Chapter Text
Christmas was coming up, and all throughout Hogwarts there was a hum of excitement. Usually the students didn't bother with staying over for the holidays, instead going back home to their families and loved ones to celebrate the season. Not this year though.
This year was special; Hogwarts was hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament. More importantly, especially right now, was that with the tournament came the Yule Ball. A fancy, prestigious dance that was held on Christmas Eve in the tournament's host school. It was a chance to ‘enjoy yourselves and let your hair down’ as Professor Sassacre had told the students over dinner. Of course that statement had been met with sniggers and muffled laughs, as the headmaster pretty much ‘let his hair down’ 24/7. As strict as he was, Professor Sassacre was frequently seen joining in with the elderly school poltergeist and her cunning pranks.
Ever since the announcement had been made, the atmosphere in the castle had changed. Some girls burst out into fits of giggles as soon as a boy was a 20 metre radius of them; other girls and a few boys were found trying to summon up the courage to ask their crush to be their date; and lone boys walked desperately past a hysterical group of girls with a forlorn look on their face. It was teen angst drama mayhem.
Terezi Pyrope wasn't actually bothered about the whole thing. Sure, it would be fun and kind of exciting to be able to attend a ball like ones she had read about in muggle fairytales; but if she had no date then she would be completely fine going by herself. She and Nepeta had made a pact that if even one of them didn't have a date, then they would just dance with each other.
“Terezi? Did you even hear me just now??” Nepeta asked her, the Leijon sending her an incredulous look. She blinked, turning her head towards her friend and sending her a sheepish grin. Terezi had definitely not been listening to her friend, and instead had been absent-mindedly chewing on her quill as she gazed with glassy eyes into the fire before them.
“Shit, no.” Terezi said apologetically. “What were you asking?” Nepeta let out a huff of frustration and leaned back into the red sofa they were both currently lounging on.
The Gryffindor common room was actually pretty busy for this time of night, but Terezi pinned that down to the fact that the holidays were quickly drawing in. As Nepeta was complaining about how no one ever fucking listened to her, Terezi watched as Cronus tried (and failed yet again) to get another person to kiss him with his charmed mistletoe.
“Terezi!!!” Nepeta said in exasperation, shoving her shoulder to get her attention once again. Terezi rolled her eyes and put her essay on the goblin rebellions on the coffee table before turning her full attention to her friend.
“Go on.”
“Okay, finally.” She retorted, rolling her own essay up and placing it next to Terezi’s. “I was actually going to ask you if you had eyes on anyone for the ball.”
Terezi should have supposed that Nepeta was going to ask. She liked to think of herself as some kind of matchmaker and was always sticking her nose into Terezi’s affairs. Sinking back into the soft cushions of the sofa, she studied the other girl carefully. Nepeta was grinning at her sweetly, propping her chin up with a hand. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought Nepeta was also wiggling her eyebrows playfully at her.
“Do you?” Terezi asked, realising that it was probably a loaded question.
“Well, what if I was to tell you someone had already asked me?” Nepeta purred, twisting a bleached blonde curl of hair around her finger.
“I would probably say they were an idiot not to.”
“I know! I said yes, by the way.”
“You did?” Terezi was a bit taken aback by this. What if she didn’t get a date? Not that it really mattered, but she really didn’t fancy third-wheeling. “Who was it?” As she spoke, her friend’s grin widened and she tapped an index finger to her nose.
“All in good time, you nosey dork. I’ll let you know when you answer my question.”
“I- Hmm.” Terezi said in response, her hand lifting instinctively to her lower lip and tugging at it.
In truth, there wasn’t really anyone she could instantly think of to be her potential date. Sure, there were good looking people in their year, and the year above. However, none of them had really struck her as date material. The only ones she would consider to be even close to date material were really close friends, and honestly that would be way too weird. Vriska, for example, was very good looking even if she was full of bullshit, but those two had been friends since 1st year and it would just be venturing into uncanny valley to think of her as anything other than a close friend.
Of course, that was just in the three acceptable houses of Hogwarts. There was no point looking at Slytherin house for a potential date, they were all snobbish and up their own ass one way or another. That, and the whole of her house would probably reject her if she even thought about it. Slytherin was the ultimate rival of Gryffindor house, constantly competing against them for literally everything. In quiddich matches, she regularly found herself having to dive out of the way of a purposely aimed bludger, or even swerve away from projectiles and spells flying out from a particularly nasty brawl starting out in the stands of students.
Slytherins did whatever they could to make sure they could get their own way, and kicked up a bitch fit as soon as it was looking that they might not. The only one Terezi could really stand was Feferi, but even then there was something about how she preached about uniting muggles and wizards together that put her a little on edge.
No, there was no way she would want to even look at a Slytherin, let alone dance with one.
As for the other two schools, Terezi didn't really know anyone all that well. Even though this whole thing was about bringing all of the students together, she did feel a little dubious about being in close quarters with a complete stranger.
“Are the people at this school really that bad??” Nepeta asked, sniggering a little at the look of disgust on Terezi’s face.
“Just about.” Terezi concluded, cracking a smile. “So are you going to tell me who you're going with or what??”
“Fine okay, so Dave asked me.” Nepeta said. “Well, it was more like I asked him casually in the dining hall, then he rushed off and came back later on in the day when I was in the library and started rapping about how he’s saying yes or whatever. Then we got kicked out of the Library for being too loud.”
“Holy shit, you and the coolkid??”
“Yeah, weird isn't it?”
“Definitely, but I'm happy for you two dorks. Now we just have to worry about me being a third wheel.” Terezi said, only partially joking about the last bit.
“Ah, you’ll be fine. You're pretty damn good looking, I’m sure you have your fair share of secret admirers!” Nepeta retorted, waving away her friend’s statement with her hand. “If you want, I could always set you up with someone?”
“You would probably just set me up with Karkat, don’t lie.”
“You two could have a nice thing going on!!”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Terezi replied, cringing at the thought.
Back in the 3rd year, she and Karkat had had a ‘thing’. But as all preteen romances usually go, it was short-lived and awkward as fuck. They were still friends though, even though Terezi had the most sneaking suspicion he totally still had a thing for her.
“Anyway, even if you don't get a date I’ll still dance with you and everything. Also, I’m sure there will be a load of people going without a date, maybe you could snag someone while you're there?” Nepeta suggested, raising her eyebrows.
“Possibly.” Terezi said, musing over it.
“Sassacre mentioned that this year’s was going to be a masquerade, I’m sure that would add a load of intrigue if you did go alone.” Nepeta added.
“That whole thing is so fucking clichéd I'm surprised that Karkat didn't have some kind of say in that matter, honestly. It sounds like something that would come straight out of his dumb muggle romance movies.” Terezi laughed, tucking her legs underneath her on the couch.
As she sat there, she kept thinking about the ball. It was fucking dumb how it was taking over every single aspect of the Castle life, especially when she had her goblin essay to be worrying about.
Terezi let out a small sigh as she tried to ignore the small voice nagging her in the back of her head. She would get a date, and even if she didn't she would go to the ball and have a great time. If worse came to worst and she had to call in desperate measures, there was always the option to ask out Cronus.
She had to seriously repress a shudder at this thought, maybe it would be less shameful to turn up alone in that case. It wasn’t that Cronus was bad looking, in fact it was quite the opposite, he was just an asshole. Actually, that was something she had noticed about his whole family; especially his younger brother, who was in her year. But as a Slytherin, he was way out of the question. In the distance, she could hear Nepeta begin to talk about enchanted masks or voice changers or whatever, and although she nodded along at the right times, she wasn't really listening (again).