Disclaimer: I don't own any of this

Chapter 11

A few weeks after the first task, the Yule Ball was announced. Ali and I can't go unless a fourth year or above asks us. I'm not sure I would actually want to go or not. Ball's are probably boring. All you do is dance and eat. Talk about boring. But, I guess if the right guy asked me, I could have fun.

"Oh I wish I could go!" Ali exclaimed.

"Maybe another year," I replied from my bed, not looking up from my book.

"Don't you want to go?"

"I don't know. If the right person asked, I suppose."

"You mean Neville?" Ali asked.

"Oh. Be quiet," I replied blushing furiously.

"Charlottes in looove! Charlottes in looove," Ali sang.

"Shut up!" I demanded, throwing my pillow at her.

"Oh! You want to start a pillow fight?" Ali asked, throwing my pillow back at me and then grabbing her own.

I put my book down, and started jumping on my bed, pillow in hand. I whacked Ali with it, and she did the same to me. We hit each other with pillows for awhile, and then finally stopped, collapsing on our beds laughing.

"Ok, that was fun," Ali announced.

"Yes, it was," I responded.

"I'm getting changed for bed," Ali told me.

"Ok, have fun."

Ali grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom. I got up and went to my wardrobe. I took out a pair of shorts and a long T-shirt. Ali walked out of the bathroom, and I walked into the bathroom. I changed into the shorts and T-shirts and I put my hair in a ponytail.

When I walked out of the bathroom, I saw Ali sprawled out on her bed reading a magazine. I grabbed the book I was reading earlier, and put it on my desk.

"I'm going to go see Cedric."

"Ok, have fun."

I walked out of our dorm room and down the hall, and then into the common room. I scanned the room for Cedric. I saw him sitting on a couch, a girl in his year talking to him. He looked politely interested. I walked closer to hear what they were talking about.

"Have you asked someone to the Yule ball?" She asked.

"Not yet," Cedric replied.

"Do you, youknowwanttogowithme?" The girl asked quickly.

"Um, I didn't understand what you just said," Cedric said looking confused.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Patricia, but I'm asking somebody else."

"Uh, well, that's fine," Patricia said, rushing off.

Cedric just sat there, probably in shock. I walked up to the couch and sat down. He looked over at me and said, "How much of that did you hear?"

"Pretty much all of it," I replied. "Who are you asking/"

"Cho Chang," Cedric answered, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Aww!" I exclaimed. "Finally asking her out?"

"Well…we did go on a date…kind of."

"What? When?" I demanded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry Charley, but we wanted to keep it a secret. It was at Hogsmeade."
I can't believe you didn't tell me. I thought we were friends."

"We are friends!" Cedric exclaimed. "I love you."

"I'm still mad at you. I tell you everything and you didn't tell me about this."

"I'm sorry Charley," Cedric apologized again. "But I wanted to keep it a secret, I didn't tell anyone. You're the first person I told."

"Fine, I forgive you, but I'm still mad."

Cedric leaned over and hugged me. I love you. You are my best friend and my little sister, I love you like a little sister. I would have told you, but I wanted to make sure that Cho and I would work out."

I sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry for overreacting."

"It was a surprise," Cedric replied. "And you didn't overreact."

"I love you Cedric."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

As the days toward the Yule Ball became less in between, people around the castle scrambling for dates. Cedric finally asked Cho Chang. She said yes, making Cedric very happy. The night she said yes, Cedric practically jumped around the common room all night.

Sean was still dateless, but I'm not sure why. I've seen several girls ask him, but he keeps turning them down. Ali was still hoping that he'd ask her, but I think that it's a lost cause. There are only two weeks until school lets out for Christmas, so time is running out. Ali, hoping that Sean would ask her, already signed up to stay at the castle, and I being her best friend also signed up to stay home, so if he doesn't ask her, I can be here.

Ali, raced into the room, and jumped onto my bed, her face was practically glowing. I looked up from my book.

"He asked me!" She exclaimed.

"What?" I said. I put the book down. "He asked you? What did you say?"

"Yes silly. Like I was going to say no," Ali scoffed. "I'm so happy Charlotte!"

"I'm happy for you. How did he ask you? Where did he ask you?"

"Well, he asked me to walk to the charms classroom, because he forgot something and when we got there he said 'Ali will you go to the Yule ball with me?'"

"Aw," I replied.

"Now we need Neville to ask you and everything will be absolutely perfect!"

"I don't think it's going to happen, Ali."

"Why not?" Ali demanded. ""You like each other, so you should go to the Yule ball together."

"Wow, Sean asks you to the ball and you get all demanding."

"Yes," Ali responded simply. "You have two weeks to get him to ask you before I intervene."

I sighed. "Fine."

"Good!" Ali exclaimed brightly.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Dear Charlotte,

I want to talk to you. Can you please meet me after dinner? I hope to see you then.

Neville

"He's so going to ask you!" Ali squealed excitedly.

"How can you be so sure?" I asked apprehensively.

"I know these things," Ali replied. "You should do your hair special."

"What? Ali! He might be asking me something else. I'm not doing my hair 'special.'"

Ali sighed. "It's your loss, Charlotte."

"I'm going to regret this forever," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Ali shrugged. "You never know."

After we went to dinner, Cedric and Sean had to practically drag Ali out of the Great Hall. All throughout dinner, she kept telling me how to act when he started talking to me, but I simply rolled my eyes and pretended to listen. It's not that I don't care about her advice; it's just that I don't really want it. Not right now at least. Neville and I are friends, and not much more than that. He won't care if I am flirty or not. It shouldn't matter.

"Hey Charlotte," Neville said walking up to me.

"Hi, Neville," I replied smiling. "How are you?"

"Good and you?"

"Ok," I responded. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Neville said nervously. "Um…well…willyougototheballwithme?"

"Um, what?" I asked confused. "Could you repeat that?"

Neville's cheeks turned pink. "Um, sorry. Wi—wil you go to the Yule ball with me?"

I smiled. Ali was right! "I'd love to."

"Oh, that's o—wait. Y—yes?"

"Of course! I'd love to go with you."

Neville smiled. "Ok, I'll see you then."

"Ok, I'll be looking forward to it."

"Me too," Neville replied. I hugged him before telling him that I needed to go.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

I walked back into the common room. I saw Cedric and Sean sitting with Ali. I walked over and sat down with them. Cedric was the first to notice my glowing face. HE raised an eyebrow, asking me why I'm so happy without saying anything. Ali noticed and immediately squealed.

"He asked you?" Ali exclaimed.

"Yes," I replied smiling.

"Yay!"

"Who asked you?" Sean asked.

"Neville of course!"

"Oh congratulations."

Finally, classes were over and Ali and I were starting to choose dresses, or turning old dresses into better ones for the ball. A seventh year prefect was going to help us with our hair the night of the ball, and she was helping us turn dresses into appropriate dresses for the ball.

"Ok, I think that the style of this dress it's perfect," Mary told Ali.

"Ok, I like it," Ali responded. "What color?"

"Blue," Mary replied. "Definitely blue. It would go well with your eyes."

Ali's dress was a light blue. The bodice had designs on the front and then at the waistline, it continued down in silky fabric and then a lighter blue fabric went over the silk.

"Do you like it?" Ali asked me.

"I love it," I responded.

"You're turn," Mary said to me.

I stood up, wearing the plain dress that we were going to change.

After what seemed like forever, we finally decided on the dress. It tied around the neck and fabric was sparkly. The rest of the dress went down and there was a bow near my waist. It turned outwards slightly.

AN: Thanks so much for the reviews! I've already started working on the next chapter, so it should be up soon. I'm going away on Friday, so I hope to update by then. I think that from now on, chapters are going to be shorter but hopefully, more frequent. Ideas are always welcome, so leave them in a review if you have any! Please read and review!