"Will you just hold still!"
It was finally the night of the Yule Ball, and Hermione was trying to curl Cassi's hair. Cassi kept trying to look down at the dress she wore. "Are you sure I should be wearing this while you're doing my hair?" she asked fretfully. Hermione held up her wand. "If I were using a Muggle curler, I wouldn't let you wear your dress. But with this, it's ok." Cassi looked down at her dress again. "It's so beautiful...no one will believe it was picked out by two teenage boys." Hermione laughed and commented, "I helped too, you know. Now hold still!"
Cassi had begun worrying soon after being asked to the Ball about what she would wear, since she had no wizard money for a dress and she couldn't justify spending her Muggle money on something like that. The twins, Hermione, Harry, and Ron had secretly decided to buy a dress for Cassi and give it to her as an early Christmas present. Fred and George had insisted on picking it out, but they had grudgingly allowed Hermione to give them tips about what would look best on Cassi. Hermione and Harry, being the two richest schemers, paid for the whole thing. It was worth it, though, to see the look on Cassi's face.
The end result was an elegant, floor-length dress of sparkling midnight blue. Off-the-shoulder straps and fabric that pooled at her feet lent classy touches to the beautiful gown; the material seemed to shimmer when she moved, an endlessly fascinating sight. Cassi couldn't stop staring, even after she was wearing it. After the others had given her the dress Hermione had proudly presented her with a lovely velvet jewelry box, which contained a simple necklace that shone in the lamplight. Hermione had truly gone above and beyond to make Cassi's night special, though she knew that Hermione had her own nerves and excitement about going with Viktor Krum tonight. Perhaps micromanaging Cassi's experience was her way of coping with her anxiety.
"Finally! You have such thick hair I thought I'd die of old age before I finished, but it's done. Go look!" Hermione gave Cassi a little push toward the mirror. Cassi obligingly looked, and gasped in awe at what she saw.
Her long brown hair cascaded in soft curls down around her shoulders, and the necklace perfectly accented the shimmer of the fabric. Every move she made sent tiny gleams of light dancing. Cassi turned to her friend with a teary smile. "How on earth am I going to repay you?" she asked softly. Hermione smiled too. "Dance your heart out and have the time of your life. Draco will be the luckiest guy in the room." Cassi blushed, and Hermione let out a small laugh. "Come on, the guys are probably waiting for us downstairs."
At the first sign of sparkle entering the Gryffindor common room, George cried, "On your feet, vagrants! Their royal majesties the Queens approach!" Fred, Harry, and Ron, who had been lounging on the furniture, scrambled to their feet. Fred gallantly offered his arm to Hermione, who turned as pink as her dress, as George offered his to Cassi. "We'll be escorting you down to the entrance hall to find your dates," said George. Cassi thought she heard Fred mumble something about "wouldn't let my sister near him". She turned to George and whispered to him, "Will Fred be alright? About me going with Draco, I mean." George glanced at his twin, then replied quietly, "He doesn't like it, but he won't force you to do anything and he won't bother you about it. He'll be smug if he's right, but that's a Weasley for you. I'll always make sure you're treated right, even if it means I have to keep him in check." His eyes were unwavering, and Cassi couldn't help but hug him. She was very lucky, indeed.
"Alright, you two, let's get this party started!" said Fred. Smiling, George began leading Cassi toward the entrance hall. Once they were out of earshot of the others, George leaned close and whispered, "Also, you look beautiful. Fred and I sure know how to pick a dress." She chuckled and whispered, "Thanks." Droppimg his voice even quieter, he said, "If you need to escape tonight, just come to that-" he pointed "-statue. We've got a charm on it so we'll know if you're there." Cassi smiled at their thoughtfulness but just said, "Ok. I will." Then Draco Malfoy came into view.
He looked bored, but straightened up when he saw her. When Cassi slipped a hand under Draco's elbow and let go of George's, Draco sneered, "Thank you, Weasley. I don't know what I'd do without you." George had already turned to go, but he whirled back around to stand nose-to-nose with Draco, forcing Cassi to let go of his arm. "Look, Malfoy," he ground out, "you're lucky I'm letting her go with you at all. I'm doing this for her, not you. One false move, and you're dead." With that he spun away and left as fast as his long legs could take him.
Draco turned his eyes to Cassi. "Well. Bit of a drama queen, isn't he?" he smirked as he offered his arm again. She took it with a faint blush and a hesitant smile. "He's just trying to protect me," she replied, hoping the night wouldn't be spent trying to diffuse tension between Malfoy and the Weasleys. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not when his next words were, "And you're worth protecting. You look lovely tonight, that dress brings out the full beauty of your eyes." She shyly looked away and thanked him. What else could she do?
After that, the night passed in a blur of dancing and blushing. Draco seemed to feel it necessary to compliment her dress or her hair or her eyes every few minutes. Even knowing what her friends all thought of him, Cassi couldn't help but wonder if Draco didn't actually care for her. She spent most of the night wondering if she cared for him back. But it was hard to think with those gray eyes staring into hers.
About halfway through the night, after a particularly fast dance, Draco noticed her flushed face and pulled her off the dance floor. Leaning toward her ear to be heard over the babble of the crowd, he said, "It's too warm in here, isn't it? Come with me." He took her hand and guided her through the crowd and out the doors on the east side of the room to the snow-covered courtyard. The front and right sides of the courtyard opened to the school grounds, while the left side was blocked in by a solid wall with protruding stone columns every few meters. Short bushes studded the edge of a walkway between them and the columns. Draco led her partway down this walkway. Once they were standing alone outside, Cassi turned around to look back at the doors. "Are we allowed to be out here?" she asked uncertainly. She began to turn back to face Draco. "Didn't Dumbledore say-"
Her next words were cut off when Draco slid a hand around her waist and pulled her head to him with the other, pressing his lips against hers. Whatever she had just been about to say had jumped out the window. In the shock of her first real kiss, her brain short-circuited.
To her amazement, once she regained the ability to take in sensation, she realized she was kissing him back. Cassi was standing in the snow at the Yule Ball kissing Draco Malfoy. Suddenly an image flashed into her head - Fred staring down at the table muttering, "Wouldn't let my sister near him," and George looking at her sadly and asking, "Did he force you to say yes?" She realized they had warned her that something like this might happen. She tried to pull away, but Draco held her closer to him. She began to panic and roughly shoved him away. They looked at each other, both of them breathless. Then Draco began to saunter toward her again. She began backing away from him, but she was between two columns with her back facing solid wall. She had nowhere to go.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice falsely sweet. "Are you afraid of a kiss? Or are you afraid of me?" She felt her back touch the stone behind her, and she began trembling. However, she kept her head high. "I'm not afraid of you," she said. He smirked. "Then why won't you kiss me?"
"I did," she said with a blush. He closed the distance between them to an inch. "Show me," he breathed, then bent his head and met her lips again. She didn't know what to do. She could feel herself involuntarily kissing him back and tried to break contact. Please, stop, she mentally begged both herself and him. It didn't work. She kissed him back, leaning into him and putting her hands on his chest. She closed her eyes painfully. An interruption would be great about now, she thought desperately. Fred, George, please...
Suddenly, the pressure that had been increasing on her lips was gone. She opened her eyes, gasping, and looked around for her hero. She froze.
Draco was on his back in the snow, scrambling away from a thunderous Snape.
She had never seen the Slytherin professor so furious, especially not at someone from his own House. His black robes billowed in the winter wind as he towered over Draco's prone form. "Get...inside," Snape thundered. Draco obliged as quickly as he could. Once the door had closed behind him, Snape turned his head to Cassi but kept his back to her. "Get inside the castle," he snapped. She was frozen in surprise for a moment. Is he mad at me, too? Still trembling, she whispered, "Yes, Professor," and slowly made her way to another door.
Once inside, she stumbled to the statue George had pointed out earlier and sat at its base, physically and emotionally numb. About ten seconds later, she heard two sets of feet running toward her. Fred and George were coming from opposite directions and saw her at the same time, but Fred was able to get there first. He put an arm around her shoulders to keep her upright as his other hand grabbed her wrist. "Are you alright? What happened?" he demanded. Cassi tried to answer, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she burst into tears. Fred looked at her for a second before pulling her close and letting her cry into his chest. George was kneeling next to them. "Fred, take her up to our room," he said quietly. Fred looked up. "Shouldn't we take her to her own roo-"
"Can't. Stupid 'no boys' enchantment, remember?" Fred glanced at the sobbing Cassi. "Alright. What're you gonna do?" He made eye contact with George.
"I'm gonna make excuses to our dates," George said grimly. "And if I see Malfoy along the way, I'm gonna kill him." The twins split up. Lifting Cassi in his arms, Fred quickly carried her through the corridors and up the stairs to the dorm room he shared with George and Lee Jordan. He kicked prank supplies off one bed and tried to gently lay Cassi down, but she clung to him frantically. "Please, stay," she croaked.
Fred looked down at her tear-stained face and stroked her hair. "I'm not going anywhere," he assured her gently. He reached for a blanket to wrap around her shoulders for warmth, then wrapped her in his own arms for security. They sat like that, Fred leaning against the headboard and Cassi curled against his chest, until she fell asleep.