Chapter seven

When Harry saw the Hufflepuff's arriving, he straightened. Some gave him a curious look, yet none of them asked what he was doing near the entrance to the Hufflepuff rooms. All Harry did was continue to stare further down the corridor looking for Susan. When he saw her, his nerves jumped another ten notches.

'Um, Susan, can I t…talk to you for a minute.'

'Oh, um, yes, of course Harry,' Susan turned to her friend, 'I'll join you in a minute.'

'Alright,' Hannah stared at Harry for a minute before she headed to the common room.

'Um, well, see, its…um,' Harry sighed the took a deep breath to get his nerves under control, 'It's about the yule ball. I was wondering if maybe you would go with me?'

'Oh,' Susan blushed deeply but she did smile, 'Yes, that would be nice.'

Harry grinned, 'That's great. Um, what colour are you wearing?'

'Why?'

'I thought I could get a flower to match your dress robes.'

'I am wearing plum.'

'Oh, I like that. Okay, I hope I can get a flower that will match.'

'Its fine if you don't, it's not always easy to match clothes to a flower.'

'I suppose not but I'll try. Anyway, I need to get started on my homework,' Harry gave Susan a smile before he hurried away but he couldn't stop grinning. He had asked a pretty girl to a ball and she said yes. Maybe they could go to Hogsmeade and spend some time together. They could get to know the other. Harry would think on that when he got a chance. They didn't really get a lot of time to talk during herbology, so Hogsmeade would be best. First he needed to speak with Neville about plum coloured flowers. If anyone would know if there was a plum coloured flower, it would be Neville.

When Harry got to the common room, he hurried to get his books, then sat beside Neville. He didn't want to talk to him about the flower until they were alone, otherwise if someone overheard, they would ask questions. If it was Hermione, she wouldn't stop asking and keep wanting to know why.

When it was getting late and Neville said he was going to bed, Harry decided to as well. He was lucky, Ron was in the middle of a game of chess with Lee, Dean and Seamus were talking over in one of the corners. That meant there was no one in the dorm room. Harry asked Neville about the plum coloured flower. He said he knew of some, he would get the information for Harry about where he could buy one. He also told Harry that with magic, the flowers could be used all year round, you didn't have to wait for the right season. Harry thanked his friend then headed for the showers.

As the weeks passed, Harry got to spend more time with Susan which allowed Neville to spend time with Hannah. Harry found out that Neville liked Hannah, so he figured he would help out his friend. Neville had gotten up the courage to ask Hannah to the ball, she said yes and she was wearing lemon, so Neville planned to get flowers to match her dress robes. So far, only Hermione asked why he was spending time with the two Hufflepuff girls. Harry never mentioned the ball, only that he wanted to help Neville who wanted to ask Hannah to be his date. It was partially true so he didn't feel bad that he kept some of the truth from Hermione. He just had enough of her always wanted to know everything but he didn't want to begin fighting with her. He decided to be partially honest and be vague with anything else she asked.

On the first Hogsmeade weekend, Harry and Neville were going with Susan and Hannah.

'Harry, are you going to Hogsmeade?' Ron asked.

'Um, yeah, but I'm going with others this time.'

'What do you mean, others?'

Harry sighed, 'Neville and I are going with Susan and Hannah, who are our dates for the yule ball. We decided to spend the day together and get to know each other more and away from here. We only get a small amount of time here, now we get the whole day. Anyway, I've got to go, I'm meeting Susan at the entrance way.'

Ron watched Harry leave and it made him wonder if he should find some girl to go with, or if he should just go alone.

'Ron?'

Ron turned to see Hermione with his sister, 'What?'

'You were just standing there staring. Is something wrong?'

'No, well, I was thinking about the yule ball and if I should ask a girl or not, especially now that Harry and Neville both have dates.'

'They do?' Ginny squeaked.

'Who are they taking?' Hermione asked but she glanced at Ginny.

'Harry is going with Susan Bones and Neville is going with Hannah Abbott.'

'That's why they've been spending time together. Harry did tell me that Neville wanted to ask Hannah. I didn't expect Harry to ask Susan though.'

'Susan is popular, I've heard many boys talking about her. Anyway, are we still going to Hogsmeade?'

'Yes, there are a few things I need and I promised to show Ginny around.'

'Then you two go, I might go with Dean and Seamus. I really don't want to hang around my sister all day.'

Susan and Harry were talking as they walked together down towards Hogsmeade. Neville and Hannah were behind them and also talking. At the same time, Hermione ended up following Ginny as she raced up the stairs to her dorm room. By the time she got there, the dorm room door was locked. Hermione sighed but she understood, Ginny had been hoping Harry would ask her to the ball, now she finds out that Harry is going with Susan Bones. Hermione didn't know it, but Ginny was writing a letter to her mother, hoping she might have some advice on how to get Harry to change his mind.

Harry had a great time with Susan, Neville also got on great with Hannah. They went from shop to shop, buying different things. Harry did buy Susan a big block of her favourite Honeydukes chocolate before he finally got up the nerve to ask her if she would be his girlfriend. Again, he had been nervous and stuttered a bit, but she said yes. That made Harry grin, hugely which made Susan laugh as she blushed. They all went to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer and some lunch.

Harry and Susan held hands while they talked with their friends, neither of them noticed that many were staring at the-boy-who-lived, who seemed to have a girlfriend. They also didn't notice that some photo's were being taken of the couple, which would appear on the front page of the Daily Prophet the following day. It would go with a story about Harry, the-boy-who-lived, but Susan would be mentioned as well.

When it began to get late and the four friends, now two couples, slowly walked back to Hogwarts.

There was a story in the paper the following day, about Harry Potter dating the niece of Amelia Bones. There was a picture that went with it. The picture showed the couple smiling at each other and holding hands. Most people said they looked nice together.

Over the next few weeks Harry spent all his free time with Susan, Neville did the same with Hannah. A lot of the time it was the four of them, so they would study in the library, or get books from the library, then take them to the great hall so they could study or just spend time together. Sometimes Ron would join them, but only when he had to finish his homework. Hermione never joined them, she seemed to be spending most of her time with Ginny.

'You know, this place needs a room like our common rooms that we can all use. Right now, we're stuck in uncomfortable seats because we want to spend time with our girlfriends who are in different houses to us, or in Susan and Hannah's case, boyfriends,' Harry said giving the girls a smile.

'That's a damn good idea Harry. I wonder if we speak with our heads of house they might be able to do something,' Hannah said.

'McGonagall won't so there's no use asking her, she's hopeless. She's also not one to say yes when a student wants something,' Harry said.

'Then how about we ask Professor Sprout?' Susan asked, 'There are a lot of old rooms in the castle that don't get used anymore. I'm sure it could be turned into a common room for all of us too use.'

'Don't you think the teachers will believe we'll…um, you know, get up to stuff,' Neville blushed bright red making Hannah giggle.

'Okay, sure, we might snog, what couple wouldn't. But if you walk around the castle you see couple's snogging all the time. It wouldn't matter if we were in a room or corridor. If we had a room, we could sit comfortable, talk, play games or even do homework together. All we can do is ask, if they say no, it's no,' Susan said.

'We could ask for some portraits to be in there, you know, to make sure we didn't do anything, but also someone could come in to causes problems,' Neville said.

'The portraits could easily relay messages to the teachers,' Hannah said, 'Let's finish up and go speak with Professor Sprout.'

The two couples did just that, they finished their home work then went to find the head of Hufflepuff.

'What can I do for you?'

'We were discussing an idea Professor,' Susan said.

'Yeah, as you would know by now, I'm dating Neville and Susan is dating Harry and the both boys are in Gryffindor. We like to study together and do our homework,' Hannah said.

'It's not very comfortable sitting in the great hall and being in the library means we can't talk over our work. It's like when Harry or Susan explain some things in detail that I might need to know about transfiguration or defence,' Neville said nervously.

'Neville also explains things about herbology to us if we get stuck. It works well and we've been able to get all our homework done, but it's also the fact we can't talk in the library and the seats are hard in the great hall. We were sort of wondering if there was a chance to have a room converted into a common room that we could use, other students as well. It's difficult to spend time with friends from other houses, unless it's in the library or the great hall.' Harry said.

'We thought, in case you might believe all we'll do is snog, that a portrait could be put in there. Not just to keep an eye on couples, but also in case anyone tries to cause trouble,' Hannah said.

'Now the weather has turned, we can't go outside and spend time together,' Susan said.

Pomona listened to her students and she had been watching the two couples over the last few weeks. Yes they snogged, but they never went too far. Most of the time they just held hands or sat together when they did their work. But their idea of a common room that all students could use actually made sense. With the amount of students, one common room would not be enough, it would need a few and scattered through the castle. There were plenty of unoccupied rooms that could easily be turned into a common room. She would speak with a few of her colleagues and asked their opinion before taking it to the headmaster. One thing she did decide, she was not going to tell anyone it was Harry Potter, his girlfriend Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and her boyfriend, Neville Longbottom who suggested this idea. She told the students she would see if it was possible and let them know.'

Harry, Susan, Neville and Hannah all smiled, thanked their professor then left the room, to again find somewhere the four of them could sit together which wasn't uncomfortable or drafty.