Authors note: So I (again) have failed to update recently but I had literally no inspiration. However, I hope you like this chapter leave any comments, and please follow
'I have no interest in finding a partner to the ball.' Lily said lazily, lounging by the Black Lake with Alice and Mary. 'Can't we just all go as one big group?'
'That wouldn't work. Peter's already been asked by Bertha Jorkins and said yes.' Mary scoffed.
'Don't be cruel. It's cute.' Alice scolded.
'She's only doing it because James, Sirius or and Remus would all say no and she wants to be with the Marauders. They always provide her with the best gossip. Who would like Peter?' Mary said.
'Don't be cruel. Peter's kind. And he's loyal.' Lily said.
'True, but he's definitely not the most handsome boy in the year. Not up to Bertha's usual standard of manipulation and blackmail to get what she wants.' Mary said.
'She really isn't that bad. She's just a harmless gossip.' Lily said.
'Harmless to you maybe.' Mary said scathingly.
Lily leant against the large oak tree, smiling to herself. The lake looked so inviting right now, especially with the heat of the sun blaring down on her. She found herself wishing she could just go for a swim in the shallow waters like they sometimes did in the summer months. Though Lily knew that Mary wouldn't want to ruin her hair, and Alice wouldn't go in unless they all did. She sighed to herself, thinking of the ball again and that it all seemed to be more effort than it was worth. Especially with the Hogsmeade visit being the weekend before, which she found herself organising – therefore she was not looking forward to it as much as she usually would.
'Evans.' Sirius called, striding across the lawn towards her with Remus and Peter following in his wake.
'Black.' Lily responded, smirking up at him.
He wiggled into the small space between her and Mary and threw his arm around Lily. Remus and Peter settled on the grass just in front of Alice.
'Aren't you going to miss all this, Lils?' Sirius said.
'Yes.' She said, smiling serenely. 'I'll miss everything about Hogwarts.'
'No.' Sirius said, shaking his head. 'I meant me.'
'I'll miss you too.' Lily said laughing, whilst the others joined in as well.
'Good. Now…I have a very important question to ask you concerning the Halloween Ball.' Sirius said, looking into her eyes.
Lily quickly wiggled out of his grasp when she saw Mary's face drop momentarily.
'Don't you dare ask me to go with you.' Lily warned.
'Lily. Please. Lily. You think a lot of yourself don't you?' Sirius said, pulling away from her and putting his other arm around Mary. 'I was just wondering whether you would be okay with me taking your best friend?'
'What?' Lily and Mary exclaimed at the same time.
'Mary.' Sirius said, turning to look at Mary. 'Will you go to the ball with me please?'
'Well, I suppose I could.' Mary said, but Lily could see how happy she was.
Sirius pulled her a little closer to him and smiled happily. Lily looked back out at the water and really did consider how much she was going to miss Hogwarts and everyone in it. She thought about her friends, and how little time they were all going to have. With that, she stood up and began to take her cloak and jumper off so she was standing in just her trousers and shirt.
'Woah. Lils, I know you're upset I'm not taking you, but taking your clothes off won't help your case.' Sirius said, with mock seriousness.
Lily smirked and winked at him, and then reached for Mary and pulled her to her feet, very reluctantly on Mary's part who looked extremely happy to be nestled next to Mary. Alice also got up, catching on to what Lily was thinking, and took off her cloak and jumper. Both girls then forced Mary to take them off. Remus, Peter and Sirius looked completely bewildered to what the girls were planning to do. Without a word to any of them, the three girls walked arm in arm towards the lake - though Mary was being slightly forced and could be heard complaining loudly about her hair. All girls screeched when they first put their feet into the lake, the sun having only heated it a tiny amount. Lily gripped both Alice's and Mary's hands very tightly and started to run into the lake, pulling them behind her. Mary and Alice started running as well, until they were up to their waists in water.
'Come on.' Alice yelled back to the boys, who were now all standing at the edge of the lake staring at the girls like they were crazy. Sirius was the first to come into the lake, beaming widely and ran straight at Mary. He rugby tackled her into the lake, and started splashing her crazily. Lily, who was laughing at this, was then also knocked into the lake by Alice. Remus and Peter were also now walking towards them in the water. Lily, however, was now splashing Alice in retaliation to what she saw as an unjust attack. Peter and Remus were standing waist deep in the water and watching both the girls in amusement, whilst Sirius and Mary were swimming off together and talking with their heads bent close together. Mary's hair was soaking wet and clinging to her face, but she didn't seem to care too much at that moment. Lily and Alice turned to each other and smiled wickedly, before turning back to Remus and Peter. Fearing what was coming next, the boys started trying to run back to land but the girls were faster than that and dove for their legs, pulling them into the water. Laughing madly, they then proceeded to soak the boys as well. Lily loved how happy Remus was looking, especially because she'd realised at McGonagall's announcement that the Halloween ball fell on a full moon and therefore he would be unable to attend.
'Prongs.' She heard Sirius yell suddenly. 'Prongs. Frankie. Come on in for a little swim.'
'What in God's name are you doing, Padfoot?' James yelled back, pulling off his cloak as he did. Frank Longbottom was not far behind him.
'Just having a little swim. It's lovely weather for it.' Sirius shouted back.
Both boys began to run through the water, obviously struggling slightly against the tension the water caused. Sirius released Mary and threw his whole body on top of James, slightly drowning him in the process.
'Sirius, what the hell.' James said spluttering. He quickly ran his hair back through his hair to mess it up again.
'Prongsie, so glad you could join us.' Sirius said, smirking widely. 'And you, Frankie dear.' He said, charging at Frank and knocking him into the water as well, though Frank took the fall slightly better than James and managed to laugh it off.
Lily, Alice and Mary had gathered together to watch this display with amusement. The boys continued to play fight each other in the water as they laughed. Peter and Remus eventually pulled back and called for surrender and the games quickly ceased after that. They all swam together in silence, occasionally splashing one another. Lily couldn't remember being this happy in such a long time, and looked around at all her friends with so much love in her heart.
'Alice.' Frank called quietly, swimming up to her. Lily was pretty sure that only she could hear. 'Alice, I was just wondering if I could ask you something.'
'Sure.' Alice responded, smiling straight at him. Lily knew just by looking at his face when she did what he was going to ask.
'Alice. I wanted to ask, I mean, I just wondered if you would maybe go with me to the Halloween Ball.' He asked, quickly.
'Like, as friends?' She asked, smiling still. Lily saw Frank falter slightly at her reply and she rolled her eyes. She sincerely hoped that one day Alice would see how incredible she really was – how brave, loyal and beautiful. Beautiful in so many ways.
'I kind of meant not as friends.' Frank muttered. Lily almost laughed. Frank, who was one of the most confident boys in their year, now looked so nervous and scared.
'Not as friends?' Lily turned slightly in the water and watched Alice's face fall.
'No. Not not as friends. I meant, as more.' Frank explained as fast as he could.
'More?' Alice said hopefully, as Lily watched the smile return quickly to her face.
'More.' Frank confirmed, and moved closer to Alice. Lily saw him lean down a bit and kiss Alice lightly on the lips. She turned around quickly because she knew she had spied enough. However, she didn't account for Sirius.
'Frankie.' He called loudly, bounding over to them both and Lily turned to see them quickly separate. 'Did I just see you kiss?' He demanded.
Lily was surprised at how unembarrassed Frank looked and smiled to herself when she saw him put an arm around Alice and pull her closer to him.
'Pretty sure I saw you kiss Mary when James and I were walking down here.' Frank said pointedly. Lily saw Sirius turn slightly pink and laughed loudly.
'Shut up, Evans.' He said, sticking his tongue out.
'What? Like Mary's the first girl you've kissed.' James said cheekily.
'Shut up.' Sirius roared, swimming quickly towards James again in order to attack him again. Alice and Frank started swimming further towards land until they could put their feet down on the ground, and then started walking out of the water. Lily watched as Remus and Peter also started to head towards the land, and looked towards James and Sirius who had stopped fighting. She saw Sirius swim towards Mary again who was standing waist deep in the water again, attempting to wring out her hair. He stood up too when he reached her and Lily smiled when he pulled her into a hug. She herself decided maybe it would be good to go back in, having been in the lake for quite some time now. She started swimming slowly in and then when she knew her feet would touch the floor, she stood. She felt a presence next to her, and fearing it was some sort of lake creature she quickly kicked out and lost her footing, falling backwards towards the water. James, however, grabbed her wet shirt and pulled her upright.
'Sorry.' James exclaimed. 'I didn't mean to make you fall.'
'That's okay.' She replied, smiling up at him. 'You caught me so it makes up for it I guess.'
James laughed at that.
'Well, I'll always be here to catch you.' James said, with a wink. Lily smiled internally at that because it was a hint of James acting like his normal self, his old self, around her.
'Let's hope I don't fall too often then.' Lily said.
'Oh ouch.' James said, clutching his chest and pretending her words had wounded him.
As they walked onto the ground, Lily could see the others lounging on the grass and trying to dry in the afternoon sun. She purposely sat a little way away from them to see if she could have a normal conversation with the 'old' James.
'So...' She started, once he'd taken a seat next to her.
James sighed and turned to look at her.
'Are you about to ask how I look so effortlessly good, even though we just crawled out the lake? Looking for tips, hm?' He asked, looking very serious.
'Absolutely.' Lily said, and then gestured to herself. 'I just can't pull off the type of beauty you seem to exude.'
'I get it.' James said. 'Not many can.'
'Glad you don't show off about it though.' Lily said.
'No, I mean…I get it. I would never like to rub it in or anything.' He replied.
'No. Never.' She laughed.
James smiling widely at her when she laughed. Lily truly appreciated in that moment how much their relationship had changed. He used to annoy her to the point of yelling whenever he bragged about himself or showed off. Now, she just found him amusing and genuinely thought of him as a good person.
'Well, it seems all our friends are pairing off and going to the ball then.' James commented.
'Ha, I guess it does seem that way.' Lily replied.
'Do you wanna then? Go with me I mean?' James asked, carefully avoiding her eyes.
Lily sighed, and found herself wishing maybe he was a little less 'old' James. At least, she hoped that's what she was wishing. Something about his suggestion though, made her stomach flutter a little bit.
'I mean as friends, Lils.' James said quickly. 'I'm not starting the whole asking you out again thing again. You missed your chance.' He finished with a smirk.
Lily felt her stomach drop a little at that. She noted James was still not looking at her. Could she be a little disappointed? No, it definitely wasn't that.
'Oh cool. As friends? That should be cool.' Lily replied.
'Good. Then we can all hang out together. I might even save you a dance.' James said, as he stood up and offered Lily his hand which she accepted and he pulled her to her feet too.
'I'll hope you'll save me more than one, seeing as you're my date.' Lily winked, walking back towards the group.
She didn't see, but James beamed widely behind her back.