Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own the OC's in this story.

"Melinda, wake up~" Gently cooed Valerie. Her eyes slowly opened and focused in on her two friends standing over her with small grins.

"Merry Christmas!" They suddenly shouted and tickled their friend, who yelped and giggled.

"S-stop it you two!" She struggled to say between laughs. The other two finally seized and pulled back. Melinda sat up and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't believe it was already Christmas day, but that also meant that night was the Yule Ball. Like Andrea suggested, Mel was going to fake being sick while she and Valerie would explain to George and give her cover.

"Come now, let's open our presents!" Said an excited Val as she went to her pile.

'I hope he doesn't get too upset with me.' Melinda thought as she put on her long black robe while Andrea and Valerie already started unwrapping their presents at the end of their beds.

"Oh my goodness!" Valerie gasped as she set her eyes upon a very ornate mirror she had gotten from her aunt. Andrea looked over and admired its intricate designs.

"Wow Val, that's beautiful!" She said, in awe with the present. Valerie grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Yep, auntie always gives me the best presents!" She let out an excited giggle and continued to scavenge through her pile of presents and tear the wrappings apart. Andrea then opened a present from her mother and father, which was a jewelry set with jade stones to use with her dress for the Yule Ball.

"Oh my god, I have the best parents ever!" She squealed and the other two complimented on her gift. Melinda then opened one from her caretaker; it was a pretty neat hairpin in the shape of a lily flower. She opened the card that came with it.

Dear Melinda,

Merry Christmas! I hope you like your present, I found it at a shop one day and thought it was something you would use. By the way, I heard about the Yule Ball and I hope you have a lot of fun with your friends.

Love,

Martha

'She's so sweet.' She thought and looked over the hairpin again.

"What's that you got, Mel?" Valerie asked, bringing Andrea's attention to her as well.

"Oh, it's the present I got from Martha." She showed it to them and they smiled.

"That's so pretty." Val said. "Yeah, Martha's a really nice woman." Andrea commented, thinking back to one of the summer breaks when she and Val spent a week at Melinda's house. It was before their fourth year started, and almost every night she would bring up cookies with milk for the girls to have at night before they went to bed.

"Good times." She mumbled to herself, going unheard by the other two. Next, Melinda opened the gifts the two had left for her. Andrea had gotten her a pretty scarf in different shades of blue, with tiny crystal beads on it. Val in turn, had given her a fluffy hat that when she put on felt very comfortable.

"Aw, thanks you guys." She gave them both a hug. They did the same when they opened the presents she had gotten them; Andrea received a silver bracelet with a ruby embedded in the middle, and Val got a pretty headband that could change to whatever color she wanted if she tapped her wand on it.

Melinda suddenly spotted another present she had not noticed before. Picking up the yellow box with a black bow on top, the colors of her House, she looked over to see if there was any tag or note that came with it. No such thing. Her curiosity began to rise and so she started unwrapping the present. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside the box. It was a necklace with sparkling diamond teardrops handing off the entire length.

'Who could've sent this to me?' She thought, not even realizing the other two coming up to her and gasping when they laid eyes on the necklace themselves.

"Oh my god Mel, who gave that to you?" Val immediately asked, wanting to know who was willing to spend that much money on a gift like that to her.

"I don't know, it didn't come with any card or tag saying who sent it." She mumbled, still in utter amazement at this present. Andrea and Val looked at each other, before staring at Melinda.

"Mel, do you think that maybe George gave this to you?" At that, Mel looked up at them. "George? But...I don't think he'd have the money to get this." The other two fell silent as that was true.

"Then, maybe you have a mysterious admirer?" Val tried. Andrea nodded a bit, thinking it was possible, and Melinda thought about it. Just who could that person be?

'This curiosity will kill me.' She thought with a small sigh. After having opened their presents, they got ready and headed down for breakfast. The Great Hall was decorated with twelve towering Christmas trees, as it has always been. There were also chains of holly draped about along with mistletoes and other ornaments. Real live fairies danced around the trees, a well known decoration Hogwarts used every time the holiday came around. On their way there, the suits of armor that had been charmed sang various Christmas carols.

As part of the plan, Melinda tried to seem like she was feeling sick, so maybe George would notice and her being absent from the Ball would make sense afterwards.

"Don't eat everything, act like you don't have much of an appetite." Andrea whispered to her. "Oh, and lay your head down like you're tired." Val added in. Melinda did all those things while the two secretly kept an eye on George to see if he would notice. He glanced to their table and seemed to have caught sight of Melinda. He raised an eyebrow and said something to Fred, who also looked over. The other two looked elsewhere, busying with their food.

"Mel, I think he noticed you're not 'feeling well'." Andrea said very quietly, after checking to see that the twins weren't looking anymore. Melinda glanced to her and nodded a bit. Her stomach growled and she sighed a bit.

"Why don't you go back up to the dorm? We'll bring you some food later." Andrea suggested. Thinking that was a brilliant idea, Melinda headed out of the Great Hall.

"Mel!" George suddenly called out to her as he came out of the Hall after her. He went over to her and she got a little nervous.

'Oh great.' She thought, hoping she could get past this without him noticing her act. She turned around and gave half a smile.

"Hey George." She greeted 'weakly'. "Hey, are you feeling alright?" He asked and she gave a small sigh.

"Not really, I didn't sleep very well last night, and when I woke up I felt kind of sick." She mumbled. George gave a slight nod.

"I see...well I hope you feel better for tonight." He stated with a hopeful tone in his voice. Melinda's conscious began to pound on the back of her head. She tried to ignore it in order to properly respond to George.

"Yeah, I hope so too...but in case I don't, you won't be mad at me will you? I really don't know how I'll be until then..." He blinked and instantly shook his head.

"No, of course not. It's not your fault if you're sick. If you don't get better until then it's fine, I'll just hang around with Fred and Angelina. It's no problem Mel." He assured her and she felt even worse, because she was almost certain she could detect a bit of hurt in the way he said that.

'He's such a nice guy...ugh, I hate myself.' She nodded and smiled a bit more.

"Thank you for understanding George. You're a great friend...I better go lay down now." She said before taking her leave. Upon getting to the Hufflepuff girls' dorm, she sat on her bed and heaved a heavy sigh. She just felt terrible for lying to George like that, but if she didn't, things could get much worse.

'And to think I'll have to open my game with the professors soon...my stomach will only grow more from this point.' She glanced to her nightstand where that yellow box she received as a present was. Picking it up, she opened it and looked at the beautiful diamond necklace, wondering once again who could've given such an expensive thing to her.

'Could it really be George? Or an admirer like Valerie said? If so, who could it possibly be? Surely someone with a lot of money because this...this has to cost at least 300 galleons.' She held the box in her hands for a good time, before putting it in a safer place.

About 20 minutes later, Valerie and Andrea returned with some sweets that Hogwarts usually served during the holiday.

"Here you go, the best Hogwarts has to offer to a mother-to-be." Valerie joked, handing over the plate to Mel who greedily took it and started to eat right away. Andrea gave Val a warning look.

"Watch what you say, sometimes the walls have ears." She blinked before nodding sheepishly. Melinda didn't seem to care as all she wanted to do was eat.

"Slow down Mel, you're going to choke like that." Andrea teased once she saw her stuff her face. Melinda blinked, gulping down what she had.

"I can't help it, I'm just so hungry~" She whined. The other two shook their heads. "Must be great to have such a large appetite." Andrea mumbled.

"Yeah, but then she'll have to lose it all afterwards." Val reminded her. Melinda shrugged at that. "Won't be that hard. I'll probably be up all night trying to take care of the baby." She mumbled. Val and Andrea nodded as that was probably true. Babies had a knack for keeping parents up and busy with them for a least the first week or two.

"Hey Mel? Did you already think about what you're going to do after it's born? You know...are you going to finish off this year? Continue or stop altogether?" Andrea suddenly asked. Mel thought for a moment and shook her head.

"I haven't given much thought. I'd like to at least finish this year, that is, if I don't get expelled before that..." The other two looked at each other before sitting beside Mel and wrapping an arm around her.

"We're here for you." Andrea said and Valerie nodded. "Yeah, and if they try to expel you, we'll protest, threaten a process on the school, I don't know, something like that. Anything to try and convince them to let you stay." That was a little humorous to Mel and she gave a light chuckle.

"Thanks you two, that makes me feel better." She said. The other two smiled.

It was 4 PM and the girls were all up in their dorms getting ready for tonight. Melinda continued with her act of being sick to convince the other Hufflepuff girls, just in case. Val and Andrea were there for support while getting ready themselves. It wasn't until 7:30, that the girls began to head down to meet their dates.

"Alright," Andrea said when all the other girls had left and it was only the three of them in the dorm now. "So we're going to go down and find George first to tell him you're too sick to attend." She draped a dark green scarf over her arms.

"Oh, and don't worry about the professors. We told Madam Pomfrey in advance that you were feeling sick and wouldn't be able to attend the Ball, so she said to get some rest and check with her tomorrow morning if you were 'still ill'." Val added in. Melinda nodded while watching the two. They looked very beautiful for the dance; she just wished she could join them in the fun too.

"I don't think anyone will come check up on you, but just in case stay in the dorm until it's over." Andrea advised.

"Alright, I get it. Now go on and have fun." Mel said, ushering them out with a wave of her hand. The two bid her goodbye before heading off. Sighing, she looked out the window nearby her bed. Light snow was falling from the dark night sky. A single star was glowing up there, and it reminded her of the gift she had gotten from George.

'I hope you still have a lot of fun without me, George. You deserve the best.' She thought. When the clock struck 8:05, she began to hear faint music coming from the Great Hall, a sign that the Ball had just begun. Melinda tried to imagine how everything was, from decoration to how everyone looked.

'Everything must be magnificent there. Too bad I can't take part on it. Oh well, no use moping over it now.' Mel spent about half an hour in the dorm, before going down to the Common Room and sitting by the fireplace. The music had gotten louder, no longer a classical tune, but rather a rock n' roll style. She recognized one of the songs as being Do the Hippogriff, by the Weird Sisters.

'God, I love that song. I wonder how Andrea and Val are doing...are they having a lot of fun? And George...' She thought. Staring at the fire for a few minutes, she suddenly got a wild idea. She carefully made way out of the Common Room and past the kitchen area. The elves were too busy working nonstop with preparing more food, so they didn't notice her go by. The music had gradually gotten louder as she went on. She just couldn't help herself. Even though Andrea had told her to stay in the dorms, something just told her to go ahead and do it.

'I better be very careful.' She thought, not wanting to bump into any student, or worse, any professors that were acting as chaperon scouting the castle for any students that had sneaked off. No sooner did she think that, when she suddenly heard Snape's voice coming from around the corner. She quickly hid herself behind a large pillar. His voice grew louder as he neared, but there was someone else talking with him. They rounded a corner just before reaching her hiding spot. She breathed normally once their footsteps grew faint and disappeared.

'That was close.' She peeked out before moving on. Melinda almost made it to the bottom of the Astronomy Tower's stairs when she had to hide behind a wall again when she heard two very familiar voices.

"But Draco I-"

"Save it, Pansy. You need to stop hogging me all the time, it's annoying." Draco said, the tone sounding both exhausting and irritated.

'Are they having an argument?' Melinda thought as she continued to eavesdrop.

"I don't get it. Lately you've been avoiding me, brushing me off when just last year you and I were fine. What the bloody hell has gotten to you?" She asked, not able to mask the hurt in her voice, but there was also some anger.

"Nothing! You're overreacting. You just need to give me space to breathe sometimes, you're way too clingy." He said as an excuse.

"Hmph! Fine, do whatever you want!" She said. Mel heard the sound of tapping heels rushing off. She waited a few minutes.

'Is he gone too?' She thought. Since she heard nothing, she deemed it was safe enough and walked out from behind the wall, but she suddenly bumped into none other than Draco. Startled, Melinda stumbled back a bit. Draco looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing here, Valkyrie?" He questioned. Her heart started racing and she began grow tense, not able to say a word yet.

"Were you eavesdropping, huh?" His eyes then took notice of the way she was dressed and a look of confusion replaced his previous annoyed one.

"Hey, why aren't you wearing a dress or something?" Melinda blinked and looked down at herself. She had her black robe on, having changed earlier that day since she had no intention of going to the dance.

"I-I was feeling sick..." She managed to finally say. He looked her over again.

"Huh, you don't look so sick to me." He commented and leaned closer. Her eyes widened a bit and she leaned back. She didn't estimate how far she could lean back before she started to fall. Fear struck her instantly, and the safety of her baby came to mind right at that instant. Before she knew it, Draco had grabbed her arms and pulled her forward against him. All happened so fast, it took a moment for Melinda to register everything in her mind.

After she finally came to terms, Mel slowly looked up at him. He looked surprised at what he had just done. Melinda herself was shocked, but glad that he had saved her from a nasty fall that could've possibly endangered her baby's life. But suddenly, she realized something that made her terrified. His hand had suddenly lowered to where her stomach was, and he got a puzzled expression. She dreaded what was to come next.

"Valkyrie, are you..."