Chapter 9: The Christmas Feast
Alice returned to school two weeks later, looking tired and downtrodden. Frank kept an extra-close watch over her, making sure she was sufficiently distracted, and that she ate properly. She had wasted away during her time at home.
Her Sixth Year friends seemed to keep her laughing most of the time, but, as Lily pointed out to Yves at dinner one evening, “her laugh just isn’t believable anymore. It’s going to take a while before she gets over this. Frank says she was extremely close to her dad.”
As is turned out, Alice’s spirits did improve during the weeks leading up to Christmas, so that by the time the holidays were fast approaching, she had most of her old spirit back.
Dumbledore had decided to host a special Christmas Feast, larger and more formal than usual, to keep spirits high. It would take place on the weekend before the end of term. The girls, more than the boys, seemed to be in very high spirits about it.
“It’s just a Feast,” Sirius said to Yves as they sat by the fire late at night, trying to finish a Transfiguration essay.
“Just a feast?” she replied, giving Sirius a ‘that-was-the-wrong-answer-mate’ expression. “It’s so much more than a feast, Sirius.”
“Would you care to elaborate?”
She called across the common room. “Lily! Got a date for the Christmas Feast yet?”
“Don’t remind me! Dumbledore only gave us two weeks notice!”
Yves turned back to Sirius. “See?”
Sirius looked blank. “Not really… what does Lily need a date for?”
Yves raised her eyes to the ceiling and smiled. “Boys,” she said despairingly.
***
By the morning of the Christmas Feast, most of the school had paired up. Sirius and James, however, remained firm on their view that there was no need to take a date.
“We’re going to the Great Hall, eating lots of food, and then probably making fools of ourselves on the dance floor. I don’t see why we have to force some poor soul to be witness to that,” Sirius said at breakfast that morning.
“Yeah, Padfoot, I hate to imagine what you look like dancing…” James said.
“I’ll have you know I am an expert dancer! Its you I’m worried about!”
Remus sat down next to James and pulled the milk jug towards him. “I have a date tonight,” he said, nonchalantly, as he poured milk into a bowl.
The other two looked at him, nonplussed.
“You cracked!” James said. “Who are you going with?”
“Sarah Connet. She asked me, I didn’t see why I should say no,” he replied, adding cornflakes to his bowl and grabbing a spoon.
“That Hufflepuff girl?”
“Yeah, she’s nice.”
“That’s not the point, you cracked mate.”
Lily approached and tapped James on the shoulder. “Uh, Potter, you going tonight?” she asked, not looking directly at him.
“To this Feast thing? Yeah, why?”
“Uh, you wanna take me? Just as friends, you know…” she flushed slightly.
James’s jaw dropped. Sirius elbowed him in the ribs and he startled.
“Uh, sure… I mean, yeah, if you want me to take you, that’s cool.” He ruffled his hair nervously.
“See you later then,” she said. She walked away.
Remus and Sirius laughed.
“Look who cracked, Prongs! Pot calling the kettle black!” Remus said.
“Did I miss something? Did Evans just ask you out on a date?”
“No… no! She said we’d go as friends.”
“Well whatever you think, she just volunteered herself to spend unnecessary time with you. Have you been slipping something in her Pumpkin Juice?”
***
“Is there something in your Pumpkin Juice, Lily? You did not seriously just ask James Potter to the Christmas Feast!”
“Its no big deal. It doesn’t mean anything. I just didn’t want to be the only one there without a partner.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t be if you hadn’t turned down Simon-“
“And Patrick,” another Gryffindor, Ellie, said.
“Not to mention David and Tristan.”
“Ok I get the point! So big deal, I’d rather go with Potter than those guys. He’s in my house, I know him better.”
“We’ll see if that’s your reason after tonight…”
James and the Marauders descended the boys’ staircase at 6:45, wearing dress robes, which were all deep purple. Remus left immediately to meet Sarah Connet by the Great Hall, and the other three slumped into armchairs to wait for the girls. Sirius had finally consented to take a date, a fellow Seventh Year Gryffindor called Ellie, who had problems getting a date that involved dancing as she was so much taller than most of the boys. Sirius, who had had his eye on her for a while now, had decided to bite the bullet and ask her to the dance when he realised he was the only Marauder without a date to the Feast.
Peter stood up quickly. “Gemma’s here,” he said. Gemma was a shy Fourth Year with great amounts of long, black curly hair. She was wearing black robes. “You look, er, nice,” Peter said. “Shall we go?”
Sirius and James were left with some of the other mingling Gryffindors. Finally, at five to seven, Lily, Ellie and Yves arrived.
Yves hugged her friends goodbye and ran off to find the Ravenclaw Quidditch player Michael Younge, who she had finally got to ask her out on a date. Lily and Ellie approached. Sirius kissed Ellie on the cheek and said, “You look lovely.” James cursed his ease with girls and smiled bashfully at Lily. “Yeah, so do you.” He was usually so good at telling Lily how beautiful she was, but when it mattered, when he knew he wouldn’t get told to shove off, it became a lot harder. Lily did look beautiful. She was wearing light pink robes that shimmered in the light, and dangling earrings that elegantly lengthened her neckline.
The four of them arrived in the Entrance Hall just as the doors were about to open. The school had never looked so busy. Everyone was wearing different colours and buzzing excitedly. Suddenly, light flooded the hall as the doors creaked open to reveal a stunning and almost unrecognisable Great Hall.
It was all white. Everything seemed to have been painted a dazzling bright white, so that no actual light was needed. On closer inspection, James found that the walls were covered in a layer of ice, which radiated a comforting warmth. The floor glistened with very fine, powder-like snow, and real snow fell from the ceiling, disappearing about ten feet from their heads.
There were many small tables around the side of the Hall, each seating around twenty. In the centre was the dance floor, and floating around the whole room were at least a hundred of the fairies that had been at Lily’s party.
“Wow,” Lily exclaimed, craning her neck to look up at the ceiling. “This is beautiful.”
James led her to a table on the left-hand side of the Hall, where Remus, Sarah, Sirius and Ellie were seated.
“Where’s Yves?” Lily asked.
She looked around and located her on one of the Ravenclaw tables, chatting away to Michael.
“Peter’s not here either,” Sirius said.
“Peter’s on that Fourth Year table over there,” Remus said.
“Poor Peter, he could have done better than her.”
They were joined by Frank and Alice, and a group of Sixth Year Gryffindors, who all seemed to be in good spirits.
During the meal, the fairies swept the Hall, humming softly in people’s ears. Once everyone had eaten, they flew back to the centre where they lit up the dance floor. Music began from somewhere.
“Oh I love this song!” Lily said. She was joined by a chorus of girls who all stood, ready to dance.
“Come on James, no time like the present.”
“Uh, Lily, I can’t really-“
“If I can ride a broom, you can lead me round the dance floor for ten minutes. Come on!”
She dragged him by his elbow to the centre, where most of the school had already gathered and were dancing enthusiastically to the upbeat tune. James looked awkward but began to sway slightly. Sirius approached with Ellie.
“You look like a right prat, Prongs,” he said, as he twirled Ellie around.
“Oh yeah?” James took Lily’s hand, and spun her in towards him, then back out again. He put his hand on her waist and energetically led her around Sirius and Ellie, ending with a spin under his arm.
He paused for breath. “You see, Padfoot, I excel at dancing.”
Three songs later, and James led Lily back to their table for a breather.
“I haven’t done so much exercise that didn’t involve a broomstick in a long time. You’re a bad influence on me, Evans.”
“Glad you’ve finally realised that. It only took 6 and a half years!”
“Not that long. I wasn’t always in love with you, you know.”
“You what?”
“Well,” James said, not recognising what he had let slip, “in First Year I was too busy making mischief with the boys to notice girls, and in Second Year…” he noticed Lily was looking like he had slapped her. “What did I say?”
She smiled. “Nothing whatsoever. Let’s get a drink and then I want to see how Michael Younge is holding up with an overenthusiastic Yves as a date!”
The rest of the night went smoothly. Everybody seemed to have a good time, including the teachers, who boogied on the dance floor along with everyone else. Once James and Lily had caught up with some of their friends and danced to a few more tunes, James suggested they take a walk to cool off.
The night was cold but it was a welcome relief from the stifling Hall with all its occupants. The couple walked through the grass, occasionally crossing paths with other merry people, full of the excitement of the evening.
They talked easily together, reminiscing about past times, which mainly involved James making a fool of himself in front of Lily. He was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her. She smiled as she remembered how James had mixed up a bag of Crème Candies intended for her with a bag of Dungbombs. She had not been impressed when the bag he left on her desk in Charms had exploded in her face. Now she laughed at it, and her face lit up. She truly was beautiful.
James stopped by the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest once they were fully alone.
“Lily, why did you ask me to take you tonight?” He said this quickly, and then proceeded to find a leaf on the bush they were standing by extremely interesting.
Lily hesitated. “Just thought it’d be nice, is all. Did you not want to take me?” She looked worried.
“Oh no! I only asked because I thought you didn’t like me.”
“Well, I didn’t, and then… I sort of did.”
“Like me?”
“As a friend, I mean.”
“Oh. Well, ok.”
“I did say this morning that I wanted to go as friends, didn’t I?”
“Sure, sure, yeah you did, I just thought maybe…”
“James, did you mean what you said earlier?”
“What did I say earlier?”
“When you said that… that you love me.”
Even in the dark, and with her face deliberately facing the ground, James could see she was blushing.
“Did I say that?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” It was his turn to blush. “Well, I would have thought you knew that by now.”
There were several moments of shuffling feet, and then Lily did something James would have put money on her never even considering doing.
She kissed him. It was only for a few seconds, but the time stopped for James as he jumped in shock, and then leant into the kiss. Lily broke it and stepped back.
What she did next was even more unpredictable. She turned on her heel and ran back to the castle, not looking back once.
“Girls are weird,” James said to himself, and he started to make his own way back, with a slight skip in his step.
Love Conquers by dumbly_dorr
Chapter Notes: As the holidays approach, the students get excited about the oncoming Christmas Feast. But what will happen when James finally gets the dream date he always wanted?