This time, I'd like to thank all my reviewers before continuing with the story. You guys are absolutely THE BEST and I love you's all. Your reviews are absolutely wonderful to read and they are my only motivation at the moment (especially considering right now I have exams). So to everyone who likes/liked this fic and especially to the following people, thank you so much and keep reading and reviewing!!!

My wonderful reviewers: emerald-hazel eyes, buttonbit, jassyflower, dobbydarling, shetlandlace, padfootlover13, pippapear, FunFlirtyFlute, Dippity-Rox, LilyXJames, robinhoodthegirl, anniem, People Always Leave., dancelikeyoujustdontcare, Cherrykisses21, muddy worm, .NoRegrets., DarkRoseDevon, elsiethemarauder, princecharmprincesswit, ..o.,toria-b2, Kunafox, Noc007, RosalieBellaPotter, Stormwing, magicXheart,I-want-Jasper, BrazilianPrincess, Basil Leaves, Rocks-my-socks

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While her parents went to the feast, Lily was busy getting ready for the Celebration Ball that was to be held that evening in honour of the Prince's birthday. Lily was unsure about wearing the dress that her mother had picked out for her to the Ball, fearing she would be the only one there who was dressed for a wedding, but her objections fell on deaf ears.

"Bessie, it is only a ball! I do not need to look so fancy!"

"I have my orders, Miss Lily. Your mother says you are to wear this to the ball, I makes sure you wears it to the ball." was the only reply Lily got from the maid before she was forced into the dress.

And if that wasn't enough, Bessie had gone on to take Lily's untameable hair and had wrapped strands around rods of some sort. It was only when Bessie finally unwrapped the hair that Lily realised it had become curled. After that, her hair had been yanked and pulled and pinned and woven until Bessie was satisfied with it and allowed Lily to stand up.

Standing up, Lily thought the worst was over; after all, the pain she had been put through had left her with tears in her eyes and a slight buzz in her head. But of course, she had gotten her hopes up for nothing, for as soon as she stood up, her cheeks were pinched until they were red and her eyes were filled with fresh tears. Bessie quickly wiped the tears and applied kohl to her eyes and told her she was ready.

Giving in to Bessie's urging Lily finally turned to look at herself in the mirror and didn't recognise herself. Looking back at her from the mirror was a young, elegant woman who looked like nobility. She had never cared about her appearance but she had to admit that looking like the woman reflected in the mirror was almost worth the pain she had been put through. Almost, but not quite, she realised, as Bessie went on to tighten her corset even more, causing Lily wonder if Bessie was really an assassin sent to kill her.

Descending the stairs carefully so as not to dislodge anything, or cause herself any more pain, she was continuously reminded by Bessie to "…just breathe…", something, she told Bessie, that was easier said than done. She was sure that if by the end of the night she didn't die from the suffocating corset, then she would die from the agony of her hair being pulled so tightly.

Lily saw Augustus standing beside the carriage that was to take them to the Ball and her pace slowed down immediately. Although so far she had been nonchalant about the fact that he was the man she would one day marry, her stomach turned into a bundle of nerves when she realised the gravity of that. She looked over at him for comfort but he looked just as nervous as she felt.

"You look wonderful, Lily…" she heard him say as she got closer.

"And you look like quite the gentleman, Augustus."

And he did. Dressed in an immaculate white shirt that contrasted handsomely with the black of his doublet and breeches, he looked like nothing like his usual self. Lily could imagine spending the rest of her life with this gentleman.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me...if you hadn't been there—"

"If I hadn't been there, Augustus, I would be widowed before I even got married," Lily replied cheekily, "And that would be a real shame."

Their easy banter continued all the way to the palace as they slipped back into their usual pattern, dissolving the tension. It was only as she was entering the Royal Ballroom that Lily remembered the reason for her earlier unease, but by then it was too late to turn around. Not only would this evening see her virtually betrothed, but she would also owe the Prince a favour, which couldn't possibly turn out good.

"You're late. I thought perhaps you'd changed your mind..."

Recognising that voice, Lily cringed slightly before turning to greet her sister.

"Petunia, how charming to see you after so long..."

"Yes, wonderful." Petunia replied, dragging her into the seemingly endless crowd of people, all dressed so richly that Lily felt entirely too underdressed. "You're late and we have yet to greet the Prince. Hurry up!"

Lily had expected the Royal Ballroom to be extraordinary at the least and stupefying...also, at the least. Unfortunately all she could observe was a blurred haziness as Petunia rushed her past the crowd towards the Prince. It didn't help at all that her dress was suffocating her and her head was numb with pain. She went meekly with Petunia and focused on breathing, hoping Augustus had followed them.

"I don't see Vernon," Lily asked, trying to fight unconsciousness, "Is he –"

"He's speaking with the Count of Cromwell, as I would be too if you had arrived on time."

Lily attempted to apologise for her tardiness but she had hardly enough air to breathe and already her vision was turning into a big blur of dark spots.

As she was whisked through the crowd she focused on maintaining a passably regular rate of breathing and ignoring the throbbing pain in her head. Her only comfort was Augustus' calming presence behind her, somehow it lessened the pain. She was greatly relieved when Petunia spotted Vernon and slowed down to allow him to catch up to them.

"Mr Attford." Vernon greeted as he reached them, "Miss Evans."

Lily smiled slightly and allowed him to kiss her hand but didn't attempt to reply, instead using this slight respite to catch her breath.

"Shall we go greet the Prince now, then?" Augustus suggested, wanting to get the unpleasant part of their evening over with.

Lily had known Augustus for many years, which was perhaps why she was the only one who realised how tense he was. He had always been a sore loser, and having to congratulate the man who had defeated him only served to increase his resentment. As Lily took his arm and started towards the Prince, she realised that, for once, she actually shared his feelings. She was dreading this meeting – admitting defeat was certainly not something she was very good at doing.

There were only a few yards to the Prince when Lily started truly panicking. There were far too many things he could ask of her...No, that wasn't true – he could ask anything of her and she had to oblige. She tried thinking of some way, any way, out of her predicament but there was no way out. She prayed to the Lord, she promised never to make wagers again and she prayed to the Lord again.

"...but next year you may have an even chance, what with Sirius being unable to practice and..."

As Lily heard the Count of Oldham console – or rather, mock – the Prince, she finally found an answer to her prayers.

"Your Highness," Vernon bowed as they reached the Prince and his entrouge, "It is an honour to meet you again..."

Vernon went on to introduce everyone and wish the Prince a happy birthday but Lily wasn't listening, only remembering to curtsy when she heard Vernon say her name. Instead, she was thinking over her inevitable conversation with the Prince, unable to help the slight smile that took over her features.

"Miss Evans, we meet again."

Lily blushed slightly when the Prince addressed her – she had been too absorbed in her own thoughts to realise Vernon had finished with the introductions.

"It is a pleasure." She replied, trying to overcome her embarrassment. "You played exceptionally in the Tournaments, my Lord, I am sorry that you lost."

"Why thank you, but I rather doubt you felt much pity." the Prince replied, not unkindly. "Mr Attford, you were a worthy opponent, it was a pleasure competing against you." he added to Augustus.

"You are too kind, Sire," Augustus replied, and Lily could almost see him force the words out, "And the pleasure was all mine."

The men continued to discuss the tournaments and were soon joined by Lord Black who joined the Count of Oldham in mocking the Prince. At that, the others didn't know quite what to do, resulting in a rather awkward situation which went unnoticed by both the Lord and the Count. The Prince, on the other hand, seemed to still be quite a bit sore about his loss and kept attempting to steer the conversation towards a different direction.

"Well, it seems as though the first dance is about to start," he finally cut into the Lord's description of their duel, "I must go find Lady de Lewes, if you'll excuse me."

Among the good-byes there was a bark of laughter, from the Lord probably, as the Prince took his leave.

"Oh, Miss Evans, before I forget – we must settle that wager today." he called to Lily before leaving to dance with his betrothed.

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(Disclaimer: I'm broke, and i wouldn't be if i owned any of the characters...well, except Cecelia but she's hardly gonna make me rich...

Author's Note: The first thing I have to say is, obviously, i am SO SORRY!! I won't give any excuses, once again, but I do want to say that i'm not going to abandon this fic - it may take me a long long time to finish, but i'm going to finish it. Especially since i've kind of got one of the later chapters already written. So now all I have to do is write everything in between lolz.

And on that note, I plan to update again, sometime after the 4th of november coz that's when i finally FINALLY finish my exams!!

Anyway, so I read the previous chapters again, just to get into the writing again and I realised how much different my writing style is now compared to then. So, while this chapter isn't that different, the next chapters will probably be a bit less immature and hopefully better and longer...

Moving on to the story - Nothing much to clarify except that - yes, Lils HAS thought of a way out of losing the bet and you'll find out in the next chapter, as well as finally finding out what the palace looks like =]

And there's also another really big, magic-related revelation in the next chapter - and I don't feel too bad about saying that here coz i know no-one reads author's notes anyway =]

If there's any kinks in my writing (spelling probs, grammatical errors, setting, consistency, language..i could go on) please tell me - i do like constructive criticism.

Once again, all my readers - I luv reviews and reviewers. But if u didn't review, its okay - been there, done that, i get it =]

One last thing - Here's a snippet from one of the later chapters (which will undoubtedly be unreconisably changed by the time I get that far in the story), enjoy!

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The page announced the arrival of the Prince at the door, but Lily didn't move to receive him, she couldn't work up the strength to get up. She vaguely heard one of the maids showing the Prince to her rooms but still didn't move, not sure if this time it was from not being able to or not wanting to. Soon there was a swift knock at the door and the Prince entered, not waiting for a reply. He hesitated near the bed, looking at her uncertainly and seeing the disarray surrounding her.

"May I?" he asked, pointing at the solitary chair in the room.

Lily nodded, hoping he would leave and wishing he wouldn't. He sat down but didn't say anything. To Lily, the silence was worse than anything she had anticipated.

"Is it true? Are you leaving?" she asked finally. "…Your Highness." she added, catching herself before it was too late.

"I'm afraid so…" he replied, looking straight at her.

Her expression remained inscrutable, but she closed her eyes and refused to look anywhere in his vicinity.

"I must, Lily, I cannot just turn the other way and pretend we're not at war." he tried to explain, but of course, it was no explanation at all.

"But you don't have to pretend, because we aren't at war!"

"Yet. But we will be, soon. That's as sure as your marriage to Sir Attford."

To that, Lily didn't know what to say, he had left her speechless once more.

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PS, don't worry - this is still, and always, definetely a Lily/James fic)