LAURA DRAGGED Draco to a room on the seventh floor to see a room she had heard about. They walked down the hall when a door appeared in front of Laura. She wiggled her eyebrows at Draco, going to open the door.

"Oh wow," Laura said as they walked in, "this is even cooler than I thought."

The two of them walked in to see it was a cozy room. It had a Slytherin theme with a dark green couch against the wall and a fireplace like the one in the common room. Laura took no time, going over to the couch and seeing a platter of snacks sitting on the table.

Draco sat by her, looking curiously at the box Snape had given Laura.

"Here goes nothing," Laura said with a small smile, opening the box. At the top was a letter from her parents.

To our dearest Laura,

We just wanted to tell you that we are so proud of you and what you did during the first task. You have always been our brave girl, even when you weren't so courageous.

You were so creative getting past that Horntail. Your dad and I were proud of your flying skills. We were also surprised when there was a hole in the shed, and your broom was missing... Your dad was muttering most of the task, worried about his little girl, but you made that Horntail look like a simple feat.

Knowing your personality, you don't want to dwell too much on that first task, but the Yule Ball is coming up. We included a dress we thought you might like to wear, but don't be afraid to buy a different one. I promise we won't be offended. Be sure to tell us who you're going with! We can't wait to see all of the pictures and stories of the dance.

We also left a few things for you, along with some memory-inducing pictures (some might have to do with Draco... No spoilers!).

We'll send you another letter soon; we just wanted to let you know how much we love and miss you. Pay attention in class, and don't get into too much trouble!

Love your loving parents,

Mom and Dad

Laura let out a sad sigh as she leaned back onto the couch. Seeing her mom's handwriting made her miss her parents, even though it had been only a few weeks since she had seen them.

"Do you need a hug?" Draco asked softly. He hadn't seen the letter, just seeing the sad state it caused Laura.

"Just an arm," Laura shrugged.

Draco nodded, putting an arm around her. She took a deep breath and looked through the rest of the box.

She pulled out a forest green dress, causing her to smile. Her mom knew just what she liked. Laura was definitely going to wear it to the Yule Ball.

It was an a-line green dress with lace detail on the top, flowing out with green layers of tulle and sleeves. It was embroidered with flowers and vines climbing up from the bottom of the dress. The best part was the pockets; Laura was seriously in love.

"Wow, that is gorgeous," Draco said, looking as Laura stood up, holding it up to her body. "Are you going to wear it to the dance?"

"Oh, for sure," Laura grinned. "I'm a little scared for my date, though... They might have to fight other people because of how good I'll look," Laura winked at Draco.

"You're going to need something to protect you then, Potter," he smirked.

Laura shook her head and gave him a thumbs down as she folded the dress.

"I'm self-sufficient, Malfoy," she said, sitting back down by him.

Laura placed the dress on the table and found a satin bag under where it had sat in the box. Laura opened it to see a gold locket with a charm. Engraved on the charm was the letter 'P' for Potter. Laura gently opened the locket, revealing a picture of her and her parents smiling and laughing.

"That's cute," Draco said upon seeing the picture, a smile played on his lips. "Where were you in that picture?"

"We were in California, visiting some of my other family," Laura smiled, then turned to him. "Can you help me put it on?"

Draco nodded, taking the necklace from Laura and placing it around her neck.

"Thank you, Blondie," Laura said, finding a moving picture from the box.

Laura looked at it curiously. It was a picture of her when she was four, dancing with a boy. Draco furrowed his eyebrows, seeing that it was a boy with platinum blond hair. Her mind went back to the letter, realizing who it was.

"How many guys have you met with platinum blond hair?" He asked, tilting his head and looking closer at the picture. "It kind of looks like me?"

"Can you not recognize yourself?" Laura looked at him skeptically.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"Our parents are friends, Draco," Laura said with a snort of laughter, "You know how you mentioned going to America one time to visit your parent's friends?"

"Oh, that was your parents?" Draco said, his eyes widening. "That's why you looked so familiar when I saw you at Kings Cross."

"The pieces finally fit together," Laura grinned. She flipped to another picture, and when she saw it, she tried to hold back a laugh. "Blondie, look at this one."

It was a picture of Laura and Draco when they were younger. Draco had an arm around Laura, the biggest grin on his face. In contrast, Laura had her arms crossed and the biggest frown.

"I think I remember this picture," Draco laughed. "It was a different time when we visited your family in America. We were at a park, and I put my arm around you, and your parents thought it was cute, so they took this picture."

"Didn't I punch you after this?" Laura asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Erm yeah, I think so," Draco nodded slowly, then smirking. "But hey, I think I've proved to my younger self that I will not always be punched by Laura Potter when I put my arm around her."

Laura just smiled, rolling her eyes and looking back into the box. She then pulled out a pack of ballpoint pens. It had a note placed on it, 'Nick requested us to include these.' Laura laughed, pulling one out and handing it to Draco.

"Your promised pen," Laura teased as Draco took it in his free hand.

There was only one more thing in the box, a photo album. Laura immediately knew it was from Nick just based on the look.

She opened it, looking at the cover to see a written note to her:

'You better look through this with your boyfriend or else I'll be furious. Love, Nick!'

"You have a boyfriend?" Draco smirked, knowing what Nick meant.

"You know I don't," Laura said, sticking her tongue out at him, "but I guess you can't look at these with me."

"You know you're not going to make me leave," Draco said, a teasing smile forming on his face.

With a shrug, Laura looked through the photo book, leaning back into the couch so Draco could see. It was full of photos of Laura and Nick, just Nick, Laura and her friends from Ilvermorny and back in New York (which included Nick), just Laura, Laura and her parents and other family members, and finally, pictures of Laura and Draco.

After coming across a moving picture where Laura tripped after catching a Snitch, they watched the scene repeatedly, and the two ended up in stitches. That was until they realized something.

The two had gotten closer than they had been that entire night. They made firm eye contact; Laura watched as Draco's eyes flickered to her lips.

Laura knew it was a cliche, but her heart skipped a beat.

Laura felt herself lean in slightly, causing Draco's eyes to widen. Though, Laura panicked a bit, pulling away. Her face was bright red as she cleared her throat.

"That doesn't leave the room," Laura said, not looking at Draco, carefully putting the items back in the box. "We should also probably go back to the common room."

"Yeah, we should," Draco said, obviously flustered, moving his arm back to his side.

🪐➶.✧༄

The following week for Laura was interesting.

Anytime Laura was on her own (anytime Draco wasn't around), it seemed as if someone always wanted to ask Laura to the Yule Ball. They would always wait for Laura to be alone because of one fateful day... A fifth-year Slytherin had approached her while she and Draco were walking.

"Um, Laura?" he said.

"Yes?" Laura asked, looking up, causing him to blush immediately to her dismay.

"Erm, well," he said awkwardly, "I was just wondering if you'd like to accompany me-"

He stopped talking, immediately turning and walking away from Laura. She tilted her head in confusion, turning to get Draco's reaction. That was when she got an answer, as Draco had an intimidating look on his face.

"Oh, you're the reason," Laura said bluntly.

"What?" Draco said, putting his hands up, the facade dropping.

After that incident, the rumors started spreading like wildfire. People claimed Draco threatened to hex anyone who asked Laura, despite Draco not asking Laura to go himself. It truly scared anyone to ask, so they would only ask when Draco wasn't there. That included one day when Draco needed to stay behind to ask Snape a question.

Two people had asked her that day. The first was a second year, which Laura immediately turned down. The other time was a fifth-year Gryffindor who looked like they would knock her out if she said no. Laura didn't feel too intimidated. She told them no. Then, a third person came up to her, tapping her shoulder.

"The answer is no-" Laura said, turning around. She paused, seeing that it was Jordan. "Oh- sorry, hi Jordan."

"You're just fine," Jordan chuckled. "How are you doing, Miss Popular?"

"I feel weird about it," Laura said, laughing a bit. "So many people have asked to be my date to the Yule Ball."

"Word in the corridors is that Draco's been threatening everyone trying to ask you," Jordan said. Laura could tell he didn't believe it.

"Just rumors," Laura sighed. "He just gives them a 'get out of here' look."

"He's asked you, though, right?" Jordan asked, tilting his head.

"No, which confuses me," Laura groaned. "Because everyone knows he hasn't, people still ask me to go with them. It's getting annoying."

"Well, I would ask you to stop your troubles," Jordan sighed, "but I already have a pretty cute date. Sorry, Laura."

"It's okay, I'll figure it out," Laura smiled softly.

"Word of advice," Jordan put a friendly hand on her shoulder, "you're Laura Pickering, one of the Hogwarts champions; have fun. I know people have been asking you, but come on, ask someone who will be fun to dance with."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks Jordan," Laura said thankfully.

"I'll see you later, Pickering!"

Jordan waved her goodbye as he walked off. She then turned to see Draco standing there, causing her to jump a bit at seeing him so suddenly.

🪐➶.✧༄

The Yule Ball caused many more rumors to spread, pushing out smaller ones like Lavender Brown's agenda. She had been trying to hand pins out and shouting things from Skeeter's articles, though, by that point, no one cared.

They cared more about the rumor that Dumbledore had allegedly bought eight hundred bottles of mulled mead.

The other one that had been going around was that a Muggle-born and a Pureblood were DJing the dance. Laura knew that she would be going crazy on the dance floor.

Despite the rumors, classes were still in session, though they were coming to a close as break got closer.

Thankfully, some of her teachers- mainly Flitwick- knew they couldn't concentrate on their assignments, so they let them play games. However, some professors- every other professor- weren't as kind.

With that came a lot of homework at the end of the semester. So, Draco and Laura spent more time in the library, occasionally Blaise and Pansy joining them.

"I need to find a book for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Draco whispered to Laura one day as they settled down in the library, "I'll be back in a bit."

Laura nodded, pulling out her homework. Both her Potions and Herbology classes had assigned her an essay.

The library was quiet.

Laura was sitting on her own as Draco looked for his book. The only other people in the library were Hermione and Viktor.

With the added time in the library, Laura had observed more of who went in and out. It seemed as if every time Hermione was in the library (which happened to be when Laura was in), Viktor seemed to be there as well.

"Hey, Laura?"

Laura looked up, and to her surprise, it was Cedric.

"I had a question for you," Cedric said with a smile, "you okay if I wrack your brain a bit?"

"Go for it," Laura said.

"I heard you don't have a date for the Yule Ball yet," he said, sitting across from her. "I know there's been a lot of people asking you. They've been asking me, too. So, I thought, since we're both champions, it might be nice to go together."

Laura's eyes widened slightly. She blinked, thinking about it. While she liked Cedric a lot, she had been thinking about finally putting a plan into action to ask someone else.

"I- uh," Laura said, trying to figure out how to react, "I hate to say, but I told someone yes just this morning."

"Good on you," Cedric grinned, standing up and patting Laura on the shoulder. "Don't worry about me, I hope your preparations for the dance go well."

"You as well," Laura smiled as Cedric walked off.

With a big smirk, Draco walked back, book in hand.

"You've got a date already?" he quipped as he sat down. "I've been with you all day, Pip, I didn't realize someone asked you this morning."

"Oh, shut it," Laura said, rolling her eyes and looking back at her essay.

"I mean," Draco said, pushing on, "I'll go with you so you're not lying to people anymore."

"No, thank you, I'm not going with you just to not lie to people," Laura said, not even glancing up. "However, did you want to go to the lake with me tonight? I know it's cold, but I want to go."

Draco was silent for a second. Laura looked up when he didn't say anything, to which he nodded.

"Sure..." he said, sounding a bit distant.

"It's a date then," Laura smiled, returning to her homework, but not before she saw Draco's face go pink.

Once they finished their work, the two packed up, going on their way to the lake.

"So, have you figured out that clue yet?" Draco questioned as they walked out of the school. He chuckled a bit when Laura didn't say anything. "You have no idea, do you?"

"Hey- it's not like the task is tomorrow," Laura said in defense, "I still have like two months."

"So you're choosing to procrastinate," Draco said bluntly.

"Yeah," Laura sighed in defeat, "that might be how it ends up."

"Well, no matter- is that my sweater?" Draco stopped, furrowing his eyebrows. "I thought you gave that back to me."

Laura looked down, seeing that she had grabbed his sweatshirt.

"Sorry, Malfoy," she shrugged. "You gave it to me, who knows when you'll get it back."

"Oi, Pickering," Draco folded his arms.

"Fine, fine," Laura sighed, starting to walk again. "When I wash it, I'll give it back."

They walked to the edge of the lake and then walked around it. They chatted about random things until Laura stopped, looking out onto the lake and the snow-covered landscape as the sunset.

After a few minutes, Laura turned to Draco. She gently took his hands into hers.

"So, what did you want to do out here...?" Draco asked, his face a bit red. The sunset made his pale hair glow.

"I wanted to get away for a bit," Laura said with a small smile. "I also had a question I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?" Draco asked quietly.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," Laura said, "will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

"Oh, of course," Draco said almost immediately, a smile spread across his face. "So, uh, is this why you said no earlier?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be the one to ask," Laura shrugged, then pulled Draco's tie so his face was close to hers. She was feeling a bit bold at the moment. "It's getting a little cold out here, wanna go back inside?"

Laura didn't wait for an answer. She let go of his tie and started walking back to the castle. After walking a few yards, Laura realized Draco was still standing there.

"Hey, Blondie!" she shouted. "Are you going to stand out here and freeze?"

She saw Draco snap back to reality, jogging over to where she was. Laura held back a laugh as Draco almost slipped.

"Don't laugh," Draco grumbled, catching up to her. "You knew what you did."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll be okay, Malfoy," Laura gave him a small pat on the shoulder.

The awkwardness and tension diffused between the two of them as they kept talking. It was almost as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, so Blaise and Pansy are going together too," There was a sly grin on Laura's face as they walked back inside.

"Finally," Draco grinned, "I swear, Blaise has been pining after Pansy since our second year."

Laura laughed. They talked about Blaise and Pansy until they got to the Great Hall. When they walked in, Laura sent Pansy a look to which Pansy grinned, knowing what Laura meant.

🪐➶.✧༄

"Laura!" Alana exclaimed, hugging Laura tightly.

Laura had just finished explaining to her roommates how she had asked Draco to the ball. Needless to say, they were all freaking out for her.

"I knew he would be able to find love one day," Daphne sighed happily, a big grin on her face.

"We're just going to the dance together, Daphne, nothing else," Laura giggled. "All I know is that I'm going to look amazing," Laura said, grinning, "I'm sure Malfoy cleans up nicely too."

"I'll make Blaise coach him through the process," Pansy said, laughing. "But Draco's got a pretty good sense of style. I wouldn't worry too much."

"Thank you, Pansy," Laura said, hugging her.

"So, nothing happened between you when you asked?" Natalie said innocently.

"No, I just asked him to the dance," Laura said with a shrug. "I don't think asking him to the ball necessarily denotes that I'm interested... does it?"

"Oh, you sweet Summer child," Alanna sighed. "Yes, but also, Laura, are you sure you just like him as a friend?"

Laura went a bit pink.

"Okay, maybe there are some feelings," she said sheepishly. "But the main reason I asked Draco is because he's the person I'm closest to right now. I like spending time with him, so I might as well ask him. He also hadn't asked anyone else..."

"For being such a bright witch, you sure don't pick up on clues, Laura," Pansy said, folding her arms. "Laura, he's been flirting with you so much. You also admitted he asked you earlier today."

"Right," Laura trailed off. "We'll probably talk about it soon... I think."