22Lily Evans sat in the front row in 5th year Charms class with her two best friends, Faith and Amber, Thinking.
It wasn't often that her mind wandered to boys but today she was plagued with the thought of one; James Potter.
It was getting to be pretty obvious that she liked him, but the less obvious part was exactly WHY? He was stubborn and hot headed and completely cocky and incredibly gorgeous; not that she would ever tell anybody. But that didn't stop her from thinking about him today... constantly.
The bell rang and Lily was grateful. She hadn't been able to pay any attention at all to Professor Flitwick babbling on. Not today. Today her mind was focused on two things and two things only. The start of term dance and James Potter, and if James Potter would ask her to the dace. Okay, I suppose that was three.
"Hey, Lils, where you going? The great hall is this way." said Amber, running up to Lily and grabbing her arm, as to redirect her.
"What? Oh. Yeah."
"What where you thinking about in class, you looked all dazed and such." asked Amber, picking at something on the front of her robes.
Before Lily could stop herself she blurted out. "Wondering if James Potter would ask me to the dance." The moment the words left her lips her hands flung to her mouth.
Amber slapped her hand to her head as Lily looked over her shoulder. "You don't think anybody heard me, do you?" Lily asked, her life would be hell if one of the school gossips got a hold of that.
"Well, I did." said Faith uncertainly; she had been leaning up against the fall waiting for them.
"I didn't know you liked Ja -cough cough- him? When did this start?" Amber went on.
"I know, I don't, I mean, I do, I mean ... I don't know what I mean!" Lily cried, exasperated.
"I always suspected." Amber cut in before Lily could continue. "I mean, pure hatred like that had to change into love at some point."
Faith and Lily just stared at her for a moment in dull shock. The sad part was, that probably made sense.
Lily had managed to pull herself back together by the time they got to the Great Hall for lunch, although she didn't eat as much as she normally would have.
"Lily, we're going to see you at the Quidditch match tonight ... right?" Trixie Ackart asked, leaning over the table and accidentally putting her elbow in the gravy.
"Wouldn't miss it, Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, isn't it?" asked Lily.
Trixie nodded, then noticed about the gravy and pulled her elbow back, cleaning it with a napkin.
Lily glanced down the table where James, Sirius, Peter and Remus where. They where plotting. Lily could tell; they where all huddled together and talking in hushed tones.
"So, did you hear about Anna Burby?" Trixie continued, leaning over the table again, but being more careful where she rested her elbows.
"No, what happened?" Amber asked. Anna Burby was a friend of theirs who hadn't turned up for school yet and it was all ready halfway through their first week!
"Her Mum and Pa pulled her out, said they didn't want her to have anything to do with Dumbledore." replied Trixie as if it was the most scandalous thing she had ever heard.
"Thats not fair!" Faith protested. The rest of the girls where talking lively about Anna but Lily had just thought she had head her name and looked over at the boys again. She was sure she had heard them say her name!
Lily, Amber, Faith and Trixie made their way down to the pitch after supper. It was a nice day out, the air was warm but there was a soft, cool breeze to off set it. Perfect weather for Quidditch.
The girls took their seats and watched as the teams mounted their brooms. The whistle blew and the game was on!
Lily was on the edge of her seat watching as Gryffindor scored, repeatedly. They where certainly off to a good start.
By the time the game ended the sun had started to set. Gryffindor had won, 200 to 75. Ouch.
The girls walked slowly back up to the castle and talked about the game. "Did you see the way Sirius Black hit that Bludger?" Amber exclaimed. It was common knowledge that Amber had had a crush on Black since second year, when they had shared detention.
Lily opened her mouth to say something but picked up the sound of voices behind her and instead hasted to quiet so she could listen in.
"Did you see me out there? Whew!" James Potter was saying to his friends. "Wow, hold up." he added.
Suddenly he had jumped up behind Lily and Faith, causing Lily to flinch and Faith to squeak.
"Hey, Lily?" James asked.
Lily's heart skipped a beat.
"You know theres this dance this Friday." he started.
Lily didn't trust herself to talk so she just nodded.
"You wanna go?" he asked.
The rest of the girls where now staring opened mouthed at Lily and James.
"S-sure." Lily said.
"Great, I'll meet you by the drinks." said James, then he patted Lily and Faith on their shoulders and walked back with his friends, who where all laughing for some odd reason.
All the way back to the castle Lily was thinking. James Potter had never asked her out before! And she had actually said yes? Sev was going to be so mad.
The girls scurried back into the castle and straight up to their dormitories. "Holy Hell!" Trixie was exclaiming, jumping up and down on her bed, her bony arms flailing.
"Trixie, do you mind?" Rebbecca , a short orange haired witch, spat from her bed. Trixie silenced herself but still looked as though Christmas had come early.
Suddenly Lily's eyes widened and she inhaled deeply.
"Lils, are you okay?" asked Faith, a worried look off setting her blue eyes.
"I don't have anything to wear!"
Friday came fast and soon Lily found herself cutting class with Amber and Faith to start to get ready for the dance.
"I feel really bad about this." Faith confessed. "We don't have a choice, we have to get ready, its not our faults Professor Binns has no social life and refused to cancel class." snapped Amber as they ran like lunatics up to the common room.
They practically yelled the password at the Fat Lady ( Mugwort) and Faith accidentally ran into a first year as they dashed though the common room.
Once they where safely in the girls dorms they started to talk about what to wear and how to wear it.
"Should I wear my hair up? -Lily held up her hair- Or down and curly? -Lily put her hair down. Amber and Faith looked at her for a moment.
"What if you left it down, and curly, but had a braid in the back?" Amber suggested.
Lily looked quizzically at the floor length mirror, trying to determine if she could pull it off.
"OK." Lily said, Amber always knew what to do with hair and such so if she said she could pull it off, Lily knew that she could.
It took nearly three hours for them to get ready, but when they did they looked like they should have been on the cover of Sparkle, a popular teen witch magazine.
Amber wore a shoulder less, yellow dress and had her blond hair up in a cloud of curls around her face. Faith opted to have her own dark hair long and curly and wore a blue dress that brought out the color of her eyes. Lily, on the other hand felt very self conscious, even if all her friends assured her she looked magnificent. She wore a green, shoulder less dress that made her eyes shine and had her hair in a sort of half ponytail that Amber had managed to create in less then twenty minutes.
The girls made their way down to the dance in general silence, until finally they stood outside the great hall. They could hear the music playing on the inside of the large, oak doors, but paused before they entered to link arms.
Faith pushed open the doors with one hand and Amber with one of hers, Lily was in the middle.
They couldn't have been in for more than 5 seconds before Faith and Amber's dates swept them away. Lily didn't waste time, she made her way to the punch bowl at the other side of the Great Hall and waited. She couldn't see any of the 'marauders' as they called themselves.
After half an hour at the punch bowl Lily had the suspicion she was being stood up. She stood there with a glass of butterbeer, staring out the window at the full moon which was peeking out from between two very thin dark clouds.
To make matters worse, she knew for a fact that Sev wasn't coming; something that had this morning made her feel so elated because he wouldn't be there to see her with Potter and possibly start trouble, was now a very horrible thought. It would have been nice to have the company of a friend to talk to right about now so she didn't feel so hopeless.
She refused all the wizards that asked her to dance, wanting to wait until the dance was over. She didn't know why but she couldn't believe that he had stood her up; not because she had never been stood up before (although she hadn't) but because of that look he had in his eyes when he asked her. He had seemed so sincere. Or was it just because she really wanted him to ask her out? Lily had no idea anymore.
By the the time the dance was over and the chaperons where ushering all the students out, Lily felt like she was on the verge of tears. Normally she wouldn't have cared much, she would have just shrugged it off and gone and danced with someone else, but this time was different. How, she didn't exactly know. What happened to the strong, independent Lily Evans that seemed to have vanished a few days prior?
"Wasn't that dance the best!" Amber exclaimed, she looked red in the face from dancing. Lily looked up at her and she must have noticed the tears starting to form in Lily's eyes because she started to frown.
"Lils, what happened?" she asked, brushing away her blond hair. Lily paused, she didn't want to make any of her friends sorry for her but she felt like she had to tell someone before she burst.
"James Potter stood me up." she said very quietly. Amber and Faith exchanged looks.
"Maybe something came up." said Faith apologetically, putting a hand on her friends shoulder.
"If its any consolation, none of his friends showed up either." said Amber, obviously thinking it would help. Sadly, it did not.
"Great, so they're probably all together laughing about how stupid I must have looked standing there by the punch bowl all night." Lily said, her voice cracking.
With that Lily quickened her pace and practically jogged back to her nice, warm, four poster bed.
She laid awake mostly all night stewing on what had happened. She had thought of all the possibilities that could have kept James away. She went from him getting detention to him getting abducted by small, carnivorous , water monsters, but none seemed as likely as him just standing her up.
By the early morning hours she had decided that she couldn't sulk any more and remembered something Anna had told her once. "Big girls don't cry, we get even."