MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here is my gift to you, and right at midnight (well, my time at least). This chapter is full of goodness, so hopefully it was worth the wait. Thanks to Makky, a new beta of mine! Enjoy!
Remus remembered why he loathed school dances. The hatred had dissipated at the thought of actually taking a girl with him, but as he stood in front of the mirror, he felt the familiar feelings returned. It wasn't as if he was the worst looking boy in the school, but staring at the reflection of himself in second-hand shabby robes, he certainly didn't feel as spectacular as Sirius, who was dressed to perfection. The ends of Remus' robes, frayed, were uneven, and the browns seemed so boring. He wouldn't look like an appropriate date for Kylie, but then again, they were just going as friends. He frowned at the thought, just as James rushed in the room, one shoe in hand.
"Have you seen my other shoe?" he asked, kneeling down to inspect under the bed, his glasses askew.
"Bathroom. Sink." Remus replied, his voice a little distant as he was still distracted by his thoughts.
James ran to the bathroom without a reply. Remus adjusted his robes one last time before heading down to the common room to meet Sirius and Peter.
The indisputable fact that Sirius had kissed Remus had become common knowledge of all of Hogwarts within the hour of its occurrence. This was thanks to James yelling "Did you two just kiss?" and Peter retreating back to the common room in complete shock. Apparently, very few questioned the validity of the rumor that spread and spread from the common room to the halls and other common rooms. Remus soon discovered that many had a previous suspicion about a romantic depth of Sirius and Remus's relationship. That fact alone was almost as shocking and upsetting as the kiss itself. Did he really act that gay? Remus certainly didn't think so as he looked at Sirius and Peter, one in the finest dress robes money could buy and the other in mediocre ones. Sirius bowed when Remus entered the room, then knelt down and took Remus' hand; however Remus was quick to snatch his hand away. A couple of second and first year girls stopped complaining about their dresses to giggle at the pair.
"My love," Sirius gushed, earning another giggle from the girls. Thankfully, it was only the very young students or the crazed fan girls that had any belief that something was really going on between the two. Sirius had overplayed his 'affection' for Remus so dramatically that even James was getting a bit irked. But really, it was all just fun and games for him.
The situation had been dealt with accordingly, with Remus frowning in disgust at the partying and James half heartedly high-fiving Sirius for his 'score.' Peter was now trying to be chattier with the girls, although this almost always ended up with him stuttering madly and nearly wetting himself. But really, the shift was quite a surprise to the other three Marauders. Since when did Padfoot become such a ladies man? When James had asked, Sirius just shrugged and replied that he had always been able to do his magic.
"Found it," James proclaimed as he walked down to the common room to meet all of them. The four were quite a sight, dressed in a variety of robes and each about to join different girls. With a quick exchange of looks between the group, they walked together to the Great Hall.
"I wonder if the Slytherins are still sparkly," Sirius mused as the four rounded a corner. The four were, after all, the Marauders and after the shock of Kylie and the first full moon wore off, they set to work on their pranks once more. Their most recent had consisted of the pumpkin juice at the Slytherin table exploding into millions of tiny bits of red and gold glitter. Fortunately, the glitter stuck to anyone it touched, so it was incredibly difficult to clean up. A couple of second years still had the glitter that was constantly rearranging itself into different shapes and words. Remus grinned largely at the little lion that was on one of the second year's forehead. He recognized the boy to be Jon, who had a reputation for trying (and failing) to date older girls.
When they arrived, Remus took in the whole room. The tables that usually held the four houses were elsewhere in the castle, although Remus hadn't a clue where Dumbledore could store such large pieces of furniture. The decorations were still up and a small orchestra was playing where the teachers usually ate. On the other side was an incredible amount of food that kept reappearing; cakes of all kinds and appetizers, along with gallons of pumpkin juice and a hot chocolate fountain.
Although Remus felt a strong urge to go get a mug of hot chocolate, his attention got turned to Sirius who accidentally bumped him when waving to his date. One of his dates.
Sirius had managed to bring three different girls to the Winter Ball; one from Gryffindor, another from Ravenclaw and a third from Hufflepuff. He had convinced each of them that he would have to dance with a lot of girls at the party in order to convince others that he really wasn't gay. So none of them knew of each other and Sirius somehow thought that none of them would suspect anything. Remus found this to be infuriating, but he didn't say anything because this was Sirius. That was usually a good excuse for Remus to be silent because he cut him quite a lot of slack.
James' date appeared within moments, a pretty third year girl who was more than happy to go with James 'as friends.' He couldn't go by himself to the dance and he couldn't go with Lily, so this girl, Ivy Abbot, would have to do.
Even Peter found a date, but Remus had a strong suspicion that she was part of the Sirius fan club and was only going with Peter in attempt to be closer to Sirius. This was disappointing, but he kept it to himself. James seemed to be on the same page, but was also silent, because this was Peter and Peter had never been on a proper date before.
"Remus?"
He turned around to see a girl with blond hair, curled, part of it pinned up. She wore a floor length sky blue dress that draped gracefully from her thin form. It didn't look like she was wearing much make up, but just enough to enhance her natural features. Her arms and shoulders were covered with a small white cardigan and around her neck was silver necklace that Remus could only assume wasn't made of actual silver.
"Uh," he replied intelligently.
"You look nice," comment James with a friendly smile before turning back to his own date. Kylie smiled cheekily at the remark which made Remus a bit uncomfortable.
"Yes," Remus started, "You look b-b-beautiful." He flushed scarlet at his stuttering and how corny he sounded. He pulled at the ends of his sleeves as the two stood there, but before Kylie could reply, the two of them were pulled into the middle of the dance floor by Sirius, who seemed to have escaped from his first date. Remus didn't like being surrounded by so many people, but Kylie didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
"Listen," Sirius said with a grin as the music took a different turn of direction, "Time to dance!" And with a laugh at Remus' embarrassed face, he pushed the two together and walked off to find his second date.
Remus awkwardly put his hand on her waist and held his other hand with hers. The dance was incredibly basic, but he recognized it as one of the annoying absurd 'and now you switch partners' dances after a certain number of counts. There was really no turning back now, as he started to lead Kylie in the best way he knew how. His face kept the scarlet and he would glance up every now and again to see if she was looking at him; every time he did manage to catch her eye, his heart felt incredibly tight and stoic for a moment that he quickly looked away again.
"I like your dress robes," she commented as the two continued to move around the dance floor. Immediately he looked down, as if he had forgotten what he was wearing, and frowned at the frayed and tattered robes.
"But they are so… old," he replied with a frown.
"Yes but," she looked him up and down again, "It's not like you're Sirius who's trying to flaunt his wealth."
Remus glanced over at Sirius who was dancing with #2. It never ceased to amaze him how incredibly elegant and poised the reckless and impulsive teen could look in such an environment. It was something that was undeniably Black, which Sirius would deny anyways. Remus knew of the aristocratic society that Sirius grew up in and a lot of what that entailed, including the manners and dance lessons. It was part of him that would stick, no matter how much he wanted to get away from his family, and for that Remus felt pity.
"Uh, yeah," Remus started, "or my ability to get girls. How he managed to get three dates is beyo-"
He quickly shut up, realizing he probably shouldn't have said anything, but he doubted that Sirius would care if the three girls found out about each other. After all, there were plenty more where they came from.
Kylie looked at him, surprised and then glanced over at Sirius. "What? He went with Erin, I remember because she told the entire common room."
"Uh… well yeah, but he's also bought a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff."
Kylie frowned deeply at this. "I told you that he was going to end up hurting someone. What's so charming about someone so arrogant?"
Remus sighed. "He's just… Sirius."
Kylie rolled her eyes, but then let out a small grin. "Trying to stick up for your lover, hmm?"
At this, Remus gave a dry 'ha, ha, ha', but felt a genuine smile pull through at the end.
"An awful boyfriend he is, though. Look at him, going about with all those girls. It must hurt your poor, sensitive soul."
He was going to answer, but then the cue was given to switch partners and within a matter of seconds he found himself face to face with a fiery red head. He vaguely wondered if she had used a spell to get the color of the dress to match her eyes perfectly, or if girls were just that good at shopping. Regardless, he felt almost as uncomfortable as he had with Kylie, who was now dancing with Jon the Second Year Slytherin. Kylie looked as though she was trying not to laugh at the obvious overly flirty comments she was receiving from the twelve year old.
"Hello, Remus," his partner started, looking mildly ashamed.
"Hello, Lily."
"I just wanted to apologize for avoiding you," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "I was just shocked, because, well, that kind of thing is shocking. I'm sorry- I really don't think any differently of you or her and I can't imagine how difficult this must be—"
"Lily," Remus interrupted.
"Sorry, I just… Sorry."
Remus managed a small smile, glad to have a friend back. She was quick to get onto another subject.
"So… you and Kylie? Romantically, I mean." She smirked teasingly.
Remus shook his head and looked down at his shoes, which were moving with his feet, leading Lily. "W-what? No. No, just friends."
"She'll come around," Lily said in the way that all girls did when they decided to be omniscient. This always bothered him, especially when it was Lily, because she tended to be right in the oddest of ways. He decided to throw the ball back in her court.
"Who did you come with?"
"Severus," she replied, but then hastily added, "As friends, of course."
"Oh, I didn't realize."
"Yes, well, Severus is a good person and I don't know why you all torment him so much."
Remus looked over at James who had managed to just slip onto the dance floor with Ivy Abbott.
"I'm assuming he doesn't know?"
Lily glared in James' direction. "I don't have to answer to him. What is he doing babysitting, anyway?"
Remus continued his mechanical movements, now much more fluid with Lily than with Kylie. "She seems like a nice girl," he commented with little enthusiasm, trying to see if he could help his friends' case out a little bit.
And then he was off to his next partner who was a first year Hufflepuff who had attempted to use grade three glamour charms. The whites of her eyes were bright green, and it looked as if a clown had painted red circles onto her cheek.
He took this chance to look around the room to find Kylie. She'd somehow ended up with Regulus Black, both of them speaking softly and smiling. Her eyes widened with surprise as she stepped on his foot, causing them to both laugh, but Regulus stopped himself after a moment as to not look like he enjoyed it too much. Remus grumbled uncomfortably to himself, causing his dance partner to look at him oddly.
Finally, that dance ended and he retreated to the food.
"Snape," James said furiously to Sirius as Remus joined them, "She went with Snivellus!"
Sirius shot a small smile and waved at a girl across the room before turning back to James. "Not to worry, I've already set something up to fix that."
James arched a brow, knowing Sirius' track record for going solo on pranks, but he didn't care too much right now. After all, Lily was here with Snape, "Snape! Snape of all people!" and hence James was all for supporting Sirius.
Kylie walked over, having finally parted with Regulus, who went to his respective Slytherin group.
"Hot chocolate?" Remus offered her with a little hitch in his voice. She smiled at the hitch and nodded as he poured her a cup.
"Where'd Peter run off to?" Kylie asked, glancing around the crowded room. She narrowed her eyes and then laughed, her smile softening. "Aw! He managed to get a date! That's very cute."
James grinned and nodded but then looked Kylie in the eye and moved a bit closer to her. "Unfortunately, I think the girl's only with him because of Sirius," he muttered under his breath. He stepped away again and smiled once more. "But what he doesn't know won't hurt him, so it would be best not to tell the poor lad that."
Sirius raised a brow at this and a mischievous glint formed in his eye. "Really?" The infamous Sirius smirk spread across his lips "Is that so?" His voice seemed a little bit slurred and he was red in the face.
"Don't," Kylie said immediately, staring Sirius straight in the eye.
"When did you get so outspoken?" he asked, amused.
She narrowed her gaze at him. "I've never changed since you met me, Black. You just don't know me very well."
Sirius chuckled at this answer and Remus really didn't like the way that he was looking at her.
"Well, Ms. Anderson, I'm sure I'll be getting to know you better over the next couple of years, no doubt. Just think, the horror of you having to wake up to my bright and shining face once a month. How ever will you survive?"
Remus frowned at the alcoholic stench coming from Sirius's mouth, but didn't say anything.
Kylie rolled her eyes, taking another sip of hot chocolate to hide the smile turning at the corner of her lips.
The four of them stood there, talking about this and that while James' date got a bit irritated at the lack of attention and Sirius grew increasingly interested with the other girls around the room as he drank more and more from the flask inside of his dress robes. Kylie wrinkled her nose at that, while James pretended that he didn't notice, but exchanged a glance with Remus, clearly stating 'we'll sort him out later.' Before long, the band announced that soon the formal part would be over, and that if anyone wanted to squeeze in one last ball room dance, they should do so shortly.
"Right mate," Sirius said, clapping his hand on James' shoulder and Peter walked over, looking miserable "time to put my plan into action." And without another word, he was off, patting Peter childishly on the head as he went.
"What's wrong?" Kylie asked as Peter took a mug of hot chocolate. He sighed, slouching furthermore.
"I've been dancing with her for nearly three quarters an hour and all she can talk about is Sirius."
James stepped towards Peter and gave him a sympathizing smile. "She was probably just nervous and didn't know what else to talk about."
Peter sighed in exasperation. "But I tried talking about everything. Even things that girls like, like purses and make up, but no, it all led back to him." He frowned once more and Kylie took him by the wrist.
"Peter, did you know that there's a girl who'd like to meet you?" Before he or James or Remus could protest, she was already pulling him towards a different section of the Hall. "She's in my year, a Hufflepuff…" Her voice trailed off as she got further and further away.
"And then there were two," Remus remarked dryly. James gave a sheepish smile as he started to walk towards the dance floor.
"Sorry mate! I wanted to put in one last dance with Ivy before she decides I'm a plank of a date."
And so Remus stood awkwardly, alone, next to the snack table. Things were going quite uneventful for him for the three minute dance that everyone else was participating in until several disgusted gasps were heard.
"Eurgh!"
"Gross, some of it's on my shoe!"
All those who were close to whatever it was were quite ready to get away from it, while everyone else wanted to know what was suddenly so terrible on the dance floor.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know what I ate, I just—"
And then more gasps and groans were heard and Snape could be seen rushing out of the Great Hall, vomit covering his chin and shoes.
Remus didn't like where this was going.
Next was Lily, who was going with Professor McGonagall to the girls bathroom. Remus could smell the sick that covered her entire torso, soiling her perfectly green dress.
Things moved very quickly from that point. Another one of the teachers used a cleaning spell and quickly got the vomit from off the floor, and people started to dance once more.
He saw James at the other end of the Hall, looking around wildly for someone. Remus walked over to him, absently scanning the crowd for Kylie.
"That complete idiot!" James seethed, his eyes looking murderous. "Where is he?"
"I don't-" but he then heard something over the crowd, something that others without his keen senses couldn't. It was a faint, but very distinctive 'stop!' coming from outside the Hall.
Remus walked there quickly, with James following behind. Peter must've been looking for James, because he managed to meet them as they left the Hall. The sight that met Remus' eyes was not a pretty one.
Kylie's back was against the wall, with Sirius blocking her in. Her eyes were wide and full of anger. Sirius had his hands on her shoulders and he was giggling like an idiot.
Before Remus could take two steps to do something to Sirius; whether it was ripping out his intestines from his throat or breaking every bone in his body for daring to upset Kylie, her knee had made contact with his stomach so that he'd doubled over and was on his knees within seconds.
That however, didn't seem to be enough for Remus. He had to do something to Sirius himself; how dare he even think about touching her? Remus rushed towards him, the wolf beginning to take over, but strong arms, which Remus assumed belonged to James, were quick to grab the back of Remus' robes and pull him away before he could mutilate Sirius's face.
Sirius stood up groaning, still clutching his side.
"Do not touch me, Black," Kylie growled, her eyes flashing amber. "I don't know what kind of stupid game you're trying to play but I want no part of it. Leave me and my friends alone. I don't know what makes you rationalize that it's OK to use us, maybe it's the alcohol, but we aren't toys for you to play with, when you please."
Sirius groaned in response, the wind still very much knocked out of him. James relaxed his grip on Remus's robes and walked towards Sirius, still seething.
After a long silence, Sirius seemed to have recovered from the kick. His breathing had steadied and by the sounds of it, so had his mind. He looked between James, Remus, Kylie and Peter. He took a step back from all of them and folded his arms across his chest defensively.
"What the hell was that all about, mate?" James demanded, his teeth and fists clenched, breaking the silence. He voice echoed down the hall, but was drowned out by the loud music from inside of the Great Hall
"What? Nothing!" Sirius exclaimed, holding his hands up in a form of surrender. "I was just having a bit of fun!"
"Fun?" James looked like he would've actually hit Sirius. "Snape just puked all over Lily and now you're here trying to snog Kylie!"
"I didn't actually snog her, so I don't see what the big deal is." Sirius replied defensively. "And as far as Lily goes; you should be thankful mate, at least she'll know better than to come with Snape next time."
"Can you hear yourself?" James asked, half disgusted, half confused. "You've been getting drunk and messing around just for 'a bit of fun'. This isn't like you, what the hell happened?"
Sirius looked down darkly at the floor, his jaw clenched. He looked like he may not answer for a moment, but finally his voice came out in a sort of bitter mumble. "You left."
"What?"
Remus found himself moving closer towards Kylie during the confrontation, as it seemed to calm both the wolves down. The two of them were watching intently as to what Sirius's brilliant explanation would be.
"When Kylie got bitten," he muttered, glaring at the floor, "All of you bloody left."
"So you were lonely?" James asked incredulously, "You were lonely and you made it all about yourself? Remus almost died you complete arse!"
"That's my point!" Sirius shouted back, catching Remus off guard. "My family takes pride in what happens to werewolves who bite other people, how they get tortured and murdered, and that's all I could think about so I'm oh so sorry for trying to take my mind off of things!"
Remus didn't realize he was shaking at those words until he felt a warm hand slip into his in attempt to calm him down.
James grew uncomfortably silent at the words. Finally, he asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because, if you haven't noticed…" Sirius rolled his eyes, his voice rising a little. "I'm not so great a talking about all this feelings crap. This conversation would be the epitome of that because I'm having the bloody time of my life here!"
"Well… parties and girls shouldn't have been your way to blow off steam. Jheeze mate." James put his hands in his pockets awkwardly, the conversation coming to a close.
Sirius turned to Kylie and scratched the back of his head, quietly muttering an apology. She narrowed her eyes and him and took her hand out of Remus'. "Don't let it happen again."
More silence.
"Well, there's still time to get in a couple more songs before the Ball is over. How about we go back in there?" Sirius offered weakly.
The bunch of them agreed and headed back into the Great Hall, but not before James made Sirius promise that this would be the last of his stupid stunts, at least in this area.
And so the night ended with a couple fist-pumping tunes that the students were more than happy to dance to. Remus was still a little frustrated about the situation, however he seemed to loosened up and actually enjoy himself with Kylie; both jumping up and down next to each other in the crowd. She sang along loudly, her eyes closed and a big smile on her face. As he watched her, one simple thought crossed his mind; he'd miss her over the winter holidays.
How'd you like it? Next chapter gets the real plot moving along, which I'm excited for! Hopefully you are too. Lemme know how it is, and how you're liking Kylie as a character. She isn't the main part of this story, but is a part of it. I'm getting her personality out there, hopefully you guys like her.