Hi so thanks for all the comments & votes. I appreciate it so much & hope you like this chapter.

Chapter Nine: The Yule Ball

It was normal for a professor wanting to speak to me after class, but not when it was Headmaster Dumbledore. When Snape told me that Dumbledore wanted to see me, I thought he was joking. It was possible that Snape told him about my failing potions grade and was going to try to make me repeat third year potions again next year. That would be embarrassing.

The entrance to Dumbledore's office was the coolest one I've seen yet. There was a large Phoenix that twisted into a set of stairs after I muttered the password Snape gave me. When I reached the top of the stairs I knocked before pushing open the large doors. Dumbledore was seated at his desk, admiring a strange looking object. He looked up at me with a kind expression as I walked in. "You wanted to see me Professor?" I asked as I approached his desk. He glanced at me with his half moon glasses on the edge of his nose. I have no clue as to why he wanted to see me. I have done nothing wrong. Well, nothing too wrong. "Have I done anything wrong?"

"No Ms. Nyx, sometimes I like to just check in on my students. See if everything is alright. Take a seat," he said and motioned to the empty chair in front of him. Well that was a strange reason. I haven't heard of any students being called into Dumbledore's office for a chat. Slowly I sat down in the seat, wondering where this was going. Dumbledore glanced at me questionably. I knew he must have other reasons. His office was sort of amazing though, there was so many interesting items around here.

"Well...I've been fine, Professor," I said confused while glancing around the room. I was getting distracted by everything in the room. I noticed his phoenix, Fawkes, was sitting in the corner of the room. I wondered if it remembered me from my first year in the Chamber. Those birds were really clever.

"Anyway," he continued after a few seconds of hesitation. "Are you all packed for you Holiday?"

"Actually sir I'm staying." I responded. I always stayed at Hogwarts over break, no matter what. At least this time I had a good reasoning. "I've been asked to the Yule Ball, so I'm staying for the Holiday." All the time I get away from home is great, even if I seemed to be losing friends this year. Dumbledore smiled a bit.

"May I ask who?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Jake Ryfeld," I told him with a small smile. "Sir." I always had to remind myself to add Sir or Professor.

"Just me being a curious old man." He smiled once more. Now I know Dumbledore didn't just call me in here to talk about my holiday or Yule Ball date. I was hoping he would get straight to the point. If he was trying to make small talk, it was likely that he was stalling. "You are probably wondering as to why I have called you here." I nodded, there we go. "I have gotten news from Salem that one of your siblings have been injured." I was not sure how to react to this. I despised almost all of them, so it depended on which one was hurt. "Your brother, Silvius." My eyes widened, of course, the only sibling I actually cared about. Why couldn't it have been Elvira?

"What happened?" I asked quickly, almost standing up out of my seat.

"Now, now, he is fine at the moment," Dumbledore explained in a calming tone. "In sixth year, students study for their apparition license. There was an incident with Silvius, he splinched quite badly." I winced. Splinching was something I did not want to picture in my head. Poor Silv just wrote about how nervous he was a few days ago to take the exam too. "Ah, so you know what that means. Well, it left him quite scarred up. He lost quite a lot of blood." I winced once more.

"How is he and where is he?" I had many questions at the moment.

"Silvius is currently at the Hospital in Salem being treated very well. He will be spending the next few nights there and will return home in a few days. Would you like to see him?" I nodded. "I figured. Well, do not let this ruin your time spent at the Yule Ball. The following morning come to my office. I will allow you to use the Floo network to get back to your house and then on the way home you can take the Hogwarts express back with the rest of the returning students." I nodded and stood up.

"Thank you sir." Even if it meant having to go home for a few days, Silvius came when I needed him so I would be there for him.

Christmas day finally arrived. Dasha and Eowyn left to go home for their holiday. Celina and Amelie, who had both managed to have gotten dates, unfortunately stayed. For once I didn't have the dorm to myself over break. Tonight was the Yule Ball. I woke up with the noise of Mia pecking outside my window. When I opened my window, there was a gust of freezing cold wind and some snow managed to sneak into my room. My beautiful owl was holding two gifts in her claws. I took them both from her. Mia flew off and I shut the window. Eowyn, Dasha, and I exchanged gifts before they left and I made sure to send out my few gifts yesterday. I opened the first one wrapped in dark blue paper.

It was a gift from Silvius attached with a short note which read, Glad to here you're coming out to see me. Can't believe I failed my test. See you soon. It was going to be weird to spend a Christmas break at home. How was I going to manage dealing with my parents and siblings, but it was for Silvius and I know he would have done the same for me.

The next gift was wrapped in silver paper and I opened it to see it was a small box. Opening the boy it was a beautiful silver necklace with a ruby stone in the middle. There was a note on the inside, Can't wait for tonight. Hopefully this will match your gown. -Jake. I was so speechless over the necklace, it was beyond beautiful. I still held onto the lion one he gave me, but this one was incredible.

Walking down into the common room it was barely empty. Except of course my favorite people, Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle, were all seated downstairs. "You're still here?" Pansy spoke up. "If I were you I would have went home out of embarrassment. You're going to be the only one in the entire building not there. I heard even Filch was going." Everyone laughed and Draco had a proud look on his face.

I just smiled and shrugged. "I'll find something to keep myself occupied." Then I headed off to the library to drop off the books I owed. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when I show up to the Yule Ball tonight.

I sat in the dorm room pretending to be reading a book while watching Amelie and Celina get ready that night. They were struggling with their hair miserably, if they were nice to me, I would have offered to share my spell book. But nope, I was going to let them suffer. But Merlin, I prayed they would just hurry up so that I could start getting ready myself. I warned Jake in my letter that I would be running a little bit late in order to avoid everyone in my common room.

Finally they stood and stared at themselves in the mirror for two minutes as they were getting ready to go. Celina had her yellow hair pinned up into a high ponytail and Amelie's light brown hair was tied back into a low and simple bun. Celina was in a yellow short sleeve dress which tight all the way down. I didn't really think it was a good color on her, but who I was I to say anything. Amelie was in a very light green dress which was a very pretty color but very plain. Before they walked out Celina turned to say, "Don't wait up for us."

I didn't respond back and didn't even look up from my book. I waited a few minutes and then ran downstairs to the common room to see if it was completely empty. I peered out the entrance and the hallway was empty as well. So I guess they have all headed down. I ran up to my room to get ready quickly. I opened the beauty spell book up to the page I marked last night. I practiced the night before when no one was around to make sure I could at least do it. Once more I did the spell and it came out just the way I wanted it. I rarely wore my hair up so I figured this would be a onetime occasion. My blonde hair was up in a loose curled bun with a few loose curls on the sides.

Finally after a makeup spell, I was actually happy with how my look came out. Usually I would just use the 'natural makeup' spell on a daily basis, but today was a special occasion. I used one of the formal options that consisted of natural colors but done in a more bold way. My eyes looked even darker outlined in shades of blacks and browns. It made me look older than usual and for that I was happy. I slid my dress on and it fit perfectly, how could Dasha and Eowyn predict that so perfectly? I put in dangling silver earrings and then put on the necklace Jake sent me. Looking in the mirror it was weird seeing me this way. I never got to get dressed up. When I was little I sat and watched my parent's balls from the balcony. I was always curious how I would look in the dresses Elvira and Avelina wore, well now I know.

I passed through the common room and into the hallway. I was meeting Jake outside the courtyard and then walking into the Great Hall will him. The halls were quiet. Everyone must already be arriving to the Yule Ball by now. I began getting nervous. I hoped I looked okay. When I got closer to the courtyard, I spotted Jake. Just from seeing him from a far, he already looked amazing. I never would have been able to picture him in dress robes. He turned once he saw me and smiled. "You clean up nice," I said with a smile as I approached him and he just laughed.

"Ready to go?" he asked holding out his arm and I took it. "I can't wait to show everyone I'm here with the most beautiful girl." I blushed at that. I was most definitely not used to hearing that.

"Come on let's go inside," I said with a small laugh. How perfect could this night be? I had my friends back, I had the perfect dress, I was going with Jake, and the only person who still didn't like me was Harry, but I'm sure that would heal itself over time. My nerves were beginning to fade as Jake and I walked down the hall.

Finally we arrived to a large crowd of people and before I even stepped inside the Great Hall, I got a dirty look from some girl who passed by. "Ignore her," Jake whispered. "She asked me and I said no." I laughed at that and had a feeling it was going to happen quite often tonight. Jake was honestly one of the best looking boys at Hogwarts. There were always girls trying to talk to him. I just hope I didn't embarrass myself walking in these heels tonight.

Once we made it into the room a lot of people did stare. Usually it was either girls who wanted to go with Jake or people from my house who were shocked I was here. Then that is when I passed by Draco's crowd. We were walking slowly into the room and it was Parkinson who spotted me first. She was in the middle of a conversation with someone when her mouth dropped and she stared at me. The rest of them to turn around to see what she was looking at. I made eye contact with Draco who looked furious and caught off guard all at the same time. His cold eyes stared at me with anger but clearly he was unable to hide his shock as there was no snide commentary from him. "Guess I found something to keep me busy, Parkinson," I muttered with a Slytherin smirk of my own.

Jake and I continued walking over towards a table with all of Jake's friends. I felt their eyes burning on the back of me as we passed them. "I didn't tell them I was coming," I said to him with a laugh as we sat down.

"Yeah, I kind of got that from their faces," Jake agreed. He laughed as well. It was no secret he loved to piss off Slytherin's as much as any other Gryffindor. Sitting around I noticed we were with Nico and Victoria who greeted me friendly and Nico then went to introducing her to Jake. She looked very pretty in a purple gown which looked good with her dark hair. I also noticed Monique was seated with Cal. He looked very proud of himself. She smiled at me as well and was wearing a pale pink dress. Gabe was with one of Monique's friends who I didn't think actually spoke English. We had a great table in my opinion and I actually got along with everyone here.

From across the room I could see Draco's table back to their conversation, but I met his grey eyes and he did not look too happy. We stood up to watch as the four Champions would enter the room. The first to walk in were Cedric and Cho. Next were Fleur and Aaron Phoenix. I guess that's what they could have been talking about the other day when I saw them. Then Viktor Krum walked in with...Hermione! Since when did that happen? She looked absolutely stunning though and I'm sure everyone else in the room was thinking it. Good for her.

Next to come in were Harry and a Gryffindor girl whose name I think was Parvati. I've never seen them talking, it felt a bit random to me. We made a circle around them as Dumbledore announced that the Yule Ball has begun. The four couples started off the dancing and then Dumbledore and McGonagall joined in. "May I have this dance?" Jake asked turning to me in his best formal tone.

"Of course," I said and we joined in as all the other couples did. The night started off great. We danced and talked to several different people. I was having more fun than I would have pictured.

I was starting to get a feeling that Jake may sort of like me. He asked me over all the other girls who had asked him and he had avoided me for over a week because he wanted to ask me. I don't know how I felt about him though. Maybe I was wrong about that though. He could have asked me because we were best friends and he didn't want me sitting in the common room alone on Christmas night. I've never thought of us ever really liking one another. I felt extremely stupid now was the first time I was even thinking about it.

When I met him I was only eleven and he was fourteen, that's a big difference. He was a teenager and I was still basically I kid. I was glad to be his friend at the time and he reminded me in a way of the way Silvius treated me. But now I'm fourteen and he's almost seventeen, now we're both teenagers. That seems totally different than when we first met. He was good looking and he was always nice to me. I just don't know...I would have wanted to think about it. I don't want to give him the wrong idea and ruin our friendship, but for now I would just enjoy the dance.

A few hours passed and I was having an incredible time. I tried to think of the thought of Jake and I quite a few times. I could see it, but I wasn't exactly sure. He was almost a legal wizard and almost done with his time at Hogwarts. I wasn't even half way done with Hogwarts. I did feel really safe around him. We got along well and had a similar sense of humor. We were all taking a break from dancing and sitting around the table. "We're going to get drinks, be right back," Cal said to us.

"Want anything?" Jake asked and we all shook our heads with a 'no thanks'. I sat there with Victoria, Monique, and Colette, Gabe's date, having a conversation when Victoria excused herself to go talk to Krum. I was talking to Victoria early when Cal wasn't around. She was speaking very highly of Krum. I had a feeling she may have liked him, but he was just being a clueless boy. Though Krum and Hermione did look like they were having a great time. I couldn't believe how stunning she looked. I wish we were actually speaking, but of course she was sticking with Harry and Ron. Even the Slytherin's didn't have any snide comments to make at her like usual.

"I'll be right back," I said to Monique and Colette. Due to the large amount of people it was getting very hot in here. I wanted to get some fresh air outside before the boys came back.

I got up and walked outside. The cold breeze felt wonderful. I leaned over the stone wall. The decorations were beautiful, there were lights reflecting onto the snow and there were Christmas decorations all over the school. "Actually left your date for a minute?" a familiar voice said coming up from behind me.

"Not now Draco," I said annoyed. I wasn't going to let him ruin my night. He obviously didn't listen to me and walked even closer, standing right next to me. He must have followed me out here.

"Didn't think you'd be here," he scoffed with a cold tone.

"And thanks to you I almost wasn't, but luckily someone who wasn't threatened by you decided to ask me," I said and he looked surprised I knew that he was the one telling people not to ask me. "Eowyn overheard a few people planning to ask me and then saw them threatened by you." I was letting out all my anger at him. "I mean honestly! All you do is try to ruin my life, telling my friend's lies and making guys not want to talk to me. I don't know what your plan is but it didn't work, I'm here and-" I was interrupted by Draco pulling me towards him and kissing me, and I mean actually kissing me.

I have never been more caught off guard in my life. I wanted to pull away but then I didn't all at the same time. So I didn't pull back and this kiss was even a thousand times better than it was last year when I was dared to kiss him. When suddenly Draco pulled back. He was looking over my shoulder at someone. I quickly snapped around to see Harry standing there looking at us with a glare on his face. "I knew it," Harry said. "You were defending him, now I know why."

"Harry!" I called as he turned around. "Wait it's not what it..." I realized Draco's arms were still on my waist and I pulled away. "Wait Harry!" Harry was already walking away and that's when I turned to see Jake standing there as well. My heart sank, he didn't even look angry. He just looked hurt. "Jake..." I said taking a step forward but he turned and walked away. He didn't go back to the Great Hall, he was heading back to the Gryffindor common room. I could easily break down and cry at the moment.

"Well then, where were we?" Malfoy said with a half grin as if nothing had just happened. I turned and looked at him with fury.

"Was this your plan all along?" I asked now yelling at him staying far back. "Did you see them coming out here?" I yelled and began walking away. Tears were burning in the back of my eyes. He set me up again.

"No, what are you talking about?" he asked in a confused tone. I shook my head and ran off back to the Slytherin common room and straight up to my dorm. I could not believe what had just happened. I know I just lost Harry's trust and friendship forever. I lost Jake forever too, he would never forgive me. The look on his face made me start crying once I hit the pillow. He had been nothing but nice to me. Eowyn and Dasha weren't going to believe what had happened, who knows how they would react? I changed out of my dress and quickly went to sleep. For once, I was excited to get out of Hogwarts and go home. I don't know if I would ever forgive myself for what happened.

The ending makes me sad ;( R&R