Place Your Bets

D-1

As the days flew by, the Moon Ball came closer and closer. Tomorrow night, you would be dressed in the most beautiful gown, dancing the night away with your friends in a ballroom. Your excitement grew, but so did your anxiety. Your friends tried to console you as much as possible, trying to make you feel more at ease. It should be fine, since you'd be with your friends the whole time, hopefully nothing would go wrong.

You walked to your class, and a something caught your eye. You saw a girl trying to talk to Draco outside of the classroom, rather flirtatiously. Your heart sank immediately, but you kept walking and pretended you didn't see it. You couldn't help but to keep taking glances as you walked over. "Get off me!" Draco spoke, to your surprise. But the girl continued. "I said get off!" He yelled this time. The girl was startled but annoyed, and walked off while muttering something under her breath. Draco dusted his uniform off, with a disgusted face.

As he was stood right next to the door, you walked up to him, stopping for a second to look at him. He looked back at you, mildly shocked to see you there. He assumed you had seen the whole thing. "Are you okay?" You asked, genuinely sad to see how the girl was harassing him. "I'm okay now, thanks for asking" he gave a small, shy smile, not being able to look into your eyes properly. "Thanks" he whispered again, before heading into class.

You settled in your seat, and Padma joined your side. You looked around her, and she noticed. "Parvati isn't here" she spoke.
"What? Why not?" You questioned back.
"She .." she came in close to whisper, "is skipping class" Your eyes opened as you heard her words, and a smile involuntarily creeped onto your face. "Omg.. why? That's so not like her!" You laughed at the sudden development. "She was missing Lei because he isn't in any of our classes. So.. the two of them skipped together" The two of you squealed and clapped your hands together in excitement. "Good for her!! Where did they go though?" You asked. Padma shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly don't even know, but I bet she'll have a lot to say when she comes back"

Professor Snape walked in and immediately silenced everyone. "Now I know you all are excited for the.. Ball, but this is a classroom, not a zoo, so keep quiet while I teach" You sneered at his face. He just gave you more reasons to not like him. But it's okay, because he didn't like you either. You tried to listen to whatever he was talking about, but you kept focusing on his annoying face instead. Soon enough, you realised you hadn't listened to a single word he had said, and didn't know what everyone had started working on. "What are we supposed to be doing?" You turned and asked Padma. "Uh..... I was kinda hoping you would know.." she bashfully replied. "What!" You quietly exclaimed. "I was thinking about the ball! I thought you would've been listening" she explained. "No I wasn't listening either" you cried.

"Well what now" the two of you blankly looked at each other. The closest person to you was Pansy, sat next to Draco, and the closest to Padma was Crabbe. "Shit" you muttered. "You ask" you poked Padma, and pointed towards Crabbe. "No way! You ask" she slightly judged you towards Pansy. You widened your eyes at Padma, trying to non verbally explain to her that there was no way you were going to talk to her. You looked around and noticed how fast everyone was working, and how the two of you were already dismally behind.

You took a deep breath. "Fine" you turned to Pansy, and mustered up the courage to ask her. First, you had to put your anger for her aside. "Hey," you didn't even want to use her name. "What are we supposed to be doing right now" She looked up at you and smirked. "Awww little Y/n can't keep up with the work. It's a good thing we haven't started anything advanced, or you'd have to stay behind for another year" she laughed at you. You held back your tongue, and tried not to say anything back. "Just tell me what the work is" you said more stern this time.

Draco looked up and saw you were asking. "It's-" he began speaking, but was immediately cut off by Pansy. "Listen, if you're dumb, just say that," she laughed. "You shouldn't even be in this class"
"What the hell is your problem?" You bit back. "I was asking a simple question and you had to go and turn it into a whole spectacle" Anger rose inside of you. The smile from Pansy's face disappeared, and Draco worriedly watched between the two of you.

"Are you jealous?" She asked. You couldn't help but laugh at her words. "Of what? You? I'd rather be jealous of a dog"
"You little-" She stopped as Draco used a spell to shut her lips. You watched as her lips physically closed, as if they were sealed with glue. She swiftly turned to Draco, and exploded at him, but only muffled sounds came from her. "That's IT," hands slammed loudly on a desk. "What is all the ruckus" Snape loudly shouted, startling everyone. "You three, stand up" you, Pansy and Draco stood up. "One more word out of you three, and you won't be attending the Moon Ball tomorrow"

You gasped quietly at his words, and nodded vigorously, hoping he will give you another chance. "Now sit" the two of you sat but Pansy remained standing. Muffled sounds came from her as she pointed at you to Snape, assumably trying to explain the situation and get you into trouble. No one understood a word from her, yet she continued. "Miss Parkinson, did you not understand what I said? Or perhaps you thought I was joking. You will not be attending the Moon Ball tomorrow" Her eyes widened in shock, and she exclaimed what could be understood as 'what!' She mumbled some more words before giving up and sitting back down in silence. You turned to Padma and the two of you tried not to laugh out loud. But you still didn't know what you were supposed to be doing.

Soon, the class finished, and you had managed to ask someone else for help. You squealed at Padma and squeezed her hands tightly, "the ball is so close!! Okay, so all we have left is to quickly go and select your dress now. You're so indecisive"
"It's not my fault! There are so many good dresses, I want it to be the right one" she pouted.

-

The two of you entered the dress shop again, and Padma looked around. She walked back to you and frowned. "Didn't find any?" You asked.
"No. But I've realised, it's not because I'm indecisive, it's because these dresses are just not right for me" she answered. "Not right for you? What do you mean?" You laughed a little.
"They just don't speak to me" she grabbed you by the hand and dragged you to another store. "What's this?" You questioned.
"Well, I heard about this shop, and I really wanted to check it out. I can't believe I've never been here before"
You stepped inside the store, and saw the beautiful vibrant colours pop at your eyes. It was a south Asian store, that sold various different Asian clothes. There were sections for the clothes from the different countries, and they were all so beautiful. Padma headed over to the Indian section. Beautiful saris and lenghas filled the racks.

"This one.... This is the right one" she held up a beautiful two piece lengha, consisting of a bright blue cropped shirt and a long blue skirt. It had intricate silver patterns all over it, and shone in the light. Your eyes widened at the beautiful dress. "It's perfect!!" The blue complimented her rich brown skin colour and would make her look even more gorgeous. She bought the dress along with some pretty jewellery, and you left the store. "Now let's go and get some beauty sleep" you spoke.
"You're gonna need to sleep for ten days then" Padma said, trying not to laugh.