Disclaimer: It's all J.K. Rowling's!!
A/N hey everyone, this is my first complete fic….I started writing one about Sirius, but it wasn't turning out very good and I really like the plot of it, so I'm gonna start small and write a couple fluffy fics and then re-do the Sirius one and make it better. While i'm talking, you should all go read "Summer of the Phoenix" by WickedTeaspoon27...it's awesome!! This fic takes place during Harry's 6th year at Hogwarts and it's just a HP/GW fluff fic so enjoy and review!!!!! Sorry if it's a little choppy….I'm a beginner!
Start of Harry's 6th Year
The students filed into the Great Hall for the start-of-term feast and Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't have been hungrier. As they took their seats at the Gryffindor table, they watched as the first years began walking toward the sorting hat. Harry couldn't help but smile as he watched the terrified faces of the 11-year-olds and thought of how Ron's brothers had made them think that the sorting ceremony would somehow include fighting trolls. He wondered how many of them thought the same thing as they made their way to the aged old sorting hat.
"Do you think they'll ever get a new sorting hat?" Ron wondered aloud.
"Ronald, that sorting hat has been here since Hogwarts was established by the four founders. Do you honestly think that they would replace it?" Hermione answered.
"Thanks for the abruptly unwanted history of the sorting hat, Hermione. I was just thinking that some things get better with age, and that the sorting hat is definitely not one of them."
"Oh stop it, Ronald. Really, when are you going to grow up?"
Harry rolled his eyes and wondered what went through his friends' heads as they bickered constantly instead of just admitting that they fancied each other. Even though he wished the both of them would grow up, he had to admit that he enjoyed watching them argue sometimes even though it would get bothersome at other times.
The sorting was finally finished and Dumbledore stood up to address the students.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! The caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to inform first years and remind all other students that the list of objects that are forbidden inside the castle is in his office. Also, we will be having another Yule Ball this winter. Fourth year and older are invited to attend. Please note that the Yule Ball will take place over the Christmas holiday, so consult your families about any conflicting schedules. If you are below fourth year, you may attend only if you are a guest of a fourth year or above. Now that I've made us all that much hungrier from listening to me blabber, please turn your attention to your tables where your food is."
Everyone turned around and began filling their plates and stomachs with food. Harry thought Ron had tried to tell him a story, but his mouth was so full that Harry didn't understand a word he had said and just smiled and nodded every once in awhile trying not to laugh at the disgust on Hermione's face as she watched Ron's terrible etiquette in horror. Harry knew that this year at Hogwarts was going to be much different as he downed his 2nd glass of pumpkin juice.
Week before the Yule Ball
Ron and Harry sat in the common room joking with each other about how they had double potions the next day. They were trying to make themselves feel not so depressed about being tortured twice as long as usual. Harry looked at the clock on the far wall and noticed that it was 11:30 at night.
"Maybe we should go to bed," Harry suggested.
"And make potions come earlier than it has to? Are you stupid, mate?" Ron replied disgusted at the suggestion.
"It was just a thought," Harry said, half smiling as he put his hands up in defense.
"Sorry. It's just that we have double potions and divination tomorrow and I still haven't got anyone to go to the Yule Ball with."
"That reminds me…we need to come up with some more 'predictions' for Trelawney."
Just as Harry finished his sentence, Ginny climbed through the portrait hole. As she nonchalantly passed the two in front of the fireplace, Ron stopped her abruptly.
"And just where have you been?" he asked shockingly.
She turned around with half a cookie in her hand and replied, "I was hungry, so I went to the kitchen. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Yeah, I don't want my little sister running around getting into trouble because she's out of bed after hours."
"It's only against the rules if you get caught," she answered mischievously.
Harry hadn't seemed to notice that Ginny and Ron had been arguing and suddenly came out of his trance of possible death scenarios and looked at Ginny, "What's a good death prediction for Trelawney?" he asked her.
Ginny seemed shocked to find that he was there also. "Er, say that you half-drowned, got your eyes gauged out by an unknown attacker, and wound up in the dark forest getting eaten by centaurs." She began to walk away, but suddenly remembered, "Oh! Tell her that it had something to do with the stars. She gave me extra credit for that."
Harry smiled with delight at Ginny's ability to come up with a death prediction on the top of her head, "Thanks, Gin!"
"Don't mention it. Good night you two."
"This time stay in bed," Ron said in a big-brother way. Ginny just rolled her eyes at him.
When Ginny had closed the door to the girl's dormitory behind her, Ron and Harry began talking about the Yule Ball.
"So when are you going to ask Hermione to the Yule Ball?" Harry asked.
"Who said I was gonna ask her? All she ever does is correct what I say. What a great night that would be," Ron said sarcastically.
"Well, no one else is going to go with you. Not after how you and Padma Patil got along at the ball in 4th year."
"Thanks for reminding me about that, Harry."
"So, you're asking Hermione. Who doesn't have a date yet that I could ask?" Harry wondered.
"If you don't mind me saying, you and Parvati didn't exactly 'hit it off' at the last Yule Ball."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Oh well, you'll think of someone. Now I'm tired though, so I'm off to bed. 'Night."
"'Night, Ron."
Harry sat in front of the fire for a few more minutes before heading to bed himself wondering who would go to the Yule Ball with him. For some reason, the name Ginny kept popping into his head, but he knew Ron would kill him if he asked his sister. Then again, maybe he wouldn't if Harry could argue that it would be better for Ginny to go with someone he knew rather than some other guy desperate for a last minute date. Not that I think of Ginny as a last minute date, but to someone else she might be and I should ask her before someone gets the chance. I'm doing it for Ron because he's my best friend. I don't like Ginny like that; I'm just going to ask her so Ron doesn't worry about her with someone else. That's all.
With that, Harry headed to bed, pondering different methods of asking Ginny to the Yule Ball.
The Next Day
Harry awoke with a start the next morning to Neville tripping over his trunk. "Are you alright?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, but I've lost Trevor again…you haven't seen him, have you?"
"Sorry," Harry said as he shook his head.
Harry dressed quickly and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. When he arrived, he found Ron waiting for him and he saw that Hermione and Ginny were deep in discussion about something that appeared to be very important to them. As he approached Ron, he noticed that Ron's face and ears were completely red, meaning one thing – he had finally asked Hermione to the Yule Ball. Although, from the mortified look on Ron's face, Harry couldn't tell whether Hermione had responded with a "yes" or "no."
"Ron, you look like you fell asleep on the beach with no sunscreen on," Harry laughed.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Harry," Ron retorted.
Harry lowered his voice so Hermione and Ginny couldn't hear him. "So…?"
"So what?"
"So, what'd she say about the Yule Ball? I can't tell from your facial expression if you're terribly depressed that she said 'no' or terribly upset that she said 'yes'." Harry laughed.
"Well, aren't you in a jesting mood this morning! For your information, I don't have a 'terribly' emotion of any kind. She's going with me to the Yule Ball and I'm looking forward to a night of pure and uninterrupted arguing with her," Ron said as he rolled his eyes trying to write off the best moment of his life as the worst in front of his best friend.
"Sure, call it what you want…although, I prefer…"
"HARRY, shush…here come Hermione and Ginny."
Harry spun around and found two very amused faces looking back at him. "Hello," Harry said to the two girls. He wondered if they'd heard any of his and Ron's conversation. Their facial expressions led them to believe that they knew something he didn't know, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what that was. He cleared his throat and said, "I'm gonna go to class now, I think. Bye."
The girls giggled and said goodbye. Then they rejoined Ron at the breakfast table and finished their meals.
The rest of the day, Harry wondered how he could ask Ginny to the Yule Ball. He thought about first asking Ron if he could ask Ginny, but he knew that if Ginny were to find out that Ron had known that Harry was going to ask her before he asked her, she might be inclined to reject his invitation, so he decided that he would ask her first and then talk to Ron later. He wasn't sure how he was going to avoid Ron and find Ginny alone somewhere so he could ask her without being interrupted, but he hoped that that would work itself out. After dinner that night, Harry headed back to the common room with Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione had been very quiet around each other and Harry couldn't decide if the lack of bickering was a good change or if it was just unusually unbearable. He tried to convince himself that it was pleasant for the two of them to be quiet for once, although it seemed to be a most exhausting task. Luckily, Ron and Hermione went to bed incredibly early that night because of the lack of communication between all three of them. After all, they weren't arguing and Harry wasn't talking because he didn't have to tell them to stop arguing for once, so it was rather unusual, Harry thought.
Just as Harry was about to go up to his dormitory, Ginny came down the stairs in her pajamas and bathrobe. She had her bright Weasley-red hair pulled into a loose ponytail and she had a toothbrush hanging out the side of her mouth. She walked over to the table in front of the common room fireplace and grabbed a book she had left. When she turned around, she stopped short at the sight of Harry. Harry paused, unsure of what to do. He decided to take this as the perfect opportunity to ask her to at least talk with him since she couldn't speak with her toothbrush and toothpaste in her mouth.
He walked over to Ginny and asked her, "Er, when you're done brushing your teeth, could I talk to you. I promise it'll only take a few minutes."
Ginny mumbled some incomprehensible words that apparently she thought he understood and ran back up the staircase. Harry wasn't sure if she was going to come back to talk with him or if she had just insulted him horribly and told him to stay away from her. Either way, he decided to wait for a few minutes to see if she came back down. Sure enough, Ginny descended the staircase about 5 minutes later and looked around for Harry. Harry stood up and went over to greet her.
"Hey Gin, thanks for coming back down. I just wanted to talk to you about something. Ron and Hermione are kind of odd…well, odder than they usually are…"
"No problem. It's not really late but everyone else was going to sleep already, so I just thought I'd turn in early too. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just, well, I…do you want to sit down?" Harry gestured to the big, comfy chairs over by the fireplace.
"Er, sure…" Ginny said skeptically. She had a hint of worry in her eyes.
When Harry turned back around to look at Ginny, he noticed that she looked worried. "Ginny, it's nothing bad…I promise."
Ginny looked a little relieved, but still looked oddly confused about what was going on.
Harry took a moment to figure out how he was going to ask her. During fourth year when he sort of asked her to the Yule Ball, she was already going with Neville and he hoped desperately that she didn't already have a "date." Why am I so worried about being rejected by Ginny…she's just a friend of mine.
"Er, well, you see…" he began. "I think, well, if you want to, I was hoping that maybe, er…" Harry realized that he wasn't making much sense to her judging by the look on her face. Harry could see Sirius laughing at him right now. Harry tried to think of how Sirius would have asked someone to a dance, but then thought better of it knowing that Sirius probably wouldn't have to have asked…he would've probably had girls lined up to go with him according to his old marauder stories.
"Harry, what is it?" Ginny pressed.
"Well, I mean, it could be fun, right?" Immediately after he said this, Harry knew that he had skipped the middle part where he was supposed to actually ask her to go with him.
Ginny seemed to understand what he was trying to ask, but she wasn't going to let him get away without actually saying it. "HARRY, SPIT IT OUT!"
"Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?" Harry said instantly. He held his breath.
"Would I or will I go?" Ginny asked, knowing that she was keeping Harry held in suspense.
"Will you?"
"I don't know, there have been so many offers for me and I should probably explore them all…" Ginny teased.
Harry felt drained as though he had just done multiple hours of quidditch training. "You know Ginny, I really don't like it when people maneuver their way around a question without actually answering it," he said jokingly.
"Really? Hmm…I like keeping people in suspense about my answer. It keeps that hopeful flame burning, don't you think?"
"Not really…but I'm hoping that means 'yes, I'll go'?"
"Of course it does."
"Okay, so you're not going with Neville this year then?"
Ginny blushed. "No…I don't like getting my toes stepped on at Yule Balls."
Harry laughed and tried to relief his heart from pounding with uneasiness as he asked Ginny to the Yule Ball. "Now I just have to tell Ron that I'm taking his little sister to the Yule Ball."
Ginny looked thoughtful for a second and then replied, "Maybe it's better if he doesn't know until that night…he's got enough to deal with after Hermione said 'yes' to his invitation, which if you ask me was a terrible lapse of judgment on her part."
Harry had been half listening and when Ginny finished talking, he looked at her with a serious face and said, "Gin, I'm really looking forward to the Yule Ball this time around."
Ginny smiled back at him and they both silently headed upstairs to their respective dormitories.
A/N Review please!!! Let me know what you liked, didn't like, and what i can improve on! Any help is always appreciated!!!!!