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The time had come for the batch of 1977 to finally graduate from Hogwarts.

To have one last hurrah, the Hogwarts staff had organised a dance for the sixth and seventh years. Boys and girls were running around, looking for dates, and Aquila was exiting the Charm's classroom when she saw the seventh year Gryffindors coming out of their Transfiguration class.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were walking side by side with Lily and another girl Aquila didn't recognise walking some distance behind them.

"Hey, James," Lily called out over the voices of other students. Miraculously, the hallway quieted down, making Lily turn almost as red as her hair, and James turned around, scrunching his nose.

Rowan turned to face Aquila, who was trying to calm her thumping heartbeat. Rowan raised a brow as Regulus stepped on his foot, giving him a warning to shut up.

"Yeah?" James asked, raising a lazy brow as all the Marauders turned around to face Lily and the other girl.

Lily fiddled with the strap of her bag. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Graduation Ball with me," she said boldly. The whole hallway was enveloped with a pin-drop silence as everyone awaited James' response.

James opened his mouth, but Remus sharply poked him in the stomach and whispered something, making James' face lose all colour. "Y-you mean like a date?" he asked tentatively. At Lily's nod, Remus' smile turned triumphant and if possible, James whitened even further.

Apparently, Lily thought he was being nervous, and aw, he was feeling shy, but no, James just seemed to be dreading giving his reply.

"I'm flattered, Evans, I really am, but I, uh," he began, a sheepish look on his face. Aquila wanted to facepalm at his eloquence. James searched through the crowd until his eyes made contact with Aquila's and the sheer nervousness in them made Aquila smile. Loosening up a bit, the crowd watched with interest as James turned back to Lily. "The boys and I are all planning on going without dates," he blurted out, making the three boys shoot him alarmed looks.

Suddenly, a cry rose from within the crowd. A sobbing girl came forward and slapped Sirius. "You asked me to go with you!" the girl cried. Sirius cupped his cheek and flexed his jaw, glaring at James from the corner of his eyes. James offered a sheepish smile in return. One of the girl's friends gave Sirius a death glare and a middle finger, and guided her away.

"Oh," Lily remarked after the outburst, looking to her friend for support. "Then maybe the last Hogsmeade trip of the year?" she asked hopefully.

"She's setting herself up for disaster, I swear," Rowan muttered to Aquila, who cracked a smile.

"WE'RE GOING THERE TOGETHER TOO," James shouted unnecessarily loud in the quiet hallway, grabbed the sleeve, collar and hair of his best mates and dragged them away.

Lily looked absolutely mortified, but Aquila supposed Evans could have asked out a guy in a more private setting than in front of the whole population.

Then again, maybe she was thinking she wouldn't get rejected.

- - -

"I'm gonna get some powder from some girl to reduce the shine," Sirius grumbled, throwing a dirty sock at James, who ducked to avoid it.

The evening of the ball, the boys had started to dress early because Peter was afraid that they'd be late. Sirius had said they'd be going in half an hour late anyway to make a dramatic entrance. Peter had still insisted, and the boys had begun dressing at four-thirty for a six o'clock ball.

It was now five-thirty, and they were still dressing because apparently, someone (*cough* Sirius *cough*) had put itching powder on James' robes as payback for making him lose his date, so James had Remus wash his robes because he had no idea how to do it, then dry them, then wear them again. The boys had then been working on their hair, to look 'cool but classy', and Sirius had simply dipped his fingers lightly in a tub of hair gel and run them through his hair, achieving the 'cool but classy' look in mere seconds.

The rest of the boys, James with his wild hair that never quite lay flat in a particular spot, Remus with his weirdly cut hair (he had attempted to cut it himself, but Sirius had seen him in the bathroom and had shrieked, then proceeded to cut it) and Peter with his hair so soft that it refused to lay still in any style he put it in, were struggling.

While Sirius had agreed to help Remus and Peter with their hair, he had turned his nose up when James had asked for help.

"Merlin's sake, Padfoot, forgive the lad already!" Peter groaned, lying flat on the bed.

"Don't lie down with your robes on, Wormtail, you'll wrinkle them," James advised, "and thank you!"

Sirius took the scissors out of his mouth and trimmed Remus' hair a bit from where he had stopped the comb, and hummed. "Just because you can't go with your Slytherin girlfriend, doesn't mean I have to get stuck with you tossers."

Seeing James' dropped jaw, Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're not exactly subtle, mate. And I'm not exactly dumb."

So that was a lie.

- - -

Entering the transformed Great Hall late had been Rowan's idea, but Aquila had to appreciate the drama behind it all.

Wearing a black ankle length dress with ruffles, something her mother would have killed her over, Aquila entered the Hall feeling a bit... dizzy. James had denied every girl that had asked him, which was a very high number, and so had Aquila, but the only people who asked her she would have refused anyway, boyfriend or no.

She could hardly say yes to creeps like Antonin Dolohov or Augustus Rookwood, both younger brothers to Creeps Sr.

The only person she would have come to the ball with was probably Rowan. But out of respect to James, she had come with her friends. Which consisted of her brother and two boys.

She entered the Hall arm in arm with Regulus, who was wearing black dress robes, his hair slicked back except for a strand which fell loosely on his forehead. Regulus' Quidditch had left him fairly fit, and the boy was showing it off in a rather tight dress shirt under his robes.

"Slughorn's looking at me weirdly. C'mon, let's dance," Rowan muttered under his breath, grasping Aquila's elbow and spinning her around. She settled her hand on his shoulder as his came on her waist. All the dancing lessons came in handy as Rowan spun her around with effortless grace.

The best dance partners were honestly to be found in Slytherin, Aquila noted as she saw a large number of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and Gryffindors stepping over each other's toes.

Rowan swore. "There ya go," he muttered. Just as Aquila was about to ask him what was up, he spun her by the hand and she went twirling into the arms of James Potter, who grinned against her hair before leading her to a more secluded part of the Hall.

"May I have this dance?"      

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you will not believe the amount of flowery dresses nataliya dyer wears

it was a nightmare looking for a solid dress

also LMAOO REGGIE WEARING A TIGHT DRESS SHIRT TO SHOW OFF QUIDDITCH MUSCLES I-

also, I'm sorry if you guys stan lily and james, but this thing isn't acc to canon, so you might not like lily in this. I'm all for girls supporting girls and I HATE having to make her a bad guy, but you gotta do whatchu gotta do

༻hy༺