Chap 8

"No! I mean, I don't know, James…"

"Well, the two of you have always hit it off pretty well, you know. It's been around two years now that you've-"

"Almost dated, and never quite? Yes, I know, but he's so reluctant, it's almost as if he's not interested any more. I'm never sure of how to feel around him."

James was quiet for a moment, as though he was weighing his words before he spoke them. When he did, it was with more gravity than usual.

"Dina, you know, Remus is really not the easiest person to be with. I love him, but he has his sore points too, and he's exceptionally sensitive about them. It's very easy to rub him the wrong way."

"I've noticed." Dina sighed, looking over at James in the light their wands were casting. "I only wish I knew why he's so-"

"Volatile? You might not, Dina." James was quiet again, looking straight ahead as he walked next to her, leaving Dina to pursue the intriguing mystery that was Remus Lupin as she walked alongside him.

"James, did you see where I put that cloak of mine?" Remus was feverishly sorting through a heap of clothes, half-dressed in a costume that seemed somewhere between a tuxedo and…

"A hair shirt? Just what exactly are you wearing, Moony?" Sirius was lolling in one of the beds, his own sharply cut suit not in the least crumpled by his lazing about in it. He sat up now and ran his hand through his hair. "Not to say I don't enjoy this half out of bed look on you, but what exactly were you going for?"

"Lay off him, Pads," James interjected, seeing Remus breaking into rather uncharacteristic blushes. He knew this party must mean something to Remus, if he was taking this much of an effort to dress up. He usually just threw on a clean shirt, even when going to the most formal of parties, and his successful policy of melting into the walls at most gatherings ensured no one really cared. "What are you wearing, Peter?" He turned to Peter, who was scrounging in his closet for something to wear, hoping to divert some of Sirius' cruel attention away from Remus.

Peter turned to face them. "I don't know, you guys! I can't find anything at all that would suit me, and maybe I shouldn't have eaten that whole pie for lunch, my pants seem to be a little tighter-"

"Your pants are always just a little tighter, you Worm. And that's never going to stop you eating more of no matter what is served to you. Face it, your Animagus may as well have been a pig," Sirius said, looking away from Remus for a while. The four boys laughed, Peter giggling a tad uncomfortably. He really was worried about his clothes, and Marl was going to be there at the party, he wanted to look nice for her, but he must make sure the others never found out he was even thinking this, they would never ever let him live it down-

"So, who is it you're dressing for, Peter? And is that some red hair I see amongst your usual sandy locks?" Remus seemed to have sorted out his clothes, and was somewhat mawkishly joining in the fun as he adjusted his cloak that he had just transfigured to look like a dull gray pelt.

Peter blushed. "Well, I thought, you know, I'd go as David Bowie. I know he's only a Muggle musician, but I really like his music, and it seems perfect for Halloween, so," he halted, seeing the smiles on his friend's faces.

"Of course! That's what made your hair look like that. You've always been a bit of an idiot with Transfiguration. Wait, let me fix it." Led by James, the three boys swarmed on Peter, only moving away a considerable while later to admire the full effect of their spells.

"Space Oddity it is", grinned Sirius. "You'll outshine everyone at this damn party, Peter, even if you ditch that silver shirt and just go with the glorious hair."

"Why", exclaimed Remus, "he might just have better hair than you tonight, Pads!"

Toni was helping Lily and Dina lug the record player and some handpicked records to the seventh floor. As part of Dina's detailed plan, the record player had been Transfigured into a library book, but they had forgotten to account for the fact that the weight would remain the same, so Lily and Toni looked slightly ridiculous carrying a very large book between them.

"This is terrible, Dina. My hair is all out of whack, and by the time the cute boys turn up, I'll look like a real mess."

"Shut up, Toni. The sooner we get there, the better it will be for all of us. I can't wait to sink into one of those lovely plush chairs in the Room. Where's Marl, by the way?"

Dina looked up from consulting her trusty notebook. "I think she's still in the Gryffindor dorm, Lily. Last I spoke to her, she said she wanted to make a few adjustments to the way her hair looked. You know how she gets before parties, she has to look perfect."

"Well, it's not like you don't do it, you know," Toni twinkled at Dina. "I can see some special work went into that dress and the tights. Hoping to meet someone tonight, are we?"

Dina blushed, banishing images she'd been harbouring of a certain pair of green eyes hovering closer than they had been before. "Ugh, Toni. You know I like looking good at parties."

"Yeah, that's true, who knows when something, or someone comes along, eh?" Lily chimed in, making the girls laugh.

"Hey, you three!" Marl caught up to them, a flush suffusing her cheeks. She looked lovely, draped in a flowing pink skirt that flew around her ankles, and a white shirt that came up to her neck in a softly shaped collar, highlighting the blonde hair that curled down to her shoulders tonight, her bangs looking much more ordered than usual.

"You look lovely!" Dina gasped. "What happened to the hair?"

"Oh, you know," Marl preened and turned on her heel to show them the rest of her hair. "I cut it a little here and there, and then I used a little magic, and some Sleekeazy's. I just wanted to look pretty tonight, it's the first time I've really been looking forward to a party since-"

"Since you got rid of that louse, and good riddance that was. Dina, get the door, won't you?"

They'd reached the stretch of wall where the Room usually appeared, with Toni leading the way, Lily close behind her. Dina hurried forward and thought as hard as she could at the wall, I need to you to be the room we need for the party tonight. On her third try, the door appeared in the wall, and they hurried in to set up the room for the party.

In an hour or two, the Room had started filling up. There were some people occupying the plushies, and the two loveseats were already occupied by at least four couples. Dina could tell the punch had been spiked already- though that had probably been Toni, with those caskets of Gigglewater she'd procured from her trip to Florida with her parents. A general sense of well-being filled the room, and small groups of people had formed in the cozy corners of the Room. The room had gone one better than it ever had- though this probably was one of the larger parties ever held in it-it was filled with flashing lights, and bats made of fondant and licorice streaked across the walls at frequent intervals, just about slow enough for the slightly intoxicated people to catch them. The carved pumpkins had been enchanted to give off heat, and in a small closet to the left of the room, Dina had to check again to believe her eyes, a bunch of sleeping bags nestled with each other. She recognized them from the camping trip she had taken with her family the year before last, when sleeping bags and nights under the starlit sky had probably been her favourite part of the entire weekend. She reached across a particularly eager couple she didn't really recognize-probably Hufflepuffs in the year above her, they seemed vaguely familiar- to grab a cup so she could pour herself a glass of punch. Once she had it, she looked around the room, trying to find someone she could talk to, when-

"Hey, Dina! Long time no see, eh? How have you been?" An unpleasantly familiar, oily voice assaulted her, and Dina's heart sank just a little. Not again, she thought.

"Hello, John. How have you been?"

John smiled widely at Dina. John Pullman. I really thought I was rid of this one. I guess avoiding his company for an entire year wasn't a feasible plan after all. She made a valiant effort to look at his eyes as he babbled something she could barely hear, but her gaze slid to his lips anyway, and she gulped visibly as a vivid memory of his lips heading towards her face surfaced with no regard for her distaste. She hurriedly looked away, and remembered she was still holding her glass. She downed it in one gulp.

"-so basically, I've been doing a lot of reading about what I told you the last time we met. You remember, Dina? I did some research on the workings of-"

"I'm sorry, John," she put her hand on his arm. "I'm feeling just a little dehydrated, so I'm just going to go get myself another drink, yeah? See you around?"

Having excused herself, she hurried off, scanning the room for a familiar face. Damn all three of those idiots! Where ARE they?

"James, I don't know about this-"

"Trust me, Evans. Halloween's always been pretty lucky for me." James was leading Lily by the hand, Lily much tipsier than he had ever seen her; he was barely able to believe his own luck. He'd wanted to talk to her since the first time he saw her on the platform, waiting to catch the train to Hogwarts, her red hair framing her anxious face. He still remembered the tentative way she had reached across to hug a smaller girl, who twisted away from her embrace, and the way her face had crumpled a little before she straightened up and walked away to talk to a skinny little boy. He didn't know then that her friend would become his- though Remus had laughed when he had first said it- his arch-nemesis. Or that he would grow to like her more and more as the years passed, and she developed a halting friendship with Sirius, and even spoke to him sometimes, when he wasn't being a total prat, of course. His train of thought was interrupted by a stream of giggles and then, a suspicious thud.

"Evans? Evans, where did you go? Evans- Lily?" He groped in the darkness until his hands found a wall. Curse these eyes! Damn it, did she hurt herself?

"Over here, Potter. Or should I call you James, since Halloween is so lucky for you?" Her hand reached out from the darkness and pulled him into an alcove. "Looks like some of your luck rubbed off on me today."

James blinked. He was suddenly in a room filled with strange, silver light. The alcove Lily had found had a large window framed by a sill large enough for two to sit on. The room was closed off from the rest of the party, and sounds of laughter and music only reached them faintly here. The night's light filtered in beautifully through the panes of the window, and he couldn't help but notice the way the light seemed to stick in the waves of her hair, making it look burnished, gleaming in the darkness of the room. Her face was lit up, the green silk shirt she was wearing making her eyes gleam. He realized with a start that she had pulled him into the alcove with a considerable amount of force, and the resulting stumble meant that he was now standing very close to her. He cleared his throat, but found that he had nothing whatsoever to say.

"Well, Potter? Cat got your tongue, has it? Isn't it just absolutely beautiful in here? I could just-"

"Stay here all night, right?" His tongue had finally unglued itself from the roof of his mouth, and he was glad that the first words out of his mouth were not a stream of nonsense. "You've got quite a talent for finding beautiful places, Evans."

"You have no idea. I have more to me than you know, Potter." She smirked at him and walked to the window, staring outside, framed by the light.

He walked closer to her, his breath trembling. "What don't I know about you, Evans? Your life seems pretty open to me. Model student, top grades, teacher's pet- why, the other day I thought Slughorn would have asked to go to Hogsmeade with you after your exceptional performance in Potions-"

"Oh, shut up, you insufferable prat. Don't pretend to know me because you've seen what I'm like in classes. Why do you think I'm friends with Sirius? Or has that remained a mystery your large head has been unable to penetrate so far?"

"I wasn't done talking, you know. You think I don't know of that quite brilliant prank you and your little group of girls pulled off last year. Exceptional, really, I don't think any of the Professors were able to figure out who had Charmed the coats of armour into letting out a string of obscenities instead of their usual Christmas Carols. I was quite surprised at the repertoire of curse-words they'd been supplied with until Pads told me he'd been asked to chip in there, even though the credit of the Charm, of course, goes to you lovely ladies." He was standing just behind her now, and he could vaguely see their reflection in the window. He noticed the gleeful expression on her face in it before she turned to face him, her supercilious smirk back in place.

"That's true. Even I have to admit that was quite well-handled. There's a whole other enjoyment to watching even the Professors stumped, though personally, I think Flitwick preferred the cursing to the usual caterwauling-" she abruptly stopped speaking, as if it was only just dawning on her how close James was standing to her.

"What are you up to, Potter?" She raised an eyebrow at him, the effect only slightly ruined by the fact that she drunkenly wobbled towards him as she said it. She'd never had much of a tolerance for Firewhiskey, and some of the punch had gone to her head as well.

"Nothing, Evans. How dare you accuse me of dastardly intentions when it's clearly you who's led me into a secret room- a room in another secret room, I might add!" James was smirking too now, his arms steadily supporting Lily as she tipsily swayed back and forth.

This is not the time to notice how strong he seems under that sweater, or how adorable those antlers look on him. Who dresses as a reindeer for Halloween anyway? Idiot. She smiled at him again, a little more goofily this time. God, stop it, Lily. His eyes twinkle under his glasses, but that is no reason to think about-

Her thoughts skidded to a halt as he gently removed her hands from his sweater and led her to the window-sill. He sat her down, kneeling in front of her as he held her face.

I never knew he could be that tender. How did I never notice how long his fingers are? Must help to catch the Snitch, hahaha-

"Are you ok, Lily? Do you need me to get you some water? Should I call Adams for you?" He was still holding her face, looking more concerned and kinder than she had ever seen him. She admitted to herself a little grudgingly that he looked almost sweet and even attractive, now that his usual arrogant smirk wasn't sprawling across his face. And she had never noticed how his hair always stood up on end. She shook her head to clear it, and reached out to ruffle his hair some more.

"Don't bother, Potter, I'm absolutely spiffing. Don't go get Dina, or anyone, they're probably enjoying the party." There, I sound as sensible as usual, she thought assertively before she swayed alarmingly, almost falling off the sill.

"Ok, I'm not going anywhere. Just sit up, will you? Put your head on my shoulder if you need to." James had moved to the sill, sitting next to her, cradling her head into his shoulder. She looked up at him, and saw that he was looking at her with something in his eyes that she didn't quite understand, but it made her feel warm.

She never quite remembered who went in for the kiss first. She just remembered thinking as she sank into it, I hope Dina's found someone to spend the party with, before all thought of Dina was banished from her head.