Not Him | Jily

Chapter Twelve

All afternoon lessons at Hogwarts had been cancelled, and students bustled about their dormitories; some preparing for the ball, and others packing their suitcases for their return home the next day for the Christmas Holidays.

'I look ridiculous,' Alice complained, looking at her blue off the shoulder dress from different angles in the mirror.

'Of course you don't,' Lily assured, striding over to Alice in her sage green silk dress which flashed her collarbones. 'You look stunning, Frank is going to love it.'

Lily fixed her elegantly curled hair to cascade down her back, almost reaching her waist. Frank Longbottom had asked Alice to the ball the day they had found out about it, and Alice hadn't stopped gushing about it since.

Alice dreamily fell onto her bed and sighed, 'I don't want to mess it up, y'know? It's our first proper date.'

'What about all your Hogsmeade trips together?' Lily questioned.

'Unofficial,' Alice states to the roof.

Lily laughed, 'I promise you're going to be alright - but only if you promise to tell me everything afterwards.'

Before Alice had time to make such a promise, Marlene re-entered the room in her tight, floor length black dress. 'Thomas is waiting for you down there, Lils.'

Lily groaned, butterflies angrily flapping inside her stomach, envious of Marlene's decision to go solo. The two girls linked arms and said their goodbyes to Alice, who had planned to arrive slightly later with Frank, then made their way into the common room together.

'I'll take her from here,' Thomas grunted to Marlene, clearly trying hard to deepen his voice as he spoke. Marelene rolled her eyes and muttered something incoherent. She unlinked her arm from Lily's, staring off somewhere across the common room. Lily followed her eyes as Thomas took Marlene's place, only to find James' hazel eyes staring back at her.

His lips were slightly parted in concentration, and he didn't even notice Lily staring bac. All he knew was that she looked stunning. She always did.

James' impossibly messy hair was - of course - still impossibly messy - in fact, maybe it was a little messier than normal from all his attempts at neatening it. His black dress robes fit comfortably against his body, complementing his shape, just as his Quidditch robes did. Just as anything he wore did: not that Lily had been staring at him in his Quidditch robes, or at all, ever, of course.

Noticing Lily looking right back at him, he flicked his eyes a few inches or so from her to look at Thomas. He was huge compared to Lily and it looked like his hand could crush hers in an instant. It didn't matter though, because this was who Lily had chosen to go with, and he was going to respect that.

'Shall we?' Thomas asked louder than necessary, pulling her closer to him, and shooting a nasty glare at James. Only just managing a sincere smile, Lily nodded.

James was still staring, even though he knew he shouldn't. Beating back jealousy for the thousandth time, he turned back to his friends, who were laughing at a second year boy who had tried to charm his hair into looking tidier, but had ended up with rapidly growing eyebrows.

'Tried that one in first year, didn't you, Prongs? Ended similarly, didn't it?' Sirius said through laughter, elbowing James in the ribs.

The boy did remind James an awful lot of his younger self, he silently agreed. 'Hey, want some advice?' He called over.

The boy turned, his eyes filled with terror, and he desperately nodded his head.

'Don't bother trying to tidy it up - the ladies love a windswept look,' he winked, then waved his wand, returning the boy's hair back to its original state. James lifted his hand to his own hair and ruffled it, the boy mirrored him, grinning.

Sirius rolled his eyes, 'You're gonna make such a great Dad one day, Prongsie.'

'Yeah I am,' he chuckled.

a/n I PROMISE I WONT JUST STOP UPDATING COMPLETELY

this school year is really important, and in may/june i have exams that basically determine the rest of my life - i want to get into university - so i need to focus on them. but in july onwards i'll be able to regularly update :)