The Little Lightning Girl

29-The Tri-Wizard Ball: An Uncomfortable Arrangement

Maybe it was because I actually only spent one semester at Hogwarts instead of two, but the months at the castle went by far too quickly for my liking. Before I knew it, exams were over and we only had another five days to spend at the castle. For some reason, in the past decade, they'd decided to start hosting a ball at Hogwarts two days before the end of the term. Only fourth year students and above were allowed to attend, so this was our first year we were able to go. Every other year, we'd been stuck in the common room, watching all the older students laughing and getting dressed up. When I asked Rose about it, she mentioned something about a Tri-Wizard Tournament, and how it had been abolished and replaced with a dance. When she'd told me the name, I suppose I deserved the smack I'd gotten after mentioning how uncomfortable it must be for three wizards to share one 'ball' between them.

I didn't really know what it was, but I knew that wizards from all over Europe were coming to Hogwarts in a few days' time.

I wasn't even planning on attending before the Marauders practically hog-tied me outside of the castle one morning.

Rose, Kaley, and I were walking towards Hogsmeade when the Marauders came up in front us and forced us to stop.

"Hello, Ladies!" Fred started, a wild grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes, "What do you want?"

Fred frowned, "That was not the reaction to my presence I was hoping for."

I smirked and tried to walk through the gap between him and James but James, who I thought was my friend, took a step and closed the window.

"Seriously, what do you guys want?"

With the cockiest smile I'd ever seen in my life, James swung one leg behind him and sketched a bow towards my blonde friend, whose eyebrows rose near her hairline when he spoke, "We come to ask you three lovely ladies to the ball."

Now my eyebrows raised through the roof and I looked between the boys, "Seriously? Did you leave Louis to fend for himself, then?"

Frank was standing further away with his hands tucked in his pockets, a grimace on his face when he said, "Louis had already got a date, and Fred said you guys didn't, so..."

"Honestly, we weren't planning on going," Kaley admitted.

James finally stood from his bow, "Would you consider re-planning?"

I was surprised he didn't shirk from her glare, instead James sighed, "Mum and dad are forcing me to go, and I figured we'd ask you cause you guys are more fun than half the other girls in this school."

I nodded, finally understanding his last minute desperation. I turned to the girls and found Kaley frowning and Rose wincing. After a significant amount of staring, Rose threw her hands in the air, "I've already got a date."

I gasped, "You hadn't told us! You prat! Who is it?"

She ducked her head and mumbled a name so quickly and quietly that even I couldn't decipher it. She must've been truly embarrassed to be holding out this long and this firmly. 

"Come on, cough it up," Kaley pushed, literally shoved Rose's arm.

Rose hid her face in the sleeve of her robes but said a little clearer, "Malfoy."

I scoffed in amusement at the red head, "You're going with Scorpius Malfoy?"

She groaned and tilted her head towards the sky, "Yes! It's awful and dad's gonna kill me. But he asked and no one else had and I just figured... I don't know. There are worse people in Hogwarts."

Meanwhile, Kaley and I were grinning like fools, having sensed a crush between the two since first year. Even though Rose had started out her Hogwarts years loathing the blond Slytherin, we'd all gotten closer by now, and I knew she'd started to look at him differently.