𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
011. borrowed for a dance

          "𝗥𝗘𝗚𝗨𝗟𝗨𝗦!" 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗢𝗥𝗦 of the common room after finishing her lessons the next day. "Oh, thank Merlin, you're here!"

Regulus was sitting by the fireplace with Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch. "Yeah?" He raised a brow, sending a smile her way.

Scarlet took a seat on the opposite couch. "You're going to Slughorn's party tonight, aren't you?"

Regulus narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're gonna ask... I already asked Pandora to be my date."

"I hate you, Regulus Black!" Scarlet groaned, not exactly meaning her words. "How could you do this to me?"

"I can't see the future, I didn't know you'd be invited." He defended himself, throwing his arms up. "You're a little lame."

Scarlet glared at him in response, and he gulped lightly.

"Just kidding." He rolled his eyes. "Besides, you're like my sister, it'd be odd."

"Did you say you were invited to Slug Club?" An aggravating voice said from behind. Scarlet shut her eyes in annoyance.

"Hm," she hummed. "Hello, Silas." She faked a smile and Regulus smirked at the two of them.

"You could take me as your date!" He grinned brightly.

"The thing is..." Scarlet trained off. "You can only take invited people."

"Not really," Evan spoke in a quiet voice, earning the deadliest stare from Scarlet. She made a mental note to slap him later on.

"Splendid!" Silas perked up. "Please, Scarlet, we'll have fun."

Scarlet faked another smile. "Of course, it's gonna be great." With her words, he walked out of the common room. "Fucking fantastic."

She turned to see Regulus still laughing at the exchange and smacked her hand at the back of his head, making him frown.

      SCARLET WORE A DARK-GREEN SHADED, ALMOST BLACK DRESS to Slughorn's party. She regretted it though, the collar covered her neck and she felt as though someone was strangling her to death.

"I'm sure you all know Miss Bridget," Professor Slughorn introduced. "One of the best in our year, extraordinary student... and a respectable family, the Bridgets are."

Scarlet turned to see Lily taking a stand next to her, she felt relieved at the familiar face of energy.

"Oh, and Miss Evans... lovely student, I would say." Slughorn praised. "I'm glad you two joined us."

A sound of snort sounded and the two girls snapped their heads to their right, watching Silas Abrams snickering.

"What's the matter with you?"

He coughed it off, the look of grimace still on his face. "No, nothing."

Scarlet rolled her eyes and then the door snapped open too, entering James Potter and Sirius Black frantically.

"Professor Slughorn!" James yelled excitedly.

Lily rolled her eyes at the sight. "How can one lack manners so vigorously?"

"I bet he only showed up for you, Evans," Scarlet smirked, and the redhead's cheeks burned pink.

"How nice of you to join us," Slughorn said, not amused at all. "Mr Black, Mr Potter, welcome!"

Whilst a piece of faded music played in the background, Lily sat beside Scarlet and the two chattered about class and other gossip, things about their own houses.

"Look at him stuffing his face with that pudding." Lily scoffed and the blonde followed her eye line.

"Potter? You seem to be bringing him up in every conversation." She smirks.

"Oh Merlin, no, no, he's coming over, hide me." Lily quickly turned away, hiding her face behind Scarlet's frame.

"Lilypad! You look absolutely beautiful..." James gaped.

"You need something, Potter?" Lily asked, pursing her lips.

"You know what? I'm gonna go find my date." Scarlet smiled lightly between the two, despite Lily's warning gaze, she walked off and left the two of them alone with a victorious grin on her face.

"Hey, Scarlet!" Silas called for her in the midst of some students. "Wanna dance?"

"Hm, ask me more politely." She was not joking.

"May I have this dance, Scarlet?"

Scarlet squinted her eyes at the hand he held out and looked back into his genuine eyes. Her thoughts from last night were back. How the hell did Sirius Black manage to convince her to dance with an imperative sentence and Silas' request didn't phase her?

She didn't think much about it and took his hand which caused the smile on his face to widen.

Silas led her to the dance floor, a gentle hand on her waist as she clasped her hands around his neck.

"You're not talking much, has something happened?"

"I'm just counting my steps." She pursed her lips.

"Really?" He chuckled under his breath, pulling her closer which caused her to raise a brow. "I figured you'd be used to it by now, I heard the number of parties the Bridgets throw."

"Not really, you know, with my father dropping dead and... other traumatic events."

What a way to make things awkward, Scarlet!

"Excuse me, Blondie, may I steal you for a minute? I need a word," A sudden, familiar voice that belonged to Sirius confidently slides in, a hand on Scarlet's arm to widen the distance between her and her date.

"Sure," The boy said, an ignorant grin on his face as his eyes lingered between the two. He slightly pushed Scarlet's waist towards the Black.

Sirius remained unamused. "I didn't ask you."

Silas looked confused. "Alright, calm down, man." He let out a laugh. "Normally, people ask the woman's date whether they mind or not."

Sirius mocked his laugh, "Well, the woman in question is more capable than any of us to make a decision," He glared. "Move, now." Silas looked between the two, grimacing. With a loud scoff, he moved apart. To be fair, Scarlet was satisfied. In fact, her ego climbed up the ladder a little.

"Well, that was—woah!" She gasped, feeling a hand around her own back which dragged her right into Sirius' chest. "I was just about to call you a gentleman."

"I need to ask you for a favour." He went straight to the point, how unusual of him, "Please, for the love of Godric, ask your best friend Snivellus to stay out of our business."

"Severus is not my best friend, and what has he done now?" Scarlet clarified, later asked. "Excuse me, what have you done to provoke him this time?"

"Why do you automatically assume—" Sirius was about to say, only for him to be cut off by the expression on the girl's face—raised brows, unimpressed. "Look, this is an urgent matter, and he listens to you."

Scarlet narrowed her eyes and scoffed. "I'll try remembering it."

"Also, I'm anything but a gentleman, Blondie, you know that."

"What was I thinking?" She rhetorically questioned, sarcastically speaking. "Why'd you come here? I thought you never leave your other pets alone for a second."

"Oh, you know... James wanted to see Lily, he prepared a whole speech... mentioning how beautiful she is." Sirius shrugged, "Made me pretend to be Lily."

"No way!" Scarlet laughed. "You've got to invite me the next time."

"You bet I will," he grinned. "Why were you with that Abrams guy?"

"Your brother was taken."

Sirius gagged in response, playfully. "Never talk about my brother like that."

Scarlet grinned at his expression. "This year's almost over, I thought I'd give Silas a chance."

"What do you think?" Sirius' voice dropped which caused her eyes to snap to his quicker than ever, the smile on her face dropping. "What'd you think about Abrams?"

Scarlet opened her mouth to reply when he pulled her a little closer, causing her to shut her lips. It took her a few seconds to think about her response. "He's... good."

Sirius thought he might as well be losing his mind. The moment the two of them fell quiet, and he looked into her forest eyes, he had forgotten they were in the middle of a party consisting of fifty people.

"Just how good, exactly?" He asked, pursing his lips. "Research purposes."

"Sirius Orion Black," she playfully spoke. "I didn't think you care much."

"YOUR MIDDLE NAME IS ORION?!" A loud shriek sounded and the two dancing individuals jolted apart, Scarlet swore James' booming voice shook the entire table nearby. "Orion? It sounds like onion!"

"Prongs." Sirius looked frustrated, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Scarlet had a shit-eating grin on her face as she looked between the two of them.

"Sirius Onion Black." James laughed loudly, throwing his head back in the process.

"What's with your guys' stupid nicknames, Prongs... Padfoot."

"Hey! They're very meaningful, Blondie." James defended with a mocking tone at the ending word.

"Blondie is a very meaningful nickname." Sirius pointed a finger at his best friend.

"Very," Scarlet made her sarcastic remark. "It's his favourite dessert."

"You nicknamed her after your favourite dessert?" James' grin stretched beyond a point of tolerance causing Sirius to send him a warning gaze.

The blonde girl looked between the two staring at each other intensely. "Merlin, get a room, you two." She scoffed, leaving the two of them alone before they could come up with rambles of protests.

"Look what you did!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You're not taking a Slytherin to bed, Padfoot," James said with his warning gaze.

"I was not gonna."

"Sure, you weren't." The Potter rolled his eyes and led Sirius away. "In case you forgot in the midst of flirting, we have a business to attend."

Scarlet made her way to Regulus who was torturing a piece of cake with his fork. "Reg, wanna go get some fresh air?" She breathed rapidly, momentarily thinking about the drama Sirius pulled just before James interrupted them (which was appreciated).

"Why are you sweating?" He asked, dropping his fork and standing up to leave the party.

"It's your brother."

Regulus grimaced. "Ew."

"No— Reg, don't ever insinuate such a thing." She warned as the two of them started to make their way out of the school, allowing the fresh air. The two of them came to a stop near the forest, "So... Pandora, she's quite a pretty girl."

Regulus snapped his gaze towards her. "She is."

Scarlet raised a brow.

"No," Regulus laughed. "It's not like that, I'm not into blondes... besides if my mother dearest found out I took a Ravenclaw to this party," Regulus chuckled under his breath. "She'd have my head on a platter."

"Mrs Black shouts a lot," Scarlet said, not meaning to offend. "I can hear her yelling all the way from my room."

Suddenly, the two of them heard a rustling in the bushes near them. "Did you hear that?"

"Hm," she hummed in confirmation, stepping back in worry. All of a sudden, a large black dog jumped out of the bushes, causing a cry of yelp leaving both of their mouths. The dog practically jumped on Scarlet, sending her down to the ground as it contained to hit her with his paws.

"Reg, get this thing off of me!" She shrieked, more frightened about the fact that her hair was now filled with a bunch of twigs. As she averted her gaze, she saw Regulus running off back into Hogwarts. The bastard ran away! "Get. Lost. Filthy. Little. Dog!" She flapped around her arms as she spoke with gritted teeth. The dog continued to lick her face.

That was when the two other idiots came rushing in, James and Peter with a worried expression as the Potter ushered the black dog away. Peter winced, prepared to endure the hell the Bridget would definitely rain on them.

James stood back, awkwardly scratching his neck. His lips threatened to curl into a smirk at the fuming girl, seeing her in such a state for the first time. His friend nudged him with his elbow, warning him to maintain composure.

"I will be calling my mother right now and have you two hexed!" She yelled and James swore he saw devil horns appear on her head.

"It's just an innocent dog—" He tried to justify.

"I'll shove that innocent dog so far up your—" She suddenly felt Peter standing behind her and attempting to remove the pieces of dried leaves and twigs out of her messy hair, a frightened look on his face. "Don't touch me." She sternly said, voice raspy and Peter immediately backed off, almost tripping over a tree bark at her intimidatingly low tone.

"This really isn't safe, you should go back in." James nervously said. Scarlet was confused by his mannerism.

"What are you two up to?" She asked.

"Bridget... just go back in." James pleaded, sharing a look of worry with Peter.

Scarlet did not question it further, if there was something more dangerous than that stupid black dog in the bushes, she was not going to risk it and let her curiosity get the better of her.

CARA SPEAKS

someone force me to finally
go into the actual plot
instead of build-up.