Authors' Note

Eh, back to class and assignments, guys. Easy :P I'm trying to keep writing for you around all the photography shtick, and design I have to do (find me at ). Here's an extra long and really uneventful chapter in my opinion. There's some good bits. I think I'm going to skip a bit of stuff that Harry/Ron/Hermione do. Amy isn't with them too much, that's my reasoning.

From now on I'm going to try put the liney things in as paragraph breaks, too, because this formatting is weird.

Reviews are very much loved!

- Elle :)

The next few weeks passed – almost – uneventfully. Snow was falling heavier on and around Hogwarts; the Beauxbatons carriage looked like a frosted cake, next to Hagrid's' hut which looked like a gingerbread house. The Durmstrang ship had ice coating all the riggings, and I wondered if it was really as cold as it looked on board the vessel. One chilly day, about a week until Christmas, I was getting some of the homework done in the blissful silence of the library (the Gryffindor common room was much too rowdy for such studious things, especially with people turning into canaries every odd minute), when Draco Malfoy swaggered in.

Oh dear, I thought. Spark chirruped a quiet agreement. I saw a few wary third years slip away as Crabbe and Goyle looked about menacingly.

"Amy, my snowflake, will you go to the ball with me?" he asked extravagantly, smirking like I'd already said yes.

I took a deep breath, feeling I was going to need it. "Actually, I can't."

The smirk melted off his face. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I was asked a few weeks ago, by someone else." I told him, a blush rising. "I said I'd go with him."

He frowned. "I thought we would be going together."

"You didn't ask me until now. It's less than a week until the ball, Draco. Of course I said yes to someone else."

He scowled at me, and then shrugged. "I'll go ask Pansy." Growling, he walked out of the library. Crabbe leered at me before following his leader. I knew that particular confrontation was going to happen sooner or later, but I don't enjoy arguing with Draco. I don't enjoy arguing with anybody, so you know. I'd be happy with a quiet life, but being related to the Harry Potter wasn't going to get me that. Well, it could have, if the Dark Lord wasn't in the picture, and Harry and I were just another pair of kids. The Dark Lord screws up my life doubly so, and stems all my problems, it seems. Ruining the life of a teenage witch – didn't evil wizards have much better to do anymore?

But it was Draco's arrogance that got in the way of what probably – maybe – could be a relationship. His arrogance, and his assumptions that we already were in a relationship. Living with him most of the time, I tried to head off arguments as much as I could, but he was just such a prick sometimes. I looked back down at my homework before sighing and slamming the book shut, heading back up to the common room.

Christmas morning I woke to the squeal of other girls already opening their presents.

"Come on, Amy, get up." Hermione threw a pillow at me grinning. I stuck my tongue out at her, tossing it back. Christmas day seemed to pass in a blur, with a huge lunch and a snowball fight outside with the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione. At five, Hermione pulled out of the fight, heading into the castle, and I supposed I should follow.

"Who are you going with?" Ron bellowed after her, but she merely waved. I grinned, lobbing my last snowball at him, catching him unawares before running after Hermione. I caught up to her in the Entrance Hall, gasping at the cold air.

"Figured I might come with you." I panted. "I'll probably need a lot of help with my hair, anyway. Catch some girls to help me before they're too busy themselves."

Hermione grinned at me. "I'll help you, if you'll help with mine."

I smiled back. "Deal."

Fifteen minutes later we were both in our dresses beginning to eye each other's hair. Hermione's dress was a soft blue material that floated as she moved, with soft shoulder sleeves. My dress had one sleeve – clinging tight to my left arm, covering to my wrist – and a decorated, tight, bodice before falling sleekly to the floor, leaving one shoulder bare. It was a pine needle green that matched my eyes, with black detailing.

Hermione pulled out two bottles of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, grabbing a tall mirror. "I was going to straighten mine, putting it into a loose knot." She told me. "Did you know what you were doing with yours?"

Sheepishly, I shook my head, smiling. "I came up hoping for advice." I confessed.

She laughed, instructing me to wait, before disappearing into the common room, returning with Ginny and a few other girls, handing my hair over to them. I chatted with her, watching her slowly straighten her mass of bushy hair, and twist it up elegantly. One of the girls detached from my hair, attacking my face with powders and such things. I'd known that muggle girls did this, but I didn't realise there were wizarding equivalents.

By the time Hermione and I were done, with the assistance of a few others in between their own processes, it was nearly half past seven. I was amazed at what had been done with my hair; they had twisted it up into a loose bun, with a few artfully placed twists of hair curling over my bare shoulder. Always having straight hair, it never occurred to me having curls such as these would be possible. Silently, I praised Sleekeazy's name.

In our chatter, Hermione had confessed to me her ball date; none other than the Viktor Krum, Durmstrang champion. I told her I also had a Durmstrang date, to which she was momentarily surprised. It seemed everyone thought I'd go with Draco. Sadly, I guessed it wasn't only Draco who assumed we were in a relationship past living arrangements. However, Hermione and I agreed to head down to the Entrance Hall to meet our Durmstrang dates together.

I really don't do feminine things well, perhaps you've noticed. I'm not normally the sort to wear a floaty dress, and dance with handsome strangers in a winter wonderland of the Great Hall. The Yule Ball was magnificent, with delightful entertainment, decorations, food, and the works. Let's just stick with magnificent and skip onwards before my mind falls out at all the unfamiliar words.

A week or so after Christmas classes started again, and no one was looking forward to Herbology, or Care of Magical Creatures first thing Monday morning, though Ron pointed out that the Skrewts would probably warm us up, either as we chased them, ran away screaming, or they set Hagrid's cabin on fire. When we got to the cabin however, a fierce looking witch was waiting for us instead.

"Hurry up." She was barking as students straggled down to the class. "I am Professor Grubbly-Plank, and I will be your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked loudly, as she ignored all the muttering of the other Gryffindors.

"Professor Hagrid is indisposed." She replied shortly, to the laughter of the Slytherins who had just joined us. Unsurprisingly, none of the Slytherins looked surprised to see a replacement teacher.

Professor Grubbly-Plank led us past the Beauxbatons carriage to a tree on the edge of the Forest, where a large unicorn was tethered. The other girls 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' at the creature that made the snow look grey and the Forest even darker than normal. It was pawing at the ground with gold hooves and tossing its head, an oddly threatening move. Then again, not so odd when you think about the massive spike protruding from it's forehead.

"Boys, get back." Our lovely new tutor instructed. "Girls, get to the front, but approach with care. Unicorns prefer a woman's touch. Easy does it…"

The boys hung back as the girls moved towards the creature, cooing. Even Pansy Parkinson was making some sort of lovey noise in her throat. And I was swept along with them, to pet the goddamned intimidating creature.

"Unicorns are highly magical creatures." Professor Grubbly-Plank began. "Their horns are silver and used in many potions, and their tail-hairs have many uses, including being a powerful thread and the core of many wands. Does anyone here have a wand with the core of unicorn? Ah, yes – Anastasia, is it? Well…"