Chapter nine – Surprises Come Easily At Hogwarts

ROSE POV:

"Attention everyone! Before you head off to your classes for the day, I want to make a small announcement! All classes will end after lunch on Friday as you will all need to prepare for the guests arriving for the Forget-Me-Not Ball! Off to class now, more notices about Friday will be posted in your Common Rooms this evening." I made my way to class with Rebecca after Professor McGonnagal's speech about the Ball. Everyone was all buzzed up about the event that would take place at the weekend. Heck, even I was excited for it!

"So Rosie, have you got your dress robes yet?"

"Of course I do Bec's; the Ball is on in like less than a week away!" This was the truth. I had bought my dress during the Hogsmeade weekend two weeks ago. "You obviously have your's." She laughed.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you're always prepared and you've been going on about it since September!" We were both laughing as we walked into the Charms room. We sat in our usual places at the back beside James and Sam.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked us with a confused look on his face. I looked at Rebecca and we burst out laughing again.

"Girls," James whispered to Sam. Everyone was soon silenced when they saw that we had a sub today (Ginny was sick). James nudged me because he too recognised the back of the new Professor.

"Good morning class, my name is Miss Granger. I am only filling in for Professor Potter so please do not call me Professor! I know some of you but there are others that I don't, so today will just be an introductory day for me. Everyone stand up please and I will go around the class and you all state your names and sit down. So, up you get!" There was the sound of chairs screeching as everyone hurried to stand up. We had Charms with Ravenclaw so Mom started with them first as they were sitting on the right side of the room. She stopped in front of Melissa Chang and stared at her.

"Uh, Melissa Chang," Melissa whispered nervously.

"Are you related to Cho Chang by any chance?"

"Yeah, she's my mum."

"I was in school with her; she was a year ahead of me though. You may sit down now," Mom said smiling at Melissa, who soon relaxed. She walked through the rest of the Ravenclaw group like this, pausing at each of them to say that she knows at least one member of their family. She came over to us Gryffindors. Kate introduced herself with pride.

"Kate Evans, perhaps you've heard of my father, Mark Evans? He's a muggle but he lived on the same street as Harry Potter when he was a child. I'm a half blood!" She puffed out her chest proudly with a huge grin on her face.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know your father, but I will ask Professor Potter about him at lunch time. You can sit down if you like." Kate slumped down onto her chair with a look of disgust on her face.

"Samantha Roberts," Samantha said.

"Any relations I might know?"

"I don't think so. My family are Muggles," she said shamelessly.

"There's nothing wrong with being a Muggle-born. Infact, I'm Muggle-born and I had the best time of my life here at Hogwarts! You can sit down Samantha." She smiled at her encouragingly and moved to the back row. Crap!

"And who do we have here?" she said to Rebecca.

"Rebecca McLaggen, daughter of Cormac and Gretchen McLaggen, pure-blood but not proud of it, best friend of these weirdos beside me and enemy of Parkinson in Slytherin," she said in one breath. James and Sam started laughing silently beside me.

"Thank you for that Rebecca. I happen to know Cormac from my sixth year, even if he was a seventh year. How is he?"

"He's good, he's still reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United but he's happy." She smiled sweetly at Mom.

"That's good; tell him I was asking for him."

"He's coming to the Ball so you can tell him yourself!"

"Excellent, sit down Rebecca, thank you." James and Sam couldn't hold it in any longer; they burst out laughing which made me laugh, which made Rebecca laugh, which made the class laugh, which made Mom laugh, which made her the most loved teacher the class ever had! Sam introduced himself as James and James introduced himself as Albus. Of course Mom knew who they really were but let them carry on with their silly game. She turned to me, the last of the Gryffindors.

"Name?" she asked me as she asked everyone else. I was shocked; was she going to pretend not to know me?

"Rose Davis," I said. Two can play at this game.

"Hello Miss Davis, you can sit down now please." I sat down silently and James and Sam looked at me. "What?" I mouthed to them. They both shook their heads and we turned our attention to the top of the room again. As the class ended, all anyone could talk about was Miss Granger, the best Charms teacher ever! I suppose I agreed with the class on this one; Mom was a pretty good teacher! But what I didn't understand was why she pretended not to know me. Was she embarrassed to let everyone know that her marriage had failed and she was stuck with her two children? Or was it to save me the embarrassment of having my Mom sub-in for Professor Potter? It was all so confusing.

"Rosie, you coming for lunch?" Rebecca was calling me from the doorway; I couldn't stop staring at my mother.

"You go on Bec's; I have to talk to Miss Granger for a moment," I replied. I waited until Rebecca left before starting on Mom. "Well wasn't that an interesting class?" She jumped, obviously not realising I was there. She turned around with that stupid smile still on her face.

"It was amazing Rose! It just feels so right being back here and teaching. Sure it's only until after the Christmas holidays, but I'm hoping to be a permanent sub for Hogwarts. Isn't that great Rosie?" I couldn't help but smile at her excitement.

"That's brilliant Mo- I mean, Miss Granger," I said.

"I'm sorry Rose, for ignoring the fact that you're my daughter during that class, but I was just trying to treat you like any other student, you know to make you feel normal." She smiled and continued. "I see you've made some friends. Tell me; is that Rebecca McLaggen always like that?" I laughed.

"Sometimes, but inside she's so sweet and she's really talented and smart, everyone loves her! Where's Hugh?"

"He's with Ron, Lily and Anna. They're, uh, gone to collect your father." She paused, waiting for a reaction from me. But somehow, I couldn't feel that excitement that was meant to run through me at the mention of my dad's visit.

"Oh," was all I could say. We were silent for minute.

"So, how about we head down for lunch?" she asked me. All I could do was nod.

"James," I whispered as I passed him on my way to sit down, "I need to talk to you," he looked at me questionably when I sat down beside him, "after lunch." Sam and Rebecca didn't notice the secret glances that James sent me or they didn't dwell on the fact that James and I left the table without them after fifteen minutes of eating. We walked out to the lake and sat down on the grass.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something alone?" He grinned mischievously. I hit his arm. "Ouch, that hurt Rose!" He rubbed his arm.

"Stop being such a wuss, James! I really need to talk to you." He stared at me for a minute.

"Should I be scared?"

"No James. It's me who should be scared." I took a breath. "My dad's coming to England today."

"So? Isn't that a good thing Rose? You haven't seen him since the end of May and I'm sure Hugo will be delighted to have his dad back for the Christmas. Why aren't you excited?"

"Because James, he's going to freak out when he finds out that I'm friends with you. That's the whole reason we left England in the first place – so that me and you would never get close." I looked at his bright green eyes. Did they always have that tinge of brown in them? I shook my head of those thoughts. If we were meant to be together, I would know in less than a month. But what if James doesn't realise it in time? What if he goes off with some blonde, blue-eyed witch at the Ball and I never see him again? What if I grow old and live without my best friend? What if I grow old and live without anyone? I let a tear fall from my eyes, but wiped it away hoping that James didn't notice.

"Rose, are you crying?" Yeah, he noticed.

"What? Oh no, just a bit of dust in my eye. Come on, we better go back inside; lunch will be over in a few minutes and we have Divination next." I stood up and held my hand out for James. He took it and I pulled him up. I went to remove my hand from his but he held onto it. We walked back up to the castle like that, ignoring the looks we were getting from the other students.

"Rose," James said as we stopped outside the Gryffindor Common Room to collect our books, "do you have a date to the Ball yet?" I looked at him. Oh my God! James practically asked me to the Ball! But I already had a date. How do you turn your best friend down gently?

"Yes James, I do. Robert Davies asked me before Charms today. Do you?" I felt so bad when I saw his eyes fill with sadness.

"Uh, yeah I do. Come on, let's get our books. Angeli," James said to the Fat Lady, who opened up at the sound of the new password. James let go of my hand and walked into the Common Room without looking back at me. He grabbed his back and walked straight past me. I was speechless. What was his problem? I went over to the table where I had left my stuff, shoved it all into my rucksack and made my way to Divination – alone. When I arrived, I saw James sitting on a cushion beside the window. He was staring out onto the Quidditch pitch with a look of disappointment in his eyes. I went over to sit beside him.

"Hey," I said as I pulled the spare cushion from under the table, "can we talk?"

"We already had a talk," he answered without looking away from the window.

"Please James; it's about something else, something more important."

"What do you want Rose?" I sighed.

"Look, whatever I've done to make you mad at me, I'm sorry. I just don't understand how you went from being my best friend to someone who hates me in ten seconds flat! It just doesn't make sense. Will you please look at me James?" People were starting to look at us now. Slowly, James turned his face away from the view and looked at me. His beautiful eyes were filled with fresh tears.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand to avoid embarrassment.

"Tell you what James?" I asked very confused.

"Tell me about your date with Davies! I thought we were best friends!"

"We are James; infact we're more than best friends. I only said yes to Robert this morning and I was still trying to get my head around everything and I was so excited. I was planning on telling you at lunch," I lowered my voice to a whisper so only James could hear, "but then I found out that my dad was coming and all thoughts of the Ball went out of my head."

"But that's not such a big deal Rose! So what if your dad is coming back from America? So what if he disinherits you for being friends with me? So what if you have a date to the Ball and I don't?" I stared at him. Did he really just say all of that?

"You told me you did have a date James," I said. He was about to answer when Professor Lovegood-Thomas skipped into the room.

"Good afternoon class, I'm sure you all had a lovely lunch and are ready to start crystal gazing today." There was a murmur of excitement from the class. We weren't meant to be starting crystal gazing until next term. Suddenly, Sam and Rebecca burst through the door.

"Sorry we're late Professor," Sam panted.

"We were trying to find those two over there," Rebecca said pointing to me and James.

"That's quite alright dears, just next time try and be on time," Luna said in her dreamy voice. Sam and Rebecca sat at the table beside ours. James continued to stare out the window for the class. When the bell finally rang after two hours of crystal gazing and no homework, we were free for the day. I made my way down to dinner with Rebecca.

"Why are you and James acting so awkward around eachother?" she asked me when we sat down in the Great Hall. James had just passed us and sat at the opposite end of the long table with Sam following looking confused.

"He asked me to the Ball," I replied gloomily.

"What?" Rebecca squealed with delight.

"And I said no."

"Why?"

"Robert Davies asked me first."

"When?"

"This morning, now will you please be quiet Bec's; people are starting to stare." It was true; people from the Ravenclaw table (which was the closest to us) were looking at Rebecca as if she was crazy (which she was).

"So that's why he's mad at you, because you're going to the Ball with Robbie?"

"It's Robert but yes that's why James is mad at me." I looked down at James, who quickly turned away from me. "He is so annoying," I mumbled.

"Who is? And why?" Rebecca asked me, taking me out of my day dreaming.

"You know James lied to me?"

JAMES POV:

Why did I ask Rose to go to the Ball with me? I just completely embarrassed myself in front of my best friend – by asking her to the Ball! Man I was so stupid.

"Hey James, what are you looking at?" Sam turned in his seat and followed my gaze. "Or should I say who are you looking at?" Sam said with a smirk on his face. "Look mate, you should just talk to her, she's probably forgotten all about it already." I snorted. Yeah right, as if that was ever going to happen. I saw her look down to where we were sitting and I quickly turned back to Sam.

"How about we forget about Rose? So have you got a date yet?" Sam suddenly went red with embarrassment.

"Yeah, I do," he said very quietly so no one else could hear. I couldn't help but smile at my cousin. He never had the courage to talk to girls before.

"Who did ya ask?"

"Saoirse (A/N/: Pronounced "Seersha") Abbot," he answered.

"In Hufflepuff?" Now it was my turn to smirk.

"Yeah, go on and rub it in; Sam Weasley is taking Saoirse Abbot to the biggest event of the year! But she's really nice and she's smart and she's got a friend that's also looking for a date," he said winking. "You know her, Roisin (A/N: Pronounced "Rosheen") O'Malley. Apparently her and Saoirse go way back; knew eachother since they were three. She's a really nice girl. Maybe you should ask her." I didn't answer. "Just think about it, get over Rose. I'm going up to the Common Room, get started on the essay Slughorn set us. You coming with?"

"You go on. I'm just gonna finish up here." I looked up to where Rose and Rebecca were sitting. Except now it was just where Rose was sitting. She looked upset. I was about to get up and go over to her but Davies got there before me. I cursed under my breath. I heard a giggle behind me. I turned around to see a girl with long red hair sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Roisin O'Malley. Maybe I should just ask her to the Ball and get it over with. How hard could it be to be turned down twice in one day? I found my Gryffindor courage and stood up and tapped her shoulder. "Uh, Roisin, can I talk to you for a minute please?" Saoirse and their other friend, Kiara Smith, starting smiling.

"All right James," she replied with her Irish accent coming through. We walked between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor table. When we passed Rose, I avoided her eyes and kept walking. We stopped just outside the Great Hall. "So, there was something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Uh yeah, have you got a date to the Ball yet?" She shook her head with a small smile on her face. "Do you, uh, want to go with me?"

"I would like that," she replied. I couldn't help but smile like a Cheshire Cat when she accepted.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah James, it could be fun."

"That's great! I'll see you tomorrow so," I said.

"Sure. Bye James." She was still smiling.

"Bye Roisin." And so was I. I watched her walk back into the Great Hall with a slight skip in her walk. She turned around and waved at me. I waved back. Maybe things were going to go my way after all! Then I saw a flash of brown run past me. Shit!

ROSE POV:

I watched as James walked past me with Roisin O'Malley. I felt alone when he didn't look at me. Robert had come over to talk to me about the Ball but saw that I wasn't in the mood so he said that he's catch up with me tomorrow before Charms. Two minutes later, Roisin came back into the Hall and sat beside Saoirse Bones and Kiara Smith at the Hufflepuff table.

"He asked me to the Ball!" she practically shouted. Saoirse and Kiara starting squealing with delight (they were worse than Rebecca at times). I dropped my fork and ran out into the Entrance Hall. I passed James but didn't stop. I didn't go up the stairs to the Common Room; I didn't even go to the library; I just kept running until I was outside beside the lake. And crying. I fell in a heap onto the grass beside me and looked into the distance. Hogwarts looked like something out of fairytale with the ice and snow. Somewhere across the country, my dad was with Hugo just like old times; Jenna, Beth and Diane were probably holding try outs for my replacemnt. I really missed New York and the good times I had there. I missed the people that I loved and who would never be replaced in my heart.

"Rose!" I turned around to see James running towards me, with Rebecca and Sam behind him. "We've been looking everywhere for you!" James said when they reached me. "I really need to talk to you, right now!" It was more of a demand than a statement. I looked at Rebecca, who gave me a nod of encouragement, and to Sam, who gave me a thumbs up.

"Ok James, but you better make it quick, I have places to be and things to do," I said. Maybe I was acting like a bit of a bitch to him, but he deserved it! He stepped closer to me.

"I'm really sorry about everything; about not appreciating your worries about your dad, about ignoring you when you told me about Davies, about lying to you about having a date, and about not being there for you when you needed me. You're my best friend Rose, nothing will ever change that! No one will ever get in the way of our friendship. We'll be together through thick and thin for the rest of our lives. The four of us," he gestured for Rebecca and Sam to join us, "will be the new generation of Marauders!" He grinned proudly and the other two started to get excited. When I didn't react, James looked at me as if I was an alien. "Oh come on Rose! You have to have heard of the Marauders – Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail, The Marauder's Map, the pranks, the Marauder's Handbook?"

"No James, I have never heard of the Marauders because, in case you don't remember, I came from a school in America where pranking was banned."

"How did you ever live in that school?" Sam asked. I just shrugged.

"So, who are these Prongs and Padfoot people?" Rebecca, Sam and James just looked at eachother with smiles on their faces.

"I love explaining who the Marauders were! You better sit down for this Rose, it's a long story." James cleared his throat and started. "In 1971, four young boys came to Hogwarts, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter. They became best friends and throughout their years at Hogwarts, the played many pranks on all students and one student in particular, Severus Snape. Although no other student knew, Lupin was a werewolf and once a month he would secretly travel to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade through a secret passage in the Whomping Willow. When his three best friends found out about his secret, they each became unregistered animagi in their fifth year– Pettigrew as a rat, Sirius as a dog and James as a stag. From then on, they each became known by their nicknames, Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew, Remus "Moony" Lupin, Sirius "Padfoot" Black and James "Prongs" Potter – The Marauders. They created the Marauder's Map sometime between their fifth and seventh year, and I happen to have that map hidden in my trunk." He grinned at the expression on Sam's face. "Unfortunately they all died in the First and Second Wizarding Wars. So there you have it Rose, the story of the Marauders. Any questions?" he said finishing up.

"Can we go inside now? Only my ass is freezing out here," I said shivering. James just chuckled and the other two smiled. We walked back up to the castle and got started on our homework, with laughter and chat. It was after midnight when we decided to head up to bed, being the last of the Gryffindors in the Common Room. I said goodnight to James with a hug and a hand squeeze, giving him an unsaid apology. When I got up to the Dorm, Kate and Samantha were asleep, so Rebecca and I got into our pyjamas in silence and fell asleep instantly. It had been a long day!

Friday arrived quickly and the atmosphere throughout the castle was electric. Everyone was excited to see who would come to the Ball, especially the three Heroes – Ron, Mum and Harry. I was more excited to see Hugo again! I had missed his eigth birthday and I was going to make it up to him when he came later on. Class before lunch was Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Longbottom had us re-potting Mandrakes, which the others had learnt in second year. Of course I had read about them but I had never seen one up close and I was shocked when I saw the face of an ugly screaming baby come out of the pot instead of roots. I was at a potting station with James and Roisin (Sam had dragged Rebecca off to a station with Saoirse). I have to say she was a really nice girl and she got the best friend approval, but there was something about her that made me think she was only with James for popularity. I never said this to James in fear of ruining our friendship again, but I shared it with Rebecca who instantly agreed with me and thought the same with Saoirse and Sam. Lunch time came and everyone, mostly girls, rushed to the Great Hall to grab a small bit to eat and run back up to the Dormitories to get ready for the guests arrivals.

Four o'clock came and we were all called outside to welcome the guests that wold be staying with us for the weekend. Whispers started spreading through the crowd.

"I heard that Professor Potter left earlier so he can arrive on a dragon!"

"I heard that the Order of the Phoenix is coming and they are going to rein-act a wand battle from the War!"

"I heard that students from Salem Academy..." But I never heard what the student heard about Salem because at that moment a large group of people flew across the lake. There must have been at least two hundred of them, all landing gracefully on the snowy grass with Harry, Ron and Mom leading them. There were people of all ages – between the ages of five and one-hundred-and-five! I recognised a few people from the photographs I had seen and those I knew personally. But there was one person that caught my eye: my dad. What was he doing here?

"Welcome everyone," Professor McGonnagal said to the crowd of people. "I have assigned the seventh year prefects and other N.E.W.T students to groups of thirty each. They will show you where you will be staying for the weekend. Professor Potter, Mr Weasley, you may go find the other Professor Potter. She's still in bed with a nasty case of flu. Girls from Salem, you will all be placed in the dorms with the Hogwarts girls. Durmstrang boys, you will also be given a bed in the boys' dorms. The Feast will start in an hour. This will give you enough time to get settled in. The Head Boy and Head Girl will organise the groups for escorting into the castle." About a hundred people scuttled forward to where Aliza MacMillan (Hufflepuff) and Martin Jordan (Gryffindor) were standing with the other seventh years, prefects or not. "Professors and family of professors, you may head up to your quarters. Miss Granger, Mr Davis and Mr Davis," Hugo smiled at being addressed like this, "there is a room set up for you on the third floor beside the library. Miss Granger, I daresay you know where that is?" Mom smiled at McGonnagal's comment and followed the Professors into the castle with Hugo and Dad. "Scorpius Malfoy, Marcia Zabini, Prisha Patil, Robert Davies, Roisin O'Malley, Ian MacMillan, James Potter and Rose Davis, will you all please wait here. The rest of you go to your Common Rooms and get back into your school robes for the Feast." The other students hurried back inside. "Mr Malfoy and Miss Zabini, will you take," she scanned the group of foreign students, "those ten Durmstrang boys and those five Salem girls back to the Slytherin Common Room please?" Malfoy and Zabini brought the unfortunate students to the dungeons. When the four Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw representatives had taken their students to their Common Rooms, only three girls and three boys were left. "Mr Potter, Miss Davis, these students will be your responsibility for the weekend. You will bring them to breakfast tomorrow morning, you will give them a tour of the castle, you will accompany them to anywhere they wish to go and you will walk down to the Great Hall with them this evening. I trust you both to fulfill those duties. Now, up to Gryffindor tower with you all. I shall see the eight of you in less than an hour." And with that, she was gone. I turned back to the group of students and heard one of the girls scream with joy.

"Rose!" I recognised the three girls at once – Jenna, Beth and Diane, my best friends!

"Oh my God, why are you here?" I said running over to them and pulling the three of them in for a group hug.

"We were chosen by Professor Cattermole to represent America in the biggest event for every wizard world wide," Beth explained. I heard James cough behind us and quickly remembered we had somewhere to go.

"Oh, Beth, Jenna, Diane, this is my good friend James Potter," I said pulling him forward.

"Good friend? Aw come on Rosie, you just told me four days ago I was your best friend!" James said raising his eyebrows and causing the three girls to giggle and the three Durmstrang boys to groan and roll their eyes. "Follow us to the best place Hogwarts has to offer." As we walked up to the Common Room, we found out that the Durmstrang boys (Mikal, Joshua and Nathel) were a rowdy bunch but great fun to be around. We reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, gave her the password and walked inside to the Gryffindor Common Room. Over on the notice board, there was a new notice: "The students from Salem Acadamy and Durmstrang Institute will stay in the fourth year dormitories. Any problems, report to your Head of House." I told the others about the notice and I brought Jenna, Diane and Beth up to the fourth year girl's dorm with Rebecca. Once we were up there, the Salem girls started asking questions.

"Is he always that cute?"

"Does he always flirt?"

"Does he like you?"

"Do you like him?"

"Are you going to the Ball with him?"

"Does he have a date to the Ball?"

"Guys," I shouted just as Diane opened her mouth to ask another question. Rebecca was on her bed laughing at my three friends. "Ok, for your first question, he may seem cute to you, but that's just the charm. It wears off after a while. Yes, he will flirt with you at every opportunity he gets. I don't think he likes me because he has a girlfriend. No I don't like him because I have an almost boyfriend. Don't interrupt me Beth! I'm not going to the Ball with him, he's going to with Roisin O'Malley from Hufflepuff. Any more questions or can we just catch up?" I said smiling.

"Who's this soon to be boyfriend of your's?" Beth asked. I blushed and looked towards Rebecca, who answered for me.

"His name's Robbie Davies, he's in Ravenclaw so he's pretty smart. He asked Rose to the Ball last week and since then, they've been inseprable, unless James is around. I don't think Robbie likes him very much and vice versa." When the three girls just stared at her, she said: "I'm Rebecca McLaggen by the way, Rosie's best girlfriend here at Hogwarts. You can call me Rebecca, Becca or Bec's, just don't call me Becky!" Beth started laughing and I knew instantly that Rebecca and Beth were going to become great friends. This was a relief for me because Beth was my best friend at Salem and now Rebecca was my best friend at Hogwarts.

"So, have you girls got your dress robes yet?" Jenna asked. We talked about the Ball until it was time to go down for the feast. That night, when we were all asleep, I had a dream. James was in it.

JAMES POV:

At three o'clock on Saturday, all of the girls disappeared, claiming they had to "get ready for the Ball" that was on in five hours! They had loads of time, but girls will be girls. I stayed outside with Sam, Albus, Lorcan, Dave, Jason, Fred, Frank, Mikal, Joshua and Nathel for a massive snow ball fight before we had to get ready. I will never understand why we had to wear stupid dress robes for the Ball. Sure, for girls it probably meant a lot, but to guys we would rather wear our school uniform! At half six, Albus finally said: "I think it's time we went in and got ready." We walked up to our dorms as slow as possible but when we got up there we were all fighting for the showers (A/N: Hogwarts are all high tech and got their students some showers). Sam got there first so I waited in the room with Mikal, Joshua and Nathel. When we had all showered, changed and checked ourselves in the mirror one last time (not because we're vein but because we needed to look good!) we started to make our way down the stairs to meet the girls. From there, we would walk to the Great Hall and join up with our dates.

"Ver are the girls?" Nathel asked after ten minutes of waiting in the Common Room. Sam checked his watch for the tenth time in five minutes.

"No idea, they should be here by now," he said turning towards the girl's dorms. "Woah!" We all followed his gaze and saw five girls, no angels, standing at the foot of the stairs.

"You're looking pretty good yourself Sammy boy," Rebecca said as she walked over to us. She was wearing a purple dress that looked really nice on her but she wasn't the focus of my attention. Rose had just walked into the light. Her brown hair was left natural with half of it up and the rest flowing over her shoulder. She had more make up on than usual, but not too much, and she was walking in a pair of silver heels that I guessed belonged to one of her American friends. She had a pale pink strapless floor length dress with a salmon coloured bow tied to the front and a flower design on the top half of the dress. She saw me looking at her and smiled.

"You look beautiful Rosie," I said to her as she blushed and looked away, still smiling.

"Come on guys, we all have dates to get to!" Rebecca exclaimed and she grabbed Rose's hand and started walking towards the portrait hole and out of the Common Room. I didn't want to go to the Ball anymore. I felt sick, I had butterflies in my stomach and I didn't know why. But surprises always came easily here at Hogwarts!