A/N: I must admit that this chapter is the ultimate girly chapter. I get
into detail about what the girls are wearing to the Ball, and how they're
doing their hair...it was something so different for me to write! Now that
I realized it, I should've talked more about what the guys were wearing, ya
know, so you have a mental picture of how hot our favorite HP boys looked.
To all those hoping for a Harry/Alina romance...you're all going to hate me for writing this chapter. LoL! Let's see, there's a little bit of George/Alina action with Harry in the background, being jealous. But seeing Harry vulnerable makes you love him even more, so there!
Gee, not much else to say again. I guess the sooner you get to read the chapter, the better.
Harry doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 14: The Truth Comes Out
The months flew by so quickly it seemed as if they didn't have enough time to enjoy it. Halloween went by as usual, and without a hitch. The students had their first trip to Hogsmeade, and all the students attending the Winter Ball had purchased their proper attire. After some complaining from those certain pureblood wizards, ("I still don't get why we have to wear these stupid Muggle outfits." Harry overheard Draco Malfoy saying to Crabbe and Goyle as they entered the Hogwarts castle after their trip) they, Malfoy included, finally agreed to purchase their outfits.
The girls, oddly, had suddenly stopped talking to the boys. Alina, Hermione, Megan, and Penelope wandered around together, talking in hushed voices. The day before the Ball, the four of them walked into the Great Hall, and, surprisingly, took their old seats by Harry and Ron at dinner.
"Welcome back to the planet." Ron said as they sat down.
"You're gonna do my hair, right?" Hermione said to Alina. Alina nodded.
"Huh?" Ron asked.
"It's about the Ball." Megan said. Ron nodded.
"Can I take a look and see what you're going to wear?" Ron asked Megan.
"NO! You can't. That would just ruin the surprise." Megan said as she and the rest of the girls got back to their discussion on hair and make-up.
"They're beginning to sound like Lavender and Parvati, eh Ron?" Harry asked. The two of them looked a couple of people over to see Lavender and Parvati, with make-up and hair accessories scattered all around them.
"If you're wearing fuchsia, then wear dark purple eye shadow on the bottom and fuchsia on the top." Parvati said. Lavender shook her head.
"Why don't I merge the colors together?" Lavender asked.
"You mean to make a medium purple color?" Parvati asked. Lavender nodded. "Oh Merlin! That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" the two of them giggled as they gathered their make-up and put them in a bag. "Now, what will we do with your hair?"
The two boys rolled their eyes and looked back to the four girls before them.
"I was thinking of wearing my hair up, like this," Hermione said, taking her hair, twisting it, and showing the rest of the girls.
"I was thinking of doing that with your hair, but add the ringlets." Alina said, pulling hair from Hermione's twist to use it to outline her face. "I'll use a curling spell to fix that up. And I've got the perfect gel to use to get your hair from frizzing the wrong way."
"If I'm wearing a red dress, then I'll put streaks of red in my hair." Penelope said.
"The Muggle way, or what?" Megan asked.
"Do you have the charm I can use for my hair?" Penelope asked. Megan shook her head.
"Ask Parvati and Lavender. They might know."
"Oi, Parvati! Lavender!" Penelope called over. The two looked up simultaneously. "Do you know the charm to put streaks in my hair?"
"Colorous and then the color you want. For example," Lavender whipped out her wand. "Vati, undo your braid." Lavender ordered. Parvati hastily undid her hair, and Lavender put her hand to the top of Parvati's head. "Take the hairs you want to use, like so," Lavender got a handful of strands of Parvati's hair, "Then, run the wand down, like so," Lavender then ran her wand down the length of Parvati's hair as she said, "Colorous Magenta." Then, strands of Parvati's hair turned magenta. Penelope gasped. "Try it out." Lavender urged. Penelope grabbed at her hair, and pointed her wand at the top of her head.
"Colorous Teal." She said as she ran it down. Her hair then turned teal.
"You've got to help me do that with my hair." Hermione said. Ron frowned. He never did ask Hermione whom she was going to the Ball with. She had been gone, it seems, for so long, that he had never asked.
"Who are you going to the Ball with, Herm?" Ron asked.
"It doesn't matter, Ron. You'll see tomorrow." Hermione said. Ron cursed.
"Hey date," George Weasley came gliding over, planting a kiss on Alina's cheek before forcing Penelope to scoot over so he could get the spot next to Alina. Alina smiled at him, "Whatcha wearing tomorrow?" he asked as he tried nuzzling against her neck.
"I won't tell you, no matter how much you snuggle me." Alina said as she tried to push George away. Harry felt jealous. He never got to cuddle with Alina. But then again, George had a reason to. That was his date, and not Harry's. Harry couldn't see himself snuggling with Cho.
"You going to be looking beautiful tomorrow?" George asked, just resting his head on her shoulder.
"Aren't I always beautiful?" Alina asked, looking down at him. George smiled.
"Of course you are." George said before pecking her chin. Fred came running up, and he started shaking George, trying to get him away from Alina. "What?" George whined. Alina had stopped talking with the girls to look over at Fred, too.
"C'mon! Lee is going to take a bite out of that cake." Fred said mysteriously. George's eyes widened.
"Sorry, love, gotta go." George said as he stood up. Before running off, he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"'Love?' Someone is openly smitten." Hermione said as Alina blushed, and Harry fumed.
******
"George Weasley is openly smitten with you, Oliver Wood is openly smitten with you, and you are saving your heart for 'The Boy Who Lived.'" Megan said before muttering the hair coloring charm under her breath. It was now the morning of the Ball, and almost all the Gryffindor girls had rushed up to their dorms after breakfast to get themselves ready for the Ball.
"I don't like Harry." Alina said as she twirled her hair around her wand.
"You know you do. You must've been offended when he asked Cho to the Ball." Hermione said.
"Well, George asked me first. That's his problem he didn't ask." Alina said.
"He was going to ask you." Hermione said softly.
"I don't care anymore. I don't care about this Ball anymore. I just don't want to go." Alina said as she put her wand down. The three other girls looked at her questioningly.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're whining over Oliver and the fact you can't go with him." Megan sighed, "Look, you have George, and you can't back out of it."
"Too bad for you. Oliver is one hundred times better looking than George." Penelope said. Alina smacked Penelope on the arm, causing her to get lipstick across her cheek, "Damn girl, I didn't mean to piss you off. It's not like I was lying, though."
"What do you three have against George?" Alina finally asked. The girls kept silent. "Hmm?"
"I...I don't think I should be the one to say." Hermione said before running into the bathroom.
"Meg?" Alina asked. Megan looked down and began smoothing her dress. She picked at invisible lint.
"I can't say." Megan said.
"Li, the only reason George Weasley is going with you is because he got into a fight with Alicia Spinnet. He likes you, yeah, but everyone knows he'd much rather be going with Alicia. He's in love with her, but then they got into this fight over you. She thinks he talks too much about you. Then she said that if he likes you that much, he should go to the Ball with you. It was something like who's got the control in their relationship, and loyalty. George wants control over his actions, but Alicia wants control over him and what he does. He's obliging to go out with you because he doesn't want to hurt Alicia." Penelope said as she started applying her lipstick again. Alina got up and stamped her feet over to her bed. Hermione had gotten out of the bathroom, and then she and the two other girls were at Alina's side as she buried her head into her pillow.
"Did it occur to him that he would be hurting *me*?" Alina said against her pillow, "Were all these public acts of affection for show? Was it just so Alicia could see?"
"Hey, at least now, if you two break up, you could go to the Ball with Oliver." Penelope said half-mindedly.
"What!?" Alina asked, her head shooting up.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you again." Penelope said as she walked back to the mirror.
"No Penny, I think you gave her an idea." Hermione arched her eyebrows at Alina.
"I've got to see George." Alina said as she jumped off of the bed. She ran for the door but Hermione put her in a body-bind curse. "Damn it, Herm!" Alina exclaimed as she tried getting back to the bed, on the way over, she fell over. "What's this for?"
"You can't see George. Not wearing what you're wearing, and looking the way you do right now." Hermione said. She got her out of the curse, and then led her over to the mirror. Alina looked at herself and noticed that all her eyeliner had smudged away, and only one half of her head had curled hair. She wasn't even wearing her dress yet. She was simply wearing her scarlet colored silk pajamas.
"The natural look is working with you." Penelope pointed out.
"Get yourself out of those PJ's, put on your dress, and then we can decide what kind of make-up works on you." Megan said as she handed Alina her dress. She pushed her into the bathroom. When Alina walked back out, the three girls shoved Alina into a chair, and they whipped out their wands.
"An off-white dress. Hmm..." Hermione said as she reached into her bag. "We're keeping this natural, so let's go some with brown eyeliner to get it to almost blend with the tan-ish color of her skin." Penelope handed Hermione the brown eyeliner, and then she started putting it on Alina.
"White eye shadow or more of the brown?" Megan asked, holding up two containers.
"Let's go with the brown. It could match with her skin tone." Hermione took the brown one, and the brown blended nicely with the color of Alina's skin. "Penelope, you work on Alina's curls. Use these bobby pins when you're finished curling. You put the pins right here," Hermione said, pointing to the top of Alina's head. "The curls should be out of her face." Penelope did as told, and used a simple curling charm for Alina's hair. Now, Alina had bouncy curls, and Penelope pulled it back with the pins. The curls hung loosely down her back, and completely out of her face.
"Herm, let's use this lipstick. It's tan and shiny." Megan said, picking up a lipstick container out of her bag. Hermione applied it on Alina's lips. Hermione leaned back and looked at Alina. "I'm proud of you, girl." Megan said, patting Hermione's back. Alina stood up and then spun around in front of the mirror.
"You forgot those matching off-white heels." Penelope pointed out, looking down at Alina's feet.
"Accio Heels." Alina pointed her wand at her trunk. It flung open, and her heels came flying out. She put them on, and then the other girls took a good look at her. They couldn't keep themselves from gawking. Megan nudged Hermione, and the two of them exchanged knowing glances. Then, the four of them all looked at each other.
"Let's tear this Ball up." Alina said, grinning at her friends.
******
"Where are they?" Ron asked impatiently. He, Harry, George, and the rest of the Gryffindor boys were waiting in the common room for the girls to come out of their dormitories.
"Calm down." Harry said. They faintly heard a door open.
"It must be them!" Ron said excitedly.
"I'm gonna trip in these shoes." The boys heard Penelope's voice clearly.
"Why's everyone just sitting around? There's a party we've got to be heading to!" Megan exclaimed. Ron looked at her, and almost fell out of his seat. Megan wore a midnight blue dress that almost touched the floor. It had spaghetti straps, and the design was very simple. The dress was silk, with bits of glitter here and there, and the slit went all the way up to above her knee. She wore a sapphire necklace on her neck, and she had blue butterfly clips holding her cornrows. "Are you just going to sit there and stare?" Megan asked. Ron scrambled out of his seat, and almost tripped on his way over to her. He held his hand out to her, and she took it. "We'll be seeing you all down in the Hall."
Hermione was the next one to come down the stairs. Obviously her date wasn't in Gryffindor because after she acknowledged Harry, she headed straight for the portrait hole. Harry was curious to see who her date was. Lucky guy, he thought, because that night, Hermione looked even better than she did the night of the Yule Ball. She wore a strapless gold dress that came up to her ankles, and she had a shawl over her shoulders. She had her hair up, the way she had said it would be back at the table. It was twisted, with ringlets framing her face. She had streaks of blonde in her brown hair.
Harry didn't get why he was sitting there anymore. His date wasn't a Gryffindor. He had almost forgotten he was going with Cho Chang, and for a second was convinced his date was Alina.
"Could Alina take any longer?" George asked, beginning to relax in his seat.
"I heard that. It's just that I almost tripped on the way down the stairs. I've got to find a way to bewitch these shoes to get me to stand up, and stay up." Harry couldn't keep his mouth from hanging open as Alina came into view. Her dress brought out the color of her skin, and it had never looked so tan to him before. The dress was off-white, with spaghetti straps, and a thicker strap on the other side. On the side of the spaghetti strap, there was piece of fabric hanging loosely. Her dress was covered with glitter, just the way she seemed to like things. The bottom of the dress was in different layers; the front was shorter than the back. And those heels almost made her as tall as George. The curls on her head were so foreign for him to see. He was used to seeing it parted to the side, and braided. This time, her hair was pulled back in the front, and dangling in the back. Harry made a mental note of asking her if that was the real length of her hair, or if she just made it longer for the Ball.
"My lady," George said, bowing down to Alina. She smiled lightly. "C'mon beautiful, we can't keep you away from everyone else, as much as I just want you for my own." George said the last part softly, but Harry heard it. "Who're you waiting for, Harry?"
"Oh, um, I guess I'll walk Penny down. She is going with Gregory Goyle of all people, and I doubt he'd wait for her in the hallway." Harry said as Penelope came down. She wore a red dress. The top half had sequins, and other intricate designs. The bottom half was silk, with two folds in the front. He could see her heels, and saw that she couldn't steady herself. He held his arm out quickly so she could hang on to him. "I'll walk you down, Penny." Harry said as he led her out of the common room. The two of them were walking right behind George and Alina, "They look cute together, don't they." Harry forced out of himself.
"Yeah, they do. Too bad none of that affection is authentic." Penelope said.
"What!?" Harry hissed. Penelope frowned, and then smiled knowingly.
"Didn't you know? George is only going with her to please Alicia. You know she's been pissed about his superfluous talk of Alina. I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but Alina is going to drop him before the Ball goes underway." Penelope elucidated.
"Do you know who she's going to go with after she gets rid of George?" Harry grilled. Penelope smiled.
"Oliver Wood." She said as Harry's face floored. "It's too bad for you, Harry. She wanted you to ask her, but you missed out and asked Cho." Penelope put in plain words.
"George got a hold of her before me. I was honestly going to try." Harry said.
"If you had asked her afterward, she probably would've dropped George like that," Penelope snapped her fingers, "But then you didn't, and you went to Cho. She stuck with George, but you know that Oliver is besotted with her, too, right?" Penelope asked and Harry nodded, "Well he asked her to the Ball, too. She would've said yes because she's got the same feelings for him, too. Head-over-heels, that girl is. But she didn't want to break her date with George. She's sure Oliver would get with her if she asked now. He probably had a feeling it would happen." Penelope said as they walked into the crowd full of students. "Oh, there's Gregory. Thanks for walking me down." Penelope said before going off to Goyle, whom towered over the crowd.
"Hey Harry," Cho said as she linked arms with Harry. Harry smiled weakly. He didn't care to look her over and see how she looked. It didn't matter to him. All he knew was that Alina was the best looking one at the Ball, and unfortunately she wasn't his date. She was going with someone that asked her for alternate reasons. Then, she was going to leave him for someone else. Harry wondered if Alina were his date, would she leave *him* for Oliver? He'd never be able to find out because not in this lifetime would Alina be his date. He cursed himself for not being persistent. If he had been, there could've been a possibility that the girl at his arm wouldn't be Cho Chang. If only he could turn back time... Harry wondered if Hermione still had that Time Turner...
A/N: No, no, that whole Time Turner schmeal does not lead into a whole different plot. I just wrote it in because that was just a little thing left for Harry to ponder when he feels the urge to forget about Cho, heh- heh. Now, a little background on the dresses: Meg's dress was inspired by the dress another one of my best friends wore to our Graduation Ball. It looks just the way it was described. Hermione's dress was actually inspired by one of the dresses I used to dress my Barbie dolls up in. The look has been altered a bit because the Barbie dress was a little too complicated to explain. Alina's dress was inspired by a dress that I tried on, and wanted to buy, but my mom wouldn't let me. If I ever find it, I am going to buy it and wear it to the Winter Ball, damn it! Penelope's dress was inspired by a dress a friend of mine wore to the Grad Ball. Like Meg's dress, it looks just the way it's described.
Hopefully I'll update soon. Until next time, have a nice week. -Gryffindor Heiress
To all those hoping for a Harry/Alina romance...you're all going to hate me for writing this chapter. LoL! Let's see, there's a little bit of George/Alina action with Harry in the background, being jealous. But seeing Harry vulnerable makes you love him even more, so there!
Gee, not much else to say again. I guess the sooner you get to read the chapter, the better.
Harry doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 14: The Truth Comes Out
The months flew by so quickly it seemed as if they didn't have enough time to enjoy it. Halloween went by as usual, and without a hitch. The students had their first trip to Hogsmeade, and all the students attending the Winter Ball had purchased their proper attire. After some complaining from those certain pureblood wizards, ("I still don't get why we have to wear these stupid Muggle outfits." Harry overheard Draco Malfoy saying to Crabbe and Goyle as they entered the Hogwarts castle after their trip) they, Malfoy included, finally agreed to purchase their outfits.
The girls, oddly, had suddenly stopped talking to the boys. Alina, Hermione, Megan, and Penelope wandered around together, talking in hushed voices. The day before the Ball, the four of them walked into the Great Hall, and, surprisingly, took their old seats by Harry and Ron at dinner.
"Welcome back to the planet." Ron said as they sat down.
"You're gonna do my hair, right?" Hermione said to Alina. Alina nodded.
"Huh?" Ron asked.
"It's about the Ball." Megan said. Ron nodded.
"Can I take a look and see what you're going to wear?" Ron asked Megan.
"NO! You can't. That would just ruin the surprise." Megan said as she and the rest of the girls got back to their discussion on hair and make-up.
"They're beginning to sound like Lavender and Parvati, eh Ron?" Harry asked. The two of them looked a couple of people over to see Lavender and Parvati, with make-up and hair accessories scattered all around them.
"If you're wearing fuchsia, then wear dark purple eye shadow on the bottom and fuchsia on the top." Parvati said. Lavender shook her head.
"Why don't I merge the colors together?" Lavender asked.
"You mean to make a medium purple color?" Parvati asked. Lavender nodded. "Oh Merlin! That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" the two of them giggled as they gathered their make-up and put them in a bag. "Now, what will we do with your hair?"
The two boys rolled their eyes and looked back to the four girls before them.
"I was thinking of wearing my hair up, like this," Hermione said, taking her hair, twisting it, and showing the rest of the girls.
"I was thinking of doing that with your hair, but add the ringlets." Alina said, pulling hair from Hermione's twist to use it to outline her face. "I'll use a curling spell to fix that up. And I've got the perfect gel to use to get your hair from frizzing the wrong way."
"If I'm wearing a red dress, then I'll put streaks of red in my hair." Penelope said.
"The Muggle way, or what?" Megan asked.
"Do you have the charm I can use for my hair?" Penelope asked. Megan shook her head.
"Ask Parvati and Lavender. They might know."
"Oi, Parvati! Lavender!" Penelope called over. The two looked up simultaneously. "Do you know the charm to put streaks in my hair?"
"Colorous and then the color you want. For example," Lavender whipped out her wand. "Vati, undo your braid." Lavender ordered. Parvati hastily undid her hair, and Lavender put her hand to the top of Parvati's head. "Take the hairs you want to use, like so," Lavender got a handful of strands of Parvati's hair, "Then, run the wand down, like so," Lavender then ran her wand down the length of Parvati's hair as she said, "Colorous Magenta." Then, strands of Parvati's hair turned magenta. Penelope gasped. "Try it out." Lavender urged. Penelope grabbed at her hair, and pointed her wand at the top of her head.
"Colorous Teal." She said as she ran it down. Her hair then turned teal.
"You've got to help me do that with my hair." Hermione said. Ron frowned. He never did ask Hermione whom she was going to the Ball with. She had been gone, it seems, for so long, that he had never asked.
"Who are you going to the Ball with, Herm?" Ron asked.
"It doesn't matter, Ron. You'll see tomorrow." Hermione said. Ron cursed.
"Hey date," George Weasley came gliding over, planting a kiss on Alina's cheek before forcing Penelope to scoot over so he could get the spot next to Alina. Alina smiled at him, "Whatcha wearing tomorrow?" he asked as he tried nuzzling against her neck.
"I won't tell you, no matter how much you snuggle me." Alina said as she tried to push George away. Harry felt jealous. He never got to cuddle with Alina. But then again, George had a reason to. That was his date, and not Harry's. Harry couldn't see himself snuggling with Cho.
"You going to be looking beautiful tomorrow?" George asked, just resting his head on her shoulder.
"Aren't I always beautiful?" Alina asked, looking down at him. George smiled.
"Of course you are." George said before pecking her chin. Fred came running up, and he started shaking George, trying to get him away from Alina. "What?" George whined. Alina had stopped talking with the girls to look over at Fred, too.
"C'mon! Lee is going to take a bite out of that cake." Fred said mysteriously. George's eyes widened.
"Sorry, love, gotta go." George said as he stood up. Before running off, he placed a kiss on her forehead.
"'Love?' Someone is openly smitten." Hermione said as Alina blushed, and Harry fumed.
******
"George Weasley is openly smitten with you, Oliver Wood is openly smitten with you, and you are saving your heart for 'The Boy Who Lived.'" Megan said before muttering the hair coloring charm under her breath. It was now the morning of the Ball, and almost all the Gryffindor girls had rushed up to their dorms after breakfast to get themselves ready for the Ball.
"I don't like Harry." Alina said as she twirled her hair around her wand.
"You know you do. You must've been offended when he asked Cho to the Ball." Hermione said.
"Well, George asked me first. That's his problem he didn't ask." Alina said.
"He was going to ask you." Hermione said softly.
"I don't care anymore. I don't care about this Ball anymore. I just don't want to go." Alina said as she put her wand down. The three other girls looked at her questioningly.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're whining over Oliver and the fact you can't go with him." Megan sighed, "Look, you have George, and you can't back out of it."
"Too bad for you. Oliver is one hundred times better looking than George." Penelope said. Alina smacked Penelope on the arm, causing her to get lipstick across her cheek, "Damn girl, I didn't mean to piss you off. It's not like I was lying, though."
"What do you three have against George?" Alina finally asked. The girls kept silent. "Hmm?"
"I...I don't think I should be the one to say." Hermione said before running into the bathroom.
"Meg?" Alina asked. Megan looked down and began smoothing her dress. She picked at invisible lint.
"I can't say." Megan said.
"Li, the only reason George Weasley is going with you is because he got into a fight with Alicia Spinnet. He likes you, yeah, but everyone knows he'd much rather be going with Alicia. He's in love with her, but then they got into this fight over you. She thinks he talks too much about you. Then she said that if he likes you that much, he should go to the Ball with you. It was something like who's got the control in their relationship, and loyalty. George wants control over his actions, but Alicia wants control over him and what he does. He's obliging to go out with you because he doesn't want to hurt Alicia." Penelope said as she started applying her lipstick again. Alina got up and stamped her feet over to her bed. Hermione had gotten out of the bathroom, and then she and the two other girls were at Alina's side as she buried her head into her pillow.
"Did it occur to him that he would be hurting *me*?" Alina said against her pillow, "Were all these public acts of affection for show? Was it just so Alicia could see?"
"Hey, at least now, if you two break up, you could go to the Ball with Oliver." Penelope said half-mindedly.
"What!?" Alina asked, her head shooting up.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you again." Penelope said as she walked back to the mirror.
"No Penny, I think you gave her an idea." Hermione arched her eyebrows at Alina.
"I've got to see George." Alina said as she jumped off of the bed. She ran for the door but Hermione put her in a body-bind curse. "Damn it, Herm!" Alina exclaimed as she tried getting back to the bed, on the way over, she fell over. "What's this for?"
"You can't see George. Not wearing what you're wearing, and looking the way you do right now." Hermione said. She got her out of the curse, and then led her over to the mirror. Alina looked at herself and noticed that all her eyeliner had smudged away, and only one half of her head had curled hair. She wasn't even wearing her dress yet. She was simply wearing her scarlet colored silk pajamas.
"The natural look is working with you." Penelope pointed out.
"Get yourself out of those PJ's, put on your dress, and then we can decide what kind of make-up works on you." Megan said as she handed Alina her dress. She pushed her into the bathroom. When Alina walked back out, the three girls shoved Alina into a chair, and they whipped out their wands.
"An off-white dress. Hmm..." Hermione said as she reached into her bag. "We're keeping this natural, so let's go some with brown eyeliner to get it to almost blend with the tan-ish color of her skin." Penelope handed Hermione the brown eyeliner, and then she started putting it on Alina.
"White eye shadow or more of the brown?" Megan asked, holding up two containers.
"Let's go with the brown. It could match with her skin tone." Hermione took the brown one, and the brown blended nicely with the color of Alina's skin. "Penelope, you work on Alina's curls. Use these bobby pins when you're finished curling. You put the pins right here," Hermione said, pointing to the top of Alina's head. "The curls should be out of her face." Penelope did as told, and used a simple curling charm for Alina's hair. Now, Alina had bouncy curls, and Penelope pulled it back with the pins. The curls hung loosely down her back, and completely out of her face.
"Herm, let's use this lipstick. It's tan and shiny." Megan said, picking up a lipstick container out of her bag. Hermione applied it on Alina's lips. Hermione leaned back and looked at Alina. "I'm proud of you, girl." Megan said, patting Hermione's back. Alina stood up and then spun around in front of the mirror.
"You forgot those matching off-white heels." Penelope pointed out, looking down at Alina's feet.
"Accio Heels." Alina pointed her wand at her trunk. It flung open, and her heels came flying out. She put them on, and then the other girls took a good look at her. They couldn't keep themselves from gawking. Megan nudged Hermione, and the two of them exchanged knowing glances. Then, the four of them all looked at each other.
"Let's tear this Ball up." Alina said, grinning at her friends.
******
"Where are they?" Ron asked impatiently. He, Harry, George, and the rest of the Gryffindor boys were waiting in the common room for the girls to come out of their dormitories.
"Calm down." Harry said. They faintly heard a door open.
"It must be them!" Ron said excitedly.
"I'm gonna trip in these shoes." The boys heard Penelope's voice clearly.
"Why's everyone just sitting around? There's a party we've got to be heading to!" Megan exclaimed. Ron looked at her, and almost fell out of his seat. Megan wore a midnight blue dress that almost touched the floor. It had spaghetti straps, and the design was very simple. The dress was silk, with bits of glitter here and there, and the slit went all the way up to above her knee. She wore a sapphire necklace on her neck, and she had blue butterfly clips holding her cornrows. "Are you just going to sit there and stare?" Megan asked. Ron scrambled out of his seat, and almost tripped on his way over to her. He held his hand out to her, and she took it. "We'll be seeing you all down in the Hall."
Hermione was the next one to come down the stairs. Obviously her date wasn't in Gryffindor because after she acknowledged Harry, she headed straight for the portrait hole. Harry was curious to see who her date was. Lucky guy, he thought, because that night, Hermione looked even better than she did the night of the Yule Ball. She wore a strapless gold dress that came up to her ankles, and she had a shawl over her shoulders. She had her hair up, the way she had said it would be back at the table. It was twisted, with ringlets framing her face. She had streaks of blonde in her brown hair.
Harry didn't get why he was sitting there anymore. His date wasn't a Gryffindor. He had almost forgotten he was going with Cho Chang, and for a second was convinced his date was Alina.
"Could Alina take any longer?" George asked, beginning to relax in his seat.
"I heard that. It's just that I almost tripped on the way down the stairs. I've got to find a way to bewitch these shoes to get me to stand up, and stay up." Harry couldn't keep his mouth from hanging open as Alina came into view. Her dress brought out the color of her skin, and it had never looked so tan to him before. The dress was off-white, with spaghetti straps, and a thicker strap on the other side. On the side of the spaghetti strap, there was piece of fabric hanging loosely. Her dress was covered with glitter, just the way she seemed to like things. The bottom of the dress was in different layers; the front was shorter than the back. And those heels almost made her as tall as George. The curls on her head were so foreign for him to see. He was used to seeing it parted to the side, and braided. This time, her hair was pulled back in the front, and dangling in the back. Harry made a mental note of asking her if that was the real length of her hair, or if she just made it longer for the Ball.
"My lady," George said, bowing down to Alina. She smiled lightly. "C'mon beautiful, we can't keep you away from everyone else, as much as I just want you for my own." George said the last part softly, but Harry heard it. "Who're you waiting for, Harry?"
"Oh, um, I guess I'll walk Penny down. She is going with Gregory Goyle of all people, and I doubt he'd wait for her in the hallway." Harry said as Penelope came down. She wore a red dress. The top half had sequins, and other intricate designs. The bottom half was silk, with two folds in the front. He could see her heels, and saw that she couldn't steady herself. He held his arm out quickly so she could hang on to him. "I'll walk you down, Penny." Harry said as he led her out of the common room. The two of them were walking right behind George and Alina, "They look cute together, don't they." Harry forced out of himself.
"Yeah, they do. Too bad none of that affection is authentic." Penelope said.
"What!?" Harry hissed. Penelope frowned, and then smiled knowingly.
"Didn't you know? George is only going with her to please Alicia. You know she's been pissed about his superfluous talk of Alina. I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but Alina is going to drop him before the Ball goes underway." Penelope elucidated.
"Do you know who she's going to go with after she gets rid of George?" Harry grilled. Penelope smiled.
"Oliver Wood." She said as Harry's face floored. "It's too bad for you, Harry. She wanted you to ask her, but you missed out and asked Cho." Penelope put in plain words.
"George got a hold of her before me. I was honestly going to try." Harry said.
"If you had asked her afterward, she probably would've dropped George like that," Penelope snapped her fingers, "But then you didn't, and you went to Cho. She stuck with George, but you know that Oliver is besotted with her, too, right?" Penelope asked and Harry nodded, "Well he asked her to the Ball, too. She would've said yes because she's got the same feelings for him, too. Head-over-heels, that girl is. But she didn't want to break her date with George. She's sure Oliver would get with her if she asked now. He probably had a feeling it would happen." Penelope said as they walked into the crowd full of students. "Oh, there's Gregory. Thanks for walking me down." Penelope said before going off to Goyle, whom towered over the crowd.
"Hey Harry," Cho said as she linked arms with Harry. Harry smiled weakly. He didn't care to look her over and see how she looked. It didn't matter to him. All he knew was that Alina was the best looking one at the Ball, and unfortunately she wasn't his date. She was going with someone that asked her for alternate reasons. Then, she was going to leave him for someone else. Harry wondered if Alina were his date, would she leave *him* for Oliver? He'd never be able to find out because not in this lifetime would Alina be his date. He cursed himself for not being persistent. If he had been, there could've been a possibility that the girl at his arm wouldn't be Cho Chang. If only he could turn back time... Harry wondered if Hermione still had that Time Turner...
A/N: No, no, that whole Time Turner schmeal does not lead into a whole different plot. I just wrote it in because that was just a little thing left for Harry to ponder when he feels the urge to forget about Cho, heh- heh. Now, a little background on the dresses: Meg's dress was inspired by the dress another one of my best friends wore to our Graduation Ball. It looks just the way it was described. Hermione's dress was actually inspired by one of the dresses I used to dress my Barbie dolls up in. The look has been altered a bit because the Barbie dress was a little too complicated to explain. Alina's dress was inspired by a dress that I tried on, and wanted to buy, but my mom wouldn't let me. If I ever find it, I am going to buy it and wear it to the Winter Ball, damn it! Penelope's dress was inspired by a dress a friend of mine wore to the Grad Ball. Like Meg's dress, it looks just the way it's described.
Hopefully I'll update soon. Until next time, have a nice week. -Gryffindor Heiress
