Happy Friday update day to you!
Okay, this chapter ends rather awkwardly. I apologize for that, but I had to split this chapter into two because it was simply far too long. Originally, it was 19,000 words, which is equivalent to 40 pages in Google docs. Far too long LOL. So I had to find somewhere to split them and it wasn't the easiest job to do, so just pretend like you don't notice if you don't mind LOL.
At any rate, we're at Yule Ball, part 1. So much fun to write, I won't lie.
Bookcozy: Cedric is a poor besotted idiot for the moment. He's really just ignoring the obvious. Also, Tori and Fred's time is coming I promise. I'm working on their Yule Ball experience at the moment, so I'll probably post it on Chasing Rainbows soon. So much is going to happen in the second half of this year. I hope you're feeling better!
Chapter Twenty Nine
There was no Christmas tea the night of the ball, as the ball included a feast, so Nessa was starving and very anxious by the time eight o'clock arrived, and her stomach was roiling.
Why did this feel so monumental somehow? It was a school dance. With a man she spent the majority of her time with to begin with. It shouldn't have felt this nerve-wracking.
"Will you relax?" Tori said next to her with a snort. She looked cool as a cucumber in comparison. Nessa so despised her. "You look great. Now I have to meet…whoever he is. Just wait here for George. C'mon, Hermione. You're making an entrance as far as Ron is concerned."
Hermione grimaced at Nessa, who snorted and waved her off — she was too in her head to help her with Tori's incessant badgering. Ginny snickered when Hermione grumbled darkly, but followed after Tori without further argument.
Ginny was the next to leave when Neville, looking very awkward and excited, came to escort her down to the Great Hall. He mumbled something that sounded like "very pretty." Nessa bit her lip to keep from laughing at how nervous he looked; it was sort of sweet, but she hoped she didn't look that nervous herself.
"Hi, Nessa," Neville stuttered, appearing to notice her for the first time and blushing furiously still. "You look very pretty too."
She smiled kindly at him, despite her own nervousness.
"Thank you, Neville."
"You aren't trying to steal my bird, are you, Neville?"
The words immediately settled some of her nervousness and made her roll her eyes to the ceiling before she even bothered to turn around to look at George behind her.
Honestly, he was ridiculous. She wasn't a bird, for one thing.
And what did he need to make Neville feel so nervous for? He was twitchy as it was, and his entire face went purple with embarrassment at the question as he spluttered his adamant denial — "just being nice" — and Ginny covered her mouth to hide how much she was laughing.
"George, what is the matter with you? Don't embarrass him, for God's —"
She stopped talking immediately to gape at him.
She really didn't know what she'd expected of him. If he had to be dressed up and well-behaved then he was obviously going to break the rules in some fashion. He couldn't help himself.
Except she couldn't quite have imagined that him doing so would have resulted in something so immediately appealing for her.
Mcgonagall was going to kill him for forgoing the dress robes, but she might not have much by way of an argument. He was still dressed in black tie, though she was sure the three piece suit was not at all what their Head of House had had in mind, and he was sure to stand out among the crowd. Something McGonagall had expressly warned he and Fred against. Multiple times.
She'd specifically pulled the two of them aside the evening before — and at lunch — to remind them both to behave themselves 'for once in your idiotic lives.'
Nessa should have known they'd had something up their sleeves based on the smirks on their faces, but she'd sort of assumed that they were going to spike the dessert table with Canary Creams or something.
She certainly didn't expect that he'd decided to try Muggle attire instead. And she might have liked suits before, but George Weasley simply obliterated the idea that men were attractive in suits. Because truthfully she didn't know how she could have been so flippant with the statement before.
George Weasley had gone and ruined her completely.
The suit he'd worn was double-breasted and matched the color of her dress exactly — an emerald green that she was sure he'd had to have charmed in order to manage, and, somehow, did not clash horribly with his hair. It fit him far too well, somehow accenting both his height and the trim of his waist, and the fabric appeared soft and rich, though she couldn't quite be sure when she was standing there staring at him like an idiot. He'd taken some liberties with the color of his tie and pocket square, and had made them a burnt orange color as opposed to the matching green of his jacket and waistcoat.
"How long do you think they'll sit there gaping at each other?" Fred said, his voice thick with amusement.
The question made Nessa flush in embarrassment — she'd been staring at him for so long that Ginny had snickered and pulled Neville through the portrait hole rather than watching the two of them ogle each other — but she was at least a little more satisfied to know that George was as flustered by her appearance as she was his.
Mrs. Weasley had picked her outfit rather well in her opinion. It was a shorter dress and flared out at the bottom, which made moving far easier, and the color matched her eyes almost exactly. It fell mid-thigh and was made of a combination of tulle and applique, the top portion tighter with a swirling sort of design and a sweetheart neckline, with boning that made her waist appear smaller, before it flared out slightly until it fell mid-thigh in a sparkling hem. She'd worn simple, gold heels to match the hoops she'd bought in Hogsmeade a few months before with the intention of them bringing her much closer to George's height, but they also made her legs look far longer, which appeared to have distracted him.
Ginny had done well on her hair, curling it in loose ringlets before making two thick, partial braids on either side of her head and pulling them back to pin them behind her head with a gold studded flower pin. It pulled some of the hair back from her face, framing her head in a sort of halo, before flowing down into curls at the ends. She'd kept her makeup as simple as she was able with a very light layer of lip gloss, a small amount of eyeliner, and sparkly gold eyeshadow.
She'd felt relatively confident the moment she'd looked at herself in the mirror, but it helped to have George blinking at her several times as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes.
He seemed to come to his senses rather quickly at the sound of his brother's words, hitching a wide grin on his face, and stepping toward her to pull her in for a firm kiss.
His suit was, in fact, very soft.
"Aren't you a sight to behold, love?" he said fondly, winking at her when she blushed scarlet. "Neville's a pest for saying you look pretty. You're stunning."
"Thank you," she murmured self-consciously, suddenly shy at his proximity and his sudden attention. "You look very handsome."
He looked far better than handsome, but she was at a loss for words to describe him. She'd never seen him quite so dapper. He seemed pleased with the response all the same, grinning down at her warmly.
"The suit adds a nice touch, doesn't it? I think I've grown quite fond of it."
Nessa snorted.
"You've been wearing it all of five minutes —"
"Doesn't matter how long it's been with you looking at me like that, now does it?" he said, chuckling in a satisfied sort of way when she blushed again. "Don't worry, love. You look far better than I do."
She sincerely doubted that, but she didn't get the opportunity to say so.
"I think he might have forgotten that we're here," Angelina said to Fred in what she clearly thought was a tone quiet enough that George wouldn't hear. Fred snorted when his twin looked up at her in annoyance.
"Now you've gone and done it," he said amusedly. "Georgie gets real testy when you ruin his bubble with Nessa."
"Feel free to get lost —" George said to Angelina, ignoring his twin entirely. Angelina laughed.
"George, be nice!" Nessa said sharply, hitting him lightly with the hand she'd had resting on his chest still. "I'm sorry, Angelina."
Angelina waved her away.
"Please, that's the nicest thing he's ever said to me," she said. "You should hear the way he talks on the Quidditch field. You do look very nice, by the way. That color suits you."
Nessa blinked momentarily in surprise — Angelina was friends with Alicia, so she'd expected tonight to be slightly awkward; she could only imagine what Alicia must have told her about her. But the older girl seemed quite friendly and genuine.
"Thank you, so do you," she said, smiling at her.
She was wearing a dress of a deep purple color, which looked quite ridiculous next to the horribly vibrant magenta suit that Fred was wearing. The trim, cut, and material were exactly matching his twin's and they'd worn the same color tie and pocket square as if they'd needed to remind the rest of them that they were still identical even if they're suits were jarringly different in color.
"I'll spare you the time, munchkin," Fred said, feigning a blush. "You can't believe that I look even better than Georgie. Real shame, but it can't be helped."
Angelina laughed when George shoved his twin hard, knocking him into the couch. She stepped between the two of them.
"Alright, you two, let's get on with it," she said, grinning widely. "You'll look far less attractive with matching black eyes."
Fred straightened, shoving George in retaliation and holding an arm out to Angelina. George snorted, but did the same to Vanessa and followed the two of them out of the portrait hole.
"On the contrary, I think we'd look even better," Fred said.
"Roguishly handsome, you might say," George said, grinning down at Vanessa.
She rolled her eyes, refusing to indulge him. It was going to be hard enough not staring at him all night as it was. She didn't need to add to his ginormous head.
The entrance hall was packed with students, all milling around waiting for the doors of the Great Hall to be thrown open. Those partners who were from different Houses were pushing their way through the crowd in an attempt to find each other.
Nessa looked around curiously — it was interesting to see so many people she knew dressed so formally. She could see Fleur, looking stunning in a dress of silver-gray satin; Malfoy was in robes of black velvet that were clearly expensive, but they had a high collar that reminded her of the Muggle version of Dracula. Pansy Parkinson was on his arm in robes that were frilly and pink — she didn't quite think that they suited her. Crabbe and Goyle flanked them in robes of moss green, appearing dateless.
Cedric was in robes of a very nice black, standing next to Cho who had worn her hair in a bun and was dressed in a silver dress that looked quite lovely on her. Cedric frowned when he met her eyes, and looked away from her hastily.
He'd gotten the books back then, she thought in mild irritation.
She jumped when George placed his hand on the small of her back.
"Alright, love?" he said, clearly sensing her change in mood. He was frowning over at Cedric.
"I'm fine, sorry," she said, shaking herself and smiling reassuringly at him. "Just distracted. Can you see Tori? Or Harry?"
He eyed her for only a moment before allowing the subject change, and craning his neck to look around the Great Hall.
"Harry's with Parvati over there," he said, pointing in their direction. He snorted, hitting Fred on the shoulder to get his attention. "He looks very twitchy for a bloke who's faced a dragon, doesn't he?"
He did look very nervous, standing as far from his date as was possible, though he looked quite charming in robes of a bottle green that were cut in the same fashion as the Hogwarts school robes. Parvati looked quite pretty in a dress that was a shocking pink, her dark hair braided with gold, and gold bracelets glimmering at her wrists. Her sister, Padma, had clearly come with Ron and was wearing a beautiful turquoise dress, but it was Ron that Nessa was staring at.
He was paying no attention to Padma at all, but it was his robes…
" What is your brother wearing?" she said to the twins, not quite managing to mask the disgust on her face.
Even from this distance, they looked atrocious, and she didn't think she quite blamed Padma for looking a bit sour. His robes were a maroon velvet, and there was simply no ignoring the fact that they looked like a dress. The sleeves and neck looked jagged, as if he'd cut parts of it away, and done a very poor job.
Fred and George sniggered at his expense.
"They were much worse than that," Fred said. "We saw them in the laundry when Mum came back. They had this disgusting looking lace on them —"
"Looks like he cut that bit off," George said, sounding amused by this fact. "Our robes weren't much better. Just lucky we happen to be far better with a wand than dear Ronnie."
"Took Georgie less than a day to transfigure them into suits instead," Fred agreed.
George rolled his eyes.
"Would have taken less time if somebody had chosen to help instead of eating an entire bag of Chocolate Frogs —"
"I was clearing space in our trunks to store these bloody things in! They take up a lot of room!"
"If you'd take those ridiculous magazines out of yours, you'd have plenty of room —"
Fred smacked a hand over George's mouth, glaring at him warningly. Nessa and Angelina made eye contact with each other, trying hard not to laugh.
"What magazines?" Angelina said with a curved brow.
"He meant order forms," Fred said, refusing to move his hand from George's mouth. "Isn't that right, George?"
George's shoulders were shaking with laughter and his eyes twinkling in amusement, but he nodded with a muffled " mmrph" and Fred lowered his hand with a warning glare.
"So how many order forms do you have then?" Nessa said with a smirk.
Angelina burst into laughter, leaning forward with the strength of the sound, and grabbing Nessa's arm to steady herself. Fred smacked George upside his head, giving him a look that clearly conveyed a 'now, look what you've done' message, but George was too busy laughing himself to care.
They were still laughing at Fred's expense when the doors to the Great Hall opened and they were shuffled inside. The Hall had been transformed into something out of a winter wonderland, the walls covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.
George placed a hand on the small of her back, steering her in the direction of the front middle table, where Tori was already sitting with an unremarkable Durmstrang student. He was quiet and surly looking, wearing robes of blood red that were bulky and lined with fur. Tori's gaze drifted up to look at them as they approached, and the smirk that had been blossoming on her face — likely at the look of deepest irritation on Fred's face at the sight of her date — disappeared entirely as her gaze landed on him completely. She gave him a very slow, slightly inappropriate appraising once-over, her eyebrows disappearing clear into her hairline.
"You look incredible, Tori!" Angelina said as they took seats around them.
There was a flicker of irritation in Tori's gaze at the statement, and Nessa kicked her hard under the table before she could say anything rude. She and Angelina had always been rather good friends, but Nessa was sure that the fact that she was Fred's date was not going to make Tori all too kind for the evening.
It was unfortunate that she was being pulled in the middle of whatever ridiculous game Tori and Fred were playing.
"Thank you," Tori said, looking like she'd swallowed a lemon. "So do you."
Tori had put a great deal of time and effort into her appearance, and her evening look was as bold as her personality. Her dress was a one shoulder, form-fitting material that fell mid-thigh. It was a blood red color that matched her date's and covered in sequins from top to bottom with an attached train of red tulle. The heels she'd worn were black, dangerously tall, and strappy. She'd worn a single piece of jewelry, a silver diamond studded necklace that had belonged to her mother, and her makeup was as striking as the rest of her. Her nails and lips had been painted in a color that matched her dress, her eyeshadow dark and smokey, and her winged eyeliner done in a way that was dramatic and sharp.
The tamest thing about her appearance was her hair, which she'd left straight, but otherwise untouched, dark as midnight and falling down her back like black velvet. It was her hair that Fred immediately commented on.
"What did you do to your hair?"
Tori met his eyes with haughty amusement, her brow curving upward in a way that looked dangerously mocking.
"What's wrong with it, Freddie?" she said sweetly. "You don't like it?"
Fred's eyes flashed with irritation, his jaw clenching tightly, but he didn't give her the satisfaction of responding, instead resting an arm on the back of Angelina's chair, and turning to speak with her instead. Tori laughed under her breath, clearly accepting this response as a victory, and brought her glass of water to her lips without another word to him. George looked up to the ceiling as if he were praying for patience before he reached into his jacket and pulled out a silver flask.
Nessa straightened immediately, giving him a sharp look.
"What on Earth is that?" she whispered harshly, looking around them guiltily. "Tell me that is not alcohol, George."
"Course, it is," he snorted, bringing it to his lips and taking a long pull. His voice sounded delightfully rough when he spoke to her next, and she forced herself to focus on the issue at hand. "I don't know what's going on with the two of them, but I'm going to need a buffer if I have to listen to them bickering all night."
She stared at him, battling her disapproval with reluctant agreement. It was the agreement that won out.
"Give me that," she muttered, grabbing it from him and taking a large gulp herself. It was going to be a long night. He was grinning at her when she handed it back to him.
"Have I told you yet how much I adore you?" he said, brushing her hair off her shoulder, so that he could brush the backs of his fingers against her skin.
She forced herself to remain neutral, despite the contact, and gave him a look of feigned displeasure.
"Not recently, no," she said, reaching forward to place the flask back into the pocket at the inside of his jacket, and placing her lips next to his ear so no one would hear her. She couldn't quite mask the pride she felt at his sharp intake of air. "If I catch you anywhere near the punch bowl with that, I'll give you detention for a month, George Weasley."
"I do so love when you talk prefect to me, sweetheart," he said, chuckling lowly when she gave him a hard look before pulling back.
He was an odd man, spending all of his time breaking rules only to find her prefect status attractive. Maybe she had concussed him this morning.
When the shuffling of other students stopped and everyone had taken their seats, the doors opened again and McGonagall entered the Hall with the champions and their dates. McGonagall was wearing robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around her hat and was leading the procession toward a large round table at the front of the Hall where the judges sat. Fleur and Roger Davies were the first of the champions in procession, Fleur gliding across the room as though her feet weren't even touching the ground; Davies looked so stunned by his good fortune in having Fleur for a partner that he could hardly take his eyes off her.
Cho looked stunning next to Cedric behind them, and was smiling at him broadly. It was of some relief to Nessa that Cedric appeared at least very interested in her, despite the awkward gift he'd given her that morning. She could only pray that he would put his efforts into wooing her instead and spare them the awkwardness of the entire thing.
"Is that — is that Hermione Granger?" Angelina said, gaping at the couple behind Cedric and Cho. "With Viktor Krum?"
Fred and George snorted as if they sincerely doubted her judgment, taking a look at the girl standing next to Viktor Krum with careful consideration. Their jaws dropped simultaneously when Hermione grinned over at Nessa and Tori and waved delightedly. Nessa grinned back at her.
Tori winked at her, looking quite proud of Hermione's entrance, and eyeing Ron in sheer amusement as he walked past his friend without so much as a glance in her direction.
" Blimey," Fred said, looking totally floored. "I didn't even recognize her! What's she hiding behind all those frumpy sweaters for?"
"I'm so glad I decided to come to the ball with someone as romantic as you, Fred Weasley," Angelina snorted, giving Tori and Nessa an exasperated look that sent them both tittering.
In Fred's defense, Hermione did look most unlike herself, and it wasn't just the hair. It was no longer bushy but sleek and shiny, and twisted into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing a dress of a floaty, periwinkle blue material, and she was holding herself differently than normal without the twenty books she normally carried over her back. There was a confidence about her tonight that made it difficult to look away from her, and her smile was radiant and straight (she'd confessed to them earlier that she'd let Madame Pomfrey fix the size of her two front teeth when Malfoy had hexed her months earlier and caused them to grow). Her parents were going to be upset with her, she'd said, but Nessa thought that it might have been worth it if she was going to smile like that all evening.
Everyone else in the hall appeared to be just as shocked by her appearance as the twins and Angelina. Pansy Parkinson, who had always been overly cruel to Hermione, gaped at her as she passed, and not even Malfoy appeared to have an insult to throw at her. Krum's fan club was giving her looks of utmost loathing, and Ron was now watching Hermione with narrowed eyes. Harry and Parvati brought up the rear, and were staring at her in unflattering disbelief.
Nessa might have rolled her eyes at her brother's lack of tact, but she was too caught up trying not to laugh at his own misfortune. Parvati had agreed to go with him to the ball at the last minute, and she looked far too excited about being with a champion. She was beaming around at everybody and steering Harry around quite forcefully so that everyone could see the two of them together.
"He's like a show dog," Tori snorted. Nessa might normally have found this irritating, but it was mostly just amusing, and she had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud as Harry worked hard to keep himself from tripping over his feet.
Dumbledore was beaming at the champions as they approached the top table, but Karkaroff was wearing an expression remarkably like Ron's at the sight of Krum and Hermione together. Ludo Bagman, tonight in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. But Mr. Crouch was not there. Instead, his seat was taken by Percy Weasley, who pulled out the empty seat beside him and stared pointedly at Harry.
"It's going to be a long night for Harry," George snorted when he took a seat next to his brother and was immediately engrossed in what appeared to be a very pompous conversation based on the look of smugness on Percy's face. "We've really got to teach him how to be less polite."
Once the champions had been seated, people began to stare impatiently at their plates before them as if expecting the food to appear the moment they'd all sat down. Nothing appeared on the glittering, golden plates, but there were small menus lying beside them. And yet no waiters.
"Pork chops!" Dumbledore said loudly, and they appeared before him.
They got the message, speaking aloud to their plates and tucking into their dinners with gusto, chatter breaking out across the hall again. Fred was working quite diligently on getting mead to appear before him and frowning every time his goblet filled with water instead. Tori seemed to be attempting to have a polite conversation with her own date, who's name Nessa had learned was Dimitri, though she was sure that Tori didn't remember it.
"Ve have a castle also," he was saying in a very thick accent, staring at Tori in amazement and practically eating out of the palm of her hand. Fred rolled his eyes to the ceiling in annoyance. "Much smaller than this one, and not as comfortable as this one. But ve have grounds larger than these, though we are not using them much in vinter. Not much daylight. But in summer ve are flying every day —"
"You fly, do you?" Fred interrupted rudely, his voice sounding impatient and doubtful of the boy's flying prowess. "You and Viktor on the Quidditch team?"
Dimitri was frowning at him for the interruption, but answered anyway.
"Viktor is very selective about who he plays Quidditch vith," he said. "He's quite full of himself."
"Well, he's got right to be, doesn't he?" Fred said, trying (and failing) to sound conversational. Nessa made eye contact with George out of the corner of her eye. He looked mostly amused, although somewhat exasperated, and he passed her his flask under the table. "Probably doesn't think you could keep up with him."
"You'll have to ignore Fred, darling," Tori purred at her date. Dimitri cleared his throat, looking a little dazed at her attention. "He's always been a bit insecure about his flying skills — he could really use some practice."
"Perhaps I could give him some pointers," Dimitri said immediately.
Tori made a noise of feigned pleasure that he'd have offered such a thing, but Fred was looking as though he'd shove his beater's bat in a horribly painful area should the foreigner so much as breathe a word of advice to him about Quidditch. Nessa had to turn to bury her face in George's shoulder to keep herself from laughing.
When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floors clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a cello, a lute, and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. The champions were making their way onto the brightly lit dance floor, and Fred and George were sniggering at the awkwardness with which Harry was trying to avoid catching anyone's eyes. Tori joined in when Parvati appeared to take the lead, seizing one of his hands and placing the other around her waist before beginning to lead him into a very tense, awkward slow dance that Harry did not appear to be at all interested in participating in.
"C'mon, Ange," Fred snorted after a long moment. "Let's show these idiots how it's done."
Tori scowled after them as Fred took Angelina's hand and twirled her onto the dancefloor rapidly, both of them laughing. She allowed her own date to ask her for a dance, though he did so far less exuberantly than their dinner companions. George bent at the waist with a wide grin, offering his hand to Nessa with a dramatic flourish.
"Milady?" he said pompously.
She pursed her lips to keep from laughing, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, and placing her hand in his.
"Have I told you yet that I find you quite ridiculous?" she said, mirroring his earlier question.
"Not this evening," he mimicked before sending her twirling in the direction of the dance floor, her dress flaring out around her. She could hear his laughter as she shrieked in surprise, but she managed to catch herself before she went flying into Ginny and Neville, who were laughing at her, as well as several other people nearest them. She narrowed her eyes on George as he came walking up to her, grabbing one of her hands and resting his other over her waist, spinning her away again — much more gently — with a hard look back at Neville. "Keep your hands where I can see them Neville or you'll lose them!"
" George!" Ginny shrieked at him, as Neville spluttered awkwardly again, looking mortified.
Nessa used the hand that she'd placed on her boyfriend's shoulder to smack him upside the head, though she was laughing in amusement.
"What do you have to embarrass the poor boy for, George?" she reprimanded. "You're going to give him a complex."
George grinned down at her and shrugged noncommittally.
"I like to think I'm helping him build character," he said. "Besides, that's my baby sister he's dancing with —"
"Looks more like he's breaking her toes," Nessa said, giving a pointed look back in their direction.
Ginny was wincing frequently as Neville trod on her feet. George laughed, shaking his head.
"I understand her pain. Bit like last year when you kept stepping on mine, wasn't it?" he said cheekily. He laughed good-naturedly as she flushed in embarrassment, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "Don't worry, love. You've gotten much better."
"I'm starting to think you're just a bully, George Weasley," she scoffed impatiently. "Perhaps I should go dance with someone else if you're going to be a brat."
He tweaked her nose fondly, pulling her closer, so that she was forced to move her hands up around his shoulders instead, crossing them at the wrists lazily.
"Not likely, love," he said, squeezing her waist and making her jump. "You're mine for the evening, and I've no intention of sharing you with anyone."
Why did he have to say things that made her insides melt into a puddle? She might as well have just swooned for all the good it did her to talk to him. Even at his most ridiculous, he made a mess of her.
It certainly didn't help that he looked so good in that suit either. It fit him very well, and it was horribly, horribly distracting.
She needed to work harder to return the favor because he looked very composed by comparison, and it was terribly unfair.
Or so she'd thought.
"You've got to stop looking at me like that, Vanessa," he warned seriously, his eyes darkening slightly.
She blushed, clearing her throat awkwardly, and trying to feign ignorance.
"Like what?" she said breathlessly.
He raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a look that made butterflies erupt in her stomach.
"You know what," he said, pulling her to the edge of the dancefloor and away from any prying eyes or ears. "The first night in months that I have to woo you…it'd be a real shame if I ended the night early to sneak you off somewhere."
"Doesn't sound like it," she muttered to herself.
He heard it anyway, and growled low in his throat before kissing her hard. She gasped, barely needing to stretch at all to get closer to him — perhaps she should be wearing heels all the time, though they killed her feet — and her hands tightened on his lapels encouragingly. He pulled back with a goran.
" Quit that," he said, breathing hard. "If I have to behave, so do you."
"You never behave," she snorted.
He opened his mouth to retort, but Harry and Parvati had come to revolve next to them and Harry looked very annoyed with them.
" OI!" he hissed at George with a glare. "Can you keep your mouth off my sister for longer than five minutes! Every time I turn around, you've got your tongue down her throat — it's disgusting!"
Nessa took a swipe at his head, and glared at a giggling Parvati.
"You've a way with words, Harry, has anyone ever told you that?" George said grinning and appearing very unapologetic.
Harry pointed at him warningly as Parvati led them away.
"I'll hex that stupid grin off your face, George, I'm serious!"
George didn't appear at all concerned, instead throwing his head back and laughing.
"Like I'm going to take my advice from a bloke who can't even lead his date," he said amusedly.
Nessa huffed, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
"I've got to cut the two of you loose," she said dryly. "You're both very annoying."
The Weird Sisters stopped playing, and applause filled the hall once more. George snickered again when Harry released Parvati at once, pulling her off of the dance floor to sit with a morose Ron. Nessa frowned at them, but George shook his head and pulled her into him for a song that was much faster paced and required a great deal of her concentration.
"Nuh uh, love," he said, twirling her around exuberantly. "You're off duty tonight. If I even catch you over there scolding them, there'll be a Canary Cream in your breakfast tomorrow morning."
"And they say chivalry is dead," she said sarcastically, but acquiescing with barely a glance back in her brother's direction.
He was rather old enough to know how to deal with women at this point — certainly seeing as he also had a sister. It wasn't really her problem if he ruined his night pining over someone else, was it? Maybe it'd get him to pull his head out of his arse for once if Parvati lost her head on him a little. It really was Harry's own fault if he made himself miserable tonight.
So, she didn't go over there to badger him like she might have normally and insist that he quit being such a prat to his date. Truly, she didn't look over at him much at all, instead letting George distract her for the evening. The Weird Sisters were an interesting band — made up of all men despite their name — and were the equivalent to a Muggle rock band, their aesthetic slightly dark and macabre, which was odd considering the setting, but Nessa quite liked their sound. She'd never listened to Wizard music before, and they were clearly well within their element, and George advised her that he'd read somewhere that they all cast Cheering Charms on each other before performing. It was one of Ginny's favorite bands, and the younger girl was excitedly dancing with Neville for the majority of the evening.
Fred and Angelina were dancing so exuberantly that people around them were backing away for fear of injury, though people weren't treating her and George much differently. He was a bit less eccentric, but it was by a very minimal amount, and she was certain he was behaving much worse in an attempt to loosen her up. She wasn't entirely comfortable on a dance floor, but he had a very odd way about keeping her mind off of how ridiculous they must look. Not that anyone around them appeared to care much either, all so wrapped up in their own evenings that they could hardly care what she was doing.
It was the most relaxed and carefree that she'd been in weeks, and certainly the closest she'd ever come to worrying about things that were the sorts of things that other teenagers worried about. Whether she was dancing awkwardly or if taking her heels off would be a weird thing to do when they were killing her feet or if her hair was falling out or her makeup smearing from the heat. Those were such normal, selfish things to be worried about at her age, and there was something very freeing about that.
She didn't care at all about Cedric looking over at her with a frown every time he caught her laughing with George. She didn't care at all that Harry and Ron's dates had deserted them for treating them poorly all evening. She didn't care at all about anything else that wasn't enjoying the break in chaos that she was currently in the middle of. She'd be even happier if she could have a permanent break in the chaos, but she'd take what she could get.
Her feet were aching, and her face was flushed pink, when the Weird Sisters slowed their music down again. She might have sighed in relief because George was laughing at her, but he reached for her anyway. Tori was there a moment later, looking annoyed, and grabbing Nessa's hand and waist before George could.
"My turn," she said, brooking no room for argument.
Nessa didn't know why she bothered — George was known for arguing, and he looked only mildly irritated with her for taking his place, though Nessa was grinning at him cheekily.
"What do you mean your turn?" he said, mocking her voice. "Go get your own date!"
"I ditched him," Tori said matter-of-factly. George rolled his eyes, and Nessa gaped at her.
"What, why?" she said.
George grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to him, grinning at Tori victoriously.
"Riveting as I'm sure the reason is, I earned myself a date without your whining," he said to Tori. "So off you go —"
Tori snorted.
"You two spend half your time mooning at each other," she said, tugging Nessa back to her instead which resulted in a huffy "Will you two stop flinging me about?" from her best friend that she largely ignored. "You can go three minutes without her. I'm afraid to say that you're the third wheel at the moment, Georgie. Off you go."
George gave her a long suffering look before looking at Nessa, though he looked more amused than upset by the turn of events. He'd grown quite used to the oddity that was her relationship with Tori, and, considering how close he and Fred were, it was hardly something to complain about. Even if being around her at the moment made him feel like he was flying.
"What are the chances I can win this argument?"
"Slim to none," she said, laughing, but leaning up to give him a kiss. Tori stuck her finger in her mouth jokingly. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
He looked quite pleased with whatever that meant before giving his surrogate sister a long-suffering expression and raising an expectant eyebrow.
"You have to tell me why you ditched your date too then, if I'm being sent off," he said expectantly. "We'll call it a nice trade off."
Tori rolled her eyes.
"He was too agreeable," she said impatiently. "You'd think I was the second coming of Merlin himself. Besides, he kept calling me Vikki and it —"
Whatever it was, Nessa did not find out because George immediately erupted in laughter at these words. Nessa herself found them amusing, considering that Tori was not a particular fan of her name except the way that she'd already expressly advised people to say it. She also wasn't particularly fond of pet names, though Fred appeared to get away with calling her two. She managed to hold back her amusement at the name choice, but Tori still rolled her eyes, smiling a little at George's reaction.
"That's the best thing I've ever heard all evening," he gasped through his laughter.
"Will you shut up, you great git, and give me a moment with our girlfriend —"
" Our girlfriend?" He said, straightening indignantly. Tori smirked at him.
"So territorial, Georgie," she said, mockingly. "One would think you were worried I'd actually steal her away."
"Not with that attitude," Nessa said with a snort. Tori gave her a look that told her to shush, but George grinned at her.
"Five minutes," he said, pointing at the two of them seriously. "I'll get drinks and be —"
"George," Fred said, appearing quite suddenly at his twin's side, looking very serious. Tori looked away from him, frowning to herself. Fred said nothing, just nodded at Ludo Bagman, who was making his way toward Harry, and George nodded back.
Tori and Nessa shared a look and grabbed them both by the arm before they could make their way toward the older man.
"This is the second time the two of you have cornered him," Tori said, looking between the two of them suspiciously. "What are you badgering him for?"
Fred and George shared a look full of meaning, and it was not lost on her that when they looked back George was not meeting her eyes.
"Nothing to worry about," Fred said dismissively. "We've just got some business to discuss with him —"
"What business?" Nessa said firmly to George. "You aren't gambling again, are you?"
He grimaced at her, and opened his mouth to say something, but Fred spoke before he could finish.
"Yes, that's exactly what we're doing," he said. George's head jerked to him in surprise, looking incredibly annoyed, and Nessa glared at him. "Not to worry, munchkin, this is the last time, I promise. Now, if you'll excuse us…"
Fred dragged George away and George smacked him upside the head immediately, whispering angrily to him as they walked off. They stopped arguing immediately when they reached Bagman, replacing their annoyance with large grins.
"They aren't gambling," Tori said, stepping in front of her, and pulling her toward her for a slow dance. Several people around them were pointing at them and whispering, but Nessa didn't have the time to feel weird about the entire thing. Not when she was looking at Tori in question. "I don't know what they're actually doing, but George wouldn't have looked at him like that if he was telling the truth."
"What else could they be doing?" Nessa said, biting her lip, and watching anxiously as Bagman shook them off rather quickly, leaving the two of them looking put-out and irritated.
"No idea," Tori said with a shrug, though she didn't quite manage to hide her own curiosity. "They'll tell us eventually, but until then, I have a question I need to ask you."
Nessa sighed heavily, looking away from the twins, who were having a very serious conversation at the punch bowl.
"What's that?"
"Do you think he's having a good time? Fred, I mean," she said when Nessa looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "With Angelina."
She hadn't needed the clarification. She'd been pretty sure that she knew who she'd been referring to without it, seeing as Tori had been shooting him and Angelina glances for the majority of the evening, and looking very put out. She was sure that was part of the reason she'd ditched her own date, particularly because he didn't seem equipped enough to keep her attention for long enough to keep her out of her morose thoughts.
For his part, Fred did look like he was having a good time, though she was sure that that wasn't because of what Tori suspected. He and Angelina had played Quidditch together for years, they knew each other in more than just passing, and it was in Fred's nature to stay as positive and carefree as possible. The fact that Angelina happened to have the same sort of air about her surely made the entire thing much easier on him to ignore Tori and her date than it did for Tori to do the same.
"They're friends, Tori," she said seriously. "Of course, he's having a great time. What are you doing pining after him for anyway? Can we be done with this now? It's becoming very annoying, and that's coming from someone who is probably more indecisive than Neville. Just talk to him."
Tori didn't say anything, chewing on her lip anxiously and watching Fred, who had joined Angelina again and was laughing about whatever they were talking about.
"When he's on a date?"
"No, not when he's on a date," Nessa said with an eye roll, though she had some hope that Tori had asked that question instead of immediately shutting her down. There was hope at least. "It isn't Angelina's fault that the two of you are using her as a pawn. Talk to him later tonight. Or tomorrow. When she isn't in the crossfire."
"And if he's dating her tomorrow?"
She hesitated before pulling Tori off the dance floor and back to the seats they'd vacated earlier.
"Tori, I'm telling you this for the last and final time," she said. "He is obsessed with you, got it? He's not going to be dating Angelina tomorrow. They look more like they're friends at a coffee klatch than they do like dates —"
" She wants it to be a date," Tori said pointedly, nodding her head at Angelina, who had placed a hand on his arm.
"Again, she's the victim here, not the two of you," Nessa said, watching Fred smile at Angelina and remove her hand in a way that appeared to be as calm and smooth as everything else he did. How someone could be blessed with the gift of that much charm was beyond her. "This isn't her fault. So do whatever you're going to do for the rest of the evening, pick another date, badger Harry and Ron, I don't care. But we're done talking about this. Either talk to Fred or be miserable. Those are your choices."
Tori snorted, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.
"I really can't believe I've turned into the kind of girl who cries over a bloke like Fred Weasley," she muttered to herself. "This has got to be the worst plot twist since —"
"Hey, can we talk?"
Nessa had seen him coming. She'd hoped he wasn't coming toward her, but Cho was nowhere in sight and she and Tori were the only ones around so of course he had been.
The fact that he thought now was a good time to talk was very awkward and annoying.
Tori, who had been so caught up in her own drama that she hadn't seen Nessa's coming, looked between the two of them before standing and giving Cedric a hard look.
"Absolutely not," she said firmly. "Whatever you have to say is —"
"None of your business," Cedric finished for her, looking annoyed by the interruption.
"Don't talk to her like that," Nessa snapped at him.
Tori might shove her nose in her business far too much, she might even share her business with other people far more often than she'd have liked, but she had absolutely zero tolerance for other people brushing her off as someone unimportant. She was going to tell Tori anyway, and it irritated a great deal of people to know that — Cedric clearly among them — but there were far few things she didn't tell Tori. To be so outright rude in keeping whatever ridiculous secret he thought he had annoyed her more than it should have.
Tori merely laughed dangerously and pointed her finger in his chest.
"It's absolutely my business when you've gone around acting like a smarmy git," Tori said angrily. "She's made it abundantly clear that she's with George — and they're disgustingly happy together for all the good that'll do at getting the concept through your thick skull — and you're making it hard for her with your ridiculous gifts —"
"You told her?" Cedric said, looking injured.
Tori rolled her eyes and pointed at Nessa warningly.
"Don't you go looking apologetic," she said sharply. Nessa startled at the realization that there was guilt building in her stomach and tried to flatten her expression again. "She tells me everything, Diggory, don't look so wounded. Not that it's any of your business —"
"What happens between me and Nessa is not your concern!" he said indignantly. "She doesn't need to be telling you anything —"
"You're a moron, did you know that?" Tori snapped.
Nessa put a hand on her arm, and gave her a quelling look. Tori opened her mouth angrily but Nessa spoke over her.
"Go," she said firmly. "I can handle this."
Tori stared at her for a long moment before glaring at Cedric again.
"Keep your poetry to yourself Diggory. I don't like you much at the moment," she said harshly. "I'll go and see if I can find George and keep him distracted because much as I'd love to see him wreck that pretty face of yours at the moment, it would just upset Nessa."
She stormed off before Cedric had the chance to say anything. He snorted, looking a mixture between annoying, angry, and nervous.
"She's a character," he said.
"Don't talk about her anymore," Nessa said sharply. "I think you've said enough in that regard."
He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair.
"Look, Nessa, I didn't mean it like that," he said consolingly. "I just — I've never been the kind of person who likes having their personal life shared —"
"It isn't just your personal life I'm sharing," Nessa snapped in irritation. "It's mine. You're a secondary character as far as Tori is concerned. And don't say it as if we're just gossiping for the fun of it! You go about confusing me about whether you think we're friends or more than that, buying me expensive gifts, and looking at me whenever you think I don't notice, I think I'm entitled to talk to her about it!"
"As opposed to talking to me about it?" he said in exasperation. "If it's about the two of us then what is talking to Hastings going to help? You can just have talked to me and it would've been over by now —"
"Clearly not!" Vanessa said angrily, trying to ignore the people around them who were starting to stare. She lowered her voice and tried to soften it a little so that people wouldn't notice they were arguing. "We've had this conversation before, Cedric, and here we are. In the same awkward position we were in last year —"
"You kissed me —"
"Nearly a year ago!" She said in exasperation. "It's not as if — you can't just keep holding out hope, Cedric! I've made my choice and I'm perfectly content with it! I don't know how else to make myself clear! Is it something I'm doing? Is tutoring and being friends too much for you? Tell me what I need to be doing! Please."
There was a long moment of silence between them that was uncomfortable and heavy. She'd never felt this awkward around him — not since they'd become closer friends — but it felt like they were two different people at the moment, and they were each seeing their relationship with an entirely different lens.
"You sent them back," he said quietly.
She felt like she was going to cry. He sounded hurt, and she didn't blame him. They were incredibly personal, and they'd been meant for her, and if they'd been different people in an entirely different world, she'd have loved to accept them. But the sentiment behind them had been too much, and the conversation they were having now was too much as well.
"Of course I did," she said as gently as she was able. "They — it's an inappropriate gift for a friend."
"And that's all we'll ever be, right? Despite everything that's happened between us. Just friends."
Why did it feel like they were breaking up? Like her entire heart was shattering because she was shattering someone else's?
"I — there's not enough words in the world to tell you how horrible I feel for making you think we could be more than that, Cedric," she said, blinking away tears and trying to convince her anxiety that this was not a life or death situation, that she did not need to cling to this friendship for dear life just because she didn't know how to let it go. "But we are just friends. That's all we'll ever be. That's all I want from you."
"Well then I suppose that about covers it, doesn't it?" he said, smiling at her sadly.
"Cedric, I —"
"Don't, Vanessa," he said. "Don't make it worse, alright? I'll, uh, see you around, I guess — I've got to get back to Cho."
She didn't at all know what she was supposed to say as he walked off to go and find his date. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now with her heart breaking in two and the rest of her somehow relieved that he might have understood this time that they were just friends.
She'd have talked it all through with Tori except she didn't see her anywhere, and Fred was missing too. George appeared caught up in a conversation with Lee and Angelina, laughing and totally relaxed despite the fact that she was across the room trying not to cry.
She didn't want to ruin that for him. Not when everything about tonight had been so perfect as it was and she didn't want to ruin that with talk about Cedric's stupidity.
So, instead of going to talk to him, she decided to go to the girl's loo instead.
If she could pull herself together then she could at least still save her evening.