Chapter Eight
Lily stared at the ground, at her hands, out the window; at anything that wasn't James's sympathetic gaze. She simply couldn't take it right now.
"Lily..." he began hesitantly. Lily looked still further away and snapped, "don't!". The illusion that she was somewhere within the lines of okay was kept up until James tentatively wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."
Lily let out a bitter laugh. "Of course you didn't know, you couldn't have! I haven't told anybody. Do you really think that I want people to know that the Ministry isn't even trying to find out who killed my parents? Do you think –" but this was too much for Lily, and for the second time in as many months she found herself crying in James's arms – something she'd never thought would happen. She let out a strangled sob – one of many that night – and buried her head in James's shoulder, another completely unprecedented event. James said nothing of it, merely stroked her hair reassuringly. "Shh," he said. "Everything's fine." They both knew it to be a lie. "I'm here." And for some reason, Lily found this comforted her a lot more than she would have thought.
–––––
The next morning, Lily didn't mention the previous night's events, and James followed suit. He figured she'd talk when she was ready, if such a time ever came.
They'd agreed to meet with McGonagall that morning about the plans for the ball, so after breakfast they separated from the rest of the seventh-years, who were going to Arithmancy – even Lily, possibly the biggest swot in the school, wasn't particularly disappointed to miss that – and made their way to McGonagall's office. Upon arrival, they looked at each other as if gathering courage and then James knocked. The response was a typically sharp "Come in!" so they pushed open the door and stepped cautiously into the lion's den.
McGonagall was sitting behind her desk, presumably grading papers, but she looked up when the pair entered. "Oh, Miss Evans, Mr Potter. You have the plans for the ball, I trust?"
"Yes, Professor." Lily handed her their notes from the previous evening. "The Ball is going to be in the Great Hall, starting at seven o'clock on the last Saturday in November, the 27th."
"Once everyone has arrived," James took over, "we'll have a dinner – the menu can be found here" (he indicated a page in the notes) "– after which the floor will be cleared for dancing. The music will come through a granny – gramma – gramme-thingamajig –"
"Gramophone," Lily interrupted. "I've bewitched it to work without electricity. It'll be a combination of wizarding and Muggle music."
"Yes, exactly. Gramme-thingamajig. That's what I said. So, thingamajig music, and then after a few hours, when it starts getting close to eleven, we're going to send fourth-years and under off to bed and continue for a while with just us older students."
"There will be refreshments available, buffet-style, at the edges of the room from about nine o'clock onwards, since dancing is hard work, as we all know." McGonagall gave a small laugh at this, something neither of them had seen before.
"The refreshments will, of course, all be non-alcoholic," James said with a wink that thankfully went unnoticed by the teacher. Lily slapped him reproachfully.
"Very well... there's only one thing left. What is your dress code?"
At this, both Head Students paled noticeably.
"Oh. It's, um..." James began.
"Uh... it's..." Lily seemed just as clueless.
"Er... Black and white! Yes, that's it. Black and white." Lily shot him a grateful look, something that wasn't lost on McGonagall.
"Good, good. And who will decorate the Great Hall?"
"That would be us, Professor – ourselves and the prefects."
"Excellent. Very well, you may go now. You both have Arithmancy, correct?"
"Yes, Professor," they chorused before leaving the room.
They walked towards the Arithmancy classroom, cursing the fact that their plans weren't any more complex. Now they would still have to sit through half of the most boring class known to the wizarding world (with the exception of History of Magic, of course).
When they arrived at the classroom, there was only one double desk left, a fact which did not surprise either of them (and bothered Lily a lot less than she'd have expected). They apologised to Professor Vector – "Head Duties, Professor, you understand" – and sat down in the empty seats near the back of the classroom (surely the first time Lily Evans had ever sat in the back of a class, and if it was in any way up to James Potter, definitely not the last).
After a few minutes of listening to Professor Vector's lecture, James leaned over. "Hey, Lily?"
"Hmm?" she replied distractedly, trying to keep track of what the professor was saying and scribble down everything written on the blackboard.
"I've been thinking..."
"Really? Thinking? Oh, I never thought I'd live to see the day."
"Hey, come on. I'm not such a... a... ne'er-do-well, am I?"
Lily snorted. "Ne'er-do-well? Where do you come up with this stuff?"
"Ah see, m'dear, it's called literature. You may have heard of it."
There was an indignant yelp, and James found yet another bruise forming on his arm. He should really control himself more around Lily (she was extremely violent, that girl was)... but this way was much too fun.
"Well, anyway, I've been thinking. As Head Students, you know, I think we should go to the ball together."
Lily's jaw dropped.
"What? James, are you asking me out again?"
"Would you like me to?" he asked with a grin. Lily expression turned to such a picture of fury that he held his hands up as in surrender. "Hey, hey – of course not. We had a deal, yeah? Deal holds. Until, you know, you change your mind..." he trailed off with another one of those impossible grins, and Lily felt something melting inside her (could it possibly be her heart?), but she ignored it and did her level best to fix him with a glare. "Deal holds."
"Right. Deal holds." James laughed. "But hey – come on. We're Head Students, don't you think it would be a good idea to show the school we can act civilly towards each other?"
"Isn't that what we're doing now? What we've been doing for the past few months? Showing them we can be civil?"
"Oh, Lily, you wound me! Has it all been a show for you?" James asked dramatically, holding his hands over his heart. Which, of course, earned him another bruise-to-be.
"No! Of course not, you know that. We're friends, right?"
"Yeah. We're friends. Which is why... we should go to the ball together."
"I don't know, James..."
"Why? Got someone else you were gonna ask?" there was a definite teasing note in James's voice now (but had Sirius been there, he would have heard the underlying jealousy).
"What? No, no, I just think it would give people the wrong idea."
"Like, they'd think we're dating?"
By now, Lily's cheeks were a nice shade of deep pink. "Yeah," she managed to get out. "Like that."
James laughed again, louder this time. "Aw, Lils, would that really be so horrible?
No, wait, don't answer that. But this just brings me back to my original point. We go as friends (and-slash-or Head Students), show the kids we don't hate each other any more" Not that I've ever hated you, he thought "and have a good time – as friends – while we're at it."
Lily pretended to think about it for a while.
"Come on, Lily. Don't make me do the puppy-dog-eyes again..."
"Oh, okay then," she said, laughing. "Only as friends, mind."
"Only as friends," James agreed.
It was only then, as the bell rang and Professor Vector dismissed them, that either of them noticed they'd missed the entire lesson.
–––––
Sirius, Remus and Peter were already in James's old dormitory when he literally bounced in with a huge smile on his face. Remus immediately looked suspicious, while Sirius asked (in an admirably disinterested tone, let it be said) "What's happened with Lily this time?"
"Oh, nothing... you know, from the fact that I'm going to the ball with her..."
If the Marauders had been girls, it's guaranteed that they would all have squealed at this point. As it was, however, Remus merely raised his eyebrows, and Sirius sat up so fast he hit his head on the bedstead. "You're what?"
"Going to the ball with Lily," James repeated, as if to a small child. "Only as friends, though... but hey, we're getting there."
"Since when have you and Lily been friends?" asked Sirius, confused.
"Since... I don't know, we just are."
"Well, that's good," Remus said. James shot him a look. "Isn't it?"
"Good? Moony, my friend, this is not good, This is totally awesome. This is... supermegafoxyawesomehot."
"Super mega whatsit?"
"Supermegafoxyawesomehot."
"All right then, mate. Good for you."
"Hey, guys?" Peter interrupted. "It's dinner time." Trust Peter to be concerned about food.
"It is?" James asked. "Crap! I was supposed to meet Lily five minutes ago."
Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and James began to see why Lily spent so much time hitting annoying people. He just glared at Sirius though, and said "Come on, Padfoot. We just need to make the announcement is all." He made to leave. "Besides, Lily usually eats with us anyway," he tossed over his shoulder as he left the room. Sirius's laughter at his denials followed him down the stairs and out of the common room as he broke into a run.
He reached the Great Hall half a minute later, slightly out of breath, and saw Lily looking at him disapprovingly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said. "I was –"
"Talking with the guys, I know." Lily finished for him, and he could have sworn there was a hint of amusement in her tone. "Now come on, we have an announcement to make." And she actually grabbed his wrist and started dragging him, through the doors and up the aisle to the front of the room. It was only when they were half-way to the professors' table that James realised exactly what was happening and shook his wrist out of Lily's grip. He took a few quick steps to get to her side and hissed, "What was that all about?" Lily just laughed. "Payback," she whispered. "For the Quidditch game."
When they got to the front of the room, they turned to face the students (who, by now, were staring at them with curious expressions). "Oh," Lily said in surprise. "Apparently, we don't need to call you to attention. Well, that's good, I suppose."
James cut off her rambling. "Anyway, you might be wondering why we're here. Thing is, we have a very special announcement to make. Namely, the Winter Ball." A slight cheer went up in the crowd.
Lily had recovered enough to continue. "The Ball will be here, in the Great Hall, starting at seven o'clock on the evening of Saturday, the 27th of November."
"The dress code will be black and white," James continued smoothly, "and there will be a Hogsmeade visit this coming weekend for third-years and above to buy outfits if they so desire. First- and second-years are reminded that in case of so-called 'wardrobe emergency', school robes are black." An appreciative bout of laughter rose up from the crowd.
"Anyway, that should be all. So, see you then, and bon appetit!" Lily finished up, and followed James to the Gryffindor table to where the rest of the Marauders were sitting.
–––––
Later that evening, Lily and James were doing homework in the Head's Common Room when Lily suddenly looked up. "James?"
"Hmm?" James was doing his damnedest to concentrate on his essay on the advantages of non-verbal spells.
"I just realised... I don't know how to dance."
"Hmm?"
"James, are you even listening to me?"
"Mmhm."
"James!" Lily tossed a sofa cushion at him.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Yes! Jeez, James. I said I don't know how to dance."
"Really, now?"
"Yes, really. Muggles don't exactly go around ball-room dancing all the time, you know."
"But what about the previous balls and dances we've had at Hogwarts?"
"I, er, didn't go?"
"You didn't go? So you've never ever been to a ball? Aw, Lily, you've missed out on so much!" James jumped to his feet, all thoughts of non-verbal spells forgotten. "Come on." He extended a hand to Lily. "May I have this dance?"
"Why certainly," Lily drawled, imitating his tone. She took his hand and found herself spun up into James's arms in a waltz position, her face (once more) mere inches from his. James seemed to notice this as well, as he stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head slightly. "Yes. Well. Let's start simple: we'll just do the waltz today. So, you start like this..." Lily stepped on James's toes a bit at first, but quickly got the hang of it. They spent the rest of the evening waltzing around the small common room, until the clock on the mantelpiece struck midnight. "Well, I guess it's time to turn back into a pumpkin," Lily sighed.
"Huh?"
"Muggle fairytale."
"Oh. Well, good night, Lily."
"Night, James."
"Tomorrow, I'll teach you to tango."
Lily stared at the ground, at her hands, out the window; at anything that wasn't James's sympathetic gaze. She simply couldn't take it right now.
"Lily..." he began hesitantly. Lily looked still further away and snapped, "don't!". The illusion that she was somewhere within the lines of okay was kept up until James tentatively wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."
Lily let out a bitter laugh. "Of course you didn't know, you couldn't have! I haven't told anybody. Do you really think that I want people to know that the Ministry isn't even trying to find out who killed my parents? Do you think –" but this was too much for Lily, and for the second time in as many months she found herself crying in James's arms – something she'd never thought would happen. She let out a strangled sob – one of many that night – and buried her head in James's shoulder, another completely unprecedented event. James said nothing of it, merely stroked her hair reassuringly. "Shh," he said. "Everything's fine." They both knew it to be a lie. "I'm here." And for some reason, Lily found this comforted her a lot more than she would have thought.
–––––
The next morning, Lily didn't mention the previous night's events, and James followed suit. He figured she'd talk when she was ready, if such a time ever came.
They'd agreed to meet with McGonagall that morning about the plans for the ball, so after breakfast they separated from the rest of the seventh-years, who were going to Arithmancy – even Lily, possibly the biggest swot in the school, wasn't particularly disappointed to miss that – and made their way to McGonagall's office. Upon arrival, they looked at each other as if gathering courage and then James knocked. The response was a typically sharp "Come in!" so they pushed open the door and stepped cautiously into the lion's den.
McGonagall was sitting behind her desk, presumably grading papers, but she looked up when the pair entered. "Oh, Miss Evans, Mr Potter. You have the plans for the ball, I trust?"
"Yes, Professor." Lily handed her their notes from the previous evening. "The Ball is going to be in the Great Hall, starting at seven o'clock on the last Saturday in November, the 27th."
"Once everyone has arrived," James took over, "we'll have a dinner – the menu can be found here" (he indicated a page in the notes) "– after which the floor will be cleared for dancing. The music will come through a granny – gramma – gramme-thingamajig –"
"Gramophone," Lily interrupted. "I've bewitched it to work without electricity. It'll be a combination of wizarding and Muggle music."
"Yes, exactly. Gramme-thingamajig. That's what I said. So, thingamajig music, and then after a few hours, when it starts getting close to eleven, we're going to send fourth-years and under off to bed and continue for a while with just us older students."
"There will be refreshments available, buffet-style, at the edges of the room from about nine o'clock onwards, since dancing is hard work, as we all know." McGonagall gave a small laugh at this, something neither of them had seen before.
"The refreshments will, of course, all be non-alcoholic," James said with a wink that thankfully went unnoticed by the teacher. Lily slapped him reproachfully.
"Very well... there's only one thing left. What is your dress code?"
At this, both Head Students paled noticeably.
"Oh. It's, um..." James began.
"Uh... it's..." Lily seemed just as clueless.
"Er... Black and white! Yes, that's it. Black and white." Lily shot him a grateful look, something that wasn't lost on McGonagall.
"Good, good. And who will decorate the Great Hall?"
"That would be us, Professor – ourselves and the prefects."
"Excellent. Very well, you may go now. You both have Arithmancy, correct?"
"Yes, Professor," they chorused before leaving the room.
They walked towards the Arithmancy classroom, cursing the fact that their plans weren't any more complex. Now they would still have to sit through half of the most boring class known to the wizarding world (with the exception of History of Magic, of course).
When they arrived at the classroom, there was only one double desk left, a fact which did not surprise either of them (and bothered Lily a lot less than she'd have expected). They apologised to Professor Vector – "Head Duties, Professor, you understand" – and sat down in the empty seats near the back of the classroom (surely the first time Lily Evans had ever sat in the back of a class, and if it was in any way up to James Potter, definitely not the last).
After a few minutes of listening to Professor Vector's lecture, James leaned over. "Hey, Lily?"
"Hmm?" she replied distractedly, trying to keep track of what the professor was saying and scribble down everything written on the blackboard.
"I've been thinking..."
"Really? Thinking? Oh, I never thought I'd live to see the day."
"Hey, come on. I'm not such a... a... ne'er-do-well, am I?"
Lily snorted. "Ne'er-do-well? Where do you come up with this stuff?"
"Ah see, m'dear, it's called literature. You may have heard of it."
There was an indignant yelp, and James found yet another bruise forming on his arm. He should really control himself more around Lily (she was extremely violent, that girl was)... but this way was much too fun.
"Well, anyway, I've been thinking. As Head Students, you know, I think we should go to the ball together."
Lily's jaw dropped.
"What? James, are you asking me out again?"
"Would you like me to?" he asked with a grin. Lily expression turned to such a picture of fury that he held his hands up as in surrender. "Hey, hey – of course not. We had a deal, yeah? Deal holds. Until, you know, you change your mind..." he trailed off with another one of those impossible grins, and Lily felt something melting inside her (could it possibly be her heart?), but she ignored it and did her level best to fix him with a glare. "Deal holds."
"Right. Deal holds." James laughed. "But hey – come on. We're Head Students, don't you think it would be a good idea to show the school we can act civilly towards each other?"
"Isn't that what we're doing now? What we've been doing for the past few months? Showing them we can be civil?"
"Oh, Lily, you wound me! Has it all been a show for you?" James asked dramatically, holding his hands over his heart. Which, of course, earned him another bruise-to-be.
"No! Of course not, you know that. We're friends, right?"
"Yeah. We're friends. Which is why... we should go to the ball together."
"I don't know, James..."
"Why? Got someone else you were gonna ask?" there was a definite teasing note in James's voice now (but had Sirius been there, he would have heard the underlying jealousy).
"What? No, no, I just think it would give people the wrong idea."
"Like, they'd think we're dating?"
By now, Lily's cheeks were a nice shade of deep pink. "Yeah," she managed to get out. "Like that."
James laughed again, louder this time. "Aw, Lils, would that really be so horrible?
No, wait, don't answer that. But this just brings me back to my original point. We go as friends (and-slash-or Head Students), show the kids we don't hate each other any more" Not that I've ever hated you, he thought "and have a good time – as friends – while we're at it."
Lily pretended to think about it for a while.
"Come on, Lily. Don't make me do the puppy-dog-eyes again..."
"Oh, okay then," she said, laughing. "Only as friends, mind."
"Only as friends," James agreed.
It was only then, as the bell rang and Professor Vector dismissed them, that either of them noticed they'd missed the entire lesson.
–––––
Sirius, Remus and Peter were already in James's old dormitory when he literally bounced in with a huge smile on his face. Remus immediately looked suspicious, while Sirius asked (in an admirably disinterested tone, let it be said) "What's happened with Lily this time?"
"Oh, nothing... you know, from the fact that I'm going to the ball with her..."
If the Marauders had been girls, it's guaranteed that they would all have squealed at this point. As it was, however, Remus merely raised his eyebrows, and Sirius sat up so fast he hit his head on the bedstead. "You're what?"
"Going to the ball with Lily," James repeated, as if to a small child. "Only as friends, though... but hey, we're getting there."
"Since when have you and Lily been friends?" asked Sirius, confused.
"Since... I don't know, we just are."
"Well, that's good," Remus said. James shot him a look. "Isn't it?"
"Good? Moony, my friend, this is not good, This is totally awesome. This is... supermegafoxyawesomehot."
"Super mega whatsit?"
"Supermegafoxyawesomehot."
"All right then, mate. Good for you."
"Hey, guys?" Peter interrupted. "It's dinner time." Trust Peter to be concerned about food.
"It is?" James asked. "Crap! I was supposed to meet Lily five minutes ago."
Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and James began to see why Lily spent so much time hitting annoying people. He just glared at Sirius though, and said "Come on, Padfoot. We just need to make the announcement is all." He made to leave. "Besides, Lily usually eats with us anyway," he tossed over his shoulder as he left the room. Sirius's laughter at his denials followed him down the stairs and out of the common room as he broke into a run.
He reached the Great Hall half a minute later, slightly out of breath, and saw Lily looking at him disapprovingly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said. "I was –"
"Talking with the guys, I know." Lily finished for him, and he could have sworn there was a hint of amusement in her tone. "Now come on, we have an announcement to make." And she actually grabbed his wrist and started dragging him, through the doors and up the aisle to the front of the room. It was only when they were half-way to the professors' table that James realised exactly what was happening and shook his wrist out of Lily's grip. He took a few quick steps to get to her side and hissed, "What was that all about?" Lily just laughed. "Payback," she whispered. "For the Quidditch game."
When they got to the front of the room, they turned to face the students (who, by now, were staring at them with curious expressions). "Oh," Lily said in surprise. "Apparently, we don't need to call you to attention. Well, that's good, I suppose."
James cut off her rambling. "Anyway, you might be wondering why we're here. Thing is, we have a very special announcement to make. Namely, the Winter Ball." A slight cheer went up in the crowd.
Lily had recovered enough to continue. "The Ball will be here, in the Great Hall, starting at seven o'clock on the evening of Saturday, the 27th of November."
"The dress code will be black and white," James continued smoothly, "and there will be a Hogsmeade visit this coming weekend for third-years and above to buy outfits if they so desire. First- and second-years are reminded that in case of so-called 'wardrobe emergency', school robes are black." An appreciative bout of laughter rose up from the crowd.
"Anyway, that should be all. So, see you then, and bon appetit!" Lily finished up, and followed James to the Gryffindor table to where the rest of the Marauders were sitting.
–––––
Later that evening, Lily and James were doing homework in the Head's Common Room when Lily suddenly looked up. "James?"
"Hmm?" James was doing his damnedest to concentrate on his essay on the advantages of non-verbal spells.
"I just realised... I don't know how to dance."
"Hmm?"
"James, are you even listening to me?"
"Mmhm."
"James!" Lily tossed a sofa cushion at him.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Yes! Jeez, James. I said I don't know how to dance."
"Really, now?"
"Yes, really. Muggles don't exactly go around ball-room dancing all the time, you know."
"But what about the previous balls and dances we've had at Hogwarts?"
"I, er, didn't go?"
"You didn't go? So you've never ever been to a ball? Aw, Lily, you've missed out on so much!" James jumped to his feet, all thoughts of non-verbal spells forgotten. "Come on." He extended a hand to Lily. "May I have this dance?"
"Why certainly," Lily drawled, imitating his tone. She took his hand and found herself spun up into James's arms in a waltz position, her face (once more) mere inches from his. James seemed to notice this as well, as he stared at her for a few moments before shaking his head slightly. "Yes. Well. Let's start simple: we'll just do the waltz today. So, you start like this..." Lily stepped on James's toes a bit at first, but quickly got the hang of it. They spent the rest of the evening waltzing around the small common room, until the clock on the mantelpiece struck midnight. "Well, I guess it's time to turn back into a pumpkin," Lily sighed.
"Huh?"
"Muggle fairytale."
"Oh. Well, good night, Lily."
"Night, James."
"Tomorrow, I'll teach you to tango."
