ONZE

beauty & the beast!

HALLOWEEN ARRIVED QUICKLY, to say the least. Perhaps it was because it was their last year or maybe things were just that way, but time was moving a mile a minute. But low and behold on the morning of October 31, 2021, everyone was dressed up and best of all, it was a Sunday, so that meant no classes, how lucky. It was as if the universe had planned itself for this year. Lily and the girls were dressed as Disney princesses, per promise. But no, no, they did not try and make it cutesy, this was their last year — this meant going all out. 

So that is how Lily Edwards found herself in a tea-length dark blue dress with a white apron and black character shoes. Her hair was tied back with a large bow and she had put on the makeup to fit the part. She truly looked like Belle. On her way to the Great Hall, after passing devils and vampires and Spice Girls and M&Ms, she found Nyah Thomas dressed very similarly, but in yellow.

Close behind her was Ben, who was dressed as a very dashing Disney prince, which made Lily grin from ear to ear. When she entered the hall, she spotted Anna and Kristoff almost immediately and boy did they look cute. She could tell that Ruby had spent extra time on her hair. 

Though, what she was not expecting was James Sirius Potter, in all his glory in a billowing white blouse, breachers, knee high boots and a proud look on his face. He looked glorious. Behind him, were the other boys dressed similarly, but Lorcan wore a full princely suit and it seemed as if James had the components for one with him, he was just not wearing them. 

Much to her confusion, James looked behind her and held up his finger before winking at her. He then proceeded to approach a first year, who was preciously also dressed as a princess and he got down on one knee. He took one of the rings off of his fingers and mock proposed to her, making her giggle endlessly. 

"I do believe you are the princess I am looking for is that right ...?" James declared loudly to the rest of the school.

"Annabelle," she said, with a grin and a slight giggle.

"Annabelle," he repeated with a sincere smile. He then tried to place the ring on her finger, but due to her small hands and his rather large ones, it fell off immediately. 

"It seems as if it doesn't want to fit, Prince James," she said with a furrowed brow. James laughed lightly at the name she had given him. 

"It appears so, do you think it'll work on Lily?" James asked with a whisper.

"I do think so, she's really pretty," Annabelle whispered back.

"I know, wish me luck, will you?" James said, as he got up off the ground. She enthusiastically nodded. He then headed over to Lily, but as he did, he transfigured the ring to be smaller and thinner. 

"It appears someone can tame the great James Potter after all," Lily said, turning to wink at Annabelle, causing her to giggle a little. 

"Only you, my flower," James said as he gazed into her eyes and slid the ring onto her finger. "Now that we are engaged, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

The weirdest part was that she had to catch herself from saying yes. But, then, she firmly reminded herself of who this was. It was James Sirius Potter for Merlin's sake, they were friends and nothing more.

"That was a nice try. I'll give you brownie points on that one," Lily said with a polite smile as she slid the ring off her finger and placed it into James's palm. His smile dropped a little bit as she closed his fingers around it. "Let's go and get some breakfast, shall we?" 

James hesitated before nodding with a slightly sad smile. Lily lecad the way as the two groups combined at the Gryffindor table. Others, who were not privy to the events that happened between them, were confused and slightly excited. What could this possibly mean?

"Hello, boys! Don't you look dashing," Lily said cheerily as she sat down in the space between Lorcan and Estelle. This caused Lorcan to blush a little and adjust his neck tie.

"You know it, Edwards. It's our last year, how could we not?" Lysander said, leaning over the table a little to add emphasis. 

"And, we decided to plan something," Fred said with a smug smile as he sat back in his seat. 

"What did you do, Weasley?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"Oooooooh nothing ... if anything it was lover boy's idea," Fred said with a smug smile as he looked at James, who then hit him on the back of the head. 

"It's nothing grand, but we planned a picnic for all of you. Lily mentioned you guys like to take muggle polaroids every Halloween and what a better setting than a picnic?" he asked, laughing awkwardly a bit at the end.

"That's really sweet, Potter," Estelle said with a smile. "Like really sweet." She nudged Lily in the side, making Lily roll her eyes, but her smile remained just as bright. 

"That sounds amazing," Lily said, shooting another smile at James. He grinned in response, she actually liked his idea and agreed to come. Could this day get any better?

He had been, in secret, planning this picnic since they agreed to do a group costume all together. He had all of it — pumpkin pasties, butterbeer, caramel apples, shepherd's pie, Bertie Botts, sugar quills ( Lily's favorite ) and every other sublime treat from Honeyduke's. He had used his grandfather's map and his dad's invisibility cloak to make midnight trips to the cellars. 

"2 pm. The field near the Black Lake. Don't be late. Sorry ladies and gents, but you'll have to bid farewell to this gorgeous face! Boys — we have serious business that we need to discuss," Fred said as he pointed to each member of the table. After his statement, he shared a look with each of the boys. The same look that they shared when they were planning another prank. 

Little did they know that Nyah and Ben shared a secret look as well. Though their pranking had been put on hold by the planning of their birthday, they were back.

The second the boys stood up, green goo ( meaning to look like ectoplasm ) dumped all over them. 

The Thomas siblings couldn't breathe, that's how hard they were laughing. Normally, they would choose a first year or some 4th years as their victims, but because they weren't expecting it, they chose the kings themselves.

"Holy Helga, you should see your faces!" Estelle managed to get out through her laughter. 

The whole hall had gone silent, except for Estelle, Nyah, Ben and Ruby who were laughing. The kings never got fell, only they conquered. No one had ever successfully pranked them. But, then again, a lot of impossible things were happening that year. 

"Ms. Thomas! Mr. Thomas! My office, now," McGonagall declared as she marched out of the hall followed by the Thomas twins who still couldn't contain their laughter. 

"Holy shit," Lily whispered as she bit back a wide smile. She thought it was hilarious, but she was not about to risk her Head Girl-ship by laughing. "Um, let's get you boys cleaned up."

This caused the boys to send her dirty looks as she ushered them out the Great Hall. The Hall started to chatter loudly once they were out of earshot and though they couldn't hear it, they could feel it.

"This means war, lads," Fred said grimly. Lysander then shoved him in the side harshly. "What?" Lysander conspicuously nodded back to Lily who was trailing them. 

"Pretend like I'm not here," she said with an innocent smile. 

"You may be the golden girl, but I've heard the rumors, you're much more devious than you let on," Lysander said with narrowed eyes.

"The rumors?" She asked, slightly confused.

"You may be in Ravenclaw, but you were almost a Slytherin," Lysander spat.

"Lysander, do I need to remind you that you're in Slytherin," Lily said, furrowing her brow. He then looked taken aback for a moment before he went silent. "Merlin, this house rivalry had really gotten to you, hasn't it? Being in Slytherin isn't bad you know."

"Of course I know that, Edwards," Lysander mumbled. They reached the bathroom.

After some students lobbied the school to include gender-less bathrooms, so those who did not identify as male or female could use the bathroom and still maintain their identity, they took it in stride. They changed most of the bathrooms to be gender-less, but still maintained some gendered bathrooms in order to help girls on their periods ( also bathroom culture, you know if you know ). 

They entered the bathroom and Lysander immediately started cleaning himself up. He refused to accept help from anyone, obviously still sensitive about having successfully been pranked. 

Fred started heading over to help James get cleaned up, but James shot him an innocent smile and shoved Lorcan forward. James smirked and Fred started blushing. James wouldn't be James if he didn't set them up for their own teen movie moment — it's practically against the laws of friendship!

Meanwhile, Lily was putting the last pieces together in her brain as she looked back and forth between the three boys. No fucking way. 

Eventually, Fred caved in and he sat on one of the sinks as Lorcan started to clean him up. He smiled slightly as he did and Fred was blushing like mad. Lorcan was talking gently about this new piece of music that he had learned and Fred was completely absorbed in what he was saying. 

They captured the feeling of blue birds singing and harp serenades. There wasn't a single tragic thing about them — emulating a fairytale with the light and the softness.

On the other side of the circular sink, Lily was arguing with James.

"You have to put your hair in the water, Potter. That is the only way to get the goo out," Lily protested. "I even made the water warm. Stop acting like a child."

"I'm not letting you touch my hair. Lils, I may want to spend the rest of my life with you, but my hair is my thing," he explained back, trying to step away from Lily.

"You're thing?" Lily scoffed as she looked at James incredulously.

"Yes, my thing," he huffed as he attempted to fix it in the mirror. She watched him for a little bit.

"You know, it's never going to come out without water," she said, raising an eyebrow. James sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled. Lily suddenly dunked his head under. She was right, the goo sort of dissolved in the water. James then shot back up, gasping for air.

"What would you do that for?" he asked, spluttering and clearly still shocked. She couldn't fight the wide smile that appeared on her face.

"Sorry," she managed to squeak out. "Won't happen again. But, I was right." James turned to the mirror and discovered that most of the goo had gone. She then sat on top of the sink and started to fix his hair so it wasn't just a wet mop of curls. She then looked at his shirt, which was also covered in goo.

"I just don't know what to do about that," she said as she pointed to his blouse. He nodded gravely and then took his shirt off. Right then and there, revealing 7 years ( probably more though ) of quidditch training. 

It's not like Lily hadn't seen him shirtless. She saw him in bed last week when he gave her the hangover potion, but this time there was water running down his torso. Out of a nervous habit, she bit her lip. 

James noticed her lingering gaze and smirked a little and then noticed that she was biting her lip. He almost turned into a puddle on the floor. Whenever she did that, whether it be out of nerves or concentration, it always drove him crazy.

All he wanted to do was kiss her, right then and there, in the bathroom, with his friends around and some goo still stuck in his hair. They could've been in a battlefield and he still would've wanted to. But he knew that that's not what she wanted. 

He cleared his throat, waving away any and all of those thoughts and came back to the present. It felt good, having Lily run her hands through his hair. It felt natural and right.

Lily, as well, was enjoying it. The more she messed with his hair, the quicker it tried from the exposure to air and the softer it felt. She had always wondered what it felt like and she had imagined it to be soft, but not this soft. 

"Your hair's soft," she blurted out. Her cheeks went pink and she was mentally cursing herself for being so careless.

James developed a small smile, "thank you," he said, looking up at her. She let out a little giggle. If he hadn't melted earlier, he was now. She didn't know it, but she had him completely wrapped around his finger. 

From making him breakfast in the morning, to late night talks they had gotten to know each other really well. He loved the way her mind worked and he loved watching her think. Those barriers that he had in the beginning of the year were slowly crumbling away. 

He loved her and he recognized her flaws. He had been in this game too long to not notice them. Like how she preached doing your homework, but would never do her's until Sunday. Or how if she was really passionate about something, but you disagreed, she could get kind of mean. Or how she was very judgmental and while didn't show it a lot ( but she did show it, believe him ) you knew it was there. Or how she hates to open up and she's really good at diverting the conversation. Or how she has to be in control. 

He loved her. He loved her. He loved her. 

Those words played and played in his mind. Of course he had jokingly said that he was in love with her. But right here, right now, while she was cleaning goo off of him in the bathroom while Lysander was cleaning himself up and Fred and Lorcan were doing everything but sucking face, he realized that he was really, truly in love with her. Not as a passing fancy or as a childhood crush.

James Sirius Potter was never one to like to think about the future in the sense of family. He already had plenty of it, so he knew that even if only one of the cousins found someone and pro-created, that the family would still be large. He had never thought about marriage and hated it when the conversation came up.

That's something that he'd always envied about Albus. Al was not scared to consider marriage seriously. Hell he had bought an engagement ring last year claiming it was "for the fun of it" but James knew better. He saw the way that he looked at Scorpius during meal times and the way Scorpius looked at him.

Did James have his reservations? Of course. Scorpius is a Malfoy and while his father had taught him to never judge a book by its cover, Draco Malfoy had still become a Death Eater.

But, James knew that Albus had always had better judgement than him, so if Scorpius was worth it, then he was worth it. No questions asked. 

"Are you alright?" Lily softly asked with a concerned look.

"What? Yeah, yeah, of course," he said as casually as he could.

"Oh, well you kind of went off into space for a bit. Do you need to go to the hospital wing? You know they have a whole area just for you by now," she said with a teasing smile. James laughed a little.

"Et voila! You should be good to go! You are goo free," Lily exclaimed as she showed James the shirt that she had just cleaned. He looked down at it with minor shock as he had not been paying attention while she had cleaned it. 

"Oh ... thank you," he said, putting it back on and tucking it into his pants. 

"I ... um ... I should probably go ... you know ... make sure Nyah and Ben haven't been expelled or something ..." Lily said as she started backing out of the bathroom. Lorcan waved a little, Fred sent her a smile and Lysander gave her a curt nod. "Well ... uh ... farewell boys!"

"Bye," James breathed out as she left. When they heard the door click, Lysander started bellowing. 

"You're whipped, mate. Merlin, that was something to watch!" he said as he chuckled, "simp." 

"Well sorry for being romantic or wanting to like her for who she is rather than what she can do and besides — isn't it you who talks about wanting to be a dad all the time?" James shot back. 

"You don't need a bird for that, mate. Adoption, it exists. Also I want to be a dad because camping with kids is cool," he stated proudly. This caused the boys to start laughing loudly as Lysander rolled his eyes with a smile. 

"Let's go, you tosser, I have to set up for Lily," James said, turning to leave.

"Oh lovely Lily!" Lysander started to sing.

"Lovely Lily! You belong with me" Lysander continued as Fred joined in. To their credit, they were doing a heartfelt serenade complete with ( slightly vulgar ) dramatic gestures.

"Lovely Lily! Striking brown — " Lysander started as Fred harmonized.

"Blue," James corrected.

"Striking blue eyes. And when she says goodbye," Lysander started to belt as Fred harmonized with the high notes, even Lorcan jumped in with some background vocals.

"My heart starts to flutter and turns into butter," Lysander sang, going higher, forcing Fred to go higher ( which he could not do ), so he started to panic.

"Lovely Lily! Lovely Lily! Lovely Lily!" Fred sand, climbing higher and higher with each repetition. 

"I used to go stag!" Lysander continued.

"But now, we're gonna shag!" Fred finished with gusto as he hit a high note that none of them thought he could. James shoved the boys once they had finished.

"Shove off, you lot! I already had the mickey taken out of me by the Thomases, not you guys too!" James joked.

"That's what we're here for Jamesie!" Lysander said with a chuckle and a ruffle of James's hair as he exited the bathroom. James shoved his hands into his pockets, looking between Fred and Lorcan as if asking if they had kissed or better yet, fixed a date. 

They both went red in the face, knowing what he was insinuating. Fred silently shook his head with a sad smile. Lorcan cleared his throat.

"I ... uh ... I better ... go ... check on Lysander after what happened earlier. He seemed pretty upset," Lorcan said, rocking on his heels and staring at the floor. 

"No, no I can go ..." James offered, slicking out his hand as if to tell them to stay there.

"I'd love to stay," Lorcan said, looking at Fred briefly. "But he's my brother and he'd do the same for me". Lorcan smiled sadly and exited the bathroom, trailing after his brother.

Once the door closed, Fred let out a big breath of air and sunk down against the wall to his right. James joined him next to it. When he did, he nudged Fred's knee with his. 

"At least we know he likes you," James said as he closed his eyes, smiled and rested his head on the back of the wall. 

"He's just being nice," Fred said, resting his head on his arms that were propped up on his knees.

"Mate, he's totally in love with you," James said, not moving.

"Like Lily's in love with you?" Fred said, shifting his head to look up at James.

"I wish," James replied with a slight chuckle.

"It seems as if wishes are coming true right and left then, huh," Fred said. James opened his eyes at this and looked down at Fred. 

"It's all in your head, mate. She's Lily bloody Edwards, like she'd like me," James said with a sigh. 

"You should've seen the way she was looking at you," Fred said softly. "Even you'd be shocked."

"You should've seen the way Lorcan was constantly looking at you," James teased. Fred just rolled his eyes. James's face suddenly went serious. "He does like you Fred, I'm being completely serious."

All Fred did was smile at this and look outwards, suddenly fascinated with the layout of the bathroom. 

"I've been chasing after her for 7 bloody years and every year she turns me down, I don't think anything's changed," James whispered, looking down.

"That must be hard, all of the rejection. I know you handle it in stride, but still, it must get to you sometimes," Fred pushed a little. James gave him a sad smile.

"Every time. The worst part is that if she knew, I don't think she'd be so harsh. She's like that, where she doesn't want to hurt people. And all she wants to do is be kind and good to other people. That's why I fell — " James stopped suddenly, realizing what he was about to say.

"Fell in love with her?" Fred softly asked.

"You know it's not like that mate, she's just a bird. It'll go soon enough," James deflected. Fred chuckled a bit.

"It's been 7 years, James, I don't think it'll 'go soon enough'. And I'm your cousin and your best friend, I know you better than that James. I mean your mum and dad felt like that at our age. So did Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. Hell, even the original Lily and James — which I still find a little weird that you guys have their same names — felt this way. It's fine to be in love with someone. Age doesn't determine ability to love someone," Fred huffed as he continued to look around the bathroom. 

"That was actually pretty smart of you Fred," James said, looking over at him.

"What can I say? My aunt's Hermione Granger," he said with a shrug. Then they both started laughing.

"What does that make me then?" James asked jokingly.

"The next door neighbor?" Fred responded.

"It's only fitting," James affirmed. 

Then Fred got up and held out a hand for James to take.

"Go on, your princess awaits for you to set up her picnic," he said as he pulled up James. "You've got everything?" 

James nodded and they headed out the door together.

"Want to help me?" James asked.

"Sure, why not, I've nothing better to do," Fred said, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

As they walked down the hallway, James winked at a couple of first years and sent them into a tizzy. 

"Classy, James," Fred remarked.

"What? It's a bit of harmless fun, it's not like I'm going to sleep with them," James defended.

"Well good, because that would be wrong on so many levels, mate," Fred shot back. All James did was stick his tongue out at him. 

They reached the Gryffindor common room ( where they had stored everything ) and enchanted it so it would magically follow them. 

Should you have been walking by, not a care in the world, it would have been a bit weird to see James Sirius Potter and Fred Weasley ii walking towards the black lake with dozens of picnic items floating behind them, but this was Hogwarts, so much stranger things had happened. 

"Alright, let's do this," James said, stretching his arms over his head. 

Within an hour ( after many pointless arguments about where to place flowers or plates of cookies ), they were ready for everyone to come down, so they sent out the paper birds. 

Eventually, everyone started to trickle out of the castle. Nyah and Ben first, followed by Estelle, then Henry, then Lorcan and Lysander, then Lily and finally Ruby and Charlie ( the adopted member ). 

They looked like royalty, literally. All dressed up in billowing blouses and tea length gowns. 

"Oh my ... boys ... this looks ... beautiful ..." Lily breathed out as she approached the ( enchanted to be ) large picnic blanket. She then hugged Fred and then James. "Thank you!"

"Are those pumpkin pasties?" Henry asked, pointing at a plate. Fred just nodded with a smile. The group sat down with wide grins. 

Soon enough, loud laughter and chatter filled them. They munched on sweets and everything good to eat and drank tea, butterbeer and gillywater. 

The flash of a camera meant that polaroids were being taken, making the moment stand still and immortal. Bright smiles and red faces were captured. Pretty gowns and posh suits. Lily and James dancing while Fred and Lorcan hummed the Beauty and the Beast theme. Lily had forgotten her history with James. 

Eventually everyone caught on to the romances that were happening, except for the couples themselves ( courtesy of Ruby and Charlie who knew all ). So every chance they got, Fred and Lorcan would be next to each other. They didn't even have to try for Lily and James. After some gentle nudging and good food, James found himself lying in her lap while she played with his hair. 

From that vantage point, however, he did notice Estelle looking over at another Hufflepuff girl in her year that was sitting not too far away from them quite often. 

"Lily," he whispered loudly, trying to get her attention, "Lily. Lily. Lily."

"What?" she whispered back. He then nudged his head over to Estelle and pointed to the Hufflepuff girl, who he would soon learn the name of ( Josie ) via Lily, with his eyes and then back again.

"No." That's all Lily could whisper with a mischievous smile. James nodded vigorously. "I doubt that you could get them together, Potter. She hasn't even mentioned her."

"Maybe not to you..." James shot back.

"Are you telling me that you're Estelle gossip buddy?" Lily teased.

"I'm neither confirming nor denying that allegation," James said with a playful wink. "But what I am confirming is that I'm a master at getting people together. I'm a wizarding, British Cupid."

"Well I'd say you've done a fantastic job with Lorcan and Fred, Potter," Lily said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes. 

"That's different, that needs finesse because I'm counting on it for the long run," James whispered back. 

"Prove it then, Cupid," she said with a smirk.

"Alright, Nguyen, come with me," James said loudly as he got up.

"What? Why?" She asked, setting down a cookie.

"Just trust me," he huffed.

"But I don't trust you," Estelle shot back. 

"You won't regret it, I promise. Please," James begged with an obviously fake grin. Estelle rolled her eyes and got up.

"If you're going to murder me, do it after Thursday, I have a charms exam that I've already studied for," she huffed as she moved away with James.

"Don't worry, Lily-flower is coming with us and being the party-pooper that she is, there'll be no funny business," he said as he turned to her. She only sent him a sarcastic smile. 

They headed over to where Josie was sitting, laughing with her friends. She had dressed up as the Cheshire Cat.

"Josie!" James called out.

"James ... Potter?" Josie questioned, obviously having never spoken to him before.

"Do you know Estelle?" He asked, dragging Estelle behind him. She looked very alarmed and meeky waved at Josie. 

"Uh, yeah, I do, hi Estelle," Josie said with a warm smile as she adjusted her hair. "I, uh, we share Potions and Charms right?" 

"Y...yeah we do," Estelle replied, then James shoved her in the side. When she was clearly confused he rolled his eyes and muttered something about always having to do shit himself.

"Josie, do you like Estelle?" He asked.

"I mean ... do I ... what?" she asked, clearly confused as to what was going on, but Estelle knew where this was going and was desperate to put an end to this conversation. Hopeless pining had worked for her in the past and it worked for her then. 

"I'll take that as a yes. Estelle, do you like Josie?" James asked, once again, no response. He rolled his eyes, once again. "Estelle, do you want to go on a date with Josie?" James asked, no response. "Oh my Merlin, yes James, I would love to!" James replied to himself in a high pitched voice. "Josie, do you want to go on a date with Estelle?" 

"Uh ... sure?" Josie replied.

"Thank god, I didn't want to have to go that high again," James huffed. "Now kiss." He stepped away and found himself a little ways away, next to Lily. 

"Wow that was ... that was ... something ... I'll tell you ... I didn't know your voice could go that high," she said, leaning in a bit as she was talking quietly. 

"And no one else will ever know either, unless you want to end up six feet under," he threatened ( half ) jokingly.

"Aye aye Norman Bates," she replied. He chuckled. They watched Estelle and Josie's faces as they both lit up and blushed. Eventually, their ( short ) conversation ended and Josie kissed Estelle on the cheek.

Lily squealed and held onto James's arm in joy. He looked down at her and smiled like she was the only thing in the world. 

The group on the picnic blanket watched the entire encounter from Estelle getting a date to Lily and James being ... well ... what Lily and James were at this point. 

And they were all thinking one thing: just friends my arse.