29 June, 1997 (Saturday)

Scarlett woke up at three a.m unable to go back to sleep from excitement. She couldn't wait to go try on her dress. She'd picked out a gorgeous emerald green one that had a flowing tulle skirt. She'd seen it in the window a few days ago and decided it was the one she'd wear. She also decided who she wanted her date to her ball to be. Adrian Pucey. He was one year ahead of her and played quidditch with Draco.

She had her Charms class with him and shared a table with him. Sometimes their arms brushed when they were writing so obviously it was meant to be. She thought he was very cute, he had dark brown hair that was always parted down the middle and he had pretty blue eyes. He was also pretty good at quidditch and he looked super cute on the field.

It was almost time for her and Narcissa to go to her dress appointment and as the two sat in a small Muggle coffee shop with thirty minutes to spare before their appointment, they talked about her ball.

"I think for the colors I think I'd like to stick with our House colors. So I'd like a green dress. I've been thinking about who I want as my date, and I think I'd like Adrian Pucey to be it." She was telling Narcissa, who was nodding along every few minutes.

"Oh, that would be perfect! In fact, I saw a green dress in the window the other day, maybe you'd like it?"

"I saw that one! I loved it!"

"Perfect, that'll be the one we can get then! As for Adrian, I can send an owl to his father tonight to ask if they'd like to attend and if Adrian would like the honor of being your date."

Scarlett smiles, "I can't wait."

"I know," Narcissa smiled, "I'm so excited, I'd always wanted a daughter to throw a debut ball for."

-

After their day of dress shopping, they stopped at a The Three Broomsticks for a late lunch before heading home. Narcissa planned on using this time without the boys to find out what was going on between Theo and Scarlett.

"So Scarlett, why don't you want to ask Theo to escort you to the ball?"

Scarlett looked at her confused, "Theodore? Why would I ask Theodore?"

Narcissa gave her a slight smile, "I was under the impression that you might have liked him. Or that he likes you."

Scarlett made a disgusted face, "Ew! Cissy, he's gross and obnoxious. He's Draco's best friend too. Draco would murder me."

Narcissa laughed, "I think ultimately Draco just wants you to be happy. Besides, most boys are gross and obnoxious. You should've seen Lucius twenty five years ago, he wore his hair slicked back and had a constant frown on his face, except when he was pestering me. His father was friend of my father and so he was always at our house. Lucius would chase me around with bugs when we were children. Then when we got older, he'd jump from corners and scare me. He was constantly bothering me. During our last year at Hogwarts, their was a party in the Slytherin common room and a slow dance played and he asked me to dance, I said yes. You should've seen the look on his face. He was shocked. He thought I'd say no. But I didn't. We danced and it was like every star aligned."

She paused for a second, realizing she'd gotten a little off track, but Scarlett nodded for her to continue, "A few months later, school was over and my father told me I was to be married soon. This was more common when I was a girl, most Pureblood fathers had a friend that had a son or daughter your age and when you came of age you were married to them, to strengthen the family alliances. I was devastated, of course,  I hadn't heard from Lucius since we left the school, but I still liked him. However, it ended up that I was to marry him. I suppose I should've been devastated that my future had been planned for me but I was thankful. Thankful that it was to someone who I'd known and grew up alongside. I was thankful that there was a chance I'd actually have a loving marriage instead of a loveless one— like Bellatrix's."

"That's so sweet."

Narcissa smiled at her, "So I do think that if you like Theodore, you should give him a chance. In a few years he'll be less obnoxious. Perhaps, in a few years he'll be married with kids, then you'll never find out if there was a chance that he'd change, because by then you've lost your shot of being with him."

Scarlett laughed, "I can't see Theodore settling down anytime soon, Gods bless the poor soul that ends up with him. However I don't like him."

Narcissa rolled her eyes, "Whatever you need to tell yourself."

Scarlett rolled her eyes and shook her head jokingly.

The two finished their food and went back to the manor where she stayed in her room for the rest of the evening reading books. It wasn't until about 7 o'clock when Narcissa knocked and walked in, "Scarlett, I wanted to let you know that Adrian's father owled and said that Adrian would love to escort you to the ball."

Scarlett smiled, "Great! I can't wait." As Narcissa closed the door and walked away, Theo exited Draco's room, having heard the whole conversation he knocked on her door.

When she yelled "come in!" not knowing it was him, he opened the door and leaned against it. "Adrian, really?" He asked.

She shrugged, "If I didn't know you any better, Theodore, I'd say you were jealous."

He scoffed, "You wish, Malfoy."

She rolled her eyes, "And besides, weren't you the one who said I should take a good looking guy?"

He looked at her in disbelief, his frown quickly turning upwards into a smirk, "Yes, I do believe I said that, have fun with Pucey, really. Just um.. maybe spell your nose to where you can't smell all night. He reeks of Sleakeazy. I don't know if you know this but his hair doesn't part down the middle naturally. It takes a lot of work to do that."

Scarlett frowned, "How do you know that?"

"I've shared a dorm with him since first year. He wakes up at 7 o'clock every morning and starts on his hair. It's like a 40 minute process."

She nods, "Alrighty, well it's been dreadful talking to you per usual. If you could just see your way to the exit that would be great."

"Awe, Scar, I thought we were bonding." He replied sarcastically, a fake frown forming on his face.

She shook her head, "I know Theodore, but there's only so much of you I can take in one day." Her face mimics his frown, before quickly shooting him a fake smile.

He rolled his eyes, walking out of her room and shutting the door behind him.

-

"She's asking Pucey to be her date to the ball." It was the first thing that Theo had said when he walked back into Draco's room.

"What? Who is?" Draco asked.

"Scarlett!"

Draco's mouth dropped open, "Does she know that his hair isn't naturally like that? Because it's the Slea-."

"The Sleakeazy! Yes! She knows! I told her but she still thinks he's cute."

Draco scoffs, "What do girls see in him? First Pansy, then Astoria, now Scarlett? His hair is not that great."

"Well at least now you can ask Astoria to be your date and she'll say yes since she won't be waiting for Pucey to ask her anymore." He teased, Draco and Astoria had been dating for a while, but everyone knew of her former crush on Adrian.

Draco nodded, "What about you?"

"Malfoy, really, I'm flattered, but I'm not really into blondes so I don't think we can go together." Theo joked.

"No you idiot, who are you taking? I wasn't asking if you wanted to go with me."

"Oh! I guess I'll just go alone. Meet a beautiful woman there and ask her to dance."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Sure, is that your way of saying you're hoping Pucey no shows so that you can escort Scarlett in?"

Theo rolled his eyes, "For the last time, I don't like Scarlett."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself. I don't know why she's needing a date in the first place. It's her ball. It's supposed to be all about her. The next morning all the tabloids are going to talk about is who she brought with her. Pucey's the last person who needs to go with her honestly. I can't stand him."

"I don't think you'll like anyone that she chooses to date, Draco."

Draco rolled his eyes, "There are certain people that I would be okay with her dating. But I've grown up alongside some of the boys she's liked, I've lived with them at school, they're just not good. They'll treat her terribly. In case you've forgotten, Pucey was dating that Ravenclaw girl, then they broke up and now she goes to Ilvermorny. He does not need to take Scarlett. I would rather her go with a Weasley than Pucey."

"Then why do you want me to take her so badly then? You could say the same for me. You've seen the girls I've dated. We've lived together. What's different about me?"

"Oh, I never said I'd be okay with you dating her. In fact, I think it's all a joke for you. You flirt with her, but you'd never seriously date her. You're my best friend, it's against friend code. Would I be okay with you taking her to her ball? Yes. But would I ever want you to date her? Absolutely not."

Theo frowned, "What'd I do?"

"Theo, mate, I love you, but you're a bit of a.. hm, how do I put this nicely? Um. You're a little bit of a whore."

Theo gasped, "How dare you?"

Draco laughed, "Theo, how many girls did you talk to last semester alone?"

Theo looked up at the ceiling, mouthing numbers, as if he was trying to keep count. "Seventeen."

"And how many did you go on a date with?"

"Twelve."

"How many did you sleep with?"

"Four."

"See, my point exactly, you're not looking for anything serious, and that's okay, Scarlett is though. It's different for her and you know it. She's a Malfoy, whatever she does will be on the front page of Witch Weekly a day later. So you can do whatever you want with whoever you want, but Scarlett is off limits."

authors note:
i haven't read harry potter in forever so
my malfoy knowledge is a bit rusty. but
according to the 2006 forbes fictional 15
article, lucius malfoy is the 12th richest
fictional character. so i feel that the
malfoy's would definitely be highly
watched in the wizarding world. so that
is why whatever scarlett does is reported.
i declare it canon that she's a trendsetter
and Witch Weekly constantly reports on her.