𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 {𝐄𝐃𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍}

𝐈𝐗| 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘'𝐒

Disclaimer: I own nothing but some of the plot.

★------------------★------------------★

"AH!" Holly exclaimed as she was met with the sight of Luna and Neville cuddling on the couch. "You talked things out then?"

Luna smiled daintily, leaning her head on Neville's shoulder, who nodded. His appearance since the morning had changed drastically. 

Holly smiled back at them, then climbed up the steps to her room, leaving the couple alone. She tore her purse off her body and fumbled through it, unzipping the small compartment to gingerly pull out three portraits the size of the palm of her hand. 

Holly stood them against the wall in front of her bed next to each other, then enlarged them one by one. 

"Holly, why's it so dark in there?" Sirius whined, squinting. "AH! MY EYES!"

"Sirius, this is your room," Holly reminded him exasperatedly. 

"I know that! I was talking about the light! Why's it so bright?" pouted her godfather.

"Oh, so now it's too bright," Remus muttered under his breath. 

Holly ignored it and checked her calendar. She was surprised to see that it was already so close to Christmas. Only two more weeks until the ball at Malfoy Manor. Holly had seriously considered not going, but her parents and uncles had convinced her otherwise. She was young and she should celebrate what she had. No war to stop her this time. 

The argument faded as she recalled he last time she'd been to a Yule Ball . . . in her 4th year . . . when he had still been alive . . .

As most tragic memories were, it was both easy and painful to recall it. 

She'd been wearing a green dress. She'd gotten it mailed from Sirius after she'd informed him of the upcoming ball. When she'd asked how he'd gotten her measurements, he'd winked and told her, "A Marauder never reveals his secrets.". 

She'd punched him in the shoulder for that. 

She remembered his shocked face when he'd first seen her. His face had been flushed pink and the only words he'd managed to say for a full five minutes had been, "You look . . . wow. Wow."

She might've died of embarrassment if he hadn't snapped out of his daze to actually speak conherant words besides those three. To top it off, Fred and George had seen what happened and teased her without end for it for two weeks straight. 

They'd barely paid any attention to the music. It was an unimportant cacophony of sound, blending in with the voices of the other witches and wizards. She'd had never liked wizard music; muggle music was better. Instead, they'd leaned close and they could and whispered to each other. 

"I can feel how tense you are," was the first thing he'd said, rubbing his hand on her back a bit in soothing circles. "Loosen up a bit, yeah?"

"Kind of hard when everyone is staring at you with varying emotions," Holly had whispered back, frantic and fearful of messing up even a single step.