Possible Candidates

by Hopeful Writer

Harry is having trouble finding a date for the dance. He made a list of the girls he'd like to go with, but his date may come from a surprising source.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, not mine. Harry Potter's problems, mine for now.

A/N - This bit came to me during two nights of insomnia. A rather lucky turn of events I suppose. Sorry if it sucks; it was late when I was writing it and I never really had a chance to add more details.

Harry's looking for a date for the upcoming ball, but it's a little harder than he thought. Just when he thinks no one's left, he finds someone who's willing to help.

Shout outs to Dreamer4, Dark Gamer, Light Gamer, Somnium87, Knight, EvilTenchi, SaturnsChild, Galassos Gal 127, PhoniexChild, Wolfie, TogetherAgain, ArchangelUK, Arylwren, Digicowboy, Blackout12, Phire Phoenix, Authormon, Insane Friend 02, alfogamer2, Takari's Baybee, Immia, AlexPG13, and shadow2k.

POSSIBLE CANDIDATES

By: Hopeful Writer

It was funny how finding the right date for a dance was so much harder than it looked. But if Harry Potter had learned anything from the previous year's Yule Ball, it was: don't wait until the last minute. This time he was going to do it first.

Possible Candidates:

Cho Chang

Angelina Johnson

Alicia Spinnet

Katie Bell

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Ginny Weasley

The reason Hermione was not on the list was simple: she was dating Ron. That had surprised Harry, although, in hindsight, it shouldn't have. All the signs were there, but the pair had been too blind to see them.

Okay, step one: ask Cho to the dance. Actually, finding her alone was a task unto itself.

Finally Harry got fed up with trying to catch her by herself. He cornered her with a group of friends just outside the Great Hall. "Cho? Will you, er, would you like to go to the ball with me?" He felt himself blush as her friends giggled.

Cho, on the other hand, frowned. "I'm not going," she admitted. "It just feels... wrong so soon after Cedric's death and all." Harry tried not to look disappointed, but obviously failed. "I'm really flattered that you asked me, though," she rushed on. "And don't worry. You'll find a date. You're a nice guy, Harry. Plenty of girls will be dying to go with you."

Harry managed a wry smile. "somehow I doubt that's because I'm a nice guy. anyway, sorry to bother you. See ya around."

He sauntered off casually, although he was certain he heard on of Cho's friends sigh and say, "I wish he'd ask me to the ball. I'm going."

Okay, Harry thought, so that didn't go so well. I've just got to keep trying.

Possible Candidates:

Cho Chang

Angelina Johnson

Alicia Spinnet

Katie Bell

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Ginny Weasley

The Common Room was nice and warm, with a raging fire. Ron and Hermione were playing chess and bickering merrily and, as a result, driving Harry to the brink of insanity. Nearby, Fred and George Weasley were entertaining some first years with their newest prank, the Endless Whoopee Cushion. It was a variation of the Muggle Whoopee Cushion (which the twins had undoubtedly nicked from their father), which didn't stop making noise until the victim made the obscene noise themselves. It was already wreaking havoc on Hogwarts, and the twins had received several Howlers each for it.

Harry turned his attention to three possible partners for the dance: Angelina, Alicia, and Katie. Steeling his courage (and trying to remember what had gotten him into Gryffindor in the first place), he walked over to the girls, trying to keep up an image of confidence that he truly didn't feel.

"Hi," he greeted, noting with disgust that his voice quavered ever-so-slightly and praying that the girls hadn't noticed.

They obviously did, however, because he saw Alicia catch Katie's eye and smile discreetly. "Hi, Harry," Angelina replied sweetly. "What's up?"

He swallowed. Here goes nothing. "I was, er, wondering if any of you wanted to go to the ball with me."

There. That wasn't so bad, he thought with a grim satisfaction. The three grinned at each other. "You know we'd love to Harry, but we've already got dates," Katie told him, smiling sadly in his direction. "Angelina's going with Fred, Alicia's with George, and I'm with Lee."

Harry managed to mask his disappointment much better this time. "Ah. Okay, then. See you there."

He sighed. That could have gone better.

"Trying to steal our women, Potter," Fred demanded, suddenly appearing in front of him, looking menacing.

Harry knew Fred would never really hurt him (Mrs. Weasley would kill him), but that didn't stop him from being afraid. "I didn't know," Harry protested. "I mean... I wouldn't have... honest!"

Fred laughed. "Relax, would you? I'm just kidding. Good luck finding a date, though. Better hurry before all the good ones are taken."

Possible Candidates:

Cho Chang

Angelina Johnson

Alicia Spinnet

Katie Bell

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Ginny Weasley

Okay, now Harry was moving into girls he would have preferred not asking. But any date was better than no date because no date meant either spending the time with Ron and Hermione (who were going to be wrapped up in each other), or hugging the wall with (shudder) Neville Longbottom and Colin Creevey.

That's what was keeping him motivated.

Harry cornered Lavender just outside the common Room on her way to meet Professor Trelawney. "Um, Lavender, I was wondering if you'd like to be my date for the dance?" he asked hopefully, trying not to sound desperate.

Lavender frowned, and Harry felt his stomach sink. "I can't. I already told Seamus I'm going with him."

Harry sighed, beginning to feel defeated. "Okay. Sorry to bother you." He took off, but promptly crashed into Parvati Patil. Excellent.

"Hey, Parvati? Would you like to go with me to that ball again?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Um, no offense, Harry, but, after last year's disaster, I'm not so sure that would be a good idea. Besides, I'm already going with Dean."

"Oh." Harry tried to ignore the feeling of dread that he was going to be left dateless. "What about Padma?"

"She's going with Seamus."

"Oh." That's when that information sunk in and Harry got completely confused. "Wait, Lavender just said she was going with Seamus."

Parvati stared at him before shrieking, "WHAT? LAVENDER!!!" She ran down the corridor, yelling threats as she went.

Though Harry found this quite amusing, it didn't change the fact that he was still dateless. His head began to hurt. Time was running out and his list was running short.

Possible Candidates:

Cho Change

Angelina Johnson

Alicia Spinnet

Katie Bell

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Ginny Weasley

Scratch that last sentence. His list had quite nearly run out.

Ginny was reading in the nearly deserted library, merely three days before the dance. Harry grabbed a random book off the shelf and sat down at her table. "Hey, Gin," he greeted, opening the book (101 Ways to Use a Flobberworm) and pretending to read.

Ginny glanced at the book, then Harry, then sighed and put her own book down. "Seems you've asked nearly half the girls in the school to the dance, Potter."

Harry dropped his book in surprise. "How... how do you know?"

"Parvati asked me why I wasn't going with you," she replied, concealing a triumphant smile. "You're going to ask me now, aren't you?" Harry nodded dumbly, currently thinking of all the nasty things he'd like to do to Parvati to keep her big mouth closed. "Well, I've got news for you. I'm not going to be your last choice when I can be Neville's first!" With those angry words, she grasbbed her book and stormed off.

Harry sat back in his chair to contemplate that. Okay, she'd not only turned him down, but she'd turned him down for Neville. It didn't get much worse than that.

"That didn't work, huh, Potter?"

No, maybe it did. "Hullo, Pansy. Glad you got to witness that. I can rest assured knowing that, by tomorrow, Malfoy will have new material with which to torture me," Harry replied, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.

She smirked. "No date?"

"Not a one. You?" Subconsciously, he couldn't believe he was having this conversation with Pansy Parkinson, but the conscious part of his brain was still too shocked by the turn of events to care.

"No, no date. Hey, here's an idea. Let's really give Hogwarts something to sink their teeth into. Let's go together."

Harry's head snapped up at that, and he locked eyes with her. There was a long pause as he got a glimpse at the normal human being Pansy instead of the Slytherin bitch Pansy. "Oh, hell," he finally uttered. "Why not? It'll make things interesting."

Pansy smiled at him, a real smile, not the smirk he was accustomed to. "Maybe it'll even be fun."

"Watching people's reactions will be." They both laughed

Pansy got up. "See you on Friday, Potter."

"Pansy?" She turned back to him. He made sure to look straight into her dark brown eyes. "My name's Harry." Then she was gone.

Smiling to himself, Harry took out his list.

Possible Candidates:

Cho Chang

Angelina Johnson

Alicia Spinnet

Katie Bell

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Ginny Weasley

Pansy Parkinson

A/N - Unexpected? Probably. Drop me a line and tell me what you think. Or don't. If you want to chat (either about the story or anything else), either leave a review, email me at lildreamer12@hotmail.com or IM me at WritinGal73 on AIM (I'm also on MSN). Bye – HW