Thanks for the reviews TheSimpleFrenchLady, brelee24, sassiecassie218, LoneWolfPack, BatFamilyFan01, JPJacksAniBrony, and QuillMist9674. To brelee24, Apollo should be taken, but the only teacher that knows about him is Sev and he's not helping with the tournament. Plus, Apollo is a god so it would be pretty hard for the wizards to get to him since they can't get onto Olympus. Percy was the person who was taken. Nina and Neville go to the ball together, and there's a little bit of Nina and Apollo romance. Can you guys think of a couple name for Nina and Apollo? If you can, post it in a review and I'll tell you guys m favorite. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Fifty: Yule Ball and Mermaids

In the common room, Harry and I opened our eggs at the same time. A screeching sound filled the common room and everyone except me covered their ears. I knew this language. It was mermish. I quickly shut it once I had heard the whole song.

Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour-the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.

"Well, I'm tired everyone. See you in the morning!" I shouted over everyone. Lav and Vati quickly followed me up. I told my friends what the egg had said. Vati said she had heard about there being mermaids in the Black Lake. This was good, I didn't need to train for this one because I'm already an accomplished Water Mage. Although, it is kinda unfair to the other champions. It's not my fault someone put my name in the goblet though!

The Yule Ball was coming up very quickly and a lot of guys asked me. I said no to all of them. I didn't even know most of them. I was really shocked when Viktor Krum asked me out. I said no. I don't know how jealous Apollo gets and I really don't want to find out. He may never let me leave New York again! Okay, that was a little dramatic. I felt like I would be betraying Apollo if I went to the ball on a date. Plus, I love him and those guys looked like they meant they wanted to start a relationship instead of just going on a date to the ball. Even Ron asked me out!

What shocked me the most, is when Harry asked me out. "Hey, Nina?" he asked as he cornered me on my way back from a particularly challenging Divination lesson. "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me, on a date? And then, maybe we could go to Hogsmeade together after that?"

You know, I'm pretty sure I told Harry I have a boyfriend just like I told every other guy that's asked me out. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I have a boyfriend."

"So no to Hogsmeade, then, but is that a yes to the Yule Ball? C'mon, Nina, it'll be great, just the two of us dancing, and maybe a little kissing."

I was about ready to slap that boy, Boy-Who-Lived or not. "What don't you understand about I have a boyfriend, Potter?" I snarled. "The answer is no and it will stay no!" I tried to get around him, but he kept me backed in the corner. I looked around but no one was coming to my aid (not that there was anyone over here to begin with). I stepped on Harry's foot really hard, thank Aphrodite I borrowed Lav's stilettos. Harry doubled over in pain and I marched away.

On my way towards the Great Hall, I bumped into Neville. He steadied me and helped me pick up the books I dropped. "Sorry, Nina." Neville seemed really happy.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, you remember that conversation we had about food the night the other schools got here?" he asked. I nodded my head. We had been talking about why there weren't any American foods in Hogwarts. "Well, I talked to Professor Dumbledore, and he agreed. He's brought American food to Hogwarts!" I looked up at Neville's grinning face, my eyes wide with shock.

"You're joking," I said. He shook his head, still grinning. I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. "You're the best, Nev!"

"Yeah, um, Nina, if you aren't going with anyone else, would you mind going to the ball with me, just as friends of course. I love you and all, but not that much."

This was perfect, Nev was one of my closest friends! He had asked me to go as friends so I wouldn't be betraying my boyfriend. Yeah, Apollo is my boyfriend. I like the sound of that. "Sure, Nev, I'd love too. I have a boyfriend anyway, I've been waiting for someone to ask me to go as just friends. Now c'mon, I hope the house-elves made pizza.

I wasn't disappointed. There was pizza, hamburgers, french fries, meatloaf, fried chicken, homemade corn dogs, corn on the cob, and even grilled cheese. I took a little of everything. It was all delicious. When dessert came around, there were waffles with ice cream on them, NY cheesecake, apple pie, and peach cobbler. It was amazing. Everyone except Nev, Vati, Lav, me, and shockingly Luna were skeptical of eating the new foods until they saw the five of us and the teachers eating it. It was so good to eat American again. Maybe next time they'll have Americanized Chinese food.

The Yule Ball was tonight. Lav and Vati helped me get in my dress. Seamus was going with Lav and Vati was going with Harry. She had said yes to him before she found out what happened between him and me and now couldn't get out of it. I told her at least she wasn't Padma, who was going with Ron. I wonder why Padma's even going at all, she had said she wanted to become a Hunter of Artemis. Maybe because her dad went through all the trouble of buying her a dress.

Vati was wearing a pale yellow dress that matched her skin tone perfectly. Lav's bright orange gown highlighted her pale skin nicely. My deep purple gown made my eyes pop when I added the silver eyeshadow. I was right, the necklace Tyson gave me did match perfectly. Lav even managed to convince me to where a pair of dangerously high silver stilettos. Well, they weren't really that high, I just have a lot of trouble walking in heels so anything above two inches is dangerously high for me.

Everyone stared at us as we walked downstairs and I blushed at all the attention. Harry especially seemed to be ogling me so I gave him my best death glare. Vati gave him a look of distaste as she stood next to him. She quickly did some last minute fixes to his attire. Lav left to go find Seamus. I quickly found Nev. He looked pretty good in his dress robes, but he had nothing on Apollo.

When everyone who wasn't a champion or the date of a champion was inside, the champions walked in. Fleur had gone with a Ravenclaw named Roger Davies. There was still something about that girl that didn't seem right to me. She knew how to use her veela allure and use it she did. Roger looked like if she asked him to do anything, even jump off Mt. Olympus, he would do it. Cedric had come with Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker. She looked nice in her traditional Chinese dress. Viktor had come with Hermione. Does he have a thing for ridiculously smart Gryffindor first years or something? We walked up to the head table and sat with the judges. Percy Weasley was filling in for Mr. Crouch, who felt ill.

Dumbledore said something to his plate and the food he'd ordered appeared. I ordered penne with a bolognese sauce, being in the mood for Italian. I got a Sprite to drink. Oh, how I missed you, sweet, caffeinated soda. Nev got some Polish dish I had never heard of. For dessert I got a warm sfogliatelle. Once you've had a warm sfogliatelle, you'll never go back to the cold ones.

After we finished eating, the champions were to lead the dance. I hope Nev's a good dancer because I'm not. Nev took one of my hands in his and placed his other hand on my waist. I placed my free hand on Nev's shoulder and we waited for the music to start. It turns out I didn't need to worry. Nev led me through all the steps. After a few minutes, people began to join us. I noticed that Padma didn't come up to dance with Ron. Ron was too busy glaring at Hermione and Viktor. I don't see why he's mad though. He should have asked Hermione before Viktor did. When the song ended, the Weird SIsters came up and began playing a bunch of rock tunes. American muggle music is way better than them. I saw Harry sit down with Vati.

"Hey, Nev, hang on a minute. I'm going to get Vati and Padma. They look like they could use some cheering up." Neville nodded and waited for me to go get our friends.

Harry saw me coming over to them and nudged Ron. Ron smirked and whispered something in Harry's ear. When I got over there, Ron said, "I see you've changed your mind about coming with your boyfriend. I mean really, who would want to date Neville? Come to ask Harry to dance, have you?"

I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed Vati and Padma's arms. "C'mon, girls, Nev and I thought you two could use some cheering up. There are two really sweet Beauxbatons boys that I saw checking you two out." Vati and Padma giggled and followed me back to Neville. There really had been to Beauxbatons boys that kept staring at them and as soon as Vati and Padma got over to them, they asked them to dance. Neville and I high fived. I looked back to see Harry and Ron glaring at me. I gave them a cheeky smile. Lav and Seamus came over to us and started dancing with us.

When I got back up to my dorm that night (everyone else was out taking a walk) I saw a shape lying down on my bed. I opened the curtains and I saw my boyfriend reading my Potions book. He didn't seem to notice me, but I knew better. I grabbed the book and yanked it from his grasp. He turned to look at me with a slight frown. Only Artemis and I would have noticed the amusement in his eyes. He sat up and said, "I thought you were coming home for Christmas." He was pouting.

I sighed and sat down next to him. I gave him an exasperated look. "Don't you give me that look, you knew I had to go to the Ball because I'm a champion and even before that, you knew I was going to the Ball because you're the idiot who bought me the dress." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. We were just messing with each other to see who would break first.

"Well, I assumed you would be coming home right after the Ball, not messing around with your date."

"Well, if you must know, Neville is just a friend and we went to the Ball as just friends! How dare you suggest I was cheating on you!" That was all it took for Apollo to break. He started laughing and I followed a few seconds after. I was surprised, normally I'm the first one to break. He lay back down on my bed and pulled me on top of him.

"I'm just teasing you, Sparkles. Who did Lav and Vati go with?"

"Oh, Lav went with Seamus Finnegan and Vati went with Harry Potter, the poor girl."

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"For starters, I told him I was dating you, well I just said I had a boyfriend, and he still had the audacity to ask me out and flirt with me! Then, he insulted Neville along with Ronald Weasley, Padma went with him to the ball, and asked me out again in front of Vati! How idiotic can you get!"

Apollo growled. He pulled me closer to him and whispered in my ear, "You're all mine, and you're only ever going to be mine. No one else's."

I looked up at him. "Don't you know it. You're stuck with me." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Ti amo, il mio ragazzo."

"Ti amo troppo, la mia ragazza." I lifted my head and kissed him on the lips. When he pulled away he said, "May I have this dance, Sparkles?"

I giggled and stood up. He jumped up next to me and snapped his fingers. An American slow dance started playing. Apollo pulled me up against him and started to dance. I followed his lead. I don't think I'll ever get the hang of dancing. When we heard someone thundering up the stairs, Apollo kissed me quickly and disappeared in a flash of golden light. The door opened to reveal a flustered Hermione. I glared at her and sat down on my bed. She just ruined the perfect moment. Hermione seemed to be mad at the world, so I just pulled on my pajamas and went under the covers.

The next day, an article in the Daily Prophet caught my eye. It was by Rita Skeeter about Hagrid. Uh oh, this can't be good. How could she even get info on Hagrid? She was banned from Hogwarts during the first task! It told the world how Hagrid was half giant. Oh fudging well! What's it matter if Hagrid's mom was a giant. Hagrid's one of the nicest guys I know. I voiced this opinion to some younger Gryffindors who were freaking out because they had a Care of Magical Creatures lesson with him later on. I had a lesson with Hagrid today too.

When we got to Hagrid's hut, an older lady with short, gray hair was standing in front of the door. She said her name was Professor Grubbly-Plank. When I asked where Hagrid was, she told me to keep my nose out of other people's business. Dear Poseidon, I just wanted to know if my friend was alright. Once the Slytherins arrived, Grubbly-Plank led us down to where the creature was. It was a unicorn tethered to a tree. I glared at the back of the professor's head. I hated it when I saw animals from my dad's realm being tied up. It annoyed me more than the Golden trio and Malfoy combined could.

Grubbly-Plank wouldn't let the boys within 15 yds of the unicorn. How were they supposed to learn? In my opinion, she wasn't a good teacher. She kept giving wrong facts about unicorns. First of all, they don't mind being near men at all. That's like saying Artemis hates all men just because she's a virgin. Completely false, though the same can't be said for her Hunters. Also, she said that baby unicorns were golden. They aren't. They are the same colors as all unicorns. White or silver.

At the end of the day, after dinner, I went to Hagrid's hut. I blasted open the door and marched right in. He seemed rather shocked by my means of entrance. Maybe I shouldn't have blasted open a teacher's door, but I knew he wasn't going to open it for me. I sat down across from him at the table. "Hagrid, why the Hades aren't you teaching? You don't look ill to me! Is it because of that stupid article Skeeter wrote about you?" Hagrid looked down sadly. "Hagrid, you're the best Care of Magical Creatures teacher out there! Who can train a 500 pound cerberus?"

"Me," Hagrid said weakly.

"Who can tackle a fully grown hippogriff to the ground?

"Me," said Hagrid, his voice slightly stronger.

"Who can lift a fully grown blast-ended skrewt up by the tail?

"Me," said Hagrid, confidently.

"And who's going to be out there tomorrow teaching students how to wrestle a chizpurfle?"

"Me," said Hagrid, standing up and slapping his hand down on the table. "I'm gonna be out there tomorrow teachin' kids how tah wrestle a chizpurfle!"

"Good!" I exclaimed, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be doin' tha' tomorrow!"

I laughed as I shut the door. That was easier than I thought it would be. And sure enough, the next day, Grubbly-Plank was gone and Hagrid was back teaching us.

The next two months past by quickly. It was February 24th, the day of the second task. I noticed Hermione and Ron had disappeared. The thing we'll miss most is probably one of our friends. The only thing that confused me was none of my friends at Hogwarts were taken. I was kind of nervous. I was wearing a purple and yellow bikini top and a pair of denim shorts. I don't know why I was so nervous about going into the water, but I was. Cedric and Fleur were on either side of me. Fleur was in a full bikini and Cedric was in just a pair of trunks. Bagman blew his whistle and we all dove into the water.

I didn't get wet because of my hydrokinesis abilities. I heard the voices of the mermaids and started swimming towards them. They were singing the song. We were in a bunch of weeds and Grindylows came out and started swarming me. I pulled Mov from its sheath and pointed it at them. When they saw the Celestial Bronze, they quickly swam away. I kept swimming towards the voices. I swam past the giant squid as I neared the mermaid village.

When I got there, the mermaids waved at me. I swam to the center of the town where I saw five rocks. I swam up to them and saw that five people were tied to them. My brother was one of those people. He was the only hostage who was awake. He grinned at me and went back to his conversation with the guards. I rolled my eyes and removed Mov from its sheath again. I quickly slashed his binds. He waved goodbye to his mermaid friend and we swam to the surface. People were cheering as I broke the surface.

Madam Pomfrey was about to throw towels over our shoulders when she realized that both my brother and I were dry. "B-but-"

Percy was trying not to laugh at her face. I slapped him on the back of the head and said, "We're both Water Mages. If we don't want to get wet, we won't get wet." The nurse walked away, stunned. Lav and Vati ran down to us. They through sweatshirts at us and pulled me into a hug. I looked around and noticed that I was the first one up. 56 minutes had passed. Five minutes later, Cedric appeared with Cho Chang. Then came Viktor with Hermione. Last, Harry popped up with Ron and a little French girl. I'm guessing she was Fleur's hostage because Fleur had dropped out when she couldn't get passed the grindylow. Fleur got 25 points, Viktor got 40, Cedric got 47, Harry got 45, and I got 48. I was still in the lead.

Percy congratulated me and then hid behind me. A bunch of girls were coming over to check him out. I glared at them all. Percy whistled and a few minutes later, Blackjack dropped out of the sky. He and Percy had a mental argument before Perce climbed up on him. "See ya, sorellina," he smirked.

"I'm older!"

"I'm taller!" he called over his shoulder as Blackjack took off. I rolled my eyes at his retreating figure. Suddenly, I was swarmed by girls asking about my brother and his pegasus. Professor Moody noticed my predicament and cleared a path for me. I grinned my thanks and ran back up to the castle to change. I was freezing! I heard Bagman say the final task would be on June 24th. Why is it always the 24th?