A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. Yule Ball time! I hope you enjoy this chapter. More and exciting things to come in the coming chapters. Happy reading! XO
Chapter 28
"Wait!" Hermione called her back inside the room. "You don't want to borrow any of this?" she asked holding up the bottle of Sleekeazy's.
"Nope," Annie said bouncing up and down on her feet. "George likes to play with my curls. Who am I to deny him that pleasure?"
"You don't want to wear any make-up?" Lavender asked as she put blush on her cheeks. "You could borrow some of mine." She turned to Annie and held out some of her eye shadow.
"Natural beauty," Annie answered pointing to her face. "George likes me for who I am not what I look like. Just a suggestion though, Lavender: A little less lipstick. I don't think Seamus would appreciate lipstick prints all over his robes."
Lavender quickly turned back to her mirror and inspected her face.
"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to fulfill my duty as Honorary Guy for the night and go tie some ties," Annie said waving again and leaving the room.
She walked down the stairs and back up the ones leading to the boys' dormitories. She stopped at the doorway of the fourth year boys' dorm and knocked on the door.
"It's me!" she yelled through the door. She placed her hand on the knob and waited for an answer. Someone from within told her to come in and she opened the door and walked in.
"Well, look at you, Neville," she said making her way over to Harry and wrapping his bow tie around his neck. "Don't you look dapper? I'm sure your girl will be very impressed." Annie winked over at him and finished up with Harry's tie. She turned to Ron's dismal looking robes and grimaced. "Let me see what I can do with these." She and Ron used a Severing Charm on the multiple frills that were laced around the edges.
"This looks loads better, thanks," Ron said grinning.
"No problem," she said grinning back and then looking around at the other boys. "Anybody else?"
When the rest of the boys shook their heads she left the room, only pausing to pop her head back in one more time.
"Lavender and Parvati look stunning by the way so make sure you tell them so," she said and then left again.
She walked up to the sixth year dorm and opened the door without knocking. Lee turned around to see who had come in and smiled as he buttoned up his shirt. Fred looked through the reflection of the mirror and smiled.
"Hey, pretty girl," he said winking at her and turning around trying to unknot his tie. "Want to help me out?"
Annie walked in and went over to help him out. George came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but his boxers, cleaning his ears with a cotton swab.
"Hey, beautiful," he said crossing the room and making his way over to the wardrobe and pulling out his dress robes. "You look gorgeous."
Annie finished tying Fred's tie and patted him on the chest. "Thanks, darling, but I don't think we're going to an underpants party. You may want to put some clothes on." Annie walked over to George's bed and sat down as Fred and Lee laughed.
"I guess I misheard Professor Flitwick. I thought he said the Ball was clothing optional," George said grinning and pulling on his clothes. "How on earth did you get ready before even us?"
"No idea," she said picking up one of the boy's magazines on the end table. "I didn't really need to do my hair, I hate make-up and I don't over-complicate things like most girls."
"Ah, so that's what girls do when they get ready," said George admiring his reflection in the mirror. "So, are you ready to go?"
George spun around and held out his hand to Annie who took it and stood up. They walked out of the dorm with Lee and Fred behind them and waited in the common room for Angelina and Katie Bell. When the girls came down the stairs, Fred's and Lee's and George's mouths dropped. Angelina was wearing dress robes of deep purple and she had her hair pulled back in an elaborate braid and Katie was wearing robes of bright yellow with her hair pulled back with curls cascading down the back. They smiled as they made their way over to their dates and Annie shook her head at the boys' expressions. She elbowed George in the stomach and he looked down at her apologetically.
"I'm sorry, babe," he said giving her a weak smile. "They just look, erm-"
Annie laughed. "Oh come on, you're a guy. Hell, I even I think they look hot," she said walking forward to give the girls a hug.
"Thanks, Annie!" Katie said hugging her back. "You look gorgeous too. Ready to go down?"
They all nodded and headed out the portrait hole to meet the rest of the school in the entrance hall. They stood talking to friends and waited for the doors to open. Annie spotted Harry and Parvati and Ron and Padma and waved. When the doors opened, George held out his arm which Annie took and they walked into the Great Hall and sat down at one of the many round tables.
"Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?" George whispered in her ear.
Annie blushed and smiled. "You have but I don't think I told you that you look very handsome tonight," she said leaning in and giving him a kiss. All of a sudden, applause had broken out around the Great Hall and the couple broke apart to join in.
"What are we clapping for?" Annie asked looking over the heads of the other students.
"No idea," George answered.
"The Champions just walked in, you idiots. If you two kept your hands off each other for five minutes you would have known that," Fred said winking at them. "And, hey, look who it is, Georgie. It's our dear brother and our favorite person."
Annie and George looked over the crowd and spotted the Weasley brother Percy and Ludo Bagman walking in behind the Champions. They made their way to the front of the Hall where they sat down with Professor Dumbledore, Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff and the Champions with their dates. Everyone watched the table in an awkward silence as Dumbledore picked up his menu and looked it over.
"Pork chops," he said to his plate. Immediately his request appeared on his plate and the rest of the Hall followed suit.
Annie arched an eyebrow at George who shrugged. She picked up her menu and read it over before choosing the lasagna. The food appeared right on her plate and she picked up her fork to dig right in. When everyone had had their fill of the delicious food, Professor Dumbledore stood up and gestured for the people at his table to join him on the dance floor.
"Oh, this should be good," Annie said whispering in George's ear. "Harry doesn't know how to dance."
"Poor bloke," he whispered back.
As the Champions, and the judges plus Percy took to the dance floor, eight extremely hairy men clad in torn black robes walked in and set their instruments up. Annie's jaw dropped as she took in the appearance of her favorite band. She turned to George who was grinning at her expression and started smacking him on the arm.
"It's the Weird Sisters! I just got tickets to see them over the summer from Aunt Lily and Uncle James and now they're here!" she said kneeling on her chair to get a better look.
"I know, I know," he said taking her arm and pulling her gently back into her seat. "Just sit down. I promise we'll go meet them later, okay?"
Annie sat back down and the band began to play a slow waltz. Professor Dumbledore bowed to Professor McGonagall and they started to dance. Annie watched as Parvati took one of Harry's hands and placed it on her waist and took the other hand in her own. Fred wolf-whistled and Angelina smacked him playfully in the arm as a couple of the students laughed. Half-way through the song, a couple of the professors and students got up and joined in. George took Annie's hand and pulled her on to the dance floor. He spun her around once before pulling her closer to his chest. She looked up at him and smiled as they waltzed around the dance floor.
When the music finished playing, Dumbledore lead them in a round of applause. He went and sat back down as the band began to play their current hits. Fred, Angelina, Lee and Katie joined Annie and George in the middle of the dance floor and started dancing wildly to the music. They danced for a couple of songs and then staggered back to their seats out of breath and laughing. Fred, George and Lee left to get them all some drinks as the girls put their heads together to talk.
"So you and Fred seem to be hitting it off very well," Annie said to Angelina and giving her a mischievous smile.
Angelina blushed. "Maybe we are. But what about Lee and Katie? I think they make a very cute couple."
Katie blushed this time. "Forget us though. What about Hermione and Viktor Krum? How on earth did that come about?" Both girls looked around at Annie who just shrugged.
"He asked her, she said 'yes', that's all you need to know," Annie said as the boys came back holding drinks in both hands. George set a glass of frothy, amber drink in front of her and winked.
"Michael from The Three Broomsticks is the bartender over there," he said holding up his own drink. "He's the one that hooked us up with Firewhiskey."
"Ah, Michael, what a nice man," Annie said raising her glass and clinking it against George's. "To Michael and to Christmas!"
"Here, here!" said Fred and Lee also raising their glasses.
As the continued on, Annie and George danced and drank and had the time of their lives. When their friends were busy on the dance floor, Annie and George decided to sneak off into the grounds for a walk. They walked along the fairy-lit pathway and found a secluded corner all to themselves. George pulled Annie close to him and kissed her deeply.
"Hey," George said when the couple finally broke apart.
"Hey," she said standing up on her tip-toes and kissing him on the nose.
They kissed again even more passionately than the last one. Annie wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as he played with the curls that cascaded down her back. When they finally halted again George took her hand and led the way back to the castle.
"Have I told you that I love you?" he asked swinging her arm as they walked along the path.
"Annie blushed and looked up at him. "No, you haven't," she said squeezing his hand tighter. "Have I told you that I love you?"
George smiled and stopped walking. He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her one more time before they strolled back into the castle each with very satisfied smiles on their faces. When they walked back in, the last of the stragglers were coming out of the Great Hall. They spotted Fred and Angelina up against a pillar entwined in each other's embrace and Katie and Lee talking quietly with their heads very close together. Annie and George walked on up the stairs and into the Gryffindor common room where they collapsed on the couch and talked until the early hours of the morning.