𝑈𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 ☾ 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦

Dress Robes! ☾ 4-06

Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, I chatted with Cho about her latest conversations with Cedric. I smiled as she blushed furiously. He obviously liked her, and it was no surprise that she returned his feelings. I took a long sip of my pumpkin juice as Padma snickered beside me. She nudged me and pointed behind Cho as we all turned to look. Harry was very blatantly staring at Cho and I snickered behind my hand as he attempted to smile, instead pouring a bit of pumpkin juice out of his mouth. As we laughed, she smiled at him awkwardly before turning back to us.

"So, Potter and Diggory, eh Chang?" Stretton commented from farther down the table.

"Give him a smack for me, will you Davies?" Cho asked his best friend, who was too busy staring at Fleur Delacour to notice anything. I rolled my eyes at Roger's infatuation and turned back to our conversation. It was once more interrupted, and we all turned to look toward the Gryffindor table.

"Look at this!" Hermione cried. She smacked the Daily Prophet down on the table and I excused myself from my housemates. I walked over and sat beside her as she began to read Skeeter's newest article from the newspaper.

"Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards, as does her good girl-friend Aurora Whitethorn." Ron raised an eyebrow. My hair turned bright pink at the mention of my name, and I continued to read for her.

"While Miss Granger has been seen multiple times fraternizing with Triwizard Champion Harry Potter, Miss Whitethorn's latest prey is none other than Bulgarian bonbon, Viktor Krum?!" My face turned furiously red as Harry giggled behind his goblet of pumpkin juice. Thankfully, Nigel Wolpert interrupted my embarrassment with a large package in his hands.

"Parcel for you, Mr. Weasley." He said, handing Ron the large box. He took it and Harry raised an eyebrow as the second-year student stood their expectantly. Nigel stared at Harry with starry eyes and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Ron whispered something to the young boy, and elbowed him away. Dissappointed, Nigel ran back out of the great hall.

"I told him I'd get him Harry's autograph." Ron explained, tugging at the string keeping the package together. We all leaned in to see what he got. "Oh, look. Mum sent me something!" He tore away the paper as we all waited. Hermione put the lid of the box aside as Ron pulled out a frilly brown coat covered in lace and pink-ish fringe. My hair turned bright yellow as I grinned. I knew exactly was Mrs. Weasley had sent. Ron stood and held it out in front of him, a terrified expression on his face. I heard giggles from other tables and almost everyone watched as he held it up.

"Mum sent me a dress!" He cried in disbelief. I started to laugh at the claim, waiting for him to figure it out. The rest of the great hall followed suit.

"It does match your eyes," Harry joked, searching inside the box. "Is there a bonnet?" He held up a lace collar with a bow-tie attached. "Aha!" He held it up to Ron and the ginger smacked it away. The laughs from other tables began to increase as I started crying of laughter. Hermione began to laugh from beside me.

"Ginny, these must be for you." Ron claimed, walking over to his younger sister. She looked him up and down.

"I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly!" Hermione's laughs matched mine at this point and we both doubled over.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked, turning to us with a sour expression on his face.

"They're not for Ginny, they're for you!" I cried, wiping the tears from my eyes. Fred and George were rolling on the ground, laughing farther down the table. Ron glared at the five of us, still trying to keep ourselves together. I noticed Malfoy scoff from the Slytherin table.

"They're dress robes!" Hermione explained with a giggle. Ron's face twisted in disbelief.

"Dress robes? For what?!"

-

We were all piled into bleachers in a large room, separated into two sides. Boys and girls. I watched as students from each house were filed into the room. Draco sat down almost opposite to me, and I looked away. McGonagall walked to the middle of the room after arguing with Filch about the unnecessarily giant phonograph he set up.

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard tournament since its inception. On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the great hall for a night of well-mannered... 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."

The room broke out into excited whispers from the girls, and mutters and moans from the boys. I snickered at Ron, watching him roll his eyes dramatically. I expected each house to be taught separately by our Head of House, but apparently McGonagall had taken the bullet for each Flitwick, Snape and Sprout. I snickered at the image of Snape trying to teach the Slytherins how to dance.

"Silence!" McGonagall continued, "The Hogwarts houses have 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." I watched Fred and George whisper quickly to each other, laughing at whatever joke they made. "Now to dance, is to let the body... breathe. Inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight. Inside every boy a lordly lion prepared to prance, Mr. Weasley." Ron looked like he swallowed a frog as McGonagall approached him, cutting off whatever he was saying that made Seamus snicker so loudly.

"Yes..."

"Will you join me please?" Harry patted him on the back as he stood up, the boys whistling. They took up a dancing position, Ron hesitantly, and McGonagall signalled to Filch to start the music. They began to dance as McGonagall counted, and Ron looked like he was about to piss himself. Harry snickered next to Seamus as the twins began to spin around, mocking Ron. Harry whispered something to the twins that made them grin like bobcats.

McGonagall called everyone to pair up, and all the girls stood immediately. The boys remained seated, too embarrassed to do anything. Neville courageously stood, approaching Ginny and bowing as she took his hand with a blush. I sat back on the bleachers as I watched the girls approach the boys, some standing with a roll of their eyes, some remaining seated with a grumble.

I felt a tap on my shoulder as Stretton bowed dramatically in front of me. I knew he didn't like me like that, and I felt the same way, but it was better than being forced to dance with someone I didn't know. I took his hand with a mocking curtsy and we took up a position in the middle of the floor. Jeremy was a surprisingly good dancer, and we twirled around the floor. I laughed nearly the entire time, listening to him make snarky jokes about everyone else in the room. I saw Cho dancing with Cedric, and Harry dancing with an oblivious Luna. Hermione was still trying to get Ron to get up after his dance with McGonagall, and the twins had each paired off with Alicia and Angelina. I noticed Draco still sitting on the bleachers with an angry look on his face. He was continuously shaking off Pansy Parkinson, as she was attempting to practically drag him to the dance floor. He pushed her away, and she stormed out of the room. Blaise and Goyle snickered from behind Malfoy, and I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

As time went on, I noticed Draco was watching Stretton spin me around the room, and I blushed a little bit. Jeremy noticed my reaction and wiggled his eyebrows at me. I smacked his shoulder and he laughed, knowing that Draco and I weren't really on speaking terms at the moment. However, I felt Malfoy's eyes drill into my head as we continued to dance. As the music came to a stop, Jeremy dipped me dramatically. I laughed at his theatrics and he bowed low. He straightened and smirked, looking at Malfoy behind me. Stretton then gave my shoulder a squeeze as he and Davies followed the rest of the Ravenclaws out of the room. I raised my eyebrow at Draco and he straightened, realizing I was watching him. He gave no further reaction, so I hurried to catch up with Luna and Cho as they left the room.

☾

• EDIT: I wanted to take a second to thank snat2006 for voting for so many of my chapters! I really appreciate it. <3 •

Hehehehe. I love Stretton with all of my heart, but they're just friends I promise. Even though he's a bit of a flirt. I also love how Neville is so passionate about dancing... like what a cutie XD

- Z