The End-Of-Year ball came way too quickly for Trinity's liking. She was nervous and didn't feel at all pretty as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair traveled in ringlets to the middle of her back, part of it held up in a half ponytail. She wore little makeup, just eyeliner and mascara. She felt too overdone.

"Come on, Trinity," Hermione said, knocking on the door. "If you stay in there any longer, you'll miss the dance."

"All right, all right, I'm coming," she said, reaching forward to open the door.

Hermione grinned, wide-eyed when she saw her. Hermione wore a shiny black dress with a slit on the side, her hair pulled up in a bun. She looked magnificent.

"You look absolutely superb," Hermione said, taking Trinity's hand and making her spin around. "Oh, Ron's going to love this."

"Hermione, hurry up!" came Ron's voice from the common room.

"Speak of the devil," she said, smirking. "We're coming! Ready, darling."

"No," Trinity said.

"Right, let's go before you change your mind then."

Ron POV

Girls always took so long to get ready.

He looked at Harry, who shrugged. Ron sighed and looked back towards the stairs. This was pointless anyway. He didn't have a date. Trinity was the only one he wanted to go with.

"Now," came Hermione's voice from the stairs, "I present to you, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, the lovely Miss Trinity Black."

There were angry whispers before Trinity came stumbling slightly down the stairs.

Ron's mouth dropped wide open.

She was beautiful. Well, she always had been, but now she seemed to glow. Her dress was a lovely shade of red and fit her nicely.

Harry elbowed Ron slightly and he closed his mouth, swallowing the huge lump in his throat. Trinity reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards him. "Surprise," she said softly.

"You – you – you look –" Ron stuttered.

"You look spectacular," Harry said. Ron nodded enthusiastically. "You both do," Harry added when he saw Hermione. "Come on, let's get to the party."

Ron held out his arm to Trinity and she took it, giving him a reassuring smile that made things worse. No girl had ever really made him feel this way, like he couldn't breathe or talk or walk. He was having trouble hearing too, all his focus caught by the girl on his arm.

How on earth did he get so lucky?

"Thanks for going with me, Ron," Trinity murmured. He looked over at her to see that her cheeks were pink and she had a small embarrassed smile on her face. And he stared at her, amazed that she was thanking him when he should be thanking her.

"A-a-anytime," Ron said back.

They reached the Great Hall where Trinity was the subject of many a looks. Ron frowned slightly, placing his hand over Trinity's hand on his arm. She looked up at him and smiled, a smile meant only for him, and he smiled back, feeling giddy.

He pulled out a chair for her at one of the many tables and she sat down, her cheeks still slightly tinged with pink. "Why does it feel like everyone's staring at me?" she whispered as Ron sat next to her.

"Maybe it's because you're probably the prettiest girl in this room," Ron whispered back, grinning at her.

She ducked her head, embarrassed, but a pleased smile was on her face now. He placed his hand over hers again and said, "Would you like some punch?"

She nodded and Ron went to the table across the room where Ginny was passing out cups of punch. She grinned widely at Ron. "I see you finally told Trinity how you felt?"

"Um, not exactly," Ron said, taking two cups of punch. "I'll tell her soon, I swear," he added when Ginny gave him a look.

"Well, you better hurry up. Before someone else gets her." She pointed over Ron's shoulder and he spun around to see Cormac McLaggen standing at their table. Harry and Hermione sat looking angry, but not as angry as Trinity, who stood facing McLaggen with her hands on her hips.

Ron hurried back to the table and handed Trinity her toast. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said, and then she poured the juice on McLaggen's head. Turning to Ron, she took his hand and said, "Let's go dance."

He led her out to the middle of the floor and nervously wrapped his arms around her waist. "What did McLaggen say?"

"Something stupid about how we should leave the dance and go back up to Common Room for . . . well you know. Thanks for the rescue."

". . . . Trinity?"

"Hmm?"

"I just want you to know, I . . . I'm not a very good dancer."

Nice flake, you arse, Ron thought to himself.

Trinity smiled. "It's okay. I'm not a very good dancer either. We'll just flop together."

A slow song came on then and Trinity rested her head against Ron's shoulder, resting her hands against his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, his heart pounding hard and fast in his chest.

A couple of hours later, though, the aching pain in his fast beating heart had disappeared and he was able to enjoy his time more with Trinity, dancing off beat to the music together and laughing about it.

"This will be the last song of the night, you witches and wizards out there," the DJ said. "So grab that special girl, fellows, and get ready for a slow one."

Ron held out his hand to Trinity and pulled her close when she took it. The lights dimmed down so that the stars in the enchanted ceiling were their main source of light.

Ron looked down at Trinity and realized that she was staring up at him. She smiled, embarrassed and looked away. He put a finger underneath her chin and lifted her face towards his. This was it. He was going to kiss her and she'd know how he felt about her.

Lights exploded and they both looked up, Ron slightly disappointed. Seems as if McGonagall wanted to end this dance with a bang, literally. Thousands of fireworks blasted against the enchanted ceiling, all sorts of colors and designs.

"It's beautiful," Trinity whispered.

"Yeah," Ron agreed looking back at Trinity.

Suddenly the fireworks stopped and the room was plunged into total darkness. Murmurs of "What's happening?" ran around the room. A single light came over the ceiling, tracing something in green.

The Dark Mark.

"It's an attack," Ron gasped.