Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Archie’s going Ballin’

Fuck, dress robes are horrible… really horrible. Just why Whitlock? Why can’t you buy some normal suits? Not to mention, all of it it’s black, which is fine in this case because Fleur is going silver, but still…

“I look horrible in this…” Michael grumbled as he tried to fix his long tie to at least be passable.

“You know, you could just transfigure it.” said Terry Boot, waiting at the door. Good idea…

“Yeah, like I have the skills for that…” Goldstein snorted.

I have the skills for it, so I did it. I tapped my clothing with my wand, and it quickly transfigured into a normal black suit, muggle style.

As I turned around, the others looked at me with surprise in their faces. “Mate, can you do mine too?” asked Michael Corner, pleading.

“Sure.” I shrugged, tapping his clothing with my wand, changing his clothing.

The boy looks happy to say the least, patting my shoulder. “Thanks, I look better already.”

Goldstein scoffed as he asked me to do his clothing too. “Who are you going with anyway?”

“None of your business Goldstein.” Michael shrugged it off. “You don’t know her anyway.”

“A Beauxbatons girl?” Terry probed teasingly, no reaction, “A Durmstrang girl then? You like those bulky girls Corner?”

“Sod off Boot.” Michel scoffed. As Goldstein’s clothing finished transforming, the four of us walked out of our dorm room and down to the common room. I saw boys waiting there, probably waiting for their partners in the girls dormitory.

“You boys have a Ravenclaw date?” asked Goldstein, all of us shook our heads, “Alright then, no point sitting here.”

We quickly exited the Ravenclaw tower, walked down the stairs, passing by a couple of panicking boys and girls.

“The atmosphere is tense around here.” Terry stated. “I bet tomorrow will be a mess in the common room.”

“I’ll be gone tomorrow anyway.” I stated.

“Going home to your castle, Whitlock?” Michael asked.

“It’s a yearly portkey.” I shrugged. “Might as well use it.”

“Oh I bet you’re bringing your new girlfriend.” teased Anthony. “I still can’t get over the fact that you’re going out with a bloody French Veela. Hogwarts girls didn’t suit your taste mate?”

“Bloody hell we’re still fourteen.” I shook my head in amusement.

“So?” stated Goldstein. “Many wizards and witches found their match in Hogwarts, might as well watch out for it now rather than later.”

Can’t argue with that. “True enough.”

“But still. How did it come about? You’re literally the most reclusive Ravenclaw I’ve ever seen. You getting a French girl doesn’t make sense.”

Draw me like one of your french girls~ wait, no, that movie hasn’t come out yet. “What can I say? My charm draws in girls.”

Terry scoffed. “More like your money.”

“Goldstein’s family is rich as well.” I shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anthony frowned.

The group laughed at Anthony’s expense before we arrived at the entrance of the ballroom. I could already see the decorations. The icy ceiling above looks amazing, the Christmas three in the middle of the room also was eye-catching, the star above it shining dimly, acting as a light source for the place. The food was served at the corner of the room, I could see a chocolate fountain with strawberries placed around it, I could see drinks, though I doubt it’s alcohol, probably just fruit punch or something.

“I see her,” said Terry as he waved his hand, looking at a Beauxbatons girl waiting for him near the entrance. “Alright, have a good night lads.”

One by one my roommates started to scatter, meeting their prospective dates, leaving me alone, waiting in front of the ballroom.

The students started to enter the ball as told by Professor McGonagall while I kept waiting. I could see Potter nervously waiting in front of the ballroom as well, while Diggory and Chang had already met, only waiting to be called for the first dance.

I could then see Granger, walking down the stairs with a pretty blue dress, not pink like the movies for some reason, Potter went wide-eyed at the sight, not recognizing his friend at first. She looked at me and shot me a smile, I just gave her a nod, approving the transformation from a bushy-haired book worm to… Emma Watson? I don’t know how to describe it.

Krum then offered his hand to Hermione as she walked down the stairs, smiling happily at her, she took his hand and waited near the door. Soon, Harry’s date also joined him as well, Parvati.

Professor McGonagall then walked towards us, looking extremely stern and focused.

“Are you all ready for the dance?” she asked us.

“The what?” Potter asked.

“The dance Potter, the first dance.” she repeated. “Surely I have told you that ”

“N-No.. I think you haven’t professor…” the boy-who-lived stuttered.

“Oh, well, now you know.” the professor turned to me. “Whitlock, where is Miss Delacour?”

“She’s probably coming here now.” I answered her.

“The first dance is in five minutes.” she said. “I suggest you look for her now.” 

McGonagall didn’t even wait for my answer, and she just walked back towards the ball room, preparing some things. The champions waited for a while, talking to their dates casually while I just stood alone in the corner, still waiting.

A couple minutes later, finally, Fleur arrived. She looks… amazing… She was wearing a silver dress that hugged her figure gently. She tied her hair, letting her neck and smooth back be visible for all eyes to see, and she had this brooch attached to her hair that compliments her overall look. Fuck, even with the bloody shield protecting my mind I’ll have a hard time calming myself…

She had a wide smile as walked up to me, not caring about the stares that the other champions and their dates gave her.

As she neared me, I took her hand and kissed her knuckle. “What took you so long?” I asked her.

That was apparently not the words she was looking for. “I was trying to look good for you.” she grumbled, not truly mad. “So, ‘ow do I look?”

I thought of teasing her. “Do you want a lie or a truth?”

Her face went sour at my words, it’s so fun teasing her… “”ow about the lie?”

“You look beautiful.” I said innocently with a smile, I could feel her want to lash out right now.

“And the truth?” she asked again bitterly, holding herself back.

I didn’t say anything at first, instead, I walked up towards her, breaking her privacy and whispered to her ear. “You look absolutely gorgeous, too gorgeous perhaps for a mere school dance, it’s as if you’re trying to insinuate something…”

I could then see her ears went red in an instant, pushing me away quickly to stop it escalating any further, she just held my left arm, calming herself down. “Your imagination is too wild Archibald…”

I just chuckled quietly at her response. “I’m joking, you look gorgeous, it’s nice of you to go extra for me, even though your normal self is already beautiful enough.”

“It is a formal dance.” she said softly. “I ‘ave to look proper.”

McGonagall then quickly appeared again, she closed the ballroom door and turned towards us.

“There you are Miss Delacour!” she exclaimed, quickly pushing me and Fleur to the door. “All of you, line up in front of the door. Mr. Whitlock, you’ll be in the front…  Miss Granger, Mr. Krum after that… yes yes, Mr. Diggory… Potter! Snap out of it, Miss Patil, hold Mr. Potter’s left arm, good good…”

She walked back to the door, just right in front of me and Fleur. She was holding the door handle, looking at us. “Now, when I open the door, you will move towards the dance floor and position yourself, once the music starts, you may dance, understood?”

“But Professor—”

“It is too late now Potter,” said McGonagall sternly. “Try to not embarrass yourself, your house’s name is on the line.”

As soon as she said that, she didn’t give more time for Potter to protest and opened the door. A flood of coldness burst from the room from all the ice, and I quickly moved inside, passing through a crowd of students that made way for the champions.

They all cheered and clapped as we entered, Fleur smiling all the way to the dance floor. As we positioned ourselves, we looked at each other, while other students looked at us.

“You look really ‘andsome Archie.” she smiled, looking at me up and down. “Although I ‘ave noticed a theme of you wearing black.”

“It’s a flexible color.” I said, telling Fleur Whitlock’s horrendous reason for buying only black clothing. “I am thinking of buying new clothing next summer, muggle clothing of course.”

“Well, can I come?” she asked, squeezing a question while the other champions went into position.

“You’re not coming home?”

“Non, I want to find a job ‘ere, at least part-time.” she said. “Papa said that it is alright, as long as I stay with you.”

“That’s fine for me.” I smiled. The music started to play, so I held her slim waist and her hand in the other, before starting waltzing around the dance floor, following the rhythm. We’ve practiced a lot before this day, almost everyday after sparring. She said that she likes dancing with me, because if it’s someone else, she might step on their toes, with me, she just enjoyed being led on by me, following my movement.

I could feel the gazes of the students around me as we danced. I'm worried that Fleur’s allure leaked out unintentionally for some reason, but turns out they’re just impressed at our dancing. I could see Flitwick that was conducting the orchestra nodding at me, looking proud as hell.

“Speaking of staying with me…” I murmured while we danced. “I will be going home tonight, do you want to come? We can bring Gabrielle if you like.”

Fleur threw me a questioning look. “Going ‘ome? But it is Christmas? The train will not go.”

I looked at her in amusement. “Who said anything about trains?”

“That is ‘ow ‘ogwarts students go home non?”

“Yes, but I only went in the Hogwarts Express at the start of the year and at the end of the year, the rest of the time I used Portkey.”

“You ‘ave a Portkey to your ‘ome?” she asked again.

“Yes. It will activate in the middle of the night, and reactivate to send me back the next day.”

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“Then I will come.” she nodded. “I will bring Gabrielle as well.”

“Then we don’t have time to pack after the ball.” I continued. “So just bring your wand.”

I could then see the rest of the students join us in dancing, the place is starting to get too crowded and hot, even though we are literally surrounded by ice.

So, we just decided to stop dancing altogether, quickly sitting in the corner of the room, drinking punch and eating food.

Fleur and I are not really the social bunch… Fleur with her trust issues and me with my stranger anxiety problems, so we didn’t really talk to others… We were asked to dance quite a few times though, but both of us refused them all.

“Any luck on the egg?” I asked casually, eating some strawberries.

“Non, but I ‘ave a feeling you know it already.” she said to me, looking me straight in the eyes.

I chuckled at her words. “What makes you say that?”

“You act like it is not important and easy.” she answered. “I ‘ad noticed that whenever you do that, you tend to know the answer already.”

I laughed, is that really true? “Or it’s just me.”

“Non, I definitely think you already know…” she narrowed her eyes jokingly, grabbing my face to make me look at her. “You don’t want to tell me?” she said with innocent eyes, changing her expression altogether.

I just dipped the strawberries into the chocolate and fed it to Fleur, chuckling as I released her grip on my face. “I’ll tell you later.”

She just huffed and sat on the chair again, crossing her legs. “You sure you don’t want to dance with other people Fleur?” I asked. “You can have a good time you know, I’m not going to force you to sit here with me, you said you like to dance, you should go then.”

“I like to dance with you, not dance with anyone else.” she pointed out. “And I am afraid that the partner will be touchy, so I would rather sit ‘ere with you.”

“Okay, let’s go dance again then.” I offered.

“This Strawberry and Chocolate is really good.” she commented. “I will eat this for a little while first.”

“You’ll get fat if you eat too much of that.” I chuckled, making her freeze.

She dropped the strawberry she was holding and grumbled. “What is it with you and me getting fat?”

“I just like seeing you getting annoyed.” I smirked, dipping another strawberry into the chocolate fountain, and shoved it to Fleur’s mouth once again. She didn’t complain and started chewing the strawberry, giggling. There’s some chocolate left on her lips, and it looked like she didn’t notice it, so, against all of my being, I decided to do something about it, I wiped it off using my thumb, before eating it.

She looked embarrassed and her face was a little red. I just laughed and we continued to watch people dance in the corner of the room.

—

As hours passed by, people started to do slow dances again. Me and Fleur danced a couple more times before deciding to just sit and eat all we wanted. People are leaving the place as midnight is approaching, but some show no sign of stopping.

As me and Fleur along with Gabrielle, who had joined us in our little safe zone, chatted casually about the condition of our school, I saw Granger leave the room in a hurry, her face red and crying. 

“That is your friend, oui?” said Fleur, looking at the girl with worry.

“More like study mates… but sure.” I hummed. “Why?”

“Shouldn’t you do something? She seemed distressed.” she stated.

“Do you want me to?” I asked her. “I’m technically going on a date with you right now.”

“It is okay.” she nodded. “You should talk to ‘er, maybe dance with ‘er if you want, I will go to the carriage early to take some things to bring to your ‘ome.”

That’s strange… “Okay…”

We both stood up from our seat, with Gabrielle in a state of half-asleep again, needing to be supported. Fleur quickly hugged me and kissed me on both my cheek. “Thank you for tonight Archie, I ‘ad a really great time.”

“Even though we just sat for hours eating strawberries?” I raised my eyebrow teasingly, making her giggle.

“That is the best part.” she answered. I then saw her looked hesitant for a second, but I saw this ‘fuck it’ look in her eyes. Before I knew it, I saw her leaned towards my face, and I felt a soft sensation on my lips. The smell of French Lavender, her perfume, hit my nostrils hard, fuck man.. This is my first kiss…

It was just a small peck, we probably didn’t know anything more because we were both inexperienced, but I could feel that she was trying not to freak out right now, her lips were trembling, so I just held her hand, and she calmed down.

When we separated, her face is red as fuck, trying her best to stop smiling. “T-That was nice…” she muttered quietly.

My face is probably red too by now. “Y-Yes.” Did I just stutter too?

She let go of my hand and  just walked away, not forgetting to bring her half-asleep sister with her. “I will see you later Archie.”

Damn, what a night.

—

I exited the ballroom to try to find Granger. Turns out, it is not really that hard to find her, she was crying on the stairs, her make up practically destroyed, and her hair messy again.

“Bad night?” I asked her, standing in front of the stairs, my hands in my pocket.

She just looked at me slightly as she sobbed. She was about to lash out, but when she saw that it was me she calmed down. “Ron’s being a git.”

I just sat beside her, not asking for permission. She rolled her eyes as I did that, but didn’t complain whatsoever.

“Fleur ditched you?” she asked me in between sobs.

“You always assumed the worst out of people, Granger.” I chuckled. “No, she’s packing.”

“Packing?”

“I’m going home for Christmas as always.” I continued. “Might as well bring her with me.”

“Oh.” she said, she calmed down, but not for the right reason from the looks of it.

I just sighed at her as I slapped my knees, standing back up. I offered my hand. “Want to dance?”

“Why don’t you wait for Delacour instead of pitying me here?” She muttered bitterly, wiping tears from her face.

“Are you jealous of me and Fleur, Granger?” I asked in amusement, which made her wide-eyed.

She was about to refute, but didn’t do it for some reason. “Is it that obvious?”

“It took a while, but I eventually caught on.” I shrugged. “Now, you want to dance or not? Midnight’s in about an hour.”

She did a final sob, and finally took my hand. I brought her to the dance floor, the song was playing slowly, so we started to follow the rhythm. I held her waist, but not as intimate as I held Fleur’s.

“Where’s Krum?” I asked her as we slowly danced on the floor.

“With his friends I guess…”

“You guess?” I raised my brow.

“I told him to leave me alone after Ron…” she answered quietly, putting her head on my shoulder.

I sighed once again, this girl is really something…

“H-How do you feel Whitlock?” she asked me. “Do you actually agree with the… arrangement?”

“I didn’t agree to it at first of course.” I answered. “But seeing no way out, I just followed the current, turns out, we’re alike, so it’s been great so far.”

“If you can, will you break it?” she questioned again. “I mean… it’s… wrong…”

“Is that your jealousy talking or your self-righteous morals?” I teased, making her snort.

“You know what I mean…” she muttered.

I chuckled, the students started to leave one by one. “I don’t know to be honest. The ‘forcing’ part does leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I’m starting to believe that we’ll be alright. You don’t have to worry, Granger.”

“She’s treating you right, right?” she asked me again.

“You’re not my mother Granger.” I laughed.

She chuckled at my words as she released her grip from my hand. “We're still friends right?” she questioned timidly.

“I didn’t know that we’re friends in the first place.” I said sarcastically, making her roll her eyes. “But sure, whatever you want.”

She shot me a weak smile. “I should get going, Delacour’s probably waiting already. Thank you for tonight… Whi–”

“Archie.” I interrupted her. “Call me Archie.”

She nodded happily. “Then call me Hermione as well. Even though it was short, thank you for tonight Archie…”

“You’re welcome.” I gave her a soft smile. “Now my advice is to just don’t cry because of boy problems, we’re idiots, especially Weasley, it’s not worth it.”

She just giggled at my advice. “I’ll try to follow your advice.” she said, waving her hand and left the room, leaving me alone.

I turned to the clock on the wall, it’s almost midnight, I should get going then.

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