Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all the chara,
but I own the plot! (Figures, huh?)
à And, I
got this review saying that I didn't put in many descriptions, so I hope this
chapter will have more details! Sorry for omitting any descriptions of scenery,
but I was focusing on the characters more. Anyway, I think this is a bit
different! Thanks for being patient with me! ^_^
By Enchantress.
Harry
smiled gleefully to himself.
He had had this feeling that his plan would work. And it had
worked to perfection!
'I guess I am a good judge of character!' he
congratulated himself as he stole a glance at Fred Weasley and his date,
Paravati, dancing together. They seemed to have eyes only for each other.
Paravati was positively beaming and Fred looked in high spirits too.
'I knew they'd wind up together!' Harry
thought and then smiled at his own partner, Cho. Harry sighed in contentment.
As the music played on, he continued to think.
'I knew Paravati was the joke loving kind! She'd been
gawking at Fred the whole evening anyway! I bet she really likes him. And Fred
seems to look more somber than usual too! Maybe Ron will get to take his
revenge after all!' Harry chuckled silently to
himself. 'Anyway, it was great that I remembered Pavarati's nature at
all with Cho around! Heh, I'm a genius!' Harry thought, ignoring modesty
completely.
"Harry, isn't your date
having fun with Fred?" said Cho, interrupting his thoughts. "Fred and George
are very good company!" Harry looked at her glowing face and smirked. "Yeah! If
you don't mind getting hexed every two seconds!" he said pleasantly and Cho
giggled.
"I know what you mean!
Their poor brothers!" she laughed. "Once I had to put up with the brunt of
their tricks too!"
"Uh huh" Harry agreed.
"They're awful aren't they?"
"Sure are!" Cho nodded and
smiled at Harry. "Thanks Harry…" she continued, her tone softening. "I really
appreciate you trying to put me in a good mood. I really do."
Harry felt a tad
uncomfortable. He wasn't the comforting sort of person. He barely knew anything
about tenderness, what with the Dursleys around. But obviously, everyone knows
something -anything- about reassuring someone. So Harry tried to do his best.
"Forget it, Cho. Don't
even mention it, okay?" Harry started and looked down at her. Her expression
seemed to boost his confidence and he perked up. " Besides, between you and me,
I'm doing it for purely selfish intentions at heart! I'd do anything to get you
to spend time with me!" Harry finished but was a bit startled at his own words.
'Did I just say that?' he thought with
rising panic. But Cho was simply amused and laughed even more. Harry gave her
what he hoped was a manly smile and they danced on.
"Hmmm…" sighed Cho
contentedly, leaning slightly on Harry shoulder. Harry felt as if all his
nerves were on red alert. He could almost sense every move she made! He was
slightly stiff at first but then he loosened up. He even ventured far enough to
put his arms around the girl. He was definitely enjoying himself.
Then, as Cho dreamily told
him about her first date with Cedric, (which slightly ruffled Harry who didn't
want to speak about the other boy at all) the song ended.
A burst of applause
sounded and Harry and Cho enthusiastically cheered too. As far as Harry could
see, people of all different heights and colors stood in the Great Hall. The
clapping was deafening and Harry noticed that George had secretly let one of
his firecrackers alight.
The dance was at an end!
And Harry knew he would
never forget that wonderful dance with Cho Chang for the rest of his life.
*
"Ow!" Ron cried as Padma stamped on his poor foot violently
with the heel of her shoe.
"Sorry." she said in a distracted fashion and continued to
stare ahead.
"No you are not!" said Ron angrily. "At least try to look
sorry!"
"Shut
up Ron. I don't have time for this, ok? I'm just dancing with you because everybody
else is taken. Besides, this is the last dance thankfully." Padma replied,
looking at Ron straight in eye for the first time after about half an hour of
dancing with him.
Ron didn't know what to say. He wondered whether he was allowed to punch a girl…
but he dismissed the thought as a furious face of Mrs. Weasley came to him.
Nope, hitting Padma wasn't the answer. Ron wondered if all girls were this
irritating.
'I reckon they're not.' Ron thought, imagining Hermione. 'She was always normal with Harry
and me. She never acts funny. I bet she won't have even minded if I told her
that her nose was nice. I guess I've got to ignore Padma right now.' Ron
thought and sighed. This was going to be difficult. Padma seemed to go out of
her way to vex him. He supposed she was still cross because he had dragged her
away from Draco.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" said Padma, making a face.
"You always answer back." she said and stared at him dully.
"Forget it, ok?" Ron said and looked away. He tried pushing
her even further away from him. Already he had to stretch his arms to hold her
because of the distance he had put between them.
"Ron, how about you now start building a bridge between you and me and I'll
help!" snapped Padma. "I don't like you, you don't like me, but I want to
finish this dance in the NORMAL way, get me?" she spat out.
"Yeah, yeah." Ron muttered and brought her one-quarter of a
centimeter closer.
"Aargh!" Padma exploded and then became quiet. Evidently she
had had totally given up on him.
Then they heard the music come to a halt and both of them
jumped backwards, wanting to land twenty feet away from one another.
The dance was at an end!
Ron knew he would never forget this horrendous evening even
if he tried.
*
"Ah, I this nat fun?"' drawled Krum in Hermione's ear.
"Um, yeah. Great." Hermione replied and tried to pull a
little away from him.
She had been trying to do that since the last two dances. If she did manage to
put any distance between them, Krum would again close in on her and all her attempts
would result in nothing. At last, exasperated, she decided on being blunt with
him. There was no other way. The guy didn't understand any of her subtle hints!
"Victor, please move a little away. You're kinda choking
me." She said and immediately he straightened up. He looked away, trying not to
look abashed, but she had this feeling that he was dismayed at this.
Hermione had thought a lot about the incident in the common room throughout the
dances.
Had Ron been looking for her? If he had, then why? Harry
certainly had not been worried! She had seen him dancing with a fifth year
girl, Cho Chang (this had surprised her, but the fact that his date was dancing
with Fred Weasley was even more unexpected!) but Harry hadn't seen her or paid
her any attention. But Hermione did know one thing and that was that Ron was
nice enough to look for her and notice her absence and Krum had been rude to
him. She wondered why she hadn't spoken up then. She supposed it was because
she was too stunned to do anything. Since then, she had been slightly cold
towards Krum.
Making up her mind. Hermione looked at her date grimly.
"Victor, did you have to be that rude with Ron? He is my
best friend!" she said.
"Excuse me Hermioniny, but I believe it vas your friend who
vas rude to me. He did nat have to come find you! He knows that you are here
vith me. I must say, though I hate to say it to you, but I find him annoying
and suspicious."
Hermione was bowled over with this speech.
"S-suspicious? Of RON? What do you mean?" she said, her
mouth gaping slightly.
"Forget it. I do nat vish to talk about Mr. Veesle-ee at
all." He said and clamped his mouth.
"Weasley." Hermione muttered.
"Vatever." He replied.
She danced in stony silence for a few minutes and then Krum
sighed.
"I am terribly sorry, Hermioniny. I acted like a pig. I
apologize again. I should nat have spoken like that about your friend. I just
vant this evening to be perfect, eh? But I cannot like your friend and that iz
the truth. I will keep it to myself." he said, never looking at her.
Hermione felt a bit guilty. She had misjudged Victor. He
wasn't a bad sort. He was truthful and considerate… but he still didn't like
Ron.
"Every body has their own tastes huh?" Hermione said at
last. Her date looked at her hopefully. "I'm sorry too, for leaving and
everything. Just don't be rude to Ron again, awright?" she finished and gave a
small smile.
"I promise!" Victor said and gave her a beaming smile that
lit up his whole face.
Krum wasn't handsome. His jaw was too angular for that. But
he was good looking, in a rugged sort of way. His hooked nose also gave him a
devilish appearance. But as Hermione noticed, his smile was really charismatic.
Hermione smiled in response. They danced on, now more comfortably because he
neither held her too close nor too far. They both matched each other's steps
perfectly and they glided effortlessly through the crowd.
Then, the music slowed down, the couples around them came to
a stand still. Victor kept gently dancing though and Hermione laughed. She bet
they were the only ones dancing. Then he stopped, bent down on his knee and
lifted Hermione's hand. He very gently kissed it, as if it was made of fine
porcelain and then smiled at her. He drew up beside her once again and put his
arm on her shoulder tenderly. They clapped with the rest of the crowd but
Hermione's thoughts were only on him. She had been so touched by his actions
that she was speechless. No one had ever -in her whole life- treated her so
caringly. She felt as if she was on cloud nine.
For Hermione, the dance had had an almost perfect end.
She knew that this evening would forever be etched in her
memory…
*
If the Great Hall had been looking awesome before, now it was
looking absolutely breathtaking. Throughout the dance, people had been
concentrating on their partners more (heheheh) than their surroundings, but now
that the dance was at an end, they noticed what measures had been taken to make
the hall look presentable.
The huge slabs of creamy white marble that made up the floor
was shining like a mirror and the stars that could be seen through the
enchanted ceiling were reflected on it, making everybody feel as if they were
standing on the sky itself! Peeves, the aggravating poltergeist, had been sent
to the opposite wing of Hogwarts by the Bloody Baron to make sure that nothing
would go wrong.
Pedestals of a transparent silvery substance were lined
against the walls with huge flowers in them. Their presence not only made the
hall's appearance beautiful, but also was democratic! That was because the
flowers were specially chosen to represent the three schools participating in
the Triwizard Tournament.
Some were the wild blossoms that grew in the Forbidden
Forest, with velvety red-black petals, obviously representing Hogwarts. Others
were Bulgarian Pansies, deep blue in color, with pale green leaves. Then came
the delicate blossoms of red, with a white pollen looking like a pearl at its center,
that must have represented Madam Maxine's school.
Suddenly, as everybody stopped clapping, a huge bang was
heard.
People looked around in astonishment, but Dumbeldore merely
smiled. Then, right out he blue, millions of tiny things, looking like confetti
to all the muggle born students present, erupted from the ceiling and gently
started to float downwards.
There were gasps and oohs and aahs from the students as they
realized that the tiny fluttering things were none other than fairies! They
were flying everywhere by now, their tiny wings glittering silver and each of
them producing a warm glow of the color they were wearing.
Pastel colors, shades of red and blue, and all other colors
imaginable could now be seen zooming about the place. Then, in front of their
eyes, the fairies started a kind of dance. Each one zoomed about and then came
to a halt and waited for the others to follow.
Soon, everybody realized that they weren't dancing, but were
writing some sort of message. The clusters of fairies started to flock
together. Their idea it seemed was to make a kind of sign by making pairs of
fairies depending on the colors they wore. The shades of purple, red, forest
green etc all lined up. After about two minutes of zigzagging, everybody read
the following letters made by glittering fairies:
G'bye
worthy students! For the 203rd Yule Ball is now at an end!
**
How was that? The ball has ended at last! Boy, am I drained or what! :P But now to see the consequences of this ball! Muhahahahahaha! Anyway, till the next chapter! Ps: I don't have to remind you to review this do I? Please? ^_^