“Don’t be so stupid, Eloise,” Eloise Midgeon told herself firmly as she looked into the mirror. “Eddie Carmichael’s a great, dirty idiot.”
It was what Juliet Stebbins would have told her, had she been there, instead of in third period Charms, where Eloise was also supposed to be.
She pressed the palm of her hand into her eye to stop the tears that were threatening to leak out.
Eloise was so sick of all this stupid acne. Someone had managed to invent a spell that mends bones in about a second, but they couldn’t even get rid of a couple of pimples.
Well… More than a couple. But still…
The clever nickname Eddie Carmichael had thought up for her was Crater-face. She was having a hard enough time getting a date for the Yule Ball without having everyone compare her face to the surface of the moon!
“Eddie Carmichael is a great, dirty idiot,” she repeated, before leaving the bathroom to make up a good excuse as to why she had missed Charms.
*
Eloise stuck her fork into an unsuspecting piece of broccoli, just a little more forcefully then was necessary, glared at it for a moment, and then bit it in half.
“Let’s put frog spawn in his tea or something,” Juliet Stebbins suggested.
Eloise shook her head. “He’s not worth the effort, Juliet.”
“I just think it would make you feel better,” Juliet shrugged. “Imagine his face when he realizes there’s a bunch of unhatched tadpoles in his stomach.”
Eloise took another bite of broccoli and smiled in spite of herself. “No thanks.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Hey,” Eloise said, looking up. “What’s Jeremy looking so smug about?”
Jeremy Stebbins, Juliet’s younger brother, sauntered over and sat down next to Eloise.
“Did you hear?” he asked. “Dumbledore’s booked the Weird Sisters!”
Eloise sighed. She was tired of hearing about the Yule Ball. The girls in her dorm never stopped giggling about it- nor did the rest of the school. She was faced with the question, “Have you managed to get a date yet, Eloise?” at least twice a day.
“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Juliet replied. “Why are you grinning like an idiot?”
“I’ll have you know I’m grinning like a charming young man who’s going to the Ball with Stacy Fawcett!”
“You stopped acting like an immature berk and asked her then?” Juliet asked dryly.
And here it comes, Eloise mused, in five, four, three, two, one…
“Haha. Very funny. Have you gotten a date yet, Eloise?” Jeremy asked, good-naturedly.
“Oh, bugger off,” Eloise said sullenly, before stalking out of the Great Hall.
*
Eloise and Juliet, arms linked, plowed their way across the grounds. They passed a gaggle of boys from Beauxbatons. Juliet smiled broadly.
“So,” Eloise asked, trying to leave her bad mood behind her. “Which one of them is Andre?”
“He’s the blonde one,” Juliet said, indicating the boy who kept glancing back at them, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks.
“He’s cute,” Eloise agreed.
“And he’s got friends. I can ask him-”
Eloise shook her head. “No thanks, Juliet. I’d rather no one was backed into going with me.”
“Oh, come off it, Elle,” Juliet snapped. “They wouldn’t be ‘backed in’. Plus, I saw the redhead staring at you!”
Eloise gave her a look. “Maybe I just won’t go…”
Juliet stopped her. “Don’t be daft. Your dress robes are gorgeous and you’ll look gorgeous in them!”
Eloise shrugged. “Mum did pay a lot of money for them…” Maybe she would just go for a bit, and leave if things got too embarrassing.
“Besides!” Juliet said cheerfully, seeing she had swayed Eloise’s decision. “What do we need men for? We can see from my brother that they’re total idiots.”
Eloise laughed.
*
Eloise had never seen the Entrance Hall look so… colorful. Everywhere around her people were pairing up, looking happy and excited.
She talked for a moment with Cedric Diggory, school champion and fellow Hufflepuff, who told her that she looked nice before going off to meet his date, Cho Chang.
Well, she felt that she looked nicer then she normally did. Her robes were a pretty violet color and her hair was done. Perhaps tonight wouldn’t be as bad as she had thought.
After meeting Andre, Juliet’s date, who’s English skills were lacking, (“C’est… nice to… meet you…”) she filed into the Great Hall, which made Eloise heave a content sigh, as it was beautifully decorated, with the rest of the students. She caught a snowflake that fell from the ceiling and laughed softly when it did not melt.
She sat at one of the small, lantern-lit tables with Juliet, Andre, several of his French friends, and, to Eloise’s extreme displeasure, Eddie Carmichael and his pretty date.
Eloise ordered a plate of spaghetti and actually enjoyed supper. Andre knew some very funny jokes concerning a Boggart, wizard and Bowtruckle who all walk into a bar, and though it was in very disjointed English, she laughed all the same. But when everyone was finished eating, the tables were pushed aside and it was time to dance, her stomach dropped. Now it would matter that she did not have a date.
Andre swept Juliet off for the first dance after the champions had finished and Eloise stayed seated, her good mood dropping. It disappeared completely when Eddie and his date came back for drinks.
“It’s too bad you didn’t get a date, Eloise,” Eddie said, grabbing a Butterbeer. “You almost don’t look like an ogre tonight.”
“It’s really great you did get a date, Eddie,” Eloise growled. “I don’t know how you managed to cover up the fact that you’re a great dirty bastard who has really, really bad breath.”
With a jab of her wand she made his eyebrows fall out and then she stomped out of the Great Hall.
*
The library was empty except for a third year surrounded by books. Eloise, still wearing her dress robes, strode towards the Historical section, where she knew she would not be bothered.
She could be upset or she could be angry. Being upset about it was stupid, she decided after a minute, so she elected for angry. She fell into a chair and opened the book she had found at Beatrice’s Books for the Romantically Inclined last Hogsmeade weekend, and tried, unsuccessfully, to read the words before her.
“Stupid bloody Eddie and his stupid bloody date…” she grumbled.
“Were you looking for somewhere private to brood?” came a voice from behind her. “Only because you’re sitting at my table.”
Eloise swiveled around in her seat, startled. A boy stood there (she thought she recognized him as a seventh year Slytherin) carrying a large stack of books, his glasses sliding down his nose.
“What?”
He struggled to push his glasses back into place. “You’re sitting at my table.” He indicated several scrolls of parchment on the table that she had not noticed earlier.
“Oh,” Eloise picked up her book, slightly flushed. “Sorry.” She read his nametag, pinned just below a prefect badge: Felix Harper.
He dropped his large stack of books into the table. “Er- I don’t think the Historical section of the library is the best place to be dressed so-” he gestured at her dress robes, “It’s pretty dusty.”
Eloise forced a laugh. “I guess you’re right. I’ll just… go back to my dorm.”
“But,” Felix Harper said, “weren’t you reading?”
She nodded. Maybe the best thing for her to do would be to put on her pajamas and go to bed.
“Well, then don’t let me stop you.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose and opened a large, dusty volume.
She didn’t really want to go back to her dorm… “Oh… alright.” She sat back down.
Eloise opened her book for a moment, and then closed it again. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked suddenly.
Felix looked up, surprised. “Okay.”
“But you can’t think I’m weird or anything.”
He nodded.
She took a deep breath and pushed on. “Why aren’t you at the Yule Ball?”
He raised his eyebrows. Eloise pinned it as a ‘I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be timid’ kind of look. “I don’t like dances,” he said shortly.
“Oh,” Eloise said pensively. “Is that like ‘I don’t like Herbology because I can’t make anything grow’ or ‘I don’t like Herbology because getting dirt stuck in my nails is annoying’?”
Felix gave a small smile. “A little bit of both… I think. But I like Herbology.”
Eloise flipped though her book. “Well, the Ball was rubbish,” she said with a frown.
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows again.
“No. The Great Hall is bloody gorgeous and everyone seemed to be having a great time.” Besides Eddie Carmichael, she thought, rather cheerily, who is, at the moment, sans eyebrows. That thought lifted her mood just a bit.
“Oh,” Felix said, closing his own book. “I see.”
Eloise picked at a spot on her chin nervously. “Um, do you mind if I stay here for a bit?” she asked.
Felix gave her that same small smile. “Is that like ‘do you mind if I stay for a bit because I don’t want to go back to my common room with a bunch of savage first years’ or ‘do you mind if I stay here for a bit because I think you’re charming and scintillating company’?”
Eloise laughed (which, Felix thought, was something that she should do more often, as it made her face look much nicer). “A little bit of both.”
And, although she did not go to the Yule Ball and dance the night away, Eloise had a lovely time that night anyway.
To Walk a Mile by Thoth
Chapter Notes: Oodles of love to Fizzing_Wizbee022 for helping me with this chapter:)