Disclaimer: All characters and main ideas recognized in the Harry Potter series belong to J. K. Rowling. If they belonged to me, then I would be very rich right now, and I wouldn't be sitting at this computer, uploading to a site.
Claimer: The plot of this fanfic belongs to me, and to no one else. This plot is an original creation which blossomed while trying to evade insomnia.
The Forgotten Prophecy
Written By: Jeeths
Chapter 8: The Yule Ball
It was
Thursday morning and Ginny Weasley was in Transfiguration class.
Apparently Professor McGonagall had an announcement to make to the
class.
"The Yule Ball is approaching—a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above." 'Then why the hell is she rubbing this in our face?' "Although some students above your year may wish to invite you, in which case, you will be allowed to attend. Dress robes will be worn, and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then, the Yule ball is of course a chance for us all to –er—let our hair down. But that does NOT mean that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way." The bell rang and everyone rushed to collect their books.
As Ginny walked out of the classroom she thought to herself 'Wow, I hope someone from a higher year asks me to the Yule Ball, it would be so much fun! I wonder who though...' Her mind automatically pinpointed Harry. 'Ha! Harry, sure, like that'll ever happen. I've been trying to get him to notice me for over two years! With all the girls that'll be throwing themselves at him to go to the ball, he won't come to Ron's little sweet sister Ginny! I should just take what I can get...' And with that she entered the Charms' classroom.
Draco had just left his Potion's classroom, where it was announced there would be a Yule Ball during Christmas time. Draco had already known about this, his father being such a high authority figure and all. He wished he had been allowed to pick who he was to escort. His father had chosen for him, and told him to invite along Pansy Parkinson, the pug-faced Slytherin witch who clung onto his arm at any given chance. 'What girl would I have chosen if given the chance?' he wondered. He set off to the Great Hall to ask Pansy before any mental guy had the chance to.
Draco entered the Great Hall, and, as usual, Pansy had saved him a seat right next to her, hoping that on off-chance he would sit next to her. Only this time, he went down to sit in it, much to the content and surprise of Pansy and many other Slytherins who bothered to pay attention. "So, Dra—"
"Pansy, would you give me the pleasure of being your escort to the Yule Ball?" he interrupted in an uninterested voice. 'Ha, pleasure, now THAT'S funny!'
Pansy had looked as if Christmas had come early. 'There wasn't that long of a wait, was there?' "Of course, Drakie!" she shrieked in her high shrill voice.
"On one condition, DO NOT call me 'Drakie', got it?"
"But Drakie, please?" she pleaded.
"No," he replied.
"But--"
"NO!" he bellowed, making many heads turn. He got up from his seat, and stormed out of the Great Hall.
Well someone has a temper. I wonder what sent him off his rocker. It was most probably the pug-faced Pansy who was sitting next to him. No one can look at that thing long without getting sick...' Ginny contemplated, while eating her lunch.
It had been about a month since the announcement of the Yule Ball. Ginny was doing her best to comfort a disgruntled Ron who had just done something that he would look back to remember for a while. Harry had just climbed into the portrait hole and came to join them by the fire of the common room.
"What's up Ron?" inquired Harry. Ron went berserk.
"Why did I do it? I don't know what made me do it!"
"What?" said Harry.
"He – er – just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," she answered for him, trying to keep the laughter back. She patted his arm as sympathetically as she could.
"You what?" asked Harry, completely aghast.
Ron explained his actions as best he could.
"She's part veela," Harry revealed. "You were right – her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it – but she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang. I asked her to go with me just now, and she told me." Harry explained, all of a sudden sullen.
The smile that had been playing on Ginny's lips completely vanished. 'I
knew it; he would never go for me when he could go to Cho Chang. What
was so great about her? If only he would be like that with me...'
"This is mad," said Ron. "We're
the only ones left who haven't got anyone – well, except Neville. Hey –
guess who he asked? Hermione!"
"What?" Harry exclaimed, utterly bewildered.
'Oh how I would love to shove it in his face that Neville actually HAS a date, unlike these two blokes!' Ginny thought.
"Yeah, I know!" Ron continued. "He told me after Potions! Said she's always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff – but she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville...I mean, who would?"
Ginny could feel her insides boiling with annoyance. "Don't!" she said, "Don't laugh –"
Hermione walked in through the portrait hole. "Why weren't you two at dinner?" she asked Ron and Harry.
"Because – oh shut up laughing, you two – because they've both been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!" Ginny answered for them, shutting the two up.
"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," Ron growled.
'Any time,' she thought to herself, biting back her retort.
Ron and Hermione began arguing. Ron asked Hermione to the ball but she refused, saying that she was already going with somebody else. Ron couldn't believe it and insulted Hermione, even though he didn't realize it. After she stormed out, Ron was still unsuccessful at having a partner to the ball.
"She's lying," he said sourly, watching her walk out.
"She's not," Ginny replied quietly, defending her friend.
"Who is it then?" Ron interrogated.
"I'm not telling you, it's her business," she replied curtly.
"Right," said Ron, "this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just –"
"I can't," she said, turning scarlet. 'Oh, why on earth did I say yes to him?' "I'm going with – with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought...well... I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She felt completely and utterly stupid. She just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. "I think I'll go and have dinner," she said. She got up from the couch and walked to the portrait hole, not even bothering to look back. She was in complete misery and felt like a fool! 'Why did I have to grab the first opportunity that came? I just passed up the perfect chance to be with Harry!' She sighed as she walked down the stairs to the Great Hall.
Ginny looked at the dress robe that was spread in front of her on her bed. They were second-hand and needed some work. She looked in a book which she had bought at Flourish and Blotts, Wardrobe Touch Ups by Madame Malkin. She needed to figure out what to do! She flipped through the pages, and said a Restoring spell, which made the fabric look almost as good as new. She cast a few more spells on the dress, and was pleased with the outcome.
Ginny's dress was made of satin in a crème color. She had gotten the loose threads to disappear, and added a bit of style to it. The collar was Chinese- style as were the sleeves that ended at her wrists. She had gotten cuffs to shrink a bit in order to keep from looking like a skinny stick in a huge robe. The robe was form fitting, and showed the few curves she had attained over the years. The robe buttoned with thick thread loops underneath her bust, and there was a matching plain spaghetti strap dress underneath her robe, which ended right above her knees. The buttons to the robe ended a few inches below her navel. She also had crème colored strappy sandals with about an inch or two of heel.
She made many futile attempts to get her hair into a bun, but was unsuccessful. Therefore, she pulled two locks of her hair from the front, and clipped it together in the back. She let a few loose tendrils fall in front of her face. She then grabbed her wand, and twisted locks of hair around the wand, muttering a charm each time. After curling her hair and casting a spell to keep it as still as possible, she slipped into her dress robes. She then put on her sandals. She thought about jewelry, she barely had any. There was no need for necklace, so she put on some tasteful pearl droplet earrings, and a charm bracelet on one wrist. She quickly applied some foundation, hoping to cover freckles, brown eyeliner, brown mascara, light glitter eye shadow, and some pink strawberry lip gloss. She put a few things in a matching crème colored purse and shrunk her wand to fit in it also. She gathered her things, and took a quick look in the mirror. It was the best she could do, and that was what she was going with. She quickly walked down the stairs to the common room, not the least bit surprised when she wasn't acknowledged by those around her.
Draco walked down into the common room, wearing black velvet dress robes with a high collar. He walked towards the couch and shoved over a couple of third years who were sitting on it. He sat down and waited for Pansy to come down the stairs. The common room was very crowded with people all waiting for their partners to go to the ball. He saw Pansy walk down the stairs, wearing frilly pale pink dress robes. 'Ugh! What on earth is she wearing? That color is going to look terrible next to mine! And what's with the entire dolly frill? How girly can you get?' He stood up and waited for Parkinson to come to him. The second she did, she didn't even wait for him to offer her his arm. She snatched at it and impolitely hung on as if for dear life. She gave the girls who dared glance at Draco a 'he's mine' sneer. With a disgusted look on his face, he began leading her towards the entrance of the common room. 'Let's get this over with,' he thought to himself.
Ginny needed to get away for a while. While Neville went to get them drinks, Ginny flew down the stone steps from the entrance hall, leading outside into the rose garden. She paid no attention to the fluttering fairy lights, and winced as her bruised feet ran across the grounds. She finally came to a halt by the lake, and gingerly sat under a willow tree. She stared at the lake for a while, contemplating, when she felt tears streak her cheeks. 'I hate this! I can't believe I ended up coming with blundering Neville! He's been crushing my feet while dancing all night, and this night has not been good in any way at all! Sure, Neville's nice, but I want something other than that. If only I had refused Neville, then I could have come with Harry, and things would be less complicated! Of course, I saw how Harry has been eyeing Chang all night, and I hate that too!' she thought while she sobbed. All of a sudden, she felt as if she was being watched. She lifted her head from her knees and looked around her. She saw nothing. All she sensed was a cold breeze. "I should have brought a cloak," she mumbled to herself, resting her head on her knees once more.
"I agree," said a silky voice. She whipped her head up, looking at where the voice came from.
"Malfoy go away," she muttered to the boy sitting on a limb of the willow.
"Nope, no can do, my tree," he replied, pointing to the trunk of the willow.
"Ugh!" she said in frustration, turning her head back towards the lake.
"I agree. The lake isn't all that great from down there. There's a much better view from up here. Wanna see?" he said, completely changing the topic.
Ginny eyed him warily, trying to see if he was up to his usual antics. However, his face was as blank as a clean sheet of parchment. She wiped her eyes, and slowly stood up and brushed herself off. He leaned forward on the limb and offered a hand to her. She climbed up the tree with a struggle, even though Malfoy was helping her. She was successfully pulled onto the limb in front of Malfoy, and he kept her from falling off with a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
"Thanks," she mumbled, but he simply pointed in front of her with his other arm. She looked towards where he was pointing and her breath caught in her lungs. The lake was a magnificent sight from here, as Malfoy had said. There was a reflection of the moon in on the water, causing it to sparkle as the water moved slightly, and it seemed as if the giant squid had gone to rest, for nothing was disturbing its surface. They continued to look on in silence, and even though the beauty of the lake was fascinating, her mind continued to wander towards the miserable night, and her face grew sullen once more.
"Knut for your thoughts," Malfoy said, actually pulling a knut out of his robes tossing it in the air and catching it, over and over and over again.
"Malfoy, it's just a saying, you're not actually supposed to give the person a knut," she replied.
"But it's not as if you don't need it," he said with a smirk.
"I DON'T need it Malfoy," she replied curtly.
"You know you do, Weaselette, you are a Weasley after all," he said, pressing the matter.
"There is a fine line between need and want, Malfoy. Our family has all its necessities, if not all its wants. Of course, you being your pampered self wouldn't know the meaning of a want," she replied, her eyes telling him that the matter was closed.
"True," he said, his pride getting the better of him. "So, knut or not, will you tell me your thoughts?" he said still tossing the coin.
Ginny hesitated for a moment, then thought, 'What the heck? It's pretty obvious anyway. Neville is probably wondering where the hell I am right now, but oddly, I don't care...'
"Ok Malfoy, first things first, don't laugh at me about this, ok?" she said, looking behind her to see his reaction. He nodded his head. "Well the second I heard about the ball, I thought of the one person I wanted to take me," she continued. "I've been trying to get his attention for the longest time, but he refuses to pay attention to me. I pretty much figured that he wouldn't take me, and that I should take up the first opportunity to go, since I'm in third year and couldn't go without a fourth year or above escort. After a while, Neville asked me to go with him and I said yes." She stopped to glare at him because he was shaking with laughter. "I thought I told you not to laugh!"
"I know, I know, but it's Longbottom!" he said in between bursts of laughter. He had stopped tossing the coin. When his laughter finally subsided, she continued.
"So it had been a while since he had asked me," Malfoy resumed tossing the coin, "and Ron and other people were still looking for dates. Then, unexpectedly, I had a chance to go to the dance with the person I wanted to go with in the first place, but I had to refuse because I already agreed to go with Neville."
"Oh, BIG mistake!" Draco interrupted with a smirk.
"Yes I'm aware of that!" she said, giving him another death glare. "And now I'm here with you, after leaving the ball because blundering Neville has been bruising my feet while trying to dance!" she said huffily and pouting.
"Am I really that bad?" he asked, with mock concern.
"Yes!" she snapped.
"Oh...Thank you!" he said with his the infamous Malfoy smirk. There was a silence.
"I should probably go back; my brother and Neville will be looking for me."
"Right," Malfoy said, promptly sliding off the limb and dropping to his feet. He turned to walk away.
"Your not going to leave me up here, are you!" Ginny exclaimed a bit worried.
"Oh...right..." Malfoy said, turning around to help Ginny down. He gestured for her to drop. She did so, and he caught her in his strong arms. Their eyes met, and she was the first to break their look. "You shouldn't run after Potter if he didn't come to you first. You shouldn't be second choice in anyone's eyes, and for him, you came after Chang. He's not worth it." He let go of her, pressing something into her hand. "By the way, nice dress robes, where'd you find them? In a garbage bin?" he said with a sneer, and stalked off.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" she said to herself. She looked down into her hand and saw a single solitary Knut. She felt rage go through her body and was about to throw it into a lake when she noticed something strange about it. She looked closer. There was a wrapper on it? She pulled the wrapper, and was astonished to see that it was chocolate. 'A chocolate knut...he's right…how'd he know it was Harry?' She popped it into her mouth and walked back towards the castle with a small smile on her face.
To Be Continued...
Review Please!
A/N: Ok, sorry it took SOOO long to update! I am really truly sorry! But it was a pretty long chapter for me! Ok, well I hope you liked it! I worked pretty hard on it and I would like to thank Jen once again for the idea! Oh by the way, fanficdotnet's editing thing does NOT WORK! It takes me such a long time to get it to work right!
XBlkMagickTrixX: Well now you know!
Angel-Face101: Yeah I really liked your story! You should update soon! It's great that you like my story!
Lilmooseygurl: Haha, I suggest you read the book over again Mimerz! Get better! LYL!
Flier: I really liked your story 'Blind'! Keep going with it, and you were right about me!
