Celia's a/n: I hate Sirius Black. That said, I'm awfully proud of the fact that I got my chapter in before Ashley's. hehehehe! I didn't expect it to turn out this long, AT ALL. Oh well. I'm glad it did. All that being said, PRONGS! (dances off singing Prongs theme song with a fake pair of plastic antlers on).

Celia sat bored out of her mind, listening to Slughorn drone on about some potion or other. Who cares? She thought frustrated, before looking over at Severus next to her, who was busily scribbling down notes. Well, maybe he does, but really, who else?

Celia turned around in her seat and surveyed the rest of the class. Why Severus had to sit up front was beyond her, especially when it made him a prime target for the Marauders, who were lounging in the back of the dungeon at the present moment.

Sirius grinned and waved at Celia in mock friendliness when he noticed her looking over at them. Celia promptly gave him the finger, and James laughed, which just about made her day. Turning around again with a huge smile plastered on her face, Celia failed to notice Slughorn looking at her.

"You look awfully enthusiastic today, Celia!" he thundered in his highly thunderous voice. "Why don't you give us the answer?"

"Uhhh…" Celia sat there looking clueless and hoping Slughorn would take pity on her. After a minute of this, she realized she would have to apply some other tactic.

"Cake," Celia said confidently, doing what she usually did when an emergency like this sprung up. "Cake, yes, definitely cake. Cake and cookies, if we're lucky."

Slughorn stared at her until his stomach made a noise that sounded like indigestion. Apparently, either the silence or his stomach had embarrassed him, so he decided to let her be and move on to splitting the class into pairs. Celia thought that was a good choice.

Celia remained in her seat while Severus went to fetch their materials. James was with Sirius, as was predictable, and Peter was with Remus. Remus didn't look too happy about this. She didn't blame him. She saw James making a grossed out face at one of the ingredients, and suddenly wished that the class would end. If it went on any longer, she feared she would implode at the process of what she was going to do afterwards. She badly needed a distraction.

"Sev," she said, thinking randomly. "Do you think I could actually do something this time? I mean besides watch the cauldron." Her eyes darted to James and back again as she spoke.

Severus looked up from tracing the instructions with a spidery finger, and raised one eyebrow. "Since when do you care how we do this?" he said, surprisingly coldly. He had been rather like this the whole class, but Celia couldn't imagine what was wrong.

"I just think that we should have equal shares of the work, that's all."

Severus snorted softly.

"Well, alright," Celia said, going for the plunge. She breathed in dramatically, looked around and then breathed it all out in one whispered breath.

"I'm going to ask James to the ball after class and I'm so nervous I wish the ground would eat me HELP ME HERE!"

Severus stared at her for a good minute until the cauldron started to bubble, which apparently required his attention.

Severus worked with his head lowered for the rest of the class. His face was obscured by the glistening, oily strands of hair hanging down on either side, so she couldn't read his expression.

"Se-evvvvvv!" Celia groaned in despair.

"What do you need my help for?" his motions were jerky and unnaturally stiff as he cut his newt tails into thin strips.

"Honestly, Sev, you're my best friend…I need to know what to say, and I'm not going to go around telling everyone about my personal life just to get their opinions. What's your problem, anyway?"

"Oh, I think you will do quite fine on your own," Severus said shortly, though Celia could sense he was becoming a bit more cooperative.

"But what if he thinks I'm tricking him or something, because I'm Slytherin?"

"As absurdly asinine as Potter may be, it is hard to imagine that he has not noticed your…affections." Severus said this last word as if it were greatly distasteful.

"What if he doesn't say yes?" Celia whispered urgently. "Then Ashley will—

She stopped, remembering just in time that no one knew she and Ashley were friends.

Slughorn was coming around to check their progress, and Celia picked up a stalk of milkwort and was about to chuck it in the cauldron when Severus grabbed her wrist unexpectedly with his bony fingers. "No," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"Whafuck?" Celia said unintelligibly.

"You must cut the milkwort stalk in half before adding it, and wait precisely three seconds before adding the next half."

"That's not what it tells us to do," Celia said, glaring at her book as if it had offended her.

"Yes, well it's better that way," Severus muttered. Celia noticed the scribblings in the margins of his own battered book, and decided not to question it.

"Awfully testy, aren't we?" Celia asked, feeling annoyed because she was finding it extremely hard to cut the stalk, and all she was really concentrating on was how to catch James after class.

"I just don't want to make a mistake," Severus said. His voice was unnaturally soft, and not in a deadly way either. There was a very noticeable pause in which Celia felt a threatening itch on her nose, and then Severus spoke again.

"Here, allow me." He took the brutalized stalk from Celia and began to slice it at an odd angle, his strangely delicate hands maneuvering the small knife deftly. Celia watched him.

"What IF he says no?" she asked a while later, not being able to get the subject off of her mind.

"Then he is even more idiotic than I first surmised, if that is possible. And don't touch that," he snapped, as Celia reached for the next ingredient. "Potter is too farcically proud of his hegemony to not be at least pleased to have someone hanging over him."

A sort of ugly flush came over Severus's sallow face as he spoke.

"Hanging over him? What's that supposed to mean-- Celia began, but she was cut across by the bell announcing the end of class.

"You will leave your potions to stew, and we'll continue tomorrow!" called Slughorn brightly, over the heads of the surging crowd, as if he had not just sat through a double period.

Celia searched the crowd, and spotted James up ahead, majestically fluffing his wonderfully fluffy hair. Now how to separate him from the rest of the Marauders?

"Wish me luck," Celia whispered to Severus, who had an extremely sour look on his face as he watched James laugh about something with his friends.

"Good luck," he said tersely, barely moving his lips. Celia guessed that that would have to suffice. She would miss James if she didn't hurry.

Butting her way through the crowd, much to many people's displeasure, Celia came up alongside James, knocking Peter to the floor in the process ("Hey!") She didn't notice quite how nice he smelled until now…like freshly mowed grass, broomsticks and a very faint touch of cologne.

"James," she started in boldly. He looked at her, surprised. "I'd like to have a word with you."

Sirius turned around and started tittering. Celia looked at him in an irritated fashion and said "Privately."

James flashed a heart-melting grin at his friends and signaled them to keep going. He then leaned against the wall of the hallway outside the dungeons, with a small smile on his face. Celia thought how bright his hazel eyes were, and tried not to faint with joy. She was now way too happy about their proximity to be worried.

"What's happening?" James asked casually. His voice was to die for. Celia was used to hearing Severus's slightly nasal voice, Sirius's annoying jeer, and the random other 'normal' guy voices. James had a GOOD voice. James sounded almost like a man.

"Does it have to do with Quidditch?" James asked excitedly.

"That's right, I have Quidditch practice tonight!" Celia remembered all of a sudden. Great. That and a Transfiguration paper. "No, what I meant to ask you is if you wanted to go to the ball with me?" Celia said it without really thinking, and was very proud of herself in the moment before James spoke.

"Aw, sorry. I'm already going with someone, see."

Should've known Celia thought. Still, she was amazingly disappointed.

"Who're you going with then?" she asked curiously.

"Evans," James said proudly.

Celia regarded him skeptically. "And did you…ask her?"

"Good point. Hey, EVANS!" he called just as the person in question passed by.

"What is it?" she called back, not bothering to come over. She was looking at James like he was a slug.

"Will you go to the ball with me?"

"No way!" Lily shouted, walking on.

James's shoulders slumped. Celia felt sorry for him, but she also rather thought he should have seen that one coming a mile away.

"Well, I should go," she ventured, feeling that she ought to leave James alone to find his own interpretation of the rejection.

"She still wants me," James told her knowingly. "And I want her. And a snitch. Snitch, yeah, Snitch." And so he sauntered off, talking to himself about Snitches.

Now with nothing to look forward to but a long practice on a likely-to-be-rainy Quidditch pitch, Celia found herself in a temper.

It must be that time of month, she thought grouchily, as she headed down the winding stone steps to the Slytherin common room. When she arrived there, she saw several people clustered near the fire. Her eyes, however, went immediately to the corners of the room, in one of which she found Severus, a small shadow hunched over a book as always.

Collapsing down next to him, she took her Transfiguration homework from her bag as she related the confrontation with James to him, and everything else that was bothering her at the moment, which was pretty much everything.

"…and I have Quidditch practice in like five minutes, I knew he'd say no, and—and I don't get this!" She waved the paper around ridiculously in her hand.

Severus took the parchment from her and started to write. That's when Celia noticed the large bruise on his delicately protruding cheekbone, and the blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Hold it right there!" she said, alarmed. "What happened to you?"

Severus, who had appeared much more content now than in Potions class, shrugged his thin shoulders. "Black."

"I'll beat him to a pulp," Celia said through gritted teeth. Now she was feeling violent on top of angry. Definitely not a good sign.

Severus handed her paper back to her. "Do what you like, Black has already acquired a peacock tail."

"Hmm…is it permanent?"

"Lasts three days."

"Excellent." Celia leaned back for a while. "Of course you know I'm still beating him up."

"Naturally."

Celia looked down at her paper. "Hey, you've done it all!"

Severus flushed a bit. "Your Quidditch practice is starting, apparently."

"Oh, that's right! Thanks for helping me, Sev. You're sweet." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before running off to fetch her broom.

Behind her, Severus turned bright red. Catching himself, he went to wipe the kiss off, then stopped, sat in shock for a minute or so, and went back to his book. He didn't see Celia leave.