Chapter 19: We'll See

17th December, 1976.

The Great Hall always hums with excitement in December, owing to Christmas and snowball fights, but in 1976, a whole new level of restlessness could be felt as one walked the halls of Hogwarts. Christmas Eve was fast approaching, and so was the most awaited night of the year - the Yule Ball. Students could be seen timidly asking, some of them begging, for a date to the dance.

Peter had been in conniptions over asking some Hufflepuff he'd had his eyes on for days. But, other than that, everyone was pretty much ready for the ball - Alek and Lily, Frank and Alice (surprise, surprise there), Marlene and Ed.

Sirius and James were going stag (no pun intended). Sirius knew well enough that he could get anyone in the school anytime he wanted - even a minute before the ball, girls would probably ditch their dates and fall into his arms anytime. As for James, he'd always wanted a particular green-eyed, red-haired somebody, and wouldn't settle for anyone else. And since they were 'mates now' he was hoping he'd at least get her to dance with him once.

Remus was going to go with Amanda Finch, who'd asked him one night during rounds.

It was getting so close to the Ball that the more desperate of the lot had asked even 3rd years to go with them - it was really quite disconcerting to see 16 year olds with 13 year olds. When even smelly Berger announced that morning at breakfast that he'd gotten a date, Peter felt compelled to gather the courage required to ask his crush out.

"Come on, Wormy!" Sirius said that day at lunch, "It's about time you do it."

"I know, I know. But I don't think I can." It looked like he was about to explode - and not only because of the 4 pies he had consumed. He would probably explode because of stress and anticipation. He'd hardly ever asked any girl out, and when he did, rejection was the only answer he'd ever gotten.

Marlene seemed to have had it with Peter's unrequited drama and she screamed, "Peter, if you don't do it, I will!"

He cringed, "Don't do that again, please? It's already happened before."

"Go on, then."

Peter took a deep breath and turned to the Hufflepuff table. Eliza's group of friends came into view, and the girl sitting next to her poked her when she saw him approach.

"Hey Eliza," he said.

"Oh, Peter! Hi!" Eliza said.

Peter considered going back to the Gryffindor table, this was ridiculous, he couldn't do this. Being a Marauder didn't mean he was good with talking to girls he'd only stared at before. But the seven unwavering pairs of eyes looking at him confidently pushed him to ask her after all.

"Yeah… well I was just wondering if…"

"Yes?" she gave him all her attention now, looking at him expectantly.

"Ifyouwouldgototheballwithmethischristmaseve?" he blurted out.

She raised her eyebrows, "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch that."

Peter felt a blush creeping up his cheeks as he tried once more, a little slowly, "I was wondering if you would like to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Her eyes noticeably widened as she contemplated answering. Peter's hands started sweating. He almost turned around to run to the hills, but he didn't want to seem like a coward in front of his crush and her friends.

That's it, he thought. Another 30 seconds of silence and I'm saying my friends drugged me to get me here.

Fortunately, after about 28 seconds the situation set in for Eliza, and she quickly nodded, "Yes, I would love to."

They hugged and everything was fine and dandy.

"But I don't think it's enough for the ball!" Alice could be heard crying in her dorm.

Lily and James jumped at the sound. Voices carried fabulously down to the Common Room from the dorms, part of the reason Muffiliato is so widely used. That was it. Lily had to go do something about Alice and her dressing woes, she couldn't carry on studying Transfiguration like this.

"Ugh, I'm going to have to go check on that, am I not?"

James sighed, "Yup."

"Can we continue this later? I didn't get anything you said anyway."

"Sure," he laughed, "next time, we'll have to use some brain stimulating music for you to pay attention."

"Please do!" She said, turning towards the staircases.

"Alice, don't be such a drag, you know it's amazing." Marlene seemed exasperated, the situation was, but her comment did nothing but make Alice mad.

"Oh, yeah? Why would you complain? You've got the best shape and dress in school and -"

Lily marched into the dorm then, and stood between the parties, "Hey! Both of you, cut it the fuck out! You're going to wake people across the country with your screaming!"

"But-"

"Alice! You chose this dress at Hogsmeade. We all agreed that it looks lovely. What's so bothersome about it now?"

Alice almost had tears in her eyes, "It's just that I don't know if Frank will think I look good in it, but I can't show it to him. We decided that it would be a surprise."

Lily and Marlene found this argument so stupid, they were about to laugh at the ludicrosity. Lily took a deep breath before shoving Marlene to stop snickering.

She said, "Alice, that's bull and you know it. You look gorgeous even in our hideous uniform. Frank can barely look away. I think we're gonna have to pick his jaw off the floor when he sees you all dressed up. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Seriously, Alice, you're being totally ridiculous," Marlene said, "Now, go eat, please? I'm starving. Plus, the Ball is days away, let's worry about it later."

"Alright. I suppose you're both right." Alice walked over to the dorm door, "Race you to the Great Hall!"

Lily was just happy she'd told everyone about her date with Alek. Not that she'd planned to at that time, but she was still relieved. She would've done it eventually anyway. Maybe a little later, but she would have. Yes, she would've, she convinced herself, staring into the Common Room fire.

The whole deal went down quite nicely, actually. Marlene didn't scream at her, James seems alright with it, and she got her dress in time. If it weren't for her friends, Lily would have delayed buying it till the last minute, ending up with a gritchy polyester fuschia something or the other.

The prospect of the ball was now really exciting. Having a dress made the event real and tangible. Lily wasn't the kind to dwell over fairytale endings and glass slippers, but now with the evening completely set up, right down to the last glass of butterbeer, she believed the night would not be anything less than Cinderella and Prince Charming's.

The only thing she was a bit tense about was James. She knew they were friends now, but she was a little taken aback when he had no reaction whatsoever when he came to know about Alek. Lily had at least expected some silent treatment from him, but he remained completely amiable throughout the exchange and after it, too. Perhaps, he'd grown out of the little crush he'd garnered for her last year. Thinking that made her a bit sad, she'll miss the exaggerated professions of unrequited love quite a bit.

Or wait, she thought. Maybe, he's grown up a bit and decided to be a supportive friend for once.

"Lily, what you doing down here?" James's voice shook her out of her thoughts. He looked like he'd just come back from a run through the rain - shirt soaked through, hair untidier than before.

Quite the looker, Lily thought, before shaking the thoughts away.

She turned and smiled at him, "Nothing really, just thinking about stuff."

"Did you find out what was wrong with Alice?" He walked over, sitting down next to her, head hanging sideways on back of the couch, eyes focused on Lily.

"Oh, yeah," she laughed, "It was so silly. She thought that Frank wouldn't think she looked good in her dress at the Ball."

"What? Has she ever even met him? He's always on about her 'pretty hair' and her 'lovely blue eyes.' It's kind of ridiculous actually."

Lily just shook her head at Alice's antics, how silly she'd been about the whole ordeal. Frank was totally besotted with her.

It suddenly struck her how much had changed that year - Alice and Frank were together. In a real relationship. Just yesterday they were finding ways to stare at each other during class in a way neither would notice. Naturally, everyone noticed.

Sirius and Marlene were, well, Sirius and Marlene. They were probably the only constant in Lily's life. But other than their tumultuous relationship, pretty much everything was different. James, for instance. He had morphed from her biggest nemesis into one of her best friends in the period of 3 months.

Remus was getting more talkative, Peter seemed around. Mary was all the more aloof in 6th year. Everything had changed so rapidly, Lily couldn't even begin to remember when exactly it all happened. She could never pin down a moment when it happened, but boy, was she grateful that it did.

"Hey," James shoved her elbow.

Lily shook a bit, "Yeah, sorry, I zoned out a bit."

"Oh."

"Hey, James?"

"Yeah?"

"When did all this happen?"

He turned around completely, "When did what happen?"

"This," she gestured vaguely at the space between them.

"Honestly?" he said, "I think it's been on it's way since 4th year."

They entered into a comfortable silence, each mulling over their own thoughts. Lily wondered what he meant by that, sure he had hurt her that day in 5th year, but 4th year? She couldn't recall anything that happened in 4th year that would lead up to them being friends again.

She thought about how 5th year James would feel about Lily and Alek - he would probably steal all of Alek's clothes and give them to Hagrid's disgusting worms. She decided to ask the question that had been bugging her for the last two weeks.

"James - I, uh, just wanted to know if… you know… you were okay with Alek and the Ball and the situation. Just given our history," she said hesitantly.

James's eyes darkened as he smiled and said, "Lily, why would I have any problem with that? You like him, he seems to like you, you should have the liberty to go out with whomever you want. Plus, you're both champions, you should be together."

Lily smiled back at him, "I'm glad you think so."

"Although, Evans," he said, "I do have one request."

"And what might that be, Potter?"

"You think you could save me a dance?" he asked coyly.

"Hmm. Only if you bring your best moves."

"Ah, Evans, you wound me. I have the best moves in the entire school."

"Oh, please, I've seen you dance, and let's be honest, you're terribly long legs hinder your abilities."

"We'll see, Lils. We'll just wait and see."

A/N: Hi guys, we're sorry for the long time this chapter took us, it's been sitting incomplete and unedited on our computers for ages. Anyway, we're not too happy with this one, but we figure the next one should make up for it. School's been a menace, so I wouldn't expect the new chapter too soon. Thanks for reading! Please review.