Chapter Eight
Prelude To The Ball
"Don't worry, Llewellyn. You made the right decision." She looked at him skeptically in the light of the blue fire they had conjured in the cold night. "Oh, all right, not in the right way of course, but it had to be done."
"Not had to be done. I wish it weren't done."
"Then we would spend the rest of the semester meeting here in secrecy while you kept Potter at an arm's length?"
The semester. The word echoed in her brain cruelly. Only one semester at Hogwarts. Less than a month, and then it's Rosalind here, and she would go back to Columbia. Back to where she had spent her whole life...where she was friends with everyone...but nothing more. She shuddered, and Draco, thinking she was cold, put his arm around her. She leaned into him, appreciating his more-than-friendly warmth in the November air.
"Well, are you going to answer me or not?" he asked.
Llewellyn closed her eyes and smiled. "Well, maybe it was a good thing. I got a cheeseburger out of the deal."
He laughed, and then looked at her soulfully. "I think it was a good thing," he whispered into her hair. "A very good thing."
Her stomach suddenly twisted into a series of knots. He's going to kiss me! her mind shouted, neither in caution or excitement.
"Wait," she answered, putting her finger on his lips. "You have to ask me first."
He kissed her finger. "Ask you what?"
She said nothing, only looking at him expectantly.
"Oh, oh, right, right. Llewellyn Euryale, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"Just the Yule Ball?" she joked, pouting.
"Where else would we go?" he replied. "Fine, will you go out with me?"
"I'd love to. I really, really would." She bit her lip and looked at the fire. "Just one problem...."
"What?" he asked, taking her hand.
"I...I don't know how to kiss."
"Let's teach each other," he murmured, taking her into his embrace.
Llewellyn didn't get back to the dormitory until well past midnight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't believe you did that."
Llewellyn blinked and looked up at the top of her four-poster, the morning sunlight hurting her eyes. "Huh?" she asked. Looking around, she saw Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati, all looking at her reproachfully.
"That was just so wrong," added Parvati.
"What was?" Llewellyn was confused.
Lavender rolled her eyes. "What you did yesterday? More specifically, last night?"
It all came back to her in a rush, followed by a sinking feeling. "Great. Now you're all against me." She rubbed her eyes and put on her glasses. "How do you know?" she asked, getting out of bed.
"It's all over the entire school. And we're not against you. We just think what you did was wrong," Hermione replied.
"Fat lot of help that gives me," muttered Llewellyn. She wondered who had snitched. Probably not Draco...maybe someone had seen them...they were out there for hours with a blue fire blazing.
"Listen, you still have a chance with Harry. Just say you're sorry."
Llewellyn crossed her arms. "I'll say I'm sorry, but I'm not going to get back with Harry. I'm with Draco now."
The three rolled their eyes and looked at each other.
"Maybe you didn't get the memo?" asked Lavender. "Malfoy is trouble. A conceited, irritating brat. You dumped Harry Potter, the best Seeker and the defeater of the Dark Lord, for him?"
"Hey!" Llewellyn shouted. "You like Harry so much, why don't you date him?"
Hermione looked at Parvati and Lavender, then back at Llewellyn. "All right. Date Malfoy. But don't say we didn't warn you." She forced herself into a smile. "Now, why don't we all go down to breakfast?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry kept telling himself "make it through breakfast and you'll do fine". So many people were either consoling him or jeering him that he actually found himself talking about Lawrence with Ron. It was really only the younger years doing the gossiping; the older years couldn't care less about the personal lives of their juniors.
After breakfast, Harry was trudging back to the Gryffindor dormitory, Ron bringing him back to earth with blather about the Chudley Cannons, when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around.
It was Malfoy.
"I need to talk to you," he said, grabbing the Gryffindor's arm and pulling him to the wall. Harry nodded to Ron to keep going and fixed his gaze on the Slytherin.
"What?" snapped Harry, crossing his arms. "Want to gloat or something?"
Malfoy sighed and shook his head. "Listen, Potter - Harry," he began. "I've been talking a lot with Llewellyn.
"I know that," snarled Harry.
"Listen to me, please. We've been talking and I know I've done some bad things to you before. So I just want to say...Sorry."
Harry stared at him, dumfounded. Were his ears working properly?
"I'm sorry. I really am. I don't think we could ever become friends. But I don't want to be enemies any more."
"I don't believe you." Harry was very sure this was some kind of trick.
Malfoy glared at him. "Look, do you really want to spend the rest of your time at Hogwarts with me down your back? I'm becoming a different person. If you want me to keep aggravating you just because of you're too damn proud of yourself to accept a truce -"
"All right, all right. But don't start getting all chummy with me. You're still rotten to the core."
Malfoy smiled emptily. "Unfortunately so."
Llewellyn appeared behind Malfoy...was he Draco now?... and Harry was glad to see her.
"I'm sorry, too, Harry." She shrugged and rubbed her forehead. "I wish we didn't have such a bad breakup. Can we still be friends and all?"
"Sure." Harry was feeling a bit better than he was that morning. At the rate things were going, he half expected Uncle Vernon to materialize and start apologizing for everything that happened when Harry wasn't at Hogwarts. "C'mon, let's go to the Common room and finish our essays."
Llewellyn and Draco smiled, kissing briefly before he began down a side corridor. She followed Harry, nearly skipping as they walked to the dorm. "You know, Draco isn't really a bad person all in all. Maybe you two will end up being friends!"
"Yeah, maybe," answered Harry, laughing, "if I can just get over my reflex to puke every time I see his face."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November passed, and with it went the whole public fuss about Harry, Llewellyn, and Draco. Soon, it was December, and a blanket of snow covered the school grounds. The Yule Ball was coming, and coming fast.
It was a week before Christmas and the Yule Ball when Harry, Llewellyn, Hermione, and Ron were all sitting in the cozy Common Room, right in front of the fire place. The two girls were discussing what they were wearing to the Ball as Ron and Harry played a game of chess.
"So," began Ron, moving a pawn forward. "Who are you going to ask?" Harry thought for a minute and moved his rook. "Cho Chang," he answered, somewhat surely.
"Is that a wise move?"
"What, Cho Chang? Or chess?"
"Both," replied Ron, grinning. He took the rook with his knight. "But seriously...if I were her...would I want to go with anyone?"
"Monkey trumpets, I'm just asking her to a dance. It's not like I'm going to marry her." Harry moved his bishop, an action he instantly regretted as Ron moved his knight again.
"Checkmate." His players did a little victory dance as Harry's marched sullenly off the board.
"Black," answered Llewellyn. "You?"
"Rose." Hermione smiled. "Ron has pale blue dress robes so I shopped to match."
"What do I have?" asked Ron, sliding his pieces into a battered leather case.
"Pale blue dress robes that I'm matching," repeated Hermione.
"Hermi, if I had sulfur yellow dress robes, you'd find some way to match them," replied Ron, sliding next to her on the carpet.
"Don't make me shop for a lime green gown now," groaned Hermione.
"I won't make you do anything you don't want to," said Ron. He began to put his hand around her waist, which Llewellyn saw, too, but he stopped and they all looked expectantly at Harry.
"Oh, come on, I know you're all so worried about me. Just act like you're going out, for Pete's sake, and don't bother about me."
Ron put his hand around Hermione's waist and she cuddled up to him. Llewellyn grinned and made herself more comfortable in the squashy chair.
"So, when are you going to ask her?" she asked Harry.
He remembered all the other times he had asked someone out, whether in vain or not. It had always been hasty, on the spur of the moment, and embarassing to think about afterwards. He was determined to not let it happen this time.
"Soon," he answered. "If you were going to be asked to a Yule Ball, how yould you want to be?"
An image of the night Draco asked her flashed into her mind, and she smiled. "Well...it depends on what you want to go with her as - date, boyfriend/girlfriend, just friends?"
"Just friends."
"Well, your only problem is that you aren't friends." Llewellyn sighed. "I guess it would be okay for you to just ask her next time you see her - in the halls, at dinner, et cetera."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "Dinner sounds good. I'll catch her before she sits down to eat."
"Eating? Food?" Ron pretended to come to attention. Hermione grinned and rolled her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry saw Cho as soon as she came into the Great Hall, surrounded by her friends. He waved to her, and she waved back, a little confused. Harry pushed through the crowds of arriving students and came over to her.
"Hello, Harry, what can I do for you?" she asked, a little surprised.
"I wanted to know if you'd go to the ball with me - as a friend." There. He had said it. He felt himself turn slightly red and hoped no one was looking at them.
"Oh...er...." She looked away. "Actually, I was planning on not going -" She looked back at him as his face fell, swallowed, and seemed to come to a conclusion. "But," she added quickly, "since you've asked me....yes." She sounded determined, and Harry understood what was she was going through.
"Great. I'll see you Friday if I don't see you before then."
"Bye, Harry." Cho grinned and Harry's stomach did a flip.
He made his way back to the table and flashed everyone a thumbs up. His friends responded with a smattering of jokingly polite applause, and Harry ate his dinner with a much lighter feeling than before.
Prelude To The Ball
"Don't worry, Llewellyn. You made the right decision." She looked at him skeptically in the light of the blue fire they had conjured in the cold night. "Oh, all right, not in the right way of course, but it had to be done."
"Not had to be done. I wish it weren't done."
"Then we would spend the rest of the semester meeting here in secrecy while you kept Potter at an arm's length?"
The semester. The word echoed in her brain cruelly. Only one semester at Hogwarts. Less than a month, and then it's Rosalind here, and she would go back to Columbia. Back to where she had spent her whole life...where she was friends with everyone...but nothing more. She shuddered, and Draco, thinking she was cold, put his arm around her. She leaned into him, appreciating his more-than-friendly warmth in the November air.
"Well, are you going to answer me or not?" he asked.
Llewellyn closed her eyes and smiled. "Well, maybe it was a good thing. I got a cheeseburger out of the deal."
He laughed, and then looked at her soulfully. "I think it was a good thing," he whispered into her hair. "A very good thing."
Her stomach suddenly twisted into a series of knots. He's going to kiss me! her mind shouted, neither in caution or excitement.
"Wait," she answered, putting her finger on his lips. "You have to ask me first."
He kissed her finger. "Ask you what?"
She said nothing, only looking at him expectantly.
"Oh, oh, right, right. Llewellyn Euryale, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"Just the Yule Ball?" she joked, pouting.
"Where else would we go?" he replied. "Fine, will you go out with me?"
"I'd love to. I really, really would." She bit her lip and looked at the fire. "Just one problem...."
"What?" he asked, taking her hand.
"I...I don't know how to kiss."
"Let's teach each other," he murmured, taking her into his embrace.
Llewellyn didn't get back to the dormitory until well past midnight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't believe you did that."
Llewellyn blinked and looked up at the top of her four-poster, the morning sunlight hurting her eyes. "Huh?" she asked. Looking around, she saw Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati, all looking at her reproachfully.
"That was just so wrong," added Parvati.
"What was?" Llewellyn was confused.
Lavender rolled her eyes. "What you did yesterday? More specifically, last night?"
It all came back to her in a rush, followed by a sinking feeling. "Great. Now you're all against me." She rubbed her eyes and put on her glasses. "How do you know?" she asked, getting out of bed.
"It's all over the entire school. And we're not against you. We just think what you did was wrong," Hermione replied.
"Fat lot of help that gives me," muttered Llewellyn. She wondered who had snitched. Probably not Draco...maybe someone had seen them...they were out there for hours with a blue fire blazing.
"Listen, you still have a chance with Harry. Just say you're sorry."
Llewellyn crossed her arms. "I'll say I'm sorry, but I'm not going to get back with Harry. I'm with Draco now."
The three rolled their eyes and looked at each other.
"Maybe you didn't get the memo?" asked Lavender. "Malfoy is trouble. A conceited, irritating brat. You dumped Harry Potter, the best Seeker and the defeater of the Dark Lord, for him?"
"Hey!" Llewellyn shouted. "You like Harry so much, why don't you date him?"
Hermione looked at Parvati and Lavender, then back at Llewellyn. "All right. Date Malfoy. But don't say we didn't warn you." She forced herself into a smile. "Now, why don't we all go down to breakfast?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry kept telling himself "make it through breakfast and you'll do fine". So many people were either consoling him or jeering him that he actually found himself talking about Lawrence with Ron. It was really only the younger years doing the gossiping; the older years couldn't care less about the personal lives of their juniors.
After breakfast, Harry was trudging back to the Gryffindor dormitory, Ron bringing him back to earth with blather about the Chudley Cannons, when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around.
It was Malfoy.
"I need to talk to you," he said, grabbing the Gryffindor's arm and pulling him to the wall. Harry nodded to Ron to keep going and fixed his gaze on the Slytherin.
"What?" snapped Harry, crossing his arms. "Want to gloat or something?"
Malfoy sighed and shook his head. "Listen, Potter - Harry," he began. "I've been talking a lot with Llewellyn.
"I know that," snarled Harry.
"Listen to me, please. We've been talking and I know I've done some bad things to you before. So I just want to say...Sorry."
Harry stared at him, dumfounded. Were his ears working properly?
"I'm sorry. I really am. I don't think we could ever become friends. But I don't want to be enemies any more."
"I don't believe you." Harry was very sure this was some kind of trick.
Malfoy glared at him. "Look, do you really want to spend the rest of your time at Hogwarts with me down your back? I'm becoming a different person. If you want me to keep aggravating you just because of you're too damn proud of yourself to accept a truce -"
"All right, all right. But don't start getting all chummy with me. You're still rotten to the core."
Malfoy smiled emptily. "Unfortunately so."
Llewellyn appeared behind Malfoy...was he Draco now?... and Harry was glad to see her.
"I'm sorry, too, Harry." She shrugged and rubbed her forehead. "I wish we didn't have such a bad breakup. Can we still be friends and all?"
"Sure." Harry was feeling a bit better than he was that morning. At the rate things were going, he half expected Uncle Vernon to materialize and start apologizing for everything that happened when Harry wasn't at Hogwarts. "C'mon, let's go to the Common room and finish our essays."
Llewellyn and Draco smiled, kissing briefly before he began down a side corridor. She followed Harry, nearly skipping as they walked to the dorm. "You know, Draco isn't really a bad person all in all. Maybe you two will end up being friends!"
"Yeah, maybe," answered Harry, laughing, "if I can just get over my reflex to puke every time I see his face."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November passed, and with it went the whole public fuss about Harry, Llewellyn, and Draco. Soon, it was December, and a blanket of snow covered the school grounds. The Yule Ball was coming, and coming fast.
It was a week before Christmas and the Yule Ball when Harry, Llewellyn, Hermione, and Ron were all sitting in the cozy Common Room, right in front of the fire place. The two girls were discussing what they were wearing to the Ball as Ron and Harry played a game of chess.
"So," began Ron, moving a pawn forward. "Who are you going to ask?" Harry thought for a minute and moved his rook. "Cho Chang," he answered, somewhat surely.
"Is that a wise move?"
"What, Cho Chang? Or chess?"
"Both," replied Ron, grinning. He took the rook with his knight. "But seriously...if I were her...would I want to go with anyone?"
"Monkey trumpets, I'm just asking her to a dance. It's not like I'm going to marry her." Harry moved his bishop, an action he instantly regretted as Ron moved his knight again.
"Checkmate." His players did a little victory dance as Harry's marched sullenly off the board.
"Black," answered Llewellyn. "You?"
"Rose." Hermione smiled. "Ron has pale blue dress robes so I shopped to match."
"What do I have?" asked Ron, sliding his pieces into a battered leather case.
"Pale blue dress robes that I'm matching," repeated Hermione.
"Hermi, if I had sulfur yellow dress robes, you'd find some way to match them," replied Ron, sliding next to her on the carpet.
"Don't make me shop for a lime green gown now," groaned Hermione.
"I won't make you do anything you don't want to," said Ron. He began to put his hand around her waist, which Llewellyn saw, too, but he stopped and they all looked expectantly at Harry.
"Oh, come on, I know you're all so worried about me. Just act like you're going out, for Pete's sake, and don't bother about me."
Ron put his hand around Hermione's waist and she cuddled up to him. Llewellyn grinned and made herself more comfortable in the squashy chair.
"So, when are you going to ask her?" she asked Harry.
He remembered all the other times he had asked someone out, whether in vain or not. It had always been hasty, on the spur of the moment, and embarassing to think about afterwards. He was determined to not let it happen this time.
"Soon," he answered. "If you were going to be asked to a Yule Ball, how yould you want to be?"
An image of the night Draco asked her flashed into her mind, and she smiled. "Well...it depends on what you want to go with her as - date, boyfriend/girlfriend, just friends?"
"Just friends."
"Well, your only problem is that you aren't friends." Llewellyn sighed. "I guess it would be okay for you to just ask her next time you see her - in the halls, at dinner, et cetera."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "Dinner sounds good. I'll catch her before she sits down to eat."
"Eating? Food?" Ron pretended to come to attention. Hermione grinned and rolled her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry saw Cho as soon as she came into the Great Hall, surrounded by her friends. He waved to her, and she waved back, a little confused. Harry pushed through the crowds of arriving students and came over to her.
"Hello, Harry, what can I do for you?" she asked, a little surprised.
"I wanted to know if you'd go to the ball with me - as a friend." There. He had said it. He felt himself turn slightly red and hoped no one was looking at them.
"Oh...er...." She looked away. "Actually, I was planning on not going -" She looked back at him as his face fell, swallowed, and seemed to come to a conclusion. "But," she added quickly, "since you've asked me....yes." She sounded determined, and Harry understood what was she was going through.
"Great. I'll see you Friday if I don't see you before then."
"Bye, Harry." Cho grinned and Harry's stomach did a flip.
He made his way back to the table and flashed everyone a thumbs up. His friends responded with a smattering of jokingly polite applause, and Harry ate his dinner with a much lighter feeling than before.