"A Valentine's Day ball?"

I turned to look up at Potter as he held up a frilly piece of pink paper. "Yeah, that's what it says."

~vVv~

Roxanne paused, before sitting up. "You know, I think I know what your problem is."

"Really?" James asked.

"Yeah, you're in love."

~vVv~

Bouncing on my toes, I found myself feeling suddenly nervous. I looked at couples and friends as they passed, becoming less noticeable as they became more engulfed in the mood of the evening. I played with my fingers gently until a voice crept up on me.

"Stunning, as usual."

I grinned and turned around, smirking at Louis. "And I guess you don't look so bad yourself."

Chapter 24 (Part Two)

Taking off my heel, I threw it at James with accurate aim. It thunked against his back and he turned to face me. "You know what? You just ruin everything! I was having so much fun! Why couldn't you just let me have fun for one night? One night!"

His nostrils flared as he retorted, "I'm so sorry for ruining your perfect evening with Prince Charming!"

"Stop being such a git!" I yelled, not even realizing that tears were leaking from my eyes until I wiped one away, my make-up now drizzling down my face and smearing everywhere.

The corridor was dark and a cold draft lingered, but it didn't seem to me to be cool. My face was burning as I glared at him with teary eyes, somewhat ashamed of my emotional reaction, but not enough to hide it.

James either didn't notice me crying, or he blatantly ignored it. "Well, you should really stop acting like a princess!"

"Princess? I'm not acting like a princess!" I hollered.

He snorted. "You walk around the school like your fucking royalty! Like you own all of us!"

I was horrified by his accusations. How could he think that about me? Royalty? I felt like scum, like a dirty wad of gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe.

The words struck me harder than I thought they would. My temper flared defensively, despite the sting of his blow. "Do you even hear yourself?"

That yanked a rope. His face contorted in an anger I didn't know he was capable of holding. "All I've done this year is try to help you, and all you've done is ignored and rejected me like I wasn't worth it. I wasn't worth you! And you know what? You're just a bitch!"

The coldness of his words confirmed the reality.

Everyone I've ever known has called me that terrible word. I deserved it, in many situations, I won't deny that. But hearing the word roll off James' tongue broke a piece of me that couldn't be reattached, no matter how many spells you cast.

James, the one person I had always subconsciously leaned on for support this year, despite our rivalry. The one who had cheered me up, despite my denial, when I was down. The one who had helped me rebel against my parents ways, despite our differences. He had officially turned against me.

My facial expression shattered. Pure agony hit me like the Whomping Willow had taken a swing at me with one of its colossal branches.

I was completely alone now. No number of Louises could fill the gap that James Potter had been filling this year. I could refuse to accept the facts before, but now it was impossible. With the threat of James hating me, I was forced to accept them.

"If you really feel that way," I choked, but I couldn't finish the sentence.

By the way he looked at me, he really seemed like he wanted to just stomp away. But his brown eyes flickered between me and the opposite direction, like he couldn't decide.

Was I really that terrible?

And there I had been, thinking that everything I was doing was good. Right. I had left my family, my friends, my ways. I thought I had changed.

But, in a way I suppose, I would always be a bitch to James. I couldn't blame him, I guess.

"Rosalie," he said, trying to back track. He sounded distraught and torn.

"Do you really feel that way?" I asked quietly.

Brokenly.

"I'm just... I can't..." He ran his hands through his messy brown hair.

[One hour earlier]

"May I have this dance?" Louis asked Rosalie, waggling his eyebrows jokingly.

She stuck out her pale and dainty hand, snickering at his cheesy attempt at flirting. "Well, of course."

He lead her out to the center of the floor, gliding through the crowds of students, and started dancing to some cheesy love song by some muggle band.

James crushed his cup in his hand without noticing it, until the liquid spilled all over his outfit and onto the floor. "Shit," he cursed, whipping out his wand and cleaning it up instantaneously.

"What's pissed you off?" Fred asked as he approached him with Iris hanging off of his shoulder. The pretty, blonde Hufflepuff was wearing a short, smoldering black dress and lots of red and pink jewelry, but James couldn't even be bothered to check her out.

"Nothing," James muttered through gritted teeth.

"I just watched you crush a cup of punch in your hand. People don't do that when they're happy," he commented, bemused.

"Just drop it," he growled.

Fred lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. Come on, babe. Let's go dance." They wandered into the crowd, dancing together, crushed by the overwhelming amount of students around them. Seeing how tightly they were pressed together, James wondered if Louis and Rosalie were positioned like that, too.

It made his blood pump hotly.

The never-ending flame licked his insides, and nothing he did could stop it. She was on his mind.

All of the time.

He kept thinking horrible things about her, things he wouldn't normally think about Rosalie Flint. Things that he wouldn't normally think of anybody. Terrible thoughts. Even when he tried to suppress them, they came back, taunting him, agitating him.

He dug deeply, trying to find the source of these overbearing thoughts that he was submerged in. They had to have started somewhere, right?

Maybe James had just snapped. Maybe they had been there all along, buried. He didn't know.

Catching a glimpse of her dress, he grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and went for another cup of punch.

He hated her for having such an effect on him. Why did she make him feel this way? How? It didn't make sense to him. The sudden turn of emotions he felt towards her wasn't natural. But he couldn't explain it.

Rosalie Flint.

She made his heart jump, his gut flare, his eyes pop. She drove him crazy. Why?

His eyes trailed her as Louis left her, presumably for the restrooms, and she exited the dance floor. Other eyes followed her, until she bumped into Matthias Avery.

James couldn't bring himself to intervene as they shared a heated exchange. Of course, nothing went down, as they were surrounded by other students. She stalked away from him and he unhappily clenched his jaw, tugging his new victim, Cassandra Sinclair, away with him.

She conversed with two Hufflepuffs, Kaitlyn and Jason, something like that. They used sign language, indicating that one of the two Hufflepuffs were deaf.

She bumped into Slughorn, who was chaperoning the event, and shared some comments with him civilly, compared to her talk with Avery.

"What, are you stalking her now?" came a fresh voice from James' side.

Rose looked up at him, eyebrows risen and suspicious.

"No," James answered plainly.

"Don't you have a date?" she asked, pouring herself some punch.

"No."

"So you're just going to stand here all night, glaring at Rosalie Flint?"

"No."

"Is that the only word you know?"

"No."

Rose rolled her light blue eyes. "You're a basket case, you know that?"

"How so?" James questioned, finally facing his cousin, tearing his judgmental gaze from Rosalie.

"You've been standing at the punch table all not staring at Rosalie!" she squealed unhappily, throwing out her empty hand for good measure. "You're crazy or something."

"I'm not crazy!" he denied.

"Why are you mad at her?"

"Is it that obvious?" He winced inwardly.

Rose nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, it is. Anyone can see it, if they're observant enough. So, why exactly are you mad at her? Did you two get into a fight or something during your rounds?"

"Not exactly." In fact, there was no valid reason for James to be so angry with Rosalie. He just was. And he couldn't put that into words for his cousin. So, instead, he continued with, "I'd rather not talk about it."

After an hour of straggling, James finally approached Louis and Rosalie. He tried to be friendly, he really did. But nothing could hide his bitterness. Fortunately for him, Rosalie was oblivious to his unhappiness. Why didn't that surprise him?

"Hey!" she said, in a very good mood. Her tone was light and gentle, which was rare for the independent Slytherin, especially towards James. She was usually pissed with him.

His stomach erupted into white-hot flames again. Louis could put her in that mood, but he couldn't?

"Hi."

"Hey cousin," Louis said amicably.

James replied stiffly, "Louis."

He didn't catch the cold undertone in his voice. "Where's your date?"

"I didn't bring one."

"Really?" Louis laughed. "I don't believe it!"

"The girl I wanted to bring was taken," he answered before he could stop himself. Risking a glance at Rosalie, his eyes flickered to her. She was watching him carefully, her own hazel ones skeptical.

She was always skeptical of him.

"Who's the lucky girl?" Louis persisted.

"It doesn't matter. I have to go," he said, escaping into the crowd of teenagers suddenly and unexpectedly.

Rosalie looked at Louis briefly, before saying, "I'll be right back."

"Hey, are you alright?"

My voice echoed in the hall, rebounding off the high ceiling. My shoes clicked on the floor as I followed James into the darkness, far away from the Great Hall and towards the moving staircases.

"No."

"Tell me what's wrong," I pestered.

He stopped walking, and he blew out a hot breath of air. "Alright, I'll tell you what's wrong. You're what's wrong!"

My brows gathered in confusion, not understanding what he meant. "Excuse me?"

"You just frolic around, pushing everyone like their a piece of your chess game!"

His anger didn't make sense to me. "I don't get it," I said, dumbfounded.

And that's how we got to our current situation. And now, we're staring at each other heatedly, not knowing what to say.

Tears slipped down my cheeks and landed on my dress, surely staining it. He looked at me with glazed brown eyes as he tried to form words with his lips, but no words came out.

"I didn't know," I said truthfully, my voice cracking.

James groaned in frustration and punched the air. "I don't know what's wrong with me!"

Not knowing how to respond to that, I waited for him to continue.

"I wasn't angry at you before! I wasn't! And then, I was!"

"That doesn't make sense," I pointed out, wiping my eyes but listening intently, the pain still searing from his words.

"I know!" he yelled. "But, I felt... I feel... it's so wrong and weird and twisted and indescribable! There's this flame, inside of me, and every time I see you, it's like it grows. And finally, it's just taken over!" His eyes were wide, and he was staring at me. "It doesn't make sense."

As James took a tentative step towards me, I resisted from recoiling, allowing him to come closer. He was still a good couple yards away from me.

"You just drive me mad."

"Well, if I drive you mad, maybe we shouldn't be near each other anymore."

"No, you don't get it!"

"You can't honestly expect me to get it!"

"And then Louis came into the picture," he continued. "And it hurt. So much."

It still wasn't any clearer for me.

"What does Louis have to do with anything?" I asked loudly, squinting my eyes at him.

"Everything!" he snapped. "Louis has to do with everything!"

I refrained from retorting back at him. "I still don't understand!" I grumbled. "James, you're not making any sense!"

"You're not getting it!" he huffed, exasperated.

"You've already stated that," I replied, hugging myself in an effort to keep myself together. The conversation was going by in blur, and I wasn't catching anything.

"You're so difficult!"

"You know what, if you're just going to spend the rest of the evening insulting me, I'd rather not stick around." I picked up my shoe, which was lying sadly on the ground, by itself. I clutched my stomach, the pit of it feeling empty and hallow. I turned to go, my back facing James.

His hands grabbed my shoulders from behind, and before I could respond, his lips came angrily crashing into mine.

A million thoughts sloshed around in my head, but I couldn't form a single cognizant one. I felt a million different emotions, but none of them registered. A million words could have described the feeling, but none of them fit the gap.

I didn't react at first. He withdrew from the kiss, brown eyes staring straight through me, into my soul. "I was jealous," he finally admitted.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew them to be true.

He was never angry with Rosalie. Not really. It was jealousy, and envy, just covered by a cloud of confusion. James just didn't know how to deal with it. He thought the sensation was anger at first. It was close enough. And it kept growing and growing...

And then he kissed her.

And it dawned on him.

She stared up at him, her lips forming an 'O' shape. He was so sure she was going to start yelling at him. He was stupid for kissing her. Stupid for yelling at her.

But suddenly, her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss.

It was rough and aggressive. Their lips wrestled for dominance as his large hands gripped her small waist, bringing her closer to him. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, molded together like clay. Their teeth clashed and their mouths wandered. Her neck, her cheeks, her lips. They were so soft, so enticing.

Her long fingers stroked his chest and then she ran them through his hair. He made a growling noise in the back of his throat. She grinned into his lips at the tiny action that caused him so much pleasure.

They finally broke for air and their foreheads rested of them spoke for a second, their eyes shut and their breathing heavy.

Finally, she said quietly, "Well, I'm fucked."

"What do you mean?"

"What am I going to tell my date?"

A/N: BAM! Bet you guys didn't see that one! Aha!

Please tell me what you think, okay? Did you guys get lost at all? Did I move too fast? Any comments and criticism are accepted and welcomed!

I hope I didn't confuse you guys with James' sudden change of emotion. I wanted to to be like Louis' appearance sparked the jealousy instantaneously until the point where it was uncontrollable.

Sorry that Part Two is shorter than the first part. Originally, it was supposed to be one update, but I hadn't posted a chapter in a long time, and it was taking a while to type up, hence the two parts.

Thank you so much for all of the reviews! We just recently passed the 100 review mark, which I have NEVER DONE BEFORE and I was extremely stoked about it! You guys are so amazing, and thank you so much for supporting this story! I hope you guys are happy with this chapter; I am!

There's still a lot more coming up, so be prepared!

Much love! Please review!