It was the morning of the Yule Ball and Eleanor was still not on speaking terms with Fred. She wasn't sure how long she was willing to give him the cold shoulder, probably until she no longer felt anger or hurt whenever she happened to look over in his direction. Even though she tried to appear unbothered for the most part, she could still feel the lingering sting of rejection. After it took everything in her to ask him on a proper date, Fred had decided to ask another girl to the Yule Ball, and not just any girl, Angelina Johnson, who was absolutely gorgeous and one of Fred's teammates and friends.
How was she not supposed to feel some sort of jealousy? All she could do whenever she saw Angelina was compare herself to the Gryffindor girl, which in the end, just left Eleanor feeling completely inadequate. All the confidence she had built over the course of time, seemed to be dwindling with every passing second. The only relief came in the form of George, who asked her as a friend to go to the Yule Ball, so she wouldn't miss out.
And Marnie reassured her over and over, that it was only a ball that didn't mean very much, and that it probably wasn't going to be as good as everyone was making it out to be. Of course, as she said such things, the faculty inside the castle had overnight transformed Hogwarts into a wintery wonderland.
There were everlasting icicles that hung from the bannisters of the marble staircase, twelve Christmas trees had been placed in the Great Hall and every inch of each tree was covered in elaborate decorations. And the suits of armour that lined up the corridors had been bewitched to sing common Christmas carols whenever someone happened to pass.
Peeves attempted to join in on the festivities, by hiding in some of the armours and adding his own lyrics to the Christmas carols, which usually meant replacing the original lyrics with a rather nasty insult. He had yet to forgive Eleanor for calling him "unoriginal" and stuck his tongue out at her whenever he saw her, making it a point to blow a raspberry in her direction. However, he would only grow even more frustrated when Eleanor didn't get him a reaction but simply continued on her way as if she didn't see him.
When she woke up on Christmas morning to a series of gifts placed at the bottom of her bed, she smiled, noticing one horribly wrapped gift among plenty, but she didn't feel as happy as one would on such a day of festivities. However, as her friends stirred from their beds, Eleanor made her way to the bottom of hers and grabbed at the gift first. It was from her father and the first time; she couldn't help but laugh.
It had been an ongoing joke over the years that Eleanor's wrapping skills were terrible, why she couldn't get the hang of it, she wasn't sure, but her gifts never looked pretty. Marnie and Cedric encouraged her to use a simple spell to do the wrapping for her, but every time, Eleanor refused. She liked the idea of wrapping a gift for someone because even if it took some time, it still showed that the person cared, and maybe her father felt the same way because he clearly didn't use the spell either.
Inside, was a Christmas card with a little letter inside:
Dear Ellie,
First and foremost, Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful time at the ball with your friends. Your mother demands at least one photo so she can see you in your dress robes. Anyways, I wasn't sure what to get you for Christmas, seeing as your mother readily collected plenty of things from you, telling me that she would claim it was from both of us. But that didn't seem right to me. And of course, I've sent you chocolate, but I could send you chocolate at any time.
Your grandfather and I were going through some old photos again and I found a few of your grandmother from when she was a teenager, around your age. I thought you'd like those, including some of her favourite pieces of jewellery. Perhaps you could wear one of them to the Yule Ball if you like them enough.
All is going well here, but of course, we all miss you greatly. I also hope everything is going well for Harry, I've been in touch with some good friends of mine who are trying to keep a lookout for anything that would be deemed suspicious within the competition. Until then, try not to stress over it too much. From what you've told me, Cedric and Harry are doing extremely well in the competition despite the circumstances. I'm sure your support is helping them get through the toughest parts. If you need anything in the meantime, let me know.
Love you,
Dad
P.S. Would you happen to know what your mother's favourite flowers are?
Opening the gift, Eleanor quickly pulled out the photographs first and smiled because as she had been told numerous times, she really did resemble her late grandmother. And the pictures of Hope when she was a teenager, seemed to reiterate it all the same. The pieces of jewellery included a gold bracelet, a pearl necklace, and several rings, all of which Eleanor liked.
She reached for her mother's gift next and found it to be no surprise to find an assortment of yarns and knitting supplies that Eleanor was more than thankful for. But as she read over her mother's Christmas card, it started off with the usual of wishing her a Merry Christmas and for Eleanor to have fun at the Yule Ball, but it too ended asking if there was any particular meal that Remus was fond of?
With a knowing giggle, Eleanor picked up the gift from Grandpa Lyall and nearly toppled over the edge of her bed, not realising how heavy it was. She should have realised the parcel contained a number of books with the weight, but she was pleasantly surprised to find several books pertaining to Wizarding Law, wrapped away. Some of them seemed pretty dated, judging by the fragile spines and tattered pages, but Eleanor was willing to put them to use gently. And to her amusement, it seemed Grandpa Lyall had sent her a picture from his days in Hogwarts.
Limby Lupin was scribbled at the bottom of the photo, where Lyall was wearing his Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. As he described himself, he had been rather tall in his youth and his limbs were considered quite lanky, but he remained handsome, nonetheless.
"Whoa, who is that?" Marnie asked after a yawn as she climbed into Eleanor's bed. "He's gorgeous."
"It's my grandpa."
Marnie stared off into the distance while Eleanor laughed at her reaction, placing the photo down before Marnie could fall in love with the image of young Limby Lupin. But with Marnie beside her, Eleanor reached under her bed and grabbed the box that contained Marnie's finished robes.
"Here," she said, "it's not your Christmas gift, I figured we would meet Cedric in the Common Room to exchange those. But I finished your robes the other day. I figured since we still have several hours to the Ball that you could look them over and if there's anything minor that you want me to fix, I would still have some time."
There was never a time where Marnie had been disappointed with anything Eleanor had presented her in the past, so she didn't anticipate being let down in any way. She took the box and pulled out the robes, only to stop immediately as she noticed they had become a velvety purple, rather than the blue they had been earlier.
"How did you manage to change the colour? The charm didn't work-"
"No, it didn't but you and I both know that the Wizarding World can be a little behind with their thought process. I think they rely too heavily on magic and don't realise that the muggle way can get things done. I had Mum send me some dye and I submerged them until they darkened. Apparently, the charm is no match for regular dye, so jokes on your parents. Maybe they aren't as smart or creative as they like to believe they are. But that's not even the best part, go on, look."
With Eleanor's encouragement, Marnie lifted the robes higher, noticing right away that the eagle that had been embroidered had been replaced with the image of a phoenix.
"You did all of this, Ellie?" Marnie whispered. "You did all of this for me?"
"Of course I did," Ellie smiled at her, "you're my best friend and I wasn't going to let your parents ruin this for you. I just want you to have a good time."
"And I want you to have a good time. The offer still stands for me to kick Fred's arse for you."
"I will have a good time, without him. Don't worry about it."
For the rest of the day, Eleanor, Marnie, and Cedric gathered in the Common Room, opening gifts or sitting around talking about anything and everything. It was nice to have just some alone time as Cedric made a point to wave off anyone that tried to interrupt them with talk of the Triwizard Tournament or the Yule Ball. But eventually, a first-year student approached Eleanor, holding out a gift they had found sitting outside of the Common Room entrance.
As she took it in her hands, Eleanor looked it over and saw that it was from "The Better Listener" but she didn't think he really had that title anymore, it was more like "The Better Jumper To Conclusions." She didn't bother opening it, only bringing it to the dorms when it was time for her and Marnie to get ready and placed it on her bed to maybe open later.
Freshly showered and standing in front of a mirror in her dress slip an hour or so later, Eleanor shared the space with Marnie as the two of them put on makeup, attempting various eyeshadows before turning to each other and laughing hysterically at how bad it looked. As much as they wanted to play with the bold colours, for their own sake, they thought it would be better to play it safe for the evening.
Eleanor helped Marnie place her hair up, while Marnie curled Eleanor's hair, only to watch as her hair dropped the curl and turned into waves a little while later. It had certainly become a process to get ready but with only twenty minutes to spare before the ball was set to begin, they had managed to finish. Slipping on her red dress robes, Eleanor looked herself over and smiled to herself.
The red was more of a burgundy, the robes fitted in the bodice area, able to show off Eleanor's lean figure. There was fabric to be tied around the waist that draped with the rest gracefully, and the sleeves, while long, were billowy and light. For a few moments, Eleanor couldn't stop looking herself over, never seeing herself dressed so elegantly. But all thoughts of herself went out the window when Marnie stepped out wearing her new dress robes.
"Well, what do you think? Oh, my Merlin! Ellie, look at you!"
"Look at me?! Look at you! You look stunning!"
"It should be illegal for us to look this good. We're so fucking gorgeous! What the hell are we doing going with boys to this ball? We should just go together and be the talk of the ball for the whole evening!"
"Stop, you'll hurt Lee's feelings," Eleanor chuckled, "although he might faint when he sees you."
"And Fred is going to kick himself when he sees you."
"No, no, don't bring him up. I don't want to think about him. It's bad enough I'm going to see him there."
"Alright, alright, forget what I said. Although George just might see what he's been missing out on when he sees you. At least they're identical, right?"
"Marnie!"
With Eleanor pushing her out of the dorms, all the way to the Common Room, the two girls entered where Cedric was waiting on them, looking at his watch. As soon as he looked up, his annoyed expression quickly softened as he spotted his two best friends. A smile formed as he made his way over, grabbing their hands and having them spin around.
"Well, had I known that you two would go looking like this, I would have asked both of you to go with me."
Marnie slapped him in the stomach. "Don't let Cho hear you say that, Diggory. Besides, Ellie and I are spoken for with our dates. Your loss. Let's go, we're running behind."
Arriving at the Entrance Hall to meet up with George, Eleanor spotted him right away as Marnie and Cedric ventured off to find their dates. She walked over and gently began helping him with the bowtie that he was fumbling around with, bringing George to look at her.
"Ellie, you look beautiful tonight," he told her, "I mean, you look beautiful every day, but you know what I mean."
"Thank you," she said, "you clean up nicely yourself."
"Oh, this old thing," George said picking at a thread on his sleeve, "it's one of my dad's old party robes. With a few adjustments, Mum got it to fit my shoulders. Oh, look, they're opening the doors, do you want to head in and see what all the hype was about?"
He offered his arm politely, waiting for Eleanor to link hers with his, and as she did, the two made their way inside, along with the rest of the students that were currently crowded around.
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 a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.
Immediately, the Champions were approached by Professor McGonagall, who advised them to make their way to the front table, and Eleanor could see Cedric standing with Cho, Harry with Parvati Patil, Fleur with Roger Davies, and Viktor with...
"Is that Hermione?!" Eleanor asked gripping George's arm with her free hand. "I almost didn't recognise her with straight hair. Viktor Krum asked her to be his date?"
"You sound surprised?"
"Well, it's just that, he's eighteen and she's just turned fifteen, right?" Eleanor replied. "I hope they're going as friends; I know Hermione's mature for her age, but I'd hate to see her be taken advantage of. Not to say that Viktor is like that, I don't know him at all. But we've all seen the seventh years that think it's nice to date third- and fourth-year girls."
The two of them shuddered at the thought before trying to bring their focus back on the fact that they were to take their seats at one of the tables so that dinner could be served. George helped push her seat in, as Lee and Marnie joined their table. Of course, Eleanor was fretting the moment where Fred showed up with Angelina, only to spot them sitting at another table with Katie and Alicia. He looked handsome in his dress robes, and Angelina looked stunning in gold, leaving Eleanor to turn her attention back to her plate.
There were small menus placed on each plate, where the students were to call out the food listed, and it would quickly appear on the plates. Eleanor settled on goulash, although she didn't find herself very hungry at the time.
However, as she looked up at one point, she spotted Doncho sitting at another table with his date, which quickly lifted her spirits, because he looked incredibly happy. He must have felt her looking in his direction as he turned his head and smiled at her, mouthing a "thank you." She nodded her head in response before picking up her fork and starting her meal.
"Did you tell her yet?" Lee asked at one point during the dinner, Marnie shook her head. "Hey, Ellie, Marnie's dress robes are the talk of the evening. She had like ten girls from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang ask where she got hers from. Don't be surprised when the lot of them come to you looking to design their next dress robes."
"Well, I'm flattered, but I much prefer knitting over embroidery," Eleanor told him. "Knitting needles are far duller than embroidery needles. I probably managed to stab myself a million times during the process of making that phoenix."
When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, at a wave of his wand, the tables zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right-hand wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a flute, 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. It became clear that it was time for the champions to pair up with their partners and start off the Yule Ball with the traditional dance.
While Cedric and Cho danced effortlessly together, and Fleur's dancing had people staring in her direction, Eleanor couldn't help but watch poor Harry struggle.
He seemed so concentrated on not tripping over his feet while stepping all over Parvati's.
"For Parvati's sake," Eleanor began, leaning into George's side, " I hope she had steel toe inserts in those shoes."
"Why?"
"Because Harry clearly has two left feet!"
As the pair danced past them, George and Eleanor heard Parvati squeal, leaving the two to start giggling.
"We're awful for laughing," Eleanor said, after placing her hand over her mouth.
"Not as awful as Harry's dancing though," George pointed out.
Other students and staff members, joined in to dance as well, leaving George to offer his hand to Eleanor, which she gladly took. It turned out that he was a fair dancer as he led her across the dance floor and after a few awkward steps, Eleanor figured out how to follow. And when the song came to an end, Eleanor saw Harry stalk off, look quite embarrassed and she excused herself for one song before approaching where Harry plopped down at a table.
She offered her hand to him.
"I don't think you want to dance with me, Ellie," Harry told her, "if you didn't notice, I'm not that great."
"Nonsense, Harry, I would like a dance with one of our school champions. Just relax, you don't have to be perfect."
With a sheepish grin, Harry took her hand, allowing Eleanor to pull him up to his feet and onto the dancefloor once more. The song the Weird Sisters played was much more upbeat than the first song they had played, and while Harry still managed to step on her feet, Eleanor didn't grimace or draw attention to it.
Later on, she danced with George, she danced with Marnie and even Cedric danced with her, eventually, leaving her hot and thirsty. She left the dance floor and walked over to the table where she had left her shoes.
She took a sip of her drink before Professor Sprout approached her.
"Ms Ross, you look lovely this evening!"
"Thank you, Professor, so do you!"
"Thank you, make sure you enjoy yourself this evening."
"Oh, I have been. Just need a breather."
"And I need a drink!"
Eleanor snorted to herself as Professor Sprout danced away. "Maybe you don't need another drink, Professor."
As Fred danced with Angelina, he did his best to appear as though he was having a good time, and for the most part, he was. But at the same time, whenever he looked over in Eleanor's direction, she was dancing with someone else, and he wished he was dancing with her. Angelina had told him multiple times to go over and ask Eleanor for a dance, but he felt like she didn't want to be bothered.
After he had learned that George had asked Eleanor to the Ball, he had been furious, mostly because he had made an ass out of himself by assuming that she and Doncho were going together. But when George told him that he had invited Eleanor to go because she didn't plan on going otherwise, it was clear that everyone was trying their best to help him.
"Look, Fred," Angelina stopped dancing at one point, "Me, Alicia, and Katie are going to go freshen up, we'll be gone for quite some time, so if I come back and you and Ellie aren't snogging, I'm taking you outside and kicking your arse."
"But how am I supposed to-"
"For starters," Katie interjected, "you could go over there and apologise for being a total tosser. She might be more open to the idea of talking to you if you admit that you were wrong."
"But-"
"GO!" All three girls snapped at him before they left.
Knowing that Angelina hardly ever made false threats, Fred swallowed and made his way over to where he found Eleanor sitting with a drink in her hand. When he came to stand in front of her, it took only a few seconds for her to notice as her eyes trailed over from the dance floor to meet his gaze.
Without a word, he offered his hand for her to take.
"Fred, what are you doing?"
"Come on, love, come dance with me," he said, dancing in place playfully, "you know you want to."
Clearly, that wasn't the best approach as Eleanor turned around in her seat to turn her back to him.
"Ellie..."
He hurried around the table so that he was in her sights again, still attempting to lighten the mood by doing a silly dance.
"And what about Angelina?" she questioned. "She's your date. Don't you think she would be upset to see you dancing with someone else?"
"I don't know why she would be; we came here as friends."
"Oh, so we're allowed to have friends and spend time with them now? You could see where I would be confused, given how you reacted with me spending time with my friend."
Fred bit the inside of his cheek, not daring to respond. He placed his hand out towards her again.
"All I'm asking is for one dance, Ellie." He spun himself around. "Oh Fred, you're such a good dancer! Oh, why thank you, Fred, you're far too kind."
Finally, he heard a slight chuckle that Eleanor quickly tried to cover up with a cough, but it was too late. He started swinging his hips from side to side until Eleanor let out a heavy sigh and took his hand.
"Fine, you get one dance, Fred."