A/N: It's time for Yule! Hopefully I did well with this, and thank you to the reviewers. Enjoy :D
Disclaimer- I don't own Harry, J. K. Rowling does.
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Perfection
"Presents!" Seamus yelled when he woke up just after eight. The sound of his voice woke the rest of the dormitory, except Harry. Ron, Neville, and Dean eagerly joined Seamus with tearing into their presents. Ron saw that Harry was somehow managing to sleep through the chaos and it immediately made him suspicious. He took his Weasley sweater and threw it at his friend to wake him up, Harry startled out of sleep and looked around, finding Ron's glaring face.
"It's Christmas Ron, brighten up." The Boy Who Lived was, as ever, surprised to see that he received presents, and dove right in. After he opened his book from Hermione he noticed that Ron was still staring at him. "What is it?"
"Slept pretty soundly, were you kept up last night?"
Harry understood straightaway. Ron was pissed about what happened, (or what didn't happen, though he didn't know that) with Ginny. "I fell asleep on the sofa, and it doesn't provide the best rest. Ginny woke me up at three, I guess she woke up, and we went to bed." Ron still looked suspicious, and Harry couldn't resist taking advantage of it, "Oh yeah, after we had a goodnight kiss."
Ron blanched, "What!?"
Harry snickered, "I'm only joking Ron. I don't have feelings for your sister and wouldn't take advantage of her like that."
The Boy Who Lived had one of his best Christmases yet; Hermione had given Harry a book called Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland; Ron, a bulging bag of Dungbombs; Sirius, a handy penknife with attachments to unlock any lock and undo any knot; and Hagrid, a vas box of sweets including all Harry's favorites: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, and Fizzing Whizbees. He passed out sweets to the rest of the dormitory and then moved to his favorite present of each year, the one he'd saved for last, Mrs. Weasley's hand made sweater. This year it had a dragon on it, Harry supposed Charlie had told her about the Horntail, and was as warm as ever.
Most of the Christmas morning was spent in the common room, everyone enjoying their gifts, with one change to the usual. Ginny was hanging out with them. Harry, after the previous night, had to stop himself from looking at her every few seconds. Her hair was mussy from sleep and Harry thought it was cuter than ever, he wanted more than anything to run his hands through it, see if it felt as good as last night. Ron was watching Ginny and him like a hawk though, so the champion was given no chance, though Harry doubted he would have done it even if the opportunity presented itself. She was off limits, and he'd do well to remember that.
When it got to afternoon, Fred, George, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione all went outside to have a terrific snowball fight. Hermione decided to watch rather than play, and the youngest Weasley joined her.
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At five Hermione claimed to need to get ready for the ball. Ginny agreed and Fred, or was it George (it was hard to tell when they were covered in snow gear), took advantage of that and hit his sister in the back with a snowball.
"What? You need three hours to get ready?" Ron called sarcastically, annoyed at the how the whole situation had turned out. Now it was Ron's turn to pay for being distracted and take a snowball, this one from Harry. Without hesitation, Ron dropped back behind his wall and built a snowball, Hermione forgotten.
The snowball fight went on for another couple hours getting to the point that neither Harry, nor the Weasleys could throw a snowball and they ended up using their wands to fight. It took a lot of the satisfaction out of it though, so they marched back inside to dry off and get ready for the ball. Harry, after taking a fifteen minute shower, knew he was going to regret having a snowball fight, he doubted he could lift Ginny more than once during the opening dance. Harry put on his dress robes and went down to the common room, waiting for the girls to come down.
Harry was talking to Dean when the girls came out of their dormitories, and turned to find Ginny. The champion had to pick his jaw up off the floor when he saw Ginny and was very glad Ron wasn't there, her brother wouldn't appreciate his best mate staring at his sister. She looked incredible. Her hair was curled rather than straight, and treated with something that made it seem to glow, she was wearing a sage green chiffon dress, with layers down to the floor. Ginny had actually put makeup on making her look older, and drew her caramel colored eyes out. Harry didn't know it, but he was falling prey to a redhead, the same thing that happened to his father, and his grandfather before that. She made her way through the crowd and over to him, looking very unsure, Harry wanted to tell her how great she looked, but couldn't put it into words, he just stared at her. She started blushing when he didn't say anything, and shoved some hair out of her eyes self consciously.
Harry finally managed to get words out "Wow Ginny, you look… phenomenal."
Ginny jumped from a slow blush, to crimson, and looked away, "Thanks, you look great too."
Harry remembered what Sprout had told him, "Even if you get everything else wrong, make sure you remember to offer your date your arm, it's very gentlemanly." So Harry did just that, resulting in Ginny tipping her head in an embarrassed way. With his date being this close, he found his favorite part about her. Even though he couldn't put a name on it, she smelled amazing, especially her hair. As they left the Gryffindor common room, he guided her so that he could smell her hair, and breathed slowly and deeply all the way to the great hall.
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The first part of Ginny's day was as good as she could have imagined. She woke up with a smile on her face remembering what had gone down the previous night, and then spent the whole morning with Harry. She didn't blush, or stutter, once, which was a huge accomplishment for her. After eating lunch, they headed outside for a snowball fight. Hermione, not wanting to make a mess of herself, told the boys she was going to watch. Ginny joined her.
"So how'd last night go?" Hermione questioned her younger friend, playing with her jacket cuff as she did so. Ginny turned a brilliant shade of red before smiling hugely. "It was brilliant Hermione. I fell asleep sitting by him, and woke up with my head on his lap and his hand knitted in my hair."
Hermione chuckled in response, causing Ginny to ask what was funny. "Oh Harry is more perceptive than the average guy, puts most to shame. After you fell asleep on his shoulder, I managed to get Ron to stay quiet. Harry fell asleep not long after. When Ron had gone to bed, I laid you down, put your head on his lap, and left you both like that. I guess Harry woke up at some point and started playing with your hair; the boy likes you, just doesn't know it yet."
Ginny's stomach tried to make it up her throat, and her heart began pounding a fast rhythm in her chest. "No he doesn't Hermione. Why would he? I haven't been able to form a coherent sentence in front of him until this year."
Hermione figured one or two white lies wouldn't go amiss in this, particularly if it led to Ginny gaining confidence around her crush, and Harry realizing the girl was one in a million. "I've talked to him about it. He gets a little uncomfortable when you blush because of him, but finds your stuttering, and I'm using his words, 'extremely endearing'. And anyways, he's a Potter, and every Potter male is destined to fall for a redhead.
Ginny grinned like a fool, for the first time in her life, actually considering that Harry may return her feelings if she played her cards right. She thought back to her first memories of Harry; on Platform Nine ¾'s when he'd asked her mum how to get onto the platform, when Fred and George came off the train grinning from ear to ear and told her mum that was Harry Potter. When, because there was no one else home, she spent an entire year imagining how Harry would really be, and building up this imaginary boy. When she got up one morning before her first year and found Harry in the dining room. That whole summer that he was embarrassed by her fascination, but never teased her like her brothers did. When he rescued her from the Chamber of Secrets at the end of her first year; he was her hero in shining… well not really shining, more like bloody Hogwarts robes. When he'd collapsed on Hogwarts Express her second year, and started yelling about his mum. Even though Rona and Hermione had it taken care of, she'd wanted so badly to comfort him. How there was no contact between them after that until this year, allowing her to build him completely out of proportion in her head, especially after he saved her life. Sitting by him at the World Cup and missing a lot of the action because she was so distracted. And then last night, waking up to his hand in her hair and almost touching her side, her head on his lap; yes, she had a lot to thank Hermione for.
Ginny shivered in pleasure, just remembering the night before. Hermione got the wrong idea and lit a fire in a jar for them as they sat watching the boys play. Well, Hermione watched the boys play, Ginny watched her crush. She knew a lot of his expressions by now, his laughter, his smiling, she'd seen his contentment last night, and his worry in the Chamber. She knew every line on his face and ev-. No. She had to stop this right now; just because Hermione said he may like her, didn't mean she could think about him all the time. She'd start blushing again, all her hard work would be ruined, and the ball would be a total fiasco. Ginny determinedly didn't look at Harry again the rest of the time they were outside.
"I'm going in, have to start getting ready for the ball. You coming?" Hermione said, dusting off her pants. Ginny felt her heart leap with excitement and got up as well. Hermione called to the boys that they were going inside and they went up to the dormitories together before getting into their dresses.
The other third year girls were all looking at Ginny jealously as she left the bathroom with her dress on.
"Who are you going with?" A girl by the name of Kathryn asked. She had a few inches on the youngest Weasley. long blond hair, a face that looked like a chipmunk, and always had a bad attitude.
Ginny lifted her chin, Weasley genes affecting her with her peers, "Harry Potter."
Another girl, by the name of Miranda, scoffed. "No you're not, you're just wishing you were."
The redhead, who knew the truth, shrugged because it didn't really matter. She made her way to the stairs and headed down to the fourth year dormitories. Knocking, Parvati answered, "Hi Ginny. You going to the ball?" The other girl looked her up and down, surprised.
"Yeah, I am, is Hermione here?"
Parvati nodded, and then yelled her classmates name back into the dormitory.
"She'll be out in a second, getting ready. Who are you going with?"
Ginny looked down, while she didn't feel the need to explain herself to her classmates, Parvati was a year older. Hermione had come up though and didn't give the younger girl a chance to answer. "She's going with Harry."
Parvati's eyes widened and muttered something like 'lucky' before leaving the two. "What do you need Ginny?" Then looking at her friend up and down she said, "And my my, you look good. I think Harry will be very impressed."
Ginny smiled and felt her face start to heat, "Do you have makeup I can borrow? I didn't think Harry would ask me, so I didn't bother getting any, and thank you for forcing me to get a dress."
Hermione gestured to the fourth year bathrooms, "Harry will be shocked when I'm done with you. We need to do something with your hair too." The older girl sat Ginny down, and went to work.
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At seven she told Ginny what else to do and left, saying she had to meet Krum. The redhead was much slower than her older friend, and finished right before they were all supposed to meet in the common room. Her stomach was rebelling madly, butterflies having a field day, when she got up. She descended the steps with the fourth years, and their numbers kept growing for each grade level. Ginny was in the middle of the group when they entered the common room, and her eyes immediately sought Harry out. She saw him, his eyes wide, and walked over to him, feeling very self conscious when he didn't say anything, just stared. She took the opportunity to look at him, he was wearing green robes, darker than hers, that matched his eyes perfectly. His hair was as disheveled as if he'd just finished playing a quidditch match, exactly the way she liked it.
"Wow Ginny, you look… phenomenal" She blushed crimson, had he really said that?
"Thanks, you look great too." The redhead replied, looking away. He offered her his arm, which she embarrassedly took, and they headed to the great hall. Ginny felt Harry's eyes on her the whole way, and couldn't stop herself from slowly reddening, and obviously for good reasons, because he couldn't take his eyes off her. 'This is amazing' she thought as they walked towards the great hall.
They separated from the other Gryffindors and entered the small side room the other champions were waiting in. Harry jerked in surprise when he saw that Hermione was Krum's partner, before smiling hugely. Fleur was waiting there too, standing by a boy named Roger Davis, who looked like he was on cloud nine. Cedric and Cho weren't there yet, which Ginny was glad about, remembering Cho was the first girl Harry asked.
Ginny was shaking with nerves. Her right hand, thankfully, was steady on Harry's arm, but the rest of her couldn't stay still. She knew she wouldn't calm down until after the first dance, maybe till they separated. She saw the final champion and his partner enter a minute later, and watched Harry to see his reaction. His eyes soured before he turned away, eyes looking for something to rest on before finding… her. Now she looked away, and felt Harry's eyes on her, and not going elsewhere.
"Do you mind?" Harry muttered, embarrassed, hand gesturing to her hair. Ginny's heart jumped through her chest as she shook her head and then her crush's hand was in her hair, sliding softly through it.
'Whatever she added to her hair, it made it softer, not stiffer,' Harry thought as he softly brushed it behind her ear.
The champions and their partners heard Dumbledore's voice in the great hall, the official starting to the ball. "I'd like to welcome the Weird Sisters, your performers for tonight." Whatever else he said was overrode by the wild cheering of the Hogwarts students. Then the music started, and it was time for them to leave. Ginny was clinging to Harry's arm like it was a life preserver, little did she know, he was doing the same. Each champion had their own section of the floor, and Ginny felt hundreds of eyes on her as they made their way over to it. Her heart was thudding in her chest and her stomach seemed like it was trying to escape. The redhead was almost hyperventilating as they were walking to their position. Harry guided her to a stop and looked down into her eyes, causing her to regain composure, and she stared right back, when the music started.
Ginny couldn't believe it. She was dancing with Harry Potter, and her brother wasn't here to ruin it. She felt his hand burning through the dress at her hip, until he moved both to her hips, lifting her up and turning. She saw his mouth moving, counting something, before realizing he was counting to the beat. His eyes weren't dazed (like she expected her's were), they were focusing hard on remembering everything. They spun throughout the room to the beat of the music before the notes started building. The end came at Ginny unexpectedly, as he bent her back and over his arm, face only inches away.
Harry's arms were burning, but they'd finished the dance and now all that was left was supporting her in the lean back. With her face only inches away, he had the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her, but the champion knew he couldn't. He tightened his jaw with effort and pulled her back up as the music stopped, massive cheering rang through the hall as the rest of the students flooded onto the floor.
Ginny stumbled with how hard she was shaking, resulting in Harry (whose arms were screaming in protest at this point) catching her and steadying her. They made their way over to the nearest table and collapsed in seats. The redhead was euphoric; she couldn't have imagined how great it would be, it never would have lived up to how it really was, now she needed a drink.
Percy came up, holding a water for each of them. He handed them the waters and smiled at Ginny. "Nice dance the two of you, you did Hogwarts proud, especially being years younger than the other couples."
Ginny shivered as her body let out the last of the adrenaline. "Thanks Perce, that was crazy."
Harry nodded vigorously in agreement and they both relaxed, Ginny trying to stop her leg from shaking. A fast song, a slow one, and one that was in between passed before Hermione found them.
"Harry. Ginny. How fun is this? Viktor's gone to get drinks." She said and sat down by them.
Harry responded, "I hate being the center of attention, " he said, Ginny was silent. Before Viktor got back, Hermione wanted to know what was going on. She leaned towards Ginny and said very quietly, "How are things going?"
Ginny smiled at her, and answered in the same tone, "Thank you so much Hermione, for getting Harry to ask me." The older girl smiled at her.
Viktor Krum sat down by Hermione and gave her a Butterbeer, taking a sip of his own Gilly Water as he relaxed. He had black hair and very sharp features, making him look like the stereotypical villain. When he smiled though, his whole face turned into that of a confident, friendly young man. He held out his hand to Ginny, "Viktor Krum."
Ginny smiled at him and shook, "Ginny Weasley."
The world famous seeker reached out for Harry's hand next, "And you're Harry Potter."
Harry grimaced and nodded, shaking as well. "Good game against Ireland, we were all able to watch."
Krum smiled warmly, "Yes, Hermione told me." He turned back to Ginny, "So you're one of the infamous Weasleys. Flaming red hair and a temper to match, so I've heard."
Ginny chuckled and responded, ignoring Harry's snicker, "Yeah you could say that."
The four of them continued talking throughout the next few songs, only stopping when Hermione and Viktor got up at a slow dance and migrated to the dance floor. Harry had seen how they'd all danced at the last one, and it was really just leaning back and forth. He saw Ginny look at the other couples longingly, but not say anything. He'd asked her to the ball, and whether he liked dancing or not, he owed her this for saying yes. Standing up, he offered her his hand, "Dance?"
Ginny glowed, "Of course." Allowing him to take her hand, they went out on the dance floor. She noticed with a sinking heart, that they stopped not far from Cedric and Cho, with Harry facing them. He hadn't looked over at them yet though, so Ginny remained hopeful that it wasn't intentional. His hands were holding her hips softly as they danced, she felt her heart speed up again, their eyes locked together, and Ginny decided to allow herself this night, to dream. So she pretended this dance was something more than it was and lost herself in his eyes.
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Harry completely unaware of the fact that Cho was fifteen feet in front of him, lost himself in the dance, the feel of Ginny's hips in his hands, the stare of her gorgeous caramel orbs. He surprised himself by actually enjoying the slow dance and decided to give himself this one night, to dream, to pretend this dance could lead to something more, and lost himself in her eyes. At the end of that song, they left the floor again, for another fast song was starting. Harry, finding that he truly wanted to dance with her (for the slow songs), asked her each time one came on, and each time she said yes without hesitation, and so they danced the night away. The Weird Sisters announced that this'd be the last song for the night, and started playing (what Harry found out later was currently the most popular slow dance song) their final song.
"May I have this dance?" Harry said for the dozenth time.
"Do you even have to ask at this point?" Ginny responded with a brilliant smile on her face. He led her out onto the dance floor and they both imagined, unaware that the other was doing the same thing, what if this could be more? As the songs haunting melody turned hopeful in the bridge, Harry was once again seized by an almost irresistible urge to kiss her, and had leaned his head forward the smallest amount before catching himself. He had to bite his tongue hard to clear. They revolved slowly on the spot, face inches apart, not kissing, yet refusing to lose the chance that it'd happen… somehow.
Harry came to a decision when the music ended. Leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek, he whispered in her ear, "Thank you for tonight, I can't imagine having a better time."
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A/N: There's a song, Careless Whisper (the Seether cover) that I think fits this chapter incredibly well. Check it out if you want.
I'm German and as stoic as they come, please please please give me feedback on this chapter. It was hard as heck to write and I have no idea how well I did end up doing. Please tell me how I did, whether its good or bad, I just want feedback.
Whoever asked in a review, I needed my sister's help with Ginny's dress, hope it was good enough.
A thanks to scrappy8 for reviewing. Fanfiction didn't let me PM him.
Thank you for all the feedback I've gotten, and I have no intentions of dropping the story just because the fun's over. I guess I'll just have to make more fun. :D
Geheim