Cherish Forever

Piper could feel the stares of the professors and the other students, both male and female as she descended down the stairs, into the Great Hall, where the Halloween Masquerade was taking place. She fed off of the excitement of not knowing who everyone was, or what people were concealing behind their masks. A chance to start over, for some people, and for others, like Piper, it was a chance to talk to someone who would normally be out of bounds. Way out of bounds, both because of the school rules, and because of her friends rules. Piper knew that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Mojo were keeping a closer eye on Snape than usual, not only because of Lucius Malfoy, but because even they had noticed that Snape didn't treat Piper the way he treated everyone else. Piper was somewhat relieved that they to had noticed, so she knew it wasn't just in her head, and she wasn't imagining it, but they other part of her felt nervous, because she didn't want them to find out exactly how she felt about Snape, because that was a question she couldn't even answer herself. Tonight, she was on a mission: to have fun, and try and find Snape.....

"Piper, you look absolutely gorgeous. Everyone is staring at you," Hermione whispered girlishly, as the 5 friends walked through the large groups of students.

Piper couldn't help but smile. She had wanted to make a sensation, and she had. Her beautiful emerald dress clung to her curves perfectly, accentuating her long, lean legs, and her curvy hips. She even decided to go with heels, which made her height of 5' 11", which was already much taller than all the girls at Hogwarts, almost a staggering height of 6' 00", which made her also taller than most of the males present in the room. She stood out from the crowd, and she knew it. Piper was never one for self-praise, but she knew she looked good, and she felt great too. She had used a simple spell from Hermione that made her hair into perfect, long golden spirals and she had done up her eyes more than usual, so that they could be seen through her mask.

"Yeah, Piper, you look hot. I'm surprised no one has come to ask you to dance yet," Ron stated.

"They're afraid of you, Ron. You look so intimidating, and..." Piper struggled for the right word.

"Debonair?" Hermione offered, before the two of them burst into hushed giggles, while Ron stared at them with a look of utter confusion plastered on his face. Secretly, the two girls thought he looked like a Muggle bull fighter, but they didn't have the heart to tell him. He had been so confident about his costume choice that they girls had just left it alone.

Piper glanced at Harry, who had joined in on the laughter. He looked very good, in Piper's opinion, and apparently a lot of the other girls thought so too, because they were all talking amongst themselves and pointing at Harry. Harry grabbed Piper's hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Piper giggled, slightly taken aback.

"Sorry, I am really not in the mood for this whole masquerade thing," Harry sighed, as he led Piper around the dance floor, keeping in time with the other dancers and the music.

"I thought you would be a bit excited about this," Piper started, looking hesitantly at Harry.

"And why is that, Piper?" Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well, just the chance to be someone else, and no one know who you are, and having an actual conversation with someone without them ogling your scar," Piper explained. Harry considered her words, then smiled and nodded.

"You know, I had never thought of it that way. You always have a way of turning things around for the better, you know that?" Harry replied, and Piper smiled.

"I try, Harry, I try," she laughed, and watched as Harry looked over at Hermione and Ron. Mojo had just interrupted their dance, and started to dance with Ron, while Hermione was swept into the arms of a tall, yellow masked boy, and she didn't seem too upset. Harry and Piper gave eachother a knowing look.

"They'll go back to eachother before this night is over, you'll see," Harry laughed.

"They always do," Piper nodded in agreement.

Harry and Piper had had enough of dancing for a while, so they made their way to the refreshment table. They each grabbed a drink, and made of game of trying to guess who was hiding behind which mask.

"Well, those two big blokes over there, by the snack table have to be Crabbe and Goyle. Only they would spend their entire time there," Piper joked, while Harry almost had punch come through his nose.

"And, by all logical reasoning, the smaller one with them has to be Malfoy. Look, he is trying to cop a feel with that girl over there!" Piper exclaimed, which sent them both into fits of giggles. Harry finally managed to regain control of himself, when he noticed something.

"Piper, who do you think that is over there?" Harry nodded his head over toward the other side of the room.

Piper turned her head, and noticed a rather tall man, wearing a long green dress robe, with silver trimming and matching mask. Piper couldn't place him. He didn't look like anyone at Hogwarts, but she also knew that Lucius Malfoy had invited people from outside of Hogwarts and the Ministry, trying to get back into their good graces, she assumed. She had seen other adults in the Great Hall, ones she recognized as not being teachers and the identity of this man was definitely interesting. Now, if she was to pick someone who was actually debonair, it would be this man. She looked over to the man he was standing with and saw the long, silky blonde hair of Lucius Malfoy.

She must have been staring in that direction for too long, because she met the gaze Lucius Malfoy, and even with her mask on she knew that he recognized her. He nudged the mysterious man next to him and motioned over towards Piper.

For a reason that Piper couldn't explain, she felt a flitter in her stomach when this mystery man locked eyes with her. She couldn't place the feeling, because no man had ever looked at her that before, or made her feel this way. She was used to running the show, and being independent. But this man, she felt that if he had said go jump into the lake and try to make friends with the giant squid, she would do it.

All of a sudden, Harry grabbed her hand, and led her back onto the dance floor.

"I like this song," he said and that was all. She smiled quickly at him, took his hand as he placed his hand on her hip. She looked frantically back where the mystery man had been standing, only to find he was gone. She looked at Lucius who merely smirked at her, and walked onto the dance floor with a petite brunette and started to dance not too far away from where she and Harry were dancing.

"Piper, are you listening to me?" Harry asked her, waving his hand in front of her face. She shook her head a bit, and turned her head back to him with a smile on her face.

"Sorry, Harry. I just completely blanked. What were you saying?" She asked politely.

"What I was saying was I think that is Mr. Malfoy over there. Did you notice?" Harry said.

"I had, actually. Isn't he married? I don't think Mrs. Malfoy would be too impressed, do you?" she joked, as they danced around the floor. This dance isn't actually as bad as I thought it was going to be, Piper thought to herself. I just want to know where that man went...

And, as if he heard her thoughts, the mystery man came up swiftly and elegantly behind Harry, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"May I cut in?" He asked smoothly. Piper thought there was something familiar about his voice, but she couldn't place it because the music made it difficult to hear. Harry looked at Piper with a look of concern on his face, making sure it was alright with her. She gave him a big smile, reassuring him that it was fine. Harry gave the mystery man a pat on the shoulder.

"She's all yours, mate. Have fun," Harry laughed as he walked away to find Ron and Hermione.

Piper stood, frozen in the middle of the floor, staring into this man's eyes. Now that she was closer, she could sense the familiarity radiating from him, but she still couldn't put her finger on it.

He held his hand out for her to take, with a casual smile on his face. The music had just changed into a slow, romantic tune, and everyone moved from bumping and grinding to a smooth waltz. She placed her hand in outstretched one, and her other hand on his shoulder. He placed his other hand gently on her hip, and pulled her toward him. They started to move around the dance floor, moving together as one.

To Piper, it felt very right. His eyes never left hers. She felt very out of control of the situation. She usually felt in control of all situations, but right now, she didn't. And what made her even more nervous was the fact that she liked the feeling.

"I'm sorry, but I can't shake this feeling that we've met before... have we?" Piper asked cautiously. The man chuckled.

"I can honestly say we have," he answered carefully. Piper smiled.

"So, where exactly have we met, sir?" Piper asked coyly, regaining some of her confident attitude.

"Hogwarts," was the mysterious response. Piper felt like she was playing a coy game of cat and mouse, and she was the mouse.

"Well, you are clearly not a male student, because if you were, your hand wouldn't have stayed on my hip, it would have moved down to my..." but she couldn't finish her sentence, because he had pulled her even closer, their faces only centimetres apart.

"You were saying?" he asked smugly, but she couldn't finish her sentence. She was utterly at a loss for words, something that didn't happen very often. The man gave a deep, throaty laugh, which gave Piper chills up and down her body, which felt good.

"At a loss for words, I see. That doesn't happen very often. It's a pleasant change, Piper" he smirked. Her eyes widened. How does he know who I am?

"Well, it seems you’re at an advantage. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are. That doesn't really same fair, now does it?" she winked behind her mask.

He leaned in close, and whispered in her ear; "Are you sure you want to know who I am?" Piper could feel his warm breath on ear, which brought back those chills. They were still dancing, moving and swaying and their bodies were so close that Piper could barely breathe. They continued to dance, without saying a word, just enjoying the closeness of eachother.

The song finally ended, and the mystery man took her hand and kissed it, leaving Piper in a daze. He didn't release her hand and pulled her across the dance floor, out onto a balcony that had been conjured up especially for the ball.

They walked to the edge of the balcony and Piper leaned forward, leaning her forearms on the bar. She turned to look at the mysterious masked man standing beside her, who made her feel things she had never felt before. She desperately wanted to know who he was.

"It's a beautiful night," he said, standing beside her, looking out at the lake.

"It is, isn't it?" she agreed, sighing in content.

"Just like you," he whispered, and she stood up straight, looking him straight in the eye. She reached up to take the mask off, but he grabbed her hand.

"I don't think you want to do that," he said very quietly, but she reached her other hand towards his face and pulled off his mask, and what she saw made her gasp and back away, dropping his mask on the ground.

Professor Snape.