Liv was not in a good mood. As if she didn't have enough to worry about; Harry's security, the mystery of who is seeking to do him harm, her suspicions about Mad-Eye Moody, Rita poking around, and that Sirius and Remus might be discovered. But now to have to worry about a date for the ball?

"A date for the ball? The lengths we have to go to sometimes under cover," Shaklebolt had laughed after their security meeting when they all went up to Dumbledore's office for drinks.

"Oh to be young," Dumbledore said with a gleam in his eye.

"I hope you're not thinking of going with Potter," Mad-Eye said with a stern look.

"No," Liv said shortly. "I know better than to bring that kind of attention to myself."

"I'm sure someone will ask you," Hermione had said a few days later when she and Liv ran into each other in the library.

"I don't think so. I haven't been spending much time being social this year. I've been too busy," Liv replied, looking around at few boys from Durmstrang and wondering if she should take a chance and ask one of them.

"You could ask Ron to go with you."

"He's a bit young for me, and besides, I'm not supposed to know him very well. I'm surprised you're not going with Ron."

Hermione blushed, "what makes you say that?"

Liv brushed away her comment saying she thought they were friends is all, when really she suspected both felt something much deeper for the other.

"Oh, yes, we are friends. But he hasn't asked me. Someone else has." Hermione's blush became even redder.

"I have an idea," Fleur said excitedly a few days after Liv's conversation with Hermione. "These Hogwarts boys are just that- boys. I'd prefer to go to the ball with someone a little more mature. What if you and I go togeth-"

"Shhh!" Liv said, looking around at Rita who was about to pass them on the grounds. When they were safely out of earshot, Liv continued, "I don't want to get near enough to one of the champions to have Rita investigate me. Although, that would have been convenient if you weren't a champion."

"Too bad. That means I have to accept the invitation from a boy who asked me last night," Fleur said with a sigh.

"It's too bad Oliver isn't around this year, he would have been perfect," Remus said, a few days later as they met in the tunnel between the castle and Honeydukes so Liv could deliver him a bag of food from the kitchens.

Liv thought about saying "I never thought I'd hear you say that," but decided not to. Their relationship was much warmer these days, but she wasn't sure it was safe yet to joke about their past. Instead she said, "Too bad. I'm running out of time," with a sigh.

"What about one of the Weasley twins," Remus suggested.

"I'd rather not look like I've been sleeping with the whole quidditch team," Liv replied with a grin. "Besides, I think they've both already got dates. Did you go to any balls at the school?"

"One," Remus said with a funny look on his face. "I asked a girl I liked and had a terrible time. I can laugh about it now, but when you're that age you make such a big deal of everything. Whoever you go with, you'd better be careful. You know how these things are. Students gossip about who you go with."

"Speaking of being careful, how did that job go?"

"It happened exactly as you said it would," Remus said. "An "old woman" came up to me in the pub, heard I got rid of boggarts and asked for help with one. We had tea after and as she casually interrogated me about what I've been up to the last few months."

"How did you know it was the auror and not a real old lady?"

"Apart from the fact she mentioned Sirius Black being on at large still, her hands didn't shake as she poured the tea," Remus said smiling.

"Rookie mistakes," Liv said smiling too, with a hint of the old feelings she used to have seeing him smile.

As Liv exited the tunnel later and walked down the empty corridor, she was still trying to think who else she could go with to the ball. She heard a noise behind her and spun around, hand on her wand inside her robes.

"Oh, it's just you," Liv said as Draco Malfoy came up behind her.

"Get people sneaking up on you regularly," Malfoy said, although his tone wasn't its usual sneering one, but this time sounded like he was trying to make a joke.

"Can never be too careful," Liv said turning to go, but Malfoy took a step forward which made her stop. "What is it," she asked.

Malfoy didn't say anything at first, but it slowly dawned on Liv as Draco's cheeks grew redder.

Suddenly it was starting to make sense. Was that why Malfoy had been bragging so loudly about entering the shrieking shack when she was nearby? Is what why he had been hovering near her in the library, which she had mistaken for him trying to overhear her conversations?

"Well," Liv said, her mouth dry. She needed a date for the ball, after all. But Malfoy? She had to make a decision fast.