Disclaimer: All I own is this one-shot, the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copyright intended!
Author's note: Another one-shot where Harry is paired with Sophie Roper, a mentioned canon character. The story takes place around half an hour before the Yule Ball is supposed to start. Rated T, just to be safe. Sophie will be a Hufflepuff student in this story, since the house she ended up in canon was never revealed. Implied Ron bashing, and some implied Ginny bashing.
Ropin' The Moment!
Fanfic by Brockster550
Harry Potter, a fourteen year old wizard was having a bad night, which didn't seem to be getting any better. Ever since the champion selection for the Triwizard Tournament, he was treated like a black sheep because the majority of the student body just jumped to conclusions, rather than asking Harry for his side of the story. His supposed best friend, Ron Weasley also accused Harry of cheating and demanding to know how he got past the age line. When Harry assured that he didn't, Ron just rudely called him a liar. As a result, Harry called it quits with his friendship with Ron. Harry's other best friend, Hermione Granger stayed by his side and assured him that she believed him. Neville Longbottom (another Gryffindor in Harry's year) also believed him, as did the Weasley twins, their best friend Lee Jordan, and the chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Susan Bones (a Hufflepuff in Harry's year) also told Harry she believed him. Ginny Weasley, however claimed that she believed him, though Harry had no idea if it was genuine or if she was just trying to suck up to him.
At the moment, Harry was in a quandary. He was required to have date for the Yule Ball (as part of the tradition for the Triwizard champions to have a date and start the opening dance). Harry never understood girls before because of the Dursleys' abusive treatment toward him, all because of his 'abnormality.' Not only that, but most of the girls he tried asking just gave him the cold shoulder, and the ones who actually believed Harry from the start (including Hermione) were already taken. Ginny kept giving him hints that she wanted him to ask her to be his date, but Neville beat him to it. Neville apologized, but Harry told him that there wasn't anything to be sorry for. He also explained to Neville that there wasn't any way he could ever date and eventually marry Ginny because it would be like flirting with his own sister, thus it would make the whole thing awkward. Ron managed to find a date (after having inevitably bad luck in trying to ask the Beauxbatons champion, Fleur Delacour), who happened to be their fellow Gryffindor, Lavender Brown. When Ron rubbed it in his face, Harry knew he had been right in ending his friendship with Ron when he did. Harry just found an empty corridor to avoid the majority of the student body, with a downhearted look on his face.
'Why me?' thought Harry miserably. 'Why do I have to have such terrible luck? All I wanted was a normal year and stay out of the damn spotlight for once! But no, it's always me, getting dragged in against my own damn will!'
Harry started contemplating staying in the corridor during the Yule Ball. Since he was the unwilling selection (and participant) as the fourth champion, Harry felt that he should just let the true champions have their fun. What's the worst that can happen? Maybe Professor McGonagall would give him detention or something? Then he started thinking about heading back to Gryffindor Tower and getting out of his emerald-green dress robes. Then Harry heard footsteps approaching him, but he was too upset to even notice. As soon as somebody spoke, Harry was jolted back to reality.
"Hello, Harry," said the voice. "Why are you here all alone?"
Harry turned around and saw a girl in sea green dress robes. She also had shiny brown hair in a classic french braid. She had a concerned look on her face for some reason, but Harry was still too downhearted to find out why.
"Alot of reasons," said Harry hastily. "But nobody's paid attention to me when I tried to clear up the misunderstanding about the champion selection on Halloween!"
"I believe you, Harry." said the girl.
"Oh right," said Harry, not having heard the girl at first. "And then eventu… wait, did you say that you… b-believe me?"
"Yes," said the girl, smiling at Harry. "Anybody who has any real sense can tell that you were terrified because of the look on your face when your name emerged from that goblet."
"Th-thank y-you," said Harry, feeling relieved. "M-means alot to me!"
"I'm Sophie Roper, by the way." said the girl, holding a hand out at Harry.
"Harry Potter." said Harry as he shook Sophie's hand, even though he knew saying his name was pointless. But he was simply being polite. When Sophie sat down, Harry saw that she had green eyes when he gave her eye contact.
"The Yule Ball starts in about half an hour, Harry." said Sophie.
"Well, yeah," said Harry sheepishly. "But I didn't have the luck in… finding a date despite the fact that the champions are required to have one, as part of the opening dance. The ones who actually believed me had already been asked, while the majority of the others simply gave me the cold shoulder."
"I haven't been asked by anyone," Sophie revealed. "I wanted to tell you earlier that I believed you from the start. But you seemed to have been too mad and I also didn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing."
"Again, thank you, Sophie!" said Harry gratefully.
"You're welcome, Harry," said Sophie, giving him another smile. "Did you really have bad luck in finding a date for the ball?"
"Y-Yeah," said Harry sheepishly. "I-I-I've never dealt with these kinds of situations in the past, asking a girl to a dance or something. Despite practicing some the other day, my dance skills still aren't all that great."
"But that's no reason to deprive yourself from having fun, Harry," said Sophie. "You can kind of make up a dance as you go along."
"Oh, okay," said Harry. "I never realized that. But if you don't have a date, why are you in your dress robes?"
"Being a fourth year myself," said Sophie. "That's also no reason to avoid having fun."
"I see," said Harry. "Are you in Hufflepuff or something?"
"Yep, a Hufflepuff badger." stated Sophie.
"Well," said Harry, finally figuring out the hints Sophie was giving him. "W-Would you like to go to the b-bal with me?"
"Yes, Harry, I'd be delighted!" said Sophie ecstatically.
"Shall I escort you over to where the champions and their dates are supposed to meet up?" asked Harry.
"Yes," said Sophie. "I'm looking forward to tonight!"
"And you've given me a reason to go to the Yule Ball after all," said Harry. "How were you able to help me change my mind?"
"Something I call 'ropin' the moment,' Harry," stated Sophie. "I was looking for polite ways of persuading you. But I'm more interested in getting to know the real you, not the Boy-Who-Lived!"
"That's something I wish alot of people would see," said Harry. "I don't like my fame because of it being a constant reminder that my parents are dead."
"I understand that, Harry," assured Sophie. "But tonight's all about having fun."
"I concur." said Harry.
Then he held an arm out, with Sophie linking one of her arms over Harry's. As he started walking with Sophie over to where the champions and their dates were to meet up before the opening dance, he started wondering how the school was going to react when they finally see that Harry managed to find a date after all. It seemed like they wanted to see the 'Boy-Who-Lived' embarrassed by showing up without a date.
'Yep,' thought Harry. 'I think tonight will be pretty interesting. Now I just need to show them not to underestimate somebody.'
Harry and Sophie finally made it to the room where the champions and their dates were to wait until they were called in to start the opening dance. Harry was now determined to make Sophie's time at the Yule Ball one of her best memories.
The End!