Disclaimer: I dun own Harry Potter nor any of the relating characters.

~*~*~Chapter Twenty-Five: Emerald, Silver, and Black~*~*~

"Larisa, will you stop flinching?!" Daphne cried out in exasperation as she wiped the black eyeliner off of Larisa's cheek. "Honestly, have you EVER had eyeliner before?"

"No. I've only worn lipstick. I don't wear much makeup." Larisa replied while Daphne again tried to put the eyeliner on Larisa. "Ow, Pansy, stop tugging my hair!" Larisa snapped.

"I'm sorry! It's just you don't sit still, and I'm trying to put it up in a bun, but you flinch, and the pins slip out!" Pansy retorted, again trying to twist Larisa's white hair into a bun. Larisa flinched again, and the hair pins came cascading out. "This is hopeless, Larisa..."

"Forget the hair, then." Larisa mumbled. Daphne finally succeeded in getting the black eyeliner on, and was now trying to get an emerald colored eyeshadow on Larisa.

"Daphne, I don't get why I need to wear this makeup...It looks scary on me, I'm sure..." Larisa said.

"Why would it look scary on you, Larisa?" Pansy asked.

"Let's think. I'm deathly pale, and I'm wearing dark makeup-" Larisa began.

"Done!" Daphne said triumphantly, handing Larisa a mirror. Larisa looked at herself, and realized she didn't look scary at all. Her eyes looked nice with the green eyeshadow and black eyeliner, and it went well with the single black streak in her bangs.

"Now will you take that back?" Pansy asked with a small smile. Larisa smiled a little as well.

"Well, I guess not-"

"Good, because the ball is about to start!" Pansy cried, looking at her watch. Daphne looked Larisa over quickly.

"Earrings...Check...Necklace...Check..." She said. "You're good!" Pansy and Daphne grabbed Larisa by the wrists and tugged her out the door. They closed the door behind them, and then Daphne and Pansy hurried down the passage. Larisa hurried after them, the hem of her emerald dress flapping around her ankles. When they got out of the passage, the common room was packed with people. Larisa suddenly felt nervous, and swayed a little bit.

"Come on, Larisa." Pansy said quickly, standing on her tiptoes. "I see them." She grabbed Larisa's wrist and tugged her through the crowd of people. Larisa stumbled slightly, having a hard time keeping her balance because of the black high heels she was wearing, even though they only made her three inches taller. Finally, they reached Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Pansy let go of Larisa's wrist.

"Good luck." Daphne breathed in Larisa's ear before going over to Goyle. Larisa gulped, then took a deep breath. She didn't need to be nervous. Draco was staring at her as she walked up to him.

"Hi." She said pleasantly. Draco blinked a few times.

"You could give Fleur Delacour a run for the money..." He said nervously. Larisa sniggered.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks for the necklace, I love it." She said, also with a nervous tone.

"Glad you liked it." Draco said. Suddenly, the clock on the mantel hit seven fifty, and everyone bean surging to get out of the common room. Larisa took Draco's arm, and together they walked out of the common room. Larisa's heart was thumping extremely hard against her chest, and Larisa had butterflies in her stomach. Soon, they were walking into the Entrance Hall, and Larisa saw Harry's mouth drop open. Larisa felt the earrings bang on her neck as she and Draco walked into the Great Hall, which was lavishly decorated. The four house table were gone and they had been replaced by several smaller, round tables. Larisa, Draco, Pansy, and Crabbe sat down at the nearest one.

"So I see you're finally wearing some makeup." Crabbe grunted. Larisa rolled her mismatched eyes.

"I normally don't wear makeup...It hides the real me." Larisa explained, opening up a menu in front of her. She casually leafed through it, when Pansy prodded her arm. Larisa suddenly felt a shock vibrate all through her body, and she quickly looked down at her left arm. The Dark Mark was gone!

"Do you like how I covered up the Mark?" Pansy whispered, nodding at Larisa's left arm.

"God, you're wonderful, Pansy...How did you do it?"

"Cover up. Snape helped me brew it." Pansy said cheerfully. "Now then, how does this work?" Pansy looked through the menu again, confusion all over her face. Larisa looked through the menu again, and saw that pasta was there. Quietly, she put down the menu and stared at her plate.

"Pasta." She said clearly. Draco looked at her funny, but then, pasta showed up on Larisa's plate.

"How'd you figure that out?" Crabbe grunted, quickly leafing through his menu.

"Took a wild guess and hoped for the best." Larisa murmured. Soon, everyone else at the table had food, and they started to eat. Larisa was nearly done when Karkaroff came sweeping over to her.

"Larisa, dear, how are you holding up here at Hogwarts?" He asked, pulling a chair up. Larisa turned pink slightly.

"Fine." She said flatly.

"You sound troubled, dear." Karkaroff said.

"I'm fine, sir. Nothing is wrong." She said quietly.

"I see you are wearing makeup." He said pleasantly. Larisa felt anger bubbling up inside her, and she gripped her fork and set her chin angrily. Draco set his hand on top of hers, and the butterflies came back. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Larisa." And with that, he swished away.

"Don't let that get to you." Draco whispered in her ear before kissing her on the cheek. Larisa felt herself go pink again.

&%$&%$&%$

The tables cleared away, and it was time to dance. Larisa felt terrified as the Weird Sisters walked up onto the stage and stuck up a slow song. Draco tugged on her wrist, and she followed him over to the dance floor. Draco put and arm around her waist, and they began to slowly revolve on the spot. Larisa's heart was thumping wildly, but she felt it slowly decreasing, until her heart rate was no longer in the danger zone. She looked over Draco's shoulder to see Pansy desperatly trying to avoid Crabbe's feet, and Daphne wasn't even dancing.

"You alright?" Draco asked quietly.

"Just having a mini heart attack..." Larisa said breathlessly. Draco sniggered.

"Well, you're fine. You just look nervous."

"That look is permanently etched on my face."

"You're impossible." Draco sighed.

"Well, so are you." Larisa retorted, raising an eyebrow. Draco smiled a little. They slowly revolded on the spot a little longer, and then the song stopped. "Sorry. I just don't dance. Mum never hosted any parties I was forced to attend and I was never allowed out a-" She stopped short to keep from rambling. Draco laughed and took her hand.

"Obviously this is scarring you for life. Come on, let's go for a walk." Larisa followed him out of the Great Hall and out of the front doors, onto the grounds, which had also been lavishly decorated. Other people were walking out here, as well, just talking. "So then, what did you get for Christmas other than the necklace I gave you?" Draco asked as they sat down at a bench.

"I got this dress, and these earrings. I also got some sweets from Pansy, and Daphne and Astoria gave me a set of these really fancy quills." Larisa rounded off. "I also got this really strange wooden box that was full of flasks that had memories in them relating to my past. I looked at one this morning."

"Who sent that to you?" Draco asked.

"That's the thing, I don't know. The handwriting was somewhat familiar, but I can't remember who's handwriting it is."

"Odd...Do you have any idea, maybe?" Draco asked. Larisa looked up at the sky.

"I've ruled it down to five people. Bellatrix, your mum, Snape, Dumbledore, or my mum, but I somewhat doubt my mum would do that..." Larisa rounded off. She then began to tell the whole story of the memory she saw that morning.

"If you don't mind, I could help you with these memories." Draco offered. Larisa looked at him.

"I can barely understand what I'm supposed to do with them, though..." She said in a soft voice.

"There's a muggle saying, two heads are better than one..." Draco said. Larisa shrugged.

"Well, alright. I'll bring it out the the common room tomorrow." She offered. A slight breeze blew by, and Larisa shivered. Draco put his arm around her.

"Wanna go back to the dance?" He asked. Larisa nodded, and they both got up from the bench they were sitting on. As they crossed the threshold of the front door, Draco froze and looked up. Larisa did as well. There was mistletoe right over their heads.

Cliffe! I'm evil, aren't I?