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(The whole ‘robes’ thing is just plain weird. I’m putting these kids in prom dresses and tuxes and I know that they’re meant to be in robes. This is me not particularly caring about that. Go with it.)

Hermione, Ginny and Buffy stood in the centre of their room, Lavender and Parvati having left moments before. Ginny gave her two friends a nervous grin and Buffy looked at Hermione, a smile on her face.

“You ready?”

Hermione breathed in deeply and nodded.

Buffy was stunned by the sudden transformation that Hermione had managed to do. Gone was the bushy hair, replaced by perfect ringlets that floated around her face. A light touch of make-up had been applied, and the taller girl looked absolutely stunning.

“Relax,” Buffy said. “Ron’s gonna positively drool.”

Buffy herself had straightened her hair for the evening, her blonde locks reaching halfway down her back (think ‘The Gift’). Her dress was a pale pink that showed off the whole of her back, dipping down to just above her backside.

Hermione’s dress was a gorgeous light blue colour, a strapless dress with a flowing skirt that accentuated her curvy figure. Ginny was wearing a dark navy blue dress with her hair swept up into an elaborate French twist with a few curly tendrils framing her face.

“I think the boys are going to have heart attacks,” Ginny said.

Buffy grinned and the three girls moved out of their room and down the stairs to the Common Room where they were meeting Harry, Ron and Colin Creevey, Ginny’s partner.

Harry and Ron’s jaws dropped completely, Harry’s mouth going dry at the sight of Buffy. He’d always thought that Buffy was by far the most gorgeous girl in school, but that fact just seemed to be more firmly put in place now that he was seeing her in formal attire.

“You look…amazing,” he managed to get out.

Buffy smiled and kissed his cheek softly. “So do you.”

He was wearing a black suit over a white silk shirt, the top two buttons left undone. He’d forgone his tie as Buffy had requested him to do. His hair was still unruly even after the liberal amounts of gel he’d tried to apply to it to get it to smoothen out. Buffy touched his hair fondly and ruffled it even more, destroying the little progress he’d made.

“You don’t need to fix your hair,” she whispered, making sure Ron and Hermione couldn’t hear her. “It looks sexy.”

Harry swallowed hard and managed a weak smile, wondering how on earth he was meant to get through the night with her looking like that.

Ron and Hermione had gone through complimenting each other, and the four friends moved out the portrait passage and down the stairs, Ginny and Colin behind them.

They entered into the Great Hall which had been decorated beautifully, the walls covered in sparkling silver frost, mistletoe and ivy covering the starry black ceiling. The four long tables had been replaced by hundreds of smaller tables that seated about ten people at each.

“Wow,” Buffy whispered.

Harry squeezed her hand a little. He marvelled at how different he felt going into this ball compared to the previous years. He didn’t have the pressure of having to open the dance with the other champions, nor was he dreading dancing with his partner. In truth, even though he desperately hated dancing, he actually wanted to dance with Buffy. Harry looked to Ron who seemed to be feeling much the same about this years ball. Harry could only hope that it didn’t end as it had ended the year before, with Hermione and Ron having a screaming match up in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“Let’s find a table,” Harry said, steering Buffy towards a table in a quieter corner. They passed a table filled with fifth year Slytherins, Draco seated beside Pansy Parkinson who was holding onto Draco very tightly. Buffy winked at Draco as she passed him.

Draco was looking gorgeous in a black suit and black shirt and black tie. Had he been standing, Buffy would have seen that Draco’s jacket was actually a half-length coat with tails rather than just the short length jacket she assumed it to be. Draco’s eyes widened as he saw Buffy, a smile creeping onto his face. He bit it back, but Buffy had seen it. She grinned and continued walking with her friends to a table that was two down from Draco’s.

Harry pulled out Buffy’s seat for her and sat himself beside her, Hermione next to Harry, and Ron next to Hermione. On the other side of the circular table sat Seamus and Lavender, Dean and Parvati and Neville and a blonde-haired Hufflepuff girl that neither Buffy nor Harry had met before, though they knew she was a fifth year like they were.

There were already a few people on the dance-floor, mostly people who were recognised as official couples. Buffy recognised Fred with Angelina and George with Katie, as well as a few other fourth and sixth year Gryffindors that she knew, if not by name, then by sight.

Buffy turned to Harry, a little nervous. “Do you want to dance?”

Harry hesitated a moment. He could only hope that Buffy’s version of dancing was nothing like Parvati’s had been the year before. He’d been steered around the dance floor, and he hadn’t much liked it. He swallowed nervously and nodded. He stood and held out a hand to Buffy who took it graciously.

They moved onto the dance-floor, receiving stares from several people.

“You don’t like dancing, do you?” Buffy asked with a tiny smile.

Harry gave a nervous laugh. “Is it that obvious?”

“A little,” she replied. She took his hands and gently placed one on her hip and kept hold of the other. Buffy stepped closer to him and wound one of her arms around Harry’s back, and brought their clasped hands to rest between them.

They hadn’t even begun dancing yet and Harry was already far more relaxed than he had been the year before.

“You’re meant to be leading here Harry,” she said. “We’re just gonna make our way from here to the other side of the floor.”

He nodded and worked to remember exactly how this had worked. The steps came to him and they began moving, Harry managing to not step on any of Buffy’s toes as they moved. Buffy grinned and Harry couldn’t help but smile back. He relaxed even further and began moving a little more confidently with her.

“You ready to try something daring?” she asked.

He swallowed hard but nodded, trusting her. She spun outwards and lingered for a moment before spinning back in. Harry couldn’t help but notice that practically every eye in the hall was on them, including Draco Malfoy’s.

“Everyone’s watching us,” he whispered.

“That’s half the fun,” she replied.

Harry shook his head, but went with it anyway. The song came to a close and they drew apart, Buffy daringly giving him a small kiss. Harry’s eyes widened and Buffy just smiled cheekily and pulled him back to the table.

Pansy Parkinson couldn’t help but wonder why Draco’s eyes had suddenly narrowed when Buffy and Harry had kissed on the dance-floor. Had she thought about it a little longer, she would have worked out what Draco’s problem was. Jealousy.

Dinner was served and the music struck up again, alternating between fast and slow songs. Hermione had managed to get Ron onto the dance-floor, and both of them were actually having a good time, even though neither of them were very good dancers. Harry was slowly getting used to having a lot of guys coming up and asking Buffy to dance, and though Buffy turned a lot of them down, she would dance with one or two of them, mostly with the other fifth-year Gryffindors.

Neville had stuttered out an invitation to dance, and Buffy had smiled and taken his hand, spending a song getting her feet trodden on. She’d thanked him politely and kissed his cheek, Neville very nearly fainting from it all. Harry grinned down at her as they danced together.

“I think you’ve had nearly every guy in this school ask you to dance,” Harry commented.

“Not every guy,” she replied.

“Well, every guy who isn’t in Slytherin,” Harry corrected. “And you’ve had a couple of them ask you as well.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and leant against Harry’s chest comfortably.

“Well, I’ve only danced with the people that I know,” Buffy said. “Though I’ll have to reconsider saying yes to Neville ever again. My little toe still has no feeling in it.”

Harry chuckled and kissed the top of her head. The song ended and he led them back to the table.

“Bathroom,” he said.

Buffy nodded and took a sip of her drink as Harry walked off. Two tables across, Draco Malfoy’s eyes lit up. He stood, not even bothering to excuse himself even though his partner had been mid-sentence. He walked over to where Buffy sat by herself and bowed a little, holding his hand out in a gentlemanly fashion.

“May I have this dance?”

Buffy looked up and smiled. She took Draco’s hand and stood, the two of them going onto the dance-floor. Draco put a hand to her waist, not before swiftly copping a feel for a second. Buffy glared but couldn’t help but laugh. She took his other hand in hers and the two of them began circling the dance-floor.

“I was hoping I’d get to dance with you,” Buffy admitted.

“I was waiting for the right time to ask,” he replied. “You’ve kinda been surrounded all night. I think half the Slytherins have tried throwing themselves at you.”

“Well there was only one Slytherin that I would have considered dancing with,” she said.

“Well, I hope that it was me, otherwise you’re going to be very disappointed,’ he said.

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re enjoying yourself?”

“I am now.”

He favoured her with a soft smile which Buffy returned. Draco breathed in deeply and forced himself to ask the question that had been plaguing him all night.

“Are you and Potter dating?”

Buffy hesitated. She and Harry hadn’t really said anything. It had been more of a silent agreement of where they should go with their relationship. Then another thought struck her. Had anyone else asked, she would have answered ‘yes’ without hesitating. Why was it that she was reluctant to admit it to Draco? She swallowed nervously and nodded.

Draco’s face fell. “Oh.”

“Drake-”

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I should have seen it coming,” he said. “I had just hoped…”

“I do care for you,” she said quietly, well aware of the stares that they were beginning to get from nearly everyone. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ron and Hermione looking extremely confused.

“Guess I’m just not the guy for you,” Draco said.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You know that I like you Drake. More than I probably should. And I am really, really attracted to you, but…”

“But time and circumstances just aren’t what you wish them to be,” Draco finished for her.

She gave him a sad smile. “I wouldn’t have said it so stuffily, but yeah. Pretty much.”

He couldn’t help but smile. The song ended and they lingered in each other’s embrace.

“Are we friends?” he whispered.

She nodded, fighting back tears for some reason. “Of course we are.” He smiled and touched her cheek, gently wiping at the tear that had fallen.

“I think you’re the first true friend I’ve ever had,” he said.

“I wish things could be different between us,” she whispered.

He nodded and bent down to kiss her cheek, his lips meeting the corner of her mouth. He lingered for longer than necessary and finally pulled back.

“Merry Christmas Buffy.”

“Merry Christmas Drake.”

He nodded and turned away from her, leaving her in the middle of the dance-floor. She felt someone touch her shoulder. Harry. He looked worried and a little annoyed.

“What did he want?” Harry asked.

Buffy just shook her head. “It was nothing.”

Harry glared at Draco who ignored it, his gaze fixed firmly on the blonde girl in Harry’s arms. Harry just engulfed Buffy in his arms and the couple continued to dance.

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