— december 1994 —

THE YULE ball was fast approaching. Every Hogwarts student were all pulled from classes for a couple of hours and taught how to dance and act appropriately at the ball. Each house was divided and taught by their Head of House. So, you can only imagine how awkward Slytherin's class was with Snape as their dance teacher.

It was even worse when each girl had to be paired with a boy and practice. Zola wasn't friendly with anyone in her house so she quickly gave her brother a pleading look only for him to roll his eyes with a huff, but he nodded nonetheless.

Thankfully, Snape wasn't the biggest fan of the task so when he saw that everyone wasn't completely left-footed, he let them go back to their normal schedules.

It was rather funny actually. Zola loved watched all the boys helplessly try and ask a girl out to the dance. Key word: try. Unless you were extremely confident in yourself or already had a romantic partner, there was virtually no chance anyone was getting a date to the Yule Ball. The reality made hopeless romantic girls very upset and impatient, but like the stereotype, many of the girls were not willing to make the first move.

And as much as Zola hated to admit, she was not exempt to that stereotype. Though she tried to ignore the buzz of the ball, she couldn't help but fall into the whole fantasy of it. To wear a stunning dress and dance with her friends under the magical atmosphere of the Great Hall that would be decorated with blue and silvers — it was making Zola weak in the knees just thinking about it.

She was sat in the courtyard with Lorelei, Priscilla, Troy, Jesse, Fred and George. "So, has anyone been asked to the ball yet?" Zola asked as she looked between all of her friends.

"Since when were you so interested in the Tournament?" Jesse asked, wiggling his brows.

"Since my dear lovely mother sent me the prettiest dress the other day," Zola straightened her back with a proud smile. Her mother, Geraldine, had owled her a mint green ball gown. It was an off-the-shoulder dress, with a ruffled neckline. Along the torso, there was pink and blue flowers that travelled from the top of the plunging v-neckline down below the waist line that split into three trails — one down the middle, the other two going down the sides. It was stunning and Zola couldn't even comprehend how to thank her mother for picking such a perfect dress.

Lorelei whistled. "Ooo, why haven't I seen this dress yet?"

"Because it's a secret until the Ball," Zola grinned. "Anyway, no one answered my question."

Fred perked up immediately. "I'm taking Angelina," he grinned. Both of the twins had a crush on Angelina Johnson, yet Fred was quicker than his brother to ask her — it was clear to Zola, though, that George's crush was a little more advanced than Fred's.

"I'm going with Alicia," George spoke after his brother, though his tone was a little less enthusiastic than Fred's.

"We're going together," Priscilla smiled, holding onto Lorelei's hand. Over the months that the French girl had been at Hogwarts, it was evident that the two girls were more than fond of each other. This caused Zola to smile.

Zola turned her gaze towards Jesse and Troy. "What about you two?"

Troy shrugged. "Don't know yet. I was thinking of asking Hannah Abbott," Zola wasn't a big fan of Hannah. She was a Hufflepuff girl in their girl, but unlike many Hufflepuffs, she was rather mean-spirited and pretentious — she would've been a better Slytherin than Zola was. But she noticed that the two were friendly together so she agreed with her friend's suggestion.

"What about you, Jesse?" Troy asked, nudging his best friend's shoulder. He was unusually quiet and made it clear to avoid eye-contact with Zola. "Uh, no, nobody."

Priscilla furrowed her brow, leaning forward slightly to peer over his shoulder as he sat on the floor before her. "What about that Slytherin who asked you yesterday?"

The friends all turned to Jesse, immediately intrigued by the Ravenclaw's secrecy. "What are you hiding, Kruger?" George prodded his knee.

"Yeah, come on, Jesse, we're all friends here," Zola rubbed his shoulder reassuringly.

Jess sighed, he mumbled a name under his breath but no one really caught it. "Sorry, what was that?" Troy asked.

Another sighed exhaled from his mouth. "It's Zion."

Zola blinked. "Zion? As in Zion Montgomery — my brother, Zion?" It was a stupid question. There was only one Zion in the entire of Hogwarts, let alone Slytherin. Jesse nodded, almost ashamed. Yet Zola smiled — no, she grinned. "That's great, Jesse! I mean, I'm not sure how our parents are going to take the news, but fuck 'em, you know!" Zola gushed. "Oh my god, I have to talk to Zion!" She went to stand up but Lorelei grabbed her arm and pulled her back down on the bench.

"There's time to do that whenever, Z. What's more important is that you have two boys approaching us, both with their eyes on you," Lorelei nodded subtly in front of them. Zola didn't take the hint and whipped her head to see both Cedric and Finn making their way towards them.

The two of them spotted in front of the group and look at each other, questioning. "Can we help you lads?" Fred and George spoke in unison as they grinned towards Cedric and Finn.

"Can I steal Zola for a second-" Cedric and Finn both said at the same time, before stopping to look at each other again.

"Oh, Merlin, help me," she murmured to Lorelei and Priscilla. "What do I do?" She panicked.

Both girls shrugged, but Fred and George had already grabbed Zola's shoulders and pulled her, gently shoving her towards both boys. She glared at the twins who only waved at her. Cedric and Finn were still silently squaring off to each other. She grabbed both of their hands and dragged them away from her friends. Finding a quiet place, she asked. "What can I help with?"

"Will you go-" Both boys began both glaring at each other.

Zola's eyes widened as she realised what was happening. Both of them were trying to ask her to the Ball. "Oh, stars," she muttered.

A girl a year younger than them approached them — it was Katie Bell. The Gryffindor girl was looking at Finn. "Excuse me, but would you like to go to the ball with me, Finn?"

Finn's eyes widened as he looked between Zola and Katie, even looking at Cedric briefly, who nodded eagerly. Zola nodded with a small shrug too. "Yes, I'd love to, Katie."

Katie grinned and pressed a kiss to Finn's cheek before skipping away back to her friends. Finn excused himself and went back to his friends too, leaving Cedric and Zola alone.

"So, Zola..." Cedric trailed off.

"So, Cedric..." Zola copied with a teasing smile, resulting in a chuckle from the Golden Boy.

He cleared his throat. "Will you, uh - would you like to go to, um - Merlin!"

"Are you asking me to the Yule Ball with you?" Zola smiled up at the boy, leaning close to him slightly.

Cedric's eyes widened as a blush dusted over his face. "Uh, yes, yes, I am," he fumbled. "What do you say?"

Zola grinned further. "I'd love to," Like Katie did with Finn, she pressed a small peck on his cheek. She stepped back to see Cedric's practically love-struck expression as he stared down at her. "Do you want to meet outside the Great Hall on the night?"

Cedric nodded quickly, gulping down the air that had got caught in his throat. "Y-yeah, sounds perfect!"