Window into the Past

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"I have something to tell you all!" McGonagall announced. "The Yule Ball is fast approaching, a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, it's an opportunity to socialise with our foreign guests,  the ball will only be open to fourth year students and above, you may invite a younger student if you wish..."

Oh brother, this is the big ball Tia was talking about. "Dress robes shall be worn by all students, it will start on eight o'clock, Christmas Eve and end at midnight, the Yule Ball is a chance for us to..let our hair down."

The bell rang and I gathered my books. "So, this Yule Ball.." Hermione muttered. "Maybe the boys will step up and ask us."

"Hopefully," I murmured. "But sadly I'm not staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, I'm going back home for a while."

"Oh, yeah," Hermione said sadly.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

***

I rested a hot water bottle on my stomach as I read. This was my post full moon tradition, this one was rough on the inside. It felt like period cramps multiplied by ten.

"Knock, knock," Tia poked her head in. "You know the password?" I frowned. "Of course I do," Tia rolled her eyes. She had a small package. "Your dad sent over the full moon hangover care package."

"Tell him thanks," I muttered weakly. "Did he tell you about..."

"He did," she muttered, handing me a flask of hot chocolate. "Alivia was very secretive about what she did during the war. I'd always ask she'd ask me to keep my nose out of it."

"They told you nothing?"

Tia shrugged. "Nothing of import. I've no idea what she did but she pissed him off enough for him to want her dead, I want to know too."

"She said...that she had the ability to stop everything, what could that mean?"

"I don't know," Tia sighed. "I think your father might know more than me, I was only a kid when all this happened. I was kept out of the loop a lot."

"Could they be after me? Or you?" I asked her.

Tia shook her head. "They're long gone now, don't worry about it."

She had a point. Voldemort wasn't even alive, not properly anyway. I didn't need all that unnecessary pressure.

"Now, I'm inviting your dad as my Yule Ball date," Tia changed the subject. "So I have someone to talk to."

"Did you ever have a Yule Ball?" I asked her. "Nope and thank Merlin for that."

"JOY!" Hermione rushed in. "You'll never believe what just happened!"

"Then tell me," I encouraged her to go on. "Viktor Krum asked me to the Yule Ball."

"Really? What did you say?" I asked her. "I said yes, Ronald had plenty of chances and he didn't pluck up the courage, did Harry ask you?"

"No," I mumbled.

"He needs to grow some balls first," Hermione told me.

"They both do," I muttered.

"Girls, boys can be thick, very thick sometimes," Tia told us. "Now, Joy, are you well enough to get up?"

I nodded, taking the hot water bottle off my stomach. "Let's go for a walk," Hermione offered.

***

Snow was starting to fall as Hermione and I walked along the school grounds. "So, you and Viktor Krum eh?" I wiggled my eyebrows. "Oh shush you," Hermione mumbled.

"What about the others, who are they going with?" I wondered. "Well, Fleur is going with the captain of the Ravenclaw team," Hermione told me. "I heard Cho Chang was begging Cedric to take her but she's going with one of the Durmstrang lot instead.."

"I still need a date," I murmured.

We walked into the Great Hall, snow in our hair and stuck to our clothes. "Hey, Joy, can I have a word?" Cedric asked me. "Uh..yeah, sure," I nodded.

When Cedric wasn't looking, Hermione was giving me a thumbs up. "So, what's up?" I asked him. "Are you alright? I couldn't find you at all yesterday," he said. "I uh had a cold, I'm alright now," I reassured him.

"Okay, so uh, right..well, this is harder than I thought," he rambled. "It's okay, take your time," I said gently to him. "Joy, do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?" he asked me.

Right now my brain and hormones were having a full on war inside me. "Yes," I responded. "I'll go to the Yule Ball with you."

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "I'll uh...see you there then," he muttered, very happily.

Once he was gone, I started squealing excitedly and did a little dance of joy. Pun intended.

***

"Ugh!" Hermione burst into the dorm and sunk down onto the bed. "Ronald is doing my head in."

"What did he do?" I muttered, putting my book down. "He said he only wants to go to the ball with good looking girls," she grumbled. "He said that to your face? What a wanker," I shook my head.

"So, did Harry grow balls?" Hermione asked me. "No but Cedric did," I smirked. "He asked you to the Yule Ball?!" she squealed excitedly

I nodded and the two of us started jumping up and down. "This is so exciting! What colour is your dress?"

"Red, yours?"

"Blue, oh, I'm so excited!" Hermione cheered. "If only I can keep this bush down, ugh."

"I have something that might help," I offered and rummaged through my potions. "Aha! Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, that should do the trick."

"Thank you," Hermione took the bottle from me.

The two of us walked downstairs to see Ron sitting on the sofa with Ginny, visibly embarrassed and Harry was there too.

"What happened?" Hermione asked him. "They both got rejected," Ginny explained to us. "By who?" I wondered.

"Well, Ron got rejected by Fleur and Harry got rejected by Cho, don't even know why he asked her," Ginny added.

"All the good looking ones gone then?" Hermione snarked. "I'm sure you two will find someone," I added.

"Hermione, Joy, you two are girls," Ron pointed out. "Figure that out yourself, genius?" I sassed him.

"Then you can come with us!" Ron suggested. "Well, me and Joy already have dates," Hermione told him. "No, you don't," Ron muttered.

"We do," I told him. "It's not our fault it took you years to notice that we're girls."

"We know you're girls!" Ron threw his arms in frustration. "Why can't you go with Harry and why can't Hermione go with me?"

"Because we're going with other people who didn't ask us as a last resort!" Hermione snapped at him.

"They really are," Ginny told them.

"Come on, Joy, let's go get something to eat," Hermione muttered and the two of us left the common room.

"Idiots," she grumbled. "Couldn't agree more," I sighed.