Disclaimer: J. K. owns all characters except two OCs.
A/N: Thanks for staying with us, Akalei. This chapter contains some cheese.
FFF
7. - All About the Ball
As Halloween approached, nobody had had any time to worry about Voldemort. That was why everyone was amazed at the article which appeared in the Daily Prophet, on the morning of October the 14th. However, nobody was more surprised than Kya.
"Let me see that," she said, and she snatched the paper out of Neville's hands. As she quickly skimmed through the article, her eyes widened in disbelief. "But how… why would they attack that village? How horrible!" she exclaimed.
"I know," said Hermione. "I wonder how the ministry knew about the attack."
The attack on a small wizarding community outside of Yorkshire had been thwarted by a law enforcement squad from the ministry.
"Yes. It's not like they were obvious targets or anything," said Kya.
"My dad sent them an anonymous tip someone had given him," said Luna, unexpectedly. She had wandered over to the Gryffindor table without anyone noticing, and was now looking at the paper over Kya's shoulder.
Kya slowly turned her head to regard the newcomer.
"Really?" she said, obviously impressed. "Your dad?"
Luna shrugged and nodded.
"You're Luna Lovegood, aren't you?" said Kya and she smiled, extending her hand. Luna gave her an odd look, and hesitated for a while before accepting it.
"I don't think we've met. I'm Kya Morris," said Kya. "You're dad works at The Quibbler, doesn't he?"
"He's the editor," said Luna.
"I read that paper a lot," said Kya. "There's no other one like it."
Luna frowned at that slightly ambiguous remark. Kya checked her watch. It was time for another painful round of Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"Well, Luna, nice to have met you," said Kya, while getting up and reaching for her bag.
"Yeah," said Luna.
Thankfully, professor Jacobson didn't drink as much in class, as she had done during the first few lessons. Instead of drowning herself in alcohol, she had apparently resolved to immerse herself in her work. The extreme cheerfulness she was radiating seemed rather forced. As a result of her new dedication, she was more focused on the students, and there had been far fewer injuries lately. However, the curses they had to try out on each other were very painful.
The days flew by in a frenzy of preparations. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Kya nearly panicked when they tried to take their costumes out of the room of requirement, only to find that the clothes disappeared once they were brought out of the room.
"Lucky we didn't rely on it for the decorations," said Hermione. "Apparently, Parvati and Lavender have already bought those."
That night, in the common room, Harry and Ginny were playing a game of exploding snap. Kya was off, spending quality time with Malfoy, presumably reading him her new poetry. Ron had given her a very dark look as she'd left the room.
"That one's not right in the head," he had said, nastily.
"Oh Ron," Hermione had sighed. "It's her own business, alright? I'm sure she'll find out about him soon enough."
"She'll be alright," Harry had said. "Malfoy seems to like her, anyway."
"Much as he's capable of liking anyone," Ron had muttered under his breath.
"He won't be able to hurt her or anything at the ball," Ginny had said, shrugging. "Too many people."
"She just seems so naïve though," Ron had argued. "What if he lures her out into the forest or something?"
"Oh, can it," Hermione had said in response. Then she had got up, stretched and declared her intentions to get into bed. Ron had looked considerably annoyed, but soon he had decided to follow the same course of action. Which had left Harry and Ginny, playing cards by the fire.
After a while, Harry fidgeted a little. Ginny noted that he looked uncomfortable.
"Are you alright?" she asked. He wasn't, obviously.
"Oh… oh, yeah, I'm fine. Excellent. Never better."
"Good," said Ginny, uncertainly.
Having exploded their last deck of cards, they both picked up textbooks, and started leafing through them. It was impossible for them to concentrate. The room was warm, it was late, and they were tired.
Ginny cleared her throat.
"I suppose I shouldn't have procrastinated so much," she observed. "Do you know what will happen if you don't dice the mandrake roots properly?"
"Um…Yeah, it'll turn acidic."
"Oh," said Ginny, and she frowned. "There's no mention of that in here."
"No, they expect you to follow the instructions to the letter."
"Ah."
They were quiet for a while longer. Then Ginny ventured to ask,
"What are you reading?"
"History of Magic," said Harry. He looked up at her. "There's this wizard… Gorlock," he said, glancing down at the page.
"The one who defeated the rampaging dragon in Westchester?" said Ginny, with interest.
"Yeah. Anyway. Turns out he needed help with the dragon, so he asked this witch he knew if she'd go with him."
"Yeah, I know that," said Ginny, vaguely.
"Did she say yes?"
Ginny gave him a strange look, but then her eyes widened in understanding.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure she did," she replied.
Harry grinned. Ginny beamed.
