all too well - Theodore Nott

chapter 9

Selene woke up the morning of the Yule ball in the hospital wing. Her stomach, though healed, still felt sore. Her head pounded as she slipped out of bed, and she drug a hand down her face.

"Here," Madam Pomfrey handed her a cup full of greenish liquid.

"What is it?" Selene grumbled, sniffing it and immediately wrinkling her nose.

"It is supposed to help with the cold you are getting if you want to go to the ball tonight."

Selene drank the entire thing in two gulps, wincing as it burned her throat. She set it down on the bedside table and rubbed her eyes.

"I need to go get ready for the ball," Selene sighed, pushing off the bed. "See you at the dance tonight, Madam Pomfrey."

She smiled and said, "You too. Also, dear, the Nott boy came by asking about you."

"What did he want?" Selene asked, stopping mid step and turning to look at her.

"He didn't say."

"Oh," Selene pushed her hair away from her face and tried to shake the curiosity out of her. "Okay, I'll see you later."

Selene walked slowly down the corridors, her head still slightly throbbing. She was so lost in thought that she almost ran into someone and their mass of curly brown hair. Hermione smiled brightly at Selene, though it faded slightly when she saw Selene's face.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah," Selene smiled, "I was just sick last night."

"Are you going to make it to the ball tonight?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Oh yeah. I feel much better than I look. Nothing Madam Pomfrey could not fix."

"I wish I could have an easy fix to my hair," she laughed, playing with the ends of her frizzy curls.

"I have a really good spell for that. My mom has similar hair, and she taught it to me once. I can help with that if you want." Selene said, smiling.

"Really? Do you want to get ready together?" Hermione looked excited and hopeful.

"Yeah," Selene shrugged, "I would love to."

"Okay, meet me outside the Gryffindor Common room in fifteen minutes with your stuff."

Selene stared at herself in the mirror. Her face looked paler than usual, her freckles fading against her cheeks. Her completion looked icy, only added to by the pale blue dress that hung from her body. It had an empire waist, and tiny silver-embroidered snowflakes littered it.

Selene had curled Hermione's hair carefully, section by section, and Hermione had helped straighten her hair. She played with the silver bracelet on her wrist. Her dad had given it to her when she started Hogwarts. It had one charm on it that had an eagle embossed on it because all Selene had ever talked about was wanting to be in Ravenclaw. Looking at it now, Selene didn't know how to feel. She had not talked to her father in months. Every time she received a letter, she would stuff it under my mattress without reading it. She assumed that if anything important happened, her mother would tell her in a letter.

Suddenly, the Barrell that led to the Hufflepuff common room popped open, and out climbed Annie and Cas. Selene looked away from her bracelet and put her hand to her mouth as if holding back tears, which weren't far from the truth as she took in her friends appearances.

"You two look stunning," she gasped, wrapping them in a hug and then grabbing their hands tightly, looking back to examine them more.

"Have you seen yourself?" Annie gasped back, "You look like something from a dream. But don't actually look at yourself because I took way too long to get out here, and I want to be one of the first ones in, so let's go."

"You look good."

Selene looked over her shoulder to see Pansy. She was wearing a black dress with a high collar and ruffles down the entire thing.

"You do too." Selene said, offering a smile. Pansy awkwardly turned to walk away, but the smile on my Selene's face stayed. It felt nice when Pansy made an effort and said, "Pansy, wait."

She turned around, eyes wide and unexpecting, and asked, "Yes?"

"Do you want to dance together or something?"

Pansy slowly started beaming, "I would love to."

The dance was in full swing, and Selene had stopped dancing long enough to get something to drink.

"I think I saw that dress while I was shopping, but I'm glad I didn't get it because it looks so much better on you than it would on me."

"You pull off your dress better than I ever could," Selene responded, laughing as she held the drink to her lips.

Pansy smiled just as the Weird Sisters started playing a new song.

"This is my favorite song," Selene said, giggling as she swallowed a sip of her drink.

"Me too," Pansy gasped.

Selene grabbed her arm and asked, "Do you want to dance?"

Pansy smiled. "Of course I do."

Selene set her drink down, and together they joined the mass of dancing bodies again. They jumped in tune to the song, holding their dresses up and screaming the lyrics, their hair bouncing around their shoulders. Not for the first time tonight, Selene's eyes traveled over to Theodore Nott. His hair that had started the evening gelled back was coming undone and falling into his face.

Daphne was standing next to him; her eyes, however, were firmly locked on a Durmstrang boy who was dancing with a few other friends. Next to him was Cas, who had her hands clasped in a Beauxbaton girl's hand and was talking in each other's ear, not paying attention to everyone around them.

Pansy laughed and threw her arms around Selene's shoulders. "I never hated you. Our grandparents always told me to, but me and my dad never did. He still really cares for your mom, you know."

Selene did not know that. Knowing that she had family on her mom's side that didn't completely hate her made her more happy than she would have thought. She did not know that that was something that she needed.

Selene looked around, a satisfied smile still on her face, as Pansy swung her arms back and forth. She tried to find Annie in the crowd, but she was nowhere to be found. Again, Selene's eyes traveled automatically to Theodore, who, it seemed, was already looking at her. Their eyes connected, and she jerked her head back to face Pansy and continued dancing. She couldn't, however, stop herself from finding him the rest of the night, trying to place him in the massive group of people. He never seemed too far away, however.