Black Eyes, Bumped Foreheads and Bruised Hearts
"Okay, so there would be Vane and McLaggen— "
"You know what, that doesn't surprise me," said Ron, acting as if what he heard was totally unbelievable.
Harry and Hermione both roared in laughter, but Ron ignored them and continued groaning. Scratching his unruly locks of ginger hair, he turned to Harry with a distinguished anguish etched all over his face. Harry responded with a defeated but understanding look, thinking that it would be another one of those dilemmas he had when he was in a such tender young age of fourteen.
It was still morning and the sun shone fiercely in the middle of a supposed printed winter February. Uncommon as it was, students sprang into life as if there was an invisible alarm clock that woke them up all at the same time. As if they were in a trance of chorus, they all filled the sunlit corridors, yawning, groaning and others still clothing themselves with their heat-piercing robes.
All in all, they filled the Great Hall in a very fussy but polite queuing around the entrance hall. Each Hogwarts student was either too asleep or was experiencing such an unpleasant atmosphere to talk. They were fanning with their robes, others were exploded with buckets of sweat, but still, no one dared to complain.
"Good morning, good morning," said Nearly Headless Nick cheerfully. He stood out from the crowd like a sore thumb, for he was the only one who was smiling and even managed waving to each student who gave the same response. They just nodded at him impatiently when he tried to strike a conversation. Harry and Ron meanwhile were trying as hard not to push him away (aside from the fact that they cannot) just to make him stop. Both of them weren't able to eat dinner the night before, for the fact that they had to finish Snape's dreadful essay, which had to fill 4 and a half parchments.
"Finally! What took them so long?" said Ron, speeding up to the nearest vacated area of the bench and growled over the shining bacon, eggs, pies and every other variety of food he can ever imagine. Harry didn't mention anything as he prowled on the nearest pudding and masticated every bit mercilessly. Other students were doing the same; the hall was quiet except for the endless clattering of knives, spoons and forks all over.
"Oy, Hermione! Over here!" Harry called out to a certain bushy-maned girl who was tiptoeing in the middle of the hall, looking for someone. Smiling, she tried clutching to her heavy bag filled with the most outrageous weight of books and walked towards the boys.
"What made you wake up this early? Even I was too drowsy the time I heard the other girls dressing up," asked Hermione, settling down herself beside the two.
The fact that Hermione was always the first one to wake up before the two of them ever had, it was an odd thing to witness a scene wherein both the boys were the one waiting for her to go down the girls' dormitories, more so of finding them half finished with their breakfast and Hermione's still sitting on her four-poster bed putting on her socks.
"Well, I dunno, we just had the urge of waking up. I mean, who wants to sleep in this wicked weather?" said Ron, one of his eyebrows shot up and his left cheek was marked a bulge by bread and bacon.
"It is kind of weird. Anyway, have you finished Snape's essay last night?" asked Hermione, reaching for the tortured pudding nearest her, looking at it with slight disgust. She turned away and looked at the ceiling. Ron stuck out his tongue at her.
"Of course we have! Why do you always think we don't do things right even for sometime?" he retorted.
"I didn't mean that, I was simply—"
Dumbledore stood up unceremoniously, the clattering of silver utensils suddenly stopped at his presence standing up. It was not usual for Dumbledore to be standing in the staff table and it ached to see that he was on the verge of making another stirring announcement, when suddenly, a plate came crashing from the edge of the Gryffindor table. It was Colin Creevey, who appeared to be as shocked as everyone was.
Dumbledore flicked his wand in a fashioned manner. Every pupil followed the direction of his hand, and in a sudden moment, the plate reformed itself and flew up to Colin Creevey's hand, who looked at it with utter bewilderment and surprise.
"Students, good morning, good morning! I know that half of you have not considered this sunny day as a pleasant and welcoming omen, but I say, after this very small announcement, it will very much help to turn your point of views to an opposite dwelling. Earlier this morning, I am sad to say, that Professor Amando Dippet's nauseating snoring have awakened me—" Professor McGonagall suddenly coughed from his corner, refusing to look at him. Dumbledore had his eyebrow hoisted up at the moment, wondering what could be wrong, but then, as if a bulb lighted at the top of head, he smiled amusedly.
"Ah, sorry, Minerva. Ah yes, and so, an idea suddenly crossed upon my mind to find myself in the spirit of St. Valentine's celebrated day. A day to celebrate love, in this era which we need it the most and of course, it is not actually I, who originally formulated it, but our Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn. He had confided to me about this, and I have not yet given it a thought until this morning. So before you draw your wands at me for interfering with your refreshing breakfast, I shall therefore announce a Valentine's Day party on the exact night. That will be all. Go on, chop, chop!"
The Great Hall was still the same as ever, though the clouds gave sudden relief as it slightly gave shelter from the maddening sun, witnessing a familiar scene two years ago. Girls exploding from fit of giggles and boys groaning continuously.
Everything just winded him back to where his day started. The awfully hot weather was a bad omen, and he and Ron knew about it. Hermione meanwhile looked knowingly at the both of them, and suddenly, as if lightning struck her, she suddenly beamed at them.
"So there, as I've mentioned, a lot of guys didn't want having another dateless ball so they've already asked themselves someone to go with."
"We know, Hermione, we know. You think it's that easy to ask someone out?" Ron gave her a tired look.
"What? You just go up to them then just shoot!" said Hermione, throwing obvious looks at them.
"Shoot? There's a trigger, Hermione, you see here, maybe you've got cramps, or maybe your finger's too tired to pull it! The way girls giggle in front of you like mad…I don't want to think about it," said Ron reproachfully, as if opening a debate for another girl and boy analyses. They both shot wisdom looks at each other, both crossing Harry's barrier between them.
"Look guys, why won't we just go—" interrupted Harry. Hermione looked crossly at him as if wanting to get an opinion favoring to her side suddenly cut off Harry. She grinned evilly at him, which Harry never came into liking. She suddenly drew up breath and talked as if she was chanting an ancient prayer.
"Parkinson and Malfoy, Abbot and Macmillan, Vane and McLaggen, Chang and Davies, Thomas and Weasley—"
BANG.
Harry's head swelled up, but then he suddenly saw a lot of Ginny's head laughing around him in circles, the flowery smell of the Burrow seemed to inflict around his nostrils, and the hair behind his neck seemed to wither up. From what seemed to be in another dimension, he heard faint, worried voices shouting at him. But he didn't want to care. He enjoyed such scenery, there was the Burrow behind Ginny's heads and hippogriffs suddenly came out of nowhere and then there were also thestrals kicking Dean Thomas. There was the whole Weasley family, except for Percy, and Ron was jumping like mad, thinking that there was no other man he would like to be with his sister, and then Mrs. Weasley came out, carrying an enormous wedding cake—
"Harry! Harry! Wake up! What happened to you? You ran through the dungeon door!" Hermione helplessly called out to him, shaking him uncontrollably.
"Merlin's beard, he has four eyes! Does he really have to close all at the same time!" Ron cast a worried look at her. She ignored him and continued shaking Harry up. Her forehead churned looking for something to make Harry go back to reality. She turned to Ron and grabbed his collar when something lit up on the top of her head. She pulled him closer to her face.
"What?" asked Ron, with a sudden strange feeling of uneasiness that made him to refuse to look at her eyes.
Hermione looked at him, bewildered. It was an awkward moment. After several long moments of her looking at him intently and tried figuring out what was causing him this, she released her grip from Ron, who gave a sheepish grin.
"Get Ginny," she said quietly. Ron raised his eyebrow at her, but before he tried protesting, Hermione shot a deadly look, raised her voice and commanded him at once, "Get Ginny, NOW!"
Ron shot up at once, and ran away from the corridor, still feeling out of himself. He muttered under his breath, concerning the words, "girls," "can't figure" while tilting his head sideways looking for Ginny. Hermione was right—as if she ever was wrong—everywhere around school he could only find couples that were either walking together or holding hands or snogging like inflicted eels in public. It was an epidemic. He cannot pretend that he wouldn't like to be one of those guys but if it wasn't the certain brown, bushy haired girl, who oddly loves Arithmancy that he would be kissing, then so be it. Shrugging away his thoughts, he caught a blazing redheaded girl, freckles as ginger as his, chatting animatedly with Luna Lovegood.
"Hey, Luna," greeted Ron, Luna gave him her usual dreamy look. Ron smiled at her uncomfortably and pushed Ginny away. Luna gazed at them knowingly and gathered all of her books and left at once. Ginny scowled at the sight of his rudeness.
"What was that all about? Look Ron, I was—" Ron cut her off.
"It's Hermione, she ordered me to fetch you, and—don't give me that look, as if I know what's going on—and she said immediately," said Ron who was trying shrug off reminiscent looks Hermione was giving him earlier. Ginny just looked at him. Suddenly, she strongly gripped on his sleeves, pulled his tall build off and ran.
"Where is she?" panted Ginny. Ron was pulling his sleeve away from her as he staggered around the hall being watched by almost sixty students all raising their eyebrows at them.
"How do you reckon I can tell you if you're leading the way?" replied Ron, who was having an awfully hard time of pulling himself together. Ginny had a weird, strong grip. No one, even Harry, can pull him up this easy. "Please Ginny, you're embarrassing me," he said, now glimpsing giggles from the girls at the other end of the corridor and sneers from the Slytherins behind them.
"Come off it! Where are they?" Ginny stomped her foot impatiently on the ground. Ron looked at her confusedly, thinking that he hadn't mentioned anything about a 'they'. Grabbing her hand, he sped of at once, running towards the direction from which he came from.
"Finally! What took you so long?" welcomed an exasperated Hermione. She looked at Ron and Ginny, who both had their blazing auburn hair shooting up from nowhere. She managed to somehow make Harry sit up at the nearest wall, still as numb as he was when they left him. Ron slumped down beside Hermione, gasping for breath, while Ginny remained standing. Her eyes bulged worriedly, looking at an unconscious Harry. As if in a setting of a movie played in slow motion, she gingerly sat down on her knees so her eyes were in the same level as Harry's.
"What happened to him?" said Ginny as she inched nearer to Harry's face.
"Well, I was just stating the couples who—" Hermione started, but Ron tried to finish it as fast as he can, "and he banged himself through the dungeon door! Hermione, how do you reckon Ginny can help! We could've just brought him to Madam Pomfrey!"
"RON!" Now it was both Ginny and Hermione who shouted at him. It was a very bad day. And too bad his best mate, who was a boy, was still unconscious. Now he has to endure this all alone, perhaps, not too long.
"Harry! Harry! Oy, Harry, wake up!" shouted Ginny, as she replaced Hermione's job and shaked him violently. They were now gathering a crowd, most of them were Slytherins who were shrieking in mocking laughter but it was a good thing that one, sneering Malfoy wasn't there to witness Harry who ran through a dungeon door.
Harry was still caught in a trance. Ginny's heads all united at once, displaying a very pretty Ginny in front of him, smiling sweetly. The flowery smell of the burrow was still printed on the sides of his nostrils. Mrs. Weasley was crying hysterically oddly with Fleur, Fred and George were having a feast with Exploding Snaps, Sirius was having fun with them, James was eagerly trying out one of their products while Lily told him off. Remus and the other members of the Order were all sitting in three consecutive rows, laughing and chattering. Charlie was at the back of the Burrow's garden with Hagrid, talking to Buckbeak while waiting for the wedding to finish. Bill and Mr. Weasley was talking to Dumbledore animatedly, looking at Harry proudly. As he was waiting in the side aisle in the garden for Ginny, along with the gnomes dressed in tux, he smiled inwardly. This must be the happiest day of his life. Ginny was walking beautifully, dressed in long, white gown, when she suddenly sped to him and began strangling him like heck as she screamed words such us, "wake up," "snap out of it".
"Whassat?"
Harry shot himself forward, accidentally knocking Ginny off her balance. She fell down and grunted looking up at Harry. Harry looked like being a clubbed bludger at the sight of what he did. She was as mighty pretty as she's always have been, only that she was groaning and massaging her forehead out of the intense pain he blew at her. He looked more worried than Ron and Hermione's faces and insides' put together. Immediately, he struck his arm goofily at Ginny's back and sat her up from where he did earlier when he was drooling in his dream.
"Ginny! Ginny! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Really, I didn't mean—" he pleaded. Slytherins and the other students dispersed suddenly, not wanting to witness such a fancily mushy scene from the Chosen One's love life and left for their respective houses, displaying utter disgusted looks.
"I'm alright, I'm alright! It's just a stupid bump, that's all," said Ginny, still rubbing her forehead, "what have you got in that skull of yours anyway? It's mighty hard."
Harry seized his right hand away from her shoulder and rubbed his own forehead. It was a very hard blow, though it didn't hurt too much. It hurts more to see that Ginny had her own forehead to worry about. Okay, so that sounded cheesy. The monster inside him groaned. Clever move, Potter, clever move.
"C'mon, let's just go," Ginny ordered the three of them, still looking awe-struck, "C'mon!"
The three of them stood up in order. They just stared at Ginny as if she was something made of rusty steel and followed her lead away from the dungeons.
None of them spoke throughout the trip unless you can count the time when Hermione mentioned the password, "Quid agis" abruptly out of silence. Harry was still staring at the ground as if something interesting will appear in a minute's time. He didn't know why everybody was acting all silent and weird. He didn't have any faint idea about what happened while he was unconscious, and the three of them didn't look like they wanted to talk about it. Ron and Hermione, meanwhile, tried communicating with their eyes and Ginny just remained silent.
Hermione and Ginny immediately headed to the girls' dormitories while Harry and Ron remained standing in the common room. Both of them just gazed at the fire. Students were now yawning and walking tiredly to their respective dormitories. After a long, awkward silence, Harry tried striking a conversation.
"Have you finished with Snape's essay?" he said, before he could stop himself.
Ron looked worried at him. Mustering a Dumbledore-ish look and gulping what seemed to be a chunk of frog stuck in his throat, he exclaimed, "Harry, do you have any idea what you were mumbling while you were asleep? And don't you remember that we passed our essay hours ago?"
"No, and uh," he rolled his eyeballs and tried remembering if they really have passed Snape's essay. Looking at Ron as if trying to say that his attempt on remembering was marked fruitless, Ron sighed helplessly and slouched on the nearest chair.
"Harry, you were insulted again with your essay with Snape, it's his daily routine anyway, and you were mumbling things like, 'Ginny, you look wonderful,' 'Thanks, Dad, I knew you'd like her' and 'I would take care of Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, don't worry,'" said Ron who now looked as if he was going to throw up, "Harry…er…do you fancy Ginny?"
"I…" Harry stopped. He was lost for words. Being confronted by his best mate about his fancies about his little sister really wasn't the ideal scene he would like to be caught in. He looked at Ron and flashbacks came running out of nowhere, and he was watching them. The first time he and Ron met, when they were running for the Transfiguration classes late, when they fought for the Sorcerer's Stone, when they were trapped in the Chamber of Secrets with Lockhart, when they were talking to Wormtail, Padfoot and Moony, when they were stuck dateless (the way they like to think about it) in the Yule Ball, when they were cleaning the headquarters, when Ron suddenly exploded like mad when he saw Ginny snogging with Dean like snakes stuck together. Then the flashbacks suddenly faded away, returning his view to Ron, who was looking at him straight in the eye. He turned his head away from him, finding it uneasy being tackled by a topic he, himself, didn't want to even think about.
"Harry, it's not like I'm going to kill you or anything—" Ron looked at him anxiously, his temple was flooded with sweat and his fist closed in a firm grip of an invisible prey. Harry looked at him nervously.
"Listen, Ron, look, I have no idea. (Ron raised his eyebrows at him) I know it sounds stupid, alright? But I really don't! Ever since I saw Dean snogging her something erupted madly in my insides and all that. And when I was gone unconscious, there were stuff I that dreamed about—"
"About what?" demanded Ron impatiently.
"About marrying her, happy!" Harry shouted suddenly. Students who were drowsily left studying in the common room shot up to Harry, bewildered and taken aback. Colin Creevey smashed his ink bottle. As if it was his natural instinct, Ron drew up his wand and repaired it. He turned back to Harry, who ignored the attention.
They were back from where they started. The eerie silence crept upon their ears as the other Gryffindor students went to their studies once again. Harry knew Ron would punch him in the nose or even better, in his forehead because he wanted to run unconscious after this gauche confrontation, but Ron did nothing.
"Do me a favor and don't snog her in public," Ron said finally. Harry looked at him who had an entirely puzzled look all over his face. Ron goofily grinned at him, "Just try and you'll have your head smashed into two."
"She's with Dean, mate," Harry said helplessly.
"Oh, she'll have to ditch him sooner or later, right?" Ron looked knowingly at him and grabbed his shoulder without difficulty because of his tall body and dragged him off to the boys' dormitories.
Several wicked sunny and cold weathers passed by and after all the effort of keeping up with the mixed up atmosphere, no boy has ever been reminded that the Valentine's Ball was drawing up nearer and nearer until it was only a day away from it. Girls now kept dropping hints whenever an innocent guy passes by the corridors. The scenery was the same as it was still two years ago. Boys run to the bathroom whenever groups of girls walked in the corridors. They even had food hidden inside it that made it look it was a kind of headquarters. The different thing was that the groups of girls had always a member missing. It was a sigh of relief for the opposing sex, thinking that they have much better things to think about than gathering the guts to ask them out.
"It's history repeating itself again, mate. Let's face it, we're immature and we're dateless," Ron sighed helplessly at him. Harry looked as tired as ever. He was keeping up with another batch of Snape's newest threats and insults and the pressure of looking stupid in another ball. And he has no every bit of intention of asking Parvati Patil out.
"Why won't you ask Hermione?" asked Harry, looking at Ron who suddenly stopped in his tracks and had his eyes opened wide. "What?"
"As if I had something compared to Vicky," said Ron in the middle of grunting, "and besides she wouldn't say yes, you know. We'll just bicker throughout the ball."
"Suit yourself," said Harry, as they walked to their Transfiguration classes. He found Ron thinking deeply about something and reckoned that maybe Ron considered his suggestion, but that was the least of his worries. Not only was Ginny going with Dean, he didn't want going out with other girls who still traveled around the school in packs. Neville asked Luna and he did consider asking her so as long as she wouldn't wear her carrot earrings. Hermione caught up with them suddenly.
"Hi guys, got yourselves a date already?" asked Hermione eagerly, trying to carry her bag with one less book from it.
"C'mon, don't pretend we're not hopeless," replied Ron, who suddenly beamed at her. His expression and what he just said didn't match very well.
"Where's your Charms book? And what's that in your eyes?" said Harry as he finally figured out what was oddly different about her. She had something painted on her eyelids and her hair was less bushy than it normally was.
Patches of pink spread across her cheeks as he mentioned this and as strange and un-Hermione-ish as it was, she opened her mouth uneasily and stuttered like mad.
"I-I…I mean, Ginny w-wanted to s-see how it looked on me, yes," she said, now gathering more confidence from what seemed to be an unconvincing excuse, "that's it."
And from what seemed to be eternity, Harry was trapped in this invisible world where he thought he wasn't supposed to be. Maybe it was only his tiring day or his very much wild imagination that made him see that Hermione and Ron's eyes were both twinkling.
"Er…Look, I don't mean to be interrupting or anything, but we're going to be late," he suddenly said out of the unpleasant silence.
Hermione was the first one to snap out of it, Ron was in the brink of drooling. Harry smacked his head to wake him back to reality and Ron gave him a reproachful look as if saying, "D'you really have to do that?" and Harry frowned at him and tried telling him something, but Hermione suddenly screeched.
"Merlin, we're going to be late! Why didn't you tell us, Harry?" blamed her.
"Wha—? I just did! And you two were—"
"C'mon, let's go!" she said as she dragged the two of the boys to the classroom which was only a feet away from them. Ron just looked at him dreamily.
The mood stayed the same as it was when what seemed to be a enormous black clothe draped over the Great Hall. The pressure of seeing everyone coupled up, except for him, Ron and Hermione, was not an amusing sight. Even Smith's got himself someone. If only he could grab Ginny away from Dean then he would—
He turned to Ron and Hermione, hoping to confide his shallow problems with the both of them, but it seemed that they were too preoccupied to do that. Ron was stabbing the steak with his spoon and was staring at Hermione, while Hermione was giving him teasing glimpses every two seconds.
"Guys, er…guys—HEY GUYS!" shouted Harry.
Ron got his spoon sliding towards his opposite direction, which was heading to Parvati's bacon. Hermione, who had her hand supporting his chin accidentally bumped to the table.
"WHAT?" exclaimed the both of them, displaying infuriated looks towards Harry.
Midnight came and it was the dreadful day for the ball. Ron wasn't helping in any way. He kept smudging ink all over Flitwick's essay, and kept murmuring things like, "pretty", "hair" and all that. Harry meanwhile was on the verge of tears caused by the exhilaration of being given one of the most difficult topics to write three parchments about. And he wasn't as successful as Ron as looking for someone to go out with. He had no idea or chance of finding Ginny ditching Dean at the ball for him.
Shaking Ron up, he told him that he was off to their dormitories to get a good night's sleep, hopefully.
And then there was Ginny, who was looking a bit exhilarated, but still smiling as sweet. She was oddly clad in peasant clothes and everything behind her were stained with dirt, the cupboards were loose open, and the floor from which they were standing on was wretched and even had punctured holes in it. Just then, a loud, piercing cry sounded just behind him and Ginny displayed a tired look in her face. Sighing, she went straight behind Harry and went to something, or someone that was small enough for Ginny to carry. Out of curiosity and the peculiar boiling feeling erupted suddenly inside him, he paced nearer to Ginny who looked at him beautifully. From what seemed to be a considerable amount of mound comes out a baby, who had several broken teeth, and permanently tainted muck on both cheeks.
"Harry, please tend to Harriete and Harry Jr., I will go and milk the other five," beseeched Ginny as she hurriedly turned away from him and went to a little room which he deducted as the kitchen.
He turned away from her direction and looked back. From what he could see with his glasses were the same amount of grime he'd seen earlier, and he imagined what it must look like if he removed it. Snapping out of it, he carried one of them and placed him nearer to his chest and started humming unfamiliar lullaby tunes he'd never heard before. The other grime, as he liked to call it just to make things a little simpler and easier, was snoring as loud as its lungs can heave in. Just as he tried wondering whether it was a he or a member of the opposite sex, a shriek paining his ears severely came from a room nearby.
"Daddy, Daddy! Gill just hexed me! Look! Look!" a girl who looked remarkably like Ginny screamed at him, handing out her knee at his hand as he extended it out to examine.
"She's the one who started it, Dad! She tried stealing my share of dirt to play with!" blamed a boy who had mud all over his face which stole every inch of Harry's face.
"Does it have your name on it? No!" the girl retorted back.
"Oh yeah it does! You're just too blind!"
"Blind? Well, I can see Daddy perfectly, and I wish I can't see you!"
"Dad, hex her again! She's beginning to sound very, very irritating just like you and Mom when you fight! She tries screaming like Mom!"
"DAAAAAAAADDYYYYYY!" squealed the girl in a very high-pitched voice that nearly shattered both of the boys' ears. Both of the babies gave out an earsplitting scream in chorus that drove Gill into crying. Harry released his hold on the baby and slammed both of his hands to his ears. Ginny sped back to the room where all the kids were screeching.
"Harry, I told you to watch after the children! You just dropped the baby on the floor! Look, he's gotten all dirty—do me a favor and please get your hands to do something useful for a while—"
Harry scrambled all over, trying to think whether what he was carrying was the baby or just a mountain of dirt. He scooped it up higher just when the other baby fell off the crib. He was crying hard, he never cried like this ever since he witnessed deaths of his loved ones, and it seemed that there was no getting over it. He screamed, and as it sounded, it produced a louder and eerie pitch, but he didn't care, he screamed and screamed—
"Harry! Harry! Wake up!" a voice sounded in front of him. He woke up in a blur, immediately seeing a vague impression of something burning, and there were other things in front of him. Feeling for his glasses on his cabinet, he tried thinking if it was Gill trying to convince him and his daughter still screaming in agony.
"D-dun worry Gill, your sistersowingtuhpayferr…" he tried mumbling. Something in front of him stopped shaking him and immediately put his glasses into place.
"Me cousin had a dream like that, too. And he woke up saying something like 'sistersowingterpayferr' (Seamus imitated Harry in his sleep) and it turned out he dreamt marrying someone and ended up with," Seamus held up his hand and began to count with his fingers, "nine, yea, nine children, it was."
Harry had the instant impression that Dean, Seamus and Neville had a good laugh seeing him go mumbling and screaming. Neville tried putting up a normal face but Seamus and Dean were snickering like mad. They were around him like swapping flies around a rotten banana.
"Nothing more to see here, guys, go to the Great Hall! Go!" shouted Ron as he gestured Seamus, Dean, and Neville away from Harry and shoved them out of the boys' dormitories. He headed back to Harry with a concerned look that seemed to be engraved in his face for the last ten minutes.
"Mate, if it's about Ginny…I think she isn't giving you much good health—don't look at me like that—but she's not really causing you insanity, is she?" said Ron who was in no place of denying the fact that Harry did appear to be ridiculously thick while mumbling and screaming in his sleep, and more so of Seamus deducting that he was dreaming being married and having nine children.
Harry stopped himself before saying something tacky and stupid. Ginny was driving him insane, and there was no point of taking it back. Every other time he tried shutting his eyes, auburn hair filled his head and the maddening, addictive smell of the burrow imprints on his nose. It was as if pinkish flowers bloomed all around if he ever gets a glimpse of her pretty little head. It conquers every sane hair in his head that sucks him into an exquisite world were everything around him were pleasant. He was mad, and he knew it.
The atmosphere around the school was oddly different. Giggles heard mostly from the girls stopped like it hit a dead end, and boys chucking themselves in the bathroom bloomed like mushrooms that found their way in a rotting trunk. It seemed that everybody got themselves someone to go with to the ball that lessened, more like wiped out, the whole weird epidemic of teenagers-losing-their-heads stage. Teachers were uncanny, pausing in their walks then started talking animatedly until they have arrived in their respective classrooms. Hermione was the only person who was back to normal, catching up with them with her usual heavy bag and her bushy hair on the go. Harry thought Ron would sulk at her arrival, but as bizarre as it was, he flashed his enormous smile at her, which, unnaturally (according to how they were acting for the last few weeks), she returned.
Hours loomed faster and faster, except when Harry still had to endure Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Snape who hexed him through and through for demonstration. Ron was enjoying how time took on this manner of running, which Harry thought to be tormenting. He deducted that the school was infected with bugs that wanted to conquer innocent brains and Professor Snape seemed to be strong enough to hold them back. Oddly, even Professor McGonagall had little chances of yielding them. She kept bumping to every table when she needed to inspect how their mouse turned out to be like.
"Harry, do I still look like my great aunt, Tessie?" asked Ron as he examined every angle of his dress robes circling himself in front of the full-length mirror.
"No. Nice dress robe," complimented Harry as he stared at Ron's jet black, lace-free robes that fit perfectly around his build. Ron gave him a smug smile and continued gluing himself in the mirror even more.
"Yours, too," Ron said as he caught a glimpse of Harry trying hard not to snicker at the sight of his best mate fancying himself in the mirror consciously. "Thanks for giving them the money. It's a very good thing Fred and George had good taste."
"It was nothing," said Harry as he tried shoving Ron away from the mirror and get a better view if he still looked human under the robes he wore when he was still in his fourth year. "Dumbledore better not do this again in our final year, my dress robes are almost three inches short,"
"Don't count on it. Dumbledore's always off his rocker," said Ron with a peculiar air of hopefulness. Harry slumped his back at the nearest chair.
Descending down the stairs, Harry caught view of several wobbly knees from boys who were trapped in intense nervousness waiting for their dates. Even Neville was in that panicky position that made him give occasional glimpses of his back and front self. The common room was packed mostly of them, and it did seem to appear that the girls were glued to their feet inside their dormitories. Seeing this, Harry smirked and gestured Ron to resume their walk towards the Great Hall. Ron gave a mocking smile, viewing several boys behind them with Harry.
"Guys, wait for me!" a familiar voice called out for them. Harry and Ron turned around to see their best friend, Hermione Granger who looked far the prettiest girl inside the room.
Clad in the most beautiful navy blue gown that gently complimented almost everything about her, with spaghetti straps clutching lazily around her shoulders and tool hanging above the gown made her even more captivating than any of the girls had ever been. Her hair was styled in bigger and more fashionable curls that lovingly rested before her chest and the rest hung behind her back. She rarely applied make-up, which made her unique and recognizable. Though it was only her natural, appalling beauty she flashed, it struck Harry and Ron in awe realizing that she was, in fact, a young lady. Her beautiful lips curved and gave her most genuine smile, and Harry could've sworn Ron's eyes were squinting on almost every inch of Hermione's face. Harry returned a smile and Ron just looked at her dreamily. He flashed a goofy grin as a response to Hermione's constant snapping of fingers in front of his face. Ron swallowed what seemed to be one, heavy gulp and cleared her throat that made an eerie resemblance of Professor Umbridge's trademark.
"Hermione…Er…Is it too late for me to ask you out? I mean, to escort you to the ball, I mean, to go with me…Oh no," blurted Ron. Seeing Hermione who dropped her jaw in an instant, he ruffled his 15-minute-combed hair at disbelief and quickly turned his face away from her view with his face burning as red as his hair.
Hermione smirked amusedly at the sight of Ron cooping in a corner of the common room. Inching a little bit closer, she whispered to Harry, "D'you mind if…if I steal Ron from you in a little while?" Harry was taken aback. Since he and Ron were the only two people who were dateless, Hermione still asked permission of agreeing to Ron's request and would eventually result of leaving him alone. Harry tried imagining how it would be like if he was left alone in the table with no one to talk to but the wall. Hermione, now tapping her foot, looked impatient, that made Harry immediately reply.
In a hushed stage whisper, he said, "Why not? I mean, Ron could do a little dancing with a real partner with exception of McGonagall," Hermione smiled at Harry appreciatively. Tiptoeing herself up to reach Harry's considerable difference of height, she gently planted a kiss on his cheek as if saying, in the most grateful way, "thank you".
As if lost in a trance, Ron looked back at the both of them, still having patches of pink all over his face that made his freckles look like they've never been there. Hermione gracefully walked towards him, which made his eyes dart almost everywhere except to her. Harry tried as hard not to laugh, but seeing Ron act intimidated over Hermione was not a usual sight.
"Well, aren't you going to arch your arm to let in mine? That's how it's done. And you don't have to read Hogwarts, A History to know that," said Hermione amusedly. Ron grinned at her. Carefully, as if planning every inch that he moved, he curved his long arm in a medium length beside his waist. Hermione smiled sweetly at him as she entered her own, slim arm inside his. Ron pushed his arm nearer to him and then as if a kettle boiling and kept waiting, he exploded.
"Mate, I'm on a date with an angel!" exclaimed Ron as they made their way out of the common room, with his feet tapping crazily, and as they stepped out of the Gryffindor house, they both walked elegantly towards the Great Hall.
Harry watched the scene that seemingly uncovered in an hour's time. It was bad being dateless, but now that he's got no one to bear it with him. He stared at the ground and gathered his thoughts; he might as well change into pajamas and go to sleep. It was a waste, of course, having to put up wearing the dress robes and tying the fussy tie and polishing his shoes to make it look decent. He grunted. He might be better off eating down at the Great Hall than imagining how Ron and Hermione had fun together at the ball or Ginny dancing with Dean all night long.
Shrugging, he made his way out of the boys' waiting crowd and settled himself out of the house by himself.
"Alone, little boy?" the voice from behind him echoed eerily out of the deafening silence.
"Yeah, well, I better go," said Harry quickly, finding it uncomfortable to discuss that he was the only person who's got no one to go to the ball with. The Fat Lady smirked, and Harry thought she must be that insensitive not to know how it feels to be this miserably lonely.
"Hold it!" replied the Fat Lady, with her eyeballs rolling, Harry paused in his escape, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad," and she mumbled something about kids being stubborn, "but I just want to tell you that I know you are bound to meet someone who should have been with you even before this whole thing started," she finished, with a kind smile curving in her portrait. Uncertain to feel whether relaxed, enlightened or confused, Harry nodded and ran as fast as he can in the empty corridors and towards the venue of the ball.
The Great Hall was enchanting. The minute he stepped out of the Entrance Hall and made his way in, the minute he immediately froze at the sight that revealed to his own, bare emerald eyes. The ceiling that held strongly up high had the most unusual stars that there had ever been. They were as huge as boulders but twinkled as tenderly, projecting an image as if there were hundreds of disco balls up in the sky. The walls were hung with hearts falling down incessantly and instantly pops out whenever touched. Vines and flowers extend from the floor towards the ceiling itself. Most of them were roses red as bleeding blood. Even though the hall quite resembled Professor Trelawney's ideal theme for a classroom, there was no sign of her aching perfume as Harry sniffed to inspect it.
There were still quite a few students who already gathered in the hall, and most of them were nervous first years. To Harry's advantage, he didn't have to tiptoe to look for Ron and Hermione, which was useless, since he wouldn't even bother talking and disturb the both of them. Mumbling to himself, he paced towards the buffet table, which displayed the most delicious and saliva-dropping food Harry had ever seen in his whole entire life. There were even pies shaped in hearts, spaghetti dressed in the reddest tomato ketchup there ever was, red wine, ice cream decorated as cupids, cakes that was designed to have a model figure of two people giggling and kissing and too many others which Harry found too foreign to name.
"Having fun?" said Luna Lovegood dreamily, as she settled herself beside him, her arm tucked in Neville's. She was wearing a nice, white gown that had flown well with her body. There was neither carrot earrings nor radish headwear displayed in her upper trunk. She had her hair tucked nicely in a beautiful ponytail. Harry posed a smile at her.
"Not really," replied Harry, grabbing a golden, heart-designed plate and placed quite a number of rations in it. Neville looked hungrily at them and tried signaling Luna to let him eat for a start.
"Oh, here comes Ginny now!" exclaimed Luna and gripped on Neville's arm tighter, pointing to the Entrance Hall. Harry's heart dropped down to his knees hearing this.
There she was, dressed in a mint green gown that held simply around her fine body, as if it impressed that she was a little princess. A necklace hanging above her trunk, a fancy bracelet that covered little of her beautiful hand and ears where pinned with the simplest but prettiest red gems were the added up ornaments in her body. Her hair was simply tied in half a ponytail. The rest of her loveliness lived with her natural features and her sweet smile. Harry gulped nervously at the sight of her.
The only ugly thing was Dean. He had her right arm around his left and was grinning goofily proud at everyone. Before Harry could stop himself from giving him a good punch or two, Luna's sighing distracted him.
"She looks pretty, right? She's pretty, brave, smart, friendly and kind. No wonder she's so popular," said Luna at Harry. Harry blinked his eyes several times doubting against his sight that Luna was really grinning evilly at him.
"Yes, I think so, too," said Harry tensely and paced an escape from Luna and Neville, pretending to grab a cake or two.
Harry tried as much as he can to avoid Ginny and Dean, when all they do is shove themselves nearer to him. He attempted camouflaging along the embellishment of the Hall, but he cannot. They were bloody red and his suit stood out like a sore thumb.
The Great Hall filled with half the number of students in Hogwarts and all of them varied in years. As Hermione said, Romilda Vane was going with McLaggen, which Harry thought to be a perfectly destined match. Surprisingly, Cho was with Davies, which he didn't believe at first, but now that he's seen her with him, he didn't really care. He saw Malfoy enter with Parkinson who was giggling madly, a blushing Ernie with Hannah Abbot who looked unrecognizable in her outfit, Cho's curly, treacherous friend was waving to an invisible, screaming crowd with her hands on a muttering Hufflepuff and there was Seamus with Parvati Patil who was chatting with each other animatedly.
Everything just got worse. The very time Harry had entered the Great Hall, he knew nothing would make him feel comfortable. As the Great Hall crowded, the more he felt lonely. It was like being back at the Privet Drive, having three relatives who don't treat you like one. And now that he is in Hogwarts, which he called his home, it seemed to have no trace of difference at all. He was really acting not himself today. Maybe it was because he was feeling lonely or he's just jealous of Dean who was holding hands with Ginny while walking along.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" announced the same, old but gentle voice ringing from the Top table. It was Dumbledore, smiling as several heads turned his way and tried to get a better view of him out of the extravagant decorations that placed around the Top Table.
"Tonight, we celebrate Valentine's Day, and I suppose many of you are still as puzzled why I came to approve such a profuse-demanding theme for a ball. I just want to mention an old man's lesson about this, that in the middle of this war, the greatest thing that you, each and every one of you, have is the ability to love. This ability Lord Voldemort never knew, which grew to be his greatest weakness can grow as our greatest strength. I hope that all of you would be able to understand my opening greeting to you all this night, but I have not the littlest doubt that you will. All of you, as I can see have been adept enough to uncover such mystery, and what more is it that you are able to sponge your fresh, little minds into understanding it. I wouldn't want anything in this world but to have more love in it. Youth that is your age may know little, and would get more of your hearts broken, but imagine the wonderful feeling of meeting and knowing love. In this wonderful evening, I want you to experience it, in behalf of the staff, with us, the teachers, your fellow students and your friends. Do enjoy Professor Slughorn's specialties with the help of our gracious elves! I say, I was quite taken aback of such delicious and foreign foods! And I also want to welcome the return of The Weird Sisters for the ball! Let us get this party started!" said Dumbledore, having the last sentence mentioned awkwardly.
After hearing his second to the last statement, the student body roared in deafening applause. A few of the boys wolf-whistled and the girls exploded in screams. The limelight, which was temporarily set above Dumbledore's place instantly grabbed speed and navigated it way to a little stage placed just beyond the Top Table's far right. Right there, stood The Weird Sisters, the vocalist holding the microphone fiercely and rung all over the Hall saying, "Are you ready, Hogwarts!" which the students replied in unison, "YEA!"
It was an hour of laughing, eating, drinking, dancing and just feeling light for the stress-free students. The jumpy music stayed on as long as this, when The Weird Sister's vocalist suddenly asked for a break, which received several groans from the audience. It was fun, really.
The staff's odd behavior the day the ball was held was immediately explained when the second song sounded. There you can see Professor McGonagall giggling madly while talking to Hagrid, Dumbledore who looked as if he was trying to dance, only that he looked like a nutcracker doing so, Snape was up there in the Top Table sniffing Slughorn's pie as if he was inspecting if there was poison in it, Professor Flitwick, trying as hard as his little build can to squeeze himself to the dance floor, Professor Trelawney who seemed to be trying on some moves with Dumbledore, cackling. Firenze was also at the Top Table, too, only that he was standing and tapping his feet along with the beat. Professor Sprout was giggling, too, following Professor Flitwick to the dance floor, and Professor Sinistra was tugging Firenze to come with her. Filch all along was dancing with Mrs. Norris who was purring loudly.
It was amusing watching all this in that hour, but Harry later on grew tired of it. Finding himself the only person who viewed the ball like it was a long awaited film wasn't helping. His pupils always darted where Ginny was headed, who danced every song with Dean. He also found Ron with Hermione having the time of their lives, dancing like there was no tomorrow, and he could've sworn he saw Ron plant a kiss on Hermione's cheek that made her blush madly.
Then suddenly, as if his whole view dispatched from the crowd, he saw a blazing, auburn hair squatting away from the people, as if hurriedly, towards a spot where no one could obviously mind looking at. It was far right corner extending from the doors of the Entrance Hall that her mint green gown disappeared to. It was Ginny. Harry blinked, for she just saw her laughing with Dean just a second ago, and now as if she apparated, leaving him perplexed and trying to look for her.
Taking his chances, he stood up, looking right and left if there was someone looking at him. Nodding inwardly, he picked up pace in a manner the same as Ginny and headed cautiously towards the corner where she settled herself.
After an incredibly exhausting scampering towards her, Harry found Ginny who seemed to have grabbed a small bench in the corner where she stood. Her beautiful face was staring up at the sky as if she was dreaming with her eyes open. Unable to speak, Harry settled himself just beside her before he can stop himself. Ginny snapped out of it and looked at Harry, bewildered. He smiled at her goofily.
"How d'you find me here?" asked Ginny, her eyes bulging the way it did when she was like being a worried sick mother about Harry's little accident.
"For a guy who's got nothing to do but to look at people, I think I have a good enough excuse for that," said Harry, smirking as he now tilted his head up for his turn to look at the ceiling. Ginny grinned and gestured herself to do the same thing, too.
Silence occurred, and Harry's mind only circulated around Ginny. The blackness of the evening seemed to cover the both of them, even though the glimmering stars try as hard as they might to catch his attention. The moon, which was the only thing that can see the both of them, must have been smiling because Ginny suddenly shone. She was reflecting the gentle moonlight all over her and Harry couldn't resist the temptation of blushing. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he survived Voldemort's wrath several times in a row just to witness this wonderful sight.
Ginny looked at him back, and now Harry realized that she must caught him staring at her deeply. She turned back her gaze to the ceiling and was blushing madly her that face seemed to be united with her hair.
"So…so, why did you get yourself here?" asked Harry, trying as hard to strike a conversation.
"Oh, Dean was bugging me already. He won't stop dancing," replied she. Harry smirked and she frowned at him. Harry stopped and thought that maybe it was very rude to ask that.
"Sorry, but I thought you were enjoying yourself," said Harry who was in the verge of punching himself. He can't understand why he can't talk decently around a girl. He had been like this ever since and he cannot believe he hadn't learned or progressed about anything with concern of it.
"No, of course I wasn't," said Ginny. With this, the creature inside him raised its head and looked hopefully. "And besides, the boy that I really like haven't asked me to dance yet," she said, casting her face down sadly.
Harry was taken aback. Why that idiot! Here he is, hoping against hope that he'll be able to just dance with her, and that boy, that boy did have quite the nerve not to ask her! He mustered up his courage and exclaimed,
"Where's that git? Lemme give him a good punch or two! Why I never—"
Ginny looked at him, all over her face expressed utter bewilderment. "Merlin," thought Harry, "that was a very, very smooth move, just smooth and stupid," he forcibly pushed his hand backward and tried not to smack his head.
"But Harry," said Ginny, interrupting Harry's thoughts. Crossing his fingers, he tried to look as earnest to listen to her, hoping every inch of the sky that maybe she was playing him a little joke. Then there was this long, dreading silence that sucked the both of them in a hole of uneasiness. Harry thought Ginny wanted to scream and immediately scram away as fast as her grown legs can carry her. And then, Ginny managed to open her cute, little mouth to finish what she was saying. At the sight of this, his heart thumped its way to the region of his Adam's apple. Ginny said,
"Why would you want to have a black eye?"