In My Dreams [Draco Malfoy]

chapter eleven: the yule ball

INDIGO

By five o'clock in the evening on Christmas Day, most of the girls Fourth Year and older had disappeared into their respective dorms and begun getting ready for the Ball. Su Li and I were among them but Aria had opted to take her dress (which I had left ironed on her bed last night) to the Hufflepuff Common Room and get dressed with Sally-Anne Perks.

I was disappointed not to see my best friend, and confused why she had been so angry with me. Not liking Draco and wishing I wouldn't date him was one thing, but it had felt bigger than that, and I had the increasingly intense suspicion that I was the only one who didn't know why.

As I attempted to do something with my mane of curls for once, I tried to work out why she had been so mad, much to no avail. Su Li was sitting beside me, brushing on her second or third coat of mascara, and, once I had gotten the large spirals into a relatively neat style, she turned and looked at me.

"You didn't do anything wrong," she said gently, as if my thoughts were as clear to her as the print in a book. "Even if Aria disagrees," she went on, "there's nothing wrong with trying to see the good in people."

I frowned. "Was it worth it though?" I asked. "I may not understand what I did to upset her so much, but that was the angriest I've seen her in a long time."

Like I had suspected, Su Li seemed to understand, but didn't try to clear up any of my own confusion. This, of course, only increased my frustration. But Su Li just said, "I'm sure Aria just needs some time to cool down." Then she grinned and added, "Besides, you know too much about each other to get rid of one another."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Yes, of course. I almost forgot."

Su Li smiled and gave me a gentle bump with her shoulder.

We got back to work and had just finished when Padma walked into the room, dazzling in robes of bright turquoise.

"Padma, you look so pretty!" I exclaimed.

"Thank you," she said.

"Do you have a date?" asked Su Li.

"Yes," said Padma. "I'm going with Ron Weasley."

I gaped at her. "W-... What?" I asked. "I didn't even know you and Ron talked."

"We don't," she sighed. "Harry needed a date for Ball because of some kind of champion tradition and he asked Parvati, but he was looking for a date for Ron too and she asked me if I wanted to go with him."

"Are you excited at least?" I asked.

She shrugged as if to say 'meh,' then asked, "Who are you two going with?"

"I'm going with Nikolai Anev," I said.

"That awkward Durmstrang boy?" asked Mandy Brocklehurst, who was bent over to buckle her shoe across the room.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said.

"What about you, Su Li?" asked Padma.

Su Li lifted her chin. "I'm going with Aria," she declared. "I just have to escort Sleeping Beauty to her knight in shining armor, then I'll go to find her."

I laughed. "Who needs a man when I have you in my life?" I asked.

Su Li grinned and took my hand, dipping into a theatrical bow to kiss it. "At your service, milady."

We laughed.

Ten minutes later, with Mandy and Padma in tow, the four of us walked down to the Common Room, where several of the Fourth and Fifth Year boys were waiting for their own dates. Some of them looked like they were going to be sick, others were dramatically showering the girls with compliments and applauding every time one came down. Ravenclaw's heart-throb, Oliver Rivers, was going with Mandy, and they had dressed to match, both wearing shades of butter yellow.