We were all sitting in the Great Hall the next morning, eating breakfast, Hermione reading the paper, me wishing that there was no such thing as the stupid Daily Prophet.

Suddenly Hermione slammed the paper down and groaned as she stared down at the picture of Harry and I hugging. "I can't believe it! She's done it again!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What?" I whimpered, putting my head in my hands.

"Young love has blossomed where the Boy-Who-Lived and the Girl-Who-Survived are concerned. Harry Potter, the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament, and Rebecca Sherwood, daughter of renowned potion maker Gregory Sherwood, have come together in a friendly but passionate relationship. Sources, however, say that all is not well for the couple. Harry Potter constantly being surrounded by fan girls and Miss Rebecca Sherwood a plain but ambitious girl do not mix. Will Harry Potter dump her and move on to the next pretty face? No word on how Rebecca Sherwood is taking her latest emotional blow,"

"Harry! Are you cheating on me?" I exclaimed sarcastically, using a bit of a cowgirl accent. Harry just shook his head with a bit of a smile and kept eating. I shook my head and sighed before looking off. "When my father sees this, I'm going to get a Howler that lasts the rest of the year. Did I tell you that my father detests you all?" I asked with a smile.

"You didn't need to. We know," Ron said rolling his eyes before a small blond Gryffindor walked up to him, handing him a package.

"Package for you, Mr. Weasley," the boy smiled handing it to him.

"Thank you, Nigel," Ron said with a nod, taking the package.

The boy however, didn't move but just smiled at stared at Harry as if he expected something. Hermione and I looked at each other and then back up at Nigel before I finally poked Ron's hand to get him to look up at Nigel again.

"Not now, Nigel. Later," Ron hissed to him, which caused the boy to finally leave, looking a bit depressed. We all stared at Ron as he opened his package until he sighed and explained. "I told him I'd get him Harry's autograph," Hermione rolled her eyes and shoved the paper into her bag angrily as Harry and I went back to eating before Ron got our attention again. "Oh, look, Mum's sent me something,"

Ron pulled out something that looked an awful lot like a wall hanging I had once seen at my grandmother's when she had been alive. It was burgundy with pink doily-like lace. When he held it up to himself, I realized that it was… I think… dress robes with pink lace around the cuffs and collar.

"Mum sent me a dress," Ron gasped as everyone around us started to laugh.

"Well, it does match you eyes," Harry chuckled.

"Is there a bonnet?" I asked.

A second later Harry pulled out something white and ruffley and held it up to Ron. "Ah ha. Yep, there is," Harry smiled but Ron rolled his eyes.

"Nose down, Harry," Ron growled before moving down the table to where Ginny was sitting. "Ginny, these must be for you,"

Ginny was about to put a spoonful of food in her mouth when she faked a gag before setting her spoon down. "I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly,"

Beside me, Hermione began to giggle uncontrollably.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked, walking back over to us.

"They're not for Ginny. They're for you," she told him, which sent anyone within hearing distance into a fit of laughter. "Dress robes,"

"Dress robes?" Ron gasped. "For what?"


"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since it's inception," Professor McGonagall was explaining to us. "On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity,"

For a second their I was confused.

"As representatives of the host school I except each and every one of you to put your best foot forward. And I mean this literally, because… the Yule Ball, is first and foremost… a dance,"

That got everyone talking. All the girls on the right side of Professor McGonagall's classroom starting chattering excitedly. But on the other side of the room, all the boys groaned and slumped down in their chairs.

I certainly didn't get why they hated the idea so much, except maybe because they had to dress up and take a shower. I mean, they got to ask a girl out and hold her close all night… or ditch her and hang out with the guys… either way.

"Silence!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling bumbling band of baboons,"

But we were so good at it! L

"Now, to dance… is to let the body breath. Inside every girl, a secret swan slumbers longing to burst forth and take flight," Professor McGonagall smiled, looking over at our side of the room. "Inside every boy," Professor McGonagall began staring Ron down. "A lordly lion prepared to prance. Mr. Weasley,"

"Yes?" Ron whined like a dog, looking from Professor McGonagall to her outstretched hand.

"Will you join me please?" she asked, pulling him to his feet by the shoulder of his sweater while Harry and Seamus smiled at him and pushed him forward.

Hermione and I chuckled as we watched him walked with McGonagall uncomfortably thanking the Gods for karma.

"Now, place you right hand on my waist," McGonagall ordered.

"Where?" Ron asked, looking horrified.

"My waist," Professor McGonagall repeated as the catcalls started, mostly from me. "Extend your arm. Mr. Filch, if you please,"

The music began and Professor McGonagall began to count before she began to move around the room with a clumsy Ron.

"Everybody come together!" Professor McGonagall instructed.

Immediately, all of the girls practically jumped out of their chairs and ran to the center of the room, I mostly only did it so I wouldn't get squished by eager girls. However, the boys didn't move an inch and even slouched lower into their chairs.

"Boys, on you feet," McGonagall called again.

Only Neville stood, who the nearest girls pounced on.

"Are you boys scared?" I smiled, looking at them all.

Apparently they were, even Harry.


"Why do they have to travel in packs?" Harry bit out as he, Ron and I were walking through the courtyards. "How are you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"

Suddenly, Ron and Harry came to a stop, making me stumble to look back at them. They had stopped next to a group of Ravenclaws, smiling like idiots while the Ravenclaws glared. Slowly, they thawed out and moved on, catching up to me as I watched several Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors staring dreamily at Harry, making my insides boil for no reason.

"Blimey, Harry. You've slayed dragons," Ron exclaimed. "If you can't get a date, who can?"

"I think I'd take the dragon right now," Harry murmured as the two slowly down to stare at a group of passing Beauxbatons.

"That's sad," I murmured rolling my eyes.

"Oh shut up," Harry muttered, but had a smile on his face.

"You do realize you don't have to go for the top of the pack?" I asked, making the two of the stop as we reached a hallway. "You can go for the small groups or the pretty and nice girls instead of the gorgeous and bitchy girls," The two boys looked at each other for a moment before shaking their heads and chuckling.

Just then, three Durmstrang boys walked up to the three Hogwarts girls next to us, bowed low before the one in the center took one of the girls hands and asked; "Would you go to the ball with me?"

The girl turned back to her friends who were silently cheering her on and telling her to go for it before she turned back to the boy.

"Yes," she practically whispered.

The Durmstrang boy smiled and gently kissed her hand. The trio of boys then bowed and walked off, the two flanking the boy in the center congratulating him and smiling at me.

"Now that was awesome," I smiled, feeling the urge to sigh deeply at that cute and romantic moment.

"Oh come on," Ron growled, pushing me along down the hallway.

I glared at him and moved on down the hall on my own, heading toward the courtyard to meet up with Hermione to go and study down near the Black Lake, probably the only quiet place left. Once there, I pulled out my Fellowship of the Ring book pulled my knees up to my chest and read it as the other three actually studied for their Potions Final.

Suddenly I heard giggles and the sound of a lot of feet. I turned to see Viktor Krum walking along the shore, exercising, while at least a dozen girls followed him at least five meters away. When Krum past our small group, he looked over at Hermione and smiled at her before continuing on down the beach.

"Maybe if we pull out a net we can catch one for one of you," I smiled turning back to my book.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Harry asked.

"Everyone agonizing minute and lust filled look," I chuckled glancing up at Hermione as she tried not to look over her shoulder at Krum.

"Oh yeah? And who are you going with then?" Ron bit out sarcastically, and a little bitterly.

Heat and anger washed over me, silently followed by sadness and pain as I looked up from my book at Ron. I could feel my hair change from my typical dirty blond to a bright red in anger and Ron's eyes widened a bit.

"Fine, Ronald Duck, I'll shut up," I growled, standing up and walking away from the three of them, headed off back toward Hogwarts, following the dimwitted Krum fan girls.


We were sitting in the Great Hall, finishing our homework, and were supposed to be silent as we did. I had been ignoring Ron for the past few days now, but it was really hard when; one, I knew he was a little bit right, and two, I kept hanging out with Hermione and Harry also.

I was now sitting between Harry and Seamus, nearly finished with my work when Seamus gently elbowed me in the side to get my attention. I looked over at him to see his eyes on his notebook, but he handed me something under the table. I took the wadded up piece of paper from him and opened it.

Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?

For a second I couldn't believe my eyes. Someone just asked me? Was I hallucinating? But then I smiled and took my quill and wrote down my answer and handed him the paper back under the table.

Yes.

He looked up at me and smiled. Yes, smiled, and then moved over to talk to Dean who kept glancing over at me. I blushed and turned away, looking up to see Harry, Ron and Hermione all looking at me. I blushed brighter and fought to keep my hair blonde as I looked down and kept working on my homework, thankful that I was nearly done with it.

"This is mad," I could hear Ron suddenly whisper. "At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates," I looked up in time to see Professor Snape walk up and force Ron's head down. "Well, us and Neville," Ron murmured to Harry as Snape walked away.

"Yeah, but, then again, he can take himself," Harry chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. "FYI, nimrods, Neville already has a date,"

Ron and Harry looked over at me in surprise before Ron looked sadly down at his book and murmured; "Now I'm really depressed," Right then one of the twins threw a piece of folded paper at Ron. After Ron read it he threw it back at him with a glare. "Who are you going with then?"

Fred… I think… smiled and crumbled up another piece of paper before chucking it at Angelina Johnson who turned around, glaring a bit.

"Oi, Angelina?"

"What?"

"Do you wanna go to the ball with me?" he whispered while doing a lot of motions that basically repeated what he was saying.

"The ball? Yeah, okay," Angelina smiled shyly and happily.

Fred smiled as she looked back down and then turned and winked at Ron before continuing to work. I rolled my eyes and did the same, but found I was finished finally.

"Hey, Hermione," I could hear Ron say. I sighed and was tempted to slam my head against the table. "You're a girl,"

"Well spotted,"

"Comewithoneofus?" Ron tried to say, trying to do the same moves that Fred had done, but failed when Snape suddenly appeared and smacked Hermione and Ron on the back of the head with the notebook he held and then smacked Harry and I for good measure. "Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone… for a girls it's just sad,"

I winced for him as Hermione's expression changed to completely pissed off and deadly. "I won't be going alone, because- believe it or not- some one's already asked me!" she exclaimed, standing and walking over to Snape to hand over her Potions homework before stamping back over to the three of us, glaring daggers at Ron. "And I said yes,"

And with that, she was gone.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered. "She's lying right?"

"If you say so," Harry murmured back, looking down at his work.

I smiled. Yes, she had said yes, to none other than Viktor Krum. She had talked to me about since 'telling the boys would only result in them making fun of her and running the whole experience for her,'. Yeah.

"Look, we've just gotta grit our teeth and do it," Ron began again as I looked up, beginning to put my stuff away. "Tonight, when we get back to the common room, we'll both have partners. Agreed?"

"Agreed,"

Suddenly, Snape appeared and forced Harry and Ron's heads down, and would have done the same to me if I hadn't forcibly handed him my Potions homework and notebook.

With that I walked out and went back to the common room to find Hermione pacing in the empty room, looking like she might explode. "How dare he say that!" Hermione exclaimed, finally bursting. "I cannot believe that Ronald would even think that I don't have a date,"

"He's a first class nimrod," I said, sitting down in a chair near the fire watching her. "I mean, he doesn't even know that his own sister is going to the ball,"

Hermione nodded. "I still can't believe that of all the girls he had to choose from," Hermione began. "He chose me,"

"Well because you are smart, beautiful, fantastic," I named, using my fingers to count each one off. "And he'd be a nimrod not to want to take you to the ball,"

I watched as a small reluctant smile appeared before she sat down on the couch near my chair and looked at me. "Have I mentioned that you're the best friend I've ever had?"

"Nope. But be free to say it as many times as you like," I smiled.


I stood at the top of the Owlery with a hand full of paper pieces in one hand and a whole letter in the other. I quickly shoved the Howler in my right pocket before slipping my mother's letter into my left, petted Athena, who was perched next to me, affectionately before she flew up to a high rafter.

When my mother had seen the picture of Harry and I in the Daily Prophet, she had laughed good naturedly about how I had been caught in such a vulnerable a twistable position by a reporter with my best friend. Though she did tell me that if I was ever to get a boyfriend, that she should be the first to know, and not have to find out through the Daily Prophet. She had even added a little story about her and Sirius Black for my benefit before congratulating me on getting a date to the Yule ball and wishing me luck.

My father had the opposite feelings about the articles (yes, multiple) that the Daily Prophet had written about me. The Girl-Who-Survived. Not to mention the fact that now I was going to the Yule Ball with some half-blood.

Yeah.

I sighed and quickly moved down the steps of the Owlery, slipping and sliding a few times before I came to a stop as I heard two familiar voices near the exit of the building. One voice I knew right off the bat as Harry's and after listening for a moment, I realized he was talking to Cho Chang about going to the ball with him which came down to a bitter rejection.

I smirked though, against my will, seeing as Harry was asking Cho as a last resort, and I knew that Cho was going with Cedric anyway.

I then heard footsteps come closer to me so I quickly moved to a dark corner of the Owlery before quickly shifting. I felt the egg-breaking-over-my-head sensation come over me as I settled into Ginny's skin and moved to the steps.

"Hey, Ginny," I head Harry say as I walked past him.

"Hey, Harry," I smiled, giving him a quick wave as I walked past him and out of the Owlery, giving a quick sigh as I shifted back to myself and moved along.


Author's Note: I feel really bad for Ron through this whole movie. He makes me sad inside and makes me glad I'm not as thick as he is. Did you know they don't have the dance practice in the book? O.o