Ginny's POV:
With the new sleeping arrangement, Harry and I were both much less tired. We were both sleeping through the night and falling asleep easier. It was a wonderful way to wake up as well. Normally, I awoke with my head on Harry's chest, one of my legs thrown over his and his arms curled around me. Our friends were much happier with the arrangement because we were far less irritable now that we were getting proper sleep again.
No one was able to figure out the harsh screaming noise that the eggs emitted when they were opened. In between finishing our homework and curfew, we tried to work out what it could be by putting our collective minds to work on it. So far, we had some leads but it would take more time.
Everything was going smoothly when the entire student body was called to the Great Hall. As we walked toward it I hoped that it wouldn't be another to add to this already stressful year.
Upon entering the Great Hall, Harry and I both took a seat at the Gryffindor table and patiently waited for the announcement. Mentally, we mused about what the announcement could be about. Our theories ranged from something horrible had happened to something pleasant. Hoping for the later, we continued to talk until Professor McGonagall stepped forward to make the announcement.
"Now that everyone is gathered here, we have an event to announce," McGonagall addressed the crowd, "The Triwizard Tournament was founded upon creating relationships between the different schools of wizarding Europe. In the previous iterations of this tournament, there has always been some sort of ball to increase collaboration. As per tradition with the Triwizard Tournament, we will be hosting a Yule Ball that is open to all student fourth year and above."
Most of the female students in the Hall began excitedly chatting to their friends about who they wanted to go to the ball with. Whereas many of the guys in the room let out a groan at the prospect, though Harry wasn't among them. He just smiled and tucked my back against his chest.
"Would my darling wife like to accompany me to this most illustrious dance?" He inquired with mirth lacing his voice.
I leaned back gently and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before responding with the same mirth, "Well my husband, I would love to accompany you to the ball," before we both burst into quiet laughter.
Then McGonagall cleared her throat and waited for the room to quiet before continuing, "All who would like to attend will need to remain at school for the duration of the Christmas holidays. You are all now excused, but could I have the champions come to speak to me for a moment before you leave?"
Cedric, Viktor, Fleur and Harry shot looks at each other while we waited for the rest of the students to clear out. When the last of them left the hall, I grabbed Harry's and hand and we walked to the front of the hall. Once we were all gathered, McGonagall smiled at us before starting what she needed to say.
"Now with the Ball, all of you are going to need to have a partner for the opening dance. All of you champions are expected to open the entire dance," she informed us and we all nodded, "then, off to bed with you."
Then we walked out of the room. As soon as we left the room, Harry posed a concern that had him feeling a little bit uneasy, "Ginny, I have no idea how to dance. I don't want to make a fool of you or me, do you have any idea how?"
"Thankfully for that, my mum made me take dance lessons when I was little. I'm pretty confident that I can help with that," I smiled back and we headed to our room for good night's sleep.
After the announcement, Harry and I replaced part of our morning workouts with dance practice. Dancing still helped get a person's heart rate up and was still very good exercise, so we let it be our cardio. We were practicing a waltz for the ball. At first, it was getting Harry to learn the steps and not step on my toes. As it turned out, the Room of Requirement was extremely helpful in our endeavours.
The room provided a nice dance floor and two mannequins that would show you how the steps needed to be performed. Luckily, we figured out how to slow down the movements to allow us to better see what was happening. Gradually, Harry got better at dancing. In the beginning, he would watch his feet a lot to avoid stepping on my toes. As the Ball got closer, Harry no longer needed to look at his feet and he didn't step on my toes anymore.
Other than the Dance lessons, most things were going pretty well. Our friend group was getting along fabulously and had actually expanded. One day when we were sitting in the library, Fred and George had come to ask Harry and I a question, and we managed to pull them into hanging out with the rest of us. The goofballs added a large amount of humour and brains to the group. Though the twins didn't do amazingly well in school, they were wicked smart with aspirations to own a joke shop. In several conversations, we all informed each other who we were attending the Ball with. Overall it was fairly obvious Harry and I were going together but some of the others were a little less obvious. We were all pleased when Hermione and Viktor announced they were going to the ball together. Cedric was going with his steady girlfriend, Cho Chang. Fred was going with Alecia and George was going with Angelina; they both asked girls they wanted to go with to prove to Ronald how easy it was to get a date. The only one having trouble with people asking them for a date was Fleur.
Fleur was bombarded with requests from guys to go with them. Most of them made disgustingly forward advances. Others, like Ronald, yelled at her to ask if she wanted to go to the Ball with him.
Fleur, Hermione and I were walking off to meet the boys by the lake to relax because we had all finished our homework when we heard Ronald yell at the three of us from across the hallway.
"Hey, Fleur!" Ronald called and Fleur rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming next, "Would you like to go to the ball with me?"
Just as she turned to respond, I gently grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door while saying, "He's not even worth it. Let's just go."
She met my eyes for a moment before she nodded and we linked arms and walked out of the hall to meet the boys.
In the end, Fleur was asked very nicely by Roger Davis and she agreed.
Finally, classes were over and it was almost time for the ball. All of us girls, Fleur, Hermione and I, were going to spend the day getting ready together in the Room of Requirement. We all helped each other do our nails, hair and makeup.
As the ball was set to start at seven, we all made sure that we were ready by six-thirty.
We had started with hair because it was the piece that would take the longest. Hermione went first. After multiple bottles of Sleekeasy hair product and many bobby pins, we managed to tame her hair. In the end, her hair was held in an elegant twist. A couple of curls were left loose to frame her face. The look was finished by a small comb with aquamarine crystals being pushed into her hair. Fleur's hair ended up in an elegant braided knot at the back of her head. My hair was half-up-half-down, we styled my hair into soft curls and half were held up by a gold comb shaped like a rose with obsidian inlay. The comb was grabbed from the Potter family vault, specifically Lily's jewellery box.
Next, Fleur had worked wonders with the subtle makeup she had applied to each of us. My eyeshadow look was a soft, brown smokey eye with a gold accent and a small amount of black winged eyeliner that accentuated my brown eyes. My lips were coated in a light mauve coloured lipstick. Where my makeup was in very subtle colours, Hermione's was much more bright. Her eyeshadow was a lilac cut crease and her lips were painted with deep pink lipstick. Fleur ended up going with a classic makeup look. She wore a simple but dramatic winged eyeliner and deep red lips.
Nails were next to be done. My nails were black with a gold and black marbled accent nail. Hermione had lilac and powder blue watercolour nails. Fleur's nails were a dark crimson with a half black half crimson nails with a tiny line of silver separating the two.
Lastly, we helped each other into our respective dresses and shoes. Hermione donned a periwinkle dress with a ruffled skirt and chiffon capped short sleeves. She chose to go with a pair of low, strappy, silver heels. Fleur wore a blue-grey dress with a fitted bodice and a halter neck. Her look was completed by a pair of crimson lace kitten heals. Finally, I put on my gold halter-necked dress and Fleur helped lace up the back. My shoes were a pair of black and gold Cuban heels.
After taking one final look in the mirror, we were all ready and began to head down the stairs to meet our respective dates.
