Chapter Text
She got lost. She be damned, Selene did not know where she was, and all that she wanted to was to find the privy.
The girl she asked told her specifically to go to the right, climb the stairs and then to the left, and yet when she opened the room to the supposed restroom, she faced a library of some sort.
“What are you doing?” a voice came from behind her, it creeped her out, with every amount of self restraint she refrained from screaming, scared of the disruption.
It was James Potter, his caramel coloured eyes fixated on her, brow furrowed and tense lips, he was mad. “I was searching for the loo and then-”
“No, I mean, what are you doing here ?”
Why?- Did he think she came to steal something? In some way did he discover her enough for him to suspect her of being a lowlife thief? Tense and with no small amount of anger, she started to defend herself. “I beg your pardon?”
“What are you doing with Riddle? You should keep away from him. I don’t know your intentions but nothing good would come of him.” Now Selene was just dumbfounded,
“I am truly sorry but I must have misheard you, my lord. Are you seriously trying to warn me of a Duke?” She looked at him as if he had grown a second head since she last saw him at the ballroom, he couldn’t be talking seriously. “Even I know that is overstepping.” A sardonic laughter escaped from her lips. “If you excuse me, my lord. I need to find the -”
“Are you going to ignore my warning?” His voice was rough and deep, a commanding tone he surely used with his servants, but she was no servant of him, and for this night she was no inferior being either. She might have let him speak to her in such a way if they were on the street, in the park, even in her own home, but not here, not when he was unaware of her reality, of the unfortunately of her circumstances and the truth of her class.
“Why should I consider it in the first place? I know you as much as I know him, yet he wasn’t the one disgusted by having to dance with me, nor he was the one to be urged to do so.” Selene was a proud woman, even though most of the time she had to hide her pride because of the circumstances. She would not let any man speak to her in such derision, not at least when her pride ought her to do the same. “I beg you to keep me out of your family affairs. I do not care for idle drama amongst youth. ” It was rich coming from her, she knew, but it was not her fault they fell inside the trap so easily.
Potter closed the gap between them, his frame barely a metre away from hers, the heat of his body reached her, it heated her cheeks. “I might be mistaken, Miss Snape, but I do believe you just insulted me.”
She knew it was testing his patience, but Selene would be dead before letting a man frighten her “Bravo, my lord, you are not as dense as I believed you to be.”
His hand reached the door and closed it behind himself, he was coming closer and closer, soon she felt the wood on her back. “You believe yourself brave enough to taunt me, yet you are trying desperately to run.”
Selene did not respond, he rounded her, and she turned to look at him, now she was back to the door, and whilst he approached Selene felt the coldness of the wood on her back. She wanted to escape, and yet her only way out was covered by her own body, and his. If they were discovered at that moment this man might have the duty to marry her. But that would only happen if she was the person she was impersonating, no person would ask a lord such as James Potter to marry a low class woman whilst she was impersonating a noblewoman. In any case she could be hanged for committing such deception.
And Lily did not follow her, her mother nor her must have realised he had come after her, still, Selene knocked on the door he had cornered her to just in case. Nothing happened, she only obtained an exasperated look from the man.
“Stay away from him.” His face was close enough, his breathing reached her, his voice low and threatening.
He distanced from her once again, walking towards an open window.
Selene turned towards the door, fighting the urge to run before she clocked it.
Wasn’t this the situation Lily needed her to be in? To be alone with him and entice him? Seduce him? She doubted she could ever seduce a man, she had no skills on the matter and she had never wanted to. Yet she must, she had come all this way, it was ridiculous not to take the chance. She braced herself, walking towards him, he turned back to her once he heard her footsteps, the heels resonating in the empty room… Her chest met his, her bosom pressing against his chest, she never had had a wide chest, it was amongst the many things she envied of Lily, but never dared to say out loud, so childish as it was. But it did work, his brown eyes were fixated on her tight pressed breasts, red colouring his face. He had tried to make her nervous by his proximity, she would do the same. Once Potter noticed his gaze lingering too much on her bosom he glanced back to her eyes, meeting her lips half way, then he couldn’t decide between looking to those deep black orbs or to those soft pink lips. “I am afraid you are no husband of mine to give me orders, my lord.” Her defiant gaze was fixed on his eyes, he held her sight yet his eyes desperately tried to focus on something else, gazing left, right and then down, meeting again her bosom firmly pressed against him, his breathing stopped. Although she did ponder about his words, Riddle did make her feel odd, Potter was not going to scare her out of her goal. “If you want me to do something, my lord, you better start by asking me nicely. I’m not a dog for you to command.” She waited then, expecting something to happen, for him to reject her, claiming himself taken, or, perhaps, in some stranded fantasy, for him to make an advance on her.
Selene was proud yet she wasn’t blind, the man she was pressing herself to, in such an exaggerating way was perhaps one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, and in her own naivety she could perhaps consider any attempt of him to possess her as a compliment.
The lord knows nobody has ever tried it before.
Yet he did nothing.
Without further ado she left, leaving him alone in the darkness, feeling a little bit insulted. But mostly confounded, although mostly towards herself, of course such an attractive man such as him would never give her a second glance, more than anything she had just humiliated herself in front of him; it irked her. She found solace in knowing she would never see him again.
Sadly it was more than clear that Lil|y was not going to be able to put a finish to her engagement.
James stood right where she left him, his breathing still unsteady, the cold of the air after she separated her body from his did nothing to subdue the fire ignited in his insides, the stiffness between his legs paid no mind to the turmoil in his heart.
He felt shiverish, anxious and quite needy.
He was no soft green boy to be turned on only by a simple glance of a tender chest, or at least that what he reminded himself of as the hardness in his trousers didn’t seem to go away. His mind refused to remember anything else than those pretty rose lips and the cleavage that left so little to a man’s depraved imagination, silently James gave a shameless congratulation to the clever mind that decided that women were allowed to use so little coverage in public and not suffer social ruin.
James pondered the change Selene Snape had in his mind in such short period of time, he just met her no more than five minutes ago, at first glance he had been so uninterested he didn’t even cared of remembering her name, considering her a graceless gal without an ounce of appeal beside those large eyes of hers. Yet now he stood in the abandoned office of Lord Rosier without being able to take her out of his mind, and his body still too tender of the feeling of her.
He must see her again.
James wrote his name on her dancing card, soon supper will be served and the dance he had claimed would start moments after the last person finished their last plate. He ought to hurry, as much as he could live without eating tonight, the opportunity to see her again before they shared their dance sent shivers down his spine.
He straightened his cravat, who at this moment felt too oppressing surrounding his neck, his hands trembling in anticipation making the task more exasperating than anything. He knew he looked fine, his butler had made sure of it before attending, yet he could shake the feeling he needed some trimming before returning to the ballroom where she surely was waiting for him.
Before taking any step, James slapped himself on the cheeks with both hands, in a futile attempt to regain his composure. From the corner of his eye he saw a small cushion on the floor, not far away from where they both stood moments ago, and as such, not far away from himself. The small thing was the same garnet colour as Miss Snape’s dress, so he didn’t even think of his actions before grabbing the thing from the floor. If it was a cushion it was an odd spot to be in, since the armchair and chairs were in the other corner of the room, Lady Rosier would surely fire any maid responsible if he told about this misplacement, so of course he would keep his mouth shut.
Yet the thing was no cushion, nor anything remotely similar to one.
It was a reticule, and by the looks of it, Miss Snape’s reticule. Now he had an excuse to talk directly to her before the dance, with any good luck he might actually find her before supper even. Smiling, he took a hold on the thing and sprinted out of the room, taking good care of his speed before being visible to any onlooker.
When he arrived at the hall he cursed many times, repeatedly yet in silence because the woman he was after was nowhere to be found. Miss Snape was taller than your average debutante, and in James’ mind that would’ve made her quite easy to find, it didn’t. He was so engrossed in his task he didn’t even notice his own fiancé and her red curls just next to him, he was looking for a black bundle of hair, any other colour flew out of his mind and interest.
But she was not in the hall, and James doubted she took that long time in the privy. His last chance was the garden that was, as it appeared from where he stood, quite desolated.
A hand stopped him in his tracks, a soft but firm embrace he knew so well.
“Mother-!”
“Where are you going, sweet boy?”
“I’m looking for Miss Snape, she reserved a dance for me after supper and I cannot seem to get not even a glimpse of her.”
“That is, my dear.” His mother grabbed his arm firmly, ordering him silently to start walking with her. “Because Miss Snape left, she excused herself to me before retiring, a headache of some sort it seemed.” She refused to look at him, instead she looked at the other guests as they walked around the ballroom, at a safe distance from all, in case anyone decided to listen to their conversation. “Still, the gal had good manners, she excused herself to Riddle and to me since you were nowhere to be seen. She made the effort to let us know she was about to retire, for me that speaks highly of her, yet I cannot recall a debutante who had ever done the same, they usually just leave. I would do so!” His mother tone was a mix between pride, astonishment and suspicion. He couldn’t phantom for all that was good, what could she be suspicious about.“And where were you anyway-?”
“I have gone to relieve myself, mother. Nothing more.”
“Ah, so soon after Miss Snape left us, such an odd situation.”
“Is it impossible to keep anything from you, is it not?”
“I dare say it is.” her voice turned sombre, grave with “What are you planning, son?”
“Nothing substantial, mother. You shan’t be worried about my doings.”
“I just.-” Sighed, exasperated, the lines around her eyes appeared to deepen, she always was so jovial yet now she appeared older just because of her worry. “I’ve told you before, on several occasions yet you don’t seem to listen.”
“What are you referring to?”
“About how you refuse to follow any path at all.”
The very next day, joyous news arrived directly at the Evans’ door.
Rumours and such.
Gossip magazine.
Wednesday, May 19, 1835.
It appears that Miss Evans' title of having the longest engagement is endangered! Not because of the resolution of the compromise with an ostentatious wedding, the affair we all have been waiting for since the sweet Miss Evans entered into polite society. No, the reason behind the possible ending of the engagement appeared to be a mysterious woman that snarled Lord Potter’s attention last night! Can you believe it, dear reader?
Lord Potter was seen talking to a young lady of unknown background, even promising to dance with her after supper before the lady had abruptly left the premises. Yet he appeared to refuse to put his name on his fiancé’s card, leaving Miss Evans secluded to the wallflowers corner. The poor girl even left early with her mother! Surely aghast by her fiancé’s lack of chivalry.
Is this going to result in the heartbreak of none other than the ton flower or is this just a fling coming from Lord Potter?
It may appear that Mister Black had rubbed his rakish ways into his dearest friend.