I do not own…

Chapter Fifty-One: The Yule Ball

The next day Vanessa had returned to normal. So far, just like she and Hunter thought, only a few Slytherins had a problem with her being half a vampire. But they won't say anything in front of Hunter or any of his friends as he had shown his dark side when someone called her a filthy Half-Breed. He nearly killed the guy when he used his magic to choke him. Mal and Axel had to stop him from killing the guy. After that, every Slytherin knew not to say anything unless they wanted to face his wrath.

"Thank you for standing up for me. But try to refrain from killing people." Vanessa said

The two were sitting down on a log that was by the lake. Dancia was laying down next to them while Dude was playing tug-a-war with Hagrids' dog, Fang.

"He would have lived." Hunter shrugged, "No one hurts my girl. By the way, what did Krum want? He wasn't giving you a hard time, was he?"

"No. He was very kind and asked if I was okay. After talking for a bit he asked me for some advice." She said

"Advice? For what?" He said

"He has a crush on someone in Gryffindor and he's a bit shy on how to ask her out." She said

"Who?" He asked

"Hermione." She smiled

"What? Really?" He said in surprise.

"He likes really smart girls. And likes it that she doesn't fount over him because he's a famous Quidditch player and sees him like a normal person." She said

In the next Daily Prophet, Rita even wrote about Vanessa's secret side in her article and tried to make her like some kind of villain. Not to mention the so-called arranged marriage she has with Mikael and how Hunter must be heartbroken that she string him along. That news shocked both her and Hunter as she knew nothing about the arranged marriage from her father. Vanessa wrote to her father if this was true. Vlad explained that it was Einars' idea and that he was against it. After the post no one school really believed the lies about Vanessa and just saw her who she has always been.

Later in December Professor McGonagall had something to announce to her sixth years in her first class.

"The Yule Ball is approaching…a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above…although you may invite a younger student if you wish. Dress robes will be worn and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, Finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then…The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to…er…let our hair down."

Uma did her best to not laugh when she said as it was hard to imagine Professor McGonagall with hair down.

"But that does NOT mean…" Professor McGonagall continued on. "That we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Hogwart student embarrasses the school in any way."

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.

"Potter…Hades…a word, if you please." McGonagall called above the noise.

The two stayed back and walked back to the teachers' desk.

"Potter, Hades…Traditionally, the champions and their dance partners open the ball." She started

"We understand, Professor." Hunter said

"Have all the champions been told?" Vanessa asked

"Yes, all but…Mr. Potter. I will tell him when he comes to my next class." Professor McGonagall said "Later on, I will inform all the Gryffindors for some dance lessons. I was hoping, if you don't mind, Ms. Potter with the lessons."

"Don't worry, Professor, I don't mind." Vanessa said

Inside her mind she was mentlely laughing at the thought of how Harry was gonna take this. During the summer Harry was given ballroom lessons for the balls her parents hosted. He still wasn't that good as would step on his partners feet every time. Then she nearly felt bad for him as he had never asked a girl out before. So this dance might be the worst thing for him.

The next day Professor McGonagall had told Harry and the rest of the fourth years about the ball. Just like Vanessa thought Harry didn't take it well and tried to get out of it but Professor McGonagall would never allow that. It wasn't long till she called all the Gryffindors into her now empty classroom for the dance lesson. Inside all the boys were on one side of the room and all the girls were on the side while Mr. Filch was placing an old gramophone recorder player together while she explained everything.

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its inception. On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward. And I mean this literally, because the Yule Ball is, first and foremost a dance." She explained

All the girls looked excited while the boys groaned and looked miserable.

"They look like they're about to die." Vanessa whispered to Uma.

She smirked and held in her laughter.

"Silence! The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly 10 centuries. I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons." She said

"Try saying that five times fast, huh?" Fred whispered to Geroge.

"Babbling bumbling band of baboons. Bubbling bumbling…" George whispered with a grin.

"Band of baboons." Fred grinned

McGonagall had chosen to just ignore them.

"Now to dance is to let the body breathe. Inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers, longing to burst forth and take flight." She stated

"Something's about to burst out of Eloise Midgen, but I don't think it's a swan." Ron whispered to Harry and Seamus.

They all sniggered but stopped when McGonagall turned around and looked straight at Ron.

"Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance." McGonagall said "Mr. Weasley."

"Yes?" Ron said with fear.

"Will you join me, please?" She said

Hermione, Vanessa, Uma, Angelina and Katie all turned to each other with a grin and snickered. Ron shrank in his seat as every guy in the room grin sniggered. Seeing that he had no choice he got up and stood next to her.

"Now place your right hand on my waist." McGonagall instructed

"Where?" Ron asked

"My waist." McGonagall repeated

Ron's ear started to turn red but did as he was told. George let out a loud long wolf-whistle when he did this. Ron was about to flip him off but McGonagall took his hand and placed it on her waist.

"Mr. Filch, if you please?" She said

Filch nodded and placed the needle on the record. Within seconds music came to life and they began to dance.

"One, two, three. One, two, three."

"Oh how I wish I could use my phone for this." Uma whispered with a smile.

Harry quietly laughed as well before looking at the twins who were mockingly swayed and hummed to the waltzing.

"Oi!" He said "You're never gonna let him forget this, are you?"

"Never." They said cheerfully.

"Everybody come together!" McGonagall ordered

While all the girls shot to their feets none of the boys got up and tried to shrank in their seats or covered their faces.

"Boys, to your feet!"

The only boy that stood up was Neville. He went to dance with Hermione so this led the other boys to get up and pair up with the girls. Just like Vanessa had promised she had helped others with the dance lesson. Some were doing well while some were just as bad as Harry.

.

.

.

During the whole thing Vanessa has been doing her best to solve the mystery of the egg. She's not so sure with Harry but she just hopes that he doesn't wait till the last minute to do it like he normally does. So far she has nothing. She knew whatever the screeching was, it had to be the clue. Right now, she was carrying the egg around while hanging with the girls while watching the boys playing hockey on the icy lake. The twins had sneaked behind the girls and started throwing snowballs at them. Vanessa ended up dropping the golden egg when she dodged a snowball from Fred. The egg rolled down the snowy ground and rolled on the lake.

"Damn it, Fred." She muttered

She quickly hurried and tried to save it. The Golden Egg rolled further on the icy lake where the boys were still playing hockey. With the egg being heavy the moment it stopped the ice started to crack. Vanessa tried to get her wand to summon it but it was too late and the egg broke through and sunk. She glared over at Fred and George who panicked and ran away before they could face her wrath. The young witch shook her head and still used her wand to summon the egg along with the water surrounding it. When the egg came to the surface she saw that it was open but there was no screeching. With it being inside the water a song was heard. She brought the water ball close to her so could hear it properly.

"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."

Getting enough of the riddle she closed the golden egg before taking it out from the ball of water. Then with a flick of her wrist she tossed the water over towards where Fred and George were hiding. She smirked when she heard them groan from getting hit by icy cold water.

"What does it mean?" Dawn asked

"Something that can't use their voices from the ground." Vanessa said

"Maybe the Merepeople from the lake." Uma suggested "They can't speak human like the Mermaids from Atlantis."

"Alright. Mermaids is the next task. Which means it'll be underwater and I have an hour to find something that they took." Vanessa said

"Took? Like what?" Rain asked

"Well Harry and Hunter mean the most to me. But they're also champions so they can't be taken. So…maybe my brother or one of you guys as I care about my friends." Vanessa said

"Then what's the plan for the time limit?" Evie asked

"I have some ideas." Vanessa said before turning to Mal. "Has Hunter figured it out yet?"

"He's still banging his head against this." Mal said "I would tell him about this but…he has his pride and probably won't listen to it."

Vanessa couldn't help but nod in agreement.

.

.

.

Once everyone had heard about the Yule Ball there was a lot of excitement in the air. The staff continued on trying to impress Beauxbatons and Durmstrang by decorating the castle at its best this Christmas. They had everlasting icicles 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 armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. Peeves had some fun as he would enter some of the armors and would sing lyrics that were a bit rude. Mr. Filch had to extract Peeves from inside them.

Since the Yule Ball was getting close Harry and Ron were still having a hard time finding dates while others were doing just fine. Mal and Evie couldn't bring Ben and Doug over as their dates so Carlos and Jay agreed to go with them. Uma and Maggie got asked out by one of the Drumstrang boys. Axel asked one of the Beauxbatons girls and Marius asked a girl from Ravenclaw. Malcome finally got the courage to ask Rain and she said yes. For Dawn, she had asked Artism. In the last few months she had a little crush on him. She knew that Artism and Vanessa had a close friendship before and asked Vanessa if it was okay before she did anything. Vanessa was okay with it and Artism had agreed to go with her.

For Hunter, it was obvious that he was going with Vanessa. But many of the Slytherin girls have been hoping that he would dump Vanessa and ask one of them to the Ball. So to make it clear that he was serious with Vanessa he had planned to ask her to the Yule Ball in the Great Hall during dinner time where everyone heard him.

"Vanessa Potter…" He called out.

He took her hand and led her to the middle of the Great Hall.

"Some people" He glared at the Slytherin table. "…seem to think that I'm not serious with you. But I am. I don't care about your blood status or who your parents are. I love you for you."

"And I don't care what everyone says about you. I know who you are and I love you for that." Vanessa said

"Now…will you do me the honor in going to the Yule Ball with me as my very smart and beautiful girlfriend." He said

"Yes, my handsome and intelligent boyfriend." She smiled

When they kissed each other half of the school couldn't help but clap at their action. Vanessa nearly laughed when some of the Slytherins girls nearly cried when she said yes.

After a few days, Harry had tried to ask Cho Chang but she was already asked out by Cedric Diggory. He had headed back to the Common Room and that's' when he saw Ron sitting down with a pale look on his face. Ginny was sitting with him, talking to him in a low soothing voice. Ron told him that he unknowingly asked Fleur to the Yule Ball. He saw her in the hallway talking to Diggory and before he could stop himself and he yelled it out at her. Before she could say anything he just ran away.

"She's part Veela." Harry said "You were right…her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it…but she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang."

Ron looked at him with a brow raised.

"I asked her to go with me just now." Harry said dully. "And she told me."

Hearing this made Ginny frown.

"This is mad. We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone…well, except Neville. Hey…guess who he asked? Hermione!"

This surprised and made the two laugh at the idea of her going with Neville. When Hermione came in and asked where they had been, they were still laughing. They only stopped when Ginny informed her that both of them were turned down by the girls they asked to the ball.

"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" Hermione said "Eloise Midgen is starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

Ron was starting to look at Hermione in a new light.

"Hermione, Neville's right…you are a girl…"

"Oh well spotted." She said acidly.

"Well…you can come with one of us!"

"No, I can't." She snapped

"Oh come on." He said impatiently. "We need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has…"

"I can't come with you because I'm already going with someone." Hermione said, blushing.

"What's going on here?"

Vanessa, Uma, Malcome and Jay had just arrived at the Common Room.

"These two here, don't have dates and just assume that I don't have a date either." Hermione said hotly and glared at Ron. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"

"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl." Ron said with a grin. "That do? Will you come now?"

Jay and Maclome winced at his words and shook their heads at his idiotics. Hermione just shook her head and told him once again she has a date before storming off.

"He really is an idiot. I'm leaving before he says anything else." Uma said, rolling her eyes.

Vanessa agreed with her comment and the two headed to the girls dorm rooms.

"Nice work Ron. You really are a ladies man." Jay said mockly

"Maybe you should write a book." Malcolm said as the two headed to their dorm room. "How to insult a girl in a day?"

Ron's ears turned red at their words.

"What's with them? She has to be lying." Ron said

"She's not." Ginny said

"Who is it then?" Ron asked sharply.

"I'm not telling you, it's her business." Ginny said

"Right." Ron said "This is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just…"

"I can't. I'm going with…with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought…well… I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She said before leaving

"What's got into them?" Ron demanded.

In the end Harry had asked Parvati and she was able to get her twin sister Padma to go with Ron.

.

.

.

On Christmas Day, everyone enjoyed opening their presents before enjoying their Christmas breakfast. Vanessa got new clothes, shoes and other things from her family and friends. Hunter had gotten her a diamond silver bangle bracelet that had a design on it. Harry got her the newest care book for magical beasts. Then she got a surprise gift from Dobby, who happened to work here. She found out from Harry as Hermione showed Ron and him to the kitchen a few days ago. He even told her that Winky works there too but is still in denial about being free and is depressed. Dobby had given her a pair of shocks that were red and black with crowns and dragons patterns on them. When evening came everyone headed back to their common rooms to dress up. Evie had helped design Vanessas' dress and she really outdone herself. It was a deluxe wine red burgundy and black bell gown. After placing black heels on she designed her hair in a crown braid and she placed on her makeup. Once she and the other girls were ready they all headed down to meet their friends and dates. Rain, Evie, Mal, Dawn and Maggie were waiting by the portrait. Evie had a fifth year take a few pictures of them with her camera before they headed down.

Down by the staircase Harry and Ron were waiting with Hunter, Jay, Carlos, Malcome, Fred, George, Artism, Axel and Marius. Ron kept wondering where Hermione was and started to think she wasn't coming. He started to believe that no one really asked her and lied to them so they wouldn't make fun of her. Hunter, who knew who Hermiones' date was, just shook his head and rolled his eyes. He was just happy that the girls finally arrived. They were all dressed beautifully but he only stared at Vanessa. She was more beautiful than he had ever seen her before. Vanessa noticed his stare and smile at the sight of him. He wore a dark green and black dress rope that she could tell was designed by Evie as well. When she reached the bottom step Hunter had bowed his head and she curtsied to him.

"There are no words to describe how beautiful you look." He said before taking her right hand kissed it.

"Thank you, Hunter. And you look very handsome yourself." She said

Before the others headed inside, Vanessa had Harry take a few pictures of their group in different poses. One was of the whole group of friends. Then another with just the girls. One with the boys and then another of all of them making weird faces. They stopped when Professor McGonagall had called the Champions to line up by the doors and everybody entered inside before shutting the doors. Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies (Captain of the Ravenclaw team) stationed themselves nearest the door. Vanessa and Hunter stood behind them. And behind them was Krum and to Harry's surprise it was Hermione. He almost didn't recognize her. She had made her hair sleek, shiny and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing a dress that was made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material.

"Hi, Harry!" She said "Hi, Parvati!"

Even Parvati was shocked at Hermione's new look.

Before either of them could say anything the doors to the Great Hall opened and the ten of them headed inside. Everyone clapped at their appearance. The ten of them headed to the table where their Headmasters and judges were sitting. When they got to the table Vanessa and Harry were surprised to see Percy there instead of Mr. Crouch. According to Percy his boss hasn't been feeling well and had him come in his place instead. The cousins were really annoyed by this but it couldn't be helped. They sat down at the table and had their dinner. It was a bit awkward for a while but Vanessa started a conversation with Hunter and Harry before Krum and Hermione got involved as well. They talked about their past, goals, jokes, families and many other things. Krum started talking about his school until his headmaster Karkaroff but in to stop him. Vanessa knew he didn't want Hermione to know anything about their school because she is a muggle-born.

"Igor, all the secrecy…one would almost think you didn't want visitors." Dumbledore smiled

"Well, Dumbledore, we are all protective of our private domains, are we not?" Do we not jealously guard the halls of learning that have been entrusted to us? Are we not right to be proud that we alone know our school's secrets, and right to protect them?" Karkaroff said

"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor." Dumbledore said amicably. "Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon…or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."

Hunter nearly choked on his water when he mentioned the vanishing room. He looked over at Vanessa and knew they were gonna have to be careful.

After dinner it was time for the Champions to start off the first dance. Once they were in position Professor Flitwick had the band ready and they started to dance. Harry was still a bit nervous but he was able to dance well. After a few minutes people and their friends had joined them on the dance floor. Then the teachers started to join as well. Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime. He may have been a few inches smaller than her but he danced with her with ease. Even Mad-Eye Moody was doing an extremely ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra.

When the first dance was done, Professor Flitwick had announced the Weird Sisters band showing up. Everyone screamed in amazement and joy at seeing the famous band. During some of their songs Jay and Carlos got in a dance battle with Fred and George, which everyone enjoyed. Soon it wasn't long till there was a dance off with the three schools with their dates. Everyone was having a fun time. Well…all but Ron and Harry. They sat back with their dates as they still glum about not being with the dates they wanted to come with. Vanessa shook her head in disappointment. She had tried talking to them just to go dance with their friends and have fun instead of sitting down and wallowing but they wouldn't listen. Well…Ron wouldn't. Not wanting them to ruin Hermione's time with Krum, Vanessa and the other girls kept her away from them.

When midnight came it was time for everyone to head back to their dorms. Hunter had wanted to go to the special room with Vanessa but after hearing that Dumbledore knew about it he was worried the Headmaster might walk-in on them. So he kissed Vanessa good night before leaving but stopped when he saw Harry. He had already figured out the clue on his own and from what Mal told him, he knew Vanessa had as well. But he had a feeling that Harry hadn't yet.

"Hey Harry! Can I have a quick word?" He called

Harry told Ron that he'll meet up with him in a bit before hurrying over to him.

"What's up?" Harry said

"It's about the egg? Have you been able to figure it out yet?" Hunter asked

Harry shook his head.

"Well Vanessa would kill me if I tell you exactly what it is. So…I'm just gonna give you a little hit." Hunter said and whispered "Water."

With that said he left to his Common Room with his friends but he didn't know that he just left Harry more confused about the clue.