23. BALL IS LIFE (PT. 2)

When the two girls arrived, all they could see were boys dressed in their dress robes, and girls in their dresses. There was an explosion of colour and everywhere Elara looked, she saw a new colour, or smelt a new perfume.

"El, I can see Theodore, he's with the twins." Bianca gestured towards a group of people crowded around Harry, who Elara could see had his arm linked with a girl dressed in shocking pink and gold. Elara smiled and pulled Bianca in that direction.

They approached the group and Harry saw her. "El!"

Everyone turned around and Theodore's eyes widened. He stepped forward. "You look gorgeous Lara."

"Thank you, Theo." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "You look very handsome." He simple smiled and held out his hand, she took it and entwined their fingers.

"Hey guys." Elara smiled at everyone else. "You look very nice Harry."

"Thanks El, you do too."

"What are we?" George asked indignantly.

"Chopped liver?" Fred added.

"So sorry boys, you look very handsome." Elara rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, El." They both grinned. Elara then noticed Ron's robes, they seemed frayed and looked very old fashioned.

"Bloody hell, Ronald. Raid your nana's closet for that?" She raised an eyebrow, causing everyone to laugh and Ron to groan. Elara looked over at Bianca, only to notice her best friends gaze on someone else. Following her gaze, she saw it landed on a certain red-headed twin.

He was stood there, talking with George, and ran a hand through his long hair. Bianca followed his hands movement. Elara edged closer to her, still holding her boyfriend's hand, and spoke. "If you're going to stare at someone, better make it look more subtle."

Bianca started, and looked at Elara, eyes slightly wide. "Oh, bloody hell. He didn't notice though."

"Bet you wouldn't mind if he did, would you?" When there was no answer, Elara went on, "He's talking to someone, but if he isn't, I wouldn't suggest doing that, both twins are very observant."

As if on cue, George looked at them from over Fred's shoulder and winked. "Told you."

"Alright, I'll watch myself next time."

"Or don't." Elara wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing her best friend to blush a light pink and smack her on the shoulder. "What? You clearly are attracted to him, and if that's not reciprocated, I'll set myself on fire."

"What's this I hear about setting yourself on fire." Theodore joined the conversation. "Let's not do that."

"Oh don't worry, Theo, it won't get to that. I'm very sure of my suspicions. I won't be wrong." Elara brushed some hair off her shoulder, a confident smirk on her face.

"Shut up El." Bianca rolled her eyes, turning her gaze once more to Fred, who now, just as she looked at him, turned around, caught her gaze and winked, causing the Zabini heiress to look away, red-cheeked. She turned around to look at her best friend.

"What did I tell you? I'm always right, Bia, you should know this by now."

Just then, the front doors opened, and the Durmstrang students entered the hall, Krum at the front, and with her armed wrapped around his, was a beautiful girl with brown hair, dressed in periwinkle blue. "Bloody hell, that's Hermione." Elara commented to Theodore, who raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"She cleans up well." He replied, causing the girl to nod, before turning her attention to McGonagall who was now stood beside the doors of the Great Hall, dressed in robes of red tartan. "Champions over here, please."

Harry and Parvati waved goodbye and walked towards McGonagall, everyone in the crowd parting to let them pass through. Fleur and her date were stood closest to the door, and Cedric and Cho were beside Harry and Parvati, while Krum and Hermione stood beside Fleur and her date, Roger.

As the champions stood by the doors, everyone else walked in, and when Elara walked past, she grabbed Harry's hand, and then winked at Hermione before continuing in. The Great Hall has been completely revamped for the occasion. The House tables were gone and were replaced by tons of smaller ones with lanterns, and each one seated around a dozen people. The walls were covered in sparkling white frost with garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling.

Elara cast her gaze towards the table at the end of the hall, where all the judges and teachers were sat. Dumbledore was smiling happily, and Bagman was clapping enthusiastically, dressed in robes of bright purple that were adorned with large yellow stars. Madame Maxime had exchanged her black satin for a flowing gown of lavender silk, and as politely clapping. Crouch was gone, and in his space, was Percy Weasley, dressed in navy robes, and an expression of absolute smugness.

Everyone took their seats, and Elara was sat at a table with Theodore, Fred, George, Bianca, Draco, Astoria, Daphne, Adrian and Blaise. This left two empty seats, and they were quickly taken by Neville and Ginny. Each table had golden plates, with menus placed atop every plate.

People were picking them up and flipping through them, confused as to what they were supposed to do, considering there were no waiters or servers or house elves, then Dumbledore lifted his menu, looked through it and loudly said, "Pork chops."

Almost immediately, pork chops appeared on his plate, and everyone got the idea. Elara flicked through her menu, and she clearly said, "Ribeye steak, medium-well."

A steak appeared on her plate, causing a smile to appear, and so she flicked through the menu till she got to the drinks section, she could see there wasn't anything strong there, no firewhiskey for sure, but there was a list of wines, clearly labelled with a warning.

Any wines are not allowed to fifth years and younger and will not be served no matter how many times you yell at your plate. And no student who orders it will be allowed more than two refills.

So, Elara went through the list until she found what she wanted. Her father had taught her much about wines this summer, and she knew the strongest wine in the menu as soon as her eyes landed on it. "Chardonnay."

A Chardonnay wasn't even the strongest wine you could get, but it was the strongest one on the menu. Such a shame they weren't serving any firewhiskey.

When everyone had finished their food, Dumbledore stood, and asked the students to do the same. Elara gathered her dress from under her and swept it behind her as she stood. The old headmaster waved his hand and all the tables zoomed back against the wall, leaving the floor clear. Then he conjured a raised platform, a set of drums, some guitars, a lute, a cello and some bagpipes.

Elara's mouth dropped open as the Weird Sisters walked onstage, met with an astounding amount of applause. They picked up their instruments and began playing. The champions stood, and where the first ones to do so. They began slow dancing, and then everyone else joined them.

As Elara walked towards the cleared area with Theodore, she caught Harry's eye and grinned at his discomfort. They stood amongst the other students and Elara linked one of her hands with Theodore's, as she guided his other hand to her waist, before placing hers on his shoulder.

As they danced, they talked. Nothing serious, or intense, just simple conversation about how school has been going, and how they're been doing in classes. "Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon."

"Are you implying something." Elara smiled slyly.

"So, what if I am?" Theodore replied, a glint in his eyes.

"Out with it, Nott."

"Would you do me the honour of accompanying me there?"

"I would be delighted to." Just as she said that, the Weird Sisters played the last mournful tune in the song, and then struck up a much more upbeat and faster one. The pair danced along with everyone else, before Elara began complaining that her feet hurt, so her and Theodore went to sit at one of the tables.

Elara took her boots off and leaned back in her chair, sighing. "This is lovely and all, but are we supposed to dance for the rest of the evening?"

"Let's leave then." Theodore stood and held his hand out for her. Elara grinned at it before grabbing his hand, and her shoes in the other hand. They walked out of the hall, without anyone noticing their disappearance.

"Let's head to the common room and get changed." Elara suggested and Theodore nodded, leading her down to the dungeons and into the common room, which was empty, save for a few third years.

They headed to their dorm, and Elara headed right for her closet, grabbing some clothes before walking to the bathroom and shutting the door. She took her dress off and hung it on a hanger before returning the hanger into the little cupboard in the bathroom.

Then she -in her underwear still- took some wipes and a face wash and set to taking all the makeup off her face, and when she was done, she pulled her comfier clothes on. And they consisted of a thick hoodie, some jeans, boots, and a beanie. She needed to wrap up, considering it was snowing outside, or would be snowing soon.

But before she pulled her beanie on, she combed through her hair, and pulled pins out of the curls it was in. Then she added the beanie, and after tucking her wand in her boots, she applied her red lipstick, stuck it in a pocket and walked back into the dorm room.

Back in the room, she could see Theodore sat on the bed, wand in hand, waiting. When she walked out, he looked up and stood. Then he walked closer to her and hugged her.

Surprised, she hugged back. "What was that for?"

He pulled back and took her hand, tugging her towards the door. "Nothing, I just wanted to hug you."

"Well, I'm not complaining." She grinned, following him out of the common room and up towards the Entrance Hall. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Tick some things off your list, because I'd feel better doing it when I'm with you." Theodore explained. They arrived in front of the massive oak doors and together pushed them open, leaving the castle.

It was snowing outside, not heavily, lightly. And it was dark, their only light being the stars, moon and the warm glows from the castle. "That sounds brilliant, but there are some that I need to do when there's people watching."

"Of course, how could I forget." He rolled his eyes. "What do you want to do first?"

"Uhm..." Elara knew what she wanted to do, but she didn't want to say it out loud.

"Elara."

"I want ride a Thestral. And I would have done it beforehand, but I can't see them, and the only people who can, are those that have seen death. It's alright if you don't want to, I don't want to bring up any bad memories of seeing your mother die. I don't want to upset you."

Theodore stopped and turned to face her, placing one hand on the side of her face. "Lara, you could never upset me. And I won't think about that because I can only remember happy things about my mother. I'd love to help you, and I always will."

Elara leaned forward and kissed him, before pulling away, eyes bright and a small smile spread across her red lips. "Thank you."

"Anytime." He replied. "Do you even know where the Thestrals are?"

"Of course, I do. How many times do you think I've found them, and not been able to do anything?"

"I'm going to guess a million times."

"Even more!" Elara cried out, sounding frustrated. "Come on!"

She dragged Theodore behind her, heading towards the forest, and slipping her wand out when they stopped. They were surrounded by tall trees, stood in a small clearing. "Lara, what are you doing." Theodore asked warily when he saw Elara point her wand at her hand.

"Trust me." She looked up, a reassuring smile on her face. "Diffindo."

A cut formed on her hand and the blood immediately dripped onto the snowy forest floor, staining the white a deep red. "Merlin's beard Elara." Theodore rushed forward, pulling his own wand out.

"No, don't! Thestrals like the smell of blood. It attracts them." As soon as she said that, a small rustle came from the side, and when Theodore looked over, he saw a skeletal looking horse coming over. It walked towards Elara and touched its snout to her hand.

Elara gasped. "There's the Thestral." Theodore nodded his head.

"I wish everyone could see it without having seen something as terrible as someone dying." Elara sighed wistfully. Theodore nodded his head.

"Want to ride it?" He asked, causing her eyes to light up in joy, and when she nodded, he gestured towards her hand which was still bleeding, the bright red stark against her pale skin. "Might want to fix that first."

"Oh." Elara looked down at her hand, having forgotten there was a cut there. She pointed her wand at it and muttered, "Episkey." The cut healed and left smooth skin. Theodore pulled her towards the Thestral's middle and helped her get on.

She sat atop it, eyes wide, waiting for Theodore. He got on and sat in front of her so she had something to hold on to, something she could actually see. As soon as he sat on the Thestral, Elara's arms went around his middle, her fists curling around the material of his jumper.

Theodore leaned down closer to the Thestral's ear, "Take us for a little spin please." The skeletal horse tossed its head, before taking a few steps forward, running and then launching itself in the sky. Elara's grip tightened on his jumper and she let out a surprised noise.

"Oh my god. Holy crap." She whispered into his back, her eyes peeking over his shoulder as she looked around in awe. She regained her confidence, and moved her head back a little, loosening her grip on her boyfriend.

She looked around, seeing the glittering lights coming from the castle, other faint ones glowing under the Black Lake, that rippled every now and then as the Giant Squid moved about. "Wow."

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Elara closed her eyes and let the wind hit her, lifting a hand to pull her beanie down firmly so it wouldn't fly off, then she lifted her other arm and opened her arms wide, letting go of Theodore. She spread them wide and let the wind hit her, enjoying the coldness of it.

Eventually however, they began descending, and Elara wrapped her arms around Theodore once more as the Thestral nose-dived towards the forest floor. It landed, and Theodore got off, before helping Elara off and linking his fingers with hers.

"Have you started on the Animagus thing?" Theodore asked as they began walking back to the castle. "From what I read, it's very complicated."

"Oh, it is, but my dad's given me some tips, and the notes you have me have been super helpful. I haven't started yet, but I'll start tomorrow I think, it's full moon, so that's works really well. I've got to hold the mandrake leaf in my mouth for a whole bloody month, so that's going to be brilliant." Elara rolled her eyes.

Theodore let out a quiet chuckle. They were now walking towards the Astronomy tower. "Do you have any idea what animal you're going to be?"

"No, but that reminds me that I need to start working on my Patronus charm. I can't do a corporeal one." Elara sat down beside the window at the top of the tower with Theodore opposite her. "I won't be showing you what my form is though. At least not until I fully transform."

They sat there, looking up at the stars, no words needed to be spoken between them.