Chapter 12

I suppose part of me thought that it would take hours, days, years to push through that crowd. I thought I had ages and ages before I had to face what was on the other side.

Unfortunately, it took minutes. All of the sudden, I was staring at them, the Weasley twins, absolutely and utterly speechless, though I've hung out with them since I was eleven. My first and only thought in those first few seconds was, I'm speechless and swooning.

However, I quickly got a grip on myself, fanned off from the heat of the crowd and said, "Hey, guys," because I was Angelina Johnson, and these were the Weasleys twins for goodness's sake!

"Hey, Ange," they said together, but they're both a little distracted, and I wondered which of the three of us- because Maya is on my left, and Alicia, on my right, they're actually looking at. I couldn't help but think that there was no way that it was me.

"Merry Christmas, George.... and Fred!" Maya said, looked desperately between the two of them, who looked as identical as ever. They were even dressed in the same black dress robes. I smirked, realizing that she didn't have a clue which of the red-haired boys in front of her was her date. That smirk promptly slid off my face when I realized that I didn't have a clue either.

I could only tell the difference by the way they spoke, or, occasionally, smirked, because Fred's was a whole lot eviller. They hadn't really said enough for me to tell yet.

Luckily, one of them chose that moment to speak. "You look so- different tonight, Angelina, with you hair all...."

"Yeah," snickered the other, "It actually looks civilized for once."

"Thanks a lot," I said sourly, then added, "Fred," for Maya's benefit, though part of me felt she didn't deserve it.

Really, though, she hadn't done anything. Fred was the one who deserved the blame. He was really ticking me off. I knew he was just teasing, and if we hadn't been about to go to the Yule Ball together, it wouldn't have bugged me in the slightest. But that wasn't the way things were right now; we weren't just friends anymore, we were practically dating. Right now, George was complimenting Maya, albeit rather awkwardly, on her dress robes. All Fred had said about my appearance was that my hair "looked civilized for once."

Hadn't he once said that he loved it?

"Angelina?" Alicia said, and I jumped, because I'd almost forgotten she was there. "I'm going down to meet Eric now, okay?" she grinned nervously, "I'll see you guys later."

With that, she walked off. Fred watched the portrait hole close behind her, and then turned to me. "So what was up with her earlier? George, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and me were having a snowball fight, and I saw you two walking around the grounds. I thought she looked really cut up about something, but then Ginny got me in the face, and by the time I thought to look again, you were gone."

"Lee didn't get her a Christmas present," I told him, "And she's really cut up about it."

"He's not exactly the picture of happiness either," George put in, having turned away from Maya and leaned into our conversation. "You'd have thought that today was his death day, instead of Christmas, from the way he was moping around...."

"I told him he should come to the Yule Ball with us, go stag," Fred said, "But he wouldn't go for it."

"He's being such a prat," his twin said, "Just because he can't go to the Yule Ball with Alicia.... I don't blame him for being upset, but, come on, he needs to move on, get over it."

"Mabye he will," I sighed heavily, "Maybe, after tonight, things will finally go back to normal again."

We fell into silence, until Maya said, a little awkwardly, "So, George, what'd you get for Christmas?"

"Yet another sweater knitted by my mother," he rolled his eyes, "She sends one every year, but mine is always blue with a yellow G on it. At least it's not maroon though. My brother, Ron, always gets a maroon one, and he hates it. Actually, there he is right now, and as you can see" George pointed as Harry, Ron, whp was in frayed maroon dress robes, and a girl with long dark hair walked past us, "His wardrobe problems go beyond having too many maroon sweaters."

Maya giggled, but I wasn't really listening anymore. The talk of Christmas presents had reminded me of something else.

"By the way," I said, smiling knowingly at Fred, "Thanks so much for all the candy. I especially liked the chocolate."

He grinned back at me, but before either of us could say anything else, George said briskly, "Well, should we go then?"

Maya nodded, "Yeah, but can we wait for Elizabeth and Gabriel? They're right over there... I'll go get them."

She went off to get them, and then we set off, down to the entrance hall, with Gabriel and Elizabeth falling in beside Maya and George, and Fred and I bringing up the rear. The two of us were both laughing, though I never really knew why.

When we got to the entrance hall, the Great Hall doors were just opening. Beyond the mass of students, I could see one hundread small tables, walls of glittering frost, deep green mistletoe, red holly, and the starry black ceiling.

The Yule Ball had begun.


Hey! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Julia