A/N: Thank you so much to those who've read, and especially the few who reviewed; it really means a lot to me. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- Everything Harry is J. K. Rowling's

oo0oo

Contentment

Everything on Harry hurt. His feet were sore because of how much elaborate stepping he'd done the past few days. His arms were tired because he'd been learning to dance from Professor Sprout, and she taught by example. She wasn't overweight, but he was only fourteen. His brain hurt because of how much he had to remember. It was ridiculous how many different actions could be taken in one, three minute dance. When Harry had complained to Hermione that Ginny didn't have to learn, she told him all a girl does is follow the guy, he's the leader. Saying the password, mandrake, the the Fat Lady, Harry made his way into the common room.

"Uuughh." Harry complained, collapsing onto the couch. Ron was sitting across the chess table from him and smiled sympathetically.

"Professor Sprout just finish with you?"

Harry groaned again and nodded, before fully sinking back into the bliss the Gryffindor couch provided.

"Who knew it'd take three days to teach you one, three minute dance." Ron continued congenially.

Harry interrupted his friend before he could continue. "It's not the time, it's that all of me hurts so damn much. My feet hurt, arms are sore, and head feels like it's going to explode with how much I've tried to memorize."

Ron grinned, "Ok the brain and feet I understand, but why your arms?"

Harry shook his head disgustedly, "With how much we lift and spin the girl, that should be all the dance is. Shouldn't even bother having them on the ground."

"Hopefully for you your dance partners light then. Have you gotten someone to go with?"

Harry knew it'd probably get ugly when Ron found out he'd actually asked Ginny. He figured it might as well be now, rather than when he saw them at the dance, the over protective brother would probably cause a scene. "I asked Ginny the other day, figured your idea was smart so I took it. I'm going with her as a friend, just for the dance that everyone is watching us in, have you found anyone yet?" When Harry said it was just at a friend, Ron's face cleared up. "No, I haven't, but whatever; I guess I'm not going to the ball."

oo0oo

Ginny was motionless, her shoulder was touching Harry's AND there was room for him to move over if he wanted to. He didn't and the redhead could only see two reasons for that, she hoped it was that he didn't want to, it was likely because he didn't notice. She looked across the chess table to Hermione and thought about how much the girl had done for her. This was the second time she'd sat by Ron, so Ginny could sit by Harry. She'd pushed Ginny to act on impulses, with both good and bad results. And she'd most importantly, had that conversation with him. From what Hermione said, it went something like this,

"Hey Harry, you know Ginny isn't busy the night of the Yule Ball, right?"

Harry turned towards her, confused. "What? No she is, she's having a night with her friends."

Hermione raised her eyes to the heavens and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'boys' before turning back to Harry with a small smile. "She just said that because she knew you were uncomfortable, she'd really like to go with you."

Harry still looked doubtful so Hermione continued, "Don't you think Ginny's talked to me about it? Trust me, she's hoping you'll ask her."

Harry shuffled his feet, he looked like he believed Hermione, but nervous. Not wanting him to get cold feet she said, "Harry, she'll say yes. Trust me ok?"

And now they were here, with Ginny smiling to herself at the situation she was in. She was going to the Yule Ball with Harry, the boy she'd always had a crush on.

"Wanna play chess?" Her brother asked, looking at Harry.

"Nah. I can't concentrate on the game, I've got to remember all the stuff Sprout's taught me." Harry responded with a grimace.

Ginny decided to take a leap of faith and actually participate in the conversation. "What's Sprout been teaching you?" Harry turned red, which made Ginny's face start to heat. "How to dance, I never realized it was that complex." Ginny's face lit on fire when she figured out she was the reason Harry was blushing.

Hermione, seeing the danger signs of the Weasley girl losing all confidence with Harry, jumped into the conversation, "Just another reason I'm glad I'm a girl. The guys lead, we just follow."

Ron grinned at Harry, "Sucks to be you, I don't need to actually dance," he said leaning back and interlocking his fingers behind his head contemptuously.

"You don't even have a partner to dance with. That's what happens when you're picky." Hermione accused.

Ron put on an 'I don't care' face and snapped back, "Now I don't need to wear my ridiculous dress robes, win-win."

The two of them started bickering and Ginny, who wasn't bothering to listen to them, relished her physical connection with Harry before her eyes began to droop, courtesy of the crackling fire. The youngest Weasley ferociously fought with herself, not wanting to nod off, especially when she was leaning against Harry and her head would fall onto his shoulder. She didn't want to jerk though either and cause him to move away, it was quite a dilemma for the thirteen year old.

Harry started talking and she startled fully awake, "Kind of sad that this is relaxing isn't it?" He said quietly, grinning at her. Oh she loved his smile, brightened her day and she wanted to be the reason for it, she was so damn nervous around him. Realizing he was waiting for a response, she quickly responded, "Yeah, the lovebirds will notice that they have feelings for each other eventually."

Ginny, mortified that she'd let out Hermione's secret, was relieved when Harry didn't believe her and just laughed, "They fight way too much to like each other."

Ginny didn't respond, too nervous to continue on the subject and reveal anything else. Once again they fell silent, only this one was more comfortable than the last. Ginny couldn't stop herself from nodding off, the last couple nights she'd barely slept, and her head fell on Harry's shoulder.

oo0oo

Everything stopped in a heartbeat, Ron's and Hermione's eyes snapped to him, and Harry tensed and froze; inside, Hermione was crowing with success. Ginny had gotten comfortable enough with her fascination to use him as a pillow, even if it was unintentional, it was very cute. Her ankles were crossed along with her hands folded on her lap. Hair veiling her face, causing Hermione to wonder if Ginny was actually awake and intentionally doing this, before the older girl realized Ginny would never have the guts.

Harry wasn't daring to move, he didn't want to wake her the youngest Weasley up and didn't mind having her on his shoulder, he actually liked it. Hermione was grinning like a maniac but Harry only had eyes from Ron. His friend looked like he was having to fight to stop himself from yelling and the Boy Who Lived appreciated it. He'd imagined this so many times, not with Ginny, but with Cho.

Hermione drew their friend back into a conversation, and it took a lot, but Ron was distracted from his sister.

Harry started to relax, hearing his two friends voices, not fighting for once was making him tired. Largely because he'd barely slept the past few nights, filled with anxiety about the ball. There was something calming about Ginny being on his shoulder, and he certainly wasn't going to disagree with it. Propping his arm up against the armrest, he rested his head on it, and drifted off as well.

oo0oo

When Hermione saw Harry slip into a doze as well, she put a hand on Ron's arm as he moved to wake Harry up to head up to the dorms and sleep. "Let him sleep, they're not hurting anything and I'll wake them up when I go to bed, I'll read down here for a while."

Ron answered explosively, but quietly (which Hermione was thankful for). "That's my sister! And my best mate! I don't care if I told him to ask her to the ball, I didn't actually expect him to."

"I've talked to Harry about it," She lied, "He is just taking Ginny as a friend, and because he needs a partner for the opening dance. And anyways, you can keep an eye on them, so if you see something you don't like, you can stop them."

Ron looked mollified at the first part, but to the second, "Remember? I told you I'm not going."

Hermione did a double take. "I remember you telling me you weren't going to dance, but aren't you going anyways? A lot of younger kids would kill for this opportunity."

"I'm not a younger kid, and all I'd do is sit and watch you all dance anyways. There's no point in me going, I might as well just stay here, and work on homework." Ron said the last part to surprise Hermione and shut her up. Seeing the skepticism on her face he stalked off, not looking forward to Christmas night.

The girl smiled before looking at Harry and Ginny. She had lifted her feet onto the couch beside her in her sleep, surprisingly not waking Harry. Hermione walked over to them, and lightly touched Ginny on the shoulder, seeing if she'd wake up. When she didn't, the older girl grabbed one of the pillows and put it on Harry's lap. Slowly moving Ginny from shoulder to lap was touch-and-go with them waking, but thankfully they didn't.

She looked up and saw the twins watching her; marching over, she threatened them, "Harry's not awake, and nor is Ginny. Leave them alone unless you want me to make your pranks look like child's play." Hermione looked them each in the eyes, so they could see she was serious, and then headed up to the girl's dormitories, taking one last look at the sleeping not-couple-but-acting-like-it.

oo0oo

Harry woke up slowly, and saw the dying fire. Used to tending to it, he went to get up and grab the poker when he realized someone was on his lap, Ginny. Looking around, he saw that the common room was empty, and with how low the fire was, it was late. Harry sat for a minute, unsure of what to do when she repositioned herself in her sleep, hand coming up grabbing his leg just above the knee, as if it were a pillow. The Boy Who Lived reasoned he had Hermione to thank/blame for this, but Ginny was off limits; that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate her from afar. Her long red hair was like silk, and her face was as innocent as they get, she had a small smile on her face, as if she was having a good dream... Not able to stop himself, he reached down and touched her hair; it was as soft as imagined. Harry brushed it back from her face and thought about what any of the Weasley boys would do if they found their sister with him like this. They'd kill him, at the least. The exhaustion started affecting him again, and he leaned back on the couch, hand absentmindedly playing with her hair.

oo0oo

Ginny awoke, feeling better than she had in a while (even though she'd only slept for a few hours). The girl was content, laying there, head on Harry's la… HARRY'S LAP!? It took all of her self control not to jerk into a sitting position. She stared at him long and hard and he didn't move, didn't wake up, hardly even breathed. His head was resting on his hand, glasses slightly askew, his right hand was tangled deep in her hair, his left down by her side, barely a hairs breadth from touching her. Gnny just lay there, not daring to move, not wanting to wake him up, enjoying the physical contact, even if he was asleep. She couldn't figure out how she'd ended up there, her last memory was of fighting with herself not to fall asleep.

The hour bell chimed once, twice, thrice before falling silent. She knew it was now Christmas Day, the day of the Yule Ball, and she needed sleep. She only wanted to lay here, wanted this moment to last forever, she knew though that she needed to get to bed. Reaching out an arm, she softly touched Harry, he woke with a start.

Ginny smiled very hesitantly, then sat up. "I'm sorry for not letting you get off to bed, I didn't-"

Harry lifted a hand to stop her. "It's fine, I've slept down here every night since I heard about the Yule Ball."

Ginny was confused so Harry continued, "The crackling of the fire calms me I guess, thank you for waking me though."

The other nodded, "Well… good night Harry." Ginny said. Harry responded with the same and Ginny made her way upstairs, getting into bed. She didn't fall asleep for quite a while, her mind filled with the feeling of Harry's hand knitted through her hair. What she'd do to feel that again, to feel him put his hand there while she was awake. The youngest Weasley eventually fell asleep with a smile on her face.

oo0oo

A/N: Thank you for reading! A bit of a short chapter but I wanted all of Yule to be together. Please leave a review, that was the sappiest thing I've written and I want to know what's good and bad about it. Anything's appreciated though.

Geheim