A/N: Maybe I should explain why Rebeka is turning 13 in the last chapter. Well, according to what I beleive, Harry is a young 1st year when he turns 11, since he turned 11 at the cut off point, he was able to go instead of waiting another year. Rebeka Skyelar, however, was an old 1st year, since she would have been 10 when the term started she had to wait another year before getting excepted. Hollie Skyelar is the norm, her birthday being March 18th. That's how I beleive it works. ^_^
Anyway, the Starry Night Ball is upon us now! Oh! how exciting! I always thought that Harry Potter should have had dances, but maybe it's not something they do in England.
Also, I seem to be following the path of a lot of other American fanfiction (American girl going to Hogwart's, Dances suddenly appearing out of thin air... Harry and the gang aren't arround though, so that's different) I just hope mine is actually good. Not to say there aren't good ones out there like that, it's just the majority of the whole "American girl goes to Hogwart's" Genre is really awful. Hope mine is somewhat decent.
Anyway, on with the Story!!!!
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Chapter 7:
The Starry Night Ball
(GRYFFINDOR)
It was here. At 7:00 o clock on Saturday night the Starry Night Ball would begin… and at 4:00 o clock that day is when all the girl's in Rebeka's room began to get ready. Beth was busy putting small purple flowers in her short blond hair to match her lavender dress robe. Merriam Greenwalde was deciding which dress robe to wear, her blue one or her yellow one. Rebeka rolled her eyes at that; Merriam's family was pretty rich, so she of course got a choice. The other third year, Yolanda Everett, was still in the bathroom, putting on her makeup.
"Bek, what are you going to do about your hair?" Beth asked as she put the last flower in her hair, she looked remarkable.
"I don't know, I really hadn't thought about it. Just leave it down I guess." Rebeka shrugged and Beth turned to look at her.
"Now is not the time to leave your hair down!" She exclaimed, "My hair is too short to put up, but you have enough. I can do it for you."
"I… okay." Rebeka sighed and sat in the chair next to Beth's. Merriam looked over to them.
"Can I help?" She asked, "I'm really good at that sort of thing!"
"Sure, she'll be our little project." Beth stood up and grabbed her wand, "This is why I like being a wizard."
"I'll go get my hair spray…" Merriam took off and came back with a bottle of 'Stay-4-all', "Wizard brand hair spray, it's the best."
Beth used her wand to place Rebeka's hair on top of her head in a pretty Audrey Hepburn sort of way. She then let a few strands dangle and curled them. Merriam began to spray immediately. After about 15 minutes they were done, looking at their work with wonder.
"You look amazing." Beth sighed, "I am a genius."
Rebeka turned around and looked in the mirror - she hardly recognized herself! She looked so elegant and refined, not the her she was used to seeing.
"Wow, great job you guys!" Rebeka exclaimed as Yolanda rushed out of the bathroom.
"Bathroom's free!" She said, "Time to do my hair!"
"MAKE UP!" Beth and Rebeka yelled and the same time and rushed toward the bathroom. It wasn't exactly free, since they were sharing a bathroom with four other rooms, but there was just enough room to get themselves in there to put on the makeup. Beth chose pretty pastels to go with her dress while Rebeka picked darker tones. She put on a somewhat dark brown lipstick and looked at herself.
"I look older." Rebeka said with disappointment.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Beth laughed, "You're going with a third year, you need to look older."
"Hey, did Chad ever tell you who he was going with?" Rebeka asked Beth.
"No, but the girl he is going with did." Beth smiled and looked at her.
"OOH! Who?"
"Aphrodite Avery, she's a third year." Beth proclaimed, "Absolutely gorgeous. I would kill to look like her."
"Aphrodite Avery?" Rebeka mumbled to herself, "Is her sister a Slytherin… um… Ambrosia?"
"Yeah, that's her." Beth laughed, "Ambrosia and Aphrodite, somebody's parents liked Greece…"
"Ambrosia room's with my sister, she says that she's kind of a snob." Rebeka shrugged, "I guess Aphrodite isn't one."
"No, no. She is, but have you looked at Chad. He is very cute." Beth remarked, Rebeka laughed. If Chad were here to hear that, he would have died. Beth was actually calling him cute, "She's been bragging to all of us third years since he asked her."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rebeka gasped, "HE asked HER?"
"That's her story." Beth shrugged, "Are you finished putting on Make up?"
"Yeah, let's go back, I still have to change."
Those three hours they gave themselves seemed to fly by as they all got ready and laughed and giggled about whom they were going to dance with. Merriam was going with a Ravenclaw named George, but she wanted to dance with his friend Ian. Yolanda was going with her Gryffindor boyfriend, Dason Zanders, who happened to be a beater for the Quidditch team. All of them were talking about what they thought it was going to be like and pretty soon, the Clock had struck 6:30… it was time to go.
"Oh, I'm nervous!" Beth exclaimed, "Tom is going to be waiting for me just outside the tower entrance!"
"You're lucky," Yolanda proclaimed, "My boyfriend is waiting for me just downstairs!"
"Hey, Bek, don't forget your Aurora Pendent." Beth told her. Rebeka gasped, she had almost forgotten about it. She walked over to her nightstand and took it out of its gold box and put it around her neck. She then touched her wand to it and said the magic word; it began glowing its brilliant colors.
"OOH! An Aurora Pendent!" Yolanda sighed, "How did you get one of those?"
"She got it for her birthday…" Beth told her, "From her secret admirer!"
"Cool!" Yolanda hopped a little, "It's so pretty."
"I have an Aurora Pendent at home." Merriam told them, "My parents wouldn't let me bring it with me, they thought it would get stolen."
"Well, too bad for you." Beth rolled her eyes, "Are you guys ready to go?"
All the girls squealed in delight and walked down the stairs to the common room. Waiting there were the boys in their dress robes, all of them looked pretty nervous.
"Wow…" Rebeka heard a voice behind her and turned around. Standing there was her date for the evening, Griffin Dominic. He looked like he was in awe, "You look great."
Rebeka blushed almost the color of her robe, "Really? You think so?"
"I do." Griffin smiled, "Are you ready to go?"
"Uh, yeah." Rebeka looked around for Chad, but couldn't see him anywhere. She was disappointed; she wanted to see him and his date.
Her and Griffin walked down the Great Hall arm and arm, but they weren't expecting what they saw. It was beautifully decorated like they were in the heavens. Stars glittered all around them, even under their feet. As soon as they entered they felt as thought they were floating in outer space. A beautiful symphony orchestra was playing on the stage, playing slow music for them to dance to. Around them there were only few tables, and most of those had many things to eat sitting on them. On one wall - well what she thought was a wall, it was hard to distinguish where the walls even were - stars spelled out "Starry Night Ball." It was beautiful.
"This place looks great!" Griffin exclaimed, "It feels like we're floating in the sky."
"Wonderful…" Rebeka muttered out, but she wasn't sure if Griffin heard her or not. She looked around for someone she knew, and spotted Hollie in her baby blue robe talking to her date Jack, "Oh, there's Hollie! Let's go say hello!"
Rebeka didn't even give him time to answer as she drug him over to where Hollie was. Hollie gave Rebeka a quick glancing over.
"You look so good!" She said, "I like your hair up!"
"You look good too!" Rebeka told her sister, Hollie blushed a little bit.
"Well, Hollie always looks good," Jack said, making Hollie blush even more. While they talked more and more people began filing in. Rebeka saw Beth and Tom, they were already dancing on the dance floor. Cryssy was talking to the teachers at the front of the room; she gave Rebeka a small wave. Vinesah came in with her date, Alex. She seemed a little embarrassed though, like she shouldn't have a date or something. One by one, everyone filed in and the giant room filled with people. It was then Radcliffe stepped on stage.
"Welcome everybody to the first annual Starry Night Ball!" He started; everyone clapped loudly, "I wanted to start this tradition as a way of welcoming all of you back to our grounds… well if you're first years then just to our grounds. I hope this becomes a grand tradition and one that you'll look forward too every year! Who knows, if this takes off, we may have more dances in the future! Okay, enough of my talking, have fun and dance the night away!"
"Care to dance?" Griffin asked her.
"I would be honored milord." Rebeka smiled and bowed her head. Both walked onto the dance floor and began waltzing. It was pretty hard to do Rebeka found, but Griffin was a good dancer and led the way. She got it pretty quickly. She loved it; she could dance all night if they would allow it. Griffin made it seem easy and she just followed his lead. It must have been three songs before they took a break.
"You are a good dancer." Griffin proclaimed, Rebeka laughed.
"I'm only a good dancer because you led me." She said.
"Do you want some punch?"
"Sure… I could use a drink." Rebeka smiled at him and he took off to find the punch bowl. Rebeka drifted away from the dance floor and toward the corner of the room. She was sure Griffin would find her eventually but she wanted to take it all in, it was all so magical. She watched a lot of her friends dance and laugh and have a good time, it made her happy to see that everyone was together for a good time instead of competition.
"You clean up nicely." A voice from no where said, she looked around and saw Chad standing next to her. He looked perfect in his black dress robes, "I like your hair."
"You don't look so bad yourself." She smiled at him, "Where's Aphrodite?"
"She's around, she has to talk to everyone before she dances." Chad shrugged, "I don't really see the point."
"That's quite a date you picked up for yourself." Rebeka nudged him, "Most guys would give their right arm just to be able to talk to her."
"Yeah, well, I took your advice. I moved on and since my second choice was already taken, I went with the next best thing." He looked over to her and smiled, "Nice necklace."
"Yeah, it is. According to everyone it's a big, expensive gem." Rebeka sighed, "But I don't know anything about this kind of stuff… you know, Muggleness."
"It is expensive. Aurora Pendants can run a pretty penny. Where did you get it?"
"I got it for my birthday." She beamed with pride.
"Oh, did Muscles over there give it to you?" Chad motioned toward the direction that Griffin was in.
"Griffin? No, he got me this bracelet," Rebeka sighed, "I don't know who got me the necklace though. Didn't have a name on it."
"Interesting."
"Yeah, I want to find out who gave it too me. Thank them or something." Rebeka smiled, "It was way to generous, I don't deserve something this pretty."
"Yeah, you do." He said and she turned to look at him, "It looks nice on you, completes you're whole look. You look good."
"Really?" Rebeka looked down at herself, she didn't think she looked that great.
"No one compares…" He muttered close to her so only she could hear. She looked at him and blushed furiously and he smiled at her.
"Chad!" A beautiful, model-like blond came over to them with a somewhat annoyed look on her face, "I am ready to dance now!"
"Aphrodite!" Chad said in a somewhat fake cheerfulness, "I was looking all over for you!"
"Who is the girl?" Aphrodite shot Rebeka an icy glare.
"This is my friend Rebeka Skyelar." Chad introduced, "She is just a friend."
With those words Aphrodite smiled and held out her hand, "It is a pleasure. I'm Aphrodite Avery."
Rebeka shook it gingerly, "Nice to meet you."
"Yes…" Aphrodite eyeballed her up and down, "I know you, you're that girl who plays Quidditch…the new chaser girl. You are practicing a lot."
"Yeah, we're getting ready for our first game next Saturday." Rebeka smiled proudly.
"Quidditch is such a boys game," Aphrodite sighed, "I don't understand why girl's play it."
"If you saw her play then you would figure it out pretty quickly." Griffin's voice was heard and he came up on the group. Rebeka smiled and turned to him, "Well, what do we have here?"
"This is Aphrodite Avery…and I think you know Chad Halewend," Rebeka introduced.
"We've only met briefly," Griffin shook hands with Chad, "You're pretty good friends with her right?"
"Yeah, you could say that." Chad shrugged.
"Have you never noticed just how pretty she is?" Griffin looked down to Rebeka, who blushed. Chad didn't answer though; he just looked away from the two.
"Are you ready to dance now?" Aphrodite asked Chad with a hint of whininess.
"Yeah, let's go." Chad walked off quickly without so much as a glance toward Rebeka.
"What's with him?" Griffin watched as Chad and Aphrodite walked on the glowing dance floor.
Rebeka shrugged, "That's just how he is, you get used to it."
"Okay, whatever you say." Griffin looked back to her, "You wanna go and dance again?"
"I haven't even had time to drink my punch!" Rebeka smiled, "I suppose I can drink it later, so let's go."
Griffin smiled and they both walked toward the dance floor, only to be grabbed by Vinesah. She looked very elegant in her Dark Purple dress robes and her red hair put up but still a little messy. She had managed somehow to put pearls in her hair, and they shimmered under the starlight.
"That necklace looks so pretty on you!" Vinesah sighed, "I want one."
"Maybe someday Vinesah," Rebeka smiled, "Just find some one who is rich and likes to waste their money."
"Easier said than done!" Vinesah exclaimed, "I wonder if there is a spell for that…"
"Where's Alex?" Rebeka wondered and looked over Vinesah's shoulders, "I want to met this guy who you deemed worthy enough to ask to the ball."
"He's sitting at one of the tables," Vinesah smiled and looked back, "Do you want me to go get him?"
"Well, yeah!" Rebeka looked up to Griffin and shrugged as if to apologize for the delay in plans. Vinesah held up her hands to tell them to stay put and went to get Alex.
"Alex is a cool guy, I think you'll like him." Griffin smiled as Alex and Vinesah came up to them, "He's a bit jumpy though, you'll have to get used to that."
"Griffin!" Alex yelled happily as he came into view. Both of the guys shook hands and Alex looked over to Rebeka, "Who is the girl?"
"This is Rebeka," Griffin smiled shyly, "She's a Chaser for our team, she is also my date for the evening. "
"Yes, I've heard of you. You supposedly caught the Bludgers with your bare hands," Alex said as Vinesah came up behind him, "Pretty impressive."
"I was just trying to save my sister." Rebeka looked toward the dance floor, "Are you guys gonna dance?"
"I don't know…" Vinesah looked back to Alex.
"Sure, is that where you guys were headed?" Alex smiled and both couple's went toward the dance floor. Again, a waltzy kind of music plays and Griffin and Rebeka danced in circles around everyone else. She would glance at Vinesah, who was trying to teach Alex not to step on her foot, and then back at Griffin as they made their way around the dance floor. She noticed Chad too, gracefully dancing with the beautiful blond girl, she never knew he could dance. In fact, there was a lot about him she didn't know. That made her a bit angry and turned to look away from him, this was not the time to get angry.
The whole night was a whirlwind of dancing and talking and laughing, just having a good time. Rebeka never wanted the night to end. Everything seemed to be perfect and she wished it would last forever. After about the thirtieth time on the dance floor though, Rebeka was feeling a bit warm and all the people around was not making it any easier. She excused herself from her big group and walked into the dark hallway that led to the Great Hall. Music could be heard blaring from inside, it was so loud even the big doors hardly muffled the sound. It was cool in the hall though, much cooler than inside the big ballroom. She took a couple of deep breath and went to sit on the staircase; her shoes' "Clunks" echoing of the giant walls. She just stared at the massive building, never taking it in like she was in this moment. This was such a magical place, and not just because of the magic that the teachers taught, there was just something about it.
"Out here, by yourself?" Nearly Headless Nick appeared in the hallway and looked at her shocked, "Something the Matter?"
"No, no. I'm just a little warm that's all." Rebeka smiled at him, Nick then smiled back at her.
"I wish I could feel warm again, I'm always so cold now-a-days," Nick began to laugh, "Of course, I am dead…"
"Of course."
"Well, my dear, keep your spirits up. We have a match to win in one week." Nick then began to whistle and took off toward the opposite direction, leaving her alone again, listening to the music that was playing inside. She stood up and turned her back away from the doors of the Great Hall and stared at the stairway she was sitting on.
"What are you looking at?"
Rebeka whirled around and saw Chad coming out of the room; he had a confused look on his face.
"Nothing." Rebeka said quickly, "Nothing at all."
"Why are you out here?" He walked over to her, "Shouldn't you be inside soaking up all the fun?"
Rebeka narrowed her eyes at him, "Somebody's in a bad mood."
"I am not." Chad snapped, "I'm just not much for all this excitement. A few moments is enough for me."
"You're boring." Rebeka began to make her way to the doors, "I should go back inside."
Yeah…" Chad muttered, "You know I have noticed…"
"Noticed what?" She whirled around and saw him looking down at his feet.
"Nevermind, you go now. Have fun." He began to walk away from her.
"What happened to Aphrodite?" She asked, he stopped, "Where is she now?"
"I don't know, dancing with Pete Carny or someone. She's popular, she has to dance with everyone." Chad shrugged, "I don't -"
"See the point, I know." Rebeka rolled her eyes, but noticed a giant smile form on Chad's handsome face, "What is with you?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." He walked back over to her, "Do you want to know something?"
"Depends on what it is." Rebeka joked, making him laugh.
"I did not want to come to the dance." Chad sighed, "I would rather just stay in my room and read or something. Aphrodite was driving me up the wall! All she knew how to talk about was what a wonderful dancer she was or how popular she had become."
"She sounds interesting." Rebeka said, trying to hide her laughter.
"I should have stayed in my room, it's so much easy that way. Dances are stupid." Chad leaned against the wall like he was Joe Cool or something. Rebeka walked over to him and did the same.
"You're just mad that Beth and Tom ended up coming together aren't you?" Rebeka sighed in frustration, "When are you going to get over her?"
Chad looked at her with a blank stare, "Shut up."
"Snippy aren't we?" She replied, "Its amazing how I'm still your friend. Most people wouldn't have put up with you for this long."
"Then leave. No one is stopping you." He said in anger, and at first Rebeka believed that he was angry, but the big smile on his face told her otherwise, "You know you're my greatest bud."
"Yeah, a greatest bud who didn't even know your dads name." Rebeka muttered under her breath, "A greatest bud that you keep secrets from."
"Are you trying to start a fight?" Chad asked her, she just groaned and began to walk back to the doors.
"You can be so impossible sometimes." She said.
"You don't understand." Chad shrugged.
"I wouldn't if you told me." Rebeka looked at him.
"Look, I just like that you don't know my dad is some famous guy in the wizarding world. I hate the stares, I hate everyone trying to be my friend, I hate the fact my father thinks I'm a little clon of him... I hate it all," He explained, "I would rather you not know anything about it."
"But that doesn't make any sense!" She yelled, her voice echoing off the walls, "I'm going to find out eventually, I already know he's famous. I'm going to be friends with you no matter what, why would you doubt that?"
"Because I have reason too." He told her calmly, "Like I said, you wouldn't understand."
"What wouldn't I understand!?" She asked. He looked at her for a second. It looked like he was going to tell her something important, the look in his eyes told her so.
"Rebeka…It was, I mean…I-" Chad mumbled like he was unable to speak. Then all of the sudden he shook his head and walked away from her, "What am I doing?"
"Excuse me?" She blinked as he took off up the stairs.
"I can't…I have to go." He quickly ran up the stairs and out of sight before Rebeka could even try to stop him. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open, not really knowing what to think. What exactly just happened?
"Rebeka? Are you out here?" Vinesah voice snapped her out of her shock and she whirled around to look at her.
"Vinesah, something just happened…" Rebeka said with a confused look on her face.
"What? Did you get another threat?" She asked and walked over to the shocked Rebeka.
"No, no…with Chad." Rebeka began to pace, "We were out here talking, then we were fighting... it looked like he was going to tell me something...then he was gone…"
"What, you're confusing me." Vinesah exclaimed, so Rebeka broke down the whole story for her. Vinesah then gasped, "did you two have a falling out? Did you Break up!?" She joked.
Rebeka blushed, "NO!! Stop being foolish!"
"Yeah huh!" Vinesah argued, "You two always act like boyfriend and girlfriend, I knew you two were dating...that's always how it works in romance novels..."
"Those are romance novels!" Rebeka laughed, "You can't base real life off of those things."
"Chad and Rebeka sitting in a tree…" Vinesah smiled widely, "I always knew you two had some sort of attraction toward one another."
"We do not!" Rebeka snapped, "I'm not talking about me and Chad supposidly dating! We don't even like each other like that."
"Yeah…well, that's only a minor glitch in the story," Vinesah sighed, "Or you just haven't realized it yet..."
"You and your crazy idea's…" Rebeka rolled her eyes, making Vinesah laugh. Suddenly though she got very serious and asked Rebeka what had happened. When she told her all the details, she put her hand on her shin and began ot think.
"Hey Bek, have you looked in that book I gave you yet?" She said suddenly.
"No, why?"
"Make sure you do, there is a story called The Duel that you might find very interesting." Vinesah nodded her head, "Have you got anymore threatening notes?"
"No, none since that first one." Rebeka sighed, "Do you think it was just a harmless prank."
"I wish it were, but something it telling me this is way over our heads." Vinesah looked back toward the door, "I think we should be going back inside now."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Rebeka began fixing her hair and straightening her dress robes.
"Well, unless you want to go back to the Tower and make out with Chad of course." Vinesah joked, "I'll tell them you suddenly took ill."
"Vinesah!" Rebeka gasped as they walked inside while Vinesah just laughed hysterically. The rest of the night went pretty well, although all Rebeka could think about was what happened in the hallway. She just didn't understand what Chad was up too, or what he wasn't up too. Whatever it was, she was confused, that kind of thing had never happened to them before. She continued to dance with Griffin, hoping to take her mind of everything and pretty soon it was time to head back to the towers. Everyone said their good-byes and took off toward their houses tower and Griffin helped Rebeka get back because she was so exhausted. Griffin and her said their goodbye in the common room with a hug and he walked off to his side of the tower. Rebeka walked over to the girl's side when she noticed Chad looking over at her from the other side, she was about to say hello when he just turned around and walked up the stairs. Sometimes he was just so rude.
She walked up the stairs and too her room, where Beth, Yolanda, and Merriam were already getting ready to go to bed. All of them were talking about what a great night it was and Rebeka quickly joined in, pretty soon it was way past their bed time and all of them were sound asleep. Except for Rebeka of course, who decided to read the story that Vinesah wanted her too before she went to bed.
Her necklace was still glowing a little bit and she decided that it provided enough light for her to read off of. She grabbed the book and quickly flipped through the pages until her got to the page that read, "The Duel", she began reading eagerly:
Two families of wizards, so powerful they were
The most powerful in all the land,
Most people would concur.
Many talents grew from each, each person left and right
That a rivalry struck between the two
And so began the fight.
The families could not stand the other still around
So they planed and schemed and thought about
How to bring the other down.
Some people sided with one, some with number two
No one knew the hate that grew
Or what they were capable to do.
So one night the leader of family one had a bitter plan
He said that they would have a duel
And the loser had to leave the land
Not thinking about what that meant, the other decided to play
And so it was decided that
They would fight that very day.
The bitter feud lasted until the morning light
When the leader of family two was struck down
And ended the brutal fight.
Family two was driven out of the land by family one
And were forced to live a Muggles
Wizarding they did abandon.
And it is said that even now, on this very night
That family one awaits for Family two's return
Just to restart the fight.
It is said that family two will return to take revenge
And the final duel will be that of death
And bring the only true end
And these families never knew how to live in harmony
But I tell you now this story's true
As real as you or me.
Rebeka shut the book quickly and looked into the blackness that was her room. Strangely enough Vinesah was right, Rebeka did feel a connection with the story. It would make sense with her family history if it were true, Her family went to America and lived as Muggles for no reason, maybe it was because they had lost the duel with this other family. Who was the other family though, and now that she was back would she have to fight the decedents to the death like in the story? Was that why she got the threatening letter? If this was true, she was way over her head. She couldn't just start up some 300-year-old duel that her family had forgotten about ages ago. Then it dawned on her, she wasn't starting it back up, and whoever sent her that letter was starting it. Whoever it was probably hadn't forgotten there families history like she had and thought of her as the enemy…someone who they had to kill. Rebeka swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump in her throat. She hoped to God that the connection she was feeling was just nothing and that Vinesah was wrong.
She took off her necklace and grabbed her wand so she could shut down the pretty colors that were still swirling from it. She tapped her wand to it, but nothing happened. She shrugged and did it again…again nothing happened. That was odd, wands weren't known for not working. Rebeka pointed it away from her.
"Lumos" She muttered quietly, but again nothing happened. She began to panic as she repeated the word Lumos about a hundred times…then it dawned on her. HER WAND STOPPED WORKING! Whoever was her enemy right now, was really ahead of her…
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A/N: From the poem you can see the Skyelars weren't innocent victims in all of this, but you get more information about that later.
The Chad and Rebeka scene was completely rehashed. Originally they almost kissed. However, I didn't feel the characters were developed enough or old enough to warren any kind of romance between any of my lead characters. At this point it didn't seem like the best idea. However, I think I want to write a sequel to this so maybe then. ^_^ Depends how this one ends up though.