ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ • ʙɪʟʟ ᴡᴇᴀꜱʟᴇʏ

ꜱɪx

A/N: In this fanfiction, the Yule Ball is a yearly event that has no connections with the Triwizard Tournaments.

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Ah, the Yule Ball. It was one of the few exciting events that happened in Hogwarts, and the only one where feelings were discovered and couples formed for life. In Freya's case, she wanted to drop hints to Bill about her possible feelings for him. She was almost sure he liked her back, but there was no way of knowing: between Fourth and Fifth Year, Bill had a growth spurt.

He became taller, broader and more handsome if that were possible. His hair was past his shoulders, which he put up in a ponytail, and wore the fang earring Freya had given him the previous Christmas all the time.

There was one thing Freya was absolutely convinced of: she was never going to the Ball with him. She looked up from her Study of Ancient Runes book and sighed. He was constantly swarmed by girls - and the odd boy that wanted to be his best friend or sometimes even be him - as they stared up dreamily at him as he recounted a story about some wizard who killed a werewolf using his bare hands and a wand to pierce it into its heart. He looked very uncomfortable and tried his best to shrug everyone off and continue studying with Freya.

It was then that a beautiful blonde girl from Ravenclaw - Freya had Flying with her, but couldn't make up her mind on her name - walked up to Bill and asked him to be her date to the Yule Ball. Everyone around Bill gasped. The Great Hall fell almost completely silent as the girl - was it Patricia? - waited for a reply. Bill smirked and said yes, much to Freya's disappointment.

Once the crowd died down and Bill could go back to his book, Freya scoffed. "So... you and, uh, Patricia huh?"

"You mean Pamela? I mean... she asked..." he paused and looked at her, frowning. "Didn't you say you had a thing for Lucas? Why not ask him to the Ball?"

Blushing, Freya shifted her focus back on her book. "He'd never go with me to the Ball. Last time I ever spoke to him I accidentally spilt a potion all over his uniform."

"That was weeks ago!" Bill exclaimed. "He's right there." He pointed at the farther side of the table. "Just go up there, ask him nicely and that's it."

"William Weasley, I swear on Merlin's beard if this goes horribly wrong you owe me a Butterbeer for every visit to Hogsmeade from this point onwards." she warned him before closing her book and placing it on the table. She stood up and made her way to Lucas. He was a fellow Gryffindor student. Very quiet and down-to-earth but exceptionally handsome nonetheless. He never left Hogwarts during Christmas time, and she got to know him a little when she didn't visit her brother the previous year.

But despite all this, he was not Bill. Nobody could be Bill, and nobody could amount to the strong way she felt towards him.

"Um... h-hi, Lucas." Freya stammered. He stopped doing his History of Magic homework and looked up at her with a grin.

"Freya Black!" She rather enjoyed when he spoke in his thick Scottish accent. She'd visited Scotland with Sirius several times in Summer, where she would do what she coined 'Muggle Saturdays', where she would take up the most muggle aspect of people and go about doing it: music, food, clothes, slang, the whole thing. She enjoyed how these Saturdays distanced herself from her family more and more. Sirius only did it a few times before giving up. "Just the girl I wanted to see!"

"Wh-- Really?" She furrowed her brows. She hoped he wasn't about to embarrass her for the other day.

"Yes!" he exclaimed with a grin. "The Yule Ball's coming up... and there's no other person I'd rather go with than... you."