Chapter 7: The Yule Ball

The next month was filled with studying, I spent most of my time in the library or the common room with Katie and Cormac McLaggen, who was a downright prat at times, but somewhat smart. I guess I'm the stupid one for dating him second and third year, but we don't talk about that.

Cedric thanked me a copious amount of times in those next weeks, saying he couldn't have done it without me. I'm a hundred percent sure that's not true, but the thought was nice. He came to me with the egg, we spent a few days turning to figure it out. Without luck, he said he'd keep trying and let me know if he found anything out. More importantly, he told me to let him know if I heard anything about Harry figuring it out.

McGonagall had announced the Yule Ball coming up to our house, something that excited every girl I knew. Katie couldn't stop talking about who she wanted to go with, pointing out attractive men everywhere for a week. Even more annoyingly, she started to go up to boys and ask if they had a date, because her 'attractive friend Cassia, you know, Harry Potter's sister' was looking for a date. Her and Ginny had a riot asking people.

Everywhere you went down, down the corridors or at meals, there was giggling girls. You'd think someone hexed them. Ginny and I had a lot of fun sitting at the entrance hall and watching people get rejected left and right.

"What about her?" Ginny said, pointing to a tiny third year.

"Oh, she's got no chance," I laughed as the girl walked up to a Hufflepuff sixth year.

The sixth-year boy looked super confused for a few seconds, before awkwardly looking around to his friends for help. They just stood back and held back their laughter. The boy said something while scratching his head, the girl who muttered something before literally running away.

We burst out laughing at the same time that they Hufflepuff boys' friends did. The boy realized we were laughing at him and gave us a small shrug with a chuckle. I'm glad everyone was having a good time with this, because I was having a great time.

A little bit later, we saw a fifth year Ravenclaw walking around the entrance hall like she was looking for someone. "I bet she's looking for one of the Durmstrang boys," Ginny said, "That's the biggest fifth year I've ever seen, maybe just the biggest girl I'd ever seen!"

"No way," I said with a laugh, "She's looking for a scrawny little boy who's half her size, I promise you that."

We watched her for a few more minutes until we saw her make eye contact with someone across the room and start jogging over.

"It's time!" Ginny sang, "Who is it?"

"It's – it's – oh my Merlin!" I couldn't even answer from how hard I was laughing.

"Who is it?!" Ginny cried, trying to climb on top of me to see. She finally realized who it was and joined me in my laughter, "You were right!"

The girl made her way up to Harry, that's right, Harry Potter. I was totally right, she picked one of the scrawniest boys I've ever seen. We had tears running down our faces when we saw Harry awkwardly say no, his friends snickering in the background. He looked more scared of her than the dark wizards trying to kill him.

Ginny and I made this sort of a tradition, we came out and sat on the steps of the entrance hall every day after lunch leading up to the Yule Ball. It was a slow Wednesday for ball proposals, so I had to fill my time with pestering Ginny.

"Has Harry asked you yet?" I sighed, watching a Ravenclaw boy ask a Hufflepuff girl, who boringly said yes.

"Shove off," she groaned, obviously getting teased about Harry quite a lot – well, by me mostly.

"Harry's an idiot, I swear, you've got to ask him yourself. He's obsessed with that girl from Ravenclaw. He's stares at her like a piece of roast, but hasn't asked her. I don't know who's going to break it to him that she said yes to Cedric a week ago. That'll be a right laugh!" I said, laughing at the thought of it.

"Cassia! He totally going to ask her!" She cried, but couldn't hold back a laugh, "That's going to be horrible for him!"

"I know," I snorted, "I can't wait!"

"That's an attractive… laugh," I heard someone say behind us.

We both turned around to see one of the Durmstrang boys standing above us. I was going to be offended, but I realized it was the bloke from before, Adrian, I believe?

"Thank… you?" I replied, thoroughly confused on how I should reply. Beside me, I watched Ginny bite her lip to hold back a laugh.

"Hello again, Cassia Potter. Is this your date for the ball?" He asked, gesturing to Ginny, "I see you together here often."

"Oh! Her?" I laughed, "No, no. We just sit here to watch – um, we study here." I didn't want to say we sit here every day to make fun of people, I wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea. I guess, technically, it'd be the right idea – well, whatever.

"Study? With no books?" He questioned in his thick accent. I don't know if this is how they flirt in his home country or if it's a language barrier, but we would not still be having this conversation right now if he wasn't so attractive.

"It's… mental," I said, throwing out the first word I thought of. At this point, Ginny turned around completely to cover her laughter.

"Ah," he said, not questioning it, "Do you have a partner to the Yule Ball?"

Finally, he got to the point. Yes, I'll marry you! "No, I was waiting for you," I said with a smile. What bullshit, Cassia. Truthfully, I was waiting for the last second to declare my love for Ginny and take her. She's funny, I could raise a family with her. I've put it off because we both have red hair, people would think we're sister lovers – can't have that.

"Ah," he said again, not really the response I was looking for, "Then I shall meet you here, at the entrance hall before the Ball."

"Yes, sir," I said, instantly regretting it. I couldn't stop my eyes from widening in shock at what I just said.

He grabbed my hand and kissed it, like in the old telly shows. He bowed his head slightly to Ginny before turning and walking away from us.

We both just stared at him walking away in silence until he was completely out of view. When he turned the corner, we looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. In this week of us doing this, this was the hardest we'd ever laughed. We couldn't make out syllables, let alone words, and people all over were staring at us like we'd gone loony.

It took us at least ten minutes to compose ourselves, stopping only when we got a disgusted look from Snape. We got up and decided to make our way back to the common room, still laughing every now and then.

"Here I thought it was a going to be a slow day!" I said with a snort.

"You said –" she tried to say through her laughter, "– 'Yes, sir'!"

We entered the portrait hole, arms interlinked and leaning on each other for support. There were a few times we laughed so hard on the way up we'd stumbled down stairs.

The twins and the trio were sitting at the table together chatting and the Quidditch girls were on the couches. The holidays had just started, so there wasn't a table in sight.

Ginny dragged me over to the table, sitting down at the two empty seats next to the twins. "Brothers and friends," she said, greeting everyone.

"Brother and friends," I copied.

"What's so funny?" Fred asked.

"Did you prank someone without us?" George continued.

We both looked at each other with a smile, shaking our heads. "Nothing, nothing at all," Ginny said.

"So…" Fred said, turning back to their conversation with the trio, "You lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope," Ron shrugged and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, brother, or all the good ones will be gone," Fred said.

"Who're you going with then?" Ron said confused.

Fred glanced around the room before saying, "Cassia," with a shrug.

"What?" Ron said, "You are?"

"Well – I, um –" I struggled, thinking back to the most awkward conversation I've ever had that was only five minutes ago, "I have a date." I bit my lip hard to hold back my laughter.

"With who?" Ron said, curiously.

Ginny lost it, she was slapping the table in laughter. I tried to hold it back, but couldn't stop myself as she tried to tell the story through her tears, "She – I – sat in the hall and – Bulgarian – she snorted and – he said – we study here and – she said – I've been waiting – for you – and 'Yes sir'!"

The twins and the trio looked at us like we were insane, not understanding the joke at all. It took us another minute or two, or five, to regain ourselves, before I looked over at Ron and said, "Well, yeah, that's the story."

"Girls are bloody insane," Ron groaned, before looking over at Harry, "Did you get any of that?"

"Since you want to break my heart and go with a Bulgarian," Fred said to me, clutching his heart, "Oi! Angelina! You want to go to the ball with me?"

She shrugged and yelled back a yes, before going back to her Wizarding Chess games with Alicia.

"There you go, it's easy," Fred said to Ron.

"Just be a man, Ronald," Ginny said.

"Girls are terrifying!" He said, "You lot are absolutely nutter."

"Ginny, are you coming?" Hermione asked politely.

Ginny happily nodded a yes, she was too young to come without a partner.

"Wonderful," Hermione smiled, "We can get ready together, if you'd like!"

The week leading up to the ball was exciting, as I got to do what I do best – shop. It was not only the Yule Ball coming up, but Christmas as well. I'd have to get gifts, as well as dress robes. Something that greatly stressed me out, but excited me at the same time. Others got an adrenaline rush from Quidditch, I got mine from the fear of not finding the right thing to buy at the last second when I really need it.

Katie, who was going to the ball with Lee Jordan, and I spent the whole Saturday before the Ball in Hogsmeade. It would be our last chance to find something, as well as presents. It took us a few hours in Gladrags Wizardwear to find our outfits, then another few hours shopping around for holiday presents.

Christmas day came too soon, which meant that the Ball was that night. I was woken up too early by Chunk who was excited at all the people who were up so early. The other girls were already almost done with opening their presents and heading down for breakfast.

I opened my presents slowly, not as excited as the others. I hated receiving presents, it just means that someone spent money on me for no reason. Harry got me a beautiful bracelet, something I'm sure was his way of trying to apologize. It made my gift of some bandages and Murtlap Essence with a note that said, Git, these are for when someone tries to kill you, all the more humorous. Hagrid and many of my friends had gotten me a plentiful amount of sweats and snacks. Mrs. Weasley had, like many years prior, knitted me a red sweater with a picture of a cat, very similar looking to Chunk, on it. Many of the boys didn't appreciate her gifts, so I always made sure to wear her sweaters during the holidays to make them feel guilty.

Around five o'clock, the girls had all decided on starting to get ready for the ball. We had taken over the sixth-year girls' dormitory, but girls from all years were running in and out of every room looking for various things.

It was a lot of 'Who's got that beauty charms book?' and 'Can someone tell me if I look fat in this?' and 'Has anyone seen a shoe that looks like this?'. It was a very stereotypical 'girl' scenario, but we had a fun time.

Ginny decided to tell everyone the story of how I got my date, sending everyone into a fit of laughter. "Ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically, "let's all laugh at me, as always!"

We were all ready less than two hours, besides simple things. I threw on the dress robes I'd just bought, a blood red color in sleek satin. Katie had convinced me to get a matching color to the Durmstrang red, but I thought it clashed with my hair.

"It's time!" Angelina yelled, although most of the girls had made their way downstairs already.

"Time for what?" Alicia asked, straightening her silver robes.

"Firewhiskey time," Angelina sang out. Alicia groaned, but Katie and I were both more than ready.

She took a drink from the bottle, not even worrying about cups, before passing it around. The familiar burn was harsh at first, but lightened up after the third time around. "First one to snog their date wins the night," Angelina said standing up.

Katie let out a very unattractive snort, "Ange, you're going with Fred. I'm going with Lee. Ali's going with George! The only one who's going to end up snogging anyone is Cass!"

"Ugh, your right," she groaned, "I guess I'll have to snog someone else's date!"

"That's my Quidditch captain!" Alicia yelled with a laugh, before we all stood and made our way downstairs.

The chaos at the bottom of the stairs was not something that I was prepared for. There was a sea of people in unorganized colors, small snacks and butterbeers being passed around as people were waiting for their dates or friends.

"Finally!" George yelled, as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

The three girls started to mingle with others and their dates, but I kind of stood around awkwardly. Most people had headed down already, only the older student lingering behind. My brother and his friends, along with everyone in their year, was gone already.

I grabbed a custard cream pie, about to take a bite, when someone grabbed my arm and yanked it harshly. "Ouch! What the fuck?" I said, looking at my cream pie on the ground sadly.

"There's canary cream in that," Fred smirked, "You wouldn't want to ruin your pretty… everything."

"Aw, you think I'm pretty," I said sarcastically elbowing him.

"I think you're the prettiest girl here," he said with a smirk. I let out an obnoxious laugh, as he leaned in extremely close to me. I felt the hairs on my neck stand up as I felt his breath on it, "You reek of firewhiskey."

I couldn't hold back my snort, grabbing his butterbeer and finishing it in hopes that it would hide the smell. "Let's leave, you big group of prats," I yelled to my friends, "My Bulgarian husband awaits!"

The last of the Gryffindors all made our way down to the ball, loud and obnoxious as ever. The way down, I tried to compose myself and not act too tipsy, otherwise I'd scare my date away. I saw him talking to another group of Durmstrang students, all in similar but different styles of red dress cloaks with their usual furs.

"Adrian," I called as I walked up to the small group of boys.

"Cassia," he smiled as he met my gaze, "You look stunning." He grabbed my hand and kissed it gently, my group of friends to start whistle and cheer at us in the background.

I interlinked my arm with his as we made our way into the Great Hall, making sure to turn and give my friends a rather impolite gesture when Adrian wasn't looking.

The Great Hall was decorated wonderfully, with frost lining floors and enchanting lights and Christmas decorations all around. He brought me to a table full of Durmstrang boys and their dates, most of them Beauxbatons girls and a couple from Hogwarts. I recognized one of the girls as Hannah Abbott, who looked happy to have someone else she knew there.

The dinner was amazing, as usual, but I hardly ate anything due to how much I had just snacked previously. Adrian kept trying to reassure me that I could eat a normal amount in front of him, something that confused me significantly. It made some sense when he gestured over to the Beauxbatons girls who were nibbling their salad. I couldn't help but laugh at them.

"At Durmstrang," he said to me as we finished our meals, "We would have barrels of mulled wine and whiskey at our events. It is a wonderful time… after a few drinks."

"I wish we had whiskey," I sighed, hoping Angelina would appear with her bottle of firewhiskey.

"Oi!" Adrian called out to one of his friends, before saying something in a different language. The two friends next to him let out a burly laugh before tossing something over. "For you," he smiled, showing me a small flask.

"You have whiskey?" I said with relief, "You really are the perfect date!" I kissed him on the cheek before filling my glass. The flask must have some type of Expanding Charm on it because Adrian filled his, along with his two friends and their dates.

Our half of the table raised our glasses together. I went to take a sip and put my glass down, before realizing that the boys were chugging. Well, I guess it's going to be that kind of night. With a deep breath, I raised my glass to the two Beauxbatons girls that had filled their glasses and we all finished our cups.

Less than ten minutes later, our half of the table had gotten quite rowdy and kept getting looks from Snape. I made sure not to face him, otherwise I'd probably flick him off. It was kind of a shit show, as the Durmstrang boys were talking at the same time as the Beauxbatons girls and I didn't understand any of them in their thick accents.

Too soon, Dumbledore was asking everyone to stand and the tables disappeared to the back walls. Everyone cheered as the Weird Sisters took their spots on the stage at the front of the room. They stared to play some slow ballads and the champions and their partners started to dance.

I couldn't help but laugh as Harry was pushed around by his date, obviously not knowing the steps. He seemed to be trying hard not to make eye contact with anyone, staring at Pavarti's shoulder intensely, ignoring Ron and Seamus who were vigorously waving at him from the sidelines.

"Look at the Potter boy embarrassing himself," I heard a Beauxbatons girl say behind me, "What a joke."

I turned to say something, but Adrian wrapped his arm around me swiftly and led me out onto the dance floor. "Calm," he whispered with a small chuckle.

He wrapped his arm around my waist, grabbing my other hand in his. I wouldn't say that I was a good dancer necessarily, but the Durmstrang boys definitely all got some intense lessons, because they were amazing. But also, I guess that could be the whiskey talking.

I just closed my eyes as we danced through the song, the only thing to stop myself from getting nauseous from all the turns. I have a feeling that Adrian likes to show off, because we circled the dance floor with his big dramatic steps at least twice. Closing my eyes also helped the fact that I could see my friends making faces at me over his shoulder.

The music rapidly sped up in the next song, everyone on the floor dancing much more exuberantly than before. Although he still held my hand and spun me like in the waltz, there was more jumping than actually dancing involved. The reckless dancing got worse when Fred and Angelina found us, people were literally backing away from them from how flamboyant their dance moves were.

More than a few songs in, I saw Hermione and Krum (way to fucking go, Hermione) gesturing us over. I pulled Adrian along, who was more than happy to meet up with a fellow Durmstrang students, probably because Fred and Angelina were scaring everyone off.

"Would you ladies like some drinks?" Krum asked in his heavy accent.

"Yes, please!" Hermione said, nodding furiously as she caught her breath.

The two boys nodded, but I grabbed Adrian and leaned in close so Hermione wouldn't hear, "Alcoholic would be best."

He smirked and gave me a wink before running off with Krum.

Hermione and I went to sit down to catch our breaths, only to find Ron and Harry sitting there alone and sulking.

"Hi, boys!" Hermione said, "Hot in here, isn't it?"

"Gits, what are you doing here?" I said, offended and in a very different tone than Hermione.

"This is lame," Ron whined, crossing his arms.

"You're going to fucking kill yourself in this tournament and not even enjoy the party they threw for you?" I said, with much more hand movement than needed.

"Come off it, Cassia," Harry snapped, obviously annoyed.

"Come off it, Cassia," I mocked in a high-pitched voice, "I'm just saying the truth."

"You're drunk," he stated, giving me a look full of judgement.

"And you're a boring piece of shit," I snapped.

"You're the one fraternizing with enemy," Ron said trying to defend him, "Both of you!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione shrieked.

"It's obvious! They're Karkaroff's students. He knows your both close to Harry and he's just trying to get inside information on him – or get near to hex him…" Ron said, throwing his arms around in frustrations.

"This competition is about making friends with other schools!" Hermione yelled, tears forming in her eyes. All over people were starting to watch.

"No, this is about winning!" Ron said, slamming his fist on the table, "And you're being dumb girls and falling for their plan!"

Before Hermione had a chance to say anything, I grabbed a glass of punch on the table and poured it down Ron's hideous dress robes. He didn't know what to say, just a series of noises coming out of his gaping mouth. "What? What's that, Ronald?" I said, putting my hand up to my ear, "Are you trying to say something?"

"What – I –" He stuttered, still in shock over what happened. His date who had been sitting there angrily just got up and left.

Hermione ran off, probably trying to keep herself from crying in front of them. I don't understand why these two boys were the biggest gits I'd ever met.

"Whiskey for my lady," I heard Adrian whisper, putting one arm tightly around my waist.

"Where is Hem-own-ninny?" Viktor asked, looking around for his date with a cup of punch in his hand.

"This idiot," I said gesturing to Ron, "made her cry and she ran off that way."

Ron looked absolutely appalled as Viktor gave him the angriest look I'd ever seen. Krum seemed to contemplate what to do before walking off in the direct I said Hermione went.

Adrian and I turned away from the two boys before tapping glasses and sipping our drinks. From behind us, I heard Ron say, "Harry. I hate your sister." To which, Harry only sighed and the two walked off.

We went out on the dance floor again and heard someone call out my name. I spent much too long looking around for the person, only realizing it was Cedric with Cho when they were standing in front of me.

"How are you?" He smiled, but the smile dropped slowly when he saw Adrian watching over my shoulder.

"I'm great!" I said smiling, "You two look amazing together, that first dance was remarkable!"

"You look great as well!" He said, giving me a hug. When he leaned in, I heard him whisper in my ear, "I figured out the egg."

I'm sure he didn't want to talk about it in front of someone from Durmstrang so I muttered, later, to him. "You deserve a toast!" I yelled, holding up my drink.

"I don't have a drink," he laughed.

"Well, cheers!" I yelled, raising my drink into the air then handing it for him to drink.

He took it and took a big swig before realizing what it was, the expression of repulsion on his face making Adrian and I burst out laughing. "That's why you're being so friendly," Cedric groaned, handing me back my drink.

The overall vibe of the Ball started to fade, as more couples and friends were getting into arguments, along with the many people who left for bed. Adrian and I had secluded ourselves outside to an empty carriage and spent far too long snogging. We only left when the snow started to fall more forcibly and it got much too cold, even underneath his furs.

"I'll see you soon?" He said to me in the entrance hall, only a few people lingering behind from the Ball.

"Of course," I said, kissing him on the cheek.

I said goodbye before stumbling my way up the stairs. I don't know how much I had to drink tonight but – it was a lot, I promise you that.

I took my sweet time getting back to the common room, against my better judgement. A half hour in, I was petting someone cat on the floor of the third-floor corridor when I heard footsteps approach. I decided pulling out my wand was too much work, not really caring who it was.

"Cass?" I heard the person say, realizing it was one of the twins, "Whatcya doin'?"

"Petting this cat, duh," I said.

"Come on," the twin laughed, pulling me up by my arm and leading me to the common room.

"Which one are you?" I asked, causing them to let out a booming laugh that made my head hurt.

"The more attractive one," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Charlie?" I said with a smile.

The twin scoffed and threw a cauldron cake from his pocket at me, "Fred, you twat!"

"Oh," I sighed, "You are the attractive one."

"Thanks," he laughed loudly, "You're the attractive Potter as well."

We eventually made it to the common room, only to find the trio. Harry was standing in the portrait hole and Hermione and Ron were yelling at each other, Hermione still crying.

"Woah, woah, woah," I said throwing my hands up between the two. "You two need to calm down."

"Shove off, drunkard," Ron snapped, "This doesn't concern you."

Moving faster than I had all night, I pulled my wand out of the band on my leg and pointed it in Ron's face. "What the fuck did you say?"

Fred threw his arms around me in something like a bear hug and shuffled me away from his brother. "You already threw a drink at him, Cass, you don't need to kill him in the same night," Fred said with a loud laugh.

"Your brother's a fucking wanker!" I yelled so Ron could hear.

"Harry, your sister's a dirty cockroach!" Ron yelled.

I started to thrash around violent in Fred's arms, trying to get out. It obviously wasn't hard enough because he hardly budged. "Okay, you're done, let's go," Fred chuckled, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder.

I let out a scream as he started to carry me up the stairs of the boy's dormitory and quickly shoved a hand over my mouth. "You're going to wake up the whole house," he whispered. Ironically, I could hear Ron and Hermione still yelling at each other all the way up the stairs.

When we got to his room, most of the boys were asleep besides George, who seemed to be waiting up for him. "Mate, I asked for snacks, not Cassia," George said confused.

"Ron and Hermione are having a row in the common room, might be awhile. But this one," he said pointing at me with his thumb, "keeps trying to murder our little brother."

"He probably deserves it," George shrugged, opening some of the cauldron cakes Fred handed over.

"He does!" I said, getting shushed by both of them quickly. I rolled my eyes and sat on the end of Fred's bed, throwing off my shoes and curling up.

"You look like a cat," George laughed.

"Are they still yelling?" I whined.

Fred went over to open the door, the sound of Hermione's shrieks filling the room quickly. "Yep," Fred said, throwing it shut. He walked over to his trunk and threw me a pair of pajama pants and a shirt. "It might be awhile, you riled him up."

I let out a groan and pulled the curtain shut, changing quickly, and opening it again. The three of us sat up, quietly eating the snacks from the kitchen. I don't know how much later it was, but I fell asleep at the end of Fred's bed to the sound of Hermione's screams.