A fortnight later, Fleur arrived at diner with an amused smile on her face.
« Funny thing just happened. » She declared while sitting across Charlotte beside Elise. « The red head who is always with Harry, you surely know his name Cha. »
« You should too, I've introduced you to the group. It's Ron Weasley, Fred and George's brother. » She replied.
« Yeah well, for my defense, he didn't pronounce a word that time. But he's just tried to ask me to the Ball, I think. Not that he aligned a clear sentence still, but he stopped me on my way, mumbled something, kinda of screamed and ran away. That must be the worst invite I got so far. » The beautiful blond chuckled.
« Don't be mean, you know the effect you have on them. » Elise intervened before Charlotte could defend her young friend.
« Yes, I'll go check on him as soon as I finish. » She still added.
« Sorry...but I have to laugh about it once in a while. It gets tiring never to have an actual smart conversation with any male person. I didn't ask for my hair to hypnotize most of them. »
« Oh poor Veela girl, too stunning for this human world. » Charlotte teased her with a grin.
« Who's being mean now ? » Fleur responded, but you could see she wasn't really mad.
« Okay, I'm stopping. I'd better get going to find Ron anyways. »
She found him quite easily, mortified as she had predicted in a armchairs of their Common room, a concerned Giny and mocking Fred and George by his side. Harry entered the room right after her and, seeing the blemish face of his best friend, rushed towards them. Giny told him what happened, and even though he tried to reassure Ron, he still ended up sighing desperately.
« That whole partner thing sucks. »
« Only because we don't have one. » Noted Ron.
« Wait, are all of you still searching ? It's in a week ! » Charlotte suddenly got stressed out for her friends.
« I'm going with Angelina. » Fred replied quickly.
He smiled at the mentioned girl across the room, but they were not the only ones to exchange looks. Charlotte and George contained their chuckles, not surprised at all with that pair dating for the ball. The three of them joined her and Katie at a table, while Ron and Harry kept discussing their urgent matter. Hermione joined in, but it seemed her and Giny stormed out barely minutes later. Whatever the two boys tried to say, they clearly went about it clumsily, and Charlotte couldn't think of anyone still available to go with them to the Yule Ball.
« What about you ? » She nudged George in the waist. « You haven't told me about your partner. »
« I'm going with Nicole, a girl my year who often laughs at our jokes, which I take as a good sign I don't disgust her. » He smiled cheekily.
On the long awaited Christmas Eve, both Professor McGonagall and Madam Maxim agreed that, with the exceptional nature of the night, Charlotte might as well be allowed to invite Elise and Fleur to her dormitory. So here was the blond witch, excited that all her besties got to prepare fo the ball together. Elise and Katie seemed to get along very well, and the dynamic between Angelina's and Fleur's strong characters was quite entertaining. Once they were all dressed, in a fourreau deep red gown for Charlotte, with hair and make up arranged, they looked at each other happily. She thought they all looked stunning ! An opinion apparently shared by most of the ball's crowd given the number of heads that turned their way when they walk down the entrance hall marble staircase. Charlotte detached from the group to join Cedric, standing straight near the Great Hall doors. She had never seen him in a tuxedo, but he was gorgeous and she didn't hesitate to point it out as he slid a hand around her waist.
« Thank you, but I don't think it would matter if I came in rags, 'cause I'm pretty sure every eye will be on you. Look at you, you look like a queen. » He replied, taking in his partner's look from every angle.
« We'd make pretty good royalty, I believe. » The young woman chuckled, not really knowing how to take the compliment.
While Cedric seemed a tad nervous to be opening the ball in front of everyone, she was thrilled to have a full night of dancing ahead.
After a while on the dance floor, the couple went for refreshments, and met Harry at the bar.
« Haven't seen you much out there. » Charlotte deplored. « Where's your date ? »
« Cho's in the bathroom. We both needed a break but we'll be back up in a minute. She's quite the dancer. » The teen replied.
« Would it be rude to offer you a dance in her absence then ? » She extended her hand, before turning to Cedric. « If you don't mind. »
« Not at all, I haven't caught my breath yet. I shouldn't be surprised that you are so unstoppable tho. »
But the Hufflepuff didn't get much time to breathe, because right after she started swinging with Harry, she saw Fleur drag him along. A childish thought crossed Charlotte's mind, that it would keep Cho Chang from getting her hands on Cedric, before she dove right back into the moment's magic. For a few songs, her group switched partners so she also got to dance with George and Fred while Cedric partnered Elise and Angelina. The lovers felt even happier to get back to each other's arms after this friendly break.
They kept turning and twirling around, eye in eye. So oblivious to the rest of the room that they ended up crashing into another couple. Quite unbothered, they broke into laughter with the other pair, Neville Longbottom and Giny Weasley, and started dancing again, slower.
« That's lucky people are here to stop us, or I could go on forever. » Cedric started with a smile forming at the corner of his mouth.
« Yes, me too. »
« And I mean forever... » The tall boy continued. « Okay I'm going to sound silly but, I feel like I'll always love you. I mean I know that we cannot know for sure and anything could happen, but right now I believe I will be in love with you for the rest of my life. »
« It's not so silly, I get the feeling. » Charlotte cupped his chin tenderly. « Even if we're only seventeen I feel so strongly that you're my forever too. »
His smile widened, and the hand that was on her waist went up to the side of her face as he leant forward to kiss her.
Eventually, the music stopped. But not the magic.
« I think we should go to the usual spot, now. » Cedric whispered in her ear as they came to a halt.
It was a starry, cold winter night at the top of the clock tower, but Cedric conjured a literal heat bubble for them to snuggled into.
YOU ARE READING
Chasing
FanfictionWhen Charlotte transfers from the girls only Beauxbâtons Academy of Magic to Hogwarts, it brings big changes to her life. Not only does she enter at the same time as the famous Harry Potter, but her path will cross those of many interesting characte...
