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The Marauders and the Gryffindor Girls were well known for challenging the rules of their school, as well as the rules of society. They loved to make people think about what they said and did, loved causing unrest amongst the school board and government because of a comment they made in passing. One such occasion to cause unrest and talk appeared during a Winter Ball that Dumbledore had decided to host for whatever reason had gone through his head.
“Hurry up, boys!” Marlene shouted, tapping her foot against the bottom step of the boys’ dorm.
“Zip it, Marlene!” Sirius yelled back.
“We’ll be down in a minute,” Peter, ever the peacekeeper, called out.
“I’m going to time you,” the blonde girl warned.
Four voices echoed down the stairs, “NO!”
The four laughed softly and continued talking and making final adjustments to their outfits. They each wore a suit and flats (no way were they dancing in heels for the next five hours that they were required to be there). Mary’s suit was a plush raspberry color and very form fitting. Her hair was back in braids and she had spent more time doing her eyeshadow (a rasberry and gold ombre) than she had helping Dorcas with her hair (Dorcas had asked her to help her braid her hair back into a ponytail, and since Mary was the only one who was able to properly style Dorcas’s hair—it was a very similar texture to her own—she had done so without hesitation).
Dorcas was helping Marlene adjust her hair pins so that it wasn’t falling in her face. Dorcas was wearing a pale lilac turtleneck with deep plum suit pants and a suit jacket the same color as the pants. She had paired it with black flats, a simple necklace with a black heart pendant, a basic smokey eye, and a dark lip.
Marlene pouted when she was told to hold the pins while her girlfriend helped her with her hair. She wanted to keep doodling on the scrap of parchment left on the coffee table. She passed the pins to Lily (who just shook her head in exasperation) and smoothed out her baby pink suit jacket and pants. She had the simplest of the four suits, but she adored it. It was soft and warm and made her feel confident. She had spent nearly thirty minutes looking for her lipstick, but she couldn’t find it, so she had settled for a bubblegum pink lip gloss. Her suit was paired with rose gold necklaces and earrings, as well as a few rings.
Lily handed the pins to Dorcas as she asked for them with a smile. Lily wore a silky, sage green suit with a white halter top and white tennis shoes. A thin gold chain sat around her neck and she wore a few gold bangles around her wrists. (She made rather a lot of noise when she walked if she wasn’t careful.)
“We’re ready!”
The four looked up the stairwell to see Peter walking down first in a rather pretty ruby red ball gown. He wore a small gold necklace with a paw print (that looked suspiciously like a rat’s paw print) and had dainty little clip-on gold earrings.
Remus came downstairs next. He wore a black dress with gold flowers embroidered across the top of the dress. It was form fitting around his torso, but gradually flowed into a loose skirt around his ankles. He wasn’t wearing any jewelry, but he did have a little bit of eyeliner on, and he was wearing a pair of black flats. (Remus was smart, and you could tell. He knew that by the end of the night, heels would be the equivalent of being forced to run up and down every staircase in the castle three times.)
James and Sirius walked down the stairs arm in arm. James was in a sage green dress that fell to his knees with a light denim jacket and white flats. (Lily was fairly sure that the dress her boyfriend was wearing was hers, but she’d let it slide this time.) Beside James, Sirius was power walking down the stairs, somehow managing not to trip.
Sirius wore a purple and yellow plaid dress that reached around mid-thigh where it sat in pleats similar to those on a tennis skirt. Because Sirius was, well, Sirius , he wore thick silver hoops and silver studs in both ears, two pearl necklaces, and a pair of heeled combat boots with yellow laces. He wore bold purple eyeshadow with pops of gold, eyeliner, and Marlene was sure that he was wearing her lipstick, but oh well.
“Ready?”
The boys nodded and everyone took the arm of the person they were taking to the ball. Their partners went as follows: Peter and Mary, Dorcas and Marlene, Sirius and Remus, and Lily and James. They made their way to the Great Hall, power walking and radiating confidence all the way.
Several people stopped and stared as the group of eight entered the Hall. Very few students were shocked, however. They were used to the Sixth Year Gryfindoors doing this, after all. The staff members who had been there more than a year or so also just smiled fondly or rolled their eyes before returning to what they were doing before. Those who did not attend Hogwarts or work there stared with gaping jaws and wide eyes as the eight split up, some of them going to the dance floor, some to the food, others to a table decorated in white and blue.
“I do think that the guests are staring,” Remus mused, sipping the Butterbeer James and Lily had given him.
Sirius smirked, “Let them stare.” And then he kissed Remus right then and there in the middle of the Great Hall during a Winter Ball, flipping the crowd off. Not a single teacher scolded them, not even McGonagall.