Eyes as Green as a Fresh Pickled Toad

Chapter Nine

The New Year's Party

"Well, you might as well settle down for the night," Mrs. Potter suggested, looking very tired and in much need of a large cup of tea. "I'll show you all to some rooms--and we'll get you some pajamas--"

Mrs. Potter sighed and began walking briskly down the hallway, motioning for everyone to follow her. Mr. and Mrs. Evans followed her, along with Dean, Daisy, Sirius Black, and James. Lily sighed and fell into step behind James, but hadn't gotten more than a few feet down the hallway before she felt thin, bony fingers close around her arm.

"You," Petunia hissed, and Lily whirled to face her sister. Petunia's bony, horse-like face was contorted in rage, and the orange glow coming from the candles in the hall did nothing to compliment the circles under her eyes.

"Me? Me what?" Lily asked, aggravated, yanking her arm out of Petunia's grip. It was harder to do than she'd anticipated; either Petunia had been lifting weights or she was very, very angry.

"You did this!" Petunia accused, jabbing her index finger at Lily's nose.

"I did nothing!" Lily said angrily, batting Petunia's finger away from her face.

"Oh of course you did! You just wanted me to be miserable, didn't you? You just wanted to ruin my Christmas!" Lily noticed that, despite Petunia's upturned nose and defiant eyes, her lower lip was trembling. She was about to cry.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes, Petunia!" Lily said, a bit more gently, throwing her hands into the air. "Do you really think I could have done this? Created a blizzard? I don't even know if witches and wizards CAN do anything to the weather!"

Petunia evaluated her for a moment, and then stuck her nose higher into the air. "You're lying!" she declared. "I know you want to ruin my life, I just know it! First you go off to that stupid school and make mum and dad twitter over you, then you go off and become a--a--oh, whatever it is they gave you a stupid badge for, and now--well, now this. This horrible, disgusting, weirdo, he's just like you---honestly, I bet you'll even try to get ENGAGED before me, just to show mum and dad how PERFECT you are!"

Now Lily was close to tears. "JAMES?" she yelled, outraged. "JAMES? You honestly think this is all about JAMES? Blast, it, Petunia, you great blubbering old--old--teapot!" Lily fumed.

"Teapot?" Petunia shrieked, outraged. "A teapot, am I? Well, look at you, Lily, you horrible, croaking--fire-bellied---toad!"

"Peacock!" Lily shot back. Petunia's eyes flared.

"Crow!"

"Horse!"

"Dog!"

"Sheep!"

"Cow!"

"Blast it, Petunia, this isn't Old McDonald's farm, you great old...beaver!"

"Badger!"

Lily's eyes flared, and she stomped her foot. "I am NOT in Hufflepuff, you--you--SNAKE!"

Both girls stood glaring at each other for a moment, breathing heavily, their faces red in anger and indignation. Lily's hair had very nearly fallen out of its bun.

"Fine, even if you won't admit it," Petunia spat, finally, "I know you did it. So don't expect me to talk to you for the rest of the holiday!" She sounded very shrill.

"Don't expect me to care," Lily shot back, darkly, and glared at Petunia's retreating figure as she stomped down the hallway, from which everyone else had already disappeared.

Once Petunia had gone, Lily leaned back against the wall and swallowed the lump in her throat, fighting back the burning sensation of tears in her eyes. Why did Petunia have to fight with her like this? It wasn't fair! And on top of that, why did Lily care so much? She banged her fist rather halfheartedly against the wall and hung her head, feeling defeated.

She didn't notice James's wide eyes staring at her from the end of the hallway. He'd been hiding just around the corner the entire time.

*    *    *

"Ah, Melody, there you are!"

Melody Cauldwell looked up from her piece of parchment to see Luc Sawyer standing in her doorway. She flashed a pearly-white smile at him and looked back down at her parchment. She was composing a letter to Lily. 'Dear Lily,' it said.

She wasn't getting very far.

"Bonjour, Luc," Melody said, fighting back a giggle. Luc rolled his eyes.

"How many times a day do I have to remind you that I'm American?" Luc demanded.

"As many as it takes," Melody replied easily, staring at her parchment. "Maybe I should finish this later," she said, hopping off her bed and setting the parchment and quill down on the bedside table.

"What's that?" Luc asked curiously, walking over to the table and picking the letter up. "Fascinating," he said, smiling and setting it back down. Melody gasped suddenly, and he looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"But Monsieur Luc!" she protested dramatically, faking a French accent. "Zis is inappropriate! What eef someone zees us? We would be thrown out of ze 'igh society! Zen what will I do?"

"Get a job," Luc replied, sounding unsympathetic. Melody rolled her eyes and dropped out of character.

"Oh, you're no fun!" she whined, flopping back down onto her bed.

Luc shrugged and gave her a lopsided grin. He had a very cute grin. Not as cute as Sirius's grin, mind you, but still very cute.

"So, what news bring you?" Melody asked, hoping off the bed and walking over to the big, beautiful cherry armoire that took up almost an entire wall of the room. It was a piece of artwork as well as a wardrobe; the entire thing was carved to resemble a falcon, and probably cost more than both Melody's parents made in a year.

Its four elephantine legs, each as wide at the base as Melody's forearm was long (and she had exceptionally long forearms), were carved in the likeness of talons. The voluminous belly of the armoire (which held all of Melody's dresses, coats, skirts, and sweaters--her Hogwarts uniform had been shoved in her trunk in a corner of her room since the beginning of holidays) was carved intricately, but not too ostentatiously, with feathers, representing the breast and belly of the falcon. There were two more cabinets in the armoire, one on each side that were carved to look like wings, and both held Melody's extensive, ever-growing shoe collection (she now had forty-three pairs). The top of it was crested with a mighty, hulking falcon's head, it's beak open in a cry of...well, what, Melody didn't know. She couldn't imagine the falcon crying out for war; she was in Switzerland, after all. There were no handles.

"We don't have to go skiing again, do we?" Melody added, scrunching up her nose and tracing her newly manicured fingernail around one of the falcon's feathers. A tiny keyhole appeared, and Melody removed the long gold chain from around her neck. Dangling from it was a tiny golden key.

"Clever," Luc said as Melody inserted the key and twisted it three times--right, left, right. The doors magically swung open, and Melody turned back toward Luc and smiled.

"What, you don't have one of these in your room?" she asked jokingly. Luc's family, while it did have money, had not taken the liberty of renting out one of the five penthouse suites for Christmas holidays.

Luc frowned. "Unfortunately, no. After seeing this, I have the sneaking suspicion we're staying in the...broom closet."

"Broom closet?" Melody asked, raising one delicately plucked eyebrow. "Well, that's good, you can snatch a couple of Nimbus 1001s and we can fly over these stupid mountains instead of ski."

Luc laughed. "Well, I certainly hope you can fly better than you can ski."

"Of course I can," Melody replied, fingering the fabric of her newest dress robes. They were deep blue, and made of silk. They made Melody's eyes look almost purple. She took them out and hung them on the door. "I play Quidditch, you know. Although don't tell my uncle--I doubt he'd think it was proper," she sighed, and took out another set of dress robes, this one a shade of red reminiscent of very ripe peaches, hanging it next to her blue robes.

"Melody Cauldwell, worried about what her uncle thinks? What, is he holding a pair of your shoes hostage?"

Melody blushed a deeper shade of red than her dress robes. "It's about respect, Luc," she said tartly. "You should understand that, even if you ARE from--" (she shot a coy look at him over her shoulder)"--America."

"Yes, I am!" Luc said proudly. "And I'm glad I finally found some Quidditch fans. In New York it's all Quodpot, Quodpot, Quodpot. What a bunch of weirdos!"

Melody giggled. "If I didn't know any better I'd almost think you were from Canada," she teased. "Monsieur Luc."

He rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha," he said dryly. "Anyway, Quidditch. You're a Chaser, then?"

"A Chaser?" Melody snapped, whirling around and feeling slightly more angry than necessary. "And why in the world would you assume that?" she demanded.

Luc blinked, looking rather astonished. He'd only known Melody for three days, sure, but he thought he'd gotten a good measure of her. She seemed an easygoing, optimistic, energetic witch, who was going to have one hell of a future, even if she didn't appear to have much magical talent--her uncle's money would see to that. But she'd never seemed like one to simply fly off the handle without warning. Maybe there were more layers to this witch than he'd thought...

"I--I didn't mean any harm," he stuttered. "It was only a question."

"No, it was an assumption. That's quite a bit different."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I've never known of a girl who played any other position but Chaser on a Quidditch team."

"Well," Melody said, visibly calming and managing a cocky smile, "that's because you've never been to Hogwarts. You're speaking to a real, live, female Beater." Melody smiled in amusement as Luc's eyebrows shot to the ceiling. "But," she added, turning back to the armoire, "like I said, don't tell my uncle. He wouldn't find it ladylike."

"Probably not," Luc agreed. "We aren't skiing again, by the way." (Melody let out a sigh of relief.) "Catalina sent me to tell you that your uncle's decided to show up for cocktails tonight, after all, and you have an hour to get ready."

"AN HOUR?" Melody screeched. "Get out! OUT! I have to get ready!"

Luc blinked in confusion, and, without much protest, allowed Melody to shove him out of her room and slam the door shut behind him.

*    *    *

Tendrils of flaming-red hair curled around Lily's face, and her bun sagged to the nape of her neck. The candles in the hallway laid a soft, flattering glow on her skin. In the flickering light her hair seemed to shimmer, as though it were made of satin. She shrunk against the wall and stared at the ground, hugging herself, looking broken. James couldn't take his eyes off her.

He crept into the hallway and leaned against the wall opposite Lily.

"I really wish you hadn't seen that," she whispered. James blinked.

"You knew I was watching the whole time?"

"No, but..." Lily shrugged. She still hadn't taken her gaze off the floor. "You saw it, didn't you?"

"Lily, your sister--" James began.

"Don't," Lily said, her voice soft but fierce. "I don't want to talk about my sister."

"Yes, you do."

Lily looked up from the floor, eyes blazing behind a sheen of tears. "How would you know?" she whispered, shaking her head. "What do you really know about me, James? What do you know about my sister?"

James considered this for a moment, dumbfounded. "Lily--what do you--how can you say--" he sputtered.

"We've known each other for a year, James, and I bet you couldn't even tell me when my birthday is."

"Your birthday? Well, of course I know when your...wait..."

"Exactly, James. Exactly." Lily shook her head again and scuffed one shoe on the floor.

"How could I--How couldn't I have--" He stared at Lily for a moment. "I'm sure I know everything else important, don't I?"

"It doesn't matter, James," Lily said, and began staring at the floor again.

"Like hell it doesn't," James said fiercely, shoving himself away from the wall and advancing toward Lily. She didn't even look up. "Look, Lily, you're right; I've known you for a year and I haven't even bothered to--" He cut off abruptly when he saw Lily's shoulders shake.

"Lily?" James said softly, putting a hand under her chin. He lifted her face just enough to see the tears glistening on her cheeks.

"It's so STUPID," Lily said savagely, jerking her head away. "I don't even CARE what Petunia thinks, she's so--"

"Stupid?" James offered. "Detestable? Horse-like? Irrational? Jealous?"

"Jealous?" Lily echoed, wiping the tears off her face. She began walking down the hallway. "I doubt that." She stopped and leaned against the wall. "I doubt that very much," she whispered.

"Why?" James demanded, coming up behind her and peering over her shoulder, trying to get a good look at her face. "Why is it so hard to believe that she could be jealous of you?"

Lily turned around and looked up at James, half of a smile on her face. She had a look on her face that suggested she knew why but wasn't going to tell him. "It really isn't important, James," she said, trying to sound convincing, but her voice was trembling so badly that it was jumping octaves.

"Lily," James said, exasperated. He looked at her for a moment, and opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it and grabbed her instead, wrapping his arms around her waist. Lily responded instantly, grabbing at the back of his shirt with both her hands and burying her face into his shoulder, sobbing. It took several minutes for Lily to compose herself. She turned her head to the side and pressed her cheek against the fabric of James's sweater, sniffling.

"I'm such an idiot, James," she whispered, half-smiling.

"Well," James conceded, twirling a loose strand of her hair around his finger, "at least you're a beautiful idiot."

Lily glared up at him, trying to hide a silly grin, and grabbed his nose. "That's enough, you," she said, pinching the end of it.

"Ow!" James whined, rubbing it. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you are such a baby!" she complained. "Come here!" She grabbed his face and stood on her tiptoes, preparing to kiss his nose, but James's lips intercepted hers. Lily's heart leapt into her throat and then fell back down again, and began bouncing all over her rib cage. How was it that James always managed to catch her by surprise? And...how in the world was it that she gave him the opportunity?

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" she demanded a minute or so later, feeling slightly winded.

"It's not my fault I'm so irresistible," James replied, sounding equally out-of-breath. Lily rolled her eyes again and shook her head.

"Gryffindors."

*    *    *

It had taken Melody an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready. When Luc saw her he tripped over himself and nearly fell down the flight of stairs he was standing at the top of. If it had taken her an hour and thirty minutes to get ready, he mused, he'd probably have broken his neck.

She was dressed in a fantastic shade of blue that made her eyes purple and her skin very white. It suited her. Her hair was part up and part down, part curled and part not...Luc didn't have any idea what to call it, but it suited her, too. And her make-up...well, Luc didn't know mascara from eye shadow, but he knew what beautiful looked like, and Melody was it.

"Luc?" Melody asked, her voice jolting him back to his senses. "Are you all right?"

"I-I-yes-of-of course," he stammered. "I'm fine." Melody smiled and shook her head. She looked like...a doll. A painting. A cartoon. She looked too perfect to be real.

"Luc," Melody said, pouting and whining slightly. "I've been standing here almost a minute, and you haven't even looked at my shoes."

"What--? Shoes--? Oh," Luc said, glancing at them. "They're...they're very..." he shrugged and returned his gaze to Melody's face. "Beautiful."

Melody rolled her eyes and glided over to Luc, her movements all silk. "Shall we?" she asked, indicating the doors to her suite. Luc nodded, somewhat regaining his composure and offering an arm to Melody. She took it and together they walked down the stairs into the world of the rich.

*    *    *

"Where's the trash?" Lily asked, emerging from behind the Christmas tree. "I have Melody's Sparkler." It had somehow gotten shoved back there, with several ribbons, random bits of wrapping paper, and one of Sirius's motorcycle helmets.

"Mum took it," James replied, placing all of his Christmas presents into a rather familiar-looking box. "It was full. Just throw that over there," he said, indicating the rather large pile of trash Sirius was inspecting suspiciously.

"Is that the box I got you last year?" Lily asked curiously as she crossed the room.

"Yeah," James replied. "Mum thinks it's great. She's been hinting all year she wants one...I think my dad's planning on getting one for her birthday."

"Six helmets," Sirius was muttering. "Six...where...?"

"Oh, it's behind the tree, Sirius," Lily said absently, tossing the Sparkler and several dull red bows onto the pile.

"Aha!" Sirius said, jumping over the pile and dashing behind the tree. "Tuesday! I thought I'd lost you!" he cried, reemerging. Lily rolled her eyes and James ignored him, shrinking his box to its smallest size and shoving it in his pocket.

"Here we are! Another trash bag!" Mrs. Potter said triumphantly, reentering the room and walking right over to the pile of trash, dumping it in the bag in great handfuls. "Sirius, have you found your motorcycle helmet yet, dear?"

"Tuesday? Yes, she was behind the tree."

"She?" Lily echoed, but Sirius ignored her.

"Mum, I still don't see why the house-elves aren't doing this," James whined, plopping down into an armchair.

"Oh, honestly, James! They do everything for you at school, they do everything for you at home, the least you could do is pick up wrapping paper once a year!" Mrs. Potter sounded very tired and strained. "And I appreciate all your help, Lily, but really, you shouldn't have, you're a guest."

Lily smiled and shrugged. "I don't mind."

"What about me? Aren't I a guest?" Sirius demanded.

Mrs. Potter laughed. "You? You spend so much time here I ought to be charging you room and board!"

"You'd charge me for food?" Sirius cried, looking pained. "But that--that--that's just inhumane!"

"No," Mrs. Potter corrected, "It's good business. I'd make a fortune."

James laughed appreciatively. "She's got you pegged, Sirius!"

Sirius solemnly considered throwing one of his motorcycle helmets at him.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you," James's mother warned, "since you eat about as much as Sirius. I ought to start charging you, too."

James rolled his eyes. "What're you going to use the money for? Paying the house-elves? That's a nice thought."

Mrs. Potter bopped James on the head lightly with a crumpled edition of the Daily Prophet. "Don't be stupid, James."

"What?"

"Oh, just never mind," his mother said, looking exasperated.

"Look! A bow! Lily-bean, would you like a green bow?" Sirius offered, holding up a rather squashed-looking mess of lime green ribbon.

"That's okay, Sirius, you can keep it," Lily replied, shaking her head and throwing some more wrapping paper into the trash bag.

"But it doesn't match my eyes!" Sirius whined.

"It doesn't match mine either," Lily pointed out.

"Oh," Sirius said, and stared at it for a moment. "So?" he demanded.

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed the bow, tossing it in the trash bag as well. "Just give it up, Sirius, nobody wants the bow."

"I want the bow!" James cried immediately.

"Oh, you do not!" Mrs. Potter said, bopping James again with her Daily Prophet.

"James, where--" Lily began, but she was cut off by the sound of a rather loud clock chiming in the hour.

"Oh dear, it has gotten late, hasn't it?" Mrs. Potter asked, her eyes focusing on the large grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "Eleven o'clock and I didn't even notice." She sighed. "Well, I suppose it's off to bed then!"

"Off to bed?" James whined. "But mum, it's Christmas, and it's not even late yet, and Lily--"

"Oh, honestly, James, you sound like a five-year-old!"

"But isn't he an adorable ickle five-year-old?" Sirius asked, making goo-goo noises at his rather irritated-looking best friend.

"Well, I would very much like to go to bed," Lily announced, "even if ickle Jamesie-poo doesn't."

Mrs. Potter laughed and beckoned Lily to the stairs. "Come on, then, I'll find you something to sleep in, and ickle Jamesie-poo can sit down here and pout."

James's face went very red and he glared at the both of them as they walked up the stairs. Lily giggled at the look on his face, and then lost sight of him as she and Mrs. Evans turned a corner and tramped up another set of stairs.

*    *    *

"Aw, that's so sweet, she's still calling you Jamesie-poo," Sirius teased.

"Oh, stuff it," James replied, crossing his arms and glaring at the Christmas tree, his face still a festive shade of red.

"Ooh, I wonder if I can make your face turn purple! Hey James, remember last summer when we saw Lily in her underwear, and--"

BOOM!

Sirius jumped and turned around, searching for the source of the explosion. His eyes landed on the spot of carpet where his motorcycle helmets had been neatly stacked; now the boxes were scattered askew across the floor, and Tuesday was scorched and looking rather worse for the wear. Sirius blinked and turned back to James.

"A little sensitive about Lily, eh?" he demanded, raising his eyebrows.

James glared at the Christmas tree and got up, throwing a stray piece of wrapping paper rather violently into the trash bag. "She's just so...annoying, Padfoot, I...augh! Don't you have problems like this with Melody?"

"No," Sirius said, rather darkly, beginning to stack his motorcycle helmets again. "I don't have anything with Melody. That's my problem."

"Well, at least you could fix that if you wanted to," James reasoned, tying up the trash bag and tossing it across the room, where it was picked up by a house-elf and carried away. He fell back into his chair and sighed. "At least you have some sort of experience with this kind of thing; you went out with all those girls in fourth year, and..."

Sirius laughed sharply. "That was the stupidest thing I ever did. Do you even remember what I was trying to prove?"

"Not really," James replied, taking his beloved bouncy ball out of his pocket and tossing it across the room. It bounced off the wall opposite him and flew back into his hand. "All I'm saying is that I could use a little advice here, Padfoot."

"Well, what do you want from her? Declarations of her undying love?"

James looked horrified. "Bleeding billywigs, no! I just...I don't know, Sirius, I just want to be able to talk to her without driving myself mad. I want to, you know...occasionally...kiss her...without worrying if she's going to slap me or not."

"Well, here's a thought: why don't you tell her how you feel?"

James threw his ball against the wall with more force than necessary and had to reach halfway out of his chair to catch it. "I don't feel anything about her, I just--"

"You want to kiss my sister?"

James blinked and turned around in his chair. Lily's little brother Dean was sitting at the top of the stairs, looking rather disgusted. Sirius looked up at him and laughed.

"You bet your bonnet, old chap!" Sirius said, sounding very much like his father. Dean scrunched up his nose.

"Eew," he commented. "Gross!"

"Well, of course for you it would be, but for James--"

"Oh, lay off, Sirius," James said, sounding slightly grumpy. "What are you up for?" he directed at Dean.

"I wanted some water," Dean replied. "But I got lost."

"Well, the kitchens are that way," Sirius indicated, "And I'm kind of hungry myself. You up for a snack?"

Dean nodded fervently and ran down the stairs, following Sirius to the kitchens. James walked rather sluggishly behind them, bouncing his ball absentmindedly.

"I passed that garden-thing again on the way down here," Dean announced, sounding excited. "If the snow's not gone by tomorrow, can we go back there?"

"Sure," Sirius replied, taking charge for James, who was looking very morose. "And we can throw things at the fairies to irritate them."

"Cool," Dean said as they reached the kitchens. Sirius directed the house-elves to bring them something to eat and sat himself down at a small table. Dean sat beside him, and James leaned moodily against one of the counters and bounced his ball.

"What's wrong with him?" Dean whispered to Sirius, as the house-elves brought them some delicious-looking leftovers from today's meal.

"Who, Moody Teenage Hormonal Imbalance Boy? He's lovesick."

"I am not," James argued childishly.

"Lovesick? Who?" Lily asked, stepping into the kitchens. "Ah, Dean, there you are! We were worried about you. What are you eating?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "Sirius! What did you give him?"

"It was his idea!" Sirius said defensively, pointing an accusatory finger at Lily's little brother.

"Whatever," Lily replied, rolling her eyes and grabbing a roll off of Sirius's plate. She took a bite out of it. "Come on, Dean, you have to go back to bed," she said with her mouth full, holding out a hand for her little brother to take. She glanced at James and Sirius while she waited for Dean to collect his glass of milk and several extra cookies. "What's with James?" she asked of Sirius. He shrugged, in the middle of gnawing on a chicken drumstick.

"One too many pieces of pie, I guess," he replied as Dean took Lily's hand.

"Well...good night, Sirius. Good night, James," she said, turning to lead her brother out of the kitchens.

"Night," Sirius replied, taking another bite out of his drumstick.

"Lily, can I talk to you?" James asked suddenly, as Lily opened the door to the kitchens. She stopped short and turned back to him with an exasperated sigh.

"Now, James?"

"No. After you put your brother to bed."

"But I want to go to sleep," Lily whined.

"Just for a minute," James insisted.

Lily groaned. "Fine. Meet me at my bedroom in ten minutes. It's the same bedroom I stayed in this summer."

James nodded and watched her go.

"Is it just me, or is she being unusually whiny?" Sirius asked conversationally.

"She's just tired," James replied, resuming the bouncing of his ball.

"So, what are you going to talk to her about?"

"I have no idea," James replied.

"Then why did you ask to talk to her?" Sirius demanded.

"Good question."

"Are you finally going to put yourself out of your misery then?" Sirius persisted, grabbing a new drumstick.

"I'm not putting myself out of my misery, I'm just...Oh, who am I kidding, I don't know what I'm doing, Sirius! I just...really wanted to talk to her."

"Are you going to tell her then?"

"Tell her what?"

"That you can't live without her!" Sirius cried dramatically. "That you can't breathe without her! Can't eat without her! Can't sleep without her! Can't change your knickers without her!"

"Oh, shove it, Sirius," James said, punching his best friend in the shoulder.

"Well, you're not denying it."

"Bugger off. I'm going to go talk to her."

Sirius loudly began humming a funeral march as James walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to hurt you one of these days, Padfoot!"

*    *    *

Lily waited impatiently outside of her room for James, playing with a lock of her hair. She was pacing...back and forth, back and forth....it was one of her more annoying nervous habits. She heard footsteps approaching and slowed her pace a bit. When she saw James, she stopped altogether and looked at him for a moment.

"James, what did y--"

But he didn't give her a chance to finish. Instead, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulled her to him, and kissed her. Lily closed her eyes and kissed him back, letting her arms wrap themselves around his neck.

Oh, damn him!

Lily had been very tired, but after a kiss like this she wasn't likely to sleep for hours. She broke the kiss and stepped away.

"What the hell was that about?" she demanded, but James didn't reply; he kissed her again. Lily tried to break away several times to ask him what he was doing, but he ignored her protests and kissed her, deeply, until her head started spinning and her knees turned to jelly. Lily, shocking both herself and James, kissed him back, pulling his body as close to hers as she could, until their hearts were beating almost next to each other.

How long the kiss lasted after that, Lily didn't know...hours? Days? Did it matter?

James kissed her again, slowly, and brought his lips away from hers gently. Lily didn't open her eyes, didn't move, didn't speak. She just stood there, breathing, as James rested his forehead against hers. She couldn't remember ever holding someone so tightly.

"Well, we're making progress," James whispered. Lily felt his lips moving against her cheek, and a hot, achy feeling swelled inside her--she wanted those lips back on hers.

"Progress?" Lily echoed, trailing a line of kisses from his cheek to the corner of his mouth. James pulled away as she was about to kiss him, and her lips landed on his chin. She pulled her head back, disappointed, and looked up at him, feeling sulky. James was grinning from ear to ear.

"Aha!" he said triumphantly, kissing her on the nose.

"Aha what?" Lily asked, still eyeing his lips.

"Aha--" James replied, kissing her forehead, "--you like it when I kiss you."

Lily's face flushed violently. "Of course I do," she whispered, as he kissed her on both cheeks. "Why do you think I've been kissing you back?"

James grinned and kissed her chin. "I don't know," he said, looking into Lily's eyes. "Sometimes you're difficult about it."

"Difficult how?" Lily asked, her mind still blurry, wondering why anyone would be difficult about kissing him--he was very good at it, and his lips were extremely soft--they were driving her crazy--

"I seem to remember," James began, interrupting Lily's rather crazed train of thought, "someone slapping me quite a bit. Last year. Over a few harmless kisses."

Lily narrowed her eyes at James's, which were taunting her, and had her mouth opened to defend herself before she saw the evident hurt behind James's teasing expression. "Oh, James," she whispered, before pulling him into a very tight hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't--I don't know, I was fifteen then, I didn't know what to do, I..." she trailed off and leaned back so she could look into his eyes. "It was my first kiss, and I wasn't at all expecting it, and...I was embarrassed, James."

"Well, what about this year then?" James asked, looking hurt. "When Remus and Sirius caught us kissing...you slapped me then too."

Lily bit her lip and stared at the floor. "I've been horrible to you, haven't I?" she whispered.

"No, Lily, not at all, it's just that--"

"No, but it is that, James," Lily argued, looking back into his eyes. "I have been, and you haven't said a word about it. I don't know how you've put up with me."

"Oh, come off it, Lily, you're--"

"I'm sorry, James," she whispered, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "It's just...you..." she sighed. "You've never seemed very serious about any of it. You'd laugh at me before you kissed me, or laugh at me afterwards, or pretend the whole thing was some big joke, or...or just kiss me to shut me up, or..." she shook her head. "I could never tell if you really felt anything about me, or you were just having fun."

James kissed her again, unexpectedly, and Lily's heart fluttered. "I definitely, definitely feel something for you, Lily."

"Well then," Lily said, feeling a small pang of fear in her gut--she had not expected this. "This changes things a bit."

James kissed her in agreement.

*    *    *

Melody floated around the ballroom like a princess, dancing with every eligible bachelor in sight. Her uncle was very pleased. She had really blossomed over these last few months; she carried herself elegantly, and was becoming a master at small talk. She had caught the eye of several very prestigious wizards, and within a few years she would marry and bring the family a much-needed infusion of money. The Cauldwell fortune was dwindling dangerously (only five million galleons or so now remained), and there was no one else left to turn to.

Hans only wished the Potters would come to more of these retreats. They were always invited, of course; their fortune rivaled even the Malfoys', and they were proven descendants of Godric Gryffindor--and Mr. Potter was the Minister of Magic, besides. They had a son about Melody's age, Hans knew, and he would have been a perfect match for her. But alas, it was not to be. Instead she was left to the selection of several unworthy wizards, including a particularly dislikable American one, whom Hans did not quite trust.

Melody was infatuated with someone, he could tell, but he did not know who. It was nobody here (another unfortunate circumstance), but Hans was half-tempted to ask his niece who it was; for all he knew, it could have been the young Potter boy. He did go to Hogwarts, didn't he?

Ah, well...maybe Hans would have Catalina go through Melody's things later and see if she had been receiving letters from any notable young wizards.

*    *    *

Lily and James had decided to go for a walk through the indoor gardens, to talk. Unfortunately, they weren't doing much talking. They walked side by side in silence, Lily playing absentmindedly with her necklace, racking her mind desperately for something to say.

"What do you want from me, James?" she asked suddenly, stopping and turning to him.

"Want from you?" James repeated, sounding confused. "Lily, I don't want anything from you, I just--I just want be around you, and...not have you slap me."

"Is that all?" Lily persisted, looking not at him but past him, as though it were too hard for her to meet his gaze.

"I...yes," James insisted, looking very confused and searching Lily's face for some sort of answer to his unspoken question.

"Are you sure, James? Are you sure? Because the way you've been kissing me..."

James blinked and shook his head at her. "What about the way you've been kissing me back?" he demanded softly, narrowing his eyes at her. "What about that?"

Lily blinked but continued to stare straight ahead. "I can't...I can't do what you want me to, James."

"Oh, bugger, Sirius was right!" James cried, sitting down on the ground.

"About what?" Lily asked, finally laying her gaze on him.

"About everything," James mumbled, looking very put out. "Sirius is always right."

"What was it this time?" she prodded.

"Nothing," James said, shaking his head. "Nothing."

Lily sighed and sat down beside him. "Look, James, I...I want to be your friend."

"And is that all you want to be? Is that it?" he asked bitterly.

"I...yes. No. I don't know."

"Well, that's just dandy. Thanks for being so specific, Lil."

"James!"

"What?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake! It's...it's not that. Well, it is that, and it isn't that. It's..." She sighed and stared at the ground, attempting to collect her thoughts. "I like you, James," she declared finally.

"But?" James asked, sounding bored.

"No 'but'. I like you, and..." she shrugged. "That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less. "

"Ah," James replied, after a moment. "Lovely. Well, thanks for telling me now, Lily, that's really great, of course I wouldn't have cared to know when I was carrying on and making a fool out of myself back there, when you didn't even care--thanks a lot."

"James!" Lily cried as he stood and began stalking away. "It's not like that at all!"

"Well, then what's it like? Huh? Dangling steak in front of a wolf, is that what it's like?"

"No! It's like...like...like when you kiss me, you want to keep me forever. Like you're marking me yours, and no one else can have me...like I'm making a commitment I'm not ready for. I'm only sixteen, James, and I feel like you want me to decide what to do with my entire future."

James stared at her in disbelief. "Are you really that repulsed at the thought of being with me, that you have to make all that up?"

"No! I'm scared, James, don't you get it? The truth is, I don't know what I feel about you, just that...I've never felt anything like it before, and..."

"And?"

"And it's scary as hell."

"Well, two steps forward, five steps back..." James shrugged. "It could be worse."

Lily put her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I can't be perfect for you, James."

"You're still here, aren't you?" he asked, slipping and arm around her and staring straight ahead, feeling both like he'd lost and gained something.

"Yeah," Lily whispered, picking up a lock of her hair and playing with it. "I am."

*    *    *

Melody danced with Luc many times. He was the only person here that she really felt comfortable with. He was still something of a stranger, of course, and most definitely not a Marauder, but still...he was a friend, or something like it, and very nice to talk to. He was also a good excuse to get as far away from the Malfoys as possible. Her uncle had encouraged her to talk to them, but she didn't like the way Lucius sneered at her, or the way his uncle, Lucifer (a good ten years older than the both of them at least), was staring at her.

"Come," Luc said, in the middle of the party. "Let's get away from here...I want to show you something."

Melody, glad for an excuse to get away for a minute, followed him eagerly out of the ballroom and into the front hall, where a sparse number of witches and wizards had decided to congregate, and Severus Snape could be seen (disgustingly enough) snogging with Narcissa behind a tapestry.

"Come on," Luc insisted, tugging at Melody's hand and pulling her toward a window that was, incidentally, hidden behind a tapestry.

"What did you want to show me?" Melody asked, but the words barely had time to escape her lips before Luc swooped down on her and kissed her. Melody was too shocked and disgusted, for a moment, to do anything, and instead concentrated on the horrible feel of one of his cold hands against her neck. Then she recovered her wits and shoved him away, with force.

"Ew!" she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and feeling very stupid. "What gave you the idea you could do that?" she demanded, feeling rather violated.

"You've been dancing with me all night, haven't you?" Luc demanded, looking almost hurt.

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean I want to have a snog session with you! You're practically the only person my age around here. Who d'you think I'd want to dance with, Colonel Farfinstein?" she demanded. Colonel Farfinstein was an ancient history professor, who'd taught in America for many years and was rumored to have earned his title from fighting with the Confederate army during America's Civil War. He looked even older than Dumbledore.

Luc considered this for a moment. "Well, no," he conceded, "but if you didn't want me to kiss you, then what'd you get all dressed up for? Just to get dressed up?"

"Actually, yes," Melody replied. "I like dressing up, thank you!" She shook her head at him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I have a party to attend." With that, she spun on her heel and stalked off.

She didn't notice the gold chain glittering in Luc's rather cold right hand.

*    *    *

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Potter said the next morning as she was joined by her guests for breakfast. "It looks like the snow won't be clearing up any time soon." She drew back the heavy red curtains in the dining room and her guests could see that it was snowing heavily outside. "This is going to drive me crazy," she said, bringing a hand to her lips nervously. "I've got to do something."

Lily exchanged a glance with Sirius, who just shrugged, but James sighed loudly and plopped into a chair. "You're not going to throw another party, are you, mum?"

"Well, that all depends..." Mrs. Potter replied, gazing down the length of the table to where James's father sat, reading the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. "Christopher, dear?"

Mr. Potter sighed and looked over the top of his paper. "Yes?"

"I was wondering...you've been so busy at the office lately, and...well, you haven't had time to really see your friends..."

Mr. Potter sighed again, sounding very much like James. "We had the Blacks and the Lupins over yesterday," he reminded her.

"Oh, I know dear, but really, what about all your other friends? When's the last time we really had a party? Uncloaked the ballroom and everything?"

Lily blinked. Ballroom? This place had a ballroom, too?

Mr. Potter looked at his wife's pleading face, and then sighed in resignation. "When do you want to have it?"

Mrs. Potter smiled and squealed like a little girl. "Oh, New Year's Eve, I think! Oh, it'll be marvelous, dear!" she swooped down on her husband with kisses. "Well, I've got a lot of planning to do, and there's so little time! You all can just sit down and have a nice breakfast, and--well, if you have any questions, I'm sure James can answer them for you!" Mrs. Potter hurried out of the dining room and disappeared down a hallway.

"Dad, not again," James complained as several platters of food suddenly appeared on the dining table.

"Not now, James."

"Remember the last time you let her do this?"

"Not now, James."

"The house-elves were cleaning up for a week!"

"James!" Mr. Potter barked.

"Sorry," James mumbled, and spooned some scrambled eggs onto his plate. "Just saying..."

*    *    *

Melody gulped nervously and began pacing around her room. How was she going to tell them...how, how, how? How in the world was she EVER going to explain this to her uncle? Well, of course, she'd explain it to Catalina first, but...

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Her uncle was going to kill her.

She knew there'd been something fishy from the start, she knew it, but...she was too trusting, that's what it was...yes, much much much too trusting...

But how to explain it? How? How to explain how she'd...lost it? Well...okay, she hadn't exactly LOST it, in fact, she knew exactly where and when it had gone missing, but that was entirely NOT the point.

And now all of it...all of it, all of it, all of it...well, it was all gone. All except for the small brown bag in the corner of her room that no one touched, that everyone liked to pretend wasn't there, like some sort of dirty family secret, which Melody really didn't appreciate, because honestly, it was just...

But no, no, no, that wasn't important right now. Not at all. What was important was figuring out how to tell Catalina...well, how to tell Catalina that...

TAPTAPTAP. "Melody, dear?" The heavy doors to Melody's room opened slowly, and Catalina entered gracefully. Melody sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at her uncle's mistress miserably.

"Why, Melody, what ever is the matter?" Catalina asked, tilting her head in an expression of both curiosity and concern.

Melody stared at the floor for a long time. Then, "It's gone," she croaked. "All of it."

"Gone? What...what's gone, Melody? You're not making any sense."

"All the...all the dresses, all the shoes...all the clothes, all the...everything, it's all gone, he took it all."

"WHAT? He? Who's he? Who took it? It...ALL of it?"

Melody nodded sadly. "All of it. Except...not the jewelry. He didn't find the jewelry."

"WHO, Melody? Who was it?"

Melody looked up at Catalina, her big blue eyes full of hurt, disbelief, and shame. "Luc," she replied softly, still in shock. "He took it all."

*    *    *

"Oh, Lily dear, do you have any idea where James is?"

Mrs. Potter caught Lily in the hall in front of the indoor gardens just after breakfast.

"Um...no," Lily replied "Not at the moment, but he's supposed to meet me here in ten minutes."

"Ah! Well, good good good...listen, would you be a dear and send him to see me up in the ballroom in about half an hour? I need to consult him about the guest list...and Sirius, too, if you see him..." Mrs. Potter paused for a minute and looked at Lily, as if considering who she was talking to. "And you can come too, of course...I realize you've never seen the ballroom..." she trailed off, a very distracted look in her eyes, as though she were thinking about a million other things.

"I'll be sure to do that," Lily assured her, and she nodded and smiled at Lily rather absently.

"Well, half an hour then!" she said, nodding and walking off briskly.

Lily waited twenty minutes for James, and when he came, it was with Sirius, a handful of cookies, and Lily's little brother.

"Can we go see the gardens again?" Dean asked excitedly.

"Actually, no," Lily replied. "At least not at the moment. James's mom wants him and Sirius to help her with something in the ballroom...something about a guest list, I think."

James groaned. "Oh, great...well, this way, then, it takes a while to get to the ballroom."

It did. Fifteen minutes, nearly, and up more staircases than Lily could count. Was there an end to this place?

"This place is really backwards," Sirius commented as they reached the last flight of stairs. "Everyone has to enter by way of the Grand Staircase, so they can be announced properly, but the Apparating Room is a floor below the top of the Grand Staircase, so they had to build this staircase so people could enter properly, but during parties no guests are allowed into the main house, so there's a Concealment Charm they have to use, and the staircase that actually leads into the rest of the house has to have about ten extra steps for the charm to work...and then there's ANOTHER staircase around here somewhere that leads into the gardens, and that's about forty steps shorter than it should be, so that makes all the rest of these staircases longer to compensate...it's crazy how magic balances itself out sometimes, isn't it?"

Lily stared at him, her head spinning. "Wait...WHAT?"

Sirius laughed.

"Where in the world did you learn all that?" Lily asked. "Isn't this supposed to be James's house?"

"It is my house," James clarified. "Just because I understand how it works and Sirius doesn't..."

"I understand how it works just fine!" Sirius protested. "Lily's the one who's confused."

"I am too," Dean piped up. "Why are there so many staircases?"

James sighed. "It's not really important," he said as they reached the doors to the ballroom. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?" he suggested, yanking open one of the heavy cherry doors and holding it open for the rest of them.

Lily stepped into the ballroom and nearly fell over. Like everything else in Potter's Cottage, it was unexpectedly large and unexpectedly beautiful. The Grand Staircase was...well, grand. The steps were made of a soft marble and covered, in a wide strip down the middle, with deep red carpet. An enormous crystal chandelier, probably the size of Lily's father's car, hung from the ceiling, and bathed all corners of the cavernous room with light. The room was decorated in all golds and reds and the rich, dark browns of all-natural wood. Clouds of dust and magic floated lazily around the room, and the whole place felt very full of both.

Lily got a feeling of intense...ancientness...from the place; she felt as though the walls were watching her, as though they had been watching the entire room since the day it had been built, as though they had stood for well over a thousand years and were perfectly prepared to stand for several thousand more. She'd never gotten this feeling from Potter's Cottage before, but then...she'd really only spent time in the gardens, the library, the dining room, and the main sitting room. She got the feeling, from this room, that Potter's Cottage was much, much older than it appeared to be, and that more of it was kept Cloaked than Lily really cared to think about. She got the distinct impression that the ballroom was only one very small portion of the much larger building that existed, outside of and even within the current, visible realms of the rest of Potter's Cottage. Perhaps that was why all the rooms were larger than they appeared from the outside; it wasn't that the rooms were stretched, it was more that they were condensed, like someone had decided that a room was too big for its current purposes, and instead of taking actual space away from it the Muggle way, they had decided to chop it in half magically; the room would look the way they intended from the outside, but now, from the inside, it would be slightly bigger than expected.

She also got the distinct impression that this 'cottage' wasn't simply a 'cottage', and, in fact, didn't belong to the Potters' at all. There was something much older here than the Potters and their cottage, something from a very long time ago...maybe it was residue from ancient magic that hadn't been entirely cleaned up, maybe it was the kind of magic that couldn't be cleaned, erased, or removed, no matter how hard you tried or how powerful you were. It was very...very...well, in a strange way, very much like Hogwarts, and very strongly like the Gryffindor Common Room.

Which, in fact, made sense. Hadn't Mrs. Potter said during the summer that the Potters were descendants of Gryffindor? Lily had never considered that the Potters were actually living in Godric Gryffindor's house...but no, it wasn't a house...it was...well, the Potters could call it a cottage all they wanted, but Lily now felt strongly that it was Gryffindor's Castle they were living in, rather than Potter's Cottage. She'd have to take this up with James later.

"Ah, James! There you are!" Mrs. Potter cried, spotting him as he began his descent of the Grand Staircase, with Sirius, Lily, and Dean in tow. She walked briskly across the ballroom to a desk hidden in a corner, and James and the rest followed her to it. "Okay..." she said, frowning and staring at a piece of parchment on it. "Now, I've already got the Blacks and the Lupins and the Pettigrews down, if only they can make it back from Denmark in time...I'd invite your parents, Lily dear, but I'm afraid they'd feel a bit lost in all the magic...and besides, you really need a wand for this sort of thing anyway." Mrs. Potter smiled apologetically at Lily before turning back to her parchment, and said, "I just hope the snow clears up before New Year's so I don't feel terribly embarrassed about it...of course, you Lily dear, are invited."

"Enough about that," James said impatiently. "Who else have you got?"

"Oh, right...well, the Diggorys, the Crouchs, the Zabinis, the Patils, the Pettigrews, the Figgs...who am I forgetting?"

"The Vaughans," James began. "The Henrys, the Dickinsons, the O'Reillys..."

"And don't forget the Perkins's!" Sirius reminded her. Mrs. Potter scribbled this all down, nodding as she wrote, and Lily stood to the side awkwardly, feeling incredibly stupid and useless as Sirius and James rattled off names methodically.

"The Johnsons and the Kingleys-" James added.

"And the Wards, Bagleys, and Hollenbecks-" Sirius interrupted.

"Don't forget the Floyds and the Flahertys!" James warned.

"Right, and then of course the McNabbs...anyone else?" Mrs. Potter looked up expectantly, her eyes darting back and forth between Sirius and James anxiously.

"What about...what about that new bloke at the Ministry, works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department?" James suggested. "Dad hired him just a few weeks ago, after that incident with the biting teapots, didn't he?"

"Oh, yes, what was his name...started with a 'W', didn't it?...Werrens? No, that's not right...Witcop? Wearing? Welling? Waybrook? Welsworth? It had an 's' in it, didn't it?"

"Weissel?" Sirius suggested. "Weisley?"

"Weisley!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "Is that it? No, no, no, but it's really close...Weisley, Wesley, We...Weasley, that's it!" she cried, scribbling the name down. "Oh, good, that's very good, James, now who else? There have to be more...oh dear! I know who I've forgotten, all those poor dears in the Restriction for Underage Wizardry Office...they certainly have it boring right now-there's a lot of other things to be worried about-" she scribbled down several more names, and then scanned over her list. "Anyone we've forgotten, yet?"

James and Sirius didn't speak for a moment, and Lily, who had been contemplating about speaking for the last few minutes, did so.

"Well, I'd say invite Melody, but she's in Switzerland right now with her uncle," she said.

"Melody? Melody who, dear?" Mrs. Potter asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh, you know, mum---Melody! Melody Cauldwell. Her uncle's really rich or something..." James informed her, shrugging.

"Cauldwell?" Mrs. Potter muttered, thinking about it for a moment. "Oh, Cauldwell! Yes! Hans Cauldwell! Of course, Hans...Switzerland was the hot spot this Christmas, wasn't it? I'd nearly forgotten...well, it's not that important now, is it? After all, what with one thing and another going on in the world...and Christopher being Minister of Magic and all...society functions are boring, anyway, and I'm sure James would much rather be here, so..." she trailed off rather sadly. "Well, no time to dwell on that!" she said suddenly, perking and forcing herself to do so visibly. "Everyone worth seeing is going to be coming here in a week anyway...well, I'll owl Hans too, and...I think the Malfoys are in Switzerland at the moment as well...oh James, don't make that face at me!"

It wasn't just James-Sirius and Lily were looking quite revolted at the thought as well. Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Anyway...so I think that's most of the people from Britain, but...do you think we should invite anyone from America?"

James groaned. "Oh, mum, not those bloody Americans again, you've got to stop inviting them to your parties..."

Mrs. Potter glared at James fiercely. "My sister married an American, James, and I'll not have you refer to my brother-in-law that way. Their friends are perfectly respectable, and I am free to invite them if I wish! However"-she glanced down at the guest list-"I think this is getting rather long, so I'm going to only just invite her, and those charming friends of hers-the Deckers, I think they were."

James rolled his eyes and looked annoyed at the thought. Mrs. Potter shook her head at her son.

"Oh, honestly James, enough of your friends are going to be there as it is, you don't have to associate with them if you don't want to-although I would greatly appreciate it if you'd be nice to their daughter, she's about your age.... Well, I think that settles the guest list, thanks so much for all your help, I'll just send this off with one of the house-elves...you kids go off now and have fun!"

With that Mrs. Potter shooed them out of the ballroom, and Lily, James, Sirius, and Dean, didn't see any sign of her until dinner that night.

*    *    *

The next week passed in a fantastic blur. Lily, James, Sirius, and all the house-elves were put to work to help prepare for the ball. Lily (although she had no reasonable clue as to how it had happened) had been put in charge of the infamous guest list, and spent most of her time locked up in a small office, receiving owls from as far away as Egypt, bearing letters accepting Mrs. Potter's invitation to the party. Lily's family left in the middle of the crazy week--the sun had finally come out and melted most of the snow away, but Lily had kind of missed that occurrence; she'd been far too busy with the guest list.

All in all, Lily had been rather relieved to have an excuse not to go home. She wasn't sure she could take too many more fights with Petunia, curious stares from Daisy, or, no matter how much she loved him, the constant stream of questions from Dean. She'd said good-bye to her family almost distractedly, thinking, as she showed them out the door, about the owl she'd just received from the Flahertys (who had accepted, and who she'd forgotten to write down).

Nearly everyone did accept; only a few people owled to say they were sorry they couldn't come. Lily jumped for joy when she received Melody's uncle's owl of acceptance, but the next minute she was sorely silenced as an owl from the Malfoy's confirmed their presence at the ball as well. It didn't matter, though; as many people as there were coming, Lily was positive she could avoid Lucius Malfoy-at the very least, she was assured that Snape wasn't coming, and that was enough to bring a smile back to her face.

James and Sirius were mostly in charge of decoration. Lily had been almost afraid to visit the ballroom with the completed and revised guest list, after all the owls had arrived-she'd half expected to see the place swarming with blue bubbles and hung with ridiculous pictures of-of-oh, she didn't know, poodles or something. However, Lily was pleasantly surprised to find that James and Sirius had fulfilled their duty magnificently; the ballroom was decorated now with rich red and gold tapestries, exquisite paintings, and hundreds of gorgeous fairy lights. It reminded Lily vaguely of the decorations in the indoor gardens, and also of Christmastime decorations at Hogwarts-the atmosphere here lay somewhere between the two.

And after the guests were accounted for, and the ballroom was mostly decorated, and the food preparations had gone underway, Mrs. Potter began fretting about wardrobe. James and Sirius both had suitable things to wear, but Lily had never in her life even heard of dress robes, and was at quite a loss as to where she could get any. Mrs. Potter took care of this, though, three days before the party. She called in a professional tailor, which Lily objected to profusely, and even as her measurements were being taken, Lily swore she would pay Mrs. Potter back.

James's mother simply waved her protests aside, insisting that the robes would be on her, that it was mere pocket change (which Lily highly doubted it would be-but then, considering the house Mrs. Potter lived in, it may very well have seemed pocket change to her), that she didn't have a daughter, and couldn't Lily just allow her to have a bit of fun? Lily couldn't argue with the last bit, especially not after she saw the material the tailor was planning to make her robes out of. It was the most beautiful fabric Lily had ever seen-it was a shade of green that matched Lily's eyes, with silver ivy plants embroidered (or something along the lines of embroidered-Lily wasn't quite sure what to call it) shimmering in a diagonal pattern all across it, so that if the material were made into robes, the ivy would appear to be winding around Lily in circles.

The tailor spent a day and a half making it, and then, when Lily put it on and looked at herself in the mirror, she almost fell over in shock. It was the most beautiful piece of clothing Lily had ever worn. She didn't even look like herself, wearing it. She looked much...older, much prettier, much...well, she didn't know what she looked like, exactly, but she knew she definitely wanted James to see her in it. The tailor flitted all around her as she marveled at herself in the mirror, making tiny adjustments with the hem, taking it in a few places at the waist, adjusting the neckline...

A low wolf whistle came out of nowhere, and Lily spun, with great shrieks of protest from the tailor, to see Sirius leaning against the wall. Lily flushed and looked away awkwardly, but Mrs. Potter seemed delighted to have him there.

"Oh, it looks fantastic, doesn't it?" she raved.

"I'll say," Sirius said, sounding impressed. Lily bit her lip and looked at him nervously.

"You don't-you don't think it looks silly, do you?" she asked, wondering why she was doubting herself. Sirius shook his head, earnestly.

"You'll knock him dead, Lily-bean," he assured her, and Lily blushed furiously at the 'him' implied in Sirius's sentence.

"It's simply...exquisite!" Mrs. Potter cried, clasping her hands together in delight.

Lily smiled and turned back to the mirror, and thought to herself privately that she couldn't have agreed more.

*    *    *

Her parents were insane. Bloody insane. They were Portkey-ing themselves all the way to bloody old fantastic England for a simple, stupid party. And on top of that all, she had to wear a dress. She detested dresses. Well, okay, no, it wasn't technically a dress, that was a "Muggle term", but honestly, it looked like a dress, it felt like a dress, and it wasn't a normal, sensible pair of blue jeans, so she wasn't about to go around calling it a "dress robe".

Eve Regine Decker stared at her reflection in the mirror hatefully as her mother cooed over the ugly, frilly blue piece of fabric Eve was wearing. The thing had poofy sleeves, a bow that tied in the back, and matching hand gloves. Eve hated hand gloves. They were ridiculous, and pointless, and...Eve looked like she was twelve.

"Don't you think it looks nice?" her mother asked, smiling happily.

"No," Eve said flatly, crossing her arms and glaring at her reflection.

"Eve, dear, don't cross your arms like that, you'll wrinkle it," her mother protested, grabbing Eve's arm to pull it away, but Eve yanked her arm out of her mother's grasp and turned away, keeping her arms firmly crossed.

"I don't CARE if I wrinkle it," Eve informed her mother. "I hate it."

Eve's mother sighed. "We've been over this before, Eve. You won't let me buy you a new one, and this one still fits, so you're just going to have to live with it."

"Fine," Eve said crisply, and stalked out of her mother's room. So she would wear the dumb thing-but she was going to make a few adjustments to it first.

*    *    *

"How long d'you think we'll be able to stay up here before my mum notices we're missing?" James asked, taking his bouncy ball out of the pocket of his deep red dress robes. Before Sirius had a chance to respond, however, a house-elf ran into James's room, looking frantic.

"Sir! What is you doing in here, sir?" the house-elf squeaked, distraught. "The Mrs. is looking for you, she's worried sick about you, they is starting introductions, sir, and you isn't there!"

"Oh, bloody hell," James swore, under his breath, and shoved the ball back into his pocket, running out of his bedroom and toward the ballroom with Sirius close on his heels. "The one time I'm actually being introduced at a ball, and I forget all about it," he called back to Sirius, dreading the telling off he'd be sure to receive from his mother, and Lily as well, as she was supposed to be introduced with him.

"Go figure," Sirius called up to him. "I would have thought you'd be there early just to drool over Lily."

"I don't drool over Lily!" James protested, taking the stairs up to the ballroom two at a time.

"You're going to tonight!" Sirius informed him knowingly.

"What, were you spying on her or something?" James demanded, stopping to catch his breath as they came to the top of the stairs. Sirius grinned.

"There was no spying involved, Prongs. I just walked right in and there she was...looking dead sexy, too, I might add."

James punched his friend in the shoulder before taking out his wand and tapping eight times on the door in front of him. It changed color, and he opened it, entering not the main ballroom, but the small entrance hall that he was supposed to have been in ten minutes ago. His mother spotted him immediately and ran over, reprimanding him for being late, and then shoving him toward the door, informing him that introductions were starting in one minute, and that she had to be down on the floor of the ballroom with his father already, and thanks a lot to him for making her late. She hurried off and James looked around frantically for Lily, who he spotted over by the other door, the one that led into the ballroom, clutching a small green handbag in her right hand and fidgeting nervously, and then she looked at him and James's heart stopped.

She wasn't mad at all, which was the last thing he'd expected. Instead, she looked absolutely, positively, and utterly terrified. (And also extremely beautiful.) She crossed the distance between them in a few short seconds and threw her arms around him, giving him a very tight hug.

"You prat," she whispered into his ear. "I thought you were going to leave me here all alone. I didn't have a clue what I was doing."

"Sorry," James whispered back, squeezing her tightly, and then pulling away, leading her toward the door again. He took her hand. "It'll be fine, Lily, don't worry."

She nodded at him, but her eyes were large and she was biting her lip apprehensively, staring very fixedly at the door, which James propped open, and he saw Lily's face go white as she stared out into the expanse of the ballroom.

"I can't do this," she squeaked, and turned around, trying to escape.

"Whoa!" James said, grabbing her around the waist. "Calm down, Lily, it's just a party, and no one's even here yet!"

"Oh, you liar!" Lily cried, still struggling to get away.

"Lily, look at me," James said, trying to calm her down, but she shook her head frantically and refused to look him in the eyes.

"There are people out there," she informed him. "On the balconies. I know it. I saw them. And there's people in here too, and I'm just going to make a fool out of myself, and trip on the stairs, and I can't do it!"

"Lily," James said, softly but harshly, feeling slightly exasperated. "Look at me."

Lily shook her head again, but she had at least stop struggling.

"Look. At. Me," James ordered, and she gulped and reluctantly looked into his eyes. "You're making more of a fool out of yourself right now than you will walking down those stairs. You're not going to fall. If you do, I'll catch you. If you don't, I'll throw myself down after you and we'll both look like idiots. You're going to be fine, okay?."

Lily shook her head at him again, and he glared at her. "Don't shake your head at me!" he commanded. "Listen to me. You. Are. Going. To. Be. Fine. Nod your head at me."

Lily swallowed again, and reluctantly nodded at him.

"Good. Now, we have to go," James said as he heard their names being announced. "But we'll take those steps as slowly as you want, and you can squeeze my arm until it falls off, okay? Let's go."

Lily turned reluctantly around and snaked her left arm through his right, clinging onto it almost painfully. He led her to the top of the stairs and they began the long descent to the ballroom. James wanted to just take Lily and shake her for being such a ninny! What in the world was WRONG with her? She acted as if she didn't flit up and down these stairs a hundred times a day! Honestly! She'd probably gone down these stairs more in the past week than James had for the past six months!

But there was nothing to say for that now, because Lily's had was shaking, ridiculously, in the crook of James's arm, and she was acting as though walking down these steps was more nerve-wracking than-than-than having Dumbledore catch you out of bed after hours after having just pulled a highly illegal prank on Snape, for heaven's sake! The corners of James's mouth twitched at the memory, and it was all he could do not to burst out laughing. However, he kept his composure and concentrated on the ridiculous nitwit of a girl next to him, who was finally calming down as they reached the last step. She did slip a little, as they both stepped to the bottom, and her face turned a brilliant shade of red, almost as red as James's robes, but by then three other people had already been introduced and no one was paying attention to her.

"It's okay," James whispered as they walked over to James's parents. "No one noticed, you did fine."

Lily nodded, but her head inclined toward the floor slightly as Mrs. Potter greeted them with a warm smile.

"Good job, James," she said, and then to Lily, "You look beautiful, dear."

James smiled in agreement, but he didn't think Lily saw it; she was now curtsying to James's father-where in the world had she learned to curtsy?-and James was vaguely missing the feel of Lily's hand on his arm. He nodded at his father and then took a place beside his father. Lily snaked her arm into his again, and he smiled slightly, and then turned his attentions to the next guest arriving.

*    *    *

This was extremely nerve-wracking. Lily had been looking forward to the ball all week, but now that it was happening, she felt very stupid-and the introductions weren't even halfway through yet! She smiled and nodded dumbly at all the guests James was so amiably greeting, and tried to feel graceful instead of extremely awkward in her too-tall heels and slightly-too-tight dress. At least James was still a good head taller than her; that was comforting, at least, and he didn't seem to mind her linking her arm through his, so she just kept it there, for comfort.

Sirius came down about halfway through the introductions. He came right behind his parents, and unaccompanied, and Lily was very glad that she'd had James to accompany her down the staircase, even if she did have to stand here and greet everyone. Sirius gave her the nicest greeting so far that night, aside, perhaps, from Mrs. Potter's.

"Don't be nervous," he told her, as he passed. "You look lovely."

Lily smiled at him, genuinely, and then she glanced at James, feeling an immediate pang in her stomach. He was smiling at the next guests-the Floyds, or whoever-and didn't seem to have noticed how Lily looked tonight at all. He hadn't made one nice comment about her outfit so far, and she suddenly felt very stupid and ugly, despite Sirius's comment. So what if Sirius noticed? James's was obviously blinded to her, no matter what he had told her a week ago. If he couldn't even think to make one lousy comment-

"The respectable Hans Cauldwell, and Miss Melody Cauldwell of..."

But Lily didn't quite catch the rest; it wasn't important! She grinned openly as she saw her best friend being accompanied down the stairs by a rather large man in very elegant black robes. Melody herself was wearing robes of deep blue, and she looked even more gorgeous than usual. Unlike Lily, Melody looked extremely comfortable in her surroundings, and glided down the stairs next to her uncle with the grace of a cat. Lily almost couldn't believe the change in the behavior of her normally loud, rude, obnoxious, and rather odd friend. She looked rather...demure as she curtsied to Mr. Potter, and then to James, which James nearly laughed at, but as she nodded respectfully at Lily she grinned broadly, and Lily was rather relieved to see that Melody still had a mischievous look in her eyes, underneath all those good manners. Lily grinned back.

"You look awesome," she informed Melody, and Melody raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at her.

"I think perhaps you look a bit more," she said, and then followed her uncle off, giving Lily a suggestive eyebrow wiggle in James's direction as she did so.

Lily blushed fiercely, and turned back to the long stream of guests yet to be greeted.

*    *    *

Remus Lupin wasn't particularly fond of parties. However, any party was all right when you were off in a corner with your best friends, thinking up evil things to do to the mince pies. Peter, James, and Sirius had hid themselves at a table in a remote corner of the ballroom, and had been alternating between poring over a very special piece of parchment, which Peter hadn't seen since Christmas holidays had begun, and thinking of ways to disrupt the banquet table.

Melody was off somewhere instructing Lily on how to mingle, and occasionally finding both girls dance partners, and Remus could sometimes see the girls dancing on by; he wasn't looking for them, really, but whenever they did James and Sirius stopped talking and began drooling, so it was rather hard to miss.

All four of the Marauders knew it was rather rude, and ungentlemanly like (although it was rather a joke to consider any of the four of them a gentleman) to have boxed themselves off in a corner, but they hadn't been properly united for nearly two weeks, and knew it was only a matter of time before Mrs. Potter came over and calmly (although probably rather hostilely, as well) told them to get off their arses and dance a bit. Remus wasn't disappointed; after another five minutes of poring over the Very Special Parchment, he saw Mrs. Potter coming over in their direction with a calm, dangerous smile on her face.

"Boys," she said, as sweetly as she could manage. "I think you've been sitting here quite long enough, and I think there are some girls at this party who would like to dance with you."

James hastily grabbed the parchment off the table and shoved it in his robes somewhere, standing. "Of course, mum," he said, nodding at her. "So sorry."

Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow at her son, which translated basically into "yeah, right" and walked away. The rest of the Marauders sighed and stood up, and followed James into the ballroom, into the hustle and bustle of the main party.

*    *    *

Well, okay, this was slightly more fun than staying home and writing owls to her best friend, Claire-but only slightly. Especially after the adjustments she had made to her dress. It now no longer had poofy sleeves or a bow, and she'd swapped the little blue hand gloves for longer, more elegant ones. She was still wearing a stupid dress, but now at least she looked sixteen instead of twelve.

Eve was swapping jokes with Melody Cauldwell and Lily Evans, both of whom had absolutely horrible senses of humor. They both loved horrible puns, which Eve was full of-her dad loved jokes, all kinds, and he had a joke magazine delivered to him by owl post every day.

"Okay, okay, I have one!" Lily announced. "It's my favorite: Why did Mozart kill his chickens?"

"Why?" Eve asked, dreading the response as a pleased grin grew across Melody's face. Melody joined Lily in the last part of the joke.

"Because they kept saying 'Bach, Bach, Bach'!" the girls cried, and then dissolved into a fit of giggles. Eve rolled her eyes at them, and then racked her brain for another joke.

"Okay, I have another one," Eve said, and both girls composed themselves and looked at her expectantly. "So, a guy walks into a bar with a newt on his shoulder, and he tells the bartender his name is Tiny. And the bartender asks, 'Why do you call him Tiny'? And the guy answers, 'Because he's my newt'!"

Lily burst into giggles, and Melody joined her shortly, smiling appreciatively. "Oh that's great!" Lily cried, clapping her hands together, and then all the girls jumped and spun around as they heard a groan behind them.

"That was horrible," said a boy with messy black hair, who was accompanied by three other boys, all of whom looked to be about Eve's age. They were all fairly nice-looking, especially the one to Messy Hair's right, who had black hair as well and an extremely attractive smile. However, he wasn't the one that caught Eve's attention. There was a slighter, smaller, shyer looking boy, who stood to Messy Hair's left, and had brown hair, and nice features, and whom Eve liked immediately without knowing why.

"Oh, honestly, James, you don't have a sense of humor!" Lily accused, looking rather more agitated than necessary. Messy Hair-who was apparently named James-frowned at Lily, and seemed about as perplexed at Lily's slightly hostile attitude as Eve.

"Forgive both of them," Melody said, stepping in. "They're having a lover's quarrel, or...something," she explained to Eve, ignoring the indignant shrieks of protests from both Lily and James. "Anyway, you kind of already know James-Potter, that is-but this is Sirius Black," Melody said, indicating the extremely attractive one. "This is Remus Lupin," she continued, motioning to the brown-haired boy Eve had noticed earlier, whom Eve smiled at now. "And this right here," Melody finished, "is Peter Pettigrew. All of you, this is Eve Decker. She's from America."

The boys all mumbled their hellos, all except James, who was ignoring everyone but Lily.

*    *    *

"What's wrong?" James demanded, looking very confused.

"Nothing!" Lily replied, refusing to meet his gaze. "Nothing at all, but you're being very rude to Eve, and-"

"Oh, sure, Lily, that's what all this is about," James said sarcastically, and shook his head at her, but he turned to Eve anyway. "Very nice to meet you," he said curtly, nodding at her. "Would you all excuse us, please?" he asked, and then steered Lily away from her friends.

"Now what's wrong?" James asked, tilting her face toward his and probing her eyes for an answer. Lily gulped, and felt a small lump rise in her throat. If he didn't know...if he couldn't tell...if he couldn't be bothered to give her one lousy compliment...

She shook her head. "It's nothing," she lied. "I'm fine."

"Lily, if you were fine, you wouldn't be acting like you were about to cry."

"I'm not going to cry," Lily insisted, her voice cracking slightly. She was such a bad liar.

But honestly...she'd gotten all excited about this, all excited about wearing this dress, about fixing her hair, and having Mrs. Potter help her with her make-up...she'd walked down to the ballroom tonight feeling gorgeous, like a princess, expecting James's jaw to drop, or for him to stare at her like she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, or at least stumble over his words trying to tell her she was pretty, not just...ignore the fact that she'd gotten all dressed up. Sure, it didn't have to be perfect, it didn't have to be like in a fairy tale, she supposed, or like in a book, but...shouldn't he have said SOMETHING to her by now? Did he not even CARE?

It didn't matter if Mrs. Potter said she looked great, or if Sirius thought she was lovely, or even that Melody had told her how nice she looked-James hadn't said a word, he hadn't given a damn, and he-

Oh, hell, he was the only person that mattered.

"Lily," James said softly. "Please tell me what is going on."

She glared up at him, her eyes filling with tears. "If you don't know," she said, shaking her head at him her voice shaking with sorrow and anger. "If you can't realize what an idiot you've been, what a complete and total git you are, then I am not about to-"

"Whoa, hold on a second! Lily, I told you I was sorry about being almost late, didn't I? And I am, too, I'm really sorry, I-"

"No!" Lily cried. "It's not about that at ALL! James, I-" she cut herself off and stared at the ground. "You haven't even looked at me, all night," she said miserably. "I-you-you haven't said one word about my dress, or, my hair, or...anything. And last week you told me that you cared about me, and thought that at least you'd notice I'd tired to look nice, and-" she cut herself off and swallowed, then looked up at him again. "I-" But she couldn't finish. The look on James's face was too much. He looked dumbfounded.

"Lily, you're insane," he croaked, grabbing her arms and staring at her. "Do you not realize that you're the most beautiful girl in this entire room?"

Lily swallowed again, and narrowed her eyes at him, confused. "But-" she protested. "I can't be. I mean, I'm not, and-"

"You ARE insane, Lily. My God, all I've done since I got here was stare at you, and...oh, bloody hell, I'm an IDIOT!"

He let go of Lily's arms and turned away from her, bringing a hand to his forehead. "Almost all I've done all night is think how beautiful you are, and...I didn't tell you once, did I?"

Lily shrugged and stared at the floor. "I guess it doesn't matter, I mean-"

"Oh, for heaven's sakes, Lily, don't be a twit. It DOES matter, and..." he grabbed her arms again, impulsively. "I was speechless when I saw you," he admitted. "You're...you're..."

Lily lifted her eyes to his, and bit her lip. "Pretty?" she ventured.

"You're stunning," James said, giving her a lopsided grin, and Lily suddenly felt warm from her head to her toes.

*    *    *

It was five minutes to midnight. Lily and James had been dancing around together, grinning like idiots, since at least eleven, and Sirius was running out of time. He'd promised himself he'd ask Melody to dance, promised himself he'd talk to her, promised himself he'd do something to control the crazy feelings he had every time he saw her. Peter and Remus were giving him a pep talk, encouraging him to go over to the banquet table where she was standing, holding a glass of champagne and making small talk with one of the McNabb brothers, which Sirius did not like the sight of at all.

"Come on, just go over and ask her to dance," Peter chided.

"Yeah, go on, Sirius, have a go at it," Remus insisted. "And if she says know, at least you'll know what hitting rock-bottom feels like." He whacked Sirius encouragingly on the back and smiled. Sirius gulped, and Peter glared at Remus.

"You are NOT helping him, Moony."

"Sure I am! Look at him, he's ready to go!"

"He looks kind of sick to me..." Peter said doubtfully.

"Nonsense!" Remus cried, knowing full well that it was the truth, but Sirius had been shoving Remus at girls practically since the first time they'd met, so he didn't feel guilty about it. "Off you go then, Padfoot! Be brave, stand tall, and don't fear incapacitating flesh wounds!"

Sirius stared back at Moony with an extremely odd look on his face, and then sighed, screwed up his courage, and walked over to Melody. She was laughing at something the McNabb boy had just said, and Sirius felt a very strong urge to punch him in the gut and tell him to stay away from her (if he knew what was good for him). Sirius took a moment to reflect on the fact that perhaps he'd seen too many Muggle movies last summer, with the aide of his flying motorcycle, and then shoved the thought away, because Melody had turned to him, and was introducing him to the McNabb boy. Sirius nodded briefly at him, and then looked at Melody again, and she raised her eyebrows expectantly at him.

"Would-" he began, stumbling rather dumbly over his words. "Would you like to dance?"

Was it just Sirius's imagination, or did Melody's whole face light up? It was probably just his imagination...in fact, he was probably getting horribly dizzy and his vision was just blurry...he'd probably pass out any second...

"Of course," Melody replied, and then excused herself from her conversation with McNabb and allowed Sirius to lead her to the dance floor. The orchestra was playing a waltz, that was simple enough, and one of the few dances Sirius could carry off without looking like a total idiot. He wasn't really a bad dancer, but he'd never bothered to learn most of the dances people did at these sort of functions, so sometimes he came off as looking rather stupid on the dance floor.

"I didn't know you knew how to dance," Melody said, as he led her around the dance floor.

"I could say the same about you," Sirius replied, and Melody smiled at him.

"I bet you didn't know I knew how to curtsy, either, did you?"

"No, that one caught me by surprise," Sirius agreed. "I didn't know you'd turned into such a lady. When you came back from Venezuela, you were spouting Spanish and still turning your hair blue. This is...different."

Melody blushed and looked away, shaking her head, which cause her sparkly silver earrings to jingle. "I knew you'd think I was silly," she said, looking uncomfortable.

"Silly?" Sirius echoed in disbelief. "Melody, this is the least silly you've ever been."

Melody looked up at him, half-smiling, half-glaring. "Oh, you know what I mean!"

Sirius smiled at her, and-was it just his imagination, or did she blush again? Very uncharacteristic behavior...but oh well, she still looked beautiful.

"How are your midnight studies going?" Sirius asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"Astronomy? Well, it-ow!"

Sirius squeezed her hand rather harshly, and she glared up at him before truly answering his question.

"I think I'm about ready for some new spells," she said, "and I'll need to practice my blocks on someone in a week or two."

"I'm always here if you need me," Sirius reminded her.

"I know," Melody said, "but James is a better dueler, so...I think I'll ask him to help me this time."

Ouch.

But Sirius didn't have time to think on it, because just then the waltz ended, and he and Melody stopped dancing. They both clapped politely for the orchestra, and then turned their attentions to the Grand Staircase as Mrs. Potter began speaking from the top of it.

"It's one minute to midnight!" she announced, and a cheer went up from the crowd of witches and wizards below her. "I hope you all have your wands at the ready!"

Sirius pulled his own out of his robes, and saw Melody next to him, do the same. He had his spell in mind, but he didn't quite plan on letting Melody do hers. He had something much better in mind...

"I want to thank you all for coming," Mrs. Potter was saying, "and may the feast and the festival go on well after the new year has been chimed!" She stopped a moment and looked at her watch. "Here we go! Ten...nine..." she began, and the rest of the crowd joined her in the countdown.

"Eight..." Sirius said, hoping he wasn't going to make a complete ass out of himself. "Seven...six...five..."

His stomach was twisting all over the place, up down, sideways, backwards, forwards-hell, his stomach was INVENTING ways to twist, and looking at Melody's sparkling blue eyes was NOT helping his situation.

"Four...three..."

He moved just a little closer to Melody, swallowing nervously.

"Two..."

Sirius gripped his wand nervously, and the incantation for his spell flew out of his mind. Ah, well, he didn't really need it anyway.

"One..."

And as everyone else yelled out their spells, as wands went up into the air, as magical fireworks burst and clocks chimed and the thrill of the New Year erupted around them, Melody Cauldwell and Sirius Black both dropped their wands and grabbed for each other, giving each other the oddest, most wonderful, unexpected-yet-completely-planned, and fiercest kiss either of them had ever had.

Sirius was shocked and pleased, and...a whole bunch of things there weren't words for. He kissed Melody more times than he could count, and slowly, and for as long as he could possibly manage. Then the orchestra started up again, and he was brought abruptly back down to earth, and he pulled away from Melody reluctantly, his arms wrapped securely around her waist.

"Happy New Year," Melody whispered, giving him the lightest of kisses before stooping to pick up her wand and walking abruptly away.

*    *    *