Ekaterina's Disclaimer: To put it quite simply, if we owned this, we would be filthy rich and sitting in England sipping tea in a very Victorian style room. We would also be wearing awesome mini-hats that have feathers and lace. I think... no, it can't be! We sadly do not own Harry Potter.
Okay, that was Ekaterina's disclaimer...she is into Victorian style these days...actually for a months now. Now if I owned Harry Potter...things would be a little different. Oooh, there would be books and books and books in the library in my mansion! And the bookshelves would be SO tall that they reached the ceiling and I would have to roll around in my rolling ladder to get books. Like in Beauty and the Beast (Credits to Disney). And I would have a beautiful room, with an awesome bed...soft and comfy...And I would have a garden with flowers! Lilies and daisies and rosebushes and- Oh yeah, we don't own Harry Potter. Huh. -Blossom-
Mimiona's Note: I don't know if you readers know or not, Ekaterina mentioned something of one of our authors being out of would be me. I just spent the last week in Pennsylvania and DC as a fieldtrip with my school, so I didn't participate in writing the last chapter, but I'll help with this one. Also, Special thanks, as usual, to littlelaralevin, Orange-coyote, Darke Whispers, Mayroses (Alexandra?), vballplaya7, (awesome name, btw :)) Thank you guys soooooo much! You have NO idea how much it means to us!
Lily looked around for her friends. Everyone looked a little different in masks and long dresses. "James, do you see Nadia or Lara or Alice?" she asked.
James shook his head. "No. In my eyes, I only see you," he answered, bringing the hand he held to his lips.
Lily's face flushed. "Come on!" she said, but there was pleasure in her voice.
"Well, I'll try looking-for you, Lilyflower," James said teasingly. "Hmmm...Oh, there's Alice-" he said, pointing, "and Remus," he added, his, smirking.
"Where...? Oh, I see! Oh, don't they look adorable together?" Lily asked, half to herself, but James answered, handing Lily a cup of punch.
"Yeah, sure. But no one is more adorable than my Lily," James said, smiling.
Lily started choking on her drink.
"LILY! Oh, no! Dont' die! Wouldn't that make it hard for me to clean up the evidence that I may have been the cause of death?" James asked, concerned.
"Narcissist..." Lily said in between coughs. When they finally ceased she added, "just what you say makes me..." she burst into giggles.
"What?" James said indignantly, with a tinge of whining in his voice.
"Don't think that voice will work on me~" Lily said.
James grinned. "But it already is," he said.
Lily stared at him. "Oh, you-"
"May I have this dance?" he asked suddenly as a piece ended and a brighter, more perky tune started.
"Why-yes," Lily said, a little surprised.
James led her to the floor. "Do you know how to dance?"
"Eh... Um... Not in the least. You had better lead..." she said with a small shrug.
"Okay! Let's go!" he cried enthusiastically.
To say the least, the next hour or so was filled of much tripping, James avoiding stepping on Lily's feet, and Lily stomping all over James's. By the end both were nearly in tears, Lily for her lack of skill and James for his bruised feet. He had never realized that heels were a potential weapon and was dreading any more dancing to come.
"Why can't I be more like Alice?" Lily muttered, looking jealously at her and Remus. They were easily the best dancing couple at the ball-twirling and leaping across the dance floor. Not one trip, not one missed step.
"Oh, come on, Lily. She dances every moment of her life!" James said, trying to make her feel better. "Let's go sit down now, get some rest." He led her to a table.
"Hey, where's Lara and Sirius?" asked Lily, looking around.
"Probably lost in their own world," answered James.
"You're right..." Lily said pointing to a couple at the far side of the dance floor. Lara was in hysteric giggles and Sirius was purple-literally. He was choking himself with his tie. For some odd reason no one found this odd and rather frightening at all. Except for Ekaterina who somehow happened to be there and who looked at them first in shock, then in interest for it seemed to be working. Sirius looked half dead. Not that anyone was complaining, of course.
"Oh, and there's Nadia, with Death!" announced James.
"Where-oh, I see." Lily smiled. "Can I ask her to come here?"
"Well...Okay," James answered, hoping that Nadia would refuse so he could get some time with Lily.
"Awesome! NA-" started Lily, however, she stopped in surprise when a rather nice looking seventh year Ravenclaw walked up to Nadia. He then sat down and struck up conversation with her, this was a rare occurrence for Nadia was one who generally stayed to herself, especially around guys. A couple of moments later, he held out his hand to her and she seemed to consider, then slipped her hand into his with some amusement.
She placed Death on her chair and the Ravenclaw petted her head and from the looks of it, was promising Nadia's safety to a cat. Nadia, however, seemed to take this very seriously and nodded with satisfaction when Death licked the boy's hand and cuddled into the chair.
Lily and James gasped simultaneously.
"Nadia is..." James began.
"dancing? With a guy?" Lily finished. "Merlin! Oh, Merlin! Is she feeling okay?"
James stared at the couple. They made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Nadia fell into step with the Ravenclaw and the two started twirling and spinning.
James shook his head. "I don't know...Anyway Lily, where were we?" he asked, eager to get back to a conversation with Lily.
"Um, I-"
At that moment there was a sharp yowl of a very irritated cat. A Hufflepuff girl (A/N: Ever since reading 'My Immortal with Commentary,' I have never thought of those poor innocent Hufflefpuffs in the same way again...) had attempted to sit on the chair without noticing Death. She screeched and nearly collapsed into her friend's arms screaming "Merlin, Merlin!" on the top of her lungs. In addition, they now had a very irritated cat now racing across the tables, making its way with surprising agility through the platefuls of cookies and glasses of punch. Sirius and James both made a lunge for the cat and ended up crashing head on. The cat, with a final yowl, jumped very neatly into the waiting arms of Alice, who then started to pet and comfort it. Remus was too busy laughing at the two on the floor, who were muttering curses and glaring at the multitudes of giggling people now surrounding them..
"Oh, hey. Look, I didn't notice how much food there was before! And it's not even running out!" exclaimed Sirius as he rubbed his head. Apparently hitting his head with James gave him some sort of new insight.
"Noooo, the magic can't have anything to do with it whatsoever, hmm?" said James dryly.
"Wellll, how bout we test that magic?" Sirius grinned mischievously.
"How-Oh. OH. OHHHH!" James grinned broadly.
"Let's see how long this magic can last!" Sirius said, chuckling before grabbing a large platter of muffins and promptly sweeping them into his mouth. "Mmm MMMM Mummmmmm!" he yelled, causing many innocent bystanders to view a rather disgusting interior of a mouth full of muffins.
"Huh?" Remus asked, looking at the two. He looked exasperated and amused at the same time.
"He says, 'This is GOOD!'" translated James, who shooting a smile, had followed Sirius' example. He was now shoving mouthfuls of cookies into his mouth that, at the moment, reminded Remus of a black hole.
"Oh, Merlin..." Lily, who had come to see what the commotion was, muttered and turned on her heels to go back to her friends.
"Hey! The muffins are back!" Sirius said as he placed the platter down again and waved to Lily. The muffins had been magically replenished onto the tray as if they had just been baked out of the oven.
"MM Mmmm Mmmmss!" This time it was James.
"What is it now? This is so good?" asked Remus, laughing.
"Nope," Sirius replied in between huge gulps of punch, "he says that the cookies have returned, too."
"...oh." Remus managed before bursting into a fit of chuckles. He collapsed into a chair, laughing his lungs out.
James nodded and tossed a plateful of blueberry tarts in the air. He opened his mouth wide and they all fell neatly into his waiting mouth. As soon as he tossed it back to the table, all the tarts returned.
And so it went on. James would gobble down a tray full of pies, they would return two seconds later. Sirius inhaled a platter of cupcakes, they would also be back. Soon, even the two with seemingly ever-hungry stomachs were full.
"Aghhh...I can't eat another bite..." James moaned. He was half-lying on the marble floor surrounded by plates and platters filled with delicious food.
Sirius nodded. "...maybe the magic won't run out..."
This seemed to give some new encouragement to James. "Come on, Sirius! Let's do this! We can do it! It WILL run out!" He reached by his side, grabbing a handful of tarts, and tossed them into his mouth. He looked at platter expectantly. There was a gasp as the tarts did not return and the tray remained half-full.
"It's working!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. He shoved a platter of cookies into his mouth. The platter remained empty.
"YEESSS!" James jumped up, and apparently forgetting that he couldn't eat another bite, started vacuuming food into his mouth. In went a tray of cupcakes, followed by a jug of punch. He threw slices of pie in the air and they all went straight into his mouth.
Sirius grinned triumphantly. He shoved all the chocolate covered fruits into his mouth. He grabbed the bowl of jellybeans and drank it all down. "Blech..." he said, making a face, "I got one flavored like saltwater..."
"Here, this'll wash the flavor out," James tossed a tray of muffins to him.
"Thanks," Sirius answered and shoved them all into his mouth.
"This is the last plate..." James muttered, his eyes shining at a tray of chocolate frogs.
"We'll share it," Sirius suggested.
James nodded, and the two dove into the plate. When they came back up, their faces were covered in chocolate and the plate was spic and span.
"HIGH FIVE!" James yelled, and the two slapped their hands.
"YES! We did it!" Sirius screamed.
"Gentlemen." The voice quieted the entire room.
James and Sirius turned to see Headmaster Dumbledore looking at them, his eyes looking bemused. "May I ask what is going on?" he asked.
"Well, uh, sir, we just ate all the food...and it didn't return after a while," James answered.
"And, we are really, really full," Sirius added. He patted his stomach.
Dumbledore nodded. "I am sure you are. I aslo see that you managed to eat up faster than the house elves could keep up with you... Do your stomachs by any chance contain... black holes?" he said, shaking his head. "It has never happened before..." he seemed thoughtful. "But, for causing so much commotion at the ball and eating out all the magic...there will be a punishment."
"What?" James' eyes widened.
"NO!" Sirius looked like he was about to cry.
"It will be kitchen duty. Clean up after yourselves. Since you ate up all the magic, it's only fair you must clean and wash all the plates and platters-without magic. I expect it to be done in an hour." With that, Dumbledore walked back out of the room.
"NOOOOOO!" Sirius whined.
"No point in doing that. Let's get going. We don't wanna know what'll happen if we don't finish it in an hour..." James said dryly and led Sirius out of the ballroom toward the kitchen.
Remus followed after them. "I'll help!" he called.
la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la~la
Lily sighed half with amusement and half with irritation. How did she know that something or another would go wrong? Lara was busy laughing her head off at the boys' punishments. Alice gracefully twirled over and grabbed their hands to start a sort of circle waltz.
"My, my. I didn't know that there were wuddermurts in you lovers' stomachs... Just like big empty holes that eat evrything..." she said dreamily. "Remus is a very interesting dancer... He lets me take the lead rather than otherwise."
Lily and Lara blinked at the sudden change of topic. Both turned away grimacing slightly at their own attempts at dancing.
"Lets go and poke fun at the guys in the kitchens, after all, it's rather pointless to be here without them..." said a resigned Lara.
"Yeah, no offense intended, but I'd much rather not ballroom dance with you guys..." Lily said, she made a face at the thought of her and Lara trampling each other and Alice... well, who knew what Alice would do.
"Okay, then let's go!" Alice started to march enthusiastically towards the kitchens.
"Oh, wait, what about Nadia and Death?" questioned Lara, surprised that they were leaving without them.
"Ah, I think Death caused enough trouble for the day, and as for Nadia..." Lily and Lara looked over at the dance floor where the Ravenclaw and Nadia seemed to be having a lovely time dancing and talking.
"Oooooh, Nadia's experimenting too!" Lara chuckled with glee. This could lead to so much fun, they could tease Nadia just the same as she teased them.
They rushed to the common room where they got dressed into ordinary clothes and made their way down to the kitchens where the boys were supposed to be carrying out their task. However when they got down, they were met with face-fulls of suds and water.
"Howdy-do, princess?" James asked, jumping up and causing suds and bubbles to fly everywhere. He grabbed three plates and started juggling them, narrowly catching one before it dropped on the floor.
"Uh...fine?" Lily answered and mouthed to Remus, "What's wrong with him?"
"Oh, the soap. I get the notion it's kind of poisonous or something..we're getting high off of it. Or at least James is," he answered, getting the plates from James.
"I see," answered Alice fluttering around dreamily.
Lara gave an exasperated sigh. "So, does anyone here know how to do the dishes?"
"Huh? Of course we know how to do the dishes! Let me show ya!" Sirius pulled the girls to the sinks. He grabbed a plate, put it under the faucet and turned the water on, and placed it in the cupboard.
"WHAT?" Lily shrieked. "What are you doing? Do you call that doing the dishes?" she asked. "What are you doing with the soap then?"
"Soap? What soap?" James sounded strangely high-pitched. He laughed, almost giggled.
"The thing that's on your hands and face!" Lara said in a bemused voice.
"...Eh?" James looked down. "Oh, this stuff...It looked like FUN!" On the "fun" he jumped and threw suds everywhere.
"I don't know; we don't know how to do the dishes. We barely know how to do it magically, we can't do it at all the Muggle way!" Remus exclaimed.
"Ugh, you boys can't do anything!" Lily complained.
"Well, if you girls are so good, why don't you do it?" Sirius demanded.
"We don't wanna!" yelled Lara.
"Oh, yeah?" Sirius flashed a triumphant smile. "Lara, my slave, do this work in place of me!"
"...But, I-"
"Finish it in an hour and be gone, so Dumbledore will never know, okay?" Sirius said, and ran out the room yelling, "Thanks!"
James giggled. "Lily, you're my slave, right? Do the work!" Normally he wouldn't have done anything to displease Lily, but he wasn't normal at the moment. He ran up also laughing and giggling like he was mad.
"No, I don't wanna..." Lily's voice trailed off.
Remus looked at Alice. "Sorry, Alice. But I don't wanna do this, either. Please do it, servant in a temporary bondage to ...Thanks." he muttered, and followed his friends.
Alice nodded. "Okay. I'll catch the wobbletoe for you," she said with determination.
"Oh, Merlin," said Lara and Lily at the same time.
Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! Boo! MOOOOOO~ Boo! Boo! Boo! MOOOOO~
"Why are there so MANY?" wailed Lara.
"Maybe they multiply while we're asleep?" Alice asked, diving into a big bag of flour and coming out coughing and coated in white.
"Alice! What are you doing?" Lily demanded, flicking her wand to clean Alice.
"Looking for the wobbletoe," was her prompt answer.
Lily shook her head. "No, Alice, we are NOT looking for a wobble-whatever. We are DOING THE DISHES!"
Alice giggled. "Really?" she asked in a childish voice, looking at Lily with big, innocent eyes.
"Yes, yes, Alice." Lily answered reassuringly, and gently led her to the sink. "Now, let's get started. Okay, here's how it'll go. I will soap the dishes. Lara, you rinse under the faucet water. And Alice, please dry the dishes that Lara hands you, okay, everyone?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Lara said happily, rolling up her sleeves.
Alice nodded. "I dry the dishes with this washcloth?" she asked, holding up a dusty rag.
"No, NO, not the rag, this one," Lara handed Alice the cloth and turned the faucet on.
A couple minutes later, the three were quietly working, dutifully doing their jobs. Even Alice was drying the dishes and placing them into the cupboard without causing much commotion.
"Hey," Lily sniffed deeply at her soapy hands. "I think this soap's fumes are really poisonous..." She giggled. "I feel all lightheaded and stuff."
"Oh, come on Lily. Just because you're going out with James doesn't mean you have to ACT like him!" said Lara sensibly.
"James. James Potter. I LOVE JAMES! I LOVE JAMES!" Lily started chanting, still inhaling the soap.
"Oh, Merlin...Oh, she's going raving MAD! Alice, call Madam Profrey or something!" Lara said.
"MADAM PROFREY!" Alice shrieked, and then waited a moment, tilting her head as if listening for something. "Nope. She's not in. She won't answer the doorbell." she announced.
"We've got another one that's insane..." Lara said, shaking her head. She grabbed Lily's soapy hands and shoved them under running water. "And stop inhaling that thing. It must really be toxic or something. Hell, I bet this is what Sirius is on everyday..."
Lily seemed dazed for a moment, then her eyes widened as the soap washed off completely. "WHAT WAS I JUST DOING?" she asked.
"Eh? Oh, only going insane and screaming that you loved James," Lara answered dryly, gathering up the remainder of the dishes and scrubbing them furiously.
"Oh, oh..." Lily's face burned scarlet. "Here, I'll rinse." She started running the soapy dishes under the water and handing them to Alice.
Everybody's Note: Thank you all again for reviewing, and for those who didn't, please do! Also, just felt like mentioning: with all those awesome reviews that we got, how could we NOT continue? Once again, thanks sooo much!