Lily turned around to Ally, smoothing out her form-fitting emerald green dress. Her violently red hair was pulled up in the back with a clip, long strands flowing over the top like a fountain.

"So, does this look alright?" She asked with a nervous smile.

Ally looked over at her, her smile widening. "Alright? James is going to faint. It's perfect!"

Lily laughed, walking over to help Ally with her hair. Ally wore a flowing blush pink dress with her blonde hair tied back, strands falling to frame her face. Once they felt like everything was perfect, the two girls made their way downstairs. The Gryffindor common room was bustling with students gushing and comparing dresses and dress robes. Some couples were already leaving through the portrait hole to meet outside of the Great Hall. James, his face fixed with the help of Madam Pomfrey, and Sirius stood with Peter by the fireplace wearing brand new dress robes in black and white. James grinned when he caught sight of Lily walking toward him.

"Wow…"

Sirius's eyes widened. "You girls look absolutely… stunning!"

"Agreed." James nodded.

"Well, thank you." Lily laughed, blushing slightly. She took James's hands, leaning up to kiss him gently.

"Let's go, you guys… before we're late." Ally linked Sirius's arm with a smile.

They turned to follow everyone out. When they reached the Entrance Hall, they joined the huge mass of students already gathered and waiting, talking animatedly.

"So, where is Eleanor?" Peter asked.

Sirius cringed, clenching his jaw.

"I don't know." Ally answered, rubbing Sirius's arm gently.

"She took her things earlier and went off to get ready somewhere else." Lily shrugged. "Is Remus coming?"

"He's not sure… he might come down and check it out later." James frowned.

"Hey, you guys…" Sirius pointed toward the doors to the Great Hall.

They slowly opened inward and the mass of students swarmed inside. The hall looked amazing, all decorated for winter. Everything was a white or light blue, tablecloths, walls, floor. The ceiling was lit up with tiny white lights everywhere. Small round, candlelit tables were spread out at the back of the room, taking the place of the long House tables. The five friends sat down, taking the room in with awe. Lily pointed to a table near the wall where Eleanor sat with Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, and a brunette Slytherin named Katherine. Sirius ignored it, trying to pretend he didn't care.

Dumbledore came onto the platform at the front of the room and held out his arms. He was smiling brightly, dressed in long periwinkle blue robes.

"I must say…" He began. "that you all look fantastic. I won't take too much of your time.. All that I want to say is: have fun, enjoy the music, and dance!"

He turned and walked away and the room cheered as five students from Ravenclaw took the stage, picking up instruments. They took a second to tune before starting in on an upbeat song. Couples began flooding the dance floor. Lily stood up, tugging on James's hand.

"Oh, come dance with me!"

"Already? It's the first song!" He stood up anyway, waving goodbye to Sirius, Peter, and Ally.

As they left for the dance floor, the chair was pulled out beside Sirius and Remus sat down. Sirius smiled, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey, glad you came."

Remus offered a smile. "Yeah. The Hall looks amazing."

"Doesn't it?" Ally laughed, and then took a sip of her drink. She placed it down quickly, looking disgusted. "Ugh. I hate butterbeer."

Sirius pointed a finger upward like he had a brilliant idea. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small silver flask. He unscrewed the cap and reached over, pouring some into their drinks. They all laughed, taking a swig.

"Oh, Padfoot… this is foul." Remus choked.

Sirius sipped directly from the flask before putting it back in his jacket. "I don't think so."

"I don't think so either." Ally burped and quickly covered her mouth. Her glass was already half emptied. "What is it?"

"Firewhiskey." Sirius grinned.

"Firewhiskey?!" Peter's eyes widened. "How did you get that in here?"

"Why should I let you know all of my clever ideas, friend?" Sirius asked with a laugh.

Ally finished off her glass, standing up. "Alright, Sirius… let's dance!"

He held her back as she tried to drag him off to the floor just so he could down his drink. Then he laughed and took off behind her. Remus smiled and shook his head, just watching them.

Eleanor sighed heavily, crossing her arms. Why did she agree to this? Why had she even bothered getting ready? And why did she even come to this stupid thing after getting ready? There she was… sitting at a table in her beautiful ruby red dress and gloves, hair done up perfectly and make up dazzling… and she was only sitting! Severus sat next to her, in robes of his usual black, staring out at the crowd. At least his hair looked freshly clean and neat.

"Are you sure you don't want to dance, Severus?" Eleanor asked, hoping maybe he'd changed his mind in the past twenty minutes.

"No, thank you. I'm fine." He didn't look at her.

Eleanor rolled her eyes as Lucius and Katherine chuckled.

"Come on, Severus…" Lucius said with a laugh. "Get up and show the lady a good time."

Severus turned and glared at him.

"Seriously," Eleanor slammed her hands onto the table and stood up. "Severus, I thought that if you were going to ask me out you'd at least acknowledge me while I'm here."

She got up and stormed out. Once she made it out into the Entrance Hall, Severus had caught up with her.

"Eleanor, wait!" He grabbed her hand, stopping her from walking away. "I'm sorry, I just…"

She just looked at him. His face didn't even change from its evil sneer as he was apologizing.

"You just what?" She snapped. "You're just no fun? You just don't like people? You just can't dance?"

"No, I can't!" He hollered.

She stood up a little straighter, looking away. That was just a ridiculous reason.

"I can't dance. I hate dances…and I hate being in crowds of people!" He sighed, quieting down. "It makes me nervous."

She smiled. Finally, his face had relaxed. Not that it was attractive even yet, but it was a start. She linked his arm and started toward the door.

"Walk with me."

As they got outside, they followed a stone path through a garden that the Herbology professor has created for this special event. He stiffened up as if he didn't like the contact, but slowly loosened as he followed her down the path. They came to a fountain and Eleanor sat down on a stone bench. Random couples were seated on three others a few feet away. He sat down beside her, folding his arms. She frowned, wondering why he hadn't offered his jacket yet. It was apparent that he didn't date much. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Severus spoke, looking down at his hands.

"Eleanor…"

"Yeah?" She raised a brow, looking over at him. He suddenly looked very nervous.

"Thank you. You didn't have to come with me."

"Don't worry about it, Severus."

"I've liked you for a very long time and I couldn't understand how you could be with that horrible boy."

Eleanor frowned. "Please don't talk about him like that, Severus."

Severus stayed quiet for a moment, then he turned and looked over at her. She just raised a brow, slightly confused. Before she even knew what was happened, he'd moved forward and cupped her face in his hands, their lips meeting. Shocked, she didn't even think to do anything until he'd moved even closer, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Severus…" She put her hands on his chest, pushing him backward. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing you." He said, his eyes closed as he forced himself on her again.

"Well, stop! Severus… knock it off!"

Frustrated, she brought her leg back and kicked him in the shin. He jumped backward, crying out. As a reflex, he brought his hand up to hit her.

"SEVERUS!"

He stopped immediately, spinning around on the bench. Heading toward him, wand pointed in his face, was a very furious looking Remus. Eleanor stood quickly, walking over and standing beside him. She glared at Severus, at a loss for words.

"But… Eleanor." Severus stammered.

"Goodnight, Severus." Eleanor said before turning and pulling Remus back toward the castle. Once they were out of earshot, she stopped and turned to him.

"How… where-?"

Remus seemed to already know what she was going to ask. He looked down, shaking his head. "I came down to the ball late… I saw you walk out… and then I saw him following you. I just thought I'd…"

"Check up on me?" She crossed her arms against the cold. "I don't think it's any of your concern."

"It will always be my concern!"

He sighed, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. She hesitated before accepting it, pulling it tight around her. She realized, suddenly, how much she missed him.

"Honestly, Nell… it's Severus Snape. What did you expect?"

"I didn't know what to expect, Remus. Sometimes you think you know a person and they surprise you." She bit her lip, knowing how that must have sounded. She'd meant it that way but hadn't wanted to hurt him. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." He kicked at the ground with the toe of his shoe, looking down. "Look, Nell…"

"I've missed you." She blurted out. She didn't even know where it had come from.

He got quiet immediately, looking over at her. She looked down, biting her lip and hoping that he still cared. He stayed quiet for a long moment and her heart raced.

"Missed me already?"

She looked up at him and, seeing his smile, she smiled herself. "Terribly."

He smiled, wrapping his arms around her as she walked up to him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything, Nell. I was just too afraid to lose you. You're everything to me. These past few weeks have been killing me. If I could-"

She looked up, grabbing his face in her hands and pulling him into a kiss. It felt like forever before she finally pulled away from him. He didn't open his eyes at all and seemed to be savoring the feeling. She watched him with a quiet laugh as he bit his lip and turned slightly red.

"So… I'm forgiven then?" He looked down at her.

"As long as you can find it in you to forgive me."

He hugged her tightly with a laugh. "Consider it done."

She hugged him back, not wanting to let him go. It was nice to be in his arms again.

"Hey, Remus…" She said quietly, pulling away.

"Hmm?" He asked, raising a brow.

"Do you think that… you could get Sirius to come out here for a moment?"

Remus nodded knowingly. "Yeah… he told me about yesterday."

Eleanor looked down with a frown. "I know. I was… being an idiot."

Remus shook his head and held up a finger for her to wait and then he disappeared inside. A few moments later, Sirius came quickly out of the door, stumbling at the bottom step. He turned and glared back up at it. Though Eleanor couldn't see anyone, she knew he didn't come quietly. She looked down, trying to think of the right thing to say. Sirius straightened, running his hands through his hair before shoving them into his pockets.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"Are you?" He raised a brow, sounding unimpressed.

She looked up at him and after meeting eyes, his expression had softened.

"I was just trying to help, Nell." He said quietly.

"I know. And I should have listened… turns out you were right, anyway. He's nothing but a creep."

Sirius eyed her curiously. "What'd he do? Nothing I'd have to kill him for, right?"

"I'm pretty sure Remus already took care of it." Eleanor smirked.

Sirius smiled, nodding. "So… you're talking to him again?"

Eleanor nodded, biting her lip. "I was thinking about what happened yesterday… about how I turned my back on my friends who were only concerned about me. And then I realized how much I care about you guys. And how I was being hypocritical. Turning Remus away because of… well, it just wasn't fair. He's been nothing but good to me and if we want it to work, it will."

"And you want to?"

"I do." She laughed.

It took him a moment, but he smiled. She raised a brow, walking toward him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, fine… congratulations."

She hugged him tightly, tapping his cheek with a laugh. "How's your face?"

"Stung for hours. You've got a great right, Nell."

They both laughed. He pulled away, taking her hand.

"Come on… it's freezing out here."

She followed him into the Great Hall, joining her friends on the dance floor.