"Harry, Cho is staring at you again," Ron mumbled under his breath, making Harry shoot a quick glance to his left. Seeing that Cho Chang was staring at him made him whip his head back around to face Ron. They were eating lunch alone, Hermione and Ginny had decided to spend their time finishing homework in the library, and Harry had been having the niggling feeling that he was being watched. Now he knew by who.

"What does she want?" He turned exasperated eyes to Ron.

"Beats me, but she does have an odd look on her face. If Hermione were here, she'd be able to tell you what's wrong without even needing to talk to her."

Harry heaved a sigh, wishing for dinner to come sooner so that he could escape the unwanted attention from Cho. He laughed to himself, remembering how only a couple of years ago he would have been glad to be the object of Cho's thoughts and now he wanted to get as far away from her as possible. Now, though, he had Ginny and there was no comparison between the two. He thought it was funny how things had changed so much.

Harry was shaken from his thoughts when Ron stood up, realizing that it was time to go to their last couple of classes. Hermione met them in History of Magic where she proceeded to poke and prod at Ron and Harry when they dozed off, finally giving up when Ron just turned in his seat to get more comfortable. Charms was much more entertaining as they spent their time practicing the charm Sonorus. By the time they reached the common room they all had a ringing in their ears and Ron was having trouble hearing what people were saying.

"How was Charms?" Ginny asked from her seat on the floor by the fireplace.

"WHAT?" Ron asked, completely unaware of the fact that he was shouting.

Ginny turned raised eyebrows to Harry, who grinned, "We did the Sonorus charm and it affected Ron a little worse than the rest of us."

"A BUS? WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT A BUS?"

Ginny clutched her sides in laughter, unable to stop the tears from gathering in her eyes. Harry began laughing at the sight of her and Hermione started to laugh at both of them. The only person not laughing was Ron, who couldn't understand for the life of him why his friends and sister were in hysterics. Soon enough, the ringing in their ears faded and Ron was able to hear once more. They followed the rest of their house down to dinner, which passed uneventfully aside from the occasional squeals of excitement about the Yule Ball that came from the girls in the room. When they'd finished they stood up and filed out of the Great Hall, just reaching the bottom of the marble staircase when they heard a sarcastic voice behind them.

"You've got to be joking! Weasley and Granger are together?" Malfoy sneered.

Ron stiffened and held on to Hermione's hand tighter, who for her part was trying to pull Ron up the staircase. Most of the students had gone back to their common rooms, but several had stayed when they'd heard Malfoy stop the group of friends.

"Back off, Malfoy," Ron bit out.

Malfoy casually walked closer, a nasty smile stretching across his face, "Isn't it bad enough that your sister and Potter are together? Now you're dating the mudblood?"

Rage filled Ron's eyes and he took a step forward, raising his fist, but Hermione stepped in front of him and placed a hand on his arm, "Please, Ron, don't. For me?"

Ron glanced down at Hermione who was looking up at him with pleading eyes. Knowing he couldn't disappoint Hermione, Ron lowered his arm, battling the anger churning inside him and grabbed Hermione's hand again, pulling her up the stairs with him.

"Oh, isn't that sweet?" Malfoy mocked. "Granger has the Weasel under her thumb." Malfoy snickered with Crabbe and Goyle, who were flanking him on either side like rather large gargoyles.

"One might think you were jealous, Malfoy." Ginny came forward, Harry staying close to her side.

Malfoy scoffed, "Jealous? Of the Weasel and Granger? I'd rather hang out with a Dementor."

"You could always ask your father to introduce you to some. He met plenty while he was in Azkaban."

Ginny's words had the desired effect, Malfoy's face turned red with anger and his eyes shone with dislike, "Watch your mouth, Weasley."

"Or what? You'll summon him from the hole he crawled into when he broke out?"

Malfoy moved towards Ginny and Harry pushed her behind him, but Malfoy ignored this and continued to glare at Ginny. "You'll regret that," he hissed before turning on his heel and stalking down to the dungeons.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hermione was worried about Ron, he hadn't said a word since they'd come up to the common room a few minutes before. He was just staring into the fireplace, arms crossed, with a blank expression on his face and this was how he remained even after Harry and Ginny entered the room. Ginny pulled Harry to the far side of the room to play a game of chess, leaving Hermione alone with Ron.

"Ron," She spoke softly. He didn't respond, he simply turned his head to look at her.

"Ron, I don't understand why you're so upset. It's not like Malfoy hasn't called me names before."

Ron sat in an armchair and looked down at his lap, "It's always bothered me, Hermione. But the way he said it tonight, like dating you would taint me or something, it just filled me with so much anger." Ron's head snapped up, his eyes blazing, "No one gets to speak to you like that!"

Hermione's heart filled with warmth at his defensiveness and she went to kneel on the ground next to his chair, "I love how protective you are, Ron, I really do. But you're more important than a stupid name that someone calls me and if you keep going after Malfoy, you could get thrown out of Hogwarts or worse, he could send his father."

"Malfoy's father doesn't scare me," Ron frowned.

"It's not his father I'm worried about, it's the people he associates with, two of which are currently on the run with him. I need you to promise me that you won't fight with Malfoy."

Ron started to shake his head, but Hermione grabbed his face between her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes, "Promise me."

She could see the battle raging on his face, but she knew she'd won when his eyes softened, "I promise."

Hermione smiled in relief and played with a strand of hair that had fallen over his forehead, "Good, because what would I do if I couldn't see this face every day?" Ron grinned and pulled Hermione onto his lap, wrapping her in a hug.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Looks like Ron's alright again," Harry nodded in the couple's direction.

"I figured he would be, he's never been able to ignore Hermione," Ginny smirked and moved one of her chess pieces across the board.

"Yeah, she's always been good at figuring him out. She probably knows everything about him by now."

"I wouldn't doubt it. I do know, however, that he will never fully understand her."

"Think I'll ever fully understand you?"

"Nope. It's a part of our girl mystique."

Harry snorted and moved his rook, but he started thinking about the same subject that had been popping into his head recently. The prophecy. He had told Ron and Hermione and he was glad he finally did, it lifted some of the weight off of him to know he wasn't completely alone. He hadn't told Ginny yet and he was surprisingly nervous to do it. He was worried that she would find it to be her last straw and dump him, unable to take any more of the baggage that seemed to have permanently attached itself to him. Another look at Ron and Hermione talking quietly to one another gave him a boost of courage, he didn't want secrets between him and Ginny, either.

"Ginny?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

Ginny's gaze shot to his and concern marred her perfect face, "Harry, what's wrong?"

"Do you remember how I told you that when we were all dueling at the ministry and the prophecy that Voldemort was after shattered?"

"Yes."

"And remember how no one heard what it said?"

"Yes."

"Well, there was actually one person who heard the prophecy the day it was made. Dumbledore, actually, and when we got back from the ministry he showed me what the prophecy said."

"What did it say?" Ginny asked quietly, the only sign she was upset were her hands fisted together in her lap.

"It said that 'neither can live while the other survives'." Harry watched as Ginny put the pieces together and comprehension of what the prophecy was saying dawned on her. He sucked in a breath when a single tear slipped down her cheek.

Ginny quickly swiped the tear away and straightened in her seat, "Well, then we better make sure that you beat him, hadn't we?"

The breath Harry held whooshed from his lungs and he ran to Ginny, wrapping her in a tight hug. Harry didn't think she'd ever know how much she meant to him or how relief had seemed to swallow him whole when she hadn't broken down sobbing or dumped him after he'd told her about the prophecy. Ginny promised herself as she lay in bed that night that Harry wouldn't know the fear that had enveloped her when he'd told her about the prophecy or about how she'd silently cried herself to sleep, vowing that it would be the only time. Harry needed her to be strong...so she would be.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I suppose we should start getting ready, Hermione," Ginny stood and offered a hand to pull Hermione up.

"That's probably a good idea. I'm going to need most of the time to try and do something with my hair," Hermione pulled on one of her many curls.

"I like your hair," Ron said absently, moving a chess piece across the board. "Checkmate," he grinned at Harry, who just huffed his annoyance.

Looking up at Hermione, Ron tilted his head in thought, "I think you should leave your hair."

Hermione sent him a loving smile, "Sorry, Ron, but you've already influenced one aspect about tonight."

"I did? What is it?"

"Nope, not telling you. We'll have to see if you figure it out. Now, you and Harry should go get ready as well."

Harry looked at his watch, "It's only five o'clock. The ball doesn't start until seven."

"Come on, Hermione, we'll get ready and find two boys who are clean and dressed to take us to the ball."

"Alright, alright, we get it. Girls," Ron muttered under his breath.

Smirking, the two girls went up the stairs, having decided to get ready in Hermione's room. They both took a shower, painted their nails with some magical quick-drying nail polish, and applied a very light amount of make-up. When it came time to do their hair, Hermione helped Ginny to curl hers and they loosely pinned up the top half, letting a few tendrils fall down to frame her face. They finished the look by placing several single-pearl hair pins in the back where her hair had been gathered.

Hermione's hair proved to be a challenge. Ginny started by using Sleekeazy's Hair potion to tame the mass of curls, the process taking up most of their time. At one point, Parvati had come in to grab a bracelet she'd forgotten and Ginny asked her to tell Harry and Ron to head down to the ball and wait for them there. After smoothing down Hermione's curls, Ginny began wrapping her hair, folding it in on itself until she had created an elegant bun at the nape of her neck, the loose curls giving it a fuller appearance. Ginny gently pulled out several curls so that they rested against her cheeks. As a final touch, Ginny placed a delicate gold comb made of interlocking leaves just above the top of the bun.

"You're all done!" Ginny smiled, very pleased with the final result that was Hermione's hair.

Hermione turned her head from side to side in the mirror, "Oh, it's beautiful!"

They put on their dresses, each choosing a simple necklace to wear. Ginny picked a delicate teardrop pearl necklace that had belonged to her grandmother and Hermione chose a rhinestone necklace that sat just above her collarbone that matched the pattern of her hair comb. Hermione performed a clever charm that made their shoes much more comfortable, which would allow them to make it through the night without torturing their feet. They checked the time and saw that if they hurried they'd only be fifteen minutes late. After walking as fast as they could they reached the marble staircase, peeking around the corner of the wall to see that the doors to the Great Hall hadn't been opened yet, meaning that they'd have to walk down the stairs in front of everyone. Taking a deep breath, the girls nodded once at each other and began their descent.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Waiting had to be the worst part, knowing that something really good was coming for you but you had to be patient until you got to find out just how good. This was what both Ron and Harry were thinking as they waited at the bottom of the marble staircase for Ginny and Hermione to come down.

Both boys had showered and put on their dress robes, Harry abandoning his attempts to make his hair lay flat, and waited in the common room, only for Parvati to come down and tell them that the girls wanted them to wait for them outside the Great Hall. Since then, they'd been talking with their friends and their dates. Parvati had come with Dean and Seamus had gathered enough courage to ask Lavender, both boys sneaking looks at their dates when they weren't looking. The most shocking thing to happen was to see Fred and George sauntering towards them wearing dress robes and identical grins.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked dumbfounded.

"We're here to pick up our dates," Fred answered.

"Ah, here they are now," George beamed and gestured at the stairs.

Harry and Ron looked to see Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell walking towards the twins, both wearing lovely gowns and looking radiant. The twins held out their arms for the girls and swept them away without a backward glance. Ron had a million questions racing through his mind but they disappeared in an instant when he turned around to face the stairs. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, his breathing grew shallow, and his heart sped up. He gained back enough strength to nudge Harry, who turned around and did the same as Ron.

Hermione and Ginny had just started down the steps. Ginny's green gown went perfectly with her flawless, ivory skin and fiery red hair, which was hanging in curls down her back, with curls brushing her face and pearls scattered throughout her hair. Ron finally understood what Hermione had meant when she told him he'd already had a part in how she'd dress for the ball. Her gown was a deep pink with sleeves that hugged her upper arms, leaving her shoulders bare, and fell to her wrists. The neckline fell several inches below her collarbone, the back of the dress dipped down to just above the center of her back, and the bodice was close-fitting until her waist where it flowed out. The edging of the dress around the neckline, the dip at the back of the dress, and the ends of the sleeves had gold stitching that formed a delicate pattern. The same pattern fell from the bodice and faded into the top of the skirt and didn't show up again until it encircled four inches of the dress' hem all the way around.

The girls came to a stop in front of Ron and Harry, bother wearing shy smiles that became worried ones when the boys didn't say anything. Hermione and Ginny exchanged concerned looks and bit their lips. Luckily Seamus, who had been nearby with Lavender and seen the whole thing, walked over to Ron and Harry and muttered in their ears, "You idiots better pull yourselves together or you won't have dates anymore," before leaving to rejoin Lavender. Seamus' comment had hit its mark, making Ron and Harry close their mouths and silently offer their arms to the girls, who took them gratefully.

McGonagall came and opened the doors to the Great Hall, allowing everyone to get their first glimpse of the transformed room. The four long house tables had been removed and replaced with multiple smaller tables that were pushed to the perimeter of the room. One whole wall had been reserved just for food and drinks, of which there was plenty. The ceiling reflected the sky outside, which was clear and dark, the stars standing out against the deep blue. Hundreds of clear orbs had been enchanted to hover over the hall, each holding a single candle in its center that cast a beautiful glow over the room. The whole room sparkled as if a handful of glitter had been dropped from a great height to lightly dust the furnishings and decorations.

"This is beautiful," Ginny gazed at their surroundings.

Hermione nodded, "Professor Flitwick did an amazing job." She turned to Ginny, "Do you want to go get some punch?"

"I'd love to. Do you two want anything?" Ginny looked at Ron and Harry, who shook their heads. Neither boy could take his eyes off of his date and it took a very recognizable and unwanted voice to pull them from their thoughts.

"Hello, Harry." Turning to the source of the voice, Harry saw that Cho had come to stand beside him, her friend Marietta was standing back a few feet observing them. She was wearing a floor-length, simple red dress with her hair pulled back from her face, and was currently beaming at Harry and giving him coy looks. Harry shot a quick glance to Ron, who just shrugged helplessly.

"Um, hi, Cho."

"Are you having a nice time?"

"Yep." Where are Ginny and Hermione?

"Would you like to dance?"

"No, thank you. I'm here with Ginny, so I'll be dancing with her."

"Oh," Cho's frown turned into a scowl as she looked behind Harry's shoulder. Turning around, he saw Hermione and Ginny coming towards them, each holding two cups of punch.

"Here, Harry. Oh, hello Cho."

"Hi," Annoyance flickered over Cho's face when Ginny spoke, the look turning to one of dislike when her gaze fell on Hermione, who simply raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a problem, Cho?"

"Just surprised that Ron was willing to go to the ball with you, considering how you tend to turn on those around you," Cho gestured to Marietta, who was still standing behind her and looking everywhere except for at them.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, "If I remember correctly, it was your friend who broke our contract and sacrificed everyone in the D.A. because she got scared of Umbridge."

"You could have warned everyone that they'd be hexed," Cho snapped.

"Had I done that, we wouldn't know who we could trust," Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him to one of the smaller tables lining the walls.

Ginny gave Cho an angry glare, "The D.A. was helping us learn how to defend ourselves and our families. Your friend destroyed that so there's no point in getting mad at Hermione." Ginny threaded her fingers through Harry's and followed after Ron and Hermione. Pulling out a chair at the table, Ginny saw Ron look past her and frown.

"Why is Cho glaring at you two?"

Harry snorted, "That might have something to do with Ginny losing her temper after you guys walked away."

"I did not lose my temper! I simply gave my opinion of how she treated Hermione."

"I never did like her," Ron stated. "She cries too much and doesn't take it well when things don't go her way."

"Let's just forget about her," Hermione said. "What I want to know is why your brothers are here." They turned around to see the two identical red-headed Weasleys piling their plates high with food.

Ron grinned, "They came with their dates." He nodded to a spot a few feet from the twins where Angelina and Katie were talking. Hermione and Ginny shared delighted looks and immediately got up and dragged Katie and Angelina to their table. Harry saw Fred and George looking around in confusion, finally spotting their dates at their table, looks of horror spreading over their faces. They hesitantly came over and sat down.

Ginny rounded on her brothers, "Why didn't you say that you two had asked Katie and Angelina?"

"We didn't think you would care," Fred mumbled unconvincingly.

"Not care? Do you know how many subtle hints Hermione and I had to drop to get you two to finally ask them out?"

The twins' eyes widened when Katie and Angelina gave Ginny curious looks, "What do you mean subtle hints?"

"Just that Fred and George had liked you both for so long, but they were too nervous to ask you, so Hermione and I helped push them along a little bit."

Fred and George appeared to have gone mute with dread, but Hermione continued where Ginny left off, "It wasn't hard, really, given how head over heels they were for you already."

"Really?" Katie looked surprised. "What exactly did you say?"

"I might have mentioned that Katie was a part of their speed dating invention...And that you were going to be getting asked to the ball by Carl...And that I had to write Angelina to let her know that she'd probably be getting asked by another seventh year who'd had a crush on her for a while now. Although, saying you guys were going to the ball with other dates was Hermione's idea." Ginny smiled and took a long sip of punch.

While Katie and Angelina looked thrilled with these revelations, the twins had gone pale and then flushed bright red in embarrassment, something no one had ever seen in them before. It caused a great deal of enjoyment for Ron and Harry and Hermione was smirking, though she decided to add on to Ginny's statement.

"As you can imagine, Fred was none too pleased about Katie going on speed dates or going to the ball with Carl. George was rather put out as well about you going to the ball with someone else, too, Angelina. You also seem to hold a little power over him, since all Ginny has to do to get him to leave her alone is threaten to tell you."

Ginny tilted her head in what Harry recognized as her falsely innocent look, "You'd think they'd get tired of saying how beautiful you both are or how smart or how talented." Ginny just shrugged like she didn't understand it.

By now Fred and George were holding their heads in their hands and wishing a hole would open up in the floor and swallow them. Angelina and Katie stood from the table and went to stand in front of Fred and George who looked up at them, sure the girls were going to go running in the opposite direction.

"Would you fancy a dance?" Angelina held her hand out to George and Katie did the same to Fred. Both boys nodded silently, too surprised that their dates were still talking to them after all of the embarrassing stuff that had been revealed. Ron leaned over and kissed Hermione's cheek.

"What was that for?" Hermione blushed and smiled.

"To say thank you. I've never seen anyone embarrass Fred and George before."

"If you really want to thank me, then you'll ask me to dance."

"Uh, I can't, you see I, um, hurt my ankle walking down the steps earlier."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Ronald Weasley, you did not hurt your ankle. And it's a slow song playing and I know you are fully capable of dancing to this one song." Ron opened his mouth to object again, but found that he couldn't when Hermione was looking at him with her pleading brown eyes. He gave a quick nod before he could rethink his decision and led her out onto the dance floor where dozens of other couples were already swaying to the music.

Harry chuckled lightly when he heard Hermione tell Ron she wanted to dance, knowing that his best friend wouldn't be able to say no to his girlfriend. His laughter faded away when Ginny spoke, "I suppose you don't want to dance with me, then." She sighed dramatically, resting her chin in her hand as she batted her eyelashes at him.

Harry groaned but answered honestly, "No...but for you, I will." He grabbed hold of Ginny's hand and brought her to stand near Hermione and Ron, who had a rather lovestruck look on his face as he gazed down at Hermione. Harry would have laughed, but he knew that more often than not he had that same look on his face when he was with Ginny.

"I love you," he said quietly.

Ginny smiled at him, "I love you, too."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ron had felt his cheeks burn when Hermione guided his hands to rest on her hips while hers wrapped around his neck, but it was an amazing feeling that was filling him up and if he had to dance every day for the rest of his life to keep it then he would. Feeling a little bold, Ron leaned down to whisper in Hermione's ear, "You look stunning."

Hermione's eyes flew up to meet his, a beautiful smile breaking over her face that made Ron's heart stutter. "You look quite handsome, yourself," she replied and she leaned her head forward to rest on Ron's chest.

Yeah, Ron thought, I could get used to this.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

What should the title of this story be? I am very sick of the placeholder I have and I'd like you to post any title ideas to the review page and if you're willing, let me know why you think your title should be it. If I find the perfect title, I will replace the story's name and give credit to whoever came up with it! Thanks! : )