A/N Orla Quirke is mentioned in Goblet of Fire in the Sorting Ceremony. I just thought her last name was funny, hence, this story.
"Hey, Quirky." A Slytherin boy yelled.
"Ignore them, ignore them." I muttered to myself. I raced up to my tower and knocked on the bronze door knob.
"What may people seek, but never find?" The Raven asked. I thought for a moment.
"Death." I answered. The door opened. I rushed in, dropping all of my books on the couch.
"In a rush?" My friend, Emily Lee asked, idly turning a page in the Daily Prophet.
"Emily, you know as well as I do that the Yule Ball is tonight and I haven't even started getting ready!"
Emily waved her hand airily. "I thought you weren't going to go? You said you wouldn't go if you didn't have a date, and you don't."
"Well…" I said, blushing.
Emily sat straight up. "No." She said dramatically. "Who is it?"
"It's um…Owen Cauldwell. From Hufflepuff." I replied.
Emily goggled. "I got Stew…and you get Owen."
"He's nice." I defended.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Niceness aside, he's got the looks of a mermaid."
"I know mermaids are ugly, but he said that he was waiting all year to ask me. And I didn't have a date either, so it's not exactly like I could turn him down…could I?"
"I don't know Orla. You could've gotten anyone and you said yes to him?"
"It's our fifth year. I couldn't go in our first, so I'm going to go now."
Emily waved her hand. "Do you really want to be kissing Acne Face?"
"We're going as friends. Even you know what that means."
Emily snorted. "Yes, and then you're going to go out."
"Look, neither of us have anybody to go with, and the ball is tonight." I stood up and got ready to leave as Emily went back to the Daily Prophet.
"Oh, do the Slytherins still call you Quirky?" She asked me, looking at me sympathetically.
"Yeah." I growled. "One year since their precious Dark Lord fell and they still won't let it go."
She patted my hand sympathetically. "It gets worse before it gets better."
I laughed. "How can it get worse?"
We sat in a glittering hall, filled with lights. The Great Hall looked wonderful, and I was happy. Of course, I got odd looks for being with Owen, but Owen was nice enough, and we were going as friends. It wasn't like we were dating or anything. We both were shy about dancing, so we just sat and talked. Owen was nice and we were talking about Quidditch. It seemed perfect. Until, of course, someone had to yell, "Hey Quirky, watcha doin' with Cauldrenbottom? He's too good for you!" Everyone started jeering.
Owen stood up. "Come on Orla!" He said loudly and led me from the Great Hall.
"Thanks." I said gratefully.
Owen shrugged. "Don't mention it." He was build like a Beater, and was slightly cross-eyed. I'd heard stories about Eloise Midgen and her acne and I think Owen could give her a run for her money. Owen's teeth are kind of yellow and crooked, and his complexion is the color of porridge. But, like I said, he's really nice. And kind. But he's a little like a doormat, which annoys me. I had to tutor him in third year, and we became friends after that. He helped me get through fourth year, and I made sure he didn't fall behind. I also pretended to be his cousin, because he was Muggle-born. All in all, he's one of my closest friends and I'm one of his only friends.
Without really saying where we were going, we meandered onto the grounds and sat down on the dock in front of the lake. "I wonder if the Giant Squid is hungry." Owen mused.
I laughed. "I wonder when this war is going to be over."
He looked at me. "It is."
I shook my head. "It's not. It's still there, even if people don't want to hear about it."
"But Voldemort's gone."
"Did you hear about the attack on the Ministry? They were seriously thinking about not having the Triwizard Tournament here."
Owen thought for a moment. "I really hope Jada wins."
I snorted. "She's too overconfident. Jada Angela thinks she can get by on luck and talent." I looked up at the sky. "No, it has to be Chantal. She got in by hard work. And she cares too much about her school to lose. No, Chantal Falke will win."
Owen shrugged. "I don't know. Andrei Levinski seems pretty good. I mean, Chantal is good at Charms, but Andrei is really good at Transfiguration."
"What about Michelle Garber? She's really good at the physical, and from what I heard, she was on her school's Quodpot team."
"She's okay. She's not great at wandwork though."
"I wonder why the American's are here though. I mean, we just finished a war, and they agree to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Who does that?"
"I asked Molly Garber, you know, Michelle's twin sister. She says that it's because 'they want the thrill.' What's that supposed to mean?"
I shrugged. "God knows."
"These Americans are weird. And crazy." Owen agreed. "But they're funny. Did you see what Sam McNeil was doing on the dance floor? That was some of the funniest things I've ever seen."
"That was dancing." I said dismissively. "It's called break-dancing."
Andrew goggled at me. "What did you do, research them?" He asked.
I blushed. "No! We should go to the castle anyways." I said. "It's getting late.
We walked up to the castle in complete silence. "Good night." He told me.
I smiled at him. "Good night."
I went up to the Ravenclaw tower. "Safety is hard to come by. What is harder?"
I smiled. "The feeling of safety." The door didn't open. "Okay, um...immortality?" It still didn't open. "Fine." I snapped. "Love." The door opened. I blinked. "Really? I was just kidding."
I ran into the common room to find Emily waiting for me.
"What happened?" She asked. "I'm going to kill those Slytherins. I have no idea why they're so smug."
"Relax." I insisted. "I'm fine, aren't I?"
"Yeah…but I still hate those Slytherins."
"Maybe it's time to go past those old grudges."
"NO!" Emily yelled. "Are you crazy? Those Slytherins would be on us in minutes."
I sighed. "Look, we're both tired. Why don't we discuss this in the morning?"
Emily nodded. "All right." We both went up to our dorms. As I changed out of my lavender gown and Emily did the same with her blue one, I wondered when this war will end.