The following Monday, Violet was the last to get down to the Great Hall for breakfast out of her friends. She'd admittedly been sitting up in bed reading ahead for Transfiguration that day and time had gotten away from her, so a very flustered version of herself greeted her friends as she practically ran into the hall, desperately trying to put her hair into some kind of neat ponytail - eventually forgoing it.

She skidded to a halt next to Hermione, who promptly dropped a piece of buttered toast onto the plate in front of her as she sat down. "Thanks," Violet said immediately tucking in. "Time got away from me," she added through a mouthful.

"It happens," Hermione said brightly, getting back to the Daily Prophet she had been skimming through. Her face then dropped a few moments later. "Oh no…"

That got all of their attention.

"What?" Harry said, suspicious. Since his visit to Madam Pomfrey, he was sporting a sling for his left arm. "What's happened?"

Hermione looked rather uncomfortable, her eyes flicking back and forth between Harry and Violet before sighing and ultimately reading from the newspaper out loud. "A usually timid girl, Miss Violet Merryworth seems to have taken a liking to famous, yet controversial wizards. Whilst initially being known as the werewolf Remus Lupin's niece, it appears as if she is seeking the affections of the Triwizard Champion, Harry Potter. An unlikely pairing, but apparently dynamic when it comes to Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, Mr Potter and Miss Merryworth have grown steadily closer over the past year at Hogwarts together, effectively starting rumours about a budding romance-"

Violet snatched the paper away from Hermione to read it for herself. "That… that…" she shut her mouth so tight her lips drew into a thin line.

"Vi, just say it," Ron egged her on. "We all want you to, trust me."

"That hag!" She tossed the paper over to Harry who was trying to hold back a smirk at her little outburst - which then slowly started to slide off his face the further he went into reading the article. Meanwhile Ron was chuckling into his cereal at Violet's reaction.

"I mean she got one thing right," Harry said once he'd finished reading, handing the Prophet back to Hermione. When Violet shot him a quizzical look. "You do want a quiet life."

She rolled her eyes and was silent the rest of the breakfast, effectively sulking as she ate her toast. Not even the entertainment of Ron being sent the most ghastly, ugly looking dress robes could cheer her up. At least, not until she remembered what they were for, once she recalled the conversation she and Hermione had had about whether or not to tell the boys about the fact they discovered that the Triwizard Tournament traditionally held a ball in winter time.

So while the unexpected gathering of the whole of Gryffindor house in one of the spare, smaller halls of Hogwarts by McGonagall was a surprise, the announcement of the Yule Ball was less so. Violet and Hermione turned to each other rather excitedly about it, ready to mutter away like the rest of the girls before McGonagall called for silence. Things got even better when Ron was called up to demonstrate how to do a waltz correctly.

"So I guess we need to find someone to ask us?" Violet whispered to Hermione as they watched their friend suffer through the embarrassment of having to dance with his teacher.

"Or hope someone asks… we don't really need to do anything. Unless you want to ask someone?"

Violet hesitated for a moment. "No. Nobody comes to mind," she replied, trying not to look at Harry across the room as she did so. Hermione didn't buy it.

"Come on, you like him, don't you?" she pressed.

"Not like that, no," Violet was lying through her teeth. "We're just close. So going as friends would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Right," Hermione still didn't believe her in the slightest.

"Who would you want to ask you?"

"Ron would be the logical choice there-"

"Okay - everybody - on your feet," McGonagall announced, briefly breaking away from Ron to try and get everyone up.

Even though all the girls were eager to get up and learn how to dance, Violet was somewhat more reserved. It was only at the encouragement of Hermione that she tried to be more open about the very notion of learning to dance. Still, with some reluctance, she stood up. She nervously glanced at the row of boys opposite to see that only Neville was prepared to put the effort in, and that sparked something in her.

Violet took a tiny step forward so she was out of line with the other girls, making eye contact with Harry as she did so. As if something else was possessing her entirely, she took a few more steps across the room with her hand outstretched towards him, stopping just a couple of metres in front of him.

The look of pure horror on Harry's face suggested he knew exactly what was coming, even if the way it slipped out of Violet's mouth was entirely different to how she expected it.

"Waltz with me, Potter?"

Her eyes widened and she abruptly dropped her hand, turning away as she did so. She could feel her face growing hot, the embarrassment beginning to set in - except she was saved from it. Before she could even walk back towards the girls, Harry had taken hold of her wrist. She faced him again to see he was standing up, less horrified now and more amused instead.

"Yeah alright, Merryworth."

It was a little awkward since his left arm was in a sling, but he played that as the hand that should be on her waist, but the one that was holding her wrist slipped down into her hand and he raised it to a more appropriate height. Violet rested her free hand on his shoulder, which pleased McGonagall to no end.

"That's the spirit, you two! See everyone? Follow Potter and Merryworth's lead - be brave, like our founder would be!"

Somehow, that prompted more of the boys to reluctantly get up and find a partner. It meant that there were less eyes on the pair of them, which Violet was thankful for because whatever moxy she'd mustered up in the past few moments had vanished completely. Her jaw was set tight, and she avoided looking Harry in the eye directly, opting to keep her eyes on his collar instead.

They did their best to follow McGonagall's instruction, as difficult as it was with Harry's non-functioning arm. Eventually he gave up trying to be careful and slipped it out of the sling and just put his hand on her waist; Violet's heart fluttered. She must have given something away, because when she glanced up at Harry, he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything okay?" he mumbled to her.

She cleared her throat. "Peachy keen. Although… I'm dancing with Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived."

He rolled his eyes, but grinned at her anyway. There went her fluttering heart again. And butterflies. Butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

"Wouldn't call this dancing," he then said, perhaps a little stiffly. Violet had to stop herself from frowning at that. Was he okay? As smiley as he was being right now, there was a strained glint in his eyes.

"Everything okay?" she echoed his previous sentiment.

"Peachy keen," he repeated what she said, and it made her laugh.

"I think we both walked into that one there," Violet admitted.

"Don't you mean waltzed?"

Whatever restraint, whatever stilted, awkwardness that had been holding them back in that moment had suddenly vanished. It was just… normal Harry and normal Violet again, all her feelings for him forgotten as they carried on about the rest of the session as the close friends they truly were. Even if them joking their way through waltzing led to more and more stares from the rest of their fellow housemates, with particular scrutiny coming from Hermione.

They had a month overall to find someone to go to the Yule Ball with as it was to be held on Christmas Day. There was a strange, frantic nature to the air at Hogwarts - perhaps it was to do with the raging hormones of all the teens that were allowed to go to the ball, and thus asking out their various crushes was making everyone go a little more wild.

Violet tried her best to split her time between the library with Hermione, and being with the boys when the four of them weren't together as a whole group. Somehow, getting time with Harry on his own was particularly difficult; not that she minded, but the fact they'd spent weeks alone in their secret room, suddenly not having that made her somewhat less sociable than normal. She'd completely slipped back into mostly listening in on conversations rather than participating.

All the while, she was wrestling with the fact she desperately wanted Harry to ask her to the Yule Ball, only it never came up in their quiet moments together. Maybe it was because they were in the Common Room when they were alone at this point. Or maybe he was never going to actually ask her and she was going to have to resign herself to that fact.

It led to her having a quiet rant to Hermione in the library one mid December afternoon.

"He keeps giving this look when we're alone - like he's waiting for something," Violet hissed to her as they worked their way through Charms homework. "But no. When he does open his mouth it's to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts or the egg or… just silly little things, really. Do you think he's actually going to ask me or go for someone else?"

"Honestly if he doesn't ask you, I'll be having words," Hermione replied. "He'd be stupid not to. Although… I have seen him gawking at Cho, but it's not the way he looks at you."

Violet chewed on the inside of her cheeks, her brow furrowed. "It's like on the train that time. When it was obvious he was in a pretty good mood because of her. But how does he look at me?"

"Surely you'd notice that?"

She shrugged uneasily. "There's a way he looks at me when I'm looking at him - like I said, like when we've been alone when we talk. But what are you on about?"

Hermione was clearly trying to stop herself from smiling, but paused in her writing. "He watches you reading. Quite a lot, actually. It's very sweet."

"O-Oh. Right…" Violet pursed her lips. "Kind of like how VIktor Krum has been watching you, then?"

"Shh!" Hermione hissed at her. "He's only over there!" She gestured with her head, so when Violet turned to look at him, her face dropped.

"And heading this way…"

The two girls tried to make it look like they hadn't just been talking about him, only giving him attention when he cleared his throat.

"I know I don't know your name yet, but… I vas vondering… if you vould like to go to ze ball vith me?" Krum directed the question at Hermione, who was positively gobsmacked.

"I…" Hermione looked at Violet for help, who then immediately got back to her work. "Yes, actually," she eventually answered. "I think I would. I'm Hermione Granger. Pleasure." She held out her hand to shake, and was even more surprised when he took hold of it and placed a kiss on the back of her knuckles.

"Ze pleasure is all mine," he told her with a wonderfully charming smile before heading back over to the table he was working at.

When she was sure he wasn't going to be listening in, Violet became rather excited and confused all at once.

"Hermione! I thought you wanted Ron to ask you?!"

"Yes, but he hasn't… besides, even I've noticed Viktor staring at me. It's a bit odd - I'm surprised he's not taking one of his many fangirls…"

"That's probably the point - you've just acted normal around him. Not like he's a Quidditch star or anything like that!" Violet pointed out.

"The same goes for you in that regard."

"And then you add Harry into the equation…"

"Right. And Viktor would have seen you two together before the first task," Hermione mused. "So… do you like him? Harry? Be honest with me, Violet."

The girl in question sighed and set down her quill, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded as she thought it over. She did - she really did like him. The more she thought about it, the more she came to realise that Bill had definitely been right all along. Especially with all the time alone she'd had with Harry and how close they'd become, it was increasingly difficult to ignore.

Resigned to that fact she had reached that conclusion - riddled with guilt about Ginny in the process - and understanding Hermione would have eventually gotten an answer out of her further down the line anyway, Violet sighed and nodded.

"Find time alone with him where you can," Hermione urged her. "He'll ask you then. I know he will."

"I've tried that for the past couple of weeks and it's done absolutely nothing - it's rare for us to get time on our own now. I miss it."

"I know you do. You've been awfully quiet recently. Out of curiosity - you mentioned on the train that Bill asked you about this. Have you considered getting in touch with him?"

"No, I haven't, actually. I don't know if I want to…" She started picking at the skin around one of her thumbnails. "Ginny likes Harry too. You already knew that, though. Bill told me about it when we had our little chat at the Burrow…"

"I know she's his sister, but it seems like you're just as worried about it as he is. Send him an owl."

"No - no, nothing's going to come out of it anyway…" Violet was waving her off. She didn't want to involve another person in this - it was too trivial. "Besides, as much as I want Harry to take me to the ball, it doesn't mean I outright want to be his girlfriend or anything like that. I'm not risking my friendship with him for that. Our friendship is far more important to me."

Hermione tilted her head to the side, considering Violet's words. "That's a good way of looking at it. Okay. Fine. But if he doesn't ask you to the ball, I'm going to be very annoyed on your behalf."

They went back to their work after that.

The conversation led Violet to trying to get more time alone with Harry but to no avail. Ron would always end up coming with them - particularly because it was usually to do with homework. It was only a mildly irritating situation, especially when there was one evening where she and Harry managed to get time on their own in the Common Room to do homework together.

Then Ron joined them ten minutes after the fact. Even Harry appeared put out by that. Either way, the three of them carried on with homework in silence until-

"Hey, Violet!" A distinctly Irish voice drifted towards her. Violet peered up from the Charms textbook she was reading from to see Seamus Finnigan standing rather nervously before her.

"What's up, Seamus? Need a hand with the Banishing Charm?" she said, offering him a warm smile. Her other housemates rarely spoke to her, so Violet had taken to assuming that they normally wanted something from her. She didn't mind that, in all honesty, but did find it amusing.

"No! No, thanks, I think I've got that one down…" He kept glancing between her, Harry, and Ron before awkwardly clearing his throat. "Ehrm… I was wondering… if you fancied coming to the Yule Ball with me?"

Anyone could have heard a pin drop at their table. Violet had to stop her jaw from dropping open because that was the last thing she'd been expecting to come out of Seamus' mouth. She carefully closed the textbook and set it down on the table before giving the boy her full attention.

"Seamus, that's… very sweet of you, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. Sorry." She shot him a sheepish smile.

"Oh! Oh, okay - ehrm, never - never mind. Are - are you going with someone else?" He was scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, his face turning redder and redder with every passing second.

"Er…" Violet looked at her two friends to help her, but that was apparently the wrong move to make. Seamus caught the fact she'd looked at Harry and a sudden realisation dawned on his face.

"Of course! Of course you'd be going with Harry - you two get along so well, should have seen it coming, really…" He turned to Harry who was now stunned into silence, as was Violet. "Harry, mate, real sorry about that. I'll see you guys in Herbology tomorrow…"

With a big grin and waving off the entire thing, Seamus headed back over to Dean Thomas on the opposite side of the Common Room.

"Oh my god..." Violet squeaked out, sinking down into her seat and covering her face with her palms.

"You two are going together?" Ron hissed at the pair of them, not impressed that he was only just finding out this (fake) knowledge.

"What? No, no - no we're not going together. I've not asked anyone yet!" Harry told him in a hushed tone.

"And he's definitely not asked me…" Violet groaned. She was halfway under the table now. Finally she slipped off her chair and landed with a thud on the floor.

Both Harry and Ron winced at the sound, with the former going to help her off the floor. She refused to move her hands from her face which made the entire ordeal harder to deal with. It certainly wasn't helped by the fact that Hermione had come back from the library at this point either.

"For goodness' sake - Violet, what are you doing?" She aided Harry in getting the profusely embarrassed girl to stand up. Her hands did not leave her face. "Harry, what happened?"

"Seamus asked her to the ball… she said no… then he assumed I was going with her…"

At that, Violet hastily gathered up her things and ran up to the girl's dormitory, her three friends staring after her in bemusement. Ron shook himself out of it first, though.

"You know what? Bed seems like a good idea…" he said, before retreating upstairs himself.

Once he was gone, Hermione rounded on Harry, her eyes ablaze with an intensity that made Harry recoil ever so slightly. "You told me last week you were going to ask Violet to the ball!" she said to him in an angry whisper. "Why haven't you?"

"I - I - I dunno, can't find the right moment…" he mumbled lamely.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry James Potter! The amount of time you two spend together - you've had more than enough time. You ask her, or I will go tell her to go and take up Seamus' offer! Is that clear?"

He nodded quickly, adjusting his glasses too. Hermione seemed to simmer down after that, and patted him on the shoulder. "I know how much she means to you, and how badly you want to take her to the ball. She wants you to as well. You mean a lot to her, too."

Harry nodded again and sank back down into his seat. Hermione took up residence in the chair that Violet had been in previously. He let out a deep sigh and fiddled with his quill for a few moments before giving in to what was going through his mind.

"Hermione… I… I really like her," he muttered.

"I know you do-"

"No. I mean… I really like her."

There was a small smile on her face. "I know."

I'm not even sorry for how quickly I updated this.

Comment?

-OL.