The Potions Master's Daughter (Book Three)

Chapter 30

Later that same day after dinner Blake came over as I was leaving with my friends, "Could I steal Jessica for the night? Jess do you want to go for a walk?"

I nodded and replied, "Sure I'll see you guys back in the common room when I'm done."

Blake and I walked outside and sat down under the tree. Ever since the squid attack I had been very cautious of the lake, never going within 5 feet of the edge of it.

As we sat there Blake asked, "So who are you going to the Yule Ball with?"

"I'm going to dance with Neville, you know, since I'm not actually taking a date."

He laughed, "Gosh darn I was going to ask if you wanted to go with me."

"You haven't found a date? I know when we last talked a couple weeks ago you didn't, but I figured you would've found someone by now."

"I wanted to make sure I was available to dance with you if you needed it. Now that you've got Neville I might find a date. Probably not though, I might just not go."

"You have to go!" I yelled, "If I have to go, you have to go."

He shrugged, "There's no one to go with. All my friends got dates and I don't have a date."

"You could hang out with me, all of us have dates but we're all going to hang out," I replied.

"I don't know, maybe."

"What happened to Lydia? I thought you liked her?" I asked.

"Lydia Johnson?" he asked incredulously, "You think I like her, why?"

I shrugged, "Everyone thinks you guys like each other. You talk all the time and seem really flirty in class together. She doesn't have a date to the ball yet either and I'm like 99 percent sure it's because she's waiting for you to ask her."

"I don't like her," he stated, "I don't even want to be friends with her, she's annoying, rude, stuck up, and judgmental. My parents are friends with her parents so I have to pretend to be her friend."

"Well she definitely likes you, so you have to put an end to that," I said.

Blake shook his head, "There's no way to do that without getting a lot of people mad at me. Maybe I'll just take her to the ball and then slowly put more space between us as time goes on."

I shrugged, "Don't force yourself to do anything you don't want to do. She'll be fine if you don't ask her. Her heart will be broken but a lot of girls have gotten their hearts broken by this damn ball."

"Well save a dance for me but I think I'll take Lydia so things don't get messy."

Soon it was the day of the ball. The ball would start at 5 but by noon the girl's dormitories were packed with girls getting ready for the night. Although Hermione went up at noon to get ready I avoided getting ready until 3 by hanging out with the guys in the common room.

I went up and everyone already had their dresses on and were now onto the task of hair, makeup and accessories. I put on my dress. I drew my hair up into a simple ponytail. I found a necklace with a deep purple stone that went nicely with my dress. I put that on along with a pair of earrings.

"Hermione do you want to do my makeup?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yeah then you need to do mine. I did some of it but I definitely need some more."

We spent the next hour doing each other's makeup until it was only 15 minutes until the ball would start. The boys would be waiting for us in the common room. We had made plans for Viktor to come half an hour before the ball started to wait in the common room with the Gryffindor boys until the girls came down.

Most of the other girls were still in the dorm when Hermione and I made our way down the stairs. My dress dragged behind me slightly, although it would be fine once I put on my heels at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione wore her heels down the stairs so her dress kept off the ground. It was a gorgeous long blue dress. She had put her hair up in a twist and had a silver necklace.

The boys were waiting for us on the couch but they all got up when they saw us coming down. Viktor took Hermione's hand and led her down the last few stairs as Neville came over to greet me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look great," he commented.

I smiled, "Thanks, you look great too. All of you do actually, those dress robes definitely look amazing."

Ron, grumbled something about his robe being ugly before Harry said, "Alright come on. We have to make a stop outside the Hufflepuff common room. I told Sydney and Jenna that we would pick them up."

"I still don't know how we got good dates like two days before the ball," Ron muttered.

"Both of them just broke up with their boyfriends and neither of them was expecting a date. Both of you are good enough guys that you're good enough choices. Viktor and I are actually going to meet you all there though okay? Have fun picking them up," Hermione told us.

The two of them walked out of the common room together smiling and laughing. If Viktor's goal was to make Ron jealous then he was succeeding. As Viktor put his arm around Hermione's waist and looked into her eyes I watched as Ron looked at them with a pained look on his face. I knew he had wanted Hermione to come pick up his date Sydney so he'd have a tiny chance to make her jealous too. Now he had lost that opportunity.

We waited a few more minutes in the common room for Amber and Ginny. Once they were there and with Seamus and Dean we all set out for the Hufflepuff common room. We picked up Sydney and Jenna, two inseparable best friends. Then all of us went into the Great Hall together arm and arm with our date.

When I walked in I scanned the crowd. I saw Hermione and Viktor standing a little ways away talking. Severus was there in his nice dress robes all the way in the back scowling. I smirked at this. I didn't see Blake yet, but Lydia seemed like the type of girl who would take a long time to get ready though so I wasn't worried.