So, Clara had no choice but to attend the one event she'd been dreading the most out of the entire year. As soon as she'd sent an owl to her mother, her mother's response was slightly annoyingly enthusiastic, mostly just glad that she wasn't so socially awkward that she couldn't find a date. Now she just dreaded the disappointment when she told them that she was just as bad as before.
As well as a response, she was also sent over a dress to wear only a day after the announcement. The dress was a light blue colour, but nothing fancy. The length meant that it reached the floor and the sleeves were long, which she was glad about, but it was rather irritating that the entire bodice was of a sheer lace fabric, meaning that when she tried it on, she almost gasped at just how much was on display.
"Stop messing with your dress, you look fine," Hannah assured her as she styled her hair. "I didn't think you were going to go to the ball. What happened to your plan of staying around here on your own?"
"I wasn't," Clara responded, tugging the dress up slightly on her shoulders. It only made her cleavage look worse though. "Maybe I shouldn't go."
"Do you have a date?" Hannah asked.
With a sigh, Clara nodded. Ron Weasley was going to be her date, one of few people that almost reached her level of awkwardness. It was probably too late to bail out now.
"Exactly," Hannah said, picking up a can of hairspray and spraying the contents into her hair. "There's no point in quitting now. Who is it?"
Clara admired the perfectly manicured state of her nails. "Ron Weasley."
"Oh, Harry Potter's friend? He seems . . . nice," Hannah replied before climbing back off her bed and picking up her own belongings to go after her own date, Zacharias Smith. "Well, you're done. If your hair falls out of the braid I did, you could always try a Sticking Charm," she suggested as she left the room. "I'll see you downstairs."
Hannah softly closed the door to their dormitory behind her. With the room now quiet and empty, just as she liked it, Clara took one final moment to herself, stopping in front of the full length mirror at the other end of the room. She rarely looked at herself in it, but at least now she had a reason to.
It was bizarre to her, to see her appearance change so drastically. Her long dark brown hair which was usually pin straight and covering her face had instead been tied behind her head, with only a few small curled strands escaping the intricate braid. Her pale skin appeared even lighter due to the shade of her dress, which sat comfortably over her quite slim build. Her lack of muscles may have been part of the reason she flopped at Quidditch.
Placing her hands awkwardly in her pockets, she petted Lilia one last time before taking a deep breath and opening the door, ready to take on whatever horrors awaited her in that Great Hall.
Clara reached the staircase that led to the Entrance Hall but froze up at the top. There were so many people mingling about just below her, many of whom glanced up to stare at her suddenly altered appearance.
She was surprised that she didn't trip over entirely as she shakily descended the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she was glad to find that Ron was quite literally just beside her.
"Bloody hell," Ron whispered in awe before quickly shaking his head back into reality as he eyed her up and down. "I mean . . . you look nice," he said.
Clara very hesitantly raised her eyes from the ground. She tried to stifle the strange squealing noise she almost made when she saw his dress robes. They were . . . traditional, to say the least, feminine with a touch of whimsy.
She blushed. "Thank you," she muttered. "Um . . . you too."
She was so distracted that she hadn't even noticed Harry Potter and his date standing opposite them so, when he inevitably extended his hand in greeting, she jumped like a startled deer.
"I'm Harry by the way," he introduced with a friendly smile. "Harry Potter. Oh, and, er, this is Parvati." He motioned to the girl beside her, who looked so attractive that Clara just wanted to turn around and leave.
Instead, she very hesitantly shook his hand. "Clara Davies," she responded.
McGonagall then bustled over, pushing through the dense crowds of people. "Oh, there you are, Potter. Are you and Miss. Patil ready?"
Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Ready, Professor?"
"To dance," McGonagall explained. "It's traditional that the 3 champions—well, in this case, 4—are the first to dance. Surely I told you that?"
He looked at her blankly. "No."
"Oh, well now you know." McGonagall pulled a face at Ron's dress robes. "Oh, and as for you, Mr. Weasley, you may proceed into the Great Hall with Miss. Davies."
With a disappointed expression, Ron took Clara's arm suddenly and began to lead her towards the hall. "Come on then."
By the time they entered the room, it was already packed full of people. On one end of the room, various tables and chairs were arranged while the other acted as a dance floor, completely cleared for couples to waltz. Clara would've been lying if she said she hadn't been dreading this exact moment.
As they stood to the side, the main doors soon opened dramatically and the 4 champions and their partners entered the room. Clara could barely concentrate though, not when Malfoy and Astoria were literally standing opposite them. She only dared to lift her gaze once, only to momentarily lock eyes with Malfoy's shining silver ones and instantly stare at her feet again, clapping politely while she did so.
The 4 couples, including Hermione Granger with Viktor Krum which Clara really hadn't seen coming, arranged themselves in the centre of the room. The music slowly began, followed by the questionable dancing skills from Harry Potter specifically. However, watching him fail at the basic moves only made her feel more nervous.
Other couples in the room gradually began to join them, including Malfoy and Astoria. Clara really tried not to pay attention as the pair of them waltzed perfectly and elegantly in each other's embrace across the dance floor.
"Want to dance?" Ron offered.
Clara shook her head. She had absolutely no reason to want to participate in that.
"Me neither," Ron said.
A little later on, the Weird Sisters came on stage to perform 'Do the Hippogriff' live, as well as various other songs. Rather than stand around, Ron and Clara both sat down at a table near the back to watch before Harry and Parvati soon joined them. Both boys were looking positively glum with seemingly inerasable frowns on their faces.
"Ruddy pumpkin head, isn't he?" Ron muttered about Viktor Krum yet again.
It was becoming increasingly obvious to Clara that she truly hadn't been his first choice in date. She couldn't exactly say she was surprised though.
"I don't think it was the books that had him going to the library," Harry added.
Clara held her empty glass of Butterbeer between her fingers as the rest of the school partied in front of them. They'd been sitting there for so long that she'd managed to finish her drink from the tiny sips she'd been taking just to look less awkward.
A Durmstrang boy then began to approach them. Clara glanced up curiously, but then looked back down again when he asked Parvati Patil to dance, leaving her with Ron still. Again, she couldn't say she was surprised.
The song soon ended, and a few couples began to disperse from the mosh pit in the centre of the room, panting and breathless. Seeing that her evening wouldn't get much better from there, Clara stood up and placed her glass down.
"Where are you off to?" Ron asked her.
"I'm going to go back to my dorm," Clara responded timidly as she clambered through the narrow space past Harry and Ron. "Goodnight."
Without responding verbally or even trying to pretend he'd prefer her to stay, he simply inclined his head at her as she left. She crossed her arms over her chest and walked straight out of the room, leaving the deafening music behind her.
She was glad to see that the rest of the school was pretty much empty, minus the occasional couple snogging in a corner. Lifting up her skirt slightly to walk easier, Clara began back up the stairs and along the various darkened halls that led to the Hufflepuff basement.
"Oh look, it's Clara!"
Clara froze in her tracks and winced at the all too familiar voice. The same few Gryffindor girls had apparently left the Great Hall at exactly the same time as her, meaning she was stuck defending herself.
Taking a deep breath, Clara shook her head in an attempt to dispel their voices from her ears and continued along the dimly lit corridor.
"Hey Clara, why are you ignoring us?" the girl she now knew as Melanie asked. "I thought we were best friends-"
"Back off, Stanmore," Malfoy sneered.
Malfoy?
This time, Clara did in fact turn around. She turned around to watch the entire heated conversation that occurred, before the small group of girls turned and left in the direction of their own common room. Malfoy leaned sideways against the wall with his arms crossed and smirked tauntingly at them as they walked past him, which only aggravated Melanie Stanmore further.
Before Clara could turn and leave for her own common room, Malfoy caught up with her. "What are you doing out here, Davies? What happened to your date?" he asked her, his hands casually stowed in his pockets. "Weasel-Bee, was it?"
She shrugged, since she didn't really have any reason to want to discuss her rather miserable evening further. She wanted to look up at him but was mildly annoyed that he was looking directly at her as he spoke.
"Did he even dance with you?" he questioned.
Clara shook her head.
"Again with the nonexistent answers," he muttered. "So, why are you here now?"
"I'm going back to my dorm," she replied quietly. "I don't really like dancing."
He seemed humoured by her answer. "And how would you know if you haven't even tried? Come."
Without warning, Clara suddenly felt a pair of hands take hers. Malfoy tugged her closer to him towards the centre of the corridor with a mischievous grin on his face.
"W-what are you doing?" she asked him, bewildered.
He laughed under his breath and placed one hand around her waist, holding her closer than she would usually ever find comfortable. The music playing in the Great Hall was still echoing through to every corner of the castle.
"What do you think we're doing?" he remarked. "We're dancing."
"Now?" she questioned with a tinge of panic as he began to gently spin around the room with her in his arms. "Where's Astoria?"
"You want her to get rid of me that desperately, do you?" he teased, causing her to blush like a tomato. "Consider this me proving I'm better than Weasel-Bee in every respect."
They continued for a short while, enjoying the peace and quiet the corridor provided. Clara was kind of glad that he at least wasn't trying to do anything stupid like waltz with her properly, because that could've only ended badly.
"He wanted to go with Hermione Granger," she blurted out suddenly. "Ron Weasley."
She wasn't even entirely sure why she'd told him. It was almost annoying how much she let her tongue slip around him.
"He did?" Malfoy asked. "And he made it that obvious too?"
Clara nodded. "He kept staring at Hermione the entire time. It kinda got . . . awkward."
"I can imagine," he scoffed. "The pathetic little blood-traitor, doesn't even know how to take a girl to a dance. Luckily for you," he spun her around suddenly, causing her to almost trip straight into him if he hadn't caught her by her waist, "I'm an incredible dancer."
She felt a smile twitch at her lips. "You are?" she questioned.
He hummed a chuckle. "Of course I am."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: There, I gave Clara the Yule Ball she deserves. Aah, and Malfoy swooping in to save the day just melts me. I know he kinda seems a little OOC in this story, but that's how I wanted him to be in this one, just a proud, dumb teenager.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!