Snuffles,

Mum mentioned that the accessories that came with my dress were from you. Thank you so much, they're very lovely. Although I cannot imagine how much trouble you got into for placing that order yourself. Merry Christmas to you and Remus. A piece of advice: you'd want as much of mum's eggnog as you can drink. I've heard that it's good.

Hoping you are well,
         Florence

--

The great hall looked oddly different when they had sat down for breakfast and lunch that Saturday morning and afternoon. Their lunch was cut exceptionally short, and all of the students who stayed for the ball were ushered out of the hall which was going to be turned into the venue for the Ball.

The girls' dormitory room looked like a warzone of powder, red lipstick and any other thing that they could use to color their faces. A lot of them ran up and down the stairs, barreling into room after room to see if anyone else had spare ribbons or accessories.

Nicolai waddled out from behind the changing screen with the ribbons at her back hanging loose and untied. "Will you give me a hand, Flo?"

"I can't move," she said from the stool that she was forced to sit on. Thea had her face a mirror, and was merrily braiding a portion of her front hair. Florence was perfectly fine without doing her hair, but her roommates were excessively extra and refused to let her out if she didn't agree to it.

"I'll do it," Gabriella volunteered after one last swipe at her eyelids, which were now a rich color of gold. She grabbed the two pieces of ribbons, yanking on it hard, making Nicolai gasp.

"What the hell was that?" she wheezed, her insides feeling as if they have been smushed together with how tight the fabric wrapped around her torso was. She glared at Gabriella, who looked totally unapologetic. "What? This is a medieval styled dress, meant to make their waists look very skinny."

Nicolai rolled her eyes in a condescending manner "Well I don't want to look very skinny, obviously. With how tight this is, it is surely going to pop with how many glasses of punch and finger foods I'm planning on having tonight."

Gabrielle huffed, before readjusting the strings, giving Nicolai atleast a bit of breathing space.

Gabriella then proceeded to grab odd looking cylindrical things from a pouch, before she started wrapping  strands of Nicolai's hair around it. She jerked back, mortified with what she was trying to do. "What the hell is that?!" she questioned, jabbing the tiny pink cylindrical object in Gabriella's hand.

"A hair curler," she said, "Honestly? Have you never had your hair curled before?"

"I have," Nicolai replied, "But not with that monstrosity. How is that even a hair curler? Why don't you curl my hair like how normal witches do? Use your damn wand, not those scary muggle contraptions."

"It's more fun this way," Gabriella insisted, before continuing to do Nicolai's hair as she frowned in her seat, "I swear to god, Higgs, if this pulls out all of my hair, I'm turning your hair pink in mid dance."

"Jeez, Nic," Florence snorted, "You're such a pureblood sometimes."

"Like you aren't, McKinnon-Price."

Nicolai wore a beautiful circlet to go with her red velvet dress, which was sent to her along with a threatening letter from her mum which went along the lines of 'If you lose this even for a second, your great nan will come back and haunt you.'

Florence wore a flower crown to accessorize her head, along with a long gold necklace that fell down to her belly button. She shrugged on her cardigan, thirty minutes before the Ball began, while Nicolai was busy finding her shoes, practically tearing the whole room apart.

Sighing at the hopeless girl, Florence crouched down, pulling the black dancing shoes from under the comforter that lay pooling down on the floor.

"Thanks," Nicolai said sheepishly, the two slipping on their shoes hurriedly before making their way downstairs.

The two of them met Alexander at the main commons, who looked posh in his traditional black dress robes. He, like everyone else in the castle, was ecstatic beyond measure, for the long night that awaited them.

"Gentle blue for benevolent Florence," Alexander remarked, "Fiery red for violent Nicolai—"

She had hit him in the face, "You're such a prick sometimes, y'know? You could have atleast used the word feisty, seeing as you called her benevolent."

"Now, you two," Florence settled, "Let's not go at each other's throats right now. No squabbling. Why don't we start again, this time with nice compliments." she suggested.

"Nah," Xander dismissed, "Why don't we head down now?"

"I like that suggestion better," said Nicolai, "I heard a Hufflepuff say that they're going to serve cheese sticks tonight."

It was fifteen minutes to seven when they had got down to the hallway, filled with people who were looking around for their dates. Nicolai was quick in spotting Julien, who was waiting down at the bottom of the staircases for her. She turned to Florence, who gave her an encouraging look, before she practically darted down the stairs and to the company of her date.

Fred and George were right by the entrance to the venue, and appeared to have been squabbling about something. Neither of them had noticed her come up to them, until she cleared her throat rather loudly. Both Fred and George turned to where she stood, and Fred's jaw tensed at the sight of Florence.

"Looking dapper, boys." She said, with a smile, George grinning as Fred continued to stare absentmindedly. "You don't clean up too bad, Price. Look what you've done to my brother," he joked, snapping his fingers infront of Fred's face, which broke him out of his trance.

"Hi," she smiled.

"Hello." he replied rather awkwardly.

"Use your words, Freddie," George cut in, giving his brother a sympathetic pat on the back, knowing very well that he had his tongue in a great big knot at the moment. Fred simply frowned at his twin brother.

"Oh look, Katie's right over there," he told George, pointing at the Gryffindor chaser who was talking animatedly with Angelina Johnson. George had lingered for a few minutes, scurrying away until Fred glared at him in annoyance.

"Sorry about that, he's a git. It's just...you look absolutely lovely tonight..." he said, a blush growing on his own face as Florence smiled, their fingers intertwining as his hands found hers.

"I'm just... really really nervous..." he confessed solemnly.

She raised a brow at him, "Why would you be nervous?"

"Because I kept on stepping on George's foot when we were practicing our dances." he confessed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, "And I don't want to step on yours."

"Don't worry," she reassured, "I have two left feet myself."

"That's a big fat lie and you know it." Fred insisted, as they walked hand in hand inside. The Great Hall was transformed into an indoor winter wonderland, with snow falling from the enchanted ceiling, disappearing before it even hit the ground. The Christmas tree stood tall and proud, snow coating it as the lights twinkled bright. Many others were piling into the venue along with them, standing at the sidelines of the main entrance, awaiting the Champions and their partners.

Fleur Delacour was the first to walk down the aisle, arms linked with Roger Davies, who was smiling brightly. Viktor Krum came next, along with, suprisingly, Hermione Granger, who was wearing a flowing periwinkle blue dress. "No way!" Fred said in amusement, along with Florence who was equally surprised.

"Who would have thought that Granger got asked by Krum?"

"Well, I think she looks lovely in her dress," Florence complimented, her eyes lingering on the pair before averting it to Cho and Cedric, bright smiles on their faces as the distinguished Hufflepuffs in the crowd cheered. The last one to walk through the crowd of people was Harry and Parvati, who didn't look all too comfortable in each other's company.

The Champions positioned themselves in the middle of the dance floor along with their partners, as it was traditional that they started the dance. Florence had flashed Roger two thumbs up as he gingerly positioned his hand on Fleur's waist, waiting for the music to start.

"Ron tried asking Fleur Delacour out, you know," Fred whispered to Florence, who shot him a quizzical look, "And I assume that didn't end all too well for him, then?"

"You bet," he laughed, "Turned pale as a ghost when he was rejected, shook like a madman and everything... Ginny had to calm him down."

The Hogwarts orchestra played an exceptionally brilliant piece that the champions danced to. After a couple of spins, Dumbledore had pulled McGonagall in for a dance, along with a couple Durmstrang students who sported dress robes that were similar to the one Krum was wearing.

The Beauxbatons students were atleast given a bit of freedom with what they were wearing, Florence saw Nicolai dancing with Julien at the other side of the dance floor, a gleeful look on her face.

"May I have this dance?" Fred asked her, as soon as both Katie Bell and George stepped into the floor. Florence took his hand, the two of them dancing in sync with the music.

Fred stumbled a bit, his eyes flew up to meet Florence's, giving her an apologetic look. She simply chuckled, reassuring him that he was okay.

Fred couldn't help but stare at her the whole duration, feeling as if the music was blurring out in the background. The lights illuminated her face in a very odd way, a good kind of odd, and he was sure that he was stuck in some sort of trance just looking at her eyes the whole time. Which caused him to nearly step on her foot again.

"It's fine," Florence chuckled, "Ease up, Weasley. You're fine."

"You look beautiful tonight."

"Yeah, uh, you kind of said that already?"

"I know. I just want to make up for my horrible dancing with flattery. All night long."

The music had changed about three times until Fred and Florence decided to take a break, Florence standing with Nicolai and Julien as Fred went off to get her a drink.

Nicolai was beaming through out, and Julien was content with her presence. It seemed as if she could not avert her attention from her wonderful escort, who made a couple of Hogwarts girls giggle nearby.

It was until Alexander had walked in with Jillian—looking as happy as ever—did Nicolai fall quiet, mouth slightly ajar at the sight of her. Still, after all the time she was spending in obsessing over Julien, she couldn't shake off the tiny crush she had on her.

Jillian looked as radiant as the moon outside in her silky grey dress, hair done up nicely, and a pearl necklace to go with her look.

"Are you lot having a lovely evening?" she asked, Florence nodding, "We are. You look lovely, by the way."

"You too, I love your dress." she gushed, before casting a look at Nicolai, "Red suites you very much, Nicolai."

"Thanks," she murmured, too flustered to say anything else.

By the time Fred came, he had two glasses of pink punch in his hands, handing one to Florence as they parted from the group, sitting down at one of the tables to rest their feet.

"What a night," he sighed, as he sunk down into his seat. Florence took a sip from her drink, not even realizing how parched her throat was until that moment. "It's barely started, Fred. We have hours and hours of dancing to do."

He pouted, "Dancing sucks. Well, it doesn't suck as much because I get to spend time with you," he smiles gingerly.

"Well, if you hate it so much, who don't we just ditch it?"

He furrowed his brows, "And go where?"

"Outside...upstairs...I don't know, anywhere. Where we don't have to dance our feet to exhaustion. Have the time to ourselves."

"But, you've dressed up so nicely for the occasion. I'd be guilty if I wasted your dress by not dancing with you."

Florence rolled her eyes, "I dressed up more for you than for this ball. It wouldn't be a waste as long as I spent the evening with you."

"Well," said Fred, gulping down the remainder of his punch at once, "Why don't we head out, yeah? I've got a feeling that the stars look lovely tonight."

They managed to sneak out past McGonagall's watchful eyes, Fred and Florence rushing out of the Great Hall. They ran through the halls, up a couple flights of stairs, until they reached the highest grounds in the castle.

Fred unlocked the door to the Astronomy tower, beckoning Florence inside before he shut the door. She moved towards the balcony, admiring the stars scattered through the deep night sky.

"Fred Weasley," Florence turned to him, a playful smile on her face, "Never would I have thought that you were one to plan sappy dates. Picnics, star gazing," she chuckled, "I thought for sure we would play tag with the Whomping Willow or something."

"Oh love, I'm just getting you comfortable in my presence. We're moving on to that phase very, very soon. I assure you." he chuckled. "And stargazing is an amazing sort of sappy, mind you. Besides, I heard you enjoyed Astronomy very much."

"And you heard right," Florence said, "Well, not as much as Nicolai, though. But it was fascinating."

"Yeah? Well George and I usually ended up falling asleep at some point..."

She pointed at a portion of the sky, "See that? That star, connecting to Hamal, and then to Sheratan and Mesarthim?" Fred nodded, although he did not have the slightest idea which stars she was pointing at. Florence moved her finger, tracing out the stars that she was talking about.

"Yeah, I see it," said Fred, "A constellation. Which one is it?"

"It's sort of ridiculous," Florence laughed to herself, "Those stars just form a weirdly bent stick of some sort... But actually, that's the Aries constellation. And, as bland as it is, it's supposed to be a Ram constellation."

"Well that sure doesn't look like a Ram."

"I know, right?" she then pointed to another cluster of stars, "That one is the Gemini constellation.
The twins Castor and Pollux..."

Florence rambled on about constellations, pointing at star after star, a smile on her lips as she did so. Fred was unable to catch up with everything that she was saying, and was simply staring at her, amused with how much all these things excited her.

"...and the canis majoris star is over there—" she paused in mid speech, embarrassed to have talked so much about boring stuff, "Sorry, I, I was talking a bit too much, was I?"

"You were," Fred chuckled, "But you don't have to be sorry about it. It was cute, hearing you geeking out about stars like that."

Her cheeks flushed, "But I was putting you to sleep, yeah?"

"No, not at all."

"Liar," a smile appeared on her face, "Actually, you know what? I have something in mind." she said, moving towards the back of the classroom, where a dusty chest was tucked in the corner. She lifted the lid, pulling out a particular instrument.

"Hey, I remember that guitar," said Fred, "Professor Sinistra used it to sing the Astronomy song back in third year."

"It was a godawful song, though," she winced at the memory, every third year was encouraged to sing along. "I'm still trying to forget about it entirely."

"So I take it you won't be playing it for me, then?"

"Well, I am going to. For old time's sake." she chuckled, sitting down on one of the stools, putting the guitar on her lap. Fred sat down on a stool opposite to her. "Wait, you actually know how to play it?"

"A little," she confessed, "I've been learning... My mum said that my dad played it really good. So I decided to give it a try."

Sirius had taught her the Astronomy song during the summer, too. He was especially fond of it, despite the godawful lyrics that were just so pitifully cheesy, but they made sense. Florence's fingers found the strings, began playing the introductory tune,

"Oh god," laughed Fred,

"Ursa Major, the Big Dipper... There's the Little Dipper. There's Sirius in Orion's belt..." Florence began, giggles escaping her lips as she sang.

"As you're lying in bed, you look at the sky... Patterns of stars on a cloudless night. You close your eyes to take a snooze, but when you wake up it seems the stars have moved."

They exploded into fits of laughter, not bothering to continue the song, "Oh god," Fred repeated again,
"I underestimated how horrible it is..."

"You bet," said Florence, who was still laughing as she put the guitar back into the chest, "Professor Sinistra really needs a new song. I feel terribly sorry for the other generations to come."

"I wonder how long she's been singing it,"

"Long enough that my mum remembers it," said Florence.

After another long hour of just talking and enjoying each other's company, the two of them decided to head down, before others noticed that they were gone. They arrived back into the hall, which now had lesser people than the last few hours. The crowds were starting to disperse, a couple of people on the dance floor as a slow rhythm played in the background.

"What do you think about one more dance?" he asked, offering her a hand, which she graciously took. They walked hand in hand to the dance floor, Fred's hand slipping down to her waist as Florence put hers on his shoulder. He pulled her closer to him as they swayed gently to the music, Florence pressing her temple to his chest as she closed her eyes.

It was definitely a perfect night, not in the way neither of them had expected. They basked in each other's presence, wanting to remember every last bit of it.

The music had eventually faded out, signaling the remaining students that the night was officially over. Fred pressed a small kiss on Florence's head, then on her lips, escorting her back upstairs to her commons.

"I had fun," she told him, before she went inside, a grin on both of their faces. "I did too. Thanks."

"See you tomorrow, love. Merry christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Fred."

Florence watched his retreating figure, letting out a contented sigh before she answered the riddle to her common room. She felt absolutely lightheaded, butterflies swarming in her stomach as she climbed up the spiral staircases.

"Florence!" Nicolai had called, as soon as she was in sight. "There you are. I was going to go down and look for you myself, but I thought maybe I'd disturb you and Fred,"

"I had an amazing time with him," she told her, to which Nicolai smiled, "I'm glad that you did..." her face faded back into the same look if worry, "But Flo..."

"Why," she said as she finally caught on that something was wrong, "What happened?"

"It's Xander," she said slowly, scratching the back of her neck, "Jill kind of broke up with him...?"

/////

a.n: I'm back! Made this longer than usual because ya'll deserve it. I literally wrote four different versions of this chapter, I just didn't know which one would work so I mashed them all together to make this.

-Denise