A Raven and a Lion

Yule Ball

„That's what you call a dress?", was the first thing y/n heard when she joined her friends on the evening of the ball. Fred, who was waiting outside the Great Hall with Angelina and George, was the first to see her. He looked her up and down disapprovingly. "A little short."

"Excuse you?", y/n growled. Even though she knew her dress wasn't a typical ball gown. It was more of a black mini dress. But it wasn't too short, ending just above the knees. Nevertheless, she let Fred provoke her. But George and Angelina knew how to defuse the situation.

"Well I think you look beautiful y/n", the Gryffindor girl smiled at y/n. She returned the smile. It wasn't Angelina's fault that Fred had asked her before y/n had plucked up the courage to ask him herself. "Thank you likewise."

George put his arm around y/n's shoulders and gently pulled her away from Fred. "Yes, Angelina is right, you look beautiful."

"Of course you look stunning too, Angi," George continued to grin. "You definitely have to save a dance for me."

Y/n grinned. "Wonderful, the compliment from one twin is enough for me."

Then she grabbed George and went with him into the Great Hall. He looked at her from the side. "You're cruel, you know that?"

She smiled innocently at him. "I don't know what you mean."

The first dance of the evening belonged to the four players in the tournament. An eye-catcher was that Hermione accompanied Victor Krum. Fleur had come with Roger Davis, Cedric had Cho in his arms and Harry was dancing with Parvati Patil.

Little by little the other students ventured onto the dance floor. Maggy and Nikola danced exuberantly, as did Olivia and her partner. Y/n and George also had a lot of fun. Still, y/n didn't feel completely comfortable. Finally she found out what was wrong. Whenever she looked in Fred's direction, he was already looking at her. She almost felt like she was being watched.

At some point y/n was pretty sweaty and left the dance floor to get something to drink. When y/n got to the bar, she was still pretty much out of breath. George knew how to party, she had to give him that. So she took her time drinking, she needed a breather. Suddenly she felt someone leaning over her. She wanted to turn around indignantly towards the alleged pervert. Then she heard Fred's voice >he also ordered something to drink< and relaxed. But the next moment she remembered how he had talked to her at the beginning of the evening, so she swung her elbow back and punched him in the stomach.

"Shit y/n!", Fred groaned in pain as he collapsed onto a bar stool next to her's. Now she finally looked at him. But she would have preferred to not have done that. At the sight of him, she felt her heart begin to beat unnaturally fast. His hair was disheveled from jumping around, his cheeks had a lovely red tone, and he had the top buttons of his shirt undone because of the heat.

"Don't look like I'm pretending, that really hurt," he complained again. She wanted to answer something, but her mouth was terribly dry. Holy crap, this could have been her night. Just because she didn't dare to ask him, they weren't here together now. She was so sure he would have said yes.

"Are you having fun?", she then asked him monotonously. She couldn't say more than those three words. He smiled hostilely. "Until now. Then some stupid girl almost broke my ribs when I ordered a drink."

"Stupid? Carful, I'm about to get really violent," she replied angrily, but he just laughed.

"Not stupid, not at all. You look very beautiful," he said as he got his drink. She looked at him confused. "I thought you didn't like the dress."

"Of course I like it," he objected. "It's just unfair that..."

"What's unfair?", she asked. But he didn't speak any further.