"Severus?" Li asked.
"What?" he answered. He was standing outside her door. Lucius needed someone on guard duty to make sure she didn't run away.
"Are we still pretending to be girlfriend and boyfriend?"
"What?"
"Remember we tricked them into thinking we were together? Are we going to continue that or let it drop? I think we'll have to pretend. I'm really sorry about this. When I get my hands on Lucius I'm going to kill him. If it wasn't for this stupid bet I wouldn't go at all," Li complained.
"I agree, we'll have to continue pretending."
"Thanks, I owe you. Can you help me beat up Lucius when this is over?"
"Sure," Severus replied. "Would be my pleasure."
"Thanks. I'm coming out and you aren't allowed to laugh. Narcissa made me dress this way!" Li told him. She opened the door and his jaw dropped. "I looked horrible!"
"You look like a girl," Severus told her.
"I am one," Li snapped. "Remember, my name is Elaina.
"Can I have the privilege of escorting you to the ball?" Severus asked gallantly.
"Yes of course," Li replied. The two made their way down the stairs. They heard many whispers of 'Who is that girl?' and 'Severus is so lucky!'
"Ready to go?" Lucius snickered.
"You bloody…" Li started.
"Lily my dear, women don't swear," Lucius scolded Li.
"I'm going to cut that bloody tongue out of your mouth," Li threatened.
"You probably will. Come on let's go to the ball. We're going to say Li refused to come, right?" Lucius asked.
"Yes and call me Elaina. I'm Li's cousin. Severus and I have to pretend we're going out cause those stupid Giffies saw us when we were trying to fool in the club."
"Of course Elaina," Severus told her. The three headed to the Great Hall, Li on Severus' arm. The three made their way to a Slytherin table. Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled at Li.
"This is undignified," Li muttered as she sat down.
"Don't forget you'll have to dance later," Lucius reminded her.
"Hello everyone and welcome to the Halloween ball. I'm very sorry about the short notice about it but everyone looks splendid nevertheless," Dumbledore announced. "So without further ado, the prefects will open our dance. Please find your partners." Li found herself being pulled to her feet.
"Sod off," she told Severus.
"I have to dance and you're supposed to be my girlfriend. Logic dictates that you dance," Severus informed her. Li sighed and stood up. Severus took her in his arms. The other couples came onto the dance floor and the group the Fried Frogs started to sing. Li and Severus swayed to the music. The song seemed to go on forever, agonizingly long.
"Can we stop now?" Li complained. "I feel stupid, everyone is looking at me. They think I'm a girl."
"In the words you said earlier, you are a girl."
"I know, but I don't like people thinking that, it's embarrassing," Li groaned.
"Whatever you say,"
"Something's been up lately with you. What the bloody hell is it?" Li asked. She kept her voice down so none of the other prefects or their dates could hear her.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm just worried about school lately."
"Why? You've never been before. We're sixth year, worry about stuff next year and that's not what's been up."
"That is what's up."
"No it's not. You don't act funny around anyone except me so what is the bloody problem?"
"Since you seem to know so much why don't you tell me?" Severus shouted. Everyone paused to look at them. Li gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Everyone brushed off the incident as a relationship problem and went back to dancing.
"Look man, it's your deal, tell me or don't tell me but don't go acting like I'm the plague. So we cool?" Li asked.
"We're cool," Severus assured her.
"Good," Li confirmed. They danced for another minute before the song ended. "The bloody song is over, let's sit down." The two headed for the table where Lucius was sitting.
"You guys looked so cute out there, maybe you really should go out," Lucius chuckled evilly.
"If you make any more cracks I will force feed you your balls," Li threatened. Lucius just smiled and got up to dance with his date.
"Want to dance?" a voice asked from behind Li. She stared into her cup. This is not happening, this is not happening, she repeated silently to herself. "Should I ask your boyfriend?" Li turned around. She smiled apologetically at Severus.
"He can spare me for one dance," Li said coolly. She turned around and faced James Potter. She stood slowly, resigned to the fate Lucius had forced her into. Though she could not see it, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled from the front of the room. He took a sip from his glass of pumpkin juice; things were about to get very interesting.
He couldn't believe she had said yes. He couldn't believe she was dancing with him now. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was. Her hair had been straightened and highlighted. It had also been cut. Her 'robes' were a shade of light purple. For some reason it fit really well. Her neckline was plunging very far. The dress was cut gracefully accenting her curves. The dress ended right before her knees. She was dressed to kill. She radiated attention. The aurora about her said, Look at me.
He looked down at her. She was looking away. It was obvious she didn't want to be here. She looked up and smiled quickly. The song quickly ended and James led his partner back to her table. It was empty except for several bowls of ice cream. She quickly took one of the bowls and brought a spoonful up to her mouth, she smiled to herself.
"Have some ice cream," she offered. "It's really good." James took a seat by the girl and picked up a bowel. He too smiled after he tasted his ice cream.
"Fish food," he said. "How did they know it was my favorite?"
"Mine is cookie dough," she commented. She quickly lapped up her ice cream. She brought the last bite to her mouth. Instead of putting the spoon in the bowl, she kept it in her mouth.
"You can probably get more," James told her after she sat like that for a minute.
"It's not that, I always savor the last bit of ice cream. I pretend there is more ice cream on the spoon than there really is. I'm not willing to admit there is no more," she replied absentmindedly.
"Why don't you just get more ice cream?" James asked.
"Don't know, never have, probably would be the sensible thing to do." She sat there, lost in thought, for a little while longer with the spoon in her mouth while James finished his ice cream.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"Life in general. You know, why we're here? What's the purpose? What I'm going to do with my life," she answered.
"How's the last one going?"
"Limited. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life, I'm really not that good at anything."
"There's got to be something you like to do," James insisted.
"I guess Quidditch, I would like to play Quidditch professionally. But girls can't play Quidditch, I heard from Li that's it's hard for them just to get on the hose teams."
"What position do you play?" James asked.
"I'm a seeker," she said.
"I bet you could beat out Li. He's pretty good for a Slytherin, but it's probably just the broom," James said. She glared at him.
"Do you even know what kind of broom he rides? It's a Cleansweep 3. "
"Those are really good brooms but known for being temperamental," James recited. "He really rides one of those?" she nodded.
"Elaina," Severus said coming over.
"It's been nice talking to you," James told her. He got up and left.
"You only had to dance with him!" Severus scolded her. "You weren't supposed to have him at the table. You didn't ask me."
"Sorry Dad, didn't know I had to check in. What's your problem? I thought we were cool? I was being polite. He brought me to the table and no one was here. There was ice cream so I offered him a bowl, what's wrong with that?"
"Just know who your friends are," Severus warned her.
"Look, I don't like Potter or nothing, I was being polite. What was I supposed to do? Tell him to bugger off?"
"I was just worried," Severus told her.
"That's really sweet and all, but just because I'm wearing a skirt doesn't mean I need protection."
"Just look out for him."
"Thanks man. I know you're just looking out for me. I just don't like being treated like I'm weak or something," Li explained.
"You will never be weak," Severus assured her. Li smiled.
"It's time for our last number!" the band called from their spot in the room. "We're going to play a slow one for you."
"Want to dance?" Severus asked.
"Sure, I'll always save you the last dance," Li replied.
Oh I know that the music's fine
Like sparklin' wine,
Go and have your fun
Laugh and sing,
But while we're apart
Don't give your heart to anyone
But don't forget who's takin' you home
And in whose arms you're gonna be
So darlin' save the last dance for me
A/N sorry I took so long to get this out. It's 3 pages long! GO ME! I'm trying to make it so Severus is jealous and Li thinks he's just looking out for her as a friend. Whether you want to count the lyrics as what they're dancing to or not is up to you, it makes no difference what so ever. I just love that song.
