Disclaimer: I don't own any of the wonderful characters or places in the Harry Potter books. Do I look like J. K. Rowling to you? Funny, I don't see any resemblance....

In the Gryffindor common room, Ron Weasley nervously paced back and forth. Why had he subjected himself to this torture? Yes, he had really wanted to ask Hermione to the ball; he had been miserable the year before when she went with Krum. He couldn't stand to see her go with someone else again this year, or worse, write to Krum and invite him to accompany her. But, right now, with his stomach in knots, he wondered if it wouldn't have been better to just stay in his dorm room and avoid the whole thing. He glanced over at Harry, who was sitting on the couch--well, actually, he was crouching on the couch. He was on the very edge of the cushion, looking down at his hands which were clasped tightly between his knees. The poor guy looked as nervous as Ron felt. Ron thought back to the day Harry had told him who he'd like to ask to the ball...

It had been late, and they had been alone in the common room, playing a final game of wizard's chess before going to bed. Ron was beating Harry, as usual, but for the last half hour or so, Harry had seemed very distracted.

"Check, Harry", Ron said, positioning his queen to take Harry's king.

"What? Oh...", Harry looked at the board, trying to find a way out of check. He took a deep breath and spoke. "Er, Ron...I need to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Ron was busy studying the board, already knowing what his next moves would be, no matter what Harry did. He didn't look up.

"Umm, yeah. I know who I'd like to ask to the Yule Ball, and...well...I kinda wanted to check it out with you first."

Ron looked up, puzzled. Oh no--was Harry going to tell him he wanted to ask Hermione? Ron had asked her earlier this evening, but he hadn't told Harry yet. "Why would you need to check it out with me?", he asked a liitle nervously.

Harry sighed. "Well, I'd like to ask...Ginny." Harry saw the look of surprise on Ron's face and continued in a rush. "You're my best friend and her big brother. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't have a problem with it. I don't want to go with Parvati again, and I can't ask Cho this year...", he trailed off. Ron knew why Harry couldn't ask Cho. He still felt guilty about what had happened to Cedric Diggory in the final task last year, and Cho was a reminder of that. He'd been trying to get over his crush on her all year.

Ron thought for a moment. How would he feel seeing Harry with Ginny? It would seem strange, but he had to admit, Ginny could go to the ball with worse people. He trusted Harry with his life, why not with his little sister? "I guess it's OK. But, if you hurt her, I'll have to kill you", he added with an evil grin. A thought occurred to him. "And no taking her into the rose bushes!", he said loudly, losing the grin.

Harry smiled, relieved. "No worry about that", he laughed. "So, who are you going to invite?", Harry asked, turning back to the game.

Ron blushed. "Well...I've kinda already asked somebody", he said quietly. Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "I asked Hermione this evening in the library."

"Oh." Harry knew Ron had some unresolved feelings for Hermione, especially after last year's ball, but he was surprised that Ron had actually admitted them to himself and acted on them. "That's cool." He suddenly couldn't resist. "Umm, Ron...no taking Hermione into the rose bushes, either", he said, laughing as Ron turned an even deeper shade of scarlet.

Ron's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening at the top of the stairs. He and Harry looked up to see Ginny descending the steps, looking very pretty in light blue robes, her hair swept up and piled on her head in curls. Harry took a deep breath and went to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi, Ginny. You look really pretty", he said, blushing (he was secretly glad he didn't turn as red as Ron usually did).

"Thank you, Harry. So do you." Ginny, unlike Harry, suffered from the Weasley affliction, and she turned a brilliant crimson.

Again there was the sound of a door opening, and Harry, Ginny, and Ron looked up to see Hermione coming down the stairs. Harry glanced at Ron and was mildly amused to see that his friend appeared to be having trouble breathing.

Hermione stopped at the bottom of the stairs and smiled weakly at her three friends. Ron just stood there staring at her, and Harry could see that he had become temporarily speechless. He spoke first. "Hi, Hermione. You look lovely." He nudged Ron with his elbow. "Doesn't she, Ron?", he asked, pointedly.

This seemed to jar Ron out of his reverie, though he still stared at Hermione. "She looks beautiful", he said quietly, almost to himself.

Hermione's face lit up. "Thank you, Ron. I really like your new dress robes."

Ron suddenly remembered that he had on new, dark blue robes and was extremely thankful that Fred and George had given them to him. "Thanks."

They continued to just stand there and stare at one another, and Harry realized that if he didn't say something, they'd probably stand there all night. He turned to Ginny, who was trying not to giggle at her big brother's reaction. It made her forget her own nervousness a little. "We'd better go, don't you think?", he asked.

This seemed to finally get Ron and Hermione's attention. They stopped staring at each other and turned to follow Harry and Ginny out the portrait hole.

"Oi, Hermione", Seamus Finnigan yelled. "Where are Lavender and Parvati? Dean and I have been waiting down here forever!"

Hermione couldn't help it--she started laughing. "Oh, don't worry, Seamus. They'll be down eventually", she called back to him, ducking through the portrait hole.