"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Angelina screamed, "AND THE YULE BALL!"
"SHUT UP!" Eliza groaned at her best friend, "We're all sleeping."
"BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
"We're going to be up or night so we need all the sleep we can get!" Katie, who had stayed in their room for the night, told Angelina.
"But it's Christmas!" She replied, this time a lot more quietly.
Eliza sat up in bed and glared at her friend, "I'm going to get dressed."
"YAY!" Angelina said as she smiled at the other two girls in the room.
The four of them opened their presents from each other in their room before going downstairs into the common room where the twins and Oliver were waiting for them, "Merry Christmas Eliza!" The twins shouted at her as they pushed Oliver out of the way, "Come to us our dear, dear Eliza."
"Oh stop it!" She told them with a smile, "Merry Christmas Ol." She said to him as they hugged tightly.
When it was finally lunchtime the seven left the common room and went down to the Great Hall for one of the most delicious lunches they had ever had, there was at least a hundred turkeys and Christmas puddings, and large piles of Cribbage's Wizarding Crackers.
After lunch, following tradition, they walked out onto the grounds, the majority of snow had been left untouched except for deep channels made by the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students. The teams were Eliza, George, Harry, Katie and Oliver while the other team consisted of Fred, Angelina, Alicia, Ginny and Ron. "Are you -" Oliver said but Eliza cut him off.
"Are you ready team?" Eliza asked as she looked around him, "George and I have beaten Fred every year so we're not going to lose now!" She smiled at George and Harry, "This year, we'll use different tactics, we're going to get our supplies ready and then wait for them to attack."
It was around five o'clock when Hermione, who had been watching them, said she was going to go up to her room so she could start to get ready for the ball, "What, you need three hours?" Ron asked, but his moment of distraction, meant a snowball thrown by George hit him hard on the side of the head.
"We should go and get ready." Alicia said to her three best friends, "It takes longer than what you think!"
The four girls started to walk up to the castle after Hermione, from behind them Ron shouted loudly, "Who are you going with?" Hermione just waved him away and carried on walking.
"Hermione, Hermione, wait up!" Eliza yelled after the young girl, as soon as the girl stopped and turned around, Eliza continued to speak to her, "Come to our dormitory and we can help you get ready for the ball. Do your hair and make-up!"
"Thank you!" She smiled graciously at the older girls as the five of them walked up the stairs into the common room.
Their room was full of music and laughter, Eliza sat on her bed as she listened to Angelina talk about what make-up she wanted to Alicia, it was funny to see, Angelina had never liked make-up. Never. Hermione entered the room, "Finally!" Eliza jumped off her bed and hugged the younger girl, "Come on, I'll do your hair for you!"
"Thank you, Eliza, it means a lot."
"You deserve it!" Eliza grinned at her, "It's your time to shine. Show Ron that you're actually a girl. I bet you're looking forward to dancing with Krum though."
Hermione gasped, "How did - how did you know that?"
"It wasn't that hard to guess." Eliza got her wand out, "I've seen the way you look at each other in the library."
"I'm really nervous!"
Eliza nodded, "You're going to look even more beautiful than usual! You're funny, clever and a good person. That's all that matters." She looked at Hermione's hair, "So what style do you want?"
"It has to be up well actually it doesn't matter. I would like my curls to be tame."
"I know the perfect style." She muttered the words for the spell and then suddenly, Hermione's hair was transformed into a half up and half down hairdo, "Look in the mirror."
Tears appeared in Hermione's eyes, "I cannot believe this, I've never, ever looked like this before."
"But that's the thing Hermione, you always look like this, you just never see it!"
Hermione wrapped her into a tight hug, "Thank you so much."
"So, let's see your dress." Eliza said. Everyone in the room gasped as they saw Hermione in her pink gown, "You look beautiful 'Mione."
Angelina's hair was left down with a dark purple hair-piece, her dress was of the same colour and was quite tight with thin straps - she looked absolutely stunning. Alicia had her hair left down and wavy, her make-up was natural, and her dress was a dark red colour. Katie's dress was a light grey and her hair had been pulled back into a bun.
Eliza stepped out of the bathroom and the four girls turned to look at her, their mouths jaws dropped as they stared at her, "ELIZA DAWLISH YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL!"
"Thank you." She replied quietly, suddenly feeling quite overwhelmed. Her dress was long and dark blue, the top was tight and then it flowed from above the waist to the floor, there was a small train and small jewels embellished the top. Her hair had been curled and the top section had been braided back, and her make-up was very natural.
"Shall we go down?" Angelina asked them nervously.
"I'll be down in a minute!" Hermione told them as she played with her dress.
"Don't worry 'Mione, you look beautiful, Krum isn't going to know what to do with himself when he sees you. Now raise you head and smile, be confident, this is your night to shine!"
Eliza walked alongside Katie behind Angelina and Alicia, Katie stopped Eliza just as they were about to walk round the corner to the stairs of the entrance hall. "I'm scared."
"You look wonderful Katie!"
"What if he doesn't like me though!"
Eliza hugged her friend tightly, "Then it's his loss. Now come on, let's go." The two girls walked round the corner and then began to descend down the stairs.
Oliver stared at Eliza, his mouth agape as he took in her beauty, "You're the most beautiful person here."
"You look rather dashing!" She smiled gently at him.
"I can't believe you're my girlfriend!"
A laugh slipped out of her mouth, "I know, to think I could be with a Champion."
"Quidditch Champion." Oliver puffed his chest out, "I'll have you know!"
"I love you."
"I love you too." He held out his arm for her, "Shall we go m'lady?"
"We shall."
As they entered the hall, Eliza was took away with how different it looked, the walls of the hall were covered in sparkling silver frost, the ceilings were covered in garlands of mistletoe and ivy. Instead of the large house table there was a hundred smaller tables, lantern-lit, and could seat about twelve people.
All the students stood alongside the dance floor and waited for the Champions to arrive. Eliza grinned at Fred and Angelina who were next to them. George, who had come alone, was behind them. As soon as the Champions walked in, all the students applauded them. Fleur looked lovely next to Roger Davies - the Ravenclaw Captain - Hermione smiled brightly as she held Krum's arm, Cedric and Cho smiled softly at each other - it was obvious how much they liked each other - and Harry and Parvati looked -. Well, Parvati looked very happy while Harry seemed to be too busy making sure he didn't fall over.
It was then time for the dinner, Eliza was sat on a table with Oliver, Fred, Angelina, George, Alicia, her date, Katie, her date, Ron, and Padma. "Why's Percy here?" Eliza asked the twins.
"He's Crouch's representative." Fred told her.
"I bet he's loving that." Eliza replied.
In front of them all there was shining golden plates, with small menus on top of them, all you had to do was say out loud what you wanted and then it would appear in front of your immediately. "This looks delicious!" Oliver told her with a grin, "Please tell me if I get any on me!"
"You better not get any on your robes!" Eliza replied, "I'm sure your mother wouldn't be impressed that in all the photos you have food on you!"
"That is why I've learnt a new spell that will clean it immediately."
"Oooh, look at you Oliver Wood."
Once, Eliza had finished her food she began to look around the table, Angelina and Fred spoke in whispers to each other - small grins covering their faces - while George was involved in a conversation with Oliver, Katie and her date seemed to be very happy together - he seemed to be telling her some sort of story - and then there was Alicia and her date who were occupying their time by telling each other lots of different jokes.
Oliver looked over and caught her smiling at all her friends, "Are you okay?"
"I'm perfectly happy."
"You look wonderful."
"So do you."
After, everyone had finished all their food, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do so too. He then waved his wands and all the tables were up along the walls, leaving the floor clear, he then conjured a raised platform along the right wall, a set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes on it.
All the lanterns turned off and the champions made their way onto the dance floor. Parvati had to place Harry's hand on her waist and the other in her hand as he seemed to have no idea about what to do.
Professor Flitwick was in charge of the music, he rose his arms into the air, and the orchestra began to play a slow song. Eliza smiled as she watched Hermione dance with Viktor Krum - the two looked lovely together, the perfect couple.
The audience applauded as Professor Dumbledore and Mcgonagall joined in, soon followed by Karkaroff with a staff member and then Hagrid alongside Madame Maxime. Eliza chuckled to herself as Neville and Ginny walked onto the floor and then every so often the latter would wince as Neville stepped on her feet.
"Would you do me the honour of dancing with me?" Oliver whispered to her.
"I will." Eliza said as the two stepped onto the dance floor and began to dance in time to the music. She felt like a princess, dancing with her prince, it was as though every terrible thing no longer mattered as she was there in the arms of her love.
"I'm not a great dancer." Oliver admitted.
Eliza giggled, "You're better than you think."
"I'm sorry if I step on your feet."
"You won't." She replied confidently.
"What makes you so sure?" Oliver asked her, his eyebrow raised.
"Fred and George told me you've been practicing non stop." Eliza told him, with a small smile, "So I trust you've practiced enough."
"I knew they couldn't be trusted." Oliver said as he shook his head jokingly, "I just wanted everything to be perfect for you!"
"It is perfect."
The song changed to a quicker tune and the two laughed as they saw Fred and Angelina dance so vigorously that those close to them moved away out of fear they were going to be harmed, "They really do like each other." Oliver told her, "I never thought I'd see the day Fred liked someone."
"It's good to see the two of them finally together," She scanned the room for George, "I just hope George doesn't feel left out." She smiled when she saw George dancing with a Hufflepuff student, "So, where did you learn to dance?"
"My mother taught me when I was younger and I've been practicing continuously since the Yule Ball was announced."
"Well, well, look at you!" Eliza kissed his cheek, "Don't ever change Ollie."
"I wouldn't dare." He replied with a grin, "Stay being Eliza."
"Who else would I be?"
Oliver stared at her, "Don't let your family change who you truly are."
"They're not my family really." Eliza told him honestly, "The Weasley's are."
The song ended and the two exited the dance floor and made their way over to their friends, Katie and Angelina were dancing weirdly on the side while Alicia, her date and Katie's date talked animatedly at one of the tables. "Where's the two pranksters?" Eliza asked her friends.
"Said something about talking to Bagman." Angelina shouted at her, "Didn't say why though."
Eliza looked over to see the twins talking quickly to Ludo Bagman, "What are they up to El?" Katie yelled at her.
"Who knows." She joined in with the dancing duo, "It could be anything when it comes to those two!"
"ARE YOU READDDDYYYY?" Loud screaming could be heard as the Weird Sisters walked out onto the stage, they all had long hair and were dressed in black robes that had been ripped and torn on purpose.
Eliza screamed loudly with the girls before grabbing Oliver's hand and pulling him back onto the dance floor, "Can you believe it's actually them?"
All of the students crammed onto the dance floor and began to dance crazily with each other, "My mother never taught me how to dance like this." Oliver told Eliza.
"Of course she didn't!" Eliza shouted back, "Just follow the music and don't think about it, it makes it all a lot easier if you don't."
"IF IT ISN'T THE GOLDEN COUPLE!" Fred yelled loudly at them as he and Angelina began to dance beside them.
"I think we should be saying that to you!" Oliver replied.
"I think you're drunk Oliver!" Angelina said to him.
"I'm not, I'm just happy!"
"DRUNK ON HAPPINESS!" George told them as he joined in the dancing.
"CAN YOU DO THE HIPPOGRIFF?" The friends shouted together, "Na na na, na na na, na na na."
Oliver watched happily as Eliza laughed loudly as she danced with Fred and George, the three doing their worst dance moves, "Come on, do the robot George!" Fred and Eliza yelled out him.
George stared to do the robot causing everyone to laugh, "Now come on, you two, join in with me." The three then all did it together, "See now I feel much better."
"The best trio at Hogwarts!" Fred shouted to which they all agreed.
Oliver caressed her cheek gently, before slowly placing his lips onto hers, "I am completely and utterly in love with you."
"As am I." Eliza replied, grinning widely.
"I would be perfectly happy to stay in this moment."
Eliza nodded her head, "Yet time will carry on and we with it."
"To many more moments like this."
"To many more." Eliza agreed.
The song changed and the two ran out of the hall and up to the stairs towards the common room. Everywhere was silent, all the students still in the hall, the two laughed together as they walked into Oliver's dormitory. "Are you sure?"
"Completely."
Lips attached and hands rummaged, Oliver's top was taken off and the two stared at each other happily, "The chaser and the keeper."
"The chaser and the keeper."