get this party started [harry potter]

[CHO XIU CHANG]

Nerves coursed through her body as she checked herself in the mirror again. Cho had been dressed and ready for almost half an hour. She began getting ready earlier than she thought anyone else had, though that may have been because she honestly wasn’t paying attention to other girls. She was far too nervous about how she looked. Part of her was mentally jumping up and down with the joy of being partnered with Harry Potter. She’d liked him for a very long time, longer than she cared to admit; the other part of her wanted to crawl under the bed and hide she was so nervous. Of course, she knew that had Harry been paired with someone else, she wouldn’t be the most pleasant date to whomever she got paired with. She would have been trying to get a look or two at Harry to see if he was having a good time. It was just a stroke of luck that made the Sorting Hat choose her and Harry as partners. Or maybe the hat knew something was up with her feelings for the boy.

In the mirror she saw herself reflected just as she had right after she’d gotten done. Her hair was up in an intricate pattern with little flower clips put in strategically; her dress was a navy blue Asian style formal gown, embroidered with white patterns and a slit up one side. Her nails were a matching blue and her flat dress shoes were simple and white to match the clips in her hair. She had only put on a little white eyeshadow, and only because she wanted to look her best. Still, she was nervous.

Now there were people rushing around and running out. Cho decided it was about time to head down to the ball. She took a few calming breaths and began to make her way out of the common room. She nervously intertwined her own fingers as she walked and before she knew it she was waiting where she was supposed to meet Harry. She felt like there was a lot of weight on her at the moment. Sure, she was popular, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t feel the least bit awkward. Her eyes were almost glued to the floor as she thought about all of the people in there. Harry had siblings after all, and Cho was the only one here in her family. She was a single child and her parents weren’t going to be here either. She felt like she might be judged by the people Harry was closest to.

She realized she was a little earlier than she thought, maybe people were meeting other places. She was sure she’d seen and heard people running out of the common room. Maybe she had the wrong place. No, that couldn’t be it. There were a few people going in now. Cho suddenly felt a bit out of place. Her dress was more traditional for her culture, but not everyone here was Asian. She thought she looked alright in what she was wearing, but seeing the other girls had her questioning herself. She held her breath, not noticing she was doing it. She could get through this.

tag: harry potter
words:539
outfit: dress ;; hair
notes: threadness
credits: template by ME ;; lyrics ET by Katy Perry

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

He was nervous. Beyond nervous really. He frowned slightly, fidgeting as he looked himself over in the mirror in the Boys dormitory. He swallowed slightly, his emerald eyes coming to a rest in the untidy black hair. He needed to fix that. He needed to make it lay down flat. His Mum would kill him if he didn't look presentable for this ball. He looked at the wrist watch and groaned slightly. It was nearly time... and everything he'd done didn't seem to work on his hair! He grabbed the brush he had thrown on his bed earlier and wet it slightly with his wand before running it through his hair. Nothing. It seemed his harry was immune to the laws of nature! And he was supposed to meet Cho any minute now down by the Great Hall. Oh well, looks like his mother was just going to have to kill him later.

If you asked Harry, he looked like a complete idiot. Dress robes just weren't his thing, and he wasn't sure he would be comfortable in them at all this evening. But it was a formal event, and the headmaster had been very clear that dress robes had to be worn. No if's, and's, or but's about it. Maybe he shouldn't have signed up for this thing... maybe he should have just stayed in the Gryffindor Common room and just said to hell with it. But... it wasn't that bad he supposed. The students weren't allowed to chose their own dates. Instead, Dumbledore did. Harry had been paired with Cho Chang, Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Sixth year, and extremely cute.

And it was because of her that he was trying to look his best. He wanted to impress her. She was a year older than him, and he felt that she would be expecting a lot. Merlin he hoped he could make her laugh tonight! That would be wonderful. And maybe, he could actually string two intelligent words together to impress! He all to quickly found himself standing at the bottom of the stairs. Merlin how did he get down here so fast? Oh well. Taking a deep breath, he made his way towards the Great Hall... and saw Cho waiting outside the doors. It seemed like he had been punched in the stomach and all the air had been forced from his lungs. She was beautiful!

He approached her, making sure his mouth wasn't hanging open, “You look wonderful...” he said, suddenly feeling his mouth go dry. He offered his arm to her, before leading the way into the Great Hall.

tagged;; Cho Chang
wordcount;; 437
outfit;; Dress Robes
notes;; SHORT I'm sorry
credit;; GREEN EGGS AND SAM! of caution 2.0
lyrics in text are from Forget Paris!

[CHO XIU CHANG]

A few deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Calming thoughts. Cho closed her eyes and imagined herself sitting near the lake, up against the tree with a good book, a soft breeze running through her hair and tangling it slightly as she focused on the words. Inhale. Exhale. Or maybe she was sitting in the common room, surrounded by friends with every day conversations. Inhale. Exhale. Cho opened her eyes again and was back at the entrance of the Great Hall. Deep breaths did little to calm the girl down. True, she was far from hyperventilating and she looked incredibly at ease on the outside. On the inside, she was screaming questions at herself. Usually, Cho didn’t have to worry about what people thought about her. She would have swore she didn’t care what people thought about her. It was part of what made her popular. She was just naturally likeable. She wasn’t a loud person, she fit in easily, and she stood up for her friends. Not to mention she was smart and a chaser on the Quidditch team for Ravenclaw. She had been the seeker before, but once she realized she had to compete against Harry, it was easier to be chaser so she wouldn’t be as distracted. Not to mention, April was the seeker for their team now.

And that thought brought up the fact that April was Harry’s sister. Harry had family that would probably be at this thing. If Cho hadn’t been expected to attend, she might not have signed up for this. Thinking about how she was in the same house as April made her nervous all over again. Sure, the girl was younger than Cho, but she would have to live up to Harry’s family’s expectations tonight. She had been paired up with Harry, he hadn’t asked her and she hadn’t asked him. Though she wondered if she would have been able to pluck up the courage to ask him if they were able to ask instead of being randomly paired up. She didn’t think Harry would have asked her. He was either too shy or wasn’t really interested in her that way. She didn’t like thinking of that latter thing; she wanted so much for him to like her.

Cho looked up from the floor and saw Harry coming toward her, hair done in its usual messy way; Harry had hair that seemed to be untamable. Not that Cho minded. He looked better that way than most guys at their school in Cho’s opinion. Not all guys could pull off the messy hair look, but Harry had it mastered. Her breath caught and she had trouble remembering how to breathe for just the shortest of moments. She was feeling self-conscious of her appearance then, but was reassured when her date spoke. Cho’s cheeks turned a soft pink as she blushed from the compliment. “Thank you, Harry. And you look quite handsome yourself.” She gave him a soft smile and took his arm so he could lead her into the Great Hall toward the social ball. She was quiet for a minute, feeling awkward now that they were together and her heart pace was picking up slightly. It wasn’t a bad awkward she felt, just a where do we go from here awkward. Being in close proximity to Harry in a date-like setting was something she’d thought about for years. Now it was happening. “I’m really glad we got paired together for the event,” she said, hoping that didn’t sound too corny.

tag: harry potter
words:587
outfit: dress ;; hair
notes: threadness
credits: template by ME ;; lyrics ET by Katy Perry

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

Gatherings just weren't his style. Sure, the Gryffindor liked a huge group to just sit with... But not when that huge group was liable to turn it's full attention on you. And that's all dances always seem to do. People were always looking at others, finding something to gloat about. Someone's hair was so last century, that dress robe looked like it belonged in the stone age. It was just another occasion for peer pressure to get the better of people. It made one feel as if they were a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment, at any sign that the pressure was getting to be to much. And Harry felt the tension in his shoulders; felt the muscles bulging slightly as his heart hammered away in his chest. And oddly enough, he felt quite at home with the whole sensation. If he wanted to fool himself into making this whole thing an easier situation to handle, he could always imagine it as a game of Quidditch. Everyone else was the opposing team, their snide insults Bludgers waiting to knock him off his broom... er, game. Every time he allowed one to get to him, it was a point to the other team; but every time he rose above it, and maybe made fun of them, it was a point for him. The Snitch would only be caught at the end of the night, when the ball had ceased and they split for their respective common rooms: Hopefully with a kiss.

He wasn't entirely sure if the fact he was comparing this to a game of Quidditch was a question of his sanity, or just a rather bizarre copping mechanism. Maybe he should ask Cho... they were both exceptional Quidditch players, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't entirely laugh at his explanation. No, a small voice said, She may just get offended and leave you. Ditching you in front of your entire family. The thought made him pale; a sensation of having to be sick washing over him. Dear Merlin... he had to attend this ball... with a date... with his entire family present! It was just bad enough with his peers. He had completely forgotten about his family. But... now that he thought about it, his sister was in Ravenclaw house... What if... What if she was telling Cho all these embarrassing stories about him? Telling lies about him? What if Cho didn't want to go to the dance with him, and was simply doing so because Dumbledore had set up the dates? He was now effectively working himself into a panic. Taking a deep breath, he held it in for a ten count before letting it out slowly: Imagining that all his stress and worries were leaving with that breath. He was being stupid... April wouldn't say anything bad about him. And even if she did, and he knew she wouldn't, she would have come up to him and told him by now... or Cho would have confronted him about it.

It was rather hard to not stare at Cho. Wonderful? That was all he was capable of saying? She looked wonderful!? Merlin what was wrong with him! Wonderful didn't even begin to describe what she looked like. The blue kimono she wore, in his opinion, brought out her facial features: Making everything about her pop out in vivid detail (not to mention it seemed to hug in all the right places, but he was trying to keep his mind clean, lest his mother see him staring and start a lecture). And the elegant twists her hair was pulled back in... he wondered slightly how long she had taken to do it, or if she had done it by magic. He felt himself turn red as she complimented him as well, his smile so big now that it was starting to hurt his cheeks. She thought he was handsome!! Ten points to Harry! This dance was starting out right for him.

Now that the whole 'date night', if you will, had started... Harry didn't know what to do with himself. Girls... weren't his specialty. He licked his lips slightly, reaching up with his free hand and unconsciously running it through his hair. “Yeah me too. I don't think I would have had the nervous to ask you... or anyone.... out to it...” he said. Oh no... he had slipped up. But, his recovery had been nice. Albeit probably a bit obvious... Dammit, he had to fix his mistake!!! “Do, er, do you know when we're supposed to start dancing? Or do they want us to eat first?” he asked, looking around at the various tables.

tagged;; Cho Chang
wordcount;; 784
outfit;; Dress Robes
notes;; Nervous Harry, haha
credit;; GREEN EGGS AND SAM! of caution 2.0
lyrics in text are from Forget Paris!

[CHO XIU CHANG]

A bit awkward, that pretty accurately described the situation Cho found herself in. How long had she wanted to attend some sort of even with Harry? Almost since he arrived at Hogwarts a year later than she had. That thought was a bit embarrassing, the fact that she was actually older than her date. Had Dumbledore paired everyone this way, with the women older than the men? Or had he somehow known how Cho felt about the Potter Gryffindor? That thought was also pretty embarrassing. Was she that obvious? She hadn’t told many people about how she felt about Harry; were her emotions that plain on her face? Her parents would be so ashamed if that was the case. She was supposed to be pretty stoic. And she definitely was not supposed to fall for Harry Potter. A nice Chinese boy who was a year or three years older than her, that was the ideal according to Cho’s parents. Cho was raised to care what her parents thought and to do what they wanted her to do, but in this particular circumstance, she didn’t think that was possible. For one, they didn’t live in China and nice Chinese boys were hard to come by around here, though not impossible. Hogwarts was all about diversity now wasn’t it? But she had secretly cared about Harry for a while now, and she wasn’t going to listen to Mr. And Mrs. Chang on this one. She thought she owed it to herself to see how this went.

What the hell was she doing thinking about her mom and dad right now when Harry was right next to her? And neither of them had asked the other to this thing. They’d been paired together. For a moment her heart sank. What if Harry didn’t want to be here with her? What if the only reason he was doing this was because he signed up for it and maybe he thought that since his mom was a professor that he would have been paired up with someone else. Someone better than her. Someone he actually liked. What if Harry was embarrassed to be here with her? And she’d have to live up to his family’s expectations. Her cheeks were getting warmer now and she felt like her face might burst. That would be even more embarrassing. She wished she had left her hair down so she could hide behind it. She was more comfortable with her hair down. But damn it if she didn’t think that this event called for something special. And she had wanted to look nice for her date, who might not even want to be her date. Oh Jeeze, what the heck had she been thinking? Why on earth would Harry Potter want to be at this thing with her?

That was when he said something about not having the nerves to ask her out, or, well, anyone really. It took a moment to dissect that little piece of information. He said he wouldn’t have been able to ask her, and then he’d covered it up. Was he embarrassed to be with her? If that was true, did that mean that he wanted to be at this thing with her? He had said that she looked nice. So the night couldn’t be a total bust with them being paired together. Maybe he wasn’t embarrassed; maybe he really was just that nervous. Maybe he really did like her, or, at least, could tolerate her. That was a plus.

“I might have gotten up the nerve to ask you.” Cho felt a small smile pull across her face as she looked at the floor. Admitting to Harry that she liked him was difficult, yet somehow it felt better to have said that. “Maybe not for a while, but… eventually.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, just to see if he was looking at her. Maybe he’d run now.

There were tables set up, but if Cho was being honest with herself, she had no idea what they were expected to do. Some people were sitting, others were in corners or against the walls talking. She scanned the room briefly. “I’m… I’m not sure. Maybe, we should just do what the professors do?” At least if they did that, they wouldn’t get into an trouble.

tag: harry potter
words:725
outfit: dress ;; hair
notes: sorry it took so long
credits: template by ME ;; lyrics ET by Katy Perry