"Who are you asking to the Yule Ball?" Tommy asks Oliver.

Oliver looks up from his Charms essay and shrugs, "I haven't really thought about it."

Tommy raises his eyebrow, "Well, I asked Laurel and she said yes, Ray is going with Felicity, Sara is going with that Slytherin chick, not to mention Iris, Patty, Linda, and Caitlin are also all taken. And you can't go with your sister, that'd be super lame. Mate, you're running out of girls to ask."

Neither boy notices as Thea, Laurel, and Sara approach them. Thea laughs as she plops down next to Tommy on the bench, "That's because he's not interested in taking any girl to the Ball."

"Do tell," Laurel demands as she takes the seat on the other side of Tommy. Sara grins at Oliver from behind the trio, twirling a few strands of hair between her fingers.

"Mate, it's alright if you don't want to date a girl." Tommy places a hand on Oliver's shoulder which Oliver quickly shoves off.

Oliver flushes and looks back down at his essay. Thea's grin widens into a wicked smile, "He's in loooooove with Barry Allen," Thea sings, fluttering her eyelashes obnoxiously. Oliver's flush deepens, much to the amusement of all his friends.

"He's that adorable Hufflepuff boy that hangs out with us sometimes, isn't he? Laurel asks and continues once she received a positive nod from Thea, "He seems sweet, I think you should ask him out. I heard from Cisco that he still doesn't have a date."

"Who's Cisco going with?" Sara leans over the bench to ask.

"Lisa," Ronnie says, plopping down on the ground, "Snart was furious when he found out."

Laurel smiles, "He's so hung up on her!"

Sara shrugs, "You should hear the way she goes on about him. It drives her brother crazy." Sara flicks her fingers and a bottle of Butterbeer floats out of her bag along with several mugs. Sara efficiently gets an overflowing mug for everyone.

"You're with Caitlin, right?" Thea asks Ronnie, who nods his head, grinning gleefully like all morons in love.

"Oliver, if you're going to ask Barry to the Ball, you should do it fast because I heard from Cisco that Lisa said Snart was thinking of asking him," Ronnie informs Oliver sternly.

Laurel makes a funny face, "What about Mick Rory? I thought they were dating?" Oliver shoves his parchment and quills into his bag, getting up and starting to walk away from the group.

Sara laughs, "It's an on again-off again type relationship. They broke up about a month ago." Laurel nudges her sister and points towards Oliver's retreating form, Sara snorts. "They broke up because Len said he was tired of Mick setting things on fire and getting McGonagall on both their cases."

Thea rolls her eyes, "Snart knows he loves it. Besides, I can never keep track. They're totally going to end up married one day, though." Sara grins, nodding her agreement. Laurel and Sara get their wands out, their spells going out one after the other and amplifying the number of vines that entrap Oliver and drag him back towards their group.

"Hey, guys!" Iris calls, cheerfully following behind Oliver's bound form. She plops down next to the growing group with Linda and Patty a few seconds behind, "What are we talking about?"

Oliver looks miserable as Sara and Laurel arrange him into a sitting position on the ground. His bag falls from the vine and lands in his lap before all the vines around him retreat. "Stay," Laurel firmly tells Oliver. Tommy snickers at his friend's expense. Oliver reluctantly drags things back out of his bag.

Oliver buries his head in his hands when Sara tells the girls with a wicked grin, "How hopeless Oliver is when it comes to his crushes," All the girls snicker in unison while Tommy stares at his best friend, a large smile on his face.

"You guys hate me," Oliver mumbles into his palms.

"Oh honey, we don't hate you," Laurel coos at him, "We just want you to man up and finally ask Barry out."

All the girls nod and Patty adds, "He talks about you all the time."

"Seriously," Linda rolls her eyes, "he can't shut up about you. We-" She motions towards herself, Patty, and Iris, "-have to kick Barry out sometimes because all he can talk about is you."

"It's disgustingly adorable." Iris rolls her eyes, "It's a miracle Eddie hasn't smacked Barry yet."

Oliver finally looks up at the gaggle of girls, "I seriously have a chance?" Everyone lets out a collective groan, "What? What did I say?"

"You're such a dumbass," Thea informs her brother, flicking hair out of her eyes.

Patty nods in agreement, "You're blind if you can't see how hung up Barry is on you. Everyone in our house knows about his massive crush on you."

"Seriously, everyone. Like even Sprout knows," Linda laughs, twirling her wand between her fingers, "Sprout thinks it's super adorable."

The group falls quiet for a few minutes, watching Eddie and John playing a muggle game in the middle of the heated courtyard. Tommy is drawn into a conversation about Quidditch tactics by Ronnie while Oliver goes back to his Charms essay, ignoring the girls' gossip on the latest article Rita Skeeter wrote about Harry Potter.

"Oh, my god why can't you just leave that poor boy alone?" Oliver groans, finally tired of hearing about how green his eyes were and how brave he was .

Thea sends him a nasty look, mirrored to some degree by the other ladies. "What's got your panties in a twist?" Thea huffs.

"I just don't really care to hear about how cute you guys think Potter is, is all," Oliver rolls his eyes.

"Whatever." Thea frowns at him, "Have you ladies seen the newest catalog for Yule gowns?"

"Oh my Godric, yes!" Iris squeals, pulling a copy out of her bag and brandishes it, showing several girls twirling on the cover in fashionable gowns. The girls quickly get caught up talking about fashion causing Oliver to roll his eyes again and go back to ignoring them.

"Hi!" Felicity calls, catching everyone's attention as she trots across the courtyard, dragging Ray behind her. Everyone calls back a greeting as the pair settle down. Ray is immediately included in the Quidditch talk while Felicity focuses her attention on Oliver. "Hey," She smiles at him.

Oliver sends her a small smile back, "Hello, Felicity. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good. But you? Not so much. I have it on good authority that if you don't ask Barry out by the end of today, Snart will make his move tomorrow."

Oliver groans, "Not you too."

" Yes , me too!" Felicity exclaims, "Do you want to date him or not?"

Everyone stops their conversations to stare at Oliver, making him shift uncomfortably. "Um, I…" Oliver scratches at the back of his head, his face burning a bright red. An awkward silence falls while everyone continues to stare at him. " YES !" Oliver finally blurts, causing everyone else in the courtyard to turn and stare at him. Oliver's blush impossibly deepens. Finally, it's only his friends still staring at him, so he continues in a softer tone, "Yes, I'd like to date him."

"Good," Felicity states firmly, "Because I got Caitlin and Cisco to drag Barry up from the potions classroom so you can finally ask him to the Yule Ball."

"What? Now?!" Oliver asks, frantic. The others snicker in amusement at Oliver frantically trying to make himself look presentable. Laurel finally pushes Oliver's hands away from his hair and starts straightening it herself. Thea does the same with her brother's tie. "Why would you spring this on me?"

Everyone snorts and rolls their eyes. "Hardly springing anything on you, dear brother." Thea lightly smacks Oliver's cheek as she finishes messing with his tie.

"Mate, if you don't ask him today Snart definitely will ask him tomorrow, just to piss you off. You know how he is. I think he likes pissing you off just as much as Malfoy does with Potter." Tommy shoves at Oliver's shoulders the same time Ronnie pulls at his arms, forcibly standing him up.

Before Oliver has much more time to panic, Caitlin and Cisco appear in the courtyard, Barry following several steps behind with his nose buried in a large and dusty looking book. Caitlin and Cisco fold themselves into the rest of the group, sharing significant looks with the others. Ronnie shoves Oliver forward. "Say something, dumbass," Thea hisses.

"Um, hi Barry." Oliver mumbles.

Barry looks up, staring at Oliver with large doe-eyes, "Oliver. Hi."

Oliver awkwardly rubs at his neck, "I, um, I was wondering if you wanted to gototheYuleBallwithme?" Oliver stares determinedly at his shoes after his bout of word-vomit.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part," Barry gives Oliver an encouraging smile.

Oliver's face burns and he silently berates himself for continuously acting like a blushing virgin, "Go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Barry's face lights up and he asks in excitement, "Really?"

"Yes. I mean, only if you want to…" Oliver stares at the ground again, kicking at a nearby stump.

Barry nods hard enough that Oliver wonders if his head might fall off with the force, "Yes! I'd love to! I didn't think you'd be interested in taking me."

"What? No! I've just been too scared to ask you but then our friends seemed to stage an intervention…" Oliver smiles at Barry.

Barry positively glows, "Well, I'm glad you're interested and that you asked."

"YES! Finally!" All their friends burst out into enthusiastic cheering, hugging each other and dancing from excitement. Amidst the chaos, Barry and Oliver stand smiling at each other, carefully taking each other's hands into their own.