Chapter six
A whole month passed; it was now October and it seemed like the winter would come early; it was piercing cold outside and the snow had already begun to fall.
Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room together with Ron and Hermione, doing homework.
'Hey,' he said, 'what's the answer to question 9 b?' Hermione looked at her paper that lay on the table; she had already finished it, and said:
'Unicorn.' Harry wrote it down and was just about to start answering the next question when he heard a picking noise coming from his left. He jerked his head and saw a big, yellow and brown-speckled owl that looked very impressive. Harry went up from his armchair, walked up to the window and opened it. A small envelope was tied to the bird's leg and as Harry took it off, he noticed it was addressed to him. Who could have sent it? Definitely not Sirius, and Ron and Hermione were with him so they had no reason ... Dumbledore perhaps? Although Harry couldn't understand why he'd do that, sending letters to students just like that wasn't usual.
Harry sat back down on his seat and slowly opened the letter. He started reading, and as his face got tomato-red, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, and Hermione asked:
'Who is it from?' Harry looked up so quickly he got cramp in his neck. He massaged it and thought he didn't want to tell them.
'Er ...' he said. Then, just to make sure he hadn't been mistaking, he read through the letter once more.
Potter,it said,
I just thought I'd ask you about the ball. This might come out strange, but how do we arrange this whole thing? Should I wait for you, or should we just meet in the Great Hall ...?
Hope you don't regret saying yes.
D.
No, I don't regret it, Harry thought. He then gave a twisted smile, looked at Ron and Hermione and said:
'It was from Malfoy.' Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped, and it took a while before they regained their abilities to speak.
'Malfoy?' Hermione said. 'What did he want?'
'Umm,' Harry said, 'he just wanted to ask me where we'd meet at the ball ...'
Ron blushed furiously while Hermione beamed at Harry.
'I don't know about you guys, but I think this whole thing is great!' she said happily. 'Are you going to write him back?'
'Well, I have to, don't I?' Harry said, avoiding looking at Ron, whose face now had gotten slightly greenish. Harry asked Hermione if she had any parchment and a quill, and she nodded and gave it to him.
'Here you go,' she said.
'Thanks,' Harry said and started writing.
I got your letter, and I suggest we just meet outside the Great Hall. Dumbledore told us the ball started at seven, so I guess 6.50 is a good time to be there.
And by the way, I don't regret it one bit.
H.
He smiled as he had finished the letter, then got up and told Ron and Hermione he'd go and send it.
Harry walked out the Portrait, quickly walked to the Owlery, looked out for Hedwig and called for her as he spotted her. She flew down towards him.
'Hi,' he said to her. She hooted softly as a reply and Harry tied the letter to her leg.
'Now,' he said, 'this is going to Draco Malfoy, he's in the Slytherin house. Do you think you can get it to him?' Hedwig hooted again and Harry walked up to the opened window. Hedwig flew off and Harry watched her a bit before turning round and then walking back to the common room.
'Hey, Draco,' someone called. Draco looked up and saw Blaise holding a piece of parchment in his hand. 'You've got a letter here!' Could it be ...? Draco thought and slowly walked up to the other boy. He took the letter from Blaise and read it. A slight smile appeared on his lips, making Blaise look at him questioningly.
'What does it say?' he asked, but Draco didn't answer, just kept on smiling secretively and then went up to the boys' dormitories. Once inside, he put the letter in his trunk, and was just about to lock it when he decided to read the letter again. He did so and suddenly felt his heart beat faster.
'He doesn't regret it one bit,' he sang quietly to himself. He put the letter away and then went down to the common room again.
Together, he and Blaise walked to the Great Hall for lunch. All the way there, Blaise kept asking Draco what had been in the letter, but the silver-blonde boy refused to say anything.
'Oh, come on,' Blaise pouted, making Draco laugh. 'I wanna knooow!'
'Sorry, Blaise, can't tell you,' Draco said, smirking. They sat down by the Slytherin-table and were just about to tuck in when suddenly Dumbledore spoke.
'Students,' he said, beaming, 'you all remember the ball I told you about at the start of term, am I correct?' The whole crowd of students said "yes", and Dumbledore continued:
'Well, I forgot to mention the date! And this whole matter didn't occur to me until this very day, apologies for that. So, the date for this event is December 10th, everyone try to remember that. That was all I had to say. You may now continue to eat this delicious meal, although, I did in fact notice some people didn't seem to care about an old man's words,' he added with a twinkle towards Crabbe and Goyle, who had already eaten half their plates.
They didn't seem to understand Dumbledore had meant them; they just continued eating like it was their last meal. Draco looked at them, disgusted, and he wondered why he had ever been friends with them. They were completely oblivious to everything around them; all they ever thought about was food, food and food.
But Draco didn't think about this further, instead he ravenously started eating.
Oct. 10th 1996
Today it's exactly two months till the ball takes place. I can't believe it's gone a whole month since I asked Potter ... we haven't talked to each other or anything, but I did send him a letter and asked him if we should meet some place before the ball. And he sure was quick to respond; I didn't have to wait more than half an hour till I got the answer. He told me we should meet at 6.50 outside the Great Hall. Perfect, if you ask me. I'm actually looking forward to it. A lot.
Hope he feels the same ... But honestly, I just don't understand why I asked him to the ball in the first place! I went through some old diary-notes from the beginning of the term, which was a month ago, and I seemed to have disliked him more than ever before. How could it change so fast?
I have no idea; all I know is that I don't mind. And by the looks of it, he doesn't seem to mind that much either. I mean, if he wouldn't want to go with me, he'd say so, right? I can see it before me, Potter and I, waltzing into the Great Hall, proudly, while everyone stares at us. Quite funny, actually. But what if they think ... no, that'd be ridiculous. Because I'm not, not in a million years. Or am I ...?
wee.. perhaps not the longest chapter, but I can't sit here anymore cuzI gotta study.. I've got a big test coming up on friday.. yay.. /