Draco Malfoy and Me

"Oh Hermione, who the hell can I ask to the Yule Ball?" I asked her while studying in the library.

"Well, Seamus is available..."

"Ugh, that brainless oaf? No way, he would probably be all over me!"

"What about Cedric Diggory?"

"Yes, he is cute, I have to admit," I said, sighing. "But he is way out of my league. Anyone else?"

"Well, have you asked Neville?"

"THAT'S IT! I WILL ASK NEVILLE TO GO WITH ME!" I shouted.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" said Madam Pince, glaring at me.

"Oh piss off, bird woman," I muttered under my breath as I left Hermione trying to stifle her giggles to seek out Neville.

I found him by the lake, studying several water plants. He was wearing water boots, and was waist deep in the lake.

Luckily, I had worn my bathing suit underneath my clothes, so I pealed off my clothes, and started to get in the water with Neville.

"This is nice, isn't it Neville?"

Neville jumped, and turned to look at me. His mouth dropped open, and he began to stammer and stutter. Apparently, my black, lacy bikini had left him speechless.

"Whoah!" said Neville, turning bright red. "You look- you look so... sexy."

I blushed, and dove under the water. I swam around Neville's legs, and pulled at them playfully, trying to get him to swim with me. No such luck...

I surfaced right in front of him, and looked deep into his blue-gray eyes. "Neville, this is kind of hard for me to say..." I began anxiously. "Would you like to be my date for the Yule Ball?"

Neville looked away from me. "I thought you would rather go with Draco. Isn't that the man who truly has your heart? Why not go with him?"

I hadn't told Neville about why Draco and I couldn't be together, but I was thinking I was going to have to. "Neville, it's complicated. He is forbidden to see, speak, think, or have anything to do with me. You don't know the half of what happened..."

"Theresa, if he really loves you, he will go with you, not Pansy."

"HE CAN'T GO WITH ME BECAUSE SNAPE IS WATCHING HIM LIKE A HAWK!" I cried, falling into Neville's arms, sobbing. "Snape threatened to tell his dad about me... If Snape sees Draco with me, Draco will get hurt or worse..."

"Oh Theresa," said Neville, patting me on the back. "You are going to hate me right now..."

"Why?" I said, pulling away from Neville's embrace.

"Because I already asked Ginny out, and she accepted..."

I ran, crying all the way up to my dorm, slamming the door, and falling onto my bed.

I cried and cried until I could cry no more. I refused to eat, and whenever I had spare time, I would sleep. Sleep to me, was a way to escape the harsh reality that I was going to go to the Yule Ball without a date. I would be the only champion there without a dance partner to open the ball with.
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Hermione took me dress shopping in Hogsmede one day after class. "Come on Theresa, you need to get out of this funk you have been in lately!" said Hermione leading me to Witch Dress?

I tried on several dresses, but only one of them looked really good on me.

"This is the one that will turn heads!" said Hermione as I twirled in the blue dress with ruffles (pictured). "Even if you do not have a date, you will once the boys see you in this... It totally compliments your complexion!"

"You think so?" I asked, in a daze. I looked at myself in the mirror, and all I saw was a very tired, worn out looking version of myself.

"Forget this, forget everything!" I said, slamming the changing room door.

"What's up?" asked Hermione.

"No boy would ever think I'm beautiful... Look at me, I'm so ugly..."

"You are not ugly! You have got to stop moping around! Now listen to me, you are going to the ball, you are wearing this dress, and you are going to have a good time!"

I changed back into my clothes, and paid for the dress, and left the shop, feeling more miserable than ever...