𝑴𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑫𝑰𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑺,𝑯𝑷,𝑨𝑼

ix.

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Dates

"The yule ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard tournament since its inception, it's taking place on Christmas eve and I expect every single one of you to make the Slytherin house proud" Snape drawled while eyeing the students. 

It was well known that the Slytherin house was experienced in dancing after going to several balls with their pureblood families. Ophelia had experience in the art but not because of a family but because of her orphanage.

Ms. Castillo's orphanage was not a normal one, it was filled with only girls who they thought to be what they call 'a real lady'. That included dancing, cooking, behaving, and label. In all honestly, Ophelia hated it, but it was the only home she had, and they were the only ones who accepted the young maledictus. So Ophelia endured it because she knew what happened if she didn't.

"The yule ball, is mandatory dance and we are here today to practice, so stand up and find a partner" Snape instructed them and the students clad in green followed his instructions. Ophelia ended up with a boy in her age, they had never talked and had a silent agreement to not start talking now. 

They switched partners several times and danced to the tempo of the music. Ophelia had been right assuming that the lot of the house could dance because no one seemed to be really struggling. 

Ophelia absolutely loathed the idea of going, it was expected to have a date and she couldn't think of anyone who would be willing to go with her. And Ophelia didn't really feel too happy about the idea of going with any of the boys in Hogwarts either.

If she had to go on a date, then it would be someone she would enjoy it with, but she would probably just find a loophole and end up going with Celia or something. Well, that was until she found out that there were a few boys in Hogwarts who already had the grumpy Slytherin in their mind when finding out about the dance, one of them being a handsome Hufflepuff who had thought of the girl for quite a while now.

---

A few days later Hogwarts was in chaos, everybody searched in hope for a date, some went with a random person only to not be seen alone on the ball and others kept running after their school crushes.

To Ophelia's surprise, she had actually been asked to the ball, about four guys had walked up to the Slytherin duo and asked for the young Lecter to go with them. But until now she had always answered with a smile "no" before dragging Celia away from the random boy.

Ophelia had no interest in going to the dance, and especially not with someone she never met before.

The two were now sat in the great hall writing on an essay, most of the school was present and all were sitting quietly. Ophelia sat in silence beside her brown-haired friend at one of the tables. They had assigned seats and Ophelia and Celia just happened to end up at a table filled with Gryffindors. 

It annoyed the two to no end as they were thrown nasty glance from some students clad in red

"And people call us the prejudiced pricks" Celia muttered under her breath, Ophelia stifled a laugh seeing Snape looking over at them.

"How do you say 'they are all hypocrites and are so full of themselves that you can see them about to explode at all times' in Spanish?" Celia asked the girl. (I don't know Spanish, so I have only translated it, sorry for the mistakes)

"Todos son hipócitas y están tan llenos de sí mismos queue puedes verlos al final de explotar en todo momento" Ophelia answered while looking down at her writing. Celia groaned quietly.

"What you said," she said annoyed that she didn't catch one thing Ophelia just said.

"Hey Lecter" someone whisper shouted at her, she looked up and was met by the eyes of Ron Weasley looking towards her.

"I really don't want to do this but I guess you don't have a date to the ball and I haven't either, so I guess we'll have to go together," he said smugly Ophelia watched him with an annoyed looking expression on her face.

"I'd rather die in a hole, carrot head" she snapped quietly at him. He looked at her a little taken back before smirking smugly. 

"How depressing of you to go alone, but I guess I couldn't expect anyone to ask you" he shrugged with a smirk, before Ophelia had time to snap at him someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned her head with an annoyed expression on her face, her expression turned into shock seeing Cedric Diggory sitting before her with a nervous expression on his face. 

"Oh hello Diggory" she greeted him, she quickly noticed the nasty glares she received from several girls seeing the school's most popular boy sitting before her.

"H-hello Ophelia, uhh, I was wondering..." he trailed off, Ophelia raised an eyebrow motioning for him to continue,

"Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtogototheballwithme" he blurted out quickly, Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion looking at him, "I'm sorry, what?" she asked him confused. He seemed to regain some confidence and breathed out slowly.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me?" he said now more slowly. Ophelias face turned into one of shock, she absolutely did not expect the school's golden boy to want to with her.

It took her a few minutes to open her mouth and Cedric seemed to grow nervous, the whole table was watching them and Celia looked at Ophelia with an 'I told you so' look on her face.

"I mean you don't have to, I-" Cedric started a little panicked, Ophelia seemed to regain her thinking and cut of the boy with a small smile on her face.

"Sure I'll go with you Cedric" she answered him, he beamed at her and nodded his head happily.

"Great, well, uh, I'll see you then," he said happily before walking off. Ophelia turned back to Ron with an innocent smile on her face.

"I'm sorry carrot, but I didn't catch what you said earlier," she told him, Harry stifled a laugh and Ron scowled. Ophelia and Celia turned in their books to Snape and left the hall.