On the night of the Yule Ball, Celeste paced rapidly up and down her and Jillian's shared dorm. She had her hands clenched behind her back and her eyes were wild. Jillian sat on one of the beds, quietly following her friend's progress with her eyes.

"Why don't you come sit down?" Jillian asked, patting the sheet beside her. "You look… worried." She chose her words carefully, knowing about Celeste's firm conviction that she never got nervous.

Celeste spun around, glaring at Jillian. "Worried?" she yelped. "I look worried?! Are you blind? Deaf? I'm scared out of my mind! Can't you see I'm a nervous wreck?"

Screw convictions.

"But why?" Jillian asked reasonably. "It's just the Yule Ball. We went to it last year; it's not that bad at all. You know we'll have fun. What's the problem?"

"It's Ron!" Celeste explained desperately. "He's such a great guy. He's funny and smart and sweet and just so nice. I know somehow I'll mess things up with him. He's so perfect." She gripped Jillian's arms tightly, and her eyes flashed crazily. Wet chunks of hair fell around her shoulders, dampening the scrubby old robes she wore.

Jillian smiled sweetly at Celeste. "C'mon, Cel. For the past two weeks, I've barely seen you. You've been hanging out with Ron and his Gryffindor gang. That's completely fine, I'm cool with it, but if you've spent so much time with them, why are you worried? You two will have a great time. They'll be no room for you to mess up."

That dreadful evening two weeks ago suddenly came back to her. She had confessed her huge crush on Draco Malfoy to Celeste. She couldn't believe she'd done that. The thought of it now horrified her. How could I embarrass myself like that? she thought. Sure, I like Draco. A lot. But Celeste shouldn't need to know that… luckily, her friend hadn't said anything about it the next day, and they'd let the whole thing drop. She tuned back into what Cel was saying.

"But what if I do? What if I screw it up by saying something stupid? I'll never be able to forgive myself," Celeste cried dramatically.

Jillian smirked. "If you can screw it up by saying something stupid, it would've happened—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Celeste muttered darkly, glaring at Jillian. Suddenly, both of them dissolved into laughter. Celeste sighed and fell back onto the four-poster. "You're right you know. He's cool. I'm cool. It'll be cool." Laughing she pointed at the shower, now completely relaxed. "Now get in there to take your shower so we can finish getting ready."

Jillian shook her head, smiling, and entered the large bathroom. She didn't take long, and when she exited the steamy room, her and Celeste began to get ready. They blow-dried their hair after adding a holding gel, and then they styled each other's. Celeste used a charm she'd gotten off the Internet, which was supposedly her guide to absolutely everything there was to know about anything.

As Celeste mumbled some quick words, Jillian's hair began to twist back in separate pieces into a loose ponytail high on her head. Then it curled itself and loosely wrapped around itself, silver bobby pins flying to assist. When that was finished, two curls magically tugged themselves from the mass and floated lazily around Jillian's face. As a finishing flourish, Celeste added tiny diamonds all over, which glittered when caught under the light. Then she took a needle and personally threaded a wide dark blue ribbon through Jillian's mahogany curls.

"There! Yours is done," Celeste exclaimed boldly. "Now let's see what you've done to me." She turned to the mirror and gasped. While she'd been steadily training her wand on Jillian's head, keeping her eyes focused, Jillian had been sprinkling a glitter dust on her hair. Now it had somehow managed to tuck into itself, creating a sleek twist. But in the center of this twist there was some sort of hollow. In the center of the hollow twinkled a fairy. Curls cascaded around her like a waterfall, and she made Celeste's entire head shine with a soft glow. Besides the fairy, her hair shimmered with tons of minuscule, glittery powder. "This is going to be killer to wash out," she laughed happily. "But thank you, Jill! It's gorgeous!"

Jillian smiled proudly. "Your welcome. I love my hair, too. You're really good at it." Smiling giddily at one another, they waved their wands at their torsos at the same time. With a pop, both of their plain black robes had been changed to their stylish dress robes.

Celeste eyed hers critically in the mirror, turning both ways to look at it from all angles. "I can't believe that I spent so much money on this," she fretted. "I hope it's worth it."

Jillian giggled. "I think you'll knock Ron's socks off," she said, offering her opinion. Celeste smiled gratefully at her.

Her friend's robes were made from some sort of stretchy material. They were a pale pink and fell a few inches above the floor. The color brought out her milky, smooth skin and her glimmering blonde hair. The robes were form fitting, and one sleeve slid sexily off her shoulder. The sleeves themselves were some sort of lacy, sheer material that poofed out and fell to her elbows. "I hope McGonagall doesn't kick me out when she catches sight of me," she giggled cocking her hip one way, then the other.

"Well, let's hope she doesn't catch sight of you, then," Jillian chirped optimistically, turning to the mirror to admire her own dress robes. She stared, caught off-guard by how much she looked like her mom in the picture on her nightstand. Oh well, it only seemed proper she should be the spitting image of her mother: they were her robes, after all, from when she was a young girl at Hogwarts. They were a deep, shimmering dark blue, and slid silkily and loosely down her body. She swished back and forth, enjoying the feel of the smooth fabric against her skin. They were long, and fell in piles of material at her ankles. She had to lift the folds just to walk without tripping. The sleeves were wide and hugely loose: tunnels of midnight blue, shining fabric.

"I'm going to make a fool out of myself, I just know it," Jillian said monotonously, still staring at her mother in the mirror. "I'll trip all over myself, break a leg or something."

Celeste went to stand next to her. "No. No, you won't, Jill dear. You'll dance the night away with some older man. Those robes look perfect on you. They bring out the chestnut in your hair and eyes." She tilted her head a second, studying her best friend. "Now c'mon. Let's move onto the final step of our preparation!"

They leaned into the dresser mirror and quickly applied their make-up, which was spread out on the dresser top. Celeste wore brown mascara, liquid liner, a pearly white shadow, and pink lipgloss. Then she worked a light foundation cream into her skin, eyes trained on her image. Cringing, she slipped large gold hoops through her ears. Though she liked the way she was dressed and styled tonight, there was something largely girlie about the way she looked. It was okay; the earrings added a touch of that crazy, wild side that had come to be her reputation.

Jillian had applied foundation, three coats of black mascara, thin lines of kohl, a dark silver shadow, and a deep wine-colored lipgloss. When she leaned back to check over everything, she realized something was missing. Knowing immediately what it was, Jillian slipped a pair of diamond earrings identical to those in her hair through her lobes. When she looked now into the mirror, everything seemed to fit. In fact, it fit very well. She looked older and more daring than ever.

"You are going to kick some major butt tonight, sweetheart!" Celeste crowed, dancing around the room ecstatically. "We both are! We look hot!" Jillian chuckled as she watched her friend spin around until she was dizzy. "Lemme go get the purses!"

As Celeste spun away to the other side of the room, Jillian was struck by thoughts of Draco. She swallowed thickly as she thought about what his reaction may be to her tonight. She'd see him. And he'd probably see her. They would exchange polite nods, maybe even a bit of stiff conversation. Jillian's heart couldn't help but race a little faster.

She suddenly had a crazy urge to run her hand through his platinum blonde hair. Look closely into his arrogant, light blue eyes. Touch his icy cold, pale white skin. Stand close to his lean, lanky body. Crazily, she promised herself she would at least ask him to dance. She didn't care that everyone would be disgusted with her. Didn't care that he'd probably say no.

She stopped. Banished all thoughts of him from her mind. She couldn't let herself go like that, or she would do something stupid that she'd regret later. She wouldn't think about Draco anymore tonight. She'd dance with nice, polite, safe boys and stay away from ignorant, mean characters like him.

As she linked arms with Celeste and skipped out of the room and down the hall to the Hufflepuff common room, and then, through that and on to the Great Hall, she chatted gaily and laughed with her best friend over easy, trivial things. And she didn't think about Draco. She thought about the smart, funny boys she would dance with, the band that was going to be playing, her friends and what they would be wearing. She thought about Celeste and Ron, the perfect match, and Hermione Granger, who was probably steaming right now in jealousy. She laughed at Celeste's imitation of Ernie, who was standing in a corner of the room, talking to himself, pacing, waving a corsage around. And still, she didn't think of Draco. Just like she wouldn't for the rest of the night.

Well, almost.