Disclaimer: if you want, have Morgana. I am not selfish!

Author's Note: Well from what I hear people want a bit of romance/fluff . . . I am trying my best to make this story interesting and unique so it won't be as cliche as I think some people would be comforted to see. But just read the chapter and find out! Also, I can't thank people enough for the reviews. oh and i am not good at dancing myself so forgive my crappy writing of it.

Chapter Nine: The Yule Ball

When Oliver and I entered the Great Hall in a fashionably late.The opening dance between head boy and girl (A/N: I totally made that one up but hey it is before the fourth book so it could happen) had just ended and people were milling about themselves. I expected to first person to come over to be from slytherin. But instead it was from Hufflepuff . . . Cedric Diggory to be exact.

"Hey, Wood," he greeted with a friendly smile that made most girls swoon but for me, it made me sneer, like every slytherin boy strangely enough, scowled upon his approach. He smiled at me in an insincere greeting that seemed sincere to anyone. He didn't recognize me.

"So Wood. Who is your beautiful date?"

I couldn't believe this. Perhaps Graham wasn't exaggerating when he said a bit of makeup and no one would recognize me. I unconsciously gripped tighter onto Oliver's arm. "Do a double take, Diggory," I said cooly.

He did and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Montague?" he shouted. "Morgana Montague?" People started to look in our direction.

I elbowed Oliver discretely in the stomach, "If you dare laugh at me . . ." I hissed.

He turned to me and grinned. "But no one is laughing. You're a date to be proud of."

"I thought I told you, you are my date," I said eyeing him.

His grin didn't fade. "Well then, I hope you're as proud of me as I am of you."

I for one of the first times in a while, I felt uneasy. Uneasy because I had really . . . never been treated this nicely before.I watched Diggory start to talk to Oliver and I looked across the Great Hall towards the slytherins staring in shock, that I didn't want to act like myself. I didn't want to be held down by the typical restrictions of image. It was the night of the Yule Ball, the first and probably last one I would ever go to. I wanted to dance and if I could really piss some people off in the process, then I would.

The music started up again and Dumbledore invited everyone to the dance floor. "Excuse me, Diggory," I said pulled Oliver towards the dance floor.

Diggory got the hint right away. "Well, I won't stand in your way," he said stepping aside. "Treat him kindly, Morgana," he said with a smile. "Oh and Morgana," he added. Oliver and I stopped and looked over to him. His smile widened. He took my hand and placed a kiss upon it, "You look beautiful tonight."

My initial reaction was to tell him to fuck off but, I pushed myself a bit and accepted the compliment, telling myself I could kill him on the quidditch field if I wanted to.

Oliver and I entered the dance floor along with many, many other couples. As the dance begun, I discovered Oliver wasn't lying. He could dance. Every spin and step was an indicator that he had taken lessons. I wasn't paying attention to everyone else on the floor, as far as I was concerned for the moment it was just us.

"So you weren't lying," I said keeping my eyes on him as we continued dancing. "About the dancing I mean."

"Did you think I was?" he said with a cheeky grin.

"I don't know. You gryffindors aren't trust worthy."

He pulled me in towards him with a spin. We were quite close together when he said, "You seem to trust me."

I pulled away as the dance continued, "Not all things are what they seem."

"No," he said with a laugh, "they are not. The beautiful girl in front of me is proof of that."

I opened my mouth to say something and before I could we changed partners. My next partner really didn't look too happy to be dancing. It took me a moment to realize it was Derek! "You look unhappy," I said in a smug voice.

He turned as if to sneer at me, but the expression melted off his face as he recognized me. "Morgan?" I nodded. He was speechless for a few moments, his sputtering made me feel pretty good about myself. "You look . . ." his eye were the size of beachballs.

"Ow!" I exclaimed as he stepped on my foot.

Derek's face flushed, "I am so sorry."

"It wouldn't usually be a big deal but these shoes . . ." I said with slight strain in my voice.

He glanced down and his face went a shade darker, "I am terribly sorry, Morgan."

I smirked, "Call me Morgana, Derek."

"Huh?" he looked at me, "why?"

"I am dressed like a Morgana tonight," I said before I realized my own reasoning.

"Alright," he said then resumed focusing on his dancing. He wasn't very good. He danced like a beater and it didn't help that he appeared very nervous.

Finally I couldn't stand him stepping on my feet any longer. He danced like a beater and these shoes weren't forgiving. "Relax, Derek!" I said probably more forcefully than I should have. "If you step on my toes on more time, I will bleed all over the floor. If I was wearing my normal shoes I wouldn't care but . . ."

He glanced down and turned pink with embarrassment. "I am terribly sorry, Morgan – a," he said correcting himself quickly without looking at me.

"Am I really so different tonight that you cannot look me in the face?" I asked staring at me. I do not like it when people avoid my eyes.

Derek looked at me like I was daft. "Are you different? What type of question is that? Of course you are! You are dressed like the queen of slytherin and on the arm of gryffindor quidditch captain!"

"Queen of slytherin?" I repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh come off it, Morgana," he said as we danced. "You are the ideal slytherin and there isn't another who doesn't want to kill Wood at this moment."

"Is that a compliment?" I asked as I twirled under his arm.

Derek laughed briefly, "If you want to think of it that way, sure."

"Why thank you, Derek," I said sarcastically. "I do think I put a fair bit of effort into looking different." But I realized was no longer dancing with Derek but with Kevin Bletchley.

"Then why did you waste in on that gryffindor prat?"

I shrugged, "It just turned out that way."

By the time that dance had finished I had danced with everyone on the slytherin quidditch team except Flint and Graham, if he even counts. When the dance ended, I moved over towards the punch. I ran into Cho Chang, the ravenclaw seeker there. She was glaring at me. I never liked her and she really hated me after we royally kicked ravenclaw's ass last weekend.

"Who do you think you are," she said hatefully (coincidentally, similar to Alicia Spinnett). "Who try to kill men on the quidditch field then steal them away from their dates?"

"Excuse me?" I said as I took a sip of the punch.

"Don't bloody act like you don't know what I am talking about," she said with a sneer. Asians don't have good sneers. Trust me, I am in slytherin, I know what a good sneer looks like.

"Good thing I am not acting," I said smoothly.

"You dress up one night to lure into your claws then you turn them over to the rest of you slytherin snakes." I didn't know Chang hated me this much but I didn't let it faze me too badly.

"Good thing I am not here on quidditch or house business," I said taking another sip of my punch.

"It's bad enough you cheaters almost killed every captain," her statement wasn't false, I had also knocked Davies off his broom during that one game. He was a good flyer though and got back on quickly . . . damn him for that. "But when you steal them away from their girlfriends, that is –"

"Wait a second,"I said cutting her off coldly. "Please fill me in the details, Chang," I said pronouncing her name like it was a sound. "Who am I stealing and who is their girlfriend?"

"First of all," she said her voice lofting with ravenclaw arrogance, "don't you touch Cedric. Second of all, it is obvious to everyone in this school that Katie Bell and Oliver Wood are involved."

"Oh excuse me,"I said with false sincerity. "That fact wasn't made clear when Wood asked me to be his date to the ball." She glared at me and walked away. I gulped down the rest of my punch. Not that I cared about Bell's feelings, but the last thing I wanted was for people to believe I was the third point in a weird gryffindor love triangle. So I began to form a hand to allow me time to confront Oliver.

First I would preoccupy Bell, then I would tell him to meet me in the courtyard, then I would leave and he would follow, but not obviously. Simple, no? So, in order to put step one into place, I needed Graham. I walked over to where he, Caitlyn and some of the other slytherin guys, including Flint were standing around talking. I avoided Flint's eyes as I pulled Graham away.

"What is it, Morgana?" he hissed.

"I need a favor," I said.

"What is it?" he began sarcastically. "Do you need me to knock some sense into you? What the hell are you wearing and what the hell are you doing with Wood?" he whispered harshly.

"I thought you would approve of me actually looking like a girl," I began with a grin.

He scowled, "You are breathtaking. What the hell is this about?"

I spun him around by the shoulders and pointed straight ahead. "I need you to preoccupy Katie Bell."

"What, you mean like dance with her?"

I shrugged, "Whatever you want. Though come on, admit it, you would love to dance with her." I didn't wait to hear his answer to the last question. I shoved him towards the gryffindor chaser. I watched with my arms folded across my chest as my brother brought the blonde out to the dance floor.

Seeing that phase one had been completed, I floated over to where Oliver was standing talking to Angelina Johnson and Fred Weasley. I ignored their agast expressions as I whispered into Oliver's ear, "Can you meet me in the courtyard in five minutes?" He nodded and I slowly floated out of the Great Hall.

I sat down on a bench and began to think. It was unintentional really but I found my thoughts going back to all that Chang had said. I took off on several different trains of thought but they all led me back to wondering, how did Oliver and I stand? As I sat there alone on the bench with the night air around me as well as the echoes of the music, I suddenly found myself wanting my pants, wanting my hair up in its usual high ponytail and no makeup on my face.

I heard someone approach and I looked up thinking it was Oliver. It wasn't. It was Marcus Flint.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Actually, you can," he said coldly. I was a bit taken aback because he usually doesn't direct that type of tone at me. "What are you doing with Wood? I thought you were going with Weasley."

"I was," I replied cooly. "He stood me up and Wood graciously invited to be my date."

"I don't like it," Marcus said. He seemed more like Marcus than Flint right now.

"I don't recall asking for your approval."

"Did you ask for your brother's?" he shot back. I mentally rolled my eyes. How chauvinistic can slytherin guys get. A sad trait that lies in perhaps less than 20. More of a stereotype of anything but I won't deny that the trait flared up every now and then. Like now.

"I suppose I asked about as much as he did when he decided to go dance with Katie Bell." He gave me a questioning look. "See for yourself,"I said gesturing towards the inside. He looked and sure enough, my brother was waltzing with Katie Bell across the floor. I was surprised when she appeared to be smiling and enjoying herself. I didn't tell Graham she had to enjoy it and I know for a fact that Graham is not an over-achiever. That is why I am a year ahead of him academically.

"I still don't like you dating Wood," Marcus said turning back to me.

"We aren't dating," I said sharply.

"Then what do you call this?"

"I call it a gesture to keep me from being embarrassed."

Marcus laughed, "You think Wood cares whether or not some slytherin is embarrassed? He sees you as our weak point and is trying to get you wrapped around his gryffindor finger so they can – "

"Marcus,"I said acidly. "What the hell are talking about? This has nothing to do with houses or quidditch or anything else!" I shouted raising my voice at the end. "By accompanying someone from another house and quidditch team does not signify treason, betrayal or anything of the sort. You know that. I don't recall Davies harrassing you when you dated his chaser! I don't remember Diggory trying to criminalize his keeper when she dated you."

"But this is Gryffindor."

"No," I said. "This has nothing to do with Gryffindor. This has to do with Oliver and whatever your hidden message is here, you might as well just say it because it is getting you no where to hide behind our gryffindor rivalry."

"You are still my beater," he said trying to reclaim lost ground (metaphorically that is).

"And this has nothing to do with quidditch!" I shouted in a final tone. "Now please, leave me alone!"

Marcus silently sighed. "Can I say one last thing," he said with his eyes closed as though he hated how he had just handled things.

"Go ahead," I said folding my arms across my chest.

He looked me straight in the eyes. "You are very beautiful." He turned his back and walked away. My arms fell slowly to my sides in surprise. Not about the compliment, but because he didn't say "tonight".

I was snapped out of my pensive state when I heard a rustling behind me. Curious, I carefully stepped on top of the bench and looked over to the other side of the hedges and saw Pansy Parkinson dominating Draco Malfoy in what appeared to be a very fierce make-out session. "Hey kids," I called in a mocking voice. Their heads both shot up and Pansy blushed a tomato red and Draco looked like he was going to die of embarrassment.

"M-M-Morgana?" he sputtered. Red lipstick was all over his mouth.

"Montague to you, Draco," I said with a sly smirk. "You better run along before I tell one of the professors that some third years were out after their bedtime."

"Fuck off," Draco said, frantically rubbing his mouth. He glanced at me a second time. "What the hell?" he said taking in my hair. Don't tell me there is an actual montague girl on the otherside of that hedge." I gave him the finger and gestured for Pansy to come over.

"Yes?" she said in an apprehensive tone.

"In the locker room the other day," I whispered to her. "I heard Draco telling the guys he loves it when girls smack and or pinch his ass really hard."

"Really?" she said as though she had just received the Midas touch. I nodded and she grabbed Draco to do god knows what things little thirteen year olds shouldn't. She probably didn't deserve it but whatever it was still really funny.

I snickered to my self and stepped off the bench. I turned around and found myself facing Oliver. "Whoa," I exclaimed a bit surprised. "When did you arrive, Oliver?"

His face was quite serious. "I heard all you said to Flint."

"I didn't know my voice carried into the Great Hall . . ." I said eyeing him carefully, knowing he mustn't have been in the Great Hall then.

"I came out to see what you wanted and I overheard," he replied.

"Anything you hear of interest that sparked such a serious face?" I asked.

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked me quickly and firmly.

"What? Didn't catch that," I honestly didn't.

He sighed and started over. "Did you mean what you said, Morgana?"

"I have said many things I mean."

"Did you mean what you said about our date having nothing to do with quidditch or house rivalries?"

That reminded me of the whole reason I wanted my brother to take care of Katie Bell and him out here. "Before I respond," I began, "are you and Katie Bell involved?"

He jerked back, "Katie? What makes you say that, Morgan?"

"I was practically verbally assaulted by Cho Chang who accused me of breaking up whatever is between you two. The last thing I want is to be apart of some weird gryffindor mating season."

Oliver laughed at my last comment. "There is nothing going on between Katie and I, at least not that I know of." He shrugged in an innocent, oblivious boyish way. "Who understands what goes on in girls' heads?"

I snorted lightly, "I sure don't. I barely understand slytherin girls. And they are the easiest."

"I beg to differ," Oliver said with a smile. "You are quite difficult to understand."

"Really now? Maybe you are just daft."

Oliver laughed again, "I could be."

"Admitting faults to the enemy," I said with a smirk. "Tsk, tsk Mr. Wood. That's dangerous."

I couldn't get why he found me so funny. He wouldn't stop chuckling at my comments. Was I losing my touch? When I came out of my thoughts I found a hand in front of me. It was Oliver's.

"Care for a dance out in the courtyard?" he asked in a noble voice. The echoes of the music were audible and we really were the only people out there.

"Sure, why not," I said with surprising speed that even surprised myself. "You can dance after all."

We waltzed for a minute or so in silence, just moving to the music before Oliver broke the silence with a question. "Are you and Derek Bole a couple?"

"What?" my voice said very flatly.

"He asked me very rudely by the way, if I was dating you or if I was using you."

I paused, it wasn't like Derek to go up to someone and demand things of them. That was Marcus, maybe Kevin and Terence too. "What did you answer?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"What did you tell him?"

Oliver's face flushed red, "uh . . . you answer my question first."

I complied, it wasn't a hard question. "Derek is perhaps one of my best friends. In a slytherin way."

"Oh. I think he fancies you."

"Wow,"I said spinning under his arm. "That was a blunt unwanted picture."

"You sound like it's illogical."

"It is!" I said. It truly was . . . Derek? No. "Derek like pretty girls, girly girls. Not foul-
tempered, quick tongued girls."

"What if I said I liked foul tempered, quick tongued girls?" Oliver said with a sly Scottish grin.

I stopped dancing and stared at him. We had unconsciously danced ourselves into a corner. "I have been meaning to ask you Oliver, how do we stand after tonight?"

He looked back at me, "What do you mean?"

"What is going on between you and I?"I clarified. "I want to know so I can properly denounce it when I get bombarded with questions tomorrow at breakfast. The last thing I want is – " I was cut off when Oliver quickly and unexpectedly pressed his lips down onto mine. By the time I realized what was going on, the kiss was over.

Oliver looked extremely flustered. He said some things that totally went over my head and the next thing I knew I was staring at his back as he re-entered the Great Hall to go to the Gryffindor commons no doubt.

I was staring dumbly with my fingertips barely resting on my lips. What had just happened? And more over, why was I kind of sad it had ended? Suddenly, I snapped back to reality and realized my new predicament. The situation had just gotten a lot more complicated and I still didn't have my fucking answer to how I am supposed to act tomorrow. Bugger. This meant I had to go after him.

I didn't want to draw attention to myself so I weaved around people to get to the exit which I swore I just saw Oliver walk through. Once I got out of the Great Hall I started to go really fast up the staircases. I thought I could manage it in heels and I did for a while. I caught sight of Oliver on about the third floor.

"Wait, Oliver!" I shouted. He turned and looked at me from the next staircase up. Just then, the edge of my heel slipped on the step and I went sliding down the staircase I had just climbed. I smashed against the wall and clutched my head, shouting some colorful words. I checked to feel for blood anywhere but I soon realized that other fingers were doing it. Not my own. I opened my eyes and stared into the brown orbs of Oliver Wood.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a very compassionate, caring voice.

"Just fine," I said through clenched teeth. "Nothing I can't walk off."

"Are you sure?" he said as though he didn't believe me.

"No,"I acknowledged. "But I don't know the extent of what could be wrong so I can't say I am."

"Can you stand?" he asked. I just realized he was inches away from my face.

"Oliver," I said changing the subject. "Why did you sprint away from the courtyard?"

He blushed, obviously a bit embarrassed. "Well . . . I thought you would be angry with me and . . . I thought that if I didn't face you –"

"Do you know how much more complicated you made things for me?" I hissed. "You still never answered my question!"

"Which question was that?" Oliver asked.

"What does this make us?" I asked angrily. "What are we? How do things stand? I need to now before tomorrow!"

He appeared in thought for several moments and apparently his mind was in my eyes. Was it just me or was he getting closer. "How do you want us to be?" he whispered.

I didn't have an answer. Oh my god. The end is coming. Morgana Montague is losing her ability to think on her feet. In fact, I think I am losing my ability to think at all. Those perfect, full lips are moving closer and I am so far gone that I am doing nothing to stop them.

When they met mine, my mind was gone on vacation. I kissed back. He was surprised I could tell but I didn't stop. It felt too good and I didn't care to think of all the sides of the issue. I felt Oliver's tongue probe my mouth open and I let him only to meet his tongue with my own. His arms wrapped around my waist and mine around his neck. We kissed for what seemed like forever even though it was only a few minutes.

We finally pulled away from one another and stared at eachother in horror at what had just happened. "This has nothing to do with houses," I whispered.

"And this has nothing to do with quidditch . . ."Oliver finished.

"I should get back," I said. "The guys will wonder where I am."

"Oh, yeah, of course,"Oliver said, a little flustered himself. He got to his feet and gave me a hand. "Are you sure you are alright?"

"Yes," I replied, smoothing out my robes and beginning to descend the stairs. I stopped and turned back. "But Oliver, that still doesn't answer my question."

"Whatever you want," he said with a smile. "Answer them however you want."

I nodded and was about to resume walking down the stairs when he called out my name. "Morgana?"

"Yes?" I asked looking back up at him.

"This won't be our last meeting, will it?" he looked at me with one of the most sincerest expressions I think I have ever seen on someone before.

"No, Oliver," I said shaking my head. "I don't think I would even if I wanted it to be."

Author's Note: there you go. A nice long one. I made this long to hopefully tide you over if it takes me an extra couple days to get the chapter up. Let me say it again, reviews help me update faster. They make me feel like my work is significant in some sense. I am interested in how people like this chapter and what people want to see. I look forward to hearing from you. See you!