build me up buttercup [s.black]

[24] Revelations

It was finally Christmas day, and Aisling couldn't be more pleased. Not because she liked Christmas, although she did, but because it was the day of the ball. Her relief was only partly down to excitement though, and mostly due to her growing impatience with Lily and Alice's constant nattering about it. She had thought it might abate a bit after she agreed to go dress shopping with them. However, the feverish discussions about who was going with who and what people would be wearing had carried on for a further two weeks after Aisling had picked out her dress, and she had found herself desperately hoping that Christmas would roll around sooner rather than later.

It was weird though, they'd had balls like this before and never had Aisling noticed such anticipation among the girls in her year. She largely suspected that this was due to the increasing interest in boys; as it was now more embarrassing be going without a date than with one. The girls in their dorm constantly discussed who their dates were and how they had asked or been asked respectively. The only part of this that Aisling semi-enjoyed listening to was who Lily was going with.

"You're going with Remus?" Alice had squealed when Lily told them.

"Yeah, we're friends. And it will piss Potter right off, won't it." Lily said, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

Of course, there were those who were going without dates. Mary Macdonald had enviously commented on how Aisling was 'So lucky to be going with Sam Matthews.' All Aisling could do was awkwardly smile. It wasn't that she didn't want to go with Sam; it was more the fact that she knew that, if given the choice, she would have definitely gone with Sirius. He was, Aisling had found out from Lily, going with Marlene McKinnon.

Alice and Lily had tried to gently probe Aisling on the rift between her and Sirius. But she had steadfastly refused to talk about it in any great detail, she was embarrassed. She had a sneaking suspicion that Alice already knew, or had at least guessed, what had happened between them on the night of the quidditch match. But she was unwilling to confirm or deny any of her suspicions. Also, and it pained her to admit this, her memories of the night felt special, and private. She was reluctant to share them with anyone, even her best friends.

But still, despite not being as excited as her friends, Aisling was looking forward to the ball. She loved dancing, and Dumbledore always went out of his way to make the decorations and entertainment more impressive than the last. As she stood in front of the mirror and smoothed out her dress, she could hear Alice and Lily coming up the stairs to the dormitory.

"Oh Ash! I almost forgot how pretty the dress was!" She heard Alice gasp and turned around to face her.

Alice herself was wearing a long, yellow dress and had her blonde fringe twisted up and pinned pack with a bobby pin which Lily had lent her. The dress was so very Alice, the bright colour and floaty material perfectly embodying Alice's chirpy nature.

Then Aisling's eyes moved over to Lily, who was wearing a green dress which perfectly complimented her eyes. Her red hair was twisted up into an elegant bun with some strands falling out and framing her beaming face.

And then Aisling turned back to the mirror and looked at herself again. Despite a certain dislike of wearing dresses, being much more comfortable in jeans, she had to admit that this one was very nice indeed. The blue fabric had a purple tinge to it from the material underneath and the dress was made of chiffon that was so thin and silky it had an almost fluid-like feel to it which made it very comfortable and easy to move around in. This was a definite bonus, as most dresses she had been forced to wear over the years had been extremely uncomfortable. Aisling grimaced as she remembered the bridesmaid's dress that she had been forced to wear for her cousin's wedding; and Aisling used the term 'dress' very loosely, it was more like a topaz coloured meringue with holes for her head and arms. Her grimace turned into a smirk as she recalled her cousin's face when she saw that Aisling had somehow made the dress about five sizes too big, and changed it from a sickly orange colour to jet black.