Right Person, Wrong Time

-39-

December 25, 1994

"Hey, Ash!"

Ashlynn paused her conversation with a certain Hufflepuff boy and Ravenclaw girl, both of whom she was good friends with. It was the Yule ball and everyone was dressed in their best robes and dresses. Ashlynn herself was wearing an emerald green dress that had a small slit that ran up left thigh and sleeves that were hung loosely off her shoulders. Her long, red hair was curled and placed on the right side of her head, a small, gold clip her mother sent her earlier in the year securing her hair in place.

Her date was a sweet boy named Nathaniel Brigston, a Hufflepuff boy that was a year older than her. He was a tall and lean boy, around the same height as the twins and had brown hair with brown eyes. He was the kind of boy many girls liked upon first glance, but fell in love with after getting to know him. The two became good friends through their deep liking to arithmancy and he asked her to the ball two days after knowing its existence. Ashlynn appreciated the gesture, along with the free candy and poster it came with, and said yes with a huge smile on her face. It also worked in her favor that her older brothers approved of her date. Well, the twins still pulled a prank or two on him a few days later.

When the redhead girl turned around at the sound of her name, her eyes roamed between the large crowds of students that continued to file in. It was difficult to find any familiar faces with everyone looking more formal than they usually do on an average school day. This was really the only time the students of Hogwarts dressed up and tried to look their best.

With her eyes darting from face to face, it was then that her eyes caught sight of a familiar scar head boy. A boy who was a foot taller than her with shaggy black hair that never sat flat and bright green eyes that matched her dress perfectly. A large grin overtook his face, she noticed, as he sped walked closer to her and excused himself past the masses of people he was passing. When he approached her, he pushed up his glasses to the bridge of his nose and tried to calm his breathing down to an even pace.

"Sorry for yelling your name so loudly. I'm really glad I found you before the ball started and everything got too chaotic. I tried to look for you in the Gryffindor Tower, but Lavender said you already left for the Great Hall." Harry said, slightly out of breath. He looked beside her and saw Nathaniel, Cedric, and Cho peering back at him. His eyes lingered on the blacked haired beauty before he gave a small nod and smile to the whole group. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Harry." Cedric replied, his date following in pursuit.

"Merry Christmas, Harry. It's nice to see you not being attacked by a dragon." Nathaniel joked. He took a step closer to him and stopped next to his date before wrapping his arm around her waist. It was then that Harry took notice of the matching white flowers the duo wore: Ashlynn's on her wrist and Nathaniel's on his coat pocket.

He looked back at Nathaniel and responded, "It's nice not being attacked by a dragon." He was partially joking and partially not. Cedric chuckled lightly.

"You spruce up nicely, Potter." Nathaniel commented, glancing up and down Harry's figure.

"You as well." The bespectacled boy responded. "Anyways," he looked back toward Ashlynn, "I wanted to give you something."

Ashlynn smiled at her best friend. "Sure, what is it?" she asked softly.

He looked around shyly, his hand coming up to his head as he awkwardly scratched his un-groomed hair. His confidence that he once had before his sudden arrival seemed to be oozing out of him by the second. Ashlynn's smile dropped slightly as she saw a red tint overcome his handsome face. "Um...can we go somewhere more," he looked at her and then at the three other people standing behind her listening in," private by chance?"