Year 4

Practice for the Yule Ball
[Woman Up]

*The Yule Ball is coming soon, just around the corner, and apparently, the boys need help, but more importantly, they need to woman up.

~Action!~

We had all been sitting by the lake, Harry, Ron, Mione, me, and of course my first year little sister, Anna, watching the serene view.

"I'm not going to be embarrassed about this because I know that a lot of other people are doing this too, maybe, but can one of you guys teach us to dance?" Harry asked for both him and Ron.

I open my mouth to say I could teach them, but Anna beats me to it. " Elsa can show you guys, she took ballet and ballroom when she was like six."

"Anna, you were five and Mione and I were eight," I said, correcting my sister.

"Are you sure?"

"Do the Grangers love chocolate? Yes, yes we do. I remember everyday, after class, as soon as I got home, we would have a dance," I say, reminicing the old memories.

~flashback~

"Elsa! Elsa! You're back!" my little Anna said.

"Yes I am and my feet are so sore from all the footwork," I replied to Anna, saying the second part to my 'twin'.

"Can we play now?" Anna asked, always so eager to have fun.

Evan with my sore feet, I would do anything for my little sister. "Of course. My lady, wpuld you like to dance?" I asked, getting into character qnd extnding a hand out towards her.

"Of course!" Anna said, reaching for my hand, we danced to the rhythm of a folk-tale like song, switching partners between the three of us.

~Flashback Over~

"Anyways, for the Yule Ball, there are most likely only ballroom dancing, just depending if you decide to go modern or traditional."

"Wait, what?" Ron asked, a little lost. The ginger may know Quidditch, but he knows nothing of dance.

"Harry, over here. You get to be my model of example." Harry walked over to me, not exactly sure what he was doing. "For the actual footwork, all you have to do is sway to the music and do NOT step on anybody's toes or feet. Mione, help Ron. The traditional way..." this went on for a while. The boys did fairly well and I did give them some of the most valuable tips. "Oh, and important rule: not too low and not too high."

After trying some steps, which is harder to do without actual music, I notice Ron and Mione continuously head-butting each other. "One has to lead and one has to follow. Two followers equals no dancing and two leaders equals a crash and burn. Ron, you clearly do not know what you are doing, so just Mione lead."

It helped, Ron got the gist of it and Harry did good leading. They got a bit nervous from the closeness and hand positions, but easily moved on from it.

"You guys are good. Either you already knew how to dance, or you both happen to be a natural. Anyways, you guys seem ready for the Yule Ball," I finished, just as my Slytherin best friend, Ash, ran up to me.

"Hey girl, sorry if this is a last minute thing for you, but can you make me a dress for the Yule Ball?" Ash asked me. I was about to say of course, when I realized who I was talking to.

"Yeah, sure- Wait... You, the Ashes Crystal Moon, the girl in combat boots everyday and would rather die in the eyes of a basilisk before wearing a 'tight, constricting, crazy excuse for an outfit', wants a dress for the Yule Ball? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Uh yeah it is!" Ron interjects, we all turn our heads quizzically to him. "What? This is Ash we're talking about here, she's like a bloody Amazon -no offense-"

"None taken."

"But this is serious. Out of everyone going to the Yule Ball, Ash is the one who is expected not to be wearing a dress. And I'm not saying this as a friend, I still dislike all Slytherins, I am saying this as a fact; Cryst would not go to the Yule Ball, wearing a dress-no-less, unless she had a reason."

"Aww, Ron, it's sweet to know that you do but don't care. Anyways, it's because I got asked by the right guy. Blaise asked me out to the Yule Ball!" Cryst said, bouncing on the balls of her feet in joy. Me and Mione surrounded our friend and squealed in excitement.

"Wait, you're going with Zabini?" Cryst and I inwardly sighed as the ginger Gryffindor said that. We both knew how this conversation would end.

"Yeah, why?" Ashes said, using her usual lines.

"You do know he's Malfoy's best friend, right?" Ron said, thanks Captain Obvious.

"You do know that's common information, right?" the asian Slytherin said, mocking him with the same sentence structure.

"And he's in Slytherin," the boy added, still believing the old Slytherin House stereotype that everyone from that house comes out evil.

"That's my house too," Cryst remarked. Though it seems Ron did not hear that, or he just didn't care.

"That makes him EVIL!" Ron exclaimed as if he just solved all the world's problems and defeated Voldy.

"Alright, I have too much information to prove you wrong and I don't want to have go through all that with you, so bye guys! See you later!" Cryst said, running back into the castle. Ron, why are you still so prejudice against Ashes? Everyone knows her as the least meanest Slytherin and you know on a more personal level than everyone else because of me. Why can't you just get it through your thick Gryffindor skull that not all Slytherins are evil? Don't you know that Merlin the Great was in Slytherin? This clearly means that not all Slytherins are evil.

~~~ Several Days Later ~~~

"Hey Els, your house gets to practice with us," Ash said, coming up to me.

"We are? Great. At least you get some practice with your date, though would either way since you guys are in the same house."

"Oh, you upset someone hasn't asked you yet?"

"No, more like too many 'someone's."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I am just waiting for someone I know, like that third year reporter kid, Colin Creevy, asked me, but first of all, I barely know him, and second of all he's not even allowed because he's a third year."

"Wow, well maybe a little snowball might ask you to the ball," Crystal said, emphasizing on the word 'snowball', our secret code name for a certain pale, platinum-blonde boy.

"Oh, please. Snowball has been ignoring me since the beginning of the year."

"But you could tell he likes you, anyone could. First, second, and third year he was flirting and you played along right with him. And this year! Even though he was 'ignoring' you, he still looked at you in the mess hall when you weren't looking with his dopey 'puppy love' face. I swear, he was drooling more than once!" Ash elaborates to me.

"Well, if he likes me, why ignore me? Anyways, I can not wait to practice. I have not properly danced in quite some time."

"Well, if you're able to teach it, you're bound to be able to do it."

"Let us see, let us see," I say, opening the door for my friend.

"Thanks."

"No problem." We quickly left to our respectable places alongside the wall where we watched McGonagall and Snape demo how to dance.

I must say, Professor Snape is definitely a lot better than I expected him to be. After demonstration, we all awkwardly stood against the wall, none of us wanting to be the first. Ice broke when Ash reluctantly pulled Blaise out to the dance floor with her. It seemed to work, soon enough, more people started pairing up and leaving the wall. I was one of the few from my house without a partner, so I watched everyone else from the sidelines. I noticed Draco, too, did not seem to have a partner and kept being pestered by Pansy to dance with her.

I can not tell if he is looking distressed, nervous, or shy, but he started coming across the room, over to me, and I started to feel all three. Is Snowball seriously coming over here? Are you seriously kidding me right now?! Ash, are you right, does Snowball actually like me?! Whatever you do, do NOT come over here. Donotcomeoverhere. Donotcomeoverhere. Donotco~

"Hey," Snowball, also known as Draco, said, interrupting my mental conversation with myself.

He came over here. Great, just great.

"Hey," I replied back. 'Hey'? Sooo lame! I literally just repeated what he said back to him.

"Do you have anybody to dance with?"

"Would I not be dancing if I did? Oh yes, I clearly have a partner, and I am clearly dancing right now," I say, not thinking at all, my words soaked and drenched in sarcasm. Holy snowflakes! Why Elsa, why would you do this to yourself? I should just probably join the no-date party with Harry and Ron.

"Well, would you care for a dance?"

Quick! While he is still here! Move your mouth and say 'yes'!

"Sure, why not."Thank goodness I was able to say something right. I grabbed the hand Snowball had extended out to me and he pulled me to the dance floor. We got into position and started to move, Snowball likes to lead apparently, so all I had to was follow.

It's quiet, not awkward quiet, or a comforting quiet, but somewhere in between. It's nice.

"You don't have to be nervous you know." And now, it's not.

"Nervous? Me? Is your head okay?"

"Haha, very funny. Yes, you. I can tell, I'm an observer when it comes to people," Snowball sees my clear look of doubt, head slightly tilted to the side and my eyebrows raised and a bit scrunched, "People that are close to me. Friends, foes, more than that. For example, Weasley still seems to believe that all Slytherins are evil when your own best friend is one."

"Cryst? Well-"

"No, me! Poor Elsa, what spell has Ash cast on you and how can I counter it?

"You?" I couldn't hold my laughter in. "Hilarious, but I think you are the one who should be nervous, considering you drool over me and all, S-Draco," I say, almost calling him Snowball.

"Oh, I am, especially with you here."

"Wait, what?" I was so confuzzled I tripped backwards and fell. Please don't hurt. The floor can't be too hard, right? I close my eyes and hang onto Snowball's left shoulder with my right arm, bracing for impact. I don't hear or feel anything, except for Professor Snape's voice.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, at least one arm length apart."

I look to see Snowball has me in a dip position to keep me from falling. Flustered, I quickly stand back up and look to see Snowball's smug smirk on his face.

"See? Nervous."

"Oh ha ha. I bet you say that to every girl in your fan-club," I remark, looking over Snowball's shoulder and instantly regretting my words, feeling his smirk growing wider. Oh, great, I just boosted his ego much more than it needs to be.

"Jealous now?"

"Of you? Please." I'm not jealous, right? Of course not.

"Well, I'm pretty sure all the other girls are jealous of you."

Is he seriously asking me to the Yule Ball? This is gonna be sooo much fun.

"Oh yeah, why is that?"

"Someone who likes you very much would like to take you to the Yule Ball, will you accept?"

That's seriously how you're gonna ask? Just straight up ask me, don't beat around the bush by saying 'someone wants to go to the ball with you.' Well, that's my cue to start playing the game.

"Really? Harry? No, he has a thing for Cho. Blaise? No, Cryst. Ron? Could be, kind of cute, I do like a good ginge- Ah!" before I can finish my tease, Snowball walks off the dance floor and out the room, pulling me along for the ride. Thank goodness, class was just dismissed. Snowball kept pulling me along with him, finding a private hallway and trapping me between his arms, my back against the wall. The Slytherin's signature scent fills my nostrils and head, leaving me a bit tipsy. My legs become slightly become jelly-like as he comes closer to me, our noses barely brushing each other.

"Don't. You. Dare finish that word. Me, for hell's sakes, I mean me!" he says, his eyes looking at me with a spark of anger. Well, it seems I've hit a nerve.

"Jealous now, are we not? It seems you have mistaken your own feelings as mine," I say, continuing my tease.

"We may seem to have the same effect on each other considering the jealousy and nervousness, but," Snowball pauses to add some sort of effect of suspense and comes even closer to me, our heads together, lips brushing at the slightest movement, "only you turn a scarlet red."

"Oh, S-Draco, do you not remember the Blush Challenge in the library? Apparently you do not seem to remember how vividly red your face grows, it reminds me of Ron's hair." I give him hug, catching him off-guard, and place my head perfectly in the crook of his neck, feeling both of our heartbeats quicken in sync and knows he feels it too. "A tip; if you want to ask someone to the Yule Ball, or anything for that matter, just ask." I give him a small peck on the cheek and slide under his arms. That should hold him long enough for me to escape. Sorry, Snowball, you must be so confused. I leave the hallway to find Ash and Blaise talking at the entrance.

"...I'm telling you, the first one making it out there is gonna be my girl. Oh look, there she is now. I would like my prize by the end of the week, if that's possible, but don't worry, I never forget a bet. See you later, Zabini." Ash says, coming over to me as we start walking to the Great Hall. "So, bet you're lucky that we have lunch instead of an actual class right now."

"Snowflakes! How long did we take?"

"More than enough time to be late. Details, now. I need to know everything that happened. Did Snowball do it, did he pop the question?" Cryst asked , her undivided attention on me while simultaneously reading a book from one of her favorite muggle series, Jackson Perseus.

"Please do not say it like that, it sounds like we're getting married. I shall tell you everything if, and only if, Snowball asks me."

"Fluffin' marshmallows! He still hasn't asked you yet?"

"No, he has not, but with the Ball less than a month away, Snowball might not even have enough time to ask. Why is it so hard for someone to man up-"

"Woman up."

"-and ask someone else to the ball?"

"Well, maybe he's setting something up."

"What do you mean?"

"Like with how Blaise asked me. He told me to meet him by the Quidditch field, that's where we go when we wanna hang out with just the two of us, there he asked me to the Yule Ball and handed me a daffodil, just like the one we first found together. See, maybe Snowball's trying to do something to go big and show that he really cares," Ash explains.

"Hmm, I do not seem to believe that, but Cryst, you have given me a wonderful idea! I just need to 'woman up,' and maybe this will shock Draco enough to just ask next time," I say, putting our heads together as we walked to lunch.

. . .

~3rd Person~

. . .

"Malfoy!" Anna yelled, getting his attention. He'd better treat my Els right. Sometimes I still can't believe she likes him, and him-her. Anna starts walking over to him, but before she initiates her part, she needs to know he is the right guy for her sister.

"You're her sister, right? Do you know whe-"

"How much do you like her?" Anna bluntly asked.

"Excuse me?" Draco was a bit taken back, surprised, and so on.

"I'm not gonna say it again, how much do you like my sister?"

"What's going on exactly?"

"I'm not telling you anything until you answer my question and believe me, you're gonna wanna know what's going on. Now what does Elsa mean to you?"

Draco thought long and hard about this, he had asked himself that very same question for the past 3 years. Elsa is like… umm… well… Ugh, mind's going on a blank. Granger, just tell me where your beautiful sister is! "My thing for Elsa is something I can't explain." Was that good enough? No, probably not, she's a Granger, she's obviously gonna want more information.

"Elaborate."

See? You guys see what I mean?

"When I see, or even think about, her, my heart stops, restarts, and goes racing. She has an amazing poker face, shocking you when she suddenly pulls out a trump card from her sleeve. No matter what, she always seems to stay true to herself. She is kind and generous, and just so caring to everyone. I don't think she realizes it, but people just radiate to her. Like a moth to a flame, there is just something about Elsa that makes m-people love her."

"An acceptable answer, but give a better one to Elsa herself, and you better tell her ASAP. you wanna know what's going on? Elsa decided to ask Ron-" before Anna could even finish, Draco ran away in search for Elsa. "Aww man, I didn't even get to finish my lines and I worked really hard trying to remember them. Hey! You don't even know where she is! Nevermind, he'll figure it out." Anna left the hallway to find a perfect spot to watch the Ball-posal.

~Meanwhile, with Draco~

Is she seriously doing it? I can't believe she's going to ask that Weasel! I'm seriously about to Avada Ka-kiak his butt! Oh, where is she? Wait you don't think…

Draco ran, he ran as fast as he could, as fast as a Shooting Star, to the only place he could think of. He ran all the way up to the astronomy tower, and raced up the steps, eager to get to Elsa.

"Elsa! Come on, where are you, Snowflake?" Drat, I used her codename!

Elsa turned around to Snowball. "Snowflake?"

"Oh-heh-heh, yeah," his embarrassment plus his nervousness made Draco red as an apple, "Snowflake cause that's what you say all the time, yeah." He tries to look at something, anything, except for Elsa. He knows that once he looks into her ice-blue eyes, he'll get lost and say stuff, things, anything, everything. "So are you really asking Weasley to the Yule Ball?"

"That depends," Elsa said, nonchalantly.

"'Depends?' Depends on what? Are you saying you might not? How?"

"Will you be my date to the Yule Ball?"

Of all things happening, this was both expected and unexpected. Too bad we had to go through all this just because Draco couldn't just woman up. "Umm, excuse me, wait, what?" Draco was, to say the least, very confused. He had this whole(more like a quarter) speech (not really) prepared as to why she should go with him, and now he doesn't need to even try to argue?

"I said, may I have the honor of accompanying Draco Malfoy to the Yule Ball?" Elsa asked, rephrasing her words.

"I-I don't know what to say. I am honestly really confused." Draco was, well, speechless. His brain decided to malfunction at that moment for many, many reasons.

"How about you say 'yes?'" Elsa remarked to him.

"Yeah, uh-huh, but, umm, when exactly did our roles get reversed?"

"'Roles?'"

"I mean, I'm just saying, not trying to offend you here, it's just that I wanted to be the one to ask you and you be the speechless one," Draco awkwardly said, trying to not offend to girl.

"You tried and failed, so I took some advice, woman up-ed and asked you myself, before Pansy could ask you, again. See, not so hard to ask a simple question, maybe you try next time. What do you say?" Elsa said, somehow making asking the person you've liked for the past several years sound as easy as asking someone to borrow a quill.

"I say, you are so lucky that you're you. Yes." Elsa ran into Draco's arms and held their embrace for awhile. Draco, nor Elsa, were exactly sure how they felt for one another, but knew they were going to be in each other's lives for a long, long time.

~The End~

"Snowflakes!" Elsa abruptly broke their hug and started stress pacing. "I got to finish those dresses, plus fittings, all before the Ball. Cryst, follow me, I have barely started in yours!" she said, running out the tower.

"Barely? Have we seen the same dress?" Ash said, back flipping smoothly off the ledge where she watched the sweet moment. The two girls frantically ran around, hurrying out of the room. Draco just smiled and shook his head at their antics.

"See, you do say it!" he called back as the girls were leaving.

Elsa blushed at his faint remark as Ashes laughed at her flushed face while they sprinted down to the hidden, abandoned room the young Snow Queen used to create her, well, creations.

~The End~

(For Real this time)

That's that. In case you haven't noticed, Elsa and Ashes call Draco "Snowball" which you would understand if you read the latest chapter in Sisters by Chance, Forever Friends by Choice (Chapter 4) and Draco calls Elsa "Snowflake" because if you paid attention, Elsa says that a lot (it's like her curse word, her version of "Bloody Hell" and Ashes has "Fluffin' Marshmallows") so yeah, they all have their own little weird curse words, accept it.

If you read that one part where it said Blush Challenge (when Draco and Elsa were alone) it will be cleared up in due time (it's the next oneshot, which is almost done) Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next time!

See you Marshmallows!
~The Slytherin Princess

(Yeah, I'm a start doing that)