This night is sparkling, don't you let it go

I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew

Chapter 10: The Yule Ball Part 1

The weeks leading up to the Yule Ball were confusing. Pansy and I didn't talk much unless we had to. I didn't exactly know why she was mad at me, but I was starting to get over why I was mad at her.

That was until I had seen her and Dean hanging out more.

All of a sudden the two of them were always talking and he was making her giggle. I had found out from Hermione that they were going to the ball together.

That really made me mad. Why the hell would she go with him for? What the bloody hell was she playing at?

"Wonders what she sees in him. Dean." I said to Ron as I was getting ready for the ball. Ron was already ready and had joined me in my room. We were supposed to be joking around. But he was forced to listen to me rant.

"What's wrong with Dean?" asked Ron. He's brilliant. He's our friend."

"Right, I know that, but still. That's just as well. Pansy wants to play this game? Fine. I was going with Susan anyways. I already said yes to her right in front of her face!" I said.

"... Oh mate..." said Ron slowly as realization hit me as well.

"Oh bloody hell. I said yes to Susan right in front of Pansy's face." I said. "That's why she's angry at me. She had looked at me as if she didn't want me to go with the girl, but I chose her anyways. Right in front of her."

Ron shook his head as if he was ashamed of me. Hell, I was ashamed of me.

I was such a git.

"But wait." I said looping my bowtie around my neck. "That doesn't seem right. If she was marrying Malfoy so much then why aren't they going together? Why is she going with Dean and Malfoy with Ginny?"

"Dunno mate." said Ron scratching his head. "The whole thing seems so confusing. And wrong. Still don't see what my sister sees in that bloody ferret."

"Its ridiculous. But I don't have time to focus on it right now. I got a ball to get ready for. Is my tie on straight?" I asked turning to Ron.

"Your tie? Why are you asking me?"

"Cuz Pansy usually helps me with these things and ...oh never mind."

"So you really fancy her don't you?" said Ron with a smug look on her face.

"Don't be silly of course I don't " I said.

"If you didn't then why are you so concerned about her? Why do you care who she goes to the ball with and who she marries? You fancy her mate, and you fancy her hard."

I looked at my best mate with mock hatred. Then I sighed.

"Okay. I do fancy her alright?" I admitted to him. "But what good will that do? Especially now when we both have dates?"

"Don't the heads have to open up the waltz? You can get a small word in then, can you?" asked Ron.

"I could…"

"And maybe she would come around or something. Later on you know? You two have to at least respect your dates, don't you?"

"Sue would probably go mental on me if I left her." I groaned.

"Right mate. Well, I got a special last to wait for." said Ron cheerfully.

"You and Hermione finally. I still can't believe it" I said.

"Neither can I. But I'm loving it." said Ron with a goofy grin on his face. "Come on mate, you're ready. Knowing Sue, your clothes won't stay on for long anyways.

I gulped.

Ron and I stood in front of the great hall's giant doors. We watched as couples passed including Malfoy and a very nice looking Ginny dressed in red passed by. Ron had recently accepted this, but he was still on alert if something was to happen.

"Harry! Ron! My brother, you clean up nice." said Ginny giving Ron a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks." said Ron eyeing his sister's dress. "The bloody hell are you wearing Gin? I can see your whole back!"

The back of her dress reminded me of Jessica Rabbit's, only it was halter.

"Oh Ron don't be so dramatic. It's not even my whole back. And before you go ranting, Mum was the one who got it for me.

Malfoy smirked beside her. "Don't worry Weasley, I'll try my best to keep my hands to myself."

"If you touch my bloody sister wrong-"

"Okay so we are going to be friendly right boys?" said Ginny drowning Ron out. "Draco you said you would behave."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I did love, I did. Fine. I'll shut up." he said giving her a smug smile that Ginny scoffed to.

Hermione joined us wearing a very nice pink dress. Ron looked as if he was going to drool over her when she walked up to him.

"So I take it that I look okay." said Hermione to Ron as she shut his mouth.

"You look bloody brilliant." said Ron hugging her.

"Language, but thank you darling."

"Is there a chance I may see it off of you later?" I heard Ron ask in a low voice.

"Maybe if you're good." said Hermione giggling. I gagged. The thought of my best mate shagging my honorary big sister was disgusting.

"HERMIONE YOU LOOK GORGEOUS!" shrieked Ginny snatching Hermione out of Ron's arms.

"OH GINNY! SO DO YOU! THE DRESS CAME OUT WONDERFUL!" shrieked Hermione back.

"Here we go gents." said Malfoy dully. "The banshee part of the evening."

Ron and I couldn't help but agree with the git as we listened to the two girls compare shoes and hair.

Dean came around the corner with an extremely gorgeous Pansy on his arm. I couldn't help but stare.

She had on this dress that was very long and very fitting to her curves. It was an ice blue color. Her hair was braided in a long braid that she had draped over her collarbone and she seemed to almost glow.

Damn she looked wonderful.

"Hey guys!" said Dean cheerfully as Pansy, Ginny, and surprisingly Hermione gushed all over each other about their clothes.

"Hey Dean." said Ron.

"Thomas." said Malfoy.

"Dean." I forced myself to say.

The three of us watched the shrieking girls as we waited for them to stop. I just wished Sue would hurry up and get her ass here so I didn't have to ensure this torture.

"How long are they gonna do that?" asked Dean.

"Until they bloody well pass out." joked Ron. "Come on Mione, let's go in."

Finally Susan came around the corner with her best friend Hannah Abbott. And that's when the shrieking stopped.

Susan looked like cotton candy. Her dress was pink and reminded me of Cinderella's dress which was not exactly a good thing. I was wondering how she was gonna fit the bloody thing inside the door.

None of the girls gushed at her when she arrived. Not even Hermione.

"Oh Harry you look so handsome!" she said as she approached me, almost knocking the guys down with her dress.

I guess Pansy couldn't hold back because she said. "Susan, you look like a muggle fairy tale princess from hell." causing all of us to be stunned.

Susan glared at Pansy evil like. "And you look like an Ice Queen my dear. As icy as your heart, am I right?"

I didn't expect that. The two girls never talked at all to each other and now they were throwing jabs?

Before any of its could intervene, Professor McGonagall came over and told Pansy and I how we were to open up the dance. Susan looked as if she has a huge problem with it. Especially when Pansy had to stay out with me and the others had to go inside.

Pansy looped her arm through mine per McGonagall's instruction. We then waited for the cue to go in.

I could feel the tension between us and I didn't like it at all. "You look really beautiful Pansy." I told her.

I watched her cheeks turn pink even though she stared straight ahead. "Thank you. You look handsome as well." she said formally.

"Thanks." I said, feeling the sting of her anger. It hurt actually.

"Look Pansy, I don't want us to be angry at each other anymore. Can we just put the animosity behind us and have fun?" I asked.

Pansy finally looked at me, her face twisted with confusion. "Why are you mad at me for? I didn't do anything to you."

That's right. She didn't know that I knew.

"I'm not mad at you but clearly you are mad at me for some reason." I said as we got the cue to walk in together.

"I was upset with you at some point, but not anymore." said Pansy as we walked in with fake smiles on our faces.

"Not anymore? What did I do to cause you to be upset in the first place? And when did you stop being mad? You've been shunning me for the past two bloody weeks." I said as we walked the path to the dance floor and got into position.

"If you don't know then I'm certainly not going to tell you." said Pansy as we started to dance.

"Look, I just want things to go back to the way they were okay? I'm sorry for whatever it is I did to you." I said as I spun her around the dance floor knowing full well what I had done.

"Fine." said Pansy as I picked her straight up and put her down again. "Let's just drop it."

"Fine, it's dropped." I said as people started to join in causing Pansy to stop.

"I need to go and find my date. See you later Harry." she said as she left me on the floor by myself.

I watched crossly as Dean caught up with Pansy and started waltzing with her. Bloody wanker. He still couldn't do it. But I guess it's funny to her cuz there she was giggling about it.

Susan had grabbed me, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I had no choice but to start waltzing with her. People had to make a wide circle around us because her dress was so bloody big, it kept hitting everyone.

The music soon changed into things that we listened to as Lee had now started DJing. Everyone cheered and started dancing like idiots. Try as she might, Susan couldn't really dance like she wanted because of that bloody dress.

"Maybe you should go and change into another one? Something more...functional?" I suggested.

Susan glared at me. "But Harry, I picked this dress out especially for you! Don't you like it?"

"I didn't say that. I do like it, it's lovely. I just didn't think you were comfortable. It's hard to get close to you like I want to you know." I said.

Great save Potter.

Susan smiled and agreed with me. "You're right. Walk with me to my common room so I can alter it? I left my wand on my bed."

"Sure." I said shrugging. Anything to get her to take that puffy murderer off.

We walked out of the great hall along with some others that had discovered the lake for ice skating. We walked arm and arm towards Hufflepuff while I had to endure Susan gabbing on and on about what she had to do to get ready. Totally uninteresting.

When we got to the door, I waited outside. Lucky Hufflepuffs. Their quarters were right next to the kitchens.

After about 10 minutes she came back out. She looked as if she had shrank the dress and while it wasn't poofy anymore, it was still that bright pink that now reminded me of cotton candy when it got damp.

We made it back to the great hall and started dancing again. I looked around the room and spotted Pansy and Dean dancing and laughing as if they were married or some shit. The bloody git.

I tried to enjoy myself but my mind and eyes always drifted over to Pansy. I couldn't help but be jealous of their happiness. She should be acting silly and dancing and laughing along with me, not him.

But it was my fault. I couldn't be mad at her.

A slow song came on and before I could retreat, Susan latched onto me. Guess we were gonna dance this one.

We swayed to the music, Susan was trying hard to lock eyes with me, but I couldn't help looking around the room. Ron and Hermione were looking as if they were dancing at their wedding, Malfoy actually looked like a respectable human being as he and Ginny moved to the music, and Pansy and Dean looked content with each other. Way too content.

"Harry, you're not being a very good date." said Susan, drawing my focus back onto her.

She was right. I really wasn't. "I'm sorry, Sue. Got a lot on my mind right now. I didn't mean to neglect you."

"Maybe this will keep your mind on me." said Susan as she kissed me out of nowhere.

Her lips were sticky from the strawberry gloss she used. I thought we would end up stuck together. Then the kiss turned kinda desperate like.

I managed to break away from her just in time to see an extremely pissed off Pansy glaring at me. She then turned and walked out of the hall, Dean following behind her trying to catch up with her fast steps.

I felt like utter shit