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Chapter 105 - You Shall Go To The Ball

Dimension: 1375 - Earth
Date: 31st October 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Gryffindor Common Room
Time: Evening

It was Saturday; 6:50 in the evening and the ball was starting in ten minutes.

Ron, Harry, Draco and Neville were waiting in the Gryffindor Common Room for Fleur, Gabrielle, Colette (all of whom had started getting ready in their own rooms before joining the rest of the girls to finish off), Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Dawn (both of whom had opted to get ready with the others) to descend the girl's stairs, the girls had all grouped together and were fusing over each other's make up and other women stuff that the boys had no desire to learn about.

They weren't the only ones waiting as there were others around the room, most trying to avoid Draco or starring at Ron, Harry and Neville for even going near him despite his good behaviour that term.

This had to be the first time Ron, Harry, Neville and Draco had been in the same room and had not minded being in each other's presence, they had even briefly discussed Quidditch earlier to try to take their minds off things, carefully avoiding discussing the school Quidditch matches as even if they were the best of friends that was bound to start an argument over which team was best, but now they were too eager to see what their respective partners looked like and so nervous about making fools of themselves that all conversation had ceased.

All four of the boys were wearing new dress robes along with matching capes, they were the variety that Adam and Lucius Malfoy usually wore and attached round the neck and hung equally over both shoulders rather than those that hung only over one shoulder like Durmstrang students used during the Tournament.

Their attire had been chosen by Colette; she had got them for all of the guys going with them, insisting that they all looked their best for their partners and knowing that Ron and Harry wouldn't have much of a clue what to wear she had decided it was best to pick their clothes herself.

Draco's were black with a Slytherin green lining with silver highlights and fastenings.

Ron's were black with a Gryffindor red lining, gold highlights and fastenings.

And Neville's and Harry's were black with blue sapphire linings with silver highlights and fastenings.

Harry was a bit worried about his attire as it was almost wearing Ravenclaw colours and in fact they would be if the silver was bronze and the blue was slightly deeper (Neville dating a Ravenclaw obviously did not have this problem). It wasn't the fact that it was Ravenclaw colours; it was the fact that it was not Gryffindor colours that made him worry, but Colette had assured him that he would look wonderful.

At that moment the sound of high heeled shoe footsteps were heard from the upper floor as the boys other halves appeared at the top of the staircase. All heads turned in their direction as they descend the steps.

On the far right was Miss Ginevra Weasley wearing a black satin halter dress, which complemented her red hair nicely, the bottom of the dress sloped from left to right reaching from just below her thigh on her right leg to just past her knee on her left allowing easy movement. She wore a pair of matching high heeled shoes and a single silver necklace set with an emerald. Her hair had been fully straightened and styled and was tucked behind her ears, it looked redder than usual to the extent that it could be described as flaming. She also wore red lipstick that highlighted her mouth.

Even Ron couldn't complain (much) about this dress, it didn't look too revealing but it was close fitting and just revealing enough to show off her now developing curves, he would have been concerned about the necklace but he guessed that that was Colette's doing.

On the left were Misses Hermione Granger and Miss Dawn Summers wearing flowing red satin gowns with spaghetti straps which revealed quite a lot of their backs and chests but also still managed to remain respectably descent. They also wore matching pairs of high heeled shoes and necklaces of the same design as Ginny's, each containing a single ruby in a gold chain. Hermione's hair was curly as usual but looked more stylised and Dawn's had been straightened and some lighter highlights added, both girls appearance were finished off by deep red lipstick.

These three may have been breath taking but they were nothing compared to what came next, in the centre were the jewels in the crown.

In the centre wearing deep blue flowing dresses were Miss Luna Lovegood, Miss Colette Fontaine and Misses Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. Their dresses were full length, satin and strapless, they wore blue high heeled shoes though not too high (just enough so that Fleur and Colette were about the same height as Harry, that Luna was closer in height to Neville and the Gabrielle could get a little height while still remaining stable), they also like the others wore silver single chained necklaces, theirs containing sapphires. Their hair had been straightened and hung down their backs and the looks were completed with deep red lipstick.

Together they truly were a sight to be seen and none there present would ever think of 'Loony' Luna Lovegood the same again.

As they descended the stairs all eyes followed them.

As they reached the bottom they regarded the boys with the same admiration they had just been given.

"You....you look....you look...." attempted Ron speaking to the ladies.

"I second that speechlessness." Harry concurred, Neville and Draco were so in awe they could do little else but nod in agreement.

Draco recovered from his speechless next and in attempting to stop staring at all the ladies tried to distract himself by looking elsewhere before his eyes fell on the necklace around Ginny's neck.

"That isn't silver." He stated confused.

"What is it then?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know buts it's made out of the same material as your ring Ginny." Hermione pointed out.

"Adam supplied the necklaces." explained Colette "We will have to ask him about it later, but right now we have a dance to go to. Ladies take your partners arms please."

The boys quickly recovering offered their arms to their partners, Draco to Ginny, Ron to Hermione, Harry to Fleur and Neville to Luna. Draco and the latter two then offered their arms to Dawn, Gabrielle and Colette respectively, offering to be escort them until they met up with the others.

"Prince charming." Dawn said moving to Draco's side "Will you take us to the ball."

"Yes Cinderella," Harry replied "We shall."
________________________________________________________________________

The group walked through the corridors of Hogwarts passing many a happy couple on their way to the ball, but none were as stunning as the group as they proceeded towards the Great Hall.

Upon reaching the Entrance Hall they saw a collection of Professors and guests both in pairs and on their own waiting for the Ball to commence.

In the centre of the entrance hall were Buffy and Spike, Willow and Tara, Giles, Flitwick, Anya and Xander and a very grumpy looking Snape.

The reason for his annoyance, other than being forced to attend the ball at all was due to the fact that Anya was hanging on his arm.

Apparently there had been a sort of non fight between Xander and Anya where both agreed that neither had the automatic right to go with the other and neither should expect to, though both obviously thought that the other would not get anyone else and that they would come back to them and have to actually ask.

Under normal circumstances this would just have meant a few tense minutes before the ball started where they both agreed that they both could go with anyone else if they wanted and that they had just chosen not to and that they had opted to go with each other for the others sake.

Unfortunately for Anya in this case, Colette had heard that this was bound to happen from the Scoobies and decided for a joke (and for the fact that Xander wasn't bad looking if you wanted a dance partner) to see how things would turn out if one of them actually had a partner to go with, so lucky Xander got a Veela partner for the evening. Much to the surprise of Anya who looked rather stunned when Xander told her as she tried to edge up to him with her 'I don' have to go with you' speech already on her lips.

This meant that Anya had to rapidly find another partner to save face and lucky for her and unluckily for Snape the only other males present at the time were Dumbledore, Flitwick and Giles.

Even more unluckily for Snape though, was the fact that Anya seemed to have taken a liking to him, because as soon as he had given up trying to unhook her from his arm he just sighed in defeat and was now just giving her short somewhat blunt answers to her chatter allowing her to talk and talk and talk.

Coming back to the subject of attire; Buffy was wearing a long pink dress similar to the dress she wore for the school Prom though she had learned from past experience and had bought a dress that instead of being restrictive like her prom dress had a split up the leg for easier mobility.

Spike had (to the astonishment of all) ended up wearing very similar attire to Draco; his altered memories bad obviously given him alternative views on fashion.

Willow was wearing a long black satin dress with deep red embroidery while Tara was wearing a long strapless dress in deep blue velvet, they found out later that Adam had spotted the latter dress in Colette's shop when she had dragged him to France to help her while she chose what the others were going to wear and knew instantly that it was for Tara.

Snape was wearing many layers of black robes (just for a change) although these did look more formal. Giles and Xander were wearing simple black dress robes embracing the tradition of the Wizarding World and Anya was wearing a bright green dress, very similar in colour to the bridesmaid's dresses at her not-a-wedding though it looked much better on the long straight dress which was of the same design as Buffy's.

All the ladies also had necklaces like those of the students and teachers supplied by Adam.

Flitwick was wearing brightly coloured robes that were in competition with Dumbledore's most....the best word for it would probably be 'conspicuous' attire to see who could stand out more.

All eyes turned to the stairs as the group from Gryffindor tower moved towards them.

"Hey, big wow." Buffy exclaimed.

"You can say that again." Xander agreed as Colette graciously disengaged from Neville's arm and moved over to take his.

"Dawnie," Willow said with pride "You're all grown up."

"Ok ok, don't get all mushy on me; we have a ball to get to." Dawn said trying to ignore the mushiness of her 'family' "Other than my date who are we missing?"

Dawn's date for the evening turned out to be the Head Boy and seventh year Ravenclaw Roger Davies, apparently he had asked her the day before not having had the chance to do so before considering everything that had happened.

"Only Adam and Anne." Buffy informed them.

Footsteps were heard on the stairs and all eyes turned to see the descending couple.

"VERY big wow."
________________________________________________________________________

Anne had just finished dressing, she had been running around panicking trying to find the necklace Adam had brought her, he had apparently bought matching necklaces for all the ladies and SHE had lost hers.

Thank God she had a dress with a split up the leg or she would have tripped over it by now.

Buffy had come in earlier and told her that they were heading down, the Ball was starting soon and it was partially her idea, she had to be there at the beginning and the fact that Adam was waiting for her made it worse.

She finally threw up her hands in frustration and slumped down onto the bed only to hear a clink of something metal hitting the wooden floor.

Looking down she saw the offending necklace, it had got tangled in the bedding. Quickly donning it she slipped her shoes on and rushed out the door.

Rushing down into what was now known as the Scoobies Common Room, she saw Adam standing patiently beside the fire, he turned upon hearing her enter.

Wow, he really knew how to dress up.

"That dress looks good on you."

"And you.... you're...." she couldn't think of an appropriate word, handsome didn't seem to quite cover it.

"I suggest we proceed quickly, they will be starting soon." He said bailing her out.

"Oh yeah." she finished rushing down to take his arm as they headed down to the Ball.
________________________________________________________________________

The couple that came down the stairs were stunning.

Anne was wearing the same design dress to Buffy the only difference being that hers was a deep blue.

The surprise was mostly due to her partner, Adam was wearing a shirt that had string fastenings on both sides which neared the centre further down the garment (the sort of used a few centuries ago by the well off), he wore an intricately designed belt with a stag emblem on the belt buckle, his sheaved sword hung at his side (this was the first time anyone had actually seen it while it was sheaved), black trousers and a black cloak with silver highlights and a deep blue lining that complemented the blue of Anne's dress.

"Wow....He's almost a knight in shining armour." Anya exclaimed "Just without the armour."

Adam smiled as they walked toward the group, by this time many students including Dawn's apologetic date (apparently he had had to dodge Peeves who was throwing water balloons at students again) had joined them and were also waiting to enter.

"Well I believe it is time we got this ball rolling." Adam said moving towards the door with his partner, Buffy and Spike moved up on their left and Harry and Fleur moved up on the right, the rest of the group lined up behind them, Dawn nudged her date into taking Gabrielle's arm as they entered, knowing that she would soon wonder off in all the excitement, all the other teachers and students could be heard gathering behind them.

Adam waved his free arm and the doors slowly swung open to reveal the hall within.

The sight that greeted them was truly magnificent, all the house tables had been cleared away as well as the head table, along one wall a series of tables were laid out full of refreshments including what appeared to be butterbeer, wine, punch and champaign as well as an assortment of other drinks and nibbles. Around the room hovered pumpkins with candles in them helping to create the Halloween theme.

Along the other walls were chairs, benches and tables all decorated for the ball, at the far end of the hall on top of the raised area where the teachers table usually resided stood Professor Dumbledore (who had departed to make a few final tweaks shortly before the students arrived) in his 'conspicuous' robes that only just outdid Professor Flitwick's. Behind him was an assortment of musical instruments (no musicians) that were hovering in the air awaiting the order to play.

Professor Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Welcome to Hogwarts first Halloween Ball." he said with great enthusiasm "Enter and enjoy."
________________________________________________________________________

As the hall began to fill and the students, teachers and guests began to spread around, Adam and Anne moved towards the headmaster.

"You've outdone yourself Brian, the hall is spectacular."

"Yes it is very good isn't it;" he smiled "Though Professor's McGonagall and Flitwick deserve most of the credit; they transformed and charmed most of the decoration."

At that moment Snape joined the discussion dragging a fairly annoyed looking Anya, still firmly attached to his arm, behind him.

"Sir, do you really believe it is a good idea to allow the students as well as that French woman's sister to have free access to alcohol?" he finished, finally coming to a stop and allowing Anya to catch up with him.

"There are sobering spells on all the more alcoholic beverages and Gabrielle was given an extra sobering potion before she arrived. Do be careful Severus; you were dragging your date all the way across the hall."

Anne almost burst out laughing at the look on Snape's face when the word 'date' was mentioned.

Even Adam had to cough to hide his amusement, and for Adam to have any expression other than the slightest smile was unusual.

The glare that Snape sent the headmaster could have curdled milk.

"She is not my date, she's…"

"A Klingon Cap'n." Anne finished, putting on a very bad Scottish accent before leaning heavily against Adam to stop herself falling over in amusement.

Those Muggleborn students that were in hearing range were in hysterics.

Snape sent them glares that clearly threatened that they would be cleaning out his potions cabinet in detention for the next month if they didn't shut up very rapidly, which luckily all had the sense to do. The only three people who had not been put off by Snape's glares were Adam, Dumbledore (who had now restrained themselves to laughing lightly) and Anne who could barely stand.

"She is NOT my date....she just…insists on clinging...."

A couple of snorts came from around them at his choice of wording, to which Snape almost growled.

"....to my arm."

Anya stood there smiling as usual, her earlier annoyance at being dragged having dissipated.

"I'm giving you the honour of having me for a partner." she beamed up at him "I'm expecting you to dance later."

It was too perfect; even Snape didn't have an answer to that one as he tried three times to speak by opening and closing his mouth.

Adam and Dumbledore were still trying there up most to stop themselves laughing; Anne though was still in hysterics.

"Well we'll have to leave you two to get better acquainted." Adam commented evilly before the three of them walked of quietly chuckling, leaving a very put out Snape.

They almost felt sorry for him.
________________________________________________________________________

On the other side of the hall Harry, Fleur and the other students were introducing Dawn to butterbeer.

"Come on Dawn, it's not going to bite you."

"It biting me is not what I am worried about, I have seen was some of your potions and drinks do to you and I have no desire to become a steam train."

"The only potion that does that is a Pepper-Up Potion," Roger replied "This is just a mild alcoholic drink.

"You will probably have to take ten at least to match the amount of alcohol found in a standard pint." Added Harry.

"Eleven and a quarter." Hermione corrected.

"Eleven then, it's not like fire whisky for goodness sake, it's not going to make you smoke."

"Go on Dawn," smiled Xander, holding up his own "Be daring."

"Alright, alright." She said raising her hands in defeat "I'll try some, just stop nagging me about it."

"We just want you to enjoy yourself." Smiled Ginny, handing her a glass of butterbeer.

Looking at it cautiously for a few seconds she slowly took a small sip.

"It's....not bad," she replied "Tastes a bit like shandy."

At that second the instruments began to play a slow waltz and everyone moved away from the centre of the room leaving a gap on the floor.

The girls exchanged excited looks while the boys (except for Harry, Draco and Xander who knew how to dance) began looking very worried.

The girls began pulling their respective partners onto the floor, encountering various levels of resistance; many of the other girls in the room seemed to encounter similar trouble.

Draco, Harry and Xander didn't need to be dragged and in fact led Ginny, Fleur and Colette onto the dance floor without the slightest hint of worry, both the younger two knowing it would be a lot better than the Yule Ball, Harry had since learnt to dance and Draco was not unfortunate enough to be paired with Pansy.

Ron on the other hand had to be dragged onto the dance floor by Hermione and seeing as he was considerably larger and stronger than her was it was no mean feat and took the assistance of Dawn to do it before she rejoined her own partner who wasn't as resisting.

When they reached the dance floor Harry pulled Fleur towards him and slipped his hand around her waist as their bodies moved up against each other, both enjoying the feeling of the open expression of their love.

Ginny and Draco moved into a similar position.

Hermione on the other hand had to hold Ron to her to stop him keeping an eye on Draco and Ginny, he had accepted the relationship and was not going to say anything but being a Weasley he was still very protective and was not quite prepared to permit wandering hands yet, Hermione eventually got him to stop by doing something very un-Hermione like and sucking his pulse point causing him to send out a low moan. She knew by now that once she had his attention she could easily hold of it.
________________________________________________________________________

Half an hour later Adam and Anne were slowly twirling on the dance floor. As an un-romantic couple they maintained a proper dancing distance. From where she was Anne could see many a couple around them.

To their left was Willow and Tara holding each other close, she thought what an interesting dilemma it must be, which of them should take the lead.

To their right was Buffy and Spike, the latter of whom was proving to be quite the able dancer.

Behind them was Hagrid wearing a new specially made suit (curtsey of Colette's Shop) dancing with Professor McGonagall who was wearing spectacular royal purple robes.

Now as strange as that couple looked with Hagrid towering over the Professor the next pair was by far odder.

On Anne's far side a very stiff Snape was being pulled around the dance floor by a very eager and energetic Anya. That had to be the biggest personality clash in history.

And behind Adam were Harry and Fleur who were now holding each other closer than Willow and Tara, Anne knew that the girls had agreed to share their partners as there was a higher number of females to males, meaning that at that moment Luna was leaning against the drinks table holding onto a glass of butterbeer while Neville danced with Fleur's sister.

Davies and Dawn were currently dancing over to their left (after he and Harry had swapped back to their original partners); they were not exactly dancing intimately but still rather closely together.

Anne was a bit uncertain about Davies, he was by all account well behaved, the Head Boy and a good student but Anne still had the right to be suspicious, especially when even Harry and the others didn't know him that well, plus the fact that from experience she knew that caution was needed.

Luckily Buffy hadn't spotted all the swapping of partners yet, she knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn't like someone who was with someone else dancing with her sister rather than that someone else, and if she didn't know Harry and the others so well she knew she wouldn't like it and that meant that Buffy wouldn't like it either, and if Buffy didn't like it she would try to stop it which would interfere with the evening, so she would have to stop Buffy stopping it.

She had to crease her eyebrows in confusion. That was the sort of sentence that no one should ever have to say or think, too many personal pronouns, the English language was obviously not invented with doppelgangers in mind.
________________________________________________________________________

Dawn sighed in contentment as she and Roger swayed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Nothing," she replied "That wasn't a 'something's wrong' sigh, it was a 'this it nice' sigh."

"I'm glad to hear it." He grinned, readjusting his hold on her, subtly pulling her closer as he did so.
________________________________________________________________________

The Ball continued on for a couple of hours dancing, partner swapping, talking, the usual fun activities that went on at balls

Later on the dances changed and faster music came on allowing the students to really believe they were at a disco.

After another hour Fleur and Harry decided to get some air, it had began to get a bit stuffy in the main hall and Harry (along with most of the other guys) had barely had a chance to sit down all evening thanks to all the passing around of partners.

They wandered out into the Entrance Hall, they had seen Draco and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione wander out earlier obviously fleeing the close atmosphere of the Hall which was getting rather energetic with all the rapid music that had started playing.

"Ah that's better." Fleur sighed as they leaned against a wall just inside the Main Entrance.

"Much." Harry agreed turning to her "You're beautiful."

"I know." She replied

"Modest to." He added sarcastically.

"Oh, most definitely." She agreed with a smile "But most of all beautiful."

"You most certainly are." he said leaning over her.

They were mere centimetres apart.

Harry leaned in closer, pressing Fleur to the wall.

He tenderly laid a kiss on her lips which she returned gently, wrapping her arms around his body, pulling him tight against her as she began to stroke her long digits over his back.

"Hey guys, have you see...." Dawn began as she exited the hall and did a sharp about turn as soon as she saw them pressed against each other "And I'm leaving now."

"It's ok Dawn." Smiled Fleur as Harry moved back to a respectable distance "We were only kissing."

"Looked like one hell of a kiss."

"She's one hell of a kisser." Returned Harry, straightening out his cloak as the three walked back to the corridor the Great Hall's door opened from.

"As are you Arry." Fleur purred running her hand up Harry's back to stroke at the hairs at the base of his skull.

"Hey guys," interrupted Dawn "Not in the middle of the hall, wait until you are back in your rooms before you start purring and stroking and things."

Harry chuckled lightly before turning to look at her.

"What was it you were going to ask us when you saw us?"

"What....Oh yeah, I was going to ask, have you se...."

They stopped as Dawn came to a halt and as her expression changed to one of fear.
________________________________________________________________________

Draco and Ginny were wandering around the castle grounds, hand in hand discussing the night's events.

"I didn't know you could dance." Ginny asked turning to him

"My mother insisted that I learned, she always said that 'The Lord of the Manor' should know how to take part at his own balls."

"Oh." she said turning back to the front.

"What about you, where did you learn to dance?" he asked glancing at her.

"My mother gave me lessons, I hated every minute of them though and I'm surprised I remembered any of it."

He gave a slight chuckle.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing." he replied followed by a louder chuckle.

"What?" she said turning to face him.

"I was just wondering what my father would say if he saw me now."

Ginny, realising the humour giggled.

"I wish I could see his face, me the heir to The Malfoy Manor, estate and fortune, friends with Harry Potter, his master's worst enemy,"

They were both almost in hysterics.

"Can you imagine it, he's probably say that I was a disgrace...."

"To the name of Malfoy."

They both went deadly silent as the voice spoke; they slowly turned to the source.

For the first time they actually noticed where they had ended up.

On their right was Hogwarts about four hundred meters away, on their left was the lake about twenty meters away, behind them was the Forbidden Forest and in front of them....

Was a host of Death Eaters.

"Shit."