Two Souls

Chapter Twenty Six

The next week at Hogwarts was dreadfully slow. For the first few days after the first task, it was all anyone had talked about. Now that the excitement was fading and classes continued on as usual, life became quite customary.

Today's class was Charms with Professor Flitwick. It was only the Slytherins in this class, so the commotion was usually to a minimum.

"Now that today's lesson has come to a conclusion, I have something to say to you all on behalf of Headmaster Dumbledore," Flitwick announces.

"The Yule Ball is approaching — a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above — although you may invite a younger student if you wish —"

Pansy squeals, clutching Daphne's arm for dear life. Daphne nudges Pansy hard in the ribs, her face working furiously and trying hard not to giggle as well. Professor Flitwick ignores them and continues with his speech.

"Dress robes will be worn," He continues, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall — now then," He clears his throat, "We expect only the highest behavior from our Hogwarts students."

Draco snickers. "The Slytherins are the most well behaved students in the school."

Flitwick ignores Draco's comment. "You are all dismissed," He says, and the Slytherins exit.

"Who do you want to go with, Amelia?" Daphne asks me, her eyes bright. "I want to go with Zabini!" She whispers, gesturing discreetly to the brown haired boy ahead of us.

I shrug. "I don't really —"

"You should go with Diggory!" Daphne gasps, clapping her hands together. She looks as if she had made the best decision in the entire world.

"Who's going with Diggory?" Malfoy asks, standing next to Daphne. He towers over the both of us, and we have to crane our necks upward to fully see him. His eyes glance between the two of us and he has an emotionless look on his face.

"Don't you think Amelia and Cedric would look amazing together?" Daphne asks awestruck.

Draco wrinkles his nose and turns to me. "Diggory, eh? You think that would actually happen?"

I cross my arms over my chest angrily. I take a step forward and stand up on my top toes so that we are looking at each other eye to eye. "Why wouldn't it happen?" I ask him in a light voice.

Draco chuckles and puts his hands on my shoulders, pushing me down so that I am now standing at my regular height. "Diggory can get any female he wants, you truly think he'd go for you? I heard he fancies Cho Chang, and we all know you wouldn't stand a chance —"

I shove him backwards. If he were anyone else, I'd throw a jinx on him. "Oh piss off, Malfoy! You're just jealous the only girl who likes you is Pansy!"

Both of our eyes turn to Pansy — who is complaining about her broken nail to Millicent Bulstrode.

"Don't come crying to me when you realize I'm right," Draco says, walking away with Crabbe and Goyle on his tail.

******

Two weeks passed and I still didn't have a date to the Yule ball.  Nearly every student in fourth year or above has opted to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, much to my relief. I've never liked spending Christmas with my family and at Ilvermorny I would always stay at school.

The term was nearly coming to an end and the Christmas holidays would be beginning.

Blair comes up to me in the Slytherin common room. "Amelia, I have to tell you something —"

"Did you hear the news, Grey? Diggory's going to the ball with Cho Chang. It's quite a shame really. You don't really have much to offer, but I'm sure you would've been a decent snog," Draco says, sauntering into the common room with Pansy clinging to his arm.

Blair rolls her eyes. "Amelia's a great snogger, Draco.  You wouldn't know, you've only snogged Pansy," She sneers.

Draco raises his eyebrows. "So you two have snogged each other?" He asks, smirking profusely. "To be frank, I'm not surprised. You two spend so much time together and —"

My jaw clenches. "Shut up, Draco! Or I'll-"

Draco glances at me. "Or you'll what? You'll jinx me? Because we already know that that won't —"

My fist collided with his jaw in a matter of seconds. He steps backward in pain, clutching his jaw with two of his hands. I look down at my fist, which is covered in the blood of Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy stands up with blood dripping down his jaw.  "You're lucky my mother taught me to never hit a girl," He huffs, sprinting out of the common room and into his dormitory.

Blair looks at me with wide eyes before she bursts out laughing.

"I've been waiting for you to do that. He's been giving you shit for three months now. I don't know how you've controlled yourself for that long," Blair says, giggling.

I shake my fist, causing speckles of blood to fly off of my skin and onto the floor. "This is gross," I say, holding up my bloody fist. "I didn't even think I punched him that hard," I add.

Blair smiles softly. "I'll come with you to wash it off. I have to tell you something important, anyway," She tells me. The two of us walk into our dormitory together, where I excuse myself to the bathroom and wash my fist.

The blood washes off immediately and the sink water has turned into a shade of deep red.

Once I return to the dormitory, Blair is still there. She is consoling a sobbing Millicent.

"P-Pansy asked Draco to go to the Yule ball with her," Millicent sobs dramatically. Blair hands her a tissue, which she accepts and blows into loudly. Tears stream down her pudgy face and onto her stained robes.

"What's wrong with that?" I ask, lacking empathy.

Millicent gives me a dirty look. "I have no one else to ask to go to the ball with! And I can't go alone — that would just be embarrassing!" She cries.

"Well, I best be be going," I say, excusing myself and dashing out of the room before Blair or Millicent can stop me.

It wasn't until I was out of the dormitory when I realized that I never got the opportunity to ask Blair what she wanted to say to me.

—

Hi!! So I wrote this all in AP Stats.. oops!

QOTC: Who do you think Amelia will end up taking to the Yule Ball?