I glared at the blond boy on my left. I can't believe I'm going to the Yule Ball with...I shuddered...with Draco Malfoy. He had that conceded smirk on his face, with me on his arm, like some sort of prize. But nobody knew, he'd had to beg to get me to say yes. As we entered the Great Hall the champions had already started their dance. Draco sighed, I looked at him in time to see a flicker of irritation cross his face. He was glaring at the opposite side of the Hall, "How did Crabbe and Goyle get all the way over there?" He grabbed my arm a little more firmly, "C'mon." He tried to pull me towards his friends, but I jerked my arm away. "You go. I'm going to watch my friends dance." I pushed my way to the front of the crowd next to Ron. He was gaping at Victor Krum...oh no, wait! That's Hermione with him! "Oh, she looks beautiful." I heard a few huffs and puffs from Ron's direction. I looked at him just in time to see him stalk off, his ears bright red. Rolling my eyes, I turned and followed him. He stopped at a table and sat down. I took a seat as well,"You're such a git!" I told him, "You know she wanted you to ask her." He looked as though he was going to be sick. He opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment Harry sat down next to him, crossed his arms and glared glumly at the table, occasionally casting moody glances at Cho. I scowled at them, both were glaring at everything, "You two!" I stood suddenly, my snow white cloak swaying around my ankles, "You're ruining this night!" "Ruining it?" Ron said as he gazed at me, "It's already boring, there's nothing to ruin." The anger on my face was replaced with wonder as I had a sudden thought. I turned and glanced at the Weird Sister's on the stage. They were having a small break between songs. I felt an evil grin spread upon my face as I hurried towards the stage, hands groping to the pockets of my cloak. I slipped onto the stage, unnoticed by most. Students were chatting amongst themselves, leaving for drinks or searching for a table. I stopped in front of the jumble of cords and, delightfully, took hold of the correct one. I looked around once more before plugging in my ordinary muggle IPod, the most precious item I owned.
It took only a few seconds for the sounds to come out of the speakers and everyone in the room turned to stare at me. For a second, I froze. The sight of so many eyes on me filled me with a sense of stage fright, but the familiar beat seemed to trigger something in my brain and my eyes closed. With a few deep breathes, my body started to sway sensually in time with the music. I danced to the middle of the stage, swirled my cloak around and flung it off. I planned this out for a dramatic effect to reveal my dress. I heard an intake of breath then an applause and wooting broke out. Motivating me more, the words began to flow out of my mouth as soon as I heard the singer's beautiful voice come out of the speakers.
I felt my shoulders slowly start to shake as I pointed to the one man I knew would be the most uncomfortable-Snape.
A sudden realization and extreme disapproval dawned on his face.
"You knock me off of my feet now, baby!" And with a running start, I leaped off the stage, "Whooooooooo!" People backed away slightly, giving me room to land. I had to stand on my tippy-toes to see over everyone in order to find the man I intended to dance with, who was slowly backing towards the doors. A sly grin formed on my face as I shimmed and skipped through the crowd to reach the now horrified Snape. I beckoned him with my finger, "Whoo! C'mon, girl!" His eyes widened and he turned, trying to run away, but I reached out, grabbed his hand, and spun him around to face me.
"Hey, pretty baby with the high heels on. You give me fever like I've never, ever known!" I danced around him, then grabbed his hands again and swung around. When I opened my mouth to sing once more, he leaned close to me,
"Enough." He gripped my wrist and pulled me out of the Great Hall. It was empty, so he stopped and turned to look at me, "What are you doing!" I squinted my eyes at him,
"I'm standing here, Professor. You're the one that dragged us out here." He pursed his lips and sighed,
"I meant in there. What was that?" I pouted my lips slightly and tried to make my eyes as big and innocent as I could, "I just wanted to dance with my favorite teacher, Professor." He looked at me strangely,
"Ah." I smiled at him,
"Yes, it is a ball, sir." I took a step towards the door, "So, if we're done here…" I turned and ran back into the Great Hall. I wasn't surprised to hear that Michael Jackson was still playing and people were dancing. I smiled to myself, muggle or not, he's amazing. Fred and George, who were red in the face from laughing at Snape's misfortune, stumbled over to me,
"Cabby! That was amazing!" I grinned at them. "Did you see his face-" George cut Fred off,
"Terrified!" He snorted.
"Don't think a girl's ever been that close to him before!" I forced a laugh, that wasn't exactly the nicest thing to say in the world.
"Hah…yeah." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Draco marching angrily towards us, "Oh… C'mon George, dance with me!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the dance floor. I glanced back over at Draco, who looked like he was about to throw a temper tantrum. I smiled, proud of my work. George twirled and spun me across the floor, the whole time, there were butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. When the song was over, George grabbed my hand and gave it a small kiss. Then he took me over to the table where Harry and Ron sat. He had bowed like a gentlemen then gave me a goofy grin before returning to his twin. I gave my two best friends a disapproving look,
"It's not the dance that's boring! It's you two!" I sighed and was just about to sit down between them, when I saw Draco a few tables away, with his back towards us. Without waiting to see if he ever noticed I was there, I quickly left the Great Hall where, minutes earlier, Professor Snape had escorted me out. Snape! I glanced around as I left, he hadn't come back inside. Almost, without thinking, I descended the stone steps to the dungeons.
I made my way to the potions classroom, although, I hesitated just outside the door. But only for moment. I opened the door and peaked my head inside. Surely enough, Snape was sitting at his desk, nonchalantly grading papers.
He didn't look at me as I walked inside, even when I dragged a stool noisily over to his desk and sat next to him. I sighed loudly when he did nothing to acknowledge my presence.
"I'm sorry." I said, fiddling with my hands. He set down his black quill feathered pen and pinched the bridge of his nose, seeming quite annoyed when he realized I wanted to talk. He took a moment before saying,
"You shouldn't be. You're right. It's a dance, and dancing is what people tend to do at dances. So, you've no reason to apologize." He didn't look at me as he spoke and when he was finished, he picked up his pen again and continued to grade first years' papers. I watched as he read the essay on how to brew a basic potion. All the spelling errors and grammar mistakes made me cringe.
I watched him cross out certain steps of the potions and write down what they were suppose to put. Not really caring about anything else. I just…stared. His brow was slightly creased in concentration and his eyes were darting back and forth as quickly as he read.
Suddenly, a searing pain erupted on my forearm, as if someone had dumped boiling water all over it. I gasped loudly and Snape's eyes stopped moving as he clenched his jaw muscles. He slowly turned his head towards me, but only a about fraction of an inch. He reached down, took my arm and placed it on his desk, palm up. Very hesitantly, he ran his fingers over the bandages that covered the skin from my wrist to my elbow. Slowly and gently, he unwrapped my arm. Revealing a tattoo of a snake erupting from a skull's mouth. Burning darker than ever on my pale skin.
