Julia smiled and nodded,"My house already knows of us being friends." She replied softly, showing him that the Ravenclaws were nicer about the group than Slytherin was,"Let one of the serpents come after me...they don't know I'm stronger than I seem. " She gently took her bags from him,"You be careful, you have to deal with them more than I ever do..." She looked over at Frank and Aren,"You two, keep him out of trouble when you can, okay?"

"Don't worry. We will."


---

Frank and Aren woke up much earlier that day, scrambling to tidy up and get their dress robes prepared. Aren even cast a modified levitation charm on the ends of his robes to give it the illusion that it 'moved with the wind'. Caelum had woken up quite calmly, but a sense of nervousness poked at his heart. He didn't know how the day would go, and he was afraid of that uncertainty.

The three had spent most of the morning just laying around albeit anxiously as they glanced at the clock every now and then. And soon, they started preparing for the ball, donning their dress robes and fixing their hair.

Aren wore his midnight and turquoise robes while Frank had on a classic black and silver set, with matching shoes. Caelum had worn jet black dress robes with a dark emerald vest and silver trimmings. And on his hand was his usual Slytherin ring with the addition of a simple ring with a sapphire inlaid in the center. He smiled softly as his eye caught on the gem and turned back to the mirror he was standing in front of.

"Don't worry, Caelum. You look fabulous." Aren teased as he mocked a hairflip. "Shove off, Zabini. We've got a ball to get to." He smirked and the trio made their way to the doors of the Great Hall, waiting for the ladies to arrive.

Julia had been up for hours, excited for the ball. Amira and Olivia helped her into her dressrobes, which were amazing and gave off the illusions that Aren had described to the saleswitch. The town was ombre, a blue that faded into a bronze color with a silver sash. She curled her hair and twisted it up in an elegant bun, and with help from her friends, they placed a beautiful silver tiara on her head. It was simple, but with blue stones set in.

Amira was wearing fiery red and gold dressrobes, closely resembling a sari, a beautiful dress from India. She long dark hair was in a ponytail held up by red ribbons. She wore gold earings and bangles, looking beautiful.

Olivia's blonde hair was left curled gently and held in a low ponytail to keep from bothering her. Her gown resembled Cinderella's dress, but a very pretty dark blue and silver, with sleeves that ended at her wrists. She wore silver jewelry and smiled at her friend, "You guys ready?" She asked.

Julia nodded, "Bring your wands... just in case." She said, hiding her and in her gown where it wouldn't be easily detected. She only planned to use it for self defense.

The three of them headed to the Great Hall, smiling when they saw the guys, "Hey." She said softly, "Aren, this is Amira. And Frank, this is Olivia." Her friends smiled and both said hi

Aren called to them with a loud resounding "Hey!" He walked over to Amira with a charming smile as his robes billowed and seemingly twinkled with every step. His midnight blue robes contrasting with her red ones, but he swore they've never looked better together, that somehow, the two colors complimented each other. He took her hand and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. "Ah, sembri stupendo! It is a great pleasure to accompany you to the ball."

---

Frank was feeling ... not so good. He could feel a multitude of things flying in his stomach and he didn't know what to do. That is, until he saw what Aren was doing. With a blush and a little adjustment of his glasses, he walked over to Olivia and bowed with a nervous smile. "Uh. Hi ... I- ... I'm Frank. I'm your- ... I'm ... date ... your date ... yes ... me ... uhhh ..." He turned red as he looked at his newly purchased shoes.

---

Caelum - although he would never admit to it - gaped when he saw her. They had been standing by the doors for a few minutes when Aren suddenly hollered and pulled Frank to look when he saw the three descending the stair case. She looked beautiful in the dress and the silver sash around her waist made him smirk. She was wearing her house colors, but he was sure that the sash and the silver tiara was solely for him, just like how the ring he inconspicuously wore on his finger was for her.

He walked over to the raven claw and smiled at her, extending his arm as he did so. "You look stunning."

Amira smiled and curtsied to him regally, "I was excited to her you would go with me." She admitted, "I would have asked you a while ago, but I didn't think you'd have any interest going with me." She blushed lightly, "I'm glad I was wrong."

---

Olivia smiled gently at Frank and curtsied to him as her friend had done, "Don't be so nervous" she said soothingly, "Julia told me a lot about you. I'm looking forward to this evening."

---

Julia smiled and gently took his arm, "And you look vrty handsome this evening, Mr. Malfoy." She said, using his name in a playful way, "I can't wait to see what the evening will bring us." She looked over at her friends, "Amira and Aren are really hitting it off." She said more quietly to Caelum.

"Asking me? I didn't know the other houses were this open to inviting Slytherins over. I do have Julia to thank. Without her, I wouldn't have had this chance." He winked at her and looped her arm around his. "Let's go show them just how fabulous we are. Together." He then proceeded to drag her into the Great Hall, completely forgetting about his other friends.

---

"I ... yeah." Frank finally loosened up with a smile. "I'm looking forward to you- I mean, this evening ... with you." He bowed and offered a hand. "Shall we go in now?"

---

He chuckled as they started moving towards the Great Hall. "Why thank you, Miss Potter. I'll be sure to add that to my compliments list." He looked over to his two friends as well and smiled. "They sure are." He watched his friends busy themselves as they entered the event with their dates and nodded to himself. "They're finally free of the shackles that is me. It seems I'll be bothering you this evening. Please do take care. I'm fragile." He smirked and led her into the hall.

It was ... simply to say ... grand. Tapestries donned the aging walls, not in house colors, but in translucent silken sheets decorated by the luminescent crests of the different houses. A long table with mountains of food was placed on one side while several tables and chairs were neatly arranged on the other. The professor's table was, as usual, at the far end of the hall. And when Caelum looked up at the ceiling, he smiled. It was of the night sky with the multitude of stars and constellations scattered across it. He hummed knowingly that somewhere up there is the constellation he was named after, even if it was terribly difficult to find.

Amira giggled and nodded,"Of course. Julia isn't the only girl to have a few friends in Slytherin." She said, pointing out other pairs of students as they went in,"Gryffindor and Hufflepuff...Hufflepuff and Slytherin... Slytherin and Gryffindor..." She looked back at him,"Most of the Slytherins that seem to have the mob like mentality are ones that were from Death Eater families... Unfortunately, that's a lot..." She smiled,"I am glad to see that you, Frank, and Caelum are different."

---

Olivia smiled and nodded, taking his hand,"It would be an honor to." She said, going into the Great Hall with him. She looked around in amazement," Wow... it is beautiful..." She said.

---

Julia giggled,"Fragile?" She said teasingly,"I think not. But as you wish." She looked around too in amazement when they entered,"Oh wow... it's incredible... Isn't just... absolutely stunning?" She asked softly,"One of the most beautiful things you've ever seen?"

"Well, with those little dark wizards in training waltzing around, we knew we had to be different." Aren winked at her as he led her to the buffet table. "And with a guy like Longbottom picking at our threads, we had no choice but to stay ... hmmm ... 'neutral'."

---

Frank blushed as soon as her hand was within five centimeters of his. "Yeah ... uhm ... thanks for agreeing to come with me to the ball. I know I'm not the best pick but ..." he trailed off as he looked at his newly polished shoes and scratched the back of his neck anxiously.

---

"Yeah. You are." Caelum answered in a trance as he studied her. The way the tiara rested on the fiery locks of her hair, they way the dress she wore complimented her skin, and the way silver looked so good on her.

"Uh, huh? What were we talking about?" he stuttered, the fact that she was talking about something else finally sinking in.

Amira nodded,"I'm really glad you guys are different." She said softly,"I was worried for Julia when she told me she started talking to Caelum... I was furious with him for how he had treated her, especially after the attack. But I'm glad to see her so happy." She pointed out their friends to him,"See? She hasn't been this happy in a long time." She smiled at Aren,"Sorry, I don't mean to go on like this." She added sheepishly,"It's just good to see her so happy."

---

Olivia smiled,"Trust me, you're a lot better than most." She said gently,"You wouldn't believe how many pig-headed, egomaniacally rude guys have asked me to go with them and then looked stunned that I rejected them." She looked over at him,"Would you like to go get a few snacks?" She asked pointing over to the table where the food was,"We can sit down and talk a bit... maybe dance later?"

---

Julia heard his words before he asked his question and smiled, blushing lightly,"I was talking about the transformation of the Great Hall and how beautiful they made it for the dance." She said, looking at him,"But...I heard what you said before that too." She leaned up and kissed his cheek gently.

Aren sighed. "I agree that it wasn't the right way to handle things, but Caelum's got a reason why he acted that way. We're used to keeping to ourselves, after all, trying not to get others sucked into our affairs. But I'm glad they made up." He giggled, a knowing look on his face. "It was snowing that day and it was so cheezy I swear I could smell pizza."

The huge grin on his face disappeared as soon as he spotted a student in deep violet robes making his way to Julia and his friend. "Is he dumb enough to actually try something during the ball?" he muttered, his eyes peering at the boy then scanning the crowd for a professor.

---

"I- I would love that. Yeah." Frank let out a relieved sigh as he followed Olivia. His heart beat forcefully against his chest as he tried to calm himself down. It wasn't everyday that he got to spend time with Olivia Lovegood after all. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes, the night had to be perfect!

---

Caelum's pale face immediately burned pink. He could feel the warmth creeping into his ears and growing on his cheeks, especially the one that Julia just- Did she just kiss me?

"You ... did you ..." he stuttered, eyes widened with incomprehension as he raised a hand to hold his cheek.


"You two sharing kisses now, eh? What's next? Should I wrap up Christmas presents for tiny little Malfoys now?"

Caelum turned on his heel to face the smirking face of Morpheus Black. "This has nothing to do with you, Black."

"This has everything to do with me, about you and her." Morpheus sneered back, his tone dripping with hate. "She and her family took Grimmauld Place. You sent my cousin and my uncle to Azkaban. Your family took our family vaults just because your lovely innocent parents cajoled and sweetened up to frail old grandpa. And you killed Snuffles!"

"I never laid a hand on your dog. It bit me then your parents killed it off." Caelum answered back as he gestured for Julia to move away.

"You- I'll bite you!" Morpheus lunged at Caelum, forgetting the basics of wand wielding, and sent a punch straight at him. Students exclaimed in shock as one Slytherin attacked the other and moved away, just as a frantic Professor Prince immobilized Morpheus and lifted him off of Caelum.

"Zabini, Longbottom, assist mister Malfoy to the infirmary, will you?" he turned to tell the two students before the healer walked towards the group and cast a spell on the injured cheek and smiled at the Professor. "That wouldn't be needed, Professor. The infirmary is currently closed with me here and we wouldn't want the messieurs to leave their dates now, would we?"

Professor Prince nodded and proceeded to levitate an immobilized Morpheus Black outside of the Great Hall with the Headmaster following suit.