A few weeks after the incident, luck (whether good or bad remains undecided), threw the two together again during one of the Slug Club's annual evenings. Tonight's was in celebration of Valentine's day, and Slughorn had insisted that everybody bring a guest. Whilst not strictly being in the Slug Club, the professor had always expressed a wish for Remus to join in the festivities, and upon occasion Remus found himself expertly roped into situations he couldn't untangle himself from.
"And you're sure she'll be there?" James asked, straightening his bow tie in the mirror and rumpling his hair slightly more than usual in anticipation.
"I hope so, Regulus brought her last time," he replied, looking hopelessly in the mirror. No matter what he wore, it always looked ragged on him.
"Regulus? What in Merlin's name are you talking about, Moony?" James asked. Remus turned back and frowned at James, not sure what he could be talking about, before realising with terror what he had let slip.
"Oh, I mean, yeah, Lily was invited when I was. If I couldn't get out of it, neither could she."
"And she's not bringing anyone with her?"
"She's taking Alice Fletcher as a favour, at least that's what she told me. If you really want to know, James, you could just ask her yourself," Remus chided, he often found himself chiding.
"Don't be absurd," James replied, taking the bow tie off with a huff and throwing it onto the bed, turning back to Remus with an exhibitionist gesture. "Now, how do I look?"
The party was in full swing as Remus and James arrived. Slughorn had spared no expense, and the room was made up with dusty rose coloured drapes and a carpet of a deep wine. A floating orchestra was playing a simple waltz as couples twirled on the heart-shaped dance floor. Meanwhile, small cocktail dishes carried by men in lavender livery permeated the chattering crowd and the air smelt faintly of perfume and sweat and the sweetness of alcohol.
The moment James caught sight of Lily he vanished and Remus found himself quite alone amidst those of great potential and great expectations or, if in possession of neither, great wealth and familial connections.
It was mid-consumption of his third canapé and just as he was beginning to resolve that he really ought to leave and this whole evening had become quite tiresome the moment he had arrived that he caught it, a snatch of blonde and black streaked her and a glittering emerald dress and he knew by just that fraction of an image and the way his heart flipped that it was her, that she had come. Blindly, ignoring the complaints as he shoved past people, he made to find her.
She looked breathtaking. Literally, Remus couldn't breathe as he watched her. She wore a dress of emerald silk that fell languidly to the floor, embellished with trails of gold embroidery that hugged her like spun sunshine. Pearls graced her neck and ears, put to shame by the pearly white of her perfect teeth as she smiled.
She looked so sad and lovely, standing where Remus found her beside the dance floor, alone and glowing, the most beautiful girl in the room.
"Cissy," Remus sighed as he drew up close to her. She tried to smile as she saw him, but could only manage to look up at him so that her thickened eyelashes brushed against her eyebrows. She looked the same as when he had last left her, confused and sad and frightened and suddenly very small.
"Dance with me?" she finally asked, her voice quivering slightly. Remus smiled.
"It would be my pleasure."
Dancing with Cissy was like flying. No step ever quite reached the floor, they remained constantly airborne as long as they kept eye contact and the music continued. Remus would never say anything, never try and make her uncomfortable, he tried to make her see with every step rather than with the in-eloquence of his own tongue. He tried to make her understand that it was Ok for her to love him, like he knew she did.
Cissy's confidence grew the more they danced. The closer they became, the more comfortable she became with meeting Remus' eye, with holding it, with smiling as she found in it affection as she had never known before. As the music slowed she pulled her hand from Remus' and slung it around his neck, sighing as he settled both hands on her lower back and pulled her closer to him. She felt his breath stir the hairs beside her ear, felt his easy proximity.
Slowly, the two allowed themselves to feel happy about their helpless predicament.
The song ended, and then the next, and then the next. The couples on the dance floor waned, swelled, and waned again until they were the last left amongst the house elves employed to clean up the mess, until the charm on the instruments had worn off and the lights were turned back up and the light returned to the sky in anticipation of sunrise.
It was then, finally, that the two realised themselves again, found themselves in each others arms and, most surprisingly, found their lips swollen and locked together.
Remus wasn't sure when he had begun to kiss her, but he had no intention of stopping. It wasn't only that he didn't want to stop, it was that he couldn't. There was a magnetism between them that kept his hands roaming up and down her back, kept him pulling her desperately towards him. Resisting it was harder than resisting gravity.
"Remus, I..." Cissy said, pulling away, but she had nothing to say. Just as she did, the sun they hadn't noticed was rising alighted on her face and her head snapped to find its source, a sliver of light through the curtain.
"It's morning," she gasped, slightly disappointed.
"Good morning," Remus said softly, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
"I have to go," she insisted, pulling away from Remus with all the effort she had amassed from fifteen years of life. She opened her mouth to say something before she went, and then changed her mind and turned, fleeing to her dorm.
All Remus could think, all he could feel, all he was, was the lingering trails of warmth in the palm of her hand where her fingers had been and the tingling on his lips and the buzzing in his head.
