The Beast Within

The Ball

We walked up to the great staircase. My heart was racing. We reached the level of the great hall and turned off. We approached the colossal doors. Brendon and Remus were standing outside, smartly dressed in their tuxedos. Remus had neatened his usually messy hair and changed it to a dark brown. Even Brendon had made an effort too look nice. We looked at each other, took a deep breath and walked towards them. Remus saw us and tapped Brendon on the shoulder. He grinned. I smiled at him. He was beginning to turn red again. He and Brendon stepped forward and took our hands.
"Phoenix... Y-y-you look beautiful." He stuttered. I smiled, adjusting his bow tie.
"You look amazing yourself." I replied, gazing into his eyes.
"Shall we join the ball?" He said in a posh voice, grinning.
"Yes, I think we shall." I replied, laughing and kissing him on the cheek. He wrapped his arm around mine and pushed the door open.

It was beautiful. There were ice sculptures of all sorts. Dolphins, hippogriffs, birds and dragons. Round tables ran along most of the side of the hall, different desserts scattered across them. The whole hall seemed to be a bright blue colour. The orchestra was being set up. We were slightly early and not many people were there yet. We ordered drinks and sat down waiting for the ball to start. Eventually the orchestra was ready and everyone had entered the hall. The music began to play.
"May I?" Remus asked, holding out his hand.
"You may." I smiled, taking his hand. We walked to the dance floor. We began to dance. He was nervous, which was understandable as we were the only people dancing. I moved his hand down to my waist and held the other. Although at first he was a bit clumsy, he began to understand. We stepped in time to the music. It was as though nothing but me Remus and the music existed. He lifted me into the air, spinning around before putting me back down, grinning. I saw a flash and turned to see Sam had taken a photo. I turned red, embarrassed but kept dancing. Eventually, Brendon and Ava joined in along with Katie, who had dragged Sam with her, and soon, most people were dancing.

After a few more songs, the music slowed down into a slow song. A lot of people left to get food and drinks but Remus and I stayed. We held each other close, slowly and silently swaying to the music. He ran his hand through my hair. I rested my head on his shoulder, hugging him. We continued to sway. I looked outside at the night sky. I could just see it was a full through the clouds. I smiled, glad I hadn't transformed this month. Remus looked at me, smiling warmly. I smiled back. We nuzzled each other.
"You wanna get some food?" Remus asked.
"Okay." I said, kissing him. We left the dance floor to get some food. I took a sausage roll, some crisps, a pumpkin pastie and a slice of chocolate cake. 

I ate the food, savouring every crumb before taking my heels off and dragging Remus back onto the dance floor when I heard an old muggle song I used to listen to. It was a fast paced song and not the type you would do the slow dance we did previously to. Ava dragged Brendon over as well. We jumped around, laughing and shouting. After a hour, we got tired and sat down. I put my heels on the floor, Ava putting hers next to mine. We chatted for a while before Brendon and Remus left to get more drinks.
"You were so good at dancing earlier." Ava said.
"You were pretty good too, I saw you."
"I saw you correcting Remus a lot at the start." She laughed.
"Yeah. He was a bit nervous at first." I chuckled. Sam and Katie sat down next to us.
"So how are you girls doing tonight?" He asked.
"Good. You?" We chorused.
"Great." Sam said. "Katie eventually managed to get me to dance with you."
"I saw." I said laughing. Remus and Brendon returned with the drinks.
"I saw you sit down so I got you some drinks." Remus said, handing them each a drink. Brendon gave me and Ava a drink and they rushed back to get theirs. Sam explained that he would give the photo of Remus and I dancing once he had developed it in a developing solution (which makes the photos move). We nodded and carrying talking about the ball.

Everything was going well. Nothing had gone wrong, that was until she showed up. Alexa strode over to us. She was wearing a coal black dress with long gloves.
"Nice dancing." She smirked. I put my shoes back on and got up to leave. Remus grabbed my hand and sat me back down. "I got seeker by the way. Thought you'd like to know." She purred.
"Yeah? Well at least I got in on talent. I'm guessing you bought your way in." I growled.
"You? Talent? Pfft... Give me a break. We all know you only got in 'cause you got your big brother as captain." She jeered.
"I'll have you know, she is the best seeker I know." Brendon spat. "Go annoy someone else. Who even asked you here anyway?" He hissed.
"Jason."
"Did you pay him to take you?" Brendon growled.
"Brendon shut up! Just ignore her." I hissed. One of the Slytherins who was often in my classes approached her, grabbing her hand.
"Come on Alexa, not now." She said.
"See, at least your friends got some sense in her." I said, calmly. Alexa glared at me and pulled her arm away from her friend, the glove slipping off. I gasped. There were bite marks on her arm.

Those bites... Those eyes... That stare... 

The wolf.