As the Sister of Harry Potter

I was glad we were on break, because preparing for the ball was taking for forever. I was also glad that classes didn’t resume until the second of January, because it would give me time to recover from a humiliating night of dancing with someone everybody thought I hated and from wearing that dress.

A very sexy dress, as Ophilia put it.

It was afternoon, only a few hours until the ball. Ophilia and I had argued over my hair, which she wanted to curl all of. I told her no, that would look silly. After going back and forth for nearly an hour, I finally gave in a little and let her do the ends of my hair. I sat in a chair in front of the charmed mirror we had made float there as Ophilia curled my hair. She had managed to tame hers with a large amount of hair gel, and now it was straight, almost touching her shoulders, save for a couple incredibly stubborn strands that stuck up like antenna. “Honestly Jen, I don’t see why you won’t just let me curl it all…” she said, shaking her head.

“Because it would look ridiculous!” I retorted, trying not to move. I wouldn’t put it past her to burn me for a smart remark.

She sighed, “Alright, all done… try not to mess it up!”

“I won’t,” I promised, standing up and hugging her.

“Good, because you look officially princess-afied.”

-

Finally, it was time. The four of us girls went down to the common room where Hermione, Ginny and Launa were waiting. As a group, we went down to the Entrance Hall, stopping at the last corner before the final staircase. “Well, this is it. I’ll go first,” said Ophilia, shaking with anticipation.

“I’ll go with,” said Sophia, and they proceeded down the staircase. Ophilia tripped on the last step, but Fred caught her, laughing. Sophia was elegant, waltzing over to Lee as he took her hand. Launa, Ginny and Katie went next, leaving Hermione and I.

“Jennifer, I’m scared,” she whispered. I don’t blame her. Krum had a lot of fan girls that seemed to follow him everywhere, and I bet they were stark raving mad when they found out he was taken for the Yule Ball.

I smiled, saying, “Me too.” I took a deep breath. Honestly? Scared didn’t even being to cover it. But I had to suck it up. What kind of a Gryffindor was I if I didn’t?

“Okay, let’s do this thing…” And we nervously walked down the stairs.

Diggory and Krum were waiting for us. Krum offered Hermione his arm, which she took, and they walked towards the doors. Hermione smiled nervously at me and waved bye. Diggory smiled at me, offering me his arm as well. He actually didn’t look too bad for once. I smiled grimly, nearly tripping over my own feet. Yeah, and this is me not even in heels. I would have already been killed due to my own lack of feet-mind coordination if I had been.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” I lied, and he led me over to the doors of the Great Hall. Everyone else had gone inside the Hall except for the Champions, their dates, and McGonagall, who was organizing us. Fleur and Rodger Davis were up front, then Krum and Hermione, then Cedric and I. Harry and Cho were in last. They both stared at me in shock. I don’t think Harry had ever seen me wear makeup in my life. Not that I made a habit of wearing any anyways, none of us really did. Sarlanda wore it on occasion and Ophilia wore a little bit of purple eye shadow and mascara most days. Ophilia had had to do my make up for this, because I had no clue how to do any of it.

Then, McGonagall threw open the doors, and led us in. We were met by applause and the occasional wolf-whistle. Lots of people gawked at me like Harry had, and I felt my face heating up. ‘Why does everyone always have to stare?’ I asked myself. This was so uncomfortable.

Diggory must have noticed, because he whispered, “You’re fine, they’re just staring because you look amazing.” This made me turn even redder.

‘I am so going to die…’

We picked a spot on the dance floor since the Champions had to start the Ball. Diggory took my waist and my left hand, and I place my free one on his shoulder awkwardly.

“Um, Diggory?”

“Yes?”

“I can’t dance!” I hissed as the Weird Sisters picked up their instruments.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I, fortunately, almost can.”

The music started. I felt like such a troll, tripping over my own feet while Diggory seemed to glide. One look at Harry told me he had two left feet as well. I made a mental note to add, “Inability to Dance” to my list of “Things I Inherited From My Father.”

By the time the song was over, practically everyone was dancing, and thank goodness, because I hated standing out like this. The next song was slower, so I dragged Diggory over to a table. “I take it you don’t like slow music?” he asked teasingly.

“How’d you guess?” I asked grumpily, taking a seat.

We talked for a few songs, and I sort of began to relax around him. My ears perked up at the first few notes of my favorite Weird Sisters song and I stood up, dragging Diggory with me.

“Now this is real music!” I shouted at him, and we started dancing at a fast pace. We twirled on past Brittany Chang and Issac Pope, whom we nodded in understanding at. Surprisingly, Brittany was dressed rather elegantly, in a white dress and her hair curlier and shinier than ever.

“Nice dress, Potter.”

“You too, Chang.” Just because we’re rivals doesn’t mean we can’t be civil with each other.

Cyliana White and Greg Bamal, however, were rather uncivil.

Greg scrunched up his nose at me. “Really Cedric? Her?”

Diggory raised his eyebrows and before I could reply, said, “Yes Greg. Believe it or not, Jennifer is actually quite a civil person.”

I nearly snorted at that. ‘Thanks for that one…’

“Wow, nice dress Potter!” complimented Cyliana in her fake voice. “Too bad you can’t dance and you’re a bloody hypocrite!”

“Thanks Cyliana! Too bad you’re a two-faced banshee and won’t ever accomplish anything in life!” I said cheerfully, and I dragged Diggory too another part of the dance floor before she could formulate a retort.

They continued to play rock for I don’t know how long, some Muggle, some not. I saw lots of people. Sophia and Lee dancing were like mad, and Samantha, Sarlanda’s only Slytherin friend, who was being spun around by Lance. Diggory said he was tired, so we found where Ophilia, Sarlanda and the Twins were sitting. Fred was looking at me like I was mad.

“So this is your surprise date? Diggory?”

I bit my lip a bit, not sure what to say. Diggory had defended me back there… “Yeah, well, it was him or Lance, and I’d rather not have been here with that creeper, you know?” I asked, taking the last empty seat.

Ophilia looked at me and then to Diggory, who was standing there awkwardly sort of blushing with embarrassment then back to me, and finally to Fred, whom she grabbed and said, “Let’s dance, this song’s pretty cool,” and dragged him away, leaving a seat for Diggory. That girl was too nice sometimes. And I guess I was selfish.

Sarlanda and George eventually left to go dance to one of George’s favorite songs. Why did I keep getting abandoned with Diggory?

“Shall we have another go?” he asked, standing up.

“Right,” I answered, not at all wanting to dance, but I figured I had already been rude to him once tonight. We started spinning when I accidentally bumped into someone.

“Mind if I cut in?” asked Lance, smirking the famous Malfoy smirk.

“Not at all,” said Diggory coldly, faking a smile.

Lance whisked me away before I had a say in matters. He held me tight to him so I couldn’t escape, my ear pressed against his shoulder and his nose was buried in my red hair. “Are you wearing perfume my dear?” he asked slyly.

“No, Ophilia made me wash my hair with that smelly shampoo,” I said, disgruntled. I couldn’t believe Diggory right now. Did he not know already that I had issues with Lance?

“Hmm, well, you look darling tonight. Too bad you don’t put this much effort into yourself more often, you’re be like a Veela.”

“Ugh, are you honestly encouraging me to be shallow? And I’d never pull it off, anyways. I prefer sharpening my mind over my looks, thanks.”

He sent me into an elegant spin, far more streamline that Diggory had been pulling off so far, and pulled me back in somewhat close, still keeping a harsh grip on my hand and waist. “But dear Jennifer, if you truly weren’t shallow, you wouldn’t be here with Diggory.”

I frowned at him, my hazel eyes caught up in a battle with his grey ones. “What are you talking about?”

“Honestly love, why do you think he asked you?”

“Because he wanted to.”

Lance smirked and tch’ed at me. “You really are oblivious. He so obviously asked you for the bragging rights that he got the ‘infamously stubborn Jennifer Potter.’ That and he sits there in class, practically undressing you with his eyes.” I hit him in the chest, making a thumping sound. “Don’t shoot the messenger, sweetheart, I’m just telling you how it is,” he said, concluding with bowing slightly and kissing my hand.

I stormed away to find Diggory and confront him about this. Lance liked to rile me up, but it was usually with the truth, and actually, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was right about Diggory.

Speaking of that git, he grinned when I found him. “There you are! Do you—what?” he asked, the cheery attitude dropping when he saw my glare.

“What the hell Diggory!”

“What are you on about?”

I really wanted to slap him, but that would have attracted unwanted attention. Maybe if I kicked him…? “Why did you ask me to this dammed ball?”

“Fine! I—I like you, alright? I like you, and I finally got the guts to ask you out!” he spilled.

“Oh, very funny Diggory!”

“Wait—what did Lance say to you?” he asked, suspicious.

“That you asked me here for the bragging rights, which I highly doubt you didn’t do,” I snapped.

“So you want me to believe you about Harry, but you won’t accept the truth from me? What else did he say?”

“That you ‘practically undress me with your eyes’ during class,” I said, turning red at the thought.

Diggory looked disgusted. “What? You believe that trash? He must have been talking about himself, because I’ve never done that.”

Now I was completely confused. What the hell was I supposed to believe now?

“Look Jennifer, can we just… talk about this tomorrow? I’d really like to finish the night off on a good note,” he offered, sighing in defeat.

I chewed at my lip before deciding. “Tomorrow, noon, Entrance Hall.”

“Yes ma’am. Now… it’s the last song, shall we?”

We danced to the last, horribly slow, song. He was gentle, unlike Lance, who had probably ended up giving me a bruise where he had clenched at me.

“So believe… that magic works… don’t be afraid… of being hurt… Don’t let… this magic die… the answer’s there… oh, just look in her eyes…”

‘Screw you sentimental love song, screw you,’ I thought bitterly as the Weird Sisters played on.

“Quite appropriate,” I thought I head Diggory mutter.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The song ended, and we stopped dancing. I headed out of the hall, and he followed me.

“Wait, Jen!”

I spun around and snapped, “Don’t call me that. It’s a friends only nickname.”

“Right, sorry… Jennifer. Look… I just wanted you to know that, well, I had fun tonight, for the most part,” he said, smiling again.

“Um, great, I kind of did too… maybe,” I said, unsure of myself and how I felt.

“Well, erm… here,” he said, pulling his wand out of his pocket and conjuring a thorned white rose, and gave it to me. “Happy Christmas.”

I took it, caught off guard. “Erm… thanks Diggory. Happy Christmas to you too.”

In the dorm, Katie was asleep and Sophia and Ophilia were no where to be found. I passed by the waste basket and paused, holding Diggory’s rose over it with two fingers. Did I do it? Did I totally deny him?

Something in me made me not do it, and I sent it on my bedside table before going to change and get the awful make up off.

I really was getting too soft.