Chapter 2

Harry and Hannah were sitting in the library with several stacks of books covering the table. For the last couple weeks the two had spent several hours each day trying to crack the secret of the golden egg the champions had recovered in the first task. After the two had nearly burst their eardrums after opening the egg for the first time Hannah had suggested researching the symbols carved into the egg's exterior. This ultimately led them to their current endeavor, researching obscure magical languages. However, while Hannah was diligently combing through her text, Harry was lost in his own thoughts, completely unable to focus. He was brought back to reality by the sound of fingers snapping near his head.

"Earth to Harry." Hannah said, getting his attention.

"Sorry, were you saying something?" He asked quickly.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "I asked what's got you so distracted?"

"Nothing. Just focused on research." He said a bit defensively.

Hannah raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms. "You're many things Harry Potter, a good liar isn't one of them."

Before he could make his retort she quickly cut him off. "You haven't turned a page in nearly 40 minutes. If you're actually focused on research then tell me what's on that set of pages you think is so interesting."

Seeing he could make no excuse he just sighed while Hannah adopted a smug expression. Having spent so much time together over the last couple of weeks Harry had soon discovered that, despite being shy initially, Hannah could be quite cheeky once you got to know her and, as it turned out, Harry was quite an easy target. On their third day of researching he'd walked into the library feeling sullen after a bad falling out with Ron. Having noticed this, rather than pressuring him to share, she'd simply said 'You know with that attitude to go with your famous scar I might have to start calling you Broody Allen.' The quip had made him laugh and ended with him learning that, like him, she was also a half-blood with a muggleborn mother and was quite a big fan of comics shockingly enough.

"Honestly it's not a big deal." He said. "We just had a house meeting with Professor McGonagall and she told me that, since I'm a champion, I have to bring a date and open the dancing."

"You're upset because you have to ask a girl out and dance with her." Harry wanted to hand her a napkin and tell she needed to clean up the sarcasm dripping from her mouth.

"OK, first of all, I have no idea how to dance, so whoever goes with me will likely be horribly embarrassed." Hannah was about to chime in but Harry held up a hand to stop her. "Second, who would actually want to go with me."

That last comment made Hannah give him a look that clearly meant 'Are you stupid or clueless?' This was not lost on Harry.

"You know what I mean, pretty much everyone who would go with me would only do so because they want to dance with a celebrity." Harry internally cringed at the idea, it wasn't so much his fame he hated as much as he hated having fans. Being well known was something he could handle but the thought of people wanting to interact with him and spend time with him just because they'd heard of him before was something he found exceedingly creepy.

"There's so few people who would actually want to go with Harry Potter, the average 4th year Hogwarts student, member of Gryffindor house." He finished.

"If that's the 'About Me' section you put on dating resumes you might be right. You could at least mention your favorite color so those reading it knew something about you." Harry rolled his eyes at her comment.

"Harry….. I know you don't think all that highly of yourself but try and accept a little credit. You're incredibly kind, one of the school's star quidditch players, Defense Against the Dark Arts prodigy, and pretty fun company to keep when your identical but far more depressing twin Broody Allen comes to hang out in your place."

Despite the middle finger he was now directing at her, Harry had quickly come to appreciate Hannah's use of humor when he opened up about anything he was going through. It was different from what he'd been used to from Ron and Hermione. Ron had never really been good at expressing himself emotionally beyond losing his temper and, as such, had either not known or pretended not to know when Harry was dealing with any kind of issue. Hermione, on the other hand, was the exact opposite; because she always thought she knew best she would push him constantly until he finally shared because she always felt certain she could find a solution to his problem. Both approaches grated on him because, despite what others might say, he often did want to talk about what he was dealing with, just not necessarily every detail. Hannah's approach was a happy medium, when it was clear something was wrong she would ask. Oftentimes he'd need a little extra nudge to open up but she'd never pushed him to the point of feeling uncomfortable and her humor helped bring a welcome levity to otherwise depressing topics.

"Hilarious, but in all seriousness I'd like to go with someone who will at least get to know the person I actually am and not who they assume me to be."

At this comment Hannah looked down slightly and bit her lower lip. Harry thought this was an odd reaction.

"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

She didn't answer back right away. He could almost envision the gears in her head turning as she struggled through an internal debate. Finally she looked up at him.

"I'm nervous to say" She said meekly

This time it was up to him to reassure her. "Hannah if you're nervous because of me don't be, I promise I meant what I said the other day. I forgive you."

And it was true, ever since accepting her offer of help for the second task she'd gone above and beyond to prove herself sincere. Beyond assisting with the research he recently found out she'd been advocating on his behalf with the other students which had led to a string of further apologies. Initially, he'd been unaware until Hannah's best friend, Susan Bones, had said so during her own apology. Upon being told, he'd felt himself smile; he hadn't doubted that she was serious in her quest to make amends but learning about the lengths she was going to in order to do so brought a genuine feeling of warmth to his heart that he had not felt many times in his life. It was that evening he'd told her she was well and truly forgiven, a gesture which had ended her crying into his shoulder as he hugged her.

"Well…. I know we've only recently started spending time together but I'd like to think we're friends at this point or at least good acquaintances" Hannah said nervously.

"Of course we're friends" Harry replied easily.

"What if….. what if you and I went to the ball together. You know I don't care about your fame and I'd be happy to teach you how to dance beforehand and…"

"I'd love to Hannah." Harry cut her off as she was beginning to ramble nervously.

"Are you sure?" She asked, more than a bit of hopefulness in her voice although Harry didn't catch it.

"Definitely, you've been a great friend these past couple weeks and I think I'd enjoy myself more if i didn't have to worry about impressing a stranger" He said smiling brightly at her.

Hannah scoffed jokingly as he finished "You'd better impress me Potter, if I'm gonna spend between now and the ball teaching you how to dance I expect to be swept off my feet." Hannah gave him a mischievous smile as she finished.

"Well since you're stuck going with me now it's only fair to warn you that you're more likely to end up off your feet if you don't teach me." He joked right back

The two stared at each other for a few minutes before erupting into laughter.

"Quiet over there or I'll have you removed for the day!" Madam Pince, the librarian yelled at them.

Quickly the two held their hands over their mouths but were clearly still struggling to hold back their laughter. The two of them took another couple minutes to collect themselves before they finally calmed down.

"I think maybe we've researched enough today, care to go to dinner?" Harry asked.

Hannah nodded and Harry offered her an arm. Hannah looked at him questioningly as he did this.

"Gotta practice if you're gonna be my date to the ball right?" Harry smirked at her.

Hannah rolled her eyes but smiled at the same time before taking his arm and allowed him to escort her to the great hall.