October arrived just as blustery and chilly as ever, and Hayley had managed to surprise everyone by making the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Lily and James seemed to have beaten their own personal record by not having one single argument since the beginning of term, and Hayley had also managed to finally swindle her way into the Gryffindor common room after convincing Lily that it would be a good idea to keep her updated with the passwords in case of emergencies, but Kirsty highly doubted that Hayley visiting Remus in the boys’ dorms just because she had run out of books to read really counted as an emergency.
It was on one of these cold and frosty evenings at the beginning of October that found Kirsty, Emma, Sirius and Peter all lounging idly on the sofas in front of the blazing common room fire. Crumpled pieces of written on parchment littered the floor around Kirsty’s feet.
Hunched over her current piece of work and concentrating hard, Kirsty feverishly tried to finish her Potions essay. With yet another roar of frustration she scrunched up the piece of parchment she had just been working on and threw it on the floor to join its brethren.
“How’s it going, Kirst?” asked Sirius amusedly.
Kirsty scowled at him. “Have I ever told you guys that I absolutely loath Potions?”
“Once or twice-“ replied Peter.
“-every hour of everyday-“ added Sirius.
“-ever since we first entered the dungeons,” finished Emma.
Kirsty heaved an exhausted sigh. “It’s not fair. How come I’m the only one who gets set extra homework?”
“Probably because you managed to melt your sixteenth cauldron during Slughorn’s last lesson,” Peter informed her.
Kirsty mumbled incoherently in response.
“Especially seeing as the Felix Felicis you had been brewing oozed out all over the floor and burnt a hole in the toe of Remus’ shoe,” related Emma.
“It was classic!” exclaimed Sirius with a bark of laughter.
“Yeah, well, I aim to entertain,” grumbled Kirsty.
Silenced ensued between the small group as Kirsty proceeded to scribble on a new piece of parchment. After a few minutes she yelled in distress, “Oh, where’s Lily when you need her?”
“Well, the last time I checked she was off pleading yours and Emma’s case for some sort of Halloween hoopla.”
This was of course true. Ever since Emma had first introduced Kirsty to the concept that Muggles dressed up for Halloween she had not let the idea of a Hogwarts fancy dress party rest.
“I would hardly call a Halloween dance a hoopla, Padfoot,” objected Peter. “Besides; I’m quite looking forward to the idea.”
“Thank you, Peter,” stated Emma gratefully, sticking her tongue out in response to Sirius.
“Aw, come on, Sirius, I’m sure you’ll love it,” Kirsty assured him.
“Don’t hold your breath. I’m currently hoping that all the other Prefects and Heads of Houses reject the idea.”
“Spoilsport,” Kirsty informed him with a mock scowl.
Sirius replied by giving her a smug look.
The sound of the portrait hole creaking open caught Kirsty’s ears and she swivelled her head around to survey the remainder of her friends as they entered. Lily, Remus and James were all talking animatedly among themselves and Kirsty raised her eyebrows in surprise. Lily was once again ignoring her six year animosity towards James and showing that they were more than capable of being civil to one another.
“And?” ventured Emma. “What did our superiors decide?”
James gave Lily a consenting nod before she blurted out, “There’s going to be a Halloween Ball, for all in the fifth year and above and costumes are compulsory!”
Sirius and Peter groaned loudly whereas Kirsty and Emma jumped up from their seats and began to squeal excitedly. They ran over to join Lily as Remus made his way sombrely over to the two boys. The three girls enveloped each other in an ecstatic hug and once it was over James was beckoned to join in on their merriment. He did so without hesitation and the four of them jumped up and down with unrestrained euphoria. The four of them simply loved Halloween.
Kirsty emerged from the small huddle, with her hair a lot messier than it had been previously, claiming freedom due to the fact that she had a Potions essay to complete.
She plonked herself down on the sofa beside Remus just as Sirius pleaded to him, “Please tell me that this is some sort of sick joke.”
Kirsty shot him an unimpressed look.
“I’m afraid not, my friend. It seems like it’s going to happen whether we like it or not.”
“Do I sense that not all the Prefects are happy with this decision?” asked Peter with a playful smile.
“Not exactly,” he replied, smiling wearily. “Hayley’s not all that impressed either-“
“Seriously? I thought she’d be all for it like the other three. How come she doesn’t like it?”
“Because she’s a boring old bugger just like you three!” announced Emma as she came to sit down on the arm of Sirius’ chair.
Sirius looked at her in irritation and then chose to ignore her comment by addressing Remus instead, “So any ideas as to how we can get out of it?”
Kirsty watched as Lily, who had previously snatched Kirsty’s essay off her in order to correct any mistakes, shot Sirius a look of disproval over the top of the piece of parchment. Kirsty, upon swivelling her head back around to see what Remus’ response would be, saw that Emma had begun to tap out a tune with her fingers on the back of the chair. Kirsty grinned at the look of growing annoyance on Sirius’ face.
“Sorry, Padfoot, you’re just going to have to be a man and deal with it.”
James let out a shout of laughter, and Kirsty looked over at him to see him looking over Lily’s shoulder at her Potions essay and munching thoughtfully on a cookie he had produced from God knows where as Lily crossed out what looked like whole passages of writing.
By now Kirsty wasn’t sure which scene would be the most entertaining to watch, the cuteness that currently was Lily and James or the knitting together of Sirius’ brow as he grew steadily angrier with Emma’s incessant noise making.
Finally, she opted for watching Lily and James, and she was glad that she did too when James proceeded to brush his hand repeatedly across Lily’s shoulder. As quick as a flash Lily whipped her head around in his direction and gave him an extremely irked look.
“Cookie crumbs,” he explained tentatively. Lily laughed quietly and smiled amusedly up at him. James leaned forward and pointed at something on the parchment. “That needs correcting,” he stated.
His face was mere inches away from Lily’s own and Kirsty’s eyebrows shot up in anticipation.
“Thanks,” she replied as she turned away to correct it.
“No problem,” announced James quietly.
Kirsty’s shoulders slumped in disappointment but there was no denying that something had definitely just passed between the two.
“Nah nah nah nah!” cried Emma rhythmically.
All heads turned to survey her and Emma banged loudly on the chair with both of her hands before finishing by smacking Sirius twice on top of his head. His face contorted with anger and annoyance, Sirius threw his arm out and knocked Emma flying off of her perch on the chair’s arm. The common room erupted with laughter and Kirsty saw the look of vindication on Sirius’ face.
Lesley, who had been stood nearby in deep conversation with Sam, walked over to help Emma back up tears of mirth glistening in her eyes, and Sam followed not far behind nodding his greeting to Emma with an entertained smile.
“So is this ball going to take place on the actual night of Halloween then?” asked Peter once everyone had recovered from Sirius and Emma’ shenanigans.
“Alas, no,” declared James sorrowfully, “seeing as Halloween falls on a Monday this year. So we’ve decided to have it on the Saturday before.” Peter nodded, a look of thoughtfulness on his face.
“What’s this?” questioned Sam. Obviously, the previous exciting squealing of the three Gryffindor girls had gone straight over the top of Sam’s head.
“There’s going to be a Halloween ball on the twenty ninth of this month,” Lily relayed to him.
Sam looked dubious but Lesley let out an excited gasp. “Oooh, I’ve always wanted to be a Banshee!”
“There’s something oddly unsettling about that statement,” announced Remus wryly. Lesley smiled winningly back at him.
“I don’t suppose anyone has any ideas as to what I can go as?” queried Sam.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with something between us,” Kirsty informed Sam with a wink. He opted for a simple smile in response.
“Do you know what?” piped up Sirius, “I think I may have just thought of a costume idea for myself.”
“That’s right, Sirius, get into the spirit of things,” Kirsty replied jovially.
“Though I’m betting that you won’t like it,” he continued to inform her.
She waved her hand dismissively at him. “Who cares if I like it or not? As long as you wear some sort of costume I’ll be happy.”
“I might just hold you to that,” he replied, a mischievous glint in his eye.
Peter groaned loudly. “I still can’t believe that you’re making us do this. Do we really have to go?”
“Yes,” replied Lily shortly, “even if we have to drag you kicking and screaming into that hall, costumes and all.”
“Let them go without costumes, Lil,” pleaded James.
“What?”
“Let them go as themselves instead, as naked as the day they were born,” he finished smirking broadly.
Kirsty snorted with laughter when Sirius actually looked like he was considering it.
“We’ll wear a costume!” exclaimed Peter hysterically.
*
Hayley was immensely glad that she wasn’t wearing a costume to the dance tonight, especially seeing as Kirsty in particular was so stressed out from having put more hours into her costume than her homework. Even mere minutes ago when Hayley had darted past Kirsty in order to find sanctuary in the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory, she had been sprawled out in the middle of the common room with piles of varying materials, enchanted knitting needles, scissors and her wand scattered disorderly around her.
Currently, Hayley was to be found lounging luxuriously on Emma’s four poster bed with a romance novel held up in the air above her head.
Emma, Lesley and Mary were all currently in the shower, Kirsty was still downstairs working on her costume, Hayley suspected that Lily had gone down to get ready in the Prefect’s Bathroom, and the four boys were conspicuous by their absence.
“Do you want to see what you’re going to be wearing tonight, Hails?” came the most unwelcome voice of Kirsty.
Hayley groaned loudly turning onto her front and burying her face in Emma’s mattress. “This is what I’m wearing tonight,” she replied, her voice muffled slightly by the quilt.
The bed’s hangings were wrenched open and Kirsty cried, upon seeing Hayley dressed in her jeans and favourite top, “No, you are not!”
“Oh, yes I am,” retorted Hayley, lifting her head up and staring Kirsty defiantly in the eye.
“But me and Emma spent hours making this for you,” whined Kirsty.
“Don’t say that!” wailed Hayley. “That’s emotional blackmail.”
“So it is,” proclaimed Emma as she walked in from the bathroom, towelling her wet hair. “Nice idea, Kirst.”
“Fine,” huffed Hayley, sitting up on the bed and folding her arms, unimpressed. “What is it then?”
Kirsty and Emma grinned at each other. “Close your eyes,” commanded Emma.
Hayley shot them both a reproachful look before doing so. As her world was plunged into darkness, she heard the rustling of Kirsty’s carrier bag next to her ear.
“Hold out your hands,” requested Kirsty.
Again Hayley begrudgingly complied. Material as smooth as silk slithered through Hayley’s outstretched fingers. Fighting the urge to open her eyes, she worked the material between her fingers. It seemed to be flawlessly made.
“You can open your eyes now,” Emma informed her gleefully.
Hayley opened her eyes to a slit and gazed down at the light blue fabric folded across her lap. A gasp escaped her lips, and she took in every detail of the most beautiful dress she had ever laid eyes upon.
“Do you like it?” asked Kirsty, sounding apprehensive.
Hayley was speechless. How could she not? The two girls had far outdone themselves. The dress was round necked with a corset bodice and the bottom of the dress fanned out from the waist down in a ball gown style. It had slightly puffy short white sleeves and a ruffled effect on the hem at the bottom of the dress. Placed on top of the folded fabric was a pair of white long sleeved gloves and a silver tiara and by Hayley’s feet there was a pair of silver shoes.
“I love it!” she exclaimed, carefully removing her costume from her lap and flinging herself into the unsuspecting arms of her two friends.
“You shall go to the ball, Cinderella!” exclaimed Emma as the three immersed themselves in a group hug.
Hayley removed herself and stood looking at her costume with affection. “Have I ever mentioned how brilliant you guys are?” They grinned. “So,” she began, curiosity beginning to get the better of her, “dare I ask what you two are going as?”
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to divulge that sort of information,” replied Kirsty.
“Yeah, that goes for me too,” concurred Emma.
Hayley rolled her eyes skyward before bringing her wrist up to check on the time. “Bugger!” she exclaimed. “We only have two hours left in which to get ready!”
“What?” screeched the other two in dismay.
“Merlin! And I haven’t even nipped in the shower yet!” cried Kirsty.
“Well, quick, get in there now,” commanded Emma.
“I can’t,” replied Kirsty pulling a regretful face as she stalked over to her bed and produced yet another carrier bag from beneath it.
“What’s that?” quizzed Hayley.
“Sam’s costume,” answered Kirsty.
“Oh really? What’s he going as?” asked Emma, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.
“You’ll have to wait and see!” shouted Kirsty in reply as she lunged out of the dormitory door.
--------------
Kirsty thundered down the girls’ staircase and came skidding to a halt in the middle of the common room floor.
All four Marauders looked up from their game of Exploding Snap upon her invasion.
Kirsty stared at them in disbelief. “Aren’t you guys ready yet?”
“Hark, who’s talking!” exclaimed James, eyeing her up and down.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been adding the final touches to Hayley’s costume,” retorted Kirsty defensively.
“Oh really?” asked Remus. “What’s she going as?”
Unfortunately for Remus, Kirsty raised her eyebrows at this having not failed to pick up on his attempt at a nonchalant tone, a tone much like the one Emma had adopted when talking about Sam mere seconds ago. Remus now looked mildly uncomfortable and Kirsty, grinning broadly now, replied, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Remus turned to Peter with a puzzled frown. “Isn’t that why I asked?”
Peter smiled and shrugged.
“You guys are still dressing up aren’t you?” asked Kirsty, suddenly feeling sceptical.
“Do we have a choice?” grumbled Sirius. Kirsty gave him a tantalising smile.
“What’s in the bag, Kirst?” enquired Peter.
“Sam’s costume,” she replied shortly, “I don’t suppose he’s upstairs is he?”
They all nodded in response.
“He’s just got out of the shower I think,” supplied Sirius.
“Great.”
Kirsty marched over to the stairs and when her foot was on the bottom most rung Peter called, “One hour and fifty five minutes left to go!”
“Bugger!” she exclaimed as she dashed along yet another staircase.
------------
Water droplets slowly trickled down the front of Sam’s bare chest as he tied the towel securely around his waist. He raked his hand through his wet curly hair giving it the desirable ruffled look before stepping out of the boys’ bathroom, his wash things in hand.
“Oh, Mr North.”
Sam jumped a mile and his wash bag slipped through his fingers and landed on the floor.
He looked up to meet Kirsty’s smirking face and was thankful that he wasn’t one of those people who blushed easily.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing in here, Kirst?” he asked grumpily as he tried to manoeuvre himself so that he could retrieve his wash bag without his towel gaping at a formidable place.
Kirsty watched him with unrestrained amusement. “I brought your costume up for you.”
Sam, having successfully managed to securely obtain his wash things, straightened up and gazed at the carrier bag that Kirsty was brandishing in front of his face.
Tentatively he took it off of her and peeked inside it. He caught a glimpse of dark green fabric before looking back at Kirsty with a repulsed look. “Who is it that I’m going as?”
“Legolas,” she replied dutifully.
“Which is what exactly?”
“He’s in that book, you know, erm, Lord of the Rings, the one written by that Tollbooth guy,” she replied, seeming a bit unsure of the whole thing herself.
Sam furrowed his brow.
“It’s a Muggle book.”
“Ah,” exclaimed Sam in sudden comprehension. If it was Muggle character, he couldn’t possibly be expected to know who it was. “And this Legolas character is who exactly?”
“An elf,” she answered.
“What?” screeched Sam. “I am not going to this Halloween dance dressed like some snivelling house-elf, thank you very much!”
Kirsty giggled. “No, in Lord of the Rings, elves are very handsome creatures that look very much like humans except for their pointed ears. And Legolas is apparently one of the best looking of the lot.”
Sam gave her a quirky grin, feeling suitably mollified by this knowledge. “How come you know so much about this anyway?”
“Well, it’s Emma’s favourite book. She’s tried to get me to read it several times, but it’s way too confusing and most of the facts about the magical world are all wrong. Legolas is actually Emma’s favourite character.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “Is there any particular reason why you are dressing me up as Emma’s favourite book character?”
“None that I can think of,” she replied, smiling sweetly.
Sam was unconvinced; it was a well known fact throughout the whole of Gryffindor tower that Emma fancied him. Not that this bothered him, of course; in fact, he was immensely flattered as Emma was a very good looking girl.
“Right, now I’m off. Time’s ticking, and I really do have to go and get ready now.” She made for the door but hesitated as she reached the top of the stairs. Turning around she shouted, “Oh, and if you have any problems with the wig just give me a shout!”
“Wig?” he queried with a grimace.
She simply grinned broadly at him in response. “Toodles,”
“Hang on!” he called after her. “What are you going as?”
Kirsty tapped her nose. “Wait and see.”
“Great, now I won’t even be safe in the knowledge that your costume will look even more ridiculous than mine.”
“Charming!” she exclaimed indignantly. “But if it makes you feel any better, I, too, am going as a Muggle book character.”
“You know, I’ll soon be unable to recognise you as a Pureblood,” joked Sam.
“I know, terrible isn’t it? It’s one of the only books that Lily and Emma have managed to make me read though. Mind you, it wasn’t hard seeing as the main character shares my name.”
“Now I’m slightly intrigued.”
“And rightly so,” she stated with a wink. “Right, I’ll see you down in the Great Hall later.”
“Wait!” he shouted, stopping her from descending the stairs yet again. “You mean you’re not coming down with me?”
“No,” she replied slowly, “I was going to go down the others.”
“But you can’t leave me to walk into the hall with this on unguarded.”
Kirsty heaved an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Thank you, much appreciated,” he simpered.
She mocked glared before she descended the first few steps of the stairs. “And be careful with those tights!” she called back.
Words could not express how much Sam regretted putting Kirsty in charge of his costume.
--------------
At ten minutes to eight, all four Marauders were to be found standing and waiting impatiently at the bottom of the girls’ staircase.
“Why the hell do women take so long to get ready?” whinged Peter.
“Ah, that is one of life’s great mysteries, my friend,” replied James knowledgably.
Remus, who had been watching the top of the staircase with intent, was the first to see Lily emerge. He coughed pointedly to the other three, who took the initiative to also pin their gazes back to the stairs.
Lily descended the staircase wearing a floor length sky blue dress, partially shrouded in a forest green cloak which fastened with a small clasp just under her neck. Her red hair had been curled and tumbled elegantly down her back and over her shoulders. To finish off the costume a small headband had been placed on top of her head and on her feet she wore light brown ballet type shoes.
Remus watched with amusement as James’ amazed grin grew wider and wider the closer Lily got to the four of them, and when she finally did come to stand amongst them, James gasped, “Wow, Lily, you look-“
“Thanks,” she replied, cutting him off with a grateful smile as her cheeks reddened slightly.
“You really do look wonderful,” agreed Remus.
“I hate to sound stupid, but who are you supposed to be, Lil?” asked Peter, perplexed.
“Maid Marion.”
Peter looked to Sirius, who shrugged, looking just as confused.
Lily elaborated, “She’s a character from the Muggle legend of Robin Hood. Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest, and in the tales he fights against injustice and robs from the rich to give to the poor. And Maid Marion was a high ranking lady of the court who fell in love with Robin; it’s one of the greatest love stories of all time.”
Remus saw Sirius lean in towards James and was just able to make out Sirius’ whisper of, “Looks like you should have dressed up as Robin Hood instead, mate.”
James, looking disappointed, sighed loudly.
Footsteps on the landing made them all whip their heads skywards once again. Remus was quite literally stunned by her appearance, and upon surveying the other guys he saw that they were looking equally dazed. Emma was dressed in black from head to foot. Quite obviously dressed as a cat, she wore a cat suit trimmed with fur around her wrists, ankles and rounded neckline. To add to the effect, a tail had been sewn to the back, a black choker was placed around her neck like a collar, and she wore a headband with attached ears on top of her hair, which in contrast to Lily’s was incredibly straight. Remus also had to marvel at how she could possibly walk in the black high heels that she was wearing to accompany the outfit.
“Meow,” commented Sirius sexily.
Emma grinned shyly at them all before coming to stand beside Remus who leaned down and whispered in her ear, “In all honesty, I’d think Sam was a complete idiot if he was able to resist you tonight.”
She gave him a small smile before surveying the group as Lily was doing and commenting hysterically on their costumes.
The sound of Kirsty’s laughter punctuated the air, and by the time Remus’ gaze once again flitted towards the staircase, Kirsty’s costume was fully visible. She, too, was wearing a dress, the brightest that they had seen so far, in fact. The bodice was a royal blue colour and from the waist down the dress was sunny yellow and fanned out ball gown style. The puffy sleeves of the dress were a light blue and had a red rain drop shaped pattern circling them. At the back it had a high funnel necked collar and as well as her black shoes, Kirsty wore a red bow in her currently short dark brown hair.
She descended the stairs slowly and gracefully, abandoning her usual thundering and leaping. Remus was watching Sirius intently as he was currently looking like all his Christmases had come at once.
Lily laughed, “Snow White! Oh the cheesiness!”
Kirsty grinned proudly.
“You look fantastic,” announced Sirius quietly. Kirsty gave him a perplexed look, as if she had never seen him properly before, but soon smiled graciously in reply.
“And Snow White would be?” asked James.
“A princess from a Disney story, the only Muggle story I’ve read, coincidentally.”
“I can’t believe that you lot have been at Hogwarts for over six years, and you still insist on going about things in a Muggle way, and what’s even worse is the fact that you’ve miraculously gotten James in on the act too,” ranted Peter.
At this Kirsty seemed to do a double take as she reassessed the Marauders’ costumes. She took in James’ appearance first of all. Possibly one of the simplest costumes in the room, James was wearing a black suit complete with a crisp white shirt, a black bow tie and black shoes. And in his hand he held a Muggle child’s toy gun.
“You’re only wearing a suit!” Kirsty scolded.
“How dare you? It took a lot of time and effort for me to acquire this costume!” James replied defensively.
“He’s James Bond, Kirst,” supplemented Lily.
Kirsty furrowed her brow, “That secret agent guy from those films that Emma keeps insisting that we watch?”
“Yeah,” affirmed James, “and you really should watch them, you know. They’re awesome!”
The others, save Emma, rolled their eyes, as during the last summer holidays Emma and James had had a James Bond film watching marathon. The others, upon hearing this plan, vacated the area immediately.
Kirsty then turned to Remus and surveyed him closely. “Godric Gryffindor?” she ventured.
Remus grinned proudly and nodded. In contrast to James who was dressed all in black and white, Remus was dressed in all red and gold. He wore very dark red trousers which were verging on being brown and a heavy red travelling cloak which was embroidered with gold at the front. On his hands, he wore red metal plated gloves which had been bolted with gold studs. Remus had even gone as far as to dye and grow his hair for the occasion. So he now looked out at Kirsty from underneath a bushy dark red mane, and he had even managed to grow a short red beard to complete the look. Lastly, in his hand he held a replica of Gryffindor’s sword with the ruby encrusted hilt.
“You look absolutely amazing!” she praised.
“Why thank you, kind lady,” he replied, bowing graciously.
Once again Kirsty shifted her speculative gaze so that it landed on Peter. He looked as if he had barely survived a tragic accident. Covered from head to foot in bandages in various states of grunginess with just two slits in his face for his eyes and mouth he looked extremely eerie.
“Wow!” she breathed. “That must have taken you ages!”
“We helped!” piped up James.
“Yeah, throwing bandages over the top of someone’s head is immensely fun!” chipped in Sirius.
Kirsty whipped her head around to gaze at Sirius and her features immediately formulated themselves into a scowl. She marched forward and prodded him in his leather jacket plated chest. “This is your costume?” she cried.
“I told you you wouldn’t like it,” Sirius replied, grinning inanely.
“But you said that you were going to dress up,” she yelled at him, annoyed.
“Kirst, he is dressed up,” offered James, also looking quite irked with Sirius.
Kirsty furrowed her brow at James and turned back to survey Sirius, dressed in his dark blue jeans, brown trainers, white t-shirt and black leather jacket, and continued to look none the wiser.
Sirius helpfully pointed to a nametag which was pinned on the left side of his chest. Kirsty peered at it and gave Sirius a look of disgust.
“God?” she asked incredulously. “But you’re not God!”
“Tell that to the fan girls,” he replied arrogantly, winking at her.
“You’re just going to have to deal with it, Kirst, because it’s too late for him to change now,” stated Remus.
Sirius gave him a grateful smile. Kirsty huffed and punched Sirius on the arm.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“For being an egotistical git as per usual,” she replied, giving him a charming smile.
Sirius smirked slightly at her.
“What are you betting that we have to drag Hayley down the god damn stairs?” questioned Lily.
“Ah,” replied Kirsty knowledgably, “the plan is already set in motion, my friend.” She then spun on her heel and hollered up to the girls’ dormitory, “Hayley, come on!”
“I’m just not comfortable with this!” squeaked Hayley’s muffled voice from the top of the staircase.
“Lesley, if you please,” yelled back Kirsty.
Remus had his gaze pinned intently on the staircase now, and he watched as Hayley emerged with Lesley pushing her forcefully down every last step of the staircase. He honestly couldn’t see why Hayley seemed so self-conscious about appearing before them in her costume, because, in his opinion, she looked absolutely radiant. The dress fitted her perfectly, and the light blue fabric reflected the colour of her eyes and made them brighter. Her glasses were gone to be replaced by contacts and her hair was elegantly tied up with the odd tendril escaping down her back. As she hitched her dress up every so slightly to negotiate the steps, Remus couldn’t ever remember seeing anyone looking as majestic and beautiful as she did now.
A slight blush graced her cheeks as she came to a stop in front of them all.
Remus didn’t notice that his mouth had dropped open until James helpfully leaned over and closed it for him. He gave James an embarrassed smile in return before finding his voice and addressing Hayley, “You…wow!”
“I think that goes for all of us,” chuckled Peter.
“Thanks,” she stated quietly in reply as she caught Remus’ eye for the briefest of moments.
Remus, however, didn’t fail to notice the fact that Kirsty was now looking between the two of them with undisguised intrigue. Feeling vulnerable, he addressed Lesley, “So you finally became a Banshee then?”
Lesley was dressed in a long pale green dress with a dull grey cloak thrown over her shoulders. Her face was deathly white and her usually short, curly hair flowed long and raggedly down her back and nearly to the floor. Lesley looked back at Remus through blood red eyes and simply replied to his enquiry by offering him a winning smile.
“And before any of you lot ask,” began Emma, “Hayley’s dressed up as Cinderella who is yet another princess from a Disney story.”
The other boys seemed satisfied with the fact that they now understood everybody’s costumes.
“Right, are we all accounted for?” asked James, taking charge. “Ok then, let’s go.”
Sirius offered his arm out to Kirsty with a gentlemanly air and stated, “Miss White.”
Kirsty’s face lit up with a bright smile and Remus noted that she was gazing at Sirius with something that closely resembled loving admiration. However, Kirsty seem to be hit with a sudden realisation and the smile slid off her face to be replaced by a look of complete devastation.
“Oh, Sirius, I’m sorry but I promised Sam that I’d wait and go down with him.”
“Oh,” responded Sirius quietly, slowly lowering his extended arm. “I see.”
“Sorry.”
Sirius and Kirsty stood in complete silence for a few seconds, staring searchingly into each other’s eyes. Remus had never seen Sirius look at any girl the way that he was currently looking at Kirsty.
“Did we just witness Sirius Black’s first ever rejection?” asked Lily amusedly.
James laughed and Sirius tried to join in but only succeeded in producing a weak smile.
Emma turned sharply to survey Kirsty. “You’re going with Sam?” she asked, sounding hurt.
Kirsty gave her an apologetic look. “Only because he’s worried that he’s going to look like a fool in his costume. He asked me to go along with him for moral support, that’s all, Em, I swear.”
Emma looked unconvinced.
“Yeah, I’m worried about Sam’s costume too. I heard him yell something about tights when he was getting ready earlier,” queried Peter.
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” replied Kirsty, smiling slightly.
“Well, I’ll guess we’ll be seeing you down there then,” Emma informed Kirsty shortly.
Kirsty looked extremely apprehensive because of the look Emma had just shot her way.
“Yeah, we’ll see you later,” agreed Sirius stonily. He then offered his arm to Hayley. “Your majesty.” Hayley smiled in reply and took a hold of his arm without hesitation.
Remus closed his eyes briefly and sighed. Trust Sirius, he thought, intuition has never been a strong point of his. Remus caught James’ eye and James gave him a rueful look.
“Come on, Remus,” ordered Emma, taking a hold of his arm and pretty much marching him out of the portrait hole after Hayley and Sirius.
Remus just had time enough to glance back over his shoulder to see Lesley take a hold of Peter’s arm, leaving Lily and James to pair up. James offered his arm to Lily with a charming smile and Lily amazingly accepted.
As he was about to be dragged out of the common room, Remus caught the look of confusion and sadness on Kirsty’s face as she watched them all depart without her.
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Emma entered the Great Hall gripping Remus’ arm a bit harder than was necessary. The truth was that she was still silently fuming; she just couldn’t believe that Kirsty had consented to accompany Sam, who Emma was head over heels in love with, to tonight’s ball. Did Kirsty possess no rational thought whatsoever? Surely Kirsty must have realised just how much her arriving with Sam would upset her.
The Great Hall looked unrecognisable upon their arrival; Flitwick had definitely outdone himself with the decorations this year. The house tables had vanished to be replaced by one large banquet table which played host to a variety of delicious food, making Emma salivate just to look at it, and it encompassed the entire stretch of one wall of the hall. Little circular tables had been placed near the other walls which could seat up to four people in order to clear space to allow for a huge dance floor and a band stood waiting idly at the section of the hall usually saved for the staff table. Thousands of live bats fluttered around the room like huge black clouds and four huge pumpkins were the main focal point of the room as each one had been carved with each house’s own individual shield: the lion for Gryffindor, the serpent for Slytherin, the badger for Hufflepuff and the eagle for Ravenclaw, and inside each one had been placed the coordinating colour candle.
It seemed as if many people had beaten them to the dance and Emma’s head whizzed this way and that trying to take in all of the students who were dressed in every costume imaginable. It was impeccably easy to distinguish the Muggleborns from the wizarding children as most, like Kirsty, Hayley and Lily, were dressed like their favourite fairytale and Muggle folklore characters. A large percentage of the hall seemed to have copied Remus’ idea and dressed up like their favourite Hogwarts Founder; in fact, as soon as she had entered the room, Emma had managed to find their fellow seventh year Mary Macdonald, who had departed much earlier than they had for the ball, dressed in full Rowena Ravenclaw costume. As well as these, there were ghosts who had transfigured themselves transparent enough to rival even Nearly Headless Nick. There were ghouls who had managed to magically distort their features; Dementors were bobbing about all over the place and upon seeing a group of the Staff huddled together by one of the tables, Emma noticed that Dumbledore had even decorated his hat with an authentic looking spider web and crawling spider.
It became apparent that Emma hadn’t been the only one staring intently at people’s costumes when Peter piped up, “If costumes are compulsory, how come most of the Slytherins are getting away with not wearing one?”
“Because I lied,” Lily informed him matter-of-factly.
“You what?” flared up Sirius.
“I lied because otherwise we would have never got you lot within ten feet of a costume.”
“I’m seeing a new side to you, Lily Evans, and I’m not entirely sure that I like it,” announced Peter.
“Oh, I don’t know,” replied James. “I find it rather intriguing.”
Lily looked up at him puzzled before breaking out into a timid smile. Emma and Remus raised their eyebrows at each other.
“Food!” yelled Hayley pointing in the direction of the buffet table and simultaneously dragging Sirius along with her other arm.
Everybody apart from Lily and Emma practically lunged at the table and started shoving food down their necks. Sirius was laughing at Hayley and saying, “Dressed like a princess and yet still stuffing her face like a pig!” Hayley hit him on the arm.
Suddenly Remus started to choke on the large piece of chicken he had just ripped of his chicken drumstick and was pointing frantically at something over Emma’s shoulder.
Emma swivelled around on the spot and it didn’t take long for her to find the cause of Remus’ current coughing fit. Kirsty and Sam had just entered the hall walking arm in arm, but it wasn’t this which had caused Emma’s eyes to widen in shock, although her heart had contracted slightly with jealousy, it was Sam’s appearance.
Emma gladly drank in every aspect of his costume right down from his forest green tunic with grey underlay and darker green detail across the chest, to his very tight-like greenish grey trousers, to the grey cloak with the green leaf clasp around his neck, to the brown belt around his midriff and the clasp on his chest for the pack of arrows on his back, to the matching coloured dark green boots and hand garments and finally to the wig of light blonde hair that cascaded down over his shoulders and back. She gasped out loud; “Legolas!” and she couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at her lips.
Emma couldn’t deny that the two of them looked absolutely phenomenal and that the two costumes complemented each other beautifully. It also seemed that the two of them had managed to gain the attention of most of the students in the hall.
As luck would have it, as soon as Kirsty and Sam stepped foot on the middle of the dance floor the band struck up with their first song. Without hesitation, and with a wide grin on his face, Sam let the arm which had been linked with Kirsty’s drop and placed it around her waist to pull her around in front of him. He then slackened his grip so that just his hand was placed on her waist and took a hold of Kirsty’s other hand in his. He pulled Kirsty closer towards him, and whispered something in her ear before pulling back and raising his eyebrows at her in what Emma thought was a very provocative manner. As Sam began to lead Kirsty around the dance floor to the first song of the night, Emma watched the two with her chest heaving in anger and a scowl present on her face.
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“What are you doing?” Kirsty asked Sam in a frantic whisper as he placed his hand on her waist and took a hold of her hand.
“Really giving everyone in here something to gossip about,” he replied with a raise of his eyebrows.
Kirsty eyed him warily as he began to lead her around the dance floor. She was sure he was doing this to pay her back for the Legolas costume.
Sam had a manic grin on his face at her obvious discomfort at being seen looking so intimate with him and it looked to Kirsty like every eye in the hall was watching the unlikely couple.
“I thought you didn’t care what people thought about you?” enquired Sam with an easy smile.
“I don’t,” Kirsty replied shortly, her cheeks flaming as she did so.
Sam smiled tauntingly at her in response.
In time Kirsty relaxed, letting Sam lead her effortlessly across the dance floor and spying over her shoulder at the other occupants in the room. It seemed as if most of the Slytherin boys’ focus was on Sian Morgan and her best friend Lucinda Devlin. Sian was dressed up like what seemed to be a devil princess. She wore a long red and black dress which was laced up corset style on the bodice. Along with this, she wore fishnet tights and black high heeled shoes. Her dark hair had been curled and make-up wise she wore eyeliner and bright red lipstick and on her head she sported a pair of red horns and in her hand she held a devil’s pitchfork. Lucinda was dressed as the famous Animagus, Morgan le Fay, and her costume looked to be one of the most beautifully made ones in the room. Her brown hair, like Sian’s, had been curled. Her dress contained many layers; across the bosom it was a light earthy brown with the rest of the bodice consisting of a coarse black material and the skirt was then a mixture of darker and lighter browns which formed a floral pattern. She wore long sleeved gloves and attached to the back of the dress was a cloak of black mesh; it was a truly stunning piece of work.
In contrast, most of the girls in the room, Slytherin and otherwise, seemed to have their gazes intently pinned on either Regulus or his elder brother. The younger Black brother had been one of the only Slytherin boys to don a costume, which meant that he had done better than Sirius had in fact done in Kirsty’s opinion. His costume consisted of a red button up vest on top of a white, long-sleeved shirt. Accompanied by a pair of black trousers, black boots, a medallion around his neck and a long black cape which was red on the inside and from the glimpses that Kirsty caught of him as Sam whisked her around the dance floor, Regulus also seemed to have transfigured his front teeth into pointed fangs and Kirsty suspected that it was much the same spell that she had used earlier on in the evening to point Sam’s now elven ears.
As Sam spun her around on the dance floor, Kirsty caught a good glimpse of Sirius and in her opinion there was no competition between him and his younger brother, for Sirius definitely had the edge. Sirius simply had an elegance about his looks that Regulus was unable to carry off. However, the annoying thing about Sirius was the fact that no matter how scruffy he looked or how bad a mood he was in, he always looked incredibly gorgeous. When he was looking down, he made every girl in the close vicinity want to envelop him in a hug and when he was angry or haughty looking, he smouldered and his true sex appeal revealed itself. But when he was bright and happy and bubbly, he could brighten up anyone’s darkest day and he had the most infectious smile of anybody that Kirsty had ever come across. As she continued to watch him, Sirius, from his seat beside Emma, picked out a small flower from the cobweb invested arrangement on the middle of the table and placed it carefully in the midst of James’ black mop of what he liked to call hair. James didn’t notice a thing, and continued his conversation with Lily and Remus. Sirius giggled away to himself quite happily and Kirsty couldn’t help but smile as she watched him.
“Earth to Kirsty,” yelled Sam as he spun her around once again so that her back was now turned on Sirius and the rest of her friends.
Kirsty smiled at him and asked, as the song started to draw to an end, “Am I allowed to go yet?”
“Nope,” replied Sam as he let go of her waist and twirled her on the spot.
Kirsty shot him a mock scowl.
Sam ignored this, however, and simply stood staring intently at something over Kirsty’s shoulder.
“Do you think that we’ve managed to make her jealous yet?” he asked her quietly once again leaning in close to her ear.
“Who?” she enquired turning her head around to survey over her shoulder and brushing her nose against Sam’s in the process due to his close proximity. She was still none the wiser as to who he was referring to and she turned back towards him with her face formed in a puzzled frown.
Sam heaved an exasperated sigh. “Who do you think? Who’s the one person who would get extremely jealous by us dancing together?” Kirsty continued to frown, not quite sure if she was hearing him right. “The same person who is the very reason why I didn’t throw this costume in the bin as soon as you presented it to me.”
“Hey, it’s not that bad. The craftsmanship is simply superb, the best I’ve ever seen in fact.”
“You would say that because you made it.”
“Precisely. So doesn’t that mean that I’m the reason why you didn’t throw it away?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, thanks!” she replied huffily. “So who is the reason?”
“Oh, I don’t know, how about the person who gave you the idea for it?” asked Sam in what seemed to be quite a sarcastic tone.
“You mean Emma? But why would you be bothered by whether Emma was getting jealous or not?”
“You can be unbelievably dense at times, do you realise that?”
Kirsty had now gained enough information to voice the very thing she had been thinking ever since Sam first brought the subject up. “But… You mean… You like… Emma? How’s that possible?”
“What do you mean how’s that possible? Have you not seen Emma? She’s bloody gorgeous!”
“But… This is brilliant!” exclaimed Kirsty. “You know she likes you too, right?”
“I believe I did hear that somewhere. After all, isn’t it common knowledge up in the old Gryffindor Tower?” he asked with a smirk.
“Is it?” asked Kirsty, surprised.
“Well, how could it not be? Seeing as both you and Sirius knew about it.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re the worst secret keepers that I’ve ever met.”
Kirsty gave a complacent shrug of her shoulders.
“Listen, talking of which, you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone,” begged Sam frantically.
“What would you do to me if I did?” she asked mischievously.
He leaned in close to her again and replied, “I will make it so that everyone in this entire castle knows that you’ve had eyes for no one but a certain Sirius Black since you walked through those doors this evening.”
The band struck the last chord of the song and Kirsty stared back at Sam in utter shock.
“Now you can leave,” stated Sam pleasantly as he let go of both her hands and gave her a helpful push off the dance floor.
Kirsty glowered over her shoulder at his smug face and she hurried off the floor with her face flaming embarrassedly. “He’s a bloody git!” she fumed as she approached her friends at their two commandeered tables.
“Finally decided to join us have you?” asked Emma coldly as Kirsty sat down next to Sirius.
Kirsty gave her a fearful look; clearly she was still in Emma’s bad books. “Just because he thinks his costume is ridiculous he sees fit to punish me.”
“It didn’t look like much of a punishment to me,” remarked Emma.
Kirsty couldn’t believe this. How could Sam have done this to her? Surely he’d known how Emma would react? The whole situation was ludicrous really, seeing as Sam had no interest in anyone but Emma this evening.
“Where’s Lily, James and Peter?” asked Kirsty, hoping to go off topic.
“They’re on the dance floor,” replied Sirius shortly.
And sure enough when Kirsty looked she saw Lily and James, who seemed to be teaching Peter how to dance. It didn’t seem to be going well, however, as the bandages on Peter’s costume kept on unravelling and he tripped over every other step. Lily laughed loudly at something James had just said. Could love finally be blossoming? she wondered.
“I didn’t notice them up there before,” she told Emma and Sirius.
“Only have eyes for Sam, did you?” asked Sirius in a voice just as cold as Emma’s had been.
Kirsty gave him a hurt look before responding. “Listen, guys, I didn’t even want to come down here with Sam, I wanted to go with you lot. I never asked to dance with him. He did it as payback to embarrass me, that’s all. I made that costume as a favour to you, Em, because I know how much you adore that book. And, Sirius, I would have loved to have come down here clinging to your arm; in fact, I’m immensely jealous that Hayley got to do it instead,” she finished, breathing heavily.
“Thanks, Kirst, the costume was brilliant, really. You did a fantastic job and I do appreciate the thought,” Emma admitted, giving her a genuinely friendly look.
“You’re welcome,” replied Kirsty quietly. “And if it makes you feel any better, Sam did mention how lovely he thought you looked.”
“Really?” asked Emma hopefully, her eyes lighting up. “He said that?”
“He sure did,” Kirsty replied with a warm smile which she used to mask her knowing smirk.
“I’m sorry, Kirst, of course we realised that you’d rather arrive with us. We were just being unbelievably awkward. It’s just that we get protective, you know? Because you belong to us, you’re ours,” stated Sirius, grabbing her around the waist in a claiming hug.
She laughed, glad that they were back to normal. “You big softy,” she remarked.
Hayley and Remus were sat at the table next to them and they seemed not to have even noticed the goings on next to them, for they were far too immersed in their own conversation, and each other, for that.
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“He has to ask her!” exclaimed James impatiently.
They were now nearing the last hour of the Halloween ball, and everybody apart from Sirius and James it seemed were up on the dance floor.
“But he won’t do it. You know he won’t, he’s too shy,” argued Sirius.
All evening, James had been observing Remus and Hayley’s behaviour and he was intent on at least getting them to dance together. He was so keen that he had even involved Sirius in his schemes, after explaining Remus’ feelings about Hayley to him first.
“How can he be shy? It’s Hayley! He’s grown up around her!”
“Which is the problem, he doesn’t want to ruin things with her. It’s a big jump from friends to more than that, Prongs.”
“You seem to be very knowledgeable about this, Padfoot,” remarked James, raising a sceptical eyebrow.
“It’s just common sense.”
“This coming from the guy who didn’t even notice that one of his best friend’s got a crush.”
“Shut up!”
“I seem to have hit a nerve.” replied James gleefully, “Now how can we go about getting Moony to ask her to dance?”
“Ply him with a bit of Dutch courage?” suggested Sirius jokingly.
James’ eyes lit up, “Why, that’s perfect! Good thinking, Padfoot.”
“No, Prongs, I was joking.”
“But it’s a great idea!”
“No, it’s a very bad one. Plus Moony would never agree to drink any now.”
“Who says he has a choice in the matter?”
“I don’t like where you’re going with this, Prongs.”
“No, listen, I was thinking we haven’t done a good honest bit of Maraudering lately and, well, it’ll really be a good way of livening up the last precious minutes of the party.”
“I don’t like that twinkle you’ve got in your eye. That twinkle always means bad news.”
“Aw, come on, what’s wrong with you tonight? I’d thought you’d jump at the chance to cause some mayhem.”
“I’m just tired.”
“No, you’re not. You’ve been in a bad mood ever since you learned Kirsty was coming to the dance with Sam.”
“Well, wouldn’t you be in a bad mood if you’d been rejected for Sam North?” asked Sirius seriously.
“Good point,” laughed James.
“So what exactly do you have planned?” asked Sirius with apprehension.
“We spike the fruit punch,” James stated simply.
“And you know how to do that by magic?”
“Of course, when have I ever let you down?”
“Fine. Just promise me that you won’t drink any yourself, you’re giddy enough this evening as it is, and I think I have a very good idea why…” Sirius trailed off and looked over his shoulder.
James followed his gaze and saw Lily dancing with Emma on the dance floor. “It’s going well, isn’t it?” he asked Sirius.
“Very well. In fact, why don’t you try asking her out again?”
“Oh no, I’m going to wait and see how things go.”
“Aw, would you look at that, my boy’s all grown up!” Sirius exclaimed overdramatically.
James gave him an annoyed look. “Shut up and get over here so you can help me to get everyone drunk.”
“It looks as if I spoke too soon,” commented Sirius as he walked over and complied with James’ wishes.
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By a quarter to midnight, Hayley could be found up on the dance floor dancing with an extremely hyperactive James. Not that she could say anything of course, seeing as she felt quite giddy herself.
Upon surveying the room, Hayley saw that everyone in the close vicinity was dancing with huge grins plastered across their faces or else laughing hysterically at something unbeknownst to her. If she hadn’t of known better, she would have said that they were all drunk.
Currently everyone seemed to be up on the dance floor. All of her friends were scattered around her and seemed to be having the time of their lives. Kirsty was not far over on her left dancing with Remus, Emma and Sirius were directly behind her dancing raucously and Lily and Peter had resorted to holding Peter’s bandages up, much like you did with the trail of a dress, in order to let him dance.
“I’m surprised that the Slytherins have started to dance,” remarked Hayley as James linked arms with her and danced her around in a circle. To her left Kirsty and Remus had started to do the same thing.
“There must be something in the water!” he exclaimed with a snort of derisive laughter.
As the song began to draw to a close, James let go of Hayley’s arm and moved away to link arms with Kirsty, leaving Remus to be thrown in Hayley’s direction.
Hastily stopping himself from careering into her, Remus came to a stand still in front of Hayley and grinned awkwardly at her as the song finished to be replaced by a slower, more romantic one.
Hayley grinned shyly back before glancing over his shoulder to see Kirsty and James fleeing off the dance floor grinning manically. “How did we end up associating ourselves with such people?” she asked Remus jokingly, nodding pointedly at their fleeing friends.
“I have no idea,” replied Remus, shaking his head with a smile as he looked at them. He turned agitatedly back to Hayley and she wasn’t sure whether it was her slightly drunken feeling or the fact that she was in such a close proximity to Remus that was making her feel extremely light headed.
Remus took a deep breath before stooping into a bow and asking, “Can I have this dance, your highness?”
“Gladly, kind sir,” she replied with a small curtsy.
Remus visibly relaxed before dutifully pulling her into his arms and placing his hand lightly on her waist. A small involuntary shiver made its way down her spine at his touch.
He pulled her closer to him so that her nose was almost touching his chin. She sighed contently as he began to expertly lead her around the dance floor. Hayley simply couldn’t believe how safe and comforted she felt in his arms and she breathed in deeply to capture the intoxicating smell that was Remus.
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There wasn’t a long time to go until the clock would be tolling midnight and Lily, to her own surprise, was sat with her head leaning lightly on James’ shoulder. The whole group had now retired back to their tables, except for Hayley and Remus who were still dancing. James had also chivalrously handed Lily his suit jacket when she had complained of it being quite chilly and she now had it draped protectively around her shoulders.
Sirius, having obviously not learnt his lesson, was lounging back in his chair with his feet on the table, Emma was helping Peter to take his bandages off and Kirsty had flopped down onto the table with her head resting on her folded arms.
Lily was watching the mass of people enjoying themselves on the dance floor. Sam was still up there dancing with some of his Hufflepuff friends, a glass of punch in hand. And even as Lily watched, Sam danced his way over to Sian Morgan who didn’t even seem to object to his presence. Both were dancing flamboyantly as the band’s last song started to come to an end and when the band finished and deathly silence rang out, something happened to make Lily sit bolt upright in her chair. Sam and Sian both leant in towards one another and kissed.
*gasp*! Sirius' costume was inspired by Buffy. Thanks so much for reading, and I will greet you with a new chapter in 2008!
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: Merry Christmas everyone! I thought that I’d give you this chapter as an early pressie! Just to let you know, this chapter contains some substance abuse in the form of alcohol. Thanks once again to my amazing beta star_falling13.