Author's Note: I LOVE writing this Yule Ball stuff! I should have a fic that's completely focused on the ball! Well, actually I guess this would be it. Well…the Yule Ball isn't the focus of my fic, but it is the focus of these few chapters. Enough of my rambling, read the next chapter.
Padfoot! I know how much you want to see Sirius, and I assure you, he's coming. He won't be in any of the Book 4 scenes, though. But just so you know how long it is before he appears, I have about…eight or so more chapters for Book 4 (it's clearly my favorite) Please bear with me! He's on his way!
And this one was in fact MY idea! Well, the last one was too, but I wasn't sure about it until Anandini77 cheered it on.
Entering the common room, Harry looked around, and to his surprise he saw Ron sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Ginny was sitting with him, talking to him in what seemed to be a low, soothing voice, and Tina had just sat down apparently doing the same but looking rather amused.
"What's up, Ron?" said Harry, joining them.
Ron looked up at Harry, a sort of blind horror in his face.
"Why did I do it?" he said wildly. "I don't know what made me do it!"
"What?" said Harry.
"He — er — just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," said Ginny. She and Tina exchanged glances and she looked as though she was fighting back a smile, but kept patting Ron's arm sympathetically.
"You what?" said Harry.
"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped again. "What was I playing at? There were people — all around — I've gone mad — everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the entrance hall — she was standing there talking to Diggory — and it sort of came over me — and I asked her!"
Ron moaned and put his face in his hands. He kept talking, thought the words were barely distinguishable. Tina's lip twitched.
"She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then — I dunno — I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it." At this both Tina and Ginny looked more sympathetic than amused.
"She's part veela," said Harry. "You were right — her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it — but she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang."
Ron looked up.
"I asked her to go with me just now," Harry said dully. "And she told me."
Ginny had suddenly stopped smiling. Tina looked at Harry as though he had just told Snape what to do with his bezoar.
"This is mad," said Ron. "We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone — well, except Neville. Hey — guess who he asked? Hermione!"
"What?" said Harry, completely distracted by this startling news.
"Yeah, I know!" said Ron, some of the color coming back into his face as he started to laugh. "He told me after Potions! Said she's always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff — but she told him she was going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville…I mean, who would?"
"Don't!" said Ginny, annoyed. "Don't laugh--"
Tina was staring at the two boys with a look of utter disbelief. "Insensitive jerk," she muttered, shaking her head at Ron. Just then Hermione climbed in through the portrait hole.
"Why did you leave, dinner early, Tina?" she said, coming over to join them. "And why weren't you two at dinner?"
"Because — oh shut up laughing, you two — because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!" said Ginny.
That shut Harry and Ron up.
"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," said Ron sourly.
"Oh, trust me, you deserve it," said Tina.
"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" said Hermione loftily. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone who'll have you."
But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light.
"Hermione, Neville's right — you are a girl…"
"Oh well spotted," she said acidly. Tina was smiling again, in a sly sort of way.
"Well—you can come with one of us!" cried Ron.
"No, I can't," snapped Hermione.
"Oh, come on," he said impatiently. "We need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has…"
"I can't come with you," said Hermione, now blushing, "because I'm already going with someone."
"No, you're not!" said Ron. "You just said that to get rid of Neville!"
"Oh, did I?" said Hermione, and her eyes flashed. Tina and Ginny were looking at Ron it complete outrage. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, doesn't mean that no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"
Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.
"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl," he said. "That do? Will you come now?"
"I've already told you!" Hermione said very angrily. "I'm going with someone else!"
And she stormed off toward the girls' dormitories again.
"She's lying," said Ron flatly, watching her go.
"She's not," said Ginny quietly.
"Who is it then?" said Ron sharply.
"I'm not telling you, it's her business," said Ginny.
"Yeah," said Tina acidly. "And why do you care? It's not like you'd be happy for her or anything."
"Right," said Ron, who looked extremely put out, "This is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just--"
"I can't," said Ginny, and she went scarlet too. "I'm going with — with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought…well…I'm got going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She looked extremely miserable. "I think I'll go have dinner," she said, and she got up ad walked off to the portrait hole, her head bowed.
Ron goggled at Harry as though Tina wasn't even there.
"What's got into them?" he demanded.
"Ron, not everyone's like you," said Tina glaring at him. However, this remark seemed to restore some of her amusement and she said, "Not everyone finds getting a date to be as hard as staying awake in History of Magic. Though I have to say you aren't alone in your ways. Got anything to say for yourself, Harry, O Blind One?"
But Harry had just seen Parvati and Lavender come in through the portrait hole. The time had come for drastic action.
"Wait here," he said to Ron, completely ignoring Tina, and he stood up, walked straight up to Parvati and said, "Parvati? Will you go to the ball with me?"
Harry could just see Tina's open mouth out of the corner of his eye as Parvati went into a fit of giggles. He waited for them to subside, his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes.
"Yes, all right then," she said finally, blushing furiously.
"Thanks," said Harry, in relief. "Lavender — will you go with Ron?"
"She's going with Seamus," said Parvati, and the pair of the giggled harder than ever.
Harry sighed.
"Can't you think of anyone who'd go with Ron?" he said, lowering his voice so that Ron wouldn't hear.
"Let's see…" said Parvati, thinking. "Tina's got a date, so has Lavender…what about Hermione Granger?"
"She's going with someone else.
Parvati looked astonished.
"Ooooh — who?" she said keenly.
Harry shrugged. "No idea," he said. "So what about Ron?"
"Well…" said Parvati slowly. "I suppose my sister might…Padma, you know…in Ravenclaw. I'll ask her if you like."
"Yeah, that would be great," said Harry. "Let me know, will you?"
And he went back to Ron, feeling that this ball was a lot more trouble than it was worth, and hoping very much that Padma Patil's nose was dead center. As he sat down next to Ron, Tina looked at them both disbelievingly.
"You know," she said. "If you had a thing for Indian girls, there was one right under your nose that might not have giggled as much if you asked her. Of course, Terry Boot beat you two to that one, but I would've dumped him for one of you two idiots in a heartbeat." She grinned at her own sarcasm then sighed. "Parvati and Padma have no idea what they're getting themselves into."
Ron gave her a questioning look.
"Oh, come on!" cried Tina in exasperation. "I mean, there's you Ron, who'll go with any cranky old skunk as long as she looks like a model. How shallow can you be? And then there's you, Harry, the tactless moron who'll say right in front of Ginny -- whose feelings you're well aware of -- that you asked out another girl! I mean, are you two daft or something?" She said this all very fast so it was difficult for Harry and Ron to understand. Harry fought back a grin at Tina's use of a British word.
"What's wrong with any of that?" asked Ron innocently.
Tina looked as though she might burst. Indeed, the color of her face was somewhat reminiscent of Uncle Vernon, though not as vivid. She opened her mouth to speak several times, then made a very angry noise from some region of her throat and stomped, yet again, up to the girls' dormitories.
A/N: Well, what do you think? As much as I love Harry and Ron I had to give them a good telling off for their ignorance. But, as you can see, it didn't work. It's not supposed to, though; they have to stay stupid through book five. Besides, it's not like they'll ever get girls! Oh, and thought Tina said she'd dump Terry for them as a joke, I can't say I was kidding when I wrote that…(but they do need to take 'How Girls think 101')
Tekvah Ariel- I know what you mean. I would probably dump Terry for George, too, but I want to show that Tina/I would be true to her/my word and not do that. Besides, to Tina, George is just a friend, and to me…well, I promised my friend she could have George and I'd take Fred. I just need to get Angelina out of the way…
Venus725- You're Draco isn't that OOC, trust me, I've read people who make him out to be an Earth Angel. So not. I will try to read your Ron/Hermione fic, but I must say that I'm quite happy with your Draco/Hermione one, and I don't know if I'll have time. Teehee Tom Felton is definitely something worth looking at, at least when his cerebral cortex isn't coated with WD-40. And when he doesn't have that look on his face like he's got something nasty under his nose. But he only has both those charming qualities on screen, so in real life, he's worth looking at! But, I have to confess, I do like Daniel Radcliffe more. I didn't think he was cute until like, the third movie--I actually found Tom Felton cute first—but, I don't know something about him just got me. I think it got a lot of the female population of this planet. I think agree about your analysis of 'fluff'. Well, not always, I do like warm fuzzies, but when it has to do with Draco, people are crossing lines. He'll recover from his encounter with me, but it'll hurt all right. Yeah, I love Harry and Ron, but as I said, they had to get a good telling off. I tell all my friends off ('specially the guy ones) all the time, so that was pretty easy to write. George asking me is probably pure fantasy, but I couldn't resist. After all, it's fiction, is it not? Vicky is definitely simple, but I think that's what makes him funny as a character, and so blissfully easy to write. Thanks so much for your long reviews! Hope they don't get shorter in the future!
xBlackMoony- Nice penname. Again, Sirius is coming, but I have to finish my Book four stuff first. All my reviewers are so psychic! How did you know I was planning on doing the D.A. scenes? Well, okay, I guess that one was obvious because it's so COOL! Actually, I've never given my Patronus much thought, I'll have to find out what it is. Some fan site must have a quiz on that or something. What did you do to Padfoot? Well, I read your story, so you know how much I like it. You're on my favorites list, and I expect to see frequent updates. ::pointed stare:: Oh, no, that review didn't sound snobby at all! It was totally fine, and as for the rambling, I thank you for it!
The Shadows- Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! You're reviews are so valuable to me, thanks a TON for reviewing my story. It always means a lot when a really good author on the site reviews your story. Yeah, I've been a little disgusted with my first chapter for a while because I was able to do so little to change it or show Tina. But, as you can see, I've come a long way in character inserts since then! (Hopefully) I completely understand what you said about the POVs, and now that I've just reread your reviews, I think I'm going to rewrite chapters one and two. I won't change them a lot, just tweak them a bit applying your critique. I'm really glad you liked chapter three! That one was pretty easy to write, given I could put a lot more of MY thought into it as Tina what with the letters and all. Tina smitten by Harry???? You think so???? Well, I might be, but I still see him as more of a friend when I read the books. And since in the story he is my friend, that's all I see him as. I tease all my guy friends like that all the time and I'm definitely not smitten by them. (::shudder::) I think the letters are like that because I want to show that Tina has a unique friendship with Harry, as do Ron and Hermione. Tina is sort of a cross between the two. For example, she teases Harry the way Ron might, and cares for him the way Hermione might. But, when Tina teases Harry, she adds a touch of girl, and cares for him less…emotionally than Hermione. Am I making sense or just stringing words together? Anyway, I hope you get what I mean by that, because Ron and Hermione both have qualities that I do. I've always thought Divination was kind of interesting. Of course, Trelawney may not be the best person to take it from, but still, I decided Tina has to give the subject some credit, and since she's sort of friends with Parvati, she can't have the same attitude towards it that Hermione does. So, again, thank you so much for your reviews, and I hope there's more! J
apocathaI did have a pretty good idea about what nuances were, but I needed to be sure. That ice cream sounds really good! Thought I'd probably prefer a 'nuance' of raspberry. I'm so glad you like this story and think I'm creative! But, I must confess, I am not the creator of Quodpot. J.K. Rowling came up with that too; it's in Quidditch Through the Ages. But, as you said, I do have to shed light on those things Jo hasn't thrust into the center of the stage yet. And, to compensate, I did come up with those erasers. I'm quite proud of those actually, because they're one of those things that I can actually see being mentioned in the books. The pencils I find a little lame, but I couldn't come up with anything else at that point, and I'd left that part of the sentence blank for over an hour. You have a lot in common with Venus725. She also wants me to have Tina talk to a certain blonde Slytherin. To both of you I will only say: he's coming.
Padfoot, Prongs and Moony- Hi there! Sorry if I've made it sound like I'm nagging you to read the story, but I value the opinions of my favorite authors! Anyway, you have a good excuse, if you weren't working on the Lonely Hearts in your spare time, I might cry. Yes, I've always liked Fred's invite to Angelina incredibly cool! Mainly because I don't know anyone with the guts to do that. As for Tina going with Terry and not someone else, er…check my review to Tekvah Ariel. Once again, I'm too lazy to type it again. I need to work on that. ::laughing as she reads the review again:: I like your idea for putting Sirius in here. I may add the shirt thing. Gyah, I'm messed up. ::smacks herself in the face:: Blah. But don't worry; he's coming, as I said at the beginning of this chapter, so your thirst shall be quenched. And as for where you could put Sirius, I think Sirius of the Caribbean sounds like it has potential…
Review! I'm soooo close to the fifty review mark!