Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the associated milieu belongs to J. K. Rowling and various publishers. I'm just borrowing the characters and the world for my own fun.

Author's notes:

And here's the fourth chapter, finally.

To demon-sword (and others who wondered about Harry getting out of the tournament): Harry had to participate in the tournament because of the binding magical contract, but in this story he got out because he had a valid reason to be disqualified (ie. failing the first task and also failing to get the egg, which was required to figure out the next task). I basically thought that the contract could be voided and a champion taken out of the tournament for a good reason – think about a champion doing some major cheating or being severely injured (losing a limb or few would probably make the rest of the tasks quite difficult...)

Harry Potter and the White Phoenix

Chapter 4 – The Yule Ball

The next morning it was clear that Ron and Hermione hadn't forgotten the argument they had had last night and they were still clearly exasperated by each other, and Harry was afraid that he was going to be caught in the middle of another row between them. During the breakfast the situation got resolved, however, when Ron ate even faster than he usually did and he stood up to go, while Harry and Hermione were still eating.

"See you later Harry... Hermione," he said and his voice got just a bit colder when he said Hermione's name.

"See you, Ron," Harry said to him, but Ron had already left and didn't probably even hear Harry.

"So, what did you think about doing today?" Hermione asked Harry like nothing had happened.

"Well, I would have liked to go flying but it's way too cold already," he said and it was the truth; through the windows they could see that it was sleeting outside. The December had sneaked up on them and with it had come the winter chill.

"Yeah, I would have liked that too," Hermione said and stared morosely outside.

Harry looked at her in surprise. He knew that Hermione had liked it when they had gone flying a couple of weeks back but he didn't know that she really wanted to go flying again. "Really?" he asked her.

She turned her head and focused on him again. "Well, yeah. I kind of liked flying without anyone laughing or showing off. It was quite relaxing actually," she said thoughtfully.

They lapsed into a silence, as they both finished eating and for a moment they just sat there silently, both lost in their own thoughts.

"So, you have no idea what you want to do today?" Hermione asked him after a moment.

"No, not really," Harry replied to her. "Unless you have something?" he asked her. Ron seemed to have gone off to somewhere and Harry decided that he might as well do something with Hermione, if she didn't have any urgent work to do.

She seemed surprised for a moment, but then her expression turned to thoughtful, until her face lit up as she came up with something. "Come on, Harry," she said enthusiastically, standing up. She didn't offer any further explanation, but just started walking out of the Great Hall, and quickly Harry followed her.

After they had walked for a while, Harry realized that she was heading towards the library. He was a bit surprised about that; not that there was anything unusual about Hermione going to the library of course, but she seemed to have got some kind of an idea in her head in the Great Hall and going to library certainly wasn't something he had thought of her coming up with – it was an almost everyday event for Hermione, after all.

She walked straight through the doors of the library, but then she turned and walked towards a doorway and a passage that left from the library. Harry had seen the passage several times – every time he had been to the library, actually – but he had never really been there, although he had a few times wondered what there was and he had thought that it just led to another part of the library.

The passage made a 90-degree turn and it was impossible to see where it led to, but after they had gone round the corner, Harry saw that it led to a large room that was lit brightly with the light coming from several large windows. There were several tables in the room, each having a few chairs around them, and most of the tables had a Wizard Chess set on them, or some other game. There was a pair of students from Ravenclaw sitting in front of one of the tables and they were immersed in a game of chess, but otherwise the room was unoccupied. After looking around the room, Harry turned back to Hermione.

"What's this?" Harry asked her, slightly surprised.

"You've never been here before?" she asked and she in turn seemed to be a bit surprised by that, but then her expression changed to thoughtful. "Well, that's not really a surprise, not many come here," she said thoughtfully.

"But, anyway, this is where they have the meetings of the Chess club and the Gobstones club and some others too, and it's called the Game Room. This room is really open for anyone while the library is open, but quite few actually come here, except for those club meetings," she told him.

"Oh, I've sometimes wondered where that passage from the library led to, but, you know, there are several other places like that in the castle. You see them often, but you just never ask what there is or check it yourself," he answered, trying to explain what he felt.

"I know what you mean. You see those places all the time but you never see anyone going there and you kind of get used to not knowing where they lead to, and when you get used to them, you stop thinking about them and forget them almost completely," she explained and he nodded – it was just like he felt.

"So, what was the idea you had in the Great Hall?" he asked her. Their talk had distracted her – and him too – from the original reason they came to this room for.

"Oh? Oh, yeah. I just thought that I haven't played chess against you for a long time. I think we've played against each other only a handful of times," she said. "And you would be much more even opponent than Ron is," she added and there was just a slight tone of irritation in her voice as a proof that she was still angry at Ron.

"Yeah," Harry chuckled, ignoring her tone. Neither of them really stood a change against Ron in a game of chess. "Well, lets play then?" he half asked and half noted.

They made their way towards a table in one of the corners of the room and there was a large chess set on the table, which made Harry very glad that the Wizard Chess pieces moved by themselves – the large stone pieces must have weighed at least three pounds per piece. The chess set was obviously old and it was very stylised; the pieces were carved with great attention and had plenty of small details. The black pieces were of some shiny black stone and the white pieces were of some light grey stone, that Harry thought might have been marble.

"So, which one of us starts?" Hermione asked when they stopped in front of the table.

Harry thought about it for a second and then he smiled, coming up with something. "Ladies first," he said to her with a grin and she rolled her eyes at that, but she did sit down on the side of the board that had the white pieces.

Harry almost missed it, when he looked away from her as he sat down, but when he looked back at her, he saw that she was smiling a satisfied smile to herself. He briefly wondered what the smile meant, but he soon forgot it, as they ordered the pieces to starting formation and Hermione began the game by moving a pawn two squares forward and, without much of a thought, Harry countered by blocking the pawn by moving one of his own pawns in front of it.

"So, did you have any plans for today?" Harry asked her conversationally as she was thinking her next move.

"Well, I was thinking of going to the library," she said and Harry couldn't help grinning a bit at that. Surprisingly, she grinned back to him, but she sobered before continuing. "And we could practise a bit later, if you want to?" she asked him and she seemed just a bit uncertain. They referred to their wandless magic practising as just "practising" these days.

"Sure," Harry answered.

Just a hint of a smile appeared on her face with his answer and she finally made her second move. Harry started thinking his own move and as he thought, he saw that her expression was thoughtful too, but she didn't seem to be concentrating on the game, and she actually seemed to be a bit bothered about something, although when Harry made his move, she concentrated back on the game.

Harry wanted to break the silence that was starting to get just slightly uncomfortable, so he decided to ask something that would surely spark her interest. "So, have you planned anything for our practising after the Summoning Charm?" he asked and he was actually interested about the topic himself.

Harry could see Hermione's expression change from thoughtful to interested before she answered. "Well, I have, of course, thought about that, but there just seems to be so many useful spells, that it's a bit difficult to choose what would be the most useful and what we should study next. I have made a list of some spells, mostly some practical charms, but I have some trouble deciding on the very next spell," she told him.

They continued talking about that for a moment as they played, and then they continued talking about everything from school work to the weather and Hermione seemed to forget whatever had been bothering her. They were both actually having good time and while neither of them was a very good player, they were quite evenly matched and that made their game more interesting. Harry ended up winning the first game but it was more luck than anything else – when he made the second to last move, he hadn't even considered the possibility of winning the game on the next move, but while Hermione was thinking of her move, he had suddenly realized the move that would win him the game.

They decided to play another game and this one was much longer than the first. They didn't really think about strategy that much, but instead they both concentrated on getting rid of as many of the other's pieces as they could. This game went for Hermione and as the game had lasted quite long, there weren't many pieces left on the board when they were finished.

After playing a few more games, they had lunch and then they went to practise more wandless magic. They didn't meet Ron in the Great Hall and Harry briefly thought of seeing if Ron was in the Gryffindor Tower and asking if he would like to join them, but then Harry remembered that Ron and Hermione seemed to be still angry at each other, and and he thought that Ron would most likely not want to join them. Harry and Hermione had plenty of time for practising that day, as the only piece of homework they had undone was a Potions assignment from Snape, which they had received the day before, and so they continued practising for several hours, until it was dinner time already and after that they returned to the Gryffindor Tower and made the Potions assignment, which ended up taking the rest of their evening.

The next day Hermione's and Ron's animosity towards each other started cooling off and Ron spent much more time with Harry and Hermione than he had done the day before. The weather had been quite awful for the last days and they hadn't really been outside that much, so, as the weather was much nicer that day, they decided to go outside in the morning. Hermione and Ron still acted a bit more polite than usual towards each other and they were a bit uncomfortable about the situation but towards the evening they were mostly back to normal.

The next week Hermione and Harry again had their schedules full with all the practising they did besides their school work, and they didn't have too much free time. Ron seemed to have taken heed of Hermione's words and he wasn't joining them on that and while the three still spent the classes and meals together, it was obvious that Ron wasn't interested in the extra work of learning wandless magic and he spent that time doing something else. Harry and Hermione didn't actually miss Ron that much as they had become quite used to being by themselves when they practised; it was much more quiet and calm without Ron and they both appreciated that.

Harry was still feeling down on some days but at least he was sleeping much better than just after the first task, and he was only occasionally woken up by the nightmares any more. But still, he was quite tired some days, and on those days he wished to avoid the other students as much as possible – the noise and commotion that a large group of students always made wasn't very comfortable for someone that was feeling tired and down. Ron and Hermione usually noticed it, but they were much more used to it already and Ron mostly just ignored it. Hermione on the other hand had noticed that Harry was very interested in the wandless magic, and whenever he was looking to be down, she usually spent most of the evening practising with him. He never said anything about it, but he was grateful for her about that.

On the Thursday they got a small shock when Professor McGonagall announced during the Transfiguration class that they would be having a Yule Ball on Christmas Day. Only fourth years and above were allowed to attend to it, but they could bring a partner from any year. Harry was glad that he had been disqualified from the Tournament when he heard that the champions would be obliged to participate and would be opening the event with the first dance of the evening.

"So... what do you think about the Ball?" Hermione asked the boys after the class.

"I think it's brilliant! We get to stay up for the night and there's food and everything," Ron said eagerly. "Glad we don't have to have partners, though," he added scornfully.

Hermione looked at him with something akin to disgust but she didn't say anything. Instead she turned her head to look at Harry to get his opinion about it.

"I don't think I'm going to the ball," Harry said sullenly and Ron turned to look at him with eyes wide in surprise.

"Harry, are you serious? There probably won't be any more occasions like this during our time in Hogwarts and when else do we get to stay up 'till midnight with plenty of food and drink available?" Ron said with disbelief, while it seemed that Hermione had expected Harry's answer and she just looked at him with an unreadable expression.

Harry didn't know what to answer Ron, as he really didn't want to go to the ball, but he didn't want to tell Ron that he still wished to avoid the other students. There was a short silence as Harry thought of an answer for Ron, but Hermione interrupted it before it got uncomfortable. "Well, let's go to lunch," she said and Ron was distracted from thoughts about the Ball.

That evening Harry and Hermione were, once again, in the storeroom practising, and as usual lately, Ron wasn't with them. They were just taking a short break when Hermione brought up the subject of the ball again.

"You sure you don't want to go to the ball, Harry?" Hermione asked him off-handedly, but it was clear that she was more interested about the issue than she wanted to show.

"I am. I just don't feel like being around most of the school, especially in an occasion with dancing and such. Perhaps if it was just for Gryffindor, or something like that, then I might consider going," he told her.

She seemed to consider his words carefully before answering. "Well, then I'm not going either," she said firmly.

"Hermione, you shouldn't stay away from the ball just for my sake," Harry protested. "You should go if you want to. I'm just going to have a normal evening that night and... do something," he said but his words were quite empty and in all honesty he didn't feel like being alone when others were having fun, but he didn't really know what else he could do – he really didn't want to go to the ball, but neither did he want for Hermione or Ron to stay out of it just for his sake.

"I probably wouldn't have fun without you anyway," she said, but then she seemed a bit embarrassed by what she had said and continued quickly. "And Ron would certainly drive me nuts before long with his table manners and everything," she said. "No, I'm staying with you in the tower," she added with finality in her words.

"Well, if you're sure," Harry said, actually feeling kind of glad that she wanted to spend the evening with him, rather than going to the ball. He thought that he was being selfish, though, and he quickly banished that thought from his mind.

That night Harry had trouble falling asleep and the ball wasn't the only thing that bothered him. Lately he had felt that the wandless magic practise wasn't somehow enough, like he was supposed to do something more, but he didn't know exactly what that was. He still felt the satisfaction after the lessons but there was something else that he was lacking and that was causing him to feel restless, and he really didn't know what to do about it.

The ball itself wasn't actually bothering Harry at all, but rather the girls that asked him to it. Just weeks ago he had been the object of almost everyone's animosity, excepting the Gryffindors of course, but now that there was a ball coming, he had already been asked to it by some girls. He always felt somehow uneasy at having to say no to those girls and having to see their crestfallen expressions, but there was nothing else he could do – he wasn't going to the ball and that's what he told to everyone who asked him to it.

Harry also thought that Professor Moody had been paying him more attention than before. Moody seemed to often watch him during their DADA classes and even outside of classes Moody seemed to be around a lot. Harry knew that Moody was considered paranoid by many but he couldn't shake off the thought that Moody somehow knew that something was going to happen and that was another thing that made Harry even more restless – nothing untoward had happened since the first task and Harry was starting to feel like something would have to happen soon, with the person that put his name in the Goblet still at large.

Harry and Hermione were still trying to find something that would explain the first task and the dragon's behaviour in it towards Harry, and the Saturday morning Harry and Hermione spent in the library in search for clues. So far they had read all the books about phoenixes they had been able to find – there were actually only two small ones in the Hogwarts library – and they had also read much about dragons, but they still hadn't found anything to explain the dragon incident. Ron wasn't with them, but they met Ron during the lunch and Hermione had the idea of visiting Hagrid that day and both Ron and Harry agreed to that; they hadn't visited Hagrid for a long time and, like Hermione said, they could also ask Hagrid whether he had any idea of why Harry had been attacked by the dragon. So, after dinner, the three made their way to Hagrid's hut.

"Who's there?" Hagrid asked when Harry knocked on the door of the hut.

"It's us," Harry replied, knowing that Hagrid would recognize his voice.

Hagrid opened the door and smiled at them. "Good ter see yeh, Harry, Hermione and Ron," he greeted them and ushered them inside. "You want a cuppa?" Hagrid asked them and they saw that he already had the kettle on.

"Yes, please," Harry answered for all of them, as they sat around Hagrid's large table.

"Yeh aren' the firs' uns ter visit today. Rita Skeeter from the Prophet came earlier an' seemed ter be very int'rested about yeh, Harry," Hagrid told, as he got a large mug for each of them and set some of his rock cakes on the table. "A rock cake?" Hagrid asked them.

"Uh, no thanks, we've just had lunch," Hermione answered him.

"Oh, 'course yeh did," Hagrid replied a bit disappointedly.

"So, um, what did you tell her?" Harry asked Hagrid, a bit fearful about what Hagrid had told about him, since Hagrid had a bit of a habit of talking too much.

"Told her the truth, didn' I? Said that yeh've always been a good student, an' never had any trouble with you in the lessons," Hagrid said proudly. "She didn' seem ter be very satisfied 'bout that," he then added with puzzlement.

"Oh, thanks, Hagrid," Harry replied with a smile, but then he turned thoughtful. There hadn't been an article from Skeeter for a long time, but she was apparently still looking for something about him.

"Hagrid? Do you have any idea why the dragon attacked Harry in the first task?" Hermione asked Hagrid, changing the subject.

"Never seen a dragon behave like that in me whole life," Hagrid answered. "Dragons are usually mild-temper'd an' only have a bad name, 'cause they do a lot of damage when they do get mad," Hagrid added fondly, but then he seemed thoughtful. "Didn' Professor Dumbledore tell yeh what he suspected about the firs' task?" he asked them.

"Yeah, he did tell about phoenixes and dragons, but we thought that that seemed a bit mysterious and we have been trying to find if there's anything else," Hermione said.

"Nah, excepting what Dumbledore told, I have no idea o' anything that could make a dragon crazy like that," Hagrid replied to Hermione. Then Hagrid turned to look at Harry, who seemed to be thinking about the first task.

"The past is past an' there's no use in dwelling in it, Harry. Yeh jus' have ter remember ter be careful with dragons in the future, that's all," Hagrid said with a smile.

The kettle started to boil just at that moment, and Hagrid busied himself with the tea, but Harry's mind was back on the first task, and he couldn't help going through it in his mind once again. From the corner of his eye he saw Hermione cast a worried look towards him, and he gave her a small reassuring smile to indicate that he was okay and she seemed to brighten a bit at that.

The next Tuesday, just after dinner, Harry and Hermione were together in the library again. They had originally planned on going to practise, but then Hermione had remembered that she really wanted to research something that Professor Binns had told them about in their History of Magic class, and, as Ron had already gone off somewhere, Harry had decided to join her there. Harry didn't actually mind it that much, since he could work on his homework there while Hermione did research. They were interrupted by Viktor Krum, who came at their table and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Could I haf a vord vith you?" he asked Hermione.

She unconsciously looked at Harry, who just shrugged at her, so Hermione followed Krum out of the sight, behind a bookshelf. After less than a minute she came back looking quite flushed and Krum walked out of the library looking even more sulkier than he usually did. Hermione settled back down on her chair and continued reading like nothing had happened. She didn't say anything about why Krum had wanted to talk with her and that piqued Harry's curiosity; she usually told him about almost everything she did, especially lately, as they had spent so much time together.

"What did he want?" Harry asked her perplexed.

Hermione looked at him and seemed a bit embarrassed. "He wanted to ask me to the Yule Ball," she said and she blushed a bit more.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise and he just stared at her, mouth open, for a while, until he caught himself at it. "So, um, what did you say?" he asked after his mind had managed to wrap around the fact that Hermione had been asked to the ball by an international Quidditch star.

"I declined of course," she said like it was obvious. "I'm not going to the ball, remember?" she added. Seeing Harry's guilty expression, she knew what he was thinking before he even said anything. "I'd much rather spent the evening with you, my best friend, than with some foreign Quidditch player that I don't even know at all," she said convincingly.

Harry was relieved to hear that, but he wasn't quite sure that she told the whole truth. While she played her part of being indifferent about the ball very well, Harry couldn't shake of the thought that she really would have liked to go to the dance and didn't go only for his sake. Harry felt like he really should make it up to her somehow, but he was at a loss of what he could do for her. He briefly thought of buying her a nicer Christmas present than he had usually done, but it was a bit too late to get her a decent present any more, and he didn't think that that kind of a thing would be enough, anyway.

During the week, Harry was asked by several more girls to the ball and he had to say no to each and everyone of them, and Hermione too was asked to the ball for a second time, this time by Neville. She seemed very sympathetic and sad at having to say no to the shy Gryffindor who had gathered up his courage and asked her, but Hermione cheered up later, when Neville asked Ginny and she agreed to go with him.

Ron had also managed to anger Hermione again when he had said that he would want to go to the ball with the prettiest girl possible, if he had to get a partner. Ron himself had been hit by Fleur Delacour's Veela charm and hadn't been able to stop himself from asking her to the ball with him. Fleur had declined, of course, and Ron had been really embarrassed about it, especially as the situation was seen by several others. Harry couldn't help thinking of Ron's expression if he heard that Hermione had been asked to the ball by Viktor Krum, who was practically Ron's idol, but he quickly banished that thought, as he thought that it would be a bit vindictive thing to do.

The Friday was finally the last day of the term and Harry was really glad that he could have a couple of weeks off of school. His schedule had been quite full ever since he had started practising with Hermione and despite the fact that he wanted to learn wandless magic, it was still tiring to spent pretty much all the evenings on it. During the holidays, they could spent a few hours on practising each day, and he could still have most of the day off.

Few days before the Christmas, Harry, Hermione and Ron were sitting in the common room, just talking and doing nothing. They had just had dinner and they were feeling rather comfortable sitting in front of the warm fire, watching the snowflakes fall through the windows, but suddenly they were startled by a large brown owl appearing in the window.

"Look, Harry! That's the owl I used to send the letter to Sirius," Hermione said, glancing around to make sure that they weren't overheard.

She stood up from her chair and went to the window, and when she opened it, the owl flew in and straight towards Harry, landing on top of Harry's armchair, and offering him the letter it had. When Harry took the letter, the owl took off again and flew back outside through the window. Hermione closed the window and then she sat back down on the same chair she had been sitting on and looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry looked around and made sure that no one besides Ron and Hermione were in the hearing range, before he started quietly reading the letter aloud:

Dear Harry,

I'm sorry that you were injured in the first task, but I was really happy to hear that you were OK and recovering quickly (say 'thanks' to Hermione from me). The papers only told that you were injured but nothing more, except for the rubbish against Dumbledore and the Ministry.

I also heard that you got out of the Tournament, and while that messes up the plans of whoever put your name in the Goblet, you shouldn't get too complacent about it – messing up one plan doesn't mean that there aren't others. Keep your eyes open and stay out of trouble.

Keep in touch and write about anything unusual.

Sirius

Harry sighed tiredly when he finished the letter. He was already starting to feel paranoid because of Professor Moody paying him extra attention and now Sirius' letter just added to that.

"Not much change of anything happening, is there? I mean, With Dumbledore and Moody around," Ron said, trying to cheer Harry up.

But Harry was reminded of the first task and the fact that whoever had put his name in the Goblet, had almost succeeded already, and Dumbledore and Moody hadn't been of any help. Harry looked at Hermione and saw from her expression that she had similar thoughts, but then she gave him a look that clearly told that she would be there for him. Harry didn't know what Hermione could do to help him, but her concern for him warmed his heart and he felt just a bit lighter.

"Yeah," Harry answered to Ron, although he didn't really agree with Ron. "I think I'll write a reply to him immediately," Harry said, wanting to change the subject.

He was about to stand up and go get some parchment and a quill from his backpack, but then he noticed that Hermione was offering him both of them. "Thanks," Harry said and took the quill and parchment.

She also had a bottle of ink on the arm rest of her chair and Harry dipped the quill in it. He briefly wondered if Hermione always carried some parchment, quill and ink with her, but then he did a mental shrug and started to quickly write a short note to Sirius, saying that he was okay and fully recovered from the first task already. When he was finished, he gave the quill back to Hermione and stood up.

"Ron? You mind if I use Pig?" he asked Ron, as he couldn't use Hedwig to deliver the letter, because Hedwig was too noticeable.

"Of course not," Ron said and he too got up, ready to accompany Harry to the Owlery.

"Wait a moment, I have a letter to send to my parents," Hermione said and she quickly went to fetch the letter from her dormitory.

When she came back, the three of them made their way to the Owlery and when they got there, Ron immediately called out for his small owl. Pig came down to them and started excitedly twittering and flying around their heads, excited about the prospect of delivering a letter. Ron quickly grabbed the owl from the air and held it while Harry tied the letter to its leg.

"There," Harry said when he was finished and Ron released the owl.

"And take it right to the recipient!" Ron said irritatedly to the bird, as it started flying around again. Pig gave one last twitter, before flying out of the window.

"Harry? You mind if I use Hedwig to send my letter?" Hermione asked when Pig was gone.

Harry thought about it for a moment and he actually thought that it might be a good idea, since Hedwig hadn't had anything to deliver for a long time, and she had a tendency to be jealous when Harry used other owls to deliver mail.

"Sure," he answered Hermione and turned up to look for his snowy owl. "Hedwig?" he called, holding out his arm, and soon she swooped down and perched on the offered arm.

He then held Hedwig out to Hermione and she tied the rather lengthy letter she had written to Hedwig's leg. "Thanks, Hedwig," she said when she was finished and Hedwig took off with a hoot.

For a moment all three of them just stood there silently watching as Hedwig slowly disappeared to the darkness of the evening, before returning to the common room.

On Christmas morning, Harry awoke suddenly, and at first he thought that he had been woken up by a nightmare, but when he opened his eyes, he was startled to see two large green eyes staring at him from a close distance.

"Aagh!" Harry screamed, surprised, but then he realized that it was Dobby.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby said and jumped backwards. Dobby seemed anxious and he was looking around, probably trying to find something to hurt himself with.

"It's okay, Dobby. You just surprised me that's all," Harry said with a conciliatory tone, wanting to stop Dobby from hurting himself. He was also trying to calm down from the surprise of the sudden waking up.

"Dobby is sorry, sir. Dobby is only wanting to visit Harry Potter and wish him Merry Christmas and give him a present, sir," Dobby said and still seemed anxious.

"You came all the way to Hogwarts to visit me?" Harry asked Dobby incredulously.

"No, sir. Dobby is now working in Hogwarts! Headmaster Dumbledore gave Dobby and Winky jobs!" Dobby said excitedly.

"Oh," Harry said a bit surprised. He opened the curtains of his four poster bed to get his glasses from the bedside table. When he put the glasses on, he saw that Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville had been awoken by his surprised yelp and they were all staring through gaps in the curtains of their beds.

"Everything okay, Harry?" Seamus asked him sleepily.

"Yeah, it's just Dobby," Harry replied. "You can go back to sleep," Harry added, but Seamus had already spotted a pile of presents at the foot of his bed and opened the curtains of his bed to get a better look at them. All the others noticed their own presents too and busied themselves in opening them.

"But didn't you want to be free, Dobby?" Harry asked, turning his attention back to the house-elf.

"Oh, yes, Dobby is a free elf! Dobby works for Dumbledore sir, and Dobby is even being paid!" the house-elf said happily.

"Oh, that's good, Dobby," Harry said, not knowing what else to say.

"Can Dobby give Harry Potter a present now?" Dobby asked tentatively.

"Of course," Harry replied, feeling bad at not having anything to give to Dobby.

Dobby held out a small package for Harry and he took it.

"I have something for you too, Dobby," Harry said then, turning to his trunk. The first thing he noticed was a pair of old socks, and he quickly took them out and held them out for Dobby. Looking at the socks closer, Harry noticed that it was a mismatched pair, but despite that Dobby snatched the socks happily.

"Thank you, Harry Potter sir! You is very kind! Socks are Dobby's favourite clothes and Dobby has seven now!" Dobby said excitedly and seemed to be only glad that the socks were mismatched.

Harry opened his own package and found a pair of socks inside it – mismatched of course. The other was bright red and the other green. "Uh, thank you, Dobby," he said a bit uncertainly. He pulled the socks on and Dobby squealed excitedly.

"Harry Potter sir is a great and kind wizard!" Dobby said happily, but sobered then. "But Dobby must go to the kitchens now. We is already preparing a Christmas feast!" Dobby said and rushed out of the dormitory.

Harry watched bewildered at the house-elf go, but then he shook his head with amusement and turned his attention to the presents he had at the foot of his bed. The first thing he opened was a large, lumpy package that Harry guessed correctly to be a sweater from Mrs. Weasley. There was also a package with home made mince pies from her. Among the rest of Harry's presents were a bag of dungbombs from Ron, a large selection of sweets from Hagrid and a very handy penknife from Sirius, that could be used to open locks and untie knots. He also got a book from Hermione, titled "History of Spellcasting: Alternatives of Wands And Magical Words". Harry glanced at the content page of the book and discovered that the book told about silent spellcasting, wandless magic, accidental magic, staves, and there was also a chapter about Animagi.

He was actually quite interested about the book, but there was still one present to be opened, and Harry put the book away to look at it later. The last package was a small rectangular shaped one and Harry wondered who it was from. He opened the package to reveal a box with muggle wristwatch and there was also a note in it. Harry had almost completely forgotten his broken watch by now, and he eagerly opened the box to reveal a nice and practical analogue watch that seemed to be already set to correct time. He felt really grateful at whoever had bought him the watch, and as he took the note to read who it was from, the first thing he noticed was Hermione's signature in it. The note just said that she had bought the book to him first, but then she had noticed that he had lost his watch in the first task and decided to buy him another present, as it was something that he really seemed to need.

Harry immediately put the watch on, and it felt a bit weird to him, as he had been so used to the old one, but he was quite sure that he would soon get used to the new one. Harry quickly put on some clothes, including the new Weasley sweater, and with Ron they made their way down to the common room, where Hermione was already sitting and waiting for them.

"Good morning, Harry and Ron," she said cheerfully when she noticed them.

"Good morning, Hermione," Harry and Ron chorused almost equivocally and they grinned at each other.

"Huge thanks for the watch, Hermione," Harry said to her with a smile and he held up his hand to show the watch to her.

Hermione seemed to blush just a tiny bit. "Oh, it's nothing Harry. I just noticed you glancing at your wrist at times and realized that you had lost your watch, so I wrote to my parents to get you one, that's all," she said quickly.

"No, seriously, it's just the kind of watch I wanted and I had almost forgotten the whole thing already," he said to her and she smiled at him.

"Come on, lets go down to breakfast," Ron said eagerly and Harry and Hermione grinned at each other at Ron's appetite.

They went to have breakfast together and after that they spent a long time enjoying their presents in front of the common room fire. Later Harry and the Weasleys had a snow fight outside and for a long time Hermione just watched the fight, but in the middle of the fight, when it was at its fiercest, she joined Harry and Ron against the twins. She managed to surprise the twins and got through a very good hit at both of them before they had time to retaliate. They all returned back to the Gryffindor Tower with plenty of time to get ready for the ball.

Harry was wet from the snow fight and decided to change clothes too, to avoid getting ill, and he joined Ron and the other fourth year Gryffindors in their dormitory. Neville, Seamus and Dean all had dates and they were all very nervous about the ball and Ron felt a bit stupid at being the only one of them to go to the ball without a date, but more than that he lamented his dress robes. They were in a word hideous and perhaps they had been in fashion a couple of centuries ago, but Ron still wanted to go to the ball very much.

The ball was to begin at eight, and a quarter before eight the other fourth year boys went down to the common room to wait for their dates and Harry was left alone in the dormitory. Harry did feel a small bang of disappointment at being left alone, but he rather welcomed the silence and he decided to start reading the book Hermione had given him as a present. He was somewhat disappointed to see that the book really was about the history of spellcasting and there was very little actual information about the alternatives to using a wand and an incantation. He hadn't read for long when there was a knock on the door and he heard Hermione's voice from behind the door.

"Harry? Can I come in?" she asked.

Harry had forgotten that Hermione wasn't going to the ball either, when she had disappeared after the snow fight, but now that he was reminded of it, he felt good at not having to spend the evening by himself.

"Yeah, come in," Harry called to her, surprised at her being there; it was the boys dormitory after all.

When the door opened and she stepped in, Harry was surprised to see her all dressed up. He was even more surprised, quite astonished actually, when he looked at her closer and realized that she was looking really beautiful in her periwinkle-blue robes and her hair done in an elegant knot in the back of her head. She also seemed to have some make-up on, and it seemed that even the way she carried herself was different and Harry thought that she seemed more mature and dignified. She was looking a bit flushed and it only made her look even more charming, and overall Harry thought that she looked simply beautiful.

She noticed the book he was reading and she smiled a bit. "Harry, put on your dress robes," she said, interrupting his thoughts, and he blushed when he realized that he had been staring at her and admiring her looks for a while.

"What? But I'm not going to the ball," he answered thickly.

"It's not for that. Go on, I'll give you some time," she said eagerly and disappeared behind the door again.

Harry thought about it for a moment, but then he decided to do as she told him to. He got the dress robes from his trunk and quickly changed into them and he was very glad to notice that the robes weren't nearly as uncomfortable as they looked and they actually fit him very well.

"You can come in now," he called through the door.

This time when she entered, she was looking just as lovely as before, but now he also noticed that she was carrying something in her hand. Looking at it closer, he thought that it looked like a wizarding wireless.

She put the device on the bedside table near Harry's bed and his assessment was proved correct when she turned a knob on it and it started spouting awful music. She clearly wasn't satisfied with the music and actually seemed disgusted by it and Harry quite agreed with her on that. She quickly turned the wireless to another channel and she repeated that for a few times, until she found a channel that played some old music for dancing. He didn't really recognize the style, but he thought that it was waltz or something like that.

She was apparently satisfied with the music now and she walked to the middle of the room. There were some clothes scattered on the floor and Hermione eyed them with discontent, before using her feet to clear up a space from them. Then she turned to look at Harry.

"You know how to dance, Harry?" she asked him cheerfully.

"Erm, well, not really," he answered a bit hesitantly.

"Come on, I'll teach you. It's not really that difficult," she said enthusiastically.

"Oh, no. I don't... like dancing," Harry answered a bit surprised, though that was the truth – he knew enough about dancing to know that he didn't like it.

"How do you know if you haven't tried? Come on, I promise it's not that bad," she tried to cajole him.

His first thought was to refuse her again, but on a second thought dancing didn't sound so awful, especially as there wouldn't be anyone except Hermione to see him if he messed up or looked like an idiot. He really couldn't refuse, when he remembered the fact that Hermione had stayed out of the ball because of him and now she really seemed to want to dance. It wasn't nearly enough to pay her back for all she had done for him, but at least it was a start.

"Well, OK. But only if you promise not to laugh if I mess up," he said, and slowly and very self-consciously he walked closer to her.

"Of course not," she said seriously. "Now give me your hands," she added eagerly.

He did as she asked, and she took hold of his hands, his right hand on her left and vice versa. She slightly pulled him to get him closer to her and he couldn't help blushing when she put his right hand on her waist. Her cheeks had been pink for the whole time, and Harry thought that she had some kind of pink make-up on her cheeks, but still he could see that her cheeks got a bit darker red too. She put her left hand on his shoulder and held his left hand on her right, lifting it up a bit.

"Forget the music for now, and let's just start with some easy steps," she said and he could hear from her voice that she was slightly embarrassed about the situation too, but despite that she was looking him straight in the eye. She stopped to think for a moment, before continuing. "OK, first take a step forward with your left foot. A small step," she told him.

He felt uncomfortable at looking at her from so close distance, so he turned his head a bit to the left to look somewhere over her shoulder as he listened to her, but he did as she told and carefully he stepped a small step forward, fearing that he was going to step on her foot. She anticipated his move, however, and stepped backwards to make space for him.

"Now, slide your right foot next to your left one and then continue sliding it to the right, without stopping, and then step down with it and slide your left foot next to it," she told him and her embarrassment seemed to be mostly gone, as she concentrated on instructing him.

He had to stop to think about it for a second, but then he did as she asked and again she mirrored his moves. He couldn't help watching down at his feet, but she didn't say anything about that and when he was done with the moves, he looked back up to her.

She was still flushed, but she was also smiling snow. "Good. We're half way done and now we just repeat the same thing backwards. I take a step forward and you step back with your right foot, and then you slide your left foot back and to the left," she told him.

"OK," he breathed, still feeling quite uncomfortable at being so close to Hermione. When she started stepping forward, he took a quick step backwards.

"Bit shorter steps," she advised him, as he slid his left foot back and to the side, and then brought his right foot next to it, and they were now in the position they started from. He was quite surprised at how easy it seemed.

"And that's the whole thing. It's called the Box and its one the basic steps of Waltz," she told him. "You think you got it?" she asked him then.

He thought about it for a second before answering. "Uhm, yeah, I think so," he said a bit uncertainly.

"Well, lets try it again, then. Just start when you're ready," she told him.

He went through the steps in his head, before taking a careful step forward again and she stepped backwards to make room for him. He did the slide with his right foot and brought his left foot next to the right to finish the motion.

"That's good, Harry," she said encouragingly. "And now backwards," she added, before she started stepping forward, but this time Harry started taking a step backwards with the wrong foot and she almost stepped on his toes, before stopping.

"Uh, sorry," Harry said, feeling embarrassed at messing up with something so simple.

"That's OK, Harry, it takes some practise. Lets just try it again from the start," she said patiently.

He was actually feeling a bit light-headed about the weirdness of the situation, and he let out a breath before starting again. This time they managed go through the whole thing correctly.

"Very good, Harry," she said with pride. "Now, lets try to repeat it a few times in a row. When you've done the whole Box, just start another one immediately afterwards," she said to him.

He took a breath to calm himself down again, trying to get rid of the embarrassment and discomfort he felt, and he managed at it somewhat. Then he started to move again, and this time it went much better and he managed to repeat the whole Box several times.

"See? It's not that difficult," she said to him with a smile, as they were still continuing to dance. "Let's try it with the music now," she said, stopping, and she took a moment to think before continuing. Harry now realized that the wireless was still playing music, but he had forgotten that, as he had concentrated on the steps.

"Okay. The Box is divided to two parts with three beats for each part. The first beat is when you take a step forward, the second is when you slide your right foot and the third is when you take the side step. The second part is that backwards," she told him.

He thought about it for a moment and he wasn't exactly sure if he got it, but he thought so, although he wasn't sure that he could make out the rhythm of the music. "Uhm, yeah, I think I got it," he said uncertainly.

"Well, lets try it then," she said, smiling. "I'll count 'one, two, three' to the rhythm of the music at first to make it easier. Start with a one, whenever you're ready," she added.

She was silent for a moment, but then she started counting aloud. "One, two, three, one, two, three," she counted steadily.

Harry let her repeat it three times, until he thought that he was ready and after the next "three" he took a step forward, finishing it just when she said the next "one". He had more trouble with the next part, though, and by the time she said "two", he was still sliding his foot.

"Oops... sorry," he said and stopped, when he realized that he had botched it up.

"That's OK. Let's just try it again," she said encouragingly and she started counting again.

This time he managed to stay in the rhythm for the first part, but when it was time to take a step backwards, he stopped to think about it for a second and she almost ended up stepping on his foot again. She didn't seem to care about him messing up again, and she just encouraged him to try it once more, and when he did, they managed to go through the whole Box without any incidents.

"Lets just continue doing it repeatedly until you get a hang of it," she said and then she continued counting again.

After they had gone through the Box about a dozen times, Harry was starting to get more comfortable with it, and when Hermione stopped counting, he continued dancing and managed to stay in rhythm with the music.

"That's great, Harry!" she said, obviously proud of him, after they had gone through the whole Box for a few more times and he had managed to stay in the rhythm. He smiled at her, as they still continued repeating it.

"Lets stop for a while," Hermione said after a moment. She let go of his hands, walked to his bed and sat down on it. He joined her but he left a large space between them and sat on the other end of the bed. They were both still flushed, but they had both mostly got over the embarrassment already.

"That wasn't so difficult, was it?" she asked, looking at him with a small smile.

"Well, no, but there must be loads of more difficult steps," he answered thoughtfully.

"Yes, there are, but most of the common dances don't have much more difficult steps than these are. The most difficult thing, at least for me, is to get the steps into your subconscious mind, so that you don't have to think about them all the time and can just go with the music," she told him.

She then turned her head to his bedside table that held a pitcher of water and a glass on it. She poured a full glass, before taking it in her hand, but then she stopped just before it reached her lips. "You don't mind if I drink from your glass?" she asked, seeming just slightly embarrassed.

"Uhm, no, I won't," he replied and she smiled at him, before lifting the glass on her lips and starting to drink. The strangeness of the situation hit Harry again and made him feel slightly uncomfortable – he had trouble believing that he was practising to dance with Hermione in the boys dormitory. Some slightly scary thoughts started entering his mind, as he looked at her, and he was really glad when Hermione interrupted his thoughts.

"You want some?" she asked him when she had stopped drinking, but then she blushed a bit. "Some water, I mean," she added quickly.

"Please," Harry said, ignoring her stumbling with words.

She filled the glass from the pitcher again, before offering the glass to him and he took it gladly. He was actually feeling quite thirsty and he ignored the slight weirdness he felt at drinking from the same glass with Hermione. He drank the glass almost empty, before giving it back to her, and she put it back on the bedside table, and they just sat there in thoughtful silently for a moment.

"You still think you don't like dancing?" she asked him with a small smile.

Harry thought about it for a moment and realized that it hadn't been nearly as bad as he had thought dancing would be. If there had been other people to stare at him, it would have been awful and he would have been really embarrassed about it, but the dancing itself wasn't that bad. He actually wasn't sure what he exactly felt about it; he didn't really dislike dancing with Hermione, but he felt somewhat uncomfortable about it.

"Uhm, well, I'm not exactly sure what to think about it," he answered her thoughtfully.

She stood up and smiled at him. "Lets continue for a while and perhaps that'll help you decide?" she half-asked and she walked back to the middle of the room, looking at him expectantly.

He hesitated just for a second, before he decided that he might as well continue dancing with her. "Okay," he replied and got up. A bit uncertainly he made his was closer to her but then he stopped and blushed, when he was supposed take the dancing position again.

"Oh, honestly," she said with an amused chuckle, taking hold of his hands and putting the right hand on her waist and keeping a hold of the other one, and he gave her a slightly sheepish look.

Hermione continued teaching him for what felt like a long time and she taught him some more steps besides the Box – turning around and moving forward while dancing – and he had much more trouble with those. They were both mostly over their embarrassment already, but still, Harry didn't feel totally at ease about the whole thing. They continued until they were both starting to get sleepy and they finally separated from each other when Hermione gave a long yawn – it was already past eleven and it wouldn't take long before the ball ended and everyone would start returning to their Houses.

"I think it's about time to get to bed," Hermione said when she finished yawning.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, and he was a bit surprised to notice that he wouldn't have minded continuing for some more.

"Well, good night, Harry," she said with a smile, and for a split second she just looked at him, but then she suddenly stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around him for a hug. "And thank you, I had good time," she whispered softly to him, before letting go of him.

"Good night, Hermione," Harry said to her with a smile of his own and she took the wireless she had brought and left towards the door of the dormitory. She opened the door, but then she turned around to look at him again and she gave him a bright smile, before stepping out of the door and closing it behind her.

Now that Hermione was gone, Harry finally let his mind wander to the things that he hadn't let it wander to while Hermione had been there – it was just too scary to think about with her present. He now acknowledged that she had been really beautiful, dressed up like that, and that he really enjoyed her company too, even when doing some less fun things like studying or dancing. He didn't quite know what to make of his feelings about her, and he continued thinking about them, as he got undressed and got to the bed. For a long time he just laid there on his bed, thinking, and he could hear the other fourth year Gryffindors return to the dormitory, get undressed and go to bed too. Just when his mind finally started acknowledging the fact that he seemed to have developed a crush on his best friend, he finally drifted off to sleep.

To be continued...

Some more author's notes:

About Harry's watch: According to canon, Harry had a watch (it was broken in the second task), but as far as I know, there has been no information about where Harry got the watch, nor if it was a muggle watch or a magical one. Thus I have presumed that simple electronic devices, such as watches, work in Hogwarts, despite there being lots of magic around.

Alas, I don't know when the next chapter will be out, since it is probably going to take a lot of work, with interesting things finally starting to happen in it, but I'm hoping to get it edited in a week.