All righty then. There may be two more chapters and an epilogue after this, or one more and an epilogue, it all depends on how the writing of the next chapter goes.

My region of the States got killed with snow today, so they've called off school. Gives me plenty of time to write ((grin)). Hope you enjoy.

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Lily sat cross-legged on the bed in her dorm room, the sheer curtains closed around her. She listened to the hysteric giggles and conversations between the other girls in the room; the ball started in two hours, and they were all experimenting with each other's hair and speculating as to what their dates would be wearing.

"Why aren't you getting ready, Lily?" Alice asked, laughing at a particularly hideous hairdo when she looked in the mirror.

"I - er, I'm just finishing up a few things," she lied, "I'll start soon."

A faint tapping on the window next to her bed distracted her. She stood and flung the window open, only to have a large, tawny own she recognized as Susan's drop a letter into her hand and fly away without response.

Lily tore open the envelope, reading Susan's untidy scrawl.

I imagine that you are having a panic attack right now – all the girls in your common room are getting ready, and you are probably sitting on your bed with that timid look of yours on your face without a clue as to what to do.

If I'm wrong, you may of course slap me later.

If I'm right, gather your things and come to the Prefect's common room.

Lily broke into a smile, retrieving the box with her dress in it from under her bed. She put anything else she thought she might have wanted in her bag, and tossed a quick goodbye, see you later over her shoulder as she left the room.

She arrived in the common room, where the majority of the Gryffindor boys were sitting attempting to amuse themselves.

"Oi! Lily!" Sirius snickered, "Why aren't you upstairs getting ready for a lifetime like all of the other girls?"

She flushed, "I'm going to meet Susan – she promised to help me out, my hair or something."

Over Sirius' shoulder, James managed to catch Lily's eye and smile, and she subtly returned it.

"Should I meet you somewhere?"

"No, I – I'll come back here and meet you here, Sirius. Susan has to meet Remus, anyway."

Sirius smiled, "See you later."

She nodded and turned, hurrying out of the room.

"Girls," Sirius laughed, shaking his head, "They take for bloody ever to get ready, but they don't want us to know that they are getting ready – like they're up in their rooms all sodding day doing positively nothing."

Remus snickered, "It's rather cute, don't you think?"

"Cute?" James looked at his friend in disbelief, "Did you just use the word cute?"

"I-" he blushed, "Yes. But anyway," he started, changing the subject, "Are you still going to the ball with Bellatrix, James?"

The boy's eyes darkened, "Yes, I'm still going with her."

An awkward silence passed over the group, and they busied themselves with other activities.

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Lily ran into the Prefect common room, where Susan was sitting casually on the couch, a smug smirk on her face. "I knew it was only a matter of time."

Lily looked around the room warily, "There are lot of people in here."

And it was true; many prefects from various houses were in the room, fussing over one another.

"I know, that's why I told them all that the bathroom was mine – I wrote a note and put it in here this morning."

Lily giggled, shaking your head, "You knew I would be a nervous wreck, didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

"And you didn't tell me?" Lily feigned shock, "How could you?"

Susan laughed, leading the way into the spacious bathroom where her dress was already hanging on the opposite wall.

"Oh, Susan, that dress!" Lily gushed, "It's gorgeous! Remus is going to just die."

Susan smiled, pulling out her wand and walking over to the mirror.

"I have been experimenting with several different hairstyles all day. Tell me, what do you think of this one?" Susan asked, flicking her wand. Her hair slowly wound itself into a sleek, elegant twist at the back of her head.

"It's lovely," Lily sighed, "You have wonderful hair – anything you do with it is lovely."

"Okay, maybe I should do it with my dress on to see what's best. Put yours on, too, and I can try some things with yours."

Lily sighed, lifting the dress out of the box, "I don't know about this, Susan…"

"What's there not to know about?"

"I'm just-" she groaned, "This isn't me."

"Lily," Susan sighed, "Listen to me. You're a beautiful girl, everyone seems to know that except you. I've heard of modest, and you're the epitome of it – you tend to go overboard. Why can't you just accept that girls at this school would curse their own parents to have your hair and curves. I know I would."

"The only person that makes me feel that way is James-"

"Sirius has never told you that you're beautiful?"

"No, of course he has – it's just different with James."

Susan smiled and walked over to the mirror, spending five minutes trying different hairstyles while Lily pulled her dress on. She finally settled to let her hair fall loose over her shoulders in blonde ringlets that were held in place by magic.

Susan glanced at her reflection once more. Lily had always thought that Susan was prettier than she was – a classic beauty. She had wavy, honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was unblemished and was naturally tanned, and she had a slim figure – something that Lily was convinced she would trade her curves for any day of the week.

Once Lily had the dress on and properly fastened in all the right places, she unpinned her hair and sighed, raising her eyebrows at her reflection. She was still the same – still just plain.

Susan smiled when she saw that her friend was ready.

"Do you want your hair up or down?"

"Up, I have no patience."

Susan laughed and pulled out her wand, going to work. She tried at least six different styles before she came upon one that Lily especially liked. It was an elegant twist at the back of her head, and a few stray strands hung down in spirals.

"I wish I knew how to do this," Lily laughed, admiring her hair in the mirror, "It's actually tame for once."

"Can I do your makeup?"

Lily looked skeptical, "I don't usually wear makeup – not too much, okay?"

"No, no of course not," Susan grinned happily.

"You're going to have such a lovely time with Remus tonight," Lily smiled as Susan applied the pale blue shadow to her eyes.

"I know," Susan sighed wistfully, "And you have to admit, Lily, you could have done a lot worse than Sirius Black for a date. I imagine he cleans up very nice in dress robes."

"I'm sure James does, too."

Susan let out a bark of laughter, "You need to get your mind off James for tonight."

"I know," Lily giggled, "I just can't help it."

"I know…and I'm sure he'll have a hard time keeping his mind off of you once he sees you."

Lily blushed, "Are you almost finished?"

"How much time do we have?"

Lily glanced up at the clock behind Susan, "We are supposed to meet them in about 10 minutes, and it takes five to get up to the tower as it is."

"That's fine. I'm almost done," Susan said nonchalantly, applying the last of the lipstick to her friend's lips.

"Done!" she said, beaming, "Go look in the mirror."

Lily looked in the full-length mirror on the opposite wall of the bathroom and raised her eyebrows. It didn't look like her, and yet it was her. It felt good, being happy with her own appearance. She was more confident now and, slipping into the girl mode that she didn't often find, she found herself looking forward to people's reactions toward her.

On their way to Gryffindor tower, Lily and Susan encountered several couples, as well as girls in dresses that were travelling in packs and boys that were struggling with their own appearances.

When they reached the tower, Sirius and Remus were waiting outside, talking. Susan was right – Sirius looked wonderful. He was leaning up against the wall with his hands casually in the pockets of his black and silver dress robes, his ebony hair slicked back into a ponytail. Managing to once again delve inside her friend's thoughts, Susan looked over at Lily and grinned impishly.

As they drew nearer, the boys caught sight of them and identical smiles broke out on both of their faces.

After an exchange of compliments between the four, Susan and Remus immediately went down to the Great Hall. Sirius, however, stood gaping at his date for another moment, and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Sirius, shouldn't we go?"

"You're so beautiful," Sirius said breathlessly, taking both of her hands into his.

She blushed, "Thank you."

"Honestly, that dress is-"

"Sirius," she giggled bashfully, "I get it, you're embarrassing me. Come on, let's go."

He smiled and offered his arm to her, filled to the brim with excitement of walking into the Great Hall with such a gorgeous girl on his arm.

I really don't deserve it, he mused, But I'm glad I've got her.

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Sorry I had to end it there, I know it was short but I wanted to wait until the next chapter to do the ball. I've planned it now that I'm done with this chapter, and I'm planning two more chapters and an epilogue. I've also already started to map out a basic premise for my next story, and I'll be sure to include a sneak peak of that in the next few chapters and hopefully hook your attentions.

I have to ask you guys to do this for me, though – three chapters left, can we please get me to 300 reviews by the end? 22 more and I'll have reached it, and I'll be ecstatic. I never imagined one of my stories would do this well, and I really have thank each and EVERY one of you for staying faithful and reading it all the way through. I really hope you'll all read my next story and make it as successful as this one.

Reader responses:

Ruinsul – Seems I have induced that warm, fuzzy feeling in a lot of people with the last chapter – so glad I could do that. It was my aim. I think I gave myself a warm, fuzzy feeling when writing it! ((Laughs)).

Gillian88 – That's kind of how it went with me, too! I started off wanting her with Sirius and then it occurred to me that I LOVE writing Lily/James. If you could see how this story was supposed to go, you'd be shocked. It's taken so many turns that I didn't expect.

Friticatized – The Notebook is definitely the best movie ever – that scene in the rain in the movie absolutely killed me (I kid you not – I rewound it and watched it again about 5 times in a row) and that was sort of my aim in the last chapter. And yes, a lot of people would think I would make a good lawyer too, but firstly I don't want to be a lawyer, I'm aware that not all lawyers lie, but some do and I don't want to find myself in any dishonest situations in my career because I'm an ethical person like that, so criminal psychologist is definitely it. That way I can be involved in cases but not actually arguing for them.

Lily-evans07 – Oh please don't cry when I'm done with it! I'm glad you've enjoyed it that much! That was my favorite chapter, too, I think…but after this I'm planning probably two more then an epilogue. It should be finished by the end of March at the latest, and then I'll be started a new story. I hope you'll keep an eye out for that. It's completely different than this one, but it's a good premise. I'll probably post a sneak preview in one of the last chapters.

DarkHuntress – The ball is the next chapter! Even I'm excited! And I'll just say this – I think Sirius is going to surprise the majority of my readers.

Gwendolyn James – Attack kisses are the best kind anyway, I'm convinced. If you've seen The Notebook, the MOTHER of all attack kisses is in that one and it's like…..((melts)) amazing.

Sweet 16 Movie Buff – Hooray for chair-spinning! Yes, The Notebook will give you this bubbly feeling – but it's such a beautiful movie that it made me cry like a baby, so brace yourself for that, too. Aww, and prom is fun! My tickets are expensive too, but you only have one chance to do it ;-).

Violets-in-Spring – Never fear! All will work out for the best in the end, I imagine ((devious grin)).

Setszuki – Thanks!

Ashley – Thanks!

Jean jelly bean – Hope you continued past chapter 7 and are enjoying it -).

REVIEW! PLEASE!