𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓂'𝓈 𝒜 𝐵𝓇𝑒𝓌𝒾𝓃'

December 20th, 1994

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝓌𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓎-𝒮𝒾𝓍

"Up..." There was a beat of silence from Jane before she dropped Iris' hair, "Down."

Four pairs of eyes watched through the mirror as they thought over this huge decision. Expressions dead serious as Jane reached to bundle up Iris' hair in her hands again. Valeria quickly reached over to pull Iris' face-framing pieces out of the bundle.

Heads bobbed as things quickly started coming together. Sally-Ann directed Jane to make the ponytail higher, Iris twirling her framing pieces to imitate a subtle wave shape, Valeria prodding at the hair flowing down Iris' back to make it sit just right. And when it was just right, everyone paused, all eyes taking one last, final look...

And smiles broke out. Nodding all around as they all spoke at once. "Simple so we won't have to spend hours curling it all." "Easy to fix if it becomes messy through the night." "The face-framing is a nice small change from normal while still keeping it out of the way." "Someone is going to be slapped in the face with all this hair."

Giggles erupted as they all looked to Sally-Ann, everyone finally backing off as they had made their decision. Going back to the last bits of their morning routines before breakfast.

The music from the radio still overpowered as the girls just kept going. Rattling off their plans for the day that had the whole castle alive with energy for weeks.

Remus would be chaperoning, wanting to also get the group together for pictures. So that raised questions of where, and what time, just where, and when would the background be just right and the lighting everything they needed to make everyone shine. And depending on how early their pictures would be would determine how early they would have to lock themselves away and start the process of getting ready. Makeup, hair, dresses, last-minute adjustments, and pairing jewelry. And knowing the process would be hours of working and giggling and chatting, they needed snacks and music to get the day started right.

So much goes into a day of a ball, at least for the girls that so looked forward to it. Still there existed the less exciting parts of any ball.

"I will be going with Dante!"

Thump!

Sally-Ann's boot dropped from her hand, landing hard against the stone floor as the room finally quieted enough for the music to shine through. The upbeat tune of an ABBA song a stark contrast to the tension that beat its way into that room. Four pairs of wide eyes all turned right on Tracey Davis.

The heavy silence, the blank stares, the held breaths were enough to almost drown out the music again. Almost. Painfully, ABBA continued to fight through, doing nothing to stop the tension.

"Dante Marcella?"

There was no other Dante it could be, the only one to be found on Hogwarts' grounds could be the only answer. But still, maybe it was just denial, maybe it was just a shock reaction... either way, they all needed the clarification as their heads worked through this.

Tracey could only nod, her jaw as stiff as the rest of her body as she gauged the reactions from her friends. Words couldn't have possibly have been spoken on her end.

Some of the shock started draining from everyone's faces, faint nodding going around as heads began working again. But just because the shock was dissolving, does not mean the situation made much sense to any of them. But other things fell into place.

Valeria made the most important connection, "That's who you have been with at lunchtime when we all split?"

Tracey forced another nod. Shoulders loosened as Valeria looked away, still thoughtful but not adding to the tension.