It all started at the Yule Ball.

Ginny was dancing with Neville, doing her best to stop him from being nervous. He was quite a good dancer, when it got down to it, and Ginny was heartened by his honest attempt. Neville had been practicing day and night, she knew, to prepare for the dance. He was spinning Ginny and carrying her around and she was laughing at it all and enjoying herself. The music was great, the room looked lovely, and she looked good.

Everyone was stressing out over the Ball. It was silly, really, Ginny thought to herself. Of course, she did have a few boys ask her to the Ball, but she wasn't interested in any of them. So it was silly. All this stressing. Everyone was so on edge. Ginny decided to be done with it all and ask Neville, a good friend who she knew without a doubt wouldn't have a date.

After a good while of dancing, Neville announced he was going to sit down for a moment. Ginny responded that that was fine, and she should probably check on Ron anyway. Ginny walked towards Ron to try and bully him into dancing, only to realize his date, Padma, was long gone. From the look on her face, it seemed Parvati was not far behind.

"Harry?"

Harry looked tiredly at Ginny by way of response.

"Why don't you go and get your date a drink?" Harry looked back and forth between Parvati and Ginny.

"Alright," he said. "Alright, I will."

Ron scowled towards Ginny as soon as Harry had left. He beckoned Ginny over. Ginny gave Parvati a polite smile before sauntering over to Ron."Come to make fun of me, have you?"

"I came to check," Ginny said.

"Sure you have. Don't mind me asking, but isn't going with Neville a bit worse than going alone?"

"I like Neville. He's sweet."

"So you fancy him?"

"No. But you're one to talk. Your date's left you."

"Shove off, Ginny." With this, Ron stood up and left.

"I'm sorry about them," Ginny said to Parvati. "This must be really awful." Parvati stared at Ginny, surprised that she was talking to her. "Harry and Ron – well, they can be damned thick sometimes." Ginny looked over to check on Neville, who looked deeply immersed in a conversation with Luna.

"Yes," Parvati admitted. "This wasn't exactly what I had in mind." She looked down at her hennaed hands.

"You look lovely, though," Ginny said imploringly.

Parvati looked up and, for the first time, smiled. "You think so?"

"Oh, yes." And Ginny meant it. "I love your dress, your hands... how long did it take to henna them?"

"Oh, not too long," Parvati grinned. "Padma and I did each other's. Reminds us of our parents. My mum's really good at it. She always does my hands for weddings and... well... things like this."

"Your dress robes are also gorgeous."

"Really?" Parvati blushed a little. "It's my favorite sari."

"I love it," Ginny said. She hadn't entirely noticed it, but Parvati was truthfully quite beautiful, with smooth dark skin, thick, pretty hair, nice features and a beautiful smile. There was something quite attractive about her... but as soon as Ginny admitted this to herself, she became a bit uncomfortable and tried to hide it.

"You know, he hasn't asked me dance once," Parvati said, looking over to Harry. He was looking towards Cho and Cedric as he filled up two cups with pumpkin juice. "Of course, I know why."

"That's so awful," Ginny said. "Boys – they can be bloody dim, can't they?"

"I suppose so," said Parvati, looking once again towards Ginny. "He didn't say anything about my dress either. I was so proud of it."

"They just don't notice these things," Ginny said. "Girls, they spend hours trying to look nice for a date, or a ball, and the boys, well, they spend ten minutes. And then they don't notice you at all. Think you just look like that all the time."

Parvati chuckled a bit. She looked at Ginny. "You look beautiful, too," she said. "Who did you come with?"

"Neville," Ginny said, then quickly added, "as friends, of course."

"Ah."

"But he looks rather... occupied, wouldn't you say?" Neville was presently fidgeting nervously while talking with Luna. Parvati giggled. A nice, high pitched, feminine sound. Ginny couldn't help but smile towards it. She found herself biting her fingernails. A nervous habit. As soon as she noticed it, she stopped.

"Well," Parvati said. "It doesn't look like he's coming over anytime soon." She sighed dramatically.

"Listen," Ginny said, "don't let some stupid boy ruin tonight. There's good food, and – do you like the Weird Sisters?"

"Quite a lot, actually."

"And good music, and you look stunning and deserve to dance and have a good time."

"But my date -"

"Who needs a date?" said Ginny. She held out her hand and tried to say in a natural voice, "may I have this dance, Ms. Patil?"

"Oh!" Parvati looked startled, but then smiled and took Ginny's hand. "Yes, alright."

Ginny led her onto the dance floor. Parvati's hand was soft and small. Ginny kept looking at it. Ginny caught Harry's eye and he looked startled at the two of them. Then, resigned, he slouched down against a wall. Ginny found Neville and waved to him to let him know what she was doing. He smiled back and waved.