Emma Potter

107: Yule Ball [Pt.2]

He looked dashing in emerald green robes and his hair slicked back. He flashed me a genuine smile; which was pretty rare. 

"Wow" he said again.

What does "wow" mean? Did he like how I looked? Did he hate how I looked? Do I care? This is way more complicated than I thought it would be. 

"You look stunning." Draco confirms. 

"Oh." I say, smiling "thanks you look great too." 

"Anderson made you wear all this didn't she?" he asks as we made our way to the entrance. 

"How'd you know?" I laughed

"Because you wouldn't be caught dead in a gown." he said, as he offered me is arm "shall we?"

"We shall." I said, looping my arm through his. 

"Does your brother know?" he asks, as we made our way past students. 

"No" I said, smirking as I imagined his reaction "it'll be a--"

"Emma!" I turned to see Hermione looking amazing in her gown, she was arm-in-arm with Krum. "You look amazing" she beamed at me, I smiled as I returned the compliment.

"Emma!" I turned to see Harry, he looked. . .horrified. "You--" he stared at Draco "You--and--H-Him?" Draco and I shared a smirk. 

"Ms Potter, Mr Malfoy" called Professor Mcgonagall "please enter the great hall. "

"Bye Harry!" I called. 

The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silverfrost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing thestarry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, therewere about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating abouta dozen people. 

Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached thetop table, but Karkaroff wore an expression remarkably like Ron's--disgusted-- as he watched Krum and Hermione draw nearer. Ludo Bagman,tonight in robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as any of the students; and MadameMaxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for aflowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. ButMr. Crouch,I suddenly realized, was not there. The fifth seatat the table was occupied by Percy Weasley.

 When the champions and their partners reached the table, Percydrew out the empty chair beside him, staring pointedly at Harry.Harry took the hint and sat down next to Percy, who was wearingbrand-new, navy-blue dress robes and an expression of such smugness that Harry thought it ought to be fined. 

I rolled my eyes, still smiling at my brothers misfortune. 

There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, butsmall menus were lying in front of each of us. I picked mine up uncertainly and looked around — there were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, thensaid very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"And pork chops appeared.

 Getting the idea, the rest of the tableplaced their orders with their plates too. I glanced up atHermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining — surely it meant plenty of extra work forthe house-elves? — but for once, Hermione didn't seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krumand hardly seemed to notice what she was eating. 

It now occurred to me that I had never actually heard Krumspeak before, but he was certainly talking now, and very enthusiastically at that.

 "Veil, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable,I am thinking," he was telling Hermione. "Ve have just four floors,and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve have groundslarger even than these — though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flyingevery day, over the lakes and the mountains —"