Chapter 20: The Yule ball

Harry seemed much happier immediately after the first task. For a start Ron had got over his gittiness and realised what we all knew all along: that Harry hadn't put his own name in the Goblet of Fire and the two of them were good friends again. I was glad. Much as I liked Hermione and I knew Harry did too, he was happier when he had Ron to do goofy boy stuff with. Also, the school had finally rallied around him and realised as they watched the dragons that he wasn't really such a pillock after all. Well, most of the school if you didn't count the Slytherins, and I didn't. So Harry seemed to be having a much better time after he got past that dragon. He was happier so I didn't see any reason to worry about him and I stopped focussing on him quite so much.

Soon the whole school was buzzing with the new fun to be had. In transfiguration one day in December McGonagall announced to all the upper classes that on Christmas Day there would be a Yule Ball as part of the Tournament's events. The purpose was to make friends and have some fun with the students from the other schools. No-one was told in our year and below because it was for Fourth year and above only. But we all knew about it within minutes of the Fourth year girls getting back to the common room. The big news for us was, of course, that those who could go could invite younger students if they liked. I overheard Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil giggling about it in the common room later that night.

'Do you think Harry will invite Weasley?' giggled Parvati

'Probably' said Lavender with a sniff. 'You know he'd do anything for the Weasleys and she won't be able to go if he doesn't invite her; plus she still has that desperate crush on him. It's a sure fire date for him, isn't it? How much do you want to bet he does?'

My blood boiled. How dare they talk about me and Harry like that? If I needed anything to prove to me that I had to get over myself and treat Harry like a normal person, this was it. We were common room gossip and as mortified as I was for myself, I was even more horrified at the thought of poor Harry being subjected to this type of gossip on account of my actions. Of course if Harry did ask me I wasn't going to let petty gossip get in the way of accepting, but I decided then and there that I wasn't going to play the love struck fool trying to get him to notice me either.

Soon Hermione was walking around with a secret little smile on her face, and I could tell someone had asked her to go to the ball and she'd accepted. Having already ascertained that my cretin brother and his clueless sidekick hadn't managed to get up the courage to ask anyone yet, I knew it couldn't be Ron she was going with. So I cornered her one day after class and dragged her into an empty classroom and refused to let her out before she dished the goss.

'All right, all right! Only if you promise not to laugh at me.'

'I won't' I said breathlessly. It must be someone terrible if she thought I might laugh.

'OK, so well you know how Viktor Krum has been hanging out in the library a lot lately?'

I nodded, my eyes going wide as I took in what she might be saying.

'Well, turns out he was trying to get up the courage to ask me to go out with him.' She was blushing rosy red.

'Why would I laugh, Hermione? Viktor Krum? Seriously?'

She nodded, a grin on her face. 'He was so lovely about it too' she sighed, 'and he kissed my hand after I said yes. He said … he said he likes girls who are intelligent, so he can actually talk to them.'

'That's brilliant, Hermione. I'm so happy for you. So, what are you going to wear?'

She giggled and we got down to the really important part of a Ball for girls: the clothes. I'm not a clothes person in general, but I do make an exception for something like this.

The castle as a whole became a haven for romantic, giggling girls. I notice in Harry's biography it talks about how the castle was suddenly filled with girls and in a way he was right. It suddenly became commonplace for girls to be out and about in groups, giggling about the coming event, and eying up all the guys around them. I was a bit sad about it of course since I was only a third year and had very little chance of anyone asking me. Regardless of what Lavender and Parvati had said I didn't really think there was a chance that Harry would ask me so I expected to be sitting this one out in the common room as the rest of them had their fun. So when Neville Longbottom approached me I was feeling very receptive right then. He looked so sweet and nervous and unsure of himself. I took pity on him and smiled.

'Hi Neville. What's up?'

'Hi Ginny. Um, I was wondering ifyou'dliketogototheballwithme.'

I looked at him for a moment, considering. I thought about what Hermione had said, about going out with other guys. I thought about what Lavender and Parvati had said about Harry, and I thought about what a nice guy Neville was and how I'd like to get to know him better.

'Sure Neville' I said. 'I'd love to.'

'What? Really? You'll go with me? Harry…'

'Hasn't asked me, and you have. And I'd love to go with you. I think you're a wonderful person and I'd like to know you better.'

I was actually relieved and really happy. I was going to go to the Ball and I wasn't going with Harry. That didn't make me as upset as I thought it might have done, in fact it made me proud. I felt strong and independent and like I didn't need him anymore. As I was pondering this I came across Ron wandering the hallways looking shell shocked. Turned out he'd asked Fleur Delacour to the Ball and she'd looked at him like he was scum on her shoe. He turned tail and ran from there, but didn't want to go back to the common room and admit to Harry that he'd even asked her let alone what her response was. I cajoled and wheedled and finally got him to agree to go back to the Common room with me.

We were there, sitting with him telling me all about it and me soothing him when Harry walked in.

'What's up, Ron?' asked Harry. I looked up at him, and noticed that he was looking a little wild eyed too. I wondered for a moment what had made him look so downcast, but snapped myself back to the present to answer the question Ron didn't want to.

'He – er – just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him.' All of a sudden his face as he wandered the halls afterwards came back and I got an entirely inappropriate urge to laugh. My mouth twitched and I looked at Harry to try to avoid laughing out loud. He was more interested in telling Ron he was a crazy loon than looking at me, though and it didn't even worry me much. I was just congratulating myself on my new independent me and the way I was able to be perfectly sane around Harry when something he said leapt out

'She's part Veela. You were right – her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it – but she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang.'

A wave of jealousy rushed over me at the tone of his voice. Apparently Ron noticed it too, as he looked up jolted out of his own doldrums.

'I asked her to go with me just now and she told me,' Harry added.

I felt the smile slide off my face as he said that. White hot pain stabbed at me, and I figured maybe I wasn't as over Harry as I'd hoped. Thank goodness for Neville. Thank goodness he had asked me already and I didn't have to pretend I wasn't waiting for Harry at all. They began making fun of Neville and wanting to know who would possibly go out with him, and it made me mad. It wasn't for my sake either. I felt so terrible for Neville because Ron assumed no-one would like him enough to go to a ball with him. I determined once more to make the effort to get to know him better now I had the chance.

Ron suggested I go with Harry, and as miserable as I had been when I heard him say he asked Cho to go it was nothing on right then.

'I can't. I'm going with – with Neville. He asked me after Hermione said no, and I thought … well … I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year.' I was miserable as I looked up at Harry and the eager look he had and the slightly downcast one that crossed his face when I said I couldn't go slid into me like a knife.

I could have gone with Harry; it was obvious he would have taken me. I miserably said I was going to go to dinner because I hated myself right then for wanting so badly to ditch Neville and go with Harry. But I wasn't going to do that for two reasons. First, I was never going to let down someone as sweet and kind as Neville. It wasn't right at all, especially after the way Ron had treated the idea of someone agreeing to go with him. And anyway, if I was going to go somewhere like that with Harry I wanted it to be for myself and not because Ron suggested it as a last ditch move. Still, I wished one of us had thought of it earlier. But as it was Neville was their friend and I might get to hang out with them there, maybe even have a dance with Harry. I blushed at the thought as I wandered down towards the Great Hall. I may have grown up a little but I still had some romantic dreams when it came to Harry. I was trying my best to live as Hermione had suggested but it was taking time. Still, I had accepted Neville, I hadn't ditched him for Harry and I had managed to talk to the two of them naturally a couple of times. I was improving.

The ball itself was wonderful. Poor Neville had two left feet and kept standing on my toes, but it didn't really matter. He was a lovely guy, made me feel at ease and was very, very sweet. I was never going to fall in love with someone like this, but he was definitely friend material. I was really pleased I had gone with him as it had opened my horizons out a little. I was able to see that guys other than my brothers and Colin with his boy crush on Harry were people too and I could talk to them and be friends and it didn't have to be romantic. It was a revelation, and it did change how I approached Harry.

The other thing that happened at the ball was a meeting with a Ravenclaw boy, who I thought was rather cute in a nerdy kind of way. But then Harry was a little nerdy looking too. Maybe that was what I was drawn to. Neville and I had ended up sitting at a table with some Ravenclaws and that was where I met him. Michael Corner was sweet too, and he played quidditch. We got on like a house on fire, discussing the world cup, which house team had the best chance of winning the cup this year if quidditch hadn't been cancelled, and our respective studies. I didn't get that dance with Harry and I didn't even miss it. While talking with Michael and dancing with Neville I looked over at Harry and Ron a few times and they didn't seem like they were having much fun. More fool them, I thought with a grin. At least Neville knew how to have a good time. From then on my obsession with the mighty Harry Potter began to wane. It never went away entirely; I don't think any of us ever really get over that first crush, especially when he's still right there all the time. But I was able more and more to see him as a person, and not just as a boy. I kept meeting up with Michael and we would have long chats in the courtyard between classes, and I would seek out Neville to hang out with in the common room a little more often. Yep, the Ball really did make a change in my life, and it was definitely for the better.