(GoF) CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: The Yule Ball, Part 1

"I don't understand," Neville said an hour later as they nibbled on their to-go breakfasts together in the Charms courtyard. "You're blackmailed into being with the wrong guy for months, you finally get the upper hand on your blackmailer, and you don't immediately go running into the arms of the guy you actually want to be with?"

He had a point, of course. It had taken everything in Ellie not to sprint back to the Gryffindor common room, glide up the boys' steps two at a time, and dive into Fred's arms to announce to him that she could finally be with him.

But it had to be perfect. After all he'd tolerated these past few months, he deserved a grand gesture. He deserved a night he'd never forget.

And to do that, she had to finish songwriting first.

The songs about Fred poured out of her like water. She'd already gotten through the ones about the heartbreak and fear she'd been through with him; now was the time to write the ballads and professions of love. Song after song, chorus after chorus, she wrote, so fast and so easily that she thought she might never stop.

Finally, the time came to focus on the one song that would be harder—the apology to Cedric. The song she would sing first—the song he would dance with Lavender to.

There's me—looking down at my shoes. The one smiling like the sun, that's you. What were you thinking? What was the song inside your head?

"It's good," Neville told her when she was finally finished. "It'll hurt him, but it'll help him, too."

She hoped so.

But more than anything, she hoped the songs she had written for Fred would be enough to convince him that it was finally their time.

"You seriously still haven't told him?"

She was in the girls' dormitory, getting ready for the ball with the rest of her roommates and, of course, Ginny. In all the chaos of the past few weeks, she had forgotten entirely to buy a dress; thankfully, Hermione had ordered one for her.

It was exquisite—a long, satiny, silver frock that hugged her newfound curves in all the right places while still seeming to spill out around her like water. It brought out the silver in her eyes, with Lavender had eagerly ringed with her best black liner, and Parvati had attacked her long, dark hair with a blow drier and curler until it finally settled and tamed into long, glossy waves. Ellie wasn't entirely sure she could hold a candle to Hermione, who absolutely shone in a periwinkle-blue dress, but she didn't mind. It was nice to see her friend be the center of attention for a change.

"I'm going to tell him," Ellie assured Ginny as they all stepped into their shoes. "I just thought it'd be fun to take him by surprise."

"Not to mention, he can't exactly say no with you looking like that," teased Lavender.

Ellie grinned back at her friend as they exited their suite and made their way toward the stairs, but her heart was starting to pound. What if he'd decided not to go at all? What if seeing her only made him shut down? What if he'd simply given up and would turn her down altogether when she asked him?

He was with George, Harry, and Ron in the common room. The dress robes he and George had donned weren't nearly as laugh-out-loud embarrassing as Ron's, though, like everything they wore, they were clearly secondhand and a bit run-down. She wouldn't have had it any other way, though. She loved the way he dressed, but more than that, she loved the way he carried himself in the clothes he wore. Ron looked shameful—uncomfortable—clearly embarrassed—but Fred looked comfortable as ever in his own skin. She had always admired that about him.

Simultaneously, her heartbeat calmed and intensified. He always knew how to put her at ease, and yet…

He glanced down at his ring, which, of course, was glowing—as it always did when she thought of him. Seeming to sense that she was near, his eyes trailed around the room until, finally, they settled on her.

Fred had looked at her many different ways over the years. She had seen desire in his eyes before, but the way he was looking at her now…

Well, it was like he was looking at an angel.

It was love. There was no denying it.

But it was sad love.

"Hey," she said softly as she came over to him and took him gently by the arm. "Got a second?"

He glanced heavily at George, who was eyeing his brother sympathetically. George glanced at Ellie as if to say, Couldn't you have at least looked a little worse, for his sake?

"Yeah," Fred finally said, following Ellie away from the others. As soon as they were out of earshot, he said in that same tired, reluctant voice, "You look… breathtaking. Cedric is a lucky guy."

This was it. "Fred… I'm not going with him."

He blinked, looking confused. "But you said…"

"It's over."

Denial. Clear denial in his eyes. But that was okay, wasn't it? She just had to convince him. "Dad found the photograph. Or had someone find it, at least. The evidence is gone. There's no more blackmail."

"But…" He took a step back, looking perplexed. "But it wasn't just the photograph. He's been following him. He—"

"It's over," she repeated firmly. "I told him already. He's going to the dance with Lavender."

But he was shaking his head. It wasn't enough. He didn't believe her. "You'll change your mind. Aleks hasn't found out yet. He'll make threats again, and you'll…"

She understood his hesitation. It hurt, but she understood it. It was why she'd spent the day writing songs that could tell him the truth better than her words ever could.

She reached gently out to take his hand and squeeze it. "Just listen to my lyrics tonight," she told him softly. "And then decide how you feel."

Thirty minutes later, they were on stage in the Great Hall, instruments at the ready, students staring up at them from the edges of the dance floor with eager anticipation. At the entrance to the room, waiting to step in for the first dance, were Fleur and her date, Harry and Cho, Cedric and Lavender, and…

Hermione and Viktor Krum?

"Bloody hell," said Ginny, realizing it at the same second that Ellie did. "Couldn't she have mentioned that one while we were getting ready?"

Ellie laughed out loud, but George pointedly cleared his throat from behind them, reminding her that it was time. Dumbledore had already given his opening speech; all that was left was for them to start.

"This first song is for our Triwizard Champions," she said, cheeks turning pink, as she gripped the microphone that had been set up more for show than for practicality; Sonorus got her all the volume she needed. "It's tradition for them to lead the first dance of the evening, and in this case, the song is dedicated to one of them in particular."

She allowed herself to meet Cedric's gaze at that. He was even more handsome than usual, of course, in brand-new, clean-cut dress robes, with his hair combed and styled to perfection. But his eyes were sad.

Well, the song wasn't going to make him any less sad. But she hoped it might bring him some semblance of closure.

"Not everything is supposed to come true. Some words are best unsaid; some love is not really love at all. I'll keep everything I shared with you, and that's enough with us."

The words were harsh, she knew—but the melody was gentle, and her intonation kind. It was a soft, sweet song, delicate in its implications. Perhaps the most important line in the song—"And if we think, 'what might have been?'—we'll lose today, and we've got songs to play"—seemed to resonate so powerfully with the room, everyone burst into cheers as the Triwizard gentlemen dipped and spun their dates.

When the song was over, she wanted to look at Fred. See? she wanted to shout at him. It's really over!

But, unlike the rest of the songs she had on the docket for the evening, With Us hadn't been about Fred. And for the sake of the boy it was about, she forced herself to look at him.

He was still hurt; that much was clear.

But he did manage to spare her one tiny nod before thanking Lavender for the dance and exiting the ballroom.

It was probably for the best, she mused with a sigh as she returned to the microphone.

The rest of the songs would have hurt him more.

"Thanks for being here tonight, ladies and gents!" she said as enthusiastically as she could to the crowd as she forced her concern for Cedric back. "Now, the last thing I want to do is to make the evening about myself, but I do need to share one little tidbit with you all before I continue, if that's okay. Is that okay?"

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the crowd cheered in response; the Hufflepuffs, undoubtedly on behalf of Cedric, and the Slytherins, being Slytherins, remained quiet. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, meanwhile, simply looked intrigued.

And Aleks…

Well, interestingly enough, he was nowhere to be found.

Which was perfectly okay with her.

"I'm in love with Fred Weasley," she announced. "Have been for a long time. And I'm going to use tonight to prove it to him."

Fred's jaw seemed to drop to the ground as the cheers burst out around them. She grinned over at him as she reached down for her guitar and started to play the first song on the docket—Temporary Insanity.

It was a bold choice, she knew. She had considered starting with more of a profession-of-love type of song than the one that described the heart-wrenching pain he had once put her in, but had decided to go in chronological order, instead. He had to understand why it had taken her so long to get here—blackmail aside—before he could hear the way she had finally come to terms with feeling.

Plus, Temporary Insanity rocked. And the crowd knew it.

She tried to study his face as the song came to an end, but it wasn't easy. He had his guard up—of that much, she was certain.

The second song wasn't entirely unlike the first. It was called That Girl, and it called him out on more than one occasion for having denied their romance for so long. "You said you didn't need me, but you did. You said you didn't want me, but you do. You played it like a comedy, where first you kissed me, and then you said 'we're through.'" But then it steered its way toward the truth—"I'm the smoke from your fire; I'm that lie you can trust. I'm the chord on your guitar; I'm that girl you can't shut up."

By the end of it, he was smiling. But he still wasn't meeting her gaze.

That was okay, she decided as she cleared her throat and readied herself for the next. The night was still young.

The third song was called Anyone But You, and it was the one that eased out of the complications and toward the full-on profession of love. "Sick of the lies they're feeding me—I never know what to believe. In a world that's crushing me, you're the only one I see. I won't change my mind for anybody—I won't waste my time on just anybody—I won't share my life with anyone but you."

By the end of that one, he was finally meeting her gaze.

"Well?" she asked him softly, not minding in the slightest that everyone in the room could hear her. "How am I doing?"

She was certainly doing well with the crowd; that much was clear. Even the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were cheering and singing along by then.

Fred, though…

"You're doing great," he told her softly.

But his eyes were still sad.

And it was her mission to make that sadness fade.

Her fourth song—Love to Burn—was by far the most sensual and seductive of the evening. If a profession of love wasn't enough for him, she could only hope that a sexy serenade was.

"They've seen us falling in and out of this. Our hearts heat up, our hearts get cold, light up and yearn again. Here's the story: I don't want a flash of glory. Don't want to crash, say what was that and why'd I fall so fast? Let's slow down—we've got time. I need to know that you're all mine.

"Have you got love to burn—kisses for days? Don't you wanna grab onto something real and never let it get away? I don't have love to burn—time to waste—'cause I've waited far too long for this spark to become a flame. And if it comes true, I'll only have love to burn for you."

It worked. By the time it was over, he was looking like all he wanted to do was grab her, take her off that stage, and do very bad things to her away from the prying eyes of their audience.

But she wasn't done yet.

"I think we're gonna need a break soon," she told the audience with a tiny grin as she tore her eyes away from his. "But first, I need to play you one more song—one I'm gonna need everyone on the dance floor for."

More cheers broke out as the last of the stragglers on the sidelines reluctantly made their way to the floor. The band had worked hard on the melody for this next one, and it was the perfect slow, methodic, yet upbeat song for everyone to clap, sway, and even sing along to.

"Maybe I don't say all the right things—maybe I stumble on my words. Maybe I laugh at all the wrong times—maybe I mumble and I curse. The best I can do is to be myself, and I hope it's enough to make you proud. I can't explain just why I'm acting this way; I can't control it, so I go with it. I'm just a girl; I won't be changing the world—and boy, you know that I'm not perfect, but I'm perfect for you."

By the end of the final chorus, the crowd chanting her lyrics back at her was deafening; by the end of the song, the applause even more so. She seized the opportunity to disenchant her Sonorus charm and ask Fred, "So, am I taking this break solo, or…?"

"Not a chance in hell," he told her in a delightfully husky voice.

And with that, he took her hand and led her out of there.

Quite the serenade, wasn't it? Surely you'd agree sweet Fred deserved it after all those months? Find out his reaction in tomorrow's chapter, and I encourage everyone to give these Instant Star songs a listen - "There's Us," "Temporary Insanity," "That Girl," "Anyone But You," "Love to Burn," and "Perfect!"