Tania dodged two Sixth Year boys as they hurried through Common Room to the stairs that led to the Boys Dorm. Odd, usually they would have walked around her and those two never rushed anywhere. Even more odd was the fact that neither one had paused to apologize. Both boys came from more than decent families and honor demanded that they at least acknowledge their mistake. Tania shrugged and filed the information away for later. Who knew when it could come in handy? Knowledge was power and she could use as much power as she could get her hands on. The Slytherin girl shifted her books to her other arm as she wove her way though Common Room herself. It seemed every single one of her Housemates had lost their minds. The normally calm and orderly room was filled with the older students rushing around, up and down the stairs. The only time Common Room was this crazy was right before a Qudditch match or when there was a duel between Housemates.
Sliding into a corner table, Tania hoped the chaos would go away so she could get some reading done. Her research about Wizarding Space had been explosive. Pieces were falling into place. Information was making sense after her talk with Alex. If only she could have some quiet, she might be able to get something accomplished. It had been hard to find time to work as Christmas drew closer. Professors had been handing out extra homework to prepare them for the mid-year exams. While none of it was hard, it was time consuming.
Tania swallowed a growl as she looked up to see more of her Housemates cluttering up her workspace. They were making more and more noise, chattering nonsense to each other. She barely noticed the fact that they were all dressed up in their finery. Her Housemates were a wash of colors and were bedecked in jewels, but it was completely lost on the Third Year girl. Tania was gathering up her notes and books to head up to her dorm. At least there the boys would be out of her hair and the girls didn't make great amounts of noise most of the time. Sometimes they got a little… rambunctious, but it usually stayed in the hall or other dorm rooms. The were almost always one or two rooms where those who didn't want to participate could hide out. A Silencing Charm worked wonders to keep out the noise.
Tania pushed open the door to the Third Year dorm and set her books on her desk. She pulled out her wand and lit half a dozen candles for more light to study by. The room was blessedly quiet. It seemed she was right. The chaos hadn't reached her room. Oddly enough that was one of the things she missed about home. It was the most horrible place to live, but no one came into her room except Hunter. She had large amounts of time to herself. If Tania was wanted at home, Father sent a servant to get her. He never came himself.
Ok, thoughts like that don't help anything, let alone help me complete this project.
With a little too much force, Tania pulled open her notebook. And began to write. If there were any tears in her eyes, she blamed the candles she had lit a few minutes ago. Tania Dethart did not cry. That was even more useless than the thought she had been thinking.
Suddenly the door burst open and the other Third Year girls came pouring in. They stopped their chatter abruptly as they took in Tania at the desk in her normal black robes. Tania blinked and gave her Year-mates a confused look. They were dressed for a Ball. It was obvious. They weren't wearing date dresses or dinner dresses, but Ball gowns. Faith broke out of her daze first and ran over to Tania.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you ready to go?" she exclaimed, closing Tania's book and pulling her to her feet. The Dethart girl watched this and allowed herself to be pulled up.
"What do you mean, 'ready to go'? Go where? Why are you all dressed for a Ball? The puzzled tone was clear in her voice. The other girls exchanged glances, then the twins stepped forward.
"The Yule Ball…"
"It's tonight."
Tonight? The Yule Ball is tonight… with Blaise! She had agreed to go to the Ball with Blaise, hadn't she? Tania barrowed one of Alex's favorite phrases.
"Dragon Shite!" she exclaimed, running to her closet. The other girls took a step back in shock at her uncharacteristic remark. Clothes of all kinds came flying through the air. Shirts, dresses, socks, pants, robes, gloves, and a few hats soon littered Tania's bed and the floor around it.
"Do you want some help?" Christina asked, staying out of the line of fire. The question resulted in a pause in the flurry of activity. Tania peeked her head out of her closet and studied her Dorm mates for a moment. Then she shook her head and waved them toward the door.
"No, no. You go. I'll be fine. There must be something in here I can wear." Her head disappeared back into the closet She didn't see the exchange of looks or the shrugging that took place. The Dethart girl was vaguely aware of the retreating footsteps and the sound of the door shutting. Pulling her last option to her, Tania looked in the mirror and bit back a sob of despair. Wrong, wrong, wrong! It was all wrong! Panic began to build in the pit of her stomach. She had promised Blaise that she would go, but had nothing to wear. When she didn't show up, he would come find her. (She forgot that he couldn't get up the stairs to the Girls Dorm. ) No matter what she said or did, he would grab her and drag her down to the Ball. Images of Falon began to superimpose themselves over her vision of what Blaise would do.
Once they got to the Ball, everyone would laugh at her. The worst of it would be the cool smirking laughter from her fellow Slytherins. Then Falon would saunter over, his face unreadable as he took in the disgrace she had brought to the Family, just like she did with every action she did. He would make her pay for her sins and everyone would just watch. Even Professor Snape would coolly watch. No one ever stopped Falon. They would even stop Hunter from helping her. Blaise would watch with the others, his Dorm mates flanking him on either side. He would be amused at Falon's display or disgusted by her weakness. Maybe Falon would get Draco Malfoy to show him a few tricks that his Father had taught him. Then Alex would look at her in distain and walk away.
…
Alex…Alex! Alex might still be in her Dorm. Alex might be able to help her figure something out. Grabbing an armful of dresses, Tania flew out of her room and down the hall.
Oh, no! She's not here! What am I going to do now? Tania shifted her pile of cloth to her other arm and knocked again on Alex's door. Calm Down! You have to calm down! The door was flung open before she had finished the knock. Alex stood on the other side, blinking as she registered Tania.
"I'm going to the Ball," the younger Slytherin stated, "And it's all wrong!" She stopped before saying more that would allow the panic to begin again. Instead she looked at the offending cloth in her arms, and had to add one more comment. "None of it works!" She noticed her voice had taken on a angry, frustrated tone and she swallowed to settle herself. She saw the corner of Alex's mouth twitch.
"You don't have anything to wear, do you?" Alex asked. At that simple question, all of the anger vanished. She still didn't know what to wear, but Alex was sympathetic. It might be possible for Tania to convince her to help.
"No!" she answered Alex trying to sound not as desperate as she was. How successful she was, Tania didn't know.
Alex chuckled and Tania was heartened a little more. "You poor thing. Come in. I'll fix it." The older girl gently took the pile of wrinkled clothing from Tania's hands and tossed to on a bed with one hand as she used the other to direct Tania inside. Pansy was still in the Dorm and she looked to take… either pity or sympathy on the younger girl.
"If you need anything from mine, go ahead and use it," Pansy said, a little harsh as she grabbed her purse and left. Had she interrupted something? She hoped Alex wasn't mad, too. Tania shifted from one foot to another as she noticed Alex shoot Pansy a strange look.
Alex shut the door behind Pansy. "Ok then. Tania, nothing meant, but strip." Echoes of similar commands fought to come to the surface of her mind and she flinched. Father's harsh insistence filled her ears for a moment. Faint whispers of pain touched her back. Violently shoving those memories away from her, she began to take off her school uniform. Alex was busy sorting through the dresses in her closet. She discarded several before finally choosing one.
"Hmm…let's do-No!…Umm…this one!" Alex snatched up the dress and held it up to Tania. After a second of consideration, she nodded. "Yeah, try it on."
Doing as commanded, the Dethart girl gently and carefully slid into the dress. It was the finest silk and the sensation of the cool smoothness on her skin brought a pleased smile to her face. Alex pulled out her wand and apparently cast a charm to fix the hems as the dress settled more firmly around her frame. She stood still as the older girl appraised the effort. The dress fell to her ankles, flowing around her with each movement she made. The material was made of a darker red and Tania fancied she could see a little purple in it. There were no sleeves and it was backless as well. The front of the dress was cut with a V-neck style. It was a little more… daring a cut than she would have normally worn, but she wasn't going to protest.
"Perfect…no, Tania. No mirrors until I finish. Here, put those on." Tania bit back a sheepish grin as Alex handed over a dancing slippers, obviously meant for that dress. They were made of accenting black silk, simple and elegant. She took them and sank onto the bed as she watched Alex cross the room to her desk. Pulling out a jewelry case she began humming as she rummaged through it. "Here," she said again, dropping a pair of dangly earrings into Tania's open hand. "I'll get the chocker.
"What…what kind of gems are these?" Tania asked softly, looking at the glittering black jewels. They were very beautiful. She could see the depths to them. The firelight in the Great hall would dance off of these.
"Black opals, I think," her friend replied. A black silk ribbon bearing a much larger version of the opals in the earrings dropped across her eyes for a second as Alex tied the chocker deftly around her neck.
"That's brilliant, now hair. Up or down, do you think?"
Tania opened her mouth, but before anything came out Alex decided. "Down, definitely down. It's long enough you won't freeze in that dress."
Tania smiled, feeling the first hints of excitement bubbling up under the anxiety of it all. Sliding the earrings in, she reached up and began pulling out the pins keeping her hair out of her way.
Alex stopped her rummaging and turned back towards her, a black ribbon in one hand. She froze suddenly, a frown twisting her smile.
"Umm, Tania…"
Tania let her hands drop from her hair in confusion, saw her own bare arms and blanched. There was no way she'd screwed up so badly! It was…and now Alex knew and-
"Well, then gloves, I think." The calm acceptance in the other girl's voice ended the panic attack before it got off the ground. Reaching around behind her, Alex pulled out a handful of elbow length gloves of half a dozen colors. Pulling out the – surprise! – black ones she handed them over before moving around to kneel on the bed behind her.
Tania stared at the lengths of silk as she felt a brush working its way through her hair.
"Breathe, m'dear," Alex said softly near her ear. "I'm not going to say anything."
Tania's lips twitched and she wanted to say something, anything, but there wasn't anything. She swallowed painfully, as if something were caught in her throat, and took a deep breath to calm her shattered thoughts.
"I think I'll do a little of both, actually, Tania. Let's just take most of this top layer around your face and do a half ponytail."
"Uhh…." Tania applied all of her genius to a reply. "Sure. Whatever you want."
Alex sniffed arrogantly. "Always, dear. Always." She stopped her puttering and leaned over Tania's shoulder and smiled at her profile. "All done. Go find a mirror."
Tania shrugged, walking over to the full length mirror. Whatever Alex said, Tania had seen herself made up before, it wasn't going to be much different…except it was. She wasn't in a dress designed to create a wallflower of her. In fact, despite the length of fabric and the gloves, a very great deal of her skin seemed to be showing.
A very great deal of her skin was showing and she looked good! Tania started to grin at her reflection.
"Hey, I'm done myself if you are, Tania. We should go, Blaise isn't late to anything."
Alex's words had a profound affect. Tania stopped grinning. "Shit!" she hissed, blushing furiously. Still watching the mirror, Tania noticed that the red flush extended much lower than her neck.
Alex appeared behind her in the reflection, her gown white with a scarlet corset, her face serious. "You look gorgeous, Tani. Let him think he's leading and keep him on his toes. You'll have no problems." She wrinkled her nose. "Me, on the other hand, I'm going with the Head Baddock himself. I will be having problems."
Tania started to giggle and Alex smoothed her skirt and straightened the off-the-shoulder ruffle that made up her very Southern American style gown. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Just…nothing." Tania shook her head. "Let's go."
The top of the stairs had never seemed so… terrifying, If she took a step down she would be committing to the Ball with Blaise. No matter what she had agreed to or promised, until she saw Blaise, all bets were off. She could come up with any excuse, especially if Hunter helped. She had risked enough with Blaise at Hogsmeade and even then, Falon had seen her. There would be no way for him to not see her tonight. No matter how many people were in the Great Hall, Falon had a Tania-sense. He could always find her. And he would never think that Blaise might have asked her to the Ball. No, he would be certain that she was imposing on an older, more powerful bloodline. That was completely unacceptable.
Alex had paused when Tania did. "You're not going, are you?" she asked, softly, sympathetically. A wave of relief washed over her. Alex did understand her fears and concerns. It was such a freeing thought that someone other than Hunter understood without long explanations.
Tania summoned a long dark blue cloak from her room and pulled it around her shoulders as she took a step back from the stairs. "Thank you so much, Alex. Will you tell him for me?"
Alex's smile turned evil.
Blaise stood in the Common Room waiting for his date. He wasn't bored, Blaise Zabini was never bored for long. If there was nothing to do, he made something up. Right now he was practicing his manly poses. Two First years watched his antics, not sure if they should be amused or disturbed. He faced them with a flip of his hair.
"Don't hate me that I'm going to the Ball and you have to stay here." That was all be managed to say before he felt a yank on the back of his hair. Whirling he came face to face with Seventh Year, Tara Cromwell. She had a serious look on her face, except for the twinkle in her eye that apparently all Cromwells had. Blaise remembered last year, when Tara's twin brothers had been the Kings of Slytherin House.
"If you keep flipping it like that, it will fall out one day," she remarked, patting him on the head and smirking. Tara didn't wait for a response as she sauntered up the stairs to leave Common Room, her date keeping step. Blaise waved her away with one significant finger and noticed the First Years had paled. Suddenly, from behind Blaise, all hell broke loose.
THUD!
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bum-bum! Bum!
SLAM- "OW!"
There was a second of silence. "ALEX! What was that for?" Tania's voice echoed down the stairs, easily reaching Common Room. Alex's response was calm and collected, but most people didn't realized how good Bliase's hearing was. He could catch the entire conversation, even though no more of it was shouted.
"I said Blaise didn't bite. I never said I didn't." Was the cool reply. "If you don't want to go, tell him yourself."
"But I-"
"I don't care if you think he's ugly, annoying, or the biggest pain in the ass you've ever met! He's a Slytherin and as such deserves at the very least a face to face refusal as opposed to a cowardly 'Dear John' letter in the form of one of his best friends!"
"It's not that," Tania quickly protested, "He's a total sweetheart, but…"
"But what?" Alex responded, her comment nearly lost amidst Blaise's mental exultations of I'm a sweetheart. A Sweetheart. Draco was never called a sweetheart.
"He's in Danger!" Tania blurt out, concern and fear threading her voice.
"From who?" Alex was paranoid enough to at least consider the other girl's statement at face value. Tania's face instantly shut down some, and she shook her head quickly. She took a step back from Alex, as if that would stop the inquiry.
"I-I, He just is." She hedged as much as possible.
Alex smiled. "Tania, dear, if you look around Blaise, he is usually in trouble. Most of the time he caused the trouble himself. I'm going to the Ball, don't forget. If Blaise does get in trouble I'll get him out… or make Draco do it."
Make Draco do it! Blaise thought annoyed. Draco! Save me! But, but…Ladies how could you. His indignation melted into a mental wail. He decided to end the conversation before they hurt his manly pride any more.
"Ladies! I can hear you. And don't think I can't get up the stairs. That is a myth perpetuated by women like Tara Cromwell!" Blaise flipped his hair one more time in defiance to all things Tara. There was a pronounced silence for a few seconds.
Alex's face peeked around the corner and she grinned. "We'll be down in a minute. Tania has to… fix her make-up." She disappeared for another minute, then both girls walked calmly down the stairs as if nothing had ever happened. Tania still wore the dark cloak around her and Blaise wondered if she was wearing anything underneath it. He mentally smacked himself as he realized that such a thought was unworthy of him and, more importantly her. He took a few steps forward to meet the girls.
"Good evening, Blaise," Alex said, "Take good care of my girl and Donovan is waiting." With a flash of her hand, Alex whipped the black cloak from Tania's shoulders and sauntered up the stair to the dungeon halls. Tania followed Alex's departure with her gaze, not wanting to turn her attention back to her date. But Alex's form left the Common Room and she had no choice. The Third Year brought her eyes to rest on Blaise Zabini and felt her face turn red.
Blaise was standing there in his dress robes, his eyes wide as he stared at her. There was a half-smile, half-smirk playing on his lips. His mouth was hanging open, just a little. Tania shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for something, anything to let her know what Blaise was thinking.
"Um… Blaise?" Tania asked, after a few minutes of silence. "The Ball?" Blaise shook himself out of his apparent daze and gave her a charming smile.
"Tania, my dear, you look amazing," he held out a hand to her with a flourish. She hesitated for a second and he took a step forward and took her hand before she could protest. He was standing at her side then, an infectious grin calming her unease at the contact.
"Now, you weren't really going to bail on me, were you?" Blaise asked with a touch of innocent pleading in his voice as they walked up the stairs and exited Common Room. "I am thankful that you are so concerned with the possible danger I might be in, but Alex is correct, I usually get in, and out, on my own." Blaise continued his chatter as they emerged into the Entrance Hall. They joined the crowd of students heading into the Great Hall.
"I can promise this will be an interesting evening, Tania." Blaise assure her as they stepped into the Great Hall.