Hello guys! Chapter 5 up now! R and R ASAP please!!

Chapter 5: Love at the Yule Ball

The Yule Ball was coming up, and as usual everyone was in a frenzy of excitement. Dress robes were being fitted, dates were being organized and because of this the boys in the school were in a highly nervous state. It was not uncommon to see a boy coming down the corridor pale-faced and teary, so nobody was teased.

It was not hard for Harry to find a date, he simply asked Cho Chang, and of course she said yes. Ron was going with Padma Patil again, Ginny Weasely was going with Colin Creevey, Hermione was with Seamus Finnigan, and Parvati Patil had hit it off with Justin Finch-Fletchly, which was the talk of the school. But Victoria still had nobody, much to her great frustration, as she wanted, of course, to go with Draco Malfoy.

"The problem Victoria is that you're so pretty the boys are afraid to ask you," Hermione said when Victoria complained about it. "Your beauty is your own worst enemy."

"Aw, come on Hermione, get real," Victoria said sceptically. "You're just being nice!"

Draco Malfoy was in a state of terror. He still had not asked anyone to go with him, and he knew that everyone expected him to ask Pansy Parkinson, so she turned down every other offer she had had. But Malfoy did not want to go with Pansy, he wanted to go with Victoria Dreanadia, but was too afraid to ask. But one day, he summoned up all his courage, and went to find her in the library.

"Hey Victoria," he said when he saw her. "do you have a date for the Ball yet?"

"No," she said, pulling herself away from her Arithmancy essay. "Why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

Victoria grinned broadly. "Yes Draco. I would love to go to the Ball with you. You're the one I wanted to go with originally anyway."

"Really? I am? Well, that's great then!" he said, giving her his usual Draco Malfoy smirk. "I'll see you there, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, and turned back to her homework, seemingly unruffled. But in actual fact, her heart was singing. She had a date, and it was with Draco Malfoy, the sexiest guy in school! As soon as she had finished the essay, she rushed off to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"I have a date!" she squealed as she clambered through the portrait hole.

"That's great!" said Harry. "Who?"

"You're not going to like it," Victoria said.

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"Because it's Draco Malfoy."

"DRACO MALFOY?!" they all yelled together.

"But how could you after all that stuff he did?" said a shocked Hermione.

"Listen," said Victoria, pulling them closer. "You know when Madam Pomfrey left me alone with Malfoy so he could say sorry? Well, he did of course, but he cried when he said it."
"What? Malfoy cried?" whispered Harry and Ron.

"Yes he did," she continued. "and until he did, I didn't believe he meant it. But when I saw his face, I knew he was being sincere. But don't tell anyone okay? Promise?"

"Alright, we promise," said Harry, but very reluctantly.

"Good. Now you see why I want to go with him?" Victoria said.

"I s'pose so," said Ron. "But you have to promise to still go for Griffindor in everything."

"Oh come on Ron, you know I'll always be loyal!" said Victoria. "So, how long till the Yule Ball again?"

"Three days," said Hermione. "Lucky you got a date in time hey? Oh, I tell yo what, Pansy Parkinson won't be happy!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about her!" said Victoria. "I can't wait to see her face!" They all laughed at that.

"Look at the time, it's midnight!" exclaimed Hermione. "We'd better get to bed."

And so off they went.

* * *

On the night of the Yule Ball everyone was rushing around getting ready, particularly the girls. But it was well worth the effort, because as they went to meet their dated, they all looked absolutely gorgeous! But the one girl that stood out as extremely beautiful was, of course, Victoria Dreanadia.

Her dark blonde hair was pulled back in a wavy bun from which strands fell around her pretty face, topped with a diamond tiara. Her dress was deep, dark blue silk that seemed to change colour as she moved, and her elbow length gloves completed the effect. Everything about her was perfectly in place; she was easily the belle of the ball.

When Draco saw her at the entrance to the Great Hall, his jaw dropped. Never in his life had he seen anyone look so beautiful, not even that Veela girl Fleur Delacour from the year before. Victoria smiled when she saw his face. "What, am I ugly or something?" she said.

"No…no, quite the opposite actually," said Draco, offering her his arm, which she took with a smile. As they walked past a scowling Harry and Ron, Malfoy smirked nastily at them. Their expressions did not change until Cho and Padma told him to stop it.

"If she wants to go out with him, fine," said Cho to Harry and Ron. "All I can say is that she's either blind or has extremely bad taste."

Of course Victoria and Draco going together was the talk of the town, and nobody could figure out why Victoria had said yes. People even asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione about it, but they did not spill the secret about Malfoy's tears.

"Tell you what though," said Ron to Harry. "it's so tempting just to let slip. Can you imagine how much trouble we could get him in?"

"I know," replied Harry wistfully. "but think of Victoria. Malfoy would blame her, and she'd blame us." so they stayed silent.

When the dancing started, Draco and Victoria were among the first to hit the floor. And around they danced, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Pansy Parkinson was watching from the sidelines. She had been forced into a date with Goyle and was, understandably, not very happy about it, to the point where when Goyle asked her to dance, she slapped him and stalked out of the Hall.

Finally a slow song came on. Draco pulled Victoria close, and they slowly turned around. Suddenly, when they least expected it, Malfoy blurted out, " I love you Victoria. I really do." He turned bright red after he said it.

All that Victoria did was smile and draw his head to hers so she could whisper, "I love you too Draco." And then, in the middle of the dance floor where the whole school could see them, they kissed.

Everyone stopped when they saw them. In a state of shock, all that people could manage to mutter was, " Slytherin and Griffindor? Malfoy and Victoria?"

Draco and Victoria's kiss deepened with every passing second. Thoughts and emotions were flying through their heads, too many to place a finger on. But they both knew one thing, and that was that they loved each other, and nobody could ever change that. All around them was silence, as if they whole world was holding its breath.