Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I do not own the places. I don't own anything J.K Rowling thought up, all I own is the plot.

Chapter six: The Halloween Ball

Ron looked at his friend with a worried frown. Harry had stormed into the bedroom angry last night and had hidden behind the curtains of his bed without saying a single thing.

"Aren't you going to talk at all?" he said with an exasperated sigh.

Harry looked at him. His expression had changed from angry to sad. He opened his mouth but closed it again as he noticed Hermione coming in. She looked at him with fright, afraid he'd shout at her again, hoping he'd come up and say something to her.

But he didn't move. He just stared at his food again, roughly cutting it into tiny bits. Ron looked up and saw her too. He was halfway raising his hand to wave at her when she shook her head warningly.

She sat down at the other end of the table, next to Ginny and Luna. Ron turned back to Harry.

"…You two have been fighting. That's what all this is about."

Harry grunted as he stuck a fork into his mouth.

"Come on. You can tell me. I'm your best friend. I'm sure it wasn't all that bad."

Harry looked at him. "Do you know what she asked me last night?"

Ron silently shook his head. Normally, if Harry had this tone of voice, a tantrum was coming on.

"She asked me…if I would mind taking Parvati to the ball."

"Wha- why?""

"Because she felt so sorry about Neville being too shy to ask a girl out. So she decided to go with him. Can you believe that? She prefers to go to that stupid ball with him!"

Ron looked at him with an unbelieving frown.

"She's my girlfriend! But she's going with Neville, for Merlin's sake…that's not normal, is it?"

Ron shook his head slowly. Why Hermione would do this was a mystery to him.

"Harry…I'll go talk to her, okay? I'll find out what's going on."

He stood up and was about to walk over to her when Malfoy stood up.

"Hey Potter! Had a row with the mudblood? Why isn't she sitting with you? I bet she dumped him. Hey guys, the mudblood and pothead broke up!"

"Shut it Malfoy!" Ron shouted before Harry could say anything. "Everything's fine, so piss off and go bother someone else. We're not interested!"

Malfoy and the entire Slytherin table burst into laughter.

"Come on Harry. Let's go."

Harry nodded aggressively and threw his fork down. He felt Hermione stare at him, but he ignored it. She looked at Ron. Their eyes met. But he shook his head.

"Later." He mouthed.

She sat down again and looked at her plate. Ginny laid a hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong Hermione? Did you two fight?"

Hermione explained what had happened and suppressed the tears that were welling up inside her. Ginny just stared at her.

"Hermione…I don't approve of the way he acts…but I do understand it. I know you mean well, but you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have."

Hermione burst into tears.

"I know." She sobbed. "It's just….it's just that I felt so bad for Neville and he's a nice guy and I wanted to help him out. But not if I lose Harry over it."

Ginny patted her back awkwardly.

"So, Parvati said yes?"

Harry nodded grouchily. "Yeah. After I promised to pay her more attention than I did at the Yule ball. I guess she was glad not to have to go alone either."

"Are you going to talk it out with Hermione at all? You two need to sort this out."

Harry sighed. "…I know, I know. But it's not that easy. I can't just walk up to her and say that I'm sorry."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Why not? You yelled at her and didn't let her explain."

"But she was the one who decided to go with someone else."

"Harry, at least try?"

Harry turned around. "And you're not actually helping Ron. Who's side are you on anyway?"

"I'm on nobodies side. I just want to get you two back together."

The portrait hole opened and Neville walked in. He looked at Harry for a second and quickly ran up the stairs. Ron sighed and sat down, opening his book.

"You've got two days before the ball. Try and patch it up before then, you'll both feel better. And if you do that, then you can be better company for Parvati too. She deserves a bit more of you."

Harry nodded vaguely. "You're right. I'll talk to her. I'll try and make it up. I guess I shouldn't have yelled at her."

Ron sighed with relief. "Phew. I was worried you wouldn't. Don't yell at either of us, okay?"

Harry chuckled. "I wouldn't dare."

-

Hermione looked into the mirror. She wasn't happy about her hair. She'd spent an hour just for picking out the right dress robes. She had ended up picking a leafy green one.

"Parvati? Can you do something nice with my hair?"

Parvati mumbled a yes and came out of the bathroom with a comb between her teeth and her hands up in her hair, tying it up into an elegant bun.

She looked stunning in her dark red dress robes. It fitted her perfectly and complimented her shape. Inside, Hermione felt a little jealous. She had talked to Harry and all was well again, but their relationship was still on thin ice. She was sure that if they argued again, that could be the end of it all.

But she couldn't help feeling jealous as she saw how pretty Parvati looked, especially now she was going with Harry. Normally she didn't really care about who was the prettiest, but this time there was a difference. Harry was her boyfriend.

'Don't be jealous, Hermione.' She thought. 'This is your own fault to begin with. And if you're jealous, then you'll get angry. And if you do that, you'll argue and that'll be that.'

"You look really pretty Parvati." She managed to say.

Parvati smiled. "Thanks. You look gorgeous too, you know."

She pushed Hermione into a chair in front of a full-length mirror.

"I see you used some Sleekeezy cream. That's a good start." Parvati said as she took two strands of hair at the right side of Hermione's head and started to braid it.

Hermione looked at herself. She looked pretty, Parvati was right. Her green dress robes complimented her curly brown hair and the silver pendant she wore really suited her.

"Hold this." Parvati said, holding out the braid.

Hermione took it and Parvati started to make a similar braid at the left side of her head. When it was done she gave that to Hermione as well.

"Hold that one too, I'll be right back."

Parvati skipped over to her bedside table and pulled out her beauty-case. "I've got this lovely silver hairpin that'll match your necklace."

Parvati took the braids and loosely tied them together at the back of her head. As a finishing touch she hid the elastic hair band underneath the silver pin. She smiled at her creation, but Hermione wasn't sure.

"Doesn't this make me look a bit…Slytherin?"

Parvati shook her head. "No! This is a completely different shade of green. A pretty green. And it really looks well on you."

Hermione blushed. "…Thanks."

Lavender came out of the bathroom humming her favourite Weird Sisters tune. She was wearing ocean blue dress robes with subtle sparkly silver whiffs here and there. Her hair was down and she had braided beads at the ends of a few strands of hair.

Parvati smiled. "You look fab! Special reasons?"

Lavender shot her a mock-nasty smile. "Piss off, Parvati. Does the word 'friends' mean anything to the both of you?"

Hermione grinned apologetically but Parvati shook her head merrily. "Hmm, 'friends'…no, I don't think it's in my vocabulary. Nope."

She ducked just in time when a pillow came flying her way.

-

"Girls! Hurry up!" someone shouted at the bottom of the stairs.

Hermione recognised it to be Ron's voice.

"We're done!"

Lavender hurried down the stairs. "Hi Ron, let's go."

He smiled and offered her his arm, which she took gladly.

"Come on you lot, we're going to be late for dinner."

They looked up as Hermione came down, followed closely by Parvati. Hermione looked at Harry and Neville. She could still go with Harry, but then again she knew she couldn't. She hugged Harry tightly.

"You're still okay with this?" She asked.

He nodded, "Yeah. Enjoy tonight. But tomorrow you're my girlfriend again, okay?"

She smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

He kissed her gently. Hermione sighed and walked on to Neville.

"Let's go Neville."

She hesitated when he offered her his arm, but Harry nodded to her and offered his own arm to a beaming Parvati. Hermione couldn't help noticing that Parvati and Harry made a very handsome couple.

She didn't look at them again until dinner. The House tables in the Hall had been replaced by small tables for two. Hermione sat down and immediately took a sip of her wine, guessing she would do that a lot that night.

"So…are you and Harry okay again?" Neville asked as he unfolded his napkin on his lap.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. I was a bit worried earlier, but we're alright now."

"Oh. That's…good."

"Yes. I don't gave many people I care for deeply and losing Harry would really be terrible."

She took a bite of her chicken wing. Neville looked at her from behind the candle on the table, much like he had done during their last session.

"Are there…more people you care for that deeply?"

She nodded. "Yes, of course there are. I love Harry. And Ron is like a big brother to me, I don't have siblings so that feels very secure. You know, to have someone like that. And then there's my three year old cousin, Paul. He is such a sweet boy. I don't see him that often, but when I do I always play with him. I love him to bits."

Neville pushed his food around on his plate, a ponderous look on his face. "That's so great. I'm jealous. I don't have any cousins and no brothers or sisters either."

Somewhere in the background music started to play. One by one the couples got up and moved towards the dance floor. Neville eyed them for a moment and looked back at Hermione.

"Want to dance?"

She slowly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, sounds like fun."

She took his hand and followed him.

"Hey Granger! Why aren't you dancing with your lover boy? Oh wait, that is what you're doing!"

Hermione snapped around and held up her fist menacingly.

"Go…away Malfoy." She said slowly. "Because I don't intend to put up with this any longer."

She swung her fist back, but there was no need to punch him as he had already fled. She turned back to Neville and started to dance with him. She looked for Harry and Parvati ad saw them dancing as well. Parvati was definitely enjoying herself, but Harry didn't look too happy.

He smiled when he caught her eye. The song ended and Hermione let go of Neville at once.

"Would you mind if I danced with Harry for a bit?"

Neville shook her head. "Go ahead. I'll keep Parvati entertained."

She smiled thankfully and practically skipped over to her boyfriend.

"Heya."

"Hey. Everything alright over there?"

She nodded. "Yeah. But I'd like to dance with you…for a few dances?"

Harry smiled broadly. "I'll talk to Parvati."

But Parvati was already talking to Neville at a table, happily sipping her wine. Hermione saw Neville fill up the glass again.

"Come, Parvati is having fun over there."

She pulled him to the dance floor.

"This is nice." She mumbled as a slow song started and he held her in his arms.

He mumbled agreeing. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest.

"You're looking really beautiful tonight, did you know that?"

She blushed. "I'm not as pretty as Parvati. She's absolutely jaw-dropping. Just look at her. All the boys are looking at her."

"Then you're lucky that I'm not like all boys. I haven't even noticed her, not really. I was looking at you all along."

Hermione blushed even deeper. The song came to an end and slowly she pulled back from his comfortable embrace.

"I'd better go back to Neville."

"…Okay…see you later."

He kissed her.

She walked back to Neville and Parvati. Parvati looked a bit red. A bit unstable.

"Is she alright?" Hermione asked.

"I'll go back to…Harry…and talk" Parvati said as she got up and wobbled back to Harry.

"She's fine. A bit tipsy." Neville assured her.

"So, what have you and Parvati been talking about."

"Oh, nothing much. She was pretty hammered so it was impossible to talk about something sensible."

A sudden loud 'whoop' of a large crowd made them look up.

"What's going on?"

He shrugged. "Let's go see."

She followed him and pushed her way through the crowd. Right in the middle of the dance floor, Parvati was snogging Harry like crazy. Hermione's breath got stuck in her throat.

Harry pushed Parvati away from him. "Hermione!"

Tears were glittering in her eyes. She turned around and ran, tears now streaming down her face. She blindly pushed people out of the way

"Hermione!"

Harry tried to follow her, but the crowd closed behind her, forming a wall. He watched helplessly as she ran out the Hall.

He tried to pry a way through the crowd, but Ron stopped him. "…Don't Harry. Just don't."

"But I-"

"Listen! You screwed up big time just now. So leave it, okay? Leave her alone, just for now." Ron said as he tightened his grip on Harry's arm.

Harry's eyes filled up with tears. "But I didn't…I mean, Parvati, she…"

"Parvati is drunk. You're not. You screwed up."

Magic and Sparkle: thanks . I do intend to keep it up :) so many more chapters to come and so much to happen!

Emma Barrows: Harry absolutely loves Hermione with all his heart. Her going with Neville was certainly a shock to him. And now this….poor Hermione, poor Harry too…I read Ominix! I don't know if I reviewed that, so I'll just take the time here to say I absolutely loved that chapter! Go you! Hope to see you at the next chapter!

Lucerito-del-alma: yay! I'm on your favs list! wOOt! …but…remind me never ever to get on your bad side when you're in the kitchen using a hogedrukpan…I'll have to defend myself with deadly cutlery! Oh, perhaps you'd like to check out 'Words that we couldn't say', a hp songfic I wrote. I think you might like it.

Well folks, until next time!

raven55