"What could this possibly be about?" Lily wondered aloud as the seventh years of all four houses wandered down to the Great Hall for some sort of meeting.
"Maybe Dumbledore is going to tell us that we don't have to take our N.E.W.T.'s this year." Sirius suggested as he came up behind Lily and Ngila.
"Fat chance, Padfoot, maybe they're publicly expelling Snape from the school." James said as he came up next to Sirius.
"You two are idiots. They are obviously bringing all of the seventh years together in the Great Hall to inject some sort of brain washing fluid into our brains so we have to obey them once we leave school." Ngila told them sounding very logical.
"Oh, of course, why the hell didn't I think of that?" Lily spat out sarcastically while rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up.
"Quite down, all of you, we're about to begin." Professor McGonagall cried out as the foursome took their seats at the Gryffindor table and Remus and Peter joined them.
"Do you four have any idea what this is about?" Remus whispered to them.
"No bloody clue." Lily whispered back.
"Watch your mouth!" Ngila exclaimed loudly causing the hushed room to look her way. "Sorry." She cried out once again with a bright smile on her face.
"Great, now if we don't have any more interruptions," Professor McGonagall looked towards Ngila who shrank under her gaze, "I'd like to begin with tonight's announcements.
"As you all know, Halloween is steadily approaching and Professor Dumbledore has decided that this year Hogwart's will be host to its own costume ball. Everyone must come dressed as a character approved by their head of house so as not to have any repeats. Please try to think of something original. The ball will be open to fifth year and above, unless a younger student is invited, and the announcement to the whole school will be made tomorrow during lunch.
"Lastly, Hogwart's will once again have its annual Yule Ball. All rules from the years before apply this year accept this year no one shall be permitted to wear dress robes. You all shall be wearing muggle clothing which means that the women shall be wearing dresses and the men, tuxedoes. Once again the ball is only open to fourth year and above unless a younger student is invited. This shall be announced tomorrow at lunch as well.
"As seniors of this school you all must set an example to the younger students. That means that during these activities any inappropriate behavior observed shall not go unpunished. I do hope that all of you understand what this means because under no circumstances so I want to have to punish anyone knowing that this is your seventh and final year at this terrific school. I believe that is all. Back to your dormitories and no stalling."
Soon the marauders along with Lily and Ngila had all made it back to Gryffindor tower and were discussing the announcements made earlier that night.
"Halloween is like two weeks from Friday, right?" Peter asked the group.
"Yeah, I think so. They better have a few Hogsmeade trips scheduled so I can get what I need for my costume." Ngila exclaimed.
"What are you going to dress as?" Lily asked her curiously.
"It's a surprise. Maybe I'll tell you later so you can help me out." Ngila told her.
"What do you boys plan on dressing as?" Lily asked the marauders.
"I have no clue. Maybe I'll get some girl with a good idea to go with me and we can dress as some cool couple." Sirius explained thoughtfully.
"That's so…..asinine." Ngila spat disgustedly.
"I don't think so. I won't have to think to hard about my costume." Sirius said.
"The whole point of the ball is to be creative and different. You should choose your own costume rather than rely on someone else's imagination." Lily explained, shocked along with Ngila.
"Whatever. What are you going to be Prongs?" Sirius said, changing the topic.
"I don't know yet. We have a little time so I'll think about it." James said.
"What about you Remus?" Ngila asked again.
"I'm going to need some time to think about it. I'm really not that creative." Remus said sadly.
"It's the same thing with me. It will take me forever." Peter explained.
"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and plan. I want to be very prepared." Ngila said and got up preparing to go to bed but grabbing her shoes first.
"Yea, I'll go with you." Lily called after her.
The two girls said their goodbyes to all the boys and hugged who they needed to hug before heading up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
"So what are you going to do?" Lily asked Ngila as they settled on her bed.
"I'm stuck between two. I'm either going to be Ingrid Bergman from Casablanca or Mary Antoinette with her head cut off. Professor Flitwick could probably help me with those really hard charms but I'm still not sure." Ngila explained.
"Those are pretty good. I'm not sure what I want to be. I'll think of something really cool though." Lily told her.
"You should be a cowgirl and just go around lassoing people. It would be wickedly irritating but wicked cool at the same time!" Ngila exclaimed.
"Now that's just stupid. By the way I had something I wanted to talk you about." Lily ended shyly.
"What's up, babe?"
"It's just…well….James likes me, right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he still does."
"OK, well I was just….you know….checking. I'm going to go back to bed now." Lily stuttered and then tried to climb off the bed as quickly as she could.
"No, I don't think so, Lillian." Ngila said sternly and grabbed her arm to pull her back on the bed.
"What is it, Ngila? I just wanted to know if he still liked me." Lily lied.
"Nice try, but I know it's not true. What's going on?" Ngila asked, her eyes narrowing.
Switches very rapidly to Lily's point of view
"Nothing, I was just curious, is all." I lied again. I was talking faster now and I could tell by the look on Ngila's face that she knew I was lying to her.
"Out with it, Lily, because I know you're hiding something from me." She said again. What am I supposed to do? She should know….right?"
"Oh gods, Ngila, I think I fell in love with him." I cried as my face fell into her shoulder so my voice was thoroughly muffled.
"WHAT!?" She shrieked….right next to my ear!
"I'm in love with the bloody prat." I cried again lifting my head up again and bursting into tears.
"Oh dear." She said softly and enveloped me in a huge hug.
I just sank into it and cried into her shoulder. I don't know how long I stayed like that but it was then that I realized that Ngila was the most amazing person I have ever met. She stayed with me, all though she could have pushed me off forever ago, for almost two hours just rubbing my back and speaking softly to me while I cried into her shoulder. Her shirt is probably ruined permanently.
"Ngila, I love you." I sniffled lifting my head from her shoulder. She just smiled at me and chuckled. It was then I noticed that she was crying too.
"I love you too, baby." She laughed. I pushed myself out of her arms and jumped off the bed to sit on the floor and lean against my own bed which was next to hers. She crawled off her bed and did the sat opposite me in the same manner.
"Why are you crying?" I asked curiously.
"I always cry when other people cry. It makes me so sad to see others like that." She explained while chucking me a box of tissues.
"God, Ny, what am I going to do?"
"Are you positively sure that you're in love with him?"
"No, I'm not completely sure. I mean I get little butterflies and stuff but I'm so confused."
"Then don't do anything. I mean, what if you're making a mistake and you just think you love him right now. If you march right up to him and tell him you could be making the biggest mistake of your life."
"So, I just ignore him?"
"Don't ignore him! I just meant treat him like you normally do. Pay close attention to him though and to your feelings when you're around him. I don't mean stalk him. I mean just watch him for a while and think about him."
"What will that accomplish?"
"You might suddenly come to the revelation that you don't love him or that you do love him. You can't just jump into love without observing him for a bit first and getting to know him."
"What if he asks me to the Halloween ball?"
"Do you want to go with him?"
"I don't know."
"Tell him you'll think about. That way you don't have to say yes but you don't have to say no either."
"You're a life saver, did you know that?"
"Yes, I believe I did." Ngila was smirking like crazy at me now.
"What time is it?"
"Would you believe it's only like 9:15?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, strange."
"You want to go downstairs to the common room?"
"Sure, why not?"
I got up and walked over to her to extend a hand. I soon pulled her up and we were walking down the stairs of the dormitory to the common room where James and Sirius were still sitting in front of the fire talking. Ngila motioned for me to be quiet and grabbed a pillow. I suddenly knew what she was going to do and grabbed a pillow of my own. Of course, she went for Sirius which left me with James. I looked over at him in front of the fire and suddenly froze.
He had changed into a t-shirt and his hair was as messy as usual and he had his glasses off. His chocolate brown eyes were reflecting the firelight and the t-shirt was tight enough to show the defined muscles he had. He wasn't like a body builder or anything but he was lean and muscular. Not beefy but not like a twig either. So, there was definitely a physical attraction.
Next thing I knew, Ngila's hand was waving in front of my face. I mouthed an apology to her and quietly crept up behind James. I looked over at Ngila and she winked at me. I held out my fingers and counted down from three. Feathers were soon flying everywhere and Sirius and James were shrieking like little school girls while me and Ngila were literally rolling on the floor laughing.
"You did this." James growled at us while he and Sirius stood over us glaring.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, I do believe we did." Ngila managed to choke out.
"Both of you shall regret the day you ever crossed the paths of Sirius Black and James Potter."
The tone of voice that Sirius used and the look on their faces only made us laugh harder. Soon I couldn't breathe but was determined to stay alive just a moment longer to see what they would do. They pounced.
Sirius and Ngila were wrestling beside me while James had pinned me to the floor trying to make me beg for mercy.
"Say it, Evans, say, `James Potter, you are an absolute god and I shall never terrorize you again.'" James playfully said in a high pitched supposedly girl's voice.
"You can't make me Potter. I shall never succumb to your request." I smiled.
"Oh, someone's using big words." Sirius choked out next to us from the head lock Ngila had currently held him in.
"And you said I would regret crossing your path, Black." Ngila laughed while ruffling his hair.
"Watch the hair, Ken!" He shrieked in a very high tone of voice which made me laugh even harder than I already was.
"Say it, Evans, you know you want to." James then said bringing my attention back to him.
"I really don't think so, James." I said and used curled my leg around his waist so I could flip him onto his back, which I did successfully.
"How the hell did you do that?" James shrieked.
"I fight a lot with my sister." I shrugged while straddling him and sitting up. He still stayed lying on the ground.
"Gods, Lil, I've been imagining you in this position forever." James groaned but it wasn't real.
"James Potter!" I screamed and smacked him in the chest while rolling over off of him and crawling up so my back was against the back of the couch.
"What? I'm a seventeen year old boy. It's only natural for me to say things like that."
"Yes, but you were being nice and playful before and then you turn into a perverse little freak."
"Ngila doesn't mind Sirius being a perverse little freak." James motioned over to Ngila and Sirius who were having a very detailed conversation about the male anatomy.
"That's because Ngila has many brothers and enjoys that perverse sense of humor. She's a cynical ass and thinks about sex almost as much as you do. However, I am not like that."
"You never think about sex?"
"I never said that. I just don't think about it ever fifteen seconds."
"I don't think about it that much!"
"Yes, you do."
"Alright, but what does it matter? I said it before and I'll say it again. I'm a seventeen year old boy!"
"And I'm a seventeen year old girl but I manage to control my comments on sexual fantasies and such."
"Oh my gods, Lily Meredith Evans has sexual fantasies. Do tell." Ngila suddenly squealed leaving Sirius to follow her as she crawled to me and James.
"That is sort of a private matter. We're in the middle of the common room!" I blushed.
"So, we'll go up to the boy's dorm. Right, guys?" Ngila said looking at them for conformation.
"Oh Hera, I'd love to continue this conversation upstairs." Sirius let out quickly.
"Then let's go!" she exclaimed and leapt up.
If you have been following along you will note that I have had absolutely no say in this at all. I shouldn't be talking this way with two hormonal teenage boys. That would have them thinking about me the wrong way. It doesn't matter of course because I was dragged up the stairs anyway and the door to the dormitory was locked as the four of us sat Indian style on the floor in a circle.
"Alright, Lils, it's time to spill." Sirius chuckled as he rhymed.
"I'm not going first!" I squeaked, "I didn't want to come up here in the first place. Why are we even having this conversation? Cor, I'm uncomfortable."
"Fine, Lilsy, just calm down a bit. I'll go first if it makes you feel better. I can't believe I'm telling you people this." Ngila spoke calmly.
I was amazed that she was able to let it all out there but she did always have major balls. For a girl, that is. Ny always had a perverse sense of humor and had the amazing ability to have an entire conversation lasting as long as one would like about sex. I would consider her a nymphomaniac but she's still a virgin. Of course, you wouldn't suspect that after listening to her talk. She's an expert but with no hands on experience.
"I've always wanted to have a bit of `how's your father' on the Slytherin table in the great hall. I would just go in there with a guy during the day when no meals are happening in the dark and just do it on the table. That way they would eat there everyday and never know what happened there as I smirk happily and chomp on my food." Ngila finished while licking her lips. She's obviously thought about this before and isn't going into full detail with the boys around. I know for a fact that she'd tell me everything.
"That wasn't nasty at all! I thought this would be an r-rated conversation!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I'm not going to going to fully explain my wet dreams to you right here." Ngila playfully shouted at him.
"And here I was thinking that we had to go into detail. I had a skit planned out, you know." Sirius shouted.
Dear readers,
If you haven't notice, I've up-ed the rating because I am actually writing based on fact. My friends and I are in high school and I believe we talk about sex everyday. We're all bloody obsessed. I also tend to have a perverse sense of humor so, you know. Please review. Thanks a bunch.
-Bex