A/N: This is a long one. I hope that you take that as an excuse for us taking so long to update, even though it isn't. This chapter was actually half written by Ruth, and half written by me. It's just interesting, because we haven't split a chapter in such a long time.
Anyway, none of that is really relevant. Happy Memorial Day.
Disclaimer: Jeremy is ours. We made him, developed him, and perfected him. Everyone else is not. Except for Stella. But we just made her.
December 25, third year
I'm back from the night that I believed to be anguish, and ended up as inclusive bliss. Yes, it was Christmas and that meant that tonight I went to the Yule Ball.
Getting in was easy enough. Vincent and Gregory had not dates, and I snuck in between them perfectly. No one noticed, relief washed over me. During dinner, I sat with Draco and his friends. Again, I was in between Vince and Greg, and no one noticed me, and those that did didn't tell the teachers I was there.
As I ate, I kept a close eye on Genevieve. She ate with Neville contently. I noticed she laughed at something he said, and jealousy boiled inside of me.
During the dancing time, I lurked in the corners. Just at the border between, the huge masses of people, and the places empty. I watched angrily as Neville proceeded to step all over Ginny's toes. He looked concerned when he realized he had, but she shook it of. He thought it was nothing. I could tell it wasn't.
"If I was with her, I wouldn't step all over her toes." I grumbled angrily, but that was when the evening went downhill.
You see, Stella, the safety pin girl, danced by with someone from Slytherin. I think Draco calls him Adam, but I'm not sure. When they came passed me, I noticed Stella shooting me one of her death glares. I immediately turned and went of to find another corner. Then I looked up and saw her and Adam dancing closer to the where Dumbledore was dancing.
I tried to casually make my way to the door. If she told, I wouldn't be in here when I happened. But I accidentally, while looking over at Stella, ran into someone, someone very tall. In fact there were two very tall people. Immediately jumped behind the one I ran into.
He either didn't realize that ran into him, or was too busy to see who it was, because he kept his conversation going. I looked up to see who it was, and I recognized his voice as belonging to none other than Ronald Weasley.
"Look, Weasley" I heard the other voice say, I looked over, it was Hall, the bookie. "Your said you would have the money by the Yule Ball. That means tonight. Where is it?"
"I told you, I don't have the money. I need until Valentines Day."
"Valentine's Day? You must be joking. Your lucky if I even give you a day, let alone a month and a half."
"I'll give you an extra 10%?" Ron tried again.
"15%, and we'll call it a deal," Hall said before turning a leaving.
Ron took a deep breath and then turned around and jumped when he saw me. "What do you want, Pritchard?" he asked coldly. The rift between us was still unresolved.
"What was that about?" I asked ignoring his question.
"Did you hear all of that? And what are you doing here? You can't have gotten an older girl for a date?" he asked again.
"Well, I kind of snuck in." I answered looking down slightly.
"I'm going to Dumbledore," he declared turning around to head toward Dumbledore.
"That must a pretty hefty debt." I said after him, and he paused turning back around to look at me.
"What are you going to do?" he asked
"Wow. Doesn't Granger look different tonight?" I went on finding pleasure in his stone face. "So beautiful and so oblivious. Wouldn't she be hurt to find out that you had a gambling problem."
"You better not tell her."
"Don't worry I won't, unless you tell Dumbledore that I was here. Understand?"
He looked at me in the eye, which means that he was looking down. "I understand."
"Good. See you around." With that I walked away most definitely not grinning.
I went outside the Great Hall and felt the cool air flush me in the face. It sure was stuffy in there. I decided to go for a walk around the halls, and maybe outside and around the garden.
I wandered past a fountain that I never noticed before. In stone were carved two people. A woman and a man. They stood holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. The water from the fountain came up between them and the sprinkled down. And although the water was a distraction there eyes didn't blink and there hands stayed clasped.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" came an all to familiar voice from behind me.
I turned around quickly although I knew who was back there. "Yeah, it really is." I replied sitting down on a bench near by and continued to look at it.
Ginny smiled and took a seat next to me. "So what are you doing out this late?"
"Taking walks and staring at old stone carvings covered with water."
She giggled, and I had never been happier. "Well, at least your not doing it alone."
I desperately wanted to ask where Neville was, but I didn't want to seem to interested.
We sat for a long and uncomfortable silence just staring at the fountain. Finally, I said something I'd been wanting to say all year. "Thank you."
"For what?" she asked looking over at me.
"No telling anyone, about me being muggle-born."
She nodded understandingly and looked back to the fountain. "It's nothing to be ashamed about you know."
"It's not for you, not for Gryffindors. But I'm a Slytherin, it is there."
"Whatever, I've got to go back to the ball. Neville's waiting." She stood up., and smiled at me.
"You have a nice smile. If you smiled at one person his entire day would be incredible."
She smiled again. "Then I'll smile at you everyday until we graduate."
Yes, Journal. She actually said that! I am not making this up! Well, then she left. But, it doesn't matter, because tomorrow, I'll see her, and she'll smile at me!
I continued on my walk through Hogwart's gardens. Viewing all of their different fountains. I found a particularly interesting one, a girl sitting on the end of a platform looking away and on the other side, a guy sitting on the edge looking gin the other direction, neither one saw the other.
"The fountains at Hogwarts are always so captivating, aren't they?" said the voice I knew to be Draco's.
"Yes. Thank you for arranging to get me here," I told him.
"Not a problem. But remember that you owe me one." The way he said that phrase but goose bumps down my back. Draco left soon after that, saying that he was going to find his date. That was when I heard the footsteps.
I may have been to happy at the time, because I thought it was Ginny. It wasn't. It was Stella.
"So, let me get this straight, Pritchard," she started. Her voice was sharp and angry, as was the expression on her face. She was defiantly a girl who knew how to get her point across. "You sneak into the Yule Ball, yet you don't dance, don't eat, don't mingle... yet you come out here, away from the dance for no apparent reason."
"It's none of your business what I do," I told her coldly, and tried to make my escape.
"Maybe not, but it might be Dumbledore's business."
I turned to face her, just a bit scared. Her red eyeliner made her look a little dead in this light. "May I ask what you are doing here? You got your self a real fine date," I drawled, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I think I've been hanging around with Draco too much. "Why don't you go pick on him instead of badgering me?"
"He's dull," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing.
"And I'm not? Let me just ask you why you're here if it's not to be with Adam?"
"I'm here to watch... somebody."
That was the line that made me write this whole conversation. I think she might like me! It's really scary. I don't know if I can take it. Which is why I told her not to watch them around me, and left as quickly as possible. Back to the comforts of my room where I can pour my heart out to you.
Pathetic, isn't it? How I am surrounded by people, people who could be my friends, but my only real companion is an empty book.
Sleep soundly, Journal, because I can assure you that I won't.
A/N: Hope you liked. Now here's a question for you. Do you think Jeremy should end up with Ginny? Or Draco? Or Ron? Or Colin? Gee, so much slash opportunity. If you have another suggestion, we'll take it.