I've said it before, but I'll say it again just to be clear.

I won't be completely following the book or movie, I might make up some stuff.

Like I did in this chapter.

This chapter is really a turning point. It's where the story starts to really stray from the book.

By the end, you might have some questions, so I'll add another AN to address whatever questions you guys could possibly have.

Hermione Granger had taken it upon herself to avoid Ron Weasley untill the Yule ball, taking offense to his idea of her. It made absolutely no sense to her why he simply couldn't grasp the idea of her even possibly having a date.

In the last few days, Ron had pestered her non-stop about her 'date' absolutely convinced that she didn't have one.

Well it doesn't matter, Hermione thought to herself as she slipped on the periwinkle dress robes over her shoulders.

But it did matter.

And she knew it did because Ron was her best friend.

And no matter what, whatever Ron thought would be important to her.

Hermione straightened her dress, fixing any folds or wrinkles in sight.

Tonight was her night, and she was determined to enjoy a splendid night with Viktor Krum.

Screw Ron, she repeated to herself as she pushed the a bobby pin into place, styling an elegant updo.

Once she finished, she looked into the mirror, satisfied with herself. For once in her life, she found no flaw on her physical appearance.

She felt pretty.

Her hair, for once, was silky smooth, and the make-up she wore accentuated her features, making them stand out.

She glanced at the wall-mounted clock a few feet away from her.

Just thirty minutes before she had to go.

Her heart leapt.

.oOo.

"Let me get this straight—" Piper said, rubbing her temples in frustration. "You haven't asked Annabeth?"

Percy, Piper and Nico stood by Piper's door, talking about the Yule Ball.

Nico had grabbed Percy and marched over to Piper's room in the time of the crisis.

Percy apparently had not asked his girlfriend to the Yule ball yet, which was in less than two hours.

Percy threw his arms up defensively. "I didn't know I had to! We're dating! I just-I just assumed that we would go together."

"Yes, but still, you should have asked her. Especially with you being a champion and all—you do know you have a Grand Entance together right?" Piper replied.

"We have a what?" Percy asked incredulously.

"You weren't told?" Piper questioned, to which Percy shook his head.

"That's...that's not the biggest problem right now," Piper said, waving it off. "Point is, you have to ask Ananbeth within the next few minutes. The ball starts in two hours—and as Champion, you need to be there early."

"But how do I do it? Pipes, you know I've never done this before. Does it have to be grand? Simple? What do I say? How do I say it?" Percy rambled panic.

At that exact moment, Annabeth entered the scene with a towel wrapped around her hair. "Get ready, Seaweed Brain. We need to be there in an hour."

"Huh?" Percy asked, shooting Piper a look of surprise.

"Champions and their dates need to be early," Annabeth stated impatiently. "And my dress is royal blue—make sure your tie matches."

"Borrow hairdryer," Annabeth said as she saw the hairdryer on Piper's nightstand.

"You are so lucky," Piper told Percy as she gave Annabeth the hairdryer.

Percy smiled fondly as he left. "I know."

The moment both Percy and Annabeth were out of the earshot, Nico turned over to Piper.

"May I go in?" Nico asked.

"Sure," Piper said, letting him in.

The moment they were alone, Nico glared at Piper.

The tension in the air suddenly increased by so much.

"Word is still on the street that you got asked out," Nico said, saying his words as slowly as he could to afftect Piper.

"By Longbottom."

Piper froze.

"You still haven't turned him down?" Nico asked Piper.

Piper steered her eyes away from Nico.

She didn't want to face him right now.

She couldn't face him right now.

Nico, sensing Piper's refusal to acknowledge him, bubbled with anger. His eyes narrowed to Piper's terrified frame.

"Fine then." Nico growled, choosing his words carefully to guilt Piper. "Go on. Make out with Longbottom if you please. It's not like you have a boyfriend.

"It's not like Jason Grace is waiting for you at home."

Nico stood up, and shot one last piercing glare towards Piper, hoping for any shred of emotion, or even a sign of movement to show.

When he didn't, he slammed the door as he left, leaving Piper alone with his words resounding her thoughts.

Her guilt grew exponentially.

But it wasn't her fault she didn't tell Neville, she was just so caught up in things. She just had too much to do in the last few hours. And he hadn't talked to her at all—how could she have told him?

Piper made up a million reasons to convince herself that she wasn't wrong, to reduce te guilt she felt.

Oh who was she kidding?

She had every chance to shoot him down and cancel it.

She knew his schedule.

She knew where to find him.

She knew but purposely avoided him.

She didn't shoot him down.

And even as a daughter of Aphrodite, she couldn't understand why.

At first, she was absolutely sure that she was using Neville to fulfill her need for attention.

But now, everything just seemed so blurry.

She didn't know how she felt.

Piper, overwhelmed with guilt, almost broke into tears once again, but stopped herself.

She had just finished her eye-make up and she wasn't going to redo it.

I can't turn Neville down, Piper thought, knowing full well that it was the truth.

But she couldn't fathom why that was, and it bothered her so much—almost too much.

Piper thought and thought about it nonstop for the next hour till Neville picked her up, a few minutes late.

Three knocks on the door signaling Neville's arrival both scared and excited Piper more than anything in the quest had.

In Piper's opinion, Neville had cleaned up well. He looked great in his dress robes and leather shoes. Even his hair, a usual mess, had been fixed.

Neville also reflected the same thoughts about Piper's ensemble. Piper's gown was unlike any wizarding clothing he had ever seen. Neville found himself very much liking how Piper looked. Her make-up had been made to look stunningly beautiful and fit perfectly with her ever-changing kaleidoscope eyes.

"You...you look lovely," Neville told Piper, only stuttering once.

Piper would have appreciated this moment, perhaps even reciprocated his compliment, had Leo Valdez not walked into the scene.

This opened a large set of problems for Piper McLean, for obvious reasons.

"Longbottom! What are you doing here?" Leo asked with a smile.

"Piper's my date!" Neville declared enthusiastically.

Leo's smile faltered for a moment as he turned to look at Piper with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

"Like couple date or friend date?" Leo exaggerated the word friend as his eyes wandered to see Piper and Neville's intertwined hands.

Piper pulled her hand from Neville's grasp, an action made easy by Neville's hand sweat.

Neville did not fail to notice.

"Friend!" Piper shouted hurriedly, earning a weird look from both Leo and a hurt look from Neville.

"We're going as friends." Piper said with finality.

And as Neville stared at Piper's face, the word friend replayed repeatedly in his mind like a broken record.

Nevllie forced an enthusiastic smile on his face as his heart sank.

.oOo.

"Where is she?" Harry thought as he paced nervously at the entrance of the Great Hall.

The champions were supposed to meet a few minutes ago, and Harry was slightly late.

He didn't want to imagine the anger on McGonagall's face once they went to her.

"Sorry, Harry!" Harry's date said as she scrambled down the stairs, almost tripping twice. "I'm not used to wearing these wretched heels."

Harry immediately went up the stairs to help her come down.

"Thanks Harry," the girl smiled as Harry grabbed her arm.

Professor McGongall beckoned the champion and his date towards her.

"Potter. Ginerva. There you are! You're late!" She said stiffly.

Harry and Ginny apologized profusely to McGonagall.

"Go, behind Mr. Jackson and Ms. Chase," McGonagall ushered.

Even McGonagall had dressed up for the occasion—she even let her hair down from its usually tight bun.

Harry's eyes swept against all the other champions.

Cedric Diggory was dressed in elegant robes, and he looked much like a prince especially with his attractive face. On his arm, Cho Chang sported a beautiful Chinese-style dress in white that fitted her very well.

Harry couldn't help but feel unhappy at how easily Cho talked to Cedric. Whenever Harry talked to Cho, he was a mess of nerves.

Behind them was Viktor Krum, in his regal dress robes that looked more like a military uniform than formal wizard attire.

Upon looking at Krum's date, Harry cursed.

"Is that Krum and...Hermione?"

"Yeah," Ginny said with a laugh at Harry's surprise. "Hermione didn't want people to know until the Ball itself.

"She looks flawless though, doesn't she?"

Hermione looked stunning, unlike her usual self, she had an air of confidence.

"Yeah," Harry said. "She does."

Harry looked at Ginny, noticing that she looked breathtaking too. "So do you."

Her long red hair was pinned up into a mess of complicated braids, but left a few strands to frame her face. Her face had a bit of makeup, but it all looked natural enough for her to seem like she was bare-faced. Her gown was modest, it looked slightly old but still looked good on her.

"Champions!" A voice announced. Every champion and their date turned to face the voice.

"Once you hear your names called, exit with your partner waving at the people. Stand in beside the last called champion and his date, and wait till the music starts."

Annabeth straightened Percy's bowtie, and no one could deny that they looked absolutely picture-perfect together.

Seeing Annabeth in a dress was a rarity, and even more so with make-up. Percy drank up the beauty of his girlfriend like a starved wolf. Her gown curved at the right places, and her hair curled elegantly to frame her face the best it could.

Annabeth reflected the same thoughts on Percy's attire. Percy, for once, put much effort into his appearance. Since he was a champion who had a Grand Entrance, he felt that it was needed. There was not a single wrinkle in his tux. It fit him perfectly, almost as if it were tailor-made just for him.

The man even styled his usually untamable hair, a feat only made possible with large amounts of wax.

Percy looked clean, and much less of a delinquent. The obly trace of his mischievousness was hidden in his smile.

A voice from inside the Great Hall began to speak, marking the beginning of the Yule Ball.

"Let us welcome our champions as they start off the Ball with a dance!"

A round of applause resonated throughout the Great Hall, wherein hundred of teenagers stood excitedly awaiting the start of the ball.

"First off," the same announcer said. "Let us welcome Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase from Amerneo!"

Okay, first of all, Ginny IS going with Harry.

In the books, Harry asked Ginny to go, but Ginny was already going with Neville, so Harry went with Patil instead. However, since Piper went with Neville, Ginny was left dateless, and therefore agreed to go with Potter.

And two, if you didn't understand Piper's dilemma up there, I don't blame you. I'm horrible at writing things like those so it basically means that Piper is questioning how she felt about Neville.

Of couse, we would always have the next chapters, where the rest of the ball takes place.