Harry Potter and the Plot of Pure Evil
Balls
The next morning, Callista woke up before any of the other girls. She showered and dressed quickly and sat down in front of the mirror on her bureau, frowning slightly.
Her flaxen hair and cerulean eyes looked as beautiful as ever, but still. She needed a change…
Callista stood up abruptly and looked away from the mirror. There could be no change now. She would not change for a long time, indeed perhaps forever. The curse of secrets.
“But why?” she whispered to no one in particular. “Why must it be a secret? It’s rare, I know, but-”
Callista broke off as she heard her dorm mates waking up behind her. Plastering her lovely smile back on to her face, she turned to greet them.
~*~
Selena’s morning was terrible, even compared to Callista’s trials. Nightmares had plagued her during the night, so she was the last to wake up, still fatigued from lack of sleep. The fatigue didn’t show though and Selena looked as stunning as ever. She dragged herself through her morning rituals and was sitting on her bed, pulling on her shoes when she heard a cough from above her head.
She looked up and saw four angry faces glaring at her. The most prominent one was Pansy Parkinson. Even though she had only been in Hogwarts for a matter of hours, most of which had been spent asleep, Selena still knew everything about Pansy’s reputation as a cheap whore.
“Well,” Pansy began coldly, examining a blood red nail with scant interest. “You’re new here. Let me explain how everything works.”
Selena opened her mouth but Pansy was already speaking. “Number 1: Don’t even think about getting your paws on any of our men. They’re OURS. Go find yourself a suitable Huff N’ Puff or Gryffindork.”
The other girls sniggered. Selena bent her head slightly to hide the tears that were swimming into her lovely eyes.
“Number 2,” Pansy continued. “Well…there is no number two. Just keep your distance, you little tart.”
This was so wrong that Selena opened her mouth to retort but stopped when a second girl started. She was incredibly ugly, with buckteeth, pocked skin and sparse scraggly hair. All the girls were rather hideous come to think of it.
“Exactly,” she was saying. “Stay far FAR away from MY Theodore.”
“And my Vincent,” chimed in another girl.
“And my Greg.”
“And my Blaise.”
Finally Selena got a chance to speak. “Isn’t Blaise a girl?”
The girl who had spoken gave Selena a withering look but Selena was still confused. Was Blaise a girl or wasn’t he/she/it?”
“And,” Pansy cut in, tapping another long nail against her bureau. “Stay especially FAR away from Draco. I’ve had my eye on him since day one, year one and I am NOT going to let some American pie steal him away from me just when I am about to move in for the kill. Do not even look at my man otherwise…otherwise…you’ll never look at a man… with your own two eyes… in your own head ever again!”
This intimidating threat so terrified Selena that she merely nodded in assent to Pansy, keeping her eyes on the floor. She kept her eyes on the floor as the girls trooped out and slammed the door behind them. She slid of her bed and sank to the floor in fear and sorrow. She couldn’t promise not to look at guys! What WAS she going to do?
~*~
Breakfast in the Great Hall was a lively affair, full of laughter and chatter. Willow and Callista were telling witty jokes and Ron was laughing so hard he had fallen off the bench several times.
At the Slytherin table however, breakfast was not so lively. Selena had to put up with Pansy’s flirting and Draco’s smirks and was so upset she could barely eat. How dare he talk to his own girlfriend! She thought they had a connection last night, he had SMILED at her (well more smirked but technically it was the same thing), but apparently she was wrong. Resolved, Selena stared straight ahead of her and promised herself that she would not have anything to do with Draco Malfoy, that conniving evil slag.
~*~
Classes went by in a blur for the first few weeks of term. The Gryffindors found that they had almost every class with the Slytherins so every class was spent staring in wide-eyed rapture at the three exchange lovelies. Selena stayed away from Pansy and the other Slytherin girls, instead spending time with Willow, Callista and Harry and the gang. The gang, by the way, was receiving nearly as much attention as the three girls. Hermione had been asked out by no les than twelve guys and had said yes to all of them, gone out with each for a couple days and then dumped them because they “had funny-looking faces.”
Ginny had dumped her goth wardrobe for something a tad…sexier. She had dyed her hair platinum blonde, changed from black makeup to red and wore short skirts and tank tops regularly. Willow, Selena and Callista had begged Dumbledore to relax the Hogwarts dress code so that they could “feel more at home” and he had happily agreed.
In terms of actual classes and work, the three girls were far ahead of everyone else in the year, even Hermione. They got perfect scores on every test, appraisals for each piece of homework and never had to pay attention in class to do it. Rather, they spent the time writing notes to each other and giggling.
The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a woman, with vibrant blood-red hair and leafy green eyes, which always looked sad. She was very tall and strong and very talented in her subject as she proved to the students in their first lesson. Everyone was in awe of her. Her name was Rose Evansgestes.
October was drawing to a close when Dumbledore stood up one day at supper and made a profound announcement.
“In light of the dark days of late, I have decided that we shall hold some balls this year. I’m sure we all enjoyed the ball two years ago, and how much many of us, especially the young ladies, would love to have a ball this year. I know I love balls. So, our first one shall be a Halloween ball and afterwards a Christmas one, and so on and so forth. Come to the Halloween ball dressed up in costumes, now.”
He sat back down and whispers instantly flared up around the ball.
“Oh this is wonderful!” Willow cried. “I am going to go as a huntress.”
“I’ll go as a princess!” Callista declared.
Hermione and Ginny decided to go as an angel and a devil, respectively. Harry, remembering Ginny’s comment on the train, wanted to go as Superman.
“What about you Ron?” they all asked.
Ron smiled. “I dunno. Maybe a gangsta.”
At the Slytherin table, Draco was bragging to his friends about how he would go as a vampire and how he would have a specially tailored costume and real blood, etc, etc. Pansy turned to Selena with a cold sneer. “And what will you go as?”
Selena shrugged her slender shoulders. “I’m not sure.” She frowned and knitted her brow in concentration. “Oh I know! I’ll go as a witch.”
~*~
Hogsmeade weekend came and all the students over third-year were gaily tripping through the village.
Selena had met up with the others and the seven were laughing and chatting merrily as they wandered around Hogsmeade.
“Look!” Harry said suddenly. “Why don’t we try that store?”
Everyone looked. It did indeed look like a fine store, entitled Wicked Wardrobes for Wicked Witches and Wicked Wizards. Images of children in various costumes were plastered over the windows. It must have been a new addition to the village, as neither Harry nor Ron or Hermione or Ginny could recall ever seeing it before.
They all went in and who should they see but Draco Malfoy and his gang of nasty Slytherins. They were each holding a large bag.
“What ever happened to getting your costume custom-made?” Selena asked coolly.
Draco blushed. “Well…I…I’ll see you at the ball.”
And with that pronouncement, he and his cronies flounced out.
After congratulating Selena on her marvellous put-down, all eyes turned to the clerk, a happy-looking woman with sunny gold hair, dancing blue eyes and a sunny smile.
“Hello everyone!” she smiled enthusiastically. “My name is Sunny. I’ll help you find your costumes. So, what do you all want to be?”
Everyone shouted out their requests and Sunny beamed. “Ok then. Stay right there and I’ll go see what I can find.”
They didn’t have to wait very long. Sunny returned in 30 seconds bearing some of the most gorgeous outfits they had ever seen.
Hermione’s angel costume was a pure white dress/robe/pantsuit with silver trim. Fluffy white wings clipped on to the back and halo was enchanted to float over her head. Her shoes were silver sandals.
Ginny’s devil outfit was a rather short little red dress, strapless and very tight. Her horns were strapped on to her head and she also wore sandals, though hers were red. Her pitchfork could also be used as a whip.
Willow’s huntress costume was deceptively simple-looking. She wore a matching shirt and skirt, both a lovely mud-brown. A beautiful crown of leaves and ivy was arranged into her fiery hair. Her sandals were also brown and she carried a long spear. A bow and a quiver of arrows hung down her back. Around her waist was an unadorned belt, carrying a sword.
Callista’s princess costume was a gorgeous long flowing dress. It was bright ultramarine and matched her eyes perfectly. Around the shoulders, one would wear a white cape, ivory-coloured and trimmed with white fur. Her sandals were gold and a string of priceless jewels was laced through her hair. She also had a number of rings, necklaces and bracelets.
Ron’s costume was also magnificent. He wore a blue jersey, with the number 15 and “Jordan” on the back. His pants were also blue, though darker, and were very baggy. He wore a headband and also had a number of rings and necklaces on. His were all silver, though. He had a bandage on his cheek and one of his teeth was gold. He shoes were white and looked pricy.
Harry’s costume was unremarkable. It was a Superman outfit, with the tights, jersey, cape, etc. He couldn’t fly though. He’d tried and failed.
Lastly, Selena’s costume. Sunny had had the most trouble with this one. But in the end, she put together this masterpiece: Selena wore a slinky black dress with slits everywhere, sleeves, shoulders, sides, everywhere. She had a long cloak/cape/hood thing that was also black with purple spider-web designs. She wore black stilettos and had tubes of various black cosmetics under her arm (to wear for the actual ball). Under the other arm, she carried a sparkly purple wand.
Everyone whistled as she came out of the dressing room in this ensemble. “Perfect,” Hermione announced, while everyone else nodded. “You look just like a witch.”
~*~
Her flaxen hair and cerulean eyes looked as beautiful as ever, but still. She needed a change…
Callista stood up abruptly and looked away from the mirror. There could be no change now. She would not change for a long time, indeed perhaps forever. The curse of secrets.
“But why?” she whispered to no one in particular. “Why must it be a secret? It’s rare, I know, but-”
Callista broke off as she heard her dorm mates waking up behind her. Plastering her lovely smile back on to her face, she turned to greet them.
~*~
Selena’s morning was terrible, even compared to Callista’s trials. Nightmares had plagued her during the night, so she was the last to wake up, still fatigued from lack of sleep. The fatigue didn’t show though and Selena looked as stunning as ever. She dragged herself through her morning rituals and was sitting on her bed, pulling on her shoes when she heard a cough from above her head.
She looked up and saw four angry faces glaring at her. The most prominent one was Pansy Parkinson. Even though she had only been in Hogwarts for a matter of hours, most of which had been spent asleep, Selena still knew everything about Pansy’s reputation as a cheap whore.
“Well,” Pansy began coldly, examining a blood red nail with scant interest. “You’re new here. Let me explain how everything works.”
Selena opened her mouth but Pansy was already speaking. “Number 1: Don’t even think about getting your paws on any of our men. They’re OURS. Go find yourself a suitable Huff N’ Puff or Gryffindork.”
The other girls sniggered. Selena bent her head slightly to hide the tears that were swimming into her lovely eyes.
“Number 2,” Pansy continued. “Well…there is no number two. Just keep your distance, you little tart.”
This was so wrong that Selena opened her mouth to retort but stopped when a second girl started. She was incredibly ugly, with buckteeth, pocked skin and sparse scraggly hair. All the girls were rather hideous come to think of it.
“Exactly,” she was saying. “Stay far FAR away from MY Theodore.”
“And my Vincent,” chimed in another girl.
“And my Greg.”
“And my Blaise.”
Finally Selena got a chance to speak. “Isn’t Blaise a girl?”
The girl who had spoken gave Selena a withering look but Selena was still confused. Was Blaise a girl or wasn’t he/she/it?”
“And,” Pansy cut in, tapping another long nail against her bureau. “Stay especially FAR away from Draco. I’ve had my eye on him since day one, year one and I am NOT going to let some American pie steal him away from me just when I am about to move in for the kill. Do not even look at my man otherwise…otherwise…you’ll never look at a man… with your own two eyes… in your own head ever again!”
This intimidating threat so terrified Selena that she merely nodded in assent to Pansy, keeping her eyes on the floor. She kept her eyes on the floor as the girls trooped out and slammed the door behind them. She slid of her bed and sank to the floor in fear and sorrow. She couldn’t promise not to look at guys! What WAS she going to do?
~*~
Breakfast in the Great Hall was a lively affair, full of laughter and chatter. Willow and Callista were telling witty jokes and Ron was laughing so hard he had fallen off the bench several times.
At the Slytherin table however, breakfast was not so lively. Selena had to put up with Pansy’s flirting and Draco’s smirks and was so upset she could barely eat. How dare he talk to his own girlfriend! She thought they had a connection last night, he had SMILED at her (well more smirked but technically it was the same thing), but apparently she was wrong. Resolved, Selena stared straight ahead of her and promised herself that she would not have anything to do with Draco Malfoy, that conniving evil slag.
~*~
Classes went by in a blur for the first few weeks of term. The Gryffindors found that they had almost every class with the Slytherins so every class was spent staring in wide-eyed rapture at the three exchange lovelies. Selena stayed away from Pansy and the other Slytherin girls, instead spending time with Willow, Callista and Harry and the gang. The gang, by the way, was receiving nearly as much attention as the three girls. Hermione had been asked out by no les than twelve guys and had said yes to all of them, gone out with each for a couple days and then dumped them because they “had funny-looking faces.”
Ginny had dumped her goth wardrobe for something a tad…sexier. She had dyed her hair platinum blonde, changed from black makeup to red and wore short skirts and tank tops regularly. Willow, Selena and Callista had begged Dumbledore to relax the Hogwarts dress code so that they could “feel more at home” and he had happily agreed.
In terms of actual classes and work, the three girls were far ahead of everyone else in the year, even Hermione. They got perfect scores on every test, appraisals for each piece of homework and never had to pay attention in class to do it. Rather, they spent the time writing notes to each other and giggling.
The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a woman, with vibrant blood-red hair and leafy green eyes, which always looked sad. She was very tall and strong and very talented in her subject as she proved to the students in their first lesson. Everyone was in awe of her. Her name was Rose Evansgestes.
October was drawing to a close when Dumbledore stood up one day at supper and made a profound announcement.
“In light of the dark days of late, I have decided that we shall hold some balls this year. I’m sure we all enjoyed the ball two years ago, and how much many of us, especially the young ladies, would love to have a ball this year. I know I love balls. So, our first one shall be a Halloween ball and afterwards a Christmas one, and so on and so forth. Come to the Halloween ball dressed up in costumes, now.”
He sat back down and whispers instantly flared up around the ball.
“Oh this is wonderful!” Willow cried. “I am going to go as a huntress.”
“I’ll go as a princess!” Callista declared.
Hermione and Ginny decided to go as an angel and a devil, respectively. Harry, remembering Ginny’s comment on the train, wanted to go as Superman.
“What about you Ron?” they all asked.
Ron smiled. “I dunno. Maybe a gangsta.”
At the Slytherin table, Draco was bragging to his friends about how he would go as a vampire and how he would have a specially tailored costume and real blood, etc, etc. Pansy turned to Selena with a cold sneer. “And what will you go as?”
Selena shrugged her slender shoulders. “I’m not sure.” She frowned and knitted her brow in concentration. “Oh I know! I’ll go as a witch.”
~*~
Hogsmeade weekend came and all the students over third-year were gaily tripping through the village.
Selena had met up with the others and the seven were laughing and chatting merrily as they wandered around Hogsmeade.
“Look!” Harry said suddenly. “Why don’t we try that store?”
Everyone looked. It did indeed look like a fine store, entitled Wicked Wardrobes for Wicked Witches and Wicked Wizards. Images of children in various costumes were plastered over the windows. It must have been a new addition to the village, as neither Harry nor Ron or Hermione or Ginny could recall ever seeing it before.
They all went in and who should they see but Draco Malfoy and his gang of nasty Slytherins. They were each holding a large bag.
“What ever happened to getting your costume custom-made?” Selena asked coolly.
Draco blushed. “Well…I…I’ll see you at the ball.”
And with that pronouncement, he and his cronies flounced out.
After congratulating Selena on her marvellous put-down, all eyes turned to the clerk, a happy-looking woman with sunny gold hair, dancing blue eyes and a sunny smile.
“Hello everyone!” she smiled enthusiastically. “My name is Sunny. I’ll help you find your costumes. So, what do you all want to be?”
Everyone shouted out their requests and Sunny beamed. “Ok then. Stay right there and I’ll go see what I can find.”
They didn’t have to wait very long. Sunny returned in 30 seconds bearing some of the most gorgeous outfits they had ever seen.
Hermione’s angel costume was a pure white dress/robe/pantsuit with silver trim. Fluffy white wings clipped on to the back and halo was enchanted to float over her head. Her shoes were silver sandals.
Ginny’s devil outfit was a rather short little red dress, strapless and very tight. Her horns were strapped on to her head and she also wore sandals, though hers were red. Her pitchfork could also be used as a whip.
Willow’s huntress costume was deceptively simple-looking. She wore a matching shirt and skirt, both a lovely mud-brown. A beautiful crown of leaves and ivy was arranged into her fiery hair. Her sandals were also brown and she carried a long spear. A bow and a quiver of arrows hung down her back. Around her waist was an unadorned belt, carrying a sword.
Callista’s princess costume was a gorgeous long flowing dress. It was bright ultramarine and matched her eyes perfectly. Around the shoulders, one would wear a white cape, ivory-coloured and trimmed with white fur. Her sandals were gold and a string of priceless jewels was laced through her hair. She also had a number of rings, necklaces and bracelets.
Ron’s costume was also magnificent. He wore a blue jersey, with the number 15 and “Jordan” on the back. His pants were also blue, though darker, and were very baggy. He wore a headband and also had a number of rings and necklaces on. His were all silver, though. He had a bandage on his cheek and one of his teeth was gold. He shoes were white and looked pricy.
Harry’s costume was unremarkable. It was a Superman outfit, with the tights, jersey, cape, etc. He couldn’t fly though. He’d tried and failed.
Lastly, Selena’s costume. Sunny had had the most trouble with this one. But in the end, she put together this masterpiece: Selena wore a slinky black dress with slits everywhere, sleeves, shoulders, sides, everywhere. She had a long cloak/cape/hood thing that was also black with purple spider-web designs. She wore black stilettos and had tubes of various black cosmetics under her arm (to wear for the actual ball). Under the other arm, she carried a sparkly purple wand.
Everyone whistled as she came out of the dressing room in this ensemble. “Perfect,” Hermione announced, while everyone else nodded. “You look just like a witch.”
~*~