Chapter Ten: Mission Impossible

It was about a month before the Yule Ball, and Kurt was starting to feel the pressure of having to find a date to make Blaine jealous. Sure, he wasn't positive this plan would actually work, because he wasn't sure Blaine as Harry was even gay, but he wasn't going to give up trying. Kurt was taking a walk around Hogwarts alone in hopes of finding someone, anyone, who would want to take him to the Ball, when he heard loud voices around the corner that made him pause just out of their sight.

He grabbed onto his robes so they didn't whip out around the corner and give him away. When he was sure he wouldn't be found as an eavesdropper, he could focus on the voices.

"Did you actually think someone was going to ask you to the Ball?" Quinn's terribly crafted English accent asked an anonymous victim. "Well, you're not going unless it's alone, you know. You're a hideous night troll."

The hoarse laughter of both Mercedes and Lauren could be heard, and Kurt didn't want to imagine who was on the receiving end of this cruelty.

The sound of a girl's delicate tears could be heard then she gained confidence enough to say, "I am not a night troll, Draco!"

Kurt's stomach did a flop and his heart physically ached; Quinn was always hard on Rachel, and it was still painful to see that bullying happen in his dreams. He supposed it was impossible for him to imagine either of them without the other as an antagonist. It was practically a reflex for him to step out from behind the corner and shout at them to stop making fun of his friend.

"Hey! Leave Rachel alone! I'm so sick of you picking on her!"

The four girls looked at his with raised eyebrows and the Slytherins began to walk in the opposite direction. "Don't want to get in the way of helium-sucker," said Quinn, which didn't even bug Kurt.

Then Mercedes chimed in: "Stupid poofer." Kurt approached her and before she knew he was there, he slapped her hard across the face. She clutched her reddening cheek and tears formed in her eyes. "I need my camomile!" Then the three of them ran off before anymore harm could be done.

When it was just the two of them in the corridor, Rachel turned to him and cocked her head to the side. A small, suspense-filled moment went by before she asked, "Why did you call me Rachel?"

"Wh-what? Did I?"

"You've been my friend for months and you don't even know my name." Her eyes welled up with more tears and they fell down her cheeks gently. "Everyone already thinks I'm a nobody; and now you…"

"It was a mistake," Kurt interjected. "You remind me of a very dear friend at my old school."

"Really?"

"But you're more beautiful," he added with a wink that made her smile in return.

"Thanks, Kurt. You always were sweet to me."

As she was about to walk away, he got an idea. "Hey Hermione, can I ask you something?"

She obviously didn't expect him to want something from her. "Sure, what is it?"

"Hermione Granger," he said, swallowing her small hands in both of his own.

"Yes?" Rachel smiled hesitantly.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Rachel's eyes widened in an instant and she dropped her hands from Kurt's. She was definitely caught off-guard regarding the subject of his inquiry. "You want to…? But I thought you were into…"

"As friends, Hermione – we can go as friends." Kurt sighed and pulled Rachel by the waist so she could lean her head on his chest. "I know I'm not going to find a date, and you deserve to have the night of your life. I know I can give that to you."

She stood on her own two feet and beamed at him. "I'd love to go to the Ball with you, Kurt."

"So Kurt, what'd you try to say at the Three Broomsticks yesterday?" asked Blaine as the four of them sat in the Gryffindor common room unaccompanied. "I was going to ask you last night but I forgot to bring it up."

"What do you mean?"

"You saw the hooded wizard again," Finn reminded him. He must have noticed Kurt was having a realization at the restaurant the previous night.

"Oh." The shortness of his comment made them all listen even more closely. "I think You-Know-Who was in the Three Broomsticks yesterday."

"What?"

"Oh my goodness!"

"How do you know?"

Rachel's question seemed like the only rational one, so Kurt chose to answer it. "I just have a feeling, alright? I wasn't comfortable – I saw the face of the hooded man and I know him to be associated with You-Know-Who."

"Well, who is it?" Blaine almost demanded.

Kurt paused to make sure he said the character's name and not the name of his McKinley High principal. "Professor Quirrell."

"Quirrell?" Finn gasped. "He taught Defense Against the Dark Arts here a couple years ago! How could he be with You-Know-Who?"

"I could be wrong," Kurt said defensively. "But I really think this is where he is."

"Well," Blaine said, rubbing his hands together and placing them stably on his knees. "Thanks for telling me. I'll work with it and see with what we've got." Then he turned to Rachel. "Hey Hermione, do you think that you could take what Kurt's given us and work out a solution?" She nodded half-heartedly. "You're the best!" he said in a baby-voice that made her smile a bit.

"Yeah, yeah okay," she finally agreed. "But you know, this isn't easy for me. I mean, I have to write all of your Potions papers for next week, and I have to be class president, and I'm on the Yule Ball committee, and…"

"Which reminds me," Finn piped up after swallowing his final bite of a cupcake. "Hermione, have you found a date for the Yule Ball yet? 'Cause I was thinking we could go together. I've asked, like, everyone and no one will go with me. So you're kind of my last resort, y'know?"

Rachel's mouth hung open. "Ronald Weasley, how can you be so insensitive?" she bellowed. "And besides, I've already got a date to the Yule Ball!" She grinned and jabbed her head toward Kurt before standing from the floor and stomping toward the dormitories.

Finn leaned toward Kurt and whispered, "Who do you think it is?"

Blaine and Kurt looked at each other and smiled at how slow Finn's ability to read people was. "Hey Ron, I don't have anyone either – want to just go stag together?"

Kurt's heart jumped. He could have convinced Blaine to go with him as a friend. It was too late now. "Hey man," said Finn. "That's a great idea! We're gonna have so much fun!"

"Yeah!" Blaine exclaimed with a grin. "Can't wait! And you're going to have fun with Hermione, Kurt!"

Finn's eyes widened. "Wait – you're taking Hermione to the Ball?"