Disclaimer: Not one tiny shred of the basic plot/characters/etc. is mine. OK? Are you happy now?
(Note: Bits in italics are dreams, *asterisks are thoughts* and #hashes are song lyrics, singing, etc.#)
Chapter 14: Hermione Accessorizes!
Harry was disturbed by Neville's latest actions, to say the least. And even more disturbed by the fact that he had kissed him back. And slightly confused regarding both actions.
And while he was thinking this he was still kissing Neville. *Shit* he thought, and pushed Neville away. He looked into Neville's eyes (which were back to normal – Neville had given up on the whole I-want-to-be-Harry saga) and tried to restrain himself from seriously damaging Neville for life. "What did you do that for?" he asked, astounded at Neville's audacity.
"I… um… have to go… to the bathroom!" he stuttered, shooting off back towards the common room. Harry sat down weakly on the bed, thinking it all through.
For the next few days, Neville avoided Harry. Not that he minded – he was avoiding Neville too. When they saw each other in the classrooms or corridors, they cautiously looked away. Charms was, of course, particularly awful. For their last piece of coursework, they were asked to do a project in twos with the person sitting beside them – so for this they largely evaded speech and mainly communicated by owl.
On Friday, four days after the kiss, Dumbledore made an announcement during dinner in the Great Hall.
"Seventh years," he said, silencing the hall with a wave of his hand, "as you may know, this year we're having a Graduation Ball, as an experiment." Predictably, most of the girls started squealing with excitement, and it took Dumbledore five whole minutes to silence them (climaxed with a loud bang of his goblet on the High Table). "It will be rather like the Yule ball, the only difference being you don't have to attend and you may come in whatever clothes you wish. It is to be on 1st July, in here at 7pm until midnight. That is all." He sat down and talked to Snape, who was looking slightly mutinous about the whole thing – until Dumbledore said something and Snape's face brightened considerably…
Harry was seriously considering killing Hermione. All week he'd had, "Maybe pink would suit me more," or, "Can you set me up with someone – I'm not sure I want to go with Ron…" or, "Harr-e-e-e-e! Can you help me with my accessories?" She was turning into a demonic teenage girl – just they type of person she despised the most. Ron was keep away from her at all costs, with excuses of going to the library. This was, of course, deeply suspect. So Harry was left with the whining, needy, clingy, accessorizing Hermione.
"Yes, pink is good."
"No, Ron wants to go with YOU."
"Yes, wear that god damn hair slide. I don't care."
And so on. And on, and on, and on, and on, and on…
…until it was three days before the ball and Hermione was having a crisis.
"HARRY! I'VE SPILT CHOCOLATE ALL OVER MY DRESS! WAAAAAH!"
Harry ignored her and carried on reading.
"HARR-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!"
He still ignored her. But she carried on screeching until Harry relented and went to remove the chocolate with a Stain Charm. Hermione would be clever enough to do it herself, but since the Graduation Ball had been announced, she had lost all interest in studies… something was definitely up.
Neville was acting weird about the ball too. He kept shooting Harry suggestive glances, and Harry in return shot back I-want-to-kill-you-you-fat-worm glances. But on the day after Hermione's crisis, two days before the ball, Neville asked Harry a very serious question.
"Harry," he said carefully , "will you… will you… willyougototheballwithme?"
After Harry had stopped laughing and realized that he was indeed serious, he said, "Um… well… I don't know." Well, he did know one thing – Harry had no date. All the girls were avoiding him after his soul-killing episode. You have to admit, you wouldn't want to go out with someone who might a) go mad and b) randomly kill your soul after having strange dreams about you in a pink tutu. And Neville didn't have a date either, simply because he was himself. So…
"I can't Neville."
"Why the hell not? It'll be a laugh."
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Aw, come on."
"No."
"I'll buy you lots of butterbeer –"
"OK! Yeah, sure. Whatever…" Harry trailed off, realizing two things: he was addicted to Butterbeer and he had nothing to wear.
Oh, and he had agreed to be gay for a night. The night when he was conducting his 'sending off' memorial for McGonagall. He thought he might take her back to her office to see if she could remember anything as a last ditch attempt – at least so he could know he tried. His mind carefully formulated a plan…
~#~#~#~
Next four chapters are:
15. Day before the ball
16. Ball
17. Ball again
18. Epilogue.
And then it ends. Ciao!