Cherry Lips // s. black

-OCTOBER. 3.-

"What are you-" James asked, looking at their intwined hands.

"She said let go, you dick." Ace snapped, and she swung her hand up, quickly bending James's arm behind his back.

He let out a screech and tried to break out of Ace's grip frantically, but all of that Quidditch practise and the fact she lifted weights [Sass and a stack of books] in the morning was paying off. Ace's teeth were gritted. "Apologise."

"Merlins balls! Let go!"

"Ace, can you-" Remus began, watching his writhing friend.

Lily had backed away. 

Sirius stepped forwards to help his best friend, probably about to grab Ace and pull her off, but Carmilla grabbed the back of his shirt before he could do anything. She might as well commit to the bit. "Not so fast."

"Apologise. Now." Ace said sternly, still holding his arm behind his back. If he tried to move it looked like it would break cleanly. Carmilla had no idea how Ace had learned that move. 

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"

Ace let go of James's hand, and turned to Carmilla, taking back her multicoloured hair products with a smile when Carmilla let go of Sirius's shirt and patted his back. "Did you need anything else?"

"Uh, yeah. Lipstick."

Carmilla recognised a few of the students gathered around the table. Ace's big sister Liz, one of Charlies friends she had seen a few times around the castle, James [luckily for them all, Lily wasn't there], and Severus.

None of the students were really paying attention, save a few of the eager first years who looked happy to be in the meeting with Professor Slughorn while he went over the details of the Halloween party.

So far he had just chatted about the special guests he was bringing along, without even mentioning their names once. It was to be a surprise, apparently.

June said that the Halloween party would be great fun. It would have to be amazing to be worth the hour of Carmilla's life she wasn't getting back.

Though she was excited about getting to dress up, Carmilla would have to borrow something to wear from her friends or find something cheap in the next Hogsmeade visit at the dress shop.

"Are we allowed to bring a plus one?" A student Carmilla didn't recognise but seemed to have some relation to a famous wizard, asked.

Slughorn clapped his hands excitedly, shaking the table a little bit. There were plates of sandwiches and treacle tarts. An after-dinner snack. "Yes! Everyone can invite someone to the ball!"

Which poor soul would Carmilla drag along to torture?

Maybe she was being a bit dramatic about the whole thing, but there was an essay due the next morning she hadn't written yet, and she was certainly not getting anything done sitting there watching the minutes tick by on a gold encased grandfather clock.

"That concludes this week's meeting, I hope to see you all on the thirty first, in ten days!"

Carmilla walked back to the Ravenclaw common room by herself, the older students in her house having stayed back. Probably to ask questions. Or steal the treacle tart. It did look good.

She was tempted to continue wandering around the peaceful grounds by herself longer, maybe even to find wherever all of the amazing food was made, but she really needed to write that essay, and she didn't even have the half-finished map on her.