Chapter 14: The Great Date Plan
*****
Alinora immediately began to train Katie, Ginny and George. She was amused when, not even a week after they'd begun, Fred hunted her down after class to demand that he be included too. Alinora didn't ask how he'd known what was going on, but he joined them that evening.
She wasn't sure if she was happy or disappointed that none of the others seemed interested in what was going on, or even to know that something was going on. She had a feeling that this could be an important skill, but the idea of taking on more than the four pupils she had made her tired just thinking about it. She was working with Professor Flitwick on a new idea for defensive charms and she couldn't really afford many more drains on her free time. She decided it would be best not to push matters at this point and leave things as they stood.
*****
As it approached the end of November, the Ladies turned their attention back to the subject of the Yule Ball. With only a month to go, only Alinora, Angelina and Katie had finalized their dates. Katie had gotten a letter from Oliver Wood shortly after the talent show and over the course of their correspondence they'd agreed to go to the dance together.
Alicia was expecting an invite from Lee, but he hadn't quite gotten around to it. Neither had Harry and Ron, and Ginny and Hermione were beginning to lose their remaining patience with them. In order to prevent what could turn out to be a bloody mess, the Ladies had decided on a plan to jump start the process.
They put it into action one afternoon when Harry and Ron were alone in the common room working on their Divination homework. Angelina had warned Hermione and Ginny that they should make themselves scarce, so they were currently hiding out in Hermione's room.
The Ladies came in and settled in chairs near the fireplace, not too close to the guys, but close enough for them to 'overhear' their conversation.
Katie sighed. "I'm so glad the weekend's almost here! We get to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday, right? I really need to look for a dress for the Yule Ball. Have you decided what you'll be wearing Ali?"
"I think George would like me to wear that red dress from Halloween, but I keep telling him that it's not going to happen!" She laughed. "But dress shopping would be good- I told Ginny awhile back that we could go look over the next Hogsmeade visit. In fact, Hermione even expressed an interest in joining us." she added with a bit of shocked amusement.
"Have they got dates yet?" Alicia broke in. "I heard rumors that one of the Ravenclaw sixth years wants to ask Hermione, but had figured that she'd be going with someone from Gryffindor. Since she's free, I'm thinking that he'll be asking soon."
"Yeah, Ginny's got a bit of a following too, especially since the talent show. So far none of them have gotten up the nerve to mention it, but the topic's been coming up a bit more frequently; so it's only a matter of time." Ali told them. "So, Angelina, Fred did eventually get around to making it official, right?"
"I think he's just been assuming you would be going together, and forgot he'd never gotten around to asking." Katie said grinning.
"He finally asked a couple days ago when I blatantly told him that if I didn't get an invite soon I'd be finding my own date to the ball. I think it surprised him, but he did apologize quite nicely and then ask me if I'd be interested in going to the ball with him." She yawned dramatically. "I told him that I'd think about it…"
They all laughed.
"No, really, I said yes so we're all settled. Has Lee gotten around to asking you yet Alicia?"
"No, and if I don't hear something soon I'm asking that cute Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. I hear he doesn't have a date yet…"
"He's pretty nice too. It'll be Lee's loss- should've been a bit more on the ball. It's not like we haven't known about this since September." Ali shrugged and glanced at her watch. "Whoops, don't you guys have a meeting with McGonagall before dinner? You better run. I have some stuff to take care of, but I'll see you at dinner, okay?" she asked as they nodded and slowly got up to head off again.
Alinora glanced at Harry and Ron as she headed up the stairs. They were pointedly not paying them any attention, but they didn't appear to be paying their homework any attention either. As she reached the landing where the steps split to the girl's dorm, she found George sitting on the steps, waiting.
"Don't you think just beating them over the head until they issue the proper invitations would make this oh so much easier?"
"Do you make it a habit of lurking in stairwells listening to other people's conversations?" Ali teased, "And beating them over the head is the next step- we wanted to try subtlety first and see how it goes."
"Should I warn Lee that he better be asking Alicia to the dance soon if he values his life?"
Ali smiled and didn't answer.
"Humm. Well, I guess I should just be happy that I asked quickly and saved myself being hurt."
"Yep! 'Cause me being blatant can be really scary. Subtle is definitely more my style." She leaned close and tapped him on the nose. "See you at dinner, when part two goes into effect!" She gave a wicked laugh, and then turned to head up to Hermione's room to give the girls an update.
*****
The Ladies had claimed an area of the table to themselves at dinner, excluding the guys. They were acting fairly normal, but George knew they were up to something. It was simply a matter of when their plan went into effect.
Towards the end of dinner, when students had begun leaving, it started. From the Ravenclaw table came a couple of fifth and sixth year boys to say something to the group. George could see Hermione laughing up at one and noticed that Ron's face was turning red. A couple guys had joined them from Hufflepuff now too- one coming up behind Ginny and putting his hands on her shoulders to lean over and whisper something in her ear. Alinora, who was sitting beside her, laughed and pushed him back while Ginny grinned and said something back to him.
This continued for another couple minutes before the Ladies got up to leave the Great Hall. As they were walking past the Ravenclaw table, Alicia stopped to talk briefly with a couple guys seated there, before catching up again.
George watched them leave the Hall, with their group of followers, and then turned back to the Gryffindor table, hiding an amused smile. There were quite a few open mouths and looks of shocked surprise. He thought he heard someone from down the table asking if he'd "just seen Hermione Granger flirting with Peter Waters from Ravenclaw?!?"
"Maybe they're going to the ball together?" Lavender suggested tentatively.
"Well, so far he doesn't have a date, at least according to Padma." Parvati informed them.
George smiled openly this time and settled back to finish dinner and watch Ron seethe and Harry push his dinner around his plate until they all gave up and headed back to the tower.
*****
Lee, perhaps warned by George, was quick to make sure that Alicia would be going to the ball with him. Ron and Harry weren't quite as prompt and had to sit through a similar performance the next day at lunch. Sometime that afternoon, on the way to Quidditch practice, Harry finally spoke to Ginny. Ron held out until Saturday morning, right before the girls were heading down to breakfast.
George pulled Alinora to the side as they were all leaving the Great Hall after eating. "Any more surprises coming or has the show ended for now?"
Alinora cocked her head to the side and considered him for a moment. "Yes, the festivities are over for now. No need to give anyone a heart attack before the big night. The plans for the day are simply to find something scandalous for us all to wear to the ball." She smiled innocently at his shocked look. "Really George, you need to lighten up! There's plenty of time to be serious later on and we all need to enjoy ourselves while we have the time." Her expression went grave for a moment before she shook it off and smiled at him.
Taking his arm, she began walking towards the hall. "Come on, I need to get my cloak and I'm sure Fred is wondering where you've wandered off to now…"
Later, when they'd reached Hogsmeade and were preparing to split up for a couple hours, Ali could hear George muttering to himself as he glanced at Ginny. The only word she caught was 'scandalous'. She laughed, catching Katie's attention. Shaking her head at George, and giving him an evil grin, she took Ginny by one arm and Katie by the other, marching them off towards the dress shop. They had a lot of work to do.
George stared worriedly after them for a while before absentmindedly putting his hand into the pocket of his cloak. Finding something within, he pulled it out and glanced at the piece of parchment. Suddenly, he laughed. Putting it back in his pocket, he turned and placed an arm around both Ron and Harry and led them off towards Zonko's. "Come on. I am willing to admit that I don't understand women- and I especially don't understand those women," he said, nodding his head in the direction the Ladies had gone, "but after seeing them in action, I am quite happy that they're on our side."
And he smiled again, thinking of the note in his pocket:
Trust me!
