The Yule Ball was so close! Only eight days away! That was just a week- and Winifred was yet to find a date! There was no telling when the next time she'd have a chance for a real Yule Ball would be- and Winnie had been determined to find a date. She had asked one of her brother's friends and been politely turned down. Winifred had also asked a sixth year Ravenclaw who had claimed to already have a date. She was feeling pretty bummed out about the whole situation. She knew she was going to look absolutely adorable! Her dress was super cute and very Hufflepuffy and she was very nearly fifteen and a half now! Quite old for a fourth year! There was no reason she couldn't find an older boy as a date!

Coming into the common room Friday evening, just before curfew, she spotted Zel Trumble. He was a sixth year Hufflepuff, was the prefect, and also a werewolf! The latter was something that hadn't bothered Winnie one way or the other. She was a part of SAWS and she believed that being a werewolf didn't change who a person was. Then again, Winnie had always been the sort to reserve her prejudice for Slytherins and Durmstrang graduates- the typical dark wizard material. And as a rule she tried to like all Hufflepuffs. Because she knew what it was like to be a Hufflepuff and feel like an outcast.

Zel was pretty good looking, tall. He was really tall and thin and blond(ish). He had really pretty eyes and the whole werewolf thing was actually pretty mysterious. Winifred had read a romance novel series about a witch who had tames a vicious wizard werewolf. It had been incredibly romantic and next to the series about centaurs was one of her favorites.

"Hullo Zel!" Winnie greeted, giving him an enthusiastic wave. "I got in just before curfew, didn't I?" she asked, looking toward the clock in the common room. "So what are you up to? Are you ready for the weekend?"

Hogsmeade weekend had been uneventful—but at this point, much of the stress he had at the beginning of the year was being dealt with in a much healthier way, as things were slowly falling into place. The aurors were helpful, and things seemed to be looking up.Despite not having a date, he was excited about going to the Yule Ball. He had hoped to get some new robes for the occasion, but as he stood at 6’7 and was rather stretched-out and lanky, clothes in his size were already difficult to come by. Instead, he had a set of old dress robes that once belonged to his father. They were in good condition, as Alrich didn’t wear them more than once or twice.

Zel was sitting in one of the rather cushy chair sin the common room, reading his Astronomy textbook and trying to make sense of it all. In his spare time, he studied whatever it was he was having difficulties with—and it was almost always astronomy. He was so good at Care of Magical Creatures that he didn’t even need to study all that much—the information was so much easier to retain. He was doing fairly well in Defense against the Dark Arts, as he had been able to produce a corporeal patronus (An elephant!) In general, the only class that the werewolf ever did struggle in was astronomy.

"Hullo Zel!"

He glanced up from his text and saw none other than Winifred Oliver. She was a cutie with her adorable round cheeks and dark, wavy hair. Zel had always perceived her to be a bit cheerful and optimistic, if a little bit gossipy (which wasn’t necessarily bad, just something he noticed.) “Hello Winifred.” Zel greeted her softly, dog earing the corner of a page and closing the book. It was rude to read something while someone was trying to talk to you. “Ithink you’re right on time.”  Zelig motioned towards his textbook. “I’ve just been… Studying.” God, he sounded boring when he put it that way. He blushed lightly.

 “I don’t really h-have any plans, maybe swimming in the lake?” That was what he did every morning, it wasn’t anything new. But with the frigid temperatures, those daily swims were becoming rather excruciating rather than rewarding. “What about you, are you doing anything this weekend?”

When he folded over the page of his book, Winifred took that as a signal that it was okay for her to get comfortable. She took a seat in the chair next to his, tucking her feet under her. She peeked at the book, and scrunched up her nose. "Astronomy. Blech." Winifred hated the class. Mostly because it was just really hard and there was math involved and it was boring and... well... Winifred thought that Trishna might be in murdering cahoots with Professor Storm.

"I've been doing some studying, too," she said to Zel. "With Zoe. She's been tutoring me for my wand classes! I'm getting a lot better." Winifred was quite proud of her accomplishments. It hadn't been easy to learn how to focus and work hard.

"It's a bit cold, though, to swim in the lake. Isn't it frozen yet?" Winifred asked. "I can't wait for it to freeze! I got new ice skates last weekend at Hogsmeade. I think maybe this year I'll actually be able to skate without getting hurt all the time." Falling down on solid ice was painful. And Winnie wasn't exactly the most coordinated of people.

Twirling a bit of hair around her finger, she smiled at Zel. "I also got my dress for the Yule Ball. It's very pretty. All Hufflepuffy in color. Speaking of the Yule Ball..." This was quite the clever lead in, wasn't it? "Are you going? Do you have a date?"

His lips twitched up in a small agreeing smile at her reaction to his textbook. He had to agree. Astronomy was difficult and awful, and Professor Trishna was a little bit intimidating—not because he taught a daunting subject, but because he was someone who was taller than Zel who wasn’t related to him. Or part giant. Hagrid was big and tall, but not scary. Professor Hagrid was just a fuzzy dude who was great with animals—who could be scared of that? Yes, Zel had been scared of him when he was an ickle firstie, but being a Care of Magical Creatures nerd, he kind of had to get over that initial fear.

“Zoe—she’s in your year, right?” In Ravenclaw, if he remembered correctly, but he wasn’t sure. She definitely wasn’t in Hufflepuff, otherwise he’d know her better. It was nice of her to tutor Winifred.  “And the lake…” He sighed, “There’s a little bit of ice.” It was awful. Awful because when it froze over, he couldn’t swim anymore. But maybe he could take up ice skating, or he could simply go running more.  “D-do you usually get hurt when you skate?” He wasn’t imagining Winifred simply falling onto the ice. He was imagining her cutting herself on one of the sharp blades of the skates somehow.

He listened quietly as she started talking about the ball and her dress. You couldn’t go wrong with yellow and black. Zel found it strange that she would be talking to him about this. Isn’t that what friends are for? They weren’t friends, were they? Maybe she wanted to be his friend. That’d be nice.

“I’m going to the ball.” He replied, “I… Don’t have a date though.” Zel was considering going stag, or helping with decorations or something. "Wh-who are you going with?" He assumed that someone like Winifred would have a date by now. Maybe she wanted to talk about whoever she was going with?

Winifred nodded. "Professor Trishna helped assign some tutors at the beginning of the year," she explained. "So I signed up! Because I really needed the help. She's very smart and very good at magic. I think she'd be a very good professor if she ever wanted to be one some day. Because she's very patient. And anybody who can help me get better at magic has to be really good at what they do. Even the professors have a hard time with it." But that had more to do with winnie's being afraid of them and always worried about blowing up their classroom.

"Oh, I fall down a lot when I skate. But it's fun. I'm a lot better now than I was as a first year, though! Falling on ice is like falling down in the castle- it's just really hard. And cold. I'll never be really good at it, but it's fun. And a lot of my friends like to ice skate, so we do it together."

When he said he was going- and that he didn't have a date- she perked a little. "Oh- I don't have a date yet, either," Winifred told him. "I really don't want to go alone, though," she said with a frown. "I think maybe my older brothers told everyone not to ask me." Probably not true... But most people would believe stuff like that about a big brother. "I really thought somebody would have asked me," Winifred told him. She was trying to make a hint... Winnie had planned to just ask Zel if he would go with her. But if she could somehow get him to suggest it, then she could tell everyone that he asked her. That would make all the difference.

"I guess if nobody does I'll have to go alone. The boys in my year are just so..." Winnie trailed off and made a gross face. "They're just young and stuff. I am  quite old for a fourth year after all. I'm very nearly fifteen and a half!"

Professor Trishna sometimes had pretty good ideas, and it looked like the tutor system was helping somebody. Zel looked at Winnie warily. Why was she so happy about him not having a date? What was going on? Why would she talk to him if she didn’t have a date? Needless to say, he was very confused. Very, very confused.  Maybe she wanted him to talk to Zeke for her? That’d be terrifying. He assumed it was Zeke who would tell people not to date his little sister—Earnest was too gentle and soft-spoken to do such a thing. Zel really, really, didn’t want to talk to Zeke.  Especially not about this sort of thing. Did Winnie assume that because he was a werewolf, he could someone intimidate her brother into letting her have a date?

“I-I’m surprised no one asked you.” Zel bit his bottom lip anxiously. “Maybe I could help you find a date?” Hah. That’d be just as difficult as confronting Zeke about the whole thing.  Wait. Winnie just implied that she wanted to go with an upperclassman. She was older for her year, and he was young for his year. Really, there was what, a year’s difference between them? Did she want him to go with her? Was that what this was about? He wasn't sure, but he didn't want to offend her by not asking. She already seemed pretty down about not having a date.

Zel looked at Winnie carefully, “I-if you want, I could go with you.” He suggested. If it would make her happy. “But if you find someone better you could go with them. It won’t bother me.” He added quickly. He didn’t want her to be bound to him in any way, but having a date to the ball would be nice. Even if it was with someone who was so drastically different than him. 

"Yeah, I was surprised too." Except not really. Winifred didn't exactly have a whole lot of suitors. She wasn't as pretty as some of the other girls in her year. Ayla was super pretty. And Cy was, too. But they both had big boobs- so boys would want to go with them. It was how Ayla had managed to get to make out with Xavier. At least, that's what Winnie had decided. Otherwise why would a Slytherin ever want anything to do with a Hufflepuff?

When he said he could go with her, Winifred smiled, and bounced out of her chair. "Really Zel, you mean it?" she asked.  "I would really, really like that! I was going to ask you! But I was afraid you would tell me no!" Like the other two boys she had already asked. But Winifred wouldn't tell Zel that. She didn't want him to think that shewas her last resort. Cause he really wasn't. Third on a list of people Winifred found attractive was actually pretty good odds! But you couldn't really say that out loud.

Still smiling brightly, Winifred took a step toward his chair and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug."I promise that we'll have a lot of fun!" Winnie told him. "I'll be a really good date to the ball! I'll even be really careful not to dance all over your feet and everything!" Maybe now that she had a date who was so tall she could talk her mother into buying her some high heels for the ball! Her mom had refused last weekened at Hogsmeade.

“Err— Well, I wouldn’t say no.” He said. Obviously. He had asked her. Also, Zel was not the type who could turn down someone who obviously needed a date, unless he was in a relationship. Which he wasn’t.  His first and last girlfriend was Lorian, but that only lasted a couple months because she had commitment issues. They were still friendly though, and his feelings weren’t really hurt over it.  “I-I-I do mean it though.” He was surprised that she was so excited about going with him. Really? He didn’t think he was that much of a winner. He was okay looking, he supposed, if you got past the whole stretched out albino thing.

Which, apparently, Winnie did. Or maybe she had a thing for albinos. Was professor Kesali an albino? He’d have to ask Ligeia later. Then something happened that Zel did not expect- Winnie gave him a hug. He hoped he wasn’t too skinny and boney for her. He returned the hug awkwardly, patting her back as if he didn’t really know how to give proper hugs. “Do you w-want me to get a yellow tie?” He asked, “To match your dress?” Well, girls liked that, right? He’d also have to get a corsage for her. Maybe Professor Longbottom knew where to get some.

He didn't expect Winifred to be so excited about all this. He hoped that she didn't have high expectations for him as far as being fun goes. Zel felt like he could be pretty mediocre at times. As long as he danced with her and spent time with her, it should be fine, right?

Winifred decided that Zel's awkward studying was quite endearing. And after he hugged her back, she released him and went back to her spot in the chair. "Ooh! That would be really wonderful, Zel. Would it be hard to find a yellow tie?" she asked him. "And would it look okay with your robes? If not, you don't have to match me. It will be okay."

"I can't wait to tell my mum and dad that I have a date to the ball! And my friends!" Winifred was probably a little over enthusiastic, but that was her personality. Wait until everyone heard she was going to the Yule Ball with the sixth year prefect! They'd all be surprised. It wasn't the sort of date someone would expect of Winifred. Everyone probably thought she was going to go with Ambrose...

"Is there anything I need to do for you?" Winnie asked. She'd never had a proper date to an event before. "I mean, to make sure you have a good time. I don't want you to not have fun at the ball. Am I supposed to buy you anything? Or anything  like that? Do you know?" If he didn't know, she could always ask one of the professors. They would know more about that kind of a thing.

He figured that if he couldn’t find a yellow tie, he could just transfigure one of his ties so that it was the correct yellow. If he had difficulties with it, eh was sure that Professor Sandusky would be willing to help. You wouldn’t think that yellow ties would be difficult to come by since he was a Hufflepuff, but their house ties were striped, and they weren’t the formal sort either. “Er, my robes are black—a yellow tie would look okay, right?” He never thought about it. Yellow and black were his house colors, so he never really stopped to think if they matched. He didn’t want to look like a bee,  or something stupid.

Zel couldn’t help but give Winifred a smile—she was so excited to tell her family that it boosted his self-esteem the slightest bit.  “I’ll have to tell my brothers and sisters.” And his stepfather. Who he really wanted to hear from was his brother, Garrett, and his wife. Zel wondered if they had their baby yet.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to buy me anything.” He frowned slightly, he really knew nothing about these sorts of things. Maybe that could be something else he asked Sandusky. “Just show up? If you’re having fun, I’ll probably have fun.” There was a formal dancing part, right?

"Oh, yes, I suppose it would if your dress robes are black! That's very classic. I'm sure you will look quite handsome all dressed up." The black robes would also be a stark contrast to his pale skin and light colored hair, but Winifred wouldn't mind that. It would just make him look even more mysterious. And dangerous. (Because she was still convinced he must be dangerous if he was a werewolf.) "My dress is yellow and navy," she told him. "I thought it would be prettier than yellow and black. But a navy colored tie might make it look like you couldn't tell if it was black or blue." Winifred had that problem with her socks on occasion. But with feet it wouldn't matter as much as it would with a tie.

When he said he would tell his brothers and sisters, she smiled. Oh good! He was going to actually tell people about her! That was good. "Make sure you tell them only good things," Winifred said. "I wouldn't want them to think poorly of me. Even if it just a Yule Ball date, Yule Balls are very important because they don't happen often." Somehow, Winifred had yet to equate going to the Yule Ball together as it meaning more than just that- going to the ball together. The Hufflepuff girl certainly was the sort to get carried away and misconstrue something so innocent. Of course, it had only just happened. Give her a little bit more time and she'd be assuming all kinds of things which were probably incorrect.

"I can do that! Show up, and have fun I mean. I'm very good at having fun." Winifred made having fun a priority most of the time. Sure, she'd been a little less fun lately- with all of the extra studying. But she was finally on third year level spells, and Winnie was hoping if she worked hard enough she'd be on track with her year by the end of the school year. Not the best aspiration in the world, but it worked for Winifred. That was what mattered, after all. And Zel was smart. So going to the Yule Ball with someone smart would definitely reflect well on her, right? Prefects didn't take just anyone to events like the Yule Ball!

"I'm going to go write home about it right now!" she said, jumping up from her seat. Winifred gave him another hug. "Thank you so much, Zel! I'm really excited. I was so worried I'd have to go alone. And there's no fun in going to a ball alone! I'll the best date ever. You'll see!" Winifred placed a very loud, very wet kiss on his cheek before bounding toward her dormitory. She had so many letters to write, after all.

Navy and yellow? Zel didn’t want to have to turn his robes navy in color if he could help it. After all, they were his father’s robes. He didn’t want to ruin them, and it wasn’t like they could ever be replaced and still have their sentimental value. Maybe Professor Trishna would be able to help him find someone to make cheap last minute navy robes for him? After all, the professor was close to Zel in height, but a bit stockier (which wasn’t difficult to do, Zel was pretty scrawny looking compared to Tappy.) “I don’t know anything bad about you.” He smiled a little bit at the thought—he didn’t think he could possibly tell his family anything bad about any of the people here at Hogwarts. Even if they were bad people.

Zel jumped again at the second hug—Winnie sure was a touchy one, wasn’t she? He supposed it was a good thing, since she was blunt enough for him to be able to tell just how she was feeling. There were so many people at this school who just hid how they were feeling, and he was never sure as to how to approach them, not wanting to cause any bruised feelings or crushed egos.

Winifred’s kiss was strange and… Different. Zel had been kissed on the cheek before, but never had it been so wet and noisy. It didn’t gross him out, though he was mildly confused. Why would Winifred kiss him?  He wiped his cheek off and felt his face heat up—the rosiness of his cheeks was a stark contrast to his almost-white hair. “I-I-I’ll see you l-later then?” That wasn’t the classiest thing he could have said, but it was better than nothing.

She stopped when Zel asked if he would see her later. She smiled."Yup! You will! We should hang out before the ball!" Winifred suggested. "It would be a lot of fun. Then we'd know more about each other before the ball. That way it wouldn't be awkward or anything. Yeah?"

"I'll find you in the common room in the next couple of days, and we'll make plans!" With that, Winifred finished her trek to her dormitory. Oh, how exciting! Winifred still couldn't get over how excited she was. And hanging out before the ball would be fun. It would make them going together a little less weird. And they could get to be friends before hand. Of course, Winnie considered most everyone her friend, she just didn't know Zel very well...