The Entrance Hall had been transformed to better suit the ball, laced with enchanted snowfall, newly home to pixies, ice sculptures, and an enormous chandelier. Quite a few students milled around the entrance of the Great Hall as the girls entered, either waiting for their dates to arrive or simply putting off going in to see everyone else dressed up.
Dani was the first to sigh in relief as she saw that the teachers had already entered the hall. Not only that, but Fleur was safely standing with the group of champions off to the side. Her date, Roger Davies, captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, was looking sickeningly pleased with himself.
"Over here!" Came a call from the girls' right.
All three of them turned to see one of the red-haired twins waving to them. They approached to see two unfamiliar faces.
"Good evening," Fred greeted in a mockingly formal tone.
He bowed low to the ground, taking Aimee's hand and kissing it with a straight face. She played along, curtsying in a manner scarily typical of Beauxbatons. She was wearing a simple pale yellow dress, her hair hanging down straight.
"Everyone meet my date, Angelina," George said as his twin straightened once more.
She smiled sweetly from next to him in her floor length silver dress. The girls nodded politely in the space left before Fred continued the introductions for his twin.
"And this is the young lad who'll be escorting the fair Daniella to the Yule Ball this evening, Seamus Finnigan."
A brown haired boy next to Ron and Harry gave a small wave. Dani smiled at him, though she cast a scathing glare in Fred's direction for the use of her full name. He only grinned back at her, ever pleased to have bothered someone.
"Um…" Aimee spoke up, "Hate to be rude and all, but what's happened to your robes?"
She nodded toward Ron and giggled. His dress robes appeared to be made out of some sort of shabby antique curtain material, complete with frilled sleeves and a rather pathetic-looking bonnet.
The crowd standing around him laughed as Ron's face turned red. In support for his friend, Harry managed to stifle his own laughter and look towards the floor.
Ron mumbled something along the lines of, "hand me downs…..bloody….ridiculous…Aunt Tessie" among the laughter.
Though Dani next to her was on the brink of tears from laughing so hard, Lynn gave Ron a sympathetic look.
"Here, I can fix it up a bit," she said.
Ron had no objections to help, as he failed to see how his current situation could get any worse. Taking her wand from the purse Dani held loosely in her arms, Lynn eyed the fringy sleeves. She muttered something under her breath and pointed her wand at one of them.
In a flash, the odd frills swirled up into nothingness, and the tight ends of the sleeve were released so it hung loosely by his side.
"Whoa…" Ron gasped.
Lynn smiled slightly, and did the same with the other sleeve. She pointed her wand at each area of distasteful fringe in turn, ridding the garment of all frills and odd-looking ends.
"There," She said finally, handing her wand back to a sobered Dani, "It's the best I can do."
"Thank you," Ron said squeakily in gratitude, inspecting his now frill-free dress robes.
Fred and George looked deeply disappointed at the loss of something to taunt their dear brother about. Aimee had a sour look on her face as well. They all quickly recovered as Professor McGonagall came round shooing everyone into the Great Hall.
"Shall we?" George asked a blushing Angelina, offering out his arm.
She nodded, and the two of them continued on into the Great Hall, George looking very pleased with himself.
Aimee rolled her eyes at George's antics, and Fred lifted his nose a full five inches into the air to rival his twin's.
"Milady, it appears that our awe inspiring presence has been requested elsewhere," He said snootily to Aimee.
She nodded and took his arm. The students nearby shot bewildered looks as the two of them began waltzing haughtily through the great oak doors.
"I suppose we should go meet Parvati and Padma then," Harry said.
He nudged Ron next to him, who seemed still in awe of his robes.
"What? Oh…yeah, sure," He conceded.
"We'll see you inside then," Harry said, nodding at the remaining group and walking off to find his date.
The only remaining souls of the group were Dani, Seamus, Lynn, and Oliver, who had stayed silent since the girls had arrived. There was an awkward silence for a few moments, as Oliver was frozen staring at Lynn and Lynn was busy avoiding his eyes. Seamus and Dani, as unfamiliar as they were with each other, exchanged knowing looks.
"Uh…we're just going to be going in now," Dani said, catching Lynn's eye and giving her a meaningful look.
She grabbed Seamus' hand and slipped away before the older girl could protest, her light blue dress disappearing in the sea of entering students, and Lynn gaping hopelessly after her. The crowd of people surrounding them was slowly thinning, and Lynn glanced over at the staircase as a last resort.
Thankfully, she caught sight of Hermione slowly descending the stairs. She looked amazing, her hair in a curling up-do, and her magenta and pink dress swirling gracefully with every step.
"She looks beautiful," Lynn said quietly.
There was a beat in which she didn't notice him swallow before responding.
"So do you."
Lynn tried self-consciously not to look too pleased, and looked down instead at her dress.
She was wearing a pale lavender dress with thin straps and a sloping back, and Dani had insisted upon her wearing silver heels and small earrings. It was only after a long argument over what Madame Maxime would punish her with that her long golden hair was left down. It fell in slightly curly waves nearly down to her waist, although some of it was swept off to one side of her face.
"Everyone please gather into the Great Hall!" came the harried call of Professor McGonagall.
The older witch was dressed in fine deep green dress robes, and was rushing about the entrance hall gathering the last few lingering students. Lynn and Oliver were herded into the decorated hall along with everyone else, and ended up just alongside the edge of the cleared dance floor.
The trumpets sounded only moments after they had settled into place, sparing Lynn any hasty moments of awkwardness. The champions entered among the fanfare, walking straight down the aisle and onto the dance floor. First came Fleur and Roger Davies, Fleur in all her fairy princess splendor. Next was Viktor Krum, with a beaming but beautiful Hermione at his arm. She smiled nervously at Lynn as they entered the dance floor, and Lynn smiled back reassuringly. Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory came next, and then finally Harry and Parvati Patil. The champions began dancing in a flurry of violins and graceful dancing arms.
Sometime between Igor Karkaroff and Professor Sinistra and Neville and Ginny, Oliver took Lynn's hand and led her gently onto the floor. Under any normal circumstance, she would have protested, but she hadn't truly noticed what was happening until they were already in place and beginning the next counts of music.
Lynn glancing nervously at Maxime as she was spun around in prerequisite to the dance, but the towering headmistress seemed preoccupied, and hadn't noticed the girl. As she was spun back around to face her partner, Oliver caught her eye.
Don't worry about it, he mouthed, obviously having caught her glance.
His stare and sure hands as they moved across the floor were reassuring, brown eyes at once quelling the uneasiness in her stomach and making it ten times worse. She glanced nervously again towards the staff. This time though, it wasn't Madame Maxime that caught her eye, and she ended up looked straight toward the bright blue eyes of Professor Dumbledore. There was a kind twinkle in his eye…which made Lynn wonder if he knew more than it seemed.
The wizard rock band that played after the orchestra was obviously aimed toward the interests of the students themselves, and not necessarily catered to the traditionalists of the schools. While many were in severe need of this refreshing change from the endless performances of classical music, it could give one a splitting headache after a while…and after over an hour of the loud music and endless movement, Dani's head was fit to explode.
"You ok?" Seamus asked, shouting to be heard over the continuously blasting song.
"Yeah," said Dani, "My head just hurts, I'm gonna sit down for a second."
She elbowed her way out of the crowd and wandered toward the sparsely occupied tables set up beyond the dance floor. Taking a seat, she sat back and rubbed her temple with one hand. Hearing a grunt, she opened her eyes to see Seamus take the seat opposite her.
"You didn't have to follow me, you know," she said.
Seamus shrugged, looking back at the dance floor.
"I'm getting bloody trampled in there," he said.
Dani laughed, partially at the fact that the point of the concert indeed seemed to be getting trampled, and partially at Seamus' incapability to say a single sentence clearly.
"What're you laughing at?" he asked.
"Whu'err you laffin' ah?" Dani quipped back at him, mocking his thick manner of speech.
Seamus rolled his eyes and looked off in the distance, the very tips of his ears turning red. Dani was still laughing, but calmed herself enough to remember that concept of sensitivity Lynn had tried so hard to educate her about.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," She managed, gasping.
Seamus shook his head, but looked her in the eye again.
"Come on, let's get out of here," he said, casting one last shrugging glance at the performing band before standing up.
"Thank you," Dani said, standing up as well.
They made their way out of the crowded room into the less populated corridor, Seamus waving to a few school friends on their way out. Dani didn't look back, knowing Aimee was probably still in there, and figuring Lynn was well off as long as she stuck by Oliver. She grasped Seamus' hand as he led them both off into the unexplored depths of the castle.
Lynn exited the Great Hall laughing, hair messy and eyes aglow. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone so long without checking herself or scanning the room for Madame or an authority figure. Her right arm was tucked into the crook of Oliver's, and she felt braver now that she wasn't fumbling over her nerves at his touch.
As they came within sight of the stairs though, Lynn's smile faded. Hermione sat alone on the cold steps of the grand staircase, rubbing her blistered feet and still in heels.
"Oh Merlin," Lynn whispered.
Oliver stopped walking, and followed her gaze.
"Do you mind if—" Lynn started.
"Go ahead," he said immediately.
Their eyes met briefly as she squeezed his arm in gratitude and she was suddenly gripped with the desire to stay in that position. Instead, she rushed over to Hermione, now alarmed on multiple levels.
"Hermione, what happened?" She said, kneeling to the ground.
Hermione looked up miserably, tears down her cheeks. A lock of her carefully done hair stuck to her wet face, and she raised a trembling hand to remove it.
"Ro-Ron, he—hic—Ro-o-on…" She hiccupped herself into silence, jaw trembling from the effort.
Lynn wrapped her arms around the shaking girl and rubbed her back soothingly, as she'd had to do many times before during Dani's more hysterical episodes.
"Don't listen to anything Ron says, he can't know what he's talking about," Lynn said in a soft voice, "couldn't get his own date, could he?"
Hermione drew a breath in sharply and made a loud noise that may have passed for laughing, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards. She sat up and wiped her eyes as Oliver joined them at the steps. He stood beside Lynn for a moment and smiled at Hermione, though he looked uneasy.
There was a moment of silence among the three.
"I'll go get us drinks," Oliver said quietly.
When the two girls nodded at him, he turned to enter the dining area. Though she'd stopped crying, Hermione's face remained grubby-looking from the tears. Lynn wiped a streak of mascara from her cheek softly and Hermione smiled at her, suddenly happy to change the subject.
"You like him, don't you?" she said, nodding toward the corner where Oliver had disappeared.
If it had been anyone besides Hermione, Lynn may well have thought that this question had only just entered the girl's mind. After all, they'd studied together in the library on plenty of occasions, and the subject of Oliver had never before been mentioned. However, Hermione was most definitely observant enough to see things as they were, a trait lacking among many of the Beauxbatons students.
Lynn realized only after a moment that her mouth had dropped open slightly. She closed it and fixed Hermione with a thoughtful stare.
Instead of answering, she said, "You should take off your shoes before your feet are rubbed raw."
Hermione removed the heels as she was told, but her eyes never dropped from seeking out Lynn's. She did not seem fooled.
Luckily for Lynn, she was saved from answering by Oliver.
"Here you are," he said politely, handing the two of them drinks.
They thanked him and sipped quietly for a few moments.
"So how is the year without Quidditch?" Hermione asked, effectively breaking the silence.
Oliver looked relieved, as though he hadn't been sure whether the situation was appropriately for conversation.
"Dreadful," he answered, though his tone didn't match his response.
Talk turned to Quidditch Cups of the past, a subject in which Lynn felt hopelessly naïve. She sat patiently on the step as Hermione and Oliver talked, tracing the outlines of the stones with one finger and gazing around the hall at the remaining students.
When at she did look up, she caught a smirk on Hermione's face, and though she should have questioned it, let the innocuous expression that returned within moments fool her instead. Moments later, Hermione yawned widely and got to her feet.
"Thank you for keeping me company," she said, "but I think I'll just be off to bed."
Before either of them could respond, Oliver and Lynn were left watching Hermione disappear up the steps. Realization dawned on Lynn and she scowled lightly.
First Dani, now Hermione…