A Complicated Affair.

[Dante Black]

As Emilia started loosening up, so did Dante. The change in not only Emilia's facial expressions, but also her attitude showed Dante that they were making progress. Already it seemed like they were well on their way to becoming friends again. The fact that they had already come so far in so little time encouraged Dante to continue repairing their relationship, and continue gaining Emilia's trust. He knew it would take a long time, but eventually they would be back to where they were before all the drama happened.

Where exactly where they, though? Certainly, they wouldn't go back to dating; that was just a silly thought. He didn't want her that way, and of course she didn't want him that way either. Emilia had probably found a boy already, anyway. With her looks and her talent as a witch any boy in their right mind would fall for her, just like Dante once had.

Meeting Emilia's eyes and seeing her smile, made Dante's grin grow. It had been so long since he'd seen her like this, and he had to admit that he missed it. Everything tonight made her look so radiant, so alive. Emilia's question made Dante chuckle, mostly because he hadn't a clue how to answer it. He racked his braing for something witty and clever to say, but came up with nothing.

"Let's forget about the past, alright? The only thing that matters right now is the present. If we focus too much on the past then we'll never learn how to trust each other again." Dante answered after some thought. It wasn't funny or charming, but it was the best he could do.

The introduction of a new voice startled Dante. It appeared as though he was right, Emilia did find a boy. The whole conversation became awkward then, and Dante's flickered toward Emilia for a hint of what to do. Dante straigtened himself, and held out his hand for the other boy to shake. "Dante. And you are?"

[Emilia Silverstien]

Emilia watched as Dante's grin grew which in turn made her smile grow wider. She was actually feeling giddy, and happy like a young girl should feel. This was an odd sensation for she hadn't felt this way in a long time, most likely since she entered school the first time. So much has happened during this short period time. She had gained a friend and lost an enemy. Dante was standing in front of her dazzling her once again, a feeling she was way too familiar with. It felt good, it felt right. Being here tonight actually felt right for her, like this night was suppose to happen. It was refreshing, Emilia enjoyed being happy and now she felt as if she had a good chance of remaining happy for once.

"Alright that's a start. To be honest I think it's too painful for me to think about the past. So much heartache and trauma. I'm more than happy to leave the past behind me. So what now, I mean we are at a dance so maybe we should..." Emilia suddenly stopped mid sentence as she saw Spee approaching herself and Dante. That's when she felt herself grow pale. She forgot all about Spee while spending time with Dante. She had focused all her attention on Dante that she completely forgot that Spee would be at this dance too. Her eyes grew wide as Spee asked her who Dante was, and thankful that Dante had answered for her. She couldn't seem to remember how to talk at the moment.

At this point in time Emilia was trying to pull it together. She didn't know how to handle this situation. She was pretty sure Spee knew all about Dante and how badly he had treated her which in turn could be bad. She knew that Spee would try to pull her away from Dante which is something Emilia did not want at all. At this thought her eyes grew wider, and she started to shake. Was she felling for Dante again? No she couldn't be. She just wanted to be around him as a friend, that's it. Right? She didn't know at this moment, all that she knew is that she was shaking horribly. She didn't know how to handful situations like these. She caught Dante's eyes and she knew he was trying to get her attention, but she didn't know what to do.

Clearing her throat and raising a shaky hand to play with a lock of her onyx hair she managed to find her voice, although it was a little more shaky than normal, "Uh, hi Spee. I see you've finally made your way to the dance, only a half an hour late I see," she teased. Noticing the hurt in Spee's expression tore at her heart. She didn't mean to hurt him, but she had to have Dante as part of her life regardless if it hurt Spee or not. Trying to calm herself Emilia smiled, "Dante this is Spee, he's a friend of mine here. He's been my rock, helping me out when things were rough here. I don't know what I do without him." With that Emilia nudged Spee and gave him a dazzling smile. As she did this, out of the corner of her eye she was watching Dante to see his reaction.

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[Dante Black]

It was incredible to Dante that they were each smiling so big. The night made Dante completely forget about his vow to kill Inri, his depression, the fact that he was once a Death Eater, everything. The only thing that mattered was that Dante was safe, back at school, and with a new friend. It was one of those times when Dante was truly happy, and few things could make the night better.

As Dante caught a glimpse of Emilia, he noticed that her eyes had grown wide and she had started to shake. He knew that shake, as he had been the one that caused it many times. But why was she shaking? Obviously she knew the kid, and he knew her. Emilia's words seemed fine and normal, but her body language was a different story. Something was bothering her, and that bothered Dante.

Finally the boy was introduced as Spee. Dante looked him up and down and concluded that he looked relatively respectable. By the looks of it Spee was at least a second year, if not a third year. Maybe, Dante thought, when he got back into classes he'd be with Spee. Then he'd be able to see just how well people would stand up to him. Though he hoped that all of his time with Emilia wouldn't be interrupted by the this Spee boy.

Still, Dante held out his hand for Spee to shake. "I appreciate you taking care of Emilia, Spee." Dante figured that he must be the one Emilia went to after all of Dante's attacks. A frown tugged down at the corners of Dante's mouth as he remembered all the pain he inflicted on Emilia. He would make it up to her somehow.

[sam]

Spee grasped the other boy's hand firmly, but his grasp faltered when he was introduced. The name Dante held a negative connotation in Spee's mind. Then he remembered a conversation he and Emilia had a while back. His memories whizzed back to a night when Emilia entrusted Spee with her story, and Dante was the antagonist. If he remembered correctly, Dante was not somebody Spee wanted Emilia to be talking to.

"Yeah, I kind of last track of the time," he replied to Emilia and gave a small smile, before turning back to Dante and giving him a dark look. "So, Dante, I've heard a lot about you."

There was an uncomfortable air in the room, and Spee was having mixed emotions. Why would Emilia be talking to him? He should be in Azkaban for everything he did to her!

[Dante Black]

The dark look Spee gave Dante was not a friendly one by any means. He had half a mind to scowl right back, but instead raised a curious eyebrow. Dante was almost positive he knew why this Spee kid was being so nasty with him; it was because of Emilia. So Dante was going to play dumb and see where it took him. Perhaps if he showed no hostility with the other boy, Spee would realize that there was no need to be that way.

It was a sort of surprise that somebody else could be so protective over Emilia. While they were together, Dante had done everything in his power to protect her. Even when they were on the quest to kill each other, Dante was protective over Emilia in some backward way. He wanted to make sure that she was his, and nobody else could have her. Nobody else was allowed to get her before Dante did.

Now he had a burning desire to protect her from this boy who was giving a spiteful first impression. He was probably a nice guy in reality, though Dante would be sure to be careful around him. "Have you? I'm glad Emilia remembered me while I was gone," he half joked. Dante's eyes flickered to Emilia, asking for help. Since he was normally the one who controlled situations, he didn't know what to do when he wasn't the person in power.

[Emilia Silverstien]

In a way Emilia wanted Dante to be jealous. She wanted nothing more at the moment, she wanted to feel the hurt she did when he was infatuated with Diem. Yes it was hard for Emilia to admit, but she was jealous of Diem, which added to her hatred of the girl. She wanted Dante for herself, and only herself. She couldn't stand the thought of someone being close to Dante, and she couldn't stand he way that Dante looked a Diem. Well she thought, used to look at Diem. He looked at her as if he cared about her, almost the the way he used to look at her when he cared for her. Now standing between Spee and Dante, she wanted Dante to be jealous. She wanted Dante to cringe when Spee looked at her in that way.

As she watched the exchange between Spee and Dante, Emilia could just cut the air with knife. There was tension between them, that was evident. She didn't really know what to do in this situation, and to be honest she wanted to end this encounter all together. Biting her lip, her aqua eyes looked at Spee and then back at Dante. Oh what was she going to do, to get herself out of this. She perceived that their encounter was not going badly, but she knew that Spee would not take kindly to Dante. For she had told Spee all about what Dante did to her, and now to have her here talking to him, it had to hurt him on the inside. Then looking at Dante, she almost couldn't believe he was standing there with her. It was as if her wishful thinking had come true. After their little "love affair" ended, she had wished desperately at times that it hadn't. Now Dante had a place within her life again, and in a way she was grateful.

Upon Dante's remark, Emilia chuckled, "Dante you are a hard person to forget." Then taking a deep breath Emilia knew what she could do to get herself out of this situation. Locking eyes with Dante, in a timid voice she asked, "So when am I going to get to dance with you?" Upon saying those words her eyes flicked to look at Spee, she was just waiting for a hurt look to appear upon his face. She couldn't help but to ask Dante for a dance, she wanted to be that close to him again, and she wanted to be twirled around the dance floor. She just had to do something to break the tension. She just stood there biting her lip, waiting for what felt like an eternity for Dante's reply.

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[Dante Black]

Surely this kid wasn’t the best Emilia could get? In between leaving the Death Eaters and coming to Hogwarts, Dante would often pass the time imagining where all his old “friends” were at that moment. Every time Emilia Silverstien popped into his head she was with some faceless boy. This mystery man was tall, masculine, and always gentlemanly toward the young lady. Perhaps he only wanted to see himself as he was when they met, when he was at his peak. Dante secretly longed to be that gentleman at Emilia’s side. Spee’s dark looks and messy hair certainly did not fit Dante’s picture and were far less than Emilia deserved. She could have at least found someone worthy of her affection so Dante wouldn’t feel as bad about ruining his chance with her.

Even as the seconds passed, the atmosphere around the trio remained tense. It only took a quick glance to confirm that the other students took no notice to their triangle. They probably looked like all the rest of the groups of gossiping children. Dante also noted the students who were actually dancing. It was a dance after all, so why wasn’t he dancing with the prettiest girl in the room? Oh yeah, they were interrupted.

The cold gray eyes returned to Emilia’s face as she chuckled out her comment. Dante wasn’t sure whether to beam or to frown. He was content that she remembered him, though they didn’t have so many pleasant memories. Most were of him trying to hurt her or vice versa. Before he could further confuse himself, Emilia spoke again. This time, he knew exactly how he felt about it: thrilled. “We should’ve been dancing already, in my opinion,” he held out his large hand for her to take, “Shall we?” Dante grinned at Spee and nodded his head, informing the boy of his departure. At that moment, he didn’t care how many glares would be shot his way or how jealous Spee was of him; all that mattered was that he was going to dance with Emilia Silverstien.