☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
| THE YULE BALL |
song: je te laisserai des mots by patrick watson.
Open the comments to see the dress!
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
ARA HAD ACCEPTED THE FACT THAT SHE WOULD HAVE TO ENDURE migraines pretty much daily, though that didn't mean she'd let it stop her from enjoying herself. Despite the heavy load of homework that the teachers had assigned, Ara was in no mood to dedicate a minute of her time working and spent the week leading up to Christmas relaxing and having fun along with her friends.
Gryffindor Tower was hardly less crowded now than during term-time; it seemed to have shrunk slightly too, as its inhabitants were being so much rowdier than usual. Fred and George had had great success with their Canary Creams, and for the first couple of days of the holidays, people kept bursting into feathers all over the place. Before long, however, all the Gryffindors had learned to treat food anybody else offered them with extreme caution, in case it had a Canary Cream concealed in the centre.
Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, chilly, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savoury puddings, and only Fleur Delacour seemed to be able to find anything to complain about.
"It is too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," they heard her saying grumpily as they left the Great Hall behind her one evening (Ron skulking behind Ara and Harry, keen not to be spotted by Fleur). "I will not fit into my dress robes!"
"Oooh there's a tragedy," Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall after giving Ara a finger wave. "She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?"
"Will you drop it, Hermione?" said Ara with a tired sigh after she'd returned Fleur's gesture with a smile and giving her friend a pointed look. "She isn't doing anything to you, is she?"
Hermione huffed.
"Hermione—who are you two going to the ball with?" said Ron, he'd soon realised his sister was going with Elizabeth, but he was still pushy about Hermione's date.
He kept springing this question on her, hoping to startle her into a response by asking it when she least expected it. However, Hermione merely frowned and said, "I'm not telling you, you'll just make fun of me."
"You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy, behind them. "You're not telling me someone's asked that to the ball? Not the long-molared Mudblood?"
Ara, Harry, and Ron all whipped around, but Hermione said loudly, waving to somebody over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!"
Malfoy went pale and jumped backwards, looking wildly around for Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his stew.
"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" said Hermione scathingly, and she, Ara, Harry, and Ron went up the marble staircase laughing heartily.
"Hermione," said Ron, looking sideways at her, suddenly frowning, "your teeth . . ."
"What about them?" she said.
"Well, they're different . . . I've just noticed. . . ."
"Of course they are — did you expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me?"
"No, I mean, they're different to how they were before he put that hex on you. . . . They're all . . . straight and — and normal sized."
Hermione suddenly smiled very mischievously. It was, indeed, a very different smile from the one they remembered. Ara said nothing, Hermione had long told her about how she'd tricked Madam Pomfrey into making them as small and straight as she'd liked. Ara had almost shed a tear from how proud she was of her friend's schemes.
"Well . . . when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were," she said. "And I just . . . let her carry on a bit." She smiled even more widely. "Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. I've been trying to persuade them to let me shrink them for ages, but they wanted me to carry on with my braces. You know, they're dentists, they just don't think teeth and magic should — look! Pigwidgeon's back!"
Ron's tiny owl was twittering madly on the top of the icicle-laden bannisters, two scrolls of parchment tied to his leg. People passing him were pointing and laughing, and a group of third-year girls paused and said, "Oh look at the weeny owl! Isn't he cute?"
"Stupid little feathery git!" Ron hissed, hurrying up the stairs and snatching up Pigwidgeon. "You bring letters to the addressee! You don't hang around showing off!"
Pigwidgeon hooted happily, his head protruding over Ron's fist. The third-year girls all looked very shocked.
"Clear off!" Ron snapped at them, waving the fist holding Pigwidgeon, who hooted more happily than ever as he soared through the air. "Here — take them, Ria, Harry," Ron added in an undertone as the third-year girls scuttled away looking scandalised. They pulled Sirius's replies off Pigwidgeon's leg, Ara put her letter inside her jacket as Harry pocketed his, and they hurried back to Gryffindor Tower to read them.
Everyone in the common room was much too busy letting off more holiday steam to observe what anyone else was up to. Ara, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat apart from everyone else by a dark window that was gradually filling up with snow, and Harry read aloud:
Dear Harry,
Congratulations on getting past the Horntail. Whoever put your name in that goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy right now! I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, as a dragon's eyes are its weakest point — "That's what Krum did!" Hermione whispered — but your way was better, I'm impressed.
Don't get complacent, though, Harry. You've only done one task; whoever put you in for the tournament's got plenty more opportunity if they're trying to hurt you. Keep your eyes open — particularly when the person we discussed is around — and concentrate on keeping yourself out of trouble. Keep in touch, I still want to hear about anything unusual.
Sirius
"He sounds exactly like Moody," said Harry quietly, tucking the letter away again inside his robes. " 'Constant vigilance!' You'd think I walk around with my eyes shut, banging off the walls. . . ."
"But he's right, Harry," said Hermione, "You have still got two tasks to do. You really ought to have a look at that egg, you know, and start working out what it means. . . ."
"I have to agree with Hermione on this," said Ara, tucking her fallen hair behind her ears. "You should really start thinking about figuring that egg out, as annoying as you are, we don't want you dying."
"Thanks for the sentiment, Nyx."
"Any time."
"But he's got ages!" snapped Ron. "Want a game of chess, Harry?"
"Yeah, okay," said Harry. Then, spotting the look on Ara and Hermione's faces, he said, "Come on, how am I supposed to concentrate with all this noise going on? I won't even be able to hear the egg over this lot."
"Fine, it's your funeral," whispered Ara under her breath as she dug into the inner pocket of her jacket and took out her Dad's reply. She unfolded the small piece of parchment and read through it silently, a small smile painting her lips.
Hello, little wolf,
I'm doing alright, what about you? Are you sure you're doing okay? Don't lie to me, I can be an incredible empath when I want to be, I can smell lies. If you have something that's bothering you, you can write to me. By the way, don't worry about my diet, I promise I'm trying to find something other than rats. I sometimes imagine that they're Pettigrew when I kill them–as demented as that sounds–It brings me satisfaction–
Ara let out a chuckle.
Make sure you write to me as much as you can, with everything going on with Harry, I want to make sure you're alive and breathing just fine. I miss you terribly, hopefully we can arrange a meeting soon (don't lecture me about safety, I'm the adult here).
Take care of yourself, and you, too, keep your eyes open for any trouble. I know you're smart, Ara, trust your instincts.
With Love,
Snuffles.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
ARA GROANED IN HER SLEEPY STATE WHEN SHE FELT SOMETHING LICK HER FACE, she rolled over to the side and buried her face deeper into her pillow, though the licking was soon replaced with hair pulling as her cat's paws yanked.
"Venus, not now," she said groggily, her mouth hanging open.
But when the yanking stopped, Ara felt her nice and thick blanket being pulled off of her.
"No. . ." she groaned and curled herself into a ball, trying to seek warmth.
"Wake up, Ara!" Ara could hear Hermione's voice, but she remained with her eyes closed. "It's Christmas!"
"Good to know," she rolled over to the other side and placed her pillow over her head to try and avoid hearing or seeing anything more.
Hermione rolled her eyes, got closer to her sleeping friend and peeled the pillow away from her face. Ara's eyes finally snapped open and she scowled at her.
"Good morning, and Happy Christmas," said Hermione with a giddy tone.
"Happy Christmas," Ara groaned, rubbing her face before sending Hermione a tired smile, her voice sounding raspy due to having just woken up. She looked around and noticed that she and Hermione were the only ones in the dormitory, she assumed that the other girls must have gone down to breakfast already.
She lifted herself into a seating position and Venus immediately settled herself in her lap, "Morning, love," Ara stroked her head affectionately for a moment before putting her on the floor so that she could give her food.
She walked towards a small corner and bent down to place the cat food in one of Venus' bowls, her cat immediately skipped towards her and rubbed herself against Ara's feet before digging into her breakfast. When Ara rose from her crouched position Hermione let out a scream, and, as if on instinct, Ara started screaming as well.
"Wait—wait, why are we screaming?" panted Ara after a good three seconds, but she saw Hermione's gaze, she didn't appear frightened, just surprised. She followed her eyes, looked behind her and was met with the beaming face of Dobby.
"Ara Black!" said Dobby as he walked closer to her. "Such an honour it is, miss! Sorry Dobby scared you, miss!"
"Dobby," Ara sighed in relief and gave the elf a warm smile as Hermione still held a hand over her heart from shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Dobby got miss a present!" he said excitedly and pulled out a poorly wrapped parcel.
"That's very nice of you, Dobby," Hermione grinned, finally calming herself.
"Oh! Thank you," said Ara gratefully as she took the present from him. "You didn't have to. . .I also have a present for you!"
Ara went towards her trunk and dug through it for a few moments before grabbing a messily wrapped box that contained a small red-knitted jumper. It had taken her a while to figure out what spell to use in order to make it but in the end, she thought it turned out okay. She didn't bother closing her trunk as she made her way over to her elf friend.
"Here you go, Dobby," she said as she handed him the present. "Happy Christmas."
"Thank you, miss," said Dobby with tears of happiness in his eyes. "Dobby is most grateful! But now Dobby has to go to Harry Potter, to give sir his present."
"No problem," she got to her knees and gave him a quick hug, and after that, he disappeared with a 'pop'.
"He's sweet," said Hermione as she sat on her bed. "I'm glad you and Harry freed him."
"Yeah, me too, the Malfoys were horrible to him."
After that small interaction, Ara and Hermione proceeded to open their presents, both of them sitting on their beds as they showed each other what they'd gotten.
Hermione had given Ara a Muggle book called 'How To Kill A Mockingbird', which she greatly appreciated since she had run out of books to read. Ron had given her a bunch of chocolate frogs from Honeydukes along with some of her favourite sweets, the twins gave her a few dung bombs and a pair of black fingerless gloves, and Remus (who had finally shown signs of life once again) gifted her an incredible amount of chocolate bars. Charlie and Bill had given her some new hair products. Percy, bless him, gave her a book titled '10 Fun Facts About The Ministry of Magic'. Her dad, who apparently had found the time to get her a present, gifted her dangling silver star earrings. Dobby's present had been some knitted socks, they were both different colours, one black and the other red. And, of course, she had received her usual Weasley sweater, this time it was a dark blue with the initial A on white in the middle.
"Hey, what's that?" said Hermione suddenly as she pointed towards a small square box that had peaked out of Ara's trunk.
"Harry's present," said Ara, and, after putting on her new socks, she went to pick it up. "I'm going to give it to him later."
"Are you now?" asked Hermione, a knowing smile on her face.
"Shut up," Ara pointed a finger at her.
"I didn't say anything." Hermione shrugged.
"Your face did,"
Her friend merely laughed, "hurry up and get ready, we have to meet Ron and Harry in the common room so we can get breakfast."
Ara got ready as fast as she could, showering, brushing her teeth and clothing herself before taking a moment to do her hair—Hermione had rolled her eyes when Ara said she needed at least ten minutes for it. After she'd applied the new products Bill and Charlie had sent she let it fall in loose waves. Hermione had to drag her out the door soon after that.
They met with Harry and Ron downstairs, and they went down to breakfast together. They spent most of the morning in Gryffindor Tower, where everyone was enjoying their presents, then returned to the Great Hall for a magnificent lunch, which included at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.
They went out onto the grounds in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep channels made by the Durmstrangand Beauxbatons students on their way up to the castle. Hermione chose to watch Ara, Harry, and the Weasleys' snowball fight rather than join in.
"Argh! Get off me!" Ara's voice was muffled as the twins tackled her to the ground.
"No can do, sis," said Fred as he and George grabbed handfuls of snow and plastered it all over her face and hair, making her screech.
Ara got them off her just in time to see Ron aim a handful at Harry's face.
When it reached five o'clock, Ara and Hermione decided that it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for the ball.
"What, you need three hours?" said Ron, looking at them incredulously and paying for his lapse in concentration when a large snowball, thrown by George, hit him hard on the side of the head.
"We need time to look more stunning than we already do, Ron!" Ara said as she threw them one last look over her shoulder.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
ARA AND HERMIONE SPEND A GOOD HOUR JUST DOING THEIR HAIR.
"What's this?" Ara said as she picked up a potion on Hermione's nightstand, Sleekeazy's Hair Potion.
She could hear her other roommates, Parvati and Lavender, giggling across the other side of the room as they put on their shoes. It seemed that they'd started getting ready long before them.
"Oh, it's to make my hair less. . .bushy?" Hermione said uncertainty, adjusting her pink silk robe that matched Ara's black one.
Ara frowned as she turned the flask around, coming across the name of the creator, Fleamont Potter. Harry's grandfather had created it? She wondered if he knew, though she was almost sure he didn't. She thought it to be unfair that he knew so little about his ancestry, the Potters had been a remarkable family, very respectable. Truthfully, Ara wished she didn't know much about her family, they weren't people worth knowing about but Harry's? He needed to know how influential they had been.
"We'll be heading down now, you two are sure you won't need help?" asked Parvati, breaking Ara's train of thought.
"I think we'll manage, but thank you, Parvati," said Ara as Hermione nodded in confirmation.
"Remember! It starts at eight!" yelled Lavender as she and Parvati left the room, closing the door behind them
With a quiet sigh Ara put the potion right where she'd found it, and she went back to Hermione, clasping her hands together, "So, what hairstyle do you want me to do?"
Hermione had chosen an elegant but simple hairstyle to do, a French twist, which Ara managed to make in five minutes. Later on, she did her own hair, putting it up in a half-up and half-down, letting some strands fall on the sides of her face. To make it a little more pretty and less plain, she placed some silver star and moon pins on the sides of the hairdo. Each girl had done their own makeup, with Ara choosing a more shimmery and sparkly look, Hermione had gone with something a little more simplistic.
Ara got into her red dress, exhaling a sigh of relief when it fit her like a glove. She left her accessories for the end; she put on the dangly earrings her Dad had sent her along with her usual rings and lastly her Mum's bracelet. She let herself admire it on her wrist for a moment, running her fingers along the red roses. Ara forced her eyes to blink, getting rid of the blurriness of her vision and grabbing a small flask from her bedside table.
"What's that?" Hermione questioned.
"Something to make your skin shine," Ara shrugged, "I've never really tried it before—" she unclasped it and put some on her chest, neck, arms and shoulders, watching as she became sparkly with glitter. "Want some?"
Hermione let her place the glitter in the same places, admiring her skin in the light. However, just as they were doing some finishing touches, such as adjusting their dresses and fixing some hair strands, Hermione started to pace around, visibly panicking.
"I think. . .I think I'll just stay." Hermione burst out, making Ara turn to her with a stern expression.
"You are not staying here, Hermione Jean Granger, you are going to go down there and blow everyone out of their mind with how good you look."
"But—what if—what if he tries to kiss me, Ara!"
"Who? Krum?" Ara's eyebrows furrowed.
"Who else?" Hermione stressed.
"I don't know, Ron maybe—"
Hermione sent her a heated glare.
Ara gave a heavy sigh, getting closer to Hermione and placing a hand on her arm, "Would it be so bad if he kissed you? More important. . .do you want him to kiss you? Because if you don't, that's perfectly fine."
Hermione merely shrugged, "I just don't want to look like a fool."
"Why would you look like a fool?"
"Well I've—" Hermione turned red with embarrassment. "—I've never kissed anyone, I—what if he loses interest or makes fun of me? I don't even know what to expect."
"Would you feel better if you knew what to expect?" Ara questioned, an idea coming to mind.
"I think so, why?"
"So, if I kissed you right now, would you calm down and go party with your best friend?" Ara smirked.
Hermione's lips made very fish-like moves, opening and closing before finding the words, "you–you'd do that?"
"I don't see why not if it helps you calm down, besides, I'm your best friend, I'm supposed to help you with stuff like this."
"Okay, okay," Hermione shook her hands, "just do it."
Hermione shut her eyes tightly and Ara snorted in amusement, "You look like you're about to receive a Cruciatus Curse, relax."
"I am! I've never done this before!" Hermione glared.
"Well neither have I, you don't see me wincing."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I know! But you're you! You've always been really sure of yourself but I'm panicking alright? No one has ever shown interest in me and I don't want to mess it up by—"
Ara, tired of Hermione's rant, grabbed her best friend's face, pulled her to her without a word and placed her lips on hers, shutting her up instantly. She didn't linger for long, only a few seconds to give Hermione a slight idea.
"There, are you calm now?" Ara said as she pulled away, watching Hermione frown as she touched her lips.
"It felt weird,"
Ara raised an eyebrow, placing a hand above her heart, "that hurts my feelings, y'know?"
"Not bad!" Hermione rushed out. "Just. . .new? If that makes sense."
"Let's go, 'Mione," Ara dragged Hermione to the now empty common room, grabbing Harry's present on her way and shoving it into her dress pocket.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
THE ENTRANCE HALL WAS PACKED WITH STUDENTS, all milling around waiting for eight o'clock, when the doors to the Great Hall would be thrown open. Those people who were meeting partners from different Houses were edging through the crowd trying to find one another.
"Hi," said Padma, who was looking just as pretty as Parvati in robes of bright turquoise.
"Hi," said Ron, who was sporting his brand new royal blue robes, not looking at her, but staring around at the crowd. "Oh no . . ."
He bent his knees slightly to hide behind Harry, because Fleur Delacour was passing, looking stunning in robes of silver-grey satin, and accompanied by the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, Roger Davies. When they had disappeared, Ron stood straight again and stared over the heads of the crowd.
"Where is Hermione?" he said again. "And Ara?"
A group of Slytherins came up the steps from their dungeon common room. Malfoy was in front; he was wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, which in Harry's opinion made him look like a vicar. Pansy Parkinson in very frilly robes of pale pink was clutching Malfoy's arm. Crabbe and Goyle were both wearing green; they resembled moss-coloured boulders, and neither of them, Harry was pleased to see, had managed to find a partner.
The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to look as the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the party. Over their heads, he saw that an area of lawn right in front of the castle had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights — meaning hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rose bushes that had been conjured there, and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.
Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here, please!"
Parvati readjusted her bangles, beaming; she and Harry said "See you in a minute" to Ron and Padma and walked forward, the chattering crowd parting to let them through. Professor McGonagall, who was wearing dress robes of red tartan and had arranged a rather ugly wreath of thistles around the brim of her hat, told them to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down. Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies stationed themselves nearest the doors; Davies looked so stunned by his good fortune in having Fleur for a partner that he could hardly take his eyes off her. Cedric and Cho were close to Harry too. His eyes fell instead on the girl next to Krum. He had to do a double take.
It was Hermione.
But she didn't look like Hermione at all. She had done something with her hair; it was no longer bushy but sleek and shiny and twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head. She was wearing robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material. She was also smiling — rather nervously, it was true — but the reduction in the size of her front teeth was more noticeable than ever.
"Hi, Harry!" she said. "Hi, Parvati! Ara's coming soon I think, her heel strap came undone," she directed her last comment to Harry.
Parvati was gazing at Hermione in unflattering disbelief. She wasn't the only one either; when the doors to the Great Hall opened, Krum's fan club from the library stalked past, throwing Hermione looks of deepest loathing. Ron walked right past Hermione without looking at her.
Then the talking stopped and Harry averted his eyes where most of the people were looking now.
He could feel all the noise become muffled and he suddenly wasn't aware of anything but the girl he was staring at, he felt his lips part in disbelief at the sight before him; Ara was wearing a long red dress that had sparkles scattered across the top part and made their way down the skirt, half of her hair was gracefully pulled up and the other half of it was kept down in beautiful waves, a few locks of her black hair falling perfectly on the sides of her face. Her jewellery was simple, Harry could see her mother's bracelet on her right hand and she wore elegant dangling star earrings, and, of course, you couldn't miss the rings that she had all silver. She looked like she was glowing. Harry felt his heart stutter when she caught his eyes and smiled. He'd never quite seen anything like her.
She was ethereal.
Pansy Parkinson gaped at her as she walked by with Malfoy, and even he didn't seem to be able to find an insult to throw at her.
When Ara finally made her way towards them, Harry felt extremely nervous as his hands got clammy, he cleared his throat as he tried to stand taller, his eyes never leaving her figure. The way her dress flowed so gracefully and her waves bounced elegantly were hypnotic. His mind was blank of all thought, his vision tunnelled and the only thing he could see was her smiling face, beaming at him.
"Evening, Wonder Boy," she said, sending him a charming grin.
"Nyx, y-you are—" Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," she smiled as she felt heat crawl up the back of her neck. "You look rather dashing yourself."
She reached up to fix his tie a little, all while Harry stared at her, for once not caring if she noticed his flusteredness. Up close, he could see that she hadn't done anything to cover up the faint freckles that were scattered across her nose and cheeks, which made him weirdly delighted considering that to him, her face without freckles would be like a sky without stars.
He was so out of it that he didn't even notice that she wasn't fixing his tie anymore, she'd turned around when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
There stood the grinning face of Elizabeth Babineaux; she was wearing a black silk dress paired with gold jewellery that decorated her collarbones and ears as well as her wrists. Her hair was done in a perfect dutch braid.
"Bonjour, Ara, tu es magnifique," Elizabeth gasped as she motioned towards Ara's appearance.
"Merci, Elizabeth, tu es magnifique aussi," Ara chuckled, taking her hand before turning to Harry. "Well, I should go now, good luck with the dance." She winked at Hermione, mouthing some words of encouragement.
Harry gave a forced smile and watched as Ara linked her arm with the girl and walked away. His heart suddenly felt heavy as he saw Ara laugh at something Elizabeth said.
The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about more than a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about six people.
"Asseyons-nous là-bas! (Let's sit over there!)" Ara said, pointing towards a table where she'd spotted Ginny and Neville.
"Oh, oui! C'est parfait! (Oh, yes! It's perfect!)" Elizabeth said and Ara could see why, her date was looking at the table across from the one Ara had directed them to, where there sat a brunette girl wearing a green dress, glaring at Ara.
She was doing her job well then.
"Gin! You look bloody gorgeous!" Ara exclaimed once she and her date had made it to where Ginny and Nevile were sitting. Her sister was wearing an emerald green cocktail dress and her red hair was down.
"Thanks, Ria, I love your dress! How come you never showed me it?" Ginny grinned.
"It was a surprise," Ara said before offering Neville a kind smile, "alright, Neville?"
"Hey," Neville mumbled, slightly shy, "y-you both look great."
"And you look handsome," Ara assured before motioning towards Elizabeth, "this is Elizabeth—" Ginny and Neville offered smiles ("Nice to meet you!" said the blonde). "—You don't mind if we sit here, do you?"
"Of course not!" said Ginny.
Ara and Elizabeth settled themselves on the two spare chairs, taking a break from their heels.
"This looks cosy, mind if we join you?" said a voice and before anyone could answer, Atlas Auclair and his date—Camille, if Ara recalled correctly—were sitting down on the last two spare chairs. Atlas looked around at Ginny and Neville, who were staring confusedly at him, "I'm Atlas Auclair, nice to meet you, this is Camille."
The blonde waved shyly.
"He's fine, he's a friend," Ara assured Ginny and Neville, who were still sceptical looking at him. She raised an eyebrow at Atlas, "you're subtle."
"It's one of my virtues," he grinned, unbothered.
Elizabeth and Camille–who apparently knew each other quite well—gave each other exasperated looks. It seemed that they were used to this behaviour by their classmates.
Finally overcoming their initial disturbance, the table soon fell into lively chatter, the teenagers eager to get to know each other as they shared stories and laughter. However, they were soon forced to quiet down as Professor McGonagall made the champions and their partners get in line in pairs and follow her. They did so, and everyone in the Great Hall applauded as they entered and started walking up toward a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting.
Ara had a clear view of Harry.
Parvati seemed to be enjoying herself; she was beaming around at everybody, but Harry seemed anything but amused as he walked beside her. Ara caught sight of Ron in one of the tables beside Padma, who was looking sulky, and saw that her brother was watching Hermione pass with narrowed eyes. She refrained from the urge to laugh.
Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached the top table, but Karkaroff wore an expression remarkably like Ron's 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 Madame Maxime, who had changed her usual uniform of black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, was applauding them politely. But Mr. Crouch seemed to be absent. The fifth seat at the table was occupied by Percy, which made Ara blink a couple of times to make sure she wasn't imagining her older brother over there.
"Did you know Percy was coming?" said Ginny, frowning.
"Like he ever tells us anything," Ara retorted.
Meanwhile, when the champions and their partners reached the table, Percy drew out the empty chair beside him, staring pointedly at Harry. Harry took the hint and sat down next to Percy, who was wearing brand-new, navy-blue dress robes and an expression of such smugness that Harry thought it ought to be fined.
"I've been promoted," Percy said before Harry could even ask, and from his tone, he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe. "I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."
"Why didn't he come?" Harry asked. He wasn't looking forward to being lectured on cauldron bottoms all through dinner.
"I'm afraid to say Mr. Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup. Hardly surprising — overwork. He's not as young as he was — though still quite brilliant, of course, the mind remains as great as it ever was. But the World Cup was a fiasco for the whole Ministry, and then, Mr. Crouch suffered a huge personal shock with the misbehaviour of that house-elf of his, Blinky, or whatever she was called. Naturally, he dismissed her immediately afterwards, but — well, as I say, he's getting on, he needs looking after, and I think he's found a definite drop in his home comforts since she left. And then we had the tournament to arrange, and the aftermath of the Cup to deal with — that revolting Skeeter woman buzzing around — no, poor man, he's having a well earned, quiet Christmas. I'm just glad he knew he had someone he could rely upon to take his place."
Harry wanted very much to ask whether Mr. Crouch had stopped calling Percy "Weatherby" yet, but resisted the temptation, instead, he looked around trying to catch a glimpse of a certain someone. After looking around for a while, he found her talking enthusiastically with her date, and almost as if she could feel his burning gaze on her, she turned her head and locked eyes with him. Harry could feel himself going red for being caught but she simply gave him a subtle wink before turning back away from him once again.
There was no food as yet on the glittering golden plates, but small menus were lying in front of each of them. Harry picked his up uncertainly and looked around — there were no waiters. Dumbledore, however, looked carefully down at his own menu, then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!"
And pork chops appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of the table placed their orders with their plates too. Harry glanced up at Hermione to see how she felt about this new and more complicated method of dining — surely it meant plenty of extra work for the house-elves? — but for once, Hermione didn't seem to be thinking about S.P.E.W. She was deep in talk with Viktor Krum and hardly seemed to notice what she was eating.
It now occurred to Harry that he had never actually heard Krum speak 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 grounds larger even than these — though in vinter, ve have very little daylight, so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains —"
"Now, now, Viktor!" said Karkaroff with a laugh that didn't reach his cold eyes, "don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"
Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Igor, all this secrecy . . .one would almost think you didn't want visitors."
"Well, Dumbledore," said Karkaroff, displaying his yellowing teeth to their fullest extent, "we are all protective of our private domains, are we not? Do we not jealously guard the halls of learning that have been entrusted to us? Are we not right to be proud that we alone know our school's secrets, and the right to protect them?"
"Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets, Igor," said Dumbledore amicably. "Only this morning, for instance, I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots. When I went back to investigate more closely, I discovered that the room had vanished. But I must keep an eye out for it. Possibly it is only accessible at five-thirty in the morning. Or it may only appear at the quarter moon — or when the seeker has an exceptionally full bladder."
Harry snorted into his plate of goulash. Percy frowned, but Harry could have sworn Dumbledore had given him a very small wink.
Fleur Delacour was criticising the Hogwarts decorations to Roger Davies.
"Zis is nothing," she said dismissively, looking around at the sparkling walls of the Great Hall. "At ze Palace of Beauxbatons, we 'ave ice sculptures all around ze dining chamber at Chreestmas. Zey do not melt, of course . . . zey are like 'uge statues of diamond, glittering around ze place. And ze food is seemply superb. And we 'ave choirs of wood nymphs, 'oo serenade us as we eat. We 'avenone of zis ugly armor in ze 'alls, and eef a poltergeist ever entaired into Beauxbatons, 'e would be expelled like zat." She slapped her hand onto the table impatiently.
Roger Davies was watching her talk with a very dazed look on his face, and he kept missing his mouth with his fork. Harry had the impression that Davies was too busy staring at Fleur to take in a word she was saying.
"Absolutely right," he said quickly, slapping his own hand down on the table in imitation of Fleur. "Like that. Yeah."
In the meantime, a couple of tables away, Ara had a smirk plastered across her face as she raised her fork, "On dirait qu'elle veut me tuer. (She looks like she wants to kill me.)"
Elizabeth blushed as she caught sight of her brunette girl a couple of feet away.
"Je te propose de l'inviter à danser après le dîner. (I say invite her to dance after dinner.)" Ara suggested, seeing Neville excitedly tell Atlas about how some plants could be used for multiple things and Ginny and Camille talking quietly and snickering.
"Oh, mais je pensais que tu voudrais aussi danser— (Oh, but I thought you'd want to dance as well—)"
Ara placed her hand on her knee, giving her a genuine look, "Tu n'as pas à t'inquiéter pour moi, je ne suis pas un grand danseur de toute façon, et je vois bien que tu veux lui demander le plus tôt possible. (You don't have to worry about me, I'm not much of a dancer anyway, and I can tell you want to ask her as soon as possible.)"
Elizabeth gave a watery smile, "Oh, merci!" and gave Ara a loud kiss on the cheek, leaving behind some of her pink lipstick.
Though Elizabeth's brunette wasn't the only one glaring in their direction; Harry felt an unpleasant lurch in his stomach as he watched the blonde express her affection towards Ara. He almost stabbed his knife in the table instead of his plate due to his distraction. He shook his head, deeming himself ridiculous for caring so much about who his friend was spending her time with.
Harry looked around the Hall once again, calming his heart. Hagrid was sitting at one of the other staff tables; he was back in his horrible hairy brown suit and gazing up at the top table. Harry saw him give a small wave, and looking around, saw Madame Maxime return it, her opals glittering in the candlelight.
Hermione was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her "Hermy-own."
"Her-my-oh-nee," she said slowly and clearly.
"Herm-own-ninny."
"Close enough," she said, catching Harry's eye and grinning.
When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, all the tables zoomed back along the walls leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.
The Weird Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments, and Harry, who had been so interested in watching them that he had almost forgotten what was coming, suddenly realised that the lanterns on all the other tables had gone out and that the other champions and their partners were standing up.
"Come on!" Parvati hissed. "We're supposed to dance!"
Harry tripped over his dress robes as he stood up. The Weird Sisters struck up a slow, mournful tune; Harry walked onto the brightly lit dance floor, carefully avoiding catching anyone's eye (he could see Seamus and Dean waving at him and sniggering), and next moment, Parvati had seized his hands, placed one around her waist, and was holding the other tightly in hers, over Parvati's shoulder he could see Ara's teasing smirk, but when she saw just how nervous he was she gave him an encouraging nod, which made him feel just a tiny bit better as he tried to think back to their late night dance just the other day.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been, Harry thought, revolving slowly on the spot (Parvati was steering). He kept his eyes fixed over the heads of the watching people, and very soon many of them too had come onto the dance floor so that the champions were no longer the centre of attention. Neville and Ginny were dancing nearby — he could see Ginny wincing frequently as Neville trod on her feet — and Dumbledore was waltzing with Madame Maxime. He was so dwarfed by her that the top of his pointed hat barely tickled her chin; however, she moved very gracefully for a woman so large. Mad-Eye Moody was doing an extremely ungainly two-step with Professor Sinistra, who was nervously avoiding his wooden leg.
"Nice socks, Potter," Moody growled as he passed, his magical eye staring through Harry's robes.
"Oh — yeah, Dobby the house-elf knitted them for me," said Harry, grinning.
"He is so creepy!" Parvati whispered as Moody clunked away. "I don't think that eye should be allowed !"
Harry heard the final, quavering note from the bagpipe with relief. The Weird Sisters stopped playing, applause filled the hall once more, and Harry let go of Parvati at once.
"Let's sit down, shall we?"
"Oh — but — this is a really good one!" Parvati said as the Weird Sisters struck up a new song, which was much faster.
"No, I don't like it," Harry lied, and he led her away from the dance floor, past Fred and Angelina, who were dancing so exuberantly that people around them were backing away in fear of injury and Ara laughed at them in delight as she and George, who had convinced his sister to join the dance floor, twirled around with their arms raised, Harry didn't know where Ara's date had gone but he was glad she was nowhere to be seen. He spotted Atlas Auclair dancing with a blonde, looking like a professional danseur as he dipped her, making him a little jealous of his skill.
"How's it going?" Harry asked Ron, sitting down beside him and Padma and opening a bottle of butterbeer.
Ron didn't answer. He was glaring at Hermione and Krum, who were dancing nearby. Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, one foot jiggling in time to the music. Every now and then she threw a disgruntled look at Ron, who was completely ignoring her. Parvati sat down on Harry's other side, crossed her arms and legs too, and within minutes was asked to dance by a boy from Beauxbatons.
"You don't mind, do you, Harry?" Parvati said.
"What?" said Harry, who was now looking to spot Ara once again.
"Oh never mind," snapped Parvati, and she went off with the boy from Beauxbatons. When the song ended, she did not return.
"Why the long faces boys?" Ara's voice made Harry jump as she suddenly appeared and sat in the middle of them, her shoulder brushing against Harry's the slightest bit as she panted.
"Never you mind," groaned Ron.
"Oh, I see now," Ara mused as she followed Ron's gaze, which was on Hermione and Krum. "You're jealous."
"Aren't you supposed to be with your date?" snapped Ron.
"You better watch your tone with me," Ara said sharply, her neck snapping to scowl at him. "And my job is done for the night, so no, I'm not with my date anymore."
"What do you mean your job is done?" asked Harry, finally having the voice to speak, he could still feel her shoulder against his.
"Doesn't matter," Ara dismissed him. Harry tried to hide his smile, so she didn't fancy that girl after all? He didn't know why that fact made his heart grow with happiness.
Hermione abruptly came over and sat down in Parvati's empty chair. She was a bit pink in the face from dancing.
"Hi," said Harry and Ara. Ron didn't say anything.
"It's hot, isn't it?" said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks."
Ron gave her a withering look. "Viktor?" he said. "Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"
Hermione looked at him in surprise. "What's up with you?" she said.
"If you don't know," said Ron scathingly, "I'm not going to tell you."
Hermione stared at him, then at Harry and Ara, he shrugged while Ara glared at her brother angrily.
"Ron, what — ?"
"He's from Durmstrang!" spat Ron. "He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You — you're —" Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime, "fraternising with the enemy, that's what you're doing!"
If only Ron knew that Hermione had sort of "fraternised" with his sister not long ago. Ara would pay to watch his face twist from that information, but she said nothing.
Hermione's mouth fell open.
"Don't be so stupid!" she said after a moment. "The enemy! Honestly — who was the one who was all excited when they saw him arrive? Who was the one who wanted his autograph? Who's got a model of him up in their dormitory?"
Ron chose to ignore this. "I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"
"Yes, he did," said Hermione, the pink patches on her cheeks glowing more brightly. "So what?"
"What happened — trying to get him to join spew, were you?"
"No, I wasn't! If you really want to know, he — he said he'd been coming up to the library every day to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!"
Hermione said this very quickly, and blushed so deeply that she was the same colour as Ara's dress.
"Yeah, well — that's his story," said Ron nastily.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Obvious, isn't it? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with. . . . He's just trying to get closer to Harry — get inside information on him — or get near enough to jinx him —"
Hermione looked as though Ron had slapped her. When she spoke, her voice quivered.
"For your information, he hasn't asked me one single thing about Harry, not one —"
Ron changed tack at the speed of light.
"Then he's hoping you'll help him find out what his egg means! I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cosy little library sessions —"
"I'd never help him work out that egg!" said Hermione, looking outraged. "Never. How could you say something like that — I want Harry to win the tournament, Harry knows that, don't you, Harry?"
"Of course—"
"You've got a funny way of showing it," sneered Ron.
"This whole tournament's supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!" said Hermione hotly.
"No it isn't!" shouted Ron. "It's about winning!"
People were starting to stare at them.
"Ron," said Harry quietly, "I haven't got a problem with Hermione coming with Krum —"
But Ron ignored Harry too.
"Why don't you go and find Vicky, he'll be wondering where you are," said Ron.
"Don't call him Vicky!"
Hermione jumped to her feet and stormed off across the dance floor, disappearing into the crowd. Ron watched her go with a mixture of anger and satisfaction on his face.
"Are you going to ask me to dance at all?" Padma asked him.
"No," said Ron, still glaring after Hermione.
"Fine," snapped Padma, and she got up and went to join Parvati and the Beauxbatons boy, who conjured up one of his friends to join them so fast that Harry could have sworn he had zoomed him there by a Summoning Charm.
Finally, Ara took a deep breath and looked towards her brother murderously. Harry knew that look all too well and he prepared for the explosion.
"You are the biggest wanker, you know that?" Ron opened his mouth but Ara continued. "Hermione's allowed to come to the Ball with whoever she wants! If you wanted her to come with you, then you should have invited her first! And not as a last resort! It's not her problem that you didn't have the guts to ask her yourself! So get your jealousy together and you better not ruin her night any further, because if you do, it won't end pretty for you."
With one last angry huff, she pushed herself up from the chair and threw one last glare at Ron's direction as she strutted towards the direction had taken off to.
Harry mentally cursed Ron for driving her away, he wished he hadn't been so nervous and talked to her, but with her being as stunning as she was, it was practically impossible.
"She's mental," whispered Ron.
Harry just stared at her retreating figure longingly.
Ara did her best to find Hermione amongst the crowd of students but she was unsuccessful. She gave an impatient groan as she made her way towards the grand doors but she was forced to stop on her way as she felt the familiar ringing in her head.
No. . .not now. . .
But no matter how much she pleaded, the pain overtook her skull regardless, making dizzy as she stood rooted on her spot, raising her hands to press her fingers against her temples as she gritted her teeth. Ara had never experienced a Cruciatus Curse, and she hoped she never would, but she guessed it would feel a lot like this. Like a million hot needles pierced your skin and twisted themselves inside to cause you more agony.
"Woah, hey, you okay?" someone placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her, she'd barely registered closing her eyes so she blinked them open. "You're bleeding. . ."
Ara could barely see Atlas' face clearly due to how blurry her vision was but she registered his words and touched the underside of her nose. Sure enough, she felt the sticky bloody liquid she'd become so acquaintanced with.
"Do you need anything? Should I take you to the healer—?"
"No—" Ara said quickly, wiping her nose and giving Atlas what she hoped was a dismissive smile. Her voice, to her, sounded as if she was underwater, she could barely hear herself amongst all the noise in her head. "I'm fine—just—I ate something my brothers gave me, they like to play jokes—"
"You don't look so good. . ." Atlas stressed as he held her by the shoulders.
"I'm good," said Ara in a final tone, stepping back and letting his arms fall away. "I think I just need a bit of air but thank you. See you later, Atlas."
Without waiting to see if he would keep insisting on her health, Ara stepped around him and continued her way towards the main doors.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
"LET'S GO FOR A WALK," RON MUTTERED TO HARRY, they were both getting tired of hearing Percy, who sat at a vacant seat at the top table, chatting away about the Ministry, "get away from Percy. . . ."
Harry and Ron left the table, edged around the dance floor, and slipped out into the entrance hall. The front doors stood open, and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as they went down the front steps, where they found themselves surrounded by bushes; winding, ornamental paths; and large stone statues. Harry could hear splashing water, which sounded like a fountain. Here and there, people were sitting on carved benches. He and Ron set off along one of the winding paths through the rose bushes, but they had gone only a short way when they heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.
". . . don't see what there is to fuss about, Igor."
"Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening!" Karkaroff's voice sounded anxious and hushed, as though keen not to be overheard. "It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it —"
"Then flee," said Snape's voice curtly. "Flee — I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts."
Snape and Karkaroff came around the corner. Snape had his wand out and was blasting rose bushes apart, his expression mostill-natured. Squeals issued from many of the bushes, and dark shapes emerged from them.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. "And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!" as a boy went rushing after her. "And what are you two doing?" he added, catching sight of Harry and Ron on the path ahead. Karkaroff, Harry saw, looked slightly discomposed to see them standing there. His hand went nervously to his goatee, and he began winding it around his finger.
"We're walking," Ron told Snape shortly. "Not against the law, is it?"
"Keep walking, then!" Snape snarled, and he brushed past them, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. Karkaroff hurried away after Snape. Harry and Ron continued down the path.
"What's got Karkaroff all worried?" Ron muttered.
"And since when have he and Snape been on first-name terms?" said Harry slowly.
They had reached a large stone reindeer now, over which they could see the sparkling jets of a tall fountain. The shadowy outlines of two enormous people were visible on a stone bench, watching the water in the moonlight. And then Harry heard Hagrid speak.
"Momen' I saw yeh, I knew," he was saying, in an oddly husky voice.
Harry and Ron froze. This didn't sound like the sort of scene they ought to walk in on, somehow. . . . Harry looked around, back up the path, and saw Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies standing half-concealed in a rosebush nearby. He tapped Ron on the shoulder and jerked his head toward them, meaning that they could easily sneak off that way without being noticed (Fleur and Davies looked very busy to Harry), but Ron, eyes widening in horror at the sight of Fleur, shook his head vigorously, and pulled Harry deeper into the shadows behind the reindeer.
"What did you know, 'Agrid?" said Madame Maxime, a purr in her low voice.
Harry definitely didn't want to listen to this; he knew Hagrid would hate to be overheard in a situation like this (he certainly would have) — if it had been possible he would have put his fingers in his ears and hummed loudly, but that wasn't really an option. Instead, he tried to interest himself in a beetle crawling along the stone reindeer's back, but the beetle just wasn't interesting enough to block out Hagrid's next words.
"I jus' knew . . . knew you were like me. . . . Was it yer mother or yer father?"
"I — I don't know what you mean, 'Agrid. . . ."
"It was my mother," said Hagrid quietly. "She was one o' the las' ones in Britain. 'Course, I can' remember her too well . . . she left, see. When I was abou' three. She wasn' really the maternal sort. Well . . . it's not in their natures, is it? Dunno what happened to her . . . might be dead fer all I know. . . ."
Madame Maxime didn't say anything. And Harry, in spite of himself, took his eyes off the beetle and looked over the top of there in deer's antlers, listening. . . . He had never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.
"Me dad was broken-hearted when she wen'. Tiny little bloke, my dad was. By the time I was six I could lift him up an' put him on top o' the dresser if he annoyed me. Used ter make him laugh. . . ." Hagrid's deep voice broke. Madame Maxime was listening, motionless, apparently staring at the silvery fountain. "Dad raised me . . . but he died, o' course, jus' after I started school.Sorta had ter make me own way after that. Dumbledore was a real help, mind. Very kind ter me, he was. . . ."
Hagrid pulled out a large spotted silk handkerchief and blew his nose heavily.
"So . . . anyway . . . enough abou' me. What about you? Which side you got it on?"
But Madame Maxime had suddenly got to her feet.
"It is chilly," she said — but whatever the weather was doing, it was nowhere near as cold as her voice. "I think I will go in now."
"Eh?" said Hagrid blankly. "No, don' go! I've — I've never met another one before!"
"Anuzzer what, precisely?" said Madame Maxime, her tone icy. Harry could have told Hagrid it was best not to answer; he stood there in the shadows gritting his teeth, hoping against hope he wouldn't — but it was no good.
"Another half-giant, o' course!" said Hagrid.
" 'Ow dare you!" shrieked Madame Maxime. Her voice exploded through the peaceful night air like a foghorn; behind him, Harry heard Fleur and Roger fall out of their rosebush. "I 'ave nevair been more insulted in my life! 'Alf-giant? Moi? I 'ave — I 'ave big bones!"
She stormed away; great multicoloured swarms of fairies rose into the air as she passed, angrily pushing aside bushes. Hagrid was still sitting on the bench, staring after her. It was much too dark to make out his expression. Then, after about a minute, he stood up and strode away, not back to the castle, but off out into the dark grounds in the direction of his cabin.
"C'mon," Harry said, very quietly to Ron. "Let's go. . . ."
But Ron didn't move.
"What's up?" said Harry, looking at him.
Ron looked around at Harry, his expression very serious indeed. "Did you know?" he whispered. "About Hagrid being half-giant?"
"No," Harry said, shrugging. "So what?"
He knew immediately, from the look Ron was giving him, that he was once again revealing his ignorance of the wizarding world. Brought up by the Dursleys, there were many things that wizards took for granted that were revelations to Harry, but these surprises had become fewer with each successive year. Now, however, he could tell that most wizards would not have said "So what?" upon finding out that one of their friends had a giantess for a mother.
"I'll explain inside," said Ron quietly, "c'mon. . . ."
Fleur and Roger Davies had disappeared, probably into a more private clump of bushes. Harry and Ron returned to the Great Hall. Parvati and Padma were now sitting at a distant table with a whole crowd of Beauxbatons boys, and Hermione was once more dancing with Krum. Harry and Ron sat down at a table far removed from the dance floor.
"So?" Harry prompted Ron. "What's the problem with giants?"
"Well, they're . . . they're . . ." Ron struggled for words. ". . . not very nice," he finished lamely.
"Who cares?" Harry said. "There's nothing wrong with Hagrid!"
"I know there isn't, but . . . blimey, no wonder he keeps it quiet," Ron said, shaking his head. "I always thought he'd got in the way of a bad Engorgement Charm when he was a kid or something. Didn't like to mention it. . . ."
"But what's it matter if his mother was a giantess?" said Harry.
"Well . . . no one who knows him will care, 'cos they'll know he's not dangerous," said Ron slowly. "But . . . Harry, they're just vicious, giants. It's like Hagrid said, it's in their natures, they're like trolls . . . they just like killing, everyone knows that. There aren't any left in Britain now, though."
"What happened to them?"
"Well, they were dying out anyway, and then loads got themselves killed by Aurors. They're supposed to be giants abroad, though. . . . They hide out in the mountains mostly. . . ."
"I don't know who Maxime thinks she's kidding," Harry said, watching Madame Maxime sitting alone at the judges' table, looking very sombre. "If Hagrid's half-giant, she definitely is. Big bones . . .the only thing that's got bigger bones than she is a dinosaur."
Harry and Ron spent the rest of the ball discussing giants in their corner, neither of them having any inclination to dance. Harry tried to look for Ara once again but to his surprise, she was nowhere to be seen, he merely saw her date dance with another girl, but there was no sign of her.
When the Weird Sisters finished playing at midnight, everyone gave them a last, loud round of applause and started to wend their way into the entrance hall. Many people were expressing the wish that the ball could have gone on longer, but Harry was quite concerned by the fact that he hadn't seen Ara in some time.
"Hey, Ron," Harry stopped in his tracks. "You go on, I'm going to look for Ara."
Ron gave a tired nod and went up the stairs, Harry immediately began to look for his friend. It wasn't difficult really, he knew that she liked the courtyard for when she wanted peace and quiet at night, and today was quite a starry night so she was most likely out there. He was proved to be right when he found her sitting on one of the benches outside, she had her eyes closed, enjoying the light breeze of the cold night as it blew against her face, he could tell she was shivering a little but she didn't seem to mind much.
He walked closer until he was close enough to nudge her shoulder, "Ara,"
She immediately stood up and reached for her wand, which was tucked inside her dress pocket, Harry raised his hands to show that it was just him.
"You need to stop sneaking up on me," Ara chuckled slightly, before sitting down again, Harry following her movements. "Has the Ball ended?"
Harry nodded, inspecting her closely, "Why did you leave?"
Ara gave a tired sigh, "My skull felt like it was being split in half, I just needed some air, it still hurts a bit though."
"I wish there was something I could do," said Harry quietly, he then noticed that her trembling increased a little. "Are you cold?"
Ara shook her head.
"You're always cold," Harry stated amusedly. "In fact, you hate being cold."
"Fine, maybe I'm just a little cold," mumbled Ara, giving him a side glance.
Harry smiled fondly and started to take off his suit jacket, Ara caught on to his movements and shook her head.
"I'm fine really—"
But Harry stubbornly grabbed one of her arms and started putting his jacket on her as if she were a toddler, he did the same with the other arm and adjusted it slightly so that it was sitting comfortably, he then placed his hands behind her neck hand carefully tucked her hair out of the back of the jacket collar and let it fall on her shoulders.
Ara swallowed, not expecting the slight flusteredness she felt at that moment and choosing to bury it deep inside.
"Thank you," she said, sending him a grateful smile as she hugged the jacket closer.
"No problem," Harry mumbled, allowing his eyes to take a moment to gaze at her snuggling in his clothes before he cleared his throat.
He hesitantly opened his mouth before closing it again, he didn't want to look awkward by asking her what he so badly wanted to ask her. There was no music, no crowd and no dance, but they had the shine of the stars, the gentle breeze and each other. Harry thought that was enough and so gathering every ounce of courage he had, he nervously got to his feet and extended a hand to her, "Want to dance? It might help you forget about your headache."
It was a blatant lie, Harry wasn't even sure it would help in the slightest but he wanted to at least have one dance with Ara tonight, one friendly dance as best friends.
Thankfully, a smile made its way to her face as she grabbed his hand and stood up with him. She had taken off her heels and placed them on the bench, so she was no longer at level with him but three or so inches shorter.
"But—first I want to give you this—" Harry took out a small box from his dress pants. "I forgot to give it to you earlier."
Ara smiled warmly at him and took the present from his hand, Harry watched anxiously as she started to unwrap it, he hoped she would like it. . .
When she finished unwrapping it she put the paper on the bench and then proceeded to open the tiny box. Her lips parted in awe as she stared at the inside for a moment, unable to say anything.
Inside the little box sat a ring, a beautiful silver band ring that had stars engraved all over it, and when she picked it up to get a closer look she could see the tiny Ara constellation there, too.
"Do-do you like it? It's okay if you don't—"
"It's beautiful," breathed Ara in admiration before wrapping her arms around Harry's neck, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, Harry, it's perfect."
Harry smiled with content over her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist and getting his cheek slightly smudged with glitter from when it brushed against her arm.
When they finally parted, he motioned towards the delicate piece of jewellery, "There's something else on it. . . look at the inside part of the ring."
Ara did as told and smiled widely at the engraved letters.
A.B & H.P
Then she started laughing and Harry panicked.
"Is it—?"
"It's just—we think so alike," said Ara, smiling as she put on the ring and admired it for a moment, her thumb tracing the stars on it fondly.
She forced herself to stop staring at it before taking out Harry's present, which she had stored in her dress pocket. She extended it to him and he looked curiously at her before grabbing it, carefully removing the wrapping before he lifted the lid.
It was a watch.
The watch was the same silver as the ring with black leather straps, but when he looked closer at it he saw that there was a very small stag patronus prancing in between the numbers.
"Took me a while to be able to find the right spell, I almost drove Hermione mad," Ara chuckled, and she grinned at his stunned face. "Look behind it."
Harry turned the watch around and saw engraving on it, he couldn't help but let out a disbelieving chuckle.
H.P & A.B
"Thank you, Nyx," Harry beamed at her, giving her a soft look.
"You can thank me with a dance," said Ara playfully before he had the chance to give her a hug.
Harry chuckled and put on the watch, after that he grabbed her hand and gave her a little spin before pulling her to him, they both chuckled happily completely forgetting about their arising problems that lurked just around the corner. Harry put a hand on her waist and with his other hand he laced his fingers with hers as she put her free hand on his shoulder. They both wore matching soft smiles as they swayed.
Ara loved the way that Harry's face softened, that crease that seemed to be permanently present in between his eyebrows was gone, his smile small but still gentle. Happiness suited him.
Every time he laced his hand with hers, it felt as if a thousand stars were dancing across her skin, and she never wanted that feeling to end.
Harry studied her features, almost as if trying to imprint her face in his mind permanently. Her eyes weren't hard anymore, they appeared peaceful under the moonlight. It is rare to find someone whose eyes shine brighter than the stars, and yet here he was, staring at Ara's grey eyes as they twinkled harder than anything in the galaxy.
The world had fallen silent and it felt as if the earth had stopped spinning as they finished their dance, though not letting go of each other, neither wanting to break off their moment —
"Black, Potter."
Ara and Harry jumped away from one another and turned their heads towards the voice; There stood Moody, though he didn't appear angry but rather amused as he regarded them with a firm stance.
"I think it's time you returned to your common room," he grunted.
"Er—yeah, sorry," mumbled Harry and without thinking he took Ara's hand again and guided her away as she narrowed her eyes at the Professor.
Neither Ara nor Harry said anything as they walked, not really noticing that they were still holding hands, they were about to go up the stairs near the Entrance Hall when a voice called out.
"Hey — Harry!"
It was Cedric Diggory.
"Yeah?" said Harry as Cedric ran up the stairs toward him.
Cedric looked as though he didn't want to say whatever it was in front of Ara, but seeing as she didn't look ready to leave, he continued.
"Listen . . ." Cedric lowered his voice. "I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that golden egg? Does yours wail when you open it?"
"Yeah," said Harry.
"Well . . . take a bath, okay?"
"What?"
"Take a bath, and — er — take the egg with you, and — er —just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think. . . . Trust me.
Harry and Ara stared at him.
"Tell you what," Cedric said, "use the prefects' bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh.' Gotta go . . . want to say goodnight —"
He grinned at Harry again and hurried back down the stairs to Cho, who had been waiting for him.
"Take a bath?" asked Ara, baffled as they walked towards the common room. "What's that going to do?"
"I dunno," Harry shrugged and looked down at his new watch.
The Fat Lady and her friend Vi were snoozing in the picture over the portrait hole. Ara had to yell "Fairy lights!" before she woke them up, and when she did, they were extremely irritated. They climbed into the common room and found Ron and Hermione having a blazing row. Standing ten feet apart, they were bellowing at each other, each scarlet in the face.
"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" yelled Hermione; her hair was coming down out of its elegant bun now, and her face was screwed up in anger.
"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled back. "What's that?"
"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!"
Ron mouthed soundlessly like a goldfish out of the water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls' staircase to bed. Ron turned to look at Ara and Harry, who had already let go of each other's hands.
"Well," he sputtered, looking thunderstruck, "well — that just proves — completely missed the point —"
Ara was fuming, she took out her wand and sent a few sparks of light towards Ron's face which made him shriek and cover it with his hands, he tried away from them until the sparks followed him into the boys' dormitory. She then picked up the skirt of her dress, but before she went away, she looked at Harry for a few moments before standing on her tiptoes and pressing a gentle kiss on his cheek, after that, she turned away from them and went to her dormitory, a giddy smile on her face.
Harry stood there completely frozen, unable to comprehend what just happened, he slowly raised his hand and touched the spot where she had kissed him, and he couldn't stop the lovesick grin that appeared.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾
HEYYYYYYY
I hope you guys liked this chapter!!! Let me know your thoughts!
qotd: do you like dresses? YES!
Ara: oh you're insecure? let me kiss the hell out of you to lift your spirits then!
Honestly, it'd be so funny to see Harry and Ron find out about that kiss ;)
Baby Hara is so cute and oblivious omg, they're so convinced their feelings are strictly platonic that it's hilarious.
If you guys are here for a fast-burn you're in the wrong place HAHAH
I hope you guys liked Ara's look for the ball <3
Remember to COMMENT and VOTE!
See you soon loves!