It was the end of the lesson, they had finished their work when McGonagall made an announcement that made Jade's stomach flutter as if it were filled with dozens of butterflies.

"I have something to say to you all." Professor McGonagall said as the students began packing their bags. "The Yule Ball is approaching, it's a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above. Although, you may invite a younger student if you wish." McGonagall paused, allowing the students to get over the initial excitement of her announcement. Jade saw Pansy grab the side of her desk excitedly and Draco, who sat next to her, watched her with a tick of irritation. "Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then-" Professor McGonagall's gaze turned severe as she scanned the class. "The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to… let our hair down," She told them but she seemed to personally disagree with this statement. Pansy giggled and she wasn't the only one. Ava Lane gasped loudly and whispers had started in the back of the classroom. "But that does not mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. Professor Snape would be most seriously displeased if a Slytherin student embarrasses the school in any way." This silenced the room immediately. The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders. Pansy grabbed Jade's wrist painfully.

"A ball!" She squealed.

"Ow, Pansy." Jade chuckled slightly as she pulled her arm from Pansy's grasp.

"Dresses and dancing and boys…" Pansy went on dreamily. "Why aren't you excited?"

"I am... I have no idea what I'm going to wear." The thought drifted to the front of Jade's mind and Pansy looped her arm through Jade's.

"Me either, we can go to that shop in Hogsmeade!" Pansy gasped. Jade knew the one she was talking about, Gladrags Wizardwear. She'd gotten Theo's winter cloak from there last year. "Oh, come on! We have so much to do!" Pansy huffed and pulled her down the corridors until they reached their room. Pansy chatted happily as she sat on her bed daydreaming as Jade started writing to her mother. She had told her parents she would keep them up to date on the events of the tournament. She could imagine them sitting together on the couch as they read it out loud, Rodrick sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the living room table. She told them all about the first task, writing more about Harry's than the others, and then the announcement of the Yule Ball.

"Obviously it's green." She tuned in to what Pansy was saying as she finished her letter. "What about you?" She asked and Jade turned in her seat.

"Sorry, what'd you say?"

"What color do you look best in?"

"I don't know." Jade sighed. "Nothing bright, you know? No yellow or orange, no pink."

"Yeah, no pink." Pansy nodded in agreement. "Who do you wanna go with?" Pansy lowered her voice to a whisper and she smirked mischievously at Jade.

"I don't know," Jade said again, her cheeks flaming slightly. "I'll be happy if I get asked at all."

"Oh, piss off." Pansy huffed. "You're beautiful. You'll probably get asked tomorrow."

"You think so?" Nerves fluttered in her stomach. "What do I do then?" Pansy grinned at her frazzled friend.

"Well, Jade, if you want to go with that person, you agree to go. If you don't want to go with that person, you don't go with them."

"Right, but how do I turn someone down?" She asked. "I'd feel awful."

"Don't," Pansy told her simply.

"Yeah, thanks, Pans." Jade sighed.

"I'm serious. This is the Yule Ball! It is going to be magical and wonderful and you deserve to have an amazing time. If you're going with someone you didn't want to go with but did anyway because you couldn't say no, it's going to ruin it."

"I guess you're right."

They had finished their afternoon classes and returned to the Common Room before dinner. It had only been a few hours since the Yule Ball had been announced but that was more time than he needed, Draco made sure all of the Slytherin male students knew that he meant to make Jade his date for the occasion. Blaise was surprised Jade hadn't figured it out yet, she spent most of the day in her room with Pansy but Draco was practically on top of her during Potions. All the other guys listened to Draco, either out of respect or fear, but Theo found it humorous.

"What if she doesn't want to go with you?" He asked, leaning up against the wall as Blaise and Draco talked quietly near the bookcases. Draco looked at him, annoyed, like he often was when he talked to Theo.

"Why wouldn't she?" He questioned back.

"Because someone better could come along and beat you to it," Theo smirked and Blaise watched the two of them, they often didn't get along, and by the look on Draco's face and his known temper, he wanted to make sure they didn't cross that line and start throwing punches. But Nott should know better than to hang Jade over Draco's head, taunting him.

"Someone like who?" Draco asked, he took a step towards Theo but he just smiled, unphased by Draco's aggressive demeanor.

"No one in particular… just a thought." Theo shrugged. Draco scoffed and shoulder-checked him as he walked by.

"Keep it just a thought, Nott."

On Tuesday, almost everyone fourth-year and up signed up to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays and all they talked about was the upcoming ball. Boys were wasting no time asking girls to be their dates to the dance. Pansy had been right, a third-year Hufflepuff boy stopped Jade and Draco in the courtyard on their way back from Defense Against the Dark Arts and offered her a bouquet of flowers as he asked her to the dance. He was so nervous and Jade found it sweet. She accepted the flowers and asked him to give her some time to think about her answer, he eagerly nodded and went back to where his friends were watching from across the yard.

"You can't be serious." Draco chuckled as they continued their way back to the Common Room.

"So what if I'm getting a little male attention?" Jade hummed as she raised the flowers to her nose.

"You're getting a lot more than a little," Draco grumbled, making eye contact with a pair of Durmstrang boys who were openly checking her out, but Jade didn't notice, too busy looking over the flowers the boy had given her. Draco didn't look away from the older boys until they turned around a corner.

"Not from anyone that matters," Jade said casually, playing with the white ribbon wrapped around the stems.

"Hm?" Draco grunted, he hadn't been listening to what she said, he was too busy glaring at all of the boys and shutting down any thought they might have of asking Jade to the ball. "I thought it was obvious we would go together."

"What?" Jade stopped walking and Draco stumbled for a moment, finally looking at her.

"Together, as a group." He corrected himself quickly, "Like, all of us."

"Oh." Jade looked back at the flowers as they started walking again, the twinkle in her eyes dimming some. She didn't say anything until they reached the Common Room and when they did, Draco plucked the flowers from her hands.

"Since that's cleared up." Draco sighed and then walked over to the fireplace and threw her flowers into the flames.

"Draco!" Jade huffed, running up to his side, watching the petals catch fire and burn away. "Why did you do that?" Blaise laughed from his spot on the couch but Pansy came up next to her.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"A boy asked me to the dance and gave me flowers and Draco threw them in the fire!" Jade yelled while Blaise's laughter grew louder behind them.

"It's not funny, Zabini." Pansy hissed back at him and he covered his mouth to try and stifle his laughter. "And you," Pansy whirled around in time to see Draco's humorous smirk fall. "You're a jerk!" Pansy grabbed Jade's arm and led her towards the girls' dormitories.

"What?" Draco called after them. "She's not going with him, she's coming with us!" Jade stumbled after Pansy as she led them down the stone steps to their room.

"Just because you agreed to go with Draco instead of the other guy doesn't mean he can-"

"You're going with Draco to the Yule Ball?" They came face to face with Ava and Daphne.

"No," Jade told them.

"But, he just said-" Pansy tried speaking but Jade cut her off.

"No, he was just saying we'll probably go as a group." She explained and Ava's furrowed brow relaxed.

"Oh, good. So, he doesn't have a date?" She smiled and Jade's eyes narrowed.

"No." She said shortly.

"Brilliant." She moved to pass them but Jade turned around before they could get too far up the stairs.

"Doesn't mean he's going to go with you, though," Jade said. Ava looked back, unbothered.

"Why wouldn't he? Have you seen me?" She smirked but Jade could barely hold back the smile trying to grow on her face.

"Oh yeah, we've seen you, Lane. You can't offer him anything worthwhile." Jade quipped back and Ava moved to step down but Daphne stopped her.

"Come on, let's go, Ava. Maybe Draco's up there." She offered hopefully, Ava scoffed and then continued her way up to the Common Room.

"Has she gone mad?" Jade chuckled, entering their room and falling onto her bed. "Draco has never shown interest in her before, he can barely stand her."

That didn't stop Ava from trying. The next morning, she was sitting next to him at the table again... in her spot, again. Jade sighed, annoyed now knowing the reason for her sudden interest in him. Jade walked up to them and cleared her throat, and unlike last time, Ava moved a spot down on her own, sighing loudly and rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there." Jade offered her and the table bubbled with laughter. Most classes had relaxed since it was their last week before break but not Potions, Snape was still requiring them to finish their work on antidotes for poisons.

"I heard Dumbledore ordered eight hundred barrels of mulled mead for the dance," Pansy whispered during Herbology.

"I heard he booked the Weird Sisters." Jade offered back and Pansy smiled.

"I hope so. Hey, we should go down to Hogsmeade on Saturday, go looking for our dresses."

"My mother told me not to get one." She sighed. "She said she already has the perfect dress at home."

"That's no fun." Professor Sprout looked at the girls warningly as she paused her lecture and they stopped talking, waiting for her to continue again.

"I don't want to wear any of the dresses from home. I don't think I have any that would be right for the ball." Jade went on. "But I can help you look for one."

"You better. You have to be honest, let me know if something looks bad."

"I don't think there are many things you could look bad in," Jade smirked and Pansy bumped into her slightly.

"Thank you."

Professor Flitwick had given up all together trying to get them to focus and instead gave them time to study during class. Pansy had sat next to Jade to talk about the ball some more but Jade's eyes kept wandering over to where Ava was sitting next to Draco. Draco was taking down notes from his textbook and Ava was leaning towards him, trying to read off his book. She reached for it and pulled it so it rested in between them. Draco didn't seem to mind, which irritated Jade further.

"Jade." Pansy tapped her wand on Jade's hand and she tore her eyes away from the two of them.

"Yeah?"

"Stop watching them, your jealousy's showing."

"Jealousy?" Jade scoffed. "Hardly. No, it's just, we, we already have plans set. Now, she's coming to muck them all up."

"Yeah, okay, that's the reason." Pansy glanced over at them.

"That is the reason." Jade narrowed her eyes at her friend and Pansy turned back to her and simply nodded.

"Well, you haven't talked to him all day. You're practically shoving him into her arms-"

"You're so dramatic." Jade cut her off and turned back to her forgotten textbook, she wasn't even on the right page to what they'd been recently learning. "If he is going to take her to the ball he should let us know so we can get dates too. That's all."

"Doesn't explain why you're ignoring him."

"I'm not ignoring him," Jade told her with finality, and Blaise, who had a seat behind them, leaned forward in between the two girls,

"You are ignoring him." He added simply and he threw himself back in his seat quickly to avoid Jade's hand that came swatting in his direction.

Draco's reputation was infamous to the other houses of Hogwarts and only a select few really knew how suave he could be, Blaise watched from the sidelines as Draco tried to catch Jade's attention. He watched for a long time, years-long, and Jade was still as oblivious as the day they met. It was overwhelmingly frustrating at this point, he felt like Draco was faffing around a bit and Blaise decided it was time for him to step in. So, on Thursday, Blaise took the time in between their last morning class and lunch to cram in some 'studying'. He met with Jade in the library. He was nervous, like he was the one admitting his feelings to her, but it was really because he knew if Draco found out he'd said anything Draco would kill him.

"Hey!" Jade approached with a bright smile, "Where are your books?" She asked, clutching her own to her chest.

"The studying was a ruse, we need to talk." He told her and she quickly sat down with him and set her books on the table.

"Blaise, what's wrong?" Worry covered her features.

"Nothing." He sighed.

"Did I do something to upset you?"

"No. This isn't about me-"

"Is your mum okay?" She asked.

"Yes!" Blaise told her, "Stop interrupting." He said quietly, Jade relaxed and sat silently, waiting for him to continue. "It's about Draco." Jade opened her mouth but Blaise immediately went on, "He's fine. Well, no, he's not fine. Are you a muppet?" Draco wasn't stupid, he knew that she was avoiding him for the past two days, and it was all he talked about, what he could've possibly done, what he could do to make it better, and it was driving Blaise insane.

"A muppet?" Jade gasped, "No. Why?"

"I'm just…" Blaise sighed again, "Why are you mad at Draco?"

"I'm not mad at Draco." Jade's previous concern had been wiped off her face and she was now looking at him with a stony expression.

"You're avoiding him." Jade sighed and played with her fingers, trying to pick at her cuticles.

"I heard Ava wanted him to ask her to the dance," Jade admitted quietly, her face blushing an embarrassing shade of red, still not meeting Blaise's gaze.

"So?" He asked.

"So, I thought we would... all go together… is all."

"Did you ask Draco if he was going to ask her?" Blaise probed.

"No, if he likes her then… that's fine. I personally can't stand her, so I want nothing to do with it." Blaise chuckled and Jade glared up at him. "What?"

"So what if Ava likes Draco and wants to go to the dance with him?"

"Exactly." Jade nodded, "So what? Who cares?" She was still nodding and Blaise could easily see what was really upsetting her, she was just trying to convince herself the opposite. He had to crack through it. She'd been brushing off Draco's glances, his obvious comments, his light touches, for years. He wanted to do it gently but if he had to he'd just drop it on her.

"Draco would never notice her, not with you around." He said calmly. Jade stopped picking at the corner of her nail and Blaise waited impatiently to see her reaction.

"What does that mean?" She finally asked and Blaise wanted to strangle her. Dump it on her it would be.

"Come on, Jade! He's totally into you, has been for years! You haven't noticed? At all?" Jade shushed him when a pair of passing students glanced back at them.

"I… I thought I noticed… a little. But-"

"No! No buts, it's as simple as that. There, now you know." Blaise was relieved to finally have it out in the open. "Are you going to do something about it?" He asked when she didn't say anything for several seconds.

"I... I don't know. I gotta go, I'll talk to you later." Jade quickly stood and practically ran out of the library, forgetting her books. Maybe Blaise hadn't done the right thing, as he leaned down to pick up her books and take them back to the Common Room, he was angry with himself for telling her. Yes, it was irritating to watch Draco and Jade because of what Blaise knew but he had no right to go and possibly mess things up. What if Jade went to talk to Draco? What if Jade didn't go talk to Draco and was freaking out because her best friend has feelings for her and she doesn't feel the same way? When he got back to the Common Room he had settled on letting it go, there was nothing he could do now, it was either going to go right or go very wrong.