The days following the announcement for the Yule Ball was torture for the male population at Hogwarts. Many of the boys realized that if they didn’t have a date it would be painful to attend. But with that realization, also came the fact that they would need to ask the girl if she would like to go to the ball with them, and that was the hard part. Asking a girl out.
Yeah, sure some of the girls would ask the guy they wanted to go with to the ball, but the majority would prefer the romantic setting of the guy they fancy coming up to them and confessing their heartfelt desire. Of course it wasn’t this complicated, the young men of the three schools, mainly Hogwarts, were just stuck on this downward spiral of a train wreck.
Of course the student that had it worse was Harry. He wanted to ask Hermione, but wasn’t sure how to proceed. Was it really just as simple as walking up to her and asking? He didn’t know but he knew he needed to make a move quickly. But with the way classes had been, well it hadn’t been easy.
The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumors about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere, though Harry didn’t believe half of them — for instance, that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. It seemed to be a fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters. Exactly who or what the Weird Sisters were Harry didn’t know, never having had access to a wizard’s wireless, but he deduced from the wild excitement of those who had grown up listening to the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) that they were a very famous musical group.
Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach them much when their minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed them to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm Harry had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Other teachers were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions — as Binns hadn’t let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn’t going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy’s cauldron-bottom report. Professors McGonagall and Moody kept them working until the very last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry. Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.
“Evil, he is,” Ron said bitterly that night in the Gryffindor common room. “Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying.”
“Mmm . . . you’re not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?” said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack — a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second.
Harry sensing that Hermione was about to start on a long winded lecture, gently grabbed her hand.
“Hermione, give Ron a break. He has had a rough time of it.” Harry began, “But you are not wrong either.” Turning to Ron, Harry gave the card house a light puff of air. It then proceeded to explode and fall, blowing up in Ron’s face.
“Bloody Hell, Harry!” Ron started, but Harry held up his hand to stop him.
“Ron, think of it this way, The quicker you get the work done, the faster you will be able to find a date for the Yule Ball.” Harry told him.
“Yeah but Harry, the ball is ages away. There will be plenty of time to find a date.” Ron said reassuringly.
Harry turned to look at Hermione in a, You want to tell him, or should I?, manner. Hermione could only shake her head and went back to her reading, though while still holding Harry’s hand with a light blush.
“Ron, who do you plan on asking to the ball?” Harry inquired.
“Mate that is kinda random, but either Lavender Brown or one of the other fit girls in the school. Like Susan Bones, or her friend Hannah.”
“Well I hate to tell you this Ron, but Susan and Hannah are going with each other, and Lavender has had half a dozen guys asking her left and right, trying to get the chance to go with her. If you keep waiting to finishes your work, all those ‘fit’ girls will already be asked and you’ll have to go by yourself, and think of the fun the twins might have with you when they find out. After all, they already have dates and I’m sure Ginny has already been swept off her feet as well.”
Ron hearing everything that Harry started to go pale, as the realization that Harry was right was slowly sinking in, then looked ready to faint at the mention fo the the twins. Ron knew that Fred and George would never miss an opportunity like Harry just mentioned to prank him. With a slight shudder, Ron hopped over the couch and ran up the stairs to the dorm to grab all the homework he had left.
“Is Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot really going with each other, Harry?” Hermione asked.
“No clue. But I figured the idea that all the girls that Ron would like to go with slowly being taken out of the dance pool, would scare him into urgency. That and the fact that the twins would never let him live it down.” Harry could only softly chuckle.
“And what about you Mr. Potter? Anyone special you like to go with?” Teased Hermione with a small playful glint in her eyes.
Before replying, Harry looked around the Common Room. Making sure there was nobody to over hear.
“Well there is this one girl I want to go with, you might know her. She is my girlfriend, see? And she is one of the more beautiful girls here in the castle. I’m just not sure how I should ask her. Add-on to the fact that I am apparently in the running for being the next husband of a dragon and bloody basilisk. I just don’t want to see any sad faces.”
“Well, thankfully, your girlfriend is in agreement with you and has experience in pulling you out of dangerous situations. Even being benevolent enough to have foresight on this subject.”
“But you hate Divinations,” Harry interjected.
“Yes but I happen to enjoy the talks with Sasha and Ramaranth. So it just so happens that formally you will be going to the ball with me, your girlfriend, but you have to at least dance with the other two on a balanced rotation. After all, you are now at a point of ensuring magical balance.” Hermione informed him with a smile.
“You are the best girlfriend in the world, you know that right?”
“I know.” Hermione said smugly. Seeing her attitude, Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him.
Hermione let out a little shriek, but was silenced as Harry began to kiss her. As the two locked lips, the world around them ceased to exist. As the two snogged, Harry’s hands began to roam across Hermione’s soft body, and just as his hands began to go further south.
“Merlin’s Beard! I was gone for two seconds and you two decide to start a snogging session. Give a bloke a break Harry!”
Ron Weasley decided to return.
Harry and Hermione, both, jumped apart from each other and had embarrassed looks on their faces. They had indeed gotten lost in their own little world. Fixing their clothes, the two lovers sat back on the couch, albeit a little further apart from each other than a second ago.
“Look guys, I don’t mind that the two of you are together now but please remember that I am here.” Ron complained, as he started to try to figure out the homework stuff.
“You weren’t a second ago.” Harry mumbled.