Mary:

The day passed quickly and the next ones too. From all sides I could hear the 'I told you's and ignored them successfully. Through Theo I almost forgot the mark, which was emblazoned on my left forearm. The keyword being almost.

Today was the draw of the champions and everyone had gathered in the Great Hall.

"Silence Please! Silence students!"

Instantly the noise died down. "Today is the day, the Goblet of Fire has chosen and will tell us the name. From each school only one champion will be able to participate." Said Dumbledore while striding towards the cup.

Slowly the blue flames turned red and the first name was released.

"The champion for Durmstrang is... Viktor Krum!"

The Durmstrang cheered and Krum walked forward.

Again, the flames changed to red and Dumbledore read the Name out loud.

"The champion for Beauxbaton is Fleur Delacour."

The mentioned girl went to stand next to Krum by the Teachers Table.

"Now, we get to the Hogwarts champion." He smiled slightly, caught the slip of paper and said: "The champion for Hogwarts is... Cedric Diggory."

Oh really? Hufflepuff? The Hufflepuffs roared and cheered for their champion. So, did Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, only our table remained silent. Suddenly the fire turned red again and a little piece of paper flew out of it in Dumbledore's hand.

"Harry Potter."

All heads turned to the fourteen-year-old and Dumbledore calmly repeated the words. Shocked I studied Harry. It was quiet as a mouse in the Hall. How in the hell had he put his name in there?!

Alice:

My mind was roaring. It just wasn't possible! Harry's name could not have been in that cup.

"Calm down Alice, everything is going to get cleared up..." Hermione said to reassure me. But deep down I knew that she was as worried as I was.

Ten minutes ago, Harry had disappeared out of the great hall with some teachers and for the last ten minutes, I had been going up and down in the Gryffindor common room.

"How did he do that?" Ron asked quietly.

"He didn't do anything. He wasn't even able to! He's too young and he indeed did not want to join the competition." I said to Ron.

"Yes but-" He stopped suddenly and stood up.

"And?" I asked, turning to Harry, who had just walked in the door.

"They won't cancel the tournament and they also refused to expel me from it. From now on I officially am a champion in the Triwizard-tournament." He explained while in thought.

Hermione fell back on the sofa, Ron's face was difficult to determine, and I... No idea. I did not quite know what to make of it. What had just happened? Why would they make him participate in something so dangerous?

"Did you-"

"No Hermione I did not put my name in there!" Harry interrupted her in a pissed voice.

"I can't hear this question anymore!" Harry said and stormed out of the room. I gave Hermione a worried look and ran after him.

"What do you want Alice?" He asked when I had caught up with him.

"I thought that you could use a distraction. How about a secret trip to Hogsmeade? You've still got your coat, right?" I asked with a devilish smile.

He nodded and smiled at last.

"That's the best thing I've heard today." He said relieved.

Mary:

After announcing the names of the champions, the houses went back to their common rooms. After me and Theo had plunged ourselves onto the sofas, Malfoy suddenly came up to us. From the moment he stepped in front of us, I had a bad feeling about this.

"Mary? Are you going to the Yule ball with me?"

Ok, that shocked me. Before I could reply, Theo got up and went so close to Malfoy, that I thought their faces would touch each other.

"You do realize that I'm going to kick your ass, Draco? I am her boyfriend, if you haven't noticed." He hissed and Draco backed away a few steps. I had never seen Theo like this. Normally he was very calm.

"She didn't say no yet..." Now, I interrupted him.

"That's probably not even necessary Draco!" I said angrily. "It's clear that I'm going to say no! I am with Theo and I will go with him. Just leave me alone, I'm really done with you Malfoy." I said and pulled Theo away from the common room. As we stood outside, I gave him a kiss.

''I'm so sorry about this.''

"You don't need to apologize. He does. "

Alice:

" Harry are you here?" I asked, entering the tent that they had put up for the Champions.

Today was the 24th November. The day of the first test.

Ron had told me that it had something to do with Dragons. I had been worried for weeks because of Harry and Ron. The two quarrelled or went out of each other's way.

"Alice?"

I turned to the right and saw Harry standing there. I ran up to him and hugged him.

"How are you?" I asked in a whisper.

"I'm nervous, what else?" He replied just as quietly. "But what are you doing here?''

"I'm worried about you, it's not every day that you fight a Dragon." I said and pulled away from him.

Before I left the tent two minutes later, I turned around one last time.

"Oh, and Harry? I'll put everything on you, so please, stay alive." I said with a wink and left the tent.

While walking away I saw Hermione standing next to the tent. I smiled at her and then went to Fred and George. They were still down in front of the arena, and gathered money.

I had 200 pieces of gold in a small bag and let it fall in George's hand." I put everything on Harry. I bet that he survives and gets first place." I said sure of myself.

"Woah, you've got a lot of confidence in him." George started.

"But don't come crying to reclaim your money, if he loses." Fred finished, George's sentence.

"Absolutely not!" I said with a triumphant smile.

"George, she scares me." Fred said.

"Will you finally join me?"

We all looked to the entrance. Dimé stood there and waited for the two redheads.

"See you, Alice!", George said while leaving.

I waved goodbye and turned around. And I stared directly into blue eyes.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked curiously.

"Actually, I was just... ah, never mind," I sighed.

"Okay, then we can watch the tournament together." Ron said and pulled me to the seats.

I wanted to watch the tournament from further away. My ears will hurt very badly, because of all these people and their unnecessary shouting. I looked at Ron and saw a slight smile on his face. I sighed in defeat. Well, then. At least I would spend some time with Ron, without him and Harry pissing each other off.

Mary:

I was not surprised that Harry had won first place, along with Viktor. But unlike most of my house members I was happy for him and also kind of relieved that he was still alive. When the excitement had subsided Professor Snape took us to the Great Hall, where the Gryffindor stood and stared at us dumbfounded. I wondered what was wrong with them, but my question answered itself when McGonegall began to speak.

''So students, we are here to practice for the Yule Ball today. You could say, that a Ball is a dance and that's why you will learn the waltz today.''

Now our mouths fell open. But I observed all of that with a big smile on my face. This moment was pure Karma. The Slytherins totally deserved it to have those lessons with the Gryffindors. But my laugh froze, as McGonegall walked to Snape. They wouldn't...?! But when Snape put his hand on McGonegalls hip, my suspicions were confirmed and I had trouble to keep in my laughter. When they had finished their dance, they divided us into groups by distributing tickets with names on it. I was the first to draw and when Minerva said the names out loud I couldn't contain myself anymore. I had pulled Theo, Malfoy, Astoria, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Alice.

''So now stand together in a circle. The men on the inside and the women in front of their partners. You will also be changing partners, so that all women have danced once with all the men. The goal is for you to feel how everyone dances a little different.''

''We do this so long until it sits. '', Informed us Snape.

Wow, they really wanted to torture us. I positioned myself in front of Theo, who smiled at me lovingly. I blushed and put my hand into his. Suddenly I sensed a feeling as if thousands of butterflies were flying around in my stomach and I blushed even more. I think that was really love I felt there. The dance began and Theo pulled me closer to him. I smiled happily. Learning the waltz would be so fun... with him definitely.

''Change! ''

Theo passed me up to his neighbour and I stifled a sigh. I looked straight into Malfoy's eyes. How annoying... but I had to admit, he wasn't bad at dancing.

Alice:

Who had had the stupid idea to let Mary draw the names?! Her fortune was horrible. Aunt Minerva had hushed all the Boys to stand in a circle and we had to put ourselves in front of one. I stood in front of Harry, Hermione stood before Ron, Mary went to Theo and Astoria to Draco. We took the starting position and we started to dance, when the first sound of music filled our ears. Snape and Auntie showed us the steps and we had to repeat them. The dance with Harry was a bit awkward at first, since he was clearly not used to this kind of dance, but after a moment it got easier.

''Change!'' Snape suddenly yelled and I was swirled to the right. I ended up in Ron's arms. He had trouble to look me in the eyes, because his eyes stayed clued to his feet. I broke a hand and raised his head, so that he would look at me.

''Look into my eyes Ron, it will be fine. Let yourself feel the music and give in to it.'' I said, smiling.

Ron, who was slightly red, nodded. From the corner of my eye I could see how Dimé gut pulled into the Room by Minerva. She said something about odd numbers and placed Dimé next to George, who was slightly red. I looked back at Ron, who also smiled and still had reddish cheeks.

''Change!''

This time I ended up in Theo's arms. He smiled gently and we began to dance.

''Does this remind you of something too?'' He asked me with a provocative smile.

''The summer of 1986, the family party in your garden. At that time, you wanted to cheer me up, because you had heard the story about my father. You kept me on the dance floor all the time, so I had no time to be worried about him. At that time though, you stomped on my feet more times than you do now.'' I said with a grin.

''I didn't stand on your feet o- '', at this very moment he stood on my foot. He blushed slightly but laughed anyway. ''That was mean and totally your own fault for distracting me.'' As a slight revenge he tickled me, and I burst out laughing.

Mary:

Somewhat embarrassed, I looked at Harry, who only smiled encouragingly at me and stood on my feet at the very first step. I laughed.

''Dancing is probably not your thing what?'' I asked.

He shook his head.

''Mine neither.'' I laughed again and looked to my left.

Hermione was dancing with Malfoy they kept each other as far away as possible. As Hermione's gaze grazed mine with so much suffering that I seriously worried whether she would survive this hour. The poor girl.

''You're not acting like a Slytherin.'' Harry said.

''Thank you for the nice compliment. '' I said with a grin.

''Change!'' It rang again and I ended up in the arms of Ron.

''Ron Look me in the eye.'' I asked, and he did so after a brief hesitation. ''See? It works.'' I smiled.

He also didn't seem to be used to the dancing. But he really gave his best. I had been right after all. The Gryffindors really weren't bad even though most Slytherins didn't feel this way. So, this really seemed to be Karma.

Alice:

After Theo, came Draco's turn. He had caught me after a rotation and drew me very close to himself.

''Alice.'' He said coolly.

''Draco. '' I replied in the same tone. Silence fell upon us. Our last encounter, still very much on my mind.

''I didn't know that you could dance this well.'' He said surprised but with a slightly contemptuous undertone. I laughed lightly, because I was already used to this sound of his voice.

''I grew up in this school. Believe me, I've participated in many dance lessons. In addition to that, there is much you do not know about me.'' I said politely with a trace of disdain. An obvious jab at what he had said to me last time.

It was silent after that and then he suddenly opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by Snape's harsh voice.

''Change! '' Snape walked straight through the crowd, and gave those a blow to the head, who made moved in a wrong way. I let myself whirl into the next pair of arms and then ended the dance with Harry.

After class, I left the room and ran to the tower with the post owls.

Once again, I had sent the Ministry a letter, this time because of what Sirius had said. It made me curious. I saw Harry on the stairs in front of me. He had almost entered the Tower, when he suddenly stopped. As I came closer I saw Cho Chang. So that's why he had stopped. I could hear Harry stutter a few words. From what I knew, he had started to develop a crush on her. Was he going to... What an idiot. On the other hand, I felt sorry for him. He probably hadn't heard all the talk about Cho and Cedric. Harry really wasn't informed about what was happening around here. That would be embarrassing for him. I ran up the stairs and just as he was going to say the words, I interrupted him.

''Cho! Diggory's looking for you. He wants to ask you something about your date to the Yule ball.'' I said in calm voice and then quickly glanced at Harry. Cho thanked me and left. Harry walked quietly to his owl and I went to mine.

''Did he really want something from her? '' He asked after a few silent minutes.

''No.'' I answered honestly.

''Thank you. Although I have no idea how you knew about it but thank you for sparing me the embarrassment.''

I looked back and smiled warmly. He had a letter in his hand and was leaning against the wall while facing me. I took my letter from the owl and then imitated Harry's position.

''Would you accompany me?'' He asked.

''Maybe.''

''Do you already have a date? ''

''No, but it's a bit late to ask, don't you think?'' Harry didn't seem to understand what I meant. At the same time this wasn't surprising, considering, that he had much more important things on his mind these days.

''You could have asked a bit sooner, but you could also have asked Hermione in time.'' '

''That's a no, then?'' He asked.

''Wrong.''

''Wrong?''

''Yes, wrong. I will accompany you, but next time you should not ask only two weeks before the event '' I said with a smile and left.

It was time to go shopping, but with whom? I looked around and discovered Theo with Mary standing outside. Well Theo will have to live without her for a little while.

''Hey Mary, would you like to keep me company and go shopping?'' I asked, while jumping over the last three steps.

Mary:

A bit surprised I looked at her, before a smile flashed across my face. ''Sure. I just need to go and get my money.'' I was about to leave, when Theo gave me a bag of galleons. ''No Theo, absolutely not! I've got my own money.'' I said and gave him a kiss, then I turned away and left. When I came back, Theo had left.

''Where...?''I stopped myself when I saw Alice smile. She had obviously sent him away.

''Shall we?''

I nodded.

Once we arrived in Hogsmeade, we realised, that there was only one store to buy gowns.

''I must say, there aren't really much options.'' I said.

''Let's hope for the best.''

She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the shop. I had never been so wrong. The shop might have seemed small from the outside, but now that I actually stood here, all my senses where overthrown by the sheer number of options I had.

''I think we might find our luck in here.'' I commented while walking through the shelves. I grabbed a couple of dresses that caught my eye, before going into a wardrobe.

We spent hours trying on dresses. Some were very funny, while others were just weird. But in the end, we both found the dresses we liked the most. Before we paid, Alice reminded me to buy a couple of gloves to cover my mark. While I chose a pair of gloves, Alice went back to the shelves and picked an elegant suit and a black tie.

''How can you pay for all that?'' I asked her.

''I won a bet against Fred and George. But that's not really important. Come on, let's pay and then we can go back to Hogwarts.''

Alice:

When we were back at Hogwarts, we parted ways and I went to the Gryffindor common room. It was empty except for Harry, who had a suit on and Ron who was wearing... something.

''What is that? '' I asked, aghast.

''My Mom sent me this. It's terrible.'' Ron said in a whining voice.

''Well that's nice from her. I got you a present too.'' I threw him one of the bags I was carrying. It was a magical quill, that wrote things down on its own.

''Merry Christmas and have fun with it.'' I said with a smile and went happily up the stairs to the dormitory.

When I came Hermione sat on her bed, holding up an extremely beautiful light blue dress.

''Your dress for the ball? You will look wonderful in it.''

She turned abruptly and seemed reassured when she saw me.

''Thank you. But I'm not so sure. '' She said with a rather sad smile. How odd.

''Hermione what's wrong?'' I put my bags away and sat down on her bed. She huffed and let herself plummet down next to me.

''It's Ron. And Harry. Gosh this sounds so stupid when I say it like that!''

''That's fine, we can sort it out. One after the other.''

''Ron is such a disloyal prick! When he was mad at Harry, I tried to mend things between them. And now that I have a date for the ball, he has the gall to try and make me feel bad about it! He doesn't support me. Same with Harry. He just doesn't say anything to defend me. Aren't I his friend too?'' Her cheeks were slightly puffy, and her eyes started to tear up.

''Of course you're his friend! Oh Hermione… don't let this get to you. Harry is so overwhelmed with everything going on, he probably didn't even listen to Ron when he said it. And Ron is just jealous of Krum! Because Viktor is very charming and good at quidditch and definitely because he'll have the most beautiful companion tonight.''

I took Hermione's hand and smiled at her. ''You'll look wonderful and you will have a great time, believe me.'' I said in a reassuring voice.

''Thank you, Alice, at least I can count on you.'' Hermione smiled and as she looked away, she spotted my bags.

''Your dress?''

I nodded happily and took the dress out of it's bag and held it up in front of me. I stood up and waited anxiously for her response. Her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands.

''It's beautiful!'' She exclaimed.

I thanked her and then we went through the remaining bags. Since I had bought some jewellery, I gave her some of it, so that she had accessories for her dress. The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting and laughing together in the bedroom as we got prepared for the evening event.