Author's Note: Romance is beginning to blossom. Please enjoy!

CHAPTER NINE - THE MASQUERADE BALL

Harry was released from the hospital on Sunday morning. His face still looked horrible since his forehead and eyes were not quite healed, but he had been more than ready to get away from the hospital wing. While Harry had been gone, a special notice had appeared in all the house common rooms. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had been too worried about Harry to really pay much attention to the school bulletins, and it wasn't until after Harry had been released that anyone noticed it.

Harry was working in the Gryffindor common room under an absolute mountain of homework. He'd been out of class for a week and a half and had been too weak while in hospital to get very far with his schoolwork. As Harry was finishing a ridiculously long essay for Snape on truth serums, a group of fourth year girls giggled loudly and rather nervously at something posted on the notice board. Harry frowned at them, slightly put out by the amount of noise they were making.

Hermione noticed Harry's irritated expression and looked up at the girls who were now leaving the common room excitedly. As she went to the notice board to see what they had been giggling about, Hermione's face froze in a slightly arrested look as she quickly read the bulletin to herself.

"Have you seen this?" she asked Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

Ginny, now being in her O.W.L. year, was working on her own mountain of work nearby. Harry noticed that Dean was sitting across the room playing gobstones with Seamus, instead of sitting with Ginny.

"I haven't had a chance to see anything but homework," Harry said, rather sulkily.

"Me neither," Ginny said, as she looked at Harry, sighing empathetically.

"Well, what does it say, then?" Ron asked, growing impatient.

"Attention all students fourth year and above: this year on Halloween night the proprietors of Honeydukes, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes are happy to announce that they will be hosting a Masquerade Ball here at Hogwarts in the Great Hall." Hermione read aloud. "Please come dressed in full costume, as an award will be presented to the best dressed couple." Hermione finished reading. "Well, that could be fun," she said, "it might be a good way to get our minds off ... well, things," Hermione glanced rather carefully at Harry.

Harry, however, hadn't noticed Hermione's anxious look. His green eyes were now focused specifically upon Ginny. "Er ..." he began, rather clumsily, "I guess you and Dean will ... you know ..."

"Oh," Ginny said, briskly, "Oh no, Harry, we're not going out anymore. He always seemed to want to spend more time with his mates than with me, so I told him that I wasn't interested anymore."

"Oh, Ginny, I didn't realize," said Hermione, apologetically.

"Oh, I'm fine, really. We weren't that serious anyway," said Ginny, completely unperturbed, as she went back to her homework.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in their favorite squashy armchairs by the fire. There were a few groups of students scattered around, but most had now gone to bed. Harry stared into the crackling flames for a moment, gathering courage. Ron and Hermione were listening, trying to appear nonchalant as Harry swallowed nervously and then turned to Ginny.

"Say Ginny, if you don't already have plans, then," Harry said, a bit awkwardly, the part of his face that was not bruised turning almost the same shade of purple, "I mean, if you'd like, you and I could go to the ball together.... if you want to."

"Oh," said Ginny, smiling shyly and blushing crimson herself. "I'd love to, Harry." They looked at each other and smiled sweetly before looking away again self-consciously.

Hermione smiled to herself and said, "Well, time for bed," as she packed her many thick school books away.

Ron followed suit, but instead of smiling knowingly like Hermione had, Ron was looking nervous. He was looking just as nervous, in fact, as Harry just had. As Hermione reached the stairway leading up to her dormitory, Ron caught up to her and reached out an arm to stop her. Hermione turned, looking at him inquisitively as Ron took a deep breath.

"Hermione, er ... how about, er ... do you want to, er ..." Ron trailed off looking a bit pale. Hermione stared at him for a moment, then finally took pity on him.

"Ron, I would be perfectly delighted to attend the Masquerade Ball with you," she said firmly, but then turned a delicate shade of pink despite herself.

"You would, really?" Ron said, sounding extremely relieved as the colored rushed into his face, too.

"Well, of course," Hermione said, in a slightly exasperated tone, but she was smiling quite broadly at him all the same. As Hermione turned and ran up her staircase, Ron turned to Harry and Ginny, a slightly dreamy expression on his freckled face.

"Wow .... Well, goodnight, then," he said to them, as he drifted off up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

Harry and Ginny watched him go happily. Harry had known that there had been a bit more than friendship brewing between the two of them for a long time, and he was glad to see that Ron had finally gotten brave enough to act on it. Harry then turned, looking at Ginny. She and her family had been in his life for all these years, yet it was almost like he had never genuinely seen Ginny until recently. As he watched her petite form loading her schoolwork into her bag, he wondered how he had never noticed how lovely her red hair shown in the firelight or how her fair delicate hands gracefully wrapped around her quill. As Ginny got up, she looked back at Harry and noticed him watching her. Harry looked away again, slightly embarrassed at being caught. But then Ginny reached for his arm and Harry looked up into her warm brown eyes.

"I'm really glad you asked me, Harry," she said softly, smiling gently.

Ginny then turned and headed upstairs. It was a moment or two before Harry finally decided to go to bed himself. Ginny's agreeing to go to the ball with him had filled Harry first with relief, then with great joy. Harry smiled to himself; he felt almost as light as a feather as he, like Hermione, Ron, and Ginny before him, floated dreamily off to bed as well.

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As Halloween approached there was a flurry of excitement surrounding the older students. Harry noticed that there seemed to be a lot of pairing off occurring throughout Hogwarts. It was almost as if there was a tremendous spark of powerful electricity igniting between the boy and girl students, especially those in sixth and seventh year. Maybe it had always been that way, but Harry had never really noticed it until now.

Harry was now finding excuses to be where Ginny was. Seeing her come down from her dormitory, meeting up with her at lunch, or even seeing her come out dirty and exhausted from the greenhouses simply made Harry's heart feel light and always brought a rather goofy grin to his face. This relationship was already so different from the one Harry had had with Cho last year. Harry had always been extremely nervous and awkward around Cho; and while Ginny made him get nervous butterflies in his stomach when she smiled at him, the butterflies were always accompanied by a feeling of immense happiness. Harry hadn't really had the chance to get to know Cho all that well, he now realized; maybe that had been part of the problem.

Ginny Weasley, however, had been a part of his life since Harry had first seen her standing at platform nine and three-quarters with her mother when he was eleven years old. Harry simply felt more comfortable around her, and now that he thought about it, Harry realized that they had actually been though quite a few things together. It had been Ginny Harry had gone to save in the Chamber of Secrets in his second year. Ginny, along with Ron and Hermione, had also been present with Harry onboard the Hogwart's Express when a dementor entered their compartment the next year. When Arthur Weasley had been attacked last year by Voldemort's snake, Harry remembered keeping an anxious vigil with her, Sirius, Ron, Fred and George until they received news that Mr. Weasley was going to be okay. Ginny had even been possessed by Voldemort before, just as Harry had last June.

Ginny had shown herself to be forthright, tenacious, and strong, and like the rest of the Weasley's, even stubborn on occasion. Even though she was the smallest player on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Ginny was also one of its' fiercest competitors. She and Harry both loved quidditch, and they were both unafraid of a challenge, even if considerable danger was involved. They quite simply had a great deal in common, and Harry now realized that going through what they had together had created a uniquely strong bond of respect, friendship, and trust between them.

It was nearly the end of October now, and Harry's quidditch wounds had finally healed. He, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were now spending a lot of time discussing the upcoming Masquerade Ball. Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, which were usually shops located exclusively on Diagon Alley, had recently and temporarily rented some space in the village of Hogsmeade. Two weeks previous, there had been a Hogsmeade weekend which had given everyone attending the ball a chance to find a costume and look at the wears in Fred and George's joke shop.

Madam Malkin had robes in almost every fabric and in every color imaginable, and she also made elaborate masks that were made to match whatever color robes one might want for a costume. As Harry and Ron spent some time with Fred and George in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Hermione and Ginny went costume shopping. As Harry and Ron entered the little rustic building Fred and George had temporarily rented for their merchandise, Harry was amazed at the assortment of fireworks, gag gifts, and joke foods all over the drafty walls of the rather dilapidated and ramshackle shop.

"Hey, look who it is," Fred said to George when they walked in.

"Blimey," gasped Ron, in complete awe. "You've come up with loads of new stuff, haven't you."

Besides the usual assortment of skiving snack boxes, canary creams, ton-tongue toffees, and fireworks that Harry had already seen, there were now brand new products such as a skiving snack box that caused severe coughing fits, a chocolate bar that turned the eater's face a bright fluorescent orange, and a new scarf that made the wearer's whole top half of their body disappear.

"When did you come up with all of these?" Harry asked, picking up a scarf.

"Oh," answered George, grinning from ear to ear. "These were all in development when we were still in school. We've just perfected them a bit more and now they're ready for our adoring public."

Harry and Ron continued to look about in amazement. The twins were looking extremely pleased with themselves. Fred walked over and was now leaning towards them conspiratorially.

"Well, you know Mum wasn't too keen on the whole joke shop idea at first," Fred explained, "but now that it's a real success, she actually seems proud."

"Yeah," George chimed in, somewhat sarcastically, "Mum's actually proud of us, who'd have thought."

Lowering his voice, Fred said, "Her and Dad are too busy with the Order to really be miffed at what we're doing anyway." After a moment, he put the box of candy he had been holding up on a shelf. "So, Harry," Fred continued, raising his voice somewhat dramatically and looking in a rather Percy-like way at him, "What's this we've heard about you dating our sister, eh?"

"Yeah," said George suggestively, "Just what do you think you're doing? What are your intentions with our sweet little Ginny, anyway?"

Harry goggled at the twins, his insides squirming rather fearfully. He was completely taken aback by the abrupt change in the topic from joke paraphernalia to his own very private personal life. Blushing furiously, Harry took a step backwards and then opened his mouth to answer them, but nothing came out. Fred and George were looking at Harry with their arms crossed over their chests trying to appear intimidating when Ron finally spoke up. Ron set the coughing snack box he had been inspecting down as he walked over to where Harry, Fred and George were standing by the counter.

"Oy, lay off, guys," Ron began, seeing Harry's reaction and trying to stand up for him. Just then, however, Fred and George's faces changed expression abruptly. They began to grin, then dropping all pretense burst out laughing deviously as they clapped each other on the back in raucous amusement.

"Did you see the look on Harry's face?" Fred chuckled to George comically, as they released another loud peal of laughter. Ron turned to Harry rolling his eyes, but Harry was still crimson and was looking resolutely away from them.

"Oh, go on, Harry," Fred said, stepping up to Harry and clapping him on the back, too, "We were only joking - really - we think it's great that you and Ginny are going out. So, when did this happen anyway?" Fred asked conversationally, apparently deciding that he had teased Harry enough.

Harry eventually looked back at them again, feeling only slightly less mortified. "Not long ago," he said, rather vaguely.

"Yeah," piped up Ron, a bit of a smirk on his freckled face, "Harry only got the guts to ask her out after being knocked out for a week by that bludger."

"ME?" Harry exclaimed, rounding on Ron rather heatedly, "You've fancied Hermione for years, and you asked her the same day I asked Ginny!" It was Ron's turn to blush, now. Ron had stepped right into that one.

Fred and George grinned maliciously at each other. "Maybe that bludger finally knocked some sense into you, Harry. Maybe Ron could use a hit on the head, too. We could take care of that for you, you know." Fred said, looking mischievously at his youngest brother.

"But honestly," George said protectively, once again being serious, "We always wanted to make sure that Ginny found, well ... you know, the right person."

"Yeah, Harry. She is our baby sister after all. We really are glad it's you," Fred agreed, sincerely.

Harry was still blushing, but he was actually impressed by the twins' sudden sincerity. Fred and George weren't often to be taken seriously, but like the rest of their family, they could be quite formidable when they were. Harry stopped feeling chagrined and gave them a genuine smile, and the twins then turned their attention to Ron. Unfortunately, by the time they had finished tormenting him for dating Hermione, Ron's face was glowing so red it might have ignited kindling. Ron grabbed Harry's arm rather harder than he intended as they quickly made their way away from the twins' cackling voices and back outside again.

"Gits," Ron said, angrily.

Harry remained silent as they walked up the windy street. Fred and George were not genuinely malicious in their banter, but Harry knew that they sometimes went a bit too far. Harry glanced sideways at Ron. Ron was still looking angry and sullen. Harry hesitated, then put out an arm to stop his progress up the street.

"Listen, Ron," Harry began, "Fred and George are obnoxious, okay. But I just wanted you to know that I think you and Hermione going out is great."

"You do?" Ron asked.

"Absolutely," Harry answered, earnestly.

"Did you really know that I ... well, that I've fancied Hermione for a while?" Ron asked, looking resolutely down at his shoes.

"Well, yeah," Harry said grinning. "It's kind of obvious. I mean, I'm with you and Hermione all the time. I'd have to be blind not to notice."

"Well, I've always wanted you and Ginny to go out," Ron said, his mood changing. "She's always kind of had a crush on you."

"I dunno," Harry said, humbly. "I'm just glad to have the chance to be with her. I honestly don't know what's going to happen, but I do know that things can change. I just don't want to waste whatever time we've been given."

Ron looked at Harry questioningly, but Harry didn't elaborate. Harry choose not to mention that he knew deep down that very dark and difficult times were on the horizon, especially for him and those close to him. As they walked down the shop-lined street, Harry pushed those dreary thoughts out of his mind. Right now, Harry just wanted to be a normal teenage wizard and to find what happiness he could in his life while he was still able to do so.

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Halloween night at Hogwarts was always a special occasion. This year, however, was especially so. The mood in the castle was upbeat, excited. As the time came for the ball to actually begin, Harry and Ron started to get into their costumes. Since the Masquerade Ball included dancing, their costumes were all made up of dress robes and uniquely made masks that covered their faces, but didn't restrict their movement. Harry had chosen to wear a costume that resembled a great stag, it seemed fitting. Harry put on his new dress robes which were a cool shade of blue. The mask that finished the ensemble was made of a matching blue felt, it appeared very much like what deerskin actually looked like. The top had intricately carved horns, made of a dark mahogany wood. It hid most of Harry's face from view.

Ron was able to use the dress robes that Fred and George had purchased for him last year as they were a rich dark brown like his mask. Ron's mask was made of soft fur-like cotton which resembled a wolf's head. Harry and Ron looked at each other, feeling slightly odd and out of place, but then Harry reasoned, everyone else was going to be in costume, too. The other boys in Harry's dormitory had all found dates to the ball, as well. Dean didn't seem to be too upset by Harry and Ginny's new relationship; he had simply jumped into another one with Parvati. Dean had chosen to go in golden robes that sported a lion's mask. Seamus was wearing a burnt sienna costume with a fox mask, while Neville had chosen green robes with a frog-like mask. The boys all headed down to the common room together.

The Gryffindor girls had now begun to make their appearances in the common room, as well. Parvati, dressed in black robes and an extravagantly beaded cat mask joined Dean on the stairs. Harry had at first worried that he might offend Dean by going out with Ginny so soon after they had broken up, but since Dean was now looking completely thrilled to be going with the very attractive Parvati Patil, Harry decided to forget it. Seamus' date, Lavender Brown, then came down in a pink flowing robes with an almost ridiculously fluffy pink rabbit mask on her head. Seamus didn't seem to mind, however, as with a certain nervous jumpiness, he offered her his arm. Harry and Ron were standing together next to the fireplace. They were too nervous to be comfortable sitting down. Ron was tapping his foot anxiously, and Harry was finding that for some reason his breathing kept coming in quick little gasps. A few moments later, neither Hermione or Ginny had made it down yet.

"What's taking so long?" Ron complained impatiently, almost beside himself. "What are they doing up there, dying their hair to match the costumes or something?"

Finally, the girls made their appearance. It was worth the wait. Hermione was in incredibly beautiful red silk dress robes that swished gently when she walked. Hermione's hair was up in a lovely coif, and her mask was made of gold and red glittering feathers in an intricate pattern that resembled a phoenix. Ron had pulled his mask off to watch her descend. Right behind her, Ginny appeared. Harry pulled his mask off, too, and his jaw dropped dramatically as he gazed at her, completely awestruck. Ginny was wearing flowing white robes that glittered as she moved and her mask was made of gleaming silver white feathers that looked like an elegant white snowy owl. Both Ginny and Hermione's masks stopped just below their noses, so that Harry and Ron were able to see their radiant smiles underneath. Ginny's red hair was up in a similar style to Hermione's; they had obviously helped each other get ready.

It was hard to say which girl looked more beautiful, though both Harry and Ron each had their favorite, for obvious reasons. Each of them watched mesmerized as Ginny and Hermione seemed to float towards them. Harry couldn't seem to take his eyes off Ginny, and as she reached for his hand, he actually shivered. Ron appeared to feel the same way about Hermione, and as the four of them adjusted their masks and headed towards the Great Hall, they gave the impression that the whole world could have fallen away from them and they would never have noticed.

Once in the Great Hall, Harry glanced away from Ginny just long enough to realize that the hall had been transformed into an amazing concoction of black and orange. Black spider webs hung from all the wall brackets, and Hagrid's humongous pumpkins were set up in every corner and by the small wooden stage that had been set up near the front of the hall. Candles were gleaming everywhere, including inside of the vast carved pumpkins. Groups of bats flew all around the enchanted ceiling which was currently filled with twinkling stars as the occasional cloud floated past the bright full harvest moon. Honeydukes chocolates and various other colorfully wrapped candies were arranged around the Great Hall like small glittering jewels. As the students settled into the smaller round tables that had replaced the usual four large rectangular house tables, Dumbledore went center-stage.

He was wearing silver robes with a white tiger-shaped mask as he viewed the colorful crowd of students. "Welcome to all," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling brightly behind his mask. "Tonight was designed for the enjoyment of all participants, so please be sure to enjoy yourselves. Also, for those of you who are curious about who is judging the costumes tonight, please look to your left." A small table had been set up and the two judges were looking out into the vast crowd, their smiles gleaming. It was Fred and George. "The Brothers Weasley have kindly offered their services tonight to provide both fireworks later on, and also to present an award to the best dressed couple. The feast will begin, momentarily." Dumbledore concluded as he took a seat by Professor McGonagall, who was wearing velvety black robes and a rather elegant looking panther mask of black and gold velvet over her face.

As the gleaming golden plates with menus appeared on the tables just as they had the year of the Yule Ball, each person spoke what they wanted and it appeared perfectly prepared on their individual plate. Maybe it was just because he was older now, but things felt very different to Harry than they had the evening of the Yule Ball, two years before. Harry felt a bit nervous, just as he had done then, but he also felt a lot more affection for his date than he had on that occasion. Harry looked across the table at his two best friends. Ron and Hermione were looking at each other as though they had never really seen each other before. Incongruously, they seemed oddly nervous around each other, while somehow appearing more happy than Harry had ever seen them at the very same time.

After dinner, The Weird Sisters took the stage, as they had two years previous. Harry felt himself growing slightly more anxious as couples began to fill the dance floor. Ginny was sitting next to him quietly, smiling through her feathered mask at her brother and Hermione across the table. Harry took a deep breath and turned to her.

"I'm really not much of a dancer, Ginny, but would you like to dance, anyway?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Harry," Ginny replied, and then whispered in his ear, "Last time I was with Neville, and he stepped on my toes so much I was afraid they would fall off."

Harry chuckled quietly as he spotted Neville across the room. Apparently he had asked Luna Lovegood to the ball, and they were dancing to a very odd beat of their own. Luna appeared to be wearing a squid costume. It reminded Harry of the Famous Witches and Wizard Card of Uric the Oddball. As he leaned over to Ginny to tell her, Ginny's gentle laugh filled his ears. They smiled warmly at each other as Harry led Ginny to the dance floor. Ron and Hermione had left to dance a few moments before. After their case of the giggles, Harry was beginning to feel more comfortable now, his nervousness finally lifting away.

Harry and Ginny, while excellent at quidditch, had had little experience with dancing, and they spent the evening trying to figure out how to dance to both the fast and the slow tunes. After giggling at themselves over and over again every time they accidentally bumped into each other, they began to gain a certain level of trust and comfort together. Even Malfoy in his stupid black cobra costume muttering under his breath every time he passed with a bat-like costumed Pansy Parkinson couldn't distract Harry from Ginny. Harry knew peripherally that the Great Hall was full of many costumed people, but it felt as though he and Ginny were in a separate wonderful world of their very own making.

After a few songs, Fred and George stopped the band to announce the winning couple. "We are happy to announce the best dressed couple award tonight." Fred began. "The winning couple is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley!" he said, beaming at them. Ron and Hermione were evidently quite shocked. As they walked to the stage, Harry and Ginny were clapping and cheering loudly through their masks at them. Harry then thought that he heard George tell Ron out of the corner of his mouth, "It's the least we can do after being so hard on you in Hogsmeade," as Fred handed them the ribbon, grinning widely. As the evening winded down, the songs became slower and Harry found that he very much enjoyed the feeling of having Ginny in his arms.

As the last song began playing, Harry realized that this wonderful night was almost over. He didn't want it to end, it had somehow gone by incredibly quickly. This was apparently the cue for Fred and George to begin their fireworks display. Everyone removed their masks as they looked up mesmerized by the bright and colorful explosions that were now filling the sky of the enchanted ceiling. As the spectacular patterns of sparks continued to soar gracefully overhead, Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione. They were dancing slowly and quite close together nearby, apparently oblivious to everything else, even the amazing pyrotechnic display above them. Harry looked at Ginny and nodded towards them. She smiled up at him knowingly and then rested her head on his shoulder as they continued dancing slowly till the last soft beat of that final song.