The day of the Yule Ball had finally arrived and everyone was buzzing with excitement, knowing that it was both Christmas and the Yule Ball. James dragged himself out of bed and listened as the others made their plans of action for the day. The Yule Ball began at 6:00pm just before the sun went down but with it being Christmas, today would be pretty busy.
"First, we should open our presents," Peter beamed, his fat fingers fiddling with a ribbon.
"Then we should hand out our presents to our others friends-" Lupin began but the others interupted.
"And our beloveds," They chorused. Lupin turned bright red, and decided to try change the subject.
"What next?"
"Get ready for the Yule Ball? Everyone else will be..." Peter suggested, his mind slipping away from the conversation as he began thinking about how beautiful Katelyn would look.
"Well that's our day planned." James yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Let's open our... Can it wait an hour or two? I'm still tired."
"Fine, but any longer than an hour and we're opening ours without you." Lupin warned him.
"I think you'll be the only one opening your presents then, Moony." Sirius said, yawning and pointing at Peter who was already snoring.
"I see your point," Lupin sighed, sensing his defeat.
"Lily," A girl with fluffed black hair and green eyes that went by the name of Adira said, shaking Lily gently.
"Yeah," She whispered, opening her eyes.
"Two things," Said Adira, counting them on her fingers. "One, it's Christmas. Two, it's the Yule Ball." Adira shrieked as she said 'Yule Ball'.
"Oh yeah, great." Lily sighed, getting out of bed and changing into her jeans and a t-shirt. Adira grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the common room where their presents would be. Echantments were cast on the presents so if you tried to open them when they are not yours, you get 'Thief' emblazed across your forehead in scars. Everyone was informed of this enchantment and no one had decided to test the theory, scared to be forever scarred.
"Here's some of yours." Adira beamed, pointly to a large pile of presents. Lily already knew who the majority of them would be from. She was right, most of them were from Luke, making sure that she'd attend the yule ball with her. Either he really liked her or he was up to something...
"You're finally up." Lupin sighed as James slipped out of bed.
"Shame i'm the only one, Moony." James laughed, listening to the others snore. "We might as well wake them."
"Wait, what? Prongs, you know Padfoot will kill us." Lupin's eyes widened, thinking of the consequences of waking Sirius.
"You worry too much!" James stated, grabbing a bucket of cold water and walking towards Sirius. He tipped the bucket over Sirius' face and he gasped, sitting upright.
"I'm gonna kill you," Sirius muttered. "I'm gonna kill you Prongs!" He raised his voice to an almost shout.
"Bring it on." James laughed, transforming into a stag. He charged towards Sirius, who transformed into a big, black, shaggy dog and darted to the left, narrowing avoidly James. James reared and charged towards Sirius who jumped on his back, digging his claws in lightly.
"Stop it, both of you!" Lupin shouted and they both froze. They both then transformed back, laughing.
"You're such a buzzkill." They laughed.
"What about Wormtail?" Lupin pointed out, clearly trying to stop his friends from taking their insults any further. James jumped to his feet and refilled the bucket with more icey water. Sirius snatched it from him and poured it over Peter's face. He coughed and spluttered, his eyes snapping open.
"W-what was that for?" Peter stuttered, cowering in his bed slightly.
"To wake you up, dumbass." James laughed, taking the empty bucket from Sirius.
"Let's open our presents," Peter squealed excitedly. He ripped open the small package he had been playing with earlier and found a box of animal mints. "Thanks Moony," Peter said, stuffing them all in his mouth and making a variety of animal noises. "Let's open the rest of them!" He grabbed Sirius' and Lupin's wrists and dragged them down the stairs, stopping every few seconds to give an excited little jump.
"Look who it is," Adira muttered to Lily who glanced quickly over her shoulder.
"Great," Lily said sarcastically, paying even more attention to the present she was opening. It was yet another present from Luke.
"Geez, that guy must really like you. I mean, even more than James and boy, that's saying something!" Adira gawped as she saw the amount, and quality, of presents from Luke.
"Yeah, I guess..." Lily had completely discarded the second part of Adira's comment because she was too busy wondering if the first part was true. It semed more like Luke was trying to buy her, to stop her from doing something or to distract her.
"One sec guys," James' voice seemed to fill the common room. "I need to give Lily her present from me." If Lily had seen his face, she was sure a beam would be spread across it. Suddenly, the present became even more interesting. Lily payed great concerntration to it like it was extremely difficult to open when, in reality, it was crudely wrapped.
James' footsteps drew closer and Lily could feel his presence behind her. "Here's your present," James said blankly with no emotion whatsoever.
"She hasn't look at you which means, put the present down and get lost!" Adira said as harshly as she could manage. Lily listened as James' put the present next to her leg and hurried away. As soon as he was gone, the present in her hand was no interest to her.
"You can have this, Adira." Lily said, handing her the crudely wrapped present. Adira beamed, unwrapped it and gasped.
"Are you sure? I mean, this is beautiful!"
"I'm absolutely positive," Lily replied, handing paying attention. She was now interested in the present beside her leg. It was a fairly small, rectangular box, wrapped with a red ribbon and finished with a label. It read,
To Lily,
Merry Christmas!:) Have fun at the Yule Ball with Luke:/ Oh, and I hope you like your present.
Love James xx
Absentmindedly, Lily took the box and placed it in her lap, trying to figure out what it was. Carefully, she untied the ribbon and took the lid off the box. Inside was a beautiful, thick silver chain with a silver L hanging from it. Small diamonds covered the L and they twinkled in the light of the common room. Underneath it was a pink lily and several petals. Adira gasped, making Lily jump and almost drop the box.
"That's beautiful. Is it from that, erm, Luke guy?" She asked. Lily shook her head and did a little head gesture towards James. "Oh, put it on." Adira beamed.
"No, i'm not letting him see me wear it." Lily said firmly, closing the box and trying to stop herself from smiling.
"Do you think she liked it?" James said, craning to his neck to try and see Lily's expression without making it obvious.
"No idea..." Peter said, rummaging through his pile of presents for something to eat.
"Do you want to go to breakfast, Peter?" Lupin asked, disgusted. He nodded greedily. "Then go without us, we'll catch up with you later." Peter beamed then scurried through the portrait. "I hope it isn't a full moon tonight," Lupin sighed.
"It shouldn't be," Sirius said, looking up from the present he was unwrapping.
"Yeah but the moon cycles keep changing. There is a small possibility that it will be a full moon." Lupin's face was set in a worried look.
"Moony, everything will be fine." James said, leaning on his side to get a better look at Lily as she was leaving. Even Lupin couldn't help but laugh when he toppled over. "It's not funny." James muttered furiously, sitting back up and grabbing another present.
The tables were filled with all sorts of delicious looking breakfast foods and the three friends couldn't help but get a plate full of food. "Where do you think Wormy is?" Sirus asked, trying to find his fork. "Accio Fork." He said, giving in with his muggle method and doing it wizard style. The spell was performed perfectly but Sirius didn't expect to find Snape's fork whizzing across the great hall towards him. "This'll do," Sirius said, shrugging and feeling more pleased with these results. Snape scowled at him darkly.
"Good 'un, Padfoot," James said, between mouthfuls whilst patting him on the back. Sirius beamed and took a mouthful of the delicious food on his plate.
"I just hope Snape doesn't blab about us sneaking off at nights." Lupin muttered, scowling into his cup of pumpkin juice.
"He won't. I've put a hex on him so, if he does tell, he'll get boils or pimples or patchy skin in some nasty words." James beamed, puffing his chest out and looking proud.
"Alright James," Sirius high fived him then turned back to his breakfast.
"I wonder if Katelyn will like her present..." Lupin said, staring into space.
"She's there," James pointed out where she was. "Go give it to her." Lupin sprang to his feet and hurtled across the room towards Katelyn.
"Am I the only one that thinks she's using him?" Sirius said rhetorically.
"No, I think that too..."
The day passed fairly quickly and 4:00pm arrived quickly. Everyone was beginning to get ready for the Yule Ball in two hours. People bustled through the corridors, hurrying to their common rooms with great excitement and gossiping to their friends along the way.
"I'm so excited," Adira squeeked happily.
"Neither can I, oh and, did you guys see the bracelet Remus bought me...? I sorta don't like him anymore...
"Katelyn, are you serious?" Lily gasped. "You can't just ditch Mo-Remus." She had never actually called Lupin by the nickname his friends gave him but after hearing it so many times, it was hard to call him by his real name.
"I can't control my heart." Katelyn said innocently, fingering a lock of hair.
"Are you going to the Yule Ball with him then...?" Adira asked, confused.
"I need a date don't I? I don't want to look like a loser..."
"Your really tight, you know that, don't you?" Lily said, shaking her head in disgust.
"And proud of it," Katelyn beamed. Lily rolled her eyes and stepped into their room.
"Only two hours left," Adira squealed, waving her arms around excitedly.
"Calm down, Adira!" Lily laughed, dragging a trunk from underneath her bed. Katelyn grabbed her diamond box and unfastened it. Adira ran in and out of each bed before coming to her own, and opening her box with everything she needed in.
"Ooooh, I'm so excited." Peter squeeked.
"You really are a mouse, I know that because your squeak just deafened me!" Sirius said, scowling at Peter as they made their way towards their room.
"Whoops, sorry." He said, looking at his feet as he scuffed them together on the step. Lupin, who was blankly staring into space, crashed into Peter and almost toppled back down the stairs. "Walk!" He shouted furiously, regaining his balance.
"Sorry," Peter said, once again, almost as innocently as the time before. Once in their room, the guys pulled out their dress robes. Lupin's and Peter's were smart and black, obviously to impress the people they cared about or wanted to impress. James' were blue and slightly less smart, with rolled up sleeves. Sirius' were completely fun and bright green. "What are they?" Lupin laughed, looking at Sirius' dress robes.
"My funky, fun, amazing dress robes!" Sirius beamed.
"I shotgun the shower." Peter said quickly, grabbing a towel and his shower gel.
"Shotgun?" Sirius stared blankly, wondering what he meant.
"Padfoot, it's what people say when they want something first." Lupin explained.
"Oh."
"Look who swallowed the... That wouldn't be in the dictionary would it..." James looked disappointed as he realised that his favourite way of making fun of Lupin wouldn't work.
"Please can you paint my nails, Lily?" Adira asked, wriggling her toes at Lily. She was in her dressing gown and had a towel over her head. "It'll give you something to do whilst we wait for Katelyn. You know what she's like, she'll be in there 'till 5."
"Fine," Lily said, giving in. She was dressed in her silky white pyjamas and had her hair tied in a bun. "What colour?"
"Pink to match my dress please, and pretty please, can you do my make-up?" Adira beamed.
"If Katelyn still isn't out..."
"She won't be, not until at least 5pm."
"Oh joy." Lily said sarcastically, rummaging through her nail polish bag to find her pale pink nail polish. Adira plonked herself on the floor and, once Lily had found the nail polish, she joined her. Carefully, Lily first painted Adira's toe nails then she moved onto her finger nails.
"Thank you." Adira beamed, hugging Lily greatfully and hurrying towards her box. She pulled out her ankle length pale pink dress and heels. "Damn, I left my bag in the common room."
"I'll go get it." Lily offered quickly, springing to her feet. She hurried down the stairs into the stairs and into the common room, scanning the room for Adira's bag. Something glinted in the corner of her eye and she spotted the chain twinkling in the firelight. As she rushed towards the bag, Lily hit a solid object and fell to the floor. Also on the floor was James, wearing checkered pyjamas. He scrambled to his feet and helped Lily to her feet. "Sorry," James said quickly, hurrying past her. Lily ignored this, grabbed Adira's bag and zoomed up the stairs, two at a time.
Once Lily entered the room, she saw Adira in her long pale pink dress, curling tongs floating in the air. "You want me to do the correct spell?" Lily asked.
"Please..." Adira sat glumly. She sat down on her stool and waited patiently as Lily waved her wand. The curling tongs sprung to life and began curling Adira's hair. Lily pulled up a stool in front of her and started doing Adira's make-up. She gave her a thin line of eyeliner, soft pale pink eyeshadow and lightly went over eyelashes with mascara.
"Thank you, Lily." Adira beamed, hugging her friend thankfully.
Another hour passed and the boys bustled into the common room, bunchs of flowers in their hands and beams on their faces. Some boys, ones that had dates from other houses, hurried to the great hall, where the Yule Ball would take place.
James sank into a chair, along with Sirius, and watched as the rest of the boys stared at the staircase the girls would come down. A clicking of heels indicating that the girls were coming. Every boy glanced up hopefully, hoping it was their girl who was coming. Katelyn appeared, her blonde hair in a loose bun above her head with a little tiara in it. Her hair and face sparkled every now as she was covered with glitter. Her dark brown eyes were lined with black liquid liner and she was wearing violet eyeshadow. Katelyn's eyelashes were long and curled with black mascara. Underneath her eyes, several diamond lined the bottom of her eyes and five were dotted on each eyelid. Katelyn's cheeks were a soft pink and her lips a slightly darker pink. She wore dangly silver earrings that had purple diamonds in them and a matching necklace. She was wearing a violet knee length boob tube and slightly darker purple heels.
Lupin gawped as she danced down the last step. "Hey..." She took a deep breathe and beamed. "...You..."
"You seem a bit unsure..." Lupin mumbled nervously.
"Oh...I'm not..." Katelyn managed to say, hooking her arm into Lupin's. They both made their way towards the great hall. Peter watched bitterly as Lupin escorted her away. "Stupid..." Peter stopped himself and trudged out of the painting too.
"Are we waiting to see Lily or are we leaving?" Sirius asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"We might as well leave..." James sighed, feeling depressed.
"Lily, you look beautiful." Luke beamed, handing her a bunch of pink roses. Lily blushed slightly. She was wearing a green ankle length dress that matched her eyes and the necklace that James bought her. Lily was also wearing pale green pumps and had no make-up on whatsoever. Her hair hung down in it's natural red curls and made her look even more confident than she felt.
"Where did you get the necklace?" Luke asked inquisitively.
"Christmas Present from... erm, my mum." Lily lied.
"Awesome, well, do you want to dance?" Luke asked as the band began to play. Lily spotted Lupin and Katelyn dancing, Lupin was staring at the setting sun nervously, and Katelyn had her nose screwed up, obviously hoping that someone else would ask her to dance. Sirius and James were watching others dance and Lily only hoped that he wouldn't notice the chain around her neck.
"We have a request from James Potter." A band member said. "Come here James," James sprung to his feet and walked towards the band member.
"This is dedicated to well, you'll figure it out." James said. Sirius laughed, knowing what was coming next.
And so, James took a deep breath, and began to sing. "I'm in trouble, I'm an addict, I'm addicted to this girl, she's got my heart tied in a knot and my stomach in a whirl-" James began, singing as best he could. Sirius broke into a fit of laughs, finding it funny how James was singing about Lily. "You sad person." Sirius mouthed.
"-She's all I want and more, I mean damn, what's not to adore?" In the background, the clouds seemed to reveal parts of a moon, what seemed to be a full moon. Lupin spotted it first, leaving Katelyn's side as she left to dance with Snape. James stopped singing and Sirius stopped laughing but Peter, who was dancing with a short girl with the name Veldina, didn't notice. The three of them rushed out of the doors and down the courtyard towards the whomping willow.
Lily noticed them disappearing and curiously followed. She watched as the three of them crawled through a hole beneath the whomping willow. Not caring about the dance anymore, Lily carefully made her way towards the whomping willow, the cool breeze of the night clearing the clouds in the sky to reveal a full moon.
Distance moans echoed though the air. Lily slowed down even more, checking around to make sure that she was safe. She timed her timing perfectly before slipping beneath the whomping willow into the hole, mud now splattered and spotted across her dress. Lily took her pumps off and followed the tunnel through until she was walking on wood. "Where am I?" She said to herself. A howling echoed through the tunnel and a cold shiver ran down Lily's spine.
A stag bounded down the tunnel then stopped, a surprised look in it's eyes. The figure twisted and then, James was stood in the Stag's place. "Go back," He said urgently.
"Why?" Lily asked.
"It's not safe." James said as urgently as before.
"Your an animagus, illegally and unless you tell me what's going on, i'll tell what you are." Lily said slowly, letting him take all the information in and her blackmail.
"I can't, you'll tell."
"I pro- Wait, he was right."
"What?" Confusion was pasted across James' face.
"Remus is a werewolf..." She said slowly. James cursed creatively then looked scared. "It doesn't change who he is, he's still the same person and he's still just as kind, clever and caring." Lily said, watching as a black, shaggy dog made it's way down the tunnel, a surprised look on his face. Behind him, was Lupin, scratched and looking weak. The dog twisted and Sirius appeared in it's place.
"The moon's changed again and, wow, she's clever." Sirius said, slightly gobsmacked.
"Remus, are you okay?" Lily gasped, rushing towards him. He nodded weakly and whispered, "Thank you, for everything." Lily smiled and turned towards James who finally noticed what she was wearing around her neck. "I knew that under all that bullying, you were a good friend." She whispered to him and then followed her heart. Lily took a deep breath and kissed James. Sirius and Lupin gasped. James' eyes danced with confusion and happiness.
Sorry for the bad spellings, grammar and sentence structure + that... The song that James sings is Trouble by Nevershoutnever, I was listening to the song and I thought of this fic^_^ It's finished anyways^_^