"Will you stop that!" Lisa shouted for the fourth time in one day, as Calla, Daphne, Padma and Isobel took it in turns to tickle the model Ukrainian Ironbelly - which they had, after much debate, decided to call Brianna - and cause it to sneeze out a small puff of smoke every minute or so.

"Go to the library, Lisa," Daphne muttered, scowling. Lisa had been even more snappish than usual recently; shortly after her argument with Michael, the couple had broken up and somehow or another, Mandy and Sue had gotten in the middle and now Lisa wasn't talking to any of them.

"Leave it, Daphne," Calla said quietly, summoning Brianna to the palm of her hand and setting her down gently on her bedside table, where Matilda reached up to set a paw on her back. Lisa met her eyes briefly and then looked back down at the Transfiguration notes she was copying out.

"But I'm so bored," Daphne whined, flopping onto her own bed with a loud creak. Lisa scowled again. "There's nothing to do."

"You could help me figure out what to do about the Second Task," Calla said, shrugging. A few days of thinking time and some careful Divination had helped her solve the riddle itself; it had sounded like a song, and there were merpeople in the lake, so she was sure she would have to get past them to retrieve whatever treasure they'd stolen from her. But apart from that, she didn't actually know how to proceed.

"You know you're not allowed to have help," Lisa said from her bed.

Calla flushed. "Well..."

"I won't tell," Lisa muttered. "Merlin knows you need all the help you can get."

"Thanks," Calla said drily, and exchanged a look with Padma. Truth was, she thought Lisa was being oddly nicer to her recently, though maybe that was just because she didn't have anyone to back her up.

"There's got to be something on Merpeople in the library," Isobel said, "they've got a massive creatures section. Come on."

She stood up to leave, but as she did the door swung open, Mandy and Sue squealing. "You'll never guess what Alana Cowell just told us!" Sue cried excitedly. "Flitwick's just told the Prefects about the ball!"

"Ball?" Padma echoed. "What ball?"

"The Yule Ball!" Mandy said breathlessly. "It's part of Tournament! It's on at Christmas and everyone fourth year and up is allowed to go!"

There was a moment while they all dieted thisniformation. "Are you sure?" Padma asked dubiously.

"Considering we were told to bring dress robes to school," Lisa said tiredly, "I'd say this should have been fairly obvious."

Daphne was beaming. "It sound so lovely. And we all get to go?"

Sue nodded. "That's what Alana Cowell told us anyway!"

"We're not meant to tell anyone yet, the teachers are going to make the announcement during classes."

"But we'll all have to get organised, I didn't get shoes yet."

"We'll get to bring dates," Mandy whispered, grinning. "Or brought as dates, I guess."

"I'm not getting brought," Isobel said, wrinkling her nose. "You'd have to hang around with the same person all night, and d'you know how annoying the lads in our year are?"

"Suppose we don't have to go with people from our year though," Mandy said, already looking thoughtful. "A sixth year would be alright."

"And who do you know in sixth year?" Lisa asked derisively, smirking.

"A few people, if you must know," Mandy said in a cool voice. "Maybe you could do with trying to find a date too."

"Well, Theo had better ask me," Daphne said, shaking out her hair. "I don't want to have to go with some Gryffindor."

At that, Padma looked rather awkward, and glanced out the window urgently. Calla frowned at her, but before she could speak, Lisa had stood up and strode dramatically out of the door, barging into Mandy's side on her way. Mandy scoffed and exchanged a significant sort of look with Sue, rolling her eyes. "Well," Daphne said, raising her eyebrows. "We were just off to the library."

And the three of them sprang up to hurry out the room, avoiding the tension of the room.

Xx

The ball was officially announced on Monday, and throughout the week it seemed more and more people were talking about the ball. Calla knew a few girls had asked Harry, who had been very alarmed about it, and told her as much in Charms class. "I still think you could have been nicer to Lucy Terra. She was awfully upset when she came back into the common room."

"I don't even know which one that is!" Harry told her exasperatedly.

"You're so hopeless," Calla muttered in reply. She caught Hermione's eye behind her and grinned. "I meant to ask, how are you doing with the Second Task?"

"Er," Harry glanced behind him to Hermione, who was listening in intently, "alright. Yeah, I think I've got an idea of what I'm going to do."

Calla hid her smile. Most likely Hermione was going to come up with something brilliant, or would refuse to and force Harry to figure it out. "But you have figured out the egg at least?" He nodded quickly. "Good," she said, "because that dragon terrified me and we both need to be more prepared this time."

"Yeah," Harry said with something like a grimace, nodding. "We'll be great."

"Miss Potter," Flitwick squeaked at the end of the class, as everyone was packing up. "A quick word?"

She gestured for the girls to go on ahead, listening as Daphne whispered about her prediction on how Theo was going to ask her to the ball. Excitement around the event seemed to have seized the school with great force over the last few days, and Calla was far from immune to it; she'd tried her dress robes back on yesterday, and positively squealed with excitement, not that she was going to admit that to anyone else. "Yes, Professor?"

"As you may know, the champions and their partners traditionally open the ball."

"Uh, yeah," Calla said awkwardly. Open it? Did that mean...

"You will be expected to dance."

Of course. "Oh, right." She smiled. "That's okay, but, I'm not sure I'll be... very good."

Flitwick smiled up at her. "That's why I'm letting you know, so you're prepared. But dancing really isn't as hard as it seems, I'm sure you shall be alright. And," he added, lowering his voice, "I wondered if you had gotten any further forward with your egg? I'm not meant to give you help, but if there are any resources you would like to borrow, you are more than welcome, Miss Potter."

"Well," Calla said, "I think I know what I have to do, I'm just not sure how to do it yet. But, if you have anything about charms to breathe underwater... I guess that would help?"

Flitwick smiled at her knowingly. "Well, you might find Transfiguration or Potions help you better with that matter. But if you have any thoughts, let me know." He winked. "And mind you get a partner for the ball."

Xx

Spending time in the library was becoming an increasingly common occurrence for Calla, Padma and Daphne, as they tried to search for something that Calla could use to swim and breathe underwater. A week or so after the news about the ball was officially broken to them days in the library together, the three girls were once again sat together at a table in a corner of the library, four teetering piles of books boxing them in, and hiding them from Madam Pince, who was patrolling the other side of the library where Fred and George were talking hushedly crouched over various pieces of parchment. "There must be a potion somewhere that'll work," Padma was saying; she had been flipping through five books on the subject, but hadn't yet found anything that she deemed either useful or possible.

"I thought maybe there'd be a charm, ideally, or a potion. I could theoretically turn myself into a fish, but I'm useless at Transfiguration and we don't do human Transfiguration for ages. Plus, that'd probably come under becoming an Animagus and I definitely couldn't do that."

"You're not useless," Daphne said breezily, turning the page of a heavy defensive textbook. "Though I still say you should just try scuba diving."

Daphne, who had been learning about Muggle methods of discovering the oceans, thought that scuba diving was the best idea ever; but Calla was sure even if she could swim - the Dursleys had never even taught her and Harry - she wouldn't get it to work and the water pressure would be too much. Also, she was pretty sure it would be against the rules; she had to use magic. "I still say I can't," Calla replied.

"Just summon it."

"That's probably cheating. Or copying. Anyway," she said, wrinkling her nose, "I don't just want to do what Harry's done. This has to be my own idea."

"That we're coming up with," Daphne teased. Calla prodded her with a quill.

"That you're helping me to come up with. And if you don't want to help, I'm sure you've still got a History essay to finish."

Daphne gave a melodramatic shudder. "No thanks. Besides, I don't really want my best friend eaten by a mermaid."

"I'm not really sure merpeople do eat humans," Padma mused, "they're just quite aggressive."

"Could I give myself a tail? That could be a compromise." But she still knew she probably couldn't. It was still a form of Transfiguration, and likely more dangerous than full body transformation because of extra room for error. "Ugh, there must be a Potion for that! Why does everything have to be wandwork!"

Someone shushed her violently from behind a stack of shelves. Padma pulled a face. "You'll get it," she promised. "You've got plenty of time. If..." She frowned suddenly, cut off, and Calla and Daphne both turned around at the same time to see Hermione sitting with her head buried in a book - not at all out of the ordinary - with Viktor Krum talking quietly to her. "Don't look!" Padma whispered, but they kept looking.

"I didn't know they were friends," Calla said quietly.

"Is she blushing?" Padma asked.

"No, she kind of just looks annoyed." Daphne frowned. "His fanclub'll be along any second now."

Calla watched Hermione smile, lighting her face up a little. She even closed her book. "Looks serious," Daphne whispered, and Calla and Padma both giggled.

Then Hermione nodded quickly, whispered something back, and Krum disappeared just as his fanclub appeared, a gaggle of squealing girls who followed him behind another shelf and out of sight. "We have got to talk to her," Daphne said excitedly, getting up suddenly.

Calla tugged her down. "Don't just stride over there, she'll get all flustered."

"Hermione? Flustered?"

"She won't want any attention drawn to her," Calla said sagely.

"Yeah," said Padma, "she kept complaining in History about how her studying gets interrupted by his fans."

"You didn't tell us that!" Daphne yelped, and someone shushed them again, louder this time. "Padma!" she said in a whisper.

"Well it wasn't a big deal, she was just complaining about it." Padma shrugged. "Anyway, shouldn't we be-"

"Oh, we have to talk to her now," Calla whispered. Was there really something going on between Hermione and Viktor Krum?

"For goodness' sake," Padma muttered, shaking her head, but Daphne had already gotten up and both Calla and Padma followed her to hurry over to Hermione, scraping seats over to sit around her table.

She blinked up, seeming surprised, and set her book down. "Yes?"

"So," Daphne said in a conspiratorial voice, grinning.

"Viktor Krum?" Calla grinned.

"What about him?" Hermione raised her eyebrows coolly.

"What was he talking to you about?"

"You were blushing." Hermione blushed even more and Daphne beamed. "Told you!"

"If you must know, we... we do talk sometimes."

"We saw." Padma grinned too. "What was he asking you about?"

"And don't say it's house elves," Daphne said. "Because much as I support the cause, I don't think you would be blushing over it. And," she added, "he looked nervous."

"Did he now?" Hermione asked coolly, trying to give the impression of boredom, but Calla could see the amused upturn of her lips.

"Oh, come on," she huffed to Hermione, "did he ask you to the Yule Ball!"

There was a moment's pause before Hermione let out a giggle, finally cracking, and nodded. "I knew it!" Daphne declared, beaming. She grabbed Hermione's hands. "Tell us everything!"

"There's not much to tell," Hermione said, flushing. "We... we don't talk much, but we read together-"

"That's so cute," Padma said.

"-and he asked me and, well... he's nice, and attractive, and it's not like anyone else is going to ask me-"

"Oh don't be silly, Hermione-"

"So I thought why not?" Hermione was still blushing when she finished.

"This is so cute," Daphne said. "You've got dress robes, right? And shoes? Oh, Padma's really good at doing people's hair!"

"And me and Daphne can do your makeup," Calla said enthusiastically as she got on board with Daphne's way of thinking. "Oh, it'll be so cute, we'll all get ready together! And you can dance with Viktor Krum."

"Not so loud," Hermione hissed, looking around. "I don't want everyone to know."

"I'd be telling everyone," said Daphne. "Are you going to tell Ron and Harry?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I couldn't. They'd... well, they'd - at least Ron - would just laugh."

"They wouldn't," Padma was quick to assure her, but Daphne was nodding in agreement. Calla stepped harshly on her foot.

"They would." Hermione shook her head; her cheeks were still rather pink. "Everyone would."

"But you're going with him, right?" Daphne asked.

"Well, yes-"

"So everyone'll know anyway eventually. But," she grinned lazily, "we can shock them."

"I don't want to shock anyone," Hermione said. "I just want to have a nice night."

"We can-"

"Daphne," Calla said gently, shaking her head. She grinned at Hermione. "No one's going to laugh at you. Because you, Hermione Granger, are brilliant."

Hermione flushed. "Now you're all just flattering me. I thought you would be working on the egg, Calla."

"Is Harry?" Hermione looked down. Calla grinned. "I didn't think so."

"Look," Padma said, "we'll leave you be." Daphne opened her mouth as though to protest, but Padma cut her off with a sharp look. "We should get back to what we're doing anyway before someone pinches our books."

"Yeah, you look like you have about fifty of them."

Calla grinned and hugged Hermione quickly. "Keep us updated with Krum, won't you?"

"Yeah," said Daphne, "we want all the details."

Padma rolled her eyes at them and then winked at Hermione. "Have fun, Hermione."

Now that Hermione had a date, all of them became increasingly nervous about it. Theo still hasn't asked Daphne, who was growing increasingly frustrated, while Padma was giving nothing away about whoever she wanted to go with and Calla just didn't know what to do. She need a partner thing, but she didn't know how to ask anyone to the ball, or if she should. Weren't boys meant to ask girls for this sort of thing? Did she even have to go with a boy? The fact that all the other girls seemed to want to go with boys told her yes, but she had an image of her and Daphne dancing together and couldn't get it out of her head. Daphne would go with Theo, anyway. And she told herself she only thought of that because Daphne was the only one of her friends to have any ballroom dancing experience. Zach was nice too, she reminded herself, and she did feel that nervous sort of excitement - butterflies - that she was sure she was meant to feel when talking to a boy she liked. Yet sometimes when she spoke to Fleur Delacour, or when Daphne leaned her head on Calla's shoulder, sometimes she felt the same thing. It was confusing but no one else seemed to be going through the same thing and she didn't know what she was meant to do about it.

But she was pretty sure she was meant to go with a boy. There had been a second year Hufflepuff who had asked her, which had been incredibly awkward because she had no idea who he was and had probably made a complete fool of herself turning him down. Someone had sent her lilies, clearly trying to make an effort with her name, and she appreciated the thought but they also hadn't revealed their identity, and she grew exasperated by the fact that those flowers actually bore no resemblance to her own namesake, even if it was a sweet gesture. Not many boys did seem to want to go with her, but she wasn't too disheartened. Most of her dormmates hadn't had many people asking either. But she needed a partner and didn't know who to ask.

For a starter, she couldn't ask any of the Gryffindor boys she knew because they were all friends with Harry; the only Slytherin boy she was even on speaking terms with was Theo who would obviously go with Daphne; Ernie and Justin both had dates, and Sue fancied Anthony and Isobel had said she wanted to go with Terry as friends to avoid getting asked by some random boy she didn't know, and Michael was obviously not an option. But honestly, if she had to go with a boy then she was hoping Zach would ask her, not that it seemed all that likely.

She'd had multiple classes with him over the next few days, and he'd given no indication that he was considering asking her, other than mentioning that he didn't have a date. She didn't know what to make of that drop of information, whether it was a hint or if he meant to gauge her interest, or she ought to have acted on it or if it meant nothing at all and she was just reading too far into things and should move on and figure something else out. It was all very confusing and unnecessary. "Just ask him yourself," Isobel told her on Friday night when the girls were all sitting in the dormitory. "I asked Terry."

"That's you, though," Calla said with a sigh. "And it's only as friends. I can't ask Zach. What if he says no?"

"Then he's an idiot," said Padma, who seemed tired of all of them talking about the ball so much.

"Well, Lewis Carlisle's already asked me," Mandy said conversationally from her bed. "If you ask me, the rest of the boys should get their acts together."

"Theo's going to ask me any day now," Daphne said happily, glancing up from her diagram of a television. "But I do wish he'd hurry up about it so we can co-ordinate what we're wearing."

"So that he can co-ordinate what he's wearing," Padma teased with a knowing grin. Calla laughed; Daphne had her heart set on a set of frilly powder blue dress robes and Calla knew she wouldn't change her decision for Theo. He'd probably wear black, too, like most boys seemed to. Calla had always thought the lack of colour in men's formalwear was tragic; she had watched part of the BAFTAs once when Aunt Petunia was watching it and it was very boring.

"Well, yes," Daphne said, grinning. "What about you anyway, Padma?"

"What about me?" Padma asked, looking down suddenly.

"Who do you want to ask you?" Daphne asked, leaning forward and grinning. Calla looked up cheerfully; honestly she couldn't think of anyone Padma had suggested she wanted to go with.

"I'm not fussy," Padma said with a shrug. "I mean I guess if someone I'm friends with asked I'll go, but it's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Sue asked. "Not a big deal? It's a ball, Padma! Probably the only one we'll get to go to at Hogwarts!"

"Yeah, but, I'll enjoy it on my own anyway." Even as she said it she looked uncomfortable, like there was something she wanted to admit but didn't know how to.

"Are you sure?" Calla asked, looking at Padma.

"Like I said, if someone asks me, I'll go with them, but I don't really mind."

"But you'll be the only one on your own," Daphne said, frowning.

"Parvati hasn't got a date yet," Padma shrugged, not meeting Daphne's eyes.

"It's not like I'm going with anyone," Lisa added darkly from a corner.

"At least none of you need to go with someone," Calla huffed. "I have to open with a dance and I need a partner."

"Go with Padma then," said Isobel.

"She can't dance with Padma!" Daphne said.

"Why not?"

"Yeah, Daphne," said Padma, looking affronted. "Why not?"

"It could work, actually," Calla mused. She glanced at Padma. She wouldn't mind dancing with Padma, but a part of her really liked the idea of waltzing with Zach. Then again, she thought, while trying to suppress a blush, she had to dance with someone and Padma was her best friend, after all. They would have a great night if they went together.

"It'll be a formal dance," Daphne explained as though the answer was obvious, "to open with at least. You'll need a boy to dance with."

"Boys can't dance," Isobel muttered. "Haven't you seen any of them? Maybe if it was a choreographed fight. There are like four guys in our year who would make good dancers. I don't think it should matter if you go with a boy or a girl."

"Theo's a good dancer," Daphne said, and Lisa scowled and chucked a pillow at her. "What?"

"You're annoying me."

"You're annoying everyone, Turpin. Anyway, Calla, I say you could easily just go and ask Zach if you wanted to dance with him. And if he can't, Ron probably won't get a date. Just go with him."

"I'm not going with Ron," Calla said, quite horrified.

"Ron Weasley?" Mandy pulled a face.

"What's wrong with Ron?"

"He can't dance, he won't dance, and he's Harry's best friend! It'd be way too weird." She screwed up her nose. Now she contemplated her other options, she would really rather go with Zach.

"Can you all stop talking about the ball before I absolutely lose my mind?" Padma asked, rolling her eyes.

"I second that," Lisa muttered. "I swear you've all lost all your sense of consideration for people trying to write essays."

"Don't you want to go with anyone, Lisa?" Daphne asked with a smirk.

"Nope."

"You could go with your book."

"Shut up, Isobel. If you all won't stop talking, then I'm going to-"

"The library," Daphne finished.

Lisa scowled. "You know you're really annoying, Greengrass?"

"So you keep saying, Turpin."

"We should get going anyway," Padma said quickly, because Lisa looked like she might be about to spit something very nasty indeed. "To the library, shouldn't we, Calla?"

"Oh, yeah," said Calla, getting hastily to her feet. "I've got that..."

"That Potions book."

"Yeah, yeah, I've got to get a Potions book out."

And the two of them hurried out of the room before any more arguments could break out with them in the middle. "They're exhausting," Padma moaned as they left the common room. "It's not just me, they have gotten worse, haven't they?"

"Lisa's a bit understandable," Calla said. "But she just winds Daphne up, I don't know what else she expects."

"Yeah." Padma bit her lip at the door, and looked at Calla. "Are you going to ask Zach?"

"I might," she replied awkwardly as they left, setting off down the corridor. "I'll try, I guess. But... are you sure you're going to be alright if you decide to go on your own? I might be able to get away with bringing a girl, no one told me I couldn't, and it would be fun for us to go together."

"Don't be silly," said Padma briskly, "of course I'll be fine on my own. You ought to go with Zach - he's the one you fancy." Then she paused a moment, lingering by a tapestry. "Can I, tell you something?"

"Yeah," Calla said, frowning. "Course you can."

Padma bit her lip, eyes darting everywhere except Calla. "It's just... Everyone's talking about who they're taking to the ball, the boys they're taking to the ball, and everyone keeps saying oh, you have to take a boy, you can't go with another girl, that's just not right, but... I don't want to go with a boy!" She bitbher lip, looking away. "I want to go with - with-"

"A girl?" Calla asked, staring.

"Don't tell anyone! Please, I know it's... weird!"

"It's not weird," Calla said slowly, reaching out to take Padma's shoulder. "Who do you want to go with?"

"Promise you won't tell?" Padma wouldn't meet her eyes, and that worried Calla more than anything else.

"Of course I won't, Padma." She nodded, sniffling a little. "Why are you crying?"

"Because it's a big deal and - and I shouldn't tell anyone, but... I've known for a while and I said I wouldn't tell anyone because I couldn't tell anyone, but - but I fancy Daphne."

Oh. That made sense; awkward glances, the recent worries over their friendship, how Padma very firmly did not talk about who she might want to take to the Yule Ball, and her expression when Daphne mentioned Theodore. "Right."

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have told you-"

"Well why not?" Calla asked, brow furrowed.

"Because - because you know why not! Because I'm not supposed to fancy her."

"But that doesn't mean you can't," Calla said quietly. She'd heard Aunt Petunia talking about girls who fancied other girls and boys who fancied other boys, and all the horrible things she'd said that sounded so similar to the way she spoke about witches and wizards.

"You - do you think it's okay?" Padma asked, and nervous tears were shining in her eyes. "It's - I don't know anyone else who-"

"Yeah," Calla told her quickly, "it's okay, Padma." She pushed her own thoughts and confusion aside. She could see exactly why Padma would fancy Daphne, after all. "It's okay."

Letting out a rare sob, Padma moved forward to hug Calla tightly, tears dropping from her cheeks. "I didn't know how to tell you," she mumbled, "but I had to tell someone, I - I didn't know what to say, and this was the only chance I could get..."

"I know," Calla mumbled in return, squeezing her friend's shoulders. "I get it."

"You don't! It's - it's weird! Parvati thinks it's weird, she doesn't know about me, but I've heard her speaking about other girls like me, I know she thinks it's freakish, I can't tell her! And you - you can't repeat this, you can't tell anyone."

"I know," Calla said quickly, scared Padma was going to fall, because she was so much more worried than she had ever seen her before. "Padma, I'm not going to tell anyone. It's okay, you're my best friend." She swallowed and spoke again, quieter this time, "You know, my aunt and uncle think me being a witch is freakish. But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me, does it?"

"It isn't the same," Padma said. "You don't get it."

"I know it isn't the same," Calla said, "but the point is, it doesn't matter what other people think of it. It doesn't mean it's wrong. It's you."

Padma was nodding, chin bumping Calla's shoulder. "I don't know what to do about the ball. I don't want to go alone but I don't have any boys I really want to go with."

"I'd go with you."

"But you want to go with Zach!"

"Yeah, but I'd rather my best friend wasn't upset."

Padma shook her head. "No, no, you should go with Zach. Daphne's right." She sounded like she'd started crying again, and Calla rubbed her back as soothingly as she could. "You can't dance with a girl."

"I could!"

"No," she chuckled wetly. "I'll be fine. It was stupid of me to make such a fuss about this anyway."

"No it wasn't," Calla told her. "I'm glad you told me."

"I just don't know what to do about it," Padma said with a huff. "It's so... confusing!"

"You don't have to do anything," Calla said, as Padma drew away a little. "Just... I don't know. Most people never admit to crushes, regardless of what gender they are."

"Yeah, but it's - it's Daphne! She's our best friend and I don't know how to hide it."

"I think Daphne's a lot less observant than she'd have us all believe," Calla said, nodding. "If you want to tell her, tell her, but if you don't, it's not like you have to?"

"I don't know," Padma sighed. "Feelings are so... Complicated."

"Yeah," Calla said, thinking to herself. She thought of Daphne first, and Fleur and then Mairi, all pretty girls. Padma only liked girls, but suddenly it made everything more complicated because Calla knew she liked boys, but hearing Padma's admission opened her eyes to her own feelings and now... Could she like both? Was that possible too? It wasn't like anyone had ever bothered to explain these sorts of things. "I get it."

"Come on now," Padma said, and determinedly wiped tears from her eyes and cheeks. "I really do have to get a book for Potions. Just... promise you won't tell anyone about this?"

"Again," Calla said, "I'm not going to tell anyone. It's not my business."

"Good." Padma sighed as they set off again. "I don't really - I don't really know how to talk about it but I'm glad you know?"

Calla smiled back at her. "And I'm glad you told me."

The smile Padma gave her in return was the greatest one Calla had seen in weeks. "Thank you."

"What are best friends for?"

In the library, Calla had a search for Transformative Potions and pored over it for the rest of the day, hoping it might be of some assistance and distract from these confusing thoughts and feelings that had suddenly appeared. It was okay for girls to like girls and she knew that and had told Padma as much, but when she thought of the butterflies she sometimes got when Fleur Delacour smiled at her, or the way her heart soared when she got a letter from Mairi, or the warmth in her chest when Daphne laid her head on Calla's shoulder, she also thought of the way she felt flutters when Zach complimented her, and the way she sometimes caught Cedric Diggory's hair shining in the sunlight and she didn't understand how the two could be the same and how she could feel... Both. Was that normal, too? Was she just confusing herself in light of Padma's revelation? She had too many questions that only she could answer, but she had no idea how.

And Transformative Potions did nothing but frustrate her. It's only positive was that it was marginally less confusing than having feelings. It mentioned Polyjuice Potion, but Calla knew for a fact that it would not work to turn her into a fish, and she didn't want to risk it anyway. Other potions seemed either extremely complicated, or to take forever to brew, or they were too simple and just turned her into another mammal. She did find that a Warming Charm could be useful, and wrote that down for future practice, but there was very little else that she could think of to help her. It was like the universe - and the Hogwarts library - just did not want to her to figure out how to do this.

At least she wasn't the only one who didn't know what to do. She had noticed Fleur and Cedric both looking rather concerned, though Harry had assured her he was on top of it, and Hermione reported the same story. If Harry knew what he was doing, she was going to pretend the same, and since he hadn't said what he was doing, she decided she had to take the solitary approach to this issue.

In the run up to the holidays, it seemed no one wanted to do any work anymore, which was fair. Calla herself was tired often, whether from work or worry she didn't know, and she found she was getting headaches more and more often. She didn't know what that meant; sometimes it was concentrated in the area around her scar, and sometimes she just felt wretched and heavy and exhausted.

Snape of course, kept them working right up until the last days of term as always. Calla was counting down the remainder of the Potions lessons for the term, and with two weeks left before the end of term was greatly looking forward to the moment when she could say they'd finished classes. She headed out of the class towards Charms on the Monday feeling surprisingly cheerful, and was about to head to Flitwick's room with Daphne and Padma before someone called her name, stopping her.

She turned around, seeing Zach hurry towards her. Daphne and Padma hurried off in the other direction, Daphne waggling her eyebrows teasingly, which made Calla's cheeks flame. Padma just sent her a knowing look and an encouraging little nod.

"Hey," Zach said quickly. "Look, I might be late but d'you want to go to the ball with me?"

In her head she'd imagined something a bit sweeter and more romantic, maybe involving ice cream or chocolate, but that didn't stop her from blushing greatly as she mumbled back, "Uh, yeah."

"Good." Zach grinned, looking relieved. Ernie and Justin were just about to catch up to them, so he flushed. "I'll, um, see you later."

"Yeah," Calla said numbly, and the second he had disappeared with Ernie and Justin, she rushed to her class to tell Daphne and Padma, hiding her squeals of excitement from Harry, who was muttering sullenly to Ron about something. It wasn't quite how she had imagined it might go. She'd thought maybe it would have been a bit of a bigger deal, whereas that had lasted all of about ten seconds but her momentary disappointment soon gave way to excitement over the fact that she had a date to the ball.

Naturally, the girls both shared her excitement, and this brought Daphne to insisting that she get to do Calla's makeup for the ball. The three of them spent a large part of the class discussing the ball and their plans instead of doing work, but they weren't the only ones.

It was dinner on the last Friday of term, after a vey unproductive day fuelled by the students' bubbling excitement, when Harry caught up to Calla, flushed. "You don't have a date yet, do you?"

She turned to him and smiled smugly. "Yes, I do, actually."

"Oh." Harry frowned. "Wait, who?"

"Zacharias Smith." She tried not to blush.

"The Hufflepuff? Isn't he a bit..." Calla gave him a look. "Ron thinks he's a bit of a git."

Calla glared at him. "And?"

"You're going with him?"

"I did just say that."

"You didn't tell me!"

"You didn't ask!" She raised her eyebrows.

"Right." Harry pulled a face. "You're sure?"

"Yes." Calla glared at her brother. "What do you want, Harry?"

"Well, I was... Neither Ron or me have dates yet, so..."

"So you thought I'd go with one of you?" Calla laughed.

Harry went red. "Well, I thought you could go with Ron and if Padma didn't have a date... Because Cho's going with Cedric and there's no one else I want to go with."

"Well, tell a girl that and she's sure to want to be your date." She gave Harry a withering look. "You know you need a date, don't you?"

"Well, yes. But I don't have one."

She rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised; she knew girls had asked Harry, but that he'd turned them all down, probably before he realised that he needed to have an actual date. "Padma's not got a date, but I don't know if she'd want to go with you." She sighed; Padma had said she wouldn't mind going with a friend but Calla still felt awkward at the thought of asking her about it. "I'll bring you to ask her, but I can't make any promises. Don't know about Ron though, you might have a harder time finding someone for him."

"He wants to go with someone good-looking."

"And how does Ron define good-looking?" Calla asked, trying not to laugh. "Don't tell me he'll try and ask Fleur." Harry looked slightly concerned by that thought; Calla thought it was concerningly likely that he might try and ask Fleur, and most definitely get a rejection. "I think she's going with Roger Davies, Ron shouldn't bother." She smirked at her brother. "You can come and ask Padma though."

"I have to ask her?" Harry looked appalled.

"Well, yes! You're the one who wants to bring her to the ball with you!"

"But she's your best friend!"

"Yeah, exactly!" She shook her head exasperatedly. Padma had said she'd go with someone she was friends with if they asked her, but she still wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to go with Harry, and she hoped she'd be alright with him asking her. Should she allow him to? With a sigh, Calla grabbed her brother by the hand and pulled him towards to Ravenclaw Table. "Come on, you idiot."

"Oi!" Harry protested, stumbling over to the table. Padma and Daphne looked up surprised. "Hi. Um, Padma, can I talk to you?"

The other girls giggled and Padma sent Calla a questioning look. She mouthed, 'as a friend' and Padma nodded, getting up. "What is it, Harry?"

They stood off to the side for a minute or so before Padma returned, sitting down between Calla and Daphne. "Well?" Daphne asked, grinning. The other girls all leaned in excitedly.

"I'm going to the ball with Harry, as friends. He needs someone to go with and he'd rather go with me than someone he doesn't know." She shrugged. "I agreed. But I don't know who can go with Ron, Harry asked about Parvati but I know Ron wouldn't so much as dance with her, he'd be a rubbish date and I wouldn't do that to Parvati, but she hasn't got a date anyway, so I don't know if she'd rather a rubbish date or turning up alone." She huffed, shaking her head. "Harry's gone to find Ron."

But Calla had just seen Ron come over to the Ravenclaw Table at the other end, looking very pale and nervous. He said something very quickly to Fleur Delacour, who looked up and stared at him in shock as he stumbled a bit, leading Dean Thomas to hold him back in alarm. "Jesus," Calla muttered.

"He's not asking Fleur is he?" Daphne asked, laughing. Padma elbowed her in the side as Fleur Delacour shook her head rather pityingly, and Ron stepped back, looking rather like he might faint, and half ran back up the aisle and out the hall, Ginny hurrying swiftly after him. Giggles broke out down the end of the table where Fleur was sitting, and Calla shook her head.

"I knew this was coming," she told her plate of chicken, sighing.

"Ron and Fleur." Daphne snorted. "He's got guts though, you've got to give him that."

Their dinner was cut off about five minutes later, as Michael Corner arrived, looking very pleased with himself. "I've just gotten myself a date with Camilla Sandown," Calla heard him tell Terry and Anthony pompously.

"The sixth year?" Terry asked. Lisa seemed to grip her fork very tightly. "The blonde one, in Hufflepuff?"

"She's good looking," Anthony said, and pulled a face of exaggerated surprise. "What's she doing going with you?"

"Clearly, I'm more charming than you think, Goldstein," said Michael in a proud voice. "She couldn't resist."

Lisa slammed her fork down on the table and promptly stormed out. Isobel's glass of pumpkin juice tipped over and spilled over both her and Daphne's dinner plates. Michael stared after Lisa. "And what's gotten into her?"

Calla shook her head. "Camilla Sandown," Isobel said, letting out a low whistle. She raised her eyebrows. "Nice one, Corner."

"What?" He looked at Terry and Anthony, both of whole just shrugged. "What did I do?"

"I think she's upset."

"Well, she shouldn't be!" He huffed. "We broke up ages ago, I can go to the ball with whoever I like and it's got nothing to do with her!"

"Yeah," Anthony said. "But this is Lisa we're talking about. She's always annoyed about something."

Mandy huffed loudly. "Tell me about it."

Calla, Padma and Daphne exchanged exasperated looks. They all made silent vows to stay the hell out of Lisa and Michael's ways at the ball. "Well, I'm finished," Daphne said, glaring at her sodden chips. "Thanks to Turpin. And Corner?"

Michael glanced up. "What, Greengrass?"

She grinned. "Nice work with Sandown. I'm impressed."

Giggling, she left the hall with Calla, Padma and Isobel, and they all quickly started gossiping about the ball. It was coming soon, all at once, and Calla couldn't help the excitement she felt.

Author's Note: Okay so this was a big chapter? I've been planning Padma's coming out for ages but finally writing it was a lot more nerve-wracking than I thought so I really hope I've done it justice. As a bisexual woman, coming outs are still really difficult for me to write somehow (mainly because mine have always been so awkward I guess) but I hope you all enjoyed? I always thought the Wizarding World of the 1990s wouldn't be much more tolerant than the Muggle one - they are after all, pretty stuck in the past in a lot of ways - but Calla would be more open to it than others, as a rejection of the sorts of views her aunt and uncle have. And of course this also raises some questions for Calla herself. No spoilers on who Padma's going to end up with, but the fact she has a crush on Daphne specifically is definitely going to come into greater play. This was a really important chapter for me to write and I hope I did it justice. I hope you guys enjoyed, please let me know your thoughts! Next chapter is the Yule Ball, and it needs a bit of work but I'm pretty excited for it, so will try and update soon!