Chapter 23
The Unexpected Task
KIARA
"Pride-Lander! Dawson! Will you pay attention?"
Professor Darbus' voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on Thursday, and Chrissie and I both jumped and looked up.
It was the end of the lesson; we had finished our work; the guinea-fowl we had been changing into guinea-pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor Darbus' desk (Nikita's guinea-pig still had feathers); we had copied down our homework from the blackboard ("Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches"). The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Chrissie and I, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Tanya and Geri's fake quills at the back of the class, looked up, Chrissie now holding a tin parrot, and I, a rubber haddock.
"Now Pride-Lander and Dawson have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor Darbus, with an angry look at the pair of us as the head of my haddock dropped and fell silently to the floor - Chrissie's parrot's beak had severed it moments before - "I have something to say to you all.
"The Yule Ball is approaching - a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialise with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth-years and above - with the exception of the Dawsons, for seeing as they are children of the Headmistress of Dragon Mort, they have every right to attend - but you may invite a younger student if you wish - "
Larry Brown let out a loud chuckle. Perry Party nudged him hard in the ribs, his face working furiously, as he, too, fought not to chuckle. They both looked around at me. Professor Darbus ignored them, which I thought was distinctly unfair, as she had just told off me and Chrissie.
"Dress robes will be worn," Professor Darbus continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight, in the Great Hall. Now then - "
Professor Darbus stared deliberately around at all of us.
"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to - er - let our hair down," she said in a disapproving voice.
Larry chuckled harder than ever, with his hand pressed hard against his mouth to stifle the sound. I saw what was funny that time: Professor Darbus, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.
"But that does NOT mean," Professor Darbus went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behaviour we expect from Dragon Mort students. I will be most seriously disappointed if a Lion-Heart student embarrasses the school in any way."
The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as we all packed our bags and swung them onto our shoulders.
Professor Darbus called above the noise, "Pride-Lander - a word, if you please."
I assumed that it had something to do with the headless rubber haddock, so I proceeded gloomily to the teacher's desk.
Professor Darbus waited until the rest of my class had gone, and then said, "Pride-Lander, the Champions and their partners - "
"What partners?" I said.
Professor Darbus looked suspiciously at me, as though she thought I was trying to be funny.
"Your partners for the Yule Ball, Pride-Lander," she said coldly. "Your dance partners."
I felt my insides squirm with nervous excitement. "Dance partners?"
I felt myself blush, as I said quickly, before I could stop myself, "With boys?" (I should point out here that, during my childhood, my grandmothers had taught me how to dance. It was OK dancing with them, but with an actual boy, however, was another matter at the time. Now, though, I'm cool with it.)
"Well, of course with boys, Pride-Lander!" said Professor Darbus incredulously, looking at me as though she thought I had gone mad. "You and your partner - the boy in question - open the dance. It's traditional for the Champions to do so."
I had a sudden mental image of myself in a long, frilly dress, dancing with a tall young man in a top hat and tails, and then I tripped and fell to the floor in a heap, as everyone laughed at me.
I blushed even harder as I asked her, "Are you sure - ?"
"It's traditional," said Professor Darbus firmly. "You are a Dragon Mort Champion, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Pride-Lander."
"But - "
"You heard me, Pride-Lander," said Professor Darbus, in a very final sort of way.
0000
A week before this, I would have said finding a partner for a dance would be a cinch compared to taking on a Hungarian Horntail. But seeing as I had done the latter, and was facing the prospect of being asked by a guy to the ball, I thought I'd rather have another round with the Horntail (although, I have to admit, I am glad that I didn't have to ask anyone - forgive me for being old-fashioned).
During my time at Dragon Mort, there had never been a more popular time for people to stay at the school over the Christmas holidays than that one. I knew I could have gone back to Wales, but seeing as I was a school Champion, I knew I had to stay; but I had always been very much in the minority before then. That year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above (along with the youngest Dawsons) were staying, and we were all obsessed with the coming ball - well, we girls were, anyway. I think it dawned on the boys then just how many of us girls were in the castle, just like it occurred to we girls how many boys there were. Everywhere I looked, boys were eyeing girls with great interest, and vice-versa. Once or twice, I could have sworn that Chris was hoping for me to meet his eye, but every time I looked at him, he seemed to be deeply involved with his work.
There was only one question on my mind, though: who did I want to go with me?
Of course, I already knew who I'd like to have ask me, but somehow, I didn't think he would ... Khan. He was a year older than me; he was very handsome; he was a very good Quidditch player, and he was also very popular.
Chrissie seemed to know what was going on inside my head.
"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a Champion. You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you."
In tribute to our recently repaired friendship, Chrissie had kept the bitterness in her voice to a bare minimum. Moreover, to my amazement, she was right.
A curly-haired third-year Badger-Stripes boy to whom I had never spoken to in my life, asked me to go to the ball with him the very next day. I was so taken aback I said "no" before I'd even stopped to consider the matter. The boy walked off looking rather hurt, and I had to endure Chrissie's, Dena's and Zara's taunts about him all through history of Magic. The following day, two more boys asked me, a second-year and (to my horror) a fifth-year who looked as though he would've knocked me out if I'd refused.
"He was quite good-looking," said Chrissie fairly, after she'd stopped laughing.
"I know he was taller than me," I said, still unnerved, "but did you see the scowl on his face? I don't want to dance with someone who doesn't look happy to be there with me!"
I saw Chris look really annoyed whenever someone asked me to the ball, but then looked happy (and slightly relieved, I thought) when I said no. This puzzled me at the time, but I now understand that he wanted to go to the ball with me, but was too shy to ask me ... until some time later, which we'll get to.
Anyhoo, Sian's warnings about Outsider kept coming back to me. "They only like him because he's famous!" I doubted if any of the boys who had asked me to be their partner so far would have wanted me to go to the ball with me if I hadn't been school Champion. I then wondered if this would bother me if Khan asked me.
On the whole, I had to admit that even with the daunting prospect of the ball before me, life had definitely improved since I had got through the first task. I wasn't attracting generally as much unpleasantness in the corridors, which I suspected had a lot to do with Georgia - I had an idea that Georgia might have told the Badger-Stripes to leave me alone, in gratitude for my tip-off about the dragons. There seemed to be fewer Support GEORGIA DIGGS badges around, too. Dani Malty, of course, was still quoting Peter Meter's article at me at every possible opportunity, but she was getting fewer and fewer laughs out of it - and just to heighten my feeling of well-being, no story about Mina had appeared in the Daily Squabbler.
"He didn' seem very int'rested in magical creatures, ter tell yeh the truth," Mina said, when Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I asked her how the interview with Peter Meter had gone during the last Care of Magical Creatures lesson of term. To our very great relief, Mina had given up on direct contact with the Crabs, and we were merely sheltering behind her cabin that day, sitting at a trestle table and preparing a fresh selection of food with which to tempt the Crabs.
"He jus' wanted me ter talk about you, Kiara," Mina continued in a low voice. "Well, I told him we'd been friends since I firs' met yeh. "Never had to tell her off in four years?" he said. "Never played you up in lessons, has she?" I told him no, an' he didn' seem at all. Yeh'd think he wanted me ter say yeh were horrible, Kiara."
"'Course he did," I said, throwing lumps of dragon liver into a large metal bowl and picking up my knife to cut some more. "He can't keep writing about what a tragic little hero I am. It'll get boring."
"He wants a new angle, Mina," said Chris wisely, as he shelled salamander eggs. "You were supposed to say Kiara's a mad delinquent!"
"But she's not!" said Mina, looking genuinely shocked.
"He should've interviewed Triphorm," I said grimly. "She'd give him the goods on me any day. Pride-Lander has been crossing lines ever since she first arrived at this school ..."
"Said that, did she?" said Mina, while Chris, Sian and Chrissie laughed. "Well, yeh might've bent a few rules, Kiara, but yeh all righ' really, aren' you?"
"Cheers, Mina," I said, grinning.
"You coming to this ball thing on Christmas Day, Mina?" said Chrissie.
"Though' I might look in on it, yeah," said Mina gruffly. "Should be a good do, I reckon. You'll be openin' the dancin', won' yeh, Kiara? Do yeh know who's takin' yeh, Kiara?"
"No one, yet," I said, feeling myself go red again. Mina didn't pursue the subject.
The last week of term became increasing boisterous as it progressed. Rumours about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere, though I didn't believe half of them - for instance, that Crighton had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Sir Smoothster. It seemed to be fact, however, that she had booked the Jinxsters. Exactly who or what the Jinxsters were I didn't know, never having had access to a wizard's wireless (seeing as Grandmother Sarafina is a Muggle, Grandmother Sarabi didn't bother), but I deduced from the wild excitement of those who had grown up listening to the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) that they were a very famous musical group (I should also mention here that the leader of the band is also a cousin of the Dawsons from America).
Some of the teachers, like little Professor Winds, gave up trying to teach us when our minds were so clearly elsewhere; she allowed us to play games in her lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to me about the perfect Summoning Charm I had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Other teachers, however, were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Yawn, for example, from ploughing on through her notes on faun rebellions - Yawn hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, we supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious faun riots sound as boring as Perdy's Floo powder report. Professors Darbus and Grumpy kept us working until the very last second of our classes, too, and Triphorm, of course, would no sooner let us play games in class than adopt me. Staring nastily around at us, she informed us that she would be testing us on poison antidotes during the last lesson of term.
"Evil, she is," Chrissie said that night in the Lion-Heart common room. "Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of revision."
"Mmm ... you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" said Sian, looking at her over the top of her Potions notes. Chrissie was building a card castle out of her Exploding Snap pack - a much more interesting pastime than with the Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second.
"It's Christmas, Sian," I said lazily; I was re-reading Flying With the Cannons for the tenth time in an armchair near the fire.
Sian looked severely over at me, too. "I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Kiara, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"
"Like what?" I said, as I watched Joey Jenkins - who is in no way a relation of Bernard Jenkins - of the Cannons belt a Bludger towards a Ballycastle Bats Chaser.
"That egg!" Sian hissed.
"Come on, Sian, I've got 'til February the twenty-fifth," I said.
I had put the golden egg upstairs in my trunk, and hadn't opened it since the celebration party after the first task. There was still two and half months to go until I needed to know what all the screechy wailing meant, after all.
"But it might take weeks to work it out!" said Sian. "You're going to look like a real idiot if everyone knows what the next task is and you don't!"
"Leave her alone, Sian, she's earned a bit of a break," said Chris, as Chrissie placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing her eyebrows.
"Nice look, Chrissie ... might go well with your dress robes, that will."
It was Tanya and Geri. They sat down at the table with Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I as Chrissie felt how much damage had been done.
"Chrissie, can we borrow Piggledon?" Geri asked.
"No, she's off delivering a letter," said Chrissie. "Why?"
"Because Geri wants to invite her to the ball," said Tanya sarcastically. Sian chuckled at this. Chrissie frowned at her.
"Because we want to send a letter, custard brain," said Geri.
"You two can borrow my owl if you want," said Chris. "I don't mind."
"Cheers, Chris," said Tanya. Chris nodded.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Chrissie.
"Nose out, Chrissie, or I'll burn that off for you, too," said Tanya, waving her wand threateningly. "So ... you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope," said Chris.
"Well, you'd better hurry up, cousin, or all the good ones will be gone," said Tanya.
"Who're you going with, then?" said Chrissie.
Tanya giggled uncharacteristically, before she said, "Andrew," with a slight trace of embarrassment.
"What?" said Chris, taken aback. "You mean, he's already asked you?"
"Good point," said Tanya. She turned her head and called across the room, "Oi! Andrew!"
Andrew, who had been talking to Aaron Spinnet near the fire, looked over at her.
"What?" he called back.
"Can I have a word?" she said, with a slight giggle.
Andrew looked taken aback, but nodded. Tanya looked slightly nervous, but shrugged it off as she got up and she and Andrew went to a corner of the common room. Geri, Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I watched the two of them talking. It only took a couple of minutes, where we saw a lot of different expressions pass between them, until they nodded, both apparently pleased with themselves, and broke off. Andrew headed back to Aaron with a large grin plastered on his face, and Tanya looked like she was about to giggle with glee.
"There you go," Tanya said to Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I, as she did a quick giggle. "Piece of cake."
She then yawned and said, "Let's go and use Catonia, then, Geri, come on ..."
They left. Chrissie stopped feeling her eyebrows and looked across the smouldering wreck of her card castle at me.
"We should get a move on, you know ... If no one's going to ask us, then we should do it instead. She's right. We don't want to go and end up with a couple of trolls."
Sian let out a splutter of indignation. "A pair of ... what, excuse me?"
"Well - you know," said Chrissie, shrugging, "I'd rather go alone than with - with Elliot Miggs, say."
"Hey, don't be so harsh on the guy!" Chris defended. "His acne's loads better lately - and he's really nice!"
"His nose is off-centre," said Chrissie.
Sian then got angry. "Oh, I see," she said, bristling. "So basically, you're going to take the best-looking guy who'll have you, even if he's completely horrible?"
"Er - yeah, that sounds about right," said Chrissie.
"I'm going to bed," Sian snapped, and she swept off towards the staircase to the dormitories. Before she put one foot on the staircase, she turned round and glared at Chrissie, said, "What is wrong with you?" before she shook her head, looking confused, and headed up the stairs, slamming the door to the girls' dormitories shut behind her.
0000
The Dragon Mort staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Uagadou, seemed determined to show the castle at its best that Christmas. When the decorations went up, I noticed that they were the most stunning that I had ever seen inside the school, before or since. Everlasting icicles were attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armour had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. It was quite something to hear "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words. Several times, Match the caretaker had to extract Weeves from inside the armour, where she had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of her own invention, all of which were very rude.
And yet, I still hadn't plucked up the courage to ask Khan to the ball. Chrissie and I were getting very nervous by this point, though as I pointed out, Chrissie would look much less stupid than I would without a partner; I was supposed to be starting the dancing with the other Champions, after all.
"I suppose there's always Old Moany," I said gloomily, referring to the ghost who haunted the boys' toilets on the second floor (read the Chamber of Mysteries).
"Kiara - we've just got to grip our teeth and do it," said Chrissie firmly on Friday morning, in a tone that suggested we were planning the storming of an impregnable fortress. "When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners - agreed?"
"Er ... OK," I said.
But I remember that every time I had glimpsed Khan that day - during break and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History of Magic - he was surrounded by friends. My God, the guy never went anywhere alone; I couldn't even ambush him on the way to the bathroom, for crying out loud! He even went in there with an escort of about four or five boys. I then reasoned with myself that if I didn't do it soon, he was bound to ask - or worse, have been asked by - someone else.
I found it hard to concentrate in Triphorm's Antidotes test, and consequently forgot to add the key ingredient - a bezoar - meaning that I received bottom marks. But I didn't care; I was too busy screwing up the courage for what I was about to do. When the bell rang, I grabbed my bag and hurried to the dungeon door.
"I'll meet you at dinner," I said hurriedly to Chris, Sian and Chrissie, and I dashed upstairs.
All I had to do was to ask Khan for a private word, that was all ... I hurried off through the packed corridors looking for him, and (rather sooner than I had expected) I found him, emerging from a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.
When I saw him, the same nervous excitement that I felt when Professor Darbus told me about dancing with a partner at the Yule Ball coursed through me; and stifling a nervous giggle, I approached Khan and said, "Er - Khan? Could I have a word with you?"
Khan looked slightly taken aback, and stared at me for a few moments. The excitement that I felt before was quickly evaporating as he looked at me. I then breathed an inward sigh of relief as he shrugged and said, "OK," and followed me out of earshot of his friends.
I turned to look at him and I felt my stomach flutter as I looked at his handsome face.
"Er," I said, giggling nervously.
I couldn't ask him. I couldn't. But I had to. Khan stood there, looking puzzled, watching me.
Then the words came out before I had quite got my tongue around them.
"Wangoballwime?"
"Sorry?" said Khan.
I took a deep breath, to calm both my nerves and the giggles, and said more slowly, "D'you - d'you want to go to the ball with me?" Oh, of all the times to go red in the face, why did it have to be then? Why?
"Oh!" said Khan, and he went red, too. "Oh, Kiara, I'm really sorry," and he looked it, too. "I've already asked someone, and they said yes."
"Oh," was all I could think to say.
It was an odd moment for me; a moment before, my insides had been fluttering madly, but then I didn't seem to have any insides at all. Plus, it felt like someone had just taken a knife and plunged it deep in my heart.
"Oh, OK," I said, "no problem."
"I'm really sorry," he said again.
"That's OK," I said.
We stood there, looking at each other, and then Khan said, "Well - "
"Yeah," I said.
"Well, bye," said Khan, still very red. He walked away.
I called after him, before I could stop myself.
"Who're you going with?"
"Oh - Georgia," he said. "Georgia Diggs."
"Oh, right," was all I said.
My insides came back again, even as the knife twisted even further in my heart, and my insides filled with lead in their absence. Completely forgetting about dinner, I walked slowly back up to Lion-Heart Tower, Khan's voice echoing in my ears with every step I took. "Georgia - Georgia Diggs." Up until then, I had been starting to quite like Georgia - prepared to overlook the fact that she had once beaten me at Quidditch, and was beautiful, and popular, and nearly everyone's favourite Champion. At that moment, however, I came to think that Georgia was in fact a useless beauty-model, who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup. As I thought this, I felt my eyes begin to sting, but I would not let the useless tears fall. I would not, I would not, I would not ...
"Fairy lights," I said dully to the Fat Lord in a choked voice - the password had been changed the previous day.
"Yes, indeed, dear," he trilled, straightening his new Christmas hat as he swung forwards to admit me.
Entering the common room, I looked around, and to my surprise I saw Chrissie sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Chris was sitting with her, talking to her in what seemed to be a low, soothing voice.
"What's up, Chrissie?" I said, joining them.
Chrissie looked up at me, a sort of blind horror on her face.
"Why did I do it?" she said wildly. "I don't know what made me do it!"
"What?" I said.
"She - er - just asked Ferdinand Desjardin to go to the ball with her," said Chris. He looked as though he was fighting back a smile, but he kept rubbing Chrissie's arm sympathetically.
"You what?" I said, temporarily forgetting my own pain.
"I don't know what made me do it!" Chrissie gasped again. "What was I playing at? There were people - all around - I've gone mad - everyone watching! I was just walking past him in the Entrance Hall - he was standing there, talking to Diggs - and it sort of came over me - and I asked him!"
Chrissie moaned and put her face in her hands. She kept talking, though the words were barely distinguishable. "He looked at me like I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then - I dunno - I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."
"He's part Coltee," I said. "You were right - his grandfather was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when he was turning on the charm for Diggs and got a blast of it - but he was wasting his time. She's going with Khan Chan."
My pain came back then. Chrissie looked up.
"I asked him to go with me just now," I said dully, "and he told me."
Chris had suddenly stopped smiling.
"This is mad," said Chrissie, "we're the only ones left who haven't got anyone - well, except Nikita. Hey - guess who she asked? Chris!"
Chris' face flushed slightly, and he glared at Chrissie.
"What?" I said, completely distracted by this news. I gazed at Chris, startled. "Did she really, Chris?"
"Well ..." Chris began slowly, not looking at any of us, as Chrissie, who had got some of the colour back in her face, started laughing. "She said that I've always been really nice to her ... and that Sian and I help her out with schoolwork and stuff ... but I said I couldn't because I was already going with someone - "
"No, as if!" Chrissie but-in suddenly. "You just didn't want to go with Nikita ... I mean, who would?"
"Don't!" said Chris, annoyed. "Don't laugh - "
Just then, Sian climbed in through the portrait hole.
"Why weren't you three at dinner?" she said, coming over to join us.
"Because - oh, shut up laughing, you two - because I've been comforting Chrissie, because she's just been turned down by the guy she wanted to take to the ball, as has Kiara!"
That shut Chrissie and I up.
"Thanks a bunch, Chris," snarled Chrissie.
"All the good-looking ones taken, Chrissie," said Sian loftily. "Elliot Miggs starting to look quite handsome now, is he? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."
Chris then decided to say, "Sian - you are a girl ..."
Sian looked at him through narrowed eyes, and said sarcastically, "Really, it's taken you fourteen years to figure it out?" Sian then rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Look, Sian, I know you're a girl, OK?" Chris amended quickly, standing up and going towards her. Sian turned to face him and he continued, "So - will you go to the ball with me?"
"No, I can't," Sian snapped.
"Oh, come on," he said impatiently, "I need a partner, I'm going to look really stupid if I haven't got one, everyone else has ..."
"I can't come with you," said Sian, now blushing, "because I'm already going with someone."
"Oh, please!" Chris scoffed. "Who'd ask you to go with them?"
That did it. A blaze of fire shot through Sian's eyes, but somehow she managed to keep her temper under control. After she had taken a few deep breaths, she said to Chris in a voice of forced calm, "Can I have a word with you, Rickers?" And before Chris could answer, Sian had grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the corner furthest away from us.
I didn't take much notice of their conversation, but turned back to Chrissie, who looked as shocked as I did with what had just happened, and asked her, "D'you know who she's going with?"
Chrissie shook her head and asked me, "D'you?"
"No."
"I do," said a voice behind us. Chrissie and I looked around and saw Merida, who was accompanied by Ben and Dave.
"Who's she going with, then?" Chrissie asked her. Merida shook her head, trying not to laugh. "Aww, come on, Merida!"
"Sorry, Chrissie," said Merry, "but I promised Sian I wouldn't say anything to anybody - including you!"
Chrissie put her head in her hands again, and moaned, "Oh, this is great! My eldest sister gets a date, and I don't! I mean, look at me!" Chrissie gasped, lifting her head. "Who would ask a plain girl like me to a fancy ball?"
"I would," said a quiet voice. Chrissie, Merida, Dave and I all looked at Ben, who had just spoken, and seemed unembarrassed by what he had just said. "I mean ... if you want to," he added sheepishly, shrugging.
Chrissie's face brightened and she said, giggling and blushing at the same time, "All right, then."
Ben beamed back at Chrissie, who kept on giggling, as Chris and Sian re-joined us.
"What's going on?" Sian asked, staring incredulously at her giggling sister.
"Ben just asked Chrissie to go to the ball with him, and she said yes," I answered for Chrissie.
Chris and Sian were quite surprised by this, but then they smiled at Chrissie. I was laughing along with Chrissie for some time, before I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. Recognising the rush that went through me at those taps, I looked up and saw Chris beside me, looking at me in earnest.
"Will you walk with me?" he said, offering me his hand.
I was surprised at this, for Chris had never asked me to walk alone with him before, but I quickly shrugged off the shock and took his hand. We both felt a shudder at the rush that went through us, which we tried to ignore as Chris smiled at me and led me out of the portrait hole.
We walked around the castle for some time. My hand was still in Chris' as we walked, him obviously leading me, for I was blind as to where he was taking me. After a while, though, we came to a disused classroom. Chris opened the door, checked the coast was clear and led me inside, closing the door behind us.
As Chris let go of my hand to light the candles, I noticed that the desks had been pushed back against the walls. I turned to look back at Chris, who had finished lighting the candles, and was leaning against the teacher's desk, looking at me. Thinking of nothing else to say, I asked, "So, Chris, why did you bring me here?"
Chris jumped suddenly back to his senses, then said, "Well, we're here because I have a couple of things to ask you ..." He took a deep breath, before he said, "Kiara, I asked Sian to go with me, because I have no one to go with, which is true. I still don't. And seeing that Sian is ... going with someone else, I wondered if you would like to go to the ball with me?"
Chris looked at me steadily, waiting for my answer. I knew that he was desperate, and seeing that he had no one to ask, and that he was also my friend, I said, "Yes, Chris, I will go to the ball with you."
Chris and I smiled warmly at each other, and I don't know which of us felt more relieved at having someone to take to the ball, me or him. Then Chris' smile faded, and for the first time since we had come to this room, he avoided my gaze. He seemed suddenly nervous.
"What's wrong, Chris?" I asked him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. I felt a strong tremor go through him at my touch, which I ignored. He still didn't look at me, so I said, trying to sound reassuring, "Come on, you can tell me. I'm sure it can't be that bad."
Chris chuckled half-heartedly, as he turned back to face me and said, "You say that now." He then took another deep breath and said, "I can't dance."
I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, for I had imagined something worse. "What?"
He sighed again. "I can't dance, Kiara, all right? I've tried many times, but I just can't seem to get it."
"Oh, now, I'm sure it can't be that bad, Chris," I said half-jokingly, in an attempt to reassure him.
Chris snorted, and said, "Oh, yeah? Check this out ..." He then moved to the middle of the floor and started to dance - well, if you could call what he was doing dancing, anyway. His feet and arms were moving wildly and in all directions, so much so that he looked like a spider who was jerking all over the place. He certainly was no professional. He then tripped over his feet, and I tried unsuccessfully to stifle my laughter.
"See? I'm hopeless at it," Chris grumbled as he got up, not looking at me, clearly embarrassed.
I successfully stifled a laugh that time, then said, "No, you're not. You just need some help, that's all. I'll help you."
Chris lifted his head up slightly. "You will?"
I nodded earnestly. "Mm-hm. My grandmothers taught me when I was little, so don't worry, I won't let you fall." Chris grumbled again, still not looking at me. I sighed, walked towards him and took his hand. He jumped at the sudden contact, for he had not noticed me coming, and looked at me. I smiled gently at him and led him back to the middle of the room.
"Now, you're right hand goes here," I said, putting his right hand on my waist. He gasped, as another great tremor went through him, which I again ignored. "And you put your left hand in my right." He took my right hand as I put my left hand on his shoulder.
"Now you lead," I said. Chris looked shocked, and somewhat afraid and nervous at this.
"What - but I don't know - "
"It's OK," I said, smiling reassuringly at him. "I'll help you. Just keep your eyes on mine and move to the rhythm I set, all right?" Chris nodded his head nervously, and after he took a deep breath for courage, he started moving me around the room.
For the first few minutes, we moved rather awkwardly (and in Chris' case, wrong-footedly) round the room. We were both quite nervous at dancing in the arms of the other, but we soon got over it, and after a while, we loosened up a bit, and our movements flowed more easily as we danced. A few times he did stand on my toes, and I did my best to hide the winces I made, but I'm not sure that I covered them up that well, for he apologised every time he did so. I quickly forgave him each time and we carried on. After about ten minutes or so, Chris got so confident that he picked me up and spun me around before he landed me gracefully back on the floor. I easily imagined myself in that long, frilly dress again, but this time I was dancing safely in Chris' arms, and not once did he let me fall. We were having a good time, dancing and laughing in each other's arms - until we spotted that the door was open, and that Sian and Chrissie were standing there, watching us; and from the looks on their faces, they had been watching us for quite some time.
We stopped then, and we quickly and rather reluctantly stepped away from each other, both of us blushing profusely. We laughed nervously at each other, before I quickly left the room, pushing through Sian and Chrissie as I did so.
CHRIS
From not knowing how to dance, to being in Kiara's arms, and dancing quite good for the ball, in the arms of the girl he was taking to the Yule Ball, was a good moment for Chris, he thought, as he twirled Kiara around. They were having a good time, laughing and dancing in that room. Alone. Chris realised that he was comfortable dancing with Kiara like this. At first he was nervous, and even more so when he stood on her toes. Even though Kiara tried to cover her little winces, he could tell that he had caused her some slight pain. But to his relief, Kiara didn't seem to mind. She just said that he was doing a good job and that they should keep practicing.
Chris was happy when she said that, for it meant that he could look at her beautiful form more. Slightly brush his fingers through her golden hair, see her gentle smile and how brightly her dark amber eyes sparkled as they danced. It was perfect - until Sian and Chrissie interrupted, that is.
Chris blushed, as did Kiara. They avoided Sian and Chrissie's eyes, and as they did, Chris felt angry with his sisters for interrupting his perfect moment. He expected this from Chrissie, of course, for her timing was terrible - but Sian? That was unexpected. But then, he reasoned, that that wasn't saying much, because everything with Sian was unpredictable.
He was suddenly brought back to the present by Kiara stepping out of his arms. Chris wanted to pull her back, but he knew that the moment was over. He hid his anger by laughing nervously with Kiara, before she ran from the room, taking the warmth and sunshine with her, as Kiara always did whenever she left the room, which Chris had been recognising for some time whenever Kiara was with him.
Chris turned his attention back to Sian and Chrissie, who, much to his annoyance, were both watching him smugly. His anger quickly returned, as he hissed at his sisters, "Why? Why did you have to come now?"
"Well, it was nearing curfew, and I didn't want you to get in trouble, so I set off to find you," Sian shrugged. "And Chrissie's here because - well - you know Chrissie follows me wherever I go."
"Yeah, sorry," Chrissie apologised. "But when we saw how much fun you two were having, we didn't want to disturb you. Kiara's taught you well, by the way," she added, as Sian nodded in agreement.
Instead of calming his anger, this only incensed him more. He paced around the room, angry at his sisters for interrupting his time with the girl he -
Sian and Chrissie were still watching him, Chris saw, but he didn't care; until he saw the look of shocked realisation that crossed Sian's face. Chris paused in his pacing, confusion replacing rage at his sister's expression.
"What?" he asked her.
"I don't believe it," Sian gasped, the ghost of a laugh escaping her mouth. Chris looked at Sian as she looked at him, with a look that he had seen Sian use on people only a few times before, and he knew that he would lose. And before he could stop her, Sian said -
"You're in love with Kiara, aren't you?" Chrissie gasped at Sian's words.
"Of course, he's totally in love with her," she said, clarifying everything Sian said as usual, when Chrissie didn't understand what was going on.
"What? Pfft, no. That's crazy talk. I'm not in love with her," Chris said, along with some other comments that were along the same lines; but the more he continued, the more Sian and Chrissie kept saying things like, "Yeah, right," and, "Sure you don't." After much stuttering and trying to explain himself, Chris said, "Shut up!" and pushed past Sian and Chrissie, just as Kiara had done a few minutes prior. As he stomped off down the corridor, the sounds of his angry footsteps couldn't keep out the sounds of his sister's laughter.
"He's in love with her," he heard Sian say.
"So in love with her," he then heard Chrissie say. Chris then heard his sisters giggling as they hurried off.
Chris slowed his footsteps down as he leaned against a wall and put his head in his hands, thinking of what his annoying sisters had said to him. They told him he was in love with Kiara. Well, that couldn't be true, could it? Chris thought. He was fourteen, after all, and there would be a time for love later. He shared a Soul-Bond with Kiara, that he had known for four years now, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was in love with her. Yes, he had admitted that she was beautiful, that she he found her amusing at times, that her presence filled him warmth and was as warm as the sun, which sparkled through her beautiful golden hair. He also acknowledged that Kiara's eyes were unlike any other he had ever seen, and that seeing her every day filled with him with happiness and a sort of peacefulness he never knew existed until a few months ago. She was one of the bravest people he knew; her laugh always made him smile; the unhappiness whenever someone asked her to the ball, and the sudden unexplained happiness and relief she gave him when Kiara had declined going to the ball with someone; the euphoria he had felt when Kiara agreed to got to the ball with him; and her touch - oh! How he longed to pull her to him like he had when they had danced, to hold her close and relish in the feeling of her, breathe in her scent of fresh grass, peppermint and honey, and just protect her, for always, for when they had touched - oh, it had been glorious -
He lifted his head, breathing heavily, for the realisation had hit him, struck him harder than lightning, for it was true what his sisters had said. He was in love with Kiara! How had he not seen it before? But then again, she did see them as friends, this he knew. They were fourteen, so there was plenty of time for him to get Kiara to see him - really see him - the way he saw her, but that would take time, this Chris knew. Besides, there was also the matter of Khan Chan -
As he thought about Khan, his chest tightened and a flash of anger coursed through his veins as jealousy took hold of him, sunk her fangs deep into him and wouldn't let go. What did Khan have that he hadn't? Chris wondered. Sure, Khan was handsome enough and was popular, but did he know Kiara the way he knew her? He hadn't even been on the dangerous adventures they had been through. True, he, Sian and Chrissie hadn't been with Kiara every step of the way, but still, they had been with Kiara a lot further than Khan had.
Bu then Chris remembered that Khan was taking Georgia to the ball, and that gave him a small slice of relief, for he knew that as long as Khan was with Georgia, that Kiara didn't have a shot with him; but he wasn't truly happy, because whether Khan was with Georgia or not, that would not stop Kiara from liking him. But that would not stop Chris from trying to get Kiara to be his, oh no, for he was determined to get her. If she wanted to date Khan if something happened to Georgia, then that was fine. He wouldn't stand in their way, but that did not mean that he would sit back and be happy about it. No. He loved Kiara, nothing was going to change that now, and no matter how long it took, he would not be happy until Kiara was in his arms, close to his heart for always, just as in love with him as he was with her, and a love, he hoped, would keep growing until the end of their lives.
AN: Hope you enjoyed Chris' thoughts here. More to come.
