Forbidden and Mistaken

"Aren't you supposed to dress up to the Halloween Ball?" A confused fourth year asked me in the hallway.

"As what? A witch...Puh-lease. The Balls at Hogwarts are formal...now scram!" I told the kid as he ran away.

"You know, you really shouldn't do that..." Hermione told me.

"Whatever. We got pushed around when we were fourth years too..." I said as I was whirled around by Ron. "Uh, hey?" I said.

"Hi, Eliza." He said, mouthing "go away" to Hermione.

"Look at what you did!" I scolded.

"I was going to ask you something..." He said. Oh brother...not the dance, not the dance, not the dance.

"Please don't ask me to the Ball..." I groaned.

Ron looked surprised for a second...Then burst out laughing! "You? Sorry, Eliza, but I wasn't going to ask you to the dance." He exclaimed with a haughty laugh.

"Oh thanks Ron." I said sarcastically. Thank gawd!

"I was going to ask you if you think that 'Mione would want to go with me..." He said.

I pushed Ron out of the way of the other students into a secluded place within the corridor. "Of course, you delinquent!"

"So...you know, uh...should I ask...Hermione?"

"Yes, for crying out loud! Ask her!" I exclaimed. "I need to get to my Arithmancy class...scram!" I said jokingly as Ron "scram"ed out of the way. Arithmancy was a subject I enjoyed greatly. Only Hermione and I took it, because numbers and numerology were apparently "too much" for their brains. On my way to lunch, Harry spotted me in the corridor.

"Hi, Harry." I said.

"Hey Ellie..." He stopped. "Uh..." He asked me shyly. "Do you want to go to the Halloween Ball with uh...me?"

I was at a loss for words. Harry? Ask me? He was my best friend, I guess that can't hurt. I loved Harry- just in a brotherly way.

"Sure." I said...very unsure. "It'll be fun...I guess."

"What's wrong?" He asked me. "You don't seem so sure."

"Oh, nothing. I just...I don't like Balls."

"Why?" He asked.

"No reason. I just don't see why you would want to go..." I cringed, "Dancing."

"You went to the Yule Ball." He said. "With George."

"Thats because you were the Tri-Wizard Champion! I had to be there for you! Plus, Catherine was sick so she couldn't go with him!"

"Okay, okay..."

"Whatever. If my friends are there, I'm sure it'll be fun." I said. Oh, I was sure all right. But I wasn't. The truth was that I really wanted to go with Malfoy. But I couldn't. It was virtually impossible for us to go the the Ball together, let alone, dance together. Harry was nice. I liked Harry, really, I did. But for once in my life, I'd like to go with someone who actually like liked me. Like a boyfriend.

"So...you'll go with me?" He asked again.

"Of course I will." I said as I sat down to eat my lunch. I spotted Draco at the Slytherin table. He looked nice, with his platinum blond hair and blue-grey eyes. But he was laughing with the Slytherin girls. Pansy, Millicent, Daphne and some others were all around him, Pansy grabbed his arm as they all argued who Draco would take to the Ball, while he sat there gloating in their midst. Wow, what a life!

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After a day of hard classes, Hermione, Ginny, and I lounged in Hermione and my dorm room, talking about our dates.

"Guess what...?" Hermione said.

"What?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"What." I groaned.

"Ron asked me to the Halloween dance!" She squealed. Check. Second time Hermione has squealed this year. Oh brother.

"Oh Merlin! Dean Thomas asked me even before the Ball was scheduled!"

"Nice." I replied.

"Who are you going with?" Ginny asked me.

"I don't know...I don't really want to."

"Why? I thought you agreed." Hermione said.

"Yeah. I said I didn't want to, not that I wouldn't actually go."

"So...Who do you have your eye out for?" Ginny asked again. Do I really have to tell her it's Harry? Really?

"No one. Someone already asked me." I said, reading my textbook and averting my eyes from the two overly-excited girls.

"Who!" Hermione asked as she jumped up with Ginny.

"Fine. Harry Potter. Happy?"

"Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. We decided that we would go as friends."

"You're pretty lucky to go with Harry Potter, you know?" Ginny said.

"Nah. We just didn't want to go alone, and Harry's definitely not going with Parvati Patil again." I laughed.

"Did you want to go with someone else?" Hermione asked. How I dreaded that question.

"N-No. Of course not. I didn't want to go at all, remember?"

"Yeah, okay." Ginny said. "Well, we're glad that you're at least going."

"Thank you Ginny..." I said.

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On the night of the Halloween Ball, Ginny and Hermione really went overboard with me. They dressed me up in a pretty black dress with silver twirls. It was really too much. They had styled my sandy, brown hair into curls and ringlets (which I thought were too girly), and put me in cute black heels with silver flowers on them. Ginny was in a white dress with a pretty blue bow around the waist, and Hermione was in a blue dress. We all looked gorgeous, but I was really insecure about this stupid Ball!

"Hi, Harry!" I said as I saw him.

He was speechless. "Y-...Y- You look..."

"Terrible, right? I'm not myself." I said.

"N-..No. Quite the opposite, really. You're beautiful."

I blushed. "Thanks. You look quite dashing yourself." I said as he blushed. Whole lot of blushing going on in the Gryffindor common room...

Ron and Hermione met, and as soon as they did, they started arguing, as usual. But playfully, as usual. Ginny and Dean looked great together. Ron had finally gotten new dress robes (The ones he wore at the Yule Ball were just mind-scarring), and Parvati Patil looked at me jealously while I stuck my tongue out at her. Well she didn't treat Harry very well at the Yule Ball anyway.

The Great Hall was amazing. Silvery cobwebs hung from the ceiling. Enchanted Jack-o'-lanterns would talk and change their expressions. The Weird Sisters were there, and everyone was going wild. Umbridge never had let us have any dances or balls, she was really just a bitch. The last dance I went to was the Yule Ball, in Fourth Year. As Harry went to get me a butterbeer, I saw a familiar blond head in the distance. By looking at the dress, I could tell that it was Luna Lovegood. She had on a...unusual but flattering dress with her usual radish earrings.

"Hey, Luna." I said.

"Oh, Hello Eliza. I was just talking to Neville over here, would you like to join us?" She asked politely.

"Sure. Hi, Neville." I said. "Nice dress, Luna."

"Oh, thank you, Eliza. It's an original of mine."

"Your welcome. Nice dress robes, Neville." I said. (Trying to be nice). His robes were like an exact copy of Ron's old ones in fourth year, only yellow. Yuck.

"Y-You look great too, E-Eliza." He stammered.

"Thanks." I said as I found Harry again. "Well, there's Harry. I should get going now, see you later." I said.

"Hey." He said.

"Thanks for the butterbeer." I said as took a sip. The familiar feeling of the warm, golden liquid in my throat was nice. Like home. Just then, I saw Draco Malfoy, arm in arm with Pansy Parkinson. Just like the Yule Ball... I should've never kissed that loser in Hogsmeade! I should have never let him get to me! Never. I hated regretting things. It was stupid, because you had a chance to do something, just one chance, and then you screw it up like some loser. Great.

Pansy looked like her usual self. Too much makeup, greasy black hair, and a pug-like dog face. Draco, on the other hand, looked quite dashing. Almost as nice as Harry. But just almost. Draco scowled at Harry (as usual), but didn't even recognize me. Or didn't want to see me.

"Would you like to dance?" Harry asked me.

"Y-You know I'm not a very good dancer." I stammered.

"I know. It doesn't matter. I like you the way you are." He said sweetly. Harry always knew the right things to say to make me feel better.

"Fine." I said as I took his hand and as he put his other hand on my waist. I stumbled, but Harry helped me and put me back on track.

"It's okay." He said.

"Really. You shouldn't be dancing with me. I'm terrible, and I'll be getting hate mail about me being your girlfriend."

"Hey, don't be like that. Everyone knows that we're friends, and that you'll track them down and kill them if they put hexes on your mail." He laughed.

"Seriously, you shouldn't talk like that...It might just happen." I faked an evil laugh. "Muahaha!"

"You're not that evil. Just leave that job for Malfoy." He said. Maybe it was funny to Harry, but not to me. At the mention of Malfoy's name, I knew that I shouldn't have associated with that jerk-ass prat in the first place. I fake smiled, for the sake of Harry.

"Yeah." I lied. I needed to take a break. This was getting to be too much. Dancing. Seeing Malfoy. More dancing. "Uh, I need to go to the restroom. I'll uh...be right back." I told Harry. My eyes were watering. I didn't want to be here, nor did I want to dance. I was almost running out the Great Hall, when I didn't watch my step and-

"Whoa!" I yelled as I fell flat on my face. Then a glass of butterbeer hit me in the head. "Ouch." I tried to get myself up, but it wasn't working.

"Watch it!" A boy yelled at me. Asshole.

"Ow, my ankle." I yelped.

He boy turned around. I didn't want to see him.

Malfoy.

"Who do you think you are, tripping over me? Are you blind!" He questioned.

"It's me, you prat!" I yelled.

"Who...W-Whoa. Is that you, Allen?" He asked, clearly shocked.

"Who else, Malfoy? Look what you did? You spilled your damn butterbeer on me, and your bloody little girlfriend-"

"She's not my girlfriend. And you should just watch your step next time, Allen." He said with a smirk.

"Just help me up, you git." I said.

"Why would he? Your just a clumsy little bitch who-" Pansy started. Malfoy then helped me up with his free hand.

"Thanks."

Then the familiar head of Harry came into view, wand out, ready to attack Malfoy.

"Are you okay, Ellie?" He asked, glaring at Malfoy.

"Not when she's around." I said, pointing to Pansy. Harry shouted at Malfoy.

"What did you do!" He yelled.

"Nothing, Potter. Look how brave you want to be, stepping up for little Allen." His wand was out now.

I took mine out and pointed it at Malfoy first. "Expelliarmus!" Then at Harry. "Expelliarmus!" I said, as both their wands were blown out of sight. "Accio wands." I muttered as their wands returned to my hand. "Stop fighting. It'll do nothing."

I gave Harry's wand back to him."Harry. Just leave. Go back to the others. I'm fine, really." I reassured him.

"No, he's making you say that." Harry insisted.

"Look, Potter, your girlfriend wants to be left alone. Leave." Malfoy stated with a grin. Harry retreated slowly but didn't take his eyes off of me. "My wand, Allen?" He asked. I slowly handed it back, not sure what to do. "Oh, come on. I don't bite." He said.

"Ugh, Allen! You're so unbelievable! You'll do anything to get to my draky!" She yelled at me. Fine.

I took Draco's butterbeer right out of his hand and threw it on Pansy.

"YOU STUPID BITCH! YOU'LL PAY! JUST WATCH ME!" She yelled as she ran out of the Great Hall. Draco was laughing hysterically. I was too. For that moment, we had shared a laugh. And I had enjoyed it, even though my ankle was screwed up.

"Uh...Draco?" I asked.

"Shut up, Allen." He said.

"I can't believe that you came with Pansy." I said.

"Well I can't believe that you came with Potter." He retorted.

"He's a friend. Unlike you and Pansy." I said.

"Pansy is nothing to me."

"Like I was to you?" I said. Ouch, maybe I shouldn't have said that. My words cut Draco like a knife.

"No...You know how it is. We're different. Opposite. I had never forgotten about you, I just...We couldn't..." He tried to search for words, but nothing was coming to him.

"I know. It's okay."

"You understand? No, you would never..."

"I don't see why I wouldn't. I never forgot about you...I guess I just learnt to hate you. To hate every Slytherin bone in your body. But...I still felt like a part of me was with you, in a way."

"I don't know why I'm saying this...but I felt the same too."

I guess this dance didn't turn out to be such a disaster after all.