Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story.

Clea stood in the Slytherin common room, waiting for Snape. She felt sick to her stomach. She didn't want to go to the ball, and regretted ever agreeing to go. She only did it to get back at Sirius; she didn't know at the time that he actually did nothing that warranted revenge.

She glanced into the mirror that hung over the fire place. At least I look absolutely gorgeous, she thought to herself, as a smile crept over her face.

Clea slicked her hair down and styled it so that it slightly flipped up at the end.. She also bewitched a pair of scissors to cut her hair so that she had sweeping bangs that covered her right eye. Her dress robes hung perfectly on her, making her look even curvier than she all ready was.

After five minutes of waiting, Snape came out of his dorm. He wore black robes that billowed out slightly in the back. "You look pretty," he said, barely glancing at her. He grabbed her hand and led her out of the room and towards the main entrance.

During the walk, Clea came to the conclusion that Snape only asked her to go because he wanted to bother Sirius; which he did.

Snape pulled open the door to the Great Hall, and let Clea step in ahead of him. The room was beautiful. Glittery silver stars hung over head, imitating the night sky and red garland was draped over all the green Christmas trees. In place of the usual four house tables stood a dance floor and about twenty or more small round tables. Every corner of the room contained a large flag representing a Hogwarts house. And falling down from them were snow flakes, decked out in the house's color. Snape and Clea walked over to the Slytherin flag, and the pair actually laughed as green snow covered their hair.

"You really do look pretty," Snape said. Clea smiled at him, slightly turning pink.

"Of course she does," Sirius strutted over to them, his arm wrapped around some his date. He was wearing black robes similar to Snape's, only that the coat he wore on top was black leather and only went down to this knees, not the floor. "She is a Black." He winked at Clea and then whispered something to his date. She giggled and skipped over to her friends.

"Can I borrow her for a moment," he continued, grabbing Clea's arm and staring at Snape, who wore a look of absolute hate on his face. He nodded slightly.

"I'll be right back, Severus. I promise." Clea screamed over her shoulder.

"Lily wants to see you," Sirius stated. "She is so excited to see your robes. Personally I think they're too nice for Snape. You shouldn't have put so much effort into this." Sirius scowled at his sister. She rolled her eyes back at him.

"Lily!" Clea squealed as soon as she saw her best friend. "You look beautiful!" Lily was wearing emerald green dress robes that matched her eyes perfectly. It had a normal collar and bell sleeves; at her waist was gold piping that led down into the full skirt. Her red hair was pulled up into a bun.

"You too, Clea!" Lily squeaked out. Clea glanced at James, who looked absolutely stunning in midnight blue robes. She noticed that his eyes were fixed on Lily.

"Hello handsome," Clea slithered over to James and twirled her finger in her hair. James let out a huge laugh. "Fancy a dance later?" Clea winked at James and then laughed uncontrollably. Sirius, who noticed that Lily stepped closer to James and grabbed his hand, twirled his sister around and started waltzing with her.

"Brilliant! Just brilliant!" Sirius said, as Clea giggled. "I've been trying to get Lily to stand close to James all night. And you come along and boom; she's not only standing next to him, she's holding his hand!" Sirius stopped dancing, and put his hand over his heart. "I've taught you well young one." Clea laughed.

"I better get back to..." she trailed off, as she noticed Sirius face go from delight to utter annoyance. "I'll be around." Clea turned away from her brother and was greeted by Lily, who looked less than pleased.

"I held his hand. What spell did you cast to make me do that?"

"All it took was a little bit of jealousy," Clea responded. Lily rolled her eyes. "Next time I'll hug him," Clea continued. "Then you'll kiss him simply because you hate me." Lily giggled nervously, secretly wanting Clea to do it.

The ball was nice. Clea forced herself to have fun. Her thoughts were constantly on Remus; thinking about where he was, if he was ok. Luckily, she was able to sneak herself away from Snape a couple of times to visit Lily.

After an hour she finally got Snape to dance. He held her stiffly and moved in a very calculating manner. Clea felt utterly bored.

Half way through their dance, Snape suddenly ran his fingers through Clea's hair and held her tighter. Clea wanted to squirm away but didn't want to be mean. When she saw that Sirius was dancing with his date a little away from them, glaring at Snape through narrow eyes, she knew that Snape was only doing this to get Sirius to try to curse him or something and get in trouble. Clea had enough and faked a dizzy spell. Snape led her over to an empty chair.

"I'll go get you something to drink," he said, actually making sure she was ok. Clea placed her head in her hands and rolled her eyes at Lily who was staring at her over James's shoulder.

Snape picked up a goblet of pumpkin juice for Clea.

"Having fun, Snivellus?" Sirius stood next to Snape with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Yes," Snape replied smugly, ignoring what Sirius called him. "Your sister is a wonderful girl. Too bad that Lupin git couldn't make it. Well, too bad for him."

Sirius did everything he could to play it cool.

"Cleopatra was distraught," Snape continued. "But I put a stop to that. She shouldn't carry on with some ridicules half-blood anyways."

That was the magic word and the entire reason why Sirius hated Snape; half-blood. Snape reminded Sirius so much of his family, who were obsessed with pure blood. He hated Snape's and his family's warped views; especially since one of his best mates was a half-blood.

"Bet he doesn't even have a good reason for not showing up," Snape smiled coldly at Sirius.

"Want to see the reason why Remus isn't here?" Sirius couldn't resist himself. Neither could Snape, as he almost jumped at the offer and followed Sirius's lead out of the Great Hall.

Clea watched as Sirius and Snape walked towards the door.

"Hey!" Clea shouted at them. Both of the boys turned around and waved her off.

"Where are they going?" James asked, bewildered. Clea shrugged her shoulders.

"Should we follow them James?" Peter spoke up. "I think Sirius is up to something."

"I'll be back, Lily." James patted Lily's arm and sprang for the door, trailed by Peter.

"Come on," Lily pulled at Clea and started off after them. Clea couldn't stop herself from following.

The two girls hung back as far as they possibly could. They hesitated when they saw James and Peter leave the school through the front entrance. Clea held her breath as she and Lily followed them outside.