Disclaimer: once agian i own nothing excpet the plot.

A/N: this took a while. im sorry i tried to make it longer and so i kept saving the chapter, and i dont get much time to do this with crazy college stuff and now scholarship apps. hope you enjoy it. dont forgete to review.


Chapter 6

The next week flew by quickly. With all of the dance preparation, Hermione was rarely ever in the common room, and she got back completely exhausted. Needless to say instead of staying up to talk to Harry she usually just went to bed. He didn't take it personally, however. He knew that she was so tired with school and preparations that she needed the rest. He couldn't wait until it was all over though. He missed her. She was the one person he could talk to about anything; even Ron didn't have that relationship with him. He just wanted to sit and talk to her, for a minute, and soon that would be possible again.

The morning of the ball the entire school was a buzz. By about 11 am the majority of the older girls had disappeared into their dorms and the boys were left wondering what exactly had happened to them. In their absence the boys found themselves roaming the streets of Hogsmead alone, having snowball fights and playing quidditch. Ron and Harry wandered into a small flower shop to buy flowers for their dates.

"I'm no good at this," whined Ron, "you shoulda seen me shopping for Lav's Birthday, I was a mess. Eventually I had to drag Ginny with me. What a nightmare."

"Haha, sure Ron. Some how I think flowers are much easier. I mean roses are the easiest way to go right?"

"Yea, but look at all the colors! Which ones am I supposed to get?"

"Hmmmm hold on, you stay here. You OBVIOUSLY can't handle this."

"Yea fine."

Harry wandered up to the counter in the back of the shop. Behind it stood a tall slender woman with brown wavy hair sprinkled with stands of gray. She wore far too much jewelry and not enough make up. Her clothes had a weird mixture of blues purples and greens swirled together in a wildly flowing sheet. She was, needless to say, a bit on the weird side.

"Hello, can I have dozen assorted roses and…" He paused, he realized he didn't want to get Hermione the same flowers as Lavender, but he had no idea what else to get.

"Young Man? Are you shopping for a young girl?"

"Yes actually, there's a ball tonight and I wanted to buy a bouquet for my date. But, I just realized I don't know what flowers to get."

"Ahhh. Hold on I think I know what you need."

She disappeared into the back room. A few minutes later she reappeared with the bouquet of roses as well as the largest assortment of flowers Harry had ever seen in one bunch. There were roses, carnations, daisies, lilies, orchids and so many other flowers Harry couldn't even identify. It was beautiful.

"Oh, wow that's perfect."

"I thought so."

Harry purchased the flowers and walked out of the store. Ron had found a bench nearby and was patiently waiting for him to arrive.

"Here, these should be good for Lavender."

"Thanks Harry. I'm really not any good at these things."

"No problem. Come on, its almost 4 we should get back and get ready."

"Yea, lets go."


Harry glanced up at the clock. 6:15. They were already 15 minutes late. Hermione and Lavender had told them to be waiting in the common room at 6. Well, they were waiting in the common room, but the girls were no where to be found.

"UGH not again! Why are they always late?"

"Ron! Relax, it'll be like last time, they'll look great, you'll gawk, kiss lavender, head to the ball. K?"

"yea yea."

Turns out, Harry was right. Just as Ron got over his fit, Lavender came down the stairs. She was wearing a tight fitting purple gown the flared out just below her knees. It was a wonder she could walk at all. It was strapless and had small crystal clear flowers sprinkled around the length of the gown. Her hair was pulled up into a nicely organized array of loops at the back of her head, with a few curled wisps framing her face. Her eyes had a shimmery layer of light purple dust and he skin was the smoothes tRon had ever seen it. He just stood, and as Harry predicted, Gawked.

"You look amazing."

Lavender giggled. Ron wasn't much for compliments, so when he did offer them you had to take them as true.

"Thank you Ron." She planted a light kiss on his cheek and he blushed furiously.

"Hermione will be down in a moment, Harry."

"Ok."

Moments later Hermione appeared in the stairwell. Harry's jaw dropped open, but he quickly caught himself and closed his mouth. "wow". Was all he could say.

She was wearing a strapless pastel yellow gown with a full bottom that puffed out slightly. It had little blue and orange crystals speckling it. Her hair was straightened, long and flowy and had small rhinestones dotted through it. It curled just slightly at the ends. Her skin looked perfect with the color of the dress. Her eyes were dusted with light blue and her lips shined in a glossy pink pout. She looked amazing.

"Wow. Mione you look amazing."

"Thanks Harry. You look very nice too." She blushed at the compliment. At any other moment it would have been just Harry being a gentleman but this time she could see he meant it, and that meant a lot to her.

"Ok you two, lets get down to the ball." Ron grabbed Lavender's hand and started for the door.

"Wait!"

"What now Harry?"

"What about the Flowers?"

"Flowers? What Flowers?" Hermione questioned.

"Hold on, we'll be right back." Ron and Harry disappeared into their dorms and reappeared moments later with two of the biggest bouquets either of the girls had ever seen.

"These are for you guys." Ron handed Lavender her flowers. She squealed a thank you and pulled him into a kiss.

"Yea Mione, hope you like them." Now Hermione was speechless. It was the most beautiful arrangement she'd ever seen.

"Harry I love them. Thank you." She pulled him into a tight hug. He smiled and buried his head into her neck.

"You're welcome." It was muffled against her skin. Hermione got a chill at the close contact and his breath on her neck. Harry soon pulled back and Hermione and Lavender rushed upstairs to put the flowers in water. Moments later they appeared and the group headed down to the ball.


Ron and Lavender entered the Great Hall first. It was beautifully decorated. It must have been a clear night because the ceiling was the deepest dark blue Hermione had ever seen and it seemed like every star in the universe was brilliantly twinkling against it. A few like blue wisps of clouds passed over and the moon was almost full. She had to stop and stare for a minute.

"Wow, how perfect is that," she muttered in awe of the sky.

Harry over heard and looked up to where her gaze was directed.

"That's beautiful."

He really agreed that it was an amazing sight. Then he looked over and Hermione who had her chin tilted upwards as she continued to stare. She had the most amazing peaceful look on her face and a big smile. Harry loved her smile. He always thought that something in her eyes danced when she was genuinely happy. Almost a flicker of gold in the depths of the chocolate brown. He'd do anything to see that smile. Usually it meant making a fool of himself. Making her laugh was the greatest accomplishment in the world, so much so that he almost didn't realize he was doing it half of the time.

She finally pulled her gaze away. Lets go sit and have something to eat I'm starving. The edges and back of the Great hall and small round able enough to seat four scattered around. People were making their way to seats. Each table had deep blue tablecloths, sparkling silver plates and utensils and crystal goblets. After everyone was seated food appeared on the plates. Beautiful chicken pieces smother in gravy with whipped mashed potatoes and an array of steamed veggies. The goblets filled with pumpkin juice and would refill themselves once empty. Ron, Lavender, Harry and Hermione shared the most wonderful meal. They joked and laughed to the point where Ron almost spilled pumpkin juice all over himself. Lavender would have been a little pissed to see Ron sporting a nice orange stain on his pant leg for the rest of the night.

Soon enough the food disappeared, and the students started making their way to the dance floor. Within a few minutes the dance floor became a flurry of color. Girls danced around in their flowing gowns, shoes discarded under their tables. The guys lost the jackets that they were wearing, ties were thrown about the tables their shoes remained though. The DJ changed between moderately fast songs to fast paced dance beats that got the students moving quickly about the floor. Hermione looked over as a very drunk Pansy Parkinson hung off of a very annoyed looking Draco Malfoy. He met her gaze and then quickly turned his attention back to pansy dragging her to the nearest chair. Harry laughed at the sight.

"Lets go sit for a few, if tired."

"Ok, I need a break my feet are sore, good thing I got rid of my shoes."

They strolled over to their table and sat down. They looked back over and watched he people dancing. Hermione caught Ron's flaming read hair being tossed about wildly.

"Poor Lavender, Ron really is a horrible dancer." Hermione giggled as she said it. Ron was thrashing about to a dance beat, while bewildered lavender watched in amusement. Harry chuckled to himself. He had tried to teach Ron to dance, but it was a hopeless case. He had no rhythm what so ever.

A slow song cam over the speakers. Harry stood up and took Hermione's hand.

"Care to dance?"

"Oh, I'd love to."

They strolled over to the dance floor and Harry placed his hands gingerly on Hermione's hips, almost as if he was afraid to break her. Hermione extended her arms up to wrap them around his neck. As they swayed with the music they drew closer together, until Harry's arms wrapped entirely around her waist and she was resting her head on his shoulder.

The tension between then was unreal. Hermione looked up to Harry and smiled and he wanted nothing more at that moment then to lean in and place a kiss on her lips. But he didn't dare.

"Aww man just kiss her already!" Ron and lavender had found their way over next to them.

Hermione giggled not knowing how to react. She actually liked the idea of it. Harry gave a nervous laugh and shook his head. Hermione's heart fell for just a moment but quickly perked back up when Harry smiled at her.

Oh, he's nervous. Maybe he wants to? No couldn't be, but just maybe.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the song ended and Lavender grabbed her hand and dragged her away.

"Come on, lets chat."

"What why?" They had reached a small bench in the back of the room.

"You like him don't you? And you wont do anything because you're scared. Well guess what. He likes you too we all see it so stop being so quiet about it and give signals. Maybe then he'll kiss you so you wont have to kiss him." Lavender smiled and got up leaving a stunned Hermione sitting there. Alone with her thoughts.


A/N: thanx agian guys review!