Sorry, this one's a bit light on the dialogue. Hopefully you'll forgive me though, because it's about what they're all wearing to the Masquerade Ball! Yeah, that's right, get excited! This chapter was extra fun to write (and it has made me want to shop like mad), so I hope you like it. PICTURES of some of the ensembles I have the gang wearing are linked on my profile.

Keep up the good work with reviewing, guys, I've gotten some really lovely ones lately, and it makes me look forward to updating so much more!

- Lorraine


CHAPTER 8

By mid-November, the planning of the Masquerade Ball was proceeding nicely. As they'd proven since the beginning of the year, Lily and James were more than capable of working together; they'd just never taken it very seriously before. In this venture especially, though, they were determined to have every last detail turn out perfectly—neither Head student wanted to besmirch their reputation with an unsuccessful dance.

For this reason, James and Lily had set to work organizing the Ball as soon as they left Dumbledore's office that day. They made a list of what kinds of decorations they'd need, and planned to speak to Professors McGonagall and Flitwick for help with the related enchantments. They had drafted an invitation, and soon made enough copies to send to each Hogwarts student. The next evening, instead of the customary heaps of delicious food that were usually appeared on the House Tables, small envelopes materialized on each of the pupils' plates. Inside was a card adorned with gold and purple fleurs-de-lis, on which the following message was printed in an intricate script:

Your Head Students

Lily Evans and James Potter

would like to cordially invite you to a

MASQUERADE BALL

to take place in the Great Hall

on Thursday, December 18th

at 8 o'clock in the evening

Formal wear is required, including a mask of your choosing.

Classes on Friday, December 19th have been cancelled.

Excited chatter immediately erupted throughout the Great Hall. The Head Students beamed at each other, and for good reason: they'd managed to put smiles back on the faces of almost every child at Hogwarts.

In the following weeks, the corridors of the castle were never free of dance-related conversation. There was gossip as to who was asking whom, and whether they were likely to be accepted; and of course all the students were frantically figuring out what to wear. The turnout for the November visit to Hogsmeade was the highest it had been in years, much to Filch's dismay, seeing as everyone wanted to visit the clothes shops in addition to getting a head start on holiday shopping.

As much as they would have liked to be immune to these trivial worries, both James and Lily were having pre-Masquerade jitters as well.

Now that the strain of planning was mostly over with, Lily had to worry about what to wear. Though she was not often one for parties or dressing up, Lily promised herself that she had to look marvelous for this ball. It was her formal debut, in a sense: she would use the dance to prove that she was mature and capable, as well as elegant and charming. Therefore, she would have to look the part of a dashing debutante, and it was proving much more difficult than she had anticipated.

Though she may not have been the most feminine girl in her year, Lily was certainly not bound to become a spinster. She had been graced with a slender form, several inches shorter than average, but with curves in all the right places. Of course, what really made her beauty memorable was her bright auburn hair, which hung down to the middle of her back, falling in loose waves. She had long bangs, parted to one side, which partially obscured her sharp viridescent eyes, always sparkling with laughter or annoyance. Lily considered the vibrancy of her hair and eyes to be at once a blessing and a curse: though she loved her unique appearance, she was not fond of being so eye-catching—it did not make her popular with girls her age, and it made her rather too popular with boys.

In terms of her ensemble for the Masquerade, this presented Lily with a dilemma: she would be instantly recognizable. For a while she toyed around with the idea of dyeing her hair, but she thought that would seem dishonest, not to mention that she really did love her tresses in their natural state. Lucy insisted that there was really no point in trying to downplay her colorful curls, so she might as well play them up, "and the same goes for those pretty peepers of yours!" Rolling her eyes at her friend's antics, Lily girded herself for a long day of shopping.

As Lucy dragged her into Gladrags, whistling all the while, Lily grumbled to herself. She really did not like shopping. Hopefully she'd find one or two dresses to try on and she'd just settle for one of those, rather than make a whole exhausting day out of it. She didn't usually put too much effort into her wardrobe, but A. this was a special occasion, and B. Lucy had sworn that she wouldn't let Lily leave without buying a gown that would "make Potter's jaw drop so far that he'll be standing in a puddle of his own drool." Lily had laughed at Lucy's comment, all the while knowing that she was mostly serious about this.

They entered the store, and Lucy immediately went into fashionista mode. She told Lily to browse while she found something for herself, partly because she didn't want to smother the redhead right away, and partly because she, too, wanted to look fabulous for the ball. After trying on a few uninspiring dresses (the red was a bit too "it girl," and black was too boring), a flash of bright satin caught Lucy's eye. The garment was a vivid rust color, not unlike Lily's hair, and it was extremely smooth and cool to the touch. Its hem was a modest tea length, seemingly at odds with the low neckline and slim-fitting bodice, and Lucy immediately fell in love with it. She knew that it would make her blonde curls seem blonder and her blue eyes seem bluer, and it was undoubtedly unique. Extremely pleased with her pick, she threw the gown over her shoulder and began looking for something that would suit her best friend.

She carefully picked through the dress racks, avoiding orange and red (they would clash awfully with her hair), black and white (Lily would look even pastier), and all the bright greens (too cliché, for goodness' sake!). These criteria significantly narrowed Lucy's search, so it didn't take long for her to find The Dress. It was a floor length, dark teal velvet number, with a plunging scalloped neckline and an open back to match. There were small silver spangles on each of the shoulders and at the base of the spine, and the body of the dress was skin-tight, with a mermaid-style skirt. It was stunning, and she knew it would look simply phenomenal on Lily.

Lucy found her best friend lurking by the jewelry, and wasted no time in whisking her off to the dressing rooms. She shoved the gorgeous gown at Lily and went to try on her own outfit. While she was admiring her appearance in the mirror, she was gratified to hear a gasp of pleasure from the room next to her. Still in her russet dress, a smirking Lucy went to confer with Lily about her ensemble. When Lily pushed the curtain aside, though, Lucy couldn't decide whether to look more smug or to gape in shock as this goddess was revealed. Though her hair was a mess and she was smiling uncertainly, Lily Evans was a vision.

"Oh, Lil! You're beautiful! I can't even think of a good archaic adjective to use, and that's about as close to speechless as I can get."

Lily's smile grew more confident as she looked at her best friend. "Wow, Luce, you don't look too bad yourself. That color is perfect on you! It really brings out your eyes."

Lucy was grinning wickedly and looking at her reflection. "Girl, we are gonna be two foxy mamas as this ball! Honestly, every single guy is going to be alllll over us, and probably some of the taken ones as well."

Lily laughed at her friend, shaking her head, "Uh, Luce? Are you talking to yourself or to me?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, both I guess! Let's go buy these nifty threads, and then we can go pick out shoeeees!" Lucy disappeared into her dressing room, and Lily followed suit. An hour later, the two girls had purchased their gowns and found acceptable shoes. Now they headed back up to the castle to drop their bags off before paying a visit to the house elves in the kitchen.


For his own part, James was not particularly stressed about his appearance. He and the other Marauders had opted for the simple look: they had all invested in Muggle suits—much less troublesome and rather better-looking than bulky Wizarding dress robes, the boys agreed.

Remus' was a brown linen suit and waistcoat, under which he wore a cream-colored Oxford shirt and a dark blue tie; for shoes he wore dark brown wingtips—he hoped no one would notice they were a bit scuffed—and his half-face mask was blue and gold.

Peter, the shortest and stockiest of the four, decided that a sport coat would make him look like a chimpanzee, so he chose to wear grey pinstriped slacks and a matching vest with a muted green dress shirt, a maroon bow-tie, and a fedora (so he was a bit eccentric, so what?); his mask was so narrow that it almost looked as if someone had simply painted a burgundy stripe across his eyes.

And then, of course, there were James and Sirius, Hogwarts' resident lady-killers, both planning to be dressed to the nines in the blackest of black tuxedoes and simple Zorro-esque masks to match.

There was no question in anyone's mind about whether the Marauders would be the handsomest young men at the ball. It was an undisputed fact at Hogwarts that those four were the epitome of sexiness even in sweatpants after a sweaty Quidditch practice. So no, James wasn't worried about his appearance. What he was worried about—and what his friends were desperately trying to help him with—was his inability to behave around a certain redhead, especially when she was sure to look drop-dead gorgeous. Yep, thought Sirius, we've got some long nights of coaching ahead of us. Sigh. What has Prongs gotten himself into this time?


So I know you guys are probably going, "Wait, there was no plot in this chapter…" and I pretty much have to agree with you. But not to fear, the next update should have enough to get us caught up with the very beginning of this fic (which was really the middle of the story). Woo! Review, please!