Ella ○ Harry Potter

Forty Two: Seni Seviyorum Kadin

"Ella!" Cedric grinned at the morning of the Yule Ball. His girlfriend's frown was becoming a permanent feature on her face, and she refused to explain why she would frown so much or why she wouldn't step a toe inside the Slytherin common room.

"What," she sighed, turning away from the book she was reading. The Hufflepuffs all decided to ignore the fact she was from another house, either because Ella convinced them to (Cedric used the word "bribed" but Ella thought she was simply charismatic) or because they actually didn't mind.

"Come on, babe, cheer up," he nudged her as he fell onto the sofa next to her. "We're gonna dance all night, and be very happy away from Slytherins." She scowled still, and he pinched her cheeks, pulling them up so her face would seem a bit more smiling. "Here's my favorite smile in the world."

She grinned, curling closer into him. "Ced, you're lucky you're so cute."

"I often think that too, pretty girl."

"Ced! Ella!" Justin, a boy who was a fourth year like Ella, called in glee. "What did you get?" The two exchanged a look.

They went shopping for presents together, and sent gifts to everyone they needed together. They got many candies to many people in Hogwarts (Fred, George, Ron and Lee got a few surprises from Zunko as well, and she got Harry a book about mermaids- she supposed that in due time he'd understand why- and Hermione a book about the most powerful witches in history), and together they sent a book about the rarest dragons in the world to Charlie (Ella added oranges for Nic and a moving sculpture of a Swedish short snout), with a note from Cedric reading 'thanks for not letting me die' and another from Ella saying 'Is your dad a vampire? Then how come you're so good at censored by a sane Hufflepuff'.

Sirius, Remus and Aberforth all agreed they would meet to exchange their gifts sometime after Christmas (Remus hoped he could make the trio stop drinking so much).

"I didn't buy you a gift," Cedric suddenly realized. "I got Selim and Hakan and your mum a gift. But not you."

"I got Amos and Sabrina a gift but didn't get you anything."

The two looked at each other in silence before laughing. Ella hugged him tight as they kept laughing for a moment and then told him "we suck the same way."

"I'm fine with just spending the rest of my life with you."

"I'm lactose intolerant, stop being cheesy."

"You literally ate a block of cheese yesterday, stop lying."

::

"Champions over here, please!" McGonagall's voice called as Cedric muttered to Ella something about how late they were.

"You have a compulsive need to be early, Ced!" She hissed. "Embrace the fashionably late."

"You have an obsessive need to be late, babe, that's why I have to keep it early."

"See? Together we get anywhere on time. Now, come on," she hurried him up towards McGonagall. The other students would all go in before the champions and their partners would enter, so they were strolling happily to where McGonagall waved them to.

Cedric was wearing elegant dress robes, that looked much like a tuxedo actually. It had black buttons and a black bow tie adding a nice contrast to the overall look, but the way he smiled at Ella as their eyes met was what made her feel like the luckiest person in Hogwarts.

Sabrina was the one to actually take the pair shopping for the dress robes, and she insisted on Ella's being white, so she was actually wearing what made her look like a bride. The dress was pure white and off the shoulder, with a floral pattern on the lace casually flowing down her torso, before finishing in a frilly sort of dress that hid her feet. In Sabrina's fantasy she was wearing a nude colored heel she bought her, but in Ella's fantasy she was wearing a pair of beaten sneakers, and since Sabrina wasn't there, Ella's fantasy came true.