PLUCK UP THE COURAGE
During breakfast at the Great Hall, Caleb's eyes trail down the tables and land on Cho Chang, a ravenclaw girl with ebony colored hair and olive colored skin. When she looks back, she sends him a smile and he spills his drink from his mouth. The girls giggle and turn around.
He turns back to see a fuming Millie approaching the table, "Look at this!" She slams the newspaper down in front of him, "I can't believe it, she's done it again. 'Miss Brown, a plain but ambitious girl seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards. Her latest prey sources report is none other than the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum. No word yet on how Caleb Mclaughlin's taking this latest emotional blow.' Merlin, I really hate Rita Skeeter!"
Noah pursed his lips and grabed the paper when a young boy walks up holding a package. "Parcel for you Mr Schnapp."
Noah looks over at the boy, "Thank you Nigel." He grabs the box when he realizes how Nigel is gazing at Caleb. "Not now Nigel. Later. Go on."
When Nigel leaves, Millie glares at Noah, "What was that?"
Noah shrugs, "I told him I'd get him Caleb's autograph." He opens the box, "Oh look mum's sent me something." He stands up and pulls out the wrinkly robe from it, "Mum sent me a dress?"
Caleb chuckles, putting down his drink and began rumbling through the package, "Well it does match your eyes. Is there a bonnet?"
Noah ignores the laughs from the rest of the Great Hall before walking over to his sister, "Sadie, these must be for you."
Sadie looks up from her food and grimaces, "I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly."
Millie begins to crack up and Noah scowls at her, "What are you on about?"
Millie smiles, "They're not for Sadie, they're for you! They're dress robes."
"Dress robes? for what?"
"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard tournament since its inception. On Christmas eve night, we and our guests gather in the great hall for a well mannered frivolity. As representitives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot
forward, and I mean this literally because the yule ball is first and foremost... a dance." McGonagall explains.
Groans emerge from the boys who are listening on and the girls seem a lot more excited. "Silence. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching our school by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons."
Jonathan smirks and leans over to whisper to his twin, "Try saying that five times faster."
McGonagall continues, "Now to dance is to let the body breathe, inside every girl a secret
swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight."
Whispering to Seamus, Noah looks over to the other side, where the girls are sat, "Something's about to burst out of Pansy, but I don't think it's a swan."
"Inside every boy a lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr. Schnapp, will you join me." She grabs Noah and pulls him up to dance. Caleb, Jonathan, Crabbe, Seamus, and Finn all begin to laugh as they're huddled around the same place. Noah lifts his hand up, ready to flip them off when McGonagall snaps her fingers. "Now, place your right hand on my waist."
Noah's eyes widen, "Where?"
McGonagall's serious expression doesn't falter, "My waist." He does so and a wolf whistle comes from the crowd. "Now bend your arm. Mr. Filch..." Mr. Filch begins to play the music. The pair begins to step dance, "One two three, one two three, one two three."
Laughing, Caleb looks over to the twins, "Oi! Never gonna let him forget this are you?"
"Never." They say.
McGonagall grins, "Everybody come together." The girls instantly stand and walk forward, the boys are all still seated. "Boys, on your feet."
Gaten stands and walks over to Sadie, a nervous look on his face. She smirks and grabs his hand, allowing him to twirl her. Caleb looks around and finds himself in front of Cho, a fond look on her face.
Millie groans when she catches sight of Caleb already having a partner but shudders when she feels someone wrap their fingers around her wrist. When she turns around, an annoyed glare shoots out of her, "What do you want, Ferret?"
He frowns but lets it fall as he smirks instead and places his hand on her waist, pulling her a bit closer and slipping his fingers into hers, lifting his arm up. "Just a dance."
Caleb looks up at them with furrowed brows as he dances with Cho, "Are you okay?" He mouths to her.
Millie waves him away and faces Finn, "I don't get it. Why are you dancing with me? We despise each other." Finn ignores her and continues to dance by McGonagall's instructions. Noah glances their way with a sneer but doesn't look away, not wanting to make eye contact with the head of his house.
"We might, but maybe I wanted to dance with you." He looks down to see her confused expression, signaling him to continue, knowing he's not done. With a sigh, he submits to her assumptions, "Or maybe I just wanted to have a good laugh."
She scoffs and breaks their stare, "Of course. Anything to embarrass me, right?"
His smirk falters as he raises his hand to move a piece of misplaced hair from her face but brings it back down to her waist, "Just keep dancing." He mumbles, looking down at his feet.
Caleb and Noah walk through the courtyard, observing the nervous girls that are sat together. Caleb sneers, "Why do they always have to travel in packs? How are you supposed to get one alone to ask them..."
Noah frowns, "Blimey Caleb, you slayed dragons. If you can't get a date who can?"
Caleb chuckles, "I think I'd take the dragon right now." Groups of girls are giving them icy looks and turning their backs.
The two walk inside the Great Hall and take their seats for class, Snape has them studying and answering questions in a booklet. Finn, Pansy, and other pupils from other houses are all sat at the Gryffindor table, doing their work.
"This is mad. At this rate we'll be the only ones in our year without dates." Severus Snape walks past and slaps Noah over the head for talking. Once he walks away, he talks again, "Well, us and Gaten! But then again he can take himself."
Millie rolls her eyes and faces them, "It might interest you to know that Gaten's already got someone."
Noah gasps before letting out a muffled groan, "Now I'm really depressed."
Charlie hands Noah a note, it reads "GET A MOVE ON OR ALL THE GOOD ONES WILL HAVE GONE!"
Noah squints his eyes at his brother, "Oh yeah? Who are you taking?"
Charlie smirks and crumbles up a piece of paper before throwing it over to Natalia, a Gryffindor girl. She looks up, annoyed and motions for him to stop.
Charlie begins to mouth his words to her, "Would you." He points at her, "Like to." Charlie raises his arms and pretends to ballroom dance, "Go to the ball with me?"
Natalia bites her lip and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear as a blush embraces her cheeks, "With you?" When he nods, her smile increases, "Yeah."
Finn chuckles, for once, high-fiving Charlie and looking back down at his work. Noah purses his lips and looks over at the brunette sitting by his side, her eyes trained and focused down on her work, "Well Millie, you're a girl."
Millie glares at him, "Oh, well spotted."
He lifts his arms and pretends to ballroom dance as well, "Come with me to the dance–" He gets interrupted when Snape slaps his short booklet on both his head and Caleb's. Millie cringes, waits for their professor to walk away, and looks back up.
Charlie, Natalia, along with Finn and some other Slytherins, chuckle to themselves. Noah shrugs, "Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl it's just sad."
"I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me." She gets up from her chair and hands her booklet to Snape before returning to the table and gathering her things, "And I said yes."
"Bloody hell." Noah mutters, watching her as she storms off. "She's lying right?"
Caleb grimaces, "If you say so." Snape watches them converse and begins to pull his sleeves back as he approaches them.
"Look. We've just got to grit our teeth and do it. Tonight when we get back to the common room, we'll both have partners. Agreed?"
Caleb nods, "Agreed." The pair's heads touch the table as Snape shoves them down.
Caleb is walking up some steps to the owlery, "He reaches the top and bumps into Cho who has come around the corner. She smiles at him, "Watch yourself on the stairs, it's a bit icey at the top."
He nervously nods, "Okay thanks. Cho?"
"Yes?"
"Um." He mumbles to himself before straightening his posture, "I just wondered if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me?
"Oh. Um. Caleb, I'm sorry but someone's
already asked me. And well.. I've said I'll go with him."
Caleb's face goes red as he anxiously rubs the back of his neck, "Ok. Great. Fine. No problem. Good."
Cho sighs, "Caleb, I really am sorry."
Back in the Gryffindor Common Room, Millie rubs Caleb's back, trying to comfort him from the rejection before the portrait door busts open, Noah is being helped into the room and he looks shaky. "What happened to you?"
Sadie grimaces, "He just asked Fleur Delacour out."
Millie furrows her brows, "What? What did she say?"
Sadie pats her brother on the shoulder, "No of course."
Noah shakes his head, causing Millie to widen her eyes, "She said yes?"
"There she was walking by. You know I like it when they walk. I couldn't help it, it just sort of slipped out." Noah began.
Sadie scratches her forehead, "Actually he sort of screamed at her, it was a bit frightening."
Caleb chuckles, "What did you do then?"
"What else? I ran for it. I'm not cut out for this, Caleb. I don't know what got into me."
The Patil twins walk past, brushing their shoulders against Caleb with flirty looks, "Hi Caleb."
"Hey!" Caleb replies, all of a sudden getting an idea.
Noah is getting dressed in front of a mirror. He looks panicked and uncomfortable in his ridiculous dress robes. "Bloody hell." Caleb walks in, he's dressed in a more conventional suit. "What are those?"
Caleb looks down at his clothes, "My dress robes."
Noah narrows his eyes at him, "Well they're alright. No lace, no dodgy little collar." He points at his own robes, a frown on his face.
Caleb stutters for a moment before walking up to him, "Well I expect yours are more traditional."
"Traditional? They're ancient! I look like my great aunt Tessie." He sniffs at his clothes. "I smell like my great aunt Tessie. Murder
me Caleb."
Caleb and Noah are walking down the stairs into the hall and Noah is fidgeting with his outfit. "Leave it alone." Caleb nudges his arm.
"Poor kid, bet she's alone in her room crying her eyes out." Noah says.
Caleb furrows his brows, "Who?"
"Millie, of course. Come on Caleb, why'd you think she wouldn't tell us who she's coming with?"
Caleb nodded, "Because we'd take the mickey out of her if she did."
Noah sighs, "Because nobody asked her. I would have taken her myself if she weren't so bleeding proud."
The boys approach the Patil twins. "Hello boys. Don't you look..." Padma looks at Noah with an unsure look, "... dashing."
McGonagall struts over to them, "Here you are Mclaughlin. Are you and Miss Patil ready to dance. It's traditional that the three champions or in this case four are the first to dance. Surely I told you that."
When he shakes his head, she continues, "Oh well now you know. Oh, as for your Mr. Schnapp, you may proceed into the great
hall with Miss Patil." The two follow her orders and enter.
Caleb catches sight of Cho, wearing a white gown, looking absolutely gorgeous. He grins, but it falters when he notices that her arms is wrapped up into Cedric Diggory's arm.
Parvati gasps, "She looks beautiful."
Caleb nods, "Yeah she does." He looks over to his date to catch her gazing up the stairs. He follows her stare and it lands on the girl shyly peeking out from behind a wall and slowly making her way down the stairs.
It was Millie, but yet it wasn't Millie. He'd always been so used to seeing her as his best friend, the smart girl who saves his arse too many times. He'd always known she was beautiful but now, she looked radiant.
Her golden-brunette hair was pinned up and she was wearing a light blue, periwinkle dress that almost resembled silver. Her face was glowing and her smile complimented her looks just perfectly.
Caleb smiled at her, in which she just returned it. But his brows furrowed when he noticed the boy wearing red, waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, Viktor Krum.
He takes her hand and they walk together. Once all the champions are in position, the doors to the Great Hall open, revealing the snowy and ice decorations done to perfection. And you can simply tell how much work they put into it.
First, Fleur and her date walk in, earning claps from those who surround the entrance. Then, Cedric and Cho head inside, the cheers increasing. Once Millie steps inside with Viktor by her side, the crowd goes silent but then erupts in loud cheers.
The people were admiring her. Crabbe and Goyle had stopped eating to just stare, Seamus and Dean were sending her whistles, and Gaten and Sadie were clapping proudly.
Gleaming with jealousy, Pansy Parkinson was standing next to her date, Finn Wolfhard, whose gaze was on the girl, and he couldn't even bother trying to come up with any insults to throw at her.
Padma leans closer to Noah, "Is that Millie Bobby Brown? With Viktor Krum?"
Noah purses his lips and shakes his head, a disappointed and jealous look on his face, "No. Absolutely not."
Caleb's entrance is overshadowed by Millie's, but for that, he is very much thankful. Loud music plays as the champions head to the dancefloor with their partners.
They dance gleefully. Caleb spins Parvati around just as Viktor grabs Millie by the waist and spins as he lifts her off the ground. Soon others are joining in, Dumbledore and McGonagall, Mr Filch and his cat, Hagrid and Madame Maxime. Gaten and Sadie. Mad-Eye sits on the sidelines drinking.
And as the night goes by, the music is now rock played by the Weird Sisters fronted by Jarvis Cocker from Pulp. The crowd is jumping in a mosh pit that has Professor Flitwick being thrown in. Finn and Viktor dance together, along with Millie and a few others, completely ignoring their house rivalry for the night.
Caleb, Noah and their dates are sitting some distance away looking miserable, observing their school mates dance.
Millie comes up after a great time with Viktor, he mutters something before lifting up her hand and kissing it. Once he walks away, she spins on her heels and smiles, "Hot isn't it?" She pants, "Viktor's gone to get drinks. Care to join us?"
Noah crosses his arms and glances up at her, "No, we'd NOT care to join you and Viktor."
She narrows her eyes as she sits down in the empty seat next to Caleb, "What's got your wand in a knot?"
Noah leans forward so he can get a better look at her, "He's a Durmstrang. First, Wolfhard at practice, now him too? You're fraternizing
with the enemy."
Millie scowls at him, "The enemy? Who was it wanting his autograph? Besides, the whole point of the tournament is international magical cooperation, to make friends."
He scoffs, "Hrmph, I think he's got a bit more than friendship on his mind." Millie shakes her head and walks off.
Parvati looks over at him, "Are you going to ask me to dance or not?"
"No."
As the night goes on, Millie and Noah are back to arguing as they march towards the exit, "He's using you."
Millie huffs, "How dare you! Besides I can take care of myself."
Noah looks away, "Doubt it. He's way too old."
Millie and him finally exit the Great Hall, ignoring the slow song playing back inside, "What? What? That's what you think?"
He nods, "Yeah that is what I think."
"You know the solution then don't you?" When he signals her to go on, she stops walking and faces him, tears blooming on the edges of her eyes, "Next time there's a ball, pluck up the
courage and ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort."
Noah stutters, "Well that's just completely off the point." He looks over her shoulder, "Caleb..."
Angry, Millie looks over at him, "Where have you been? Nevermind! Off to bed both of you."
Caleb and Noah walk away and run up the stairs, "They get scary when they get older." Noah mumbles.
Millie groans as she yells after them, "Noah! You spoiled everything!" Once they're finally out of sight, she crumbles down and drops on the stairs, soft cries escaping her mouth as she removes her shoes and places them next to her.
She knew she cried easily, but she was crying a lot, although that probably had to do with the boy she liked ruining her night.
The rest of the night gave away, people were still at the Ball. Finn walks out of the Great Hall, a gauntlet at hand, filled with punch and a hint of Firewhiskey inside it, thanks to Blaise Zabini, the only other cool Slytherin thats his age.
His eyes land on her, the girl he despises the most, yet she's sitting with her dress draped over the stairs, her shoes are sitting next to her, and her not-so-silent sobs echo in the now empty entrance. Most people had already left and only some were still dancing inside the hall.
He stood there, watching her cry into her hands, that were trying to wipe her tears away to hide the fact that she was crying, but the sniffles definitely gave it away anyways.
He felt something for a second, his chest was wrenching and he wanted to ask her what happened. Had Viktor Krum done this? No, not possible.
His mind trailed back to when he was dancing with Pansy a little over half an hour ago, to when he saw Brown and that blood-traitor, Schnapp, running out of the hall, their yells were loud and could be heard through the entire hall, but most people ignored them.
Of course, it was him who had made her cry this much. He had seen how much she had been enjoying herself tonight, and even if he did feel the slightest bit jealous, he knew that all he could do about it would be enjoy her smile from afar, and of course when he was dancing with her and her date.
So, without thinking about it, he walked over to her. He knew nobody was watching them so that gave him the last push he needed to sit down next to her.
Millie, who felt the presence of someone next to her, turned her tear-stained face to look at him. She was about to roll her eyes but something about the way he was looking at her made her not do so.
He was looking at her with sincerity.
"What happened?" He muttered to her.
She knitted her brows together, confused as to why he sometimes let this side come out when they're alone, "Why are you asking?" She whispered to him, not being able to produce many words with her sore throat.
"Well..." He looked down for a second, her stare was too endearing for him to keep gazing at her, "You're crying after smiling and dancing around with a famous quidditch player. Seems strange to me how your night went downhill."
She was surprised by his supportive tone, as was he. She let out a small scoff and raised her index finger to wipe her wet cheeks, "Had a fight with Noah."
"About?"
"Viktor." She breathed out, "He thinks that he's too old for me, and that he uses me... which is totally not true."
"Yeah, he's a good bloke, I'll tell you that." Finn responded, taking a deep sigh and looking over at her. Millie eyes him, a confused expression in her face. "I know this is weird but.."
"No!" She blurts out, "Well yes, but.. I don't know.. it's helping me get distracted from crying so..." She lets the silence engulf them for a minute before she breaks it, "Why are you being like this? You're usually so–"
"Bratty? Yes well, I suppose the Firewhiskey in me might–"
"Firewhiskey? But we're not old enough to–"
"Really doesn't matter. They told us to have fun so.. we had fun." He let out a sincere laugh, "We also should work on stopping ourselves from cutting off each others sentences."
"Are you implying we'll have enough conversations in the future to work on our interrupting habits."
"You want an honest answer to that?" He looks over at her, taking in her glassy eyes, wanting to reach over and just hold her. He sighs as she nods, "This will probably be the only time I'll ever talk to you like this."
Her chest tightens and she nods for a second before looking down to her fidgeting hands, "Well if thats the case, then, maybe we should cut it short."
Finn looks up to her, "I didn't mean to cut it–"
"I should go to bed, maybe that'll do me some good." She abruptly stands up and walks up a few steps before turning around to glance at him, "Hey Wolfhard? Thank you, for um.." She grimaces, "Well, just thank you."
He gives her a curt nod as he watches her sprint up the rest of the stairs. Letting out a big sigh, he chugs the rest of his punch before putting it down on the floor and shaking his head, walking back over to the Slytherin dormitories.
—
a lot of fillie fluff in this one, it's hard to add scenes because if i do i have to think about what those scenes lead to and how they'd fit with the story but anyways, the next few chapters won't be FILLED with finn except for small little moments because draco wasn't a big part of goblet of fire, now you can imagine half-blood prince, those chapters are gonna be.. fun.
i'm finally done with finals so i'm gonna be updating a lot more!
IF YOU LOVE DRAMIONE: I'm writing a fanfic about them, you can check it out, it's called 'opposing sides'
comment your thoughts and leave some feedback, are you excited for future fillie (and possibly nillie) ??