A Ball to Remember

Aaron was shocked. Professor McGonagall had just announced the Yule Ball that was part of the Tournament to his class and he felt like prey in the eyes of the girls. He would better think about who he wanted to go with soon. He didn't want to feel this awkward for long. Thankfully he didn't have problems talking to a girl. It would be hard to be overly shy after growing up around his father and Uncle Sirius. Both were very smooth with women. He knew that Harry would make his move soon. He had the impression that Harry was interested in Fleur Delacour. The two had been seen talking and laughing sometimes after the first task. He didn't mind at all. Fleur was really nice and, contrary to Harry's ex-girlfriends, she wasn't taken by his fame and their family name. The Delacours were one of the influential families in France, so the Potter name didn't mean as much to them as it did to most girls in England.

Harry and Viktor had also finally decided on a date for their challenge. After Harry had chewed out Viktor for a few minutes for risking the dragon eggs, they had put the task behind them and planned on their show down. Aaron thought that all of Hogwarts would be there. How often did you get to see two genius seekers go up against each other? The match would be next Saturday, as it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend. That one was the weekend after and he could imagine how full Gladrags would be.

The Gryffindor fourth-years were just entering the Great Hall when Aaron's eyes fell on Harry who had a determined look on his face. His face lit up when the Beauxbatons students entered the Hall. Harry smoothly stood up and walked up to Fleur. All eyes were on Harry now.

"Hello Fleur, could I ask for a moment of your time?" Harry asked politely and Fleur nodded smiling.

Harry led her over to an alcove in the corridor and set up a privacy charm. But many were watching as Fleur beamed and nodded to whatever he had asked her. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Harry offered her his arm and led her back to the Great Hall. He left her with the Beauxbatons students after kissing her hand and promising to see her later. Aaron saw that Cedric gave Harry a thumbs-up.

"Harry mate, what was that intriguing display about?" Fred Weasley asked.

"Yes, Captain, what is going on between you and the illustrious Mademoiselle Delacour?" George added.

"I just asked her to accompany me to the Yule Ball and she agreed," Harry told them smiling happily.

"Oh, Gred, I think our dear captain has a crush," Fred said.

"Yes, he has that look on his face, Forge," George agreed.

"Be nice you two!" Angelina reprimanded them.

"We wouldn't dare to mess with our captain's relationship!" The twins both exclaimed dramatically.

"You better not," Alicia threw in.

Fred and George knew better than to go against the chaser girls. Even if Alicia was an ex-member of the team, she was still counted as one of the girls. And she was still a reserve player, even if she had decided to concentrate on her studies to manage getting good grades on her OWLs last year.

"Promise on our prankster honour!" Both swore.

"By the way, Angelina, would you give this handsome redhead the honour to come to the ball with me?" Fred addressed Angelina who was surprised.

"Sure," She accepted smiling.

"Alicia, would you go to the ball with me, the way better looking twin?" George addressed the girl he was interested in.

"I'd love to," Alicia agreed.

The twins high-fived and continued talking to Lee.

Aaron envied Harry and the twins about their ease with getting a date for the ball. Well, he would decide whom to ask and then simply do it. It couldn't be that hard, look at the twins.

Aaron was waiting outside of the Great Hall for the girl he had decided to ask. He just hoped that he wouldn't make a fool of himself. Finally, she and her friends came out of the Hall.

"Excuse me, Sylveena, do you have a minute?" Aaron asked.

Sylveena Esmeraude, a Ravenclaw in his year with long brown hair in a ponytail turned towards him.

"Sure Aaron," She said, and her friends giggled at them.

Thankfully Sylveena followed Aaron a little distance away. How Aaron wished that he knew a privacy spell now. No chickening out now. He steeled himself for what he wanted to do. He had liked Sylveena for a while and they sat next to each other in Charms, therefore he knew a little about her.

"Uhm, Sylveena, would you," here he stocked, but pulled up all of his Gryffindor courage, "would you go to the ball with me?" Aaron asked.

There, he had done it, now he could only hope that she said yes.

"Gladly Aaron. Thanks for asking me," She answered smiling.

"Great. Thanks for agreeing. Would you like me to get you at the entrance of your common room or should we meet in the Entrance Hall?" He asked happy that she had said yes.

"I will meet you in the Entrance Hall," She said.

"The ball starts at eight, will a quarter to eight be alright to meet?" Aaron asked.

"That works for me," She answered.

"There is something else, as a champion I need to open the ball with you. Would you like to practice sometime so that we can get used to how the other one dances? I know that when I learned dancing, it took a while until I got used to different partners," He suggested.

"That's probably a good idea. When do you have time?" She wanted to know.

"I'm normally free Wednesdays after dinner," Aaron answered, "I think I can get Professor McGonagall to let me use an empty classroom for practice."

"Great, then we will see each other Wednesdays at seven?" She asked.

He nodded, and she walked over to her friends who immediately bombarded her with questions. Aaron walked back to Gryffindor Tower happy that he had a date with a girl he liked. He knew that Neville had already asked Hermione and they would be going together. He felt they would make a nice couple. And Hermione was one of the few girls that Neville felt this comfortable around.

Harry was waiting at the Entrance Hall, clad in a dark blue suit with his family crest stitched onto his right breast pocket in silver, a white silk dress shirt with a silver cravat and black dress shoes. Over it he wore a cloak in the same blue colour held by a silver thread with a clasp that also showed the Potter crest. Thanks to his mother, he and his brother wore muggle suits instead of dress-robes. It was a lot better looking in his eyes than the flowing robes. For dancing he could take off the cloak while he would still fit in properly with wizarding society. He was waiting for Fleur to come up from the Beauxbatons carriage. The way up had been cleared of all snow that had fallen and warming charms had been set up by Professor Flitwick. Nobody needed to fear feeling cold outside for the time of the ball.

Finally, he saw the Beauxbatons contingent coming up, Fleur walking next to Madame Maxime. She looked beautiful in her silver dress that showed off her figure magnificently. He smiled at her when she arrived.

"You are looking absolutely beautiful Fleur," He complimented her kissing her hand making her blush a little.

"Zank you 'Arry," She replied smiling, "You are very 'andsome yourself."

"May I escort you to the dance?" He asked holding out his arm for her.

"Oui monsieur, you may," She replied, taking his arm and falling in step next to him.

The others went into the Great Hall while Harry and Fleur joined Aaron and Viktor with their dates. Harry and Viktor's match had gone on for over an hour with both trying to feint against the other, none giving a bit. In the end, Harry had snatched the snitch by a fingertip. It had been incredibly close. Both were intent on playing against each other in a proper match now. To Harry's surprise, Viktor's date was Katie Bell. Well, he probably was sick of all the fangirls and Katie was one of the few girls at Hogwarts completely outside of such behaviour. The only slightly fangirl part she might show was for Quidditch techniques, but not his part in them. She had too much experience with fawning fans, as she was a pretty player who had been part of a winning team for years herself. Professor McGonagall instructed them on the order in which they had to enter the Great Hall. They would walk around the Hall once before facing the table that was for the champions, their dates and the judges. Dinner would be served first, then, after everybody was finished, the dance would be opened by them.

They all nodded in understanding and then waited until they were called to march in. First were Harry and Fleur, followed by Viktor and Katie and in the rear Aaron and Sylveena. They all promenaded around the free space in the middle until they came to stop at the champions' table. Harry, Aaron and Viktor pulled out the chairs for their dates before sitting down themselves, Harry putting his cloak on the back of his chair.

The majority of the male students shot Harry envious glares, as he had the most desirable woman currently present as his date, while the female population did the same with Fleur. Many girls had hoped to be the one to become Harry's date, especially the sixth and seventh-years. It was similar for the girls from third to fifth year with Aaron. Many had wanted to get some spotlight for being the date of a champion. The glares Katie got from Viktor's fangirls were very similar. Though the champions and their dates ignored it in favour of talking to each other and eating the delicious food that was prepared by the house elves. Finally, Dumbledore called the audience to silence.

"Now that we have enjoyed the fantastic food, it's time for our champions to open the ball. So, I call them forward to the dance floor," Dumbledore said, and the three couples walked onto the dance floor.

"What do you think about giving them a show that they will never forget?" Harry whispered in Fleur's ear.

"Let's do it!" She agreed.

Harry twirled Fleur into position to start the first dance, a waltz. He knew that Fleur was an advanced dancer as was he. Sadly, she never found a partner that could resist her allure before, so she couldn't indulge her hobby as much as she would have liked. When the music started, he confidently led her through the waltz, performing the most complicated motions the dance allowed with a natural grace that all other pairs lacked. He only caught glimpses of his brother and was glad to see that Aaron was doing well. Then he gave Fleur his whole attention.

One dance became many and Harry and Fleur easily outperformed all the other dancers on the floor. No matter if slow or fast, they danced together in perfect harmony. Harry enjoyed it greatly and from the look on Fleur's face she did too. Finally, they took a break to get something to drink. Harry led Fleur back to their table and went to get drinks. As he had found out, she preferred fruity sparkling wine over butterbeer and punch, so he got some from the table where the drinks had been set up. When he got back to his table, he saw Fleur in a discussion in French with Katie, who seemed to wait for Viktor to return. She looked flushed, but happy.

Harry knew that Katie and her family often went on vacation in France, as her mother had relatives living there. They always went for two weeks during the summer break at the least. Therefore, Katie was fluent in French. She had a talent for languages in general. He had overheard her talking to Angelina and Alicia two years ago about wanting to work at an international company after graduation from Hogwarts, which would be much easier to get in if she knew several foreign languages. As far as he was aware, she knew French, Spanish, Italian and Greek so far.

After some time of resting, Harry took Fleur to meet with his friends. He had to hit some over the head when they spaced out thanks to Fleur, but overall it was a relaxed atmosphere. They danced some more, also exchanging partners some. Cedric proved to be the one most resistant to Fleur's allure and managed to only look slightly dazzled by her beauty, not turning into a drooling fool. Harry didn't envy Fleur for the reactions she got for just who she was.

Harry had taken Fleur to a secluded part of the castle. He had made sure to use the Marauder's Map to make sure that nobody was around. He had prepared this spot, as he was sure that the gardens were patrolled by one of the teachers and it wouldn't be easy to have some romantic alone time there. And you had to put in effort if you wanted to win a woman like Fleur. With a flick of his wand he started the music and lit the candles to let her see the place.

Fleur looked around and saw that Harry had converted a small room into a comfortable room with a couch, a bottle of good wine waiting on the table with two glasses.

"I wanted to have some alone time with you, Fleur," He told her softly, "We normally only get to see each other with others around."

"Yes, zat's a shame," She agreed and let him fill her glass with wine, "That's a really good wine."

"I did some discreet investigation in your likes in wine and decided that this sort would probably be to your liking," Harry admitted.

"Zank you, it eez one of my favourites." She said smiling and drank a bit, "Hm, a 1975, a very good year for zis one."

"Only the best for you, ma chére," He said, drinking himself.

They sat on the couch, telling each other stories of their childhoods and other things. Finally, when Harry knew that it was time to let Fleur return to the Beauxbatons carriage to not get into trouble with Madame Maxime, he gently embraced her and put his forehead on hers.

"I had a very enjoyable evening Fleur, thank you for agreeing to be my date," He said softly with a lot of emotion in his voice.

"Moi aussi," She replied, "I wish it wasn't over yet."

"Me too. I like being together with you. Would you like to be my girlfriend?" He asked hopefully.

"OUI!" She cried out happily.

Harry leaned in to kiss her tenderly. She reciprocated the kiss and he felt that this time he had found the right girl.