The Yule Ball

It had been a week since the incident. Honourably, Victoire apologised to Alodie in public and after a lengthy and heated meeting with the two girls, Madam Maxine and Professor McGonagall, Alodie eventually apologised for her unnecessary rudeness. Though she knew such an apology was forced and devoid of sincerity, Victoire was willing to accept it and let everything vacate her head in preparation for the Yule Ball. In the upcoming days, Victoire had sat in her room with Brea boiling up relaxation potions and inhaling their fumes in hopes that it would magically make their Yule night the best ever. No one would want exams and potion ingredients frolicking through their mind, when they were meant to be enjoying such a glamorous occasion.

The morning of the big night, the two steamed their dresses together while teaching Aaron how to do a perfect bowtie and even forced him to help them paint their nails and join them in wearing facemasks. Their final year had made them see the library and cauldrons more than each other, making the minutes they spent together more thrilling than ever before. The sun had begun to set by the time they started snacking while waiting for their toenails to dry. Sitting on the beds, they went through pictures of the evolution of their friendship, took turns throwing Tonka treats and gossiped about who they thought would turn up with who to the ball.

"Why aren't you going with anyone?" Victoire asked as she beckoned Tonka over with a treat,

"Because I don't want to. There's no one special enough for me to consider sharing such a big moment with. I would've taken Brea, but she found a stud of her own," Aaron smiled,

"Excuse me," the words resonated from Brea's chest, "are you insinuating that you're a stud?"

Howling like hyenas, the awesome threesome finished their snacks and went back to pampering themselves. By the time they were ready to get changed, the sun had swapped roles with the moon that engulfed the navy night sky with its light and dimmed the twinkle of the stars to a subtle glow. Such a transcending light flooded Victoire's room, bouncing off of anything with a reflection, illuminating her skin as she finished applying her wild strawberry lipstick and creating the perfect moonlit spot for Tonka to curl up in and admire her owner. The loyal fox had moved Victoire's navy blue and gold heels by the door and even put every makeup item back in the bag as soon as Victoire was done. This made everything less stressful for Victoire, as she remembered having to dance in front of people in heels she had only worn once and she had to admit, she didn't dance as well as Alodie in practice. Nerves made the urge to bite her lip almost irresistible, but the smooth feeling of applying a shimmering gloss supressed this and she went about finishing her outfit with earrings and doing a celebratory twirl with Tonka yapping with approval.

"Victoire! Come on, we're gonna be late!" Brea called up to her.

Speedily but gracefully, Victoire slipped on her heels and blew a kiss to Tonka before galloping downstairs to the common room. Waiting for her was Brea who looked beautiful in a pompadour purple midi dress that let her impressive collarbones show and standing behind her was Aaron who despite the sharp black tuxedo and charmingly slicked back hair, had a wonky bow tie around his neck. Victoire wanted to be the last to leave their dorm so they could take pictures together without having that one annoyingly persistent person photobombing every decent shot.

"You guys look amaz-" Victoire stopped to fix Aaron's tie, "-ing,"

"I am never wearing one of these things again. I'm going to burn this the moment the night ends," Aaron proclaimed.

The girls chuckled as the three took pictures of themselves, going from serious poses to making fish faces and using their wands to create sparks in the background for the perfect effect. Every picture that developed was another memory for Victoire to store in her head and heart and as they distributed the photos amongst themselves, there was a knock at the door. Like an excited child given a bag of Weasley's sizzling sherbet, Brea skipped to the door and pulled it open to reveal a dashing man wearing the traditional Durmstrang dress robes. His face looked freshly shaved with his skin glowing under the warm light, his eyes lit up as soon as he saw Brea and he instantly took her hand and kissed it in the gentlemanly way every girl dreamed of. Giggling, Brea turned back at her friends to reveal her flushed red cheeks, before smiling at him and thanking him for coming.

"This, erm, is Georgi," Brea took his hand.

Seeing Brea so giddy over a man made Victoire and Aaron have to withhold laughter as they waved at him. Behind Georgi, Fred appeared. For a boy who enjoyed being in slouchy comfortable clothes, he cleaned up very well, with dress robes he had borrowed from Uncle Harry fitting him perfectly and his untamed curly hair making his look earn an 'aww' from his friends. In true Fred fashion, he lowered his head in embarrassment and fixed his tie as Georgi moved out of the way for him. Victoire had agreed to go with him as she didn't want her cousin to spend the night feeling alone, especially when he was still feeling so vulnerable and she was starting to feel glad that she had said yes.

"I'm so sorry, Vic," Fred started, "but I can't go to the ball with you."

A dipping feeling like when you reach the descent of a rollercoaster matched Victoire's face of disappointment and she worried that she would have to find someone last minute. Of all people, she didn't think her cousin and one of her closest friends would bail on her when they knew how important this night was. She began to come up with valid excuses in her head. Maybe the anxiety is too much for him, or maybe someone cute asked him.

"I've found a more than worthy replacement though," Fred's smiled was unusually cheeky,

"Okay, but you know Lucas has two left feet," Victoire sighed as she walked towards the door.

Her steps were halted by a familiar and irritated voice, "Over my dead body are you dancing with Youngstead."

Paying no attention to her cousin or Brea's date, Victoire shoved past them and hugged the man standing to the side of the entrance who had made her heart pleasantly skip a beat. She found herself sinking into his deep musky scent as she ran her fingers through his smoothly styled hair and she sighed with relief as his arms wrapped around her securely. The compulsion to cry from the overwhelming joy could only be fought as she didn't want to ruin her makeup, but this didn't stop her from most likely smudging her lipstick on the shoulder of the recipient of her affection.

"Teddy."

Teddy couldn't believe how stunning Victoire looked. Though he wanted to hold her tightly in her arms for another minute, he let go to take in all of her. Her glowing navy blue princess dress complimented the soft cream tones of her skin, with matching satin gloves making him notice the delicacy of her hands. Tumbling over her left shoulder were ringlets purposely let loose from her intricately tied up hair, with flexes of gold weaving through the dreamy blonde sea. The off-the-shoulder bodice of her dress was detailed with what looked like feathers fluttering against her chest and when she made a royal turn, he marvelled at the detail carrying on to create a deep v shape on her back. Dangling from her ears were navy and gold earrings that didn't come close to the sparkle in her eyes that pulled Teddy in close to her and he kissed her head as he found himself entranced by her beauty.

"McGonagall said you couldn't come," Victoire stared up at him in disbelief, stroking his arms as if to check if he was really there,

"Well, I talked to her about that and we came up with a little agreement," Teddy smirked.

Walking her down to the great hall, Teddy was able to witness just how popular his girlfriend was amongst the students of Hogwarts, with almost everyone stopping to gape at who could only be described as a princess. He had attended weddings with Victoire before and had plenty of dance practice, however he felt unsettled as the possibility of doing a step wrong lingered in his mind and he started doubting if he would be good enough to dance with his girlfriend. The familiar walls of the castle were decorated with dancing white, silver and powder blue ribbons, vibrant green vines dusted with snow twisting around each other and carnelian red candles swayed as they emitted their cinnamon scent.

Soon, they came to the stairs and Victoire pulled Teddy back before he could begin the descent, "Just a second,"

"What's the matter, bluebell?" Teddy held her hands,

"What if I forget the dance, or my dress gets caught? I'm just- I'm nervous," Victoire whispered in his ear.

Gazing deeply into the comfort of her blue eyes, Teddy stroked her cheek lightly with his thumb and smiled as Victoire closed her eyes and made a dreamy sigh in response. He believed calming her was just as an amazing ability as transfiguration- many had different ways of comforting her, but his touch was the only effective method that could make Victoire go from an erratic cat to a soft kitten.

"Just focus on me and everything will be more than okay," he gently assured her.

His words filled her with confidence as she relaxed her shoulders, nodded and signalled for them to start walking down the steps.

The steps triggered his final memory of Hogwarts- running down them creating fireworks and cheering about finally being free from education with his friends- and a joyous memory mixed with looking at is stunning girlfriend had the corners of his mouth reaching his ears. It was impossible to take his eyes off of Victoire, even when people came up to say hey hello and he was introduced, he said his name and waved all while his eyes remained glued to her. Everything about her engulfed the castle, making the moonlight merge with the inferior candlelight. As McGonagall directed them to the back of the entrance hall, Victoire squeezed his hand in response to who he guessed were the other Triwizard competitors approaching them. He had been filled in with all the happenings between the three champions and he felt a heated change in him before they were even in front of him.

"Stay calm, Teddy," Victoire whispered in his ear,

"What makes you think I'm anything other than calm?"

"Your hair."

Being with Victoire for the first time in ages made controlling his emotions difficult and he squeezed his eyes shut while forcing himself to focus on anything other than resentment with the hope that his hair would go back to normal.

"The order will be Alodie, Victoire then Leon, so if you could get in line with your partners," McGonagall instructed.

Instead of her usually dark coloured attire, her dress coat was almost the same colour as the shining moon and it seemed she had not aged since Teddy was in his final year.

Once in line, Leon tapped Victoire's shoulder, "I hate to admit it, blondie, but you look…wow."

Teddy couldn't control the wolf-like snarl he made; he could only make sure to do it quietly enough so it wasn't obvious as Victoire turned around.

"Don't call me blondie," she said sternly before turning the other way.

The two shared a smile as the music sounded for them to begin walking into the hall. Unlike the couples they were sandwiched between, Teddy and Victoire clasped each other's hands and he quickly kissed the top of her head as the giant doors creaked open to slowly reveal the sublime snow scene of the great hall. With a straight back and a spellbound smile on his face whenever he glanced at Victoire, he escorted his girlfriend through the cheering crowd and waved whenever he saw a family member or a friendly face from the past. A charge circulated his body as they made it to the middle of the floor and took their place opposite each other. The otherwise awe inspiring towering white Christmas tree with its astonishing ornaments and the surrounding magical decorations became dull and melded into one blur as Teddy put his hands around Victoire's waist. Even when the music began and they started dancing, he was completely lost in the twinkling eyes that gazed back at him, not breaking their connection even when he had to lift her. He had yearned to be this close to her for months and holding her highlighted just how infatuated he was by her. Victoire may have looked like a royal Ravenclaw princess, but she was Edward Lupin's queen.