Turn Me Green, Kiss Me Pink

Chapter - 1

Of Tea Cups and Dances

"Lily!" Angela yelled playfully, looking at the maroon mess that was once her beautiful toes. Lily´s hand had shook as she completed her work. Angela rolled her eyes exasperatedly and raised her face to the ceiling, "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Thou madeth the mistaketh of asking Lily to painteth thy nails!" spluttered James Potter who was walking up. He laughed along with Isabella and Angela and made himself comfortable by sinking into a pouf next to Isabella and the fire, across from Lily who was glaring at him.

"You need to brush up on `Ye Old English´, James," Sirius Black commented, following suit and dragging a pouf in between Isabella and Lily. He kept himself busy by pointing his wand at the back of Isabella´s head and giving her curly black locks florescent green and pink streaks. He caught James´ eye and they flashed each other mischievous grins while the others weren´t looking. Isabella in the meantime had stopped laughing at Angela´s expense was now absent-mindedly stroking Sirius´s own black, smooth hair, with one hand, the other was scrawling away at her potions homework that on top of her textbook sitting in her lap. Sirius put away his wand and leaned his head on her armchair´s arm. At this act, James, Angela and Lily all raised their eyebrows at him. He smiled, closed his eyes and with an uplifted countenance, mouthed the words `feels nice´ while the others stifled laughs. James looked around at them all.

"Where´s Remus?" he asked no one in particular.

"He´s doing his homework up in the dormitory, he should be down soon," said Angela automatically, shuffling around, looking for tissues. She found some but they were no use, the nail polish was already half dry. Remus then came walking down the steps from the sixth year boys´ dormitory.

Sirius looked at Angela in awe. "Damn, Angie. Professor Owens was right, you do have a great inner eye!" he said.

"Thank you for the compliment, dumbass, but I saw him go up there awhile ago," she answered irritably after trying unsuccessfully to scratch the polish off, "Do you guys have nail polish remover?"

"Oh yeah, a whole bottle full on top of my dresser," James answered sincerely.

"Right next to his nose strips and toner," Remus added as he sat down on the floor, leaning against Angela´s chair since she was the only one who sat with her feet not touching the floor but on the chair.

"I'll take that as a no..." she answered with a sigh, rubbing the tissues against her toes, causing them to tear within seconds. The remains went flying and eventually ended up on Remus´ head. He wiped them off, turned around and with a simple incantation and a flick of his wand, the polish was gone in seconds. She thanked him and tried to paint them all over again, this time, using the back of his head as foot support, and as he had nowhere else to sit, he was forced to comply. The common room was unusually crowded today.

"Why are there so many people here?" he asked.

"Didn´t you hear Dumbledore´s announceme- wait, no, you weren´t there. Is your mother feeling better?" Lily asked, looking at Remus, concerned.

"My mother?" he asked puzzled for a second. A pointed look from James and Sirius told him that had been their excuse for his disappearance, "Oh yeah. Well, she´s really sick right now, I don´t remember what the doctors said she had but they did say that it probably wouldn't go away for a while. My parents have made arrangements with Dumbledore so I can visit her once a month until she´s feeling better..." the girls nodded, "So why is it so crowded?"

"Oh, at dinner, Dumbledore announced that this year it´s Hogwarts one thousand, two hundredth anniversary, and he´s throwing a ball on April 16th. The theme is supposed to be something about how life would be without magic, so we have to wear Muggle clothing and stuff... the common room´s crowded `cause everyone´s so excited..." Lily answered, looking thrilled.

"Is that why you´re painting your nails...a week in advance...?" he asked Angela with an amused expression.

"Oh please, I could care less about my toenails. I`m painting them because they´re getting brittle and it looks nasty, I´m just covering them up..."

"Oh yes, and you could care less..." muttered James.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I said `good explanation´..."

"My scalp itches..." said Isabella after a moment of silence.

"And the only solution is to scratch Sirius´, right?" Lily answered. They laughed as Isabella blushed and muttered something about thinking it was her dog at which Sirius answered he would willingly be, if she continued with her previous occupation. She pushed his head away from her chair, gave way to temptation, and violently scratched her head. As she scratched, a large amount of fine metallic green and pink glitter came off, showering her and Sirius who was nearest. Assuming that Sirius had placed it there, she smacked him and started brushing her hair on top of his head so he was covered with the glitter.

"Hey! I didn´t do anything!!" he cried indignantly, catching a mouthful.

"Great, now I have to wash my hair!" she said in mock anger. She stood up and closed her book, folding her homework inside it.

"Its about time!" he yelled after her as she ascended the stairs towards the bathroom.

-:- -:- -:-

"So what was Lily saying about some ball...?" Remus asked a few hours later in the boy´s dormitory. He sat on the edge of his bed, slipped off his slippers and lay down on it. He was very tired. Sirius was sitting on the floor with his back to his bed reading the most recent volume of the `Fifer the Fearless´, his favorite comic/adventure magazine. James was putting away his invisibility cloak that he had just used on a trip to the kitchen. Peter was lying on his bed, trying to sleep. Apparently, he was unsuccessful.

"When?" he asked, sitting up. He always had one paranoid thought in his head; he was being left out. "Where was I?" he added almost accusingly.

"At the library, remember?" answered James, looking at him with a curious expression.

"Oh yeah, what were you saying?" he said, his face coloring slightly.

"Lily was saying something about a Muggle ball we´re having next week..." Remus reminded them.

"Yeah, it's supposed to celebrate Hogwarts twelve-hundredth anniversary or something like that..." Sirius had finally shut his book, put it away and was lying down on his four-poster.

"Don´t we dance and stuff at balls?" asked Remus. The others looked at him with `oh yeah´ expressions on their faces.

"That´s right, we would need dates," Remus was looking at the others with his eyebrows raised, an amused expression at how thickheaded they were.

"That didn´t occur to me..." James observed, thinking, "We were all up all night...we´re tired," he seemed to need to justify his answer.

"I´m the one who should be worried, you guys can ask whoever you want to go with you..." said Peter sadly.

The other three looked at him with mild pity. All three were over five foot ten, lean, muscular, and quite handsome, Peter though was a good five inches shorter and a bit more than chubby. Remus, James, and Sirius were all-powerful wizards, which was evident if you looked at their grades, they would be competing for head-boy. As to his magical abilities, he was practically a squib. "Aww, don´t worry about it, just ask whoever you want," Sirius replied kindly. This seemed to assure Peter because he dropped the subject and they all went to bed after their other two dorm-mates joined them.

-:- -:- -:-

"I don´t like these... they´re all so old and just.... I dunno... `eww´ I guess...I´ll have mum order something for me," Isabella whispered. Angela nodded and ran her hand along an old-fashioned blue gown covered with lace. The manager at Gladrags had enthusiastically shown them into the back room where they´d just received a shipment of Muggle formal attire, ordered especially for the upcoming ball at Hogwarts. They smiled at him now and a small bell rang, calling him to another customer.

"Honestly, that looks like a hospital gown," Isabella added in a normal tone once he´d left their side. They examined a long, hideous frilly dress that was as shapeless as a muumuu. The manager was observing them keenly now that his other customer had gone.

"I think Granny used to wear the pink version to bed back in her glamorous days," Angela remarked thoughtfully. Isabella stifled a laugh and they quickly made their way out of the shop when the manager had turned his back. They walked along the high street and stopped in front of Honeyduke´s where an employee was handing out samples of their newest chocolate. Isabella and Angela both took a handful and popped one into their mouths.

"Mmm... these are great. Forget it, I´m not saving any for Lily," said Isabella, stuffing a few more into her mouth.

"Yeah. I can´t believe she didn´t come. As if she even has to study for that Charms test. She´ll ace it anyway!" Angela said while throwing her chocolates into her bag.

"She doesn´t need to study for anything, let alone Charms," Isabella agreed, "I mean, it´s the last Hogsmeade trip before the ball, you´d think she´d want to shop around. Oooh look! It´s Daniel Brady, he´s so cute... look, look, he´s coming our way!" she exclaimed excitedly, completely changing topic. Angela looked around and spotted the Ravenclaw sixth-year walking towards them and smiling at her. He stopped to stare at the shop´s display window, ran a hand through his dark blond hair and winked at his reflection before continuing their way. Isabella giggled and Angela snorted.

"Hey ladies..." he said in his usual cocky tone, a confident smile on his face.

"Hey Danny, what´s up?" Isabella returned with a flirtatious smile. Angela, put out by his arrogance, settled for a cold smile. He turned to her.

"So Angela, you got a date for that ball yet?" he asked, widening his smile.

"No..." she answered, raising an eyebrow and smirked.

"Well how about going with Yours Truly, eh?" he winked. Angela resisted the urge to slap him and ignored the appraising look Isabella shot her.

"Nah, I don´t think so," she replied flatly. Isabella gaped at her and Daniel looked like he´d been punched.

"What? Why?" he asked, looking worried.

"Yeah, why?" Isabella demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh you know, you´re just not my type. C´mon Izzy... see you Monday Danny," she added, grabbing Isabella´s arm and pulling her away back towards the end of the street. Isabella stopped and turned to her when they were a few stores away.

"What was that? Why didn´t you say yes?" she asked, looking astonished.

"Because he´s annoying and full of crap. If he takes me to the ball, I´ll end up punching him several times before the night ends. Therefore, I did it for his own safety," she replied, beginning to walk again.

"Yeah, right. You don´t plan on turning down everyone who asks you, do you?" she asked is a hopeless tone.

"So what if I do?" Angela´s obstinate side kicked in.

"What, are you going to sit back wait for Remus?" Isabella started, knowing that this was a sore spot.

"What´s that supposed to mean?" Angela answered mildly; she wouldn´t allow herself to get worked up by Isabella´s tactless comments.

"You know what I mean. Listen, Angie, no offense but what if he doesn´t ask you? You know how he is, it always seems like he´ll do something but then everything changes... he´s weird around you..." Isabella said carefully.

"What do you mean, `weird´? He´ll ask me. I know he will," she added stubbornly in response.

"You don´t know that!! No... I mean..." she sighed at the murderous look Angela shot her, "I mean... Oh Angela, I really hope he does and all but why are you so bloody confident? Did he tell you anything?"

"No..."

"Then why? Ugh! I don´t understand you! I don´t get why you like Remus. He´s so.. so... he makes you so miserable! You should just screw Remus and find someone else to like. A lot of guys like you and -"

"Izzy!" Angela interrupted exasperatedly, "Will you just drop it? I´m not in the mood to talk about my pathetic love life."

"But-!"

"No! I don´t need guys falling over me all the time, Izzy! I´m not you!"

"What are you trying to say?" Isabella cried heatedly.

Angela opened her mouth to yell something offensive but instead she sighed, "Forget it. Just... let´s not talk about this."

"Fine," Isabella said shortly. They walked in silence past the Apothecary, the local Hog´s Head Inn, and past Dervish & Bang´s joke shop where Sirius, James and Peter waved to them. Both Sirius and James carried a small bag of merchandise while Peter was laden with five, most of which were probably his friends´ purchases. Isabella shook her head at them when they started making rude gestures at the manager behind his back and was just about to comment when she realized Angela wasn´t next to her. She looked around and spotted her up ahead, walking past the last store. She caught up with her.

"Where are we going?" she asked curiously, watching her stare into space.

"Hmm?" Angela started and looked around as though she was lost, "Oh... I dunno..."

Isabella raised an eyebrow and turned to the direction in which she had been gazing. She frowned as she spotted Remus standing about twenty feet uphill, facing the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted house in England.

"Go on then," she stated, giving Angela a mocking look.

"What?"

"Go talk to him. Maybe he´ll ask you to the ball now," she added sardonically. Angela narrowed her eyes.

"Do you honestly call yourself a friend after you say things like that? Aren´t you supposed to support me through all?" she asked, injured.

"I´m not going to support you when you do stupid things. Forget about Remus, he´s not right for you!" Isabella said edgily. Angela grit her teeth and took a deep breath.

"And you know what´s right for me, huh? You don´t even know what you want, Izzy, so don´t think you do for me. I´m going to go talk to him, and I bet he´ll ask me."

"A galleon!" Isabella challenged, crossing her arms over her chest smugly.

"I´ll bet two," Angela replied haughtily before stomping up the hill towards Remus. She reached his side noisily and patted his arm.

"What´s up?" she asked, reaching up to kiss his cheek ostentatiously. He blinked and looked a bit irritated, as though she had interrupted something. He sighed.

"Nothing really," he answered blandly, looking at the haunted house to see what havoc he´d wrecked two nights ago. Angela looked up at it too.

"I wonder how ghosts do so much damage to that thing? They can´t even touch anything solid, let alone destroy a house," she said airily, not expecting an answer.

"Maybe it´s not ghosts," he said quietly. She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Not ghosts? What else could it be? They say that they howl and scream like mad but no one sees them... they must be invisible..." she argued, confused at how affected he looked at her words.

"Well how can ghosts do so much damage to that thing?" he retorted, repeating her first comment. She looked back at the Shrieking Shack thoughtfully.

"I don´t know... maybe... Maybe the house was abandoned or something, and then raided or robbed a long time ago, so people damaged it... and then ghosts came to live in it. Yeah, so the house was already broken up and stuff before the ghosts got here." she answered ponderingly.

He shook his head and peered hard at the second floor window where the panes were shattered completely and a broken shutter hung precariously, threatening to fall on anyone who got too close. "No. That´s new, that window... it wasn´t like that before..." he said distractedly and then immediately winced as if he´d said too much. He set his jaw and swallowed hard, his eyes darting around and then to her with a paranoid suspicion.

"Really? I dunno... hasn´t it always been there?" she asked curiously, not noticing the sudden change in his manners. He shuffled his feet, brushing fallen leaves into a small pile in front of him, trying to find the best opportunity to get away.

"I don´t know... Yeah you´re right, it´s always there," he said quickly, hoping that she´d just go away now. Instead, she walked a few steps ahead and narrowed her eyes in scrutiny at the window. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and swallowed again, knowing that she intended to stay. When she took another step forward, he turned to run as fast as his legs would carry him right back to where he´d left his friends but then noticed Isabella watching him intently from the foot of the hill. He casually pushed his sweaty hands into his pockets and strode down instead, looking nervously over his shoulder to make sure Angela didn´t see him. He threw Isabella what he hoped was a winning smile as he passed, and broke into a run when she was well behind him.

"Actually... I think you might be right. It does look new... do you come here often, then, if you can spot something like that?" Angela asked incredulously, surprised that anyone could find such a minor difference in the appearance of the Shrieking Shack without being told. He didn´t answer so she backed up a few steps and turned around,

"Remus...?" she asked and then stopped when there was no one behind her. She turned around again and realized she was alone on the hilltop. He had done it again, given her the cold shoulder. Maybe Isabella had been right; there was no telling what he´d do next when it came to her. There was a pile of dried, dead leaves on the ground in front of her and she stomped on it, furious with herself for whatever she´d done wrong this time. Why had he gone? She had just thought of a way to ask him whom he was taking to the ball, which would hopefully lead to his asking her to the ball and he just left, sabotaging her plan. She looked to the bottom of the hill and saw Isabella giving her a worried look. Seething at being pitied, she trudged right down to where she stood, made as if to pass right by her and then stopped. She dug around in her pocket and threw something at Isabella, who caught it instinctively.

"There, happy?" she asked cynically before turning around and continuing back towards the castle. Isabella looked shocked and opened her palm to see two gold galleons glinting viciously.

"Wait, Angie. Stop!" she called to the retreating figure, clenching her fist over the coins and pushing through the suddenly thick crowd towards her. She stopped when she´d lost her and, cursing loudly she turned around and came face to face with Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James. They stared at her when she stomped on an innocent ant.

"Did you see Angela?" she asked angrily and without preamble, looking daggers at Remus.

"She went that-a-way," James said cheerfully, pointing vaguely up ahead on the cobblestone path. Sirius looked curiously between her and Remus and Peter shifted some of the bags he was carrying.

"Yeah, she looked real miffed about something," Sirius commented warily.

"Hmm, I wonder why..." she started sarcastically, "Do you feel some sort of sick joy every time you do that to her?" she asked hotly, glaring at Remus. Without waiting for an answer, she turned around disgustedly and marched in the direction of the castle, determined to get back and find Angela. The four boys exchanged looks, taken aback and Remus avoided their eyes.

"Well... that was uncalled for."

-:- -:- -:-

"Okay class, for homework tonight, I want you to draw a picture of a Muggle telephone and find a spell to make it unique. For example, you can make it move or change colors or whatever. Assignment due tomorrow!" Professor Drake announced to the class. They had barely written it down when the bell rang.

"James, wait for me, I have to pack up...all my stuff fell out," Isabella called to James urgently.

"Uhuh," he replied in just the opposite tone. He picked up his bag and made his way out of the room, into the corridor and towards the staircase. He was almost there, when something forceful knocked into him, taking his breath away for a second. He was about to yell something rude to it when:

"Oh, I´m so sorry," said a muffled voice from his chest. The figure stepped back to reveal a petite, pretty girl that he had never seen before. She took another step back, knocked into a burly seventh year and fell backwards onto the stone floor.

"Its alright, I´m the one who wasn´t watching," James answered, extending a hand to help her up, picking up her books and smiling all at the same time, "I´m actually glad I ran into someone as pretty as you. Your name is...?" she giggled a delicate, pretty laugh, took his hand and got to her feet.

"I´m Charisma Gillman and you´re the infamous James Potter, no?" she asked, taking her books and piling them into her bag. "Captain of the Quidditch team, top of the class, excellent prankster, and, " she glanced at his smiling face, "one of the most eligible bachelors in the school..."

He laughed, "So...explain to me why I was denied the pleasure of meeting you sooner?" she smiled dazzlingly and opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a voice coming from down the corridor.

"James, you stupid git, what happened to waiting for me after class?" asked an out of breath Isabella indignantly. Her hair was disheveled from the effort of trying to catch up with him. She leaned against the wall to catch her breath and turned to James again, "We have Divination next, right? Oh, hi Charisma," she added, looking at the girl. Charisma had been looking from James to Isabella with a puzzled look on her face but now she smiled and said hello.

"Sorry, Izzy. Fate thought it more important for me to meet this creature than wait for you, you must forgive them however," he said, directing his speech more towards Charisma than Isabella.

"Oh brother," she answered, rolling her eyes, "C´mon James, Owens's will kill if we´re late and we have to get to the North Tower. Charisma, do you have Divination now?"

"Nope, Ancient Runes, I´ll see you later then..." she added as Isabella nodded to her and started pulling James towards the nearest staircase.

"Hold on, are you going to the Anniversary Ball with anyone?" he asked, looking back at her and pulling his hand out of Isabella´s grasp.

"No..." she said raising her eyebrows and smiling.

"Well, now you are, I guess I´ll see you later!" she waved and walked towards her next class and he stood looking after her until Isabella pulled him up the steps with a forceful `C´mon´.

"We...are.... so.... late...." Isabella panted. They had just stepped onto the top floor landing and she clutched at a stitch in her side, they had run up the whole way thanks to James. He walked up to the trapdoor, pulled down the ladder and gestured for her to go first. She frowned and shook her head. With a resigned sigh, he climbed up the ladder with her behind him and opened the trapdoor.

"Now pour the wax into the dish and... you´re ten minutes late Mr. Potter, Ms. Rey, thirty points from Gryffindor. Sit down and your neighbor will tell you what to do!" They walked over to one of two large round tables and sat next to their friends.

"Did something happen at Muggle Studies?" Remus asked curiously.

"James here was just picki--"

"Another ten points! I will not tolerate anymore disruptions from you, Rey," Professor Owens growled at them. They went back to copying notes.

-:- -:- -:-

"Izzy?"

"Hmm?" she answered, taking one of Lily´s knights.

"Can you stop scratching your head? The glitters everywhere, look at my Potions essay; it´s practically pasted on. And why don´t you get rid of those streaks already!" Lily said, trying to brush the shimmer off her assignment unsuccessfully.

"But, I like them! The glitter is going away..." she answered defensively.

"Yeah, sure...are you going to the ball with anyone or are we going as a group?" Lily asked her friends.

"There are only three days left, right?" asked Angela, finally snapping out of her reveries.

"Yeah, I´m getting worried, my mother hasn´t sent me the dress I had her order for me yet..." Isabella said with a sigh.

"Really? Mine came yesterday," Lily put in.

"Yeah mine too..." Angela added.

"So did mine," said a voice from behind them. Sirius, grinning broadly, was standing behind Isabella´s chair. He moved up and whispered something into her ears. Her face lit up, she moved her chess piece, declared `checkmate´ and he received a smack from Lily. They laughed and he sat down on a pouf next to the fire.

"Hey, who are you going to the ball with?" Isabella asked him. Lily and Angela noticed her biting her lip thoughtfully.

"You, you prat," he said. He turned and smiled at her angelically and she narrowed her eyes.

"Shouldn´t you have asked first? What, you just assumed no one else would ask me?" she said in mock indignation, ignoring the insult.

"Hmmm... I don´t know. What is it that boyfriends do again?" he asked, tapping his chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness. "Besides, who else would put up with you? It´s a hard task, but someone´s gotta do it..." he wiped fake sweat off his forehead. "Hey, Remus!! Who´re you taking to the ball??" he yelled across the room to where a figure was tying a letter to an owl. He turned around when he heard his name and walked over to them.

"I dunno... Angie doesn´t have a date yet, right? I suppose I could go with her?" he sighed, more a statement than an invitation.

"As insulting and unenthusiastic as that was, okay," she answered after blushing a pale pink. She shot Isabella a triumphant look before closing her Divination book with a snap and suddenly picking up her crystal ball, she was the only one who had actually purchased one. Isabella shook her head faintly but smiled nonetheless.

"Great, James can take Lily and we can just go as a group!" Sirius said happily.

"Romeo´s already got a date. That´s why we were late for Divination, he spent ten minutes asking that new girl, Charisma, out..." Isabella said with a grimace. They all looked at Lily, as though expecting her to burst into tears.

"Its okay, if no one asks me, I´ll just go by myself," she said with a smile. Peter, who was sitting at a nearby pouf, not in their semi circle but close enough to hear what they were saying, suddenly reddened. He looked away when Remus caught his eye and after a few minutes, walked over to them.

"H-hey! What´s up?" he asked, smiling like an idiot, and resembling one too. Remus turned abruptly around to hide his laughter and Sirius, who was behind Peter, was shaking.

"Why so cheerful?" Sirius managed to ask.

"Oh nothing, so you´ve all got dates for the ball?" he asked, reddening more.

"Yeah, all but Lily," Isabella said while trying to keep a straight face and shooting that 'stop laughing!' look at the boys

"Really? Well...y-you wanna go with me?" he asked, laughing nervously and trying to act casual. Lily looked from Angela who was biting her lip and gazing into the foggy ball harder than ever to Isabella who had a small smile on her face and was cocking her head so she was looking pointedly at her. She glared at Sirius who was silently laughing hysterically, pointing at Lily and saying `ha ha´ behind Peter. She then looked to Remus who´s eyes were watering as he picked at a loose string on a nearby chair to Peter who´s face was growing steadily darker as he wringed his hands in an apprehensive fashion.

"Sure Peter, that would be wonderful!" she said with a bright smile. His face resumed its usual color and he smiled nervously.

"Great... uh... I´ll see you at the ball then! I mean... I´ll see you before that too because we-we have transfiguration--" he stuttered, blushing profusely. "I´ll just go to bed now. You know... tired and everything..." he said quickly, pointing towards the stairs.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Lily answered quickly, glancing at her friends, all of whom looked ready to explode. Peter nodded and they watched as he practically leapt up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, they burst into laughter.

"Oh. My. God," Isabella said after a minute or two.

"Wow, Sirius was actually right when he said Peter could go with whoever he wanted to," Remus jutted out between peels of laughter.

"Did you see his face??" Angela said, as the crystal ball fell out of her shaking hands and broke. She didn´t even seem to care, she was laughing so hard. As for Sirius, he was beyond words.

"He´s-he´s shorter than me!" Lily cried out between her mirth. Just then, James walked into the common room and looked at them all puzzled.

"What´s going on? What´s so funny?" he asked, his eyebrows raised, eyeing the four red faces and the figure rolling around on the floor that was Sirius.

"James! Y-you totally missed it. Peter asked Lily to the ball!" Remus said as a fresh outburst took over him.

"Really?" he said gleefully, "What did you say?"

" `Yes!´ What else was I going to say? You should have seen him!" Lily said, out of breath.

The ball was going to be an interesting one.

-:- -:- -:-

"I don´t understand why we have to do these stupid homework assignments! Ugh!!" Lily yelled in frustration after her fifth attempt to turn a sheet of parchment into a complete tea set that would pour out already made tea into cups at your command. The Anniversary Ball was in two days and the common room was especially noisy after an entertaining show of fireworks and the grand finale of detentions given to the house´s most famous trio.

Sirius, James, and Remus were determined to have a feast that night but just as they were about to go down to the kitchens, Professor Drake, the head of the house, decided to spend the rest of the evening in the common room, "enjoying the company of his youthful friends", as he put it. To distract him, Remus set off a colorful array of Fillibuster's Fireworks on which Sirius decided to try out a few charms while James and Peter hid under James´ invisibility cloak and ran off to the kitchens. Of course, Sirius´ charms were literally Sirius´ charms, his very own concoctions that he had never tried out before. The first few were bizarre, the fireworks whizzed around the room farting out brightly colored feathers before exploding, but the fifth one was chaos causing. As soon as Sirius waved his wand, the fireworks exploded high in the air and tiny centimeter-sized stars, each attached to a tiny spark of flame flew towards the windows, as though trying to escape into the sky. Several succeeded but many flew into the curtains and set them on fire. Just as this happened, James and Peter arrived loaded with éclairs and cakes and, completely forgetting that Professor Drake was still here, James began dishing out the food while Peter, who noticed the fire and realized the shrill screams of terror were not squeals of joy, ran up to the fifth year boys´ dormitory. James, Sirius, and Remus each received detention for two weeks under Professor Drake and fifty points off Gryffindor each.

"You´re only complaining because you can´t do it.... Accio!!" Isabella said with a smile, literally summoning Sirius from the fireplace where he and James were reenacting some scenario involving very bad break dancing to Charisma, Vanessa, and Giselle who were falling out of their chairs, laughing. He shot backwards into Isabella´s lap, where she grabbed hold of his head, and turning it so that he faced her looking thoroughly shocked and fearful of the force with which she handled him, and kissed him passionately with more than just her lips.

"Vulgar, aren´t you?" Sirius replied after their thirty-second-snog, looking flustered but pleased, still sitting on Isabella´s lap, "But that´s how I like my women, right?" he added, wrapping one arm around her neck and pulling her head up to his waiting lips to repeat what they had just completed. She let out a derisive snort, pulled away and stood up, leaving Sirius to fall on the floor in a tangled heap as she stepped over him to sink into a pouf next to Lily.

"So sorry darling, the seat was beginning to get uncomfortable, what with you weighing me down and everything," Isabella replied to his murderous glare. She sat up from her curled-into-a-ball-on-a-pouf position, grabbed his arm and dragged him towards her off the floor where he was deliberately slumped in mock helplessness. He rubbed a spot on his temple, pointedly glaring at Isabella, and she, rolling her eyes at Lily, kissed it affectionately.

"You´re better now," she stated, smiling sincerely, picking up her own transfiguration homework and drawing out her wand to work on it.

"Thanks for letting me know," he answered, standing up and looking over to James who was watching him impatiently and the girls who looked astonished. Isabella noticed the looks upon their faces.

"Go now. I have no more use for you..." she said to him, placing her arms on the sides of her pouf and acting as though it was a throne.

"Yes master... I mean mistress," he said with a mock bow and then standing up again he said with a smirk, "You´re so very dominating, did you know that?"

"Well, I am always on top..." she gave him a mischievous smile and winked, "If you know what I mean..." They gave each other identical grins and he reached down and kissed her softly before returning to his waiting audience. Lily and Isabella watched him go and Isabella noticed Giselle´s eyes darting from her to Sirius and then Giselle narrowed her eyes giving her a final nasty look. She returned it with a broad smile. Lily was giving Isabella a look of utter disbelief.

"Izzy... do you and Sirius have--" she began to say but was interrupted as a flying Remus landed at her feet and lay there looking dazed for a minute and then slowly grinned at her.

"Sorry, Lily..." he said, sitting up, "Angie here," he waved his hand vaguely in her direction as she came running towards them but seemed too tired to continue.

"Oh my god, I´m so sorry Remus..." Angela said, pulling him to his feet and then helping him into a chair. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... what the hell was that for?" he asked, glaring at her and rubbing his head.

"What were you doing in our dormitory??" she asked in return, her hands on her hips.

"Sirius left my copy of Potion Brewing With Passion in there and I was innocently retrieving it when you decided to attack me..." he answered. She fumed.

"What the hell would Sirius be doing in our dormitory, huh? How stupid do you think I am?" she narrowed her eyes at him as he glanced at Isabella who mouthed the word "sorry" to him, looking fearfully at Angela. She was usually very even tempered and rarely this furious.

"Forget about that. That was really cool! What did you do to me?" he asked, breaking into a wide grin, looking curious and eager.

She eyed him suspiciously before answering, "I levitated you, that´s when you hit your head on the ceiling, and then instead of lowering you down directly, I think my wand backfired and it just shot you into the common room..." she said, looking thoughtful.

"Your wand didn´t backfire Angie, I think that in all your rage, you flicked your wand so I would land on the common room floor," Angela opened her mouth in rage but he interrupted her, "Anyway, now I know never to enter your dormitory when you´re the only one in there," Remus said with a smile before getting up and joining Sirius and James. Angela took out her new crystal ball and began working on her divination homework. Just then the piece of parchment Lily was trying to transfigure inflated and started squirting water all over the place. She threw it on the floor and stomped on it several times until a squeak sounded its death. Angela and Isabella sat still in their chairs staring down at the parchment and wondering if this was going to trigger an outburst of rage from their already frustrated friend. To their surprise, she merely took a deep breath and looked around.

"Too bad that didn´t happen when the curtains caught fire," she said with a sigh. "That´s it... JAMES!!!" she yelled, shocking her friends. Across the room, James who was sitting on a pouf with Charisma on his lap, turned to look at her.

"C´mere for minute?" Lily called, looking desperate.

"Why?"

"To do my transfiguration homework for me...?" she more asked than answered, pouting and cocking her head on the side. She pointed to the wet piece of parchment on the floor for him to look at.

"Sure! But only if you do my Charms," he smirked. They did this often.

"James, can´t you ever do something from the goodness of your heart?" she pleaded as he raised an eyebrow, "C´mon, please!!! I´m really frustrated!!!"

"So am I! I have no one to do my Charms homework for me," he pouted as he stamped his foot.

"You are such an asshole!" she narrowed her eyes at him as she brought him her parchment and as he took it, reaching over Charisma´s arm.

"Lil´, I owe you nothing but I do pity you for the sad time you´ll have at the ball. I´ll do it, but now you owe me," he sighed, taking out his wand. Lily let out a squeal of triumph and was just about to lavishly thank him when Charisma took the parchment away from James and pulled out her own wand.

"I´ll do it, James," she said, straightening out the parchment with a flourish.

"Charisma, don´t worry, James and I do favors for each other a lot and I´m sure he´d be happy to do it, as I´m paying him back for it," Lily smiled at James, "Don´t waste your time on it Charisma," she finished politely, reaching out to retrieve the parchment from her.

"Really, its okay," Charisma replied curtly, snatching it back, "After all, we are the best of friends Lily, aren´t we?" she smiled, raising her eyebrows. James hugged her tighter, grinning at Lily, pleased.

"Um... yeah..." Lily answered hesitantly, smiling nervously as Charisma turned her soggy parchment into a beautiful purple ceramic tea set that, when a cup was tapped with a wand, would pour ready-made tea. Lily thanked her, eyeing her curiously as Charisma carefully handed her the tea-set, smirking, her eyes cold chips of green ice. Lily made her way through the clutter of poufs and chairs to her dormitory, thinking of what had just occurred. Did Charisma have something against her?

-:- -:- -:-

Lily entered the empty common room and stared blindly at the walls for a few minutes, still standing in front of the portrait hole. It was lunchtime and after a quick bite of her ham sandwich she had decided she didn´t want to sit through the meal with everyone around her musing about the ball tomorrow. She sighed deeply and now fixed her gaze on her toes.

She jumped when James called to her from across the room, "Lily, a good idea would be to move before someone comes in through the portrait hole and knocks you down." She had thought she was alone but apparently not. She shrugged and walked over to the chair he occupied.

"Hey James," Lily uttered feebly, sinking miserably into a pouf across from him. James, who was reading a book looked up at her and frowned.

"What´s wrong? What are you doing here anyway, shouldn´t you be at lunch?" he asked, concerned.

"No appetite..." she answered, in the same pitiful way. She sighed, "What about you?"

"Already ate, thought I´d hurry it up a bit so I could do some research." he answered, frowning. James waited for her to say something in vain.

"So what´s wrong, why do you look so depressed?" he inquired, closing his book with a snap, sitting up in his chair to stare her down.

"James? Research? That´s a Quidditch book isn´t it?" she said, snorting.

"As a matter of fact, you´re wrong. I am doing research and don´t ask me what because I´m not telling. Answer my question," he answered seriously.

"I´m just tired," she said, glancing at him, "Can´t you see the bags under my eyes?"

"No," he answered, peering exaggeratedly at them and making her smile, "I don´t see them because they aren´t there... which is probably because you´re not tired."

She rolled her eyes, "How would you know?"

"Because it is the day before the anniversary ball, the first and probably only ball we´re having before graduation and being the delicate lady that you are," she smirked at him, "if you were tired and had bags under your eyes, I´m sure you would not sit here and sulk about them, you would run up to your dormitory, apply toner or whatever--"

"Concealer,"

"Sorry, concealer and worry about looking as great as you can for tomorrow night, right?" he finished, smirking knowingly.

"Yes James, you´re right, I am that shallow," she laughed.

James leaned back in his chair, "No you´re not. If you were shallow, you wouldn´t have agreed to go with Peter to the ball would you? And I bet that´s why you´re down right now."

"Yes Mr. Potter, right again. How do you do it?" she said sarcastically.

"Face it, I´m brilliant," he grinned. He walked over to another pouf, dragged it over to where Lily was, and sank into it so that he was at eye level with her. She sank deeper into hers as he openly searched her face, making her squirm uncomfortably. He sighed, "Lily, listen. Going with Peter won´t be as bad as you think. You don´t necessarily have to only dance with your partner at the ball so you´ll be with other people too. When you guys aren´t dancing, you can sit at a table and I´m sure one of us will be there and at dinner we´ll all be at the same table so it´ll be just like going as a group or something. It won´t be so bad," he said comfortingly.

"Yeah, I guess... I can´t help but think.... was anyone else was even going to ask me though...?" Lily muttered, sighing deeply. To her surprise, James laughed.

"Oh my god, Lily. You make yourself sound as repulsive as a Manticore," he said, rolling his eyes.

"What? Peter asked me two days ago and everyone I knew already had dates by then... it´s a valid concern you know," she said, glancing at him. "I can´t help but think if Peter was the only person left..."

"You know that if I hadn´t asked Charisma I would probably have asked you. And you also know that if Peter hadn´t asked you, and word had gotten out that you didn´t have a date yet, guys would be lining up for you and now you would be sitting here heart-broken over how many guys you have to reject."

"Yeah I guess," she muttered, not at all convinced. "One more problem though"

"What?"

"I fear this shall be the hardest to answer," she took a dramatically deep breath "How, James, how does a girl dance a slow dance with a guy four inches shorter than her?" she wasn´t surprised when James started laughing hysterically.

"Sorry, I was just imagining it in my head," he said when he had calmed down. "C´mon," he said as he stood up.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking at him puzzled as he took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Nowhere. You´re going to practice slow-dancing with a guy four inches shorter than you," he answered, wrapping her arm around his neck and his around her waist and at the same time holding her left hand in his.

"You´re forgetting that you´re taller than me, James," she smirked, an amused expression on her face.

"Hmm..." he looked thoughtful. "How about this?" he said, bending his knees a bit

"You´re still taller," she laughed as he bent further.

"How about this?"

"A little more..." she answered, looking thoughtful.

"Now?" he asked, crinkling his brow.

"Now you´re down to an inch shorter than me...." she answered implying that it was not enough.

"Lily, I can´t bend my knees any further without kneeling..." James said, now about three inches shorter than her.

"Kneel then!" she exclaimed, smiling, a glint in her eye. He glared at her.

"Okay, okay.... hmm...." she thought about it for a minute. Then, suddenly grinning she said, "Hunch!"

"What?" he answered bewildered at her command.

"You know... bend your back forward, like you have a hump..." she clarified, moving her hand to his upper back and gently pushing it down.

"Lily!! You´re not practicing dancing with a cripple!" he complained, now about six inches shorter than her, knees and back bent.

"Don´t be silly, you look fine," she said, delighted at seeing him like this. He glared at her, not convinced.

"Now I´m too short, let me get up a bit," he pleaded.

"What´s wrong with being too short, you´re teaching me to dance with someone who is shorter than me, aren´t you?"

"I can´t stand like this for long...."

"That´s not a problem, just conjure up a cane."

"Clearly you´re having too much fun with this," he muttered.

"Wait! Stand there just like that, I want to look at you!" she said brightly, letting go of him and backing away into the chair he had occupied before. She giggled as she took a good look at him. He glared at her at first but then, realizing that this was an opportunity to be prime entertainer, a role he took on as often as possible, and also a way to cheer up his friend, he began striking poses, as though Lily was a photographer. He started out with just blowing kisses in his crippled state, enough to make Lily laugh, and progressed to doing a kind of uncoordinated tap-dance, sucking his lips into his mouth as though he had no teeth and squinting through his glasses, howling "I lost my teeth!" and "I´m a cripple!" alternately.

"Having fun?" Charisma smiled, materializing suddenly out of the shadows and walking towards James, her eyes on Lily who was now crying with uncontrollable laughter on her armchair, it was obvious she was trying desperately to stop. James stopped as soon as she had spoken and his face broke into a - from Lily´s point of view - a sickening grin.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, swooping down to give her a light kiss as she arrived at his side, smiling.

"I was wondering where you were! I thought you said you´d be at the library, returning a book...?" she narrowed her eyes at him, smiling as Lily managed to compose herself.

"I was, I came in here to find it and I thought I´d look up one last thing before I returned it," he pointed to the book, that was now lying on the floor, "and then Lily came in all depressed about her date for tomorrow, you know - with Peter, and I thought I´d cheer her up," he bent down to pick up the book and didn't notice the glare Charisma threw at Lily.

"Oh yeah Lily, you´re going with Peter! Well, I´m sure you´ll have a great time anyway, it really doesn´t matter who you go with. You can sit with us if he annoys you too much," she said, clearly by her glare, not meaning a word of it as James beamed.

"Why thank you Charisma, James was just saying that I could sit with you and the rest of our group when I feel like it." Lily replied politely as James smiled.

"That was an amusing way to cheer our friend up," she commented to James, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and sliding hers around his waist, ignoring Lily completely and making her seethe enough to want to tackle the shorter and smaller girl and stomp her to death. She resisted the urge.

"I was actually trying to teach her how to dance with someone shorter than her," James chuckled, "but of course Lily here had to make me bend my back and my knees so I could be the right height and then she started laughing so--"

"I know, I was watching," Charisma interrupted, "that was a cruel thing to have my boyfriend stoop to, Lily, no?" she said, as an icy sneer crossed her face that looked like a jesting smile from James´ aerial point of view.

"I´m sure he enjoyed himself," she sneered back at her. James frowned at her, wondering why she was being less than friendly to his more than friendly girlfriend. Lily stood up, "Well, I have to get going, I have to return a book to the library. I´ll see you guys later... thanks James," she said, walking towards the portrait hole as quick as she could, and pulling a small book out of her pocket.

"Wait, Lily, since you´re going there anyway, can you return this for me?" he threw his book and she caught it, muttered "Sure," and made her way through the scattered poufs.

Charisma called after her, "Lily, honey, why are you in such a hurry? Wait. I´d like to accompany you." she said, smiling broadly, "You don´t mind, do you?"

"Of course not, I´d be delighted." Lily retorted with an equally sweet smile plastered to her face. James was watching this, confused at their formalities.

"Bye then," he called to them, settling into a chair by the fireplace and pulling something out of his pocket.

"Bye James!" the girls chorused and then quickly turned to each other, identical glares pasted on their faces, both looking like they could kill each other just for saying goodbye to James. They climbed out of the portrait and turned the corner, still glaring at each other, neither of them speaking.

"So Lily," Charisma stopped in front of the library and turned around, "Think its that easy to have James?" she sneered scornfully, dangerously blocking Lily´s way into the vast rows of knowledge, after their tense, silent walk from the common room.

-:- -:- -:-