The Little Lightning Girl

31-I Discover That Flirting Should Remain In The Movies

Above is Alana's dress

The day of the Tri-Wizard Ball came, and the name was still funny. We'd decided to spend the majority of the day getting ready for the dance that evening. We'd been joined in our dorm by Lily Potter and her best friend Eleanora Yew. I'd run into the two second year girls in the common room and invited them to our room so they didn't have to sit in their dorm by themselves while everyone else had a good time.

It was decided that Kaley and Lily would do everyone's hair, since they were the best at it, Rose would do makeup(a surprising newfound talent of hers), and Eleanora and I would do our best to provide entertainment in between. There was a lot of dancing(I was alarmed to find that none of them knew the Macarena) and singing, and overall the five of us had a blast that day.

The dance was supposed to start at six, and thankfully, we just finished getting ready fifteen minutes prior. While Kaley and I were planning to meet James and Fred in the common room, Rose planned to meet up with Scorpius outside the Great Hall, so she left slightly earlier than Kaley and I.

Kaley had done her hair surprisingly simply for the occasion. Her golden hair was placed in soft curls, the sides pulled back by a fancy hair pin of sorts. With the golden-toned makeup and the pink dress, she truly looked like a princess of some sort.

She had even wrestled my hair from its braid and managed to tame it into a beautiful up-do, topped off with a gold hair piece that matched the leaves embroidered into my dress. With my eyes dusted in gold, my lips painted a pink color and a hint of blush on my cheeks... I had to admit that I didn't look half bad either. I'd even donned heels for the occasion. Granted, mine were only an inch off the ground but for a girl who usually wore sandals or tennis shoes, I figured this showed enough effort to be acceptable for the occasion.

At fifteen minutes until six, Kaley and I left the dorm.

She went down first, which gave me the opportunity to see James Potter's awestruck face when he beheld my friend descending the staircase. He wore classic black and white wizarding dress robes, but pulled them off remarkably well. His red-brown hair was actually combed neatly, for once, and when he took Kaley's arm in his, I saw the grace instilled in him by the forced dancing lessons that Kaley had mentioned.

When I saw Fred, I had to admit that the boy had really cleaned himself up well for the occasion. Dressed in similar clothes as James, he smiled at me as I walked down the stairs. But when I reached him, the first thing he did was tap his wand to his tie, changing it from black to pale pink, in order to match my dress. I laughed lightly and took his arm.

"You know, you look beautiful, Alana," Fred said as we left the common room behind James and Kaley.

I looked up at him, expecting to find some sort of humor in his face. But there was nothing but sincerity in his dark eyes, and for some reason it brought a blush to my cheeks. I hadn't ever had this kind of opportunity, with a boy. I had been more concerned with survival, enough that I could safely say I'd never flirted before.

"You look... er... nice, too," I managed to stutter. Gods of Olympus I was embarrassing myself. My debut to flirting was not going well. Thankfully, Fred had a sense of humor, and managed to laugh at my clumsy attempt at a compliment.

"So," I continued, hoping to improve the conversation, "did your parents make you take dancing lessons too?"

Fred shook his head, "No, my mum wanted us to, but dad was vehemently opposed. But Roxanne started taking them by choice after a while and needed someone to practice with, so I suppose I know enough about dancing."

I smiled at the image of young Fred and Roxanne dancing around the living room of the Burrow, which I'd had yet to visit.

"I'm assuming you never took ballroom dancing classes?" Fred asked.