Aria: Hi everyone! Sorry that this chapter is a bit late but it was a lot to write, I think it's the longest chapter yet! Thanks to all who have followed, favourited and reviewed I am really grateful for the support :) I hope you like this chapter and if you have any questions or comments please put them in a review (if they're questions I'll answer them in the next post).

Warning: There is possible swear words and curse words from this point on! (Harsh language or whatever you want to call it)

I don't own Harry Potter! Please enjoy!

Chapter 7 – Chaos, the Ball, the Dance

Scorpius' POV:

What is Rose thinking? Was the first thing I thought when I heard, the rumour about how she was going with Fisher. I mean this is the guy that scared and hurt Blanche because of his git move. He's such a prick. So was that other guy but as a group we have promised not to mention him around Rose unless she brings the topic up herself. Anger washed over me in waves but then I remembered that I was at lunch in the Great Hall with my girlfriend giving my confused looks occasionally as her friends spread gossip. I tried to calm down after all I'm not Rose's boyfriends so there's really no need to be so possessive and protective of her. However, it seems that every dumb ass git within a mile radius is attracted to Rose and for some insufferable aggravating reason she never sees the bad side to these guys that approach her.

"Orpy," Selene whined in a high pitched voice with a pout. I hated the nickname that she gave me but I manage to put up with it. She leaned onto my chest and tried to cuddle. I was resistant but didn't want to express that. So – feeling awkward and uncomfortable – I cuddled as well. For some reason cuddling with Selene didn't feel right. Not like how it felt for Rose to cuddle up to me. Which is confusing, I mean I know we're friends but there seems to be something more there. But how much more? And how does she see me?

Albus' POV:

Sometimes I wonder how two people who are so smart could be so oblivious to human emotion. I know for a fact that Scorp and Rose like – maybe even love – each other and yet they both seem to be in denial of the fact. It started soon after they started fighting every waking moment in third year – yes even back that far. I have watched them slowly grow closer over the years and there were times I was tempted to make them both drink a love potion just so they could finally recognise how they felt – I didn't obviously but it was tempting.

Even right here – at lunch with his girlfriend – as they gossiped of how that ass Henry is going with Rose to the ball you could see his rage and jealousy and protective streak start to surface. I have a feeling though that something will definitely happen this year between them. Which reminds me, I've got to pay Henry a little visit later, or maybe James should go instead, I remembered thoughtfully

As for my love life, well…I have had a huge crush – that keeps getting stronger – on Rose's best friend Mya. Although I do think that she is too good for me, I can't help but notice how her laugh is like the chiming of little high pitched bells, and how her sense of humour can have me in laughing fits within seconds. How her caramel coloured eyes looking at me makes my stomach do nervous acrobatic flips. She is beautiful in every way but I still don't have the words or courage to tell her that yet.

Rose's POV:

At lunch I was holding my fork the way you would a spear, ready to launch it at that toad of a girlfriend that Malfoy has. I spotted her practically throwing herself at him while he just went with it. I instead started to violently stab the mash potato.

"Rosie, what did that poor potato ever do to you?" Mya sarcastically asked smirking.

I took a deep breath and started eat like normal. Tomorrow's the ball and Fie was still hoping that Mark would ask her to go with him. At this point though she was starting to lose hope and it pained me to see the sad hopeful expression on my best friend. I have come to the conclusion that Mark is a blind idiot for not asking her to the ball, after all Fie is one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts – she also received lots of attention for the boys – yet the one boy she likes doesn't even notice her. Then there's Mya who also didn't have a date to the ball yet probably because she didn't want to go with anyone but Al. They obviously liked each other a lot yet he still hadn't asked her out. It is tempting to play cupid in this situation but I thought it was wiser not to.

Just then Lil entered the Great Hall, she was rubbing her right forearm – which she only did when she was upset or stressed about something. I took a closer look at her face as she came closer; her eyes were red rimmed and her nose was also a little red. She's been crying. Rage started to build in me because I knew exactly why she was crying. The three of us shared concerned looks and nodded. Mya grabbed a bagel – Lil's favourite – and we walk straight up to her, turned her around and walked out of the Great Hall without any protests from Lil.

Once we were out of the Great Hall and past the Entrance Hall, we stopped to talk.

I first of all took out my wand and conjured up some tissues.

Fie then hugged her which she responded by desperately clinging to her.

"Lizzybell," Fie started – it was a nickname that we had come up with a few years ago for whenever she was upset.

"How did it happen?" I asked gently.

"He…he said that I was being clingy and he said that he didn't even like me, he did it because his friend dared him to…" she started to sob. I handed her the tissues and she blew her nose. I was just about ready to hex someone into oblivion, but I stayed calm for Lil.

"Guys are stupid egotistical asses, aren't they? It's almost like they traded brains for egos isn't it?" Mya tried to joke.

We all laughed including Lil. I couldn't help but comment, "Just wait until WBBC gets him, it won't be pretty I'll tell you that much. It's not like we girls can't protect ourselves, it's just better to let the boys feel like the heroes."

Lil's expression changed to an alarmed one, like she forgot to do something. She then confirmed my suspicion, "I almost forgot, James and Al are probably torturing him right now and then they'll get detention and then Mum with send them howlers, all because of me." She started to get worked up again.

So I said, "Lizzybell don't you worry about them their big boys they can handle a detention and I'll tell you right now that you are so worth the trouble, we all would do anything we could to protect you or anyone else in our family."

She came and hugged me so we had a group hug.

"Oh I almost forgot, here," Mya said with a grin handing Lil the bagel which she gratefully accepted.

"Ok we should definitely go to bed now because we don't want to waste any time getting ready for tomorrow," Fie said trying to be positive.

"Sounds like a plan," I replied with a smile.

"Have fun, pity it's only for the fifth years, despite that you can bring anyone from fifth year and above," Lil said happier.

"We'll rock Merlin's socks off," Mya answered as we headed up to the common room.

- The few hours before the Halloween Ball -

The ball started in the evening so we spent all afternoon trying to get ready. It was total chaos in the girl's dorm – and even that's a total understatement. Girls was yelling and screaming and panicking while they were tossing things around – which the others had to dodge – and searching for things among the mess. With all eight of us at different stages of getting ready.

"Ari, where's my hair curlers have you seen them?" Emily yelled to Aria from the bathroom.

"I have no freakin' idea where they are Em!" Aria responded but them panicked asked Amelia, "Melia, can I borrow your foundation? I just ran out of mine!"

"Sure," Amelia replied painting her nails and trying to quickly dry them by waving them around – I almost laughed because she looked like she was mental, flapping around like a bird.

Beth then started to loudly moan, "No, no, no, this cannot be happening!"

Nora asked, "What's wrong Beth?"

Beth answered still moaning in disappear, "The heel on my shoe just broke completely off!"

"What! Damn, here borrow this pair of mine," Nora said handing Beth a pair of shoes.

Fie was standing behind me straightening my hair with a spell she learn from her mother – her family is pureblood, like most of my family, so spells to do practically anything are passed down through generations, but I didn't know this spell so Fie is my helper – while Mya was beside me looking in the mirror trying to put the hair curlers in the lower rainbow half of her hair.

"What I wouldn't give for my hair curler right now," Mya complained. She was a half-blood but was raised as a muggle so she was technologically up-to-date with the muggle world, what she refer to is her electronic hair curler. Considering electronics don't work at Hogwarts she had to go back to what she says is the "olden days, when women didn't have electricity".

"Ahhhh! My zipper is broken!" Emily shrieked.

"Bloody Merlin! Umm," Aria swore while trying to find a solution to the new problem.

If some random person saw the hysterical scene that the dorm is in at the moment, they might think that we were all insane running around in this unruliness. I couldn't help but smirk at the hilariousness of it.

- A few muddled hours later -

The three of us were ready before the other girls, so we just decided to escape the turmoil of the dorm room and head down stairs to the common room. Fie was wearing her silver dress, her silver sandal criss-cross strapped high heels and a shiny but fake red stone bracelet with her hair in a high pony tail.

Mya chose to wear red wedges – to match her red dress that she bought – that covered the toes and strapped around the ankle. On her right arm she had lots of plated gold bangles that always rhythmically clanged together whenever she moved her arm. On the left she had one thick violet band that had a bow attached.

I judged my straightened hair checking for the thousandth time that it wasn't curling again – even though Fie did say that she also did a small spell to make sure in stayed straight for the whole night but would wear off by morning.

We started to walk down the stairs to where we would meet up with Henry before heading off. Mya went first, followed by me.

There were still students from other years in the common room and so when we entered we ended up having all eyes on us. Henry – who was wearing a white tux – turned to see the three of us standing there and was speechless. I guess we seem to have that effect on people. Henry snapped out of his gawking daze and greeted me, "Hello Rose."

"Hello Henry," I said politely. He offered his arm, which I took hesitantly.

Then we started our journey to the Great Hall.

Scorpius' POV:

The Great Hall was decked out with lots of Halloween themed decorations like the Jackal lanterns on the tables and flowing near the ceiling. I was sitting at one of the sunset orange and black tables with Al and Selene when I looked over to the entry doors and saw her.

Rose – who I didn't recognized at first with her straightened hair – was stunning in that white dress – that complimented her feminine figure that barely anyone ever saw – she bought while shopping, white high heel shoes that covered her toes with no other decoration apart from the small diamantes on the cover toes that increased in size as they headed towards the other shoe. A small bit of her hair from the front was pulled back into a small ponytail at the back tied with a white hair tie that had small flowers on it.

Al and Selene must have notice my attention change focus because Al turned to look – after which he looked increasingly happy – and Selene abruptly said, "Come on Orpy, let's dance, it's boring just sitting here."

She dragged me from my seat with urgency. Tugging on my arm the whole way to the dance floor. We started to dance but Selene seemed too enthusiastic to be honest. As I twirled Selene around I spotted Rose talking with Al. She held onto Fisher's arm. In that instant I felt the urge to viscously rip them apart and dance with Rose instead. I then hesitantly focused back to my dance partner.

Rose's POV:

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Malfoy dancing with that slut. I gripped Henry's arm slightly tighter in my effort to control my anger. What does he see in her? Why am I so irritated? I thought.

Henry gave me a puzzled side glance to which I returned a polite and reassuring smile, hiding my irritation.

"Rosie aren't you going to dance?" Fie suggested to us seeing the crowd on the dance floor, "Looks like the next song is about to start." The song was a waltz and I almost grimaced at the thought. I was not really an enthusiastic dancer unless I really liked the song and I felt comfortable with my partner – which in this case I didn't feel confident in either of those. In fact, I would rather go and write a 10 page essay than dance right now – and that was an understatement.

Henry took my hand and said, "May I have this dance?"

"Sure," I replied trying to sound excited when I really felt like just sitting with Fie, Mya and Al.

He led me to the dance floor. The feeling of wanting to run back over to the table gripped me, though I ignored it and began to dance. As we danced he tried to close the distance between us but I always pulled away. I look around to see Al holding Mya's hand and leading her to the dance floor. My heart swelled with happiness for them. They're finally making progress, I thought.

The song ended, Al and Mya were still dancing as Henry and I started to walk off the dance floor. Something then caught Henry's eye and so he said, "'I'll be right back, Rose."

"Ok," I said but didn't care. I walked over to where Fie was chatting to Lorcan Scamander. They got along really well and I was pretty sure the Lorcan has had a crush on her for a while now. As I approached Fie stood up and excused herself as she finished their conversation. She walked over to me with a raised eye brow and a look of and-where's-your-date noticing Henry's absence.

"He wondered off to somewhere," I laughed replying to her silent question.

"You're not upset that he isn't going to be with you, he is your date after all," she inquired.

"Nope, I don't really care if he doesn't stay with me the whole night, in fact I don't want him to," I replied.

The song changed to one that had a loud bass line and we saw Mya and Al dancing together, still. Maybe Fie and I could organise some enchanted mistletoe at Christmas, I thought a devious smirk spreading on my lips.

"Someone's having a great time," Fie giggled referring to Mya. I giggled also because I had a definite feeling that they had a bright future together.

We then went to go and get drinks – checking that James hadn't spiked the punch – when Fie was asked to dance by someone she gave me a look.

I replied with a smile, "It's fine, I'll be fine here, you go have fun."

After a moment of hesitation she accepted and was led away. I stood there letting my mind wander. I somehow started to search for someone and I spotted them sitting with their date by a big group of girls that were the centre of gossip. Malfoy looked bored and annoyed. How long had he been sitting there? I must have been staring because he then looked around and caught my gaze.

We held each other's gazes for a minute longer, however, I turned away to seemingly inspect the tray of tiny cupcakes. My nerves were starting to tingle then moments later I heard his voice.

"So, what is Rose Weasly doing over hear all by yourself?" He asked without hiding his arrogance yet seeming to be happier.

I opened my mouth to say something but then remembered our argument in the Library, so I retort, "Why don't you go and give some magical creature indigestion as it eats you, Malfoy."

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" He replied smugly, "Brilliant partner choice by the way, I didn't think you were the type to let pets run around without a leash."

I immediately understood the metaphor and I snapped back, "I could say the same about you and Henry is not a pet." I looked away back to the food.

He chuckled at my defensive reply; to which I snapped, "What?" looking at him again attempting to glare daggers.

"Nothing," He waved it off. He then however stepped a little closer and asked, "Would you care to dance, Rose?"

I was stunned into silence for a second before looking into his very serious eyes, he wasn't joking or kidding around. Before I could reply he took my hand at pulled me to the dance floor. I did – unsuccessfully, geez he's strong – try to loosen my hand from his grip but it was useless. The song then suddenly changed the beat was so very familiar. I love this song, I thought. It was a slow dancing song that was perfect for couples…

Malfoy must have seen my eyes light up at the song change and smirked.

"What's with that look?" I asked looking at his happy grin.

"Oh, just how amusing you are," He answered looking slightly away.

The dancing part started and he placed his hands on my waist and began to dance – in order to not fall over – I put my hands behind his neck and followed his movements as he led us through the dance. I then had the strangest feeling. I was comfortable dancing, I wasn't tense or bored, I was happy actually. It was odd at how right it felt to have him this close with his arms around me. I felt safe. I saw him grinning – sincerely – and it made me want to happily laugh however instead I decided to genuinely smile back. It was like I didn't care about anything else but dancing with him to this song.

"You look stunning tonight," I heard him whisper. This totally caught me off guard and I couldn't formulate a response because it seemed that my brain was on a holiday.

The song then ended and I felt a pang of disappointment. He let his arms drop – so I did the same – and I felt cold and lonely.

"Well see you around Rose," He said quietly.

I again wasn't fast enough to reply as he started to walk away. I walked off the dance floor and over to Fie, Mya and Al. I was dazed, what in Meriln's name was that? I've never felt like this before, I thought.

"Hey, you ok Rosie? You seem a bit out of it?" Fie asked bringing reality crashing back.

The three of them gave me waiting looks, had someone asked me something?

"The difference between a werewolf and an animagus is that…." I automatically started to recite.

"Hold it there walking textbook, we asked you if you ok, or are you trying to tell us you're an animagus?" Al interrupted holding back his laughter.

"No of course I'm not an animagus Al, and yes I'm perfectly fine thanks," I replied matter-of-factly.

The three of my friends burst into laughter. What's so funny?

I let it slide but I was still confused about many things.

Over the course of the rest of the evening my mind would wonder looking for a certain pair of silver eyes but was unsuccessful. I didn't see Henry for the rest of the night to find that he was with Holly so I just left them alone. Mya and Al had a great time chatting and dancing, they spent pretty much the whole time together. Fie and I had decided to head back to the common room a little early as we were starting to get bored. Thus I went to slept still replaying the small time Malfoy and I spent dancing together. I was confused at how much it impacted on me. The future was definitely looking unclear to me.