Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter

Convince Me

AN: Merry Christmas everyone! And, as promised, I give you the Yule Ball invitation fic I promised you lot. Lots of Geope fluff to look forward to.

The euphoria that followed the First Task spilled from each week into the next, especially given how well Hogwarts was doing, courtesy of Hope and Cedric's scores.

George drank his pumpkin juice deeply, looking over his goblet's rim to where his girlfriend was sitting at the Hufflepuff table across from Cedric, making gestures towards a book that was open between the two of them.

"You haven't got a date, have you?" Fred asked Ron slyly by his side and their younger brother glowered.

"No," Ron said shortly.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will have gone," Fred said with a wink.

"What? You've already asked Angelina, then?"

"Oh, right!" Fred's eyes widened slightly as he looked around from the dark-skinned Chaser, spotting her down the table from them. "Oi! Angie! Want to go to the ball with me?"

She looked up, her dark eyes glittering as she smiled at him. "All right, then." And she went back to her chat with Alicia with a wide smile on her lips.

Fred gave his younger brother a 'see? That's how it's done' while his twin folded a piece of parchment into an airplane, waving his wand and sending it off to land against Hope's arm.

She blinked, looking down to it in surprise before tracking it back to the one who had sent it over and she arched an eyebrow, her lips twitching at the edges.

George pointed at her, mimed as close to dancing as he could get before jabbing his thumb towards himself.

Want to go to the ball with me?

Hope appraised him with a contemplative air before opening her mouth and saying "Nah."

George positively gaped at her, and he was certain that he wasn't the only one. Fred was gazing at her in incomprehension and Hermione and Ron looked like they'd never seen anything quite like her in their life.

George was flustered and confused; it had never occurred to him that his girlfriend of the past year would say no to being his date to the ball. Then he was suspicious. Was this a way of getting back at him for waiting so long to ask her? It did seem like the underhanded thing that Hope would do.

"Ooh! Wasn't expecting that," Fred grimaced as Hope shot a wink off in George's direction before standing with Hermione hastening to her side, completely forgetting about Ron who was still attempting to pluck up his courage to ask her to the ball. "What're you going to do?"

Hope hated extravagant, she preferred simple things…so George couldn't just jump out in front of her and ask her again, she'd definitely say no. "Well, I'm going to ask her again, obviously."

"Obviously," his twin snorted. "But the Yule Ball is less than a week away, make sure you do it before then."

George dropped his head to the table and sulked, completely unaware of how Hope was sniggering at his response outside of the Great Hall.

"You're doing it on purpose?" she asked her friend in surprise. "I would've thought you'd be happy that George was asking you. You were complaining about it just yesterday!"

"That ship has sailed!" Hope declared, striking a dramatic pose. "Angie gave me an idea and I'm going to see if it works."

"So, this is Angelina's idea, is it?" Hermione asked wryly, arching an eyebrow. "That explains everything."

"Oh, shut it," Hope admonished. "Trust me, I've got everything covered."

"As opposed to the Second Task, where you have nothing covered?"

Hope scowled at her. "Come on, that's not fair, those are two very different risks and you know it!"

And who could really blame her for not figuring out what the deal was with that dragon's egg right away. Hope, unlike her fellow Champions, was only a fourth year, after all. What could be discerned from the screams within the egg once it was opened, Hope didn't yet know.

"And it's not like I'm not trying to figure out the clue," Hope insisted. "But I'd like you to have a go at it and see how well you do!"

Hermione rolled her eyes towards her friend as they made another left, preparing to take the nearest staircase up the library when a voice stalled them.

"Excuse me."

Both girls looked up in surprise to see Viktor Krum standing before them looking slightly uncomfortable. His eyes were on Hermione for a change. "May I haff a vord?" he asked her thickly.

"Oh, you most certainly can," Hope said with a bright grin, elbowing Hermione slightly. "She is all yours!"

"Hope!" Hermione hissed as her friend left her behind before blushing slightly as her eyes met Viktor's. She did her best to ignore Hope's cackles in the distance as she made off towards the library, now alone.

Hope skipped up the stairs onto the next level, with a smile still on her face. The expression on George's had been something, that was to be sure, she couldn't remember the last time she'd surprised him like that.

Usually, it was the other way around with him startling her, and she had a feeling he liked it like that, but this was a game that Hope was determined to win, and she knew that her boyfriend would be relentless in getting her to go to the ball with him.

Unfortunately, Hope was required to be present or she would have skived off completely; dancing wasn't really something she was good at.

But that was a problem for another day.

It was late into the night, almost time for the library to close, and Hope was hidden behind a stack of books with one open in front of her as she raked a hand through her hair, her eyes glancing over the information.

She started in surprise when arms appeared on either side of her and lips pressed a light kiss to her cheek.

"Studying hard?"

Hope smirked. "You know me."

He nuzzled her neck, before pressing another kiss to her throat where it was exposed and Hope swallowed thickly.

"Go to the Yule Ball with me?" he breathed against her ear and Hope considered it, she really did, given his distracting nature, but then she remembered her plan.

"Maybe next time," she responded slyly and George groaned.

"You're killing me, woman," he complained. "The Yule Ball is in three days, you know."

"Oh, I know," Hope assured him cheerfully.

"You just like making my life difficult," he complained and Hope twisted in her seat to turn her eyes on him, daring clear as day.

"Why don't you…convince me, then?" she inquired with a smirk before standing to replace her books on the shelves, leaving her boyfriend caught between flustered and surprised.

He watched her flit about, replacing her books, and contemplation flooded his mind.

Oh, he definitely had a way to convince her.

And Hope, with her back turned away, didn't notice the smirk on his lips.

It was late and Hope was edgy was she shoved her book in her bag and made her way down the darkened hallway, her steps loud in the silence.

Madam Pince had actually had to forcibly kick her out of the library because she'd stayed so late, and Hope was still nowhere close to figuring out that egg of hers.

It was turning out to be a bad day all around, no way to figure out the egg and no date to the Yule Ball.

Surprisingly, George had backed off about asking her, but the ball was tomorrow so Hope was probably going to have to give up the game in favor of a date.

Hope was jerked out of her musings when a hand grabbed hers suddenly, yanking her into the passageway hidden behind a tapestry.

"Duro!"

The tapestry solidified and Hope's bag dropped to the floor as she was pressed against the wall.

The single brazier cast a shadowy illumination across George's face and Hope curled an arm around his shoulders.

"Well," she said lamely, "this is a bit sudden."

"Is it?" he was grinning at her and their faces were so close that their breaths mingled. "Not with how you were practically goading me?"

"I was not goading you," Hope denied, her cheeks a bit flushed.

George arched an eyebrow. "So this is the outcome you wanted? Locked in a deserted passageway, in the dark, with just me?"

Hope's flush darkened, and she was sure that he noticed. "Well, I hadn't really worked out the particulars."

"Good," George chuckled, "I'm great at improvising."

"Wha—?" Hope's question was muffled by his lips and that was perfectly fine with her.

Her eyes fluttered shut as her other arm came up to join the first, locking around his shoulders as he kissed her, his lips more insistent than usual, and that was perfectly fine with Hope.

She shivered when his teeth tugged lightly against her lower lip and when his tongue parted the seam of her lips she couldn't silence her moan.

One of her hands spun into his hair, tugging at the ginger locks, pulling herself up against him to make the height difference between them not quite so noticeable.

Their tongues duelled for control, but Hope was losing ground and running out of air to breathe, and he knew it, and Hope hated him for it.

He was under her skin and in her veins, racing through her heart. He was like poison in her blood and Hope couldn't get enough of him.

She broke from his lips, breathless and flushed from his assault, still clutching to him as his lips trailing from the edge of hers down to her jaw and then her throat. He was trailing fire over her skin and Hope wanted more. She wanted him to kiss her until she couldn't breathe all over again, and it suddenly made sense why people liked snogging so much.

"Have I convinced you yet?" he uttered in her ear at nearly a purr and Hope struggled to swallow and gain control of her tongue.

"Not quite," she managed with difficulty.

"Hm, I'll try a bit harder, then."

Hope gasped as he mouthed over a spot at the base of her throat and it sent tingles down her spine. "George!"

She could feel his smirk against her skin like she could feel one of his hands tangling in her hair, while the other wrapped around her back, tracing fingers lightly up her spine. Hope shivered again.

Hope was definitely losing this battle, but she refused to go down without a fight and she tugged on George's ginger locks, leading his lips up her throat to hover over her own once more.

Her heart was racing within her ribcage and she was sure he could feel it from how they were pressed chest to chest.

"I love it when you're difficult," he murmured, his lips brushing against hers faintly before drifting back, chuckling when Hope tried to move with them.

"Well, I'll try to be more difficult for your benefit, then, Wizard-boy," Hope responded, her words just a pitch lower than normal, but it was enough to make George shiver at the sound of it.

"I need something to make my day, Mystery-girl…now, have I convinced you yet?"

Hope's eyes glittered, the green darker than emeralds. "Why don't you give me another kiss and find out?"

And George was only so happy to comply, leaning down to capture her lips in a searing kiss. Hope gasped against his mouth, but it was not in surprise, it was in eagerness and pleasure.

The shadows danced around the pair in their loving embrace, neither caring what the next day would bring, only knowing that Hope would be wearing a Grecian-styled gown blue-green in color and George would himself quite without the ability to speak at the sight of her in it.

And that was enough, for now.

AN: So fluffy, a little steamy, but not too steamy, given the ages of the pair, but I think it went rather well.

Merry Christmas, hope your holiday is fun!