Chapter Four
Tavis swallowed the lump forming in his throat. Suddenly he remembered why he didn't want to be here tonight.
Scorpius stood there, tall and proud in his immaculate dress robes trimmed in deep emerald green silk. On his arm, Alyssa was the embodiment of heaven. Her curly dark hair had been pinned up in an elegant knot on the top of her head and was held in place by faux pearl tipped bobby pins. A few stray curls framed her face and a large beautiful white lily was pinned to the side of the bun.
Tavis' mouth went dry as his eyes fell on her dress. The dark purple gown dipped into a deep V-neck, showing off an incredible amount of cleavage. The empire A-lined skirt clung to her body tightly till it met her hips. From there the silky material cascaded to the ground. The slit in the front of the skirt went to her mid thigh, showed off a pale leg and strappy silver heels. She turned to the side to greet a friend, giving the boys a clear view of the back of the dress. It was open backed except for the thin crisscross straps that were holding up the top of the dress. The open back dipped to just above her tail bone.
She looked stunning. She looked gorgeous. Tavis narrowed his eyes when he finally saw her face. She looked ready to crawl out of her skin. Alyssa's fashion tastes had always been along a much more conservative nature. There was no way in hell she'd picked a dress like that herself. Tavis had a sickening feeling he knew exactly just who had. Next to Tavis, James' saucer sized eyes burned as his face was slowly turning dark red with anger
"I'll kill him!" James roared.
"Who are we killing?" his father asked nonchalantly.
"HIM!" James hissed, pointing at the couple. "Look what he made Aly wear!"
Harry frowned in confusion but visually followed the direction his son was point in. When he finally caught sight of the couple his eyes bulged out and started choking on his drink. Ginny had to turn away from her conversation with Tavis' mum to pound on Harry's back.
"Oh god!" he sputtered, trying to wipe the punch from his chin and robes.
"What?" Ginny looked confused.
"Dudley is going… to go… mental!" he gasped through coughs. "I talked him into letting her have a date in the first place!"
"Letting her?" Tavis snorted. "No one lets Lyssa do anything, she just does it."
"I think you're all over reacting," Ginny frowned.
"Do you not see her outfit!"
Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I saw her when she walked in. She looks fine."
"She is too young to be wearing that dress!" Harry retorted.
"She's sixteen, Harry.
"I meant what I said."
"Daddy, can I wear a pretty dress like that some day?" Lily asked.
"No," Harry said flatly.
"No sister of mine is going to wonder around looking like a tart!" James said.
"You guys are being mean," Lily snorted and crossed her arms. "I think she looks pretty."
"Her tits are up to her chin!" James exclaimed to his little sister.
"James Sirius Potter!" his mother exclaimed. "Don't you ever speak like that in front of your sister again!"
"Sorry, Mum," James blushed.
"And what on earth makes you think Scorpius forced her wear that in the first place?" Ginny asked. "Perhaps she just liked it."
"Alyssa would never pick a dress like that and you know it, Mum!" James said. "I'll just bet he bought it and bullied her in to wearing it hoping it'll spur her into getting his jollies off later."
"For Merlin sake, James!" his mother hissed again.
"I'm not apologizing this time, because it's exactly the sort of thing that Slytherin bastard would do! I need to find Al, Freddie and Blue!"
Tavis had long since stopped paying attention to the squabbling family. He was just watching her. Inside Tavis' mind feelings of lust waged a violent battle with the desire to not be one of those guys. Whoever came up with the concept of hormones in teenage boys should be cursed. He glared as he watched Malfoy kiss her hand before excusing himself over to the refreshments table.
He didn't even think, he just started making his way across the hall. It took him several minutes of maneuvering around people to finally get over there. Alyssa was laughing with a Hufflepuff from her Charms class when he finally got close enough to tap her on the shoulder. She slowly turned around and flushed when her eyes finally met his. The blush quickly disappeared and a glare replaced it.
"I have nothing to say to you, Tavis," she said coolly as she excused herself from her conversation and started to walk off.
"Alyssa, wait!" he called after her but it was too late, she'd disappeared into the crowd.
"Still at it, Longbottom?"
Tavis whirled around only to be greeted by that same infuriating smirk Scorpius had been giving him since this whole thing started.
"And I suppose that dress was your idea, was it, Malfoy?" Tavis glared, his blood starting to boil.
"I bought it for her yes," Scorpius replied curtly. "She mentioned to me during a conversation that she hadn't bought anything to wear tonight yet, so I had my mother order her a dress. She does look rather fetching doesn't she?"
"Did it not occur to you she might be uncomfortable with that style?" Tavis asked, through clenched teeth.
"I didn't make her wear it, Longbottom, I am if nothing else a gentleman," Malfoy glared. "I presented her that dress last week and offered to exchange it should she prefer something different."
"You. Idiot." Tavis punctuated each word. "Do you anything about her all? She's too polite to exchange or turn down a gift. Especially something as expensive as that!"
"As I said, Longbottom, I did not force her to wear it."
"You just better stay clear of her brother and cousins," Tavis narrowed his eyes. "James is on the war path."
"And you?" Malfoy smirked again. "Are you not plotting my demise as well?"
"I would be if it wasn't for one thing."
"And that is?"
"I care about her. Which is why I am going to back off," Tavis snapped. "If she wants to wear that dress and be on your arm I'm not going to stop her. I'm not saying she doesn't look amazing, I'm just saying it's not her style and you should be aware of that."
"Well maybe you don't know her as well as you thought you did, Longbottom."
"No one knows her better than I do, Malfoy," Tavis snarled. "No one."
Scorpius smirked again and chuckled, "What ever you say, Longbottom."
"Oh, and one more thing, Scorpius," Tavis said, as the platinum blonde brushed passed him.
"What is it now," he sniffed.
"Let me be very, very clear on this," Tavis loomed over Scorpius with a down right deadly look on his face. "If you put so much as a toe over a line she doesn't want to cross I will personally make sure the Malfoy line ends with you tonight."
Malfoy laughed in his face and started to walk off. "Nice try, Longbottom, but I have a younger brother and sister. Can't wipe them out just because I cop a feel on your little not-quite-girlfriend."
Tavis would have drawn his wand right there if he hadn't of suddenly been picked up by each of his arms and hauled away. He was startled and for a moment fought back before he realized that it was Fred and George that had a hold of him. At least he being dragged off by people he knew. Fred and George grinned down at their adopted nephew with their usual mischievousness.
"We've been commissioned to deliver you to your sister," Fred said.
"Great," Tavis muttered. "First rejected, and then mocked. Humiliating by hexing is just what I need to make this night perfect."
"Isn't like that, Mate," George chuckled as Blyana came into sight. "One Male Longbottom relation, as requested, Miss."
"Thanks, Uncle George," she smiled. "You can put him down now."
The twins set Tavis down before crossing their arms in a business like manner.
"And our payment?" Fred asked.
"Lucy and Jamie said they can keep them distracted, but only for bit," she said with a nod. "They said you have twenty minutes."
"We only need fifteen," George grinned.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Blondie," Fred said as they each shook her hand before scampered off into the crowd.
"What are they up too?" Tavis asked, rather bewildered.
"You probably don't want to know," Blyana said. "Mind a dance with your little sister?"
Tavis wanted to say no but he knew he didn't possess the ability to deny either of his sisters anything. Even if the little brat had tortured him all week.
"Sure," he smiled softly and led her onto the dance floor.
They waltzed slowly for a moment before Blyana looked up with a frown. "I saw you talking with Malfoy," she said. Tavis snorted in responce. "He's just trying to goad you into trouble, you know that right?"
"Well he's doing a bang up job of it," Tavis seethed.
"Look Tav, you're my favorite big brother…"
"I'm your only big brother."
"Will you shut up and let me be sentimental for a second?" Blyana glared for a moment. "You're the best big brother a girl could ask for and I've been a right berk the last few days. It wasn't fair to you and I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Tavis pulled his baby sister into a hug as they danced. "Believe me; you guys couldn't have possibly been as angry with me as I was with myself."
"Tell that to Blue," Blyana chucked, using the odd nickname James had come up with for the younger Harry. Harry Dursley had gotten sick of being called, 'Little Harry'. After all being called Little anything was a bit condescending for a full grown man of fourteen. Since the fourth year still held a great loathing for his middle name James started calling him Blue. When asked why, he responded that Little Harry had blue eyes instead of green. The nickname had caught on with the rest of the family for the most part stuck. "He is livid at you for hurting Lyssa's feelings so badly."
"I know, I know," Tavis groaned. "I don't know how I am going to fix this, or even if I can."
"She's probably more willing to forgive you than you think, Tav," Blyana said. "You just have to actually mean it."
"I do though, if I could just get her to speak to me."
"Maybe she's just waiting for you to actually fight for her for once," Blyana said, with a pointed stare. "Every girl wants to be fought for. To be shown they're actually special. Other wise it doesn't feel like you mean it."
Tavis chuckled, "You sure you're twelve?"
"You sure you're a Gryffindor?"
"Touché."
"I just want you to be happy," Blyana said. "And Lyssa makes you happy. You make her happy too by the way. You're both just so bloody thick."
Tavis chuckled and shook his head, "Alright, I get it. I tell her."
"Finally," Blyana threw her hands up in mock frustration.
Tavis laughed and they continued to dance in companionable silence. It wasn't long though when he suddenly felt his sister tense up in his arms. Pulling back a bit he noticed Blyana wasn't paying attention to him, but instead was staring over his shoulder.
"Ana?" he asked.
"She looks upset," she said, peering over his shoulder.
"What?"
"Alyssa… she looks really upset."
Tavis turned his head to see. Sure enough Alyssa had a furious expression on her face and was shoving her way through the crowd.
"I wonder what's wrong," Tavis stopped dancing and turned his whole body around to watch her as she slipped out of the Great Hall.
"The real question should be are you going to go after her to find out," his sister frowned at him. "Because Malfoy sure is."
Tavis narrowed his eyes as he watched the platinum blonde prat weave his way through the crowd as well, trying to catch up to his date. He gave Blyana a quick kiss on the forehead and made his own way as quickly as possible out of the Great Hall. Turning left, he barely had time to catch the fading sound of Malfoy's voice calling after Alyssa. Tavis followed the calls until they led him to the court yard. There he found a good hiding place in the shadows of one of the large awnings. It was close enough to see and hear what was going one but far enough away to keep from being discovered..
Alyssa seethed as she stood leaning against one of the pillars that lined the court yard. She watched the black lake while willing her temper to calm down.
"What did I do?" Scorpius demanded as he stomped across the court yard towards her.
Alyssa closed her eyes and count backwards from ten in Greek so she didn't kill him on the spot.
"Where do I start?" she snapped. "First off, you were horrendously rude to my room mates."
"They were hogging the conversation."
"Secondly, you abandoned me for half an hour while you flirted with that girl from Beauxbatons."
"She's an old friend from the villa in France my parents own."
"And last but not least you put your hands on my arse!" she whirled around to face him finally.
From his hiding place Tavis growled and clenched his fist
"That was an accident!"
"Like hell it was," Tavis snarled to himself.
"You squeezed, Malfoy!" she glared darkly. "I don't know where you think this evening was going, but it certainly isn't going there."
"It never crossed my mind that it was going to go there."
"Don't patronize me, Malfoy," Alyssa poked him hard in the chest this her finger. "I can assure you that I am not of the same caliber of gullibility that you are used to dating."
"Alright fine, I won't say I'm not hopeful," Scorpius smiled, putting his hands on her shoulders and massaging them. "You are very alluring in that dress. Any wizard would have a hard time not hoping for such a thing."
"Should you wish to keep them, you will remove your hands from my shoulders, Malfoy," his date glared again.
"A lot of good things could come your way if you were my girl, you know?" he replied. "My family has a lot of influence."
"Are you seriously trying to bribe me into being your girlfriend?"
Scorpius smirked again and gripped her chin between his thumb and pointer finger. He tilted her face up towards his and bent down so that his face was just inches away from hers.
"Think of it less as a bribe and more as a business opportunity," he said. "If you want the best in life, you have to take the best in life."
With that he leaned in all the way and crushed his lips to Alyssa's in a searing kiss. From the shadows Tavis felt as though he was going to loose his dinner.
TBC
A/N: Almost done with this one! Sorry for the infrequent posts. Been a busy summer! R&R, my dears! It makes me happy and write faster!
~Chupip