The ceiling squeaked and chirped with the sounds of bats, the enchanted sky looked gloomy with its clouds flickering every once in awhile with false lightning. Jack-o'-lanterns littered the giant oak tables and the ghosts of the castle made a festive point to jump out and startle students often.
Elise and Willow were onto their dessert of pumpkin pie on the night of Halloween. They were already dressed in their costumes for the party that would start fairly soon. Willow wore a pirate costume, with corset, hat, sword, and all.
"You look so good, Will," Elise complimented, touching the feather on the pirate hat. "Maybe Freya will be there and see how cute you are," she winked.
Willow flushed and took a quick, nervous glance over to the pretty blonde at the Slytherin table. "Yeah, like she'd show up to a party with Gryffindors," she jeered sarcastically.
"Probably a good thing, I heard there will be firewhisky," Elise replied.
"Oh Merlin, right. Last thing I need is to make a fool of myself in front of her," Willow laughed.
"Speaking of which, does my costume look stupid?" Elise asked, looking down at her simple little black dress with a big fluffy gray and black striped tail pinned to the back. A pair of rounded, fluffy black ears were atop her head and she did her classic thick, messy eyeliner with a bit of it on her nose. A pair of sweater-material gray thigh high socks and heeled black boots on, as well.
"Are you kidding?" Willow gave her a playful nudge and they both stood, about to make their way out of the Great Hall and down to where the party was. "A raccoon? It's perfect for you, Bandit." She laughed, mimicking the nickname the Marauders gave her.
In the Gryffindor common room, people had already begun piling in for the party. Elise sat on the couch, facing Sirius. He wore some dog ears on his head, and she was using her eyeliner to color in a little black nose for him to match.
James stood a few feet away, sipping from a cup. He'd literally just tied two sticks he'd found outside onto his head to look like stag antlers. Peter lingered nervously in a corner, gulping down his drink to give himself liquid courage, probably. He had on mouse ears and a long piece of rope was pinned to his lower back, dangling down to his ankles as a sad excuse for a rat tail.
The boys had apparently tried, to no avail, to get Remus to dress up as a wolf. Elise's brother simply sat in a chair in his normal clothes, sipping on butterbeer and watching his sister do the finishing touches to Sirius' dog nose.
"Alright, you're all done," she said proudly, tucking her eyeliner in her boot.
"Am I adorable?" Sirius asked, going to touch his nose but she smacked his hand away from it.
"Yes, very cute, now don't touch it and mess it up!"
Elise laughed, ruffling his hair, and got up to go hangout with Evelyn and Willow on the other side of the room. She thought she may have seen his cheeks turn a little red, but chose to ignore it.
Evelyn, like Remus, stood with a simple butterbeer in hand. She was dressed in a renaissance-like dress with fake, elongated elf ears. Elise complimented the outfit and accepted a cup of firewhisky from Willow.
After a little while, Lily surprised everyone by dragging Snape into the common room to join the party. He looked extremely uncomfortable, and stuck by her side the entire time, dressed in his normal black clothing. Lily dressed as Poison Ivy, and gave harsh glares to anyone who questioned Snape's presence there.
Elise gave a big smile and wave to Lily and Snape, which Lily returned, but the Slytherin just gave a blank nod in her direction.
An hour and a half into the party, and the common room was absolutely bustling with students, many of which were pretty intoxicated by now. Elise felt tipsy, but had been taking it slow with drinks. Willow was absolutely hammered, dancing around with a sober and embarrassed - but amused - Evelyn.
Elise now stood around the fireplace with James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius. They all laughed and joked about the drunken teens in the room, even though Sirius and Peter had also been quite inebriated.
Sirius slung his arm around Elise's shoulders, leaning a bit more of his weight onto her than he'd probably intended, causing her to stumble a little. She laughed and wrapped an arm around his torso to help steady him.
He turned to her with a strange look suddenly, his brown eyes swimming with a certain longing and affection. She stared back up at him, blinking, as he pushed her hair out of her face. His large, warm hand lingered on her cheek as he leaned down.
Elise was entirely frozen in shock as Sirius pressed his lips onto hers firmly. He kissed her just briefly, before James and Remus quickly pulled him away.
"What the bloody hell are you doing to my sister?!" Remus asked incredulously, mouth gaping in shock.
"Oh come on, Moony, don't act like you didn't know Sirius likes her!"
"I didn't, actually."
The boys bickered back and forth, with Sirius drunkenly leaning on James. Elise took this time to back away from the boys and rush out of the common room.
Her eyes burned with tears as she went to the corridor, walking down it a ways before plopping herself on the floor, resting her back against the cold stone wall.
What the hell just happened? She thought, bringing her knees to her chest and feeling her cheeks become wet. She crossed her arms atop her knees and buried her face in them.
Footsteps approached a few moments later and someone sat down beside her.
"Leave me alone, please, I - " Elise began, lifting her head to look at the person. But she stopped when she realized it was Snape.
He sat with about a foot of space between them, looking at her with those deep dark eyes.
"Snape?" She choked, wiping away tears from her face. "What are you doing?"
"I didn't see anyone else coming to check on you, so..." Snape muttered quietly, looking at the wall across from them.
Elise sighed and shook her head, just looking at the boy beside her. "So did you see...?"
He glanced back at her briefly and nodded, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I'm confused, I thought you and Black had a... Thing."
"No," she said softly, remembering when she and Snape had argued in the hall awhile back and he referred to Sirius as her 'boyfriend.'
Elise continued, "He's just a friend... And I feel horrible, knowing now that he has feelings for me and I just... Don't feel that way." Her voice cracked and she felt more tears fall down her face. Her heart ached.
"You two are close, though, right?"
She nodded, sniffling.
"Then he will understand. Otherwise, his feelings aren't genuine."
Snape's voice was soft and gentle, much different than his usual short and cold tone. He didn't look at her, just down at his hands or at the wall, but she could tell he was truly trying to comfort her.
A tiny smile pulled her lips as she looked at him. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."
"Elise?!" Sirius' voice boomed through the hall and she heard his footsteps quickly approach.
He jogged over towards her, but halted as soon as he realized Snape was sitting with her. His face dropped and brows knitted together, his hand reaching for his wand but fumbling a little, clearly still tipsy.
"Snivellus, what the hell are you doing near her?" Sirius growled, and the Slytherin stood, narrowing his eyes.
"I was helping her, after you stepped out of line and made her uncomfortable," Snape's voice dripped with venom, his own wand in his hand, mirroring Sirius.
"That's none of your bloody business!" Sirius shouted, stepping towards him. They stood about a half foot away from each other now. Snape was a few inches taller, but Sirius seemed to subconsciously flex his more muscular frame.
Elise quickly stood and placed herself between the two, placing a hand on Sirius' chest.
"Stop! Please," she stared pleadingly up at Sirius. He looked down and saw the black tear trails on her cheeks, his figure slumping slightly and his eyes softening.
James and Lily suddenly ran over in that moment. James grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him a few feet away, asking what was going on.
Lily went to Snape and she questioned him, but he just shook his head and walked off. She trailed behind him, giving the others a little wave goodbye and sad smile before disappearing around a corner.
Elise felt so emotionally exhausted. She told James and Sirius she was going to go to bed, and to let Evelyn and Willow know.
Sirius tried to speak, but Elise had already turned her back to them and headed to her dorms at a quick pace.