That night was unusually hot for the middle of winter. Outside the trees were swaying in the breeze, making snow plummet to the ground and cause enormous explosions as they hit the surface of the lake. Most of the lake however was frozen over, and during the day many students used it as an ice rink to slide about on. The sky was jet black and free from the blanket of cloud that usually covered it, creating no reason for the night to be so warm. Katie was lying in her four poster bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory, wide awake with her eyes open. She'd given up trying to sleep a while ago and was now lying on top of her duvet with the window open to let in as much cold air as possible. Katie looked around, none of the other students in her room seemed to be over heating as they slept, curled up in their royal blue blankets happily dreaming about unicorns, witches and big pink castles. Katie sighed and sat up. She stretched for a moment then slipped on her black school shoes and navy dressing gown. Her mind whirred for a second as she tried to decide where she was going to go and what she was going to do. She decided upon the common room, and so headed there for glass of cold water. Katie was desperate to try anything to cool herself down. It was only the early hours of the morning, 2:00am to be precise, so no one else was up and about. She'd have the whole common room to herself for a while. Katie got up off her bed and strolled over towards the door, she carefully turned the rusty metallic handle and cringed as the hinges made an awful screeching noise. Luckily no one heard, Katie didn't want anyone else to wake, this night she wanted to be alone. As she made her way down the short corridor to the main common room Katie clumsily tripped over her own feet and landed with a thump on the floor.
"Shhh!" whispered a voice.
Katie froze. She wasn't alone. Carefully she regained her balance and stood flat against the wall, the common room was silent. Just as Katie was about to move there came another sound. As if someone had just sat down on a material covered armchair. Katie froze again. The room remained silent for a moment, then whoever was in the common room must have decided it was safe, as they once more began to talk.
"We don't have much time," the voice said, "The dance is in six days time and I really need a partner." Katie gasped, that voice belonged to Louise! What was she doing up in the middle of the night? Who was she with? "Who's there?" Louise asked nervously, she'd obviously heard Katie's gasp. Katie remained still and didn't reply to her friend's question. Louise stood up to look around, and then sat back down again thinking the coast was clear. "So, what do you say?" she asked, "Please go with me, I know you want to."
"Well I suppose I could go with you," said a male voice, "But what about who I wanted to ask?"
"Yes please!" squealed Louise, "It would mean a lot to me and would be a great help. Stuff the person you were going to ask, you'll do a lot better with me on your arm."
"Help?"
"Yeh, not for me, for something else but never mind that." Katie was puzzled, why was Louise up in the middle of the night to ask someone to the Winter Dance and what was a great help? Katie made a mental note to ask her friend these questions in the morning. There was something else Katie wanted answering as well, who was Louise going to the dance with? This was something Katie decided she wanted answering now, so she once again peered around the stone corner. Katie looked around the room gingerly, she could see Louise sat on an armchair over in the corner, if she looked over in Katie's direction she would be sure to see her. Katie couldn't however see who Louise was talking to, whoever it was, was sat in another chair with its back to her. The conversation continued.
"So you'll be my partner then?" questioned Louise hopefully,
"Yeh OK, if it makes you happy," the voice replied, "But I do actually need to get back now, must catch up on some sleep."
Meanwhile Katie was wondering how she could get to see the mystery man when fortunately for her he stood up and turned towards the boys dormitory. Katie got the shock of her life. It was Sam Evanstar! She was in too much disbelief to make a noise, so compromised by leaving her mouth wide open.
"How could she do that to me?" Katie fumed silently, "She knows I like Sam! The complete son of a witch!" Katie turned in anger and stormed back into the dormitory. She flung herself onto her bed and stared face down at her pillow, now sobbing silently to herself.
The next morning arrived very suddenly, too suddenly for Katie's liking. She listened as the rest of the Ravenclaw dormitory awoke and started to move about, banging drawers, chattering happily and rustling sheets. She heard the voices of her fellow students whispering and shouting and getting prepared for the day and week ahead. Katie however remained in her bed, her eyes closed to trick people into thinking she was asleep. She didn't answer to Kate's morning calls, and only sat up when she was sure the whole room was empty of students. Katie carefully stepped out of bed and pulled on the nearest clothes she could find, her hair was a mess but she didn't care, in fact she didn't care about anything much at the moment. Katie dawdled out of the Ravenclaw tower and made her way to the Hogwarts grounds, she wanted to get away from everything even if it meant skipping school for a day. The heat of the night had now vanished, and instead was replaced by the cold, biting frost. Delicate snowflakes were falling from the sky and landing on the ground as if icing a cake. The lake was frozen over so that the giant squid had to reside under water until the spring weather came to unleash him. Despite the bitter winter weather, Katie was trundling along, dragging her feet through the snow wearing only a mid-length pink skirt and a hot pink t-shirt. Her school shoes were scooping up the snow like spoons and her hands lay limply at her sides. As Katie walked passed a weeping willow, it's long branches frozen partially below the lake's surface, she stopped and dropped herself down onto the floor. The cold didn't seem to bother her as she rolled up balls of snow between her hands, throwing them across the ice towards the owls that had decided to rest there. Immediately the owls dispersed leaving Katie without a target.
"Even the owls hate me," Katie thought to herself as she pounded the snow beside her to water. She sighed as the images of the previous night haunted her, "How could Louise do that to me?" she thought, "I thought she knew how I felt about Sam, obviously not. Maybe all this time she's wanted him to herself but has never mentioned it. Maybe she thought it'd upset me if I knew. But I still don't get why she would do that to me, I thought she was my friend. I can't believe she went behind my back! I wonder if Kate knows anything about this." Her thoughts were interrupted as a large snowball hit the back of her bare neck, "Ouch!" Katie exclaimed, turning around frantically to see who was using her for target paractise. There was no one there. Katie stood up to elevate herself for a better view when out of no where another snowball came flying directly towards her. Luckily Katie saw this one so managed to duck just in time, "Who's there?" she called, "Leave me alone!" Katie stared in front of her and to her surprise saw a trail of body-less footprints coming towards her. Katie smiled in recognition, "Ha ha ha, very funny Kate," she said sarcastically, sitting down once more. The footprints soon regained an owner as Kate appeared from out of no where, a large silvery cloak draped over her sleeve.
"How come you didn't come to astronomy this morning? Professor Bloom was wondering where you'd got to, thought you might be ill or something so she sent me to the hospital wing to see if you were there. You didn't miss much though, the lesson was based around sky map reading skills," she paused, "Katie, are you OK?"
"Hmm," Katie muttered, though Kate didn't seem to think this was a satisfactory reply so pressed her further,
"Katie what's wrong?" she asked, "You don't seem quite, with it, this morning,"
"I'm fine," Katie lied,
"No you're not," said Kate, "Now tell me what's up before I really do take you to the hospital wing." Katie sighed deeply, poked her finger around in the snow next to her and sighed again. "Katie," Kate replied sternly, "What
is the matter with you? I don't think I can even remember the last time you were this quiet!" Katie smiled weakly at Kate's little joke, then looked away across the lake.
"OK," she said glumly, "It's Sam, no it's no it's Louise,"
"Louise?" Kate asked,
"Yeh, she's been acting really strange recently, first with the photo in the dormitory, then the letter she recieved, then not wanting to come for a walk with us-"
"That doesn't seem so bad, does it?" Kate queried, "I mean, between you and me we've always known Louise can be a bit strange sometimes." Katie giggled,
"Yes, but this is different. Oh Kate," Katie sighed again, Kate looked slightly puzzled and didn't seem to quite understand at what her friend was getting at. "Kate?"
"Yes Katie?"
"How long have I liked Sam Evanstar?"
"Well all of last year and most of this year," Kate replied, still looking confused,
"Exactly," confirmed Katie, "And how long has Louise liked him?"
"Erm, never? Not that I've known of anyway,"
"Exactly," Katie confirmed again. She turned away and stared at the Forbidden Forest. Kate was now looking more puzzled than ever,
"But Katie, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me," she said, "I mean, what does Sam have to do with Louise?"
"Yeh, I was wondering when we were going to get to this part," mumbled Katie, "Yes, last night,"
"What happened?" Kate interrupted
,
"Let me tell the story!" was Katie's reply, "Well last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to go to the common room for a drink. When I got there I realised I wasn't the only one there, in the corner Louise was sat in a chair talking to someone. She was asking someone to the ball,"
"And?" questioned Kate,
"Shh, well, erm, well, the thing is, the person she was asking to the ball was Sam. Sam Evanstar." Katie stopped talking, she felt as if she
couldn't carry on talking.
"But," Kate started, "But, Sam, Louise? You?" Katie looked Kate in the eyes,
"I know, I can't believe it."
The two friends turned away from each other and looked out across the lake. The sun was starting to peep through the clouds and was glaring upon the school, bright and welcoming. The snow on the trees was starting to melt, dripping water onto unlucky students. The break time bell had just rung and pupils were piling out of the school via the main entrance to enjoy what was left of the snow, unaware of any sorts of worries or problems. This excitement and carefree attitude effected Katie badly, causing her to get up suddenly and hurry back to the common room, shoving past students and leaving Kate on her own by the lake's edge.
For the rest of the day Katie remained in a bad mood. For the rest of the day Kate tried to make Katie in a good mood, but nothing seemed to work. Not even Katie's favourite dish of 'Quorn' sausages could make her happy. She had avoided Louise all day too, every time she appeared around the corner Katie would change direction, every time she came to sit with her Katie would get up and claim she'd finished and if Louise even dared try to talk to her Katie blanked her out all together. She wasn't going to let Louise get away with it that easily, even if she didn't know that Katie knew about her and Sam.
"Does she actually have any idea?" Katie wondered, "If I was her I'd have found the motive to ask what the problem is by now." So for the rest of the week, Katie remained annoyed with Louise and depressed that she still hadn't got a dance partner yet.
Friday came and went, it was only two days left until the dance and Katie was still left without a date. The whole entire school appeared to be talking about it, even though many of the first years weren't invited. The problem Katie now faced was getting someone in the year above to notice her, as that was the only way she was going to manage to get to go to the dance. Unfortunately however, most of the 3rd years and above didn't pay much attention to their juniors, usually ignoring them all together. Getting someone to notice her was going to be harder than Katie first anticipated. It was Saturday morning. The sky was bleak and the occasional lonely snowflake would fall gracefully to the ground. Professor Sortilege the Charms teacher was flitting around the Great Hall, sprinkling fake snow over the statues and levitating welcoming candles into the air. Christmas trees were being carefully arranged around the edges of the hall by Mr Procella the gamekeeper, so as to leave room for the dancers the following night. Professor Lubella sat at the head of the teacher's table, smiling happily as she looked around at the festive decorations whilst digging into a large portion of chocolate cake. Most of the students were sat at their house tables eating breakfast, including Louise and Kate, and Katie who had managed to position herself so she wasn't anywhere near Louise. The long wooden tables were filled with the delights of Christmas even though it was a fortnight away till the day itself. Louise and Kate had both helped themselves to roast potatoes, turkey and various other vegetables and were eating furiously as if there was no tomorrow. Katie on the other hand was looking worse than ever, the worries and pressures of the week had begun to settle in, making her feel exhausted and fed up. Kate seemed to have noticed,
"You not eating anything Katie?" she asked caringly, spooning carrots onto Katie's empty plate, "You really should you know." Katie sighed,
"OK then," she said, "But just a little bit." She picked up her fork and was about to start eating when,
"Quieten down please students," called Professor Lubella. "Now I know I don't usually make much of an appearance at breakfast time, but today your routine will be slightly different and I thought talking to you here would be the best option. Anyone that isn't here this morning, can someone please tell them the informations, thanks." She paused, beaming at the school then continued, "Right, now where was I, oh yes. As you will all know, tomorrow night is the evening of the Winter Dance. It will take place between 7:00pm and 1:00am ao make sure you get some sleep tonight!" The hall erupted into cheers for the excitement of the dance, Katie groaned. "Anyway," said Lubella, "Now you all know the times for the dance tomorrow and I think you should be all right in getting here. Though there is one problem that many of you have been coming to see me about. What are we going to wear? You ask. Therefore this afternoon there will be a special Hogsmeade visit for anyone that wishes to go and buy a new outfit. Those not going to the dance must remain in the castle."
"Great," Katie muttered, "I'm stuck here for the day whilst everyone else goes out and has fun clothes shopping."
There was another explosion of cheers from the school at the sound of this information.
"Yay!" cried Kate, "I get to go! I can choose a new dress!" Katie remained silent.
"And finally," concluded Lubella, "As I have noticed that not everyone in the hall is looking forward to the dance, I have arranged something else for them this afternoon. Anyone here who wishes to go to the dance, come to the Great Hall a the beginning of the afternoon where, thanks to Professor Sortilege here," she gestured towards the Charms teacher who smiled back excitedly, "We have arranged a sort of muggle dating service, something I picked up whilst on holiday." Lubella laughed and the hall fell silent, confused as to what a 'dating service' was. Katie's heart jumped for joy, maybe she would have chance to go to the dance afterall. Lubella coughed, "Yes well, a muggle dating service is when boys and girls like yourself come together and you choose yourself a date, in this instance you will be able to choose a partner for tomorrow night."
"Ooh, I went to a speed dating class when I was on holiday!" Katie heard Rachel chatter from the Gryffindor table.
"Carry on with the food," finished Professor Lubella. From then onwards the students that were sat in silence, sulking because they couldn't go to the dance, were now talking excitedly, Katie included.
"I might get chance to go to the dance!" she squealed to Kate, "I doubt many people will turn up this afternoon though, bet most people will be off into Hogsmeade,"
"Yeh," agreed Kate, "But you can always hope for the best. I think I'll pop into Gladrags later on with Louise, I've seen a nice dress in there that I like,"
"Cool," said Katie.
Breakfast was soon over and all the students piled out of the hall and headed towards their dormitories to prepare for the afternoon's event. Katie wondered who else would turn up at the dating service, but decided against asking people as she didn't want to embarrass herself. Instead, she headed towards the library to relax and find a good book that she could use to settle her nerves.
A/N gosh that Louise can be a bit of a (w)itch sometimes! Please review and just to keep Katie happy, I'd like her to know that there is a reason behind this!