Chapter 11
"I'm so glad I don't wear braces anymore. Remember, Angelina? In first year? I had the biggest overbite, and when I was ten, the dentist said I needed braces. I was really upset because my cousin Kelly- she's on my mom's side, a Muggle... Well, all my relatives are Muggles, really, except my dad's sister and her husband and toddler. Anyway, Kelly's the one whose hair I accidentally turned to purple when was five and she was seven. I told you about that, right? It wasn't really my fault, though. I mean, it was before Hogwarts, and I got mad because she wouldn't share her dolls with me, and I didn't mean to, but I accidentally did magic. My dad got so ticked. He had to fix Kelly's hair and then Obliviate like, five people, just to get us out of thereā¦." She paused for about three seconds. "What was I saying? Why'd I bring up Kell- oh! Yeah, so Kelly got braces before me, and she came over to my house for dinner the night after she got them, and I remember she tried to eat something, and then started crying because it hurt so bad. So I really didn't want to get braces, especially because my dad said he could fix my teeth with magic, but my mum insisted. She's never really trusted magic, you know? Sometimes I'm surprised that she married him at all, because he told her before they got married, after they got engaged, but they do really love each other. Anyway, so I had to wear braces the all of first year, and I rememberā¦"
"Alicia," I said, gritting my teeth, "Will you please shut your mouth and hurry up? You're driving me off the wall."
It was 7:30, exactly one half hour before the Yule Ball was due to start, and Alicia and I were the last ones in the dormitory, because Elizabeth, Maya, and Patricia had left just minutes before.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she said, looking into the mirror as she put cover-up on an invisible blemish. "I'm just nervous, you know," she glanced over at me, standing by the door impatiently, "Or maybe you don't. Jeez, Angelina, you look as cool as a cucumber! Aren't you nervous at all?"
I groaned and flopped onto the nearest bed (Patricia's). "Are you kidding me? Of course I'm nervous. I'm a total wreck. I mean, first of all, I'm worried because I look like a hag compared to you and everyone else. Why are you so worried? I mean, you've had two boyfriends. I've only ever been on a few dates. I'm seventeen and I've never had a boyfriend! So of course I'm worried that I won't know how to act around Fred now that I'm his date. And I'm also nervous because if Fred and I do start going out and then we break up horribly, then we'll never be friends again. Then I'm also freaking out about- I'm freaking out!"
I stopped myself there, disgusted. I'd been rambling almost as badly as Alicia. I'd been about to blurt out how worried I was about the whole Lee-Alicia-Eric love triangle thing. (Well, I suppose it wasn't really a love triangle. If it was, Eric would be in love with Lee, and we'd have even bigger fish to fry.)
I was worried about, though. Not that I was going to tell her that. I waited anxiously to see if she'd caught my slight slip-up.
Apparently not, because what she said was, "Jeez, and you get mad at me for rambling!"
"Oh, come on," I said, though I'd just thought the same thing myself. "It's hardly comparable. I mean, you've been going on for hours about absolutely nothing. The whole time you were talking I was going back and forth on who I'd rather have in this room right now- you or You-Know-Who!"
She laughed, though part of me wasn't kidding. Then she said, "And your worries are so much less rational than mine," she turned away from the mirror from the first time to look at me. "You don't look like a hag, Ange. You're hair looks really nice tonight."
I fingered the sleek black bun she'd put it in. I knew I didn't look like a hag, really. But I wasn't exactly the prettiest girl in Hogwarts. What I said, however, was, "Thanks, Spinnet. I knew there was some reason I kept you around."
She laughed again and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But why are you pretending that you aren't nervous?"
I'm not pretending like I'm not nervous," I said, "I just don't see the point in moping around," I rolled off the bed, stood up, and looked at Alicia, "Or annoying the heck out of your best friend, when inevitibly, we're going to have to go face the thing we're so worried about in oh, " I looked at the clock, "Fifteen minutes?"
She jumped up, "Fifteen minutes? I supposed to meet Eric, like, now!"
"I know," I said, "So let's go."
"Okay, alright," she said, but she didn't move, only looked wildly around, as if looking for something she'd forgotten.
"Okay," she said again, "How do I look?"
I looked at her pale blue dress robes, which matched both her eyes and her headband, her unnaturally wavy blonde hair, the thin silver bracelets on her wrists, and lastly, at the silver 'a' necklace that hung around her neck.
"Amazing," I said truthfully, "And me?"
I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing purple dress robes, silver earrings, and a necklace that was just like Alicia's.
"Same," she said, then added, "Just fix that one strand of hair, no, not that one- yeah, perfect."
For a moment, despite the fact that we were both late, we just stood there in silence, looking around the room, as if unsure if we really wanted to do this."
At last, I said, "Okay, let's go." With that, we left the dormitory, closing the door behind us.
The common room probably held less people than normal, because not only had many of the younger students gone home over break, but some had already left to meet dates from other houses in the entrance hall.
It didn't matter. The common room was packed; it seemed as if someone had put a Shrinking Spell on it. I guess it was because everyone was so much more excited than normal, and also because instead of everyone wearing the same shade of dull black, it seemed that now, no one was wearing exactly the same color.
When we reached the bottom of the steps, we were met by a very flustered, desperate-looking Maya. Even so, she looked extremely pretty, in pink robes that went with her tan skin, and her long dark hair in a braid down her back.
I got a foul taste in my mouth, looking at her. I couldn't believe that I'd have to stand next to her all night, which of course I would have to. The Weasley twins would never spend a whole party apart.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said, as we turn to face her. I gave her a smile so fake I feel like a Malfoy.
She doesn't seem to notice, and says agitatedly, "Do you have any idea where the twins are? I was supposed to meet George five minutes ago, but I can't find him anywhere. I mean, there's this huge crowd, and I don't even know what color he's wearing!"
I turned away from her, to search the crowd. After a moment, I spotted two laughing red heads over by the portrait hole. I don't see any dreadlocks nearby, but even so, when I turn back to Maya, I'm smiling, and this time, it's a real one.
No matter how much prettier she was than me, I still knew Fred and George better.
"Lesson one on hanging out with the twins, Maya," I said, "They're never hard to find."
I get a foul taste in my mouth, thinking of how loooooooong it's been since I've updated. Rest assured though, I WILL finish the dang story, even if I'm 102 and haven't got any reviews for twenty years. Hopefully, though I'll have the next chapter up by this weekend... I already have it written in my head. I hope y'all continue to read this, despite the delay!
Thanks, and please leave a review, good or bad,
Julia
