Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the plot.

Chapter 22: I Don't Want You Back

It had been weeks since Ginny overheard Hermione and Draco talking in the library. She hadn't wanted to forgive them at first, what right did they have to run her life like that! But, she knew that they had the best of intentions. Besides, thanks to them she now knew that Harry liked her, so she had to give them points for that. She was currently seated in the mediation room waiting for the other girls to show up, they had all been so busy that they hadn't had time to talk since the day she broke up with Dean, and they had agreed to have a girls' night, Ginny was early but she was happy to have the time to think.

"Hey, Gin," Hermione's voice cut through her thoughts, "something on your mind?"

"Just the ball, it's in two weeks and I don't have a date." She spit out the first excuse that came to mind.

"We don't have dates either," Luna said, as she and Tuesday, entered the room.

Tuesday nodded in agreement, before adding, "We'll find dates, don't worry, we still have two weeks." She didn't sound very hopeful, though.

"Who as far as I know, all of the fifth year boys have dates."

They were startled as the door opened and Draco stuck his head in, "Tuesday can I talk to you for a second?" She nodded and got to her feet, and followed him out into the hall.

When she came back in she was practically bursting with excitement, "I have a date! Draco just asked me!"

Ginny sighed and turned to Luna, "I guess you and I are left without dates then."

"I think I'll ask Neville," Luna said getting to her feet. "Be back in a few minutes."

Ginny groaned, "I'm the only one in the house without a date."

Hermione bit her lip to keep from smiling, "Gin, that's not true, Harry doesn't have a date." Ginny shot her a furious look. "Although, I did hear that Cho is planning to ask him sometime tomorrow apparently she realized her mistake in dumping him in the first place."

Luna came back in announcing that she had a date and they sat down to discuss what they planned to wear. Ginny began trying to form a plan to ask Harry to the dance. She still didn't know what she was going to do the next morning at breakfast, but her mind was quickly made up for her.

As they were eating Dean walked over to the table, ignoring the hostile looks the Merlin house girls were giving him. He looked at Ginny, and said quietly, "Ginny, umm…can I talk to you alone for a few minutes?"

She raised an eyebrow, and said coolly, "I don't think so. Whatever you have to say to me you can say here."

He looked unsure, but sensing he wouldn't get another chance he continued, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," he looked nervously at the rest of the table, "about the things I said and for not believing you and I would really like to get back together. So, will you go to the ball with me?"

An apologetic look crossed her face, "I'm sorry Dean, but I already have a date." The table looked up at her curiously; they all knew she didn't have a date. Ginny seemed to be holding her breath hoping he would leave.

He stood there looking shell-shocked, mouth opening and closing no words coming out; when he finally managed to speak he said one word. "Who?"

If it was possible Ginny sucked in even more air, she looked unprepared to answer this question, and then suddenly blurted out, "Harry, I'm going with Harry."

Even as the words came out of her mouth Ginny was terrified that Harry would deny them right there. So she nearly fainted from the shock when she felt his arm come up to rest on her shoulder, and heard him say, "That's right, I asked her last night, sorry Dean."

They all sat quietly watching Dean, unsure how he would react. His face went white, and he looked like he wanted to start cursing them all where they sat. Nervously, they all sat watching him, but much to everyone's relief he just turned on his heel and walked away. Ginny turned to face him, about to start speaking, but he nodded his head toward the Ravenclaw table and she looked up to see Cho approaching them.

The pretty Ravenclaw girl looked slightly anxious as she approached them, "Hi Harry."

"Good Morning, Cho."

"How have you been?"

"Not bad, did you have good summer?"

"Yes. Umm…I wanted to ask you, but I keep missing you in the halls…ummm…will you go to the ball with me." She said all of this very quickly.

Harry looked at her for a moment, before he said quietly, "I already have a date Cho, I'm going with Ginny." Cho only then seemed to notice Harry's arm, still draped over Ginny's shoulder. She shot the red-haired girl a venomous look, turned and walked away quickly.

Ginny was the first to speak, "Harry, you didn't have to say no to her, I just didn't want Dean to know that I haven't been able to find a date."

Harry began to laugh, "I've been avoiding her since they announced the ball; I overheard her tell a friend that she planned to ask me. So how about it Gin, since we have already started announcing that were going together, will you go to the ball with me?"

Even Ron noticed his sister swell with joy, as she answered him, "It would be a pleasure, Harry."

"Well, this is interesting," Draco commented bemusedly. When they all looked at him obviously confused, he shook his head and explained, "The only other house that dates exclusively within the house is Slytherin, although that is because they don't want to mix with the other houses."

Hermione looked slightly affronted, "We can't help it if all of the people we care about most happen to be in this house."

"I didn't mean it like that," he said hastily. "It's just its almost odd, think about it there's eight of us, four boys and four girls. Can any of you think of another person that you would want to be in this house, and when is the last time anyone talked to a member of another house outside of class?"

They all sat silently for several minutes, thinking about what he said. Then sensing that they were not ready to deal with this Harry quickly changed the subject back to the Ball. "So does anybody know where we can get new dress robes, I'm fairly certain that mine from Yule Ball won't fit anymore."

"Ron and I ordered ours weeks ago, I guess you could do that, but there is no guarantee that they will come in before the Ball. I suppose we could try to conjure them."

"And by we, she means you Harry, don't you 'Mione." Hermione blushed and glared at Ron, but did not contradict him.

"I guess that's the best way to go, so who all needs robes still?" Everyone except Ron and Hermione raised their hands. "Well, I'll start tonight and do the guys for a bit of practice and if you girls give me a description of what you want then I will do those tomorrow. That way we will have time to alter them if necessary."

The next few weeks passed in a blur, Harry was forced to re-conjure each of the girls robes at least twice, because they over altered the first one. He had trouble understanding exactly what the fuss was but remembered what they had been like getting ready for Hagrid's wedding, so he shrugged it off.