Later that week, Briar was walking down the corridors when she heard some other Gryffindors whispering about the Yule Ball. One girl had said, "Yeah, I heard that Neville Longbottom asked Ginny, and she said yes."

Another girl added, "I heard that Harry and Ron are going with the Patil twins."

"They're so lucky," A third had sighed.

Briar had sped up her pace down the hallway, her irritation mounting inexplicably once again. Just in that moment, Blaise hopped out in front of her, nearly making her crash into him. He slowly smiled at her without saying a thing.

She raised her eyebrows and demanded, "Are you going to actually say something, or are you just going to keep staring at me?"

He blinked slowly, maybe not expecting that response to his "dazzling smile." He adjusted his tie and began, "So, I was just wondering -- I know that neither of us have dates -- so I wanted to ask..."

Briar noticed Ginny Weasley walking past her with a few other Gryffindor girls in her year. Something made her turn back to Blaise and nod her head just as he was finishing asking her to the ball. "Yes. Sounds great, Blaise. Let's do that. I'm running late to potions, so we can talk more later if we need to?"

Blaise was already launching into a counterargument for her rejection, but his words came to a halt as he realized what she said. She was already halfway down the corridor when he processed that she had actually said yes.

He smugly smiled and thought to himself, And Pansy said there was no way she would say yes to him. He couldn't wait to see the look on Pansy's face when he showed up to the Yule Ball with Briar in tow.

-

On Christmas, the four Slytherin roommates all got ready together. Briar's three roommates had all looked at her suspiciously when she had gone into the bathroom with makeup, but they all happily grinned at her once they realized she was going to the ball with them.

None of them could believe it, and neither could she honestly. She wasn't sure what came over her that day, but she figured it could be fun. If it wasn't, she knew she could always conveniently disappear back to her dorm whenever she felt like it.

Besides, Blaise seemed happy, so that seemed like a good thing. She caught him multiple times just staring at her and smiling in the week after she said yes. She just widened her eyes at him or gave him a tight-lipped smile in return each time. She hoped he would stop with the staring, but he kept doing it, and she thought she was going to go mad after too many times of that happening.

On the day of the ball, Briar slipped into her dark green, velvet dress that had a slit going up one leg. The dress rested on her shoulders with thin straps that crossed over her open back. She grinned as she pulled it on, loving the way her black hair looked against the dark green of the dress.

She felt powerful.

She put some waves into her normally straight black hair, still finishing before the other girls. Briar stood off to the side of the room for a moment until she grew tired of watching Millicent struggle with her hair. She strode over to her and helped her finish curling her hair. Millicent gave Briar a grateful smile when she took over, so Briar softly smiled in return.

All the girls were ready soon after, and they slipped down to the common room where the boys were waiting there for them. Blaise and Malfoy smirked as soon as the girls entered the room while Crabbe and Theo just had small smiles on their faces at the sight of their dates.

Briar came over to Blaise and smiled softly at him. He breathed, "You look incredible, Briar."

She smiled and replied, "Thanks. Are you all ready to go?" She grinned at the group, grimacing at Draco and Pansy when they started kissing.

Everyone nodded, and they began to make their way to the Great Hall. As they fell more towards the back of the group, Blaise turned to Briar and wondered, "Do I look bad or something?"

Briar immediately raised her eyebrows and asked, "What?"

"Because I told you you looked incredible, and you just said thanks. Do I look bad or something?" Blaise questioned as he stared at her with a single eyebrow raised.

She was really beginning to regret saying yes to him. She sighed, "Oh, sorry. You look nice."

"Nice? I called you incredible, and I get nice back?" He retorted with an incredulous look.

Briar raised her eyebrows and fired back, "I didn't have to say yes, you know."

He let out a mean laugh, "Yeah, and who would you have taken? Goyle?"

"I wouldn't have gone at all because I didn't want to come to this stupid ball in the first place," She snapped as she came to a halt in the corridor.

Blaise rolled his eyes and grumbled, "I should have asked a third year. They would have been more appreciative."

"Sod off, Zabini," She growled as she shoved past him and headed in to the ball alone. There was no way she was going to let this stupid git ruin her night. She looked good, and she still felt as powerful as she did when she put the dress on.

She wasn't going to leave this ball without at least dancing to one song in this killer dress. She slipped further into the ball and tried to look for anyone else who looked like their date had abandoned them. She spotted Potter and Ron Weasley sitting off to the side miserably, but everyone else seemed to be happily dancing.

Briar grimaced slightly before she marched over to them and commanded, "One of you come with me."

The two boys glanced at each other with wide eyes, but Briar just shoved her hand out and raised her eyebrows at them. Harry slowly stood up and wondered, "What's happening?"

"My date is being an idiot, and you boys look miserable. Come, Potter," Briar said quickly before she wrapped her hand around Harry's wrist. She dragged him out to the dance floor.

He stared at her with huge eyes and murmured, "I have no idea what is happening right now. I'm just surprised you're talking to me."

"Yeah, well, you looked miserable, and I refuse to be miserable, so here we are," Briar huffed as the two moved about to the elegant song.

As he examined her graceful steps, Harry mused, "You're quite good at this."

Briar nodded and confessed, "My father made me get years of dance lessons as a girl. Dreadful classes, really, but I can waltz with the best of them now."

"Brilliant," Harry murmured as they continued to dance.

Her eyes caught on Blaise's horrified expression on the other side of the room, but she leveled a glare at him when they made eye contact.

After a moment of silence between Harry and Briar, he wondered, "So, uh, who was your date? It wasn't Malfoy, was it?"

"No. Zabini," She answered as they spun about to the end of the song. Once the song concluded, Briar let go of him and sighed, "Alright. I'll let you get back to your misery if you'd like."

He stared at her and blinked. He stammered, "Oh, uh, thanks. I'll see you around then."

She nodded and began to make her way from the ball, feeling satisfied, until she saw Ginny and Neville dancing near the entrance. Her eyes flickered away from them and onto the quickly approaching Malfoy and Pansy. As they neared, Malfoy snarled, "Why were you dancing with Potter, Davies?"

Briar smiled sweetly at him as she spat, "Why don't you go ask your dimwit of a best friend, Malfoy?" With that, she turned on her heel and left, leaving her anger at the door with a toss of her hair over her shoulder and plans to sketch for the rest of the night.

———