A/N: Cho-lovers beware! I had a little too much fun going OOC with her in this story, but it's so fun to write her as so bad.

This chapter is dedicated to those who put me on their favorites lists. It means a lot to me. I won't list everyone's pennames, but I know who you all are (not to sound creepy or anything, but it lists them in my log in thing, so I checked it out) and want to thank you so much! As corny as it sounds, I really can't express my gratitude enough. You guys rock! So here's the chappy. Hope you all enjoy!

It was, at last, the day of the dance, getting closer and closer to the time it would actually start. The day went very quickly, the whole school buzzing with excitement for the ball that night.

Finally, it was time for everyone to get ready. Seamus and Dean were going with Parvati and Lavender, while Neville got a date with a Ravenclaw. They were all out the dorm early, saying they were meeting their dates at dinner, leaving Ron and Harry. Harry wasn't very nervous. It was true that he was uncomfortable dancing, but he didn't feel as if he had to impress anyone. Unlike the previous year, he wasn't going to be put under the spotlight so the pressure was off. Ron, on the other hand, was absolutely flustered. He couldn't stop pacing and trying to fix every little detail about his appearance.

"Harry, are you sure I look all right?" Ron asked for the hundredth time. Harry sighed.

"You look fine Ron, for the billionth time. Don't worry; Hermione must think you're good-looking. Merlin knows she can't like you for your personality." Ron laughed and threw a pillow at Harry who grinned to show he was joking.

"I can't believe Fred and George got me these robes. Did I tell you about their private investor in their joke shop? Some bloke gave them a bunch of money. They won't tell us who though, said he wants to remain anonymous. What moron would give those two money?" Ron said straightening his new dress robes again. Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"Hmm…sounds like a good investment to me," Harry said attempting to suppress a grin by biting his bottom lip. "Now budge over. You've been hogging the mirror for half an hour."

"Have not," Ron said indignantly, stepping out of the way. Harry quickly looked himself over.

"Oh wonderful, you two look so smart!" the mirror exclaimed, very excitedly. "And you should wear green more often, young man, it brings out your eyes. Too bad there isn't something to do about that hair." Harry rolled his eyes, which did stand out spectacularly. He had long ago given up explaining to a mirror that his hair just didn't lay flat and would always remain messy looking. Besides, Harry had grown to like it that way.

The two boys went down to the common room to wait for Hermione, Ron nervously smoothing his robes.

"Ron, you'd better quit that or you're going to rub a hole right through them."

"Shut it, Harry."

Finally, Hermione and the rest of the fifth year Gryffindor girls came down all looking nervous and giggly. Ron began blushing and grinning upon seeing Hermione, who looked even more stunning than she did the previous year.

Harry didn't notice the girls looking him up and down very approvingly, not including Hermione who only had eyes for the redhead standing next to him.

"Y-you look great!" Ron stammered. The girls giggled making Ron blush. Hermione shushed them.

"You look good too, Ron," she smiled. She appeared very calm and collected, but Harry could see hints of nervousness that only he could notice.

"All right you two lovebirds, let's go. Eloise is meeting me outside." He succeeded in making his two friends blush and received two punches on his arm.

They were leaving the portal when the whispering behind them stopped enough for Parvati to yell, "Save me a dance, Harry!" Hushed giggles immediately followed. It was Harry's turn to blush. He was surprised, especially because of the lousy date he'd made the previous year.

"Er…all right," he said lamely and rushed out of the common room.

They were to meet Eloise at a previously designated staircase. She looked nice in her light purple robes. As they approached, they heard some Slytherin girls teasing the poor Ravenclaw.

"What are you all dressed up for? You can't actually be going to the dance!"

"You know, most people go with dates."

"Nobody wants your ugly face to spoil the mood," they taunted.

"I have a date," she replied. Harry could hear her voice wavering and could tell she was getting upset.

"Oh really? Who's that, Filch?" one said haughtily.

Harry decided it was his time to enter.

"Hey Eloise, ready?" he said, pretending he hadn't heard. She looked immensely relieved. "You look great," he added, causing her to blush.

"So do you."

"Wait, you're going with him?" one asked Eloise, mouth hanging open.

"But I thought Cho Chang asked you!" another asked in shock.

"She did, but luckily my first choice had already said yes," he said indicating Eloise. "Shall we?" he asked, putting his arm out for Eloise. She smiled and hooked her arm through his.

"Let's," she said with a smile. The two walked off toward the Great Hall, following Ron and Hermione.

The Great Hall looked spectacular. Thousands of candles burned above their heads, bobbing up and down as they floated along. The night sky was cloudless with stars sparkling silver among the golden candle flames.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around to see Dakota waving at him, linked onto George's arm. She looked extremely nervous, and for good reason. Tons of people were staring at her, having heard the rumors of George's Muggle date. She looked good, her hair up in a girlish hairstyle with curls hanging down around her face. She was kept looking around in awe, especially at the floating candles and the ceiling.

"Hey Kota, you look great!" he said.

"Thanks," she said, ruffling his hair fondly.

"Oh thanks," he said sarcastically, trying to smooth it back down. "As if it wasn't messy enough."

Harry quickly introduced everyone that didn't know each other and sat down across from Hermione and Ron. Eloise sat on one side of him and Kota sat on the other, George on her other side.

"How you doing?" he whispered.

"Everybody's staring at me. Am I doing something wrong?" she asked nervously.

"No, don't worry about them. They're fascinated with you," he laughed. He and George introduced her around. Many of the students hadn't actually met a Muggle before and asked many questions.

"Jeez, how do you live without magic? I could never do it!"

"What do you learn in school? Is your school like ours?"

"What do you do for fun?"

"What do you get for presents?"

"You've never seen Quidditch? Holy crap! You haven't lived!"

Kota seemed to have a lot of fun answering the questions, feeling more at ease. She looked very skeptically about ordering into her plate. She jumped when it appeared and touched it warily with a fork to make sure it was really there, much to the students' delight.

Even Nearly Headless Nick came to greet Kota, coming out of the table right in front of her. She screamed and nearly jumped out of her seat, but Harry grabbed her arm laughing.

"Bu-bu what the? He…the table…he's see-through!" she said, eyeing Nick warily. Sir Nicholas crossed his arm and made a "humph" sound.

"Most ghosts are see-through, miss. It is quite rude to have your mouth open so widely," he said indignantly.

"Come on, Nick," George said amusedly, "you know she's a Muggle. How did you think she'd react? She's probably never seen a ghost before."

"She probably doesn't even believe in ghosts," Hermione added, trying to soothe Nick.

"Well, I'm sorry I frightened you, miss. Hopefully you won't be as shocked the next time you meet a ghost," he said in an insulted tone before floating away.

"Oh God. I offended him," she said miserably after she had calmed down.

"Don't worry. He always gets offended," Eloise said sympathetically. "He's very sensitive."

"So, what do you think of Hogwarts?" Pavarti asked. Many leaned in to hear the answer. This was a test question in its own way.

"It's…well it's amazing. I just can't believe all this stuff. I mean it's still all sinking in. I wish I went here though, I can tell you that much. It's beautiful. It's so exciting. And think, all my friends back home have no idea that this world even exists while I'm here at your dance. It's wonderful."

Everyone smiled brightly. She had passed their test.

Finally, dinner ended and the band began to set up, apparently another favorite of the WWN: the Wicked Witches of the West. Hermione and Harry smiled at the allusion to the Muggle movie.

The music started and Eloise led Harry onto the dance floor. At first, Harry was a bit nervous, but took Kota's advice, surveying the dancers around him. As he became more comfortable, he began twirling Eloise much to her delight. They were both laughing joyfully. Soon everyone was either observing or imitating their carefree antics. Harry was surprised at how much more fun he was having without the pressure of the spotlight.

The slow dances weren't uncomfortable for Harry, as they had been the previous year. They talked during those. Harry explained the plot of The Wizard of Oz and they mused over how "cute" (Eloise's words) Hermione and Ron looked together. They peeked over at them during one slow song to find Hermione's head resting on Ron's shoulder and Ron's head laying on hers. They both wore blissful smiles that were contagious to the two who were spying on them.

Dennis Creevy was allowed to come to the dance as a photographer despite being a second year. The dance was for fourth years and above so the young boy was extremely excited about the opportunity. Harry made sure to ask that the boy take pictures of Ron and Hermione, which he was sure they'd appreciate.

"Doesn't Roger look absolutely gorgeous tonight?" Eloise whispered dreamily.

"Oh yes, Eloise, you know I think he's just absolutely gorgeous," he said sarcastically. "I still don't believe he still went with Cho after she turned him down."

"Well his beauty makes up for his lack of common sense."

Harry rolled his eyes making Eloise laugh.

As the next slow song started, Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find himself facing Ginny Weasley who was smiling shyly at him. She looked stunning and Harry felt a hitch in his breath when he first saw her. Her date was standing next to her, a boy that Harry recognized but had never met.

"Hi Eloise," Ginny said with a smile. "We were wondering if we could cut in."

"Sure," Eloise said, eyeing Ginny's date. From the looks of it, Eloise definitely approved of the younger Ravenclaw.

Ginny's date held his hand out to Eloise, who took it with a soft giggle, and led her away. Ginny blushed slightly as Harry took her hand in his and wrapped his arm around her waste, placing his other hand on the small of her back. She placed her hand right under the back of his neck and smiled brightly at him. He smiled right back.

"How are you liking the dance so far?" Harry asked softly as to not disturb the other dancing couples.

"Oh it's great! You seem like you're having a good time. Every time I look over at you and Eloise, you seem to be laughing and…spinning," she said before mentally kicking herself for revealing that she'd been looking at him. Harry didn't seem to notice her blunder.

"Yeah, it's really fun. We've gotten a big kick out of your beloved brother. Thank Merlin he asked Hermione to the dance, they're so happy together!"

They looked over at the pair, who were both smiling fondly and looking very comfortable in each other's arms.

"Fred and Angelina are the same way," she said, nodding at the two Quidditch players. Harry saw George nearby dancing with Kota, though more like Harry had with Eloise rather than Ron with Hermione. George saw them and nodded, looking at the pair somewhat curiously. Harry and Ginny just nodded back, smiling.

"I can't believe your friend likes George! It's just so funny."

"Oh yeah. She says his freckles are cute. Each time I see her she asks about him."

"Well Dad was sure thrilled when he heard about it. Sent George a list of questions to ask her," she said with a smirk.

"Well, he can always ask me or 'Mione anything. We grew up with Muggles after all. Plus, I live with a Muggle teenager and have one as a friend so I know what they do in school and everything."

"Oh trust me, he's wanted to, but Mum's always lecturing him that you're not his subjects to analyze."

"Well, tell them it's fine with me. It's actually fun. I feel really smart when I'm really just explaining my everyday life," he said with a chuckle.

There was a slight pause where Harry had an internal struggle before his bolder side won, telling him that with his limited time left, he may as well be brave and speak his mind.

"You look really nice tonight," he said with a lopsided grin. Ginny just looked into his eyes smiling with a faint blush on her cheeks. His words had filled her with more pure joy than he would ever know.

"You do too," she said. They just smiled at each other for a few moments before Ginny moved forward slightly and rested her head on his shoulder. Harry was momentarily taken aback, but soon relaxed and rested his cheek against the side of her head with a smile.

He didn't know it, but the three Weasley boys all saw this and caught each other's eyes, grinning broadly. They all knew that Ginny's crush on Harry had never truly died, though she tried to hide it. None of them missed the look of pure bliss on her face as she danced with him. They also knew that she couldn't have picked a guy they approved of more. Fred grabbed Dennis and pointed at Harry and Ginny.

"Make sure to get quite a few of that one," he instructed with a grin. Dennis happily obeyed.

At the end of the song, Eloise and Ginny's date made their way back over. Ginny and Harry grinned broadly at each other before the two couples said goodbye to each other, Ginny following her date to the snack table.

After a few more fast songs, filled with much spinning and laughing, Harry went to get drinks.

He filled two cups and turned around to find himself face-to-face with Cho Chang.

"Hello Harry. Oh thank you," she said taking one of the drinks out of his hand and sipping it.

"Hi Cho," he responded unenthusiastically.

"Harry, we must dance the next slow song together."

"Thanks, Cho, but I came here with Eloise."

"I saw you dance with that other girl! Speaking of which, you two were dancing awfully close," she said accusingly. "You'd do best not to get involved with someone like that. Her family's practically destitute."

Harry scowled at her. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm best friends with Ron Weasley and his family is like my family, so I suggest you don't talk about them like that ever again," he practically growled.

"So you think of that girl in a sisterly fashion, right? That's a relief. You had me scared for a second there," she said with a giggle, placing a hand on his shoulder, which Harry immediately shrugged away.

Harry was disgusted with her behavior and kicked himself for ever liking her in the first place. He was about to firmly tell her no when an idea struck. He looked at Eloise and decided he'd sacrifice himself for a good deed.

"Well, Cho, I would dance with you, but I couldn't leave Eloise without a dancing partner on a slow song. Hmm…." He pretended to think about it for a second. "Oh, I've got it. Do you think your date could dance with her? That way they would both have someone to dance with."

"Ask Roger to dance with her?" she asked slightly horrified as if she would be asking Roger to drink undiluted bubotuber puss.

"Yeah, you're right. It's too much trouble. Oh well, maybe next time." He shrugged and turned as if to leave.

"Trouble? No trouble at all! I'll go tell him." She hurried off toward Roger.

Harry ran up to Eloise.

"You're going to love me," he told her.

"The only way I'd love you is if you got Roger Davies to dance with me," she said.

"As I said, you're going to love me," he said proudly.

Eloise was stunned, not daring to believe it.

"What?"

"At the next slow dance, Roger's going to dance with you."

There was a long pause.

"What? How? Why? Me? Huh?"

"Roger. Is. Dancing. With. You. Next."

"Oh. My. God," she said in shock. As the situation sunk in she began to slightly panic. "Wait! What am I going to say? If I open my mouth, it might come out 'Hi, you don't know me but I've picked out the names of our future children!'"

Harry laughed. "Don't worry. You're a great girl; he'll love you!"

"But why is he doing this? You didn't tell anyone…" she started in horror.

"No, of course not. I sacrificed myself to Medusa and said that someone would need to fill my shoes on the next slow song."

"Harry. I love you. You are a god," she gushed.

"That's what they tell me." He laughed. The song ended and was replaced by a slow one. Cho and Roger were walking their way through the crowd.

"Don't worry; just have fun," Harry whispered before Cho dragged him away.

Once a decent distance away from Roger and Eloise, Cho wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and pulled her body right up against his, resting her head on his shoulder. Harry was slightly miffed with this unprecedented closeness with a girl, especially one he was beginning to dislike more by the minute, and froze for a second before Cho roughly took his arms and threw them around her waist.

Harry saw Hermione and Ron dancing the same way, but they looked comfortable and content whereas Harry was beginning to wish he had brought his invisibility cloak for escaping purposes. He felt something tickling at the back of his head and was about to swat the source away, but realized it was Cho's hand playing with his hair. She began humming along to the music into his ear. Harry felt his face burn red.

He sneaked a glance over at Eloise and stifled a laugh. Her face was frozen in an expression of awe gazing up into Roger's face. Roger was talking quietly to her and she nodded enthusiastically. No matter his discomfort at his present situation, it was all worth it for the look on Eloise's face.

"Harry?" Cho whispered in his ear.

"Yeah?"

"You don't fancy Eloise do you?"

"No offense, but I don't think that's any of your business," he said. He didn't fancy Eloise but he didn't want to give Cho that satisfaction.

"Because you must realize you can do a lot better." The "like me" was clearly implied. "You don't need to do any acts of charity around here. I mean she's so ugly and you're so…" She trailed off batting her eyelashes.

"Well, I guess we disagree then," he said coldly.

Cho could tell she was losing Harry. "Can we go outside for a few minutes? It's so hot in here I'm not feeling so well." She did her best to look slightly sick.

Harry sighed and allowed himself to be dragged outside.

Cho led him out to a balcony. Harry had to admit that the cold air did feel nice. He breathed in deeply.

"Feeling better?" he asked after a minute. Instead of answering him, she scooted closer to him. Harry scooted away. She continued moving closer and Harry slid along the railing away from her until he backed right into the corner. Cho trapped him there.

"I really like you, Harry."

"No you don't. You don't even know me."

"I do know you! You're a wonderful seeker and the school champion. You're famous and gorgeous and a hero," she said smiling.

"Cho, you don't know anything about me that's important. You only know what they print in the Daily Prophet or what you hear around school," he insisted, wishing that she would back away.

"Those things are important! Listen, we'd make such a great couple! Everyone would be jealous of us," she said provocatively, walking her fingers up his chest. He brushed off her hand feeling sickened.

"Thanks but no thanks." He was about to leave when she lunged at him, snaked a hand around to the back of his head and pressed her lips against his. After recovering from the initial shock, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her off of him, quickly escaping from his trapped position. He moved toward the door.

"I mean it, Cho, the answer is no. I'm not going to date someone who just wants to get into the Daily Prophet." He firmly walked back through the doors, ignoring Cho screaming for him to stop. He headed toward the Great Hall. Cho raced after him and grabbed his arm.

"Harry, think about this. You've had a crush on me for a long time. Most guys would die to go out with me. I mean, you can't just say no to me!" she insisted. Harry jerked his arm away.

"I believe I just did." He walked back into the Great Hall. The slow song had just finished. He quickly spotted Eloise who was still talking to Roger. Cho stormed past Harry, grabbed Roger and dragged him away angrily. Eloise spotted Harry and ran up to him with the widest smile ever. She ran up and gave him a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you…"

Harry laughed, pushing Cho out of his mind. Eloise led him back to the dance floor.

"How'd it go?" he asked, spinning her.

"It was absolutely amazing. He's so gorgeous up close. He was so sweet. He asked me what my name was and what house I was in. I, of course, promptly forgot. I think I told him I was Elwine from Huffleclaw, but I don't think he noticed. He asked if I was having a good time. I even connected my brain with my tongue long enough to ask him if he was having a good time!" she said enthusiastically.

"I'm so proud," Harry laughed.

"He said he's having an okay time, but that Cho's being a miserable date and is ignoring him. Then, when the song was over, we had a few more blissful moments of conversation before Medusa came and stole him away. I think she might have growled at me. You want to know the best part though?"

"What?"

"He said that he enjoyed dancing with me and that he'd hopefully see me around," she said dreamily, dramatically pretending to be swept off her feet, half collapsing into Harry's arms. He laughed and stood her back on her feet.

At one point, Harry ran into Parvati and gave her the dance he had promised, while Eloise danced with Seamus. Lavender asked him to dance for the next slow song, and Eloise danced with Dean. Some other girls were eyeing him closely, so Harry and Eloise slunk away from them to avoid any of their requests for a dance. That was, of course, aside from two, whom Eloise begged him to dance with for the chance to dance with their dates. She obviously didn't mind the wide variety of dance partners, but she claimed none of them came close to the god-like Roger Davies.

He also spent a friendly dance with Kota, talking about their nights. Apparently a few Slytherin seventh-years had tried to sneak up on her and hex her, but George spotted them and signaled some Gryffindors around him. They dumped their glasses of punch all over their dress robes and put dancing spells on their legs, so they were forced into doing very difficult dance moves. They had supposedly done some very impressive leaps and spins, along with a lovely tap-dancing number.

"Don't you love magic," Harry said wistfully.

When the dance was over, and he was back to dancing with Eloise, she informed him that George had interrogated her about what her exact relationship to Harry was. Harry was slightly confused at George's reasoning, but guessed he had just been curious.

As it neared midnight, the band announced their final song: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Some Muggle-borns who had seen the movie sang along, including Kota, the forever movie-buff.

The band finally finished with a bow and the whole student body, along with the professors, gave an enthusiastic round of applause before filing out. Eloise and Harry ran to the snack table with a few other people to shove the remains of the free sweets into their pockets. They were among the last to leave, laughing about their fun time. Suddenly, Eloise paused and smiled.

"Harry, look!" she whispered, pointing out to the balcony. Harry's gaze followed her finger to find Hermione and Ron talking, standing very close together. They had only watched a few seconds when Hermione and Ron stopped talking. They paused momentarily, looking intently into each other's eyes before leaning in and kissing lightly.

"Awww," Eloise sighed, putting both of her hands over her heart.

"Let's go," Harry whispered. "I think they want their privacy."

Eloise wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Not like that, perve!" he laughed quietly, dragging Eloise away.

"Aw come on, I want to see!" she pleaded.

"It's not a spectator sport!" Harry scolded.

They sat down on some steps and talked for a while until they were both exhausted and parted their ways. Harry stumbled his way to the Gryffindor tower, somehow making it up to the dorm. He didn't bother to change into his pajamas, opting to sleep in his boxers rather than put in the effort of changing. He barely registered Ron marching in joyfully a little while later, looking anything but tired, before he fell into a deep sleep.