The Yule Ball Is Next Chapter So Keep That In Mind When Reading This And I Hope You're Not Too Disappointed With Me
Just a reminder for some of the new readers and maybe some not so new ones:
I update roughly every 2 weeks (unless something comes up then it may take 3 but hopefully not more than that. Although, if it does take me more than that, please understand that there's probably a good reason for that).
Also I live in American so some words might mean something to me and mean something else to you (if you're not from the states). An example of that is 'pissed' which while to me means 'angry' to others it might mean 'drunk'. There are some others but I can't think of any words right now…
Also I am more than happy to answer any questions but it does make it easier for me if you have an account since I can't answer you directly if you review as a guest. And if you're asking for things that might be possible spoilers I will not answer them in chapters like I am doing here because not everyone wants to know. But if you do have an account I can PM you and tell you any details you're curious about so long as you keep them to yourself because like I said not everyone wants to know. I've actually done this a few times so just something to think about.
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A happy yet horrid squeal woke me on Christmas morning. I sat up, tired and rather annoyed, to look for the source. Pansy, of course, was looking through her presents on the foot of her bed still making that horrible sound. She reached over and grabbed the biggest one she could manage turning to gloat to Millicent at the size of it. I frowned at her and yawned. Obviously sleep was no longer an option so I moved my duvet and covers out of the way giving me more free space to rest on my bed. After a quick stretch I placed my foot on the floor only to have it slide from under me, causing me to fall against the floor. My head and back hit the ground, only one of my legs stayed on the bed.
"Good morning, sunshine" I heard Daphne call as she looked over at my awkward position. I placed my other leg on the bed not bothering to get up and gave her a look. She smiled down at me realizing I was too tired to do anything else.
"Real graceful aren't you" Pansy called but I didn't look in her direction. Instead I yawned again.
"I really need to have a talk with the house elves about where they placed my gifts" I mumbled to myself looking to the side at the source of my fall. Apparently they had moved the gifts along the sides of my bed rather than the usual place at the foot of the bed.
"Sweetie..." Daphne laughed shaking her head. "I can see your knickers."
"Oh" I replied looking at my pyjamas. I had forgotten I wore a nightgown the night before.
"A lady would cover that" she added once I made no attempt to move.
"A lady would also look away instead of sneering about it" I glared back as Daphne laughed. I pulled the hemline down and over part of my legs before sitting up.
I took a second to let out a breath before standing. Stretching my hands over my head I looked around the room to find I had been the only one still sleeping. This even included Lev who was sitting next to Daphne, happily eating the sweets she handed to him. I moved to my bed and stretched over the side of it to reach for one of my presents. Daphne took advantage of my seemingly aware state and began to loudly plan her day next to me.
"Oh, today is going to be so great! First the presents, then a nice breakfast, maybe a walk outside—wait, there's probably snow. Okay forget the walk; that would ruin my shoes. Maybe… hot chocolate by the fireplace! That sounds nice doesn't it? Chocolate is so delicious. You agree don't you Lev…"
Her voice drifted away as I looked over my gifts. I ignored the bigger boxes for now; their content was usually unnecessary and the wrapping annoying to deal with. The smaller ones were the kind that contained sweets and more often than not ingredients that I asked my parents for so I preferred to start with those.
"Katerina!" Daphne called over to me sounding a little annoyed. I moved my head to let her know I had heard her but continued to unwrap my presents. "Are you listening to me at all?"
"I got it, chocolate is amazing" I yawned, pushing some scraps of the wrappings to the side.
"No not that, about tonight" she said enthusiastically, making me turn over to her. Daphne sat in a pool of empty boxes, torn up paper, shinning jewelry, and other girly bits of things. She was watching me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. That was never good. "I was thinking we should all get ready together! It could be a group effort. We could do each other's hair and makeup!"
"Like she knows how to do makeup" Pansy sneered at me.
"Well, unlike some trolls, I don't need it" I replied handing Lev a little treat as he moved to sit by my side.
"Hey, hey!" Daphne called to us sounding annoyed again. "I put up with your fighting all the time; I don't want to deal with it today too. I get that you two aren't exactly on the best terms but I live here too and I want to have a normal celebration without any screaming! Can't you for once, for me, just suck it up so we can do something roommates would do?"
"Fine" Pansy and I both huffed. We gave each other a look but decided to do as she said and suck it up. It was obvious we didn't like each other but we both did care for her. Daphne clapped happily as if having discovered another present.
"Great! We'll meet here at five."
"Five?" I asked turning quickly to look at Daphne who was separating her gifts and tossing the scraps to the floor. "It's going to take you three hours to get ready?
"I need to look good" she protested with a pout.
"You look good now. Really, you'll be fine."
"I know I do but fine isn't good enough on events like this" Daphne insisted, though sounding happy about my comment. I sighed at her.
"Can we at least make it six?" I asked. Really, who needs three hours to get ready?
"I think five is perfect" Pansy chimed in, sitting down next to Daphne. Millicent stayed by her bed, not done opening her presents.
"That's because you actually need the three hours to look halfway decent, maybe even four" I smiled. Pansy glowered at me.
"What did we just talk about" Daphne complained before Pansy could reply. We both rolled our eyes but stopped, for her sake. Daphne sighed. "Two hours isn't enough so how about at half past five. There, compromise."
"Fine, half past five it is." I frowned at her in return. I never did like compromising; it always felt like a sugarcoated loss. But I doubted Daphne would have let it go and I didn't want to deal with her whining for the next couple of months if we didn't do as she said. "Should we just meet here then?"
"Sounds like a plan" she nodded, giggling to herself.
"That's because it is a plan" I rolled my eyes but she ignored me. She and Pansy moved on to look over her gifts as Millicent and I continued to open ours. Lev was more than happy with the amount of sweets I had received and, seeing as it was Christmas, I didn't restrain him on how much he could eat.
The day passed although a little hectic. Through the day Daphne reminded me several times of our plans making it fairly impossible to pretend I forgot them. After breakfast and lunch we mostly chatted amongst ourselves about what we had gotten from our families. Draco and I had yet to exchange gifts but we were saving that for later. I preferred giving presents in person and we both understood that trying Christmas Day would just be too hectic. Sometime later I said goodbye to the others and made my way outside.
Snow had finally fallen over the grounds. It was thick and a brilliant white. The little sunlight that escaped through the clouds reflected off the snow making the day look bright. Looking over the grounds was nice. The only issue I could think of was the drop in temperature but even that was an easy fix; that was what winter robes were for after all.
"Lev, come on" I called back to him, not wanting to lose sight of where he was. We had decided on a walk despite the condition outside. The weather wasn't so much of an issue as the colors were. Having his fur a pure white made it hard to find him in snow sometimes.
"Tell me again why I'm here with you" Draco grumbled, moping to the side of me. He looked down at the ground with an annoyed expression, taking large steps over the snow.
"You're the one who wanted to come" I rolled my eyes at him.
"Says you" Draco muttered with a pout. I giggled at him and he gave me a slight smirk back.
Draco walked a little ahead as I tuned back to look at Lev. My puppy was happily running around, occasionally biting at the snow. I smiled and looked back ahead. Draco was staring forward. He was still upset about my plans for the Yule Ball. But it was our nonverbal agreement to not bring it up so he was keeping his frustration to himself. Personally I thought he was overreacting but Daphne had displayed a similar reaction when she found out; Theodore had told her.
I sighed. It was annoying to be able to read people so well yet still not understand certain aspects of human behavior. In my opinion a normal reaction was one Pansy had shown, making a snide comment about my choice then completely setting aside the newfound information. But if Pansy was what I now considered normal then maybe it was time to reevaluate my views…
Lev barked behind us catching our attention. I caught a glimpse of Draco turning behind him as I looked to the source of Lev's growls too but was stopped as something appeared behind me.
"Kitty" I heard a voice call as a pair of arms wrapped around me.
I turned once more and found George hugging me from behind, resting his head casually on my shoulder. I gave him a surprised look, not expecting to see him like that although it did explain Lev's uproar. George smiled happily at me before turning to look forward. His smile changed as he did. I followed his gaze and saw Draco glaring at him in return, his hands balled into tight fists.
The two stared at each other for a moment. They had never liked each other but in that moment there was a thick tension in the air. Draco gritted his teeth as George kept himself calm, casually leaning against me. Looking clearly aggravated Draco turned to me. We had been avoiding the subject but it wasn't so easy to do that when George was so plainly in the picture. My expression must have mirrored my emotions as he continued to look at me. Instead of doing what I guessed he would have Draco huffed and walked away without so much as a goodbye.
I sighed and watched him leave. This was normally the part where I followed after him and babied him until he started feeling better but that wouldn't have worked out this time. Guessing by his mood I'd say he needed some space and following him would prevent that from happening. Instead I turned my attention from him to the boy who had caused his reaction.
"George?"
"Yeah?" he replied, still grinning ahead. George turned to me and I smiled back before letting out a small sigh.
"George, why are you holding my arms down?"
"Oh" he said as if having forgotten he was still holding me. When he had decided to hug me George's arms had wrapped around not just my torso but also my arms. Realizing this he took a few steps back and placed a hand on the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I just saw you and wanted to say hi."
"Okay" I muttered, looking to where Draco had left. He was no longer in sight.
"So I'm guessing you told him" said George with a hint of a smile on his face, though he looked like he wanted to hide it from me.
"Yea... He didn't take it very well" I sighed figuring we would need to have a talk later.
"And why is that?" George asked suddenly. He was giving me a very unpersuasive innocent look. I smiled and shook my head at him.
"Probably because he doesn't like you, which I'm guessing isn't too surprising considering how the two of you treat each other. He also isn't too fond of me spending more time with you than I already do. Those are just a couple of the things I can think of."
"So… was he upset?" George asked with the same look. I shrugged but looked once more to where Draco had left.
"Well, yes" I replied simply before turning back to George. "Like I said, he doesn't like you."
"Is that all he said?"
"Yes, why?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"No reason, I just thought there might be something else he wanted to tell you."
"Why do you care so much?" I asked now suspicious. He was basically just rephrasing his question which I had already answered multiple times. Either he was unaware of that, which I doubted considering his seeming interest in the topic, or he was looking for a particular answer I had not yet given.
"I don't" George shrugged at me and smiled. He was lying but I didn't press on, I would already have to discuss this with Draco later I didn't want to have to do it with George too. I shrugged back and his smile widened. "Anyway, want me to accompany you on the walk?"
"If you want" I answered looking back at Lev. "It might not be too fun. Lev doesn't like you much either."
As if to prove my point Lev began to growl at George. My guess was he had been quiet up to now because of our conversation and he was being respectful of me. Now that it was over he wasn't holding back anymore.
"Maybe he just hasn't spent enough time with me" George said happily and started towards Lev. My puppy barked between them, causing a gaping hole to appear. Lev looked back up and growled finding his warning would suffice.
"Or maybe you should just stay over here" I offered as George came back to stand by my side. I giggled a little and his smile returned. "Don't take it personally, Lev doesn't like most people."
"I was hoping I wouldn't be like most people" George said softly, giving me a look.
"You're not; you are very unique. And that's saying a lot considering you have an identical twin brother" I said honestly and George beamed. As Lev stepped closer to us I signaled for him to go ahead. Although reluctant he obeyed my command and moved forward. I began to walk behind him and George followed after. "So Draco didn't take it very well, how did Ron take it?"
"I still haven't told him actually. Just kind of want to wait and see if I can keep it in until tonight" George replied with an impish smile. I laughed in response.
Ahead of us Lev stopped to chase something to his side I could not quite see. He followed it for a little ways but once he started to stray too far he paused and turned to me. I shook my head no and he returned to his place in front of us.
"You know" George said a little suddenly. "Lev is really… something, but I have yet to see him be anything but loving and obedient with you."
"That's because he loves me" I said not understanding what he meant. George shook his head at me.
"Of course he loves you, who wouldn't?" he muttered. I tilted my head slightly to the side still not seeing where he was going with that and he gave me a small smile. "What I mean is, has he always been like this to you?"
"No, not really" I answered, catching George's attention. "When I first met him he wasn't too fond of me."
"What happened?" he asked when I didn't elaborate. I gave him a smile then turned forward to look at Lev.
"I'm not quite sure to be honest. Back when I first met him in that pet store, where I got him a couple of years ago, he was still rather young and untrained. The sales staff had tried to keep me from the area in which he was kept because of it so of course I went there anyway."
"Of course" George smiled at me. I smiled back but kept my attention forward.
"He was a magical puppy, it interested me," I continued with a shrug, "but I didn't interest him very much. He avoided me and walked away any time I tried to pet him. But he was really cute so I kept trying. After a little while he got annoyed and bit me."
"Lev bit you" George asked sounding genuinely surprised. I turned to him and nodded.
"It was the first and last time that ever happened. Everyone, including my father, became angry because of it but it just made me like him more. I've never liked those who pretend to be something they're not as ironic as that may be. Whether that be a person or animal it's equally annoying. All the other animals in the store were being nice and friendly but… it was boring. Lev was completely himself even if that made everyone angry at him. I respected that. And since I accepted him for how he was rather than trying to make him some picture perfect pup he respected me too. Ever since then he's been nothing but loving to me."
I smiled down at my mischievous pup. He was still joyfully running around. It had been a while since I had thought back to the day when I had first met him. I didn't believe there had been even one person who had agreed with my decision of choosing Lev. Papa, who had gone with me had told me Lev would be put in a trial period his first month at home. But since he treated me just fine once he became mine my father couldn't deny it and I was allowed to keep him. Draco had been annoyed with Lev too since he only liked me and, aside from that, Lev became rather overprotective and wouldn't allow him within a few feet of me.
"You okay?" George smiled down at me with sweet expression. I blinked a couple of times realizing we had all stopped walking. My guess was that I had stopped and they had followed my lead. I turned to George and smiled back.
"Yes, I'm okay" I nodded and started walking again, both boys followed. "Well I came out here to walk Lev but… why are you out here?"
"I'm inspecting the area" he answered, looking around as if to prove his point. I giggled at that. "We wanted to play outside for a bit so the others sent me out to make sure everything was in proper order."
"Couldn't they just see that themselves once they stepped outside?"
"I guess" George shrugged but didn't elaborate, making me think he wasn't being completely honest. Realizing my suspicion he decided it was probably best to change the subject. "It's just to kill time before the Yule Ball starts. Speaking of which, are you excited for that?"
"I don't know" I muttered a reply but George heard me just fine.
"You don't know?" he repeated with a smirk.
"Well I've never been one for social gatherings like these" I defended as his smirk stayed. "I had enough of them as a child that now they just bore me. Hopefully the Yule Ball will be better than just any regular get together but I'm not putting too much faith into it. Although I do believe it will at least a little more fun, especially so since I'm going with you."
"That's good" George nodded, looking to the side. Looking at him I noticed a slight change in his face. I absentmindedly reached out and touched his cheek. George turned suddenly but didn't pull away.
"Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time in the snow. Your face is turning a little red."
"I think I'm okay" he smiled sweetly as I pulled my hand away. Ahead of us Lev turned to us and barked at George. I silently scolded Lev for the needless threat as George laughed a little nervously next to me. I sighed before continuing my conversation with George.
"So about the snowball fight, shouldn't you be getting back to the others about it?" I asked him.
"Nah, they can wait. We're having our own fun" George smiled, not at all ashamed of disregarding the others. I giggled in response. At this time Lev began to whine. At first I thought it was meant as a way to distract me from George but once I turned to him I saw he looked upset.
"What's wrong Lev? Are you getting cold now?" I asked crouching down in front of him. George stayed behind, a safe distance away from my pup.
Lev whined and shook his fur. It was getting a little colder but I hadn't much thought about it. Slowly I ran my fingers through his fur. Small bits of snow fell off as I reached my hand back. I frowned and reached to pick him up.
Carefully I opened my cloak and positioned Lev against my chest. He felt surprisingly cold, having just come from the snow, and the sensation made me shiver. I shook the snow off him, although I should have probably done that first, and closed the cloak. Luckily I had asked to have the cloak be a loose-fit when we had it tailored so it fit both of us comfortably. Smiling down at him I scratched behind Lev's ear and he barked happily in reply, leaning securely against me.
"There, doesn't that feel better" I smiled at Lev. He barked softly in reply and stretched to rub his wet nose against my neck seeing as he couldn't quite reach my cheek. I giggled.
"He looks comfortable" George noted, looking at my puppy resting against my chest.
"It's one of his favorite places" I told him, checking one last time to make sure he was comfortable.
"I can see why," George muttered, still looking at him. Lev began to growl as George looked away. "Why don't we head back to the castle?"
I shrugged and followed George as he made his way out of the grounds. We walked a little slower than normal so I could keep a hand on Lev. He wasn't too heavy, especially for a puppy his age, but he certainly didn't weigh what he had when I had first gotten him. Still I did enjoy having him so close to me. The only real bother that came with it was the volume of the barks and growls he gave George from time to time. But other than that it wasn't so bad.
"We were wondering what took you" Fred smirked as he and three other Gryffindors found us just outside the castle. Along with him were Ron, Harry, and Hermione. I waved at them making Hermione wave back, Harry give me a small smile, and Ron frown in my direction.
"Why are you here?" Ron asked with a not so pleasant tone.
"Always a ray of sunshine you are" I rolled my eyes at him. "You do realize I also attend this school, don't you?"
"Just give it a rest Ron" I hear Hermione mumble next to him. He gave her a look.
"Hi Lev" Fred called, coming closer to us and ignoring his younger brother.
My puppy growled and tried to get out of my grasp to get at Fred. He was already annoyed from having to spend time with others instead of the alone time with me I had promised him. He hadn't wanted to spend time with Draco after lunch but then again Draco always tried to keep his distance from Lev whereas others usually did the opposite. I held onto Lev and he started whining.
"Lev, don't" I scolded, holding him against my chest a little tighter. He kept whining. "It's too cold now. I don't want you getting sick. Wait until we're inside where it's warm, please?"
"Are you only nice to animals?" Ron asked thinking himself clever.
"No, otherwise I would be nice to you" I smiled sweetly in response. There were a couple of snickers next to me as he scowled.
"Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't Slytherins be hiding out in their dungeon where they belong?"
"That's like saying Gryffindors should only spend time in towers. Are you sure you don't want to rephrase that?" I asked innocently. Realizing he wouldn't win a battle of insults against me Ron turned his attention to his brother.
"Why is she here?" Ron asked George, probably thinking him the source of the problem since he had brought me.
"Because…"George grinned at his brother. He took a step closer to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, placing his head on top of mine, ignoring Lev's growling as he did. "We're going to the Yule Ball together."
"You are?" Hermione asked happily.
"You are?" Ron repeated, not so happily.
"I thought you wanted to wait" I said quietly to him.
"This works too" George shrugged, chuckling at his brother's expressing.
"You're seriously taking that to the ball?" Ron persisted as Fred walked to him, a snowball in hand. Once he reached him Fred crushed the snowball onto his brother's face, keeping a calm expression.
"At least he got his own date instead of having someone else set him up with one" Fred said what I guessed was Ron's way of getting his date. He clapped his hands slowly, getting rid of excess snow, and smiled at Ron.
"W—who asked you?" Ron snapped though stuttering, either from anger or cold though probably both.
"Nobody" George answered, letting go of me. He walked past both brothers, standing behind Ron. George paused to lean down rather suspiciously. "But then again no one asked for your opinion and you're quick to give that, aren't you?"
George pulled Ron's robes back and dropped a newly formed snowball into the gap. For extra measure he patted his brother's back hard making Ron shiver and jerk away. The other boys laughed as Ron tried to violently shake any snow from his robes. Harry tried to calm down Ron, while trying to also calm down his laughter, as Fred and George made no attempt to apologize to their brother. Finding his words weren't being heard Ron decided to take a different approach. He bent down, grabbed a handful of snow, and threw it at his grinning brothers. And thus their snowball fight began.
Hermione and I hurried against a corner before they could reel us into anything. We successfully avoided a few stray snowballs and managed to reach one of the castle walls. With a sigh I sat down against it and Hermione did as well. Once deciding this was a safe enough distance from them we let out a laugh and watched them.
"Aren't you going to join?" I asked her though I already knew the answer.
"No, the way they play it's safer just to watch" Hermione laughed as I smiled back. "Why don't you join them?"
"No, physical effort isn't really my niche. I would probably end up using magic, Ronald would freak out, and it would start an argument that we've probably already had a hundred times."
"He does tend to do that" Hermione smiled as I shrugged.
"Besides, Lev would get cold without me" I added, running my fingers through his fur again. Lev barked happily at me. As I sat, my puppy laid on my lap. This time only half my cloak was needed to cover him, serving as a makeshift blanket. He let his face show while his body remained covered. Hermione smiled down at him and pet his head softly.
"He really likes me now" she said happily as Lev lay comfortably, letting her pet him.
"Or at the very least he tolerates you" I said, mostly to myself.
Hermione paused and looked to me, not knowing if she should be offended or not judging by the look she gave me. I smiled back finding it a little funny. In Slytherin we were always blatantly honest with one another, for the most part at least, even if it meant offending each other. I sometimes forgot other houses didn't do that; they sugar coated everything for one another. Personally I preferred the harsh truth but to each their own.
"So are you excited to be going to the Yule Ball with Vik?" I asked, changing the subject. It worked perfectly.
"Shh" Hermione answered quickly, completely forgetting any other conversation we may have had. "Keep it down; I still haven't told the boys."
"Why not?" I asked though not lowering my tone. Hermione sighed.
"You know how they are about Quidditch," she began softly, looking as they continued to pelt each other with snowballs. "I don't want them to ask me to get them an autograph or something. Also, I kind of mentioned that people only liked Viktor because he was famous and I don't want them to get the wrong idea."
"Oh yeah, I always forget that he's famous" I mumbled making her laugh.
"He is really sweet, not at all what I expected him to be like" she said with a small smile.
"You shouldn't judge people based on others' opinions of them" I shrugged. Hermione nodded and continued to watch the snowball fight. I began to do the same but was distracted by Lev's restlessness. He continued to rub his snout against my hand, like he did whenever he wanted one thing. "Are you hungry, Lev?"
Lev barked and made his attempt at a nod. I smiled at him and stood up, hugging him against my chest once more. It was never a good idea to leave him hungry. Not only was it needlessly cruel but he wasn't in the most favorable of moods to the other Slytherins when he was hungry. We said goodbye to Hermione and started heading to the castle entrance to find him some food. I yelled a goodbye to the boys and they all waved back, well all except Ron. I ignored that and continued on our way to the kitchen that is until Lev barked letting me know that someone was after us.
"Leaving already?" George asked, catching up before we got too far. I smiled and nodded.
"Lev is hungry" I answered, petting my puppy's head to calm him down.
"Want me to go with you?" George asked smiling.
"If you leave with her, your team forfeits!" Ron screamed at us before I could answer. Apparently we were still within earshot. George turned to his brother and gave him a look. I smiled at him.
"It's okay, you have fun with your brothers. I will see you tonight anyway. I'll meet you near the entrance to the Great Hall."
"It's a date" George answered with smirk and rushed back to the other boys. Lev growled in my arms and I pet his head.
"I know, I know. Kitchen" I smiled at him and headed inside.
The kitchen was fairly easy to get into. All one had to do was walk down some stairs, find the proper painting, and tickle the pear on the canvas to turn it into the doorknob which one could then use to enter. It was a strange set up, sure, but it seemed effective in keeping those who weren't supposed to know of it out. I learned it from Fred and George and while I'm not sure how they found out I'm not really one to need too many details.
Inside the house elves were more than happy to help, as house elves always were. I never paid too much attention to them, just told the few that were closest what they could and could not feed Lev then let them do as they were. Once their instructions were given I grabbed a cupcake from one of the nearby tables and looked at the clock. Somehow it was already past 5. Either the time was wrong, which I doubted considering how hectic all the house elves would get if that were true, or we had been out longer than I thought. No wonder Lev had gotten so cold during the walk.
I sighed remembering I was supposed to meet Daphne and the others in the dormitory soon. I had promised I would but who really needs that much time to get ready? It might as well be my mother, always insisting I should let her choose my clothing and such. But instead of dealing with that I decided it would be much more enjoyable to wander around the castle until I felt it was actually time to get ready. I headed out saying goodbye to Lev and refusing the countless offers of food from the house elves. It was still too early to get ready anyway.
As I walked up and down the numerous corridors of the dungeon I found that I was probably one of the very few not overjoyed with spending hours getting ready for the Yule Ball. Girls rushed in groups, giggling as they headed to their respective houses. There were a few here and there who didn't look in a rush to get ready but it wasn't many. I sighed once more and finished my cupcake as I was met with a familiar voice.
"What are you doing?" Daphne demanded, putting her hands on her hips in front of me.
"Walking?" I replied and continued to walk past her. She came after me.
"It is almost six; you should be in our room by now! Millicent and Pansy are already waiting!"
"I thought we agreed on six" I said as if genuinely confused. Daphne paused for a second, almost believing me, then narrowed her eyes.
"Nice try but you know we said to meet at half past five. Now come on" she exclaimed, grabbing my arm. I grumbled but let her pull me along with her towards the dungeon.
"Who needs two and a half hours to get ready?" I complained.
"Normal people" Daphne shot back. "Come on just do this one thing for me, I ask so little of you"
"Do you?" I retorted looking at her pout. She smiled back a little shamelessly and shrugged.
"Okay so maybe more than a little" she admitted, "but that's what friends are for isn't it?"
"I guess" I sighed. Daphne squealed with happiness and made me giggle a little. "Fine I'll go willingly but I swear if you make me look like a clown I will burn your dress."
"And I believe you," she said letting go of my arm, "which is why I will only do minimal makeup. I would do glitter but I don't think you'd like that. Unless, does it match with your dress? "
"Minimal" I reminded her before she started planning any unnecessary glitter add-ons.
"Right. Well we could start off with foundation just to even out your tone, maybe some contouring and highlights too. Ooh and lip gloss; and probably two tones. A darker shade lining the outside would make them look bigger since you have fairly small lips. They're cute but it wouldn't hurt them to look a little poutier. Also blush, a little mascara, some neutral or dark eyeshadows, again it depends on your dress, thin eyeliner, just a bit under your water line for a little pop—"
"That all sounds like a lot" I objected but she ignored me.
"Just enough so your natural beauty shines through" she smiled at me as I glared back.
"Isn't the best natural beauty no makeup?"
"No, that's just something lazy girls tell themselves so they don't have to do their makeup" Daphne waved off the comment.
"Fine just know I warned you" I sighed
"I'll keep that in mind" she smiled as we stepped onto the Entrance Hall. As Daphne and I headed down to the dungeon to get ready I saw George through one of the open windows. He saw us too and ran our direction.
"You're still playing?" I asked as I paused and so did Daphne, although reluctantly so. George leaned against the window sill with a smile.
"It's fun. Want to join?" he asked as Fred threw a snowball at his back but George remained smiling, unaffected.
"As much as I know Ron would love to get me with a few of those I have to go get ready for tonight because someone thinks it'll take me hours to get ready."
"Oh shut up" Daphne whined, not happy to be talked to like that in front if a Gryffindor. I smiled at her but otherwise ignored her complaint.
"You could go like this and it'd be fine by me" George smiled and I did too.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Now run along so she'll come with me" Daphne demanded rather rudely. I gave her a small frown but George was again unfazed by her behavior.
"I'll see you in a couple of hours then" he called as he ran back to the pile of snowballs being thrown his way. I waved and followed Daphne to the stairs down to the Slytherin Dungeon.
Once we reached our room all the girls began to get ready. Lev looked just as bored as I felt, only occasionally reaching out to swat at the pieces of fabric that seemed to fly around the room. I sat in my nightgown reading in bed while the others began their needlessly early plans. Seeing as I was going to spend the next few hours in dress robes I was compensating by wearing pyjamas before Daphne got a hold of me. For now she was focusing on herself. Daphne was going to the ball with Theo, Draco decided to take Pansy after all, and I wasn't sure who Millicent was going with but she was getting ready too.
"Your dress is so pretty" the girls cooed at one another.
"I know right" Daphne replied, spinning around and looking down at it as the hem fanned out. It was long and bright red. Daphne was not the kind to be afraid of being the center of attention. It had intricate lace patterns on it yet, surprisingly, not in a bad way.
"Yeah it looks nice" I said glancing at her dress then looking back down at my book.
"Yours look pretty too" Daphne cooed back at the girls. They smiled to each other in that strange way girls smiled about clothes.
"Oh, are you not going?" Pansy asked looking to me with fake disappointment. "Did that vagrant find someone better?"
"I'm still going" I answered, ignoring later comment, still focusing on my book. "The difference is I don't need nearly as much time as you do to look good."
"You mean because it's not worth the effort trying with a lost cause" she retorted. In all honesty I was impressed her small brain came up with that so quickly but I just rolled my eyes. "I mean honestly how do you expect to fill out a dress when you look like a 10 year old boy?"
"At least I don't over fill it" I mumbled and turned my page. Pansy glared at me in response. Daphne laughed and came over to my bed as Pansy pretended to be busy with other things.
The good thing about Daphne was that even though we were friends she was careful enough around me that I was hardly ever bothered by her. Even as she worked on my hair and makeup she was careful not to pull too hard or add too much. She had apparently chosen to give me pigtails to go along with my dress. I didn't really understood why; there were plenty of other more formal hairstyles she could have chosen but she insisted it looked cute.
"You know, I used to wear pigtails a lot when I was young" I mentioned as Daphne worked on brushing to make them fluffier.
"I think I remember seeing you with them once but when we were younger I chose to stay away from you."
"I don't blame you" I shrugged and flipped to the next page. "I think I'm a lot nicer now. Though some people have told me I'm the same."
"Either way I think they make you look adorable" she squealed, coming to stand in front of me to look and make sure they were even on either side of me.
Daphne finished with my hair rather quickly. Having convinced me to put makeup on too made the whole getting ready process a little longer but it wasn't too bad. She asked me here and there if I minded what she was doing, pulling hair or that sort of thing, but I was mostly used to it. It had been a while since it last happened but my mother had taken up the habit of dressing me up when I was younger. After a while I became less and less likely to let her do so without complaining the whole time so she eventually stopped and let me dress myself. Daphne reminded me a lot of my mother sometimes, especially when doing things like this, although I was never sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But other than answering the occasional question of what I would and would not allow her to put on me Daphne mostly kept to herself and I kept my attention on Lev and my book.
Once she told me she was finished I decided to stand up and finish the getting ready process. I reached over for my dress, taking it out of its dress cover as Pansy and Millicent stepped out of the room. They closed the door loudly behind them as I assumed was Pansy's passive-aggressive way of telling us to hurry up. I carefully pulled my nightgown over my head knowing that if I messed up anything Daphne had done to my face and hair I would not hear the end of it. But I shrugged took my dress and stepped into it, pulling it up and over my chest. I was happy with the fit; the dress was snug enough that I was certain I wouldn't be constantly adjusting it during the night. It gave me one less thing to be annoyed at to say the least.
"That's so beautiful!" Daphne shrieked, running over to me. I smiled at her.
"Thanks. You don't think it's a little tight?" I asked looking down at it. It was fitted to my proper measurements but it was still closer than how my usual clothes clung to me. Then again I usually preferred loose fit clothing. Daphne smiled to herself and rolled her eyes.
"No, it's so pretty like that. Now I can actually tell you're a girl" Daphne giggled, walking around me to get a more in depth look at it.
"Thanks, I do have a problem letting people know that" I said sarcastically as she ran her hand over the beading on the waist. I rolled my eyes at her and reached for the remainder of the outfit. Daphne sighed as I fastened it around my neck.
"It'd be easier if you didn't wear that thing though" she muttered grabbing my cloak, the top part of my dress robes.
"I happen to like it" I argued and she smiled again.
"Well I'm sure we won't be the only ones who like this" she giggled with a certain change in tone. I didn't really see why that mattered but shrugged anyway and followed her out the door. I waved goodbye to Lev just before closing the door. He'd be fine, I left some chocolate frogs for him to chase in case he got bored.
Downstairs the rest of our group was waiting for us in the common room. Theo was the first to see us. He smiled a little and made his way towards Daphne. Blaise saw us too but didn't move; instead he continued to sit casually on the couch watching people go by. Crabbe and Goyle were talking with Millicent about something seemingly important. Draco was talking to Pansy, or rather listening or at least pretending to listen as she rambled on to him looking excited for the event. His eyes glanced over to the side bored and they met mine. His eyebrows rose when he saw me like they had when he first saw the dress at the shop in Diagon Alley. I felt Pansy give me a look as she realized Draco wasn't listening but I ignored her and stepped to the side of him.
"Looks better than it did at the shop, right?" I said and, for some reason, the others' heads snapped over to at comment.
"Yeah" Draco said softly, looking at it and sounding somewhat surprised. He was looking at me the same way he had at the shop, as if shocked I could look nice. Pansy made noise next to him but again I chose to ignore her.
"Wait you went shopping together?" Daphne called rushing over to us. Theo moved to join her, shaking his head and grinning as he did. "Like together, as in 'together' together?"
"Yes, he helped me pick it out" I said not understanding why she looked so excited, or why Pansy looked so aggravated behind her. Then again I doubted she liked being reminded that Draco and I spent more time together than we already did at school. Daphne let out a squeal which she seemed to be doing a lot lately.
"That's so cute! But you think it looks better now right Draco. I mean look at her, she—"
"Don't make this worse than it already is" Theo told her and started dragging her towards the common room entrance. Blaise laughed.
"Why do you always have to ruin the fun Nott?" he called, standing and walking after them. I rolled my eyes but followed too. Draco stayed behind with me, leaving the rest to walk ahead.
"You look nice too by the way" I smiled at Draco. He smirked back.
"I know" he stated making me giggled. His smiled softened at that before tilting his head to look at my hair. "So what's with the pigtails? I thought you swore off them."
"I didn't but I will admit it wouldn't have been my first choice; Daphne picked them. I do like them though" I said turning to grab one of them. Draco mirrored my actions and grabbed the other. I glared at him he laughed.
"I like them too" he placed a hand on my head and smiled.
"It's fine if you want to act cute with her but don't mess up the hair!" Daphne yelled at us from higher on the stairs. I rolled my eyes as Draco let go of my head.
"Don't tell me what to do" he reproached her and pushed his way to the front. Pansy followed after him and the rest after her.
I stayed behind not in too much of a hurry to get upstairs. Not so much because of the event but rather of how much the others would complain once they remembered who I was going with. For the moment the excitement of the event had overshadowed my apparently implausible decision, for the most part at least...
"Not excited to see your Gryffindor?" Blaise said quietly next to me.
"Shut up" I turned and glared at him. Blaise chuckled. "You're not going with a Slytherin either, why aren't they bothering you?"
"Because that's not what they're pissed about" he smirked at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "For such a smart girl you can be real stupid."
"Sometimes I feel like you all go out of your way just to annoy me"
"Don't think yourself so special" Blaise scoffed and I gave him a look.
"So you're not trying to annoy me?"
"Well I never said that" he smiled again. I rolled my eyes as we stepped onto Entrance Hall. The others were already walking towards the front, each with their respective date. "I'm sure you'll figure it out someday and when you do you'll feel like a complete idiot for taking so long."
"Shouldn't you be off with your date?" I scowled at him. Blaise chuckled again.
"Shouldn't you?" he shot back but removed his arm from around me. I gave him a look as he waved once at me before going to meet his Ravenclaw. I gave him one last look before moving to find George. This ball better be worth it.
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Hi ^-^
So if you skipped the top part of this chapter please go back and read it, it's really not that much work. And like I said Yule Ball is next chapter and that might take 3 weeks to do since it will be pretty long and integral calculus is hard.
Also if you're interested in helping me review some of the chapters before they're posted please let me know. It bothers me so much to leave extra words in sentences or missing an error here and there but no matter how hard I try it always happens :( I think that's due to the fact that I'm in so much contact with them so if one of you is willing to look it over with me please PM me and we can discuss it further and I will love you lots (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ
So yeah have a good whatever it is and I'll see you in the next 2 or 3 weeks