A/N: Okay, I'll try to be as brief as I can. Apparently something in my last(mostly AN) chappie caused the admins to jump all over me and delete it. Sorry.

Anyway, I'll briefly recap my points.(aka copy them from my saved-to-the-computer document)

A) My Slush fic. Really it barely exists (besides in my head) and most of it will match up with scenes from Year 5 so I haven't gotten around to writing them out yet. The point is, that I'll give you the two (well I call them "core chapters" cause they have enough info to remind me of everything I wanted to do with the plot) if you ask ( basically I'll need your email if you still want them, Elektra).

B) Ozalan, to answer your questions, no my formula was Not real. In fact, I couldn't even tell you what I meant by it. Math is evil. I just threw down something that looked math-y. Sorry if that's a disappointment.

Also, the reason Tania was Blaise's last choice was 1) If you'll remember the only reason he took her to Hogsmeade is because he had to find someone to play Alex. 2) She is a year younger than him and he likes older women and... 3) He did take her to Hogsmeade and since he is currently sure he's not interested in her romantically (I promise that'll change…eventually) he doesn't want to lead her on. He is a massive sweetheart you know.

C) I think this was the problem child as it was just a rant about the Mary-sue review. Anyways, my rightly confused "Queen of Zukia" a Mary-Sue is a story whose main character(an OC) is perfect, and happy and beautiful and everyone loves her and she is always amazingly powerful in exactly the right way to save the day in the nick of time, usually causing whichever character the author likes best to fall madly in love with her and either they ride off into the sunset or she dies horribly sending the entire cast of characters into deep and eternal mourning.

These characters have no real backstory or reason for them to be there and tend to make the main characters act out of character themselves.

D) I never did get around to that whole shopping trip thing, instead I posted a sneak peek at the last scene of the last chapter of this fic. It was heart-wrenching…and, since there's actual writing in this fic I won't repost it. :shrug: sorry.

And now, what was the new chapter. A/N: I think I need to apologize. Lately (as in the last 5-10 chapters) I've been feeling as though I've lost control of this fic. It's been dragging me all across the landscape for no reason and leaving a rather strange tale behind it. Well, no more. I've redefined in my head both the characters and the Plot so, with any luck, it will flow better from now on. If there was any confusion created I apologize and, if you tell me what is confusing I'll try to explain and/or fix it. Heh. :shrug:

PS: I'll put up the actual pics of Milli and Pansy from the movies that I could find(and a couple that look like what I think Pansy looks like…I haven't found any for Milli yet).

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"You know, I almost feel sorry for her." Alex mused quietly.

"Who?" Milli asked, pausing in her make-up application to look at her dorm mate through the mirror.

"Tania." She chuckled. "I don't even know what to do with 'Party Blaise' half the time."

"I know." Milli rolled her eyes. "Merlin, that boy is a terror during a party."

"Hey!" Alex sat up abruptly clutching one of her pillows. "He's just a little hyper around that many people at once."

"Alex, darling," Pansy stopped, dress in hand, to shake her head, "that boy is a pain."

"…rambunctious?" she tried.

"Pain."

Alex sighed and shrugged. "You can't deny he's cute."

Milli giggled. "Alex, he's the hottest boy in our year. But he's still a pain. A cute, adorable, rich-to-the-hilt, old blooded, old fashioned, sweetheart of a pain."

The black haired girl glared at her companions. "So!" she demanded. "What's your point!"

"Gods, give it a rest Bellmonte. We all adore your bloody brother!" Pansy snapped. "So he has a flaw. One flaw! Besides the gender specific ones that is."

"What like being denser than anything else in existence?" Alex sighed in purely feminine exasperation and flopped back into her pillows.

"Exactly." Milli straightened up and turned around to level a Look at Alex. "And speaking of boys, why aren't you going with Draco?"

"What?" Alex wrinkled her nose. "'Cause he didn't ask me? Neither did any of the Weasleys, gonna bring them up next?"

"No. I was just wondering, 'cause Greg told me that Malfoy doesn't have a date and what with you ruining all my beauty rest with your sad little dream moans…oh Draco!"

"I do NOT!"Alex shrieked, jerking upright once again and hurling a pillow at the offending friend.

Milli started laughing and sent it straight back at her. "You're transparent about boys you like Lady Bellmonte. It's why no one's ever mistaken you and Blaisey boy for a couple."

"I am not." she repeated inanely, glaring. Somehow the glares didn't have the effect they should have. Probably because she had to admit, in her head if not out loud, that Milli was right.

"Whatever, Alex. Ta." Still smirking, Milli swept from the room.

"Oh my gosh," Alex muttered shaking her head.

"You…um.…" Pansy cleared her throat, causing Alex to look over at her. There was pain on her face. "You would've gone with him, if he'd asked you."

"Draco?" When Pansy nodded she sighed. "I…guess. But he never would have. You know his parents and mine. You can imagine the carnage if they found out. He would never have risked asking me."

"But you wanted him to." It wasn't meant as a question.

"I…look I know he was with you last year. If there's some ex-boyfriend rule you think I've broken, Pansy, then we need to talk about it-"

A sharp, hurried, knock cut her off, abruptly ending the conversation. The look Pansy was giving her as she headed for the door was nothing short of murderous, and for the life of her Alex couldn't figure out why.

Which was precisely why they needed to have this talk. When fellow Slytherins didn't like you, they said so to your face and the two of you had it out…usually in a duel in Common Room. This brittle silence was infuriating!

A second, louder knock was just beginning as Alex yanked open the door. She paused, hand on the knob and blinked.

On the other side, clutching a chaotic mass of cloth (which could have, at one point, been dresses) stood a harried looking Tania Dethart.

"I'm going to the Ball," she declared, as if it was new information. "And it's all wrong!" The smaller girl gave her pile a malicious shake. "None of it works!"

It came out just as angry as the rest of her words, but there was a whimper in it. Alex fought a grin, suddenly understanding.

"You don't have anything to wear do you?"

All the fury drained out of her face, leaving only desperate frustration. "No!" she wailed.

Alex laughed sympathetically. "You poor thing. Come in. I'll fix it." With gentle hands she took the crumpled clothing and tossed it on her bed, motioning the girl inside.

"If you need anything from mine, go ahead and use it," Pansy said abruptly, snatching up her purse and making a harsh exit.

Alex cast her a strange look, which she didn't notice, before turning back to her subject. Tania was standing in the middle of the open area…fidgeting.

"Okay then," she shut the door behind her, "Tania, nothing meant, but strip."

The other girl jumped. What, had she forgotten I was there?

Crossing to her own wardrobe, which stood directly behind the door anyway, Alex glanced briefly at Tania, who was obediently taking off her school uniform, then frowned and stared at her clothes.

It didn't actually take all the long to decide. All of her uniforms were out, as were all of her old dresses that she'd already worn but hadn't had time to alter yet. There was no way she would make Tania look like she had to resort to hand me downs. So all that was left were her new things.

And of those, only a few were Ball material…no pun intended. Of those, one was brown, no chance given Tania's coloring, and one was silvery grey….waaaaay too cliché. No House colors.

"Hmm…let's do-No!…Umm…this one!" Alex snatched up the dress and held it up to Tania. After a second she nodded. "Yeah, try it on."

Obediently Tania did, her face lighting up as she felt the silk slide down over her skin. With a little twisting to get it to sit right and Alex casting a temporary hemming spell that fit it to her slightly smaller size it was on and Alex cast an appraising eye over it.

Ankle length, with plenty of flow in the skirt, the gown was a deep red, with hints of purple in it. It was backless with a V-neck cut just a little too low to be conservative coming up tie around behind her neck.

"Perfect…no, Tania. No mirrors until I finish. Here, put those on." Alex handed over the dancing slippers meant for that dress. Simple and elegant they were made of accenting black silk. Tania took them and sank onto the bed as Alex crossed the room to her desk. Pulling out a jewelry case she began humming as she rummaged through it. "Here," she said again, dropping a pair of dangly earrings into Tania's open hand. "I'll get the choker."

"What…what kind of gems are these?" Tania asked softly, looking at the glittering black jewels.

"Black opals, I think," her friend replied. A black silk ribbon bearing a much larger version of the opals in the earrings dropped across her eyes for a second as Alex tied the chocker deftly around her neck.

"That's brilliant, now hair. Up or down, do you think?"

Tania opened her mouth, but before anything came out Alex decided. "Down, definitely down. It's long enough you won't freeze in that dress."

Tania smiled, feeling the first hints of excitement bubbling up under the anxiety of it all. Sliding the earrings in, she reached up and began pulling out the pins keeping her hair out of her way.

Alex stopped her rummaging and turned back towards her, a black ribbon in one hand. She froze suddenly, a frown twisting her smile.

"Umm, Tania…"

Tania let her hands drop from her hair in confusion, saw her own bare arms and blanched. There was no way she'd screwed up so badly! It was…and now Alex knew and-

"Well, then gloves, I think." The calm acceptance in the other girl's voice ended the panic attack before it got off the ground. Reaching around behind her, Alex pulled out a handful of elbow length gloves of half a dozen colors. Pulling out the – surprise! – black ones she handed them over before moving around to kneel on the bed behind her.

Tania stared at the lengths of silk as she felt a brush working its way through her hair.

"Breathe, m'dear," Alex said softly near her ear. "I'm not going to say anything."

Tania's lips twitched and she wanted to say something, anything, but there wasn't anything. She swallowed painfully, as if something were caught in her throat, and took a deep breath to calm her shattered thoughts.

"I think I'll do a little of both, actually, Tania. Let's just take most of this top layer around your face and do a half ponytail."

"Uhh…." Tania applied all of her genius to a reply. "Sure. Whatever you want."

Alex sniffed arrogantly. "Always, dear. Always." She stopped her puttering and leaned over Tania's shoulder and smiled at her profile. "All done. Go find a mirror."

Tania shrugged, walking over to the full length mirror. Whatever Alex said, Tania had seen herself made up before, it wasn't going to be much different…except it was. She wasn't in a dress designed to create a wallflower of her. In fact, despite the length of fabric and the gloves, a very great deal of her skin seemed to be showing.

A very great deal of her skin was showing and she looked good! Tania started to grin at her reflection.

"Hey, I'm done myself if you are, Tania. We should go, Blaise isn't late to anything."

Alex's words had a profound affect. Tania stopped grinning. "Shit!" she hissed, blushing furiously. Still watching the mirror, Tania noticed that the red flush extended much lower than her neck.

Alex appeared behind her in the reflection, her gown white with a scarlet corset, her face serious. "You look gorgeous, Tani. Let him think he's leading and keep him on his toes. You'll have no problems." She wrinkled her nose. "Me, on the other hand, I'm going with the Head Baddock himself. I will be having problems."

Tania started to giggle and Alex smoothed her skirt and straightened the off-the-shoulder ruffle that made up her very Southern American style gown. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Just…nothing." Tania shook her head. "Let's go."

.

Alex felt a smile cover her mouth, wondering if Tania would blame her for 'abandoning' her to Blaise. She wondered if maybe Tania would actually yell at her. Now that might be fun. Out the portrait hole and down the hall, Alex kept her skirt out of her way with one hand and wove automatically through the standing groups of students. On the left side of the Great Stairs, exactly three steps up, exactly where he said he would be, lounged alone Donovan Baddock. He looked bored. He looked tired of the whole thing…. Alex would bet good money, her parent's of course, that he was as giddy as she. Despite her initial misgivings, somewhere between trapping a date and choosing a dress, Alex had started looking forward to the Ball.

Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, she looked up at him, hands on her hips. "So, are you ready for your social debut, Baddock?"

Donovan started minusculely before flashing her a smile. "I hate to disappoint you, Alex, but I've already been introduced to society."

"Ah," her smile turned decidedly flirtatious, with just a hint of smugness, "but never on the arm of a Bellmonte."

"Oh," he mined a pout, "and here I thought you were going to be my arm candy, not the other way around."

Alex shrugged unrepentantly. "Sorry, Donovan. I asked you. I get the perks."

"Granted, but either way I get to go with you. You have fueled my fantasies for months."

Alex opened her mouth, stopped, and frowned sharply at him. "Donovan Baddock, you were talking to Blaise about this."

"Guilty. The boy is full of advice on," he cleared his throat with a little more than a hint of hesitation, "how to handle you."

"Was he now?" She started to snicker, covering her mouth with one hand. "Thank you for telling me, Donovan." Alex moved up a stair and put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry, though. I won't blame you."

He sighed in relief, then winced. "That's three times now, m'lady."

"Three…times…of what?" Alex shook her head in confusion.

"Three times you've used my…full name." He eyed her warily and Alex threw up her hands.

"I do not offend that easily, Baddock. So you don't like Donovan. Okay. What would you like to be called?"

"I prefer Mark."

She frowned a little. "Mark? That's not your middle name, I don't think…. So, why Mark?"

To her complete and enduring shock, he blushed. "I…can't…say. Those who know are sworn to silence," he added hurriedly and Alex knew why. The instant he'd said he couldn't tell her it had become a puzzle. The look on her face was probably somewhat fear-inspiring to someone with a secret.

"Uh, know what? You can call me Van instead."

"Sure. I won't pry if you ask me not to." He opened his mouth and she waved a hand as if to clear the air between them. "Consider it asked, Van."

"So," Van bowed and offered her his arm. "Shall we go in? We'll be fashionably late."

And indeed, the Entrance Hall had emptied greatly since their conversation had begun, the huge doors to the Great Hall open on a glittering scene.

"Of course." Alex grinned and slipped a hand into his elbow. "Let us always be fashionable."

.

A/N: There we go. I forgot but someone did ask how I could jump from A) Task 1 to B) Yule Ball: well, m'dear. Let me put it this way. Nothing interesting happened between A and B. Sorry.

Also, there is going to probably be a two week period with no updates(check the Tania story she will still be here maybe) but I'm going away to church camp for a week or so, so, while I'll be writing, none of it will be on the computer and I won't have net access.

Not my fault.

And I'll try to have something ready for right when I get back.