Jealously Wears A Green Mask | Jily

11: Always

"James, come on!" she was getting anxious now, they were missing most of the ball and it was their last ever chance to be with all their friends. The NEWTs had finished and their little group were all going separate ways, it was their final hoorah. And they were missing it.

"I'm here, I'm here, no need to fret Evans," James stumbled down the stairs, holding his hair to make sure it stayed in place, "your date has arrived." He placed his hands on his hips, grinned at her and waltzed on over to where she was sitting.

Lily stood up and took in what stood before her, "Potter you actually look handsome for once," she giggled, looked up at his hair and gasped, "did you try to tame your hair?"

"Well... you always hate when I mess it up so I thought I'd try something new! How does it look?" He said proudly showing his barely managed hair.

"Ah, umm," Lily started and went to touch it, "well let's just say I think I can improve it." Moving her hands into his hair she gently messed it up to it's natural mess.

"Evans! What did you do that for? That took me almost an hour to perfect." He frowned sadly at his ruined work.

"You didn't need to change it for me, I liked it as it was," Lily smiled softly at him, James sighed and messed it up more himself, "also you looked absolutely ridiculous."

"Hey, watch it, one day I might be a hairdresser. Who knows," that made them both laugh.

When they stopped laughing, James looked at Lily with a twinkle in his eye, "you on the other hand, look stunning," Lily blushed but he continued, "I thought nothing could top your costume to the Halloween dance but... Merlin's beard was I wrong. And I'm glad I was too."

He stood back and slowly took in her whole outfit. She had another stunning deep green dress on. However instead of being skin tight it was a lacy piece with a corset-like top which elegantly transformed into a puffed out skirt. Her hair was curled and put in a messy high bun with small emerald gems lain all over it. And in the middle of it all, was a sparkling necklace, with a real emerald glimmering in the middle.

James stood in a dazed trance staring at Lily, until she finally took the initiative to get a move on down to the dance.

"We better go, it's already 9, the dance started an hour ago, we'll be the last to arrive by a mile," she sped swiftly over to the door, followed eagerly by James.

"If you insist, my dear," James smirked and followed her through the portrait hole.

They walked down the stairs and quickly through the corridors, hoping to make it when the doors were still open, as to avoid a scene. However, Lady Luck appeared not to be on their side today and Filch had already shut the doors.

"Damn," Lily cursed James for being so obsessed with his appearance, "I guess we'll have to go round the back."

James grabbed Lily's arm as she made a move back towards the stairs, "I mean... we could always go through the main entrance?"

"I don't want to cause a scene though, I think I've had enough of those for this year," Lily replied wearily, not excited to draw anymore unwanted attention to herself.

James pulled her closer to him, "come on, just this once," he saw hesitation on Lily's face so added, "for me?"

James was pouting and Lily rolled her eyes, "urgh, alright then fine, but never again, got it?"

"Got it, never again," James replied joyfully, and pointed his wand at the floor. Lily stared at it, puzzled as to why he'd brought it. He shot a spark out of the tip, and slipped it back into his blazer pocket.

Lily groaned, "ah... I see this was your plan all along then?"

"Oh my Lily-flower, will you ever learn? First and foremost I am a prankster - a little trickery is what makes me tick." He grinned so freely, Lily couldn't help but smile back.

"I suppose you'll want us to be in a romantic embrace then?" She asked, now fully on board with the plan because well, they were leaving in a couple of days so why the hell not?

"You know me too well." James grasped Lily's thigh, dipping her into a movie-like pose.

He looked into her eyes, and kissed her just for good luck. She beamed at him as they heard the creaky doors to the hall swing open.

"Ready?" she asked him.

"Always."

(A/N) short (slight rushed) epilogue :) just wanted to ask... did you like the last line? Yes I did steal it from Snape because I don't think it deserves to be used as a term of love between them, it should be between James and Lily. The ones who were really in love. Or did you not associate it with Snape at all? Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Q: do you like Snape? Do you think he deserves the hate he gets?

If you enjoyed this story please consider voting! And thanks for reading :)