The Girl Who Found Hope [2]

Year 4 - 22

That weekend Cassiopeia and Amelia went with Ginny and Hermione to Hogsmede. Everyone had the same idea, so the streets were packed. Especially the area outside the dress shop. Cassiopeia turned to see the other three looking fed up, but Cassiopeia just smiled.

"Come on, girlies." She told them.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"There's another dress shop that no one really knows about." Cassiopeia told them. They nodded and followed her as she led them through the streets. The dress shop came into view and the girls were happy to see that no one else was in there. The group all went in and went searching through the dresses. It took a long time, but in the end they all came out with a dress. Hermione got a nice pink periwinkle dress, Amelia got a nice blue dress, Ginny got a nice green and pink dress and Cassiopeia got a nice red dress. The girls also brought matching shoes, ready for the ball. They happily went to the Three Broomsticks and had a butterbeer together. They could see out the window that there was still a long queue for the other shop and were glad that they had finished that part of the day.

~*~

Draco and Cassiopeia hadn't been talking to each other for almost a month now, and it was the day before the Yule Ball. She couldn't tell whether he was even sorry. She hated not speaking to him, but he was the one that needed to apologise. Amelia could see her heart break all the time, so she attempted to do her best to keep her friend happy. So with the help of Hermione, Ginny and Bridgit they kept her as happy as they could. However, the happiness didn't last when the girls returned to their room. Amelia opened the door of her and Cassiopeia's dorm, Cassiopeia following behind her, and they were welcomed by the sight of Pansy ripping Cassiopeia's dress up.

"Pansy, what the hell?" Amelia asked loudly.

"I didn't want anything ruining my night. And that includes her taking Draco's attention away from me." Pansy replied, as she threw the dress onto the floor. She then stood and walked out the door, bardging the shoulders of the two girls. Before she went fully, she turned to Cassiopeia. "Good luck being a champion now." With those words she walked out of sight. Cassiopeia silently walked forwards and lifted the ruined dress off the floor.

"What am I going to do? The ball's tomorrow." Cassiopeia said, the defeat clear in her voice. "That's it. I'm not going."

"What do you mean you're not going? You have to go!" Amelia replied.

"What's the point? I'm obviously not wanted there." Cassiopeia replied. Amelia then walked forwards and took the dress from Cassiopeia's hands. She walked down to the common room, where she found her friends sitting in the corner.

"I need your help, Cass doesn't want to go to the ball anymore." Amelia told them.

"But she has to, she a champion. Our champion." Blaise replied.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Theodore asked. Amelia moved her hands so the ruined dress was shown to the boys. Their eyes widened.

"Who did that?" Draco asked.

"Pansy." Amelia told him. "But now she thinks that no one wants her there, so she shouldn't go."

"Right. Well we want her there so she must go. Go and see Snape, he'll allow an emergency visit to Hogsmede either tonight or tomorrow. If not, then I'm sure he'll allow you to leave the castle tonight to visit either your mother or Mrs Reid. Then you can get a dress and hopefully nothing can go wrong from there." Theodore said. Amelia nodded.

"I'll go and see him. One of you, or all of you, make sure that she doesn't leave the common room. Just incase we go tonight." She told them. They nodded and she rushed out of the portrait hole towards the office of her Head of House. When she got there, she explained the situation. Professor Snape was angry by the end of it. He hated that his goddaughter felt that she wasn't wanted at the Yule Ball hosted at her own school. He rushed to send a patronus to the Headmaster and paced as he waited for a response while also coming up with a punishment for Pansy. He almost jumped for joy when the Phoenix patronus returned saying that they could go. Him and Amelia then rushed to the Slytherin common room. When they enter, Amelia turned to the boys.