Part 3

This class is taking forever… I don’t know why, but now that the ball is almost here, I have a strange feeling of anxiety. I still haven’t asked Merula to be my date. Frankly, I have yet to work on a surprise for her. I decided to write a special song to express how I feel about her. However, I didn’t have much time to do so in the past few days. I’ve been helping Penny with the decorations and I’ve also helped Ben and Rowan with their preparations for the ball. Because of that, I didn’t have any spare time to see Merula and be with her… I could notice her frustration in class. She was sitting next to me, watching me with a serious look. She did an awesome job helping me promote Penny’s campaign and I’ve yet to fulfill my end of a bargain…

Most of the students finished their potions by now, but neither Merula nor I were close to finishing ours. The class was nearing its end, and I could tell that Rowan noticed that something is wrong with me.

“Is something bothering you, Dylan?” He asked me.

“I… there are a lot of things on my mind lately, I find it hard to focus on the class…” I answered.

“You’re anxious – about finding a Celestial Ball date!” He replied. Well, he wasn’t far from the truth, but I couldn’t just say that I wanted to ask Merula out, not with her sitting right next to us, it would certainly ruin my surprise…

“Some of us are trying to brew potions over here…” She joined the conversation, looking rather serious.

“Then don’t eavesdrop if you don’t want to be distracted,” I quickly replied.

“You’re talking too loudly. And not about anything interesting,” she said with a cold and calm tone. She is definitely upset.

“You don’t find the Celestial Ball to be an interesting topic?” I decided to be direct.

“I’m the most powerful witch at Hogwarts, Edwards. You think I care about a stupid dance? Or who you’re going with?” She made an uninterested face, but I could see right through her.

“I think you do care about who I’m going with,” I answered, unable to hide the smile from her.

“So you are going with someone then? Did many people ask you to go? How many?” She suddenly changed her expression from angry to worried.

“For someone who doesn’t care, you ask a lot of questions,” I replied with a cheeky smile. “It’s okay if no one’s asked you, Merula.”

“I know that!” She said angrily.

“No one’s asked Rowan or me, either,” I explained.

“So what? Stop talking!” She was trying to remain angry, but I could notice a sigh of relief when she realized I don’t have a date for the ball. “Professor Snape, Edwards is distracting me with Celestial Ball talk and I can’t finish my potion.”

It looks like she is quite uncomfortable talking about the topic that she had to ask Snape to interfere. Oh well, I totally understand her…

“Class dismissed…” He calmly said. “Except for you, Edwards. As punishment for disrupting Miss Snyde, stay and clean up the classroom.”

“Punishment? But I didn’t do anything wrong-” I tried to get out of the situation. I am pretty time-constrained as it is…

“I said, class dismissed. Everyone out!” He ordered.

Rowan gave me a sad look while he was leaving and Merula simply smiled wickedly at me before she left the classroom.

“Now, mutter to yourself about the ball as much as you like, so long as you’re cleaning,” Snape said once everyone was out.

“Actually, if I have to stay and clean as punishment, can I ask for your advice?” Perhaps he can tell me if I should respect Merula’s wishes and keep our relationship a secret or if I should invite her on a ball openly. I was pretty torn about that decision.

“No, you may not ask for my advice. That would be punishment for me,” he coldly replied. “Begin cleaning, Edwards…”

I considered several options while I was cleaning, but ultimately, the one I found the most appealing was writing a song to her and inviting her to the ball. If she declines, at least I tried, but if she accepts, it would simply be… great! I didn’t even realize how fast the time flew by, and before I knew it, the cleaning was over.

“I regret inviting you to ‘mutter to yourself about the ball.’” Snape said once I was finished.

“Sorry. I am trying to think of a way to ask the person I like to be my date for the ball.” I answered honestly.

“Yes, I heard. At length,” he replied.

“But at least your classroom is clean now.” I proudly pointed out.

“Indeed.” He simply nodded.

I was preparing to leave the classroom when I heard his voice. “Edwards?”

“Yes, Professor Snape?” I turned around.

“Thinking won’t work. You should let your heart decide for you. It might be against better judgment, but if you do not follow your heart, you might regret it for the rest of your life.” He advised me.

“Thank you, Professor Snape,” I said before leaving the classroom.

He does have a point. If I do not ask her, I will definitely regret it later. Now I have to finish the song and meet with her before it’s too late.

***

Gryffindor Common Room was fairly quiet and peaceful. Other than me, there wasn’t anyone else in here. I assume most of the students are preoccupied with their preparations for the ball. This gave me enough time to finish a song I was writing.

The Night of festivities is drawing near,
Promising much joy, happiness, and fun,
And yet, I’m still standing here,
Afraid to do what must be done.

Too scared I am to talk to you,
Too frightened to ask you out,
I just don’t know what to do,
And overcome all this doubt.

I’ve told you many times,
How much I hate when we’re apart,
And I’ll write a thousand rhymes,
To show that you have all my heart.

So before it is too late,
While the Sun is still in sight,
I want to ask you to be my date,
On this very special night.

I guess that’s it. I wish I had time to write some more, but I should hurry to meet her. I grabbed the note with a song and rushed out of my dorm.

***

Let’s see if she’ll show up… Liz said she’s going to ask Merula to meet me in the Courtyard. Hopefully, she’ll arrive… I was standing there, nervously waiting for her appearance. But what if she doesn’t like the song? What should I do then? No… I shouldn’t think about that. Everything will be all right! Oh, there she is…

I quickly left the envelope with a song near the fountain and hid behind one of the columns. She looked around to see if I’m there. Then she noticed the envelope and picked it up. Once again, she looked around to see if anyone is watching her before she started reading. I noticed a slight smile on her gorgeous face. When she was done reading, she took the note and held it tightly against her chest. I used the opportunity to sneak behind her and hug her.

“Surprise!” I said while embracing her. Then I gently kissed the right side of her slender neck. I could hear her gasping slightly.

She turned around to face me. Her face was all red. She was smiling at me. She was so close to me I could hear her breathing. I gently stroked her hair with my right hand while still embracing her. We silently looked at each other for a while. Then I closed my eyes and slowly connected her tender lips with my own. I could feel her hands tightly embracing me, firmly holding me like some valued treasure. We were so close, I felt her heart racing faster and faster while we were kissing. In that very moment, the entire world stopped spinning for me. I wish this could last forever… We remained like that for a while before our lips slowly separated from each other.

“Yes!” She said after opening her eyes. I could notice a big smile of happiness on her beautiful face.

“Yes?” I asked, confused for a moment.

“Yes, I will go to the Celestial Ball with you!” She almost shouted and hugged me firmly! “And just so you know, I won’t need to hit you with Knockback Jinx this time!”

“Well, I for one am sure we’ll have a great time there!” I was so happy. I felt the tingling sensation all over my body. I was flying high among the clouds of love and joy.

“I’d gotten an outfit, just in case. I can’t wait to see what you’ll wear.” She said, still smiling.

“You’ll see!” I winked at her before I started making my way to meet Andre about my outfit. “See you at the ball soon, love you!”

Right when I was about to leave the Courtyard, I heard her voice. “Dylan!”

I turned around and noticed her standing near the fountain, tightly holding the envelope against her chest.

“Love you too!” She yelled.

My heart was full.

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