Callisto

9

The whole castle was full of people whispering about the dance, and Callisto unexpectedly got several proposals, but turned them down, hoping that Jaron would ask. It was raining again outside, along with howling wind that shook the window panes. The girls sat together, talking about who they were going with. Louisa had had a boyfriend for a few months now, Tadhg Earnshaw, but the other two were a mystery.

"Are you going with anyone, Adele?" Callisto asked.

Adele rested her head in her hands. "I might ask Grace Nolan," she said, and Sarafina choked on her pumpkin juice and had to be thumped on the back.

"What?" Adele asked.

"Well – you can't ask a girl!"

"Why not?" She challenged, and she spluttered. "Because people will talk!"

"So? They talk about me enough anyway, like you two did. And I like Grace."

Sarafina tossed her head haughtily, though she was still pink in the face. "Well, do what you want."

"I will."

"Good," Sarafina crossed her arms, cheeks still coloured.

"Who are you going with, Sarafina?"

"I'll find somebody," she said stiffly.

There was something up, and Louisa was gentle. "Of course you will. You're gorgeous, and you are too, Callisto."

Callisto blushed and ducked her head.

"Honestly. No wonder Jaron Travers likes you."

She wondered what her friends would say if they knew the truth. She wondered what Jaron would say. She imagined them laughing, all their faces around her, laughing at the gay boy who thought he was a girl....

"Nobody knows who Fleur Delacour is going with yet," Sarafina said, her voice bringing Callisto back to reality. "But Krum is going with Hermione Granger."

"What about Cedric?" Callisto asked, rather hopefully.

"Cho Chang. They've been going out with each other for months, haven't you heard?"

Callisto didn't keep up with the castle gossip, and shrugged.

"Like you care anyway," Adele nudged her. "Not with perfect Jaron. Is he a good kisser, Cal?"

She gave an embarrassed laugh. "I don't know. Yes. Well, we kissed once."

"Perfect perfect Jaron," Louisa sighed again. "You're so lucky."

Jaron did ask her to the dance, and she accepted quickly. Contrary to her words, Adele didn't ask Grace, nor anyone else. She got plenty of offers from boys, but turned them all down. Sarafina, too, was slow to find a date, and was absolutely frozen solid when none other than Fleur Delacour asked her, in front of everybody in the Great Hall.

She stared at her for a good ten seconds, her mouth opening but no sound coming out, and everyone's eyes were on her.

"I'm not....I mean – I'm –"

"I understand," Fleur said. She sounded a little disappointed, though she offered a bright smile. Sarafina turned even redder, and she watched her as she drifted away and the entire Hall stared after her.

"Wow," Louisa said at last, as the entire Hall burst into chatter.

"I thought you liked her," Callisto said in surprise, turning to Sarafina.

Sarafina turned around so fast that her long braid whipped in the air. "Not like that!"

"Oh okay," she said, confused. "You just seem....flustered around her."

Sarafina was still burning red. "I'm not a lesbian," she said stiffly.

Louisa raised her eyebrows. "Nobody said you were."

"Yeah well – I'm not," she said, then stood from the bench and swung her bag onto her back. "I'm going to the library, okay? Homework."

"Okay," Louisa and Callisto echoed, and then the former turned to her.

"What the hell is up with her?"

"Um," said Callisto, who thought she knew all too well. "I don't know."

The ball was all anybody talked about, morning noon and night, until Professor McGonagall announced that she would happily throttle any student who next mentioned the words "Yule Ball" in her classroom.

Now that November was almost over, people were talking about what they were going to wear. Draco wrote home for a new set of dress robes, and Callisto received a special package from her mother at the same time.

She opened it slowly, revealing soft folds of something blue. There were matching shoes too, soft flat ones as she found it hard to walk in high heels, never mind dance, and a short handwritten note from Narcissa .

What's this I hear about a boy? Love from Mother xxx

Callisto paused, then wrote on the back of it.

His name's Jaron Travers, not that Travers. He's in my year, but Ravenclaw. We're going to the dance together.

The reply came back a half hour later, Have fun darling, but please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt.

Callisto felt like she was in a dream for the next few weeks. She had become rapidly known around the castle as Jaron Travers' girlfriend, and she found herself so happy that nothing brought her down. He was funny, and cute too, smart without being a know it all, confident without being arrogant. Callisto had never had a boyfriend before, nor had she ever kissed anyone, but soon found that she was making up for that a lot, though Jaron often got overexcited. More than once she had to stop his wandering hands, feeling queasy at the thought of him discovering that the two lumps on her chest were just padding, or that she used special underwear to flatten her genitals. She felt guilty deceiving him, but the thought of telling anyone made her terrified. She worried that she was too inexperienced for Jaron, who'd had a few girlfriends, too quiet for his loud personality, and that things were moving too fast.

But Jaron didn't seem to mind her being shy. He said she was different from the other girls, and that was had drawn him to her in the first place, and she couldn't help but glow at those words. She felt herself getting more and more nervous as the Yule Ball approached, especially because she couldn't dance properly.

Sarafina was still extraordinarily pissed off, biting the heads off people when they so much as mentioned the Fleur Delacour thing. Her friends just raised their eyebrows and refrained from talking about her, and it looked like she was going without a date.