Chapter 1

It had been a long week of diplomatic meetings and the like for the Moon wood kingdom, and a very tired looking young woman was approaching the inn. A plume of frosted air danced about her pale lips as her teeth chattered a bit, she shivered tucking a bit of now fiery hair behind a gracefully pointed ear and then pulled her cloak a bit tighter about her slim shoulders. The only sounds she could hear was the sound of her staggered breathing and the crunch of snow under her feet until she breached the barrier that protected the Haunted Inn, and smiled warmly as the sound of music began to tickle her ears, each step she took made the music louder and her smile broader.

As she stepped onto the threshold of the inn she smiled feeling the warmth seeping through the door as she reached her hands up and placed them on the door and pushed it open letting in a gust of cold air and snow as she stepped inside and quickly closed the door. She then shivered and shook off the snow as she slipped off the cloak and hung it up on a hook turning to the patrons present in the inn. She smoothed the fall colored satin skirt of her dress as she walked towards Isobella, she had left her snow covered boots at the door, her bare feet falling soundlessly on the warm wood boards of the inn and gently placed a hand on her shoulder making her jump slightly. As Isobella turned quickly to see who it was Lamira smiled warmly, the smile seeming to brilliantly light up her present blue eyes. Isobella let out a soft sigh and returned the smile as she said, "Ah, hello Lamira, are you just getting in, and how have you been?"

Lamira smiled sitting next to her and started to pull out the numerous pins from her hair, the curls the color of fire tumbled over her shoulders and down her back as the pins released them, "Yes I have just arrived, and I am much better now that I don't have to hold the proper manners of a lady of Raven's court, I have spent a week there and I was afraid I was going to go mad!" She said with an exasperated sigh pulling the last pin and throwing it down on the table in front of her.

Isobella chuckled, "That bad huh?" She said looking at her a bit curiously, having known her to always have long alabaster locks, it was a bit strange to see her with hair the color of a dying day or a blazing fire.

Lamira groaned, "Aye, it most certainly is!" she said rather loudly motioning to her hair, "I have to change my appearance to fit in with the other members of the court so they are not alarmed by my presence, and they go on and on about things that hold little to no importance to running the kingdom and shout at each other for attention, and even challenge each other over another's land if they don't like the outcome of something or kings know what…" She trailed off and sighed combing her fingers through her hair and looked at the table.

Isobella chuckled and patted her shoulder gently and motioned around the room, "Well it sounds to me that you have had a very stressful week, relax and enjoy the festivities with us will you?"

Lamira looked curiously around at her surroundings, "What festivities is this for…?"

Isobella grinned, "Why the Yule ball of course!"

Lamira looked lost then asked, "What's a Yule and why does it have a ball?"

"You don't know what the Yule tide or Christmas is?"

Lamira shook her head slowly all the way keeping her eyes on her, showing she was clueless, "Unfortunately no, I am not from Earth remember? We do not celebrate what I would have to assume to be holidays like this, we celebrate the turning of the seasons, and the turning of the moon and sun… but this is a foreign concept for me."

Isobella looked shocked to say the least, "They are holidays like you assumed they are times that family and friends tend to gather and sing songs together and enjoy one another's company and if you are lucky you get to receive a present from someone, or more than one. It is custom to exchange presents especially if you have a consort of some kind during that season."

Lamira nodded thoughtfully, "I see… I think I read about this in one of your history books, the holiday was actually made to celebrate the birth of Christ, and the tradition of exchanging presents came from Saint Nicholas who used to deliver presents as an act of charity, but isn't being held a bit early, I looked at a calendar before I left and surely it cannot be the 25th of December yet."

"It's not we are having the Yule ball now so everyone may join and enjoy the festivities, and we plan to have a much smaller and more intimate setting for the actual day of Christmas."

Lamira nodded and smiled her usual smile and stood up looking over seeing Snape getting harassed by the so called 'Fallen Angel' and turned back to Isobella for a moment, "I think I understand, and I will do my best to enjoy the evening, but if you will excuse me, I think I need to go save a certain grease ball from a certain angel."

She heard Isobella chuckle and watched her nod as she moved away and made her way across the floor to where Snape and the angel Hana were and cleared her throat slightly causing them to both look at her. She smiled sweetly to them both and then as the music was beginning to start up she saw her opportunity and tapped Snape lightly on the shoulder, "Severus, would be be so kind as to join me for this dance?"

He saw her intent and his eyes showed with a great amount of appreciation as he took her hand and lightly kissed the back of it and lead her to the floor, "It would be my utmost pleasure, Lamira." And then turned her so she was facing him and placed her free hand on his shoulder and then place that hand on her slight waist, causing a slight blush to creep into her cheeks, and causing a ghost of a smirk to find its way onto his pale features. As they started to dance he leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "So the great Lamira blushes." In that aggravating mocking tone of his, causing her to blush a bit deeper as his breath caressed her ear and neck causing her to shiver a bit and to miss a step in the dance and tripped stumbling a bit only to be caught by him.

When she recovered she glared at him slightly, her cheeks still crimson like the deeper tones of her dress and pursed her lips slightly before an impish grin crept unto her full pale lips as she glanced over to Hana, "So what if I do? If you keep picking on me I may just see about abandoning you to the lovely angel over there."

He shuddered lightly as his grip tightened on her and he pulled her closer causing her to eep a bit as he said in an almost pleading tone, "Please don't, I would much rather be stuck with you."

She growled a bit in response and purposely stepped on his foot causing him to wince, "Stuck with me, eh? I should leave you next time we pass!"

He sighed as they drew closer to the other woman and he pressed his face into her neck for the briefest of moments causing her to squeak as she became somewhat rigid and blushed all the way down her neck and to the points of her ears, then said as kindly as he could muster, "I would much rather enjoy my time dancing with you."

She grumbled softly once they passed, "I am not sure if I should take that as a compliment or as a statement meant to suck up to me so I did not abandon you to the sharks…"

He just smirked as the song ended and they parted, he bowed slightly as she curtsied then said, "Take it as you wish, Lamira, the fact still stands that I enjoyed my dance with you." He then seemed to stalk away leaving her there alone and beet red.

As the night progressed Fire and Murphy joined after attending a concert, dressed in their finest and Lamira was back into her cat form and lounging in her usual spot on the pumpkin which strangely rested on the bar. Bob had floated over to Lamira with his usual cynical smirk that told her she was in for some teasing as he said, "So how was it dancing with the grease ball wonder? I noticed you were beet red and flustered when you were done, didn't know cats could blush! Or was it because he left you feeling a little dirty… Greasy perhaps?" He exclaimed watching her bristle a bit.

She huffed with a lightly looking at him with silver eyes, Cats can't blush, Elves can. As you saw I was not a cat at that moment, and yes I did enjoy it, it is not every day that you find a man that can dance… although that could always mean he is gay. Lamira finished with a kitty shrug and rolled over so her back was to him and she continued to doze afterwards, she was purposely ignoring the last half of his statement.

Bob just looked at her for a moment then said, "By God I think you are onto something Lamira! I never thought about it that way… Oh the possibilities of mockery I can inflict on him now!"

Lamira just groaned and decided it best to ignore him for now. Later on after she had started her nap the then missing Fire and Snape resurfaced drunk, and Snape had a new set of puncture marks on his neck. At this point Robby had already moved Lamira to the table when he was petting her earlier before he went to bed so when Snape grabbed her after he slumped into the chair at the table she wasn't really surprised. He wasn't really saying much but when she looked up at him he looked like he was turning his favorite shade of the spectrum, which usually meant bad things were about to happen. She squeaked softly as the petting she was receiving from him were a little bit heavier and harder then what she was used to and were acutely uncomfortable. Bob had seen this and grinned evilly as he came over and began to recite off several food dishes he would love to eat and delighted in the reaction he was getting, which was Snape turning a deeper more sickly looking shape of green, and the petting method was getting more and more uncomfortable. After a while as Bob continued he began to pet Lamira in an almost obsessive way, and Lamira while she usually loved attention was starting to grumble and growl not being happy at this at all, she was tired and she was now sore on top of it. Once Bob hit the right button Snape was standing up, which gave Lamira the chance to wriggle free then escape his grasp as he ran to the bathroom to pray to the porcelain god. After a while He came back to find Lamira sitting moodily on the floor, when he picked her up and set her back on his lap to pet her, her claws came out near precious cargo which made him flinch, "What did I do?" He asked as he started to gently caress her head and body down to her tail causing a small purr to erupt from her body.

She nudged his hand slightly before responding, Before when you were about to be sick you were petting me you were petting me rather roughly and I did not enjoy it in the least, it was quite uncomfortable.

He just blinked looking at her, "I didn't realize it… I apologize for that."

Lamira just snorted, Now you are because I have claws somewhere you don't want them. She snickered softly as she heard him grunt then relaxed curling up snuggly on his lap. After a while of him petting her she was sound asleep and Snape yawned and stretched slightly, then in an easy movement he scooped Lamira up and had her cradle against his chest as he moved into the back room to lie on the couch. Once he was situated he moved Lamira to his chest and stiffened slightly as he saw her eyes open and watched her move a bit but then relaxed as she went back to sleep, and then he too drifted off to the sleep as well.