Cardigans are Cool

Dancing

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard tournament since its inception." It was the day after Ron had received the (unwanted) present from his mother and to his disappointment, all his questions were answered. "On Christmas Eve night we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity." There was a silence as the Gryffindor's surrounding her furrowed their eyebrows at the use of the word frivolity. "As representatives of the host school I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally, because the Yule Ball is first and foremost... a dance!" At this the girls burst into excitement, Hermione and Lilah grinning at each other, amused. This was gonna be interesting. On the other side of the hall the boys moaned, disgusted at the idea of having to dance in front of the whole school.

"Silence!" McGonagall shouted waving her hands in the air. "The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling bumbling band of baboons." At this Lilah fell into hysterics. Hermione shoved Lilah's shoulder, trying not to laugh herself.

"Try saying that five times faster." Fred whispered to George only making Lilah laugh more. McGonagall shot her a look and she instantly stopped; Minerva was the only person that could intimidate Lilah.

"Now, to dance is to let the body breathe." McGonagall pointed towards the girls. "Inside every girl, a secret swan who slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight." The girl's eyes shined at this. Lilah flipped her hair sassily, making her friends cheer.

"Thank you for that, Delilah." McGonagall said, amused.

"Something's about to burst out of Hillary but I don't think it's a swan!" Ron muttered to Harry and Seamus looking towards a tall brunette girl standing on the furthest bench, receiving giggles in return.

"Inside every boy, a lordly lion prepared to prance." Ron's eyes widened as he looked towards McGonagall. "Mr Weasley..." she said walking towards him.

"...Yes?" he replied quietly dodging her eye contact.

"Will you join me please?" She grabbed the shoulder of his jumper as he rose to his feet.

"This is going to be fun." Lilah whispered to Hermione, laughing again.

McGonagall continued to teach Ron the dance they would need to prepare, the room erupting in laughter at the awkward atmosphere, the twins wolf whistling their little brother.

"Everybody, come together!" Every single girl raised at this walking to the centre of the room.

"Boys! On your feet!" The boys stayed sat, embarrassed. However, one boy looked around wistfully, standing up.

"Neville!" Lilah shouted running to him. "May I have this dance?" She bowed before him offering him her hand.

"Yeah...alright." He replied, smiling warmly at her. Neville placed one hand on her waist, and the other took her hand, as Lilah rested her hand on his shoulder. Flich started the Gramophone, and the two waltzed around the room, giggling to themselves. McGonagall grinned proudly at the two's good spirits, and after a lot of convincing from Delilah, the rest of the room eventually found pairs, and everyone was dancing around the room. McGonagall clasped her hands together triumphantly, sending a wide grin towards her niece, who happily returned it.

Later that day, Noah, Lilah, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the twins sat studying together, the room under Snape's dictatorship. 

"This is mad. At this rate we'll be the only ones in our year without dates." Ron complained. As if on cue, Snape appeared behind him and smacked him on the back of the head with a book. Noah winced, feeling sorry for the boy, while Lilah sent a look that could kill to Snape himself. "Well, it'll be us and Neville!" He finished when their Dracula-esque teacher had strode away.

"Ron, Neville's already got someone! Me and Noah did a bit of matchmaking." Lilah responded with a wink. Ron's face dropped when he saw Snape's figure looming behind Lilah, book in hand. Lilah instantly clocked on.

"DON'T... touch me." She scolded, not bothering to turn round. Snape withdrew his book.

"Don't speak to me like that, Valis." He said, and she turned round, looking at him, a bored expression on her face.

"Don't speak to me, PERIOD. PLEASE." She said, raising an eyebrow. Everyone looked on in horror. Delilah was perhaps the only student in the school that wasn't terrified of the man. However, Snape was all too used to Delilah acting up in his class - she'd had enough of how he mistreated students, particularly Harry. She saw him as childish and petty, and she'd do anything in her power to make sure he knew it. "Spare me the lecture, I know. Detention at 5pm. Just go away, I'm begging you." She said, dismissively waving her hand. He decided not to argue, since he knew she wouldn't stop. Snape turned on his heel, and walked to the front of the class, avoiding Delilah's furious gaze.

"Delilah Valis, your best talent is destroying talented men's potentials." Harry said, sniggering.

"You call him talented?" Noah scoffed. She looked down on the man just as much as her sister. "He's just a boy who gets a kick from talking down to a room of kids." She finished, her sister nodding in agreement.

"Anyway, NEVILLE has a date?" Ron asked. The girls nodded. "Well, now I'm really depressed." At this, Fred hands his brother a note. Ron unfolds it, and it said, 'GET A MOVE ON OR THE GOOD ONES WILL HAVE GONE!!!'. 

"Alright, well... Hermione! You're a girl." Ron said. Lilah and Noah instantly facepalmed, knowing what the clueless boy was about to do.

"Oh, well spotted." Hermione spat, looking offended. Ron proceeded to make the situation worse.

"Well, it's one thing for a bloke to go alone. For a girl, it's just sad." He said. Lilah and Noah cringed behind their hands at Ron's baffling ability to be a huge prick without even realising it.

"Well, I won't be going alone, because believe it or not, someone's asked me! And I said yes." She snapped, taking her things and storming off. 

"Ron, you absolute bellend." Lilah sighed, her sister still with her head in her hands.

"Look. we've just got to grit our teeth, and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room, we'll both have dates. Agreed?"

"Yeah, good luck with that one, Ronald." Noah muttered, earning a glare from Ron.

"Agreed." Harry replied.