-Beastie- James Potter

-16-

- - -

Merlin, when the bloody hell did she ever feel like this?

Never, right?

When she had lost her first kiss, it was nothing special. She had never had a boyfriend really. Maybe a childhood crush that she would force to hold her hand at the park her and Sirius would escape too.

Sirius was probably the closeness thing to a boyfriend she had ever had, come to think of it. They held hands when they walked, kiss each other on the cheek, casually flirting with each other and when he got excited, the occasional kiss.

But Karmen and Sirius were strictly platonic since birth.

Maybe just to spite their parents.

So, this...kind of thing made her nervous.

"Are you sure? We don't have to do this now, if you don't want to, of course.." Karmen trailed off, nervous about what they were about to do.

It had been a few weeks since they got together, really ever since Head Girl and Boy night rounds.

"Hey..hey," The tall male cupped her cheek as he tried to calm her down. "It's gonna be okay. We just walk in holding hands, kiss in front of everyone, then go our separate ways and see what our friends are saying. Okay?"

She took a deep breath as she stared into his eyes and nodded after she had calmed down. Why was she so nervous? Well, she's about to do this in front of all her judge-y friends but that's just one factor.

"Okay. Let's do this."

***

"Wonder what's taking her so long." Alice said before she bit into a buttered croissant. The two other Reines also had no idea where Karmen was. They hadn't seen her this morning, which was surprising in of itself, but she left a note saying she would be there for food later. She still hadn't showed up yet.

"Yeah, I wonder where she is." Sirius said from between Remus and Peter, eating his breakfast as he wasn't planning on wait for Karmen to get there to eat. Lily was more worried then wondering, knowing that the messy haired girl had a tendency to wander through the Forbidden Forest.

The redhead was looking towards the large open doors to the Great Hall when someone walking in caught her eye. It was Karmen.

Holding hands with someone.

A male.

"Guys, I found her.." She trailed off, the other six turned there heads to see what she was seeing. Karmen was standing in the doorway of the Great Hall with Evan Rosier.

The Slytherin Qudditch Captain.

James' face dropped when he saw them.

A Slytherin, his rival was dating the love of his life. The tall Slytherin leaned down slightly for her height and kissed her on the lips in front of the whole school.

Karmen smiled at her boyfriend as he said goodbye to her before he walked over to his house table.

She stood there for a minute before walking over to the rest of her friends, most of them looking at her glob-smacked while James and Sirius looked sick.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Karmen asked, much more smiley than usual, like ever, they had never seen her like this before and to be honest, it was almost unsettling. She sat at the end of the three girls, sitting next to Lily while Remus was sitting across from her.

"I'm sorry, are we just going to graze over the fact that you just walked into the Great Hall, in front of hundreds of kids with a boy, not to mention a Slytherin boy, and then kissed him in front of everyone?" Marlene said, the hastiness of her speech making her sound almost panicked. She wasn't really panic, more looking at James' reaction, and in turn Sirius' reaction.

Karmen shrugged, trying to play it off, at least till she grabbed her breakfast that mostly consisted of any type of meat and toast.

"Well, how long have you been going out?" Alice said as Lily nodded with her, wanting to break the overwhelming silence but was also very curious and confused about this relationship.

"Only a few weeks." The messy haired girl said as she took a bite of bacon, reveling in the juicy taste.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lily asked.

She looked at the girls sitting with a raised brow and an almost amused smile. "Seriously? You guys are the most judgmental people with it comes to Slytherin. Of course I didn't tell you guys right away, probably would have scared him off right away if I had." The last part was slightly muttered to herself as she finished her bacon and started on her sausages.

James hadn't moved his body or face at all, his jaw was clenched so much that his friends could see his teeth starting to grind unnoticed. The pain he felt was like nothing he had never felt before. He was hating Sirius for making him stop and be friends with her, he was hating himself for letting her go.

Pushing her straight into the arms of a Slytherin.

He stood up without a word and started to walk out of the Great Hall, ignoring his friends pleas to stay. He didn't know what to do with himself now that Evan Rosier had her, the girl he wanted to have kids with, grow old with, marry.

She was gone.