I drew a dress that I think I would wear if I had the opportunity to go to the Yule Ball, so I'm just going to make this the dress the reader wears. c:

It was finally time to get ready for the Yule Ball. I was so excited, but also very nervous. It was my first time attending the Yule Ball. I honestly hope I am able to shake Tyler off after the first dance. I would like to spend at least some time with Severus, seeing as I've had little time to recently.

I was putting on my dress right now since the ball was in one hour. Once I put on the dress, I looked into the mirror. I hadn't really taken into account how low the opening on the back was. It almost went down to my waist. I left my hair down and curled it a little bit to make it slightly wavy. Then I applied whatever make-up I wanted. I was happy with how I looked in the end.

I made my way into the Common Room where Lucas and Alex were waiting for me.

"Hey (Y/N)! Where's your date?" Alex asked me.

"A Gryffindor. Tyler Sanders to be exact. I didn't really have another choice because no one else really seemed interested." I replied sighing at the thought of having to dance with Tyler again.

"Ouch, that kid is very annoying in my opinion. Good luck." He empathized with me.

"Thanks. Hey, we should probably go down to the Great Hall if we want to get there in time." I told them as I began walking to the Common Room's exit.

They followed until we got to the stair case that lead down to the door of the Great Hall. Once I was all the way down the staircase, I heard the voice of the person I really didn't want to see right now.

"Lookin' good, (Y/N)." I could hear Tyler call to me from the bottom of the steps.

Lucas and Alex gave me looks that showed they were sorry for me. I waved them goodbye as they walked into the venue and I walked over to where Tyler was. The three champions and their partners were lined up at the entrance to the Great Hall, while everyone else waited inside.

All of a sudden music was heard and we were told to enter. People started cheering and clapping once we were announced. I was ready to get this over with, until I saw Severus. He looked upset once he spotted me with Tyler. I gave him a look that I hope looked like a 'I'll talk to you afterwards' look. The waltz began and once again, Tyler was way too close, and his hand was way too low on my waist. It annoyed me greatly, and I could see that Severus was uncomfortable with the sight. After the song finally finished, everyone else walked onto the dance floor and the band began to play some more upbeat songs. People went nuts for the band. I took that as a chance to get away to find Severus, who seemed to have disappeared.

"You know what, I'm going to go use the restroom. I'll see you in a bit." I told Tyler before I began leaving.

"Ok, see you." He said.

As I was leaving, I scanned the Great Hall for Severus, but couldn't see him anywhere. I decided to check the Potions Classroom. Maybe he didn't want to stay for long. As I was crossing the Courtyard to get to the stairs, someone grabbed me.

"Hey, what the hell!? Tyler! What are you doing!?" I yelled and tried to pry my arm from his grip.

"Why did you lie to me? You told me you were going to the restroom, but then I saw you leave in the wrong direction! Let me guess. Snape, isn't it? That's why he was the one you had to retrieve out of the lake huh? Well I'll make sure to take this matter directly to Professor Dumbledore just you wait." Tyler threatened.

"Not so fast Mr. Sanders. You see, if you were to bring knowledge of a silly rumor such as this to Professor Dumbledore, for one thing you would find yourself incorrect in the matter and secondly, he would most definitely be informed of another rumor where, multiple times, your hand slipped.. a little too far down, during your previous waltz lessons. How does sound Mr. Sanders?" I hear the all too familiar voice sound from behind me.

Tyler let go of my wrist and scoffed.

"Whatever." He muttered before leaving to go back inside the venue.

I turned to face Severus and took in his attire for the first time. He looked very nice in his all black tail coat. It looked almost like what he usually wore under his robe, just fancier. Apparently he thought the same of my attire.

"You look very.. nice, in that dress, (Y/N)." Severus said, causing me to blush.

Oh wait. He heard everything Tyler just said. Now I'm even more embarrassed. I try to keep my cool and reply,

"Thanks, Severus. You look nice in your attire as well."

He smiled for only a second before his normal resting face returned. Both of us noticed how the music from the Great Hall changed back to something slower. I looked back at Severus and asked,

"How long were you out here?"

"Since the middle of the first waltz you partook in." He replied, probably trying to forget all about that memory.

"I never wanted to go to the Yule Ball with Tyler, Severus." I felt the need to reassure him.

Severus just chuckled and replied,

" was blatantly obvious. It was mostly his hand placement that bothered me so very much."

"That was my issue with him." I scoffed, but chuckled.

I recognized the somewhat slower song that began to play and listened to it. It was a muggle song called Bed of Roses by Bon Jovi. I was not sure how I should continue the conversation. But before I could get another word out, Severus had started talking.

"Care to dance?"

I was so shocked. I really only thought that Severus would tell me that I should go back inside. But this was very unexpected.

"Sure." I replied with a slight blush on my face.

Severus stepped towards me so that we were less than a foot away from each other and placed his hands on either side of my waist, while looking at my flustered expression. I awkwardly placed my hands on his shoulders and looked at him. We began to sway to the song and looked into each other's eyes. I looked down a little and noticed something in his chest pocket. A dark red rose. Just like the one on the- wait.

"Severus? Is that the same kind of rose as the one I found on my night stand in the Hospital Wing?" I said, poking his chest pocket slightly.

"Yes. What about said rose?" He asked, awaiting my response.

"You told me you didn't put a rose on the night stand." I said, still swaying with him to the song.

After a couple seconds, Severus replied.

"You see.. I recall you asking me whether I had placed a rose on your night stand. Not a dark red one." He explained, giving me a smirk.

"Oh my god.. I should have known that you would be extremely precise with the way I worded my sentence!" I lightly punched him in the chest, causing Severus to chuckle slightly at my frustration.

I decided to rest my head against his chest after a little more swaying to the song occurred. I could feel Severus stiffening a little before loosening up again. As the song continued, he slowly lowered his hand down my back, causing my breath to hitch slightly. Severus must have noticed because he stopped moving his hand. I closed my eyes and listened to his breathing and rhythmic heart beat. It was very calming. I smiled while keeping my eyes closed. We kept swaying until a couple seconds after the song ended. I slowly opened my eyes, looking up towards Severus' face. He seemed content with our current embrace. His mouth was slightly parted as he stared into my eyes with his pitch black ones. I could stare into his eyes for ages. His eyes reminded me of the black lake and gave off a calming aura. I played with the strands of hair on the back of his neck as I looked at all the small details on his face. My actions caused him to visibly shiver a little and stare at me longingly. I blushed at this and smiled a little.

"This is way better than sitting at a table inside the venue." I said with a playful expression on my face.

Severus half scoffed half chuckled and looked upwards towards the sky.

"It's snowing." He said with a slightly softer voice than his usual one.

"I love it when it snows." I replied.

We stood there, still in our embrace from earlier. The snow fell on Severus' raven black hair, making the snow very visible. I chuckled at this, picking at some of the snow particles, which caused some of Severus' hair to fall in front of his face. He rose a brow at me, which only made me laugh more. Severus placed a hand on my cheek, allowing me to press my face against it slightly as I closed my eyes. I didn't notice how close we had gotten to each others faces until I opened my eyes again. I could feel Severus' breath fan my face in short puffs. I decided to move my face forward just enough so that our lips were almost touching. We stayed like that for a couple seconds before Severus moved forward to turn our close distance into a kiss. I draped my arms around his neck as he held me by my waist. It was a breathtaking moment, literally. After a couple seconds, we parted and looked at each other. Severus looked down and smiled. This smile was very different from the rest. It didn't leave his face for quite a while.

"Severus?" I asked.

"Hm?" He looked back up at me, his smile fading back to his normal face slowly.

"Remember the train ride home during your last year?" I asked him.

I could tell from his facial expression that he remembered it, but didn't want to.

"Yes." He replied.

"When you told me to forget about that whole teasing thing James and Sirius we're doing, did you really mean it?" I asked him.

Severus sighed and replied,

"At the time I was not sure whether the feelings I had were still meant for Lily or if they were new feelings I had developed for you. I decided to forget both, thinking my lucky would be the same as it was before with Lily. Now.. I'm realizing that those feelings were new ones that I had for you." Severus explained.

I smiled at him and leant forward to give him a small kiss. He didn't seem to expect that because I noticed a small tint of pink on his face.

"It's getting cold.. Can we go back inside? I promised Lucas I would hang out with him for a bit." I asked him after a couple seconds.

"Alright." He replied and let me go back inside.

I assume he's waiting to go back after a minute or so to make it look like I was actually using the restroom. As I entered the Hall again, the loud music filled my ears as I searched for Lucas and Alex. They were in the middle of the dance floor and it seemed like they were having the time of their lives. I went up to him and scared him a little by grabbing his shoulders from behind. He stumbled into Alex and we began laughing about how easy it was to scare Lucas.

We danced as a group for about an hour until we got a little hungry. I looked around for the food table and spotted it against one of the walls. We walked over and each grabbed some pumpkin juice, as well as a pastry. We all set our cups down on one of the tables and talked while eating our pastries. I expected this event to turn out bad due to Tyler, but he seems to have left early, so it turned out great.

After we finished our food, we finished our drinks. Mine tasted a little off, but I believe it to be the mixture of the pumpkin juice and the pastry. As we made our way back onto the dance floor, I noticed Severus was standing off to the side of the dance floor just looking around. Every now and then someone would greet him or insinuate small talk with him, but he didn't seem to be enjoying that as much as just standing idle. I smiled and turned back to Lucas and Alex and began to feel a bit dizzy. I think I should have waited a bit after the food instead of dancing again. I told Alex and Lucas that I was going to go sit down and then made my way back to our seats.

After sitting for a while I realized I wasn't getting any better and thought about what could've happened if it wasn't the food. That's when it hit me. Someone must have tampered with my drink! That can't be good. I decided to go to the one person who knew the most about mysterious concoctions.

"Professor Snape?" I said, making sure he heard me over the loud music.

"What is it Ms. (Y/L/N)?" Severus replied with his hands folded behind his back.

"I believe someone tampered with my pumpkin juice. I'm feeling dizzier every minute and I noticed my drink tasted a little funny after I had set it down." I explained to him.

Severus sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and said,

" leave food or drinks unattended Ms. (Y/L/N)."

I felt embarrassed for not having paid enough attention to my drink.

"If you'd like to get rid of those side effects you will follow me and help identify what it is that needs curing." Severus said as he began walking out of the venue.

I followed close behind, hoping it wasn't something that would be hard to reverse.