Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own the Harry Potter series or any of its characters in any way at all.

Author's Note: I was bored and this came into my head. It's a one-shot, and I will almost definitely not continue it in any way. It's quite short, but I hope you like it!

You Ask a Slytherin When You Have No Choice

Written By YT12J

Harry was in despair. He had asked many people, and they had all said that they were going with somebody else to the Yule Ball. If he could, he would just not take anybody, but unfortunately for him he was a Triwizard Champion and so had to have a date no matter what. He had foolishly waited until the last minute to ask someone to the Ball, and now there was no one left who wasn't going with anyone else. He would have liked to have said that he felt better because Ron and Hermione did not find anybody to go with either, but Hermione had managed to get a date, even though she would not say whom it was, and Ron asked Parvati Patil, and she accepted. Harry was essentially the only person left without a date, and he desperately needed one lest he embarrassed the school.

He walked down the empty corridor, trying to think of anyone whom he had not already asked, but no one came to mind. Well, he had not asked anybody from Slytherin House, but obviously they would not accept. The rivalry between the two houses was too strong, and he didn't want to risk getting into a fight either. But, having no other choice, he decided that he might as well ask a Slytherin girl. Maybe they would accept, but he had to ask to find out what exactly would happen.

Which girl could he ask that was least likely to turn him down? He didn't really know any Slytherin girls outside his year, so that narrowed it down a lot. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode were out of the question. That only really left Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. He knew that Davis already had a date because he'd heard Blaise Zabini boasting about it, so that literally left Daphne Greengrass as the only person whom he could ask to the Yule Ball.

Sighing, he pulled out the Marauder's Map, and then tapped it with his wand, uttering the secret password that revealed it. He scanned the entire map until he finally found a small dot in the library that was labelled 'Daphne Greengrass'. He tapped the map and muttered 'Mischief Managed', before stuffing it back into his bag and heading off to the library, prepared to ask her to the Ball and get violently rejected. He just hoped that she wouldn't slap him, as he wanted it to not be too much of an embarrassing rejection.

When he got to the library, he cautiously walked in and took a look around. Ron and Hermione were quietly working at a table, but they didn't notice him, and seeing as he was there to do something else he ignored them and walked around, looking for Daphne Greengrass. If he remembered correctly, she had long blonde hair, and was average height, and this was confirmed when he finally spotted her reading on her own at a table. She was quite pretty, this actually being another reason as to why he was asking her.

Deciding that he might as well ask her, considering he was there, he went over to her table and sat down next to her, hoping that she would speak before he had to. She ignored him at first, but when it became evident that he was staring at her she put her book down and said "What is it? Why are you staring at me?"

She had a slightly irritated look on her face, and he suddenly wished that he could apparated away and not need to ask her. Unfortunately, that was not an option, so he cleared his throat, smiled slightly, and spoke. "I just wanted to ask, are you going with anyone to the Yule Ball?"

This was a more important worry than her reacting violently; she was very pretty and it was quite likely that somebody else had already asked her. As he saw the incredulous look on her face, he realised how surprising it must have been for a Gryffindor to basically ask her out.

The glare that had appeared on her face when she first spoke had melted off and she now didn't seem as angry, just surprised that he was actually asking her that. After a few moments, just as he was about to apologise profusely and run away, she replied. "No Potter, so far several people have asked me to go with them, but considering some were gorillas, some were idiots, and some were both I rejected all of them. Why do you ask?"

She obviously knew exactly why he was asking this, but had decided to make him go through all of the pain and suffering of asking rather than just rejecting him and getting it over with. He contemplated how to say it, and then eventually answered her by saying "It's just that I was wondering if you would like to go to the Ball with me. I know that I'm a Gryffindor," He quickly added as she opened her mouth, "But I don't think that should stop anyone from saying yes. I'm hoping that if you do say no then it will be because you don't like me as a person, not because I am a Gryffindor."

She nodded, and he allowed her to speak this time, hoping that her response would not be too dramatic. "Well, I have to say I'm surprised that, of all the people, Harry Potter is asking me to the Yule Ball. I would've thought that you had a hundred others to ask before you asked me."

He blushed at this, but before he could reply to this comment she continued. "Anyway, seeing as you are not a gorilla, an idiot, or a Pure-Blood who thinks they are better than everybody else I might as well say yes. You do have dress robes don't you?"

Harry didn't respond, mostly because his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water due to his shock at her positive response. As she waited patiently, he cleared his mind of the surprise and tried to form a sensible response. "Erm… Yeah, of course I do, Mrs Weasley bought them for me over the summer. And I'm having dancing lessons at the moment, so that should be fine. Anyway, are you serious? You'll actually go with me?"

She stared at him, perhaps wondering why he found this fact so surprising. "Of course I'm serious; I'm not one to joke about these kinds of things. Why, were you not being serious?" She was starting to look slightly suspicious, so he cleared up her suspicions quickly.

"No, of course I was being serious! I just didn't really expect that you would say yes, that's why I was surprised. It's not like I did this as a joke or anything!" He said hastily. She studied him for a moment, and then when she seemed to come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth, she smiled.

"Good, you wouldn't want to see my reaction had you been doing this as some sort of idiotic joke. Anyway, the Ball is quite soon so I hope you get quite good at dancing in the meantime, or at least good enough that you won't embarrass us, or step on my toes. Bear in mind, if any of that does happen I will curse you until you scream. Got it?" She looked deadly serious as she said this, and Harry had a feeling that she wasn't joking, and would actually do all of this.

"Of course," He said weakly. "I'll see you at the ball."

Break

They danced for a while at the ball. Harry did as he promised and did not injure her while dancing, or embarrass either of them, and she was satisfied that he had danced well enough. At the end of a dance Harry was brave enough to kiss her on the lips, and she responded with equal affection, as the entire student body looked on.

When they sat down, Ron came over and said "Blimey Harry, I didn't think you would have the guts to ask out a Slytherin. If it were me I'd be too afraid that they'd hex me."

Harry and Daphne both smiled at this, and Harry responded by saying "Believe me Ron, she threatened to do that several times."

Author's Note: Thank you for reading it. If you can, please review as it would mean a lot to me. I hope you enjoyed this story, and I hope the briefness of it wasn't too boring. Goodbye!