Sorry I took so long to get this up. It would've been up yesterday at the latest if I hadn't gotten so distracted.

Anyway, enjoy and please R&R!

Chapter Fourteen

Well, I'm not sure whether or not everyone believed us now, but they were certainly supporting us. Gryffindor House especially seemed to think that our fight against the dragon was the best thing they'd seen at Hogwarts and were hailing us as heroes. They held a party that night, encouraging us to open the egg.

"Come on! Let's hear the clue!"

I felt myself lifted into the air and glanced around frantically before I realised that it was just Rai and he had lifted me onto his shoulders. Okay. Must. Not. Blush. I don't want the whole of Gryffindor Tower knowing of my crush. "You want us to open it?" Rai called to the partying Gryffindors. Oh, he was so enjoying this. At the answering yell his grin widened and he turned to me, still grinning that adorable grin. Why do you have to make this so hard? "Should we open it?" I grinned back, and of course he understood. He opened the egg.

A horrible screeching came from it and I toppled off Rai's shoulders when he reached up to block his ears. Finally he seemed to come to his senses and he shut it. "What was that?" Maria asked incredulously, pulling her hands away from her ears. I noticed that everyone was. Hey, they only have human hearing. What do they think it felt with a heightened sense of hearing?

"It sounded like a banshee." Aidan piped up.

"Maybe you have to fight one of those next!" Sishi grinned, bringing the atmosphere in the room back to what it was.

As I lay in bed that night, though, I mulled it over. I knew I had heard that kind of sound before. There was a sort of dim recognition in the back of my mind. As if I knew what it was, but I just couldn't remember…

In Transfiguration a few days later Professor McGonagall made an announcement that made most of the girls squeal in excitement. There was to be a dance held at Hogwarts! On Christmas Eve, fittingly titled the 'Yule Ball', and held in honour of the Triwizard Tournament.

We had to wait until after class to talk about it, but instead of waiting for the guys, I scurried over to the girls and we were soon in a conversation about the dance. "Miss Tohomiko, Mr Pedrosa; a word please." Professor McGonagall's voice called us back and I glanced at Rai, only to receive an equally confused look back.

"Why does she want to talk to us?"

"I don't know. Did you do something again?"

"No!"

Professor McGonagall interrupted our hushed argument with a stern look, though I could see her eyes twinkling. Understanding what people meant when they looked at me around Rai with that knowing look in their eyes didn't make it any less annoying.

"As I have said, the Yule Ball is in honour of the Triwizard Tournament, and is a dance. This year, the difference is that we have teams of champions rather than a single one from each school, so to make it easier, we have decided that the teams are to go to the ball together."

Okay, so I was secretly happy – there was no way Rai would've asked me to go with him, so this was really the only way I could. Though any girl would tell you that they would prefer it that the guy asked them to go, rather than being forced to.

I felt my cheeks heating up as I glanced at Rai, to see him doing the same, his cheeks faintly tinged with pink. "T-together?" Professor McGonagall only nodded.

"And it is tradition that the champions open the ball."

"How?" I rolled my eyes. Come on, Rai! It's a ball. Use your brain.

"Dancing of course, Mr Pedrosa."

I was surprised to see a smile creeping across his face. He couldn't be happy at having to go with me, could he? "So Krum and Voskef have to go together to the ball and open it dancing?" Rai sniggered and I fought to keep the sinking feeling off of my face. Of course. My brain seemed to have momentarily disconnected itself, leaving me vulnerable to immense stupidity.

"No, they are free to choose their own dates due to the issue of gender." I felt my face flush brighter red at the mention of the word 'date' and out of my peripheral vision I noticed Rai doing the same. McGonagall let us go and we half-ran to our next class in complete silence.

"So, who are you gonna ask to go to the ball with you?" I glanced up to see Keiko staring incredulously at Sishi, who had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. We were lounging on our dormitory – Keiko, Neko, Sishi, Maria and I – discussing the ball, since we had finished our homework. I had zoned out, concentrating on my book, but Keiko's spluttering brought me back to the conversation.

"I can't ask someone!" Keiko's voice was an octave higher than usual, bringing a small smirk to my face as I turned back to my book, though shifting so that I was leaning against my headboard so I could still see the girls, listening in.

"Oh, come on, Keiko! Don't tell me you're one of those old fashioned types!" Neko teased from her spot on my trunk. "There's nothing wrong with a girl asking a guy out."

"I know that." Keiko muttered, her face flaming. "I'd just prefer to have him ask me. And anyway, I don't know who I'd ask."

I sat up, putting my book beside me on the bed. "You said 'him' Keiko." She stared blankly at me, though the others seemed to be catching on. "You didn't say 'I'd prefer to have a guy ask me', you said 'I'd prefer to have him ask me'."

Keiko's eyes widened and she began to fiddle with her pillow. "Is there a difference?"

"You like someone." I couldn't help but grin. Teasing was too much fun. "There is someone who you want to ask. Well, who you want to ask you."

"I…I don't know what you're talking about." I grinned, about to continue prodding her until she broke, when she cut across me. "What about you?"

"What about me?" I echoed her words, taken aback.

"Come on, Kimiko. We all know who you want to ask you. We all know how you feel."

My eyes widened in panic. They couldn't know…could they? "I…I-I don't…"

"We all know you like my brother, Kimiko." Maria cut in softly, smiling, not smirking, which gave me some comfort. "There's no point denying it."

"But I…how…"

"How did we know?" Maria continued gently. "You're rather obvious, I'm afraid, Kimiko. I think the only one who hasn't noticed is my idiot brother."

I groaned, hiding my face in my hands. "Great. Just great. I'm having a hard enough time hiding it from him – what with him being able to hear my thoughts and whatever – but now the whole ruddy castle knows? He'll know by morning!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Kimiko. Raimundo can be pretty oblivious."

"How long have you known?" I finally asked, dreading the answer.

"Longer than you have. I dunno, I guess I could always see it. Ever since the train. No one had ever stood up to him like that. Well, Omi, Clay and the rest of us Pedrosas have stood up to him, but no one had ever bested him like you did, and still do every day. It wasn't exactly a giant leap to say that he'd end up falling for you. I wouldn't be surprised if he fell for you on the spot, right there, right then."

I scoffed. "Oh, please. Rai doesn't like me in that way. He never has and he never will. End of story." My heart felt heavy as I spoke the words, wishing that they were untrue, but knowing that they weren't.

"But Kimiko-" I shook my head, cutting off their protests. I didn't want to hear them trying to cheer me up with lies. It would just hurt too much.

"Are you going to ask him to the ball?" Sishi ventured to ask, though timidly. I shook my head. "But you'll never know if you don't ask, right? I mean, you really should just ask him. What harm could it do?" Apart from losing the best friend I've ever had?

"I don't need to ask him." I leant back against the headboard again, drawing my knees to my chest.

"What do you mean?" Keiko came to sit by my feet and the others all climbed onto my bed. I was mildly surprised that everyone fit, though Neko was still perched on the trunk at the end of the bed.

"We're going together."

"He asked you?" Maria squealed happily. "I told you he likes you! I knew it! He-"

"He didn't ask me. The champion teams have to go together. Well, apart from the Durmstrang team."

"Oh." I could feel that they didn't quite know what to say, and I was rather glad they said nothing further.

They started talking again, this time about dresses and make-up, though I felt no inclination to join in, so I kept silent. "How about we all look for some on our next Hogsmeade trip? It's next weekend, so we'll have plenty of time."

"Kimiko and I have already got ours. Mum bought them for us when she was buying our school stuff while we were at the World Cup." I remembered the extra package and felt guilt swell up once again when I remembered that Carla had paid for half of the dress. It had looked very expensive. I vaguely wondered how she knew, before remembering that Antonio – and Pedro now, too – worked in the ministry, Pedro in the Department of International Magical Co-Operation, so of course they would know.

"Really?" Keiko squealed excitedly. "Can we see?"

Maria pulled hers out first. It was simple but absolutely gorgeous. A pale pink colour with a ribbon around the middle a little darker than the rest, half-sleeves and fell almost to the floor in a rippling fashion, the shade of pink darkening the further down it went. The others gushed about it as I searched my trunk.

I finally found the package and sat cross-legged on the bed while the others continued to examine Maria's dress. I carefully opened the brown paper again, feeling just as awed as the first time I saw it. It was the same shade of blue as my eyes, and made of material so soft it felt like silk. Its sleeves were designed so that they would sit just off my shoulders and when worn it would fall to just below my knees.

I heard a gasp and looked up to see the others staring at the dress in my hands. "It's beautiful." I heard Keiko gasp as she gently, almost reverently, lifted the dress from my grasp, and I gasped too when I saw it sparkle slightly as it caught the light.

While Keiko, Neko and Sishi were examining my dress, Maria sat next to me. "You're gonna give Rai a heart attack in that." She said softly. I looked down at my hands, twisting my fingers. "He does like you, you know. Really he does. He just hasn't realised yet. He's a bit slow, you see."

I looked up into Maria's eyes. They were sincere, as if she really believed what she was saying. I still didn't believe her, but I smiled back anyway. "Remind me to pay your mum back next time I see her." I muttered, eyeing the dress. "That can't have been cheap, and I don't believe her when she says that my money paid for half of it. It couldn't have even paid for the fabric of the sleeves. I may have a small size, but that type of fabric isn't cheap."

"She wanted to buy you something. Something you'd like, something you'd use." She glanced slyly at me out of the corner of her eye. "Something to give Rai a kick up the backside and make him realise what we've all known all along." I only half registered what she had murmured, still overcome by the strange feeling that entered my chest as I realised that Carla Pedrosa was the closest thing to a mother I had. And the thought was rather comforting.

I'd just like to say that I hope I didn't offend anyone about the Durmstrang Team going to the Yule Ball thing. I really don't have anything against same-sex couples and it wasn't my intention if I did offend anyone. I just meant that they were free to choose as it isn't what would be traditional, two guys going together.

Just wanted to get that out there.