that I think they're called cravats, right, Sirius? Stop complaining! I don't think it's all that bad actually. The pants are a little uncomfortable, but I think we look highly sophisticated." James said trying to encourage Sirius.

Remus didn't like his costume much and told the two, "At least you're not wearing a skirt!"

James and Sirius looked at each other and laughed while watching their dear friend sulk. Peter, on the other hand, kept to himself while the others laughed and had fun. They tried to tell him it wasn't a skirt, but it only caused them to laugh harder.

"What's wrong, Peter?" James asked, concerned that something may be wrong with him, in between laughs.

"I can't help but feel that tonight isn't going to go well."

"You're just nervous. She's just a girl. She's not going to bite you….too hard." Sirius said grinning mischievously followed by his signature bark like laugh.

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"Let's go down, we both look beautiful, and I'm anxious to see what was so hush hush about the boys' costumes that they couldn't tell us what they were dressing up as!" Gina exclaimed jumping up and down causing the curls hanging around her face to fly everywhere.

"Okay. I think we look perfect. The white gloves were a nice touch." Lily said complimenting the idea that Gina suggested.

"I'm really happy that you're going with James, Lily. It's really nice of you. Hopefully Snape won't cause any trouble."

"Aww, thanks, dear. I'm surprised with myself. I've been having an okay time with Potter. And if you tell anyone that, I'm going to cause you a most painful death." Lily said lowering her voice to a low sinister sound and finished it off with an evil laugh.

"Uhh, well then, ummm, on that note, shall we go down?" Gina said in short uneasy sounding phrases.

This caused Lily to laugh so hard that tears came to her eyes. "Yes, yes. Let's go see who or what awaits us."

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To say Lily and Gina were excited at the surprise they received when they reached the bottom of the stairs would be an understatement.

A collective high pitched AHHHHH followed by jumping up and down and hugging ensued. This amused James and Sirius and they used the hugging as a perfect opportunity to make a inappropriate remark asking them to continue if they wished.

Lily gushed on and on about how handsome they both looked and Gina added they looked very gentlemanly.

James and Sirius pretended to be embarrassed and flattered, part of the rosy cheeks were actual flattery and modesty, but they were just excited the girls were so happy.

"My fair ladies, shall we be leaving?" James asked while extending his arm to Lily with Sirius mimicking his move.

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James and Lily were walking just barely in front of the other two and were having a nice conversation until Lily noticed that James stiffened up a bit and began to walk funny.

"Lily, you look amazing tonite. I just thought you should know." James sincerely said while looking over towards Lily, which caused the faintest tint of pink to grace the red head's cheeks.

"Why, thank you, James. You look very handsome too. Maybe if you dressed like this every day, I'd have gone out with you." Soon after those words escaped Lily's lips she realized how horrible they sounded. And then she realized that she basically said, 'hey. I like you." That's not at all what she meant.

James didn't exactly know how to respond to that so he said, "Wow. That's the first time I've complimented you and you haven't rolled your eyes. Come to think of it, that's the first time I've been complimented and put down in the same sentence."

"I'm…I'm sorry, James. I didn't mean it like that."

A feminine cough could be heard from behind, which caused Lily to laugh and James too once he figured out that Gina was trying to ease the tension. Her and Sirius had been having a similar conversation of the common niceties and flattery.

The four of them reached the Great Hall and entered garnering stares from everyone. Compliments were flying at them from all around, except from the Slytherins.

Lily happened to look over to a corner and saw Severus Snape standing with a Slytherin girl. He felt eyes on him and once he saw who it was, he shot Lily a nasty glare. This of course upset Lily, but James soon cheered her up when an upbeat song started playing and James dragged her onto the dance floor to dance.

James would pick Lily up and swing her around and spin her until she made him stop because of dizziness. Although Lily was having a blast, she was also sweating profusely and begged them to sit down somewhere.

"James, will you go get us some punch?" Lily asked very sweetly.

"Umm, no. You insulted me earlier. I think I won't." James said, trying to sound offended but was having a hard time fighting off a boyish grin.

Lily was shocked and felt horrible until she saw that he was kidding. "Please?"

"Don't use puppy dog eyes on me, Miss Evans. They will get you nowhere."

"Am I flirting with James Potter?" Lily thought to herself and grinned which earned her a funny look from James. "Pretty please with uhh…chocolate flavored Bertie Botts beans on top?"

"Nope. I'm not budging. Sorry."

"Mr. Potter. I'm appalled with your behavior, sir. You are supposed to be a gentleman, and right now, you are certainly not being one." Lily cried in a lighthearted jest.

"Ahh, indeed you are right, but I have reasons, you know I do." This remark really caused James to grin.

Lily decided to try an old trick. "OH!! The heat! I feel faint!" she exclaimed while moving around in her chair.

"Ha ha. That's not going to work."

Upon hearing these words Lily decided to fall over. That got James to move….out of the way so she wouldn't hit him.

He laughed heartily when she hit the floor, although he did offer a hand to help her up. Are you okay?"

"You, you, imbecile, you prat! You let me hit the floor!" Lily yelled enraged.

"Well, let's just state the obvious, Lily. You did it on purpose though. I think you know me well enough to know I would have caught you if you had actually fainted. "

"I know." Lily couldn't help but to laugh, "But really, well now, will you go get me some punch?"

"Of course, Miss Evans. Nothing would bring me more happiness." James uttered and bowed to Lily and walked away.

Lily wondered where Sirius and Gina had ran off too. She snickered to herself, "Probably a broom closet, knowing Sirius. Well, not Gina though. I don't think they've kissed? Mental note to self ask her…."

"LILY!" a voice shouted at the pretty little redhead.

Lily looked up to see Gina running at her with a smile etched on her pretty pale face. So Lily shot her a questioning glance.

"What's that look for?"

"Oh nothing."

"Uh huh. I was just coming to see how you were doing and if you were having fun."

Lily giggled. "Yes, I'm having an amazing time! James and I danced earlier and it was fun. So…..why the big smile?"

"Ohhhhh. That explains that look. Well. This is like the most perfect night ever. I actually got asked to go to something by someone that I wanted to ask me, I'm in the perfect costume, my date is in the perfect costume, and we're having a blast dancing!" Gina said in one breath, taking a large breath afterwards.

Lily was a little disappointed. "Oh dang. I was sure you and Sirius were off snogging in a broom closet somewhere."

This caused Gina to laugh. "Well, not exactly. Sorry to disappoint you."

"So have you and Black kissed?"

"No….you know I would tell you if something like that happened!"

"Shh. James and Sirius are coming over here."

"Here you go ladies. Nice cool punch." Sirius offered when he got to them.

After both Lily and Gina had three more glasses of punch they were ready to go back dancing.

A slow song came on and it was a little awkward, but James positioned his hands on Lily's hips. It took a few seconds before Lily could relax."

Lily noticed that she was beginning to feel a little different. Maybe James wouldn't notice.

"Hey James."

"Hmm." James was caught up in holding Lily so close. He rarely hugged her so this was like bliss for him.

"I'm really sorry about earlier. If I hurt your feelings I mean."

"It's okay. It was funny. You just basically said my clothes were ugly and I should wear these suits to be attractive."

James was teasing Lily, but she didn't realize it just yet. "No no no no no no no. That's not at all what I meant."

James was beginning to wonder about that punch that Lily drank. He had thought about spiking it, but didn't. Maybe some one else did…"Oh, right, you said you would have gone out with me if my clothes were better. Excuse me, my mistake."

If Lily would have looked James in the face she would have noticed the smile playing on his lips but she felt to horrible to look up at him. Lily sighed in frustration, "You know that's not what I meant James Potter," looking up at James she immediately went from feeling bad to mad because she saw his smirk. That smirk she's disliked for so long. She proceeded to hit him but when she did she tripped on her dress and maybe a little combination of the punch, she started to fall but fell into James and was caught by him.

"Err. Thanks." Was all she could mutter and then began laughing at herself.

"I love teasing you, Lily."

"I've noticed." Lily said with a slight annoyance in her voice. "Will you get me some more punch?"

"Umm. Well, I think you've had enough punch for a while."

"WHAT?" Lily yelled, earning stares from people around.

Before she could accuse him of doing the deed, he defended himself. "Yeah, I haven't tried any, but I think you may feel a little funny?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Just years of observation, my dear." This seemed to satisfy Lily, and for the first time tonite, James noticed Lily's necklace.

"Hey. Where did you get that necklace?"

"From your mother, for my birthday."

"I've got one like it, but I don't wear it. It seems too nonsensical if you ask me."

"Well, I don't believe in that either, but I thought it wassss pretty. OOooooo can we walk outside and ssssee if we can find myyy ssstar?"

James laughed to himself. Lily Evans. Slightly intoxicated. Him perfectly sober. Wow. He definitely wasn't going to drink any punch now that he knew that Lily was a little drunk. He didn't want to do anything that would make Lily feel uncomfortable.

To James's surprise, Lily jumped up and grabbed his hand and pulled him outside to go searching for her star.

&&&&&

Meanwhile, back with Sirius and Gina all types of dancing had been witnessed by the crowd by those two. They were really having a great time.

After they were through dancing, Sirius drank a whole lot of punch, obviously not noticing the effect that it had had on Gina.

"Let's go outside! It's too hot in here!" Gina suggested noticing that she felt a little off balance. She had to drag Sirius away from the punch bowl.

Sirius finally consented and went outside to a spot under a tree by the lake.

Sirius began rambling nonsensically when he grabbed Gina's hand and held it. It sent chills all throughout Gina and made her unspeakably happy. She wasn't sure if she should bring it up or let him do it.

With her cheeks very much flushed Gina said, "I really had a lot of fun with you tonite, Sirius, and you were the best looking ones there…well except for James and Lily.

Without any warning whatsoever, Sirius turned and grabbed Gina and kissed her on the lips. Gina was hesitant at first but then returned the kiss. This went on for a few minutes when Sirius pulled back.

"Wow. You are an amazing kisser. You have officially made this night perfect for me. Thanks."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all! You are very pretty and escorted me to the dance and we're sitting all romantic life and kissing you felt like it should happen."

Gina found the way that Sirius had said that a little odd. "So…."

"So what?" Sirius asked, obviously not very concerned about much of anything right now. Other things were clouding his judgment.

Gina decided to leave it at that. He apparently would have mentioned something about them if he wanted too. She wasn't going to bring it up.

After the kiss, things became awkward….the kind of silence that you wish you can avoid….until Sirius began to sing incoherently.

Gina was very disappointed and upset. Her heart was happy because she did like Sirius and she wanted this to happen and thought he did too, but now she was at her wit's end trying to figure this out.

&&&&&

Lily emitted a hiccup which caused James to erupt in laughter. "Is my necklace glowing James?" Lily asked as her and James were walking around the lake.

James thought it was very romantic, a moonlit stroll in the forgotten romance of a past century. "Uh wait a minute, no, nevermind, it's just the moonlight."

Lily was very adamant about wanting to find her star. She demanded that James should wear his and find his star. It never crossed her mind that something could happen if that scenario ever played out.

"Lily! Your necklace, it's glowing!" James exclaimed excitedly.

Lily looked down to discover he was lying and she could hear him laughing. "James, that is not nice!" Lily said frustrated with him, so frustrated that James Potter suddenly found himself needing a new change of clothes.

Lily fell over she laughed so hard. "AHHAHAHA! Lily Evans gets the last laugh! HA! You can't trick me….Oh James, you can stay in the water, you don't have to get out." Lily added after her gloating, James didn't look mad, but he did look like he was going to seek out revenge.

Lily's perceptions were correct because James announced that he was coming after her and she should better run.

Lily ran as best as she could but her shoes made it a bit difficult, plus James could run much faster than her. It wasn't long before James began to tickly her madly sending Lily into fits of laughter. "James, please, stop! I'm ticklish! This isn't fair!"

"I'll show you not fair!" James yelled and swooped Lily of her feet into his arms taking her dangerously close to the edge of the lake. He pretended to drop her a few times. He finally let her down when he tired of her screaming in his ear.

Lily was so grateful that he didn't drop her in the water that she hugged him a little more forcefully that she meant to and sent them both toppling backwards onto the hard grass covered ground.

James laughed at Lily for being clumsy and was waiting for when she would get off top of him. Some, err, dreams popped into his mind, but he quickly shook them away. This was not the time or place for thinking of that sort of thing.

However, James looked up and noticed a brighter than usual star and then looked at Lily's necklace. "Lily, we've found your star."

"If you're kidding me, I'm, I'll, I….I'll," but all Lily could think of is how close she and James were and the position she was in.

James noticed the look on Lily's face. It was a look of deep thought and then it dawned on him what she was thinking when Lily started to move in closer to his face…to his lips…what he's desperately wanted to happen for forever.

Lily's mind was in a fog. She knew what she was doing. Or at least she thought she did. Maybe it was the punch. It had to be the punch. This would be ludicrous. "But why can't I stop my lips from moving towards his? Why do I want this to happen?" she thought to herself.

Before she could do anything James pushed her off him and hastily changed the subject to "Lily look at your necklace!"

This seemed to distract her because she squealed in glee. She told James to remember this spot in case she forgot.

"Oh look, it's Sirius and Gina!" Lily happily exclaimed skipping towards them.

When the two got close enough to them, it was plainly obvious that Gina was not happy and Sirius was, well, he could barely stand on his own.

"See, Lily, if you had had more punch, this could have been you." James joked while helping pick Sirius up off the ground.

On the way back to the rooms, Gina explained why she was upset and Lily tried to comfort her the best that she could and James decided it would be best to remain silent.

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The next month was homework filled so everyone stayed busy for the most part. Jenny and Remus had broken up but got back together after much pleading from Jenny. The complaint was that Remus had found her too clingy and he felt he was treating his other friends poorly, so a compromise was made.

James wasn't letting Lily live down her accidental drunkenness from the Halloween dance, but he wasn't doing it so that it was annoying. Unfortunately for Lily, although some things are hazy, she remembers almost kissing James, this is something that James conveniently seems to have forgotten. It finally concluded with her deciding it was the punch and shouldn't be worried about. Her and James are just friends. She still has moments when he's not her favorite person, although Sirius was taking that place and fast.

Gina was miserable however. Her and Sirius usually were hanging out quite a bit, but now she was quite certain that he was ignoring her. She decided that he just has a lot on his mind so maybe she was overreacting. "He probably doesn't even remember the kiss."

The longer that the ignoring went on, the more strain it put on Lily and James's friendship. James, Lily, and Gina got along as well as normal, but if Sirius were around he would be quiet. If Gina wasn't around, then Sirius was as playful and talkative as ever which infuriated Lily. Out of loyalty to her best friend, Lily stopped hanging around them whenever not necessary.

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It was a early December night in the Gryffindor girls common room where Lily found Gina crying.

"Gina! My love, what is the matter?" Lily asked praying that it was not news of a death eater attack.

"It's Sirius, he still doesn't even acknowledge that I exist anymore. I can say something to him and he won't answer. Lily, I can take it if someone is mad at me, but ignoring me is something that just tears me up inside."

"I know dear. He's a royal git. I don't know what his problem is."

"Did I do something Lily? Did I say something? I keep racking my brain but nothing is coming to me."

"You didn't do anything. He's just a git. And he's dumb, and …"

"Lemme guess, he doesn't know what he's missing out on?"

"Exactly."

"But I say that about you and James…"

This caused Lily to shift a little nervous, unnoticed by Gina. "Err, well, that's different. We're just friends."

Gina paused for a second. "Yeah, I know. I won't say anything else."

"You shouldn't cry over Black. He's really not worth it. Maybe he'll come around. Maybe he's just having a bad time." Lily said hoping her words comforted her crying best friend. She didn't want to tell her that Sirius acted perfectly normal when not around her.

"I know what let's do!"

"What's that? Kick Black below the belt?"

"Well, that would be sufficient, but what I had in mind is a little less violent!"

"Haha, what's that?"

"Hot chocolate!"

"Thanks, Lily, but I think I may puke if I drink something sweet. I think I just want to go down to the common room and walk around for a bit. I'll be back up later."

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James heard footsteps coming down the girls side of the stairs and looked to see who it was. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat when he finally saw who it was.

"Oh, hey Gina."

Gina wasn't expecting anyone to be down here, so she jumped at the sound of a voice. "Hey. What are you doing down here?"

"I'm reading, and this is my home….."

"Obviously. Hey can I ask you something?" Gina questioned while thinking of a solution to her sadness.

"Sure." James said a little nervous at what was coming.

"Why is Black ignoring me?"

"Well…"

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YAY! Finally got the chapter up! I'm gonna try to write the next one later today once I get some sleep or maybe tomorrow or the next day. I'm pretty happy with this. The Gina/Sirius bit is kinda sad…something similar actually happened to me this summer. I'm moving back to college tomorrow and I haven't really packed yet…err….umm….yeah…lol. Wish me luck and please review! If I get lots of reviews I'll be really happy! And..i'll bake cupcakes for everyone!