The Ball

I Like You, I Love You, I Hate You

A/N: All right, here it is: the second chapter. We find out why I didn't make Chapter 1 into a H/G thing. Yes, there is a specific reason. A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys and girls really made my day! J

This chapter is dedicated to Auror5, who once asked (about "Je T'Adore"), "Will there be a sequel?" At first, I thought "how on Earth could I write a sequel?" So I stayed up half the night contemplating that, and wound up with this!

Disclaimer: All characters, places, ideas, and everything else Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. The two poem verses are from "To the Not Impossible Him" by Edna St. Vincent Millay from A Few Figs From Thistles.

CHAPTER 2:

Just Friends

By Booklovr

"So, Harry," said Ron. "Asked anyone to the Yule Ball yet?"

Er, no," said Harry, shifting uncomfortably.

They were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, working on a Divination assignment. At least, they had their Divination books open and were writing interpretations of dreams. Harry had never actually dreamed anything he had written about, but that didn't matter. Professor Trelawney would believe anything that predicted pain, misery, and death. But, after four and a half years of it, Harry could say that if faking Divination homework were an art form, he and Ron would be like Leonardo da Vinci and…some other famous artist. Harry didn't actually know any.

"So," said Harry, "now the cockatiel lands on my head, slowly turning into a…porpoise."

"What does that symbolize?" asked Ron.

"Hmmm…A close friend will betray my trust and as a result I will drown. Slowly. And I will come up for air several times only to be drawn immediately back down."

"Nice touch with the drowning, but I did a betrayal last month."

"Yes, but that was by a dog carrying a nail file. Trelawney'll never notice the similarity."

"Well, anyway, why haven't you asked anyone yet? The ball is next week!" Ron continued the previous conversation.

Harry was annoyed that his attempt to change the subject had failed. "Well, um, there's no dateless girls left in our year."

"None?" demanded a skeptical Ron.

"Well, a few Slytherins, but I think I'll skip asking them."

Ron shook his head with an "I expected better from you" expression.

"I haven't seen you ask anyone," said Harry lamely.

"Don't need to," said Ron with a proud grin. "I'm going with Hermione."

Hermione's head appeared from behind a pile of books at a nearby table. "Oh, really?" she said sarcastically. "I didn't know that!"
Ron's smile faded. "What do you mean?"

"Well," sniffed Hermione, "you never asked."

"I assumed that, since we've been seeing each other for two months, we'd be going together." Ron tried to speak logically, though there was a touch of anger in his voice.

"Oh, really?" said Hermione. "You assumed?"

"Well, I thought it was a pretty safe assumption!" snapped Ron.

"Did you?" Hermione was pretty angry by now. "Well, don't just 'assume' with me! I might have had plans! I might have been going home for Christmas! I might have already been asked by someone else!"

"WHAT?!" demanded Ron, red with fury.

"Can one of you give me a hand with this History of Magic project?" Ginny spoke up from a nearby chair.

"Scram," snapped Ron, though he didn't take his eyes off Hermione.

"Sure," said Harry, getting up. "But you'll need, um, more research from the library." He and Ginny practically ran to the portrait hole as Ron and Hermione erupted again.

When they were safely down the hall, Harry turned suddenly to Ginny. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" There was nothing Harry hated more than getting in the middle of one of Ron and Hermione's fights! He hated to take sides, but if he didn't, they would just both get mad at him. "I owe you big. Again."

"No sweat" Ginny sighed. "You know, the two of them fight about ten times a week."

"I know," said Harry. "They've really softened up lately, but the actual fighting is probably worse than ever!"

"Gee," said Ginny teasingly, "too bad we couldn't stay. This one was just getting interesting."

"Urgh, I bet you Viktor gets brought up. The worst fights always seem to involve him."

Over the past two and a half months, watching Ron and Hermione fight had become a popular form of entertainment in Gryffindor. Some students were attempting to keep score, and a few first years were once caught betting on who would win an argument.

"So," said Harry as they walked, "got a date for the Yule Ball?"

"Nope. You?"

"I didn't think I should," Harry confessed. "I technically never broke up with Cho."

"But technically, you're not still seeing her."

"Well, 'technically,' I can't seeing how she's in South America. Plus, we're still writing, so technically it's a long-distance, serious relationship." Harry sighed. "I don't know why she couldn't get a job in England."

"She wanted to travel," Ginny reminded him. "And I didn't hear you trying to stop her back in June!"

"I was trying to be supportive," said Harry. "That was a pretty stupid idea, wasn't it?"

"Going to South America, or being supportive?"

"Both."

"Yep." They had reached the library by now, but as they started to go in, Colin suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Ginny!" he said. "I've been looking for you!" He wore a grin of great triumph. "So, I hear you don't have a date for the Ball yet?"

Ginny turned white, and her mouth hung open. "Um, actually, Colin, I'm, uh, going with someone already…"

"Oh, really?" Colin didn't seem to believe her. "Who?"

Ginny had no idea what to say. Her eyes darted as she tried to think of a way out.

"Oh," said Harry calmly. "She's going with me." Now Ginny's ears, and a good part of her face, were as red as her hair.

"Oh. Um, yeah," she stammered. "S-sorry, Colin. M-maybe, uh, next time?" Then she realized what she'd just said. "Or not! Yeah, that, uh, gotta go! Research!" And she rushed into the library.

"I didn't know you were going together," said Colin, too amazed to be suspicious.

"Oh, yeah," said Harry casually. "We're just going as friends, though. Because neither of us had a date." He tried to look sincere. "I wouldn't have asked her if I'd known you wanted to take her!" This was probably a bad thing to say. Colin looked on the verge of asking if Harry would change his mind. "Hey, uh, you might want to run to the common room. Ron and Hermione are fighting again, so you'll have to hurry if you want a good seat!" It was a stupid distraction, but it worked. As Colin rushed off, Harry went to find Ginny.

She sat behind a stack of books, still blushing slightly. "Thanks," she whispered.

"No problem," Harry whispered back. "And, hey, now we both have dates!"

"Boy, you surprised me though. For a minute, I felt like I was ten years old again!"

Harry chuckled, remembering how she had had a huge crush on him back then. As he and Ginny dove into the books, however, his mind wandered to Cho Chang, who was now hiking through the South American rain forest, doing some research with three young men. He felt it was time to send her another owl.

***

"Dear Harry,

"Hello! We've finally found a town along this river. It's not quite London, but even a little port is a good change from the rain forest. After three weeks of searching for some sign of ancient Magical civilization, we have found that…it must be further up the river.

"Perhaps we shouldn't write to each other so often. I only mean that your owl always looks so exhausted when she gets here! And I can't carry her around the forest, so I have to send her right back. She nearly bites me every time!

"So, you say you're going to the ball with Ron's little sister? You mean that pretty little red head, Ginny? When Todd heard (you remember Todd, the 'leader' of out little group? The tall one, with the blond hair), he told me I should be jealous, but I told him I trust you like you trust me. You wouldn't break that trust, would you?

"Oh, I must tell you this! I 'adopted' a young chimpanzee at the last town we stopped at. The man who sold him to us said he had a name, but I think it was Brazilian…its hard to say, and harder to write! So, we just call him the Chimp.

"So, your next Quidditch match is against Ravenclaw? You'll have to tell me how that turns out! I wonder if my replacement is any good? Though I'm sure it won't be the same for you without me practically riding your broomtail! Good luck, but I'm sure Ravenclaw will win.

"I have to go now. We head into the forest again tomorrow, so I must turn in early. And it may take me a few hours to convince Hedwig to take this letter! I will see you soon, I hope. Merry Christmas!! (If Hedwig can deliver this before then!)

"Love,

"Cho."

***

Harry read this letter a few hours before the Yule Ball. Hedwig, having delivered the letter in time, now strongly reassembled the Weasley's owl, Errol.

The Yule Ball began at eight. At six, Harry beat Ginny in a game of wizard chess, and she had gone upstairs to get ready. At seven, Ron finally won what had turned into a four-hour chess tournament. At seven-thirty, they were in their dress robes. Harry, in his deep green robe, was attempting to flatten his hair. Ron (who kept up a commentary of "I can't believe you're going with my sister! I mean, Ginny! This goes beyond being desperate…" and so on) was attempting to put on his olive-colored robe. Unfortunately, he had grown (again) and the robe was too short. In the end, he discovered that a carefully timed Engorgement Charm could be used to lengthen it. And that a careful Reversal Charm was then needed to shorten it again, for the Engorgement Charm had made it too big. And that magic is not a very good substitute for sewing.

"Ready to go?" Ron asked, when the robe finally fit.

"Yeah," said Harry, giving up on his hair.

They marched down to the common room to meet their girls. Hermione (who did not have other plans, nor another date) looked as she often did for the ball, which was nothing like her usual self. She wore a light blue dress robes and half of her usually bushy hair was smoothed into a bun, while the other half fell graceful down her back. Ginny, on the other hand, wore a golden-yellow robe and her usually straight hair was thick with curls that were gathered at the back of her head.

Ron sighed. "Why is it they always look so much better than us?" Harry just shook his head.

***

There were downsides to going to the ball with the Head Girl. For one thing, Ron had to sit with the Prefects. Ron always felt kind of stupid around Prefects. Even when they weren't talking about themselves (which wasn't often), Ron felt inferior. His grades were only so-so, at best. He seemed to be allowed only one interesting event per year, and they all got old pretty fast. No one really wanted to hear how Ron had been almost killed by Sirius Black in his third year (actually, Sirius had been trying to kill his rat…), or how he had been brought underwater by mermen his fourth year. And this year's "interesting event" had already become old news. Well, he thought as he grinned at Hermione, it was worth it, at least.

Harry, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. He and Ginny were sitting with friends, discussing Quidditch. Several members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team sat at their table, and several members of the Ravenclaw team sat at the next table. Both tables were eavesdropping on each other, hoping to learn what strategies the other would use at the next match. When this got boring, Harry's table began "practicing" Quidditch by throwing grapes ("Quaffles") into each other's mouths. Harry thought that it must be better to go to the ball with a friend than with a date. He didn't have to worry about being on his best behavior, or about dancing afterwards.

When the eating (and grape-throwing) portion of the ball had finished, Professor Dumbledore cleared away the tables with a sweep of his wand. Once again, Dumbledore had managed to arrange for a popular wizarding band to play, a group called Strange Magic. A group of three wizards and two witches appeared on a platform in the corner and began playing a slow song. The Prefects and Head Girl (there was no longer a Head Boy, of course) and their dates were to dance the first number. Ron did not look very happy about this. He was very focused on not stepping on Hermione's feet.

"I feel sorry for those couples," commented Harry. "Bad enough if you can't dance; worse when the entire school sees it."

"So dancing's out of the question tonight," said Ginny. She wasn't disappointed or hopeful, just stating a fact.

"Definitely," said Harry. "Your feet don't need a thrashing."

"Oh, you can't be that bad. You danced with Cho last year."

"Yup, and she had to wear extra socks to cushion her feet."

They spent a good part of the night drinking butterbeer and talking about all kinds of things. Ron and Hermione joined them, for a little while. But Hermione kept bringing Ron back onto the dance floor. Once or twice, Harry caught Ginny gazing longingly at the dancers.

"Uh-oh," murmured Ginny, suddenly. "Colin Creevey, twelve o'clock."

Harry squinted. "Actually, I'd say that's more like twelve-thirty."

"Very funny. Either way, he's coming."

"Let's discreetly head outside."

"Good idea."

The Hogwarts grounds were all decorated for the Yule Ball. Statues, fountains, benches, rosebushes of all colors. The sky was overcast, but it was quite warm, for December, and the paths were lit by fairy lights. It looked, Harry remembered, a lot like it had the year before, when he had come with Cho. For several minutes, Harry and Ginny walked in silence, each deep within his or her own thoughts.

Ginny sighed. "It looks like rain. And I do love a white Christmas."

"Rain. Ooh, now there's a tragedy," snapped Harry.

Some of Ginny's curls had fallen around her ears, so Harry couldn't tell if they were red. "I'm sorry. I…"

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped." He paused in thought. "You know, my first 'date' with Cho was the Yule Ball last year."

Ginny ventured a guess. "You heard from Cho today?"

Harry nodded. "It's just…I haven't seen her since June. And I've seen a picture of those guys she's out there with!"

Ginny grinned. "Ooh, is the great Harry Potter jealous?" She giggled slightly. "Don't worry. I know she wouldn't cheat on you."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? You know? You don't even know Cho that well. How do you 'know' what she's thinking?

Ginny winked. "It's a trade secret."

"Well, I'm not really afraid she's cheating. It's just…we've been apart a while. Maybe she's…fallen out of love."

"Well, they say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder.'"

"They say a lot of other things, too."

"Like what?"

"Like, 'out of sight, out of mind,' or 'all good things must come to an end,' and 'everything changes.'" Harry was silent for a minute. "Before Cho left, I asked her why she wanted to travel so badly. She answered with a stanza from a poem.

'How shall I know, unless I go

'To Cairo and Cathay,

'Whether or not this blessed spot

'Is blest in every way?'

Harry chuckled. "I thought she wrote it herself. But she didn't; I found the rest of it over the summer. It's the last stanza that really bugs me:

'The fabric of my faithful love

'No power shall dim or ravel

'Whilst I stay here,--but, oh, my dear,

'If I should ever travel!'"

Ginny laughed. "You're so paranoid, Harry! And you actually memorized that? I don't believe you!" She shook her head. "Listen. Cho will not 'fall out of love.' She's not an idiot! You're a great guy-" Harry started to interrupt. "No, let me finish, or I'll never say this. I know you as a friend, and as a girl who used to have a crush on you. Majorly." She shook her head again, turning somewhat pink. "Like I said, you're a great guy. You're the kind of guy every girl would want for a boy friend, or even just a friend. And not just because you are the famous Harry Potter. You're smart, fun to be around, friendly, unselfish, athletic, cute…" She turned quite red now. "Basically, you're everything a girl could want. Except a great dancer." She grinned slightly, and the red faded away. "Um, anyway, what I'm trying to say is, Cho is probably the luckiest girl in the world, and she knows it. She wouldn't forget you just because she's out there with a bunch of guys. Trust me, you are not that forgettable. I bet she's more worried that you will forget her. Ummm…anyway, that's it."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been wanting to say that?"

"Since the first time you wore that look."

"What look?"

"The 'oh, woe is me, nobody loves me' look."

"I do not have a 'nobody loves me' look!"

"You want a mirror? You've been wearing it most of the year. Half the time I see you like that, I want to hit you for being so stupid. The other half, I want to hit Cho for making you feel that way. But it's not true. That nobody loves you. That's not true." By, now, Ginny's ears were as red as her hair. But Harry couldn't see this, because of the curls (for which Ginny was quite thankful).

They walked for a moment in silence. "You know," said Harry, turning and looking deep into her brown eyes. "I think—"

But what he thought at that minute he never said. Just then, the clouds opened and rain poured down on them. "Run!" Ginny shrieked. By the time they got back inside, they were both thoroughly soaked, and laughing their heads off.

"Oh, we can't go back to the ball like this!" Harry said. A puddle was quickly forming where they stood.

"Let's get to the Common Room, before Filch sees us," Ginny advised. As they headed towards Gryffindor Tower, she asked "So, you were about to say…?"

"Oh, just you were right about…stuff." He turned and looked at her, and if Ginny had thought there was something different about how he had looked outside, she didn't think so know; he looked at her much the same way he always had. "Anyway, I'm going to write to Cho. Send a school owl, or else Hedwig will kill me." Harry chuckled. "I think she was jealous that I took you to the ball!"

"Jealous? Of little old me?" Ginny looked at him with the most innocent face she could muster.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, nothing for her to worry about. As long as we stay just friends."

She looked down a second, then looked at Harry and grinned, holding out her hand. "No problem," and they shook on it. "Come on, last one to the Common Room has to pick up all the balls after Quidditch practice for a month!"

A/N: Ha! Didn't expect that, did you? If I copied anyone here, then wow, great minds must really think alike! Ok, I'll post the next chapter as soon as it gets typed and edited and all that. Coming up: A really big fight, resulting in Ron getting a life.

Professor Zodiac: Yeah, I posted Je T'Adore before at HL, but this is the slightly revised edition, with chapters and everything!

Rebekah: You mean they were "tres stupides quand ils ne sachent pas" what Je t'adore means? I suppose so, but then that's not a phrase the average tourist uses…

Thanks again to all the reviewers! I'm not going to ask anyone to please review, but that little box down there isn't just for decoration.