Enchanted | James Potter

Chapter 10: This Was a Mistake.

The days after flew by and soon came the 23rd of December, the day of the ball. The Great Hall during breakfast was more lively than usual. Some decorations for the ball were already visible and all the students were excited for the night to come. After breakfast, Flora went upstairs with her friends who again started discussing the ball and who they thought would look the most beautiful. Flora decided to catch up on some homework.

Everybody was sitting in the common room. It was four already and the marauders decided to go down for a little snow fight. Much to everybody’s surprise Flora asked them if she could join.

“Don’t you wanna get ready for the ball?” Remus asked, confused, since all her friends were going upstairs to get ready. 

“I’m not going.” she whispered exasperated.

“What?” Sirius asked.

“I am not going to the ball. Now can I come with you guys?”

“Why are you not going?” Sirius asked, almost shocked that someone would intentionally miss the chance to go to the ball and have all the amazing food. 

“Leave it alone Sirius.” she said and that was that.

The snow fight was a serious deal with the gang. Flora had ganged up with Remus and Peter to attack James and Sirius and Mathias was rolling on the ground, laughing. Flora immediately regretted the attack since the duo got together with Matty to attack them. Flora was covered in snow and her hair was almost platinum blonde with all the snow in it. 

Their fun was cut short when Mulciber and Avery, who were nearby with Severus and Edward, came to the gang and tried to hex them. Edward was too busy admiring Flora from a distance when he suddenly noticed that the two had gone over to the Gryffindors. He knew it was gonna end badly for all of them but he was powerless. He could not, even for Flora, risk going at odds with Mulciber and Avery. So he watched the scene unfold quietly from his spot where he was hidden. Mulciber tried to attack Mathias, often their target since he was a Dumbledore, but only ended up making a joke of himself when everybody else including Flora put up a defensive spell. He thought Flora was really brave. He could never be like her. Before the situation could escalate, The duo ran away, leaving a very agitated group of Gryffindors. 

“Let’s go upstairs. You guys should get ready too now.” Flora said, trying to calm everybody down.

To say James was nervous would be an understatement. His heart was beating out of his chest all the while he was putting on his auror costume. While all of his friends were having a laugh, he could only think about the mystery girl. Will she even come? What if she comes and hates James? All these questions were nagging his brain. His brain only rested when Mathias also started freaking out since this was gonna be his first time with Evanna in a ball. James took it upon himself to calm his best buddy out. Both of them needed that.

In the girls room, Flora was in a dilemma. She had been in a dilemma ever since the stranger asked her to meet him at the ball. Her friends were getting ready and she felt like her head was gonna explode. All her friends had already given way too many candies and snacks so she didn’t feel alone or hungry when they were at the ball. She was thankful for that. For friends like them. Flora was exhausted and she came up with the only solution her brain could think of. 

After all of Hogwarts had left their rooms for the Great Hall, especially her friends, Flora took out her Princess Cordelia dress. Her father had given her this dress at her sixth birthday and she enchanted it when she got to Hogwarts so that it fit her as the years went by. She called it the Princess Cordelia dress because that’s what she imagined Anne’s Princess Cordelia dress to be like. The dress was perfect for a costume party and she also had a mask with it which was very important for her plan. She did not want anybody to recognize her since she had told everyone that she was not going to attend the ball, so she needed a mask to hide her face. She put on her dress and mask at lighting speed and enchanted her hair to look a little different from what it normally did. She also put on her favourite necklace, which originally belonged to her mother and father. 

It was the most interesting necklace in her opinion. It had two chains, one with a left hand and the other with a right. If you put the two chains over each other the right way, it looked like the hands were holding each other. She got both the chains after her parents passed away. They had worn it till they had died and so the necklace had a special place in her heart.

After she had checked in the mirror multiple times that she didn’t look like herself, she ran downstairs to the Great Hall. She was glad she didn't look too out of place with the mask since multiple people had masks or weird makeup on.She was too occupied before when she was getting ready and it only hit her when she reached the hall that she was gonna finally meet him. She was finally gonna know who the stranger was. 

It was nine and James after much trouble managed to get away from his friends. They were already too busy spying on Mathias and Evanna anyways so it was kinda easy. He was glad they were having fun since he had been on edge since forever for the ball. He went stand in the middle of the dancing floor which now when he thought about it was extremely awkward. 

Flora weaved her way through the dancing floor to reach the middle and she saw only one person who could be the stranger. The rest of the people were either dancing with their partners or in their groups. He was the only person there standing, seemingly waiting for somebody. He had his back towards her. She approached him as her entire body began to shake of nervousness.

“Stranger?” She asked and he immediately turned around. She could not believe the person she saw. This could not be happening right now.

“Mystery girl.” he said in a low voice.

But she was very shocked. She could not do this. James was her friend, at least through Mathias and Remus and she always thought he was a big bully and the most arrogant person in the entire world. He was also famous for publicly asking Lily, one of her best friends, out on multiple occasions. She wasn't ready for this.

“This was a mistake. A really big mistake. I should never have come here. I have to leave.” she said and turned around to walk away from this big mess.