A pastel yellow dress hung against my wall with a pair of crystal imbedded heels right next to it, the shadows of them dancing against the wall.
The ball was tomorrow and I was nervous, but also ecstatic. I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep yet, and it was already 2 a.m. I had the strange sensation of when your body feels exhausted but your brain remains awake, filled to the brim with hundreds of swimming thoughts.
I slowly brought my legs over the side of my wooden bed and my feet hit the floor.
I guided my legs over to to the vine covered door and slowly turned the golden circular knob. I pulled the door open and left the two girls who were tucked in their beds, fast asleep. My feet lightly patted against the ground as I walked to the common room, observing the hundreds of plants.
Whenever I couldn't sleep, I usually went to the common room. The ambience of the room at night was mesmerizing, the soft lights and sound of the fire lulling me to sleep.
I exited the hall of dorm rooms and walked over to the couch when I saw a figure sitting there. I cautiously walked over to it, wondering who it was. As I got closer I realized that it was the same mousy brown haired boy I met on the train.
"Hey Ced." I said in a soft voice.
Cedric turned his tired face over to me and gave me a light comforting smile.
"Hi lovely." he grinned.
I let myself gently sit down on the soft velvety couch. "Why are you up at this hour?" Cedric asked.
"I could say the same to you." I chuckled.
"I just couldn't fall asleep." I sighed, letting myself sink deeper into the couch.
"Neither could I," he replied. "My mind was too active."
I moved over closer to him and let my head fall to his shoulder. He smiled down at me warmly and picked up my hand and held it in his, tracing light patterns into it.
"You know ever since we started dating it has been a lot easier to fall asleep." Cedric commented. I raised my eyebrows.
"But now thinking about the ball and you tomorrow is making it harder to fall asleep." he added.
I grew more tired as my head rested against his warm shoulder, his soft humming soothing me to sleep. Before I knew it I had drifted off into a dream about tomorrow and what would come with it.
I heard the sound of students lightly chattering and my eyes opened slowly. I noticed a light brown blanket was draped over me and a pillow was placed behind my head. I got up and checked the time.
It's 7:00 already, and classes start at 7:30.
I shot up from the couch and bolted to my room, wanting to get ready quickly.
I opened and slammed the door to my room and saw Hermione and Ada sitting on their beds calmly, still in their pajamas.
"What are you two doing? We have classes!" I yelled at them, unaware of my volume at this hour of the morning.
"Allison calm down," Ada began, "we don't have classes today, it's Saturday, remember?"
I let out a sigh of relief and fell onto my bed, my face drowning in the pillows and blankets.
"I don't know what I would do if it was a week day." I said, my voice muffled in the blankets.
"Same here." Hermione agreed.
I forced myself to sit up and crossed my legs, my hair hitting my back.
"So..." I continued. "Anything to talk about?"
"I heard that Cleo asked Cedric to the Yule ball!" Hermione blurted, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth afterwards.
Ada gave an "are you kidding me you were supposed to keep your mouth shut!" look to Hermione.
"What?" I bellowed, my face turning red.
"Hermione wasn't supposed to tell you," Ada began, "but because she can't keep her mouth shut, I should tell you what happened."
"Yesterday after school Cedric came running to me while I was outside studying, so I asked what was wrong. He said that Cleo asked him to the Yule ball and he didn't know what to do." Ada explained.
He said no, right?" I pleaded, tears of rage starting to form in my eyes.
"Well, yeah, obviously. The man is crazy for you." she continued.
"What was her reason? She's dating Draco!" I huffed.
"Last night, she came into the room crying. I didn't know who it was so I got up and took my wand out. I soon saw that it was Cleo, letting out violent sobs in a small ball on the floor. I poked her with my wand and she looked up. She said 'I'm so sorry for coming in here but I don't have anywhere to stay. Draco broke up with me this morning.' and started crying again. I let her stay here because she didn't have a place to go." Hermione shared.
"Where is she now?" I probed.
"Probably at breakfast crying her eyes out." Ada guffawed, a large devilish smile across her face.
We all started laughing at this comment, falling backwards onto our beds, chests heaving.
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After hours of chatting, it was already 3:00.
"We should probably get our clothes and makeup on." Ada said while hoisting herself up, her curls bouncing past her shoulders.
"Fine." I groaned, falling out of bed in the process.
I walked over to wall where my dress and shoes were an exmpty space of where they once were.
"Hey, where's my dress?" I asked anxiously.
"Wait, it's not there anymore?" Hermione said as she walked over to my side, Ada following her soon after.
"That good for nothing piece of-" Ada began, but was soon cut off by Hermione.
"That disgusting cockroach took your dress!" she yelled.
"We have to get a new one, fast." I insisted, tears starting to sting my eyes.
"I know what to do, don't worry." Hermione said with a kind smile.
"We'll get you an even better dress I promise." Ada insisted.
"Ok, I think I have an idea...but bear with me it might not work." Hermione stated.
"Multicofors." Hermione announced, shakily pointing her wand at me. A red spark came from the tip and another pastel yellow dress appeared on me.
The dress was actually perfect, even better than the first.
I did a little twirl to show them and their mouths were agape.
"Nice job 'Mione!" Ada said, staring in awe at the dress.
The two curly haired girls and I started getting ready, making sure to make every last detail correct.
Hermione's dress was a beautiful pink tone that had ruffled sleeves and ruffles going down the skirt. The skirt was an ombré from light to dark pink and to top it off a dark pink ribbon was tied around her waist. She did very light makeup and put her hair into a hairstyle very similar to a beehive, with a small bit of hair sticking out and draping over her shoulder.
Ada's dress was a light baby blue, made of a sheer tulle fabric. It had an off-shoulder neckline, and lining the top of it were small flowers, which beautifully adorned the fabric. She had sheer puffed sleeves and a to the floor skirt of the dress, which had a small slit from her upper thigh to her ankle. She let her hair down with her curls, and she wore stunning pearl necklace with matching pearl earrings.
Mine was a simmering satin dress with a off-should neckline. The dress was a yellow matching the color of the common room with the satin shimmering in the light. The dress was a perfect length just short enough for my imbedded crystal heels to show but long enough to cover all of my legs. The only part of my legs shown was through a slit that was cut all the way up into the bodice and molded into the two out of many folds in the skirt.
Once I finished getting ready, my makeup and hair matched perfectly with my dress, and made the look complete. I had a dark pink nude lipstick on, matched with gold and brown shimmery eyeshadow. My hair was put into a French braid that went past my ear and went into a low bun, and two pieces of my hair were pulled out in the front of my face.
I wrapped one last accessory around my waist. It was a slim piece of ribbon that matched the dress color perfectly and made a beautiful bow in the back.
Since I finished getting ready I walked into the common room looking for Cedric. I rounded the corner and saw him standing with a black box in his hands. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a bow tie and a matching long black coat over it.
With my heels clicking underneath me I walked over to Cedric and tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned around and flashed me his signature lopsided grin.
"I have something for you." he informed me while handing me the box.
I opened it carefully and saw a shiny, crystal necklace. It had a big heart at the center, and smaller red tinted crystals surrounded this heart.
My mouth fell open and I gasped.
"Cedric, it's beautiful!" I exclaimed, giddy with excitement.
"Want me to help you put it on?" he asked gently. He picked up the necklace from the box and clipped it around my neck. I gave him a wide smile and wrapped my arms around his torso.
"Thank you." I gushed in a muffled voice against his chest.
"You're very welcome." he chuckled after wrapping his arms around my back.
My chest fell up and down and I looked up at Cedric. He was looking forward but noticed me looking at him so he smiled down at me.
"You look stunning." he grinned while linking arms with me.
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The doors opened and we walked in along with the other Tri-Wizard champions and their dates. Everyone was staring at us, and their mouths fell open as I walked past. A hushed whisper broke out, as people started talking about how we looked like a perfect couple.
Cedric guided me to the dance floor, taking my hand in his. He faced me and put one hand on my waist while he held my hand in the other. I placed my hand on his shoulder and started to move with the music.
Cedric was a surprisingly good dancer, considering that every other time I saw him dance he ended up tripping in some way.
We moved in circles around the dance floor, never loosing eye contact with each other.
"What are you doing?" I squealed as he lifted me up off the ground.
"It's part of the dance!" he giggled, setting me down.
Once the first dance ended we got refreshments, and relaxed for bit, making small talk with each other.
"Oh hey Alice! How's life?" Cleo said with a disgustingly fake smile.
I'm doing well thank you! But you would already know that if you decided to actually be a good friend for once." I sneered through gritted teeth.
Cedric sensed the tension and gave me a tap on the wrist.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back, darling."
I gave him a small nod, and continued to talk to Cleo.
"At least I'm not a filthy little Mudblood like you. No life, no friends, and most importantly no boyfriend. He's mine." Cleo fumed. My eyes widened and my vision became blurry with rage.
I brought my hand up and pulled it back, letting it smack her across the face—hard. She let out a shriek of pain and fell to her knees, a large bruise staring to form on her face.
"You git!" she yelled, getting up and bringing her hand up to strike me back.
I grabbed her hair in defense and yanked on it and soon after I looked down into my hands. I saw giant clumps of hair -- hair extensions to be exact. She let out a yelp and clutched her head.
Oh my god, almost all of her hair is fake!
"I hate you!" she exclaimed as she ran away, bumping Cedric in the shoulder on her way out of the door.
"What's her problem?" he asked, obviously concerned.
"Oh it's nothing, she just got what she deserved." I said nonchalantly, chucking a large chunk of blonde hair behind me.
I pulled Cedric back to the dance floor, and we danced for hours and hours without stopping. After waiting for a while, a slow song finally came on.
Cedric pulled me closer and his head dropped on top of mine. We swayed gently to the music, ignoring anything that could possibly distract us. He lightly kissed the top of my head and then cleared his throat.
"Hey Alice, can I tell you something?"
"Of course, Ced, what is it?" I said in a drowsy voice.
"I love you" he stammered.
"You're crazy." I laughed while looking down at my feet.
"Not as crazy as I am about you." he smiled while using his index finger to lift my head up.
"I love you too." I flashed him a toothy grin while wrapping my arms back around him, smiling hard into his warm muscular chest.
The sudden crying of a familiar voice interrupted this perfect moment, and I turned my head to see what was going on. I saw Hermione running out of the ballroom, tears streaming down her face.
"I have to go help 'Mione, Ced, I'll be right back." I said in a worried tone as I ushered away.
I ran out after her, our heels clicking in sync with each other.
She turned back to Ron and started to yell.
"Next time there's a ball, pluck of the courage to ask me before someone else does, and not as a lost resort!" she sobbed, falling down onto the stairs.
I sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms.
"Shh, shh, it's ok 'Mione." I murmured into her hair.
I glared at Ron to get him to leave as I held the heartbroken girl closer to me. Her tears wet my dress, but I didn't care. I just wanted to help her.
"I feel so stupid, Allison." she cried, trembling in my arms.
"You're not stupid, I promise you. Not stupid at all."
(Everyone at the dance when Cleo and Chloe were fighting 😃🕶🤏🏻😎)