Eden woke slowly on Christmas morning while feeling a slight tickle on her nose. Thinking a feather from her pillow was the culprit she swiped at her face but the feeling persisted. Peeling one eyelid open, she saw someone hunched over her. Shooting up instantly with a scream stuck in her throat, she eyed the intruder standing by her bed. "I really thought you were going to sleep the day away. I've already been here for an hour just going through your shit." Gina walked around her bed pulling back the curtains and then looked back at her. With a mischievous smirk plastered to her face, Gina caught Eden in a tackle across the bed as they laughed and then sprawled out on the bed, limbs intertwined. "You're here! How?" Eden yelled knowing that Tracy and Pansy were already up at Hogsmeade for last minute alterations and Daphne was most likely studying somewhere and then wrapped Gina in a full body hug. "Well, I couldn't ruin our Christmas tradition just because you were here. My mom was a little pissed I wasn't coming home, but after talking to McGonagall about coming to visit, she chilled out. Also, I think she is relieved she won't be at our mercy for whatever trouble we could have gotten into in Brooklyn. I missed you, Ede."
"I missed you too, Gigi." Gina turned to face her with a concerned look, "Aww you haven't called me that since we were 13. You must have really missed me." She laughed softly then slapped Eden's leg, untangled their limbs, and sat up. "I would tell you lets talk about all that I've missed since your last letter, but I'm starving. Take me to food." Jumping off the bed, Gina started going through all of Eden's drawers pulling out jeans and a sweater for her to throw on. "Put this on, let's go. You can let me know the most recent happenings with you and Theo as we walk." As Eden changed out of her pajama top she let out an exasperated sigh, "Ha. There is nothing going on. Since I tore into him in front of half of the student body, he hasn't spoken to me other than to ask me for a pen. He uses them now. It is so irritating if I'm being honest. It was only cute because it was because of me. Now he does it to irk me." Eden shoved her feet into her black converse for emphasis. "Well, it must be working. You are sufficiently irked." A sly smile warmed Gina's face. "Let's roll out, sis. I could expire at any moment." Eden laughed and steered Gina out of her dorm and down the hall to the common room acknowledging that she actually missed Gina's use of hyperbole.
Almost all of the younger students had gone home for break, while the older students stayed for the Yule Ball that night and then had plans to catch the trains home the next day. The common room was mostly empty other than two Seventh Years in the corner tangled in each other with unwrapped gifts in front of them. "Jesus Christ, it is way too early in the morning for that. I hope they brushed their teeth." Gina tutted at the scene in front of her and followed Eden out of the passage way into the corridor. The castle was exceptionally drafty today and Gina shivered but said nothing and followed Eden as she told her of the newest info of her friends.
Arriving in the Great Hall, both girls took a seat across from Blaise and Daphne. "And these two lovely people, Gina, are Blaise and Daphne. They are okay, I guess," Eden said and then winked at the two offended Slytherins across from her. "Well it is very nice to meet you, Gina. We have heard so much about you." Daphne smiled. "Chambers, you didn't tell me your best friend was an absolute babe. Hello, beautiful." Blaise said as he winked at her suggestively and leaned towards her across the table with a seductive smirk on his face. Gina turned to Eden completely ignoring the surprised look on Blaise's face, "Does that work on girls here? Seriously?"
"Usually, yes. I've seen it." Gina turned away and started loading her plate with fruit and a cinnamon roll, "Well, that's unfortunate," she muttered under her breath and began eating completely ignoring Blaise. Eden watched as Blaise stared at Gina as if she was somehow defective. Shaking his head he went back to his meal. Daphne looked between the two and said, "Blaise, have you finally found someone who sees through your tricks? You've just met your match." Blaise looked up from his plate and smile mischievously, "She will be begging for me to dance with her by the end of the ball tonight."
"Well I have no idea what you are talking about for one and for two you're not really my type. No offense." Looking over at Eden, completely unperturbed by Blaise, "Ball? What ball? We are definitely going to that, by the way." Gina gave Eden a huge grin that usually meant she had an idea that would get them both into trouble.
Eden cringed, "I was worried about that. I don't have a dress and so you definitely don't. I had no intention of going at this point." Daphne perked up, "I have plenty of dresses we can transfigure to work for you both. Please come, it will be so fun." Daphne gave her a smile across the table. Gina decided to answer for Eden, "Aww, our friend Daphne will take care of us. We are going." Gina looked at Eden as if to say end of discussion.
Theo came and sat down on the other side of Gina at the Slytherin table because there were no more open seats around their friends. Although, she acted still mad while talking to Gina that morning, the revelations of last night made Eden realize she would have to talk to Theo that day. He reached out and started filling his plate and an awkward tension fell over the table. Clearing her throat, Daphne looked at him, "Merry Christmas, Theo." Giving her a small smile, "Merry Christmas, Daph." He turned to his right and looked at Gina, "Merry Christmas. You are Gina I assume?"
"You assume correctly and you are?"
Theo looked past her and caught eyes with Eden quickly and then looked away again, "Theo Nott. It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Not waiting for a response he began eating the bacon off of his plate. "Yeah, I've heard a lot about you too." Gina said with a mixed tone.
"Well, I'm sorry about that then." Wrapping his biscuit and sausage in a napkin, Theo looked up across the table, "Well, Merry Christmas everybody. I'll see you at the Yule Ball tonight." He locked eyes with Eden and left. Gina watched him walk out of the Great Hall already eating the biscuit he took with him and turned towards Eden with a pouty, puppy dog face, "Oh my god, you cannot put that kid through any more misery. I have a secret." Gina looked down at her plate, "Um so the reason why I'm here is because he put it together. He talked McGonagall into letting me come visit." Eden's face blazed red as both Daphne and Blaise took in this new information, "Come on, I agree with your mean friend who is not taken with my charms, give the kid a break. He is trying to change. And he brought your mean friend here, that seems like a pretty big gesture." Blaise looked at both Gina and Eden like it was the most obvious observation with eyes widened and a shrug of his shoulders before he threw an arm around Daphne.
"I am not the mean friend." Gina stated in a monotone and then turned towards Eden, "Is there anything else he has done that has been stupidly nice that anyone else would like to tell me?" Eden looked around, exasperated. "Well, I watched him save a cat out of tree before. Does that count?" Blaise looked at Eden with false sincerity. Daphne decided to pipe in, "He teaches underprivileged kids how to read in his spare time," she said with a mischievous smile. "I hear that he visits the elderly on the weekends," Gina stated last. All four friends began to laugh, "Three cheers for Theo. What a guy." Blaise stated and they all cheers-ed with their orange juices and milks. Eden now knew she had to apologize for her behavior since both Ginny and all of her friends believed he deserved another chance.
Deep in thought, Eden almost missed Justin come up behind her and Gina, grab Gina by the waist, and hoist her out of her chair. Jumping up and down with Gina latched in his arms Justin yelled, "We are all here! It is a Christmas miracle!" Laughing, Justin set Gina back down on her feet and held onto her arms as she steadied herself. Once steadied, she slapped his arm, "You knew I was coming, dumb dumb. That wasn't necessary." Although her words were biting, she still smiled and hugged him tightly then sat back down.
"Alright, so what kind of Christmas shenanigans are we going to get into today? What is the plan?" Justin squeezed himself between Gina and Eden on the Slytherin bench and sent a flirtatious smile at Daphne across the table and her face grew red. "The shenanigans will definitely be the ball. This is so Posh Spice. I should have expected it from the British to have a ball in my honor." Gina over exaggerated a hair flip over her shoulder and Blaise just stared at her due to her brazen confidence. Eden cleared her throat at his blatant staring, "Well, we need to go back to my common room because I have gifts for you guys but then we can show Gina around."
"Yeah, that sounds good to me. Let's go now because we have to go back to my dorm too for a quick second." Justin began standing up but looked back at Daphne, "You are going to the Yule Ball right?" Daphne nodded, "Well, save me a dance." With that he started out of the Great Hall with both girls walking behind him exchanging knowing looks and laughing to themselves.
Once they walked out of the big oaken doors of the Great Hall, Gina grabbed Justin by the arm and both girls flanked him. "And what was that, Romeo?" Gina began talking in a deep falsetto, "Well, save me a dance." Eden and Gina began to laugh uncontrollably as Justin grimaced and turned a light shade of red. "She's your friend, Eden, remember house unity? I'm just being friendly one Gryffindor to a Slytherin." Gina fixed him with an obvious look, "Oh- OK." Justin then began to walk quickly towards the Slytherin dungeons as the girls continued laughing. "Oh shut up," he muttered.
Gina and Eden spent the last hour getting ready with Daphne in their dorm room for the Yule Ball. Make up bags, curling irons, and an assortment of dresses from Daphne's closet were littered all over their beds and floor. After taming Gina's wildly curly blonde hair into a cute updo, they were ready to put on their newly transfigured-to-fit dresses of choice thanks to Daphne.
Eden's dress was a black floor length off the shoulder mermaid dress with a paneled bodice. Thin straps came over her shoulders as two thick straps wrapped around the tops of her arms. She looked like a classic Hollywood beauty with her dark hair curled and pinned behind her ears and mulled wine colored lips. Gina turned to look at her, "Oh damn. I'm out. I refuse to go now. With you looking like this, how can I expect to get any dancing in with cute guys? This isn't fair." She then flopped dramatically on Eden's bed with a loud huff. After laying there for a minute she pushed herself up onto her forearms, "But for real, you sure you aren't some foreign model? Can I have your autograph?" Eden graced her with a knowing smile, "My beauty has been a burden my whole life. A tragedy really." Both girls started to laugh and continued getting ready. Daphne turned towards them slightly confused and after realizing that they both seemed to still be in good spirits turned back to the mirror.
Daphne wore a dark blue crushed velvet off the shoulder floor length sheath dress and black high heels to match. Her womanly frame and styled pixie brown hair added to her classic knock out status. Subtle traces of glitter laced her cheeks and the dark maroon lipstick brought the whole look together. Gina bowed down to the Queen in the room as Eden catcalled her from across the room, while putting on her makeup and curling her dark black hair perfectly in place. Daphne, one not used to praise from other girls, blushed brightly and thanked both girls. She liked that her new friends weren't afraid to compliment another woman when many girls were too afraid that a compliment might take something away from their own beauty.
Gina's dress was a red double strap scuba crepe dress with an illusion waist line. A slit came up to mid thigh and she wore matching red strappy heels and red lipstick. Her alabaster skin and curly blonde hair made her breath taking and Eden couldn't help but shower Gina with compliments as she struck multiple poses in a row as Eden acted like paparazzi. They were always each other's hype men for any occasion. Daphne excited about her own compliments, took a look at Gina and began to fan herself, swoon, and fall over as if she fainted on the bed. Gina laughed loudly and ran over to Daphne and high fived her. "See, girl, you are getting the hang of American confidence. You have to amp up your girlfriends."
Technically, Eden and Justin were on the clock as ambassadors and journalists at the ball but they both decided to worry about that later and just make sure to steal pictures from Professor Flitwick because he was tonight's photographer with multiple charmed cameras flitting around the room snapping shots of unsuspecting students.
Justin, Ginny, and John were supposed to meet them in the Great Hall, but while walking into the common room they found Blaise sitting on the couch. Looking rather refined in his black dress robes and red tie, it was hard for each girl to not stare at him longer than completely necessary. "Wow, you all look beautiful and I promised myself my date would be the prettiest girl in school but I see it is a three way tie. Would you all like to walk down together?" The girls laughed at his flattery but accepted. Grabbing three pieces of paper from a table near him, he transfigured them into corsages to match each girl's dress. They all thanked him and began to walk to the Great Hall escorted by Blaise Zabini.
The three girls and Blaise found Justin, Ginny, and John in the main hall standing around talking to each other as John and Ginny held hands. Justin was the first one to see them and was floored by the beauty of his closest friends and Daphne as well. Eden noticed that his eyes lingered a little longer on her than the rest of them even when Gina began to wave and walk towards him like the Queen. Blaise did his best to not get caught while he snuck glances at Gina without her looking. They walked into the Great Hall and were absolutely stunned by what they saw. White and silver decorations changed the look of the Great Hall into a winter wonderland. Snow fell from the ceiling and melted before it landed on anyone. Icicles lined the torches on the wall and made light reflect all over the room in different and vibrant ways. Eden heard Gina next to her whistle in awe, "Hogwarts really goes all out." Turning to her friend they both smiled and walked into the ball.
The ball had been going on for awhile now and Eden found herself at a table with Ginny and John who seemed to be completely inseparable. Both Justin and Gina were off slow dancing with their new found dance partners, Daphne and Blaise. Eden rolled her eyes having known this would happen after the exchange of sharp words between Gina and Blaise and the looks of longing between Daphne and Justin. Harry came over and sat next to Eden as his date, Parvarti Patil, walked off to find her sister and get punch for them both. "These girls are going to kill me. She just wants to dance. I'm too tired." Harry then huffed out a breath and landed his head on her shoulder dramatically. "Oh come on, Mr. Triwizard Champion. You're telling me you can defeat Lord Voldemort as an infant but are unable to dance with a girl for four consecutive hours? Slacker." Harry laughed and took his head off her shoulder and looked at her, "Have you talked to Theo yet?"
Eden shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the table, away from the dance floor, "No. I haven't found him and I've been busy with Gina."
"Sounds like an excuse to me. Lucky for you he is coming over here now." Harry pushed up from the table and locked eyes with Theo. A silent threat was made between them and Harry walked away.
Eden saw Theo walking towards her at a quick pace and he stopped directly in front of her. "Would you like to dance?" Theo bit his bottom lip nervously, "Uhh yeah. Sure." Theo then stopped worrying his bottom lip and took her hand solemnly leading her to the dance floor.
Once he found an open spot on the dance floor, he put one hand on her hip and put his other hand in hers. Already feeling the comfort coming back that she felt around Theo, she relaxed into his grip and put her free hand around his bicep. He looked handsome in his crisp black robes and silver tie. His dark brown eyes locked with hers as they swayed back and forth with the music, "I'm sorry," Eden blurted out. Theo looked surprised, "What do you have to be sorry for? I was the one who screwed up and acted like someone I'm not." Eden closed an inch of space in between their bodies, "I'm sorry because I didn't give you a chance to explain or anything. I basically hid from you. That wasn't fair and it turns out that you apologized to everyone and got Gina here for me." Theo smiled at her, "You definitely hid from me. Then yelled at me while in hiding. Luckily, I forgive you for avoiding me though. I deserved that. What I said to the Weasley girl and Thomas in the heat of the moment for a fight that wasn't even mine was unacceptable. I realize that now. Also I planned the Gina thing pretty early on. I didn't do it to try and win you back. I knew you missed her." During his short speech, Theo closed the remaining space between their bodies and continued swaying with her to the music. Looking up at him and seeing the genuine look in his eye, Eden realized that she believed him. He may have messed up, but he more than made up for it to Ginny and also to her. What else could she ask of him? With that thought, she stopped swaying with him, trailed her hands up from his chest to his face. She grabbed his face and whispered, "I missed you," before pressing her lips to his and feeling his hands begin to trail down her sides and around her waist. He pulled her closer and felt the movement of her lips on his and he began to trace his tongue across the seal of her lips, but she pulled away. Worrying he had pushed her too far he became awkward and started to apologize until she grabbed his hand and began leading him out of the Great Hall and down a dark corridor. Rounding the corner, Eden found herself in front of the tapestry covered alcove she hid from him in. "Well you said you would have liked different circumstances to get me behind this tapestry. These are different circumstances." With a tempting smile, Eden grabbed him by both hands and pulled him behind the tapestry with her.