ANYONE WHO SAID NEWT CLASSES WERE EASY STUNK OF LIES. In barely a term of her sixth year Evelyn felt she'd done more work than in the rest of her time at Hogwarts. The professor's had been pushing her hard for the past weeks even though the exams were more than a year away and she was already beginning to feel her enthusiasm fizzle out.
And so when it was announced that, as was traditional during the Triwizard tournament, Hogwarts would be hosting a Yule ball that year on Christmas Day, Evelyn was more than ecstatic. For some the news of a dance had stirred up a feeling of anxiety and dread at the idea of socialising and the uncertainty of wether or not they'd manage to find a date in time, but for Evelyn and a lot of students an enthusiastic buzz had returned to the castle halls. There was now an opportunity to relax and something to look forward to where they could just enjoy the night with the promise of an exciting holiday spent with friends. What was more, Evelyn didn't even have to worry about finding a date. She already had a boyfriend, and not one who would abandon her on the night to mess around with his friends or anything like that.
Max had said it best one morning after the Ravenclaw's had undertaken a slightly awkward ballroom dancing class where professor Flitwick had charmed mops and brooms and walking sticks to stand in for an actual partner for each student rather than demonstrating himself - there was literally no reason for Evelyn to be nervous about the ball...
...Apart from maybe the very small detail of finding herself the perfect dress to make the night feel as impossible as she supposed it had ought to.
Fortunately for her, a hogsmead visit had been promptly scheduled not long before the ball, and so Evelyn along with Max, Nikki, Margaux and Léonie had hurried off to a far corner of the village where a small wizarding boutique sat hiding between a tea shop and a post office.
"So what colour are you planning on getting? Blue maybe? Or green?" Max asked Evelyn, holding a set of silver robes up in front of the mirror. Evelyn leant against the wall, carefully scanning the room of dresses and robes.
"I don't know..." She said.
"Well I think you'd look good in dark green, and then you and Ethan would match. I'm sure he'll wear his house colours." Max suggested. She discarded the silver robes on a nearby rack and held up a long purple dress with lace, then promptly made a disgusted face and moved on to another option, "but it's up to you."
Evelyn didn't answer right away, but instead took in the surroundings a little. She'd always thought it would be simple to pick the outfit for such an important event but here she was struggling to know where to begin. On one hand, Max had a good point that green could be an appropriate option for her, but on the other hand maybe she should wear navy blue and represent her own house at the dance.
"What if you stopped worrying about colour and started with style first?" Nikki said coming out from the changing rooms dressed in glittering green robes. She paraded the room for a moment as the other girls complimented her choice of outfit before pulling a couple of dresses out of the rack closest to Evelyn, "How about a shorter one? Or maybe something form fitting?
"I think the colour doesn't matter if you don't feel comfortable. You could wear your favourite colour but hate the dress anyway for how it makes you feel." Margaux pointed out from where she sat with Léonie on a bench near the mirror Max stood in front of, already having chosen their outfits. Evelyn nodded slowly and joined in with the chatter, heading over to another rack of dresses to browse.
And then, not a quarter into scanning that row of dresses, she found it. Evelyn was so wrapped up in telling Max how she should definitely pick the silvery-blue jumpsuit she'd just tried on that she almost didn't see it. That would have been disastrous, she was sure, for immediately as she'd laid eyes on the dress she'd known it had to be the one.
It was nothing fancy, but maybe that's what drew her to it. A floor length dress with a V-cut neckline, the top half a satin ribbon ready to give a comforting hug with summer straps that Evelyn knew were extremely inappropriate for winter. The skirt was layered and lightly ruffled, swirling out from the waist into what Evelyn would describe as a trickling waterfall of fabric, and it bounced softly and elegantly as Evelyn took it from its hiding spot. The entire gown gleamed faintly in the mid morning light, giving off a sort of shimmering sheen that made the dress seem even more like it belonged at a crystal River than before. Evelyn thought it would have blended in well to a snowy landscape or a midnight boat ride had it not been for one tiny detail:
The dress was a deep and warming shade of red. And it was perfect.
Now all Evelyn needed was to find some shoes and maybe a bag, and everything would be set perfectly for what she hoped would be the best night of her life so far.
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With their outfits organised, the group of girls decided that they'd ought to reward themselves for a hard day's decision making with a butterbeer at the three broomsticks. At least, that's what Nikki had said. Evelyn had just thought that the drink would just make a nice addition to the outing, and the others had agreed, so now they sat laughing in a booth at the back of the small pub, discussing their plans for the Yule ball (a popular topic with everyone else too, it seemed) with steaming mugs in their hands.
"I was thinking to ask Georges if he would go to the dance with me." Léonie admitted, her accent smearing George's name into an elegant blur. Evelyn grinned massively.
"You should," Evelyn encouraged her new friend, "he'll say yes. I know he will." She promised, recalling how the Redheads face had come to match his hair whenever Léonie would speak to him. Max also encouraged Léonie to invite George to go to the party as she'd been invited to go the ball along with Lee, the two having apparently become good friends whilst Evelyn and Fred had been (in Max's own words) "out galavanting every five minutes", and didn't want to be left without backup in case somebody started some trouble.
As the afternoon grew darker outside the window, Nikki gushed about how surprised she was that anyone had asked her to go to the dance at all, but still refused to tell the others who it was she'd be going with, whilst Margaux announced proudly and loudly that she was going with one of her beaubaxtons friends, Matheiu, every time somebody walked past their table. The odd person stopped to talk to them and would ask each girl who they planned to go with, and when they weren't talking about that the conversation quickly turned to how Léonie should ask George out or to trying to get Nikki to confess who her date was.
Three mugs of butterbeer each and a good deal of pumpkin pasties later, just as the conversation was beginning to quieten down, Evelyn saw a familiar head of blonde hair slip in through the doors. She put a smile on her lips, ready to greet Ethan when he came over to their table, but the moment never came. Instead, the Slytherin held the door open wide for a moment until a dark haired girl stepped inside, and together they sat and one of the small tables at the front of the pub where Evelyn always saw couples sitting when they were out on dates.
Evelyn recognised Ethan's companion. She was the one he sat with in defence against the dark arts lessons. She was almost certain the girl was called Rachel, and she was definitely a Slytherin. According to Ethan they were just very good friends.
From where Evelyn sat, it almost looked like they were holding hands...
... But she was sure that she wasn't seeing clearly. They were quite a long way away from her, after all.
No need to get jealous. Evelyn told herself, but she couldn't take her eyes away from them as Ethan ordered two mugs of butterbeer from madame Rosemerta, stop looking, she thought, they're friends. Like you and Fred. It's fine.
"Why is Ethan sitting with that Rachel girl? I thought you said he told you he was studying today?" Max leaned into Evelyn's side and whispered. Evelyn shrugged.
"He must have finished and decided to come into the village for a while. They were probably studying together, anyway. They're friends." She said. Just friends. Don't be so controling.
"You sure?" Max asked, eyeing Ethan with caution. Evelyn smiled.
"Positive." She said. She couldn't very well complain, not after what happened in the summer holidays anyway, but she wasn't going to tell Max about every little thing she thought about in a pub. No, it was best to ignore it and focus on something much more exciting, like the upcoming yule ball, so she changed the subject instead, "So do you think they'll serve us firewhisky at the ball or will it just be boring old pumpkin juice..."