The next big source of excitement was word of the Yule Ball: a chance for students and staff to, as worded by Professor McGonagall, "let their hair down." It was the reason for the dress robes on the supply lists of students year 4 and up.

"I don't have the SLIGHTEST clue who I'm going to go with… I'm not even sure I'm going to go at all," Blaze sighed.

"Oh, you HAVE to! I want to see how GORGEOUS you'll look in your dress! Besides, it will be fun," Konata squeaked.

"Eh, we'll see. Has Shiro asked you yet?"

Konata slowed down her walking a couple paces. "No, not yet. I'm sure he will soon…"

Blaze nodded, then stopped walking altogether. "Well speak of the Devil," she said softly.

"Konata! A word, if I may?" Shiro called. A group of his friends were grinning and playfully elbowing each other as Shiro made his way over there.

"See you guys later," Blaze declared, giving a half-hearted wave and leaving.

"So. You, me, and the Yule Ball, hm?" Shiro declared smoothly.

Konata blushed lightly, but didn't notice it. "Naturally."

Shiro smiled in a surprisingly sheepish manner. He made a brief chuckle sort of noise. "Awesome. I'll uh… I'll see you around?"

Konata nodded. "Yeah, see you!" Shiro gave a miniscule bob to his head, turned on his heel, and rejoined his friends. They all pulled him into their little crowd, smacking him on the back and shoulders; some of them cheered.

The days went by rapidly. Every morning, Konata asked Blaze if she'd found a date; it got to the point that she learned to completely remove any speak of the ball from their conversations.

"Satoshi… I hate to ask another favor of you, since I still owe you one for helping me out with Konata, but..." Shiro had approached his brother before lunch on the day before Christmas: the date of the ball.

Satoshi wrapped his arm around Shiro's neck and gave him a noogie. "Ah, you don't ever have to repay me for anything, baby bro. But uh, don't quote me on that one."

Shiro grinned for a moment and pulled his brother's arm away from him. "So, have you asked anyone to the ball yet?"

"No I have not, actually. I'm torn between… er… 7 girls," Satoshi responded rather casually. "I've had lots of chicks ask ME, though."

"Seven? Jesus, Sato… Well, anyway. Would you… would you take Blaze with you?" Shiro requested hesitantly.

Satoshi blinked, temporarily speechless. He gave a little shrug. "Yeah… You know what, yeah." Satoshi smiled, not artificially. "I'll ask her."

Shiro's shoulders fell in relief. "Oh, great! Thanks, it means a bunch…"

The Yule Ball was opened by the champions and their dates: Cedric and Cho Chang; Fleur and a Ravenclaw boy; Harry with Parvati Patil; Viktor with, to everyone's shock, Hermione.

"Where is she… Where is she…?" Shiro muttered nervously. He was wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a white undershirt and black velvet tie. He had white gloves on his hands.

"Perhaps she stood you up," suggested Draco snidely as he walked by, his arm entwined with Pansy Parkinson's. Shiro clenched his fist and teeth, sending his angriest glare at the blonde boy.

"Shiro! I'm so sorry I took so long, did I make you wait?" chimed Konata's voice, which sounded even more scattered and nervous than usual. Shiro quickly turned around, and his jaw dropped.

Konata wore a shiny, strapless pink silk dress which fell down to her ankles. There was a light yellow, almost cream, colored bow tied around her waist. She wore brand new half-inch heels with a silver floral pattern spiraling up to her ankles. Her hair had been curled so that it fell in ringlets, and pulled into a very high ponytail; just enough hair was free so that it framed her face symmetrically. She wore earrings that appeared to be real diamonds. Her makeup consisted of a tiny amount of silver mascara, very light red lipstick, a dash of rose-colored blush, and sparkly pink eye shadow.

"Blimey," Shiro whispered.

Konata's cheeks turned pink without help from the makeup. "Back at you."

Shiro gently took her hand and, without losing eye contact with her, bent over to kiss it. "Before we go in, I'd like to give you your Christmas present," he told her as he straightened up.

"Oh! Thank you loads, I didn't think to bring yours… It's back in my dorm…"

Shiro waved one hand dismissively, the other digging in his pocket. He removed a small, blue velvet box. He pressed it gently into Konata's palm. "Open it," he suggested quietly.

Konata gave a tiny nod, doing as she was told. Her eyes widened. "Oh, Shiro… Shiro, it's BEAUTIFUL…!" In the box was a dazzling necklace. On a silver chain was a heart shaped charm about the size of a girl's thumb. Though its outline was gold, the crystal-like center refracted red, green, yellow, and blue. "Thank you so, SO much… Thank you times infinity!" Konata breathed, carefully but hurriedly removing the necklace from the box. Smiling softly, Shiro took it and hooked it behind her neck.

"I'm very glad you like it. Come now, don't want to be late." He linked his arm with hers, and they proceeded into the Great Hall. The dining tables had been removed to create a sort of dance floor. Instead, multiple smaller, white clothed tables with a fairy lantern and flowers placed in the center dotted the sides. At the front was the staff table with an addition of seats for the champions.

"Hey you guys!" a feminine voice called excitedly. The owner of the voice tapped Konata and Shiro's shoulders; when they turned around, they saw it was Blaze. To Shiro's relief, she was holding onto Satoshi's arm.

"Merlin, you look AMAZING!" Konata gasped. It was rather true: Blaze's dress was a deep blue and descended all the way down to the floor, with one diagonal sleeve. A section of fabric on the side of the "skirt" part consisted of numerous silver sparkles, giving it the look of the sky on a clear night. Her normally semi-wavy hair had been straightened and highlighted a bit, as well as pulled up into a high braid that was currently laying on the front of her left shoulder. She must have put contacts in, for she lacked glasses. She wore small, golden star shaped earrings and a choker-like necklace to match. On her eyes was dark blue eye shadow and a few strokes of black mascara; her lips, light pink lipstick.

She grinned even wider. "You do too!"

"Hey, I'm gonna go get some punch. You want some too?" offered Satoshi.

"Oh, yeah, that would be great. Thanks," Blaze replied, her grin unfaltering. Satoshi nodded and headed off to the refreshments table.

"So you said yes to Satoshi, huh?" Shiro asked joyfully. Blaze nodded, and to the shock of her friends, her cheeks turned light pink.

"Blaze… Are you BLUSHING?" Konata questioned incredulously.

Blaze's face turned even redder. "I… might be… In all honesty, I've had a crush on Satoshi for a while now."

"Blimey mate, we're going to be in-laws!" Shiro declared gleefully.

"I wouldn't go THAT far. He'll probably dump me soon."

"Aw, Blaze, don't be such a downer!" Konata cried.

Blaze let out a short laugh. "Oh, I'm not being a downer: I just don't think Satoshi has the guts to deal with ME."

"Well, that can't be argued with," agreed Shiro, grinning.

"Yo, Blaze. I'm back," Satoshi called, holding two goblets filled with red juice. Blaze took hers and gratefully took a sip. It was silent among the four of them for a moment, until Blaze exclaimed, "Ah, shoot! One of my earrings is missing! One second, I think I know where I lost it…" She handed Satoshi her glass and hurried off to locate her earring.

"Students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang! I present you… The Weird Sisters!" Dumbledore shouted above everyone with a magically amplified voice. The Great Hall exploded with applause and cheers.

"I have their album!" Shiro told Konata, clapping wildly. Konata nodded, increasing her own applause. If Shiro liked them, she'd try to adjust too.

Satoshi's eyes began scanning the bouncing crowd, and he held out Blaze's glass to Shiro and Konata. "Give this back to Blaze, would you?"

The enthusiasm seeped out of Shiro's face. "What? Satoshi, where are you going?"

Satoshi gave an uncharacteristically mean-spirited grin. "You told me to take her to the ball. Well, I took her. Here's some advice, little brother: watch out for loopholes in your requests." Before Shiro could comment, Satoshi dashed off into the crowd. He found a girl with bleach-blonde hair and wearing a sea foam colored dress, and put his arm around her shoulders.

"That's one of the twin girls he was sitting with to watch the first task!" Shiro hissed, clenching his fist.

"I know that girl! She's a Hufflepuff fifth year, her name is Catherin Lumbach," Konata exclaimed.

A look of realization crossed Shiro's face. "The Lumbachs are Jeffrey's cousins… That's one of the girls he saw the Quidditch cup with!" Konata bit her lip, speechless.

"Guys… Where'd Satoshi go…?" Blaze asked slowly, situating her earring back into her ear.

Shiro sighed. "Blaze, I'm sorry… He…"

"He stood me up, didn't he?" Blaze inferred quietly. It was almost impossible to recognize her as the ecstatic girl that had walked into the Great Hall only moments before.

Konata and Shiro glanced at each other, and nodded morosely. "Well, listen to how hardcore this music is! Let's go party together, just the three of us," Konata recommended. Blaze gave a small smile.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go."

It wasn't long before the Blaze from earlier was back. Konata tripped over her dress over and over, and the trio laughed every time; Shiro sang along to nearly every song, and the girls mocked him when his voice cracked; they jumped around like total idiots, except everyone was doing the exact same, so it was perfectly fine.

"Okay, party people! It's time to sloooow it doooown!" the lead singer of The Weird Sisters declared.

"Blaze, Konata and I are gonna… er…"

"Yeah, I get it. I'll be over there," Blaze said quietly. Her dress swishing gracefully above the ground, she went off to a table. On the way, she bumped into someone. She began to apologize, until she saw it was Catherin Lumbach, hugging Satoshi's arm affectionately. Narrowing her contacted eyes, she quickened her pace. If she had been anyone besides Blaze, she probably would've cried.

"Oh, hey, this is a song from the Muggle world! I know this one!" Konata remarked once the dance floor had cleared of everyone who wasn't with a date. She locked her hands behind Shiro's neck; he wrapped his arms around her waist; they pressed up against each other and swayed back and forth peacefully.

"Hey, Alexanders. You want to dance?" Blaze, who was staring at the ground miserably, widened her eyes. There was no way that voice belonged to who she thought it did…

She looked up, putting on a glare. "You're joking, Malfoy."

Draco shook his head, putting out his gloved hand. Blaze stared at him skeptically. "What about Parkinson? I thought you were-" Just as she spoke, she saw a black haired Slytherin wearing a pale pink dress was running out of the hall in tears. Blaze sighed. "Believe it or not, I'm not stupid, Malfoy. I'm a Gryffindor. You're a Slytherin. Do the math."

"I don't care, Ale- I don't care, Blaze. You're different. You remind me of… Well, you remind me of myself."

"I'm NOTHING like you!" Blaze snapped. After a moment of Draco staring at her with a raised eyebrow, she murmured, "Okay, so I might be a tiny bit like you. But what about your perfect little reputation? Won't it be ruined if you're seen with me?"

"Yes, it will. So you KNOW I'm sincere."

They stared at each other wordlessly for a few more tense seconds, until Blaze finally smiled. "Okay… Draco." She put her hand atop his and got to her feet. "I'll dance with you." Smirking triumphantly, Draco led Blaze out to the dance floor.

"Hey, check out Ueda and Verdent," Draco remarked as he and Blaze got into slow dancing position. Blaze followed his gaze, and smiled softly.

Konata and Shiro were staring airily into each other's eyes. "You have… the most gorgeous eyes ever," Konata whispered.

"How odd, I was about to tell you the same," Shiro responded equally as quietly. He gave her a quick twirl, then immediately locked his eyes back onto hers. They gradually danced slower and slower, until they were standing completely still.

"You look beautiful on a daily basis, but you look exceptionally lovely this fine evening," Shiro told Konata gently.

Konata briefly gave a half smile, her eyes drifting to the ground for a quick second. "Thank you… I, uh… Thank you."

Shiro chuckled. "You said that already."

"Er, yes, I did." She slightly tightened her grip on Shiro's collar. Their eyes still locked on each other's, they leaned in a centimeter… Then another… And another… They advanced a few inches closer, closed their eyes, and their lips were locked on each other's.

Satoshi looked away from Catherin for a moment and whistled. "Looks like my little brother got his first kiss!"

Even though they'd moved away from each other, Konata and Shiro were still so close that their noses were touching. "Blimey," they whispered in unison, blushing.

"That wasn't Shiro's first kiss, you know," Draco told Blaze.

"Oh? And how would you know this?" Blaze grinned. "Were YOU his first kiss?"

Draco chuckled and gave her a twirl. "Nope. I'll tell you the story later. That is, if you ever let me see you again."

"Shiro! Come here, we gotta talk," Satoshi called as the students left the ball. Shiro reluctantly wished Konata a good night and said a final goodbye, waving at his friends that passed by. Blaze did the same, thanking Draco for asking her to dance in a bitter tone and giving him a quick hug before heading up to bed.

"I see you got some lippage, huh?" Satoshi exclaimed when Shiro came over to him.

Shiro's face went crimson. "Th-that's a way of putting it," he muttered.

Satoshi laughed, patting his shoulder. "That was your first kiss, wasn't it?"

"Actually, no… It wasn't." Satoshi stared at him blankly. Shiro heaved a deep breath. "Last year, during the time I was just beginning to defy Draco's deal, I was in the library. I thought I was alone, but then I saw Luna was there too… We started talking, since she was reading one of my favorite novels, a-and she was saying how she couldn't relate to the characters because they were getting so excited about their first kisses… I agreed with her, a-and we started talking some more, and right in the middle of a sentence, I… I leaned right over and kissed her!"

Satoshi was silent for a moment. "Bloody Hell, Shiro, why didn't you tell me?"

Shiro gave a small shrug; Satoshi laughed and ruffled his hair. "No matter, no matter. It looked like you had a good time tonight, I'm glad. And uh… Apologize to Blaze for me, 'kay?"

"Oh no you don't. That's YOUR job. Now, good night, Satoshi."