The Difference One Choice Makes
25th December 1994
Once he had finished his Christmas Dinner, Harry joined a large number of his friends outside in the courtyard for a snowball fight.
Once they were all outside, the boys and girls were stood on the other side of the courtyard making it the typical boys versus girls snowball fight.
Neville laughed at a joke that Seamus had shared with all of them before he hit Hermione's arm with a snowball, causing her to glare at him.
"With a look like that… she means business mate" said Harry jokingly as he threw another snowball hitting Janet Spinnet in the arm.
Neville was about to laugh before grunting and clutching his groin in pain, dropping to his knees.
Harry smirked when he saw that Hermione was looking at the downed Neville with an amused smirk on her face, no doubt pleased to hit him in the sweet spot.
"Told you so" said Harry, hitting Jennifer in the stomach with another snowball.
Neville glared at him before covering his face as dozens of snowballs started pelting them at breakneck speed.
Harry looked up and saw Jennifer and some of the other girls laughing as they enchanted snowballs to pelt the boys, causing the boys to do the same thing to the girls seconds later.
They continued their snowball fight for the next two hours before most of the others started to make their way back into the castle in groups.
Later that evening…
Harry, having just finished brushing his teeth and applying a little bit of gel to his hair, walked out of the bathroom connected to their dormitory, already dressed in his dark blue/almost black dress robes that his Parents had helped him choose during their Hogwarts shopping trip in the summer, saying that they went well with his blue eyes.
"What are those?" Ron called out to him in a slightly panicked voice.
When Harry saw Ron's dress robes he tried not to laugh.
The dress robes he was wearing were surely over 200 years old. They were a horrible dark brown and orange with cream frills on the neck and the cuffs. Oddly enough there didn't seem to be any buttons fastening them together in the middle making them look like an old fashioned dress rather than dress robes. They had two deep pockets on the side of the robes that you could easily fit a small book inside.
Neville was also ready to go down, having already changed into his own black and white dress robes and was sat on his bed waiting for the others to get ready.
Harry looked down at his own dress robes as Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Josh Sloper walked into the dormitory to get ready for the ball and froze up at the sight of Ron, trying not to laugh.
"My dress robes" said Harry quickly.
"But they're alright… no frills, no lace, no dodgy little collar" moaned Ron, who must have been dreading even stepping out of the dormitory in those robes.
"You'll be alright Ron… they look uhm" said Neville trying to sound supportive before he trailed off slightly.
He turned to Seamus, Dean and Josh, who were now in the process of getting their own dress robes out of their trunks, silently asking them for help on what to say to Ron.
"They look traditional Ron" said Seamus quickly, still trying to contain his laughter.
"Yeah, traditional mate" said Josh quickly, nodding and agreeing with his friend, also trying to contain his laughter.
"Traditional… but they're ancient, I look like my Great-Aunt Murial!" said Ron in shock.
He raised his arm to his nose and took a whiff of the underside of his sleeve.
"I smell like my Great-Aunt Murial" moaned Ron.
The other five boys made slightly disgusted faces as Ron turned to look in the mirror.
"Murder me boys" moaned Ron.
The five other boys exchanged looks, silently asking each other how best to react.
"What the hell is Parvati going to think when she sees me?" said Ron sounding slightly worried.
Thanks to Harry and Neville talking him into it the day after the whole debacle with Fleur Delacour. Ron had asked Parvati to the ball after their Divination lesson and she had agreed to go with him.
"She'll run for the hills" joked Seamus to the amusement of everyone bar Ron.
"Shut up Seamus" grumbled Ron as he fidgeted with the lace cuffs on his robes.
"She'll be fine mate" said Dean trying to sound convincing.
"Don't worry about it Ron" said Josh quickly before he went towards the bathroom to get changed.
"We'll see you guys downstairs" said Neville.
He, Harry and Ron walked out of the dormitory, leaving Seamus, Dean and Josh to get changed with Ron still picking and tugging at the lace cuffs and the collar as they walked down the stairs.
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Harry pulled Neville to one side while Ron walked over to one of the settee's and collapsed into it.
"People are going to laugh at him aren't they?" said Harry glancing at Ron who was trying to pull the cuffs off of his sleeves with no reward.
"Wouldn't you?" said Neville with a smirk tugging at his lips.
"You better not be laughing about me in these stupid dress robes!" Ron called out with a hint of anger in his voice.
Harry and Neville quickly turned to face Ron who was looking straight at them, demanding an answer from them.
"No Ron… I was just having a word with him about my Sister" said Harry quickly which made Neville scowl.
Ron seemed to buy it and his mouth formed an "O" in understanding.
"Right… do you think I should say something to Dean about Ginny… make sure he treats her right?" said Ron warily, making reference to the fact that Dean was taking Ginny to the ball.
Neville nodded.
"Yeah mate, you should do that" said Neville quickly before he and Harry joined Ron on the settee.
Ten minutes later…
The six boys were gathered around one of the settee's waiting for their dates to come down from their own dormitories so they could go down to the ball.
To their surprise however, Hermione and Janet had already left their dormitory and walked past them out of the Common Room, barely saying a word to any of them which had them all confused.
Ron did eventually have a word with Dean, making sure Ginny was treated right by Dean, causing the other boys to laugh while Dean glared at both Harry and Neville, correctly deducing that Ron had only said this because of them.
As they waited, more and more students who passed them on their way out of the Common Room either sniggered, laughed or made amused comments about Ron's dress robes with the latest being Fred and George as they left the common room with Angelina and Alicia respectively.
"I hope Miss Patil is into older men Ronniekins" joked Fred, laughing as they walked out of the Common Room, causing Ron to scowl.
A few more minutes passed before Euphemia and Ginny made their way into the Common Room and over to Neville and Dean respectively, with Lacey Lupin coming out after them, having gotten an invite from the fourth year Hufflepuff Francis Coote.
Euphemia, who was dressed in a floor-length silver and black gown that was given to her by her Grandmother Druella along with a pair of sapphire earrings and a platinum necklace that shone brightly in the light, while her long blonde hair was tied up in an elegant braid stepped closer to Neville, looking him up and down with a soft smile on her face.
"You look really nice" said Neville kindly.
"Thanks" said Euphemia softly as she took his arm.
Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Ellen Morrison walked out of the staircase into the Common Room barely a minute later and made their way over to Ron, Seamus and Josh respectively.
As Ron feared, Parvati had a look of mild disappointment on her face at the sight of his dress robes.
Seamus, Lavender, Dean, Ginny, Josh and Ellen told the others that they would see them outside the Great Hall and left, not wanting to wait any longer.
Parvati, who was dressed in an orange Punjabi style dress with a lavender shawl-like cloth draped across her right shoulder down to her waist where it was looped around and tied, while she was also sporting some shiny silver earrings and a matching necklace.
"Hi Parvati" said Ron nervously.
Parvati looked Ron up and down.
"Hey Ron… you look… nice" said Parvati with a mild bit of concern in her voice at the sight of his robes.
"You look nice too" said Ron feeling even more nervous now.
As Parvati slowly took his arm, Harry saw Leanne Porter walk down the stairs and over to him.
"She'll be down in about five minutes Harry… she's just getting ready" said Leanne kindly.
Harry swallowed and nodded before turning to Ron who was again fidgeting with the cuffs on his sleeves to Parvati's disdain.
"I'll meet you guys outside the Great Hall" said Harry.
"Whatever mate" said Ron before leading Parvati over to the exit.
As Neville and Euphemia followed them, Harry scowled when his Sister smirked and winked at him.
Once they had left Harry heard another teasing voice call out to him.
"Try not to pass out when you see her Potter!" called out the voice of Sally Harrison who went to stand next to her smug-looking date Cormac Mclaggen with a teasing smirk on her face.
The Fifth Year boy was quite tall and stocky with short dark blonde hair and he had a proud but slightly smug look on his face.
The next few minutes resulted in uncomfortable silence for Harry as he waited in the Common Room for Katie to come down.
When she finally did emerge into the Common Room, Harry froze when he laid eyes on her.
She was wearing a strapless yellow floor-length dress which ruffled outwards slightly at the bottom, while a gold necklace complete with a shiny diamond hung around her neck, along with a gold chain on each of her wrists. Her long black hair had been elegantly curled, falling in waves around her shoulders giving Harry the idea that she was a goddess reborn.
Harry turned slightly red as Katie locked eyes with him and walked towards him.
"Hey" said Katie softly.
Harry swallowed his nerves.
"You… you look amazing" said Harry softly.
Katie smiled and looked him up and down with approval in her eyes.
"You don't scrub up so bad yourself Harry" said Katie.
Harry offered her his left arm which she gratefully took, allowing him to lead her towards the exit.
As they walked down one of the staircases with Leanne, Sally, Cormac and Ellie Duggan in front of them, Harry felt Katie squeeze his arm.
"You excited?" said Katie softly.
"Yes… you?" said Harry softly.
Katie gave his arm another squeeze.
"How could I not be… I'm sure we'll both have a fantastic night" said Katie with an excited smile on her face.
"I'm sure we will" said Harry nervously.
Katie smiled took his hand for a moment.
"You don't have to be so nervous Harry… I'm not going to bite you" said Katie softly before she let go of his hand.
Harry nodded.
"You look very pretty" said Harry as his cheeks turned pink.
Katie's cheeks turned a mild shade of red, feeling glad that he could at least overcome his nerves for a moment and compliment her.
"Thank you… and lucky for me, a rather handsome young man is taking me to a ball" said Katie softly, glancing at him with a smile on her face.
Harry turned a bit red in the cheeks at having been called handsome by Katie.
"Thanks" said Harry.
As they carried on walking down to the great hall, Harry felt at ease engaging in pleasant conversation with Katie feeling his nerves disappear with each step they took.
Fifteen minutes later…
Harry, Katie, Neville, Euphemia, Lacey, Francis Coote, Ron, Parvati, Janet and her tall, 17-year-old, black-haired Durmstrang date Ivan walked into the Great Hall and looked around in amazement.
The hall was filled with large circular tables adorned with plates, cutlery, crystal glasses and glass pitchers filled with water, fruit punch and butterbeer. The floor was covered in white snow-like material as fairy lights illuminated the room.
At the top of the hall, there was a long rectangular table for the Champions, Headmasters and Ministry Officials. Two large, decoration filled, Christmas trees were stood tall and proud in the top corners of the hall and they had been coated in the same snow-like material that was on the floor.
"There's a table over here" said Katie, leading Harry over to one of the circular, twelve seat tables.
The eight of them sat down at the table before being joined by Leanne Porter and her date who was a blonde-haired Fifth Year Ravenclaw boy.
"I hope it starts soon" said Euphemia excitedly.
"Apparently it's going to last until after midnight" said Francis Coote.
The fourth-year Hufflepuff, who was Lacey's date, was 14 years old with neck-length light-brown hair and he was dressed in light grey dress robes.
"It's just a shame they don't do this more often, like at the end of the school year or something" said Parvati.
"That would be nice I suppose, but I'm not sure having one of these every year would be that good" said Katie.
"It would lose its charm if we had one of these every year" said Leanne.
"Being able to go on the rare chance that it takes place at Hogwarts is part of the thrill" said Janet.
Meanwhile…
Edward, who was dressed in black dress robes made of fine acromantula silk, led Myranda who was dressed in an expensive red, floor-length ballroom gown with yellow trim on the sides, upper chest and bottom of the gown, over to where Fleur Delacour was stood with her date Roger Davies who had a slightly glazed over look in his eyes, obviously feeling the effects of Fleur's Veela Allure.
As the two made their way over to the Beauxbaton's Champion and her date, Professor Mcgonagall ushered Viktor Krum over to them with Hermione holding onto his arm.
Having seen Harry's friend and housemate around Hogwarts, Edward was shocked to see her dressed in a frilly pink dress that ruffled at the skirt, while her usually bushy hair was now sleek and shiny and had been twisted into an elegant knot behind her head.
Krum himself was wearing dress robes, deep crimson in colour with curly, dark-grey fur over his left shoulder.
Surprisingly, Hermione was holding onto Krum's arm with an excited yet nervous look on her face as he led her over to Fleur and Roger where the four all shook hands.
"Miss Granger" said Edward politely while shaking her hand.
"Hi" said Hermione softly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Edward saw the looks on some of the fourth-year Slytherin Students who walked past them into the Great Hall, when they laid eyes on Hermione.
Some of the girls like, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Jeanette Farley, Millicent Bulstrode and even Pansy Parkinson who herself hated Hermione, were looking at said girl with speechless looks on their faces.
The same applied for the likes of Lucan Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Felix Lestrange and Mason Lee, who were normally far from kind to Hermione, could not bring themselves to comment on how she looked or the fact that she was attending the ball with Viktor Krum.
Even Myranda herself had a look of shock written all over her face at the sight of Hermione.
"I might have to swap dates with Mr Krum" whispered Edward into Myranda's ear.
Snapping out of her shock, Myranda looked up at him with a smirk as the Great Hall doors closed, with the last of the students having made their way inside.
"She does look beautiful, I'll give her that… but she's not me" said Myranda teasingly.
Edward smirked before moving to stand behind Hermione and Krum as Professor Mcgonagall organised them into a line, in preparation for their grand entrance.
A few minutes later…
Edward and Myranda followed Krum and Hermione who were themselves, following Fleur and Roger, through the now open Great Hall doors to applause from the other guests as well as instrumental marching music.
Myranda had her head held high, loving the attention she was getting as the date and girlfriend of the Hogwarts Tri-Wizard Champion while Edward looked a little more subdued at the attention they were getting.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry and Euphemia on their feet applauding him proudly along with the rest of the people at their table.
A few tables away from Harry and the others, Jennifer was dressed in a deep-purple, ankle-length, sleeved dress with a shiny emerald necklace and matching earrings, with her striking reddish-blonde hair curled behind her head in a plait.
Sat at the table with her were her own date Matthew Clearwater, Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory, Mandy Brocklehurst and Anthony Goldstein, Melissa Karasu and her date who was a fifth-year Hufflepuff Prefect called Ryan Cartwright, Rose Snape and Dylan Davies and finally Eileen Snape and Talbot Desford.
They were all applauding as the three Champions and their dates, made their way towards their table.
"Is that Hermione Granger?" said Mandy in shock.
"Huh?" said Jennifer, not breaking her applause.
"With Viktor Krum?" said Mandy nodding her head towards Krum and Hermione.
Jennifer looked to Krum's side to see a rather flustered Hermione with her arm through his and a nervous smile on her face as he led her past their table, towards the high table where Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch Sr and Cornelius Fudge were already stood waiting for them while applauding them.
"No way" said Eileen with a hint of excitement.
"She just said some boy from Durmstrang asked her… she never said it was Krum" said Rose in excitement and shock.
As the champions and their dates sat down at the high table, everyone else in the hall took their own seats.
At Myranda's gentle insistence, Edward found himself sat next to Ludo Bagman who was only too happy to greet him with a hearty handshake and beaming smile.
"A fine performance in the First Task Mr Potter… I hope you have everything worked out for the Second Task" said Ludo proudly, leaning over Edward to shake Myranda's hand.
"I'm getting there Mr Bagman" said Edward warily.
"Come now Ludo… I'm sure there's no need to be discussing such things right now" said Dumbledore.
He picked up the single-page menu on his plate, having a quick look at it before moving it to one side and looking down at his plate.
"Chicken" said Dumbledore clearly.
Almost instantaneously, chicken, roast potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli appeared on his plate with a small white flash.
"Steak, medium rare" said Edward looking down at his own plate after reading his menu.
As steak, roast potatoes and other vegetables appeared on his plate with a small white flash, everyone else at the table started to order their food as did all of the other people in the hall.
As they ate their meals, bits and pieces of the conversations between the other Tri-Wizard Champions could be heard by Edward and Myranda.
"Well… we have a castle as well, but not as big as this, or comfortable when I think about it" said Krum in a thick Bulgarian accent that did not lack enthusiasm as he talked to Hermione.
"We only have four floors you see, and our fires are only lit for magical purposes… but our grounds are more than twice the size of Hogwarts, in summer we spend most of our time flying over mountains and lakes" continued Krum.
"Now now Viktor… you shouldn't go around giving anything else away… or your charming friend here will know exactly where to find us" said Karkaroff, cutting his student with an empty laugh that reflected his cold personality.
Dumbledore managed a small smile.
"Come now Igor… all this secrecy is unnecessary, one can't help but think that you do not want visitors" said Dumbledore.
Karkaroff turned to Dumbledore, gritting his teeth slightly, showing that they were yellow and sickly looking.
"Well Dumbledore… some of us are more protective of our domains than others, surely you do not feel proud to know all of the secrets your school has to offer, surely you wish to protect them as I protect the secrets of Durmstrang?" said Karkaroff frostily.
As Dumbledore started regaling Karkaroff with a story about a missing lavatory, bits and pieces of Fleur's one-sided conversation with Roger reached Edward and Myranda's ears.
Or rather, Fleur's endless criticism of Hogwarts reached their ears.
"This is nothing… at the palace of Beauxbaton's we have ice sculptures all around the dining chambers at Christmas, they do not melt of course… and the food is superb, not heavy like this Hogwarts food, and we have choirs of wood-nymphs to serenade us as we eat" said Fleur in a mildly, distasteful voice that turned into one of slight fondness as she talked about the wood-nymphs.
Roger, whose eyes were still looking glazed over as he watched her talk, was hanging onto her every word, even as he kept missing his mouth with his fork.
"We have these magnificent marble sculptures in our halls, none of this ugly armour or these drab paintings that you have… and if any poltergeist had dared to enter Beauxbaton's, he would have been expelled just like that" said Fleur distastefully, slapping her hand on the table to emphasise her point.
"Absolutely right… like that, yeah" said Roger, imitating Fleur by slapping his own hand down on the table.
Myranda scoffed.
"If she hates it here so much then she should just get lost" said Myranda distastefully.
Edward managed a small nod, with pieces of Hermione's conversation with Krum starting to be heard again.
"Hermy-own" said Krum, trying to articulate her name properly through his thick accent.
Hermione, with a small smirk on her face, chuckled.
"Her – my – oh – nee" said Hermione, slowly and clearly.
"Herm – own – ninny" said Krum slowly.
"Close enough" said Hermione with a small grin.
Their meal carried on for the next twenty minutes or so before Dumbledore got to his feet.
"Stand up please, the feast is over, it is time for the opening dance" said Dumbledore.
Harry and the others stood up along with the rest of the students.
He waved his wand, moving the tables and chairs over to the side of the hall creating a large dance floor while a large muggle disco ball and several lights hanging from the ceiling started to move around the room, enhancing the atmosphere even further.
"Champions" said Dumbledore motioning his hand at the head table.
Edward stood up and took Myranda's hand and led her down to the dance floor along with Fleur and Roger, then Krum and Hermione.
Dumbledore moved to the side as the Champions and their partners stood on the dance floor ready to open the ball with the first dance.
Flitwick pulled his wand out ready to start conducting the music from the famous band called the Weird Sisters who had set up their instruments on the stage behind the Champions table.
The band started to play a slow ballroom dance song as the Champions started dancing.
After a minute Professor Dumbledore led Madame Maxime out onto the dance floor causing most of the students to follow them onto the floor along with the teachers and Ministry Guests.
Even as Edward caught a brief glance at Severus and Lily Snape sharing a close dance together, he felt a little shocked to see that the stern and biased Potions Professor actually looked like he was enjoying himself for once.
As Harry and Katie got to their feet, the rest of the people at their table made their way out onto the dance floor, leaving the two of them alone.
Harry turned to Katie and slowly took her hand.
"Do you want to dance?" said Harry straightening up.
Katie squeezed his hand and moved closer to him.
"Well since you asked so nicely" said Katie.
She slowly pulled him away from their table towards the dance floor as the Weird Sisters ended the ballroom song and broke out into one of their many rock songs to get the great hall bouncing.
"My waist Harry" said Katie softly.
"What?" said Harry quickly.
"Take my waist" said Katie placing her other hand on his shoulder.
Harry took the hint and placed his right hand on her waist before the two joined the rest of the dancers.
Thankfully there was plenty of room between the two and the rest of the dancing couples, preventing them from bumping into any of them.
As they moved around the dance floor, Harry kept his eyes locked on Katie's, thanking whatever divine force there was that the two of them were attending the ball together.
"You're not as bad as you made yourself out to be Harry" said Katie teasingly.
"Not as good as you though" said Harry as the pace of the music started to increase.
Katie smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Compliments galore tonight… what have I done to deserve them?" said Katie amusedly, causing Harry to turn slightly red.
Katie let out a chuckle upon seeing this.
"Just relax Harry… just relax and enjoy it" said Katie softly.
Harry relaxed slightly as they continued to dance to the music.