A/N: I ACTUALLY UPDATED IN LESS THAN A WEEK ARE Y'ALL PROUD?!

The champions and their dates had to enter in some sort of procession, so Harry and I entered the room through the massive doors at the front with Hermione and Krum in front of us. All eyes were on us. I smirked when I saw Draco Malfoy gawking at Hermione and Pansy Parkinson trying to get his attention desperately.

We positioned ourselves at the center of the room and Harry awkwardly put a hand around my waist. I grinned at him teasingly and he rolled his eyes. The music started and we tried our best to mimic the way the others were dancing, probably looking like a pair of lost idiots. I stepped on his toe accidentally.

"Ow, Gin, be careful," he muttered.

"What a baby," I smirked. "Damn, I hope this is over soon."

"You don't have a right to complain," Harry grumbled.

"Oh yeah? When you're shuffling your feet around so it looks like we're trying to wrestle instead of dance?"

"Well, you're not doing any better," he pointed out. I laughed.

"True." We spent the rest of the dance teasing each other and laughing while half of the girls in the room glared at me, probably wondering how someone as awkward as me ended up being asked to the dance by Harry Potter.

Dinner was finally announced after a while.

"I'm starving, let's eat." I dragged Harry to a table near Hermione and Krum, who were immersed in a conversation. Hermione glanced at me and smiled. We sat down and grabbed the menus.

"Goulash…" I murmured quietly, inspecting the options. I jumped when the dish appeared in front of me.

"Wait, what? No! I wanted a steak and kidney pie!"

"Too bad," laughed Harry, who had the pie I wanted on his plate. I made my best puppy eyes.

"Please, can we switch dishes?"

"Nope." He took a bite of the pie, chewing slowly. My mouth watered.

"That's not very nice." I pouted at him. He rolled his eyes.

"My feet are all blistered, I'm just getting my revenge." I glared at him. He had chosen the pie just to infuriate me, I knew it.

"Jerk." I heard him chuckle and he pushed his pie toward me. I immediately gave him a wide smile and handed him my goulash.

"Thanks!" I looked around as I chewed. Hermione was laughing at something Krum said while Ron glared at them from his seat. Parvati had left him a while ago and looked like she was having the time of her life with her sister and two guys from Beauxbatons. Fleur's date was staring at her like she was the only person in the universe. I wanted to put a cup below his mouth so he wouldn't drool. And Cedric...wasn't with Cho?

I looked around the room for her and spotted her. Her glossy, wavy black hair swayed behind her back as she sipped from her cup quietly, observing everyone around her. I had to admit, she looked quite beautiful, with her smooth porcelain skin, peach-colored lips, and doll-like eyes. I'd always been a little jealous of her since she captured Harry's attention so easily. But today she looked sad, or nostalgic for some reason. I felt the urge to go talk to her.

"Harry," I murmured. "I'll be right back." He nodded curiously and I walked over to Cho.

"Hey," I said. She looked up with wide eyes.

"Hello. Ginny, right?"

"Um, yeah. I just came to- well, you looked a little down, so I was wondering if you were all right." She frowned gently.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me." Not sure why I even went to talk to her, I started to walk away.

"No, it's all right. The truth is...Cedric broke up with me." She motioned to the boy who was sitting with his friends.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Guys can be jerks sometimes," I offered. She shook her head.

"He isn't a jerk. He was worried that something would happen to him during the tournament. I just…we fought a little over it and he said it would be better if he left me alone." Her eyes glistened with tears and she blinked rapidly.

"I-"

"It's fine. I need to go, thanks for checking on me." She got up and rushed out of the room, graceful as always. I saw Cedric watch her sadly. I walked back to my seat, a little concerned for her. It seemed that she and Cedric had been pretty serious.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"She looked a little sad, so I don't know why but I went to comfort her." He nodded.

"Do you wanna go out to the courtyard?"

"Sure, some fresh air sounds nice." We walked out and I noticed Percy sitting at a table with Dumbledore and some other Ministry officials. What was he doing here? I stared at him as we walked by and he registered vague surprise at seeing me with Harry. I nodded coldy at him and he reciprocated. We had grown apart since last year, when he started placing the Ministry before his family.

We walked around the garden, making fun of a few couples who we ran into in the bushes. We sat on a secluded bench after a while, growing quiet.

"Gin?"

"Yeah?"

"You sure you won't sing for me?"

"Yes."

"Why not?"

I shrugged and vocalized a little to compensate.

"Was that good?"

Harry nodded, his eyes closed.

"Very." He turned to look at me and suddenly, I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks. Why were we so close? No, the question was- why were we both moving even closer towards each other? My mind was screaming at me to move away but I kept inching closer until our faces were just millimeters apart. His eyes flicked down to my lips and my breath hitched, and he moved impossibly closer, and right when our lips were about to touch…

...a dog's familiar bark was heard and we jumped and moved as further away from each other as possible, tomato red.

A large black dog came running towards us and tugged at my dress, sounding like he was laughing at me. I glared at him, still pink in the cheeks and feeling forever humiliated.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?" Harry asked. Glancing around, Sirius transformed into his human form and smirked at us.

"What, are you disappointed that I interrupted your little tryst?" He ruffled Harry's hair. "Sorry, kids. It's only my duty as a godfather."

I let out a sort of strangled yell and hid my burning face in my hands. Sirius chuckled and patted my shoulder. He sighed.

"Hermione told me that you've been putting off the quest for the second task, Harry. Don't take this lightly, you need to figure the riddle out. It's not just about the tournament, it is for your safety as well."

Grumbling something about brown-haired bookworms, Harry nodded reluctantly.I looked up, gathering the little that was left of my pride.

"Sirius, you look starving. Go get him some food, Harry." He nodded and walked towards the castle.

"So, how was it?" Sirius asked me, winking.

"How was what?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He opened his mouth ot answer and I waved him off. "Actually, I'd rather you not answer that."

"Smart girl," Sirius laughed. He teased me for a while until I looked around.

"Harry's taking a while, don't you think?" Sirius nodded.

"You should go get him, I'll wait here as Snuffles."

I walked to the castle and was met with the familiar ambiance of the party. I scanned the room for Harry and, sure that I saw his messy black hair somewhere near the corner of the hall, I walked in that direction…

...only to be met with the sight of him kissing Cho Chang.

pLoT tWiSt, huh?

I hope you liked it!

the8horcrux: yes i meant you! thanks i rlly appreciate your comments. and i did write the part about harry asking ginny to the ball, you might've missed that chapter, so you should go check it out. i am a bit busy because of online school (which sucks) but i definitely have more time than usual, so thanks for pushing me to do this. ;)