Forever Mine, Forever Yours
Chapter Eight: Yule Ball Charm
A/N: This is a little shorter than usual, but that's only because I plan to make the Yule Ball very long, for your reading pleasure, and it just seemed like a good place to stop. Also, I'm REALLY sorry for the long wait, my beta reader took a week and half to beta read it after constant poking and prodding. I promise that chapter 9 WILL be up VERY soon.
In regards to the ending of Chapter 7, go back and think of it in a symbolic way, and it might make more sense.
Disclaimer: JK owns my world.
Paige was absolutely devastated when she found out that Roger Davies had been asked to the ball by Fleur Delacour. She listened to Cho, Marietta, Lisa and Mandy, who fervently tried to make her feel better, but nothing worked. The only thing that seemed to have some kind of effect on her was when Mandy refused to go to the ball with Terry Boot, the fourth year who had asked Marietta.
After finding that her friend would readily give up her Yule Ball privileges to stay with her, Paige attempted to persuade Mandy to go to the Ball with Terry. Mandy however told her that Terry had asked a third-year, and therefore would not need her company at the ball, which gave her time to stay with her friend rather than going to 'some ball that she didn't even have a date for'.
"That's what friends are for," Mandy had told her firmly.
In the next following minutes, Mandy had been nearly choked to death by a very overjoyed and teary-eyed Paige. When Mandy started to gasp for air, and tell Paige of this, the girl simply ignored her until something seemed to occur to her. Letting the brown-haired girl go, Paige looked at her friends.
"When is the Yule Ball?" she asked, eyes wide.
"In three days…" Marietta informed warily. "Why?"
"Well, I can't have you going to the Ball with hideous make-up, can I?" Paige smiled. All the girls grinned widely and flocked around the sixth year girl, who, despite her bookishness, was incredibly good at applying make-up in ways that seemed to be almost magic. She insisted it was because her mother had been an actress, and when she was small, her mother would go on campaigns to get her away from books and make Paige more fashion and beauty conscious. Though the lessons had no effect whatsoever on Paige's demeanor, she had become a magician when armed with make-up brushes and pigments.
The last three days flew by in a flurry of activity. With no real schoolwork to worry about for the next three weeks, everyone in the Ravenclaw common room was filled with a euphoria that had never been recorded in history.
Many times, the chatting of the common room was intervened by a loud sort of banging noise emitting from the end that the Quidditch boys usually inhabited, either resulting in a firework zooming around the common room or a boy erupting into some sort of animal for a minute or two. At times, Cho would join them and they would welcome her warmly. At these times, she missed her days in the air playing Quidditch the most.
However, even the boys seemed distracted from their usual activities, even if the bangs proved otherwise.
Whenever Cho tried to talk to Roger, he gained this glazed look over his eyes, and sighed, the name Fleur constantly on his lips. This resulted in Roger usually sitting alone, wooing and sighing over the girl he had been lucky enough to go to the ball with. The rest of the boys, though sometimes distracted by thoughts of their dates, were the same as ever, or as close to same as they could be with the night of the ball drawing closer and closer and looming on everyone's minds.
In this manner, the day of the Yule Ball dawned upon the Ravenclaws rather quickly.
When presents appeared at the foot of her bed, Cho found the excitement stripped from opening them. However, she was hit by surprise when she opened the present from her mother. Even if Cho was certain her mother didn't know a great deal about what a teenage girl needed and wanted, she was saved the usual long, lengthy letter of reprimanding, which was replaced with something all the more cheering. It was a beautiful chain of pearls and silver.
For my only daughter, the card attached read, that she might enjoy her first ball. I know mine had been a night to remember. I trust you, Cho, to make the best of judgments. Perhaps I have been too harsh in my decisions to you, and to everything else. Love, Mum.
Cho read the letter twice to make sure she hadn't thought any of this up. Cho grinned, holding the necklace it. It was beautiful.
Paige had gotten her a book on famous Quidditch Seekers and their plays. She missed Quidditch with all her heart and soul, and the book, though it reminded her of her favorite sport, had little effect on her. She found herself casting sideways glances at the necklace her mother gave her and at the trunk situated at the foot of her bed, where her dress robes were neatly folded.
Mandy had given her a Tornadoes badge, along with a poster of the team zipping around and waving at Cho. Smiling, she placed the poster on the wall, tucking the badge in with her other one that still read, Support Cedric Diggory—The Real Hogwarts Champion!
Her next gift was from Lisa, who had gotten her a compilation of their favorite songs along with an array of sweets. It was Marietta's gift, however, that sent any thoughts of the Yule Ball scurrying away from her.
A scrapbook of all their moments together (starting from their First Year) fell from the wrapping, decorated beautifully, the most recent picture of the two grinning and waving from the cover. With a squeal of joy, Cho launched herself on her best friend, who was opening her presents a bed away.
"Thank you so much!" Cho grinned, hugging Marietta around the middle.
Marietta smiled, "I thought you might've liked it."
"Liked it? I love it."
The moment five thirty came around, all the girls charged straight into Cho's dormitory, for the other girls in Cho's year had gone to their friends' dormitories, who were in their sixth and seventh years.
Cho immediately walked over to her trunk and pulled out the dress robes she had chosen over the summer. They were a silky, deep blue material that tied around her neck and swirled elegantly around her knees. She had fallen in love with the dress the moment she laid eyes on it. The length, and the asymmetrical ending to the dress added a fun element to the elegance of the whole attire, and the necklace her mother had sent her complimented the dress, the offset of peals glowing dimly by her ears tying up her entire ensemble.
Marietta was in a dress of spicy red that emphasized her brown hair and ended at her ankles. She had no accessories whatsoever, which, she had informed her friends, took away from the effect of her dress.
When Lisa emerged, each of her friends admired her in turn, her white, princess-like dress that was so gently touched with pink that her dress seemed to glow, suiting her perfectly. She had on a chain that had a large diamond, also shimmering with a rosy hue.
The superb make-up job Paige had done only further completed each of their looks. Marietta looked fiery and gorgeous, Lisa looked rosier than ever, and Cho, with her outlined eyes and her long, straight hair crunched into loose curls, felt more beautiful than she ever had in her entire life.
Paige and Mandy were grinning hard, looking at their friends as if they were something new.
"Hurry," Paige urged, looking elated. "Your dates aren't going to be able to breathe, looking at you." Hugging their friends, Marietta, Lisa and Cho headed down into the common room, where there was a blast of color and finery. Gavin, Marietta's date, immediately picked her out and escorted her through the room and out the portrait. Exchanging looks of amusement, Lisa and Cho grinned.
"Shall we?" Cho asked, extending an elbow in a perfect re-enactment of Gavin taking Marietta.
"Oh, of course," Lisa giggled, accepting Cho's elbow in the exact, regal way Marietta had taken Gavin's arm into hers. Once they started walking through, they relaxed, their arms entwined, shoulder-to-shoulder, smiling excitedly, their faces flushed.
Cho's tried not to look anxious, but she couldn't help wondering if her make-up might have smudged, or if Cedric took one look at her and flee back to his common room. Perhaps it had been a joke, and Cedric had not even actually meant to take her. Bits and pieces rattled her mind until she straightened her back, her eyes set determinedly forward. She would get nowhere thinking thoughts like that. Cedric had asked her, and that was that. She would have the time of her life and not have another ridiculous thought.
When Lisa and Cho entered the outside waiting hall, Lisa was swept away by Miles, leaving Cho standing on her toes to try and see if Cedric was waiting for her too.
"Hey," a voice called by her ear.
Cho jumped, startled, but she knew very well who it was. Smiling, she turned around, "Really Cedric, would it hurt to just walk up and say hello like anyone else?"
Once she had fully turned, Cedric filled her vision. His black dress robes, though simple, complimented him, and the fact that he was tall and good-looking. He looked even more like the part of a champion, and it made Cho's smile broaden. Cedric however, instead of answering, seemed to have lost his voice.
"Cat got your tongue?" Cho asked innocently.
"Just for the moment," Cedric responded, composing himself with a smile.
Cho felt the color rise up in her cheeks and she shook her head, grinning. "Shut it."
"But you like it," Cedric grinned back, extending an arm so Cho could take it.
"You wish, Cedric Diggory," Cho replied, taking Cedric's arm in a dignified manner. "You might think you're charming, but you still have yet to see yourself through my eyes."
"I'm not charming?"
"Maybe just a little," Cho giggled, as Cedric lead her towards McGonnagoll, who had just called for them.
Cho saw Harry with a pretty Indian girl, who she guessed was the sister of Padma Patil. She thought she mentioned Lisa and Mandy talking about Padma having a twin sister in Gryffindor. Cho was pleased to see that Harry had found himself a date to the ball, and tried to make eye contact to wave at him. Harry however, seemed determined not to look at her.
"Who're you looking at?" Cedric asked.
"Just around," Cho lied quickly, looking back up at him with a smile. "Can you believe Roger's been asked by Fleur?" The pair peered over at the couple closest to the door in minor amusement. Roger seemed stupefied by Fleur's beauty, his eyes glued onto hers, and unable to pay attention to anything else. Krum had a pretty girl in blue robes accompanying him, who seemed to be rather friendly with Harry.
"Yeah, I don't think he's thinking correctly, that one," Cedric observed.
Cho laughed. "I got lucky though."
"Oh really?"
"At least my date kept his head and isn't drooling."
They suppressed laughter and Cedric craned his head to see if Roger really was drooling. People slowly passed through the door, a few stopping to wave at their friends. Cedric's fan group also made their way to the Great Hall—Liselle was at the lead—and they were all throwing Cho extremely dirty looks. Cedric's grip on her arm tightened.
"Don't mind them," he told her quietly.
"I wasn't going to."