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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ginny was once more sat with her friends at the Gryffindor table. They were awaiting the announcement of the Triwizard contenders. Dumbledore stepped forward towards the Goblet of Fire and waited. A piece of paper drifted out of it into his hand and he scanned the contents. "The contender for Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory."

All eyes fell on the sixth year Hufflepuff as his friends congratulated him. So did most of the other Hogwarts students, with only a handful glaring at his resentfully: Most of them members of Pansy Parkinson's cabal.

Another piece of paper emerged. "The Durmstrang contender is Viktor Krum,"Dumbledore stated.

Again, congratulations from the competitor's school. Ginny had heard of him of course. He'd somehow managed to become a famous international Quidditch player while still at school. With that in mind, his selection seemed almost inevitable.

The final piece. "The Beauxbatons contender is Fleur Delacour."

Ginny glanced across at the exceedingly attractive older Beauxbatons girl and wondered how many admirers would be secretly cheering for her. Her gaze drifted back to the Goblet of Fire. For a moment, she expected something else…but then the flame went out.

"So ends the selection,"Dumbledore noted. "The first task will be in two weeks."

"Is something wrong?"Hermione asked Ginny.

Ginny realised that the way she'd been looking must seem rather perculiar. "I guess I thought something else might happen. That…Voldemort might disrupt it somehow."

Hermione gave a little laugh. "I hardly think he's going to bother with a schools competition."

Unless I'm involved, Ginny thought. She'd been enough to bring him out of hiding once. She strongly suspected that sooner or later she would be again. Then again, perhaps it did sound a bit silly when she said it out loud. "Yes, I'm sure you're right."

Ginny gazed rather nervously at the dragon in the pit below. The fact that the three champions were having to face dragons was rather unnerving and she was glad it wasn't her. Safety precautions didn't seem to figure that highly in the tournament's organisation.

Ginny had been wondering why no-one had come and sat near her when Harry came and did just that. He did it with such purpose that she wondered if he'd asked the other students to give them space. "So… after this task,"he began awkwardly.

"Bit of a break,"Ginny remarked. "Second task is next term, right? I suppose they have to space them out to keep interest going."

"What? Oh, yeah. But I was thinking before that. The Yule Ball?"

Ginny sighed. "Another thing I'm too young for. Fourth year and above only, isn't it?"

"Unless they're invited by an older student."

Something in the way Harry said it caused Ginny to give him all her attention. She'd assumed his nervousness was because of the dangerous magical creature curled up a few yards away from them. Suddenly, oddly, she had a feeling that it was due to her. "Yes, that's true."

"So…do you fancy going with me?"

He could have just been asking her as a friend, of course. And Ginny suspected there'd be quite a bit of street cred for turning up at the Ball with the Girl Who Lived as a date. But she also suspected that that didn't matter to Harry. She was also aware that he was actually quite handsome. Maybe…

"Yes. Yes, I'd like that,"she agreed.

"Good." Harry smiled. It was a nice smile. Ginny found herself staring into his eyes.

A cheer went up from the crowd around them, breaking the spell. Harry looked around awkwardly. "Did we win?"

Ginny headed back up to the common room once the first task was completed. She'd have liked to have spoken more to Harry but he'd gone to see Sirius. And Hermione, obviously wanting to make up for the lack of study and homework time, had retreated to a corner with her parchment. Only a fool would disturb her in that mood…so it was a surprise when Neville suddenly sat down opposite her. "So…Yule Ball,"he began nervously. "I was just thinking, well, most people are bringing dates. And the two of us get on, don't we? So…do you want to go together?"

Hermione put down her quill and sighed. "Oh, Neville."

His face fell in a way that was quite heart-breaking. "You don't want to?"

"No, it's not that, I think it would be quite nice. It's just…someone else already asked me and I said yes."

"Who?"

"Ernie Macmillan."

That was clearly not the answer Neville had been expecting. "He's a bit pompous, isn't he?"

Hermione gave a slight smile. "So am I, sometimes. I'm sorry, Neville, I wasn't expecting you to ask me."

Neville looked over at Ginny. "I suppose you said yes to Harry?" Ginny nodded. Her suspicion that Harry had spoken to people before asking her was pretty much confirmed. Neville thought again. "I could take Luna…"

"She's going with Cedric Diggory,"Ginny replied.

Neville stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. "You're joking."

"I think he was trying to make a statement."

Neville looked more and more bewildered. "I don't think I know anyone else." He looked around the common room and finally picked someone out. "Lavender, have you got a date to the Ball?"

Lavender Brown looked surprised at being spoken to but quickly recovered. "Er, no. Seamus and Dean were threatening to have a duel to see who got to take me, so I turned them both down."

"Well…do you want to go with me then?"

Lavender seemed to consider this for a moment then nodded. "All right."

Neville grinned. "That's one crisis averted then. You Know Who will be no problem."