Finally it's the Yule Ball and are things actually going right for Ella for once? Hope you all are enjoying my story, and keep reading, I have a feeling it's going to be a long one but don't worry they will be getting together in the next couple of chapters :) just don't think that will be the end of all drama, if only someone could tell these poor characters what lay in store for them :3 anyways, happy reading and keep reviewing :)

xoxo Charlotte

PS, direct message me if you want me to send you a picture of the dress and hair that inspired me for Ella's Yule Ball outfit, won't let me post on here x

Chapter 16

The rest of the morning and afternoon had passed relatively uneventfully. After the delicious christmas lunch the group of friends went outside for a snowball fight, which Hermione sat defiantly out of, still worrying about SPEW and the house elves reluctance to be freed. At one point, Fred hadn't been looking where he was going in his mad dash to avoid a snowball to the head from his twin and ended up colliding straight into Ella who was doing the exact same avoid one from Ron. The pair had ended up in fits of laughter, disabling them to get up from the tangle they lay in on the floor.

It got to 5 o'clock before they departed the snow laden school grounds to go and get ready for the Yule Ball that evening. Ella went back to the ship, sad that she always had to go opposite ways to her friends. Just before they were out of earshot she heard someone calling her name. She turned around to see the group beckoning for her to go over.

"What?!" She yelled in response whilst she was running towards them. "Right, what is it? You know I don't do this whole running thing," She said through gasps for breath.

"Our little brother here just reminded us that we needed to tell you mum's invited you and Harry to join us in at the Burrow to stay with us over new year." Fred said, half in question.

"Oh wow, thank you guys. I'd love to stay with you. I've never really done this family christmas thing before," She said pulling the twins down to her height to hug them, "are you sure your mum's okay having me round?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well she doesn't know that you're coming. We've just told her we've got a surprise for her and she knows there's going to be an extra guest." George hesitated.

"WHAT?! I can't just intrude on her," Ella replied, shocked at the twin's devious plotting.

"Of course you can!" Fred answered immediately, "Mum will be thrilled to know you're alright. We all assumed you died the same night as your parents. All mum ever said when you were brought up in the conversation subject was 'how awful to kill such a sweet little toddler. Oh she such a sweet, pretty little thing'," Fred said, impersonating his mother.

"Okay, okay. I'll come," Ella said, laughing at the impression of Mrs Weasley.

Back at the ship Ella got changed into her ball dress. It was an elegant dress with two thin straps and a low v-neck line. The bodice of the dress was a darker champagne colour, shining tastefully with carefully placed diamantes. The lighter champagne skirt of the dress was long and floaty, puffing outwards very slightly in neat ruffles, flatteringly accentuating and showing off her curvy figure. She twisted and braided her hair into a slightly messy bun, a few stray loose curls, escaping to frame her face. She finished off by slipping on a pair of open toe, high heeled, sandals which were also a variation of the same champagne colour. The colour suited her, bringing out her golden tan from the summer she spent in Europe and her emerald green eyes.

Ella made her way out of the ship, towards the castle. Just before she reached the door of the castle's entrance, she felt a rough hand grab her comparatively small wrist and tug her round the corner.

"Now, I don't want you to embarrass me at all tonight," Igor said in a tone of faked niceness, "and I assume you are opening the ball, entering with my aide, Alexei Abdulov?"

"Well...errr...no," Ella said.

"What do you mean? Who in merlin's name are you going with then?" He demanded.

"I mean I said no to him when he asked me because I didn't want anything romantic in any way shape or form tonight and I knew he would there to watch me because you told him to do so," She spat in response, quickly losing her temper at his need to control her, "oh and I'm going with my brother," She said before quickly walking into the entrance hall where there was too many people for him to cause a scene.

"Wow, you look so pretty." Ella turned around to see her brother smiling at her.

"Awh, thanks," She said, her attention broken by watching Igor storm through the entrance hall.

"Can all champions get ready to open the ball whilst all other students take their places in the great hall please," Professor Mcgonagall's voice sounded authoritatively over the general chatter of the hall. The students all did as they were told, as even the foreign students had soon learnt that Professor Mcgonagall was a highly respected teacher that wasn't to be messed around. Soon it was the champions turn to enter.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"Ready," Ella replied.

The champions walked into the Great Hall, which was now filled with students applauding them as they entered. They took their seats at the main table on which the judges were sat on, Percy Weasley sat in place of Mr Crouch Sr, in his time off ill. All throughout the meal, Percy twittered in Harry and Ella's ears about how great his beloved Mr Crouch was, much to their annoyance. Half way through the meal, Percy took to praising his boss again.

"You know, Mr Crouch has been working ever so hard on this tournament," Percy chirped, earning a role of the eyes from everyone in earshot, "so much infact, I personally believe it is what has made him. Not that I am complaining about having to stand in of course, it is a great honor to feel that he knows he can put his trust into me," Percy gave a sickly sweet smile, much like a beaming sheep. Ella suddenly remembered about the twins telling her how Mr Crouch kept calling him by the wrong name at the Quidditch world cup, much to everyone other than Percy's amusement.

"So I gather he's finally learnt your name then?" Ella asked in a fake politeness, with a sickly grin of her own, causing Harry to choke on his beef in laughter.

"Errmm...well..." Percy stuttered, thinking of how to regain his dignity, "Of course he has, I had only been working for him for a very short time then and you know Mr Crouch oversees a LOT of people," He puffed out his chest indignantly like a small child.

"okay okay, whatever you say," Ella waved off, promptly stopping any further conversation of Percy's amazing beyond belief boss.

After the meal, the champions were asked to take to the dance floor to initiate the first dance. Ella could tell that her brother's nerves were getting the better of him.

"It's fine," She whispered in his ear, "I'll lead, just follow me exactly like we did in practice,"

He nodded at her reassurance. As the music started Harry took his sister's waist and they began to dance around the floor. It wasn't half as bad as he had dreaded, he only stumbled over his own feet a couple of times but Ella had managed to cover it gracefully each time. After the first dance, the rest of the students and professors flooded the floor to join in.

"Hey, can we go and get some drinks?" Harry asked, tired from the level of concentration that went into his dancing. Ella agreed and they moved off the dance floor, where they saw Ron sulking staring jealously at Hermione and Viktor, leaving his date, a girl Ella knew to be called Padma Patil, looking sour and bored next to him.

"Go and sit with Ron and I'll get the drinks," Ella muttered to her brother before departing in the direction of the giant bowl of pumpkin juice.

As Ella waited in line, she felt a large finger prod her sharply in the back. She let out a scream of shock, spinning round to find out who the culprit was. She could have guessed, and let out a loud laugh as she saw the mischievous red head towering above her, laughing at the reaction he had caused.

"You idiot, you scared the shit out of me!" She laughed, smacking him across the arm.

"Oi," Fred replied, pretending to be hurt, "I just wanted to say hi," He said sadly, putting on the puppy eyes.

"Don't you pull that face at me Fred Weasley," She attempted (and failed) to say seriously. Fred's smile quickly returned when he began to tease her,

"Don't tell me Harry's ditched you already! And after one dance," He mocked her in jest.

"Let's just say, he's not a natural dancing type. Anyway, where's Angelina?"

"Oh, she's dancing with George. I've never seen George with an actual crush on a girl before, he's always just thought about whether they're hot or not. So I thought the least I could do was let him dance with her. So do you want to dance,"

"I need to take these drinks over to Harry," She said trying to avoid eye contact.

"That's not a problem," Fred grabbed the two cups which she had poured and walked towards Harry, with Ella in tow. Once he reached the boy he handed him the cups and said :

"Would it be alright if I take your dance partner for a dance?"

"Freddd," Ella groaned, embarrassed at the whole situation.

"Errr...sure. Don't see why not," Harry said, amused at the older boy's obvious ploy to pull.

"Great." Fred said, turning and striding towards the dance floor, pulling Ella along by the hand in the process.

"I'm sorry," She mouthed to her brother as she was dragged away.

Once on the dance floor, Fred took a surprisingly gentle yet authoritative hold of her hand and waist and began to dance. He lead them around the dance floor surprisingly well. Ella had never really thought of him as much of a dancer. The pair danced the whole night, just laughing and enjoying each other's company, until they heard the announcement saying it was the last song.

"Bloody hell, that went quick," Ella said, slightly stunned at how quickly the time had gone. She scanned around the room to realise a lot of the students, including her brother, had gone to bed.

"You must be enjoying yourself," Fred teased her, pulling her closer as the next song started. The last song was slow and romantic.

"Must be," Ella said quieting, resting her on Fred's broad shoulder, nuzzling her face, close into his neck as he pulled her closer still, to the point they were touching. They swayed back and forth without saying a word, just soaking up the last minutes of the feeling of each other's body pressed against them. When the song ended, the pair just stood still for a moment, neither one wanting to accept the night had come to an end. Finally fred stepped an inch back so he could look at the her, but careful not to put too much distance between the them. Ella looked up and her emerald green eyes met his soft, gentle brown ones.

"I've really enjoyed myself tonight," She said so timidly it was almost a whisper.

"Me too," Fred grinned softly, "and might I add, that you look absolutely gorgeous tonight," he added before leaning forward, his lips meeting hers. Ella closed the slight distance between them in response and deepened the soft, tender kiss, before pulling away with a sigh.

"Fred..." She started to say.

"Shhh," He said, pressing his lips to hers once more. Once again she reciprocated his kiss. Her lips felt hot as they melted against his.

"Let's go back to the common room," Ella whispered breathily into his lips.

Back at the common room, most of the students had gone to bed, or at least retired to more private places, except for a couple of 7th years who were sharing an intimate kiss in the far corner of the room. Fred sat iby of the fire, pulling Ella down to sit in front him where she leant on him, resting her head on his broad, hard chest. Even through his shirt, she could feel his toned muscles from all his years as being a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They sat watching the fire in a soothing silence, Fred stroking and twisting his fingers through the younger girl's hair, which she had taken out of it's twists and knots before entering the common room. After a while he noticed her breathing had gotten heavier and after checking, he realised she was actually asleep. As gently as he could, he moved her body round so she could stretch out without ending up in the fire. He then lay down beside her with her head some how, still resting on his chest. She let out a small groan in her sleep before shifting slightly and wrapping an arm around the boy. Slowly, he too fell asleep to the calming and rhythmic sounds of Ella's breathing and the fire quiet tranquil cracks and pops.