â R-right. A joke. Of course. â Peter grinned, his cheeks still flushed from his earlier embarrassment. Something about the way Barty spoke made him sure it hadnât been a joke, but he didnât dare voice his doubts. The last thing he wanted was to irritate the Ravenclaw, and there would be other occasions to satisfy his curiosity - if Barty really wanted a prank, heâd ask again, and next time Peter would be sure not to hesitate. He learned that kind of lesson quickly, even if no one seemed to notice that.
It didnât seem possible, but Bartyâs next comment only made Peter more nervous. His adamâs apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly feeling as dry as parchment. â Er - I - I didnât ask anyone. I mean⊠not yet. I should get on that, eh? â He gave another of his wheezy laughs. â I mean, there are a few girls I fancy. I just havenât asked oneâŠbeen busy, you know. â
He wouldnât be surprised if he ended up going alone, though. Even if some girl agreed to go with him, theyâd be asking to dance with James or Sirius within an hour. Peter couldnât even blame them, really. It wasnât like he wanted to be there with them any more than they wanted to be with him. Heâd have preferred to spend Christmas in his dorm with his friends, playing exploding snap and planning some mischief. Or home with his mum. But his friends were planning to go to the ball, and so he was too. Heâd sit and watch everyone dancing, and hope someone braver than him spiked the punch.
â So - er - what about you? â He couldnât imagine it was hard for Barty to find a date. Between his very important father and that charming smile, heâd probably had a hundred girls ask him already. Birds loved that sort of thing. Then again, Peter did too. For a moment, he allowed himself to fantasize about showing up to the ball on Bartyâs arm. In his mind, he was a whole stone lighter, and taller too, dressed in sleek black dress robes, and when he danced his feet werenât clumsy. Even Padfoot was looking on with envy⊠but that was so ridiculous he couldnât believe it even in a daydream. He was only likely to get a pity date, or none at all, and the idea of going with a bloke was even more absurd than him being fit and graceful.
Barty nodded his head at Peter, "Yes, you should get on it," he said with a slight chuckle at the young man and his wheezy laugh. He didn't bother to hid his disapointment at the mention of him fancying girls, he pretend to pout , resting his elbows on the table in front of him, cupping his own face with his hands. "I'm sure you're a busy boy, Pettigrew," he smiled once more, "I am almost postive it's not just girls that fancy you in return, you know? Perhaps ask a nice young man, who knows? You might like it." He turned his attention to a few students wandering by them. Barty taking hold of the apple, offering it to the group, one of them shaking their head, another smiling politely and other completely ignoring Barty all together. He sighed, putting the apple back on the table.
Barty was expected to go to the Yule Ball, if his parents heard he didn't make an apperance at the holiday festivities at Hogwarts, he would recieve plenty of letters asking him why. He had rather just go, walk around, have a cookie, then leave early for the night. No one would be wandering the halls since they'd all be in the Great Hall, the castle would be quiet and eerie, good for walking around getting lost in his own thoughts.
As for asking someone to the Yule Ball, Barty had barely thought about it. He was rarely seen with many female students, the opposite sex wasn't his favorite seeing how tiredsome they could be. And they too annoyed Barty very much. He wasn't sure if it was their high pitched voices or that they reply a lot on their emotions, or whatever it was, he didn't care very much for the female company. He shooked his head at Peter, lifting his head off from his palms.
"Me? Ask anyone? Probably not," he sighed. "No one has asked me," he said, giving Peter another short smile. And as if reading his mind, Barty leaned back with a snort of laughter shaking his head. "Imagine if you and I went together, Pettigrew," Barty chuckled, taking Peter's arm and looping it through his own. "Come on, Peter," he straighten his back, tugging on his robes as if he was wearing his robes. "That would get a laugh, yeah?" He looked at Peter, although he was joking, Barty wouldn't have mind going with Peter Pettigrew. He would have been a lot more enjoyable to be around than anyone else going to the Yule Ball and perhaps one of the only people Barty would have liked to see. As popular as he seemed, Barty didn't have a lot of friends, he kept himself closed off from everyone with the exception of a select few, Peter being one of them. He loosen his grip, letting go of the boy's arm returning to his resting postion. "Perhaps I will see you there.'
