A/N: This is part of a much bigger story that isn't anywhere near finished. Sorry if you don't understand some of the stuff that's going on; basically Melissa Swan is your potions professor, Susan Bones is a friend and you quite like a certain red head...
Why Boys hate Balls
You're running your hand through your hair for the fifteenth time whilst you're trying to find Ginny. Your stomach seems to be located somewhere in your knees. People tell you that your heart is probably somewhere on your sleeve, but considering the pounding sound coming from somewhere near your throat, you bet it's more likely that your heart is trying to suffocate you to save you from the shame.
A blur of red crosses your eyes in your searching; your eyes are inextricably forced in that direction to see Ron and Hermione sharing a very close and long hug. You figure the idiot has finally asked her and she's said yes, because you doubt they'd be this happy if they were going with other people.
You start running off down a narrow shoot – you don't want to ask them any questions encase Ron jumps to any conclusions and it would be a whole lot easier to convince him with Ginny as backup. Shaking that thought out of your head, you should really get past the first hurdle before you consider the second, you see your quarry a few paces outside the library, "Ginny!" The word seems to roll off your tongue like it should be there, but also wants to stay in there too. Forcing a little of that Gryffindor bravery everyone goes on about, you hurry up to her already out of breath but it doesn't seem to be coming back any faster.
"Will..." you pant for a breath, but not because you need it, but because you couldn't force any more of the sentence out "Will you go..." you suddenly can't speak anymore, and your throat is feeling really hoarse. You're so caught up in your little problem you miss the very shocked look she's giving you. "Will you go to the Ball... with me?" you almost didn't add the last part, but realised before she said anything that not adding it would mean the question could be misunderstood somehow, and now you register the look of shock.
Her look of shock suddenly turns to a look of anger, you get the feeling you did something wrong again, but you can't for the life of you figure out what. "You're asking me now? Four days before the Ball?" she seems to be pretty mad about something, you figure whatever it is you did, you're going to pay for it. You suddenly realise that she might be angry because being seen in public with you is a lot like a death warrant, but that didn't seem to deter her before.
"Uh... sorry, I just thought you might-" she cuts you off in the most ladylike manner... "For your information, Harry James Potter-" she punctuates each word of your name by jabbing you in your shoulder with her finger "-someone, in fact 3 people, have already asked me! And I said yes!" You find it a bit odd that she said yes to three people, but not to you. However, this doesn't seem like the best time to bring up that question, instead your mastery of the English language comes to your aid "bu... I... err... I thought-" she cuts you off again, "You thought wrong!" By now your temper is starting to get the better of you, you've been cut off twice now and she's angry at you over nothing.
"You are the thickest bloody git there is!" she's screaming pretty loud now and you're making a scene, there seems to be a few people looking your way. If you thought you were getting annoyed at being cut off, that's nothing to being humiliated and then insulted in public. You're not so caring about the 'in public' part, but part of being a Gryffindor means you have a lot of pride and that pride doesn't like the current beating it's getting. "Well, sorry for asking, clearly I've misinterpreted some stuff!" Pride is one thing to be hurt, but she hit low... she hit your feelings and it's not very often you let your feelings known. You vow for that to be the last time you open yourself up to be shot down like that. Suddenly your seeker reflexes kick in, you just irritated her more, as you see her face growing red with anger and you bolt away before she can lay in any more insults.
She screams something unintelligible as you're walking away and you feel a little better knowing she's wound up about something – even if you have no clue what that something is. You're already on your way to your potions professor; she'll know what to do, hopefully. Somehow your brain isn't working properly and all you can think of is how cute Ginny looked when she looked mad. You're sure she wanted to hex you pretty badly, but since you don't feel as if you deserved it you wouldn't feel bad defending yourself. A minute or so later, still seething in anger you knock brutally hard on your potion's professor's office.
A moment's hesitation passes before you hear a very curious sounding Professor Swan call out "Enter?" You doubt she really means it as a question, but you're thinking you should apologise as you step over the threshold and notice her tilt her head whilst looking at you. Suddenly the door clicks behind you but you figure it was just shutting. Your eyes are linked to your professors and her stunning blue eyes are burrowing into your soul as you attempt think "Er... sorry. I had a little run in." Her expressions turn shocked before she scalps them into a perfectly endearing face as she motions to the seat on the other side of the desk from you. She makes a note on her paper as you sit down and then puts down her quill with a slight look of bemusement on her face, "A run in, Harry?" Suddenly you realise that you're sitting alone in the classroom with a very gorgeous girl who isn't too old to be thought of as... 'too old'.
"Yes Professor-" she interrupts you, but it doesn't seem to annoy you like it did when Ginny did it "Please Harry, call me Lizzy." Nodding slightly you glance to your left, you're not sure why but your eyes were drawn that way when she smiled at you and a little colour enters your face. "Okay, Lizzy-" the term feels a little awkward "-see, I err... asked this girl to the ball, and well... it didn't really... go that well" you finish awkwardly, but you glance back at her and she's still wearing that painfully beautiful smile. "I see..." you notice a little amusement in her voice as she seems to be having a little trouble fighting back a giggle. This makes a smirk break out on your face as you realise how stupid this must sound coming from you; the guy who's stared down The Dark Lord. Plastering a disapproving frown across your face, you manage a question, "Something amusing, Lizzy?" She suddenly looks shocked and the look of her makes you break out in a grin. She realises what you did amazingly fast and swats you across your shoulder "Humph!" Her voice sounds amazingly erotic to you, but you keep your cool as her face gains a bit of colour.
You realise what you just did – you just flirted with your potion's professor and she seemed to like it. Gulping, you realign your robe properly and ask the question you came here for "Uhm, Lizzy, what should I do? It's the Ball soon and I've got no date" she regards you for a second gains a little cheeky grin "If it wasn't for the rules, Harry, I'd ask you myself." Her little wink at the end made you break eye contact and look down to inspect your shoes thoroughly, more than a little colour just entered your face. A little muffled giggle makes you look back at her and your eyes bulge at the fact that she seemed to have just opened a button on her blouse. Coughing you look away from her cleavage that you have an awesome view of and manage a "damn rules" in jest.
"Yes, quite. However, I suggest asking a girl in your year, perhaps Susan Bones might be willing to go if you... ask her the right way. She's a very proud person as, and making her think she's your last resort wouldn't be... prudent, shall we say?" she's regarding you with a small smile when you make eye contact with her half way through the sentence. "Susan?" your mind races at breakneck speeds; suddenly it hits you like a tonne of bricks, she's female. "I'm sure she already has a date..." you feel disappointed for a reason you can't really explain. "Actually, Harry, she was planning on not going, I'm not sure why. However, she's always willing to help out a friend" she adds a nod in your direction for good measure, in case you somehow forgot you might be considered a friend.
Your eyes widen in shock a bit, though you're not sure why you're shocked. Susan really isn't the type to put a lot of thought into Balls; she's more of a tomboy than anything else. Then again, Ginny is the most tomboy girl you know, and she's making a huge deal out of this stupid Ball. Comparing the two, you realise how alike they are, except Susan doesn't seem to like Quidditch that much. They're both redheads, well, kind of, Susan is more strawberry blonde. They're both quite petite and cute for it, you think Susan is cute? Since when did you think that? Of course, they're both quite tomboyish and they both have the same kind of humour, except Susan is less mean when she teases you. "Well... uh... thanks profess- er, Lizzy" you say, flustered and panicking, she might be being asked right now and you need to hurry. You stand up and don't know how you should handle your departure, what's the right way to say goodbye to a professor who you know on first name basis and you flirt with anyway? "Uh, I'll see you in class, Lizzy" you settle on in the end, with an awkward half smile. "Right you will, Harry, I expect more perfect potions from you" she replies with an ice thawing smile.
You feel quite optimistic about asking Susan, she's only been a friend now for a few months; however, she's seen more of you than any girl has, both emotionally and... physically... but you rather not bring that up when you ask her. You're running about the school for a good 20 minutes before you realise it's dinner time and she's probably eating. You decide that you should ambush her as she comes out of the great hall so you lean on a wall in the room outside and wait. Quite a few people are coming in and out and you see Ron and Hermione wave to you and give you curious expressions as they enter the hall. They looked like there going to come over to you before you shook your head and gestured into the hall, you're glad they took the hint because explaining what you are doing right now would be a bit embarrassing. Several minutes later you notice Susan coming out of the hall animatedly talking with her friends. You cross your arms and force a stony expression onto your face as you silently watch her whilst leaning a shoulder on the wall.
She seemed to have finished a joke as all of her friends laugh and she looks around, you catch her eye and your stony expression must be holding because she looks shocked to see you. She turns to her friends and says something before making her way towards you looking a bit confused, some of her friends whistle at her and she turns around with a look of mock indignance. You manage to hold your stony expression for now, but you really don't know how much more you can take. You're already feeling a bit of embarrassment and there seems to be a knot in your stomach for some reason, you faintly realise you're nervous. It must have played on your face because Susan suddenly looks worried "Everything alright, Harry?" She skipped her usual greeting, which is weird because she loves that greeting, but it works for you.
"I was talking to Professor Sprout, she seems to think you're going to fail Herbology and wants me to help" it's a cruel, cruel joke and it would scare almost anyone but her. Her face cracks and she starts laughing, you struggle to keep your straight face and a smirk appears before laughter takes over. You feel a bit hurt that she'd laugh at the thought of you helping her in Herbology, but you'll be the first to admit that she's the only person in the class who gives Neville a run for his money and having them sit either side of you is the only reason you're still struggling through the advanced stuff.
"Susan, I'm in a pinch that I put myself in stupidly, and I could really use some help. I haven't exhausted all of my options yet, but some of those options aren't exactly... welcoming... to say the least. I'd owe you big time if you could fish me out of this mess" Your stony expression is back and the knot in your stomach is returning with vengeance. "Go on..." she seems curious, which is good. "Well, have you got a date for the Ball yet?" She seems a bit taken aback and you can see her mind blazing away making all sorts of jumps and conclusions, after a few seconds of hesitation she replies "...no..." with a very curious expression on her face. "Oh, well, that's a bit surprising really. I would'a thought someone would've asked you by now." She seems a bit more like herself again as she rolls her eyes, "Some boys asked me, but I'm not very much into Balls, nor those boys" she finishes by scrunching her nose up in her cute little way – wait, when did you start finding that cute?
Shaking the cobwebs out of your head, you suddenly feel really nervous as she waits expectantly for your reply, "Uh... well, I was wondering if you'd like to go... with me" You can't help but notice the similarities between this time and when you asked Ginny. She seems utterly flabbergasted at this question and manages an "Er" before you decide to help her out a bit "You know, like as friends. I asked Ginny and she said no... There's some other girls that I could ask but I'd rather go with you and have a good time than go with some girl I don't get along with and spend all night pining over Ginny." Your voice sounds a bit more annoyed than you'd like and you forget the question you just asked until Susan replies, "Sure, yeah. God knows I owe you a favour," you can't help but notice an undercurrent of disappointment in her words and you feel a stab of guilt.
"Hmm, only, I don't have anything to wear. I wasn't really planning on going" she brings you back out of your turmoil. Again she's biting her lip in that amazingly cute way and suddenly you feel the urge to kiss her. Shaking your head, you try to get those wrong feelings out of it before you do something stupid. "Don't worry about that, there's a shop in Hogsmeade that sells dresses, I'm sure," she regards you like you're stupid for a second before you add "My treat, you're doing me a favour, after all." She looks at you like she's about to hit you before she suddenly brightens up and says "Well, okay. Meet me here Saturday at 10am," she turns without saying any more and walks quite quickly away "bring your galleons!" she yells just as she's walking out of earshot.
A grin graces your face before you realise that now you've got to deal with Ron and Hermione at dinner. After that you've got to deal with Ginny for... god knows how long. Suddenly Quidditch practice doesn't sound all that fun...
Saturday morning brings a much happier mood than you've had since your conversation with Susan. You lied to Ron and Hermione, and you feel bad for it, but it saved a lot of questions from being asked. You figured they'd hear about you asking Ginny, or at least Hermione would, so you came out and told them. Ron seemed a bit annoyed but Hermione was smiling until a few cogs turned in her head and realised why you were so unhappy after asking Ginny. You also told them you were just looking around for a random girl that didn't have a date yet when you were out in the hall, and you were asking mostly any girl. This was the lie you told, as you didn't want to say you specifically chose Susan since it seemed a bit odd to you that you were so nervous about it.
Ron was still asleep – lazy git – and you dressed quietly and quickly, picking some nicer robes to wear than usual, some of your duelling robes. Running down the stairs you realise you're a bit over excited about the prospect of spending time alone with Susan, and a nervous feeling in your stomach makes you a bit dizzy and light headed. Hermione is in the common room when you get there and, as always, is reading a book. Just as you were hoping to sneak by undetected you hear her call out, "Morning Harry! Where are you off to?" A sense of dread piles up inside you and you figure that you should tell the truth. "Well, Susan doesn't have a dress, since she wasn't planning to go. So since she's doing me a huge favour, I figure I'd pay her back by buying her a nice dress." Hermione seems rather miffed about something; you figure having another girl annoyed at you probably isn't a good thing. It seems weird to you that she's annoyed, as she's usually happy when you tell her you're doing something for a girl, though that girl is usually Ginny.
"Sorry?" you test the water, not really sure what you're apologising for, but your experience with women tells you to apologise first and think later. "It's not me you should be apologising to" Hermione replies, with eyebrows high as she nods towards the girls dorms. "Ginny?" you ask, feeling that it was all too obvious and that question might be taken rhetorically you press on "I seriously haven't a clue what she's so annoyed about, and to be honest, I have better things to do than try and puzzle together girls." You seem to be annoyed again, but you're fighting down the urge to insult her, which means brownie points to yourself. "You need to figure it out before you lose her," suddenly being told what you need to do feels a bit belittling. You're not five anymore, you know exactly what you have to do! "Hermione," you start in a threatening voice, "what I need to do is survive and kill Lord Voldemort-" she still feels the need to flinch at the word which just fuels your anger "-and anything else is optional" you finish with a menacing glare that she didn't really deserve, but in your opinion she poked the fire with her finger and got burnt. That serves her right for sticking her nose into your business when she wasn't asked to.
You're still fuming by the time you reach Susan and she instantly picks up on it. However, she seems to already know you better than any of your so-called 'best friends' and says nothing. You appreciate this as it gives you a chance to mentally slap yourself, you really don't want to take this out on Susan and it should be a good day for her. "Morning Susan," you add a big grin in thanks for her gesture. Suddenly, her eyes stop tracking you and she stares at where you just were; you're a bit curious now so you turn around and there's nothing there. You turn back to Susan and suddenly she's not there, you're starting to hallucinate... odd... she seemed pretty real. Oh well, best wait for Su-
You never got to finish that thought, someone just burnt your left palm with their wand and it scared the shit out of you, you practically hexed them out of their little bootsies before you realised those bootsies were on a very innocent looking Susan Bones. You almost feel the need to shout again before you're being laughed at, you try to feign anger since the actual anger left you moments earlier but she just laughs harder at you. Somewhere deep down you're really enjoying watching her laugh, but that thought gets quashed, those wrong thoughts again... "Shall we depart, or do you want to show some more people your tonsils?" She looks a bit shocked and instantly covers her mouth. She wasn't doing a very good job of it before because she was holding her ribs, you didn't think the prank was that funny but you figure it was something about the expression on your face. You're silently glad that she completely forgot about the letters engraved into the back of your left hand, everyone else seems to be tiptoeing around that area afraid that you somehow can't deal with being reminded.
She collects herself and straightens her robes. You're starting to stare at her curves again as she stretches the material over her suddenly impressive bust – No! Bad Harry. Those are wrong thoughts. She's now eyeing you strangely so you better start talking or she's gonna think you're enjoying the show a bit too much. She saves you from having to stutter your reply, "Harry," she just moved closer and started whispering, she's practically breathing on your neck and you're greatly distracted, "how are we getting to Hogsmeade?" You figure it's a stupid question, you're not allowed to apparate, brooms would be a bit obvious, portkeys are out of the question. What's left except walking? You're starting to think she's a bit dumb and you're giving her a 'are you stupid?' look before you realise she's talking about how you're getting out of the castle.
"Oh!" you look a bit shocked at first, you hadn't thought of that. Stupid. A grin graces your face in the way that you only know how and she's already gained a smirk, waiting for your smartass reply no doubt, "I know a way," you answer vaguely. Winking at her was a bit over the top, but you're having fun, you stroll away casually but you're already panicking about who might be outside DADA class. You're walking a bit more rigidly now and she's giving you funny looks, "Uhm, we're kind of walking the wrong way... we were closer to the entrance that way" she gestures vaguely behind herself, but you just look at her and shake your head nervously. You arrive at the one-eyed witch statue that you have learnt to know and love and glance up and down the hallway you're in. Finally you're convinced you're alone and Susan is starting to give you looks that would fit well in a book of 'Innocent sweet girls corrupted by crazed madman'. She starts talking again – she's good at that – "Uhm, Ha-" you cut her by raising your hand and speaking the password "Dissendium." Suddenly the hump on the statue opens up and your favourite passageway opens up. You realise that you're now going to appear in the cellar of Honeydukes but you're vaguely caring that Susan just let out a very impressed sort of noise.
You gesture for her to go first and she curtseys slightly in mock before jumping very unladylike head first down the passageway. You're about to jump when you hesitate a moment, you'll land on top of her if you jump too fast, you leave a good few seconds and jump like she did – it looked fun at the time. You realise on the way down it wasn't a good idea because now you're going at breakneck speeds and you're probably going to land on just that – a broken neck. You're relieved at the bottom as you land on your back instead of your neck; you're just hoping she didn't hurt herself either when suddenly she sits on your chest, air that was in your lunges just got forced out. "You know, I've waited a long time to have you at my mercy," she has your wand in her hand, and you're suddenly feeling very naked. "You could've told me it was so dirty down here, I wouldn't have jumped down if I'd known," she still sounds casual, which puts you on guard, "Sorry?" You go with the generic response that you give every female who sounds annoyed at you; it's practically second nature by now.
She rolls her eyes, as she always does, in that cute little way you've recently started liking. You make a grab for your wand and your speed plays to your advantage as she doesn't even react in time, suddenly the tables turn and she gives you another roll of her eyes – she seems to like doing that. Wingardium Leviosa! You cast non-verbally now, you're pretty much just showing off but it feels good as she lifts off your chest and you can breathe properly again. She gives you yet another roll of her eyes and you're starting to think her eyes might be getting tired, "You like rolling your eyes, eh?" She almost rolls her eyes again before she stops herself and looks sad. You're aware you hit a nerve somewhere and you put her on her feet before standing up yourself, "Sorry, just my aunt always told me off for rolling my eyes." Feeling awful you hug her, you know she feels touched because this is one of the very few times you have initiated contact with anyone, and she knows it better than most.
She has her palms on your chest and she's got her head on your shoulders; your arms are around her and suddenly she seems a lot more feminine than you remember. She curls her hands up into fists and grips at your robes for a few seconds before she sighs and steps back. "Thank you," is all she says, but the look she gives you almost breaks you in two, she seems so sad and a far shot from any time you've seen her in the past few months. The moment passes as she turns and starts walking down the passageway, "Come on slowpoke, you've got a dress to buy me."
The next day at 5:30pm you're nervously trying to push down your hair yet again. You're not sure why you're nervous, you're only going to a ball with 32 other duelling contestants and the rest of the Hogwarts 2nd years and up. Your second ball, no big deal, right? Wrong, retard, you're expected to know what to do now days. You're the only student left in the 32, everyone is looking at you with those big eyes again, and with Filius Flitwick and Albus Dumbledore in the running, you're starting to think you might need more practice so you don't... like... get killed. Your time training with Flitwick has helped a lot, he's given you the skills and tricks you need to bring, but your spells just seem so hard to control more recently and your wandless magic is very unpredictable.
You decide to go down to the entrance and wait for Susan, she didn't show you her dress when you gave her the money for it and you're interested in how it looks. You thought it was quite a cheap dress at the time, but what do you know? You've never bought a dress in your life. On the way through the common room you notice Ron waiting for Hermione, he's already been there since 5pm and you're thinking Hermione will probably come down almost last like she did the previous ball. Ron doesn't even notice you walk past him, he seems to be a huge bundle of nerves and you doubt you'd be able to calm him down. You would attempt, but seeing as Ginny might be down any second you'd rather stay away from that bombshell for the moment, you can get your ass handed to you on a night that means less to her.
You've been down stairs and waiting for Susan for 20 minutes, you're getting a bit peckish, and McGonagall felt the need to tell you at the last minute again that you are to open the ball; thankfully you expected it this time and you stayed outside. Another saving grace would be that there are 31 other couples who will start the dance, as opposed to the 4 of last time, the great hall suddenly felt really small; peeking in there you take a quick glance around encase Susan decided to just go in without you. You see that the Great Hall is a lot bigger than it was last time you checked, you figure Dumbledore pulled a few tricks out of his sleeve; a smile graces your face until you realise you might have to duel your headmaster, suddenly you don't feel all that hungry anymore.
You turn around to the steps to see a gorgeous redhead in a pink strapless dress. She doesn't have much of a chest, but she more than makes up for it in figure. The dress is a tight fit around her and the frills go all the way from mid waist to just below her knees. Her red hair is tied up in a bun behind her, the fringe is separated into two; the main part of her fringe is straight and goes across her face and ends in a curl whilst the other part of it is a small helix shape that floats on the side of her head. She looks magnificent, your breath hitches as she looks at you; quickly she looks away and at another guy across the hall from you. A bout of jealousy hits you as you reach for your wand, you want to hex the fucker into next decade but you restrain yourself. You recognise him as a 7th year Hufflepuff who is on their Quidditch team, or at least was; you faintly remember Fred hitting an awesome bludger at him and knocking him pretty badly. You feel a little better and this will have to do because you see another redhead heading down the steps.
Ron is escorting Hermione down the stairs and you can see the grin on his face from a mile away. He doesn't seem to notice you looking at Hermione, which is good because you probably had a hungry expression on your face anyway. You've only kissed two girls, and only once each but suddenly you wouldn't mind making Hermione third on that exclusive list. She's in a deep purple dress that goes all the way down to the floor with a flourish, only one strap on her right shoulder and a very expensive looking necklace around her neck. Her bust easily fills the garment, but she doesn't wear the frock nearly as tightly as Ginny was wearing hers, her waist is a bit tighter in the dress but she looks amazing anyway. Her hair is split into three parts, two small bits of wavy fringe equally separated at the front and the mass of her hair tied up into a huge helix in a pony tail behind her head. Ron and Hermione walk past you, Ron doesn't notice anything but Hermione grins at you, with a wave, and she looks almost close to tears, you smile and mouth "Beautiful!" back at her. She started to blush a little but grinned more than anything and then went back to being escorted by Ron into the Great Hall.
Finally a bit of strawberry blonde drags your attention back to the stairs as Susan descends them. You're now standing like a statue as you look at the goddess in front of you, she looks simply breathtaking. Her strawberry hair is separated into a fringe at the front which curls forward and back onto her eyebrows; the fringe is slanted slightly leaving one eyebrow completely uncovered. The rest of her hair is pulled back into a small black separator on her head and then left from the crown of her head onwards to messily lie on her shoulders in gorgeous curves. Her amazing bright blue eyes penetrate you from behind the dark eyeliner and blue eye shadow; she graces you with a grin that could cause you to drop your jaw if it wasn't already hanging. Your eyes finally depart from her face and you faintly notice a few black beads separated scarcely around her neckline. She is wearing a single strap black dress that goes around her neck and attaches to each side just past her bust, this serves her very well as it brings up her chest and creates a not-so-modest cleavage. It doesn't help that she's wearing a very low cut top, but the edges are surrounded by a cascade of silver sequins and her dress hugs her waist and areas between very snugly before going over her hips. Her small delicate looking frame has never been so appealing but right now you're wondering why her dress even bothers to go below her hips, it stops only half way down her thigh and she's wearing delicate looking high heels.
She's at the bottom of the stairs now, so you better start looking somewhere beside those amazing legs. Your view travels to her face again and she gives you a very one sided small smile as her mouth retreats to the right of her face. She looks really nervous despite all this, and you can't really see why considering how breathtaking she looks. Your eyes float down towards her cleavage again, you didn't notice until she's standing next to you, "Yes, it is a nice dress, isn't it Harry?" It's her polite way of saying 'stop staring at my breasts,' you figure, so you nod and go very red. Thankfully you're a great literate and your mastery of the English language once again graces your existence, "A... err, y-... you... w-wow!" You're looking into her eyes and she's already giggling at you before you realise you just managed to say two one syllable words in 6 syllables, good job Potter.
She rolls her eyes at your sheepish grin and already McGonagall is calling you in to start the dance. You're kind of taken by surprise and you'd much rather stay out here with Susan than enter that stupid hall. However, Susan has other ideas as she grabs your arm and leads you straight into the hall as 5th from last couple out of 32 to enter to begin the festivities. Since both the headmaster and the deputy headmistress are on the dance floor with you, you're half wondering whose going to do all the opening speeches and such. Suddenly, the music starts and you're quick to grab hold of Susan, who is just as quick to grab hold of you. You look at your feet as if they should be doing something and a small "Ahem" comes from Susan. You must have been staring at her cleavage again because she gives you a pretty stern look and you lead her into the dance feeling hot and flustered; you mutter "Merlin" to her and she stifles a giggle. Looking around you notice that you're the only two students on the dance floor with 30 other couples that are at least twice, if not more, your age. Strangely Severus Snape is dancing with your potions Professor who is giggling frantically, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall are dancing together; both are in the competition which explains why there are only 31 couples instead of 32. Professor Flitwick is dancing with Madam Pomfrey, it seems strange at first because you thought he'd be with Professor Sprout, but you're not entirely sure why you thought that. You figure Flitwick probably got his fair share of injuries in his lifetime and frequently visited Pomfrey in the infirmary.
After the first dance finishes, a pretty quick song comes on and most the adults leave the floor and it's flooded by students. You're dancing pretty fast with Susan when Hannah Abbot and her date come up to you. Hannah leans into Susan and then giggles as she pulls away; she gives you a knowing look. You're not quite sure what she knows, but she knows something you don't and that always annoys you, you shrug it off because Susan is blushing again and you'd rather not embarrass yourself by asking what they just conversed. Instead you start looking around the great hall, your eyes settle upon an unmistakable redhead and she notices you staring at her. Suddenly she takes off towards the bathroom and you notice Hermione giving you a quick glare before disappearing into the same bathroom. You're left staring dumbly at the bathroom door as you feel eyes watching you, you turn to find Susan looking a bit flustered and listening to Hannah and her date talk in the moments between songs. Hannah looks at Susan with a sad expression across her face before turning her attention on you with a pretty nasty glare. Your gut instinct is to apologise again, "Sorry?" You said the word before even thinking about if she could hear you and she immediately beckons you over to her.
"Harry? You know Justin, right?" she points towards her date who just happens to be Justin Finch-Fletchley. You're mildly amused by how scared he seems of your hand, "I don't bite." He reluctantly shakes your hand as the next song comes on, it's a slow one and you suddenly feel nervous again. Turning to Susan, you find she's dancing with Hannah; you decide to play to your strengths, "My wand is already in my hand, who wants to piss Harry off?" You sounded both angry and amused at the same time, which caused the desired effect as Justin took off grabbing Hannah on the way. "Harry!" Susan begins through a fit of giggles but doesn't manage any more; you step towards her and take hold of her waist. You tell yourself that you're only this bold because you only think of her as a friend, but as she slides her hands around your neck and rests her cheek on your shoulder, you suddenly feel a huge chill go down your spine.
"Susan?" you whisper quietly to her, she apparently doesn't like not looking at someone she's talking to and she moves slightly back so she can tilt her head to listen to what you say. "I know 'officially' I'm meant to decide if someone can cut in and take you, but I'd much prefer if you trod on my foot each time you wanted me to say no." She looks rather surprised at the idea of people cutting in, but you figure it's because she isn't much for Balls. She gives you a nod and replaces her head on your shoulder. Three songs later – two fast and one formal – another slow song comes on and surely enough, someone tries to cut in. She immediately stamps on your food and you repress a whimper of pain and politely refuse, she apologises and lets you shoulder all the blame. She whispers a "Thanks" as she puts her head back on your shoulder. Not even a minute later, during the same song, another guy approaches with the same request, she treads on your foot again and you again shoulder all the blame. She smiles at you before returning her head to your shoulder; apparently you're earning a lot of brownie points this way.
Literally as her head hits your shoulder, Parvati Patil approaches and asks to cut in as the next slow song starts. You politely point out that it's meant to be the guys asking the girls to dance, and she responds with the point that you've never asked anyone to dance in your life. She has a good point as you glance at Susan for help, you decide to thick this one out on your own, "I asked Susan, and she said yes. So, let's leave it at that." Your anger was slightly shown in that sentence but you don't mind hurting her feelings, she crisply turns around and leaves the floor. Susan quickly regains her position and whispers "Quite the charmer, aren't we?"
The next song is quite a fast song, which is good because you were starting to get hot under the collar with Susan's body pressed against you for two straight songs. Yet another guy tries to step in and you get another foot treading. You're starting to think she likes dancing with you somehow, seeing as the guys who she just got you to turn down had a few girls staring at them as if they wanted them to cut in. A third fast song in a row comes on and you start getting tired, but you definitely aren't showing it as you're sure Susan is having a great time and you don't want to wreck it. A 7th year Hufflepuff turns up and asks to cut in, you're expecting your foot to be trod on but nothing comes after a few moments, suddenly you feel extremely disappointed and you nod in acceptance. Susan gives you a look you don't entirely recognise; you tilt your head but the guy steps in front of you and starts dancing. You figure she was trying some sort of sympathy; you probably had a pretty pathetic look on your face after being crushed like that.
Scraping your dignity off the floor, you feel like you've just been kneed in the family jewels. You're already in a foul mood as you get to the other side of the dance floor, and just as you're about to take a seat, your potions professor approaches you. She leans in and whispers quite excitedly to you "Harry? Would you like to dance?" She gives you a cheeky smile and your foul mood disappears entirely. Tripping as you enter back into the middle of the dance floor you dance for about half a minute with Lizzy before she opens up conversation, "So, Susan seems to be having a good time with you." You look at her, your stomach suddenly feels really empty again, "Yeah, I thought so too until that Hufflepuff wanted to cut in." You can't quite disguise the hurt in your voice, but you trust her to keep your confidence. "Well, she is still looking your way," she says as a twinkle appears in her eyes, not entirely unlike Dumbledore's. You consider the possibility that they are related before you turn quickly to where Susan is, she quickly averts her eyes back to the Hufflepuff she's dancing with and goes a little red.
The glint is still in your professor's eye as she says, "I told you so," in a little girlish way. You grin at her and she adds, "You should go sit down, you look tired, Harry," she seems much more concerned now and she touched your forearm delicately as she was speaking. You're not sure what the touching meant, but you assume it means she won't take no for an answer. You nod and leave the dance floor after thanking her to go sit down.
Suddenly your feet are in jubilation and you couldn't think of a better thing to have done before you realise Hermione is approaching you from across the room. She has that miffed expression again and as she arrives and says "Har-" your instincts kick in and you say "Sorry?" before she can finish the word. She looks a little taken aback before returning to miffed again, "Do you even know what you did?" You decide honesty is the best policy "Not a clue, care to fill me in?" She rolls her eyes, but the roll is nothing like the playful one that Susan does, this is what she does when she's annoyed, "You just had to glare at Ginny, didn't you?! She went into the bathroom crying and it took 20 minutes to calm her down!" Suddenly you feel anger rising inside you again; you seem to get blamed for anything that goes wrong with anyone now days. "I did no such thing! I didn't glare at her; I looked at her from across the room." Hermione eyes you for a second whilst she seems to be contemplating the next words, "That's not the way she tells it." Her frown is apparent, but it's the thinking frown and not the annoyed one that graces her face at the moment, you suddenly feel a bit relieved.
You realise you could turn the tides and have Hermione on your side for once, that would be a nice change, "Listen, all I know is she got really angry and started insulting me when I asked her to the Ball. She made a big scene and I really don't have the time or patience to deal with girls at the moment. Susan came as a friend to help me out; I wouldn't even be here without Ginny, but I have to. Stupid duelling competition, no one warned me about this damn Ball when I entered." Hermione's face suddenly turns sympathetic and she nods in understanding before turning and walking away. Five minutes later a very annoyed looking Ginny is walking over to you, the Weasley temper is well known to you by now and you know when adding fuel to the fire is a bad idea. You quietly cast a spell on yourself that burns your tongue when you try to speak just for safety. Hermione is right behind Ginny and somehow realises what you just did and looks slightly relieved before she looks back at the irate Ginny, then back to you with an apologetic face.
"Harry James Potter, you are the bloodiest lying git I've ever known! I hate you!" You're pretty hurt by the words, but you refuse to rise to the occasion and instead you keep your eyes transfixed on the floor a few steps to her right. "You ruined everything! You ruined this and this whole night!" Some stray magic is coming from her and you wonder about trying to control it, but it all seems to be aimed at you and you're sure you can handle it as long as you don't make her madder. You're not quite sure what she meant by 'this and this whole night,' what in hell is 'this' supposed to be if it's not referring to the night that he apparently just ruined by looking at her. She's already storming off after making a smaller scene than usual and she's in the bathrooms again with Hermione in tow.
Dumbledore is approaching you and you release the charm on your tongue. He regards you with sympathy for a moment before sitting in a chair across from you and leaning towards you, "That was a nice bit of charm work," he says with a little twinkle in his eye. "You held your temper well, Harry, which is more than I can say for Miss Weasley. Remarkable, perhaps, improvement since the last time we discussed something of that nature," he gives you a knowing look and you recall your encounter with Draco Malfoy in almost vivid detail. He looks as if he wants you to reply but you suddenly don't feel much like doing anything, "I need some fresh air, Professor. Have a good night." Dumbledore's eyes twinkle again as he regards you with admiration, borderline jealousy; at least, that's what you think it is, because it's a very foreign look for the guy, "A wise choice, Mr. Potter. I must say, that I wish I were able to master my temper at such a young age." You almost want to tell him about the voice in your head, but you think he'll begin to worry about your sanity. Dumbledore has enough on his plate for the moment, least of all the fact that you're pretty sure he's dying and this whole tournament is him going out with a flourish.
You start off towards the door and you notice Ron looking around for Hermione. You shift your eyes so you won't catch his attention, the least you need now is more questions and you're almost running out of the Great Hall. Moments later you've made your run for it and you're striding outside of Hogwarts down the path to the lake. Your Ball didn't last nearly as long as you planned it to and you're adding another reason to be annoyed at Ginny to your new list. Ginny had been amazing and more the whole year, she had made more than a few passes at you and all the signs pointed to her liking you. Well, at least, that's what you had thought; clearly you're as good at reading the signs as Professor Trelawney had assessed. Another bitter mutter under your breath at the anger she expressed towards you and the amount of pain she caused with such few words. Never again will you open yourself up to someone like that, you're clearly too dangerous to be with a girl and any girl you open up to will either back away scared or lash out angrily. You should have known Ginny's temper would get the better of her if you tempted fate, and fate doesn't like to be tempted; you know what they say, play with fire and you'll get your hand burnt. Ginny Weasley definitely was fire personified, but that's what had your interests so stoked in the first place.
Merlin, when did it get so cold? You can see your breath in the air even when you breathe out through your nose, it's quite disturbing really. Well, there you go; you're a right soppy git when it comes down to it, aren'tcha? Strolling out here in the dark at – you check your watch – almost 8pm and wallowing over some girl who probably hasn't thought about you in that way since 3rd year. She's now popular and attractive, she probably has tonnes of guys pawning after her; what are you? You're a walking death warrant as far as any female is concerned. The average life expectancy of your female companions is somewhere in the region of 'a week to a year' at last check. That psychopath mass murdering Dark Lord is tha-
"Harry?" you here a voice rip you out of your downwards spiralling mental reverie. You don't bother answering as you're sure they're going to approach you and yell at you even if you don't reply, everyone else seems to. You're disappointed, well, in a matter of speaking, when a very apologetic looking Susan Bones steps in front of you. She's regarding you with a grin, which makes your horrible mood suddenly meaningless and smirk pulls at the side of your mouth. "You should've just hexed her, if I had known she'd blow off like that, I wouldn't've let you go," she says in an amused voice, she sticks her tongue out at you for a second after she's finished running off at the mouth. That's right, she just ditched you to go dance with Ginny's date, that probably didn't lighten Ginny's mood and you're suddenly offended on her behalf, "Where's... thingy," you say vaguely, trying to hide the anger in your voice. "Thingy?" she looks at you like you just told her the sun sets in the east and came up with a pretty good argument for it, "Oh! Danny. I dunno... why?" She sounds a little worried, maybe you didn't hide your anger very well, and you don't really care too much though as your reply comes with more than a hint of jealousy, "You looked like you were having a good time, with him." She regards you with a blank expression for a second that you're not used to reading, "Well, I was," the three words are strangely like a dagger through your gut, she rolls her eyes, "but only because your cute spiff with Ginny made my night," she finishes with a grin. She started chattering her teeth half way through, which only slightly took the edge off what she was trying to say.
You remove your jacket and hand it over to her without saying a word; she looks a bit taken aback at first at the casualness of you handing it over. It's become second nature to you and you never considered it to mean anything, but you're soon red in the face from how she's looking at you. "Why? Mr. Potter, are you jealous?" your eyes widen at first and then you attempt a snort of laughter, but its clearly false and she looks all too happy with herself, "Jealous? Of some Hufflepuff?" You slap your hand to your mouth as you just realised the girl you're talking to is also a Hufflepuff, smooth Potter, smooth. She seems to realise you're sorry and shrugs it off, "So, why are you out here?" You shrug and look around, you're not sure if you're sheepish because you don't want to discuss it or because you just insulted her by accident and it's the first time a girl hasn't started crying or yelling when you insulted them, "Clearing my mind, rough year so far, it's gonna get worse before it gets better." She lets out a little giggle that doesn't seem to frustrate you as much as you think it should, "Ginny problems, huh? I'm sure you'll sort that out," her words are encouraging, but her tone is subdued. "I think I'm past solving them at this stage, I have more important things to do," what you mean by that is, that you have things to do that you understand how to do; the female psyche is a huge mystery to you, still.
"Oh well, you could do so much better anyway. Never liked her much myself, she's too popular for her own good that one," she sounds a bit too pleased for your liking. "Better? Anyone in particular that comes to mind, Miss Bones?" you're vaguely aware that she might be teasing you about something, but you can't figure out what it is. She went a bit red, but her voice shows no sign of embarrassment, "Well, you know, you should have someone who's not going to go off when you forget their birthday. You need someone who can understand that you've got more on your plate than the average student." You openly grin now, the reason you like Ginny is because she's so bad for you; you've always liked stuff that's bad for you. Your second year you decided to take on a basilisk with a sword for crying out loud, you're not exactly sane. Still, your daredevil spirits tell you there's a way to turn this situation dangerous, and you take it with a flourish, "Someone like yourself, Susan?" you say with a devilish grin in her direction. To your amazement, she goes beetroot red and suddenly crosses her arms defensively, she looks up at your grin and she seems to freeze up momentarily. She recovers well and scrunches her nose up whilst regarding you, "Naah. You go headlong into trouble too much. Never know when you'll disappear, you need someone who can take a few emotional traumas too." You're swiftly reminded of her parents and how well she seemed to cope with them dying, or well... how well you thought she did, maybe this is her way of telling you that she's not over it. "Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to..."
You were about to ask her to open up, which is a bit unfair since you just promised yourself you wouldn't open up to anyone else ever again. However, she interrupted you with a wave of her hand and a short laugh, "I think you've got enough on your plate, Mr Hero. What is it with you and wan-" you interrupted her. That was all she needed to say to push you over the edge, she considered your emotional welfare and how much you have to do before she considered her own emotional welfare, that's rare enough coming from a teenaged female around you. Most females seem to think you're invincible and they're more than happy to let you pile on everything and watch in admiration; sure, Hermione and Ginny don't, but you've never thought of Hermione that way and at the moment, Ginny is being downright selfish in your eyes. Back to the present, you interrupted her; your eyes locked onto hers after the roll of her eyes that was accompanying the words she was speaking. After a brief second you leaned into her and kissed her softly on her lips, she seemed to freeze up with that and you didn't move except to put your hand on her upper arm. After a few seconds of which your eyes were closed and your heart was in your throat she seems to come to her senses and pull away from you.
For the second time in a week you get that unfamiliar crush on your feelings, you dumb fuck, you just let your feelings known again and guess what happened? They got hurt again. You redouble your efforts to keep your feelings in check and you think it's a good time to apologise anyway; she wasn't angry or rude like Ginny, she merely just doesn't like you that way, "Ah, sorry. Moment got the best of me; I'm really bad at reading signals it seems, second time in a week for me, heh..." She still hasn't come out of her shock and she's regarding you with a dumbstruck look, "Maybe we should go back to the castle, I'm sure thingy, er... you know, er, Danny! would like another dance or something?" She didn't move a muscle throughout your entire babble and she's still looking dumbstruck, you decide a more physical approach is needed and so you grab her wrist slowly and start to guide her up to the castle.
You haven't taken two steps before she suddenly comes out of her thoughts, "What about Ginny?" You think it's an odd question, you're not sure why she would rather dance with Ginny than Danny; but hell, you're not sure why she'd rather dance with Danny than you and you don't feel like it's the right time to ask such questions. "Uhm, sure, yeah, I'm sure Ginny would like to dance with you. Uhh, if you can find her, she ran off som-" she cut you off by stopping suddenly and yanking you back towards her, you stumble a bit and stop just in front of her. "What. About. Ginny?" she looks angry now, and you're sure you've done something wrong, instinct kicks in again, "Sorry! I'm really sorry," you really have no clue what you're sorry for, but you are sure that you're sorry she's mad. Susan hasn't done anything to you – well, nothing on purpose – and making her mad was not on your list of things to do. She looks hurt that you apologised, you're not sure why your apology was apparently hurtful but you're starting to think apologising isn't always the best solution; it hasn't been doing too grand lately. Suddenly she's running past you but first you caught a glance of a stray tear in her eye, you feel awful that you caused her to cry and you feel even worse that you don't understand why she's crying. What the hell was she on about anyway? 'What about Ginny?' yeah, seriously, what about Ginny? You don't remember mentioning her, she was the one on about her suddenly, and you didn't bring her up. Oh well, maybe you did, but that was before you tried to kiss her, everyone knows it's a rule when you kiss someone that you don't talk about other people. Surely that should work for females talking about females whilst kissing you too? Apparently not.