An: Wow, I don't even know if this is a good chapter so I might look over it and change some things tomorrow but either way here it finally is: the next chapter! I am so so so so so sorry for making you guys wait that long for it....I'm trying to bring out the next chapter earlier but I am going to write very important tests the next weeks which means that you might again have to wait for the next chapter.

Still I hope you like the chapter as it is now and are going to vote for it. Please comment too....having silent readers isn't that cool for an author. 

This is actually the longest chapter I've ever written and I'm sorry for the long intro...here's the chapter!

PS: the pictures are Alice and Alyssa in their dresses.

Kissing Fred was something Alice had dreamt of. Even though they had kissed before, it felt more real now than it ever had. After all she wasn't crying right now and she didn't have an anxiety attack either.

Fred hadn't hesitated in returning the kiss as his arms were wrapped around her waist. Her lips curled into a smile. She felt genuinely happy about it as there had still been that slight fear that he would push her away.

When she released him Fred leaned his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. He too was smiling and his eyes were sparkling.

"To what do I owe the honour?" asked Fred grinning slightly.

"I just felt like it," said Alice, a cheeky smile tugging at her lips. She bit down on her lower lip to prevent herself from not smiling to wide.

"I quite like your way of thinking," said the red-head and added after a small silence in a quiet voice, "and I quite like you too."

"Why didn't you say so before?" asked Alice just as quietly as he had spoken. The girl knew why she hadn't said anything about her feelings before. The sheer panic in being rejected had stopped her from acting on them.

"It's easier said than done," said Fred and sighed. "I mean we've been friends for quite some time now and I felt like this could destroy it."

Alice looked at him and nodded. She understood what he meant, after all this was also one of her reasons for not saying anything.

The two sat down on a windowsill nearby to talk. Neither of them knew where to begin as both were still not very comfortable in saying their feelings out loud.

"Do I need a new date for the ball now?" asked Fred suddenly to lighten the tension between them. It worked as Alice started laughing.

"No, I don't think that's necessary. You go with Angelina and I'll go with Gael. Just promise me that you'll be reserving me a dance," said the girl and leaned into his side. "I like you too, by the way."

"Thanks for saying that. I was getting rather anxious about it," said Fred with a grin and put his arm around her shoulder. Alice smiled up at him.

"I know, that's why I said it."

"You'll get to have as many dances with me as you want," said Fred and kissed her on the forehead.

It went silent between the teens but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comfortable one. After finally admitting their feelings for each other, Alice felt at ease as she curled into Fred's side. All of the weight that had pushed her down over the last weeks had been swapped away by a few words and a kiss. She felt like nothing could go wrong now.

Except it did. Alice had totally forgotten that she still needed to get ready for the Yule ball. This changed upon her entering the Hufflepuff common room. Chaos was an understatement. The girls were running from one room to another and it was even worse upstairs in the girl's dorm. The bathroom was filled with frantic girls trying to find the perfect make up and tame their hair at the same time.

Alice sighed, already exhausted by watching them. She wasn't much of a makeup artist and she couldn't do any good hair do's either but she still had hoped for a nice and quiet place to try things out. Without any hope in getting ready in time she at least started putting on her dress. Standing before a mirror, she found abandoned, Alice smiled. She really liked the dress her mother had sent her, after all the woman knew what suited her daughter. The dress was plain white with lace in a flowery pattern all over it. It only went down to her knees but she liked dresses that weren't too long the most.

"You look beautiful!" startled a voice Alice.

She turned around to see Amara standing in the doorframe, eyeing her up and down. The Auburn haired girl was wearing a dark green dress that had bottom length. The chest part was embroidered with many pearls that made it look like it was out of an oriental movie. The pearls were silver and golden and everything fitted perfectly well together with her sun kissed skin and her Auburn hair that had really beautiful big waves in it.

"Am! You look like a princes!" exclaimed Alice in surprisement.

"Thanks," said Amara, blushing slightly. "It isn't too much, is it?"

"Not at all. You look so beautiful Amara, you really do," said Alice and smiled.

"You're too sweet, Alice. But look at you! You're dress really suits you well!" said Amara and went around her friend to look at her from every direction. "What are you going to do to your hair?"

"I don't know," said Alice truthfully. "I'm not really good in doing anything with my hair or my makeup for that matter." She sighed already giving up in looking any good for the ball.

"Oh don't lose your hope, dear," said Amara with a reassuring smile. "As I'm finished right now I can certainly use my spare time to save your cute little behind."

Alice laughed but nodded and followed her friend into the bathroom where they luckily found one empty mirror.

They had taken a chair with them on which Alice took place while Amara let her magic work on her look. She put a light makeup on her face that brought her eyes to shine even more than before. Then she curled her hair and put it up into a bun. Alice smiled upon seeing her reflection in the mirror.

"Only some small touches...and...finished!" said Amara finally and smiled at her work.

"Thank you so much Am! I really owe you something," said Alice and hugged the girl gratefully.

"Oh don't bother. I loved doing it. And I really really like the way it turned out. Fred will hopefully get now that he's madly in love with you," she said jokingly.

Alice's breath hitched in her throat and she looked sheepishly at her friend.

"What's with that look?" said Amara suddenly.

"Well, there is something I need to tell you..."

"What do you mean?"

"We kissed," said Alice finally and hid her face behind her hands.

"You mean to say that you and Fred kissed?" said Amara shocked.

Alice just nodded.

"By Merlin! That comes as a surprise. Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I didn't know how to say it. I still can't believe it myself. I mean I kissed him and he kissed me and then we kind of just told each other our feelings," said Alice, her voice becoming quieter with every word.

Amara surprised her with a hug.

"Oh Alice that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you two! It was about time," said the girl and smiled happily. Alice smiled too and nodded.

"Yes, I do think so too."

"Now, let's go to the Yule Ball. I can't wait to tell Cedric the great news and I think George knows it too by now, right?"

"I don't know but let's go and see," said Alice and linked her arm with Amara's. Together, the two left the Hufflepuff dorm and went downstairs and into the Entrance Hall.

The Hall was filled with people, waiting for the doors of the Great Hall to open at 8 o'clock. Adding to that were the people that met their dance partners from another house like Alice and Amara had too.

Alice found Gael standing next to a small group of Ravenclaws. Upon seeing her he left the group and greeted Alice with a smile.

"The dress suits you," said the boy.

"Thank you," said Alice and smiled. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Oh that's nothing really. You should have seen what they sometimes wear back at home," said Gael with a laugh.

"So it's true that French people only wear really fancy clothes?"

"Fois fois. I guess that depends on the occasion. Still it's more about the feeling we get while attending a ball," explained Gael.

"You mean the fancy French feeling?" said Alice grinning.

"Oui, the 'fancy French feeling'," said Gael, making quotation marks with his fingers. His thick French accent made it sound ten times more sarcastic then it already had sounded.

Together the two went to join Alice's group of friends. Amara had found George and Fred and Angelina were there too. Alice smiled upon seeing Fred who seemed rather speechless as his eyes fell on his girlfriend.

"Alice that dress is really pretty," said Angelina.

"Thanks," said Alice. "Yours suits you well too."

Angelina was wearing a purple dress that complimented her skin tone very well. Her hair was loosely put half up which, together with the dress and her behaviour, showed Alice how comfortable she was with herself. After all Angelina was a very confident girl which Alice greatly admired her for.

Suddenly the oak front doors opened and the Durmstrang students together with Professor Karkaroff entered the Hall. Krum was at the front with a very pretty girl in blue robes. Alice had to look twice until she recognised Hermione.

"Wow," she whispered. "Hermione looks beautiful."

"What do you mean?" asked Amara curiously.

"Look there. She's next to Krum. The one in the blue robes," said Alice and pointed at Hermione.

"Oh you're right," said Amara and smiled. "She does look really beautiful today. I wonder how she was able to tame her hair like that. It looks so smooth."

"Na, na ladies. Don't you know that it's rude to point?" said George and grinned.

Fred hadn't uttered a word since Alice's arrival but he didn't have to. The look in his eyes had told Alice everything she wanted to know. The boy had blushed profusely and wasn't even able to bring out a word. Alice smiled. She looked at Fred whose eyes still laid on her.

Then the doors to the Great Hall opened and everyone poured inside. The Hall was quickly filled as the Champions from the different schools were instructed to come to the centre of the Hall to sit on the top table. Alice used the time to look around. The Hall had been beautifully decorated. The walls had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The house tables had vanished, instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

Alice and Gael sat down on a table together with Fred and Angelina and George and Amara. Ginny and Alyssa were sitting at a different table together with Neville, Dean, Seamus and Lavender Brown.

Alice looked around, waiting for the Food to appear like it normally did but nothing happened. Then Fred pointed at the top table were Dumbledore had just told his plate "Pork chops!" and pork chops had appeared. Getting the idea, the rest of the students placed their orders with their plates, too.

"I'm starving!" said Fred and began eating. Alice and the rest laughed and joined in, too. This new way of dining still was a bit complicated as some of the students couldn't decide what they wanted to eat but after some time everyone was contently eating their food.

When all the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood up and asked the students to do the same. Then, at a wave of his wand, the tables zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floor clear, and then he conjured a raised platform into existence along the right-hand wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello and some bagpipes was set upon it.

The Weir Sisters now trooped up onto the stage to wildly enthusiastic applause; they were all extremely hairy, and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn. They picked up their instruments and Alice saw the champions all walk into the centre of the room, as the first dance was supposed to begin.

Alice smiled at Cedric who was dancing with Cho. The girl seemed to have agreed in going with him to the ball which made Alice glad as she knew how much Cedric liked her. The boy had only eyes for the dark haired Ravenclaw and Alice smiled knowing the feeling all too well.

Harry had some difficulties as he was constantly treading onto his partners feet, though Alice couldn't remember her name. She just saw that Ron had the same partner or rather the twin sister as a partner. She hoped for the poor girls that either Ron was better in dancing or that it was soon over.

Gradually more and more students joined into the dance and soon everyone was dancing. Gael was a really good dancer which didn't even come as a surprise to Alice. It actually helped her a lot as she wasn't really good at it. Still, it was fun and soon she was exhausted from all the spinning around.

"I think I need a small break, Gael," said the girl and smiled.

"No problem. Sit down and relax. I always tend to make women weak," said the boy grinning. His eyes were already set on another girl from Hogwarts. Alice had witnessed him looking at her quite frequently during the dance.

"Go and have some fun, Gael," she said smiling and sat down at one of the tables nearby.

When the song ended she saw Ludo Bagman through the wall of people which made her stand up again. She also saw the twins making their way through the crowd to speak to the man so she hurried to go after them. They reached Bagman at the same time but he promptly shook the three off.

"Oh, I hate that man right now!" said Alice fuming. Her good mood was nowhere to be found as the short encounter had made her quite angry.

"Why can't he just stand to his word? I mean we're not asking much, we just want our winning!"

"Calm down, love," said Fred and put his hand on her shoulder. "We're angry, too but we'll find a way none the less. Don't lose hope."

She looked at Fred and smiled.

"You're right."

George looked at the couple and raised a brow.

"I see that everything is alright again between you two. More than alright as I've heard," he said with a grin.

"Oh, you're one to talk," said Alice blushing. "What's that you have with Amara?"

Now George was the one blushing. Mumbling inaudible things he just turned around and walked away.

Fred and Alice laughed as George stalked away and went to Amara.

"He likes her," said Fred.

"That he does," said Alice.

"You wanna go outside for some time?" asked Fred and took her hand.

"Sure, why not," said Alice and smiled.

Together the two left the Great Hall and went outside where the cold air greeted them. Alice shivered. Fred was holding her hand the whole time which made her smile.

"Are you cold?" asked the boy concerned.

"A bit. I mean it's winter, Fred," said Alice shivering.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking," said Fred and took her inside to a windowsill.

"That's better. I shouldn't have just agreed like that," said Alice with a small giggle.

"Maybe you're right. Either way, I wanted to tell you that you look really beautiful today," said Fred and sat down into a windowsill together with the girl. Alice blushed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said and looked at him.

"By the way, merry Christmas, love."

Alice looked at him, surprised that she had forgotten that it really was Christmas.

"You're right. It's Christmas!"

It wasn't like she had truly forgotten that it was Christmas, she had received her presents in the morning, a jumper from Mrs Weasley, and sweets and books from her family and some friends, but she had forgotten it after that, she hadn't thought about it anymore as there had been much more important things to think of.

"Well, good thing I thought of it," Fred said with a grin and gave her a small parcel he had hidden inside the pockets of his trousers.

"What's this?" asked Alice curiously and took the present.

"Open it."

"You know, you didn't have to give me anything, Fred," said Alice and smiled. Then she slowly started opening the present. The parcel had been neatly wrapped in red paper with tiny white dots on it. It looked really precious as it was but what was inside was even more precious. Fred had bought Alice a silver bracelet with a few pendants attached to it.

"Oh Fred, thank you," whispered Alice, too shocked to say it out loud. "This is beautiful."

The pendants were all a reminder of places they had been to together. There was a tiny little Snitch for the World Cup, a letter for the letters they had exchanged throughout the years, an A that probably stood for her name and an F for Fred.

"I wanted to tell you how I feel today. That's why I bought that bracelet. It wasn't easy to get it but I eventually found a store that sold snitch pendants. I'm glad you like it, love," said Fred and smiled.

"I...it's perfect...thank you Fred," said Alice and kissed him happily. He smiled into the kiss and released her after some moments. Then he helped her putting the wristband on. Alice smiled as she looked at it thoroughly.

"I really, really love it, Fred. Thank you so much," said the girl. She felt very happy at the moment and she could've sat there until the end of the evening but Fred still owed her a dance so the two went back into the Hall. Everyone was still dancing cheerfully so Alice and Fred joined in.

It was nice, dancing with Fred. He was spinning her around and Alice couldn't stop laughing. Her smile grew by the second as she felt really lucky in that particular moment. She wished for time to stop as the dance would end on midnight. Everyone was having such a good time as even the teachers were dancing and enjoying themselves very much. She couldn't see Professor Snape nor could she see Professor Kakaroff though which didn't really bother her as she didn't like them to begin with.

When Alice and Fred sat down for a moment to gain back some of their energy. Alice contently realised that the boy was holding her hand and now and then brushed over it with his thumb. Alice really liked the feeling of it and smiled even wider than before.

"There you are!" said a voice nearby. Alice turned around just to see Amara standing there together with George.

"Hey Am," said Alice and patted the seat next to her. "Come on and take a seat."

"Not necessary. I just wanted to tell you something," said the girl and motioned for her to follow her. Alice was a bit confused by her actions but followed her anyway.

"What is it?" the Hufflepuff girl asked after reached a more secluded place.

"I didn't want anyone from the other houses to hear. Apparently Cedric has found out what the next task is going to be," said Amara knowingly.

"No way! Why didn't he tell us?" asked Alice confused.

"I guess he was too preoccupied with Ms Chang," said Amara and grinned, motioning to a couple in the distance kissing.

"You think that's them? By Merlin...Now he finally got what he wanted," said Alice and grinned. "So what is the task?"

"I don't know, I just overheard him telling Cho," said Amara.

"Oh so he didn't even tell you himself?"

"Nope, but that's not what I wanted to say. He also said that he wants to give Harry a clue in lifting the secret," said the auburn haired girl proudly.

"He wants to help him? That's nice," said Alice and smiled. Finally someone was helping Harry. She felt bad for the bespectacled boy as he seemed to be hated by nearly everyone during the beginning of the Tournament and still now people spoke badly of him.

"Yes, I thought so too," said Amara. "Oh and I might have had a really nice conversation with George."

"Uh what was it about?"

"Not going to tell you. It's a secret," said Amara, grinned and went back into the Hall.

"Oi! You can't just leave me here like that!" shouted Alice after her friend but the girl just ignored her. Alice sighed and went back as well.

The rest of the night was filled with dancing and talking and laughing. Alice truly believed that she never had had as much fun as in that night as she really felt happy at the moment. It wasn't just about being with Fred, it was about being with her friends and having fun. That was all she needed feel blessed. Even her sister was having a good time together with Ginny, Neville and Dean as the four were dancing together.

When midnight struck, the Weird Sisters stopped playing their instruments and the students began to leave the Great Hall and head back to their respective Dorms. Alice and Amara too left the Hall together with Fred and George. Alice hadn't seen Gael for the rest of the evening but she believed that he had found a girl to spend time with as it seemed to come easy for him.

"Goodnight," said Alice and smiled as she stood in front of the entrance to the Hufflepuff Dorm with Fred.

"Goodnight," said the boy and gave her a small kiss when Amara and George weren't watching.

"Thanks for the wonderful evening," she said with a smile and then entered the Dorms together with Amara who had talked quietly to George but was still blushing. Alice looked at her and made a mental note to squeeze out as much information of her as she could the next morning.

Lying in her bed she contently remembered thehappenings of the day and with a smile on her face quickly drifted off intosleep.