Nah, She Didn't

~ Part 79 ~ Don't You Mean Ruggedly Handsome ~

Uptown Girl  -  Billy Joel

-James POV-

"Woah," I comment, looking through the doors and into the vast Great Hall. Remus and Sirius nod in agreement.

There's a pine tree at each corner, each strung with lights, popcorn and cranberry strings, and a variety of ornaments and commodities that give off such a holiday cheer vibe that I would've been Christmas-ied up enough with just the trees. But knowing Hogwarts, the trees were most definitely not the only decoration.

The four house tables had been replaced with smaller, circular tables. The smaller tables had been pushed to either side of the gigantic hall to make room for a dance floor in the middle. There were banners, and silver, gold, green, and red streamers strung all across the halls, and around the end of the Professor's table.

Floating in the air were candles and magic mistletoe, simply topping off the holiday decor like a cherry on a cupcake. Wait no, you daft dimbo, cherries don't go on cupcakes, they go on ice cream.

The mistletoe floating around in the air brought back wonderful memories of past Christmases. You see, with magic mistletoe, you are forced to kiss whoever you're stuck under there with no matter what. It's as if there's an invisible wall that disappears only after lips have touched. I laugh fondly, remembering the time Lily had gotten stuck under there with me, and forced me to just kiss her on the forehead—after spending about half an hour punching the invisible wall—and she'd been red-faced the remainder of the night. Or the time Sean McLaggen had been stuck with Phil Lovegood; McLaggen had been so angry and embarrassed, it was hilarious. Phil's a great guy though, really. Or—I chuckle—the time Sirius had gotten stuck under there with Amos Diggory. That had sure been a sight.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts from Sirius snapping in my face. "Merlin, is it the James-blanks-out palooza or something?"

I glare at him and shove him over so I can stand in the middle of the doorway for the aesthetic.

Remus just rolls his eyes at us. "We should find a table before too many more people arrive and take them all."

"Right-O, Moony," Sirius replies, sticking his tongue out at me as he follows Remus through the doors.

A good amount of students are already here, lingering on the dance floor or at tables until the ball begins.

Sirius and I lose Remus in the crowd somewhere, but I don't make an effort to go look for him as I must beat Sirius in this Mary Poppins hop contest. You know the classic Mary Poppins hop? Like how you jump and click your heels before your feet hit the ground? Well, Sirius, for a reason beyond my knowledge, thinks that he can do it better than me. As if.

"Look, I just happen to think that your attempt seems much more like a walrus trying to slide off a rock and into the ocean than a man trying to do the Mary Poppins hop," Sirius says with a shrug.

"Well I just happen to think that that is absolute walrus-shit," I reply. "You can ask anyone. Anyone, and their answer will be James Potter is much better at the Mary Poppins hop than Sirius-the-nincompoop Black."

"Before you actually manage a better hop than me, I think you'd have to manage a—"

"GUYS!" I hear Remus shout over the chatter, but I can't pinpoint a location.

I look over at Sirius. "MOONY!"

"MOOONY," Sirius yells along with me.

"WHERE IS MY LOVELY MOON BUDDY?" I ask loudly.

"WHERE'S MY SWEET MOONSIE-PIE?" Sirius adds. I open my mouth again, but before I can a voice interrupts.

"Hush!" Remus exclaims. "Oh wait, I forgot, that word isn't in either of your vocabularies!"

"There you are," Sirius says.

"Yes, here I am," Remus repeats. "I found a table, so follow me."

"Yes sir," I salute, trailing after him next to Sirius.

Remus leads us to the table and Sirius gasps. "OH! MOONY IT'S ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! NEVER HAVE I SEEN A BETTER TABLE IN MY LIFE!"

It's a circular tables with ten chairs around it, located right at the edge of the dance floor.

Remus shakes his head, a grin gracing his lips. "I really don't know why I'm friends with you lot."

I ignore Moony's comment. "I agree with you, Sirius, that this is a wonderful table," I begin. "But we must mark it as ours. We must rest assured that no one else will steal our amazing table."

"Oh Merlin," Remus groans, but then catches me pulling my wand out. "Wait, James, I wouldn't—"

But he is too late. I exclaim the sacred spell. The spell that turns this table scarlet and yellow! The Gryffindor colors!

"What did you—" Remus starts, then sighs. "You wanted to mark the table as ours, and out of the countless possible, anticlimactic options you go with making it striped red and yellow?"

"Scarlet and yellow, Moony," Sirius corrects. "You should know your own house colors."

"Fine, fine," Remus says. "But you know what, when—"

"Ooh! The girls are here!" Sirius exclaims, cutting Remus off.

I turn towards the doors and blink at the sight before me.

There she is.

Lily walks in, arms linked with the other girls, a wide smile present on her face, and a happy laughter ringing through the hall. She scrunches up her nose in the cute way she does at something Marlene had said, and elbows her in the gut, but her mask of annoyance falls when yet another giggle escapes her lips.

I grin widely at Lily as she spots me and her smile widens, her eyes creasing. She and Alice, Marlene, and Mary come towards us, and Lily breaks off from them once she meets me.

"Lils..." I say once she reaches me. "I..."

I find my mouth dry. She's dressed in a floor length, emerald green strapless dress. Such a simple yet stunning dress, suiting her well. The color of the dress makes the red of her hair seem even brighter, it's locks resting on her shoulders. She hadn't done anything to it, but somehow she still looked spectacular. I see the lovely freckles speckled on her shoulders, and my eyes reach her face. I smile at the way she's biting her lip in anticipation, as if waiting for me to speak.

"How do I look? Okay? I didn't do any makeup this time, like I did for the Halloween ball," Lily starts. "I just didn't think I needed it with the dress. The girls said that a nice sliver eye shadow would make my eyes pop, or something, but I just didn't put anything on. Oh Merlin, should I have put on makeup? Damnit, I should have. For crying out loud, it's Christmas! It's the Christmas ball! It's the biggest ball of the year! Everyone at Hogwarts is in their positively best looks, but here I am, didn't even wear makeup! Lily, you stubborn menace! Couldn't even bear to wear makeup once—"

"Lily!" I interrupt her, laughing. "You look absolutely, positively wonderful. But not because of what you wear, you hear? It's because of that lovely smile you have."

Lily immediately looks down, a blush creeping on to her freckled cheeks. "That... was cheesy," she mumbles, eyes trained on the floor.

"Well, you know me," I shoot her a lopsided grin. She looks up at me, smiling.

"You look lovely too," she says after a moment.

"Aw, lovely? Don't you mean ruggedly handsome?" I ask.

"Hey, you'd better take what you get," Lily says. "I don't give compliments very often.

"Fine," I say, smirking. "You know what? I do look lovely.

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NOTES: X

-Amelia