The Ball

"So...you just sat there? You didn't discuss any of the problems you've had? At all?" Millie sighed, just nodding in affirmation to Ginny's incredulous question as Millie filled her friends in on her conversation with Fred in totality. It was the morning of the Yule Ball and Millie was having breakfast with Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. She had spent most of the day after her conversation with Fred hanging out with Cedric so this was her first chance to fill them in on everything.

"But that didn't solve anything!" Ginny protested.

"C'mon Ginny, she talked to him. Give 'er a break." Ron said, speaking around the food in his mouth.

"Thank you, Ronald." Millie said, winking at Ron as she reached for another piece of toast.

"But- you and Fred? Are you friends again? Is everything back to normal or will we still have awkwardness at all times?" Ginny fired the questions off in rapid succession, making Millie internally groan at the continued interrogation.

"Ginny, darling, I love you but please give it a rest." Millie pleaded.

Ginny looked put out and turned to speak to Neville who was sitting with them. She asked Neville about some sort of plant he was currently obsessed with and settled in for a long talk.

"So, are you two ready for the ball tonight?" Millie turned to the boys, smirking a bit since they were both quite disgruntled at not getting dates they wanted and, in Ron's case, at the dress robes his mum sent him from the 1800s.

"Shove off, Amelia." Ron grunted.

"I'd just rather not go. Any way I could get out of it, ya reckon?" Harry asked, turning to Hermione and Millie respectively, hoping they could help him get out of it.

"Uh, no, Harry. You and Pavarti have to lead the first dance of the Yule Ball. It'll be quite noticeable if you skip it." Hermione told Harry, Millie nodding in agreement. She was slightly distracted though as she noticed Draco angrily stand up at the Slytherin table, fling something on the table then stalk out of the Great Hall.

"Um, I'll see you in the common room in a bit you lot. 'Bye." Millie said, standing up from the table to rush after Draco. Harry and Hermione both protested her going after Draco but she hadn't spoken to him in a while and, despite their differences, she missed him.

Millie tried to retrace Draco's steps, having to guess at what direction he went in since he had disappeared long before she made it to the entrance hall. After a few minutes she realized that this would get her nowhere, having checked in multiple spots and not being able to find him. But, then she remembered a spot on the third floor of the castle, a secluded corner that not many students could find, but it was the place that her and Draco would often go to catch up without the judgmental stares of Millie's friends and Draco's Slytherin pals. She made her way up the stairs, making sure to skip the trick one that many got caught in, and followed a path she had many times before to find the hidden spot.

Surprisingly, as she made it to the spot, she noticed that Draco was indeed there. Millie was slightly astonished that this was the spot Draco had come because he couldn't have had any idea that she would follow him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the magnificent Draco Malfoy: sulking." Millie announced sarcastically as she got closer to him, grinning when he jumped as he hadn't noticed her presence yet.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked in his signature sneer from his seat in the window seat.

"Oh, knock it off. I came to see how you were." Millie told him.

"Care now, do you? Well, I don't need your pity so run along."

"Draco, please remove the stick from up your arse immediately and remember how to be a decent friend." Draco glared at Millie demand as she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her eyebrow at him, waiting.

"Well? How are you?" She tried again.

"I'm fine."

Millie looked at him in disbelief, annoyed with how obtuse he was being. She was preparing to leave before he sighed, giving in.

"Fine, I left the Great Hall because Zabini was saying unflattering things about...about you and Pansy was joining in. I told them to shove it but they just kept going on so I told them to go to hell and left. Happy now, Amelia?"

"Aww, Draco, you really do care about me." Millie cooed to him, pinching his cheek before he shoved her off, laughing. "Come on, you know I don't care what they say about me."

"That's completely beside the point. They are supposed to listen to me but they totally disregarded my demands."

"Merlin, Draco, God forbid your minions disobey you once."

"You don't understand." Draco said, obviously irritated with Millie's teasing but Millie was grinning because it was just like old times with Draco- him complaining about inconsequential things and Millie teasing him for it.

"I'm sorry that you are going through this clearly very difficult time." Millie teased, nudging him as she sat next to him in the window seat. "Is everything else okay?"

Draco considered her for a moment, clearly considering whether he should confide something in her. Millie was used to this; Draco never fully trusted anyone so he always weighed whether he was comfortable enough to disclose something important to him to someone else. Millie didn't know whether he did this with his other mates; she knew some may be offended that he had to think about whether to trust them with something about himself but Millie understood how he'd grown up because of what he had told her in their first couple years at Hogwarts, when he was less on guard. Lucius had ingrained in Draco a deep seeded belief that showing any vulnerability was weakness.

"Everything's fine, Mills. Shouldn't you be going to get ready for the ball? I'm guessing you're going with one of the Weasleys." Draco changed the subject, deciding to keep whatever he was thinking about private. Millie was disappointed but Draco would let her know when the time was right if it was really important.

"I'm going to get ready soon. And, actually, I'm going with a boy from Durmstrang. If you hadn't noticed, me and the twins have been having some...issues since the term started."

Draco raised his brows, surprised that she wasn't going with one of the 'Weaselbee' twins because he'd always thought that they would end up together, despite disliking the Weasleys. "Durmstrang, eh? You really upgraded from Diggory then." Draco goaded her, wanting to get a rise out of her for fun.

"Shove it, Draco. At least my date isn't obsessed with me, like Pansy is with you. She probably already has your wedding and hypothetical children named. Draco Jr, probably?" Millie fired back at him, both of them grinning at her jabs at Pansy. Draco just shook his head, not replying. Checking her watch, Millie decided it was probably time to head back to Gryffindor tower to begin getting ready. She bade goodbye to Draco, wishing him a truly awful evening at the ball, which he returned in full.

·

·

·

"Oh my... Hermione, you look gorgeous! Your hair is perfect!" Millie gushed as Hermione stepped out of the bathroom from putting her dress on and last touches.

Hermione smoothed her dress down nervously asking, "You really think so? The hair isn't too much? Gin, what do you think?"

Ginny turned from the mirror where she was applying lipstick and rolled her eyes at Hermione, "You worry too much! You look amazing, Viktor isn't going to know what hit him."

"That's what I'm saying." Millie sang as she finished the last bit of her makeup and turned to her friends, gesturing to himself. "So, what do you think?"

Hermione's attention went to Millie as she looked over her friend and Ginny looked at her as well. "Well, if you were going for the hottest bad bitch at the ball, I think you win Mills." Ginny said, her eyes twinkling as she complimented Millie in her usual unusual way. Millie thanked her before turning to Hermione as well and raising her brows in question.

"Millie, you look amazing! If Marko isn't already, he'll be in love with you by the end of the night." Hermione teased.

"Whatever, but thank you. Also, Ginny, your makeup is perfect. So, are you lot ready to head down? Marko said he'd be waiting for me in the entrance hall and that's where Viktor is meeting you, right Hermione?"

The girls all agreed and started to head downstairs, Ginny breaking off from them to go to Neville who was waiting with a rose in the common room for her. Millie told Neville he looked extremely handsome, making him blush, before continuing out the portrait hole with Hermione since the ball would start in a few minutes and Harry and Ron had headed down a few minutes ago, according to Neville.

"You do know Ron is going to shit his pants, right Hermione?" Millie asked as they carefully made their way down the million staircases in their heels.

"Oh, he is not. If he really wanted to go with me, he would've asked. Besides, why would Ron care anymore than Harry that I'm going with Viktor? Harry's the one competing against him." Hermione reasoned back.

"Hermione, for someone so smart, you really can be thick sometimes."

"What?"

"Oh, I'm not telling you tonight, it would just make it worse. I see Marko over there so I'll catch up with you later!" Millie said, giving Hermione a quick hug before heading down the stairs to greet Marko who was waiting with a boyish smile at the bottom.

"Amelia, you are by far the most beautiful sight that I have ever beheld." Marko said, bowing and kissing Millie's hand as she greeted him.

Millie blushed at Marko's compliment before replying jokingly, "You're not so bad yourself."

Marko looked slightly confused at Millie's statement so she shook her head and grinned, telling him that he looked very handsome. He looked pleased at her compliment and asked if she would like to head on into the Great Hall.

Millie was nodding yes, that she would like to go in when she had the odd feeling that she was being watched. She turned around, glancing to see if she could tell who was looking at her but Marko was nudging her forward so she shook it off and continued into the hall with a small smile at Marko.

After watching Harry awkwardly dance with Parvati, Millie thought she might get a hernia from the suppressed laughter and Marko surely thought she was insane as she held onto his arm and tried to keep her laughter quiet. As the first dance ended, the rest of the students began to flood the dancefloor and Millie and Marko joined them after Marko had cheekily bowed to her, offering her his hand to take. They danced for several songs, jumping around and enjoying themselves immensely. Millie even found them dancing next to Hermione and Viktor at one point so she grabbed Hermione's hand, jumping around with her and laughing as the boys just continued to dance around them. However, dancing with Hermione like that for three songs in a row made them extremely tired so Marko and Viktor headed to get them some refreshments before going back to the dance floor.

Millie and Hermione spotted Harry and Ron sitting at a table by themselves so they headed towards them, to see if they wanted to join them and their dates for a drink. As soon as they got to the table, at the look on Ron's face, Millie knew that it was most likely a bad idea to be there.

"Hot, isn't it?" Hermione said to Ron and Harry as she sat next to them, smiling. Millie sat across from them at a chair that had been pulled up and pulled her legs into the chair to relieve some of the pain from all the dancing. "Viktor and Marko have gone to get us some drinks, would you two like to join?"

"No, we would not like to join you lot." Ron said to them nastily.

"What's gotten into you?" Hermione asked him back, shocked. Harry and Millie exchanged annoyed looks, knowing this could go on for a while. Millie was about to get up and go find Marko, when she was tapped on the shoulder by a very sweaty George. She blocked out Hermione and Ron's fight as George asked if they could talk for a moment.

Millie followed him over to an empty table before asking what he wanted to talk about.

George coughed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly before saying, "I'm sorry for acting like a git. I shouldn't have taken Fred's side but it was-"

"Georgie, shut up and give me a hug." Millie interrupted him, holding her arms out. George smiled and hugged her, squeezing her tight and spinning a bit to make her giggle. "Well, who'd you end up coming with then?"

George sat her down before answering, "Alicia, we're here just as friends though. And, you're here with a Durmstrang guy, right? ...as friends?"

Millie shook her head at the subtle question he slipped in, "Yes, his name is Marko and we are just friends. He actually has gone to get me a drink so I may need to go find him. Want to come?"

"Er, yeah, sure. I'd love to meet him."

"Yeah, I'm so sure you would." Millie smiled at him, teasingly. She hooked her arm in his, leading him over to the refreshments, and finding an angry Hermione with two very confused Durmstrang students. "Marko, Viktor this is my friend George. George, this is Marko and Viktor."

The boys all exchanged greetings and Marko handed Millie her drink as she went to stand back at his side. They all stood there awkwardly for a moment, Hermione's anger palpable in the atmosphere. Millie took a sip before asking, "Uh, Hermione, dear, are you okay?"

Hermione scowled at Millie and snapped, "I'm fine." Then Hermione stormed off, Viktor trailing behind her.

"Oh Merlin... well, that's going to be interesting tomorrow." Millie said to George and Marko before finishing her drink and looking at them both expectantly, "Ready to go dance, boys?" They each took one of her arms and led her to the dance floor.

The rest of Millie's night continued on blissfully perfect, dancing with Marko and George, even getting in dances with Cedric, Ginny, and Neville at some point. She had a marvelous time, even though she noticed at one point Angelina had stormed off the floor with Fred following her looking extremely guilty. Millie tried to put this at the back of her mind, enjoying the night with her friends that weren't making it difficult to be friends with them.

She couldn't help but wonder though, Are Fred and Angelina over? 

-Millie's dress for the Yule Ball is pictured at the top. Hope you're enjoying the story!-