"Isabelle, you look gorgeous!"

Isabelle looked away from where she sat finishing her makeup at one of the dormitory vanities to Clementine who looked positively ethereal.

Clementine's hair was as gold as the sun, falling in curly waves down her back — pinned halfway to create the halo effect around her head.

Her dress — a baby yellow stopped at her ankles revealing the white flats she had on.

Clementine had not done much makeup, opting to stick with the natural look as she typically does. Her lashes were longer and darker thanks to mascara — small amounts of blush creating a rosy look for her cheeks and her lips painted a glossy pink.

Everything about her was absolutely pretty, she looked like a princess come to life—a princess of everything light and happy in the world.

The only jewels she adorned were small crystals that hung from her ears.

"Says you, you look beautiful, Clem," Isabelle gave the blonde a genuine smile before turning back to the mirror and finishing off her lipstick.

She still could not believe she was actually attending this thing.

If Clementine represented everything light in the world, then Isabelle represented the darker side of things.

Although even she had to admit, she looked rather fabulous.

Raveena Lockley, her mother, had done well in picking out a dress for her daughter.

Isabelle's gown was long and dark, bedazzled with hundreds of sapphires and silver jewels. It looked exquisite on her.

Isabelle was relatively skinny, she was not short but not tall. Her hips had started to jut out in the past year or so giving her the slightest bit of an hourglass figure.

The dress only enunciated that.

The gown was a turtleneck, so Isabelle did not wear any necklaces, and the lacey sleeves stopped just past her wrists so there was also no need for bracelets.

A few rings adorned her fingers; however, her gold ring had her family emblem on it. It was a ring she rarely wore out but at the moment it sat on her right ring finger proudly.

Seeing as it was made of pure gold, she did not wear it often as she did not like the thought of potentially losing such an expensive thing.

The Lockley emblem was simple enough — a winding tree with branches that stretched everywhere. Isabelle had never been able to figure out what exactly it was meant to symbolize and why it was the Lockley emblem.

Her other fingers were adorned with smaller thinner golden rings. A bold choice seeing as the jewels on the dress were silver and sapphire. But those colors were not able to be seen unless someone inspected her closely under light — to the blind eye the dress was a velvety black with lace sleeves.

The suspiciously high slits on the lower half of the gown stopped around her upper thigh which made it easier to walk in such a slim-fit dress.

It also made her legs look great every time she strutted.

Her shoes — dark bulky heels that were not as tall as they were wide. And mostly hidden by the sweeping gown but they screamed Isabelle Lockley nonetheless.

Unlike Clementine's airy light makeup, Isabelle chose a much bolder look. It was not often that Isabelle put on makeup, so when she did you best believe that you were going to notice it.

Now, it was not that she caked it on nor did she wear so much that she looked bad, she just liked the way that it made her features that much sharper.

Her eyes, for example, were exaggerated with a choice of long sharp eyeliner, a shadowy eye that made her brown eyes firey, and whispy lashes that accentuated the catty look. Her brows were nothing if not dark and sharp enough to kill.

She did not adorn any face makeup apart from bronzer to make her bone structure more prominent and dark wine-colored lipstick. Isabelle was lucky, most people her age were in a constant battle with acne.

She did not have this problem.

At first, Isabelle was considering burning her natural curly hair straight. But seeing as she did not feel like chancing damage, the girl twisted it into a fancy updo with a few long curly pieces that fell and framed her face.

Overall, she truly did look fabulous. And she truly did look like Clementine's opposite — she was the black swan to Clementine's white swan. Isabelle liked that thought.

Other girls were scurrying around the room, doing their own finishing touches of hair and makeup. Most had their dresses on. Save for the girl in the corner doing her makeup and sitting on one of the vanities butt-ass naked.

Isabelle had almost screamed when she first saw her dorm mate doing that, choosing not to question Penny May about it. Some people were just comfortable enough with their bodies to sit around naked in front of others.

"Shall we get going then?" Isabelle placed one last pin in her hair to keep it from moving — that shit was not going anywhere.

Standing up, she blinked at her reflection and smiled. Perhaps this night would actually turn out to be quite fun.

Even if the seventh-years were forcing them to dance mob in front of everyone.

"Yeah, let's go!" Clementine smiled at her friend, both girls linking arms and walking out of the dorm room.

"You don't suppose Anthony is still sulking over Padma going to the ball with Weasley, do you?" Isabelle questioned.

Clementine rolled her eyes at the thought of her twin. "Of course he is, he's been complaining to us about it all week! I've told him plenty of times to ask Padma to go with him instead — Merlin knows she does not even want to go with Weasley — but he won't do it!"

Isabelle would not mind if Anthony ditched her to go with Padma, even if it was as late as now. She was a good enough friend to understand that it was more fun to go to these events with someone you were interested in.

As they descended the stairs, both girls were greeted by utter chaos. It was as though a glitter bomb had gone off in the usually airy and intelligent space of the common room. Magical makeup products sat everywhere, girls were helping girls in tying corsets, dates were making out in the corners, some older students were already stumbling around drunk, and one girl was even screaming as she was chased around by a flying hairbrush.

Anthony sat next to Michael Corner on the couch, both of them looking terrified at the sights around.

Especially when one girl who'd clearly already had too much firewhisky proceeded to yak in one of the rubbish bins.

"Wow..." Isabelle muttered to Clementine who nodded in agreeance, both girls holding onto each other slightly tighter as they got to the bottom of the stairs and walked through the chaos.

They were nearly toppled by a nervous fifth-year who was practicing the dance the Ravenclaws learned. At this point, seeing as they'd been practicing it all week, all the students should have it down.

The electric slide was not that hard. Of course, seeing as the students all had the electric slide within the first day, the seventh-years decided to add one more dance after that — something that really challenged students who were not trained dancers.

Quite honestly, it was ridiculous in the best way possible.

Even if the majority of the students knew they would no doubt be ridiculed by the rest of the school for this.

"This is insane," Isabelle said, announcing her and Clementine's presence to Anthony and Michael sitting on the couch.

Both boys immediately stood. Michael looked worse for wear in Isabelle's opinion and he got the wrong shade of a yellow bowtie for Clementine's dress.

Anthony looked good enough, his brown hair was done in a messy style, falling into his eyes attractively.

Anthony and Clementine shared the same shade of blue eyes unsurprisingly. It was their hair colors that were different along with much of their personalities.

His dress robes were nice as well, a sweeping dark grey with a matching bowtie. She frowned, the bowtie did not match her dress. She mentally shook that off — why did she even care about such a thing?

It's not like she really desired to go with Anthony in the first place.

However, she could not shake the feeling that even if they were not each other's first choice, he still could have made the effort to match his tie. Her dress was black for Merlin's sake! The easiest color to match, there were plenty of black bowties in the world!

Despite this, she still thought he looked nice (far better than Corner) and smiled lightly at him.

"You clean up well..." She acknowledged.

Anthony was gaping at her, having never seen Isabelle so done up. It's not like she was ugly before, and he knew this. She was rather pretty, in fact. But she never wore makeup and her curls were usually worn down or pulled into a low ponytail.

Not to mention that she was wearing a dress that had to be worth more than Anthony's life and pulled it off beautifully.

Everything about her was dark but enticing. As though she was the girl that mums warned their sons about. The girl who would ride into a man's life like a storm, take them for everything they were worth, and leave them broken-hearted.

"And you... you look..." Anthony was stuttering flabbergasted.

He may not be interested in Isabelle that way (they'd always be close friends though), and he may have wanted to be with Padma, but even he could appreciate the way she looked. So much so that it left him breathless.

Isabelle could not be sure if he was going to hit her with a compliment or an insult (she would not be surprised by either) so she turned her attention to Michael who was awkwardly staring at Clementine saying nothing.

Clementine was looking in the other direction equally as awkwardly and hoping for some type of compliment.

Isabelle decided to step in.

"And Michael... you look..." She trailed off staring down her nose at him. "Like Michael Corner, I suppose..."

Michael stopped looking at Clementine and turned his glare to Isabelle.

"And you look like the wicked stepsister..." He murmured quietly, but Isabelle's sharp hearing picked up on it.

Clementine and Anthony did as well, both scowling at him, and as Clementine opened her mouth to scold the both of them — Isabelle cut her off.

"Wickedly gorgeous, perhaps..." Isabelle shot back, grabbing Anthony's arm, the boy stumbling from her power. "Let's get going, we don't want to be late." She said, noticing how the chaotic Ravenclaw House was slowly but surely making its way out of the common room.

As they left the common room, the four of them quickly intermingled themselves with a large group of other Ravenclaws walking toward the entrance to the Great Hall.

Isabelle quickly noticed that her gown, in all its glory, stuck out. For her gown was one of the only black dresses, all the other girls adorned airy dresses of all colors ranging from bright pinks to glistening golds. Her gown was also the only one she noticed with slits.

Not to mention, the majority of girls did their hair down or only half up. Isabelle was in the small percentage that chose to do an updo.

As Anthony and Isabelle walked down the stairs arm-in-arm, while they each looked good in their own accords, there was something about them together that did not quite fit. As though they were pieces of two different puzzles.

They arrived with the rest of the Ravenclaw group to the corridor just in front of the closed entrance doors to the Great Hall.

The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students arrived through the open doors leading from outside the school. Most of the Beauxbatons students wore the same long silk blue dress, a very pretty dress but not unique in the slightest seeing as each girl was wearing it.

The Durmstang men were much the same, each handsome but none unique in their choice of fashion. A bright red shirt with a leather belt, a matching fur-lined cape attached to a leather strap, and brown breeches with black leather boots.

Truthfully, they all looked rather dashing in Isabelle's opinion.

She realized she was staring a bit too hard at Victor Krum and looked away before he could notice her.

"Aren't you here as my date?" Anthony playfully whispered in her ear.

Isabelle turned to look at him with a smile. "Yes, my handsome date, I am. But there's no issue with looking, I imagine you'll be doing a lot of looking at Padma, after all..." She teased back.

Anthony blushed and shrugged.

"Well, I don't know about—"

"Hi, Anthony..."

Speak of the Devil and he shall appear. Both Isabelle and Anthony whipped around.

Clementine and Michael were caught up in a conversation with Terry Boot and some Hufflepuff girl who was his date.

Padma stood there shyly adorned in turquoise silks of sari-style. Her straight hair was pulled halfway back and her makeup was light.

Anthony stood there staring at her as though she was the only girl in the room

"Oh, Isabelle, you look gorgeous!" Padma said with a gasp, staring at Isabelle kindly but with the slightest bit of envy in her gaze.

A quick mental cast of legilimens revealed that while Padma truly thought Isabelle looked pretty, she was slightly jealous of it not being herself on Anthony's arm. Padma was also upset about being forced to be Ron Weasley's date.

"Thanks, you look beautiful yourself, Padma..." Isabelle said back.

"Ugh, where is Hermione?"

All three looked to the source of the comment, only to see Ron walking up followed by Harry and Parvati.

Padma now looked annoyed.

"I don't know if you all have officially met, but this is Ron Weasley. Ron — this is Anthony and Isabelle," Padma introduced the group. "And Clementine and Michael." She quickly added seeing the two join.

Ron looked over both Clementine and Isabelle with huge eyes.

"Since when did Ravenclaw girls become so good-looking?" The redhead muttered to Harry, but everyone could hear it.

The Chosen One elbowed his best friend harshly, throwing him a glare and staring at Isabelle and Clementine apologetically.

Clementine giggled into her hand. Michael looked as though he was not paying attention to the conversation, his eyes following Terry Boot and another Ravenclaw. Michael said no words before leaving to go to Terry.

Isabelle watched him go with a glare.

"What a dick..." She said with a roll of her eyes.

However, she tilted her head curiously when she noticed both Harry and Ron staring at her with blushes painted across their cheeks. Harry was a little more flustered, looking away only to look back every few seconds.

Ron, on the other hand, was shamelessly staring at her waist. Slowly, he trailed his eyes up to her face in a trance before he realized that Isabelle was looking at them and quickly averted his gaze.

Again, Isabelle currently looked like the forbidden fruit. The girl whom everyone knew to stay away from in fear of a broken heart. She was hot and beautiful at the same time.

If Harry Potter did not know any better he might even describe her as a maneater.

At that moment, a group of Slytherins came up the steps from their dungeon common room. Draco Malfoy was in front wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar. A white bowtie was looped around his neck.

Snowy strands were combed neatly in a side part that fell just past his forehead.

Draco had allowed his hair to grow out just slightly this school year. It was not long, but it was still much longer than the usual short hair cut his mother encouraged him to keep.

He'd decided to start growing it out once he stopped slicking it back after second-year.

To Isabelle Lockley: Draco Malfoy always looked perfectly handsome. But seeing him like this. Adorned in such fine robes with his hair combed neatly (even though she rather liked it when he wore it messy) set her heart afire.

She hurriedly looked away from him before anyone could realize she was staring, an invisible blush dusting her cheeks.

Pansy Parkinson clutched onto Malfoy's arm. She wore a frilly gown of pinks and whites that looked pretty enough, but it was definitely not Isabelle's cup of tea. Pansy's hair was burnt even straighter than usual, held back by an equally as pink rhinestoned headband.

Crabbe and Goyle were both wearing entirely black dress robes, similar to Malfoy except Malfoy's robes were clearly made of velvet that was a thousand times more expensive and his white hair and white bowtie added a pop of color.

Isabelle realized that the group of four was meeting up with Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. The two in question turned around to greet Malfoy and friends — their dress robes equally as dark as the others.

Most boys were wearing dark-colored robes. Minus Ron who adorned frilly brown robes that looked straight outta 1869. Sadly enough, the ancient robes did not appear to have been preserved well either.

"Oh wow — is that Hermione Granger?" Parvati Patil suddenly said from her place next to Padma and Anthony.

Everyone in the vicinity turned to where she was pointing, looking at the top of the nearest staircase.

There stood Hermione Granger appearing nothing less than perfect. Everything about her was light and pretty. She was graceful in the way she held herself, her eyes shining happily nervous with a smile on her face.

Her usually untamable hair was pressed into neat silk curls that appeared nothing less than soft. It was clipped back halfway, falling down her shoulders but showing off her face.

Her makeup was done in a way to make her features glow.

Hermione's dress was periwinkle, long and form-fitting but fluffy toward her lower half.

Everyone was gaping at her, including Ron who quickly realized what he was doing. He closed his mouth and turned away from her with a scowl.

Victor Krum strutted past everyone, meeting Hermione halfway up the steps and taking her hand. Placing a kiss on it, he bowed deeply before leading her down the rest of the stairs.

The entirety of the corridors' attention was caught by the display, many girls glaring and whispering in jealousy as they stared at the smart Gryffindor who was led by Victor Krum.

Pansy Parkinson gaped at her as Granger and Krum walked past the group of Slytherins. Even Malfoy seemed to be unable to find an insult to throw at her as he stared at her with raised brows of shock.

"Champions over here please!" McGonagall called.

Isabelle took her attention away from Hermione Granger and to Parvati who told them goodbye and pulled Harry off. As the doors to the Great Hall were about to open — Padma reluctantly left Anthony's side and linked arms with Ron Weasley.

Anthony tried not to look downcast about it, relinking his arm with Isabelle's and casting her a smile.

Isabelle could not be sure where the champions and their partners had been whisked off to, but she couldn't care less as the doors to the Great Hall opened and the students swarmed inside.

She looked around in amazement, releasing Anthony and spinning around to take it all in.

The walls of the Hall had 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 small, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.

It was what Isabelle imagined a winter wonderland would look like — in ball form, of course.

She slowly looked down from the ceiling, her gaze still taking everything in. Until she set her sights on Malfoy who she could not help but compare to some sort of winter spirit with his white locks and pale skin.

Under the stars of the ceiling and surrounded by the ice of the ball: Malfoy looked positively transcendental, his beauty was otherworldly. It was only a second later that Isabelle realized he was staring back — their eyes had been locked the entire time.

And not that she knew it, but Malfoy's train of thought was very similar to her own. Except his thoughts revolved around her.

The mysterious New Orleans witch.

Standing under the starry sky and surrounded by the white of the Yule Ball, he thought she might have been the most beautiful girl in the entire room. Something about her dark nature: from her dark gown to her dark hair to her dark makeup captivated him.

He was left spellbound as he studied her — a diamond among the rough.

Even Pansy whom he had given a compliment to out of pure politeness had nothing on Isabelle Lockley.

And if not for Pansy's tight grasp on his arm, Draco would have found himself stumbling over to introduce himself to her.

Because somehow barely anyone knew anything about her other than that she came from New Orleans halfway through last year. And Draco Malfoy had been far too proud to introduce himself to her or even talk to her for that matter.

In all fairness: his focus had been on other things the past few weeks though. Namely anonymous letters appearing for him at Scrivenshaft's.

When her caramel eyes met his own, fire dancing in her gaze.

Draco's heart skipped a sudden odd beat and he nearly passed out from the rush of adrenaline. All from a simple look — now that had never happened before — but Draco had also never encountered a girl who looked as dark and mysterious as she.

Their connection was cut short by Theodore hopping in front of him and begging Draco to fix his bowtie which had become undone.

"Malfoy—help! It won't tie, I think someone's hexed it!"

Draco went cross-eyed, scowling as he was forced to look at Nott's knotted bow tie.

He haphazardly tried to help his friend, beginning to untie and retie it all whilst calling Theodore every possible name of idiot.

"Stand still you blundering idiot! It's not jinxed, you were just doing it wrong!"

When he was finished tying it, he looked back in the direction he'd seen the American witch only to find that she was gone. She was lost somewhere in the mix of the crowd.

Draco sighed as Pansy caught his attention, chatting his ear off about how cheap the charmed decorations appeared. He frowned at this but said nothing to disagree.

Although, shockingly, he'd actually thought the spells around the Great Hall were done quite nicely.

But that may or may not have had to do with the pretty American witch he'd admired standing in its midst.

Isabelle Lockley, on the other hand, disappeared with Anthony into the mass of students as soon as Theodore Nott popped in front of Draco and cut off their stare-off. Her heart was pounding, the girl slightly paranoid that he knew she was the one writing him letters.

But how could he?

He could have been staring for several reasons. After all, that was certainly not the first time he had looked at her. But still, he had not stared at her for weeks. Not since Binns' called on her in class that one time.

Maybe there was something on her face? Did she look ugly? Did he think she looked frumpy in the gown?

Isabelle was suddenly violently insecure and clutched onto Anthony's arm tighter. He looked down at her in confusion but was unable to say anything for the Great Hall doors flung open again as trumpets played proudly.

All the students began clapping as the champions and their dates filed in.

Fleur Delacour was first to stride in, her dainty figure hanging off of widely smiling Roger Davies. Victor Krum and Hermione followed, both with easy smiles on their faces. Cedric and Cho Chang came next — the Ravenclaw House cheering for one of their own.

And finally came Harry Potter with Parvati Patil.

Padma's twin waved to her. Padma herself gave an awkward grin back, throwing a side-eye at Ron who was staring at Krum and Hermione with a scowl written across his face.

The champions set up the dance per tradition, as they were to be the first ones to start the waltz that all the students had been taught.

Isabelle watched in amusement as Harry Potter struggled to place his hands correctly on Parvati, the girl forcing his hands in the right place just as the waltz started.

A hand came to cover her mouth as she watched Harry's horrible dancing — she thought she had taught him better than that during the lesson two or so weeks ago.

But with Parvati, it looked like he had forgotten everything that Isabelle had shown him.

Instead, he stumbled and stepped on her feet.

Malfoy was a having field day; cracking up at the sight along with Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle. Theodore Nott was too busy whispering in Daphne Greengrass's ear and Zabini was nowhere to be found.

Isabelle drew her gaze away from the Slytherin crew before Malfoy caught her staring at him again. If anything was a dead giveaway as to who his secret admirer was, then staring at him certainly was on that list.

At that moment, Dumbledore led McGonagall out to begin waltzing with the champions. Igor Karkaroff came soon after with another professor from Durmstrang.

Isabelle noticed the scarily intense look that Cedric was giving Cho as they danced: it almost reminded her of an edgy teen vampire.

The first students to join were Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley.

Moody was in the corner sipping something from a flask. Isabelle gaped at his clearly alcoholic display, turning away in the next second.

Hagrid and Madam Maxime went out next, staying near the corner of the dance floor with their giant figures.

And at that moment, many other couples joined the dance floor.

Her heart hurt seeing Draco lead Pansy onto the floor — the both of them beginning to waltz easily. Of all the awkward couples, many of which clearly did not know how to waltz: Pansy and Draco were not one of them.

It must have been from the many elite parties their families no doubt attended.

Isabelle watched as Clementine and Michael joined the crowd, both of them waltzing greatly.

There was still a good amount of people who formed a crowd around the dance floor simply watching. It was obvious that these individuals either did not want to participate in the waltz or had no partner.

Isabelle spotted Fred Weasley and Angelina Johnson who were dancing so exuberantly that people around them were backing away in fear of being injured. It was rather amusing to see them take much bigger and more dramatic steps than they were supposed to.

Isabelle had no clue what song was playing, only that it was a slow classical tune played by floating charmed instruments.

"Care to dance?" Anthony finally asked, seeing everyone else had gone.

Padma was staying back with a small frown on her face, Ron glaring at the ground as he refused to dance. Anthony had felt bad and wanted to stay back with her (and also scold Ron for being such a bad date) but he himself would be being a bad date by doing that.

Isabelle and he were close friends, and he knew how much she enjoyed dancing so he knew it was only kind to ask if she wanted to.

Isabelle, of course, nodded happily at this and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.

They fell into an easy flow of movement and caught up with where everyone else was. Anthony was not a bad dancer, not quite as refined nor talented as Isabelle, but he could keep up with the waltz they learned.

His hands rested on her hips — not too high nor low — and they spun gracefully.

Isabelle caught sight of Draco and Pansy dancing to the side of them. Neither was looking over, rather they both kept their gazes on each other. As the music surged and they came to the part where the male picked up the girl and spins them: Isabelle found herself wishing more than anything that she was in Pansy Parkinson's place.

Anthony noticed where her gaze was straying, shaking his head at the sight of Draco Malfoy.

"Still don't understand what you see in that blockhead..." Anthony rolled his eyes.

Isabelle looked away from Malfoy and to her friend with a shrug.

"It's just like not fair because I would like die for him or whatever..." Was her clever response that left Anthony staring at her in pure confusion.

"You've never even talked to Malfoy!" He exclaimed; his voice was nearly drowned out by the music.

"And...?" Isabelle scoffed. "Do you really need to talk to someone to love them?"

"Do I really need to slap some Ravenclaw logic into you?" Anthony scoffed right back. "Because I will! I don't care if you're a girl."

Isabelle rolled her eyes as they once again spun, repeating the 1-2-3 motion with their feet.

"And I don't care if you're a boy! I will wingardium leviosa your ass right out that window," She motioned with her head to the incredibly large glass window that was placed at the end of the Great Hall. "And I won't even need a wand to do it!"

"To think I've been so kind tonight too!" Anthony gasped as though truly offended.

"Be real, you've only been this nice because you think I'm pretty tonight," Isabelle shot right back.

"You're always pretty, Isabelle, and I woulda' been nice to you regardless if you showed up naked or not...!" He explained before cringing at his choice of wording. "Okay, pause, that sounded weird..."

"Uhm, yeah it did!" Isabelle sniggered. "If I showed up naked? Who even says that?" She laughed loudly, throwing her head back as she did so.

Her laugh was genuine, ridiculous in the best way possible. It made others want to laugh even if they had not heard the joke.

Isabelle surely did not notice, but Anthony did. He smiled at her laughter, but he saw the way the other guys who were around eyed Isabelle. She was a sight for sore eyes indeed, one of the most beautiful girls in the room — even though she was not any part Veela.

Her appearance was much more unique than any other girl in the vicinity. And more natural than that of a Veela.

Anthony was a guy and while he was not interested in his friend romantically, he still saw how others admired her from afar. Including a certain Malfoy — the Slytherin boy practically unable to take his eyes off Isabelle despite dancing with Pansy Parkinson.

And even with staring so intently at Isabelle who'd yet to notice, Malfoy did not so much falter in his steps.

"It was not that outlandish," Anthony finally said, but his tone portrayed the humor he felt.

Isabelle stopped laughing, breathing heavily. "It kind of was..." She shook her head with a large grin that revealed white teeth standing in contrast to her dark makeup. "Also..." Isabelle lowered her voice to a whisper, leaning over so her lips were by Anthony's ear. "Have you noticed that Cedric looks a little bit like a vampire?"

Anthony gave her an odd look as she pulled away. "Uhm no? Have you?" He asked in disbelief.

"Of course! Just look at him!" Isabelle scoffed, nudging her head in the direction of Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang.

Both looked over very obviously — so obviously that Cho noticed them and gave them a befuddled look. Isabelle and Anthony hastily looked away when they realized they were caught.

"See?! I'm telling you — the vampire uprising is upon us!"

"What—? No, it's not, what is wrong with you?" Anthony questioned as they once again spun around. "Cedric is not a vampire!"

Like it was second nature, Isabelle leaped and Anthony lifted her up in a turn along with everyone else. Her thick heels clicked as she hit the ground.

"Draco, what're you—?" Pansy questioned only to be hushed by Draco, who was trying to subtly move them closer to Anthony Goldstein and Isabelle Lockley.

"Shh! I heard something about a vampire uprising!" Draco hissed quietly, attempting to make out the rest of the conversation.

He vaguely heard something about Cedric before he heard Isabelle say that a vampire uprising was upon them.

Pansy looked at him before her face lit up in recognition. "Oh! You're wanting to make fun of her—?" She started only for Draco to turn a nasty glare on her.

It was not so farfetched for Pansy to assume that seeing as Draco quite literally considered it a hobby of his to snub other students. Not to mention, the blonde was insanely nosy when something caught his attention.

Unless he was the one demanding it: Draco Malfoy had no concept of privacy or personal space.

"No!" He said to Pansy almost angrily. "I want to be prepared for it! So obviously I need to hear what she's saying, Parkinson!"

In the elite world of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, conspiracy was no new concept. But even this conspiracy was pushing it a bit far.

Vampire uprising?

Sounded more like Loony Lovegood was spitting tall tales again.

And Draco Malfoy actually being interested and possibly believing it? Pansy never thought she would see the day.

But she had a feeling that Draco was more inclined to be interested in such a theory without making fun of the person because of the golden tongue it was being spewed from. Pansy glared at Isabelle Lockley sourly — the feeling of green jealousy eating away at her bones.

"Draco—!" Pansy said angrily as he guided their dance even closer to those stupid Ravenclaws. "Just leave them be—AGH!" She yelped as Draco tried once more to forcefully move them over only for Fred and Angelina to come out of nowhere in a violently wild spin.

Isabelle and Anthony jumped as Fred and Angelina tried dancing a ballet instead of a waltz, just barely moving into the crowd of surrounding people as Fred attempted to lift her. It was obvious they were both rather drunk.

Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were not so lucky as the couples both hit each other. Draco did not fall, rather he was pushed away — the boy stumbling into Nott and Greengrass.

Pansy screamed as she was knocked over, the girl nearly falling into an embarrassed heap on the floor if Blaise had not been nearby and managed to catch her. She thanked Zabini as he helped her up, balancing her before everyone threw a glare at the wild Weasley twin and his date.

Fred, who gave no fucks, spun Angelina around Malfoy. "Unfortunate dance moves you got there, pal!" He cried to the fourth year.

Theodore and Daphne both had to hold back Malfoy as he attempted to charge at Fred. Before McGonagall or Snape could make their way over as they were all causing quite the scene and ruining the dance, the music stopped playing and the waltz ended.

In the crowd, Isabelle stood next to Anthony, Clementine, Michael, and Padma. Ron Weasley was off sulking and sitting at a table.

The fourth-year Ravenclaws stood with the rest of their house, all of them mentally preparing.

It was time for Ravenclaw House to put its plan into action. It was not the electric slide that Isabelle was nervous about, it was the dance that came after.

As though Merlin was looking down on her, a bottle of firewhisky was suddenly passed into her hands. It was over halfway gone, and looking around Isabelle realized that another bottle was going around to the other half of Ravenclaws.

Liquid courage.

A far more accessible thing than liquid luck. Except firewhisky didn't actually make you any luckier — it just made you feel like you were.

In her hands was Ogden's Old Firewhisky. The other bottle being passed through the Ravenclaw students from what she could see was Blishen's Firewhisky.

Isabelle had not had much firewhisky in her life — she was only fourteen.

However, during the summer during a rare moment that she was home alone with only her older cousins, they snuck into the personal liquor cabinets of Lockley Estate and took a bottle of Ogden's Old out.

The Witch Supreme had only had a taste but it was enough to make her feel all giggly then. She could only imagine what a good few mouthfuls would do to her now.

Hopefully, it makes her stop looking toward Draco Malfoy nervously.

"Is that firewhisky?" Anthony questioned, noticing the bottle in her hands.

The others looked over, their attention diverted from the fight about to break out between the Slytherins and Fred.

Isabelle simply nodded before bringing the bottle to her lips and throwing her head back.

"Isabelle!" Anthony hissed, looking around and praying a teacher did not see that.

The teachers had not caught onto the fact that two firewhisky bottles were going around Ravenclaw. Who knows what Flitwick would do if he saw his own house drinking so openly with so many underage students?

The firewhisky seared Isabelle's throat. It seemed to burn into her unfurling a sense of nonreality that fired her with something that was like courage.

She was able to chug a good three mouthfuls before the burn became too much and she was forced to hand the bottle to Anthony.

Anthony stared at it hesitantly as though it were about to bite him. Clementine rolled her eyes at her twin, stealing the bottle from him and taking a chug of her own before passing it to Michael who passed it to Padma right after.

Seeing his friends do it and knowing the bottle was about to be passed on, Anthony stole it back and took a chug for himself before handing it over to another Ravenclaw. His face scrunched up at the burn, but he was pleasantly surprised by the lightness that the magical alcohol provided.

Harry and Parvati arrived at where Ron was sitting — Parvati looking around for her missing twin.

And a moment later, seventh-year muggle-born Ravenclaw Matthew O'Malley jumped onto the stage where the Weird Sisters were setting up to start playing live music.

"Mr. O'Malley!" Flitwick squeaked as he saw this — the rest of the teachers looking to the nuisance.

The attention of the Great Hall soon turned to him as the classical music had stopped playing.

"House of Rowena!" O'Malley cried drunkenly. "Let's dance!" He screamed, pulling his wand to the ceiling.

Matthew O'Malley was a talented sorcerer, with a bright future ahead of him. He was so talented that at just seventeen he was even able to create his own charm.

A charm that played his desired music around the Great Hall.

"Mr. O'Malley — get down from there this instant!" McGonagall hollered backed by Snape and Flitwick.

Fred and George Weasley were egging him on while the rest of the Great Hall watched in shocked silence. No one ever would have expected something this from the likes of a Ravenclaw.

Even Malfoy was staring with his brows raised with his group of Slytherin friends.

Unfortunately, there was no time to get him down as party purple sparks shot from his wand into the air and rained down on all below.