Disclaimer – I do NOT own Harry Potter.

THERE IS NO CHO IN THIS STORY

Chapter 2 – Going shopping for the ball

The last weekend before the Yule ball was dedicated to a Hogsmeade trip for those who wanted to buy their dress robes or other accessories for the ball, or those who just wanted a break from the castle.

Harry, Hermione and Ron sped up to the entrance hall to pass Filch's inspection and then they made their way out onto the cool grounds towards Hogsmeade. Ron was asking Harry for the millionth time how Nat had turned Harry's offer down. Harry was irritated of telling him over and over again that she was going with Cedric Diggory.

"Hermione?"

Hermione, who had been silent for the past few minutes turned around and smiled. Nat was standing right behind them.

"Hey Nat, shall we go then?"

"Yeah ok."

"Go where exactly?" asked the perplexed Ron.

"Sorry Harry, Ron, I told Nat that we could go shop for dresses together. See you in a bit."

And with that, she joined Nat and made for Gladrags Wizard Wear, Leaving Harry and Ron standing in the cold wind, muttering about girls being unpredictable.

Hermione and Nat reached Gladrags Wizard Wear and asked the counter witch for the book in which all the dresses where showcased with all the tips on washing and about the durability of the dress. The formal dresses were all hanging in midair in two straight rows, rising up into the high ceiling. They were each coded with a number and if you wanted to see that particular dress, all you had to do was shout the number out.

Hermione and Nat were now gazing at the dresses that were available from the book the counter witch had given them. Hermione turned to see a bright turquoise halter dress which was tight around the first half of the body and frilly around the bottom. It was knee length and the frills gave the dress a very elegant look. She shouted, "237" and the dress flew down to her from the end of the room. She examined it for a while before she shook her head and said that halter was not her type. The dress immediately flew out of her hand as though someone had snatched it and flew back to its original place.

Nat was now gazing at a metallic pink spaghetti dress that looked as smooth as silk and had little flower patterns on it around the rim. The bottom was smooth and plain except that it ended diagonally and there was a little ribbon tied to the end of the longer side. She shouted, "763" and the dress dropped from somewhere above her into her hands. She examined it for a long while before deciding that she would look at others before making her choice.

They spent nearly 2 hours choosing and in the end, they chose their favorite dresses. Hermione's was a light pink dress with big frills at the bottom. It was tight at the top and would definitely show her curves. Nat's was a black tube dress that was plain except for the shiny crystals that were placed around the hem and trailed down the front like a bee line. They paid and made their way to the three broomsticks and found Ron and Harry sitting there, looking smug about something.

"What are you two so smug about?" asked Hermione placing her bag down and taking a seat next to Ron.

"We just asked the Patil twins to the ball, it was a last resort." Said Harry.

"Oh, sit down Nat."said Hermione noticing that Nat was standing and looking conspicuously at the only empty seat left, beside Harry.

"I um, I think I'll just go back to the castle for some rest. See you."

And with that she left and made for the castle.

Hermione sighed.

"What are you on about Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Oh Ron, don't you see, the whole point of me bringing Nat here was to get her to talk normally with Harry. And I purposely sat next to you so that she could sit with Harry. You do notice that she's not talking to Harry normally since last weekend."

Ron looked a little hurt.

"I mean, obviously I don't mind sitting next to you Ron." Hermione added hastily.

"I better go, see if she's ok." Said Harry, took the last sip of his butterbeer and left the bar, leaving Ron and Hermione determinedly not looking into each others eyes.

Harry entered the Gryffindor common room to find it empty again. But, it was explainable this time as nearly everyone from 3rd year and above was at Hogsmeade and the younger students were probably enjoying the day off having snowball fights in the grounds. He looked around for Nat and tried calling for her from the bottom of the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

He heard footsteps coming down from the top of the stairs and his stomach did an extraordinary demonstration of a back flip. But it was not Nat, but Parvati Patil, Harry's date for the ball.

"Oh hi Harry, you're looking for Nat?"

"Yeah, have you seen her?"

"Oh yeah, she walked back with us to the castle, but she met Cedric Diggory on the way and he asked for a private moment. So we left first, she isn't back yet. Maybe you should try looking around the castle, because I swore I heard Diggory ask her to walk back to the castle with him. See you Harry."

She went back up to her dormitory leaving Harry looking steadily at the ground, his hands clenched tightly. He walked back to the portrait hole and stepped out to find Cedric and Nat standing at the entrance.

"Thanks Cedric, it really is very beautiful. And it'll match the dress really well." Nat told Cedric.

"You're Welcome. I better go, bye."

Nat turned and found Harry standing just out of the portrait hole, he was glaring. She immediately looked down onto the floor and walked past him into the common room. Harry followed suit and he blasted.

"Been sharing a nice little rest with Diggory have you."

"Harry? What do you mean?"

"You said you needed a rest and you went off with him? Stupid pretty boy Diggory."

"Don't call him that," Nat said, her voice rising steadily.

"Yeah? I can call him whatever I want. Been giving you nice little gifts now is he?"

"Harry, you're disgusting."

She dropped her bag and sped up the stairs to her dormitory, her eyes red and tears falling freely down her cheeks.

Harry glanced at the fallen contents of her shopping and his stomach gave another flip. The black dress that was in her bag was exactly the one that he had bought at the previous Hogsmeade trip, confident that Nat would be his date, he wouldn't be giving it to Parvati, it would look nice on her, but he bought it for Nat and would only give it to her. He turned and saw Ron and Hermione walk into the common room.

"Harry, what happened? Why is your face so red? Have you been shouting? Good gracious, Nat's dress. It cost her 300 galleons."

"289 Hermione." Harry said quietly.

"How do you know?"

"Harry's got the exactly same one upstairs." Said Ron.

"Harry's got a dress upstairs? For what?"

"I bought it for Nat, I was confident that she'll be my date. I asked Lavender to buy it for me. Obviously, a guy wouldn't want to be seen buying a dress. It was on the display at Gladrags last Hogsmeade weekend."

"Oh, I thought, well, anyway, where's Nat? Her dress is here."

"Up in the dormitory, I um, sort of blasted at her. Cause I saw her with Diggory. He gave her something, a gift, well I, sort of lost it."

"You're crazy man." Ron said in a low voice.

"I didn't expect this of you Harry. And give me that." Said Hermione.

She took Nat's dress from Harry, picked up the rest of the contents of the bag and set off to the girls' dormitories.

Harry and Ron sat down in the armchairs by the fire and remained silent until Hermione returned 20 minutes later. The common room was quite packed now, it was too cold outside to stay in the grounds or in Hogsmeade.

"She's in a really bad state. She thought you didn't mind Harry, I mean, you told her it was alright that she was going with someone else. She didn't expect you to act this way, well truth be told, I didn't as well." said Hermione as she settled herself beside Harry in the other armchair.

Harry stared down at the hearthrug. He hadn't meant to have acted this way. It was just that Cedric had now beaten him in almost everything. Everyone's favorite champion, he thought. He had beaten Cedric in the horntail, but now he felt like he would have rather lost to him in the first task and gotten Nat as his date for the ball.

"Shall we go down for dinner then? I'm starve." Said Ron.

Harry, Hermione and Ron made their way down to the great hall and ate in silence. Harry spotted Nat come down for dinner and she made for their side of the table. Had she forgiven him? But she stopped midway and sat down with Parvati and Lavender. Harry turned back to his plate and found that he lost his appetite. He set down his fork and spoon and instead took to staring at Ron and Hermione. After several minutes, when everyone was half way through pudding, Harry saw Cedric Diggory stand up and come to the Gryffindor table; He asked Nat to follow him somewhere. She stood up and followed him out of the hall and Harry noticed that he hadn't been the only one staring at the pair of them. Several girls with sulky faces were glaring at Nat and several boys were doing the same at Cedric.

'Figures.' thought Harry, 'Somehow they did look like an ideal couple.'