Slytherin's Dragon - A Charlie Weasley Story

eleven - a summers ball

September first was a week away, meaning Blake Lestrange had a week until she became Thirteen. She was the oldest of the year group but that had its advantages, most of them being her maturity and how much she could get away with at home in the manor, such as inviting her boyfriend to the annual summer ball.

Jake Percius was a fifteen-year-old Hufflepuff who had captured the girl's heart in her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The two had spent many weeks together during the summer break, going to see muggle movies and watching the sunsets from the roof of the boy's family mansion. The Percius family were a part of the sacred twenty-nine, valued in the eyes of many pure-blood families, despite the new circumstance of a Hufflepuff in the pool of Slytherins, the Hufflepuff being Jake.

Narcissa Malfoy stood behind Blake as she sat in front of her dressing table, her aunt pulling a brush through the rugged curls on top of her head as softly as she could. "The one thing your mother used to need my help with was her hair, I was the only person who could ever tame the curls" A small smile filled the woman's lips as she looked at her niece in the mirror, seeing only a younger version of her dearest sister smiling back. "You look so much like your mother but you act nothing like her... you're more like Andromeda." she hummed as Blake looked up in question, "Who's that? I've never heard of her." Narcissa nodded slightly, placing the hairbrush onto the vanity as she sat facing her cherished niece. "Andromeda is...was my and your mother's sister until she was cast out of the family due to her choices." Narcissa nods, correcting herself before continuing, "Andromeda, like you, fell for a Hufflepuff. However, this Hufflepuff was a muggle-born named Ted Tonks. Andromeda was given a choice, the family that we all cherished or the muggle-born... she chose Ted." A stray piece of Narcissa's hair had fallen as she spoke, and as she composed herself, she pushed the strand behind her ear. "We send each other letters from time to time, she has a daughter named Nymphadora who graduated from Hogwarts before the summer, if I've calculated that correctly. But no one can know of the letters Blake, especially not your uncle Lucius, promise me you won't tell him." Narcissa smiled down at her, holding out her little finger before Blake wrapped her own around it, "I promise."

Blake stood beside Draco as they greeted the guests one by one, an emerald green dress trying its best to bury her in fabric adorned her, however, she controlled the nature of the dress with her height, allowing her to look ever so graceful as she smiled towards the families. This ball was the annual sacred 29 gala, despite not all families being invited due to pureblooded disagreements, so far the crouch family had arrived missing one family member but still sporting good nature and looks, they did work in the ministry with Lucisus after all. Their house elf Winky had gone straight to the kitchen to help prepare food as they arrived, Blake giving her a little wave as she did so. As more and more families arrived, Flint, Avery, Greengrass, Nott, Rosier and Goyle to name a few, Blake became more and more agitated waiting for the Perseus family. In the time that it had taken for them to arrive she had already been dragged into a rather uncomfortable dance with Theodore Nott, a boy from her house that seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with the girl.

The doors to the manor opened, Dobby calling Blake over as he peered up at the three wizards. William Percius stood, his pocket watch in hand as he nodded towards the Malfoy family, studying Blake as his eyebrow raised, before he turned to his wife, Nancy. Nancy Percius was a beautiful witch, with family ties to the Macmillans, who smiled over at the girl but refused to go near her. The Percius family were powerful in the wizarding world, with William working beside Lucius in the ministry and formerly being the right-hand man of the dark lord.

William and Lucius went straight to his office, discussions of a diary and a chamber taking place inside, a diary that Blake Lestrange had once used to converse with a stranger that called themselves Tom Riddle. Nancy and Narcissa had begun to walk around the hall, observing and talking about the families that were dancing together and exchanging any gossip that they could. This left Blake and Jake alone for the first time in a couple of weeks, as Narcissa had been training Blake in true ball etiquette since she was finally of age in their world for future proposals to take place. As a slower song came through the charmed gramophone in the corner, Jake bowed to the girl, taking her hand as he led her into the centre of the ballroom. 

Blake smiled up at the slightly taller boy as they swayed to the music, hand in hand following the steps that they had both been taught by their parents, Jake leading as they spun around the room. Returning to the centre Blake placed her head on the boy's tense chest before he relaxed slightly looking down at her. He brushed a rouge strand of hair away from her face, her cheeks turning red at his touch before he leaned down and whispered in her ear so no one else would hear, breath fanning over her neck as her hair stood up. "Beautiful." As the pair looked into each other's eyes the rest of the ball faded away, it was only them against the entire world.

Blake woke up in a smaller room than she was used to, dreams of the summer ball still dancing around in her head as she sat up looking towards the sleeping ginger girl in the bed opposite her. She smiled slightly at Ginny before tiptoeing out of the room avoiding the creaky floorboard that Fred and George had warned her about. Heading into the corridor of the Burrow she crept over to the twin's room, pushing the door open to see two overfilled duvets, and pillows piled on top of each other in the illusion of sleeping boys, however, no boys were there.

Scrunching her eyebrows up she tilted her head confused before she heard the screech of Molly Weasley from downstairs. "Where have you been? Beds empty! No note!..." at this she started creeping downstairs, taking a seat on the stairs next to Charlie, the second oldest of the Weasleys who was due to leave for Romania today to study dragons. The boy grinned at her, putting a finger to his lips before offering her half of his peanut butter sandwich.