Always

Chapter 16: The Yule Ball (Part 2)

They had eaten their lunch and Beth ate rather quickly. "Slow yourself Beth." Severus said in a cautious tone. "Oh, but the food is so good and I was very hungry!" She replied as she giggled at him. He took a sip of water from his goblet and he couldn't believe how much his mind was racing right now. The Yule Ball needed to get out of his mind but for some reason, it was screaming at him in his consciousness. He finished his meal and he saw Beth get up again because the House-elves arrived. She cleaned up all the plates of the professors and when she got to Rolanda, she gave her a sneaky smirk showing her that she was indeed unique and that she could not bother her with her words. Rolanda huffed a little as Beth walked out of the room with the elves and Severus crossed his arms smirking at his woman cleaning the dishes with little elves. She was something else.

Minerva stood up and walked over to the center of where the professors were sitting and she exhaled. "I will speak to Elizabeth about this later, but we know what we must do. We need to keep the children safe and we must not get dressed up in case there is an emergency. A little birdie told me that Severus and Elizabeth wish to participate in the traditional waltz. I will grant that wish." She said as Severus stood up quickly. "I will do no such thing. Whoever told you is wrong." He said firmly and Rolanda laughed. "Severus Snape? Dancing? As if that was surely going to happen." She said as Severus growled lowly. "I refuse to embarrass myself in front of the students." He spoke as Minerva shook her head. "Severus.....you avoided every Yule Ball that occurred when you were a student at Hogwarts. Now, you just continue to avoid them. The little birdie who spoke to me was Beth. Beth wished to dance with you because she loves you and wants you to have the best experience possible. I will allow you both to dance." She said. Before Severus could object to anything that she just said, she walked back. He held his head as he stormed out of the room and the students were whispering to each other and wondering why he was so mad. Minerva excused the students as they walked out, talking very loudly and excitedly. Beth came back after a while and she noticed that Severus was gone. "What happened to Severus?" She asked as Minerva looked at her gently. "Never mind him. I told him about the waltz." She whispered as Beth nodded quietly and she gently went out the large doors, thinking about how scared and nervous he was compared to herself.

She went to her quarter's and she shut the door. She laid on her bed and sighed. Now she had to wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. She stared at the ceiling for 20 minutes and grew sleepy. Might as well take a small nap. She yawned gently as she grabbed her puffiest pillow and she fell asleep, breathing deeply into it. Meanwhile, Severus was pacing around his room very quickly, thinking about what was going to happen in a few more hours. He had never worried THIS much about THIS stupid dance before. He never thought that he would get so fluttery over a woman since Lily. He continued to pace around his room worried that he would ruin this night for her and if there was one thing that he did not want to ever see, it would be the sad and disappointed look on Elizabeth's face. He ran through his hair as he worried some more and let the endless hours tick on by.....

The female students were happily doing each other's hair and their makeup hours ahead of time. They giggled and talked about who they were going to dance with. It was so exciting for them, and it was once a year. The 1st years were being treated on as well, learning from the upper years what the ball was like and what type of dresses they should wear. The males were, well, doing whatever they wanted. They weren't so focused on getting ready so some were doing homework assignments, others were finding last minutes dates for the ball. Minerva took a stroll around the halls of the castle as she smiled at the students but also made sure everyone was behaving nicely. She wondered about Beth and Severus. Will they do the waltz? She highly doubted that Severus would do the dance, even if Beth begged him to. That was her personal opinion.