Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to The Ever Falling for the very awesome picture. What a great artist! Thank you guys so much for your reviews. I'm shocked that it's over 300 now. I am so happy!

Madam Pomfrey let Harry leave a few hours later. He thought about his conversation with Malfoy while he walked to the Gryffindor common room. He prayed that Malfoy hadn't caught on to his home life. It still surprised him that there was a conversation in the first place and he was still slightly doubtful that Malfoy had actually thanked him. It seemed a little too incredible. Maybe Madam Pomfrey's potions had left him a little funny in the head.

He decided not to tell anyone, knowing that Malfoy wouldn't appreciate it. Harry figured if Malfoy had gotten up the guts to actually thank him, then the least he could do was to not blab it to the rest of the school.

He gave the password to the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open. Noise blasted out of the common room as Harry was dragged inside.

"He lives!" yelled Fred who had put an arm around Harry's shoulders. Everyone cheered as Harry walked in.

The common room was jam-packed. Everyone seemed drunk with excitement and joy, and many with Firewhiskey as well. Ron and Hermione raced up to him with huge smiles on their faces.

"How ya feeling mate?" Ron asked.

"Good," he said watching Angelina climb onto the table.

"Hey everyone, now that our Seeker's here, we're going to do the victory drink like we taught you. Come on over guys," she called to Harry, Ron, and Fred. They made their way through the excited crowd to the rest of the team.

Dean had told Angelina about a tradition he had with his football team when they won a Cup. They had a sort of cheer that they sang. He had taught the team and Angelina had vowed that if the Gryffindors won the Quidditch Cup, that the team would do it.

Katie and George brought over the Cup, which was now filled with Butterbeer. Angelina took a long sip and the crowd all sipped their own drinks along with her. She then shouted out, "My name is Angelina and I know what I got!"

Everyone shouted back, "What do you got?"

"I've got a team that's hotter than hot!" she cheered.

"How hot is hot?" everyone else cheered back with glee.

"Batman and Superman!" she laughed loudly.

"Uh huh, uh huh!" sang the crowd.

"No one can do it like, George can!"

With that, she grabbed George's hand and pulled him up. He took the cup from her and took a swig of the Butterbeer as she jumped off the table. He repeated the cheer and the crowd did their part.

"No one can do it like, Katie can!"

He hoisted Katie up on the table, jumping off as she took a drink from the Cup as the rest of the Gryffindor house gulped their own drinks and started the cheer again.

Harry thought people would get sick of it as it went on, but he was happy to see that he was wrong. It seemed that the longer it went on, the more enthusiastic everyone got, drinking their drinks and screaming their part at the appropriate times.

Finally, Ron was on the table, yelling the cheer joyously. Harry was the only one left.

"No one can do it like Harry can!"

Harry reached up and grabbed Ron's hand. Ron pulled him up onto the table and handed him the Cup with a laugh. Harry downed the last of the Butterbeer.

"My name is Harry and I know what I got!"

He finished the cheer with a, "No one can do it like Gryffindor can!" and lifted the cup up high. Everyone broke out into loud cheering and clapping.

He jumped down from the tabletop, handing the Cup to Angelina who hugged it to herself.

"That was a fun little ritual, Dean," he told his beaming dorm-mate.

"Yeah, that was a great idea!" Ron added.

"No problem. You guys did brilliantly today!"

"Thanks!" Ron said. He turned to Harry, "I'm going to go talk to 'Mione, wanna come?"

"Nah, I'll catch up with you later." He would give those two some time alone.

"Here Harry, have a Firewhiskey," Seamus said trying to shove a mug into his hand.

"No thanks, Seamus. I'll pass," Harry said pushing it away.

"Oh come on Harry, we're celebrating!" he insisted. Harry smiled but shook his head.

"Thanks but no thanks."

Seamus shrugged and handed it to someone else.

"Harry, that was wicked dive! I can't believe you went after Malfoy though!" said Seamus.

"Yeah, that was…that was something," Dean said, not really knowing what to say about Harry saving someone they all hated.

"But Malfoy!" Seamus insisted. Some others nearby joined the conversation, all telling Harry that he should have let Malfoy dropped.

"Well I think he did the right thing," Ginny said appearing at Harry's side holding a Butterbeer. "It's not his fault he has more maturity than you lot put together."

"Ouch, that hurt," Seamus laughed, putting his hand over his heart. Ginny smiled.

"Yeah, I think you lot are a bad influence on me. Us mature people are leaving," Harry joked. He swung his arm around Ginny's shoulder and she swung hers around his. They around and began walking away laughing. Harry turned around and stuck his tongue out at Dean, evoking peels of laughter.

Dean laughed and playfully kicked at Harry's retreating form. "Oh get out of here you two killjoys."

Harry and Ginny collapsed onto the couch and talked for awhile as the party raged around them.

Eventually, Professor McGonagall came in rolling her eyes and told everyone to get to bed. With that, the Gryffindors reluctantly said goodnight and trudged up to their respective dorms.

The next day at breakfast, Hedwig flew in with a letter from Kota. He had written to tell her about the dance, something he knew she'd love hearing about. He also confided that he didn't know how to dance and confessed his worry about that. He was curious to read her reply. Maybe there would be a "10 steps to dancing" lesson?

He gave Hedwig some bacon and patted her head to give her the hint to leave. Instead she began poking at the other food on his plate. She always came back from the Stensons in a good mood because, not quite used to owl post, they gave Hedwig a lot of positive attention and a bunch of food.

Harry unfolded the letter, some fellow students glancing curiously at the strange lined paper with the three small holes in the side.

Dear Harry,

Wow! A dance! How exciting! What are you going to wear? What kind of music do they play? My last dance was spent trying to keep Bobby Preston's hands from wandering into unwelcome territory. For a science geek, he was quite forward. In the end I had to politely slap him to get the message across. Then he whined and moped around the punch bowl for the rest of the night. I asked this other bloke to dance and he looked at me like I was insane, so I went to find my friend who had had too much alcohol and puked all over my dress! What a bloody disaster!

Anyways, everyone can dance. Just look around at the other guys and copy them. (Of course only mimic those who don't look as if they're being electrocuted.) And of course, don't forget the movies I've shown you with dance scenes! Remember, don't worry about what anybody else thinks. All in all, just have fun!

If possible, send pictures. Show this girl a good time! Have the best time of your life and send report as soon as possible! Ciao!

Love always,

Kota

P.S.. but seriously, If George needs a date still, I'll gladly face Portkey travel again! His freckles are so cute!

Harry laughed and knew that Kota was absolutely serious.

"Hey, George," he said. The redhead sitting across from him looked up. "Remember my Muggle friend, Kota?"

"Of course."

Harry passed him the letter. George looked at him curiously and then took the letter. He laughed toward the beginning and nodded as his eyes skimmed the rest. At the end, his eyebrows shot up, making Harry laugh.

"Never thought I'd see the day where I'd catch you off guard," Harry laughed at George's surprised expression. "Don't feel obligated, but you know, if you don't have a date and don't know who to ask, Kota asks about you all the time."

"Oh really?" he asked his usual mischievous smirk returning.

"Yup, she said you have a…" he paused to remember her exact words, "…'a cute, mischievous, impish look' about you. Of course I told her, 'Mischievous? Impish? George? Never!'" he said in fake seriousness. George laughed. "Anyways, she's your age: just turned seventeen."

George nodded approvingly and then looked again at the letter.

"Hmm…a Muggle," he said thoughtfully. "Is that even allowed?"

Harry shrugged. "Would that stop you?"

"Of course not. Rules are made to be broken after all. You know, Harry, this is a brilliant idea. Can I use Hedwig?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure," he said, gesturing to the bird currently eyeing Harry's toast. He tore off a piece and gave it to her. George got out a piece of parchment and began to write a letter to Kota, asking her to come to the dance. Harry wrote his own letter saying that they'd have to talk to the headmaster, but if he allowed it, Harry would meet her in London and take her shopping in Diagon Alley for some wizard dress robes to wear.

They tied the two folded letters onto Hedwig's leg after writing "Open first!" on George's letter. Hedwig flew off, giving Harry an affectionate nip on the ear as she passed.

"Maybe we should talk with Dumbledore to make sure Kota has a way to get here and everything," Harry suggested. George agreed. He stood up and began walking toward the head table. Harry got up and caught up to him. "Right now?" he asked anxiously, wondering if it was very appropriate to interrupt the headmaster during his meal.

"Of course. This is a very pressing matter, Harry." They reached the table and

Dumbledore looked up at them with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Ah, George, not the Weasley I usually see accompanying Harry here. To what do I owe this pleasure?

"Well, sir, young Harry and I have been discussing a rather important matter," George said, putting an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. You see, we've been contemplating our school's stand on Muggle relations. We are known as a school very tolerable for one's backgrounds, including non-magical ones, correct?"

"Oh yes, that is one of my favorite aspects of our fine institution," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling brightly.

"So, we were thinking that a perfect way to advertise this fact would be to allow students to invite Muggles to the Hogwarts dance. Last year, it was students from other schools, this year, it could be students from other worlds. Do you see my angle here, Professor?"

"Though I think the Muggle world is not quite as separate from ours as you suggest, I see no problem with you inviting a Muggle to the school dance. May I ask who the fine young lady might be?"

"Thank you professor. She's a friend of Harry's, actually. Dakota Stenson."

"Ah yes, I thought that might be the case. Miss Stenson is welcome here, of course. She seems like a very lovely girl. We'll arrange a Portkey for her that night and she can spend the night in the fifth year girls' dormitories, since the dance ends so late. Now, Harry, you look as if you have something you'd like to ask as well."

"Er…yeah. I was wondering, since we have the day before the dance free from classes and everything, if I could go to Diagon Alley to help Kota buy some dress robes. She wouldn't be able to get in or know what to buy without me."

Professor Dumbledore thought about this momentarily. "Yes. Hagrid said he needs to go soon, you could accompany him if you'd like. I know he'd enjoy your company."

"Thanks Professor, that would be great."

"Yeah, thanks Professor!" George said merrily. The two walked back to the Gryffindor table and explained what was happening to everyone else.

"Wicked. A Muggle at Hogwarts!" Fred said approvingly.

"George, you'd better keep her in your sight. Who knows what the Slytherins might do to her," Ginny instructed.

George promised he would make sure the Slytherins didn't get near her. Others agreed to keep near them to help George, sort of as bodyguards.

This dance would definitely be interesting.

"What was I thinking? This is a horrible idea. I'm going to totally screw this up. I'll probably call her by the wrong name or something," Ron ranted nervously as he paced around the dorm, pausing every once in a while to look into the mirror and turn away in disgust. Harry sat on the edge of his bed, trying to calm him down.

"Ron. This is the best idea you've ever had. You won't screw it up. You just need to calm down a bit. Now who are you asking to the dance?" he said calmly.

"Hermione," Ron said with a nod as though reciting information as they studied for a test.

"See, you won't forget her name. I mean, what else would you call her? You've been stuck on her and only her for years. Except for that thing with Fleur, but she was a part Veela so it was totally justifiable," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Not helping Harry," Ron said, exasperated. "Oh Merlin, look at me," he whined, looking into the mirror again, attempting to smooth down his hair. He turned back to Harry with a look of near panic on his face. "What am I doing? She's going to say no. No, she's going to look at me and laugh in my face and then our friendship will be ruined forever. She'd never want to go with me."

Harry stood up and placed his hands firmly on Ron's shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

"Ron, listen to me, you look fine. You're a great guy and Hermione is crazy about you. Trust me, it's so obvious. She's going to say yes, well, at least if you ask her soon, before someone else gets the chance. She's dying for you to ask her so you just have to go do it," he said seriously.

"Harry, what if she thinks it's a joke? What if she laughs?" Ron asked with a slightly petrified look on his face.

"It's Hermione we're talking about! She'd never laugh at you, especially with something like this because she wants you to ask her! She's probably going insane wondering if you're going to ask. I mean the dance is only a few weeks away. So buck up and let's do this okay?"

Ron gave a shaky nod. "Okay."

Harry turned Ron around, grabbing his shoulders from behind and marched him to the door and down the stairs, having to push him along every time Ron's nerves told him to run.

They came to the entrance to the common room. Hermione was sitting on the couch reading. There were a few other Gryffindors around. Ron noticed this and looked doubtful.

"I'll get rid of them," Harry whispered. Ron nodded but then froze. He turned around and looked like he was going to run back up the stairs, but Harry blocked his way and grabbed his shoulders.

"I can't do this," he hissed.

"Yes you can!" Harry whispered back. He turned Ron around and pushed him into the room. "Hey 'Mione!" Harry called. Hermione looked up and smiled. Ron gave her an extremely nervous grin back. "Well, I'll see you two later," he said as he nudged Ron in the back.

The redhead made his way to the couch and sat down next to Hermione.

"Whatcha reading?" Ron asked in a higher voice than usual.

Harry ran over to the group of third years.

"Hey, uh, we're having a Prefects meeting in here. Do you think you could leave for about half an hour?" he asked. They rolled their eyes and reluctantly left the common room, grumbling about older kids thinking they owned the school. With the room cleared out, aside from his two friends, Harry hurried toward the portrait, nearly smacking into Ginny.

"Hey Gin," he said quietly, looking over his shoulder at his two friends on the couch. "Er, let's go outside." He took her arm and began leading her back toward the portrait.

"But I need to talk to Ron," she protested loudly enough to grab the attention of her brother who gave Harry a desperate look.

"Is it something urgent?" he asked quietly.

"No. Is something going on?" She looked at the pair on the couch and then smiled brightly, a look of comprehension dawning on her face.

"We'll talk about it outside," he whispered, dragging a giggling Ginny into the hallway.

As soon as the portrait closed behind them, they both laughed.

"So, he's finally going to ask?" she asked cheerfully, leaning against the wall.

"Yup, well, if he goes through with it," he said in the same happy tone, leaning against the wall next to her.

"It's about time!"

"Yeah, well, it's hard on us guys! Especially in Ron's case 'cause he's liked Hermione for so long and they're friends. He's just worried she won't like him back," Harry explained.

"Well, you asked Eloise right away," Ginny insisted in a slightly strained voice.

"Yeah, but Eloise and I are just going as friends and we both know that, so it's a lot easier, you know?" Ginny looked relieved and her mood brightened back up. "So, are you going with somebody?" he asked.

"Yeah. A Ravenclaw in my Transfiguration class, but it's the same thing as you. We're just going as friends so it wasn't a big deal."

"See? It's easy for us, but hard for Ron since he cares a lot more about what the answer will be, not that there's a slight possibility that it'll be a no, but he doesn't seem to realize that."

"I can't believe him. Or her for that matter. Are they blind or something? They act like an old married couple!" Ginny laughed, throwing her hands into the air to emphasize her point.

"Yeah, try being best friends with them! I think I'm going to get some ear plugs soon to block out their bickering!"

Seamus and Dean soon came up to go to the dorm.

"Uh, you guys can't go in there right now," Harry said blocking the portrait. The two boys looked at him suspiciously.

"And why not?" Dean asked.

"Well you can go in, but you shouldn't," Ginny said. She shook her head and sighed. "Fred and George were testing out one of their new pranks. A stink bomb. It's horrible. We're trying to keep the portrait closed so the smell doesn't seep out into the hall," she said with apparent sincerity.

"The smell's supposed to disappear in about fifteen minutes. We're just praying that it will or it's going to be a horrible night. Even now, I can't seem to get that awful smell out of my nose," Harry said, scrunching up his face in disgust.

"Yeah, but at least our eyes have stopped watering and I don't feel nauseous at all any more," Ginny said, sounding relieved. Harry nodded in agreement.

This seemed to do the trick for Harry's two dormmates.

"Oh, well I guess we'll come back in a little bit then," Seamus said and the two walked off.

As soon as they were out of sight, the pair burst out laughing.

"That was good, Gin!" Harry praised. Ginny took a dramatic bow. "You're a fantastic liar."

"Well you went along with it pretty well yourself. I guess we're just evil," she said in mock resignation.

"Oh well, what can you do?" Harry asked in a dejected tone. They both started laughing again. They eventually sat down on the floor to guard the portrait entrance for a little while longer, just to give Ron enough time. Harry taught Ginny how to play rock, paper, scissors and thumb war. Colin Creevey appeared at one point and snapped a picture of the two. Harry rolled his eyes and Ginny just laughed.

"One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb wa—AHH!"

As they were starting a new game, the portrait suddenly opened, slamming right into them. Ron and Hermione looked out smiling.

"Ow!" Ginny said with a glare at the two. Harry rubbed his arm where it had hit.

"So…did you two have a nice conversation?" Harry asked slyly from his spot on the floor. Ginny leaned back onto her elbows and simply grinned up at them. Ron's face grew slightly red, but he was grinning like a maniac. Hermione's face also blushed pink and she looked shyly at the floor.

"Well, I said yes so you two can quit guarding the entrance," Hermione said quickly.

"You said yes? Yes to what?" Ginny feigned ignorance to the situation. Harry looked at her and then back at his two friends mirroring Ginny's expression.

"Did you ask her something Ron?" he asked innocently.

Ron blushed furiously. "Shut it, you two," he said playfully kicking Harry's legs which were sprawled out in front of him. "You know perfectly well what we were talking about."

Harry just laughed and got to his feet. "Oh we'll stop teasing you guys for now." He held his hands out for Ginny and pulled her to her feet. She secretly relished the touch.

Harry remembered Ron's concern that it would be awkward after asking Hermione so he just pulled them back into the common room and launched into telling them about teaching Ginny the two Muggle hand games. Ginny caught on and told Ron what was going on back home, since she had just received an owl from their mother.

In the middle of this, Seamus and Dean came back in, sniffing cautiously. They looked relieved and then made their way up the stairs of the boy's tower. Hermione and Ron looked at them with curious expressions.

"Hmm…wonder what that was all about?" Hermione wondered allowed.

Harry caught Ginny's eye and just shrugged. "Who knows. They're just a little bizarre sometimes."

Eventually, they all retreated to their dorms. As Harry and Ron got into bed Dean murmured tiredly, "I can't believe your brothers let off a stink bomb in the common room, Ron."

"Huh?" Ron asked perplexed. Harry snorted with laughter and Ron quickly figured out what had happened. After Dean's breathing evened out, Ron whispered, "Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry whispered back, turning around to face Ron, even though they could only see silhouettes of each other in the darkness.

"Thanks…for everything."

Harry smiled sleepily and though Ron couldn't see it, he could hear it in Harry's voice. "No problem Ron. That's what friends are for."