Hello little readers, I hope you're enjoying this story as much I'm enjoying writing it. I'm afraid I made a tiny, little, meaningless huge mistake at the end of this last chapter, and it was going to be a bit difficult to solve it in the future, so I've decided to edit it. My apologies, but I promise things are going to make sense in the next chapters. So long!

ooooo

Chapter 12

Teenage Spirit

The little defenceless potions book drew and arc as it flew above the beds and landed pathetically on the ground, it's pages wrinkling from the weigh, and it wasn't long before a shoe followed, but this one hitting a bedpost, effectively halting its flight across the room.

"Stop" Abril said without much conviction, being the fifth time she had said it in the past hour, "And you said I was a drama queen"

Lorena, ignoring her, grabbed the nearest thing she had, a brush, and with a roar she threw it in the direction the other things had went. With a huff, she threw herself on the bed next to Abril and squeezed a pillow over her face.

"Kill me now for I want to live no longer" she said, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"I promise I will but only after you do my makeup" Abril said, standing up and impatiently wandering her friend's dorm.

Lorena sit up with a miserable expression on her face.

"Why couldn't the bloody idiot ask me before?" she said, "Why did he wait until today? Until only hours left!"

"Well, you know now how I feel about not going with Cedric" Abril said gloomily. At last, she stumped her foot and grabbed her friend's hand, finally pulling her to her feet.

"Ok, that's it. George is and idiot for asking you just as you were coming up to prepare for the ball. So what? You're still going with Harry so you'd better start dressing up if you want us to be on time" Abril told Lorena, shaking her a little.

Still, Lorena sulked.

"Or what?" Abril told her with a smirk, "You don't want to use your new backless dress?"

At this, Lorena perked up.

"Hell, yeah! That dude won't even start to imagine what he lost!" she answered, then hurriedly went into the bathroom to get into the dress she had bought. It was dark orange, it's length reached her ankles and was, as Abril had said, backless, tied by the neck with a light chain than hung on her back, with beautiful folds that fell on the back from her waist down.

As Abril waited, she admired herself on the full-length mirror that hung from the wall. Her dress was a turquoise colour, empire style, with a deep, pleated V cleavage, and an equally pleated band below her chest. Stones sparkled on her shoulders and on the wide opening where one of her legs peeked out.

When Lorena came out of the bathroom, she did hers and Abril's makeup and after putting on jewellery and shoes, the girls finally went out fifteen minutes before eight.

As they approached the entrance to the Great Hall, they could hear excited chatter as hundreds of students talked with their friends. All the girls were in their best gowns, showing off their jewellery and waving their hair. Boys fixed their robes' flaps and eyed the girls as they passed by.

"I really, really don't want to go with him," Abril said as she and Lorena looked for their dates.

"Quit whining, it was this or not coming at all" Lorena told her just as she spotted Harry and Ron near the door, McGonagall speaking to Harry as his face paled.

"Between him and coming alone, I would have picked option two" Abril said as she eyed Ron, "At least he could have combed his hair or maybe put on a nice cologne"

Ron headed her way, his blushed face covered with his hair.

"I tried to cut the lace a bit from the sleeves," he said as greeting and then scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "You look pretty"

Abril made a face.

"Thanks" she then turned to Harry, who was standing next to Ron, "You're going to open the ball, right?"

"Yeah, I just found out now," Harry said miserably, then looked around him, "Is Lorena coming down soon?"

Abril frowned, then looked behind her and was surprised to see she was alone and Lorena was nowhere to be seen.

"What the…?"

oooooo

"Sorry!" Lorena said as she ran into a group of Beauxbatons girls, making them yelp and fall into a mess of arms, legs and fabric.

She sharply turned a corner and ran as fast as she could, almost crashing against Hermione.

She called her name, but Lorena was running again.

"You look ravishing! Krum's going to drool for you!" she managed to yell at her before she flew up a staircase.

On her hurry to arrive to her room she crashed against a sofa, a table and some bookshelves, but finally managed to get to her dorm and dashed at the trunk that lay at the foot of her bed. She hastily threw her belongings into the air, searching, until finally with a cry of triumph she found what she was looking for. She quickly took one out and the put it back on the trunk, then turned to leave, but on second thought, she retrieved a second one and made her way back to the Great Hall. As Lorena rushed across the halls with the two objects she had retrieved clutched firmly in her hand, she stumbled upon Ron's figure coming out of the restroom and thanked her good fortune as she ran towards him.

"…Bloody lace with its bloody ruffs," Ron cursed as he tried to fix his collar.

"Ron!" Lorena called, resting her elbow on his shoulder as she reached him, "I was…looking for you"

Ron looked at her in surprise while she struggled for air.

"Me? But,"

"No time. Eat this." Lorena interrupted him and shoved the things into his hand.

With a frown, he asked, "What…"

"Please, trust me Ron, You want to eat those" she tried to convince him, "You want to impress the ladies, don't you?"

Ron looked down significantly at his robes, and then looked up at her like she had gone mad.

Lorena winced, "The attitude is what counts. Now please. I promise you won't regret it"

At her pleading eyes, Ron sighed and stared at his closed hand.

"Fine. It can't be that bad, " Next, he shoved them into his mouth and chewed, "Hmm, they're quipe goob!"

Lorena smiled widely at him, "You won't regret it"

In that moment, they heard music starting to play, and Lorena turned to Ron with a panicked look.

"I'm late!" she yelled, then dashed in the direction of the ball.

oooooo

"Where is she?" Harry mumbled desperately as he nervously played with the hem of his shirt. All the other champions already stood to enter the Great Hall. When Harry had seen Cho with Cedric, his stomach had flipped painfully, and turned around quickly not to stare at her. What was his surprise then at seeing Hermione in a beautiful blue gown with her hair in a nice bun and grabbing Viktor Krum's arm.

In that moment, Hermione was giving him a significant look, but Harry shook his head miserably. Everyone would laugh at him when they saw him entering alone. He wouldn't have anyone to open the Yule Ball with, and as professor McGonagall signalled them to follow her, he gave a last hopeful look behind him, but there was no sign of Lorena.

As the doors opened, Fleur Delacour, from the arm of a dazzled Roger Davis, were the first ones to enter, followed by Cedric and Cho, Krum and Hermione, who waved nervously at the people who clapped, and then, to his utter shame, Harry stepped in, completely alone.

He placed himself on the dance floor as the others did, but felt incredible stupid without a partner in front him. The director of the orchestra pulled out his baton and asked the attention of everyone. He rose the baton and the musicians placed their instruments.

I should just leave right now and not make myself look like a fool. How am I supposed to dance without… just as he had taken a step back, and the first note of the waltz started to play, he saw a blur of orange fabric as two hands grabbed him tightly and before he knew what was happening, he was making circles around the floor along with the other couples as the music played. In his arms, Lorena guided him as he desperately tried not fall, screw up with her skirt or step on her foot.

Abril watched amused as his friends desperately tried to get through the opening dance, but her smile faded a bit as her gaze drifted to another couple. Cedric danced gracefully with his arm around Cho Chang's waist, who, in Abril's opinion, was too close to Cedric to be considered decent.

"She's not even that pretty" Abril fumed just as the most delicious smell of cologne filled her nose.

"Who is?" said then the sexiest voice she had ever heard next to her.

Abril turned quickly to look for the guy that had a voice like the gods, only to find Ron standing next to her looking awkward with his ugly robes. Abril frowned and tried looking over his shoulder.

"Who are you looking for?" Ron asked a bit affronted, but got startled when Abril jerked her head at him.

"How…?" she asked dumbfounded. It couldn't be possible that the voice had come from Ron. And that smell! She thought she could pounce at whoever smelled liked that. But Ron?

He blinked and looked at her strangely, but then noticed her dress's cleavage and blushed.

"Did I already tell you how pretty you look tonight?"

Goosebumps ran through her spine when she heard his voice again, but only to think it was Ron made her quickly restrain herself.

"Yeah, thanks. Hey Ron, your voice sounds…different" Like a drop of gold falling into a…stop! Abril crushed the unwanted thought with shake of her head and turned her attention to him.

"It does?" he asked, then frowned.

"I just told him it does, idiot" Abril thought, but cleared her throat instead, "You put on a very nice cologne, too"

At this, Ron definitely looked taken aback.

"I didn't put any. Hell, I don't even think I own one"

Abril stared at him, "But…then… how,"

How was it possible? His voice could have made any girl go mad for him, and that wonderful smell! Maybe he had put a charm on himself after she arrived? He had left for the bathroom a moment before everyone had entered the Great Hall. Was it then when he…? Then and idea occurred to her.

"Did you, by any chance, eat something before coming here?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah, some chocolates that Lorena gave me…" he started saying but halted when Abril howled.

"Oh, I'm going to KILL HER!" Abril shrieked as she stomped away from Ron, "and she better not have taken them from my box…" was the last thing he heard before she disappeared into the crowd.

Ron, now left alone in the middle of everyone, just blinked, confused. "Girls are weird", was the one thought on his mind.

oooooo

As the music continued, Harry and Lorena did everything they could to follow the song and look like a charming couple along with the other champions. Finally the last notes sounded and the music faded. Everyone clapped and Harry gave a sigh of relief.

"Well, that wasn't so bad" Lorena said turning to fix the back of her skirt. When she turned around, she found Harry's face beet-red.

"Harry?"

Harry pulled a bit at his bowtie, then cleared his throat, "Your dress…is backless. I hadn't notice"

"Well, you put your hand in my back through the whole song, so that means you were more nervous about dancing than I thought" she joked, then bumped his shoulder, "C'mon, let's go find Ron and Abril"

When they left the dance floor, more people were already entering it as another song, quicker than the first one, started playing, and everyone began jumping and dancing to the beat, flashing lights dancing over them.

As the night went on, everyone now danced with everyone, some shoes had been tossed to one side and every table was empty of people. Except for Harry and Ron.

Although reluctant at first, Lorena had let Abril dragged her to dance, and she had to admit it wasn't as terrible as she thought. Especially considering all the guys' looks they received.

She saw Violet and Emma dancing nearby, showing off their gowns as they danced with the partners.

When Lorena asked laughing at Abril if she had enjoyed so far the evening with her partner, Abril just huffed and said one dance with him was enough after he had stepped on her foot most part of the song, and then with a whip of her hair, said she was going for something to eat, leaving Lorena to wonder across the hall.

She decided to rest for a bit and took a seat near the teachers' table, looking at the happy dancing teenagers in front of her. In that moment, Lorena saw Hermione stomping out through the great doors, followed by Ron. Hermione suddenly turned around started waving her arms in his direction, tears falling from her eyes. Ron had stopped abruptly but glared at Hermione and pointed an accusing finger at her. At last, Hermione raised her arms and left through the doors, with Ron huffing and leaving in the opposite direction a moment later. Lorena frowned at the scene, then turned the look for Abril, finding her near a table and helping herself with some appetizers, apparently oblivious to her dancing partner's fight with Hermione. Lorena then kept gazing at the dancing bodies and laughing students until she spotted Cedric Diggory dancing with Cho, who seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. On the contrary, Cedric looked tense, and his smile seemed too strained to be real. When the song ended, and Cedric left Cho to go for something to drink, Lorena nodded and stood up, heading his way.

Cedric drank slowly from his cup, looking at the ground so he didn't notice Lorena approaching until she punched him in the arm, spilling some of his drink.

"Hey, what…" Cedric started to say as he turned around, but at Lorena's glare, he closed his mouth.

"You know, for being the smartest student in your class, you can be very stupid sometimes," she scolded him as greeting.

Cedric gulped, "I…my friends…"

"I hope you're enjoying yourself," Lorena told him accusingly, "seeing as you'd do whatever your friends told you to, even if that means inviting someone you don't like. It's not fair for her either."

Cedric glanced at the ground and sighed.

"I know, but…Cho looked so hopeful I would invite her…"

"Hopeful?" Lorena screeched, "And what's Abril? A painting on the wall?"

"No, of course not!" Cedric said widening his eyes, "I didn't mean it like that! I really do like her,"

At this, Lorena stopped to stare at him. His hair had dishevelled and he had a pained expression on his face.

She narrowed her eyes but nodded, "All right. Despite this, I do think you're a good person, Cedric"

She then took a step next to him and made a motion for him to turn his head to where Abril stood across the Great Hall.

"Here's your chance to redeem yourself and play Prince Charming" she told him, then pushed him in Abril's direction.

"Prince what?" he managed to ask, but a moment after he had disappeared between the crowd.

Lorena smiled widely when she saw Cedric reaching Abril and hesitantly brushed her elbow, to which Abril turned around to face him. Lorena nodded approvingly and then turned around, her smile immediately disappearing when she saw Cho eyeing the crowd, a cup on her hand. Lorena huffed, feeling a bit guilty now that she had left Cho without her partner, but in that moment, a hand on her shoulder distracted her.

"Hey," Harry said when she turned around.

"Hi" Lorena told him, "What's up?"

Harry shrugged, "Not much. Food is quite nice and I think the opening dance was enough for tonight," he said with a smile.

Lorena smiled back, and then her smile grew, "You look very handsome tonight, you know that?"

Harry turned red and mumbled something incoercible. Lorena laughed but gasped when an idea occurred to her.

"But you wouldn't mind dancing one more song with Cho, would you?" Lorena asked him, taking him by the shoulders and turning him around so he would see Cho.

"I…" Harry tried to say, his blush deepening but Lorena wouldn't hear about it.

"C'mon on, she's alone! Now's your chance to woo her!" Lorena said as he pushed him in her direction just as she had done a moment before with Cedric.

Before Harry could say anything, Lorena pushed him once more and he stumbled forwards, then gained his footing and nervously turned his head to see Lorena encouraging him with thumbs up as he made his way to his crush.

"Who would have thought after tonight I would become matchmaker" Lorena thought proudly, but then sighed, "If only I could help myself"

"This. This is absolutely outrageous" suddenly a male voice said behind her and before she could do anything, two strong arms surrounded her, "How is it possible a girl as yourself, with such a dress, I might add, is here all alone"

Lorena laughed, and turned to look at George, who smiled at her.

"That's exactly what I was wondering a moment ago. Good thing a guy such as yourself came to keep me company"

George's smile widened and he turned her around.

"Modesty aside, I am the perfect company. I hope your dance partner is okay with it"

Lorena waved her hand dismissively, "I bet Harry won't mind at all"

"Shall we, then?" George asked and Lorena couldn't do anything but smile as he guided them to the dance floor.

oooooo

"Abril," Cedric said softly as a greeting when Abril had turned to look at him.

"Hi" she answered, though keeping her gaze away from him.

Cedric cleared his throat, "You look beautiful tonight,"

"Thank you" Abril said curtly, still not looking at him.

Cedric, sensing this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it'd be, sighed.

"I'm sorry" he told her, and when Abril opened her mouth to retort, he stopped her, "Please, let me finish"

At last, Abril slowly looked up at him, and Cedric took a deep breath.

"I have been a complete idiot this past days," he started, "I shouldn't have given in to the pressure of my friends and I should have invited you the first chance I got. It wasn't fair for any of us…or for Cho," Cedric took Abril's hands in his and looked at her with pleading eyes, "It was the wrong choice, but I hope it's clear enough that the girl I really like is you"

At this declaration, Abril's heart started pounding quickly.

"Really?" she asked, still unsure.

Cedric smiled widely at her, and instead of answering, he pulled her close and crashed his lips to hers. The kiss made Abril's brain shut down and millions of stars exploded from behind her eyelids as she surrounded his neck with her arms enthusiastically.

When they finally parted, they were both breathing heavily but had a wide smile on their faces.

"Now," Cedric told her with a kiss on her cheek, "Would you grant me this dance?"

She didn't have to be asked twice. Abril laughed happily as she pulled Cedric to the dance floor, not caring about anything else but how perfect she looked in her dress, how perfect the music was and most importantly, how perfect the boy in front of her was.

oooooo

"Oh no," Lorena said then, stopping to see over George's shoulder at Abril and Cedric's enthusiastic kiss.

"What is it?" George asked her, then turning around to look, "Wow! Seems like Diggory invited the wrong girl"

He laughed, but stopped when he noticed Lorena's worried look.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked with a frown.

Lorena was about to tell him when Fred appeared next to his brother and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry for interrupting, Georgie, but we've got something important to attend to," he said, then his face grew serious as he pointed towards somewhere near them and lowered his voice, "We better talk to him now"

George looked to where Fred had indicated and nodded, his mouth turning into a thin line.

"Fine" he said, and then turned to a confused Lorena with an apologetic smile, "I'm afraid duty is calling, my lady"

He bowed and kissed her hand, then turned and left hastily with his brother.

oooooo

"…It was absolutely hilarious, I'm telling you," professor Flitwick was telling a laughing Bagman, as he slowly swayed to one side, an empty cup on his little hand.

"I would have killed to see the face of that old toad in that moment" Bagman told him as he slapped his back, making the little professor tumble forward, "Oh, Filius, how silly of me, are you okay?"

They both laughed together, but Bagman suddenly stopped when he saw Fred and George approaching in the distance.

"I think I'm going to walk around. See you…"he said, turning to leave.

But Flitwick grabbed his robe tightly, preventing him to flee, "But Ludo, I haven't told you the best part!"

"You can…"

"Hello, Mr Bagman" both twins said in unison as they reached them. Fred took Bagman's shoulder as George ushered Flitwick towards the other teachers, "A word if you please, sir?" Fred asked.

Bagman smiled nervously, "Boys, I'm a bit busy at the moment…"

"I'm sure professor Flitwick can find someone else to tell them his hilarious story" George said, appearing on the other side of Bagman.

Bagman gave a strangled laugh, but followed them nonetheless. They left the inside of the Great Hall and reached a lit corridor near the entrance.

"We were wondering if you had read the letter we sent you a few months ago, sir?" Fred started, crossing his arms casually.

"About the false leprechaun money you gave us as payment of the bet we won at the World Cup, which, of course, we know it was a simple mistake" George said, leaning against the stone wall.

Bagman noticed the position the twins had taken and smiled to hide his nervousness.

"You two have to forgive me if I've been too busy this past months with the Cup and now with the Tournament. I'm sure if we talk about this calmly…"

"But we are talking calmly now, Mr Bagman." Fred interrupted him, "All that we're asking is that you give us the money you owe us"

At this, Bagman frowned and his friendly, though false smile disappeared, "Now boys, you have to understand that a little bet such as that is in the bottom of the list of things I have to worry about now…"

"We understand perfectly, sir, that's why we want to take this one little concern off your shoulders as soon as possible," George told him, "You do remember we're trying to go public about our inventions, right? If we want to sell things such as Canary Creams, Instant Darkness powder or fake wands, we need a bit of capital to start with."

Bagman huffed and took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

"Yes, yes I do remember, and I'm afraid I also remember how I loved those wonderful fake wands of yours, but I don't think I've heard of those canary creams and that powder", he said, a bright smile returning to his face.

Fred was about to say something but George stopped him and shook his head.

"Canary Creams are our newest invention," George answered after giving his brother a significant look, "We're still testing them. The Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder is a dark smoke useful if you want to distract someone or make a quick escape. Quite effective, really"

At this, Bagman smiled a bit too widely, making Fred and George suddenly uneasy.

"Say, Alastor was telling me the other day a funny story about a prank they pulled on him involving a dark smoke. Was that your work?"

George frowned, "We haven't done anything to professor Moody," then shrugged, "Though we did trade some with a couple of friends. Said they wanted to make a whole staircase disappear or something."

"Is that so?" he asked, his smile widening even more.

Fred then intervened, "Yes, but, Mr Bagman…"

"Ah, Harry! How good to see you!" Bagman suddenly exclaimed as if seeing Harry was the best thing that could have happened to him. He waved at him, who had just left the Great Hall with Ron and before any of the twins could stop him, Bagman was walking away.

"We can talk about this any other day boys, enjoy the evening! Harry, my boy, how you've been!…"

Harry tried to escape, but Bagman patted his back and grabbed his shoulder with an iron grip. With a last pleading look at Ron and the twins, Harry left with Bagman.

Fred grunted.

"Don't worry, he's going to be around all year" George tried to tell him, but Fred only shook his head as both twins turned to leave.

"There's something suspicious about all of this, George, I just know it"

George wanted to laugh at the absurd serious tone of his brother, but to his dismay, he was afraid he felt the same.