As soon as their group returned to Hogwarts, the women raced off, Hermione and Penny heading to get Fleur before re-joining with their many female friends up in Gryffindor Tower, which had been confiscated by the women, all males were to find somewhere else to get ready and Slytherin had been gracious enough to open their dungeon rooms to their former enemies. Seeing no point in getting ready yet, wizards from every year and house/school were called together and a massive snow battle was carried out on the Hogwarts' grounds, even the professors getting involved in the war until 6pm, the ball starting at 8pm.
With barely a girl walking about the castle, males from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff went to their houses, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to their ship/carriage, professors to their personal quarters, and lions and snakes descended into the dungeons, Alex and Draco, both splattered with snow, in the lead. Out front of a portrait of Salazar Slytherin, the blonde said, "Unity is true power."
"Too right," the man replied and opened up.
After being pointed to the showers, many rushed that way, while Alex organised for the house elves to deliver the stored dress robes and corsages to the right wizard before he joined them. As there were so many more students than usual, the lions were grateful that the Slytherin girls' area didn't have charmed stairs as they used their showers. One by one, wizards were leaving the Slytherin living area, heading to the entrance foyer out front of the Great Hall's doors, the universal meeting place for their dates.
Alex straightened his clothes once more, wondering how in the hell the ancient Greeks had handled the clothes. Both he and Hermione had chosen to honour their heritages by wearing realistic era clothing from when the gods had been known to all. So he was standing in, thankfully charmed warm. Grecian armour. A bronze breast and back plates that had been sculpted to his own body's contours, bronze shoulder plates, a leather and metal skirt that went to his knees, bronze greaves on his legs, and two bronze armour cuffs on his forearms. He was eternally grateful that he had a shirt and pants on beneath it all, or else he would seriously freeze and show of parts that only Hermione was to ever see.
Penny came down before Hermione, dressed in a simple green winter gown, and laughed at her friend's clothing, "Oh for the love of Zeus, if only your father could see you now."
"Penny, not one word," Alex warned, though his own laughter was bubbling up.
"Listen, I've seen pictures of your father, and standing there, the only difference is that you need to grow, a lot. When in his mortal state, you two could literally be brothers," kissing him gently on the cheek, the satyr saw her date, "I'm proud to be your protector. Best get to my date. Hermione won't be much longer."
"Thanks Penny"
Hermione had spent much more time to get ready than she meant to, even with the assistance of her fellow witches to get her hair perfect. With her shoes in her hands, Grecian sandals weren't to be run in, the demigod raced for the entrance foyer. Just as she was about to turn the corner, she popped on her shoes, straightened out her hair, and took a calming breath.
The second Alex saw his fiancée coming around the bend in the staircase, all breath left his body. She was even more gorgeous than usual. Her wild hair was tamed into ringlets, hanging loose with a gold tiara settled there, the large sapphire gleaming with power. She'd put on light blue makeup, with pale lipstick, accentuating her features. From her ears and around her neck were the earring and necklace set that the merpeople presented her as a gift for helping them, blue oyster shells on silver hooks and a large blue shell on woven gold threads. On her arms were matching platinum arm bands, owls at each end, and platinum armour bracelets.
Her dress was a single shoulder light dress made from Acromantula silk, a melding mix of blue and white, and as she walked, it looked like ripples in the ocean. She wore also a steel bustier armour, which looked rather heavy. On her feet were sandals much like Alex's own, simply wrapping further up her legs.
The smile on her face was aimed directly at her love but when Penny spoke, she turned to face her, "Holy bloody Athena!"
"Penny Hill!" Hermione chastised, knowing full well she looked like her Roman grandmother, continuing her descent to the foyer, stepping in front of her fiancé, "Alexander?"
"Hermione, you, you look like a goddess, and I know that was corny," the demigod cut in before the witch before him could say anything, pinning a rock rose corsage to the part of her dress not covered by the armour, "Utterly gorgeous."
"I must admit, I did fashion my look after my grandmother, but she's just so very pretty," the brunette blushed lightly.
Being careful of her makeup, Alex chastely kissed the teen's lips, "I think she would be proud that you decided to do that. We must make sure YiaYia see us before we change."
"Champions, to the doors now please," Minerva called out, her own dress her family's tartan.
The three couples walked to where the witch was standing and Hermione said, "You look very nice this evening Minerva."
"As do you Hermione," the Scottish witch opened the doors and allowed them to enter, followed by the remaining students.
The Great Hall had been turned into a winter wonderland, the ceiling letting through the snow from outside to fall directly over the cleared dance floor. As they walked through, the champions and their dates noted that the snow vanished before hitting them or the floor, a pleasant finding as it would no doubt ruin their clothes and the women's makeup. Already sitting up at the staff table were the professors, all dressed in their fineries, Hagrid seated beside Madam Maxime and dressed in a suit he was ordered to get made for him, Ludo Bagman, and Percy who wore a disgusted look at the reactions at the girls that walked into the hall.
Dinner was a calm event, the champions, Penny and Hermione sitting at the staff table, listening to classical music that drifted through the large room. Once the meals were gone, Minerva motioned to the 6 teens and stood at the podium, "And now the Champions shall officially open the Yule Ball."
Taking their dates into their arms, the men began to move as one, leading the women in an elegant waltz, not one foot stepped on the entire time. Alex saw something in the corner of his eye and almost ruined the dance, "Mia, look behind me when I spin you."
Hermione did so, and a slight giggle came from her lips. Weasley's date had just arrived and the woman looked to be a hundred years old, in a hideous purple dress and hat, and could clearly be heard complaining about being there, "If your mother wasn't owed a Life Debt from me, I would have made you suffer by yourself Ronald. Straighten up, you have food on your robes already, idiot boy."
"Oh my god, who in the hell is that?" The witch asked as she tried to stifle her laughter.
"No idea but I would have come alone if she was my only option," looking at his lovely fiancée, Alex kissed her softly, "Not that I'll ever need come alone."
The couple continued to spin around the floor, and just as the song was ending, with a collective nod from the males, they switched partners effortlessly, Alex with Penny, Cedric with Fleur, and Hermione with Krum. The song turned into another, and while others could join if they wanted, everyone was awestruck at the trio of couples dancing like professionals. They did another switch, and then another soon after before bowing to their original partner and walking off of the dance floor, everyone in need of a drink.
"You boys have been plotting that for a while now haven't you?" Penny said accusingly as she drank her pumpkin juice.
"Maybe a little while but you must admit, we did that perfectly," Cedric stuck his chest out proudly, only to have it softly hit by his date.
Fleur was looking across the dance floor and caught Bill's eye, "If you will excuse me."
When they saw the redhead moving across the floor, barely avoiding the dancing half-giants, everyone laughed lightly, Viktor shaking his head in amusement, "I'll steal dances from others if I need."
"Thank you Viktor," pecking his cheek, the Veela moved to meet her true date on the dance floor, being easily swept into a dance as soon as she was in arms reach.
"I wish Iliya could have been here," the Bulgarian sulked slightly.
"Why wasn't she?" Hermione asked, having not heard much about the teen's fiancée.
Viktor smiled sadly, "Because she is only 16 and you had to be at least 17 to come. She will be joining my parents in coming over for the Third Task, so I can see her once more; this is the longest we've been apart since we began to date when we were 13 and 12."
Alex couldn't even begin to fathom how his friend could stand it, being apart from his love for the day drove him to insanity the one time it had happened in recent years. He simply clapped him on the shoulder and watched as Hermione took his arm and dragged him to the dance floor.
Over the course of the evening, Alex had danced with everyone, not just women as the twins and Neville had caught him, even dancing with the staff, though it was slightly difficult to dance with Madam Maxime but it was done. At 10pm, giving everyone a chance to traditionally dance, Minerva announced the Weird Sisters, and dancing became jumping in the same spot with your friends to the music. Most of the staff retired at that time, but Severus stuck around, Filius and Pomona heading out to make sure no students were getting in trouble. The Potions Professor was dragged onto the dance floor by Hermione and shocked everyone as he sang to the lyrics, not missing a single word.
When midnight came, no one wanted to leave but they did, reluctantly, and the demigods showed their grandmother what they looked like before collapsing in exhaustion in their room. Dobby popped in and removed the uncomfortable armour and jewellery, dressing his friends in pyjamas before doing the same for Penny and returned home, laughing softly the entire time.