A/N: If you're interested in downloading the songs that are used during the ball, you can either IM me and I'll transfer them to you or you can just download them yourself from Kazaa. The songs are as follows and are played in the order listed:

"Waltz for the Moon" - Final Fantasy VIII (Sepet & Ruby dancing)

"Perhaps Love" - Richard Clayderman (Ron/Hermione dancing)

"Lady in Red/Take My Breath Away" (instrumental) - Richard Clayderman (Harry/Cho dancing)

"Ano Hi Ni" - Megumi Hayashibara (Ruby's song in this chapter) note: played with the idea that no one but Ruby knows what the words mean.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 28: The Valentine's Ball

January soon passed into February and the professors had a harder time getting the students to pay attention in classes since they were all very excited about the upcoming ball. There hadn't been any word from Sirius and Harry was getting even more worried that something might have happened to him however Hermione continued to reassure him that nothing was wrong.

Viktor Krum started making himself more noticeable around the school again and it made Harry wonder where he had been. Then again, Harry had been hospitalized for a bit ever since his Quidditch accident and was so worried about being attacked by Parvati that he hadn't had the time to bother with him.

One day at dinner, a week before the Valentine's ball, Hedwig came to visit Harry with a note attached to her leg. Harry took the note and gave Hedwig a bit of his dinner as a treat. She then nipped his ear and took off with her meal as Harry opened the note to read it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry,

This is Arabella Figg. Padfoot is observing Avery now so he told me to write you a note saying that everything is going well and that we'll be back soon.

I know that you're worried about Dumbledore but we'll have the information we need to rescue him very soon. Padfoot will talk to you when he gets back but until then, take care.

-Arabella Figg

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey Harry, what did the note say?" Ron asked as Harry quickly pocketed it before anyone else noticed it.

"It was about Sirius, he says that he's doing well and that he'll be coming to visit soon," Harry replied, leaving out the fact that the note had something to do with the Phoenix Order and Dumbledore.

Hermione threw him a knowing look and Ron looked as if was going to question him further but fortunately for them, Cho decided to come and visit.

"Hi Harry - Ron - Hermione," Cho greeted them.

"Hi Cho," Harry returned. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing just fine - I was going to ask you if you wanted to walk with me for a bit afterwards," said Cho.

Harry agreed and got up but when he turned around to go with Cho, he had to jump aside in order to avoid two owls swooping down from the air, crashing headlong into Cho. The force of his action caused them both to fall to the ground with Harry landing on top.

"Harry," Cho murmured underneath him. "Could you please get off me?"

Harry felt himself turn red in embarrassment and he quickly rolled off Cho and got up. Extending a hand to help her up, Harry looked to see what the two owls had delivered only to find that it was a box of chocolates and a small note addressed to Hermione.

"Thanks Harry," Cho said as Harry helped her up.

"You're welcome, sorry about that," Harry said, his cheeks still flushed red from embarrassment.

"Uh, Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Could you and Cho do a favour for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could you both go to the library and ask what Krum wants?" Hermione said nervously turning the note over and over again in her hands.

"Krum? What does this have to do with him?" Ron asked with narrowed eyes.

"Here, take a look for yourself," Hermione replied handing him the note for them to look at.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Hermione,

The box of chocolates is for you. I'm sorry I haven't been around much since I have been spending my time in the library but if it isn't too much trouble, please come to see me in the library. There is something I would like to ask you.

Yours Truly,

Viktor Krum

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I wonder what he wants," Ron muttered bitterly.

"Didn't you go with him to the ball last year?" Cho asked looking at the note over Ron's shoulder.

"Yeah and I have a feeling that this has something to do with the Valentine's ball," Hermione said, pressing her lips together in a frown.

"Why don't you want to go with him? He seemed pretty nice last year from what I heard."

"Long story.." Hermione said gloomily.

"Don't worry Hermione, I'll take care of it," Harry said and he whispered quickly into Cho's ear, "I'll explain later."

"Thank you Harry," Hermione said, smiling at him.

"Ready to go?" Cho asked turning to leave.

"Okay, let's go," Harry agreed. "Bye Hermione, bye Ron. I'll see you two later."

With that, Harry and Cho left the Great Hall and headed over to the library.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So why doesn't your friend Hermione want to go with Viktor Krum?" Cho asked as they walked down the now quiet halls of the school towards the library.

"He invited her over to stay in Bulgaria a bit over the summer but during that time, he basically ignored her whenever his friends were around," Harry explained.

"I had no idea he could be so cold," Cho said thoughtfully. "He struck me as a rather nice and caring person but I guess looks can be deceiving."

"If Krum asks where Hermione is, what should I tell him?"

"You could try making up a story like she's not feeling well or something," Cho suggested.

"That could work but if he's trying to win her back, he'll want to go visit her and Hermione would kill me if that happened."

"What about saying that she's trying to catch up on sleep?"

Harry laughed. "Hermione? Catching up on sleep? Unheard of but it could work."

"It's a good excuse but we'll see how it goes."

They turned a corner and walked down the hallway until they entered the school library. Madam Pince was sitting at the desk reading over a book but Krum was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" Harry hissed in annoyance.

"Let's go look for him, he's probably looking around at the books."

So they started searching between the shelves and at each table they saw. However they didn't find Krum until they reached the back of the library where they found him sitting at a table with a bouquet of roses in front of him and intently reading over a book of spells.

"Viktor Krum?" Cho questioned, trying to get his attention.

Krum looked up from his reading and was surprised to see Harry and Cho in front of him instead of Hermione.

"Harry, vhat a surprise to find you here," Krum said. "Vho is she?"

Cho proceeded to introduce herself. "I don't believe we've met before, I'm Cho Chang from Ravenclaw."

"A pleasure," Krum said with a small smile. "Vhat are you two doing here? Vare is Hermy-own-ninny?"

Harry was starting to doubt that using the excuse they had come up beforehand would work and hesitated for a moment but to his relief, Cho quickly covered for him. "She's catching up on some sleep right now so that's why we're here."

"But the note vos supposed to be delivered to her," Krum said, looking at them suspiciously.

"It was," Harry said, finally gathering himself. "We happened to be in the common room and we accidentally read it so we came here to tell you that she was asleep. That way you wouldn't have to wait here all night."

"Can I see her?" Krum asked, getting up.

"She asked not to be disturbed while she was asleep unless it was an emergency," Cho replied.

"But this is an emergency!" Krum exclaimed, jumping up and knocking his chair to the ground in the process.

Harry and Cho looked at Krum with upraised eyebrows. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I need to ask her to the ball!" Krum shouted.

Hearing the commotion in the back of the library, Madam Pince got up from her desk and headed over to see what was causing it. Several students in the library also followed closely behind the librarian to get a better look at what was going on.

"I'm sorry but you're too late," Cho told Krum bluntly. "Someone's already asked her."

"V-" Krum started to say.

" - You three," Madam Pince scolded when she found them. "If you can't keep your voices down I'll throw you out."

"Sorry," Harry apologised, "We'll keep it down."

Madam Pince was apparently satisfied with the answer for she walked back to her desk and continued reading but the students continued to look on.

"Vho asked Hermy-own-ninny to the ball?" Krum asked, keeping his voice down.

"I know," said one of the students. "It was her friend, Ron Weasley."

Krum looked disappointed. "Oh.."

"I'm sorry Viktor that you weren't able to go with the person you wanted to but there are other opportunities to talk with her and if nothing else, there are other girls out there. Maybe you can ask one of them."

"Whose side are you on?" Harry muttered to Cho but not loud enough that Krum would overhear.

"Sorry," she replied softly, giving Harry a sheepish smile, "but Krum has feelings too and it wouldn't be very nice of us if we didn't try to help him."

"I guess you're right," Harry agreed.

"Vell, I guess I vos too slow this time," Viktor said, gathering up the bouquet of roses. "Thank you Harry - it vos nice to meet you Cho."

With that, Viktor quietly left the library and the students around them went back to doing what they were doing previously.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry awoke on Valentine's day to find two school owls perched on his window, each with a note on its leg. Hedwig was sitting on her cage staring at the two owls that had invaded her master's room and looked as if she was about to thrash the two foreign owls.

Harry got out of bed and walked over to the window and removed the two notes from their legs before releasing them out the window. Upon closer inspection, he saw that one note was from Sepet and the other was from Cho.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mr. Potter,

Thank you once again for allowing me to escort Ruby to the ball. I will meet you both at 6:00 PM this evening Walter's classroom since the ball starts at 7 PM; that way there will be enough time to prepare.

Count Sepet

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry then put away the note and opened the one from Cho.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Harry,

Happy Valentine's day! I was hoping that I could see you before the ball and that we could do something together with Ron and Hermione until about 3, then I need to get ready for the ball and I'm sure Hermione will too. See you at breakfast.

Love,

Cho

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry blushed slightly after reading over the note again. *Love Cho? * Harry thought as some old feelings came flooding back. *Maybe getting over Hermione won't be so hard. *

Harry smiled happily to himself. He had been looking forward to this day since he could finally see whether or not his dancing lessons paid off. However in order to make things easier on himself later, he decided that it would be better if he summoned Ruby first; that way he wouldn't have to rush to get down to Walter's classroom later on.

After changing into his school robes, buckling his sword under his robes, and grabbing his wand and ring, Harry made his way downstairs and exited the portrait, heading in the direction of the empty classroom where his dancing lessons were always held.

However, Harry made sure to quickly go outside to gather some dirt in his hands before continuing on towards the classroom.

Upon arriving at the classroom, Harry locked the door to ensure that he wouldn't be disturbed and proceeded to summon each of the guardians.

Once that was finished, he pointed his wand at the Water Guardian and said the spell to combine all of them into her human form. Immediately the forms of the four guardians faded and glided towards the centre of the room before solidifying once again into a girl about the same height as Harry with chestnut coloured hair, only this time it was braided with a light blue ribbon tied into a neat little bow at the end of it and a slightly larger bow at the crown of her head. Instead of her usual light blue dress, Ruby was wearing a white blouse with a light blue scarf neatly fastened at her throat with a ruby jewel and a navy blue skirt that stopped just above her knees.

"Harry!" Ruby exclaimed with a bright smile when she saw him. "How are you? I'm soo excited about the ball today."

Harry grinned. "I'm doing just great and I'm looking forward to the ball too."

"What time is it? Do I need to change?"

Harry chuckled slightly. "No, the ball isn't for another 12 hours. It is only 7:00 in the morning but Sepet would like to meet you around 6."

"Why can't I see him now?" Ruby asked impatiently.

"Because he'd be asleep right now," Harry explained. "It's still morning and vampires are only awake at night."

"Wouldn't that make him very dangerous?"

"He has already attacked two students which makes him very dangerous indeed, so at the ball I will need your help to keep an eye on him and make sure that he doesn't go off biting anyone."

"All right - though this will be the first time I've ever gone out with a vampire," Ruby mused, "but until then, do you think you could show me around the school?"

"Uh okay, I'm about to go to breakfast where I'm supposed to meet Cho and you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you," Ruby said, smiling at him with her head tilted slightly and both hands in front of her. In that position, Ruby was decidedly cute but Harry couldn't see himself dating someone that whose sole purpose was to protect him.

"Let's go."

Harry then unlocked the door and headed towards the Great Hall with Ruby following closely behind asking him questions about the school every now and then.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Harry and Ruby arrived at the Great Hall, Harry saw that it was relatively empty except for a handful of Gryffindors and Slytherins. However to no surprise at all, some of the guys that were already there were gawking at Ruby who was looking around at the students with interest.

As he made his way to the Gryffindor table, Harry scanned the Ravenclaw table for Cho but she wasn't there yet so he took a seat at the table where he could see when Cho entered the Great Hall.

"Why are all these boys staring at me? Do I look that strange or is something wrong with what I'm wearing?" Ruby asked, sitting down next to him.

"What you're wearing is fine but they're staring at you like that because they think you're pretty," Harry answered.

Ruby giggled slightly. "I've never seen so many people look at me like that at once in my life."

"That's because you've never been in a school full of hormonal teenage boys before," Harry said dryly. "You also stand out since you aren't wearing a school uniform."

"Should I change into something else?"

"That would only draw attention to yourself so don't change into something different while you're here. You can change later but be sure not to let anyone see you, otherwise they'll suspect something."

Ruby began to idly play around with hair, brushing the lose strands of hair at the bottom of the braid back and forth across her nose, ignoring the stares coming from the guys at the table. "So where are we now?"

"We're in the Great Hall where all our meals take place. The teacher's table is that high table in the far end of the hall and the four tables in front of you are for the four houses."

"Which table are we at?"

"We're sitting at the Gryffindor table and the other tables, from the nearest to the farthest, are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

At that moment, Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall and headed over to join Harry but they were shocked to find another girl that neither of them had seen before sitting next to him.

"Good Morning Harry," Hermione said, sitting down on the opposite end of the table with Ron next to her.

"Morning Harry," Ron said but he was more distracted by Ruby's looks.

"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley," said Ron, extending a hand to Ruby. "Who are you? I haven't seen you here before."

"I'm Ruby," Ruby said, shaking his hand daintily, "and I would be one of Harry's friends who happens to be visiting for today."

"Really? Harry, why haven't you told us about Ruby before?" Ron asked.

"You never asked," Harry said dryly, causing Hermione and Ruby to laugh at the dumbfounded expression that fell upon Ron's face.

Shaking off his dumbfounded look, Ron made another attempt to talk to Ruby. "I'm a prefect at this school so if you'd like to look around, I'd be more than happy to show you around."

Ruby giggled at Ron's behaviour and Hermione scowled. "Harry has already shown me around the school but thank you anyway."

Ruby then turned to look at Hermione and smiled. "Hullo Hermione, it's nice to see you."

Hermione was taken aback by what Ruby said. "How do you know my name?"

"I've seen you around before and Harry told me that one of his best friends is a girl named Hermione. Since he's Ron," Ruby said, motioning towards Ron. "That makes you Hermione."

Hermione gave Harry a rather confused look but that look soon became one of understanding as she realised that Ruby was the Water Guardian.

Cho entered the Great Hall and Harry waved to her to get her to sit with them. She spotted him and immediately headed over to where he was sitting.

"Hi Harry, mind if I - " Cho said happily but then her eyes fell upon Ruby. " - Oh, we have a visitor today. I'm Cho Chang, who are you?"

"I'm Ruby, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Ruby said with a smile. "Harry has told me so much about you and I can see that he wasn't exaggerating. You are as pretty and as nice as he says you are."

Both Harry and Cho blushed.

"Really now.. So you're one of his friends then?" Cho asked.

"That's right. I've been helping Harry - " Ruby started to say but was stopped when Harry quickly put a hand of her mouth.

"What has she been helping you with Harry?" Cho asked, eyeing Ruby suspiciously as she sat down on the other side of Harry.

Harry grinned nervously at her. "Nothing... it's a surprise for you but you'll find out later."

Cho became very delighted by what Harry had said. "All right, I'll look forward to it."

Eventually the rest of the students entered the Great Hall for breakfast in large groups. Breakfast continued on relatively peacefully as Harry was enjoying the time he was spending with his friends. However this was disrupted when Malfoy decided to interrupt their meal with his troublesome behaviour.

"If it isn't Potter, Mudblood, Weasel, and Chang," Malfoy said bitterly as he came up behind Ron and Hermione on the other side of the table but then his eyes settled upon Ruby who was looking at him curiously. "Well, well.who do we have here?"

Ruby introduced herself quickly. "I'm Ruby, who are you?"

Malfoy gave her a small smile, "I'm Draco Malfoy, one of the better students at this school and a prefect unlike Potter and his group."

"That's not true," Cho said defiantly. "You know very well that Ron, Hermione and I are prefects Malfoy so don't start with that."

"I take it you don't like them very much," Ruby said nonchalantly, looking at Malfoy from where she was sitting.

"That's because he's a pathetic half-breed who gets off easy on everything just because the teachers favour him for surviving the killing curse and defeating the Dark Lord."

"Go away Malfoy before I get Professor Moody to turn you into a ferret again," Hermione stated with a mischievous grin. "I'm sure you remember him from our duelling class."

"Yeah right Mudblood," Malfoy countered, glancing around to see if any teachers were present. "That sorry excuse for an auror isn't around so your empty threats don't scare me."

Malfoy then turned to look at Ruby. "Why are you around Potter anyway, it's not like you're his date to the ball because he's already going with Chang. Say - rather than stay here with these losers, why don't you join me at the Slytherin table? I don't think we would mind having an extra student sitting with us or better yet, if you don't have a date to the ball, I'll get rid of my date and you can come with me."

"That's enough Malfoy," Harry said, gritting his teeth. "Go back where to belong before you end up in the hospital wing."

"Why should I Potter? Because I'm supposed to be scared of you? Listen, the only reason you've won your duels is because you hide behind Mudblood or Chang but face it, when I drew my sword on you last time, if it weren't for that Necromancer interfering, you would have lost."

Ruby started to laugh, catching the attention of everyone around her. "No need to waste your time Harry, I'll deal with him."

Ruby then stood up and gave Malfoy a flirtatious look. "So how about it Draco? Face me in a duel and if you win, I'll go with you to the ball but if you lose you don't come within ten feet of Harry or any of his friends for the rest of the day ok?"

Malfoy considered it for a moment and grinned. "You're on."

Malfoy then strode to the centre of the Great Hall and Harry leaned towards Ruby. "Aren't you going with Sepet this evening?"

Ruby gave him a sly smile. "That's why I have nothing to lose. If I win, Malfoy won't bother you and if I lose, Malfoy doesn't know I'm going with Sepet and I don't think he would let a git like Malfoy take me to the ball."

With that, Ruby walked to the centre of the Great Hall to face Malfoy and the students in the hall looked on with keen interest.

"How about we make it interesting?" Ruby called. "I'll let you get two other students to help you if you want."

"Nah," Malfoy replied, taking out his wand. "I'll beat you without help that way you can't complain later."

"Suit yourself," Ruby said smugly. "But don't whine after I beat you."

"Common, hurry up and draw your wand already," Malfoy said impatiently. "I don't have all day."

Ruby smiled mischievously. "Who says I needed a wand?"

"What!?" Malfoy exclaimed. "You're a witch aren't you so don't you need a wand? How do I know if I've won then?"

"I'll let you borrow my wand Miss," a Hufflepuff boy who turned out to be Ernie McMillan called.

"Thank you," Ruby said, taking the wand from Ernie who was turning redder by the second.

Ruby then placed the wand in her hair, much to everyone's surprise, and curtsied gracefully facing Malfoy.

"Knock the wand out of my hair and I'm yours," Ruby announced.

Malfoy smirked at her. "This'll be easier than I thought."

"Begin!"

Malfoy went first and fired the disarming spell at Ruby but right before it hit, the air in front of her swirled and formed in a thin shield which deflected the spell back at Malfoy who had to dive out of the way in order to avoid it.

Ruby then raised her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. Immediately a red glow was seen just above her hands and a red orb formed which she shot in Malfoy's direction.

Malfoy saw the glowing orb coming towards him and dodged out of the way but Ruby seemed to be controlling it because it followed Malfoy as he ran around the tables in an attempt to avoid it. However it was futile for the orb hit Malfoy in the back just as he was about to collide into Ruby, paralysing him completely.

"I win," Ruby said simply and she bent down to retrieve Malfoy's wand from his hand. Then she stood up and snapped her fingers, releasing him from the paralysis.

She threw the wand to Malfoy who caught it and retreated quickly out of the Great Hall, shoving some of the students to the ground along the way. Ruby then walked to Ernie, who was staring at her with widened eyes, and handed him his wand. "Thank you for lending me your wand."

"What's going on in here?" A voice yelled above the murmur of voices coming from rabble of students surrounding Ruby.

The students scattered as Walter's figure entered the circle of students but upon seeing Ruby in the centre, Walter's facial expression broke into a wide smile.

"Ah, Miss Ruby," Walter said with a slight bow. "A pleasure to finally meet you. Professor Sepet is looking forward to seeing you this evening."

"How do you know who I am and who are you?" Ruby asked, looking at Walter and ignoring the curious stares she was receiving from the students.

"I am Lord Sepet's personal bodyguard, Walter Laikov. My lord has told me about you and I am pleased to see that you will be accompanying him to the ball this evening. Forgive me for saying so but you do stand out in this crowd of students since you aren't wearing a school uniform so I deduced that you would probably be the woman who my lord was talking about. However you do seem to be a lot shorter than I expected."

Ruby grinned at him. "Don't worry, I get that a lot when I look like this."

"Walter almost makes it sound as if Ruby is going with Sepet to the ball," Hermione said to Harry as they watched Ruby from the Gryffindor table.

Harry nodded. "She is but don't worry, she'll help us keep an eye on him. Then all we need to do is watch what Parvati is doing."

For the rest of the day, Harry, Cho, Ron and Hermione gave Ruby a tour of the castle, pointing out the different rooms and which areas were out of bounds to students. They even got in a game of exploding snap which Cho ended up winning.

Around four, Cho and Hermione excused themselves and headed back to their dorms to prepare for the ball but Ruby stayed with Ron and Harry for a bit. They agreed to meet outside the Gryffindor portrait afterwards.

"Aren't you going to change like the rest of the girls?" Ron asked.

Ruby just smiled at him. "I don't need too long to change."

"So what school are you from and how do you know Harry?"

Ruby started brushing her hair across her nose again. "Huh? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Ron repeated the question again and Ruby looked a bit stuck but Harry quickly filled in an excuse. "She was one of the visitors at Sepet's castle over the summer."

"So you're a vampire too?"

Ruby laughed. "No, I'm not a vampire - I'm just here to go with him to the ball."

"Why would you want to go with Sepet? He seems pretty heartless to me and aren't you a bit young to be going with someone his age?"

"I'm going because he asked me to the ball and I'm a lot older than I look."

"So how come you look like you're our age?"

Ron was starting to ask too many questions so Harry quickly interrupted before Ruby could respond and suggested that they change into their dress robes before the ball.

"But we still have another hour or so," Ron protested. "It's not like Hermione and Cho will be done anytime soon."

"I need to take Ruby to meet Sepet at six and I need to be changed by then or I'll be late," Harry said.

"Want me to come with you?" Ruby asked as Harry headed upstairs causing him to nearly trip on the stairs.

"No thanks, you need to change too. You can go up to Hermione's dorm, it's down that way." Harry said, pointing at the staircase leading to the girls' dormitory.

Ruby then got up and walked up the stairs that Harry had pointed out. Once she was out of sight, Harry continued up the stairs to his dorm so that he could change.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Around 5:45, Harry and Ruby exited the portrait to head down to Walter's classroom where they would be meeting Sepet. Ruby was wearing a white, sleeveless gown that fell to just above her ankles with a large light blue bow at the small of her back and white, arm-length gloves. On her feet were a pair of white slippers and she had a pearl necklace around her neck but her hair was relatively unchanged from before.

"Walter seems like a very nice person," Ruby commented as they walked down the stairs to the first floor. "I wonder how long he's been guarding Sepet."

Harry glanced at Ruby and noticed that she seemed to be getting noticeably taller along the way. "I'm not sure but you can always ask Sepet when you see him."

"I chose something that would match with pretty much anything but I'm not sure if he'll like it."

"I doubt he's picky about what you're wearing - I mean he did ask you to come with him so I don't think he'll have a problem with that."

By the time they arrived at Walter's classroom, Harry found that Sepet was already waiting there. However Sepet was dressed a lot differently than he normally was. Instead he was dressed in an old fashioned blue, gold, and white European military uniform with knee high military boots and white gloves to go with it. In addition, he was wearing a slightly shorter black cape over both shoulders fastened his ruby encrusted clasp and his broadsword was fastened around his waist with a black belt.

"Good evening my dear," Sepet said, kissing the back of Ruby's hand. "Thank you for coming and thank you Mr. Potter for bringing her here."

"You're welcome," Harry said with a smile. "I hope that you both have a good time at the ball."

"Don't worry," Ruby said. "I will but you need to go - you don't want to keep Cho waiting now."

Harry then said goodbye to Ruby and Sepet and ran out the door up to the Gryffindor tower where Ron, Hermione and Cho had agreed to meet earlier.

Harry arrived outside the Gryffindor portrait a bit early but he also noted that Ron had finished changing and was already waiting for the girls.

"How do I look Harry?" Ron asked him anxiously as Harry arrived.

Harry looked over Ron a bit and seeing nothing wrong, gave him a nod of approval. "You look find to me, nothing seems wrong."

"I wonder how Hermione looks." Ron said quietly.

"I'm sure she'll look fine," Harry assured him. "She's a perfectionist so she'll make sure that everything is perfect before coming out."

Ron laughed weakly. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one going with her."

Harry frowned at Ron. "You were the one who asked her to the ball, I hope you're not having second thoughts about it or I'll have to thrash you even if you're my best friend."

"Harry!" Cho's voice called and upon turning around, Harry's jaw dropped at the sight before him.

Cho was walking towards him with a bright smile which was emphasized even more by what she was wearing. Her dress robe was made entirely of red velvet with gold lining along the edges and her hair was left to flow freely behind her, making her look extremely beautiful.

Cho spun around once to reveal additional patterns on the back embroidered in gold. "How do I look?"

It took a while for Harry to recover from the shock but eventually replied, "You definitely look nice."

Cho's cheeks flushed red. "Thank you, you look good as well and I think our robes match nicely. Gold and red, the Gryffindor colours."

The portrait opened and Hermione finally appeared. "Hi guys, how do I look?"

"You look great Hermione," Cho said, moving to stand next to Harry and closed his mouth with the tip of her finger.

Hermione had done her hair so that it was straight and shiny like last year but this time it was worn down instead of up in a knot. Her dress robes were also blue like last year but with gold patterns along the sides, somewhat similar to Cho's.

"Shall we go?" Hermione asked. "We don't want to be late for the ball."

"Uh, sure," Ron replied, finally snapping out of the trance he was in.

"Lead the way Ron," Harry said, offering his arm to Cho which she took happily.

Ron was trying hard not to sweat out of pure nervousness but he eventually gathered himself and took Hermione's hand in his before leading the way to the Great Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry was in a state of awe when he arrived at the Great Hall for there were red and pink decorations everywhere in the shape of hearts and cupids. The four tables that were normally present were now lined up along the sides and were replaced with several small round tables which seated about 7-8 people each around the Great Hall.

The area which usually had the teacher's table was now cleared as a stage and there was a large 200 piece orchestra made up entirely of skeletons in the far right corner of the Hall.

"Let's go get a seat before all the tables are taken," Cho suggested.

They looked around for a table near the dancing floor and eventually settled on one near one of the tables that was occupied by most of the professors. The Weasleys were occupying one table close by with Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet sitting next to Fred and George. Hagrid was sitting at the Professor's table drinking and laughing merrily Professor Vector and even Professor Trelawney was there, talking to a very peeved Professor Snape who looked almost as if he was ready to strangle her. However upon listening in to what Trelawney was saying though, Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for Snape even though he loathed being around him.

"But Severus, the tea leaves say that we're meant to be together," Trelawney was saying. "I've foreseen that we will be very happy, believe me."

Snape turned his head slowly to glare at Trelawney. "Sibyll, if you can't keep your blasted predictions to yourself, I will make sure that you will never make another prediction again."

"I don't know why I bothered coming with you in the first place," Snape muttered to himself.

"Poor Snape," Harry said, looking back at Cho. "I almost feel sorry for him since he's here with Trelawney though after suffering through his class, I can't say he doesn't deserve it."

"I'd say you're right but I think that Professor Trelawney would be hurt," Cho said, glancing in the direction of the teacher's table to see what was going on.

"Even better," Ron commented. "It'd be nice if our two least favourite teachers wiped each other out."

"Careful what you wish for Ron," Hermione said. "We may end up wish someone worse, like Lockhart."

"I thought you liked that guy," Ron said with disdain.

"That was until I realised he was a fraud."

"Funny how it took you longer than us to figure that out," Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione quickly turned to face Ron. "Well if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have figured out that there was a basilisk in the school," she said hotly.

"Uh guys," Harry interrupted. "Can we not fight today? I'm sure you'd like to enjoy the ball as much as I do."

"Harry's right, sorry Hermione," Ron apologized.

Sepet and Ruby eventually arrived and there were many gasps of surprise coming from some of the students since they were wondering why she looked different. Walter came almost immediately after them and Harry was quite surprised to find that he wasn't dressed in his normal combat attire and that he had arrived with Professor McGonagall.

Walter was dressed almost like Sepet however his uniform was silver and he had a forest green cape that fell over his left shoulder to match with McGonagall's emerald green dress robes.

Ruby motion towards Harry's table and all four of them came to fill up the remaining seats at his table.

"Good evening Harry," Professor McGonagall said with a small smile. "I'm glad to see that you have come with Miss Chang and I hope you all enjoy yourselves at the ball. The menus are in front of you so order what you wish."

"This place is really pretty," Ruby said delightfully as she looked around at all of the decorations around the Great Hall. "The house elves did a very good job with the decorations."

"Actually Walter did," McGonagall corrected. "He did such a wonderful job with making sure that this place was perfect for this evening."

Walter smiled at her. "I think you're giving me more credit than I deserve my dear."

"I guess we should start eating before the dancing starts, otherwise we'll miss out," Cho suggested, pulling out the menu.

Harry followed suit and glanced over the menu. There didn't seem like anything that he liked so he settled on a steak and some roast potatoes. Ron followed suit and ordered the same thing as Harry but Hermione and Cho ordered small portions of roast chicken and some soup.

During dinner, the orchestra played some gentle background music which added a rather pleasant atmosphere to the Hall however Harry constantly scanned each of the tables for Parvati and Seamus. Since his ring was already glowing, Harry didn't have a clue as to where Parvati could be since it didn't indicate how close the danger was or where it was coming from. Malfoy was sulking next to a very furious looking Pansy in one corner, apparently because she heard that Malfoy had wanted to dump her and take Ruby to the ball but still neither Parvati nor Seamus were anywhere in sight.

"Looking for Parvati?" Cho asked, noticing that Harry was looking around quite a bit.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "I'm worried that she'll attack Seamus."

"She'll appear soon enough since this was all that she's been discussing with Lavender lately," Hermione stated.

Sepet cast a thoughtful glance in Harry's direction as if he knew what they were discussing but Ruby got his attention by asking him to dance.

"Since we're not going to eat anything anytime soon, why don't we go dance?"

Sepet agreed and offered his hand to her which she took happily. The two of them then went towards the dance floor in the centre of the Great Hall and began to dance to a lively waltz tune that the orchestra had begun playing.

Being the only two people on the dance floor made Sepet and Ruby stand out and many of the students were observing the two of them as they moved gracefully along the floor, almost as if they were walking on air.

"They dance very well," Cho commented. "Almost as if they were made for each other on the dance floor."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I know Ruby is a very good dancer but I'd say Sepet is her equal."

Some of the students, seeing the lone pair on the dance floor gathered up some courage and started to dance as well.

Ron finished the last of his dinner and stood up, offering his hand to Hermione as Sepet had done with Ruby. "May I have this dance Hermione?"

Hermione smiled and took Ron's hand. "Of course."

As Hermione and Ron headed to the dance floor, the first song finished and the second one, 'Perhaps Love,' began. Harry felt his insides fall away as he watched them go and begin to dance a bit awkwardly since Ron didn't seem to have any idea what to do at all. In fact Harry thought that he must have been just as bad, if not worse, before Ruby had taught him how do dance.

"So how did you get to know Ruby?" Cho asked, observing her from their table.

"I met her over the summer," Harry said carefully. "In Diagon alley while I was trying to meet with Sirius."

"She looks a lot taller than this morning. I wonder if it's her slippers or if she's using magic to make herself look that way."

"A bit of both I'd say."

Walter eventually got up and asked McGonagall to dance. She accepted and both of them joined the people on the dance floor leaving Cho and Harry alone at the table but as both of them moved out of the line of Harry's vision, he finally spotted Parvati with Seamus, Dean and Padma dancing in the far end of the Great Hall.

"Parvati is here," Harry said, pointing her out to Cho. "We should make sure that she doesn't go around biting anyone."

"Good idea but how do you propose we do that?"

Harry stood up and offered his hand to Cho just as Ron had done with Hermione. "May I have this dance my dear Cho?"

Cho threw him a smile and took his hand. "Yes you may."

Harry led her on to the dance floor about midway through the second song and they began to dance. However Harry became suddenly self-conscious of how close in proximity he was to Cho and felt himself go stiff out of pure nervousness.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, much," Cho teased him.

Harry smiled and made an attempt to relax, concentrating more on his dancing steps rather than on the fact that he was so close to Cho. Unfortunately that didn't work too well as he started tripping over his feet.

"There's no need to be so nervous around me," Cho said, noting that he hadn't relaxed much. "But I find it cute that you're trying your best."

Harry felt his cheeks heat up as he looked into Cho's eyes, taking in every detail from how the light made them sparkle to the way those dark brown orbs seemed to reflect her feelings. Only in that moment did Harry truly relax and move according to the rhythm of the song as Ruby had taught him.

"You dance very well," Cho whispered to him after a while. "I'm glad that I got the chance to go to the ball with you this year."

"So am I," Harry said softly. "This was the surprise that I had for you earlier. Ruby taught me to dance so that I wouldn't make a fool of myself on the dance floor but I think I didn't do as good of a job as I thought," Harry said with a grin.

"I disagree - you're doing an excellent job of dancing, just you need to learn to relax."

The song continued on and Harry saw Hermione and Ron coming towards him on the dance floor, noticing that both of them looked extremely happy about something.

"Harry - Cho," Hermione said full of excitement. "Can you believe what Ron just did?"

Harry turned to look at Ron who was turning redder by the moment. "What did you do?"

"He asked me to be his girlfriend!" Hermione squealed.

"And I accepted," she said more calmly.

"Congratulations Hermione," Cho said, continuing to dance with Harry in the same spot.

Harry felt himself go numb as the news hit him because that was the one thing that killed all of his chances with Hermione yet part of him wasn't entirely disappointed as he figured something like this would happen eventually.

"Congratulations both of you," Harry said, smiling at both of them. "I'm happy for you."

Hermione gave Harry a thoughtful look but returned his smile in good turn.

"Shall we go back to dancing?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Sure - I'll see you both later," Hermione called as she disappeared back into the crowd of students and professors.

"They'd make such a good couple, don't you think?" Cho asked Harry as they watched them go.

"I dunno, they sure seem to fight a lot," Harry pointed out.

"They probably like each other, just they don't know how to express their feelings for each other."

"So does that mean if I argued with you a lot, I have a crush on you?" Harry asked playfully.

Cho laughed. "You're funny you know that?"

Harry grinned at her and they continued dancing until the song ended however when the next song came up, neither of them could resist blushing.

"Lady in red," Cho said quietly.

Harry chuckled slightly. "Very fitting since you are wearing red."

"Makes me think that this whole thing was rigged."

"I'm not sure," Harry said thoughtfully, "but seeing how playful Walter can be at times, I wouldn't put it past him to try something like this - the orchestra is made up entirely of his skeletons after all."

"I guess but why would he play this song just for us?"

"I wouldn't know - I can't tell what he's thinking most of the time."

Harry glanced quickly in Walter's direction to find that he was still dancing with Professor McGonagall and both of them appeared to be enjoying themselves. Parvati and Seamus were also still dancing but Harry was surprised to find that Parvati was now leaning on Seamus as she danced with him.

"Parvati doesn't seem to want to bite Seamus," Harry said, nodding in their direction.

"Or anyone else for that matter," Cho added. "In fact, she looks very content to be like that."

"That doesn't mean that we should stop watching her. She may bite someone when we least expect it."

Cho nodded in her silent agreement and placed Harry's hand that she was holding on her waist. Then she wrapped both arms around his neck and leaned on his chest.

"Do you mind?" she asked, looking up at him.

As much as Harry felt a tad awkward at having Cho pressed up against him, another part of him that he hadn't entirely gotten rid of was delighted by it.

"No I don't mind," Harry said.

Cho's lips curled up slowly into a smile as she leaned back against Harry's chest and Harry couldn't help but smile at how happy she seemed to be.

The song eventually changed once again and Harry led Cho back to the table where they were before at which Ron and Hermione were already seated.

"You two look good out there," Ron commented. "I didn't think you knew how to dance that well Harry, especially after last year."

Harry grinned. "I've had help from a great teacher."

"Oh? Who would that be?" Hermione cut in.

"Ruby," Harry said, scanning the dance floor before finally settling his eyes upon the two dancing figures of Sepet and Ruby. "She spent each day teaching me how to dance while you guys were off on your rounds."

"No wonder we never noticed you were gone," Ron said with a laugh. "I'd say she did a smashing job - I don't suppose she could teach me?"

"You'll have to take it up with her Ron."

"Maybe she'll improve his sense of rhythm," Hermione said sarcastically. "But do you think she could teach me too? I'm always looking to improve myself and I don't think that my dancing was that great."

"You were fine to me Hermione," Ron said. "A lot better than me."

"Nonsense, you were doing relatively well."

"Why don't we all take dancing lessons?" Cho suggested. "I'm sure we all could use some help from an expert like her."

"I could teach you how to dance," they heard Percy say off to the side. "As part of the ministry, I sometimes attend balls and I'm not half-bad."

"No thanks Perce," Ron replied. "We'll manage."

"So how are you four?"

"We're doing just fine," Hermione said. "How about you?"

"Oh you know, the usual business," Percy said airily, sitting down at the table. "Fudge hasn't been himself lately and I have been entrusted to increasingly important matters."

"Heh, you almost make it sound as if you've become the Minister of Magic," Ron said dryly.

Percy opened his mouth to respond but he was interrupted by Ruby who had just come back with Sepet. "Hi Harry, how was it?"

"He was great Ruby," Cho said with a smile. "You taught him very well and I couldn't ask for a better date than him."

Harry grinned. "Thanks Cho, I'm glad that you're here too."

"Where's Walter?" Ruby asked Sepet.

"He's still dancing with the headmistress, why?"

"Could you bring him here? I have a little surprise for everyone."

Sepet gave Ruby a look of amusement and disappeared into the crowd of people on the dance floor. Ruby then turned to Percy who was staring blankly at her. "Could you please be a dear and get some drinks for us?"

It took a moment for Percy to snap out of his trance but Harry noticed his cheeks turn a tinge of red as he got up. "Uh, sure."

Percy then headed over to the tables where drinks were served and grabbed a tray of pumpkin juice before returning to their table.

"Here you go," Percy announced, handing them out to each person.

"Thank you," Ruby said, taking her drink from Percy just as Sepet returned with Walter and McGonagall.

Percy handed two more drinks to Walter and McGonagall before resuming his seat.

"Miss Ruby, what can I do for you?" Walter said, taking the drink from Percy.

"Would it be too much if I asked if your orchestra could play a particular song?"

"Not at all, in fact if you just tell the lead violinist what song you want, they will play it for you."

"But how would they know what song to play?"

"If you know how the tune goes, they'll be able to play it."

With that Ruby walked over to the orchestra and said something to the skeleton acting as the lead violinist. The skeleton nodded and Ruby then walked to the centre of the stage as the orchestra stopped playing.

"Could I please have everyone's attention?"

Although she didn't have a wand, her voice still echoed through the Great Hall, catching the attention of all the students and professors.

"First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Laikov for putting in time to make this place look wonderful and the headmistress for allowing an event like this to take place."

The Hall broke into cheers and applause and Professor McGonagall and Walter smiled at Ruby who waved at them.

Once the applause died down, Ruby continued on. "Years ago, I attended a ball held by the International Ministry and this song titled 'Ano Hi Ni' was sung by a witch from Japan. I thought it was nice even though I didn't know what the words meant back then and I asked her to teach it to me so now I would like to sing it for you."

Ruby then nodded to the orchestra and the skeletons took up their instruments and began to play.

"We have to dance for this one," Cho told Harry, getting up from her seat and grabbing his hand

"So do we Ron," Hermione said, following suit.

"I don't see why - " Ron started to say but he was cut off when Hermione dragged him to the dance floor by the hand.

Harry and Cho went back on the dance floor while Sepet, Walter and McGonagall occupied their seats and listened to Ruby's singing.

Ruby's voice was beautiful just as Harry had heard before and although he didn't understand what the words meant, he thought the song added an enchanting atmosphere to the Hall.

Harry and Cho found a spot next to Ron who had his arms wrapped around Hermione's waist. Hermione resting her head on Ron's chest facing in Harry's direction. Her eyes were closed yet with the smile on her face, Harry thought she looked very beautiful but it still hurt him to think that she was now Ron's.

Harry turned his attention back to Cho who was looking up at him curiously.

"Is something wrong?"

Harry smiled at her and shook his head before wrapping his arms around her waist as Ron had done with Hermione and started to dance with her.

"I wish tonight wouldn't end," Cho said softly as they rocked back and forth according to the rhythm of the song. "I've enjoyed every moment of it and just being here was probably the happiest moment of my life ever since Cedric died. Thank you Harry."

Harry was quite surprised at what Cho had just told him since he had thought that she had gotten over Cedric's death a long time ago. However something else hit him. Cho did seem truly happy to be here in his arms and it made him think back to the year before to how disappointed he was when she had to turn him down because she was already going with Cedric. She seemed happy then with Cedric and had even cried when he died but now that she was happy again, Harry took into consideration the Phoenix order and their upcoming missions to rescue Dumbledore. These missions would be very dangerous indeed and the possibility of her or anyone else being killed was high. Someone as kind as Cho deserved to be happy and that moment on, Harry decided to take it upon himself to protect her happiness.

"You're welcome," he whispered back finally.

The song was more than halfway done but for the moment, Harry was content to just hold Cho and dance as they had been doing for the past minute or so.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Ruby finished singing, the entire Hall broke into applause and cheers.

"Great Job!" a student called.

"Can you sing it again?" another student asked.

Ruby just smiled and curtsied before walking off the stage back to where Sepet was sitting.

Harry and Cho also headed back towards their table with Ron and Hermione not far behind them.

"Well done my dear," Walter was saying to Ruby. "I'm glad that you were able to join us this evening and sing, though I wish that you could visit and sing for us more often."

"I think I'd either run out of songs or lose my voice before that happens," Ruby said jokingly, receiving a grin from Walter.

"Well, I'm tired so I think I'll go back to the common room with Ron okay Harry?" said Hermione.

"Sure thing, I'll see you later."

Harry looked after Ron and Hermione as they left the Great Hall but his attention was diverted when Cho nudged him gently.

"Harry - Parvati is leaving with Dean, Seamus and Padma," Cho informed him. "We should follow them and make sure nothing happens."

"Okay, let's go," Harry whispered to her.

"Ruby," Harry said. "We're going to return to the common room now, I'll see you later."

"Okay Harry," Ruby replied and Harry and Cho followed the four students out of the Great Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Cho were successful in trailing them for a while but when they got to the staircases leading up, Parvati and Seamus split off from Dean and Padma, heading in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"Oh great." Cho muttered. "They're separating."

"We should keep following Parvati - Ruby is still watching Sepet for us so nothing should happen to Dean or Padma."

Cho nodded in acknowledgement and they headed up the staircase leading towards the Gryffindor tower after Parvati and Seamus.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When they got to the Gryffindor tower, Harry and Cho paused just around the corner so that they could get a good view of what was going on.

Parvati and Seamus had stopped outside of the portrait and they had apparently said the password for the portrait swung open moments later. They then entered the common room and the portrait closed quietly behind them.

"Do you think we should we go in?" Harry asked.

"If Hermione and Ron are in there, they would be able to keep an eye on Parvati and Seamus but we should probably make sure, just in case."

Harry and Cho walked to the portrait of the Fat Lady and Harry said the password.

"Good night dears, I hope you had fun at the ball," the Fat Lady said and the portrait swung open, allowing them entrance into the common room.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When they got into the common room, Harry stopped dead in his tracks for he found Ron with one arm around Hermione sitting on the couch and staring at the fireplace.

"Did you two see Parvati and Seamus enter?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "Parvati went up to her dorm after wishing Seamus good night. I'm very surprised that nothing happened tonight."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."

"Harry - could you walk me back to the Ravenclaw tower?" Cho asked.

"Sure," Harry said and he waved goodbye to Ron and Hermione.

Then Harry and Cho exited the portrait once and headed in the direction of the Ravenclaw tower.

"I wonder where everyone is," Cho said as they walked down the brightly lit halls. "The ball is nearly over so we should have encountered some other students by now."

"Maybe they're asking Ruby for autographs," Harry joked, receiving a slight laugh from Cho.

"I really loved her singing - she really has a beautiful voice."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "If people knew about her earlier, I think every guy in this school would be lining up to ask her to the ball."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that happened after this but how did you come to meet her?"

"I met her in Diagon Alley over the summer while I was trying to meet with Sirius and we got to know each other a bit."

"So how come we haven't seen her around here until now if she's been giving you lessons?"

"Uh." Harry hesitated. He needed to come up with something quickly before Cho suspected something but his mind was a blank.

Cho smiled sadly at him. "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I understand if you two have your secrets."

Harry was thrown off by what she had just said. It was almost as if Cho thought he was dating Ruby or something but if that was the case, he needed to make it clear that he had no interest in dating Ruby at all.

"You almost make it sound as if I'm dating her but that's not the case. I don't have any interest in dating her at all if that's what you're thinking."

"Sorry - I just thought that there might have been interfering with something that you two had going on."

"It's okay - seeing that you saw me sitting next to her this morning, I wouldn't be surprised if you did think that I was going out with her."

~*~*~*~*~*~

They eventually arrived at the Ravenclaw tower and Cho turned around to say goodbye to Harry.

"Thank you so much for coming with me to the ball Harry. I had such a wonderful time and I only wish that the night didn't end but I'm content to know that I'll be going to sleep a lot more cheerful than I have been in months."

Harry smiled at her. "I enjoyed spending time with you too and I'm glad that you're happy again."

Cho then ran up to him and gave him a hug, which lasted for more than half a minute before she pulled away.

"Good night Harry," Cho said and she stood up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Good night Cho," Harry said as Cho turned around to say the password to the entrance of the Ravenclaw tower. "Sweet dreams."

The portrait swung open and Cho walked in and turned around with a smile to wave good bye. The portrait then closed and Harry walked back to the Gryffindor tower in high spirits.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When he arrived back at the portrait, he found that Ruby was waiting for him already.

"Hi Harry, how did it go?" Ruby asked as he came into view.

"What do you mean?"

"Cho you silly idiot," Ruby said playfully. "Did you ask her to be your girlfriend?"

Harry stared at her in shock causing Ruby to laugh at him.

"I'll take that as a no but I think it wouldn't hurt you to ask her out, especially since Hermione is now with Ron. At least you'll have somebody."

"I hadn't even thought of asking her out yet," Harry said quickly. "What makes you think I would?"

"The fact that you were holding her so close to you tonight. People don't usually do that unless they're really good friends or were dating."

Harry opened his mouth to retort but shut it immediately for as much as it never crossed his mind to ask Cho out ever since Cedric had died, there was some truth to what Ruby had said. Cho did indeed have quite a few things in common with him and now that he had taken it upon himself to protect her happiness, asking her out would allow him to fulfill his goal a lot easier than if they remained friends.

"I see I've struck gold," Ruby teased. "You haven't responded yet."

"Oh be quiet," Harry muttered, pulling out his wand and pointing at Ruby.

Ruby giggled at his behaviour. "I think I've tortured you enough for tonight - Good night Harry, sleep well."

"Good night Ruby," Harry replied. " - Finite Incantatem."

Ruby's figure faded and eventually disappeared completely, leaving only a pile of dirt on the floor as the only evidence that she was even there.

With that, Harry picked up the pile of dirt and entered the portrait once again. Throwing the dirt into the fireplace, Harry then went up to his dorm, washed his hands, and climbed into bed. That night Harry slept a lot easier and more content than he had been over the past four weeks prior to the ball.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Woo hoo! Sorry it took so long to post but you get a longer than normal chapter(more like the length of two chapters). I had so much fun writing this and I hope you all like it.

Temporary Insanity: Unanswerable questions? Not about the plot I hope =)

Order of Dumbledor: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like the plot but keep reading and you won't be disappointed.

Kal_23: If you want to write a fic on here, you need to create an account first. Just click on the register button and then you can create an account but I think you need to be above age 13. Then you can write & post chapters as you please.

Blackdragoneye: Thank you for your review. I don't think I'll add Voldemort's heir in there since it'll only complicate things but we'll see. I haven't heard many rumours about book six so I'm not exactly sure where I'll take that yet. As for the other guardians in human form, I may do that but as far as this book is concerned, you won't be seeing any of the others besides Ruby in their human forms because I wouldn't know what personalities to give them.

Hr: Hermione will realize her feelings for Harry. next book. Sorry if you're disappointed here but I was following what Rowling had said in her interview and would put Ron with Hermione for at least a book, though she did say there's always room for change when questioned if Harry would get with Hermione ^^.

Amber: Thanks for the compliment though I don't know if I write as well as Rowling. The earlier chapters are riddled with grammar errors, etc and this plot isn't as encompassing as hers even though it may cover quite a bit already. Parvati became a vampire around the time that Lavender was crying about her not waking up. Hmm, your questions about the pairings and what happens to Dumbledore, you'll have to keep reading to find out since I can't give away the rest of the plot.

Angelis: I don't mind being bugged about fast updates so by all means, go ahead and bug me about it.

Marba50: You got lost in the chapter? Er, figuratively or literally? If there's something you didn't get in the previous chapter, ask me about it.

Angie: Thanks for reviewing and glad you like the spells. Heroes is a good game =).

Cleo: Hmm. something to save for later. Thanks for the idea - it would make a very good conflict and a very difficult one for Harry to solve.

Phoenix of Light: Thanks for reviewing. Hope you liked this chap just as much as the previous ones.

Potty: The idea about R/Hr was to follow Rowling's idea that she'd put those two together for at least one book but change it later. Based on what Rowling has written, I think that Hermione has a crush on Ron but loves Harry, especially since she kissed him on the cheek instead of Ron at the end of book 4. Most people don't go around kissing people like that if they didn't have some feelings for them, right?

Alpha Krypton: This book will end probably about the same as the rest of Rowling's books so it won't go into book 6.

Mysterious righter: I won't stop writing this fic because it's just too fun to write so you don't have to worry about that. As I've said before, as long as people read it, I'll keep on writing.

JD: I'm glad that you like the fic but as for H/Hr, I've told other people this and I'll tell you the same thing.based on what Rowling has said in her interviews, she admitted that there was something going on between Ron and Hermione. That means she'd put them together for at least one book and since I am doing the pairings based upon what she has said, I put Ron and Hermione together for this book. However Rowling also said, when asked if Harry would get with Hermione or Ginny, that he was only 14 and there's plenty of time to change his mind. Therefore he could potentially get with either character but since I am a H/Hr supporter, that's what I will do but not just yet. After all, the relationships that form slowly are the ones that tend to last the longest, don't you agree?