Hello everyone! Here is the second part of the Yule Ball - yep, it's far from over!
I hope you guys will like it !
Thank you for all the great reviews, please keep writing to me your predictions and suggestions :)
Enjoy x

(PS: Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians!)

wildest dreams
VOLUME I

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The entrance hall was filled with students from all the schools – everyone looked wonderful. All the boys were wearing their classiest robes, and all the girls were wearing their prettiest dresses. I looked around me as I searched for George and the others, smiling brightly.

"There she is !" I heard Angelina say.

I turned around and finally spotted the twins and Angelina, who were waving at me. I rushed to them, grinning.

"Addy, finally !" said Angelina.

"Where have you been ?" asked Fred, eyes narrowed.

He was holding Angelina's arm, who looked radiant at his side. I shrugged.

"You'll see."

"Addy, what are you up to ?" asked Angelina.

"I told you – you'll see" I smiled.

"Well, I must say – you clean up nice, Adelaide."

I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you, Frederick" I replied sarcastically.

"I'm serious – wouldn't you agree, dear brother ?"

We all turned to George, who I now realized had been silent this whole time – which was quite out of the ordinary for him. He was staring at me, and I felt my heart skip a beat, and my cheeks turning a bright shade of red. Angelina gave him a nudge, and only then did he seem to start breathing again.

"What ? What is it ?"

"There it is. Poor Georgie's officially gone mad. And it's all your fault, Adelaide" said Fred.

"Oh, bugger off."

I stared at George in surprise – it was rare, after all, that we spoke at the same time. We bursted out laughing after a few seconds.

"You are disgusting, both of you. C'mon, Angelina, I need a drink – or ten" sighed Fred.

Angelina offered me a smile before Fred pulled her towards the Great Hall – I watched them walk away, arm in arm. They looked adorable. I also saw Alicia and Andrew, and then Lee and his date – a Hufflepuff from our Charms class that looked amazing in her pale pink dress.

"Fred's right though – you look really pretty. Gorgeous, I mean."

"Thank you Georgie – you look very handsome yourself."

It was true – he was wearing his fanciest dress robes, his nicest shoes, and had even managed to make his hair look tamed. A purple bowtie completed the whole thing, of course. Purple had always been his color. He grinned and offered me his arm.

"Shall we ?"

I took his arm, feeling my heart pound hard in my chest. Inhaling deeply, we made our way into the Great Hall. I smiled – I was determined to make the most of this night. I could worry about all the rest later.

"Woah" I whispered as we entered the room.

I had never seen the Great Hall looked so beautiful – the walls were covered in some sort of silvery, sparkling frost, and hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy were hanging from the ceiling where a thousand stars shone brightly in the darkness of the black sky. It was breathtaking. I glanced at George, and we shared an excited grin. The knot in my stomach had vanished. For some reason, at that moment, I had a feeling it would be a great, memorable night.

We made our way to Fred and Angelina, who were standing with the rest of the students – we had to wait for the champions to come in before sitting down.

"Guess who's here" grinned Fred when we reached them.

He pointed to the judge's table – there sat the three school directors, Ludo Bagman – who looked absolutely ridiculous, in my opinion – and, much to our surprise, Percy.

"What is he doing here ?" I asked, surprised.

"I have no idea, but we better go and ask" said George.

We walked to the big table at the top of the hall. The twins were grinning from ear to ear – I knew how much they liked teasing Percy. I still remembered when they had found out he had a girlfriend at the end of our fourth year. They couldn't shut up about it. When we reached Percy, he seemed to peck his lips a little.

"Brother !" the twins said in unison.

"Missed us too much ?" said George.

"We definitely miss you" nodded Fred. "There's nobody around anymore to try and stop us from doing things and then fail miserably to do so."

"Fred. George" said Percy politely. "I'll have you know I have been promoted."

"Promoted ? To what ?" asked George, chuckling.

"We thought being appointed Head Boy was the 'highest honor there is'" added Fred, imitating Percy's voice.

The latter became slightly red in the neck, but quickly straightened up.

"I am now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm representing him" he said proudly.

Fred and George whistled and I couldn't hold back a smile.

"Wow. You must be proud" said George.

"Congratulations, Mr. Weatherby" said Fred.

I snorted loudly, but quickly tried to hide my laughter by coughing. Angelina glanced at me, smirking. Fred had probably told her the story. Percy's neck was now a deep shade of red.

"Sorry" I apologized with a smile. "I'm very happy for you, Percy."

"Well, thank you, Adelaide."

I held back a groan – Percy had never agreed to call me Addy, no matter how many times I had told him to. But that was just Percy. He was so different from the twins that I sometimes wondered how they could be siblings.

Everyone in the Great Hall suddenly started clapping – we turned to see that the champions were making their way to the top table, walking in pairs with their partners. Fleur looked stunning, as usual, holding hands with a Ravenclaw I didn't know, Cedric was smiling shyly next to Cho Chang, who was in the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, Harry looked every bit terrified next to Parvati Patil, and Krum held his head up high, holding the arm of his date – Hermione, who looked prettier than ever in her pale blue dress.

"Is that… ?" mumbled George.

"Is that Hermione ?" said Fred, wide-eyed.

"With Krum ?!"

"Looks like it" smiled Angelina.

"Score, Hermione !" I laughed, and whistled as they passed next to us.

After the champions had passed, we sat down at the closest table – Lee, his date, Alicia and Andrew joined us. We all started eating, exchanging thoughts about how everyone was dressed and what the rest of the night would be like – I knew a little about it, of course, but I held my tongue. I wanted it to be a surprise for everyone.

I was finishing eating my Yorkshire Pudding when Dumbledore stood up and invited everyone to do the same. I grinned broadly, knowing what was coming. I had seen the band play more times than I could count – but I still loved it everytime. George eyed me curiously, and I only winked at him. Dumbledore then swooped all the tables to the edges of the room, and made the stage appear.

"Ooh, looks like there will be a concert !" said Alicia excitedly.

"I wonder who it's going to be" said Lee.

As soon as he finished his sentence, my uncle, Kirley, Heathcote, Gideon, Donaghan, Herman, Merton and Orsino all ran on stage as the crowd broke into cheer and applause.

"YES !" screamed Lee, who I knew was a fan of the band.

"Did you know about this ?" asked Angelina.

"Maybe I did" I shrugged.

"Of course – that was your little secret" said George.

I smiled, and Fred nearly jumped on me to ruffle my hair, screaming excitedly.

"Oi, Fred !" I cried out.

"C'mon, let's dance !" he shouted, grabbing Angelina's hand.

The Weird Sisters had started their concert with a slow, nostalgic tune – I waved at my uncle, who winked at me. I knew he couldn't wait to play something a little bit more upbeat – that was his favorite thing.

I watched happily as the champions and a few other couples danced to the mournful notes – I didn't mind that George hadn't invited me to go. I didn't really like that kind of dancing, and it was more entertaining to watch the others try and dance correctly than anything else. We spent the entire song laughing.

"Alright, Hogwarts !" shouted my uncle from the stage. "Are you ready for some real music ?"

I grinned as the crowd cheered even more enthusiastically than before.

"I said are you ready ? ARE YOU READY ?"

The band then started playing one of their most famous songs – and my favorite.

"OH, I LOVE THIS SONG !" I screamed.

I grabbed George's arm and pulled him on the dance floor to join Fred and Angelina. We started dancing like we were going mad, so much that people started to back away from us, probably out of fear of getting hit in the head by one of our limbs. We would jump in the air, wave our arms, George even made me spin around so fast I thought my head would explode - and I couldn't stop laughing.

After a few songs, completely exhausted, we decided to go and grab some Butterbeers.

"I can't feel my feet !" said Angelina as we sat down.

"Me neither" I sighed.

"Well, take your shoes off" shrugged Fred.

"I can't take my shoes off, Fred" said Angelina.

"Why not ?"

"Because this is a ball !"

"So what ?"

I glanced at George – he looked as amused by them as me.

"Haven't even started snogging and they're already fighting like an old couple" he said.

"I wonder when that is going start happening" I said with a smile.

"The snogging ?"

"Yeah."

"Hm… tonight."

I raised an eyebrow.

"That's an awfully confident answer. You sure of that, Weasley ?"

"I am" he nodded.

"Very well. Want to bet on it ?" I smirked.

George stared at me, eyes narrowed.

"I had sworn I would never gamble again…"

"Yeah, right" I snickered.

"But" he said with a smile. "I am willing to make an exception for you."

"Good. Let's say… 2 sickles."

"I have a better idea."

His eyes twinkled.

"What ?"

"A date."

It took every muscle in my body to refrain me from smiling like a child.

"A date ?" I repeated.

"A date" he nodded. "You and me."

I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to determine if he was joking or not. He had this little smirk on his lips, of course – but that could mean anything. I knew I wanted to say yes – my heart was beating fast. Was this the proof I had been waiting for ? I wasn't sure what to make of it. I took in a deep breath. Leap of faith.

"Deal" I said, offering him my hand.

He shook it, smiling broadly. I felt like my head was above the clouds. George Weasley had just asked me on a date. Well, kind of. I had to lose the bet first. I really didn't like losing – anyone who had played Exploding Snap with me knew that – but now, there was one thing I was sure of – I really, really wanted Fred and Angelina to kiss tonight.