The Dragon Whisperer

The Yule Ball part 2

It's December!!!! That means its officially socially acceptable to get excited about Christmas!!!!! Eep!! Cos I haven't been singing Christmas songs since September... totally...

I glanced at myself in the mirror. Yes, I did own a mirror excuse me thank you very much, who are you, Fleur Delacour? Granted this was probably the first time I looked at myself in it but still, at least I owned it. I'd washed my hair and used my wand to dry it and turn it into little curl things and the effect was... nice. It genuinely looked ok, and I was quietly pleased with myself. My dress was pretty nice as well but I was never gonna get my feet into those shoes.

They were tiny little red ballet style pumps and, pretty though they were, they looked like they were made for some fairy. I took my foot and forced it into the shoe, feeling a lot like one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella except that I wasn't a man in drag, and attempted to stand up.

Whoever made these shoes clearly hated feet. What was wrong with a good pair of hiking boots? Surely they'd be much more practical and you could always put glitter on them or something. But no, I stood up and walked downstairs, every step agony.

Charlie waved at me from the school gate and I gasped. He was dressed in... wait for it... a suit. Yes, Charlie Weasley, who you'd never see in anything other then overalls and dungarees, was wearing a black suit with a little one of those bow tie things around his neck.

"You wore a suit" I snorted and almost exploded.

"You wore a dress" he chuckled. "And you should feel privileged. I didn't even wear a suit to the Yule Ball when I was at Hogwarts"

"Oh yes, all those years ago" I smirked. "Were suits even invented then? Or had the dinosaurs eaten them all?"

"It was only 2 years ago" Charlie said in mock offence. "I didn't wear a suit because I was too cool- I wore jeans and a polo-top and spent the whole ball talking to Hagrid and eating"

"How did you know that's my game plan for tonight?" I gasped. "Do you think we're supposed to go in yet?"

"Uhm, yeah" said Charlie. "Look, Diggory's going in"

Cedric was dressed in some dumb ruffely suit and he was holding hands with a pretty Asian girl. Me and Charlie followed them in and reached the dance floor.

Everyone was watching the four champions and their partners. I saw Krum molesting some poor brunette- he kept trying to touch her butt or kiss her neck but she kept pushing him away, wanting instead to hold his hand or be cheesy and romantic. Krum looked very uncomfortable like he wanted to skip the lovey-dovey and get in her pants already and I sniggered.

The orchestra started playing a song and I took Charlie's hand. Together we did the awkward penguin shuffle as I quickly found out that he was almost as bad at dancing as I was. I could feel Fleur's judgemental eyes on us but I just laughed as she did a perfect waltz with the drooling doofus she'd invited.

Charlie and me kept dancing- shimmying completely out of time both with each other and the music, and both laughing so much our faces were red. Karkaroff was glaring at me but I just kept dancing. Then finally, they let the other people dance and we went and sat down.

"Firewhiskey?" offered Charlie.

I smirked at him. "You mean Pumpkin juice?"

Charlie cursed under his breath. "Oh yeah, I forgot this is a school party"

"I know it sucks, I really felt like a coctail, but I suppose Pumpkin juice will do" I smiled and he groaned and got up. As I waited for him to come back, I watched the dancing. Cedric and Fleur were slow-dancing and gazing into each others eyes and the sight made me feel mildly sick. PDA much.

"Gross isn't it" murmured Charlie in my ear suddenly, making me jump out of my skin. Heart racing from the shock, I turned and glared at him.

"You scared me!"

"Sorry" laughed Charlie, passing me a pumpkin juice. I sipped it and felt a little dizzy suddenly.

"You spiked this?" I hissed, glaring at Charlie.

"Not really" argued Charlie. "But I know you like Vodka so I...added a little."

I guess some people would go all over defensive about that. They'd freak out and say that Charlie was forcing me to take alcohol without my consent. But I really didn't care that much, after all we'd just been saying how annoying it was that there was no alcohol at this party so I didn't really care.

"Whatever" I shrugged and took another sip. Charlie drank some of his and glanced at me.

"You know Katerina, you look really pretty tonight" he said softly, not looking at me anymore but at a spot somewhere in the distance.

I felt my face heat up. "Don't be silly"

"I'm not" he muttered. "You really- look I-"

"Yeah right Charlie" I sniggered. "I'm a sexy beast right now. Don't you just want a piece of me?"

Charlie went bright red. "Kat-"

"Joking, joking" I laughed. "Loosen up! I thought you had alcohol inside you!"

"Oh." said Charlie quietly. "Yeah. Right."

He smiled sheepishly at me and I felt my pulse quicken a little. I don't know why, maybe it was the Vodka. That would also explain the giddy feeling in my head.

"Hey" asked Charlie suddenly. "Wanna dance again?"

I snorted. "Don't you remember how bad I was at dancing?"

"Yeah" admitted Charlie. "You suck. But come on"

I got to my feet reluctantly and accepted the hand he was offering to me, trying to hide my smile.