THE SNOW SILENTLY sinks under the trio's feet as they walk along the main path in Hogsmeade. It is the only trip until the ball so everyone took the opportunity to go shopping for the proper attire. Unfortunately, there is only one dress shop in the village, so it is bound it be packed with excited teenage girls.

So fun. Lyra thinks. She looks forward to trying on pretty dresses, not the busy shop filled with people. Her father sent her enough money for a decent dress with the request of taking a picture of herself the night of the ball.

It's unfortunate Luna can't attend because she's a third year. The ball is for fourth years and above.

Lyra, Wren and Neville enter 'Madame Magrett's', a beautifully purple shop with walls of dresses of any color and style hung on floating racks. Lyra notices many girls she knows sorting through dresses and posing for their friends in the material.

"Why didn't I just find something in my closet?" Wren sighs, also seeing how much people beat them to getting here.

"Don't be boring, Wren." Lyra tuts, pushing away the anxeity she feels in the crowded shop in hopes of still having fun.

Neville feels anxious too, and joins pinkies with her, looking around the store nervously. He is the only male here. Neville only joined the girls because they wanted a third opinion when fitting on dresses.

This morning it seemed like a good idea, but now he feels very out of place.

"Come on, lets start here." Lyra pulls her friends in the direction of a bunch of purple and red dresses.

A half an hour passes of Lyra and Wren deciding on what dresses to try on and then tossing them into Neville's arms. When they're done, he is struggling to see over the pile of dresses and relies on hearing their voices to guide him as they walk towards the fitting rooms.

"Do you have a date yet?" Lyra asks as they wait for rooms to open up. They decided to actually try and get dates with other people and not just go as friends because of the rare chance of a ball happening in their lives. Having a romantic partner on your arm will make the night even more exciting.

Lyra doesn't know if anyone will ask her, though, and that thought makes the idea debatable.

"No but I know who I want to ask." Wren smirks mysteriously and Lyra perks up.

"Who?" A voice asks.

The girls giggle as they finally realize they couldn't see Neville's face because of their dresses. Lyra takes two of her dresses and Wren three, off of him so they could see his eyes. "Thanks." He sighs in relief. "I was so scared I'd trip."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Wren juts her hip out, gesturing with her hands.

"I didn't want to interrupt your conversation."

"Nev, please. You tripping would have interrupted us more than you saying anything." Lyra shakes her head, taking a pink dress she chose from his arms and letting it hang over her arm of two other dresses. The small pile still left in his arms are all Wren's.

"Wren." Lyra tilts her head at the pile, eyes widening for her to do something.

"What?" She frowns, pouting. "Nev doesn't mind, right babe?"

"No. I can see now." His eyes squint, telling them he's smiling, causing Lyra to playfully push Wren, who laughs.

"Thanks Nev!"

Soon, two rooms open up towards the end of the fitting room and the girls rush to get inside, leaving Neville to sit on the cushioned seat outside their stalls.

Lyra hangs the three dresses: pink, purple and blue, on the wall and decides to try on the purple first as it was the first to catch her eye.

Thirty minutes pass and Lyra is dissapointed neither the pink or purple dress suited her. She knocks gently on the wall she shares with Wren's room, her other hand unzipping the pink dress from the side. "Any luck yet? I only have one dress left and no luck on my side." She says, just loud enough to not be heard by other stalls further down.

"Ugh, no. I've tried on seven dresses and nothing!" She hears Wren grumble.

"Seven?" Lyra's blue eyes widen. "How are you dressing so quickly?" She mutters, more to herself, and hangs the dress back up. "You took eight, so we can show each other this last one."

"Okay. This better be it."

Lyra mentally agrees because she does not feel like going back out there to find more dresses, her energy being taken from just three. She takes the blue dress off it's hook and inspects it again, feeling giddy just looking at it like she was when she saw it in the store.

It is deep but gentle blue, cinching around her chest, tight around her torso, loose over her knee and so long it almost covers her toes. Intricate silver gems are sewn over her chest and stomach to look like a whimsical branch with small flowers. Straps the size of three fingers elegantly hold the dress to her body.

Lyra is shocked at her reflection in the mirror, slowly doing a small spin. This dress made her feel good about herself and her new body transformations that occured over the summer. All school year Lyra has felt awkard about her body but made sure to never make it obvious and pretend nothing's changed. But it was there, always in the back of her mind. She'd seen the few looks she'd get from boys in the castle that she never got before and hated it so much.

But in this dressing stall, in this dress, Lyra smiles at her reflection and feels pretty, not ashamed of the parts that have become fuller. She does another happy spin

A knock sounds from next to her. "Oi. You done? I think this is the one." Wren says.

"Yes." Lyra replies and hears Wren's stall unlock with hers. The girls step out and turn to face each other. Lyra covers her mouth in awe of her best friend.

Wren's dress is a velvet red that makes her dark skin glow, even on this winter's day. The straps are thin and gold patterns decorate her chest and flow all the way to the bottom of the dress. A darling red ribbon is tied around her waist, a bow in the centre.

"You look -" They say simualtaneously and laugh, Wren's eyes wide and mouth agape as she takes Lyra's hands and stares at her. The blonde blushes.

"You look so beautiful, Wren! Your date is so lucky." Lyra beams, squeezing the girl's hands. "This dress is perfect for you!"

"Lyra, don't even talk right now. I can't hear anything because the angels are singing so loudly." Wren gasps. "You look so gorgeous....oh!" She tackles her in a hug. "I love you!"

"I love you!"

A meek sound, much like someone clearing their throat, catches their attention and they pull apart and look to their side. Neville sits with a book, one he kept in his bag, in his lap and his attention on them.

"Can-can I say something?" He asks.

Lyra smiles. "Of course! What's the verdict?"

They proceed to do a poor curtsey.

He gives them a look of a mixture of pride and shyness. "You guys are the prettiest girls I've ever seen." Neville smiles.

The girls share a look before giggling and scurrying over to the seated boy, bending down to sandwich him in a hug. Neville turns beat red, making them all laugh together.

After buying their dresses, the girls and Neville venture out into the winter cold again, only now appreciating the store's enchated heat.

"Do you plan to buy a suit?" Lyra asks Neville.

"Uh, no, actually." He sighs. "Gran is sending me one. From, like, the 70s."

"I'm sure you'll look great." Lyra pats his arm encouragingly.

"Or like my granda."

Wren laughs loudly and Lyra smacks her scoldingly. Just as Wren is about to say something, Lyra's name is called from behind them.

She turns quickly, her friends following her action, and sees Erik jogging away from a group of boys and heading towards her. His smile is friendly and it makes Lyra smile back.

Wren suddenly pushes her forward once he arrives and she quickly sputters out a "Hi, Erik", before throwing a glare at the girl behind her. Wren winks discreetly and pulls a confused Neville to the side.

"Hey!" Erik looks at her, smiling wider. "How are you?"

"Cold." She shrugs."But good. How are you? Enjoying the village?"

"Yes, it's quite charming." He nods, cold air coming exhaling their mouths with each breath.

A small silence lies between them with Lyra shifting on her feet and the boy looking more nervous by the second. She watches him look at her, his eyes holding hope and anxiousness.

Having an idea on why, Lyra decides to bravely ask what the situation is implying. "Do you want to ask me anything?" She lets out a chuckle, purely out of nerves.

Erik looks relieved she asked, letting out a breath. "Yes." He nods. "Lyra, do you want to be my date to the Yule Ball? You're the only girl I want to take." He grins and scratches the back of his neck.

Lyra feels heat flood her face and a funny feeling erupt in her stomach. Erik is handsome, foreign and sweet. She can't say she wouldn't be interested to see what could turn out of her going with him.

Lyra smiles, dimples appearing, and nods "Yes, I would like that." She wrings her gloved hands behind her back.

Quickly, Erik picks her up in a spontaneous hug - elicting a suprised squeal from her. He spins her once before putting her back on her feet. He smiles brightly and Lyra's face flushes more from all the movement.

Then, he bends down and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Lyra's eyes widen at the action and she lets out a nervous breath as he pulls away.

"I can't wait. I'll see you at the entrance, Lyra!" He calls out as he jogs backwards, turning around once she nods and returning to his friends, who all pat him on the back and give her smiles.

Lyra is positive her face is as red as a tomato as she processes what just occured. Suddenly, she's tackled into a hug by Wren, who's jumping up and down in excitment.

"We saw the whole thing!Congraulations!"

"Do you say 'congraulations' when someone gets a date?" Neville's eyebrows furrow and Wren shrugs. "But yeah, good for you Ly." He smiles.

She covers her hot cheeks with her hands. "What just happened?" She whispers, still in shock.

"A cute guy just asked you to the ball, that's what happened!" Wren cheers. "Come on, let's get butterbeer!"

Her friend links their arms together and the trio walk towards the Three Broomsticks, Lyra still suprised a guy just asked her out.

She has a date..

A little ways behind, Theodore stands against a shop with a furious look on his face. He fumed as he watched the scene play out. His dead set eyes glare at the Swedish bufoon metres away. He clenches his jaw.

Blaise, who also saw what happened, looks at his best friend in worry he'd melt right through the snow ground with how angry he looks.

"Mate, calm down."

Theodore ignores him, feeling jealously rise in him because of the knowledge of some guy taking Lyra to the ball. Some moron. He kissed her too - who does he think he is to take that? Without really knowing it, he pushes off the wall with his hand gripping his wand in his coat.

"I'll fucking kill him."

Blaise's eyes widen and he rushes to grab Theodore's tense shoulders, forcing him to walk in the opposite direction. He didn't want to find out if Theodore would go through with the threat.

"Blaise-" The taller male grunted.

"You're not killing him, Theo." Blaise whispers harshly. "He asked her out because you didn't. I'm sorry, mate, but you have to deal with it."

Theodore pushes Blaise's hands off of him and lets out a dry laugh. He takes out a cigarette and lights it, lips forming a humorless smile. It scares Blaise, if he is being honest. "Yeah, yeah because she'd say yes if I asked." He takes a hit from the cigarette, angry at himself. So what if she would have said 'hell no', Theo still should have asked because now Erin or, whatever, is her date.

Stupid Erin.

"I want to be a good best friend and deny that statement, but.." Blaise frowns to himself.

Theodore glares at him. He sees Erik over Blaise's shoulder, talking with his friends, and the urge to punch his face in reoccurs. He takes a step but Blaise pushes him again.

"Move along. I'm not visiting you in Azkaban."

· ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

MOONY SPEAKS!

things are gonna get gooood soon :)

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