The next few weeks flew by so fast I could barely remember what happened. I was studying most of the time with Roxanne and Rose, exams were right around the corner and the three of us seemed to be the only ones concerned with that fact. Starlene and the rest of the Potter/Weasley's seemed to not care about exams and were only studying for a few minutes at a time. I had never been to a real school before and I wanted to do really well so I studied like mad crazy. I passed all of my tests and received O's on everything but Potions. Potions I got an E, Exceeds Expectations. Which I was okay with, but I may get Al to tutor me for next term. Hogsmeade weekend went well but I didn't get to go on my date with Braeden because his cousin passed away a few days before the trip and he left for the funeral. He was quite upset about it and I felt really bad. He came back to Hogwarts that next weekend and apologized for missing our date. I told him he didn't need to apologize to me but he insisted on making it up to me and so we ate lunch together everyday that week. And I learned quite a lot about him.
For example: Braeden's favorite color is green. He's planning on going into politics and managed to snag an internship with the Ministry of Magic's law department this coming summer. Which is quite impressive if I do say so myself. He's 17 already and passed his Disappartion test last year and I was jealous. In America we didn't test for that until 7th year so I was going to have to take lessons with some of the 6th years. Good thing I knew Rose and Al so I wouldn't be all alone and completely humiliated. Anyways back to Braeden. Braeden has two sisters, twins, who just turned 10 and will be on their way to Hogwarts next year. Their names are Kaira and Kelley and he is quite proud of the two of them. He told me all kinds of stories about them. I've also learned that he likes to read Muggle comic books which made me giggle and he blushed slightly at it which was adorable.
The more I learn about Braeden the more I actually start to like him. And the more time I spend with Braeden the more irritated James seems to be. Which doesn't make any sense to me. Because if he liked me he'd be with me and not with Kaelynn right? But he likes Kaelynn, might even be in love with her with the way that they make out every chance they get. I swear, I've seen those two swapping spit more times than I've seen Rose with her nose in a book. And I'm not exaggerating. It made me sick every time I saw them at it. And the more time I spent with Braeden the more I longed for James. I wanted it to be James who was making me laugh, James who was telling me that I was pretty and smart. And of course those thoughts and feelings made me feel extremely guilty because Braeden is a great guy. I expect he'll be asking me to be his girlfriend soon and I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to say. Do I want to wait for James? Or is that a lost cause?
Teenage romance is confusing.
The girls and I found our dresses and the ball was in a few minutes. Rose got a beautiful dark red dress that was off the shoulder with beautiful sequins that ran in a diamond shape around her torso. Roxanne was in a gorgeous caramel color dress that hit right at her knees. It had one strap on the right which left her left shoulder bare. It had a black victorian styled pattern about half an inch thick along the edge of the dress. Lily found a dress that was a bit shorter than Roxanne's. Her dress was a beautiful deep green that brought out the green specks in her eyes. It was a spaghetti strapped dress that hit an inch or two above her knee. It had black tulle underneath it which made it puff out a bit. It fit her like a glove and was beautiful. James and Al would have a cow of course because of the length. Starlene bought a white dress that hit at her knee and was almost made completely out of lace. The lace had flower like patterns on it with a pearl in the middle of each flower. It made her chocolate brown hair stand out. Dom of course had a full length pink gown that had at least a thousand diamond like sequins surrounding the entire dress. She looked drop dead freaking gorgeous in it. Sean Finnigan was probably going to be the envy of every guy in Hogwarts. Sean asked Dom a week before the Ball. She had been waiting for him and had turned down every boy that asked her. Roxanne of going with her boyfriend Ashton, Rose with Scorpius (AWE!), Lily with Delton (much to the dismay of Al and James), Hugo with Annabeth, Al with some girl in his year named Blair, James with The Whore, me and Braeden, and Starlene and Freddie!
Freddie apparently had been planning on asking Starlene to the Ball since last year. He wanted to ask her then but chickened out and Starlene had actually gone to the ball with some dude who she punched in the face by the end of the night because he tried to feel her up. Freddie actually asked her in the sweetest and most awsome way. He let off a set of fireworks from his Dad's shop in the middle of the Great Hall during dinner. The fireworks turned into letters that asked, 'Starlene, make me the luckiest bloke in Hogwarts and go to the ball with me.' Freddie was leaning against the wall off to the side with his arms across his chest, a wicked grin on his face as Starlene's shocked face found his. She squealed and shouted yes and then threw herself into his arms. I was very surprised that Headmistress McGonagal didn't give him detention. She actually looked impressed and had a slight smirk on her face as she rolled her eyes and shouted for everyone to continue their dinner.
So I'm sure you're wondering about my dress huh? Well everyone else is looking gorgeous in their dresses and their make up and hair done while I was practically tied to a chair with Dom and Lily doing my hair and make up. My dress was a deep blue, almost navy in color. It hit right at my knees which is shorter than what I wanted but of course I was coerced into getting it anyways. It's strapless and has a sweetheart style neckline which of course shows a bit of cleavage, again I was coerced. It had sequins lining the bottom edge of dress as well as the neckline. It sparkled everytime I moved as the light hit it. It really was gorgeous. I bought a ridiculously tall pair of high heels which I'm pretty sure I'll break my neck in. But at least Braeden won't tower of me too much.
"Stop moving Paislee!" Dom hissed at me.
"I'm sorry! But I've been in this chair for like an hour now and I'm fidgety!" I retored with a scowl on my face.
"We're almost done. Quit your whinging." Dom said. I promptly rolled my eyes at her. I didn't ask what whinging was because she popped me in the back of the head about half an hour ago as I 'whinged' the first time. Whinging is whining, which I'm extremely good at. Starlene joined in as Lily put on some more make-up.
"Close your eyes." Starlene demanded and I immediately obeyed not wanting to face her wrath.
"Alright, you're done!" Dom said happily.
"Finally!" I exclaimed and stood a bit shakily to my feet, not entirely used to my new shoes.
"Just in time too. We meet our dates in five minutes and the Ball starts in ten!" Roxanne said with a look to the clock on the wall.
"Well let's get going!" I said not even bothering to look in the full length mirror. I didn't want to be reminded of how much I paled in comparison to the rest of the gorgeous Brits.
"Paislee, aren't you going to look at yourself? You're bloody gorgeous!" Lily said outraged. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
"Can you leave once I look?" I asked, anxious to get out of the room and away from the smell of hairspray. It was making me slightly nauseous.
"Yes." Lily replied with a bright smile. Her hair was curled slightly at the ends and looked beautiful. Dom and Rose had updo's with twists except Dom accented hers with jewels. Roxanne had her hair half up and half down with curly tendrils framing her face. Starlene had her hair straightened for once which looked gorgeous, with two small peices pulled back and tied in an intricate knot in the back.
I didn't want to look in the mirror.
Starlene pushed me in front of the mirror and my eyes widened in suprise at the image before me.
The girl looking back at me looked beautiful and it took me a minute to realize it was me. I hadn't cut my hair in a while so it now hit right at my shoulders and it was curled with spiral like curls. I had a few curly tendrils framing my face and half of my hair was pulled back and as i turned to my head to the side I could see that Dom had tied it in a gorgeous knot that curled and twisted. My ears had long diamond earrings hanging from them and a diamond choker necklace was around my neck. My eyes absolutely popped. I had mascara and eye liner with a dark silver eyeshadow that glittered and sparkled. My lips had a deep red color to them now and my skin was creamy and flawless looking.
I really was pretty.
"You're welcome." Dom said with a wink to me as she grabbed my elbow, pulling me towards the door and down the stairs. My black high heels clacked with each step but so did the rest of the girls so I wasn't alone in making noise. The rest of the girls were chattering away and I was trying not to throw up. Needless to say I was a bit nervous for my first formal dance.
"Don't be nervous Paislee, you look great, Braeden is bound to look great and you're going to have a great time!" Starlene said and hugged my shoulders with one of her arms. I smiled at her and tried to look more confident but I don't think it worked too well and then finally we were in the Common Room with a ton of other Gryffindor's. There were squeals and giggles and deep chuckles coming from everywhere and finally I saw Braeden standing next to Sean and Ashton. I didn't see James anywhere or The Whore so they were probably in some broom closet making out. I ignored that thought and made my way to Braeden. He turned and looked at me once Sean waved to Dom and his mouth dropped open slightly.
"Wow." He said and I felt myself blush. I looked over and saw Roxanne kissing Ashton and Dom talking with Sean while Lily and Rose went to look for their dates.
"You're not too shabby lookin' yourself." I said with a smile. It was true. Braeden looked very handsom. His suit, I'm sorry 'dress robes,' was black except for the vest and shirt underneath his jacket. He had a white shirt underneath the vest but his vest was a deep blue color as well, almost the small color as mine and it brought out his deep blue eyes. His hair was tucked behind his ears and slicked back a bit to neater. I was still slightly shorter than he was but we were almost eye level with my heels on and I could see that he had hazel specks in his blue eyes.
"Wow." He said again and released a breath. He grabbed my hand and raised it high in the air and motioned for me to twirl so I did with a laugh.
"Articulate aren't we?" I asked as I faced him again. He grinned at me.
"Hard to speak when you've got a gorgeous woman standing in front of you." He replied.
I blushed of course.
"You're gorgeous you know that?" He asked me. I smiled at him and shrugged. He rolled his eyes and then smiled again while holding his arm out for me to grab. I grabbed it and we all made our way to the Great Hall.
You know those Muggle movies that show high schools proms? There's beautiful decorations and ballons everywhere? Well, those movies have nothing on how the Great Hall looked.
Winter Wonderland? I think yes.
The whole place sparkled and glistened with diamond like brilliance. The ceiling was bewitched to look like it was snowing. The floor was completely white and had the same shining to it that the decorations did. There were paper laterns and stars and ribbon hanging everywhere. The tables had sparkling jewels on them with white candles that had a slightly vanilla scent to them.
It was beautiful.
Everyone made their way to different tables and Braeden and I sat with Dom, Roxanne, Ashton, and Sean. I saw Lily and Delton sitting with Hugo and Annabeth and two other kids I didn't know. Rose was sitting with Scorpius and Al and Blair along with two other people I didn't know. And finally my eyes settled on James.
He was devastatingly attractive.
His normally messy hair was swooped to the side in a neat manner. He wore a black suit with a golden vest, which made his hazel eyes look even brighter. He was smiling, it didn't quite reach his eyes, but it still made my heart flutter. Why can't he be over here sitting next to me?
Oh that's right, he's with The Whore.
Who by the way looked like even more whorish than usual. She was standing up by James as a friend of hers hugged her before they both sat down. The Whore was wearing an extremely short dress that barely reached mid thigh. It was black and extremely tight. I felt bad for her lungs. Her boobs were practcially popping out of the dress and she had about a pound of make up on.
Insert vomit here.
Freddie and Starlene of course were sitting with James and The Whore. Starlene caught my eye and mouthed 'sorry.' I smiled at her and jerked my head towards Freddie and wriggled my eyebrows suggestively. Freddie looked good in his all black suit. Starlene looked at him and then back at me and winked a saucy wink at me which made me laugh. Braeden looked at me and then at Starlene and Freddie and he waved. The pair of them waved back and then the music started.
Braeden of course grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor. The first song was a classical number of some sort and I of course had no idea what I was doing and I fumbled a bit before Braeden grabbed my waist and took my hand in his, raising them to shoulder height. He looked at me and smiled.
"Just follow my lead." He said. I gulped and nodded.
Braeden was a fantastic dancer. His feet moved gracefully and I found him easy to follow and soon we were spinning and moving across the dance floor. It was wonderful. The song ended and another one began as we continued to dance. They played a few more classical songs and some of the Professors actually started dancing a bit with each other. Teddy went home early to spend some time with Vic and do some planning so he wasn't there. Once the classical songs were done some British wizard band came on stage and some rock was played as we all jumped around like idiots. Dom and Starlene and Roxanne found me and we got in a circle and danced liked idiots. Lily and Rose joined shortly and we laughed as Freddie came in our circle and tried to break dance. I felt dizzy and very thirsty so I excused myself for a moment and went to go get some punch. I was laughing quietly to myself and wasn't paying attention (as per usual) and I ran into someone.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" I said to the back of the tall person in front of me.
"It's no problem...American." The tall person said as he turned around to face me.
James.
Oh mama he was more gorgeous close up and since I was wearing heels the top of my head his chin. And he smelled really good too.
"James! Wow, I seem to run into you a lot. Like, literally." I said with a shaky laugh. James smiled at that and I felt all the air leave my lungs at that smile.
"It does seem that way. Does that happen alot to the people in your country?" He asked with a sly smile.
I rolled my eyes.
"No. It seems to just happen to me." I said.
"You look very beautiful by the way." James said.
I blushed furiously at that.
"You clean up quite nicely yourself Mr. Potter." I said with a smile.
"I know." He smirked.
I laughed, "And so humble too!"
"Why be humble when you know you're bloody amazing?" He asked with a laugh.
"Well I just don't know I guess." I said with mock wonder.
"Seriously Paislee, you look fantastic. Blokes are having a hard time taking their eyes off of you." He said, his voice low and sound slightly irritated.
I scoffed, "Oh please, no one's looking at me with all you gorgeous Brits everywhere."
James rolled his eyes this time.
"How can anyone look at us gorgeous Brits with this breathtakingly beautiful American standing here?" He countered. His voice dropped to a low whisper as he stared at me, his hazel eyes sparkling. I looked up at him and blushed and then quickly diverted my eyes.
"It's the truth Paislee. You're gorgeous, get over it." He said and I looked back up at him and of course he was smirking. I laughed.
"Well where's The Wh...er...Kaelynn?" I asked, almost slipping and saying Kaelynn's nickname. I don't think James knows we call her that.
"She's dancing with a few of her friends. Where's your boyfriend?" He asked.
"Oh he's not my boyfriend. Braeden only asked me to the ball." I said quickly.
"Oh, I just assumed you two were going out because of all the time you've been spending with one another."
"Well, we've been hanging out but he hasn't asked me or anything so..." I trailed off lamely feeling extremely awkward.
"Oh." He said.
"Yeah." I replied.
We stood there in silence until Kaelynn called for James.
"Jimmy! There you are! I've been looking for you!" The Whore said as she came up to where James and I were standing at the punch bowl. I was pouring myself a drink when she made it to us.
"I've been here the whole time Kaelynn." James said with what sounded like irritation in his voice.
"Hi Pasty!" Kaelynn said in a bright voice as she turned to look at me. She had a smile on her face but it was the fakest smile I had ever seen. Her eyes flared with anger and jealousy at me. I was taken aback at the intensity of her glare.
"It's Paislee." I said and could barely contain my own anger at her constant misuse of my name.
"Oh, isn't that what I said?" She asked innocently.
"No it wasn't." I said darkly. I saw James look back and forth between the two of before grabbing Kaelynn's waist.
"Fancy a dance?" He asked The Whore.
"Of course Jimmy. The closer we are the better." She said as she dragged his head towards hers and kissed him passionately. They started making out right there in front of me and I could only stare in shock. Suddenly Kaelynn opened one of here eyes and glared at me while she was still kissing James. I scowled deeply at her, resisted flipping her off, and left to find Braeden.
I found Braeden waiting for me with a smile and I tried to smile back but I knew it didn't quite reach my eyes. I spent the rest of the night smiling and laughing at the appropriate time but my heart wasn't in it anymore.
James was with Kaelynn. Not with me. And it royally sucked.
I wanted nothing more than to just run up to my room and cry after the exchange with Kaelynn. She seemed to hate me just as much as I hated her. If not more! And it shocked me that James could be so blind to her obvious cruelty and all around jerkiness.
Braeden was a perfect gentleman and was very attentive. Including me in every conversation and constantly touching me. Whether it was the small of my back, my waist, an arm around my shoulder, or him simply just holding my hand. It was nice.
The ball ended and everyone slowly made it back to the dorms. A few people stayed in the common room describing in detail their night. I was exhuasted and had spent most of the time with my friends already so I knew we wouldn't have to rehash too much except on how cute everyone looked. I knew that would wait until the next day while we were on the train heading back to the Burrow. We were spending Christmas break at the Burrow. Braeden walked me to the stairs of the girls dorm and smiled widely at me.
"I had a wonderful time tonight Paislee." He told me.
I smiled back.
"I did too Braeden." I said.
"You're a wonderful dancer." He said and I laughed.
"And you are a sweet talker." I said. He laughed at that.
"You truly look beautiful tonight." He said to me.
"Thank you. This was fun." I said.
"It was. Too bad it has to end huh?" He said.
"Yeah, too bad." I said lamely.
"Well, we both go home tomorrow and we won't see each other until after the break. It kind of makes me sad. I think I'll miss you." He said sweetly. I blushed and smiled shyly at him.
"I think I'll miss you too." I told him.
"Can I leave you with something to remember me by during break?" He asked.
"Sure." I said, expecting him to hand some kind of token or something. Instead, he leaned his head down towards me and kissed me softly on the lips. He lingered there for a few seconds before lifting his head and smiling at me. I opened my eyes and smiled back.
"Good night Paislee."
"Good night Braeden." I said and walked up the stairs and into my dorm. Starlene and Dom were chattering away on Dom's bed. Roxanne was asleep and I followed her lead. I stripped off my shoes and dress and pulled a night shirt on then drew the curtains around my bed before finally snuggling into my covers.
I truly did have a great night with Braeden. He was so sweet and so genuine and that kiss was nice. I could easily fall for him.
But there was just one problem.
He wasn't James.
And with that thought in mind, I silently cried myself to sleep.