Chapter 15: The Majestic Christmas Ball Part 2
This was the absolutely, best night of Luna's life. Not only had Harry defended her from
Cho, he had asked her to be his date. To Luna, nothing could be better than that. Well,
almost.
Dumbledore coughed.
"Welcome," he beamed, "to the two hundredth and twenty ninth Hogwarts Majestic
Christmas Ball! Now, I would just like to remind everyone that the rules of the Great
Halloween Ball are the same for this one as well. Once again, I have conjured a magical
maze garden for young lovers. And speaking of young lovers, remember that we have
teacher's patrolling every level in the school, so no funny stuff. Now, to eat and drink!"
Luna was astonished by the food. Plump, ripe Christmas ham, sweet, mouth- watering
cranberry sauce; it was all too much for her. There was twice as much food on the entire
table as there regularly was on all four tables put togethor.
"Dig in!" Harry advised Luna happily as he poured himself some eggnog.
Luna felt her happiness bubble inside herself. She hadn't felt this happy, well since she
was a little girl and her mother was still alive.
The feast went by pleasantly. Luna felt full after cramming every, interesting food on her
plate, but when the desserts appeared, hunger came ripping throughout her once more.
"Here try this." Ginny said, handing Luna a plate of what looked like bread dripping
with chocolate.
"What is it?" Luna wondered.
Ginny smiled at her. "Hermione showed me this cookbook when she came back from
France this summer. This was in it. It is profiterolles au chocolat. Go ahead try it."
Luna considered it for a moment before taking a small bite. To her surprise, it was scrumptious.
Among the rest of the desserts were the regular, Christmas wizard crackers. Luna
received a brightly colored, mushroom hat, five bottles of a wizard's favorite butterbeer, a small
wand cleaning kit, and a miniature firebolt, a international broom.
"That's it, I really can't eat anymore." Luna sighed as she sat back.
Harry and his friends strongly objected to this.
"Oh come on!" Harry pleaded, "You haven't tried the chocolate mousse."
"Try some caramel cream!" Ginny argued.
"You can't go on without trying the lemon flavored candy canes!" Ron protested.
Luna shook her head.
"You guys go on." she said, "I feel like I am going to burst."
No one argued with her after that.
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Cho could not keep her eyes off the Gryfffindor table all the way through the whole
feast.
They were all smiling, laughing at whatever the masked girl had to say.
"Wait until after the feast." She thought miserably. "Then you can mix your potion
in his drink and Harry will be all yours."
==============================
Luna stared as a giant chandelier lowered magically through the star covered ceiling.
"Wow!" she whispered. Harry had obviously heard her, for he turned her way and
smiled at her. Luna felt her cheeks go red under the mask.
"Oh Harry," she thought, "If only you loved me as much as I love you."
As Luna's handy dandy romance book said, his dazzling smile sent fireworks bursting
from her heart that was filled to the brim with joy.
"Cmon, time to dance." Harry held out his hand. Luna couldn't help but think how
perfect her hand felt in his.
They danced through a few songs when Luna found that her throat was parched.
"Harry," she said quietly, "I really need something to drink."
Harry nodded and led her off the dance floor.
"I think I will get some for myself too." He decided.
=====================
"Perfect!" Cho thought happily as Harry and Luna returned to some chairs, their hands
cupping glasses of punch. "Now all I need is a distraction."
It seemed as if her wish had come true, for not more than two seconds later, Ron came running
up to Harry, who quickly abandoned his drink.
With quick and silent stealth, Cho crept up to Harry's glass and poured the potion into it,
turning the punch a cloud white before returning to its original color.
"Yes!!!" Cho silently congratulated herself as she placed herself a few feet away from
the potion-poisoned glass.
Cho turned and faced the dancing, her heart pumping heavily. She watching the glass
with extreme satisfaction.
Cho suddenly stopped breathing. She could feel her mouth dropping.
"No," she silently begged, "Don't drink it. Don't. DO. NOT. DRINK. IT!!!"
Cho turned around and moaned with disgust.
Cupping her face in her hands, Cho tried to ignore the world around her until a big, fat,
slimy hand slammed down on her shoulder.
"Cho darling," Crabbe cooed softly, "let us dance our love-filled hearts away!"
Cho screamed before running outside, a love struck Crabbe following close behind.
========================================
"Where did my glass go?" Harry asked when he and Luna returned to the chairs.
Luna shrugged.
"I haven't seen it, since we left." she said. "Don't tell Ron this, but that huge caterpillar
in the garden really wasn't that impressive."
Harry laughed. Luna loved that sound. It made her heart swell with pleasure.
"Don't worry, I won't." he said, smiling down at Luna.
They were silent for a while, staring at each other, before Luna broke the silence by
whispering, "Do you want to dance some more?"
Harry shook his head, his bangs flopping from side to side.
"Nah. Let's go outside." He whispered. Luna agreed and the couple slowly made their
way into the maze garden.
They walked for a while, not realizing their hands held each other tightly. Soon, like every other
couple, they found themselves lost.
"Looks like we are lost." Harry said to Luna as they reached a dead end. "Better start
heading back."
Harry pulled his wand out of his robe pocket and before he could say "Point me" Luna
took it away.
"No," she said gently, giving Harry his wand back, "I don't want to go back. It is nice
here."
Harry agreed with the girl. It was nice to be alone.
Luna shivered. Harry immediately and pulled off the outer layer of his robes, wrapping it
around Luna's bare shoulders.
"No really I –" Luna tried to protest.
"No. You will freeze." Harry said firmly.
Luna sighed. It was what she had always imagined. Harry and her, together and all
alone.
"Oh Harry," she whispered. "Thank you. Thank you so much for the best night of my
entire life."
Harry smiled at her. Luna smiled back. It wouldn't be long before the two realized it,
but by then, it would be too late.
Luna almost stopped breathing. Closing her eyes, Luna waited for his response, and it
came.
As Harry's lips stroked hers tenderly, Luna finally knew that this was her answer. Her
answer to the dreams that she had thought for years would never be granted.
And with that thought settled deeply into her mind, Luna drew closer, wrapping her arms
around Harry's neck as she quickly responded back.
They held each other preciously, exploring each other's mouths, their tounges tasting the
sweetness inside.
In fact, it wasn't until Harry's watch interrupted them that they finally broke apart.
"What was that?" Luna asked, still drugged by the special kiss.
Harry glanced at his watch. "It was just my watch informing me that it is 10 minutes to
midnight. That's all."
Luna gasped as she remembered her promise to Hermione.
"I have to go!" she cried.
"No wait!" Harry clutched her hand, but Luna was able to strangle it out of his grasp.
"Wait! I don't know your name!!" was the last Luna heard of Harry.
It took her awhile, but she finally reached the garden exit. Pushing open the doors to the Great
Hall, she speeded in the direction of her portrait hole. On the way she past a clock. 11:55.
Only five more minutes!! Luna felt as if her lungs had burst on fire from lack of oxygen, but that
didn't stop her.
Finally Luna reached the corridor to the Ravenclaw portrait hole. As she turned the corner, she
could hear Hermione hiss "Go!"
She stopped right in front of Hermione.
"So how was it?" Hermione asked.
Luna couldn't reply, as she was out of breath.
"You were just on time." Hermione said. "Look."
Luna looked down. Her beautiful ballgown was now nothing but a pair of filthy jeans, a
sweaty T-shirt, and broken tennis shoes.