Readying The Ball

The next day, Lily woke at daybreak, and she sat up in bed, stretching and rubbing her eyes. She looked across the room, and saw Melanie's and Bekki's sleeping forms, rising and falling in steady rhythms. She swung her legs to the floor, and searched for her slippers, and put them on, yawning.
She washed her face, and showered, then brushed her teeth and dried her hair with a simple spell. As she dressed, the sun began to peek through the curtains more fiercely, and Melanie mumbled on the brink of consciousness, "Five more minutes, mum..."
Lily smiled as she ran a brush through her hair, and stood up. "Time to get up, Mel," she whispered in her friend's ear, then went to the curtains and threw them open, letting the sun stream freely through the room. The snowy grounds sparkled in the clear morning air, and the Forbidden Forest shimmered as well. Lily closed her eyes and let the warmth of the sun seep into her, then turned around to watch Melanie climb sleepily out of bed.
"Why are you up so early?" she asked, suppressing a yawn.
"We've got things to do," Lily replied.
"Like what?" Melanie inquired, trudging to the bathroom.
"You have to plan a ball for the 7th years," Lily said. "And I'm going to help, which means that Bekki will too, and if we're all going to, we have to persuade the boys to help us."
"What's your scheme?" Melanie asked, squeezing toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
"You'll see," Lily told her.

After Lily woke Bekki up (which took a considerable amount of time) and they were all dressed and washed, Lily told her friends her plan.
"It shouldn't be too hard," Lily said. "Unless they have their hearts set on being stubborn, that is."
"So basically, we're using the weakness of sleep to our advantage," Melanie said.
"Yep!" Lily said brightly, and they all laughed.
They tiptoed into the boys' dormitories, and snuck into the 7th years'. Melanie took out her camera, turned the flash off, and took pictures of a sleeping James, Sirius, and Remus.
It was rather funny, catching them off guard like this, and it was interesting to know that Sirius slept with his elbows sticking out.
"Now?" Melanie whispered, and Lily nodded. They all slunk to their boyfriends' beds and sat down on the edges.
Lily cupped James's chin in her hand and pulled his mouth open and closed, so it looked like he was talking. She made her voice deep and low, imitating James. "Yes, Lily, I'll wake up so you can take advantage of me," she said, pulling on James's chin. Bekki snickered from Sirius's bed.
Suddenly, Lily had an idea. The windows in the boys' dorm were at the feet of their beds, so the light would shine in their faces if the curtains were opened the right way. She stood up, walking to the windows, and slowly pulled open the curtain closest to James's bed. Sure enough, if she opened it a little more, it would shine right in his face. She pulled it over, and James groaned softly. She smiled and went back to the bed, plopping herself down on James's stomach.
His eyes flickered open, and he squinted, frowning. "Are you an angel?" he whispered.
Lily giggled. Was that how James thought of her?
"No, silly!" she said, tapping him on the nose fondly. "But I need to ask you a question."
"Anything," he said, his eyelids fluttering shut.
This was too easy! "You have to help me, Bekki and Melanie plan the ball," she said.
"Of course," he said dreamily, sighing deeply.
Lily giggled. Why hadn't anyone told her how easy this was? "Promise?"
"Promise," James repeated, smiling sleepily.
She brushed a kiss on his cheek, then slid off of his stomach and stood up to go see how Melanie and Bekki were doing.

"Any luck?" Lily asked Bekki, who was having trouble waking Sirius.
"No!" Bekki said, sounding frustrated. "And he said I was hard to wake up!"
Lily smiled and went to check on Melanie.
"Wake up, Remus," Melanie was saying, poking his closed eyes.
Remus's eyelids tightened. "S' not time," he said, turning on his side stubbornly.
"Yes it is!" Melanie told him, slapping him lightly on the arm.
"Hey!" he said, curling himself into a ball under his covers. "Don't do that! I'm trying to sleep!"
Melanie laughed at him, pulling on the bed sheets.
"What's so funny?" Remus asked her, yawning.
"You are," Melanie told him. "Now get up!"
"I'm funny?!" he grumbled under his breath. "I am not!"
"Come on!" Melanie said, yanking his blankets away from him.
Remus sat up in his pajamas and stretched, yawning widely.
"What?" he asked, turning his grainy eyes to Melanie.
"I have to ask you a favor," Melanie said, bouncing up and down slightly on the mattress.
"Yeah?"
"Will you help me get the ball ready?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah, whatever," Remus replied, standing up and walking to the bathroom.
Melanie clapped her hands in delight, beaming at him.
"Women," Remus muttered, closing the bathroom door shut.
Lily and Melanie giggled.

The two of them watched Bekki and Sirius, who still seemed to be sleeping, elbows pointing straight out.
"Get up, you lazy oaf!" Bekki exclaimed, grabbing a handful of Sirius's hair and yanking on it. He groaned.
"Ouch!" he said, his eyes popping open. "You didn't have to do that! I was awake!"
Bekki frowned at him.
"And I'm not going to help you all with the ball, either," he said, standing up and rubbing his scalp. "I heard you take advantage of James and Remus, but it's not gonna happen with me."
"Oooo, you are a lazy oaf!" Bekki said, straightening and stamping her foot.
"You better believe it," Sirius replied, half to himself as he walked to the bathroom. He looked like he had been up for hours already.
Lily could tell this was going to be interesting.
Bekki stomped after him, but he snapped the door shut in her face promptly. "Can't a guy get some privacy in his on dorm?" he asked.
Bekki's eyes narrowed to slits and Lily didn't need to have seven years of experience of being her friend to know that she was heated.
"Sirius, you come out here and face me like a man!" she said loudly.
One of the other boys' stirred in their beds, muttering to himself.
"Oh, for the love of Mike!" Sirius exclaimed from the bathroom. "Can't you leave it be?"
"No, I can't, because you're going to help us plan that ball," Bekki said, planting her fists on her hips in front of the door. She seemed to be trying to stare it down and if Lily was the door, she would be trying to cower somewhere in a corner. Bekki had a stare like a blue-eyed hawk when she was angry, and she knew how to use it.
Can we argue this out later? I'm kind of busy here," Sirius said over the sounds of a running shower. Bekki's scowl deepened, if that was possible, and she stalked toward his bed and sat down on the end of it.

Bekki sat on the end of Sirius's bed with a seemingly patient look on her face, but her foot tapping impatiently on the carpeted floor gave her away. James and the other boys in the dorm started getting up, looking surprised to see them there, but to sleepy still to ask questions. The dormitory emptied quickly as the boys took their showers and dressed, then went to go eat breakfast, and Lily wondered what was taking Sirius so long and if he was a little bit frightened of arguing with Bekki. Eventually though, Sirius came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped firmly about his waist, drying his hair with another towel. He was well set, with muscular shoulders and a good build, but Bekki, for once, didn't seem to notice or care about her boyfriend's good looks. He ignored her murderous look, and nonchalantly went to drawer near his bed and began taking clothes out of it. As he stood to go back into the misty bathroom, Bekki got up and swiftly stood in front of him, blocking his way. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, looking down at her as though he could make her move just by staring at him. She didn't budge, and after a while, Sirius gave up trying to stare her down.
"I need to get dressed, Bekki," he said, his voice calm and collected.
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and set her face determinedly. He scowled at her, and she met his scowl with a glare of her own. They looked ready to start tearing each other to shreds.
"Good Lord, woman!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm not letting you have the upper hand in this argument just because you think you can get your way if I'm not fully dressed and you are!"
Lily raised an eyebrow. She was not nearly as skilled as Bekki when it came to getting mad at someone, but she thought she knew a considerable amount. If being dressed was one of the things that could make someone have the upper hand in a row, then there was a whole other world to arguing that she didn't know of. Melanie didn't seem to notice anything that they were saying, she was so busy trying to find the best angle and position to take pictures of them at.
Bekki's icy stare never wavered, though, and Sirius shook his head, as though he pitied her, and then slung her over his wet shoulder and tossed her on his bed. He dusted his hands, then gave one, satisfied, curt nod, and gathered his clothes from where they had fallen on the floor. He then walked back into the bathroom, snapping the door shut behind him. Bekki's eyes were wide from shock as she rolled off of the bed with a thump.

When Sirius stepped out of the bathroom again, Bekki was standing there waiting for him, looking more dangerous by the second, if that was even possible. He grabbed two chairs from a corner of the dorm and set them facing each other. Bekki sat down in one, crossing her legs heatedly, while Sirius turned the other around and sat on it so the he could lean his chest on where the back of the chair should be. He seemed at his ease, except that he licked his dry lips once, but that was the only sign of fear that he showed. Lily had to hand it to him, it was more than she could have done any day.
So there Sirius sat, waiting for the explosion, but before one came, James walked out of one of the bathrooms, a towel wrapped around him, like Sirius.
"What in-" Lily stood, pressing a finger to her lips to quiet him, then she softly told him about how Bekki and Sirius were having a fight. He nodded, then smiled.
"Wanna place a wager on who'll win?" he asked, toweling his hair vigorously. Lily smiled, but shook her head. James shrugged, then went to get clothes and returned to his bathroom.

When James came back out, fully clothed this time and his hair sticking up in all directions, he sat next to Remus, who had come out of the bathroom just before Sirius had.
The tension in the room was almost unbearable, all of it radiating from Bekki and Sirius. Bekki seemed to be trying to figure out where to start her side of the argument, and Sirius looked as though he were trying to gather every once of courage he contained in holding his ground.
Finally, Bekki's tirade began.

"If you're not going to help us, you lazy, good-for-nothing idiot, then I refuse to have anything to do with you," Bekki said, standing up from her chair and crossing to stand behind it and grip the back of it.
Sirius stood up as well, strolling coolly to the front of Bekki's chair, his hands clasped behind his back so that his chest was out thrust.
"Well, Miss Conceited She-Devil, I've made my choice and I'm not going to change my mind," he told her, and Lily almost thought he would stick out his tongue at Bekki.
Her eyes narrowed in contempt, and stepped to the side of her chair, planting her fists firmly on her hips.
"You go right ahead and do that," she said, tossing her head. "It's not my fault if you ruin your whole love life because of this. I'm not going to even try to be the girlfriend of a worthless, hairy goat!"
"Fine then! As long as I don't have to help you," Sirius replied. Bekki stood there, glaring at him, with no sign of defeat on her face as Sirius spun on his heel and stalked out of the dorm.
Bekki smiled. "I like a man that you can have a good argument with," she mumbled to herself. Then, she called after him. "You may have won this round, but I'll win this argument yet!"