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The Yule Ball


James tugged on his dress robes, doing up the black bow tie at his neck. He stared into the little mirror. His hair was neat - neater than it had probably ever been. He’d finally broken down and used the Sleekeazy on it at Sirius’s insistence that he should look really good for the Yule Ball. “I look utterly stupid,” James murmured, and he reached to loosen the bowtie a bit, turning to look at the others.

Sirius was laying across his bed, sticking muggle safety pins through the holes at the knee of his jeans, holding several more in his teeth as he worked at it, his white t-shirt tight around his arms, leather jacket laying in wait at the foot of his bed. His hair was already in place, a thick mane. Meanwhile Peter had already finished getting ready, his white tie obscuring most of his thick neck so that it looked like his chin went right into his chest. He had a suit coat on. He’d never ended up with a date - nor had Sirius. Remus was the only one not getting ready as, true to his word, he’d decided not to go to the Ball at all.

“Moony, you really should come,” Sirius said for about the hundredth time. “You can stand with me and mock Potter for his abysmal flailing that he’s going to refer to as dancing. It’ll be a brilliant laugh.”

Remus shook his head, “No… I don’t think I’d be much good at a dance. I’ve two left feet, see.”

“I said you could stand with me, blimey, I’m not asking you to dance.”

“It’s alright, you lot go and have fun. I’ll stay here and enjoy the peace of the common room. It’s going to be empty, probably, all the youngsters in bed and you lot all off to the Ball and all… I rather fancy the idea of sitting by the fire and reading over standing about and being social with all those kids I don’t know and having to explain why I’m not there with anyone and you know the Slytherins would have a good time with us going there together, too…”

“I’ll mess’em up if they say a thing about it,” Sirius replied.

“All the more reason not to go,” Remus laughed. “Seriously, you lot go and have fun. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

Sirius eyed Remus warily. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Remus alone; he was doing better, but still not 100% back to the old Remus, and his eyes were still as green as could be. Sirius sighed.

James ran his hand through his hair, messing up the Sleekeazy’s work and tossing it about a few times, swinging his head up and down ‘til it looked windblown, as though he’d just stepped off the Quidditch pitch, and stared into the mirror a moment, adjusting his glasses, which had gone all askew in the violent shaking of his head. “Much better.”

“Merlin’s beard you’re ridiculous, you looked grand before,” Sirius announced.

James said, “Thanks but no.” He turned about, “Are you lot ready?”

“Been waiting on you two,” Peter replied.

Sirius slid the last of the safety pins through the jeans and stood up, grabbing his leather jacket and swinging it about his shoulders, popping the collar.

“McGonagall’s going to have a fit when she sees you dressed like that,” Peter said.

Sirius shrugged.

“Alright Moony,” said James, “Last chance.”

“I’m good, thanks Prongs. Have fun you lot.” He waved.

Sirius stared back at him as they left the room.

Downstairs, it was an absolute frenzy. The boys were all clustered about the portrait hole in their dress robes, poking at each other’s neckties, straightening them out and muttering nervously. Peter, Sirius, and James went over to stand by Frank Longbottom, waiting for the girls to come downstairs. “This is the best part,” Frank whispered, “When you see them all gussied up for the first time. I swear. Wait ‘til you see your Annalee, James, it’ll take your breath away.” He winked and nudged James with a grin.

“Can’t wait,” James answered.

When the girls started coming down finally, Frank was right about most of them. Their dates gasped and Andy Woodhouse actually applauded for Carly Shaw. Then Ali came down, her short black hair accented perfectly by a sleek black dress, accented by a lovely silver shawl that clung about her shoulders. Frank murmured something about never breathing again, then charged over to offer her his hand in stepping down the final stairs.

Annalee was quite good looking, wearing a crushed velvet dress of a deep merlot shade that made her blonde hair seem even blonder. It curled at the end in deep loops that rested on her shoulders and she wore lipstick the same color as her dress so that her mouth seemed to stand out from her pale face. James imitated Frank Longbottom in offering her his hand and Annalee blushed and took it, “Thank you,” she murmured.

James was about to turn away when Lily came down the stairs, side by side with another girl who was going with someone from another house, they were talking and Lily didn’t even notice James and Annalee were at the bottom of the stairs as she descended… but there was no way he could have missed her.

Someone had swept Lily’s hair up into a chignon bun, laced with white ribbons. She wore a dress of the palest mint green, which hung to her shins and puffed out from her hips. It had three quarter length sleeves that didn’t reach her shoulders so that her collarbone up was completely bare, save for a pearl necklace that laid across her neck. James found his eyes guiltily lingering on the low neckline of the dress… A great lump rose up in his throat and he had to forcibly tear his eyes away from her, and thankfully found that Annalee hadn’t noticed him staring at Lily.

But somebody else had.

“You alright, Prongs?” Sirius murmured, smirking.

“Uh.. yeah,” James nodded, “Yeah.”

Sirius’s eyes sparkled. “You are? You sure? You… er, you didn’t look alright there a moment, I was about ready to ennervate you up from the floor mate.”

James nodded, “Great, just fine. She’s alright. I mean Lily is. Only alright. I’m good. I gotta -- Annalee… yeah.” He ducked away.

Sirius looked at Peter with a smirk.

“He should be paying more attention to Annalee in that dress,” murmured Peter.

Sirius grinned and put his arm about Peter, “And you should be paying more attention to me in this suit, Wormtail.”

Peter wriggled away, “Don’t do that! We’re not on a date!”

Sirius snickered.

They all headed through the portrait hole, down to the Great Hall, past the caroling suits of armor (Sirius paused to teach one troop of them his Christmas song before dashing after the others). In the entrance hall, Hagrid had set up a good many Christmas trees so that it felt almost as though one were walking through a miniature of the forest in the hall, though these trees were all decorated with baubles and tinsel and little pixies that acted as lights, sitting on branches with their arms crossed over their chests in indignation as they lowed. Severus Snape stood by the foot of the grand staircase, wearing all black - black robes, black shirt, black tie. His black hair was actually cleaned and slicked back for once. “Bloody hell, Severus Snape took a shower,” Sirius murmured, seeing him, “With shampoo and everything. The world must’ve come to an end.”

“Shut it, you,” Lily murmured, overhearing the comment. Then she hurried on ahead to where he stood. “Sev!”

Severus looked up and his jaw positively dropped. He stared at her as she walked down, the dress bouncing around her knees and he felt an overwhelming sense as though he might just cry. He held out a hand to her as she neared and she took it and he gently kissed the top of her hand, like he’d seen done in the films she’d taken him to the cinema to see, and she blushed about her cheeks. “I know, we’re just friends,” Severus said lowly, “But it seemed very important that you be greeted by a gentleman.”

Lily smiled, “Thank you.”

The Great Hall was just as gorgeous as Ali had promised. Dumbledore had set it to snowing gently so that huge flakes shivered from the ceiling, only to melt just above their heads. Trees lined the edges of the Great Hall and the walls had been strung with great silver and gold banners. Severus held onto Lily’s hand as she spun, looking around in awe at the room. “Ohhhh,” she breathed, “Look at it! It’s beautiful!” Candles hung in the air all about, like tiny stars. “Wow!”

Severus looked around, “Yeah, it’s alright,” he replied, “Not bad.”

“Not bad! Sev, it’s gorgeous!”

“Yeah.”

Now that they were here, Severus was at a bit of a loss for what to do, but Lily eagerly pulled him about, looking at the ornaments that had been put on the various trees, oohing and ahhing at each one. He smiled, enjoying the way her eyes were sparkling more than the actual trees themselves.

Across the hall, Sirius and Peter stood watching as James danced with Annalee. He’d proven to be less funny than Sirius had expected him to be, moving in time with the beat of the music that was playing from Merlin knows where. Sirius was quickly getting bored. Several girls had come over and asked him to dance with them, but he’d turned them all down. “Sirius Black doesn’t dance,” he announced to each one, “Sorry.”

Peter looked cross the fourth time he’d done it, “Why don’t you dance with them? If I had girls asking me to dance, I’d certainly do it.”

“Alright, well the next one that comes over I’ll tell her to dance with you instead, then,” Sirius replied. He found himself a chair at one of the tables that surrounded the dance floor and sank down into it, crossing his legs over a second chair, watching everyone dancing. Peter sat next to him, keeping an eye on the refreshments table as though he were watching a lover with jealousy. True to his word, when another girl came by to ask Sirius if he’d like to dance, he declined, then thumbed at Peter, “This one here’s free though.”

The girl had blushed, “Oh… no… that’s okay. Thank you, though.” She ducked away quickly.

Peter looked profoundly hurt.

“Ah bugger them, Pete,” Sirius said, “They just dunno what they’re missing. You’re a great bloke.” Peter mumbled something, then got up and walked away, headed for the refreshments table. Sirius frowned after him, feeling bad. But really there was nothing he, Sirius, could do about it…

Everything was going quite well, as far as balls go, and the staff were walking about, making sure none of the students were hidden behind Christmas trees snogging too long, taking it in turns to make rounds about the castle and the grounds, checking on all those who were trying to sneak out. Sirius sat at the table, picking at one of the rips in the denim that covered his thighs, staring down, wondering how long he had to sit there before it would be appropriate to go back up stairs, when suddenly the chair Peter had been sitting in was occupied by none other than Albus Dumbledore.

Sirius looked at the headmaster for a long moment.

“A rather fantastic party, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Black?” Dumbledore asked.

“Stellar,” Sirius replied. He was leaning back in the chair so that only two of the four legs were touching the ground.

“I’ve always rather enjoyed watching the unfolding of young love that happens at these sorts of events,” Dumbledore said, smiling about at all the students. “In all my years at Hogwarts, there has never once managed to be a Yule Ball that lacked a bit of magic in that department.” His eyes twinkled. “Who do you think the lucky couple will be tonight?”

Sirius shrugged. “Dunno, there’s so many.” He really wasn’t interested in playing this game.

Dumbledore sighed, staring out over the dance floor for a long moment. Then he turned to look at Sirius. “Who are you here with, Mr. Black? Surely a boy as popular as yourself has procured a date?”

“No sir, unless you count Pettigrew, which I don’t.” Sirius glanced over his shoulder to see Peter at the table, pouring a second cup of punch for himself. “If I did, he’d be cheating on me with that gingerbread you’re serving anyway,” he laughed, nodding to Peter’s plate, which was covered with several thick pieces of Gingerbread Cake.

Dumbledore chucked. “Mr. Lupin decided not to come, I see?”

“He said he didn’t feel up to it,” Sirius replied. He turned away from watching Peter, eyes roving about the trees that lined the room. “He’s had a long go of it, since his dad died,” he said, “Can’t blame him for wanting to sit this one out.”

“Shame,” Dumbledore murmured.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed.

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in the chair a moment. Out on the dance floor, James and Annalee were spinning about to the music. Dumbledore’s eyes followed them as they moved. “I remember when I was young and attended Hogwarts myself,” Dumbledore murmured, “In my fifth year, I took a young lady to the Yule Ball. We were a horrible match, nothing about us worked together. I’d really only taken her because of the politics of the dance. Everyone had to go with somebody, or you were sort of left feeling out of place. I remember trying to dance with her and our moves were all out of sync…” Dumbledore shook his head and chuckled. “I’m not a terrible dancer, but with her I was abysmal.” He paused. “I remember when she broke up with me, she said, ‘Albus, life is too short to spend with the wrong person.’ That’s a bit of wisdom for you... “ Dumbledore smiled. “And on the contrary, life is not long enough to hesitate once you find the one you truly want to be with… You just never know how long you might have together before the end….” he paused, his eyes going somewhere far off. “Things change too quickly. Every moment is precious. When you know… you should always tell them exactly how it is you feel. Too soon, the floor beneath us lets go and we find ourselves wishing we’d acted sooner. Every passing minute is another that could’ve been spent with the one we love.”

Sirius was still staring at James as he staggered dizzily, laughing as Annalee dropped his hand.

“Time ought not be wasted that would’ve been better spent in love,” Dumbledore concluded.

Sirius looked over at him.

“Anyway,” Dumbledore smiled, “I’ll stop bothering you with the ramblings of an old man. Enjoy your evening, Mr. Black.”

“You too, sir,” he answered, and he watched as Dumbledore got up and wandered away, mingling with the crowd until he’d found Professor McGonagall and asked her for a dance, to which she’d agreed…

Sirius sat here, rubbing his chin.

Peter came back a moment later, “I got you some gingerbread cake. And a bit of eggnog…” he put two cups and a large platter of the cake down on the table.

“I’m going to take a raincheck, Pete,” Sirius said, standing up.

“Where are you going?” Peter asked.

Sirius popped the collar on his jacket, “There’s some better ways to spend my time is all, Pete. I’ll see you later.” And with that, Sirius swiftly left the room.