Albus Severus Potter (A Harry Potter fanfic)

The Beauty Within

Soon, the sun rose upon a Friday morning.

There were no lessons on Friday, and students in third year or above were allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Many girls were buying last minute accessories, and picking up dress robes. Many boys were buying flowers, and presents for their partner. Everyone was excited.

Even Albus, Louis and Shruti were feeling a lot better. They had been able to walk around the castle and were, definitely, going to the Ball in the evening. Everyone was interested and they wanted to find out who they were going with.

Albus walked to breakfast with Thomas, Lily, James, and a couple of his friends. They were laughing about something James had dared his friend to do in Potions, when Albus asked his brother, "Hey, have mum and dad sent you any letters recently?"

"No, not since before the Task," he said, looking a bit more serious now. "Have they sent you anything?"

"No, not after the Task."

"Not even to ask how it went?"

"No," said Albus, looking as confused as James was.

"Well, dad'll be coming in to do the talk about Dark Magic next week. So we'll be able to ask him then," said James, he sounded more excited about the talk than their parents' quietness.

James had wanted to know what his dad said in the seventh year Dark Magic talk since he was eight. Albus was, however, more patient than his older brother and was still waiting. Albus always seemed to be better behaved than his brother, but that was only because he never told anyone about any pranks he'd pulled - James always announced loudly that it was him whenever he pulled a prank.

∞

The Ball was to begin at 8pm, and dinner was to be served early for the students that night. At 5 pm all of the students came down to the Great Hall in a huge swarm. Throughout dinner, there was a buzz of excitement as everyone chatted about the upcoming events. The food was quickly disappearing from plates and soon the Hall began to empty. Once the last student had left, the teachers began to prepare the Hall for the Ball. No one besides the teachers knew what the Hall was going to look like; and, according to rumours, Lockheart himself had added some extras.

∞

It was nearly 8'o'clock and everyone was milling around the entrance of the Great Hall, waiting patiently for the Ball to start. Girls in long elegant dresses of every colour imaginable stood everywhere next to handsomely dressed boys. Though they were all talking of idle matters, they were all thinking the same thing, 'where are the champions and who are they with?'

Suddenly, the crowd split into two, each side with their backs pressed against the wall. The people closest to the doors of the Hall were the last to see what was happening, but it was fairly obvious what was happening.

Lockheart came first through the crowd, and behind him were the three couples everyone had been dying to see. Directly behind Lockheart, were Albus and a Beauxbatons girl called Sienna. Albus was in smart black and white dress robes and Sienna was in a matching dress which was black at the top and white at the bottom. Behind them were Louis and a girl from Durmstrang too, Louis was dressed similarly to Albus and the Durmstrang girl was in a red dress that trailed neatly on the floor behind her. The final couple was Shruti and a boy from Beauxbatons. Shruti was wearing a deep blue dress that stopped just below her ankles, and her partner was in black and white dress robes.

Lockheart moved swiftly through the crowd, and just as he reached the doors, they opened wide, revealing the beauty within. Pink, red and white streamers criss-crossed the dark sky and tiny pink and red confetti hearts were falling from the ceiling and already the floor was littered with them. And the floor looked as if it were made of ice - perfect, un-melted, un-cracked, clear ice.

The champions followed Lockheart into the Hall and stood, in couples, in a triangle. Lockheart was standing at the far end of the Hall and looked as if he was going to be conducting an orchestra of cupids. Everyone had now filed into the Hall and they were standing on the sides of Hall - just in front of some ice tables.

Lockheart waved his arms and the cupids began to play, at the same time the champions and their partners began to dance. After a few minutes, more couples joined the champions, and soon enough the dance floor was full of people - students and teachers.

The hour of the Ball flew by and everyone had danced at least once and now one of the large tables was occupied by: Albus, Sienna, Shruti, Louis, James, Simran, Alex, Cole, a Beauxbaton boy, a Durmstrang girl, three Hogwarts girls, and a Hogwarts boy.