Title: Beyond Friendship

Chapter Fourteen:

Authors: Jaycee and Marga

Note: Jaycee here! Okay – I know that all you guys out there are just ready to kill us. We are so, so very sorry! We didn't mean to not update for one whole year!! As if we wanted to do that. Now, I know that everyone is probably waiting to hear what reasons we have for not updating. One: The computer had a virus. Yuppers, the main thing that all computer lovers hate. So we lost everything and we had to gather all our stuff from the internet. Second, we don't really know which way we want our story to go. So that led to a lot of thinking and brainstorming. Lastly, I started college just this year and I was extremely busy. Marga was equally busy at high school too. There you are, the reasons why it took us one year to write another installment for this Fanfic. But don't worry, we promise that we wouldn't let another year pass by for us to update again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

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Ginny looks good. Harry decided as he and his date for the night walked into the big banquet hall. The two exchanged a smile as they stared at their beautiful surroundings.

Huge, wonderfully ornamented Christmas trees dotted each corner, and under it are colorfully wrapped gifts ranging from small to overly large sizes – gifts that will be given to the students. These gifts are the ones that were all sent by their parents. They had also placed their own gifts for each other. Everything will be distributed before the night would end.

"Thank you again for asking me to be your date, Harry." Ginny whispered as she stared at him with a dazzling smile on her face.

Harry grinned back and looked at Ginny once again. Gone was the little girl he met four years ago. In her place was this confident young lady that would surely break her own set of men's hearts. The green flowing dress robes that she was wearing for the night really brought out the vibrant shade of her curly hair, and the fact that her eyes were twinkling happily added to her prettiness.

"You know that I am more than happy to be your escort for the night." He replied and offered his arm gallantly to her as they neared their table.

Ginny had to giggle at his chivalry actions. As they reached their table, the smile died on her lips when she saw that Hermione and Viktor were already seated and were talking quietly.

Though she was still mad at Hermione because of the way she shouted at her a few days ago, she was still feeling a little bit confused on just why Hermione suddenly exploded like that. It was so unlike her.

"'Arry, Ginny. Good evening." Viktor greeted them cheerfully as soon as he looked up and saw them.

Harry smiled, and Ginny noticed that although he was greeting Viktor, his eyes were trained on Hermione. "Hi Viktor." She replied and sat down, without giving Hermione any kind of indication that she noticed her sitting there.

Hermione looked up at Harry, and though she had seen him earlier that night, she still couldn't get over how he handsome he looks that night. The blackness of his robes, in some way, emphasized the wonderful green hue that his eyes were. His hair was unruly as ever, but that just added to his charms that night. Her heart squeezed painfully, wishing that it were she who was seated beside him tonight. Wishing that it were she who he was assisting to her chair, and asking if she needed anything for the night. She looked away from the couple and instead looked around the big hall, looking for Ron and his date, Maria Chestnut.

Another thing that Hermione was feeling very uncomfortable about that night was the fact that she and Ginny were still on not-speaking terms. She was feeling extremely guilty for having shouted on Ginny, when her friend doesn't know anything about her feelings for Harry.

Yes, she finally admitted it to herself. She has feelings for Harry. Though she tried to stop it, nothing she could do, would prevent her from falling for Harry.

Hermione almost jumped for joy when she saw Ron grinning like a cat, while Maria, looking as beautiful as ever, laughed over something that her date whispered to her. The awkward silence in the table was suffocating her.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, that Viktor looked at her in surprise.

"You seem to be really happy to see me, 'Mione." Ron jested affectionately as he helped Maria to her chair.

Hermione blushed lightly and smiled at Maria. "You look really pretty tonight." She complimented.

Maria returned her smile. "Thanks, Hermione. Those robes are just heavenly. How did you get them to be so white? I was going to buy white robes for the ball too, but the robes I found weren't that snowy." She confided.

"My mother bought it for me. She found it in the new robes shop that just opened in the Diagon Alley." Hermione explained.

"Oh… so that's why. I haven't been to that place, but my classmates said that it's such a wonderful place to shop." Maria said.

"Okay. Before you girls start to talk about fabrics and which color of shoes best goes with your hair or something like that…" That comment from Ron earned laughter from all around the table.

Harry had to stare at Hermione once again when she started laughing. He couldn't help but think that she has to have the most beautiful set of white teeth that he has ever seen. He was shaken out of his reverie when Viktor cleared his throat.

Harry looked at Viktor and saw that the Quidditch player was looking at him in a peculiar way.

"Hey! It's the Headmaster." Ginny called out and they all then turned to look at the huge head table in front of the students' tables.

Professor Dumbledore smiled his guileless smile at the hundreds of students who were all looking at him expectantly. "Happy Christmas, my dear students." He bellowed.

The students echoed the greeting, and a wild burst of applause exploded in the room.

"I reckon that everyone is having a great time tonight?" The Headmaster asked, and chorus of affirmation from the students answered his question. Dumbledore grinned. "The house elves have outdone themselves this time, and a new menu has been concocted just for this special evening. A new band has also been hired for the dancing that will take place after dinner. Enjoy the night my dear students." And with a grand sweep of his arm, the long tables were suddenly groaning under the weight of the numerous dishes that magically appeared.

As Viktor coaxed Hermione to eat, because she was again refusing to even look at the arrays of food for they were all prepared by the house elves that she was still fighting for, Ron and Maria exchanged conspiring looks.

"This is great, Maria. Once the dancing starts, you know what we have to do, right?" Ron whispered.

Maria shivered pleasantly as Ron's warm breath brushed against her neck. She looked into his eyes and smiled. She was just so glad that he decided to ask her to the ball. She's been pining after him ever since she started in Hogwarts. "I remember, Ron." She whispered back.

Their eyes met again and before she could lose her nerve, she leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Have I told you how handsome you look tonight?" Maria asked.

Ron stared at her and swallowed. "I… I don't think so." He replied. "Thank you."

Maria smiled and Ron just couldn't believe his good luck. He's with the most beautiful girl in the whole of Hogwarts tonight, and he has a feeling that she really likes him, and, maybe, just maybe, his plan would work and his best friends would end up in each other's arms tonight.

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