The Marauders Era

Slughorn's Christmas Party

"Breathe in and out. You can do this." She mumbled as she looked at herself in the mirror. It's only for a few hours; I'll be fine. Most of the nerves growing in the pit of her stomach were not because of the party but rather for the fact that she was going home in two days. 

She turned slightly towards her bed and stared at her open trunk that was almost filled with the things she would bring home for the holidays, or rather to the Lestrange's. She did have to say that it was rather tempting not to show up and hid out at James's place or Andromeda's.

Turning back to the mirror, she inspected herself. Marlene had spent a while on Cassie's hair, which now laid in curls on her shoulders, the curls themselves had been conjured by a spell, but it was the several different hairdos that Marlene had wanted to try that had made the clock go.

Alice took it upon herself to do her friend's makeup with Dorcas watched her work like a hawk, commenting on something once in a while.

As Cassie sat impatiently while the others did their work on her, Lily occupied Dorcas's bed as she laid on her stomach, flipping through an edition of WitchWeekly, waiting patiently on her turn to be overrun by the three girls.

Cassie ran her hands down by her waist, feeling the soft fabric under her fingers. She turned around a few times until she settled completely and watched herself. The red dress looked as beautiful as it had done the last time she had worn it.

"You look beautiful."

Moving her gaze from her dress, she saw Lily standing behind her with a brilliant smile on her face. Cassie turned around and took in her friend's appearance. Her dress was a dark green that complimented her hair color and made her green eyes seem ever more green, while her hair was styled simply in soft waves. She looked stunning.

"So do you," Cassie stated, making her friend's smile widen.

Lily held out her hand as she spoke. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah"

As the two girls descend to the common room, they caught the sight of their two friends. Remus smiled when he saw the two girls and nudged James gently in his arm, trying to get his attention. Remus had been somewhat surprised when he found out that Lily had asked James to the party. With all the teasing Sirius, Cassie, and himself had done over the last weeks; he had thought that she would do anything to support her claim, not do the opposite and invite him to a party.

As he caught his friend's attention, he nodded his head towards the staircase. Remus bit his lower lip as he tried to contain the giant smirk starting to appear the moment James saw Lily. He was almost sure that his friend had stopped breathing. James looked pretty much blown away as Lily descended the stairs in a green dress that brought out her green eyes. Remus nudged his friend yet again, this time to bring him back down to earth.

James threw the younger boy a quick glare before returning to the girls in front of him. While the two girls struck a conversation with Remus, James, whose eyes had not left Lily's face since she came down, did not manage to say a word, not that he at all had even tried. He was so enraptured in the beauty in front of him that for a moment, he forgot what they were going to do.

"Are you okay, James?"

He looked down for a moment as he felt a warm hand touch his arm gently, raising his eyes; they immediately found the green eyes he had been admiring not too long ago. Lily gave the boy a worried look but relaxed as a sheepishly and almost embarrassed smile appeared on his face. "I-well yeah, I'm okay." He tried, but on the look of her expression, he quickly saw that she didn't quite believe it. "I-you look beautiful."