Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Yule Ball
As soon as Hermione turned to go back inside the castle she bumped into Draco Malfoy. They both widened their eyes and gasped when they saw each other. "Draco." Hermione said.
"Hermione." Draco began.
"Look, I was just wondering if_" they said simultaneously. "I mean what I wanted to ask you was_" they chorused before Hermione came to a sudden realization.
"Wait a second." She began. "Are you trying to ask me to the ball?" She wondered.
"Yeah, but it's not really working that well." He confessed.
"I thought that you said that it wasn't a good idea if people saw us together?" She questioned him.
"I meant people that matter." He began. "I mean, not like you don't matter to me, but people who are going to judge us and the only ones who would really do that would be Crabbe and Goyle and they're going home for the Christmas holidays this year." He told her.
"Harry always says that you shouldn't let other people judge you and that it's God opinion that actually matters in the end." She told him.
"Figures that he would say something like that as he's all into that religion thing and I'm still just on the fence about it myself." He began. "Anyways, Hermione Granger,.. will you go to the ball with me?" He questioned her with a grin.
"I'd love to." She told him while she smiled back at him.
"Okay, I'll see you there then." He told her happily.
"Sounds good to me." She told him while continuing to smile brightly at them before they both went their separate ways and then started to celebrate excitedly once they were out of each other's earshot. Hermione was so excited that she didn't see Harry until she accidentally bumped right into him.
"Let me guess, you took my father's advice and asked Draco to the ball and he said yes." He said as he smiled warmly at her.
"No actually he asked me to the ball and I said yes. I started asking him, but it turns out he had the same idea that I did." She told him. "So, did you ask Cho to the ball?" she wondered and that's when Harry's smile slowly began to fade.
"Yes." He replied. "But she said no. Cedric already asked her and she said that she would go with her, and I would ask Luna but Neville's already asked her." He explained.
"So then why don't you go ahead and ask Ginny?" Hermione suggested. "She hasn't got a date yet."
"Are you sure?" He asked her.
"Yes and you already know that she has a major crush on you so I'm sure she'll say yes. I just don't know who Ron's going to be able to ask."
"Don't worry, I'm sure that he'll be able to find somebody." Harry told her before he went off to go find Ginny.
…
Ginny wound up saying yes and the Christmas holidays grew closer. Ron still didn't have anybody to take him to the ball, and the amount of homework they were all receiving piled up as none of their professors were giving them any mercy even though Christmas was just right around the corner.
One day in potions class, Spike the dragon mistook Harry's pleas for help for a break as a cry for help and burst into the room knocking over books and potions bottles and setting the classroom on fire. Luckily for them a bunch of professors were able to put the fire out, but Spike was sent to go and live in a humongous enclosure out on the grounds until a stable could be built for him.
However, he was allowed to come back into the school to help deliver his father and friends their Christmas presents. (Harry had put a Santa hat on top of him and a red light-up nose on top of his real one that made all the girls snap pictures like crazy on their phones.)
Eventually, it was only a few more days until Christmas Eve and the night of the ball and Ron still hadn't found a date. He had attempted to ask Fleur out to the ball casually, but instead he had wound up making a fool of himself and screamed it out at her instead making a fool of himself in front of the entire school.
When Harry discovered that Padma Patil didn't have a date for the Yule Ball either, he suggested that Ron should ask her out and she wound up saying yes. Now it was finally Christmas Eve night, and all of the girls had their dresses bought and all of the boys had bought their dress robes. Although Draco was ready, he was also incredibly anxious and paced the floor in front of the stairs.
"What if she changes her mind?" Draco questioned himself aloud. "Or what if I screw up and forget the moves and she laughs at me?"
"You need to relax mate." Ron began. "You're making me nervous." He told him before Padma turned her head and let out a gasp of astonishment.
"She looks beautiful." She whispered.
"Yeah, she does." Harry replied thinking that she was referring to Cho that was currently over by Cedric but when Draco lifted his chin and looked up at the top of the staircase he whirled around and saw that Hermione was slowly walking down it in a beautiful pink dress with her hair all braided up and pulled into a bun with a few loose strands.
Meanwhile, Draco could hardly breathe and simply just smiled at her before he offered her his hand and led her into the Great Hall. They didn't know it, but as Ron entered the Great Hall with Padma, he was keeping an extremely sharp eye on them. He didn't mind them being friends, but if Draco made any moves on her he would make one hundred percent absolute sure that he would know about it.
