Chapter 21
Sirius watched as Rose swept away, graceful even in her hurry to get away. Cassie bit her lip and sighed.
"Oh dear…I wish I had worded that better."
"It did sound rather harsh."
"I know! I only meant it was nice to know that I'd be able to spend time with her whenever stuff like this happened. Not that…oh bugger, I don't even want to know what kind of things it could have meant."
"You know she got asked to the dance last week?" Sirius told her. Surprised blue eyes found his face and he nodded. "That Sam Westwraith guy in Ravenclaw asked her. She turned him down."
"Why?"
"Well, she told him it was because she'd agreed to go with her friend already."
"She meant me?"
"I think so." Sirius said, looking back at the dancers. Though, her other statements still rang in his mind. That she'd had her eye on someone else. He was very curious as to who, and wondered if it was Remus. That would explain why she'd seemed so angry about Remus and Cassie dancing.
"Wonderful, now I'm keeping my best friend from dates. I feel horrible, I never meant to do any of that." Cassie admitted. "I have to go find her and apologize."
Sirius pushed her back into her seat before she could go anywhere. "Cas, if she didn't tell you about Sam's invite, she won't be very happy that I did."
"I suppose that's true. But I still need to explain what I meant just now."
Sirius didn't want Cassie to leave, but couldn't think of an excuse. But when he spotted Rose in conversation with Remus, he grinned.
"Leave her be, she's busy." Cassie followed his gaze and smiled.
"They do go so well together." She said with a smile. Sirius's grin widened. That meant Cassie's eye wasn't on Remus, good.
"I think so too."
"Where do you think they go? The Usual Spot? Isn't that what they call it?"
Sirius shrugged. "I'm not sure." He wasn't sure it was his business either.
"I always thought it meant the Divination tower, but there's no way you can climb that ladder in the snow we've had lately." She went on.
"I suppose that's true."
"Do they just talk?"
"I guess so, Remus said so." Sirius said with a nod.
"I hope I can find a guy like that. I love being able to just sit back and chat. I'm surprised Rose visits with him so much, she's usually more of the silent type."
"A good listener?" Sirius supplied.
"Yes, but no at the same time. She always told me that she wanted a guy who she could just sit in silence with. I agree of course, but I'd much rather talk, wouldn't you?"
"Sure." Sirius said, hiding a frown. It was an outright lie. The truth was, he agreed with Rose. He'd never been one to want to fill the silence with words.
He looked up and spotted James, looking absolutely miserable, and chuckled. "If you'll excuse me, I think James could use some company." He said with an elegant bow, heading off around the dance floor.
As he leaned against the wall beside his friend, he smiled. "Bored?"
"Not bored, I just hate this. I'm going to get another one of those tiny sandwiches they have." James said with a grumble. Sirius grabbed his arm and turned him right around, pointing to a certain redhead sitting by herself.
"No more food James, just go ask Lily to dance."
"What? I don't know how!"
"You know how to put your right hand on her waist and take her other hand in yours. Then spin, that's all you have to know."
James grimaced, but finally nodded. "I do have a line already." He admitted. Sirius laughed.
"Then go!" he said, pushing him gently. He watched as James made his way over to the girl, and moved closer to listen.
"And you must be Helen of Troy, where is your Paris?"
"I'm not Helen." Lily said with a shrug, though Sirius could see she didn't look annoyed so much as surprised. "Not really… I'm not anyone in particular."
"Then you won't mind if I request a dance?" James offered holding out a hand. Lily stared at it for a moment before nodding and hesitantly taking it. James looked a tad surprised for a moment before a grin spit his face and he led her to the dance floor. Sirius had to chuckle when Lily put his hand on her waist for him, smiling in amusement as she did so.
They might just have a chance after all.
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Rose was on her way to the refreshment table when she ran – almost literally – into Remus. "How'd it go?" she asked with a faint smile. Cassie's words were still swirling around in her mind, despite telling herself multiple times that Cassie hadn't likely meant it in a mean way.
"Wonderfully! I asked her for the last dance, just like you suggested, and she said yes!" the boy said with a grin. Rose had to giggle in amusement. "She's so nice to talk to, we just chatted the whole song."
Rose shook her head and gestured to where Cassie sat, Sirius having left to rescue James from the wall's hold. "Then why don't you talk with her some more?" she suggested. He grinned and nodded, but first took her hand and squeezed her fingers.
"You look really pretty, Rose." He said softly, before going to sit by her friend. Rose smiled softly and turned back around. Though she was a bit confused. Why would anyone want to talk during a dance? Wasn't the whole point of a dance to just…be with someone else? She supposed one could talk, but it didn't really seem to be the place to her.
Cassie wouldn't have minded, Rose knew. She'd always been more of the casual relationship kind of girl. She wanted to be friends more than anything. She didn't like the big sweeping gestures of affection or fancy dances. And she loved a good conversation more than sitting in silence.
Rose reached the refreshment table and made her way along it, grabbing a crystal glass of punch and a napkin of cookies as she went. Everything looked so lovely…she was scared to cut the beautiful cake, it looked too perfect to eat!
"Lookie here, Applesause is pigging out."
Rose closed her eyes before turning around to glare at the seventh year Slytherin boy towering over her. "What do you want?" she demanded.
The boy chuckled in dark amusement, looking over his shoulder at the shorter, but wider, young man there. "She's got some fire tonight, doesn't she? I wouldn't take that tone with me." he said as he turned back to her.
Rose, already upset, glared, green eyes sparking with anger. "I'll speak with you however I want to." She snapped. "You can't do anything to me here, not in front of everybody."
The boy only seemed to take the statement as a challenge, a cruel smile crawling across thin lips. "That's a very pretty dress…who are you pretending to be?"
"Belle, from Beauty and the Beast." She said softly, eying him as he drew nearer.
"What is that? A muggle story? A story you learned from your stupid parents? What, did they make it up while they were on drugs one day?"
Rose's wariness fled – which on reflection was her downfall – and her glare returned. "Shut up about my parents." She hissed.
"Such a pretty dress…" He said with a smirk. "Pity it's about to get ruined."
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Lily had never guessed this moment would arrive. Ever. Here she was, at a dance on Valentine's Day, dancing with James Potter. She was flabbergasted as to why she'd agreed to this dance, it was most inconvenient considering her oath to never speak civilly with the young man.
And yet here she was, letting him lead her in circles as the song played in the background.
And his hazel eyes were surprisingly nice to gaze into from this short distance…
She was in the process of shaking herself from such thoughts when she saw something no one else did. A tall boy pulled his wand from under his robes and point it at the wide-eyed Rose, his spell pushing her backwards. Everyone heard the crash and turned to see Rose lying on what used to be the refreshment table, her lovely dress covered with food stains and the fabric dripping with punch.
The great hall went silent as the tall Slytherin boy went to help her up. Lily moved at the same time, arriving just in time to hear Rose snap at the boy not to touch her. The short girl looked around the room with tears in her dark green eyes, before fleeing altogether.
"What happened?" James asked in her ear.
"Those boys…one of them attacked Rose." She whispered in horror, turning to see James frowning.
"I knew it…I knew they'd been bullying someone and warned them not to, but they did it anyway." He said. Lily raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "I'll have to make sure they never do it again. Excuse me." he lifted her fingers to brush his lips against them before leaving.
Lily watched in wonder. Had James Potter really turned his act around? She'd believe it when she saw it.
Until then…she was just worried for the small girl she'd come to consider a friend.
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Alright, i'm being both super nice and super mean to you guys, lol. Super nice because I posted twice today. Super mean because I won't be updating tomorrow and i'm leaving you hanging here. Also, I'm super nice cuz I sketched Rose's dress for ya! And colored it, lol. You can find the link at the bottom of my profile if you wish to see :D
Please please review and tell me what you think!
Your Evil Authoress,
Whisperwings