The Yule Ball was a big event. Who was Harry going to ask? He really wanted to go with Cho, but it would be next to impossible to get her alone. He could always just take Hermione. She wouldn’t mind being his date so he could get the whole thing over with, right? She was a good friend. Harry doubted that anyone would ask her. She was...okay looking, but she never really got any guys. She never really had a crush or a boyfriend. Harry forgot that she might have had, but didn’t want to let him know. That wasn’t really something you discussed with your guy best friend anyway.
At Breakfast, he thought of a brilliant idea. He could ask Ginny! Then, Ron could ask Hermione, and they could all go as friends. Also, they wouldn’t look like dumb going to the ball alone. Ginny was eating a piece of toast. How was he going to do this?
“Erm, Ginny?” he asked. She looked up. “I have to dance with someone at the Yule Ball to start it off, being a champion. It really sucks but--”
“Oh yeah, I heard about that!” she interrupted. “Isn’t Cho Chang going with Cedric Diggory?”
That threw Harry for a moment. Cho was going to Cedric. Cho was going with the other Hogwarts champion to the cursed Yule Ball. Even if he couldn’t ask her to the ball, after the ball there was no way he could get her to date him. If it was some ugly friend from Ravenclaw, he could just ask her later. But she was going with handsome, famous, sweet Cedric. Harry swore under his breath. There was a good chance he was her new boyfriend.
“I don’t know,” Harry replied, a bit of a delayed response. “Where did you hear that?”
“I think someone from Ravenclaw told one of my friends. They said Cho was going on and on about him, and that she was really excited to go to the ball with a Hogwarts champion. She gets a grand entrance and everything. He is incredibly handsome, and I can definitely see why she’s going with him. I’d love to…”
“Okay!” Harry cut in, slamming his fist down and almost knocking over his goblet full of pumpkin juice. “I get it. He’s bloody perfect in everyway.”
“Sorry,” she said blushing and fighting back a smile.
“A bit jealous, Harry?” joked Hermione who just entered. Now Harry remembered why he started talking to Ginny in the first place.
“Yeah, I guess, I wanted to ask Cho,” he admitted quickly, and for some reason Ginny’s face fell quite a bit. “So about the Yule Ball, me and Ro--”
But Ginny interrupted a second time. Harry cursed her into the fiery pits of hell.
“What day is the Yule Ball again, Hermione?” she asked.
“It’s two nights away,” Hermione replied, beaming. “I just decided on a hairstyle, it’ll take me hours to do though!”
Harry tried again, before they got two into their girly conversation. “The champions need dates, and I can’t find anyone I’d want to go with as a date, really so…”
“I can help you if you like,” Ginny told her, acting like Harry didn’t speak. “My mum sent me a nice set of dress robes, they were my Aunt’s but they are still really pr--”
“I’M TRYING TO ASK YOU TO THE BALL, DAMNIT!” Harry bellowed at Ginny, losing his patience, especially when they were talking about hair and dresses. The whole table went silent, and Ginny’s face turned bright red.
“Oh, that’s…I…” she stuttered.
“Please!” he interrupted quickly. This was taking too long. “Please will you go? I need a date to open the dancing. Plus, Ron and I don’t want to look like dateless idiots so Hermione could take him and we could all go as friends!”
“Sorry, Harry. I’m going with Neville,” she said, not looking very sympathetic. Maybe because Harry was asking her so he wouldn’t look like an idiot going alone, not because he liked her. She looked a bit embarassed. Well, she was going with Neville. Who wouldn't be? “And Hermione is already going with someone too.”
Harry stormed out of the hall, muttering something about being late for Quidditch practice for nothing.
***
On his way back to the common room, Harry ran into Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. He desperately needed a date. He could only hope she wasn’t going with someone else. His chances didn’t look too high; even Hermione already had a date.
“Parvati, Lavender!” he called back after they passed him. They turned around, and before they could speak he did. “Could you go to the ball with me, Parvati?”
She and Lavender giggled madly. Harry rolled his eyes at the sound.
“Yes,” she said between her fits of giggles. “I suppose so.”
“Then can you go with Ron?” he asked Lavender. She didn’t speak, but she was blushing. Parvati spoke for her.
“She’s going with someone else,” Parvati told Harry. Harry sighed, unhappy to have a date and leave Ron without one.
“Do you know anyone that doesn’t have a date that could go with him?”
“Well,” she said. “Maybe my sister, Padma in Ravenclaw could.” Harry felt relieved.
“All right then,” he said awkwardly and walked to the Fat Lady’s portrait, their giggles echoing around the halls. Harry should have been happy he finally had someone to go with, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t stop picturing himself going with Ginny. Why? He knew why: They would have gone as friends and she wouldn’t have giggled a lot like Parvati was sure to.
Harry knew he was lying to himself. It would be nice if she kept quiet and if he and Parvati were going as friends, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that he would do anything to replace or Neville’s spot. Why did he like that idea so much? It was a good plan but now he and Ron had dates and everything was settled. He liked Cho, and he would jinx Cedric the whole ball…Right? RIGHT.
“Fairy lights,” Harry said and the painting swung open. He climbed through the portrait hole and found Ron looking depressed.
“Harry! There you are! Do you have a date yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just ran into Parvati in the hall and--”
“Lucky,” Ron sulked. “I can’t find anyone that isn’t taken.”
“I found someone for you, too,” he told Ron, and Ron looked grateful. And relieved. “Parvati’s twin sister, Padma.”
“Thanks, mate,” Ron said. “This ball is a lot of trouble, for just one night, isn’t it?” Harry couldn’t have agreed more.
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