Harry waited at in the common room, watching the stairs to the girls' dorms. He fiddled with his bow tie, undoing and re-tying it over and over as he waited anxiously. Beside him stood several other Gryffindor boys. Most of them were simply getting bored of waiting for the girls. He saw some green fabric appear at the top of the steps. Slowly making her way down was Ginny Weasley. Dean got up and said, "Well, there's my date. See you all downstairs."
A few minutes later, Lavender appeared in a dress of that colour. In Harry's opinion, it was somewhat garish, covered in sequins and far too shiny. The skirt was multi-layered and poofy, much like a fairy-tale princess's. Lavender herself had the reddest lipstick Harry had ever seen, along with bright blue mascara. She giggled as she passed Harry, "You're in for a surprise tonight, Potter!" She linked arms with Cormac McLaggen as they left the tower. Harry continued to wait.
Just after the Fat Lady closed the entrance after Lavender, he saw a slim dress of shocking pink appear at the top of the stairs. Parvati was making her way down in a dress that was styled after an Indian sari. "You're going to love what we've done with Hermione," she said as she passed by. Harry noticed that, although she hadn't been as excessive as Lavender with her makeup, she did concentrate on her eyes with hers. She had decorated her eyes with both black and gold eyeliner to the point where they looked like those of a nyx. She left Gryffindor tower alone, presumably to meet up with her date. Apparently her sister had set her up with some fifth-year boy in Ravenclaw.
What did she mean by what they did with Hermione? thought Harry. The way those two operate, Hermione might be coming down with a clown face for all I know. He worried more and more every minute. Staring at the clock on the wall, they had another five minutes until the ball began. The only people left in the common room aside from Harry were the ones who weren't interested in going to the ball anyway. Where was Hermione? Harry fretted.
With three minutes to go, Hermione quickly rushed down the stairs. She had her hair done up far more elegantly than back at home, in a tight bun that was presumably held together by magic, because Harry couldn't figure out how it could stay that way. She left the ends of her hair deliberately loose around the bun, so it had a little playful messiness to it. It was a far cry from Hermione's old, too-much-hair-to-manage messiness. Thankfully, she kept her makeup to a minimum- just some eyeliner and lip gloss, along with some dark nail polish. With her dress and jewellery, Harry was awestruck. He scolded himself for never imagining that Hermione could be this beautiful.
"Ugh! I'm going to kill Lavender and Parvati!" Hermione huffed in the most unladylike manner. "Come on, Harry, we're going to be late!" She grabbed Harry in his dazed state, nearly causing him to fall over.
"What did they do? Are they the reason why you're late?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Hermione hissed. "They wouldn't stop trying to dress me up like a doll and giving advice on how to catch boys like fish at the ball. As if I needed anyone's attention other than yours! I ended up having to wash off everything they did and redoing everything myself."
"So you managed all this in only ten minutes after Parvati left?" Harry was impressed.
"Yes! And this is why I ended up with such a... bland look. I'm sorry, Harry, I really wanted this to be special..."
"Don't worry, Hermione. You're looking even better than I could have imagined."
As they were scurrying down the many flights of stairs, they heard a hooting from above. Kerris, being led by Hedwig, were flying through the castle and landed gently on the banisters beside Harry and Hermione. Kerris proudly stuck out her leg, bearing a small note, a wrist-band corsage for Hermione and a matching boutonniere for Harry. They were freshly made from the Flumpet that Dan had bought during Harry's shopping trip. Thanking their owls, they continued down, reading the note along the way.
Dear Hermione and Harry
I hope the flowers reach you in time for the ball. Dan nearly forgot about it and we had them done this afternoon. I just hope Kerris didn't tire herself out rushing all the way out to Scotland for you. We got the pictures developed and we'll send copies along next time. I hope you can find someone to take pictures for you as well. We'd love to have photos of you dancing your hearts out.
Love,
Emma and Dan
Hermione slipped hers on her wrist as Harry affixed his to his lapel. Grinning, they knew they were finally ready- with one minute on the clock and the doors of the Great Hall in sight. Everyone was milling about, waiting for the doors to open. Harry had never seen such a sea of colours among the students- usually it was just a lot of black with bits of red, green, blue, and gold. Now, on the girls at least, were dresses of every colour and fabric. Some of the Durmstrang girls had even taken to wearing fur, while most of the French girls tended to choose more daring sheerer fabrics with generous amounts of skin showing. Most of the Hogwarts students had taken to wearing more traditional dresses that nearly reached the floor and made with layers of heavier fabrics. There was the occasional girl who tried something a little more unique, like Parvati. The boys all wore black dress robes- except for two, who stuck out like a sore thumb. Harry laughed as he pointed them out to Hermione. "I hope Angelina and Katie aren't too miffed about their dates' fashion sense."
Off to the side, Harry could notice a cordoned-off area with nearly a hundred journalists and photographers packed like sardines, trying to get as close as they can to the crowds. The champions were happy to be able to keep their distance, while some other students gladly walked towards them, letting the photographers snap their pictures. "I forgot the map!" Harry suddenly said aloud.
"Why do we need it now?" Hermione asked.
"I wanted to find Rita Skeeter, so I could at least know what she looks like," Harry explained.
"Forget about her tonight, Harry. Let's just have fun," Hermione said. "I'll keep an eye out for her during the Trial of Water."
They approached the other champions, who were allowed their own area opposite to the press. Interestingly enough, there were only three couples. "Hello Fleur," Harry greeted the witch. "I see you managed to snag Cedric."
"Hey yourself, Harry," Cedric said in reply. "It's not as if she had to try very hard. Who could possibly resist a beautiful, intelligent, talented, half-Veela girl like her?"
"Harry could," Fleur laughed.
"Because I've got Hermione," Harry explained.
"Did you know that, out of the one hundred and sixty-eight Triwizard Tournaments ever held, only six times have two of the champions chosen each other for the Yule ball? You two will be the center of attention this evening," Hermione told them.
"Zat is not a problem for me," Fleur said as she pulled off some kind of wandless Veela magic, making her skin sparkle.
"You know, if you keep doing that, I might end up falling over you this evening. I can only resist you so much, Fleur," Cedric said.
Krum had stayed silent the entire time. Interestingly, he had chosen a Beauxbaton girl for a date- Harry didn't recognize her, as she wasn't one of the girls with Fleur he had met on his trip to Hogsmeade after the duels. She was far shorter than Krum, the top of her head only reaching Krum's shoulder. It seemed that the gruff, burly Durmstrang champion liked quiet, dainty girls. All of the Durmstrang women were clearly as tough as the men. Oddly enough, that made Harry and Hermione the only couple out of the three where both were from the same school. All six of them made small talk for another few minutes after the doors to the Great Hall opened and all the other students made their way inside.
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