Every school was buzzing about the Yule Ball. The ball was in two weeks and everyone was extremely excited.
The girls talked about what they were going to wear and who they wanted to be asked by. The boys were all trying to decide who they wanted to go with.
Riley was hoping that Harry would ask her. It had been two weeks since the ball was announced and a couple of boys had asked her but she declined.
Draco Malfoy had also asked her multiple times bribing her with chocolates and beautiful red roses. She had taken the sweets and flowers and declined harshly.
Hazel had gotten asked by George and accepted happily. Amira had gotten asked by Neville and they were going as friends.
"How are you dateless, Riles?" Amira had asked her. Hazel and she were sitting on Riley's bed with the blanket tossed over them.
"I told you I wanted Harry to ask me but he has his eye on Cho Chang," Riley hugged her pillow.
"Screw him! You have gotten asked by so many guys. Draco Malfoy asked you five times!" Hazel encouraged.
"Yeah but I like Harry and I'm not going to go to the ball with an idiot like Draco," Riley said, shuddering at the thought of herself going with Draco.
"And he's stupid to not like you, just wait he'll be all over you when he matures," Amira hugged Riley.
"Okay, but unless a nice guy asks me to this ball I'm going dateless," Riley plopped herself on her bed.
"Riley, Marcus Stark the most popular senior at Ilvermorny asked you out and you said no, what is wrong with you!" Hazel scolded.
"It's too late, he already has a date with Maddie, and he's like eighteen so that's borderline problematic," the blonde American exclaimed.
"Well, maybe Noah will ask you," Amira spoke positively, her soft eyes lighting up.
"I guess, it just hurts that Harry likes someone else, I wish he looked at me the way he looks at Cho," Riley sighed as she thought of the green-eyed boy staring dreamily at the beautiful Ravenclaw.
Cho Chang put a strand of her long black hair behind her ear and giggled as pink dusted her already rosy cheeks.
"He's an idiot," Hazel said.
"Totally," Amira agreed.
"I love you guys," Riley hugged them both.
....
A few days later Ron, Hermione, Harry, Riley, Amira, Hazel, and Noah all sat by the Black Lake working on their homework quietly.
"Look it's Krum!" Noah said interrupting everyone from their work as they all glanced up at the muscular Bulgarian who was exercising.
He had a lot of girls chasing after him, giggling.
"Bloody hell, how did he get all of them!" Ron said in awe which made Riley slap him.
"He's a strong Quidditch player apparently some girls like that," Hazel said without taking her eyes off of the textbook she was reading.
Krum glanced at all of them for a second but turned his attention onto Hermione Granger who blushed.
Ron and Harry looked at each other for a split second in confusion why Krum would be looking at their best friend.
"Ooh looks like Krum has a little crush on you, Mione," Riley whispered as she poked Hermione's waist.
"Hush, no he doesn't," Hermione slapped Riley with her textbook.
"Sure," Riley whistled before rubbing her elbow from where she had been hit.
Later during study hall, the group all went to the Great Hall where Professor Snape was on patrol making sure everyone was working. He mostly stayed at the Gryffindor table because he was so prejudiced against them.
"This is mad. At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates," Ron told Harry which made Riley snort.
Snape quickly came over and slapped Ron over the head.
"Both of you don't have dates?" Riley looked at both of them.
"Nope," Ron said glumly. "But we won't be the only ones, Neville, too,"
"I don't have a date either," Noah said quietly looking at his notes.
"Really you too, Noah, I'm surprised," Ron said in shock.
"Unfortunately, I haven't asked anyone yet," Noah ran a hand through his luscious brown locks of hair.
"Didn't Yoonah ask you and that really smart and pretty Ravenclaw, Marietta?" Riley gaped at him with shock.
"Well yeah but I-I nevermind," Noah muttered excuses up.
"Well, then Neville can take himself," Harry laughed which caused Ron and Noah to laugh out loud.
"Actually Neville and I are going together," Amira took out her earplug and glared at the three of them.
"Now I'm really depressed," he sighed, running a hand through his long red hair.
Fred Weasley threw a note at Ron.
"Oi, what do you want!" Ron asked him.
"Read the note," Fred whispered.
"Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone," Ron read aloud.
"Who are you taking?" he asked Fred who winked at him in response.
He crumbled a piece of paper and then threw it at Angelina Johnson who looked irritated as she was interrupted from her work.
"What?" she mouthed.
"Will you go to the ball with me?" he mouthed while using hand gestures.
"The ball? Yeah," Angelina smiled before returning back to her work.
"Very slick Freddie," George high-fived Fred.
Suddenly Ron noticed Hermione who sat quietly in the midst of all the commotion doing her potions classwork.
"Well Hermione, you're a girl," the younger Weasley noticed which caused the muggle-born to glare at him.
"Oh well spotted!" she gasped.
"Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl it's just sad," Ron chuckled and nudged Harry who looked down at his work, trying to stay out of it.
"Shut up, Ron," Hazel glowered at him.
"I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me. And I said yes," Hermione stormed out of the hall in anger.
"Bloody hell," Ron muttered.
"She's not lying you know, she actually has someone," Riley told Ron who shook his head.
"I highly doubt that there's no need to lie for her," Ron scoffed.
The redhead turned his attention to the boy who lived.
"Look. We've just got to grit our teeth and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room, we'll both have partners. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Harry said as Snape appeared behind them and slapped their heads which made Riley laugh out loud.
The potions professor frowned at her and put a hand to his lips shushing the blonde American.
....
"Hey Riley, can I talk to you?" Noah asked after they ate dinner. His eyebrows were scrunched together as if he was worried.
Riley looked at her best friends for a moment who shrugged their shoulders nonchalantly and then said "Sure,"
They stood out of the Great Hall.
"What did you want, Noah?" Riley asked her best friend.
"Uh... well I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me," he asked scratching his head awkwardly.
When Riley didn't respond after a beat he said, "You know as friends,"
"Oh yeah, of course, Noah!" she hugged her best friend.
"I'm honestly so happy you asked me because I wanted someone I actually liked to ask me to this dance!" Riley exclaimed out of pure bliss.
Noah laughed as Riley skipped back to the Great Hall.
"If only you knew how much I love you," he whispered as he stared after his best friend who he was in love with.
....
When Riley, Hazel, Amira, and Noah entered the Gryffindor common room they saw Harry lying on one of the red couches holding the golden egg from the first task. He looked extremely glum. Hermione sat on the floor reading a book humming to herself.
"You okay, Harry?" Amira sat next to Harry, her eyes scanning his downtrodden face.
Harry sat up and ran a hand through his messy black hair.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine I just got rejected by the girl I like," he said sarcastically.
"Sorry, Harry," Noah sat next to Harry on his other side.
"Well she's obviously crazy to not like you," Riley exclaimed as Harry's green eyes stayed glued to the golden egg.
"Cedric Diggory already got to her first she would've said yes but...Cedric," Harry sighed deeply.
At that very moment, the common room burst with a bunch of girls and a shaky-looking Ron. He looked traumatized. His blue eyes were wide and his lips were curled as if he were about to cry.
"What happened to you?" Harry sat up looking at his distraught-looking friend.
"He just asked Fleur Delacour out," Ginny answered before she shoved Ron gently into an armchair.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"What did she say?" Hazel asked.
"No of course," Hermione breathed.
Ron shook his head, his face pale.
"She said yes?" Hermione covered her mouth with her hands.
"No way," Riley mumbled in disbelief, having a hard time believing the popular French girl and a lovesick Ron.
"Don't be silly. There she was walking by. You know I like it when they walk. I couldn't help it, it just sort of slipped out," the redhead sighed dreamily.
"Actually he sort of screamed at her, it was a bit frightening," Ginny shuddered as she relived the moment.
"What did you do then?" Hazel asked Ron.
"What else? I ran for it. I'm not cut out for this Harry. I don't know what got into me," Ron covered his face with his hands in shame.
"Hi, Harry!" the Patil twins said in unison, matching smiles on their faces as they passed by Harry.
Harry acknowledged them with a nod.
Riley nudged Harry. "You should ask them, I heard they don't have dates either!"
"Oh!" Harry slapped his forehead as he called for the twins.
....
The day of the Yule Ball simultaneously fell on Christmas Day so everyone was in high spirits.
Riley received gifts from Harry, Ron, the Weasley twins, Hermione, Hazel, Amira, Noah, and her parents.
Her favorite gifts were the sapphire earrings she had received from Hazel and Amira. They had both saved up and bought it together.
"To match with your Yule Ball dress!" they had said.
She also loved the Extendable Ears Fred and George had given her.
"Thank you, guys! Now I can eavesdrop on people more," Riley told them which caused the twins to laugh in unison.
Riley's parents got her a new broomstick. She used to play Quidditch quite frequently when she was in middle school. She was a chaser on the Thunderbird team and was extremely good.
"Yes I've been waiting for this," she carried the broom with pride.
"You play Quidditch too?" Harry asked her curiously.
"Yeah, and she's really good. She was a chaser on Thunderbird," Amira bragged about her best friend.
"Oh stop it," Riley said pretending to blush.
"She's one of the best players I've ever seen," Noah whistled and glanced at her with admiration as Riley cocked her head to the side with gratitude as she mouthed a thank you.
"Really? We should play sometime," Harry grinned at the blonde American who smiled. Her heart pounded at his beautiful smile which made Amira poke at her.
"Aww," she whispered which made Riley slap her head playfully.
After breakfast, the girl went up to the Gryffindor dorms to get ready for the ball.
....
"Bloody hell," Ron cursed as he stared at his frilly, uncomfortable-looking dress robes from a mirror.
Harry walked into his dorm looking at Ron with a pitiful look.
He on the other hand was dressed in a clean black suit paired with a white bowtie.
"What are those?" Ron moaned as he turned to look at Harry's robes.
"My dress robes," Harry said.
"Well, they're alright. No lace, no dodgy little collar," Ron looked at Harry through the full-length mirror.
"Well I expect yours are more traditional," Harry stuttered.
"Traditional? They're ancient! I look like my great aunt Tessie!" Ron groaned and then sniffed at his robes.
"Smell like my great aunt Tessie!" the redhead grimaced.
"Murder me, Harry," he looked at the boy who lived.
The two of them exited the Gryffindor common room and went downstairs towards the Great Hall.
Ron fidgeted with his outfit.
"Leave it alone," Harry scolded as Ron rolled his eyes but complied.
"Poor kid, bet she's alone in her room crying her eyes out," Ron tutted as the two walked down the stairs.
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Hermione of course. Come on Harry, why'd you think she wouldn't tell us who she's coming with?" the redhead asked as he scanned the room for the Patil twins.
"Because we'd take the mickey out of her if she did," Harry explained.
"Because nobody asked her. I would have taken her myself if she weren't so bleeding proud," Ron said as Parvati and Padma Patil approached them in matching pink and orange saris. Their hair was tied back into beautiful plaits that sparkled.
"Hello boys," the twins said in unison.
"Don't you look...dashing," Padma told Ron, eyeing his frilly robes with shock.
"Here you are, Potter. Are you and Miss Patil ready?" Professor McGonagall approached Harry.
"Ready professor?" Harry asked the transfiguration professor.
"To dance. It's traditional that the four champions or in this case five are the first to dance. Surely I told you that," Professor McGonagall explained.
"No..." Harry said, a great sense of anxiety filling his body.
"Oh well, now you know. Oh, as for your Mr. Weasley you may proceed into the great hall with Miss Patil," Professor McGonagall touched Ron's frilly robes.
From the top of the stairs leading into the hall stood Hermione, Hazel, Amira, and Riley who were deciding how they were going to enter the hall.
"Should we all go together?" Hazel asked. She had a lot of makeup on and wore a blood-red dress with lace that went up to her knees.
"Yeah!" Amira said excitedly. She had a silvery gray headscarf on and a long silver dress that glittered.
"I'm so nervous," Hermione poked her head out and looked at all of the people outside of the hall. She looked stunning with her hair twisted up and pink gown.
"C'mon let's just go our dates are probably waiting," Riley poked her.
She had a royal blue dress on that hugged her figure. Half her hair was up and the other was down.
It had taken her all afternoon to make her eyeliner perfect and it finally paid off.
The girls all nervously went down the stairs.
"Wow they look beautiful," Parvati stared at them in awe.
"Yeah, she does," Harry was staring after a beautiful Cho Chang who wore a cream-colored dress.
He turned around and saw the four girls.
When his eyes laid on Riley his heart stopped. For a moment he forgot about Cho and looked at the beautiful blonde in front of him who waved.
"C'mon, Harry!" Parvati urged Harry inside the Great Hall but he was still glued in place shocked by the transformations of his friends.
From the bottom of the stairs stood Viktor Krum as he marveled at Hermione.
He bowed and then took Hermione's hand in his. She waved at Harry and entered the hall.
George kissed Hazel's hand.
"You look stunning, Hazel," his eyes trailed down to her lips as Hazel giggled and took his hand, and set foot into the hall.
Neville took Amira's hand and the two of them went into the hall which just left Riley and Noah who had just arrived.
He wore a black suit and had a dark red tie attached to his collar.
"Wow," he grinned at Riley looking at her up and down.
"You look amazing, Riles," he told her and took his hand out for her to take.
"You don't look bad yourself, Sanders," the blonde took his hand as they went inside the hall which was completely transformed.
There was snow falling and a large Christmas tree at the center of the hall adorned with silver and red ornaments that went with the whole theme of the ball. There were also decorative icicles and snowflakes.
When Riley and Noah walked in they saw the five champions at the center of the dancefloor, waltzing to a tune.
Harry was awkwardly dancing with Parvati. He looked like he didn't know how to dance which made Riley chuckle.
"What are you laughing at?" Noah nudged her as they stood next to Ron and Padma.
Ron looked like a goldfish as he watched Hermione spin around the dancefloor, a genuine smile gracing her lips.
"Harry looks miserable," the American said as she pointed at Harry who didn't know what he was doing.
Noah chuckled.
"Wanna dance?" Noah asked Riley once the music changed to something more upbeat.
"Mhm," Riley took his hand and they went to the center of the dancefloor and jumped up and down.
They were playing the muggle song 'Hit Me with Your Best Shot' which happened to be one of Riley's favorite songs.
Nearby, she could see George spinning Hazel. She looked like she was having a blast which made Riley grin.
"You're really enjoying yourself aren't you?" Noah spun Riley.
"Of course I am, I love this song," Riley panted.
Once the song was over a British band called the Weird Sisters entered the stage.
"I LOVE THE WEIRD SISTERS!" Noah screamed. There was a large crowd of students that entered the dance floor.
"Who are they?" Riley questioned as Noah didn't respond and pulled her towards the crowd.
Everyone was jumping up and down to the music. Riley saw Hermione dancing with Krum. From the corner of her eye, she could also see Harry and Ron sitting out from the dancing while their dates looked wistfully at the dancing.
When the song ended Riley and Noah were both sweating, their hair disheveled.
"Hey!" Hermione waved at them.
"Would you two like to get drinks with Victor and me?" she asked as Krum awkwardly stood behind her.
"Yeah of course! But I feel like we should invite Harry and Ron they look miserable," Riley pointed at Harry and Ron.
"Yeah they really do," Hermione laughed.
The four walked towards Harry and Ron. Parvati had deserted them because she was asked to dance by an Ilvermorny student.
"I'll get ze drinks," Victor said his Bulgarian accent thick as he walked over to the drinks station.
"Hot isn't it? Viktor's gone to get drinks. Care to join us?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron.
Before Harry could open his mouth to say yes Ron replied.
"No, we'd NOT care to join you and Viktor," Ron sneered crossing his arms.
"What's got your wand in a knot?" Hermione asked him.
Noah put his arm around Riley's waist as they watched Ron and Hermione's exchange.
Harry looked at Riley and gave a small, nervous smile.
She felt butterflies in her stomach at the exchange.
"He's a Durmstrang. You're fraternizing with the enemy," the redhead angrily replied staring off at Krum who was balancing the drinks.
"The enemy? Who was it wanting his autograph? Besides, the whole point of the tournament is international magical cooperation, to make friends. Riley, Amira, Hazel, and Noah are from Ilvermorny they are our friends would you consider them your enemy?" Hermione rambled her voice shaky.
"Hrmph, I think he's got a bit more than friendship on his mind," Ron scoffed as Hermione stormed off toward Krum.
Riley stared at Ron in disbelief.
"Are you going to ask me to dance or not?" Padma glared at Ron.
"No," Ron shook his head, clearly uninterested.
Padma rolled her eyes and then retreated to the dancefloor.
"What is wrong with you?" Riley sneered at him.
"I was just saying the truth," Ron shrugged his shoulders.
"Ron, I think you need to calm down," Noah warned.
"So both of you are on her side, of course, now go on you don't want to keep 'Vicky' waiting," Ron said.
Riley stuck up the middle finger and then grabbed Noah's hand and ditched Ron and Harry who stayed silent.
....
It was almost midnight at the Yule Ball and most couples were outside making out in bushes or had returned to their dorms.
"He's using you," Ron told Hermione.
"How dare you! Besides I can take care of myself!" Hermione growled at him.
"Doubt it. He's way too old," Ron laughed sarcastically.
"Leave her alone you asshole," Riley walked towards Ron and poked his chest hard which caused the redhead to wince.
"Shouldn't you be off with Noah? Don't want to keep him waiting now," Ron looked at Riley with disgust as he used hand motions to try and shoo her away.
"He actually had to leave early because he ate too many cookies and had a stomach ache, now leave her alone!" the American ordered.
"Get out, this isn't your argument, Madden," Ron snapped.
"I'm trying to protect my friend from your awful words you dickhead!" Riley shoved him.
"Just leave it, Riley, it's fine I promise," Hermione whispered, her voice wavering.
Riley offered Ron an icy stare before walking over to the dessert table which was almost empty.
She angrily grabbed a pastry that was sprinkled with honey on top.
Stress eating was her go-to thing to do.
"Anyways, you clearly can't take care of yourself," Ron turned his attention back to Hermione who was close to tears.
"You know the solution then don't you," Hermione had tears streaming down her face.
"Go on," Ron said.
"Next time there's a ball pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort," Hermione cried, swiping away at her stray tears.
"Well, that's completely off the point. Harry..." Ron was distracted by the sight of his best friend who looked confused as his eyes flicked between his two friends.
"Where have you been? Nevermind! Off to bed both of you," Hermione pushed them both up the stairs.
As the two walked away Ron mumbled "They get scary when they get older,"
"Ron you spoil everything!" her voice cracked as Ron and Harry disappeared up the stairs.
Riley ran up to Hermione who had taken off her shoes and had started sobbing on the stairs.
Riley hugged her friend.
"I'm so sorry, Mione," she stroked Hermione's hair which had become undone.
"Why does love hurt so much, Riley?" the girl's eyes were bloodshot.
"I don't know," the blonde kissed Hermione's forehead. She thought about how she loved Harry but he had a crush on Cho Chang.
"It gets better, Hermione," Riley leaned her head on Hermione's head.
"It gets better,"
....
Hey everyone! That was chapter 7. YAY THE YULE BALL! Anyways, I won't be updating this weekend and on MLK day because frankly, I need a break. Anyways, I hope you have a great day! Just a reminder that you are so important.
xx Asiya