Authors note: I really hope you enjoy this chapter, be I sure did writing it!

A shout out to Ghostwriter71 and a guest called Shadow for always leaving such lovely reviews!

(Shadow I do read them but you're a guest so I cant reply)

Back in lockdown and online school so bare with me as I don't know how often I can get updates done, but I'm trying!

Any way, Enjoy! :)

Ebony was abruptly awoken by Ginny throwing a pillow in her face.

"Happy Christmas!"

"Hmm?" She responded sleepily. She had no idea what time it was but the other beds in her dorm were already abandoned.

Ginny was clearly annoyed by her lack of movement and chose to scoop the small pile of presents from the front of her bed and dumped them on her legs. Ebony stretched and then frowned at the gifts.

"What's all this?"

"Your presents!"

"I have presents?"

"Of course," Ginny said, almost laughing, "that's usually how Christmas works."

Ebony didn't bother to mention that already her morning was a world away from her usual Christmas. The thought of presents hadn't even crossed her mind.

There was nothing from her parents but that was no surprise. She received a cosy purple scarf from Neville, a lockable notebook from Sirius (Ebony had no idea how he was buying things, probably best she didn't), dung bombs from Ginny, and a book called 'Little women' from Hermione. The present that surprised her the most though, was the pair of red and yellow knitted socks and the tin of mince pies from Mrs Weasley.

"I don't understand," she said, "Why would your mum send me stuff?"

Ginny just shrugged, nibbling on the mince pie she'd helped herself to. "I've mentioned you in a couple of my letters so she knows we're friends, it's just what she does. Mum things, you know."

Ebony desperately tried to imagine her own mother sitting down and knitting or baking mince pies, the image was hilarious.

"Right," Ginny said, hopping off the bed, "put some clothes on, Neville's waiting for you downstairs."

Ebony watched her leave the dorm and just smiling happily at the collection in her bed.

So this is what Christmas was supposed to be like.

...

Neville was indeed already in the common room when Ebony had finally managed to drag herself out of bed and pull on some clothes. He pulled her into a hug.

"Happy Christmas Eb."

"Happy Christmas," she mumbled into his chest.

He pulled away, frowning a little, his arms still resting on her shoulders.

"Is that my jumper?"

Ebony looked down and saw that the jumper she had sleepily pulled on was indeed the red cardigan that she had borrowed off of Neville near the start of term.

"Er maybe?" She said, making no effort to hide the guilty look on her face, "I meant to give it back, I just...forgot."

Neville chuckled, "it looks better on you anyway."

Ebony's cheeks went a little pink.

The morning was spent with everyone cosied up in the common room, chatting and playing board games. Ebony won three games of exploding snap but lost several games of chess.

Hogwarts went all out for Christmas lunch, the great hall filled with almost a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings. There was even fake snow floating down from the ceiling that vanished just as it was about to hit the table.

Ebony just couldn't get over how joyful the day felt. There were no formalities (several students were wandering around in their pyjamas), no family members snapping at her or muttering out of the corner of their mouths or behind her back. In fact, Ebony didn't think she'd ever felt so relaxed in her life. She had almost even completely forgotten about the ball in the evening.

Ginny came running over from where she'd been talking to her brothers. "Go upstairs and grab your coats," she said, grinning, "we're having a snowball fight and you two are on my team." The pair of them didn't even have time to respond before she had disappeared again.

"I'm glad we're not against her," Neville remarked as they headed out of the hall.

"Me too," Ebony replied, "that's a side of Ginny Weasley that you do not want to be on."

Ebony ran up to the dorm, pulled on her cloak and wrapped her new scarf around her neck. It was a lovely deep purple and quite possibly the softest thing she'd ever owned.

Neville was in the common room and Ebony couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked all wrapped up.

"Do you like your scarf?" He asked at the same time she asked, "Do you like your new gloves?"

"I love it," she said, smoothing it out, "my favourite colour."

"I didn't make it," he said, "I actually tried to but it didn't end too well."

"Well I appreciate the effort," she said, smiling at the image of Neville trying to teach himself to knit. For her. "'Fraid to say I didn't make your gloves either."

"I love them all the same," he held out hands and flexed his fingers.

The quiet moment they spent smiling at each other was soon broken by Ginny flying in and grabbing them both by the arm.

...

They spent the rest of the afternoon in an intense snowball fight, Ginny, Ebony and Neville on one team, Ron and Harry on another and the twins on another.

Ginny in a snowball fight turned out to be terrifying and Ebony was once again very pleased that she was on a team with her and not against her. She was ruthless, aiming primarily for faces.

Neville had a less offensive tactic, he found something to hide behind and then haphazardly threw handfuls of snow in someone's general direction. Which to be fair, worked some of the time.

Ebony soon learned that being one of the smallest players had its advantages and she was able to easily dodge a lot of shots. She didn't totally avoid getting hit though, Fred even managed to get one right down her neck which made her squeal as the icy water dripped down her back.

Ginny got revenge for her, a rather large snowball right in the middle of his face.

They tried to get Hermione to join in but she stayed where she was, reading on the steps, which Ebony thought was probably rather wise. Then, around five o clock, she disappeared inside to get ready.

The snowball fight happened to end only minutes later when Neville tried to launch snow at Ron but he ducked and the ball instead hit a group of Beauxbatons boys who looked far from impressed and the group decided to scatter.

...

"I'm going to be sick," Neville said, looking in the bathroom mirror, adjusting his robes and trying to smooth his hair down, "I look like an idiot and I'm going to be sick."

Both the boy's bathroom and the dorm were messier than usual as the five of them scrambled to get ready. They were all feeling a little self-conscious, but no more so than Ron who, despite his best efforts, still looked slightly as though he was wearing an old dress.

"Don't talk to me about looking like an idiot," Ron grumbled, severing another bit of lace with his wand.

"Neville please sit down, you look very pale," Dean said, dragging him out of the bathroom and onto his bed. "I know you're nervous mate, but it's Ebony. She's the same person she's always been."

"Except now Neville thinks she's hot!" Seamus came and leant against the bedpost. Neville put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Not helpful," Dean muttered.

"Who are you taking anyway?" Harry asked, fixing his tie.

"Lavender," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"Does she know you're ..."

"God sake you can say it, Nev!" Seamus said with a laugh, "yes, she does know I'm gay, we're just going as mates. She's a laugh."

"Think we should make our way downstairs," Dean said, checking his watch, "Can you be trusted to get to the hall without throwing up?"

"Yes," Neville replied but he wasn't fully convinced.

He'd never been more nervous in his life.

...

"Ebony?"

Ebony looked up as Hermione shuffled over to the bathroom and turned around, the back of her periwinkle blue dress half done up. She didn't need to be told what to do and fastened it the rest of the way.

"Thank you," Hermione said and then let out a shaky breath.

"You alright?"

"Bit nervous," she admitted, "I don't even know him that well and everyone is going to be looking at me and-"

"Hermione," Ebony said, grabbing her friends arms and offering a reassuring smile, "you are going to be fine." She paused and looked her up and down, "not to mention the fact that you look bloody gorgeous."

Hermione blushed, "stop it."

"You do!"

Ebony thought Hermione looked fairly pretty most of the time but tonight she was something else. Of course everyone would be looking at her, but Hermione of all people deserved to get the chance to be a princess, even just for one night.

She would also be lying if she didn't admit that she was a bit nervous herself. It made her feel foolish though, it was only Neville. Neville, whom she'd known for three and a bit years. Neville who was her best friend.

Over and over in her head, she reminded herself they were just friends.

But if that were really true, why was her stomach packed with butterflies?

Ebony turned back towards the mirror and finished pinning her hair in place. It was nowhere near as mad curly as her mother's but it never liked behaving itself.

"How are we-Woah!" Ginny exclaimed as she swept into the bathroom in a blur of dark pink, a cheeky grin on her lips.

"What?"

"Just didn't realise quite how pretty both of my best friends were!" Both Hermione and Ebony blushed darker than Ginny's dress.

"You're such a charmer, Ginny!"

"You look pretty too," Ebony said.

"Thanks," she said, her cheeks going a little pink, "now come on, we have a ball to go to!"

The three of them left the dorm, giggling and positively giddy with excitement.

...

Neville couldn't stand still. He paced back and forth at the bottom of the stairs to the Great Hall, constantly glancing up to see who was coming down.

"Calm down Neville," Dean said, placing a hand in his shoulder, "it's not like you're getting married!"

Neville was about to reply that if he was getting married he would've definitely passed out at least once by now but his words died in his mouth as he saw Ebony approach the top of the stairs. Her dress was a deep, royal blue, the straps resting just off her shoulders, the hem reaching the middle of her shins. Her curly hair had been swept into a low bun by her left ear. Her pale skin was glowing in the candlelight making the pink of her lips stand out.

She looked amazing. More than amazing, she was stunning, gorgeous, beautiful and everything in between.

"I'll leave you to it mate," Dean whispered in his ear. He patted him on the back and disappeared. Neville didn't see where he went, he wasn't paying that much attention.

Neville watched as she came down the stairs towards him, saying one last thing to Hermione and Ginny and then coming in his direction, her heels echoing as they made contact with the stone steps.

And for that moment he realised that he was no longer a loser or an idiot or a nobody. He was a boy taking a very pretty girl to a dance. And that pretty girl also happened to be his best friend, the person he cared more about than anyone in the world.

"Hey," she said with a soft smile as she reached the bottom, a loose curl bouncing as she walked.

Neville just grinned like a love-struck idiot because he couldn't ask for anything more.

She was perfect.

"Wow...you look, wow," he said, watching her blush and suddenly feeling rather hot under the collar himself.

All the words he came up with in his head and 'wow' was all that managed to come out of his mouth? He was useless.

"You scrub up pretty nicely yourself."

Neville blushed and stared at her with his mouth slightly agape for longer than he should have. He cleared his throat and offered his elbow.

"Shall we?"

Ebony slipped her hand onto his arm and grinned up at him.

"Lead the way."

...

They started off the evening with a feast, which allowed the pair of them to calm their nerves a little. Food and conversation, they could do that. And once Ebony had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of her, she felt incredibly relaxed.

She didn't feel particularly nervous when The Weird Sisters got on stage and started playing but she could feel Neville practically vibrating next to her.

"Hey," she said softly as the champions started to dance. He looked over at her, his face anxious. His leg was rapidly bouncing under the table. She reached over and placed her hand on it. "We're here to have fun."

"Right yeah," he said, taking a couple of deep breaths.

"Harry looks like he's having the time of his life," Seamus snickered from across the table, nodding his head towards where Harry was dancing. He and Parvarti were awkwardly stumbling around the dance floor, Parvarti was smiling and looking like she was enjoying the attention far more than Harry.

She watched as other couples made their way onto the dance floor and then took Neville's hand, smiling at his badly hidden look of panic. "Do you trust me?"

He exhaled deeply and then nodded.

"Then come on."

She tugged him onto the dance floor. Neville's hand was hovering hesitantly by her waist which made Ebony smile and shake her head as she gently grabbed it and placed on her waist before reaching up to place her hand on his shoulder.

Neville was blushing and seemed to be trying to look everywhere except her face.

"Hey," she said softly and he finally met her eyes, "it's just me." Neville chuckled nervously but stopped avoiding her gaze.

She only hoped that he couldn't hear her heart beating as hard as she assumed his was.

They moved around the floor not overly elegantly but Ebony found herself having a far better time than she ever had at any occasions that her family dragged her to. He wasn't some pretentious twat that she needed to make polite conversation with whilst simultaneously wanting to be literally anywhere else.

She also found it incredibly adorable that Neville was counting under his breath.

"Been practising have you?"

Her question obviously threw off his concentration as he landed especially hard on one of her toes and she winced.

"Sorry," he mumbled, blushing furiously but she just laughed.

"I have worse dance partners, believe me," she said before he twirled her around. "Besides-" she joined back into hold- "I said it because I can tell. You're not as awful as you think you are."

Neville chuckled, "Seamus helped."

"Did he now?" She replied arching an eyebrow, almost laughing at the idea of Neville and Seamus dancing together, "might have to ask him to give me a dance later."

"No can do I'm afraid," Neville said, boldly tugging her a little closer, causing shivers to trickle down her spine and her heart to skip a beat, "I'm selfishly keeping you to myself all night."

Ebony bit her lip and then smiled, her stomach doing somersaults, "I think I can deal with that."

...

Ebony was being plain stupid.

Draco watched as she and Neville twirled around with everyone else, the oaf stomping on her toes every five minutes. She didn't seem to even notice.

They usually kept to themselves but here they were fawning over each other in plain view of everyone.

He had told her time and again that her friendship with him was not only pointless but stupid, She'd have to let him go eventually. But yet she persisted and he couldn't deny that the two of them looked happy.

Too happy to just be friends.

And it almost pained him to know how it would all end.

She stumbled and Neville caught her, their faces inches away as he helped her up. They were smiling at each other so adoringly. It was pathetic.

"It's a disgrace," Pansy muttered, reappearing at his side and handing a drink to him.

Draco grunted and took the glass from her, anger surging inside him despite thinking the same thing only moments ago.

"It's harmless," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He suddenly felt protective of his cousin.

"Doubt they would agree," she scoffed. Draco didn't need to ask who 'they' were and also knew he couldn't argue with her.

He wished that Ebony could just behave herself for once.

She was going to get hurt if she wasn't careful.

...

The sky was clear and scattered with stars.

The pair of them had left the hall to get some air. They were sat on a small wall on the edge of the courtyard, both of them pink-faced from dancing. The air was still rather cold so Ebony had the jacket of Neville's dress robes draped over her shoulders.

"And that one's Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major," Ebony said, pointing up. "The brightest star in the sky."

"Like Sirius Black?"

"Yes," she said, "most of my family are named after stars. It's the only reason I pass astronomy."

"You'd think you'd be even better at astronomy with all of this knowledge," Neville replied and Ebony laughed.

"I usually get distracted and just admire them." She looked up at the sky in awe. "I mean, they're beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you."

Ebony's breath caught in her throat. If she thought her cheeks couldn't get any pinker, she was wrong.

She'd been told she was beautiful before by endless snotty boys at parties and such but Neville, the way Neville said it made her feel beautiful. The way his eyes lit up when he saw her. The way his words were always so genuine, so kind. He treated her in a way she didn't even know she'd been longing for.

"Neville..."

Just friends.

Just friends.

Just friends.

"Seam and Dean have been teasing me about it for years and I've always just told them to shut up but this year, well this year I'm realising that they might have a point." He let out a nervous laugh and swallowed. "And that point being that I may have a small... to medium to blooming massive...crush...on..you."

Ebony was lost for words. She hadn't thought about how much she had wanted him to say those words. Until he did. All of her 'just friends' comments seemed stupid now and she realised that everything in her head that was telling her that this was a bad idea, that she would get hurt, didn't matter.

Because what was in her heart was drowning it all out.

"And you can tell me if that was a stupid thing to say. It probably was actually I don't know what I was thinking-" Ebony reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, smiling when he looked a little taken aback.

She couldn't think about how badly it all might end.

Because what was happening in front of her, that was the most important thing.

"Neville," she said, biting her lip, "that was the best thing you could have said." She too let out a nervous laugh, still not quite believing what she was hearing or the words that were leaving her mouth. "Because Ginny's been teasing me too and well... I've slowly been realising the same thing."

Her heart felt as though it would burst. She looked at him, grinning like a fool, his eyes shining in the starlight - eyes that she had unknowingly been adoring for years.

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek and she cursed herself when she flinched.

"Sorry," she said, blushing.

"It's okay." He moved his hand more slowly this time and when it made contact with her skin, she shivered. Ebony leant into his touch, wanting to cry with the gentleness of it all.

She would never get over the feeling of having someone touch her like that. To have someone lay their hand on her skin and, for once, pain didn't follow.

"Can I-can I kiss you?" He stammered and her heart threatened to flutter out of her chest.

Ebony answered with a smile and slipped her hand round to the back of his neck, her fingers brushing the edge of his hair. She gently tugged him towards her. He leaned into her and the next thing she knew their lips were brushing against each other.

His lips were soft and warm and, like everything about him, they were so unbelievably gentle.

And at that moment everything was forgotten. All of her worries and doubts were lost as if her head had simply emptied itself. The thoughts that were usually swirling around had stopped.

There should've been alarm bells ringing.

But there was only pure joy.

All that mattered was the boy in her arms.

She was exactly where she wanted to be, with her best friend.

They both pulled back and stared. Then both her hands were on his neck, his other hand met her cheek and their lips were crashing together this time. Their movements were clumsy and messy but neither of them cared, their feelings had both been ignored for far too long. His lips sent shivers down her spine and Ebony never wanted that feeling to go away. It made her stomach jump around inside her, her hair stand on end.

She felt happier than she'd even been before.

When they broke apart, they looked into each other's eyes, a new sense of understanding in them. No hidden feelings. No doubts or questions. Just pure adoration.

She'd never looked at someone like that before.

She'd never had someone look at her like that before.

She'd never thought anyone ever would.

Ebony's heart was pounding.

Neville still looked shocked

Then they both burst out laughing.

"That um...that happened," Neville said, looking redder than she'd ever seen him.

"Yeah. It really did."

A new song started up in the hall.

"Come on," she said, hopping down from the wall and tugging him by the hand. They moved into the middle of the courtyard. Neville slipped his arm around her waist, clearly having gained a new burst of confidence. Ebony placed her hand on his shoulder and rested her head on his chest, listening to the rapid thud of his heart.

The air was sharp with cold but Ebony was too happy to even care.

"You know," Neville said and Ebony brought her head off of his chest and looked up at him, he was still grinning widely, "I think that was the scariest thing I've ever done."

"And I'm so beyond glad you were brave enough to do it," she replied, "because I never would've been able to."

"You're braver than you give yourself credit for."

Ebony looked into his eyes, so bright and kind, and found that, for once, maybe she believed him.

They swayed to the faint music that spilt from the hall, their laughter rippling through the stillness of the winter night.

It had been the best Christmas that either of them had ever had.

And they were both too enthralled with each other to notice the movement in the shadows.