True Love Waits


By Foiilej

Chapter Four


By Friday, even Lily couldn't restrain herself from getting caught up in the girlie pre-dance rituals like, doing ones nails, plucking ones eyebrows, putting on some goopy mask or other to better ones complexion. At first it wasn't by choice. Shannon had dragged her away from a fairly profound conversation with James up to the dorm, and started plucking her eyebrows. Struggle as she could, Lily couldn't get out of Shannon's eerily strong grip. "Lily, make one false move and I will rip your whole eye brow off!!" Lily succumbed to the torture with the occasional comment. "They aren't that bad then, are they?" or, "Man alive, Shannon! Where did you get a bloody grip like that?" After a few minutes, she stepped back and viewed her work. "Well, they were fine, but now, they are perfect. Symmetrical, just the right arch. Perfect. Anyway, on with the nails then." Along with the other girls in the dorm Lily sat and watched at her nails suddenly grew and were given a French manicure with the tap of Shannon's wand. Shannon then did her own.

The boys had quite a bit of time on their hands since they really didn't do any girlie pre-dance things. They mainly just sat there, playing chess and exploding snap. Eventually they went to change when they realized that they had half an hour.

At that point in the day, all the girls had their faces painted and most were about to get dressed. Lily sat, in her blue robes, that fit her perfectly, as if someone had made them just for her. But she sat, rather uncomfortably, thinking that they showed too much, gave her curves she didn't really want people to see. She was slipping her shoes on when Shannon came and sat down. "So, what are you and Jamie-poo going to do after the dance?" She raised an eyebrow to Lily. "Well, I don't quite know. How about you and Aidenny…poo. O my, that doesn't go well at all does it? Either way, how about you too? Going up to the Astronomy tower no doubt? Gonna snog his face off are we?" Lily teased. But Shannon's only reaction was to blush a little and change the subject. "So, Lily my dear, I must say you look gorgeous. No way in bloody hell James won't notice you." Lily rolled her verdant eyes. "Shannon, dear, we are just going to dance, then I'm gonna spilt and he'll be free to carouse with Sirius." "Dear God, you mean you still don't see it? Really, you've spent hours a day with this guy. Do you think he would do that if he didn't like you? Come on Lil. Open those pretty green eyes, ay?" with that Shannon got up and walked over to the bathroom, which was infested with pre-dance girlie girls doing last minute touch ups. "Shannon did have a point…" Lily mused, but then, like all other thoughts of this nature, dismissed it as quickly as it had appeared.

Soon enough the flock of giddy ladies made their way to the door, and suddenly, without a tap of anyone's wand, turned into stunning, elegant women. It was quite startling. Lily was with them, but had neither been a giddy girl or an elegant woman. She was just … Lily, only in a dress. She always thought that inadequate. She sighed and thought aloud, "Oh well, it'll have to do." She was out the door and on her way with the rest when she realized she had forgotten something. "I'll catch up," She explained and hurried as she could in heeled shoes, back to her room. She opened a little box from under her bed and took out a dainty gold chain with an exquisitely carved locket on it. It went perfectly with her dress and was just right. It was her mother's. She exited her room, not as quickly, but much more confidently with the necklace on. When she came down the stairs to the common room she saw that most everyone was gone. "Typical. Don't wait or anything." She thought of the girls who had dolled her up earlier.

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was a worried James. "She hasn't ever gone to a school function. I hope she doesn't ditch." His palms were sweaty, the box for the corsage was warm from their heat. Thoughts as such raced through his mind as he waited in a handsome ensemble by some famous designer or other. He had a flower pinned to his robes that matched the one in his hand. He looked up and caught his breath in a sharp breath. Someone, resembling the girl he was supposed to take to the dance, was coming down the stairs in the exact color dress as that girl he was to take. It couldn't be. But as she came closer, he saw that it was, in fact, Lily. He was speechless. She was gorgeous, and he was speechless. "Well, hello there handsome? Don't we look nice eh?" Lily winked and grinned. He smiled weakly at her. How could he be so lucky as to take her? He forced this thought away and took the corsage out of it's package. A slightly audible gasp came from Lily as she saw it. "James, it's beautiful. Lilies." She looked up at him with a smile that melted him. "I enchanted it to the color of your robes." He pinned it to her nervously, afraid that he would prick her, or perhaps even touch something he wasn't supposed to. But he got it on successfully.

"Lily, you look, utterly breath taking." Immediately he thought it was too much. But she just smiled and blushed slightly. "Thank you." And with that they made their way down to the great hall. It was decorated with multicolored streamers and enchanted stars that kept shooting across the top of the walls. It was believable since the ceiling only displayed the vast deep blue outside. Everyone was chatting as they waited for McGonagall to commence. It was unusually short , for McGonagall though. "This is the last social gathering in this school you are going to have. We will begin the night with the head boy and girl leading a dance. Thank you." Some students swore they heard a waver in her voice but the brushed it off. The band began a slow, melodious song and James took Lily to the center of the room. She didn't really notice that everyone was shocked at her appearance. She was swimming in James' eyes. She couldn't help it anymore. As the song progress they danced quite closely, but never missing a step, as they talked about dumb things that people talk about when they dance. It's all filler. But sometimes, filler can lead to more important things…

"James, I think you made a nice choice with your robes. I must say, top notch." Lily smiled at him. "You clean up nice yourself. I don't see why you would ever want to get them tailored. They fit you like they were made for you." Lily cocked her head quizzically? "How did you know I wanted to get them tailored?" James gave a sheepish smile. "Well, you remember at Hogsmeade how you walked passed Sirius and Remus and they gave you idiotic smiles? That's because I was tailing you in my invisibility cloak. I just wanted to see what color your robes were honest!" He flinched as she hit him playfully. "You know, I should be more upset. But that was kind of sweet, I guess." The song ended and was followed up by yet another slow song which everyone joined in. "O, I love this song." Lily exclaimed. "Wow, me too." James smiled. They dance in silence as the listened to the lyrics.

I'll drown my beliefs
To have you be in peace
I'll dress like you
To wash your swollen feet
Just don't leave
Don't leave

And true love waits
It haunted all our days
And true love wins
On lollipops and hate
Just don't leave
Don't leave

I'm not living
I'm just killing time
Your tiny hands
Your crazy kiss and smile
Just lonely, longing
Just lonely, longing

Eventually the song ended and a swing song came on. The couples all shifted and rearranged themselves, and some how Lily slipped out of James grasp, and out of site. He asked Shannon and Aiden if they had seen her, but neither had so he went to look for her. Not in the common room, not in the dorms, not in the library. He glimpsed out a window and saw a veela-type figure with flaming hair walking across the grounds. He followed outside and ran to catch up with her. "Lily, wait a bit ay?" James managed between gasps for air. "You weren't having fun?" He was a little hurt, thinking that she would rather be out here alone then with him. "O, well, it's just that, I'm not the type of person who fits with those type of parties and stuff." She was rubbing her arm in a nervous fashion, but James thinking she was cold, took off his robe and put it over her shoulders. He walked with a white dress shirt and slacks. "It's not that I wasn't having fun dancing with you, James. I just don't feel comfortable, is all." She smiled at him reassuringly. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and continued across the grounds toward the lake. "If you want to stay out here for a while, we can stay out here." James offered. "I didn't want to ruin your night. You go ahead and hang out with your buddies, dance with some pretty girls." She laughed a little. He stopped her and turned her toward him. "Lily, I thought you had figured it out. I mean, I came out here looking for you because I want to spend time with you. I want to hang out with you. And besides, why would I want to dance with pretty girls when I could dance with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." He cupped her cheek and she smiled. She reached up, on her toes and kissed him. It was a long, absorbing kiss. When they broke, James just smiled from ear to ear and bent to kiss her again. After quite some time, they stopped snogging and continued walking; Lily wrapped in James arms, her head on his shoulder. "You know, I'd been waiting for that for seven years." James sighed. "Really? That long huh? Well, I hope it was worth your wait then." She said with a smirk. "Are you kidding me, if you can kiss like that, I could only imagine what you could do-ooh" James never got to finish because he was elbowed in the stomach. As he bent a little she tilted her head and kissed him once more. "Well I'm glad for the compliment, but you're going to have to finish that sentence in your head darling."

The End


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