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Nearly a month after the task with the dragons, Eleanora spent almost all of her free time with Cedric. The twins would never say it to her face, but they felt sort of left out. They were used to being a trio, constantly having Eleanora's warming presence at their side. It made them even sadder that this was her last year at school with them. Despite any of this, they were happy that she was happy. Still, sitting in their usual seats in the common room without her there felt less enjoyable than usual.
"He still hasn't written me back," Eleanora said crossly. She was in the library with Cedric, laying on opposite sides of a couch in the back, their legs leaning against one another.
"Wonder why," said Cedric in a vaguely disinterested tone.
"He can be such a git sometimes, you know? I wonder if Charlie ended up telling him to write me back."
"Dunno." Cedric didn't even look up.
"Are you even listening to me?" Eleanora asked, nudging him with her leg.
His eyes jumped to her face. "'Course I am. I've just been looking at this photo album..." He held it up for her to see and then went back to flipping through the pages.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Ummm..." He set one of his feet down on the floor and bounced his knee nervously. "Cho Chang actually gave it to me." Eleanora frowned. She wasn't normally the jealous type, but Cedric and Cho had been having private study session much more often than usual in the last two weeks or so.
"Cho? Really?" she said in as unconcerned a voice as possible.
"Yeah, she's been taking pictures for the last few years. She's really into... photography." He shot her a nervous look and closed the album. "Anyways, what were you saying?"
Eleanora's forehead creased and she hesitated before answering. "Just... Bill. He still hasn't written."
"That git."
~
The next day, Professor McGonagall gathered the entire Gryffindor house in her classroom to address them. Eleanora stood in the back with Fred and George, only half listening until McGonagall brought up something more interesting than the usual news.
"The Yule Ball," she said stiffly, "has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its inception." She strode down the middle of the two rows of students staring each one down. "On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward; and I mean this literally, because the Yule Ball is first and foremost... a dance." A murmur ran through the crowd as girls whispered excitedly and boys didn't even try to conceal their groans. Eleanora looked to the twins excitedly.
