#went to the celestial ball with barnaby

[helenadurazzo]

Beta!Helena

This is the version of my character I made all the way back in 2019 when I first started the game, until I later revisited the game in 2021 and revamped Helena into the character you know today. I have never shared this version of Helena online until now so I hope you enjoy what this turns out to be.

As you can see in the picture above, Helena did not go through a large amount of changes physically. Here, her hair is naturally black and nearly perfectly straight and her skin is much paler.

Her name wasn’t even going to be Helena Durazzo, originally, Helena’s last name was going to be Hawthorn. Her beta version had no Italian roots and was for the most part, completely British.

She would mostly have been raised by her mother who was very similar to her canon mother except this version of Olivia was originally a Slytherin and had a hobby in herbology rather than a career

Her father mysteriously died not too long after she was born and rarely anyone talked about him. I believe I planned to use this to tie in my MC with R but don’t have notes about it

She had many family connections such as being linked to the Ravenclaws and being talented in Legilimency through her mother’s side of the family. She was also a pure blood witch.

In addition, she herself was always going to be a member of Ravenclaw house. However, she was never going to be part of the quidditch team and actually despised the idea of flying

She was great friends with Rowan, Penny, and Ben, and in my original canon, she even befriends Merula. In addition, Helena also dated Barnaby Lee and went with him to the Celestial Ball and first date.

Unlike canon Helena, who has a pet bird (a starling to be specific), Beta!Helena had a snowy owl named Khione who she used to keep in contact with her beloved mother while at Hogwarts

Finally, the last thing I have in my notes is that she was a bookworm and aspired to be a curse breaker to learn more and to find her brother and bring him home to her and her mother.

[lifeofkaze]

hello i have fallen i love with your charlie fic (❤❤!!) and i want to ask if you could you write some angst where barnaby has a crush on mc and they're super oblivious and later they start dating someone else ans barnaby realizes he lost them?

My dearest anon, let me say: I AM SORRY. Writing your ask took me forever (literally, lol) even though I had it in my head the moment I got your asks all those months ago. But I never felt the right inspiration to actually write it down until today. Today it just hit me. I do hope you're actually still around and reading what I made out of it.

I'm really truly sorry. 😅

So, without further ado, I present to you:

Missed Chances

Barnaby Lee x Reader

Barnaby Lee wasn’t the smartest kid around.

He was by no means dumb, he just wasn’t as clever or booksmart as most of his peers, a fact he was well aware of. But it didn’t bother him that much, really. He had found his means of getting by during classes and ever since distancing himself from Merula Snyde back in their third year, he had been able to gather a circle of friends around him he could fall back upon.

There was popular Penny Haywood for Potions, shy but gifted Ben Copper for Charms, and ever so patient Rowan Khanna when he had troubles with Transfiguration.

Barnaby’s favourite study sessions, however, were those for Defense Against The Dark Arts. Not because he was particularly bad at the subject; on the contrary, he was a skilled duelist and most charms and jinxes came naturally to him. No, the real reason those lessons were his favourite was because it was you who was teaching him.

Ever since he’d been drawn into your close circle of friends, his above average DADA marks had been plummeting, since he kept getting distracted during class. The professors weren’t impressed but neither surprised at his apparent lack of academic skills and under normal circumstances, Barnaby would have tried everything in his power to prove them wrong, that he could do better, that he wasn’t as stupid as everyone made him out to be.

But when you offered your help in catching up on the subject, Barnaby had changed his mind. You were always top of your DADA class and what better way to spend some time alone with you while listening to your beautiful voice explaining the differences between a curse and a hex.

Barnaby knew most of the things you were telling him already, so he had ample time to just watch you talk during your study sessions. He knew no one else could get so excited over dark creatures and cursed objects like you did. The way your eyes were sparkling when lecturing him on the differences between a werewolf and regular wolf had him enthralled every single time and the proud smile you gave him when he answered one of your questions correctly never failed to make Barnaby’s heart beat hard in his chest.

He would have loved to see that smile more often, but he made sure to let his real knowledge of the subject shine through sparingly. He was afraid that if he got too good, you might want to drop studying with him and that was something he couldn’t risk; spending time with you had become the highlight of his day. No one he knew rivalled the warmth you radiated and the unbroken faith you had in him, a sentiment that was completely new to Barnaby.

When the big news of the Celestial Ball was announced, it was all his peers could talk about. What to wear, how to look and who to bring were the questions dominating all of the four common rooms.

Barnaby never had to think twice who he wanted to be his date for the dance. He thought about how to properly ask you out for days on end; you were no common girl after all. You were the most extraordinary girl he knew and thus deserved an extraordinary invitation. But when he finally plucked up the courage to ask you out, you looked at him sheepishly.

“That’s so sweet of you, Barney. I’m so flattered, really. But I already promised Rowan and Ben to go with them. You know, just as friends.”

His heart sank at the words. Why hadn’t he acted sooner? Maybe people were right about him being stupid after all.

Seeing his disheartened look, your face changed into something softer. “But I’m sure Rowan and Ben wouldn’t mind if you came along with us? As another friend?”

Barnaby beamed at her. “I’d love that. We’re going to have such a great time together, as friends,” he added, not quite sure whom he wanted to reassure, you or himself.

He would probably never forget the night of the Celestial Ball when he saw you in the dress André Egwu had designed for the first time. Rowan and Ben had arrived at the ball before you and when you stepped into the Great Hall all on your own, Barnaby’s breath stopped for a moment.

You were dressed in a beautiful, burgundy dress with intricate patterns embroidered around the neckline. Your waist was accentuated by a small belt and the skirt of your dress flowed around you in several layers of fabric. You looked like an ethereal being to him as you walked through the crowd over to him, Rowan and Ben, your skirt trailing slightly behind you.

His eyes didn’t leave you for the whole evening even for a second. He could hear you laughing when you danced with Rowan and Ben, the sound like silver bells to his ears. When he asked you for a dance with him, your hand just happened to fit perfectly into his and your bright smile made Barnaby forget everything else around you and him. He did take great care to not step on your dress, however. You looked so perfect, he didn’t want to ruin it with his own clumsiness; although he pretty much doubted anything could have taken away from your beauty.

When the Celestial Ball was over, Barnaby took the chance to walk you back to your common room. You had your arm linked with his and marched in step with him. As he was taller than you, it required some effort on your part, the strange walking rhythm making you giggle. The sound had Barnaby’s heart beat faster.

Barnaby was almost reluctant to let you go when you had reached the concealed entrance to your common room. He wasn’t quite sure what to do; all he wanted to do was put his arms around you, drawing you as close to him as possible and never letting go again. But he hesitated; what if you didn’t feel the same?

To gain some time, he cleared his throat. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

“Me too,” you smiled at him. “I’m glad you came along. You just have the most fun with your friends, right?”

The word ‘friends’ put a damper on the butterflies that had been swarming in Barnaby’s stomach until this point.

“Yes, friends,” he echoed, “because we’re friends.”

A look of confusion crossed your face for a moment. ��Are you alright?”

“Of course I am,” Barnaby lied quickly, glad that the flickering light of the torches hid the blush spreading on his cheeks. “Just exhausted from dancing, I guess.”

“Oh, alright. I’d better get to my common room then. Good night.”

There was a short, awkward pause, before you smiled at him, waved and vanished into your common room. Barnaby sighed; at least for night, he had definitely botched his chances.

Ever since the Celestial Ball and the anticlimax of its ending, Barnaby had made it his mission to convince you there was more to him than being your friend. He’d ventured into the library on his own and gathered together all books on romance he could find and read every single one of them. Most of them, especially the older ones, had given him quite some headaches, but he knew you enjoyed reading old love stories, so maybe they had some useful information to offer. How someone could spend their free time reading things like Jane Austen for fun, however, remained a mystery to him.

And apparently, the tips he had sourced weren’t that helpful either. Barnaby tried it all, he complimented you, he brought you flowers and small gifts that reminded him of you and tried connecting with you over things he knew you loved. Whenever he saw the chance to ask you out he tried. But as soon as he had gathered his courage, you had already promised one of your numerous friends to go with them instead. It was exasperating, really.

All the while, the study sessions with you continued. Barnaby had stopped pretending to be as oblivious as he made himself out to be in the beginning; he knew it was risky, in case you might want to drop studying with him if he got better, but he was too addicted to your smile at this point. No matter how hard his day had been, a smile from you and everything else was forgotten.

Barnaby wished you would finally notice just how much he adored you, but as long as he could spend time with you, listen to your voice and hear your laughter, everything was fine with him.

Until it was not.

He had noticed you were distracted lately and not as talkative as he was used to. Today’s Potions class was no exception. Professor Snape, who was even moodier than usual, was lecturing the class on the importance of knowing potion recipes by heart.

“You will not always carry a textbook with you,” he droned, “and while I wouldn’t trust half of you to brew a potion even with proper instructions, maybe some of you will be able to produce something remotely resembling a proper concoction by sheer luck. If I see one piece of parchment on the table, you will clean your classmates’ cauldrons after class. Begin.”

Dreading the next two hours of guessing which ingredients to use in what order, Barnaby glanced over to you. But you hadn’t been listening to the instructions, it seemed. Your attention was focused on a piece of parchment in front of you, hastily scribbled lines running across it. Barnaby tried catching a glimpse but when you noticed, you blushed deeply and quickly covered the parchment with your hand.

Barnaby, however, wasn’t the only one who had noticed the piece of parchment. Before you could do anything, Professor Snape had appeared next to you and snatched the parchment out of your grip.

“I thought I said no notes allowed, or didn’t I express myself clearly enough for your convenience?” he snarled.

“No, Professor, you misunderstand,” you gasped, “these aren’t Potions notes, it’s private. Can I please have it back?”

You reached for it, but Snape jerked his hand up so it was just out of reach. “That gives it even less reason to be present in my classroom,” he said coldly, a cruel smile stealing onto his face. “Let us share with the rest of the class what is distracting you from my lesson.”

Your cheeks were glowing bright red as Snape started reading the content of your note.

“Do you like me? Yes or No. Circle your answer,” he read out loud. “How droll,” he sneered over the chuckle of your classmates, “I suggest, next time you concentrate more on your potion and less on your silly personal bearings. Perhaps the result will be more decent then. 10 points from you and detention tonight.”

As he swept past your table, Barnaby noticed your hanging head. You had your hands clasped tightly together in your lap and seemed so small all of a sudden that he felt furious. Even though Snape was his head of house, he had no right whatsoever to embarrass you in front of everyone like that.

“Are you okay?” he asked you gently.

Not looking at him, you shook his head. “Why did he have to do that?” you whispered. “He could see I wasn’t taking notes. There was no need to read it out loud.”

“There wasn’t,” Barnaby agreed. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out and lightly placing his hand on your arm. “He’s just a big, old, mean bat. Everyone says so.”

You sniffed, a small smile already spreading on your face again. “That’s true. Thank you.” You covered his hand with yours and squeezed it lightly. The touch sent jolts of energy through Barnaby from where your hands connected. His skin was still tingling when you turned towards your cauldron again, breaking the contact.

“Who was your note for, anyway?” Barnaby asked, trying not to sound as if this wasn’t the question burning red hot on his mind.

You looked at him wide-eyed. “I can’t possibly tell you.”

“Why not? Do I know him?”

Blushing again, you could only nod before dropping your gaze.

“It’s someone I’ve been friends with for a while now, but I don’t know if he feels the same. I don’t want to ruin our friendship by making a stupid move.”

Barnaby held his breath. You couldn’t possibly be talking about him, could you?

“How could it ruin your friendship?” he asked. “If he’s your friend, he’s your friend and nothing can change that.”

He took a deep breath. “Maybe you should just tell him,” he said deliberately casually, “who knows, maybe that friend of yours has been feeling the same for some time now, too.”

You looked up at him in surprise. “You think so?”

Barnaby nodded in agreement. “Definitely. Just try your luck, maybe you’ll be surprised.”

After the class was over and you had parted ways for the rest of the day, Barnaby counted the minutes until the evening when you had agreed to meet for another study session before your detention. He was positively bouncing with energy ever since lunchtime. You had come over to him with a nervous smile on your lips to ask him to meet up with you later.

“Chances are, I’ll need to tell you something,” you had said with a shaky laugh before joining your other friends for lunch. Barnaby had swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to look unfazed, but his insides had been burning with impatience ever since.

That was why he had arrived earlier than usual at the library that evening. He picked all the books out you would be needing and stacked and restacked them several times at the table you were usually working on.

It felt like an eternity until you finally entered the library, each second dragging into an eternity of its own. Barnaby saw you first. You stood in the entrance to the grand room and all of a sudden the library seemed to be a little brighter just by you being there. You scanned the rows of bookshelves with your eyes and a wide smile appeared on your face as they fell on him, waiting for you between books and quills in your favourite spot.

You quickly bounded over to him, a spring in your step that was a stark contrast to the miserable mood you had been in this morning. Before Barnaby even had a chance to ask what made you so happy, you had flung your arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

On instinct, Barnaby put his arms around your waist and held you for a sweet moment that he wished would last forever. He could smell the flowery scent of your perfume and breathed it in deeply, trying to commit every last detail of how you felt in his arms to memory. He was sure you had to feel his heartbeat; how could you not with how hard it was hammering against his ribcage?

“He said yes, Barney! He really said yes!” you squealed, not caring one bit about Madam Pince’s indignant shush.

The sheer happiness coursing through his veins turned into ice that froze him from the inside in a matter of seconds. Confused, he loosened his hold on you and pushed you far enough away from him to look you in the face. The joy visible on it almost broke his heart.

“What?”

“My crush!” you beamed at him. “I followed your advice and asked him out, just now! And he said yes!” you repeated, hugging him again.

“You’re the first person I wanted to tell,” you said. Barnaby could feel your breath on the skin exposed by the open collar of his shirt. He hated himself for the shiver running down his spine.

“Why?” was all he managed to whisper in response.

“Because without you, I’d never have the courage to talk to him upfront. It’s all thanks to you that I have a date now. You’re really the best friend I could ask for.”

Every word you spoke was like a dagger pushed up to the hilt into his broken heart, every second he saw you smile at the prospect of going out with the boy you wanted to be with - the boy that wasn’t him - a twist of the blade until he felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore. His heart, that had beaten so wildly just moments before when he had held you in his arms, could have stopped beating right there and then; Barnaby doubted it would have felt much different to the consuming emptiness he felt at this very moment.

You were rambling on and on about where you wanted to take your date and what you would wear but Barnaby wasn’t listening. He didn’t even know who you were talking about; all he knew was that it wasn’t him and that thought was louder in his head than your words could ever be.

“What do you think of that?”

Barnaby realised you had come to the end of your explanations and expected an opinion from him. He forced himself to smile apologetically at you, when all he wanted to do was scream.

“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” he croaked out.

Your brow creased. “Are you okay? You’re so pale all of a sudden.”

“I’m good,” Barnaby answered with a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat and started again. “I’m good, I just caught a cold, I think. I should go see Madam Pomfrey later.”

You made a sceptical sound and raised one eyebrow. “If you say so. So what do you think? Is Madam Puddyfoot’s Tea Shop a good idea or not?”

Barnaby had never heard of this tea shop before, but he’d go to Knockturn Alley for a date if it only was with you. “It doesn’t matter where you take him. He’s lucky he gets to go with someone like you in the first place.”

“That’s sweet of you to say.”

“I’m just happy you’re happy,” Barnaby said and even meant it, in a way. He just wished the source of your happiness was him and not somebody else.

You hugged him once again and he was glad that you couldn’t see the pained expression crossing his features for a moment. “You’re the best, Barney. I’m so glad to have you in my life.”

You let go and turned towards the table laden with books Barnaby had so carefully set up. “Shall we?”

He sat down with you and watched as you started taking out your notes on objects cursed with minor jinxes. Your eyes were sparkling even more than usual and even now, you were so beautiful to Barnaby it hurt.

With a sigh, he concentrated on what you had to say for a change. His time spent daydreaming about you was over for good now, so he might as well do what the two of you were here for and study.

No, Barnaby Lee wasn’t the smartest kid around.

But even he knew that when it came to you, he had missed too many chances.

[canaryinacoolmine]

Celestial Ball with Barnaby Lee

Blood Moon Red 💘

[cursedlegacies]

HPHM SCENES o3.

From the time Barnaby asked Edie to the Celestial Ball, it two the two almost a year and a half to finally get together. Officially, they began dating in late into their fifth year. It took Edie nearly a whole year to recognize that yes, she is in fact crushing on her fellow Slytherin. And for that whole year, Rowan relentlessly teased her bestfriend friend over that unfortunate fact. Truthfully, Edie was doing her best to avoid these feelings. The whole idea of a relationship - having someone so close to her and being so emotionally vulnerable - it scares Edie. It's everything her instincts tell her to flee from. But she trusts Barnaby. So maybe it won't be all too bad.

I both love this one one and do not. All my energy went into editing edie's outfit here. which I'm SUPER proud of. and had non for the background. So instead get them hanging out in the calls, probably between classes. my friends and I often did that enough, I bet they would too. plus, I didn't feel like just placing them on the grass in the training grounds or smth.

this mostly came about b/c I found an fc for barnaby I rEALLY LIKE, like dude's got the jawline that barn needs, and then I saw tHIS POSE and the idea struck me, so have a blushy barnadie, as rowan teases them about fINALLY getting together, after dancing around one another for a year ehehe~

[magomo]

So there’s actually a reason why Nina doesn’t go on dates with the same person

Nina attended the Celestial Ball alone. She really didn’t have any time to choose a date since she was too busy helping Penny and watching over Tonks and Tulip, who were planning on sneaking in liquor. Well… that’s just what she’s saying to herself though. In truth, Charlie rejected her before she could even ask. 🥲 [In-game, she went with Barnaby cause he was a new friend]

She went with Barnaby for the First Date. The letter was actually for Charlie but he made it clear that he was only interested in dragons so yeah 🥲. After Snape read the letter in front of the class, Merula decided to make Nina's day a little shittier and placed the letter inside Barnaby’s bag. Barnaby thought he was Nina’s crush and was very excited to go on a date with her. Nina couldn’t bring herself to break his heart so she broke her own heart instead by going on a date with someone she didn't fancy while Charlie, her real crush, watched from the sidelines. Her heart was truly aching that time. Even Charlie looked miserable the whole time 🫢. Sorry B, you’re like a little brother to Nina. [In-game, I actually wanted Nina to go with Talbott since he was a new friend that time (just finished Flying Solo) [but I got spoiled that if you choose someone you didn’t go to the ball with, you would have to go through a ‘breakup’ and I didn’t want Nina nor Barnaby to go through that since… there was nothing to ‘break up’, they weren’t even together in the first place.]

She went with Talbott for Valentines Day. Truth was she didn’t even want to go with anyone. She never liked Valentines Day, you see? But he went out of his way to ask her out and knowing how withdrawn Talbott could be, it seemed like a big deal so they went as friends.

For the Festival Fun, she wanted to spend time hanging out with her friends so that’s what she did – having fun with Rowan, Charlie, and Tonks and their other friends, just being silly, laughing together, and enjoying themselves. (In-game, she went with Jae cause he’s her newest friend that time)

For the Valentines Day Ball, Nina went alone again as she was too busy helping Madam Pince and Mr Filch. Tonks choice of not taking any dates was also rubbing off her since she was right… there was less drama. She actually wanted to go with Charlie… as a friend (oh really, Nina?), like how Tonks and Tulip were going as friends but she couldn’t find him… again. (In-game, she went with Jae cause I just finished Festival Fun and I thought why the fuck not)

Nina makes sure she hangs out with all her friends and gets to know them well. She wants to let them know, let them feel that they matter to her. This is why she doesn’t go on dates with just one person all the time. And because she didn’t want Charlie to think she’s going exclusive with anyone anytime soon. She does have ulterior motives 😂 though Charlie most likely doesn’t even care 🥲 Only Tonks and Bill know of Nina’s crush on Charlie. And they got to tease Nina about this ALL THE TIME. Nina gets to call Tonks, Nymphadora and she gets to tease Bill about Emily, in retaliation (which totally frustrates Tonks and Bill lmao). Rowan doesn’t notice anything since Nina treats her and Charlie the same way — like they were her most special and irreplaceable treasures. (cheesy, but it's the truth)

[morningstarinwinter]

🌜Moon wish upon the star✨

Roleplaying between me and @twins-born-in-a-new-moon

CW : Swear words, Sexual harassment

Word counting : 5,078

It was just a day after the announcement of the celestial ball. Everyone was very excited for it, they were already searching for a partner or thinking on the clothes they would wear that date. Artemis and Danique were not an exception to the excitement the ball bringed.

Artemis himself was already being questioned by his twin sister “Are you going to bring Danique as your date?”

“I don’t think so” he answered “she wouldn’t come with me anyway”

“Oh are you sure?” his twin asked.

“Yeah, she kind of hates me...” he said sadly.

You dork , Selene thought.

Meanwhile Danique and Penny are at the Hufflepuff common room.

“I’m so excited about the upcoming event!! What would you choose as a dress? Who would you bring?” The blonde haired girl squeals and shakes her amber eyes friend.

“Woah woah, calm down Penny! Professor Dumbledore just announced  this! Who would already think of that?” Danique said and shook her head at her lively friend.

“But you would go with Artemis right? Since you two are a thing” the blonde haired girl teases her friend.

“Wha-what do you mean by that?! Why would he like me? He is so perfect and me? No, we are not a thing. We just have a verbal war game..” said the amber-eyed girl with a  hint of sadness in her voice.

“Oh no, Dani! He has never done anything like that to anyone! You are special to him, you know?” Penny said with a serious face.

“Sigh, I don't feel like that Penny. Anyway, I may go with Barn since he seems so clueless about this” the white haired girl said, then stood up from the couch and walked off the common room.

Don't give me hope Penny, he deserves better. Someone like you. The white haired thought to herself.

“Oh, I need to tell Barn before some hungry girl snitched him before me”

Artemis himself was already moving to the great hall to eat, ignoring all the questions his sister asked him on the way.

Once there he could see many people already asking each other to go to the ball. Tulip herself asked him if he would go to the ball with her. He politely denied her petition and continued with his food.

It’s not like I don’t want to go with someone.. she wouldn’t come with me, would she? he thought.

Entering the great hall, Danique saw the boy she's just frustrated about, rejecting the mischievous red haired girl.

Huh! See? as I thought. He would have a girl by his side for that night already. The amber-eyed girl thought to herself and looked around for her hunky Slytherin friend.

“Excuse me” There is a tall Gryffindor boy appearing at her sight.

“Yes? what can I do for you?” said the girl with frowned eyebrows.

 Is he the chaser from the Gryffindor team? I think we only talked once

“It would be an honor for me to have you as my date in the celestial ball. Danique Winter, would you go with me?” The boy said with a smirk then used Orchideous to conjure a red rose bouquet and offered it for her.

Ahhhhhh, the hell? Why would he have to cause a scene here?!

“Ah...umm...that's very nice of you to say, but I already have someone on my mind. And I have to go now, Sorry…” She said and gave him a forced smile. Then she walks off the scene as quickly as she can to the Slytherin table to meet her hunky friend.

The rejected Gryffindor boy stares, following her back, and clenches that poor bouquet.

Artemis looked at the little scene the Gryffindor boy make to try to ask Danique to be his date

You fool, she would never accept a petition like that.. so flamboyant…

He can see how the boy gets rejected but the words that came from her mouth make him... sad. Someone on your mind? he thought Of course, I should have guessed it before…

Meanwhile at the Slytherin table.

“Do you have anyone you want to go with, Barn?” the white haired girl asked.

“Noh...do I have to? There were some girls that asked me, but I don't know them so I rejected” the brunette boy answers.

“Will you go with me then? Since I don't want to go with some weird dude like that” She nods her head at that Gryffindor boy.

“As a friend tho, we could have fun together without those love interest feelings” she looks back at her Slytherin friend.

“That sounds nice. I'm happy to go with you Danique!” The brunette boy smiles brightly at the white haired girl.

“It's a deal then” she smiles at him and changes the conversation  to another topic.

Since Artemis was away from the two of them he doesn’t get to hear the conversation, but he can guess. Were you referring to Barnaby?

He decided to just finish his plate and go back to the common rooms. We have astrology tomorrow, I can ask her there!

The next day in their last class of the week, astrology, Artemis waited peacefully till the class finished to talk to Danique. Once the class is dismissed.

“Excuse me Danique?” he called her “Can we talk?”

“Does it take time? since I promised to help the first year on charms” She answered the boy.

Oh no, what would he want to talk about?

“It would only be a few minutes…” he replied.

“Hmm...it's okay then I guess…” she said hesitantly. Why do I feel like he is nervous now? Why would he feel that?

“Well... mmm-” he said a bit blushed “Will you... go to the Celestial Ball with me?” he said playing nervously with one of his hair strands.

Wha-what did he just say?! Celestial ball? me? But why? The girl was surprised by his words.

“I'm sorry Artemis, but I already promised to go with Barn…” she answered.

“Oh! Do you get asked by many people and don't want to go with strangers like Barn? I'm sorry I can't help you with that now” she seems to think of her Slytherin friend and answers to him guiltily.

Hmm..maybe I was wrong when he rejected Tulip, maybe it's just her joke

“No-! I” I genuinely wanted to go with you. he thought. “N-never mind... Hope you and Barn have fun in the ball” he said sadly

 “See you soon Danique”and he left.

“Oh no! He seemed disappointed. Maybe I could check on him at the ball if he didn't go to anyone” The amber-eyed girl said to herself and then walked to the courtyard to meet the first year badger.

Artemis got out of the room and quickly went to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

There Rowan was sitting, reading a few books, so Artemis sat next to her.

“Hello Rowan” he said quite sadly.

“Well, someone is sad? What happened?” The girl asked softly.

“Danique is going to the ball with Barnaby…” answered the boy.

“Ouh- Well…” she looked at him. “We could go together, you know just as friends so we don't go alone?”

“... Sounds good for me” he smiled

When Danique finished helping with the first year, she went back to her dormitory and found that Penny and Tonks were there.

“Wotcher Dani! I hope to hear good news from you!” The pink haired girl said with a mischievous smile on her face.

“Yeah! We saw that Artemis talked to you and wondered if he finally asked you for the ball!!” The blonde hair squeals.

“Oh...um...he did ask me, but I need to tell you guys that I asked Barn to go as a friend yesterday” The white hair answered and smiled sheepishly to her roommates.

“Why would you do that Dani! Oh, I feel so helpless about you” Tonks said then facepalms.

“Look at you Danique! I said that he would ask you and you won't believe me” Penny pouts at her white hair friend.

“Now you guys make me feel guilty. Look, it's already happened okay?” the amber eye said then threw her arms up.

“Anyway let's talk about other things, you're gonna be the head of decoration right Penny?” She said, then sat on her bed.

Her 2 roommates just look at each other and thought She changed the subject again

“Oh right! I was thinking the theme could be ‘star’, what do you think about that?” Doesn't want to push on her friend, the blonde hair girl just goes with the flow.

“What can I say? I'm the star myself, you know?” when she answered and the room was now full of laughter and they continued to talk about it.

The days passed softly and so finally the night of the ball arrived, Artemis was wearing a fine and fit white suit with golden and lilac details, which helped his thin but slightly masculine appearance to stand out, he used a beautiful purple cape over his clothes, his hair was down but kept with a half ponytail, and changed his usual black glasses to a golden ones special for formal gatherings.

Thanks to all of this, and his albino appearance, he really looked like a moon prince.

Rowan, who was at his side, was wearing a beautiful blue dress with silver details, her black hair was in a side tail, she looked so pretty that night.

After finishing dressing, the amber eye girl walked to the great hall to meet her brunette friend at the gate.

“Wow...you look so beautiful Danique! It's not like you don't look good on the other day, but today you look much more beautiful!” the hunky boy said with sparkling eyes.

Before him, Danique dresses in a gold ankle-long dress with a high neck and revealed back. There are golden glitters starting from her neck to her waist. Below that, the fabric is a see through start from her tight. Her shoes are white high heels with strips around her ankle. Her hair is done as loose curls with one small braid at the left. The hair was tucked on the left side to show her silver star earring. She did her make up with a rosy cheek and brick pink lipstick.

“Thank you so much Barn, now let's head in the ball shall we?” she smiles back at him and they walk into the room decorated in star theme.

Rowan and Artemis were already sitting down waiting for everyone else to join, they were keeping a simple conversation until Danique and Barnaby walked in... She looks.. wow His eyes shone as he looked at her. She is sunning…

Rowan looked at him and then smiled to herself when she noticed who he was looking. “Shall we dance Artemis?” she asked and pointed at the couple with her head.

“Oh! Sure, my lady” he answered smiling.

Danique spotted Artemis and Rowan on the dance floor.

Woah...he looks...like a moon prince… The amber eye girl keeps staring at him for several minutes.

“That boy really looks good tonight” the voice from her brunette friend snaps her from the thought.

“You look so smart too Barn, I almost fell for you when I saw you back then” she flirts and winks at him as they always did.

“Well, sadly your heart is with that man” Barnaby said then make a fake sad face

“Sh-shut it Barn! Let's dance with others!” the white hair girl said with a reddened face and dragged her friend to the dance floor.

After a few songs our two dance couples ended up quite close to each other, enough to be able to see them dancing with their respective partner.

Artemis was completely mesmerized with how Danique flowed softly on the dance floor, but looking at how Barnaby holded her so closely made him... jealous.

“Hey Rowan, I had an idea,” he said with a smirk.

“Do tell” the girl in his arms said.

“Would you mind if...?” and he pointed at the couple with his head, Rowan understood immediately and put her arms around the boy's neck.

“Who will tell! Our dear Artemis can be jealous” she laughed.

“Oh shut it, Ro!” he laughed as well, as they continued their dance.

Seeing Artemis like that made Danique snapped.

Why would Rowan do that? Oh I see, he just wants to start a game huh? bring it on boy

“Hey Barn, when I twirled next time, hold me reallyyyy close okay?” she smirks at her friend.

“Okay...but why?”

“Just do it!” She lets out a whisper-shout

When it comes to the swirling position, Danique swirled then leaned her back on Barnaby's chest then placed her head on his shoulder. She grabs both or the boy's hands to place on her waist. Barnaby, flushed by this, quickly swirls her back to face-to-face position.

Both Artemis and Rowan looked at the other couple with surprised eyes.

“Crap” Rowan muttered “Any plan?”

“...None” the boy answered.

“Well, fuck” she then cursed.

The two of them  just stayed dancing close to each other for a while.

Meanwhile at the sass queen's couple

“Looks like they are done with this game. Ha! that boy never learned who is the champion here” the white hair girl peeks at the Ravenclaw couple and smirks.

“Sorry Barn, I went a bit too far right? Also, how about we stop dancing now and go to eat something?” the girl asked her blushed partner.

“Yea-yeah a bit too much. Speaking of eating, that's a nice idea! I'm starting to get bored of this” the brunette boy stops the dance and leads his partner to the table.

“Do you want some butter beer? I could grab it for you” he asked. 

“Sounds great! I may sit here since my feet are sore a bit because of these stupid heels” the girl replied and sits on one of the chairs.

Artemis and Rowan find a place to sit down after a few dances and they peacefully chat with each other. 

"So.... would you like something to drink?" Artemis asked

"No, I'm fine for now, don't worry" she answered.

After a few minutes, Barnaby was gone. Danique looks around to see how the ball is going.

“You look stunning today Danique” without looking, she already knew it's that Gryffindor chaser.

OH SHIT THAT BOY

“Thank you. You are looking good yourself” she turns to face him and notices that leans his hand on the table to lower himself to talk to her.

Don't get close to me you jerk

“Well, I would look better if I had you by my side tonight…” he smirks and places his other hand on her small bare-skin back.

Feeling disgusted by his action, the girl quickly stands up and steps away from him.

“Come on, one dance wouldn't hurt right?” still pestering, the boy grabs one of her wrists.

Oh no, it's so disgusting. Why did it take you so long, Barn? Please hurry up and comes help me

Doesn't like to be touched herself, the poor girl is shocked from those actions and stands still.

Artemis was very concentrated talking with Rowan until he saw how a boy got extremely close to Danique, the girl was surely disgusted by the actions of the man so he stood up quickly.

“Excuse me for a second Rowan” and as fast as he said these words, he went in Danique's direction.

Rowan quickly notices the scene before her as well “Don’t worry, go ahead”

“My darling,” He said, holding the girl's hand softly.

“Is everything ok?” he asked looking with clear angry at the gryffindor 

“If he is making you uncomfortable, say so. I will get him off in a few seconds” he whispered to her ear.

The amber-eyed girl only nods her head and looks at the ground.

“Excuse me, sir” He said, getting Danique behind him so the boy wouldn’t get to keep touching her.

“I think the lady has been clear on her actions that she doesn't want to dance with you, or even have you around" he said frowning his eyebrows "I recommend you to leave her immediately unless-”

“Unless what a pretty boy?” He laughed “What will you do, as if you could do anything to me, now move a side”

“So that's your choice huh?” there was not only anger in Artemis' eyes, he was... infuriated. “Let me guess, your name was... Daniel Roberts correct? I think your father works at the ministry of magic?”

The boy flinched “You wouldn't dare-”

“Oh of course I will!” Now was Artemis who laughed 

“Don't ever mess with Clair de Lune, your father should have taught you that... how unfortunate he is... to have a son that treat womans like a beast”

“Please don't do it!” He begged “I will do whatever you ask me but please, don't do anything to my father”

“Everything I asked?” Artemis smirked “Then apologize to the Lady immediately and leave, don't ever talk to her again!”

“P-please, forgive me miss Winter!” Trash in its place. And as soon as the boy said those words he ran away.

Artemis took a deep breath to calm himself down and then looked camly at Danique. “Are you alright Danique?” he asked softly

“Yeah! yeah...I...I guess…” she answers him softly and tries to move her hair to cover her back.

Artemis noticed the action of the girl so he softened his eyes, grabbed his cape and put it around her shoulders. “There we are”

Still not fully recovered from that physical touch, the girl flinches a bit.

“Ah- sorry I didn't mean to make you feel uneasy” the boy apologized.

“Oh no! It's not your fault. I just....Sigh, Can we get out of here…?” She hugs herself and looks at his eyes, her amber eyes still have a hint of fear in them.

He looked at her softly. “Surely, my lady” he offered the girl his arm so she could grab on it if she wanted.

Even though she was feared by that man, she feels safe around his presence. The amber-eyed girl then grabs his arm.

Then the two of them walk outside the great hall and go to the fountain yard where the sky is with a full moon surrounded by stars.

Artemis and Danique then sit together at the fountain... Looking peacefully at the beautiful night sky. Artemis hadn't said a word, he just wanted her to feel comfortable.

“Thank you for helping me back then” the amber-eyed girl broke the silence.

“I really appreciated that, really. I looked so pathetic right? A sass strong girl like me can't fight back that jerk” she let out a small painful laugh.

“You weren't pathetic” the boy said with a worry in his voice.

“That jerk didn't have any intention of backing off, until I menaced him of course…” he paused.

“And it's ok don't worry, I couldn't have stayed there just watching how that asshole made you uncomfortable” he then said softly to her.

Danique looks at him and is stunned by how his albino skin and white hair reflect the moonlight. Moreover,with the outfit , he looks like a real moon prince. She stares at him silently for a while.

Artemis looked at how the amber eyes shined thanks to the reflection of the stars of the sky, he felt he could lose in those eyes. He got close to her face. She looks so pretty right now but...She will hate me if I kiss her right? he thought and closed his eyes.

Huh? wh-why he lean in and closed his eyes, don't tell me he wanted to ki-kiss me?! Oh no my heart can't handle this now

“Umm..the-the sky is so beautiful tonight, isn't it?” She turns her head away from him and looks at the sky.

Artemis quickly gets back to his original position noticing what he was about to do “Ah- yes is indeed pretty” he answered, That’s not the only pretty thing in this place.. then looked at the sky, flustered.

“The full moon is so beautiful. I like the scenario when the moonlight shines on it” she said and looked around.

“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it...?” the amethyst eyed flick to look at the girl beside him, looking at her with longingly as the owner spoke the sentence that seems to have hidden meaning in it.

“It always is” She looked at him and smiled.

“Oh! let me show you one of my favorite spells!” she said excitedly and looked at the boy.

He tilted his head “Ok?” He said a bit confused.

“Watch this and keep it a secret okay?” she smiles and winks at him.

Danique moves her right index finger and mutters some spell. Suddenly, there are many littles stars surrounding them. They are twinkling and moving around slowly.

“My father always did this for me when I was young, since he calls me 'little star' and I really like it” she let out a small chuckle.

“You are the first one I showed this to, you know? No one ever saw me doing wandless magic before” she looks at him and smiles softly.

Artemis felt his own heart melted by her words and actions. If the place was already pretty before, now it was definitely dreamlike, he sighed.

“Thanks for this honor” he smiled at her, flustered.

He got closer to her “This is truly a beautiful scenery” he paused.

“Yet the only thing I can look at right now is at the beautiful star shining right in front of me” he admitted.

Holding her hands in his, he said “You have truly mesmerized me Danique... and all my heart can seem to think about, is you” his cheeks were in a tone of bright red.

Stunned by his words, the girl now speechless and her face is all red.

Wh-why is he suddenly like this? I'm I dreaming right now? What-what should I say?

Then the music started playing again, Artemis standed up and offered a hand to her.

“Will you spare me this dance, Danique?” He asked, still felt a bit nervous by his own actions.

“Of-of course!” she quickly stands up, with a bit of awkwardness, then takes his hand.

The dance was a slow one, they danced and marveled at each other's appearance under the night sky. Artemis was feeling quite nervous, but happy at the same time. Holding the girl so close to him during the dance felt like a dream.

Meanwhile Danique, feels safe, yet nervous in her crush's arms.

Oh no he holds me so gently, my heart beats too fast like I'm gonna explode..After that thought, she steps on his foot.

“Oh! I'm-I'm sorry” she looks down at her feet.

“It’s ok. Don’t worry” he softly laughed.

Artemis could feel his own heart beating faster. I hope she doesn’t notice

He honestly feels like he is flying, but at the same time bound to earth by the beautiful lady in his arms.

The song went sweetly and slowly as it began and they stayed in the dance position for a few seconds when they realized it was over…

“That was such an amazing dance” She smiles at him, still not letting go.

“As expect from the perfect boy”

“Perfect boy?” A sad tone was perceived in his voice “Is that all I am to you?” He asked softly, looking at her eyes.

“Oh, no! You-you are more than that…” the amber-eyed girl answers nervously. She looks at his eyes and feels like they are luring her in. Her lips part a bit because of those dreamy purple eyes.

“More than that?” He leaned close to her face again. I may be misinterpreting her but..He once again closed her eyes and  gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

He could smell her hair clearer than ever before. The smell of peach and the soft lips of the girl, he couldn’t think of anything else for a moment. His heart felt like skipping a beat and he is.. so happy.

Being surprised by his action at first, the girl then closes her eyes and kisses him back. She could smell her favourite scents from him stronger than before. She wraps her arms around his neck and tilts her head to make it easier for the kiss. Her mind goes blank and her heart beats so fast as if it's going to explode.

Artemis just let himself melt in the girl's soft lips for a while, putting his arms around her waist. Good things couldn't last forever and their lips parted from each other. Artemis keeps his eyes closed, feeling his own heart beat hard on his chest, as he keeps holding the amber eyed girl in his arms.

After they parted, Danique opened her eyes and pants a bit from that sweet kiss. She saw that Artemis still closes his eyes and holds her delicately. The blush begins to creep all over her face since she gains her consciousness back.

Oh Merlin...We kissed?! And-and we are not even a couple! What have I done?!

She let go of his neck and hides her face in her hands because of shyness.

Artemis slowly opens his eyes and sees how the girl is hiding herself “Danique…” He softly calls her.

Still hiding her face, the girl squeaks. “Yes?!”

“Look at me, please” he asked, keeping a soft tone.

The girl finally gathered her courage and let her hand down.

Artemis gave her a warm smile and finally says “I love you” Feeling his heart beating faster than it was before “I understand If you don't feel the same I just.. wanted you to know how i truly feel about you”

“I-I..” Getting kissed and listening to her crush confess his love to her, the amber eyes girl seems unable to handle these. Her legs kind of give up themselves, the girl is now sitting on the floor and hides her face again.

These are too muchhhh, I feel like I'm dying. Then she remembered that he told her to look at him so she peeks through her hands.

"Can-can you give me some time? There are too many events happening today and I feel like my brain has stopped working. Also that was my first kiss, I..." she whispers the last sentence shyly.

Artemis helps the girl to stand up again. “Ah- of course” he was now the one being shy “Wait- your first kiss?” he whispered. So it was her first kiss as well?

“Yea-yeah, sorry if I was not good” she glances up at him and presses her lips.

“No- is not that... It was my first kiss as well..” Artemis said letting his cheeks become pink.

“Really?! but you are so...good..” she said with a dreamy voice.

Artemis became completely red by that commentary and covered his face with one of his hands. “Well, thank you..” he said in almost a whisper. 

“You did it pretty good yourself…” He felt like he is meling.

“Tha-thank you..” she replied softly.

Seeing him blushed, the girl teases. “As expected from the perfect boy, you really are good at everything, oh also I think it's almost the curfew time” the amber eyes girl said with a smirk and looked at the clock.

“Good at everything huh?” Artemis now teased back "I will only do my best display for my lady after all. And, yes indeed" he said looking at the clock as well “We should go back” Artemis offered his arm to the girl “May I have the honor to escort you?”

“Oh yes, thank you my prince”she smiles and takes his arm.

There are a lot of conversations and laughs on the way to the Hufflepuff common room. And now they arrived at the barrel gate.

“Thank you about everything tonight Artemis, I would cherish this night for the rest of my life..” She smiles softly at the white hair boy.

“I could say the same, Danique” He said and gave her a kiss on her hand "Have a peaceful sleep, my princess” And with these words Artemis left to his own common room.

Artemis arrived at the Ravenclaw common room and was intercepted by Rowan “Well then... how was your secret date with Danique”  she asked, making the boy blush at the memory of the girl's lips on his own.

“I kissed her” he said “And I told her- yes, in that specific order”

“OH FOR MERLIN'S BEARD!!!” Rowan squealed “What did she tell you?!! She accepted you?!!”

“She... asked me for time to think and... process it all” he answered.

“Dank, so close yet so far” Rowan muttered “Don't worry I'm sure she would accept you in the end!”

Artemis put his hand on his heart “Would she?” he whispered. She doesn't even know about this after all..

After a few minutes of conversation each one went to their respective room.

Artemis hugged one of his pillows and smiled to himself remembering clearly all of the night before falling asleep.

Meanwhile at her dormitory. The other girls are already in the room.

“Seemed like someone got a secret date” the pink haired girl whistles.

“Yeah, how was it Dani?!” the blonde hair girl asks loudly.

“Ughhhh, Why do you guys always see this?” the white hair girl groans.

“Artemis is a good guy tho, get him Dani” the white wolf girl said

“EVEN YOU CHIARA?!” the amber-eyed girl now yanks her hair.

“Spill all of it morning star!!” Tonks then jumped at her.

“Ahhhh okay okay! Geez...”Danique told everything that happened between them.

“MERLIN'S BEARD DANIQUE!” the pink haired girl screams, followed by 2 squeal voices.

“Shhh, Tonks! you are too loud!” Danique lets out a whisper-yell.

“Why don't you just accept him, Danique? He had a feeling for you for a long time and you also like him” the blonde hair girl asked curiously.

“Sigh, he is a noble, remember? Also, he is hella perfect. Do I really deserve him tho?” the amber-eyed girl said with a sad voice.

Basic half-blood and noble pureblood huh? Sounds like Cinderella's story for me. She thought and looked outside of the window to see the moon surrounded by thousands of stars. The moon and the stars? Probably more like that.. She then excused the other girls to go for a shower and all of them knew right away not to ask about it anymore.

[hphmmatthewluther]

Merula Snyde and the Letter from Someone

To  Dear To  Merula,

 The sound of scrunching up paper is heard, followed by a quiet thump as the ball of scrap is thrown into the bin.

 Merula,

 I don’t know if this’ll get to you before Christmas, but I wanted to send this to you anyway as a present. In the parcel is a Walkman, which allows you to listen to music wherever you want, as well as a tape with some of my favourite songs on it. Also in there is a list of all the corridors and areas I managed to charm so they could allow muggle devices to work (I don’t know if it’ll work in the Dungeons- Snape caught me while I was doing the spell and told me to leave - sorry.)

 I hope you’re having an okay time, I imagine the castle is a fair bit quieter now, which should be nice. I know that Chiara and Talbott are staying at Hogwarts over the summer, and so maybe it would be nice to spend time with them...well, maybe with Chiara, Talbott likes to keep to himself really.

 Well,  The Celestial Ball was amazing, Merula, as I knew it would be from the moment I asked you to go with me. I know I’m not that good with words, which is sort of why I’ve sent you that tape. As crazy as it sounds, I couldn’t really see myself going with anyone other than you. I still enjoy our rivalry, of course, but I can’t deny how what happened there made me feel.

 I can’t wait to see you again,

 Matthew.

 ***

 Trembling pale hands with slightly faded nail varnish held the letter over a sofa, as their owner’s pink eyes read its contents. Then she read it again. And again. And a fourth time. Merula took a deep breath. Her mind was, to put it mildly, a bit of a mess right now. It was the day before Christmas Eve (Matthew had once called it Christmas Eve Eve, which even Merula found pretty funny) and she had been sitting in her room when the most evil-looking owl in history had flown into the Dungeons to deliver her a smallish parcel and a letter. She had been even more surprised to learn that this Owl belonged to Matthew Luther, who she had, as the letter reminded her, went with to the Celestial Ball just a week ago. Merula sighed. He’d written to her. He couldn’t wait to see her again. Merula didn’t notice herself giggling. She’d sat down in the corridor, with the walkman on her lap, and Matthew’s owl giving her the evil eye. She traced her finger over the final paragraph again, glad that nobody else was in the Common Room.

 Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone standing in the doorway in a purple hoodie. Merula’s eyes widened as Night Rhea merely grinned at her.

“Eep!” Merula exclaimed, clutching the letter close to her chest, “Wh-what is it?! What do you want?!”

Merula’s fear only grew at the sound of more Slytherins entering the common room. Night looked at Merula, at the letter, at Matthew’s Owl, and at the pink on her cheeks. Merula gulped as they grinned an almost sinister grin.

“Hey look! Matthew sent Merula something!” they exclaimed. At once there was a sound of “ooh!”s as the group moved into the Common Room. Merula recognised Cres Aragon, Ismelda, Liz and Barnaby in the crowd. Uh oh.

 “Ooh Matthew’s written to you!” Cres exclaimed, stepping forward. “Told you he would.”

“I...” Merula began. She took a breath. She was not going to be dragged into one of these simpering gossip circles. “Of course he did. This is Matthew we’re talking about.” She looked over at Matthew’s owl, which squinted at her.

“I didn’t expect him to have such a cool owl.” Ismelda admitted. “Dark. Brooding. Evil. Like my soul.”

“Matthew sent you a letter?!” Barnaby asked, “What did he say? Was it about how you two-'' he stopped suddenly looking at Merula’s face. “...um, how you went to the Celestial Ball together?”

“None of your business!” she snapped. “What Luther may or may not have written to me about does not concern any of you!”

“I think it does, Snyde...” Night said, leaning forward. “In fact I - Expelliarmus!”

 The letter went flying, and Night moved forward to catching, smirking as they succeeded. Turning to the others, and ignoring Merula’s pleas, they read over the letter. And smiled once again.

“Aww...what a romantic.” Night sighed, pretending to wipe away a tear. “You’ve found yourself a keeper, Snyde.”

Merula went a deep red. “I...uh...”

“Go on, Night, read it!” Cres said, sitting down in front of the large window overlooking the floor of the Lake.

Night looked at Merula. She didn’t seem to be enjoying this one bit. They sighed, and passed the letter back to Merula. “She can read it if she wants to.”

Merula nodded, taking the paper back. She looked around at the others, and sighed. “D-don’t tell anyone about this, ok?”

The group nodded. Merula sighed, and read Matthew’s words aloud. As she did, she found it very hard to keep her face in a scowl. By the time she had finished, she had a small but visible smile on her face.

 The group instantly erupted into conversation.

“Way to go, Merula!” laughed Cres.

“Who’d have thought Matthew’d have it in him to write that?” Night pondered aloud.

“Hmph. Muggle music is...isn’t bad...” Ismelda admitted.

“Where’s this man meant to be walking to?” Barnaby asked, gazing at the strange device.

“So what are you going to say back?” Liz asked her, feeding the owl a treat from her pocket.

“N-None of your business, Lizard!” Merula snapped, “I..I...I dunno, okay! I’m not used to letter-writing, I...look, I wanted to just send him some chocolate or something, you know, but now he’s sent me this and...”

“Why don’t you just send a small message,” suggested Cres, “you could put it on the tag or something, couldn’t you?”

 Merula grinned wildly for a moment, before racing off into the girls’ dormitories. When she returned, she had a christmas present with red wrapping, as well as a large owl following her. She put the present down on the table, and Merula’s owl sat beside Matthew’s, both immediately starting to stare each other down.

“Okaaay...” Merula began, Night noticing that she was using a pen, “What do I put?”

Barnaby raised an eyebrow. “You’re...asking us?”

“I thought you said it was ‘none of our business’, Merula...” sneered Ismelda. Merula ignored her.

“Okay…’Matthew’...’comma’” she muttered.

“Good start, Snyde.” chuckled Night.

“Hush, Rhea.” Merula snarled. “Where was I…’Thank-’”

“No, don’t start with the thank you, you’ll run out of things to say.” Liz said sagely.

“Fine. ‘The music is great. Thank you for the present and for your letter...’”without saying it aloud, she then wrote ‘I eagerly await your return to Hogwarts...it’s rather dull without you.’

“...Thanks again, Merula.” she finished, putting the pen back into her pocket. She then moved past Night over to her and Matthew’s owl.

“Just follow him, okay?” she asked. Her owl nodded. Matthew’s owl audibly scoffed at her, an impressive achievement for an owl. Merula then left with the two owls for the Owlery. When she got there, she was slightly surprised to see Talbott Winger there, feeding the owls.

“Can...I help you?” he asked, not looking away from the owls in front of him.

“I’m....just sending a letter to M-...to Luther,” she explained, wincing at her minor slip-up…”What about you?”

“Being alone...or at least I was.” Talbott sighed, getting up, “Is that a present for him?”

“None of your business, birdbrain!” Merula yelled, before looking down at the present. “...sorry. It’s just...I’m new to this, and want to go at my own pace, you know?”

Talbott stared at her, this other Merula which until now only Matthew and maybe Tulip had been able to see. “...he’s really started to rub off on you, you know that?”

Merula chuckled as the owls left with Matthew’s present in tow. She looked down at the walkman, put one headphone up to her ear, and pressed play. It worked.

“Yeah...” Merula said, as if just remembering then that Talbott was still there, “Maybe you’re right.”

(Night Rhea belongs to @night-rhea​ and Cres Aragon belongs to @cres-aragon​ !)

[unknowncountrygirl]

Interment: Ch2. Mooncalf

Barnaby was down in the forest, looking for a certain type of toadstool to feed the Puffskins in Professor Kettleburns class when he heard a sound he hadn't heard before.

“Chut chut!” He looked up and looked around the clearing to see if he could find where the noise was coming from when he heard a voice that he knew very well.

“Professor Kettleburn said we should spend time together. Doesn't that sound fun?”

It was Iris, and Barnaby felt his heart do a happy little flutter. He followed her voice over a ridge and saw her standing with a white creature that hot her about at her hip, with the most gigantic blue eyes he had ever seen.

“A mooncalf!” He exclaimed to himself, going over the ridge towards her and the creature. He had heard that Iris was taking care of a Mooncalf for Hagrid, but it had slipped his mind. The little Mooncalf looked in his direction and exclaimed,

“Chut chut chut!  Wheek wheek wheek!” Iris followed the direction that it was chirping in and saw Barnaby, and smiled brightly.

“Barnaby? What are you doing here?”

“I've heard you have a Mooncalf!” He told her, looking at the white creature hiding behind Iris.

“You heard correctly, meet said Mooncalf.”

“Hello Mooncalf.”

“Chut chut?”

“Hagrid found Mooncalf alone in a field after the last full moon.” Iris explained to him, petting the trembling creature to try and soothe it.

“I've found all sorts of things after full moons. Socks, boiled eggs, odd smelling teacups, but never a Mooncalf. What are you going to do now?” Barnaby asked her, secretly hoping it was something that he could do with her. Any time he could spend with Iris he enjoyed. Her time was taken a lot as of late, she was so busy with things that they hardly saw one another other then class. The most recent event had been the disaster of a play for Professor Flitwick.

“Hagrid asked me to help it join a herd of Mooncalves in the forest.” She told him.

“How are you going to do that? Joining groups is harder than it looks.”

“Well... Professor Kettleburn thinks Mooncalf was rejected by its herd. That's why it's important to build confidence and make it feel comfortable... The trouble is, I don't know where to begin.” Iris confided in Barnaby.

“We can talk it over if you want. That'll give me a chance to get to know Mooncalf better.” He offered.

“Thank you Barnaby.” Iris almost sighed in relief and placed her hand on his arm. “I just feel so bad for this little guy, all alone out here.”

“Well, it seems Mooncalf is more comfortable already, just being in the forest.” Barnaby offered, looking down at where Iris's hand lay on his arm still. She has such pretty hands, he thought as he looked at her fingers, and her manicured little round nails that were painted a shade of mauve pink. It reminded him of her nails the night of the celestial ball, they were painted pink then too, but the kind of pink you see baby girls wrapped up in. “I wonder what Mooncalves do when they're not dancing.” He said, the memory of the Celestial ball and dancing with Iris coming to the forefront of his mind.

“I... Don't know.” Iris said, taken a bit back. “What do you suppose they do? Graze?”

“Maybe, they are a member of the Equidae family, they have the same foot structure as cows and horses, their feet are just webbed verses hard hoofed.” Barnaby explained as he reached out and ran his head over Mooncalf's head. Iris's jaw went slack for just a moment, in complete awe as to what he knew about animals of any variety. Before she could compliment him he suddenly asked, “do you think Mooncalf knows we're talking about it?”

“I don't know.” Iris chuckled as she bent down and tickled under Mooncalf's chin.

“Maybe it needs a confidence boost? I feel confident when people say nice things to me! Like when you told me I looked handsome at the Valentines dance.” Barnaby blurted out. He had remembered that night very fondly. “When I want to feel confident, I do something I like. Something I'm good at. So... what do Mooncalves like to do?”

“Most of the time, they like spending time in their burrows. But when the full moon is out, they like to dance!” Iris smiled.

“Wheek wheek!”

“It's a shame that we can't make it a full moon all the time... We can't, can we?”

“We can't control the lunar cycle, but we can encourage Mooncalf to dance anyway!”

“How?”

“Come with us to the training grounds! You'll see.”

There was an eagerness and joyousness in her voice that made him happy, and he couldn't refuse her.

“Sure! I need to take these Toadstools back to the care of magical creature paddock, but then I'll meet you there!” He couldn't get there to drop off the toadstools fast enough. He all but dropped them into the pen with the Puffskin's and started to run back to the castle. He managed to get to the training grounds before Iris even did. When he saw her and Mooncalf arriving, he smiled brightly.

“I'm glad you're here, Iris! I can't wait to watch Mooncalf dance!” He greeted.

“What do you think Mooncalf? Are you eager to give it a go?” Iris questioned the large eyed creature.

“Chut chut? It asked, looking up at her with it's saucer sized blue eyes, obviously confused.

“Looks like Mooncalf's signature move is standing still.” Barnaby joked. “Or perhaps it's simply not dancing. You said you had a plan, didn't you?”

“I do!” Iris affirmed. “Mooncalves usually dance under the light of a full moon as a group. So I was thinking we could lead by example.”

“You mean, we should dance?” Barnaby clarified.

“Wheek wheek!”

“What do you say?” Iris asked.

“I mean, we danced well at the Celestial ball, and the Valentines day ball...” Barnaby remembered those nights well, thinking back to how lovely Iris had looked and how much she had done for everyone to make sure that they all had fun and had a nice time. She had even went so far as to play a matchmaker for Pince and Filch, two people who didn't deserve kindness in his book, but Iris had made sure that they had a romantic evening... And as far as he knew, fell in love.

That was why he had done what he could to make sure Iris had a evening to remember.

Then though... He felt a pit in his stomach. He also remembered the feeling of rejection. That feeling of wanting to just crawl under a rock and have no one look at him. He had been so sure that what he did would prove to Iris how he felt and how deeply he felt for her, but it hadn't, and he had returned to the Slytherin dorms still single.

His thoughts were cut off by Iris grabbing his hand.

“Well, then.” Iris grabbed his hand, “let's start dancing.” She winked.

“Chut chut?” Mooncalf huffed, watching the two of them.

“You can do it Mooncalf,” Iris encouraged. Mooncalf stood up on it's two back legs, and began to jump around, as if mimicking their movements.

“It's working Iris!” Barnaby exclaimed happily.

“Fantastic! Let's keep going!” Iris encouraged him.

“Would Mooncalf like music? I could start singing?”

“I can't decide if this is amazing, or absolutely absurd.” Iris laughed as she twisted her hips, and laughed as she danced with Barnaby. He thought it was amazing, because any time he could get alone time with Iris he considered to be amazing.

“That was beautiful, Mooncalf!” Barnaby told him after he had let go of Iris once Mooncalf showed signs that he was stopping.

“Chut chuit chut!” Mooncalf huffed happily, as though it was smiling.

“What do you think of Mooncalf's dance?” He asked Iris as she twisted her long hair into a large bun on top of her head. She revealed her neck and Barnaby once again found his mind wandering to Valentine's day, and the few times they had snogged heavily before that-

“I agree with you, it was wonderful.” Iris answered, placing her hands on her hips.

“Wheek wheek!”

“Look how happy you made it!” Barnaby was nearly giddy, seeing how happy the little white creature was.

“I suppose all Mooncalf needed was a bit of encouragement.” Iris smiled at the white creature. “Wait a minute... Look at this!” Iris pulled away from where she and Barnaby were standing and went over to where the Mooncalf had been dancing. “Mooncalves usually leave circular patterns when they dance, don't they?” She asked, pointing into the grass. Barnaby looked and noticed it was not a circular pattern that Mooncalf had left behind, but rather a square.

“They do, and that is definitely not a circle. There's something unusual about Mooncalf's dancing.” He agreed with Iris.

“Professor Kettleburn told me earlier that creatures sometimes reject one of their own for being different. What if this Mooncalf was abandoned because of it's dancing habits?”

“That's terrible, but I admit it makes sense. Creatures will leave others for less.” He bent down and ran his fingers over the lines left behind by Mooncalf.

“It's just a working theory, we can't say for certain. I'm going to take Mooncalf to Hagrid and fill him in on everything, I'll see you tomorrow?” Iris asked, and he looked up at her, his heart beating hard.

“I can walk you down to Hagrid's hut if you'd like?” He offered, desperate for more time.

“Oh it's ok, I have to stop by the Greenhouses on my way back and do a couple things with my botany projects before turning in for the night, and I still have to do the head girl round with Corey later.” She informed him, and he swore he felt a vein in his head pop. He knew Corey, he liked Corey, he was a good chap, but he suddenly wanted to squeeze his neck so hard his eyes popped.

“Ok, yeah... I'll see you tomorrow.” He nodded, he would take what he could get. Iris nodded, and took a step closer to him, wrapping her arms around his middle for a quick hug.

“Great, I'll see you then!” She assured him, before giving him a wave, heading towards the greenhouses.

----------------------------------------------------

Barnaby was working on attempting to do his potions homework when there was a flittering through the window. A small white paper crane came flying through the air and landed in front of him. He reached out and opened the paper and saw Iris's curly writing on the page, and he smiled to himself.

Meet me in the forest grove tonight, it's a full moon and I'm hoping to introduce Mooncalf to a herd! She had written, and he would be there come hell or high water. He stood, threw on his sweater, tied his shoes, and ran out the door.

When he arrived in the forest grove, he wasn't surprised to see Hagrid, but he was shocked to see Professor McGonagal.

“Mister Lee, pleasure to see you.” She greeted.

“Uh... Yeah. Good to see you too Professor.” Truthfully, it made him mildly uncomfortable but Iris arrived with Mooncalf and greeted,

“I didn't expect to see all of you here!”

“Yeh didn't think we'd miss this, did yeh?” Hagrid bellowed warmly.

“After all, this is Mooncalf's debut.” McGonagal smiled. Mooncalf seemed to cower a little.

“Don't be anxious! I'm sure the herd will like you!” Barnaby assured Mooncalf, who looked a little anxious.

“We're about to find out! Look.” Iris pointed over the ridge. A Mooncalf herd came over to the open forest grove to dance in the moonlight but stayed at arms length from everyone, including Mooncalf.

“It appears that Mooncalf has stage fright.” McGonagal said.

“I can relate. I was anxious about my role in Equinox Enchanted.” Iris added, petting the little creature.

“And then you did great! You should say something, Iris, Mooncalf trusts you.” He encouraged.

“Perhaps it isn't about what I say,” she looked down and patted Mooncalf's head. “Here, Mooncalf, look at me!”

“Chut chut?”

“Don't you want to dance? Look how fun it is! See? There's nothing to it.” Iris started to dance in front everyone, trying to encourage Mooncalf.

“Wheek wheek!” It squealed, smiling in it's own silly way. It was an adorably awkward little creature and Barnaby was smitten.

He was speaking of the Mooncalf, not of Iris in this moment. Although, she was adorably awkward as well in this moment, dancing to nothing in the middle fo the forest.

Mooncalf jumped up on his hind legs and started to dance, grabbing the attention of the other Mooncalf's who moved closer to watch him and Iris with bright eyed curiosity.

“That's right! You're doing wonderfully!” Iris encouraged.

“I believe it is woking, Miss Rosewood.”

“Don't stop dancing, Iris!” Barnaby called out.

“I won't! Not until Mooncalf finishes his dance! I will say, it is the weirdest thing I have ever done!” Iris laughed. Barnaby watched her closely, and saw her fumble, almost fall, but stood up. He almost ran over to her but he stopped himself, knowing it could mess up everything with the Mooncalf Herd.

Iris continued to dance, but her winces of discomfort and limp caused him pain every time he noticed it. She began to slow down as Mooncalf seemed to be doing better and better, until it was dancing on it's own for the herd to watch and Iris had joined Barnaby, Hagrid, and Professor McGonagal.

“Chut chut?” The wild mooncalf breathed heavily.

“Wheek! Wheek wheek!” Their little Mooncalf answered back, and he could tell everyone was on their toes to see what was going to happen. A group of five started to gather around it, sniffing it and eventually began to groom the little lost Mooncalf. That was the sign they were looking for.

“Iris, you did it! The herd accepted him!” Barnaby told her, while crushing her in a huge hug. It was then they saw a couple more Mooncalves begin to dance, one dancing in a rectangle and one dancing in a straight line.

“It looks like your little Mooncalf isn't the only one who dances oddly.” McGonagal said with a smile.

“Mooncalf fits right in!” Iris exclaimed happily, grabbing onto Barnaby for support, her ankle was positively throbbing. Hagrid began to sniffle and Iris looked up at him. “What's wrong Hagrid?” She asked, concerned she did something wrong.

“It's just... So beautiful.” He said, watching the herd begin to dance. Iris and Barnaby looked at the herd.

“It's... Certainly a sight to behold.” Iris articulated her words carefully. Barnaby held back a snicker, knowing what she was thinking. He loved creatures of all shapes and sizes, but even he knew that a Mooncalf dance was a interesting sight, not beautiful, but interesting.

“Thanks to you Iris, Mooncalf has a family.” Barnaby said in a way that really only Iris could hear him.

“I couldn't have done it without all of you.”

The little Mooncalf came over and looked up at Iris, “chut chut! Wheeeeek!” It squealed. Iris pulled away from Barnaby, patted it's head before she bent down and gave him a hug around it's long neck. “Goodbye Mooncalf.” When she let go, it blinked up at her with it's giant eyes, and if it could smile, Barnaby swore he did before he turned and joined the rest of the herd to dance in the Moonlight. Hagrid and Professor McGonagal excused themselves, while Barnaby and Iris stayed behind to watch the herd for a while, finding a nice log to sit on.

Barnaby wished he would have brought his journal that he kept notes in, he would have loved to document this. While it was an occurrence that happened on the regular, it was not something documented much in the Magical Creature world.  

“How is your ankle?” He asked. Iris looked up at him and smiled.

“Oh you noticed that? Yeah, I tripped over a root.” She lifted her foot, “it still is throbbing but being able to sit has been nice.”

“Do you want to get back to the castle? I can take you to go see Madam Pomfrey.” He offered.

“Give me a moment and then I could hobble back.”

“You don't have to do that,” he told her. He knew he was strong, it was his moment to show off to her just how strong he was.

“What- Oh!” She yelped just a bit as he hauled her up and carried her in his arms. “Thank you Barnaby.” She said, wrapping one arm around his shoulders as he walked over the hard terrain of the forest. Iris was about to tell him that she could fly back to the castle in her animagus form, but she enjoyed this, and rested her head over onto his shoulder. He was genuinely the sweetest man she had ever met. When they cleared the forest, they both could see large dark, angry looking clouds overhead.

“Looks like rain.” Barnaby said off hand.

“A lot of it.”

Only there was more then one storm coming.

[douxparadies]

The Yule Ball

SUMMARY: The yule ball at Hogwarts was so eagerly awaited that everyone was on edge. Obviously, you were too, but you didn't know that the person you wanted to go with was too. There were some misunderstandings.

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.3k

A/N: I confess that this little writing was kept inside "my drawer" and only now I decided to write it on the computer. I hope you like it.

I based my character on the game, that's why there are mentions of her being from Hufflepuff.

                                                        ♦♦♦

“Y/N! Tonks! I need to hide!” Penny entered the common room in panic.

“What’s wrong, Penny?” you asked.

“I’ve heard that Diego wants to invite me to the ball. I don’t have a pair yet and I don’t know how to reject him. So, I’m running away until I find a good excuse.”

You and Tonks had to hold the laughter.

“Why won’t you go with him? He is pretty popular, you know?” you said.

“Oh, please! Have you heard the way he talks about himself?”

They heard people passing by the barrel. For the voices, it must be the boys.

“You didn’t see me!” Penny hurried to the girl’s dorm.

She barely had time to close the door, Diego came in right after.

“Have you guys seen Penny?” He asked.

You and Tonks had to make an extra effort to control the guilty faces.

“No, we didn’t see her. No.”

"Strange... I met Skye on the way, and she saw Penny coming here."

Diego turned around just as Chiara Lobosca left the girls' dorm.

"Chiara, is Penny sleeping yet?"

"Penny? She is-"

Behind Diego's back, you gestured fervently, silently asking Chiara to say yes.

“She is sleeping! She is sleeping already.”

"With all this ball stuff, she must be very tired," you added.

"It’s not that she usually sleeps like a rock-Ouch!" you nudged Tonks.

“Uh, okay. I'll speak to her tomorrow.”

The girls waited for the boy to leave and then collapsed on the couch.

“That was close.”

 "Let’s go and see what we can do for Penny."

They went into the girl’s dorm and found Penny walking back and forth.

"How can I get rid of him?"

"Say you already have a pair," Tonks suggested before tossing a bean inside her mouth and making a grim face at the horrible taste of earthworm.

"But I don't have and I don't like lying either. I just don't want to hurt him."

“Then invite someone! Someone nice," you suggested and already had someone in mind. It worries her that Talbott might have wanted to go to the ball and had no one to go to because the only two students she ever saw him interacting with were Penny and herself. If possible, she wanted everyone to enjoy the ball. "It could be one of our friends."

“Yes. I guess you are right and I think I know who. I just hope he is not going with someone, already. I will send him an owl right away!”

You went to bed feeling quite satisfied with herself.

At the courtyard the next morning everyone was busy, walking here and there with all the work Penny Haywood was putting through into making the Celestial Ball the most marvellous. The corridors were filled with shining silver stars and everywhere, the students, more girls than boys, just talked about the ball. At the girl’s bathroom with Rowan, you brought the ball again with Rowan, she still couldn’t believe her friend didn’t want to go.

“It is not just me and Ben, many people just don’t want to go to this ball either. And it’s too stressful that everyone keeps talking about it.” Rowan said.

“You are looking by the entire wrong perspective. It is not about the ball it’s about enjoying it with the people you like.” You tried to convince her.

“So, you are going to the ball.”

“I would… But I don’t have a date.”

“What about that boy yesterday?” you felt her cheeks becoming red. A blond boy she didn’t know from Gryffindor asked you and you refused. You already had a person you wanted to go with and that was Charlie Weasley. Since the day he defended her from Merula in Care of Magical Creatures they became friends. He has been helping her find the next cursed vault and you didn’t even have to convince him to. But you still didn’t get the nerve to ask him for the ball.

“I rejected him. Well, who cares?” – you lied. You were just too embarrassed to admit there was a person, in particular, you wanted to go with. “Why would I get all dressed up for a stupid tradition anyway.” You added, spiritless.

“Alright, alright... I won’t go anyway. It is not like I even got a dress.” Rowan replied.

“Boo-hoo the poor losers couldn't get anyone to go to this stupid ball.” From one of the toilet cabins, Merula appeared as she was listening to the whole conversation.

“What about you, Merula? Who are you going with?” You asked, ignoring Merula’s antics.

“Humpf! That none of your business, weirdo!” She scoffed and walked away.

Rowan and You looked at each other for a second.

“Who do you think is going to take Merula to the ball?” You asked.

“Maybe she'll go with Barnaby.”

“They are no longer friends as far as I know. Besides, he's already going with that Ravenclaw girl.”

“With Tulip?”

“No. It’s the one with curly hair who is always reading.”

“Nancy Gould? What a surprise. I think I have never seen them talking with each other.”

Rowan liked Nancy since they both loved to read and preferred to spend time alone nurturing their knowledge. Although, Rowan’s interest was more general and Nancy showed a special interest in magical creatures. Maybe she and Barnaby had much in common after all.

“That's what he told me. Anyway, I want to get this story right, let's go to the lake and talk to her.”

You hasn't had a proper conversation with Nancy yet, but someone who is friends with Rowan, Ben and Liz couldn’t possibly be a bad person. Besides, you could use this opportunity. By the lake, they saw Nancy under a tree, drawing the giant squid that was resting at the surface.

“Nancy!” You called.

The girl looked up from her sketchbook, surprised to see the famous curse breaker of her year talking to her. You knew you were well-known at school because of her brother Jacob and the cursed vaults. What you could not imagine is that for good or for bad, you were becoming very popular for you deeds.

Later that morning, Andre got an unexpected invitation to the ball. He still hasn’t said to anyone, but now he was rather curious about who his friends were going with. At the courtyard he found Ben and Charlie playing gobblestones.

“Got any idea who you’re going to ask for the ball?” Andre asked.

As Rowan, Ben didn’t want to go to the ball, but You and Andre made special arrangements to help them with the clothes and now he was excited to go.

“I was too nervous to go before, but now I want to go alone. I’m not brave enough to invite somebody anyway.” Ben replied.

Charlie did not answer. Andre had an idea of whom his friend wanted to go with.

“Well, you better hurry up. I heard she already rejected a boy from our house.”

He wasn’t enthusiastic about the ball but the thought of You going with some other guy made his stomach churn.

“Who are you going with?”

“With Penny.”

Penny was the most popular and one of the most beautiful girls of their year. For sure a bunch of guys would be jealous.

“What? You asked her?”

“No, she asked me this morning. I was surprised too.”

“You were lucky. How am I supposed to ask her? We are friends and I don’t want to make things… awkward.” He could feel his heart racing already. Andre didn’t know what to say because he liked Penny but didn’t feel that way about her. If they asked Penny for advice she would definitely help, but you would know for sure since they are close.

“I don’t know how to help you. I asked Nancy yesterday, but she already had a pair.”

“Oh. She is going with Barnaby.” Ben said while eating a piece of chocolate he got for winning the game.

“Really? He asked her?” Andre was surprised. Nancy was too quiet and he knew she had few friends.

“I don’t know.”

“Now I’m curious. Let's talk to him, then.”

The boys went down the hill and found Barnaby throwing stones at the Fighting Willow.

“Hey, Barnaby. Are you busy?”

“No, just killing time. Need me for something?”

“It’s just… We're having trouble getting the girls to the ball…” Charlie said.

“We are?” Ben asked and Andre nudged his arm.

“So, we wanted to ask you how did you invite Nancy?”

“I don’t know, man. I just asked. She had lost Twiggy last week and I found him. When I returned him to her, I asked if she didn’t want to go with me.”

“Twiggy?”

“It is her bowtruckle. I kept him all day with me until Liz warned me it was hers.”

“We didn’t know you were close. I almost never see her talking with other people.” Andre said.

Barnaby scratched his head and made a confused expression, as he had just now given a deep thought about it.

“I have to admit, I feel sort of weird when I realize this. I mean, I like Nancy. She is easy to talk to and you can she’s pretty smart. She’s always done the demonstration when Professor McGonagall calls on her.” he smiled as he spoke so naively that the boys wondered if this was one of his secrets to attracted so many girls. Also, ‘easy to talk to’ was definitely not the way people usually described Nancy.

“Also, she let me play with Prowler.” He completed.

Prowler is the name of Nancy’s kneazle. Charlie and Andre exchanged funny looks, now they could see where his interest lies.

In the end, he still didn’t know how to get the nerves to invite You. He was getting worried now. If he didn’t do it soon, you will go with somebody else. He’d just have to talk to you, that’s all. He ran through the corridors expecting to find you, but his way was blocked by an unpleasant figure. Merula the bully from Slytherin.

“Looking for someone?” She asked.

“Go away, Merula. I don’t have time for you.”

“Oh, please! For as much as I hate you, I hate Y/S even more. So, I thought about warning you that she just doesn’t care about… what she called? A stupid tradition.”

He looked at her with skeptical eyes.

“… You are making this up.”

“I had just seen her, and she said exactly these words to that bookworm friend of hers. Well, I don’t really care if you believe me or not. But if you are going to invite her, I hope I can be there to see your face after rejection.” She left laughing.

He was never one for trusting Merula, but she managed to completely destroy his confidence.

                                                          ♦ ♦ ♦

As Nancy told them the whole story it was impossible not to giggle when thinking about the number of girls who must have been furious having Barnaby taken away like that.

"Wow. I wish I could just do it easily, like Barnaby." You said.

“You think too much. After that everything you have done, inviting someone to the ball can’t be that scary, right?”

Nancy was a quiet girl, but she talked rather bluntly. And she was right, for the girl who defeated You Know Who - even as a boggart - last year. Asking Charlie should be easy.

“…yeah. You know what? You're right! I know what I'm supposed to do. I’m going to talk to him. I can do that!”

“Ew! What is this? the weirdos club?” It was Merula again.

“You have nothing better to do?” You said. The second time today, she was getting the feeling of persecution right now. “We are just talking about the ball, Merula. Want to join us?”

“Oh, please. I’m just waiting to see the show. The mighty Y/S doesn’t have a pair to the ball.”

“I will have a pair because I will invite the person I want, myself.” You said with her chin raised in confidence.

“You do that. Don’t waste a bit of your time thinking why a certain redhead boy haven’t asked you all this time.”

You were speechless, how did she know that she wanted to go with Charlie? What did Merula know about him that you didn’t? Merula said nothing more and just walked away with a smirk on her face as she just had won a fight.

“Why would she say that?” Rowan asked.

“Why do you think she does anything if not to harass others?” Nancy said that with a serious tone. But she hurriedly stored all her drawing material as if she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Before she goes, she stopped right next to You and spoke to her in a low tone.

“There is something there. Take care, curse-breaker.” She had a discreet smile in the end.

“You think Merula may have planned something?” Rowan asked after Nancy climbed up the hills back to the castle.

“I don’t know. But there's no smoke without fire. I will look for Charlie. We see each other in the common room.”

Determined, you marched off in search of Charlie, ready to confront him.

                                                           ♦ ♦ ♦

“Charlie, why haven’t you invited me for the ball?”

At first, he was taken back for the sudden question. He was so busy thinking about inviting you that he didn’t think you would bring up the subject. Now he didn’t know what to say. The question looked like a minefield, what would be the right answer here?

“I didn’t know you wanted to go.” He said with genuine surprise.

You blinked at him in confusion.

“What? Why? What made you think that?”

“Come on? Really? You said it was a stupid thing.”

By the wide-eyed look on her face, he saw he had just screwed up.

“I can’t believe it! What Merula have told you?”

Judging by her reaction it was true after all. You were about to say that it was a lie, but he said instead.

“I think you were right. Who cares about this tradition anyway?”

You didn’t believe what you were hearing.

“Is that what you think? What is this for you?”

By ‘this’ what you hoped to hear was not just about the ball, but what did he think about their relationship. That he clearly didn’t grasp.

He nervously avoided you gaze and didn’t say anything.

“Answer the question, Charlie.” You demanded in a low tone but commanding voice. This hurtful discussion was taking long enough. He normally likes how you say his name, but you tone this time was a bit scary. He felt cornered.

“Why are you pushing this?”

That was the final blow. You felt this horrible feeling swelling up and the tears forming in her eyes. Since you skin was so pale, every time she cries you nose gets red. You could not see it, but you felt your nose pricking already.

“I thought it had a special motive for you to want to be with me. I guess it was not the case.”

You tried to say in a low and composed voice, but it sounded choked. You cleaned with your palm a single tear that escaped your eye. At this vision of you, his eyes opened wide, and he felt like his heart would stop. He had never seen you cry, not even once since he knew her. Not even when people talked bad things about you or your brother, nor when they went to the Forbidden Forest, not even when you fought your biggest fear last year.

“Wait, it’s not like that-” He grabbed you arm, but you furiously shook it off and turned away from him, walking though.

The next day, Charlie tried to talk to you in all ways he could think of and you clearly avoided him all the times with a furious look on her face. Also, you were never alone, which turned even harder to approach.

“What did you even do to her to get her this mad?” Bill asked after Gryffindor’s practice. It was hard not to notice the tension between them since morning.

“I screwed it up this ball thing. Now I can’t even say I’m sorry, much less invite her.”

“Well, you must try harder, little bro. I heard Y/N was invited by two other guys.”

“What?” Charlie’s face went pale in despair, he almost fell off his broom.

From the other side of the quidditch field, Ben came running towards them and clumsy bumping in a few players along the way. He brought news from you.

“Alright, huh... I talked to Y/N.”

“What Y/N said?”

“... Y/N said that she hates you with the fire of a Chinese Fireball. She also said that is the only way you get it.”

“... Thanks, Ben. That was very comforting,” Charlie said, not masking his ironic tone.

“Maybe Y/N just needs a day to cool off.”

Suddenly a furious bludger came flying over their heads, and they barely dodged.

“Bloody hell!”

From the other side of the field, a Tonks faking an ‘oopsie!’ and an angry you dropping a quidditch bat you used to send that bludger on their direction. You really looked completely like a dragon in fury. The truth is, he thought you were pretty cute when you are mad. He just never noticed before. Well, he had never seen you get that mad.

“… Maybe two,” Bill said.

“Are you kidding?” Charlie had an incredulous look on his face.

“Well, you better hurry. The ball is this weekend.”

Later that night, you went to the dormitories with Rowan, Penny, Chiara, and Tonks discussing the ball. At first, Rowan and Ben didn’t want to go to the ball, but You and Andre made special arrangements to help them with their clothes, and they changed their minds about going.

“And who are you going with, Tonks?”

“Oh, I’m not planning to dance with some boy. Tulip and I made a plan to rock this party. She is the best partner I could have. This ball will be unforgettable.”

“Please, don’t do anything that will ruin my work. Also, the teachers could get angry and you will be in trouble, again.”

“I swear! Nothing bad will befall your party. Just cool stuff.”

“Wait. What is this?” On Chiara’s bed was a cardboard package with a pretty ribbon on it.

“Open it!” The girls said.

Inside there was a beautiful lilac long dress, perfect for a ball.

“There is a letter.” You noticed and passed to Chiara.

It was more like a note, though carefully written. Talbott Winger asked Chiara to the ball. The two of them are strangely alike and like to keep their distance from people, strangely it worked for them with a little help from You and Andre with the idea of the dress. How ironic, you had managed to help your friends go to the ball that you would not be attending herself.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Penny asked. You were laid on bed looking at the ceiling in silence while the girls were talking for a while now.

“...Oh, I... I will be.”

“You really are not going to the ball?” Penny asked a bit of hurt because the whole reason she wanted to take care of the Celestial Ball was to make it a brilliant experience for her friends.

“Things didn’t go well with Charlie?” Rowan asked.

Everyone looked at you. It was nothing new they weren’t on good terms, but even so, you blushed a little. There were other boys who invited you and you refused them all. That’s because there was only one person you wanted to go with.

“Yes, that’s right.”

The girls made a pitiful face, except for Rowan that walked to the other side of the room to sit together with you on her bed.

“Look. I know that what you said to me in the bathroom was a lie.”

“I’m sorry... I don’t want to spoil your fun at the ball by faking a face.”

“You are always helping us, Y/N. We wouldn’t get any fun at the ball knowing that you are sitting in here.”

You smiled slightly at her comforting words.

“Do you want to go to the ball, don’t you?”

You nodded.

“Then screw those boys and come to the ball with us!” Said Tonks.

“Yes! Come to the ball!” Penny joined.

“That’s right. Thank you, girls.” With their help, you were able to cheer up.

“Then, it’s decided. Let’s go to the ball!”

You got out of bed feeling much better. Even if it was the end of the school’s term there was plenty of homework to do. Most of them from potion’s class. As a diligent student, apart from her troublemaker reputation, you were doing a final review for the Snape's class, not without asking herself every minute why he couldn't be like professor Flitwick. That’s when you received an unexpected visit to your favourite place to study, it was Murphy Mcnully.

“Hey, Y/N! Can I talk with you for a minute?”

Who could have imagined that in the end, you would still get a pair to the ball? Murphy wasn’t the one you wanted, but they were close friends now. They met a lot of now since you joined the quidditch team. Besides, you feared that he wouldn’t stop talking until you said yes. They gathered at the entrance to the main hall. At the centre of the ballroom tons of other students danced livelily. The decoration was wonderful, with a spell the floor was turned into an entire galaxy under their feet. You could really feel what was like floating in a night sky, especially with the flickering shooting stars coming down from the ballroom’s ceiling. The music is pounding in time to your heartbeat. You could feel the bass in her chest.

“Penny did an excellent job!” Tonks appraised. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the sound of the Weird Sisters playing at the stage.

But you couldn’t enjoy any of this. You had barely entered accompanied by Murphy, when Ben came running in their direction, looking quite alarmed.

“Y/N, something happened.”

“What is it, Ben?”

“It is Charlie, he fell from the broom.”

“What?” You felt her heart sank.

“He is at the infirmary.”

You started to go to the infirmary, completely forgetting about the ball, but you turned around at the realization that you were Murphy’s partner and that you couldn't just leave. But her heart aches. You bit your lower lip in distress.

“Aren’t you going?” Ben asked.

You gave a quick look at him and then turned to Murphy. Even if you were mad at Charlie for two weeks, you had a heart-breaking expression.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You can go see him.”

“No, it’s unfair! I said I’d go with you.”

“I will be fine, really. It must be very boring for him to stay there with the ball going on.” He gave her a reassuring smile.

“Don’t you want to go with us?” You asked.

“Nah, I want to enjoy the party.”

“If you say so. Thank you, Murphy.” You smiled at him and followed Ben as fast as she could in those hills and holding up the tips of her long dress. At the infirmary, there was only Bill besides Charlie’s bed. As you walked in, you were quickly noticed. Charlie looked up, showing a surprised expression and Bill followed his gaze. In the end, he got to see Y/N. You were beautifully dressed. You usually had her hair down. But tonight, you wavy brown hair was tied up in a curly hairstyle. You were wearing a multilayered light blue dress with shades of pink and orange at the tip of the skirt it made it look like an evening sky.

“You?”

“How are you feeling?” You asked.

“Much better. Madam Pomfrey already took care of everything.”

“How did that happen?”

Bill took this opportunity to left them alone and dragged Ben out.

“Well. I think I’ve got distracted in our last game.” In fact, it was because he heard you were going to the ball with Murphy Mcnully right before the game, and he couldn’t concentrate. Thinking about it again was still hurtful. What reminds him, what were you doing here all dressed up instead?

“I thought you were going to the ball.”

“I was, but when I heard that you got injured… I was worried.”

“Oh! Even though you threw that bludger merciless on me?”

 “That was different! I knew that you would have dodged it. You are that skilful.” That was the reason why you were so surprised when she heard that he fell. His face became red at the sudden compliment.

“That means you forgive me?” He gazed at you with those dark glittering eyes that make you nervous. You averted your gaze and didn’t answer.

“Y/N/N?” He asked and you turned your gaze back to him. He just gave you a pet name? No one has ever called her Y/N/N before. You could feel your cheeks burning, so you shook her head.

“Look. It is not that I don’t care about the ball. What I care about is being with you.”

His heartbeat staggers. It was all he wanted to hear.

“Listen... I’m really sorry for questing your motives. I just... I was just afraid they weren’t the same as mine...” He said, too embarrassed to keep his gaze on you.

At this sentence, you were filled with a newfound joy. You were blushing hard and your eyes were filled with tears of joy you were trying hard not to cry.

“You got to ruin the party, you stupid.”

Charlie laughed.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Now he was grinning at you, his freckled face illuminated by the light from the bedside table’s single candle. Since it was night, the rest of the infirmary was left in darkness.

[thinkingimmensely]

No Expectations

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x Reader / MC [Jacob’s Sibling]

A/N: Hello everyone! I’m back with another x Charlie Weasley fic~ I found this a few days ago while I was going through my drafts and realized this was the prequel for After Breakfast. The story how Y/N and Charlie got together~ I forgot I even had this! So I decided to finish it (I was actually already halfway done with it before going on a hiatus), and now it’s here for you guys to read! <3 I hope you all like it because this was a lot of fun! 

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything in the Potterverse!

———————————————

The leaves crunched beneath your boots with every step you took as you neared a homely cottage; its roofs rigged, a few of the wall boards had scratches and smoke coming out of its chimney.

As you stood outside the door with your hand raised to knock on the entranceway, you thought if this really was a good idea.

It’s been a year.

A year since you last saw Charlie Weasley since the lot of you graduated from Hogwarts and he immediately whisked away to Romania to follow his dreams to be among dragons while you tried to get your life together. Gringotts offered you a job— cursebreaker. The very title that was practically engraved in you right now. The only upside was that you got to work beside Bill Weasley, Charlie’s older brother and one of your best friends.

You could’ve gotten any job you wanted, your Professors back at Hogwarts even said so, but something inside you yearned for the familiar, at least for that moment in your life.

The door opened even before you got the chance to knock and you were left stunned, your hand still raised.

Charlie Weasley still had that effect on you.

He looked quite shock too, but a huge smile instantly broke out when he realized it was you. “You’re here!” Did his voice always sound that deep?

You smiled back at him, and he pulled you in for a quick hug– nothing intimate at all, he still smells like grass and honeysuckle though.

When you two pulled apart he opened the door wider and motioned for you to come in; the cottage surely wasn’t as lively as The Burrow, but it still had a similar aura to it. He had the kettle brewing with chamomile– your favorite. Your heart leapt a little at such consideration as you placed your bag down beside the sofa.

“This place is nice.” You commented and removed your coat.

He shrugged, “Well yeah, it’s pretty neat; and no brothers who take my stuff without permission so...” he trailed off and took your coat from your hands and hung it by the door.

When he stopped, you looked at him and raised a brow; he was looking right back at you but realization dawned in his features and he quickly turned away and cleared his throat. “Um, tea?”

You beamed, “Yes please.” He immediately shuffled towards the kitchen area and turned the stove off. He whisked his wand towards the cupboard and the cups came floating towards the table, softly landing on tiny plates.

After a few minutes, the both of you sat around the small dinner table with a cup of hot tea steaming on your hands. You took a sip and savored the the hot drink. “So,” you started, “when are you showing me the dragons?”

He grinned at you at that, he always was excited to anything related to dragons. “Is tomorrow good? I wanted to show you the entire sanctuary! We can go first thing in the morning.”

You talked more freely afterwards, like you two haven’t ever been apart. You had asked him all that he’s been up to, if he made any new friends and such. He had, actually, his companions at the sanctuary were as much his friends than the lot of you had been at Hogwarts were.

You had soon relocated to the sofa at the living room where he told you stories of how he got Hagrid’s dragon Norberta out of Hogwarts; Liz, Barnaby, Tonks and Tulip had helped him with that and you wished you’d been there too; but you and Bill were probably stuck at a ruin somewhere in Egypt at that time.

“So what about you?” He asked.

You quirked a brow, “What about me?”

He nodded and unconsciously scooted a little closer to you. “What’s new with you, I mean. Tell me anything and everything.” He leaned forward, his undivided attention on you.

You thought about it. What was new with you? Your hairstyle may have changed, you grew a little taller before stopping altogether but you had an inkling he wasn’t interested in any of that. So you shrugged, “Nothing, I guess? I mean... I’m basically the same since I left. Curses and all that. I don’t have any interesting stories like you.”

Charlie scoffed and leaned back on the couch, his head craned to look up at the ceiling and you flushed as your eyes studied his features for the umpteenth time that day. “Everything about you is interesting to me, Y/N. Ever since Hogwarts, and it hasn’t changed since.”

He turned towards you with a look you had never seen his face before. A look you saw on Andre Egwu when you had asked him to the Celestial Ball, the look when Barnaby Lee told you he liked you very much, right in front of Ismelda Murke no less when the lass was professing her feelings for him, and also the look Talbott Winger gave you when the both of you went on your first date together. But never Charlie.

Never Charlie Weasley.

Charlie smiled sweetly then got off the couch telling you that he had to prepare for dinner.

Were your eyes playing tricks on you? Or were you just seeing what you wanted to see for the past three years when you guys walked the halls of Hogwarts together? Because why now? True, you hadn’t been obvious about your feelings for the redhead before, but were you that obvious right now?

Calm down, this was nothing. You chastised yourself mentally. Things were always easier when you had no expectations regarding the ginger. You’ve never had any expectations that he’d notice how your gaze always found him, how every time you’ve ever hugged him, your touch always lingered for more than necessary as a friend. How you were willing to run away with him that one time during 6th year. Just to get away from everything, just to be with him.

“You know,” he called out from the kitchen, bringing you out of your hung-up thoughts about him, “There’s a pub just below the mountain. We should go there after dinner. It’s a homey place, good for a drink.”

You stood up from the couch and leaned against the entranceway of the kitchen, “Charles Weasley, I didn’t know you drank.” You said.

He grinned and gave you a shrug. “Occasionally, and you being here is an occasion isn’t it?” He got the pot out of the stove and placed it down on the table. “I mean, it’s not everyday I could snatch you away from my brother’s side.” He laughed.

You chuckled and took a pair of plates and utensils from his cupboard and set it down the table. What’s Bill got to do with anything? You thought idly as you sat and the two of you started eating dinner.

Right after doing the dishes, the two of you began your journey down the mountain to that pub Charlie mentioned. At one time, you almost slipped, luckily he held your arm just in time. “Careful.” He muttered as you regained your balance. He held your hand the rest of the way down. ‘So you wouldn’t slip again’ he said, and you were thankful for the night because you literally could feel the blood rush to your face.

The pub was quaint, there weren’t a lot of people either. Only wizards and witches went here, Charlie informed you as you took your seats.

“Ey Charlie! Surprised to see you here mate.” One person called out as a group of people entered the pub.

The two of you turned and Charlie immediately got off his seat and clasped hands with the group, greeting them. They approached you, wide smiles on their faces, “Y/N, these are my mates back at the Sanctuary. Guys, this is Y/N, we went to Hogwarts together.”

You got off your seat as well and extended your hand, which they gladly shook one by one, and they all started talking at the same time.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Charlie told us a lot about you.”

“Did you know that he carries a picture of you around?”

“It’s true, takes it everywhere with ‘im.”

Charlie pushed them all away, “Okay boys, that’s enough, try not to overwhelm her will ya?” He laughed.

The waiter served your drinks, two glasses of butterbeer. “Sorry about them. They always tend to overshare.” Charlie apologized, his face was flushed which took you aback.

Charlie Weasley was blushing?

“It’s alright, they’re a fun bunch. Seems like good people too, I can see why you’re friends with them.” You replied in a smile, taking a sip of the froth of your butterbeer; it wasn’t like Madam Rosmerta’s butterbeer, but it was close. “You carry around a picture of me?” You asked.

He flushed a deeper shade of red and you thought that was absolutely adorable. He cleared his throat, gulping down his butterbeer. “I-um...” he stammered, “I’ll go order us another serving yea?” He stood up and headed to the counter, escaping you and your confused look as fast as he can.

Did he perhaps...? You shook your head in denial, no expectations, you reminded yourself, no expectations.

You couldn’t help the frown that made its way as you saw a woman approach Charlie, a smile on her face and her hand on his arm as she chatted him up.

She fluttered her long lashes at him and flipped her hair back suggestively. You gulped down your butterbeer and stood up and made your way towards them.

“Maybe you and I can grab a few drinks sometime?” The woman flashed him her white pearls.

Before Charlie could even reply, you arrived by his side and his attention shifted to you fully. “Sorry, but he’s busy.” You interjected and grabbed your friend and pulled him back to your table, missing the way he smiled brightly at you. You took the shot of firewhiskey from his hand and downed it.

“You okay?” He hesitantly asked, his brow arched in curiosity.

“Of course.” You immediately answered. No expectations, you reminded yourself for the umpteenth time that day.

Besides that minor incident with the random lady, the rest of the night was relatively enjoyable. You switched your butterbeer for firewhiskey after that shot and the two of you joined Charlie’s friends and had a blast time sharing grand adventures and embarrassing stories.

By the time the both of you arrived back at the cottage, you were hammered, giggling at every little thing.

You crashed in the sofa with Charlie, the wood crackling at the fireplace, you two were still talking, energy nearly spent as your voices softened and more sighs escaped your lips. You were distinctly aware how the both of you were closely huddled up on the sofa, and maybe if you didn’t have alcohol running through your veins right now, you would’ve been embarrassed and utterly self conscious.

You looked at Charlie to find him already staring at you silently. He reached out to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear and caressed your cheek lovingly.

“You’re beautiful.”

Your eyes widened and you could feel your heart hammering wildly against your chest. You gulped and wet your lips, an action that made him look down to it, and making his eyes glaze with an emotion you dared not even think about.

You took his hand in yours, “You’re much of a looker yourself.” You tried to pass it off as a joke, a compliment from one friend to another, but your voice wavered and you prayed he didn’t notice.

He grasped your hand tightly, you hoped he couldn’t hear your heart beat because it would be a dead giveaway of your outpouring feelings right now. He kissed the back your hand, and then slowly leaned in towards you.

Closing your eyes, you felt his lips press against yours soon after and you thought your heart might give out because this was everything.

You kissed him back almost immediately and he pulled you closer towards him, his hand behind your head while his other hand rested on your waist.

Your fingers ran through his soft locks as Charlie slipped his tongue inside yours, deepening the kiss and you barely register the fact that you were already leaning down on the sofa, the man of your dreams on top of you.

The kiss was intoxicating and you couldn’t get enough of him. Of his taste, of his smell, of his entire being and you would’ve been alright with the fact that his hand played with the hem of your sweater, itching to touch your skin until a dragon’s roar vibrated the entire house.

It was like you’ve been dumped with a bucket of ice cold water as you pushed him away from you. Trying to catch your breath, surprise and realization dawning on you on what was just about to happen had you not come to your senses.

“You’re drunk.” You stated with a shaky voice. “Hell, maybe I’m drunk too.” You mind was reeling as you ran a hand through your hair, frustrated at yourself, whatever happened to no expectations?

“I’m sober enough to know what I was doing.” He breathed, and that confession ignited that little ray of hope inside you. He didn’t try to close the distance between you right now, which you were thankful for. He always was considerate, and that made you fall a little harder.

You wrapped your arms around yourself, you could feel your eyes water because you loved Charlie Weasley. Loved him so much that it hurt. “What are we doing, Charlie?” That wasn’t what you wanted to ask him, but somehow you just couldn’t get the right words out.

Charlie faced you, and took your hands in his again; you didn’t even try to pull away and maybe that’s what fueled the determined look in his eye. You were there, sitting across him, with your heart on your sleeves, waiting for him to say something, anything.  

“I-“ he started, and took a deep, steadying breath, “I’m in love with you.”

———————————————

Related Stories: After Breakfast | Before Dinner

Permanent Taglist:

@oreofrappiewithblueberry , @coffeeismylife28

[alice-beaumont-ravenclaw]

Feliz Ano Novo!

A/N #1: Finally! Fic #4 of my Brazil series! In this story, the gang celebrate New Year’s Eve in Rio. 

Brazil series: Hottest Spot South of Havana (Part 1) | Hottest Spot South of Havana (Part 2) | A Wonderful Surprise | História

Word count: 3688

Alice’s outfit | Playlist (The last songs (starting with Carioca) are mostly bossa nova, except for the very last ones, while the ones at the beginning have more of a samba beat)

“Have you seen Alice?” 

Andre had just barged into the boys’ suite, looking slightly panicked.

“Isn’t it more likely she would be in the girls’ room?” pointed out Diego.

“I come from there! I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Charlie, do you know where your girlfriend is?”

“Last I saw her, we were all by the pool this afternoon when the concierge called her over, and she said she had to go fetch something. Haven’t seen her since,” replied Charlie.

“Ugh! I’m supposed to get her ready for the reception this evening,” said Andre, raising his hand to his forehead in desperation.

“Alice needs help to get dressed? Is she sick?” asked Barnaby, raising an eyebrow as he looked toward Andre.

“What? No! It’s just that I am in charge of the way she looks, and if it’s not perfect, it will look bad on me. My reputation will be ruined!” exclaimed Andre, falling on a nearby sofa.

“Don’t you mean you made yourself in charge of the way I look?” asked a voice coming from the doorway. “Not to mention no one in Rio knows that you are in charge of my look.”

“Alice!” exclaimed all four boys when they saw the Ravenclaw standing there, her arms crossed as a smile played on her lips.

“I thought you had a deadly disease!” said Barnaby.

“Where were you?” asked Charlie, noticing the plastic bag she was holding.

“Will I have a dance with you this evening?” chimed in Diego, ignoring Charlie’s glare.

But before Alice could say anything, Andre took her arm and started pulling her toward the girls’ suite. “No time for that! You can answer them all later. Time to get you ready for the reception!” he said before his head popped back into the doorway. “That also goes for you, gentlemen. Stop messing about and get ready!”

As the boys started to get dressed in their room, the girls’ room looked as if a hurricane had passed through it. Clothes were all over the living room as if Tulip’s and Tonks’ luggage had exploded. Which, in fact, they had.

“What happened?” exclaimed Andre and Alice, looking at the scene before noticing Penny. She stood silent in a corner, her eyes wide.

“Tulip brought magical firecrackers with her, and they exploded,” said Tonks, pointing her finger at Tulip.

“Jae Kim is untrustworthy. He sold me defective firecrackers!” grumbled Tulip. 

“That does not explain why Tonks’ suitcase also seems to have exploded,” said Andre as he picked up a charred t-shirt, wrinkling his nose before letting it drop to the floor.

“I may have hidden some in her suitcase…” said Tulip, looking away, her lips pursed.

“My autographed Weird Sisters t-shirt!” exclaimed Tonks, holding up the remnants of a t-shirt.

“Why does Penny look shell-shocked?” whispered Andre.

“Exploding pillow incident?” wondered Alice, though she had her doubts. 

“No,” said Penny as she walked over to Alice and Andre. “It just hit me that my vacation would be way better without these two.”

“Come on… They’re not that bad,” said Alice just as Tonks turned Tulip’s hair purple.

“You were saying?” said Andre.

“Ugh… Alright. Andre, close the door,” said Alice as she dropped her bag on a chair and took out her wand. “Silencio!” she said, pointing her wand at both Tonks and Tulip. She then cast a spell on all the clothes in the room to put them back in the suitcase. “Good thing Flitwick taught us that packing charm two years ago,” she said as she watched the pieces of clothing neatly get inside the bags.

“I love watching that spell at work,” said Andre as he turned Tulip’s hair back to its bright red colour.

“Honestly, I’d rather if we didn’t have to use any of these spells. Can’t you two ever be quiet?” said Penny as she sat on the sofa, glaring at the currently mute girls.

“Well, they currently are…” pointed out Alice.

“That’s because you used the Silencing Charm on them. As soon as it wears off, Tonks will scream bloody murder about her Weird Sisters t-shirt. Tulip will just say how boring we are for preventing her from destroying the hotel,” said Penny, massaging her temples.

Alice turned to her two silent friends, who were both looking down at the floor. “Look… I know your definition of fun may differ from mine or Penny’s,” she started saying, “but I think we can find a way to compromise so that we can all enjoy our vacation. But first, let’s deal with the situation at hand. Tulip, if you have anything else that goes BOOM, let me know so that we can dispose of them without creating a mess. Tonks, I’m pretty sure we can repair your Weird Sisters t-shirt, and worst-case scenario, I’m pretty sure that getting another one won’t be too hard considering they are all still at Hogwarts. Now, apologize to Penny.”

“Alice… they can’t speak,” whispered Andre before making his way to the bedroom.

“Oops, sorry, forgot about that. Finite Incantatem,” said Alice, flicking her wand.

“Sorry, Penny,” said Tonks and Tulip.

“Great! Now that that’s over, time to get ready for the party. Alice, I placed your outfit on the bed. I’ll go back to my room to get changed and come back for your hair and makeup. Chop chop!” said Andre as he left the girls’ suite.

All four girls looked at the door closing behind Andre when Tulip turned towards Alice. “Alice Beaumont?” she asked. “Why is Andre Egwu always planning your outfits?”

“I… don’t know, actually. I think it all started with the Celestial Ball. I asked him to create an outfit for Rowan and Ben, and he then wanted to take care of my look.”

“Wait… he actually planned one of your outfits before that. Remember when we went to the Proms?” said Penny.

“You’re right! Either way, beats being thrown fashion magazines at,” said Alice, rubbing her head.

“And if we don’t want him to throw the magazines he brought for this trip at our heads, we should get ready before he comes back,” pointed out Tonks.

About 40 minutes later, the girls came out of their room, preceded by Andre. Tonks was wearing golden flared pants with a black off-the-shoulder top, along with sneakers, to Andre’s chagrin. Tulip wore a short halter-neck dark blue dress with a raven motif on it and bronze flat sandals. Penny had a yellow midi-length dress with a cowl neck that was a little form-fitting, paired with black sandals with stiletto heels. 

Finally came Alice in a green A-line dress made from layers of floaty silk organza with a draped bodice. Her feet wear adorned with a pair of high-heel golden sandals with a golden sequin rose on the side of the ankle. Her accessories remained simple, with a vintage gold necklace with a charm in the shape of a heart around her neck, a gold ring with a beautiful indigo blue quartz stone on her finger, and a golden headband of overlapping hoops in her softly curled hair. The look was completed by a small clutch embellished with golden mirrored beaded embroidery. 

“Are these… the colour of the Brazilian flag?” asked Alanza, who was waiting in the corridor with the other boys in a simple white dress and silver gladiator sandals.

“Oh, Merlin, you think it’s tacky, right? I told Andre…” started saying Alice, ready to head back in her room.

“What? Oh! No! It actually looks lovely! I mean, it’s usually reserved for football matches here; otherwise, we don’t really wear our flag’s colour, but it’s very subtle in your outfit,” tried reassuring Alanza.

Unfortunately, both Andre and Alice looked mortified and ready to crawl under a rock. 

“Alanza just said Alice looks great,” said Charlie, as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s waist from behind. “So let’s go have some fun and celebrate New Year’s Eve before the party ends.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear! Let’s go have some fun!” exclaimed Tonks, running to the elevators.

“By the way, what’s the drinking age in Brazil?” asked Tulip.

“TULIP!” yelled all her Hogwarts friends before Alanza could answer.

As they entered the Copacabana Palace’s reception room, they were dazzled by the decor, fellow attendees, and the live music. After being shown to their table, the girls headed straight to the dance floor, attracted by the lively music. The boys chatted about various topics, until someone caught Diego’s attention.

“How is Tonks dancing?” asked Diego as he observed the girls.

Tonks was squatting, swaying her hips as she gyrated her fist above her head.

“She looks like she’s about to throw an invisible lasso,” said Andre. “And… yup, Tulip just decided to join her.”

“At least neither seem to care about the looks they are getting,” commented Diego.

“Alanza really seems to be enjoying herself,” remarked Barnaby.

“Indeed. She and Penny are really graceful on the dancefloor. As for Alice,” added Diego, glancing toward Charlie, “her dancing skills have really improved since I first taught you two how to waltz for the Celestial Ball.”

“I honestly never thought we’d get through that without falling flat on our faces,” said Charlie, sighing as he remembered that evening.

“I heard you two nearly kissed that night…” said Diego, smirking.

“Good thing they didn’t, or we might never have had that kiss on the Quidditch pitch. If it wasn’t for that kiss, I wouldn’t even be certain these two were dating,” said Andre.

“Don’t forget the glow they both had coming out of that field last summer,” said Penny as she sat down. “That’s more evidence they are an item.”

“Penny...” said Alice through gritted teeth, daggers shooting out of her eyes as the other girls sat down and Charlie’s face turned a bright shade of red.

“Sorry, sorry. But Andre’s right. It’s not like you two act like a couple around Hogwarts,” pointed out Penny.

“It’s called being discreet,” replied Alice.

“Jae Kim did tell me he once caught them asleep on a sofa in the Gryffindor common room,” said Tulip.

“Did he?” said Penny, a glimmer in her eyes as they fell on Alice and Charlie.

“Oh, look! Our food is coming!” exclaimed Alice, ignoring Penny as Charlie took a big gulp of his champagne.

As the waiters placed the plates in front of them, Penny’s gaze remained on Alice, the corner of her mouth quirking up.

As they started to eat, Penny cleared her throat, “So―”

“We were studying and fell asleep,” interrupted Alice, not looking up from her plate. “Nothing worth alerting the press. On the other hand, Beatrice mentioned something about you snogging a certain someone instead of helping him study potion.” Alice’s eyes looked in Diego’s direction before slowly looking up at Penny’s face.

Penny’s cheek turned a light shade of pink as she stared at Alice, ignoring everyone’s gaze on her. She wouldn’t, would she? Then again, when push comes to shove, Alice wasn’t the kind to necessarily take the high road. No one could know Diego Caplan had once successfully seduced her. “The food really is delicious,” she finally said. 

“Talk about a segue,” pointed out Tonks as she looked between Penny and Alice.

From then, the conversation took different direction, from Alanza’s time at Hogwarts to last summer’s Quidditch World Cup. Diego tried discussing samba techniques with Alanza, who revealed she had no idea how to dance a proper samba. She just danced to the beat of the music. Alanza seemed to enjoy listening to Barnaby talk about magical creatures. Andre was looking around at the other guests’ outfits, relieved they weren’t the only one in colourful clothes. Tulip and Tonks were whispering to one another, which made Penny down her champagne flute.

“By the way… How come we have a champagne bottle on our table? I thought Alanza said we had to be 18 to get alcohol,” said Alice, finally noticing the golden liquid in the flute next to her glass of water.

“Ah! I only said the legal drinking age was 18. But it’s not hard for teens to buy it,” corrected Alanza.

“Not to mention we do have someone who is 18 at our table,” said Andre, looking at Charlie.

“Oh! That’s right! Charlie Weasley is the oldest one here! Thanks for the booze, dear elder!” exclaimed Tulip from across the table, raising near-empty her glass.

“Don’t overdo it, Tulip. Champagne gets you drunk faster than you think, not to mention the hungover...” warned Alice.

“You got drunk on champagne?” asked Barnaby, taking a sip from his glass.

“No, it’s just something I heard my parents say,” Alice said, shrugging.

“Come to think of it… I never saw you drink alcohol. Not even firewhiskey at parties,” noted Tonks.

“That’s because she got sick as a kid because there was alcohol in a cake she ate,” explained Charlie.

Everyone stared at him.

“You… remembered that story I told you?” asked Alice, her hand over her chest, her eyes blinking quickly.

“How adorable!” said Penny, clapping her hands together before resting her cheek on them.

“It’s sickening,” said Tonks and Tulip.

Charlie’s face grew hotter as everyone was looking at him. Why was it so impressive that he remembered something Alice told him? He didn’t like everyone looking at him like he had discovered a new species of dragons when all he had done was remember a story. Taking Alice’s hand, he said, “Let’s go dance,” pulling her out of her chair.

“But… dessert?” said Alice as she followed him.

“Not really hungry anymore.”

As the couple made their way to the dance floor, everyone else at the table looked at them.

“They are so cute together,” gushed Penny.

“How long before he proposes?” asked Tonks, smirking.

“Well, according to Jae Kim, many have bet that―” started saying Tulip. She realized all eyes were on her and said eyes were all wide. “It was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?”

Tonks nodded.

As everyone else shook their heads in dismay, Barnaby looked confused. “Who’s betting on what?”

“Come,” said Alanza, gently taking his hand, “let’s go dance.”

Back on the dance floor, Charlie and Alice were swaying to the bossa nova music playing. Alice’s mind seemed elsewhere, as she kept frowning as she looked at something over his shoulder.

“Is everything alright?” asked Charlie.

“Mmm? Oh! Yes! Sorry… It’s just that I’ve been thinking about what Alanza said,” replied Alice.

“What Alanza said?” echoed Charlie, his eyebrow quirking up.

“About my outfit’s… colour palette,” said Alice, looking back at whatever was behind Charlie.

“Alice, I already told you. You look amazing in your dress.”

“I know, but look around. I’m the only one wearing all the colours of the Brazilian flag.”

Charlie did as Alice asked. He noticed that many were wearing white like Alanza, while others were wearing various colours. Alice was right. She was the only one wearing the colours of the national flag. 

“Maybe if I removed the ring…” muttered Alice, removing her hand from Charlie’s shoulder.

“What ring?” asked Charlie, returning his attention to his girlfriend.

“That ring!” said Alice as she stopped dancing, trying to pull the ring off of her finger. When she finally did, she looked around. “Left my clutch at the table, be right back,” she said as she started to walk away.

Charlie grabbed her wrist. “Wait. I can put your ring in my pocket,” he said, pointing to his pocket.

“You don’t mind?”

“Of course not. Unless your ring weighs a ton, I’ll barely notice it.”

Alice chuckled and gave him the ring. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he said, tucking the ring in his pocket before placing his hand back on the small of her back while the other took her hand. “You know I’ll always be there for you, right?”

Alice raised her brows. “It’s just a ring, Charlie.”

Charlie shook his head.“Yeah, no, I meant in general,” he said, looking into her green eyes, “I’ll stand by you, no matter what.”

Alice stared back at him, looking into his warm brown eyes. “Charlie…” She started to lean forward when―

“And I'll never desert you,” sang Tonks in a whisper as she stood next to them with Tulip. The couple hadn’t noticed them dancing nearby, too focused on one another.

“I’ll stand by you,” completed Tulip, before they ran off.

“Tonks! Tulip!” exclaimed Alice, ready to run after them, but Charlie pulled her closer to him.

“Let them. My own fault for sounding so cheesy,” said Charlie, a corner of his mouth quirking up as he rolled his eyes.

“It wasn’t―” started saying Alice, only to notice Charlie raising an eyebrow at her. “Ok, maybe it was a little, but most romantic things could be considered cheesy in some way.”

“You thought it was romantic?”

 Alice nodded. “I was actually about to kiss you when these two interrupted,” she said, her face becoming slightly red as she looked down.

Charlie let go of her hand and used his finger to gently lift her chin up. “Were you?” he said, leaning forward to close the distance between them.

As their lips were about to meet, Alanza arrived beside them, pulling Barnaby behind her. “Come on, you two! People are making their way to the beach for the countdown,” she said before disappearing into the crowd with Barnaby.

“And people wonder why they never saw us kiss in public,” grumbled Charlie as he took Alice’s hand.

“We keep getting interrupted,” said Alice with a little laugh escaping her lips as she took her clutch from the table.

They made their way through the crowd toward the doors that led outside. The horde was getting denser, and Alice could feel her pulse quicken and her shoulders getting tense. She needed to get out of that crowd. Now.

She let go of Charlie’s hand. “I… I think I forgot something in my room. Be right back,” she said before she started walking in the opposite direction.

Charlie looked at her silhouette disappear into the crowd, puzzled until he remembered her running out of the Celestial Ball. And her taking his hand after that concert. And at the Quidditch World Cup…

He spotted Andre and shouted, “I’ll just go back to the room with Alice. I think she’s not feeling well.” After Andre nodded to indicate he had heard him, Charlie made his way through the crowd to the elevators. 

There were a few people around the elevators, but Alice wasn’t there. She must already be upstairs, thought Charlie to himself. He got onto an elevator, and when he arrived at the Penthouse floor, he went straight to the door of her suite and knocked. No answers. He knocked again. Still nothing. Maybe she was on the balcony. He got into his room and made his way to the balcony. He turned to look over at the girls’ suite’s balcony. There she was, quietly sitting in a chair, looking down at the crowd on the beach.

“There you are,” said Charlie, smiling.

Alice looked up, her eyes wide. “Oh! Charlie? You startled me.”

“I’ll come and join you,” he said, making his way toward the balustrade that stood between their two balconies.

“I’ll go and open the―” started saying Alice as she got up from her chair.

“No need,” said Charlie, jumping over the railing. As he landed, they heard something metallic fall to the ground.

“What was that?” asked Alice, looking around.

“Your ring!” said Charlie, a look of realization in his eyes. “Don’t move. It probably didn’t fall too far.” He looked around until he saw something glint on the floor. “There it is!” he exclaimed, raising the ring from the floor.

His eyes suddenly widened as he realized the position he was in. He was on one knee with a ring in his hand while Alice was standing in front of him. He blushed, but the darkness of the evening prevented Alice from seeing it. She simply stared at him, blinking. Did she realize what this scene looked like? Charlie decided to try something.

“May I?” he asked, taking her left hand. He slid the ring on her ring finger before looking up to see her reaction.

Alice raised her hand, looking at the ring on her finger. “I think,” she started, staring at the ring,” I was wearing it on my right hand.”

“What?” said Charlie, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes… see, it’s a bit loose on that finger, but I think it fits snugly on the other hand. See, fingers are…” started explaining Alice.

Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle. Of course, Alice had not realized what the situation had looked like. Romantic gestures usually flew right over her head unless they were obvious. That was part of her charm, really. Lost in those thoughts, as Alice explained the difference between fingers, he suddenly realized the music on the beach had stopped and that the DJ was saying something that got the crowd excited.

“Alice,” he said, interrupting her monologue.

“Yes?”

“I think they are about to start the countdown.”

“You think?” she asked.

Before he could answer, they heard the crowd on the beach shout, “DEZ!”

“I think you're right,” said Alice as she walked to the railing to get a better view.

“NOVE!”

Charlie got up from the floor and walked over to Alice, hugging her from behind.

“OITO!”

Alice looked up at Charlie, smiling softly.

“SETE!”

“I love you,” she said.

“SEIS!”

Charlie looked down at her, his eyes wide with surprise. It was the first time she had ever said this to him.

“CINCO!”

Seeing the tenderness in her eyes, he smiled back.

“QUATRO!”

“I love you too,” he said.

“TRÊS!”

He leaned down.

“DOIS!”

She closed her eyes.

“UM!”

Their lips were about to touch.

“FELIZ ANO NOVO!”

“Happy New Year,” he whispered before his lips covered hers.

As he felt Alice melt into his kiss, Charlie couldn’t help to think back at that moment when he had slipped that ring on her finger and the warmth he felt as he did so.

A/N #2: I hope you enjoyed this fic! Next up: Ipanema!

[charlieweasleyxmc]

The Boy with the

Dragons

(Y/N) woke from her sleep, feeling as though she had heard something.

She sat up in bed, glancing at where Rowan and her other (Y/H) roommates slept, finding them all asleep.

She searched around for any other noise that could have disturbed her into wakefulness. When she could not immediately find the culprit, she began to lay back down to go back to bed.

That was when the second stone pinged the window.

(Y/N) whipped her head around to look at the glass. Both stones, the one which had woken her, and the one which had just clicked against the glass, were stuck against the glass pane of the window.

(Y/N) wondered what charm had gotten them to the window outside her dorms and then what sticking charm had managed to keep them there. But instead of wondering over it she decided to go straight to the source.

Those stones appeared in only one place outside the Quidditch pitch and there was only one person that she could think of who would chuck them at her window to call her outside in the middle of the night.

And why not? Tomorrow was Saturday.

(Y/N) smiled, rising from her bed very slowly so as not to disturb the others. She changed her pants quickly and grabbed her coat.

When she got out of the castle and to the training grounds, Charlie was already waiting for her, a second broom in his other hand.

(Y/N) smiled at him. “What’s this?” she asked.

Charlie shrugged, a sheepish look in his eyes. “Madam Pomfrey just told me it was okay to leave the hospital wing today,” he said. “I figured that meant that it was also okay to do quidditch.”

(Y/N) shared a secret smile with him, not sure if that was exactly what Madam Pomphrey had meant, but he looked good, healthier even than he might have looked before his injury. She nodded, the moon their only light.

“Just don't expect to beat me,” she said, a mischievous tone in her voice.

Charlie shook his head.

“I would never expect that.”

With equally bright grins, they set off towards the Quidditch pitch.

The wind swept around her, making her feel like some sort of dragon as she flew around the dark quidditch pitch. When she voiced this to Charlie, he yelled back.

“There’s no type of dragon as small as you! Trust me! I know!”

(Y/N) smiled then and continued to whoosh around the stadium. When she finally landed, it was on top of one of the stadium’s towers no less. She looked down at the (Y/H) seats below her. Charlie came swooping, getting off his broom and sitting next to her.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t come to the celestial ball,” she said after a little bit of silence. It had been almost two months since the ball, but every time they had seen each other after, so many friends had been around that (Y/N) hadn’t been able to address it, not how she wanted to.

Charlie shrugged. “You would have probably died on the floor laughing if you’d seen me in my dress robes anyway. They were hammy downs. Bloody awful things. They even had lace.”

(Y/N) laughed. “Well, now you have to try them on for me just so I can see that.”

Charlie gave her a wiry smile. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

She nodded, continuing to chuckle.

“I am sorry,” Charlie said after a long moment, “that I wasn’t able to go with you.”

“Me too,” (Y/N) said, her voice sad.

Charlie looked at her, his eyebrows raised.

“Really?” he said, “I thought…”

“What did you think?”

“Well, I thought that you had a great time with Barnaby…and then you went on that date with Talbott, and then Valentine’s Day with Andre…” he trailed off, but (Y/N) did not fill the silence. “I figured that there were other people you might have wanted to go with more, even than Barnaby, I’m sorry about that.”

He stopped then, waiting for her to respond. And she thought about what he had said.

Yes, it was true, she had had fun with Barnaby at the celestial ball, but that was because she had had fun with all her friends there. It had felt more like a big group of them rather than a date. And it was also true that she had been on that date with Talbott. But there was something so dark and serious about Talbott, and the entire time, she had been more aware for most of the time, how close Tonks and Charlie were. It was true also that she had gone to Valentine’s Day with Andre.

She blushed then, thinking of how that date ended, and was grateful for the dark of the night so that Charlie couldn’t see her face.

Andre was so sweet. But there was one thing about that date that had always sat with her as uneasy and she knew then what it was. Despite all the rumors about her and Jae being in detention together, Murphy and her discussing quidditch, and those that she had gone on dates with. It had been nice.

But she had had experiences that had been nicer than all of those.

An umbrella held over her head on a rainy day.

Chasing each other around the quidditch field after everyone had gone.

A golden dragon, which was still hanging around her neck.

A dragon and phoenix patronus, glittering in the night sky.

Plates of chicken clattering to the ground and a feast of her favorite dishes and chocolate.

A hug in a corridor here, and a squeeze of her hand there.

Being held on a stairwell and in that stone alcove.

She longed to grip the dragon necklace under her sweater, but why do that, when the real thing was sitting right beside her?

(Y/N) reached out, feeling until she clumsily found Charlie’s hand.

He held her hand too, turning to look at her.

A look passed between two friends that had felt like something …something else that had passed between them that day when they thought that the Ice Knight had returned.

And it was passing between them again now.

And she couldn’t. She couldn’t. She didn’t want to change anything. To ruin their friendship. She didn’t want to lose the boy who had given her that necklace, had held her, had protected her.

She pulled her hand away, but smiled at him.

“I’m glad we’re friends.”

Charlie smiled back.

“Me too.”

[nonie-star]

6 or 10 enemies to lovers prompt!

Thank you so much for the ask! You gave me two of my favourite prompts, so it was pretty hard to choose, but I settled on 6.

6. "I saw you with them and I couldn't keep lying to myself. When a person is your enemy, you doing get jealous that someone else has their affection."

It was the morning of Nonie and Merula's two year anniversary. Or well... something like that. Counting their time at Hogwarts, they had been a couple for much longer. But seeing as they had broken up shortly after leaving Hogwarts, they weren't sure how to count it. So eventually, they had simply settled on celebrating today.

"Wake up Star... Staaaar..." Merula softly shook Nonie's arm. But Nonie shook her head and turned on her other side. "No... sleep..." Merula rolled her eyes and shook her harder. “Come on, I made you breakfast, you idiot! I even made you coffee... but too bad, if you don’t want it...” With a little smile Nonie sat up. “Fine... Happy anniversary Mer.”

Merula sat down on her own side of the bed and put a tray with breakfast between them. “Chocolate pancakes?” Nonie asked. “You sure know the way to my heart.” Merula shook her head, exclaiming that it wasn’t hard to tell how much of a chocoholic Nonie really was. But then she smiled. “Happy anniversary, Star.”

Nonie laughed. “You could really start calling me Nonie, you know? But I guess old habits die hard.“ “As long as you keep wearing that dirty old hair clip, I will continue to call you Star.” Merula argued.

After breakfast, Nonie offered to do the dishes. Usually she would attempt to weasel her way out of doing them, by reminding Merula of the “devil’s snare incident” as she called it, telling her that she owed her for life, so she had to do the dishes. But not today, after Merula had already made her breakfast.

“Why don’t you stay home today..?” Merula asked, lovingly wrapping her arms around Nonie. “It’s our anniversary after all... you can miss one day of work...” Nonie laughed, reminding her that her work was important. She had some really big missions coming up that she needed to prepare for. “Also, I’m always worried that if I’m not there, Tonks and Talbott will kill each other.”

Merula hugged her even tighter. “Are you certain you have to go? Your idiot friends will be fine without you for a day.” But Nonie wasn’t persuaded. She turned around and gave her girlfriend a kiss, promising her that they would celebrate in the evening. After all, Merula had work to do as well. “But I need to go now. If I’m late again, Talbott will get annoyed. I barely made it on time yesterday...”

“Why are you so smiley today?” Tonks asked Nonie, seeming very curious. Her friend had not stopped smiling since she had come into work this morning.

Continue to smile, Nonie explained that today was Merula and her anniversary, and that she had a surprise planned for her girlfriend. She had been planning this for a little while, yet Merula still had no clue.

“You know how much I suck at keeping secrets, so that makes it even more exciting...” Tonks laughed. “Well, good for you. And yes, you do indeed suck at keeping secrets.”

It was in the late afternoon that Nonie returned home. She knew that Merula wouldn’t be home for a little while, so she had some time to set up.

It was nothing extravagant, just a small dinner on their balcony. Nonie thought that it was pretty funny that Merula had a similar idea, since she had made her breakfast this morning. And well.. Nonie also had a little gift for her that she would surely like. 

Neither of them had wanted something major for their anniversary. They were used to keeping their relationship on the down low, at first because Merula, the “most powerful witch at Hogwarts” (that self-appointed nickname still made Nonie chuckle sometimes, and she used every opportunity she could to tease her girlfriend with it) had wanted to keep it secret while they were still attending school, as not to ruin her image. And now that they were adults... well, Merula was still an Ex-death eater... even if joining had not been her choice.

Even though she wasn’t well known, and her escape had been three years ago... she still preferred to keep a low profile. Nonie understood. They finally got to be happy now, if Merula was found out...  Joining the death eaters had never been her choice. She had been forced to join by some of her parents old friends... 

After her parents had been pretty good at what they were doing, Merula had been seen as a valuable recruit. Valuable enough to warrant taking desperate measures to get her to join. These desperate measures included hurting everyone she loved and cared about.  And... not seeing another way out, Merula had accepted, hating herself for being a death eater, having ended up like her parents, more and more every day. 

But eventually, she had seen her chance to run...

Nonie and Merula had been through quite a lot over the last few years.  Since that day Merula showed up at Nonie’s doorstep, over three years ago, bloody and panting, having deserted the death eaters... so much had happened... 

“Star, where are you?” Merula asked when she returned home. There was no sign of her girlfriend anywhere. “Helloooooo...”  She walked through their small flat, peeking into every room. There really wasn’t that many possibilities where she could be hiding.  “Gismo, have you seen Star?” she asked Nonie’s cat, that was sleeping on their bed. He just looked up, made a faint meowing sound, and went back to sleeping.  Merula shook her head. “Useless animal...” 

“What are you doing out here?” Merula asked, as she found Nonie on the balcony.  It was decorated quite beautiful, it somehow reminded her of the celestial ball...  Nonie had set up a small table and two chairs as well.  They rarely ever used their balcony. Nonie was afraid of heights, and Merula just didn’t care for the view. 

Nonie smirked. “You know, you laugh at me for talking to Gismo, but ever so often I hear you do it too.”  Then she told her to sit down, since she had already prepared dinner.  “How burned is it..?” Merula asked, cautious. Then she sat down on one of the chairs Nonie had set up.

Dinner was nice. While eating and having some wine, they reminisced about how they first got together.  “I was so stunned when you asked me to dance with you at the celestial ball.” Nonie said. “If I recall right, you rejected me rather harshly when I asked you to be my date to the ball.” Merula blushed and frowned, saying that of course she did. After all, she had asked her in front of her friends, like it was nothing.  “And to be honest... I told myself that I despised you, that you were my enemy. That I found you idiotic. For searching for the vaults, for mixing up words, for being so nice to me, for always being so... revoltingly happy. Hey, don’t laugh-” 

Nonie couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I never knew happiness could be revolting. Mer...”  Merula shook her head. “I saw you dancing with Khanna, at the celestial ball... and I tried to keep pretending, but...  I saw you with her and I couldn't keep lying to myself. When a person is your enemy, you doing get jealous that someone else has their affection. I know you never dated, but when I saw the two of you, I assumed that you were. That you asked her to the ball instead of me, since I said no.”  She was still quite embarrassed to admit things like this, even though it was so many years ago. 

Nonie shook her head, explaining that back then, Rowan had just wanted to cheer her up. “I was quite upset that you didn’t want to attend the ball with me, since even back then I liked you at lot. I’m still not sure why... but I did. Ever since that day in dark arts class, where you accidentally slammed me into a shelf with a spell, and afterwards actually came to see me in the hospital wing, because you were worried.” 

Now Merula was the one laughing. “Seriously?! That’s when you fell for me? Star, you’re so strange.” But then she smiled. “I think I started to like you very early, I just didn’t want to believe it. Remember when you found me crying, because of that letter I received from my parents..? After all I had done to you, I expected you to make fun of me, to tell everyone that the supposed most powerful witch at Hogwarts was bawling her eyes out, but you didn’t. Instead you comforted me, and never told a soul about what happened. I wasn’t used to that sort of kindness.” 

With a smile, Nonie said that she knew that. “I decided to be extra nice to you from then on. My friends thought I was nuts.”  Merula nodded. “I thought you were mad too. I still think that you are, for being with me. But I’m so glad you are, you weirdo.”  Nonie laughed, and lent over the table to give her a kiss.  “Wait, that reminds me!” she then said, and got up. “I still have a gift for you, wait here!”

Merula watched with an amused smile as her girlfriend dashed inside. She used to think that Nonie being disorganised was just her, but after meeting her family, she had realised that most of the Scheinert’s seemed to be that way.   With a smirk on her face, she waited for her to come back. 

“Close your eyes.” Nonie said, as she walked back onto the balcony.  Merula rolled her eyes, but did as she said. Suddenly, she felt something very small and fluffy in her hands.  “Okay, you can open your eyes now.” Merula looked at her hands. A small orange Puffskein stared back at her.  “It’s so tiny...” Merula said, carefully caressing it’s fur with one of her fingers.  Nonie explained that Barnaby and Rowan’s Puffskein had a litter, and they had offered that she could have one. “I thought you’d like it. After all, you’ve been wanting one ever since we’ve met.” Merula carefully put the Puffskein down, and went to hug Nonie. This was truly a great gift... 

It was much later in the evening that Nonie stood at the banister of the balcony, watching the stars through the small telescope she had owned since Hogwarts. Or... trying to. She couldn’t see very many of them, since they weren’t that visible in the city.  “I should come out here more.” she said. “The view is so incredible that I can look past how high up it is.” 

After not receiving an answer, Nonie turned around. Merula had been awfully quiet for a while now. She was standing a few steps behind her, the small Puffskein they had named Ernie sitting on her shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”  Merula just shrugged, so Nonie turned back to watching the stars. 

“Eleonore?” Merula suddenly asked.  Nonie lowered the telescope. “... Yes?” she asked, slightly confused and maybe even a little freaked out. Merula had never called her by her actual first name before. On occasion she would call her Nonie, but never Eleonore. 

“I love you.” Merula said. “I really do.”  Nonie smiled. “Well, I love you too. It’s always nice to hear you say that.”  Merula rarely ever did. She preferred to convey her affection through gestures rather than words. Just like she was doing now, walking over to Nonie and pulling her into a hug. 

“I still think you’re an idiot... for always sticking with me. After all that I’ve done..”  Nonie shook her head. “Believe me, sometimes I feel like an idiot too. But I’m glad to have you. You’re not a bad person, Merula. Your alliance with the death eaters, it was... unfortunate, but not your choice. I know that you had no other choice, everyone does. And you gave us so much information to track down death eaters and their hideouts after you escaped. I know you’re not on their side.”

Suddenly, Merula let go of her and cleared her throat. “You are getting to emotional, Star. Let’s go inside, I’m cold.”  And with that, she walked back inside.  Nonie grinned, and followed her. Merula would be Merula. That was one thing that would never change.  Emotions would never really be her thing, but Nonie could live with that. 

She knew that Merula loved her, even if she didn’t always show it. 

[cursebreaker-lilith]

28, 17, and 4 for the friendship asks! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

aaaaa thank you sm!!!

28. Which friends always sit with MC on the Hogwarts Express? (4-6 people total) (Besides a bigger booth at the Three Broomsticks, we’re also going to need a bigger train compartment…)

It changes depending on the year. Rowan is always there of course. Ben is there until year 5 and then Lili and Rowan refuse to let him in (because of the red cloak attack thing). Penny is usually there for a while, but she has a lot of friends and sort of hops between compartments. Bill is similar to Penny. Barnaby is there from 4th year on, and Charlie from 5th year on. Liz is probably there too because of her friendship with Barnaby and Charlie even if she isn't great friends with Lili and Rowan.

17. Which friend always goes back to school shopping with MC?

Lili goes on her own ahaha she spends her summers alone because her mum doesn't let her go anywhere

If she did go with anyone, it'd be Rowan though! They go dress shopping together for the Celestial Ball ^^

4. Which friend is in the bed next to MC in the Hospital Wing? And what did they do to get in there?

bsjbs probably Barnaby. Or Rowan. Or any combination of those three lol Three halves of a whole idiot, they are.

But honestly, Lili in general tries to avoid the Hospital Wing so it's more likely she's visiting Rowan and Barnaby after a Quidditch accident. Or something with the Cursed Vaults went wrong and she and whoever shes with are there because of that.

[shinyrockalaska]

December birthday party

I planned to post it on December 22 but i forgot... Either way, here's a fanfic in honour of Charlie and Rowan's birthdays that are in December.

Summery: Mc and the friends are throwing a birthday party for both Rowan and charlie

Word count: 1.8k

~~

"Listen up, everybody! Charlie's birthday was last week and- I always forget the exact date, but- Rowan's birthday will be soon since it's close to Christmas! We've gotta get going!"

"With what exactly?" Asked Jae. He was always suspicious with whatever plans MC came up with.

"With the surprise party, of course!" They said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We need to decide on a theme, place, time, the people we'll invite, who's in charge of the decorations and cake and snacks.. so pretty much, everything."

"We've still got like, almost a week to prepare everything.." Tonks complained. MC gathered all of them right before bed time and she wanted to go to sleep already.

"Anyone have any ideas for a theme?" MC continued.

"Toads!" Tulip yelled.

"Bowtruckles!" Barnaby chimed in.

"Fashion. It should definitely be about fashion." Andre added.

"Hmm.. cowboys..?" Talbott suggested.

MC did a face-palm and groaned, "no, no, no, you just proposed things you like. We need to think what Charlie and Rowan like!"

"Dragons and books, then," said Penny hesitantly.

"See, that's much better," MC agreed, "maybe dragons and trees? Or just.. fire?"

"It'll be lit!" Tonks snickered.

"Great! So who wants to be in charge of the decorations? It has to be fire themed!" MC continued

"I guess.. me? I'm already experienced, after the celestial ball.."

"I can help," Chiara and Liz said in unison.

"Perfect! Now let's decide on a time and place.. I think we can do it on the 22 of December.. any ideas for a place?"

"The Gryffindor common room," said Jae.

"The duelling club!" Diego added.

"The artefact room.." Ben tried to suggest.

"Seriously, guys! Don't propose places you like! How about the three broomsticks? Then Bill can come too, and we'll have butterbeers."

"Yes! And I can get more sweets from honeydukes," Tulip volunteered.

"Jae, I put you in charge of the cake," MC told him, and he tried to oppose, "why me? Can't Penny do it? Or literally anyone else?"

"After years of detention in the kitchen, I think you'll do great," they winked, remembering their adventure together, when they tried new recipes for Hagrid and Jae turned to be really good at cooking and baking, but made them promise not to tell.

"Fine," he murmured in respond.

"Can we go to sleep now?" Ben asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

"Not yet, we just have to decide on the most important thing.. how and who will keep Charlie and Rowan busy while we prepare everything, and then bring them to the three broomsticks?"

"You? You're the best at stalling, no offense," said Andre.

"I'll take that as a compliment.. alright, everyone knows what they're responsible for?"

"Yes.." they all groaned, wishing to go to sleep already.

"So don't forget.. we're meeting up in the three broomsticks in three days! I won't be there because I'll be with Rowan and Charlie so, Penny, I'm putting you in charge of making sure everything goes as planned, goodnight!"

There was a sound of tired whispers as they all walked back to their dormitories, aside from MC, who went straight to the owlery, to write and send a letter to Bill, asking if he could pass by for Rowan and Charlie's surprise party.

The next three days passed fast and strangely enough, uneventfully, except for that one time Ben almost exposed the plan.

Finally, the 22th of December has arrived, and at 4pm, when the rest of the group got together at the three broomsticks to prepare everything, MC walked with Rowan to meet Charlie at the library.

"You sure I'm the right study partner?" Charlie asked with honesty, "I'm not really good at studying.."

"Nonsense! You're my best friend, of course I'd rather study with you no matter what!"

"I thought I was your best friend?"

"You're THE best friend, Rowan. Everyone else is just my best friends, without THE.."

"Yeah, I'm not sure about that.."

"Anyway.. let's study!" MC shouted, causing Madam Pince to threaten to kick them out. Charlie still didn't felt like studying, he and Rowan exchanged looks, before Rowan spoke up, "But, we don't have any exams? Why would you want to study all of a sudden?"

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

"Quoting Rowena Ravenclaw won't help you get away without an answer!"

MC stood up, with their hands still on the table, and said, "you know, I just realized I never saw the both of you at the quidditch field... isn't that weird?" MC smiled nervously.

"I watch all of yours and Charlie's and Andre's matchs, what are you talking about?" Rowan tilted their head, the way they always do when they're confused. Which happens frequently around MC.

"But I never saw you together! You have so much to talk about, I mean, Charlie's an expert in quidditch and you're an expert of trees.. don't you want to talk about it?"

"That's a strange topic to discuss.." Charlie mumbled, "and the quidditch field is taken for one of the teams practice right now.."

"But if you insist," Rowan continued, "we can go around and look for broomes.."

"Wha- no! We can't! Because.. I umm.. promised Ben I'll help with that thing uh-"

"We saw him leaving the castle on our way to the library," said Rowan, "he said he's going to buy a new quill."

"Uh, right. I forgot. Do you want to help me pack my bags then?"

"I thought you're staying in Hogwarts for Christmas like always?" Rowan smiled, and MC panicked, what if they somehow know about the party?

"It still shouldn't be messy, and you know how my side of the dorm looks like, hehe.."

"I'm sorry, what's happening?" Charlie had zoned out half of the conversation and was now confused.

"Just MC acting mysterious all over again.." Rowan stared at mc with a suspected look.

"Aren't they always, though?" He shrugged.

"You know me.. the mystery of Hogwarts," MC laughed nervously.

Rowan and Charlie again looked at each other and then at MC, who still giggled.

"Anyway, do you need help packing, Charlie?"

"No, It's fine, I already did! I'm really excited to go back home and see my parents and Ron and Ginny again, and of course Bill! And the best part is I'll get so many presents! Christmas presents and birthday present, what can be better than that?"

"Yeah it's so nice your birthdays are close to Christmas, isn't it?" MC said, finally stopping Rowan's suspicions. "It is!" Rowan cheered, "I get to celebrate both Christmas and my birthday at home in the tree farm with my family! I miss mum and dad and my brother of course! He suppose to go to Hogwarts next year, isn't it exciting??"

"You have a brother? How come you never mentioned it?" Charlie wondered if he somehow missed this piece of information about his friend.

"Yes, and you'll meet him next year, I hope!"

"With your brother, Penny's sister and my brothers we'll have so many younger siblings here next year!"

"It's going to be a challenge," MC snickered, "I mean, we can barley keep them out of trouble now.." They all laughed, because it was true.

"So what time is it?" MC asked when the laughs faded.

"4 and a half.. why? Are we in a hurry?" Rowan asked.

"No no, I just remembered I told Ben- I mean, Penny, I'll meet her at the three broomsticks at 5 so.. hehe.." they chuckled.

"Why don't we just go and wait for her there, huh?" Rowan smiled mischievously, and MC gulped nervously.

"Rowan, you're too smart for this world," they patted them on the back, "let's kill time with a game of gobstons instead, okay?"

"Fine," Rowan finally gave up on trying to discover what MC is hiding from them.

They all walked to the courtyard and played gobstons for a while, just laughing and smiling until their stomach ache.

"Is it 5 already?" MC asked after a while, right before Charlie's turn.

"5 and a half actually," said Rowan, and before they could say anything else MC shouted, "what?! It's been a hour already?!"

"Time does fly when you're having fun.." Charlie mumbled, while thinking what can be the right move.

"We have to go! Now!"

"At least let me finish my turn!" Charlie whined as MC dragged with him and Rowan.

"Why do we even have to come with you to your meeting with Penny?" Rowan asked when they were near honeydukes.

"Well you know.. because.. it's just.. you see-" MC stalled, trying to earn some time while they're getting closer to the pub, "just get inside, alright?"

Rowan glared at them with one last suspection look as Charlie entered the pub without a doubt.

"Surprise!!!"

The friend's usual spot at the three broomsticks was filled with people. Friends, to be accurate. There were two dozens glass of butterbeer on the table, with a diverse selection of coulorful candies. The celling was decorated with paper dragons, flying around, roaring quietly, surrounded by trees, and you could notice some tiny paper books flying around above with brooms on their side, as well.

Rowan looked as if they were about to faint and Charlie was too ecstatic to talk.

"Wha- it's so- I-" Rowan eyes were filled with tears of joy, they never thought they'd have so many caring friends who would want to throw a birthday party just for them.

"This is so cool!" Charlie shouted, "are those dragons?!" He looked at the celling with an excited look.

"Just wait until we get home for Christmas.. mum's going to cry and hug you so much," Bill laughed, "seventeen is the most important age!"

"You can do magic!"

"You can apparate!"

"You're practically an adult!"

Everyone laughed and cheered. Rowan and Charlie were so far from being like all the adults they knew. They didn't changed much from that sweet anxious behavior they had in their first years at Hogwarts.

Bill raised his glass of butterbeer, "to Charlie, the best brother and the greatest quidditch player and the most dragon-excited person we know!" He laughed.

"And to Rowan!" MC snatched the glass of butterbeer out of Bill's hand, and raised it as well, "the best friend anyone could ever have. The loyal, ambitious, kind and smartest person I know!"

"Whooooohoooo!" Tonks applaused and they all drank their butterbeers and started to chat with each other.

Maybe it was the butterbeer, or the heat inside the pub, or maybe it was the fact that all their friends were together with them in one place, just laughing and smiling, happy for their friend's birthdays.

Whatever it was, it made both Charlie and Rowan feel warm inside.

[judediangelo75]

Under the Celestial Lights

Hi everyone! First I would like to thank you guys for my first post for the TalbottxMC fandom. I appreciate it a lot. So this is my second contribution, this time covering the Celestial Ball. 

As you all already know, Talbott is not option (tragic I know) so this is gonna be a hint of a love triangle situation. Playing the game, I did go with Andre because I found him to be rather sweet (and cute). It was either him or Barnaby, sue me. But I pick our favorite style wizard.

I would entertain my MC liking Andre as a bit, but her endgame is Talbott. And she feels terrible for having to choose and breaking someone’s heart in that process. She doesn’t like to hurt anyone she considers a good friend.

Also this is featuring my best friend in this story, we’re co-writing our Hogwarts experience from the game.

So here it is, my version of the Celestial Ball featuring our favorite bird boy, Talbott Winger. Hope you all like it!

-------------------------------

(Talbott Winger)

The Celestial Ball.

Something that caused a stir in the student population at Hogwarts. Where everyone seems to be anxious on what they will wear and who their guest will be as they'll dance the night away.

Not my scene.

Or so I thought before I saw her.

On Andre's arm was my secret crush. Judith Harris.

If I thought she looked beautiful before, she was absolutely stunning now...

If I were in my human form, I would most definitely be blushing. The dress seem to be made just to fit her and her alone. Red and gold complimenting her skin and eyes. Even the slit of the dress that showed off her leg did funny things to me. Her dark brown hair styled in curls flowing around her shoulders and upper back. Her gold eyes were outlined in black, making her eyes sharp and enticing. The dark brown, nearly black, shadow added depth to her eyes. Her lips looked soft and a bit shiny.

Andre looked like he was walking on air, a hint of a blush can found on his cheeks paired with the biggest smile on his face. He gazed at Judith with a soft lovesick expression.

'Lucky bloke...' I mentally huffed as I shifted in my little corner by the windows. I didn't even plan on going to the Ball but after a certain conversation with Judith early this morning.

---------

"Hey Talbott..." I glanced at the Hufflepuff sitting next to me. After breakfast in the Great Hall, Judith decided to join me in my hiding spot in the Courtyard.

"Yes, Judith," I asked. On the way here, she seemed to thinking about something.

"I was wondering... you plan on going to the Ball?" I rolled my eyes.

"I see no real point to go. Sure, there are people I know that'll be there, but it's not like they're looking to spend time with the weird looking loner. Plus, it's not my scene to begin with," I shrugged. I didn't notice a crestfallen expression on Judith's face.

"O-Oh... Just wondering..." I turned to the Hufflepuff who was facing the opposite direction.

"I'm going. I'm sure it'll be fun..." I arched at brow.

"You going with a guest?"

"No one asked me. I guess I'm going to be third wheeling Brooke and Penny. No wizard would want me as their guest..." I frowned. I would want her to be my guest. I opened my mouth to say something but the girl abruptly stood up.

"I got to go, I'm pretty sure getting ready for the Ball will take forever. Might as well and get a head start. I'll... I'll see you around, Talbott..." were her final words before walking back into the castle. I was left alone in the quiet Courtyard, feeling like I ruined something...

-----------

Turns out Judith did find a guest, but her eyes didn't hold it's usual spark. Whenever she was alone, I notice the look on her face. Her eyes were half lidded, it almost made her eyes enticing. But by closer inspection, her eyes looked slightly clouded and dazed. Like she wasn't truly present. She would look outside, her expression wistful before morphing to a smile when one of her friends or Andre approach her. But I know what I saw.

A look I've seen in our long classes. A look that reads she rather be somewhere else.

Or maybe in this case, with someone else...

"Heyyyyyy Talbott~" I blinked as I turned to Brooke, who was now casually leaning against the windowsill. She looked amazing, I wouldn't be surprised if she was the master mind behind her and her best friend's outfits. But that's not what I wondering about.

Just how did she see me and why is she talking to me...

"So I noticed you here all by your lonesome so I decided to come keep you company with awhile." I detect a bit of lying in that statement. I blinked at her unimpressed.

"Hey! What's with that look? I can't check up on one of my friends?" I don't know, can you? I gave her a head tilt as answer. She rolled my eyes.

"Why can I tell that you're being sarcastic with me right now?" Maybe because I am. She sighed, exasperated.

"Alright, alright. So I have a bit of an ulterior motive here, but it's nothing bad. I promise!" If I could raise a brow at her, I would. I simply sat there, waiting for her to continue.

"So I know that you fucked up, but I'm here to help you..." I flapped my wings, slightly bewildered. What was that suppose to mean? The girl rolled her eyes.

"I promised I wouldn't interfere too much but I can push you in the right direction..." I still not following completely...

"The Ball will be over soon and I wouldn't stand to see my best friend sulk any longer! So here's the plan: I gonna convince Judith to help me with something and I separate her from Andre for little while. You're gonna be hiding out in the Courtyard. While Judith is "helping" me, I gonna go back to the Great Hall and you'll make your grand entrance. I think a dance with you will make her night ten times better. You got all that, bird boy?" I simply turned around and flew out of the open window behind me.

I guess a quick stop to my room wouldn't hurt...

------------------------

(Judith Harris)

I'm ready to just crash in my bed right now. I'm over it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be at the Celestial Ball. After all this timing planning, it great to see that it was all worth it. Though one detail that just made me see dim colors.

I wasn't with the person I wanted to go with.

I have no clue where I possibly got the idea that Talbott would be interested in me and would go to the Ball with me. Once I heard that he wasn't going, I just mentally gave up and walked away before I could make a bigger fool of myself. I was internally wallowing in my self pity when I unknowingly bumped into Andre.

The boy seem anxious for whatever reason. I softly asked the style wizard if everything was okay. And that's when he shyly asked me if I was going to the Ball with anyone. Still kinda down about how the situation played out with Talbott, I told the stylish Ravenclaw no. Perking up a bit, he asked if I would like to go with him.

The silence that ensued was deafening. I meant what I said that I doubt any wizard would consider asking me to be their guest to the Ball. Look at the universe proving me wrong and shit. I shyly accepted Andre's offer. We're going as friends.

The universe was partially laughing at me.

I was enjoying my time with Andre, don't get me wrong. He's the definition of a gentleman. Making sure that I was okay, getting me drinks or little snacks if I needed it, showering me in compliments. Everything.

And I admit, he looked rather handsome tonight. The lights bringing out a shine in those brown eyes that never seem to leave me. Even when I was in his arms for a particular slow dance, he looked down at me with a fond expression. The way his hand was holding my own and the way its twin held by the curve of my waist was rather... intimate. The way he spoke is low hush tones as we quietly spoke during our dance felt private. For the life of me, I couldn't stop blushing because of how being that close to him made me feel. The dance was rather sweet but I knew my heart wasn't in it, which made me feel a bit guilty.

His arms weren't the ones I wanted to be in.

His brown eyes weren't the eyes I wanted looking at me with adoration and shy affection.

Andre wasn't the one I wanted to be with.

I consider him to be a good friend, an amazing mate at that. But that's as far as I'll ever see him.

I let out a soft sigh, gazing out one of the windows of the Great Hall. I wonder how Talbott is spending his night. I felt someone grab my hand, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I brought you some more punch, Judith," Andre said, holding a goblet in his other hand. I gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Andre..." Taking the goblet, I drank the cool beverage. Shit, I need it. With trying to help Brooke with her chaotic love life and making sure a jealous Penny doesn't rip Diego a new one, I deserve a small breather. Especially when I had to steal Diego away temporarily for a dance. Diego was a hint to overzealous about this and didn't hesitate to sweep me across the dance floor. Just as I was regretting my decisions in life when Diego talked about a possible "date", Brooke stepped in and saved my ass. I was surprised I was able to dart away so quickly in heels.

Needless to say, I need a little something to relax me.

"Heyyyyy Judith~" Oh for crying out loud, what now? I side eyed my best friend as she gave me a guileless smile.

"What did you do this time," I asked. Brooke looked at me slightly offended.

"Psh, me?! I didn't do any-" I gave her a pointed look. She had the decency to look embarrassed.

"It's nothing bad, I was wondering if you can help me find my earring..." Looking closer, I noticed that one of her clip on dragon earrings was indeed missing.

"How the heck did you manage to lose it," I asked, confused.

"I went to the Courtyard to get some air because it was getting hot in here and it must've fallen off my ear." I raised a brow.

"Wouldn't you have felt it come off? Plus, isn't it metal? So you would've heard it hit the ground," I pointed out.

"I was wondering around and was lost in my thoughts, Judith. You know I wouldn't be paying attention like that," she said with an eye roll.

"But you should've been able to find it, you do have sharp eyesight thanks to your glasses," I hinted. The girl was an avian Animagus. She should have ridiculously good eyesight.

"I must've been so much in a panic looking for it, I gonna need a second pair of eyes."

"But-"

"Oh my gosh, Judith. Are you gonna help me or not?!" I sighed and nodded to my best friend. I turned to Andre, who was smirking down at me.

"The Sorting Hat certainly was right about you having the qualities to be a Ravenclaw, Judith," he said. I rolled my eyes and let out a soft chuckle.

"But I'm not. I just tend to think about certain things more. I'll be back later..." Andre nodded, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. I was a little stunned, even as Brooke quickly dragged me to the Courtyard.

Oh Andre, why must you make this difficult?

"I'm gonna look at this side of the Courtyard and you'll look over there? Alright," Brooke said as she walked over to one end of the Courtyard. I rolled my eyes. Okay, I guess. I casted Lumos and began to search for the earring. After awhile, I came up with nothing.

"Brooke, I can't find the damn thing, you sure you dropped it out here?"

"Hello Judith..." ...that's not Brooke...

I slowly turned to find myself looking into red eyes. I felt my heart stall in my chest for a few moments.

"T-Talbott?! What are you doing here," I asked, my face felt like it was burning. The quiet Ravenclaw boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, looking slightly unsure of himself.

"I-I... um... I'm actually here to see you..."

"R-really," I asked shyly. Sugar Honey Ice Tea, is this really happening right now? Talbott stepped closer and held my right hand, tying something around my wrist. I looked closer and blushed.

A red camellia with a gold ribbon...

You're a flame in my heart...

Do. Not. Faint.

"I know I said I didn't want to go to the Ball, b-but... I was wondering if you're willing to spare me a dance," he whispered. I looked into his eyes. His red eyes screamed his fear... but whispered his hope. My heart was jack hammering against my ribcage as I made my decision.

"I-I... I would love to dance with you..." Talbott gave me a small smile, relief washing over his features. That's when I took a moment to study him. Surprisingly, he wasn't in his class robes. His usual black slacks and dress shoes were present, but a red short sleeve dress shirt with gold tribal designs on his right side took the place of his usual vest and robe.

Has he always been this handsome?

Stupid question, yes he has been. Dear Gods, help me...

His hand slipped into my own as he led me to the middle of Courtyard. I felt my heart race as he paused to look at me. I suddenly became self conscious.

"W-what? Is there something on my face," I asked shyly. Talbott shook his head and let out a shaky sigh.

"N-no... I just... you look stunning tonight, Judith... I almost can't believe that you agreed to do this with me..." Mind if I swoon right now?

"T-thank you, Talbott... and if I can be honest right now..." I took a deep breath, my heart just threatening to make me pass out right now. Talbott's red eyes staring into my own.

"I-I-I... I actually wanted to go to the Ball with you," I confessed. Talbott froze, for a second I thought he forget to breathe. He let out a low chuckle and dropped his head.

"No wonder she said I fucked up... because I did," he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. I blushed a bit at the sight of him looking slightly disheveled. But I picked up on what he said and mentally slapped my forehead.

Brooke...

As much as I wanna find her and shake her stupid...

She did give me an opportunity...

I reached up, taking the Ravenclaw's face in between my hands so he could look at me.

"Hey, that doesn't matter right now. We're here, aren't we? So let's make the most of it," I whispered. Talbott bit his lip before nodding. One hand found the small of my back while it's twin held my right hand. I rested my remaining hand on his shoulder, stepping closer.

Why does this feel so familiar...

"There isn't any real music for us to dance to," I pointed out. The boy smiled at me.

"I know a song... from my childhood... something my parents use to dance to. I'll share with you one day, but for right now, do you trust me," he asked, looking slightly unsure of himself. I squeezed his hand.

"I trust you, Talbott..." That was all he needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7JXLczaxJs

Talbott led the dance. It was surprisingly slow in the beginning but picking up speed and fluidity as the song played in Talbott's head. Even more surprisingly, how I was able to keep up with him and never heard the melody. I could only imagine seeing Talbott as a little boy, sitting and watching his parents dance the same way he is now...

With me, of all people...

I snapped out of my thoughts as I felt him release my hand in favor of the holding the curve of my waist. I instinctively gripped both his shoulders and he picked me and spun me around. I couldn't help the carefree laughter that escaped me. The warmth the bubbled within my heart spread throughout my body as I looked down at him. This moment...

His eyes were shining bright under the moon light, shadowed by his dark lashes. His full lips spread into a small smile, but something about this smile was different.

It held a level of warmth and sincerity.

Fondness and affection.

Shyness and caution.

His expression spoke of emotion I wouldn't dare to name aloud. Talbott has been alone for a good portion of his life, for him to lo...

Me?

I didn't dare put any hope on it, in case I was wrong. I don't wish to be on the receiving end of a broken heart. I've seen it happened to Brooke, and I don't think I ready to face such a thing myself.

Talbott set me down, resuming our initial position and continuing our dance.

"I've never known you to be playful, Talbott," I chuckled as gazed into those captivating red eyes. He smirked at me.

"There are many things you don't know about me, Judith," he said, spinning me under his arm. I let out a laugh.

"'Tis true, Mr. Winger. You are a Keeper of Secrets, everything hidden away under an cold lock," I teased as I found myself back in his arms. The hand on my back pressed me closer to him and for a split second I almost forgot how to breathe.

"You may be on to something, Miss Harris... maybe you hold the key to that lock..." I-

I didn't get the chance to reply as Talbott braced his arm around me, dipping me with surprising grace. Time seem to slow down as he pulled me back up, both of us spinning around with grace and poise. We slowed to a stop. I felt him release my hand to find my waist yet again, pulling me closer. Both my hands pressed against his chest, leaning into him. Neither of us spoke, simply taking in the moment. Our faces were surprisingly close, our eyes half lid as we silently stared at each other.

Red and gold...

I took a deep breath, the scent of his cologne, which reminds the crisp morning air in the forest. My eyes fluttered dainty as I felt my knees weaken. Talbott's grip tighten on me, keeping me upright.

"Talbott..." came my breathless whisper.

"Yes, Judith," he whispered back. I don't know what came over me. Maybe because of the adrenaline from our dance. Maybe it was because of the comforting scent of his cologne that was just so him. Maybe it's because of how I'm noticing how dashingly handsome the loner Ravenclaw boy was, especially until the mystical moonlight.

Maybe it's because I like him more than I'm willing to admit at this current point in time...

I leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. I heard his breath hitch but he didn't push me away. I let myself to linger for a few moments, longer than necessary. I didn't want to part with him so soon, but I knew I had to go back to the Ball and Andre...

I pulled away, giving the blushing boy a smile.

"Thank you for the dance, Talbott... you made my night..." Talbott returned the smile.

"Anything for you, Judith. I know you have to go back but..." he took one of my right hand, kissing my knuckles while he looked into my eyes.

"Goodnight, little bird. Sweet dreams," he said softly. If he keeps this up, I'm gonna swoon for real...

"Goodnight, Talbott. Sweet dreams," I softly replied. I slowly began to walk away, our hands lingering until I was too far away to hold on anymore. As I approached the entrance of the castle, I glanced over my shoulder. The aloof Ravenclaw graced me with one last smile before transforming into his massive Golden Eagle and taking off. I sighed, gazing at the flower around my wrist before holding it close over my heart.

What a night under the Celestial Lights...