*This is the Christmas chapter featuring the Yule Ball! If you want to see the dress I based Clara's dress off of, C&P this: . _

*Also, I just wanted to say Happy Christmas to all of you. This is my gift to you all, so I hope you enjoy. Thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows. Now, without further ado...

It was hours until the Yule Ball started, and John hadn't even gotten his dress robes. He thought, perhaps that he could just skip. Though, Clara had reminded him earlier that he had already asked Luna to accompany him, and that that would look mean.

John wasn't quite sure of what he felt when he asked Luna– she was very relatable, however John realized that she didn't have the aura that he so wished. Ginger and Clara teased him mercilessly over the past few days, making kissy faces and hearts with their hands, which aggravated him so. The worst part was that he felt that sinking feeling in his chest as if he had just abandoned something.

John was thinking restlessly, and walked down the corridors without much attention. He accidently walked through Peeves, which caused a ruckus as the ghost began chase him down the halls. Truth be told, John quite liked the feeling of being pursued.

He turned a corner, and bumped into Clara herself. He tripped over her leg, and fell down beside her as Clara shouted "MOTHER–" Of course, just then Peeves doused them water, ran away chuckling gleefully,leaving the two spluttering and shivering.

"What–what just happened?" Clara queried.

"It's a bit of a long story, I really don't want to get into it now," John replied gruffly.

"Well," Clara said, rubbing her head, "that hurt, and why was Peeves chasing you?"

"I accidently walked through him."

Clara rubbed her nose. "Well, in that case, you deserved it."

"Thank you, Clara, for those words of utter kindness."

"You're very welcome– What's that?"

John raised an eyebrow, but then realized that there was a high-pitched shriek coming from a few corridors down. It was raspy and sounding as though an animal were being tortured. John immediately gave a look at Clara, "Let's go."

The pair ran in the direction of the shrieks, and again John couldn't help but feel that rush. He stopped in his tracks when he met a hallway that was flooded.

Clara shivered, "It's like the Chamber of Secrets events all over again."

John scanned the area, and thought he saw nothing– Except there was movement behind a statue of a knight.

"There," John whispered, and Clara nodded. John inched closer, and heard a muffled gasp from behind that statue.

"It's all right," Clara called out. "Just come out– we won't hurt you."

There was the sound of splashing, and John straightened when he saw a little houself with a red sweater that was made with many holes in it, and a tiny Christmas ornament stuck to its head.

"Oh," Clara said, "What's your name?"

Immediately, the houself began to cry, causing John to tense.

"Oh, not many students have asked Dobby to speak his name! Oh, Dobby is much pleased!" John was taken aback by Dobby's squeaky, raspy voice.

"Lord, you're Dobby!" Clara exclaimed. John was about to say, Well that was what he just said his name was! When it suddenly clicked.

"You're the houself that helped out Harry Potter, right?"

Dobby clapped and cried. "Oh! Harry Potter has spoken of me?" He flailed his arms.

John was unsure of what to do, and Clara looked almost as stricken as he, however shook herself and smiled warmly at Dobby. "Of course he has! You know that Harry considers you as a friend!"

Dobby wiped his eyes with his red sleeve and sniffled. "Oh, thank you miss. May Dobby ask your name?"

"Clara."

"John."

Dobby's eyes widened. "Oh! Yes, Harry Potter has spoken of you!"

John was infinitesimally more intrigued. "Really? What did he say?"

"Dobby visited Harry Potter this morning, and Harry Potter spoke of the dance and how he invited Miss Oswald to it!"

By "you" Dobby meant "Clara."

Dobby shifted his feet. "I must admit, Miss Oswald is quite pretty." He blushed.

John glanced at Clara, who was pink-cheeked but seemingly normal.

Clara cleared her throat. "Dobby… What are you doing here?" She gestured at the huge puddle.

Dobby smiled. "Oh! Dobby was cleaning! Dobby is very good at cleaning, miss!"

"All of this? By yourself?"

"Oh, it isn't much. Dobby is a houself, remember?" With that, Dobby snapped his fingers, and the hallway dried and became much warmer.

John noticed that his clothes were no longer dripping, and the same went for Clara. Clara jerked her head in the direction of John's pockets. John pulled out a cue card that read: Thank you for_. "Er, thank you for the help…?"

Clara smacked her head, but Dobby seemed light as the wind. He ran forward, and gave John a hug around the knees.

"Oh, Dobby is much thankful for your gratitude!"

John shimmied his way out of Dobby's grasp. "Okay, no, no. I'm not the huggy type."

"Oh, Dobby sincerely apologizes. Dobby is very sorry."

Clara knelt down. "Oh, don't be sorry, John here is just being rude. Isn't he?" She glared in John's direction, John looked up to see what she was staring at, and again Clara sighed.

Dobby smiled again, and wiped his eyes. "Dobby is very grateful for your kind conversation," he shifted his foot. "Not many students would even notice a house elf…" He teared up again. John was getting very tired of the whole happy-sad thing going on.

Clara shook her head quickly. "Oh, please don't cry! It was great finally meeting the Great Dobby! Without you, Harry probably wouldn't have survived."

Dobby this time embraced Clara, who patted him on the back. "Kind miss! Is there anything Dobby could do to assist a friend of Harry Potter's?"

"Actually," John started, "There are a couple things…"

"No! We can't take advantage of him!" Clara snapped. Dobby pulled away and looked hurt.

"Well, he obviously wants to. And what was our situation for the dressing portion of the dance? Ah yes. We have nothing, Clara. I know because you constantly nag about it 24/7."

Clara's cheeks reddened. "Er–"

"Dobby is eager to serve!" Dobby cheered. "Dobby will even do it for no pay!"

"What?" Clara exclaimed. "Oh, no. It's Christmas, so I'll pay you… 5 galleons."

Dobby shrieked. "Oh no! Dobby mustn't accept the quantity! Dobby will do it for free!"

"Three galleons," Clara said firmly.

John tapped his foot impatiently. "Okay, Dobby," he said, and he rummaged into his pockets looking for some spare change, which was difficult as he had put on an Extending Charm on his pockets. John ended up pulling out some contraptions and a toy helicopter he made in his spare time, a scarf with holes in it and some pens and paper. "Here we go!" John declared, as he pulled out on, shiny gold piece. "One galleon!"

Dobby eyed the helicopter and scarf. "Perhaps Dobby could have those?" He pointed at the two object at John's feet.

"Oh, yeah, sure." John handed them to Dobby, ensuring that the houself also got the galleon.

"Thank you! Thank you! Dobby has now received three Christmas gifts. One from Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and now John–"

"Smith."

"Mr. John Smith!"

John shivered at the title.

"Oh, yes," Dobby continued, "Dobby will get to work right away!" He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a loud puff of smoke.

Clara sniffed. "Well, then."

"Interesting, quite interesting."

"I'm glad we ran into him," Clara admitted, "I was walking to McGonagall's just now to ask her to Transfigure something for me. Imagine how awkward that would have been."

"Well, looking at Dobby's taste in raggedy clothes, I'm expecting something wonderful."

Clara gave a look of horror.

"What? I really am."

The dance was supposed to start at 8 o'clock that evening, so John figured that he had plenty of time to adhese his model of the Titanic together. Afterall, it started in one hour, and who really needed all that time anyway? John had opted to skip out on the activities Clara, Ginger and Luna were partaking in, for pranking the Hogwarts corridors with bustles of mistletoe wasn't his style. Five boys exited the washroom at the end of the dormitories, and groaned.

"This is so–god–damned–itchy!" Ron said, trying to fix his literal scarecrow outfit.

The other boys all looked the same, except for Harry who wore bottle-green robes, but they still looked quite similar. Harry frowned in John's direction. "Are you even going?"

John shrugged, attaching a lifeboat to the side of the ship. "Yeah, but I've got plenty of time."

"We have thirty minutes!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Oh," said John simply. "Well, thirty minutes is a lot of time! Why, I could finish my Titanic model in that time!"

"Yeah, but you'll be late for the dance," Neville pointed out.

An unfamiliar boy suddenly walked in, panting and holding a clear bag with something black inside. "Er," he stuttered, "some girl said to give this John Smith in 4th year?"

John raised his hand. "That would me moi, thank you."

The boy smiled, and ran off. John placed the bag on the edge of his bed. The five other boys looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, you want me to open it?"

"Yes!"

John rolled his eyes, and pulled out a pair of black pants and scowled. "What kind of a gift is this?"

"Those are your dress robes," Harry explained. "Which you should really put on quickly."

"That explains a lot," said John.

It took awhile, but John came out of the bathroom feeling better than usual. Instead of having big, ruffly robes, Dobby had somehow decided that John would look better in a dark red, velvet coat. Dean whistled.

"Well? See, that's alright!" Ron complained. "And I'm here dressed like my bloody Aunt Muriel." He tugged at the lace collar.

"They're not exactly robes, are they?" Neville observed.

"I don't think we have time to worry," Harry noted. "We have fifteen minutes and I'm sure that we will get yelled at if we linger any longer."

The others agreed, so John grabbed his wand and placed it into his coat pocket and followed the boys who exited.

John immediately noticed a change in the Gryffindor common room. People were dressed in all sorts of colours, and little fireworks were whizzing about, too.

John saw Parvati Patil who momentarily blinded him in her robes of bright pink. John groaned, and tried to look for Clara. He looked around, even asked a few students too.

"Have you seen a short girl with a rather large face?"

"Oh my God, John," said Clara's voice behind him. John turned to see Clara, looking a little taller, and her eyes a lot bigger.

"What did you do?" John asked.

Clara put her hands on her hips, "This is the part where you're supposed to compliment me?" She spun around, causing the red dress she was wearing to twirl around.

John had to admit, Clara looked nice. Her face which was usually blotchy was now evened out with what John presumed was makeup. Her hair had been elongated to have a loose bun on her head. Though, her hair in John's opinion resembled that of a bird's nest.

Clara's dress was in a crimson colour, with red, lace that covered the top of her chest. The lace extended down into sleeves. Her actual dress was seemingly made out of a silky material that ended just below her knees.

"See, usually when a boy is speechless, I take it as a good thing. But I get the feeling now that you're judging me."

"Maybe because I am."

"Oh, well in that case you look nice John. Velvet suits you. Haha, get it?"

"Clara, you are embarrassing me."

"John, when will you learn that you are an embarrassment to even be around?"

"You obviously haven't learned' you're still here."

Clara smiled. "That was pretty good." Her smile evaporated. "What time is it?"

"7:56."

"Damn! I was supposed to meet Harry six minutes ago!"

"That's only six minutes–"

"Aren't you the one who constantly says that even a minute is long as eternity? Let's go!" She pulled John's hand out the common room and down the corridors, her white shoes clacking against the stone floor.

"Hey, let go! I do the hand-grabbing–" they turned on an abrupt corner. John broke free of her grasp and jogged to the entrance hall, which was basically just a mob.

Clara gasped, and beckoned Ron over. "Have–you–seen–Harry?"

Ron was followed by Parvati's twin Padma, who was wearing bright, turquoise robes. She eyed Clara curiously.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, er– Harry!"

Harry walked over awkwardly. He glanced at Clara, momentarily froze, then smiled sheepishly.

"Er–you–look–great," he managed.

Clara smiled. "Thanks. Sorry for being late–"

John turned when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He saw Luna in a dark blue dress that didn't go well with her pale skin. She looked sickly. However, John did notice the bright smile she wore.

"Oh, thank you for bringing me. I'm sure the dance will be wonderful." She looked in the direction of the ceiling, so did John, hoping to see something interesting, but no. "I know you don't think I look very nice."

John could tell that this was one of Luna's moments of awkward truth.

"What? No!" It wasn't really a lie. He was mesmerized by the colour of the dress– the dark blue wisps– The soothing wheezing and groans from the distance–

John shook himself out of his reverie. He awkwardly linked arms with Luna, and was momentarily saddened by her short height. Perhaps it was because John was too tall…

The doors to the Great Hall swung open. John walked in along with all the others. McGonagall, dressed in red tartan robes announced the champions to prepare to dance.

John watched the champions ready themselves, and noticed that the girl next to Krum looked suspiciously familiar… He caught Clara quickly mouthing 'Hermione' in Krum's direction, which confused John greatly, until… Well once the music started John was able to catch a glimpse of Krum's date (Hermione) who was looking well dressed in a blue, wispy dress.

Luna seemed to have vanished, and John was left alone. He sat down at a table, and looked at a menu, and saw decided that salad would suit him just fine. Of course, he got some fancy dish, which John didn't even know was possible because he just wanted salad. John chewed slowly, and sat tiredly.

Something brushed passed John, and he turned to see a black tuft in his peripheral vision. He smelled a soothing scent, and almost, almost smiled. By now, John had finished eating, and everyone else began to dine. Luna sat down next to him, smiling. She said something, which John couldn't quite catch over the horrid music.

"You're not listening to me," Luna said, with a dreamy smile.

"Hm?"

Clara sat down next to Luna, an evident smile sprawled over her face. "He's always like that." She grabbed a menu and frowned. "Was there anything good you ate, John?"

"Yeah, the reindeer stew was great."

"What?! Oh."

Harry, Ron and Padma joined. John noticed the faint smile on Harry's face, and looked of utter annoyance on Ron's.

The others got engaged in a conversation about something, but again John shivered when he felt the air around him change. He noticed a mass of caramel-blonde-coloured curls from the crown dancing. He rubbed his nose.

Ginny and Neville eventually joined them too. However, Hermione and Viktor Krum sat at a different table, which was where Ron constantly had his eyes on.

He saw the curly-haired girl exit the Great Hall, and John suddenly filled with curiosity, excused himself and followed her out the Great Hall.

The girl was tall, John noticed. Her dress was a shiny black. Though, he was only seeing her back. John followed her outside, where it was snowing lightly. The white powder set in her hair nicely.

She turned around, causing John to back into the outside wall of Hogwarts. She was so familiar… Her face was something he recognized, something that he sometimes drew when he wasn't even thinking.

"It's not nice to follow people," she said matter-of-factly.

"Who are you?"

"I'm sure you know," she was still a few feet away from him. She walked closer. Her curls bounced atop her head.

"Do you see the forest?" She pointed into the dark horizon, where there was the faint outlines of dark trees.

"Barely," John muttered.

The girl– no woman, John realized, leaned in. "Your Christmas Past: You're going to live happily ever after, but you need to remember!" She smiled sadly, and whispered in his ear. "The only water in the forest is the river." John looked at her, stunned, but she had disappeared. Vanished, without trace. No smoke, or spark, or wheezing, just gone.

John collapsed against the wall slowly. He sat in the cold reminiscing of the dream he had. Clara had said that she was like Marley… But this woman… He sighed as he smelled her perfume in the wind, and for the first time in years, he felt the stinging of water in his eyes.