The start of December brought wind and sleet to Hogwarts. Drafty though the castle always was in winter, it was nice with its fires and thick walls as the Durmstrang ship sat on the icy lake. Beauxbatons caravan was likely to be pretty chilly too. Classes were progressing like normal. It was the light of fun that the twins had in mind that made the days seem more entertaining to Rubi. They were setting off pranks as often as they could, mostly annoying Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris.
"Fred, hurry up!" Rubi urged the ginger, who was fixing the last firework to surprise the caretaker one evening.
"And done. Let's move." Fred answered and the trio moved out the room, waiting for the fireworks to go off, and to their luck Filch came limping back, his usual scowl set upon his face.
"Having to scrub those muddy footprints, stupid kids can't even clean themselves properly. Why if it was my way, I'd be hanging them from their toes!"
He kept muttering and headed right into his office and-
Bang!
"WEASLEYS AND BLACK! I KNOW IT WAS YOU!"
The trio burst out laughing and immediately began running as Filch was chasing them like a raging bull. George turned right while Fred and Rubi went left. Rubi glanced over her shoulder and saw Filch made a sharp left as well.
"Crap, he's still on us."
Rubi picked up the pace, Fred following her lead. As they rounded another corner, Rubi's eyes flew upon a wooden door and she ran towards it. She pulled open the door swiftly, getting in and beckoning Fred to come. Right as the ginger dashed in, the young Black slammed the door shut.
It was pitch black and they strained to listen for footsteps. A few seconds later, sound erupted out in the corridor and from the way it began to disappear as fast as it arrived, Filch had passed.
Rubi released the breath she was holding. A light suddenly lit up, blinding the girl temporarily.
"Ouch! Why did you have to light your wand in my face?" Rubi hissed, his eyes screwed shut.
"Sorry, love. Although, are you blinded by the light or my charming beauty?" Fred asked cockily.
Rubi snapped her eyes open and rolled them.
"The wand you dungbrain."
"Well, says the person clinging onto me."
Rubi's eyes widened, as she realized that Fred was speaking the truth. Rubi had been holding tightly onto Fred's shirt. She immediately released the material from between her fingers, clearing her throat awkwardly as she took a step back, only for her back to hit the wall.
"I was holding onto you because there's not much space in here." Rubi worded out, not looking Fred in the eye.
Fred smirked, "Whatever makes you sleep at night."
Rubi growled but chose not to say anything more.
More moments passed in silence before the door suddenly swung open. Rubi cringed, expecting to find Filch but felt surprise flood her as she found George in the doorway instead.
"Sooooo," He sang, "what are you two doing in a broom closet?"
Rubi narrowed her eyes, "Hiding from Filch of course."
George only grinned harder, "Hmm, sure thing."
Rubi looked up at Fred in confusion who looked red. With a shake of her head, Rubi shoved George to clear the doorway and stepped out.
"Well, let's get to dinner, boys."
And Rubi turned, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she began to strut down the corridor.
Fred stood transfixed, staring after her swaying retreating figure.
"Merlin, help me. This girl is going to be the end of me."
George clapped his brother on the shoulder.
"Correction; she already has you wrapped around her finger."
Fred sighed, smiling, "She does now, doesn't she?"
***
"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?"
Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on a late December Thursday, and Harry and Ron both jumped and looked up.
It was the end of the lesson; they had finished their work; the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk (Neville's still had feathers); they had copied down their homework from the blackboard ("Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches").
The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock.
Rubi sniggered at them.
"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at the pair of them as the head of Harry's haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor- Ron's parrot's beak had severed it moments before-"I have something to say to you all.
"The Yule Ball is approaching- a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests."
Hermione and Rubi beamed at one another with excitement.
"Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above- although you may invite a younger student if you wish-"
Lavender let out a shrill giggle. Parvati nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Harry.
Professor McGonagall ignored them. "Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then-"
Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class.
"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to- er- let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.
Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Rubi could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.
"But that does NOT mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."
The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.
Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter! A word, if you please."
Rubi and Hermione exited the class, positively bouncing with excitement.
"A ball sounds like fun!" Rubi voiced, her face beaming.
"I know right!" Hermione replied before she dropped her voice, "You think Fred will ask you to the ball?"
Rubi sighed, her smile fading, "I really hope he does." She paused, her eyes grazing across the students bustling in the corridor, "I'm going to wait for him. If he doesn't ask me, I'll have to go with someone else."
Hermione patted her reassuringly on the shoulder, "I think there's no one rather than you he would like to go with."
Rubi shot Hermione a small smile, "Thanks, Mione, but don't give me false hope. It's dangerous to hope too much."
***
The days dragged on and Rubi was beginning to lose hope. Fred had not asked her yet, but on the contrary, Rubi was rejecting every offer she had received, but now she was beginning to doubt herself. She expressed this concern with Hermione during an evening in the last week of term.
"Rubi, relax." Hermione coaxed, watching Rubi pace around the dormitory, pulling at her hair. "He will ask, I'm sure of it."
Rubi groaned, stopping her pacing, "Hermione, I've been waiting for so long and he hasn't made a move." Rubi dropped onto her bed, burying her face in a pillow.
"I mean, if he hasn't made a move, why don't you ask him instead?" Hermione suggested, observing the young Black who raised her head, blinking at her headboard.
"I could but," Rubi sat up and turned to face her bushy haired friend, "What if he takes it the wrong way and I just ruin the friendship?"
Hermione sighed in exasperation, "No, it won't! Either you ask Fred or you continue waiting for him, just trust me!"
Rubi cracked a grin, "I guess I don't have much of a choice now, do I? I'll have to trust the nerd with a lion's mane."
Rubi yelped as she ducked, narrowly missing the book Hermione had chucked at her. The two girls playfully glared at each other before they burst into a fit of giggles.
***
A few days later, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Rubi sat by the fireplace.
"Evil, he is," Ron said bitterly that night in the Gryffindor common room, referring to Snape. "Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying."
"Mmm . . . you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack- a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second.
"It's Christmas, Hermione," said Harry lazily; he was rereading "Flying with the Cannons" for the tenth time in an armchair near the fire.
Hermione looked severely over at him too. "I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"
"Like what?" Harry said as he watched Joey Jenkins of the Cannons belt a Bludger toward a Ballycastle Bats Chaser.
"That egg!" Hermione hissed.
"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth," Harry said.
"But it might take weeks to work it out!" said Hermione. "You're going to look a real idiot if everyone else knows what the next task is and you don't!"
Rubi snorted, "That wouldn't be a first. Harold's as clueless as Dudley, and that's saying something."
Harry glared at her.
"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a bit of a break," said Ron, and he placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.
"Nice look, Ron . . . go well with your dress robes, that will."
It was Fred and George. They sat down with Harry, Ron, Rubi and Hermione as Ron felt how much damage had been done.
"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.
"No, he's off delivering a letter," said Ron. "Why?"
"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," said Fred sarcastically.
"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," said George.
"You guys can borrow Nightwing if you want." Rubi suggested.
"Aw thanks dear Rubi!" said George.
"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.
"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. "So . . . you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope," said Ron. "Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.
"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," said Fred promptly.
"What?" said Ron, taken aback.
Fred waved a hand, getting onto his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better get going, Rubi, come on..."
Rubi gracefully stood up, walking swiftly but lightly across the common room and out the portrait hole, Fred right beside her. They walked in a comfortable silence, Rubi gazing out each window fondly as she admired the beautiful night sky.
"Uh, listen," Fred spoke, making Rubi tear her eyes away from the current window and beside herself, tilting her head to look at the redhead. "Would..." Fred stopped walking, making Rubi pause as well.
The young Black could feel her heart pick up speed.
"I know you don't have anyone to go to the ball with, not that I know of anyone anyways," He laughed nervously, "Would... would you like to go to the ball with me?"
Rubi's heart flipped, euphoria flooding through, "Yes, I would love that." she breathed out softly, a huge smile breaking onto her face.
Fred sighed in relief, letting out a chuckle, "Oh thank merlin, or that would have been embarrassing."
Rubi giggled, before continuing to walk, feeling over the moon.
Once the two were in the Owlery, they sent off the twins' letter, which Rubi found out later to be addressed to Ludo Bagman, and the two headed back to Gryffindor tower, walking so close to one another that their hands softly brushed against each other.
When back in the lions' den, Rubi ran straight up to her dormitory, when she didn't find Hermione in the common room.
Rubi burst through the fourth year girl's dormitory door, "Hermione! Hermione! Fred asked me for the ball!" The girl exclaimed in delight and Hermione stood up from her bed, beaming, as she rushed towards Rubi, the two eagerly embracing one another.
"That's amazing to hear!" Hermione commented, her face pink from happiness.
Rubi sighed dreamily, falling down onto her bed, "Oh this feels like a wonderful dream come true."
Hello!
Almost forgot that I was supposed to update today so got a bit late but that was the next chapter! The Yule Ball is coming up! So excited! ;) <33
Hope you all liked the update, and see you in the next chapter, which is going to be amazing by the way! ;)
-Serina ❤