DOROTHEA {fred weasley}

thirteen

Dorothea, on Ezra Nott's arm, after a couple of swigs of firewhiskey, in her silver dress, was sublimely happy at the Yule ball. Every time she saw Hogwarts dressed up, she loved it more than she thought possible, and everytime the thought of leaving entered her head, her heart fell a little. She stood with the girls in her year, holding onto Ezra's forearm lightly as they waited for the champions. Leila and Adrian, and Priscilla and Felix, and Lilith and Leo all stood next to each other, with no contact. Felix and Leo were snickering to each other and glancing over at Beauxbatons girls, and Adrian kept his jaw clenched and looked straight ahead, which didn't stop Leila looking up at him hopefully. Elvira, in her natural way, was chattering along sweetly to Marcus, and Juliet swore that he laughed a few times, which was quite out of character, he was usually the most stoic of them all.

"Classic Vi, can even get Flint laughing," Ezra said into her ear.

"I know," Dorothea said, beaming at her friend.

When Cedric Diggory walked in with who she now knew to be Cho Chang, Dorothea noticed Elvira's face fall a little. On the opposite side of the room, the Weasley twins were whistling and hooting at their friend, eventually being silenced by a stern Professor Mcgonagall. Dorothea rolled her eyes, but then noticed Elvira giggling a little, so her expression lightened, she looked back to the twins and noticed that Fred was already looking right at her. Once he had her eye contact, his moved to Elvira's, and then back to Dorothea, questioningly. She furrowed her brow at him, confused, and looked back to see Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour walking in with dates she didn't recognise. She glanced back to the Weasley twins, to see Camille Rosier, scowling at Fleur. 

"She looks beautiful," Dorothea said, leaning up to Ezra, as a silent rebellion against her moody cousin.

"She's alright," Ezra nodded, "no you, though."

Dorothea smiled slightly and rolled her eyes, looking around as there were whispers from the Gryffindor side of the room, she glanced at a girl she didn't recognise, in a beautiful dress.

Elvira turned around dramatically, reminding her friend of her crush on Viktor Krum, "that should be me!"

Marcus and Ezra snorted, shaking their head at the dark haired witch,

"Who is she?" She asked her friends.

"That," a snotty voice said from behind them. "Is the mud- that's- it's Granger. Potter's best mate."

Dorothea raised an eyebrow at the furious expression on Draco Malfoy's face, and noticed Priscilla's sister, Pansy, mimicking it. 

"You look very nice, Pansy," Elvira said kindly.

"Yeah, I love your dress," Dorothea smiled.

The younger witch's face un-twisted a bit, and she looked a little gratefully at the older witches. Dorothea was sure that she hadn't heard the same compliments from Draco.

"Oh, you're looking very dashing too, Malfoy," Ezra grinned, stepping back from Dorothea to ruffle the younger boy's hair. "No need to get angsty on us."

For the Slytherins, the dancing part of the ball was incredibly boring, they had been attending ballroom dances every year, at least twice, since they were five years old. There was a clear distinction in skill, as well, Dorothea and Ezra were muttering to each other, she stifling laughs into his shoulder, as they watched Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs try to dance. The Slytherins all moved elegantly, she had been dancing with Ezra every year since she was a little girl, and she didn't miss eyes on them from every corner of the room. Every now and then, she'd glance at Elvira, who stuck out immensely. She hadn't been going to the same balls, and they all knew this, but it didn't stop Marcus from looking extremely frustrated at the witch.