A/N: Well here's the next chapter right on time! Thank-you to everyone who wished me a good camping trip. It was lots of fun, even though it poured rain non-stop one day. I had lots of fun with my friends and a few of us even did a 10km hike in 3 hours and 45 min, which we were all very proud of.

If any of you are watching the Olympic games (which I am as I type) I haven't really noticed the large time difference between Canada and London before. Based on the time difference, I could get medal results before the event is even showed. Very confusing, but something which I'll attempt to get through. If anyone's keeping count, as of the moment I'm uploading this, Canada has 5 medals and we're in 13th in the standings. Not the best, but I'm pretty proud seeing as in the Beijing Olympics it took Canada a week to earn one medal, so the events are still rather young. Congrats to all the other medal winners from other countries, and I hope that everyone is enjoying themselves (watching the olympics or not).

So, the beginning of this chapter is kinda . . . well rather girly. But it is the Yule Ball, I am a girl, so yes it's girly.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this, not even the dresses. While some were of my own design, some I took from real-life ideas.

Enjoy! :)


Of Balls and Insecurities

Victoire was groaning as she leant over the toilet in her dorm's lavatory. She was really starting to get tired of vomiting up green venom multiple times a day. She was even considering grabbing some alcohol so that she'd be able to make it through the night without having to run off to the lavatories to get sick. She knew that that wouldn't work, seeing as the Yule Ball was about to start in two hours, and that if she drank before it, Sandra would kill her. If only because Sandra wouldn't allow Victoire to drink by herself. Victoire figured that she had at least a good four hours ahead of her before she would have to leave to get sick again, and was hoping that she would be able to go back to the Ball after getting sick in four hours' time.

When Victoire finished getting sick, she went to the sink, washed the light sheen of sweat off her face, and brushed her teeth. When she came out of the bathroom, she noticed all of the eyes in the room trained on her. Sandra was looking at her with concern, but the rest of their roommates -Pamela Mace and her friends- were looking at her crossly.

Victoire felt the urge to speak because of all of the eyes on her, "Um, what I can do for all of you?"

Pamela walked up close to Victoire, "Do you always have to be the centre of attention?"

Victoire looked at Pamela confusedly, "What are you talking about? You guys didn't have to stand there and listen to me vomit."

Pamela rolled her eyes and sneered at her.

Sandra opened her mouth to explain when she was cut off by the door to their dorm banging against the wall as it opened. Dominique Weasley came strutting into the room carrying four dark black garment bags, with Ally trailing behind her as she carried a large navy blue box.

Dom looked at Pamela and her friends, "I thought I told you guys to scram. We've got some work to do in here."

Pamela went from glaring at the blonde Weasley, to glaring the redheaded one, "You can't just kick us out of our own dorm room! We have to get ready for the Ball too!"

"Trust me Pam, any guy that would ask you to the Ball, isn't concerned with your hair or you're make-up. They're probably just desperate for a date in general," Dom scoffed.

Pamela frowned at the younger girl, "Yes, because a fifth-year like you knows all about what men like."

Dom opened her mouth to retort when Ally broke in, "Pamela, I know that my dorm room is empty because everyone else either went home for Christmas break, or they went to another friend's room to change. You could go there and get ready. There would be a lot more space."

Pamela turned her glare from Dom to Ally. She hadn't been the happiest camper when she'd found out two weeks ago that Xavier Wood had asked Ally Weasley to the Ball, seeing as he was one of the guys on her list that she'd hoped would ask her. She especially wasn't happy when she found out that Xavier hadn't just asked Ally to the Ball so that he'd have a date, but that he was actually dating her.

"Whatever, I guess it'd be best to get changed elsewhere. That way we don't have to try to steal bathroom or mirror time away from Victoire. After all, she takes forever to get ready," Pamela said talking mostly to her friends.

Victoire had opened her mouth to tell Pamela exactly who spent the most amount of time bathroom to get ready, but was stopped when Sandra covered her mouth with her hands. Pamela and her friends barely spared them a glance before grabbing all of their things and leaving the room.

Once they were gone, Dom directed Ally to place the navy box on the bed and turned to her sister; "Okay, now are you going to be difficult tonight? Or are you going to do what I say?"

Victoire took an automatic step back from the scary look on her younger sister's face, "What are you talking about?"

"Are you wondering why Mama isn't here right now trying to direct you on how to dress or how to act tonight?" Dom asked raising an eyebrow at her sister.

Victoire thought for a minute, "Uh . . . no, am I supposed to wonder why she's not here?"

"You actually think that Mama would just let you go to the Ball the way you are?" Dom asked.

"Okay Dom, that was mean. What's wrong with me?"

"Well let's start with the fact that you were planning on wearing flats tonight," Dom said crossing her arms over her chest angrily.

Victoire shot Ally a glance. For her part, Ally was looking everywhere but at Victoire. Damn Ally! Why'd I tell you that? I know you can't keep a secret from Dom, she always wheedles it out of you!

Victoire looked at her sister, "So?"

Dom's eyes widened, "So? So! How about because you're about to be the centre of attention for this Ball and that if you don't measure up and look good, you're going to be embarrassed."

Victoire scoffed, "I'm part Veela Dom, what you see is pretty much what you get, but it's enough for me."

Dom sighed, "But we can always enhance that!"

Victoire sighed and started to rub her temples, "Fine, whatever. Do what you want."

Dom squealed happily before getting to work. She enlisted the aid of both Ally and Sandra as they attempted to charm curl Victoire's long blonde hair around their wands. Halfway through Victoire's hair, Ally had gotten tired of catching her fingers on the end of her wand, and the tail end of the curling spell, and left Victoire's hair to Sandra and Dom. But once Ally's fingers had stopped tingling from the contact of the curling spells, Dom instructed her to start 'putting on Victoire's face'. This caused Victoire to make a face. Ally went into the navy box that Dom had made her carry into the room and started pulling out jars, tubes, and bottles filled with Victoire-really-didn't-want-to-know-what. Victoire had eyed them warily before reminding her part-Veela sister that she also, was part Veela, and that make-up wouldn't do well for her. Dom had pulled Victoire's hair a little harder than necessary to curl the next piece, while simultaneously telling her that it was just a bunch of moisturizing and 'primer' creams and potions (or that's what Victoire thought she said), and to just shut both her mouth and eyes, and let her work.

Half an hour of curling charms, moisturizing potions, and two bottles of Muggle hairspray that Sandra had convinced Dom would be needed if they expected the wild ringlets they'd charmed into Victoire's hair to stay all night, Victoire's hair and face were done. Dom had placed the dress that she and Fleur had picked out for Victoire to wear to the Ball (a small concession on Victoire's part seeing as she wasn't a very dressy person) in the bathroom while they were still doing Victoire's hair. Dom had brought it in, in a garment bag, and neither Victoire, nor Ally and Sandra, had seen it yet. She instructed Victoire to go into the bathroom to dress, because she wanted Victoire's dress to be a big reveal. While Victoire was getting the dress on, Sandra, Dom, and All would begin getting ready themselves.

Victoire walked into the bathroom expecting to take a total of three minutes to get into the dress. However, she was still in there half an hour later when the other girls were almost finished getting ready themselves. Ally was the first to notice that Victoire hadn't come out of the bathroom yet.

"Vic, is everything alright in there?" Ally asked after knocking lightly on the door.

"I'm fine," Victoire's quiet voice called from the other side of the door.

She had tried to play if off coolly, but Ally, Sandra, and Dom had all heard the trepidation in Victoire's voice when she spoke to them. They each shared a look and then looked back to the door.

"Can we come in then Vic?" Ally asked quietly to the door.

"Fine," was the monotone response they received.

The three girls opened the bathroom door, and were surprised to see Victoire still in her dressing robe, leaning against the counter top, facing the unzipped garment bag as it hung on the shower curtain rod.

"Is there something wrong with the dress?" Dom asked quietly. It's not as if it would be the wrong size; Dom knew all of Victoire's measurements.

Victoire nodded her head but wouldn't elaborate.

"Is it the colour?" Ally asked hopefully. That would be a somewhat easy thing to change. The colour of the dress was a bright and stunning crimson red. It was a fitting colour for the Hogwarts' Champion from Gryffindor house, but they would understand if the colour was a little too outgoing, even for Victoire Weasley.

"Mama and I thought that red would be a fitting colour. She was certain that Noëlle's dress would be a powder-blue colour to represent Beauxbatons, and that Konstantin would probably be wearing burgundy and grey dress robes for Durmstrang. So we thought that it would be appropriate for you so do crimson with gold accessories, but we can change the colour if you don't like it," Dom explained.

Victoire shook her head, "No. I love the colour, it's nice and bright."

Sandra tried next, "Is it the shape of the dress? I mean, you've got a great body but it does look like it'd be clingy, not to mention that the neckline and straps are a little different . . ." The crimson dress was made of silk and looked like it would cling to every part of whom ever put it on. It had an empire waist and the skirt fell straight to the floor. The neckline was a low sweetheart that looked even lower because of the flimsy two-inch thick, off-the-shoulder straps.

Victoire shook her head again, "No, I like the straps and the silhouette. It'll be kinda different from everyone else's."

Dom tried this time, "Is it the slit in the side of the dress? I thought you'd like it but I'd understand if you thought it was a little too much." The dress had a slit on the right side; it went from the bottom of the dress all the way, to what would be Victoire's mid-thigh if she were wearing it. Truthfully, Dom thought that Victoire would enjoy the slit; she thought that her sister would like it as a little funky detail.

Victoire shook her head again, "No I like it. It's cute."

Ally, Sandra and Dom looked at each other confusedly. Dom decided to be the one to speak, "Then what's wrong?"

Victoire sighed and waved her hand. With a flick of her wrist, the dress turned on the hanger and everyone was looking at the back. The dress had a band of crimson fabric that would land across the shoulder blades of the person wearing the dress, and a section missing from below the two-inch thick band to the lower back.

Dom looked sadly at the dress, "You don't like the back? You told me that you've always wanted to wear a dress with little back."

Victoire sighed, "Yeah, well that was before I got attacked by that stupid Manticore."

Everyone looked at her puzzled.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dom asked.

Victoire sighed and untied to fabric of her dressing robe, she moved it until her sister and friends could see the dark scar that ran from below her chest to an inch above her bellybutton. The scar from the Manticore's stinger was like a jagged circle and was about six inches in diameter. It had been an acid green colour when she first was attacked, but as the venom drained from her system, it started to darken to a reddish-brown colour. There was still some greenish tinge to it because she had only been recovering for about a month and a half, but it looked better than it did when she had first gotten it. She turned around so that her friends could see the identical scar on her back, directly across from where it would have been on her front. The scar was in the exact spot where the fabric of the dress wouldn't be, if Victoire were wearing it.

"Vic, don't worry about that. It's just a little scar," Dom tried to soothe.

Victoire's eyes went wide and it looked like she was going to cry, "But it's not just some little scar! It's an ugly blob that no glamour charms or amount of magical or Muggle cosmetics are going to fix!"

Ally looked from the Victoire's near meltdown to the back of the dress, "Okay. Well, if you don't want to show your back off Vic, even though I don't see a problem with it, we could always try to transfigure the dress and cover the back up."

Victoire frowned at the dress across from her, "That would work, but knowing Mama she put a charm on it that wouldn't allow me to change anything about it." She gave a pointed look Dom.

Dom looked down at her newly painted toes, "She did, but I might know said charm, and I might even know said counter-charm."

Victoire looked at her sister, "Really?"

Dom nodded and waved her wand. The fabric of the dress glowed a bright yellow, before going back to the crimson it was before. Ally then took her wand and waved it. The fabric on either side of the opening of the dress seemed to knit together, and when the spell was done, the back was filled with silk, up to the original band at the middle of the shoulders.

With Victoire's dress dilemma fixed, they girls quickly finished getting ready. Ally had put on a strapless ice-blue A-line dress that ended up flowing around her ankles. It was of looser fabric than Victoire's dress, and the bodice of the dress had sequins sown throughout the fabric, making it sparkle when she moved in the light. Her long dark hair was done up in a simple French twist, and her make-up was light at the eyes, but dark at the lips. She had on a pair of strappy silver stiletto sandals (that Dom had forced her to wear) and her jewelry was silver and sparkly. Sandra had squeezed into a tight one-shouldered tea-length plum coloured dress that had a light line of ruffles on the shoulder and the bottom of the skirt. Sandra, who hated heels of any kind, was forced by Dom into a pair of three-inch plum coloured peep-toe suede wedge heels. Her jewelry was the matching pearl drop earrings and necklace that Kyle had gifted to her the last couple Christmases. Her hair was in her natural tiny dirty-blonde ringlets, and tousled. Dom had put on a gold corseted dress that flared out into a fluffy, ballerina-esque crinoline skirt that barely came to her knees. The gold fabric was bright and shiny, and the back of the dress was bare where the corset laced up. She was wearing a pair of four-inch black leather peep-toed ankle boots, which had a gold chain across the top as decoration. Her jewelry was a chunky black necklace and matching bracelet, with medium sized black hoop earrings. The top half of her long red hair was pulled back with a large black flower hair clip, and the rest was charmed in messy curls. Her make-up was as dramatic as she could make it considering that it would probably disappear in a few hour's time; her whole look screamed edgy, yet somehow classy at the same time.

Victoire's finishing touches came after she slipped in the soft silk dress. It fit like a glove, and she loved the neckline, and the slit on the side. Dom forced her into a pair of uncomfortable heels also, only these were two-inch tall gold stiletto sandals, which ended up tying around her ankle in a golden silk bow. Her earrings were long, dangly, and gold. She a matching thick gold barrette was placed on the right side of her head -after Dom instructed her to keep the curls they'd placed in her hair on her left shoulder for the rest of the night. Dom had wanted her to wear a gold choker necklace, but Victoire passed over it for the gold locket that Teddy had given her. The chain was usually long, so she shortened it so that it lay above the neckline of her dress.

When all of the girls were happy with their outfits, they left the dormitory to make their way to the great Hall for the Yule Ball.


Victoire stood around the corner of the top of the stairs leading to the entrance of the Great Hall. Her sister, cousin, and friend had left her there so that they could find their own dates. Victoire and the other Champions were to enter the Ball after everyone else, and then open it up by dancing the first dance with their dates. Victoire was to walk down the stairs by herself, and then meet up with Chris at the bottom. So she stood out of view, at the top of the steps waiting for everyone else to get to the Ball. After standing there for a few minutes by herself, Noëlle joined her. Dom had been right when she predicted that she would be in a power-blue coloured dress. Noëlle's dress was a long halter necked ball gown, with symmetrical cut-outs on either side of her body, below her ribcage. The front was simple, with a little beading around the neckline, but the back was something else itself. The dress was almost completely backless, except for the two small pieces of power-blue fabric that crisscrossed across the small of the open back of the dress. She was wearing a pair of sky-high silver heels that Dom would have drooled over, and a frosted silvery set of earrings, with a matching necklace and bracelets. Her make-up was rather dramatic and her blonde hair was done up in an elegant bun, with some curly tendrils left to frame her face.

They stared at each other quietly, and Victoire attempted a compliment, "You look really great tonight Noëlle."

Noëlle looked Victoire up and down before answering, "And of courze you look belle ez alwaz."

Victoire figured that that was as good as she was going to get so she smiled and the two went back to silence. Thankfully, Konstantin joined them a few minutes later.

Victoire smirked as she realized that Dom had been right again, as far as clothing choices were concerned; he was wearing burgundy and grey dress robes.

"You look very handsome Konstantin," Victoire said winking at him.

He chuckled and even blushed lightly, "Fank vou Vic. Bovf ov vou look vervy nice too."

Victoire and Noëlle both thanked Konstantin softly, and then the three stood in silence. About ten minutes later, Victoire could hear a quiet hush take over the crowds in the entrance of the Great Hall. She was certain that their grand entrance was about to start, and her suspicions were confirmed when Professor Cooke, and Noëlle's teacher Professeur La Croix, came into view from around the corner of the staircase.

Professor Cooke winked at Victoire before speaking to all three Champions, "Okay, so you all know how this is going to go. You'll each go down separately, Miss Varens, Mr Krum, and then Miss Weasley. When you reach the end of the staircase, you will meet up with your escort, then you will all walk into the Great Hall, and the three of you and your partners will begin the traditional first dance. Any questions?"

Victoire started to raise her hand slowly.

Professor Cooke saw her hand moving and smirked at her, "No, Miss Weasley, there is no way that you'll be able to get out of it now. If you didn't want to dance in front of everyone you should have faked a broken ankle."

Victoire frowned, crossed her arms against her chest and mumbled, "Don't worry, going down the stairs in these shoes will definitely cause me to actually break an ankle."

The only evidence that Professor Cooke had heard her was a slight tug on the corners of his lips, "Okay. Time to get started."

Noëlle gracefully glided away from the group, held her head up high, and practically floated down the staircase. Once she was halfway down, Konstantin started his descent. And once Konstantin was halfway down, Professor Cooke signalled Victoire to begin. She took a deep breath and stepped one foot at a time down the, staircase. (She had travelled up and down the staircase numerous times during the last seven years of her education, but she never really appreciated how large and tall the staircase was until now.) Victoire's head spun when she saw all of the people standing at the bottom of the staircase. Her stage fright, and hate of being the centre of attention, was coming on full force. She felt sick, and not just because of the Manticore venom that was in her system. She tried to search out her friends' faces in the crowd like Ally and Sandra had planned with her. They'd hoped that finding their faces and concentrating on them would help her get through the walk. But after a few seconds of fruitless searching, she couldn't pick them out from the large crowd of, slightly blurry, colours and blobs. She couldn't even pick Dom out with her sky-high heels, bright red hair, and edgy outfit. Victoire took two steps but paused when she almost fell. She was very close to either hyperventilating, tripping over her high heels, or both. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to move, when she opened them back up, a movement at the very back of the entrance hall caught her eye. She took three more steps and what she saw came more into focus. Standing at the back behind the crowds and leaning against the walls, were a series of dark red Auror's robes. Victoire's eyes moved over the line of robes until she spotted the face that she was looking for. Teddy was farthest back, his hair was blue and his dark eyes were twinkling. His mouth was open as he watched her step down the stairs. His eyes followed her footsteps down, and then they travelled up her body until they got to her face. When they got there, they stopped. Victoire gained courage from Teddy's gaze, and she kept her attention on him as she continued down the staircase. When she came to the bottom of the staircase, she could no longer see Teddy over the crowd, but her hand was grabbed by the person closest to her.

Victoire turned and saw Chris smiling down at her from her side. He'd grabbed her hand and placed it on the crook of his arm like a gentleman. She gave him a small forced smile, and let him lead her into the Great Hall.

Chris leaned down to whisper into her ear as they entered the Great Hall, "Just follow my lead and we'll get through this."

Victoire nodded her head tightly. She looked down at her feet, and planned to keep her gaze there throughout the first dance. She didn't want to either A.) Step on Chris' feet, or B.) Trip on her dress or over her stilettos. The music started and Victoire felt Chris move to place one of his hands on her waist as the other grabbed her hand. She placed her other hand lightly on his shoulder and watched their feet as Chris began their dance.

After spinning, twirling, and bounding across the floor, the music stopped and Victoire was able to take a step back from Chris. A faster paced song began, and everyone else began to dance in the room. Chris placed his hand on Victoire's back and guided her over to a corner of the Great Hall. Waiting there was Sandra and Kyle, and Xavier and Ally.

Victoire's gaze skimmed over her girlfriends' face and went straight to Xavier, "Tell me the truth, did I make a fool of myself?"

Xavier let go of Ally's hand and he opened his arms up. Victoire walked right to him and smiled at the warmth she felt when she was wrapped up in his hug. Xavier whispered into her hair, "You were great. I thought that you might trip in those deathtraps that Dom put you in, but you didn't."

Victoire stepped out of Xavier's hug and looked at her other friends; they were all smiling at her. When she looked at Sandra, she noticed something on her wrist that hadn't been their earlier, a pearl bracelet that matched her earrings and necklace.

Victoire smiled, "I see you coerced Kyle into giving you your Christmas present early."

Sandra smiled and touched her bracelet with her other hand, "Yes. But Kyle said that my wrist looked bare and that he has more presents for me tomorrow, so that it's okay for me to get one early."

Everyone laughed and turned around to watch the crowd of people dancing as the next song began. Xavier inclined his head in Ally's direction, but she shook her head.

"I'm sorry Xavier. You know that I would love to dance with you but I just really, really hate this song."

Xavier nodded his head understandingly while Kyle snickered at him. Sandra eyed Kyle, "I don't know why you're laughing at Xavier, I hate this song too and I'm not going to dance with you."

Kyle rolled his eyes and threw his arm around his girlfriend. He pulled her closer to him, brushed her hair away from her face, and kissed her temple.

Victoire -who had been watching the crowd of people interestedly- suddenly exclaimed, "Why is Dom dancing with Valentin Krum?"

"Because he's her date," Ally answered her offhandedly.

Victoire's eyes went wide, "Wait. What? Why? How?"

"Apparently Valentin's a shy guy. Mamma and Viktor set it up so that Valentin would have a date without having to get too far out of his comfort zone and asking some girl that he didn't know," a voice from behind Victoire, informed her.

She turned around and took a step back in surprise; Louis and Cecilia had suddenly appeared next to her. Louis was looking very handsome in a neat looking set of black dress robes with red trim. And Cecilia was looking very pretty in a knee length orange silk spaghetti strap dress. Her dark hair was done up in a messy bun, she wore a pair of diamond studs in her ears with a matching diamond drop necklace around her neck and -she obviously hadn't been caught by Dom yet that night- because she was wearing a silvery bedazzled pair of flip flops that contained absolutely no heel whatsoever.

Since her brother seemed to know all, Victoire asked him the next question directly, "And Dom was okay with Mamma setting her up on a date tonight?"

Louis shrugged, "She said she was fine with it."

"Well of course she was okay with it! Valentin Krum in one fine young man," Cecilia said moving her head slightly so she could pick out Valentin in the crowd.

Louis frowned at her and placed his hand at the small of her back. Cecilia rolled her eyes at Louis but she leaned slightly into his embrace. Normally Victoire would tease them about how close they were to acting lovey-dovey, but since she helped them get together, she thought she could stand a little sweetness from her brother and Cecilia. Especially since, she figured that Louis was tired of Cecilia slapping him and yelling at him for being obtuse.

Victoire chatted with her friends as they waited for the song to change. Once a fast-paced song that Ally and Sandra didn't hate came on, they all took to the dance floor. They danced to a series of Wizarding and Muggle rock, pop, and dancing songs over the next hour and a half. The play list of music was dotted every once and a while with a slow song. Three of the slow songs Victoire awkwardly danced with Chris, she was happy when each song ended because that meant that she had made it through the dances having only stepped on his toes an infinitesimal amount of times. The last slow song that Victoire had been caught in she ended up dancing with Kyle because he thought I'd be fun for them to switch partners. Chris and Sandra twirled elegantly around Victoire and Kyle, while Victoire attempted to not step on Kyle's shoes, and while Kyle tried to tickled Victoire's sides any chance he could. He was trying to get her to crack a smile . . . or at least that was what he'd told her.

When the song was finally done, Victoire stepped on Kyle's toe on purpose and said sweetly, "Try to tickle me again and that will be the last thing that you'll be able to do with your hands tonight."

Kyle yelped when Victoire stepped on his toe, "Ouch! Okay I got it hands off. Geez, did you have to use your stilettos on me?"

Victoire smirked at him and crossed her arms over her chest happily. Sandra came over to where Victoire and Kyle stood and looked at Kyle questioningly as he hopped on one foot, with his hands holding the other. She looked between her best mate and her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow, "Do I even want to know what happened?"

"Your boyfriend tried to tickle me," Victoire told her.

Sandra nodded only a little bit surprised, "Oh was that what he was doing? I saw him grabbing for you but I thought that he was just trying to feel you up."

Victoire raised a blonde brow, "And you were hypothetically okay with him trying to feel your best mate up?"

Sandra shrugged and kissed Kyle on the cheek, "We already know that he thinks that snogging you is like kissing cardboard, so I don't think that you're that much of a threat Vic."

Kyle laughed and threw his arms around Sandra's waist. Victoire shook her head at her friend's actions but couldn't completely stop the small smile from curling at the corners of her lips.

"You might not be a threat in Kyle and Sandra's relationship, but I can see someone who could be a threat to yours," Ally whispered in Victoire's ear as she came up behind her with Xavier.

Victoire turned her head in Ally's direction and whispered back, "What are you talking about?"

Ally surreptitiously nodded her head to the right of her. Victoire's ocean blue eyes scanned the area for something of interest; Hmm, Shelly Alexander and another Hufflepuff dancing . . . a bunch of fourth years gossiping . . . Cecilia and Louis talking to Baxter and Danielle Reed -Note to self, ask Cecilia about the Baxter-Danielle situation, that looks like some good gossip- . . . Dom pretty much glued to Valentin as they danced too closely . . . Pamela Mace near one of the walls flipping her hair, fluttering her eyelashes and flirting with the blue haired Auror standing nearest to her . . . Wait! What?-

"SHE IS NOT-" Victoire began to yell before being cut off by the pressure of Ally's foot on hers.

Sandra, Kyle, Chris, and Xavier (Who was listening in on Victoire and Ally's conversation) looked to Victoire. The former three were surprised, and the latter was imploring her with his eyes not make a scene. Before Victoire could babble out some half-hearted excuse for her near shout, the dawdling and sensual rhythm of a slow song began to echo throughout the room.

Once again, Ally saved her favourite cousin, "Hey Xavier, Chris, how about we switch partners for this song, yeah? Okay, good," without waiting for a response from Chris -Xavier understood her plan immediately- Ally grabbed Chris' arm and dragged him two metres away until they were lost in the crowd of people that was quickly pairing off.

Xavier placed one of his hands at Victoire's waist, and grabbed her hand with the other one before spinning her away from where they had been standing and closer to the wall where she'd seen Pamela.

Xavier and Victoire spun in slow circles once they'd gotten closer.

"She better not be doing what I think she's doing," Victoire whispered harshly to Xavier as their turn brought Pamela and the Auror in her direct line of sight. From what Victoire could see Pamela was wearing a very short and tight dress, and was getting very close to the tall Auror.

As their spin continued, Xavier's turn to be in direct view came. He shuddered visibly as he saw Pamela wiggly her body slowly in time with the music, no doubt trying to get the Auror to look at her.

Victoire didn't miss Xavier's shudder, "What? What is she doing?"

They were halfway through their spin, so Victoire pushed Xavier faster so she could see again. When she saw what Pamela was attempting, she tried to shuffle both her and Xavier closer so she could hear what Pamela was saying to the man.

"Maybe it's not actually Teddy," Xavier suggested as they slowly moved closer to the couple. They had been a slight distance away so his suggestion sounded probable to him.

"Do you know any other Aurors with blue hair?" Victoire asked him seriously.

Xavier nodded, "Touché."

When Victoire and Xavier had gotten close enough to the pair to hear what they were saying they began their slow spins again. Their movement and the dark room would help mask the fact that they were eavesdropping on the conversation. Victoire's gaze locked onto Pamela and Teddy.

Pamela was twirling her hair and fluttering her eyelashes as she smiled up at Teddy, "Would you like to dance?"

Teddy barely bestowed upon Pamela a glance, "Um, I'm kind of working right now . . ."

Pamela smiled brighter and moved her body closer to Teddy's, "Well then, we could always do something later when you're not working, and we can even go somewhere more private where no one can see us."

Teddy's eyes widened but they were in fear instead of interest, "Uhh, listen. I'm sure that you're a nice girl and all, but I have a girlfriend-"

As Teddy tried to explain to Pamela that he was already taken, Kurt Williamson (whom Victoire hadn't noticed was in the room until she saw him standing uncomfortably next to Teddy) snickered at Teddy's awkward situation.

Xavier had been on the closer side to the couple as they spun in a circle, so once Victoire was able to get closer enough to hear, she missed the beginning of what Pamela was saying. However, she did catch the end.

" . . . can work around that. Listen, I'm not looking for a relationship. So what I'm offering is something that nobody besides the two of us need to know about-" Pamela was saying as she traced a finger down Teddy's chest.

Victoire saw Teddy frowned and catch Pamela's hand as it travelled to his stomach. He pushed her away from him and looked at her seriously, "I'm sorry, but I don't think you understood me. I. Have. A. Girlfriend. She is the most amazing person I've ever met and I love her very much. So, I. Am. NOT. Interested. And that includes anything that you have to offer."

Pamela stepped back with her mouth open wide; she hadn't expected to be shut down so completely. Teddy took a few more steps away from her and glanced at Kurt. Kurt, whose amused expression had turned to one of contemplation as he listened to Teddy's heated defense, cleared his throat loudly and looked at Pamela.

"Miss I think you should get back to the Ball now." Pamela, pouting because she hadn't gotten her way, turned and walked away slowly, making sure that she was wiggling her hips as she went.

Victoire and Xavier had stopped moving as they listened to the conversation. Because of this, Pamela ended up brushing against Victoire as she moved away.

She glared at Victoire as she passed, "Graceful much Weasley?"

Victoire stared opened mouthed as she watched Pamela strut away. When she was out of her line of sight, she looked back to Xavier. He was grinning slyly at her; it was a look that worried her.

"What?" She whispered.

Xavier turned her slightly so that she was facing where Teddy and Kurt were, and nodded his head in their direction. Victoire looked to where he was gesturing, and almost blushed. Teddy had his eyes locked on her as she stood there swaying slightly with Xavier. The hand that was on Xavier's shoulder unconsciously went to the locket she was wearing around her neck. When she touched it, Teddy smiled sweetly at her. Victoire smiled lovingly back, and he winked a second before the slow song that she was moving to ended. Victoire looked back at Xavier as they let go of each other and took a step back. When they had separated Victoire quickly looked back to find Teddy, but when she did, she saw that both he and Kurt were gone.


Now, I know that this seems as almost an abrupt ending, but trust me, the next chapter will pick up exactly where this left off.

Comment on what you think of Pamela. And please review with what you thought about this chapter :)

Thank-you to everyone who has reviewed / followed / favourited / read / and enjoyed!

Next week we will see some Vic/Teddy interaction, we'll have many more reasons to love Kyle, and we will also see that Vic just can't catch a break :D *cue evil laugh*

An especially big thank-you to:

AzNeRd, VW18, HeartVacancy, HawkeyeIII, marmar8089, onedirectionlover98, PotterLover25, As the Robin Flies, wish right now x, RoLouG, meeee, nifflerstorm17008, Teddy Lupin Forever, confusednikki24-7, nickybby, brilliant incandescence, MuggleCreator, YukiLovestoWrite, LiveLovePotter, abt, and darling-everythingsonfire-x.