Book Six is nearly finished in its editing and various additions, which is very good news. at the current rate, I believe I will be significantly close to finishing the entire editing process by the end of this 2 week cycle, and if that does indeed happen, we will move to a more frequent updating schedule to accomidate. Many thanks to those who've been reviewing this and the original story! ~F

Chapter Nine

Girl Troubles

Harry, Ron, Draco, Faykan and Hermione went up to the Owlery that evening to find a bird to use so that Harry could send Sirius a letter telling him that he had managed to get past his dragon unscathed. On the way, Harry filled Ron and Draco in on everything Sirius had told him and Fay about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had been a Death Eater, by the time they entered the Owlery Ron was saying that they ought to have suspected it all along.

"Fits, doesn't it?" he said. "Remember what Nott said on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they knew each other. They were probably running around in masks together at the World Cup... I'll tell you one thing, though, Harry, if it was Karkaroff who put your name in the goblet; he's going to be feeling really stupid now, isn't he? Didn't work, did it? Hardly even got scorched!"

Draco shook his head. Gryffindors were too quick to forgive sometimes, "However, that still leaves us the question of who put Faykan's name in," he reminded them, which quieted Ron as they all pondered the idea silently. Faykan leaned out the window and stretched out one arm. Several moments later a large black raven landed on it, clutching Faykan's robe sleeve in its feet.

"I am not sure who wanted me in the tournament. It could have been the same person who wanted Harry, or it could be someone else entirely." Faykan said vaguely as he offered to bird to Harry to tie hit letter to Sirius to. The raven took off immediately after the letter was secure, and together the five of them went back down the stairs. The Gryffindors turned off to head to their common room, while Draco continued downward to the dungeons.

He passed Theodore Nott on the second floor, as he chatted with two Durmstrang students, Crabbe and Goyle laughing stupidly at whatever they were saying. Draco stopped when he heard Faykan's name. He craned an ear to try and listen in. One of the Durmstrang boys were talking, "If you vere in Durmstrang, Theodore, you vould be expected to just take vhat you vanted, being a rich and influential pureblood. You shouldn't just vait for vhat you know von't happen…"

Nott held up a hand to stop the boy when he noticed Draco, "What do you want, Malfoy?" he sneered. Draco frowned, but continued back to the dungeons, ignoring Nott's comment about blood traitors, which caused all the boys to laugh.

Blaise Zabini was waiting for Draco in the common room. He nodded casually to Draco as he sat near the fireplace. After several minutes of silence where a pair of sixth years walked in and turned down to the dormitories, Blaise set his book aside and addressed Draco, "So, that was rather interesting what Undol did to get past the Horntail. Not many people would charge a dragon head on like that."

Draco nodded, it was true that it was a risky move for Faykan, which was one of the reasons he had been awarded less points that Harry or Krum, aside from his injury and him harming the Horntail.

"I think I'm beginning to see what my mother sees in him." Blaise continued, "His power is obvious, although he is being rather liberal with his uses of it…" Blaise looked thoughtful for a minute then asked, "Have you learned anything about him yet I wonder Draco?"

"No…" Draco said absently. The truth was that it was hard with everything that was happening to speak with Ron, Harry, and Hermione together without Faykan being present. And with Ron being a prat recently that further threw his plan out of control, "hopefully I can talk with the others without Faykan around soon…" he said to alleviate Blaise, who was looking smug at Draco's failure.

"I'd advise that you hurry that up, there might be something serious that he's trying to hide from you all or something… then again, he could just be embarrassed about his past and not want to share it, but that's even less of a reason for you not to know something about him."

"Why do you care anyway Zabini?" Draco asked.

"Let's just say, I've got… personal reasons to want to know Undol better…" the Italian boy said cryptically.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry wasn't surprised when he, Faykan, Ron, and Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room it exploded with cheers and yells again. There were mountains of cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every surface; Lee Jordan had let off some Filibuster's Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks; and Dean Thomas, who was very good at drawing, had put up some impressive new banners, depicting Harry zooming around the Fireball's head on his Firebolt, and others showing Faykan slashing at the Horntail with Glamdring.

Harry helped himself to food; he had almost forgotten what it was like to feel properly hungry, and sat down with Faykan, Ron and Hermione. He couldn't believe how happy he felt; he had Ron back on their side, they'd gotten through the first task, and wouldn't have to face the second one for three months.

"Blimey, this is heavy," said Lee Jordan, picking up one of the two golden eggs, which Harry and Faykan had left on a table, and weighing it in his hands. "Open it, both of you, go on! Let's just see what's inside it!"

"He's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly. "It's in the tournament rules..."

"Rules were made for those who entered themselves Hermione," Faykan muttered, so only Hermione could hear him, and she stopped talking immediately.

"Yeah, go on, open it!" several people echoed.

Lee passed Harry the egg, and he and Faykan worked together to pry it open.

It was hollow and completely empty, but the moment it was opened, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing, filled the room. The nearest thing to it Harry had ever heard was the ghost orchestra at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party, who had all been playing the musical saw.

"Shut it!" Fred bellowed, clamping his hands over his ears.

"What was that?" said Seamus Finnigan, staring at the egg as Harry slammed it shut again. "Sounded like a banshee... Maybe you've got to get past one of those next!"

"It was someone being tortured!" said Neville, who had gone very white and spilled sausage rolls all over the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal," said George. "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I thought it sounded a bit like Percy singing... maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower."

"Want a jam tart, Hermione?" said Fred.

Hermione looked doubtfully at the plate he was offering her. Fred grinned. "It's all right," he said. "I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch…"

Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, choked and spat it out. Fred laughed.

"Just my little joke, Neville..."

Hermione took a jam tart. Then she said, "Did you get all this from the kitchens, Fred?"

"Yep," said Fred, grinning at her. He put on a high pitched squeak and imitated a house-elf. "'Anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' They're dead helpful... get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish."

"How do you get in there?" Hermione said in an innocently casual sort of voice.

"Easy," said Fred, "concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear, and it giggles and…" He stopped and looked suspiciously at her. "Why?"

"Nothing," said Hermione quickly.

"Going to try and lead the house elves out on strike now, are you?" said George.

"Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" said Fred warningly. "You'll put them off their cooking!"

Just then, Neville caused a slight diversion by turning into a large canary. "Oh! Sorry, Neville!" Fred shouted over all the laughter. "I forgot… it was the custard creams we hexed…"

Within a minute, however, Neville had molted, and once his feathers had fallen off, he reappeared looking entirely normal. He even joined in laughing.

"Canary Creams!" Fred shouted to the excitable crowd. "George and I invented them, seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

It was nearly one in the morning when Harry finally went up to the dormitory with Faykan, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Before he pulled the curtains of his four-poster shut, Harry set his tiny model of the Chinese Fireball on the table between his and Faykan's bed, where it yawned, curled up, and closed its eyes.

Faykan watched, and then copied Harry, setting his miniature Hungarian Horntail next to Harry's. It curled up next to Harry model and went to sleep as well. Really, Harry thought, as he pulled the hangings on his four-poster closed, Hagrid had a point... they were all right, really, dragons...

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

"I'm not sure whether they hibernate or not," Hagrid told the shivering class in the windy pumpkin patch next are of Magical Creatures lesson. "Thought we'd jus' try an see if they fancied a kip... we'll jus' settle 'em down in these boxes..."

There were now only ten skrewts left; apparently their desire to kill one another had not been exercised out of them. Each of them was now approaching six feet in length. Their thick gray armor; their powerful, scuttling legs; their fire-blasting ends; their stings and their suckers, combined to make the skrewts the most repulsive things Hermione had ever seen. The class looked dispiritedly at the enormous boxes Hagrid had brought out, all lined with pillows and fluffy blankets.

"We'll jus' lead 'em in here," Hagrid said, "an' put the lids on, and we'll see what happens."

But the skrewts, it transpired, did not hibernate, and did not appreciate being forced into pillow-lined boxes and nailed in. Hagrid was soon yelling, "Don' panic, now, don' panic!" while the skrewts rampaged around the pumpkin patch, now strewn with the smoldering wreckage of the boxes. Most of the class, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle in the lead, had fled into Hagrid's cabin through the back door and barricaded themselves in; Harry, Faykan, Ron, Draco and Hermione, however, were among those who remained outside trying to help Hagrid. Together they managed to restrain and tie up nine of the skrewts, though at the cost of numerous burns and cuts; finally, only one skrewt was left.

"Don' frighten him, now!" Hagrid shouted as Ron and Draco used their wands to shoot jets of fiery sparks at the skrewt, which was advancing menacingly on them, its sting arched, quivering, over its back. "Jus' try an slip the rope 'round his sting, so he won hurt any o' the others!"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that!" Ron shouted angrily as he and Draco backed into the wall of Hagrid's cabin, still holding the skrewt off with their sparks.

"Well, well, well... this does look like fun."

Rita Skeeter was leaning on Hagrid's garden fence, looking in at the mayhem. Hermione recognized her from the description Faykan and Harry gave after the disastrous first article she printed She was wearing a thick magenta cloak with a furry purple collar today, and her crocodile-skin handbag was over her arm.

Hagrid launched himself forward on top of the skrewt that was cornering Draco and Ron and flattened it; a blast of fire shot out of its end, withering the pumpkin plants nearby.

"Who're you?" Hagrid asked Rita Skeeter as he slipped a loop of rope around the skrewt's sting and tightened it.

"Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter," Rita replied, beaming at him. Her gold teeth glinted.

"Thought Dumbledore said you weren' allowed inside the school anymore," said Hagrid, frowning slightly as he got off the slightly squashed skrewt and started tugging it over to its fellows.

Rita acted as though she hadn't heard what Hagrid had said.

"What are these fascinating creatures called?" she asked, beaming still more widely.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," grunted Hagrid.

"Really?" said Rita, apparently full of lively interest. "I've never heard of them before... where do they come from?"

A dull red flush rose up out of Hagrid's wild black beard. Where had Hagrid got the skrewts from? Hermione, thinking fast, said, "They're very interesting, aren't they? Aren't they, Harry?"

"What? Oh yeah... ouch... interesting," said Harry as she stepped on his foot.

"Ah, you're here. Harry!" said Rita Skeeter as she looked around, completely distracted from her previous question. "So you like Care of Magical Creatures, do you? One of your favorite lessons?"

"Yes," said Harry stoutly. Hagrid beamed at him.

"Lovely," said Rita. "Really lovely. Been teaching long?" she added to Hagrid. Hermione noticed her eyes travel over Dean (who had a nasty cut across one cheek). Lavender (whose robes were badly singed), Seamus (who was nursing several burnt fingers), and then to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood, their noses pressed against the glass waiting to see if the coast was clear.

"This is o'ny me second year," said Hagrid.

"Lovely... I don't suppose you'd like to give an interview, would you? Share some of your experience of magical creatures? The Prophet does a zoological column every Wednesday, as I'm sure you know. We could feature these, err… Bang-Ended Scoots."

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," Hagrid said eagerly. "Err… yeah, why not?"

Harry had a very bad feeling about this, but there was no way of communicating it to Hagrid without Rita Skeeter seeing, so he had to stand and watch in silence as Hagrid and Rita Skeeter made arrangements to meet in the Three Broomsticks for a good long interview later that week. Then the bell rang up at the castle, signaling the end of the lesson.

"Well, goodbye, Harry!" Rita Skeeter called merrily after them as he set off with Ron, Faykan, Draco and Hermione, "Until Friday night, then, Hagrid!"

"She'll twist everything he says," Harry said under his breath.

"Just as long as he didn't import those skrewts illegally or anything," said Hermione desperately. They looked at one another, it was exactly the sort of thing Hagrid might do.

"Hagrid's been in loads of trouble before, and Dumbledore's never sacked him," said Ron consolingly. "Worst that can happen is Hagrid'll have to get rid of the skrewts. Sorry... did I say worst? I meant best."

Harry and Hermione laughed, and, feeling slightly more cheerful, went off to lunch. Hermione decided that today would be perfect to go to the kitchens and talk to the Hogwarts house elves, and she convinced Ron to accompany her. Faykan and Harry declined, saying they didn't want to see what chaos would be unleashed when Hermione mentioned payment and benefits to them.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

During Thursday's transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall revealed a horrifying announcement. Harry had been listening to Ron's hundredth recounting of his and Hermione's trip to the kitchens, which as Faykan had predicted, didn't go over well.

The house elves had not to politely informed Hermione that they wouldn't trade their jobs at Hogwarts for anything, stating that 'house elves is not supposed to have fun,' and 'what are house elves needing with paying or time off?' Ron was just telling Harry about how they had found Mr. Crouch's dismissed house elf in the kitchens when Professor McGonagall called out irritably. "Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention!"

They both jumped and looked up to face her. They hadn't been doing anything wrong. The lesson was almost over, the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk; they had copied down their homework from the blackboard; and the bell was due to ring at any moment.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have returned to the present," she said, with an angry look at the pair of them, "I have something to say to you all. The Yule Ball is approaching, a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above, although you may invite a younger student if you wish…"

Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle. Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Faykan and Harry; Professor McGonagall ignored them, which Harry thought was distinctly unfair, as she had just told off him and Ron.

"Dress robes will be worn," Professor McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then…"

Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class.

"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to, err… let our hair down," she said, in a disapproving voice.

Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Harry could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense.

"But that does not mean," Professor McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.

Professor McGonagall called above the noise, "Potter, Undol, a word, if you please."

Professor McGonagall waited until the rest of the class had gone, and then said, "Now boys, the champions and their partners…"

"What partners?" said Harry.

Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at him, as though she thought he was trying to be funny.

"Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter," she said coldly, "your dance partners."

Harry's insides seemed to curl up and shrivel.

"Dance partners?" He felt himself going red.

"Yes, dance partners," said Professor McGonagall firmly. "Traditionally, the champions and their partners open the ball. So make sure you get yourselves partners, boys."

A week ago, Harry would have said finding a partner for a dance would be a cinch compared to taking on the first task. But now that he had done the latter, and was facing the prospect of asking a girl to the ball, he thought he'd rather have another round with the dragon.

This year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays, and they all seemed to Harry to be obsessed with the coming ball, or at least all the girls were, and it was amazing how many girls Hogwarts suddenly seemed to hold; he had never quite noticed that before. Girls giggling and whispering in the corridors, girls shrieking with laughter as boys passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night...

Harry found himself and Faykan suddenly in the middle of a warzone as dozens upon dozens of girls fought over who got to ask to be taken to the ball by the two Hogwarts champions. Both he and Faykan were being cornered wherever they went by giggling hordes of girls, asking personal questions or begging to go to the ball. Even their mealtimes were being disrupted, as roughly twenty or so owls would deliver notes and letters from desperate girls.

Hermione's words about Krum kept coming back to him. "They only like him because he's famous!" Harry doubted very much if any of the girls who had asked to be his partner so far would have wanted to go to the ball with him if he hadn't been a school champion. Then he wondered if this would bother him if Cho asked him.

The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach them much when their minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed them to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm Harry had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Other teachers were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions, as Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy's cauldron bottom report.

Professors McGonagall and Moody kept them working until the very last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry. Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.

Ron complained loudly about Snape the same night, and about how he ruined the last of the term for them by making them study.

"Mmm... you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack.

"It's Christmas, Hermione," said Harry lazily; he was rereading 'Flying with the Cannons' for the tenth time in an armchair near the fire.

Hermione looked severely over at him too. "I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"

"Like what?" Harry said as he watched Joey Jenkins of the Cannons belt a Bludger toward a Ballycastle Bats Chaser.

"That egg!" Hermione hissed.

"We've planned to work on the egg after the ball fiasco has ended Hermione," Faykan said, not even looking away from the wizard chess he was playing versus the black pieces. His game was interrupted however, by a large school barn owl swooping in an open window and landing on the chessboard, scattering the pieces.

Faykan blinked at the owl, and then gently took the letter from the leg. He read the letter quickly, and spluttered, knocking his own pieces around the board. "Um… who's Terry Boot?" he asked.

"Terry Boot? Isn't he that fourth year Ravenclaw boy?" Hermione said.

Ron looked up, wide eyed and accidentally knocked his card castle down, causing the whole lot to explode. "Are you being asked to the ball by blokes now Fay?" he said horrified. Faykan flushed crimson and denied the accusation vehemently, folding the letter away carrying the owl back to the window.

"Oi, Faykan, hold that owl!" Fred shouted from across the room. He and George came hurrying over with a letter.

"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" said Ron.

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that off for you too," said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. "So... you lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope," said Ron.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.

"Who're you going with, then?" said Ron.

"Angelina," said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment.

"What?" said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Good point," said Fred. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"

Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him.

"What?" she called back.

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.

"All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.

"There you go," said Fred to Harry, Faykan and Ron, "piece of cake."

They left, only to be replaced by Ginny moments later, "Oh, Faykan," she said casually as she approached, "can I talk to you privately for a minute." Faykan glanced at his chess board, the pieces smashed and strewn about haphazardly, and shrugged. He followed Ginny out of the common room.

Ron looked over at Harry after they left, "We should get a move on, you know... ask someone. Fred's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls."

Hermione let out a sputter of indignation.

"A pair of... what, excuse me?"

"Well… you know," said Ron, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with, with Eloise Midgen, say."

"Her acne's loads better lately, and she's really nice!"

"Her nose is off center," said Ron.

"Oh I see," Hermione said, bristling. "So basically, you're going to take the best looking girl who'll have you, even if she's completely horrible?"

"Err… yeah, that sounds about right," said Ron.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione snapped, and she swept off toward the girls' staircase without another word.

Ron watched her storm off, and then shrugged at Harry, before turning back and attempting to rebuild his card castle.

"Wonder what Ginny wanted with Faykan," Harry asked.

Ron laughed, "Probably wanted to ask him to the ball. Much better choice than Terry Boot I think."

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Draco shifted uncomfortably as he waited in the Room of Requirement for Faykan to return. He had asked his friend after the Yule Ball was announced if he would ask, on Draco's behalf, for Ginny Weasley to come to the ball with him. Draco would have done so himself, as the proper pureblood he was, if not for that large attack of nerves that cropped up whenever he approached the girl.

Draco had worried about how Faykan would react to his plea of the heart, but the Gryffindor had simply put an arm around Draco and said that certainly he would help, but in return, Draco had to carry him around in his animagus form until the ball was over so he could avoid the mobs of girls seeking invitations from the Hogwarts champions. Draco agreed immediately.

After a half hour, Draco was starting to grow anxious, had she said no? Did she already pick someone else? He couldn't take standing around and waiting. Crossing over to the door to the seventh floor, Draco stopped when he heard voices directly outside it. Listening in, he heard that it was Faykan and… Ginny! Draco held his breath, silently praying to Merlin that she would say yes.

"Faykan, I wanted to ask you something." Ginny was saying.

"Yes, what it is?" Faykan responded.

"I was wondering if… if you would…" Draco's eyes widened. Was she going to ask Faykan instead? Blood raging in his ears, Draco prepared to fling the door open and spring at Faykan, when Ginny finished her sentence.

"…would you ask Draco if he'd go to the ball with me?"

Draco almost yelled in triumphant joy. Ginny wanted to ask him to the ball! He listened as Faykan happily explained that Draco would defiantly go to the ball with her, and heard her delighted squeal.

"Oh Faykan, this makes me so happy, is there anything I can do for you for this?" she asked.

"Well, actually, if you could find me someone to go with who wouldn't be completely crazy about me being a champion that would be fantastic…" Faykan muttered sheepishly.

Ginny giggled, "I suppose that's been rather a nuisance for you and Harry hasn't it.' she said solemnly, "I think I know someone who you can go with, I'll just ask her, but I'm sure she'd be delighted to get to go…"

Draco heard her skip away, and stepped back as the door opened and Faykan entered to deliver the good news.

~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~

Harry and Ron had pledged to find dates by the end of Friday, but every time he glimpsed Cho that day: during break, and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History of Magic, she was surrounded by friends. Didn't she ever go anywhere alone? Could he perhaps ambush her as she was going into a bathroom? But no, she even seemed to go there with an escort of four or five girls. Yet if he didn't do it soon, she was bound to have been asked by somebody else.

He found it hard to concentrate on Snape's Potions test, and consequently forgot to add the key ingredient - a bezoar - meaning that he received bottom marks. He didn't care, though; he was too busy screwing up his courage for what he was about to do. When the bell rang, he grabbed his bag, and hurried to the dungeon door.

"I'll meet you at dinner," he said to Ron, Faykan and Hermione, and he dashed off upstairs. He'd just have to ask Cho for a private word, that was all... He hurried off through the packed corridors looking for her, and (rather sooner than he had expected) he found her, emerging from a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"Err, Cho? Could I have a word with you?"

Giggling should be made illegal. Harry thought furiously, as all the girls around Cho started doing it. She didn't, though. She said, "Okay," and followed him out of earshot other classmates.

Harry turned to look at her and his stomach gave a weird lurch as though he had missed a step going downstairs.

"Err," he said.

He couldn't ask her. He couldn't. But he had to. Cho stood there looking puzzled, watching him. The words came out before Harry had quite got his tongue around them.

"Wangoballwime?"

"Sorry?" said Cho.

"D'you… d'you want to go to the ball with me?" said Harry. Why did he have to go red now? Why?

"Oh!" s aid Cho, and she went red too. "Oh Harry, I'm really sorry," and she truly looked it. "I've already said I'll go with someone else."

"Oh," said Harry.

It was odd; a moment before his insides had been writhing like snakes, but suddenly he didn't seem to have any insides at all.

"Oh okay," he said, "no problem."

"I'm really sorry," she said again.

"That's okay," said Harry.

They stood there looking at each other, and then Cho said, "Well…"

"Yeah," said Harry.

"Well, 'bye," said Cho, still very red. She walked away.

Harry called after her, before he could stop himself.

"Who're you going with?"

"Oh… Cedric," she said. "Cedric Diggory."

"Oh right," said Harry.

His insides had come back again. It felt as though they had been filled with lead in their absence.

Completely forgetting about dinner, he walked slowly back up to Gryffindor Tower, Cho's voice echoing in his ears with every step he took. "Cedric… Cedric Diggory." He had rather liked Cedric after meeting him before the World Cup. Now he suddenly realized that Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup.

"Fairy lights," he said dully to the Fat Lady, the password had been changed the previous day.

"Yes, indeed, dear!" she trilled, straightening her new tinsel hair band as she swung forward to admit him.

Entering the common room, Harry looked around, and to his surprise he saw Ron sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Ginny was sitting with him, talking to him in what seemed to be a low, soothing voice.

"What's up, Ron?" said Harry, joining them.

Ron looked up at Harry, a sort of blind horror in his face.

"Why did I do it?" he said wildly. "I don't know what made me do it!

"What?" said Harry.

"He - err - just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," said Ginny. She looked as though she was fighting back a smile, but she kept patting Ron's arm sympathetically.

"You what?' said Harry.

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped again. "What was I playing at? There were people… all around… I've gone mad… everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the entrance hall, she was standing there talking to Roger Davis, and it sort of came over me… and I asked her!"

Ron moaned and put his face in his hands. He kept talking, though the words were barely distinguishable.

"She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something… didn't even answer. And then - I dunno - I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."

"She's part Veela," said Harry. "You were right, her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Davis and got a blast of it."

Faykan and Hermione came in through the portrait hole, "Why weren't you two at dinner?" Hermione asked, coming over.

"Because, and you shouldn't laugh, because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!" said Ginny.

Faykan burst out laughing.

"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," said Ron sourly.

"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" said Hermione loftily. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light.

"Hermione, you're a girl…"

"Oh well spotted," she said acidly.

"Well… you can come with one of us!"

"No, I can't," snapped Hermione.

"Oh come on," he said impatiently, "we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has..."

"I can't come with you," said Hermione, now blushing, "because I'm already going with someone."

"No, you're not!" said Ron.

"Oh really?" Hermione retorted her eyes flashing dangerously. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!"

Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again.

"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl," he said, "That do? Will you come now?"

"I've already told you!" Hermione said very angrily. "I'm going with someone else!"

And she stormed off toward the girls' dormitories again.

"She's lying," said Ron flatly, watching her go.

"She's not," said Ginny quietly.

"Who is it then?" said Ron sharply.

"I'm not telling you, it's her business," said Ginny.

"Right," said Ron, who looked extremely put out, "this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just…"

"I can't," said Ginny, and she grinned wickedly. "I'm going with someone also." And she turned out to go down to dinner, pausing to talk to Faykan, "Oh yeah, Faykan, my friend said yes, she'll see you in the entrance hall on Christmas Eve." And she left.

"What are we gonna do Harry?" Ron said miserably.

But Harry had just seen Parvati and Lavender come in through the portrait hole. The time had come for drastic action.

"Wait here," he said to Ron, and he stood up, walked straight up to Parvati, and said, "Parvati? Will you go to the ball with me?"

Parvati went into a fit of giggles. Harry waited for them to subside, his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes.

"Yes, all right then," she said finally, blushing furiously.

"Thanks," said Harry, in relief. "Lavender… will you go with Ron?"

"She's going with Seamus," said Parvati, and the pair of them giggled harder than ever.

Harry sighed.

"Can't you think of anyone who'd go with Ron?" he said, lowering his voice so that Ron wouldn't hear.

"What about Hermione Granger?" said Parvati.

"She's going with someone else."

Parvati looked astonished.

"Ooh… who?" she said keenly.

Harry shrugged. "No idea," he said, "so what about Ron?"

"Well..." said Parvati slowly, "I suppose my sister might... Padma, you know... in Ravenclaw. I'll ask her if you like."

"Yeah, that would be great," said Harry. "Let me know, will you?"

And he went back over to Ron, feeling that this ball was a lot more trouble than it was worth, and hoping very much that Padma Patil's nose was dead center.

Potential Spoilers Ahead: You have been Warned!

As with many things in life, the infatuation of males to females interrupts the story, and a bit in the opposite direction. Naturally this would have prevents any significant changes to the tale at this point, and while yes it is a very standard scenario for the Yule Ball to take overwhelming importance, it cannot be helped. Or perhaps everyone is perfectly fine with it, and its just me, having returned from the high of massive edits in book 6, that see it as a problem that no changes of significance happened in this chapter... Who knows... but I suppose in the way of spoilers I will state that there will be no pairing character for Harry, as this tale is not a romantic one... in the modern sense of the word, there are many things romanticized in the story from other definitions of the word, but I digress. If somehow I nuke through the rest of book 6 and book 7 before next week Thursday (unlikely) I will post again, and start our weekly schedule; however, it is more likely that that will commence after the next normal update time in two weeks. until then everyone, you are much appreciated, and I hoped you enjoyed the story thus far. ~F