A/N: I know it has been a while since I last updated this story and I apologize. Life has been very busy lately. But not that many people have been reviewing the story so I hope I haven't kept too many people waiting. Please review if you read! I would greatly appreciate it! I hope you enjoy the story.

Harry and Hermione had to keep their relationship in secrecy. After several articles posted by the Daily Prophet about a supposed relationship between the two of them, they had to lay low even more. They only could share special moments together down by the lake or in to the late night in the common room. However, when they thought they were alone they still had to watch over their shoulders to make sure that no nosey students were spying in on what the two were doing.

However, when they were not together they were busy preparing for the ball. Harry tried to think of things that he would say and to make sure that he would not screw up. He also was supplied dress robes by Dumbledore.

Ron on the other hand received his dress robes from his mother. He again was unsatisfied and embarrassed by what his mother had sent him. It was a dirty brown color and had a series of stitches on the back. On top of the terrible appearance it also smelt terrible. Harry and fellow classmates shared a few laughs over his attire, although Ron on the other hand was not sharing the humor with his classmates.

Hermione continued to dream about the ball, and eagerly awaited its arrival. Hermione was supplied a dress by her parents. It was a beautiful purple dress that looked slightly similar to her Yule Ball dress, but had a character of its own. Ginny told Hermione many times that Harry would love the dress. Hermione was still nervous however. She knew the dress looked very nice, but she was wanted everything to be perfect. She was afraid that if she wasn't perfect then Harry would be disappointed.

The weeks shot by and soon it was that fateful Friday. It was the day of the Winter Ball. Harry slowly awoke from his slumber to find a nervous Ron pacing the room. Harry sat up in his bed and reached over to his bedside table and placed his hand on his glasses. He brought them over and put them on. Ron looked over to Harry noticing his movement. Ron didn't say anything and just kept pacing.

Harry arched his right eyebrow to Ron and finally asked ,"Ron what are you doing?"

"The ball is today…" Ron mumbled.

"Yea…And?"

"Harry! I'm a terrible dancer!" Ron exclaimed to Harry. Harry laughed and stood up from his bed shaking his head.

"Oh Ron. Is that what this is about?" Harry asked in a half laugh.

"Last I saw Harry you weren't that bad of a dancer. You have nothing to worry about. I don't know how Luna dances. She could be a great dancer and I could just embarrass her."

Harry walked over to Ron and shook his head. "Ron it doesn't matter. You'll be fine. Luna said yes to you asking her to the ball for a reason. She won't care if you're a good dancer or a bad dancer. Now just calm down."

Ron took a deep breath and nodded to his friend. Harry walked down to the showers and got ready for the day. After he had gone through the routine of brushing his teeth, washing his hair, and all of his other morning duties he moved downstairs to the common room. There were several boys in the common room joking amongst one another, but there were no girls. You could hear their giggles and talking up in the dormitory, but none of them moved downstairs to the common room.

Harry expected it to be that way for most of the day. Girls had to make sure they were perfect, because if they weren't then the night would be terrible no matter what. Harry just hoped that Hermione would come down one time before the ball so he could see her. The past three weeks had been so hard for them to slip in any time together for just themselves. He just hoped that they could spend a little extra time together before the ball.

Harry waited for Ron to come in to the common room and they moved downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Down in the Great Hall were many boys, but only a handful of girls. Again Harry was not surprised. During their breakfast Ron stood up and walked to one of Luna's fellow classmates and spoke with her. When he returned to the table Harry turned to him.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"I asked her to let Luna know I'd be down here. I want to talk to her before this evening," Ron said then resuming to stuff his face.

Ron and Harry ate their breakfast and then waited for the Luna to come down to the Great Hall. They sat there for about half an hour before the girl Ron had talked to earlier came down and ran over to Ron. Ron jumped up from his seat and Harry took Ron's side.

"Where is she?" Ron asked the second year.

"Um…. Err…"

"Well! What is it?"

"She…Isn't there."

Ron's eyes widened in shock and he felt his stomach flip flop and all the food lying in his stomach kick around making him feel uneasy. "What?"

"She wasn't in the common room or the girl's dormitory. No one has seen her," the girl mumbled. "Sorry…"

The girl ran off and Harry turned to Ron whose jaw was hanging down and his face was turning pale. Harry clenched his teeth together in worry for his friend. He took a deep breath and awaited Ron to move or say something. Instead he did nothing.

"Ron…"

"She's gone!" Ron finally burst making Harry jump. "Where is she! She can't just disappear! We have to find her Harry! We must find her!"

Ron began to break down in the Great Hall. Fortunately only a few students were there to watch the episode. Harry tried to calm his friend down when out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione approaching. Hermione had a look of worry stretched across her face as Ron trembled.

"What has happened Ronald?" Hermione asked locking eyes with Harry for a moment then breaking the gaze looking to Ron.

"Luna…. Its Luna…"

"What about her?"

Ron tried to answer, but instead he just uttered a jumbled up mess of words. Harry decided he should answer the question. "Luna has gone missing."
"What!" Hermione exclaimed in shock.

"I'm sure she'll show up Ron," Harry said looking over to Ron.

"What if she doesn't show up though Harry?"

"She will. I promise," Harry said sure that Luna would have to show up some time during the day.

Ron calmed down and Harry managed to get them out of the Great Hall. Harry looked over to Hermione who smiled to him. As Ron moved forward of them Harry moved close to Hermione and whispered in her ear.

"We have to tell Ron that we are together," Harry whispered to her.

Hermione whipped her head around to Harry. She then took a deep breath and nodded looking back towards him. "I know…But not tonight. I don't want to risk the chance of him getting more upset then he is now."

Before Harry and Hermione could finish their conversation Ron turned around and pointed to the two of them. Harry thought that he might have heard what they said and was angry with the two of them for not telling him. Hermione felt her stomach flip in worry. "We have to look for her! I can't wait for her to just 'appear'," Ron stated with a very determined look on his face. Harry and Hermione let out a sight of relief glad to hear that he hadn't heard the two of them whispering to each other.

"Well where should we start looking?" Hermione asked stepping closer to Ron.

"Anywhere…But we have to split up and look. Hermione! You cover the bathrooms and all of the other places only girls aren't allowed. I'll look around the school grounds. Harry! Look down by Hagrid's hut and by the lake. She has to be some where around here!" Ron shouted off orders to the two of them. Harry nodded obediently and Hermione smiled to Ron and Harry before she headed off on her assignment. Ron ran off and Harry took a deep breath and headed outside of the school.

Surprisingly there was no snow covering the grounds, but a crisp wind was shooting through the air. Harry shivered from the wind and looked around only seeing a few students walking around outside. He walked around the outside of Hogwarts for almost two hours. He felt as if he was just walking in circles at one point as he passed the same person several times. Harry was about to give up and walk back inside when he saw a blonde girl appearing from by the lake.

Harry squinted and tried to identify the girl. He then noticed that it was Luna. Harry ran over to her as fast as he could wanting to get her to Ron before he worried for much longer. Luna smiled to Harry being totally oblivious that he had been looking for her for the past two hours.

"Luna! Where have you been!" Harry exclaimed stopping in front of Luna catching his breath.

"I went for a walk Harry. Why do you ask?"

"Ron…. Has been looking for you…. All morning," Harry panted still catching his breath.

"Really? He isn't worrying is he?" Luna inquired still with a small smirk on her face.

"Ron worries easily so…Yea.."

"Well let's get inside so we can find him," Luna said brushing past Harry and moving towards the school. Harry didn't want to move anymore, but he knew he should. Reluctantly he turned around and followed Luna inside of Hogwarts. Now another hard part came along. He took Harry two hours to find Luna. How long would it take the two of them to find Ron?

Surprisingly it didn't take long at all. After only about twenty minutes Luna and Harry turned a corner to see a panicking Ron pacing the corridor back and forth grunting things to himself. Ron looked up to Harry and Luna. His eyes that were once filled with worry flooded with relief and he ran over to Luna.

"Luna! Where have you been! I was so worried!"

"I am sorry Ron. I was just out for a walk. I didn't mean to worry you," Luna stated calming Ron down.

As the two of them carried on Harry slipped away from them and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. Once he entered the common room he saw one girl downstairs and many boys with her. The boys were joking and playing games as where the girl was simply in a corner reading her book. Harry moved towards the girl then seeing that it was Hermione. He sat down with her and smiled to her. As her eyes traveled from line to line in the book she glanced up at Harry and smiled closing the book not even marking her place, which was unlike her.

"Harry! Did you find Luna?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes I did. Finally!" Harry laughed.

"I looked everywhere. After I couldn't find her I just thought I'd come up here for a bit and read. Glad to hear that Ron will finally calm down now," Hermione giggled setting her book on the table she was at and put one hand under the table and the other on the book. Harry slipped one hand under the table and took Hermione's hand in his. They interlaced their fingers together and hid it so none of the other Gryffindor students could see.

"I missed you," Hermione whispered to Harry with a small smile.

"I missed you too. Are you ready for tonight?" Harry whispered back to her. Hermione just answered with a small nod. The couple didn't say anything else for a while. They just locked eyes with each other and got lost in each other's gaze. Other students were oblivious to the two of them. Which was fortunate to the couple, because at the moment they weren't hiding the fact that they were couple all that well at the moment.

After a little while longer Hermione went back up to her dormitory to prepare for the night. Harry saw that other guys doing the same so he decided he would follow in suite. Harry walked in to his room seeing that Ron had slipped in and was preparing. Neville was also getting ready. He had asked Ginny again, and she said yes. Neville was already excited and he was dancing around the room.

"Neville please! Stop that! You keep bumping in to me when you make your way around the circle," Ron complained already upset as he put on his dress robes. He despised them, but it was all he had. The fact that Fred and George didn't get much better clothing comforted Ron however.

"So are you no longer panicking Ron?" Harry asked Ron arching his right eyebrow to him as he got prepared himself putting on his dress robes.

"Yes I am better now. Still worried that Luna will think I look like an idiot."

"Oh Ron," Harry said patting his friends shoulder. "You always look like an idiot. Dress robes or not."

Ron hit Harry on the shoulder and Harry just simply laughed. Neville and Seamus laughed as well. Ron scowled to them all, but then laughed himself. "Your so funny Harry!" Ron exclaimed sarcastically.

As Harry got ready for the ball he looked over to Hedwig's cage which was still empty. Harry was worried about her and Sirius. He had sent her off so long ago and still had no reply from Sirius. However he soon forgot his worry as he remembered what that night was when he saw Neville and Seamus leave.

Harry finally was all prepared and looking sharp. Harry looked over to Ron who was frowning to himself in the mirror shaking his head. Harry still laughed at the sight of Ron in his dress robes, but tried to hold back his laughter. He walked up to Ron's side and looked over to his friend.

"Don't worry Ron…It'll be fine," Harry comforted Ron.

Ron looked over to Harry and nodded. His eyes traveled back to the mirror and he sighed. "Let's hope."