𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨 (𝖽𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗅𝖿𝗈𝗒 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋)

seven

My eyes flashed open as a scream echoed throughout my dorm room.

"It's December 24th!" Fawn yelled. "That means the Yule Ball is today!"

Courtney and our other dorm mate, Kayla, dashed out of bed to go freak out with Fawn. I just put a pillow over my head and closed my eyes.

However, my serenity was short-lived, as Fawn decided to literally pull me out of bed.

I landed on the floor and glared at her. She pulled me up and smiled. "Come on, Y/n, it's the day of the ball! How are you not excited?"

"I don't know, maybe because I don't want to go?"

Courtney gasped, pretending to be hurt. "You're going with Draco Malfoy! How could you not want to go? He's the Slytherin Prince! He's blond, for Merlin's sake!"

". . . And?"

Fawn fell onto my bed, clutching her heart. "I remember when we dated. He was such a heartthrob."

"Ew."

"Ooh, he's going to kiss you!" Kayla squealed.

"Uh, I hope not. Guys, can we all calm down? It's Winter Break. We can go to Hogsmeade, or play in the snow, or even walk around the Black Lake."

"That sounds fun, but we're going to talk about the Yule Ball the whole time," Fawn said.

"As long as we're out of the castle."

~~~

It turns out they weren't kidding.

By the time we got back from Hogsmeade, our pockets full of candy and our wallets empty, I had a throbbing headache from the girls' squealing. Sean McLaggen and Blaise Zabini, a fourth-year Slytherin, met up with us and my two friends left to join their dates. That left me with Kayla, who, although very nice, I don't know very well.

"Who are you going to the ball with?" I asked, trying to dissolve the awkward silence.

"I'm going with a guy from Durmstrang."

"Oh, cool."

"Yeah."

More silence.

"How about the weather?"

~~~

Around six, two hours before the ball started, Fawn, Courtney, and Kayla started getting ready. First showering, then makeup, then dress robes, finally, hair and other random touch-up stuff.

"Y/n, don't you need to get ready?" Courtney asked, genuinely worried.

"Probably, but whatever. I'll be fine."

There was a knock on the door, and since I was the only one without product all over my hands/face, I opened it. A third-year Hufflepuff girl was standing there, sparkles in her eyes. "Your boyfriend is outside the door, he wanted to talk to you before the ball."

"My boyfriend? Who--oh, no. Okay, thanks for telling me."

"Who is it, Y/n?" Fawn shouted.

"Just something for me."

I followed the little girl down the stairs and walked out the door while she went to the couch.

"Malfoy, what do you want?"

"Well, um, I needed to tell you that tonight, you can do whatever, I don't really care if you embarrass me as long as you enjoy yourself."

"I'm not going to dance except for when you need me to for your reputation."

"Oh, uh." Draco seemed surprised. "Really? Why?"

"I just don't like dancing."

"Okay, I'll see you at the grand staircase near the doors leading into the Great Hall."

I sighed and walked back into the Hufflepuff common room, then back up to my dorm. My wristwatch read 7:14 p.m. Fawn would kill me if I didn't start getting ready.

I dashed into my dorm and quickly threw on my dress robes.

~~~

I slowly made my way down the stairs, my heels clicking lightly and my dress robes held up by my hand so I wouldn't trip. The grey fabric was soft against my legs, and I liked how the color gave me a sort of 'zombie' aura. My hair was left untouched, just brushed. I had little makeup on, thanks to Courtney.

A head of white-blond hair stood at the bottom of the stairs, turned around so I couldn't see his face. I took a deep breath, and tapped on Draco's shoulder.

He turned his head and his eyes widened and he looked me up and down.

"You're beautiful. . . ."

I was surprised by his compliment, until he, in a hurry, added on the losing comment: "For now, at least."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course, I can't expect the Draco Malfoy to be nice, even for one night."

He ignored my comment and stuck out his arm. I grabbed it and we entered the Great Hall.

I was stunned. There were giant Christmas trees, covered in snow and lit up by candles, standing at the front of the hall. There was a giant tree in the middle, with two on each side.

Fairies fluttered around the ceiling, holding candles for light and blowing flower petals everywhere to make the room smell like roses. The whole room was dimly lit, just enough so we could see.

There were tables of food and drinks that never ran out. Circular tables with chairs were placed around the hall so that people could sit, but Dumbledore stood up and, using his wand, softly pushed the tables toward the sides of the rooms so we could dance.

The music was playing quietly, but it stopped as the Champions entered the room with their dance partners. They started dancing with the music and the other students slowly started joining in. Soon, almost everybody was swaying to the rhythm and spinning around with their partner.

Draco extended his hand, and I took it. He led me to the middle of them room, and we started dancing with the other students.

The song ended, but we kept spinning. It almost seemed that we were floating, and, even though I barely knew how to dance, I made few mistakes.

We danced for a lot longer than I had expected us to. I looked up at Draco as my feet started hurting, and he just gazed into my eyes.

Suddenly, Courtney ran over, crying. Her mascara was running down her face and her makeup was smudged. She grabbed my hand and we left the ball.

(a/n: omg okay im so sorry you guys hate fawn and courtney so much i- okay. i wrote them intending for them to be gOod friends but i guess i didn't do a good job uh. sorry :/ if you really hate them that much,, you dont have to read this. i don't enjoy getting all the comments about how much you hate them. anyway, thanks for reading this far! stay wonderful~)