Hearing the cold answer, she stiffened and pulled away slightly. Looking up at him, hurt shone in her eyes. Did I expect anything different? She asked herself, casting her gaze at the Slytherin label on Severus's robes. Oh, how she hated that crested uniform.

Pushing that hate away for a mere second, she thought back to more extreme problems at hand. Erica knew she was going to be treated this way if her house found out but for some unknown, and stupid reason, she trusted the person she was dancing with right now. Maybe it was the fact that Severus had such a soft spot for Lily, that Erica thought he would understand.

A small word uttered from Severus's mouth and the blonde turned quickly, wondering what he could be looking at. Realizing who it was, she shook her head. Were they all living lies? Craning her neck slightly, she attempted to catch sight of Sirius. The Black brother that could lead to her destruction within Hogwarts. Gripping onto Severus's arm tightly, she glared at the girl who seemed to be Sirius's new dance partner.

Regulus stood to one side of the classroom. So far he had been left out of this little ballroom nightmare. He was thankful for the opportunity to merely observe for a while as the antics of his schoolmates were proving to be quite entertaining. He took in the dramatic scenes that were playing out before his very eyes:

On the one hand, there were the Marauders. Although not his sworn enemies, he did find their activities slightly annoying and as such, enjoyed watching them make fools of themselves in front of others. His brother, so often the black sheep in his little group of friends was squirming uncomfortably in the company of a rather peculiar Ravenclaw. Regulus savoured his brother's pained expression before moving his attention on to his own group of "friends".

Severus and Erica seemed quite engrossed in conversation as they moved around the room. Each threw awkward glances at each other and at people in the room as they talked. Watching them, Regulus was eventually able to pick up who each one kept glancing at. For Severus, it was Lily. 'Frankly,' thought Regulus to himself, 'that is not much of a surprise.' Oftentimes, Regulus had caught Severus lurking around areas where Lily Evans frequented. Regulus had originally thought that Severus did this merely to annoy Lily, but after a while, he realized that it was something more than that. Seeing the way Severus was acting today, Regulus finally had enough information to put the pieces together. 'Interesting,' he mused before deciding to file this particular piece of information for further use at a later date. Regulus then set himself to observing Erica. It took him a bit longer to follow her actions, as she never quite seemed to look directly at her target. Finally, with a staggering blow, Regulus stumbled upon the answer: it was Sirius!

Without warning, a red heat began to spread over Regulus's body. His eyes flashed as a sudden fit of temper overtook him. It was not that he was in love with Erica-in truth, he had no feelings but friendship for her-but the thought of just one more girl mooning over his brother made him almost ill. The fact that it was Erica, a Slytherin, and one who should know better, nearly drove him mad. Why was it always Sirius? What was so appealing about his scruffy, dirty, Muggle-loving brother that made him so irresistible?

Regulus allowed his body to sag against the stone wall of the classroom behind him. With a wave of his wand, a chair drew itself up under his bottom and he sat down heavily in it. Putting his well kept hands on his knees, he put down his head dejectedly and stared at the floor. Why was he not good enough?

ooc: *blinks and hits you all and myself* why has no one been posting?!

Erica spun around the room, Severus still holding onto her hands, still in mid-dance. Seeing movement in the corner of her eye were she knew Regulus was, she steered Snape gently so she could see what was happening to her Slytherin friend. It seemed something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Looking at Severus, concern flashed in her blue eyes. "What's wrong with Regulus?" She asked, peering over his shoulder to stare at him.