The Dragon Whisperer

The Yule Ball part 1

Katerina's POV:

"The Yule Ball" began Dumbledore in assembly. "Is a traditional event held at Christmas on the year of the Triwizard Tournament. All fourth years or above are invited to attend, and younger students may attend with an older dance partner if they so wish. The Triwizard Champions will open the dancing, so they should prepare to be in the centre of attention!"

I gulped. I couldn't dance, I didn't like my hair, I'd honestly never worn a dress or even a skirt in my life. But what worried me the most was the idea of finding a boy who was willing to dance with me.

After the assembly had finished, Toma ran straight over to me. "Kat..." he said slowly. "They realise you can't dance, right?"

"I don't know" I said quietly. "What should I do?"

Toma considered for a moment then snorted. "I honestly don't foresee a way for you to get out of this situation without humiliating yourself" he sighed.

"Great, thanks kid" I said grumpily. "I'm so glad I went to the trouble of raising you"

He chuckled and then shrugged. "I dunno. Ask Charlie"

I guess it was worth a shot.


"The Yule ball?" asked Charlie with a barely concealed smirk. "I'm sorry, but I just can't picture it!"

"You're almost as helpful as Toma" I grouched.

Charlie turned pink all of a sudden. "Uhmm... well you know... I guess you could umm... I mean I could, uh, well you know, we could... go together?" he said, and then blushed even worse and stared at his feet. "Sorry, that was stupid, forget I said it"

"Would you really?" I asked, my eyes shining.

"You mean... you want to?" asked Charlie his head snapping up to look at me.

"Yeah, if your sure!" I smiled. "Well, since I don't care about finding a date it would be a lot easier to go with a friend, right?"

Charlie's face seemed to fall but I might have been imagining it. "Yeah... friends"

"Cool, thanks" I smiled and ran to find Toma, leaving Charlie alone in the clearing.

Partner, check. Right, dancing next.

I'm ashamed to say that I actually considered asking Hagrid to teach me some moves. I was honestly such a terrible dancer that I figured Charlie would end up with a broken nose or something. Did they sell magic dancing shoes at Hogsmeade?

The guy behind the counter at Dervish and Bangs raised his eyebrows at me, and I squirmed.

"Sorry miss, it seems we are all out of 'magic dancing shoes'" he said sarcastically. "But you could just do the awkward penguin shuffle"

"The what?" I asked, unsure whether it not he was still joking.

"Look, I'll show you" he grinned, coming out from behind the counter.

He grabbed my wrists and swung them back and forth a few times. Then he span around and shuffled awkwardly and I followed him.

"There ya go" he laughed. "All you need to know!"

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. "You really think that'll work?"

"Of course" he said. "It's what everyone else is gonna be doing"

"Umm, ok" I said. "Fair enough"

Dancing, check. Right, appearance next.

Since I was already in Hogsmeade, I figured I may as well get a dress whilst I was here. I crossed the street into Gladrags Wizardwear For Every Occasion and strode inside. I figured I'd buy the first dress I saw and have done with it.

I checked my wallet and found that I only had one measly little sickle on me. In fairness, I wasn't sure that I had any more money then that full stop but I guess that's what came of having no relatives to give me any.

I was considering checking to see if there was anything for a sickle. (A/N: which is like 30p or 59 cents I think.) Unsurprisingly, it seemed not. I was about to give in and wear cargo trousers to the Yule Ball when someone coughed behind me.

"My dear" said Aunt Sybil, her big bug eyes like glowing orbs.

"Um, hi" I said, doing a bit of awkward penguin shuffle (in preparation for the Yule Ball, obviously)

"I foresaw that you needed me" she said dramatically. "It was in my crystal ball!"

"Uhm, what do you mean?" I asked.

She smiled sadly and pulled a handful of galleons out of her pocket.

"It's not much, but it's all I have. Take it"

"I can't take your money" I protested, although my eyes were shining like saucers just from seeing so much money. It wasn't a lot by most people's standards I guess but I'd never held more then a few sickles at a time.

"Take it. Consider it the Christmas and birthday presents I owe you and Toma"

I allowed her to shove the money into my hand. I felt bad but I needed the money...

"Thank you for letting me do that." said Aunt Sybil dryly.

"Uhm yeah" I smiled awkwardly.

Aunt Sybil gave me a weak smile back and swept out of the store.

I decided on a green dress which I thought looked nice enough. It was light green with a little red bow and it looked like Christmas.

Now all I had to do was go to the ball.