Sly Fox

The big entrance

A man walked towards her through the junk that the Death Eaters had burned down. No matter how much she tried to get away, it was like a wall behind her kept her in her place. As he came closer, Elle thought she would recognize him, but his face was blurred, like her mind did not let her know who it was. Every way she looked, obstacles were keeping her from escaping the tall figure coming towards her. She closed her eyes as the man raised his wand at her, preparing herself for the spell to hit her. With her eyes closed, she saw bits of her life flashing through her eyelids. She saw all of her friends. Images of Harry, Hermione, and Ron from the day they played in the snow at Hogwarts. Pansy and she were laughing in the library and hushed by Madam Pince. Even Draco. But the pictures of him were not memories. She recognized herself smiling by his side; only she looked older. He took her hand and caressed it, their eyes falling into each other like so many times before. A child ran towards them and hugged their legs once he reached them. It was pictures of what she could have had.

Elle woke up, pearls of sweat covering her forehead. It was not common for her to have nightmares, and she did not like the unusual feeling. By the light coming in from the window, she could tell it was time to get up anyways and slipped her feet into her slippers and put on her bathrobe. Looking around the room, she saw none of the other girls and assumed they had already gone to breakfast and let her sleep in. She went to the bathroom, hoping that a shower would shake the feeling that remained from the bad dream. Feeling the warm jets of water hitting her body, she relaxed instantly. Standing under the hot water, she replayed the dream in her head. Somehow it felt like the dream meant something. But she quickly shook that feeling off and went out of the shower to breakfast. She threw a drying spell over herself, feeling her wet hair dry instantly. Grabbing her quidditch sweater, she moved out of her dorm.

"You lot excited for tonight?" She asked her friends and sat down beside Harry.

"I am, actually," Hermione said with a smile. Elle did not know if the others knew who Hermione's date was but assumed they did not since Ron had asked her out the day before since he had no date.

"Talk for yourself," Ron scoffed and glared at his breakfast.

Elle giggled a bit at this and asked the boys if they had found dates yet. Harry had asked the Patil twins out for both him and Ron. They did not seem that happy about the girls, however. Elle did not understand why; the twins were two beautiful girls. But Elle understood what the underlying factor was rather quickly. They both wanted to go with somebody else.

The girls went up to their dorms to study for a while before they had to start getting ready for the ball. After some hours of studying and reading, the other girls from their dorm came in to get prepared. Elle helped Lavender with her hair; she had asked her since she had loved the updo she had one day in her third year. She sprayed her friend's hair to make it stay the whole night and then began doing her own. She also put it up in a beautiful, loose updo and pulled out a few strands.

When the girls were done, they went out to meet up with their dates. Hermione and Elle stayed for a while, however. The two girls were nervous; they knew they would have to dance in front of everyone, seeing that both of their dates were champions. Elle sensed that Hermione was anxious for another reason, though.

"Are you nervous about their reaction to Krum being your date?" She asked her.

"A bit. You never know with Ron; his mood swings are horrible." She sighed.

Elle nodded knowingly and then reached to grab her friend's hand.

"You look beautiful, Hermione. Don't let him ruin your night if he tries to." She said, and her friend hugged her hard.

"You really are my best friend. No matter what," Hermione said with a smile.

"And you are mine." She stood up and squeezed Hermione's hand once more.
"Now, let's go out there and bless their eyes," she said humorously.