A witch's heart [Draco Malfoy x oc]

Searching for a ball partner 'cause i have to

Finding a partner was way harder than Laurel had said. She told me to just ask a boy I found cute, just like she had done it, but I had already asked three people and they all had declined - Jason had a girlfriend, John didn't want to do the first dance and Mitchell already had a partner.

Cecily was having about as many problems finding a partner as Laurel, time was running and I still didn't have a partner. One day before Slughorns Christmas party, I saw Harry walking hand in hand with his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. They looked adorable.

"Ehrm, Harry, do you have a minute?", I asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Remember when you told my of the Yule ball in your fourth year? How exactly did you get a partner?"
"It was a last minute decision - I was lucky. But this time, Ginny asked me first, right after the information was made public ... but I actually wanted to ask her myself."
"He always takes long to ask that kind of stuff, so I decided to do it", Ginny whispered in stage volume.
I grinned.
"You guys are adorable ... anyways, I gotta go. Thanks, Harry."

I hurried my way to Malfoy and came - to my surprise - ten minutes early.
Malfoy's platinum blonde eyebrow rose. "You're already here?"
"Yes", I replied, sat down and wanted to start working, but Malfoy stopped me. "It's not time to work yet. I planned everything, so don't start yet."
I shrugged and put my quill back into my bag.

"Did you find a partner?"

Again that horrible question. Everyone seems to ask me that. The boys I had asked before so they wouldn't feel bad for rejecting me (Hufflepuff boys were really sweet), Cecily, Laurel ... and now Malfoy. Why did he bother anyways?

"No."

"Then I have an offer to make : Blaise Zabini."

"Who's that?"

Malfoy smiled. "You don't know who he is?"

I shook my head.

He grinned. "That's going to hurt his ego."

I frowned. "What kind of person is Blaise anyways?

"Arrogant. He thinks of himself above all - well, maybe not his mother. He does not care about what people think, no matter how powerful they are. His face is almost as handsome as mine, he's a decent dancer and very, very honest. If you don't look good the day after tomorrow he will bluntly tell you, unless he thinks he'll benefit from flattering you - but I don't think he will ... yes, that sums up Mr. Zabini quite well."

I nodded. Arrogant as hell, but a decent dancer. I could deal with that. "Alright, please tell him, I'd like to go to the ball with him."

Malfoy nodded, threw a look at the clock on the wall and waited until it shifted from 19:59  to 20:00.

"Take your quill out, the lesson has started."

+

For the Yule ball I needed a partner, but not for Slughorns Christmas party. Laurel had managed to dress up and do my, Cecily and her own hair in a matter of two hours. Magic or not, her speed at doing things beautifully was extraordinary.

"Are you done with your makeup?", Laurel asked when she was done with hers.

Cecily nodded. Her long midnight blue dress complimented her eyes. The dress was a simple slip dress apart from the bottom looking like it was made of blue smoke. "Laurel I love you, but ... I think we're a little overdressed."

Laurel, who was wearing a pearl white dress, the style inspire by the fifties, shook her head. "The dress may be a bit more eye catching - " Cecily snorted - "but I kept it simple with your hair. It's open and straight, nothing fancy."
Cecily picked out a glitter extension of hair. She had at least five or six of them on her head. "This is what you call simple?"
Laurel shrugged. "I had to do something, C-lily, I couldn't just leave it like this. Also, if anything, the others are underdressed - we are most certainly not overdressed."

+

In front of the entrance stood Mr. Filch the caretaker. He was checking if everyone had an invitation - apparently there had been unwanted guests coming the past years, so Filch personally requested Slughorn to give out invitations. However, Slughorn would always end up letting people without invitation enter, as long as they had some manners and morals.
"The invitation", Filch sneered, and we pulled out our invitations from the pockets Laurel sewed into the dresses.
"Ah, the three of you are here ... Laurel dear, I invited Amalia Orlov, the fashion designer you like so much. She is the lady in the black gown with the fur - cape. Prepare to summon your sketchbook here if she asks you."

Laurels grin was as wide as humanly possible. She gave the professor a hug. "Thank you, Uncle!" Slughorn patted her back. "No problem."

+

"Mrs. Orlov?"
The black haired lady turned around. "Yes?"
There was an accent in her voice but I couldn't quite name where it came from based off of one word. Her last name sounded like it came from Russia, so that might be the accent.

"My name is Laurel Slughorn, I am a big fan of yours. It is such an honor to meet you."
Amalia Orlov smiled and replied in Russian.

We're screwed, I thought.

But then Cecily said something to Mrs. Orlov - in very fluent sounding Russian. The fashion designer nodded to whatever Cecily had said.

"She understands English, so I will just be translating to you when she replies in Russian. Oh, and she just said that she's delighted to meet the new generation fashion designers."

Laurel nodded, and Amalia Orlov said something in Russian. "She asks if you made our dresses", Cecily translated.

"Yes, as well as their hair."

Mrs. Orlov said something again, and Cecily translated : "she'd like to see your sketchbook."

Laurel nodded, and vanished in the crowd, striding toward the door so the flying sketchbook wouldn't hit anyone.

Orlov said something to Cecily and strode towards the door Laurel was standing next to. "We're not following them?", I asked. Cecily shook her head. "No. Amalia wanted to talk with Laurel alone, even if her English is a bit broken. She told me I couldn't translate the fashion terms anyways, which is true, but I'm worried. She's way too stubborn."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you know each other?"

Cecily made a face. "She's my cousin."