A/N: My Round 6 piece for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition,

Seeker: You have a choice between 'Slice of Life', 'Fairy Tale Retelling' & 'Dystopian'. You, along with the Keeper and Captain must decide between you which ones you will use

I have chosen 'Fairy Tale Retelling' and I've chosen Cinderella as inspiration,

(sorry if it's a bit random)

Enjoy ;-)

Not His Princess

Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts for his fourth year, this year though, they were having students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons visit them, and there was a ball.

The Yule Ball was a tradition, that when three schools come together as one for a year, it would be held on Christmas Eve, and this year, was one of those years.

Harry had already been to Diagon Alley, and gotten his dress robes, now, on top of all his lessons and homework, he still had to find a date. Harry knew who he wanted to ask, a pretty fifth year Ravenclaw called Cho Chang, she was like a princess, out of a muggle fairytale. He just needed to find the courage to ask her.

Ron was still in a dilemma about who to ask,

'Hermione?'

'Yes Ronald?'

'I need someone to go to the ball with,'

'Yes, you do.'

'And you're a girl,'

'I am yes,'

'So maybe we could go together?'

Hermione looked for a moment like she might have accepted, but then looked angrily at Ron,

'What makes you think that I don't already have a date?' She asked hotly,

'Noth- Nothing,' Ron reconciled a little

'Well, someone has already asked me, and I said yes!' She snapped her book shut, and flounced off,

Harry saw Cho and her friends walk past them. When they had passed, he let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, and saw that Ron was trying not to laugh at him, despite his and Hermione's little quarrel.

'Just ask her mate,'

'I- Who are you going to ask?'

'I would have gone with Hermione if she hadn't been so bloody proud.'

'What d'you mean?'

'You don't honestly think someone's asked her?'

'I dunno mate,'

'Of course they haven't, why d'you think she was so defensive?'

'Because you jumped to conclusions?'

'Whatever, we still need dates, or McGonagall will kill us both.'

Right, we have exactly one hour to ask a girl to the ball.'

'Why?' Ron asked incredulously

'Hermione'll stop badgering us, it'll be out of the way, and otherwise everyone will be taken.'

Ron opened and closed his mouth a few times before giving in, 'fine.'

'Good luck then,' Harry said, getting up.

'You too,' Ron said, also getting up. They parted ways.

{xxx}

Harry hadn't seen any girl alone at all that he might have liked to ask. He tried to keep a close eye on the Ravenclaw girls,

'Well, here we go.' He said under his breath, he walked over to the group of them, 'Cho? I was wondering whether I could have a word with you, alone?'

Cho smiled at him, and nodded and they walked away from the other girls.

'So, I was wondering whether you woul-' Harry stopped 'Maybe you-' Harry sighed, 'Would you like to go to the ball with me?'

Cho looked very surprised. 'Oh, Harry, I really am sorry, but Cedric Diggory already asked me, I'm really sorry.'

'Don't worry about it,' Harry replied quickly hiding his disappointment, 'That's fine, great.' Harry walked away, leaving her there, and cursing under his breath, he made his way back to the common room.

{xxx}

Ron wasn't having any better luck than Harry so far, he had seen a lot of French girls, but had been put off from talking in English to them, when he heard them talking in fluent French.

He saw Fleur Delacour, and just kind of asked her,

'GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?' He yelled at her as she passed, making anyone that was close to him jump,

Fleur looked at him, and with a look of disgust, she walked away.

'Ron,' Ginny said, hurrying over to him,

'I-I-I-She-She-I-She-VEELA!'

'Ron, it's okay,'

Ginny helped Ron back to the common room and sat him down on one of the sofas.

{xxx}

Hermione sat at her usual spot in the library, and for the first time in her life she pretended to read a book. Really, she was waiting.

'Heemeenee, vill you go to the ball vith me please?' Viktor Krum asked, like he did every day, and every day she turned him down. She wasn't sure why, but she had wanted someone else to ask her, and then when Ron did, she felt angry that he had assumed that she didn't already have a date.

She looked up at him, he was a world famous Quidditch player, and he did ask her every single day,

'Alright Viktor, I'll go to the ball with you.'

Viktor smiled at her, 'thank you Hememie,'

'My name is Hermione. Herm-I-o-nee,'

'Hemyon,'

'Herm-I-O-nee,'

'Hermyany,'

'Herm-I-O-nee'

'Hermioninny,'

'Close enough,' she smiled,

Hermione watched as he left, and then went back to the common room.

{xxx}

Harry and Hermione watched, as Ginny sat Ron down on the sofa,

'What happened?' Harry asked her,

'He asked Fleur Delacour to the ball, he kind of yelled at her,'

Hermione put a hand on Ron's arm, and attempted to calm him down,

When Ron was calmed down, Hermione got up to leave. 'Well boys, good luck with finding dates, the ball is tomorrow.'

'Where are you going?' Ron asked

'I'm going to figure out what to do with my hair tomorrow, because I, unlike you, have a date.' She said with a smile, no spite in her voice.

She sauntered up to her dormitory, leaving Ron staring after her indignantly,

'Okay.' Ron said, 'the next girl we see, we ask. Okay?'

'Okay.' Harry sighed, they walked out of the Gryffindor common room, and came face to face with Eloise Midgeon,

'Maybe the next, next girl,' Ron said, Harry nodded and Ron walked in the opposite direction as Harry.

{xxx}

Harry made his way down to the Quidditch pitch out of habit, and thankfully didn't see any girls, yet. Harry then saw someone, it was Parvati Patil – a girl.

'Hey Parvati!' He yelled, running after her,

'Yes?' She asked turning to face him,

'Do you maybe want to go to the ball with me?'

'Okay,' she blushed slightly,

'Alright, well I'll see you there,' he said, walking back up to Gryffindor tower.

{xxx}

Ron had taken to walking around with his eyes closed which resulted in him bashing into someone, typically it was a girl,

'Sorry, Padma?'

'Don't worry, yes?'

'Want to go to the ball with me?'

'Sure, I'll see you tomorrow Ron,'

'Okay,'

{xxx}

Hermione tried to get her brush through her wild hair, and after brushing it for at least ten minuets, it didn't look any better than it had ten minuets prior. Exasterated, she flung down her brush on the bed and went into the bathroom. She opened all of the cupboards in which all the girls in their dorm kept their toiletries in. She took each hair product out, one by one, and looked at them. She saw one that read 'Hair smoother, keeps your hair smooth and shiny,'

Hermione read the instructions, took off the lid, and put some on her hair, she waited half an hour, and then washed it off. She dried her hair, and then looked in the mirror, her jaw literally dropped at the result.

She quickly read how to get it out of your hair, and did so. She then put it back, and with a smile went back down to the common room, in time to see Harry and Ron come in.

{xxx}

The following evening, it was time for the ball. Everyone was up in their dorms getting ready, and Harry was no different. He and Ron were in their dorm along with Neville, Seamus, and Dean getting ready. Harry took his dress robes out of the bag that they were in and gasped. They were in shreds.

How could this have happened? The ball was the next hour, and the others were already going down to the Great Hall to greet their dates, and friends.

'You alright mate?' Ron asked,

'Yeah, you go on without me,'

'I can't go down like this!' Ron said, pointing to the frills on his robes, Harry ripped them off, so the dress robes looked at least half decent now.

'Thanks, I'll see you down there?'

'Yeah,'

Harry watched Ron go down and Harry was alone in the dorm. He didn't know quite what to do, he didn't know any spells, and the ball was about to begin, so he couldn't exactly ask one of the teachers.

Pop!

He looked around, and saw none other than Rita Skeeter standing before him.

'You can't apparate inside Hogwarts.' Harry said,

'Harry, I'm a fairy god-mother, I can do whatever the fuck I like.'

'But-What?'

'I am a fairy god-mother, yours. And I'm here to make sure you can go to the ball and have fun, while you can.'

'What do you mean "while I can"?'

'Fairy god-mothers also happen to be physic, but now's not the time.' She waved her wand, and Harry was wearing dress robes, not just any dress robes though, they were actually very nice.

'Thank you, I think.' Harry said,

'No problem! Just be back here by midnight, as fairy god-mother magic is like that. It's a bit annoying actually, but anywho, now down you go! I'll make sure to write a fabulous piece for the Daily Prophet all about the ball, and what's a ball with out Harry Potter eh?'

'Errr... I'll just be going then...'

{xxx}

The ball was finally over, and Harry was just sitting down on a chair, it was nearly midnight. Parvati had left with a Durmstrang boy, as had Padma, and they hadn't returned, not that that was a bad thing.

Harry got up, and started to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room,

'Ginny!' he said when he got in there, 'why aren't you in bed?'

'I wasn't tired, and I'm only a year younger than you!'

'I never said you weren't.'

'It's a beautiful night,' Ginny said, looking out of the window,

'Lets go for a walk,' Harry said, not even glancing at the clock.

'Alright,'

They walked around outside for a while, talking, not about anything much, just talking. They sat down, and Harry didn't even notice when his dress robes changed back into his school robes.

They sat watching the sun rise, and Ginny fell asleep. Harry carried her back up to Gryffindor tower and he carefully laid her down on the sofa, and covered her up with a blanket as the boys weren't allowed up in the girls dorms. He gave her a kiss on the nose, and went up to his dorm, and got into bed, smiling happily to himself.

Maybe Cho wasn't his princess after all.

A/N: Did you like it?

Rita Skeeter the fairy god-mother, ah Catherine, what would I do without you...

Please review

-Livvy xxx