"Santa's gonna come a rape your dogs!"-Tom
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The Dance
The next week flew by even faster than the last, mainly due to the fact that the whole school seemed to be paired off: Ron & Hermione, Sabrina & Malfoy, and Harry & Cho. During class, they were all together and all having fun, excluding Malfoy. But as soon as the bell rang it was like some odd charm was placed upon them and they all walked to their next class with their mate. As it got closer and closer to Friday you could feel the excitement in the air. It had been two years since the students at Hogwarts had held a dance or a ball. The first one for Harry and his friends had been extremely awkward. Harry had asked Cho but she was already going with Cedric so he wound up going with Parvati. Hermione went with Viktor Krum and out of jealousy and pure spite Ron took Padma. The happiness Harry had felt after his date with Cho had lasted most of that week.
Harry talked to her everyday and they still haven't had one fight. He walked her to her classes even if it wasn't near his class. The classes on Friday were extremely lax and easy. None of the teachers assigned tough homework and let the students talk for the last fifteen minutes. That night, Harry and Ron were getting ready in their dormitory with Dean, Seamus, and Neville. Out of all of them, Ron seemed the most nervous.
"Are you sure I look alright?" He said adjusting his robes for the umpteenth time.
"You look fine." Harry said not even looking over. He was too busy trying to think of what to say when he saw Cho.
"Are you sure because I don't want Hermione to think I don't care how I look with her?" Ron said turning to Seamus.
"Ron, you're one of me best mates and if you ask me how you look again I'm gonna kick the livin' daylights outta ya." Replied Seamus as he put his arm around Ron and gave him a hard pat on the back.
"So Ron, you're going with Hermione?" Asked Neville who was already dressed and ready to go.
"Yeah are you going with anyone Neville?" Ron questioned. Neville started to blush.
"Well, uh, there is someone…" Started Neville to starting to get embarrassed. Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus all looked at each other and smiled.
"Who you taking Dean?" Seamus asked fixing his hair.
"My girlfriend Ginny." Ron dropped the comb that was in his hand and looked at Dean.
"You're going out with my sister?" Ron asked furiously. He started to corner Dean who was starting to sweat and Harry and Seamus backed away trying to stifle their laughter.
"She told me she told you already! She said it was months ago!" Said Dean nervously.
"I don't remember her telling me!" Ron shouted. Harry walked up to Ron and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Er, Ron. She told you on the train home last June. Remember?" Ron calmed down.
"Oh yeah." He said honestly.
The Girl's Dormitory ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sabrina, Lavender, and Parvati were all frantically running around their dormitory putting on their jewelry and make up. Lavender was putting the finishing touches on her violet chiffon dress robes as Parvati was trying to find her favorite pair of earrings that goes perfectly with her pink satin robes. Sabrina was sitting at the girls' vanity applying the finishing touches of her light blue eye shadow. "Has anyone seen them at all? They're pink rhinestones and I bought them to go with this dress." Parvati asked laying on her belly reaching under the bed pulling out anything she could reach.
"I'm sorry Parvati, put you can borrow my dangly ones if you'd like." Lavender said.
"I think I'm going to need to." She said getting to her knees. Lavender grabbed her hand, pulled her up, and brought her over to her nightstand. Sabrina got up and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Hermione, hurry up I need to go!" She shouted through the door. Hermione pushed open the door and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her with their jaws on the ground. "Holy crap." Gasped Sabrina. Hermione's normally bushy brown hair was straightened and in a tight bun that rested on the top of her head. Her robes were a deep red and her make up was to perfection.
"What? Is it my hair? Is it my robes? I hope I didn't put on too much make up." She asked worriedly. Parvati and Lavender walked over next to Hermione. Lavender and Parvati looked at each other and nodded their heads.
"Ron is going to die." Parvati said.
Twenty minutes later it was 8:30 and Seamus, Dean, and Ron were all waiting by the girl's stairs for their dates to come down. Harry and Neville were standing with them although both of their dates were from different houses.
"We're ready." One of the girls called out. Suddenly Parvati, Ginny, Sabrina, Lavender, and Hermione came walking down the stairs. All of the men including Harry were in shock. Ginny was wearing emerald green robes that really made her hair look even red than ever. Lavender and Parvati were looking all right but Sabrina and Hermione looked absolutely fantastic. Sabrina was wearing black dress robes, a diamond necklace with matching diamond studs. Her dark hair was down but looked bouncier and softer than ever as it rested a little past her shoulders. Even as much as Harry hated to admit it, she looked incredible.
Dean took Ginny's arm and Seamus took Lavender's arm and headed down to the Great Hall. Hermione walked up to Ron and the two smiled. "Wow, you look…amazing." Ron said in awe.
"Really? I was so nervous I really didn't know what I was doing when I was getting ready." She said looking down.
"Well whatever you did, you look great." Hermione looked up and smiled at him. He took her hand and they started walking towards the Fat Lady's portrait. Ron stopped for a moment and looked back at Harry and Neville. "Are you three coming?" Ron asked. Harry was looking at Sabrina.
"You look great." He said truthfully.
"Thanks. Hey since I've got no one to escort me down to the Great Hall, would you do the honors?" She asked. Harry looked at her quizzically. "Don't worry it'll just be something we'll do as friends." She smiled at him and Harry knew he had to do it.
"Okay I guess." The two locked arms and as Harry began to walk, Sabrina stopped him and turned to Neville.
"Hey the other side's a little lonely. Mind helping me out?" She said giving him the same seductive smile. Neville nodded and took her other arm. The three of them walked over to Ron and Hermione and Sabrina gave her a wink and they all took off for the Great Hall.
When they got there, all of the fourth years and up were waiting for the doors to open. Sabrina, Harry, and Neville waved goodbye and went off to find their dates. Harry saw Sabrina rush up to Malfoy and give him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. Across the crowd, Harry saw Cho wearing dress robes very similar if not the exact same robes as Sabrina. They both walked towards each other and smiled. "Hey." She said.
"Hey." Harry replied. "You look great."
"Thanks. This is so weird. Remember how you asked me two years ago to go to the dance and I couldn't go? I never told anyone this but I really, really wanted to say yes. Now it seems like I've gotten a second chance." She said as Harry grabbed her hands. He smiled and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You deserve a second chance." He said trying to think of something to say. Why did I say that? He thought.
"We deserve a second chance." Corrected Cho. The doors to the Great Hall suddenly opened and everyone piled in to the room. Cho and Harry sat down at a table with Ron, Dean, and Ginny. Hermione was on the other side of the Great Hall with Sabrina talking to her. At the table, they all started chatting about Quidditch. After a while, Ron and Cho started getting into a heated conversation about the Twisters.
Just in time before Ron said something he would truly live to regret, Hermione came over to Ron, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him to dance. "That's a good idea." Said Cho. "Come on, let's dance." She grabbed Harry's hand a dragged him out on to the dance hall. Just like the Yule Ball, the Weird Sisters were playing. They had just started playing a slow song. Cho took Harry's hands and placed them on her waist. She smiled at him. He was trembling. She put her hands around his neck and her head on his shoulder. "Don't be nervous." She whispered. "All you have to do is sway to the music…sway." Harry accidently stepped on her foot.
"Sorry." He said quickly. Cho chuckled.
"It's alright." From across the room Harry saw Malfoy and Sabrina slow dancing. Their bodies were much closer to one another and Malfoy had his hands on her butt. Harry felt overcome with rage and suddenly clutched Cho closer to him. "Harry," she laughed, "what's come over you?"
"Nothing. I just want to be close to you." He said half-heartedly. She looked up at him.
"Aw, that's so cute." She kissed him tenderly. "Is that close enough?" Asked Cho with a smile. Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I'd say that's about right." Harry looked over at Sabrina and Malfoy. He was whispering something in her ear that made her smile. She picked her head up from his shoulder and kissed him lightly on the lips. The song stopped and Cho picked her head off Harry's shoulder and looked at him.
"Hey do you mind if I go over and talk to my friends for a minute?" Questioned Cho moving a hair out of her face.
"No, not at all." He replied. She kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks. I'll see you later." She said walking over the room. Hermione came over with Ron looking worried.
"Harry, you're not going to believe what Sabrina told me!" Hermione said frantically.
"What did she say?" Harry asked without emotion. He didn't care…or at least, he tried not to care.
"Okay you know how I was talking to her before? Well we started talking about Ron and me then her and Malfoy and she started telling me some stuff he's been saying to her."
"What kind of stuff?" Harry said cocking an eyebrow.
"What kind of stuff did you tell Sabrina about me and you?" Ron asked taking her arm and turning her to him.
"We can talk about that later Ron." She said taking her arm back and starting to get pissed off. "Harry, he wants to bring her up to his dormitory after the dance."
"So, they'll just look at some of his stuff and show her the common room. So what?" Harry asked thinking of what Hermione could possibly be trying to tell him. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"He's going to sleep with her!"
"WHAT!" Harry shouted.
"Malfoy's going to take Sabrina up to his room tonight and- -" Hermione started. Ron put his hand over her mouth.
"Hermione, do you think Harry really wants to hear what Malfoy's going to do with her up in his dormitory." Ron asked. Hermione removed his hand from her mouth and shot him a look.
"God, why is she doing this?" Harry asked rubbing his temples. "Is that what he's been whispering in her ear?" Hermione nodded her head reluctantly. "We've got to stop her."
"I already tried to talk her out of it! She wouldn't listen. I kept giving her worst case scenarios and she just kept saying that I was acting like a virgin."
"Which you are, right? Or did you and Viktor Krum do something all of those times in the library?" Ron asked. The corners of Hermione's mouth started to turn into a smile.
"Of course I am now Ron, go away." She said quickly trying not to smile. Ron walked away and joined Seamus at the punch bowl.
"I'm going to go talk to her." Harry said starting to walk off in Sabrina's direction. Hermione pulled him back.
"Don't do anything stupid. And remember show her you kind of like her because you're pretty much going out with Cho." She said acting very much like Ron's mom.
"Fine. Now go off and join you're future husband." He said jokingly. Hermione slapped him hard on the arm and walked away. Harry rubbed his arm and continued on to Sabrina where she was still dancing with Malfoy now to a more upbeat song. Malfoy noticed him first and stopped dancing. Sabrina soon followed.
"Well, well, isn't it scar-head himself? Come to save someone's life?" Malfoy sneered. Sabrina jabbed him with her elbow.
"Shut up Draco, he's my friend." She said sternly and sounding a bit annoyed. She turned back to Harry. "What's up?"
"Can we talk?" Asked Harry. Sabrina looked at him funny and turned back to Malfoy.
"Draco, I'm gonna go talk with Harry. I'll be back in a minute. I'll miss you." She said before giving him a quick kiss.
"I'll miss you too." Said Malfoy. Harry felt sick to his stomach. Sabrina and him walked over to an empty corner of the Great Hall.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked happily.
"Hermione told me that you and Malfoy- -"
"Draco." She corrected him.
"- -You and Draco were going to, er, well you know, sleep together tonight." He said rather uncomfortably. Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"I knew Hermione was going to tell someone. She's so worried about me."
"Well so am I! You've only known him for two weeks and you're about to have sex with him!" Harry said in a whisper so other people wouldn't overhear.
"Harry, I'm not a virgin. I've had sex before. It's no big deal!" She said growing with annoyance. But when she said she wasn't a virgin, Harry sensed fear in her voice.
"Well to everyone else it is a big deal? And what about the guys you've slept with? Don't you think it matters to them?" He asked trying to persuade her.
"First of all I've only had sex once with one guy so don't make me sound like a slut. I'm really not. And second of all, I know it matters to them and that's what got me in trouble in the first place. Him."
"Trouble? What trouble?" Harry asked quizzically.
"Never mind that. And besides I said that I might sleep with him." Sabrina said looking down.
"So you may not…you know?"
"Well I don't know. I know that he wants to, but I don't know I've kind of had second thoughts." She said running her hand through her hair. "The last time I slept with someone he…he…"
"He what?"
"He…died." There was a long awkward silence. Harry cleared his throat.
"He died? Like while you two were- -" Questioned Harry.
"No! Two days later."
"But that doesn't mean anything, you know? It wasn't because you had sex with him." Harry said trying to cheer her up. But it wasn't working. Sabrina started to cry.
"Yes it was." She said through her tears. "You don't understand." She said running away. Harry sighed in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. He watched Sabrina run over to Malfoy. He held her awkwardly in his arms as she cried into his chest. Harry walked over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and sat down next them.
"So how'd it go?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed with frustration.
"How do you think?" He said shooting her a look.
"Where is she?" Ron asked.
"She ran back to Malfoy crying?"
"Great, how did you make her cry?" Hermione asked. "All I asked you to do was convince her not to sleep with him and you send her off crying into his arms!"
"Listen, she's hiding something from us and I don't think she's going to tell us." Harry started. "She mentioned something about how the first guy she slept with died two days after they first did it and she's worried something might happen if she did it again."
"So what she's not a virgin?" Ron questioned.
"Apparently. She's definitely not telling us something."
"And why would she?" Hermione asked. "She's only known us for two weeks. No respectable person spills any personal information to a bunch of strangers she's known for two weeks."
"But she's acting like she wants to tell us, Hermione. She seems afraid." Harry said remembering the conversation they had the second day of school in the common room and their most recent one.
"Well let's just hope that Malfoy doesn't take advantage of her while she's like this. Where are they? Weren't they just over there?" Hermione asked. Ron pointed to the doors of the Great Halls to show Malfoy and Sabrina leaving the room with his arm around her. "Oh no."
"What are we going to do now?" Ron asked.
"What can we do?" Pointed out Harry. All of a sudden Harry felt a warm hand on his shoulder and turned around. Cho was standing behind him looking slightly annoyed.
"Harry, where were you?" She asked crossing her arms. Harry shrugged.
"I had to talk to Sabrina for Hermione." He said knowing how easily jealous she got.
"Oh." Cho said simply. She looked at Hermione and smiled wearily. "Harry, come with me. It's the last dance." Harry got up and walked back to the dance floor with Cho. She put her head on his shoulder and Harry put his hands on her waist. "Harry, I had a great time with you tonight."
"Yeah, me too." He replied trying to stop thinking about Sabrina and enjoy the moment. She looked up at him and started kissing him passionately. Harry started kissing back. They could've continued like that for much longer until somebody accidentally knocked him in the back. Cho smiled looking slightly embarrassed. Harry half expected her to start kissing him again when she started talking.
"Harry, where are we going?" She asked. Harry eyed her suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
"Well I like you and you obviously like me. And we've been dating for a while now and I just need to know if we're serious or is this just a fling." She said seriously. Harry started feeling nervous.
"What do you want?"
"I want to know what where doing because this is my last year of Hogwarts you know. I don't want to waist anytime with someone if he's not wanting a relationship." She said sounding a little nervous. Cho cleared her throat.
"I want a relationship." Harry said quickly. Cho grinned and hugged him.
"Thank god because I really, really like you Harry. I'm so happy we're exclusive now." She said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Harry smiled.
"So what do we do now that we're exclusive?" Harry asked feeling extremely stupid and expecting her to burst out laughing.
"Well the same thing we've been doing all week and we don't go on dates with anyone else." She said decidedly.
"Okay, I can do that."
"Speaking of exclusive, what's going on with Ron and Hermione?"
"I don't know." Harry said honestly. He was wondering himself but still hadn't got the chance to ask either one of them.
"I don't know what Ron sees in Hermione. She really gets on my nerves for some reason."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There's just something about her I don't like."
"Hermione's a great person. She's smart, clever, helpful." Harry said trying to control his temper.
"Well she is smart, I'll give you that." Said Cho. "But she seems stuck up."
"Why are you so jealous of her?" Harry blurted out. He didn't mean to say it but he's wanted to ask her since February. Cho looked at him as if he just insulted her.
"What?" She said through her teeth. "I am not jealous of her!"
"Then why did you run out on my on Valentine's day? You thought I was going to see her too!"
"You were going to see her!"
"Because she was getting Rita Skeeter to do that interview for the Quibbler!" Harry yelled. Cho looked down and Harry tried to come down.
"Oh." She said simply. "I didn't know. I guess it was wrong of me to freak out on you. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well…" Harry started but never got to finish his thought. He looked at Cho who looked like she was about to cry. What's with me and making women cry? Do I just give off some signal all of the time that makes them bawl? He put his arm around her and they started walking out of the Great Hall with the rest of the school. When they reached the entrance hall they stopped and Harry looked at her.
"Sorry I yelled." He said earnestly.
"It's okay." Cho lied. Harry leaned down and hugged her to try and make her feel better. He seemed to think that it worked because she wouldn't let go and had stopped crying. When she finally did let go she let out a small laugh. "At least we got our first fight out of the way."
"Yeah." Said Harry accompanied by a small chuckle. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" He didn't know if she was really okay or not but she nodded anyway, gave him a quick kiss, then walked away down one of the corridors. Harry saw Ron and Hermione come out of the Great Hall and joined them. Ron saw that he wasn't in the best of moods.
"Had a good night?" Questioned Ron.
"Horrible, although I am officially going out with Cho." Said Harry.
"Oh well that's nice," Hermione said trying to figure out why Harry was still glum, "isn't it?"
"Yes but we also had our own official argument too about five seconds afterwards."
"What about?" Ron asked.
"Actually it was Hermione."
"What! Me? Why? I didn't do anything." Hermione asked hysterically.
"We started talking about you and Ron then just you then I asked why she's so jealous of you and she freaked out on me."
"Of course you did! You said she was jealous! Nobody wants to admit that." She said acting as if every male on Earth should've known better.
"Even I know that mate." Ron added. Harry shot him a look that told him to shut up and he did. They arrived in the Gryffindor Tower moments later and Hermione ran up the girls' stairs before anyone could let out a word. Ron and Harry looked at each other.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"Got me. You're the one that likes her." Stated Harry. Hermione came back down seconds later looking pale.
"Sabrina's not in her bed."
(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)( A dozen roses for Bryan Andersen…Brandon, Lauren, and Mrs. Andersen: None of you deserve this. I love you all and I pretty much consider you family. All of BBP is mourning with you; you have my love.
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The Dance
The next week flew by even faster than the last, mainly due to the fact that the whole school seemed to be paired off: Ron & Hermione, Sabrina & Malfoy, and Harry & Cho. During class, they were all together and all having fun, excluding Malfoy. But as soon as the bell rang it was like some odd charm was placed upon them and they all walked to their next class with their mate. As it got closer and closer to Friday you could feel the excitement in the air. It had been two years since the students at Hogwarts had held a dance or a ball. The first one for Harry and his friends had been extremely awkward. Harry had asked Cho but she was already going with Cedric so he wound up going with Parvati. Hermione went with Viktor Krum and out of jealousy and pure spite Ron took Padma. The happiness Harry had felt after his date with Cho had lasted most of that week.
Harry talked to her everyday and they still haven't had one fight. He walked her to her classes even if it wasn't near his class. The classes on Friday were extremely lax and easy. None of the teachers assigned tough homework and let the students talk for the last fifteen minutes. That night, Harry and Ron were getting ready in their dormitory with Dean, Seamus, and Neville. Out of all of them, Ron seemed the most nervous.
"Are you sure I look alright?" He said adjusting his robes for the umpteenth time.
"You look fine." Harry said not even looking over. He was too busy trying to think of what to say when he saw Cho.
"Are you sure because I don't want Hermione to think I don't care how I look with her?" Ron said turning to Seamus.
"Ron, you're one of me best mates and if you ask me how you look again I'm gonna kick the livin' daylights outta ya." Replied Seamus as he put his arm around Ron and gave him a hard pat on the back.
"So Ron, you're going with Hermione?" Asked Neville who was already dressed and ready to go.
"Yeah are you going with anyone Neville?" Ron questioned. Neville started to blush.
"Well, uh, there is someone…" Started Neville to starting to get embarrassed. Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus all looked at each other and smiled.
"Who you taking Dean?" Seamus asked fixing his hair.
"My girlfriend Ginny." Ron dropped the comb that was in his hand and looked at Dean.
"You're going out with my sister?" Ron asked furiously. He started to corner Dean who was starting to sweat and Harry and Seamus backed away trying to stifle their laughter.
"She told me she told you already! She said it was months ago!" Said Dean nervously.
"I don't remember her telling me!" Ron shouted. Harry walked up to Ron and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Er, Ron. She told you on the train home last June. Remember?" Ron calmed down.
"Oh yeah." He said honestly.
The Girl's Dormitory ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sabrina, Lavender, and Parvati were all frantically running around their dormitory putting on their jewelry and make up. Lavender was putting the finishing touches on her violet chiffon dress robes as Parvati was trying to find her favorite pair of earrings that goes perfectly with her pink satin robes. Sabrina was sitting at the girls' vanity applying the finishing touches of her light blue eye shadow. "Has anyone seen them at all? They're pink rhinestones and I bought them to go with this dress." Parvati asked laying on her belly reaching under the bed pulling out anything she could reach.
"I'm sorry Parvati, put you can borrow my dangly ones if you'd like." Lavender said.
"I think I'm going to need to." She said getting to her knees. Lavender grabbed her hand, pulled her up, and brought her over to her nightstand. Sabrina got up and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Hermione, hurry up I need to go!" She shouted through the door. Hermione pushed open the door and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her with their jaws on the ground. "Holy crap." Gasped Sabrina. Hermione's normally bushy brown hair was straightened and in a tight bun that rested on the top of her head. Her robes were a deep red and her make up was to perfection.
"What? Is it my hair? Is it my robes? I hope I didn't put on too much make up." She asked worriedly. Parvati and Lavender walked over next to Hermione. Lavender and Parvati looked at each other and nodded their heads.
"Ron is going to die." Parvati said.
Twenty minutes later it was 8:30 and Seamus, Dean, and Ron were all waiting by the girl's stairs for their dates to come down. Harry and Neville were standing with them although both of their dates were from different houses.
"We're ready." One of the girls called out. Suddenly Parvati, Ginny, Sabrina, Lavender, and Hermione came walking down the stairs. All of the men including Harry were in shock. Ginny was wearing emerald green robes that really made her hair look even red than ever. Lavender and Parvati were looking all right but Sabrina and Hermione looked absolutely fantastic. Sabrina was wearing black dress robes, a diamond necklace with matching diamond studs. Her dark hair was down but looked bouncier and softer than ever as it rested a little past her shoulders. Even as much as Harry hated to admit it, she looked incredible.
Dean took Ginny's arm and Seamus took Lavender's arm and headed down to the Great Hall. Hermione walked up to Ron and the two smiled. "Wow, you look…amazing." Ron said in awe.
"Really? I was so nervous I really didn't know what I was doing when I was getting ready." She said looking down.
"Well whatever you did, you look great." Hermione looked up and smiled at him. He took her hand and they started walking towards the Fat Lady's portrait. Ron stopped for a moment and looked back at Harry and Neville. "Are you three coming?" Ron asked. Harry was looking at Sabrina.
"You look great." He said truthfully.
"Thanks. Hey since I've got no one to escort me down to the Great Hall, would you do the honors?" She asked. Harry looked at her quizzically. "Don't worry it'll just be something we'll do as friends." She smiled at him and Harry knew he had to do it.
"Okay I guess." The two locked arms and as Harry began to walk, Sabrina stopped him and turned to Neville.
"Hey the other side's a little lonely. Mind helping me out?" She said giving him the same seductive smile. Neville nodded and took her other arm. The three of them walked over to Ron and Hermione and Sabrina gave her a wink and they all took off for the Great Hall.
When they got there, all of the fourth years and up were waiting for the doors to open. Sabrina, Harry, and Neville waved goodbye and went off to find their dates. Harry saw Sabrina rush up to Malfoy and give him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. Across the crowd, Harry saw Cho wearing dress robes very similar if not the exact same robes as Sabrina. They both walked towards each other and smiled. "Hey." She said.
"Hey." Harry replied. "You look great."
"Thanks. This is so weird. Remember how you asked me two years ago to go to the dance and I couldn't go? I never told anyone this but I really, really wanted to say yes. Now it seems like I've gotten a second chance." She said as Harry grabbed her hands. He smiled and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You deserve a second chance." He said trying to think of something to say. Why did I say that? He thought.
"We deserve a second chance." Corrected Cho. The doors to the Great Hall suddenly opened and everyone piled in to the room. Cho and Harry sat down at a table with Ron, Dean, and Ginny. Hermione was on the other side of the Great Hall with Sabrina talking to her. At the table, they all started chatting about Quidditch. After a while, Ron and Cho started getting into a heated conversation about the Twisters.
Just in time before Ron said something he would truly live to regret, Hermione came over to Ron, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him to dance. "That's a good idea." Said Cho. "Come on, let's dance." She grabbed Harry's hand a dragged him out on to the dance hall. Just like the Yule Ball, the Weird Sisters were playing. They had just started playing a slow song. Cho took Harry's hands and placed them on her waist. She smiled at him. He was trembling. She put her hands around his neck and her head on his shoulder. "Don't be nervous." She whispered. "All you have to do is sway to the music…sway." Harry accidently stepped on her foot.
"Sorry." He said quickly. Cho chuckled.
"It's alright." From across the room Harry saw Malfoy and Sabrina slow dancing. Their bodies were much closer to one another and Malfoy had his hands on her butt. Harry felt overcome with rage and suddenly clutched Cho closer to him. "Harry," she laughed, "what's come over you?"
"Nothing. I just want to be close to you." He said half-heartedly. She looked up at him.
"Aw, that's so cute." She kissed him tenderly. "Is that close enough?" Asked Cho with a smile. Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I'd say that's about right." Harry looked over at Sabrina and Malfoy. He was whispering something in her ear that made her smile. She picked her head up from his shoulder and kissed him lightly on the lips. The song stopped and Cho picked her head off Harry's shoulder and looked at him.
"Hey do you mind if I go over and talk to my friends for a minute?" Questioned Cho moving a hair out of her face.
"No, not at all." He replied. She kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks. I'll see you later." She said walking over the room. Hermione came over with Ron looking worried.
"Harry, you're not going to believe what Sabrina told me!" Hermione said frantically.
"What did she say?" Harry asked without emotion. He didn't care…or at least, he tried not to care.
"Okay you know how I was talking to her before? Well we started talking about Ron and me then her and Malfoy and she started telling me some stuff he's been saying to her."
"What kind of stuff?" Harry said cocking an eyebrow.
"What kind of stuff did you tell Sabrina about me and you?" Ron asked taking her arm and turning her to him.
"We can talk about that later Ron." She said taking her arm back and starting to get pissed off. "Harry, he wants to bring her up to his dormitory after the dance."
"So, they'll just look at some of his stuff and show her the common room. So what?" Harry asked thinking of what Hermione could possibly be trying to tell him. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"He's going to sleep with her!"
"WHAT!" Harry shouted.
"Malfoy's going to take Sabrina up to his room tonight and- -" Hermione started. Ron put his hand over her mouth.
"Hermione, do you think Harry really wants to hear what Malfoy's going to do with her up in his dormitory." Ron asked. Hermione removed his hand from her mouth and shot him a look.
"God, why is she doing this?" Harry asked rubbing his temples. "Is that what he's been whispering in her ear?" Hermione nodded her head reluctantly. "We've got to stop her."
"I already tried to talk her out of it! She wouldn't listen. I kept giving her worst case scenarios and she just kept saying that I was acting like a virgin."
"Which you are, right? Or did you and Viktor Krum do something all of those times in the library?" Ron asked. The corners of Hermione's mouth started to turn into a smile.
"Of course I am now Ron, go away." She said quickly trying not to smile. Ron walked away and joined Seamus at the punch bowl.
"I'm going to go talk to her." Harry said starting to walk off in Sabrina's direction. Hermione pulled him back.
"Don't do anything stupid. And remember show her you kind of like her because you're pretty much going out with Cho." She said acting very much like Ron's mom.
"Fine. Now go off and join you're future husband." He said jokingly. Hermione slapped him hard on the arm and walked away. Harry rubbed his arm and continued on to Sabrina where she was still dancing with Malfoy now to a more upbeat song. Malfoy noticed him first and stopped dancing. Sabrina soon followed.
"Well, well, isn't it scar-head himself? Come to save someone's life?" Malfoy sneered. Sabrina jabbed him with her elbow.
"Shut up Draco, he's my friend." She said sternly and sounding a bit annoyed. She turned back to Harry. "What's up?"
"Can we talk?" Asked Harry. Sabrina looked at him funny and turned back to Malfoy.
"Draco, I'm gonna go talk with Harry. I'll be back in a minute. I'll miss you." She said before giving him a quick kiss.
"I'll miss you too." Said Malfoy. Harry felt sick to his stomach. Sabrina and him walked over to an empty corner of the Great Hall.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked happily.
"Hermione told me that you and Malfoy- -"
"Draco." She corrected him.
"- -You and Draco were going to, er, well you know, sleep together tonight." He said rather uncomfortably. Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"I knew Hermione was going to tell someone. She's so worried about me."
"Well so am I! You've only known him for two weeks and you're about to have sex with him!" Harry said in a whisper so other people wouldn't overhear.
"Harry, I'm not a virgin. I've had sex before. It's no big deal!" She said growing with annoyance. But when she said she wasn't a virgin, Harry sensed fear in her voice.
"Well to everyone else it is a big deal? And what about the guys you've slept with? Don't you think it matters to them?" He asked trying to persuade her.
"First of all I've only had sex once with one guy so don't make me sound like a slut. I'm really not. And second of all, I know it matters to them and that's what got me in trouble in the first place. Him."
"Trouble? What trouble?" Harry asked quizzically.
"Never mind that. And besides I said that I might sleep with him." Sabrina said looking down.
"So you may not…you know?"
"Well I don't know. I know that he wants to, but I don't know I've kind of had second thoughts." She said running her hand through her hair. "The last time I slept with someone he…he…"
"He what?"
"He…died." There was a long awkward silence. Harry cleared his throat.
"He died? Like while you two were- -" Questioned Harry.
"No! Two days later."
"But that doesn't mean anything, you know? It wasn't because you had sex with him." Harry said trying to cheer her up. But it wasn't working. Sabrina started to cry.
"Yes it was." She said through her tears. "You don't understand." She said running away. Harry sighed in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. He watched Sabrina run over to Malfoy. He held her awkwardly in his arms as she cried into his chest. Harry walked over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and sat down next them.
"So how'd it go?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed with frustration.
"How do you think?" He said shooting her a look.
"Where is she?" Ron asked.
"She ran back to Malfoy crying?"
"Great, how did you make her cry?" Hermione asked. "All I asked you to do was convince her not to sleep with him and you send her off crying into his arms!"
"Listen, she's hiding something from us and I don't think she's going to tell us." Harry started. "She mentioned something about how the first guy she slept with died two days after they first did it and she's worried something might happen if she did it again."
"So what she's not a virgin?" Ron questioned.
"Apparently. She's definitely not telling us something."
"And why would she?" Hermione asked. "She's only known us for two weeks. No respectable person spills any personal information to a bunch of strangers she's known for two weeks."
"But she's acting like she wants to tell us, Hermione. She seems afraid." Harry said remembering the conversation they had the second day of school in the common room and their most recent one.
"Well let's just hope that Malfoy doesn't take advantage of her while she's like this. Where are they? Weren't they just over there?" Hermione asked. Ron pointed to the doors of the Great Halls to show Malfoy and Sabrina leaving the room with his arm around her. "Oh no."
"What are we going to do now?" Ron asked.
"What can we do?" Pointed out Harry. All of a sudden Harry felt a warm hand on his shoulder and turned around. Cho was standing behind him looking slightly annoyed.
"Harry, where were you?" She asked crossing her arms. Harry shrugged.
"I had to talk to Sabrina for Hermione." He said knowing how easily jealous she got.
"Oh." Cho said simply. She looked at Hermione and smiled wearily. "Harry, come with me. It's the last dance." Harry got up and walked back to the dance floor with Cho. She put her head on his shoulder and Harry put his hands on her waist. "Harry, I had a great time with you tonight."
"Yeah, me too." He replied trying to stop thinking about Sabrina and enjoy the moment. She looked up at him and started kissing him passionately. Harry started kissing back. They could've continued like that for much longer until somebody accidentally knocked him in the back. Cho smiled looking slightly embarrassed. Harry half expected her to start kissing him again when she started talking.
"Harry, where are we going?" She asked. Harry eyed her suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
"Well I like you and you obviously like me. And we've been dating for a while now and I just need to know if we're serious or is this just a fling." She said seriously. Harry started feeling nervous.
"What do you want?"
"I want to know what where doing because this is my last year of Hogwarts you know. I don't want to waist anytime with someone if he's not wanting a relationship." She said sounding a little nervous. Cho cleared her throat.
"I want a relationship." Harry said quickly. Cho grinned and hugged him.
"Thank god because I really, really like you Harry. I'm so happy we're exclusive now." She said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Harry smiled.
"So what do we do now that we're exclusive?" Harry asked feeling extremely stupid and expecting her to burst out laughing.
"Well the same thing we've been doing all week and we don't go on dates with anyone else." She said decidedly.
"Okay, I can do that."
"Speaking of exclusive, what's going on with Ron and Hermione?"
"I don't know." Harry said honestly. He was wondering himself but still hadn't got the chance to ask either one of them.
"I don't know what Ron sees in Hermione. She really gets on my nerves for some reason."
"Why?"
"I don't know. There's just something about her I don't like."
"Hermione's a great person. She's smart, clever, helpful." Harry said trying to control his temper.
"Well she is smart, I'll give you that." Said Cho. "But she seems stuck up."
"Why are you so jealous of her?" Harry blurted out. He didn't mean to say it but he's wanted to ask her since February. Cho looked at him as if he just insulted her.
"What?" She said through her teeth. "I am not jealous of her!"
"Then why did you run out on my on Valentine's day? You thought I was going to see her too!"
"You were going to see her!"
"Because she was getting Rita Skeeter to do that interview for the Quibbler!" Harry yelled. Cho looked down and Harry tried to come down.
"Oh." She said simply. "I didn't know. I guess it was wrong of me to freak out on you. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well…" Harry started but never got to finish his thought. He looked at Cho who looked like she was about to cry. What's with me and making women cry? Do I just give off some signal all of the time that makes them bawl? He put his arm around her and they started walking out of the Great Hall with the rest of the school. When they reached the entrance hall they stopped and Harry looked at her.
"Sorry I yelled." He said earnestly.
"It's okay." Cho lied. Harry leaned down and hugged her to try and make her feel better. He seemed to think that it worked because she wouldn't let go and had stopped crying. When she finally did let go she let out a small laugh. "At least we got our first fight out of the way."
"Yeah." Said Harry accompanied by a small chuckle. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" He didn't know if she was really okay or not but she nodded anyway, gave him a quick kiss, then walked away down one of the corridors. Harry saw Ron and Hermione come out of the Great Hall and joined them. Ron saw that he wasn't in the best of moods.
"Had a good night?" Questioned Ron.
"Horrible, although I am officially going out with Cho." Said Harry.
"Oh well that's nice," Hermione said trying to figure out why Harry was still glum, "isn't it?"
"Yes but we also had our own official argument too about five seconds afterwards."
"What about?" Ron asked.
"Actually it was Hermione."
"What! Me? Why? I didn't do anything." Hermione asked hysterically.
"We started talking about you and Ron then just you then I asked why she's so jealous of you and she freaked out on me."
"Of course you did! You said she was jealous! Nobody wants to admit that." She said acting as if every male on Earth should've known better.
"Even I know that mate." Ron added. Harry shot him a look that told him to shut up and he did. They arrived in the Gryffindor Tower moments later and Hermione ran up the girls' stairs before anyone could let out a word. Ron and Harry looked at each other.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"Got me. You're the one that likes her." Stated Harry. Hermione came back down seconds later looking pale.
"Sabrina's not in her bed."
(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)(@)( A dozen roses for Bryan Andersen…Brandon, Lauren, and Mrs. Andersen: None of you deserve this. I love you all and I pretty much consider you family. All of BBP is mourning with you; you have my love.