Harry Potter and the Veil of Time
Chapter Fourteen: The Yule Ball
By Cybergades
Christmas Eve came to Hogwarts silently, in the night, Jack Frost creeping around the windows of the highest towers and leaving a small border of his namesake on every panel. When Harry awoke, he was even certain there was a thin curtain of ice on the lenses of his glasses, but if that were so, his breath melted it away by the time he cleared the sleep out of his eyes enough to get a second look.
Ron and Hermione had not spoken to one another for several days. Ron, for his part, was furious that Hermione wouldn't even allow him to try and defend himself. It was frustrating even for Harry, watching Ron struggle to explain away something that wasn't even his fault to begin with. There had been a period of suspicion, wherein Ron had questioned who Dobby would have agreed to do such a thing for, but Harry was able to deflect by pointing out that they weren't even sure it was Dobby who had done it, playing into Ron's most-harmless racism by pointing out that house elves looked more or less indistinguishable from one another.
Hermione, on the other hand, had been spotted more than once in the Hogwarts hallways talking with Viktor Krum, and although she hadn't told Harry or anyone else, Harry was sure that his plan had worked, and that the pair would be going to the Yule Ball together. He found himself being late to class more and more often, and would spend some evenings wandering the halls, thinking idly of the Room of Requirement. But any time he thought visiting the room if requirements and maybe popping over to Yggdrasil for some exploration, a crowd of students would come marching around the corner, or one of the Professors would call out his name to pull him aside and tell him that they had noticed him slacking in his studies.
The Great Hall was redolent of the Forbidden Forest, as half a dozen great dark green trees had been planted in all corners of the room, strewn with golden bunting and threatening to envelop or smother any student that passed too close. Poor Colin Creevey actually had to be helped out of a tangle of branches after a passing group of students had accidentally pushed him into the thick growth of wood. The atmosphere all around was festive and excited, which made Harry's often-pensive and solitary moods all the more strange to his friends and classmates.
"I don't know why you're always moping about," Ron said at breakfast Christmas Eve. "You've got a perfectly fine date to the Yule Ball." Harry winced; Ron had not taken the news that Harry was going to the Yule Ball with Ginny very well, and only some very deft verbal maneuvering on Harry's part had preserved their speaking relationship ("Would you rather she go with someone else?" had formed the crux of his argument, and it was most likely only the fortuitous appearance of Crabbe and Goyle, on the way to perform some thuggish mischief, that had saved Harry there).
"Ron, you could get a date easy, mate," Harry said. "You just need to ask somebody. Try one of the Patil twins, I'm sure they'd love to go with you."
"Tried it," Ron said with a sickened palor to his face. "They brightened up at first, but it turns out they were only hoping one of them would get to go with you."
"Look at it this way, mate," Harry said, reaching for any sort of consolation he could offer. "If you don't go to the ball, that means you don't have to wear your dress robes, doesn't it?"
Ron stared at him for a moment, and Harry held a stiff smile, waiting for any sign of acknowledgement or emotion on his friends' part. After a few seconds, Ron shrugged, nodding his head slowly.
"I reckon that's true," he said with a sigh. "Even if I got Fleur to go with me I'd do nothing but embarrass myself in that hideous gown."
"If you really want to go," Harry said around a mouthful of eggs, "try the Patils again, but this time, ask one of them when the other one's not around. If they don't have dates yet, I can guarantee you they'll be itching for someone to ask them. My money's on Parvati as your safest bet."
Ron nodded glumly. Harry patted him on the back as he rose.
"Let me know how it goes later, mate."
"If I hang myself over this travesty, read something beautiful at my funeral," Ron called after him.
Harry was overjoyed that the Christmas holiday meant an end to classes, because it would give him a chance to finally get back to the Room of Requirement. He made his way through the upper hallways, tying to think about how badly he needed to get to the Stargate, when wheeling around a corner, he found himself face to face with Mad-Eye Moody. Barty Crouch Jr., that is, he corrected himself mentally. The professor's eye rolled wildly in its socket as he observed Harry, sniffing loudly.
"Potter," he said by way of greeting. "Where are you off to in such a rush?"
"I was just going to the library," Harry said, thinking on his feet. "The second Task is coming up, you know, and I'm still not exactly sure what my plan is."
"Library's the other way," Mad-Eye said, as though giving directions to a lost stranger. "But of course you knew that."
"Oh, right, of course," Harry said. "Sometimes your feet, you know, they just take you somewhere else while you're thinking, and-"
"What are you thinking about?" Moody asked, his eye fixed on Harry like it was trying to bore into his skull. "Can't have any distractions flitting about in your head during the Tournament, not if you want to have any hope of winning."
"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Harry said, trying not to seem so eager for this conversation to be over.
"I know it's not my class you're thinking about, Potter. It seems like I can't even get you to think about Defense class when you're in it, I can't imagine you're stalking the halls worrying about curses and dark magic."
"I'm not worried about my Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor. I'm sure I'll do very well on the exams. Or I would, if I wasn't exempt, because of the Triwizard Tournament."
"Oh you do, do you?" Moody said, his eye rolling crazily. "Think you can stand up to a wizard throwing Unforgiveable Curses at you, do you?"
"I do," Harry said plainly. He knew he should defer, play dumb, bow and scrape until the time was right, but it irked him that he had to allow this imposter to roam the halls of Hogwarts, and his temper slipped off its tight leash for a moment.
"You do?" Moody crowed. "If I were to Curse you right now, you could just shrug that off?"
"Professor, you can cast any Curse on me that you feel is necessary, and I'm sure I'll manage."
"You might not pay attention in class, Potter, but I think even you know there are some curses you can't just 'manage'."
"You're talking about the Avada Kedavra, sir?" Harry said.
"Of course, boy!" Moody said, somewhat incensed. "I'm sure there are a hundred Dark Wizards out there who would jump at the chance to lay a Killing Curse on the Boy Who Lived!"
"I don't think so," Harry said, playing up his nonchalance. "I'm sure Voldemort wants to kill me himself, I'm sure he'd be furious if he found out someone else had finished the job for him.
The two stared at each other for a long moment, while words went unspoken between them. Harry could feel Crouch poised on the precipice of revealing himself, wondering if Harry already knew and was simply trying to goad him. Harry was struck with the absurd thought that if he exposed Crouch now, Ron probably wouldn't have to worry about people noticing that he didn't have a date for the ball.
"If that's all, sir," Harry said, "I'll be going to the library now."
"That's all," Moody said. "Be careful out there, Potter."
"Oh, don't worry about me, sir," Harry replied with a smile. "Besides, I'm sure you've got your eye on me."
The sun blazed out its last few feeble rays of light through the windows of Harry's bedroom before surrendering entirely to the coming night. Harry stood in front of a mirror, turning this way and that in his stiff dress robes and wringing his hands nervously. He hadn't been nearly this nervous last time. Would he have been as giddy if Cho Chang had agreed to attend the ball with him his first time through he wondered?
The door behind him swung open, and Harry turned to see Ron, who offered a weak smile and a wave before going to his trunk to produce his frayed and frilly dress robes. Harry broke into a grin.
"Alright, Ron! Found yourself a date?"
"Padma Patil," Ron said, looking like he was going to be sick. "Oh, Harry, I was so nervous, I thought she was Parvati, it's a miracle I didn't blow it completely!"
"You did good, Ron," Harry said. "Have you seen Ginny?"
Ron's lips thinned slightly, but he nodded. "She's downstairs, waiting for you no doubt."
"Well I'll leave you to get dolled up," Harry said with a wicked smile. "See you at the Ball?"
"For better or worse," Ron said with a sigh.
Harry shut the door behind him and descended the spiral stairs towards the Common Room, his heart dragging itself up towards his throat. When at last the Common Room came into view, he stopped on the second to last step, his breath momentarily lost.
Ginny Weasley stood near the fireplace, her hands folded in front of her neatly. She was dressed in robes of pale green, unadorned and simple. To the random passerby, Harry supposed she must look somehow poor or lacking, but in his eyes she appeared as radiant as a queen. Her hair fell over her shoulder in a braid, a simple golden clasp the only sign of ornamentation or opulence in her attire. She turned, looking up as he stepped off the stairs, and her face broke into a smile that melted Harry where he stood.
"Harry!" she said as he approached her. They embraced, only a little awkwardly, and she felt the fabric of his dress robes.
"Classy, you look really nice," she said.
"Yes, erm, well, you…yes," Harry stammered sheepishly. Ginny dissolved into a fit of giggling.
"Well, thank you, Mister Potter. I didn't realize such eloquence was one of your talents," she said, giving him a low curtsy and grinning mischievously.
"My talents just never stop emerging, I guess," Harry said, trying not to turn redder than Ginny's hair.
"Where's Ron? I want to get a good look at him in his dress robes," Ginny said, standing on her toes to peek over Harry's shoulder.
"Oh, come off it. If we laugh him out of the Common Room he'll just hole up in the bedroom all night, we want to at least get him down to the Great Hall before you tear him down."
"I'm sad he and Hermione aren't going together. It was actually sort of sweet, what he did for her. The song was pretty awful though."
"Well, I'm…sure he wrote it in a hurry, and could have done a much better job," Harry said. It wasn't true. He was pretty sure the silly little ditty he had convinced Dobby to sing was probably the best he could come up with. Of all his emerging talents, burgeoning songwriter wasn't one of them.
"Still, she shouldn't have gotten so angry," Ginny said, crossing her arms.
It's a good thing she did, Harry thought to himself. Her short fuse about house elves was the only thing he could think of to drive a wedge between her and Ron long enough for her to agree to go to the Ball with Krum.
"I'm sure they'll make up after Christmas. It's just, you know how Hermione is about house elves."
"Well, as much as I hate to agree with my brother, I think he's right on this one. The house elves love their work! I wish I could enjoy doing homework as much as they seem to enjoy cooking and cleaning, it would make life a lot easier."
Laughing, the two of them departed past the painting and towards the Great Hall. The students were gathering in the entryway of the school, the Great Hall closed off while they moved away the tables and Christmas trees and set up the stage for the Weird Sisters. Harry kept an eye out for Ron, but if he came down he did a good job of keeping to the sidelines and shadows. Harry hoped that he would be able to salvage something like a good time out of the night.
"Champions and their partners!" Professor McGonagall called from the Great Hall entrance. "This way, if you please!"
Gripping her hand tightly, Harry led Ginny through the crowd and into the Great Hall. It was much nicer than he remembered, even though he knew the decorations were exactly the same. Still, standing there with Ginny by his side, he started to have a hard time remembering what had made him so miserable the last time he did this. Turning to look over his shoulder, he caught Viktor Krum and Hermione coming through the door behind them, and gave her a smile and a wave. She looked as gorgeous as she had previously, and Harry hoped Ron hadn't seen her yet. Viktor looked stiff and awkward in his fur-lined dress robes, and he held his head up high and proud as he paraded into the Great Hall.
"Viktor, you know Hermione?" Harry said, smiling. This was it.
"Yes, well, he…he found me in the library one night," Hermione said. "His request sort of caught me off guard, but, well, here we are."
"Here we are," Harry repeated. He extended a hand towards Viktor, which the Bulgarian took with a raised eyebrow.
"Good luck on the second task coming up, Viktor."
"Dank you," Krum said sternly.
"Great, isn't she?" Harry said, unperturbed, gesturing to Hermione. "See you on the dance floor."
"Potter, enough chit-chatting!" McGonagall hissed. "Take your places, please, all of you!"
That was it, Harry thought. Nothing left to do now but hope everything worked out the way he hoped it would. He remembered that after the second task, Viktor had asked Hermione to spend the summer with him in Bulgaria. If the house of cards he had constructed stayed erect just a little longer, he would hopefully be able to win the appreciation and respect of the Bulgarian, and get himself an invite to the continent as well. That would make the perfect springboard for an exploration of the European wizarding community; there were sources of power outside the stifling grasp of the British Ministry of Magic, and Harry intended to put them to good use.
"Harry," Ginny whispered, guiding his chin with a finger so that he was looking at her. "Pay attention, we're about to start."
"Right, right," he said, taking a few steps in place to balance himself and extending his arms the way he had been shown.
"Ready?" Ginny said.
"As ready as I've ever been for anything," Harry said.
"Don't embarrass us," Ginny said, sticking the tip of her tongue out at him and winking.
Harry had not thought it possible for one night to be able to go so differently from the way he had remembered. He had had a notion of time travel the way the Time-Turners allowed it, where everything fit neatly into place, where time was one step ahead of the traveler. The gate had already irrevocably changed the way everything was playing out, and whirling around with Ginny in his arms under the lights of the Great Hall's sky, with the music and laughter in his ears, Harry thought that there was a good chance it was changing things for the better. He even managed to get Ron out on the dance floor once, although his friend's mood soured immensely when he saw Hermione and Krum dancing as well. At least, Harry thought, that means that he still cares about her. Hopefully he would be able to explain himself to them one day soon, and hopefully they would understand why he did what he did. In the meantime, however, he concentrated on the fleeting moment of happiness as it was offered to him, whirling carelessly in the eye of the storm.