Shini almost sprinted to the Slytherin House Portrait. She huffed and snorted out the short breaths she could muster, but no password emerged. "Hu… Hu…" she tried.

The portrait swung open and Alice looked at Shini, not in the least bemused.

"Where the blazes have you been?" Alice cursed, yanked Shini into the common room and shoved her step by step up to their dorm. "Come the fuck on, you don't have much time to get ready. Not to mention our make-up!" Alice lifted a large hanging roll that opened and fell to the floor, covered entirely in little pockets full or jewelry, cover-up, eye-shadow, liner, lipstick, more liner, mascara, perfume, powder, spray, and gel. She had already laid out Shini's dress across her four poster, fished her heels out of the messy trunk, and was performing an insta-dry spell on the other's hair before she knew what going on.

Shini expertly fancied up her hair and curled the ends to bounce with every step. The curves and cut look fitted the dress style perfectly. She threw on her matching black silk underwear and bra set and finally slipped on the magically-pressed gown. It fit snuggly around her every delicate curve. Nothing about her appearance was overpowering, but to the careful eye that looked, she was breathtaking.

"Good gracious, girl! The lads'll be flockin' t'ya," Alice stated flatly but with the most flattery she could without a twinge of jealousy. Her own dress looked magnificent, and she looked older than 14 certainly, but Shini had a much more mature attitude that topped the evening excitement with a weight of ease.

"I altered it a little when I woke up in the middle of the night. That's all."

"Just leave me Josh, if you please. I didn't go through all this for nothing, you know," Alice smiled and forgave Shini for not understanding her own physical and mental power. The girl only had a vague conception of her beauty and brains.

"I will, don't worry." Shini was surprisingly calm, more thoughtful than Alice would have expected from her friend at the moment. "Looks like I'll need those other lads the way Flint was acting earlier. Who the hell was he fighting anyway?" She turned to Alice for an answer.

Alice froze, and then jerked a shrug with her shoulders. "Don't know," she whispered. "Must have gotten away."

"Well, I hope Flint got some good spells in. Snape would be proud of that at least."

Alice didn't hear her friend; she was too ashamed she had to lie, but Alice had promised Oliver. Don't tell Shini about this. Please, Tearhood, I beg you. Alice felt odd knowing something her near-sister had a right to know. Shini caused rivalries and fights, even at the age of fourteen. But Alice was there to protect Shini, and she was going to keep her promise.

"Alright, um… help me with my makeup. Come on, we don't have much time left."

Shini quickly finished up Alice's hair, and Shini, Alice thought, looked more innocent and glowing than ever. Alice suggested curling the ends of her hair even more, so she giggled and shot her with a curling spell. Shini's skirt rolled straight up to her underwear and she raced to cover herself while Alice doubled in a rich and happy laughter.

"Hardy-har-har, Tearhood."

Then came the makeup. Shini grabbed a set of light eye-shadows from the bathroom cabinet filled with cosmetics. She put a mixture of gold, light pink, and a shimmering light blue over Alice's dark blue eyes. It enhanced the color of her eyes and Shini was pleased. Alice put on her own eyeliner (the girls decided they'd rather not have an eye-patch on account of the other) and mascara.

Shini picked out the lip products she thought Alice should use so that she could get started on her own makeup. They were really running short on time. She proceeded to put on dark eye-shadow which made her blue eyes light up, though the increase seemed dismal compared to their sparkle of excitement, and some dark red lipstick. Everything about her was perfect and Shini was all too proud. She put on the rather dark lipstick that kept her smooth lips soft, too.

Alice had donned some very shimmery lip gloss and looked absolutely gorgeous. They smiled and giggled frantically. It was the kind of thing that is only amusing to girls, but at a time like this it was all too necessary to giggle and enjoy. It was one of the few times Shini would ever be perfectly happy.

Back down at the Great Hall, the anxious boys awaited their dates. Flint was about to eat someone alive if he had to wait much longer. Only a few girls were already down and they had then left to get the others to move their asses along. Flint was talking with the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He noticed Josh casually slipping glances towards the staircase so as not to miss his date's entrance. Flint was the only one Miken had ever told his feelings for Alice about. Of course, the rest of the team was desperately aware of it and teased him so much, it was ridiculous.

Flint sighed and looked to his foot tapping furiously on the ground.

Shini looked at herself one last time in the mirror and smiled. She was completely unaware of just how good she looked. Alice sure as she could see her feet knew, but wasn't about to worry. She knew the Shini would never let beauty go to her head and try to take all two billion wizards at one time.

Shini turned to look out of the window. She could see the frozen lake and the ice petals lightly drifting from the sky. She stared down at the sparkling garden of lights and could almost hear the trickling of the fountain outside.

"Shini, girl, get a move on!" Maria Lawrence snapped at her as Alice fled the dorm, laughing and leaning back just before the door knocked her out of mirror shot. She left, fiddling with her hair and screaming for a bobby-pin. Maria was noticeably fighting back her laughter and excitement, too. She was a year older than Shini with long, curly, reddish-brown hair, and beautiful forest green eyes. Shini reluctantly stood up and gave a last glance at the falling snow.

She could feel Maria's eyes scan over her dress, her shoes, her makeup, and her hair, and when Shini looked back, Maria nodded approval. Shini smiled and posed for Maria, who mimicked her pose, and they both flicked their hair and laughed. It was a randomly fun greeting between the Slytherin girls and was spreading through the whole school like wildfire.

Shini was excited. The butterflies in her stomach were on a sugar rush with no end in sight. If she stopped walking, her knees shook, and if anyone had said something funny, she would have giggled herself crazy. Alice was waiting for Maria and Shini… actually, they found her ass high in the air while she peeked (shoved her head) through the railing at the gorgeous Josh Miken laughing with Marcus Flint. She reached through the bars to put her hair pin between her teeth while she twisted some hair, but the pin fell out as she couldn't help but gape at her lovely date.

"Up, Tearhood," Maria commanded, sounding exactly like Miken just to scare the living mess out of Alice. Alice popped up just missing the top bar, her hair unable to take the blow. "Brush off and look sexy as hell for your…you know, man!"

"Let's get it on." Alice remarked, Shini adding a misunderstood 'let's get ready to rumble' from her memory of Muggle TV.

"Amen!" All three raised their hands together and posed, posed, blew a kiss. This was like a guys' secret handshake but made much more feminine, as you can imagine, an extended version of the simple 'pose.'

And so came the moment of truth. The girls lined up at the top of the stairs and went down in the order of Maria, Alice, and Shini (last because Alice had told Shini to fix her hair while they descended). Their dates were at the very foot of the stair, poised for their arrival. They were standing in a triangle because other boys were conversing with the dates that had already come down. Cashimo Coy, Maria's date, and Josh were standing so that they faced the stairs, but Flint had his back to the rise. Josh was the first to notice the girls, or at least Maria who was in front. He stabbed Cash in the side with his elbow, and Cash instantly shut-up to look towards the flight. There was Maria, his rather recent girlfriend but longtime crush, all dressed in silky fabric that made his throat seize up and his heart stop beating.

Josh studied the look on Cash's face, then looked to Mari—'oh. shit.' He had gotten a glimpse of Alice, now branching off to the left of Maria. His jaw went limp, but he wouldn't let his lips part; he blinked and struggled to clear his suddenly ravenously dry throat. Flint at first coughed to try the guys' attention and then looked behind him. At first he could not see Shini's face, for Maria blocked his view as Shini moved to the older girl's right. Flint saw delicate hair, a lowered forehead, a high-heeled foot, and a creamy ankle. His gaze was frozen at her feet. He could not bring himself to look up; neither could Shini.

As Shini's head came into view, Marcus saw a faint smile grow on the deep, luscious lips of his love. He'd always known he loved her, but she didn't look at him. She settled for standing beside him as if she would forever know where to stand, right at his arm. She was glowing in his eyes, and when she let her head tilt up to the candlelight, her smile lit up the room. The evening had begun.

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A/N: so this is as long as i could make the chapter, and i'm desperately trying to make the writing as mature as possible since the first chapters obviously show how young i was when i wrote them (roughly five years ago). i'm also trying to stay as true as i can to the original story that i've written out so far, plus the plot twists i always expected to add, most of which i could kick myself for not writing down because i can't remember how i get myself to some situations... anywho, enjoy, and more is coming! plus, if you are reading this far, please at least give a review that simply says great, good, neads work, horrible, not to my liking, OR whatever you feel like saying>. it doesn't have to be a novel, but i do want to know what the people are thinking. thanx a lot! much love and happy new year!