Chapter Fifty-Eight: Between the Fairy Lights
Daphne was in a good mood throughout most of the next week. Harry had sent letters to both Sirius and Mum detailing his battle with the Horntail, including every single maneuver he'd used, after which they'd had a big party in the Gryffindor common room, for which Daphne was invited as well.
During the party, Harry had opened his golden egg, which had emitted a horrible screeching sound so piercing Harry had quickly closed it again.
It hadn't slowed down the party one bit, however, which got even better when Fred and George revealed their new line of joke products, the Canary Creams, with Neville of course being the unlucky first victim.
It also appeared like most of the other students had, after seeing what Harry had to face, forgiven him for becoming the fourth champion, and while there were still a fair number of people wearing Malfoy's badges, they certainly seemed to be fewer in number than they had been before the task. Especially the Hufflepuffs seemed to be easing up on Harry, likely because of Cedric.
There was a bit of a stressful moment when they headed down to the Care of Magical Creatures class and were led to the skrewt enclosure, but to their great relief Hagrid just wanted their help in some observations to get a better read on their behavior, which became an oddly informative lesson on both fire crabs and manticores as the class tried to analyze the behavioral patterns of the skrewts with the help of their books' entries on those animals.
As everyone walked around the enclosure taking notes, however, Rita Skeeter suddenly turned up. Ignoring Hagrid's remark about how she supposedly wasn't allowed on the school grounds anymore, she instead began asking questions about the skrewts. Even though she was talking to Hagrid, however, her eyes constantly kept flicking over to Harry, and when she set up an interview with Hagrid for that Friday, Daphne was fairly certain she wouldn't be asking many questions about the skrewts at all.
After one Potions class, Snape told the Slytherins to stay behind for a moment.
"As you all know," he said disdainfully, as if whatever he was about to tell them was beneath him, "the Yule Ball is coming up. Everyone in fourth year and higher will be permitted to go, though younger students may be invited. As this is a formal occasion, dress robes will be worn. Given the fact that we're hosting…guests…I must ask you all to show proper decorum during the ball, which will begin at eight on Christmas Day and last until midnight. Dismissed."
He quickly strode out of the room.
"Not really one for parties, is he?" Tracey said. Then she looked at Daphne and grinned. "You'll be going with Potter, I presume?"
Daphne looked away. "I…think so, yes," she said evasively.
"Does he even know how to dance? Merlin knows I don't…" Tracey said.
"Who're you going with, anyway?" Daphne asked, ignoring Tracey's question. She was pretty sure that Harry would have no clue at all how to dance. Daphne had been forced to learn it when she was younger, but she hadn't done it in years, certainly never after coming to Hogwarts.
"I…haven't given it much thought yet. I might be hoping Adrian will ask me, though…" Tracey said with a hint of a blush.
"You could always ask him," Daphne pointed out.
"I know, I know, but sometimes being a bit traditional is fun, you know? And anyway, the idea of seeing him try to be cool while he's actually incredibly nervous is really funny, somehow."
A few days later, the Gryffindors seemed to have been informed about the ball by McGonagall as well, as Harry and Ron were suddenly very agitated, and Harry appeared to be unable to meet Daphne's eyes.
Daphne saw that Hermione had noticed it too and shot her an embarrassed grin, which Hermione returned, adding a glance at Ron and raising her eyes to the ceiling. Daphne gave a nudge with her head in Ron's direction, but Hermione shook her head and looked at Ron again. Daphne nodded slightly.
Harry and Ron, both lost in their own thoughts, had completely missed the exchange, which Daphne thought was very funny. She wondered how long it would take for Harry to work up the nerve to ask her.
To her great surprise, it was actually that very same day. After dinner, Harry said, "Hey Daphne, er, can I talk to you alone for a second?"
"Yeah, sure," she said, trying to sound casual, even though her heart was beating a million times per minute.
They stepped outside the Great Hall into an empty bit of the entrance hall.
"So, er, the, er Yule Ball is coming up, and er…the– the champions are supposed to open the ball with their partners, and I, er…well, y'know, we've been friends for a long time and er…I…do you…er…would you…"
"Yes," Daphne interrupted.
She was enjoying Harry's stammering and stuttering, but she was so nervous herself that she really just wanted to get it over with.
"I'll go to the Yule Ball with you," she said softly.
"That– that's great!" Harry said in an oddly high voice. "Yeah! I'll, er…great!"
Daphne laughed. For the first time that day, their eyes met, and while Harry's expression was still a bit awkward, the look in his eyes was almost the same as when he'd beaten the Horntail flawlessly.
"Oh, and…you should tell Ron that he needs to ask Hermione. She really wants him to," she said.
Harry blinked. "She does?"
Daphne gave him a look.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell him…he needs to get a move on anyway," Harry said.
Daphne grinned at him. She wasn't sure if Hermione would appreciate the helping hand, but she figured it would probably be fine.
To Daphne's surprise, while Harry had been the first to ask her, he certainly wasn't the last. Several boys from all of the Houses — and even a few from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang — came to invite her over the following days. She wasn't really sure why, as she didn't even know many of them and actively disliked some others, like Cormac McLaggen, who had the nerve to tell her he was a much better flyer than Harry and would gladly show her his broomstick skills if she went with him instead. He only left her alone when she threatened to hex his 'broomstick' to shrivel and vanish.
Tracey had given in to her nerves and simply asked Adrian to the ball herself, and to her relief he'd actually said yes.
It would even appear that Ron had, in fact, asked Hermione to the ball, as the two of them seemed far quieter around each other than usual.
When Daphne came into the Great Hall on Christmas morning and sat down next to Harry, Ron grinned at her and said, "Thanks for the new dress robes. They're much better than the other ones."
Daphne grinned back and said, "Don't just thank me. Ginny helped me pick them out."
Ginny, who sat nearby, smirked when Ron gave her a confused look. "What? You didn't think I'd let my brother make a prat himself in front of half the school, did you? Especially not when I'm going to be there, too."
"Who're you going with?" Ron asked curiously.
Ginny looked a bit embarrassed, but said, "Neville. He asked Hermione first but since she was already going with you he asked me instead, and since I wouldn't get to go otherwise…"
"You were just in time, too, Ron," Hermione said with a faint blush. "Krum asked me as well, you know."
Ron's eyes widened. "He did?!"
Hermione nodded. "That's apparently why he was hanging around the library so much; he wanted to get a chance to talk to me. He's actually really nice. When I said I already had a date he was disappointed, but he still asked if he could at least have a dance at the ball."
"You said yes, right?" Ron asked. "Maybe I can get his autograph then…."
Hermione shook her head in exasperation. "I did, yes, and clearly getting you an autograph was my only motive…" she said.
"You're the best, Hermione," Ron said, and Daphne wasn't sure if he was deliberately ignoring the sarcasm or not. He probably was. She wondered if he'd still had been as excited about it if Hermione had gone to the ball with Krum, though, and she suspected he was only so laid-back about it because Hermione had rejected Krum in favor of him. Though Hermione was still shaking her head at Ron, Daphne could see she was actually amused.
"So have you brushed up on your dancing a bit?" Daphne asked Harry teasingly. "As a champion, you need to have a little dignity, of course. And don't forget, if you mess this up, you'll make a fool out of me, too."
Harry coughed and looked away. "I…haven't had much time to," he said lamely.
"But knowing how important it is, you probably practiced through the night, right?" Daphne teased.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Harry said quickly.
Daphne giggled at his increasing blush and said, "Relax. I'm just teasing you. I don't care if you're a good dancer. Just…let me lead, okay? I'll get you through it."
She looked at Hermione and Ginny and said, "I suppose you'll both be taking the lead as well?"
They both nodded.
"Hey, I'm sure I can dance better than Neville, at least," Ron said.
Ginny looked at him. "Can you? I grew up with you, you know. I've seen what you think is 'dancing'. Hermione, you'd better put on reinforced shoes if you want to keep your toes tonight…"
For a large part of the day, they had a massive snowball fight outside, and Daphne distinctly got the impression that Harry was showing off a bit with the way he was dodging the balls thrown at him, because whenever he made a particularly spectacular one, he glanced over at her to see if she'd seen it. It was really dumb, but also adorable somehow, and Daphne enjoyed it immensely.
Fred and George, who'd noticed Harry's attempts at impressing Daphne, took it as a personal challenge and began targeting him specifically, and soon even Harry's reflexes weren't enough anymore to keep him safe from the onslaught. When he got hit full in the face by an expertly thrown snowball by George, Daphne attempted to help him a bit, which made the twins switch targets over to her instead.
Ron, meanwhile, managed to score points with Hermione, who was simply watching the fight, when Fred attempted a sneaky shot at her which Ron blocked with a magnificent dive from several feet over.
"Wow, Ron, maybe you should try out for Keeper next year," Fred said seriously.
"You…you think?" Ron asked hopefully.
Daphne recalled that Ron had seen himself holding the Quidditch Cup in the Mirror of Erised back in their first year and she knew he'd love to be on the team.
"Sure. We'll just ask Hermione to hover behind the rings and you'll block every shot," George said with a grin, and both Ron and Hermione blushed so furiously Daphne imagined the snow around them might melt at any moment.
Hermione left to get ready for the ball at five o'clock, while Daphne and the others kept going until seven, when it became too dark to aim properly.
"I'll meet you at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room," Daphne said as they entered the castle.
"Right. See you in a bit," Harry said nervously.
Usually, Daphne would have made a joke about him sounding so nervous, but in truth, she was nervous too. She'd never been on any kind of 'date' before and since Harry was a champion, she'd have to open the ball with him. Everyone in the school would be watching their first dance, and while she was confident she still knew plenty of steps, she'd still be the center of attention, which, contrary to how she sometimes acted, wasn't necessarily a place she enjoyed being.
She headed down into the common room and went into her dorm, where she retrieved her own dress robes.
Tracey and Pansy were also getting ready, and to Daphne's great relief they both looked nervous as well, though they did seem to be excited.
Daphne's dress robes were a deep, thundercloud purple and had no sleeves, which was made up for by the long, fingerless gloves that went with them, extending to just above her elbows. While she normally wore her blonde hair in a ponytail because it was easy, she now spent quite a bit of time styling it in front of the mirror. She let it hang loose for once, grateful that it was naturally a bit wavy, leaving one lock of hair tastefully threatening to fall over her left eye. If she'd had a magical eye like Moody's, she'd probably have been happy to let it, but now she swept it behind her ear and studied herself in the mirror to see how she looked. She'd considered a variety of jewelry to add to her look, but it all looked gaudy, somehow, and she decided to forgo it.
"Looking good," Tracey said from behind her.
Daphne turned around and grinned. "You too," she said.
Tracey had kept things simple with stylish black robes, and her glittering earrings and necklace helped accentuate them. Her brown hair, a bit shorter than Daphne's, was straighter than it usually was and she'd put her long bangs behind her ears as well to keep them from covering her face.
"Well…I'd better get going to the Gryffindor common room," Daphne said with a nervous grin. "Can't be late for the opening of the ball, after all."
She hesitated for a moment. "Think Harry will like it?" she asked with a last look at herself.
Tracey nodded. "Definitely. To be fair, you could show up in rags and he would still like you, but you look great, honestly."
"Okay. Yeah…"
Tracey laughed. "I've never seen you this nervous," she said.
"I know!" Daphne replied. "Normally, I only face death. This is much scarier."
Her limbs felt strangely rubbery and she was half afraid she'd fall over just walking.
"You'll be fine. Now, get going," Tracey said.
Daphne nodded and headed outside. The hallways were still pretty empty; apparently most students were still busy getting ready. Daphne reached the portrait of the Fat Lady without running into anyone she knew.
"Stylish," the Fat Lady said appreciatively, and Daphne grinned gratefully.
"Thanks."
"They'll probably be out soon," the Fat Lady said.
Daphne nodded. Her mouth was a bit dry.
The portrait opened a few minutes later, but it wasn't Harry who came out, but Ginny and Neville. Neville looked very uneasy in his somewhat old-fashioned dress robes, but Ginny, whose own robes were a deep blue — bought in Hogsmeade when they had bought Ron's as well — didn't seem to mind and simply looked excited to be going to the ball at all.
"They're almost ready," Ginny said when she spotted Daphne. "Nice look, by the way. You should let your hair down more often," she added.
Daphne grinned. "Too much of a hassle to keep it out of my eyes most of the time," she said.
"Well, see you in a moment," Ginny said cheerfully, before heading down the corridor with Neville.
A minute or two later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron emerged.
Harry looked very self-conscious about his robes, though he had no reason to since they were quite similar to his regular ones. When he saw Daphne, his eyes widened and he said, "You, er, you look good. Great. Yeah."
Daphne giggled. Somehow, Harry's nerves seemed to take hers away a bit.
"Thanks. Smooth compliments, really. You look good, too," she said, and Harry gave her a guilty grin.
Ron and Hermione both wore different shades of blue. While Ron's robes were so dark they were nearly black, and were fairly neutral just like Harry's, Hermione looked so different from usual Daphne hardly recognized her. Her robes were made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material, and her usually bushy hair was now sleek and shiny, twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head.
"Wow, Hermione!" Daphne said, and Hermione beamed at her.
Ron seemed to still be amazed Hermione was going with him instead of Krum.
Together, they walked down to the entrance hall, which had by now become packed with students. They arrived just in time to see the other Slytherins coming up from the dungeons as well, led by Malfoy in high-collared robes of black velvet, who was accompanied by Pansy, wearing frilly robes of pale pink.
While Harry and Malfoy shot each other glares of intense loathing, Daphne and Pansy exchanged faint smiles.
Crabbe and Goyle were, unsurprisingly, dateless.
Tracey and Adrian were right behind them, and Tracey happily waved at Daphne, who grinned and waved back.
The front doors opened, and the Durmstrang students entered, headed by Krum — who was accompanied by Elsie.
"Way to go, Elsie," Daphne said with an appreciative nod as they passed.
Elsie grinned at her.
A part of the lawn in front of the school had been filled with rosebushes filled with fairies, who fluttered from bush to bush, over the statues of what seemed to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall called, "Champions over here, please!"
Daphne and Harry exchanged a grin with their friends and then headed over to McGonagall, where the other champions were already waiting.
Fleur Delacour had gone with a Ravenclaw Daphne thought was called Roger Davies; she faintly remembered him being on the Quidditch team.
Cedric was also with someone from the Ravenclaw team, their Seeker Cho Chang, who grinned at Harry as she saw them approaching.
Daphne could imagine why. Counting Krum as well, all Seekers in Hogwarts except Malfoy were in the group of champions. It made Daphne happy that Malfoy was the only one missing, given that he was the only way who'd bought his way onto his House team.
Krum, of course, was with Elsie. She was getting a lot of angry stares from other girls who'd wanted to go with Krum, but being a Slytherin she was fairly used to that anyway, and she seemed perfectly happy.
"Do you feel like maybe we should start playing Quidditch just to fit in with this lot?" Elsie asked conversationally.
"My mother would be delighted if I did, probably, but I'll leave it to the professionals," Daphne said, stepping a bit closer to Harry.
Krum noticed it and said, "You did fly very vell in the task."
Harry grinned at him. "Thanks. You were great at the World Cup, too."
"Cedric and I are good flyers too, you know," Cho said playfully, and Cedric grinned in an embarrassed sort of way.
"I vould not know, but I do not doubt it," Krum said.
Roger Davies, the other Quidditch player in the group, kept curiously quiet. He was simply staring at Fleur, who, Daphne had to admit, looked stunningly beautiful in her silver-gray robes.
Then, McGonagall told the champions to line up in pairs and follow her. They did so, forming into the order they'd faced the dragons in by some unspoken agreement, and entered the Great Hall to the applause of everyone there.
The House tables had been removed for the occasion, replaced by about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, which could each seat about a dozen people. The walls had been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling.
The short procession made its way to a large round table at the top of the Hall, where the judges were sitting. Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions approached, though Karkaroff looked rather sour, as usual. Ludo Bagman was clapping as enthusiastically as the students, while Madame Maxime settled for a more dignified, subdued applause. Crouch, the final judge, looked as severe as usual and applauded with such a staccato rhythm Daphne wondered if he'd enchanted his hands.
The champions and their partners sat down at the round table as well, which was decked with golden plates, in front of which lay small menus.
Dumbledore was looking carefully at his own menu, then said very clearly to his plate, "Pork chops!" And pork chops appeared.
Getting the idea, the rest of the table began placing orders as well, and Daphne looked around the rest of the table while she was eating.
Krum was enthusiastically talking to Elsie, though Karkaroff seemed to think he was giving away too much of Durmstrang's secrets, for which Karkaroff, in turn, was gently admonished by Dumbledore, who said he would never dare to assume that he knew all of Hogwarts's secrets.
Fleur Delacour, meanwhile, was criticizing the decorations to Roger Davies, who didn't seem to be listening and was instead still drooling in her direction, while Cedric and Cho were in an animated discussion about Quidditch.
Then, when dinner was over, Dumbledore stood up and asked everyone else to do the same.
Daphne grinned at Harry, who nervously grinned back. With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore cleared away all the tables, placing them along the walls, before conjuring up a platform on which stood a set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes. The Weird Sisters climbed onto the stage to wild applause and picked up their instruments.
Daphne pulled Harry along with her onto the dance floor after the other champions, and Harry almost tripped over his robes.
"Relax, I'll lead," Daphne whispered.
She grabbed Harry's hands, put one around her waist while determinedly trying and failing not to blush, and held the other tightly in her own.
The Weird Sisters opened with a slow, mournful tune, and Daphne began to lead Harry in the dance, which was rhythmic and simple enough that Harry soon began to get a bit more comfortable and much more coordinated as a result.
Soon, the dance floor began to fill with other people, but Daphne didn't really care about any of them at that moment. It was so much fun dancing with Harry — even though he wasn't very skilled — that she hardly looked at the people surrounding them, except those closest to her and Harry. She noticed Neville and Ginny nearby and shot Ginny a sympathetic look as Neville once again stepped on her feet, and on their other side, Moody and Professor Sinistra were dancing an extremely ungainly two-step.
"Nice socks, Potter," Moody growled as he passed.
"Oh — yeah, Dobby the House-Elf knitted them for me," Harry said with a grin.
"Should we be worried he's staring through the robes of teenagers?" Daphne wondered.
Harry suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Y'know, I don't think I want to know the answer to that," he said.
The first song ended and applause filled the Hall.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Daphne asked with a grin.
"No, it was quite fun, actually," Harry replied.
The Weird Sisters now began playing a much faster song.
"Good, then you won't mind dancing a bit faster," Daphne said.
Harry didn't get time to protest as Daphne pulled him along again in a different kind of dance. Truthfully, she had no idea what she was doing, this time, but she'd looked around and spotted more than enough couples whose sense of rhythm was shaky, at best, so she figured they wouldn't be the worst dancers by far.
Harry, embarrassed but also enjoying himself, simply followed along with Daphne's lead.
They crossed Ron and Hermione, and Daphne laughed at the contrast of Hermione's attempt at a structured dance and Ron's wild movements.
Near the end of the song, they crossed Ginny and Neville again, and from the corner of her eye she could see that people were beginning to swap partners.
Krum was making his way over to Hermione (Ron looked very excited about finally meeting Krum) while Elsie was approaching one of the Beauxbatons boys, so Daphne pulled Harry closer to Ginny and Neville and said, "Want to swap partners for a moment?"
Ginny gave her an odd look.
"You don't get to keep him all night," Daphne said with a good-natured roll of her eyes.
Ginny grinned at her and shot a furtive look at Harry, who smiled and said, "Sounds like fun."
Neville, meanwhile, looked apologetically at Daphne and said, "Are you sure? I don't mind if you find someone who's a bit better at dancing."
"Oh come on, it'll be fun," Daphne said, pulling Neville toward her. "See you in a bit," she said to Harry and Ginny.
Neville, it soon transpired, really was an awful dancer, and Daphne was soon focused more on protecting her feet than on the actual rhythm of the music. Neville kept apologizing for this.
"Is that what it's like for you guys when I keep blaming and or sacrificing myself for things?" Daphne asked after what felt like the hundredth apology.
Neville grinned self-consciously. "It might be," he said.
"Good lord, I get why you keep telling me to stop it, then," Daphne said with a wink at Neville to show she wasn't being serious.
After two songs, Neville decided he'd danced enough for a while, and they sat down at a nearby table, where they were joined a few minutes later by Harry and Ginny.
Ginny beamed at Daphne, who grinned back, raising her goblet in a toast.
Daphne leaned back and let her eyes wander over the Hall. Even though the party had been going for a while, the atmosphere was still energetic, and most people seemed to be enjoying themselves.
When another fairly fast-paced song started up, one which Daphne actually knew, she glanced over to her side, where she saw that Harry and Neville were in a conversation about something, so she nudged Ginny and said, "Wanna dance?"
Ginny gave her a surprised look. "Us?" she asked.
Daphne shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It'll be fun to dance with someone with actual coordination, anyway," she said.
Ginny thought for a second and then said, "You know what, why not? Let's go."
Together, they went onto the dance floor, and Daphne soon found that Ginny really was the best dancer she'd danced with all evening.
"How did you get this good?" she asked.
Ginny grinned. "Mum gave me some lessons. You're not bad yourself, either."
"Thanks," Daphne replied with a similar grin.
The song sped up, and so did Daphne and Ginny, who were now attracting some attention from the nearby couples, though Daphne honestly couldn't care less about it. She was having way too much fun, and Ginny seemed to be enjoying herself as well.
Daphne caught Harry's eye, who was looking at her and Ginny with an amused look as they moved past the table.
The next song was a slower one, but neither Daphne nor Ginny felt like sitting down just yet, and both were happy about finally not having to worry about their feet being trod on, so they kept dancing, grinning at each other every time someone wolf-whistled at the sight of two girls dancing together.
"I'm going to have to answer so many questions about this tomorrow," Ginny said.
"Do you care?" Daphne asked.
"If I did, d'you think I'd be on the dance floor?"
Seconds later, they passed Fred and Angelina, both of whom seemed surprised to see them together. Fred's confused expression in particular was priceless.
"That might be the first time I've seen that expression on him," Ginny remarked.
"You're welcome," Daphne said with a smirk.
After a few more songs, Daphne and Ginny rejoined Harry and Neville, neither of whom had elected to dance with anyone else in the time Daphne and Ginny had been gone.
"Do you two really need someone to physically pull you onto the dance floor to do something?" Daphne asked.
"Who did you think was going to ask me?" Neville asked.
"And the only people I want to dance with were dancing with each other," Harry said with a wink.
"What about Hermione?" Daphne asked, smirking.
"She seems to be having fun with Ron and Krum," Harry replied, gesturing with his head a few tables over.
"So, want a few more dances with me, then? I know you'll never be as good as Ginny, but still," Daphne said.
Harry got up. "Okay. I bet I can go at least one song without stepping on your feet," he said.
"You're on."
Exchanging a last smile with Ginny, Daphne pulled Harry onto the dance floor again. She was beginning to get a bit tired, but she was having far too much fun to quit dancing.
Harry did seem to notice she was slowing down a bit, though, because after a few more songs, he said, "Want to check out that maze of fairy lights outside?"
Daphne nodded. "Yeah. I could use some cool air," she said.
"Won't it be too cold?" Harry asked, indicating Daphne's bare upper arms.
"No, the robes and gloves have the same kind of enchantment your bracelet has. I'll be fine," she replied.
They left the Great Hall and stepped into the much colder entrance hall. Daphne noticed Harry was still holding her hand, but she had no intention of mentioning it. She had a feeling he knew perfectly well, anyway.
Together, they walked outside and went into the rose garden, walking between the flickering and twinkling fairy lights. They walked along the path past the rosebushes, and Daphne heard a fountain somewhere nearby. She felt completely at ease, at least until she heard a familiar voice.
"…don't see what the fuss is about, Igor."
"Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening!" Karkaroff's voice sounded anxious and hushed, as though keen not to be overheard. Why on earth they were here, then, and not somewhere where random students couldn't walk by and hear everything, was a mystery to Daphne. "It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it–"
"Then flee," Snape said curtly. "Flee. I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts."
Snape and Karkaroff came around the corner. Snape had his wand out and was blasting rosebushes apart, his expression most ill-natured. Squeals issued from many of the bushes, and dark shapes emerged from them.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. "And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!" as a boy went rushing after her. "And what are you two doing?" he added, catching sight of Daphne and Harry on the path ahead. His eyes momentarily flickered to their still entwined hands and his already angry expression darkened much further.
Karkaroff looked slightly discomposed to see them standing there. His hand went nervously to his goatee, and he began winding it around his finger.
"We're just walking," Daphne said, squeezing Harry's hand a bit to signal him to keep quiet.
"Keep walking, then," Snape said with an irritated gesture of his head. He brushed past them, his long black cloak billowing out behind him. Karkaroff hurried away after Snape, and Daphne and Harry continued walking.
"Since when have those two been on first-name terms?" Harry wondered.
Daphne stopped moving and pulled Harry's hand to get him to stop as well. He turned to face her.
"I don't know," she said, "but let's not worry about it. Not now. I'm…having a really great time tonight, you know."
She took a small step closer to Harry. "The clothes, the food, the music, the dancing…everything's been wonderful all night long. It was like we could just be…normal, for a bit. Not the Slytherin who acts like a Gryffindor or the Boy-Who-Lived, just…Daphne and Harry."
She got a bit closer still, and for what seemed like the first time she noticed Harry was quite a bit taller than her now. "I know we'll go back to being those things soon enough, but…just for tonight…let's just be us, okay?"
She moved her face closer to Harry's.
"Yeah," Harry said softly, "Let's do that…"
He leaned in as well.
Daphne looked into his eyes, which glittered as they reflected the many small lights around them. Then she closed her own.
The kiss was awkward; both of them were a bit tense, neither really knew what they were doing and they were just pressing their lips together…and yet it was amazing all the same. Daphne felt a warmth running through her that had nothing to do with the enchantment on her robes and gloves, a warmth that felt safe and secure.
Without thinking about it, she put her arms around Harry's neck. In return, he gently put his hands around her waist. She pulled him in just a bit closer, hesitantly, yet clearly. Whether they stood like that for a few seconds, minutes, or hours, she neither knew nor cared to know.
When their lips finally parted and they opened their eyes again, Daphne could see that Harry was blushing bright red. Judging by the feeling of her own face, she'd be looking similar.
"I…guess we're a bit more than just friends now, aren't we?" Harry asked with a faint smile.
Daphne slowly nodded. "Yeah…I think we are…"
For a moment, they just looked in each other's eyes again, their arms still around the other.
Then Daphne smiled. "Mum will be thrilled, I bet."
Where my favorite fanfic, Oh God Not Again, mentions hating the Yule Ball, I absolutely loved writing this chapter. This is the sort of stuff I love, and after 193,000 words this is also easily the latest first kiss I've ever written in any story. Given the hardship yet to come, this particular chapter is probably going to end up being quite bittersweet, but for now it was nice to have an almost exclusively happy chapter.
I know Ron is supposed to be the jealous type. Given that he actually got to go the ball with Hermione, though, I'm choosing to downplay that. There will be plenty of drama down the line, and everyone deserved a breather before everything goes to hell. This was that breather.