Laura came to a whirling halt on the dance floor, out of breath and laughter in her brown eyes. She almost hadn't come to the Yule Ball tonight, since nobody had asked her as a date, but she was glad she had. It was still fun to come with her small group of friends. It was well worth it to spin around the dance floor with the girls. The only reason her purple hair was still in a perfect shape was because of the charms Hermione had shown her to keep it in place.
The group tried to pull her back out when the Weird Sisters started another fast-paced song, but she shook her head, mouthing that she was thirsty and heading back toward the beautifully decorated round tables. She picked up a freezing cold butterbeer on her way to a vacant table, where she stopped to catch her breath. She had hardly stopped moving since getting up to dance. She need the break.

Her eyes roamed the nearly empty table area. Almost everyone was dancing. There were a few people like her, who were merely resting from the excitement. Even fewer were the people who hadn't gone up to dance at all, like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. She couldn't remember seeing either one dance at all now that she thought about it, with the exception of Harry at the opening dance with the other champions.

She looked back to the dance floor. On the edge she could see a few of her friends moving in time with the song. The beckoned to her, but Laura held up a hand to say she still needed a moment before taking a swig of butterbeer. The crowd of dancing students almost seemed like one being, moving and changing with the song's tempo of its own accord. She would catch a glimpse of a familiar face or two by chance only for that face to disappear in the folds of the crowd again.

She turned back to the table in front of her, focusing on deeper breaths as she put the bottle of butterbeer to her cheeks. It was quite warm in the crowd, she hadn't realized she had gotten so hot until she had moved to a less populated area. Now that the cooler air was hitting her she realized how hot it was over there. Maybe she would just call it a night now. It was nearly 11 already.

"Laura!"

She jumped as another body appeared in a seat next to her. Fred Weasley had fallen back into the chair to her right, looking as though he was out of breath too. He would be, with the way he and Angelina had been moving out on the dance floor. Laura wouldn't admit it aloud to many people, but she was a little jealous that he had asked Angelina to the ball and not her. She knew that he had asked her just to prove to his youngest brother how "easy" it was to ask out a girl, but still...

"Hi Fred," Laura greeted easily, straightening a little in her seat.

"Don't tell me you're done already," Fred said with a sly smile on his face.

Laura shook her head. "Just taking a break." As if to prove it, she took a big swig of butterbeer.

"Of course you were," Fred shook his head, eyes moving back to the crowd of students.

"Where's Angelina?" Laura asked politely as the Weird Sister's brought their song to a close.

"She and Katie left," Fred said vaguely. "Something about being tired I think it was."

"Oh." Laura let the conversation lapse then, not really sure how to continue on at that point.

The next song of the night started then. It was uncharacteristically slow for the Weird Sisters. A lot of people, Laura's group included, left the floor. Fast paced songs were more popular to dance to, and plenty of space was made for couples that did want to dance to something like that.

"Hey Laura?" Fred turned back to her as the first few chords drifted over the Hall. "Want to dance?"

Laura's heart skipped a beat at the question. She coughed on the bit of butterbeer she had just taken another sip of. "I-" She struggled to wipe the offending drink from her lower face as Fred patiently waited for an answer. With that smile on his face and the mischief in his eyes, how could she say no? "I'd love to."