Beauty and the Beast
Sirius had made up his mind; he was going to ask Carmen before it was too late. After all, Carmen wouldn't misinterpret it, he thought. He would just ask if they could go as friends. Sirius smirked to himself; if he was lucky, he might even kiss her when the gong starts to strike...
James, Peter, and Remus were watching Sirius in horror. Sirius was busy stuffing his face with food as if he were dying of hunger. Why, you may ask. Well, because the noble Sirius normally eat very politely, probably due to his family tradition. Now he was eating like an animal, an occasionally looking at Carmen nervously. When he finished his meal quickly and got up, he noticed with disdain that a greasy-haired head had also risen from the Slytherin table in silence. Just like the bat he is, thought Sirius.
***
Snape was feeling really down. It was Christmas already. He couldn't find a girl to invite to Slughorn's party, and he hated himself for it. He just couldn't ask anyone. He could have probably convinced a Slytherin girl to go with him, but now it was the last day, and everyone had been taken. Well, let's say all the good ones were taken, because girls as crazy as Norman were still waiting for Snape. Snape wanted to go with someone nice, even if she wasn't as good as Lily, but at least she should have a waist where his arms could meet when they hugged. However, the available girls lacked this grace, or were even worse. For example, Thalia, oh Merlin, she was so ugly that Severus felt sorry for her, but he couldn't ask her, could he? He needed a girl he could proudly put his arm around... And just at that moment, he saw an excited Sirius talking to Carmen. The girl was so beautiful, her beauty was enlightening the whole corridor.
***
Sirius patiently waited at the end of the corridor, looking at the great hall for Carmen to finish her meal. Finally, his patience was rewarded as Carmen got up from the table, and she was coming toward him all alone. As she was about to pass by him, Sirius hold her by the arm and led her to a corner. Then he cleared his throat and said,
"Um, Carmen. Can we talk for a moment? I want to say something!" Oh, finally...
"Of course, Sirius," Carmen replied.
"Well, uh, Carmen, you know tonight, Slughorn, uh, I mean, Slughorn, I mean he is Slytherin, but he's very lovely toward us, innit?" Damn it!
"Yeah. Yes, that's right," Carmen didn't know what to say. Why had Black pulled her aside to talk about Slughorn? Or...
Deep sadness welled up within her. She had hoped until the last day that Snape would talk to her, thinking that if things were still tense between him and Lily, she'd be there, and she'd go everywhere with him. But Snape must have found someone else, or he wouldn't be coming to the ball. If that was the case, Carmen could go with Sirius – she didn't dislike him, after all. Still, she wished that Sirius wasn't telling her this now. Carmen had told to herself that she would wait for Snape until the very last moment. It was a slim hope, but there was always hope, wasn't there?
"Actually, I was going to say that, you know, today, and don't get me wrong..." Sirius's speech abruptly came to an end when Snape approached them. Sirius turned bright red, both from anger and embarrassment. "What's the problem now, Snivellus? We're talking here."
"Nothing," Snape replied coldly. Should he or should he not? But he didn't have time to think. It was obvious that Black was trying to invite the girl to the ball, which meant Carmen was still available. If what Lily had hinted at in their third year was still valid, Carmen wasn't indifferent to him. Damn it, Snape hadn't given that topic much thought later on. It had just broken his heart that the girl he loved, the one he had thought about confessing his feelings to, was trying to set him up with someone else was heart-wrenching indeed. He hadn't even bothered to investigate Carmen. But now he fervently wished that she would choose him over Black.
In fact, Carmen's decision to accept or decline his invitation wasn't that important to him, but he didn't want to go to the ball empty-handed, and the idea of being humiliated in front of Black didn't appeal to him. He took a deep breath and turned to Sirius, who had raised one eyebrow in anger. But before Snape could say something, Sirius spoke up, already maddened by his brief response and the following silence and calmness.
"If there is nothing, back off, Sniv! I was going to ask Carmen something!" Sirius almost shouted, just as he was about to say it. Where had this vile Snivellus come from? The wretch!
"Well, Black, you seem to have a very long conversation," Snape replied.
"Yes, indeed, Snape, so fuck off now!"
"Don't you know what means to be patient, Black? I'm just going to tell Cypress something; it won't take me two seconds." Carmen turned to look at him. Snape had deliberately cornered the girl. He looked into Cypress's shining eyes and, satisfied, quickly asked his question.
"Have you made any promises to anyone for the evening ball, Cypress?"
"No," Carmen said, forgetting about Sirius immediately. Sirius behind her opened his mouth in protest, but Snape acted before him.
"So, there's no problem for you to come with me, then?" He wanted to close his eyes while awaiting her answer, just in case she refused.
"No, of course not. Why would there be a problem?" Carmen replied, her cheeks dimpling. "I haven't made any promises to anyone. Are you going to escort me?" She was grateful for Snape's timing; if he had been five seconds late, it might have been too late.
"I'll pick you up at Gryffindor entrance," Severus said. At least there was a positive development during the day. He was about to turn and leave when he turned back, adding sweetly, "Carmen." He grinned when he turned to leave, Black was a delicious purple. Oh sweet little victories!
***
Sirius could swear his heart had stopped; his blood ran cold, he was almost shaking out of shock. What had just happened couldn't be real, could it? Snivellus had dared to propose to his girl right in front of him, and Carmen, oh Carmen, had accepted his stupid offer without a second thought. She said she hadn't promised anyone. She hadn't understood what Sirius was about to ask her, had she?
Carmen didn't know how to handle the reality behind her. Sirius now was going to ask her that why did she accept Snape? Didn't she realize Sirius was about to propose? To not understand his purpose, you had to be a complete idiot. However, sometimes people had to play dumb. Carmen sighed and turned around. She looked at Sirius, whose face was a mix of anger and sadness. She sighed again and with a somewhat genuine smile:
"Oh, Sirius? You were about to tell me something? Severus interrupted; I'm sorry..." She said, emphasizing the word Severus. She didn't even know what she was trying to do. Despite burning with longing since the day she arrived this school, she hadn't been able to talk to Snape, not a single word. When had Snape become just Severus? Would Black fall for these tricks? She made one last desperate move. "I wasn't expecting anyone to propose. It's surprising, innit? I mean, no one had invited me, so I thought, why should I go alone this evening... That's why..." Was she sinking deeper the more she talked? The guy in front of her had turned an alarming shade of purple. And a moment later, he spoke.
"I wasn't going to tell you anything, Cypress. Forget it" And with a cold burning anger, he turned around and collided with Li, a Hufflepuff girl who was not very beautiful but cute. The girl blushed deep red when she saw Sirius and stammered something like an apology. But Sirius, swiftly pulled the girl to him and kissed her.
Carmen stood there with her mouth agape, staring at the scene in front of her. Had she misunderstood something, or had she seen it wrong? Wasn't Black about to propose to her just now? So why was he kissing the Chinese girl? A rapid wave of jealousy surged within her, then died down. It was clear that it was something done out of anger when Carmen accepted Severus' proposal. Or maybe Black had feelings for the Chinese girl who she has no idea what her name is; otherwise, why would he be kissing her? If he liked her, he would have proposed to her first, wouldn't he? He wouldn't ask Carmen. But did he ask Carmen? No, he didn't. Maybe Carmen was just imagining things; Black didn't have any feelings for her. And he wasn't going to invite her to the ball. But no, if he wasn't going to invite her, he wouldn't be mad at her for accepting Snape's proposal, would he? After all, Carmen had suddenly become Cypress. Of course, there was the possibility that he was acting cold all of sudden because he hated Snape, but Carmen doubted that. Anyway why does she even care? In the end, what she had been waiting for years had finally happened: Snape had invited her to the ball! Oh, this evening, she was going to the ball with Severus Snape, the coolest guy in school (some may argue about that, but Carmen does not care. She thinks what she wants. thank you very much!) Maybe she would dance in his arms! Perhaps, they'd even kiss! Hooray!
***
"NO! It can't be!" James said to the other two, "oony, Wormtail, wait for me here, I'm coming!" And he sprinted toward Sirius. Sirius was still in the middle of the hall kissing the girl, and James leaned in toward his ear.
"Hey, buddy! You're kissing the wrong girl! Carmen is over there, you numbskull!" Sirius broke away from the girl with a laugh, his spirits lifted.
"Thanks for the enlightenment, my friend," he said, patting James on the back. "Look, this is Li." Li blushed furiously and still couldn't believe her eyes as she looked at Sirius.
"Before you arrived, buddy, I was thinking of asking Li out," Sirius said. "What do you say, Li? Will you go out with me? Besides, there's a party tonight. We can go together."
Li was now absolutely sure this wasn't a dream. But how could she respond now? She couldn't even find her voice!
James looked at Sirius with a pure shock on his face, while Sirius had to restrain himself from bursting into laughter at James's reaction. Why was he suddenly in such high spirits? The girl he loved was going to the party with that scumbag! James looked at Sirius with a questioning expression, and Sirius shot him one of those 'I'll explain later' looks. James quickly understood, and they both returned to their two friends waiting in the hall.
***
"Are you going to tell this properly now? Or we just have to guess it?" Remus finally couldn't take it anymore. For the past ten minutes, Sirius had been mumbling something angrily, but his words were completely incomprehensible.
"I called Carmen over. We were talking. I mentioned Slughorn and the ball to her. The girl quickly understood what I was going to ask her, she's not stupid..."
"So, did she say no?" Peter asked in disbelief.
"No," Some angry sparkles broke out from the tip of his wand he was tightly holding. "Even worse, she just ignored it. Right when I was about to tell her, that idiot showed up and asked her to go ball with him, and Carmen immediately said yes without a second thought."
James raised his eyebrows in astonishment,
"What?! So they invited your girl to the ball, and it happened right in front of you?"
"Yes, and Carmen accepted. She even said, 'Sure, no one had invited me anyway!' What a bitch! I wish she had rejected me, or spat in my face or something. I would've been less hurt! She ignored me completely!"
"Who is that jerk? Let's put him in his place!" James said, jumping on his feet. Remus furrowed his brow but continued to look at his book without looking up.
"Who do you think? Snivellus! How could she accept the offer of that jerk? And he had left with this triumphant face, you should have seen it..."
"What?" They all exclaimed at once. Peter's jaw dropped. "Our Snivellus?"
"How many Snivelluses are there around here? I don't know what Carmen's planning to do with him at the ball. Probably trying to prove her beauty next to that freak. You know, she's becoming even more of a beauty next to him... I mean are they even fitting? They're like chalk and cheese..."
"Which one is chalk and which one is cheese?" Remus said with a mischievous smile, as he turned to a new page in his book.
"Of course," Peter chimed in stupidly. But James had jumped up, walking up and front inside the room, looked like was doing some sort of angry dance.
"Who the fuck this guy thinks he is? Aren't there any other girls in school? Why does he not know his place, not once? Either he's hitting on your girl or mine! Want to hear what probably happened? He's slipped love potion to Carmen's drink, or used Imperius on her. In fact, it's definitely Imperius, it suits Snivellus better!"
"She didn't seem like she was under the Imperius curse at all!" Sirius said, but was deep in thought, probably considering what James just had said.
"In that case, our boy must have gone all romantic and brewed a love potion. Or else, he wouldn't have dared to ask Carmen, right? Carmen probably wouldn't have accepted his offer anyway..."
"What's going on here?"
"Oh, Evans!" James said, running his hand through his hair as if he couldn't help himself. "We were talking about Carmen..."
"Oh, really? Okay, so what's with all the anger? Did she do something?"
"Yes, the biggest mistake of her life!" Peter said, almost shouting. "She accepted to go to ball with Snivellus!"
"Severus asked her out?" Lily cried out, her hand covering her mouth. She looked utterly horrified.
"Severus?!" James asked, did not like her Lily used his name on first name basis.
"Not exactly!" Sirius said. "He just invited her to the ball tonight. But Carmen accepted. We're thinking, maybe it's a love potion or something..."
"Don't meddle with this!" Lily said coldly. She couldn't believe Snape would be capable of that. It was too vile. "Severus is not someone interested in love potions, I assure you."
"If that's the case, then he must have used Imperius!" Peter triumphantly suggested.
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, darling, what do you mean why?" James said airily. "Why else would a beautiful girl like Carmen accept someone like him? Right?"
Lily Evans raised an eyebrow; James Potter was back to his arrogant ways.
"As always, you're overly arrogant, Potter! Be careful not to go to the ball alone tonight!"
"But Evans, what does arrogance have to do with it? I'm being realistic..."
"Has it never occurred to any of you thickheads that Carmen might like Snape?" Seeing Sirius's mouth agape in protest, she delivered the final blow mercilessly. "In case it hasn't, be informed that Carmen has been asking me to find out if Snape likes her since she came to school. She really likes him. And Snape is aware of that. Just so you know. Now, please don't stir things up!"
All four of them were dumbfounded by this fresh piece of information. James was the first to recover:
"Do you think this is a good thing, Evans? I believe you've seen what Snivellus is like up close."
"I didn't say it was a good thing. But it's a possibility. Besides, Snape isn't a pushover; he's quite intelligent, Potter. He is going to cost you terribly one day..."
"And that day, you'll be very happy!"
"No, but don't keep picking on him... He's a very dangerous person, James, ambitious, full of hatred, he might actually do you lasting harm, maybe even kill you. You're unnecessarily earning his hatred. Don't underestimate Severus Snape!"
With that, she turned and left.