Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter". It is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. I wrote this story when I was 12 years old in the year 2003. So, "Half-Blood Prince" wasn't out yet either. It didn't exist at this point. Again, errors in spelling and grammar have been intentionally left in to preserve my skills as a young writer. This story is complete. This is a repost.
Chapter Ten: The Halloween Ball
She continued to talk and talk, but nobody was listening anymore…Time ticked away very fast and soon the minutes left until the end of class faded away just like the rest of the month did. Time was flying now. October came and all the students were excited as ever. October slipped away and soon, it was Halloween, the day of the dance. Professor Dumbledore had given the students a day off to get ready for the dance. The teachers were busy in the Great Hall putting up decorations. In the girls' dormitory of the Gryffindor common room, Cho, Cianna, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati were all getting ready. Cho was brushing her now long hair, which had grown back rather quickly. Cianna was putting her wavy black hair into a bun at an angle, and styled it so some of her hair blossomed down her back. Hermione had used a little hair-straightening potion and was putting a few braids in her hair. Lavender and Parvati were clipping hair ornaments to their dark locks and they were giggling the entire time. Cho had put on her silver dress robes and put some silver color streaks in her hair. Cianna was wearing pale blue dress robes that made her eyes stand out.
"So who's your date, Cianna?" Cho asked.
"Oh…that Ravenclaw I've been telling you about, Minh Vu. He asked me just three days ago! Oh my gosh! I forgot!" Cianna said suddenly.
She ran to her trunk and opened it pulling out a wrapped gift.
"Oh no. You shouldn't have!" Cho said when she saw it.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, Cho, happy birthday to you! How old are you now? How old are you now? You're sweet sixteen now, you're sweet sixteen now!" Cianna sang.
Cho applauded and Cianna handed her the gift. Cho opened it and found half a friendship bracelet.
"Oh that is so sweet! Thank you!" Cho said, putting the bracelet on her wrist.
"I have the other half." Cianna said, raising her sleeve so Cho could see the other half.
Cho hugged Cianna in thanks.
"When is your birthday? Because I'm going to get you something, for sure!" Cho asked.
"It's in August." Cianna answered.
"Well, happy belated birthday!" Cho exclaimed, pulling a gift out of thin air for Cianna.
Cianna opened the gift absolutely loved it. It was a diary.
"It's gorgeous! Thank you!" Cianna squealed.
They hugged again. Cho was nearly knocked over by a torrent of presents. At least twenty presents zoomed in through the open dormitory door headed straight at Cho who ducked. The presents landed against the wall. When Cho believed that it was safe to stand up, she went over to her presents and dumped them onto her bed. She picked up an armful while Cianna picked up another armful.
"From Roger, from Anna, from Aki. How nice…hmm…from Ron, from Hermione, very nice thanks, from Ginny, from Lavender, thank you, from Parvati, thank you too…what've you got there, Cianna?" Cho asked after reading the tags attached to the gifts.
"Let's see…from Harry, that's sweet of him, kind of heavy too…from Liam, Akira's going to be mad…from Dean, from Seamus, from Padma, from Draco, WHAT?! Malfoy sent you a gift?? Whatever you do, don't open it! It's probably hexed…from Tom, ugh…that other transfer…Slytherin…from Whitney, Tom's new girlfriend, from Alyssia…Malfoy's girlfriend…from Oliver, who's that? I haven't got a clue, oh well…from Neville. And that's it. I picked up a lot…And you're taller than me, Cho!" Cianna said. "I'll help you open Malfoy, Rosiak, Felton, and Felton's gifts with a 20 foot pole."
"Let me see Harry's." Cho said.
"Here you go." Cianna said handing it to her.
"Wow you're right, it is kind of heavy…" Cho said.
She opened it, oohed, and aahed at the gift. It was an orb with the universe in it. She read the note in Harry's writing and smiled.
"Oh that's so sweet! Listen to this: 'If I could have the universe, it would be you. You are my universe. Happy Birthday Cho. Love, Harry' Isn't it sweet?" Cho asked after reading Harry's note.
"It is sweet." Cianna agreed.
"We've got half an hour until the dance starts!" Lavender squeaked anxiously.
Cho painted her nails silver with pale blue stars. Cianna painted her nails pale blue with silver stars.
"We're almost twins!" Cianna and Cho giggled.
It was now ten minutes until the dance and the two girls started to come down and saw Akira come out of the fifth years dormitory wearing royal purple robes, purple hair streaks, purple nails with black crescent moons on them, and her hair half-up with a purple chopstick.
"Looking good, sis." Cho commented.
"Thanks…" Akira said turning slightly pink.
"Who's your date?" Cianna and Cho asked interestedly.
"Mez." Akira replied.
"I knew it…anyway, are you ready to go downstairs? Because that's where we were headed." Cho asked.
"Yeah. Let's go." Akira answered.
They were just about to walk out of the dormitory when Hermione came rushing toward them in dark blue robes.
"Don't go without me!" Hermione said.
The three girls waited for Hermione to catch up and then exited through the door. Cho pulled out a silver headband sprinkled with small diamonds. She put it in her hair and continued to descend the spiral staircase that led to the common room. Hermione was in the lead and Ron saw her, his eyes became very big. Liam spotted Akira who was behind Hermione. Akira ran over to Liam, her hair fanning out behind her. Cianna was in front of Cho and both she and Cho walked over to Harry. Harry looked up at Cianna.
"Hi Cianna. Where's Cho?" He asked her.
Cianna stepped aside to the right. Cho smiled at Harry.
"I'm right here." She said.
"Wow…you look…wow…" Harry said, very impressed.
"Thank you." Cho replied.
"Where's your date, Cianna?" Harry wondered.
"Oh he'll be waiting for me in the entrance hall. He's in Ravenclaw…" Cianna answered.
Harry took Cho's arm and looked around the room as he saw Hermione kiss Ron, Akira sitting very close to Liam, and Cianna sitting in a chair watching the room just as interested. Ron took Hermione's arm, and Liam took Akira's arm. Cianna stood up.
"Shall we go?" Ron asked Harry.
"Yeah." Harry answered.
Akira, Liam, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Cho, and Cianna exited through the portrait hole to the Great Hall. In the entrance hall, Cianna's date took her arm and they continued on to the Great Hall. There were dozens of little tables that seated eight. The eight friends grabbed an empty table. Colin was running around with Dennis at his side, taking photos.
"Hiya Harry! Could we take some pictures? Dumbledore gave us permission to for photo albums and stuff…" Colin said.
"Sure! I'll pay you too." Harry replied.
"No, we'll do it for free." Colin insisted.
"Alright." Harry said.
"Ok we'll do all eight of you first then two shots of the couples." Colin said.
He raised his camera and everyone smiled and he took the picture of the eight of them twice. Then He took two pictures of each couple. He finished taking pictures.
"You'll be getting them at the end of the dance." Colin said as he moved to the next table.
Dinner had been served earlier that day, so rest of the dance was to be spent having fun. Bats flew around the room, and jack o' lanterns lit the hall. The ghosts were looking more festive than usual. They would appear in the middle of someone's table and scare them. Nearly Headless Nick had floated through the table right in front of Cianna and Cho. Both screamed and jumped. Then they all laughed.
"That certainly got my heart racing!" Cianna said after she calmed down.
"Haha! You practically squeezed my arm to death when he came through the table!" Minh chuckled.
"It was scary, and it scared me!" Cho said.
"You know, even after you realized it was Nick, you were still shaking…" Harry said quietly.
Cho playfully elbowed Harry in the arm. Then music started playing and the eight of them stood up and started dancing. A slow waltz was playing across the room. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. After dancing to at least half of all the songs, Harry and Cho decided to step outside and get some fresh air. Several couples were hiding in bushes and kissing very intimately. Harry and Cho strolled past these couples and Cho pulled Harry into a cluster of hedges. It was empty and it was a very secluded area. Cho sat down on the ground, grinning at him. Harry raised an eyebrow and grinned back. Cho seized the front of Harry's robes and pulled him down on top of her. She started kissing him so deeply it was like they hadn't kissed in years.
"I've been waiting all night to do that…but I couldn't do anything while we were still in the castle." Cho said.
"Are you always more romantic on your birthday?" Harry joked.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe we should see about that…" Cho replied, smiling mischievously.
They started kissing again, each kiss getting more intense than the last.
After five minutes, Cho's dress robes were half on. There was a long, thin slit on the left side of her robes that went from the hem of her robes to around her waist. Then they heard their names being called. Hermione and Ron were calling them.
"Oh not now…" Cho moaned, pouting. "But we'll have to go anyway…or else they'll think we've run off together…"
They both sat up and fell out of the hedge right in front of Ron and Hermione's feet. Harry had fallen on the ground on his stomach and Cho had fallen on him, on her stomach also. They looked up at Hermione and Ron's bemused expressions, smiled and waved.
"Hi." They said together.
"What have you two been doing?" Ron asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Cho asked.
"Well Cho, your hair is a mess and your robes are ripped from the hem to your waist, Harry, your hair is messier than usual, and both of you have grass, leaves, and twigs in your hair." Hermione explained.
"Oh." Cho said.
She got off Harry and helped him up. Harry stood up and both he and Cho started dusting of their dress robes. Cho brushed the leaves and twigs out of her hair and tried to make her hair as neat as possible. She helped Harry get rid of the grass and leaves out of his hair.
"The dance is almost over. We got our pictures from Colin. Here's yours." Hermione said handing them four photos.
"There's one for each of you. One group pic and one couples pic." Ron explained.
"Cool thanks." Said Harry.
"Now let's go back to Gryffindor tower…it's almost one in the morning…" Hermione said, yawning.
They headed up to the castle and were up five flights of stairs.
"You three go ahead, I'm going to freshen up in the restroom…you know, so it doesn't look suspicious…my robes torn and all…" Cho said.
"Yeah, alright, we'll wait for you in the common room." Ron said.