The Yule Ball

The day of the Yule Ball had arrived, and no one was less excited for it than Ila, though Ron could give her a run for her money. From the moment Ila woke up, she knew today was going to be a bad day. Maybe Divination really was working for her…

It started off when she opened her curtains around her bed to find Lavender and Parvati standing patiently around her bed.

Ila yelped and jumped off her bed but in the midst of her panic didn't realise that she was still tangled in between her sheets and consequently fell on the floor with a loud thump!

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Ila groaned as she massaged her back. Parvati helped her up before forcing her to sit down on her bed.

"We're here to make you over," Lavender said excitedly. It was only now that Ila saw the bags of pink she cradled in her arms as if it were a baby.

"What do you mean to make me over?'"

"What kind of friends do you think we'll be if we let you get ready yourself?" Parvati asked.

"I'll have you know I am very fashionable and I happen to like the way that I dress," Ila retorted defensively.

Parvati snorted before going over to her trunk and opening it. She pulled out an old shirt that belonged to her uncle. It had a few holes in it, but none that were that noticeable.

If you weren't standing so close.

"That's just one shirt-"

"And that's enough to see what the rest of your clothes look like," Lavender said before plopping her bag on Ila's bedside table and opened it up. Ila could see two compartments and hidden beneath them was a third, though it seemed there were even more compartments. In a weird way, Lavender's makeup bag reminded her more of Moody's trunk, though she kept her mouth shut, knowing it would make everything worse.

Ila looked around the rest of the room and saw Lavender and Parvati's trunks open and all their clothes sprawled on the floor. Eloise Midgen was nowhere to be seen, probably hanging out with her Hufflepuff friends that don't force her to have a make-over. Along with Eloise, Hermione wasn't anywhere to be seen either.

"Where's Hermione?" Ila asked before a worrying thought came to her. "What have you done with her?"

"Relax Ila," Parvati said. She was now beside Lavender and picking out objects from her bag. "She's in the bathroom."

"You can't force her-"

"She's getting ready herself actually," Lavender said in matter of fact tone. "Now…look up."

"Why?" Ila said as Lavender pushed her chin up so now she was looking at her ceiling.

"The first thing to start your makeover," Parvati said and from her peripheral, Ila could see a sly smirk etched on her face.

"What does that mean?" Ila asked wearily.

"It means, Ila," Parvati said, standing in front of Ila and pulling her face to her, "I have been waiting for years to pluck those damn caterpillars off your face."

"Wait w-"

The rest of the morning was filled with tears and cries as Parvati and Lavender plucked, threaded and waxed every single unwanted hair off her face and unfortunately for Ila, they thought she had a lot of unwanted hairs. Hermione came out within seconds of Parvati threading her brows and didn't leave Ila, mainly because Ila gripped Hermione hard until they were finished.

"Do you like it?" Lavender asked, holding up a mirror. Her eyebrows were significantly thinner and shapely, while her upper lip was bare. They had gotten the rest of her face too, which looked a lot brighter. However, none of that was enough to outweigh the pain and suffering she went through.

"I feel numb," Ila said, tears falling from her eyes. It wasn't because she was actually sad but the two girls plucked so many hairs, it was almost a reflex for water to pour from her eyes. Or at least that's what she told the girls. She gingerly touched above her eyebrows, barely touching it with her fingertip and winced. She then moved down to her upper lip and to her concern, she couldn't feel anything. "My upper lip is literally numb!"

"That usually happened," Parvati said, handing back her tools to Lavender and getting off the bed. "The redness and the numbness'll fade after a couple of hours."

"Hours?" Ila raised her eyebrows and instantly brought them back down.

"It'll be fine in time of the Ball," Lavender explained and closed her bag.

"What now?" Hermione asked, who was massaging her hand. "You're not going to do anything else are you?"

"Not now anyway," Lavender said and with a wave of a hand, Ila and Hermione were swiftly kicked out of the dorms.

"If it hurts too much we can go to Madame Pomfrey," Hermione said, soothingly rubbing Ila's arm, as they walked along an outside corridor. They could hear Ron and the twins shout from their snowball fight.

"What would I say?" Ila asked, making sure to not move her face around too much. Even a small gust of wind pained her. "The last time she saw me I just defeated a dragon and I was fine and now I'm crying over a few hairs being plucked out?"

"I think it's a universal thing that getting your upper lip threaded is the second painful thing."

"What's the first?"

"Childbirth."

"Do you know who Cho Chang is?" Ila asked as they watched the boys' snowball fight. In the beginning, it was the three boys all against each other but now it seemed the twins ganged up on Ron and was now pelting him continuously with snowballs.

"She's in the year above isn't she?" Hermione said. "I think she's in Ravenclaw – how did you get to her from childbirth?"

"She's seeker for Ravenclaw," Ila added, ignoring her last question. "Probably how her and Cedric got together. Talked about their love for Quidditch…but I like Quidditch…I'm a seeker too…I'm even Asian…Maybe I'm the wrong kind of Asian…"

"Ila what're you talking about?"

"Cedric and Cho are together and they're going with each other to the Yule Ball," Ila said solemnly. She was about to put her head in her hands before realising it would sting.

"Ila…" Hermione consoled.

"No," Ila replied, "I can't have you pitying me. It'll be fine. I'm sure it will be fine with…" At that moment, Ila remembered who she had to go with. Surprisingly, it didn't feel as bad as she thought it would. Remembering how they had to hide from Karkaroff…it wasn't too bad. Ila was sure that it was supposed to be the opposite. She was supposed to feel disgusted to even be near him like that. But there was one moment where she walking in the hallway alone in the dark. All of a sudden, Draco came to her, pushed her against the wall and –

…

She's just being hormonal.

Merlin she needed to be around boys more often.

And Ron doesn't count.

"I don't think it will be that bad," Hermione tried, rubbing Ila's back. "You'll probably have to do the open ceremony and for the rest of the time you can hang out with me and Ron."

"But you two'll be busy with both of your dates and not to mention that everyone in the entire school will see me and him dance together and everyone'll probably think that we like each other now and oh my god I feel like I'm going to throw up!"

She didn't actually.

What was wrong with her?

"Calm down Ila," Hermione said sternly, though she was stilling rubbing her back.

"It's just…he still hasn't told me the truth Hermione," Ila explained, clutching harder to Hermione's arm when a vicious wind swirled around them. Though it was helping with the stinging from her brows. "He said that he'll tell me everything once I got through the First Task. It's been weeks now and I'm starting to get sick of it."

"Have you asked him about it?"

Ila nodded. "I saw him yesterday…I told him that if he doesn't tell me by the end of tonight, I won't help him anymore."

"Do you think he'll do it then?" Hermione asked. "I mean, why exactly does he need you to help with the Sisters?"

Ila shrugged. "Maybe he'll finally realise that I won't wait for him and tell me everything including why I'm the only one."

"Imagine if all the things he's doing isn't because You Know Who," Hermione wondered aloud. Ila leant her head on her shoulder as she carried on explaining. "He's doing all of these things because he actually wanted to change. How…how strange would that be?"

Ila snorted. "There will never be a reality where that can happen," she replied. Immediately, something bubbled in her stomach. That feeling always seemed to pop up whenever she said things like that.

"But hypothetically speaking Ila, what would you do if tonight he tells you that he doesn't want to work with You Know Who? You have to answer the question seriously," Hermione said.

"Way to ruin the fun," she said, swatting away any reactions that weren't making fun of Malfoy for being such a bad liar. "I don't know…er – well I mean obviously I'd be confused. You know, this was the guy who would not stop making fun of us for we were for the past three years not to mention his family and extended family being Voldemort lovers – why would he be so different? What made him change?"

Hermione nodded, taking in her answer. "I s'pose I'd be confused as well. But in a different way."

"How?"

"Well I always thought both sides had such a tight grip on their followers – I've never heard a case where someone from the Light goes to the Dark or vice versa."

"There's Sirius," Ila noted.

"Sirius's different. He always knew that he was never going to fit in. I guess to his parents it didn't help that he was friends with your dad either. Malfoy never had that. He's constantly surrounded by pureblood supremacists, so how exactly did he realise that what he was doing was wrong? I guess that would be my next question. How? I think that would be the most useful because…well if Malfoy was able to see his wrongdoings, who says the other Slytherins can't. If we know how than…I don't know maybe we could convince the others too. Join our side."

"I suppose I didn't really think of it like that," Ila said. Perhaps Malfoy would have played a greater role than Ila initially thought. Ila suddenly felt something cold and wet hit her before sliding down her back.

She turned around slowly to see Ron looking sheepishly at her while the twins laughed.

"Sor – where'd your eyebrows go?" Ron said shocked as he got closer to Ila and Hermione. "They're gone!"

"Blame Parvati and Lavender," Ila shivered. Ron took of his jacket and threw it on top of the girls.

"Always the gentlemen aren't you Ronnie?" Fred cooed as he rubbed the top of Ron's head.

"Geroff!" Ron said, muffled by Fred and George's jackets.

"So have you got a date then?" George asked Ila once they let go of Ron. Ila buried herself further into Hermione's shoulder as she could feel the heat radiating off Ron.

"Malfoy," he said through gritted teeth.

She didn't need to see the twin's face to picture the surprise and slight amusement on their faces.

"MALFOY?" One of the twins – maybe it was Fred? – exclaimed. "Even with all of those articles coming out about you, I didn't think they were true."

"Yeah," George agreed, "how'd you manage to do that one?"

But that wasn't why Ila faced them.

"Articles?" Ila said, completely dismissing George's question. "There was only one by Rita Skeeter."

Ron looked annoyed, hitting his brothers at the back of their heads, while the two boys looked guilty. Ila lifted her head up to see Hermione unable to meet her eyes, staring at her forehead instead. She stood up and stared at the group.

"It is only one article isn't it?" Ila said slowly, though from their reactions she knew that she was wrong.

And wrong she was.

It wasn't just the one article made by Rita Skeeter. It wasn't two, nor was it three or –

"Ten?" Ila yelled as she stared at all the different covers of Witch Weekly laid out in front of her – all with different pictures of her and Malfoy, accompanied by a suggestive title about their relationship.

Some of the pictures were of the two separate and were joined together later to make it seem like an original picture where they were together. And some of them, weren't altered in any way. Some, Ila didn't even know people had taken pictures of them. There was one of them staring at each other in the Great Hall, there was another of them talking to each other at the library, the time Malfoy had helped Ila. Another was of him entering her makeshift room at the Hospital Wing right after she had gone through her first task. Picking that one up, she opened to where the article was and began reading it.

"If you're a student at Hogwarts, then this couple definantly doesn't need an introduction, but for our older readers, meet Ila Potter and Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts' latest will they - won't they couple? For a bit of history, it was apparent that from the moment the two met each other, all the way when they were just tiny first years, that they were enemies. How could they not be? She's a Potter and he's a Malfoy, enough said. But, according to reports made by fellow students, it seemed that as they grew up, their relationship was turning more and more…tense.

It would be a normal sight to see the two fight and argue with one another about anything and everything under the sun, but people are beginning to suspect that perhaps all of this is for show. Ever since they started their fourth year in September, it seemed that the two had quieten down and people have even seen them talk to one another in a civil manner -"

Next to the text, was a picture of the two of them, Ila standing at the bookshelf and Malfoy staring at her, at the table behind her. He had the book that he was reading with him, snapped shut. There was another picture beneath that, which showed Malfoy leaning against the table while Ila turned around. While Ila knew that the conversation the two had at the time was far from romantic, and while she knew that her friends would believe her if she told them that, she could see how it might look to the average person – who just finished reading the article.

Wonderful.

"But, there's nothing wrong with talking nicely to one another is there, I hear you asking. Just because boys and girls talk to each other doesn't mean that they instantly in a relationship.

That's where I ask you, do you know the content of those civil conversations? No? Well…here you go.

According to a student that would like to remain anonymous, the two have had many conversations in which Malfoy helped Ila, in fact, begged her for him to take his help when it came to going through the Triwizard Tournament. The pictures above, showed the two talking tactics about how she should prepare. There had been many rumours about the two walking together in secret corridors, hiding away in empty classrooms, being intimate down the quiet asiles of the libaray-"

"Being intimate?" Ila read aloud. "What does that even mean?"

"Hugging?"

"Kissing?"

"Sex?" Hermione, Fred and George suggested respectively, each suggestion getting worse than the other.

"It's even seems like that the two had been feeling like this during the summer where it could be seen the two meeting each other for the first time since their third year at the 64th Quidditch Cup Final."

The last picture showed Malfoy and Ila staring at one another, sizing each other up. Not falling in love with each other as the caption beneath it liked to think. Ila probably didn't realise then, but it was surprising to see Malfoy looking her up and down. Was that a smirk?

"This is…perverted," Ila said, throwing the magazine onto the table, causing some of the others to fall to the floor. "What the hell is wrong with people?"

"You're probably not helping yourself by going with him to the Yule Ball and dance with him in front of all the students," Fred said.

"But it's not like I was the one who asked him," Ila said, her voicing rising in octaves. "Dumbledore's the one who put us together – all because of some inter-house solidarity!"

"Yeah, but people aren't going to think about Dumbledore putting the two of you together," Fred said. "They're probably going to ask themselves about how Malfoy asked you out."

Ila collapsed onto the couch before getting a pillow and screaming into it. It lasted for at least ten seconds before Ila came back up for air.

"You know," George said, turning one of the magazines sideways as he studied a picture of Malfoy and Ila, "I kind of see it now."

"Geor-"

Ron was cut off by Ila's unmuffled cries.

There were only a few times Ila contemplated murder. When she wanted to kill Sirius Black because she thought he killed her parents. Peter Pettigrew when she found out that it was actually him who killed her parents. Voldemort…for actually killing her parents. Priya auntie for talking bad about her parents…Merlin, third year was a dangerous year.

She could now add Lavender and Parvati to her list of people who she wanted to murder. Ila was very wrong when she thought that the afternoon of the Yule Ball couldn't be any worse than the morning.

Oh, how Ila hated being wrong.

The moment the two girls entered the room, Ila knew something was wrong. Lavender and Parvati weren't in there. But they're things looked like that they were just there. Makeup was everywhere, their clothes for the Ball was laid carefully on their beds. It was only when Ila wanted to use the bathroom did the two girls decide to play out their ambush. They Petrificolous Totalous Hermione and Ila before either girl could stop them. Unfortunately, Ila didn't have the comfort of Hermione since Lavender took her away into the bathroom so either girl couldn't see her.

Pure torture.

The first thing Parvati did was pluck out a few 'stray hairs,' making Ila's eyes water even more. Then after being beaten down by brushes and poked enough times to know that her vision worsened, Parvati was finished with her makeup. Parvati had also blocked out the mirror so Ila couldn't see herself.

Sensory deprivation at its finest.

Then Parvati explained that she braided Ila's hair in a simple French braid because that the only thing she could do and so that it wouldn't fly around when Ila danced with Malfoy. She also left what was her 'fringe' out since it was too short for her to braid it.

"Now, you have to promise me you won't hurt me when I release you," Parvati said warningly as she drew her wand. She couldn't really wait for Ila to say anything so used the counter curse and Ila fell to floor

"And why ever would I do that?" Ila asked sweetly before glaring at Parvati.

"I wanted to Imperious but since you can't get affected, I thought a body binder might do the trick."

"That's the only reason why?" Ila said as she got up. "Not because of the 10+ years in Azkaban when you use one of the Unforgivables on another person?"

Parvati looked thoughtful as she pondered the question. "Why would it?"

Ila groaned as she walked back to her bed, where her dress that Mrs Weasley bought.

"Turn around," she told Parvati and began putting the dress on. The dress was actually split into two pieces. A long frock-like top and the slim fitted bottoms. The latter was fine, it fitted well. Ila couldn't say the same for the former.

"This is so tight," Ila wheezed as she managed to pull the top over her chest. "Why is it so tight?" Parvati turned around and immediately helped Ila, pulling the top down so it didn't get bunched up.

"It looks nice on you though," Parvati said, brushing the invisible dust on her shoulders. "You have the Punjabi boobs to fill out."

Ila stilled, the only thing she could do was blink at Parvati as she circled her to fix any more things of dress.

"What?"

"Indian girls only get two options, either really curvy or flat," Parvati explained before looking down and frowning. "I think I know which one I have."

"First of all, I'm not even from Punjab - "

"Same difference."

" – second of all, never, I mean never," Ila said, waving her finger threatening at Parvati's face, "ever say that out loud – or even better never think of that again!"

Parvati rolled her eyes, clearly taking little care of Ila's threat. "You're no fun. My cousins don't mind when I tell them that."

"Yeah cos I'm not your cousin," Ila hissed as Parvati took her arm and faced the mirror. Ila could see just how different she looked, like how she was on the night of the party. No, not the party for the Champions, the Halloween party. This time, her eyebrows were permanently like that. Well if permanent meant a month. Her hair had been let done from the braid after Parvati realised that it matched the vibe more of the dress. Somehow Parvati had managed to style her 'not – bangs,' in such a way that was…actually nice. Though she'd never admit out loud. Merlin knew her head was big enough already.

But she might ask subtly how she fixed her hair. There was a tiara on her head that she was sure wasn't her, along with all the other pieces of jewellery she was decked out in. All silver. Maybe Parvati was good at makeovers.

"Yeah, I know what're you thinking right now," Parvati said smugly, moving behind Ila to play with her hair. "You're thinking, wow, Parvati did such a good job on me! I can't believe I never liked it whenever she did my makeup. Maybe I should be nicer to her."

Ila scoffed, though she couldn't help but smile. "I'm thinking about how long you took, that I'll probably be late to dance with…you know who…"

"Never knew you got over your differences so quickly," Parvati said, helping Ila into a pair of red heels that matched with her suit. "And that he came back to life."
Ila looked at herself once more. She looked…nice for once. It was strange. She never cared much about her appearance. But as a 5 ft 5, glassless, has glitter on her eyelids, nose and cheeks, put together girl stared back at Ila, she couldn't help but think what would people think of her. Would other girls compliment her on her make-up? Her professionally done eyeliner, or the shade of her lips? What would the boys says? How nice her hair looks? Her dress? What would Cedric think? Would he even see where when Cho would be standing next to him?

What about Malfoy?

Her cheeks flared at the thought – why is she getting hot all of a sudden? He's the one who has a crush on her. Would looking like this making his crush worse? Would she feel flattered?

Ila glanced at the clock above her. "Shit I'm actually going to be late!" Ila exclaimed, pushing Parvati off before banging on the bathroom door. "You nearly done Hermione?"
"You go on," Hermione said in a strained voice. She sounded like she was being strangled.

"You sure?"

"You'll see me at the Ball, it's fine," Hermione replied. "What's the time?"

"It's nearly eight."

"Right…you'll be late. Go on without."

Ila sighed before half running to the door when she heard someone clear their throat. Parvati was looking at herself in the mirror, making sure her sari was fitted properly. Ila quickly ran back to her, planting a quick kiss on her cheek. "I guess your makeover's are alright." Parvati smiled. "But tell me that this dress makes my Punjabi boobs look good, and I will fly you up to the hoops just to shove you off my broom."

"Love you too and now this is the second thing you owe me," Parvati shouted as Ila ran out of the common room, which was filled with all the youngers years who couldn't help stare at her as she struggled to open the door. Bouncing up and down as she went down the stairs, she estimated it had taken her at least five minutes to reach the main stairs.

Groups of students anxiously waited outside the Great Hall, ready for the ceremony to start. She wiped her palms on her dress, making sure no one saw her. She could almost scoff at herself. Why does she feel so nervous dancing with Malfoy when, only a few weeks ago, she had to face a Hungarian Horntail?

Did he even turn up? Would he stand her up?

Maybe. He did have a crush on her but…could you really trust a Malfoy?

Ila carefully walked down the stairs, holding the bannister to make sure she didn't break her neck while falling down them. She was too busy to find where her partner was to notice all the looks, she was getting, especially from a certain Hufflepuff.

He was going to be in trouble.

He better had not stood her –

"Looking for someone?"

Ila turned around on the last step.

Malfoy stood above her, wearing a plain black suit, his blond hair slicked back. It reminded her of when she first saw him at the Tournament. Surely being Malfoy, meant going all out during special occasions?

"What took you so long?" she asked hastily. He stepped down until he was now below her on the floor. She saw McGonagall come out of the Great Hall, looking for the Champions.

"I could ask the same," he said. "I've been here since seven."

"I thought I told you to wear something red," Ila hissed. She didn't miss Malfoy slowly looking her up and down ever so slowly, as if he didn't want to miss out on anything before he slowly unbuttoned his blazar. Ila looked wildly at the other students to see if anyone was watching. Unfortunately, they were. Most people were astounded that Hogwarts' greatest enemies put aside their differences for one night to dance with another.

This must mean they're together.

Ila wanted to desperately tell everyone that was watching that it wasn't her who wanted to be with him – though she didn't really have any qualms with being his partner – and that it was Dumbledore that set her up. Her eyes travelled back to Malfoy who revealed that he was wearing a maroon shirt and tie underneath his blazar. "Is this good enough?"

"Right – er yeah, it's fine," she said, looking anywhere but his chest. He extended a hand to her. He wore a silver ring, a snake curling around his pale, ring finger.

Ila hesitated taking his hand, partly because of the looks she was getting from other students and partly because when she tried to take his hand, that stupid snake woke up and moved up his finger and was ready to bite hers off.

"What the hell is wrong with your ring?"

"Don't worry," he said, smirking, "it just means he likes you."

Ila scoffed before pushing past him and towards the doors to the Great Hall.

"Wonderful, you're all here," McGonagall said, who looked like she was close to having her hair pulled out. "Definantly not half an hour late."

It wasn't like it was her fault.

"Now, it'll go from oldest to youngest, Viktor you go first…"

The crowd parted, as Viktor Krum walked with his partner down the aisle. People gasped as the two walked, students whispering feverishly at who his partner was.

"That's Granger?" Malfoy asked, slightly bewildered.

"No, Hermione's…that is her," Ila said speechless, as the girl in blue waved to her. She looked so different. Maybe it was the make over Lavender had done or maybe it was because she was on the arm of Viktor Krum. So that's why she was so reluctant about telling everyone who her partner was. If people found out before the ball, all of Krum's fangirls would have ripped her to shreds. And something was telling Ila that he wouldn't do a single thing to stop them. She wondered what Ron was going to think. She also couldn't help but quietly tell him so that Krum did have a crush on Hermione.

"Alright, next up, Fleur…Fleur!"

The Veela wore a silvery, lavender slip dress, with a fur jacket covering her shoulders. She was busy talking to Cedric, or rather, seducing him. She walked from him, giving him a small wave before her and her partner, who looked proud that he, out of all the guys managed to snag a date with the Veela, walked down the path that was made by the other students, who were in a trance when she walked past.

Mainly the boys.

"Do you think she can turn her thing on and off?" Malfoy whispered into Ila's ear, surprising her, as she walked past the pair.

"I doubt it," Ila replied. "Must be hard to constantly have male attention thrown your way."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."

"Don't you feel anything?" she asked, wondering how he even had the ability to form a sentence properly. She was suddenly reminded of the night of the Cup Final. Ginny mentioned that the Veelas didn't have any effect on him.

He shook his head. "It's probably because I'm part Veela too, you know - it cancels out."

Ila couldn't help but let out a snort. "If you're part then I'm defiantly full."

"You make it sound like it's impossible…"

"Cedric, you're next, come on…"

"Is it not?" Ila asked distractedly, as she watched Cedric walk down the aisle, with Cho by his side. She had a sudden urge to cry. Cho looked beautiful. They looked beautiful. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed of herself. How on earth did she think that he would ever pick her over Cho?

"It would make sense," Malfoy said, but Ila didn't listen.

"And finally, Ila."

A hand wrapped around hers and she felt herself pulled along, right behind Cedric and Cho. The former looked back at her, slightly surprised to see Malfoy by her side, but nonetheless smiled her. She couldn't do anything but look down.

The doors to the Great Hall opened, and students poured in, leaving the Champions and their partners behind. Once everyone had entered, soft classical music drifted past, telling the Champions that it was time. They entered one by one, Ila and Malfoy being the last to enter. Each pair took their place at the centre of the Hall, where everyone stood around them.

"I'm not going to bite Potter," Malfoy hissed, "now put your arm on my shoulder."

Ila couldn't care less about how rude he had spoken to her. She was too busy staring at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw that were whispering and laughing together. That could have been her.

Of course it wouldn't, don't be an idiot.

Ila's feet began to move, one step forward, two steps back. The faces around her began to blur, as she felt herself travelling around the circle anti-clockwise. She looked past Malfoy's shoulder. Cedric and Cho looked like they were having the time of their lives. Both of Malfoy's hands travelled down to her waist, where she was lifted into the air and twirled around. She was vaguely aware of the students talking, but all she could focus on was the couple in front of them. She hadn't even realised how flustered Malfoy had gotten. They waltzed around the circle for ten more minutes, with each minutes, her vision getting blurrier until she could only see a continuous blur surrounding her by the time the music stopped. The dance was finally over. The crowd burst into cheers, people applauded the Champions, though Ila didn't know what for. All they were doing was moving their feet and occasionally getting spun around.

"Well, that was certainly a wonderful way to start the evening off, wasn't it?" Dumbledore said as he reached the middle of the circle. "I think we should give another round of applause for all the effort everyone put in."

The crowd obeyed and clapped once more.

"Are you ok?" Malfoy asked.

"Yes," Ila said. Suddenly, her vision of Cedric and Cho went dark. Malfoy had stepped in front of her.

"Are you going to moping about-"

"I'm not moping about," Ila said, crossing her arms before walking over to an empty table, while most students stayed in the middle as the music changed to something more upbeat.

"Are you really going to be sad because you didn't get to be with Cedric?" he asked, taking a seat opposite.

"…Maybe." Malfoy groaned, putting his head into his hands. "I don't get why you're so annoyed, no one's making you stay."

"In case you forgot, I'm only here because Dumbledore forced me to be with you," Malfoy said, lifting his head.

"Since when did you care about what he said?" Ila asked, completely forgetting about Cedric and Cho. "I thought you hated him."

"Why would I hate him?" Malfoy asked genuinely.

"Do not remember who he is and what he did?" Ila said as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, I know that," Malfoy said, rolling his eyes, "but that doesn't mean I hate him for that, if anything I hate him because…" He trailed off, unable to make eye contact with her.

"What?"

"Why would I hate the man that helped put an end to a genocide?"

"A genocide that both your parents were involved in?" Ila retorted, unable to help herself. Malfoy stared at her, his expression hardening.

"Are you trying to say something?"

Ila wondered what he was going to do about that ultimatum.

"I'm just pointing out a fact," Ila said, leaning back in her chair. "Both your parents were involved with You Know Who, so why would their child not hate the man that aided in ending a genocide? Seems rather strange."

"Is it?" he asked. "Or maybe that child finally grew up and realised that maybe he shouldn't believe everything that his parents told him."

"Not even when said child managed to uphold their views for the past fifteen years of their life, to the detriment to others?"

"Like I said," Malfoy said, pushing his chair back as he stood up, making a loud scraping noise, gathering the attention of a few other people surrounding them before he walked in front of Ila, "that child grew up."

The two stared at each other for a few moments before he broke away and walked towards the food table, where a few of his friends stood.

Could he be telling the truth? He sounded angry when Ila compared him to his parents. But maybe this was also a part of his plan. Make Ila think that he's changed so that the two can get closer, close enough for Ila to trust him and…lead her straight to Voldemort.

"What was he on about then?" Ron asked, taking Malfoy's seat.

"He got a bit pissed off when I compared him to his parents," Ila said, explaining the rest of the details.

"Well, what does he expect you to say?" Ron said, looking back to where Malfoy was. "You know, if he really was sorry, he would have said something by now."

Ila hummed in response, looking at Malfoy before changing the conversation, tired of talking about him and his complicated plan. The entire Great Hall had transformed into a…well, a ball. The room was completely white, with snow falling from the ceiling, as well as a few mistletoes sprouting every few moments. The dance floor was completely made out of ice and Ila could see Hagrid and Madame Maxime dancing their hearts away. There were long tables of Christmas themed snacks as well a Christmas Tree so large, the Ila was probably closer to Hagrid's height than he was to the tree. Looking behind where the teachers tables were, she could see a few familiar faces: Dumbledor and McGonagall, Snape, who hexed a couple that was dancing too close to one another, Flitwick and Sprout sharing one to many drinks with each other. She even saw Bagman but instead of Crouch sitting next to him, it was –

"Is that your brother?" Ila asked Ron, pointing to where Percy was sat rigidly, watching everyone in slight disgust.

"What?" Ron said distractedly, who looked like he was trying to find someone before following Ila's finger. "Oh yeah…wonder what he's doing here.."

Ron got up from his chair before pulling Ila up too and they both pushed past the dancing students to reach where he was.

"What're you doing here Perce?" Ron asked, taking a seat on one of the designated chairs. Ron was sitting at Karakoff's chair while Ila took Crouch's. Percy's disgust turned into horror when he saw Ila take his boss's seat.

"I told you not to call me that, and you shouldn't be sitting on his chair," Percy said in a whispered voice as to not let the other teachers hear about his brother and his brother's friends disobedience.

"Relax Perce, he's not even here is he?" Ron said, popping a pig in a blanket in his mouth, "and you still haven't answered my question."

Percy sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win with his brother. "I'm here on Mr Crouch's behalf. He was supposed to be here, but he'd fallen ill quite recently."

"He wasn't there at the First Task either," Ila recalled. "That was a few weeks ago."

"I don't know, I'm supposed to be his assistant and he doesn't even bloody tell me anything what's wrong," Percy grumbled. For the first time, Ila saw him angry. Even Ron was slightly concerned.

"Everything ok?"

"Appart from not having seen my boss in the past few weeks and not even hearing a word from him either and it seems that no one else cares and that my fiancé broke up with him, apart from all of that, I am completely fine!"

Ron and Ila locked eyes with one another. "Penelope broke up with you?"

"She said that I've been too obsessed with Mr Crouch – I can't help it that I'm his personal assistant and my entire job revolves around him and I'm sorry, no one forced her to come with me to Mr Crouch's house? It wasn't like she was held at wand point to join me was she?"

"Percy, how long have not seen Mr Crouch for?" Ila asked. She couldn't assume anything now. But there's nothing wrong with knowing a few titbits.

"It's been over a month since the last time I've seen him," Percy said. "Why? Do you know something?"
"Er – no…I was just curious.."

"Good," he said, crossing his arms over. "Mr Bagman thinks that he's disappeared like the others, I keep on telling him that you shouldn't make that assumption. Just because I didn't see him at his house, does not mean he was kidnapped by some made-up group," he said, extra loudly when Bagman walked past the three of them.

"Right," Ron said slowly. "I think we should leave you to it, don't you Ila?"

"Yep, definantly," Ila said, getting up. "Nice talking to you Percy."

"What's gone on with him?" Ila said once the two were far away from him.

Ron shrugged, easily as confused as Ila about his own brother. "Mum did mention that he was acting a bit weird – he's been more argumentative with her – even called her an idiot at one point…but I thought that was Percy being Percy," Ron explained as they got back to their seats. "Didn't realise just how bad it is…"

"Maybe he's just missing Crouch a bit too much," Ila suggested. "Anyway, where's Parvati?" This was the second thing that Ila owed to Parvati. There was a lot of convincing and begging but Ila couldn't just sit there as Ron somberly watched couples propose to each other to go to the Yule Ball with another. So…with a lot of persuading and bribing, she had managed to get Parvati and Ron go together to the Yule Ball.

Only for Parvati to disappear the moment the doors opened.

"Who – oh yeah," Ron said, looking around him before pointing to the dance floor where she was with a Durmstrung boy that Ila remembered from the Halloween party. "Have you seen Hermione? I haven't seen her yet. I thought you two got ready together?"

"We did," Ila said, unsure. "She's here."

"Where?" Ron said, turning around quickly.

"Didn't you see her dancing with Krum?"

Ron didn't say anything, rather he turned around slowly to Ila, a look of shock etched on his face. "What?" he said quietly.

"Yeah, she opened the ceremony with him," Ila said, "speaking of…" Ila motioned her head towards Hermione, who was walking towards them. With a large smile, she twirled around, landing right in front of Ron.

"Isn't the ball amazing? Oh, Ila, your dancing was actually alright, I told you didn't have anything to worry about, Malfoy wasn't going to do anything with-"

"You never said that you were going with Krum," Ron interrupted bluntly.

"You never asked," Hermione said, smiling nervously.

"I thought we were friends," Ron said, "we're supposed to tell each other everything."

"Ron, it isn't that big of a deal."

"You know we could have gone together," Ron said, causing Ila to raise her brows. So it wasn't about Viktor that he was annoyed about it. Ron wanted to go with Hermione. A strange spectrum of emotions washed over Ila, to confusion, happiness and what the hell does this mean for their friendship now that Ron might have a crush on Hermione?

Hermione didn't seem to feel the same feelings.

"What's that supposed to mean? It's not like you asked me," Hermione said. "Weren't you the one who said that you had a lot of options."

Ron scoffed. "I was joking Hermione, obviously I knew that-"

"You sounded pretty confident to me!"

And that was the time to leave. She didn't tell her friends, the two being too busy arguing with each other. She passed Krum, who held drinks for both him and Hermione.

"Ila!" Krum called out. "Have you seen Herm–ninny?"

"Who's that – oh, Hermione – uh…she's over there," Ila said, pointing in their general direction behind her. She wasn't facing them, but she could see from the look on Krum's face that he definantly wasn't happy with what was going on. Could he tell too? Merlin, how dumb was Ila being?

Could everyone tell?

Before she could think anything more, she felt herself getting tugged to the teachers table at the front of the room.

"Let me introduce you to Ila Potter, in the flesh," Bagman, of all people, said as he talked to a man's back. He was gripped quite hard onto Ila's arm. Was he ever going to let go?

The man, who's back Bagman was talking to, turned around to reveal a very solemn man. Too sad to be at a ball like this. He was rather tall, taller than Bagman, but you couldn't really tell with how much he was slouching. It looked like he was caving in on himself. His cheeks were hollowed out, his under-eye bags were deep. He looked pale and had a look on his face as if he was going to sick at any moment. Even with such a drastic difference from the last time Ila had seen him, she immediately recognised him.

"Ila, meet Auror John Dawlish."

The man with the missing wife.

"You alright?" he asked in a thick cockney accent. He didn't stick his hand out, all he did was a slight nod before his attention went somewhere else, something that rarely happened when people were first introduced to Ila.

"Ila's one of the Tournament players," Bagman explained.

"I know, I've read the papers," he said. He looked like he was about to say something else but decided against it. "It must be tough to have all that attention on you."

"You get used to it after a while," Ila said, lying through her teeth. He hummed in response.

"Still, having everyone know about all the people you lost must be tough…everyone constantly wondering what happened…it's like they forget that you're an actual person and not a conspiracy theory." Ila knew he wasn't talking about her losing her parents. "Do you think it gets better?"

"As I said, you get used to it."

"John here's been an Auror for a good – what is it – twenty years now," Bagman said, smiling, interjecting into their conversation. "He was on the team that helped defeat the Dark Lord – well, maybe not actually him, of course, that was you" – he let out a hearty laugh at his mistake – "but no, he was known to be the guy who put most of the Death Eaters into Azkaban, even more than Alastor – Professor Moody to you."

"It's not a lot Ludo," John spoke quietly. "Most of them got off by claiming they were under Imperious. You still get people like Karkaroff and Malfoy being heads of schools and departments."

If only Malfoy was here to hear that.

"Come off it, John, they're not ones," Bagman said, all of a sudden nervous. "I think we should get some food in you now – you can talk to Ila later." Bagman grabbed John by the arm, but he pushed him off.

"I'm fine Ludo, you don't need to treat me like I'm a child."

"But-"

"Look, if you really want to help…get me a drink," John said, waiting for Bagman to leave before letting out a big sigh. "He's a bit much at the best of times."

"A bit sounds like an understatement, sir," Ila said, making him smile slightly.

"You don't need to call me sir, Ila, I'm not my father," John said sadly.

There was a silence that fell between them, neither wanting to carry the conversation. They listened to the music played by the Weird Sisters, students dancing and singing along. She could hear the faint chatter of the teachers at times and sometimes the clanging of cutlery to plates. Behind John, Ila could see a conversation between Parkinson and Malfoy. It seemed that someone must have spiked the drinks, as Parkinson seemed rather touchy when she talked to Malfoy, who was clearly not into it, though when is he ever? He kept swatting her away like she was a mosquito who couldn't get the hint, until he gave up entirely and walked away from her.

"I've heard about you before," Ila said to John, not knowing how to start the conversation.

"And I've heard quite a bit about you too," he said. "The Girl Who Lived doesn't get much privacy, does she? I remember, it must have been when you were only a couple of years old, the head of the Daily Prophet – Rita Skeeter – wanted to do a piece about your muggle life and what it was like for. I remember my wife hated the idea and wouldn't stop shouting at her and begging her until Rita finally gave up…" He looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath before looking back at Ila.

"What happened to her, sir?" Ila asked.

"I told you Ila, sir's too formal, far too formal for an event like this." He weakly laughed.

"Everyone said that she ran away," Ila said. "But I read an article…"

"I don't what to tell you, Ila," John said. "The same thing I say to reporters, I'll tell you: I don't know. And something tells me that I'll never know…at least not from her."

A chill ran down her spine. Ila was sure that the windows in the Great Hall were closed. She hadn't gotten that far when she asked Malfoy about this. It was probably because he didn't know. Maybe John did.

"Do you know who?" Ila asked.

John stared at her, his face void of emotions. It had probably looked like that for months at this point. "He's coming Ila," he said ever so softly as if telling her a lullaby. "You're next."