Chapter 20: The feast
As Ron came back to the Gryffindor common room, he saw a note on the board which said that everybody had to find him- or herself a partner.
´Not again!, thought Ron. He knew whom he´d like to invite, but he wasn´t sure wether she wanted to or not.
Just as Ron wanted to climb the stairs to his dorm, he saw Hermione coming downstairs. There was no choice, if he didn´t ask her now, somebody else would and he didn´t want to make the same mistake twice.
"Hem... Hermione, can I ask you something?", he began nervously.
"Sure. Fire away", she said, smiling at him.
"We have to find ourselves a partner for the feast. I wondered... well I mean I would really like to... only if you want to...", he stumbled. He couldn´t help being nervous, every time she was around him. He really felt dumb and stupid.
Hermione knew what he wanted to say, but she didn´t want to make it too easy for him.
"Come on, tell me", she grinned.
"Do you want to go to the feast with me?", said Ron, blushing furiously.
Even though Hermione had known that he would ask her, she felt herself going red too and began to feel nervous.
"Yes, I would appreciate that. Meet me here at seven o´clock", she replied.
"Fine. Ehm... I´ll get ready then...", mumbled Ron, trying to hide his happiness.
After an embarrassing moment, where they both stared at each other, Ron hurried up the stairs.
´She said ´yes!! Ron was very happy. Now he had to prepare everything and everything had to be perfect. This was going to be a special night, he had a feeling about this.
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Meanwhile, Hermione had gone back into her common room. She had a weird feeling inside her stomach. Was she ill? Or maybe...? No, that was impossible. She couldn´t be in love. Not with Ron. He was one of her best friends and she always argued with him. There was nothing special about him. But then again... he did look really good and sometimes he was so charming and helpful.
´No, she told herself. ´I don´t have time for love now!´
After that, she quickly decided what to wear and that decision left no space for Ron in her mind.
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Ten minutes later, Harry and Ginny had arrived in the Gryffindor tower. They had been careful and nobody had been suspicious, seeing them together.
Harry went over to read the note. "Hey we need partners! Hm... who am I going to ask? I can think of nobody...", he said teasingly.
"Oh go on you prat. Ask me or take the consequences!", replied Ginny, playing like she was upset.
"What consequences? Are you going to punish me or take revenge on me, if I dare not to ask you?"
"Oh yes and my revenge will be very sweet", she added grinning.
Harry looked around and to their luck, the common room was deserted. "Then I´ll better ask you, I want to live tomorrow. And besides, I would never think of inviting someone else."
He pulled Ginny towards him and kissed her.
"Ok, I´ll accept. Meet me at seven o´clock, ok?", she said and went to her dorm.
Harry went upstairs too. As he opened the door, his mouth fell open. Ron was standing in front of him, wearing something that looked extremely expensive. It looked like the kind of things Uncle Vernon sometimes wore when he went out with Aunt Petunia.
So Ron was standing in front of him, wearing a black smoking. He really looked good.
Ron turned around and as he saw Harry´s face, he asked: "What? Is it that bad?"
Harry quickly closed his mouth. "No Ron. You look very good. But that sure was expensive, wasn´t it? And besides who´s your partner?"
Ron beamed. "No, it wasn´t that expensive, but I do hope it´s worth it. My partner is Hermione. I meet her at seven."
Harry grinned. "So you finally told her about your feelings for her? That´s so great. Now I see why you dressed up like this. I bet she´ll like it. It was about time you did something."
Ron agreed with Harry. "But I haven´t told her about my feelings yet. I think tonight will be the best opportunity to tell her how I feel about her."
He watched Harry put on his pirate costume, with the fake sword and eye patch. Harry put a red hat on and was ready to go downstairs.
Ron had to fight his laughter. He thought that Harry looked very ridiculous, but he didn´t say anything.
"What, is it that horrible?", asked Harry, anxiously.
"No, I was just surprised. You look strange, but fine", he added quickly. "Who are you going with anyway?"
"I asked Ginny and she agreed. I hope you won´t be angry at me?! You know, I like her", said Harry carefully. He didn´t want to give too much information away.
"Well, I just don´t want her to be hurt. You know, I think Michael and Dean weren´t good for her, so just take care of her."
Ron was in such a good mood that evening, that he didn´t even try to say anything against Harry being with Ginny. As long as they didn´t come too close to each other.
At seven o´clock, Harry and Ron went downstairs. The common room was crowded with people waiting for their partners. Only fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh years were allowed to have partners that night. The younger students had to come alone.
By and by, the students left the common room and the boys were still waiting for the girls.
Ron started to get nervous. What if she wouldn´t come? But then he saw her and felt a huge relief.
Hermione was dressed in a nice black skirt and a silver top. She had sandals on her feet and looked gorgeous. Her hair was up in a complicated fashion and she had put some mascara on her eyelashes.
"Sorry, I had to help Ginny with her dress. I hope we didn´t keep you waiting. Oh my god, Ron you are – I don´t know what to say. You´re looking like a real gentlemen."
Ron took this as a hint and kissed Hermione´s hand. "You´re looking absolutely entrancing", he told her.
"Ginny´s coming in a second. Shall we wait for you?", asked Hermione.
Harry looked at her. "No, I´ll be fine. You can wait in the Great Hall for Ginny and me. See you later."
Ron offered Hermione his arm and they left the common room, arm in arm.
After a while, Ginny was slowly walking down the stairs. Harry couldn´t believe how beautiful his girlfriend was. She looked extremely cute in her white dress and the white gloves. She hadn´t put the hat on though, but her long red hair was flying after her. She had curls in it and her brown eyes were shining.
"Finally my has hostage come down. Now I can kidnap you", said Harry, grinning.
"Hey. Where have all the others gone to? Do you realize that we are all alone in the tower?", she noticed.
"Yep. But that would be too obvious. And besides, Ron and Hermione are waiting for us in the Great Hall. But you look astonishing. I mean you´re the most beautiful girl I´ve seen in my entire life."
Ginny´s cheeks turned red and she gave him a passionate kiss. "No time for compliments now, sweetie. Hurry up!"
They went down into the Great Hall as quickly as possible, because they didn´t want to miss the feast.
As they arrived at the foot of the stairs, they saw that everyone was standing in the Entrance Hall, waiting for something to happen.
Hermione and Ron were standing next to them, also wondering why everybody was still outside the Hall.
"Hey Harry. Look at this! I think half the school decided to diguise themselves as you! I see about ten different Harry Potters from over here." Ron pointed excitedly at some first years.
"Oh no. Why is it always me? One Harry is enough, now there are hundreds of me..." Harry didn´t like this at all. He was no hero. At least, he didn´t feel like one.
"Relax, they can´t match with the original and for me there´s only one Harry", Ginny whispered into Harry´s ear.
Now Harry saw the costumes of the others. Besides the huge amount of Harries, there were lobbsters, witches, Quidditch palyers, werewolves, other dark creatures and even more Muggles than Harries.
"Watch out Potter. If not, Weasley will start crying again."
Malfoy had appeared behind them. He wore his green Quidditch robes and looked like he always did. He took a good look at the four people in front of him.
"Well well, Potty, Weasley, Weasel and Mudblood. You look silly, all of you. Did you realize? I bet Weasley had to sell his house and family to afford these costumes."
Harry and Hermione had to pull back Ron, who tried to start hitting Malfoy in his face. But unfortunately, Harry didn´t pay attention to Ginny. She shot towards Malfoy before Harry could grab her arm to keep her from doing anything to Malfoy.
Ginny slapped Malfoy´s face and didn´t stop until Harry pulled her softly back.
Malfoy was gasping. He hadn´t been prepared for Ginny´s attack and he was now scowling at her.
"There will be consequences for you. Watch out!", he added, threatingly.
Malfoy´s nose was bleeding and he looked very angry. He left them and went over to Pansy Parkinson who was dressed like a princess. At least she thought she´d look like a princess. She wore a pink dress and on the top of ther head was a pink, pointed hat with a white scarf.
"Why did you do that? You shouldn´t let him provoke you, that´s what he´s playing at! Promise me, you´ll be careful, because I don´t think he bluffed, concerning his revenge...", said Harry.
"If Ginny hadn´t slapped him, I would´ve done. He is always saying something about our family. Thinks he´s better than we are!", exclaimed Ron.
Ron was proud of his little sister, she had tried to defend the honour of their family. He had been positively surprised about how much Harry cared about his sister. Harry even wanted to protect her, but Ron still had a bad feeling when he thought about Harry being together with Ginny. He hoped, they wouldn´t get romantic or anything like that.
Hermione took Ron´s hand and patted it gently. "There´s no need to be angry now. He´s not worth it. Come on Ron, let´s make this feast a very special one", she whispered, so only he could hear her soft words.
After that, Ron almost immediately forgot about Malfoy. He really wanted this evening to be special, especially for Hermione.
The chattering of the crowd died away, as Dumbledore interrupted them. "Good evening to all of you. Welcome at our Halloween feast. In a few minutes, the doors will open and you will be able to eat something before we´re beginning with the game. But first come and tuck in!"
By that, the doors opened and slowly, all the people went inside the Great Hall. It looked marvelous. The candles and pumpkins were floating over small tables. As usually on Halloween, there were live bats, soaring through the room.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron found themselves a nice table and sat down. While they waited for the food to appear, Harry looked around the other tables. He saw Seamus and Lavender, Dean and Padma, Cho and Michael and to his own surprise, he saw Neville Longbottom sharing a table with Luna Lovegood. He thought they looked very nice together.
Suddenly, their plates filled with food and they began eating. There were many sorts of meat, vegetables and fruits. After finishing their dinner, the dessert arrived. There was ice cream, cake and fruit salad. When everybody´s stomach was filled, Dumbledore raised his voice again.
"Now, those who are in first, second and third year will kindly follow Professor Snape into the dungeons, where a special surprise is awaiting them."
Snape looked very grumpy, got up and the children followed him, some of them looking very frightened. Snape hadn´t disguised himself and was as unfriendly as he always was.
After the pupils had left, the headmaster continued. "To those who remain, I´ve put up an extra surprise too. If you kindly leave the Hall for a few minutes, I can tell you what I´ve planned."
Chattering like mad, the remaining students went out with Dumbledore, who carefully closed the doors behind him.
"In a few moments, you´ll enter the Hall again. There will be a maze, containing some obstacles you must overcome. There will be tasks and the couples who make it to the end, win a prize and one hundred bonus points for their houses. Ok, then let the games begin!"
The first couple, Neville and Luna, entered the room. After five minutes, the next followed. It went on and on until at long last it was Harry´s and Ginny´s turn.
They faced a dark maze in front of them. It was made out of a hedge, just like the one during the Triwizard Tournament.
Harry and Ginny came to their first obstacle. Hagrid was sitting in a large armchair and beamed down at them.
"´Ello yer two! Now, ´ere´s yer task. It´s about ´ow well ye know each other. ´oo wants to go first?"
Harry let Ginny go first, while his ears were shut by a special charm, so he wasn´t able to hear what Ginny and Hagrid were talking about. After some moments, Hagrid lifted the spell and turned to Harry.
"So Harry. Ye ´ave ter prove, ye know Ginny. I´ve asked ´er some questions and ye´ve gotta know ´er answers, right? So what´s ´er favourite colour?"
"Ehm... green?", said Harry, unsure.
"Right ye are. What´s ´er biggest secret?"
Harry grinned. "That she´s my girlfriend."
"Yep, right again."
A few more questions followed and to his relief, Harry had been able to answer all of them correctly.
They went on through the maze and came to a forking. They decided to turn right and followed the path for some time. Then, they saw Lupin sitting behind a desk, wondering what this test was about.
But suddenly a large Dementor appeared in front of Harry. He reacted very quickly.
"Get out of the way Ginny. Expecto Patronum!", he belowed. He noticed then, that the Dementor seemed to fall down and realized, that it was only a boggart.
He cried: "Riddiculous!" and the boggart vanished with a small pop.
Then came another forking. They again chose to go right and for a long time, they didn´t see or hear anything. Not until they came to a bridge. While Harry went over it, it broke and he and Ginny were separated from each other.
"Wait, there´s a mark. ´Only true friendship will help you to overcome this obstacle. Come on, Gin, jump and I will catch you." Harry looked at his girlfriend as though he was looking if he had her confidence.
Ginny looked nervously down the broken bridge. Beneath it floated a wild river. She looked at Harry and didn´t know what to do.
"Come on, trust me. You´ll be fine!"
Ginny took all the courage she had and jumped over the bridge. When she landed safely in Harry´s arms, she looked back and the bridge was whole again.
They went on and on and for about ten minutes, there was only the maze, no tasks or further adventures. They entered into a dark and narrow passage and followed it. It took a very sudden end and they were trapped.
"Oh no! It´s a dead end! What do we do now?", asked Ginny.
"Hmm... I´ve got an idea. We should go back to the path, but before we can..."
He grinned at her and put his arms around her waist. Ginny put her arms around his neck and they started kissing.
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Hermione and Ron were doing very fine. They had been able to answer Hagrid´s questions and had fought Lupin´s boggart.
They went straight on and came to a strange creature.
"That´s a sphinx. I´ve read all about them. She´ll ask us a riddle", said Hermione.
And she was right. They sphinx, half human, half lion, turned to face them. She smiled at them and said: "You have to answer my riddle to pass, if you fail, you must return and chose another way.
´It cries without a voice, it touches without hands, it whistles without lips, it flies without wings, it bites without teeth. What is it?"
Hermione and Ron had to think about it for some time. Then they had guessed the right answer. It was Ron who had found out at last and Hermione seemed to be very impressed by Ron´s logical thinking.
"It´s the wind", he answered proudly.
"You may pass", the golden sphinx said and made them way to pass.
Hermione and Ron went on for what seemed to be like hours. They didn´t meet any obstacles, but only found a dark narrow passage.
They walked into it and only in the end, they realized that it was a dead end.
But they saw a couple, kissing and cuddling. Ron grinned at Hermione, who looked a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry, we didn´t want to disturb you", said Ron quickly and wanted to turn around.
Harry had let go off Ginny, to look who was talking.
"What? Uh oh...", he mumbled as he saw Ron´s baffled face.
Now Hermione had also realized that the kissing pair had been Ginny and Harry. She didn´t know what to say and stood silent next to Ron.
"Harry, Ginny! But what – I don´t get it!!" He had hoped they wouldn´t come to close to each other, but that had obviously been much too close.
"Well, we wanted you to tell it tonight. Ginny and I, we are in love with each other."
"Oh Harry, I told you not to hurt her feelings! And you name yourself my friend. Come on, Hermione, let´s go. I want to win a prize", he added, grabbed Hermione´s hand and quickly left the passage.
Hermione looked back over her shoulder and gave the two discovered lovers a weak smile.
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Ginny and Harry looked at each other, flabbergasted and shocked.
"Oh crap! He didn´t seem to take it very well...", sighed Ginny.
"Discovered at last! Of all the people who could´ve found us, why had it to be your brother? Well, at least he knows about it now. There´s no need to hide from them anymore. I think we should talk to him after the feast or tomorrow. Let´s go, we have a long way in front of us."
Ginny nodded as Harry tore her out of the dead end, to continue the game.