Chapter 30
Chapter 30
"Are you sure I look ok?" said Ariana as she twirled in the middle of there dorm room for Hermione. She was ready for the ball at last. Her chestnut brown hair had been put up into a sharp but stylish bun. She had her red dress on and Hermione had helped her make up her face up. She thought she looked as if she might have had she the opportunity to come out into society. Well, that was exactly what she was doing that evening. And she felt in her heart it was right. Everything which had happened to her over the last three months had been leading up to that moment.
"Yes." said Hermione as she stood inn her own blue gown in the dorm room. She had a smile on her face. "You look beautiful Ariana." The last three hours had passed for the girls in a endless round of wiping and trying on make up, discussing their dates and washing their hair. Ariana had truly become one of the girls that day she thought to herself. "You are. Harry is going to be stunned by you."
The very thought made her cheek blush. She had always though on the run up to there night of it as a friendship thing. And yet now the opportunity of a real romance seemed to be hitting the fifteen year old. And she liked the thought of it. It didn't scare her. It excited her. A real romance…
Please let tonight go ok.
"And I am sure Viktor is going to be besotted by you." she said to her. Hermione looked breath taking in her blue dress with her hair smoothed back.
"Right. Then lets go." she said. The two girls took each others hands and walked down the stairs. Side by side, the two girls made their way through the common room and out in to the castle.
"Where are you meeting Harry?"
"Just out side of the hall." she said to her.
"That's where I am meeting Viktor."
"Come on then."
The walk down felt a dream to Ariana. This was her night. She could feel it.
Harry was waiting for her as he said he would be and he was the first thing she saw as she looked down the stairs. He looked quite handsome in his black dress robes. She noted he had tried to do something with his unruly hair. Something on a normal day she never would have seen. As she begun her descent down the stairs he looked up at her. And he thought his heart would burst. It literally hurt at the sight of her.
It was then he knew. At that moment he understood.
I am and forever will be in love with Miss Ariana Dumbledore…
As she got to the bottom of the stairs no words were necessary. She smiled at him and took his arm. This was them. They were a team.
And not just for the evening.
"You look pretty." he said to her.
Beautiful and stunning seemed over stated words. Words to adult for them. Pretty seemed some how just right in his head.
"Thank you." She said blushing for the second time that night.
They walked in to the hall together. They had to get dance with the other champions to open the ball but then the night was their's.
He looked about the room. And she felt like a different person. Not because of the way she looked. But because of the way others looked at her.
-
Aberforth and Albus Dumbledore stood side by side in the great hall. They were both nervous for there sister. There was so much that might go wrong for her and both knew how much she wanted the evening to go well. They watched as the young couples poured in to the hall. The Malfoy boy came in with Parkinson, Ginny and Neville came in side by side.
And behind Hermione and Viktor came Harry and a girl Aberforth thought for a minute was not his sister, anger rose in him till the startling realization came to him that it was indeed Ariana.
She was so beautiful. And she had the look of there mother about her. He had never seen it before but she looked just like Kendra. Her brown hair had been put up in to a bun, and her red dress set alight her pale skin.
He also could not fail to miss the pride in Harry's face as he walked in with her. He was with the most beautiful girl in the room, in both their opinions. They were both obliviously nervous about the dance, but they were nervous together. From that day on Aberforth knew he would have to share his sister even more.
"Are you ready to dance Ariana." Harry asked her.
"Indeed I am!" she said to him.
McGonagall called them over to her. And they fell in step behind Hermione and Viktor as they had been since they had entered the hall.
"Don't worry about every one watching us," he told her,
"I won't." she smiled, to her there was no one in the room but them.
Though it was nerve wrecking the dance went surprisingly well, and the pair got through it.
After the initial dance every one joined in. She held on to Harry's hand as they jumped about with every one else, the formal dancing left behind them as they let go and have fun. It was at that moment she realized she had not even looked for her brother since she had been in the hall. She had seen Albus when he had said his speech to open the evening but was yet to speak to wither him or Aberforth. She just wanted to be Harry that night. No one else.
Also, it seemed Harry didn't want to let her out of his sight for long enough for her to see her brothers.
After they had danced, they got drinks and a bit of food and then they headed back to the dance floor as the Weird Sisters came on to perform. She found modern music so odd still. She still far preferred the classical music Percival had enjoyed.
"Are you having a good time?" Harry asked her.
"I am having the time of my life."
It was true. She had never done anything like this before. She didn't know if she would again. She was living for the day.
He took he hand and before he knew what he had done he had raised it to his lips and kissed it. It was such a sincere gesture.
His expression was startled but as he looked in to her eyes she was not at all. She seemed to have enjoyed the sensation of his lips grazing her hand.
"I really like you Ariana." he admitted to her. It seemed a stupid thing to say but the under current of what he meant got through to her.
"I like you too."
The music had been so loud that no one but them had heard their exchange. It was secret.
A warmth through Ariana's veins that night. It felt as if someone had covered her with a blanket or it she was a cold night and she was by a fire. It was that loving warmth that made her feel protected and safe.
The song ended, so they slipped off the dance floor. Sitting down, the pair agreed it was time for another drink and Harry went to get them both one.
"You look as if you are having a good time my sweetheart." she heard later that evening. Looking up with a smile on her face she saw Aberforth coming toward her.
"I am. Its been brilliant." she said to him as he sat by her side and wrapped an arm about her. It was the first time it seemed to him that Potter had given his sister five minutes to breath. While he was glad the lad was treayting her right, he would rather like to spend time with her himself.
"So what do you think girl? Do you have time for a Christmas time dance with your big brother?"
"Of course I do."
Aberforth who had made a point of not dancing for most of the evening proceeded to lead his little sister to the dance floor.
"Have you had a good time?"
"I have now Ariana," he said as the song begun and he started dancing with her.
-
"I really did that didn't I? I danced all night with my brother and Harry, and nothing happened to me. I coped didn't I?"
"Yes you did." Hermione said.
It was early the next morning and the girls were still in bed, but had drawn back there curtains so they might see each other and talk.
"It was wonderful. I have never had so much fun in my life before." she told her.
Hermione nodded. She had seen her friend the night before. She had been young, beautiful and carefree.
"I know. Me neither!" she agreed. Viktor had been brilliant company. She had really enjoyed it. He was useful for more than just Quidditch. He could dance too.
"I wish we could do it all over again." Ariana sighed happily.
It had been a wonderful Christmas day.
The girls lay in silence for a minute. Ariana averted her eyes to the windows where snow was still heavily falling. It was so stunning.
If she could stay in that moment forever, then she would. But then again, she would never see Harry again. And that wouldn't do. Not now.
Her feelings for her friend had been so changed by the previous night. Irreversibly so. He wasn't her friend any more. He was so much more than her friend. Neither was he her boyfriend. That didn't do him justice.
It was more than courtship. It was more than friendship.
It was….love. Not that she would ever put it to herself that way. At least not yet.
The two girls looked at each other and perhaps it was the silent understanding of what had happened to them both the night before but they begun to laugh. The laugh that came only when some one was deliriously happy. And when they knew in their heart of hearts, even if something bad were to happen in the future nothing could take that night they had just had away.