Him - A Harry Potter Love Story

Chapter Thirteen

After the meeting with Dumbledore, I spent the night without sleep. I could just feel that they had talked about something in that other room that I couldn't know, and the last thing I wanted to do was to pry at Harry. I stayed quiet, but I couldn't stop thinking about what it was.

I knew that You-Know-Who was somehow getting into my mind...did Dumbledore know what he intended to do? Was he trying to get information, trying to get closer to Harry?

But...he had to have been in Harry's mind already. Until now, You-Know-Who shouldn't have had any idea who I was.

Although I was constantly stressed about the vision/blackout things, everything finally started to slow down with that as the Yule Ball neared. I had recently been asked by Dean in the common room, when Harry mentioned it at dinner.

"Aw, you still haven't gotten a date?" I asked when he brought it up.

"No...but...well, maybe-maybe you would want to go with me?" he asked nervously. I silently cursed myself for saying yes to Dean...part of me wanted to wait, to see if Harry would ask, but I didn't think it would be possible...

"Harry...I'm so sorry, I-I already was asked," I sighed, placing a hand on his. "I swear I would go with you, it's just...Dean was so sweet about it, I don't want to go and tell him I changed my mind."

"Oh, of course. No, I understand," he said quickly, obviously trying to hide his disappointment. "I mean, it's only a week away, I should've asked you sooner."

I blushed a little, not finding the right words to reply with. He seemed pretty upset he couldn't go with me...

••••••••••

A week later, Hermione and I got ready together for the ball. We were both incredibly excited, having never been to a dance at muggle schools, given we came here at when we were eleven. I took my dress out of my trunk, rushing into the bathroom to change.

I looked at myself in the long mirror that was put on the door, smiling.

It was a full-length gown, a soft baby-blue color. Lace covered my collarbones and about half of my back, traveling down into three-quarter length sleeves. The torso was made of incredibly smooth silk, switching to a slightly thinner but rougher fabric at the waist. I took a quick look at my face, taking a deep breath and deciding I wasn't going to wear makeup. I never had, and I never wanted to - I didn't want to change anything, even for tonight. I had gone to Hogsmeade with Hermione earlier for a hair appointment, and my natural brown waves were now a deeper rich brown, and straight and silky. My hair, having been down to my elbows already, now somehow looked at least three inches longer.

I stepped out of the bathroom, not able to remove the smile from my face. Hermione let out a gasp the moment she looked up from her trunk, which had her own dress folded on top of.

"Cassie, you look beautiful!" She exclaimed. Our other roommates all agreed right away, complimenting the dress.

"Where did you get the dress?" Hermione asked, walking over and touching one of the sleeves.

"Well, I saw this in a small little dress store I was at with my dad when I was...I don't know, maybe ten," I said, chuckling. "I looked at it and begged him for a full ten minutes for it, saying I'd use it one day...and I'm getting to now."

Hermione smiled. She knew what had happened, so she understood how special it was to me to wear it. She glanced over at a small jewelry box on her bedside table, rushing over to open it. When she turned back, she had small dangling crystal snowflake earrings in her palm.

"Wow," I said softly, moving forward to touch them. "These are...beautiful.

"I want you to wear them," she told me. "They look perfect with your dress."