Disclaimer: Unfortunately, JKR declined my request that she give me the ownership of Harry Potter, so, not for lack of trying, I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Chapter 3, guys. So far, I am definitely going to keep writing it. Thanks for the support!
The week between that fateful night and the Yule Ball passed without much interest, except for one event. Two days before the big night, Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, during lunch. He was busy avoiding Cho and Ginny's eyes and ignoring Ron and Hermione's pointless, usual bickering. He turned his head to see Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy and Pansy walking towards the trio. "Uh Oh," Harry said.
"What?" Hermione inquired.
"Look who's coming our way," Harry said. Ron grunted in response. Of course, only Harry and Pansy knew the full complications of what was about to go down. Harry wasn't sure how he was supposed to act towards his date, but figured he'd follow her lead. Their eyes met for a second, but quickly left each other, to sneer at Malfoy, or in Pansy's case, Hermione.
"Did you actually think Chang was going to go to the ball with you?" Malfoy sneered.
"Yeah why would ANYONE want to go to the ball with you?" Pansy added, trying really hard not to laugh at the extreme irony of that sentence.
"Cho only said no because Diggory asked her first." Hermione said. Harry kind of wondered why she didn't let him answer, but didn't dwell on it for long.
"Oh. And who are you going with, Mudblood?" Pansy asked, but Harry could tell she didn't like it. He was surprised how easy it was to tell, now that he knew the truth about the 'Slytherin.'
"Don't call her that," Ron responded, "Pure blood." He said it with such repulsiveness and disgust, it sounded worse than mudblood.
"Defend your girlfriend, blood traitor. Honestly, Potter, how do you hang out with such lowly wizards, if you can even call them that?" Malfoy asked.
"I, like my parents and Dumbledore, know that blood status doesn't matter. It's more important to be smart, and kind, and loving. Hermione and Ron are much better people than Crabbe and Goyle, who haven't said a word in this conversation because they're too daft to understand what's going on. And, don't even get me started on what's wrong with Pansy." Harry added that last part, for good measure, hoping she knew he didn't mean it.
Apparently, Crabbe and Goyle managed to get that last part, because they moved to attack Harry and Ron, but Malfoy held them back. Moody had just walked into the Great Hall, and he never wanted to be a ferret again. Malfoy shivered at the thought, and turning to Crabbe and Goyle, he said "Come on. Leave the losers to their homework." He gave them one last sneer, and walked away.
Pansy lingered, and after glancing around to make sure no one was watching her, turned to Harry. "Sorry, Harry. There was no way that could have been avoided."
"Alright. See you in double potions," and Pansy ran to catch up with Malfoy.
Harry was thankful that Ron and Hermione kept quiet through his conversation with Pansy, but he couldn't ignore the odd looks they were giving him." I'll explain later. We've got to get to potions. We have double with the Slytherins." Ron groaned a response.
Once in the Potions dungeon, the Gryffindor trio sat at their usual place, and waited for Snape to give them their directions. Harry didn't say anything, but from the looks on their faces, his two best mates wanted him to. Instead of attempting to explain, his thoughts wandered back to the other thing that was ever present on Harry's mind lately: the mysterious golden egg. He just didn't get it. He might be telling people he's almost got it, but truthfully, Harry had absolutely no idea. When he opened it, it just wailed. Hmmm….babies? What sort of challenge could involve a baby? It just didn't make sense. What else wails? He just didn't know. Harry came back to the class, to find Snape standing right in front of him, staring him down. 'Uh Oh,' he thought.
"Potter. Now that you are paying attention, I asked to work over there at the table with Pansy. She looks kind of bored and you and your idiotic attempts at potion making would be great entertainment."
Harry couldn't believe his luck, and had to work really hard to keep a steady, annoyed tone, "Sure. Whatever you want."
"Yes, Professor." Snape corrected, and waited for Harry to repeat it, before continuing, "30 points from Gryffindor." Harry grumbled in irritation and moved his things across the room to a table that was conveniently off to the side, and had one student sitting at it: Pansy Parkinson.
"Hey," Harry said.
"Hi Harry." She replied, "This is great."
"I know, right? Merlin only knows how we got so lucky."
"I'm so excited for the ball. What are you wearing? Cuz I have a couple of choices and want to make sure we don't clash."
Harry didn't understand what the big fuss was, but replied anyway. "Green. Mrs. Weasley picked them out, and said that they would look nice with my eyes."
"She has good taste. Surprising, considering what the blood-traitors have been seen wearing." She stopped after seeing the glare on Harry's face. "Oh. Sorry, it's kind of hard to not say something like that, considering that I always have to pretend like that."
"It's ok." Harry said. The two worked diligently through potions, and chatted throughout the whole class. For once, Harry really enjoyed Snape's class.
As they left potions, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle decided to block Harry's path. "You and Parkinson seemed to be chatting up a storm at your cozy table for two."
"Yeah. I asked her how she could go out with such an ugly git." Harry said, amused at the look on Malfoy's face.
Malfoy laughed, mockingly. "You think you're so funny, making fun of her boyfriend. Well, I will tell him that you called him an ugly git."
Ron, who had been laughing, stopped and got a confused look for a second. Hermione, too, had a confused look, but she quickly recovered. "Uh. So, she regained her wits, and dumped you."
Pansy joined the conversation, saying, "No Hermione. I wish I had, though. Instead, he cheated on me. He asked Bulstrode to the ball, not his 'girlfriend.'"
"I'm so sorry, Pansy."" Hermione couldn't help but comfort her.
"At first, I was really upset. But, I'm going with someone else much better," Pansy admitted, looking at the floor. Harry, Hermione noticed, was doing the same.
"Well, that doesn't mean much. The only people worse than Malfoy are Crabbe, Goyle and that friendless loser, Blaise Zabini.." Ron said.
"Who?" Harry asked confused. He was pretty sure there wasn't anyone at Hogwarts with the name Blaise Zabini.
"He's a Slytherin in our year." Hermione said.
"Ummm…ok." Harry said. "Let's go to herbology,"
Hermione, Ron and Harry were sitting in the common room, discussing the new charm they learned in Flitwick's class, today. Hermione looked up from the book she was consulting, regarding the mending charm. Harry had a feeling he knew where this was going, and was dreading it. He had a felt like they wouldn't accept this story well. Harry, in fact, thought that Hermione will probably convince him that it is a joke and that Pansy and Malfoy would actually be going together. That way, Harry would think he had a date, and look like a loser, without one.
"Harry. I know that there was something up with you and Parkinson, today." Hermione started, cautiously.
"Yeah, I know it seemed weird. This story is going to sound crazy. So a couple days ago, I finally see Cho alone without her herd of friends." Harry told them the story of that interesting day, mostly uninterrupted.
Hermione had a skeptical look on her face. "It's a scam."
Harry got her off, before she could elaborate. "At first, I thought that maybe this might be one. But, after listening to her pour her heart out, I could tell that she wasn't putting one past me."
"If your sure…." Hermione said. "So, Ron. Did you find someone to go to the ball with?"
"Oh…erm, yeah," Ron said, "Yeah, I'm going with Lavender."
"oh. That's lucky." Hermione said. Harry thought she sounded sort of unhappy about it. Harry decided to change the subject.
"Hermione?" Harry asked
"Yes, you can borrow my History of Magic notes for your essay."
"Thanks, Hermione. You're the best." Harry said.
A/N: Reviews, by any chance?
And I'd really appreciate it if the people who fav and alert my stories also review them. Although, I appreciate any or all three gestures.