Next Defense against the Dark Arts lesson, Dawn had to hold back a laugh when Wesley announced the subject: vampires. Hermione looked at her oddly, but didn't know why she was nearly in hysterics again. Wesley continued.
"So. Who can tell me the two most affective ways of killing a vampire?" Hermione's hand shot up as usual. "Miss. Granger?"
"Beheading and a wooden stake through the heart."
"Excellent. Now can anyone else tell me some ways of deflecting them, or defences against them?" A few people answered,
"Fire."
"Garlic?"
"Err, I heard somewhere they couldn't cross running water."
"Ah." Wes said, "That, I'm afraid, is just rumour. Any others?" When no one replied, Dawn rolled her eyes and stuck up her hand. "D… Miss. Summers?"
"Holy water, crosses, they can't enter a house without an invitation by someone who lives there… ooh, and sunlight."
"Excellent." The small grin was evident. "Does anyone have any questions about myths they've heard? No one? What about vampire slayers?" Dawn looked up sharply. The slightest glance in her direction told her that Wesley was showing her something. Hermione was the first to speak.
"They aren't real, Sir. Vampire Slayers are a myth created to keep vampires at bay, nothing more." Dawn gaped. The wizarding world in general didn't believe in vampire slayers.
"How can you be so sure?" Wes asked.
"Well… err, they've never been proven to exist. Are you saying they do, sir?" She was amazed.
"I'm not saying anything." Wes shrugged,
"Well that means they do then." Someone said, "Otherwise you'd tell us they didn't!"
"Ahh, but the slayer is supposedly very secretive. Without fear of the slayer, vampires might simply run wild. Even if they don't exist, would it do to go around telling people that?" The class dropped into a thoughtful silence.
"I still say it's a loada bull." Hermione whispered to Dawn, who grinned widely.
-------------------------
For the next few of weeks, Ron continued to refuse to believe that there was any way Draco was actually ok. Hermione and Dawn spent most of their time together, and Hermione, though uncomfortable at first, soon became accustomed to Draco tagging along. Of course Draco was strictly not hanging out with them, and the girls, always thinking much quicker than him, had a lot of fun making up excuses for his presence. Thankfully, the public knowledge of Hermione and Draco's hate for each other kept rumours at bay. Harry wasn't as narrow minded in the subject as Ron, but still seemed to spend a large amount of time with a thoughtful frown on his face.
Much to their surprise, the school spirit was barely affected by the Voldemort. situation terrifying the rest of the wizarding world. Now and then, a student would freak out after a delivery of the post with some news of death eater activities, but that generally died down within a day, as Dumbledore always had a calm explanation.
Meanwhile, after explaining the whole situation to Dawn, the trio were very confused as to how she was not terrified. No matter their experiences over the past few years, the mention of Voldemort always struck fear into their hearts, but Dawn seemed to be of the 'the good guys will win' mentality. Ron secretly decided that she was either in total denial, or she was completely naïve and just didn't understand about Voldemort. But Harry and Hermione, both generally more clear-headed than Ron, felt there was a lot more to the Californian girl than any of them knew. What frustrated Harry was that he was certain Malfoy knew exactly what Dawn's deal was.
As Halloween approached, a new excitement put all bad thoughts from everyone's mind. Probably for this exact purpose, a ball had been arranged for Halloween night. The first-third years would have a party in the early evening, followed by the ball for fourth years upwards at eight. This spurred a new wave of giggly whispers following various boys (including Harry) around the school. Dawn laughed at Hermione's well-practiced eye-roll every time a blushing girl stepped in front of Harry, then squealed and ran away. Dawn heard via other fifth years that none of them were going to ask Harry, even though he was easily the most popular boy in the year, due to stories of the Yule ball the year before. Neither Harry nor Ron would talk about asking anyone, both simply reddening and changing the subject. Hermione easily explained this in Harry, but Ron she was baffled about. Other than Fleur Delacour, she'd never noticed him taking any interest in any girls.
"Hmm, a mystery!" Dawn laughed, and they resolved to discover his crush. It didn't take long. Or rather, it didn't take long for Dawn, and once she knew, she was very reluctant to try explaining it to Hermione. After witnessing yet another attempt to ask this girl, (who was apparently clueless to his affection) Dawn was close to bursting, and it took all the self-control she possessed not to sigh with relief when she noticed a dawning look on Harry's face. Their eyes met, and she mouthed, later. He nodded, and they both tried desperately not to grin.
After potions that same day, Dawn held back again, at the request of a note from Draco. She told Hermione not to wait, she'd meet her at lunch. Dawn finished packing up her stuff, and waited outside the dungeon for Draco.
"Hey." He smiled awkwardly.
"Hey. What's up?" she replied as they began to walk.
"It's just… this Halloween thing…" Dawn couldn't help smiling,
"Yeah?"
"Well… Pansy Parkinson kinda asked me." Dawn swallowed,
"Oh, right. Well, good for you, that's great…" she babbled. Draco broke into a huge smile. "What?" she asked, irritated.
"I was hoping you'd be like that."
"What!?" Dawn exclaimed. Draco laughed,
"Hey, cool it! I said no." he grinned, "I just wanted to see your reaction." Dawn punched him in the arm. "Sorry." He whined, rubbing his arm. Then he stopped walking, and turned to Dawn, taking her hand over-dramatically. "So, Miss. Summers, would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Halloween ball?" Dawn held back the giggle.
"Why I'd be delighted to, Mr.Malfoy." He grinned lopsidedly, and said,
"Cool." …and Dawn let out the laughter.
"I'm gonna get a curse in the mail from Pansy, aren't I?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't open any post for about a month if I were you."
"And he's so modest too." Dawn quipped sarcastically.
"So it's a date?" Draco asked seriously.
"Definitely." She smiled, and kissed him.
When Dawn entered the great hall a few minutes later, the grin on her face confirmed Hermione's suspicion. The moment Dawn was seated, she squealed,
"He asked you?"
"Yeah." Dawn replied. Ron frowned, slow as usual.
"What? Who asked you what?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Draco asked me to the dance." Dawn told him.
"What!?" Ron cried, dropping his fork with a clash. The other three, even Harry, just laughed.
"Shh!" Dawn scolded. "We're trying to keep it hush-hush, on the grounds that if Pansy Parkinson finds out, I wont be alive by then. Plus, it'll be wicked fun when we turn up together. No one will believe it!!"
"No wonder!" Ron retorted, still speaking ridiculously loud, "I mean…" Harry clamped his hand over Ron's mouth,
"Ron! Cool it." He said, grinning. Ron agreed to keep his mouth shut, but frowned constantly. Near the end of the meal, a Ravenclaw sixth year, who Dawn knew by sight, but no more, came up to their group and touched Harry on the shoulder,
"Err, Harry, hi." She smiled. Harry blushed enormously, and spluttered,
"Hi Cho."
"Could I talk to you a minute?" she asked nervously.
"Sure." Harry agreed, and followed her out. When he returned, the dreamy, star-struck look confirmed that she had asked him to the dance. Ron looked at his friend in awe.
"Wow." He gasped. Hermione and Dawn laughed again, causing Harry to frown. "Well." Ron continued, "Now Dawn has a date, and Harry has a date… has anyone asked you Hermione?" he said off handly. Hermione sighed and shook her head. Ron muttered "Oh" and left it. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Harry? Could you help me with that thing?" she said. He frowned again, then met her eyes,
"Oh, yeah, sure. That… thing. Definitely." They both jumped up before their friends could say anything, and legged it out of the hall.
"Urgh!" Dawn exclaimed, "I can't take this anymore! If he doesn't ask her soon…"
"I know! God, I'd have thought she'd have clocked on by now!"
"Has Ron ever seemed to, y'know… before?" Harry thought for a moment,
"Well… not officially, although he did have a major strop last year when she went to the dance with another guy. He passed it off as being cos Victor Krum was up against me in the tournament, but I know damn well that up until that night, Ron worshipped Krum." Dawn giggled a little,
"It's just so sweet! They like, perfect for each other." Harry raised his eyebrows,
"They fight constantly!"
"But have they ever actually split up as friends, despite that… except when she's dating other guys?" Harry, smiled, shaking his head,
"I guess not."
"See, perfect." She grinned. Harry shrugged, presuming this was some girl logic he didn't understand. "Anyway, we have to get them together." She added.
"Definitely, just so that he's him again, instead of this babbling idiot… oh, wait…" Dawn elbowed him,
"Rude!" they laughed and headed to the common room to get their books for the next class.
Note: Not actually positive wot house Cho is in. I cant remember and I cant be bothered to go look it up, so Ravenclaw will have to do!