You are cordially invited to the coming of age ball in honour of
Pansy Parkinson
Saturday, the 28th of April.
RSVP
~0~
Throwing the invite down in disgust Eris and the others shared an appalled look, "I'm not going." Eris remarked in a defiant tone.
"If she's not going, I'm not going." Blaise shot back, throwing his arm around Eris the pair nodded at each other.
"We're not going."
Rubbing the bridge of his nose Draco felt the hopelessness of the situation, "we have to go, if we don't, you know Pansy will find a way to force us." Draco didn't like it anymore than they did; another night of pretending not to be with Ginny wasn't high on his favourites list.
Blaise's eyes lit up as he worked out the pairings in his head, "So you're going with Pansy, Theo's taking Daphne, and I will cover the arduous task of accompanying Eris and Ginevra!"
"No sweetie, Draco will go with Pansy, Theo will escort Ginny and you will jewel my arm for the evening." Everyone looked at Eris as she organised the evening.
"So who's taking Daphne?"
"I believe Pansy has arrange for Daphne to go with her cousin."
"Wait, you're going with me?" A shocked Blaise simply stared at the girl; Eris shot him a smirk, her eyes glittering.
"Yes I am Blaise." Pulling him to his feet she scoped up her bag, "Come to the library with me sweetie, I need to take out a book." Draco watched them with disbelieving eyes as they left the room.
"She's up to something." Theo remarked and Draco couldn't help but agree with him.
"Looking good Weasley!" Ginny felt herself blush as Blaise winked at her, "Loving the uniform she watched as Eris delivered a swift slap round the back of head.
"Can you at least pretend to be the gentlemen I know you can be?" Eris scowled at him before turning back to Ginny, "as much as I hate to admit Blaise is right, you do look good." Draco coughed from behind Eris drawing attention away from Ginny. "Oh and Draco wants to say good luck but his male pride is going to stop him." Draco gave Eris a sharp look but the girl just stuck her tongue out at him. Eris and Blaise gave Ginny a hug before she had to rush off to meet the rest of the team.
"I hope she wins..."
"If she wins we lose Eris." Draco pointed out as she made their way to the pitch.
~O~
"Your girlfriend is commentating Blaise," Eris' eyes followed Theo's to see Luna sat in the teachers box just in front of Severus.
"I do like Luna, but she knows less about Quidditch than I do."
"You know a fair amount Eris..."
"You're friends with her!" Eris turned to look at Blaise who was stood, mouth agape looking at her.
"I wouldn't say friends exactly, but we share a common interest and she's a fairly interesting person..." Eris was interrupted by the whistle being blown to signify the start of the match. As they watched the Gryffindor team fly, it became clear that Ginny was an excellent chaser, and as much as it pained Eris to admit it, her and Potter flew well together.
"I should do something to steal her attention so they lose..."
"You're not going to kiss me again are you?" Eris eyed Draco with distrust and moved so Theo stood between them,
"That was one time Eris!"
"Wotcher Gin!"
"Tonks! What are you doing here? Ginny stopped and hugged the older woman, Tonks simply tapped her nose and grinned at Ginny, they were caught up in a conversation when Eris came round the corner reading a book.
"Eris!" Ginny watched as Eris dropped her book in surprise and glare at her,
"Don't do that to me Gin, are you trying to kill me?" Ginny smirked and turned to Tonks to introduce them only to find her staring at Eris with shock.
"Not to be funny or anything, but you know you look an awful lot like..."
"Bellatrix Lestrange? Yeah I've been told. It's the hair," Eris fluffed her hair a little before holding her hand out, "Eris Rowle."
"Rowle? You Thorfinn Rowle's daughter?"
"Yeah that's me."
"Good man Thorfinn, great internationals director. I'm Tonks," the woman shook hands and Eris scooped her book off the floor.
"I've got to go Gin, see you at dinner?" Ginny nodded and Eris took off back down the corridor leaving herself and Tonks alone.
"You know, mum would have a fit if she saw her walking about." Tonks indicated to where Eris has disappeared while Ginny gave her a confused look, "I heard she's dating my dear cousin."
"She was, she's now engaged to a Durmstrang," as Ginny spun off the practiced lie she felt a tug in her heart, she didn't like lying to Tonks.
"Well good on her, say Gin, I bumped into Harry earlier..." the older witch raised an eyebrow and winked at Ginny,
"I believe that snitch went a while ago Tonks."
Weeks later Ginny found herself being pulled into a soft one shouldered number in preparation for the Parkinson's ball.
"I don't see why we have to attend," she huffed as Eris tugged at her hair sweeping it up into an elegant knot.
"It's the debutante code, plus our families have been friends for years so it's expected of us." Eris stepped back to admire her hand work before turning her attention on herself.
"Why does Draco have to attend with her?" The younger girl huffed crossing her arms angrily.
"Gin, I know it's hard, but for many years it looked like those two would eventually get married. And seeing as Draco and yourself cannot admit to courting just yet, he must do what's expected of him."
walking up the stairs to the Parkinson residence Ginny had time to take in the dress if everyone around her, while the boys were dressed in their usual attire of dinner jackets and perfectly tied cravats, Eris seemed subdued in her floor length plain black gown, in fact the only element which seemed to fit the girls ostentatious personality was the spilt in the dress which ran up the left side from the hem to just above the knee.
Entering the house Ginny was overwhelmed with the amount of pastel pink and cream that seemed to dip from every available space giving the room a disturbing feeling of being inside a marshmallow. She felt Theo's hand tap her lower back and she allowed him to usher her into the small scale ball room, it was only as she took her seat at the lace covered table she noticed that Blaise and Eris hadn't followed them in.
~o~
Back in the entrance hall Eris and Blaise found themselves hidden among the cloaks as they put their plan into action,
"I must say Eris, for all of our schemes over the years, this has to be the best." Eris smirked at the boy and reached into his pocket, "Eris! I love you, but is this really the time?" holding in laughter, she retrieved her wand pointed it at herself.
"Well?" she twirled for Blaise showing off her handiwork, "will it work?"
"If it doesn't, then something is deeply wrong."
Ginny and Theo watched as Draco was paraded around the room by Parkinson, dressed in a ridiculous amount of pink lace.
"Someone ate too much cake…" Theo gestured to the vast amount of material Pansy was swamped in.
"Theodore! I didn't know you had it in you!"
"My dear Ginevra, desperate times." They clinked their champagne flutes and each took a deep drink. Before Theo could swallow however he spat the liquid across the table.
"Look!" He spluttered and gestured towards the entrance. Following his gaze Ginny also found herself trying not to laugh.
Framed by the ribbons of cream stood Eris and Blaise. However Eris' dress of black silk was now a shocking magenta with Blaise's cravat matching.
"I think that's the greatest thing I've seen all day."
"No, Gin, that's the greatest thing we've seen all day." Theo replied watching Pansy.
"It's incredible how she managed to get the colour an exact match to Pansy's face.
Eris and Blaise descended the stairs and sweep past Pansy without the slightest glance to join them at their table.
"Nice dress Eris." Eris smiled at Ginny and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"I fear dear Draco will have to find someone else to tug his cravat this evening…" Eris remarked shooting Ginny a wink and reached for a glass.
A/N Sorry for the delay but it's been a busy week. We can admit it's a bit of a filler chapter, but it does say what's happening! Next chapter will be more filled with interesting things, we promise!
Peace and Cake
x