Disclaimer: I don't own "Harry Potter", it is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. I wrote this story when I was 11-12 years old and between the years 2001-2003, so the actual "Order of the Phoenix" had not been released yet. Errors in spelling and grammar have been purposely left in to preserve originality and my skill as a young writer. This story is complete. This is a repost.

Chapter Sixteen: A Little Shopping In Town

Everything spun in quick circles. When Melly, Cho, Harry, and Christopher touched the ground, each was disoriented and quite dizzy. Seconds later, Dumbledore appeared.

"Hello there. It's good to see you made it here in one piece." Dumbledore chuckled.

"I want to shop!" Melly wailed.

"Calm down!" said Christopher.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot why I was here. These are pocketbooks. Muggles keep their currency in it. There is $300.00 in each one. Each of you has $300.00 to spend in the Muggle World. If you wish to do all of your shopping here in our world, then you can go to Gringott's and get some money there…" Dumbledore explained while handing out four identical pocketbooks.

"They're lovely." Said Cho examining hers.

"They're yours to keep." Dumbledore said.

Each examined the pocketbooks. Their initials were engraved in silver on the leather.

"Thank you Professor!" All four replied.

"Now have fun!" Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Cho looked at Harry and grinned. Harry looked at Cho and grinned back.

"Let's go shop!!!" Cho yelled at Melly, Harry, and Christopher.

"Yeah!!!" Melly shouted back.

"Let's shop with the guys first, it'll probably be the shortest…We'll probably take forever to find the right dress…" Cho planned in her head.

"Great idea. But we still need time to eat, get the dress fitted, buy accessories, oh no! We won't have any time at all to shop with the guys!" Melly wailed.

"Oh my gosh you're right, Melly! Ok guys, let's see if you can do it on your own…if you promise to buy something fashionable that you know looks good on you, then go ahead and do it! We just don't want you two to look like fools…" Cho said brightly with a slight note of worried bewilderment.

"We promise!" replied Christopher.

"Good!" Melly said. "We'll see you in a few hours."

With that said, Melly took Cho's wrist and dragged her into the nearest store.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Harry." Said Christopher.

"Yeah." Harry replied.

"I want to go to Nieman Marcus! It sounds fun." Christopher squealed.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

'That is really freaking me out…It's like he's a girl or something!' Harry thought.

"Sure. Let's go." Harry replied.

"Great! I want to see what Muggles wear!" Chris exclaimed, shoving the Portkey into Harry's hands.

Chris touched the Portkey and to his surprise, Melly and Cho emerged from a shop and ran over to them.

"Wait for us!" Melly shouted.

"Don't worry, we aren't going anywhere…for the moment." Harry responded.

"Cool! We're just in time! We are going to go to Charlotte Russe." Cho explained.

Harry nodded in response. He looked at Cho's shopping bag and back at her again. She was looking away towards Knockturn Alley.

"What do you have there?" Harry asked curiously.

"Oh it's stardust, faerie powder, and moon glow." Cho replied.

"I see." Harry said blankly.

Then Chris checked his watch.

"The Portkey to Charlotte Russe is in thirty seconds." He stated.

"That'll be us." Melly said, glancing at Cho.

In a flash, they disappeared and reappeared in a secluded corner of the shop.

"Wow! Dumbledore made sure we wouldn't be seen. He chose a good spot for the Portkey to arrive." Melly noticed.

"He sure did. Harry, just make sure you come back for us. We'll probably be waiting here for you." Cho said.

"Don't worry, we'll come back for you." Harry replied.

"Good," Melly grinned. "Well, see you guys later!"

"See you!" Chris said with a dreamy sigh.

"The Portkey to Nieman Marcus is in two minutes." Harry noted.

"Ok then, so who're you going to ask to the ball? I'm asking Melly." Chris said, striking up a conversation.

"Me?" Harry questioned dumbly.

"No, the guy behind you. Yes you! Who'd you think I was talking to, you nut!" Chris exclaimed jokingly.

"Well, you'll probably laugh…" Harry muttered.

"I promise I won't. Who are you going to ask?" Chris assured Harry.

The Portkey arrived just as Harry answered.

"Cho." Harry replied.

Chris heard him over the rush of sound, he wasn't laughing or surprised.

"I thought you would ask her. My sister is one of her best friends. She tells her how much she likes you, Harry. You shouldn't hesitate to make a move. She feels the same way about you. Ask her soon, or else she'll be taken." Chris advised.

"I think I will. Oh we're here! In Nieman Marcus. I just noticed." Harry stated lamely.

"Oh, so we are! I just noticed too…" Chris replied.

"Well, we'd better start looking for something to wear." Harry said, sighing from boredom.

"Yeah." Chris agreed.

Both headed towards the young men's formal wear section.

Meanwhile the girls were in the junior's section by all the beautiful formal dresses…

"Oh my gosh! They're beautiful!" Cho squealed when she saw them.

"Wow! They are! I can't wait to try them on!" Melly exclaimed, sounding a lot like a three-year old in a candy store.

Cho ran straight towards a light blue dress adorned with a few rhinestones complete with thin spaghetti straps. She admired the dress and took it off the rack and bolted for the fitting rooms.

"Hey! I haven't found-OOH! What's this? It's beautiful!" Melly shouted as she grabbed the dress off the rack and followed Cho.

Cho tried on the dress and looked at herself in the mirror.

"It's gorgeous! I'm taking it! Plus, I don't even have to have it tailored! It's perfect!" Cho said ecstatic.

Melly tried on the dress she found, jade green with a peasant top style bodice with gold trimmed fringe at the hem of the gown.

"I look great! This is so mine!!!" Melly giggled insanely with a great amount of joy.

She walked out of the fitting room to see Cho merrily prancing around in the dress that she was about to buy.

"Cho, you look, just, wow! You look awesome." Melly complimented.

"Thank you. You look fabulous!" Cho said, returning the gesture.

Both headed straight for the accessories that matched with the dress.

For Cho's a decorative item for her hair made of a lace that felt like silk, light blue in color. It looked like a small blue fern. To go along with it was a small light blue coin pouch covered in sequins with a fancy clasp. It came with beautiful black velvet heeled shoes from Japan. For Melly's a silver charm bracelet fashioned to look like heart-shaped leaves on a vine. Included were shoes just like Cho's only they were incredibly shiny instead of velvet.

They ran for the checkout counter and paid for everything. Fortunately, both knew how to use Muggle currency. They were out the door in a matter of minutes each carrying a large plastic bag that their dresses were in. The accessories were put into a separate bag that both took turns carrying.

"Whew! I'm tired." Melly gasped, flopping into a chair in the store.

"Me too." Cho said while literally dropping into a chair by Melly…

Back at Nieman Marcus…

Harry was browsing the racks when he saw Cho and Melly stumble in through the door.

"How did-?" Harry started.

"We're in a Muggle mall. Charlotte Russe is downstairs. We got bored waiting and carrying all these bags makes you both tired and hungry. We were looking for the food court or at least a snack bar when we saw this store here upstairs. I saw you in the window looking at some stuff. So we thought you might need help…" Cho explained.

"Cho! Melly!" Chris cried out in surprise. "How'd you get here?"

"We're in a mall. Charlotte Russe is downstairs. If you want more details ask Harry." Melly said.

"Fair enough." Chris replied.

Cho dragged Harry off to a different part of the department as Melly dragged Chris off in the opposite direction.

"Hmmm…Let's see…what suits Harry best?" Cho thought aloud.

She browsed the racks for a few minutes when she finally saw something perfect.

"Perfect! Here Harry! Try it on!" Cho exclaimed, shoving the shirt and pants into his arms and rushing him to the fitting room.

Harry found an empty cubicle and changed into the outfit Cho chose for him. He looked at himself in the mirror and nodded in agreement. It was perfect. Black pants with a long white button-up shirt, the tails untucked. There was a soft knock on the door.

"Harry? Are you in there?" Cho's voice sounded on the other side of the door quietly.

"Yeah." Harry replied.

"How's it look? Does it fit?" Cho asked.

"It looks great and it fits fine." Harry answered.

"Cool! You can buy it or choose something else; I'll be right back. I'm going to go see if Melly needs any help with Chris…" Cho said as she walked out of the room; her voice growing softer each step she took.

Harry changed back into his regular clothes and paid for the outfit. He grabbed his bag and went off to hunt for Cho. He found her quite easily. He heard Melly's voice from across the whole store and followed the sound. He knew that wherever Melly was, Cho would be too. His assumption was correct. He found Cho picking out sets of shirts and trousers and held them up to Chris's body. Melly would stare at it for a few seconds then disagree. The two of them didn't even notice Harry was there until Chris saw him.

"Hi Harry! I see you've found something to wear. I, on the other hand haven't found anything. I've got two girls trying to help me, both disagreeing with each other. I think I need another male opinion. What do you think?" Chris said very sarcastically.

"Yeah, shut up Chris I'll help you." Harry replied with a much greater amount of sarcasm.

"Oh hi Harry! Didn't know you were there!" Cho and Melly said together.

Both girls stared at each other for a few seconds then broke out into a roaring laughter. The boys were quite confused and just blinked and stared blankly. The girls quickly regained their professional composure and continued to randomly select outfits from the rack.

"How about this one?" Cho asked holding up a pale green shirt with faded blue jeans.

"No. If he wears that, people will think he's a hippie or poor or something." Melly disagreed.

"How about this?" Harry asked holding up a blue and white striped shirt with dark blue trousers that nearly looked black.

"Perfect!" the girls exclaimed in unison.

"Finally! An agreement! My pain and suffering has come to an end!" Chris roared in great sarcasm.

The girls ushered Chris into the nearest fitting room with the outfit.

"Try it on!" they both squealed.

Chris went into an empty cubicle and changed. He looked in the mirror just as Harry did and smoothed his hair down.

"I look damn good!" Chris said to the mirror.

He changed and went to the counter and paid for his outfit with difficulty. Chris had never used Muggle currency before. Harry, Cho, and Melly helped him by counting the money and plying the bills from one another.

Then all four rushed off to their Portkey and arrived in Diagon Alley.

"How about we get some ice cream?" Chris suggested.

"That sounds great!" Melly squealed running over to Chris.

Chris jabbed Harry in the ribs with his elbow.

"Ask her! Now's your chance! She's alone!" He murmured into Harry's ear.

Cho sat at a table that she was saving for them. She rested her bags on an empty seat. Harry swallowed his pride and walked up to her quietly.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked softly, startling Cho.

"Oh hi Harry! Didn't see you there. Sure go ahead, you can sit down." Cho replied.

"I want to ask you something…something important." Harry said nervously.

"W-what is it?" Cho asked, her own voice shaking.

"W-will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" Harry stuttered.

'Great Harry you blew it! She's going to say no because you can't keep your cool…I'm so stupid…' Harry thought.

"Yes!" Cho exclaimed, her face relaxing. "I thought it was going to be about something else! I'm so relieved!"

"You will?" Harry asked in shock.

"Yes! I'll go with you!" Cho squealed.

She got up and hugged him. Harry sat there in shock. He came to his senses once Cho wrapped her arms around him. Harry returned the hug. Inside, he felt like the happiest guy in the world. Chris happened to look behind him and saw Harry and Cho locked in a tight embrace, both had smiles on their faces. Chris grinned.

"Way to go Harry! I knew you could do it!" He muttered under his breath in happiness.