"Whose bright idea was it to have an annual ball anyway?" I grumbled, sitting on my bed.

My friend Mira said, "I don't know, and I don't care. Get over here so I can do you hair."

Sighing, I stood, following Mira into the bathroom. "Why did I let you into the Ravenclaw tower? A Slytherin in the Ravenclaw dorms, what's the world coming to? Mira grinned. "I'm up here for the same reason we send my brother to Al's dorm, so the boys don't see us before the ball."

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

Mira sighed. "You know, I don't know why I'm friends with you, your such a tomboy! You'll understand when the boys see us."

I just sighed. Before I go any further, I think I need to explain a few things. My name is Rose Weasley. I'm 16. It's the end of my sixth year, and every year, in May, we have a ball. It's kind of like the Muggles have Prom. Mira is my best friend, despite the fact that she's a year lower than me, and in a different house. We're almost the same age anyway, since I was born in August and she was born in September. My cousin Al is her brother Scorpius's best friend, so they brought us together, and now the four of us spend all of our time together, except for some classes when houses and years separate us.

Mira pushed me in front of the mirror, then attacked my hair. I didn't pay attention to what she was doing. I knew she wouldn't let me have a say in how I did it, since I usually just brush it and leave it at that. It's brown like my mum's but it's perfectly straight, which I never understood. I felt Mira twirling strands around her wand. Unlike me, the tomboy, Mira is extremely girly. Her blond hair was already done elaborately up, with a few strands framing her face.

It wasn't long before she proclaimed, "Done!" and I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was curled loosely, just touching my shoulders, and made my face look a little longer, which was nice. Then Mira pulled out the makeup.

I backed up. "Don't go overboard."

Mira rolled her eyes, which were green like her mother's. She already had done her makeup, and her eye shadow was green, which made her eyes pop, and I knew would look even better with her green dress. I smirked at the color. "Feeling Slytherin are we?"

"Hey, you're going with your house colors too." I couldn't argue with that. My dress was dark blue, very Ravenclaw.

Mira did a good job on my makeup. I never bother with makeup. It's too much work, and I would just end up smearing eye shadow or mascara all over my face when I forget and rub my eyes. Trust me, I know, that's what happened last time I let Mira put makeup on me. She used blue and bronze eye shadow, which I had to admit, made my blue eyes look stunning.

Glancing at the clock, we pulled on our dresses. They were actually very similar, though mine was blue and hers was green. Mine came about my our knees, Mira's falling a little further, since she's so short. We like to compare her to old Flitwick, who retired from teaching three years ago, but was well known for his shortness. I twirled around, liking the way my dress furled out. Mira grinned, watching me. "Careful doing that, unless you want Scorpius looking at your underpants?"

I stuck my tongue out at her, as I looked for a pair of shorts that would go under my dress. Despite the teasing, she had a point, I liked twirling, but I didn't really want to show off my underwear. "What about you," I retorted, "planning on twirling around for Al?" Mira retaliated, oh so maturely, by sticking out her tongue and pulling up her skirt to show me her shorts.

"Seriously though," I said, "are you going to make a move tonight?"

Mira shrugged. "Maybe. I was kind of hoping Al would make the first move."

I snorted. "That's about as likely as Scorpius kissing me tonight."

Mira grinned. "Then I have a chance!"

I just shook my head. You see, Mira, Scorp, Al and I are all good friends. But Mira is more or less in love with my cousin, and while I adamantly deny it, I have a bit of a crush on Scorpius. OK, fine, I admit it, I've had a crush on him since we were fourteen. He's oblivious, but Mira claims he likes me back. Just like I say Al likes her, but he's too clueless to realize it. We have this argument a lot.

We met the guys at the stairs coming from the Ravenclaw tower. Despite the fact that Scorpius is a Ravenclaw, we chased him out when Mira showed up in my room, telling him to go bother Al. Well, actually, Mira chased him out, I stood there and watched.

Scorpius and I were going to the ball as friends, as were Al and Mira. Mira and I were happy enough with this arrangement. I especially, since the obnoxious seventh year Spencer Cronan had asked me to go with him, and I really didn't like him. Scorpius actually saved me, Spencer asked me right in front of Scorpius, who actually said, "Sorry Cronan, she's going with me." After Cronan left he apologized, and asked me if I was OK with it. I was, of course, more than happy to be his date, even if we were going as "friends." I'm not entirely sure how Mira and Al ended up going together, but I'd bet it was Mira's doing. Or Scorpius, who is all for setting them up together. Our foursome has a complicated relationship, seeing as we keep trying to set each other up.

Al and Scorpius were waiting for us, but didn't notice us, as they were in an argument over something. I poked Al in the side, and was rewarded when he squealed like a girl and jumped away. My cousin is ticklish. It's powerful blackmail. Mira tried the same trick on Scorpius, but he just raised an eyebrow. He claims he isn't ticklish, but I think he's just better at hiding it, same as me.

Mira grinned at the boys. "Apparently this is the dance of house colors." I smiled, she had a point, Scorpius was wearing blue dress robes that were, ironically, the exact color of my dress. And Al was wearing green.

I like teasing my cousin, so I squealed in my girliest voice, "Oh, Albus, your robes match your eyes perfectly! They look so green tonight! Don't they Scorp?" Scorpius ignored me. Al scowled. I smiled innocently.

Suddenly Al shouted, "Holy crap!"

"What?" Mira asked, looking like she was about to freak out.

"Rose is a girl!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Just noticed that did you Al?"

Al grinned. "Honestly Rose, you're almost more of a guy than Scorpius."

"Gee, thanks, Al." Scorpius said sarcastically.

"You know Scorp, you do act kinda feminine sometimes," I said, punching Al on the shoulder.

"It's not my fault!" Scorpius cried. "I have to live with her!" he said, pointing at his sister.

"And I practical live with Al, spending too much time with him made me act like a guy. But I know you guys love me anyway."

Al grinned evilly. "Yep, especially Scorpius."

Scorpius spluttered then said weakly, "Shut up Al."

Mira rolled her eyes at the guys. "Come on, we need to go."

Al offered his arm to Mira. "Come on ladies," he said to Scorpius and I. Scorpius frowned at him, but offered me his arm, following Al and Mira into the great hall, where the dance was. As we trailed behind them, Scorpius said, "You do look nice tonight Rose." I blushed and thanked him. "You look pretty good yourself."

Now, I have to explain that out of the four of us, Mira is the only one who really cares to dance. Al and I both have poor coordination on the ground, preferring to be on brooms. Scorpius can dance well, but he doesn't like it, apparently it makes him feel like a stuck up Malfoy, since his mother made him take dancing lessons as a kid.

Mira dragged Al out to dance anyway, ignoring his complaints. Scorpius and I sat and watched. Getting bored with that, we wandered around, occasionally stopping to talk to other friends of ours. I wouldn't have described it as "fun" but it was OK, and it was nice walking with Scorpius. And then my luck changed.

Spencer found me. A fast song was just starting. "Come on Rose, one dance. Please?"

I sighed. He would probably bother me until I said yes. "Fine Cronan. One song." Cronan grinned, holding out his hand to lead me out to the dance floor. I basically tried to move as little as possible, since I trip over my feet when I'm wearing sneakers, and Mira made me wear heels.

In my ear, Spencer said, "You look beautiful tonight." He probably thought his voice sounded seductive, but it was just creepy. I got away from him as soon as I could.

I looked around for Scorpius, and saw Mira dragging him out to dance. I waved at him, laughing at his tortured face. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw Lysander Scamander. He smiled at me. "Care to dance?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Is that wise?" I've known the Scamander twins since I was a kid, and Lysander knew I was a klutz.

"Ah, come on Rosie. I won't let you hurt yourself." Lysander said. I rolled my eyes and took his hand.

"Fine. Where's your girlfriend, anyway?" Lysander was dating my cousin Lily.

"Distracting Lorcan."

"Why is Lily distracting Lorcan?"

"We're trying to keep him from loosing it, since Dana broke up with him. Tonight. She ditched him for Cronan."

"Want me to talk to him? Cronan's a creep. If Dana would go for him, she isn't worth Lorcan."

"Nah, that'd probably make it worse. He really liked her you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Maybe, secretly make her life hell, without letting anyone know it's you."

"Shall I enlist the help of my Slytherin buddies? And Freddy and James?"

"Just don't tell Lorcan."

"Right. Operation, torment Dana as revenge on behalf or Lorcan is a go. I shall now tell Al and Mira. And maybe Scorp, though he won't be much help, unless you want him to read at her."

Lysander laughed. Scorpius is definitely a bookworm, as am I. But he knows a lot of spells others don't, from all that reading. "Maybe he could throw a book at her?"

I mock gasped. "And hurt his precious book? No way!"

Lorcan snorted. "Bookworm is looking for you." I glanced around. Scorpius was looking for me, but hadn't seen me yet.

I tried to sneak up behind him, but at the last second, he turned around, and startled me. I lost my balance in my heels, and fell forward, right into Scorpius's arms. He laughed as he steadied me. "Who, steady Rosie!"

I felt my face heat up. "Sorry Scorp."

The night was almost over, and Scorpius seemed distracted. I glanced around. The music had changed to slow dance music, and in one corner, oblivious to anyone else, Al and Mira were dancing, their arms around each other. As I watched, Al whispered something in Mira's ear, then leaned down to kiss her. I elbowed Scorpius and pointed. "Bout time," he muttered.

As another song started, Scorpius turned to me. "Dance with me Rosie?"

"Sure. You are my date after all, and I more or less ditched you. Sorry about that."

Scorpius shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We just came as friends anyway." He slid his arms around my waist, and I put mine around his neck. It felt nice, having his arms around me. I'm tall for a girl, but Scorpius is pretty tall too. I leaned into him, putting my head against his chest. I could hear his heart racing. He tightened his hold on me.

The song was almost over when he said, "Rosie."

I looked up. He didn't say anything else, just leaned down to press his lips to mine. My mind went blank, as I kissed him back, standing in tiptoe to get closer. And then I heard laughing. I pulled back from Scorpius enough to look around, but didn't take my arms away from around his neck.

Al and Mira were watching us. Al turned to Mira. "Pay up. I told you he would kiss her tonight."

"You betted on us?" I cried.

Al shrugged. "Yep."

Scorpius just sighed. The dance was ending, people were starting to leave in groups of two and three. "Come on Rose. Let's go up to the Ravenclaw tower. These morons can't follow us there." He offered me his hand. I took it, letting him lead me towards the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower. I glanced back. Al had Mira by the hand, and was pulling her towards the Slytherin dungeons.

We sat in the corner of the common room. Scorpius dragged a chair over, sitting down and pulling me down into his lap. He ran his hand through my hair, which was already starting to loose it's curl. "Did I tell you you look beautiful tonight?"

I laughed. I'd taken off my makeup, and changed out of my dress into sweatpants and a tee shirt. Scorpius had changed too. "No really, you looked amazing. Still do. I always think you're beautiful," he said.

"Thanks Scorp." He grinned and leaned in to kiss me again.

You know, I don't think I mind the annual ball so much anymore.

Author Note: This fic was inspired by an unnatural girly moment of happiness at finding my Spring Formal dress. I'm not a girly person, and have avoided Spring Formal for 3 years, but my friends say I have to go senior year. I actually found a dress I really liked, and had a girly happy moment, which somehow gave birth to a plot bunny that bit me for three days when I tried to sleep until I typed this up.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Flames will be poked with a stick.