If there was one thing Emmeline hated more than spending Christmas at home, it was spending New Year's Eve with her family.
Or, more specifically, the whole of the Ministry of Magic.
Emmeline never really understood the need for Sarah to host such extravagant balls year after year, simply to welcome in the New Year. She knew Lily's family and their muggle friends frequently held parties but none of them held a candle to Sarah's. Emmeline knew her mother didn't do it out of a sense of celebration or friendship; Sarah was purely interested in vainly showing off all her exquisite antiques and her expensive home to her guests.
It didn't help that the house had to be decorated so extremely too. Emmeline had woken up every single day to the chattering of house-elves from the floors below her, all of them rushing around in blurs to make sure all the decorations were in place for Sarah's ball. For one, Sarah insisted that all the lawns be freshly mowed and all the gardens planted with fresh supplies of roses and violets. An array of fountains was then placed in the garden and the entire frontier of the house was scrubbed so hard that the marble pillars, floors and walls glittered in the sunlight. Sarah would then have to meticulously plan the dinner entrees- full seven course meals, complete with imported Italian donuts dipped in chocolate, and make sure that she had every kind of veal, chicken and turkey available at the table.
In short, Emmeline despised winter time at Vance Manor.
She watched with bored eyes as another carriage pulled up to the manor and an old man stepped out, his bowler hat covering his whole face. She tried to see the invisible thestral that was pulling it but all she could see was the tracks of the creature on the snow as it moved away again. She desperately wanted to see a real thestral; she had always thought of them as elegant, majestic creatures despite always being associated with death. Having never witnessed someone dying, however, she was unable to see them.
The door of her bedroom opened and her mother stepped in, wearing an elegant black gown and a thick diamond necklace. Her brown locks were coiled around her head in a tight plait and her blue eyes were heavily made up. She pursed her glossy pink lips when she saw Emmeline still sitting on her toilette, her chin in her hands. "Aren't you ready yet? The party is going to start at any moment."
Emmeline rolled her eyes and sighed. "Can't I just stay up here? You know I don't even want to be down there."
Sarah sighed and her eyes searched the room for Emmeline's gown. Spotting it stuffed behind the curtains, she strode over and pulled it out, the lines on her forehead growing more pronounced. "Now look what you've done to your dress you stupid girl! And after Nastia stayed up two nights trying to make sure every crease was ironed. I'll have to do the best I can and I'm already late." She started running her hands down the front of the dress and murmuring something beneath her breath. Emmeline watched in silent fascination as every crease and rumple in the dress disappeared. Sarah looked critically down at her handiwork and then sighed, tossing it back onto the bed. "It'll have to do."
Moving swiftly, Sarah moved so that she was behind her daughter, and began lifting up strands of her dark blonde hair, her eyebrows crinkling as she thought of a hairstyle. Inspiration striking her, she picked up a soft brush and ran it quickly through Emmeline's curls. In a few minutes she had drawn her hair up into a high ponytail and then sleeked it back with a strong smelling gel. Emmeline howled with pain as her mother roughly pulled out loose strands of hair from the tight ponytail, and glared at her reflection. "Ever thought of a career in hairstyling, mum?" she said sarcastically. Sarah pointedly ignored her and started dabbing make-up onto her face hurriedly, moaning every now and again that Emmeline was ruining her gorgeous gown by making her apply powder to her.
"Well, I never asked you to do it!" Emmeline answered crossly, pulling away finally after Sarah had released her and looking at her reflection.
Despite her mother's rough grip, Emmeline had to give her credit for her beautician's eye. She certainly looked a lot better than before; she finally agreed with Lily's statement that her hair looked better pulled back than curling around her face. The soft make up that Sarah had applied made her look better too: the pale blue eye shadow had definitely brought out her blue eyes, and the soft pink blush and lipstick didn't make her look as sallow and pale as usual. Sarah stood back and surveyed her handiwork, then nodded at her and went, remembering to call behind her, "And wear your dress, mind you!"
Disgruntled, Emmeline went forward and picked up the bright pink dress gingerly. She generally hated pink; it made her feel babyish and stupid, and it made her look paler than usual. Sirius frequently remarked that she looked exactly like a porcelain doll. "Except, of course," he said once, after seeing her come out wearing a blue gown in honor of Lily's birthday party, "A porcelain doll doesn't usually look as happy as you do. You need to look a bit more solemn, see-" His remark had cost him the privilege of an unbroken nose. Now, Emmeline sat looking t the dress with an expression of utter distaste and annoyance. Trust her mother to pick out the worst possible color for her to wear.
Mary would probably have said it was a gorgeous dress. It was pretty: it came up to her knees and had a heart-shaped neckline and a full skirt, with soft sparkles on the front of it. The straps were quite thin ("Great, everyone will see my fat arms") and there was a large crimson ribbon tied around the waist. Sarah had placed a pearl necklace next to it, accompanied with pearl earrings and high heeled bright pink shoes. Emmeline glared at them. It was her custom to live in trainers and trainers only; heels were stupid and caused her to twist her ankles for no reason. She was fully prepared to blame her mother entirely for the injury that she would sustain tonight.
She still put on the dress and shoes.
Emmeline forbade herself from looking in the mirror: she didn't need to assure herself that she looked like a plump pig anyways. She jammed the earrings onto her earlobes and clasped the necklace around herself and hurried downstairs. With any luck, she could easily steal into the kitchen and hide herself there for the rest of the ball. Like Sarah would ever know.
Unfortunately, a thick, beefy hand landed on her shoulder just as soon as she entered the ballroom and Emmeline swore beneath her breath. She turned around and plastered a fake smile on her face at the large man standing in front of her. "Where are you going?" Vincent Vance asked her suspiciously.
Emmeline did not resemble her father in the least. Her father was short and stocky; Emmeline was tall and plump rather than square shaped. Vincent had straight, sleek black hair and small brown eyes; Emmeline was blonde and had inherited her mother's eyes. Needless to say, Emmeline was not as money obsessed as her father, nor did she have the same ardent love for work as he did. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and looked nervously around her, hoping her mother wasn't around. "To the kitchen. I hate her stupid parties; you know I do."
Vincent did know, but he didn't very much care. All he knew was that his unruly daughter had refused to listen to her mother for one time too many; he gripped her arm and shook his head at her. "Emmeline, you're going to stay here and socialize. If you don't start building strong acquaintances with these Ministry folk, you'll never get a job like mine. And you want to work in my department don't you?" Vincent was head of the Department for the Improper Use of Magic.
"No. I want to be an Auror."
Appearing not to have heard her, Vincent dragged her away back into the ballroom and was about to leave when he saw her annoyed expression. "Oh, cheer up Emmy. I heard a few of your friends will be here."
By "friends" Emmeline knew her father was either referring to recent Hogwarts graduates that had found Ministry jobs, or some of his colleagues' six year old children. She sighed to herself and walked over to the window, sitting nimbly down on the window ledge. She dangled her legs absentmindedly and looked with mild curiosity at the people milling around her.
Most of them did work at the Ministry. Emmeline easily spotted Edwina Moore, one of her father's co-workers, giggling furiously at a joke that her husband's colleagues had made. She wasn't a very bright witch- Emmeline could plainly recall the numerous times Vincent had come home, muttering angrily about Edwina's blunders at work- and Emmeline wondered how on Earth she was still working in that Department. If she were in Vincent's place, she would have put in an appeal any day now for Edwina's dismissal.
She could also spot many of her mother's so-called friends (Emmeline knew Sarah didn't have any friends: she despised the women she associated with, and kept them around only to show off how much money she had) - Eliza Elliot, Fanny Brown and Rose Winters. They all reminded her exceedingly of Sarah: they were all Slytherin alumni, exquisitely beautiful and vain, and they were all married to rich heads of department at the Ministry. Emmeline despised them almost as much as they despised each other.
She turned her attention to a tall, lanky boy who was standing near the chocolate fountain looking extremely bored. He was dipping a biscuit into the liquid chocolate every few seconds but he appeared uninterested; his gaze was fixed on the wall in front of him. Emmeline peered closer and took in his appearance. The jet black, messy hair and round glasses instantly distinguished him as no one other than James Potter.
At the sight of James, Emmeline instantly brightened up. She hurried over to him and tapped him on the shoulder happily, albeit a little confused. She knew the Potters attended her mother's ball religiously every single year, yet she didn't know why they had decided to bring James along this time too. He generally hated going to parties and wearing suits; like Emmeline, he preferred to stroll along in life wearing nothing but tee-shirts and jeans.
James turned around and smiled at her, his cheeks pink. She hugged him tightly and took his hand, dragging him away to where she had been sitting before asking him the question that had been gnawing at her silently. James took his seat next to her, pulled one of his knees up to his chin, and sat surveying her amusedly.
"James! Why in Merlin's name are you here?"
He shrugged at her and took off his glasses. He began to clean them absentmindedly, whilst watching groups of people waltz in front of him. "Dunno. Your mother sent my parents an invitation and requested that they specifically bring me along."
Emmeline felt confused. It was nice to know that Sarah had invited James- yet she knew her mother never did anything without good reason. She definitely had a motive behind it. "But James, you could have easily said no. Since when do you ever wear dress robes, even if it is to meet me?"
For a moment James stared at her in total surprise. Then he burst out laughing and slid an arm around her shoulders, shaking his head all the while. "Oh my darling Emmeline! You didn't think I wore dress robes for you, did you?"
"I liked to flatter myself with that thought for a few seconds, at least," she answered back sourly.
"But I would never do that, Emmy dear! You and I, we are helpless at the feet of a pair of jeans and a large, comfortable tee-shirt! We do not give them up easily. I would never wear dress robes just for you, Emmy- you're definitely not worth that great a sacrifice!" For a moment, Emmeline felt offended and then she started laughing. It was true some people would have found it offensive, and yet she had grown used to James' nature; part of what made her adore him was his unfailing satirical sense of humor.
She fixed her eyes on his and smiled slightly. "So who was worth committing such a great sacrifice for, James?"
He rolled his eyes and took his arm off her shoulder; opting instead to shove both his hands into his pockets while he searched the room. "I would've thought you'd guessed by now, Em," he told her, his eyes roving wildly around. Emmeline paused for a moment and then she looked at him in utter disbelief. "Have you gone mental, James? She's not even here! You wore dress robes to please the Lily in your head?"
James turned around to look at her, and an expression of mock hurt crossed over his handsome features. "I'm insulted to hear that you think so lowly of me, Emmeline, to think that I would go to all this effort to please a figment of my imagination. As a matter of fact, however," he added in a whisper, whilst winking at her, "She was very taken with me, you know and she instantly came and told me she loved me and then we-"
"James!" Emmeline doubled over laughing.
"Well, you know. Contrary to what you think, though, Lily was in fact invited."
"She was not, James. I've been telling my mother to invite her since I was eleven; she never does."
"Well, she did this time."
"And you would know, because…?"
James looked smug. "I know everything about my Lily-flower."
"And that sounds pathetic, in so many ways. Have you ever thought of having a career as a stalker?" Emmeline suggested.
"No really, she did invite her! I saw her parents. I said hello to them and told them that this time next year I'd be their son-in-law."
Emmeline dropped her jaw and shook her head. She didn't believe that the Evans were here and after James' words she definitely didn't. As if he would ever have the gall to say such a thing to Edward Evans' very face! "Of course you didn't, James."
"As a matter of fact, I did. And I will be. My plan is working nicely-"
"What plan?" Emmeline asked incredulously.
"To make Lily fall in love with me! You see, she's already realized that, but right now she's in denial. Give her a month or two and everything will be perfect," James informed her.
"In your head maybe."
Ignoring her, James continued. "Right, so I told them that anyways. Mrs. Evans looked like she wanted to kill me, but I think they like me." He smiled and then looked at Emmeline's face, which still had an expression of suspicion on it. He took her hand and then started pulling her into the throng of chattering people, looking over his shoulder to say, "I'll take you to them, don't worry. They're talking to my parents right now; I think it's essential that they meet their future in-laws, you know?"
Rolling her eyes, Emmeline ignored him, but allowed herself to be pulled around by James. A few minutes later, she was standing a few feet away from the Evans and the Potters, both of which seemed to be having a very enjoyable conversation. James looked at them with satisfaction and turned to her. "I think I'll enjoy having family reunions," he told her.
"Mmm." Emmeline mused silently and looked around her to try to catch a glimpse of Lily. If James was saying the truth, then Lily must be here. "Are you sure she's here?" she asked impatiently, after being unable to find her after looking for almost five minutes.
"Would I wear dress robes otherwise?"
"You make a point." Still, despite James' reassuring words, Emmeline could not find Lily anywhere. She sighed and then stepped forward to go talk to Mrs. Evans, and perhaps finally learn of her daughter's whereabouts (fully ignoring James' cries of : "Oi! Don't barge in there! You could potentially ruin the foundations of this whole marriage!").
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans," Emmeline began, smiling at the man and woman sitting in front of her. "And hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter. I hope you're enjoying the party?" She most certainly did not hope that they were enjoying it; she hoped they despised it and wanted to leave as soon as possible so they could gossip about Sarah behind her back; her hopes were crushed when Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Potter nodded earnestly, each of them wearing huge smiles on their faces.
"Oh, it's wonderful my dear, it was so kind of your mother to invite us! It's our first wizard ball you know- we were so delighted when we got the invitation!" Mrs. Evans cried.
"Yes, we definitely were. It's as wonderful as every year, Emmeline," Mrs. Potter added warmly. She was a sweet old lady, who resembled Nana Graham quite a bit. She had James' hazel eyes and Emmeline knew that her hair had been jet black when she was young- there were still streaks of black every now and again in her silver hair. She wore glasses too, and her eyes were crinkled at the corners. Ever since James had pushed Emmeline over once in second year, Mrs. Potter had taken an instant liking to her.
"That's nice to know," Emmeline said, another fake smile stretching over her face. She hated it that her mother's parties were always a huge hit with everyone who attended; why didn't something ruin it for once? "I was wondering if either of you had seen Lily?"
A puzzled expression crossed over Mrs. Evans' face. "Of course I did, my dear. I left her at home. You didn't think she was here did you?"
Emmeline felt slightly down. She had wanted Lily to come so badly- it was always worth having Lily and James in the same room for longer than five minutes- but she was pleased that she would be able to convey the unhappy news to James. She regretted not having made a bet with him; she would have won a tidy sum of money. "Oh, someone told me she came. But why is she at home, Mrs. Evans?"
Mrs. Evans waved her hand absentmindedly. "Oh, she's got a slight cold, you know- I told you girls not to play around in the snow without wearing your scarves and hats!" Emmeline had the urge to point out that Lily was too embarrassed to go out wearing one of Petunia's old, frilly bobbly hats, but restrained herself. "She should be better before you go to Hogwarts, though, don't you worry," Mrs. Evans hastily added, assuming Emmeline's silence was because she was upset at the thought of going to Hogwarts without her best friend there.
"Oh, great! Tell her I hope she gets better! It was nice to talking to you," she added as an afterthought and with a hug to both of the old women and a wave to the men, she strode back to James, a self-satisfied smile upon her face. James was looking at her with mild curiosity, his hands still shoved in his pockets. "Well?"
"Well, I was right. Lily isn't here."
For the first time that evening, James wasn't looking smug. He looked faintly annoyed as he looked at Emmeline's face. "Of course she is. Why else would I wear this crap?" he muttered angrily, gesturing to his black fancy dress robes.
Grinning, Emmeline placed her finger on her chin. "I think I might have mentioned something about a figurative Lily a while back…"
"Oh, shut up." James looked sour. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and then looked around him with distaste. "I went through all this effort to look presentable and she doesn't even show up. Why do I bother?"
Emmeline felt sorry for him, looking so glum and depressed- so unlike his usual self. Even when Lily stung him with harsh words and outright declarations that she'd rather become friends with her old best friend Snape than go out with him, James still looked happy and carefree, his eyes bubbling over with excitement. Emmeline sometimes thought that James actually enjoyed being turned down by Lily; her rejections appeared to fuel him to go on in life. The thought of her not being at the ball however, had outright dismayed him. He was pulling off his tie angrily, and stabbing it beneath his foot, looking as if he wanted to stab everyone else in the room too.
"Oh, cheer up James. She didn't come because she was sick."
The expression on James' face was growing more murderous by the second. "Yeah, I bet she told her mother to say that because she knew I'd be here, didn't she?"
"James, Mrs. Evans wouldn't lie for her daughter's sake- at least not to me," she added hastily, as James threw her an incredulous look. "Lily probably is sick. We did spend quite a lot of time in the snow, you know, without hats and stuff-"
"She's a bloody witch; she could bloody cure herself in an instant! And she's of age too! She just didn't want to meet me. Why doesn't she just tell me that instead of hiding from me?"
Emmeline blinked. "She does. Every day."
James looked furiously back at her. "Thanks."
Feeling that she had created a greater wrong than right the one Lily had committed, Emmeline tried to smooth things over again. "I think you're overreacting. Instead of muttering about how she's not worth it- which you know she is- why don't you do something useful? Like send her a get well card or something? She might like it, you know. It'd be a change from your usual stupid antics-"
"They're not stupid! They're brilliant." He paused for a moment to mull over her words and suddenly, inspiration seemed to strike him. His eyes lit up again and he grinned at Emmeline again. "You know, you can be very smart when you put your mind to it, Vance."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Emmeline watched as James picked up his bedraggled tie, and then he leaned over, pressed a kiss on her cheek and gave her a quick hug, before winking. "I'll consider changing my tactics," he told her, "In the meantime; you might want to have a chat with Sirius." He winked once more and then Disapparated.
Feeling annoyed and foolish, Emmeline stamped around the room, looking for Sirius Black, shoving people out of the way and not caring when they attempted to stop her and tell her to apologize for being so rude. Spotting him in the corner of the room, engaged in a conversation with a tall, beautiful dark haired girl, Emmeline stomped over and slapped his arm to get his attention.
"What?" Sirius said, turning and looking at her with annoyance etched on his face. "If you must know, I was having a very interesting conversation." Emmeline rolled her eyes angrily at him and looked at the girl next to him. She dropped her jaw when she realized that it was Hestia Jones, who was staring at her with a complacent expression.
"WHY DON'T YOU ALL EVER TELL ME WHEN YOU COME TO THESE BLOODY THINGS?"