The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

***Warning: slight spoiler for the first chapter of Eldest by Christopher Paolini***

By the time we all left the feast at about six-thirty, I’d managed to convince my new foreign friends to come to the ball, and I was eagerly dragging Scorpius to our dorm.

“So, I was thinking, with your pale complexion, that a vampire or werewolf might fit you well,” I said to him conversationally. “Although, you could go as something like a dementor, if you really wanted to.”

“I think I’ll stick with the vampire idea, if you don’t mind,” Scorpius said as I opened my mouth to continue. “That idea is much better than a dementor.” I beamed.

“Okay!” I said cheerfully. “Now an outfit for me…hmmmm…”

“An owl?” Scorpius suggested jokingly.

“Oh. Yes. Certainly.” I rolled my eyes, then an idea hit me. “I’m not going as an owl, and you are definitely not going as a vampire!” I shrieked, running ahead.

“You’re going as a Skellington! Jack Skellington, to be precise!”

He had absolutely no idea what I was talking about…but he soon would.

You see, Mum has developed a charm that allows certain Muggle items - like TV’s and DVD players - to work at Hogwarts. So, in our dorm, I summoned mine that I had had Mum send me the first week of term from my room. I sat Scorpius down in front of it.

“Sit down and prepare for one of the best old Muggle movies ever made.” I announced dramatically. And on came The Nightmare Before Christmas.

“See?!” I pointed excitedly a few minutes later. “You’re nearly lanky enough to pass for Jack - granted, he’s a skeleton and is probably like, seven feet tall and all…” I was putting a few touches on his costume as I said this. “And Sally has my hair color - see there - so I just need a bit of makeup done just right for her stitches and everything and a charm for straightening my hair, and--”

“Rose, hush!” Scorpius hissed. “I’m watching this!”

I giggled.

“Perfect!” I cried at eight-thirty, looking at Scorpius. “You’re as perfect a Jack Skellington as someone actually living can be!”

He was absentmindedly humming one of Jack’s songs at the same time, and just grinned, shaking his head at me. “Now, I’ll be right back! I’ve got to change,” I rushed upstairs to don my Sally costume.

It never occurred to me that these matching costumes could seem couple-ish until I’d finished my make up and was halfway through charming my hair to be straight. I rolled my eyes at myself in my mirror and went down the steps, still straightening my hair.

“Sorry about that,” I said as I got back to the balcony area. “For taking control of all of this,” I waved my hand to indicate the costumes. “If you still want to go as a vampire, I could fix something up for you in just a few minutes. It won’t be hard at all, and you’ll be able to go as what you wanted to before I went crazy on you--”

“It’s fine!” Scorpius laughed. “I like this. Let’s just go, already.”

“Oh. Okay.” I laughed as well, and we walked toward the Great Hall together.

As we got there, I heard a gasp, then a shriek in Lily’s voice, “Oh my gosh, Rose! Ingenious!” She ran up to me as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “That fits Scorpius’ physique almost perfectly, and you as Sally - just magnificent!”

I laughed. Among all of the Potter/Weasley clan, Lily was the only one who shared my infatuation with the old Muggle animated films.

“It is brilliant,” Scorpius remarked grinningly.

For some reason, I felt an odd fluttering, and after a very brief moment of pondering, I chose to blame it on my big-headed sense of pride.

I didn’t really have much more time if I had kept pondering, anyway, because just a few seconds later I heard a squeal and I was squeezed in a bone-crushing hug quite suddenly.

“Rose! The Nightmare Before Christmas!!!”

“Andy?” I asked tentatively. She beamed.

“Great costumes,” she said, still beaming. She was dressed up like a ninja, her mask not obscuring her head or face as it was designed to do.

“Yours is interesting, to say the least,” I remarked, then I asked, “would you rather be a pirate?”

“Thank this, yes, but--”

I grabbed her arm before she could finish talking and started to drag her away from the others. “Now, we’re going to the nearest abandoned classroom so you can become a pirate,” I told her so she wouldn’t freak out. She laughed at me, and I grinned as Scorpius sighed and Lily followed, offering to help.

Andy made a great pirate, what with my alterations and color-changes to the costume she had already been wearing and Lily's expert eye for a tad of makeup and hair styling. She was probably the type of pirate that the male gender would dub ‘sexy’. When we came back out of the abandoned classroom, Scorpius was standing there and had now been joined by my cousins Al, Fred, and Louis, and also by Hugo and Demitri. Joe was walking up just as Lily, Andy and I. Al’s mouth dropped open slightly and Fred and Louis diverted their gaze, blushing. Hugo turned to talk to Demitri to avoid staring at Demitri’s twin sister. I deemed this a smart move, because I didn’t know if Demitri was the protective type or not.

“Shall we?” I asked my enlarged group playfully. Lily, Andy, and I looped arms and walked through the just opened doors to the Great Hall.

And thus, the Halloween Ball began.

Halfway through, we were all hushed by the Professors.

“Now,” Professor Collins announced, “we Professors have come up with a new twist. Everyone’s costume will, when the lights switch off, be magically replaced with someone else’s. Magically resized, and whatnot. Then, you will be matched up with a random student of the opposite gender for the next dance. Afterwards, you are free to find another partner. This is to create unity, but also to add a flair to this occasion. And, I assure you, none of you will end up in your birthday suits as a result of a costume exchange. Now…lights, off!”

Darkness engulfed the room, and I heard a few startled screams even though Professor Collins had warned us beforehand that it was happening. There was a weird tingling after the lights went out, and I knew instantly that my costume had been changed. A weird tugging then pulled me a few steps back, and I found myself back-to-back with something that was cold and felt like metal. The lights came back on, and I glanced at the costume I was wearing. And I laughed.

My midriff-bare pirate costume was the one I had designed for Andy, and my random costume. It made me sort of self-conscious for a few moments, but then I glanced around to see what everyone else had been changed into.

The first thing I noticed was that Albus, a clown, was dancing with a Muggle’s version of a witch, who happened to be Andy. I scanned some more and found Hugo, now a ghost, dancing uncomfortably with a first year elf. I looked to the left and found my Sally costume dancing with a fourth-year scarecrow, and I realized that Sally was Lily. A short, stout first year that clearly did not match with my excellent (if I do say so myself) Jack Skellington costume was wearing it. I chuckled as I realized, although magically re-sized, it was still a bit to long for him. However, I didn’t see Scorpius.

I scanned the room for a few moments longer, then I was about to give up and dance with my partner when I heard the dull clanking of metal and turned around.

“Bloody Hell!”

I started laughing, a chuckle at first, then a full-out laugh.

“So, that’s where you are,” I said teasingly, as Scorpius struggled with his armor. Yes, I said his armor. “What a clumsy knight, you are.”

“Yes, I know, and I think this is one of the bewitched suits from the halls!”

“It is,” a dreamy voice said, and I turned to see Lysander Scamander dancing with a third year Hufflepuff. “I got permission to use one, but now I’m a pumpkin. I’m probably being swarmed by floating phermflies…”

Just like his mother, the boy dreamily danced away with his partner.

“What in Merlin’s name are floating phermflies?” Scorpius asked blankly.

“Scorpius, it’s Lysander. Do you expect him to make much sense?” I asked with a grin as I held my hand out, silently asking for a dance. He shook his head at me and accepted.

“I don’t usually expect him to make sense,” he chuckled. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight to actually think he would!”

We kept up the idle chatter until the song ended, and then we bowed to each other.

“Now, Sir Scorpius,” I chuckled the sound of that on my lips, “I do believe it is a Knight’s duty to uphold the laws and whatnot…so, I’m afraid I should really go find another partner before you remember just what it is we pirates do for a living.”

I winked playfully and melded into the crowd, who were now searching for new partners.

Demitri, who was a clown, like Al, ended up asking me to dance. I grinned and accepted. At this point, I didn’t notice the looks thrown at me, the ones that were slightly similar to the ones thrown at the one-twenty-fifth veela, Andy, in this same costume. Or if I did, it was subconsciously.

After dancing with Demitri, Andy walked up and we had a playful dance-off. Yeah, we were two girls dancing together. So what? After all, we soon had a nice chunk of the floor to ourselves. And we had everyone’s attention when Ariel Montague teamed up with the Scorpius-stalker Sandra Barns and challenged Andy and I to a dance-off. We beat them quite thoroughly, with our sort of hip-hop dance. Theirs was rather sluttish, and we got the votes of the male gender, anyway. It wasn’t a huge concern of ours, though. We were just having fun.

It was nearing eleven-thirty when the lights went off and plunged us into darkness. I heard, once again, a few screams.

“Now,” Professor Collins’ voice rang out, loud and clear, “for the last half hour of our Halloween Ball, it will be like a practice for the upcoming Yule Ball. Even though students younger than fourth years are not permitted to attend the Yule Ball unless taken by an older student as their date, they can remain for this. When the lights come back on, the lovely ladies will have formal dresses, or gowns, and the gentlemen will have either formal attire in the Muggle style or dress robes. Before the lights come back on, you will be paired with another random partner in the room. That is all.”

The tingling engulfed me again, and I felt a satiny material swishing around my knees, and I felt my hair stop tickling the back of my neck from its ponytail, so I knew it had been magically done. Immediately after, with an ‘oomph’ my ‘date’ (as I rightly assumed) and I thanked together, back-to-back.

“Bloody Hell,” I heard. “Nice warning!”

“Jeez, it’s not like it’s my fault,” I teased, steadying myself as I turned to him.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not.” he laughed.

“One dance will be with this partner, and you will be randomly matched up with seven others. The last of these will be your partner for the remainder of the ball or until you two and another pair trade partners voluntarily.” This announcement was in Professor Malin’s voice, and I had a suspicion that she was responsible for some of the fancy charm work, being the charms Professor. “Lights, on!” she called.

I curtsied to Demitri to begin our second dance of the night, and said, “Bonjour, Monsieur,” in my best French accent, which probably indicated I knew very little of the language.

“Mademoiselle,” he replied, in his flawless French accent. Of course, he was French, so it didn’t hurt my feelings too much that he was so much better than I.

The music started, and it was a simple waltz. Then I was paired with Al, for a fun little attempt at the cha-cha, and with Joe, the dance was a jive. I have no idea why either of those were even an option, but it was all in good fun to me. There was another regular waltz with a fourth year Ravenclaw named Benny, and I think it was some sort of tango that a sixth year Hufflepuff had to re-teach me, both of us laughing as we went along. I got paired, then, with a first year of my own house whom I had to stoop down for, and he was concentrating so hard. He promised he wouldn’t step on my feet, too. What a perfect little gentleman, he was, and then came my second-to-last partner. It was another formal dance that I couldn’t remember what it was called, but I was thankful I had taken a few dancing lessons when I was younger. Mum thought it would be useful for events - as she was an activists for civil rights for all other magical creatures (she’d passed a few house elf rights movements and some legislation that allowed werewolves to get jobs easier as long as they had a clean record). This was with Zachary Zabini, of all people. He was an okay dancer, so it was pretty fun. And he was being a gentleman, to top it off.

The lights flickered out again, and Professor Collins’ voice rang out again. “You are now with your last partner for the evening - unless, as has already been stated, you trade with someone else. That’s all, so have fun!”

The tugging seized me again and my new partner and I collided. I fell into his arms in the dark, and said, “Hello,” as happily as I could muster, although it was sort of a grunt. “It’s a bit painful, isn’t it, this random pairing thing?”

“You have that one right,” he muttered back, but I thought I recognized the voice.

“I know I do,” I retorted, chuckling.

“Somehow I knew it’d be you, Rose,” the voice sighed, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was then that the lights came on and I was facing Scorpius.

“I thought so!” I said, accusingly, pointing at him just as he laughed and said, “I knew it.”

We both laughed at the other, and then began to dance. Played were a few classics, like the Weird Sisters songs and Celestina Warbeck (how Grandma Weasley could stand her, I’ll never know). I stayed dancing with Scorpius, just having fun and chatting, and noticed that he was quite dashing in a Muggle style business suit with a black jacket and slacks, green undershirt, and silver tie. Scorpius had always been handsome, yes, but only seeing him like this made me realize how much more Muggle attire suited him - after all, this was the type of clothes you wouldn’t have seen on a Malfoy prior to the war.

The Ball began to wind down, and Uncle Viktor’s voice this time called out above the students, “This will be the last dance of the evening. Pick any partner you like!”

A slow orchestral piece started playing, and Scorpius slightly exaggerated his bow and asked, formally, “May I have this dance?”

I laughed, and just as formally placed my hand in his, replying, “You may.”

The song played, and I found us easily settling into the steps of the Viennese Waltz.

“I seems as though you’ve had lessons, Mr. Malfoy,” I said, keeping up with my formal tone of voice for this façade.

“Perhaps, Miss Weasley. Or maybe the grace with which you dance has rubbed of on one so unfortunate as I,” he replied, also keeping his formal tone. I cracked a grin and he returned it.

We continued to dance, and I began to notice more things about himj. For one, Scorpius Malfoy was an absolutely magnificent dancer. Another was that he was drop-dead gorgeous and his eyes were an amazing steely blue. Thirdly - the crush from third year (when I was in the not-openly-ignoring-that-Malfoy-boy stage) had so not gone away.

Or maybe it had just come back?

So, I was both regretful and thankful when the ball ended. He bowed to me like a gentleman, placing the traditional kiss on the back of my hand, and I curtsied in return, and then we were dismissed after the announcement was made that the first entrants to the tournament would put their names in the Goblet of Fire at seven o’clock the very next morning. Scorpius and I exchanged a glance at this - we both knew that the first entrants were us - but then I had a slight leap of glee as another announcement, this time from Professor Malin, told us that we could keep the attire from tonight and that our costumes would be in our rooms, freshly laundered, by morning.

However much fun the ball had been, I was only too happy to get to the common room Scorpius and I shared and collapse upon the couch, taking off the black two-inch deathtraps on my feet and rubbing my slightly sore feet. I drifted off almost as soon as I lay down, only barely awake long enough to see Scorpius pick up Eldest off of the coffee table and start to read.

“Dammit!” I heart, and I shot up.

“What?!”

“Ajihad died!”

I stared blankly at the anguished Scorpius, before bursting out laughing. “You woke me up for that?!”

“Sorry…” he murmured, abashed, “I get too into what I read…”

“I noticed.” I said, grinning. “Just keep it to yourself for now, okay? ‘Cause I’m too lazy to go up to my room.”

I lay back down and promptly fell right back to sleep.