The Great Hall was decorated like a winter wonderland, everything had an icy coating to it, there was snow falling from the enchanted ceiling that never actually reached the ground and there were three large Christmas trees at the end of the hall. The four house tables had been removed and smaller round tables that seated ten people were placed around the hall instead.
"Look, it's my natural habitat," I joked as Cedric and I walked in, referring to the ice decorations.
"You're not going to break out into let it go anytime soon, are you?" Cedric laughed.
"Don't tempt me," I told him as we continued to walk down the middle of the students lined up to the dance floor. "Good thing that I'm used to all of this because of my family."
"I honestly don't know how you do it. The smiling and having everyone watching you," Cedric said.
"It's not often that we actually have events that are this formal and besides, people are used to seeing my family around so it's not that big a deal," I told him.
"Yeah, but still, it would be strange," Cedric laughed.
"It is, but no weirder than the rest of the family," I pointed out as we finally reached the dance floor.
"My have this dance, Princess Elsa," Cedric asked formally as he bowed like a real-life prince charming.
"Of course, kind sir. It would be my honor," I said as lifted my skirt and curtsied
Cedric took hold of one of my hands and placed his other hand on my waist as I rested my free hand on his shoulder as the music started. I had to admit it was a bit nerve racking having to many people watching us dance. In Asgard it was such a common occurrence that whenever there was a ball, no one really paid attention to anyone that was dancing. I here I felt like everyone was watching and waiting for you to make a mistake.
But those nerves disappeared quickly as Cedric picked me up and twirled me around before gently placing me back down. All of the rest of the world just seemed to fade away, making it feel like it was just the two of us in the room. It was like my five-year-old self self's Disney princess dreams coming true.
Eventually that magical little bubble burst as Professor Dumbledore walked on to the dance floor holding Professor McGonagall's hand and started to dance as the crowd applauded them. Slowly more people started to join those of us on the dance floor and the attention on the champions and their partners faded. Which I was happy about but from the looks of things I wasn't the only one judging from the way Harry kept stumbling over his feet, much to Parvati's distaste.
"Poor Harry, he so awkward over there," I said as Cedric spun me around so he could see Harry for himself.
"Poor kid, he really doesn't deserve the death glare he's getting from Parvati," Cedric agreed.
"Yeah, I know. She should just be happy she's not dancing with Thor; he is not the most graceful person in the world," I laughed.
"He doesn't seem like he would be and I'm assuming you are talk your talking from experience."
"Sadly, I don't know how but somehow I always end up dancing with him at family events. It's a good thing that I'm half super solider and heal quickly with how many times he has stepped on my feet."
It was then that I saw Henry, he was dancing with Able who was a sixth year Ravenclaw. Then it suddenly made sense about why he didn't want to tell anyone who his date was, he was scared that we would judge him because it was another guy. Which he didn't have to worry about at all, we all love Henry for who he was not who he loved. When I pointed it out to Cedric, he looked as happy as I felt, seeing Henry dancing happily with Able. When we finally managed to get Henry's attention, we both smiled and waved. I also gave him a thumbs up and mothed he's cute, to Henry while Able wasn't look, making Henry smile and blush. From that moment on, I knew that Henry wouldn't have a problem in telling us anything anymore.
Soon enough the music stopped as it was announced that dinner was ready to be served and the champions were directed to the head table at the end of the room. Cedric pulled my seat out for me to sit down while Harry quickly sat down on the other side of me, wanting to sit with someone he knew. Parvati glared at Harry she pulled her own chair, angry that he didn't do the same as Cedric and Viktor who had just pulled Hermione's chair out for her.
"You alright, Harry?" I asked him, grabbing hold of his hand under the table and squeezing it to let him know I was there for him.
"Yeah, it's just a little..." Harry said, trailing off trying to find the right word.
"Overwhelming?" I offered.
"Overwhelming is definitely the right word for it," Harry laughed, finally relaxing a bit.
"Don't worry, the worst of it is over," Cedric assured him.
"Elsa, you looked to at ease with all the attention and everything. It was almost like you were royalty or something," Parvati said trying to sound sincere but I knew she was trying to dig for something she could probably spread for gossip. Her and Lavender Brown were known for spreading rumors which made me wish that Harry had taken Padma, who was more interested in studying, instead.
"Oh, you know, Stark Industry galas and stuff like that. It's just part of growing up as the daughter of an Avenger," I lied smoothly, not giving away the truth of my comfort.
"Oh, right. I forgot," Parvati said in a dejected voice, upset that she didn't get any good gossip to spread.
"Harry, Elsa, Cedric! So good to see all of you!" a familiar voice said as they sat down at the table.
"Percy? What are you doing here?" I asked the man who had to be my least favorite Weasley.
"I've been promoted," he said smugly has he puffed out his chest. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant and I'm here representing him."
"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked, making a huge mistake. I just knew Percy was just going to get stuck in to one of his long and usually pointless stories that could usually be summed up in a few words.
"I'm afraid to say that Mr. Crouch isn't well," he announced casually. "Not well at all. Hasn't been right since the world cup. Hardly surprising, overworked. He's not as young as he was..."
At that point of time, I stopped listening to Percy and looked over at Hermione and Viktor who was describing the Durmstrang castle to her as Karkaroff glared at him. It didn't seem like he wanted Viktor giving away any of Drumstrang's 'secrets'.
"'Ow do we order ze food?" Fleur asked just as I realised how hungry I was.
"It's simple Miss Delacour," Dumbledore smiled at her as he picked up the menu in front of him and looked at it. "Porkchops."
As soon as Dumbledore said the food he wanted, it appeared on the plate in front of him. I knew it had to be house elf magic and half expected Hermione to say something. But she was too involved with her conversation with Viktor and trying to teach how to pronounce her name to pay attention to what was going on.
"Isn't that one of America's favorite foods, Miss Rogers. Porkchops and apple sauce," Karkaroff asked snidely.
"Actually, Professor Karkaroff, it's a popular food all around the world. But it's strange you know that porkchops and apple sauce quote considering it's a well knowing saying from a popular muggle show called The Brady Bunch," I said sweetly, wondering how on earth he knew of the show or if it was just a big coincidence.
"Odd, indeed," Professor Karkaroff smiled, showing off his yellowed teeth. There was something off about the man but I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.
"What's his problem?" Cedric asked me, making me shrug.
"I have no idea but something doesn't feel right about him," I whispered.
"You're not wrong," Cedric said as I picked up the menu to look at it.
"Oh my god, yes!" I said as I read the menu.
"Okay what are you so excited about?" Cedric laughed.
"Oh, I'll show you," I said as I placed the menu back down, ready to order what I wanted for dinner. "Southern fried chicken and mashed potatoes"
In a second the fried chicken appeared on my plate, looking just as good as anything my Gran would make. It had been so long since I had anything that could be considered Southern comfort food and I just hoped it tasted as good as it looked.
"That isn't Kentucky fried chicken, is it?" Hermione asked me in shock as I started to eat.
"No, it's not the pathetic excuse for southern fried chicken. It's the real deal, just like my Gran makes," I told her.
"I don't see the difference," she said in disgust.
"Oh, don't go there Hermione," I laughed. "Let's just say it's not mass produced and dipping in oil."
Much to my delight, traditional apple pie with vanilla and caramel sauce was one of the options for dessert. Something told me that my little house elf friend had something to do with it. Which made me happy I got Dobby the newest version of the Avengers sock collection for Christmas.
As soon as we had finished eating we were asked to stand as the tables vanished and was replaced by a stage that had instruments and microphones set up on it. When what looked like a 1970's rock band walked on stage, half the girls started screaming which meant that this much have been the surprise that Professor Sprout was talking about.
"Who are they?" I asked Cedric as I yelled over the top of the screaming fan girls.
"The Weird Sisters," Cedric replied. "They're really popular, as you can probably tell."
"I still prefer country," I told him, making him laugh.
Even though country music would always be my first love, I had to admit that they knew how to get a crowd going.
"Okay guys and girls," the lead singer of the Weird Sister said about an hour into their performance. "It's time we try something a little different. Over the summer we heard a muggle band and we just loved them. So, we thought in honor of our muggle born student's, we would perform a few of their songs."
"I wonder what band their talking about?" Cassy asked me as she and George stood with Cedric and me.
"I know, you're hoping it's going to be AC/DC," I laughed.
"Yeah, and I know that you are hoping that it's going to be Lonestar," she replied.
But we were both wrong but the band they were talking about was even better. As soon as the lead singer sat down at the piano and played the first few notes both Cassy and I, along with pretty much every muggle born, knew exactly what song was about to begin.
"Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away"
"What band sings this?" Cedric yelled over the sound of every muggle born singing along.
"Queen!" I told him. "There lead singer, Freddie Mercury, is who I named Freddie after."
"I knew it sounded familiar," Cedric said as I started to sing along again.
It turned out that the Weird Sisters were going do the entire Live Aid set and as soon as Radio Ga Ga came on, we all started doing the well-known clap that went along with the song.
"All we hear is "Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga"
All we hear is "Radio ga ga
"Radio blah blah"
Radio, what's new?
Radio, someone still loves you"
At the end of the set every single muggle born was cheering, wanting them to continue with the Queen songs. But they announced that they would be taking a small break and enchanted the instruments to play something that was a little slower.
Cedric pulled me close as we started to slow dance to the music. I rested my head on his chest and silently prayed that the night would never end. Everything was just perfect but it wasn't too last. It seemed that no matter what was going on in my life, the Nornir or more probably Skuld, could never let me enjoy it. It wasn't long until that voice was back again.
"Ah ah, oh oh
Ah ah, oh oh
Ah ah, oh oh oh oh"
I closed my eyes and leaned more in to Cedric's chest as I tried to block out the voice. I was determined not to let the damn fates ruin yet another important moment in my life. But no matter what I did the voice kept singing.
"Ah ah, oh oh
Ah ah, oh ohAh ah, oh oh oh oh"
"Elsa, are you okay?" Cedric asked me in a worried voice as he felt me tense up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to fresh air," I said as I pulled away from his arms.
Before he could say anything, I lifted the hem of my dress up and ran outside and kept running until I was at the edge of the forest. No one was around because of the ball and it had started snowing, so I felt more than comfortable when I dropped to my knees and screamed in frustration making the snow that was falling freeze in the air around me.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I screamed into the night sky, knowing that the Nornir wouldn't reply.
I don't know if I started to cry from anger, frustration or worry but I couldn't stop the tears from falling or stop them from turning into sobs. I fell forward on to my hands and hung my head as I tried to stop myself from crying.
"Please, I don't know what you want from me," I whispered. "I've done as you asked, so please, just stop. I can't take it anymore."
In that moment, I had never hated my Asgardian side more in my life. I was sick of living up to so called prophesy's, having crazy powers and worrying about people I loved getting hurt. Wasn't it enough that Mum was in what seemed to be an eternal Odin's sleep? Why did they have to plague me with their stupid riddles. I just wanted to live in peace without them interfering with my life.
"Come on, Elsa. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know. Be the good girl you always have to be," I kept repeating over and over to myself as I tried to calm myself done.
I hadn't even realised that the frozen snow had turned into some sort of ice fortress until I heard someone running over to me which made me look up. I started to panic, thinking that I wouldn't be able to bring the fortress walls down quick enough. But it turned out that I didn't have to worry because when I heard the voice calling out to me, I knew that it was Cedric.
"Elsa, let me in and tell me what's wrong," He called out from the other side of the ice fortress.
I stood up and let the walls drop as I wiped the tears from my face before facing Cedric. I tried to smile but even I could tell without looking in a mirror to be able to tell how fake it looked.
"It's nothing, just got a little overwhelmed. That's all," I said in a shaky voice.
"Elsa, are we actually going to go through this again. Do I need to remind you of our first year at Hogwarts," he said as he pulled me in close to him.
"I know, it's just I can't talk about it because even I don't know the full extent of what is going on," I told him truthfully. "Even since the night before we left for the world cup, I've been having these crazy dreams and hearing this strange voice singing at the weirdest of times. I know it's the Nornir, the Asgardian fates, because they did something similar when I first got my staff. It always means their building to something, I just don't know what it is!"
"Elsa, why didn't you tell me?" Cedric asked as he pushed the stray curl out of my face.
"Because talking about it makes it real," I told him. "But I'm just glad my hands aren't" glowing gold like the last time."
"Your hands were glowing last time?" Cedric asked in shock.
"Uh, yeah. It was in our fourth year. You know when I was 'sick' and Bruce was looking after me before Danny and me headed to Asgard," I explained.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked me, concern filling his voice.
"No, there's nothing," I said as I shook my head. "All I can do is wait for the Nornir to show their hand and they work in their own version of time. It could be tomorrow or it could be in ten years. Not even Odin, himself, can tell them what to do."
"Well, I'll wait with you and I'll be there for you no matter what the future holds."
I looked up Cedric with tears in my eyes, but this time they were happy tears as I smiled at him. I had no idea what in the nine realms I did to deserve him in my life, but I was happy that I had him because I had no idea what I would do without him.
"I love you, Cedric"
"I love you too, Elsa."
The snow picked up and started falling harder but neither Cedric or I cared less as he lent down to kiss me. I didn't feel the cold air at all as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The Nornir could tournament me all they like but they could never take away that moment or how I felt for Cedric. No matter what happened.
"He's using you!" Cedric and I heard Ron yell at Hermione as we walk back into the castle.
Poor Hermione looked like she had been crying and Ron was chasing after her, not finished with whatever rant he was currently on.
"How dare you! Besides, I can take care of myself," Hermione shrieked at him.
"Doubt it. He's way to too old," Ron snapped at her.
"So, were old are we as well, Ron?" Cedric asked him, sounding like a protective older brother.
"It's not...," Ron tried to explain but I wasn't going to let him.
"It' not what? It's not really you yelling at poor, Hermione?" I asked him sarcastically.
"I never said you guys were old, I just said Viktor was too old for Hermione," Ron explained, only making things worse.
"What? That's what you think?" Hermione yelled at him.
"Come on, Hermione. Let's go back into the hall," I said to her as I offered my hand to her.
"No, I want to hear what he has to say," Hermione said defiantly.
"Yeah, that is what I think," Ron told her confidently, which may have been the last words he would ever say judging by the look on Hermione's face.
"You know the solution then don't you," Hermione all but yelled in his face.
"Go on," Ron taunted her.
"Next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else dose and not as a last resort," Hermione told him tearfully.
"Okay, I think you have said enough," Cedric told Ron as I walked over to Hermione to hug her.
"Well, that's completely off point but I won't say anything else," Ron said, desperate for an escape when he saw his best friend walk in. "Harry!"
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked Harry, concerned about him but still mad and hurt from what Ron did. "Never mind! Off to bed both of you."
Harry and Ron started to walk up the stairs but Ron just had to say something as they walked off to make things worse than they already were."
"They get scary when they get older."
"Ron, you spoil everything!" Hermione yelled.
"Get out of here, Ron. Before I show you what scary really looks like," I warned him, forcing him to run up the stairs as he dragged Harry behind him.
When the pair were finally gone, Hermione sat down on the stair and pulled her shoes off as she tried not to cry. I quickly sat down next to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she rested her head on mine.
"Why does it hurt so much, Elsa," she asked me in a small voice.
"Because you care about him and he's acting like a jerk," I told her.
"He's just an idiot, Hermione. Don't worry about anything he said," Cedric told her as he sat down on the other side of her and placed his hand on her knee. "He'll come round eventually. Trust me, I did in the end."
"We both did and trust me, Cedric and I had a much bigger fight than you and Ron have ever had," I reassured her.
"Really? I can't imagine you two ever fighting," Hermione said as she wiped away her tears.
"It was in our fourth year, I was stressed and acted like an idiot and let myself get manipulated," Cedric told her.
"And I may have almost frozen the Astronomy tower during the fight," I said, cringing at the memory.
"Now look at us, nothing could ever come between us," Cedric said as he smiled at me.
"I guess you're right," Hermione said, looking a little happier.
"We are right," I told her, standing up and pulling Hermione to her feet with me. "Now, there is a very sweet Bulgarian seeker waiting for you in that hall. So why don't we go in and enjoy the rest of the night."
Hermione wiped away the rest of her tears and smiled at me as she hugged me. Hugging her and then giving her a gentle nudge back into the hall towards Viktor, I leant in to Cedric and watch the young girl walk towards her date for the evening.
I was right about one thing; the Yule Ball was definitely a night we were all going to remember forever.